Findings and thingies

„Für neue, überflüssige Straßen werden im Auftrag des CSU-Verkehrsministerium reihenweise Bauern, Mittelständler und Privatleute enteignet“, kritisiert der Grünen-Politiker. „Seit Jahren stellt die CSU den Enteignungsminister der Bundesregierung. Wenn die Straßenbaulobby ruft, ist der CSU der Schutz des Privateigentums schnurzegal.“

Der Artikel im Tagesspiegel ist zwar von 2020, aber ist einfach interessant zu lesen, wie wenig Probleme CSU-Politiker mit Enteignungen haben, wenn es um Autos/Autobahnen geht. Geht es allerdings um Wohnraum, dann sieht die Sache leider sehr anders aus: Enteignungen sind ein Irrweg | CDU/CSU-Fraktion (WayBack). Diese Form der Doppelmoral ist wirklich nur schwer zu übertreffen.

It’s not just Disney. Just shopping at a store is now pricier without an app, a loyalty card, coupons, or a digital wallet that traces your consumption patterns and habits.

I found this article via this Toot. Especially the quoted part (above) resonated with me as I see this as an emerging pattern in Germany throughout the last years. Almost every grovery store now has their own loyalty card which is the only way to get access to certain discounts. In the end it's all about luring customers in to give their data away with the promise of more convenience (or savings) for them.

Not everything has to be convenient nowadays. Or as Oliver Burkeman has phrased it in Four Thousand Weeks:

Resisting all this as individual, or as a family, takes fortitude, because the smoother life gets, the more perverse you'll seem if you insist on maintaining the rough edges by choosing the inconvenient way of doing things. Get rid of your smartphone, quit using Google, or choose snail mail over WhatsApp, and people are increasingly likely to question your sanity. Still, it can be done.

We have to replace the hyperactive hive-mind work flow with explicit alternatives for the assignment and organization of work, and individuals can’t do that on their own. But one of the questions here is how did productivity become personal in the first place? It’s an unusual notion in the history of large-scale economic organization — this idea that we leave it up to the individual to figure out how to organize their work.

Excellent interview with Cal Newport on productivity issues in modern work environments.

Even though I normally don't praise newsletters and stuff I need to make an exception for this motivating piece by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

It's origin is from this week's edition of the 5-Bullet Friday newsletter by Tim Ferriss.

I've always struggled with impulse control, and tried researching and coming up with questions to ask myself before making purchases. However, they usually don't work, because the questions are usually too broad, and don't address the specific purchases I'm contemplating.

TLDR: Amazon pays roughly 70% of retail price for books priced up to $9.99, and 35% for books $10 and over. Amazon is the only retailer that does this. Other retailers, I make somewhere around 65%-70% no matter the retail price. Everything follows from that math, but if you want the details read on.

😮

Nothing, because I still needed this week to recover, reflect and take care of other things.

Nothing, because Covid put me out of business.

Normally I only include material written in English in my weekly edition. Nevertheless I found an article so interesting/important to share that I decided to prefix articles in German in the future so that readers not interested can skip them easily.

• (GER) "Wir haben alle kein Immunsystem mehr!" - schwesterfraudoktors Webseite!

• Confessions of an infosec has-been - lcamtuf’s thing
  Two key take aways from this article for me right. But there is so much more good stuff in it, you definitely should read it.

  My final advice to new folks is to not look up to others. Judge your progress by looking back at your own work.

  If there’s one skill I can credit for success, it’s learning how to write well.

  Even though there are a lot of other spots on my blog where I've already mentioned the importance of good writing skills, it's a so important topic that I don't get tired emphasizing it again.

• Writing at work - lcamtuf’s thing
  Some author as the article before. Continuing on the topic of how important writing is.

• why i only use plain black wallpapers | ティラミス
  After reading this I immediately realised the key message

  Your devices are tools, not fashion accessories.

  is something which has been on my mind for quite some time but never formulated in such a clear manner.

If you are using Firefox and are annoyed by PDFs being downloaded automatically then you need to adjust browser.download.open_pdf_attachments_inline to true. Just enter about:config in the address bar and toggle the setting.

found via A comment by shscs911