Cloud computing and backups

I began putting stuff on the internet for fun and non-profit at some point in the previous millennium. In 2008, almost exactly 13 years ago, I registered this domain. After eight years of mostly uneventful but very slow shared hosting with a tiny company somewhere in Germany’s Wild East, I upgraded to a cheapo virtual…

Alternative for Germany (AfD) comes under surveillance

What just happened Yesterday, it was leaked that Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (the domestic intelligence agency) “suspects” the AfD might be a right-wing extremist organisation that aims to undermine democracy in Germany . Forming this suspicion is an internal process (the agency is under a gagging order and has not commented on…

Shrove Monday in Academia

Rainer Zenz on de.wikipedia - Eigenes Werk (Originaltext: Eigene Aufnahme.), CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1144215

How it started It’s no secret that Mainz is a carnival hot spot. Shrove Monday, the day of the biggest parade and the most frantic celebrations, is a de facto public holiday in the city. But the de facto bit is important here: the city can’t make it a proper holiday, yet nobody who can possibly avoid it…

Gespräch mit dem SWR über BriefwählerInnen und die Landtagswahl 2021 in Rheinland-Pfalz

Mit dem SWR habe ich über die Bedeutung der Briefwahl für den Wahlkampf und die zu erwartende Mobilisierung bei der Landtagswahl in Rheinland-Pfalz gesprochen. Das Ergebnis findet sich hier. [contentcards url="https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/rheinland-pfalz/corona-experte-landtagswahl-rp-100.html" target="_blank"]

Trump and trees

On today’s walk in the local woods, I found this unexpected piece of political art. Stick-Trump is saying “bye”. The stick-kids are asking where their family might be. Who made this and left it here?