Sad: Buying a book in a library book sale which had been in the stock of the library for several decades but which hasn’t been on loan to a reader even once.
Even more sad: Not reading this book in subsequent years and finally discarding it when moving house.
Google, the small and friendly company, which just endeared itself to us again by announcing the imminent discontinuation of Google Reader, will bring a new toy to the market later this year: Google Glass. These are glasses which have been deprived of the plural, but enhanced with photography, video and scanning functions. They will listen to voice commands and they will provide additional information about the objects or persons you are looking at. Basically, it does what most phones nowadays do, but you have to put it in front of your face. Maybe Google thinks it’s practical because fewer people would forget their glasses at home than would forget their phone, but my personal experience is actually the other way round.
The price for this possibly somehow theoretically useful gadget will be around 1,500 $.
If that is too much money for you, I have a much better offer for you: For only 200 $, I will send you this item which will make you look just as stupid if you wear it.
You are saving 1,300 $ with this unique offer. My standard 100% money-back guarantee will apply.
If however, you are planning to buy Google Glass not in order to look like a dumb moron, but because you love the idea of working for Google for free by collecting lots of data of all the places you visit and all the people you meet and serving as a 24/7 surveillance drone, then you’ll have to go for the original.
(Dieser Artikel ist auch auf Deutsch erschienen.)
For its page about Vilnius, Couchsurfing chose the photos of the most handsome and attractive couchsurfers in that city.
Guess whose photo they picked for the number one spot of that gallery?
Exactly. That’s me.
Links:
While hiking through Gauja National Park in Latvia, I spotted this toilet from afar. “Great,” I thought, “I don’t need to leave these yellow graffiti in the snow today.”
As I walked closer though, the toilet hut seemed to shrink.
When I finally reached it, I noticed that not only would that particular toilet not be of much help to me, but I also knew that I had discovered the Land of Lilliput – or at least its toilets.
I am going to write about my walk to that forest in a week or so, but in the meantime I’d like you to guess where it is. If someone gets it right, you will win a prize of my choosing.
UPDATE: The mystery has been solved.
Very energy-efficient:
This is in mid-March. If I am (un)lucky, it will still be working in May. And then again from October onward.
(Photographed during a short rest on my hike through Gauja National Park in Latvia.)
I am not fat, but I am not thin either. I have never been particularly concerned about my weight, as I measured my health by my ability to walk or run long distances. In my book, whether you are fat or thin, you are in top condition if you can run for a few hours without a break. I can.
Other reasons to lose weight also failed to convince me. It would make me look more attractive. So what? I don’t need that, I am happy with myself. It would reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer. True, but if I stop eating all these chocolate cakes I will have a miserable and unhappy life. Happiness is more important than longevity.
But it all changed yesterday.
Look at these steps:
This was on the way back from Lithuania’s highest mountain to Medininkai. The steps on the left of the photo are mine, the steps on the right are those of a friend with whom I was doing this hike (he is on a mission to go to the highest points of all countries in Europe). While he was floating over the snow like a fairy, progressing not a bit slower than he would on a hard surface, I sank into the snow with every step. With every step, my feet got colder as my shoes filled with snow and ice. Sometimes I sank into the snow up to my knee. It slowed me down, it wore me out. It was also a depressing experience.
I was not wearing any heavy backpack which I could blame for that performance. The only difference between us was that my weight is around 80 kg and my friend’s weight is 55 kg.
On that trip, I finally found a compelling reason to lose weight. Alternatively, I could move to a country without snow.
(Es gibt auch eine deutschsprachige Version dieses Artikels.)
Why “FUCK YOU!”, if there is also a short version?
The next time somebody at your office or in your organisation goes on for hours about something which could be summed up in a few sentences, send him/her this photo.
(Discovered at the train station in Sigulda in Latvia.)
Sad: Seeing this teenager putting so much time and effort into perfecting a skill which society won’t appreciate and knowing that in 10 years’ time he will be bossed around by one of his former classmates who is much more boring but who used the same time to study for the maths exam instead of playing with knives.
The Happy Hermit 