On this page you will find Atom feed variants for my last 20 posts (Articles and Notes), but also some in the good old RSS 2.0 and the JSON feed format.
A list of all feeds can also be found via my .well-known/feeds endpoint, which I wrote about here. You can find more feeds, including from the people I follow on Fediverse, at rss-is-dead.lol.
Posts
HTML Feed
As an alternative, that can be read by humans and machines, here are the posts (articles with excerpt only) in the form of a microformat-based h-feed.
IndieWeb Carnival: Meaning of Life
My thoughts on this month's topic and whether it is even worth thinking about
I don’t often participate in the IndieWeb Carnival. The last thing I contributed was in November 2024 with my post You will never know whose butterfly you were on the topic of “Impact.” Maybe I should do it more often, because it’s really exciting to read other people’s posts on the same topic. Different opinions offer new perspectives.
This month’s topic from Jeremiah really triggered me this time, and I’ve been thinking about it for days… The Meaning of Life … and here are my two cents on the matter.
Remaining Photos from 2025
Loreley, Kronberg, Wiesbaden
Every now and then, when my sweetheart and I go on a day trip in the region, I sling my camera over my shoulder in the hope of capturing a beautiful scene or two. Last year was no exception. Often, however, I don’t get around to reviewing and editing the photos, but I have now caught up on three events from 2025. Enjoy…
New Approach on Sending Webmentions
Console Script vs. EchoFeed
Four years ago, I made this blog fit for IndieWeb. The most important part for me was the integration of Webmentions, which are mainly automated “pings” sent from one website to another, telling the latter: “Hey, I mentioned your post ABC in my post XYZ.” Such a connection between two blogs is certainly not the same as the fast interactions of the Fediverse platforms, which are more like email or chat, but are usually one-way and, unfortunately, still rather rare. But for me, they offer a healthy basis for networking my own digital home with others who think along similar lines.
ChartsCSS - Without a single line of JavaScript
How to spice up boring HTML tables just with CSS
I’ve known for a while that I want to add a statistics page to my blog. Just for the fun of tinkering with code, without any deeper reason. In the summer, I wrote down my ideas on a few Obsidian pages and looked around to see what options were available for data visualization. It’s nicer and more intuitive to display some of the statistics as bars and pies than just in boring numerical columns. I’m more of a visual person… “Everything is so colorful here.”
One research find stood out from the crowd of the usual JavaScript tools: ChartsCSS by Rami Yushuvaev and Lana Gordiievska. It promised to bring classic number visualizations such as bar and pie charts to a web page without a single line of script, but exclusively with CSS styles!
App Defaults 2025
While preparing this new AppDefaults post for the passing year 2025, I took a look back at the two previous posts from 2023 and 2024 and find it exciting to see how my behavior has gradually changed over time.
A slight shift away from the tools offered by large American companies towards small European alternatives or OSS, which is likely to intensify in the future. I also have less and less patience with software that is going down the path of enshittification. I don’t care how long I’ve been using it or how much work is needed to make the switch; it just has to go, even if it hurts, like Plex. I’m not going to be taken for a ride … just die.
The Long Farewell to Stylus
Switching from Stylus to CSS in Hexo, Part 1
Since I decided in 2019 to use the static site generator (SSG) Hexo as the foundation for my blog, I have been struggling with the fact that it works with the CSS preprocessor Stylus via a pre-installed plugin. I thought I just needed some time to get used to the simplified but unfamiliar notation and take advantage of features such as functions, mixins, variables, and the like. Over time, however, the functionality of native CSS grew to such an extent that I started to implement workarounds for new and unsupported features in my Stylus code, which made it significantly more complex and confusing. I didn’t get used to it, but instead just got annoyed by Stylus for quite some time.
StreetComplete - Contribution while passing by
I have been working with OpenStreetMap for a while now from the developers’ perspective, who can use it to conjure up attractive maps, such as my Photo Map, on the web free of charge. However, I am not part of the community, nor have I given much thought to where all the data comes from and how it finds its way into the maps. Until recently… when I stumbled across an app review of StreetComplete by chance and installed the Android app (iOS is planned) out of curiosity.
--- streetcomplete.appThis app finds missing map data in your vicinity and displays it on a map as quests. Solve each quest by visiting the location on-site and answering a simple question to update the map.
REP: Embedding Bandcamp Tracks
Inspiration and Implementation
Recently, I was greatly inspired by Roma Komarov to add another, audible layer to my blog posts…
At the beginning of the month, I complained to myself in my post Stoned Jesus, Bandcamp and the Necessity of Music that I hardly listen to music anymore, even though it seems to help me in stressful times. Just as I (re)discovered Bandcamp and my credit card was hit hard for various great albums, Roma came up with the following post:
Well, if that isn’t fate…
European Perspectives
The EP in Strasbourg
Earlier this year, my sweetie and I made a little trip to nearby Strasbourg. Not only because I really like the city and its French flair (she has never been there before), but also because I had never set foot in the European Parliament (EP) before. The people there have a big influence on our lives with their institutions and regulations, which eventually find their way into German law. As a committed European, you simply have to see it for yourself. And we live just 2.5 hours or 230 kilometers away.
The institution is very open. Guests are always welcome, even though tickets must be booked online in advance due to the large number of visitors. We were fortunate that on that day, the EP had invited young people from all over Europe to discuss issues important to them in the plenary chamber.
The building, which dates back to 1999, is impressive and beautifully located directly on a tributary of the Îll River, which winds its way through Strasbourg. It’s wonderful to take a leisurely walk around the complex and feed the ducks on the river, as long as you have some stale bread with you.
Mentions United, GitHub & GraphQL
A few months ago, in my post Using GitHub as Commenting Platform, 2025 Edition, I explained how GitHub Issues can be used quite easily as a commenting platform:
- Create a GitHub issue for each post that contains at least the post URL
- Add a syndication link to the issue on the post page
- Let Brid.gy and Webmention.io do their job
- Integrate Mentions United into the page to display comments via the Provider Plugin Webmentions
So I’ve made it a habit to syndicate every new post in a GitHub issue. This saves me from having to set up my own spam-proof comment system, which is difficult or even impossible to implement on SSG sites anyway.
One might argue that the data chain Site → GitHub → brid.gy → webmention.io → Site is quite long and offers a lot of room for errors, but all I can say to that is: Yes, you’re right, because that’s exactly the case at the moment!
A blog like this, with two or three posts a month (if there’s time), isn’t exactly flooded with comments, so some time passed before I noticed that brid.gy is still polling my GitHub account, but unfortunately isn’t getting any results and therefore isn’t passing along any web mentions for GitHub issue comments. The chain has been broken!
I will certainly inform the creator Ryan Barrett about this, but that doesn’t help me at the moment, so I decided to build a native GitHub provider plugin for Mentions United.
Stoned Jesus, Bandcamp and the Necessity of Music
Since yesterday, I know why I’ve been feeling like something’s been missing. For months, I’ve been trying to deal with work stress by finding little or larger distractions that calm my brain down a bit, take my mind off things, and release some of the happiness hormones. Unfortunately, I was on the path of short video dopamine kicks for a while, but two weeks ago I gave up YouTube, my last platform of this kind. The end, over, done. Deactivated.
Yesterday, I was browsing through my favorite section, ROCK, on NRN (newreleasesnow.com) and stumbled across a band called STONED JESUS, whose (Spotify) teaser of the first song, NEW DAWN, from their new album SONGS TO SUN immediately electrified me. Man, what a blast! The hookline is very reminiscent of TOOL, who, in my opinion, performed the best song of all time with RIGHT IN TWO. Of course, I immediately bought the album on Amazon and downloaded it…
Monochrome Sweden
Colorless Impressions
As I looked through the more than 1,600 photos from our Sweden vacation and edited the best ones in Lightroom, I noticed how fitting the colors of the Swedish flag are. Blue and Yellow. The colors of the sky on a beautiful sunny day, and they are reflected in many of the pictures in the series.
But as with my Portugal photos earlier this year, I once again sought out and found the small scenes whose power is much more evident in black and white. They may be colorless, but they are anything but that.
Sweden
Between Lake Mälaren and the Skerries
Before my sweetheart and I went to Sweden for a two-week relaxing holiday in August this year, I had honestly never looked into the geographical particularities of the area around Stockholm. All I knew was that they have a lot of water and boats there. I was familiar with the skerries and the tens of thousands of islands towards the open sea, but I wasn’t aware that this was repeated west of Stockholm in the fresh water of Lake Mälaren.
We like to combine sightseeing with relaxation, so we chose a cute little house on Lake Mälaren in Kungsberga, about 40 minutes from Stockholm. It was far enough away from the hustle and bustle of the city, yet close enough to make day trips in comfort. The area really has a lot to offer, not only Stockholm, but also the fortress in Vaxholm, the old Viking town of Birka, the open-air museum in Södertälje, and many, many other small and large attractions.
Disturbed & Wasen, Stuttgart @ 2025-10-03
Sickness Anniversary and Beer
3 October is a public holiday in Germany: Unity Day. As it fell on a Friday this year, my wife and I had a relaxed 2.5-hour journey to Stuttgart to see our favourite band, DISTURBED on their 25th Sickness Anniversary Tour. What we didn’t realise, however, was that Europe’s second-largest folk festival, the Cannstatter Wasen, was taking place right next to the concert hall and our hotel.
The Schleyer Hall alone has a capacity of over 15,000 concertgoers, and there weren’t many seats available, but the Wasen had to be closed briefly in the evening because there were already over 75,000 revellers on the site! What crowds…
But we seized the opportunity and went to the Wasen before the concert, with MEGADETH as the opening act, for a ride on the Ferris wheel, bockwurst and beer… and then again for a second round after the concert. So late in the evening, it was disturbing to see what alcohol does to people, but the sea of lights was spectacular from a height of 60 metres. I’d like to take a look at the electricity bill…
Lucent September
In my hometown of Wiesbaden, they say, After the wine festival, autumn is just around the corner. That was only recently, so I am trying with a heavy heart to mentally prepare myself for the dark season.
But this weekend, there’s no sign of that yet. It’s 28 degrees Celsius, and the flowers and insects are going for it. Everything is blooming, buzzing, and humming, and Thomas is busy working in the middle of it all.
Benevolent August
The last days of July in Germany were marked by lots of rain and wind, and the nasty weather continued into August. Not that I noticed much of it, as I was in Sweden with my girl, but I kept getting weather warnings for Wiesbaden on my smartphone and we weren’t completely left out in the north either.
Just as we got back home, the sun popped out and the temperature shot up to over 30 degrees. This weather seems to be sticking around and shaping up to be the vibe for August.
The back and forth seems to have taken its toll on Thomas’ garden, as some of the flowers are already looking quite bedraggled. But it could also be that their time is simply over… You know I don’t know anything about plants… I just take pictures of them :)
Shadow Tracking not only for Photographers
Photographs like the one illustrating this article would not be possible without the play of light and shadow. However, the emphasis here is on light. Without light, there would be no photography for me. Although I have a flash for my cameras, I never use it and could actually sell it.
Now, I really enjoy spending my weekends in my neighbor Thomas’s garden, photographing his passionately cultivated flowers and other plants and their visitors. My only problem is always: WHEN do I go over to get the best light, because the garden is behind the house facing northwest, which means that in the morning the house casts a thick shadow over the garden, and it’s only in the afternoon, when the sun has moved a bit, that the light comes in a little lower from the side and it’s worth taking pictures. The two large trees on the western side of the neighbor’s property and the different positions of the sun throughout the year don’t make it easier for me to choose the right time.
Yesterday, I coincidentally came across a video on YouTube about shademap.app … and the web app solves my problem in a very elegant way.
Using GitHub as Commenting Platform, 2025 Edition
From the beginning of this blog in 2019, it was possible to comment on articles on the site. Initially, this was done with Disqus, but for reasons I won’t go into here, I replaced it with Utterances after less than a year. This worked well for me because the code for my blog is not only publicly available on GitHub, but is also hosted on GitHub Pages. After a while, however, I removed this from the code as well and focused entirely on Webmentions and Fediverse syndications, which ultimately resulted in the development of my Mentions-United solution.
Yesterday, I had a little chat with @jsstaedtler on Mastodon about comment forms, syndication, and the like, and that brought my to-do of integrating a comment form back into my focus, because Johann is right about the following: Offering interactions ONLY via syndication and Webmentions does not work for users who do not have accounts on these platforms or do not run Webmention-enabled blogs. There should be something for everyone.
Since this is a static blog, my first thought was certainly to use one of the numerous comment platforms such as Formspree, Formspark, GetForm, Static Forms, FormSubmit, and whatever else they are called, but I would really like to avoid this new dependency, and I don’t see the point in paying $15 a month for a simple comment function that hardly anyone will use anyway. My bad experience with Disqus is enough for me. Now, some of you will say, “Wait, wait… XXX only costs $5 and YYY is free,” but my requirements have changed over the years: I don’t need old-school emails about incoming comments, which is what almost all of these services send, but rather a platform where comments are stored with a moderation function and from where I can pull them into my site via an API and a Mentions United plugin.
Monochrome Portugal
Photos of Peoples and Perspectives
The credo of my photography has always been “Colors and Shapes.” The more unusual and colorful, the better. I prefer small snapshots of life with lots of contrast and color, where my sweetheart always asks, “What is he shooting now?,” and is amazed by the result. Of course, large, epic landscapes are always part of it, even if I always have to make compromises in terms of photographic knowledge, equipment, and time. People, on the other hand, have never really been in my focus, even if there have been one or two good photos along the way. Interestingly, when I was editing, human scenes always benefited from leaving out the colors completely and letting the little story in the photo come to the front without being distracted by colors. The exact opposite of my usual credo.
During my two-week vacation in Portugal in May, I naturally indulged in colors and shapes again, as you can see in my posts Colorful Portugal - Grande Lisboa and Colorful Portugal - Algarve, but wherever I went, I also looked for exciting human (or similar) moments and tried to capture them. This resulted in 60 Black & White photos that are worth seeing, and I would like to share them with you.
Colophon - Special Pages
Part Four in completing my colophon
Of course, a blog is primarily intended for publishing articles, but to offer added value, these websites usually consist not only of the article pages themselves, but also of index pages, search pages, and other features, depending on the whims of the author and website developer. This site also has these special pages, which I will explain in this issue of my short series.