Hi and welcome!

Linkdump No 79

Hey everyone, it's Halloween! Except it's not, because I live in Germany and we don't have Halloween, even though the media has relentlessly and with some success tried to introduce it over here as well in recent years. When I was a kid, Halloween wasn't a thing at all. We had a different tradition though in the area where I grew up which is Swabia, basically the South West of Germany. It went like this:
In the fall we would collect (in other words, steal) sugar beets from the fields, hollow them out, carve a scary face in them, put a candle inside and then walk with them from house to house, set them down in front of the door, ring the doorbell and hide and then say a small rhyme when the people opened the door. Then we'd usually get sweets. These hollowed out beets are called "Rübengeister" (Root Ghosts). This article has a picture of what the ghosts look like. Sounds familiar?
I always wondered if Halloween had some of our tradition mixed in that was brought over to America by German emigrants. Except they chose pumpkins instead of beets, because that's what grows over there. Pumpkins are also much easier to hollow out; roots are hard as hell and it was always a pain to carve into them, we hacked away at them with spoons and knifes and screwdrivers for hours. Still a ton of fun though. So, happy Rübengeister, everyone!

Goodbye Nuclear Power Plant

You might think that that's a really weird headline, and you would not be wrong. Let me explain.

Linkdump No 78

This week I tried an experiment. I booked a small apartment somewhere in the countryside and went there for three days without bringing any devices with me that could go online. The only things I brought were a dumb phone, formerly known as, you know, a phone (so I could be reached in case of an emergency), an iPod for listening to music and an old laptop without wifi for writing. I went completely off the grid for several days for the first time in at least 15 years. And you won't believe what happened next! Actually, you probably will. It was nice and relaxing and calming. I think I'll write a bit more in a separate post, but tl;dr: it's great, I recommend it.
Because of this I don't have too many links today because well, I wasn't online too much, but I have a few. Enjoy, and treat yourself to some time offline after reading. It's nice.

Linkdump No 77

I hope this week you all did The Right Thing™ and threw away your old Windows 10 computers. If you haven't yet, what are you waiting for? These things are now a hazard to your and everybody's health and safety! If your computer is not on The List then I'm sorry, but it has to go. Bring it in for recycling, send it to landfill, set it on fire in your backyard if you have to. But it can't be used anymore. It's impossible. Nobody is more heartbroken about this than Satya Nadella, but what can he do? Microsoft spent at least tens of dollars on research and they concluded that there is absolutely no way to keep using these old computers. It can't be done. They have to be discarded, and new ones have to be bought. And who are we to argue with Microsoft. They would never lie to us out of sheer corporate greed, right? ...right?

Linkdump No 76

It's Friday again! Which means tomorrow is Saturday, and tomorrow is Retro Computer Festival at HNF in Paderborn, Germany. HNF is an amazing computer museum which alone is worth a visit, but RCF makes it all the more interesting because it's an exhibition of all kinds of retro computers by hobbyists who present their machines, and you can usually just walk up to a computer and sit down to explore it. I've been there twice and always really enjoyed it, so I'm looking forward to going back. Also slightly anxious because my health isn't great right now, but I'll manage. Here are a few pictures from last year, and Nostalgia Nerd made a great video about the museum a while ago which I already shared, but in case you missed it then, here's another chance to check it out ;)

Alright, enough about me. On with the links.