I'm giddy with excitement. This is going to be great.

A couple of beautiful sunny days and the beginning of autumn. That was my September 2016 in terms of photography.

(Side note: all iPhones I owned since the 4S have made close up shots effortless. I love it.)

I greatly enjoy The Daily Show with Trevor Noah and their newest correspondent seems like an amazing addition to an already hilarious team. Watch for yourself:

I can't help but giggle whenever a company is lauded for reinventing the wheel in IT. Today's example:

Logitech just announced a new keyboard with a dial, customizable through their software. It looks nice and solid—as Logitech hardware usually does—and it works on macOS and Windows.

I read the article on The Verge and watched the video. All I could think of was how much this reminded me of the Sony Jog Dial™ built into my first own laptop, a 14" Sony Vaio back in 2001.

Image credit: ITCua

It, too, was backed by drivers and a customization app. I loved this thing to death, having used it for everything from navigating the Start Menu, to controlling Winamp, to running system macros that took care of actions requiring a lot of tedious clicking.

So yes, if the software is sufficiently easy to use and flexible and if the integrations with third party apps work well, this new Logitech keyboard will undoubtedly be a good tool. But it's really nothing new.

Please share my #Charlottesville toon. Thx! @GottaLaff @co_rapunzel4 @MaggieJordanACN @laloalcaraz @reddroostermann @JuddApatow @GeorgeTakei pic.twitter.com/ur5L227lP4

— Ed Hall (@halltoons) August 13, 2017

And the root cause of the above:

The White (Supremacist) House - Latest @guardian cartoon...#Charlottesville #Trump pic.twitter.com/ZNGCynzyRQ

— Ben Jennings (@BJennings90) August 13, 2017

Make no mistake:
The sitting president of the United States of America doesn't condemn and thus approves of neo-Nazis. He implicitly agrees with their actions. The fact that he hasn't yet been impeached by the GOP, which controls both chambers of Congress, tells you that most of them approve of the actions of neo-Nazis, too.

Politik als Luxus — Stefan Schulz

In den letzten zwei Tagen ist dieser Artikel immer wieder in meiner Twitter-Timeline aufgetaucht und ich habe ihn mittlerweile zweimal gelesen.

Der Autor diskutiert die vermeintliche Politikverdrossenheit der unter 40-jährigen vor dem Hintergrund der wirtschaftlichen, sozio-politischen, und medialen Gegebenheiten.

Ich finde mich in dem Artikel an vielen Stellen wieder, denn auf der einen Seite bin ich unzufrieden mit dem politischen Status Quo unseres Landes, insbesondere mit den immer stärker werdenden anti-sozialen Entwicklungen. Leider habe ich weder die Zeit mich neben meinem Beruf darum zu kümmern, noch wüsste ich, wo ich konkret damit beginnen soll, denn ich finde mich in keiner Partei wieder.

Die CDU/CSU steht außer Frage, denn der braune Partner der CDU lässt selbst die mildesten progressiven Ansätze direkt im Keim ersticken.

Die SPD ist die CDU in schwarz-rot, gelenkt von verachtungswürdigen Menschen wie Sigmar Gabriel, der nachweislich lieber der Wirtschaft dient als deutschen Bürger*innen. Hierbei meine ich ganz konkret die Abstimmung der SPD-Vollversammlung für CETA, die Gabriel durchgeboxt hat. Ein undemokratischeres Handelsabkommen kann ich mir zwar vorstellen, aber CETA und TTIP kommen schon verdammt nah dran. Wirklich tragisch daran ist, dass ich für klar definierte und öffentlich verhandelte Freihandelsabkommen bin.

Die Grünen wollen so sehr mitregieren, das sie bei der bloßen Andeutung der Chance auf eine Möglichkeit des Ansatzes einer Koalition jegliche Prinzipien über Bord werfen. Ihnen fehlen sowohl die Themen als auch klare Positionen zu Umwelt, Datenschutz, und sozialer Gerechtigkeit.

Bei den Äußerungen von Vertretern der Linken läuft es mir eiskalt den Rücken runter. Diese Partei steckt voller Populisten und sie bewegt sich mittlerweile so weit links, dass sie wieder gut genug zu den Rechten passen, um demnächst mit dem "progressiven" Flügel der AfD zu fusionieren.

Ach ja, die AfD. Diese Partei ist in kürzester Zeit von einer NPD light für den besorgten Bürger (= fremdenfeindlich, anti-sozial) zu einer NPD 2.0 mutiert, die genauso wenig etwas in Deutschland verloren hat, wie die NPD, REP, und alle sonstigen blödsinnigen Gruppierungen ewig Gestriger (ich schaue euch an, Reichsbürger).

Wo soll ich mich also einsetzen? Wo soll ich im Herbst mein Kreuz setzen? Wie kann ich irgendeine Partei unterstützen, wenn diese nicht an Wahlversprechen gebunden ist?

Vor diesem Dilemma stehe ich und viele meiner Freunde und ich sehe derzeit einfach keine Lösung.

The Verge has a short article up on pilotless planes, a study about consumer acceptance of pilotless planes, and the economic effects: Pilotless planes could save airlines billions, but passengers don’t want to fly in them yet

I thought about this a bit and I realised that I'd actually be willing and curious to be a passenger on a pilotless plane.

This passage, though:

UBS believes passengers could then see these savings passed down to them in the form of reduced fares, assuming there is no additional cost for flying pilotless and airlines don’t retain the benefits.

Really? Passing on savings to consumers. Really?

Let's ignore the development costs for this type of change that need to be recuperated; when was the last time you've seen publicly traded companies pass down savings to consumers?

There's nothing wrong with making a profit and once this technology is mature enough to confidently and securely transport people, by all means, make a profit. I just think that we all shouldn't lie to ourselves and think that there will be a financial benefit for anyone but these companies.

Which, ultimately, shows us that the core message of this article can be found in the first part of the title:
"Pilotless planes could save airlines billions"

I really enjoyed reading this review.

Even though I've been using Apple laptops and desktops as my primary drivers for over 9 years now, ThinkPads still hold a special place in my heart and I simply love the design. This new X1 Carbon might be one of the best examples of a beautifully functional, no bullshit laptop I've seen in recent years.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Review: Doing It Right

Shawn King posted this on The Loop a few days ago and it made me laugh to no end.

It's the story of a little dick measuring contest between pilots as told by the pilot of a Lockheed SR-71 „Blackbird“.

There are many people who are against vaccinating themselves or their children. Most often they're afraid of adverse effects attributed to vaccines by hacks, liars, and profiteers of fear and confusion. The fact that close to all of these adverse effects have never been successfully linked to vaccinations or were straight-up lies doesn't help to convince them.

Please show them this video, it may help prevent their kids from dying or being disabled for life from contracting a preventable disease.