November 2019 Favorites

11 min read

If you’ve seen the present, you’ve seen all things, from time immemorial into all of eternity. For everything that happens is related and the same.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 6.37

Videos

TV Shows

  • South Park, 23 South Park – Another funny season of this political incorrect TV show. These times covering stories like immigration, China, the anti-vaccination movement, or plant-based diets.
  • Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, 2 P – Good season with a lot of action.
  • The Terror, 2 P – I started watching the seconds season of The Terror. This time a group of Japanese prisoners in a US internment camp gets haunted during WWII by a yūrei.
  • Fleabag 1 2 P – This British TV show is very funny. I enjoyed every minute of both (too short) seasons. Hopefully soon more of this.
  • The Expanse, 2 3 P – I timed watching these two seasons exactly to be finished when the 4th season starts on December, 13th.
  • Mr. Robot, 4 P – This season has some really fantastic episodes. Two have a nearly perfect 10.0 score right now. I liked episode 405 in particular because it is filmed without any talking.
  • The End of the Fxxxing World, 2 N – The second season of this British TV show is very funny and filled with black humour.
  • Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories, 2 N – I already loved the first season of this Japanese TV show, which takes place in a Tokyo diner that opens between midnight to 7 am. It’s a TV show with short stories, interesting dialogs, and food.

Movies

  • Seth Meyers: Lobby Baby N – The Netflix comedy special of Seth Meyers.
  • Klaus N – One of the best Christmas movies I’ve seen so far. The story, ideas, animation, and artwork are amazing!

Music & Podcast

  • DUST: Horizons – An anthology of immersive science fiction audio stories ranging from classic tales by pioneers of the genre to thought-provoking stories from the emerging voices of today.

Books

Articles

Inspiration

Stuff & Things

  • Duolingo Stories – A cool, new way to learn a language by following a spoken and written dialog. Available for now for Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
  • Espanso – Cross-platform Text Expander written in Rust.
  • TinaCMS – A new Open-Source project for getting real-time editing into a static site. The video presentation convinced me: I’ll use this for my upcoming Gatsby website.
  • The Size of Space – A website comparing the size of objects in space.
  • Breitbandmessung Funkloch Karte – A website showing the “quality” of German mobile networks across Germany.
  • base16 – An Open-Source project providing the architecture for building carefully chosen syntax highlighting using a base of sixteen colors. Available for nearly every terminal, editor, or tool you can think of.
  • unegunn/fzf – A command-line fuzzy finder that is so impressive you won’t believe it. Provides also a Vim plugin.

Quotes

The universe is change. Life is opinion.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 4.3.4b

When we find ourselves on the side of the majority, we should pause and reflect. Because it means we might be going along with the mob. We might have turned off our own mind. We might be muting our true colors.

Mark Twain

Think by way of example of the times of Vespasian, and you’ll see all these things: marrying, raising children, falling ill, dying, wars, holiday feasts, commerce, farming, flattering, pretending, suspecting, scheming, praying that others die, grumbling over one’s lot, falling in love, amassing fortunes, lusting after office and power. Now that life of theirs is dead and gone … the times of Trajan, again the same …

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, 4.32

The cost of being wrong is less than the cost of doing nothing.

Seth Godin

When philosophy is wielded with arrogance and stubbornly, it is the cause for the ruin of many. Let philosophy scrap of your own faults, rather than be a way to rail against the faults of others.

Seneca, Moral Letters, 103.4b-5a

Finally, a unique creature in nature, standing with some dignity and nobility and transcending the human condition; and then he is good only for dying.

Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death

Let others praise ancient times; I am glad I was born in these.

Ovid

You see this goblet? asks Achaan Chaa, the Thai meditation master. For me this glass is already broken. I enjoy it; I drink out of it. It holds my water admirably, sometimes even reflecting the sun in beautiful patterns. If I should tap it, it has a lovely ring to it. But when I put this glass on the shelf and the wind knocks it over or my elbow brushes it off the table and it falls to the ground and shatters, I say, ‘Of course.’ When I understand that the glass is already broken, every moment with it is precious.