Fred's' on Freds

What I don’t tell my brother...

Wed, 29 Jul 2026 19:52:10 +0200

My brother and his wife have a child – their whole world. Every few days we receive photos of a sheltered childhood. “Are you planning to have children?” I’m often asked this within my family circle, as are many others my age. No, we don’t actually plan to, and we shrug our shoulders as if we’d never really discussed it.

A recent Nature modelling study from 2026 reaches the alarming conclusion that a combination of 1.5 to 1.9 degrees Celsius of warming plus 22 to 28 per cent deforestation could be sufficient to trigger widespread tipping points. At present, deforestation stands at around 20 per cent.

Ikea Lillberg hinge - part 1

Fri, 24 Jul 2026 19:17:14 +0200

On our 2010 IKEA Likkberg sofa, the hinges have bent, so it’s no longer safe to sit on it. Unfortunately, these were already installed at the factory, and IKEA only carries replacement parts for items you assemble yourself.

Right to the nearby hardware store. No luck—the hinge is very specific: On the hinge, one side is an angle bracket that is designed to support the seat. After what feels like an hour without finding really what I need, I try to fumble together a combination using various flat connectors and hinges, but it doesn’t look quite right. A helpful employee suggests I might have better luck going directly to IKEA; they sometimes have the other replacement parts in stock.

Bookprinting Part 2: Signatures

Sat, 20 Sep 2025 14:41:51 +0200

[!NOTE]

Part 1 should be about creating book pages with LaTeX

Now I have individual PDF pages that are loosely connected. I could probably create a ring binder with them, but I don’t have the equipment to do so and would prefer a more traditional format. To do this, I need to create what are known as signatures. This involves printing several pages of a book onto a single sheet of paper in such a way that they can be folded to form a book. The individual folded pages can then be assembled into packages:

Das Parfum von Patrick Süskind

Fri, 19 Sep 2025 18:08:44 +0200

Wie ein herzhaftes und schweres Gericht aus einem Kochbuch von Ottolenghi, voll mit Bildsprache bei der man das Gefühl hat, man watet durch eine dunkle Bratensoße voller Adjektive:

Es wurde ein heißer Tag, der heißeste bisher in diesem Jahr. Die tausendfältigen Gerüche und Gestänke quollen wie aus tausend aufgeplatzen Eiterbeulen. Kein Wind regte sich. Das Gemüse an den Marktständen erschlaffte, eh es Mittag war. Fleisch und Fische verwesten. In den Gassen stand die verpestete Luft.

Pastatistics

Mon, 20 Dec 2021 17:10:49 +0100

That one day in our shared flat kitchen, my roommate Tim asked

Which kind of pasta would you be?

When comparing your personality to carbohydrates, which are invented in China and made grande by the italians, it gives you a good reflection on your personal strengths and flaws.

nudelpsychologie %>%
  count(Pasta) %>%
  ggplot(aes(x = n, y = reorder(Pasta, n))) +
    geom_col() +
    geom_text(aes(label = n, hjust = 1.5), color= "white") +
    labs(x = "Count", y = "Pasta")

Schöne Orte

Tue, 16 Nov 2021 17:31:00 +0100

Have you ever wondered where all the beautiful spots are in germany? Just search for all places that begin with “Schön” in the German-speaking countries. Gems appear on the map that no one had in mind (e.g. Schöneberg from the header image). On the map below, can click on the markers, zoom and out, and discover all the sightseeing-worth corners:

One can conclude: It seems obvious, that a tourist clearly should avoid the north-west of Germany and concentrate on regions close to te Czech border.

Spaeticonomy

Wed, 06 Oct 2021 21:07:28 +0200

Within messenger service, I provide a so-called Bot which is designed in order to collect different information about “Sterni” (Sternburger beer) prices at different “Späti” (Spätkauf kiosks) in Berlin:

https://telegram.me/SpaetkaufBot

By using this bot, you accept the processing of following data:

Your telegram user id
Your first name
Your last name (if set)
Your location (when transferred)

Your personal data will be used to link entries to the user in order to see malfunctions in the process. The databases will NOT be publicly available. The code, however, can be found here https://codeberg.org/crosspolar/SpaetkaufBot.