Steffen

Over the last week I listened to the audiobook “The expendables” by the economist Jeff Rubin. This book offers analysis and insights into the history of free trade and its impact on local economies. It triggers a lot of thoughts, and I will try to capture mine at a later point in time. One particular […]

The action of the German government to designate the party AFD (Alternative for Germany) an extreme right-wing organization triggered a broad range of domestic and international responses. Officials from the US also chimed in. Our vice president JD Vance posted on X that day: “The West tore down the Berlin Wall together. And it has

In conjunction with a recent sports injury, I unearthed an old pair of crutches that we still had in storage from an incident many years ago that required walking assistance. They were in good shape with a small exception – here the hand grips had somewhat disintegrated over the long period of time since the

Reading several books in the field of psychology I noticed that authors regularly address their readership with notes highlighting the method of research and by doing so express their intent to interest readers from all walks of life here, including from a broad political spectrum. Most recently in a book the author demonstrated that his

On our balcony we can regularly observe little birds – turns out they are house finches. The male species have nicely colored red heads. Previously I saw them sitting on the railing hopping around and then taking off again. This time I was observing them from a different angle, and I noticed that they are

Most recently we visited our granddaughter – she is now two and a half months old. It is an ongoing wonder to see her grow in between our visits. This time our daughter put her on her belly, and we got to see how she can prop up and already hold up her head.  She

One never thinks about the fluidity of movements during the execution of daily chores and activities – like making breakfast or taking a shower. Due to an unforeseen injury, I find myself on crutches these days. They have been sitting in the closet for a long time after a previous injury. Reviving the basic motor

We have given up on the daily newspapers in true paper form quite a while ago. Now we read online versions, and we are getting better to adopt the screening, leafing through and browsing approach to the new media – mostly via scrolling combined with headline reading. So, it came as a surprise to us

Traditionally we have not been frequent visitors to Spas and Saunas. On a trip last year, we used a rainy day to check one out – in Kochel am See in Bavaria Germany. Since we enjoyed it, we took advantage of the presence of a wellness area in our hotel in Austria on our most

What would be the draw for children to visit the Mozart Museum? Would their interest be sparked by their first music lessons in school with reference to the little boy playing so proficiently and making playing music his career eventually? Or would they be more nudged into the museum by ambitious parents to awaken their