Thoughts. Music. Photography. Oh, and of course cats…
I so totally agree to this:
… the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, the new name for the Critérium du Dauphiné (we hope the organisers see sense and change the name back again soon because… well, the Dauphiné is just better, isn’t it?)
So true. More about it here.
Some drink tap water, some mineral water, and I usually alternate between these. Plus I like yoghurt, fruits, and whole grain bread. And I’m never thirsty and rarely hungry, and as Tagesschau Online just wrote, we non-pro sports don’t usually need much more than what we get with our normal food and drink. Good to know that evolution and science don’t change that much, and that fast…
Like always, thanks for reading.
I just took Bella’s picture using my Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mk2 and the 17mm/1.8 lens at f/2:
Oh, and I should probably also mention that I like to read “The Online Photographer” a lot. Michael is about my age, and beside his converted-to-black-and-white Sigma camera, he’s now also using the “grandchild” of my camera, the Mk4 version of my little Olympus. Plus his iPhone as he writes. Recommended site for photographers, really.
And as always, thanks for viewing, and for reading.
A neighbour and friend just passed away in the last days of June, during the last heatwave we’ve had. Hagen was a bit younger than me, and just retired at the beginning of this year. Read a better and more thorough obituary on the pages of the local left party DIE LINKE in case you understand German.
RIP my friend.
Rosael Torres-Davis published an article over at Cycling Weekly with the title “‘It’s the same tech for half the price’: how Chinese manufacturers are breaking the mould on value and performance“, telling the story of new and big Chinese bicycle brands like X-Lab (by XDS) and the likes.
Reminds me of dusruptive innovators like Switzerland’s Ulf Behringer who did the same with synthesizers, mixers, audio interfaces, and so on – he just undercut the market prices by half after he started producing big style in Shenzen. Or it reminds me of the new electric Renault Twingo, whose engine is Chinese as well – they developed that car in cooperation with China in less than 2 years. And it runs on a LFP battery from CATL (biggest Chinese battery maker IIRC).
Yes – Simon (our daughter’s b/f) owns a Giant TCR bicycle with a (still mechanical) Shimano Ultegra group, and Giant is maybe the biggest bicycle manufacturer in the world, followed by Merida(, and now maybe XDS?). And “German” brands like Canyon, “French” ones like Decathlon/Van Rysel, and others (“American” ones like Trek, Specialized, Cannondale, or Cervélo) also source their carbon frames right there, either in Taiwan, or in mainland China. Or the “Spanish” Orbea, although they still produce their aluminium frames inhouse, and that’s one nice (but not really cheap) cooperative anyway. And cheaper ones like our “German maker” Cube even have their frames built in Cambodia, which is what even Chinese brands like XDS do with their not-so-expensive products. So why not buying Chinese right from the start, without the middle-men and their skyrocketing price/margin increases? By now I think that when buying a Giant (or their female Liv brand) bicycle, you at least know where it all comes from…
We own steel bikes from “German manufacturer” VSF Fahrradmanufaktur. And while “manufactory” sounds nice, I have no idea where they get their steel frames from; they’re definitely not welded here… boutique shop bicycles cost a lot more than ours did.
Like I said in my headline, this is an interesting read – no matter if you’re really interested in bicycles or not.
What a nice surprise this morning. Even before opening the shutters, I heard rain. And after our recent heat wave with record temperatures of up to 41.7 degrees here in Germany (and 29.0°C in our flat), we currently have 22 degrees. Had the door and windows open for more than 3 hours now, and the cat was out all of that time as well – except for once, when Iggy, a black male neighbours’ cat walked her home. What a gentleman 😉
I’m also back to a target of over 10,000 steps as of today, and while even last week with a target of 9k I was reaching these already, it was more or less accidential until now. Like when going shopping or so. But now, that 10k line should be crossed each day again, and the month should become more or less a straight line then, as it has been before… for now, it looks like this:
As always, thanks for reading.
Our cat Bella enjoys the current weather, which is some 30°C outside (at 10am) vs 24°C inside. So after being out for some 2 hours 20 minutes or so, she briefly came home for a short snack, and now she’s gone again…
I’ve put that photo up on my mastodon account, so you can also see it there in case you want to see it bigger. And as always, thanks for viewing, and for reading.
Mitchie got Android 17 yesterday, and now I’m reading that mine is ready as well, although I’m using the stable version of GrapheneOS, so it could still last a few days until it’ll be rolled out to my phone. I’m okay with that, reminds me of how the Debian devs do it. So I’m looking forward to receiving another A16 update first.
Let’s see; I bet that GrapheneOS still beats Samsung – I have their OneUI 8.5 (based upon Android 16) on my tablet.
Anyway; thanks to all open source devs! And like always, thanks for reading.
Update from Friday, 26th of June 2026: got it this morning at sunrise or so – now I have Android 17 on GrapheneOS. I knew they would be faster than Samsung or others…
My old friend and former lead singer of my our first “proper” band just sent me his latest album:
In case you understand German lyrics and like Hard Rock, you can listen to it and order it at his Bandcamp page.
Thanks Thomas, really appreciated. Love it!
I’m now starting the second week after I got rid of my orthosis, and before that happened, I did a few steps without that “shoe” already, So I’ve set myself a goal of hitting 3,000 steps per day in the first week, then 4,500 in the second, and 6,000 steps a day right now. Next week I’ll try to get 7,500, then 9,000, you get it. Looks like this on Gadgetbridge, with data coming from my fitness tracker:
Okay, I had a few steps more, like when going shopping together with Mitchie, but you get the idea… and until now, my plan seems to work.
As always, thanks for reading.