https://kernic.net/ Recent content on Kernic Hugo -- gohugo.io en Mon, 16 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/agentic-claude-my-ai-surprise/ Mon, 16 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/agentic-claude-my-ai-surprise/ Artificial intelligence is a useful toy Some years ago OpenAI released the first version of ChatGPT to the public. They made bold claims about their artificial intelligence and many people were impressed. For me, the product was quite handy and impressive from a technical perspective, but mostly a useful toy. Small coding tasks, text corrections or summaries of given information were most of the tasks I handed over. Whether it was ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Perplexity or Kagi assistant, the interaction with each of them was limited to an input field and attachments. https://kernic.net/asus-rog-xbox-ally-x-review/ Wed, 04 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/asus-rog-xbox-ally-x-review/ Some months ago I realized that GeForce Now doesn’t work for me while traveling. If you are interested why, there already is a more detailed blog post here: The ASUS ROG Xbox Ally X Instead of GeForce Now. In that post I wasn’t certain what device I would choose. But I had the chance to buy the ASUS ROG Xbox Ally X for a good price. In the meantime, I had enough time to test the device in depth. https://kernic.net/the-ghost-is-gone/ Tue, 13 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/the-ghost-is-gone/ 20260113_the-ghost-is-gone At the end of 2022, I started this blog after freezing my old one. Back then I decided to use Ghost as a CMS. I also wrote a blog post explaining my decision: Now It’s Kernic. Three years later, my enthusiasm for Ghost CMS has mostly vanished. I still think it is a good CMS, but its focus doesn’t fit my needs. The newsletter feature sounds nice, but my type of blog isn’t made for newsletters. https://kernic.net/addresses-in-stargates/ Thu, 11 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/addresses-in-stargates/ Sudden Confusion It was one of those evenings when I didn’t fall asleep within 10 seconds. Instead, a question shot into my head: How does the Stargate address system actually work? I remembered that a Stargate address, at least within the Milky Way, consists of seven symbols. Six symbols for the destination, one for the point of origin. There are 36 symbols available. Wait? If there are 36 symbols and one of them must be for the origin, how can there be more than 36 Stargates? https://kernic.net/music-from-europe-with-deezer/ Mon, 08 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/music-from-europe-with-deezer/ MEGA - Make Europe Great Again Motivated by the political situation in the USA, I reviewed my IT landscape and discovered more services from there than I’d like. I made a quick decision to use services from the EU when possible. Here, not everything is perfect either, but it’s significantly better than on the other side of the Atlantic. But how do you find alternatives from Europe? It’s not that difficult, as several people have had the same thought and so Constantin Graf has set up a website showing European alternatives: https://kernic.net/my-wishes-for-a-smartphone-os/ Wed, 22 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/my-wishes-for-a-smartphone-os/ Since then, I’ve had many smartphones in my hands and in use myself. Currently, I use an Apple device, but before that, I had Android devices. In between, there was a very brief excursion to webOS and of course Sailfish OS. All systems had something going for them, and over the last 16 years, you notice how basic functions become established. What was extremely innovative with pure gesture control on the Jolla smartphone with Sailfish OS or webOS is now standard. https://kernic.net/sometimes-its-just-the-cable/ Thu, 18 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/sometimes-its-just-the-cable/ Telekom support is exemplary At first, I didn’t have time for troubleshooting. Although the reconnection happened more than ten times a day, it was so fast that we usually didn’t notice it. But someone who did notice was Deutsche Telekom. Three days after the problems started, I received a text message. Deutsche Telekom had noticed that we were having a problem with our connection. They wanted to help us and said we should call the hotline. https://kernic.net/asus-rog-ally-x-instead-of-geforce-now/ Mon, 01 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/asus-rog-ally-x-instead-of-geforce-now/ 20250901_asus-rog-ally-x-instead-of-geforce-now GeForce Now Isn’t for On the Go After All I travel a lot. Every week, I spend more than ten hours on the train. Plus one evening at my parents’ place, away from my PC. Despite all that, I still want to be able to game when I’m away from home. A few months ago, I considered getting a gaming laptop but decided against it. Instead, I opted for Nvidia’s game streaming service, GeForce Now. https://kernic.net/my-car-something-wrong-with-steering/ Sat, 23 Aug 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/my-car-something-wrong-with-steering/ Many Years, Many Kilometers My car is old and has been driven a lot. For me, a car has always been one thing above all: a utilitarian object for getting from A to B. So, I don’t wash it every Saturday, and while a dent is annoying, it’s just a side effect of using it. What’s important is that the car is practical, reliable, low-maintenance, and durable. For 14 years, my BMW 118d has largely met these criteria. https://kernic.net/cloud-first-not-for-private-use/ Sat, 19 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/cloud-first-not-for-private-use/ What is the cloud, anyway? I define the cloud as services where you don’t have fixed resources and systems, but rather the service is offered completely independently of any hardware. Dropbox was one of the first major cloud service providers, but so were Google with its office suite and Amazon AWS with dynamically scaling resources. The actual system is managed by the provider, and you can use exactly the service you’ve subscribed to, whether it’s storage space, office software, or computing power. https://kernic.net/my-pc-is-at-its-limit/ Mon, 14 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/my-pc-is-at-its-limit/ My PC isn’t that bad, is it? Until now, I actually thought my PC was still quite powerful. The Nvidia RTX 3080 Founder’s Edition is only two generations old, and 64 gigabytes of RAM is a lot too. But what I didn’t expect, despite my WQHD resolution (3440x1440), was that the GPU isn’t the problem at all. My CPU is the bottleneck. The i7-8700k is now 6 generations behind, and it seems more has happened in the CPU market than I thought. https://kernic.net/back-to-tinkering/ Wed, 28 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/back-to-tinkering/ Comfort Replaces Linux The URSA MINOR joysticks from Winwingsim were relatively cheap. But they were also obscure and consequently had little support. So, while it was annoying, it wasn’t surprising that the joysticks weren’t automatically detected under Arch Linux. Although, Arch Linux actually detected the joysticks without a problem, it was Elite: Dangerous that didn’t. The chain between the joystick, Arch Linux, Proton, and Elite: Dangerous is just too long. https://kernic.net/winwingsim-ursa-minor-elite-dangerous-and-linux/ Tue, 27 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/winwingsim-ursa-minor-elite-dangerous-and-linux/ The Problem I installed Elite: Dangerous via Steam on my Arch Linux system. Since the game isn’t natively available for Linux, Steam delivers the Windows version and runs it using its compatibility layer, Proton. This works surprisingly well for many games, including Elite: Dangerous. However, it involves translating system calls from Linux to the corresponding Windows calls, and that doesn’t always go perfectly. So, I connected my two Winwingsim URSA MINOR sticks to my PC via USB and checked their functionality with the small program jstest. https://kernic.net/first-impression-dune-awakening/ Mon, 19 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/first-impression-dune-awakening/ Familiar Universe, Unfamiliar Game Genre As a science fiction fan, I’m of course familiar with Frank Herbert’s Dune universe. It’s even possible that the 1984 film Dune was one of the first science fiction movies I ever saw. Of course, this was long before I was sixteen; I was probably not even ten yet. Was that such a good idea? At the very least, the film certainly contributed to my enthusiasm for science fiction. https://kernic.net/twitch-drop-miner/ Mon, 12 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/twitch-drop-miner/ Watching Streams for Hours It’s not as straightforward as it sounds. First, you have to find out if there are even Twitch Drops for the games you play. If so, you then have to find a channel where drops are enabled. And finally, you have to watch for the required amount of time. What if the channel goes offline beforehand? Then you have to find a new one. And you can’t mute the stream either, at least not through the Twitch player. https://kernic.net/nintendo-switch-stickdrift-got-me-too/ Mon, 05 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/nintendo-switch-stickdrift-got-me-too/ What is stick drift? In short, stick drift is when a joystick behaves in a way that the console detects it tilting, even though the user isn’t touching it. This causes a character, for example, to run in a certain direction on its own, even when the stick has been released and is in its neutral position. The problem occurs when the stick wears out. Normal joysticks use two potentiometers to determine their position. https://kernic.net/how-to-manage-photos/ Sat, 26 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/how-to-manage-photos/ The Filenames Over the past 20 years, we obviously haven’t taken all our pictures with just one device. Several cameras and smartphones are the source of the image files. Even though the iPhone 15 Pro Max takes great pictures, we also still like to bring along our Sony NEX-5R, the predecessor to the well-known Sony Alpha 6400. Unsurprisingly, the filenames are not only hardly descriptive, but also inconsistent. From the classic DSCxxxx. https://kernic.net/bungie-presents-extraction-shooter-marathon/ Thu, 17 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/bungie-presents-extraction-shooter-marathon/ From Marathon to Halo to Destiny to Marathon The name Bungie evokes mixed feelings in me. The first Halo games weren’t innovative at the time, but they made shooters playable on consoles and also managed to tell a good story. After handing over the series to Microsoft, they teamed up with Activision and created a new game: Destiny. A looter shooter with a deep backstory and a focus on multiplayer. The first videos had me excited, but due to a lack of a console, I didn’t get started until Destiny 2. https://kernic.net/fast-writing-with-espanso/ Sun, 13 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/fast-writing-with-espanso/ Many programs can handle text snippets There are many programs you can use to create and insert text snippets. For years, I’ve known about programs like TextExpander, Phrase Express, and even AutoHotkey can be used for this. The latter is significantly more powerful, as it allows for complete scripts, which also makes it much more complex. The first two programs are quite similar and focus primarily on text snippets, although they can be enhanced with variables. https://kernic.net/attack-shark-x3-max-replaces-logitech-g-pro-x-superlight/ Fri, 11 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/attack-shark-x3-max-replaces-logitech-g-pro-x-superlight/ The Quality Doesn’t Match the Price The Logitech G PRO X SUPERLIGHT was not a cheap mouse. I shelled out nearly 112 euros for the pointer-pusher on Amazon in August 2023. It feels good in the hand, it’s quite light, and cleanly manufactured, at least on the outside. You can find more details in my review from back then: Logitech G PRO SUPERLIGHT With my previous Logitech mice, the infamous double-clicking issue always appeared after a certain period of use. https://kernic.net/audio-mixer-with-deej/ Wed, 02 Apr 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/audio-mixer-with-deej/ Sometimes too loud, sometimes too quiet I was streaming again, casually talking to myself with the game audio and music playing in the background. At some point, a viewer wandered into my stream and kindly informed me that my music was too loud and the game was too quiet. In my headphones, it was more the other way around, but it was fine for me. So, I had to open OBS and fiddle with the individual sources. https://kernic.net/sennheiser-support-impresses/ Wed, 26 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/sennheiser-support-impresses/ Problems After Two Years On January 7, 2023, I paid €199.99 for the Sennheiser MOMENTUM True Wireless 3 in-ear headphones at SATURN. Certainly not a bargain, but good audio quality is still pricey these days. I’m not actually a huge fan of in-ear headphones; I prefer over-ear ones. But for on the go and at the gym, earbuds are more practical. For the past few weeks, however, I haven’t needed the headphones, and they just sat at home for a month. https://kernic.net/equilibrium-gaming-launches-with-dune-awakening/ Sat, 22 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/equilibrium-gaming-launches-with-dune-awakening/ I often find gamers too emotional In 2024, I was in an Albion Online guild. New to the guild and highly motivated, I joined the voice chat and was greeted by a heated conversation. “Dude! That sword is totally OP! I’ll fuckin’ wreck everyone with it, those losers. Come to the arena and I’ll show you how I fuckin’ destroy everything with it,” was roughly one of the first sentences I heard. https://kernic.net/compact-case-for-nintendo-switch-games/ Wed, 19 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/compact-case-for-nintendo-switch-games/ My Switch Games Are Still Physical The Nintendo Switch is a great console and defies the trend of purely digital game sales. That’s a good thing, especially when I look at the so-called special offers in the digital stores of Nintendo, PlayStation, and Xbox. Compared to the discounts on physical games or on Steam, they’re not very appealing. You can often find Nintendo Switch games on sale at Müller, and on top of that, there’s at least a 20% discount on all toys around Christmas. https://kernic.net/changes-to-blog-posts/ Mon, 17 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/changes-to-blog-posts/ Finebits and I are implementing a table of contents My thoughts were sparked by an update to the Ghost theme Finebits, which I use here. One line in the changelog caught my eye: Added support for showing a Table of Contents in posts ✨ I’m actually a big fan of well-structured documents. You know those people who don’t use headings, but instead just underline and bold their text? At work, it always annoys me when I can’t navigate directly to headings and have to scroll through endlessly long texts. https://kernic.net/is-steam-really-that-great/ Fri, 14 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/is-steam-really-that-great/ Valve Turns Up the Steam Steam was born from Valve’s idea to better distribute updates for their games and to introduce a central anti-cheat system. However, the idea of creating a platform for purchasing games also quickly emerged. In 2003, the time had come: Steam was released, and anti-cheat became mandatory for all Valve multiplayer games. Gamers at the time were not thrilled. I personally remember the outrage that swept through the gaming community when Steam became a mandatory requirement for Half-Life 2, released in 2004. https://kernic.net/designer-drink-bottles-annoy-me/ Wed, 05 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/designer-drink-bottles-annoy-me/ Of course, the biggest advantage of standardized bottles is that they can be used by all beverage manufacturers. You know the classic beer or water bottle. They just slap a label on it, and it’s done. Once you’ve finished it, it goes into a deposit return machine, gets collected centrally somewhere, inspected, cleaned, and sent back to the manufacturers for reuse. There are different types of bottles for different purposes, and everyone has adapted to them—cup holders, for instance. https://kernic.net/my-big-desk-and-us/ Sat, 01 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/my-big-desk-and-us/ At work, I had a big desk. As messy as I can be, I love my desk to be tidy and empty. I hardly use any paper, so the items on my desk are limited to the tech gadgets: monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, headphones, microphone, StreamDeck, charging station for my iPhone and Apple Watch. But I just like being able to set something aside and still have a clean space in front of me. https://kernic.net/smartphones-and-their-cameras/ Sat, 22 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/smartphones-and-their-cameras/ Presumably, this is where marketing and engineering collide. Marketing wants amazing devices. To them, thin seems to be amazing. But so are good cameras. Engineering can’t defy the laws of physics and needs a minimum device thickness for the cameras. But marketing wants both: a great camera and a thin phone. Consequently, the device is designed to be thin, then the camera is packed in, and the housing is molded around it. https://kernic.net/ai-in-elite-dangerous-covas-next/ Wed, 19 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/ai-in-elite-dangerous-covas-next/ The ship’s computer in Elite: Dangerous is officially called the Cockpit Voice Assistant, or COVAS for short. While its voice output is available in several languages and voices, it’s very limited. COVAS announces the most important information, but in a purely static way. “Refueling complete,” “Frame Shift Drive active,” or “Landing gear deployed”—that’s all you get. On top of that, it’s all very one-sided, as COVAS is purely a voice output and cannot accept voice commands. https://kernic.net/home-cinema-on-a-budget-voplls-18000l-review/ Sat, 15 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/home-cinema-on-a-budget-voplls-18000l-review/ I have to admit, I’ve never seriously looked into projectors before. You can spend a ton of money on these devices, depending on your requirements for resolution, brightness, distance, and so on. The VOPLLS 18000L was on sale for 64 euros; it’s currently priced at 130 euros. For that price, I wasn’t expecting much, and on paper, the specs aren’t outstanding either. The resolution of 1920x1080 pixels is standard Full HD, the brightness claim of 15,000 lumens is probably a massive exaggeration, and the housing is simple plastic. https://kernic.net/my-hardware-purchase-mistakes/ Thu, 13 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/my-hardware-purchase-mistakes/ Wacom Bamboo Pen&Touch - 115 Euros To this day, I still create my own graphics or edit images when needed. 13 years ago, I had the idea to get more into graphic design and bought a Wacom Bamboo Pen&Touch drawing tablet for 80 euros, plus a wireless adapter for 35 euros. It’s been slumbering in my drawer ever since, but I could honestly sell it as unused. It saw no more than three hours of use. https://kernic.net/meta-quest-3-expensive-toy/ Sat, 01 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/meta-quest-3-expensive-toy/ Kurzer Rückblick ins Jahr 2016. Ich habe mir ein Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge gekauft (nicht meine beste Entscheidung) und dazu “gratis” das VR-Headset bekommen. Also eigentlich nur die Kopfhalterung in welche man das Smartphone als eigentliches VR Gerät eingesetzt hat. Wenn ich mich recht erinnere steuerte man alles über Tasten an der Kopfhalterung, also ohne richtigen Controller. Das war nicht so geil, weshalb ich maximal eine Stunde in VR verbracht habe. https://kernic.net/hdmi-recording-doesnt-have-to-be-expensive/ Sat, 25 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/hdmi-recording-doesnt-have-to-be-expensive/ Bei den Alternativen hängt es immer davon ab, was für Anforderungen man hat. Ich habe drei Geräte rausgesucht, welche unterschiedliche Anforderungen erfüllen. Die teureren Aufnahmegeräte, noch immer günstiger als Elgato oder AVerMedia, sind von einem bekannteren Hersteller, das einfache und günstige Modell habe ich selbst erfolgreich im Einsatz. Der Einstieg ohne Durchleitung Man denkt bei den Capture Cards immer, dass diese zwischen die Konsole und den Bildschirm gehängt werden. Es geht aber auch einfacher, wenn man den Computer eh am selben Bildschirm betreibt. https://kernic.net/one-year-3d-printer-worth-it/ Tue, 14 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/one-year-3d-printer-worth-it/ The first few days and weeks were tough, as described in my first impressions post, A 3D Printer Has Moved In. On one hand, I had chosen a relatively inexpensive model; on the other, I knew nothing about the subject. Supposedly, more expensive models from BambuLab or Prusa are much more beginner-friendly and require less maintenance. Then again, if I had gone that route, I wouldn’t have learned so much about linear motion, the properties of plastics, thermodynamics, and much more over the past year. https://kernic.net/winwing-ursa-minor-review/ Mon, 06 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/winwing-ursa-minor-review/ Personally, I don’t care if Winwing took inspiration from their competitor, VKB. VKB didn’t invent the mechanism, and accordingly, they don’t have a patent on it. The joysticks were each delivered in a box, where the devices were embedded in perfectly fitting foam. In addition to a USB-A to USB-C cable, an Allen key and screws for optionally locking the axes are included. No manual, no screws for a mount. Getting them to work under Linux was a complete failure. https://kernic.net/winwing-ursa-minor-hosas-affordable-joystick-entry/ Sat, 28 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/winwing-ursa-minor-hosas-affordable-joystick-entry/ Elite: Dangerous is a game that has had me hooked for weeks now. Why? I think I just love the immersion the game offers. But in the end, input devices also contribute to that immersion. Playing a spaceship with a keyboard and mouse is neither intuitive nor immersive. Thanks to MyGamepad, at least the keyboard is out of the picture. Then it occurred to me: I bought a cheap joystick about 12 years ago. https://kernic.net/kindle-scribe-as-daily-planner/ Thu, 26 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/kindle-scribe-as-daily-planner/ There are a few tools I can recommend for productivity. First and foremost, Todoist for task planning and Obsidian for note management, although Obsidian can also be used for tasks. As an alternative to Obsidian, I’d also like to throw UpNote into the ring. These are the three tools I’ve been most satisfied with so far, and they do their job very well. But they are also the three tools that have shown me that a fully digital system doesn’t work for me. https://kernic.net/ai-takes-over-daily-life-faster-than-expected/ Thu, 12 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/ai-takes-over-daily-life-faster-than-expected/ AI has been the big IT trend of the last few years. Nvidia is happy about it; the environment, not so much. Personally, I haven’t been very convinced by AI until now. After testing ChatGPT and Perplexity.ai, its usefulness for me was limited to programming small Python projects. For fact-based topics, I found the results too vague. Having AI write texts was a total failure. You can really tell where the text comes from. https://kernic.net/balatro-fun-everywhere/ Mon, 09 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/balatro-fun-everywhere/ Poker is an exciting game. It’s not for nothing that it has been a perennial favorite among card games for almost two hundred years. The simplicity of the rules appeals to a broad audience, and the element of chance makes every game unpredictable and exciting. As a game of chance, however, poker has very little tactical depth. At least not when you play it digitally. When playing with others in person, of course, there’s also bluffing. https://kernic.net/new-censorship-warhammer-40k-darktide/ Thu, 28 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/new-censorship-warhammer-40k-darktide/ The Warhammer 40,000 universe is violent and brutal. Unsurprisingly, the games based on this universe don’t skimp on blood and gore effects. The game I’m currently playing, Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, is no exception when it comes to depicting violence. Visible flesh wounds on enemies, spurting blood, and severed body parts are, for developer Fatshark, part of the universe and therefore part of the game. I can understand that; it makes the game feel even more oppressive, more absurd, and the desperate struggle for survival becomes even more palpable. https://kernic.net/more-ram-after-all/ Tue, 26 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/more-ram-after-all/ While checking my shopping cart afterwards, I noticed that I had added the item to my cart twice. 64GB of RAM? After years of holding back, why not? Ordered. And to think I went to all the trouble last week of increasing the swap on my Arch Linux from 4GB to 32GB for nothing. That was a bit tricky since my root partition didn’t have enough space. Thanks to drive encryption, resizing the partitions wasn’t exactly straightforward, and in the end, I just put the 32GB swapfile on the /home partition. https://kernic.net/orion-arc-zen-new-browser-generation/ Sat, 16 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/orion-arc-zen-new-browser-generation/ In my mother’s school library, I opened the gateway to the internet, a browser, for the very first time. Back then, it was Netscape Navigator, which later lost the browser war to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. It’s only thanks to its successor, Mozilla Firefox, that we had more than one browser to choose from afterward. But Internet Explorer was never a good browser, and so Firefox gained more and more market share, at least in Germany and Europe. https://kernic.net/who-plans-such-packaging/ Mon, 11 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/who-plans-such-packaging/ Good butchers are unfortunately hard to come by around here. That’s why we resort to pre-packaged and pre-sliced products for both cold cuts and cheese. In principle, they’re a good idea, if you ignore the packaging waste. It’s also clear that no one at the manufacturer is standing there, slicing the stuff by hand and then manually packaging it. A machine slices the product onto a conveyor belt, which is why the slices are always staggered. https://kernic.net/back-to-arch-linux/ Fri, 01 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/back-to-arch-linux/ A little over a year ago, I wrote a post about my decision to switch to Windows 11. I weighed the time investment for Linux against data privacy and, at the time, opted for the time savings. An important, unmentioned factor was also Destiny 2, which Bungie intentionally keeps off Linux. A year later, I no longer play Destiny 2, and Microsoft is heading in a concerning direction with Recall and AI. https://kernic.net/exploring-infinite-expanse/ Tue, 29 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/exploring-infinite-expanse/ My first blog was about my travels through Eve Online. The corporation, as clans are called there, wanted a diary from its recruits. What did you experience, what did you learn? And why should I only publish that in a forum? So, my first real blog was born, and as you can see, I’m still blogging today, though no longer about Eve Online. Why am I telling you this? I love science fiction and, logically, Sci-Fi games, especially spaceship games. https://kernic.net/no-motivation-albion-online/ Sat, 26 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/no-motivation-albion-online/ For many years, I’ve regularly been hit with the urge to play Albion Online. For many years, I’ve kept coming back to the game, thinking about how I’ll approach it this time. For many years, my motivation has fizzled out after just a few weeks. With the launch of the European server, I was sure: This time, I’m going all in on Albion Online. But then Destiny 2: The Final Shape came out at the same time, I was traveling a lot for work, and I also had a vacation. https://kernic.net/scrub-daddy-in-action/ Mon, 21 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/scrub-daddy-in-action/ There are countless sponges out there. The normal kitchen sponges have a soft side and a rougher side. You use the latter to tackle coarse dirt, and the former to get the dishes really clean. At least, that’s the idea. The Scrub Daddy doesn’t have two sides, but it still claims to master two types of cleaning. I’ve noticed the sponge in drugstores over the past few years, mainly because of its appearance. https://kernic.net/peloponnese-road-trip-conclusion/ Mon, 14 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/peloponnese-road-trip-conclusion/ It’s been over two weeks since our road trip, and we’ve had enough time to sort through our impressions. After many years of summer holidays in Italy, you might think Greece is the next logical destination. Both countries are known for their ancient history and must therefore be very similar. Wrong! In the Peloponnese, you can see and feel the influences of the Orient everywhere. Cities like Tripoli could easily be mistaken for Tripoli. https://kernic.net/logitech-mx-keys-six-month-review/ Wed, 09 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/logitech-mx-keys-six-month-review/ Last August, I crowned my favorite keyboards: The Cherry Stream and the Razer Ornata. A lot has changed since then. With the MyGamepad (my first impressions), I hardly use the keyboard for gaming anymore, and I’ve received a new work laptop without USB-A. The Cherry Stream mouse/keyboard bundle requires a USB-A dongle, and the mouse is rather mediocre. And the first version of the Razer Ornata unfortunately has high keys, which I’m just not a fan of. https://kernic.net/peloponnese-road-trip-days-14-20/ Sat, 21 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/peloponnese-road-trip-days-14-20/ You can tell from the number of days covered in this post that the last few days of our road trip were quieter. That was by design. We wanted to relax a bit at the end before heading back to our daily routine. Days 14 and 15 Off to the West We got up early and packed up camp. It took us just under an hour, without rushing. A quick check-out and we were already on the mountain road to the Mani coast, which we followed all the way to Kalamata. https://kernic.net/new-world-aeternum-opinion/ Tue, 17 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/new-world-aeternum-opinion/ For me, New World is a game full of missed opportunities. When it was released in 2021, the game was beautiful and the combat system was excellent. But the execution was just plain bad. The game’s performance was abysmal even on high-end hardware, the netcode threw several wrenches into the works for the combat system and other game systems, and the content was rather sparse. Amazon Game Studios, or AGS for short, has addressed some of this over the last three years. https://kernic.net/peloponnese-road-trip-days-9-13/ Thu, 12 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/peloponnese-road-trip-days-9-13/ This post will be shorter. After the first 10 days, we were exhausted from all the impressions and the strain, so we allowed ourselves some rest. After all, this road trip is also our annual vacation, and relaxation is part of it. But let’s get on with the next few days. Day 9 South with a spontaneous change of plans Waking up early to pack was on the agenda again. It takes us about an hour if we don’t rush. https://kernic.net/camping-vacation-equipment-recommendations/ Wed, 11 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/camping-vacation-equipment-recommendations/ Seit 15 Jahren verbringen wir unseren großen Jahresurlaub meist in Italien und bis auf wenige Ausnahmen auf einem Campingplatz. Klassisch mit Zelt, also sehr einfach. Zeltcamping ist nicht nur günstiger, man ist auch durchgehend an der frischen Luft und selbst im Zelt ist man irgendwie draußen. Über die Jahre sind uns auch einige Probleme untergekommen, für welche wir Lösungen oder Verbesserungen finden mussten. Neben der Auswahl des Campingplatzes selbst, welchen ich in einem anderen Beitrag beleuchten werde, ist die richtige Ausrüstung ein wichtiger Faktor für einen gelungenen Campingurlaub. https://kernic.net/peloponnese-road-trip-days-5-8/ Mon, 09 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/peloponnese-road-trip-days-5-8/ The first four days in the northern region of Achaia were exhausting, and the pebble beach wasn’t our thing. So, we decided to move on to the Argolis region around Nafplio. Day 5 Campsite and Nafplio The drive is mostly on the highway. Only the last 50 kilometers are on country roads, the quality of which varies greatly. Sometimes they’re well-maintained like an older federal highway in Germany, other times they’re just short of a gravel track. https://kernic.net/peloponnese-road-trip-days-1-4/ Sat, 07 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/peloponnese-road-trip-days-1-4/ The Peloponnese is a large peninsula in the south of Greece. Actually, it’s not a peninsula anymore since it was separated from the mainland by the Corinth Canal, but we’ll just ignore that for now. We’ve planned three weeks for a road trip across the entire peninsula. As always, with our own car and tent. I already described the ferry journey in the post Spontaneous and Unplanned Vacation; this post is about the time after that. https://kernic.net/hp-goodbye-macbook-pro-hello/ Thu, 05 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/hp-goodbye-macbook-pro-hello/ When I started at my new job last year, I was naturally also given a company laptop. It was an HP EliteBook 840 G11. According to the specs, the laptop looked pretty good, but right from the start, it wasn’t. It began with the audio devices, both USB and Bluetooth, sometimes working and sometimes not. This made Teams meetings a constant surprise. Will my headset work? If so, for how long? https://kernic.net/vacation-spontaneous-no-plan/ Tue, 03 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/vacation-spontaneous-no-plan/ Our vacations are always a bit chaotic. Usually, we decide on a destination region beforehand and then just hit the road. Last year, that didn’t work out so well, as our car had various issues right before our annual vacation. We still went, but in my mother’s car. A convertible with significantly less space, which meant camping was out. And the fall vacation? Last-minute deals are a thing of the past, yet we still booked our all-inclusive week in Crete only two weeks in advance. https://kernic.net/warhammer-40k-darktide-first-impression/ Mon, 02 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/warhammer-40k-darktide-first-impression/ Even though I consider myself a nerd, Warhammer was always a bit too nerdy for me. Spending a lot of money on miniatures and then having to paint them was both too expensive and too much of a hassle. As a result, my knowledge was limited to “there are Orks and some kind of Space Marines.” And the latter seem to be the main protagonists of the game Warhammer 40k: Space Marine 2, which is coming out in a few days. https://kernic.net/train-travel-switzerland/ Fri, 23 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/train-travel-switzerland/ No, this won’t be a complaint today, quite the opposite. For once, I’d like to stand up for the railway. I don’t necessarily mean local transport. That’s usually crowded, dirty, and inefficient. But for long distances, there’s nothing more comfortable than the train, when it works. Unfortunately, that’s often not the case in Germany. Since last year, however, I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing the advantages of the railway with SBB in Switzerland. https://kernic.net/publishers-and-geforce-now/ Sun, 18 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/publishers-and-geforce-now/ What do you do if you’re a gamer without a powerful gaming PC or a Steam Deck, but you have a good internet connection? You play in the cloud. The most prominent option here is probably Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud, which is integrated into the Xbox Game Pass. However, this is limited to the games available in the Game Pass. The most open alternative is likely Shadow Cloud Gaming. Here, you get a real PC in the cloud, complete with a dedicated graphics card. https://kernic.net/mygamepad-first-impression-assembly/ Thu, 15 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/mygamepad-first-impression-assembly/ At the end of June, I decided I’d rather build the MyGamepad myself than buy an Azeron Cyborg for over €350. Ideally, the MyGamepad should cost around €150 in parts if I build it with controller functionality. And, of course, if I don’t have to buy all the parts in bulk. Fortunately, MIRE, the creator of the MyGamepad, was kind enough to offer suitable kits on Kleinanzeigen. So, after I had everything together and printed, the real fun began. https://kernic.net/is-railway-a-relic/ Mon, 05 Aug 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/is-railway-a-relic/ On Reddit, there was a discussion about Friedrich Merz’s proposal to reduce Deutsche Bahn’s services. The idea was that this would prevent delays. Very short-sighted, but that’s not the point here. My focus is on a comment that viewed the railway as a relic of old times—a narrative from the last 50 years that has also contributed to the neglect of our rail system. His proposal, freely interpreted: In the future, we should focus more on electric buses and carbon-neutral flying. https://kernic.net/kagi-new-search-engine/ Wed, 31 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/kagi-new-search-engine/ In my post about SearchGPT, I already mentioned that Google’s search results are becoming less and less relevant for me. The first page only shows large, shallow content factories, YouTube videos, and Reddit. The latter is the most helpful, but it’s far from good. Yet, there are so many blogs, specialized forums, and websites on the internet that would give me a faster and better answer. But for Google, they just aren’t relevant. https://kernic.net/back-to-obsidian-again/ Sun, 28 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/back-to-obsidian-again/ In my post I Thought I Loved Obsidian, I listed my problems with Obsidian. Too complex for me, I thought at the time. I need something simple. Files in folders or a simple program. That’s what I thought back then. The files-in-folders approach wasn’t very successful. Synchronization was a huge problem, especially with my smartphone. It was a struggle on Android, but virtually impossible on the iPhone. That’s why I reinstalled UpNote. https://kernic.net/searchgpt-end-free-internet/ Fri, 26 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/searchgpt-end-free-internet/ ChatGPT is on everyone’s lips, and of course, I’ve tried it out too. I especially like using it for smaller Python scripts, though not always successfully. I hardly use LLMs for information; the answers have been too mixed so far. To this day, I prefer to get my knowledge directly from the sources, found via search engines. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of junk out there. Google’s ranking, in particular, now ensures that more and more cobbled-together, if not generated, content ends up in the top spots. https://kernic.net/first-weeks-albion-online-europe/ Mon, 22 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/first-weeks-albion-online-europe/ A few weeks ago, Albion Online launched a server for Europe. Although I was there from the start, I was unfortunately less active than I had hoped. That has changed a bit now, even though my guild, contrary to what I said in my last post, didn’t start a beginner’s guild. Instead, I was kicked out without a word and have now found a home with Blickfang. I’m still having a hard time deciding which weapon to focus on. https://kernic.net/azeron-cyborg-mygamepad-alternative/ Wed, 26 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/azeron-cyborg-mygamepad-alternative/ Mouse and keyboard are my preferred input devices, both for work and for gaming. For the latter, aiming with a mouse is superior to any controller (without aim assist). The mouse also has enormous advantages in strategy games. The keyboard scores points with its large number of keys. Controllers usually offer around 16 keys, on the more expensive models. Standard controllers have 12 keys, including Start and Select. That’s not enough for me; you often have to press some kind of combination, which is annoying. https://kernic.net/casual-or-hardcore-gamer/ Tue, 25 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/casual-or-hardcore-gamer/ It happened to me again. Before the European server for Albion Online went live, I was looking for a guild. Thanks to my job in Switzerland and my girlfriend, my gaming time is limited, so I was looking for something relaxed. I ended up finding The Black Angels, a guild for all experience levels and playstyles. At least, that’s what they claimed. A month later, they announced a focus on guild PvP and introduced a minimum level of experience points. https://kernic.net/train-two-small-stories/ Mon, 24 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/train-two-small-stories/ It’s been a while since I last posted about Deutsche Bahn. That’s certainly not because the trains have gotten any better. I’ve simply gotten used to the situation and accepted it. In return, I get to chuckle at the surprise of occasional travelers nervously glancing at their tightly scheduled connections. Even though I’m less surprised and annoyed these days, there have been two stories over the past few months that I want to share here. https://kernic.net/destiny-2-final-shape-review/ Tue, 11 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/destiny-2-final-shape-review/ After a three-month delay, the time has come: Bungie has released the final DLC of the Light and Darkness Saga, The Final Shape. The Witness has entered the Traveler and, with its minions, is doing everything it can to reshape the universe according to its will. As Guardians, we are trying to stop it. I’ll tell you here whether the conclusion to the saga is a success and how the new mechanics play. https://kernic.net/apple-watch-daily-use/ Sun, 02 Jun 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/apple-watch-daily-use/ I’d been debating for a long time whether or not to get an Apple Watch. Until now, I had an old Fitbit Charge, which was neither particularly practical nor comfortable. I’ve since decided on the Apple Watch Series 9 and have been wearing and using it for a few weeks. First off, I have to admit that I’ve never really been a watch person. I own a watch or two, but I rarely wore them. https://kernic.net/losing-weight-gym/ Fri, 24 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/losing-weight-gym/ Over the last few years, I’ve unfortunately put on more weight than I’d like. For a while, I tried counting calories and getting some steps in on the treadmill. But after my fall vacation last year, I let it all slide again. Counting calories is unnecessarily complicated and therefore extremely annoying. And I didn’t want to use the treadmill during meetings. I thought it would look weird. Thanks to my boss, who now does most of his meetings on the treadmill, I could now also walk on the treadmill during meetings. https://kernic.net/fum-smoking-alternative/ Tue, 21 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/fum-smoking-alternative/ I smoke, and I smoke too much. Not only is it expensive, but it eventually takes a toll on your health. Since I’m now at an age where every vice makes itself more noticeable, I find myself thinking more and more often about smoking, or rather, about quitting. WARNING (11/25/2024) I am currently receiving reports via email and on Reddit that FÜM is having issues with shipping and customer service. Some customers have not received their orders, and support seems to be trying to blame the customer for the problem. https://kernic.net/albion-online-seriously-mobile/ Fri, 10 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/albion-online-seriously-mobile/ “One world, many devices.” That’s the slogan still displayed on Albion Online’s loading screen. The one world has since become three. And even though the game isn’t yet available on many consoles, it runs on Android and iOS in addition to Windows, MacOS, and Linux (and thus on the Steam Deck). Since the Steam Deck’s release, it has controller support on all platforms, in addition to the existing touchscreen controls on mobile devices. https://kernic.net/finebits-new-ghost-theme/ Tue, 07 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/finebits-new-ghost-theme/ On Reddit, I stumbled upon a post in the Ghost subreddit. They were looking for testers for a new Ghost theme called finebits. The theme promised to be minimalist, simple, and clean. Since I wasn’t happy with my previous theme, I thought: Why not? A very brief email exchange later, I was able to purchase the theme from the official store, free of charge thanks to a discount code. But even without it, buying the $89 theme would have been very simple. https://kernic.net/backpack-battles-surprisingly-fun/ Mon, 06 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/backpack-battles-surprisingly-fun/ I was recommended Brotato as a game, and if you don’t know it: it’s a lot of fun. Through Brotato, however, I came across another game that I enjoy even more: Backpack Battles. Backpack Battles is actually a pretty simple game, at least at the beginning. You choose a class and start with a small backpack and a few items. The goal is to expand your backpack, buy new items, and combine them correctly. https://kernic.net/ps-vita-homebrew-custom-firmware/ Sun, 05 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/ps-vita-homebrew-custom-firmware/ Something triggered me to dig out my PlayStation Vita again. Unfortunately, I never had many games for the device, although Gravity Rush has stuck in my mind to this day as an entertaining and innovative game. Since Sony has now abandoned the console, I wanted to see what was still possible with it. Its predecessor, the PSP, was at least not safe from hackers. A quick search revealed that the PS Vita has now been almost completely hacked. https://kernic.net/albion-online-tips-start/ Sun, 21 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/albion-online-tips-start/ Sometime between April 24th and April 29th, depending on their Founder’s Pack, players will be able to start on the new European server. It is the third server to launch for Albion Online. This gives us the chance to not start unprepared on the Europe server. Invest in Gold At the beginning, the price of gold is set by Sandbox Interactive, and market orders are created for it. It will only be traded after the official launch, and only then will the price be determined by player supply and demand. https://kernic.net/destiny-2-stasis-hunter/ Tue, 16 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/destiny-2-stasis-hunter/ Bungie has dropped a fun horde mode with the new Onslaught activity. You have to survive 50 waves by preventing enemies from destroying your base. You also have tools like turrets, mines, and decoys at your disposal. Loot consisting of iconic weapons that were previously removed from the game provides additional motivation. But what’s a good way to get through the mode? Wave after wave, enemies push towards our base. Besides the most obvious tactic of killing all enemies as quickly as possible, there’s another option: stopping the enemies to have more time to kill them. https://kernic.net/brave-browser-switch-again/ Fri, 05 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/brave-browser-switch-again/ Browsers and me, it’s a never-ending story. Early on, I switched from Internet Explorer to Mozilla Firefox and have pretty much stuck with it ever since. Every now and then, I’d venture out to Chrome, and briefly to Edge. For the past few weeks, I’ve been using Opera because its Workspaces offered an easy way to separate my personal and professional life. But then I somehow stumbled upon Brave. A browser that had only been on my radar peripherally. https://kernic.net/perfect-commuter-backpack/ Wed, 03 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/perfect-commuter-backpack/ I’m on the road a lot, either commuting from Frankfurt am Main to Zurich and back in a single day, or spending several days at a time in southern Germany and Switzerland. Whenever possible, I travel by train. But I don’t want to lug around a ton of luggage, just a single backpack. I now own several of them, each bought for a specific situation in my life. One with multiple simple compartments for a normal workday with mobile gear, one with just a single roll-top compartment for work with fixed equipment, one for hiking, and a cheap one for the gym from many years ago. https://kernic.net/3d-printed-painted-ace-of-spades/ Tue, 02 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/3d-printed-painted-ace-of-spades/ Destiny 2 is a game that has captivated me for years. A big reason for this is that I just found Cayde-6 funny, and he drew me into the story. With his death, his weapon, the Ace of Spades, became usable for players. Unfortunately, it’s not a great weapon anymore in comparison, but it’s still iconic. The Ace of Spades was one of my first Exotics and, back in the Forsaken expansion, one of my favorite weapons. https://kernic.net/frankfurt-am-main-shame/ Sat, 30 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/frankfurt-am-main-shame/ In the cover photo, Frankfurt am Main looks really beautiful. The skyscrapers are unique in Germany, the Römer looks beautifully historic, and fundamentally, Frankfurt is perfectly located in the middle of Germany. But if you look closer, the only advantage that remains is its location, because you can get away from Frankfurt quickly. I didn’t actually want to write a post like this. Normally, the only part of Frankfurt I see is the main train station. https://kernic.net/music-streaming-which-provider/ Thu, 28 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/music-streaming-which-provider/ By now, I’ve probably tried all the major music streaming providers. Many years ago, it was Spotify and Deezer. Then came YouTube Music and YouTube Premium. Thanks to buying an iPhone, I’m currently enjoying a trial of Apple Music. The conclusion is quite simple: the providers are barely different. Spotify still offers exclusive podcasts, Apple has integrated lyrics, and Deezer supposedly has higher audio quality. None of this really makes a difference for me. https://kernic.net/bye-bye-amazon-prime/ Wed, 27 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/bye-bye-amazon-prime/ It’s actually a bit silly, but I spontaneously canceled my Prime subscription because of a botched Amazon Fresh delivery. But really, that was just the straw that broke the camel’s back. “Is Amazon Prime worth it for me?” was the question I answered with a “no.” The funny thing is that it was all triggered by a €15 voucher for an €80 purchase from Tegut on Amazon Fresh. The voucher motivated me to try the Amazon Fresh service on a Saturday. https://kernic.net/albion-online-not-sure/ Tue, 26 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/albion-online-not-sure/ I’ve already written an introduction to Albion Online, a free-to-play sandbox MMO. I’ve been following the game with fascination since just before its release. But every time I’ve gotten into it, I’ve quit again after just a few weeks. Why? I have no idea. Of course, one reason is surely the limited time I can invest in my hobby. Destiny 2 has had me hooked for months, leaving little time for other games. https://kernic.net/new-world-wasted-potential/ Tue, 26 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/new-world-wasted-potential/ MMOs are a dime a dozen, and for many years, I’ve been a fan of the genre. If you want, you can run around with a group of like-minded people, but without any obligation or stress. Starting with Lineage II, moving through various Asian MMOs to Eve Online, and in a broader sense Destiny 2, I’ve played a lot of them. That said, the two most famous representatives of the genre have passed me by: World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy XIV. https://kernic.net/destiny-2-into-racism/ Sat, 23 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/destiny-2-into-racism/ Bungie has been under constant criticism for several months. First, they presented poor numbers, then they postponed the expansion The Final Shape by several months, and finally laid off employees. But the management remains unchanged. Sounds strange? That’s how it is. But we players shouldn’t be at risk of dying of boredom due to the postponement. That’s why Bungie announced they would deliver additional content for the postponement period. What kind of content? https://kernic.net/brief-wordpress-visit/ Fri, 22 Mar 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/brief-wordpress-visit/ Regular visitors to my blog might have noticed that it looked a bit different yesterday. The reason was that I had briefly switched my blogging system from Ghost to WordPress. Firstly, I wanted to see if a migration was possible. Secondly, I was annoyed that Ghost doesn’t have integrated visitor statistics. For WordPress, there’s a privacy-friendly plugin for this called WP-Statistics. With Ghost, you have to rely on external solutions. https://kernic.net/geforce-now-instead-notebook/ Sun, 25 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/geforce-now-instead-notebook/ Four weeks ago, I published a post in which I asked myself the question: Do I need a gaming notebook? In that article, I came to the conclusion that a gaming notebook would be a good idea. In the meantime, I’ve looked into the matter more closely and have completely changed my mind. The original budget was set at €2,000. For that price, you can get a gaming notebook with a 4070 and an i7 processor, a 1 TB SSD, and 16-32 GB of RAM. https://kernic.net/from-daily-business-to-projects/ Fri, 02 Feb 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/from-daily-business-to-projects/ I am a logistician through and through. I studied business administration with a focus on logistics at a cooperative university, so I was working while I studied. Since then, I’ve always been in the operational side of logistics companies, either directly responsible for a specific area or for the entire warehouse in general. That changed partially three years ago. In addition to my operational responsibilities, I also became responsible for IT projects as a Product Owner. https://kernic.net/three-investigators-every-case/ Wed, 31 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/three-investigators-every-case/ Justus Jonas, Peter Shaw, and Bob Andrews - the famous three detectives from Rocky Beach are probably a household name for everyone in Germany. If not, you absolutely must open your music streaming service of choice after reading this post and listen to the first episode, Die drei Fragezeichen - und der Super-Papagei (The Three Investigators and the Stuttering Parrot)! The Three Investigators are three boys who run a detective agency in the fictional town of Rocky Beach. https://kernic.net/need-gaming-notebook/ Tue, 30 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/need-gaming-notebook/ 50.1%—that’s the portion of my working hours I have to spend in Switzerland. At least, calculated over the year. Still, on average, I have to work at least 21.1 hours per week in Switzerland, otherwise I’ll have issues with social security. Luckily, my parents live on the Swiss border, so I don’t have to commute the entire way to the office every single workday. I’ve now planned my workdays in Switzerland for the next few weeks, and due to company events, on-site appointments, training, and personal plans, there are quite a few days when I won’t be at home. https://kernic.net/game-developers-and-fans/ Mon, 29 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/game-developers-and-fans/ A popular statement about multiplayer games is often: “The game is dying.” Player numbers are frequently cited to support this, but even more often, it’s the opinions of well-known figures from the game, i.e., influencers. You can look at the player numbers, and they do indeed give an indication of the revenue a game is likely generating. But whether the game will be shut down due to low player counts is another matter. https://kernic.net/infinity-saga-marathon/ Wed, 24 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/infinity-saga-marathon/ According to Disney+, 23 films belong to the MCU’s Infinity Saga, which revolves around the Avengers Initiative. The Avengers, a team of superheroes like Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and many others, were assembled by Nick Fury to protect humanity from unknown threats. The quality of the films varies, sometimes heavily depending on the main hero of the movie. I personally found the Iron Man films quite cool, and the spin-offs centered around Thor are also entertaining. https://kernic.net/flu-seven-days-down/ Sun, 21 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/flu-seven-days-down/ Last week, we had a workshop at work that I was looking forward to. Rethinking the processes in my area without being constrained by existing limitations. It was scheduled for three days. Three days that I instead spent under the covers with a heating pad. The flu had gotten me. The flu actually hit me the Friday of the week before last. Hoping to avoid the worst by taking it easy over the weekend, I spent that Friday on the sofa. https://kernic.net/3d-printer-moved-in/ Sun, 07 Jan 2024 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/3d-printer-moved-in/ My girlfriend actually wanted to get me the LEGO NASA Space Shuttle Discovery for Christmas. But when it was time to order the set, it was either sold out or ridiculously expensive. Instead, she spotted another item on my wishlist and ordered it: the Creality Ender 3 V2 Neo 3D printer. It had been on the list for a while, and neither she nor I were entirely sure if we needed a 3D printer. https://kernic.net/kindle-scribe-back-to-handwriting/ Thu, 28 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/kindle-scribe-back-to-handwriting/ Handwriting, who still does that? These days, we mostly type on a computer or a smartphone. At least I do. I rarely have a pen and paper with me. It annoys me that my notes are scattered all over the place and I can’t easily edit them. Wrong structure for your notes? You just end up scribbling somewhere in between. And where the hell is that note when I need it? https://kernic.net/sturm-und-drang-2023/ Wed, 13 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/sturm-und-drang-2023/ The weapons Sturm and Drang have been around almost since the release of Destiny 2. What’s special about these two weapons is that they are designed as a matching pair. While Sturm, an exotic hand cannon, packs a decent punch, Drang, a sidearm with a three-round burst, is weaker but faster. But it gets exciting when the two weapons work together. While kills with Sturm reload the energy weapon, in this case Drang, kills with Drang overload Sturm with charged bullets. https://kernic.net/why-no-electric-car/ Sat, 09 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/why-no-electric-car/ It’s pretty clear that cars with combustion engines will soon be extinct. Right now, the only alternative seems to be battery-powered electric cars. Other technologies are still a long way from being practical, if they ever will be. I just have one problem with electric cars: they don’t fit into my life. No, I don’t need a car to be loud and smelly. It just needs to get me and my cargo (passengers and luggage) reliably and flexibly from A to B. https://kernic.net/steam-link-wont-cooperate/ Tue, 05 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/steam-link-wont-cooperate/ My commute is four hours each way, which I thankfully only have to do once a week. It’s environmentally friendly and comfortable, despite the unreliability of Deutsche Bahn. Four hours that I can use for myself: writing blog posts, watching series and movies, or gaming. For the latter, I bought the Backbone One smartphone controller. Sure, there are a few games on iOS. I already know Dead Cells from the Nintendo Switch and it’s a great game, but I’ve also played it for far too many hours. https://kernic.net/iphone-15-pro-max-upgrade/ Tue, 28 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/iphone-15-pro-max-upgrade/ After waiting a few weeks, my new smartphone has finally arrived: The iPhone 15 Pro Max. It’s replacing my five-year-old OnePlus 6T, which was noticeably showing its age. The battery in particular was feeling its years; below 50% charge, the phone would become sluggish and even restart unexpectedly. Since my girlfriend is very happy with her iPhone 11, I also decided to go with a smartphone from Apple after some consideration. https://kernic.net/rubiks-cube-complicated-fun/ Tue, 21 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/rubiks-cube-complicated-fun/ Everyone is probably familiar with the Rubik’s Cube. A cube with six colored sides, each divided into nine squares. By turning the different sides, each square can be moved to any position. After randomly scrambling the cube with turns, the goal is to bring all the colors back together so that each side of the cube has only one color. The principle sounds simple. But it’s not. If you don’t know the tricks, meaning the necessary sequences of moves for certain situations, it’s virtually impossible to solve the cube. https://kernic.net/tip-suggestion-card-terminal/ Sun, 19 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/tip-suggestion-card-terminal/ Until now, I’ve always been happy to leave a tip for good service. Usually, I’d just round up to the next 5 or 10 euro amount. Somewhere in the 10% range. For very good service, I’d be a bit more generous. But last week, in two different restaurants, I was handed card terminals that prompted for a tip on the display. You’re given a choice of percentages; at the first restaurant, it was 8%, 12%, and 15%. https://kernic.net/youtube-premium-price-increase/ Wed, 15 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/youtube-premium-price-increase/ I spend several hours on the train almost every week and have a lot of time during the journey. Sometimes I use it to work, sometimes to write blog posts like this one, and sometimes to watch videos. Often on YouTube. Or I listen to music on YouTube Music while doing other things. But now Alphabet has massively increased the prices, and I’m undecided. For the individual plan, the increase is still manageable, from €11. https://kernic.net/facebook-instagram-subscription/ Sat, 04 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/facebook-instagram-subscription/ For me, Facebook is dead. I still have an account, but I haven’t logged into it in years. Instagram, on the other hand, I use regularly. I mainly watch the videos my girlfriend sends me. But it keeps me entertained. I rarely actively swipe through my timeline or Reels, which means I hardly see any ads. But for active users of both apps, it’s surely a different story. Especially since the visible ads are only one side of the coin; the other is the collection of user data. https://kernic.net/profit-revenue-difference/ Thu, 02 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/profit-revenue-difference/ On Mastodon, I read a post where someone claimed that Bungie missing its revenue target by 45% doesn’t mean Bungie isn’t making a profit. The general complaint is that people mix up and misunderstand revenue and profit. And that’s exactly the mistake the author is making here. The post assumes that the layoffs can’t be justified by missing the revenue target by 45%, because 45% less revenue than planned doesn’t automatically result in a loss. https://kernic.net/bungie-layoffs-final-shape-delay/ Wed, 01 Nov 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/bungie-layoffs-final-shape-delay/ For the past few months, Destiny 2 has been my game of choice. I find the lore interesting, the gameplay extremely motivating, and there’s always some carrot dangling in front of me to chase. At least, as long as Bungie keeps putting out new content on a regular basis. That’s exactly where the problem seems to be right now. Instead of February 2024 as planned, Bungie now intends to release the next major Destiny 2 expansion, The Final Shape, in June 2024. https://kernic.net/stumbled-over-edge/ Tue, 31 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/stumbled-over-edge/ Browsers are a topic unto themselves. When it comes to the actual software for displaying websites, there’s really not much choice anymore. There’s Firefox with its Gecko rendering engine, and all the other browsers that are based on Google’s Chromium. However, whenever some new feature is announced in a browser, it motivates me to look beyond my own horizons, aka Firefox. Chrome, Brave, Opera, Vivaldi, you name it. I’ve installed and tried them all at some point. https://kernic.net/microsoft-acquires-activision-blizzard/ Wed, 25 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/microsoft-acquires-activision-blizzard/ For many months, Microsoft has been wrestling with antitrust authorities around the world to get approval for its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, known for Call of Duty and the Warcraft universe, among others. After an unsuccessful lawsuit by the American FTC, only the UK’s competition authority was still opposed to the takeover. Following tough negotiations, it dropped its blockade last week and approved the acquisition of the game publisher. Among gamers, the news was received very well—at least in my circle. https://kernic.net/fourth-wing-fantasy-book/ Sat, 07 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/fourth-wing-fantasy-book/ My girlfriend still prefers paper books. Unlike me. I prefer to read on an e-book reader, my Kindle Paperwhite from Amazon. Another way we differ? I like science fiction and fantasy. She, on the other hand, does not. Until now. But then social media struck again. The book Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros was on the bestseller shelf at the local bookstore, and my girlfriend recognized it from Instagram. And she immediately grabbed the hardcover edition. https://kernic.net/why-not-tinker/ Tue, 03 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/why-not-tinker/ Even though “tinkering” is often used disparagingly against open-source software, I don’t see it so negatively at all. It can be a lot of fun to build your system and software exactly the way you want it. It can be fun, but it doesn’t have to be. And it costs valuable time. As you know, I’ve been on Linux for a year now, have a highly customized Android on my smartphone, and my own server. https://kernic.net/cross-border-commuter-customs/ Sat, 30 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/cross-border-commuter-customs/ As a cross-border commuter, you don’t work in the country you live in. In my case, I live in Germany, but my workplace is in Switzerland. Thanks to the expiration of the COVID-19 exception, I now have to spend over 50% of my working hours in Switzerland. At least that’s better than the 25% rule from before Corona. But hey, I have cross-border commuter status, which is sometimes an advantage, sometimes a disadvantage. https://kernic.net/logitech-g-pro-superlight/ Wed, 27 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/logitech-g-pro-superlight/ Im meinem Beitrag zu den Tastaturen habe ich das Thema Mäuse bereits kurz angeschnitten. Und genau dieser Beitrag hat mich motiviert, mich wieder auf die Suche nach meiner Maus zu machen. Eine Suche, die gar nicht so einfach ist. Ob ich am Ende angekommen bin? Ich denke ja. Wie jede gute Geschichte fängt meine Suche vor langer langer Zeit an. Zu den Zeiten, als Mäuse noch keine optischen Sensoren, sondern Kugeln zur Erfassung der Bewegung hatten. https://kernic.net/bending-light/ Sat, 23 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/bending-light/ I love light and lighting. However, I can’t stand direct or overly bright lighting. As a nerd, I simply prefer a more diffuse light. That’s why I don’t turn on ceiling lights. They’re too bright and too direct. At least in normal everyday life. But having the screen as the only light source in the dark is also strenuous. Fortunately, there’s a good solution for this now: monitor light bars. These are thin LED lamps that you can attach to your monitor to illuminate the desk area in front of it. https://kernic.net/iphone-15-pro-vs-max/ Wed, 20 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/iphone-15-pro-vs-max/ My current smartphone is a OnePlus 6T, which I bought at the end of 2018. That makes it almost five years old, and unfortunately, you can really tell its age. As soon as the battery drops towards 50%, both the camera and any more demanding applications become almost unusable. It seems the battery can no longer supply enough power to the SoC. So, a new smartphone is in order, and I had decided on an iPhone. https://kernic.net/printers-work-of-devil/ Sat, 09 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/printers-work-of-devil/ It came to pass in the year of our Lord 1995 that the first printer moved into our household. An inkjet printer whose volume announced its work to everyone across several floors. It was clunky and ugly to boot. And even though paper was still the dominant medium for communication and information transfer back then, a private household still only had to print something every few weeks. Alright, a teacher in the house had an increased need, especially at the beginning of the school year and during exam periods. https://kernic.net/split-costs-splid/ Wed, 06 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/split-costs-splid/ My girlfriend and I have separate bank accounts. In our daily lives, we split costs by rule of thumb. Fixed costs are easy, and for everything else, we take turns. That works for us. It’s a different story on vacation, where you spend significantly more and can quickly lose track. Accommodation costs are a big chunk right away, but groceries and transportation also add up over the days. How are you supposed to keep track of it all? https://kernic.net/story-money-debt/ Sat, 02 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/story-money-debt/ Our monetary system might seem simple, but it’s actually a complex interplay of many rules and mathematical effects. If it were simple, we wouldn’t need advisors, and many citizens would probably be much more outraged about what goes on in the economy. Many years ago, I heard a story that has stuck with me ever since, and which I like to retell when I get the chance—now, here on the blog. https://kernic.net/easypark-german-bureaucracy/ Wed, 30 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/easypark-german-bureaucracy/ Last December, we were on holiday in England. We could pay contactlessly with a card at almost every parking meter. It wasn’t quite as easy in Italy; contactless payment wasn’t common. But the EasyPark app was. Once installed and set up, you can park with relative ease. EasyPark is also available in Germany. You can either see on the parking meter that EasyPark can be used in the area, or you can check directly in the app. https://kernic.net/alnatura-still-industry/ Sat, 26 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/alnatura-still-industry/ I don’t think any other brand is as closely associated with “organic” as Alnatura. At least for me, Alnatura immediately brings to mind good organic products that you can buy without a second thought. But it seems that growth hasn’t passed Alnatura by without affecting quality. What makes me say that? Of course, I haven’t conducted a large-scale investigation (though I will be looking more closely in the future), but I have a good example. https://kernic.net/asus-rog-ally-poorly-executed/ Wed, 23 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/asus-rog-ally-poorly-executed/ My office and my home are 400 km apart. Consequently, I’m either on the road for a long time or away from home for several days. It would be cool, of course, if I could still game as usual. I do have a Nintendo Switch, but my main games don’t run on it. An alternative would be a gaming laptop. But those are expensive and heavy. I already have my work laptop with me, a second one would just be annoying. https://kernic.net/magic-earth-google-maps-alternative/ Sat, 19 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/magic-earth-google-maps-alternative/ For car navigation, I’ve been using Google Maps until now. My test of the alternative OsmAnd didn’t go so well, as you can read in my post OsmAnd versus Google Maps. What bothered me there was the lack of real-time data and the long route calculation times. Andreas Voit recommended Magic Earth to me on Mastodon as another option, and I gave it a try. Conveniently, on the same day as the recommendation, I had a long drive from Zurich to Frankfurt ahead of me. https://kernic.net/best-keyboards-cherry-razer/ Sat, 12 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/best-keyboards-cherry-razer/ I spend a lot of time at my PC, both for work and in my personal life as a blogger and gamer. Besides the mouse, the keyboard is the most important input device for me. Accordingly, I’ve had quite a few of both in my hands. When it comes to mice, I’ve never been completely satisfied since the original Logitech MX518 and am still searching, but with keyboards, I’ve found what I’m looking for. https://kernic.net/auto-fishing-destiny-2/ Wed, 09 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/auto-fishing-destiny-2/ Fishing is a popular feature in more and more MMOs. At least for the developers. With little effort, players are tied to the game for a while. A time in which they just wait for a trigger—a fish biting—and then press a key or solve a mini-game. It’s fun for a bit, but boring over a longer period. But when great rewards are tied to fishing, it can get annoying. Either I don’t go to the water, or I miss out on the rewards. https://kernic.net/what-is-product-owner/ Sat, 05 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/what-is-product-owner/ Once you reach a certain age, it’s common at social gatherings to ask your conversation partner about their job. Pretty much everyone has a job, so it’s an easy conversation starter. For many professions, you have a general idea that helps you exchange questions and opinions. An ophthalmologist takes care of eye health, a roofer puts roofs on houses, a car mechanic repairs cars. And then there’s me: I’m a Product Owner. https://kernic.net/weak-germans/ Wed, 02 Aug 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/weak-germans/ The first court cases against the manufacturers of the Covid-19 vaccines are currently starting in Germany. According to the plaintiffs, the vaccine caused them to suffer serious side effects, and they now want to be compensated for it. While I don’t want to deny the plaintiffs their side effects, I see the lawsuits themselves as problematic. Firstly, one must consider that any vaccination carries the risk of side effects, some of which can be very severe. https://kernic.net/solo-leveling-01/ Wed, 26 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/solo-leveling-01/ After the Japanese manga ONE-PUNCH MAN - Volume 01 and the Western comic Destiny Comic Collection Volume 1, we now come to our third post about comics and manga. This post is about the Korean manga Solo Leveling 01, which, at the time of writing, is available as a paperback for €16.00. This places the manga’s price between ONE-PUNCH MAN and the Destiny Comic Collection. But it’s not just the price; the quality also falls in between. https://kernic.net/useful-tools-destiny-2/ Sat, 22 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/useful-tools-destiny-2/ Bungie offers an API for Destiny 2, which was a bit of a surprise to me. An API is an interface that allows programs and web applications to retrieve and send data about the game and its players, sometimes only after the player grants permission. This allows motivated developers to write their own applications for interacting with the game in their free time. This way, players can engage with the game even when they’re not playing, and sometimes much more effectively than through the in-game options. https://kernic.net/one-punch-man-volume-01/ Wed, 19 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/one-punch-man-volume-01/ In my post about the Destiny Comic Collection Volume 1, I mentioned that besides the Western Destiny comic, I had also ordered a Japanese and a Korean manga. For the Japanese manga, I chose ONE-PUNCH MAN - Volume 01. I’m already familiar with the anime, at least the first season. There’s a second one, but I haven’t been able to watch/find it yet. At €6.95, the manga is significantly cheaper than the other two. https://kernic.net/autohotkey-correct-characters/ Sat, 15 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/autohotkey-correct-characters/ Some characters are nearly extinct because they don’t even appear on the standard German keyboard layout. Besides “German quotation marks,” this includes the narrow and regular non-breaking spaces. What do you need those for? Actually, the regular and narrow non-breaking spaces are the official separators for thousands (the narrow one) and as a space before a unit (the regular one), at least according to ISO 80000. So, one thousand two hundred kilograms is actually written as 1 000 kg. https://kernic.net/vespa-roadtrip/ Wed, 12 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/vespa-roadtrip/ As a teenager in a small village, life isn’t always easy. If you wanted to leave your home village, you had the choice between one of the four buses a day, with the last one leaving at 4 PM, or you had your own transportation. Luckily, my family had a 125cc Vespa ET4. For two mobile years, it was my faithful companion. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize that the line on the oil level window wasn’t the fill level, but dried-up oil. https://kernic.net/weight-loss-report-05-2023/ Mon, 10 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/weight-loss-report-05-2023/ Is it already the fifth week? Hard to believe. A routine is slowly setting in, but not necessarily for the better. The COVID-19 exception to the social security agreement between Switzerland and Germany has expired. As a result, I “get” to go to Switzerland more often starting in July. Unfortunately, I don’t have a scale there, which is why my weight tracking is incomplete. The calorie counts are also more like estimates or the values from the packaging of ready-made meals. https://kernic.net/hellofresh-surprise-boxes/ Sat, 08 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/hellofresh-surprise-boxes/ We love to eat. That’s probably the main reason I currently need to lose weight. Consequently, the most important building block for this was changing our diet. Unfortunately, we’ve always found it difficult to agree on a dish for our shared dinner each day. Changing our diet doesn’t make putting together a meal plan for the upcoming week any easier. Right on cue, an email from HelloFresh with a 20% discount offer landed in my inbox. https://kernic.net/vacation-planning-what-is-that/ Wed, 05 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/vacation-planning-what-is-that/ After spending the last few years traveling almost all of Italy with a tent, we wanted to go to Greece this year. Either island hopping or to the Peloponnese. Since the ferry is ridiculously expensive and our car is quite old by now, we wanted to fly, rent a car, and stay in hotels. I’m using the subjunctive tense on purpose. First, it took until May of this year for us to even decide on the dates for our vacation. https://kernic.net/weight-loss-report-04-2023/ Mon, 03 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/weight-loss-report-04-2023/ Down and back up again. That’s how you could describe the last week. First off: I didn’t wear my Fitbit for three days, which is why the values from Thursday to Saturday are low. I also forgot to weigh myself on Sunday and estimated the value. Otherwise, on Thursday I dropped below 86 kg for the first time, meaning I’ve lost over five kilos since I started. A reason to be happy, which had to be celebrated. https://kernic.net/lego-saturn-v/ Sat, 01 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/lego-saturn-v/ No sooner do I write about my urge for minimalism than my girlfriend gives me the very LEGO Saturn V I mentioned for my birthday. The box itself is huge. I have no idea if LEGO sets were this big when I was a kid. But the box is big, and beautifully printed. Unfortunately, it’s not a flip-top box, but a simple carton. I expected more and cut it open on both sides. https://kernic.net/destiny-comic-collection-volume-1/ Wed, 28 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/destiny-comic-collection-volume-1/ I’ve rediscovered Destiny 2 for myself, as you already know. But I’m also actually a fan of comics and manga. This became clear to me at the latest when my girlfriend gave me the first volume of the Asterix comics for Christmas. Probably because I always used to wander through the comic/manga section whenever we visited a bookstore. Compared to the reading time and number of pages, comics and manga have a relatively high price. https://kernic.net/weight-loss-report-03-2023/ Mon, 26 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/weight-loss-report-03-2023/ Another week gone already? Last week was less successful. For one, I consumed a lot of calories on some days, almost consistently more than in the first week. Tuesday was due to my in-office day at work. Eight hours on a train is boring. On Friday we went out to eat, and Sunday is our cheat day. On the other hand, things didn’t look so good with my workouts either. On Wednesday, I was exhausted from Tuesday and skipped my workout. https://kernic.net/cables-cables-everywhere/ Sat, 24 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/cables-cables-everywhere/ My PC is quite large and blows a good portion of its air upwards. Consequently, mounting it to the underside of my height-adjustable desk wasn’t an option. But to avoid having dozens of cables running from the PC to the desk, I bundled them together with a spiral cable wrap. It looks much better, and even though some of the cables are quite taut at maximum height, it works. But there’s one problem. https://kernic.net/gifts-from-microsoft/ Thu, 22 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/gifts-from-microsoft/ A story from a time long past. After all, it’s been almost ten years. Back then, I was nearing the end of my studies, and Microsoft had just unveiled the third iteration of its Surface Pro line. With the prospect of a salary increase on the horizon, I pre-ordered a device and its accompanying keyboard, providing my credit card details. But in October, on the release date, an email arrived instead of the tablet: my bank had withdrawn the credit card authorization, and I had to renew it. https://kernic.net/apple-vision-pro-problem/ Wed, 21 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/apple-vision-pro-problem/ I’m neither a friend nor a foe of Apple. In 2009, I bought a MacBook Pro for my studies. A device that is incredibly robust and timeless. Back then, with Intel inside, the fans were a real nuisance. That has apparently changed with Apple’s own processors. What has remained is MacOS, which I never really warmed up to. But that’s just a personal thing and not an objective criticism of the system. https://kernic.net/train-no-overtaking/ Tue, 20 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/train-no-overtaking/ Two weeks in a row with almost no problems with Deutsche Bahn. I almost started to believe I was on a new lucky streak. Almost. There’s very little that’s lucky about the state of the railway. The austerity measures of the last few decades were now taking their revenge - on me. One of the first things I do after getting up in the middle of the night is check the Deutsche Bahn app for delays. https://kernic.net/weight-loss-report-02-2023/ Mon, 19 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/weight-loss-report-02-2023/ The second week is over. I didn’t lose much weight this week. On Monday evening, we drove to our parents’ and stayed in our old hometown until Sunday. Counting calories is difficult there, and so is working out. On top of that, you see both families and friends. Lunch at the parents’, dinner with friends. My birthday on Tuesday and the cake that came with it also haunted me for days. https://kernic.net/too-much-content-too-little-time/ Fri, 16 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/too-much-content-too-little-time/ Damn, I forgot how good Destiny 2 feels. After just a few minutes, the game had me hooked again. But it also made me realize that I’d been away for a while. In last week’s post Destiny 2 and its Expansions, I already explained the complicated purchasing process. Thanks to Instant-Gaming, I got the Beyond Light and The Witch Queen expansions for a pretty good price. And that unlocked a ton of content. https://kernic.net/air-conditioning-climate-change/ Wed, 14 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/air-conditioning-climate-change/ The title is a rather bad joke, I’m aware of that. It would be better suited for The Onion, but whatever. Attic apartments are nice, and in the summer, they’re nice and warm. Too warm to work in during the day, even with the blinds down. An attic apartment with a second floor is even nicer. In addition to our main apartment on the second floor, we have another room directly under the roof, with a skylight facing east. https://kernic.net/weight-loss-report-01-2023/ Mon, 12 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/weight-loss-report-01-2023/ I’ve gotten too fat. I wrote about that in the post. And also that I want to change it. What helps more here than public pressure? That’s exactly why I’m now going to write a weekly report on my progress. The body scale arrived the Thursday before last. A model with Bluetooth, which also shares the measured data with other apps. Setup and operation are straightforward, and so far it works as it should. https://kernic.net/destiny-2-expansions/ Sat, 10 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/destiny-2-expansions/ In my post Following Destiny, I already described my return to Destiny 2. After several years away, a lot has changed in the game, such as the expansions. Unfortunately, Bungie doesn’t make it easy for you if you want to get up to date. The last expansion I bought was Shadowkeep, which introduced the Moon as a new planet and the Season model. Since then, three expansions have been released: Beyond Light, The Witch Queen, and Lightfall. https://kernic.net/valorant-kids-ultrawide/ Wed, 07 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/valorant-kids-ultrawide/ After having Windows on my computer again, I thought I’d give Valorant another look. Despite the aggressive kernel-level anti-cheat, I installed and launched the game. The first thing I encountered (again) was black bars on the left and right. Even though my 3440x1440 resolution is supposedly supported according to the documentation, that apparently just means the game will run, not that the resolution will be fully utilized. Riot still seems to think it’s unfair to other players if aspect ratios other than 16:9 and 4:3 work. https://kernic.net/minimalism-vs-nerd/ Sat, 03 Jun 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/minimalism-vs-nerd/ I’m naturally a rather messy person. To counteract this, I decided a few years ago to be more of a minimalist. Decorations and unnecessary items tend to collect dust and create clutter. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t own anything I don’t currently need. But a nerd’s heart also beats in my chest. And the nerd in me thinks merchandise is cool. An R2D2 figure like in the cover photo, a Cyberpunk 2077 world book, the Grimoire book series from Destiny 2, or a replica of Cayde-6’s revolver, Ace of Spades. https://kernic.net/following-destiny/ Wed, 31 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/following-destiny/ A few years ago, I was an avid player of Destiny 2. Alongside Eve Online, it was my main game, and I loved both the gameplay and the lore. That was until the seasonal model was introduced, which didn’t fit with the time I had available. I wrote a post about this on eXeler0n.de back in 2020: Destiny 2 - is it over? And if I’m being honest, my situation hasn’t changed much since then, apart from my departure from Eve Online. https://kernic.net/surprise-construction-work/ Tue, 30 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/surprise-construction-work/ New week, new adventures with Deutsche Bahn. When things break, you have to fix them. Now, the thing is, railway technology is well over 100 years old and has been constantly evolving. You’d think Deutsche Bahn would have it under control. On the other hand, my train is late again today. Deutsche Bahn’s reason: construction work. Once near Duisburg, and again between Mannheim and Karlsruhe. Because of that, the train is being rerouted through Heidelberg. https://kernic.net/i-became-too-fat/ Sat, 27 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/i-became-too-fat/ 20230527_i-became-too-fat I’ve been saying it for a few years now: I’m not too heavy, I’m just too short for my weight. The part about my height is, of course, true. At 167 cm (5'6"), I’m quite short, especially for a man. When my weight climbed to 90kg (198 lbs) last year and settled there, it was already critical for me. But the four days of working from home have made it even worse, and I now weigh a few kilos more again. https://kernic.net/header-images-ghost-unsplash/ Wed, 24 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/header-images-ghost-unsplash/ In several iterations of my blog, I’ve placed great importance on having a header image for my posts. Header images that should encourage clicks and clarify the direction of the post. To do this, I often resorted to free images found through search engines and made slight adjustments with Affinity. But often, posts were just waiting for me to finish the header image. Graphic design is a bit more time-consuming than just typing out my thoughts. https://kernic.net/train-skips-final-station/ Tue, 23 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/train-skips-final-station/ I now commute almost weekly with Deutsche Bahn from Frankfurt am Main to Zurich and back. Unfortunately, this means I’m experiencing Deutsche Bahn’s bad reputation firsthand. That’s why I’ve decided to introduce a category for shorter posts about my experiences with Deutsche Bahn: Rail-nanas. Let’s get straight to today’s incident. The trip there is hardly worth mentioning, even though I left Frankfurt 60 minutes late. At least the train managed to reduce this delay to 30 minutes, and the good connections of the SBB limited the final delay to 20 minutes. https://kernic.net/pull-towards-windows/ Wed, 17 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/pull-towards-windows/ I’ve been on Linux for almost a full year now and, by and large, I’m happy with my switch. But still, there are always moments when I think about what I miss on Linux compared to Windows. It’s mainly about multimedia and gaming. My RTX 3080 works quite well for gaming. The only thing is that the turbine problem isn’t as easy to solve on Linux. The RTX 3080 Founder’s Edition was configured by Nvidia to its limit, so it roars like an airplane under full load. https://kernic.net/firefox-or-not/ Sun, 14 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/firefox-or-not/ I’m a Firefox kid. Ever since the Firefox browser came onto the market as an alternative to the then-dominant Internet Explorer, I’ve primarily used Mozilla’s browser. Even though it’s had its ups and downs throughout its history, it remains the browser that best meets my needs to this day. But a new job brings not only new devices but also new impressions. One feature I noticed with some of my colleagues was tab groups. https://kernic.net/ingame-shops-ruin-games/ Wed, 10 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/ingame-shops-ruin-games/ The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion was the first major game to be released with a DLC. It was just horse armor for 2.50 euros, but it laid the foundation for the monetization in video games that we know today. No game today can be without an in-game shop. Whether it’s a free-to-play or a full-price game, you can at least buy cosmetic items. But often, you can also buy better weapons or shortcuts to save time. https://kernic.net/german-railway-broken/ Wed, 03 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/german-railway-broken/ I’m lucky that I can work from home four days a week. This is important because my office is almost 400km away from where I live near Frankfurt am Main - in Zurich. But one day a week, the team meets up, and I’m part of it. The drive isn’t much fun, though, as the travel time is just wasted. But there are alternatives. The plane takes only 50 minutes, plus 20 minutes of local transport to/from the airport. https://kernic.net/logimat-2023-impression/ Sat, 29 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/logimat-2023-impression/ Since the beginning of the year, I’ve been with a new employer, working as a Product Owner for goods receiving. My new company has grown significantly over the last two years. But rapid growth also brings challenges that need solutions. That’s why I immediately put my hand up when a visit to LogiMAT in Stuttgart was mentioned. LogiMAT is a trade fair focused on intralogistics, which is the movement of goods within a warehouse. https://kernic.net/aging-as-gamer/ Thu, 27 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/aging-as-gamer/ Even though gaming has now become mainstream, I mostly encounter younger people in multiplayer games. On the one hand, this is hardly surprising; on the other, it really shows me my age. I first noticed this when I joined a guild in Albion Online. Based on the description and an initial chat, I was quite sold on the guild. But that changed quickly the first time I joined the voice chat on their Discord server. https://kernic.net/subjectivity-restaurant-reviews/ Sat, 22 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/subjectivity-restaurant-reviews/ Sometimes you just don’t feel like cooking and decide you want to go out to eat. But where to? The usual Italian place, or do you want to try something new for a change? Sometimes you have to be brave, and a change of pace is good, too. But to avoid ending up at a lousy restaurant, there are now reviews on the internet. Not professional reviews, of course, but the opinions of other people who have already visited the restaurants (or other places). https://kernic.net/securing-root-server-rkhunter/ Wed, 19 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/securing-root-server-rkhunter/ Rootkits are nasty malicious programs that, after infecting a system, hide themselves in files and processes. These little beasts cannot be detected using normal tools like simple process or file monitoring. But we are not defenseless against rootkits; rkhunter hunts the rootkits off the system. So that you can also secure your server against rootkits, here is a guide from me. As always, for my Linux distribution of choice for servers, Debian. https://kernic.net/albion-online-fantasy-sandbox/ Sun, 16 Apr 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/albion-online-fantasy-sandbox/ In early 2017, I became aware of the game Albion Online. It hadn’t been released yet, but I pre-ordered the small package. When the game was finally released, my time with it was short-lived. But that wasn’t the game’s fault; it was mine. I was completely absorbed in Eve Online and Destiny 2. Destiny 2 isn’t available on Linux, and I’ve since lost interest in Eve Online. That’s when Albion Online came back to mind. https://kernic.net/productivity-setup-2023/ Wed, 29 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/productivity-setup-2023/ I’m a huge fan of productivity. At least in theory; in practice, I struggle with implementation. So far, I’ve been blaming it on the fact that I haven’t found a process that suits me yet. This is also my excuse for trying out all sorts of tools and processes. I already wrote about my last attempt with Obsidian in the blog post I Thought I Loved Obsidian. But even before that, I tried pretty much all the well-known tools, like Evernote, Notion, OneNote, or a physical notebook. https://kernic.net/small-meaningful-details/ Sat, 25 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/small-meaningful-details/ At the beginning of the year, I started a new job. Even though I can work from home a lot, I’m expected to be in the office once a week for our team day. For me, that means a four-hour train ride each way. That sounds rough at first, but I have to say, it’s not that bad. On the contrary, when the train is on time (which it isn’t), the journey is stress-free and can be really productive. https://kernic.net/edeka-color-manipulation/ Wed, 22 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/edeka-color-manipulation/ I don’t know about you, but when I’m at the supermarket, I like to look for deals on the products on my shopping list. I’m not committed to one specific brand of yogurt, a little variety in cheese is nice now and then, and so on. So, of course, it’s great that special offers are usually easy to spot, depending on how they’re marked. With e-ink displays, it’s often a vertical “SALE” on the right edge and more dark areas. https://kernic.net/minecraft-after-years/ Sat, 18 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/minecraft-after-years/ Unfortunately, Auraxis no longer seems to exist. So, this part of the post is outdated. When I bought Minecraft, the Classic version was still a thing. Shortly after, the game really took off and was eventually bought by Microsoft. Unlike many at the time, I was neither disappointed in Notch nor particularly worried. And to be honest, Minecraft didn’t die under Microsoft, as some had predicted. But for me, it did. https://kernic.net/discord-nitro-expensive/ Wed, 15 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/discord-nitro-expensive/ I’m always amazed at how many people actually have a Discord Nitro subscription. From students to the unemployed to adult family men. A not-so-small group of users is motivated to pay €99.99 per year for the Nitro package. But… why? What do I get for €100 a year? A sum for which I could get a subscription to an MMO, Netflix, YouTube Premium, or Spotify. A custom tag, an enhanced profile, emojis that can be used on all servers, a higher upload limit, and better screen sharing quality. https://kernic.net/meta-direction-confusion/ Sat, 11 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/meta-direction-confusion/ Many years ago, Facebook went through the roof. Mark Zuckerberg had the right idea at the right time and became very rich because of it - deservedly so. But the world keeps turning, and Facebook became increasingly unpopular. At least the subsequent generations didn’t want to be on the old folks’ platform. As a company, I now have two options: I can evolve from within, or I can look at what other companies are doing. https://kernic.net/securing-root-server-auto-update/ Wed, 08 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/securing-root-server-auto-update/ Security vulnerabilities are the biggest threat for any server operator. That’s why it’s essential to always keep your system up-to-date. Of course, this can also be automated, which I’d like to demonstrate here using Debian as an example. Auto-updates can also be dangerous, as they might lead to issues or incompatible updates. Some updates require manual intervention afterward. This warning is highlighted in red for a reason. That’s why we won’t automatically update all packages on our system, but only packages with critical security updates. https://kernic.net/planetside-2-battlefield-alternative/ Sun, 05 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/planetside-2-battlefield-alternative/ After I lost interest in Eve Online, I was kind of missing a main game. Now on Linux, Destiny 2 was not an option, as Bungie still refuses to release the game for Linux, even though it would run without any issues. New World, on the other hand, couldn’t hold my attention for long - maybe I just didn’t have anyone to play with. Somehow, I then stumbled upon Planetside 2. https://kernic.net/england-southern-return/ Sat, 04 Mar 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/england-southern-return/ You can find the first three parts of the Southern England travelogue here:England #1: The Drive, Canterbury and LondonEngland #2: Windsor and OxfordEngland #3: Cornwall With the impressions of Cornwall fresh in our minds, we drove on after breakfast, feeling a bit wistful. But the vacation isn’t endless, and we slowly had to start heading east again. Bournemouth was chosen as the destination for the first leg. But my girlfriend didn’t want to leave without at least dipping her feet in the Atlantic. https://kernic.net/thought-loved-obsidian/ Fri, 24 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/thought-loved-obsidian/ Over the many iterations of my blogs in recent years, the search for the best note-taking tool has been a recurring theme. Evernote, Simplenote, OneNote, Notion, or just a DokuWiki - I’ve tried almost everything. My priorities have shifted over time; for example, I almost never edit my notes on my smartphone. My latest discovery is Obsidian, which is essentially just a text editor for Markdown but allows for seamless internal linking to other notes. https://kernic.net/pokemon-scarlet-too-late/ Sun, 19 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/pokemon-scarlet-too-late/ The announcement for Pokémon Scarlet and Violet had piqued my interest in a Pokémon game again for the first time in years. The previous installments were hardly innovative and were always basically the same game with an adjusted region, Pokémon, and story. With Pokémon Legends: Arceus*, they already ventured a bit further and created a 3D world, which was still empty and divided into zones. This 3D world was beefed up with Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. https://kernic.net/streaming-or-not/ Tue, 07 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/streaming-or-not/ You primarily know me as a blogger. But over the years, I’ve actually tried every form of media. I was part of an EVE Online podcast, I’ve uploaded videos to YouTube, and of course, I’ve also streamed. The podcast actually went quite well, partly because I wasn’t alone. I could chat with the other two and get a conversation going. When I’m blogging, I can take my time; I write a post, I revise it, or I delete it entirely. https://kernic.net/england-windsor-oxford/ Fri, 03 Feb 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/england-windsor-oxford/ If you haven’t read the first part of our travelogue yet, this way please: England #1: The Journey, Canterbury and London We always approach our travels spontaneously, and our journey from London towards Cornwall was no exception. We set off from London around noon and got another little sightseeing tour. This time, however, it was by car, and we experienced the commuting nightmare of many an English person who does NOT live in London and drives. https://kernic.net/ghost-scheduled-posts-fix/ Sat, 28 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/ghost-scheduled-posts-fix/ On the old server, I had trouble getting WordPress to automatically publish scheduled posts. After many weeks of research, we discovered that the nginx proxy was preventing WordPress from calling itself via curl. We were able to solve this at the time by using extra_hosts in the docker-compose.yml file. New server, new software, same problems? Instead of the nginx proxy, I’m now using Traefik. WordPress has been replaced by Ghost. But what’s not working again? https://kernic.net/england-cornwall/ Thu, 26 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/england-cornwall/ You can find the first two parts of the Southern England travelogue here: England #1: The Journey, Canterbury and London England #2: Windsor and Oxford One thing you should plan for in the Cornwall region is time. A lot of time. This is mainly for two reasons: the time it takes to get from A to B and the many interesting sights. It took us a whole day to get there from Oxford. https://kernic.net/touchscreen-writing-problems/ Fri, 20 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/touchscreen-writing-problems/ By now, pretty much all of us can probably type blindly on our smartphones. And if you can’t, autocorrect will adjust the text to be more or less coherent. It’s good enough for a simple conversation or a quick reply to an email. But honestly, who among us actually wants to write longer texts on a smartphone or tablet? I’m talking about a proper email, a letter, or a blog post. https://kernic.net/osmand-vs-google-maps/ Wed, 18 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/osmand-vs-google-maps/ A few days ago, I got an email from Google Maps. My stats for 2022. How many kilometers I drove or walked, which places I visited for the first time or frequently, or which countries I was in during 2022. At first glance, it’s a cool statistic that reminds you of the past year and brings back great memories. But the next moment, you realize just how precisely Google tracks you when you use Google Maps. https://kernic.net/irc-still-alive/ Mon, 16 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/irc-still-alive/ Switching to Linux brought on a wave of nostalgia for me. Nostalgia for a time when the word Discord didn’t mean anything, when Facebook was just seeing the light of day, and internet users were still a small community of nerds. Back in the day™, the internet wasn’t so convenient. You either listened to music as MP3s from file-sharing networks, or you were one of the cool kids listening to radio streams on WinAmp. https://kernic.net/web-design-mistakes/ Tue, 10 Jan 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/web-design-mistakes/ I started getting into website creation even before the new millennium. Back then, I was using an HP Jornada 680, which had limited functionality and convenience. Accordingly, my first websites were hand-built in HTML. CSS and external libraries were in their infancy back then, and PHP and mySQL weren’t available on Windows CE. So, you could say I got into the nitty-gritty of web design quite early on. Of course, I also made the classic mistakes of that era. https://kernic.net/linux-desktop-manager-choice/ Mon, 26 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/linux-desktop-manager-choice/ If someone gets by with Windows, they get by with Windows. Sure, things change from version to version now and then, but fundamentally, Microsoft stays true to itself. And companies don’t switch with every new version either. Consequently, the work PC remains familiar for years, and everyone can somehow operate it. It’s different with Linux. There isn’t just one Linux, not even just one kernel. In the end, Linux stands for the kernel in its official form. https://kernic.net/england-journey-canterbury-london/ Sun, 25 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/england-journey-canterbury-london/ Those of us who value comfort prefer the speed of a plane, while the environmentally conscious opt for the train. We, on the other hand, have always taken our own car on vacation in recent years. Our car is our faithful travel companion and a sort of home base for us. We can pack whatever we want and have maximum flexibility. The latter was also the main requirement for our vacation in southern England. https://kernic.net/camera-sensor-cleaning/ Tue, 13 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/camera-sensor-cleaning/ Compact digital cameras are compact, but unfortunately, they’re also not very good. At least, that was the case back in 2013. As an alternative, digital SLR cameras were very popular with many people. However, I found and still find them far too big and heavy. But with digital cameras came new technical possibilities: cameras with the quality of SLRs, but without the mirror, making them smaller - system cameras. We decided on a camera from Sony, specifically the NEX-5R. https://kernic.net/securing-root-server-users-ssh/ Sat, 03 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/securing-root-server-users-ssh/ Although I’ve been officially renting a root server for many years, I’ve had very little idea about how to properly set up and secure one. In the past, a friend of mine, with whom I share the server, took care of it. Thanks to a Black Friday deal from my host, Netcup, we were able to get a much better server for the same monthly price. The downside: you have to migrate everything from A to B. https://kernic.net/tea-time-in-southern-england/ Thu, 01 Dec 2022 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/tea-time-in-southern-england/ Christmas is just around the corner. The time of year when my company generates a large portion of its annual revenue. Customers are busy buying gifts for themselves and their relatives. Even though there’s no official vacation ban, there is an internal policy that vacation during the pre-Christmas season should be carefully considered and only approved in absolutely necessary cases. Consequently, I’ve had a stressful pre-Christmas season for the last five years, and with it, hardly any Christmas spirit. https://kernic.net/now-its-kernic/ Wed, 30 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/now-its-kernic/ 20221130_now-its-kernic I’ve created many blogs before. Most of them eventually died out; my last one was very active until last week. But unfortunately, I had started and run that blog under my gamer tag. On the one hand, that’s not very professional, and on the other hand, while the name - eXeler0n - is pretty cool, nobody recognized the zero in the name and assumed it was an O. Understandable. https://kernic.net/about/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/about/ If you use a search engine of your choice and make a few connections, you will find some information about my activities on the internet and in real life. My name is Nicolas Kerscher. My girlfriend created the nickname “Kernic” from it. Ker from Kerscher, nic from Nicolas. I have been running a blog since 2010. Initially, these were my experiences I gathered in EVE Online, and later I wrote about private matters across different domains. https://kernic.net/imprint/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/imprint/ Information according to § 5 DDG Nicolas Kerscher Jourdanallee 53A 64546 Mörfelden-Walldorf Germany Contact Phone: +49 6105 403 816 4 Email: nicolas+legal@kerscher.it Editorial Responsibility Responsible for content according to § 18 Abs. 2 MStV: Nicolas Kerscher Jourdanallee 53A 64546 Mörfelden-Walldorf Germany EU Dispute Resolution The European Commission provides a platform for online dispute resolution (ODR): . Our e-mail address can be found above in the imprint. We are not willing or obliged to participate in dispute resolution proceedings before a consumer arbitration board. https://kernic.net/privacy/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://kernic.net/privacy/ 1. Responsible Party (Data Controller) The responsible party for data processing on this website is: Nicolas Kerscher Jourdanallee 53A 64546 Mörfelden-Walldorf Germany Phone: +49 6105 403 816 4 Email: nicolas+legal@kerscher.it 2. Our Approach: Data Minimization & Technical Necessity We follow the principle of data minimization. All data processed on this website is used exclusively for technically necessary purposes or is fully anonymized. No Cookies: This website does not store or use cookies or any other data in your browser’s local storage or system.