Published inSignifier·PinnedMember-onlyAre You Sitting Comfortably?A brief history of the Eames Plastic Side Chair — One day, a man drove a truck halfway across the country and up my driveway to drop off six Eames Plastic Side Chairs. Neatly wrapped, brand new, licensed models by Vitra. Could it get any better? Yes. They were free. Up till then, online raffles and surveys had materialised me…Eames9 min readEames9 min read
Published inAge of Empathy·Aug 27Member-onlyI Trained with Two TerroristsBut I didn’t know it yet. Did they? — 22 March 2016. Ready for an uneventful commute, I turn the key in the ignition. I notice the unusual timing of the news and the hesitation of the newscaster. Explosions at Brussels airport. To an average Belgian like myself, a terrorist attack hadn’t been part of reality since the eighties…Terrorism6 min readTerrorism6 min read
Dec 4, 2022Member-onlyEver Seen a Child (almost) Die?Lessons from Aikido — After some of the Covid restrictions were eased, we could finally train again, outdoors. Turns out six foot apart is perfect for weapons training. A dry spell in September had made the tree branches brittle. The kid was six and had just started training with us. …Aikido3 min readAikido3 min read
Nov 29, 2022Member-onlyMy co-worker has a black eye…on International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women — I had honestly never seen such a huge bruise on a person’s face. It was even worse than in the above photo. In a few days, it changed colour and size so many times. The causes are not for me to speculate. I didn’t know what to do, or if…Domestic Violence2 min readDomestic Violence2 min read
Published inAge of Empathy·Nov 11, 2022Member-onlyI wonder how Kevin is doingWhen a teacher hits you for being poor — trigger warning: child abuse There are some things I need to write off me. Little methane bubbles from whatever rotted on the dark floor of my mind for 30 years. Why does my subconscious do this to me? At fuck you o’clock in the morning no less? One such memory…Nonfiction3 min readNonfiction3 min read
Oct 9, 2022Member-onlyMy Night of Raving and Impending DeathDid I seal his fate? — *Places and names withheld* Early 2000’s, coming back from a hardcore rave. Guys in gorilla masks and commie T-shirts drinking something funny from tiny Flügel bottles. 200 BPM interwoven with amen breaks, samples of 80’s soap operas and Schlager. Girls with angel wings. A guy managing to sleep in the…Rave3 min readRave3 min read
Published inBootcamp·Jun 29, 2022Member-only6 bug fixes and UX suggestions for MediumMost of these issues occur in the Medium app for Android, some also in-browser on a PC. #1 Infinite repetitive scrolling: Occasionally I open the app, look at the “for you” tab and scroll down. The first seven (or so) items reappear ad infinitum. …UX3 min readUX3 min read
Published inBootcamp·Feb 27, 2022Member-onlyA few UI/UX ideas for Medium#1 Continuous scrolling If you are an avid reader — and I’m guessing you are since you are a member already — has it ever bothered you that you have to go to your bookmarks, read them one by one and uncheck them? What if after each story you read, it automatically un-bookmarks…UX2 min readUX2 min read
Feb 8, 2021Member-onlyWar! What is it good for? Pt. IV: Toys and gamesOver the course of history, war is undeniably one of the main drivers of innovation. Countless consumer goods, technologies and medical procedures stem from conflict or its aftermath. In my previous articles, I treated medical science, food and beverages, and fashion. In part IV, we’ll take a look at which…Board Games9 min readBoard Games9 min read
Dec 25, 2020Member-onlyIs ayahuasca microdosing effective? Here is what I found.Microdosing Microdosing is taking small doses of psychedelics such as LSD or psilocybin in a semi-regular schedule, for example one day on, three days off. The small amounts are meant to be barely noticeable so that they do not impair regular daily life. The intent of users may be to increase…Ayahuasca7 min readAyahuasca7 min read
