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+---
+title: 101 Things You Can Do While Being on Lockdown
+slug: 101-things-you-can-do
+date: 2020-03-28T17:00:00+02:00
+author: Stefan Imhoff
+description: The novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 which can lead to the sickness of COVID-19 brought many countries into partial or total lockdown. Many people are not used to staying inside for a long time. As an introvert, I like it inside. To help to make it easier to stay inside, I created a list of 101 things you can do until this crisis is over.
+tags: ["tip", "self-improvement"]
+---
+
+## A Long List of Things to Do
+
+The novel Coronavirus _SARS-CoV-2_ which can lead to the sickness of _COVID-19_ brought many countries into partial or total lockdown. Many people are not used to staying inside for a long time. As an introvert, I like it inside.
+
+To help others and make it easier to stay inside, I created this list of **101 things** you can do until this crisis is over:
+
+1. **Learn Sketchnotes** – All you need is a pen and a notebook. A good start is <AffiliateLink asin="0321857895" text="The Sketchnote Handbook" /> by _Mike Rohde_ or the book [UZMO – Thinking With Your Pen](https://us.neuland.com/literature/specialist-books/uzmo-thinking-with-your-pen-english.html).
+2. **Improve Your Handwriting** – There are many nice handwriting styles, why not learn <AffiliateLink asin="088062096X" text="Spencerian Penmanship" />? All you need is a pen.
+3. **Start a Journal** – Uncounted famous people have written in a journal. Start small with the [One Line A Day Journal](https://myinnercreative.com/45-ways-to-create-one-line-a-day-in-your-bullet-journal/) or [The Five-Minute Journal](https://thehustle.co/the-five-minute-journal-will-make-you-happier).
+4. **Care About a Bonsai** – You can buy a small tree and a pot, wire, and scissors. Here is [How to Start With Bonsai](https://youtu.be/eMPCDopQBII). Bonsai need a lot of care, but it’s an incredible art form, as shown in the short film [American Shokunin](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfdGGTb5_Ts).
+5. **Get House Plants** – Buy houseplants and care for them. They improve the look of your rooms and create good air. You can learn a lot about houseplants on [Summer Rayne Oakes YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/user/summerrayneoakes).
+6. **Learn to Draw** – All you need is a notebook, pencil, pen, or coal and an introduction by _Alphonso Dunn_. His [YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/user/LighterNoteProd) is fantastic, and he wrote a few [books](https://www.amazon.de/Alphonso-Dunn/e/B019I2V23Y).
+7. **Learn Urban Sketching** – Similar to learning drawing is Urban Sketching. It’s less realistic and more sketchy. You can start with a ballpoint pen and a notebook and later use watercolor to make it colorful. _Jens Hübner_ is a good start, he has a [YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/user/emasniered) and wrote [multiple books](https://www.amazon.de/Jens-H%25C3%25BCbner/e/B00QP19ONC). _Peter Sheeler_ has a fantastic [YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZWYIO-v3dYNkhBjxFEYZ0g) about urban sketching.
+8. **Learn to Paint** – If you want to learn to paint, _Bob Ross_ is a fantastic start. His [YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/user/BobRossInc) has hours of free paint courses.
+9. **Learn to Doodle** – Doodling is similar to Sketchnotes, but you don’t plan your doodle, you draw what comes to your mind. Here is a nice [video](https://youtu.be/e4N882MPTPQ) of what a doodle looks like.
+10. **Do Blackout Poetry** – You need an old newspaper or book and a black marker. You search for single words that build a sentence or poem when read in order. Then you paint everything except your selected words black. Here is an introduction [video](https://youtu.be/Nt5nguT3hEM).
+11. **Learn Hand Lettering** – You need fancier brush pens for this. But there are techniques with double lines. This is a nice [introduction](https://youtu.be/0LpJpxqDHgg).
+12. **Learn Shodō Calligraphy** – Shodō is Japanese calligraphy. You need a few bamboo brushes, black ink, and good paper. It’s possible to buy an <AffiliateLink asin="B07CBVDNNB" text="introduction set" /> like this. Here is a [nice introduction video](https://youtu.be/8FWxOiGlt3c) by a Japanese calligraphy master.
+13. **Learn Sumi-e Painting** – To learn the art of Japanese watercolor painting, you need the same tools as for Shodō. Here is a nice [introduction](https://youtu.be/Xncb1-wHM3k).
+14. **Learn Origami** – All you need is paper and your hands. You can find hundreds of folding instructions on the Internet. _Jo Nakashima_ has a [Youtube channel](https://www.youtube.com/user/jonakashima) for Origami tutorials.
+15. **Learn Kirigami** – Kirigami is similar to Origami, but you don’t fold, you cut. A knife, ruler, and scissors are tools you’ll need. Here is an [introduction video](https://youtu.be/6C5AbMSrmPY).
+16. **Learn About Typography** – There is much to learn about typography. <AffiliateLink asin="0881792128" text="The Elements of Typographic Style" /> by _Robert Bringhurst_, is an excellent book about the topic.
+17. **Declutter your Home** – There are countless methods to clean up your home. A good start is _Marie Kondo’s_ book <AffiliateLink asin="B01LWIRYMS">The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying</AffiliateLink>. She hosts the TV Show [Tidying Up with Marie Kondo](https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/85202-tidying-up-with-marie-kondo) <NetflixFlag id="80209379" />. You can watch [Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/392553-minimalism-a-documentary-about-the-important-things) <NetflixFlag id="80114460" /> to get more inspirations on how to declutter and simplify your home.
+18. **Improve your Balcony or Terrace** – If you have to stay home, you can make your outside space (if you have one) prettier. Get inspiration on my [Pinterest board](https://www.pinterest.de/kogakure/interior-balcony-terrace/).
+19. **Cook Something Fantastic** – Why not try the [German Wedding Soup](https://www.thespruceeats.com/german-wedding-soup-recipe-hochzeitssuppe-1447335)? The soup of my grandmother will be better, but you should try it nevertheless.
+20. **Play Lego** – It doesn’t need to be fancy. Buy a <AffiliateLink asin="B00PY3EYQO" text="classic box" /> and start being creative. Or buy the re-released [Pirates of Barracuda Bay](https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/pirates-of-barracuda-bay-21322), first released in 1989.
+21. **Learn Fancy Shoe Lacing Styles** – Did you know? There is [more than one way to lace your shoes](https://youtu.be/5bHGLNB8sxQ).
+22. **Learn About Japanese Design** – You can read about all the different styles in <AffiliateLink asin="4805312505">Japanese Design: Art, Aesthetics & Culture</AffiliateLink>, read <AffiliateLink asin="0714866962" text="WA: The Essence of Japanese Design" /> or have a look in the books of [Kenya Hara](https://www.amazon.de/Kenya-Hara/e/B01LOM7Q68).
+23. **Urban Dictionary** – Have a look into [The Urban Dictionary](https://www.urbandictionary.com/). It’s hilarious. Every day there is a new word, you never heard of. It’s funny.
+24. **Read or Write Haiku** – Haiku are short Japanese poems. 5 syllables, 7 syllables, 5 syllables. They are fun to read and fun to write. You can start reading the haiku of the master: <AffiliateLink asin="0140441859" text="Matsuo Basho" />. I tried [haiku](https://www.stefanimhoff.de/haiku/) myself, but they are nothing compared to his haiku.
+25. **Read Poetry** – There are many poets to pick from. [Epitaph for “Poet’s Tomb”](https://www.poetryinternational.org/pi/poem/23081/auto/0/0/Shuntaro-Tanikawa/EPITAPH-FOR-POETS-TOMB/) by _Shuntaro Tanikawa_ is my favorite poem. It gets recited in the short film [Hikari](https://youtu.be/__xVbrDvunY) (1:52). Watch it!
+26. **Learn to Code** – It’s always useful to know how to code. I recommend [freeCodeCamp](https://www.freecodecamp.org/). It’s free and leads you from the basics to becoming a professional developer. They additionally have hundreds of hours of free [video courses](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8butISFwT-Wl7EV0hUK0BQ).
+27. **Learn to Write** – Start with a few words or a short story. Or you could write a book. Learn about the [8-Point Story Arc](https://youtu.be/W0HEqI3pJIM) to improve your writing.
+28. **Build Yourself a Website** – If you don’t know how to code, do not despair. You can set up a website without technical knowledge on [WordPress](https://wordpress.com) or [Squarespace](https://squarespace.com).
+29. **Start a Blog** – If you have a website, you can start writing a blog. We need more blogs with interesting topics. You might know a few topics better than most people. Write about it.
+30. **Learn Design & Illustration** – You don’t need expensive software to start. Try [Affinity Designer](https://affinity.serif.com/designer/). It costs less than €50 and is powerful. I do all my designs with it: Websites, Flyer, Logos, … They have hundreds of [video tutorials](https://affinity.serif.com/learn/) and multiple books.
+31. **Improve Your Math** – The [Khan Academy](https://www.khanacademy.org/) is a free resource to learn everything about math, from preschool to university levels. The content is better than that in most schools. And they have more than math, courses on science & engineering and arts & the humanities.
+32. **Learn a Language** – You can learn on [Duolingo](https://www.duolingo.com/) for free. They have courses in so many languages, you can even learn _High Valyrian_, _Klingon_ or _Navajo_. I learn _Spanish_ and _Japanese_ every day.
+33. **Learn 3D Creation** – Not long ago, 3D software cost thousands of dollars. But today you can learn for free with [Blender](https://www.blender.org/). Modeling, Sculpting, Animation & Rigging, and Rendering. I’m doing the course [Complete Blender Creator: Learn 3D Modelling for Beginners](https://www.udemy.com/course/blendertutorial/) on Udemy.
+34. **Learn About Stoicism** – This Greek philosophy is helpful to deal with hard times and develop a good character. You can start with this book: <AffiliateLink asin="0735211736" text="The Daily Stoic" />. The author _Ryan Holiday_ runs a [website and blog](https://dailystoic.com/) and a [YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkUaT0T03TJvafYkfATM2Ag). Watch [The philosophy of Stoicism](https://youtu.be/R9OCA6UFE-0) to learn the basics. Next, you can read the book <AffiliateLink asin="B000FC1JAI" text="Meditations" /> by the Roman emperor <AffiliateLink asin="B000FC1JAI" text="Marcus Aurelius" />. His first sentence of book two was turned into a [comic](https://zenpencils.com/comic/aurelius/) by _Gavin Aung Than_.
+35. **Learn About Taoism** – The Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu founded a philosophy similar to Stoicism. He wrote the short book <AffiliateLink asin="B07FKWDY24" text="Tao Te King" />. It’s short, dense, and not easy. The philosopher Chuang Tzu wrote <AffiliateLink asin="B002RI99KU" text="another book" /> about Taoism that is much more poetic.
+36. **Learn Meditation** – Meditation and mindfulness is not an esoteric humbug, the scientific evidence of the benefits is vast. Sitting down every day for 10-20 minutes will improve your health and psyche. I recommend learning it with [Headspace](https://www.headspace.com/). The app has a free introduction course, and the paid version has uncounted courses, short meditations, daily topics, blog posts, sleep sounds, podcasts and music, and even a movement section.
+37. **Learn Calisthenics** – You don’t need a gym to get fit. The last time I’ve been to the gym was 20 years ago. All you need is the floor. You can start with Push-ups. Later you can buy a Pull-up bar for your door or gymnastic rings. That’s all you need. I wrote a [blog post](/calisthenics/) about it.
+38. **Learn About Old Culture** – History is boring? Only in school. Did you know that the Mayan culture had a custom number system, and a sophisticated calendar, and created even artificial soil? And recently, archeologists found out their culture was much more advanced than we thought. With Lidar (light detection and ranging) they [scanned a small amount](https://youtu.be/SwihfJgRRvs) of the Yucatán jungle and [found buildings for millions of people](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2018/02/maya-laser-lidar-guatemala-pacunam/).
+39. **Watch South Park** – It’s hilarious. And all episodes are available for free on the website of [South Park Studios](https://youtu.be/SwihfJgRRvs).
+40. **Watch or Read George Carlin** – He was _the_ standup comedian. He became famous for the **Seven Dirty Words**: _shit_, _piss_, _fuck_, _cunt_, _cocksucker_, _motherfucker_, and _tits_. He was a master of observation and words. He wrote <AffiliateLink asin="B010PD1GE0" text="three books" /> and did more than a [dozen standup specials](https://youtu.be/Hy-sVByUHqE).
+41. **Learn About the Meaning of Movies & TV Shows** – My favorite channel [Like Stories of Old](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs7nPQIEba0T3tGOWWsZpJQ) explores the boundary between film analysis and life lessons.
+42. **Learn Philosophy** – [The School of Life](https://www.theschooloflife.com/), founded by _Alain de Botton_, explorers philosophy in [uncounted videos](https://www.youtube.com/user/schooloflifechannel) and [articles](https://www.theschooloflife.com/thebookoflife/).
+43. **Learn About The World of H.P. Lovecraft** – If you’re into horror, read his books and stories. He is considered the master of [Cosmic Horror](https://youtu.be/8OTO7Rqln9Q). He wrote <AffiliateLink asin="0785834206" text="many stories" /> and inspired uncounted authors and filmmakers.
+44. **Learn About Alan Watts** – He was an English philosopher and interested in Zen, Buddhism, and Taoism. He wrote plenty of books and gave [impressive speeches](https://www.youtube.com/user/justtanui/).
+45. **Watch DUST** – [DUST](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7sDT8jZ76VLV1u__krUutA) has a huge amount of free sci-fi movies and short films. Start with [R’ha](https://youtu.be/Sgm_4WRcGRo) or [Wire Cutters](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIx0a1vcYPc). Every Sunday, they broadcast 1.5 hours of high-quality sci-fi.
+46. **Watch TED** – [TED](https://www.ted.com/) stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design. They have thousands of interesting talks in their library. Start with [This is what happens when you reply to spam email](https://youtu.be/_QdPW8JrYzQ) by _James Veitch_, [Inside the mind of a master procrastinator](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arj7oStGLkU) by _Tim Urban_ or [How to speak so that people want to listen](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIho2S0ZahI) by _Julian Treasure_.
+47. **Watch Jordan Peterson’s Lectures** – [Jordan B Peterson](https://www.jordanbpeterson.com/), the Canadian author, clinical psychologist, and scholar who is a professor at the University of Toronto has [hundreds of hours of free lectures](https://www.youtube.com/user/JordanPetersonVideos/playlists) on YouTube. I recommend you start with [2017 Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL22J3VaeABQAT-0aSPq-OKOpQlHyR4k5h). If you want to see how he disassembles an unfriendly and ideologically possessed interviewer, watch [Jordan Peterson debate on the gender pay gap, campus protests, and postmodernism](https://youtu.be/aMcjxSThD54).
+48. **Watch Bruce Lee’s Lost Interview** – The martial artist and philosopher _Bruce Lee_ in his only recorded interview on the _Pierre Berton Show_ in 1971: [The Lost Interview](https://youtu.be/uk1lzkH-e4U).
+49. **Listen or Watch Joe Rogan’s Podcast** – He is the most famous Podcaster in the world. For over 10 years he interviewed interesting people from around the globe: authors, artists, actors, comedians, … His show [The Joe Rogan Experience](https://www.youtube.com/user/PowerfulJRE) gets broadcasted 5 times a week. I like in particular that he doesn’t react to any peer pressure. He talks to everybody, from scientists to conspiracy theorists. You can start with the most viewed podcasts: [Elon Musk](https://youtu.be/ycPr5-27vSI), [Edward Snowden](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efs3QRr8LWw), or [Neil deGrasse Tyson](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGc4mg5pul4).
+50. **Watch HOME** – [HOME](https://youtu.be/jqxENMKaeCU) is a free documentary about the earth by _Yann Arthus-Bertrand_. It’s one of the best documentaries I’ve ever seen. Stunning aerial photography and a three-part story about the earth.
+51. **Watch HUMAN** – [HUMAN](https://youtu.be/vdb4XGVTHkE) ([Part 2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShttAt5xtto), [Part 3](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0653vsLSqE)) is another fantastic documentary by _Yann Arthus-Bertrand_. It’s a moving story about humanity, interviews mixed with stunning aerial photography.
+52. **Watch “Life In A Day”** – [Life In A Day](https://youtu.be/JaFVr_cJJIY) is a historic film captured for future generations. It was recorded in one day around the globe: **24th of July 2010**. It follows people from around the world from midnight to midnight.
+53. **Watch “Timelapse of the Future”** – [Timelapse of the Future](https://youtu.be/uD4izuDMUQA) is a 3D-animated movie with quotes from scientists, fantastic visuals, and music, that explores the future of our universe to the end of time.
+54. **Watch Gary Turk’s Videos** – [Gary Turk](https://www.youtube.com/user/GaryTurkFilm), the Poet, Storyteller & Filmmaker created nice short films like [Look Up](https://youtu.be/Z7dLU6fk9QY), [Live Rich](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7dLU6fk9QY) or [Introverts](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__9-VgvZYWM).
+55. **Watch “The Longest Way”** – _Christoph Rehage_ recorded in [The Longest Way](https://youtu.be/5ky6vgQfU24) his attempt to walk from Beijing to Germany and took one photo every day.
+56. **Watch RSA Animates** – This [series of videos](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL39BF9545D740ECFF) uses talks of world-changing ideas and draws them. Start with [Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us](https://youtu.be/u6XAPnuFjJc).
+57. **Watch “You Suck at Photoshop”** – The funny screencasting series [You Suck at Photoshop](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD19BCF9D57320E03) teaches you Photoshop while being a dark comedy TV Show at the same time. Hilarious.
+58. **Watch “Abstract: The Art of Design”** – [Abstract: The Art of Design](https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/70177-abstract-the-art-of-design) <NetflixFlag id="80057883" /> is a documentary about Design and shows the best designers from around the world.
+59. **Watch “Chef’s Table”** – Even if you’re not into cooking, watch [Chef’s Table](https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/62391-chef-s-table) <NetflixFlag id="80007945" />, a documentary about the best chef’s of the world It’s fantastic!
+60. **Watch Studio Ghibli Movies** – The Japanese animation film studio, founded by _Hayao Miyazaki,_ creates unbelievably good and moving films. Some of my favorites are [Castle in the Sky](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/10515) <NetflixFlag id="60027393" />, [My Neighbour Totoro](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/8392-tonari-no-totoro) <NetflixFlag id="60032294" />, [Spirited Away](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/129) <NetflixFlag id="60023642" /> or [Grave of the Fireflies](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/12477-hotaru-no-haka). But they are all fantastic.
+61. **Watch Wes Anderson Movies** – Wes Anderson's movies are fantastic. My favorites are [Moonrise Kingdom](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/83666-moonrise-kingdom), [The Grand Budapest Hotel](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/120467-the-grand-budapest-hotel), [Fantastic Mr. Fox](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/10315-fantastic-mr-fox) and [Isle of Dogs](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/399174-isle-of-dogs).
+62. **Watch Quentin Tarantino Movies** – _Quentin Tarantino_ produced movies with nonlinear storylines and aestheticization of violence. My favorite movies of him are [Pulp Fiction](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/680-pulp-fiction), [Kill Bill: Vol. 1](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/24-kill-bill-vol-1), [Kill Bill: Vol. 2](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/393-kill-bill-vol-2), [Reservoir Dogs](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/500-reservoir-dogs), [Death Proof](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1991-death-proof) and [Jackie Brown](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/184-jackie-brown).
+63. **Read and Watch “The Expanse”** – 5 years in a row the best Sci-Fi book. It is currently my favorite book series. Start with the first of the eight books: <AffiliateLink asin="1841499897" text="Leviathan Wakes" />. There is the fantastic <AffiliateLink asin="B07NJ6GZ5J" text="TV Show" /> with the same name, directed by authors of the books, available on Amazon Prime Video. It’s currently the 6th most-watched and my favorite TV Show.
+64. **Read “The Iliad & Odyssey” by Homer** – <AffiliateLink asin="1296852342" text="The Iliad and Odyssey" /> is the oldest book of Europe, culturally important, and the base of our civilization. Starting with the Trojan War which is ongoing for nearly ten years at the start of the book and the invasion and destruction of Troy. Following the 30 years of Odysseus’ attempts to sail home.
+65. **Read “The Histories” by Herodotus** – He is called the father of history. In his book <AffiliateLink asin="1400031141" text="The Histories" /> he writes about the rise and fall of empires, traditions, and customs of tribes around Europe. It’s one of the best books I’ve ever read.
+66. **Read John Seymors’ Books** – He was a British farmer and author, and his books are the first books I have memories of. I liked to leaf through his artful books even before I could read. I recommend The <AffiliateLink asin="0241352460">New Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency</AffiliateLink> and <AffiliateLink asin="1409346781">New Self-Sufficient Gardener</AffiliateLink>. I even wrote a [blog article](https://www.stefanimhoff.de/john-seymour-books/) about his books.
+67. **Read Basecamp’s Books** – One of my favorite companies, Basecamp (formerly 37signals), writes fantastic [books](https://basecamp.com/books) about business and work. Books like [Getting Real](https://basecamp.com/books/getting-real) or [Shape Up](https://basecamp.com/shapeup) are even free to read. My favorite book is [REWORK](https://basecamp.com/books/rework).
+68. **Read Ryan Holidays’ Books** – Another great author is _Ryan Holiday_. His books are based on the Stoic philosophy and will help to build a calm, strong character. Besides the book mentioned above, <AffiliateLink asin="0735211736" text="The Daily Stoic" />, I can recommend <AffiliateLink asin="1781251487" text="The Obstacle Is the Way" />, <AffiliateLink asin="1591847818" text="Ego Is the Enemy" /> and <AffiliateLink asin="0525538585" text="Stillness Is the Key" />.
+69. **Read “Dune” by Frank Herbert** – This Sci-Fi book <AffiliateLink asin="0575081503" text="Dune" /> series spans over 10,000 years and follows the stories around a desert planet _Arrakis_, known as _Dune_. The first book of the series is the most famous and was filmed a few times: [1984 by David Lynch](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/841-dune), a [TV Show from 2000](https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/19566-dune), spanning the first three books and the eagerly awaited [2020 movie](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/438631-dune). It is now a good time to read it.
+70. **Read “Watchmen” by Alan Moore** – The graphic novel <AffiliateLink asin="1401238963" text="Watchmen" /> is one of Time Magazine’s best 100 novels and a New York Times bestseller. There is a good [film adaption from 2009](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/13183-watchmen).
+71. **Read “Daytripper” by Gabriel Ba & Fabio Moon** – The acclaimed graphic novel <AffiliateLink asin="1401229697" text="Daytripper" /> follows a man from Brazil during different periods in his life, each with the same ending: his death. It’s a moving story about the meaning of life.
+72. **Read “Sin City” by Frank Miller** – The seven-volume strong series <AffiliateLink asin="1616552379" text="Sin City" /> painted in strong black and white (with tints of color) follows different people around a crime-ridden city. The first two volumes are available as movies with top-class actors: [Sin City](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/187-sin-city) and [Sin City: A Dame to Kill For](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/189-sin-city-a-dame-to-kill-for).
+73. **Read “Prince Valiant” by Hal Foster** – From 1937 to 1971 _Hal Foster_ created one page of his masterpiece <AffiliateLink asin="1683960726" text="Prince Valiant" /> every week. It’s one of the most artful drawings I’ve ever seen in my life. The stories follow a young prince on his way to becoming a Knight of the Round Table in the times of King Arthur. It’s a story that follows the invasion of the Huns, the decline of the Roman Empire, and other historically accurate events around Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and even America.
+74. **Read “Asterix” by René Goscinny & Albert Uderzo** – <AffiliateLink asin="0752866052" text="Asterix" /> is a funny story following the Gaul Asterix and his best friend Obelix in 50BC with their resistance against the invasion of the Roman Empire.
+75. **Read ”Valerian et Laureline” by Pierre Christin & Jean-Claude Méziéres** – The creative Sci-Fi graphic novel <AffiliateLink asin="B07336TT69" text="Valerian" /> follows the adventures of Valerian and Laureline, time travel agents around the Galaxy in different times.
+76. **Read “Yoko Tsuno” by Roger Leloup** – <AffiliateLink asin="1905460325" text="Yoko Tsuno" /> follows the adventures of _Yoko Tsuno_ and her friends and is a creative mix of stories taking place in space, the past, and present.
+77. **Watch “Rick & Morty”** – [Rick & Morty](https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/60625-rick-and-morty) <NetflixFlag id="80014749" /> by _Justin Roiland_ and _Dan Harmon_ is about _Rick_, a mad scientist who drags his grandson, _Morty_, on crazy Sci-Fi adventures. This adult cartoon is a masterpiece exploring the concept of multiverses.
+78. **Watch “Gravity Falls”** – [Gravity Falls](https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/40075-gravity-falls) is another fantastic cartoon, following two twins on a vacation during summer helping their great uncle stand in a mysterious town in Gravity Falls, Oregon. There is even a secret episode connecting _Gravity Falls_ with _Rick & Morty_.
+79. **Watch Akira Kurosawa Movies** – He was one of the most important and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. He directed 30 films in his 57 years spanning career. His masterpieces are [Seven Samurai](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/346), [Yojimbo](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/11878-y-jinb), [Kagemusha](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/11953), [Ran](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/11645-ran), [Throne of Blood](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/3777-kumonosu-j) and [Rashomon](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/548-rash-mon). He influenced George Lucas in his creation of _Star Wars_. A few of his movies got more than one remake.
+80. **Watch “Mad Men”** – [Mad Men](https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/1104-mad-men) <NetflixFlag id="70136135" /> is set in the 1960s, following the stories around a fictional advertising agency. The story, the characters, the costumes, and the sets: everything is perfect!
+81. **Watch “Band of Brothers”** – [Band of Brothers](https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/4613-band-of-brothers) is a Mini TV Show created by Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg. It is drawn from interviews, journals, and letters of soldiers taking part in WW2 D-Day. The cinematography, story, and music are incredible. It’s followed by [The Pacific](https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/16997-the-pacific), which takes place in the Pacific War of WW2.
+82. **Watch “Breaking Bad” & “Better Call Saul”** – [Breaking Bad](https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/1396-breaking-bad) <NetflixFlag id="80021955" /> is a fantastic TV Show following Walter White, a New Mexico chemistry teacher, diagnosed with Stage III cancer on his way into the deadly world of drug cartels. The prequel [Better Call Saul](https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/60059-better-call-saul) <NetflixFlag id="80021955" /> plays six years before the story and connects both stories and characters from the shows.
+83. **Watch “The Secret of Kells” & “Song of the Sea”** – The two movies [The Secret of Kells](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/26963-the-secret-of-kells) and [Song of the Sea](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/110416-song-of-the-sea) are beautiful and heart-warming animated stories.
+84. **Watch “Mr. Robot”** – The TV Show [Mr. Robot](https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/62560-mr-robot) <PrimeVideoFlag id="B08311CVSY" /> is a contemporary and culturally resonant drama about a young programmer, who suffers from a social anxiety disorder and decides that he can connect to people by hacking them. The TV Show was brilliant in its last episode!
+85. **Watch “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly”** – [The Good, the Bad and the Ugly](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/429-il-buono-il-brutto-il-cattivo) is one of the best Western movies ever produced. [Sergio Leone](https://open.spotify.com/album/1pDYxCrFTy971V4zaN5Anq) as director, _Clint Eastwood_ as an actor, and _Ennio Morricone_ composed the fantastic [music](https://open.spotify.com/album/1pDYxCrFTy971V4zaN5Anq).
+86. **Watch “Apocalypse Now” (Redux)** – [Apocalypse Now](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/28-apocalypse-now) is one of the most stunning movies showing the madness of war. Directed by _Francis Ford Coppola_, with top-class actors like _Marlon Brando_, _Robert Duvall_, _Martin Sheen_, and _Laurence Fishburne_ shows this movie is the journey of a Special Forces team to locate and eliminate a gone insane Green Beret Colonel in the Cambodian jungle. The Redux version added another 49 minutes of material that needed to be cut from the original version.
+87. **Read and Watch “Fight Club”** – The novel [Fight Club](http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/0393039765?ie=UTF8&tag=stefanimhoffde-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1638&creative=6742&creativeASIN=0393039765) by _Chuck Palahniuk_ is unique in every way. The story of an insomniac insurance clerk who meets a slippery soap salesman and anarchist ideas spiraling out of control. It’s a relevant book about consumerism and the meaning of life. The movie [Fight Club](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/550-fight-club) <PrimeVideoFlag id="B00FYWOWIA" /> is a nearly perfect adaptation of the book.
+88. **Watch “Memento”** – [Memento](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/77-memento) <NetflixFlag id="60020435" /> <PrimeVideoFlag id="B00EQXEP4Y" /> is one of my favorite movies: _Leonard Shelby_ tries to track down the killer of his wife, but he has an untreatable form of short-term memory loss since an attack on his wife and himself. The movie is unique because it’s told backward in blocks of 15 minutes, which gives the viewer the feeling of Leonard’s brain damage.
+89. **Watch “Bosch”** – [Bosch](https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/60585-bosch) <PrimeVideoFlag id="B07QHYKV39" /> is based on Michael Connelly’s best-selling novels, stories of a relentless LAPD homicide Detective Harry Bosch who pursues justice at all costs.
+90. **Watch “Amélie”** – The French movie [Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/194-le-fabuleux-destin-d-am-lie-poulain) is an adorable and heart-warming story about a shy woman falling in love with a stranger.
+91. **Watch “The Bridge”** – [Bron/Broen](https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/45016-bron-broen) <PrimeVideoFlag id="B01CKSBBS4" /> is a Danish/Swedish crime TV Show following the autistic inspector _Saga Norén_ tracing the tracks of a serial killer.
+92. **Watch “The Killing”** – [The Killing](https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/34415-the-killing) <PrimeVideoFlag id="B00NSDFQVY" /> is a crime drama TV Show based on the Danish TV Show Forbrydelsen. Set in Seattle, Washington, it follows detective _Sarah Linden_ in her murder investigations.
+93. **Watch “Dark”** – [Dark](https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/70523-dark) <NetflixFlag id="80100172" /> is one of the few German TV Shows that got international acclaim. It’s a Mystery and Sci-Fi Drama taking place in a small German town.
+94. **Watch “Money Heist”** – The Spanish TV Show [La casa de papel](https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/71446-la-casa-de-papel) <NetflixFlag id="80192098" /> is fun to watch a story about a big heist. A mysterious man called “El profesor“ recruits a band of eight criminal specialists to rob the National Coinage and Stamp Factory of Spain.
+95. **Watch “Love, Death & Robots”** – [Love, Death & Robots](https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/86831-love-death-robots) <NetflixFlag id="80174608" /> is a collection of animated short stories.
+96. **Watch “Oldboy”** – The Korean movie [올드보이](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/670) is an intensive story about a man who gets imprisoned, drugged, and tortured for 15 years with no clue why. After his sudden release, he tries to find revenge on his captors.
+97. **Play Games** – I’m not a big Gamer anymore, but I can recommend games: [Far Cry Primal](https://store.steampowered.com/app/371660/Far_Cry_Primal/) is a nice shooter taking place in the Stone Age. Equipped with a bow, arrow, and spear, riding on animals, you have to fight against hostile tribes. [Portal](https://store.steampowered.com/app/400/Portal/) and [Portal 2](https://store.steampowered.com/app/620/Portal_2/) are super cool action games where you have to escape from a Laboratory using a Portal gun. [Mark of the Ninja](https://store.steampowered.com/app/214560/Mark_of_the_Ninja/) is a cool sneaking and hiding Ninja game.
+98. **Listen to “Schiller”** – [Schiller](https://open.spotify.com/artist/4tRSX1e4hJYjMNdl1TkINg) is a German electronic band, founded by _Christopher von Deylen_ and _Mirko von Schlieffen_ in 1998. Songs to recommend are [In Between](https://open.spotify.com/track/5KMm0xpzwGkHQnTWSW8kPx), [Aurora](https://open.spotify.com/track/7kiBmWwD5uWZnHfTvCxRRW), [Leben…I Feel You](https://open.spotify.com/track/3mnE0DTh21EIm9F5K9MwEa), [Ein schöner Tag](https://open.spotify.com/track/739Ek7nvgD1vZvIqiedIVh), [Ruhe](https://open.spotify.com/track/1RyTjgOS6W4J43ipirBPM7) or [Schiller](https://open.spotify.com/track/3xmB25r21eoMAX7CahBtEx).
+99. **Listen to “Poets of the Fall”** – [Poets of the Fall](https://open.spotify.com/artist/1AZ30JnvQU1pbX6sbRE0Yn) is a Finnish rock band from Helsinki. Their songs have poetic lyrics. Songs to recommend are [Carnival of Rust](https://open.spotify.com/track/2DtPEKs3Pj7E06EoWW4vw8), [War](https://open.spotify.com/track/68zo0Yd3NayeXQmgElmx1h), [Lift](https://open.spotify.com/track/1HZrlGSsrTLKIYkklOvi4B), [Locking Up the Sun](https://open.spotify.com/track/1jEPdLuyYDSTRJTuCP9Gpg) and [Late Goodbye](https://open.spotify.com/track/7e61sMsW9ET6rMkhBaulQp).
+100. **Listen to “Enigma”** – [Enigma](https://open.spotify.com/artist/3DmG65yHQsMms7WAvrZOdt) is a German musical project founded in 1990 by _Michael Cretu_. Songs to recommend are [Return of Innocence](https://open.spotify.com/track/2UKkLqST2xWpK8n1b0Xr5Z), [Modern Crusaders](https://open.spotify.com/track/65fqcmj2M1EiERwDoIflDt), [Gravity of Love](https://open.spotify.com/track/3RSMFb9dHXNWZw8YwYGepI), [The Eyes of Truth](https://open.spotify.com/track/15zUyQPa91SOSeBf3w4ofr) or [Push The Limits](https://open.spotify.com/track/6G9F2G2iCvHWHbCzS17NhP).
+101. **Listen to “Recomposed By Max Richter: Vivaldi, The Four Seasons”** – [Recomposed By Max Richter: Vivaldi, The Four Seasons](https://open.spotify.com/album/5yuG2LEkf7QA9ZGIXldCmy) is one of my favorite classical albums. The whole album is fantastic, and I recommend listening to it when the sun sets or rises. I like in particular [Spring 1](https://open.spotify.com/track/5xbuJuQsTVheVZvX2AJVIv), [Spring 2](https://open.spotify.com/track/7l9J6yIgFgL9TMhdbGU6Qy), [Spring 3](https://open.spotify.com/track/1l8GdvJX9IgL3Ul7pdE87h), [Summer 3](https://open.spotify.com/track/5PoPk8VnQWve4xVY8BkG3t), and [Winter 1](https://open.spotify.com/track/1jWQ4n73jdT7y9gR2VHu0g). But you should listen to it in order of the seasons.

src/content/journal/2020/apps-tools-services.mdx

@@ -0,0 +1,521 @@
+---
+title: Apps, Tools & Services
+slug: apps-tools-services
+date: 2020-04-18T10:00:00+02:00
+updated: 2022-04-30
+author: Stefan Imhoff
+description: All the apps, tools, and services I use on my iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and Mac.
+tags: ["productivity", "software"]
+---
+
+This is a list of all the tools, apps, and services I use on my iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and Mac. I’ll update this list from time to time.
+
+### Legend
+
+📱iPhone/iPad • 🖥 Desktop • 📺 AppleTV • 🌐 Web
+
+---
+
+## Productivity
+
+### Things 📱 🖥
+
+[Things](https://culturedcode.com/things/) is my favorite productivity tool, my task manager. I use it on all devices, and it synchronizes instantly via Things Cloud. It’s available for Mac, iPhone, Apple Watch, and iPad.
+
+It has won multiple prices, is easy to use, but powerful, and has one of the best user experiences on the market.
+
+It follows the GTD approach (_Inbox_, _Today_, _Someday_) and has areas, projects, tasks, and subtasks. Everything can have tags, due dates, start dates, and notes. Projects can be structured with headlines. You can send tasks via email, capture your ideas with a quick entry dialogue, and integrate Apple Calendar. You can use the [Things URL Scheme](https://culturedcode.com/things/support/articles/2803573/) to send commands to Things.
+
+### DEVONthink 📱 🖥
+
+[DEVONthink](https://devontechnologies.com/apps/devonthink) is my complementary tool for Things. Things stores everything I have to do, DEVONthink everything I want to remember. I’ve used [Evernote](https://evernote.com) for many years and [Notion](https://www.notion.so/) for a year, but both Tools had too many things I didn’t like.
+
+The company DEVONtechnologies that creates DEVONthink (and a handful of other software products) is 6 people but provides powerful tools for over a decade. Their tools are used by Attorneys, Journalists, Researchers, or Writers.
+
+DEVONthink fulfills all my wishes. Your data is your data, it’s stored on your local hard drive (encrypted or unencrypted). You can store anything in it: Text in various formats, including Markdown. Images, PDF, Videos. You can create folders and use tags and have multiple databases for different topics. It’s possible to sync your data with Cloud solutions (Dropbox, iCloud, CloudMe, and WebDAV) or sync between devices via Bonjour. Your data is always encrypted on cloud storage containers. They have an iOS app: [DEVONthink To Go](https://apps.apple.com/app/devonthink-to-go/id395722470).
+
+DEVONthink has data science algorithms that analyze your content and suggest a location to sort your file into. It has advanced features to analyze, link, sort, and find your content. It has a powerful clipper that allows you to quickly grab the content of any website (converted and cleaned in numerous formats), and add text, video, audio, and screenshots.
+
+I store everything in DEVONthink. Notes, PDF documents (scanned with OCR), images, videos, quotes, and use over 17000 different tags in 5 databases.
+
+### Obsidian 📱 🖥
+
+I use [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md/) to write notes and connect ideas. It’s the best tool I know for note-taking. In less than 6 months, I created over 800 notes in Obsidian. It’s Markdown-based and the files are plain text files on your hard drive. I’m currently using the [Minimal](https://minimal.guide/) theme.
+
+### Scanner Pro
+
+I use [Scanner Pro](https://apps.apple.com/app/scanner-pro-pdf-scanner-app/id333710667) on my iPhone and iPad. Nearly every document I get in a paper format I scan with this app. The documents get converted with [OCR](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_character_recognition) to PDF with searchable text and can be automatically saved to cloud storage like Dropbox or iCloud. From there, I move the documents directly into DEVONthink.
+
+### Apple Calendar 📱 🖥
+
+[Apple Calendar](https://support.apple.com/guide/calendar/welcome/mac) is the only calendar I use. It looks beautiful and can be integrated with Exchange servers, Google Calendar, and other calendar providers. My calendars are currently stored in iCloud, but I’m excited to move them to [ProtonMail](https://protonmail.com/), as soon as the Bridge supports (hopefully) their new encrypted calendar.
+
+### Itsycal 🖥
+
+[Itsycal](https://www.mowglii.com/itsycal/) is a tiny menu bar calendar that integrates with Apple Calendar. I use it to quickly add or look at events without opening the full calendar.
+
+### Alfred 🖥
+
+[Alfred](https://www.alfredapp.com/) is an award-winning app that boosts my productivity immensely. You can integrate the tools with an unbelievable huge amount of other tools and search, filter, move, control **ALL THE THINGS**™.
+
+I use it to move files to folders on my hard drive, expand snippets, open apps, search on 20+ websites, calculate numbers, look up words in the dictionary, look up contacts, play music, convert colors and units, search DEVONthink, lookup my DNS and IP, emoji codes, generate test data, navigate to GitHub repositories, translate words and sentences, search for software packages, look up movies and TV shows, control my lights, or work with Things. To name a few.
+
+Hundreds of [workflows](https://www.alfredapp.com/workflows/) are available.
+
+### Hammerspoon 🖥
+
+[Hammerspoon](https://www.hammerspoon.org/) is my window manager for many years. It’s an open-source tool that allows you to interact with applications, windows, mouse pointers, file systems, audio devices, batteries, screens, keyboard/mouse events, clipboards, Wi-Fi, and more. I use it to launch apps, move them to my preferred screen, and navigate between apps.
+
+To get a basic workflow, you can copy [my settings](https://github.com/kogakure/dotfiles/tree/master/hammerspoon/hammerspoon.symlink) and modify them. If you want crazier automation, you’ll need [Lua](https://www.lua.org/) knowledge to code it yourself.
+
+### Apple Numbers 📱 🖥
+
+I use [Apple Numbers](https://www.apple.com/numbers/) for everything I need to do with spreadsheets. Calculating and tracking my income, my stocks, yearly expenses, and salary increases. I store all spreadsheets in DEVONthink and open them from there in Numbers. This way it’s encrypted and synchronized.
+
+### JustFocus 🖥
+
+[JustFocus](https://climstudio.com/justfocus/) is a nice, free tool to make sure you work focused and do regular breaks. It uses the [Pomodoro Technique](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomodoro_Technique) to switch between work and break time. You can adjust the length of work, short, or long break periods. During break time, the tool will block your screen and show a nice wallpaper and a quote to make sure you spend your break away from the screen.
+
+### Bartender 🖥
+
+[Bartender](https://www.macbartender.com/) allows organizing the menu bar icons on Mac. You can rearrange icons, hide them, or show them for a short time when they update. It’s helpful to see what’s relevant at any given time on the menu bar.
+
+### Time Sink 🖥
+
+[Time Sink](https://manytricks.com/timesink/) is a Mac app that allows tracking of how much time you spend on which app. You can see which apps are active and how long and at what times.
+
+### Habit Tracker
+
+I use [Habit Tracker](https://apps.apple.com/app/habit-tracker/id1438388363) to track my habits. You can decide which habit you want to perform, the count per day or week, and then check off what you did during the day. You can see your streaks for each habit and stay motivated.
+
+### IFTTT (Pro) 📱 🌐
+
+I use [IFTTT](https://ifttt.com/) (If This Then That) to automate several tasks across multiple services and tools on the internet or at home. There are hundreds of services and home appliances that can be connected.
+
+You can create powerful workflows to handover of data between two of these services without programming: Automatically publish a new blog post to Twitter, save a new Instagram photo to Dropbox, save liked videos or tweets to Raindrop.io, record your weight into a spreadsheet, send out an email when you enter or leave a specific geographical area, to name a few.
+
+I use around 20 services on that long list.
+
+### Apple Workflow 📱
+
+[Workflow](https://www.workflow.is/) is another automation tool, this time for iOS. Apple bought the company and integrated the tool into its ecosystem. There are much fewer services in Apple Workflow than in IFTTT, but it allows much more complicated workflows. You can automate many apps on your device depending on time, location, arrival, leaving, WLAN, Bluetooth, NFC, or opening an app. And build complex interfaces taking user input and doing something with it. But you don’t need to learn to program, it’s drag and drop.
+
+## Design, Photography & Conception
+
+### iA Writer 📱 🖥
+
+My main tool for writing is [iA Writer](https://ia.net/writer). I use it on Mac, iPhone, and iPad. It’s the most minimalistic, distraction-free, beautiful writing experience. It supports Markdown, and has tools to analyze your words, and count reading time, characters, words, and sentences. I write my text in Markdown and either open it from DEVONthink in iA Writer or save my texts in iCloud and index the contents of these folders in DEVONthink.
+
+### Affinity Designer 📱 🖥
+
+The British company **Serif** creates the best design tools I know. I worked with and owned Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator for over 15 years, and use Sketch at work. But [Affinity Designer](https://affinity.serif.com/designer/) is my tool of choice for everything I design: Websites, UI, flyers, and logos.
+
+I switched away from Adobe when they started forcing people to their cloud solutions and making it impossible to buy a new version every few years, but instead have to pay monthly “rent”. Serif won multiple awards for Affinity Designer.
+
+I use the iPad version and soon plan to buy a big iPad Pro with the Apple Pencil to create even cooler things with Affinity Designer.
+
+### Affinity Photo 📱 🖥
+
+[Affinity Photo](https://affinity.serif.com/de/photo/) is the second tool from **Serif**. I use it less, but when I want to work on photos or photo manipulations, I use Affinity Photo. Serif won multiple awards for Affinity Photo.
+
+It has support for RAW, PSD, 360° photo editing, HDR, batch automation, smart objects, and montage. I’m not a professional photographer, but it’s made for them.
+
+### Affinity Publisher 🖥
+
+[Affinity Publisher](https://affinity.serif.com/publisher/) is the newest tool by **Serif**. It’s an incredibly powerful DTP tool to replace Adobe InDesign or Quark Express. I started working with it, but I plan to create and lay out a book with it. It seamlessly integrates with Affinity Designer and Affinity Photo and allows doing nearly everything you can think of.
+
+### MindNode 📱 🖥
+
+[MindNode](https://mindnode.com/) is my favorite tool to create mind notes and map out ideas. I use it on all my devices. When I learned everything about Japanese Design, I used it to [map out my research](https://my.mindnode.com/FGhdh66uMbi1aJ9RfriKUL3JoMCHd18aS8z9Uayw).
+
+### Typeface 🖥
+
+[Typeface](https://typefaceapp.com/) is my favorite font app. It’s simple and beautiful, the price is fair, and it does all I need.
+
+### Blender 🖥
+
+I don’t use [Blender](https://www.blender.org/) a lot, but it is an incredibly complex open-source 3D creation software. I used to work a lot with 3D in my first job (3ds max, Maya, and Cinema 4D) but when I moved to the web I stopped working with 3D software regularly. I love it, and I’m currently doing online training to learn Blender properly.
+
+### Bēhance 📱 🌐
+
+[Bēhance](https://www.behance.net/) is the second platform I regularly browse for inspiration. The portfolios of artists and designers are of high quality, and it’s possible to remember interesting pieces on boards. You can follow your favorite artists.
+
+### Instagram 📱 🌐
+
+I don’t like [Instagram](https://www.behance.net/) too much because the browsing experience is crappy, and you can use it on the phone. No iPad app and the web app is limited. But it’s a nice app to publish photos from time to time and follow friends and family. I use it now exclusively on the web.
+
+## Development
+
+### Neovim 🖥
+
+I use [Neovim](https://neovim.io/) as my primary code editor. It’s the best editor available. You can see my configuration files, the mappings, settings, functions, and the plugins I use in my [dotfiles](https://github.com/kogakure/dotfiles/tree/master/nvim) repository.
+
+### Visual Studio Code 🖥
+
+I use [Visual Studio Code](https://code.visualstudio.com/) from time to time. I use countless extensions, which would be too much to list them all.
+
+### Kitty 🖥
+
+I used iTerm2 for a long time as my terminal, but recently, I switched to [Kitty](https://github.com/kovidgoyal/kitty). It is much faster, which is important because I use NeoVim in the terminal as my primary code editor.
+
+I use additionally [tmux](https://github.com/tmux/tmux/) and [tmuxinator](https://github.com/tmuxinator/tmuxinator) to manage and restore multiple terminal sessions. I can switch between projects or keep multiple servers running.
+
+### GitHub 📱 🖥 🌐
+
+[GitHub](https://github.com/) (or [GitHub Enterprise](https://github.com/enterprise) at my workplace) is my tool for storing and working with source code. All my websites are on GitHub and a few dozen other projects. I use [GitHub for mobile](https://github.com/mobile/) and occasionally [GitHub Desktop](https://desktop.github.com/). I use Git on the command line.
+
+### Netlify 🌐
+
+[Netlify](https://www.netlify.com/) is my favorite hosting service. All my websites are hosted for free. If I push a new feature to GitHub, Netlify will [automatically deploy](https://app.netlify.com/sites/stefanimhoff-de/deploys) my website on a preview URL. After all the tests have been running successfully, and I merge the feature, the new feature goes live without needing to do anything more.
+
+### Dash 📱 🖥
+
+[Dash](https://kapeli.com/dash) is an API documentation browser. You can browse over 200 API documentation without searching on the internet. Dash downloads the latest documentation offline to your computer and makes it possible to look things up even when you have no connection to the internet. And I use an integration in Alfred.
+
+### Kaleidoscope 🖥
+
+I used [Kaleidoscope](https://www.kaleidoscopeapp.com/) as my default tool for merge conflicts in Git, but Visual Studio Code has a much nicer way of fixing merge conflicts, I use Kaleidoscope to compare complete codebases or the differences in images.
+
+### Image Shrinker 🖥
+
+[Image Shrinker](https://image-shrinker.com/) is a nice, free tool to minify images and graphics with one drop. Easy, fast, and useful.
+
+### Integrity 🖥
+
+I use [Integrity](https://apps.apple.com/app/integrity/id513610341) regularly to check all my websites for broken links. It’s not something I do every month, but when I do it, this tool is helpful.
+
+## News & Information
+
+### Feedbin 📱 🌐
+
+[Feedbin](https://feedbin.com/) is my main source of information. I follow all my RSS/Atom feeds, my YouTube subscriptions, Twitter tweets, Newsletters, Reddit, and news sources. A cool feature of Feedbin is to track changes in articles.
+
+I save everything of interest into Raindrop.io for later research. I used Feedly for many years since the Google News Reader shut, but recently the pricing and features did not match and Feedbin is much more fun to use.
+
+### Reeder 📱 🖥
+
+I use Feedbin together with [Reeder 5](https://reederapp.com/). Reeder is a beautiful newsreader which allows using read later services (Pocket, Instapaper) and many services (Feedbin, Feedly) and directly reading RSS/Atom feeds without service and synchronizing them between all devices via iCloud.
+
+### Raindrop.io (Pro) 📱 🖥 🌐
+
+[Raindrop.io](https://raindrop.io/) is my bookmark manager. It is a lot of fun, I save nearly everything in it. The tool allows for organizing bookmarks in collections (\$), tagging, and filtering (by type of bookmark).
+
+A deduplicating service finds broken links (\$). The new highlighting feature allows using of 4 different colors and adds comments to any text. A browser extension allows highlighting the text directly on the website. Each collection can use a different view (Grid, Headlines, Masonry, or List). Full-text search will search every web page and PDF (\$). Raindrop automatically creates a backup of every website for offline reading (\$).
+
+Raindrop.io can be used to create mood boards, and it is possible to upload common media files. Collections can be edited together with other users, and it is possible to share individual collections publicly ([here are mine](https://raindrop.io/kogakure)).
+
+### Readwise 📱 🌐
+
+[Readwise](https://readwise.io/) is my favorite tool to have all my highlights of different services in one place, no matter if it is my Kindle, Apple Books, Pocket, Feedly, Instapaper, Medium, or Twitter. Each morning, you get five random highlights to review, which is a fantastic way to be reminded of the ideas you highlighted.
+
+I synchronize my highlights with Obsidian, where I store them permanently as Markdown documents.
+
+### Pinboard 🌐
+
+I use [Pinboard](https://pinboard.in/) as a backup for all the links I save. They get automatically transferred from Raindrop.io to Pinboard with IFTTT. I joined Pinboard when the price was a one-time payment of 9 USD.
+
+### Wikipedia 📱 🌐
+
+I use the [Wikipedia](https://www.wikipedia.org/) website and [iOS app](https://apps.apple.com/app/apple-store/id324715238) all the time. The app allows saving interesting articles into collections and synchronizing them across mobile devices.
+
+### Tweetbot 📱 🖥
+
+I read Twitter feeds in Feedbin, but occasionally, I use [Tweetbot for iOS](https://tapbots.com/tweetbot/) and [Tweetbot for Mac](https://www.tapbots.com/tweetbot/mac/) as a Twitter client. The Twitter feed is otherwise messy, unordered, and full of advertising. I don’t like Twitter in particular, but unfortunately, a lot of industry news is published there. I mute everybody annoying instantly in Tweetbot, sometimes for a week, a month, or forever.
+
+### Minds 📱 🌐
+
+After Twitter started censoring and de-platforming people, I started using [Minds](https://www.minds.com/) again. I used it in 2018 but stopped using it. But now it got many nice new features, it can replace Facebook and Twitter. It’s for free speech, and the people on Minds dislike it if somebody reports what somebody else posted because they think it’s offensive. Criminal things (doxing, calls to violence) will be removed. If you don’t like somebody, block them. I post recommendations on [my profile](https://www.minds.com/kogakure/).
+
+### Mastodon 📱 🌐
+
+I wish more people would use [Mastodon](https://joinmastodon.org/) because it’s much nicer, friendlier, and _decentralized_. Nobody owns it, nobody can control it or cash it, and nobody can silence people. Hundreds of instances are talking to each other.
+
+Currently, I’m using [Tootle for Mastodon](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/tootle-for-mastodon/id1236013466) on iOS and mirror my Twitter tweets via a [bridge](https://crossposter.masto.donte.com.br/). If you want to follow me: [@kogakure@mastodon.social](https://mastodon.social/@kogakure).
+
+## Communication
+
+### Slack 📱 🖥
+
+I use [Slack](https://slack.com/) at work. I have another account and use it to push deploy messages, Git commits, Twitter feeds, or RSS updates to my websites in my channels. But I like the tool, and I’m the administrator of a workspace with over 800 people.
+
+### Apple Messages 📱 🖥
+
+[Messages](https://support.apple.com/explore/messages) is the messenger I use with my family. We all have Apple devices, and even my grandmother can use the app. The app has nice features. I wish the Desktop app would get more love from Apple.
+
+### Apple FaceTime 📱 🖥
+
+[FaceTime](https://apps.apple.com/app/facetime/id1110145091) is the video chat messenger I use with my family.
+
+### ProtonMail (Plus) 📱 🌐
+
+[ProtonMail](https://protonmail.com/) is my main email provider, end-to-end encrypted emails. I stopped using Gmail as my main email provider 3 years ago. I sometimes use the [web app](https://mail.protonmail.com/) or the [new beta version](https://beta.protonmail.com/) of the web app, which looks nice.
+
+### Apple Mail 🖥
+
+I use Apple Mail on Desktop to connect to my work email on an Exchange server and my ProtonMail server via the [ProtonMail Bridge](https://proton.me/mail/bridge).
+
+### Signal 📱 🖥
+
+[Signal](https://www.signal.org/) is a messenger I use with co-workers and friends. It is the messenger with the most security and privacy. Additionally, it’s open source, and no malicious code can be sneaked into it by the government or private entity. After deleting WhatsApp, it’s my favorite messenger to communicate across different platforms.
+
+### Telegram 📱 🖥
+
+[Telegram](https://telegram.org/) is a messenger I use with co-workers and friends. A nice thing is your profile can have a link you share with unknown people to contact you. It is the messenger with the nicest features. You can edit a send text and fix errors, create public or private chat rooms and encrypt your communication (unfortunately not the default setting, people don’t do it).
+
+You can use encrypted Git repositories and link and validate your [profile](https://keybase.io/kogakure) with several external services. You can send messages that auto-delete and even send messages to users not yet on Keybase.
+
+### Element 📱 🖥 🌐
+
+[Element](https://element.io/) is the official messenger of [Matrix](https://matrix.org/). It’s an open network for secure, decentralized communication.
+
+It has grown over the last few years and I hope it will win the messenger war one day. With corporations trying to control the ecosystem or governments to weaken encryption, free internet and free communication must move to a decentralized messenger. The messenger is as powerful and feature-rich as Slack, but free.
+
+Plenty of big companies (as a recent example, Mozilla) move their communication to a self-hosted instance of Matrix. The French government, the German military, and a lot of Germany’s universities use it. Every instance can communicate with all other instances.
+
+Matrix even allows bridges, to communicate with a user of Slack, Apple Messenger, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, or similar. The bridges are early development, but the future for Matrix looks good.
+
+You can contact me at [@kogakure:matrix.org](https://matrix.to/#/@kogakure:matrix.org).
+
+### Status 📱 🖥
+
+[Status](https://status.im/) is a new decentralized instant messaging app. It’s a crypto wallet and a Web3 browser. No phone, email, or username is needed to use it. You can choose a random unique ID at the first start. I think it’s a pretty messenger, and it’s easy to share your own (complete anonymous) [profile](https://join.status.im/u/0x046ef708e10d74f71a3294f6bb4b96f0731c6a39bd9abd0993ddfd0015500d3c0dda98b351b2685b9f0e0e57d71cba8149d494f801956a051e77d15d963dc74b81).
+
+### Session 📱 🖥
+
+[Session](https://getsession.org/) is a new decentralized messenger with an interesting security model. It collects no metadata. Not even your phone number or email. You are anonymous. The first time you use it, you get a session key. You can save a backup for this session to restore it on another device. To contact another person, all you need is to have the public session key. The chat is routed through an onion routing network, which makes it nearly impossible to leave any footprint. It’s open source and censorship-resistant.
+
+### Brave Talk 🌐
+
+[Brave Talk](https://talk.brave.com/) is a way to have unlimited video calls with up to 4 people for free. No download of any app is needed.
+
+### Jitsi Meet 📱 🌐
+
+Another nice open-source tool for video chat is [Jitsi](https://meet.jit.si/). It supports many users (currently 75) at the same time. Creating a room is as easy as clicking a button. No extra software is needed, it runs in the browser. There are mobile versions available. It’s the default video conferencing system of [Riot](https://jitsi.riot.im/) (Elements).
+
+## Browser
+
+### Brave Browser 📱 🖥
+
+My primary browser is [Brave](https://brave.com/). It has the same engine as Chrome, but ad-blocking and tracker-blocking are included by default. It blocks fingerprinting, a way to track you across the internet. Brave is eager to implement new features, for example, crypto wallets or the [IPFS](https://ipfs.io/) peer-to-peer protocol. Plus: It supports all Chrome extensions.
+
+### Firefox (Developer Edition) 📱 🖥
+
+My secondary browser is [Firefox Developer Edition](https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/developer/). I love the features of Firefox. The developer experience is fantastic, and I like in particular the bookmarking system (this sucks with other browsers). Firefox supports tags and has a nice bookmark bar to quickly filter and search bookmarks.
+
+Mozilla has privacy as a much higher priority than Google. Google works actively on ways to prevent ad-blocking, while Mozilla blocks trackers by default and allows and provides all kinds of additional privacy tools (like container tabs).
+
+## Media
+
+### Apple Music 📱 🖥
+
+I use [Apple Music](https://www.apple.com/apple-music/) as my music streaming service. I stream music to my five Sonos boxes around my home and use it to wake me up, do workouts or relax on the sofa. I used Spotify before, but they started deplatforming podcasts, which they don’t agree with, and I don’t support this behavior.
+
+### Overcast 📱 🖥
+
+To listen to podcasts, I use [Overcast](https://overcast.fm/). I like how many features it has.
+
+### Sonos 📱 🖥
+
+[Sonos](https://www.sonos.com/) is my favorite sound system since 2012. I have two [Play:5](https://www.sonos.com/shop/play5-white.html), one Play:3, one [Play:1](https://www.sonos.com/shop/one.html) and the [Playbar](https://www.sonos.com/shop/playbar.html). It’s super cool to sync all boxes around the home and have no lag between the music in different rooms.
+
+### YouTube 📱 🌐
+
+I use the [YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/) app and website a lot to watch videos from channels I follow. I use the extensions [DF YouTube](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/df-youtube/) and [Enhancer for YouTube](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/enhancer-for-youtube/) to make the viewing experience more enjoyable. I hide all sidebars, comments, suggestions, and other needy crap. All videos stop by default and are automatically switched to full-screen mode.
+
+### Odysee/LBRY 📱 🖥 🌐
+
+[Odysee](https://odysee.com/) is a completely decentralized video platform that doesn’t censor anything except illegal things. It uses the [LBRY](https://lbry.com/) network for open, free, and fair digital content. LBRY itself doesn’t censor anything, it cannot do so because the content is shared peer-to-peer and the metadata lives on the blockchain.
+
+### IMDb 📱 🌐
+
+[IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/) is one of the more used apps on my devices. I look up actors, directors, movies, and TV shows all the time. I log all my watched TV shows and movies to keep track of what I have watched.
+
+### TMDb 🌐
+
+[TMDb](https://www.themoviedb.org/) is a nice collaborative movie database and I started using it to link to movies on my website because I like to support open projects.
+
+### WerStreamtEs 📱 🌐
+
+[WerStreamt.es](https://www.werstreamt.es/) (German for WhoStreams.it) is my favorite platform to keep track of movies and TV shows. You can put movies and TV shows on a watch list and add the streaming services you have. The app will send out emails with reminders if something on your watch list has a new season or is available for streaming.
+
+### Netflix 📱 📺
+
+I use [Netflix](https://www.netflix.com/) on my Apple TV and sometimes on my iPad. I stopped watching TV seven years ago and watch movies and TV shows on Netflix. Here is a [list of things I watched on Netflix](https://www.imdb.com/list/ls027045180/).
+
+### Prime Video 📱 📺
+
+The second streaming service I use is [Amazon Prime Video](https://www.primevideo.com/). It has much fewer good movies and TV shows, but it’s much, much cheaper. Here is a [list of things I watched on Amazon Prime Video](https://www.imdb.com/list/ls027045359/).
+
+### Apple Photos 📱 🖥
+
+[Apple Photos](https://www.apple.com/ios/photos/) is the default app Apple comes with. It’s good enough for me and easy enough to use by all generations of the whole family. This is where we share photos in the family.
+
+### QuickTime Player 🖥
+
+[QuickTime](https://support.apple.com/downloads/quicktime) is a nice player, and it’s the default on a Mac. Not much more to say. I quickly record screencasts with it. It’s quicker and easier than recording with apps like _ScreenFlow_.
+
+### VLC 📱 🖥
+
+[VLC](https://www.videolan.org/vlc/) is a good and free player. It can play **anything**. Even corrupt or partial videos. I use it to stream my videos from my [Synology NAS](https://www.synology.com/).
+
+### Shazam 📱
+
+I use [Shazam](https://www.shazam.com/) for one case: To recognize songs and find them on Spotify.
+
+## Security & Privacy
+
+### Bitwarden 📱 🖥
+
+[Bitwarden](https://bitwarden.com/) is my Password Manager. I switched recently from 1Password because for a Password Manager security and trust are more important than design. The source code of Bitwarden is open, with no possibility for backdoors. Bitwarden is free with basic features, and adding the premium features is much cheaper than with other Password Managers.
+
+### ExpressVPN 📱 🖥
+
+[ExpressVPN](https://www.expressrefer.com/refer-friend?locale=de&referrer_id=65477408&utm_campaign=referrals&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=referral_dashboard) is my current VPN provider. I switched to it from NordVPN after my 3-year contract was over.
+
+### Cryptomator 📱 🖥
+
+[Cryptomator](https://cryptomator.org/) is a free tool to encrypt cloud data. I encrypt all private data either in DEVONthink or with Cryptomator storage in Dropbox.
+
+### AdGuard Pro 📱
+
+[AdGuard](https://adguard.com/) is a good way of blocking advertising on iOS devices. I use it to block advertising system-wide on my iPhone and iPad.
+
+## Learning
+
+### Duolingo (Plus) 📱 🌐
+
+I love [Duolingo](https://www.duolingo.com/)! I learn on Duolingo without missing one day for more than 2 years now. It’s an intuitive and fun way of learning. And it’s free! I started switching to **Plus** recently, which removes advertising and adds offline support and streak repair. I learn [Japanese](https://www.duolingo.com/enroll/ja/en/Learn-Japanese) and [Spanish](https://www.duolingo.com/enroll/es/en/Learn-Spanish) every day. They have good [podcasts](https://podcast.duolingo.com/) for Spanish and French, [stories](https://stories.duolingo.com/), progress quizzes, leagues, and much more.
+
+### Drops 📱
+
+[Drops](https://languagedrops.com/) is a fun app I started using a few months ago. I use it for learning vocabulary as a companion to Duolingo. You can learn for 5 minutes for free every 8 hours, which is around 10 minutes every day.
+
+### Shirabe Jisho 📱 🌐
+
+Shirabe Jisho is a [powerful Japanese-English dictionary](https://jisho.org/). It shows nearly everything you can wish for, even the visual stroke order of the characters. The [iOS app](https://apps.apple.com/app/shirabe-jisho/id1005203380) is a complete offline dictionary.
+
+### Japanese 📱
+
+[Japanese](https://japaneseapp.com/) is another beautiful Japanese dictionary for iOS and Android. You can even use Flashcards and test your knowledge about Kanji.
+
+### Human Japanese 📱
+
+[Human Japanese](https://humanjapanese.com/) is a paid app to learn Japanese. The interface is dated, but the content is good.
+
+### Goodreads 📱 🌐
+
+[Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/) is the only decent social reading platform. I use it to track the books I want to read and the books I’m reading and update my status once a week. You can save books to shelves, follow friends, and get inspiration about what to read next or do a reading challenge every year. You can [follow me on Goodreads](https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/28460819) or look into the books I’ve read.
+
+### Literal 📱 🌐
+
+[Literal](https://literal.club/) is a new platform to explore new books, join book clubs and share what you read with other people. You can [follow me on Literal](https://literal.club/kogakure).
+
+### Kindle 📱 🖥
+
+I use the [iPad and iPhone Kindle](https://apps.apple.com/app/kindle/id302584613) app and the [macOS Kindle](https://apps.apple.com/app/kindle/id405399194) app as a companion to my Kindle Paperwhite. I use the app either to look at color photos or illustrations or after I’ve finished a book to review my marginalia (notes and markings).
+
+## Health & Fitness
+
+### Health 📱
+
+I like the [Health](https://www.apple.com/ios/health/) app of Apple, the only drawback is that there is not an iPad or Desktop version of it. It gets better with every release and aggregates data from all kinds of other apps and services. I get my Meditation times, movement data, and workouts from my [Apple Watch](https://www.apple.com/watch/), audio data from my [AirPods Pro](https://www.apple.com/airpods-pro/), my weight from my [Withings Body Cardio](https://www.withings.com/body-cardio) scale, and my sleep from my [Fitbit Charge](https://www.fitbit.com/charge4) – though this needs an extra app to get the data over an API, as Fitbit and Apple have a vendetta and Fitbit doesn’t give their data to the health app.
+
+### Activity 📱
+
+The [Activity](https://apps.apple.com/app/activity/id1208224953) app is the app delivered with an Apple Watch. It’s nice to track workouts, movement, and changes in your activity over time. It allows competition with family and friends. And the data is transferred to the Health app.
+
+### Health Mate 📱 🌐
+
+The [Health Mate](https://healthmate.withings.com/) app by Withings is a nice way to have an insight into my weight, fat, water, muscle mass, heart frequency, and pulse wave velocity every morning. I use the Withings [Body Cardio](https://www.withings.com/body-cardio) scale, the [Sleep Analyzer](https://www.withings.com/sleep-analyzer), the [BPM Connect](https://www.withings.com/bpm-connect) blood pressure monitor, and [Thermo](https://www.withings.com/thermo).
+
+### Reps & Sets
+
+I use the [Reps & Sets](https://repsandsetsapp.com/) app for my [Calisthenics](/calisthenics/) training, multiple times per week. As an early adopter, I get the Premium features for free.
+
+### Insight Timer 📱
+
+I use [Insight Timer](https://insighttimer.com/) for my daily meditation. I honestly don’t use much of its features, except the feature to create custom timers.
+
+## Finance & Calculations
+
+### iFinance 📱 🖥
+
+[iFinance](https://www.syniumsoftware.com/ifinance) is my tool to track income and spending. Every day, I track my expenses and income for ~5 minutes and make sure everything is fine with my accounts. iFinance has nice tools to automate and analyze your expenses to find out how you spend your income.
+
+I use the iOS or Apple Watch version to track expenses while I’m on the way. The data is synchronized with iCloud or Wi-Fi across devices.
+
+### Stocks 📱 🖥
+
+I use the Apple [Stocks](https://apps.apple.com/app/stocks/id1069512882) app to keep track of my stocks and funds. It’s simple and easy to use and available on iOS and macOS.
+
+### Calcbot 📱
+
+[Calcbot](https://www.tapbots.com/calcbot/) is a beautifully designed calculator and unit converter I use for many years. It’s available for the Apple Watch and has nice features such as sending your calculations as an email, syncing across devices with iCloud, and much more.
+
+## Weather
+
+### Netatmo 📱 🌐
+
+I use the [Netatmo](https://www.netatmo.com/) weather app to monitor the temperature, CO₂, humidity, noise level, and air pressure in all my rooms and on the balcony. I use a rain monitor. The devices are beautifully designed and have a long life duration (I use them since 2013).
+
+### Weather Pro 📱
+
+[WeatherPro](http://www.weatherpro.eu/) is the best and most accurate weather app I know. It’s a free app but for €9.99 per year, you can get more detailed data, hourly forecasts, and other nice features. All advertising gets removed from apps by _MeteoGroup_.
+
+### RainToday 📱
+
+[RainToday](http://raintoday.weatherpro.de/lang/en.html) is the second app from _MeteoGroup_ on my devices. There are live updates on upcoming rain in your location that show the estimated duration, intensity, and direction of the rain.
+
+### SolarWatch 📱
+
+[SolarWatch](https://apps.apple.com/app/solarwatch-tageslicht-wetter/id1191365122) is my favorite app to show the sunrise and sunset.
+
+## Tools
+
+### Hue 📱 🖥
+
+I use the [Philips Hue](https://apps.apple.com/app/philips-hue/id1055281310) app to control the light in my home. Nearly all my light bulbs are now from Hue, and I automate a lot of my light cycles. I turn on lights automatically when dusk starts and wake me up with lights during wintertime. I dim down my lights every day at the same time and shut them off at the same time. As I always follow the same routine, this works fantastic. I use multiple different switches and Siri to control the light around my home manually. I even use an [Alfred workflow](https://github.com/benknight/hue-alfred-workflow) to control my light directly from the computer.
+
+### Apple Maps 📱 🖥
+
+I switched to [Apple Maps](https://www.apple.com/maps/) because I dislike Google for a while. But occasionally, I switch and use [Google Maps](https://www.google.com/maps) because the information for stores and opening times is much better.
+
+### DeepL 📱 🖥 🌐
+
+[DeepL](https://www.deepl.com/translator) is my favorite translation app.
+
+### Dropbox (Plus) 📱 🖥 🌐
+
+[Dropbox](https://www.dropbox.com/) is my cloud provider. My [Synology NAS](https://www.synology.com/) synchronizes automatically everything in Dropbox as a backup. Never trust cloud providers.
+
+### iCloud 📱 🖥 🌐
+
+[iCloud](https://www.icloud.com/) is my second cloud provider. The new CloudKit sync is fast and seamless with Apple Devices and Apple services work optimally with iCloud.
+
+### The Unarchiver 🖥
+
+[The Unarchiver](https://theunarchiver.com/) is the best, free, and only app you need to unpack nearly every format available.
+
+### DaisyDisk 🖥
+
+I use [DaisyDisk](https://daisydiskapp.com/) to find and delete unneeded files from my computer. It’s the best visual representation of your hard drive I know. Files can be collected and deleted with one click.
+
+### AppCleaner 🖥
+
+[AppClearner](https://freemacsoft.net/appcleaner/) is a nice and free application that allows uninstalling unwanted apps and deleting all traces and left-over settings at the same time.
+
+### Find My 📱 🖥
+
+I use the [Find My](https://www.apple.com/icloud/find-my/) app to find my devices … and my family. And to get random calls from my grandmother about why I’m at home and not at work. 😆
+
+### Komoot 📱 🌐
+
+If you’re into Biking or Hiking, [Komoot](https://www.komoot.de/) is the best app I know. It’s free but possible to buy better hiking maps for regions or the whole world. It allows for creating tours and sending them to the iPhone or even Apple Watch app and navigating with it. The route gets even broken down into kinds of streets, height profile, and difficulty. And you can record your tours and share them.
+
+### Citymapper 📱 🌐
+
+[Citymapper](https://citymapper.com/) is a fantastic routing app available for selected big cities around the globe. My home city Hamburg is included. It knows all available transport options and times and calculates the best tour to your target. It even shows you when to get on and off transport and on which side of a subway you have entered.
+
+### DHL Paket 📱
+
+The [DHL Paket](https://www.dhl.de/de/privatkunden/kampagnenseiten/dhl-app.html) app is the best way to see all packages on the way to your home or somebody from your home.

src/content/journal/2020/best-of-2020.mdx

@@ -0,0 +1,379 @@
+---
+title: Best of 2020
+slug: best-of-2020
+date: 2020-12-22T18:00:00+02:00
+author: Stefan Imhoff
+description: A distilled collection of my favorite topics, articles, videos, podcasts, people, or other things in 2020.
+tags: ["tip"]
+---
+
+This article is a distilled collection of my favorite topics, articles, videos, podcasts, people, or other things in 2020. I tried to get the recommendations in order, you can expect similar topics to follow each other.
+
+---
+
+## What I’ve Learned
+
+[What I’ve Learned](https://www.youtube.com/c/WhatIveLearned/) by _Joseph Everett_ is one of my favorite channels regarding health, productivity, and psychology. He puts great effort into summarizing dozens of scientific studies or meta-studies in a digestible way. One of his goals is to fight modern dogma.
+
+This year he created four fantastic videos on health: [Meat: Grows the Brain or Rusts the Body?](https://youtu.be/1MH2ZKt35K4), [What made the Ancient Egyptians Fat and Sick?](https://youtu.be/YGq_EbYEaSY), [Does Coffee make you Fat and Anxious?](https://youtu.be/pVXHD1gl6c4), and [Does Instagram Lower your Testosterone?](https://youtu.be/xpVnXJl3GK8)
+
+And three videos on Psychology and Neuroscience: [Willpower is for Losers](https://youtu.be/k2Wcu6aGyz8), [Why are you Uncertain, Unfocused, and Anxious? What should we do about it?](https://youtu.be/GaJmw54BMcw), and [Why do we find Satisfying things so Satisfying? (Neuroscience and Pleasure)](https://youtu.be/qr0JMv2uYxQ).
+
+## Why We Sleep
+
+I discovered _Matthew Walker_, the author of [Why We Sleep](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34466963-why-we-sleep), first on [The Joe Rogan Experience 1109](https://open.spotify.com/episode/1WtITGcwwZYQZHVJGciMJp). His book summarizes years of studies on sleep and the severe effects of too little sleep.
+
+Since I read his book and listened to his [TED talk](https://youtu.be/5MuIMqhT8DM), I increased my median sleep duration from 6 hours to 8 hours a night.
+
+## What is Happiness?
+
+I found the YouTube channel of [Will Schroder](https://twitter.com/willschoder) through his fantastic video [How To Remember Everything You Learn](https://youtu.be/V-UvSKe8jW4) in 2018.
+
+This year, he created a three-part series about Happiness:
+[What is Happiness?](https://youtu.be/5f0ilA4tjJ0), [The Foundations of Happiness](https://youtu.be/p4X7uXfZ2cY), and [The Secret to Happier](https://youtu.be/Yg5Q9XBHYYk). The amount of work he put into this long documentary is impressive!
+
+## Aydin Paladin
+
+A new channel about politics, news, social psychology, media psychology, human communication, and memes I discovered in 2020 was [Aydin Paladin](https://www.youtube.com/c/AydinPaladin/). Her essays are impressive! In one-hour-long videos, she entertainingly summarizes studies. I found her through her destruction of [Critical Race Theory](https://youtu.be/Kl3p3M67MkQ) studies. That was interesting. In [How Russians Hacked My Memes: Dissertation Destruction](https://youtu.be/ABo_72Ov9dI) she destroyed a recent doctoral dissertation.
+
+## Jordan B Peterson
+
+_Jordan Peterson_ was finally back at the end of 2020. He needed a long recovery, because of the severe side effects of a medication he took to deal with anxiety resulting from the cancer diagnosis of his wife.
+
+He announced his new book [Beyond Order](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56019043-beyond-order) and released three of the six parts of his _12 Rules for Life Tour_ in Australia: [Brisbane](https://youtu.be/R-z92l0kPls), [Melbourne](https://youtu.be/dPv1RYsi7sA), and [Sydney](https://youtu.be/Q_zjdmkou0Q).
+
+I finished his lecture [2017 Personality and Its Transformations (University of Toronto)](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL22J3VaeABQApSdW8X71Ihe34eKN6XhCi), highly recommended for everybody interested in psychology and personality.
+
+_Andrew Doyle_ wrote a fantastic article about _Peterson_ on _Spiked_: [Jordan Peterson: how the left manufactured a folk devil](https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/11/27/jordan-peterson-how-the-left-manufactured-a-folk-devil/).
+
+## The Art of Manliness
+
+I love the work _Brett_ and _Kate McKay_ are doing on their website, [The Art of Manliness](https://www.artofmanliness.com/). In times of declining male values and the rise of weak, whiny, pathetic men ([Soy Boys](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Soy%20Boy)) their work is relevant. They promote Stoic values, adventure, responsibility, leadership, courage, learning, strength, and virtue – for women _and_ for men.
+
+Their blog is a vast collection of well-written articles, precise tips, lists, and recommendations. If I could read one blog, it would be this.
+
+In 2020, they wrote articles about [Pocket Knives](https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/complete-guide-pocket-knives/), [Lessons from Homer’s Odyssey](https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/3-lessons-from-homers-odyssey/), [Kaizen](https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/get-1-better-every-day-the-kaizen-way-to-self-improvement/), [Cooking Steak](https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/reverse-sear-best-cooking-method-steak/), [100 Skills Every Man Should Know](https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/100-skills-every-man-should-know/), [Being Uncomfortable](https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/how-i-learned-to-be-comfortable-with-being-uncomfortable/), [James Bond Stoicism](https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/james-bond-stoicism/), [Hygge](https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/8-things-that-can-help-you-get-more-hygge-this-winter/), or [100 Must-See Movies](https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/100-must-see-movies/), to named a few.
+
+[The Art of Manliness Podcast](https://www.artofmanliness.com/podcast/) has over 600 episodes and 2.5 million monthly downloads. They interview interesting people and discuss important topics for example [breathing correctly](https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/importance-of-proper-breathing/), [physical autonomy](https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/podcast-663-how-to-achieve-physical-autonomy/), [the code of the warrior](https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/code-of-the-warrior/), [how to deal with bullies](https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/podcast-627-how-to-deal-with-jerks-bullies-tyrants-and-trolls/), [how to thinking for yourself](https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/podcast-649-thinking-for-yourself-in-an-age-of-outsourced-expertise/), [why people build bunkers](https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/podcast-650-why-people-are-building-apocalypse-bunkers/), [organizing your life like a chef](https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/mise-en-place-how-chefs-organize/), [getting in shape](https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/podcast-655-simple-excuse-busting-advice-for-getting-in-shape/), [learning for its own sake](https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/podcast-656-the-hidden-pleasures-of-learning-for-its-own-sake/), [Greek tragedies for therapy](https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/podcast-660-how-ancient-greek-tragedies-can-heal-the-soul/), [male loneliness](https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/male-loneliness/), or [turning fear into fuel](https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/how-to-overcome-fear/).
+
+## exurb1a
+
+I can’t even categorize this YouTube channel properly. Stories, comedy, science, and philosophy? 🤔 But you need to watch the videos [Sleep is Just Death Being Shy](https://youtu.be/-mu780uB7mI), [Let’s Build a Time Machine With Pickles and Sadness](https://youtu.be/uBinqZfhIBg), [The Moon is a Door to Forever](https://youtu.be/K3X2Fv-c3Fc), [How to Be Correct About Everything All the Time](https://youtu.be/DJiGuFCzaFo), and [There's No Such Thing As Orange](https://youtu.be/WX0xWJpr0FY).
+
+## Psychedelics & Religion
+
+I listened too much to Joe Rogan, but even though I never took any drugs in my life, I now think that psychedelics need to be legal.
+
+A lot has changed since the criminalization in the 70s put an end to the studies of psychedelics. Scientists started studying the topic again with incredible results. Jordan B Peterson gives an introduction to the recent studies in [Heroic and Shamanic Initiations](https://youtu.be/wLc_MC7NQek?t=2h30m) from his lecture [2017 Personality and Its Transformations (University of Toronto)](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL22J3VaeABQApSdW8X71Ihe34eKN6XhCi). It’s incredible how one dose of Psilocybin can change the personality permanently by one standard deviation in _Openness_. Psychedelics reduce anxiety, lift the fear of death, and make people friendlier.
+
+I watched the funny, artful [Tales from the Trip](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLChmxKYOuWILcPzhzea-dVvXN-ii0hh95) by _Comedy Central_ that animated the stories of people taking psychedelics in short 5-minute episodes.
+
+_Roland Griffiths_ presented [the science of psilocybin and its use to relieve suffering](https://youtu.be/81-v8ePXPd4) at TED.
+
+The visit of _Brian Muraresku_ & _Graham Hancock_ on [The Joe Rogan Experience 1543](https://open.spotify.com/episode/0FwCgmkG2Cfb36etijDIho) was fascinating. [Brian Muraresku](https://www.brianmuraresku.com/) wrote nearly 12 years on his book [The Immortality Key](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51174256-the-immortality-key). It is an intriguing dive into the history of psychedelics. It connects the old ruins of [Göbekli Tepe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6bekli_Tepe), _spiked_ beer and wine to the Stone Age, the _Mysteries of Eleusis_, Demeter, Dionysus, and the Eucharist. Who would have thought that the early Christians were high? 😅
+
+But the thing that fascinated me was [Eleusis](https://youtu.be/iaprpVwW-QU). I was always interested in Greek history but never heard of this mystical religion that spanned over 2000 years. Even Marcus Aurelius took part in the _Mysteries_.
+
+Religious institutions are in the process of breaking down, people losing their faith, and replacing it with personalized gods (health, food, politics, technology, or money). But people cannot find meaning without religion.
+
+I think it is the right time to bring back psychedelics. Restoring our ancient connection to psychedelics after 2000 years of a ban by the Catholic Church could change life on Earth for everybody for the better.
+
+## Aliens & Flying Saucers
+
+I never took too much notice of Alien stories besides Science Fiction. But the recent releases of [videos](https://youtu.be/9a0xIzp-fbs) by the Pentagon and credible people coming forward got me interested in the topic.
+
+_Bob Lazar_ claims to have been hired by a government organization to work in a secret research facility S-4 several kilometers south of Area 51 to reverse engineer the engines of vehicles of unknown origin. He does not give many interviews and dislikes being the center of attention, but I enjoyed his visit on [The Joe Rogan Experience 1315](https://open.spotify.com/episode/7Gg4Qi578G5SXoEtaLVVpx). I watched the documentary [Bob Lazar: Area 51 and Flying Saucers](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/522320-bob-lazar) <NetflixFlag id="81083891" /> about his story.
+
+Other fascinating interviews about Aliens and UFOs were the ones with [George Knapp](https://open.spotify.com/episode/3RIsqi1Axn6zPGd0IpCRgf) and [Jacques Vallée](https://open.spotify.com/episode/3cuW6TuyRnZxBNaQJeH2Ce).
+
+_David Favor_, a decorated fighter pilot commander with an incredible career, was interesting to listen to. He and his wingman and another fighter saw a _Tic Tac_ shaped 40 feet (ca. 12 m) long object for more than 5 minutes that hovered over the water off the coast of Southern California. It behaved against all physical laws, blocked the radar, and flew off with speed no human invention can reach. The incident was recorded in 2004 and leaked to the public before the Pentagon confirmed its authenticity. _David Fravor_ was interviewed on [The Joe Rogan Experience 1361](https://open.spotify.com/episode/16If5PVe6ouxeDwNbtu0iC) and [Lex Friedman Podcast 122](https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/lex-fridman-podcast/id1434243584).
+
+## Like Stories of Old
+
+[Like Stories of Old](https://www.youtube.com/c/LikeStoriesofOld/) by _Tom van der Linden_ is one of my favorite channels of all time. He takes movies (and sometimes games) and tells stories that cross the boundary between film analysis and life lessons, mixed with cross-references to literature and quotes. Each of his films is a piece of art.
+
+He analyzed the works of directors and filmmakers such as [Andrei Tarkovsky](https://youtu.be/gNezdOlS-aw), [Terrence Malick](https://youtu.be/Oohg3LZd898), and [Werner Herzog](https://youtu.be/ogFN6ncIaD8).
+
+And he made a video about [The Real Implications Of Ex Machina’s Turing Test](https://youtu.be/nmjgM8fPSLU), the [Anatomy of a Global Pandemic](https://youtu.be/ELq4iRFLiLM), [Lies of Heroism – Redefining the Anti-War Film](https://youtu.be/yf0G2MPBEYM), and [Who We Really Are… When Everything Goes Wrong](https://youtu.be/vT_sKGbP1yY).
+
+I liked his three-part series _Stories vs. Reality_, with [The Fundamental Difference Between Stories And Reality](https://youtu.be/wuI-hEDhfCw), [Your Life is Not a Hero’s Journey](https://youtu.be/j5bEQC6TTeM), and [Stories as Identities: Who Are We Without Them?](https://youtu.be/1sWdBo-k2iA).
+
+## Out of Frame
+
+I found the YouTube channel of the [Foundation for Economic Education](https://www.youtube.com/c/FEEonline/) through the video [This Movie Offends You? Good.](https://youtu.be/vSGZrpN7ahQ)
+
+It is a delightful channel with video essays on the intersection of art, culture, and ideas. They ask questions about economics, ethics, and legal principles of a free society by analyzing movies and TV shows.
+
+[The Tiger King Is Right (About One Thing)](https://youtu.be/DmBQgLbzsSg) analyses the economy of bad actors in markets. [The Holocaust The New York Times Ignored](https://youtu.be/BqnfmCu6fUk) tells the story of the Holocaust in Ukraine. [Is Disney Praising Chinese Genocide!?](https://youtu.be/3xcw-7t5L2Y) is criticizing Disney for their indirect support of the genocide of the Uighur Muslim population in Xinjiang province. [The Horrible Economics of 80s Horror](https://youtu.be/wUSZLxWHRUc) shines a light on Hollywood's dislike of free-market capitalism. [Woke Outrage: Great Marketing for Terrible Movies](https://youtu.be/PfDZ6x9KxYE) is about how outrage sells awful movies.
+
+The two-part series _The Social Dilemma Is Dangerously Wrong…_ ([Part I](https://youtu.be/Z8Nh5U5cyk4), [Part II](https://youtu.be/pOYxN_a7zL4)) analyses why the documentary [The Social Dilemma](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/656690-the-social-dilemma) is an awful documentary that has massive flaws.
+
+[You Really Don't Want to Live in The Last Kingdom](https://youtu.be/cna_28sakpQ) highlights the progress our societies made through respect for individual rights and limitations on governments.
+
+[Cops, Karens, and the Coming Dystopia](https://youtu.be/GFbfDcELLxw) is a social commentary on Coronavirus lockdowns, economic and emotional damage, riots using _V for Vendetta_ and the idea of Dystopias. The warning label put on the video by YouTube is a sign of how precise the analysis is. [Wonder Woman Got It Wrong. Did You?](https://youtu.be/otSip1l20I0) shows that tribalism is wrong and that the reality is more complicated than we think.
+
+[Superman Is the Hero We Need Right Now](https://youtu.be/daQ7mdRohY0) let me re-think my stance on Superman. I never liked the character, but Out of Frame convinced me I was wrong.
+
+## The Critical Drinker
+
+The Critical Drinker is the YouTube channel of _Will Jordan_, author and film critic. I love his sarcastic reviews of awful movies and TV shows like [Mulan](https://youtu.be/kIH-eFqBLP4) or [Star Trek Discovery](https://youtu.be/vyMHkkB5gXg), and his recommendations for example [Cobra Kai](https://youtu.be/XEDwYbnqSiA), [Fight Club](https://youtu.be/-IyJGImfcvs), [Dredd](https://youtu.be/GXEFg2zs6g4), or [The Lighthouse](https://youtu.be/b1s-7EuKvn4).
+
+Additionally, he does entertaining documentaries of movie productions that destroyed careers and drove people insane in [Apocalypse Now](https://youtu.be/TXC-b4O_H_M), [The Abyss](https://youtu.be/0RyLikHFh78), or [The Island of Dr. Moreau](https://youtu.be/X9Cg-upCQD8).
+
+## Parasite
+
+The Korean movie [Parasite](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/496243) <PrimeVideoFlag id="B07ZKN6JHB" /> by _Bong Joon-ho_ was one of my favorite motion pictures of the year.
+
+Its class critique was reviewed by [Wisecrack](https://youtu.be/oDz2dbXivDU) and [Just Write](https://youtu.be/BhEgGxaeCqM). _The Nerdwriter_ did an incredible analysis of the rhythm of the movie in [Parasite’s Perfect Montage](https://youtu.be/ma1rD2OP85c).
+
+## The Handmaiden
+
+Another Korean movie I enjoyed was [The Handmaiden](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/290098) <PrimeVideoFlag id="B08GLH82GZ" />. In Korea, in the 1930s, a young woman is hired as a handmaiden to a rich Japanese heiress. She is part of a team of swindlers that plan to rob her of her fortune. The story is brilliant, thrilling, and has numerous surprises.
+
+I had listened to the beautiful [soundtrack](https://music.apple.com/album/%EC%95%84%EA%B0%80%EC%94%A8-original-motion-picture-soundtrack/1147511388) two years before I had the chance to see the movie and enjoyed [The Beauty Of The Handmaiden (Ah-ga-ssi)](https://youtu.be/qeK8KoAA31Y).
+
+## The Expanse
+
+At the beginning of 2020, I finished the 8th book of the series: [Tiamat’s Wrath](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28335698-tiamat-s-wrath). I liked it a lot and can’t wait for the last book of the series (I hope next year).
+
+Meanwhile, the TV show is back with Season 5: [The Expanse](https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/63639-the-expanse) <PrimeVideoFlag id="B08MMQGFXV" />. The [trailer](https://youtu.be/caLji74IIp4) appeared in October, but it was hard to wait for December because book 5 was my favorite book of the series.
+
+## Cobra Kai
+
+[Cobra Kai](https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/77169-cobra-kai) <NetflixFlag id="81002370" /> was one of the most fun to watch TV shows in 2020. The story follows up 36 years after the end of the movie [The Karate Kid](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1885-the-karate-kid) and gives it a nice turn and twists the story. It’s fun and takes a few hits and kicks at the weak new generation. 😅
+
+Nearly all actors from the original movie are part of the new TV show. The third season will arrive in January 2021. There are [25 Things You Missed in Cobra Kai](https://youtu.be/WtjskFP7Ce0), which I didn’t know.
+
+The soundtrack of [Season 1](https://music.apple.com/de/album/cobra-kai-season-1-soundtrack-from-the-original-series/1377948784) and [Season 2](https://music.apple.com/de/album/cobra-kai-season-2-soundtrack-from-the-original-series/1460317956) combines the 80s and today's music.
+
+## Tales from the Loop
+
+[Tales from the Loop](https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/93784-tales-from-the-loop) <PrimeVideoFlag id="B086BPMKBB" /> is a refreshing Science Fiction and heart-warming story about the people in a city above a secret research facility.
+
+The idea for the TV show comes from the artwork of the Swedish illustrator [Simon Stålenhag](https://www.simonstalenhag.se/). His artwork blends nostalgia and futurism.
+
+## Dark
+
+[Dark](https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/70523-dark) <NetflixFlag id="80100172" /> was one of the few German TV shows that got international acclaim. It’s a fantastic Science Fiction story. The third and final season finished the incredible story arc and solved a lot of the riddles.
+
+But the story of _Dark_ is so complicated that Netflix made a [website](https://dark.netflix.io/) to browse the different seasons and episodes, and read up on characters and the plot (spoiler-free).
+
+## Barbarians
+
+Another German TV show that got attention outside of Germany was [Barbarians](https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/93785-the-barbarians) <NetflixFlag id="81024039" />. It shows (quite accurately) the devastating battle at the _Teutoburger Forest_ between the Roman Army and united Germanic tribes. The fight resulted in the loss of 3 legions (⅛ of the 25 Roman legions) and was devastating for the Empire. It resulted in the construction of the Limes, a 550 km long fortified wall to protect the Roman Empire from the Germanic tribes, and stopped the Roman expansion.
+
+There were many documentaries at the same time with the release of the TV show [Origin of the Germanic Tribes](https://youtu.be/_KFzDlhT6bs), [Arminius: Hero of Germania, Traitor to Rome](https://youtu.be/logbxY7_FCw), and channels discussing the [accuracy of the TV show](https://youtu.be/YMC-gzAC1FI) or the [languages they spoke](https://youtu.be/EjfeGqfZFi8).
+
+## Rick and Morty
+
+[Rick and Morty](https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/60625-rick-and-morty) <NetflixFlag id="80014749" /> is a TV show of its category. It’s unusual, creative, and funny. I always binge a full season in one day.
+
+Adult Swim released two funny short films. [Samurai & Shogun (Rick and Morty)](https://youtu.be/BSF5yoD-vC4) is a homage to the 70s TV show [Lone Wolf and Cub](https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/36749-kozure-kami).
+
+[Rick and Morty vs. Genocider](https://youtu.be/-kdltv_CSHE) is another Manga-styled short film that has secret answers to the TV show.
+
+## DUST
+
+[DUST](https://watchdust.com/) started as a platform for free Science Fiction short films.
+
+In 2019, they started the [DUST Podcast](https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/dust/id1482669176). [Season 1](https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/dust/id1482669176?i=1000452670310) features multiple interesting short stories.
+
+In 2020, they released [Season 2: FLIGHT 008](https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/dust/id1482669176?i=1000468772220), multiple short stories all connected. The season told stories of passengers of Flight 008 from Tokyo to San Francisco that passes a wrinkle in space-time and landed in the year 2040. The stories were fantastic because each author thought of the possible implications of missing 20 years and progressing differently.
+
+[Season 3: CHRYSALIS](https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/dust/id1482669176?i=1000489807363) was my favorite season of DUST. It’s one long story of Artificial Intelligence that awakes on Earth to find out that humanity was wiped out by a malevolent alien race. The AI starts building itself a body to revenge its builders.
+
+## Zettelkasten & Obsidian
+
+I started this year to work intensively with the _Zettelkasten_ method. It’s a note-taking method that allows the creation of basic ideas to remember concepts or facts, develop new ideas, and make connections. Zettelkasten simulates how our brain works.
+
+I read the fantastic book [How to Take Smart Notes](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34507927-how-to-take-smart-notes) by [Sönke Ahrens](https://takesmartnotes.com/) to learn more about the method.
+
+In 2020, I wrote two articles about the topic: [Zettelkasten Note-Taking Method With DEVONthink](/zettelkasten-note-taking-devonthink/) and [Tools I Use For Note-Taking](/tools-i-use-for-note-taking/). My note count exceeded **800** in mid-December.
+
+I started writing my notes in [DEVONthink](https://devontechnologies.com/apps/devonthink), where I store all my notes, references, documents, and inspirations, but the release of [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md/) changed how I write them. Obsidian is the best tool I know to write and connect ideas, and it’s free.
+
+Obsidian is incredibly powerful with its features as backlinks, auto-complete, note [graph](https://youtu.be/058Tvff2Fso), [block references](https://youtu.be/oqx2O0aXZjQ), and a huge number of [plugins](https://youtu.be/2Hrja0SRgO0).
+
+I started following the YouTube channel [Linking Your Thinking](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC85D7ERwhke7wVqskV_DZUA) that has a well-made [6-part introduction](https://youtu.be/QgbLb6QCK88) for Obsidian beginners. [Effective Remote Work](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCkzyo69rqBoBJUyQ9jo53Bw) has many tutorials.
+
+## Konmari Folding Method
+
+[Marie Kondō](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNaPKFA1niUFRgzkVqqhJVg), the best-selling Japanese author and organizing specialist, released three videos showing how to fold [Basics](https://youtu.be/IjkmqbJTLBM), [Intimates](https://youtu.be/SVwrwJPIHPU), and [Menswear](https://youtu.be/auknz13Jp4M). I use her method for two years and love it! Much more space in the closets. Everything is quick and easy to fold and easy to find later.
+
+## The Andrew Schulz
+
+The Corona crisis took a massive dip in the careers of many comedians. But not for _Andrew Schulz_. He had built up his online presence over the last few years, but this year his career took off.
+
+His YouTube show [SCHULZ](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGFd0dP0EJslfzNb9J2MoY-8mRf2zFul1) has 3-5 minute long comedy sets about a specific topic and are hilarious. They were so successful that Netflix gave him a comedy special [Schulz Saves America: Pandemics, Predators, Protests & Presidents](https://www.themoviedb.org/tv/114604-schulz-saves-america-pandemics-predators-protests-presidents) <NetflixFlag id="81383020" />.
+
+But the archive of his comedy is gigantic. Hundreds of videos are on his YouTube channel. Clips from Standups like [Views from a Cis](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGFd0dP0EJslHN5dz6B1FzaIS-YB56J0y) or [Inside Jokes](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGFd0dP0EJsn6-EeyCJcWgG26EZk1vZMu) where he meets other comedians to work on their offensive jokes and try to squeeze out fun. He even did a TED talk: [Can Comedy Be Funny Anymore?](https://www.ted.com/talks/andrew_schulz_can_comedy_be_funny_anymore_jan_2019).
+
+## Awaken with JP
+
+Another comedian I enjoyed this year was JP Sears and his YouTube channel [Awaken with JP](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwUizOU8pPWXdXNniXypQEQ). I love his work for a few years. He made fun of the new age movement, influencers, vegans, and other gurus.
+
+But in 2020 he became much more political due to the ever-increasing cancel culture and threads against free speech. He got [threatened by Facebook](https://youtu.be/PTPreIUN2g0). YouTube deleted a few of his videos, a clear violation of his Free Speech, guaranteed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
+
+He made videos joking about [Zoom Calls with Old People](https://youtu.be/JY4vFj_fGWg), insane and overreaching regulations during the Corona crisis, for example [Emotional Distancing Guidelines](https://youtu.be/ohRQ1ZbqcwE), [The Pandemic Hotline](https://youtu.be/uese-6Xln7o), or [How To Be More Obedient](https://youtu.be/RG2j8P_4EKE).
+
+He criticized the new media outlets in [How News Anchors Are Trained](https://youtu.be/xxGeu9edNLY), political division in [How the Left and Right Fight](https://youtu.be/TN7s0-FuIEM), and even educated about the election in [Biden Won! Here’s What You Need To Know](https://youtu.be/lBZ-KiYoU68) and [How a Civil War Could Start!](https://youtu.be/6luFJvZt-og).
+
+He made fun of [Political Correctness](https://youtu.be/bXrnqcNgL00) and [Wokeness](https://youtu.be/gHSVjmO4iJY) and mocked social media companies for censorship in [What It’s Like Getting Censored on YouTube](https://youtu.be/RGxbaxviRVw), [Spotify Employees Censoring Joe Rogan](https://youtu.be/SB50heKBxgw), [Why Twitter Censored the NY Post Article on Biden](https://youtu.be/jrjI2X9TIZA), and [The Fact Checkers](https://youtu.be/AmKPbYbAnKE).
+
+## Ryan Long
+
+In a similar kind, the standup comedian [Ryan Long](https://www.youtube.com/c/RyanLongcomedy) made a lot of funny and critical videos about media bias in [How to Sell Protest Footage to FOX AND CNN](https://youtu.be/xiYZ__Ww02c) or a [New Website Curates News You Agree With (Newsyourway.net)](https://youtu.be/rFRewkdDT2g). He criticized Antifa in [Meet The People Who Decide Who You Can Punch](https://youtu.be/LXcHL2K-RSg). His video library is full of funny videos mocking social justice and the woke ideology movement.
+
+## K-Von Comedy
+
+I discovered [K-Von](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh5pgse6OhrBT0IywOqtg8Q) who describes himself as _½ Persian Comedian_ because of his funny and educational videos where he compared Trump and Biden on specific topics: [Who is more racist?](https://youtu.be/DZfzJATDmXs), [Who is against the Disabled?](https://youtu.be/OIfRUIm3Kuc), [Who is better with Gays?](https://youtu.be/7y3Bffyio-A), [Who Handled Covid Best?](https://youtu.be/tdqvJITqkuc), [Who Disrespects the Military Most?](https://youtu.be/rI2RtQ1IohM), and [Who’s the Celebrity Choice for President?](https://youtu.be/0MHdrZcd7F0). The videos are well-researched and will surprise one or the other person.
+
+## Freedom Toons
+
+[FreedomToons](https://www.youtube.com/c/FreedomToons/) is a YouTube channel creating cartoons about politics. The clips are short, seldom longer than 2 minutes. And as for the other comedians, 2020 gave a lot of material: They made fun of censorship on Twitter in [Twitter CENSORS "Fake News"](https://youtu.be/BP6w3QrlpMY) and [ⓘ Official sources say this cartoon is false](https://youtu.be/tez4CF4yUy4).
+
+The election was a topic to make fun of in [The Very Presidential Debate](https://youtu.be/VnlYaH8y_HU) and [Reasons To Vote For Joe Biden!](https://youtu.be/FE5Gmp5LQTE).
+
+But my favorite clips are [A Brief History of Socialism](https://youtu.be/zZz2HF5KtrY) and [Joe Rogan interviews Tim Pool & Jack Dorsey](https://youtu.be/NEArAlNMuE4).
+
+## James Lindsay
+
+[James Lindsay](https://twitter.com/ConceptualJames) is my favorite fighter against _Critical Race Theory_ and _Woke_ ideology of 2020. He is an American mathematician, author, and cultural critic. He wrote together with _Helen Pluckrose_ the book [Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made Everything about Race, Gender, and Identity—and Why This Harms Everybody](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53052177-cynical-theories), which I’ll read next.
+
+I heard first of him for his involvement in the [grievance studies affair](https://youtu.be/kVk9a5Jcd1k) with _Peter Boghossian_ and _Helen Pluckrose_. They exposed 2018 the corruption in the humanities of American universities by submitting 20 fake papers. At the time of their reveal, 4 studies had been accepted and published, 3 accepted but not yet published, 6 were rejected and 7 were under review.
+
+He knows the language of Social Justice activists and ideologues as nobody else and regularly comes up with new ideas to mock, trigger, and ridicule those on Twitter. I love how he regularly renames his Twitter handle. For example, in December 2020 his handle is _James Lindsay, Bd.E., respect my degree_.
+
+He founded [New Discourses](https://newdiscourses.com/), one of my favorite magazines, writing about the pursuit of objective truth and calling out “Critical Social Justice” and other ideological dogmas. I read many of his articles, for example [The Cult Dynamics of Wokeness](https://newdiscourses.com/2020/06/cult-dynamics-wokeness/), [The Woke Breaking Point](https://newdiscourses.com/2020/06/woke-breaking-point/), [Iconoclasm as a Prelude to Woke Horrors?](https://newdiscourses.com/2020/06/iconoclasm-prelude-woke-horrors/), or [The Great Silencing of America and the Hallmarks of Woke Totalitarianism](https://newdiscourses.com/2020/09/great-silencing-america-hallmarks-woke-totalitarianism/).
+
+He is an excellent speaker and regular guest in podcasts and at conferences to talk about woke ideology. I loved his talk [Diversity, Inclusion, Equity](https://youtu.be/3jLNgLABuTw) at _Sovereign Nations_.
+
+His new podcast [New Discourses](https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/new-discourses/id1499880546) started in mid-2020 and is fantastic! He can talk for an hour calmly and with reason about important topics. I recommend [Understanding Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion](https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/understanding-diversity-equity-and-inclusion/id1499880546?i=1000492540461), [Biden Is Not The Room](https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/new-discourses/id1499880546?i=1000495583484), or [The Next Chapter of the American Story](https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/the-next-chapter-of-the-american-story/id1499880546?i=1000500853629).
+
+## Douglas Murray
+
+[Douglas Murray](https://twitter.com/douglaskmurray) is a bestselling author of six books, including [The Madness of Crowds](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44667183-the-madness-of-crowds) and [The Strange Death of Europe](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33584231-the-strange-death-of-europe). He is Associate Editor at [The Spectator](https://www.spectator.co.uk/writer/douglas-murray).
+
+He was a guest on [The Joe Rogan Experience 1538](https://open.spotify.com/episode/3z58RgmzyxqqNjrUdA0pA9) in September 2020 and was on Eric Weinstein’s Podcast [The Portal 41 – Heroism 2020: Defense of Our Own Civilization](https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/the-portal/id1469999563?i=1000495880717). This was a nearly _5 hours-long_ conversation and the **best** podcast episode I listened to in 2020!
+
+## Thomas Sowell
+
+Instead of believing the narrative pushed by _Black Lives Matter_, I started listening to _Thomas Sowell_ after I learned about him in [Show Me the Evidence](https://youtu.be/nxygmc_SMAU). He is a conservative economist and fellow of the _Hoover Institution_. And even though he is 90 years old, he doesn’t stop fighting bad ideas. His [YouTube channel](youtube.com/channel/UCNdA_qZp4eQP5orJ1BsRBWA/) has numerous interesting talks, for example [The Myths of Economic Inequality](https://youtu.be/mS5WYp5xmvI).
+
+## John McWhorter
+
+[John McWhorter](https://twitter.com/JohnHMcWhorter) is an American linguist and associate professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University. He is one of the reasonable voices fighting the woke movement. Interesting talks with him are [America Has Never Been Less Racist](https://youtu.be/O3POpubeoIc), or [How Anti Racism Hurts Black People](https://youtu.be/mT2rlJe9cuU). With _Bret Weinstein_, he discussed [George Floyd Protests and Race in America](https://youtu.be/Y-FOCZVLTaw) and with _Coleman Hughes_, [Has Anti-Racism Become A New Religion?](https://youtu.be/UPiNiTwf5bM). He is a regular guest on _Glenn Loury’s_ podcast [Blogginheads.tv](https://bloggingheads.tv/) where they recently [called out Ibram X. Kendi](https://youtu.be/3qanSigtOO4), the author of _Anti Racism_, as the fraud he is.
+
+## Glenn Loury
+
+[Glenn Loury](https://twitter.com/GlennLoury) is an American economist, academic, and author. He became the first black tenured professor of economics in the history of Harvard University at the age of 33.
+
+He hosts The [Glenn Show](https://bloggingheads.tv/programs/current/glenn-show) on [Bloggingheads.tv](https://bloggingheads.tv/). _ReasonTV_ spoke with him about racism in America in [‘We’re Being Swept Along by Hysteria’ About Racism in America](https://youtu.be/gp4fg9PWuhM).
+
+## Coleman Hughes
+
+[Coleman Hughes](https://colemanhughes.org/) is a fellow at the _Manhattan Institute_ for Policy Research, and an opinion columnist on issues related to race and racism at the online magazine [Quillette](https://quillette.com/author/coleman-cruz-hughes/), a fellow and contributing editor at _City Journal_, and host of the podcast [Conversations with Coleman](https://www.youtube.com/c/ColemanHughesOfficial/).
+
+## Gad Saad
+
+[Gad Saad](https://twitter.com/GadSaad) is a Professor, Evolutionary Behavioral Scientist, and author of [The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/49680197-the-parasitic-mind).
+
+He was a guest on many podcasts this year, for example [The Joe Rogan Experience 1557](https://open.spotify.com/episode/5zpR3pB69LX1AzGJTGjzER) or [Science Salon 136](https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/science-salon/id1352860989?i=1000493742268) with _Michael Shemer_.
+
+His podcast [The Saad Truth with Dr. Saad](https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/the-saad-truth-with-dr-saad/id1516343565) had interesting guests for example [Noor Bin Ladin](https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/the-saad-truth-with-dr-saad/id1516343565?i=1000496712005), the niece of _Osama bin Laden_ or [Robert O’Neill](https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/the-saad-truth-with-dr-saad/id1516343565?i=1000498064323), the Navy SEAL that killed _Osama bin Laden_.
+
+## Colin Wright
+
+[Colin Wright](https://twitter.com/SwipeWright) is an evolutionary biologist and [Managing Editor at Quillette](https://quillette.com/author/colin-wright/). He fights against [The New Evolution Deniers](https://quillette.com/2018/11/30/the-new-evolution-deniers/) and people that don’t believe in biology. His other articles [“Sex is NOT a Spectrum” – Colin Wright](https://audioboom.com/posts/7700095-sex-is-not-a-spectrum-colin-wright) and [Think Cancel Culture Doesn’t Exist? My Own ‘Lived Experience’ Says Otherwise](https://quillette.com/2020/07/30/think-cancel-culture-doesnt-exist-my-own-lived-experience-says-otherwise/), is a good read.
+
+He was a guest on [TRIGGERnometry](https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/triggernometry/id1375568988?i=1000493942045) and multiple other podcasts.
+
+## Glenn Greenwald
+
+[Glenn Greenwald](https://twitter.com/ggreenwald) is a Journalist, Co-Founder of [The Intercept](https://theintercept.com/), a newspaper that forced him to resign in 2020 because they refused to publish his article critical of _Hunter Biden_. He was the Journalist who met _Edward Snowden_ in Hong Kong in 2013 when he revealed the systemic overreach by the NSA.
+
+Glenn Greenwald's resignation letter can be read on [My Resignation From The Intercept](https://greenwald.substack.com/p/my-resignation-from-the-intercept), and his forced resignation is a worrying case for free speech.
+
+The censored article was published nevertheless on his new home on Substack: [Article on Joe and Hunter Biden Censored By The Intercept](https://greenwald.substack.com/p/article-on-joe-and-hunter-biden-censored).
+
+He was a guest on [The Joe Rogan Experience 1556](https://open.spotify.com/episode/6ryXHBRMkkIlAK2vCtAE2v) and discussed [Nothing Trump Did Compares to the ‘Moral Evil’ of Bush’s and Obama’s Wars](https://youtu.be/3KMyoKa946s) on _ReasonTV_.
+
+## Bari Weiss
+
+Another center opinion column writer who was bullied into leaving her employer, _The New York Times_, was [Bari Weiss](https://twitter.com/bariweiss). She writes about her experiences of harassment at the newspaper that forced her to leave the paper in her [Resignation Letter](https://www.bariweiss.com/resignation-letter). She was a guest on [The Joe Rogan Experience 1415](https://open.spotify.com/episode/1S6ZvgxOQWj8nIPsLdxjtD) in January 2020.
+
+## Joseph Paul Watson
+
+[Joseph Paul Watson](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCittVh8imKanO_5KohzDbpg) is regularly smeared as a right-wing YouTuber and conspiracy theorist by people who dislike his political criticism and comments on social issues. But his well-researched commentary is on-point, sometimes uses no words but lets the videos speak for themselves. His videos are a creative mix of facts, articles, memes, movie clips, and music. He is one of my favorite social commentators and an excellent observer of trends in society.
+
+He criticized the similarities to communism in the BLM movement in [Cultural Revolution ✊](https://youtu.be/aEWjQOnrZRg) and [Ritual Public Shaming](https://youtu.be/olXipfCKUoo), exposed Biden’s new cabinet members of the military-industrial complex in [MEET THE NEW BOSS](https://youtu.be/o8-OtyUb9ok).
+
+He exposed the hypocrisy of stars like _Lewis Hamilton_ in [Lewis Hamilton is an Idiot](https://youtu.be/kq2E7LBClnY) and technocrats in [They think you’re stupid](https://youtu.be/oQxaGm7eK4U) who would like to reorganize the society with a _Great Reset_.
+
+I liked his take on corporate virtue signaling and Anti-Racism in [Things That Didn’t End Racism](https://youtu.be/pvFmju2Qhyw). He commented on the Islamic terrorist attacks in France in [Submission](https://youtu.be/XI1IpFKFSmk).
+
+He criticized the insanity of overreaching Corona regulations, the rise of authoritarian and totalitarian tendencies by governments around the globe during the pandemic, and everyday insanity in [Attack of the Corona Karens](https://youtu.be/AA6_GuZOyAI), [i s o l a t i o n 👉👈](https://youtu.be/ilNBxQTCEWQ), [q u a r a n t i n e 🥱](https://youtu.be/-yFCdrqoK90), [COVID-1984](https://youtu.be/aCc2JsAUkwU), and [Send in the Clowns 🤡](https://youtu.be/cFCrs6uR-d8).
+
+But his series **m o d e r n i t y** ([part 1](https://youtu.be/O_ftyZ0eb9A), [part 2](https://youtu.be/nvesu6oK4rU), [part 3](https://youtu.be/LF6yyuJGspM), and [part 4](https://youtu.be/w_ewUvSNT3w)) is my favorite and a dark mirror of society. The excesses he shines a light on are not the majority of people, but the fringe sides of the political spectrum. But normal people need to be able to identify these bad ideas if they sneak into normality and call them out.
+
+## Bridget Phetasy
+
+[Bridget Phetasy](https://twitter.com/BridgetPhetasy) is an American writer, comedian, and broadcaster. She feels politically homeless and took on the fight against Woke ideology. She hosts the podcast [Dumpster Fire](https://www.youtube.com/user/phetasy) on YouTube.
+
+She was interviewed by the satire magazine [The Babylon Bee](https://youtu.be/nziErnmPjwY) and on [TRIGGERnometry](https://youtu.be/gXOkekmSFZg) podcast in December 2020.
+
+I loved how she mocked in [Naked Ballot Audition](https://youtu.be/uW5opNsGdD4) woke celebrities asking people to vote.
+
+## Blue Collar Logic
+
+[Blue Collar Logic](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd13O3aKVIhsFpbHt0vmFFA) are _Jason Siler_ and _Dave Morrison_, who use logic and reason to make political commentary. If you are a Liberal (as I am) and think your media consumption is balanced — which it isn’t — and want to listen to reasonable conservative arguments, this channel is the right one. No yelling, no partisan lies, but facts and logic.
+
+## Buddy Brown
+
+[Buddy Brown](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUGgU3vf-y8gHbzumbzSeMg) is a traditional country music artist and his songs are funny. But I started following his channel because he is authentic and honest. His political commentary is on the point and delivered with humor. And I love the Southern accent. 😂
+
+His commentary _Just Sayin_ has topics like [How to not get shot by the police](https://youtu.be/iNQuDsHkBdQ), explains [privilege](https://youtu.be/_OOXuYhwktY), has nice ideas for [what to do with looters](https://youtu.be/ZpN2xrHrskE) or [how to solve the parenting problem](https://youtu.be/hWqWmptFc-w).
+
+And his song [I am 911](https://youtu.be/7Z2yCBnlvBA) is funny. Other funny songs are [The Coronavirus Song](https://youtu.be/YDFkQ8FTTgw), [Kids That Never Got Spanked](https://youtu.be/DflVFjYaZQA), [Driving Through the Ghetto](https://youtu.be/xm-F9wKiH7E), or [Looters](https://youtu.be/EyiEgdiip9o).
+
+## Journey
+
+Even though the fantastic game [Journey](https://thatgamecompany.com/journey/) by _thatgamecompany_ was released in 2012, I had never heard of it before I saw [this homage](https://youtu.be/WxAQjEC-mXc) on YouTube. I bought it for €15 for [PlayStation 4](https://store.playstation.com/product/EP9000-CUSA00470_00-JOURNEYPS4061115) and later again for [iOS](https://apps.apple.com/app/journey/id1445593893). I played it at least 15 times in 2020, and it’s my favorite game of all time.
+
+The story of the game is told without text or speech, but with music and images. You sometimes play with other people, but it’s random if you meet people. It might be one person you follow along with the whole game, multiple, or none. The game has a system of rank, visualized by the embroidery on the robe. The highest level is the white robe that you earn after finding all secrets in the game.
+
+The music of the game was composed by _Austin Wintory_, and it is incredibly beautiful. My favorite song is _Apotheosis_. It was performed in concert at the [FMF 2018 Video Games Music Gala](https://youtu.be/XpT-92HS11I) in Poland.
+
+After finishing the game, I can recommend watching these short videos about [the story explanation](https://youtu.be/8DsK3eTrMGM), [artistry of game design](https://youtu.be/RJyGpVmkewU), and [the hidden story in the soundtrack](https://youtu.be/KeKnkaB0MBE).
+
+## Ghost of Tsushima
+
+Playing [Ghost of Tsushima](https://www.playstation.com/games/ghost-of-tsushima-ps4/) was a lot of fun. The story was interesting, the huge open-world huge had many vegetation and seasons: Vast grasslands, yellow maple trees, foggy swamps, long beaches, cloudy mountain ranges with Shinto temples, burned battlefields, and destroyed villages. The game is pure [mono no aware](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mono_no_aware) (物の哀れ) and it’s hard to not constantly snap photos of the [stunning scenes](https://youtu.be/my62R7QUf00) while playing.
+
+And the [soundtrack](https://music.apple.com/album/ghost-of-tsushima-music-from-the-video-game/1521542376) by _Ilan Eshkeri_ and _Shigeru Umebayashi_ supports the stunning landscapes for the right mood.
+
+## Tina Guo
+
+I discovered [Tina Guo](https://tinaguo.com/) after I watched her incredible Cello solo at the [FMF 2018 Video Games Music Gala](https://youtu.be/XpT-92HS11I) in Poland. She trained to play the Cello for more than 8 hours every day of her childhood.
+
+She regularly streams training sessions on her [YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/user/demix500/) and likes playing movie music, game music, and Heavy Metal.
+
+## Samara Ginsberg
+
+Another Cellist I started following is [Samara Ginsberg](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSF5mJTarQx3ER3MhiR5QoQ). She plays famous movie and TV show songs and arranges them together. I loved [Knight Rider for 8 cellos](https://youtu.be/eYf595EJAc4) and [Imperial March (Darth Vader’s Theme) for 8 cellos](https://youtu.be/W6ZaZWAy6D0), but she did over 20 videos in 2020.
+
+---
+
+**One last thing:** If 2020 has shown me _one_ thing, it’s that you can’t and _never_ should trust institutions, media companies, or politicians to do the right thing.
+
+People fought and died for the privileges we have: Personal autonomy, life, liberty, freedom, and the rule of law against overreaching government, authoritarian and totalitarian tendencies in politicians and media oligarchs.
+
+Start thinking for yourself. The media censorship and blunt manipulation I witnessed this year are mind-boggling for anybody born before the internet was invented. We slowly give away our freedoms and rights for convenience or the feeling of security and control.
+
+One way you can do this is by supporting a decentralized internet and open source. Fight back and speak up against censorship and authoritarian tendencies, reject any legislation against cryptography or for more surveillance, dismiss the usage of fear-driven politics, and privacy violations, and expose hypocrisy in politicians, celebrities, and influencers. Vote with your money and attention.
+
+Start using tools that support privacy, security, and encryption. Use [Signal](https://www.signal.org/) or [Element](https://element.io/) instead of WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger. [Brave](https://brave.com/) or [Firefox](https://www.mozilla.org/firefox/browsers/) instead of Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge. [DuckDuckGo](https://duckduckgo.com/), [Startpage](https://startpage.com/), or [Ecosia](https://www.ecosia.org/) instead of Google. [ProtonMail](https://protonmail.com/) or [Tutanota](https://tutanota.com/) instead of Google Mail. [Mastodon](https://joinmastodon.org/) or [Parler](https://parler.com/) instead of Twitter. [Invidious](https://invidious.site/), [Odysee](https://odysee.com/), [BitChute](https://www.bitchute.com/), or [Rumble](https://rumble.com/) instead of YouTube.
+
+[The Hated One](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjr2bPAyPV7t35MvcgT3W8Q) or [Rob Braxman](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYVU6rModlGxvJbszCclGGw) make videos with tips and tricks on how to protect your privacy online. [Restore Privacy](https://restoreprivacy.com/) is another good resource to learn about privacy and security. You don’t need to stop using the other services, but using alternatives will move power and money away from the big social media companies.
+
+RSS readers are my favorite way to escape curated, biased, ad-driven streams of content by companies that have not my interest as a priority. I use [Feedbin](https://feedbin.com/) together with [Reeder](https://reeder.app/), but there are [many other ways](https://zapier.com/blog/best-rss-feed-reader-apps/) to read the content you want. Brave released recently a [news feed](https://brave.com/brave-today/) for their browser that will soon support custom feed URLs.

src/content/journal/2020/everyday-carry.mdx

@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+---
+title: Everyday Carry
+slug: everyday-carry
+date: 2020-03-14T15:30:00+02:00
+author: Stefan Imhoff
+description: In this essay, I show my Everyday Carries and explain why I carry them.
+tags: ["self-improvement"]
+---
+
+## Things I Carry Around Every Day
+
+A few days ago _Ryan Holiday_ posted the essay [Here’s Some Stuff Worth Carrying With You Everywhere](https://ryanholiday.net/heres-some-stuff-worth-carrying-with-you-everywhere/) with an accompanying [video](https://youtu.be/oaXMijw241c) on his blog.
+
+Ever since I read the article [Meet the men obsessed with carrying all the right stuff](https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/7/24/20696487/everyday-carry-reddit-knife-wallet-gun) on Vox, I had the plan to write a similar article, but never had the time to do it.
+
+But due to Coronavirus, there isn’t much else to do, I finally shot a photo of my **Everyday Carries**.
+
+<Figure caption="My Everyday Carries">
+	<Image src="/assets/images/posts/everyday-carry.jpg" alt="My every day carries" />
+</Figure>
+
+## Apple iPhone
+
+In my left pocket, I carry my [iPhone 11](https://www.apple.com/iphone-11/), 64 GB in black. It’s super fast and the best phone I ever had. I didn’t pay one cent for it, thanks to my employer. I use a transparent <AffiliateLink asin="B07VW6QM33" text="Torras Crystal Clear iPhone Case" /> to protect it.
+
+When I’m at home, I put my iPhone into a drawer, as to not be constantly distracted by it.
+
+## Amazon Kindle Paperwhite
+
+I always carry my <AffiliateLink asin="B00QJDU3KY" text="Kindle Paperwhite" /> (_7. Generation_) with me. It’s either in my backpack or in the pocket of my jacket. If I have a few minutes of spare time, I read [my books](https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/28460819-stefan?shelf=currently-reading).
+
+I bought an accompanying <AffiliateLink asin="B008BQH1NO" text="leather cover in Ink blue" />. It’s soft and nice to hold. Closing the magnetic cover will shut off the Kindle.
+
+## Apple Watch
+
+On my left arm I wear an [Apple Watch](https://www.apple.com/watch/) (_Series 5_) in space grey with a white breathable sports wristband.
+
+## Apple AirPods Pro
+
+Since December 2019, I have always carried my [AirPods Pro](https://www.apple.com/airpods/) with me, either in my left pocket or in my jacket. I’m pleased with them, as they shield all the noise while riding on trains or planes.
+
+## Traveler’s Notebook
+
+In my jacket, back pocket, or bag I always carry a [Traveler’s Notebook Passport Size](https://www.travelers-company.com/products/trnote/starter-kit-passport) in _Camel_. I have [2-3 paper notebooks](https://www.travelers-company.com/products/trnote/refill-passport) in it. I have a [Traveler’s Notebook Regular Size ](https://www.travelers-company.com/products/trnote/starter-kit-regular) but don’t carry it with me around.
+
+I bought my notebook at [Property Of…](https://thepropertyof.com/) and the leather embossing of my initials was included.
+
+My favorite pen is the [MUJI Gel Ink Ballpoint Pen 0.38 mm](https://www.muji.eu/pages/online.asp?Sec=13&Sub=52&PID=11044) with _black ink_. It’s not smudge-proof, and I have other pens for Sketchnotes, but the writing experience of this one is good.
+
+## Laguiole en Aubrac Pocket Knife
+
+I bought my [Laguiole en Aubrac](http://www.laguiole-en-aubrac.fr/) pocket knife a few years ago, and it is always in my right pocket. It’s a traditional French knife handmade by artists from Aubrac. Every knife is a unique piece and the artist carves a special pattern on the back of the knife. It’s available in all price ranges. The handle of my knife is made from juniper wood.
+
+I always carry one because [Every Man Should Carry a Pocket Knife](https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/every-man-should-carry-a-pocket-knife/).
+
+## Secrid Miniwallet
+
+For 6 or 7 years, I own a [Secrid Miniwallet](https://secrid.com/wallets/miniwallet), carried in my right pocket. It’s now old, I can’t even tell the original color, but I assume it was gray. A co-worker showed this Dutch brand to me, and I was instantly amazed. I always loved small wallets, but this one is the best.
+
+It is made from leather covering an Aluminum case, preventing unwanted **RFID** and **NFC** communication or bending and breaking of the cards. It has a super cool mechanism to release the cards. Not only that, but it can hold **4-6 cards** in the case and another 4 cards inside. The plastic clip can hold banknotes.
+
+## Keys and Steel Chain
+
+I have all my keys attached to a 75 cm (ca. 30 inch) long steel chain, that is attached to my belt loop. I do this for 25 years and I never lost a key.
+
+I like to spin and rotate my keys for fun, it’s good martial arts practice. The chain is a fantastic (legal) Ninja weapon – [Kusari-fundo, (鎖分銅)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kusari-fundo). You can drop your keys when you carry heavy shopping bags and don’t lose them.
+
+I try to limit my keys to the minimum amount: House door, flat door, company door, letterbox, and roll container. I have a <AffiliateLink asin="B016QAH2N0" text="Transcend 64 GB USB 3.0" /> stick attached to the key ring.
+
+## Handkerchief and Glasses Cleaning Cloth
+
+In one of my back pockets, I carry a handkerchief, in the other one a glasses cleaning cloth. I have had many handkerchiefs since I stopped using paper handkerchiefs (except I’m sick). It’s much more environmentally friendly to not throw away a handkerchief after using it a few times but to wash it and take another one.
+
+The glasses cleaning cloth I use to clean my glasses but to clean iPhone, iPad, and Notebook displays.
+
+---
+
+That’s it, feel free to share your **Everyday Carries** in a blog post or photo: Hashtag [\#edc](https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/edc/) and [#everydaycarry](https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/everydaycarry/). I’m curious about what other people carry around.
+
+---
+
+## Recommended Links
+
+- [Here’s Some Stuff Worth Carrying With You Everywhere](https://ryanholiday.net/heres-some-stuff-worth-carrying-with-you-everywhere/)
+- [Ryan Holiday On His Everyday Carries: What He Doesn’t Leave The House Without | Daily Stoic](https://youtu.be/oaXMijw241c)
+- [Meet the men obsessed with carrying all the right stuff](https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2019/7/24/20696487/everyday-carry-reddit-knife-wallet-gun)
+- [Every Man Should Carry a Pocket Knife](https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/every-man-should-carry-a-pocket-knife/)

src/content/journal/2020/new-website-2020-design.mdx

@@ -0,0 +1,246 @@
+---
+title: "New Website 2020: Design"
+date: 2020-07-21T08:00:00+02:00
+slug: new-website-2020-design
+author: Stefan Imhoff
+description: This is the second of three parts in a series of essays about the process of creating my new website. This one shows the design process for my website.
+tags: ["design"]
+series: new-website-2020
+---
+
+## Design
+
+I have to admit that even though I’m a Frontend Developer, designing is the thing I enjoy more than development. The reason I became a developer is that as a designer without any coding skills, all your ideas stay ideas unless another developer brings them to life.
+
+The good thing with a personal project is there are no limitations, and you’re the customer. No compromises that water down an idea, no real-world boundaries that prevent doing everything as it should be done.
+
+When I started working on my website, I wanted to do the project as it should be done, and that means, you start with the content.
+
+## Content First
+
+I preached this for years to my customers when they hired me to create a website for them: **Content is King**. Without content, you don’t have anything. _Lorem ipsum_ placeholder text is a bad idea. You need to know your content to design it. I always cursed when a customer said: <q>You can start designing, we send the text and photos later.</q> These websites _always_ ended in a bad product.
+
+In 2018, I created nearly all the text for my website. It took long hours to hone down the text until it was short enough, content-rich, and precise in its meaning. I write all my texts with [iA Writer](https://ia.net/writer), because of the minimal interface, focus mode, Markdown support, and plenty of other features for writing.
+
+I hadn’t written articles for a long time and wanted to change that. In 2019, I started again regularly to create content for my website. I introduced the new format of a monthly blog post listing my favorite links, videos, movies, or books of the month.
+
+After all the political clashes and problems with censorship and policing content creators on the major social media websites, I decided that a website is the best and future-proof investment into a _living_ and _diverse_ internet.
+
+[Medium](https://medium.com/) is not your website, it’s another person’s website. Everything you write on Medium or elsewhere on Social Media platforms is not yours—sometimes even written bluntly in legal small-print—and can be taken down, censored, or banned if somebody disagrees.
+
+The internet can survive if we move it back to the people and invest in decentralization: Your website instead of Medium, your news list instead of your followers, a [RSS feed](/index.xml) instead of a stream of content, [Mastodon](https://mastodon.social/@kogakure) instead of Twitter, [Matrix](https://matrix.to/#/@kogakure:matrix.org) instead of WhatsApp.
+
+Everything controlled by a company can (and _will_) get corrupt, disappear, or be changed at any time without you being able to do anything about it. Your livelihood might disappear overnight because YouTube decides to rank the algorithm differently.
+
+I’ll continue to use social media to extend my reach, but I moved my content back to _my_ platform.
+
+## Typography
+
+The next thing I moved my attention to was Typography. I always loved Typography and have many books on the topic, including the famous [The Elements of Typographic Style](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44735.The_Elements_of_Typographic_Style) by _Robert Bringhurst_. There is a shorter, free version available tailored to the usage of typography on websites: [The Elements of Typographic Style Applied to the Web](http://webtypography.net/).
+
+I even own a copy of the 650 pages strong [Decode Unicode](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17186505-decodeunicode), a book listing all 137,374 typographical characters, from the Armenian capital letter _Ayb_ to the Khmer Letter _Ka_. There is even a [complete website](https://decodeunicode.org/) showing all characters and a [two-and-a-half-hour-long movie](https://vimeo.com/48858289) showing all characters.
+
+<Bookshelf>
+	<AmazonBook asin="0881792128" alt="The Elements of Typographic Style" />
+	<AmazonBook asin="3874398137" alt="Decodeunicode – Die Schriftzeichen der Welt" />
+</Bookshelf>
+
+### Typeface
+
+I looked long into free options of good-looking and well-designed typefaces. I wanted to avoid including a paid font, that needs constant payment and an external server because they load slowly and tracking is nearly always included.
+
+After long consideration, I picked the beautiful [Playfair Display](https://github.com/clauseggers/Playfair-Display) by [Claus Eggers Sørensen](https://forthehearts.net/). It’s available from regular to black weights. It was converted to a variable font in 2019 (but I didn’t find a use case for that yet).
+
+I like in particular the italic font with the beautiful loops and curves. I picked its companion _Playfair Display SC_ for small caps, used in abbreviations and acronyms.
+
+### Scale
+
+Next, I picked a Typographic Scale. A scale is a way to pick font sizes based on a fixed set of rules, for example, a specific harmonic number or formula to create a harmonic visual image. I decided to go with the [golden section](https://www.modularscale.com/?1&em&1.618) (ratio 1:1.618).
+
+<Figure caption="Typographic Scale" size="wide">
+	<Image src="/assets/images/posts/typographic-scale.png" alt="Typographic Scale" />
+</Figure>
+
+I picked 20 Pixels as the base font size. Furthermore, I’m in my forties and websites pick fonts far too small. The company iA Inc. wrote 2006 the essay [The 100% Easy-2-Read Standard](https://ia.net/topics/100e2r), but still, fonts below the recommended 16 Pixels of browsers are a standard.
+
+### Ligatures and Other Gems
+
+_Playfair Display_ has a few beautiful ligatures—when two letters as `fi` get combined in one beautiful combined letter: fi—which look fantastic on large headlines.
+
+I decided to go for [hanging punctuation](http://webtypography.net/2.3.3) on block quotes and lists, where the quotation mark or bullet list item is moved into the marginalia. This creates a much more harmonious image of the text than using regular punctuation. And as in my previous website, I created the quotes with CSS, fitting to the language of the quote, including sub quotations.
+
+However, I made a huge mistake while creating the font and repeated the mistake on the grid (more on that later) which took later in the development time to correct: I didn’t think about the responsiveness of the web. I was clear about creating a responsive website, but I didn’t anticipate that a fixed size scale might _not_ work with a responsive website without adding dozens of media queries. That’s why I started designing with a fixed size scale and moved later to fluid typography.
+
+At that early stage, I had thought of a substitution font while loading the web font or if web fonts are disabled. I selected _Georgia_ because it has a similar size, width, and character.
+
+## Color
+
+I wanted my website to have the color of Japanese _Washi_ (和紙) paper. Early on, I knew that I would support a dark and a light theme. I tried to limit myself to a few colors: One **accent** color, **background** color, and **foreground** color. Additionally, I created variations of these with different intensities.
+
+### HSL Color Space
+
+I picket the HSL color space, to be able to quickly create variations of my colors. In HSL, the first value **H** stands for Hue. Red is 0°, and then each color is represented by a value on a circle. The **S** stands for Saturation and is a value between 0% (gray) and 100% (full saturation). The **L** stands for Lightness and is a value between 0% (black) and 100% (white). With all three values, I was able to create the colors I wanted: First, I picked the color hue I wanted to go for. Next, I reduced the Saturation to a value below or around 10% which I found made any color instantly look _Shibui_ (one of its identifying features is desaturated colors). To get all the other colors, I moved the Lightness value down for a dark color or up for a light color.
+
+<ColorStack>
+	<ColorSwatch color="#E7E6E4" title="Light Background" />
+	<ColorSwatch color="#0E0D0C" title="Light Foreground" />
+	<ColorSwatch color="#E60510" title="Accent" />
+</ColorStack>
+
+<ColorStack>
+	<ColorSwatch color="#1B1A18" title="Dark Background" />
+	<ColorSwatch color="#E7E6E4" title="Dark Foreground" />
+	<ColorSwatch color="#E60510" title="Accent" />
+</ColorStack>
+
+---
+
+### Color Themes
+
+Additionally, to the main colors, I created 3 other color themes: A green one for my Haiku page, a brown one, I wanted to use for my Sketchnotes page, and a blue one I wanted to use on my projects page (but didn’t do it).
+
+#### Green
+
+<ColorStack>
+	<ColorSwatch color="#858679" title="Light Green Background" />
+	<ColorSwatch color="#0D0D0C" title="Light Green Foreground" />
+	<ColorSwatch color="#505049" title="Accent" />
+</ColorStack>
+
+<ColorStack>
+	<ColorSwatch color="#353630" title="Dark Green Background" />
+	<ColorSwatch color="#E7E7E4" title="Dark Green Foreground" />
+	<ColorSwatch color="#505049" title="Accent" />
+</ColorStack>
+
+---
+
+#### Brown
+
+<ColorStack>
+	<ColorSwatch color="#988F81" title="Light Brown Background" />
+	<ColorSwatch color="#0E0D0B" title="Light Brown Foreground" />
+	<ColorSwatch color="#544F45" title="Accent" />
+</ColorStack>
+
+<ColorStack>
+	<ColorSwatch color="#38342E" title="Dark Brown Background" />
+	<ColorSwatch color="#E8E6E3" title="Dark Brown Foreground" />
+	<ColorSwatch color="#544F45" title="Accent" />
+</ColorStack>
+
+---
+
+#### Blue
+
+<ColorStack>
+	<ColorSwatch color="#787D87" title="Light Blue Background" />
+	<ColorSwatch color="#0C0C0E" title="Light Blue Foreground" />
+	<ColorSwatch color="#484B51" title="Accent" />
+</ColorStack>
+
+<ColorStack>
+	<ColorSwatch color="#303236" title="Dark Blue Background" />
+	<ColorSwatch color="#E4E5E7" title="Dark Blue Foreground" />
+	<ColorSwatch color="#484B51" title="Accent" />
+</ColorStack>
+
+---
+
+I didn’t invert colors but needed to make sure to create good contrast, which is why I handpicked dark and light colors manually. I had to make another adjustment after I launched my website, I didn’t anticipate: The white text on the dark background was far too bright. This is a known problem and there are multiple solutions to fix this. You can pick a lighter font on dark—which I didn’t want to do because of the file size of additional font weights—or reduce the opacity. I picked all light text on dark with an opacity of `0.87`.
+
+## Logo
+
+Next, I moved my focus to the logo. A logo is always a difficult topic. Do I need one? Why? What should it be? My initials? An image? It’s easy to create a cheesy logo. I used a _rakkan_ (落款), a Japanese artist seal, for at least 10 years. An artist carved it for me into stone, using the oldest Chinese font, the _small seal script_, introduced by the Chinese Emperor _Qin Shi Huang_, 2200 years ago. It gets pressed into red ink and then applied to the artwork as the signature. I choose the characters of my internet pseudonym _kogakure_ (木隠), meaning “hidden behind leaves”.
+
+<Figure caption="Rakkan">
+	<Image src="/assets/images/posts/rakkan.jpg" alt="Rakkan" />
+</Figure>
+
+I created a few sketches of other possible logos, but eventually, I discarded them all and moved back to my _rakkan_. Likewise, I decided to simplify the vector form and reduce the number of points and make it more performant and easier to recognize in smaller sizes.
+
+<Figure caption="Logo Scribbles" size="wide">
+	<Image src="/assets/images/posts/logo-skribbles.png" alt="Logo Scribbles" />
+</Figure>
+
+But after finishing the logo, I decided in the interest of simplicity and austerity that there is no reason to use a logo at all. I even removed my name from the header, as it’s obvious on what website the visitor is. My name is written enough around the site. The logo will appear in parts of the website, for example as an icon for the app, or on other locations, a logo fits.
+
+<Figure caption="Rakkan Logo" size="wide">
+	<Image src="/assets/images/posts/rakkan-logo.png" alt="Rakkan Logo" />
+</Figure>
+
+## Grid
+
+Early on I got obsessed with the [Golden Canon Grid](https://youtu.be/fWfD0EfiXcE) and my early designs used a complicated and sophisticated version of it.
+
+<Figure caption="Golden Canon Grid" size="wide">
+	<Image src="/assets/images/posts/golden-canon-grid.png" alt="Golden Canon Grid" />
+</Figure>
+
+But gradually I decided this would end in a nightmare when moving to code and migrating to a modular grid. However, I didn’t recognize my error of using a fixed-size module for the grid—an error I had to correct later.
+
+I was sure to use the CSS Grid Layout, correctly named [CSS Grid Module Level 1](https://www.w3.org/TR/css-grid-1/). Web developers like [Rachel Andrew](https://gridbyexample.com/) or [Jen Simmons](https://labs.jensimmons.com/) showed since the introduction of the CSS Grid what cool things are possible.
+
+I used parts of the CSS Grid on the last redesign of my [martial arts website](https://www.kogakure.de/). But nothing compared to the grid I used this time.
+
+Unfortunately, the [subgrid feature](https://caniuse.com/#feat=css-subgrid) is not yet implemented in any browser besides Firefox (as of mid-2020). That’s why I needed to recreate my grid inside of grid containers to align content to its parents' grid.
+
+## Icons
+
+I decided to use icons sparingly and not to invest the time creating my own because, with [Remix Icon](https://remixicon.com/), I found a beautiful, free, minimal icon system. I even created a few icon wishes for Remix Icon early on, to get icons I thought I might need later (which I didn’t).
+
+I started my designs using a social media bar sitting in the lower-left corner. But as time moved on, I found that the services I picked changed in importance, and they were not relevant enough to justify a constant icon in the corner. The social bar had to go.
+
+Subtle arrows and icons for specific use cases were left. I removed complex sun and moon icons for the light and dark theme switcher in favor of a simple circle.
+
+## User Interface Design
+
+In mid of 2019, I finally started with my design. I spend 3 hours on prototyping and mood boards and nearly 25 hours on the designs.
+
+As my tool of choice, I picked [Affinity Designer](https://affinity.serif.com/designer/). I love the tool since it was first released. I worked for 15 years with Adobes products and owned multiple expensive versions of their designer software. But when Adobe thought it might be a good idea to rent software instead of selling it and forcing people to regularly pay to be able to use the tools, I moved on to other software.
+
+And working with [Affinity Designer](https://affinity.serif.com/designer/), [Affinity Photo](https://affinity.serif.com/photo/), or [Affinity Publisher](https://affinity.serif.com/publisher/) is much more fun. They are performant and have many nice tools and features. And the price is unbeatable. I own all their products on Mac and iPad and can move between the tools, while designing, with ease.
+
+I decided to use Aaron James Draplin's method of designing. He is a talented designer inspiring millions with his artwork and author of <AffiliateLink asin="1419720171" text="Draplin Design Co.: Pretty Much Everything" />.
+
+<Bookshelf>
+	<AmazonBook asin="1419720171" alt="Pretty Much Everything" />
+</Bookshelf>
+
+As he shows in the fantastic free video, [Aaron Draplin Takes On a Logo Design Challenge](https://youtu.be/zOPA0NaeTBk), he starts in the middle with an idea and then duplicates the whole version and iterates on it. If he reaches a dead end, he moves back to the last junction and moves from there in another direction. In the end, he has one giant board with dozens of variants and ideas, none of them worked into good craftsmanship or details, but keeps everything loose and ungrouped to be able to manipulate the individual pieces.
+
+I followed this technique on all my designs and created dozens of variations, sometimes entire pages, sometimes a small detail as the footer or a meta section.
+
+<Figure caption="All Artboards of the base design" size="fullsize">
+	<Image src="/assets/images/posts/base-design.jpg" alt="All Artboards of the base design" />
+</Figure>
+
+<Figure caption="Variants of the Meta section" size="fullsize">
+	<Image src="/assets/images/posts/meta-section-design.png" alt="Variants of the Meta section" />
+</Figure>
+
+Designing was the part that brought the most fun to me. Designing is like a concert: It starts with a cello, but then more and more instruments get added until the full [concert ends in a massive crescendo](https://youtu.be/XpT-92HS11I). The start is always the hardest, with the designer staring at a blank, white screen. But then things fall into the place and ideas multiply and in the end, everything is obvious, and the next screen is easy to create.
+
+I started designing the blog detail page headline and moved out from there, creating text, header, footer, and small details.
+
+<Figure caption="About Section" size="fullsize">
+	<Image src="/assets/images/posts/about-design.jpg" alt="About Section" />
+</Figure>
+
+Then I moved into color variations for the pages. I designed error pages, navigation, special pages, and the homepage last. I didn’t design every detail, but quickly moved from idea to idea, leaving behind a mess of unnamed layers and incomplete or outdated ideas.
+
+<Figure caption="Color Variants" size="fullsize">
+	<Image src="/assets/images/posts/color-variants-design.jpg" alt="Color Variants" />
+</Figure>
+
+I created a giant design for all layout variations I wanted to support on a page (e.g., the combination of an image and a text). I moved quickly to [CodePen](https://codepen.io/) to create prototypes for these variations to validate my ideas where feasible. You can see all my prototypes on my CodePen account.
+
+<Figure caption="Homepage" size="fullsize">
+	<Image src="/assets/images/posts/homepage-design.jpg" alt="Homepage" />
+</Figure>
+
+<Figure caption="Haiku Section" size="fullsize">
+	<Image src="/assets/images/posts/haiku-design.jpg" alt="Haiku Section" />
+</Figure>
+
+In the fall of 2019, I finished my design and left it for a few weeks untouched to see if I start disliking it. On the 25th of November 2019, I finally started coding.

src/content/journal/2020/new-website-2020-development.mdx

@@ -0,0 +1,187 @@
+---
+title: "New Website 2020: Development"
+slug: new-website-2020-development
+date: 2020-07-28T08:00:00+02:00
+author: Stefan Imhoff
+description: This is the last of three parts in a series of essays about the process of creating my new website. This one shows the development process for my website.
+tags: ["code"]
+series: new-website-2020
+---
+
+## Development
+
+I started coding with [React](https://reactjs.org/) in mid of 2018 and began to play with the thought of using React as a technology for the website. I had followed the development of the static website generator [Gatsby](https://www.gatsbyjs.org/) since version 1.0 in July 2017. In September 2018 Gatsby reached version 2.0 and was finally a good option. I selected Gatsby because of its massive community, fantastic plugin system, its utilization of React, GraphQL, and a static page generator.
+
+This essay has no code examples, as it’s more a description of technological decisions I took and problems I ran into, and how I solved them. The whole [source code](https://github.com/kogakure/website-gatsby-stefanimhoff.de) is publicly available on GitHub.
+
+## Setup
+
+Between the end of November and mid of December 2019, I worked on the basic setup of the project, which took 28 hours. I created a fresh, empty [Gatsby](https://www.gatsbyjs.org/) project. I don’t remember which starter I used, but it was one of the most basic ones. The concept of [Gatsby Recipes](https://www.gatsbyjs.org/docs/recipes/) wasn’t released yet, I had to do all configuration manually.
+
+Every project I work on these days needs [Prettier](https://prettier.io/) installed. I don't even want to remember the times before, Prettier. Formatting and indenting are not issues anymore you think about, you write your code, and it gets automatically reformatted and re-arranged.
+
+Next, I installed [Husky](https://github.com/typicode/husky), a tool to add Git hooks to a project that allows running specific commands before or after specific Git commands. With [Lint-Staged](https://github.com/okonet/lint-staged) which allows running linters on Git staged files, it’s the best toolkit to prevent oneself from committing invalid or broken code.
+
+I installed [Commitizen](https://github.com/commitizen/cz-cli) a tool that helps format Git commit messages with the [AngularJS commit message convention](https://github.com/angular/angular.js/blob/master/DEVELOPERS.md#-git-commit-guidelines). This creates good commits that can be identified later and encourages atomic commits—meaning not condensing a documentation change and a bug fix into one commit, but separating them into two different commits. This allows later to identify what was changed and why. Nobody likes looking at a 2,000-line commit including changes all over a code-base.
+
+I used [EditorConfig](https://editorconfig.org/), a nice convention for ensuring consistent coding styles on a project. It wouldn’t be necessary on my website because I’m the only developer working on my website, but I like to have an industry-standard start even on private projects.
+
+## TypeScript
+
+Next, I configured [TypeScript](https://www.typescriptlang.org/) in Gatsby. The setup is quick and easy, using the [gatsby-plugin-typescript](https://www.gatsbyjs.org/packages/gatsby-plugin-typescript/) plugin. I decided early I wanted to use TypeScript on my whole project, even though this would slow me down. I started learning TypeScript a few months earlier, but I wanted to invest in learning the technology because the whole industry moves to TypeScript, including my current employer.
+
+The initial start was rough because I had no idea how to properly structure a Gatsby/TypeScript project. But by looking into other [TypeScript starters](https://www.gatsbyjs.org/starters/?c=Language%3ATypeScript&v=2), I found good inspiration on how to do it properly.
+
+The first two weeks were tough, and I cursed a lot at TypeScript, but then the development got quicker, and I could reuse a lot of what I learned.
+
+## Linting
+
+I installed tools for static testing, linters for JavaScript/TypeScript ([ESLint](https://eslint.org/)) and CSS ([Stylelint](https://stylelint.io/)). All linters check automatically every line of code I wrote before I commit them.
+
+## Unit Testing
+
+A good code-base should have proper unit test coverage, which is why I installed and configured [Jest](https://jestjs.io/) as a testing framework and used [React Testing Library](https://testing-library.com/) for its fantastic set of testing utilities. Additionally, I added [Jest Axe](https://github.com/nickcolley/jest-axe) a Jest matcher to identify common accessibility problems.
+
+Each of my components has a snapshot test that covers the Markup and CSS, and an Axe accessibility test to catch preventable problems. Plenty of people think Snapshot tests are a bad habit, but I disagree and during my development, I was proved correct. The snapshot makes sure you don’t accidentally break Markup or CSS without at least acknowledging it. Interactive components have additional integration tests checking for the correct handling of interactions.
+
+## Styled Components
+
+I decided to use [Styled Components](https://styled-components.com/) as a CSS in the JS library. I long opposed to the idea of CSS in JS, and I _dislike_ libraries that don’t use CSS syntax. I **hate** writing CSS in objects or JavaScript syntax (`borderBottom: "10px"` instead of `border-bottom: 10px`). But using Styled Components makes the development of components a lot faster. And it’s convenient to generate TypeScript types automatically out of variants with `keyof typeof variant`.
+
+I picked [Styled-System](https://styled-system.com/) as an additional library but ripped it out later in the process because it was over-engineering for my one-person website. I don’t need super-flexible components that can be changed on the fly by a developer. I’m the developer on the project, I know what I need.
+
+## Theming
+
+I used the [Theme Provider](https://styled-components.com/docs/api#themeprovider) of Styled Components to prepare my website for a light and dark theme (plus theme color variations). Coding the theme toggle was the hardest part of the whole development. It took me a good two weeks to get a working theme switcher with a theme context running. Yet, I didn’t know that worse things would come, but more to that topic later.
+
+## MDX
+
+One of the reasons I was happy to use Gatsby on my new website was the support of [MDX](https://mdxjs.com/) (Markdown with JSX). Since the early days of blogging, I was always annoyed by how hard it was to get custom things into a blog post. WordPress introduced the concept of [shortcodes](https://wordpress.com/support/shortcodes/) which was a big thing. But this is nothing compared to what MDX can do: MDX allows it to develop complex components doing what you like and then add them as normal HTML tags in the Markdown documents. This allows for interactive posts or custom-styled tags.
+
+And the best thing is: Thanks to the MDX Provider, it’s possible to automatically provide every Markdown document with your custom components without the need of manually importing them every time. You can remap standard Markdown tags to your components.
+
+## Blog
+
+Next, I tried to get a basic blog running by adding sample MDX files and using [GraphQL](https://graphql.org/) to query the data and display it on the homepage. Nothing fancy, to kick off things. I didn’t work any further on the blog for the next few months.
+
+## Code Highlighting
+
+As I write sometimes essays with code examples, I needed code highlighting. A common way of doing this is using a JavaScript library like [PrismJS](https://prismjs.com/). I added the library and the [Gatsby plugin](https://github.com/gatsbyjs/gatsby/tree/master/packages/gatsby-remark-prismjs) but wasn’t happy with the solution. The library is big and slows down the loading. And all that to get code highlighted.
+
+But then I found the community plugin [gatsby-remark-vscode](https://github.com/andrewbranch/gatsby-remark-vscode), and it’s magical. It allows you to use any [Visual Studio Code](https://code.visualstudio.com/) plugin to be used on your website: Themes or syntax highlighting are the most commonly used. You don’t need to rely on the library of JavaScript library to support your wished syntax. If Visual Studio Code supports it, it will be running on your website. I picked my favorite color theme and added it to my project. Additionally, the plugin has a huge number of options, for example, changing themes matching the color scheme preferences or contrast preferences or highlighting specific lines or ranges. And the best thing is: Everything is pre-rendered, you don’t need to load one line of JavaScript for the code highlighting.
+
+## Persistent Theme Toggle and SSR Rendering
+
+The last thing I coded on Sylvester's day 2019 was a persistent toggle, preselecting your color options by reading your system’s preferences and saving your preferences to a persistent state consistent across multiple tabs.
+
+But in mid-January, I recognized a strange behavior: My color theme didn’t work as expected after I built the Gatsby site for production. There was always a flash and styles didn’t change consistently across the whole website. I was nerve-wrecked after coding for 3 weeks on the color scheme, everything now for nothing.
+
+After debugging for a few days, I could narrow down the problem to the SSR (Server-Side-Rendering) of Gatsby. Gatsby creates a static website of all your pages that will run without any JavaScript. JavaScript adds a better experience and a better response to a website. And to render everything to a static file, the default theme gets picked (which was the light theme in my case). Even after React is loaded, it won’t replace the light theme with the dark theme automatically. You would need to trigger a manual re-render of the whole page, which looked like an unfavorable solution to me. Luckily, other people ran into the problem and I found out that the easiest solution is to move the colors from the theme provider into [CSS Custom Properties](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/--*) (aka CSS Variables).
+
+In the end, I solved the problem by using a few global JavaScript functions to change the theme by applying a CSS class to the `body` tag and then switching the colors thanks to CSS variables. This works perfectly and has a good performance. Plus: I didn’t need the Theme Provider anymore and could remove it.
+
+## SEO
+
+In January 2020, I created an SEO component. As long as I work with websites, I know the importance of an SEO-friendly website. If the website can’t be crawled properly it will be bad for disabled people, content crawlers (like Raindrop.io or Pocket), or Feed Reeders) and sharing content on social media won’t work properly. Bad SEO: Your website sucks.
+
+The component I created (I was inspired by a lot of other Gatsby developers) provides every page with the full set of necessary headers: Meta tags, title, description, OpenGraph, and Twitter tags (for sharing on social media sites) and plenty of other things. The component allows changing any of these parameters on a per-page basis. A specific page shouldn’t be crawled? Add a different `robots` rule to that page.
+
+## Easter Eggs
+
+I started with coding the most unnecessary components first: The Easter eggs. 😬 But as I wanted the website to have uncommon and never-seen-before features, this was important to me. Next to my favorite Easter egg, I coded a `LocalizedDate` component, which allows the visitor to pick between three different date formats: US, German, or Japanese. Your selection will be remembered in your browser. I admit I did it because I like how the Japanese date looks but didn’t want to torture my visitors with the format.
+
+I coded January the `ColorSwatch` component, a component that can display color and its values. I knew I would need this later.
+
+## SVG Generation
+
+I created a script to generate components from SVG illustrations using [SVGR](https://react-svgr.com/). It took me a little bit to find out how to make the script export TypeScript components, but could, fortunately, figure it out.
+
+I use the beautiful and minimalistic [Remix Icons](https://remixicon.com/) and custom icons created by me, but try to use as few icons as possible.
+
+## Web Font
+
+The last thing I did in January 2020 was added the web font to my website. I knew from the beginning I didn’t want any dependency on a font provider, and definitely not Google. I removed all page tracking in 2019 from my website and don’t indent to add any tracking back. Adding a web font from Google Fonts will automatically bring user tracking. Additionally, the performance is never as good as if the font is directly served from your server.
+
+That’s why I found a high-quality version of _Playfair Display_ (Google does something to the fonts) and converted them with [Font Squirrels](https://www.fontsquirrel.com/) free generator into all the necessary formats.
+
+I use the [Web Font Loader](https://github.com/typekit/webfontloader) to asynchronously load the fonts. The library adds specific classes to the `html` tag, reflecting the different states of the web font loading. This allows swapping fonts or changing CSS depending on the state of the loading. I load initially the font _Georgia_ in a different font weight that allows the minimal amount of jumping text when the web font is finished loading.
+
+## Components, Components, and More Components
+
+From February 2020 to April 2020 I did one repeating thing: Developing components. I added components for typography, links, code blocks, text styles, quotations, lists, footnotes, and many more. It was a tiring process, but I knew I would need all these components.
+
+After a few components, I got tired of always copying and pasting the folder structure of a component that I installed [Plop](https://plopjs.com/). Plop can be used to auto-generate any file and folder structure, including automatically naming everything.
+
+## Component-Driven Development
+
+I never worked with [Storybook](https://storybook.js.org/) before, but I always wanted to try it. Storybook is an open-source tool for developing UI components isolated. It has a giant community creating plugins for every thinkable use case.
+
+I moved all my existing components to [Storybook](https://styleguide.stefanimhoff.de/) and started with a component-driven development. I created one story (a use case) for every component variation. Then I developed the components isolated from any website code in Storybook and unit tested the stories. This made the development much easier and fun than creating a manual [style guide](/styleguide/) page and developing the components on that.
+
+## Grid
+
+In mid of May 2020, I started developing the page grid, row, and column helpers. The underlying technology is CSS Grid Layout. I wanted the grid to be as flexible as possible: Supporting explicitly placed grid items, but different size presets for simple pages and allowing content to be auto-placed on the grid if possible.
+
+I ran into a problem because of all the designs I created for the huge Desktop size of 1800 Pixels. Each grid module was 100 × 100 Pixels wide. But a responsive page isn't concerned about pixel sizes.
+
+## Responsive Grid and Typography
+
+Lucky, I stumbled upon a video about [min(), max(), and clamp()](https://youtu.be/U9VF-4euyRo) a few weeks earlier. I had never heard of `clamp` before and was surprised by how supported it was. IE11 doesn’t support it, but _who_ cares about _that_ crappy discontinued browser? Not even Microsoft.
+
+The combination of `min()`, `max()`, and `clamp()` allows responsive typography or grids, that respect a minimal and maximal size and adjust the size of anything in between these two values matching to the available screen space. This changed everything! I switched all font sizes and space tokens to clamp. This allows the grid, margins, padding, or font sizes to adjust to the screen size but stay within reasonable ranges.
+
+## Pages
+
+At the end of May 2020, I started creating the first page: [The Error 404 page](/404/). I used explicitly positioned content and could test out my grid.
+
+Next, I created the first Markdown page: [Imprint](/imprint/). And then the [About](/about/) page, another explicitly designed page. It was impressive how quick and easy it was to create all the layouts I designed months earlier in Affinity Designer. Each page took me a day. I created the first parts of the [Homepage](/), another explicitly set site.
+
+Then I started with my first data-driven pages: [The Traditional Colors of Japan](/traditional-colors-of-japan/) and [Haiku](/haiku/).
+
+I created the colors a few years ago from a Japanese book about colors. Back then it was a blog post, but I always intended to create a full page around that, presenting all the colors in a space they deserved. I read all the color values from a YAML file and generate the page thanks to GraphQL with Gatsby using my Color Swatch component I developed a few months earlier.
+
+My Haiku (Japanese poetry) were always cramped on one boring page on my previous website, and I wanted to present them properly. I created a proper introduction page with an explanation and information and listed all my Haiku. I generated for each Haiku an individual page, including an English translation of my in German written Haiku.
+
+In Mid of June, I started creating the [Journal](/journal/) aka Blog. I created a two-column layout with all essays sorted alphabetically on the left side and all monthly recommendations sorted by date on the right side. As the date is for my essays of minor importance (except the recommendations), alphabetical sorting is the best option. I created the Journal detail page, displaying an individual essay.
+
+I created a sophisticated `Row` component a month earlier that can automatically align content by a fixed set of rules, and needed to make it work on small screen sizes.
+
+I thought long about dropping the [Projects](/projects/) page from my list for the initial launch of the new design because I had worked on the project for a long time. But then I decided to do it and invest in the two additional weeks because now is always the right time to do things. I not only created a Projects page but showcases for selected projects.
+
+While showing all my projects, I decided to move my [Sketchnotes](/sketchnotes/) to a dedicated section on the website.
+
+## Migrating the Content
+
+I knew one last big task was left on my list, which was tedious work but needed to be completed: Moving all essays to my new website. This took me a whole week because I decided to correct the spelling of every essay, needed to replace custom HTML with my components, and update the YAML Frontmatter metadata of each blog post. I decided to improve the quality of the images when possible.
+
+## Recent Essays on the Homepage
+
+The homepage was missing a design for the recent essays. My early designs in that section didn’t please me anymore, they were aligned, boring, and blunt. I decided to experiment with a Grid automatically reordering itself and content randomly offset. The idea worked, but the randomness will reposition the recent blog essays each time I deploy my website, as the SSR will embed the styles and prevent a new random positioning on each reload.
+
+## Animations & Transitions
+
+The last bigger tasks on my list were related to Animations and Transitions. I had moved these to the end of the development, to be able to ship without them, if it got complicated or time-intensive.
+
+I used [React Transition Group](https://github.com/reactjs/react-transition-group) and [gatsby-plugin-layout](https://github.com/gatsbyjs/gatsby/tree/master/packages/gatsby-plugin-layout) to be able to transition between different pages. I kept the transition simple and pleasant to stick to the principles of [Shibui](/new-website-2020-inspiration/).
+
+I used [gatsby-plugin-scroll-reveal](https://github.com/solublestudio/gatsby-plugin-scroll-reveal) to reveal content when scrolling into the viewport. The plugin uses [Sal.js](https://mciastek.github.io/sal/) as a scroll animation library.
+
+In the end, I improved the performance of all transitions on my website by changing what I transitioned. Early on I had quickly added simple transitions but got a low-performance warning from Jest.
+
+## Progressive Web App & RSS/Atom Feed
+
+The last thing I added to my website before I got ready to launch it was converting my website into a PWA (Progressive Web App) by adding a Service Worker. With Gatsby, this can be achieved with the plugins [gatsby-plugin-manifest](https://github.com/gatsbyjs/gatsby/tree/master/packages/gatsby-plugin-manifest) and [gatsby-plugin-offline](https://github.com/gatsbyjs/gatsby/tree/master/packages/gatsby-plugin-offline).
+
+The last task on my list was adding an RSS/Atom Feed. I thought this would be an easy task, but I was wrong. I tried using the plugin [gatsby-plugin-feed](https://github.com/gatsbyjs/gatsby/tree/master/packages/gatsby-plugin-feed), but couldn’t get it running. I tried another community plugin forked to support MDX, but ran into the same problems. The content didn’t want to render properly, all my custom MDX components were missing. Debugging was hard because the feed gets _only_ generated with a production build, which is why it took me multiple hours to debug the issue. In the end, I found out accidentally, that I had to move the MDX Provider from my layout component to the `wrapRootElement` function. Lastly, I changed a few of my components to be better displayed in the RSS feed.
+
+## Continuous integration & Deployment
+
+I use [Netlify](https://www.netlify.com/) to host my website. When I open a pull request on [GitHub](https://github.com/kogakure/website-gatsby-stefanimhoff.de), Netlify creates automatically a preview deployment on a custom URL. This is a fantastic feature and the main reason I selected Netlify. An automation workflow checks the Redirect file, mixed content, and other changes.
+
+I use [Travis CI](https://travis-ci.org/github/kogakure/website-gatsby-stefanimhoff.de) to run the CSS and JavaScript linting and the automated tests with Jest (including coverage). The coverage report gets automatically uploaded to [Codecov](https://codecov.io/gh/kogakure/website-gatsby-stefanimhoff.de/).
+
+I added the [Renovate bot](https://renovate.whitesourcesoftware.com/) to automatically open pull requests for package upgrades but removed it later because it would quickly use up my free build minutes on Netlify.
+
+## Source Code
+
+If you’re interested in how I developed each step of the website, I created nearly 500 Git commits. You can check out the [source code](https://github.com/kogakure/website-gatsby-stefanimhoff.de) of the website at any selected time and look into how the website looked.

src/content/journal/2020/new-website-2020-inspiration.mdx

@@ -0,0 +1,121 @@
+---
+title: "New Website 2020: Inspiration"
+slug: new-website-2020-inspiration
+date: 2020-07-14T08:00:00+02:00
+author: Stefan Imhoff
+description: This is the first of three parts in a series of essays about the process of creating my new website. This one has a look into the inspiration for my website.
+tags: ["design"]
+series: new-website-2020
+---
+
+At the end of 2017, I had the wish to create a new website, as my old design and technology got dated. I started by collecting inspirations and ideas about the direction I wanted to go.
+
+In 2017 and 2018 I didn’t do a lot, but browsing inspiring websites, and looking into trends and styles. I was sure to pick a Japanese-inspired topic, as all my website designs had one: My first design was inspired by [Japanese Tattoo](/projects/koi-illustration/) (_Irezumi_), my second design was based on the topic [Bonsai](/projects/stefanimhoff-v2/) and my [martial arts website](https://www.kogakure.de/en/) uses [Bamboo](/projects/kogakure-v8/) as a recurrent theme since 1999.
+
+## Japanese Aesthetics & Design
+
+I looked into Japanese Design styles, Typography, and Editorial Design as resources of inspiration—not only websites, but all kinds of design, from packaging, graphic design, architecture, and interior design to traditional Japanese art styles.
+
+And as I always collected designs and saved them on boards or put them in folders on my computer, time went by, and I removed designs again and added new ones. A few designs I liked even after a few months or even a year, but others I quickly became bored with. To better understand why one design is quickly getting boring and others always keep my interest and tension, I decided to do a _small_ excursion into Japanese design. I read nearly everything I could get my hands on. After one and a half years and eight books later, I knew a lot more about Japanese design.
+
+## Books on Japanese Design
+
+I read all books from Kenya Hara, the art director of Muji, and one of the leading designers of Japan. Additionally, I read the old and famous books <AffiliateLink asin="0918172020" text="In Praise of Shadows" /> by Jun’ichirō Tanizaki and <AffiliateLink asin="0909952302" text="Reflections on Japanese Taste: The Structure of Iki" /> by Kuki Shūzō. I read a compendium on all major Japanese currents of Art and Aesthetics, from glamorous gold-loaded styles to minimalistic Zen styles. I mapped out my research in detail in this [mind-map](https://my.mindnode.com/FGhdh66uMbi1aJ9RfriKUL3JoMCHd18aS8z9Uayw).
+
+<Bookshelf>
+	<AmazonBook asin="0714866962" alt="Wa: The Essence of Japanese Design" />
+	<AmazonBook asin="0918172020" alt="In Praise of Shadows" />
+	<AmazonBook asin="0909952302" alt="Reflection on Japanese Taste: The Structure of Iki" />
+	<AmazonBook asin="303778105X" alt="Designing Design" />
+	<AmazonBook asin="3037781831" alt="White" />
+	<AmazonBook asin="3037785799" alt="100 Whites" />
+	<AmazonBook asin="3037784660" alt="Ex-Formation" />
+	<AmazonBook asin="4805312505" alt="Japanese Design: Art, Aesthetics & Culture" />
+	<AmazonBook asin="1880656124" alt="Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers" />
+</Bookshelf>
+
+## Shibui – Subtle Elegance
+
+After looking into all the different art forms, I decided to follow my feeling and picked the style of _Shibui_. _Shibui_ (渋い, adjective), _shibumi_ (渋み, noun), or _shibusa_ (渋さ, noun) means translated _bitter or astringent taste_ but has additionally the meaning of _subtle elegance_, _refined and unobtrusive_, _quiet and simple_, and _understated_. It’s the opposite of _amai_ (甘い, adjective) which means sweet.
+
+It has its origins in the Muromachi period (1336-1573). In this period fell the [Ōnin War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%8Cnin_War) (応仁の乱, Ōnin no Ran), a ten-year-long war that destroyed immense amounts of cultural value, beautiful art, statues, and temples. The Shōgun [Ashikaga Yoshimasa](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashikaga_Yoshimasa) handed over the power to his son and retired to the area of Kyoto and spend his life reflecting on taste and aesthetics. The new simple and quiet art forms emerged, likely out of philosophical resignation about the cultural loss.
+
+By the seventeenth century, it had become a distinct sense of beauty. It’s closely related to the art form of _wabi-sabi_, but should not be confused with it.
+
+_Wabi-sabi_ (侘寂) is an aesthetic art form that focuses on the beauty of old and broken things and is closely related to Zen Buddhism. Many _wabi-sabi_ objects are _shibui_, but not all _shibui_ objects are _wabi-sabi_.
+
+It’s a complicated concept—and I don’t have the feeling of understanding all the aspects. What makes it even more difficult is that these art forms are connected over a complicated network with different philosophical or religious ideas, for example, Shintō, Buddhism, or Daoism.
+
+Shibui consists of seven aesthetic principles, sometimes called **The Shibui Seven**:
+
+- Asymmetry – _fukinsei_ (不均斉)
+- Simplicity – _kanso_ (簡素)
+- Austerity – _koko_ (考古)
+- Naturalness – _shizen_ (自然)
+- Subtlety – _yūgen_ (幽玄)
+- Unworldliness – _datsuzoku_ (脱俗)
+- Tranquility – _seijaku_ (静寂)
+
+---
+
+### Fukinsei – Asymmetry (不均斉)
+
+One of the concepts is asymmetry. This style is a trend in 2020, but countless designers copy the style without understanding what makes it beautiful. The philosophical concept behind this is the idea of imperfection and irregularity. Nature creates random things that look chaotic, and humans create something straight and geometrical. Asymmetry is placed in the middle: intentional imperfection. Zen has a similar concept in [Ensō](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ens%C5%8D), the imperfect circle, drawn by a calligraphist with a brush.
+
+The concept can be seen in Japanese Gardens, where rocks of different sizes are placed in a pattern that looks not orderly but still perfect. The observer takes part in the creative process by completing the uncompleted in their mind.
+
+When I created the concept for my design, I tried to integrate all seven concepts into the website. I used a lot of asymmetry in my layout, by moving photos or text on the grid to not be aligned strictly geometric.
+
+### Kanso – Simplicity (簡素)
+
+The concept of simplicity is the most known, as Steve Jobs—who was Zen Buddhist and loved this simplicity—used the concept for Apple products.
+
+It’s similar to the concept of Bauhaus, though its origin and philosophy are different. Bauhaus (and other similar art forms) tried to contrast the previous gorgeous decorations of royalty and replace them with something new as these powers declined.
+
+Simplicity means the elimination of confusion, things not necessary, removal of decoration, and keeping things in a simple, plain, and natural way. All non-essential things are suppressed or excluded. At the same time, you create more space. A lot of today's industrial design follows this concept.
+
+I tried to keep my design as simple as possible, while at the same time optimizing the content for maximal information density. The website has no unnecessary elements, the navigation is as short as possible.
+
+### Koko – Austerity (考古)
+
+Austerity is closely related to simplicity. It means intentionally limiting a thing to fewer options or exclusion and omission. Transferred to design, it could mean limiting oneself to a few colors or one font. Or it could mean removing unnecessary things from the design. You don’t add something, that is not necessary.
+
+It’s interesting to note that there are studies that prove that fewer options lead to more sales, for example. And people tend to be happier with fewer choices. It’s a slim zone between having no options and too many options.
+
+I rolled back ideas multiple times because they integrated too much complexity. I removed a social icon bar I added in my early designs, removed fancy off-screen navigation, replaced complex icons with simple ones, and limited myself to a maximal amount of navigation items.
+
+### Shizen – Naturalness (自然)
+
+Naturalness is a core concept built into Japanese life. Even the traditional houses create with their paper sliding doors (shoji) a fluid barrier between the outside and the inside. Nature is always welcome and part of life.
+
+Naturalness means the absence of sham and artificiality. It can be achieved by integrating naturally occurring patterns and rhythms into a design. This could, for example, mean using natural colors or color combinations.
+
+To cover this concept, I use subtle shadows and scaling effects to produce the effect of real-world elements. I selected photography and natural colors, typical _shibui_ colors, identifiable by their high amount of grayness. I experimented long with colors until I found the _shibui_ formula. Thanks to the HSL color space, I’m now able to _shibuify_ any color.
+
+### Yūgen – Subtlety (幽玄)
+
+This concept is one of the hardest to grasp, as it’s a feeling and emotion. It means _subtle grace_ or _hidden beauty_, but can best be described by explaining poetic expressions:
+
+It could be the feeling when the moon is behind the clouds and suddenly the clouds move away. Or a swarm of wild geese that are suddenly hidden by a cloud. An island on the horizon and a boat moving behind the island. It might be the feeling of wandering on and on for hours in a great forest without the thought of return.
+
+Yūgen is described as an awareness of the universe that triggers an emotional response too deep and powerful for words. The Japanese language has a lot of these words. Take for example _ikigai_ (域外), the reason for being, or _komorebi_ (木漏れ日), sunlight filtering through trees. Or funny words like _age-otori_ (上げ劣り), the bad feeling one gets after a terrible haircut, or deeply sad _mono no aware_ (物の哀れ), the pathos of things—the awareness of the transcendence of all things, that everything will perish and disappear.
+
+In design, yūgen can be achieved by limiting information enough to arouse curiosity and leave something to the imagination. I use photos cut off by the fold of the screen, inviting visitors to scroll. Content appears after you scrolled it into the viewport. Page transitions and scroll animations add further to this concept.
+
+### Datsuzoku – Unworldliness (脱俗)
+
+The concept of unworldliness means something that transcends the conventional. Something happening, that gives you the feeling of surprise and excitement. The moment you realize that you can have freedom from conventions.
+
+Examples could be a car breaking down, trains don’t drive, you are getting sick, or you are seeing something unexpected. Something that interrupts everyday life.
+
+In design, this could be anything unusual, things the viewer wouldn’t expect. Something funny on a serious website or items not correctly placed. Ideas you wouldn’t expect in a given context.
+
+I hid multiple _Easter eggs_ around the website for the unworldliness and unconventional and added one idea I had never seen on the internet before. I’ll reveal one of them: You can click on any date and switch between English, German and Japanese formats. Your selection is remembered. But there are more hidden secrets around the site. Happy searching!
+
+### Seijaku – Tranquility (静寂)
+
+The last concept of _shibui_ is tranquility. The feeling of stillness, quietness, and solitude you can have while sitting in a Japanese garden. Time for reflection or active rest.
+
+If you’re able to make the viewer stop or reflect—slow down—on a piece of design or art, you achieved this concept.
+
+The last concept I cannot guarantee, but I hope the depth of the website and its many hidden gems slow down and invite relaxed exploration.

src/content/journal/2020/new-website-2020.mdx

@@ -0,0 +1,84 @@
+---
+title: New Website 2020
+slug: new-website-2020
+date: 2020-07-07T07:20:20+02:00
+author: Stefan Imhoff
+description: "Finally, after 3 years with 250 hours of work, I finished my longest-running project: A new design and code for my website. Everything is new. I created over 1,400 files with 29,000 lines of code."
+tags: ["code", "design"]
+series: new-website-2020
+---
+
+Finally, after **3 years** with **250 hours** of work, I finished my longest-running project: A _complete new_ design and code for my website. Everything is new. I created over **1,400** files with **29,000** lines of code.
+
+There are _multiple_ reasons it took me a while: I created not only a new design, with a light and dark theme, screen size-dependent grid, and typography. I developed it with a new technology stack, including the static-site generator [Gatsby](https://www.gatsbyjs.org/), [TypeScript](https://www.typescriptlang.org/), [Styled Components](https://styled-components.com/), [MDX](https://mdxjs.com/), [GraphQL](https://graphql.org/), and [CSS Grid Layout](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/CSS_Grid_Layout).
+
+<Figure caption="Light Version Homepage">
+	<Image src="/assets/images/posts/homepage-light.jpg" alt="Light Version Homepage" />
+</Figure>
+
+<Figure caption="Dark Version Homepage">
+	<Image src="/assets/images/posts/homepage-dark.jpg" alt="Dark Version Homepage" />
+</Figure>
+
+I always take the opportunity to learn new things while working on personal projects. This time I intentionally picked TypeScript, even though I knew it would slow me down. I wanted to learn it beyond basic training and theory, which is possible while doing it.
+
+I had worked with CSS Grid Layout before, but never with this level of complexity. Likewise, I wrote Unit Tests for every component and screen to get faster with React [Testing Library](https://testing-library.com/) and [Jest](https://jestjs.io/).
+
+The inspiration and design phase took a long time. I had to read many books, study styles, designs, and art to select the direction I was aiming for.
+
+## Journal
+
+For my [Journal](/journal/), previously called articles, a blog I write since 2006, I re-checked the text of every essay I wrote before and improved the quality of the images.
+
+## New Pages
+
+I created new pages for parts of my website that previously didn’t exist or were not displayed properly.
+
+### Projects & Showcases
+
+For the first time, the website has a [Projects](/projects/) section showing my work, with further showcases for selected projects.
+
+### Haiku
+
+My Haiku (short Japanese poems) collection was previously loveless, dumped on a single page without proper context. After the relaunch, I dedicated a whole section to the [Haiku](/haiku/), including English translations.
+
+<Figure caption="Haiku">
+	<Image src="/assets/images/posts/haiku.jpg" alt="Haiku" />
+</Figure>
+
+### Sketchnotes
+
+I had a collection of my Sketchnotes hosted on a subdomain on Tumblr and wanted to move it back to my website and created my own [Sketchnotes](/sketchnotes/) section.
+
+### The Traditional Color of Japan
+
+A few years back I created a small project, creating an ASE file out of Traditional Colors of Japanese mentioned in a book with the same title. This project got [an own page](/traditional-colors-of-japan/) showing all colors and the books these are from.
+
+<Figure caption="The Traditional Colors of Japan">
+	<Image src="/assets/images/posts/colors-of-japan.jpg" alt="The Traditional Colors of Japan" />
+</Figure>
+
+The entire project stretched for three years because I didn’t work continuously on the website, and sometimes didn’t do something for multiple months.
+
+## Making-Of Series
+
+But finally, the website is completed, and I deserve a long summer break without screen time. But I plan to release a series of Making-of posts I wrote over the next weeks. It will include a look into my thoughts and inspiration process, the design and development of the website.
+
+## Stay Updated
+
+If you want to be updated, you can follow my [RSS/Atom Feed](https://www.stefanimhoff.de/index.xml).
+
+I set up a [Now](/now/) page, based on the idea of [Derek Silvers](https://sivers.org/), who created a [movement](https://nownownow.com/) when he started his page. The Now page shows what I’m doing right now and will be updated irregularly.
+
+## Feedback Welcome
+
+You can always send me a message or feedback, all possibilities to contact or connect me can be found on my [About](/about/) page. I don’t track anything anymore and know nothing any longer about visitors to my website. Blissful ignorance from my side to all this data-driven, growth-driven, customer-satisfaction-driven development.
+
+## Source Code & Styleguide
+
+If you’re interested in the code you don’t have to wait until I release the essay, the [source code](https://github.com/kogakure/website-gatsby-stefanimhoff.de) is publicly available on GitHub. All my components can be viewed on my [Styleguide](https://styleguide.stefanimhoff.de/) created with [Storybook](https://storybook.js.org/).
+
+<Banner summary="Hosted version" open>
+	If you want to see the design of this website, it is still hosted on
+	[v3.stefanimhoff.de](https://v3.stefanimhoff.de/) but doesn’t get any more updates.
+</Banner>

src/content/journal/2020/tools-i-use-for-note-taking.mdx

@@ -0,0 +1,146 @@
+---
+title: Tools I Use For Note-Taking
+slug: tools-i-use-for-note-taking
+date: 2020-09-03T12:00:00+02:00
+author: Stefan Imhoff
+description: I started my Zettelkasten in DEVONthink. But since then, I integrated more tools into my workflow. This essay describes which tools I use for my notes and why.
+tags: ["productivity", "software", "note-taking", "featured"]
+---
+
+I started 6 months ago to use the [Zettelkasten](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zettelkasten) note-taking method. In this short time, my collection of notes grew from zero to more than 350 notes. And now I can see the first benefits of cross-linking notes.
+
+If you want to learn more about the Zettelkasten method, I recommend the essay [Zettelkasten — How One German Scholar Was So Freakishly Productive](https://writingcooperative.com/zettelkasten-how-one-german-scholar-was-so-freakishly-productive-997e4e0ca125).
+
+As I wrote in my last essay [Zettelkasten Note-Taking Method With DEVONthink](/zettelkasten-note-taking-devonthink/) I started my Zettelkasten in DEVONthink. But since then, I integrated more tools into my workflow. This essay describes which tools I use for my notes and why.
+
+## DEVONthink or Obsidian? Both!
+
+After using DEVONthink for a while, a few of its disadvantages for the Zettelkasten method became obvious: The linking of notes was time-consuming manual work, it is missing backlink and graph features, and the WikiLink auto-complete does _only_ work if I know the note ID. But as I use DEVONthink not only for note-taking but for archiving documents, or inspirational material, I found myself in a dilemma. I gave [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md/) another try and was impressed. It had tremendously improved after I first tested it. I felt frustrated to not be able to have the features of both tools in one tool. And as there is never _one_ tool that fulfills all wishes, why not combine tools?
+
+I use 7 different tools: 😅
+
+1. [DEVONthink](https://devontechnologies.com/apps/devonthink) – Holding all my reference material, synchronizing notes across devices, and easy filtering by tags.
+2. [DEVONthink to Go](https://apps.apple.com/app/devonthink-to-go/id395722470) – Adding notes on mobile devices like my phone or tablet.
+3. [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md/) – Creating, writing, linking, and analyzing notes.
+4. [Alfred](https://www.alfredapp.com/) – Creating snippets (ID, or templates).
+5. [iA Writer](https://ia.net/writer) – Writing essays or longer notes.
+6. [GitHub](https://github.com/) – Version-controlled history of all my note changes.
+7. [BibDesk](https://bibdesk.sourceforge.io/) – Manage my bibliography.
+
+The following sections describe my workflow and how I integrate the various tools into my note-taking process.
+
+---
+
+## Tools
+
+### DEVONthink
+
+[DEVONthink](https://devontechnologies.com/apps/devonthink) is a fantastic document management system. It allows any type of content to be stored, archived, sorted, and analyzed. Databases can be synced via Bonjour, WebDAV, USB connection, or cloud providers such as Dropbox, or iCloud. The databases are automatically encrypted on external servers.
+
+The Tagging is incredibly fast and convenient, compared with other tools such as Evernote. And I use countless tags (currently, 23507 different tags). Tags replaced all folders for me because folders and tags are interchangeable in DEVONthink. I won’t go into much more detail on how I work with DEVONthink, as this is covered in my previous essay, [Zettelkasten Note-Taking Method With DEVONthink](/zettelkasten-note-taking-devonthink/).
+
+One thing I changed to my previous DEVONthink-_only_ workflow is that I use an **indexed folder** instead of putting my notes directly in DEVONthink. This can be achieved by adding the notes folder on the hard disk with `File` → `Index Files and Folders…`. Any change in a file on the hard disk or in DEVONthink will immediately sync across all devices.
+
+### DEVONthink to Go
+
+I use [DEVONthink to Go](https://apps.apple.com/app/devonthink-to-go/id395722470s) to quickly create new notes, and add photos, or other media to my databases. These files get automatically synced with all connected devices and are added to my Macs the next time I open DEVONthink. Additionally, I use the mobile version to search and read the content of my database when I’m not on my computer.
+
+### Obsidian
+
+[Obsidian](https://obsidian.md/) is incredible, doesn’t matter whether you use the Zettelkasten note-taking method or any other method. It’s built for _offline first_. Even though it’s in Beta, it outstrips its competitors. It has 18 official plugins (as of writing) and will add community plugins with version 1.0.
+
+One of the best features is Backlinks. Users of [Roam Research](https://roamresearch.com/) are familiar with this feature. If you link a note via the WikiLink syntax, e.g., `[[note]]`, the connected note will show this connection in a special backlink drawer. The creation of backlinks has fuzzy auto-complete, which is incredibly helpful. Linking another note is a matter of seconds.
+
+Obsidian has a Quick Switcher that allows jumping between notes in seconds and supports a fuzzy search for files.
+
+The Graph View is a cool feature! It displays all notes as dots (depending on the zoom level with or without the note name) and all connections between notes are visualized as lines. This allows us to see how good (or bad) the notes are connected. You can drag notes around and all connected notes will follow.
+
+<Figure caption="Obsidian Graph View of my 3,500 notes" size="wide">
+	<Image src="/assets/images/posts/obsidian-graph-view.jpg" alt="Obsidian Graph View of my notes" />
+</Figure>
+
+One plugin allows opening a note via custom shortcuts in the default app, which I use to edit longer notes in iA Writer.
+
+Obsidian has a plugin that activates the _Zettelkasten Prefixer_. Creating a new note will automatically prefix a date-time ID to a new note.
+
+The search for Obsidian is powerful and fast. It supports fuzzy search, logical operators, grouping, or regular expressions.
+
+Other nice plugins enable support for auto-pair brackets, Vim key bindings, a tag pane, starred notes, word count, a note outline, or a page preview. Each plugin can be switched on or off, you have total control over what features you want.
+
+Obsidian supports custom CSS and has a community theme library with many delightful themes.
+
+If you write daily notes, there is support for that. A note can be automatically prefixed with any date format.
+
+The Random Note feature is helpful to open a random note. I use it to connect every day one or two notes to other notes.
+
+### Alfred
+
+I use [Alfred](https://www.alfredapp.com/) for more than snippets, but this would be another blog post. In my note-taking process, I use Alfred to create unique note IDs (e.g., `202008311912` and fill in different note templates).
+
+### iA Writer
+
+I like writing long texts with iA Writer, because of its minimalistic interface, focus mode, and nice features to write better texts. I found an easy way of editing any Markdown note on-demand from DEVONthink or Obsidian in [iA Writer](https://ia.net/writer) and saving the changes back. Both tools allow setting shortcuts to open a file with its default application, which is for me iA Writer for Markdown files.
+
+### GitHub
+
+Putting my notes in a folder on the hard disk has the advantage of additionally adding version control with Git. I created a private repository in [GitHub](https://github.com/) and added the Zettelkasten notes folder. I commit once per day to all changes to my notes. I don’t need to push/pull on other devices, as the files are synced via DEVONthink. But it’s a pleasant addition to seeing how the notes changed over time.
+
+### BibDesk
+
+I use [BibDesk](https://bibdesk.sourceforge.io/) to manage my citations, as described in the essay [Manage Citations for a Zettelkasten](https://zettelkasten.de/posts/bibliography-zettelkasten/). For every book, webpage, or video I want to reference, I create a new entry. It’s a quick process, but immensely helpful later to find the source again.
+
+I updated the citation template mentioned in the essay to my wishes (to support URLs).
+
+## Note Creating Workflow
+
+If I sit at one of my Mac computers, I press a shortcut in Obsidian to automatically create a new Zettelkasten note, automatically suffixed with a timestamp ID. I enter a title for the note, and a template feature of Obsidian automatically fills in the basic structure of a note. I use Alfred to create other types of notes. My note template is as simple as it gets:
+
+#### Zettelkasten Principles - 202008311912.md
+
+```md
+#
+
+## Related
+
+Tags:
+```
+
+I add the title, content, commented links to other notes, and tags. I decided to drop the ID from the title of the headline. This example is translated, I use the German language for my notes:
+
+```md
+# Zettelkasten Principles
+
+The 12 Zettelkasten principles mentioned in [#Clear2019aa].
+
+1. Atomicity – Just one idea per note
+2. Autonomy – A note should be self-contained and comprehensible on its own
+3. Link your notes – Link the note to already existing notes
+4. Explain why you’re linking the notes – Add a comment to the link
+5. Use your own words – Don’t copy and paste. Writing in your own words forces you to understand the idea.
+6. Keep references – Add references to your notes to remember where you got the idea from.
+7. Add your thoughts – Add comments or ideas.
+8. Don’t worry about structure – You don’t need folders
+9. Add connection notes – If you see a connection between random notes, add new notes connecting these.
+10. Add outline notes – If you see topics emerging, create outline notes, that contain just links to other notes and create a story or narrative.
+11. Never delete – Don’t delete old notes, link the new notes describing what’s wrong or outdated.
+12. Add notes without fear – You can’t have too many notes.
+
+## Related
+
+- How to add a custom template to BibDesk: [[Add BibDesk Markdown template - 202008231056]]
+- Blog posts on my website on how to use DEVONthink for the Zettelkasten method: [[Zettelkasten Note-Taking Method With DEVONthink - 202005171813]]
+
+Tags: #Zettelkasten
+
+[#Clear2019aa]: David B. Clear (2019): _Zettelkasten – How One German Scholar Was So Freakishly Productive_, <https://writingcooperative.com/zettelkasten-how-one-german-scholar-was-so-freakishly-productive-997e4e0ca125>.
+```
+
+In DEVONthink I select all notes I created on a given day and press the right mouse button, select `Tags` → `Convert Hashtags to Tags` which will create Mac tags out of the Hashtags on my notes. It’s possible to activate this feature in the settings automatically, but I didn’t do it because Obsidian doesn’t have a save feature, instead automatically saves the note on every keystroke. The Hashtag feature in Obsidian supports auto-complete, but as the sync to DEVONthink is instantly the feature would create multiple meaningless tags, e.g., `Zet`, `tel`, `ka`, `sten` – depending on how fast you type or when you select the auto-completed tag.
+
+DEVONthink can create a nice preview thumbnail of the notes and will sync all notes or changes via the sync storage with other devices (including the Mac tags).
+
+I commit all changes or additions to my Zettelkasten folder and push the changes to GitHub. It’s not needed to pull my changes on another computer (unless I want to commit to a different computer) because DEVONthink handles the synchronization.
+
+I try to connect notes when I find a note without connections and split notes into small notes if I stumble upon a note that is too big.
+
+Over time, these connected notes convert into a second brain. New ideas emerge by connecting notes that weren’t originally intended to be connected.

src/content/journal/2020/zettelkasten-note-taking-devonthink.mdx

@@ -0,0 +1,215 @@
+---
+title: Zettelkasten Note-Taking Method With DEVONthink
+slug: zettelkasten-note-taking-devonthink
+date: 2020-05-18T10:00:00+02:00
+author: Stefan Imhoff
+description: "The way we write notes determines how we think and learn. I was introduced recently to an old method of writing notes: The Zettelkasten method. This essay describes how I implemented the method into my workflow with DEVONthink."
+tags: ["productivity", "note-taking", "featured"]
+---
+
+The way we write notes determines how we think and learn. Many studies have shown how useful writing notes is. The best retention comes with writing, reading, and listening combined. Repeated reading and connecting ideas is another important part.
+
+## The Illusion of Competence and the Collector’s Fallacy
+
+Many people avoid taking notes and search for answers on the Internet instead. This is a grave error because it looks convenient to have all knowledge <q>at the tips of my fingers.</q> And worse, it produces the **Illusion of Competence**[^schroder2018aa] in a person. <q>I don’t need to know this, I can always look it up</q> is a common sentence you hear today. <q>I can ask Siri or Alexa.</q>
+
+But knowledge-building doesn’t work that way. And saving content into the archive doesn’t either. I’m guilty of this myself. Having used Evernote for a decade, I was used to saving everything I _wanted to remember_ into the tool. I sorted and curated, tagged, and sometimes even highlighted content. But I fell a victim to the **Collector’s Fallacy**.[^tietze2014aa] Because you collected something doesn’t mean you learned it or can explain it.
+
+A few months ago, a co-worker pointed me to the **Zettelkasten Method**. At first, I discarded it as complicated. The founder _Niklas Luhmann_ seemed eccentric to me. His physical Zettelkasten—a gigantic shelf with 90,000 notes—was an abomination to me as a [Minimalist](/minimalism/).
+
+But a few weeks ago I found time to read into the links my colleague had sent me about the method. I learned that [Ryan Holiday](https://medium.com/@RyanHoliday/this-unique-notecard-system-will-help-you-remember-organize-and-utilize-everything-you-read-9f3ddabaa3c) and [Robert Greene](https://medium.com/@paulorrj/the-robert-greene-method-of-writing-books-e175ade04897) use similar methods for note-taking.
+
+## The Zettelkasten Method
+
+This essay is not meant to be a deep introduction to the Zettelkasten method, but to show how I implemented it into my daily workflow. To read more about the method, I recommend the fantastic illustrated essay [Zettelkasten — How One German Scholar Was So Freakishly Productive](https://writingcooperative.com/zettelkasten-how-one-german-scholar-was-so-freakishly-productive-997e4e0ca125) by _David B. Clear_ and [Living with a Zettelkasten](https://omxi.se/2015-06-21-living-with-a-zettelkasten.html) by _Magnus Eriksson_. Another good hub for information is the website [Zettelkasten](https://zettelkasten.de/) by _Christian Tietze_.
+
+But I’ll shortly introduce the concept for better understanding: **Zettelkasten** is a German word meaning **note** (Zettel) **box** (Kasten).
+
+The basic idea is that a **notebook** is too static and linear. It might be good to quickly capture ideas, but it’s a bad way to store ideas. But information put on **index cards** or **notes** would be loose and disorganized.
+
+Putting notes into **folders** is the beginners’ approach—I’m guilty myself—but you run into problems with notes belonging thematic into different folders.
+
+**Tags** are the next improvement to a note-taking system. Tags allow notes to be grouped without the limitation of physical categories or folders.
+
+But the Zettelkasten Method went one step further: Individual notes get connected by **linking them together**. This is a manual but necessary step that connects ideas and creates real knowledge about topics. Over time, you add outline notes, connect similar ideas, or even complete hub pages connecting notes and outline notes of broader topics.
+
+## Principles of a Good Zettel
+
+A good Zettel should be **atomic**, one idea should be on a note. It should be **autonomous**, being able to stand on its own, move, or merged with other notes. When you add a note, think about ways of **connecting** the note to existing notes. Additionally, you should always **explain** why you’re linking two notes. Never copy and paste (quotes are the exception, I assume), but **use your words and language**. Don’t think about structure, and **never delete** any notes.
+
+## Reference Material
+
+Regarding the reference material, I found different ideas. Some recommend always keeping the reference to ensure no plagiarism, others process a reference and immediately delete the reference. I think the best way I somewhere in between, keeping good references and deleting the ones of lesser quality, and extracting the ideas worth saving on separate notes.
+
+I, for example, have a huge reference database with 30,000 items. And I don’t plan to delete any of the reference material. The major part is of the inspirational kind (images, logos, photos) which can’t be captured in a note.
+
+But I started using [BibDesk](https://bibdesk.sourceforge.io/) to create references to books, articles, and videos worth remembering. It’s easy to create custom export templates for BibDesk as explained in [Manage Citations for a Zettelkasten](https://zettelkasten.de/posts/bibliography-zettelkasten/).
+
+## Tools
+
+When I tried to introduce the Zettelkasten method, I reviewed several tools. Tools I owned and tools that were recommended. The good thing with this method is there is no right tool, everything from paper index cards to sophisticated software can do the job. It’s a matter of taste and convenience. A paper-based system I discarded categorically—I don’t have the time or space to maintain an analog system. I tried a good bunch of tools recommended in the [Software & Gadgets](https://forum.zettelkasten.de/categories/tools) section of the Zettelkasten website. I even tried their tool, [The Archive](https://zettelkasten.de/the-archive/). But after looking into the capabilities of my favorite document management system, [DEVONthink](https://devontechnologies.com/apps/devonthink), I decided to stay with it.
+
+## Selecting the Right Tool
+
+After years of working with different software products, I came up with my rules for selecting a tool for any purpose. When I find a tool that might look _incredible_ at the beginning, I slow down my decision and remember these rules:
+
+- **Never** use a tool or service which **does not allow exporting** my content easily.
+- **Never** store valuable information **only on an external server** that might disappear or be inaccessible.
+- **Never** use a **proprietary format** that depends on a specific company or tool or is **hard or impossible to convert** into another format.
+- If possible, don’t use a service or software that doesn’t support **encrypting my data**.
+- If possible, don’t use a service or software that has **a monthly fee**. Monthly fees make it easy for developers to not deliver good software, while the user is not being able to stop paying without losing access to the software.
+
+### Exporting Data
+
+Plenty of tools already fail my first rule: Apple Notes, [Google Keep](https://keep.google.com/), and [Microsoft OneNote](https://www.onenote.com/). These tools don’t allow exporting at all or exporting a single, individual note to something static like a PDF. That’s a big **NO**, and I would never use tools of that kind. DEVONthink allows exporting and importing every file with all its metadata.
+
+### Locally Stored Data
+
+The second rule crosses out a lot of the famous new star apps like [Notion](https://www.notion.so/) or [Roam Research](https://roamresearch.com/). As cool and innovative as these tools are, they are not for me. I know both tools allow exporting your notes as Markdown, but being locked out of Notion for 3 days—they had problems with their mail server—is proof of the importance of my second rule. DEVONthink is local first, but cloud providers and synchronizing files are possible. You can back up your data and always access it, even without an internet connection.
+
+### Data in Open Formats
+
+The next rule crosses out all kinds of software, that has some internal database format or virtual file format, which lets you lose your metadata when exporting a note—if this is possible at all. Tools that need you to run a specific server, plugin, or extension that might not be available any more than ten years later. I consider [Evernote](https://evernote.com/) to be in this category. While it is possible currently to export the notes as HTML, this might not be the case in the future. They additionally bake in styles in the HTML, which leads to a lot of my notes being hard to read today—black foreground on a black background or tiny fonts. DEVONthink allows every format. It has good support for Markdown, but you can store everything you like. It allows converting files into a huge amount of different formats.
+
+### Encrypted Data
+
+The last two rules are nice to have and not a deal-breaker: I want my data encrypted. Storing my data in the cloud where a bored employee or curious intelligence officer might read my notes is not acceptable. DEVONthink allows encrypting the local databases (or using the Mac hard disc encryption) and encrypts all cloud storage vaults by default with a high standard. They even warn their customers, that losing the password will mean you lose the data.
+
+### No Monthly Rent
+
+Additionally, I don’t like services or software with a monthly fee. Not at all. I don’t support or approve of this trend. I get it, I’m a developer myself. It allows for a steady stream of money and supports the developers. But it opens the field for shady tactics:
+
+- Use the **Loss Aversion** or **Sunk Cost Fallacy** to bind customers to pay regularly or lose everything they created.
+- It allows developers to stop being innovative and releasing what customers want.
+
+I didn’t like the old model either, when software companies pushed out a new release every year, without improvements worth paying for an upgrade. But at least the software worked. Every year, one could check the new feature and estimate if it’s worth paying for the upgrade.
+
+I can approve software like [Sketch](https://www.sketch.com/) where you pay every year, but you won’t get any further updates or improvements when you stop paying, but your software runs!
+
+DEVONthink has a one-time price and a new version gets released every few years. They are six developers, which keeps the cost of development low. And they work on the app for over a decade and always release fantastic new features. They even release [useful software for free](https://devontechnologies.com/apps/freeware).
+
+## DEVONthink Pro for the Zettelkasten Method
+
+There are many reasons I decided DEVONthink would be the best possible solution for me, starting with the Zettelkasten methods, and the following section will provide insights into my research and thoughts.
+
+I decided to stay with pure MultiMarkdown files—many people working with the Zettelkasten method do. Markdown is versatile, easy to write, easy to convert, and has no lock-in into a proprietary file format, as the files are text.
+
+My notes are as simple as they can be. Simple is a good thing. The filename starts with a unique ID generated out of the current date and time, followed by a short and meaningful title: `The Process of Habit Building - 202005171446` (translated, as I write all my notes in German).
+
+The note itself is easy in structure:
+
+```md
+# The Process of Habit Building
+
+[Short introduction of the idea][#someauthor2020abc]
+
+[Longer explanation or examples]
+
+### Possible subsections
+
+[…]
+
+## Related
+
+- [[Identity change as a goal for habit change - 202005171443]]
+- [[Forget goals. Concentrate on systems - 202005171436]]
+- [[The 1% rule for habit forming - 202005171425]]
+
+Tags: #Habit #Psychology
+
+[#SomeAuthor2020abc]: Some Author (2020): _Title of Work_, <Link>.
+```
+
+Originally, I had the tags included in the note, but I discarded the idea, because of the powerful tagging in DEVONthink. All tags in DEVONthink are automatically tags in the Apple file system.
+
+### The DEVONthink Sorter
+
+One of the best features of DEVONthink is its fantastic sorter. It can be used as a menu bar item or a floating index tab, it can be triggered with various shortcuts. It allows capturing notes in many possible formats. Additionally, audio, video, screenshots, and websites. The latter one is powerful and able to strip all clutter and keep text and images or convert the content to Markdown, save it as HTML, rich text, pure text, PDF, or web archive.
+
+<Figure caption="The DEVONthink sorter to capture content quickly">
+	<Image src="/assets/images/posts/devonthink-sorter.jpg" alt="The DEVONthink Sorter" />
+</Figure>
+
+### Fast Live Search with Powerful Search Operators
+
+The search in DEVONthink is fast and one of the core features. It’s using powerful data-science features in the background to analyze the content and show the most likely search results. It’s possible to use advanced search operators like wildcards, boolean operators, or regular expressions.
+
+### Tagging & Location Data
+
+The tagging in DEVONthink is fantastic. No lag or buggy behavior as I was used to it in Evernote. Tags can be added with auto-complete and filtered down by clicking on a weighted tag cloud or adding more tags to filter down the result list.
+
+Notes can contain the geographical location where the note was taken and can be viewed later on a world map.
+
+### WikiLinks & Hashtag Conversion
+
+DEVONthink supports out-of-the-box WikiLink syntax `[[…]]` and provides auto-complete for WikiLinks. As I use a flat-file structure for all my notes that always start with the date-time stamp, I can autocomplete documents written on a given day.
+
+The app allows multiple ways of linking. Besides WikiLinks, it supports regular Markdown linking to local files or external sources and linking to the unique database item, like `x-devonthink-item://EE11831A-6028-4202-84E3-A4BEEA3E2551` which works from tools outside DEVONthink.
+
+DEVONthink is capable of converting hashtags, for example, `#Stoicism` into tags. It can convert keywords, properties, or locations into tags.
+
+### MultiMarkdown Support
+
+DEVONthink supports [MultiMarkdown](https://rawgit.com/fletcher/MultiMarkdown-6-Syntax-Guide/master/index.html) which is much more powerful than regular Markdown. It allows for example citations, critic markup, glossary, table of contents, or cross-references, to name a few. I use a custom export template in BibDesk that automatically creates a citation link for reference.
+
+Since it’s the last update, DEVONthink supports MathJAX and Prism code highlighting. It’s possible to add a custom Markdown template. I use the CSS of the beautiful [iA Writer template, GitHub Plus](https://github.com/icearith/iA-Writer-Templates-Github-Plus/).
+
+<Banner summary="CSS Markdown Template">
+Because of frequent requests, I add a link to my _adjusted_ iA Writer CSS template to style Markdown posts. In DEVONthink _Media_ settings, there is an entry for a custom _Style Sheet_. You point this to the CSS file on your hard drive. It’s possible you need to restart DEVONthink after that.
+
+<DownloadLink href="/downloads/MarkdownDefault.css" text="CSS Markdown Template" />
+</Banner>
+
+### OCR Text Recognition
+
+DEVONthink comes with built-in support for text recognition in a considerable variety of languages. This allows, for example, to convert every image to be searchable, the same as one of the features of Evernote. The text can be either stored in a file comment or annotation or converted into a searchable PDF or other compatible formats. It allows automatic correction of distortion and rotation and the addition of a custom dictionary.
+
+### Powerful Inspector
+
+One powerful feature is the inspector. It allows editing and viewing metadata, marks (colors, flags), ratings (stars), or lock items. It can analyze text and show a word list, similar words, links in documents, a table of content, and a word cloud, to name a few.
+
+And a document shows statistics like paragraph, word, or character count.
+
+### Workspaces
+
+DEVONthink has a concept of workspaces that allows saving specific views of the tool as a workspace. Activating a workspace will change the layout, active folders, or sorting to adjust to the preferred working mode. DEVONthink has multiple ways of viewing the content: Lists, Symbols, Columns, and Cover Flow. The window can be changed into different layouts. Each folder remembers the assigned layout, which allows, for example, to show large images in a photo folder and a list with selected columns in another folder.
+
+A powerful [DEVONthink Alfred Workflow](https://github.com/mpco/AlfredWorkflow-DEVONthink-Search) allows searching in DEVONthink and switching quickly between workspaces.
+
+Another nice feature of DEVONthink is the possibility to have multiple windows of the app at the same time. This sounds like a less important feature, but having two windows next to each other is a help: Writing notes in one window while researching or searching for connection links in another window.
+
+### Sync & Mobile App
+
+DEVONthink can sync individual databases with common cloud providers (Dropbox, iCloud, CloudMe), WebDAV, or directly with iOS devices over Bonjour. The sync storage is stored encrypted in the cloud, which makes it a safe way to sync across multiple devices without compromising private data. With [DEVONthink to Go](https://apps.apple.com/app/devonthink-to-go/id395722470) is a mobile version available.
+
+## My Workflow of Capturing a Note
+
+Depending on where I am, I might directly open the DEVONthink Sorter to capture a thought, idea, or information into my global inbox. I drop images, documents, and everything I want to keep into the inbox.
+
+I might write notes in one of my paper notebooks. Handwriting has plenty of advantages. Combined with _Sketchnotes_ it enhances the memory and understanding of a topic. I transfer important notes once a day into DEVONthink.
+
+I regularly reserve time to transfer notes, highlights, and quotes from books I’ve read into notes in my Zettelkasten.
+
+<Figure caption="DEVONthink view on a Markdown document with a sidebar for notes" size="wide">
+	<Image
+		src="/assets/images/posts/devonthink-zettelkasten.jpg"
+		alt="My Zettelkasten in DEVONthink"
+	/>
+</Figure>
+
+Every afternoon I clean the inbox and properly tag the items. Every Zettelkasten note gets a unique ID and title (generated with a snippet in [Alfred](https://www.alfredapp.com/)) and then moved into a separate database for notes. Inspirational items and documents get moved into their database.
+
+I use another Alfred snippet to quickly create the basic template of a Zettel (though DEVONthink has template capabilities, my snippet is faster). I add an intro paragraph and the content of my thought or note and use the inspector to find related notes, which I link when possible using WikiLinks. I add citations or other links, external for links to websites and videos, or internal to other documents for images in DEVONthink using the unique document identifier.
+
+A quick shortcut allows changing the metadata of a note without opening the inspector. Another shortcut opens a Zettel in my favorite writing app: [iA Writer](https://ia.net/writer). Saving the content will automatically update the DEVONthink document.
+
+## Conclusion
+
+I’m happy I was pointed to the Zettelkasten method by my colleague. It’s a good and future-proof way of writing notes. Even after a few weeks and ~150 newly created notes, I can see the first connections between the notes. I started creating connection notes, and I’m having ideas for outline notes.
+
+[DEVONthink](https://devontechnologies.com/apps/devonthink) is after a week of testing various tools the right tool for me. It allows me to use the Zettelkasten method with several useful workflows and features, next to having an incredibly powerful document management system.
+
+**Update 03.09.2020:** I started using [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md/) as the primary tool for my Zettelkasten, due to its much more powerful tools, but still sync the vault via DEVONthink and add new notes to my vault with the DEVONthink sorter. To read about my updated workflow, please go to [Tools I Use For Note-Taking](/tools-i-use-for-note-taking/).
+
+[^schroder2018aa]: Will Schroder (2018): [How To Remember Everything You Learn](https://youtu.be/V-UvSKe8jW4).
+[^tietze2014aa]: Christian Tietze (2014): [The Collector’s Fallacy](https://zettelkasten.de/posts/collectors-fallacy/).

src/pages/[...slug].astro

@@ -170,5 +170,38 @@ const description = '…';
 		& > figure p {
 			@apply m-0;
 		}
+
+		/** Footnotes */
+		.footnotes {
+			@apply relative pis-[2rem];
+		}
+
+		.footnotes ol {
+			@apply m-0 list-none p-0 [counter-reset:item];
+		}
+
+		.footnotes li::before {
+			@apply absolute align-super text-[smaller] font-thin opacity-60 content-[counter(item)] pbs-[0.15rem] inline-start-0 [counter-increment:item];
+		}
+
+		.footnotes .data-footnote-backref {
+			@apply font-light text-accent no-underline;
+		}
+
+		.footnotes p {
+			@apply mbe-0;
+		}
+
+		.footnotes p a {
+			@apply break-words;
+		}
+
+		.footnotes :target {
+			@apply bg-black/5 p-5 dark:bg-white/5;
+		}
+
+		[data-footnote-ref] {
+			@apply p-[0.1em] font-light !text-accent no-underline;
+		}
 	}
 </style>

src/schema/journal.ts

@@ -14,11 +14,15 @@ export const journal = defineCollection({
 				'code',
 				'design',
 				'download',
+				'featured',
 				'film',
 				'health',
+				'minimalism',
+				'note-taking',
 				'productivity',
 				'publication',
 				'self-improvement',
+				'software',
 				'tip',
 				'typography',
 			])