...at the end of this week, and I will be there, and am already looking forward to meeting new people, and learning a lot of new things.

Since I'm a little behind on my preparation, though (looking at you, world events and consequential doom-scrolling), I will have a little blog break and resume blogging next week.

Keep doing good things, and being kind! 

It's time for some links - hopefully of interest! 

First of all, excavations have located a medieval monastery in Aachen. German article (with pictures) here. 

More German stuff: The LEIZA is doing a series of presentations, some (most even) of them hybrid. You can find out more here. 

If you'd like facebook and instagram to use less of your personal data, you can find instructions on how to adjust privacy settings here. 

And that's it for today... have a nice weekend!

Time to take a look at what we can do. Because yes, we can do things. Even if you don't have money, and even if you don't have much energy left these days, there are things you can do.

The easiest, cheapest, ridiculously small but still powerful thing that everyone of us can make happen every day: Smile. Give somebody you don't know at all a smile, out there on the streets, in the supermarket, in the bus, in the elevator. You already make a little change right then, right there. If you want to challenge yourself, make it three smiles each day. Bonus points if it's someone often forgotten or overlooked - a bus driver. The cleaning lady. A supermarket cashier. You'll make their day a little brighter, and yours as well. 

One step up - say thank you to people. Write a note to a politician working for democratic causes, speaking up against unjustice, and say "Thank you for your work". They will be frustrated, too, and may be struggling, so hearing something positive will help them. You can also say thank you to the driver as you're exiting the bus, or when you see a cleaner doing their job. In a time where rifts between people are purposefully made bigger and bigger to tear us apart and make us easier to suppress and rule, acts of kindness and friendliness will help to get us closer again, and to not forget we are all humans.

If you have a little money to spare, go look for an NGO you can support. In Germany, CDU/CSU is now trying to intimidate the organisations that organised demonstrations against right-wing extremists and fascism, trying to discredit them and maybe stop their state support. (Spoiler: They usually only get money for specific projects, typically to support democracy, and have to list what the money was spent for - so it's not like they are handed a bunch of money with a "here you go, have fun".) Pick one of them - a research platform, some group pointing out extremist tendencies, an organisation buying up land to turn into nature reserves, a group (including a small local group) working to slow down climate change and protect nature. Donate to them, preferably a running donation every month. It does not need to be much, if you can spare a fiver each month (which is, depending on where you buy it, about a large coffee) - it already helps more than you'd imagine, especially if many of us do that now. 

Shop locally, if you can. Support your local farmers and small businesses. Think about what you need before you buy - especially if it's from one of the big companies that make a lot of profit exploiting their workers. (Nestlé would be one of the huge corporations of, hm, debatable ethnicity.) Look if there's a thrift shop near you where you can donate stuff you don't need anymore that is still good to use, or a "free to a new home" distribution centre. Maybe you can even set up one yourself - a shelf with some kind of weather protection above it would already do.

You want to do more? You have time to spare but not money? Get active yourself. Helpers, supporters, everyone can pitch in with something. Setting up logistics for meetings, and tearing down. Handing out flyers (or stuffing them into mailboxes). Even if you're an introvert, there will be something you can do to help, without exposing yourself. You can also call your representatives and ask specific questions. If you're not up to calling, you can send a letter. (If you put a small coin in there, it cannot be put into the shredder unopened, so even if it does not get read, it will cause some nuisance.)

Germans are currently sending cups to Merz in an act of protest against things he said. Nobody knows what that will amount to, but it's something you can do, and it's at least fun. (And you can finally get rid of that ugly cup...)

If you're more extroverted you can talk to people. Listen to their concerns. Connect with neighbours and friends, build yourself a network that can lift you up when you are down. Talk to people outside of your bubble - maybe you can find a point that you agree on, and work from there. Maybe you can find a solution for a small problem in your area. 

And the most important thing: Don't give up now. We still have a chance. No matter where you are, there still is a chance. But if we stop fighting, if we stop advocating... we will definitely lose.

If you like, make a note here in the comments on what you're planning to do - or your ideas for other things that can make a difference!

Things going on here? 
The cat is asleep on the bed - and today there were no complaints before she snuggled down (I had remembered to make the bed after she'd gotten up in the morning...)

The test knit that I have on the needles is almost finished. I'm mending the knee area of my bouldering trousers. We've started pruning the willow fence. I have eaten too much chocolate today.

I'm also wondering for how long my current computer will hold out - apparently it's not Windows-11-compatible due to some security chip being too old. And no, I am not planning to repace a perfectly fine, working computer right now. Grr.

What else is happening? While we are in political limbo right now (negotiations will happen, but of course they are not public), there's an initiative sending cups to Friedrich Merz as a kind of creative protest. Why? Because in his speech on the evening before election day, he lost it and insulted the people out on the streets demonstrating against fascism... using the German saying that "die haben nicht alle Tassen im Schrank" (they don't have all the cups in the cupboard). Because a lot of people felt offended by this, and are also quite firmly of the opinion that if there is a lack of cups in any cabinet, it's not in the protester's cupboards, but more probably in somebody else's... he's getting cups in the post now.

You can find some more about that if you go on Instagram and look for #merztasse - here's a random example: 

Well. Hopefully it will help. And we also happen to have a few cups more that we don't use... so they will make their way to Berlin soon, too.

So. Elections are over, and they went more or less like expected - the only surprise was that the left party got about 8% of the votes. The next four years, CxU will probably steer the ship, and they are currently looking at possibilities for a coalition. Anything can happen here, because, well, Merz has not proven to be the most trustworthy guy.

I'm not surprised (well, a little about the still 20% of AfD, but who knows what would have happened if there had been less demos and so on happening beforehand), but I am very, very disappointed. Which means I will spend a few days in the post-election blues and then see what I can do.

Meanwhile so much is happening in the US that it's hard to keep track, and if I get the picture right, protests are forming here and there, but have no visible effect yet. If you're over there: Keep going! You will need to hold steady for a while before it has an impact. 

So. First things first: If you are in Germany, please go vote for democracy on Sunday. If you're still wondering whether that is necessary or not, take a look over into the US, where people are fired from government and democracy is getting gutted and thrown away. 

If you're still unsure on who to vote for, you still have some time left. I would advise to pick Green, Linke, or maybe SPD to make sure we stay a democratic country. If you're wondering what to do with your Erststimme, and whether to use it tactically, take a look at zweitstimme.org and see what canditates have the most chance of winning. (And thus who to vote for if you would like to not have a black or blue guy win - though fortunately it will not mean that they all get in anymore. No more Überhangmandate.)

Seriously. Go vote. Also have a look at stuff going on in the US anyways. That is a shit thing happening there. 

More PSA: If you own a Kindle and would like to have copies of your books, you know, just in case - you have a few more days to download them to your computer before Amazon changes its policies and prevents downloading for good. If you're unsure what that means, Geeky Gadgets explains it to you. If you'd like instructions on how to download your stuff, you can find them for instance here.

And finally, for those of you in the US: Don't give up! You have not lost everything yet. Protests are rising. Things are being planned - see here:

I hope that after the elections, things will turn towards some more sanity here. I'd really like to return to something more like normal afterwards. Part of me, though, is already sort of expecting that we'll have some more protesting to do afterwards, to avoid certain brownish stuff happening. We will see. 

There's elections in Germany on Sunday. Prognoses still give CDU/CSU as the party with the majority of votes, followed by AfD. That, friends, does not bode well for our future. (You can look at dawum.org for the current results from surveys.)

Meanwhile, I'm spending too much time on social media trying to reach, hopefully, a few people and make them realise that we'll be up for deep shit if we get a right-wing dominated Bundestag. And with one eye, I'm looking towards the US in some kind of disbelief (this feels so much like a bad movie, it must be a bad movie, right?) and concern (it's obviously rather easy to deconstruct a democracy once you're in position, and who knows if we're not next in line?).

The weak, those without defenses, the ones easily silenced and erased get taken out of the equation first. And then it spreads. You can see for yourself how that works, just go visit https://orwh.od.nih.gov/career-development-education, the US National Institute of Health's pages for the Office of Research for Women's Health, scroll down, and click either "Women Scientists in Action" or "Local Legends". 

So. For those of you protesting things in the US: Thank you. Please keep going. We do see you, and every protest counts. 

For those of you unsure of what you can do: Connect with others. Go out and join protests. You can find out more, for example, at indivisible.org. If you're in Germany, protests can be found on the pages of demokrateam.org. 

Don't give up on human rights. Don't give up on democracy.