Category Archives: General

Stuff that really fits nowhere else

Updating birdnet go from nightly build

use docker ps to find name of running container, say it’s “bobby”

docker stop bobby

docker rm boby

docker rmi ghcr.io/tphakala/birdnet-go:nightly

restart birdnet go using your normal command, i. e.

docker run -d -p 8083:8080 –env ALSA_CARD=1 –env TZ=”Europe/Berlin” –device /dev/snd/ -v /mnt/ssd/birdnet_go/config:/config -v /mnt/ssd/birdnet_go/data:/data ghcr.io/tphakala/birdnet-go:nightly

The new container images should get pulled, extracted and run with the latest nightly build.

If there’s an easier way to update only changed containers please comment below.

Greek Meatballs / Κεφτεδες

Ingredients

500g ground beef (18 ounces)
200g ground pork (7 ounces)
1 medium red onion, grated
1 medium clove of garlic, minced
150g stale bread (5 oz.), soaked in water and squeezed to remove the excess water
1 large egg
1 1/2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
1 1/2 tbsp fresh spearmint (chopped) and a pinch dried. Or 3/4 tbsp fresh regular mint
2 tbsps olive oil
1 1/2 tbsps red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
oil for frying
flour for dredging


Source:

https://www.mygreekdish.com/recipe/keftedes-greek-meatballs/

Mercury

Not having seen Mercury for many years I was rather happy to catch the little, sun-grazing inner planet during yesterday’s beautiful sunset.




While the picture doesn’t look like much, if you look closely you can see the little moon-like disk shape of the planet. The picture was taken at around 60x magnification using a Nikon P900 bridge camera.

For comparison, here’s a picture I took of Venus using the the same camera and magnificaton a few weeks earlier:




As you can see, the image is much crisper as the venusian planetary disk appears much larger than Mercury’s (both because Venus is much closer to earth and also considerably larger). The Mercury image was zoomed in using the “GIMP” image processing software on Linux, here’s the picture in its original size:

Dave Purdy passes

The SimRacing community mourns the loss of one of its most gifted figures: On May 15th, Dave Purdy passed away aged 71.  His countless contributions to simracing will be remembered for a long time.

We raise our glasses in remembrance to a man who never shied away from stating his opinions in a very soothing and likeable, yet determined  voice (the only medium that many of us ever got to know him over, sadly)  and who produced a plethora of useful information and genuine content  that helped us improve, enjoy and pursue our passion.

dave_purdy

 

Our thoughts & deepest sympathies are with his family and friends.

You will be missed.

 

Godspeed, Dave.

 

3 Weddings and a great live band

The first wedding of the year has been duly celebrated very much helped by the “Dollies“, a great live band from Osnabrück who really did a stellar job of entertaining us during Robin’s and Linda’s wedding in Kirchlengern yesterday.

IMG_20160501_010637

 

Best wishes to Robin & Linda and thanks for a fantastic party!

 

 

 

Because I could not stop for Death…

erika_friedhof

I guess you know the feeling… what songs to pick for your own funeral and so on while browsing your 50+ GB playlist 😉

 My favourites right now would be “Mr. Blue Sky” by ELO, “Träum vom Meer” by the “Wise Guys”, “Drowned on Dry Land” by Del Amitri, “Morning Aire” by Tommy Emmanuel, “Death and and all his friends” by Coldplay , “The Final Trawl” (both versions by North Sea Gas and Emily Smith) and many many more….  probably too many to fit into a service 😉

One of my all time favourite poems for the occasion is copied below thanks to poets.org by Emily Dickinson. Enjoy!

Because I could not stop for Death

by Emily Dickinson, 18301886

Because I could not stop for Death – 
He kindly stopped for me –  
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –  
And Immortality.

We slowly drove – He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility – 

We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess – in the Ring –  
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –  
We passed the Setting Sun – 

Or rather – He passed us – 
The Dews drew quivering and chill – 
For only Gossamer, my Gown – 
My Tippet – only Tulle – 

We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground – 
The Roof was scarcely visible – 
The Cornice – in the Ground – 

Since then – ‘tis Centuries – and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses’ Heads 
Were toward Eternity –

R.I.P. Kitty

kitty

Today our kitty of 14 years “Krimhild” passed away. All was well when I let her in this morning around 7am, she had some food and then joined us in bed cuddling up on the blanket over the sheets. Shortly after she went downstairs again.

I followed her a few minutes later to get my tea from the kitchen, and then she was still well under the kitchen table until she tried to get up: her entire rear end got limp and she dragged herself along on her front paws only. We took her to the vet about 30 minutes later (once the emergency practise opened at 9:30), and I was fearing the worst already but the doc was quite positive, gave her a few injections against a thrombosis and a painkiller and she said that the next few hours would determine if chances were good for a full recovery. (like the blood clot dissolving or similar)

We took Kitty home again and she seemed more lively than before, meowing in a protesting manner like she usually does when she’s on the way home from the vet, but over the next few hours her condition deteriorated more and more until she passed away, rather peacefully, on her favourite spot on the living room couch at around noon today.

Some warmth had returned to her rear body by then, but apparently she still didn’t feel anything.

We buried her in my dad’s garden in a shady spot under an old beech growing there alongside two other kitties from our neighbours, and fittingly our entire family was present. We drank to her to wish her godspeed to her journey to the beer volcano, and I sprinkled a bit of single malt on her mound to bless her passing.

Godspeed Krimhild, it was nice to have you along watching our kids growing up, being bitten a few times and so on… *sniff*.

kitty_grave

The very last “John Smiths”

I literally snagged up the last can of “John Smiths Extra Smooth” at today’s final Guy Fawkes celebration at the Sportplatz Werrestrasse. The british forces are bound for home next year, and they’ve been part of my life more or less constantly; having grown up opposite the NAAFI here in Herford, it’s weird to not have the folks along from next year on.

last_ever_john_smiths

Thanks for everything you added to our little town and for introducing me to a foreign language at a very early age. You will be missed!