Category: Blog

A backup for humanity

Why we need to go to space

When I had my first PC in the 90ies I was into making music for a while. I had a software where I could arrange samples (little snippets of audio) into tracks. Over a short time I gathered hundreds of samples from tracks I came across and liked. Out of these I composed over a dozen songs – it was supposed to be my first album. Then the disaster happened: my hard drive failed. The data on it was not readable anymore.

Back then hard drives were very expensive. You would have had only one in your computer most likely. Everything is stored on that one drive. Same for backup-solutions: they were very expensive. You might have had a ZIP drive or even more primitive forms of storing large amount of data. But this was almost exclusively used in companies who could not afford to lose it’s data. Even today having a backup data outside a company is rare. The problem slowly disappears today with everything moving to the cloud. But remember, we talk about the 90ies.

Let’s rewind back to 1996

I did not have a backup back then. Hours and hours of my labour of love was just gone! Friends tried to help me; they hooked up my disk to their computer to see what’s still readable. They even ran some tools trying to recover bits that got lost. But there wasn’t a lot that could be done. I lost most my files and almost all my samples. All that was left was maybe a hundred samples and a handful of songs.

Lessons learned

Duplicate what’s valuable and store it somewhere else. That’s how it works everywhere nowadays, not only in IT: everything of importance is duplicated or has a failover.

Backup for humanity

We need a backup plan for humanity. We need a failover if something goes wrong with our current population. What could go wrong? How to create a backup of mankind? 

The fridge is empty, let’s go out

How eating out differs from place to place

When I open the fridge in our home I can count the items on two hands, sometimes on one hand. It’s rather minimal and only often contains only the bare essentials. But it was different less than a year ago when we lived in another country. Back then the refrigerator was much fuller. That means more meals were cooked at home.

We trace it back to different lifestyles and how affordable food is, or rather, how affordable dining out is: 

  • In some places eating out is very affordable.
  • For some it’s a cultural thing.
  • Or you can get ready-made food delivered to your door (we even found very health options).
  • In other places going out is a luxury.
  • And in some places it was affordable once it is less affordable nowadays.

There are obviously big differences between these places. But also differences in how far your money goes — depending on where you live or when you live. 

The awkwardness of visiting the hairdresser

How to make a haircut even more awkward

Do you enjoy going to the hairdresser (or barber)? Do you like waiting and pretending to browse outdated magazines that you never would have bought for yourself? And once it’s your turn, how much do you appreciate the small talk while someone is ripping dead cells from your head?

I don’t. Nothing of that is enjoyable. Especially not the part where the strands of dead genetic material (short hair) finds it’s way to the cracks and irritates your skin for the rest of the day (unless you take a mid-day shower). 

Over the years I maybe had half a dozen or so genuinely nice conversations with the staff. It’s partly my fault as I’m sometimes not long enough in one place to have the same hairdresser every time. 

But recently it got more awkward

The local barbers, after they do the usual cutting off the hair, will place towels on your head and neck. Then they give you a neck massage. And wipe all over your face several times. They even invade your ears in an attempt to remove all the small hair that ended up there.

?

But I have an idea how to fix it – for good: I will get a hair clipper, set it to 2 millimetres and cut everything myself next time. This way I’ll avoid that invasion of private space.

?

Give that man a ladder

How small things can leave a big impression

We’re in a restaurant waiting for our lunch. The space has a nice front with lots of windows, from ground to the ceiling. It lets in a lot of daylight. I notice a member of staff cleaning the front doors made from glass, also reaching from floor almost to the ceiling. He stretches to reach as high as he can but he doesn’t make it all the way to the top. Even with sponge and window wiper there is at least ten percent left uncleaned at top.  What customers can see from inside the restaurant is a front door that is 90% squeaky clean and 10% not-so-see-through. That’s the door all guests enter and leave through.  

What shall I think about that as a customer, what impression does it leave on me and others?  

  • The member of staff did not notice?
  • He might have noticed but decided to ignore it?
  • Did no one teach him how to clean it properly?
  • Did no other member of staff noticed it either?
  • Someone noticed and didn’t care to tell him or do something about it?
  • Do they have a ladder?
  • They have a ladder and don’t care enough to use it?

Now, how does it reflect on the rest of the team and the restaurant itself? Do they clean the dishes the same way as they clean the windows, not caring about the 10% left dirty? How about the kitchen, do they clean that only 90% too?  

But it’s so easy to fix

  • Use the right equipment.
  • Learn how to use it or train someone.
  • Do things properly or it will come back to haunt you
More Business & Entrepreneur Posts

(simulated) Mission to Mars

  • Life on Mars. Sort of.
  • The true story of six volunteers picked to live on a fake planet.
  • This is a short review for the podcast series The Habitat by Gimlet Media

Show intro

On a remote mountain in Hawaii, there’s a fake planet Mars. Six volunteers are secluded in an imitation Mars habitat where they will work as imitation astronauts for one very real year. The goal: to help NASA understand what life might be like on the red planet—and plan for the day when the dress rehearsals are over, and we blast off for real. Host Lynn Levy has been chronicling this experiment from the moment the crew set foot in their habitat, communicating with them through audio diaries that detail their discoveries, their frustrations, and their evolving and devolving relationships with each other. From those diaries, Gimlet Media has crafted an addictive serialized documentary: the true story of a fake planet.

My opinion

The journalist handed over a recorder to the crew before they started the experiment and were locked away for a year. She gets to ask them questions and then they send the recordings back to her. They talk about the live on Mars, the live in the habitat. And the little things. Such as their rooms. And they talk about what they do. And about what they can’t do.
It’s very nice to get to know the crew members in this loose interview style. They get to talk about what they want and how they want. This way you get to know their personalities but more importantly, how things are playing out in there on this simulated Mars ?

What I Like about it

  • It’s about space! Kind of… it gives you an idea of how it could be
  • Very “snack-able” episodes, most of them are less than 30 min
  • Makes me dream about how it could be

Check it out The Habitat by Gimlet Media