FridayNightListeners - October 2023

Friday, October 6: Wet Wet Wet - With A Little Help From My Friends

Friday, October 13: John Lennon - Imagine

Friday, October 20: Dugri - Let's talk straight

Friday, September 27: Neffa - Cambierà

Dear #FridayNightListeners,

Welcome to the review of the?four FridayNightListeners?posts released during last month, October 2023.

This newsletter is actually always published on the first Thursday of the month. But not this time - perhaps some of you have missed it, at least noticed? ;-)

The reason: I was ill. Simple as that. A super infection with viruses and bacteria plus pneumonia literally knocked me out for a few weeks; still not at 100%. Hence the delay with the October newsletter. As a consequence, I thought I'd publish it on a Sunday morning instead. Perhaps it's a better time in any case, considering the content than in the morning of what is usually a busy working day. Thoughts?

Enjoy the review !

Friday, October 6:

In this post I wrote about our damp problem in the cellar. Due to the sickness mentioned within the intro, we are of course not finished yet, so it will still take some time until all the mould stains have been removed. But there are now a few hygrometers of various types in the cellar to actively manage the humidity. And I have now learnt a lot (I missed physics at school at the time, to my excuse!!! ;-) ) about absolute and relative values, the dew point and also about correct ventilation, especially in the cellar, and in particular during the summer season. I've recognised, that I'm not alone - a widespread misconception turns the basements of many houses into real wetlands. The cause: misconceptions about correct ventilation. Not infrequently, even house rules dictate how the cellar should be ventilated, but unfortunately this is wrong: the rule is to leave the windows open in warm weather and keep them closed on cold days and especially in winter. This sounds plausible at first, but it leads to precisely the undesirable effects of excessive moisture and mould growth. Correct ventilation is actually quite simple, you just have to change your mindset! Therefore, here are three rules for correct ventilation in the cellar:

- Always ventilate only briefly: Even and especially in summer, do not leave the cellar windows open for long or constantly; better in the morning or evening when it is not yet or no longer so hot.

- Do not ventilate at all on hot and/or humid days.

- Ventilate (briefly) in winter too, especially on dry and cold days

Just respect these recommendations and it should no longer be "wet wet wet". If still too wet and the source is not based on dilapidations, you may think about a dehumidifier. In any case, if you have a problem and feeling "alone", I hope you can solve it, maybe like me: With a little help from my friends.

Friday, October 13:

I admit it: this post or rather the text was out of embarrassment. Actually, "Neffa" with "Cambierà" was planned for that day and was already auto-scheduled; I had already phrased the post two weeks ago. But in view of the events in Israel on 7 October, the text no longer fitted. However - at the time I was in bed with high fever and didn't have the energy to think about an adjusted wording. But I remembered John Lennon's "Imagine" and thought, "Well, just copy the lyrics and that's it for the week, the other one can be done later". In retrospect - and this was also shown by some of the feedback - it was maybe exactly the best approach for this week. Any more words would probably have been too much at this point.

What I didn't know at the time was that "Now And Then" was released just a few days later, on 2 November. After John Lennon's murder in December 1980, his widow Yoko Ono - who, by the way, has been listed as a co-author of "Imagine" since 2017 - gave the remaining band members a demo recording of the song "Now And Then" on a cassette. The song was written and sung by Lennon; McCartney, Harrison and Starr then recorded further parts. At the time, it was not technically possible to bring out Lennon's voice. However, thanks to technical progress and the use of AI, this has now been achieved. Personally, this way to do it is not my cup of tea for some reasons. But that's another story. I wonder what John Lennon would say if you told him: Imagine...?

Friday, October 20:

In the past, I really haven't paid enough attention to Israel and the Middle East conflict. Perhaps because it is "too far away", "none of my business" or it is simply too complex. Perhaps all of the above. I probably have to admit to myself that I have simply been too ignorant here. For example, I didn't realise that around 20% of Israel's inhabitants are of Islamic faith. Living together probably worked well in the past, although I don't think it's my place to judge whether it really was/is living "together" - or whether people are living in separate worlds after all. But what is the current situation? It doesn't take too much imagination to understand that after the terror of Hamas and Israel's reaction, the coexistence of Jews and Muslims - and also Christians - is facing a major test - not only in Israel, but also in all other countries in which these groups live together, i.e. also in Europe and the US.

I find it so difficult to imagine what a solution could look like. What do you think? By the way: Here is a short interview with Dugri from early November on WDR (audio file translated into German) - Let's talk straight!

Friday, October 27:

Many people are afraid of the future. And that applies to all generations. Many elderly are less worried about themselves, but are concerned about their children and grandchildren. The middle-aged group is sometimes afraid of loss and decline, while younger people are often afraid of the future in general. What we have been observing for some time is historically new: until now, we were used to one crisis succeeding the next, or only a few crises occurring in parallel. Each decade had its own crisis, so to speak. Now the crises no longer follow one after the other, but take place simultaneously. I listed them in the post. Actually it is just one polycrisis. Nobody can say whether people's fear is justified - but it is understandable in any case. After all, there is no one who can reliably say which direction social, political and economic developments will take. There is uncertainty among the population; people are - at least they feel - left to their own devices and have to see how they can cope.

The Swiss architect and writer Max Frisch once said: "A crisis can be a productive state. You just have to take away the flavour of a catastrophe." Anyone who thinks about crises, their causes and consequences is already on the way solving the difficult situation. It is no coincidence that the word "crisis" is made up of two characters in Chinese: The first character means "danger" and the second also has the meaning "opportunity", among other things. Either way, things will change: Cambierà!

As always: Thank you for listening and engaging during October! The next #FridayNightListeners post is planned for Friday, November 17, 5pm (CET) - stay tuned!

P.S.1 The #FridayNightListeners archive

P.S.2 The #FridayNightListeners Newsletter

P.S.3 The #FridayNightListeners playlist on spotify