Das Klaus

Gesammelte Werke
26.10.2022

Welcome to Earth!

Adapted from a tumblr post by headspace-hotel

do you know what has been taken?
do you know what has been lost?
let me say, I have been shaken
by what our concrete life has cost

some fireflies light up in blue
and insects come in thousand cloths
of every pattern, every hue
do you know about the moths?

with names like "black-etched prominent"
"small mossy glyph" and "purple fairy"
(I say this as a compliment)
the nomenclature: legendary

the moth that feeds on lichen: do you know it?
or do you know the shimmering blue-green bees?
and if you know a child, can you show it
a rainbow-colored dogbane beetle, please?

your trees and stones should host all sorts of moss
your streams be full of newts and frogs and fishes
that they are not: an unimaginable loss
there's so much life! and much of it delicious!

there's species native to some tiny spot of land
that only here, in this one space they thrive
I want do show you, take you by the hand
say: this exists! it's real! and it's alive!

if you have not been out in nature, then you missed it
much of it you will not find on websites listed
I only know from observation, being interested
each day I see a new plant that I didn't know existed!

I'd name them all - yes, every single one - if just I could
there's trees - obscure, but not that rare - you might have never seen
sourwood, kentucky coffeetree, striped maple, yellowwood
ninebark, rusty blackhaw, or the hophornbeam

you know the purple coneflower, the prairie blazing star
yet there are countless others just as nice, but of less fame
it's hard to overstate just oh, how many plants there are
for which what's now suburbian waste is from where they came

you'll never know what's native to the place you call your home
because our homes (comparatively) are so barren, razed and dead
and there we have no reason to suspect that when we roam
ten thousand wondrous living things are everywhere instead

it's like a fish that all its life has lived inside a bucket
imagine the expanse of ocean: it can not, not ever
the insects in your field guide: they are just a fraction! tuck it
away and go, experience them all, out in the weather!

more things are real than any single person can imagine
the world's with critters, mushrooms, beetles, grasses rife
tread carefully! treat it with kindness and compassion
welcome to earth! it's beautiful! it's full of life!
11.01.2021

Jahresrückblick in Spenden / A Year in Donations

(english below)

Ein Kalenderjahr ist vergangen, ein Lebensjahr ist vergangen, man kann ja mal zurückblicken.
Ich habe im letzten Jahr 600$, 50£ und 378€ für diverse Zwecke gespendet.

Seit ich genug Einnahmen dafür habe, versuche ich, regelmäßig und sinnvoll zu spenden. Als Faustregel gilt: wenn ich mir größere und nicht notwendige Anschaffungen leisten kann, dann kann ich mir auch leisten, eine ebensogroße Summe in die Verbesserung der Welt zu investieren. Und wenn ich schon die Welt verbessern will, sollte ich das so effizient wie möglich tun.

Nun hab ich persönliche Präferenzen (zum Beispiel politischen Ursprungs) und ineffiziente Impulse - das kommt vor. Wenigstens die Hälfte meiner Spenden versuche ich aber an GiveWell zu geben, die es sich zur Aufgabe gemacht haben, Geld evidenzbasiert dorthin zu verteilen, wo es am meisten nützt, auch wenn das nicht so cool oder emotional attraktiv ist wie Kultur und Kinderkrankenhäuser.

Ich hoffe, das mag den einen oder anderen motivieren, den einen oder anderen Obulus zu geben, und zu reflektieren, wo dieser am Sinnvollsten aufgehoben ist. Vorschläge für Impulsspenden für das nächste Jahr nehme ich gern entgegen.

Im Folgenden meine Auflistung meiner Spenden im letzten Jahr:

450$ GiveWell: Maximum Impact Fund
50$ GiveWell: GiveDirectly
50$ GiveWell: administrative costs
50$ Snopes: Faktenchecks (fact checks)
50€ Zoo Rostock: Tierpatenschaft für einen Katta (animal sponsorship for a ring-tailed lemur)
50$ Organization for Transformative Works
50€ atmosfair: offsetting 2170kg CO₂
72€ IWW: Mitgliedschaft (membership)
60€ Sea-Watch: Fördermitgliedschaft (supporting membership)
46€ São Tomé Animal Health Center
50€ Rostock hilft (refugee aid)
50€ Correctiv (journalism)
50£ Abortion Support Network


---- English ----

A year in donations

A calender year is over, I am one year older; time for a review.
I donated 600$, 50£ and 378€ for various causes, listed above.

Since I have enough income, I try to donate regularly and sensibly. As a rule of thumb: If I can afford to make big and non-essential purchases, I can afford to donate the same amount to charity. And when I donate to charity, I should do so as efficiently as possible.

Now, I have pet issues, personal preferences (e.g. of the political kind) and inefficient impulses – it happens. But at least half of what I donate I try to give to GiveWell, who made it their goal to distribute money evidence-based to those charities where it does the most good, even if that is not as cool or emotionally attractive as arts and child hospitals.

I hope this motivates some to spare some coins, and to reflect where those could be of most use. I am also taking suggestions for donations for the next year.
08.05.2020

To Whom It May Concern

Dear Madam/Sir, neighborly techno-connoisseur
on behalf of the insomnia that I incur:

I want for little, and of that less yet from you
but my repose is threatened by that thing you do
I keep odd hours, you should know,
and when I rest - then there you go:
the bangs and booms and thuds and thumps and such
- not loud, nor late, nor constant, just: too much
obnoxiously, pervasive, monotone
I wish I had a megaphone

I'd roar my dirge into the walls, into the street
a sigh, a cry, a howl, a caterwaul per beat
it might become - as duet - music yet
it might not. You might take me to abet
the noise, the bass that numbs the brain
unts, unts, unts, unts - drives me insane
can't sleep, can't think, can't persevere
aren't you aware neighbours can hear?

night time, admittedly, you (mostly) do respect
but better music does exist, last time I checked
is it not dull, if every single song
has just three notes: ding, dang and dong
and every track repeats forever and then some
is that not - pardon me - completely fucking dumb?
Best wishes, and I'm begging on my knees:
will you play some metal, pretty please?

(translation from German)
29.11.2019

These vile rites of doubt

wherever there is reason, there is reasonable doubt
if that which had been reasoned has been well thought out
so that, where these ideas are growing, only those will sprout
that serve their own conceiver's epistemic clout

doubt casts its judgement on the pond'rous plants of mind
so that those it finds wanting may be left behind
their threads unravelling to form the wond'rous, other kind
from weeds to grow what doubt to spare yet is inclined

and yet, this habit may not tend the garden well
if, overeager, it begins ideas of hope to quell
"Good things exist." "It will get better." - to the trial!

the lies of healthy minds might fall under its spell
lies keep us sane. without, we don't fare well
"Do I deserve this?" "Am I good?" - this doubt is vile!
28.03.2019

I have a dog

I have a dog
his name is chuck
he licks his bowl
but out of luck
looks sadly through
cataract fog
so I relent
I walk the dog

I walk the dog
I go outside
I go by day
I go by night
he eats his poo
he eats my sock
but still I go
and walk the dog

The dog is old
a broken thing
he makes me wish
his neck to wring
he stumbles over
every rock
but still I go
and walk the dog

The dog is deaf
and listens not
not when I call
nor fill his pot
I find it makes
him fun to mock
he only knows
I walk the dog

The dog is lame
his balance nil
his legs unsteady
when standing still
he cannot jump
he cannot jog
but walk he can
I walk the dog


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