harlekins spirit

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier – Spy

Some of our contributions now have the character of a series, because after the first contribution the same phenomenon suddenly appears everywhere. Most people will recognise this when buying a car or clothes. You’ve just decided on a “beautiful rarity” and you then come cross it on every other street corner – at least that’s how it seems. In reality, you have only become more sensitive to this specific perception. This is what happened to me recently, after buying an older house, with which I unexpectedly came across – or rather was thrust into – the trappings of an extinct profession.

The fairy tale of predictability

Once upon a time there was a great king who had ruled his country for many years. He also had a beautiful daughter, who grew up with frogs and dwarves, but that is completely irrelevant to this story.

The king had learned to protect his kingdom successfully against invaders and raids and had fought many a battle. He had a big, strong army, so nobody dared to attack; there was peace in his country for a long time.

The “right” hobbies

Yesterday I read an article on XING with the title “Golf, sailing, horseback riding – these hobbies will get you a job interview”. As I read on, I was relieved to discover that the author, Sandra Zemke – a recruiter, by no means recommended that you should list one of these three hobbies on all your future job applications. On the contrary, she advised “that for a fair, diverse and high-quality applicant selection, these characteristics – which are not relevant for job success – should be eliminated as far as possible.”

Nevertheless, my imagination immediately ran away with me. I pictured claiming misleadingly in my application that one of my hobbies was playing golf, sailing or horseback riding. At the subsequent job interview, an enthusiastic golfing, sailing or riding manager would actually be sitting opposite me.

Chat GPT

Efficient tool or the end of independent thinking?

You must have been offline and probably off in deepest space not to have noticed all the fuss about Chat GPT lately. The possibilities, limitations, risks and side effects of the chatbot are currently being covered in all media. The interest in the website is now so great that access is not possible for hours. Although we at Harlekin.blog don’t see ourselves as trend followers, we thought it was time to react to all the hype about AI and try out the chatbot ourselves.

The whistle

A friend called me recently. I was just coming from the hospital from a check-up (don’t worry, nothing bad) and he caught me on the way to the parking lot. Now my car isn’t brand new, but it’s not old either, so it has a Bluetooth interface, which allows phone calls while I’m driving – especially since the whole thing works with voice control. When the ignition is turned on, the phone automatically connects to the hands-free system and the call can continue.

Fitness in the office

The trend toward exercise and wellness continues unabated – and I think it’s highly commendable. The saying “Sitting is the new smoking” fits this trend well – and is leading more and more companies to encourage their staff to do fitness and wellness exercises during working hours. There are numerous instructional videos on LinkedIn and YouTube, and at my company, one colleague took it upon herself to regularly provide us with new exercises “for in between.”

Risk management for urinals

After my first article for the Harlequin was about a rather neglected topic, i.e. toilet seats, it is time to look again at something somewhat neglected by the public: the urinal. Although not all readers can boast of personal experience in this context, the topic seems at least comprehensible to inexperienced third parties.

Lifelong learning

On the topicality of “old hat”

“At one time or another, everyone is faced with the question
whether to drive themselves or to be driven.”
(Nicolas Born: Selbstverantwortung (Self-Responsibility))

Once again, a contribution of mine revolves around the topic of learning. This time: lifelong learning. “Old hat” that could not be more topical. As early as 1792, Marquis de Condorcet pleaded for an “éducation permanente” in his project for the reformation of the education system. UNESCO resurrected this idea of lifelong learning in 1962 and since the 1990s it has been increasingly and emphatically imposed on our consciousness by the OECD, the European Commission, also our government and national institutions. And fittingly, Ursula von der Leyen recently proclaimed the coming year the “Year of Skills”.

Birds in Art

The more I look at the painting, the more my gaze wanders from the face of the old, shabby-looking woman to the owl at her shoulder. The owl here stands for drunkenness and bad, vulgar behaviour. In the 18th century there was the expression “as drunk as an owl”. The picture hangs in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, which was painted by Frans Hals in 1630 is called Malle Babbe¹^{, 2}. Owls are also considered wise because of their sharpened senses and night vision abilities, which already fascinated the ancient Greeks. The owl was the companion animal of the goddess Athena, the patron goddess of Athens and the goddess of wisdom.

Baking in the tropics

When I was working in Laos as a voluntary teacher with the British Voluntary Service Overseas (similar to the US Peace Corps), I had the bright idea of treating a number of friends to a British Christmas dinner. I lived in a town on the Mekong, miles away from the nearest Sainsbury’s, so I pondered how to source my ingredients. Fortunately, the British Embassy was a mere few hundred miles away where occasional treats like Chivas Regal for next to nothing (duty free) were available.