Heute vor zwei Jahren stellte die Vorsitzende Richterin das Strafverfahren gegen den Oligarchen Christian Olearius ein. Verhandelt wurde ein Steuerschaden von knapp 280 Millionen Euro durch Cum-Ex Geschäfte.
Der schwer an Bluthochdruck erkrankte Olearius konnte seitdem nicht nur zwei Mal die Sonne umrunden: Unter Aufbringung seiner letzten Kräfte veranlasste er im Oktober 2024 seine Anwälte, gegen Oberstaatsanwältin Anne Brorhilker Strafanzeige zu stellen. Ebenso gegen einen Kronzeugen der Staatsanwaltschaft.
Ein Lehrer im Saarland unterrichtet offenbar ein Jahr lang nicht. Gleichzeitig arbeitete er für die Rechten im Landtag – und damit für seinen Vater, Josef Dörr, der dort Chef der Fraktion ist.
I love baking yeast braids, and Easter is a great occasion. They smell deliciously while baking, the recipe‘s simple, the dough easy to work with, and I‘m left with a lot of fluffy goodness that makes for a great gift to friends and neighbors.
Braided yesterday evening, the dough sits overnight. I add a coat of almond splits and bake it in the morning. I measure the braid‘s core temperature for reliable results - it‘s perfect at 93 C, I leave it in the oven at 180 C until done.
The best part is the crumb ofc, I like to add milk-soaked raisins that bring sweetness and nice mouthfeel.
I recently dropped the right earbud of my QCY HT05 ANC into the kitchen sink, ending a year and a half of daily use. I bought them as a short-term replacement for my AirPods Pro, €250 worth of Apple-branded plastic that lasted barely past the warranty.
The QCY HT05 ANC cost me €16.55, including shipping from China. I bought them for the price, and for the surprisingly good ANC.
Were the QCY as good as my AirPods? No, of course not. They sound so-so, fine for podcasts, but music sounds lifeless and dull and is only really bearable with ANC enabled all the time. The QCY app is also complete horseshit. But none of that matters when I can buy 15 QCY for the price of one pair of AirPods. They’re insane value for the money, and they changed what I expect to get for my cash when it comes to earbuds.
In another thread, I asked for recommendations for new earphones and, after some investigation, ordered the EarFun Air Pro 4. I found them on sale for €52.79 including shipping, just over three times what I paid for the QCY HT05 ANC. So are they worth it?
Packaging
The EarFun Air Pro 4 arrived in a cardboard box wrapped in plastic. The box felt heavy and well-made.
Inside: a user manual, a quick-start guide, a junk slip of paper with the EarFun logo, a USB-A to USB-C charging cable, five sets of tips, a single plastic-wrapped Q-tip (for cleaning apparently, wtf?), and the plastic-wrapped case with the earbuds inside. That’s a fair bit of junk and unnecessary plastic, but not excessive considering how much waste other Chinese manufacturers ship with their products.
The case feels nice and heavy. The magnets that hold the earbuds in place are snappy, and the whole thing feels sturdy. Way sturdier than the QCY case, which feels a bit flimsy, especially the lid, which is too light.
Fit
I was worried about the fit because I struggled to find good eartips for my 7Hz Zero 2. My ear canals are on the larger side, and the right one is slightly larger than the left. The included tips are excellent: the largest ones fit perfectly and create a seal. They sit comfortably, and I can imagine wearing these for multiple hours without a problem.
ANC and transparency mode
EarFun's ANC isn’t better than the QCY's. They’re about equal. If you forced me to pick a winner, I'd say the QCY is a smidgen better. Both are fine, honestly. Walking alongside a three-lane inner-city street, they block traffic noise well enough. They also cut down nearby conversations, exactly what I want ANC to do.
Transparency mode on the EarFun is quite good, probably comparable to the AirPods Pro 2 I used to own. With it turned on low, I can hold a conversation while listening to music in the background. The QCY transparency mode, on the other hand, is a joke and indistinguishable from normal mode. Again, the QCY only makes sense to me if ANC runs all the time.
Sound
The EarFun sounds really good. They're bass-heavy, but they also work well for death metal without any EQ tweaks. The app is decent and lets you configure EQ settings.
As mentioned, the QCY sounds clearly worse: less bass, dull highs, and no real stereo space. With the EarFun, the soundstage is obvious. I can tell where the producer put each instrument. They make music fun to listen to.
My takeaway
Quality-wise, the EarFun Air Pro 4s are the winner for me. They sound better, transparency mode actually works, and the app is fine. They feel on par with the AirPods Pro 2 I owned a couple of years ago, for a fraction of the price. I would buy them again, they feel like a nice upgrade from the QCY.
And still: if you can get the QCY HT05 ANC for ~€20, that's the winner on value for money.
What the title says, looking for recommendations around €50. I own a pair of QCY HT05 ANC, and the right bud fell in the sink and got water damage yesterday.
I was happy with the QCY‘s ANC and wore them a ton over two years, but the sound quality is nothing to write home about. Maybe there’s something better on the market by now?
My hypothesis about dress watches is that they serve two functions. First, they're jewelry that's socially acceptable for men to wear, even in conservative circles. Second, they project social status to other people who "know watches."
I'm in a position where I want nice jewelry and don't care about much else. New dress watches start at ~€200, such as the Citizen Tsuyosa. However, I like to reduce the amount of new stuff I'm buying, I like the feeling of something with a history, and - if we're honest - I love a bargain. Enter used watches.
What watch to buy
When I started looking for a used watch, I didn't know what to search for. I'd scroll through eBay endlessly without finding much I cared about. What helped me was narrowing in on one brand. In my case, I focused on Junghans, but there are plenty of brands to pick from: Omega, Seiko, Oris, Bulova, Tissot, to name a few. I created search alerts for "Junghans quarz" and "Junghans quartz" and watched the listings for a few days.
And yes, I decided to specifically look for quartz watches. A quartz movement is sturdy and precise, often even after decades without servicing. A mechanical movement, on the other hand, is a huge liability when buying used: a watch that loses or gains a couple of minutes per day is considered normal. I want as little hassle as possible, hence quartz.
My Junghans
I ended up finding a Junghans from the '70s for €60. The crystal has a few scratches, but the case is in great shape, and it's in remarkable condition overall, considering it's half a century old.
The vendor unfortunately inserted an alkaline manganese battery before sending it, and the watch lost an hour over the course of two days. A local watchmaker fixed this and replace the battery with a proper silver-oxide one for 10 bucks.
Looking at it from the front, the dial has a slight yellow stain, which turns into a richer, golden color at higher angles.
Doubling down on the wristband
A note on Hirsch: I was in contact with their customer support and found them rude and unhelpful. For a better customer experience, I recommend other brands, such as Delugs or Withings
The wristband is the secret sauce of wearing a used watch. If you think about it, the band takes up most space on your wrist, yet it's typically orders of magnitudes cheaper than the watch itself. So doubling down on a high-quality wristband is a no-brainer for making a used watch pop.
I went with Hirsch (no affiliation), a company that manufactures their wristbands in Austria. I ordered four different 18mm straps and tried them on.
I went with the Duke because I found the color matched the dial best, and the croco texture of it plays well with the watch's character. It costs €49, almost as much as the used watch, but I guess you can already tell from the picture why it's worth it.
The result
Spending €119 (€60 watch, €49 wristband, €10 watchmaker), I got myself a dress watch that I'm truly proud of. When I wear it, I still surprise myself with how fancy it looks when I catch it out of the corner of my eye.
@[email protected] hat das geilste Wichtelgeschenk rübergeschickt, 3 Chapters. Hab mich mega gefreut, Poolitzer hat sogar noch eins draufgesetzt, und eine Extrakarte dazugepackt. Vielen Dank Poolitzer 🙏
This guide focuses on what's available and sustainable for people in Central European.
Dressing well makes you look good, and three fundamentals matter most: fit, material and composition of your clothes. Fit and material are easy to get right. Developing taste for composition takes time and experience.
Buy Clothes That Fit You
Buying well-fitting clothes is the simplest improvement you can make. Look out for the following:
T-Shirts: The shoulder seam sits on the edge of your shoulder. Sleeves hug your arm without squeezing. The hem lands just below your belt - not halfway down your thighs. If you raise your arms, your belly shouldn't show.
Shirts: The collar should touch your neck without choking. Cuffs should meet your wrist bone. When you lift your arms, your stomach doesn’t show. Your chest feels comfortable, not tightened by your shirt.
Pants: The waistband rests on your hips, not sag below or squeeze your stomach. The seat should hold your shape without pulling - if you need a belt to hold the pants, they're too wide! The thighs have room to move but no billow. The hem should break once on your shoe. If they bunch, they’re too long. If they ride up, too short.
Buy high-quality materials
Choose natural materials like cotton and wool. They last for years without losing shape or feel. Clothes with synthetic fibers will wear out faster and look worse with age.
High-quality fabrics feel solid, often with texture and weight. Synthetics look "flat" and lifeless, they are homogenous. Consider these two coats: A EUR150 Boss coat, 80% wool and 20% polyamide, versus a Canali coat made of 100% wool, ten times the price.
From afar, they look similar. Up close, the Canali coat has much richer depth and texture. Imagine touching the two. Which one feels better, looks better, lasts longer?
The same effect appears outside luxury fashion. At Uniqlo, try the EUR15 Jersey T-Shirt (100% cotton, link). Go to Decathlon across the street and feel the EUR9 Domyos 500 T-Shirt made of 60% cotton and 40% synthetics.
Composition
Putting outfits together that suits your body is an art. The best way to learn is by observation - study people who dress well and copy them. For inspiration:
Kurt Cobain
Lemmy Kilmister
Steve McQueen
Ernest Hemingway
Idris Elba
or follow modern fashion influences whose style you admire.
Rules of thumb:
Wearing one color makes you look larger; mixing colors balances your frame.
Light skin tones work better with muted or cool shares (pastel, burgundy, navy) than with bright and orange or yellow - they end up looking pale. Darker skin tones can wear strong, bright colors beautifully.
Pair wide shirts with wide pants, and slim shirts with slim pants. Break this rule once you know what you're doing, not before.
Where to Buy
You'll find good-quality clothes at a reasonable price here:
Armed Angels - sell pre-owned items directly on their website
Choose quality, be sustainable and save money by buying second hand. Then take care of what you own - read the labels and wash colors separately and at the right temperature. You’ll look good for years without buying often.
Der schwer an Bluthochdruck erkrankte Christian Olearius konnte den Strafprozess gegen ihn am 24.06.2024 leider nicht fortsetzen. In diesem waren 15 Fälle besonders schwerer Steuerhinterziehung zwischen 2006 und Ende 2019 zu klären.
Der liebe notastatist hat in Ägypten gegraben und mir ein göttliches Wichtelgeschenk auf Papyrus gemacht. Im Zentrum ist Königsgemahlin Metertari zu sehen. Hab herzlichen Dank 🙏❤️
