Recent content on Victor Kropp
Every year I’m looking forward to the KotlinConf , my favorite conference. And this one was very special for me, as it took place in Munich, my hometown. The first surprise awaited on the highway approaching the convention center. The roadsigns shown the directions to the conference! Roadsign on the highway A94 The conference started for me on Wednesday with the workshop. It was an updated version…
I’ve just experienced the power of Brandolini’s Law on myself. It is an anecdotal observation which states that the amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than that needed to produce it. What happened? Back in 2021–2022, I was co-hosting and producing a podcast . I purchased some fitting background music before we started and have been using it in every episode.…
Earthset captured from the Orion spacecraft When wild and crazy things happening every day on Earth, it is even more incredible to see humans flying into space and successfully getting back. The true celebration of science and hard work. It gives me hope in humanity. NASA shared this and other amazing photos in the gallery and I can also recommend a video with insightful comments about all these…
Today is the CSS Naked Day , a day dedicated to showcasing the raw, unstyled version of websites. You can do crazy things with CSS nowadays, and it’s even more exciting to see what you can do without it. I haven’t checked what my homepage will look like without CSS yet, so I’m as curious as you. Update 12 Apr 2026 All in all, the site was 100% accessible, except I forgot to set…
On February 1, 2011, I acquired kropp.name . According to the whois data, it’s been registered 10 years before, but unused. Since then, it’s been my personal homepage and my Internet identity. I don’t have any screenshots of old pages, and the Git history dates back to April 2012. So the first few years are lost to time. But thanks to the wonderful Wayback Machine I could still…
I wrote my first program in Basic on a Macintosh Classic or some of its successors someday in 1998. I almost haven’t used Apple products after that, until 2020, when they announced Apple Silicon. Since then, I’m fully converted to the ecosystem. Yes, they have a lot of things to improve, but modern Macs are the best computers I’ve ever used, and iPhones are the best phones…
Today is the last Sunday of March, which means that Daylight Saving Time starts again in Europe. Despite the fact that 84% of Europeans were ready to say goodbye to the Summertime many years ago, and that EU Council in 2019 has drafted a proposal to abolish the switch starting from 2021, it is still observed. Once again, it shows how incapable EU State Members are, when they need to agree on…
Easter school holidays have just begun in Bavaria and it means that Legoland starts in the new season. Our annual passes are still valid, because the previous Easter was pretty late, and we just could not let them expire without taking the last opportunity to have some fun. One of the attractions we visit every time is the LEGO Factory. You get a collectible brick at the entrance, watch a short…
Shortly after I published my previous post about my homelab , it suddenly died. I performed various diagnostics, and it appeared that the problem was caused by a faulty power supply. (It was sold as a bundle, so don’t blame me.) The voltage was noisy and damaged the board capacitors. The board was booting, but as soon as it started any serious workload, it would crash. And by serious…
I watched the movie yesterday in the theater, and it was a blast. So wanted to share some thoughts about it, but first, we need to talk about Andy Weir ’s first book. The Martian I swallowed the book in just a few evenings. It was a thrilling read that kept me engaged from start to finish. It is a must-read for anyone who loves science fiction. Fun fact: that was the first book I bought on…