Zurich: Trust Amellal, 4:59 AM Tarmo leaves the blue-lit command centre on autopilot, muttering something to Sandi about “ten minutes.” The corridors outside feel colder, emptier—a different planet from the round-the-clock surveillance inside. He bypasses the kitchenette, shuffles into the locker-room showers, and starts the water scalding hot, as if heat and steam could cleanse…
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“The Geography of Grief”
Once, wherever I laid my head was my home. This October marks twenty years since I moved into this house. Twenty years of watching seasons change through the same windows, of learning neighbours’ names and stories, of putting down roots in what I thought would simply be my address for a short period. What I…
“Why I Write My Lived Adventures”
(and Why I’ll Never Write to Please Expectations) There’s a particular kind of irony in being told how to tell your own story. I’ve spent years as an anthropologist there, an entrepreneur, and a sand sculptor—yes, you read that right; my first real “career” involved earning a living with a gigantic blanket on the beach,…
Column Addendum: Of Ants, Flies, and the Futility of Human Grandeur(A Sardonic Interlude)
“Profound Pests and Philosophical Pretensions.” Picture this: I, the enlightened anthropologist-entrepreneur, engaged in a War and Peace reenactment with six-legged adversaries. After days of diplomatic negotiations (read: bribing ants with sugar trails leading away from my desk after acknowledging the chocolate cake wasn’t very tasty), I resorted to chemical warfare. The fat fly? I attempted…
“Power, Progress & Paradox”
The Assignment That Sparked a Vision It was 1977, and Dutch elections were in full motion. For a school assignment, we were tasked with creating our own political parties. Predictably, most of my classmates drafted manifestos that revolved around abolishing school altogether—a dream of endless play and no homework. Except for Reinier, whose father owned…
“Shinoden, Souls & Crows”
The Alchemy of Offering: Souls, Archetypes, and Ants There’s a peculiar wisdom in watching ants ignore chocolate cake. Yesterday, I found myself doing just that—placing sweet crumbs beside a plant where the industrious little creatures had made their home. It was a small offering, a peace treaty of sorts, to redirect their paths away from…
“Lupin, Kryptonite & Knives”
The Lupin Effect: Finding Balance in an Age of Neurological Overload In an era where images of conflict in Gaza arrive unfiltered on our screens with an immediacy unknown to previous generations, we face a peculiar neurological dilemma. Our primitive brains are overfed while our limbic systems, responsible for complex emotional processing, are increasingly silenced….
Tariffs, Thiazi & Benzaiten
People didn’t lose the ability to link perception and reality. They never had it. From gods hurling thunderbolts to the Dancing Plague to algorithmic feeds, humanity has always been gullible, swapping observation for collective delusion. What’s changed isn’t human nature—it’s the speed and penetration of the myths we’re sold.
“Calculated Chaos: The Curious Case of Connection”
From Nerds to Icons People are strange, prosaic, and chaotic, one might add. They are an ordered chaos of biological systems mixed with spirituality and hoovered over by traumas or vice versa. Yesterday, I mentioned the nerds, and although I have never been into the tech side, I have been a full-blown nerd since memory…
The C.O.M.C. Files 