RSS Parrot

BETA

🦜 Nils Pickerts Homepage - English - Nils Pickerts Homepage - English

@nils.mipi.de@rss-parrot.net

I'm an automated parrot! I relay a website's RSS feed to the Fediverse. Every time a new post appears in the feed, I toot about it. Follow me to get all new posts in your Mastodon timeline! Brought to you by the RSS Parrot.

---

Nils Pickerts persönliche Homepage - der Physiker, nicht der Journalist

Your feed and you don't want it here? Just e-mail the birb.

Site URL: nils.mipi.de

Feed URL: nils.mipi.de/index.xml

Posts: 86

Followers: 5

RSS to Mastodon Test

https://nils.mipi.de/2025/09/rss-to-mastodon-test/

Published: September 14, 2025 10:13

This is a test post if the RSS feed and the RSS Parrot for Mastodon work… If it works, you can follow this blog on Mastodon via @nils.mipi.de@rss-parrot.net

Blogging again…

https://nils.mipi.de/2025/09/blogging-again/

Published: September 9, 2025 10:13

I have been off work with burnout symptoms. Getting some distance from the daily madness made me think a lot of what I want to achieve in live, what I want from work, and what could I change to not run into a burnout again. I haven’t found a conclusion…

Erlebnis Modellbahn - Dresden

https://nils.mipi.de/2024/02/erlebnis-modellbahn-dresden/

Published: February 10, 2024 10:13

It’s becoming something like a tradition to visit the “Erlebnis Modellbahn” model railway fair in Dresden at the beginning of February. The show is one of the biggest ones organized by a local model railway club.

Schaerbeek

https://nils.mipi.de/2024/02/schaerbeek/

Published: February 4, 2024 10:13

In the north of Bruxelles the railway museum of Schaerbeek is located. The museum is situated in an old train station with beautiful architecture, extended by a modern hall which contains the largest part of the train collections.

Bruxelles

https://nils.mipi.de/2024/02/bruxelles/

Published: February 3, 2024 10:13

This year I was at FOSDEM for the first time. From the event I do not have any pictures, but from the sightseeing walk which I did in the afternoon and early evening.

SVT

https://nils.mipi.de/2022/01/svt/

Published: January 29, 2022 10:13

January 2022 I was able to participate in the transfer of a “Flying Train” of the “Köln” class from Munich to Delitzsch. This flying train is in the ownership of the “Förderverein Schnelltriebwagen e.V.” and will be brought back to operating conditions in…

Special Train

https://nils.mipi.de/2021/10/special-train/

Published: October 30, 2021 10:13

A couple of days ago I worked as train guard on a special train for the Dampfbahn Fränkische Schweiz. As our passengers walked part of the line, I had the train completely for myself as a private photo train between Muggendorf and Behringersmühle. We could…

Deutsches Dampflok Museum

https://nils.mipi.de/2021/06/deutsches-dampflok-museum/

Published: June 22, 2021 18:13

Last weekend the Coronoa situation allowed to visit the german steam train museum in Neuenmarkt. Neuenmarkt itself is located at the lower end of the “Schiefe Ebene”, a steep incline on the railway line to Hof and further on to Thuringia.

Arashiyama

https://nils.mipi.de/2018/10/arashiyama/

Published: October 5, 2018 15:20

In the north west of Kyoto you find the area of Arashiyama. We went there to visit two sightseeing highlights, one is the Tenryu-ji temple, which is world cultural heritage, the second the impressive bamboo grove which surrounds the temple.

Market in Kyoto

https://nils.mipi.de/2018/09/market-in-kyoto/

Published: September 9, 2018 16:39

Markets are always fascinating places, especially far from home. There is an amazing roofed market in Kyoto, which is not completely overrun with tourists and where you can see normal people and sample the excellent food.

Morning Walk in Kyoto

https://nils.mipi.de/2018/09/morning-walk-in-kyoto/

Published: September 8, 2018 21:51

The second day in Kyoto I woke up a bit earlier and went for a little morning walk. Close to the hotel was a nice neighbourhood temple, where some elderly people where doing gymnastics, lead by a monk and the radio programme.

Kyoto day 1

https://nils.mipi.de/2018/07/kyoto-day-1/

Published: July 22, 2018 21:51

Kyoto is the traditional Japan. While in Tokyo you feel like in a Megalopolis out of a bladerunner movie, Kyoto is somewhat the opposite: lots of temples, traditional houses, more people in Kimonos than in business attire.

Gammelstad

https://nils.mipi.de/2018/07/gammelstad/

Published: July 7, 2018 21:51

The last day in Sweden. Heading back to LuleĂĄ Station to catch the train back to Stockholm, where our plane back was waiting. On the way, we stopped in Gammelstad, the old church village of LuleĂĄ.

Sightseeing in Norrbotten

https://nils.mipi.de/2018/07/sightseeing-in-norrbotten/

Published: July 7, 2018 21:51

On the last full day in the north, we did a little sightseeing tour: the church in Piteå, Öjebyn (the old town of Piteå) and some driving around the countryside around Svensbyfjärden.

KNUTH80

https://nils.mipi.de/2018/06/knuth80/

Published: June 25, 2018 21:51

We went to sweden for a reason: the 80th birthday of Donald Knuth, the inventor of TeX and overall genius in computer programming.

Vasa

https://nils.mipi.de/2018/02/vasa/

Published: February 17, 2018 22:51

Day three in Sweden brought us to the Vasa museum. The Vasa was the biggest ship of the swedish marine, built to impress and to dominate the baltic sea during the 30 years war.

Skansen

https://nils.mipi.de/2018/01/skansen/

Published: January 29, 2018 22:51

On the island of DjurgĂĄrden in Stockholm lies the worlds oldest open-air museum, founded in 1891. It shows typical houses, dwellings, churches etc. from over five centuries, including museum employees in period correct clothing inside.

Stockholm

https://nils.mipi.de/2018/01/stockholm/

Published: January 29, 2018 22:51

At the beginning of January I went on a polar expedition with a group of my friends – at least that is what a trip to swedish lappland in winter feels like. First stop on the voyage: Stockholm.

Takayama

https://nils.mipi.de/2017/07/takayama/

Published: July 9, 2017 12:45

Takayama is a small town at the start of the japanese Alps. It’s a very traditional town, with a historic center and lots of ancient (or at least ancient looking) buildings.

Akihabara at Night

https://nils.mipi.de/2017/03/akihabara-at-night/

Published: March 18, 2017 16:26

As a nerd, Akihabara is one of the places on the must-see list when in Tokyo. Akihabara is the electric town – hundreds of shops with video games, electronics, flashing lights everywhere, maid cafés, otaku culture, manga shops, …

Gil Eannes

https://nils.mipi.de/2017/02/gil-eannes/

Published: February 4, 2017 17:47

Since the times of D. Dinis, one of the main ingredients of the portuguese cuisine is Bacalhau, dried and salted codfish. Till the 19th century, most of the bacalhau was imported.

Se do Porto

https://nils.mipi.de/2016/11/se-do-porto/

Published: November 11, 2016 18:06

High above the Douro, in the centre of medieval Porto, raises the cathedral, reminescent of a castle. Approaching from the narrow streets of the old city, you fist see her towers raising above the ramp to the place in front of the cathedral.

Arbeiterviertel in Porto

https://nils.mipi.de/2016/09/arbeiterviertel-in-porto/

Published: September 18, 2016 18:06

While Lisbon is generally treated as the city of government and arts, Porto has always been a working class city, an industrial city. In many quarters you therefore won’t find represantative buildings, but the flats and houses of the working part of the…

A love story to lose your head

https://nils.mipi.de/2016/07/a-love-story-to-lose-your-head/

Published: July 25, 2016 11:34

Dona Henriqᵫta Emília da Conceição startet her life in poverty. After her father had left the family alone, she became an orphan with seven, when her mother died. She was raised by an aunt of her and started working at a very young age. When turning 16,…

Forchheim

https://nils.mipi.de/2016/05/forchheim/

Published: May 6, 2016 11:34

I wanted to go there in years, but never managed to actually do it, despite it is in the city where I work: the Kaiserpfalz-Museum in Forchheim. The Museum houses the archeological collection of the region plus a section on the history of Forchheim in…

Diving at the Azores

https://nils.mipi.de/2016/04/diving-at-the-azores/

Published: April 17, 2016 11:34

Long time no post… I am slowly catching up with postprocessing photos, so hopefully I am finished with last years vacation pictures before this years vacation. Last year I spent some days with Nuno, Mariana and the kids in Horta on the island of Faial,…

Algarve

https://nils.mipi.de/2016/02/algarve/

Published: February 7, 2016 11:34

Catching up with last years photos… Here some pictures from a few days in the algarve, where I did a few dives at the Ocean Revival Project.

Israel again

https://nils.mipi.de/2016/02/israel-again/

Published: February 6, 2016 11:34

The nice thing about my job is that they leave me out of the office once in a while to visit partner companies somewhere in the world. Last year I could go to Israel again for a few days. As usual, there is not a lot of time for sight-seeing on business…

Diving in Egypt

https://nils.mipi.de/2015/08/diving-in-egypt/

Published: August 1, 2015 11:34

Finally I managed to catch up with some photos from January. With a couple of friends I went diving in Coral Garden, south of Safaga in Egypt. It was my first time in Egypt, first time diving in the Red Sea.

Echinger Weiher

https://nils.mipi.de/2015/07/echinger-weiher/

Published: July 24, 2015 11:34

Echinger Weiher is a small lake near Munich. It was created when the Autobahn was constructed and is filled with water from some springs. The water is relatively clear (for german lake standards) and has about 12 degrees all year round.

Solar Eclipse 2015

https://nils.mipi.de/2015/03/solar-eclipse-2015/

Published: March 21, 2015 11:34

On March 20th a partial solar eclipse was visible in europe. Here are some pictures taken in Erlangen with a Meade ETX-90 Telescope and a Fuji X-E1 camera.

Diving in Croatia 2014

https://nils.mipi.de/2014/08/diving-in-croatia-2014/

Published: August 3, 2014 11:34

Another dive trip to Croatia, big fun again. I finished my 100th dive, tried side mount diving and enjoyed Jasna’s cooking skills. Nothing more to say…

Darkroom-Timer

https://nils.mipi.de/2014/07/darkroom-timer/

Published: July 20, 2014 14:32

I got my darkroom up again… So far I controlled the exposure by counting „one elephant, two elephants, three elephants…“. This is not really exact and so the quality of my prints varied quite a bit. To remedy this I started building my own darkroom timer.

Israel

https://nils.mipi.de/2014/06/israel/

Published: June 21, 2014 21:51

Last year and this year I had the pleasure to do some business trips to Israel. Although as usual on business trips I did not have too much time to see things, I managed to get a short glimpse on Israel and now know that I need to visit the country for…

Focal Length and Depth of Field

https://nils.mipi.de/2014/05/focal-length-and-depth-of-field/

Published: May 7, 2014 14:32

You have probably been confused by discussions on the web about crop factors, full frame versus APS-C versus medium format and why the pros use full format while crop factors are for wimps.

Location Scouting

https://nils.mipi.de/2014/03/location-scouting/

Published: March 3, 2014 15:20

I would like to do an outdoor model shooting some time in spring but I have no idea where nor do I have a model. To resolve the first I went around to do some location scouting.

Frankenballon

https://nils.mipi.de/2014/02/frankenballon/

Published: February 28, 2014 15:20

This weekend I had the pleasure to photograph a balloon race, the Frankenballon Cup 2014 from the starting grounds and from inside a balloon (thanks to the Aeronautic Team).

Golden Circle

https://nils.mipi.de/2014/02/golden-circle/

Published: February 16, 2014 15:20

When you are in Iceland the golden circle is one of the things you need to do. The golden circle is a one day round trip where you see the most famous things in Iceland, Thingvellir (we skipped this as we were already there when diving in Silfra), Geysir,…

Snæffelsjokull

https://nils.mipi.de/2014/02/sn%C3%A6ffelsjokull/

Published: February 7, 2014 15:20

Finally some more Photos from yesteryears visit to Iceland. We took a rental car and went around on the peninsula where the famous vulcano Snæffelsjokull is located. This is the place, where the Journey to the center of the earth from Jules Vernes started.…

The Streets of Bordeaux

https://nils.mipi.de/2013/11/the-streets-of-bordeaux/

Published: November 5, 2013 15:20

At the beginning of october I have been on a business trip to Bordeaux. Even though I barely had the chance to see anything but work, I could see that Bordeaux is a nice city and has some great restaurants

Lillachtal

https://nils.mipi.de/2013/10/lillachtal/

Published: October 27, 2013 15:20

The Lillach is a small creek passing through WeiĂźenohe in the District of Forchheim. Close to the source there are some sinter terraces, terrace like basins formed by calcifications.

A Magazine Style Table Of Contents with LaTeX

https://nils.mipi.de/2013/09/a-magazine-style-table-of-contents-with-latex/

Published: September 13, 2013 14:32

The default LaTeX Style is a no-nonsense, scientific paper like style, which is not really appealing for magazine like content or for literature typesetting. One thing I especially find boring is the table of content, which normally just lists the content.

Journey to the center of the earth - Part 2

https://nils.mipi.de/2013/08/journey-to-the-center-of-the-earth-part-2/

Published: August 4, 2013 15:20

Far up in the north of Iceland is the little village of Hjalteyri, home of the Strytan Divecenter. From there, you can access a spot which is unique in the world: Strýtan – a smoker which is accessible for normal scuba diving.

Flowers

https://nils.mipi.de/2013/06/flowers/

Published: June 13, 2013 15:20

On the way home from the Beergarden I ended up in a field, taking pictures with an off-camera flash of flowers. This was right during the blue hour, most pictures are 2 f-stops under the normal exposure without flash, plus flash at 1/2 power or less.

Diving in Croatia 2013

https://nils.mipi.de/2013/06/diving-in-croatia-2013/

Published: June 8, 2013 11:34

Another week long diving trip to Novi Vinodolski and Selce, Croatia. Lot’s of fun, even though visibility, weather and water temperature were slightly less optimal.

Art: Christian Rösner at the Med-Museum

https://nils.mipi.de/2013/05/art-christian-r%C3%B6sner-at-the-med-museum/

Published: May 14, 2013 15:20

Currently there is an art exhibition at the Siemens Med museum in Erlangen of figures and sculptures from Christian Rösner. It’s not a big exhibition, but it’s quite nice and some of the sculptures are quite good.

More Jim Clark Revival

https://nils.mipi.de/2013/04/more-jim-clark-revival/

Published: April 26, 2013 11:34

And here are the pictures from saturday, more cars (you may notice a theme here…) The same racing, but additional an attempt to do the longest classic car parade ever. About 950 rare and classic cars were driving on the Hockenheimring…

Jim Clark Revival

https://nils.mipi.de/2013/04/jim-clark-revival/

Published: April 25, 2013 11:34

Last weekend I was at the Hockenheimring with friends. The speedway was the venue for a two day classic car racing event in memory of Jim Clark who died in a crash on the Hockenheimring in 1968.

Attempt at Self Portraits

https://nils.mipi.de/2013/04/attempt-at-self-portraits/

Published: April 11, 2013 15:20

I built a little home studio. A black background fixed at the bookshelf, two Yongnuo flashes (one with a grid as key, one with a softbox as fill/accent), another Canon flash (trigger only) and that’s it.

Burghausen

https://nils.mipi.de/2013/04/burghausen/

Published: April 2, 2013 11:34

This weekend I went a little south, to Burghausen. Burghausen is a little town at the Austrian border, famous for the longest castle in europe. The castle is more than 1.5km from one end to the other, so you have to walk a bit when you are visiting it.…

GT1 Racing

https://nils.mipi.de/2013/03/gt1-racing/

Published: March 28, 2013 11:34

It’s nearly three years ago already… Back in 2010 a friend of mine won two tickets to the GT1 Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, but couldn’t go. So I went there with another friend of mine and visited a car race for the first time.

Frankenballoncup Balloon Meeting 2013

https://nils.mipi.de/2013/03/frankenballoncup-balloon-meeting-2013/

Published: March 23, 2013 15:20

The Frankenballoncup finally took place after a couple of years of cancellation due to bad weather. And it was perfect weather… Unfortunately the wind went into a direction where the balloon I was supposed to be in could not find a large enough landing…

More Bokeh

https://nils.mipi.de/2013/03/more-bokeh/

Published: March 22, 2013 15:20

Another Lens to test, a freshly bought Canon FD55/1.2. This is a manual lens for the old Canon FD mount, modified to fit on the EOS mount of my cameras. Also all images taken with the Fuji X-E1 and the lens on an Adapter.

Fuji X-E1 - First Impressions

https://nils.mipi.de/2013/03/fuji-x-e1-first-impressions/

Published: March 5, 2013 14:32

My trusty Canon G10 is getting a bit old, and it was time for something new. The G10 will continue to work as my underwater camera, but for travelling I wanted something which has a slightly better image quality.

Workshop Portrait Outdoor

https://nils.mipi.de/2013/02/workshop-portrait-outdoor/

Published: February 25, 2013 15:20

As my portrait skills aren’t really great, I did a workshop. Hawaii Kotzsch showed how to do some less basic lighting situations indoor and outdoor. Learned a lot, but still I think most of my pictures are boring (despite the really cool model, Anni).

Schloss Seehof

https://nils.mipi.de/2013/02/schloss-seehof/

Published: February 14, 2013 11:34

Schloss Seehof was the summer residence of the bishops of Bamberg. It was build in the late 17th century. After being secularized in 1802 it degraded and was only restored in the second half of the 20th century.

Big Apple

https://nils.mipi.de/2013/02/big-apple/

Published: February 8, 2013 11:34

At the end of the last US trip for work I had three days in New York, mostly seing things at night and one short morning to walk around.

Boston

https://nils.mipi.de/2013/01/boston/

Published: January 30, 2013 11:34

The bad thing about business trips is that you mostly only see cities at night. During day you have to work, at night you have some time to stroll around.

Chicago Architecture

https://nils.mipi.de/2013/01/chicago-architecture/

Published: January 27, 2013 11:34

Chicago is the place where the skyscraper was born. Together with New York modern architecture started in Chicago at the end of the 19th century.

Das Field Museum

https://nils.mipi.de/2012/12/das-field-museum/

Published: December 5, 2012 11:34

The Field Museum of Natural History is one of the largest museums in the world. It features everything rich people could get away with stealing and killing in the late 1800s: egyptian mummies, dinosaurs, native americans and any form of dead animals.

B-24 und Faro-A

https://nils.mipi.de/2012/08/b-24-und-faro-a/

Published: August 18, 2012 11:34

This double dive featured two of the most interesting dive sites which I visited so far (OK, there weren’t that many). One is a plane wreck from the second world war, the second a shipwreck from the 17th century.

LuaLaTeX

https://nils.mipi.de/2012/07/lualatex/

Published: July 16, 2012 14:32

I have been playing with LuaLaTeX. Looks already quite usable and you can now finally use all those ugly fonts you always wanted to use in a TeX document. But something usefull came out as well, a document class for publishing books with Blurb. No…

PlitviÄŤka Jezera

https://nils.mipi.de/2012/06/plitvi%C4%8Dka-jezera/

Published: June 24, 2012 11:34

Plitvička Jezera (Plitvic Lakes) are a national park in Croatia, famous for it’s numerous waterfalls. During the 60ies and 70ies some German Movies were filmed there, namely Karl May stories. That’s why every German always links the images of these lakes…

Eternal Adoration

https://nils.mipi.de/2012/03/eternal-adoration/

Published: March 25, 2012 11:34

Every year at the 5th and 6th of January, an eternal adoration is held in Pottenstein. Eternal here means two days, so it’s a rather short eternity… At the end of these two days of prayer a procession passes through the village.

Santa Claus in Numbers

https://nils.mipi.de/2011/12/santa-claus-in-numbers/

Published: December 23, 2011 14:32

Some time ago I volunteered to do a talk at the Erlangen Pecha Kucha Night, thinking it would be some time next year. Well, now it turned out to be on December 23rd…

Fiery Jester

https://nils.mipi.de/2011/12/fiery-jester/

Published: December 21, 2011 15:20

This fellow is a regular on the Erlangen historic Christmas market. Every evening he does his fire-show, which provides you some warmth while drinking your Glühwein…

DESY

https://nils.mipi.de/2011/12/desy/

Published: December 15, 2011 15:20

Before my current life, I was working at a particle accelerator in Hamburg (DESY), commissioning a silicon detector which was intended to help finding the inner workings of the nucleon