If you were to be sorted into a house in Hogwarts which would it be!?
You all will propably remember this ugly troll in the girls bathroom... - was it a member of one of the houses? :-p
Why did you move from sunny Germany to rainy Lanzarote?
This one is really easy to answer: I urgently had to escape from Germany because the white wine there was too delicious so my liver forced me to change the place!
Did any Brainking player visit you in Lanzarote?
Had a nice game of chess here with Caissus - but would still like to meet more of you here. I am even renting a small but really nice guest room in my home!
Why did you choose diogenysos as name and why von der toess?
Diogenysos is a mix of Diogenes and Dionysos. The "töss" is a small river in Winterthur, Switzerland, where I lived a couple of weeks in a room without electricity and other comfort, like the greek philosopher DIogenes did in his barrel.
When did you take that great picture where your head is bandaged?
In Arrieta, Lanzarote. There is a beach bar with nice jazz and blues music. I called this bar my "living room" for a while, and the bandage was wrapped around the knee of my daughter before - she had pain in her leg and I wanted to make her smile!
How much time do you spend per day at Brainking?
The more time I am in my home-office earning money, the more time I am spending at brainking as well. :-D
What do you miss from Germany?
The wine. The german beer. The bread.
The "Dichter und Denker" (poets and philosophers - as here in spain I consider the human beings not being "profound" enough for my lifestyle, sometimes. of course this can not be said in general)
I guess it's a stupid question for somebody living in Lanzarote, but: red wine or white wine?
White. Its nearly never cold enough to enjoy more red wine!
Where would you like to make vacation?
As a world-traveller in my first life, before daughter Luza rushed into my being I´ve had the chance to see quite a lot. So at the moment I am a little more focussed on mikro- then on macrocosm - I like to discover "my" island even more. By walking, running, and of course with the bike.
Leaving the island means for me exploring the other canary islands. And maybe Madeira and the Cape Verdes.
Sometimes I like to return to Germany. But moreorless just to see that I made the right choice when I left colder middle-europe and headed towards Lanzarote :-D
Is christmas without snow different?
DIdnt have a white christmas very often in Germany, as I was living in a warm region near the Rhine-river. But the atmosphere here on the island - X-mas with sandals and t-shirt still is very strange for me!
How much time do you spend online?
As I am part of "cyberculture" since the very beginning in the 90ies and I strongly believe that we can change culture by using the global villige much more smartly, and as I am working online to have more time for my daughter and other more important concerns then just earning money, I need to be online a lot. Maybe 70% of the day.
But I enjoy it to stop being bound to the IT many days every year or when I go off to play with the young or doing a longjog or some hours of bike-training.
So I am not the classical nerd, more the "high technologized hippie" :-D
Unlimited moves and games at Brainking, do you think it is a blessing or a curse?
I dont care very much as I am limiting myself. Like it here very much, but from time to time there is more than only one time-out.
What motivated you to volunteer for the interview?
I love communication.
And as I am here for so many years, with the ID 1485 or so, I think maybe one or two people had already asked themselves what strange person stands behind this guy.
Hope that, after reading all my answers, many of you will be encouraged to ask me more about what I said here, maybe during our games... as I strongly believe we all should communicate more profoundly, not just on the surface, in order to make more out of our abilities. In order to creaty synergetic networks which help each other surviving better!
Which real person (living or dead) would you like to meet in real?
Dr. Timothy Leary. SUch a brilliant philosopher who will soon be honoured much more then he still is (because of the repressive american drug-policy of the last century, which now is led "ad absurdum").
Talking with him about his LSD-experience and his idea of using much more of the potential of human brain would be one of the most exciting things for me.
How many languages do you speak?
German, Spanish, English, French, a little Thai, Childish, Meow, communication with other psychonauts in endless wordless speachless speech.
If you had the chance to sit down at a pub table and play any player here at any game, what game would it be, who would it be and what would the drink order be?
I would love to run around the wine pond with all of you and *splash* fall in at the very beginning!
What job do you do for a living?
I am teaching old german ladies how to use the computer. I am a "one man agency" for P.R., I.T., graphic design and journalism. I am renting my room in a very special old canarian house with own palmtree, sauna and 60cm-thick walls for small money to everybody who wants to come to Lanzarote! (somebody wants to come - please ask via PM or during a game) I am "seeling" myself as a place to advertise on (www.facebook.com/ironman.diogenes - if somebody wants to advertise ... I always have very good ideas!)
So I do everything I can in order to have anough spare time for the real priority of my present life: Educating, being together and have as much fun as possible with my daughter Luza.
What are some other countries that you would like to visit and why?
Right now I am not very interested, as I explained on another question about travelling.
There are probably many nice places to explore, but I prefer the Canary Islands right now.
One day I would like to go on a ship to pass the north-west-passage (as I read a book by Sten Nadolny)
Do you have any pets?
I always had and have cats. Like their independence and their movements. Thanks to my daughter I now host two "degus", bush-rats that originally come from Chile. They seem to be intelligent and they are very friendly, I like to communicate with them and constructed a nice big voliere for them.
How often (if ever) do you travel back to the "Main land?"
Some times. My favorite season to travel back is springtime, as here on Lanzarote there is not so much "green"... . I love to smell the grass and leaves (well, in this context I do not mean marihuana... :-p )
But not very often as I really like it here and as I am happy to live where I live.
What are three things you would recommend a tourist does if they visit Lanzarote?
1. Trying the sun of Lanzrote, together with the dra white "malvasia" wine and some fresh goat-cheese. This experiment should start at 11 in the late morning and last till 4 in the afternoon.
2. A biketour through either the north of Lanzarote or the Timanfaya Fire-Mountains
3. Walk/climb onto at least one of our beautiful volcano-craters
Not including Brainking, what do you like to do for fun?
Sport. Watching live or on TV. I like the athletes compete peacefully but with all the strength and consequence. Like to watch the joy and the tears. Like to watch them hug each other after a hard match of whatever.
And I am doing much sport by myself, daily I would say. Training for the "ironman": This is fun, this is very hard work, either. Right now it is a 50 to 60 hour job every month.
Playing tennis, table-tennis with the boys of my daughters school (and, HAA, I can still win against all of them!), snooker, all kinds of ball-games... .
Besides the sports I am a bookworm, too. Reading books everywhere. In restaurants, accompanied onl by some cold wine and cheese. Hours and more hours. Reading thrillers and some serious philosophical books.
Most fun I still have with my daughter Luza.
And sometimes I like to work with both hands on my nice canarian house.
And - believe me or not - most of the time my work for money has got a nice fun-factor as well.
What's your favorite TV series?
Dont watch much TV except live sports, but watched Star Trek "Next Generation" and "Voyager" more then once as I like the idea of communicating with other cultures and all kinds of time-paradoxa... .
How did you learn chess?
With my father and in a group of school-children between the age of 6 and 12. Very early I had to play with cigarette-smoking adults... .
How old are you?
Watching myself acting, dressing myself and thinking like a student of 25-30. Because, for example, 100 Eurpos is still a big amount of money for me and I am getting totally bored by any business-talks. I am 45.
How many blocked users do you have? What makes you block a user?
one. I blocked this user because it was impossible to simply exchange opinions without being offended off-topic by this user.
What's the best thing that happened in your life?
WHen the mother of my daughter Luza told me she was pregnant, I was in doubt and did not know if I was "already prepared". Now, 12 years later, I consider getting a child as the -wonderful - thing that changed my life enormously.
Do you have any goals here like rating, tournaments, achievements...?
As I like statistics and maths, I always care about the BKR.
But with the years playing here I had to realize that Brainking is often a fun-thing and not a think-thing for me. So I lowered my ambitions a lot, knowing that I should spend much more time on thinking about one move in all those "thinkers games" but finally I am not doing it consequently!
Are you married with Children?
I am not married and I would love to have family and children! But I live together with my daughter, currently 12 years old, educating her and caring for her alone for a couple of years.
I am an attractive and handsome single for quite a while... .
if there is any sensitive and intelligent and sport-loving girl around here with children or the wish to have some, who wants to live at a sunny place with a sunny boy, just do not be shy and say hello :-D
If you were able to jump through time what time period would you want to travel to and why?
I would love to end up in a time where there is no more need for money. Where the human beings all work - and like to work - but not for surviving but just for the development of interpersonal culture and for personal growth... .
Do you believe in Ghosts.. or spirits? explain
I strongly believe that we are just using a very small amount of the capacity of our brain. In meditation or in psychedelic experience it can be proven that there is so much more. Talking without words, reading someone elses thoughts, fears, desires. Understanding concepts like "love" or " time" much more profoundly than we normally do.
So I believe there is much more. And it would be good for all of us to eperiment much more with this unused capacity, even when it exposes us and puts ourselves into strong fear. This is just the beginning of each metamorphosis.
If you had the chance to meet anyone in person whether they are living now or dead.. who would it be? And why?
Dr. Timothy Leary. SUch a brilliant philosopher who will soon be honoured much more then he still is (because of the repressive american drug-policy of the last century, which now is led "ad absurdum").
Talking with him about his LSD-experience and his idea of using much more of the potential of human brain would be one of the most exciting things for me.
If you won the lottery what would you do with the money?
waste it. give it away. hope it wont change my character.
and, to fulfil my "conservative" needs as well, starting some small business somewhere near the fresh air and together with children or young people, as they are not that "serious" like most of the adults are.
You have added several photos of you playing sports. Which are your favourites?
I love sports and there are no real favourites, as long as I can be active and do it either just for myself (especially in the long endurance-sessons like swimming, cycling and running that are like meditations for me) or together with other competitors (all kinds of ball-sports, tennis and table-tennis as well as football or beach-volleball.....).
Have you run many marathons? Which ones, and what is your favourite?
Actually I completed three Marathons. One in Mainz, Germany, one in Madrid, Spain and one here on Lanzarote. Did some more Marathon-training sessions.
Right now I am in the final stage of preperation for the "Ironman", this is a triathlon on Lanzarote, held on May 17th of 2014. Have to swim 3.8K, cycle 180K and finally run a whole marathon (42.2K) to complete this very special challenge in under 17 hours of total time.
There are no "favourite" marathons, and even this "Ironman" is not the "one-and-only race" because I strongly believe that the endless hours of training and the livestyle that stands behind those achievements are, summa summarum, more important then one single event.
Do you enjoy playing games with your family? Which games do they like?
Many card games. My daughter likes monopoly and battleships at the moment. I also like trivial pursuit, because I am always winning it... :-p
What kind of music do you like?
Funky and groovy stuff. Something that lets me swing and smile. Jazzy and classical "serious" music with lots of substance in it. Goa- and ambient tunes as I think our creative and intelligent electronical music will be the "classical" music of tomorrow. Dirty and grovy blues. Some pop, but not much. Maybe something positive and optimistic like Jack Johnson. Some Rock, but not much. Maybe some oldschool-tunes like the early ACDC. Psychedelic - mind blowing music when I am alone and traveling inside my brain (which I do not often enough recently)
What dream would like to realize?
I am dreaming very often to go to school again.
Dont know if I really wanted to realize this dream :-D
Many other drems I have I am constantly realizing: Exmigration to another country, marathon, responsability for my daughter, ironman, being self-employed...
Would you like to participate in the cause of environmentalism?
I do, sometimes. But not really fanatic. Hope that human beings who have children will be intelligent enough not to let the money be prior to our environmantal concerns. This may sound and be naive, but hoping is never naive because it is part of the human nature.
Pessimist or an optimist?
As long as I am alive it is important to be optimistic. Even more with a child. Remember: We are animals who should want to reproduce themselves by instinct. As long as this goes on and on, one should try to make the best out of his life and to change the world.
Would you stay in the most haunted hotel in the world and how much would be the minimum you'd want to be paid to do so?
Maybe together with someone else. Would you try it together with me? :-*
Which kind of sport do you like?
I love sports and there are no real favourites, as long as I can be active and do it either just for myself (especially in the long endurance-sessons like swimming, cycling and running that are like meditations for me) or together with other competitors (all kinds of ball-sports, tennis and table-tennis as well as football or beach-volleball.....).
How much time do you spend online?
As I am part of "cyberculture" since the very beginning in the 90ies and I strongly believe that we can change culture by using the global villige much more smartly, and as I am working online to have more time for my daughter and other more important concerns then just earning money, I need to be online a lot. Maybe 70% of the day.
But I enjoy it to stop being bound to the IT many days every year or when I go off to play with the young or doing a longjog or some hours of bike-training.
So I am not the classical nerd, more the "high technologized hippie" :-D
Do you have any pets?
I always had and have cats. Like their independence and their movements. Thanks to my daughter I now host two "degus", bush-rats that originally come from Chile. They seem to be intelligent and they are very friendly, I like to communicate with them and constructed a nice big voliere for them.
What was your favorite event to watch during the Winter Olympics?
The whole olympics! I enjoyed it to switch on the TV to wake up, what I usually never do!
I always like watching the Biathlon competitions and the Ski-Jumping.
Do Germans have a sense of humor that they are aware of?
Humour? Whats that? We are "DIchter und Denker".
Germans tend to say "Die Lage ist ernst, aber nicht hoffnungslos", while our neighbours from Austria would answer "Die Lage ist hoffnungslos, aber niemals ernst"
Are you an early bird or a night owl?
This changes! Depends on my live. Right now, as a father of a school-child, I am more that earlybird. The less wine I drink, the later I go to bed... . So now, training for the ironman and not drinking one single drop for a couple of months, I am earlybird _and_ night owl at the same time. Difficult. But nice.
Do you have any children? What do you think is the best about having children?
My daughter Luza, i mentioned her here a couple of times.
She makes me remember: remember what I told myself at the age of 14, what I would do when I was a teacher. remember how important it was to live my feelings. to cry and not to hide myself behind a wall.
She makes me optimistic and active because I want to see her having a future.
She made me forget much trouble, because while thinking about troubles you can not concentrate on the here and now, on a smile and on the miracles that await me everywhere!
Do you have a wife/girlfriend? What does she think about your relationship with brainking? ;-)
I am not married and I would love to have family and children! But I live together with my daughter, currently 12 years old, educating her and caring for her alone for a couple of years.
I am an attractive and handsome single for quite a while... .
if there is any sensitive and intelligent and sport-loving girl around here with children or the wish to have some, who wants to live at a sunny place with a sunny boy, just do not be shy and say hello :-D
This summer we (me, my gf, daughter of 4, son of 2) will visit lanzarote for a 2 week holiday: what would you recommend? ;-)
1. Trying the sun of Lanzrote, together with the dra white "malvasia" wine and some fresh goat-cheese. This experiment should start at 11 in the late morning and last till 4 in the afternoon.
2. A biketour through either the north of Lanzarote or the Timanfaya Fire-Mountains
3. Walk/climb onto at least one of our beautiful volcano-craters
Of course, with the kiddies it is different. Maybe you should come and visit me, as my daughter is "addicted to little ones" and we can try the wine meanwhile she is caring for them :-D
With the kids, the wine-tasting, the bike- and crater tour can not be as long as without them. But there are some beutiful beaches away from mass-tourism I can recommend. SOme home-made ice-cream places... .
If playing any well known game: would you rather play it online or rather live on-the-board ?
no preferences. But I would definitely like to play it with that girl in the bus!
which language do you speak on lanzarote? are you seen as a foreigner or accepted completely?
not completely. But the germans are treated well by the Lanzarote people as they are considered as being serious workers and punctual people. If a Lanzaroteño tells you "I will come to you to work for you on Monday" this may be Monday the 2nd of March 2021... .
I am speaking german in my home and spanish on the streets. SOmetimes english, for some tourists... .
do you have a philosophy you live for?
time is not money. time is too precious to just waste it by working for money.
spending time for example with your child will help you to be able to still think like a child. and will help your child to get more culture, more diversity, more personal freedom, more possibilities.
well - to be honest it would break the borders if I started to talk about "my philosophy" seriously here. I would need a whole book, the book that I may write within the next 10 or 20 years.
Philosophy is a key science in my life and maybe I will add something later. This "philosophy of time-usage" I mentioned right here is one thesis I was thinking about for the last couple of years when my daughter grew up.
what do you think is the most important religion/philosophy people should follow in their life(s)?
Be wonder-ful. Dont forget your childrens eyes. Watch out for the daily miracle. Practise random kindness and senseless acts of beauty
should there be an hierarchy amongst people?
Maybe we could try realizing that every human being has his talents. Maybe there should be less hierarchy then now existing:
I am asking myself why for exmple lawyers earn more respect and money then nurses... .
I am asking myself why not children should stand higher in a hierarchy as far as - for example - the ability of dreaming or of peaceful solutions is concerned.
So there should be a hierarchy amongst human beings, but this might be a flexible one. There is too much power, money, honour in just a few hands.
should there be an hierarchy between humans and other beings, or, to take it even further, plants?
The human being as a superior being in relation to animals and/or plants? Well, when I am feeding my pet and it comes back to me to get more to eat, I should have some power to decide what happens to this animal. But all in a respectful way.
"Respect"means that I should have even more of this then my pet, because I am able to think and to live more then just the "instinctive way of live". Animals can not show respect. They show just fear that they do not get something to eat, or that they are not "loved".
This is a nice question and my answer is just a momentary snapshot... .
what do you think of eating meat? what do you think of vegetarians? what do you think of veganists?
Eating meat is over-emphasized in our western culture. Maybe it even causes some classical illnesses, we are suffering on right now.
But I do not support all kinds of "isms". In my opinion there is no need for "vegetarism" and no need for "veganism" as well.
I would like to see our western world reducing their meat consume to at least the half of the average consume of the present days.
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