**
It’s New Year's Eve; as always — it’s time to remember what happened and think about what might happen in the future.
Review of 2024
The US convicted Donald Trump of felony crimes in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 election. Then a majority of the US voted to have him as the next president.
The German government broke apart in 2024 and decided to have new elections in 2025. This happened because FDP (the liberals), one of the three parties in the government coalition, thought it would be in their best interest to make the government break. Instead of leaving the coalition, they sabotaged it. They didn't want to leave, but to get fired.
Statistics
Walking and Cycling
| Month | Walking 2023 (km) | Cycling 2023 (km) | Walking 2024 (km) | Cycling 2024 (km) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 36 | 58 | - | - |
| February | 27 | 42 | - | - |
| March | 27 | 56 | - | - |
| April | 13 | 35 | - | - |
| May | 17 | 8 | - | - |
| June | 25 | 65 | - | - |
| July | 18 | 58 | - | - |
| August | 40 | 57 | - | - |
| September | 35 | 28 | - | - |
| October | 45 | 42 | - | - |
| November | 14 | 34 | - | - |
| December | 17 | 42 | - | - |
Blog
| Month | Views 2023 | Reads 2023 | Views 2024 | Reads 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 9.1k | 3.2k | - | - |
| February | 12.2k | 4.6k | - | - |
| March | 7.8k | 2.7k | - | - |
| April | 8.7k | 3.5k | - | - |
| May | 6.4k | 1.9k | - | - |
| June | 5.0k | 1.5k | - | - |
| July | 4.9k | 1.6k | - | - |
| August | 4.0k | 1.3k | - | - |
| September | 3.6k | 1.2k | - | - |
| October | 3.0k | 1.0k | - | - |
| November | 2.5k | 867 | - | - |
| December | 3.5k | 847 | - | - |
Old Year Predictions
The Bigger Picture: Politics, Nature and the World
- ✅ The right-wing party AfD gets stronger in Germany: There is the EU election and 13 regional elections in Germany in 2024. I expect AfD, a right-wing party, to become way stronger in those overall: AfD increased their members in local parlaments from 238 to 247 (source)
- ✅ Ukraine: Still no peace. Putin just said that Russia will never move back (source). I think that the support of the west will continue to be strong enough that the area is in war, but not strong enough to push Russia away.
- ✅ Renewables and electrification: A massive boost in installed renewable energy and a steady increase in electrification in transport and heating.
Technology
- ❌ We will see a first game with free-form chat interactions with NPCs.
- ✅ Solid-State Batteries will still not be a mass-produced thing.
- ✅ Nuclear Fusion: It is unclear if nuclear fusion will be economically viable.
About Me
- ✅ Side Hustle: I’ll finally start one: I didn't start my own, but support a friend. I think it still counts 😃
- ✅ Blogging: I‘ve published 30 articles: I've published 29 articles on Medium and a couple of smaller ones on my blog here.
- ❌ Fitness: I will walk and cycle more in each month of 2024 than in the same months of 2023.
New Year Predictions
The Bigger Picture: Politics, Nature and the World
- Germany: The new government will be a coalition of CDU/CSU and SPD.
- US: The Consumer price index will rise each month by at least 4% for each month beginning with May, assuming Trump actually does his tariffs.
- Syria: Things will become better as measured by World Press Freedom Index, the Fragile States Index, and the Economist Democracy Index
Technology
- Eletric Vehicles: We will see a world-wide increase in sales.
- Cleaner Energy Mix: We will see a relative drop in the primary energy consumption of coal and gas, hopefully also oil. Solar and Wind will increase.
- AI-powered Games: More flexible dialogues, more realistic NPCs, or more dynamic worlds.
About Me
- Blogging: I‘ve published 30 articles.
- Fitness: I will walk and cycle more in each month of 2025 than in the same months of 2024.
- DIY: I will have finished at least one of the following: Build a nice raised garden bed, build a concrete table, or renovated one of the cellar rooms.