Paul ⁽³³⁹⁾

I love gadgets. I have lots of them and they love me: I don't have to buy them, they follow me home. But... I don't like the mass of wearable things that are popping up now, especially the ones that can track every little thing you do. Your smartphone is already a walking, talking unit that betrays every move you make. (Cell phone towers that know where you are simply because your phone is on,…

Maybe a silly question. An online search says: I wonder about the second one. Oh, not in a physiological sense, but in a humane sense. It's the second one, the one that doctors have to abide by through their Hippocratic Oath. (Link to PDF.) They basically promise to sustain the human machine (body) and do what they can to keep it going for as long as possible. But... Is that what we want? I'm convinced that…

Well said.

Early February 2014, and gorgeous weather, and no work to go to. A reason to grab the camera, the bike and a good coat (sunshine but +5C / 38F). After a bike ride along this path I reached a small creek/brook called "Lage Raam" This is the Lage Raam. Translated it's nonsense: low window. The creek is a typical low land creek, that's why there is 'low' in its name. Onwards towards this little place…

Yes, I went for the real thing. I bought a Synology NAS (model DS 214). It's a brilliant thing, with a very powerful yet simple management interface called Disk Station Manager (DSM). The unit is very easy to assemble (adding the 2 disks didn't even require a screwdriver), runs flawlessly and is very quiet. Access goes through a UTP cable to the router and after setting up the volume/shares and privileges it's immediately recognised by…

Everywhere in the United States people get shot by other people who have some score to settle. Like in December 2013, when in Colorado someone shot a group of people because he'd been in a dispute with a librarian and was disciplined. Really, that is the reason to shoot people these days. As I read that, it occurred to me that this seems to go further and further. The Land of the Free luckily does…

By Timothy J. Seppala posted Sep 30th, 2013 at 3:05 / Via Engadget The New York Public Library recently discovered a treasure trove of video games in its archives created by psychedelic evangelist Timothy Leary. Over 375 floppies(talk about flashbacks) containing a "dozen or so" games developed by the LSD-advocate in the '80s -- some are playable via emulation -- are now on display in the library's rare books and manuscripts division, according to The New York Times. The good doctor's…

The Daily Mail (UK) posted a very interesting article on a new book by Iain McKell about the new gypsies: Follow this link for the full story and many wonderful images.

"Almost all organisms, from bacteria to mammals, have a circadian clock—a mechanism in their cells which keeps them in sync with Earth's day-and-night cycle. But many organisms follow other rhythms as well. Now, new research provides the first evidence that animals have molecular cycles independent of the circadian rhythm. They include a sea louse whose swimming patterns sync up with the tides, and a marine worm that matures and spawns in concert with the phases…

Every year again, and perhaps even stronger every year, I see how humanity is doing the wrong thing when the darkness of nature comes along. Autumn, Winter, the seasons where nature slows down, settles inside itself to rest for a new period of bloom when Spring and Summer come. And what does modern man do? The same thing as usual. Running around as fast as possible, working harder and harder, lighting up the darkness with…