Paul ⁽³³⁷⁾

Via /. : "A Dutch newspaper has a digital version of the letter Mr. Opstelten, Secretary of Justice and Security, sent to Dutch Parliament (PDF in Dutch), in which he quietly admits to 56,825 phone taps (a 3% rise in one year) and to 16,676 internet taps in 2012, a 400% rise, or a fivefold increase, in one year. An older report already exposed the Netherlands as one of the biggest wiretappers in the western world. Slate also…

Been thinking about this for a while so I started investigating. What did I investigate? According to the bible, it was Eve that took an apple from a forbidden tree. I wasn't certain on the kind of tree - what was its specific function? On http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/2010/06/29/satan-the-fall-good-evil-fruit-edible I found that a) the apple wasn't necessarily an apple, and b) that this was the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The first part isn't particularly interesting, the second…

Security and safety of data. You may not be concerned about it. I am. Especially since I like Cloud solutions. What if you can't afford that but you have a huge Skydrive with Microsoft, or this enormous space on Google Drive? The answer: Truecrypt. Truecrypt is a helper program that allows you to encrypt stuff. You can make it encrypt a file, a disk partition or even your entire computer. For this post I stick to…

As found on cnet: The search giant is seeking ways to armor user files, sources say, a move that could curb government surveillance attempts. Google has begun experimenting with encrypting Google Drive files, a privacy-protective move that could curb attempts by the U.S. and other governments to gain access to users' stored files. Two sources told CNET that the Mountain View, Calif.-based company is actively testing encryption to armor files on its cloud-based file storage…

I noticed before how companies are making more money without you knowing it. I have here a few pictures of a way: See here. 2 bottles of shampoo. The same brand, the same thing, the same price, just a nicer shape bottle on the right. Here we are, there is the same description on the bottles, so it's really the same thing. So how do they make more money off this? They made the bottle…

No, this is not about the early settlers in the United States. This is also not about the brand of musical equipment. This is about the spacecraft, Pioneer 1, that was shot into space long ago, in 1977. After 35 years, this craft are still going and operating, sending data back to earth. Isn't that amazing? After all that time it has crossed a distance that we cannot imagine and despite the insane environment it…

Do you know or remember this friendly fellow? Most of you will recognise him (if you do) as Godzilla. As I was driving along today I heard the song of the same name by Blue Öyster Cult. In this song a Japanese-speaking man clearly mentions "Gojira". Incidentally the same name as they give Godzilla in all the Japanese films about this train-munching fellow. Then I suddenly had a thought. In Japanese the creature is called…

I found this on HappyNews.nl. (Dutch site) In the Argentinian town of La Puna, one of the sunniest places in the world, you see solar stalls more and more these days, food stalls where people cook on nothing but solar heat. During the carnival festivities in the northern area Lap Puna solar stalls pop up, in Tilcara, Humahuaca, La Quiaca, Purmamarca and Uquía, all of them tourist spots. The solar cooker (kiosko solar) is a…

On Slashdot I found this article: Thinking War Machines. As if war with humans who don't think isn't bad enough. I'm not quoting more of this crap, if you want the entire article just follow the above link. 'Devastating.' Really. Without it you're already dead, huh? Oh, wait, you're still alive? That's so wrong... Why is there a part of humanity so dead set on self-extinction? Sounds like a good step up after we eliminated…

I spent 2 weeks in the UK and it was wonderful. Seeing friends in Wales, Gloucester, Bristol and Bath, visiting nice places, having brilliant walks. All those things are simple but they are so important. The picture shows very old cottages in the little town of Bibury. They are amazing to see, and people still live here. It's fabulous.