Atheist, technopagan and vegan.

Poland's Blow Up Hall 5050: Half luxury hotel, half digital art installation Blow Up Hall: exterior (Photo: Loz Blain/gizmag.com) I'm here in Poznan, Poland – a town I'll admit I never knew existed until I bought my plane ticket. Which is a bit pathetic of me, since "Poznan" more or less translates as "the town everyone knows." Whoops, I guess I missed that memo. It's a typically charming European town with a gorgeous city square,…

Zothecula writes "What weighs 5.5 tons and has less computing power than your watch? A pioneering piece of computing history call 'Flossie,' the last operating ICT 1301 mainframe. The National Museum of Computing recently took delivery of the dismantled computer, which needed three moving vans to bring it to the museum's storage facility in Milton Keynes, UK. Rod Brown, custodian of Flossie for the past decade, said: 'Flossie has had an extraordinary life -- or…

Senior Drivers No Longer Need A Driver’s License My neighbour was working in his yard when he was startled by a late model car that came crashing through his hedge and ended up in his front lawn. He rushed to help an elderly lady driver out of the car and sat her down on a lawn chair.He said with excitement, "You appear quite elderly to be driving." "Well, yes, I am," she replied proudly. "I'll be 97…

As I thought last week: It's so dumb that you select an area of work and you're basically stuck with in, in the modern structure of things. When you have no idea yet of the real world and real life, you're to make choices that will rivet you to your future. You like numbers? Be an accountant or so. You like computers? Be a programmer. You like colours? Be a painter. Of course you know me,…

[Candida] Moss, professor of New Testament and early Christianity at the University of Notre Dame, challenges some of the most hallowed legends of the religion when she questions what she calls “the Sunday school narrative of a church of martyrs, of Christians huddled in catacombs out of fear, meeting in secret to avoid arrest and mercilessly thrown to lions merely for their religious beliefs.” None of that, she maintains, is true. Surprised? You can read…

BETTER PREVENT THAN REGRET! Please read: I went to the party and remembered what you said. You asked me not to drink alcohol, so I drank a Sprite instead. I felt proud of myself, as you said I should feel. You said I should not drink and drive, contrary to what some friends told me. I made a healthy choice and your advice was correct, as it always is. When the party finally ended, people…

Just now I found this on Slashdot: CNN reports that at least for now we may be able to set aside the question of whether and under what authority the U.S. should intervene militarily in Syria, a question that's dominated the news for the last few weeks. From the report: "Facing the threat of a U.S. military strike, the country's leaders Tuesday reportedly accepted a Russian proposal to turn over its chemical weapons. ... The…

I found a very interesting piece about (Transcendental) Meditation: When adversity strikes, meditation can be our best friend. Not as an escape, but as a secret weapon to fortify our minds and bodies, to create resilience and perspective. In his new book, The Gift of Adversity, world-renowned researcher, psychiatrist and author Dr. Norman Rosenthal tells us, “If you are unhappy with your life, consider changing it first from within. Meditation is a powerful tool for…

The mistake of Monday is that it stopped being part of the weekend. Same thing with Friday. In other words: weekends are too short. You may not agree, but this is my blog and my opinion. People in the Netherlands are required to work until they're 65. Or 67. Or wherever it will end by the time it ends. No excuse that there are many unemployed people who can do a few days of work…