Yes — Planetarion ( planetarion.com ) A text-based multiplayer strategy game that started somewhere around the year 2000. And of course, being the proper geek that I am, I played it. Planetarion still exists today. If you’ve never tried it, go ahead — it’s still running, somehow! The first round I played was Round 3,…
Category: Random
Nuclear energy, the numbers don’t lie
Why two nuclear plants might end up costing up to €275 billion — and why solar wins without even trying. Disclaimer: This analysis is not anti-nuclear — it’s about math and realism. And besides that; I know how to create an Excel sheet and do some basic math. 🙂 Several Dutch political parties want to…
1984 is calling, it wants its policy back.
This week I wrote about “mass surveillance in the name of protection”. This is the Saturday/Sunday follow-up. (c) (r) ™ :-). (cross out whichever day doesn’t apply — or both, if you’re reading this on Monday!) What I’m writing here may sound absurd — but it really isn’t. Take a second and consider how your…
Mass Surveillance in the Name of Protection
The cost of confusing data volume with intelligence Once again, the EU is trying to push a bill that would allow scanning private communications for illegal content — all in the name of fighting terrorism and, of course, the golden ticket: child abuse. Don’t get me wrong, child abuse is absolutely horrific. But this bill…
Hammer was shutdown suddenly
This morning I got downstairs, opened my laptop and checked out my Bluesky account. First symptom.. Bluesky loaded slowly, seemed DNS resolving was slow as well. Tried to access my DNS / PiHole instance. Unreachable…. I decided to check my new Uptime Kuma console to verify network issues. Huh, site unreachable too?! Tried to ping…
Dear UK Cabinet: Criminals Don’t Use iCloud
But thanks for breaking privacy for the rest of us. This morning I came across a story about the UK government demanding a backdoor into iCloud — not just for UK users, but globally. The plan was dropped, not because it was a bad idea, but because the US threatened higher import tariffs. Not ethics….
A blast from the past – Outdoor gaming!
Outdoor gaming? But computers — and their owners — “hate” the outdoors. With all that moisture, dust, and glare, it sounds like a terrible idea. So why do it? Yet I did! Not once, not twice — but more than twenty times. And honestly, I don’t think it’ll ever happen again.
Coffee, Can I just have only one?!
Coffee has been one of my best friends for decades. Let’s face it: computers run on sparks, and programmers run on caffeine. At the start of my workday — usually around 7 AM — coffee is the go-to drink. But it’s not just the liquid. It’s the ritual. Walking to the coffeemaker with the team, live-debugging…
Thinking of fat, getting into the weird!
From kilocalories to kilotons, a journey through belly physics Even though human fat is one of the most studied topics in biology and medicine, I honestly believe that up to 98% of the population has no real idea what it actually is, how much energy it stores, how it was gained — or how to…
Travel is a Pain. Period.
Everyone loves vacation, right? Not me. Here’s why travel stresses me out, annoys me, makes no sense and also wrecks the planet while we’re at it.