Tony Howlett gave a presentation in Defcon 16 about the “cashless society”; why, what it means and likely developments. It’s a very interesting read, especially the point made about card payments – what happens when there’s no electricity?
(more…)

Bell Labs is pulling out of basic physics research. They will focus instead on “networking, high-speed electronics, wireless, nanotechnology and software”.

It’s like peeing your pants to get warm in the winter. It helps for a short time, but then you’re much colder than before.

And what have the people of Bell Labs invented, then? Well, nothing much, just some obscure and unused things like information theory, the laser, UNIX, C programming language, silicon-based transistors, and so on. And they got only 6 Nobel prizes for research done at Bell Labs too.

Maybe they could continue if they had invented perpetual motion and had managed to get 5000 Nobel prizes. Yeah.

… Umm, okay. All hail SA_Steve for that highly weird picture.

My friend asked to recommend some good books I’ve recently read. So here’s a list with some.
(more…)

I was in Helsinki during the recent “Night of the Arts” event, and visited a fully packed bookstore. All books were on discount, so after quick scouting I grabbed a “No.1 New York Times bestseller” from the shelf: Lone Survivor, written by Mr. Marcus Luttrell, a US Navy SEAL. It turned out to be just about the worst book I’ve ever read.
(more…)

As the Earth is warming up, arctic ice cover is melting away at an increasing rate. Estimates have been given that around 20% of Earth’s yet untapped resources are within the Arctic Circle.

In order to illustrate the geopolitical risks behind nations claiming parts of the arctic as their own, a map has been created by the good people of Durham University.

The map can be seen here. The power players are Russia, Denmark, USA, Canada and Norway.

Due to increased phishing attacks against banks with bad security procedures, banks have been forced to re-think their situation. To be fair, the Swedish branch of Nordea fixed their internet bank procedures somewhat after these problems.

Anyway, my bank (Nordea) recently sent me a Todos Argos Mini II USB smartcard reader, to be used with the Nordea internet bank. It’s actually quite simple to use.
(more…)

I read these amusing, super-terse descriptions of science fiction movies from the July 2008 number of Scientific American (big ups to Mr. Steve Mirsky). Comments are mine, of course.

“2001: A Space Odyssey A slab of onyx and a singing computer get two astronauts in hot water.

Alien A feisty cat survives tense times onboard a spaceship.

Starship Troopers Valiant insects try to repel totalitarian invaders.”

I read the book after seeing the movie. The movie was OK, but it really didn’t communicate the interesting idea behind this Heinlein book: only those who have truly shown their willingness to sacrifice themselves for the greater good of the society are allowed the status of citizen, and the possibility to become a politician (and to vote).

“Predator The future governor of California and the future governor of Minnesota go hiking.”

As a European blissfully unaware of the governors of states of the USA, this joke did not quite open to me. However, I now suspect the governor of Minnesota has a serious cross-bite and dreadlocks. And maybe adaptive camouflage and a mini-nuke.

“The Matrix A man discovers his true destiny.

Star Wars An adolescent discovers his true destiny.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone A boy discovers his true destiny.

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings A hobbit discovers his true destiny.”

It’s funny, because it’s true – and I’m not saying this only to make a joke! If you’re interested, have a look at Joseph Campbell’s book A Hero With a Thousand Faces.

Recently I read the Freakonomics book. Do read it, unless you already haven’t – it’s very entertaining and thought-provoking.

Then, in a similar vein, I ran into this BBC article, which states: “Analysis of notes from a selection of Spain’s major cities showed that each one carried an average of 25.18 micrograms of cocaine.”

In other words, people snort so much of the illicit substance through rolled-up notes that the notes in circulation will have measurable amounts of cocaine in them. It’s unbelievable, but true.

Since people dig huge holes to the ground to get out minerals worth less, would this resource be somehow commercially exploitable?

Let’s do the math!
(more…)

Found this old crappy program I made a long time ago. It autogenerates ominous-sounding “prophecies” � la Nostradamus. Have a look at Nostra and run for cover!

Example:

“You know how to handle contradicting of singularity, but you cannot read the signs of the times. It is the exile asking for a crown jewel, but the only thing given will be the sign of the Equator.” (3 John 9:44)