I copied the blog to the HTTPS directory. Hopefully I don’t have a mismatch between this version and the http version
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Author Archives: Onno
iPhone officially spyPhone
According to an article published by the Wall Street Journal today, Apple is working on methods to detecting mental illness manifesting itself iPhone users. To me this represents a no go zone for phones. The data will probably be used for a lot more than just telling you, the user of the phone that you’re not well.
Why VR headsets will remain a niche for a while
Lately I’ve been looking for VR headsets. It turns out that a headset which is capable of showing an image without suffering from seeing artifacts needs a resolution of around 6000 by 6000 pixels per eye. Current PC hardware is not yet at the level which can drive such displays.
I guess I’ll be postponing my search for a couple of years, but I might pick up a headset with a couple of imaging problems for the time being.
The EP needs to ditch Von der Leyen in order to remain credible
The European Parliament is being belittled by European leaders. This is a giant setback for the formation of a true European state. In order to continue the process they will need to show their teeth to the European Counil and send away Ursula von der Leyen.
If this won’t happen, the unification of Europe in its current form is dead. It will forever be deadlocked in squibbles between nations and will lose too much credibility with the voter base. It will be done for, for once and for all.
Why advertisement funded companies are immoral
Companies which rely on advertising to function their are immoral. The reason why is that they hide the true cost of work from the customers of that company. They misrepresent the work done in order to render the service or create the product they offer. This in turn devalues work and the appreciation of the value created. It also obfuscates the decision process required to make an effective decision in regard to the value to the user. Both of which I think are immoral.
Which idiot decided to add netplan.io to the ubuntu 18.04LTS release before it was mature?
Today I tried to install KVM on the server I have running at a datacentre somwhere in France. No biggie you’d think, except that in ubuntu 18.04LTS, netplan.io is the default network configuration management tool. It plainly sucks to the point where I’m getting angry at my computer because of it. So here’s a litte rant for the people over at Canonical regarding their decision to include netplan at this stage of development
Culture in New Europe (Part 5 in the New Europe series)
So, here we are again in the (much belayed) next instalment of how I would shape my Europe.
In this chapter I’ll discuss Culture. As I see it, culture has a decisive role to play in any nation. Without it, there is no factor to unite a people. Culture provides the central themes around which a nation can bond and through which it can create a feeling of togetherness. It is one of the things which makes proud nations successful. This is clearly seen in many larger nations. Also, nations which fail to install such a central culture are bound to fail at some point if the differences are stronger than the common ground found in the things which do bind the different peoples within the same nation. These themes involve customs, religion and shared icons. Continue reading
R.I.P. Free internet in the EU.
Today is a sad day in the history of freedom. Today, the European Parliament approved a proposal which mandates a form of net neutrality which in fact is everything but that.
Telecom companies have won a major battle to charge extra for basically nothing extra delivered on their part. The carrot which was dangled in from of member nations was the abolishment of roaming charges. But through lobbying and cartel-like practices the telco’s have banded together to strike it rich. Continue reading
Taxation and government spending in New Europe (Part 4 of the New Europe series)
In this chapter I will deal with a very important matter: the financial dealings of the state. The bottom line of the financial affairs of any state revolve around income and expenditure. There is no way around it. If you don’t have the money, you can’t spend it. According to some (I’d say rather foolish) people, this view of dealing with the organisation of the state is cold and doesn’t include the human perspective. I’d say that this all boils down to the implementation of the policy by the people who need to carry out the work implementing it, but there’s no way around the fact that you need money to keep things running and that you can’t keep things running if you don’t balance the books. Continue reading
Government structure of New Europe (part 3 in the New Europe series)
In this post I will discuss the government structure I have in mind for New Europe.
This part will focus on the structure of government on the national level and the role and structure of provincial government, which will likely mirror that of the national government, except where this is superfluous.
The points I’d like to discuss in this post can be summarized as follows:
- National government structure and its procedures
- Executive branch
- Legislative branch
- Judicial branch
- Provincial government structure, its reach and its limits.