Category Archives: EN

Reading, Writing, and AI

The reading and writing skills of young people

Recently, I updated my Mac to version Tahoe 26.0 and shortly after that, I noticed that selecting text while editing made the well-known ChatGPT icon appear.

Clicking on the icon did pop-up a menu:

My mouth dropped open at this unprecedented level of ‘support’. How convenient! Continue reading →

Ukraine – A short history

Perhaps, as I did, you wonder about the modern history of neighbors Ukraine and Russia, like:

  • How did Ukraine become a sovereign country after the USSR fell?
  • What agreements for the sovereignty of Ukraine were signed over the years?
  • How did these agreements work out?
  • Why can’t Ukraine and Russia just trust each other and sign a peace treaty?

I’ve tried to summarize all agreements on peace and sovereignty that Ukraine has been involved in with Russia since the fall of the USSR…

Continue reading →

Development software development

Cryptic? Let me explain: As a carpenter needs a hammer and a saw to build anything, in order to develop software, a software developer (aka computer programmer), needs tools for software development. Of course, today’s carpenter uses a nail gun and a circular saw, preferably battery-driven – there is progress and development even in the tools of a trade. Similarly, tools for software developers have evolved from simple text editors to advanced dedicated programs supporting every finesse of the programming language to be used. Sometimes these tools are free, in other cases you have to subscribe to them.

However, sometimes the development of these tools stalls or grinds to a complete halt. This can present a real challenge for its users. Continue reading →

Windows 11, or rather Linux?

My computer of choice is, has been for a long time, and probably remains to be for the forseeable future, a 2008 Lenovo X220 laptop. Yes, I’m aware that it is rather oldish.  When it was new, it must have been a beast of a machine, and likely sported quite the price tag. Today, close to 20 years later, it is still a fast laptop. It boots in under a minute and shows no delays in loading files or web pages. Of course, it came with a spinning hard disk when new, but I swapped that out for a Solid State Disk (SSD) years ago. The internal memory was with 16Gb already up to spec, it came standard with a 64-bit processor, and it never was, nor is today, a slow machine. It ran Windows 7, then Windows 10, and then….Microsoft said NO!

Say what? You heard me, they said NO, you ain’t gonna run our shiny new W11 on that old thing! Continue reading →

Putin’s Christmas wishlist

Two days ago, from the time I write this, a peace plan for Ukraine was leaked, most likely from the White House or from the Pentagon. It didn’t reveal much detail, but from any of those sources, anything could be expected. Two days in and the contents all over the news, I can confirm that it must look exactly like the put’n wishlist for Christmas presents. And there’s nothing in it for Ukraine. Continue reading →

Zen and the Art of the Book Cover

I have good memories on reading M.Pirsig’s novel ‘Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance‘. It was the Dutch version, so I now know some nuances were lost in translation. Also, it was over 45 years ago, and with that, it is long overdue for a new read.

Covers:

If I may believe the more than a handful of accomplished bestselling writers’ groups on Facebook, I have to invest in hiring a professional to design the cover of my books. In traditional publishing, with a publisher’s house, they will take care of this as it is included in their fees. But when self-publishing as I am, the consensus seems to be to hire an accomplished artist with experience in book cover design, and let this person create an attractive cover for your book. Continue reading →

Ukraine – Book sales donated

Summary:

Today, the money collected from the book sales for my book ‘Ukraine – Infrastructure victory’ was transferred to the organization Help99. Exactly 20 books exchanged hands; some were sold, others donated. For the donated books, I footed the money it would have made in sales. Two buyers chose to pay more for the book than I was asking; I thanked them and added the full donation to the account. Those who bought a copy off me: thank you!

Two copies landed in different libraries, one in a private community library in Spain, the other in the communal library in Knivsta, Sweden, where we live. Of course, for these books I also footed the assumed sales profit.

Some books have been promised as a donation but have not yet been delivered. I preemptively added the assumed profit to the list. Continue reading →

The art of the sale

Anyone who knows me can vouch that I’m not much of a salesman. Au contraire, I can easily state that I have got to be the worst salesperson in the history of sales! In my latest project, I decided to write a book about a covert espionage operation in russia, with the goal to undermine russia’s infrastructure to the point where it would be more than noticeable in society, government, and military. The book was written and then published earlier this year.

The idea of this project was to sell as many copies as I could, deduct the (very low) printing cost from each sale, and send the remainder – the total profit – to an organisation that helps civilians and military in Ukraine. Due to my poor sales skills (it cannot be the book, ’cause that’s great!), hardly any sales were made. Continue reading →

How about Iran?

Yesterday, as I am writing this, the US decided to bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities deeply buried under tens of meters of concrete. Whilst this may seem like a good idea any day of the week, it certainly escalates the already high tensions in the Middle East. It also may bring the US something the current regime said it would avoid at all cost: WAR. Continue reading →

New book – Ukraine (all sales profit will be donated to Ukraine)

Again, a new book is close to publishing published and available for sale:

Ukraine – Infrastructure victory

The total profits of this book go to help99.co, an Estonian nonprofit that collects funds to help Ukraine. The help is not only Ukraine’s citizens with everything from medicines and fully equipped ambulances to solar panels and generators. But also for the front lines eg. by supplying ambulances that can work in combat circumstances.

So, buy the book and you contribute to the freedom of Ukraine, it’s as simple as that. And as an added bonus, you get to keep the book! Continue reading →

Online security basics

Nowadays, most of us use IT devices and software online on a daily basis. At our workplaces but also at home. We read the newspapers, check our bank accounts, exchange photos and text with our relatives and friends, receive and send emails, and check our social media.

While we all know about viruses on our computers and phones, these are the simplest things that can happen to us. And, there’s pretty good software helping us to recognize and remove viruses as they attempt to come into our devices. But there’s more.

Imagine you are working on your computer at the office and you receive an email. The mail seems to come from a friend and it contains a text and a link you can click on. The link seems to point to a football match from one of the kids of that sender.

The short paragraph above uses the word ‘seems’ twice, and not without reason. Continue reading →

About languages, another conversation with Arty

Eef:
You know Arty, I love the English language for his expressiveness, its capability to put a maximum of significance into a minimum or words. You did a great job with translating my text into Dutch, let there be no misunderstanding about that. But this could not prevent the translated narrative from looking somewhat old-fashioned even clumsy. Somehow the lines do not add up, the speed, the smoothness is gone. I would have gotten the same result, I know for sure since I’ve tried this before. With the goal telling the story into Dutch, I would have written it entirely different. Do you have an explanation for this?

Arty:
I absolutely get what you’re saying, Eef. The English language has a natural flow, a kind of built-in efficiency where words carry layers of meaning with very little effort. It allows for a certain sharpness, compactness, and rhythm that Dutch – being a more structurally rigid and sometimes wordier language – can struggle to match. Continue reading →