Earlier, my essay on the mathematical problem P vs NP was published on Paul’s blog.
A short memory refresher:
The P versus NP problem is a major unsolved problem in theoretical computer science. In informal terms, it asks whether every problem whose solution can be quickly verified can also be quickly solved.
In that essay, some samples of this question were mentioned, like The Traveling Salesman problem and also the subset sum problem. Continue reading →
In the 2nd or 3rd grade of my catholic primary school, our teacher spoke of stuff like ‘God’ and ‘Heaven’. “People live in Heaven after their death,” she told us. “All eternity.”
Nobody knew what eternity was, so she had to explain.
“Eternity,” she said, “never ends. “The years go on forever.”
Apparently, she saw her pupils struggling with this concept, and that made her tell us a story. Continue reading →
Spring is approaching.
The astronomical spring begins this year on March 20, when the sun is perpendicular to the equator.
Shortly after, the Middle European Summer Time will start: Sunday, March 29th.
As we all know, on that date we have to turn the clock one hour forward.
In the meantime, this familiar procedure is preceded by an equally well-known concert of moaning, whining, and complaining by the opponents of tinkering with the clock.
The Dutch in particular sound the loudest in this symphony. Continue reading →
In my previous post, I mentioned there was a campaign coming up. Y’all probably spent the day wondering what that campaign might entail. Well, here you go:
The profits of all my books sold in 2026 will be donated in support of Ukraine.
There you have it! Now go buy them books! Continue reading →
The sales of my book ‘Ukraine Infrastructure victory‘ were not great, but I did manage to sell and subsequently donate an amount north of €200. This amount was transferred to the Help99 organisation, which provides vehicles to the Ukrainian army, but also supplies relief goods to the Ukrainian civilians. Continue reading →
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 →
Perhaps, as I did, you wonder about the modern history of neighbors Ukraine and Russia, like:
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…
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 →
I would like to contribute to Paul’s recent essay by trying to put institutions and persons into a different perspective.
If you find the tone somewhat cynical, then you may be right.
It’s about politics after all. Continue reading →
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 →
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 →
Previously, I ranted about the US bomb attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities spread over several installations and deep under the ground. You can read more about that here. In the aftermath, the operation became questionable, as did its alleged results. Continue reading →
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.
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 →
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 →
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 →