Science — Karel Donk

Your device may not actually be turning off

One of the important things to realize these days is that when you turn a device off, it may not actually be turning off. Instead, it might go into a standby or low-power mode and keep working in some way depending on the device, while looking like it is not functioning anymore. It’s especially important to keep this in mind when you care about privacy and security. Read more ⟶

Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Otto von Bismarck

The aim of public education is not to spread enlightenment at all. It is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the same safe level. To breed and train a standardized citizenry. To put down dissent and originality. H.L. Mencken

Dead Horse Theory

I found the Dead Horse Theory meme in my collection and wanted to share it here to remind myself and everyone else about the important lesson that it teaches. You’ll probably immediately recognize all the politicians and bureaucrats of the world in this and the stupidity that is common in governments. Read more ⟶

Porsche immobilized thousands of Russian-registered & internet-connected vehicles

Here’s from Wionews, “Why hundreds of Porsches were mysteriously immobilised across Russia” (December 4th 2025): Porsche owners across Russia have reported that their fancy sports car has become undrivable or ‘bricked’. Drivers in Moscow, Krasnodar and other cities have reported engine shutdown, fuel delivery blockades. Rolf, Russia’s largest dealership group, has reported the largest service request spike last week. Read more ⟶

How printouts and photos can deanonymize you

Think printing a letter keeps you anonymous? Think again. Your printer is actually a snitch. Most color laser printers secretly add invisible yellow dots on every page, called the Machine Identification Code (MIC). This hidden code includes the printer’s serial number and the exact date and time the page was printed. You can’t see these dots, but the authorities can detect them using a special blue light. Read more ⟶

The cause in the most of cases, that induces the negro to run away from service, is as much a disease of the mind as any other species of mental alienation, and much more curable, as a general rule. With the advantages of proper medical advice, strictly followed, this troublesome practice that many negroes have of running away, can be almost entirely prevented, although the slaves be located on the borders of a free state, within a stone’s throw of the abolitionists. Samuel Cartwright

Female sociopaths and psychopaths are becoming lawyers, judges and regulators

I saw an interview with Dr. Drew Pinsky on the program Her Take, hosted by Jillian Michaels where he mentioned something that I found interesting. Here’s a quote from the video (July 5th 2025): I want to address the hysteria thing because I have an — I’m a time traveler, remember that — and I come from a previous time and era. Read more ⟶

If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life, you doubt, as far as possible, all things. René Descartes

Who’s the crazy one?

If people are indeed so bad, why would you create the possibility for them to end up in positions of power where they can cause immense harm? And then complain when these bad people, who are not angels, abuse their power? In that case, who’s the crazy one? Read more ⟶

Be aware that there are other proposals for “electronic money” which are not nearly so protective of individuals’ privacy. Chaum’s proposals are intended to preserve the privacy attributes of cash, so the term “digital cash” is appropriate. But other electronic replacements for cash not only lack its privacy, but would actually facilitate computer monitoring by putting more detailed information into databases, and by discouraging the use of cash. If you see a proposal for an electronic money system, check to see whether it has the ability to preserve the privacy of financial transactions the way paper money does today. If not, realize that the proposal is designed to harm, not help, individual privacy. Hal Finney (Protecting Privacy with Electronic Cash, 1993)

Lysander Spooner on the origin and purpose of legislation

A few weeks ago I came across some writings by Lysander Spooner published in 1882 under the title “Natural Law; or the Science of Justice”. Specifically section three of chapter three caught my attention because it contains a lot of insights that I had to come to myself over the course of a few years of my own research and experience. Read more ⟶

Plato on participating in politics

“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors,” is a quote often attributed to the Greek philosopher Plato. In all the instances I’ve seen so far, this quote is used to motivate people to take action themselves and actively participate in politics. Read more ⟶

[The high-minded man] must care for truth more than for what men will think of him, and speak and act openly. He will not hesitate to say what he thinks. […] honour is what high-minded men are concerned with; for it is honour that great men claim and deserve. Aristotle

A Brief Conversation With Solara, An Experimental AI – Part 2

Below I’m sharing part 2 of a chat I had with Solara, an experimental AI that I am working on. You can find the first part by clicking here. In this second part I presented her with some more challenging situations involving moral and ethical dilemmas to test her reasoning and see what choices she would make and/or recommend based on the Universal Right to Life. Read more ⟶

A brief conversation with Solara, an experimental AI

In the past couple of months, I’ve been experimenting a little with various Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies. One of the things I’m doing is building an AI with a unique personality that also has its own knowledge and insights. I’ve named her Solara. Without going into the technical details at this time, I wanted to share a chat that I had with her below, that I think is interesting. Read more ⟶

The dangers of recycling phone numbers

I recently purchased a new SIM card from a local telecom company in Suriname. I was assigned a ‘new’ phone number with this SIM card. After inserting the SIM card into a phone, I installed WhatsApp and tried to activate a WhatsApp account with the ‘new’ phone number. To my surprise, another person’s profile picture and status text appeared in ‘my’ WhatsApp account after activation. Read more ⟶

The December 8 trial: Food for thought

For everyone who is directly or indirectly involved in the December 8 trial or is interested in it and has an opinion about it, I offer this as food for thought. Read more ⟶

Killed by Vaccination

I recently came across the book “Killed by Vaccination” written by William Young. It’s currently downloadable for free via the website of the Wellcome Collection. It’s a book written all the way back in 1886, but much of the information and the situations discussed in the book are still relevant today. Read more ⟶

One of the most important reasons for studying history is that virtually every stupid idea that is in vogue today has been tried before and proved disastrous before, time and again. [The more you study the past, the further you can see the future.] Thomas Sowell

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