Originally published at hjorthjort.xyz

On Monday, news outlet Computer Sweden broke the news that millions of calls to a national Swedish health care adviser were openly available on the internet. Here is a summary in English. In short, they were recording calls for years, put them on a NAS and connected it to the internet, unencrypted, with no password protection. Caller phone numbers were displayed in the file names.

Why is this funny? It isn’t. It is extremely serious, and I sincerely hope that we will see massive fines, people lose their jobs, and perhaps some more severe criminal charges…

Originally published on hjorthjort.xyz.

How often do you click an article that looks interesting, only to realize it was complete bullshit? Or read something that seemed promising, but turned out to be a draining waste of time? Well, if you clicked that link on a social media, you are shit out of luck: you’re about to get served more similar content. And you just encouraged the creators to make more similar stuff, because they have no idea you just want your 15 minutes back.

Smartphones have been called “slot machines in our pockets”. The Time Well Spent movement is challenging…

This topic has bothered me for years. So now, in a moment of inspiration instigated by Wait But Why¹ and drinking a glass or two of bourbon, I want to hash it out. It is something I call the Deathbed Fallacy.

What is the Deathbed Fallacy?

People on their deathbeds regret not spending more time of their life with their family, traveling more, worrying less, etc. I’ve heard this truism echoed by growth gurus and spiritualists. It is amplified by newspapers. It comes up at dinner discussions. …

I’ve been reading Metamoderna for a while now with great interest, and finally got around to reading the book, which has been out since September 2017.

I’ll be blunt: This book may change your life, and it may go down in history as a great and accessible piece of (pop-)philosophy. However, I sense there are some serious pitfalls to reading and applying it. Looking around the web at the comments of others, it seems my concerns are well founded. …

Onsens（温泉）are hot baths whose water is heated by geothermal energy from the volcanically active crust of Japan. An onsen usually consists of a spa-like environment, sometimes with several special pools (bubble pools, cold pools), and one or two regular hot pools, often 44–55 degrees Celsius, that can be indoor or outdoor.

Onsens are a staple of Japanese life, and you should definitely try a soak if you visit. For most people, you just need to show up, pay a fee (usually between 500 and 1000 yen), bring a small towel (or rent one at the facility), wash up and hop…