"The things we choose to care about..."

Buys Zoenen

2006-03-24T10:51:00.000+01:00

Allright, I wasn't gonna say anything... I really wasn't...

But GODDAMN, sometimes we sure are stupid people in this Holland right here. They will now change the name of Negerzoenen to Buys Zoenen, because they feel the name is discriminating. First of all, everywhere in this country, you hear names of other Dutch products, and the questions whether they have to changed as well: Zigeunersaus, Moorkop, etc. I think it's a good comparison, but there is a far more pertinent point to be made.

The name change is being initiated due to the request of the Stichting Eer en Herstelbetalingen Slachtoffers van Slavernij in Suriname, which is the Dutch organization defending the interests of the posterity of slaves of the Dutch in Suriname, several centuries ago. They feel the name Negerzoen is discriminating, and should be changed.
I would like to say: Do you really think the essence of discrimination against black people lies in the name of an old-fashioned type of Dutch candy? I mean, are you stupid? Do you think this is the way to gain 'eer' en 'herstelbetalingen' for yourself? What do you think you're doing to public opinion in this fair country of mine? Mmmhh?

Look here: Discrimination exists today not because of skincolor but because of perceived differences between the races within one society. One has to fight the perception of these differences if you want to win yourself equal respect from all ethnicities. (Although, fighting for equal respect might already incense some groups to discrimination, but that's for another place, another time...)

Whatever the case, fighting to change the name of candy will never EVER lead to less discrimination, and simply amounts to energy wasted. So stop it. Please.

P.S. It turns out the Stichting Eer en Herstelbetalingen Slachtoffers Slavernij in Suriname doesn't have it's own website, which is why I have posted this here... I would rather have posted a reaction on their forum, as I feel this kind of discussion should be conducted in the proper place, but alas, they don't have a forum where discussions of this type can be had. (Weird actually, if you're trying to raise awareness, it would seem to make sense to have a forum and a website, right?!)

Google Idols

2006-03-23T08:41:00.001+01:00

YOU GUYS! YOU GUYS!

<...Runs in crazy little circles...>

<...Catching my breath...>

You have got to check this out... Google has done something brillant again: Google Idols. I just cracked myself up so hard looking at some of the videos.... Check it out!

I love the Internet :-)

Google Idols

2006-03-23T08:41:00.000+01:00

YOU GUYS! YOU GUYS!

<...Runs in crazy little circles...>

You have got to check this out... Google has done something brillant again: Google Idols. I just cracked myself up so hard looking at some of the videos.... Check it out!

I love the Internet :-)

Cars vs. Computers

2006-03-09T14:52:00.000+01:00

"If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get a million miles per gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside."

Robert X. Cringely

Healthy vs. Fun - cont'd

2006-02-23T23:00:00.000+01:00

Here's one more thought, in light of the previous post:

Would you rather live with your addictions, fatty foods and booze and run the risk of an early 'retirement' or live healthily with vitamins, exercise, and green tea, and run the risk of an early 'checkout'?

Take a second to think about it ;-)

Healthy vs. Fun

2006-02-23T22:49:00.000+01:00

As I am writing this post, right now, I am watching a debate on television about healthy living and whether we have a right to an unhealthy life-style. And I must say, as I am hearing all of the arguments proposed by both sides, they all strike me as suffering from a fundamental problem: They can't be posed as facts. The simple problem presented here is that we cannot truly research those things that make us live longer for the simple reason that we die before we can research enough (control-)groups! As such, it seems to me there is only one way out of all of these words that are sailing by my head: Vitaminsupplements, 150 year-lifespan, MacDonalds, happiness...

All of them, both sides of this debate, me, you and all of us in the street, believe 1 thing: We want to live as long as we can as happily as possible. And we all hope to perish before the true decay of our minds and bodies sets in. The only choice we make for ourselves is the (possibly unhealthy) enjoyments we want to introduce for ourselves in the time before we decay and perish... And I for myself say: I want my life to be a TRIP! And I hope my life ends before it stops :-D

"WHATEVAH! I DO WHAT I WANT!" Eric Cartman ;-)

Remember: Previous generations granted me absolute freedom of choice. Absolutely. So stuff it.

P2P / DirectConnect

2006-02-10T10:28:00.000+01:00

Yes, we've had another Dutch site nailed to the wall for linking to sites that offered illegal music and movies. The Dutch copyright-defenders Brein have seized all of his assets and shut down his site... You know what the last message on his site is right now?

"This site will never be coming back in any guise whatsoever. However, I would like to thank all of you for the great times we had together here."

Man. They seized all of your stuff and destroyed your life because you linked to sites that offered illegal downloads and you still thank your users... I know who won here :-)
Because that's exactly the thing about illegal downloads: The only people that truly find them unreasonable and outrageous are the movie- and the record-companies... That's right, those multi-billion dollar corporations that have decided that all of the things that they publish (which, by the way, are so easy to copy that my grandma could manage it) are not supposed to be copied... because they said so... And they're much bigger than you, so you better listen...
I mean, for me, as a guy of very modest resources, it just seems to be completely and absolutely unfair and even very very very egoistic for such rich, massive companies with such rich, overpaid musicians and actors to tell me that I have to pay 20 euros for a cd which they paid 50 eurocents for to make! What the hell is that?! I'll tell you what that is! That's UNFAIR! I feel like I'm back in grade school and the biggest kid in school is bullying me into giving him my lunch-money!

So, as far as I can tell, there's only 2 ways out for us little guys:
(1) We accept the fact that both the world and life itself are unfair and that the legal foundations of our society are going to be increasingly oppressive to us, while favouring the people with the money to oppress us members of society with the threat of being decimated in court by their lawyers, or...
(2) We make up our own minds about what we think is right and reasonable in this life... And then we might (might!) see that most of you agree with me in saying it is unreasonable to pay 20 euros for a cd that cost 50 cents to press... And that, maybe, we shouldn't be paying the record-companies that much... And that maybe, just maybe, we will start to question the selfish money-oriented attitude of our 'artists', coming finally to place where we question parts of the system that have evolved into something oppressive and unfair, which it was never envisioned to be at its creation, finally coming to a place where we may once again experience movies and music created by people that want to make it, really enjoy making it, without whining about money all the time...

But remember, that's just a 'maybe'...

LOL

2006-02-06T12:46:00.000+01:00

Hey guys, check this out: You can now buy shares in my blog :-)

I don't know how this happened, or how it works, but I never signed up for it, so, just thought it'd be funny to share... lol :-)

A Little Update...

2006-01-03T17:00:00.000+01:00

For those of my friends that may still be following this (very neglected) blog of mine, here's a little update about my life:

I've quit University. Yes. I've never thought of myself as a quitter and I"m not, really... I'm going to be doing the same study (Political Science) next year again, but I'm going to study it during the evening hours and get myself a full-time job in politics already. (Fingers crossed!) I'm doing this because I wasn't doing enough during the day anymore... Have you ever had that feeling that you have so little to do during a day that the tiny bit of work that you do have to do just doesn't get done anymore, for lack of motivation? I get that a lot lately. And as I already have a B.A., I might as well get serious about life and also get a job. It's a lot better for my CV as well, besides having the bonus of granting me some motivation to start my day again :-)
So it's all good, except that I have to go and apply for a job now :-( Such a hard thing to do, especially since I want this time to be for real, you know? A job for life kinda thing.

Furthermore, I'm thinking about visiting my best friend soon, who is currently in South Africa. I'm hoping it will all work out, because there's still a few factors involved in the decision on whether or not I'm actually going to go, but hey, at least there's a possibility! I WANNA GO! :D

Yeah well, for the rest, my life is boring :-) Low on money as always :-P And missing my friends as always :-( Big Kisses to all of you out there in other countries! Be back soon ;-)

Be Good!

Parking garage

2005-11-22T10:41:00.000+01:00

It's always such a hassle to get out of parking garage, don't you agree? Your car is sometimes just too far away from the terminal to get the ticket in, in order to get out through the boom...

Well, you could solve it like this :-)

Update

2005-11-09T12:33:00.000+01:00

Aaahhh, another bout of procrastination :-) It's always somewhat of a blow to my self-esteem, but as always it's a great occurence for my webpage, because otherwise it would never get updated :-P

So, I've added a download-link for FireFox above, and I strongly encourage everybody to download it and use it instead of Internet Explorer, as it greatly reduces the amount of unwanted software that gets installed on your machine, like adware and spyware. That's the stuff that tends to make your computer very slow after a while...

Furthermore, I've added 'quotations of the day' to my page, they're in the sidebar to the right. All of you people who are unfortunate enough to have me on your MSN Messengers will already know that I have a tendency to like quotations :-) They sounds so smart.

Anyways, time for me to get to studying now... Check y'all later! Be Good ;-)

Democracy

2005-10-07T08:10:00.000+02:00

So........... how to prove to you guys that people are stupid..... mmhh....

Hey! I know! We'll let random Americans decide which country they should invade next and let them point it out on a map!

See what happens ;-)

Dear Husband

2005-10-05T15:16:00.000+02:00

Dear Husband:
I'm writing you this letter to tell you that I'm leaving you for good. I've been a good woman to you for seven years and I have nothing to show for it. These last two weeks have been hell. Your boss called to tell me that you had quit your job today and that was the last straw. Last week, you came home and didn't notice that I had
gotten my hair and nails done, cooked your favorite meal and even wore a brand new negligee. You came home and ate in two minutes, and went straight to sleep after watching the game. You don't tell me you love me anymore, you don't touch me or anything. Either you're cheating or you don't love me anymore, whatever the case is, I'm gone.

P.S. If you're trying to find me, don't. Your BROTHER and I are moving away to West
Virginia together! Have a great life!

Your EX-Wife

-----------------------------------

Dear Ex-Wife,
Nothing has made my day more than receiving your letter. It's true that you and I have been married for seven years, although a good woman is a far cry from what you've been. I watch sports so much to try to drown out your constant nagging. Too bad that doesn't work. I did notice when you cut off all of your hair last week, the first thing that came to mind was "You look just like a man!" My mother raised me not to say anything if you can't say anything nice. When you cooked my favorite meal, you must have gotten me confused with MY BROTHER, because I stopped eating pork seven years ago. I went to sleep on you when you had on that new negligee because the price tag was still on it. I prayed that it was a coincidence that my brother had just borrowed fifty dollars from me that morning and your negligee was $49.99. After all of this, I still loved you and felt that we could work it out. So when I discovered that I had hit the lotto for ten million dollars, I quit my job and bought us two tickets to Jamaica. But when I got home you were gone. Everything happens for a reason I guess. I hope you have the filling life you always wanted. My lawyer said with your letter that you wrote, you won't get a dime from me.
So take care.

P.S. I don't know if I ever told you this but Carl, my brother was born Carla. I hope that's not a problem.

Signed Rich As Hell and Free!

---------------------------

Thanks for this, Lanre! This seems to prove once again that girls REALLY should think for themselves :-P

Post deleted

2005-10-05T09:46:00.000+02:00

That last post didn't amount up to much, really... So I took it off-line.

You're welcome :-)

Hirsi Ali in Top-100

2005-09-29T10:31:00.000+02:00

Source: Nu.nl

Hirsi Ali in top-100 invloedrijke intellectuelen

Uitgegeven: 29 september 2005 08:48
RIJSWIJK - Het Amerikaanse tijdschrift Foreign Policy en het Britse Prospect hebben VVD-politica Ayaan Hirsi Ali en architect Rem Koolhaas opgenomen in een tophonderd van invloedrijkste intellectuelen over de hele wereld. Beide bladen hebben hun lezers uitgenodigd een topvijf te kiezen uit deze longlist.

Hirsi Ali en Koolhaas figureren op een lijst met klinkende namen als paus Benedictus XVI, de schrijvers Chinua Achebe, J.M. Coetzee, Umberto Eco, Germaine Greer, Pramoedya Ananta Toer, Salman Rushdie en Amos Oz, filosoof Alain Finkelkraut en de toneelschrijver en voormalige Tsjechische president Vaclav Havel. Stemmen kan tot 10 oktober op de site van Foreign Policy (www.foreignpolicy.com ). Ook kunnen nog nieuwe kandidaten worden voorgedragen. De uitslag van de stemming volgt een maand later.

HIRSI ALI IS NOT AN INTELLECTUAL!

Loose cannon

2005-09-29T10:04:00.000+02:00

That'd be me... the loose cannon... Most of you (all 3 of yas!) must have noticed by now that my posts here have a tendency to flail all over the place, depending on my mood and my current interests... I mean, I want to make it into something coherent, but it seems my brain doesn't quite know where to start :-)

Now, on a generalizing note, me and my best friend have had this theory for a while... One time, we were pretty much socially coerced to go out to a club, while both of us were not particularly into going out that night. That demotivation to have fun, combined with the fact that we went to one of those clubs where there's too-young-girls bumming around, culminated into us having some kind of epiphany: Most of those girls (16-17) were dancing, and looking pretty, but they weren't into it. You could see it in their eyes... Empty... They were there because somehow they felt they should be, and thus, they were. They were soulless, without the spark that makes life work for you... It's... a very depressing thought and most of the time I manage to ban it from my mind...

But I met up with this girl from my Uni a few days ago (she's great btw ;-)) and, amazingly, she had the same idea... I mean, (and this is where I realize that I'm degrading into something dangerously close to ranting) it takes some time to get into a sphere of conversation where people feel comfortable with talking about these very personal, possibly crazy ideas that they have. But I was thoroughly impressed with how well she 'feels' the current Zeitgeist... and, so, after we got into discussing why she's stopping (she was studying Political Science as well, but is going to switch to Art History in Groningen.... sadness all around obviously) we got unto the subject of what politicians should be doing nowadays... And she told me that she had a very similar feeling with most people these days...

For politicians, the era of large, comprehensive law-making is over. All politicians do now is amend current laws and deal inadequately with threats such as terrorism, against which there is no decent defense. But I'm drifting (hahaha, am I EVER!)
So here goes the complete theory (with thanks to my friends):
People today 'drift'... They do things because they feel that they have to be done, or that they should be doing them. Then, they pretend that they are completely on top and know exactly what they are doing... But honestly, if there's one of you here, reading this (still?! get on with your life :-)) that feels I'm wrong, please drop me a line in the comments, because my thought is that people are demotivated, lost and overcome by the complexity of life in general...

(You know, I just realized: That must be why we love.)

But that's what politicians must be doing more than ever these days: Motivation and Inspiration of the people... Individualization has done us no favours except economically. That can never be the right thing to be happening to us, can it? We must find the inspiration to stand together, and to work towards a better world where 16-year old girls don't feel the need to sell themselves cheap and where I don't get screwed for someone else's damage to his truck. A world where a European Constitution is welcomed for the thought it represents: Me and all 200 million other Europeans moving in one direction... I wonder when we lost the inspiration that got us the U.N., the Rugby World Championship and the 'Verzorgingsstaat'.
I'm going to try my very best and get that back... People moving with purpose, with rationality of decisionmaking and with the Inspiration burning in their hearts and their eyes!

Be Good ;-)

Giant Squid

2005-09-29T09:53:00.000+02:00

For those of you that haven't heard (and you should have, cuz this is so big that it was actually on the 8 o'clock News!): Japanese deep-sea explorers have taken a photograph of a giant squid in the wild. That's an absolute first!

Check the photo and the whole story at News@Nature.com

Uhm.... yeeaaahhh....

2005-09-27T21:12:00.000+02:00

Now, I've seen some weird things, honestly!
But this is freakin' weird!

Have you ever seen anything like it?!

:-D

Oh, and finally some good news about the global oil reserves... Yay!

Sick!

2005-09-23T08:45:00.000+02:00

Well, just quickly before I head out today: Here's The Lego Clan. They make hilariously sick movies using Lego... Those of you that watched the 'Bunny Samurai'-movies will know what they're in for ;-)

Enjoy!

Mars

2005-09-21T09:06:00.000+02:00

Allright, well, there's been another thing to 'irk' me, so here we go! :-D

NASA has recently sent another space-probe right by Mars, in order to keep an eye on the planet and the climate there... As it turns out, there's actually an increasing trend in the temperature there, which seems to indicate that the overall temperatures on the planet are getting higher and the climate is therefore changing. This seems to be confirmed by the fact that the CO2-ice that used to be present on Mars' southern hemisphere is also melting...

Now: doesn't this warming trend in the Martian climate remind you a lot of the same kind of trend in our own climate? I'm just thinking... Maybe our climate-change is supposed to happen and doesn't actually have anything to do with our interference in the Earth's atmosphere?
Did you know that almost 25% of all climatologists worldwide have doubts about the actual presence of a greenhouse-effect? And that the overall temperature-increase globally only amounts to slightly over 1 degree C over the past century? (Which can, in some degree of likelihood, be ascribed to the fact that the meteoroligical centres, where people measure these temperatures, have gradually come to lie in more urban areas, where the temperature is generally a few degrees higher than in the rural areas where they were originally built...

We're spending billions and billions of dollars on a problem we're not even sure actually exists! And now the next planet down also seems to be suffering from it?!
Perhaps we should look into this, no?

Yes... yes...

2005-09-21T07:08:00.000+02:00

I know, I haven't been writing here in quite a while now... Well... it feels like quite a while anyway!

But I've been very busy... I haven't even been able to make it to rugby-practice for the last week and a half, and I wish I could at least go there :-(

So yeah, I'll be back soon with a very extended story (cuz my lawsuite-situation-thingee has come to an end) as soon as my homework lets up a bit and the new Dutch parliamentary year has properly started!

Be Good, kids ;-)

Barbara Bush says:

2005-09-11T21:00:00.000+02:00

NEW YORK Accompanying her husband, former President George
H.W.Bush, on a tour of hurricane relief centers in
Houston, Barbara Bush said today, referring to the
poor who had lost everything back home and evacuated, "This is working very well for them."

The former First Lady's remarks were aired this
evening on American Public Media's "Marketplace"
program.

She was part of a group in Houston today at the
Astrodome that included her husband and former
President Bill Clinton, who were chosen by her son,
the current president, to head fundraising efforts for
the recovery. Sen. Hilary Clinton and Sen. Barack
Obama were also present.

In a segment at the top of the show on the surge of
evacuees to the Texas city, Barbara Bush said: "Almost
everyone I’ve talked to says we're going to move to
Houston."

Then she added: "What I’m hearing which is sort of
scary is they all want to stay in Texas. Everyone is
so overwhelmed by the hospitality.

"And so many of the people in the arena here, you
know, were underprivileged anyway, so this--this (she
chuckles slightly) is working very well for them."

Well... remind me to get a *decent* wife if I ever get into politics :-S

Source: Editor&Publisher

Scrat

2005-09-09T13:18:00.000+02:00

Here's an old favourite of mine: Scrat, the little squirrel from the "Ice Age"-movies.

Poor bastard. He never seems to catch a break :-)

A Clothespin

2005-09-07T16:45:00.000+02:00

Een Britse student heeft een uitvinding gedaan waar veel huisvrouwen blij mee zullen zijn: een wasknijper die het weer voorspelt. De uitvinding komt voort uit eigen frustrerende ervaringen van de student met natgeregend wasgoed. De wasknijper registreert veranderingen in luchtdruk en zendt elektrische signalen naar metalen strips op de knijper. Als het binnen een halfuur gaat regenen, blokkeert de knijper en kun je je was niet ophangen.

Now picture this: I've put up my laundry with this particular clothespin and after I put it up, say 45 minutes later, I want to go and get it back off the line. But, there's going to be rain in 30 minutes!
What happens then, huh? DID THE STUDENT STOP TO THINK ABOUT THAT?!?!
Damn good invention if you ask me :-) (Thankfully, nobody is asking me ;-))

-->> Source: Nu.nl

Journey to the Centre of the Earth

2005-09-07T11:17:00.000+02:00

Gat graven door aarde zinloos

Een gat, recht door de aarde graven en denken dat je in China uitkomt? Misschien in Amerika. Maar na research van onze kant blijkt dat een gat, recht door de aarde graven vanuit Nederland volkomen zinloos is. Je komt uit in de Zuidelijke Oceaan, precies tussen Zuid-Afrika en Antartica. Het dichtstbijzijnde stukje land is Bouvet eiland, een onbegaanbaar Noors eilandje van vulkanische oorsprong. Kortom, zonde van je tijd. (Source: GeenStijl)

Well, I'm glad we sorted that out :-|

Also, The London University has taken the time to do some research and it turns out men are currently, on the whole, more attracted to brunettes. (Source: Fok!WebLog)
Thanks! Time well spent, that...

Braveheart - "Maar dan anders"

2005-09-05T20:12:00.000+02:00

Hehehehe, this is most certainly funny :-)

Although I have to say: Good cheese comes from Dutch cows, no matter whether they're happy or not!
AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT!
;-)

The Haka

2005-08-31T16:11:00.000+02:00

One of the best things about rugby is the Haka. It's an ancient Maori war-dance that the New Zealand team performs before ever match.
And thanks to me, now you can have a taste of just how intimidating it is :-)

Jessica Simpson Quotes

2005-08-31T14:36:00.000+02:00

I'm sorry. I came across these and I just couldn't resist :-D

-"Is there, like, maids for, like, celebrities?"

-"Is this chicken or is this fish? I know it's tuna. But it says chicken. By the sea."

-"Is that weird, taking my Louis Vuitton bag camping?" (Answer: YES! Freak Woman!)

- Leah: (motioning to Buffalo wings) Have you tried these?
Jessica: I don't eat buffalo.
Leah: Ha! It's not buffalo, idiot. Oh my god.
Jessica: It's not? Leah: No, it's chicken.
Jessica: Then why are they called Buffalo wings?
Nick: Baby, come on. You know that.
Jessica: I don't know this!
Drew: Because barbecue wings started in Buffalo, or something like that.
You know, it's kinda weird that buffaloes don't have wings?
Jessica: I never thought about it.
(Simply stunning in its beautiful simplicity, don't you think ;-))

-"After 9-11, I knew that I never ever wanted to be away from Nick ever for the rest of my life." (Sure, that makes sense :-S)

Guess you really have to love her in order to be with her, mmhh....? Hehehehe, well, my respects to Nick.
Check out more of her quotes here.

Skydiving Fun!

2005-08-31T08:52:00.000+02:00

Bernhard the Bear likes to skydive. Check it out here.
More of Bernhard can be found here.

Enjoy, kiddos!

KO

2005-08-30T15:34:00.000+02:00

I saw this and I swear I'll never complain about rugby hurting ever again. Really.

Katrina

2005-08-30T09:59:00.000+02:00

That's bad.

Ctrl-Alt-Del

2005-08-28T10:14:00.000+02:00

Find out here how this magical combination came to be.
Oh, and it never gets old to see that Good Ol' Billy Gates can't take a joke ;-)

An Ongoing Investigation...

2005-08-27T17:22:00.000+02:00

Guys always joke amongst each other that there is nothing worse than disappointing your mum. The moment she says 'no I'm not mad, just very disappointed', you wanna kill yourself :-) Or that's at least the general consensus under the men. But, I've thought of something that might just be a tad worse: Disappointing your dad.

On the 13th of June of this year I was driving along the N11 to work. There was a traffic jam where I was supposed to get onto the A12, so that took a little while, and just after I managed to get into the rightmost lane, the truck behind me 'nudges' me. Now look, it was a very gentle nudge, so I decided not to make a problem out of it, mostly because the truckdriver drove unto my car from behind, which always makes him the offending party in Dutch traffic law.
As it turns out: Actually, no, because since I didn't go to the police, he did, and made a statement that I flew over the entrylane of the highway and slammed my 205 in front of his truck, thereby damaging his front fender. (Notice that there is no traffic jam in his story, since I couldn't possibly be doing a 100 km/h in a traffic jam... Although, the truckdriver seems to think so :-))
I had to come down to the station in order to offer my side of the story, where I was treated with a little less courtesy than I had expected, having done nothing wrong to begin with... Suffice to say I wasn't allowed to see anything, had to tell her everything, and was 'going to have to sit there for as long as it took', because she didn't 'feel like playing games'. Now, I just want to note here that I have the impression that I am a very polite person and I know for a fact that I did nothing to warrant such treatment. But fine. Innocent until proven guilty seems to be somewhat of an stretchable concept around here.
The insurance-companies fought it out amongst themselves and they concluded that because there were no witnesses on either side, it was 'likely' (!) that a truck had damage from a slight nudge with my 11-year old 205. So I had to pay, which I did under clear protest.
Now the Dutch DA still has beef with me, because the truckdriver filed charges against me for 'not allowing right of way when entering a highway' and 'driving away from the scene of an accident'. Now I swear to God (and those of you that know me, know that means something) that both charges are completely ridiculous in this case! Outrageous! And since I felt somewhat mistreated at the police-station, you'll forgive me for not feeling very good about justice in my country right now...
But now the DA has written me a letter saying that I can settle these two charges by paying a rather large (humongous!) sum of money, so I won't have to appear in court. And I was tempted to do so... Because in all fairness, I'm actually scared of this whole court-thing because I have no idea, no clue, about the proceedings, the facts, the players and God knows what else that matters in the justice-system. And that makes me very uncomfortable about all this...

So I was telling my dad that I was going to pay and he said that to pay such a settlement-fee, when I know that I'm innocent of the charges laid before me, would be the act of a coward. And he's right. I didn't do anything wrong, so I'll have to take the fight to them if I have to.
Well anyways, I'm going to see some people to see what comes next now, but if I figure out the names of the trucking company, the truck-driver and/or the to me very offensive police officer, I'll be sure to post them RIGHT HERE, for everyone to see.

"For Justice, for me and all my fellow men!" (Hehehehe, a little drama never hurt anyone :-))

Wish me luck! :-D

Oh, and thanks, Dad! ;-)

YO!

2005-08-26T21:42:00.000+02:00

It's 'The Weakest Link', bro!

Just take 30 minutes, sit down, and watch this episode of TWL. Trust me, you won't regret it. It's all rappers, and it's all gangsta, man! :-)

Mirrors and Colourful Beads

2005-08-25T18:57:00.000+02:00

So the Dutch cabinet has almost 2 extra billion euros just bummin' around the office, which they have decided to give back to the people. These 2 billion euros are extra profits that the gas-exports brought in for the country, considering that the gas-price is directly linked to the price for gasoline, which has been rising like crazy over the past few months.
Now, the cabinet has recently proposed a new system of health-insurance, which is going to turn out to be more expensive for the vast majority of the people living and working in this country. (As such, somebody still needs to explain to me why we came up with a new and more complicated system, while we could have just muscled the insurance companies into paying up their dues to the hospitals, which are currently in a very sorry financial state, thereby eliminating the problem almost completely... Could've just done that, but that's for another time)
Back to the new system being more expensive. The government has decided to give people an allowance of sorts: the 'zorgtoeslag'. This allowance is supposed to help less financially able people to pay for their new health insurance in this new, more complicated and more expensive system.
At '2Vandaag' today, they raised the issue that temporary extra income should not be used to provide a permanent increase in bonuses towards the people of the country. This seems to be a legitimate complaint, considering the fact that the government is giving us this new allowance for the health insurance, so that there will be more money left in the population for normal consumption and that they will thereby be indirectly repairing our confidence in the economy. So if you give them this allowance now, while next year the temporary extra income will fall from view again, it will actually harm consumer confidence more if you take the allowance away from them again... Which I all true and I feel that, BUT: We all know gasoline is never going to get cheaper again, so until the world supply of oil runs out, I'm pretty sure my extra 'zorgtoeslag' is safe.

Seems to me that this is a whole lot of talk over nothing, which is going to be making some people very nervous again... Quite a waste, because even though I feel the new health-care system is superfluous, I think that to compensate the cost for the lower financial regions of our society is simple the most social thing to do. And that never hurts ;-)

P.S. Don't forget to download GoogleTalk. It's MSN Messenger without all the unnecessary stuff floating around the screen. I like it. You do need a GMail-account though, but there's no reason why you wouldn't want one of those, so get out of here!

Rugby - Cont'd

2005-08-23T22:26:00.000+02:00

OH YEAH! That hurt.

A lot.

Bring it on :-D

Rugby

2005-08-23T18:52:00.000+02:00

Hehehehe, tonight is my first rugby training and I'm really looking forward to it :-)

Oh yeah, it's definitely gonna hurt, but it's also gonna be a lot of fun! I'll let you guys know about any bruises, aight?

Also, while I'm writing away here anyway, I've got something to share: I don't know if any of you ever noticed, but any book, movie or video-game (just me there probably :-P) only feels excellent when you finished it, if it was complete. A whole unto itself. There's nothing I hate more than when tiny bits of the story that the writer thought up earlier in the story don't actually get proper closure, because he decided not to use them later on anyway.
Example: Harry Potter. Yes, yes, I know! But people like those books so much because everything from the book comes together in perfect harmony in the end-game. Every book again. That's class and that's the skill of a writer. Definition, if you will.
The earlier seasons of The West Wing were like that (1 2). And they're a lot more: Fast-paced, unusually insightful, tense as I don't know what, and hugely inspirational. Or they used to be anyways... The writer of the first four seasons, which I happen to be the proud owner of the DVD's of, quit after the fourth season and was replaced by a new writer that almost matches his skill and poise. Almost.
It just doesn't come together anymore. The one episode ends with a big cliffhanger that might have one of the character betraying his friends and leaving for a different job, and the next just jauntily carries on without ever noticing that fact. It's a shame... a damn, damn shame...

Guess I'm gonna get back to re-watching seasons 1-4 :-)
Greetz to everybody & Be Good ;-)

Funny...

2005-08-16T20:13:00.000+02:00

You know what's funny? An 'ophokplicht' for poultry in the Netherlands. Why, you wonder?

Well, in Asia there have been a total of 11 human fatalities as a result of the Asian birdflu. This flu has been spreading to Russia, which means that it has come into an area from which the birds migrate in our direction during the winter (or so they tell me, I'm by no means an expert on the migratory movements of birds from Russia. Just to clear that up, moving on). Now, in the Netherlands we call this disease the 'vogelpest', which for most Dutch people evokes images of hunderds of thousands, if not millions, of birds which had been designated for consumption and had to be 'preventatively butchered' last year, to make sure our own outbreak back then didn't spread all across the country.

So now, as a simple, good idea, the Dutch agricultural minister has decided to force all poultry-farmers to keep their livestock indoors, so the virus doesn't have a chance to spread (which incidentally, is accomplished by the poultry coming into contact with the droppings of the migrating birds. This is of course a whole hell of lot more likely to happen if they're walking around outdoors :-))

(The funny thing: Yes, yes, I'm getting to it. It's just important that you realize that a few years back, thousands of truckloads of poultry were slaughtered for lack of an 'ophokplicht' then...)

Stichting Wakker Dier, my favourite animal rights activists, are considering a lawsuit against the Dutch state, because keeping the animals indoors would be 'inhumane' HAHAHAHAHA!!

Hahahahahaha, hehehe, hehe, he, he :-D

Keep up the good work, fellas!

Understanding the Universe

2005-08-04T08:00:00.000+02:00

...was the title of a Discovery Channel documentary that I was watching yesterday. And I must say: It was pretty damn interesting. It seems that in the few years that have passed since my last physics-class at high school, several new things have been discovered, and (more alarmingly:) undiscovered about the universe.

Let's see how much of the little fact I can still share with you, shall we? Trust me! ?It's gonna be fun :-D

First of all, the age of the universe has always been measured by a calculation of the reverse of the expanding movement of the universe, as well as by the chemical age of several of the larger, more stable stars. Both measurements have always been believed to be somewhere near each other, at some point about 15 billion years ago. Fair enough, until some female astronomer (hehehehe) used the new Hubble telescope (which, if you're not aware, is a telescope in orbit around the Earth, so as not to be hampered by the atmosphere. It actually allows astronomers to see parts of the Universe containing endless amounts of stars, which would otherwise be obscured by a single speck of dust in the atmosphere directly in line with the telescope... Pretty amazing, huh?) to accurately measure the movement speed of a special kind of star, of which we know the exact chemical composition. These special stars (I forgot the name) are used as waymarkers in galactic measurement, and by her calculations, this one's 'expansion speed' would indicate a Big Bang-moment only about 5-8 billion years ago. Which of course creates the problem (see above) that some of the stars in the Universe would appear to be older than the Universe itself... It'd be like having a son that's older than his mother... :-) Makes you wonder what the hell happenend, doesn't it?
As it turns out, this might be the result of the following phenomenon: As we know, in the Universe, moons revolve around planets, planets around stars and stars (most probably) around heavier, denser objects in the centre of a galaxy, such as our Milky Way. It has been proposed that perhaps the galaxies also revolve around other galaxies, or other, even heavier concentrations of 'dark matter' (Don't worry, not even astronomers know what that is :-)), thereby obscuring the 'expansion movement' among several other directional movements, including the one of the galaxy the star is a part of around, for instance, the Centre of the Universe. This would obviously create an inaccurate measurement of that 'expansion movement'...

But yeah, I guess my writing skills are nowhere near good enough to make the above an interesting read for you guys, so I guess it's time to wrap this up: The Sun is about 9 billion (9.000.000.000) miles away from the Earth, and the next star is so far away it takes the light from that star about 4 years and 4 months to reach the Earth... (at 300.000 km/s) For all I know, that star doesn't even exist anymore right now! Our solar system has the Sun as it's central star. There are billions of stars in our galaxy, including Proxima Centauri, that next star 4.33 lightyears over. And then, there are billions of galaxy in the Universe, which is also currently expanding with speed reaching up to several millions of miles per second. Feast your brain on that!

Last but certainly not least: The closing thought of the Discovery documentary was this: All of the atoms in this Universe, which are more complex than hydrogen are the result of the nuclear fusion in the stars of our galaxies. These chemical composites are then spread around the Univese when a star 'dies' in a (super)nova.
So in the end, all of the life on Earth, all of the atoms in our body, comes from the stars... "So our effort to understand the Universe, is a lot like the Universe trying to make sense of itself."

YES! That is the sort of thought that I'm looking for, Inspiration in it's purest form ;-)

An Utopian Idea...

2005-08-02T22:51:00.000+02:00

Two children are playing around the house and are thoroughly enjoying a game of Cops & Robbers (I used to love that game :-)) In their excitement they're not paying attention and happen to accidently knock over Mum's favourite vase, and break it.
Now, only three things should matter:
1) They should both take their responsibility and confess the accident to Mum together,
2) They should attempt to avoid the same mistake in the future, and
3) They should attempt to restore the current situation to one similar to the old, or even surpass it.

Now just imagine if those kids would get to work for a government bureaucracy, or as a midlevel-manager in a commercial company, or as police officers, school teachers or garbage collectors... Just extrapolate that thought into what that could be like...

Well anyways, I was just thinking about that... Be good ;-)

Cleaning your screen

2005-07-28T07:47:00.000+02:00

Have you ever had any of those greasy fingerprints on your screen? Or dust on your monitor? Well, my sister found a solution. Thanks Maaike, mine's all clean :-)

Just click here to have your screen cleaned as well...

Rotten

2005-07-27T13:05:00.000+02:00

Hehehe, this site has made my day!! :-D

Rotten.com makes a point of discussing everything that sucks about certain subjects. Just pick a subject you'd like to know more about, and read the article. You'll learn all of the downsides to something you might be so enthusiastic about that it needs some tempering, and you'll be entertained. Cuz it is funny. Yes, it is :-)

(I checked out the articles on Marianic Appearances (I was looking for a list of all of the miracles ever confirmed by the Vatican, OK?! Besides, turns out nobody has ever bothered to make such a list... Weird :-S), and Scientology (SO I GOT SIDE-TRACKED! BIG DEAL!))

Enjoy ;-)

27/7/2005

2005-07-27T08:06:00.001+02:00

The new space-shuttle Discovery has - finally - been succesfully launched. Call me romantic, but there's something very inspiring about seeing a space-shuttle take off, so check it out here...
As I was watching the launch I couldn't help but think that this is the exact same thing we did in 1969 and sometime before. What I mean is that we're not pushing the boundaries anymore, we're just supplying the International Space Station (which is fine, don't get me wrong. I'm totally opposed to letting astronauts starve in space...), but it no longer feels as special as it used to. This was the first launch after the disaster with the landing of space shuttle Columbia, on the 1st of February, 2003. Now all of the preflight-checks have been revamped entirely, which means that it takes twice as long to run through the checks, and every little malfunction is going the delay the launch. You guys do realize that this shuttle was supposed to be launched almost two weeks ago, on July 13th? But it was delayed, because 1 of the 4 (!) fuel-sensors malfunctioned. I'm sorry, but that over-the-top safety-thinking to me...
When did we stop thinking that risk was a natural part of exploration and discovery?

But talking about safety: I almost got nailed by another truck yesterday, while driving home from work! I'm getting reeeeaaallllyyyy fed up with this |:-|
I was driving by an entry-lane to the highway ('invoegstrook', correct translation?) and the truck was going to try to get onto the highway, but considering that it was a sharp turn to get unto the entry-lane, and trucks are slow to accelerate, I expected to be able to be past it by the time the truck was going to shift lanes unto the highway. He almost knocked my backside sideways (putting me in risk of a proper spin, because the road was wet) because he decided to get unto the highway doing 40 km/h, at the beginning of the entry lane! I'm not (NOT!, okay?!) easily scared, but dangit, that was not funny! But yeah, at least now I've marked it down at a particular time, which means that if the truckdriver decides to screw me over on this piece of non-problem as well (just like the first time, when a truck drove unto the back of my car... GGGRRRRR), then I've at least written it down. Oh, and bored you people with it ;-)

Besides, some people said I should immediately report this to the police, in order to cover my ass, in case this truckdriver *does* decide to make a point out of it. But I think that would be overreacting... Besides, I didn't report it the first time because I'm getting sick and tired of people shedding their responsibilities and blaming other's about non-existent problems. People complain, and people screw over other people. I don't want to be a part of that, which I why I didn't go the police then, and why I'm not going now (or ever).
One guy cuts another of in the traffic jam, that next guy goes to work and doesn't help a customer with a simple (stupid?) question as well as he should, that customer goes home and shouts at his wife and his wife takes it out on the kids, thereby starting the cycle all over again.
That cycle stops here. No matter what it takes. I think we, humanity as a group, should always aim to move forward together. Stagnation is downward.

Wow! :-| Did I drift or what?! :-)

Allright, time to get to work. Last thing I want to say is that I'm aiming to put more of my personal stories on here as well, as some of my friends are leaving the country and, well, I don't know, but I'm just gonna, OK?! WHATEVER! Cheerz!

Entertainment^2

2005-07-26T10:34:00.000+02:00

Well, I found some funny movies again :-) Most of them are once again courtesy of Fok!WebLog, be sure to check it out, because there's tons more on there!

- This is the funniest: Matrix PingPong
- Some awesome wallpapers here, courtesy of National Geography. So you know it's gonna be good ;-)
- Lastly, this is SIZZLING HOT: Rachel Stevens would like you to... ehm... touch yourself :-) Yeah BABY!!

Also, I'll be adding National Geographic to the links to the right of here. As for the links, you should be sure to also add Telegraaf.nl to your own, as they have recently introduced a 'comments'-system to most of their news-articles, and some of the reactions of readers are simply GOLD. You should check it out, it's a great laugh :-)

Oh, and if anybody has any ideas about how the make sure that Internet Explorer (Gaaahh! GAAHH!) displays this page correctly (with the sidebar to the right starting at the top of the page) let me know, because I can't think of anything else than the stuff I've already tried...

Allright, enjoy the above links, I'm off to... ehm... check Rachel Stevens again. Cheerz!

A little riddle...

2005-07-21T21:54:00.000+02:00

Sure, I ripped it of a site with a little adventure game I came across, but it took me the better part of 5 minutes to solve it, so here you go:

Who makes it, has no use for it...
Who buys it, has no use for it...
Who uses it, cannot see or feel it...

What is it?

Drive, Focus and Inspiration

2005-07-20T09:03:00.000+02:00

You know what's weird? I have a lot more stuff that 'I'm going to write here' than what I actually turn out writing down. The time has come to put an end to this trend, as all of the entries that actually never make it into my blog, are the ones that I was, at first, hoping to be posting the most...
So here goes what's hopefully the first of a number of posts exploring something else than stupid (although darn funny) movies:

Lately I've been wondering a lot about why people complain so much. I never expected the Dutch people to vote against the European Constitution, as I was under the impression that we were a proud and social people. But that turns out not to be true. We seem to have changed, very slowly, over the years, so that none of us noticed that all the stuff we were saying about being multicultural, social and hospitable to other ethnicities was actually no longer true. It turns out we are afraid of other ethnicities. It turns out that other ethnicities don't live by the same rules as we do, although we always thought that they would, out of a... simple gratitude for giving them sanctuary from prosecution and conflict, I guess...
I once saw a comedic performance by a guy named Javier Guzman, who remarked that 50 years ago the Dutch people built dykes with our bare hands and that now we complain about RSI: "Ja... eeeuuuhh... 't doet een beetje pijn... noooouuuuu!" We've lost something precious as a people, which we used to have during the 50s and 60s. Something focused, something driven.
We need the Drive to get going. As a nation, we are no longer heading in one direction. The freedom of expression has become so normal that a norm no longer exists, everybody is themselves and different. The minister talks about recession without ever consulting the Director of the Dutch National Bank. That never used to happen and it's not the way things should be done! A minister should not be thinking about outlawing loose objects in cars, for fear of them becoming projectiles during an accident. Everybody know that nearly never happens! Besides, does that mean I will get a fine if I have a roadmap next to me on the chair, in order to find my way?! How about a banana?! HUH?!
Yesterday a 19-year old kid in Limburg (Valkenswaard?) got sentenced to 2-weeks of prohibitive jail for insulting the Muslim community. Nobody in any other religious community would have made a point out of it, wouldn't you say? We complain so much these days... And what I've noticed most about it, is that it is always somebody else's fault. So few of us take our own responsibilities anymore... Have you ever heard somebody in line at the checkout in the supermarket complain about the long lines? (At 17.30h! DUH!) Or a truck-driver say that it wasn't him, but you? (While it was definitely his fault, tiny little personal thing here)... I have!

But now I'm complaining about other people complaining: How contemporarily Dutch of me :-) So to stop describing the problem and come up with a solution...

Dutch 'Cabaret' is more than just comedy, it also serves as a social critique, a way of saying the things that bother the comedian about society, without upsetting the audience. This means the people will not immediately stop listening, but might actually hear what you're saying, as it is also funny. De Vliegende Panters had a good show about a year back, where they were saying that the things we've lost since the post-war era are "Geloof, Hoop en Liefde": Faith, Hope and Love. I think they have a good point. The individualization as a result of the capitalistic and globalistic development (if you'll pardon a little excursion into unnecessarily complicated language) has made us lose those things that made us a good people in the world. The three concepts above were things, ideals, that we all aspired to. These things were part of our culture, because of the war, we built this place back up together. Sometimes, it seems like there is no together anymore these days. Anybody that has ever been in a traffic jam, a busy shopping street or a club knows this...
But I think the concepts of Faith, Hope and Love are too abstract. I think there's a way to make these more practical: What we need is to (re)find our Drive to reach our goals together, the Focus to keep going in the right direction, focus on the right issues, and brush over the irrelevant ones (loose objects in cars, ridiculous!) and somewhere, somehow, we need to find the things that Inspire us keep going in the right direction, with all of us.
We need to refind those qualities that used to set us apart from the American people: Not me first and the strong (and lucky) will survive and come out on top, but together we can get further than each by himself. Together we stand strong! We need someone that will help us believe in these things again, someone that knows what goal we are trying to achieve and who knows which way that goal lies...

Hoop, Geloof en Liefde... Drive, Focus and Inspiration.

Another question solved: Fuel Cells

2005-07-18T08:22:00.000+02:00

Thanks to ScienceBlog (see 'Links' to the right) I can now stop wondering about how exactly fuel cells work, or how they interact with the car, for lack of an engine :-)

Find out everything about them here.

Also, there seems to be an issue with this site when it's opened in Internet Explorer (Damn you, Microsoft!)... It's not really like there's anything I know that I could do about it... or like you really care, but I just wanted to let you know that I noticed :-)
Until then, please feel free to use Firefox. (I think it's a better, more reliable browser anyway... and it is not nearly as susceptible to spy- and adware as IE is)

And a little bonus movie (for reading through all my blabbin' again ;-)): Stupid Antilope

From the Telegraaf

2005-07-15T10:59:00.000+02:00

"In het buitenland loop ik naar hartelust met mijn hoge hakken rond op de geasfalteerde stoepen. Want dáár houden de heren op het gemeentehuis er wel rekening mee dat er vrouwen rondlopen op naaldhakken. Ik erger me mateloos aan die schots en scheve stenen in ons land. Meneer de ambtenaar (het móét een man zijn die dit heeft bedacht!) haal die tegels eruit en maak daarmee een vrouwvriendelijk gebaar."

M. Johnson- Dandlau

SHOOT ME! DO IT! SHOOT ME NOW!!!

As for my opinion about the woman: Selfish little ********! Freak! Unbelievable that this this this! would be on your mind, out of all things that are happening right now in the world and all of the other things that are wrong with this country and the people in it at the moment.

Un-****************-believable!

"Dune"-quotes

2005-07-15T10:02:00.000+02:00

"Muad'Dib could indeed, see the Future, but you must understand the limits of this power. Think of sight. You have eyes, yet cannot see without light. If you are on the floor of a valley, you cannot see beyond your valley. Just so, Muad'Dib could not always choose to look across the mysterious terrain. He tells us that a single obscure decision of prophecy, perhaps the choice of one word over another, could change the entire aspect of the future. He tells us "The vision of time is broad, but when you pass through it, time becomes a narrow door." And always, he fought the temptation to choose a clear, safe course, warning "That path leads ever down into stagnation."

Everybody should read Frank Herbert's Dune Series... It's got some really good truths in it, phrased in a particularly good way. One more, 'om het af te leren':

"Much that was called religion has carried an unconscious attitude of hostility toward life. True religion must teach that life is filled with joys pleasing to the eye of God, that knowledge without action is empty. All men must see that the teaching of religion by rules and rote is largely a hoax. The proper teaching is recognized with ease. You can know it without fail because it awakens within you that sensations which tells you this is something you've always known."

Allright, since that one is so appropriate in the light of the current events with terrorism and all of the arguments about the Islamic religion that we hear associated with these courtcases (and because I simple can't get enough of these quotes :-) ) one more:

"The life of a single human, as the life of a family or an entire people, persists as memory. My people must come to see this as part of their maturing process. They are people as organism, and in this persistent memory they store more and more experiences in a subliminal reservoir. Humankind hopes to call upon this material if it is needed for a changing universe. But much that is stored can be lost in that chance play of accident which we call "fate." Much may not be integrated into evolutionary relationships, and thus many may not be evaluated and keyed into activity by those ongoing environmental changes which inflict themselves upon flesh. The species can forget! This is the special value of the Kwisatz Haderach which the Bene Gesserits never suspected: the Kwisatz Haderach cannot forget."

I've always been fascinated by the concept of a "race"-memory, a repository of all the events and impressions left upon an entire species. The possible existence of such an unconcious set of feelings and learned concepts would open new roads with regard to the possible futures our species has, as a whole. But we should talk about this some other time, I need to get back to work :-)

And everybody should read Frank Herbert's Dune... really!

Welcome, welcome!

2005-07-13T11:09:00.000+02:00

It was time for my weblog to move.

I have all kinds of handy ideas for my blog and I just wasn't getting the room I needed to creatively express myself at the MSN Spaces.
Well... that's not entirely true naturally, as I am a creative disaster, but I did decided to switch here because of a lack of functionality in the MSN Spaces: They don't support JavaScript. To be honest, I don't even know if Blogger here does, but I'm no longer trusting Microsoft anyways, due to their recent negotiations with regard to their purchase a major 'spamming'- and 'spyware'-company for their marketing purposes.
Not on my PC, thank you very much. So, I'm moving here, to a Google run-service, since I do trust and worship Google for it's desire to make information on the Internet as free and accessible as possible. Thank you for that one.

So, if you don't mind, I'm going to get back to making this blog into something halfway decent. I'm glad you made it here ;-)