Tuesday, December 27, 2005

2005's Most Memorable

Sometime ago I started a collection, which mentions everything that made a cool or otherwise memorable impression on me, and deserve to be recognized as such. Each year new things get added to the list. These are the things that get added from 2005:

- buying my first house (any first time goes on the list, so does this)

- Lucie Silvas - Breathe In (very nice album; bit of a throwback to Delta Goodrem, but it's been awhile since such a sound hit the airwaves, so huzzah)

- Paul Stoddard, Minardi Team Boss, goes off on a tirade during the Formula One U.S. Grand Prix in Indianapolis (I've never heard anyone in pro sports go off like that on live TV; absolutely hilarious)

- Hitch (Will Smith and Kevin James all the way. The dance sequence is priceless!)

- Gran Turismo 4 (any video game that can single-handedly completely refresh my car knowledge deserves mention here)

- the London bombings (you try not to let it bother you, but if you're going there and there's some kind of terror threat present, you are going to be a bit more nervous)

- working abroad / going abroad for the job (that's another one of my career goals checked off, even if it's only for short stints)

- Batman Begins (most surprising, because I didn't think a movie with Christian Bale would be any good. But he worked out far better than Clooney and Kilmer and even Keaton could muster.)

- Eddie Guerrero's death. (my thoughts about this already discussed here)

- Leil Lowndes - How to Talk (as far as literature is concerned, it has been a very slow year yet again. However there was a book I got a lot out of, and it's this one. Some people won't need it, but I found it helpful, so there.)

- Special Sports (very chic sporty place; quite expensive, but considering it's got all the amenities in one place, I can live with that)

- Danica Patrick (any girl who can drive race cars instantly gets my attention; any girl who looks like that, gets my undivided attention; any girl who does both... well... you do the math.)

- Oracle (the all conquering database corporation is now Peoplesoft/Siebel as well; second only in sheer step-all-over-everyone to...)

- Google (Google Earth, Blogger, Gmail, Google Talk, Froogle, Google Analytics, Google Base, Picasa, Google Desktop, Google Maps...)

- my new catchphrase: crappa della tutti crappis

Plenty of good stuff this year all in all. But next year there's a lot to look forward to: big events, major happenings, good memories...

See you next year!

Monday, December 26, 2005

Capricorns Take Control In New Year, News at Eleven

The end of the year is a good moment to open up the yearly forecasts for (western) horoscopes. Let me take one of those 'scopes that talk about 2006 for my star sign...

Here's what one says about Capricorn (Cappy) for three subjects: love life, career and health:

Love life: Cappy is taking the home situation for granted, and is too focused on work. Communication will see Cappy through. Come November/December trust is regained.

Career: Cappy is ambitious and drives for a function in leadership. The ability to inspire people is a skill that is trained (and taught!) in the first quarter of the year. An opportunity arises in November/December, so make sure to look out for it.

Health: Cappy needs a break, so he needs to plan in moments of total relaxation. Don't eat fatty foods too much.

Of course anybody can read a horoscope how they want to read it, but for me it does show me a possible direction, with enough hooks to take advantage of the good and the positive.

And no, I am not going to do horoscopes for all the star signs. If you're a Cappy as well, you're in luck. The others, well... tough. Go look up your own sign on something like Yahoo Astrology.

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Monday, December 19, 2005

Today's Top Tip: Fail Spectacularly

Everyone wants to be better, faster, farther along than the others. Being successful is everything, winning is the only thing, and all that...
And of course, not everyone gets there. If we all did, then we wouldn't be the best at all would we?

Just to put all lovable losers at ease, sometimes failing (and failing spectacularly at that) gets you further in life. Failure breeds sympathy, it builds character and allows others to see examples of how things should or should not be handled. That's a good thing.

Of course, you cannot be a failure and a whiner. That's just weak. And you shouldn't be mediocre, that's just... well... mediocre.

For some reason success doesn't just breed respect and admiration. It also generates envy, jealousy, downright hatred even. Failure however may not be as bad as you think it is. Sometimes it pays to fall flat on your face.

Thursday, December 15, 2005

Top Gear Ultimate Starter Car test

Picture you need a standard lease car to offer to your employees. Cars that need to be presentable and attractive, yet functional and reasonable enough to afford. Eventually your choices eventually run down to this:

- Fiat Punto
- Opel Corsa
- Peugeot 206
- Renault Clio
- Skoda Fabia
- VW Polo

So which do you pick? Now that's where the Ultimate Starter Car test comes in. Here's some quick impressions:

The new Fiat Punto is a nice car actually. It has a strange appeal to it, if you are so inclined and are willing to see past the marque. The ride is strictly middle-of-the-pack, but you are sure to get some heads turned driving it. The left armrest is a tad too high for my liking though, so it's no good for long drives.

By far the Renault Clio is the best looking of the bunch. Unfortunately it is also the bitchiest to drive. It takes a while to take the Clio in the direction you want it to go. It's not unlike some dates I've had in the past. The steering could be a lot stiffer.

The Skoda Fabia still looks like a souped-up shopping cart. The Fabia handles okay, and is quite light

Because I am a long-time 206 driver, driving the new Peugeot 206 is more like meeting an old friend. You know exactly which buttons to push and how far it takes you. I actually found the ride to be extremely boring, because nothing has changed from the old 206, apart from the steering which seems to be heavier.
The grip and the handling's quite alright, the acceleration is still mediocre, and I take it the mileage in the HDi is still excellent.

I was expecting the Opel Corsa to be very barren, but actually it comes full featured, which may end up to be the best value features-wise for money. A nice dashboard console in the center gives you access to all the important info in the car. Pity the speedometer looks very poor. The handling is average.

The best ride I've experienced of the six is with the Volkswagen Polo. It is the only car of the six that actually goes fast if you tell it to. Nice finish to the interior and exterior, and it doesn't seem to be as top-heavy as the old Polo, which was in real danger of tipping over in corners.

Just to be stereotypical the German cars (Corsa, Fabia, Polo) are very loudmouthed. It makes you wonder if carkits inside the car will do any good at all. And all that noise doesn't seem to make good on the speed, power or acceleration of the cars. Only the Polo kind of backs its roar up with some kind of power.

For some reason only VW and Peugeot know that people can be left- or righthanded. Try to close the boot with your left hand on the Punto, Clio or Fabia. Or with your right on the Corsa. Can't be done. Of course you could just close the lid from the top, but 1) often I can't reach that high and 2) if you haven't washed your car in a while, you wind up with mud on your hands.

The glove compartment on the Fabia is so small, it ONLY fits a pair of gloves. There's no space of any kind for maps, directions and that kind of stuff. That might be okay if you've got a GPS system, but if you've got a GPS system anyway you might as well get a bigger car.

So what's the Top Gear verdict?

Take the Peugeot. Boring as hell, and slow to boot, but affordable, durable and you get good mileage on it. If money is no option, the Polo is the best drive though. It's fast, feels powerful and significant.

Damn taxes.

Sunday, December 11, 2005

Smokers vs. Vegetarians

When vegetarians and I eat out, they make me order different food. They have their own items on the menu, specifically catered to their tastes. Most of the time they can make a lot of people feel guilty about their food choices. Also I see a lot of people turn vegetarian from one day to another, but I never see a vegetarian turn back. I have rarely seen being a vegetarian to be a medical necessity. Finally, for some reason though women are vegetarians by choice, but men who are vegetarians, are mostly so inclined because of religious beliefs.

However smokers have made sure smoking cabin manufacturers across the world are in business, and the anti-smoking label industry… and the cigarette packet cover-industry for that matter. Also there's the extra tax income that cigarettes generate. As an aside smokers have got their own sections in restaurants and trains. Of course people move in and out of this membership, so that puts smokers behind vegetarians as the most influential minority, but I still say they’re close.

Saturday, December 10, 2005

X-Mas all the way

Christmas is not a holiday that just comes and goes by in a night. For a start there’s christmas eve, christmas day and (at least in the Netherlands) another christmas day; Of course, there’s also the run-up to christmas. You would see christmas lights hanging in every window, over every street and on billboards. Christmas songs sound everywhere. Christmas trees are up all over the place. And here’s the kicker… it all starts over a month and a half before the holidays start proper.

With the seasons and the climate all screwed-up, christmas fever runs higher than ever. We’re looking so much for some stable values that we cannot rely on the weather anymore… or society for that matter. So much so that we are so eager to start the only holiday that everybody in the (western) world cares about, that we start looking forward to it six weeks before or earlier even. Or maybe it’s because everything is so bloody expensive we need to spread it out over a longer period of time just to make ends meet.

Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Irony

Picture this: you step into a taxi, tell the driver where you want to go, and he keys it into his PDA…

Ah, the PDA comes to life giving the driver directions. All the while, the theme from “Mission Impossible” plays…

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Matters of the heart

The past four months have been the stage for several tragic and untimely losses in sports. And I'm not talking about George Best, we saw that one coming...

However for these guys death came quick, sudden and far too soon:
- Thomas Herrion, player for NFL's San Francisco 49ers, collapsed after a pre-season game in August; The cause of death was later determined to be Ischaemic heart disease.
- Jason Collier, basketball player for the Atlanta Hawks in the NBA, died in October; he suffered from a sudden heart rhythm disturbance caused by an abnormally enlarged heart.
- Eddie Guerrero, superstar in the WWE, died early November in his hotel room; his autopsy showed he had signs of heart disease.
- and earlier this week David Di Tomasso, footballer for FC Utrecht died in his sleep. It is widely assumed he suffered from cardiac arrest.

Also one NHL player came awfully close as well...

See the connection? All of them had some kind of heart condition that ultimately led to their passing. What's going on?

I'm not about to launch into a diatribe about the dark side of professional sports, or that we have to seize the day, because we don't know when it's over, or the failings and virtues of our health care. That requires a journalistic mindset, and I don't master that. But I do want to point out the following: in a short timespan a number of relatively high-profile athletes have suddenly died due to heart issues. There's no reason behind this, at least none that I can discern with my philosophical or religious ideas. With the help of modern media outlets, the news of this arrives quick, fast, and short. These guys get a headline, a tribute page, a tribute match, maybe even a commemorating wristband, and after that the surviving family members are left to deal with their memories, just like any other person who has lost loved ones in similar (or not) fashion.

Media lets us feel as if there's a sudden outbreak of heart-related deaths to seemingly super-healthy people. A call for closer cardiac monitoring with athletes is perfectly understandable. But it seems the end truly comes to all of us, whether you're in sports or not.

Sunday, November 27, 2005

My Appartment 2

Apparently I've got a floor now. It's the one in the middle.
 Posted by Picasa

Saturday, November 26, 2005

The Ice Age Cometh ...or is it?

So far this year we've had earthquakes (Pakistan), hurricanes in combination with floods (US, Caribbean), snowstorms (Europe). Every media outlet is talking about how the climate is changing and that by the time my generation gets into retirement the Western Europe will be under the sea, Africa will see snow and South-East Asia will turn into desert or something like that. And as far as I hear from our local weather services we've not had extreme weather conditions like they have occurred this year. flash thunderstorms and like yesterday freak snow storms as well.

Unfortunately my memory doesn't serve me well these days, so I don't remember how things were when I was a kid and running around on a icy pond. But wasn't the weather cold then as well? I appreciate the time of year and the weather type to be a bit mixed up, and let me be the first to admit that I don't have some centuries' worth of climatological data in my back pocket. But still I can't help but think it's been this way forever. To me, the weather I - we - just have to deal with. No climatological convention, no kind of media coverage can stop what are aeons of planetary aging.

Kind of makes talking about the weather to strangers more significant...

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

How to attack anyone without breaking your nails

In continuation of argumentation gone awry, here's some sure fire ways to attack any person's arguments, expending only a minimum of effort.

For readers with attention disorder, this is not a good thing.


Turn someone’s generality into an absolute. For example, if someone makes a general statement that Americans celebrate Christmas, point out that some people are Jewish and so anyone who thinks that ALL Americans celebrate Christmas is stupid. (Bonus points for accusing the person of being anti-Semitic.)

Turn someone’s factual statements into implied preferences. For example, if someone mentions that not all Catholic priests are pedophiles, accuse the person who said it of siding with pedophiles.

Omit key words. For example, if someone says that people can’t eat rocks, accuse the person of being stupid for suggesting that people can’t eat. Bonus points for arguing that some people CAN eat pebbles if they try hard enough.

Assume the dumbest interpretation. For example, if someone says that he can run a mile in 12 minutes, assume he means it happens underwater and argue that no one can hold his breath that long.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Argumentation gone awry

Two recent discussions I follow perfectly point out key faults in today's society's thinking. Hopefully by pointing these out we are made aware, and we can do something about it...

1. First: Intelligent Design vs. Darwinism, as viewed by Scott Adams, the guy who does the Dilbert comics. Hilarious blog by the way. We are not getting into the details of this discussion, because it's the characteristics of argumentation that I want to point out rather than the content. Besides I'm not knowledgeable about the subject matter.

Adams says the following: "Neither side understands the other side’s argument. Better yet, no one seems to understand their own side’s argument. But that doesn’t stop anyone from having a passionate opinion." Now he makes this statement in context of the I.D. vs Darwin discussion, but I happen to think this works out quite well for other discussions as well. Religious discussions for example, or political ones, even those about football teams.

Adams goes on: "What you have instead is each side misrepresenting the other’s position and then making a good argument for why the misrepresentation is wrong."
And also: "To make things more complicated, both sides have good and bad arguments lumped into them. If you make a good argument on your side, I respond by attacking your bad argument instead. If it were a debate contest, both sides would lose."

I happen to think this is the lazy way of doing discussions. You just shoot at what you can hit, rather than hit what actually hurts. All you're doing is just irritating the shit out of each other.

2. The other discussion I follow is the Sony Digital Rights Management issue. In short, Sony BMG is sued on the grounds that they - without you knowing or agreeing - put copy protection software, the so-called rootkits, on your computer, should you play one of their (recent, copy-protected) music CDs in your home computer. Again, we're not going into details, because it's the argumentation I want to point out, rather than the contents.

Basically Sony BMG is completely adamant that it has done nothing wrong, merely protecting their copyrights. Mark Russinovich summarizes that Sony "denies that the rootkit poses a security or reliability threat despite the obvious risks of both"; and that Sony "claims that users don’t care about rootkits because they don’t know what a rootkit is."

Here's one side basically making statements that are already dismissed by evidence to the contrary. And it does so in name of incompetence, malice, arrogance or even outright denial. This tells me that there is no end to the degree in which we will protect our interests. As Stewart Baker, assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security puts towards Sony: "It's very important to remember that it's your intellectual property -- it's not your computer."

My point? I feel we are heading in a wrong direction as a society, because the way we want to convince our peers, our audience, our sponsors is not based on strength of argumentation. We want to win people over without spending a lot of effort into the justification of our own ideas, or the flaws of the counter-arguments. We are looking for the shortcut to the quick-fix. We gradually stoop to more immoral ways of forcing people to see our way, like treachery, violence, terrorism even.

I take it that it takes far longer in the current social setting to get to grips with the world, because new information comes toward us thick and fast, and in ever increasing amounts. There's more of the world to understand, but we are not getting a proportionate additional amount of time (and skill? and intellect? and patience?) to make sense of it all.

The pessimist in me says we are not going to turn this around. The optimist even says we have a very long way to go. Our motives and our moral base need to be completely recalibrated, if we are to rise above ourselves and out of this mess. Only then will we have progress. Only then will we have proper arguments.

Sunday, November 13, 2005

Eddie Guerrero 1967-2005

Such a waste... So much still to show... So many fans still to entertain... Eddie Guerrero R.I.P.

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

This Week in Sports

This week's Mohr Sports comes with a few pointed statements about NFL uniforms.

"The Browns make my short list of ugliest NFL uniforms. Brown and orange are not colors for a football player. They are colors for a person who works at Burger King. When the Browns wear their home jerseys, the offensive linemen look like a collection of UPS trucks. Except UPS is faster.

The AFC North is home to two of the ugliest unis in the game. The Bengals' uniforms look like my son's pajamas. If a group of Bengals players came to my door step I would expect them to all yell, "Trick or treat!" Again, orange is not the best color for football. It is downright sad when a fan paints his face on game day. But painting your face bright orange with stripes should put you in either a mental hospital or a preschool."

Also, as if you didn't realize, cheerleaders, sex and violence sells!
Some of the comments on this report are hilarious:

"I will proudly support the Carolina Panthers Cheerleaders in their quest for equal rights to have sex in any bathroom they please. In an effort to support this, I will be holding a fundraiser at my meager apartment where the two will make out with plenty of heavy petting for support of the cause. Any nay sayers will obviously get punched in the face."

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Why having a car in Amsterdam is silly

Parking in Amsterdam is hideously expensive. I can rent a place in the city for the amount of money I spend each month. And I wouldn't have to go through traffic every day.

I also can't make heads or tails of the city's roadmap. One minute I'm driving along a nice, wide two-lane high street; the next I have to squeeze my car inbetween the buildings and the waterways. The S1xx indicators make absolutely no sense to an outsider, and they seem to change into one another at random. Finally, street names actually disappear.

Sunday, November 06, 2005

My appartment building

This is my appartment building, as it's being constructed over the course of the coming year. Check back here to see how construction goes!


My downstairs neighbours! Posted by Picasa


The walls are already up! Posted by Picasa

Saturday, November 05, 2005

Goodbye mails from hell

Of course my working experience so far spans just two consultancies, but I gather the following works similarly in other consultancy firms: In my line of work apparently it's customary to send your colleagues a goodbye mail when you leave. Something to the tune of:

"Hi, I'm John Doe and after 5 years with the firm I've decided to leave to start my sheep farming business in Australia. Thank you all for all the hard work on projects Hard, Tough and Nasty. Farewell..."

Now, there's couple of things I don't understand in this matter:

1. We do have a global mailing list, and apparently it's for goodbye mails. So I may get greetings from people I've never met, will not meet (because they're leaving), and may or may not care about anyway. Why does everybody need to know you're leaving? I didn't need you before, I'm not going to ask for you now, am I?
(Don't get me wrong; I would like to be kept in the loop about people I worked with before. Just that this doesn't include everyone.)

2. Most people who leave find it noteworthy to state how many years they've been with the company. Why is that? Am I going to care more because you've been here for one year or for eight?

3. All these mails start to look like one another. It's greatly disturbing that people have absolutely no sense of creativity in this matter. Or does a template exist that people fill in when they hand-in their company car? Something like:

- fill in your tenure in years (half years allowed)
- list the companies you've been assigned to (maximum of 10)
- state reason for leaving (max. 200 words)
- leave a forwarding address
- enter a statement with some pleasantries for your ex-colleagues (no profanities please)

4. oh yes, the forwarding address. I don't know about the people who write them, but I would make sure the people who need to know my forwarding address, get it. Everyone else, not so much.
If anything, it is a bit cheeky to assume anyone you don't know would like to contact you after you've left the company. There's only a couple of reasons that this might be useful for: stalking or recruiting.

Oh well, when it's time to leave your position, let someone else write your departure mail. Nothing says more that you've arrived, than when your manager writes your departure mail for you.

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Electronic equipment on airplanes?

I always wondered about this: what is actually stopping anyone from using a cell phone on a plane, other than a healthy fear of death?

Monday, October 31, 2005

My Random Thoughts; Week 44

"Is it still called breakfast, when you haven't slept?" (Melissa Joan Hart)

"An old friend will help you move. A good friend will help you move a dead body." (Jim Haye)

"Never attribute to malice what can be adequately explained by stupidity." (Napoleon)

Monday, October 24, 2005

Oeps, die heb ik gemist...

Inmiddels al een tijdje geleden beklonken blijkbaar, maar toch weer nieuwswaardig: mijn oude werkgever wordt overgenomen door Ordina.

Dat wordt een hele speciale oud-strijders reunie binnenkort!

The Use of Computers in Movies

It can't be this hard to make a movie with a realistic use of computers right?

- No matter what kind of computer disk it is, it'll be readable by any system you put it into. All application software is usable by all computer platforms.

- The more high-tech the equipment, the more buttons it has (Aliens). However, everyone must have been highly trained, because none of the buttons are labelled.

I guess not.

Friday, October 21, 2005

2005 World Series

The World Series start tomorrow, featuring the Chicago White Sox and the Houston Astros. It's not going to be something I'll watch on television live (Frankly I still cannot be bothered to watch grown men stand still on a field from pitch to pitch for three hours straight), but the World Series is something special so I will follow the highlights over at SI.com and MLB.com.

Anyway, who do I like winning it all...
The White Sox got Freddy Garcia, who used to be a Mariner (All Hail Seattle!), and I hope to see him do well during the series.
Chicago also has a tragic history not unlike the Red Sox last year for not winning a World Series since the 1910s.
I like both teams' pitching (Roy Oswalt, Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens for Houston; Mark Buehrle, Jon Garland, Garcia, and Jose Contreras for Chicago), and I can't really name a clear favorite there.

I am under the impression the Astros would look better as World Series champs, but the White Sox look a bit stronger (and more rested) from the outset. So right now I'd say Chicago in six.

Just to set the stage... this is how SI.com depicted it:

At U.S. Cellular Field, rain started falling in the middle of Thursday's workout. There were 14 boxes of baseballs on the table, ready for each player to sign. The logos already were painted in foul territory, and the entrance to the ballpark displayed a pumpkin carved with the White Sox logo.

Outside was a huge photograph of White Sox players celebrating. On it were the words: "Crying in baseball -- only acceptable if champagne burns your eyes."

Wednesday, October 19, 2005

My Random Thoughts; Week 42

- We've reached the point where the definition of a seat has become quite fluid; those small rectangular platforms I know as tables have become the favorite kind of seating for a number of people.

Now I'm wondering if I shouldn't just furnish my living room with tables only...

- Sounds like I got out of dancing class just in time. I don't think I can handle the sudden rush of new entrants who voted an Idols reject the best dancer on Dutch television.

- Quite nearly, if not my oldest friends are getting married next year. It's all good, and I am looking forward to the day with you guys.

Sunday, October 16, 2005

An epiphany

Here’s something I’ve recently come to understand clearly:

The biggest compliment you can give anyone is to understand them as they understand themselves. The biggest insult you can give someone is to see them as something they’re not and to label them as such.

This applies everywhere, I think, where we interact with one another.

Thursday, October 13, 2005

My Random Thoughts: Week 41

- When you decide to fly somewhere and stop over at Frankfurt Main Flughafen, make sure there's ample time between flights. You spend about an hour just getting from one terminal to the next.

- I was hoping pilots would not fly their planes like I drive my car. Guess I was hoping for nothing.

- Next time I'm in queue somewhere waiting for the guy in front of me to stop dawdling with the (admittedly cute) attendant, store clerk or flyer girl, I am gonna turn him round and yell at him "get her friggin' phone number already!" Nothing on this planet is slower than a shy guy trying to get a date.

Gruss Gott!

Monday, October 10, 2005

Cosmetic Store Allergies

Whenever you find yourself in a cosmetics store, do not spray any after shave samples on the back of your hand, at your neck, on your wrist or on any open part of your body. Use the paper strips; they are there for a reason.

Take it from someone who learned the hard way: I'm very allergic to LaCoste Eau de Toilette, and if you want to see me turn red, spray some in my face, okay?

Sunday, October 09, 2005

Oranje naar Duitsland

Ja ja het Nederlands elftal gaat naar het WK in Duitsland, na Tsjechie te hebben verslagen met 0-2.

Maar het viel wel op: de voetbalgoden hadden het beslist niet met de Tsjechen. Eerst missen ze een strafschop, daarna wordt een doelpunt afgekeurd, en ze raken de lat ook nog eens een keer...

Thursday, October 06, 2005

Forty-Three Percent of Workers Called in Sick With Fake Excuses

On request: refer to this link.

Some notable fake excuses:
"I’m too drunk to drive to work."
"My boyfriend’s snake got loose and I’m afraid to leave the bedroom until he gets home."
"I’m too fat to get into my work pants."
"God didn’t wake me." (employee didn’t believe in alarm clocks and thought a higher power would wake her when she was ready)
"The ghosts in my house kept me up all night."
"I forgot I was getting married today."
"My cow bit me."
"My house lock jammed and I’m locked in."

I guess if you have more, feel free to share them with me.

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Oh oh dass verstehe ich nicht

Ehm... I've got this assignment in Germany that I'm going to, and I don't speak German. It was an elective in high school, and I dropped it in favour of a course that actually interested me.

Now we get to a point where I am seriously kicking myself for doing that, and I need to learn to speak German post-haste.

Does anyone have suggestions for this?

Thursday, September 29, 2005

Wildflower

You know, after you've toiled through 500 pages of code, and done a computer exam on the same, there are a lot of things you can do. Smoke a pack of cigarettes, head to the casino, stuff yourself at Burger King... or listen to the newest Sheryl Crow.

Wildflower it's called, and it's supposed to be full of songs inspired by the toils of her all star athlete fiancee Lance Armstrong. Luckily we don't get any of the French influences, and rather more of the same old Crow. It's a lot more sedate than her earlier work; no real speed-ups or slow-downs. But there's nothing that couldn't keep you company on a rainy drive across the plains.

In short: it's healthier than smoking, it's more rewarding than the roulette wheel, and it's not as fattening as a Whopper.

Sunday, September 25, 2005

More Google

How brilliant are those guys/girls at Google really? They are coming up with the most seriously intriguing pieces of desktop software this side of Microsoft. And they're going places too... CNN's broadcast of the Katrina hurricane? They used Google Earth. They also have gmail, search for videos, translators, web accelerators and a locator for all kinds of rides...

Now they've improved Google Desktop as well, which pretty much gives you at a glance news items, sports scores, email notices, stock quotes, and so on. And it is all based on what you use your computer for.

It's amazing (and disturbing) that Google can just take over your computer like that, drill into the deepest recesses of your registry and present it to you on a silver platter. Best not leave any confidential information around...

Thursday, September 22, 2005

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Sin City

Dit is toch een heftigere en zwaardere film dan ik dacht (thnx BVL). Groffer, bloediger, immoreler. Ik mag de stijl wel: niet alles hoeft honderd procent realistisch te wezen, en af en toe een grappig momentje.

Hij zal niet iedereen aanspreken, maar dat is met Pulp Fiction en the Matrix ook niet. Wel een dijk van een cult hit, en terecht wat mij betreft.

Monday, September 19, 2005

De ECHTE Top 3 ergernissen in het verkeer

1. kijkers naar ongelukken naast de baan
2. kijkers naar ongelukken op de andere baan
3. plotseling noodremmen op de snelweg om niets

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Philosophical question

Can you use the 'Reply All' button in Outlook to send everyone an e-mail that you shouldn't use the 'Reply All' button?

Friday, September 09, 2005

Op naar de volgende klus

Mijn huidige klus in Eindhoven en Den Bosch is toch alweer redelijk snel voorbij gegaan. Het is dus weer tijd om weer mijn naam in de roulatie te gooien, op zoek naar een nieuwe klus.

Toch ergens jammer. Dit was toch een job waar ik de meeste voldoening uit heb gehaald. Ik ben benieuwd hoe ik de volgende ga beleven.

Imitator Chirac fopt Zinedine Zidane

Met de hand op het hart zongen de Franse internationals mee met hun volkslied. En het leverde succes op, want Ierland werd op eigen veld verslagen. Maar de mooie overwinning gaat ook de annalen in vanwege een grap.
De vorm van patriottisme van de internationals blijkt namelijk het gevolg te zijn van een grap. Zinedine Zidane had besloten tot de hand op het hart, op verzoek van de Franse president Jacques Chirac. Althans dat dacht hij, want in werkelijkheid was het Gérald Dahan.

Met zijn imitatie van Chirac zette de radiomaker Zidane op het verkeerde been. Dahan deed voor zijn radioprogramma in een telefoongesprek met Zizou de president na, die wegens oogproblemen in het ziekenhuis ligt. Het verzoek om met de hand op het hart het volkslied mee te zingen vond gehoor bij Zidane.

Zidane was minder spreken over de grap. 'We zijn beetgenomen door iemand die dit grappig vindt. Jammer, want het was eigenlijk een mooi moment voor onze ploeg.'


Zag er toch grappig uit op TV...

Saturday, August 27, 2005

Things I noticed in Toronto

1) Commercials in North America are quite out-of-control. You get to a point where television programs last for five minutes or less, before a seven-minute commercial block kicks in. You get to a point where radio shows end fifteen (15!) minutes before the top of the hour. And of course the landscape is littered with billboards, signs and whatnot. However you do get to keep track of the good commercials though. Kudos to American Express with the "Andy Roddick in a plane" commercial. And I have a soft spot for the Bud Light spot as well.

2) Funny how effective people are the ones who focus on the goal, while happy people are the ones who enjoy the journey. Even funnier is that books about these subjects share the same shelf in every large bookstore in Canada.

3) How come I speak better English than most food court baristas? Watusay? kreemanzugr?

4) A Honda on fire smokes great. You can see it from miles away, a big black cloud hanging over the freeway. I bet a barbecue of that size could feed 50.

Saturday, August 20, 2005

Interesting links

Here's some interesting links:
Internet Health Report so you can never blame your IT department again!

Free Messenger Icons! So you can spruce up your MSN account and annoy me bunches because I have to wait several seconds for the icons to download.

And if you, like me, absolutely hate Jamba:Kill The Damn Frog

Monday, August 15, 2005

Masters of the Universe

You really want a truly bad game? Get Masters of the Universe on PlayStation 2.

Nostalgia is all well and good, but this is ridiculous. Where's all the tongue-in-cheek humour? Where's the over-the-top morality? And most important of all WHERE ARE TRAP JAW, RAM-MAN AND TEELA?

Sometimes, like dance covers of Madonna songs, re-designs of Datsuns and Godfather III, classics are best left alone. Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

How to know your team sucks

Another Jay Mohr column.

If it has to sell its mascot, your team sucks.

If its mascot will show up for free, your team sucks.

If it doesn't know what to charge you for nosebleed seats, your team sucks.

And most important, if the players featured on its Web site don't actually play for it, your team really, really sucks.

Wednesday, August 03, 2005

Jet overruns runway in Toronto, burns

CNN.com - Jet overruns runway in Toronto, burns - Aug 2, 2005

damn... for once I'd like to go on vacation without getting reminded of worrisome issues like this... that's not too much to ask, is it?

Sunday, July 31, 2005

Sensation Black 2005 Double CD

Ik had weer eens zin om ouderwets te rammen, en ik hoorde laatst de theme van Sensation Black. Die beviel wel, dus toch eens gekeken of ik het hele setje kon nemen...

Het is wel okee... maar niet echt super. Sensation Black blijft eigenlijk net iets te lang doordreunen, zakt in waar je liever hebt dat ie tempo maakt, en ript eigenlijk teveel anderen off waar een eigen (of onbekendere) mix meer op zijn plaats zou zijn. Wel lekker dat ie meteen uit je speakers knalt: vanaf cd 1 track 2 is het accelereren geblazen en pas einde track 16 remmen ze af... om de bocht te nemen en daarna weer vol gas te gaan. De 'Matrix'-achtige background sprak mij ook wel aan, al was er geen touw aan vast te knopen.

Wel okee dus. Maar misschien had ik erbij moeten zijn.

Saturday, July 30, 2005

Road Warriors

Today I saw the WWE DVD documentary for the Road Warriors. Now these guys used to be my childhood idols back in the early nineties, but even then I didn't realise they were as big as they were. This DVD fills in the gaps but also goes into the backstory of Hawk's problems, and it does so in great detail.

From time to time the WWE is quite able to pay respect to people that have meant something to the industry. I've seen that happen with Ric Flair, and I've seen it happen to Hawk on the DVD as well. Quite a touching scene, way more touching than I expected.

The WWE seems to me like a heartless promotion to work for, but they have their moments - such as the one on the Road Warriors DVD - where they show a lot of real emotion, and dignity and respect.

I'm glad I bought this DVD.

Monday, July 25, 2005

Why Time Machines are Dumb

Hey this is funny! Click on 'thoughts' for some very out-there ideas, like:
Let's just imagine for a second that I had invented a time machine. If I set my machine up in Seattle and send an apple back in time 1 hour, odds are that it'll end up somewhere in North Dakota.

See, our earth is rotating at a speed of about 1,035MPH (at the equator). The spatial position the apple was in an hour before it was transported was previously occupied by the midwest.

Well, that's not even quite right. Our Earth is hurtling around the sun at a blistering 67,000MPH. If you were to send something back in time just 1 minute, it would materialize 1,117 miles away from where it started.

Moreover, our sun is moving about the galaxy at just a smidge under ten times the speed of the planet. Basically, sending objects back or forward in time just a few seconds is a one-way ticket into outer space (or the middle of the planet if you don't jump far enough). For terrestrials, it is an entirely useless means of manipulating your time line, but NASA may do well to look into this as a very reliable way of getting objects into space with minimal fuss."

Sunday, July 24, 2005

Things I noticed in London

1. Adverts in London Underground are way more humorous than most commercials over here. The most recent ad slogan for Green King India Pale Ale (or IPA) beer is the following:

"So much for British generosity. They've given us a sport no one understands, trains that don't run, and a beer we can't drink"

Honourable mention must go to the faction called "Elite Designers Against Ikea".

2a. Signs in London Underground:

"Drunk behaviour was the cause of 400 injuries and 1 fatality last year"
"Not minding the gap between station and train was the cause of 500 injuries and 5 fatalities"


So you're best off being drunk then!

Perhaps the London Underground should not pay so much attention to alcohol, and pay more to fix the gaps...

2b. Another sign in London Underground (one week after the London Tube attacks):

"Over 100 unattended bags were found this past week."

Suddenly a whole lot starts to make sense...

Friday, July 22, 2005

London Tube

Near attacks in London Tube

You'd think that after 7/7 and today's events there would be enough signs to reconsider going to London this weekend... still as it stands I'm still flying off.

But - *morbid thought alert* - if I am not to return, I am going to kick some ass.

Wednesday, July 20, 2005

All Hail the One that is Me

You've got one in Australia, but they managed to spell my name wrong (bloody Aussies...) In Canada at least they managed to get it right:

The city of Sidney