Free World: America, Europe, and the Surprising Future of the West

An interesting article about a book about the relationship between Europe and the United States. I might buy the book itself.

Atheism

Why am I an atheist? Well here's a big read to clarify it a bit.

UK in the news

Big Brutha'z cumm'n a git ya...

Christmas presents ideas

Baby Bush Toys! Get them while you can!

The voyage of the Space Beagle

Well it looks like Beagle 2 has been found. Remember when it got lost on Mars?

Tom Fox

Perhaps you have heard by now that another American was beheaded in Iraq. What makes it somewhat more close to home is the fact that the victim kept his own weblog.

Read it, it will make you wonder why this man was targeted, and then you will realize once again that convictions have nothing to do with the killing in Iraq. The killings are stereotypes: "You're American so you bad man." "You Iraqi so you bad by definition". It really doesn't go much beyond that.

This man's blog proves that there may be something to be said for weblogs after all. These are all of his own words remaining and they should lack an expirationdate, they should be protected.


Waiting in the light.

Leo McGarry R.I.P.

Sad news for all West Wing-fans. John Spencer died yesterday.

Tom Cruise Fanpage... sort of...

Tom Cruise is nuts. Nothing to add...

Update : Yes I do. Here's a link I found while going through the above site : BitterWaitress.

Robert Sheckley R.I.P.

Robert Sheckley died last night. For those who didn't know him here is a famous short story.

Life imitating art

If you're seen 'The Day after Tomorrow" you should recognize this news about the gulfstream.

Sneddon, vulture by conviction.

The guy fled the country asshole. You should know when to quit.

BOFH - The Archives

There you go; the complete Bastard Operator From Hell-archives.
Enjoy... And please don't strangle you systemsoperator the moment you see him. Please?

PHaSers???

Just when you think the StarTrek-influence has gone on long enough you get this...

Rants, Raves and Reviews

Over 30 years old and feeling nostalgic? Try this...

Eat my shorts du-u-u-de! Well like gag me with a spoon, that is soooo RAD, you studmuffin!

Aaaah, memories...

Annoying phonecalls...

Read Dave Barry here. I can't seem to link directly to the article so here goes...


Lesson in futility just a phone call away

Today, I want to CLICK. Excuse me. Okay. Today, I want to talk about CLICK.

Excuse me again. Okay, where were we? Oh, yeah, I was saying that CLICK. Never mind, just ignore it. I was saying that I want to CLICK about this major stride forward in CLICK phone technology called "call waiting," which is such a big CLICKing convenience that I'd like to find the CLICK who invented it and. ...

No, wait, let me just calm down here. Some readers may not even know what I'm talking about. Some readers are probably living in backward, soybean-infested regions that don't even have the incredible convenience of "call waiting." So let me explain how it works: If you're on the phone with Party A, and Party B tries to call you, both you and Party A will hear an interruption noise, which alerts you to press your disconnect button so you can talk to Party B, who, trust me, has absolutely nothing important to tell you, so you say you'll call back and resume talking with Party A for 10 full seconds, until you hear another interruption noise indicating that you have a vitally unimportant call from Party C, and so on down the alphabet until Party A decides to drive over to your house and strangle you.

Doesn't this sound terrific, soybean people? Doesn't it sound modern? To give you a clear picture of what you're missing, let me compare "call waiting" to an everyday domestic situation. Let's say I'm having dinner with my wife and 8-year-old son, and my wife and I are discussing the kind of important issue that normal, mature, married adults discuss at dinner:

ME: It does WHAT when you flush it?

MY WIFE: It makes kind of a banging sound.

ME: A banging sound?

MY WIFE: Yes. And there are these little like electric sparks coming. ...

OUR SON (interrupting): How come. ...

MY WIFE: Robert, please don't interrupt.

ME: Sparks? MY WIFE: Yes, and they're. ...

OUR SON (interrupting): But I was just gonna ask you. ...

MY WIFE: Wait, Robert!

ME: There are sparks?

MY WIFE: Yes, they're coming from. ...

OUR SON: But this is IMPORTANT!

MY WIFE: ALL RIGHT, Robert. What IS it?

OUR SON: How come my left arm tastes saltier than my right arm?

"Call waiting" is very similar to this. It's kind of like an electronic 8-year-old who is simply incapable of shutting up while you are conversing with somebody else. The differences are that 1.) an 8-year-old does not have the gall to charge you a monthly fee for this service; and 2.) an 8-year-old can interrupt you only if he's in the same room, whereas with the incredible capabilities of "call waiting," your conversations can be interrupted by everybody in the entire world who has access to a telephone. It doesn't even have to be a person. A computer can interrupt you. In fact, through a combination of "call waiting" and "auto-dialing," it is now technically possible for your telephone conversations to be interrupted by a trained chicken.

It's just so darned convenient that I can hardly wait to see what exciting new services the telephone people will come up with next. Maybe they'll offer "call fabricating," wherein your phone becomes bored and rings for no reason; or "call misrepresenting," wherein your callers' voices are electronically altered so that you hear the OPPOSITE of what they actually said.

But what I, personally, would like to see - call me a dreamer - would be some kind of service wherein if you were talking to somebody and a third person tried to call either of you, your call could not be interrupted.

Instead, the third person would hear a special tone - we could call it a "busy signal" - telling him that a conversation was already in progress, so he'll have to try again later. But I doubt we'll ever see this come about.

The concept is far too complex to be grasped by a certain type of telecommunications consumer. I am thinking primarily of the chicken.

This is a classic Dave Barry column.

Originally published on November 26, 2005

New layout

This is the new layout. The main change is the links-section.

There are some quite creative people out there, thanks for the help!

Right, Left, Up, Down. The complete bankrupcy of the debating-culture in the Netherlands.

More and more often people sigh(and I'm one of them) : "Any feeling for proportions and nuance that the Dutch had is completely gone". People compare Pim Fortuyn's openness with the bluntness of a 'professional' footballplayer who calls the referee 'a retard with Down's syndrome'. All this carefully protected by the right to 'Freedom Of Speech' of course... They continuously confuse Pim Fortuyn with Theo van Gogh because, hey, they were both murdered and that forges a bond between them... We don't look any further back than three years because our attention span isn't that long anymore and we don't look into the future more than one day at the time. We only have time for soundbites - and only if they are under 5 seconds long and involve naked women.

The Netherlands has moved to the right of the political spectrum the last few years. And that is not such a bad thing; I personally think we needed to. What IS a bad thing, is that 'The New Political Right' almost constantly proves that the 'Elitist Leftwing' is correct in their assessment. Their prejudice that the new Right Wing dutchmen - especially the LPF-voters(Lijst Pim Fortuyn) and the LR-voters(Leefbaar Rotterdam) - are mainly anti-intellectual, non-empathic, egotistic and slightly racist xenofobes is confirmed time and time again.


So yes people; revv each other up some more, get the fire burning! Swear at the 'Old Left' a bit more, although 'Old Left' dissolved itself into more mainstream political parties years ago and only the Socialist Party is still true to their old (and misconceived) political ideas. Keep on criticizing! Keep on swearing at 'The Government', although the current government is a right-wing coalition... Keep on having a go at the policeforce, The State, The Green Left party, Bureaucracy, and so on. And if you're really out of ideas you can always bash the U.S.A. and its leader(s). Hit 'em on the Left, hit 'em on the right. Just hit them where you can.

And by all means; don't do anything about it yourself, because criticizing is so much more fun. And the moment that the 'New Right' has won the elections for a second time they can repeat history! What a great idea! They can deform the party that won to such an extent that it will again explode, preferably two months into a new term so the shit and the fall-out can keep polluting Holland until yet another election in about 46 months. Let's film it and release 'LPF : The Downfall of the Legacy of Pim Fortuyn - The Sequel".

And to think that the hero of all people who never went to the university was an absolute and pure intellectual and a former Labour Party member!

God, sometimes I get so tired of the superficiality in this country.

I would have never guessed that I would one day have something nice to say about the 'Right Wingers' of The Olden Days. But even in those days, every now and again, you would find a Right Wing Politician or even voter who would actually support his or her story with solid arguments. Yes, those were the days! It's no wonder that people like Hans Wiegel are still popular among a significant part of the population. That is just the nostalgic feeling, the nostalgic longing for the days of 'The Old Right Wing'.

Unfortunately, that section of the Right Wing was murdered some time
ago. In the Hilversum Mediapark. Together with Pim Fortuyn.

All the sound that's fit to play.

I was looking for PC-wavefiles and I stumbled across this.

Userfriendly

A bit of fun...

Five questions

He says it very eloquently.

Update on the crime-stats.

Some time ago I 'announced' that I was fed up with the ambiguity about the roots of criminals in Holland, and that I would start to count the 'autochtone'(white dutchmen) and the 'allochtone'(immigrants with usually darker skin) crimes in the Netherlands. I haven't done so until now but I haven't forgotten. The reason for my reluctance is that most of the 'allochtone' crimes tend to be high-profile-newsworthy and the crimes of the white dutch are not reported so severely and extensively. There is - simply said - a bias in the newsmedia.

As soon as I come up with a way to circumvent this bias I'll publish it. Don't hold your breath though, as I think that there are other people searching for the answer too.

Deserter in the war against the West

This is probably the best letter-to-the-editor I have read in at least 15 years.

"It was frontpage news; 'Europe, it's war!', a war against the Western Culture.

I am a traitor in this war. I desert. Cowardly I leave the battle to the martyrs, the saints and the heroes of the land ; Pim F., Theo van G., Jan Peter B., Ayaan H.A., Rita V., Wouter B., Gretta D., Samir A., Jan T., Geert W. and Jan M. and the thousand thousands who battle for the freedom of speech. The "big Say", without saying what you will do, without saying what you think.

I am tired of this war. I cease battle and wish to work. I wish to work on a house built from books of wisdom. A house where everyone is welcome who wants to search for wisdom. A house where everyone can say what you think, and where everyone does what they say; the home of wisdom.

I collaborate for this wisdom.

I am a traitor, a deserter and I cowardly leave battle to the thousand thousands, the horde."


W.H. Eek

Peugeots on Fire - The Movie

Oops, where IS that bug?

Verrrrrrrrrry expensive piece of land this...

Aaaaah, Humor!

A Sky Of Honey, A Sea Of Honey...

The only woman who can sing 'washingmachine, swooshie washingmachine' and sound bloody erotic...

Anyway ; I only heard the second CD so far and it is beautiful but quite hard to get into at first. So I'm now listening to the first CD("A Sea Of Honey") and I can only say that Kate is back to where she was 20 years ago on that disc. And I mean that only as a compliment.

I'm going to play this album a whole lot...

UPDATE : And if you don't think 'The Coral Room' is beautiful well...your loss... God wat ken dat weif zinguh...

"It's a marvellous, complex work which restores Kate Bush to the artistic stature she last possessed around the time of Hounds of Love."

Indeed. I'm impressed.

Ahmed Khatib

Jeruzalem, november 7th 2005.

The parents of the 12-year old Palestine Ahmed Khatib, who was accidentally shot by Israeli soldiers, have donated his organs to medicine for transplantation. Ahmed died last saturday from injuries sustained on thursday, when he was shot in the town of Jenin by Israelis who suspected him to be an armed extremist. The boy was carrying a toy-rifle.

Ahmed's organs have been transplanted into the bodies of three Israeli girls...

KOTM

Five more days...

My wife says I'm the second smartest. She claims there are 80 guys tied for first...

Every now and then you stumble onto some website dedicatated to a single person or project. I found this one recently and I'll tell ya; I now know things about the good luitenant that I really did not have to know...

Awesome in its scope, "The Ultimate Colombo Site".


"There are a couple of loose ends I'd like to tie up. Nothing important you understand."

Some things stay relevant

This is a very famous speech. It was also lost in the mist of time. Shame, because it's still relevant. Or should I say relevant AGAIN?



I'm sorry, but I don't want to be an Emperor - that's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone, if possible -- Jew, gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another; human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there's room for everyone and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone.

The way of life can be free and beautiful.

But we have lost the way.

Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.

The airplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women, and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people.

To those who can hear me I say, "Do not despair." The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass and dictators die; and the power they took from the people will return to the people and so long as men die, liberty will never perish.

Soldiers: Don't give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you, enslave you, who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel; who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men, machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don't hate; only the unloved hate, the unloved and the unnatural.

Soldiers: Don't fight for slavery! Fight for liberty! In the seventeenth chapter of Saint Luke it is written, "the kingdom of God is within man" -- not one man, nor a group of men, but in all men, in you, you the people have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness. You the people have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.

Then, in the name of democracy, let us use that power! Let us all unite!! Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give you the future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power, but they lie! They do not fulfill their promise; they never will. Dictators free themselves, but they enslave the people!! Now, let us fight to fulfill that promise!! Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness.

Soldiers: In the name of democracy, let us all unite!!!

Hannah, can you hear me? Wherever you are, look up, Hannah. The clouds are lifting. The sun is breaking through. We are coming out of the darkness into the light. We are coming into a new world, a kindlier world, where men will rise above their hate, their greed and brutality.

Look up, Hannah. The soul of man has been given wings, and at last he is beginning to fly. He is flying into the rainbow -- into the light of hope, into the future, the glorious future that belongs to you, to me, and to all of us. Look up, Hannah. Look up.

Charles Chaplin in "The Great Dictator"

Kate - QUEEN of the Mountain!

WOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

She's back! Finally Kate is back!

*Jumps up and down*
*Feels 18-years old again for a moment*



Watch the streaming video of "King of the Mountain" here.

Official releasedate of the double-CD : november 7th.

Champagne in one hand - strawberries in the other...

I found this one as the signature of a colleague of mine over at www.jmsnews.com It sounds a bit like what Mayor John Amalfi said in 'Cities in Flight' and I cannot agree more.

So I nicked it... :)

"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, Champagne in one hand - strawberries in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming WOW - What a RIDE!"

The artist known as Joe

This was an episode of Spiderman written just after 9/11. It may be somewhat old but in my opinion it has eternal value. That's why I post it here. It cannot be posted enough.


Some things are beyond words. Beyond comprehension. Beyond forgiveness. How do you say, "we didn't know"? We couldn't imagine. Only madmen could contain the thought, execute the act, fly the planes. The sane world will always be vulnerable to madmen, because we cannot go where they go to conceive of such things.

We could not see it coming. We could not be here before it happened. We could not stop it. But we are here now. You cannot see us for the dust, but we are here. You cannot hear us for the cries, but we are here. Even those we thought our enemies are here, because some things surpass rivalries and borders.

Because the story of humanity is written not in towers but in tears. In the common coin of blood and bone. In the voice that speaks within even the worst of us and says -this is not right-. Because even the worst of us, however scarred, are still human. Still feel. Still mourn the random death of innocents.

We are here. But with our costumes and our powers we are writ small by the true heroes. Those who face fire without fear or armor. Those who step into the darkness without assurances of ever walking out again, because they know there are others waiting in the dark. Awaiting salvation. Awaiting word. Awaiting justice.

Ordinary men. Ordinary women. Made extraordinary by acts of compassion. And courage. And terrible sacrifice. Ordinary men. Ordinary women. Refusing to surrender.
Ordinary men and ordinary women refusing to accept the self-serving proclamations of holy warriors of every stripe, who announce that somehow we had this coming. We reject them in the knowledge that our tragedy is greater than the sum of our transgressions. Bodies in freefall on the evening news. Madness in mosques, shouting down fourteen centuries of earnest prayers, forgetting the lessons of crusades past- That the most harmed are the least deserving.

There are no words. The death of innocents and the death of innocence. Rage compounded upon rage, rage enough to blot out the sun. And the air is filled with questions. They ask the question, 'Why, why? My god, why?' I have seen other worlds and other spaces. I have walked with gods and wept with angels. But to my shame I have no answers.

What -do- we tell the children? Do we tell them evil is a foreign face? No. The evil is the thought behind the face, and it can look just like yours. Do we tell them evil is tangible, with defined borders and names and geometries and destinies? No. They will have nightmares enough. Perhaps we tell them that we are sorry. Sorry that we were not able to deliver unto them the world we wished them to have. That our eagerness to shout is not the equal of our eagerness to listen. That the burdens of distant people are the responsibility of all men and women of conscience, or their burdens will one day become our tragedy.

Or perhaps we simply tell them that we love them, and that we will protect them. That we would give our lives for theirs and do it gladly, so great is the burden of our love. In a universe of gameboys and VCRs, it is, perhaps, an insubstantial gift. But it is the only one that will wash away the tears and knit the wounds and make the world a sane place to live in.

We could not see it coming. No one could. We could not stop it. No one could. But we are here. Now. With you. Today. Tomorrow. And the day after. We live in each blow you strike for infinite justice, but always in the hope of infinite wisdom. Because we live as well in the quiet turning of your considered conscience. The voice that says -all wars have innocents-. The voice that says you are a kind and merciful people.

The voice that says do not do as they do, or the war is lost before it is even begun. Do not let that knowledge be washed away in blood. When you move, we will move with you. Where you go, we will go with you. Where you are, we are in you. Because the future belongs to ordinary men and ordinary women, and that future must be built free of such acts as these, must be fought for and renewed like fresh water. Because a message must be sent to those who mistake compassion for weakness. A message sent across six thousand years of recorded blood and struggle.

And the message is this:
Whatever our history, whatever the root of our surnames, we remain a good and decent people, and we will not bow down and we do not give up. The fire of the human spirit cannot be quenched by bomb blasts or body counts-cannot be intimidated forever into silence or drowned by tears.
We have endured worse before; we will bear this burden and all that come hereafter, because that's what ordinary men and women do. No matter what. This has not weakened us. It has only made us stronger.
In recent years we as a people have been tribalized and factionalized by a thousand casual unkindnesses. But in this, we are one. Flags sprout in uncommon places, the ground made fertil by tears and shared resolve. We have become one in our grief. We are now one in our determination. One as we recover. One as we rebuild.
You wanted to send a message to us, and in doing so you awakened us from our self-involvement. Message received. Look for your reply in thunder.

In such days as these are heroes born. The true heroes of the twenty-first century. You, the human being singular. You, who are nobler than you know and stronger than you think. You, the heroes of this moment, chosen out of history.
We stand blinded by the light of your unbroken will. Before that light, no darkness can prevail. They knocked down two tall towers. In their memory, draft a covenant with your conscience, that we will create a world in which such things need not occur.
A world which will not require apologies to children, but also a world whose paved roads are not paved with the husks of their inalienable rights. They knocked down two towers. Graft now their echo onto your spine. Become girders and glass, stone and steel. So that when the world sees you, it sees them. And stand tall. Stand tall.

Joe Michael Straczinsky

Unpaid taxes, it's the thought that counts...

Just when you think life can't get any more bureaucratic you get this...

Atheists of Silicon Valley

Fun for the unbelieving infidel...

Neo-natal care???

Bureaucracy has reached a new level...

"Debbie Lawson, neo-natal manager at the hospital's special care baby unit, said: "Cooing should be a thing of the past because these are little people with the same rights as you or me."

You are like a hurricane

Trekkie gets some...

From one of Douglas Adams' favorite spoofsites : Weekly World News :


BABE TAKES HORNY NERD TO PLACES NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE ... STAR TREK TWERP GETS 1ST NOOKIE - AT AGE 43!

By Matt Kirsch

THE IMPOSSIBLE has finally happened -- a die-hard Star Trek nerd got some lovin' for the first time at the age of 43. His stunning charity-sex with a merciful babe has his family and friends' emotions set to stunned.

Gary Beakerman can recall every detail of his encounter of the sexy kind.

"I was attending an annual Star Trek Convention in California, and I was in line to get an autograph from George Takei, when this really loud and rude Klingon cut in front of me," he explains. "I was just about to use my Vulcan nerve pinch to subdue this loudmouth when I realized it wasn't a man, but a woman, and she smelled really good."

But the first encounter didn't go according to plan.

"We instantly got into an argument over who was better, Captain Kirk or Captain Piccard," he says. "That quickly escalated into which Enterprise ship would win in a dog fight, the NCC 1701 or the NCC 1701 D, before it was destroyed in the Viridian System.

"Suddenly, in the middle of this heated argument I noticed a funny feeling coming over me. I was completely turned on, and I had a feeling I was about to boldly go where I've never gone before!"

Luckily for Beakerman, the "Klingon," Carrie Transom, 32, also felt a twinge.

"I liked how he was really passionate about Star Trek," she says. "Also, he looked so dorky in his Vulcan uniform -- it was cute."

Normally, she'd never consider a space docking with such a nerd, but "I hadn't had anyone beam aboard me in a while," she explains.

Also, one look at the ultra-twerp convince her that he needed a close encounter worse than she did.

"I knew he was still a virgin simply because he was really nervous," she says, "and I noticed his car keys belonged to his parent's station wagon.

"Man -- he was pitiful. So I made the first move -- I grabbed him and planted a kiss on him."

Beakerman adds, "It was so weird. While the kiss was great, her Klingon headpiece was digging into my forehead. She suggested that we get out of there and go back to my parents' house. It was 8:30 p.m., so I knew I had to sneak her through my window. It was exciting. I felt like Spock undergoing the Vulcan mating ceremony from Season two, Episode one."

Beakerman recalls sneaking her into his room "so my parents wouldn't hear."

"He no idea what to do," she chuckles. "Getting that Star Fleet uniform off of him was tough, but luckily his love phaser was locked and loaded!"

After docking with the mother ship, Beakerman was excited and relieved that he had finally "done it."

"It was the best 2 minutes of my life!" he exclaims.

Nukehavistan; the new global threat?

U.S. Intelligence: Nukehavistan May Have Nuclear Weapons

Remember this guy?

When the media where still funny every now and then...

"It has been rumored that we have fired scud missiles into Kuwait. I am here now to tell you, we do not have any scud missiles and I don't know why they were fired into Kuwait."

Opinion - Huffington Post

This lady started her blog with lots of broohaha and I was kind of sceptical. But there's a rather interesting collection of columns there...

Rehnquist

My god, A Speaker For The Dead!

Fuck politics and do what Winston said : "Action Today!"

"Oh, a storm is threat’ning
My very life today
If I don’t get some shelter
Oh yeah, I’m gonna fade away..."

New Orleans

Some people just won't learn. You still feel for them though. I remember thinking 'ohhh, shit' when I heard about that Hurricane in the south of the U.S.A. Begin born dutch helps when you think about the dangers connected to water. It looks so nice, but give it the chance and it will roll over you and destroy you. Something the americans have just found out for themselves. And I don't want to blame Bush for a hurricane of course, but cutting back on you expenditures re. waterworks is NOT a very good idea George. Remember : these rules were enforced for a reason. That you don't understand that reason does not mean it is a bad one, it means your intelligence is under par.

And in the meantime the only thing we can do is watch.
Have they found Fats Domino yet?

Gimme those BASS-linezzzzzzz Bob! Gimme that PHAT SOUND!

Sad news, Robert Moog is no more. He has kicked the bucket, gone to meet his maker. For those of you who have never heard of him; he was the inventor of the portable synthesizer, and his name is pronounced as 'Mogue'. not Moog..

Anyone who has ever heard a real MiniMoog will know why this man's instruments were unique. The story is that Bob Moog developed synthesizers(in modules) for Walter Carlos and Tomita when they were doing their groundbreaking work in the late sixties. From this came his 'assembled' synthesizers, the MiniMoog and the PolyMoog being the most important and famous. When Moog finally had something he could sell he wanted to patent his stuff. Unfortunately everything he had invented cost about 10.000 dollars to patent so he only had money for one thing, one component. He(wisely) chose his 24dB filter. In no time all the other hardware, all the other features were stolen/copied by the competition, but not his filter. And that is what makes/made his synthesizers so incredibly PhAt. There still is no better filter than the analog 24dB-filter you could find in his synths.

Thanks Bob. And I'm sorry everybody pronounced your last name wrong.

So long and thanks for all the sounds.

Christopher Walken for Prez?

I would really like to see him run, just for the fucking fun of it. But then there is this. What a shame...

Still, nice touch.

Power in the Darkness

Especially dedicated to all those right-wing wankers who only see the splinter in their neighbour's eye but do not consider the beam in their own.
This week on offer : Michiel Smit., Or Schmidt, I'm not sure anymore.

Or to quote Joe Jackson :

"Kill all the reds, kill all the blacks"
"And if there's war between the sexes
then there'll be nobody left"...


Power In The Darkness

Tom Robinson

Power in the darkness
Frightening lies from the other side
Power in the darkness
Stand up and fight for your rights

Freedom... we're talking bout your freedom
Freedom to choose what you do with your body
Freedom to believe what you like
Freedom for brothers to love one another
Freedom for black and white
Freedom from harassment, intimidation
Freedom for the mother and wife
Freedom from Big Brother's interrogation
Freedom to live your own life... I'm talking 'bout

Power in the darkness
Frightening lies from the other side
Power in the darkness
Stand up and fight for your rights

(Voice from The Other Side:) "Today, institutions fundamental to the British system of Government are under attack: the public schools, the house of Lords, the Church of England, the holy institution of Marriage, even our magnificent police force are no longer safe from those who would undermine our society, and it's about time we said 'enough is enough' and saw a return to the traditional British values of discipline, obedience, morality and freedom.
What we want is:

Freedom from the reds and the blacks and the criminals
Prostitutes, pansies and punks
Football hooligans, juvenile delinquents
Lesbians and left wing scum
Freedom from the niggers and the Pakis and the unions
Freedom from the Gipsies and the Jews
Freedom from leftwing layabouts and liberals
Freedom from the likes of you..."

Power in the darkness
Frightening lies from the other side
Power in the darkness
Stand up and fight for your rights

R.I.P.

Sad day. A friend of mine passed away on sunday and was cremated today. There's never much to say, except maybe just 'Goodbye Cora, it was real fun knowing you'.

Digital Fortress

Just finished reading 'Digital Fortress' by Dan Brown, you know, that guy who wrote 'The Da Vinci Code' a few years later. If you want to know a bit more here is a link.

Now, I don't want to be a bore, but the whole 'plot' is about breaking the password of a worm so it does not open up every security-protocol the NSA uses. If it does the whole world will be able to read everything in the NSA's database.

It is written like a filmscript with our heroes frantically trying to figure out what the password is. Just one simple question : every computer that is connected to the outside world is connected through a communication-interface. This may be a WIFI-setup, an Ethernet-backbone, you name it.

What is to stop these people from just literally pulling the connectors out of the communicationshardware...? O.K. So you won't have a climax anymore but at least it's consistent with the real world.

Tie a yellow ribbon round the....

Do you hate those stupid 'support-ribbons'? Go here and get something different...

Space, the final frontier...

It is as I thought: after SpaceShip One there were bound to be more entrepreneurs who think going into space is a pretty neat idea...

Fred about kids...

"Anyway, I guess the Chinese will be merciful. Maybe they will put us in special homes, with soft walls."

Cropcircles

A nice site by and about cropcircles and their creators.

I didn't do it he said, as he held up his hands. I was only robbing the registry, I hope you understand...

Fascinating, This article is about O.J. Simpson. Apparently the police raided his house in 2001 and found that he had been tapping cable-tv illegally. He now has to pay the cable-company 25.000 dollars. O.K. so far so good, nothing weird. But if you take a few excepts the story looks different :

Quote 1 :

Simpson's attorney, Yale Galanter, said Tuesday that the judge "basically denied us our right to a jury trial. ... This was a decision made by a judge in chambers. They say he did it; we say he didn't. A jury should be able to make that decision."


--> So they don't agree and want to take it to court. I can live with that. But then there's this :

Quote 2 :

'DirecTV executives were pleased with the ruling.

"The evidence was overwhelming since the devices seized in Simpson's home were connected to his TV and in operation and receiving unauthorized signals at the time of the raid," said Dan Fawcett, an executive vice president with El Segundo, Calif.-based DirecTV Inc."'




Oh, and the subjectline comes from Bob Dylan's "Hurricane" of course.

R.I.P. Long John Baldry

Everyone under the age of 35 will say 'Huh?' and I admit even I was born too late to enjoy the man in the flesh. But Long John Baldry gave us Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts, Ginger Baker, Jimmy Paige, not to mention Elton John(who took his last name from Baldry).

And now he has gone to the ultimate jamsession. Let the Heartaches begin...

Lennon

I see that Yoko is at it again...

The fact that you're paranoid does not mean they're not out to get you...

Completely ridiculous but always fun to read : one of the most entertaining conspiracy-sites.

Yep, and my grandfather was the Great Magoo of the planet Zog...

Scotty in space

And of course nothing else would do :

From the StarTrek-site :

"According to Stevens, the family will fulfill Doohan's wish to have his remains shot into space on a "Memorial Spaceflight" provided by Space Services Inc. of Houston. Similarly, a portion of Gene Roddenberry's ashes were sent on such a flight in 1997. The date of cremation and of the spaceflight are not yet known.

Terror

Main Entry: ter·ror
Pronunciation: 'ter-&r
Function: noun

Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French terreur, from Latin terror, from terrEre to frighten; akin to Greek trein to be afraid, flee, tremein to tremble

1 : a state of intense fear

2 a : one that inspires fear : SCOURGE b : a frightening aspect c : a cause of anxiety : WORRY d : an appalling person or thing; especially : BRAT

3 : REIGN OF TERROR

4 : violence (as bombing) committed by groups in order to intimidate a population or government into granting their demands
synonym see FEAR
- ter·ror·less /-l&s/ adjective


Terror has almost nothing to do with casualties, it has to do with fear...

Bye Scotty...

The legends are falling... RIP James Doohan 1920-2005.

That which never dies

Felt like watching some good music on Dvd yesterday. I had already borrowed 'Does humor belong in music?' from a friend. I've always been an incredibly great admirer of Frank Zappa and this show did not disappoint me. Whether it was a sensitive rendition of 'Zoot Allures' or the funky 'Hot Plate Heaven at the Green Hotel', everything sounds good. The musician are of an incredibly high level and why Bobby Martin never became a big star in his own right is beyond me.

If you ever get to watch this video here is a bit of advice : don't forget to turn up the volume when you get to 'The Whipping Post'. Even Duane Allman couldn't have done it better, that is one Hell of a steaming pumping song. Which I will play again tonight...

Drunk Driver Arrested For Knocking Over 17 Street Signs

Drunk Driver Arrested For Knocking Over 17 Street Signs

CASSELBERRY, Fla. -- Police in Casselberry arrested a drunk driver who knocked over 17 street signs in a neighborhood near State Road 436 on Monday night. More...

Now that's what I call a hobby!

I don't usually post these Big Boys-things but this one WOW!! I've GOT to get me one of these some day.

Mosaic

Check this out. Don't forget to zoom in and out a lot!

Straight from The Splinter...

Old fart who doesn't know this music has become bad.

As I said on GeenStijl, I find this disturbingly relevant after the latest bombings. It was written 1974 by some completely uncool english boys.

"You're sitting in your comfort, you don't believe I'm real.
You cannot buy protection from the way that I feel.
Your progressive hypocrites hand out their trash.
But it was mine in the first place so I'll burn it to ash."

Genesis

I hear echoes of yesterday.

A terrorist's words :

"No time for romantic escape when your fluffy heart is ready for rape".

Olympics 2012

Ooooh, sour grapes don't make good wine but they do make a good whine...


Paris Olympics failure is a blow for Chirac
Wed Jul 6, 2005 7:16 PM BST

By Timothy Heritage

PARIS (Reuters) - Paris's defeat by London in the race to host the 2012 Olympic Games was a bitter blow for French President Jacques Chirac that was all the more painful because he lost out again to his rival Tony Blair.

Chirac badly needed a victory to lift his political fortunes after a French "No" vote on the European constitution that left him sorely wounded and a furore over comments attributed to him criticising British food.

The prime minister not only emerged as the winner in what was billed as another showdown with Chirac following a row at a European Union summit last month, but he did so with the flair normally attributed to the French.

"Tony Blair acted brilliantly. He has a dynamism which makes him win all his bets, win all the gambles he takes and win all the challenges he sets himself," said Pierre Durand, an Olympic gold medallist in equestrianism for France in 1988.

"They have the luck to have a prime minister who is young, emblematic, charismatic, deliberately looking to the future and at odds with 'Old Europe'. You can feel it on every level."

How galling such comments must be to Chirac, who failed in his own gamble of going to Singapore at the last minute to lobby members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

How unfortunate for Chirac that his flight from Singapore took him only as far as Scotland where the 52-year-old Blair will be his host at an eight-nation summit -- and the cooking will be British.

Newspaper Liberation said Chirac cracked jokes to Russian and German leaders about bad British food on Sunday. "You can't trust people who cook as badly as that," it cited him as saying.

CHIRAC OFFERS CONGRATULATIONS

"I am of course, like all French people, disappointed by this decision," Chirac told reporters on arrival in Scotland, where he said he would have the chance to pass on "warm and personal congratulations" to Blair and Queen Elizabeth.

Chirac, 72, had hoped that securing the Olympics would have lifted the sagging confidence of French voters and given a boost to the sluggish economy by creating jobs and generating revenues for tourism, construction and the service sector in general.

Critics speak of a "fin de regne" (end of reign) after Chirac's 10 years as president. His hopes of winning or even running in the next presidential election in 2007 are now slim.

Chirac's popularity has dropped since French voters rejected the EU's constitution on May 29 -- partly out of discontent with his policies -- and he suffered a new blow late last month when a row with Blair meant the EU did not agree a long-term budget.

Chirac labelled Blair's stance "pathetic" at the EU summit after Blair said he would make concessions on Britain's budget rebate from the EU only if the bloc agreed to a wider review of spending, including the hefty subsidies French farmers receive.

The two men also took opposing positions over the U.S.-led Iraq war, in which Blair was U.S. President George W. Bush's staunchest ally while Chirac led resistance to the invasion.

Chirac has little to encourage him on the economic front because growth is slow and the unemployment rate is at a five-year high of 10.2 percent. Opinion polls show many French centre-right voters would also prefer Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy to be the conservatives' presidential candidate in 2007.

"What is certain is that there is a feeling of a France that doubts itself, and this vote will accentuate it," said political analyst Pascal Boniface.

"Bizarrely, one would not ask questions about a British decline if Paris had won and London were second."

How to convert atari floppies to cubase - conclusion.

As an update to this...
I was able to read the converted atari-files without much trouble. So it looks like I saved my digital ideas for another hardware-generation or so.

Let's do a Uranus...

Good Ol' Larry Niven might be right after all...

Another worthwhile "Fred"

Fred about the war in Iraq and what it takes to defeat the U.S. Military.

Fabchannel

A brilliant link to loads of registrations of live-concerts from Paradiso and De Melkweg, both in Amsterdam. Want to see John Cale live?

Notice of absence

Sorry, been absent a while. My partner had to undergo emergency-surgery so my mind was somewhere else than here.
Everything looks like it went o.k. though, so after the band-gig on friday I'll see what I can post. Michael Jackson needs another blog-entry, to say the least.

Do not broadcast this??? O.K. Here's another one for all the intolerant religious suckers.

Source

The other day the national broadcastingcorporation aired a program that was very critical about religions. Well, you would say, we live in a free country. Not according to some conservative fundamental christians in parliament over here in Holland. NooOOooo!

Here's one especially for all those people(who won't read this blog anyway but what the hell...).

It's old but it's still good.


This morning there was a knock at my door. When I answered the door I found a well groomed, nicely dressed couple. The man spoke first:

John:"Hi! I'm John, and this is Mary."

Mary: "Hi! We're here to invite you to come kiss Hank's ass with us."

Me: "Pardon me?! What are you talking about? Who's Hank, and why would I want to kiss His ass?"

John: "If you kiss Hank's ass, He'll give you a million dollars; and if you don't, He'll kick the shit out of you."

Me: "What? Is this some sort of bizarre mob shake-down?"

John: "Hank is a billionaire philanthropist. Hank built this town. Hank owns this town. He can do whatever He wants, and what He wants is to give you a million dollars, but He can't until you kiss His ass."

Me: "That doesn't make any sense. Why..."

Mary: "Who are you to question Hank's gift? Don't you want a million dollars? Isn't it worth a little kiss on the ass?"

Me: "Well maybe, if it's legit, but..."

John: "Then come kiss Hank's ass with us."

Me: "Do you kiss Hank's ass often?"

Mary: "Oh yes, all the time..."

Me: "And has He given you a million dollars?"

John: "Well no. You don't actually get the money until you leave town."

Me: "So why don't you just leave town now?"

Mary: "You can't leave until Hank tells you to, or you don't get the money, and He kicks the shit out of you."

Me: "Do you know anyone who kissed Hank's ass, left town, and got the million dollars?"

John: "My mother kissed Hank's ass for years. She left town last year, and I'm sure she got the money."

Me: "Haven't you talked to her since then?"

John: "Of course not, Hank doesn't allow it."

Me: "So what makes you think He'll actually give you the money if you've never talked to anyone who got the money?"

Mary: "Well, He gives you a little bit before you leave. Maybe you'll get a raise, maybe you'll win a small lotto, maybe you'll just find a twenty-dollar bill on the street."

Me: "What's that got to do with Hank?"

John: "Hank has certain 'connections.'"

Me: "I'm sorry, but this sounds like some sort of bizarre con game."

John: "But it's a million dollars, can you really take the chance? And remember, if you don't kiss Hank's ass He'll kick the shit of you."

Me: "Maybe if I could see Hank, talk to Him, get the details straight from Him..."

Mary: "No one sees Hank, no one talks to Hank."

Me: "Then how do you kiss His ass?"

John: "Sometimes we just blow Him a kiss, and think of His ass. Other times we kiss Karl's ass, and he passes it on."

Me: "Who's Karl?"

Mary: "A friend of ours. He's the one who taught us all about kissing Hank's ass. All we had to do was take him out to dinner a few times."

Me: "And you just took his word for it when he said there was a Hank, that Hank wanted you to kiss His ass, and that Hank would reward you?"

John: "Oh no! Karl has a letter he got from Hank years ago explaining the whole thing. Here's a copy; see for yourself."

** From the desk of Karl **

1. Kiss Hank's ass and He'll give you a million dollars when you leave town.
2. Use alcohol in moderation.
3. Kick the shit out of people who aren't like you.
4. Eat right.
5. Hank dictated this list Himself.
6. The moon is made of green cheese.
7. Everything Hank says is right.
8. Wash your hands after going to the bathroom.
9. Don't use alcohol.
10.Eat your wieners on buns, no condiments.
11.Kiss Hank's ass or He'll kick the shit out of you.

Me: "This appears to be written on Karl's letterhead."

Mary: "Hank didn't have any paper."

Me: "I have a hunch that if we checked we'd find this is Karl's handwriting."

John: "Of course, Hank dictated it."

Me: "I thought you said no one gets to see Hank?"

Mary: "Not now, but years ago He would talk to some people."

Me: "I thought you said He was a philanthropist. What sort of philanthropist kicks the shit out of people just because they're different?"

Mary: "It's what Hank wants, and Hank's always right."

Me: "How do you figure that?"

Mary: "Item 7 says 'Everything Hank says is right.' That's good enough for me!"

Me: "Maybe your friend Karl just made the whole thing up."

John: "No way! Item 5 says 'Hank dictated this list himself.' Besides, item 2 says 'Use alcohol in moderation,' Item 4 says 'Eat right,' and item 8 says 'Wash your hands after going to the bathroom.' Everyone knows those things are right, so the rest must be true, too."

Me: "But 9 says 'Don't use alcohol.' which doesn't quite go with item 2, and 6 says 'The moon is made of green cheese,' which is just plain wrong."

John: "There's no contradiction between 9 and 2, 9 just clarifies 2. As far as 6 goes, you've never been to the moon, so you can't say for sure."

Me: "Scientists have pretty firmly established that the moon is made of rock..."

Mary: "But they don't know if the rock came from the Earth, or from out of space, so it could just as easily be green cheese."

Me: "I'm not really an expert, but I think the theory that the Moon was somehow 'captured' by the Earth has been discounted*. Besides, not knowing where the rock came from doesn't make it cheese."

John: "Ha! You just admitted that scientists make mistakes, but we know Hank is always right!"

Me: "We do?"

Mary: "Of course we do, Item 7 says so."

Me: "You're saying Hank's always right because the list says so, the list is right because Hank dictated it, and we know that Hank dictated it because the list says so. That's circular logic, no different than saying 'Hank's right because He says He's right.'"

John: "Now you're getting it! It's so rewarding to see someone come around to Hank's way of thinking."

Me: "But...oh, never mind. What's the deal with wieners?"

Mary: She blushes.

John: "Wieners, in buns, no condiments. It's Hank's way. Anything else is wrong."

Me: "What if I don't have a bun?"

John: "No bun, no wiener. A wiener without a bun is wrong."

Me: "No relish? No Mustard?"

Mary: She looks positively stricken.

John: He's shouting. "There's no need for such language! Condiments of any kind are wrong!"

Me: "So a big pile of sauerkraut with some wieners chopped up in it would be out of the question?"

Mary: Sticks her fingers in her ears. "I am not listening to this. La la la, la la, la la la."

John: "That's disgusting. Only some sort of evil deviant would eat that..."

Me: "It's good! I eat it all the time."

Mary: She faints.

John: He catches Mary. "Well, if I'd known you were one of those I wouldn't have wasted my time. When Hank kicks the shit out of you I'll be there, counting my money and laughing. I'll kiss Hank's ass for you, you bunless cut-wienered kraut-eater."

With this, John dragged Mary to their waiting car, and sped off.

Opium

We used these John Watts lyrics for one of our songs. Needless to say we will credit the man himself if we ever manage to release the record. The original song is called 'Watching you' but it turned into "Opium" when we worked on it...

Sixteen turkeys squashed together underground
Sixteen eyes preparing not to meet
Don't you read his paper or he'll shake the thing about
And never touch a woman with your feet

Don't think I didn't see
Don't think I didn't
Don't think
Don't...

I've been watching you
You've been watching me now
I've been watching you
You've been watching me now

Everybody's equal on the moving stairs
The businessmen rub shoulders with the street
Shifting for position to observe the girl's behind
It's really not that hard to be discrete

Don't think I didn't see
Don't think I didn't
Don't think
Don't...

I've been watching you
You've been watching me now
I've been watching you
You've been watching me now

A black man in a hurry stumbles into me
When I fall he offers me his hand
A crowd of eyes has gathered looking mortified
There's no United Nations in this town

I've been watching you
You've been watching me now
I've been watching you
You've been watching me now

Upcoming man

He says "I'll be the same"
"With fortune and fame"
Here is a man who knows how to bend
the rules of the game

On his way to Heaven he's going through Hell
He works under pressure, not feeling too well
Upcoming man,
Upcoming man

He's telling me
he wants to be free
But he works like a slave right down to the grave
When will he see?

On his way to Heaven he's going through Hell
He works under pressure, not feeling too well
Upcoming man,
Upcoming man

What will remain
of fortune and fame?
When you're old and gray
how will they say
did you play the game?

Ye Good And Olden Days - Cave a.k.a. Zork

This is the first computergame I was addicted to. It was on a Texas Instruments minicomputer and we just called it Cave. It turns out that it was made by what later became Infocom and was officially called Zork. For some of the history behind the game and the company go here. To download free copies of Zork I, II and III go here.

And if you need help(and you will!!) you might find it here.

You are standing in an open field west of a white house, with a boarded front door. There is a small mailbox here.

Lonely heart - first draft

Running away from the city where it started
Trying not to think of his friends ‘cause they had parted
What can I say? The illusion’s far from over
What can I say, it’s not all crimson and clover

Standing on the corner where the old school used to be
The carpark of the supermarket took the place of history

Lonely heart and lonely soul
Not much to care for and no one to hold
Lonely heart, and lonely soul
No direction and no goal…

Running and running finding no place to hide
The grass turned out to be brown on both sides

Lonely heart and lonely soul
Not much to care for and no one to hold
Lonely heart, and lonely soul
No direction and no goal

Looking for the map

Some you lose and some you lose
That’s as it is and as it will be
Your freedom and your right to choose
May lead to riches, lead to poverty

All those lonely people,
out there on their own
Trying to make this world a place
that they can call their own
Making sure of everything,
securing every step
Lost in all eternity
and looking for the map

I’d like to save a soul, lend a helping hand
But paranoia has become the master of the land
I’d like to see you through the troubles that you’re in
But caring for each other seems to be a mortal sin

Drum 'n Bass

Solid Air can be seen live on stage, friday june 17th at the Cafe Kwatro in my hometown Alphen aan den Rijn.


Drum 'n Bass.

Heisenberg rules,
random facts connect
Quantumstate prevails
and my free will is protected
I take a look at this
and change the state it’s in
Oh, to predict the future
Where to begin, where to begin?

Unser lieber Gott wurfelt nicht
Unser lieber Gott wurfelt nicht

Take away order
Give nothing in return
We set the fire alight again
and we still watch it burn
Blame some singularity
It happened long ago
All else is chaos
As far as we know, as we know…

Unser lieber Gott wurfelt nicht
Unser lieber Gott wurfelt nicht

Heisenberg rules,
random facts connect
Quantumstates prevail
and my free will is protected
I take a look at you
and change the state you’re in
Oh, to predict the future
Where to begin, where to begin?

(c) Solid Air.

Random thoughts about the American system

Is freedom as defined in America only for americans or is it a universal principle?

I do not visit the U.S.A. For one : I would have to get a damned retinascan-passport although these things have not even been tested, are bloody expensive and Do Not Work Properly. If I don't get one I won't get into America. Although I do not have anything even remotely like a criminal record I am treated as one by default. If you do not call that curtailing people's right to freedom, dismantling the 'innocent until proven guilty-idea' as well as spreading paranoia and hate of foreigners I don't know what is.

Further more there are numerous stories in the american press(from left- to rightwing in this case) that are either all lies or that contradict any 'everything-is-hunky-dory'-opinion. There is no way in Hell that you can call someone like for instance Jerry Pournelle left-wing yet one can read scattered stories there about 90-year old pure american grandmas getting into trouble over a knitting-needle. Stories of people not allowed to carry a nailfile on a plane... As Robin Williams joked in december 2001; "What are they thinking? YOU! Take this plane to Washington or the bitch loses a cuticle!"
Not having plastic cutlery on the plane anymore, by Jove! Ever tried to eat with one of those crapthingies? They break if you handle them without love and affection. How is one supposed to force a plane down with a plastic fork?

It has gone to the extreme and I have to admit immediately that, although the european countries have not gone that far yet, they are definitely following a lot of the American rules. I believe strongly that politicians just love to spread this F(ear) U(ncertainty) and D(oom). It keeps the people on edge and insecure. I also think politicians should be booted out of office for this kind of behaviour as it is the exact opposite of what they are supposed to work for. But of course nowadays the people/voters are there for the government, not the other way round...

Now I wish to make it plain; No, I have not travelled the length and breadth or the U.S.A. although before 9/11 I had plans to do so during a long vacation. The plan was to hire a van or something and just drive into America. Because do not get me wrong ; I believe there is much to be seen and enjoyed in the U.S.A. and much of it seems beautiful to me. And I'm not just talking about mountains and other landmarks, I'm also talking about the people. the culture, etcetera.
I also believe that politicians do not define a people, they only define the "image" of a people to the outside world. Europe consists of a couple of dozen countries and they are all very different. Hence my objection to people trying to define Europe as a whole. The new European Constitution was flagged down by the people and every country's people had different reasons for it. Europe is a quilt of nations at best.

However; although I do not consider the European Union a democratic institution at all, the same can be said for a big chunk of the American system. How come that if a president is "lucky" and several judges in the supreme court die, he gets to completely change the outlook of the Supreme Court for who knows how long? How can it be that one person can rule over his own political grave? After 8 year he is gone and if this president has been able to get lets say 3 judges elected they could be there for ever. As a matter of fact ; your supreme court justices typically grow to be very old. If you consider the U.S.A. to be a complete and utter democracy(for instance), how can it be that the winner takes all in politics, thus shutting out a(usually) very sizable minority? That is called a Republic and that is what the U.S.A. is. It may be a democratic republic but a republic it remains. Compare this to the Netherlands where the winner does not get all, he gets exactly what he deserved; proportional representation. This forces compromise into the system and prevents stuff like those idiotic Fillibusters that the american democrats now have to use to get compromises from the republicans.

I do not think that America is the 'baddie' of the world as so many others do outside the U.S.A. but neither is Europe. And it is disturbing to see how so many americans assume so much that just isn't true while at the same time responding incredibly protective when it comes to the pitfalls of the American system. Both are far from perfect and - to put it a bit extreme - it does not do to glorify the one crucify the other.

TM.

Thermal underwear?

I wonder if the Lady Young leads by example...

TM's advice

En niet vergeten om NEE te stemmen vandaag...

(And don't forget to vote NO today.)

Poor little rich girls...

The organisation of Live 8, the follow-up to the legendary Live Aid, has removed the Spice Girls from the line-up because : "Live 8 organisers were adamant their style of music did not fit in with the serious political message about world poverty the transatlantic event hopes to portray." The article goes on to say that '"the girls will be gutted by the decision".

Ah, at least Geldof, sorry - Sir Bob - has a sense of gravitas. But on the other hand : wasn't the rising star Madonna Ciccione a big hit at Live Aid in 1985? Hmmmm...

You can find the article here.

My dad wants to say hi.

Pa in de bocht... Een ingezonden brief.



Beste lezers,

Was er in Nederland maar een man die alles op een vertaalbare manier oploste. Zo'n man die iedereen vertrouwt, intelligent is en zorgzaam. Iemand die er niet op uit is na zijn politieke carriere in commissariaten te grossieren of een topbaantje waar dan ook ambieert. Geen Jorritsma, May-Weggen, Wiegel of de salonsocialist-berentemmer van der Louw. Hij mag zelfs kaal zijn of nog beter hij MOET kaal zijn, want kale ezels heb je niet. De gezochte man moet er absoluut op tegen zijn een deel van zijn salaris af te staan aan de partijkas, want dan gaat hij er mee vandoor. Hij moet ook niets tegen Nederlanders, homo's, Surinamers kortom wie dan ook hebben want dan weet hij waar hij eindigt. Kortom de gezochte man moet met iedereen goede vrienden zijn. Als het kan moet hij een zoon en een dochter hebben met een goede baan, b.v. in de computerwerkzaamheden. Dan scoor je goed! Hij moet als dat kan goed bevriend zijn met de Amerikaanse president, kijk maar in het verleden naar Luns, en nu naar De Hoop-Scheffer, die is alleen op zijn eerste naam gekozen. Natuurlijk moet hij zijn vrouw trouw zijn en niet als zovelen tegenwoordig enige buitenechtelijke kinderen hebben, i.v.m. de kinderbijslag is dat ook nog oplichten van de staat.

Beste lezers, u zult zeggen ,,zo'n man bestaat niet'' en dan zeg ik ,,jawel''. Als u het met de vorige punten eens bent kunt maar EEN man kiezen en dat is mijn vader, die al deze problemen voor u oplost.

U hoeft slechts 100 Euro te storten op zijn Giro t.n.v. A. J. Baartwijk. Als u hier in groten getale gehoor aan geeft, krijgt na 3 maanden een kaartje uit Torremolinos met de beste groeten.

Dat is pas service vindt u niet?

Rob Baartwijk



Zo, en nu weet u meteen waar die afwijking van mij vandaan komt...

The European Constipation IV

Oh my Gods, the French have said NO! I hear them rant and I think of Private Frazier in Dad's Army : We're doomed, DOOOOoomed I Say!!!

And still, the politicians are wallowing in their 'We Know Everything Better So Vote Yes, Close Your Eyes And Go To Sleep-mode.' What I would give for a proper, intelligent, reasonable politician I could vote for. One who actually listens to the public before he or she acts.

Then again, as Londo Molari so beautifully said : "VIR! Intelligence has nothing to do with politics!".

Possible Pink Floyd reunion for LIVE 8

Rumours are flying. It would be so nice.

The European Constipation III

Translation for all you non-dutch out there : "If you do not vote for Europe on june the first we will kill this dog."

Brilliant. This is the basic level of the discussion about the constitution. This is an entry in a fotofuck at GeenStijl.nl. I hope I am not breaking any copyrightlaws but then again; I have included a link to GS. Just click on the picture to surf on.

Towel Day

For DNA.

The European Constipation II

To the dutch government.


Sirs and madams,


Political Holland is trying again to prove with all possible means that people who want to vote NO are no good :

- We don't mind war in Europe because it is destined to happen without the treaty and all because we said NO. BTW : This Is Not A Constitution Goddammit! This is a treaty!

- We are not informed or too sceptical so we shouldn't vote at all. Did a minister in the government actually SAY this??? You are not supposed to vote NO??? Throw that idiot out of politics NOW please, before he starts telling me what to think and what to have for breakfast.

- Oh my God, the euro-politicians cry, we are sooooo in need of this treaty. I wonder how Europe managed to survive without it the last 20 years or so.


I am pro-Europe. I am pro-constitution. But I am NOT in favour of this badly designed, quickly written, compromising RAG.

Here's an example : In the constitution it is very simple to state that "every citizen has freedom of speech". Period. That is one sentence. It is almost admirable to see how they managed to pollute the basic principles of democracy so they could turn this treaty in a document hundreds of pages long.

So NO, thank you very much. Because I want to see failsafe mechanisms that will prevent abuse of the constitution, and they are not there. As a matter of fact; I am not a politician and even I can think of numerous ways in which political Europe can go around this treaty. But of course we have to trust the wise people in Brussels and Strassbourg. Ri-i-ght, like they have done such a fantastic job so far. The fact is that Germany or France say "JUMP!" and the Netherlands will only ask "How high?". More so with this treaty than without it.

So be damned with your sell-out constitution. Do your homework properly before you ask me for my opinion. Perhaps you could actually check what the people of Europe want? Nah, that's useless isn't it?

And for Christ's sake; reduce it to the size of the average constitution will you? Typically between 30 and 50 pages. Then we will finally be able to read it properly and understand it. Or is that exactly what you do NOT want us to do?

Oh and by the way; make sure you include control over the European Government by its citizens. Because that is lacking to the extreme at the moment. And don't try to send us away with '1 million citizens will be allowed to humbly ask a question as long as we are polite and from 'a significant number of countries'" because we do not buy that crap.

Rob.

The European Constipation

I could go on and on and on... so let me suffice by saying that if I would have written this European Constitution for a school-essay I would have been failed miserably... Mein Gott what a mess, such contradictions, such FUD by the dutch government.

We should have a contest 'Who can find the most inconsistencies in the new constitution". Instead the government participates in a gameshow... AAAAAAARRRRRGHHHHHHHH!! Where Is The Leadership This Country Needs?

Is this the Netherlands or was I moved to a second world country while I was sleeping?

Good Filk

Original song Hotel California
Original artist The Eagles
Filk author Brian Marshall


Satan C Compiler


First I tore off the wrapping, then I took out the Disk
I never noticed the warningsign of the label that said "RISK!"
Then I picked up the licence, read the Guarantee
It said that all the code I'd write would be fully bug-free

I put the disk onto drive A, the hard disk started to smoke
The smell of sulfur everywhere, my eyes burned, I started to choke
Then my amber monitor started glowing dark green
Smoke slowly started to rise as I saw the startup Screen

And it said...

Welcome to the SATAN C Compiler...
You'll write perfect code, it'll always load,,
We're so glad you bought the SATAN C Compiler
Bug Free's the Goal
But it'll cost your soul....


I just stared at the terminal, I think it stared back at me,
Then I laughed at the practical joke, and settled down to use this C
I wrote a HUGE multitasking Database just for fun,
with built in datebook and spreadsheet to boot
I never thought it'd run...

I left pointers dangling, coerced types every place,
My memory management problems with "alloc" not even lint could erase.
But I put in stub modules and prepared for the test
It compiled in half a second flat, God was I impressed!

All the modules were working, even the stubs were armed
I knew right then and there my coding was great


Welcome to the SATAN C Compiler,
you'll always write perfect code,
It'll always load,
But now you must pay for the SATAN C Compiler,
Although it works just swell, it'll never sell!


And now I sit in my Basement, Starving, Broke, and Alone
I never speak to anyone although I sometimes moan.
But I thought that I'd warn you to not touch that disk,
The One that Infernal Business Machines wimply Labels 'RISK!'

But for me it's too late, I can't get out of this Hell,
I stab at ctrl-alt-del. but I just can't Kill the Shell.
All I get is one message, and the text makes me grieve
"You can Logoff any time you like but you can never leave.."


Welcome to the SATAN C Compiler,
you'll always write perfect code
It'll always load
You better not go near the SATAN C Compiler.
If you do, my friend, It'll be your end....


Original source

It is old but it is good.

For more go here.

64-bit

And here they come with their 'Revolutionary' 64-bit technology that has been here 'since the late nineties'...
Gosh, so the Iseries doesn't really work on 64-bit since 1995 then?

Lists...

Another one of those wretched lists....

Professor Doctor Jerry Pournelle

From Jerry Pournelle's log :


Rules of Computerdom

1. There are two ways to write error-free programs; only the third one works.

2. A printer consists of three main parts: the case, the jammed paper tray and the blinking red light.

3. The programmer's national anthem is 'AAAAAAAARRRRGHHHHH!!'.

4. At the source of every error which is blamed on the computer, you will find at least two human errors, including the error of blaming it on the computer.

5. Beta. Software undergoes beta testing shortly before it's released. Beta is Latin for "still doesn't work."

6. Computer analyst to programmer: "You start coding. I'll go find out what they want."

7. Computer Science: solving today's problems tomorrow.

8. Hidden DOS secret: add BUGS=OFF to your CONFIG.SYS

9. Hit any user to continue.

10. I wish life had an UNDO function.

11. If your computer says, "Printer out of Paper," this problem cannot be resolved by continuously clicking the "OK" button.

12. It said "Insert disk 3..." but only 2 fit in the drive.

13. Microsoft Windows: computing While U Wait

14. 665.9238429876 - Number of the Pentium Beast

15. I have yet to meet a C compiler that is more friendly and easier to use than eating soup with a knife.

16. My software never has bugs. It just develops random features. 17. Programming graphics in X is like finding sqrt(pi) using Roman numerals.

18. "To know recursion, you must first know recursion"

19. Life's unfair - but root password helps!

20. Mountain Dew and doughnuts... because breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

21. Hey! It compiles! Ship it!

22. "Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning.

23. Intel: We put the "um..." in Pentium.

24. Helpdesk tip #2: When the support analyst says "Click...", wait for the rest of the sentence.

25. BREAKFAST.COM Halted...Cereal Port Not Responding

26. BUFFERS=20 FILES=15 2nd down, 4th quarter, 5 yards to go!

27. As a computer, I find your faith in technology amusing.

28. Disinformation is not as good as datinformation.

29. Smash forehead on keyboard to continue.....

30. Enter any 11-digit prime number to continue...

31. All wiyht. Rho sritched mg kegtops awound?

32. A good programmer makes all the right mistakes.

33. Managing programmers is like herding cats.

34. "There is an old saying that if a million monkeys typed on a million keyboards for a million years, eventually all the works of Shakespeare would be produced. Now, thanks to Usenet, we know this is not true."

35. "A good programmer is someone who looks both ways before crossing a one-way street."

36. C makes it easy to shoot yourself in the foot. C++ makes it harder, but when you do, it blows away your whole leg.

37. A computer scientist is someone who, when told to "Go to H---," sees the "go to," rather than the destination, as harmful.

38. 1010011010 - The binary number of the Beast

39. APATHY ERROR: Don't bother striking any key. Application has reported a "Not My Fault" in module KRNL.EXE in line 0200:103F

40. "The three most dangerous things in the world are a programmer with a soldering iron, a hardware type with a software patch and a user with an idea."

Jim Woosley

Watch the eyes...

This is FrEaKy!

Exploring Mars

which will look for water and ice under the Red Planet is due to be deployed after a delay of over a year.

Controllers are worried the radar's long antenna booms will swing back and hit delicate components on the probe....

More

Removed

Removed, wrong blog.

The Hitchhiker's Guide @ Space.com

Another review of "The Movie". And not a bad one at that...

Don't Look Now!

Good idea.
Not that I watch that many tv-programs, no bloody time. Most of it is crapola from start to finish anyway.

Life, the Universe and Everything on your mobile

Douglas Adams' h2g2 was the first forum/community I was a part of and it has become quite legendary. A couple of years ago when the BBC took over they tried their damn hardest to give us a home but the compulsory BBC-moderation went against many veterans' belief that h2g2 should be(and was!) a self-correction and self-cleansing community. Fortunately the BBC has realized that as good as nothing 'moderatable' ever happens that isn't solved by peer-pressure. So the rules - while still in place - are hardly ever enforced.

It was been announced and tried some years ago but the Hitchhiker's movie is imminent and apparently the support for a real Guide has grown. This has resulted in The real Guide. This is an initiative to create not only the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy online(www.h2g2.com) but to also make the information available on mobile phones and other handheld devices.

I think the Wikipedia is a brilliant initiative. We were there first though... :-)

John Titor: Timetraveller Extraordinaire

This entry is about John Titor. I assume most people have heard the story but for those who haven't: check this out. This is - in my opinion - the best hoax/stunt ever pulled on the web. And the fact that he has not returned to claim his fame makes it all the more convincing. I have not come across anyone on the web who has actually found out who this guy was. And that is quite an achievement.

Back to you Michael

In the meantime, at Michael's party...

Webarchives - another one

Here you can see what your favorite website looked like in the distant past.

Fred about democracy in America

Fred on Everything is a site that contains the writings of Fred(!), a sometimes quirky character but I always have fun reading his articles. This one is about Democracy in America(which, according to Fred, doesn't exist). Select "The path of democracy" on the lefthand side.

I normally do not copy articles from others but there is no deeplink to this article and they tend to shift out of sight after a while. So here it is :

Democracy, Birds, And Snails

Oh...Hell

<>April 7, 2005

I wonder whether liberal democracies do not follow an ordained trajectory into the muck, ripening like fruits, having their arteries harden, and falling, plop, to be eaten by birds and snails. (That was a two-animal medico-vegetative ballistic metaphor, not so much mixed as homogenized, almost colloidal. Patent applied for.) I note that the English-speaking countries are doing to themselves exactly what the United States is doing, and the Europeans, though better educated and more cultivated, follow. Maybe there is a pattern.

Now, any time I refer to the United States as a democracy, I get mail, from people vaguely remembering high-school civics, who tell me that the US is not a democracy but a constitutional republic. In fact is neither. A democracy is of course any governmental system in which ultimate power rests with the people; direct democracies, parliamentary democracies, and constitutional republics are all examples of democracy. In America, the people are nearly powerless, in large part without knowing it. The trick has been done by giving them furiously fought elections that don’t mean anything. This distracts them and gives them a sense of participation, while maintaining their proper role as consumers.

The United States is not the country it thinks it is. It moves fast toward a curious comfortable despotism. This is of course precisely what people want. A few observations:

America does not have a free press. The media are big business and speak for those who own big business. They lie and distort and always have. Now, however, they all lie and distort identically; here is the rub. Their function is to herd the sheep. The public knows only what it is allowed to know, except for the tiny few who go to the internet. “Political correctness” is not an annoying fad. It is a deadly serious means of preventing public discussion of things that those in power do not want discussed (for example, race, affirmative action, illegal immigration.)

In the words of the great political philosopher Fredwitz, democracy is communism continued by other means. Pretty much, anyway.

Though it may run counter to intuition, the press itself has little interest in freedom of the press; this is why freedom is so easily denied. Journalism is first a job. It is second a job with rich perquisites: A reporter travels abroad, attends exciting events, enjoys privileges unheard of among mere citizenry. It’s a racket. Only a cantankerous few would risk these wonders for the sake of telling the truth. They are soon weeded out.

The will of the people? Hardly. Americans do not determine any policy that matters. (E.g., regarding race, affirmative….) The techniques for guaranteeing an unnoticed helplessness are simple but brilliant. First, people are never permitted to vote for policies, but an only for one or another of two essentially identical presidential candidates who prate identically about Getting the Country Moving, and No Child Left Behind. The results determine not policy but patronage. Second, power is concentrated in remote anonymous bureaucracies, rendering policy impervious to attack. Third, there is the federal tactic of taxing the states and returning the money in exchange for obedience.

The people do not rule. Nor do they have freedoms inconvenient to the government. But then, they do not want freedom.

We are seeing I think that letting people govern themselves doesn’t work. I don’t say that it is undesirable, but merely impractical. (Letting them think they have power, however, is splendidly sensible, as it keeps them quiescent.) More succinctly, democracies aren’t stable. They tend toward well-fed dictatorship. Why? Because the bright, grasping, and conscienceless inevitably rise.

The people lack the intelligence to govern any entity larger than a very small town. Particularly in the United States they read little, think less, know almost nothing of history, geography, the nature and politics of the world beyond the borders. They are thus easily swayed, frightened, enraged, gulled, and led into dog-pack patriotism by those, far smarter and more aware, who understand the levers of power. They so quickly give up liberty to those who offer to protect them. They are eager to do it. Look around you.

I have seen it said that the national character of the United States safeguards the country against despotism. I doubt it. National character may exist at a given moment, but it is easily changed. A spirit of hardy independence, of “Don’t Tread On Me” and so on, cannot outlive the independence itself. America is no longer a nation of rifle-toting frontiersmen or self-sufficient farmers. It is a nation of employees. On average they are heavily indebted, imprisoned by the retirement system, unable to farm, fish, hunt, defend themselves, change their spark plugs or build a shelter. They cannot live without the state, which leaves…who in charge?

A curious phenomenon, of uncertain provenance though I have heard many theories, is the national promotion of psychic weakness as a virtue. Some of it surpasses parody. I see that teachers are eliminating red pencils for grading papers because the violence of the color might shock the sensibilities of the students. There is much of this. Presumably the effect, and perhaps the intention, is a cowering race of pitiable and self-pitying weaklings unable to withstand, well, much of anything. A red pencil, for example. Dreadful things, those pencils.

People want neither freedom nor democracy. They want a soothing mother domestically and an outlet, preferably overseas, for anger.

While political democracy does not exist, cultural democracy does. It can exist because it does not threaten those who govern. The common run of humanity has no interest in learning anything or in any sort of intellectual betterment. They resent anything they see as indicating superiority in others, though, and want assurance that, as kids used to say in Alabama, “you ain’t no gooder’n me.” The degradation of the schools serves to eliminate obvious distinction, improve docility, avoid unwanted study, and make people consumers of witless amusement provided from above, as for example terrible music and awful movies.

All of the foregoing I believe serve to make the public a somnolent mass paying taxes, buying things, and directing little attention to larger matters. The only freedoms most want are the freedom to drive nice cars, watch 300 channels on the cable, drink beer, and take an occasional vacation. Freedom matters to intellectuals. For most, prosperity suffices.

A friend recently returned from China and told me, “As long as you don’t screw with the government, it doesn’t screw with you. It’s not Burundi. I hate the bastards, but the economy is getting better and people go along. It could be lots worse.”

Convergence.

Music-videos all over...

I got this from the very informative "Splinter Inside" Blog. This blog even has the same standard-layout as mine... Hrmmmmm.... gotta do something about that sooner or later...

Anyway : thanks Hans.

Responsetimes

Blogspot sucks big time lately. Responsetimes of over 5 minutes... That's so last century guys. Do something will ya?

Boob Marley

Apparently this is not an April Fool's joke. Boy oh boy...

BOOB MARLEY

Apr 1 2005

BBC ask to interview reggae music star who died in 1981
By Eva Simpson

THE BBC asked to interview reggae legend Bob Marley for a documentary - despite the fact he died in 1981.

In an email, they told the Bob Marley Foundation it would only involve him "spending one or two days with us".

The Beeb wanted the Jamaican star's contribution for an hour-long show on his hit single No Woman, No Cry. The email said the story "would only work with some participation from Bob Marley himself".

It added filming was pencilled in for June, July and August, but "our schedule is flexible".

The show, expected to air on BBC2 and BBC Three, follows a December documentary on The Story Of Bohemian Rhapsody, the Queen song. Marley died aged 36 from cancer. Last night a source close to his family said given the BBC's prestige the email was a "shock".

"We didn't think there was anyone on the planet who didn't realise Bob Marley passed away years ago," he added.

BBC Three said the blunder, by researcher Paysley Ross, was "not an April Fool". It added: "We're very embarrassed."

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No! It's SuperApe!

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Michael Jackson continued...

The latest news about the Michael Jackson-trial. Consistency is not the best quality of these boys...

You can find more about MJ in my archives here