Henk van de Goor's Bloggers@large

The World Health Organization has declared the swine flu officially a pandemic (or alert phase 6) on June 11th. The first flu pandemic in 41 years and infections continue to climb in the United States, Europe, Australia, South America and elsewhere. The spread of the swine flu contagion has not yet reached scary "Resident Evil" like proportions, but I really think things will get pretty hairy out there! Even the famous Wimbledon tennis tournament is effected now, with a total of 28 staff that have been asked to stay at home with suspected swine flu! Surprisingly enough it is getting quieter in the press about the flu. As if the media collectively have decided that they do not want to cause a global panic?

Sure, when you look at the figures one might think "what's the big deal?" So far "only" 337 people died from A/H1N1 - or A(H1N1) - as it is officially called. But that 337 people where in 121 countries. Also the number of the total infected has now exceeded 80,000, a top official of the World Health Organization (WHO) said this Thursday. In other words: the virus spreads across the globe like wildfire! Most of the infected are young people. Schools and homes are the places where people are most likely to be infected. Also, the virus is more similar to H5N1 avian flu rather than the seasonal flu.

So far the main antiviral flu drug, Tamiflu, seems to be working well as long as people receive it within 24hrs after the first signs of infection are established. But it is unclear how governments would battle a new mutated virus strain of A/H1N1 when it hits like it has in Denmark: scientists have established the first case of the new H1N1 influenza strain showing resistance to Tamiflu. Off course the big pharmaceutical companies are all racing to develop a cure, but no one knows when that will happen, and if they can produce large enough quantities to battle the virus when it really hits.

What people should not underestimate, is the fact that the virus is five times more aggressive than the seasonal flu. When you're hit with it, the virus will penetrate the lungs deeper and as a result five times as much people will die of it. Another mayor problem is that the virus is airborne, making it really hard to battle. You know what: suddenly all those die-hard survivalists weirdo's do not seem so weird to me anymore! And I don't care what people say; I think I might prepare myself a bit better for a disaster situation in case the shit really hits the fan!

As always there a many, many resources on the web that deal with things like urban survival or survival in more rural areas. Here is a link to a PDF file telling you a bit about how to prepare for a case like this: Preparing for the Coming Influenza Pandemic, Grattan Woodson, MD, FACP, (c) 2005. I suggest to read it carefully and also get more information on how to survive problems like this one.

Maybe it's not a bad idea to get educated ;-)

If your in the IT or technology business, you gotta love the Dilbert cartoons. Dilbert is a cartoon evolving round perfect office humor about a white-collar, micromanaged office featuring engineer Dilbert. There are many, many very recognizable situations in the cartoon and I am 100% sure that anyone that ever had a job will recognize several character trades in their colleagues and - especially - their management.

What I didn't know, is that there were also Dilbert cartoons on TV and on the Dilbert Website. I didn't know this until I came across a posting on another blog that featured the YouTube video below.

The funny thing about it is, that I am sure a lot of people in tech industry will recognize a bit about themselves in it. It's called "The Knack" (as in: "he has a knack for things"). After seeing it I just knew I had to post it as well. So here I go.



Ps: another funny thing I came across was the following quote:

"An optimist will tell you the glass is half full. A pessimist will tell you the glass is half empty. An engineer will tell you the glass is twice the size it needs to be."

PPs: A "fun" fact about Dilbert cartoons: in 2007 a guy got fired over putting a Dilbert cartoon on a bulletin board at his work.

I love Holland, but we sure do have some insane people politicians with the dumbest ideas you can think of. Today was a prime example. Some time ago a commission of wise men decided to examine the future of Dutch newspapers. As we all know there is an economic crisis going on and this hits every part of our society. Newspapers suffer because they lose money on advertising. Most companies spend their marketing budget on other media or a different media mix; they go where their target audience is. And guess what: their target audience no longer reads newspapers. Besides this most newspapers in Holland depend on a steady income from subscriptions (business model). This is different from other countries where most newspapers depend on just selling newspapers on the streets. Off course people are tying to save money and they cut back on those subscriptions. As a result newspapers suffer more. In light of these facts, the commission tried to come up with ideas how the Dutch newspapers are going to survive in these hard times. Today they presented their findings in a report presented to our minister of culture and came up with an insane idea.

So what did these geniuses come up with? Well, they propose a tax for all Dutch Internet users. You can get your news for free on the Internet - and that should stop. Right now! You - yes you too - need to pay for the fact that newspapers have been unable to innovate and come up with an answer to the needs of a new digital generation and a business model too. With the money they get from this tax they will subsidize old, obsolete media!

In other words: even though I do not read newspapers anymore because I decided (years ago) I did not want to pay for yesterdays news, they would force me to pay for it indirectly?

My God. It's by far the dumbest thing I have heard off.

And you know what: it is the same stupid idea that people came up with when we had the industrial revolution in the 18th century. During that period steam powered devices where gradually replacing manual labour. This off course had a deep impact on all kinds of jobs.

What I mean is this: around 1900 the first automobiles got created and this gradually replaced the horse and carriage. This off course meant that there no longer was a need for blacksmiths making horseshoes. So, people panicked by this new development and politicians came up with plans to tax companies that where using steam powered machines, essentially punishing them for being innovative.

Luckily for us those plans never made it through.

So, blacksmiths had a choice: evolve or become obsolete and die. Just like the dinosaurs did. Indeed, many blacksmiths did disappear because they were unable to evolve. They either didn't know how, or did not want to.

But some survived. They survived because they understood what was going on: times where changing. So they adopted to a new age and started to produce auto parts! In fact many blacksmiths started to build coaches for car builders. Those coachbuilders later had to evolve again because new car manufacturing procedures forced them to mass produce cars (thanks to Henry Ford). And so on. Evolution is a continuing cycle!

So the idea to subsidize something ancient and obsolete like newspapers is just certified insane! Essentially it's rewarding an entire industry for a total lack of innovation and vision!

People, this is exactly the same problem the entertainment industry has. New technology (Mp3) comes with new possibilities and they totally and utterly do not get what it means for their industry. It means that they need to evolve or die! They need to come up with new business models to fit the new situation! Stop protecting the old crappy, outdated technologies!

Newspapers have proven to be utterly incapable of innovation. Their whole production and distribution system is obsolete. So is their business model. The ink hasn't even dried or the news is already old. I can get better information - and faster (real time in fact) - using the Internet. Who needs newspapers? TV and even radio is superior! The whole concept of printing "news" is a contradictio in terminus.

Why the hell is it taking newspapers so long to see that new technology offers so many chances for them? Why can I not get a newspaper subscription using a e-reader using e-paper? Amazon has a nice e-reader and you can get (wireless) subscriptions for that.

The answer my friends, is easy. Just as with the industrial evolution the "old" companies have no answer to new developments but have much to lose. So they turn to the one thing they can do: try to stop progress. The same goes for the auto industry, the energy (oil) industry etc..

If it was up to these companies and this Dutch commision, we would still be using a horse and carriage for transportation. Wars would still be fought with a bow and arrow! We would drink water from a well, cook on a campfire, have an outhouse instead of a toilet, use coal for heating and listen to records instead of MP3's.

But if there is one thing we Dutch should know is that is it utterly pointless to put your finger in the dyke to stop a leak, if the rest of the dyke is completely breached in other places.

Please evolve or die already! Be bold and embrace the future!

Ps: I studied to become a newspaper journalist and worked briefly for some Dutch newspapers/magazine in the early '90's. In 1995, after seeing the potential of the World Wide Web, I immediately switched to digital. Along with just one other journalist in Holland (Francisco van Jole) I published exclusively online on the WWW for about a year and a half. Currently I am a senior project manager at an IT department at a graphical company that is evolving from a print (and print related) company to a "marketing support" company. It is my firm belief that paper and print will be replaced by digital media in some form. Cutting down trees to produce paper is just as dumb as clubbing baby seals to death to get some fur. There are way better and smarter ways to get the same or better results. I believe in a digital life-style and am convinced we are living in the most exiting and promising century in human history!

What a phenomenal stunt by my favorite TV-show - ever - about cars: Top Gear. This Sunday they started their 13th season with a great publicity stunt. They finally 'revealed' who the infamous "Stig" is. After driving a Ferrari FXX supercar around the track in the best time ever (1.10.7), the Stig came into the studio and took of his white helmet, showing the world his face for the first time. And no - it wasn't Susan Boyle. It was Michael Schumachers face.

But before you run out the house and start shouting "I see dumb people" because you "knew it al along", think again. It doesn't take long to know it was just a stunt. There is no way that Schumacher could do all the test driving because he simply didn't have the time for that. The real reason why he was on the show was simply because the real Stig wasn't allowed to drive the new Ferrari FXX.

Yes, you read that right. There was a good reason for that: simply because the FFX in question is the 30th made and is actually owned by - you guessed it - Michael Shumacher. It's the only black one without a stripe (see this Youtube video for proof).

Strictly speaking and according to Top Gear's own "Power Lap" rules, the record time does not really count! Top Gear always said that in order for a lap time to count, the car needs to be a 'production car' (which the FXX is) and not a one off, also it needs to be able to go over a speed bump and it needs to be street legal - which it isn't. The Ferrari FXX can not be driven on the road!

Yes you can buy this +1 million Euro car, but you can't park it in your garage. You can go over to Italy or somewhere else, but only if Ferrari allows it! The car is not street legal! The car that recorded the fastest lap time on the Top Gear track was the Renault F1 car, at fifty nine seconds (0:59.00), although it was disqualified on the speed-bump rule. As of the end of the twelfth series, the fastest road legal car that met the requirements was the Gumpert Apollo S in a time of 1:17.1.

In fact, there is a separate - unofficial board - of times for non-production cars, such as the Aston Martin DBR9 Le Mans racer.

Anyway: enjoy the video below: chances are it will be down soon because of copy infringement - claimed by the BBC.

Here's a true story in the category "customer support hell". It is one of those stories where you would swear that people are actually instructed to do anything but assist you and get a kick out of that. A prime example of customer harassment instead of service.

So what's the deal? Back in 2003 I decided to register my last name as a domain name. Because the .NL domain name was already taken, I decided to register the .COM domain. I used a Danish company for this called "Speednames" (part of Ascio which is part of the UK Group NBT plc). I paid my domain online using my credit card and set up the service, so I could have my domain name for my Blog. So far so good.

Somewhere in 2007 I decided to move my blog from my own server to Site5.com. I have been with them now for a few years and their service is just great and no one can beat their pricing. As an example; I found out that Site5 asks only $8,88 a year for .COM domain names. Speednames asks $45 a year! Way overpriced!

So I decided to move my domain to Site5. In order to do so, you need to change the DNS first so it points to your hosting provider, and then have the domain transferred.

But to do this, I had to first update the WHOIS record for my domain, as I had moved and my email address had changed. This is because Speednames can only send the so called EPP code (that actually makes it possible to transfer your domain) to the technical contact address.

That's where my trouble began. Now, Speednames advertises by boasting about all the following, and I quote:

So Why Choose Speednames?

Because our customers like us
One of the reasons were still around is because we aim to keep our customers happy. We continue to listen and learn from our customers, and this means we can focus on what is most important to them − delivering simple domain name services with high levels of support. We regularly engage our customers on issues regarding our services and publish our monthly newsletter to all customers who wish to receive it.

Because it is all about the Customer Experience
Our customer support team are trained and based in-house, in our Copenhagen office, with additional heads if required based in the London headquarters of GroupNBT − we do not outsource such an important element of our service, and we never will! Our team is knowledgeable and experienced in helping people set up their first domain, as well as being able to diagnose and fix both technical and non-technical issues relating to domain names and hosting.

Well, I can tell you two things: I am not a happy customer and "the customer experience" they are "all about" sucks! It took me more than 3 weeks and many, many emails and faxes to have my WHOIS information changed. In short: they never ever actually helped me out with anything and just took days to respond or take action. At some point they started to harass me asking for proof of ownership of the domain name, even though I owned it since 2003!

Then I tried to change the DNS so it would point to Site5. Again, Speednames boast about their DNS service on their website:

Customer quotes on our DNS service:

"Thank you! Your DNS service saved our day. The servers at our ISP failed, but we were able to redirect email and web traffic to new servers in a matter of minutes."- Elisa Morkrid, Oslo, Norway

"Our old ISP took days to make manual updates to their DNS, but with you we can do it online, automatic, 24 hours a day. Dank u!"- Jaap Zenden, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Right. Well, the admin page that actually allows you - as a customer - to control your DNS, has been down for weeks now. I'm not kidding: weeks!

When you write them about it, you get an evasive answer:

We are still working on the issue and i have been informed by the technician's that it should be solved very soon

Off course the do not tell you what "soon" is and you have to ask them to do the DNS change for you. But when you do, they suddenly need all kinds of info you do not have to fill out when you do it yourself online. Their support people have absolutely no intention to "support" you.

To give you an example: in one instance I forgot to fill out my domain name. Instead of using their brain and look into the customer database - which would have revealed I have only one domain registered - they mailed me back to complain that I forgot my domain name. Yet another example of what I call customer harassment!

Long story short: if you ever contemplate of registering a domain name, do not use Speednames. They are way overpriced and their offer no service whatsoever! Take my word for it!