The Internet I would almost have forgotten it, but 2005 marks my 10th anniversary of being “online”. To be more accurate: from approximately 1993 till 1995 I was ‘semi-online’ using a dial-up connection to some Dutch bulletin boards like “Utopia” (later to become the first Dutch Internet provider called XS4ALL). I also had my own BBS (called WindowsBBS) using the Spitfire BBS software version 3.4. Then, in 1995 I started working for an Internet company called “Riverland Networks” and this marked my first steps on, what we now know as the “Internet”. Looking back it is hard to imagine my […]
No tax on MP3 players – yet
iPod Photo This monday I wrote about the stupid plan that the NVPI an SENA came up with, to get money from podcasters, in order to compensate the music mafia in Holland. In a suprise move they decided to not do this as yet. For now. Apparantly they didn’t had the time to pass this tax law through the proper channels. This is the same group of people that got filthy rich from pimping artists in Holland and now they decided to get more money from people that just use their freedom of speech to do some podcasting and use […]
Fourth victim in Dutch mob war
Another one bites the dust It could be an episode from the Italian mob series “La Piovra” from the eighties; yet another Dutch mobster got “rubbed out” last night. 44 year old George van Kleef got killed by a few men on a bicycle (probably one of the first “bicycle drive-by murders” ever). Van Kleef is the fourth mobster that got killed in the last 10 days. It first started with the murder of ex-lawyer Evert Hingst (suspected to be more of a consigliere to some Dutch mobsters)on Oct. 31st. Then, just a few days later Cees Houtman (real estate […]
Podcasting music illegal?
Podcast music illegal? Once again the current music industry in Holland (NVPI, SENA) has proved that they still live in the “stone-age”. Last Friday (the 4th) they announced that they will not condone music being dirstributed/used via/in Podcasts. Instead, podcasters using music in their podcasts, will have to pay rights for each individual song they use. Why not have some general rule? For individuals that have their own Internet radio stations (like myself) they do have a special arrangement. It is unclear why they do not have come to such a solution this time. Off course the use of music […]
A new day, a new dawn…
A new dawn.. So, today was the first day at my new job. As I wrote in a previous Blog, I got basically fired and hired at the same day in September, but I wound up wit a different company, because I got a last minute offer. And so today I started, after a 1 month(!!) vacation. Of course I would liked to have visited my girlfriend Carrie in the States during that period, but our relationship has changed pretty dramatically since she announced she had feelings for someone else and ended our relationship. But the latest news is that […]
One down, two to go
Lewis Libby Vice President Dick Cheney’s chief of staff, I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, resigned today after a federal grand jury indicted him on five counts of perjury over an investigation into the unmasking of a covert CIA agent. Just as I mentioned in my previous Blog today, this brings president Bush rather in a tight spot. And also his aide Karl Rove (also referred after as “the brains” behind Bush). Although Rove was not charged, the investigation has not been closed. Special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald has accused Mr Libby of lying about how and when he learned and disclosed to […]
Bush’ power weakening as Rove might get the boot
Rove’s last days? A few days after Bush’ prodigy Harriet Miers withdrawn her nomination for the U.S. Supreme Court, today may deal another blow to US president Bush. Federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald is expected to announce the results of his two-year probe into a CIA leak today including whether a federal grand jury will issue any indictments. Two lawyers involved in the case also have told CNN that as his investigation winds down the prosecutor is focusing on whether Karl Rove, President Bush’s top political strategist, committed perjury. Rove testified four times in front of the grand jury. CNN reports […]
The Curaçao-connection
Coke for money? In my previous blog I talked about the Mechior abduction. Today there is some intresting follow-up. When the police apprehended the suspected mastermind behind the abduction on the Copacabana beach in Rio de Jaineiro (Brazil), in a joint opreation with the Brazilian police, they stated afterwards that they did not rule out the possibility of “more arrests”. So far no new arrest have been made, but recent events do shed some light on the curious ransom note for 300 kilo’s of cocaine. It was leaked to the press that a friend of Claudia Melchers husband Bart V. […]
The power of the individual: Rosa Parks dies at 92
Rosa Parks, 1913-2005 Montgomery, Alabama, December 1st, 1955. A black seamstress named Rosa Parks was heading home after a long day at work. She boarded a bus and found a vacant seat. Trouble was, if there weren’t enough seats on the bus for Caucasians, African Americans were supposed to give up their seats; back then that was the law in Montgomery, Alabama. As it happened, the bus soon filled up and Rosa was expected to give up her seat. Rosa Parks refused to budge. In short order, Mrs. Parks was arrested, fingerprinted and fined for violating a city ordinance. That […]
The 300 kilo coke mystery
No coke? Ok, here is a weird story. On Sept 13th some men kidnapped the 37 year old daughter of a Dutch millionaire, Claudia Melchers. Her father, Hans, owner of a Dutch chemical company is worth about 460 million Euros. There – supposedly – was no contact with the kidnappers, and a few days later, on Sept. 15th she was suddenly released again: no ransom paid. After a few day police arrested some men that were involved and today they arrested to ‘mastermind’ behind it all on the famous Copacabana beach in Brazil. Now what makes this case so interesting […]