One of the cooler events on this planet – the TEDx conference – has started in Amsterdam. TEDx is a spin-off from the famous TED (Technology Entertainment and Design) conferences that are held regularly in the USA. As TED gained massive popularity due to the interesting speakers and subjects, it is almost impossible to get a ticket. As an alternative TEDx is an independent program that offers people to enjoy a TED-like experience with TEDx Events they organize, design and host themselves. For those that can not attend the TEDx Amsterdam, here is a live stream so you can follow […]
Occam’s razor
Here’s how you spark a true Internet meme: you spot something funny in an old B&W 1928 Charly Chaplin movie, post it on the Internet (YouTube) together with a ridiculous explanation. And with this simple post the guy gets over 4 million hits and a lot of debate, varying from plain stupid to intriguing. Just watch this video from this guy called George Clarke (if you can make it past the annoying self-promotion – just skip it if you need) and hear and see what the fuzz is all about: So, did that make you go “Hmmm”? Don’t you think, […]
Chocolate cake, Gameboy and Lauren Holly
How come this never happened to me 😉 (Answer: when I was this age there where no Gameboys, chocolate cake was not my favorite food and Lauren Holly was only 4 years older then me).
One light bulb
Say you are a landlord, and you rent out apartments. One day you walk by the building you own and you see that one of your tenants has left on a 1000 watt light bulb in one of his rooms, consuming an extraordinary amount of electricity, dimming the lights in all other appartments. Now, would you turn of the electricity to his whole apartment, knowing that this action will also turn of his fridge, aquarium etc., or would you try to notify the tenant first and let that tenant turn the light off himself but risking that it might take a while before that […]
In a Galaxy far, far away…
This June I wrote about getting a new smartphone. I was about to buy an HTC Desire, when I (fortunately) decided to wait and see what Steve Jobs had to present on the Apple event that was taking place later that week (June 2010) . It happened to be the launch of the infamous new iPhone 4. I really got stoked about the iPhone 4 and so I decided to wait for it before I would buy an Android phone: I wanted an iPhone 4 badly! However: a few days after the official launch of the phone, reports started to […]
Dutch Skies
Yesterday I had the privilege to hop along with our CEO in a Lancair Columbia 300 airplane. Together with two fellow co-workers we made a very fun trip from Lelystad Airpoirt to Eelde (doing an instrument approach) and then flying back – on visual navigation – to Lelystad Airport via the city where I work: Purmerend. The weather was pretty nice, although we had some low clouds and overcast on the way to Eelde. However on our way back we flew towards clear skies and enjoyed the whole experience. Man, there is nothing cooler than seeing our own country from above. It’s so interesting […]
Home again
So, I am home again after a relaxing three weeks of vacation in Florida. We – as in me and my girlfriend – didn’t do that much: just chill, watch trash TV, catch a movie, eat out, shop, swim and enjoyed each others company. I certainly enjoyed my trip. Florida is very nice although it aways takes me a few day to get used to the 90+ (= 30+ celsius) temperature and the 90+ humidity. This time the weather was very nice even though we had almost 1 week of cloudy weather (kinda perfect for me). And I only got bitten […]
A flight attendants exit strategy
Let me tell you something. I fly internationally frequently. And ‘flight attendants’ – or as we know ‘m: stewards or stewardesses – do not have the glamorous job people might think they have. Sure, if you look no further than the surface you see mostly young, attractive people flying all over the world to cool places. And people generally envy them for that. Well, reality is that they are mostly playing babysitters to annoying people. People that don’t obey the safety rules on a plane. People who are rude and get abusive because they experienced a delay of simply because they had to much […]
Hunting mice with a rifle: mice win
Hunting pesky rodents can be more dangerous than most people would think. If you choose the wrong tool for the job and couple that with bad decisions and poor judgement; it can end in a tragedy. As was the case with a 52-year old dentist from Holland who tried to get rid of some mice in his vacation home in Jumilhac-le-Grandin, in the French Dordogne (July 26, 2010). Aggravated by the noisy mice that inhabited his French home, he decided to take matters into his own hands and hunt ‘them pesky mice’ down. However; instead of using the usual tools for […]
It’s amazing Mike!
Don’t you hate those those annoying, stupid infomercials? Usually they are on TV during the day when no one only braindead housewives watch them, or in the late after hours, way past midnight. I seriously think those infomercials should come with a warning, just like they put on cigarette packs: “Warning. Watching these stupid infomercials causes severe braindamage and/or mental retardation. No shit, Fool!” Personally I think the only way they are bearable to watch, is when you’re stoned as a shrimp or someone just knocked your lights out with a hockeystick. Since I am not into drugs (never even […]