Been partying for five days, after a three year Carnival sabbatical, unlike most of my colleagues. A joker under them acted an instant seizure when he met me on Saturday morning at the newspaper, my NapoLeon hat on my head, finishing some paper work before running to Beyerd or Bommel. Never mind, he’s a nice guy and he can run, be he is from north of The Moerdijk, calls French fries patat, and doesn’t know a thing about Carnival. I’ve never understood the people born and raised over here who hate Carnival, must be a missing link in their education,… >> Lees verder . . . >>
When in China: Internet Freedom
The Internet promised unlimited access to information and the free flow of ideas across borders. Yet, in China with an internet population of 137 million users and 2.5 million bloggers, internet censorship seems to tighten in the run up to the Beijing Olympics in 2008. ‘The requirements of doing business in China include self-censorship – something that runs counter to Google’s most basic values and commitments as a company.’ (Google representative Elliot Schrage) What dilemmas are Internet corporations facing in China? What choices are they making? – Invitation by the The Dutch Journalist Association (NVJ) – Are Internet companies part… >> Lees verder . . . >>
How Blogs define themselves
Never hurts to Google Yourself every once in a while. You’ll be surprised how many old links seem to live on forever, and will probably still be there, long after you’re gone to the big cyberspace. Comforting idea or not, there’s not much you can do about it. A question about my Matrox Millennium posted in 1996 by Martijn van Breugel on the Dutch Linux Users Group, still pops up in Google. Some of the links to my name or my domain I’ve seen before, but I’ve missed this one, some six months back: The Fifth Estate On The Journalistic… >> Lees verder . . . >>
The Carnaval is over . . .
It’s all over for this year. We’ve got the Bommel & Beyerd Blues over here: a headache, a sore throat, and a stirred and shaken stomach. Back to a another kind of life as from today: no more bars or booze until may 18 – second climb of Alpe d ‘Huez – biking and fasting instead. Cees, the Bommel Boss – by the way is he looking over here the right decision – is going into retirement, going to play golf instead of serving beer. We’ll probably see him in South America later this year . . . Say goodbye… >> Lees verder . . . >>
A change of climate?
I wonder if my biology teacher from the seventies is still alive. In his left hand holding ‘The Report To The Club Of Rome’, with his other hand slamming his desk, predicting that we would never see the daylight of January 1, 2000. Some ten years later we were daily showered with stories about acid rain en leafless woods, an now, in 2007, the climate is the hottest issue. It doesn’t make me warm or cold, but I wonder were Al Gore is lecturing these days. His own country is – even in California – struggling with the effects of… >> Lees verder . . . >>