To comply with the weird tradition of putting an almost dead tree in your home, we brought in an Abies nordmanniana, also known as a Nordmann Fir [or "nice looking Christmas tree" for those who don't care]. More images in the gallery

We went to Toomler Friday the 8th to see some Comedy Train [5 funny stand-up comedians]. But we really where there to listen some Jules Deelder [Dutch Wikipedia link; let's just say he's a very interesting artist, nicknamed the Nighttime Major of Rotterdam - which is another major city here in …

And to think it's not even in heavy use yet...

One particular Christmas season a long time ago, Santa was getting ready for his annual trip but there were problems everywhere. Four of his elves got sick, and the trainee elves did not produce the toys as fast as the regular ones so Santa was beginning to feel the pressure …

I went insane so I wouldn't go crazy

Joel on Software had a nice piece on the new Vista's shutdown choices. It begins with the menu items in the Start menu [sic! ;)]: This makes for 9 choices [7 in the menu and those two icons]. He goes on counting hotkeys etc, getting the total to about 15 different …

So, non-voters - if you're out there - be aware you just missed out on your license to whine about the politics, the system, the country, it's quirky inhabitants and just things in general :) People who don't vote out of protest or just can't bring up the energy, just be aware that …

I just voted. I voted a left-wing party because, well, maybe they suck a little less in governing our country than the half-baked right-ish government we got after that Pim Fortuyn adventure. But maybe they do better in the opposition like they are used to. Who knows? I wonder whether …

Hey Verm, I never bashed the US in general, only the freaky government, but I'm with Alex on this: America-basher thanks Americans; I wonder when Bush will get his stupidities back on his plate, if ever.

Last Thursday I went on a trip to the dutch Mediapark, where most of the TV studios are located. This was initiated by the course ICT in a Social Context, and we where visiting because of two projects. One of them is the CyberNOS project [the NOS is one of …

"Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner."-James Bovard At this moment, both The Netherlands and the US are gearing up to elections. Ours is at November the 22nd, and at this moment the race is between the parties …

Life goes on and things come and go. My girlfriend has been a professional pharmacist for 2+ months now, working full-time, while I am wrapping up the last courses of my computer sciences study, doing its projects in the meanwhile. Alex in the meanwhile got his Master in AI, while …

Today I reached the 10000 spam email count, not counting my university address. Mind that this is from January first this year, so that makes for an average of 10082/308 = 32,7 spam messages a day. Thanks windows botnets!

Today it's cold. Last night it has been storming, and today it's not all that much better. I guess it's nice Halloween weather, whether we celebrate that here or not. It's also storming a bit in my head, as I look for ways to finish projects and wrap up my …

So, what do you do when waiting outside the Pandadroom [3D cinema at theme park the Efteling - beware, Flash] while already having laid your hands on the polarised glasses for the 3D show? Right:

Heading out of the main entrance of my university last Friday the 13th, picking my way through a crowd assembled there, I wondered why they where all craning their necks. Also, the police officers and some officials obviously waiting for somebody made me ask who was being awaited. "Maxima!" was …

Some very good reasons not to use Word and send people Word attachments. It would be nice that people start realising that: Not everyone has MS Office and/or cares about it Word and such aren't free [lots of people use illegal copies, causing them to think they can get …

OK, after finding me a tray icon plugin for the Linux version of Thunderbird, I came to the conclusion that the default icon Debian is shipping with it [the non-branded Mozilla icon], is just ugly. It's a aliased icon [read: jagged edges etc], brown, and doesn't play nice with my …

I just got myself a new laptop^Wbattery. The previous battery of my two year old Acer was down to about an hour of usage on a charge when it suddenly went over to another dimension and refused to provide my trusty workhorse with juice. I ordered a replacement battery …