Wednesday, November 30, 2005

yesterday's blog

Instead of yesterday's blog I'm on time now. Let's keep it that way.

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

blogging

Blogging everyday takes a lot of time....(especially in a foreign language, sometimes you really got to look for words, use a dictionary or phrase a sentence different)
I'm blogging daily the last month and that takes it's toll.
If I weren't blogging then I would spend my time on other things, much more photography (fotothing) and the stock exchange. I got to think about reinvesting € 13,000 from a property fund into something else.

Blogging, it's a kind of addiction. But maybe not everyday.

Monday, November 28, 2005

Work

The advantage of waking up a little earlier than expected is that one can start earlier at work, or having more time to get awake at home.
I divided the 3 quarters I was awake before the buzzer over the 2 parts.
I made myself a plate with a warm porridge and knäckerbröd, saw the breakfastnews and went to work.
It was silent there at arrival. 2 Colleagues sat there in the dark and told that the system was malfunctioning. Walking to my bureau I saw other colleagues sitting in the light and working. Though the system was out they could do other rthing on the computer and the had non system work.
I started up my computer and thought about week, also a Monday, when the system was down. If you know how much serious problems the system gives then, I thought at work, at what moment is it neccessary to update the system. The previous system was updated several times and lived it's own life. I can imagine that this present system goes it's own way if the don't control it. But this is a side-line.
Today the system was back online after 20 minutes. (exactly my extra time) Today was the first day that I damned the system. The vulnerabilty and the slowness of it are the 2 points of reconsideration if it is a perfect system for us.

The answer is that this isn't. Of course I would almost say. GWS4All is sacked.
But the supplier, Centric, doen't hear me I think. And if they read this post they won't do anything with the complaint (that's why Centric is mentioned, cause Centric sucks. Yes this is true.).

Sunday, November 27, 2005

bike

It's a long way to the snow. Before you reach it you are cold and frozen, if you go on a bike.
After the fog cleared I took my bike and rode some kilometers to some snow, barely anything. I had to go further east.
At least I made a few stills in the forest.





Saturday, November 26, 2005

Timewatch

Saw a documentary on television on the BBC tonight, called Inside the mind of a killer. It's a docu. about Hitler and what went on in his head before and during World war II. I won't bother you with the analyses made on him after 1943. (Nobody made a thorough psycho-analysis until that year)
After yesterday's log title, this situation can happen and will happen again. The most recent alike situation is the Serb Milosevic. Ethnic clinching; deportation, execution, mass-graves, that's Milosevic & Mladic inc.
It is silent in the process around the first one.
Also it is deadly silent in the case of Serbia handing over Mladic to The Hague-tribunal. That is really such a shortcoming of a country which wants to join the EU.

Friday, November 25, 2005

If something can happen it will.

Last night and in the morning we had the first severe storm of the season.
A woman was so clever yo park her bike close to the building. The front tyre was bent






Well in the afternoon the depression changed into a nasty one. In the eye of it was a cloudless sky but 100 kilometer south was snow. A constant flow of clouds with snow made traffic come to a halt. In the east of the country fell 15 centimeters of fresh snow. Trains and cars stranded and people had to wait for hours in their car for help. They got blankets to stay warm. One endless stream of cars, 70 kilometers in the east. Some accidents and immediately 20 k traffic-jam behind my house.
Teletext says that 700 kilometer, the radio mentioned 800 kilometer.
On a certain moment there was a single traffic-jam of 90 k in the south.
This is a damned traffic attack I spoke about, bad for the economy, environment and bad for health of people.

It's a complete chaos on the road and on the Veluwe (a forestry area in the middle of Holland) people are still waiting in their car.
Always thought that those situations won't happen here. The truth is it's happening.

Thursday, November 24, 2005

storm

Tonight and tomorrow there will be a storm, lots of rain (for our standards) and after that we're in a cold winter depression. Temperatures will drop to zero degrees C. and there will be snow. Hello world, I don't know if I should call it real autumn or the start of winter, knowing that in many parts of the world (even in the middle of Europe) the winter has started.

This afternoon we had a high tea at work. Al the colleagues who had a birthday in the past quarter had something with him so all kinds of delicacies were placed on a table. The setting made it cosy. Outside the wind and the rain made it nasty there and inside it was warm and cosy. We should be lucky with such a bunch of colleagues.

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Butterfly effect

One move of a butterfly in Florida to fly away could cause a giant storm in Europe. subsequently business stop for a moment, the damage afterwards causes a financial disaster which infects the bourses in Europe. -What-if-, a chaos theory, the butterfly-theory.

Also a movie the butterfly effect exists, see IMDB. I wrote about that subject already inside my head.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

cars, machine power

The man at work who is going to make the access-application work... (the initial version doesn't work according to planning & control) has a car which goes fast. Real fast. Last week he had a professional in his car to learn him to make emergency stops. First it wasn't difficult. Stopping at 80 k/hr on a narrow road. The car has an anti-blocking system (abs)so that's not too difficult. After that they went to Germany were they got no speedlimits. His car tipped the 260 k/hr!!! Okay, said the pro, and now an emergency stop.
It seems that one has to pass a treshold and after that it's not difficult.
But 260, what a machine-power!

Monday, November 21, 2005

Amazing, human machines

What is amazing, astonishing? Who knows a little about speedskating and the developments in it should know it.
Last weekend there were time trials in the Olympic Oval in Salt Lake City. The results were good, amazing how many PR's the sporters skated and in 3 days 5 new Worldrecords were set. When I woke up in morning I was flabbergasted. The last set Worldrecord was the 500 meters, Shani Davis skated 15/100 seconds faster. Or a Dutch guy of only 19, who set the 5000 meter Worldrecord 90/100 seconds sharper. Amazing and what a power, human machines.

Sunday, November 20, 2005

Freedom

There are more freedoms. Think about the Roosevelt four freedoms award.
Freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear.

Saturday, November 19, 2005

Freedom of expression

If someone say that Bush is responsible for more than thousand dead US-soldiers than that is a fact with which people will do nothing. Bush will not react on that accusation and the world keeps on turning.
If someone says on a pamphlet that Rita Verdonk, Dutch minister, is responsible for 11 deaths in a prison people say, "yeah, that happens everywhere" and they turn back to normal life.
But not Rita Verdonk, she will react on that accusation and subsequently says she responsible.
This is not on CNN.
The death of a sparrow, shot in a hall to prevent a show to fail. That was on CNN.

Friday, November 18, 2005

Freedom of speech

In a democracy every person has the right to state a message. It can not be that if the message is against the Minister in power dealing with political refugees, economical refugees, illegal foreigners, that minister forbids the message and forces the protesters to recall the huge pamphlet's on mainly sqauts.
See for yourself on this link

She, Rita, tries it with legal action, that's true. Though, if a Minister can't stand criticism, what kind of arrogant Government we got then in the Hague?

The first picture on the link shows the jail on fire with imprisoned illegals inside the gates. It's almost a concentration camp. Shocking but reality. Translated the text means: "travel agency Rita, for arrests, deportation and cremation. Adequacy until the bitter end." It is shocking.

Thursday, November 17, 2005

democracy

A lot of work to do... the year's closing and the books are made up. Next year will probably a broken year cause the policy will be changed from July 1. Politicians can overrule this decision by the Cabinet and may be there is a majority against the plan. Problem will be that those politicians will often choose for the party line. If so then the majority will do what they don't want. Isn't that strange?

The same sort of democracy was seen in companies. In the 90's take-overs and mergers were happened almost daily and often large shareholders and small ones were against the plans of the management.
But today the take-over of IMS health by VNU business publishers was cancelled by a broad coalition of large shareholders like Fidelity. For the first time a Dutch company was weren't allowed by it's shareholders to do what it wants. That's called democracy.

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

early present

The Saints were good to me. I got a creative zen MP3 nanoplayer with FM radio.
Good for running, cycling and the holiday on my bike.


This is it. The earphones I didn't like to much. My old Sony-phones are better.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

This is what I don't want to talk about

I was slow this morning, 15 minutes later than normal I arrived at work though I stood up 10 minutes earlier.
That was the tone which could be heard the whole day.
A whole corner with colleagues were late and when the last arriving colleague said "hé you all are early", they admitted later that they arrived late too. It must be the weather because we all individually decided to turn around one more time.
I mention the weather because it was nasty outside, it drizzled and was cold.
No wonder that the highways had traffic-jams. Many people took their car which they do seldomly and that at the same moment. But luckily the jams were only a third of the worst length we once had.
In fact the term traffic jam is really very wide. What is a jam? Is it a constant riding stream of cars at 20 k/hr?
Does the jam have to come to a complete standstill at some places to define the flow of cars as a traffic jam?
What is the definition of a traffic jam? Here it's almost synonym to everything comes to a halt and the air condition is a nightmare. It means going home early and being home late. Making plans is impossible, people can't rest and get stressed with all negative symptoms.
The Netherlands got to do something about their jam & traffic congestion problems very urgently.

Monday, November 14, 2005

Monday.

The day after the weekend is often a difficult day. After a weekend cycling and doing the other things which have to be done, I always have to do the dishes of a weekend on the Sunday night just before going to bed. It's so insane. It took me 1 1/2 hour to do the job.
At work I heard something about the quarterly celebration of the birthdays on November 24. It seems that also some former colleagues are invited. I'm curious how they're doing.

In the evening the sun set and this is what I saw

Sunday, November 13, 2005

1

Sports keeps a person healthy. Not only fysically but also mentally. A physiotherapist has started clinics for people with mental problems to overcome those problems with sports. He's working together with a psychotherapist.
What an idea. I knew it when I started running before my first marathon. It makes your mind empty and I could solve mathematical problems easily.
Not with cycling, it all goes faster, it's not a natural movement of your body and the position of your body is not comfortable, but you get used to it.

Yesterday the Volvo Ocean Race has left Vigo in Spain and is heading for Capetown, South Africa. That must be fysically as well mentally a hard job to do. I wonder if the boats will make it round the world, it still has some magic. I'm going to follow it on Sunday's on television and via the internet.
The internet is very helpful in these circumstances. I love the way internet can be used to get the data needed immediately.
In fact I was a data freak, maybe I'm still one.

Saturday, November 12, 2005

The deprived society

Seeing an am-broadcast on television about Muslim culture and Christian-Jewish-Humanistic culture I thought about the Muslim culture, knowing that there are many forms, I realized that some traditional Muslims still haven't seen the light of the renaissance. The renaissance of the 1700's-1800's and the one after WW II in one way or another.

There are universal values, aren't there? The major important one is to live and let live. I think that all cultures have that value. There are some branches in cultures without this moral thought. Nazism is one of the most important evil thoughts. Different cultures have different ways of expressing this evil and now it seems that Al Qa'ida tries to spread the bad message of destruction. I think that these thoughts should be wiped out as well.

Okay there are universal values what the large majority of humans accept as standards of life.
The value that one should make love not war was in the seventies an one liner. Every one was against the Vietnam war. America has a war to win in Iraq and many Italians, Spaniards, French, Germans and so on don't accept that attitude of big brother USA.
We've seen demo's of men in the street who are against these hostilities, any hostility. But they were attacked in Madrid and London. Why is in the Islamic world no demo to say no against terrorists.

I'm sure that also the Muslim society is diverted into several wings of believes, with a mainstream and some branches. Why does nobody stand up and speak out that they are not part of this and don't want to be identified with this violence. I want to see mass demo's of 500,000 men, women and children in the streets of Baghdad saying no to car bombs and suicide-killers with their car bombs.

But I hear none of that all. I ask myself if Muslims don't think on their own or do they need a strong leader, a kind of dictatorship? I hope and I know that there are spirits, enlightened minds with whom we share this world we live on who do think brilliantly, geniusly. Why can't they get this train on the track?
A train of peace in the Muslim world and a peace train in the Christian-Jewish-Humanistic world. This should be wonderful

It all starts with the upbringing and teaching of our children. The Taliban in Afghanistan starting a scholarship, they knew it.
So to get a world free of violence, terrorists will be a long way.
But to conclude this post this I found on Jomoud's fotothing, and that summarizes quite a lot of what it's all about.

Children Learn What They Live

If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn
If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight
If a child lives with fear, he learns to be apprehensive
If a child lives with pity, he learns to feel sorry for himself
If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy
If a child lives with jealousy, he learns what envy is
If a child lives with shame, he learns to feel guilty
If a child lives with encouragement, he learns to be confident
If a child lives with praise, he learns to be appreciative
If a child lives with acceptance, he learns to love
If a child lives with approval, he learns to like himself
If a child lives with recognition, he learns that it is good to have a goal
If a child lives with sharing, he learns about generosity
If a child lives with honesty and fairness, he learns what trust and justice are
If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith in himself and those about him
If a child lives with friendliness, he learns that the world is a nice place in which to live

Friday, November 11, 2005

Morning..

In the morning we talked about the impressive yesterday's funeral. Some people were still a little shocked and others didn't come to work. Yeah it was really an atmosphere of the day after. The friend of our colleague came by to pick up the wheelchair. It stood there behind her desk, she seldom used it.
He had a coffee and told us that he wants to know everything about his girl. It appears that her life at home was a little different. She stayed mostly home and fond of knitting, sewing and those kinds of handwork. She made long days and stayed up until 2.30 am to get up a 6 to be at work at 7 am.
She loved Crete, Greece. A part of the ashes will be brought to Crete were she also got friends. Her friend told us that in August they're going to bring half of her ashes to Crete and we're all invited by then.

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Cemetery

My colleague has been buried today. Actually she's been crematated.
Our almost complete department was there. Some words were said and a couple of songs were played, I heard Gun's & Roses and Led Zeppelin. A colleague said it was hard-rock, she visited hundreds of concerts like those.
I don't call that hard rock, it's middle of the road music. Probably some minds don't agree with that.
Our secretary bought enough white roses for everyone of us to lay on the coffin at the end of the ceremony. It was good to be at the funeral allthough I was only one of the hundreds.
Well, it's a little sad but our colleage was not even buried and her succeeder was introduced to us yesterday. It was all in the pipeline and she only starts in January.
The head of our division attended the ceremony too. Even the head of the section under which our division falls was there. I think that's a great step, especially if you know that she is the new head and doesn't know my fallen colleague at all.
You can't say that of all colleagues who didn't attend the ceremony. They skipped the funeral. And those colleagues call themselves Christian.

Well I remember the words of the family spokeman who said "Why is such a fine woman threated so badly in life. It started whith Children's rheumatic pains. She fought it, accepted the pills and overcame it. Now her life ended with this cancer. This is really a Goddamned life."


Maybe I can do something with these quotes:

Own the best of breed; don't own too many stocks
Don't buy all at once; arrogance is a sin
Cash and sitting on the sidelines are fine alternatives
Never subsidize losers with winners
When high-level people quit a company, something is wrong
Look for broken stocks, not broken companies
Bulls and bears make money; pigs gets slaughtered

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Last Goodbye

Today was the last goodbye from my colleague.
I found it emotional to show my sympathy with her 18 years old daughter. She's not ready for this loss.
10 colleagues saw her for the last time. It wasn't her. She lied in the coffin like a doll. Her face powdered to make her look better. Possibly she had pain when she died and through that mask of powder you still could see the pain.

We all were there when the coffin was closed. That was an impressive moment. Her daughter at the right hand comforted by her friend and my colleague her friend on the other side.
The moments of emotion of the daughter when she layed a doll in her mothers hands and the last view at her face. We all stood there and watched. That was impressive.

After the last goodbye 4 of us had a drink in town. Just like Picasso's famous last words drink to me, drink to my health. We all know that she can't drink anymore. Tomorrow will be the funeral.

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

funeral

At work things went smoothly. There was almost no payment to book so I could take cake of the control of maintenance-costs of a supplier.
Some mistakes were made in the past so that we paid too much for years. I'm glad that's solved. But I only had 15 percent of the work and it took me a day and a headache, or maybe it's just that I'm tired.

My co worker only slept for 3 hours last night. He said he couldn't let our passed colleague out of his mind.
Tonight no more coffee and I'll go to bed a bed early.
Tomorrow I have a busy day if I go to the last goodbye, to sympathize with her family. Thursday will be the funeral. Quite a lot of colleagues will be there.

Sunday my mother called me and asked how my colleague was doing. I told her that she was doing okay concerned her being, not knowing that she passed away early that morning.
I spoke my mother again late on yesterday evening about the dead of my colleague. Yeah, on those moment it's good to have a mother who understands it all.

Monday, November 07, 2005

my colleague died

Last Friday 2 colleagues of mine and our boss visited our sick colleague.
It appeared to be the last visit to her. She died in her sleep due to a brain stroke.

Everybody was moved hearing the news when arriving at work.
There were no signs that she would die in her sleep on a Saturdaynight.
Friday evening she would have some fysio and after that go to a birthday-party for one hour.

I feel sorry for her, her daughter, other relatives and friends. But we all lost a magnificient woman.

Sunday, November 06, 2005

shadow



In the banlieux in France, there is unrest under the population of youngsters. They aren't socially accepted though fully integrated.
They give their hate and zero tolerance a voice by setting cars, buses, schools on fire. This is in their own neighborhood. Why do they do that?
It's not aimed at the Government and companies which have a large part in neglecting of the youngsters. When I cycled through France I saw no difference between Holland and France. Girls with other roots than the French work in shops, their brothers don't. Maybe Female are accepted better because they are not a threat?
Spoken about threats when I walked through the no go area Kanalen-eiland my shadow certainly isn't, though it was ready to shoot.

Saturday, November 05, 2005

black widow

Since last week 11 prisoners died in a fire, the responsible Minister could be named the Black Widow

Last week a hole was found in the window of the room of the Minister.
It seemed to be a bullet hole. Even the Minister President said it and He and His Diciples drew their conclusions. This was an attack again on democracy.
This again is so unfair. The case wasn't investigated at all.
The news papers pointed at the building on the other side of the street, the black Madonna.
Well can anybody imagine that the black Madonna shot the Black Widow?
Investigations pointed out there was no gunfire at all.

Friday, November 04, 2005

Poor country

In Holland a Minister is in power who sends back all foreigners without legal status. The illegal persons are sent back to the country where they were before they entered Holland. It's very simple. If you entered Holland via Belgium the aliens registration office will bring you to Roosendaal train station were you can take the train to Belgium. You are simply not wanted here.
But you got a chance to flee authority and stay on an illegal status in the Netherlands. Very dangerous. Women often end up in prostitution and men become often criminals or do the hard work for a pay for which the Dutch can't and won't work.
But if you come from Nigeria or Bulgaria by plane, the registration office puts you in a security hostel, no a prison near airport Schiphol.
Last week there was a big fire which set a whole branch aflame. 11 Persons died.
The same Minister who is responsible for this solely talks about the fact that her staff at the prison dealt adequatly with the situation for what she knows at that moment. Not a single word was mentioned about the deathtoll. Her staff had an emotional blow not a word about the other victims.

Now that it became clear that there has been fired at her office this week, I think she has had a blow too. Fact after fact is building a pile concerning the alien registration, foreigners and other strangers who shouldn't be in this poor country.
Because if you can't take care of guests you might be that.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

no news part 2 1/2

Another settlement in criminal Amsterdam. Even the minister of Home Affairs has made a statement that the 2 liquidations on the street are worth it to investigate similarities in the past!!
As if police hasn't done that already.
And another interesting football game. This time FC Heerenveen against CSK Moscou.
It's an interesting game because the latter is the winner of the last Uefa-Cup.
The result of the match : 0-0

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

news and football

Of course there is no news from Holland.
Putin has been here. The train with 2 Muslim men in it was a false alarm.
The Dutch queen has made Putin compliments for discreet dealing with the complex situation in Russia.
The whole day was a tribute to Theo van Gogh. The media talked about his murder and the aftermath. But what has changed. Do we feel more unsafe than a year ago? Is it because there are a lot foreigners? Huh, really? Abroad are many foreigners!

Yesterday PSV Eindhoven defeated Milan AC in the (football) champions league.
The final result was 1-0. This makes the chances for them to reach the second round larger.
For Ajax Amsterdam, who plays now it's much easier. They play against the Swiss FC Thun and lead at the moment with 2 goals against 1.
Update: after a 2-2. Ajax Amsterdam won the match with 4 goals against 2

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

No news

Just 11 illegals burned in a prison and a minister stubbornly saying that the security acted adequately. There is so much wrong in this country and this cabinet (or Government if you like) only sees the problems caused by other cabinets.
And now Putin is in this country. Immediately a train with 2 Muslims was stopped near Central Station, close to the Dam and the place were Putin will spend the night. The two men were arrested.