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Archives: July 2004
Hothothot
If I am NOT tanned when coming home in Belgium, it is because it is TOO hot to ly in the sun anyway...
Posted on July 3, 2004
in Living in Israel
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In Dheisheh
Last time in Dheisheh for a long time...
Saying good bye to everybody
Posted on July 4, 2004
in Living in Israel
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Art gallery online
Today i found this new concept. Great idea. Buy Art-prints online to use in your cafe or other stuff. Could be a good concept. If they have the right contacts...
Check it: Blaugallery
Posted on July 5, 2004
in Linking context
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Lifter
Yesterday, in the evening I left Dheisheh.
Evenings are not so good, since the taxi's tend to go home and you end up a) without a taxi or b) in a veryvery expensive taxi.
If you have a bit of luck you can have a free ride with somebody. -Arab, since Israeli don't pick you up at check points...-
I seem to be the one with a lot of luck, a car stopped and took me to 'Al Quds' -Jerusalem in Arabic-
There the driver asked me if I wanted to have a drink, that's the point when I think of my mother's advice and friendly say 'no', but then he decided that he would take me to Tel Aviv.
I kindly refused, but somehow he convinced me. And yes, i was at unease, not knowing what would happen, could happen. And yes, it feeld discomfortable -but it would feel the same with any other guy that would take me-
The point is that in the end nothing happened and the guy dropped me friendly in Tel Aviv.
Without charging a penny.
During the drive we had interesting talks on life in general and life as a Christian Arab in Bethlehem.
It enriched my knowledge.
Risks worth to take. And stereotypes to throw in the garbage...
Posted on July 5, 2004
in Living in Israel
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Looking for a job in Israel/Palestine?
Via een mail van Dominique Claeys, ben ik te weten gekomen dat Ma'an, een Palestijnse NGO, op zoek is naar een vrijwilliger (www.maan-ctr.org).
Voorwaarden:
-Belg
-Goeie kennis Engels
-5 tal maand beschikbaar zijn
Graag hadden ze wat ervaring gehad in projectvoorstellen schrijven of PR.
Ik zou zo zeggen spread the news of waag zelf je kans. Ze zijn gebaseerd in Ramallah, je kan daar wonen of je kan in Jeruzalem wonen en elke dag door Qalandia Checkpoint gaan.
Enfin, gelieve jullie CVs (motivatiebrief is ook aan te raden) door te sturen naar haar, zie adres hieronder of naar mij, maar dan naar volgende adressen: Dominique@mend-pal.org of dominiqueclaeys@yahoo.com.
I am attaching the job description for the volunteer position. I do not have very much information, but what I do have in terms of the compensation:
§ At least 500 Euros compensation, with more depending on experience and qualifications
§ Round trip ticket, Belgium to Tel Aviv
§ Health insurance and pension
§ Assistance for education of children, if applicable
More information is available on the website at www.solsoc.be (the website is in French)
Please send me any CVs that you think might work, and feel free to give out this email address.
Best regards,
Meg Audette
MA'AN Development Center
Ramallah-Jenin-Salfeet-Gaza
(972 2) 295-4451, ext. 109
meg@maan-ctr.org
Posted on July 5, 2004
in Linking context
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Harrison's Flowers
Probably mentioned before, but just doing it again: beautiful movie on the reality of wars, and on the impact of media in our world. TO SEE!
More + trailer here
Posted on July 5, 2004
in Linking context
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Added to my wishlist
Posted on July 5, 2004
in Design
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Fahrenheit 9/11
Not only the film is controversial... Also Moore's statement that is can be distributed for free, he won't press charges against people.
The controversial film--like virtually every new release--has been circulating online for days.
The online flap may say more about the often-conflicting desires of creators and their business agents than it does about the political debate over Moore's film. While studios and record labels have uniformly excoriated unauthorized sharing of movies and music online, many artists--particularly those eager for the propagation of their political messages--have sent more mixed messages.
Moore's own comments came in an interview, clips of which have been floating around the Net at least since January.
"I don't agree with copyright laws, and I don't have a problem with people downloading the movie and sharing it...as long as they're not trying to make a profit off my labor," Moore said in that interview, comparing file sharing to a person sharing a purchased DVD with a friend. "I make these movies and books and TV shows because I want things to change, and so the more people who get to see them, the better."
Good marketing, I say..
See the trailer here
Track full versions through Google...
Posted on July 6, 2004
in Linking context
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Karama site
Yes it took me a while, but finally, just before leaving, everything went well. The site is ready. Yasser is busy with the Arabic version ;)
To visit at www.karama.org
Posted on July 6, 2004
in Linking context
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RSS
I just installed my rss reader -netnewswire- to be able to have a fast overview over the news all around.
All my favorite newssources are implemented, from famous -like BBC- to unfamous individuals -Back to Iraq-
As said in CNN: “Hang on to your hats boys and girls, because your experience of the World Wide Web is about to change, possibly for the first time since Mosaic...”
Apple already recognized the power of RSS and implemented a reader in its new version of Safari -release planned with Tiger-release-
Indeed our world is to change.
Posted on July 6, 2004
in Technical stuff
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Mossad
We, the Mossad staff, share the belief that:
Service in the Mossad is based on recognition of service to the nation, which we tender through identification with the nation's values, the nation's best interests and the purposes for which the Mossad was created.
In the course of our work we pursue justice, honesty, integrity, modesty, personal responsibility, trustworthiness, discipline and discretion.
We encourage excellence and goal orientation: initiative, creativity, resourcefulness and courage. We act with determination but are open to criticism.
The Mossad leadership undertakes:
To lead and to motivate, to accept full command responsibility and implement it constructively, to provide support, to lead by personal example, to delegate responsibility and to inspire.
Yeyeyeah....
Read it on their new released website
Posted on July 6, 2004
in Living in Israel
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Turn any website into an RSS feed for $2
via Boing Boing Blog: Turn any website into an RSS feed for $2
Bootleg RSS, a service for scraping websites and turning them into RSS, is taking requests. If there's a site you'd like RSS-ified, ping Carlo and he'll make it into a feed for $2.
Now, I've thought about the how. Hosting feeds costs money, scraping feeds is taking time, and maintaining a feed can take some time as well. So, I'm offering you the following service. First read the list of things you get, then see whether you'd be willing to shell out a small one-time fee of $2.[Loic Le Meur Blog]
Posted on July 7, 2004
in Technical stuff
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NetNewsWire
Oke, I might have been a dumb girl. But from today on blogging has become more easy than before.
NetNewsWire is AWEsome.
You read your news. Whatever you want to comment: select, and post straigt away to your blog.
Creazy.
I wonder if the new RSSreader/browser Safari RSS will contain the same features. (like copying something from a site straight to your blog...)
The program even implements a autonom weblogposter, which means I no longer need Espressoblog. (Well I no longer need it anyway since I am using TypePad now. Yesterday I officially deleted the old blogs from my server)
I keep a keen eye on Userspace, which seems to be the more advanced follow up of 'Espressoblog'. Not yet released though...
Posted on July 7, 2004
in Technical stuff
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Skype
When-oh-when will Skype release its version for Mac? They are getting into the amazing possiblities to remap the world of phoning since some days you can call to a handset, you can get behind firewalls, and reach a normal number for almost no money...
But when-oh-when can we join in? -Must be one of the first times I regret to have a mac...-
Posted on July 7, 2004
in Technical stuff
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America's War With Blogistan
The blog represents free speech in excelsis. Or does it? If the blog accepts advertising or maintains ties to institutions -- like, say, the Democratic Party -- then the freedom to say whatever you like can be sharply curtailed. Commentary by Adam L. Penenberg. [Thanks to Wired News]
Posted on July 7, 2004
in Limit of my knowledge
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US reveals Iraq nuclear operation
The US says it removed nearly two tons of radioactive material from Iraq in a secret operation last month...
"This operation was a major achievement," said US Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham in a statement.
He said it would keep "potentially dangerous nuclear materials out of the hands of terrorists".
Yeah right...
Wondering who gets this 'free uranium' now.
And what their plans are with it.
Posted on July 7, 2004
in Limit of my knowledge
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Difference between 'strever' and 'ambitious'
'Een strever mikt op punten en absolute zelfvervolmaking (is negatiever), iemand ambitieus probeert met wat hij/ zij doet ook iets nuttig te bereiken.'
July 7, 2004, A. Dehandschutter
Posted on July 7, 2004
in Limit of my knowledge
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Should-have
PhotoBlog 'should haves'.
-RSS feed for every blog
-RSS feed with last 5 images showing + link. //SKEN.be + how to implement in your blog.
-Upload system to blog //Flickr and iPhototoTypepad (also for Microsoft)
-Easy link to implement pictures into your other blog
-Mo-blog
-MMS-blogging
-More extended 'about page'
-high res postings /passw protection
Mainpage:
-Search (advanced)
-Groups
Consider:
-advertise on Google.
Posted on July 7, 2004
in Projects - PhotoBlog.net
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The sky is the limit...
WiebeTech is now offering its G5Jam in a 1.6 Terabyte model. This unique internal storage system provides G5 users the ability to add a quad drive internal storage system with extremely high capacity and extremely high performance.
[fromMacMerc]
Guess I won't need external drives to keep my photo collections within one computer... ;)
Though not really cheap...
Posted on July 7, 2004
in Technical stuff
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Earthquake
We just had a minor earthquake here.
Is quite funny when suddenly everybody comes outside of his/her room and looks at each other, wondering 'You felt it too?'
Well I felt it! First it was like somebody was drilling in the building, but then suddenly everything started shaking and I started to wonder if the building would fall down...
Anyway, it didn't.
And we are all still alive.
So now they can wonder about normal things instead of bombings. :)
Posted on July 7, 2004
in Living in Belgium
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Lance Armstrong
(source De Standaard)
I am not a real fan of the cycling events. To me, when driving in Belgium, in our neighbourhood (Grammont) it meant being stuck in a trafficjam, because before you there would be a peloton of 'wielrenners' occupying the small roads.
Every summer the roads are full of amateurs who dream of being Lance one day, and go to sleep in the shirts of the teams they admire.
The only real memory I have of the tours (Tour de Flandres and Tour de France) is sitting at my grandparents place, watching television seeing where they were and suddenly running outside and seeing the same guys passing by in the street.
Endurain, Museeuw, Buyneel. And always the mentioning of the champions of all champions 'Eddy Merckx.'
Yesterday I finished the book of Armstrong -see reading now section- and I have to say, i respect what the guy did.
Today he is in the running to win the 6th time the Tour de France, and if he achieves, he will be the first one ever to do. (all the others only achieved 5 times, again Eddy Merckx to mention)
And yes, cycling has changed. back in the old days you had a heavy bike and no technical assistance, now they are cycling on titanium bikes, have computers attached to their hearts and two way communication with their tour manager, saying what to do.
So in the end Eddy Merckx is and will stay the real one, achieving certain time-records, young 'renners' are still dreaming of.
But what Armstrong does is 'titanenwerk'.
Respect...
Posted on July 8, 2004
in Living in Belgium
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gCount
Some time ago I was offered a gMail account.
I am not really keen on Yahoo or Hotmail adresses.
And I have enough pop adresses of my own to worry about. So why take one more?
Well, the 1 gb is an easy reason.
When somebody is planning to send a bunch of files it might be a good idea to get it in that mailbox.
So I activated it.
Up till today i never checked it.
But that has changed: gCount is a little application (for mac) that tells you how much mails have arrived in your mailbox.
Simple but effective.
Wish it worked for regular web-mailservices too...
Posted on July 8, 2004
in Technical stuff
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Wiki's
On request I am figuring out which Wiki seems to be best to apply.
Up till now I prefer TikiWiki because it is running PHP, and its design looks stunning compared to many other wikis that are just too ugly to me.
I downloaded it yesterday and am trying to figure out how to install it on my server.
Will take me some days (It is one of those things that takes you a day or 2 and then you master it for the rest of your days... Was like that before with phpBBForum and 4HomePages)
I wonder if wiki's will become the new way of communicating on the web.
I think its vulnerability is too high.
But in closed environments it might be very interesting for projectmanagement and be an easy solution for too expensive programs that don't do the job at all.
Back to basics is indeed the future.
With one change: the basics are suddenly editable.
Posted on July 8, 2004
in Technical stuff
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Outlet shopping and saving miles...
Mammie let's go shopping...
Guess this is the place I should take Tamar when she comes back to Belgium... ;)
Didn't even know we had one in Belgium, I knew the one in Milaan is sooooo famous.
Hope we have also the Prada minus 50% there...
Posted on July 9, 2004
in Living in Belgium
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Court to rule on Israeli barrier
The top UN court is set on Friday to deliver its verdict on the legality of Israel's West Bank barrier. [ found on BBC News]
Really wondering what the verdict will be...
Posted on July 9, 2004
in Living in Israel
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Bush Military Service Files Were Destroyed - Report
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Pentagon says military records related to President Bush's service in the National Guard more than 30 years ago were inadvertently destroyed, The New York Times reported on Friday. [ from Reuters: Top News]
Makes you wonder, doesn't it?
Posted on July 9, 2004
in Limit of my knowledge
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If you are reading this and don't have a photoblog yet...
you're probably one of the last not to have... ;)
On an average weekday, we're seeing over 15,000 new weblogs created per day. That means that a new weblog is created somewhere in the world every 5.8 seconds.
Of course, not all weblogs that are created are actively updated. Even though abandonment rates are high - our analyses show that about 45% of the weblogs we track have not had a post in over 3 months we are still tracking a significant population of people who are posting each day. The number of conversations are increasing. We're seeing over 275,000 individual posts every day. That means that on average, more than 3 blogs are updated every second.
So when do you open your PhotoBlog?
Posted on July 9, 2004
in Projects - PhotoBlog.net
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Tel Aviv hit by rush hour blast
One person dies and at least 20 others are injured in an explosion in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv. [from Haaretz/BBC]
Deputy Defense Minister Ze'ev Boim said that it was likely that Palestinians who planted the bomb slipped into Israel from the West Bank in places where the separation fence has yet to be constructed.
"Following the World Court decision the attack is not so ironic as it was likely. The attack is proof of what we knew all along, that the high motivation of the Palestinian militants has not diminished," Boim told Army Radio.
Yesterday the beach was full of people, after 4 months of silence, feeling safe.
Meanwhile in West bank everything continues and on a daily basis people get killed or find themselves in difficult situations.
I wonder what they are supposed to do: be quiet and see themselves surrounded by a wall and thus captured in ghetto's -because, sincerely, this what it is, a big jail...-
or fight.
Although it is very obvious that attacks as these only encourage the Israeli government to continue building and to neglect the advice of the International Court.
_What makes us wonder about the meaning of this international court anyway...-
Posted on July 11, 2004
in Living in Israel
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Alive
Yes mom , I am ok. still sleepy though.
So again, i slept through all the misery.
You should know me by now, I am not really the one that gets on a bus in TLV, certainly not at 7.30 in the morning...
Posted on July 11, 2004
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Radio 1 send us on air again...
My mom mailed me thart next week we are on Radio1, Buitenlands Zaken (www.radio1.be)
Didn't see it on their site, but hey, it was probably in the air ;)
Posted on July 11, 2004
in Living in Israel
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If Spam was more like this...
Received a spam message in my mail (yeah, still slips through.)
Even when driving down a perfectly straight road, it is necessary to turn the steering wheel from ti
ispatched their predecessors.
If you are blonde and pretty, it is possible to be a world-famous expert on nuclear fission, dinosau
You can take a picture of yourself from ten feet away without using the timer.
Instant coffee takes too long.
If I get too much change in a store, I always give it back.
the interview process...
I get excited very easily.
oyed.
The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
Almost poetry.
If Spam was more like this, I might read it more often...
Posted on July 11, 2004
in Limit of my knowledge
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Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism
Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism. An amazing documentary about Fox News and the danger of corporations controlling news. There is a QT and a Windows Media trailer online. There is a New York Times article about producer Robert Greenwald's unique method of distributing the documentary, selling the DVD for distribution through political action groups.
As the Times article describes, Greenwald’s style for distributing documentaries may be the beginning of something new — political criticism, using interviews and clips, making a strong political point, distributed through DVDs and political action groups. (See some other examples here). On what theory does he, and others, have the right to use such material without permission? On the free culture theory we call the First Amendment: Copyright law must, the Court told us in Eldred, embed “fair use”; “fair use” is informed by First Amendment values; the values of the First Amendment most relevant here are those expressed in New York Times v. Sullivan. As with news-gathering, critical political filmmaking needs a buffer zone of protection against the overreaching of the law. And if the potential of this medium — now liberated by digital technology — is to be realized, we need clear precedents that establish that critics have the freedom to criticize without having to hire a lawyer first.Comment - TrackBack [Found on Joi Ito's Web]
Pretty interesting for my paper...
Posted on July 13, 2004
in Linking context
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FlightSchedule: Going home
All the bags are packed, some laundry is still drying. But yes: I am going home.
Will miss some of you like crazy, and happy to see the other ones again.
Flight: Austrian Airline
TLV-VIENNA, OS858 July 14, 4pm
VIENNA-BRUSSELS Flight: OS357 July 14, 7.40 PM
Arrival Brussels 9.40 PM.
See you there.
_If they don't keep me in the airport in TLV... But Arie's letter should help._
Posted on July 13, 2004
in Living in Israel
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Israel Rerouting Barrier Closer to Border-Sources
©Ine Dehandschutter
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel is redrawing the route of its West Bank barrier closer to its borders to ensure Palestinians are not cut off from their lands in keeping with a High Court order, security sources said on Tuesday. [from Reuters: Top News]
Posted on July 13, 2004
in Living in Israel
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Flying home today?
Hehe, Austrian Airlines just made a terrible joke...
A call: 'Your flight was scheduled for today'.
Yeah right....
Check again please. It seemed ok then.
Pretty nice of them to consider I might be still in bed.
Posted on July 13, 2004
in Living in Israel
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Israel Film Festival
©Ine Dehandschutter
Emir Kusturica was there to attend the openingsfilm. In the background the fabulous city. Super surroundings.
And a supermovie...
More on thefilmfestival.
Posted on July 13, 2004
in Living in Israel
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Get behind the computer...
She said.
She is right... I am off to the sea now.
Last day in Tel Aviv.
Catch u tomorrow in the Belgian rain...
Posted on July 13, 2004
in Living in Israel
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Landed
Don't know what to say about that yet.
Never could imagine that I would say that I miss Israel.
Beautiful ladies over there, a kiss from me.
Posted on July 15, 2004
in Living in Belgium
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Not my words...
Fast track security check
And yet gentle smiles
Broken sentences
No words
Just technicalities
Pulling out stuff in and out of suitcases
While emotions are spinning silently
You DO write poetry...
Posted on July 15, 2004
in Living in Israel
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Few hours arrived, working already.
It will be a hellish 2 months. But I'll love that vibe.
Today we started our 'blog-plug-in', the result can be seen in the left...
(Frank, it swings. This is a tool needed. I can scratch it from the to-do-list.)
PhotoBloggers, check our homepage, soon to be released, you'll want it too!
Posted on July 15, 2004
in Projects - PhotoBlog.net
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Macs, Music Boost Apple's Profits
Apple Computer more than triples its quarterly earnings compared with the same period last year. Sales of Macs, iPods and iTunes all contributed to the profit. [through Wired News]
Well, who said that music and the internet didn't do anything good? Apple turns the p2p downloaders into offcial buyers, and gets the market.
Sony and the rest are way beyond...
Posted on July 15, 2004
in Linking context
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Google buys Picasa
Google has acquired a company called Picasa that makes software for organizing and managing digital photos and that runs a peer-to-peer network for sharing digital photos, Google announced on Tuesday.
The proof that imagemanagement is a high-on-priority-list item in computerland.
I think the way PhotoBlog handles image management is amazing. It is so easy to change pictures from one cathegory into another.
It is something that TypePad doesn't got yet.
Sometimes people want to reorganize their stuff.
And they don't want it to take hours...
Now the implementation with off-line sources (because you want your pics organized on your desktop as well...)
And a perfect easy to maintain portfolio...
We are getting there.
Posted on July 15, 2004
in Projects - PhotoBlog.net
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Nikon RoadShow
Stap in… voor een rondje digitale reflexfotografie dat je leven als amateur-fotograaf totaal zal veranderen.
Op de gratis D70 demosessies leer je niet alleen wat de Nikon D70 allemaal kan, maar vooral wat jij ermee kan, hoe je, zonder veel inspanningen, een nog betere fotograaf wordt, je composities nog verder kan verfijnen, je opnamen nog verder kan perfectioneren.
Tijdens de sessie kun je het volgende verwachten:
-Tips & Tricks: presentatie van de D70 onder vorm van een gesproken handleiding door 2 ervaren begeleiders
-Hands on: mogelijkheid om in kleine groepen met de D70 te werken
-Vragen: hier krijg je de kans om zowel individueel als in groepsverband je vragen te stellen.
Een sessie die je absoluut moet meegemaakt hebben om te weten wat de digitale reflexfotografie voor jou kan betekenen. Zodat je je in de toekomst met nog meer plezier en overtuiging aan je passie kan wijden… Het wordt de digitale proefrit van je leven! Schrijf je nu in!
(To you, PhotoBloggers: I am subscribed for: 28/07/2004, Gent - Kinepolis, 16:00. See you there.)
Posted on July 15, 2004
in Projects - PhotoBlog.net
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The New Feedster is LIVE
“Feedster is a rapidly growing news search engine that provides easy access to relevant and up-to-date information. Mainstream information providers, as well as hundreds of thousands of weblogs, are syndicating their information using a newly popular XML syndication standard called RSS (Really Simple Syndication). By combining professional journalism and individual commentary, Feedster is the first to utilize RSS and weblog content as a new format to enhance traditional news syndication. By filtering millions of specialized and continuously updated data sources, Feedster provides fresh news and opinion and we project that feedster.com will be one of the top ten news sites by Q2 2005.” [Lockergnome's RSS Resource]
This is indeed the case: newsreader will be the future of the web.
only 2 weeks with NetNewsWire and I am already an addict...
Posted on July 15, 2004
in Linking context
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Hersh: children raped at Abu Ghraib, Pentagon has videos
From Daily Kos' partial transcript of a video (link to stream) of Seymour Hersh speaking at an ACLU event. According to this transcript, Hersh says the US government has videotapes of children being raped at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
"The boys were sodomized with the cameras rolling. The worst about all of them is the soundtrack of the boys shrieking that your government has. They are in total terror it's going to come out... a massive amount of criminal wrongdoing was covered up at the highest command out there, and higher."
It is easy to post this kind of stuff and doubt the Americans.
We don't have a clue of what is going on there, but more and more it seems to become the Vietnam of the Middle-East.
And people wondering WHAT exactly the Americans are doing there.
Establishing peace?
Or a democratic system?
The pity is that this all happened because of a president.
Where was his mind?
Posted on July 15, 2004
in Limit of my knowledge
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Easy looks?
So TMR was right, straight away to the hairdresser.
Give me an easy to handle look please, something that you get up with in the morning, comb and you can go.
I knew it when I came out of the place: I didn't really like it, it was to short. (TMR would hate it) Suddenly I looked like the boy from 10 years ago, remembering all the sentences 'You look so boyish, you look so gay'. According to my grandmother that is NOT true. One hope: it grows back again...
Posted on July 16, 2004
in Living in Belgium
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Beta-testing RSS Feed.
After the fabulous invention of the 'Image Thumbnailer' to implement your last entries in another blog, we didn't stop...
(Today it will be launched on the site, with 'How to' and everything)
Yesterday already, Frank decided to go full gear, and probably after I -and John- had been nagging too much about the importance of an RSS-feed, he simply made it... (He never told me if the script of Flump I sent him, actually helped)
So within days, this feature will be added as well (now we have to find a way to make a little xml-button on each PhotoBlog-page)
I implemented already on my site under the links. (www.photoblog.net/ine) but a little button will be nicer.
Our developments don't stop for the moment, since the blogging-rage is running fast.
We keep short on the ball.
Posted on July 16, 2004
in Projects - PhotoBlog.net
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Gmail marketing trick
By now I think everybody has a Gmail account due to the fantastic idea of hyping the mail-thing and the pyramid system of 3 invitations for each member.
I never understood people craving for a mailaccount that 'is allowed to read all your mail' and spam you 'with advertisement adjusted to your profile'.
Yes I have an Gmail-account, it has received 3 mails til now, 2 from Gmail self and one of a friend who I have sent an invitation. Won't be a solution for me I guess.
Yahoo rencently bought another webmailcompany, and will be soon featuring 2gig mail and a good adminsystem. But again spamming and screening of mails.
I'll stick to my little pop-account featuring 50mb space and no worries til now.
Tip:
If your smart, and you want more Gmail-invitations... Send 3 invitations to yourself. And immediately you have 9 invitations..
In case you want 9gb storage, or really want to trade hard.
I have one invitation left.
(The other ones went to Yasser in Daheisheh, who surely can use the 1gb. To them paying for a webconnection and thus popaccount is VERY expensive.)
Some body wants? Give me a good reason why you should receive it.
And you'll get it, for free.
Posted on July 16, 2004
in Technical stuff
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Skype rocks
10 minutes on a mobile to Israel: 12 euro...
Knowing Tamar and Yasser is a little bit problematic since they tend to like talking :°)
But hey we have Skype.
Skype offers you a service from computer to phone and the charge/minute is as little as 0.07 euro.
0.07 euro!!!! It let me talk for 30 min with the one and 30 min with the other for as little as 5 euro. And both to their MOBILES!
It is a break through and as the chairman of PChome Online, Mr.Jan said “The potential of the Internet as a voice communications platform is finally being recognized, and it is going to radically change the telecommunications industry as we know it.
I think it will radically change MY telecommunication way...
Byebye high telephonebills. -who needed a cellphone anyway?-
Posted on July 17, 2004
in Linking context
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Shopping
Well I looked for the color I have -brown with blue- but it seems to be made for Belgium oonly since I can't find it elsewhere -NYC didn't have them... Nor Tel Aviv-
Great for on th emotorcycle -yes I doubted to take the white ones, but then again, I do drive a dirty motorcycle...-
Posted on July 17, 2004
in Living in Belgium
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Shopping part II
Running to have the sales. After shoes, I ran to Petit Bateau.
What is so good about them?
T-shirts for as little as 10 euro for GOOD quality -read wash them on 90° and they'll be clean and not shrunk...- and in sales minus 30%.
All my T-shirts are Petit Bateau -except few unicums, like Karama's-, once you like them you don't want others.
And each year different colors.
And yes Tamar, if you read this, when I saw the beautiful light pink ones, I couldn't resist and bought you already one -long before you asked me on the phone-
60° washing temperature is says!
Posted on July 17, 2004
in Living in Belgium
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PhotoBlogWall
Our newest little feature can be adjusted as you want.
Flo did it pretty nice. Now we catch up with Lomo and Flickr!!!
As you want to know the code:
<
iframe width=107 height=272
src="http://www.photoblog.be/thumbLink.php?nickname=fillhereyourphotoblognickname&background=ffffff&columns=
1&rows=3&logo=none&border=959E7D" frameborder=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0
scrolling="no" >< /iframe
>
(Delete the whitespace between < and iframe and the same in the back, otherwise it won't work)
Enjoy and start your own PhotoBlogWall.
Posted on July 17, 2004
in Projects - PhotoBlog.net
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Moblogging Extreme!
Is AvantSoap art? Because we can't quite see the drama. Either way, it is a sign of things to come.
The idea behind AvantSoap is simple: a digital media group was asked to produce something for a gallery in the Netherlands. However instead of producing something to bring to Amsterdam, they're bringing visitors to them. Why should digital or new genre art interest the Feature? Because the four artists throughout Europe have collaborated on a loose script which will play out over constant stills taken with cameraphones and transmitted to a server at the gallery which compiles the story and displays the pictures.
The project just began a few days ago, so no clear story lines have emerged yet. And while it's difficult to pick out the drama (this an "avant soap," after all), it's easy to see that cameraphones are being used to create a cost effective, highly personal story. This media is surely young, two dimensional and even dull today. But it is clearly evocative of the intensely immersive or exciting personal experiences of Neal Stephenson's science fiction.
As cameras become more ubiquitous and the cost of transmission nears zero, anyone who wants to becomes an always-on TV show. What AvantShow show lacks in science fiction technology, they are making up by expanding this concept to four people in geographically disparate places to create a single show. Now if only they could do something exciting, or even witness something of interest. Then they'll surely grab our attention.
this article was grabbed here
Posted on July 17, 2004
in Linking context
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Needs of a photographer on the web.
What I'll want soon after some of my albums go up is a way to flag certain images to send to an online ordering system so people can buy prints. I'm sure I won't be the only one with this wish, and I'm hoping there will be user-contributed scripts to enable shopping cart capability or maybe TypePad itself will offer this in a Super-Pro version. I'd be shocked if there hasn't been some thinking in the TypePad team of approaching Kodak or Snapfish to integrate print ordering and fulfillment with TypePad photo albums. Checking around the web, I see that the photofinishing industry's standards and infrastructure partners have only recently been announced.
These are the voices to listen to.
Albums, sell prints/licences to pictures/printservice.
Keywords to follow up...
From: CuriousLee
Posted on July 17, 2004
in Projects - PhotoBlog.net
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Get yourself into the searchengines...
BlogChalk has an interesting concept.
Google works with this kind of special syndication. It checks if the words in your meta are coming back in your pages. Google tends to give more attention to your content then to meta-data. But when it comes back in the both content and meta-data, the page is considered more important.
BlogChalking works with this concept, making a meta and creating a code that repeats the info in the html-page.
In other words: a perfect way to get your page syndicated by google and to get it in a higher ranking.
Smart guys :)
Posted on July 17, 2004
in Technical stuff
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Wear Yellow
Lance Armstrong survived cancer. And created a foundation.
Nike kept on sponsoring, and keeps sponsoring the foundation.
Today they sell WearYellow, a bracelet, reminding you your courage, or supporting the others with courage, by donating one dollar for research on cancer.
I am considering buying this T-shirt...
Posted on July 17, 2004
in Linking context
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In the air re-emission
We were chosen third in the selection of most favourite reportage in Buitenlandse Zaken, resulting in a re-emission this morning.
Yasser, your grandmother again, she is pretty famous in Belgium now...
Posted on July 17, 2004
in Living in Israel
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Weather
©Standaard
While I was driving in the sun, the other side of the country was being terrorized by storm...
Boats were being missed and roofs were falling down.
One guy was even killed.
I didn't notice one thing, same humid as Tel Aviv some days ago.
Only the ipod missing to hear clocks in my ears...
Posted on July 18, 2004
in Living in Belgium
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Changes?
Dozens of Palestinian gunmen shot their way into the office of the Palestinian intelligence service early Sunday and burned down the one-story building, witnesses said.
An extreme offshoot of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement carried out the attack to protest Arafat's appointment of his intelligence chief, Moussa Arafat, to chief of the Palestinian security forces.
The Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades says Moussa Arafat, also Yasser Arafat's cousin, is corrupt and is demanding "real" reforms.
The Palestinian leader has overhauled security forces recently -- a key U.S. and Israeli demand for restarting the deadlocked peace process.
The changes follow a sudden wave of kidnappings in the Gaza Strip that signaled a breakdown of authority.
The destruction of the intelligence office on the outskirts of the Khan Younis refugee camp was the latest violence.
Is something changing?
Posted on July 18, 2004
in Living in Israel
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Gentse Feesten started...
I didn't go yet. Still adapting.
But the Gentse Feesten started. Wonderful atmosphere, even inbeween rains.
De Standaard published an article why it is so safe. (Dutch)
We tend to forget that there is so much stuff happening behind scenes.
In Gent the police is almost not allowed to take vacation during the Gentse Feesten.
Thanks you guys.
Posted on July 19, 2004
in Living in Belgium
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Being home...
Adapting to the beauty, the silence, the fact that maybe Belgium is only 230 years old, our history is lasting much longer than that...
Gent is the city I want to live.
One has to go away for a long time to realize such things.
Driving the motorcycle in the city. Seeing. Enjoying. Feeling home.
The beauty of the towers, of the city, of the recognition.
Yes, I am a real 'Flamande' in my heart.
Friends that you see again, that will stay, always.
Maybe things have changed a lot, in my head, in my views.
And for sure, within months, everything in this body will scream, to go, again.
But only because there is a reason: to come back.
Posted on July 19, 2004
in Living in Belgium
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French Jews 'must move to Israel'
Israeli PM Ariel Sharon urges Jews in France to relocate to escape anti-Semitic attacks, sparking French anger.
[from BBC News]
Right... This is of course the solution...
Posted on July 19, 2004
in Living in Israel
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She...
Posted on July 19, 2004
in Living in Belgium
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Feedster added
I finally took some time to check Feedster. -Is pretty important for PhotoBlog and BlogFactory-
Well they did some good things, I have to say.
Just added a latest news feed -which to me is nicer than Feedburner- to my site containing only BBC-news on Belgium and Israel, added a search engine and a button to subscribe to me through Feedster.
These tool are the things that will make them popular: easy to handle things, one click away for their users.
Nice.
Posted on July 19, 2004
in Technical stuff
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Featured
The guys from DesignBoudoir will surprise you.
Good design, from Belgium.
Tamar, you'ld love their little chairs for your livingroom...
Posted on July 19, 2004
in Projects - PhotoBlog.net
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Swatch collections
Swatch makes jewellery. And I have to say, I like.
If it wasn't for the fact that I prefer to wear 'self-created' stuff I would be tempted...
I guess others are already.
Posted on July 19, 2004
in Design
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Power to the people...though P2P
Peer-to-peer networks aren't just for trading music and movies. A law student, frustrated by government secrecy and possible conflicts of interest, launches a website that uses P2P networks to distribute telling government documents. By Kim Zetter.
[through Wired News]
This is a different way of fighting what is going on.
Some time ago the U.S announced that they wanted to close down the internet because of losing control.
Losing control is exactly what they do.
By now we don't realize, but within years we will suddenly see what the power of the internet means.
It is a fact that events like now in the Filipinos-getting out of Iraq- can't be disconnected from the influence of the internet as a news provider.
Posted on July 19, 2004
in Linking context
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Dommel.com verus others
Slowly slowly I am getting a little bit fed up with my hosting provider...
I never had much problems with them, but when I had, the helpdesk was not really comfortable.
It took them some time to answer and then the answers stayed pretty vague.
Seldom they were nice, as if, I was pretty stupid.
I am doing the HelpDesk of PhotoBlog, and I can tell you that there are some pretty stupid answers posed. But always I will have a pretty neutral answer. Only, seldom, in the case of very impolite questions, acting as if they owe the system -for which they exactly not pay- I tend to answer pretty shortly.
So I dare to compare. I pay to Dommel... I ask nice questions. And I know they get these horrible questions all day long.
Yet recently I am considering changing hosting. The returning mails over overuse, and then changing the bills, but before that also changing the backofficesystem that is not so compatible to mac make things not so easy for me.
To me a hosting should be the least of my problems.
This hosting seems to do the trick: cheap! and with an autoinstallsystem for many things...(Blogs- with Nucleus and WordPress-, Portals/CMS -with Drupal and Mambo Open Source, Customer Support, Discussion Boards -with phpBB2-, E-Commerce, FAQ, Image Galleries -with 4images Gallery and Gallery-, Mailing List, Polls and Surveys, Project Management, Wiki and other scripts)
1250 mB whereas for more money I have now only 500 mB, 40gig traffic -now only 15gig-
AND most of all with one click of the buttom, all those applications get installed
-The last 2 days I am working on installing a wiki... imagine the time saving.-
I am starting to test tomorrow.
More to see at readysetconnect
Posted on July 20, 2004
in Technical stuff
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Would you recognize a terrorist...
This image made from surveillance video from Washington's Dulles Airport, obtained by the Associated Press, shows two of the five hijackers on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, man in blue shirt, left, and white shirt, right, leaving a security checkpoint before boarding American Airlines flight 77 that later crashed into the Pentagon.(AP Photo/APTN)
So forget about thinking you will recognize one... If you would see one of these guys walking on your plane, you'd say: Nice guys.
Posted on July 22, 2004
in Limit of my knowledge
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Will libraries dissapear?
Katarina Maxianova, who received her bachelor's degree in comparative literature from Columbia University in May, took a seminar last year in which the professor assigned two articles from New Left Review magazine. She found one immediately through Google; for the other, she had to trek to the library stacks.
"Everyone in class tried to get those articles online," she said, "and some people didn't even bother to go to the stacks when they couldn't Google them."
For the last few years, librarians have increasingly seen people use online search sites not to supplement research libraries but to replace them. Yet only recently have librarians stopped lamenting the trend and started working to close the gap between traditional scholarly research and the incomplete, often random results of a Google search.
Read the article here
Posted on July 22, 2004
in Linking context
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Gentse Feesten visited
Yesterday I went to the fireworks.
Yesterday was the national day in Belgium.
I started grinning when I counted 4! Belgian flags. -nearly all on offical buildings-
(In Tel Aviv I would walk on flags on a day as this.)
In PolePole all the security guys were immigrants, speaking fluently with a Gentish accent.
This is my city, the city I want to live in.
Yes, Belgium is becoming more racist, but yes, Gent is the least racist city in Flanders.
I saw scarves in Blueberry motifs. Adaptation and integration do happen.
I love my city, it is my home every time I walk it. I live it.
And the Gentse Feesten?
Well, more people than last years, everything happening perfect -a lot of police controlling the thing, which is certainly a neccessity seeing the number of people (An estimation of 40.000 people/day) and the number of alcohol being spent, with until now only 28 people ending up in hospital for some or another reason-
Tuesday the news said 'Don't go to Gent, it is full...' for the first time since the beginning of the Gentse Feesten -already more then 30 years-.
We don't mind, we have fun.
PS: Click on my Dics Cover/Discover: Das Pop. The successful group of my first boyfriend ever ;)
Posted on July 22, 2004
in Living in Belgium
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Spencer Tunick
Who is Spencer Tunick?
I wouldn't know if it weren't for the wonderful documentary I saw on television.
Out of a review:
Photographer and artist Spencer Tunick is making a living out of photographing public nudity. His art involves organising thousands of naked volunteers, often into complicated shapes (or "installations"), so he can take photographs. These events occur in major cities, often early in the morning before too many people are around. A few weeks beforehand he puts the world out that he needs volunteers to get naked and lie around for a few hours. The series is called "Naked Pavement." He has been arrested numerous times, mostly in New York City.
Each Naked Pavement installation seems to be bigger than the last. In 2001 in Melbourne Australia he had 4000 people line up along the Yarra river. And in Spain 7000 people lay naked on the streets of Barcelona in June 2003. The scale of his work can be breathtaking.
Is it art or not?
When I saw some of the making ofs and the results, sometimes the results was not what I would want to have as a result. But heck, he has wonderful pictures, and the event of doing it must be as furfilling as the picture itself.
The pictures I selected here, to me are art.
Want to be a naked model? Visit his site and mail him. Mabe he'll jump continents to take your picture...
Posted on July 23, 2004
in Linking context
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Firefox versus Safari
Yep, indeed I am a hardcore Apple User. including many of their software -especially iTunes-
BUT I have to say, sometimes it is a little bit too simple. The gadgets of iPhoto are nice, but when it comes to professionality, i prefer iView.
The same thing with Safari. Nice browser. 1000 times nicer then Internet Explorer.
BUT Mozilla beats them all.
A free open source browser, that recently launched Firefox
Me I am switching. No more safari.
Firefox is fast, very very fast, uses tabbrowsing -bless the guy that invented that thing-, includes a google bar that even can get extended with more features.
But Firefox for Mac does something special: it puts the linking tools, stuff that appeared in every browser on Mac, back. No more difference in usabilty with PC. -If suddenly you see a lot of links in my posts, then you know why...-
AND not to forget: the RSS-reader is included, showing is very neat and with a simple click your feeds get checked.
Many more features to come with the extensions.
Even if the new Safari gets launched -with also RSS-... I stick to Firefox. Much more promising due to its open standard.
And PC-users: there is a pc-version of this incredible thing. Switch too :)
Posted on July 23, 2004
in Technical stuff
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Advisory opinion of the International Court in Den Hague
Read the advise of the judges here
Well we all know already that Sharon doesn't want to hear it.
Posted on July 23, 2004
in Living in Israel
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Mostar bridge opens with splash
Lavish celebrations mark the reopening of the historic bridge, destroyed in the war in Bosnia-Hercegovina.
[from BBC News]
A symbolic act, 'crossing bridges'.
Something different than 'building walls'
Posted on July 24, 2004
in Limit of my knowledge
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Blogs, PhotoBlogs, Wiki's, RSS, RSSreader, DRM, Exifs,...
Does it happen to you too? Talking about certain things, and people staring at you as if you speak Chinese...
I gave up. Many people in my environment look at me with this strange look, giving me the impression that I must be hit by something, talking Gibbrish.
In 2 years, when what I say now becomes standard, I only can look back and say 'This is old news...'
I am speaking chinese now, you say?
Posted on July 24, 2004
in Technical stuff
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RSS and Belgian Newspapers
The link is almost non-existing...
But, have to admit: Gazet Van Antwerpen has RSS on some categories!
Congrats.
Hopefully the rest of the newspapers follow you.
Posted on July 24, 2004
in Technical stuff
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Danger of Blogging
Read them here -Dutch-
Must be infected... Working online instead of enjoying the sun on a Saturday.
-Or adjusted to the sun since living in Israel...-
Posted on July 24, 2004
in Linking context
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Blogging through IM
Meet BloggerBot
The fine folks at Picasa have worked with us to create the quickest, easiest way for Windows users to send photos to a blog—via IM. That's right, Instant Messaging has gone to the blogs. The IM client they built is called Hello. It's a peer-to-peer networking application that enables users to share photos and text-chat about them live. It's a snazzy little app but it's even more impressive when it's engineered to work seamlessly with Blogger.
Blogger is trying to catch up with TypepAd and Flickr, and they are choosing the right direction...
Posted on July 26, 2004
in Technical stuff
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Bloggers go mainstream at US conventions
While some of the traditional media are treating US political conventions with contempt, webloggers are being welcomed, writes the BBC's Kevin Anderson. [from BBC News]
Why this is an important thing? Because the source is BBC. No longer the information in blogging is coming out of specialized, blogging resources...
Posted on July 26, 2004
in Technical stuff
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Journalistics?
Bloggers are no journalists is the claim of some journalists...
In my definition, a journalist can be a blogger, but not every blogger is a journalist.
Exactly the same with newspaper can be paper, but not every paper is a newspaper -think of some Belgian newspapers...-
For a paper in school, I did some research on the 'media', some facts are really stunnning.
An extract out of this paper, based on official surveys:
The most important newsmaker in the world is the White House. In the study of “Age of Propaganda – The everyday use and abuse of persuasion” Anthony Pratgkanis and Elliot Aronson refer to politicological research stating that the American presidents give about one speech a day. Many of those speeches are generated in this way that they get the news.
‘By talking about certain things and get the evening news, the president can create a political agenda – an image of the world that serves his/her politics’
The second big newsmaker is the State Department, the American ministery of Foreign Affairs. Every noon the State-department gives a briefing.
The third in row is the Pentagon, the American ministery of Defense.
The influence on the American and Western opionion is huge, especially in times of war and peace, who is a threat for who and why.
During the eighties, under Reagan’s presidency, the Pentagon published a ‘fact book’ about the Soviet Military Power, that was adapted each year, and distributed freely. It was ‘the’ resource book for Western politicians and journalists.
Tom Gervasi, a specialist in weapons, looked it over and published his own version of the book. His conclusion was that on each page there were profound changes, in comparisons, in terms and in categorisation.
After the Cold War, it became clear that he had been right the whole time: the Sovjet army never was the ‘huge fighting machine’ as stated in the fact book.
During the recent Gulf war the importance of the media was something the Americans used in a very particular way.
For the first time ‘embedded journalism’ was accepted, but the journalists had to sign papers in which they obeyed the rules.
An press information center from the Ministery of Defense was created in Quwait, and every day there was an update of the situation, reported by all journalists.
David Simpson states:
“The war has been about the control of images as well as of oilfields and territories. Al-Jazeera's broadcasts from Iraq have been threatened and often pre-empted by the US armed forces.
The captured Saddam Hussein, briefly fixed in the bright lights of international media attention, has more or less vanished from sight. Some images, like those of the planes hitting the towers, are shown over and over again. Others, like those of people jumping or falling from great heights onto the streets below, have been removed from circulation. It is not news that all images are subject to both direct and self-imposed political and ideological control. Private Jessica Lynch, who had the independence of mind to resent the falsifications of her captivity narrative for propaganda purposes and the courage to say so, has also quietly disappeared from major-media sight.”
As he goes on: “Now we live in a world of largely incommensurate images, some seen on one continent and others in the rest of the world. The tendency to political isolationism is reinforced and perhaps significantly enabled by an aesthetic isolationism that allows the debate about images of our dead to seem like the only debate to be had”
That the images are not used only by the Americans is a fact. Everybody plays the game, and also the ‘opposite party’ realized the power of it. The release of the movie of the beheading of an American prisoner in Iraq is cruel but got world attention.
The repetition of bombings in Iraq and in Israel don’t make ‘big amounts’ of deaths, but its shocking manner, make them catch the news every time.
These bombings keep the underlying subject (the political situation in that country) in the spotlight (Compare it with the terrible situation in Africa, concerning the HIV, that kills more people everyday, a situation that doesn’t get press attention in the news.)
Some state that terrorism is a creation of the media. Terrorists use the effect of shock to track the attention and put a light on their ideas. Since its nature, media will give prime time to these events and thus feed the terrorists with what they wanted: world attention and influence the opinion of the viewer.
Think of the recent beheading of the Korean, which resulted in mass demonstrations in the streets of Korea, condemning the governments decision to send more troops to Iraq.
(information gathered out of Jaap van Ginniken, “De schepping van de wereld in het nieuws”, 1996, Houten/Diegem (Creation of the world in the news), David Simpson's “The Mourning Paper”, and David L. Altheide, “Creating Reality, How TV news distorts events”, 1976, Sage Publications)
Posted on July 27, 2004
in Limit of my knowledge
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Turn your iPod in to a universal infrared remote
A remarkable article that I want to save for 'if one day I am bored and...'
Engadget has posted a step-by-step article on how to turn your iPod or iPod mini into a universal infrared remote control which can be used to control all of your home electronic equipment...
[fromMacMinute]
Posted on July 27, 2004
in Limit of my knowledge
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Remote control your Airport Express with your mobile/PDA
Another one to remember...
Thanks to MW reader Travis Walls for pointing out that the Salling Clicker--a Bluetooth app that turns your mobile/pda into a remote control for your Mac--makes a wonderful remote for the Airport Express. Travis wrote:
I love the APX. I hear everyone complaining about the lack of a remote and I laugh as I search for a song on my iBook from my Nokia 3650. Apple won't usually do things if they know someone else already has a solution and they don't think they can do it better. Using Salling Clicker is like having iTunes on my phone.
I must admit I'd quite forgotten about the Salling Clicker when I hooked up my Airport Express and had quite overlooked that somewhere along the line (I used SC last with my T68i) Jonas Salling added a boat-load of new features including the ability to browse and search your iTunes music visually on your mobile.
Problem solved... within the limits of range.
Discuss this story [MobileWhack]
Posted on July 27, 2004
in Apple
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A day in Belgium
I had Tamar on the line in a funny situation. Skype is still in beta, and I could hear her, but she couldn't hear me...-
Anyhow, she told me that this blog became very 'professional'.
I guess it is true. There is less time to be personal.
But today is another day.
I was wandering in Ghent, going to the administration department of the city to ask for a new driving licence, passport, identity card -all stolen...-, and around me, I almost didn't see any locals.
I saw Hindi, Georgian, Russian, Turkish, African people and then some locals.
And while I was watching them, I heard them talking: all of them knew how to explain themselves in Dutch.
I like this internationality. Don't know why.
Later, I was sitting in the park, and a guy asked very polite and in English if he could sit next to me.
Memories of the beach in Israel popped up in my head. Off course he wanted to talk to me, and I kindly refused. But he insisted, and we started a talk, which I don't regret.
Where he came from 'Iraq'
Well we had something to talk about...
We talked for an hour, and in the middle of the conversation suddenly it popped in my head 'This could be a terrorist' Atleast that is what they tell in the news, what they try us to believe.
And I looked at him in different eyes. He wasn't, he was a boy of twenty-something that ended alone in Belgium, that doesn't know anybody. He reminded me of me, landing in Tel Aviv, all alone, and the scary feeling that it gives. But also the strength to go and talk to strangers, to make contact. Because you have to.
He told me he was kurdish. And how the Americans promised them, if they would cooperate, would get into the government.
They aren't as they were promised.
If the question is 'why' people turn their back to America, I guess they should look for the answer there.
We talked about the differences in culture, joked, smiled.
We talked about Tikrit, Basra and Bagdad, and I think he was quite surprised somebody knows something more than notion of a war.
He said he had nothing to do, and was bored, that he informed on having Dutch classes but that they only start in september, on how to access the library.
Imagine arriving here, as a refugee, and first having to get through all the paperwork, afterwards not being allowed to work.
He told me he would have loads of free time after his papers were done.
I guess it is true: there are a lot of 'foreigners' in our little country. But it is also a fact that many of them do try to integrate, try to get to know the language.
It is not longer good enough to be able to have 2 hands to work.
The first question they are asked when coming into an 'interim office' is their knowledge of the language.
(When I was working for Randstad Interim, from all our companies we were dealing for, only one accepted people that didn't know Dutch. Because of security reasons. A good enough reason I would say)
So why in Flanders 1 in 4 is voting on right winged parties?
How many protest votes are within those 1 in 4?
To me it is very scary.
Suddenly it was 4 o'clock and I had to go.
'If we could see eachother again to talk.'
He wrote down his number. Was so polite not to ask mine.
Said pleasantly good-bye. Reminded me of Iraqi politeness (which I am sure many women will fall for)
The reason why I will call him, is because he didn't ask my number.
And because he truly seemed alone in a city full of people.
Posted on July 28, 2004
in Living in Belgium
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Visa Pour L'Image photojournalism event
I consider jumping trains from Paris -dropping 2 beautiful girls on a plane- to Perpignan.
Somebody wants to join?
Visa Pour L'Image, from Aug. 28 to Sept. 12 in Perpignan, France
-Apple's presence might be an interesting lecture next to dozens of good photography...-
Fyi, in Perpignan, you can present your work to other newsagencies, magazines and others, in order to get yourself published. Superb idea. During the week, other lectures are given on drm, photojournalism, etc.
All located in the hot South of France.
Get you portfolio ready and jump in the car/on the train.
Posted on July 29, 2004
in Projects - PhotoBlog.net
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Israel takes in 200 French Jews
Two hundred French Jewish immigrants arrive in Israel, amid tensions over anti-Semitic attacks in France.
[from BBC News]
This is the result of one woman lying to the police, a journalist jumping on the story and Sharon urging to come.
I agree, the world is getting more and more nationalistic, but if you give into it, and more, over if you serve others higher targets -I truly don't believe that Sharon 'cares' about the families- then the story gets sad...
Posted on July 29, 2004
in Living in Israel
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THrowing away memories.
Going away did change me...
So 'how' is probably the question.
Today my mom and I started to clean up rooms.
The room I am 'sleeping' in has to become somehow my place for a while, so I stated that I wanted to change it.
I guess my mom loved to hear this for 2 main reasons: 1. she loves 'changing' the house -so much that her boyfriend is hiding all the colourtesters he found in the house- and 2. it would mean that I have to clean up -read throw away- a lot of stuff.
I might have surprised her today by my new capacity of throwing away.
While I was going over old clothes that are not worth the word cloths anymore, I went over each memory, and my mom seemed convinced that once more she would not be able to persuade me to throw it away. But after each memory, each smile or grin, I threw it away. Without any problem.
This capacity only came after 2 years of living with only the most necessary, living out of 2.5 suitcases and no real place of my own. It might be surprising how little one needs.
So I ended up with half of my closet, and a pile downstairs, ready to go to the clothing containers.
The room is almost empty.
Ready for some little changes, a frame, end soon it will be mine.
(I guess my mom would love me to clean up all the other boxes on the attic as well...)
Posted on July 29, 2004
in Living in Belgium
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Press Attention
Well, as I commented on some blogs talking about this, getting press is not rocket science for most people and for most journalists, the subject must be interesting for the journalists, you have to prepare their work as much as you can if you want to speed the process by writing notes about what you may want the press to talk about (so that their articles are easier to write), and finally, you have to get the message to them.
Exactly the same thing as I say, out of the mouth of another.
Posted on July 29, 2004
in Projects
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'15 dead' in Belgium gas blast
At least 10 people are reported killed and many others injured in a huge explosion at a gasworks in Belgium.
[from BBC News]
Ath, where it happened, is in the French speaking part of the country but only 15 km from where I am sitting now.
(Seems to be a huge blast, since one Minister is coming back from the holidays and BBC is mentioning it.)
Update:
Meanwhile 200 people are found to be wounded, from with 100 with severe burning wounds.
14 deaths are counted.
The blast is said to be caused by a leak, which was already discovered this morning and for which the firedepartment was already on the spot to check it. At that moment, it blew up and fire men and security personnel checking it were killed immediately.
The blast was heard 10 km further.
See some pictures here
Update 2:
15 people are dead, among which 5 firemen, more to come. 100 people ended up in different hospitals in the country.
It is said to be the hugest disaster since 40 years.
They announced a national day of grief.
The pictures of the blast are enormous.
The king, Prime Minister, and some other ministers cancelled their holidays and took the first flight home. The Prime Minister arrived in the late afternoon from Italy to consolidate family of the victims.
In general, the organisation of the help was organized in a perfect way.
Posted on July 30, 2004
in Living in Belgium
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Question of an American soldier to an Iraqi Blogger
What's the right answer?
Is it to have driven Saddam out (which requires a war), but with a truly United, worldwide coalition, along with a master-plan for the post-war? Is there another way to have removed Saddam? Or should he have been left in power, isolated from the international community, and basically allowing the maintenance of the status quo? Although I know most of Iraq wanted him gone, is it realistic to believe that Iraqis would have pushed Saddam from power? I think--but don't know--that Saddam had consolidated so much power over the masses that it would have been impossible for Iraqis themselves to deal the death knell to his regime (that would pass on to his progeny)? Basically, should the issue of Iraq been left 100% to the Iraqis from the beginning (no war)?
On another note, is America too powerful? Doesn't it usually do good things with its power, or does it screw up as much as it helps?
Read the answer here
Posted on July 30, 2004
in Limit of my knowledge
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BVN you say?
You were never able to see Flemisch television on the other side of the world you say?
Wrong! Try this: BVN.tv
Finally Dutch language.
You'll need some accessoiries though.
-Don't me what BVN is standing for....-
Posted on July 31, 2004
in Linking context
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