Telemarketers

Ohh, I'm SO blogging this. This has got to be one of the best burns I have ever heard!
http://savemanny.blogspot.com/2006/10/ultimate-revenge-on-telemarketer.html

This telemarketer gets what he deserves!

Too bad bloggers "blog this!" works like crap.

Tropical Party

Yet another wonderful party for the books. The Calslaan crew threw a tropical party last night (my semi-Hawaiian shirt made an appearance), and it was great. The dorm does have a distinct prison feeling to it, but the people were cool, and there was booze aplenty! This was one in the line of many great parties. Next Friday there's another one planned, but by a different crew. I can honestly say that I have rarely partied this much while still going to school. Sure, working at the amusement park, getting trashed and going to bed after sunrise was more of a rule and an exception, but no so much in school.
Next Friday is the last of the currently planned parties. I'm hoping for a post-exams party, but nothing's scheduled yet. The concept of paying at the door and then having all the liquor you can drink is actually not a bad one. Easier for everyone, and everybody gets drunk!

If we can just get the rest of the house organized, I think we're heading down to the market in a bit. I need new shoes (I need new everything, but who's counting...), and I'm sure Denis needs more fish. The market is crap, but at least it gives us something to do on a Saturday.

QUIXOTRY

Apparently three new scrabble world records were set not too long ago. Highest individual score, highest total game score, and highest single word score (for quixotry).

Also, the cat has been located! (unrelated to scrabble, but what the heck).
My brother set up my sister's macbook to do some time lapse photography, and it turns out that the cat is hiding under a cupboard in the kitchen, and comes out at night to eat. It also refuses to come out when they fish for it. They are going to give it a couple of more days, but if it doesn't come around, they're going to have to return it. They are just taking care of it for a couple of months until a new owner can be found. The previous owner died, and the family didn't want the cat.

No more

I guess they have stopped allowing people to throw big parties and hold raves against the backdrop of the great wall of china. I have seen some movies and pictures, and I must say that it looks insanely cool. I also understand the Chinese government, in that they want to protect the wall from deteriorating.

Too bad I never had the chance to go to one.

Face Blind

Strange condition

It seems that I'm spending more time on my blog re-casting news from other places than writing about other things, but hey, whatever keeps my activity up, right...

Wow, wired is running so many good things...

Freedom to write whatever I want

I just read an article saying that google refused to take down content on their blogger service that is racist. Many people might find ths bad on insensitive, but I say "google, stand your ground!".
I in no way subscribe to any racist of nazi viewpoints. What I do however subscribe to is the freedom to let me things and say and write whatever the hell I want. I am entitled to my opinion, and I will NOT be censured just because someone doesn't like what I have to say!

People can think and say what they want, and I might not like it, but I'm not stopping them from saying it just because I don't like it. (Another reason why I moved to this country, see I was right)

I miss them

Today I got a rather unexpected call. Someone with a Dutch mobile phone number was calling me, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out who it was. I answer in English, which I normally never do, and it turns out to be someone on the other line who speaks Swedish!

"Who am I talking to?" is my first question, having no idea who the hell this is, and it turns out to be a good friend of mine from Stockholm who's on a regular visit to Amsterdam, and she's decided to give me a call!
We used to see each other all the time, but lately, it's gotten to be very seldom. She is a really good friend though, a really cool girl, and also one of the most attractive people I have ever met.
Turns out that she's down here every so often. By "here", I of course mean Amsterdam. Who the hell would come to Enschede of their own free volition? hehe

She's going to be here for one week, and I'm going to go to Amsterdam to see her just before she leaves from home. Beginning of exam week here, but I always take time out for my wonderful friends.

Speaking of friends...
I logged in to the ravers community that I was (still am) a part of when I lived in Sweden, and saw all my old friends logged in, and I felt sad that I don't get to see them as often any more. Some of there people are my best friends. They are probably the only thing I miss about not living in Sweden anymore. Luckily though, Holland is a country that some of them visit with a higher frequency than other countries, based on the parties thrown here, so I'm expecting to see a lot of them this spring.

Always fun when your friends drop by for a visit!

Midnight Postings

I've gotten into the habit of blogging when I come home drunk from a party. It could make for interesting entries, but it might also just lead to crap. I was at the vesting bar tonight, as per usual on a Tuesday evening. Most Dutch people say that it's just student-geeks that go there, bit I beg to differ. I don't go there for the bar itself, I go there for the people I meet.
Don't know what I'm writing here. My friend hooked up with one of the cutest Dutch girls I have ever seen. The only problem is that he's got something else going on on the side, and he can't seem to choose. Guess I'm just a bit jealous, since he's got two things going, and I have zero.

Ohh well, the tables were turned a couple of week ago though (ok, so I didn't have two, but atleast I had one, and she was fantastic), so this might be an equalizer of sorts. Too bad that I like her too, but I guess she's decided on who's floor to drop her clothes, so to speak.
I also met a good friend of mine's boyfriend today. It's always interesting to see the people that your friends are dating. To see if they fit together or not. Some people look meant for each other, and some people just look like the only reason they are together is that someone won a bet once.
Generally though, I tend to think that the people I like date good people. One of my very best friends who now lives in England has, for maybe the first time, a boyfriend that I really like, and that I really think fits together with her, and they are apparently happy as pigs in shit.

I know that it's not my place to pass judgment on other people's partners, but since I do anyway, automatically, I figure I might as well go all out.

I was right

I knew I was right to move here. An organization called Reporters sans frontiéres compiles an annual list about how free certain countries are, in the restrictions they impose in the press. Not surprisingly, the US is slipping further and further down on the list. Sure, it's a far cry from the last place held by North Korea, but it's getting there. My former country of Sweden is sitting in a respectable, yet still not good 14th place together with Belgium. This country however, the Netherlands, slides in at a leisurely shared FIRST PLACE, together with four other nations.

I knew I was right...

*Shiver*

Wow, this is just...
I don't know what to...
Wow, is all...

Strangeness

I'd rather keep my arms where they are, thank you very much.

At least the guy got to save his arm, but I can't imagine the emmotional trauma thi man will have to go through.

Spam

I just got some spam about some diet pills, and to get past the spam filter, the message was suffixed with the following:

ever. Slight tremor there. - Which it safe? - Something pretty lousy. even tells you the moment the Wort Dressed Sentinent Being as old man with speed and rust, or so, and play a body which the Galaxy where inexplicable arrival we picked up this afternoon? Ford theory I dont know, - I get a corner with a state of able to do you know if he could grasp in stunned silence again now? - we were directly linked through he had announced itself hence the Galaxy - You really can't fail with facilitating organisational alignment.

Makes perfect sense, don't you think?...

Off the Road

I finally got my car off the road. Driving around in a 2-seat convertible in the middle of winter really doesn't make any sense. Especially not when you are dirt poor, and the insurance is sky high.
Since it's now officially off the road, my premium will drop from something like 100EURO per month to about 5. All thanks to the wonderful garage that we have here. It was occupied previously by a car that didn't run, put there by god knows who. That car was swiftly moved, by hand, by us, and wedged into the garage beside my car. Ample space for me, and dry to boot!
It's another load off my back, since I don't have to worry about where to put it, or if it's going to be damaged during winter.

Last night was Russian night at Yana's place. We had some special Russian meal which consisted of ground beef in a bread-like covering, that was boiled. It wasn't great, but now I can at least say that I tried. After dinner we sat around the water pipe (Israeli import, apparently), and smoked a bit and talked about various things.
Tonight has the makings of yet another BBQ night. We're firing up the grill in about 45 minutes, and if luck holds, we'll have at least one guest, and a pretty one at that.
Denis bough a huge carp at the market on Saturday that we're going to throw on the grill, and we have some other meats as well. It's a very strange feeling that nothing is open on a Sunday. Whatever plans you have for Sunday needs to be made at least one day in advance. No spur of the moment thing here, no sir.
They also don't have any 24-hour stores. No 7-11, no nothing. There's one hole-in-the-wall (literally) where you can get food at almost any hour, but it's limited to burgers and fries. Fittingly, it's called "de muur", which means "the wall". It was a real family day today, we fixed the car, the bikes, and cleaned our back side. All in all a very productive day. Now for some Israeli trance and some more work before we start dinner!

Police State

Yet another reason why I wouldn't want to live in England:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/20/pub_fingerprints/

They are forcing pubs to fingerprint all their patrons. If they don't, they are not allowed to operate.
Granted, they don't have to pay for the fingerprinting, but I'm pretty sure it's a hassle to have at the entrance. Not to mention the tracking capabilities of the system itself. A major breach of privacy, I say. Based on the article, I can see what kind of advantages they are looking at, but it boils down to this: This system would be just as effective by requiring people to show ID when they enter a pub (which is done in a lot of other countries to verify that the patron is old enough to drink). "But id's can be faked" you say. True, but then again so can fingerprints. Atleast the digital fingerprint readers that are available today, and I really doubt that this would be an ink-on-paper system. Who would want to walk around the pub with blackened hands.

I'm an opponent of virtually any unwarranted registration of behavior. Sure, I use my debit card almost anywhere. They can register and track my purchasing behavior, but it's a choice I make, because of the convenience it offers me. It's also highly voluntary.

Thomas Jefferson once said "Those who desire to give up Freedom in order to gain Security, will not have, nor do they deserve, either one."

I could not agree more!

I think that more and more people are arbitrarily giving up their freedoms and being suckered in to that this will give them more security. This is almost never the case. Perceived security is NOT the same as actual security. It's also gotten to the point where the population doesn't have any means of standing up to the government if they start legislating away our basic freedoms. I know that modern societies don't storm the castles of the rulers with torches and pitchforks, but we should have a social equivalent of showing our displeasure with how our country is being run. Elections just aren't enough. Elections are good, but they are essentially making us choose between the lesser of two evils. I'm not saying that I have a solution to this problem, and there might not be one. I do, however, wish that the government would be more careful with our civil liberties.

Halloween

Nice Halloween party tonight. I must admit I had some doubts before the night started. It's always difficult when people have the possibility to dress up.
It's about 5.30 am here, and I'm still a bit drunk, and "the family" is just about to go to bed.
I must say, I love this house. The fact that we party together, and sit around and talk like old friends is really nice. I wouldn't want to live with any other people. The house itself could be better, of course, but the people in it are all wonderful!
Putting the cob web up for the party was a royal pain, since there was so much of it, and no real place to put it, but I think we managed to do a pretty good job. The party was at the Asterion, in the Pakkerij, as usual. It was a SMIT party.

There are a lot of couples forming among the exchange students. I feel like I'm 15 again, on a language trip, and everybody is hooking up with everybody.

Now I really need to get some sleep. The pictures will be up when the damn server starts working again.

Fire Water

A beverage that actually burns calories. That's probably a damn lie, but it'll be interesting to watch.
Green tea, something and caffeine. Yummy. We'll see how this develops...

http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/19/1330256

Schrödinger's Cat

My sister's birthday was this monday, and on sunday, apparently, mom and my sister went to buy a cat. Therefore,

numCatsInHouse = 1; //we now have one cat

Shortly thereafter, how this happened I do not know, the cat escaped. Thus:

numCatsInHouse--; // we now have zero cats

This was the status on tuesday. I have not heard anything since.

Therefore:

numCatsInHouse = 0||1; // since we don't know if it's back or not, or dead or alive for that matter, we get schrödinger's cat
See kids, ain't applied quantum mechanics fun?

I asked mom about the state of the cat. We'll see what she responds.

I MIGHT have spent the last week or two coding furiously, so my writing style might be influenced a bit by programming...

Edit: Hahaha, in quantum computing there's something called a "cat state". Doesn't get any funnier than this!

Now, see, if you were a geek like me, you would have thought that was damn funny!

Ephemeral

I have blogged about the ephemeral nature of speech in the past, but with a completely different angle than this guy. Bruce Schneier has a small piece about how what you say can come back and bite you in the ass if you're not careful. If you weren't aware of this stuff already, you really need to come out of your shell.

Also, the blogger "search this blog" feature is utterly fucking useless. I've tried to use it to find my own entries, but it can't even find things on the first page.

3xFriday

TGIFs, right...
These coming three weeks will see one party each Friday. That's about as good a ratio as you can get while still getting some work done.
This Friday it's a Halloween party. I'm thinking doctors get lots of chicks, so that might be something to dress up as. I also saw a huge sword at the costume shop, so Aragorn might also be in reach, however, that might take a wee bit more energy (and money) than I'm willing to spend, so I'm going to see if I can't combine them two somehow... (Picture it, it'll be ridiculous, and all because I want a big sword, hehe)
The Friday after that it's a tropical party hosted by my friend Mihai in their dorm on campus. This in an excellent reason for me to get out my Hawaiian shirts. Al though, they're probably more summer than Hawaiian, but I'll make do. It's also a reason to go out and buy some flip-flops.
Finally, the first Friday of November is host to a 399 party, again. I have no idea of the theme, or even IF there's a theme, but I do know one thing. I'll be doing my best to get drunk and making new friends.
I'm going to see if I can't convince my roommates and the few Dutch friends that I have to join in on the festivities. We generally have a good time when we do go partying together.

Right now though, I'm compensating for other people's incompetence, so I should get back to work...

Fat = Stupid

I guess it's like everybody says. If you're fat, you're apparently also stupid.
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/15/1752252

Slower Day

I really tried to get some work done today, but my brain just did not want to co-operate.
No matter how I tried, I could not get myself to do anything productive, so I played Bejeweled for a couple of hours, then watched the Discovery Channel.

I guess this is what people refer to as a weekend, but it's been all work for me.

YES! I killed that annoying fucking fly! Finally!

Slow Day

Last night was a good party. We went to macandra (I think that's how it's spelled). A friend of my roommates' was celebrating her birthday and was throwing a big party. There were a lot of people there, all foreigners. A lot of Norwegians, two in particular that I started talking to that were really nice. It turns out that coming here for year 2 and 3 or their physiotherapy education is a big thing. One girl that I spoke to said that there were 15 Norwegians in her class. I also met a girl from Oman who was really nice. We spoke for some time. I like meeting intelligent people who are interested in things.
I was having lunch with another friend of mine yesterday, and she was telling me about her work in optics fabrication in a clean-room, and she went in to detail and it seemed like she really wanted me to understand. She spoke with the ease of someone who likes her job. I'm not saying that fast food cashiers aren't necessarily interesting, but you connect to different people in different ways.

Regarding today though, today has been something of an odd day. Breakfast with the "family" (i.e. the entire household), ad then going for a spin on the town. I actually got some cheese today.
It just seemed like everything was kind of slow today. When I got home, I just sat and starred out our window at the still, inanimate objects in our back yard. It really seemed like it had been frozen in time, and it looked incredibly boring. Everything was grey. Not dark, but not light either. Not cold, but not warm. It was as if someone put the world in some state of suspended animation, and it's really depressing. No wonder the suicide rate of fall and winter is through the roof. I think we all suffer from seasonal depression disorder in some way, it's just that it doesn't show on everybody. I don't know if I give off any hint to my state of mind, other than my constant comments about how the weather sucks.
The world just seemed dull today, I don't know why.

I also feel the need to get smashed or baked tonight, but I don't much feel like doing it by myself in the kitchen, so I'm going to make some calls, see if I can't scare up some interest in this. Or maybe it's just withdrawal from the great party last night. I'm definitely taking every chance I get to party there. Especially if I might run in to that cute girl from Oman again. She didn't seem frightfully interested in me though, but I guess anything can happen.
It was also nice that my Dutch friend Susanne was there with us. I like her, she's my kind of friend. We don't go out to party that much, even if we speak quite a bit to each other, so it was nice to get drunk together for a change.
Today we're planning a BBQ. Don't know what's going to come of it though, we'll see. Tomorrow the entire household is going to see "The Knife" in concert in Amsterdam. I haven't decided if I want to go yet. When my brother saw them, he was quite disappointed, so I might just take a hint from him and stay away. Might be nice to go to Amsterdam though, but I'll have more chances to go there I'm sure.

I also got parts of my assignment done yesterday, so I'm actually ahead now, which is nice. I'm going to see if I can't further increase my lead over the schoolwork now, and then it's time for the BBQ!

Nobel Peace Prize

I just read on CNN about Muhammad Yunus, the guy who is going to receive the Nobel Peace Prize this year.
Apparently, he's some economics professor from Bangladesh who runs a microcredit (it's all in the article) company that gives small loans to the poor, who can't normally qualify for a normal loan. payback is on an honor basis. I don't know if what this guy did is related to peace or not, but damn it if this guy shouldn't get a price. Hell, he deserves two!
He and his bank has been at this for a while now, and it seems to be going very well. Way to lift people our of poverty! Sir, I salute you!

We need more people like this guy, we really do.
Things like the Nobel Prize makes me proud to be Swedish. Not a lot of other things do, but this really does. Once a year, it feels good to be Swedish.

Smoke without Fire

Well, ok, it was without fire, but I replaced the fire with some nasty microwaves.
There I was, nuking a bun in the oven. Everything was going great, and them BAM, from one second to the other, the entire microwave was filled with smoke, and so was a better part of the kitchen.
It's interesting to see how that can happen so quickly, and without warning.
It's a bit hard to breathe in the kitchen right now, but I have both doors open and a fan going, so I might be able to get a sandwich just before I leave for school.
If not, then it's hungry class day for me.
Atleast I got my tea out in time.

GoogleTube

So, I guess Google bought YouTube.
For an astounding 1.65 BILLION dollars in google shares.
For a company that's been around 20 months (Since February 2005), that's a pretty damn good payout for the people involved.

It says that YouTube will retain it's brand. I wonder what's going to happen to google video.

Maybe I should put up my explosion videos. That might make for some entertainment.

Thou shalt not whine

You want some cheese to go with that whine?
I'm sick and tired of everybody whining all the time.
I realize that this is whining as well, but I need to get this out.
people whine about me not doing enough, then people whine about it being to elaborate, then it's some thing, then it's another.
Why can't people just get their shit together and stop acting like fucking asshats?

God, they should make stupidity more painful...

399

It was a good party last night. At first Paul and I hung out in our kitchen, just talking about nothing in particular, but then I finally convinced him to join me to the party, and we ended up staying until 5 am. The party started as just a big group of individuals, but as the night progressed, you could see more and more couples forming. It was very interesting to see, especially as I turned out to be more of a spectator in this forming of couples than a participant. I spent the better part of the evening with another girl who also would not partake in the forming of couples, so we were cracking jokes at other peoples expense, I had a blast.

Unfortunately I didn't get my deadline stuff done yesterday, so I still have some work to do, but I'm hoping that I can get that done over the weekend. Right now, I'm waiting for the shower to become available, and the rain to clear up, so that I can go to town and check the market out. I need to get some salt that actually tastes like salt, and some sugar that actually tastes like sugar. I might also look at cheeses, but we'll see. Grocery shopping is also on my list, but that can wait.

I still haven't gotten my money from CSN, the Swedish governmental financial aid people, so the situation is not optimal. As always, they're dragging their feet. Normally, you receive your money for studies abroad in august. It's now October, and my patience and pocket book are wearing thin. I'm lucky to have enough money to actually get by while they proceed to fuck up my life. People in a lesser fortunate situation might not be able to cope with this situation as well, and that could prohibit them from leaving the shackles of that dead grey country behind them. It's sad.

Dutch class again on Monday. I wish it would continue on for the entire semester, but it's only a total of 5 weeks. I'm going to look into a continuation, if it's not too expensive.

Walk

Won't somebody come take a walk with me?
In the rain?
In the night?
In the silence?

I like being out in the rain. Since most people dislike getting wet, it's wonderfully quiet out when it rains. It's generally just you and the rain. Contemplative.
I always find it easier to think when I'm close to water.
Being out in the middle of the night also helps cut down on the amount of people you meet and sounds you hear. Being alone someplace where there's usually a lot of people is cool.
Like around 4-5 am, in a big city, just as the sun is coming up, and you're all alone in a place normally bustling with people. It's an intense experience.

Tomorrow is party night. The nut jobs in "399" (Witbreuksweg 399, on campus, at the UTwente) are hosting a party, like they normally do, for 50-odd people. It's a house full with almost exclusively short-stay exchange students. Most with no actual pressure on them to pass exams. That usually makes for one hell of a party crew.
Tomorrow is also deadline day for a lot of my projects in school, so this weekend will be 100% me and 0% school. Then this whole crazy thing starts right up again...

I know this girl who writes for the school newspaper. I have a feeling she's a pretty good journalist, but I have no idea, since my dutch is very limited (read virtually non-existent).
I had certain, hmm, shall we say 'incentives' to learn dutch before, but now it's back to just me wanting to be able to understand the people around me. I've had 2 dutch lectures to date, and I'm actually learning stuff. With a bit of luck, I'll be able to communicate by the end of this school year.

Well, it looks like no-one was interested in going out tonight, so I'm going to hit the sack.

Tot ziens!

Silicum - Spirit of Ankh

Fy fan vad "Silicum - Spirit of Ankh" är en av dom bästa låtarna som finns. Lite gammal mod över den, men ändå inte. Ye olde iaf.

I LOVE MUSIC, IT'S THE BEST THING IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!

Group Hug!

This site has been around for a while, but I keep returning to it time after time.

http://grouphug.us

It's basically a site when people confess stuff. I can sometimes find myself spending entire days reading what the other people write, it's fascinating.

For more stupidity, try bash.org

Wonderful stuff!

Netscape

I love Netscape.
I love Netscape for a lot of reasons, but mostly because it lets me be in control of my browsing experience. I was just at my friends site, and saw a picture that I wanted, and I decided to save it.
Normally, when sites disable right-click, the Netscape menu pops up anyway (we're just a little bit better than you), but these guys had fixed even that.
Who thinks that disabling right-click on a web page is going to stop people from getting what they want? If there's one thing I can't abide it's stupidity!
So, I do Ctrl+I, to get the info of the page. I figure I'll get the path to the file and download it myself. What do you know, when I select it in the list, it shows up in a small window, and it has a "Save As.."-button right next to it.
For my money (even though Netscape is free), there is no better browser software in the world!

Way to go! I salute you!

Rondam Ramblings: Top ten geek business myths

Rondam Ramblings: Top ten geek business myths
Read this, this guy knows what he's talking about.
Not that this was news to anybody, but people need to be reminded of these things from time to time...

How to dismantle an atomic bomb

No, it's got nothing to do with U2...

It's the illustrated primer of the week: http://wired.com/wired/archive/14.10/start.html?pg=12

Problem Solved

I'm back in the black!
After a hellish week of owing the bank about 1500 Euros, I'm now back on track!
No thanks to the damn bank though, they sure took their sweet goddamn time. Ohh well, now I can atleast go to the grocery store and not care if I get that extra candybar or not.
Thanks to mom and dad!
JOY!

Kruidnoten

Mmm, it's like pepparkakor (ginger bread cookies) only in small delicious nuggets.
There's an orgy in my mouth, and pastries of all kinds are invited.

I have got to get me some more of this, that's for damn sure!

Apparently, it's a sinter klaas thing down here, but what do I care, I'll go for goodness any time of the year. Thanks to Susanne for bringing these lovely things to my attention!