I failed

Arnold Schwarzenegger prefers sunny, beautiful California over rainy, gray Belgium.

How else would you explain my inability to find him during two (2!) trips to the United States since my last post, including a stop at his work place, the California State Capitol in Sacramento?

He must have read my post and gone into hiding.

Since we learned a few days ago he will not be Obama's Energy Secretary, the only other explanation is that he is involved in the new Terminator:Salvation.

Rhetorical questions, semantics and credibility

Less than a day ago on this blog:
"Or do you think you can force someone to keep on leading a government?" I assumed it was a rhetorical question. Apparently it wasn't. The king declined the resignation.

He appointed three politicians, neither of them Arnold Schwarzenegger (although one of them speaks German too), "to find out how guarantees can be offered to start an institutional dialogue in a credible manner (sic)."

If I read this correctly

• Their task is not to start an institutional dialogue
• Their task is not to find guarantees that this dialogue can start
• Their task is to find out how these guarantees can be offered
  

So after their task is completed, someone will be appointed to find the guarantees in the manner they described.
When he is finished, this will guarantee that the dialogue will start.

All this probably just to bring us closer to the regional, European and probably also federal elections.

It does make me wonder what has been going on the last year. Wasn't that an institutional dialogue? Doesn't that mean it has started already? Does that make the task of these three politicians even more useless? Or is it the word "credible" that makes the difference?

"Your history classes in high school must have been hilarious" was the comment I got from a French girl today after explaining her our nation's governmental structure. I must agree, but current affairs are promising to be quite entertaining on their own.

The need for Schwarzenegger remains obvious.

The Governator must save our Government

Last Monday, Yves Leterme, Prime Minister of our make belief government, offered his resignation to the king over failed attempts to make our country less confusing to foreigners. If the king accepts, this government would have taken about twice as long to form, than the time it was actually in power.

The problem is that the confusion was in fact created to satisfy all regions and parties as much as possible; resulting in an inefficient mess. So, the process of defining a logical structure is bound to leave some people, regions or parties unhappy.

I never understood how a King can be involved in our democratic process, and apparently neither does he. So he chose not to interfere by accepting or declining the resignation. Instead he just wheeled in a bunch of politicians he expects to make the decision for him. To me, the decision seems quite easy. Or do you think you can force someone to keep on leading a government?

Nobody seems to have a solution ready for what is to come, and it seems we need some kind of miracle. That is why, next Tuesday, I will leave for the United States and I will track down California's Governor. For if there is one politician who can lift us out of this mess, it is him.

Public Broadcasting: the next generation

The Flemish Radio and Television Network, VRT, recently tried to restyle, update and modernize their news website and television news show.

At first I and many other bloggers thought they had failed miserably, which even lead to a rescue mission to revive the old website. The technical problems in every television news since the new launch were frequently ridiculed in Knack's satirical last pages.

Today I realised we were wrong. VRT is just way ahead of its time.
The blogosphere is rapidly growing and gaining influence among news consumers. To prevent being marginalized by this new medium, VRT has adopted its methods.

Fact checking became optional while reality got replaced by Wikiality and professional camera men by Youtube and camera phones.
The bloated chaotic website, confusing news reports and the introduction of the occasional grammatical error secured the necessary credibility with the myspace crowd, necessary for a successful introduction into the blogosphere.

I wish them the best of luck in their new found niche, and hope they reach their new public, looking for a myspace-like news experience.
Meanwhile, they must be prepared to lose more conservative viewers and visitors to other news sources, better in both content and delivery.

Great tits

This post is about birds, not bitches.
My brother sent me a link to an interesting BBC news article on great tits and climate change. I've always been a big fan of tits and I was intrigued. What makes tits in Great Britain different from tits in The Netherlands?
I came to a possible explanation. Couldn't it be that the more densely populated Netherlands has more humans per tit, and therefore also more humans feeding the great tit, making it less essential for the eggs to hatch when the winter moth caterpillars emerge?
Or is it that the chicks prefer caterpillars over British food? Are bread and cheese crumbs so much better than fish and chips?

No surprise: My brother was right!

A few months ago I wrote about my brother's pessimistic view on Dell's future. It didn't take long for mainstream media to pick up on this story and now, a CNET reporter/blogger agrees with him in a more thorough analysis.

Dell clearly wants to stay on my brother's good side, as Reuters quoted Dell saying they "are not satisfied with the current state of affairs and are on a mission to fix it."

That's right. Everybody should fix instantly whatever it is my brother doesn't like. The world would be a much better place, perhaps even a perfect place.

Your message to the governor was NOT received

Your message to the governor was received

Thank you for your email to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The Governor appreciates hearing from concerned and involved Californians, as well as from individuals all over the world who have an interest in California.

Governor Schwarzenegger is committed to restoring your confidence in state government. As the Governor has said, with hard work and your help, California will once again be the "Golden Dream by the Sea".

Due to the unprecedented number of emails sent to the Governor, there may be a delay in immediately responding to your email. Please know that the Governor's office is making every effort to respond to your inquiry and will ensure that your voice is heard by the Governor.

To help us respond to you, please include your email address when you communicate with the Governor's Office. Please note that we are unable to accept e-mail attachments because of the risk of Internet viruses. We ask that you please send your attachments via traditional mail to:

Office of the Governor
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814

For more information about Governor Schwarzenegger and the State of California, please visit the California website at www.ca.gov.

Again, thank you for your email. Governor Schwarzenegger is proud to serve you and all Californians.

During my internship at the European Commission, I received this same e-mail, every time I sent out invitations to birthday parties, to celebrations of Austria, to Terminator marathons or to whatever I could think of.

He was always invited, but never showed up. I figured it was his busy schedule, but today I learned that he never even got the messages. Associated Press reports that governor Schwarzenegger "doesn't maintain a government e-mail account" (then where DO governor@governor.ca.gov and this web form direct to?) and that he "doesn't use e-mail".

I guess I'll have to call him next time I organise a party.