JCsPenny

I failed

2008-12-10T17:22:00.008+01:00

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

2008-07-18T00:06:00.005+02:00

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

2008-07-17T12:44:00.006+02:00

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

2008-05-13T00:53:00.001+02:00

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

2008-05-08T22:20:00.005+02:00

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!

2008-04-03T21:20:00.007+02:00

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

2008-03-15T21:29:00.005+01:00

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.

Sell Dell

2008-01-29T17:30:00.000+01:00

Sell Dell, and not just because it rhymes. That's the summary of some advise my brother gave me this afternoon.
A few months ago, he configured his ideal laptop on the Belgian Dell website. Today, he tried the same and noticed that Dell was clearly in violation of Moore's law.

There are two types of Dell notebooks, the Inspiron - Dell's normal laptop - and the XPS series - extreme notebooks for people who should actually buy desktops.
The CPU my bro' configured for his Inspiron a few months ago ((T7500, 2.2ghz, 4mb cache), is now only available for the XPS series, making it about €350 more expensive.
The standard configuration got a nice downgrade too as the clock speed went from 2 GHz to 1.66 GHz and the Li-ion battery lost 2 cells from 6 to 4.
There's more, but you'll have to ask my brother.

All this could indicate that Dell is in trouble, so our advice is to Sell Dell, or go short. On the other hand, this could be an attempt to increase profits and please stock holders. In that case our advice is to Buy Dell.

Disclaimer: Just as in Poker, you are responsible for what you do with your money. The difference is that in Poker, on average, people lose money, while on the stock market, on average, people win money (except the last few weeks).

Pancakes are served with milk

2008-01-24T20:47:00.000+01:00

One of the biggest differences between men and women is what they drink with pancakes.

Since I don't have any sisters, I didn't know this shocking truth, but the last few years I discovered that women like Coke (the drink) with their pancakes.

Now I'm usually a big fan of Coke (Coca-Cola that is), but pancakes should only be served with milk, or maybe its chocolate variant conveniently known as chocolate milk, and other men agree.

This study was performed with a total disregard for statistical error.

Privacy issues on Mars

2008-01-23T21:59:00.000+01:00

Just like Google has vans driving around for Google Maps' street view, it has NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit take pictures for what no doubt will become Google Mars' street view. The feature hasn't been implemented and already the first alleged Martian victim of this privacy intrusion is known.

Despite the occasional strangely shaped rock and the impressive pictures and landscapes, Mars looks like a dull place on these pictures. A lot to see, but nothing to do. I can't wait for Arnold to make it habitable and turn it into an awesome place.

Somebody made a predator mask

2008-01-10T21:31:00.000+01:00

Today I discovered that some guy (or less likely some girl) in Brussels made a predator mask. Or at least he/she told Google he did. For some reason Google lead him to this site.

This visitor was probably inspired by AVPR: Aliens vs Predator - Requiem, which is the sequel to AVP: Alien vs. Predator.
AVP was some kind of combination sequel to Alien 1-4 (Alien, Aliens, Alien³ and Alien: Resurrection), and Predator 1 and 2.

The Alien movies are about an ugly, violent extraterrestrial species, the kind that gives ET nightmares.

The Predator movies are about an advanced alien race of hunters.
In the first Predator movie we discover that Arnold Schwarzenegger is (obviously) superior to this alien race. Predator 2 was supposed to confirm this, but since he was busy protecting John Connor and the world in Terminator 2, his role was given to someone else, ruining the movie.

In Alien vs Predator, the Predators decide that it's safer to hunt Aliens in Antarctica than Arnold Schwarzenegger in a jungle. This movie was very disappointing and an absolute disgrace to Schwarzenegger's Predator legacy.

In the new Aliens vs Predator - Requiem, the Predators find out that Schwarzenegger is governor of California, and they assume they can safely hunt their prey Aliens in another state, like Colorado. I'll let you know if it's worth seeing soon.

A perverse effect of this post is that it will result in an even higher position in Google's "I made a predator mask" result list, especially if pigeons have a thing for chicks.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-03T10:42:00.000+01:00

Until further notice, the last digit in the date stamp of all new posts in this blog shall be an 8 instead of a 7. This change was celebrated all over the world with fireworks.

I'd like to wish everybody a great digit change and I hope it brings you everything you wish for.

A summer course introduction movie

2007-12-27T16:50:00.001+01:00

Browsing through some old files, I found this video Tim and I made as an introduction movie to the BEST Ghent Summer Course about advanced materials (summer 2005). We promised to make it months in advance, but due to our deadline oriented nature, we had to make it in a few hours.
As you can see, there wasn't enough time for other organisers to control or censor us.

White chicks

2007-12-21T22:18:00.000+01:00

No, this post is not about some movie I saw in Toronto a few years ago.
Not at all. After the hugely popular chicks in a tree and the detailed coverage of their journey to that tree, I, and some of my readers with me, felt it was time for a follow-up.

Most of Ghent's parks have some chicks (and chickens) wandering around in them, yet the historic center remains a dull scenery with as only highlight some pigeons (and maybe a fantastic view: see picture for "details").
A lack of parks sadly prevents the chicks from reaching this part of town. The presence of water could be a solution, as I witnessed last Wednesday.

Two white chicks (aka "swans") were spotted swimming (floating) through Ghent's most touristic area and were caught on camera.

Japanese and American tourists visiting Belgium usually limit the Ghent part of their visit to the train station, on their way from Brussels to Bruges (Brugge), which is known for its white chicks ("swans").

Maybe these two white chicks mark the dawn of a new era. An era in which more white chicks choose Ghent as their home and in which Bruges (Brugge) should just be happy that Schwarzenegger will save them from drowning.

Interested chick-spotters are referred to my detailed Ghent chick map - created with Google's new My Map feature.

A strong ally

2007-12-20T23:43:00.000+01:00

Environmentalists, ecologists and the like can stop worrying about global warming.

I reached this conclusion today after reading this article and watching CNBC Europe's nightly news. The Environment Protection Agency (EPA), a federal agency, denied governor Schwarzenegger's California and 16 other states the right to limit greenhouse gas emissions, an EPA decision backed by president Bush.

This doesn't really sound like good news, but as we know, Schwarzenegger is not that easily defeated (just watch Predator or The Running Man). He vowed to fight back saying:

It is disappointing that the federal government is standing in our way and ignoring the will of tens of millions of people across the nation. We will continue to fight this battle. California sued to compel the agency to act on our waiver, and now we will sue to overturn today's decision and allow Californians to protect our environment.

The environment now has the best ally it could hope for. If you take a look at Schwarzenegger's record (as I did tonight in this biography) there is no doubt that global warming, and not the environment, will be destroyed. He started his offensive in his own style, with a one liner:

I cannot call it anymore the Environmental Protection Agency, I have to call it the Environmental Destruction Agency.

Vermont's governor Jim Douglas tried to make a similar case, be it less eloquent:

I think the EPA is out of touch with the mainstream thought of the American people, especially states like Vermont and California and others that are choosing to adopt more rigorous standards.

The EPA administrator argued that "the Bush administration is moving forward with a clear national solution, not a confusing patchwork of state rules." He believes "this is a better approach than if individual states were to act alone."

He is right. A national solution is better than a segmented approach. But Bush's proposal just doesn't cut it. The solution is to amend the constitution to allow Arnold Schwarzenegger to run for president. Only then will real measures be taken. Only that (or Stephen Colbert) will save America.

Some might argue that a Nobel Peace Prize and a top grossing documentary are a bigger contribution, but shouting ManBearPig's real, won't solve any problem.

Mars Delight

2007-12-12T22:50:00.000+01:00

Today, smart marketing managed to trick me again: I bought a Mars Delight.

Maybe it was the timing - I was on my way back from basketball practice, waiting in the cue at the supermarket - but when I saw that candy bar, I had to know how it tasted.

It wasn't my best candy bar experience, I'm afraid. Despite claims on their website, the chocolate was dull and the caramel didn't mask this quite as well as in the original Mars bar.
The price for best candy bar spin-off still goes to Milky Way Crispy Rolls, but I'm open to suggestions. Beware though that there is no real price.

Note for American readers:
Our Mars bar is similar to your Milky Way bar.
Our Milky Way bar is similar to your Three Musketeers bar.
And I don't have a clue what spin-offs like Delight or Crispy Rolls are called over there.
But don't forget, considering my source, that if this bothers you, you can change this confusing reality to a more pleasant one through Wikiality.

Wikiality

2007-12-09T23:16:00.000+01:00

After watching this video on the possibilty of a brighter, more pleasant world through Wikipedia, I felt compelled to contribute to this Wikiality. It was time to check the Wikipedia page on Arnold Schwarzenegger (again). And while I'm used to the Dutch version of any wiki page being a strange incomplete translation, I was shocked to see a very important fact missing in the English version.
But now thanks to my swift editing, everybody in the world knows Arnold Schwarzenegger won the campaigner of the year award in this year's European of the year election, organised by the European Voice. And while everybody knows he should have won the European of the year award, I understand it would be a little weird making an American Governor European of the year.

With this problem solved, I can trust Wikipedia again, and my students can go back to using Wikipedia as a source for all kinds of information to get some extra credit.

When buildings collapse

2007-12-03T23:14:00.000+01:00

You don't need to watch National Geographic or Schwarzenegger movies to see buildings collapse. This was the view from Ghent's Sint-Pieters train station little over a week ago.
Some improvements were possible in my opinion:

Someone saying "I'll be back" after which the building would be demolished by some kind of vehicle
Having none of the building fall on the adjacent train platform
Actually demolishing the entire building (i.e. not leaving one wall standing)

Nevertheless, a great view and a great experience.

By popular demand

2007-12-03T22:49:00.000+01:00

An update on the chicks in the tree.

I managed to catch the chicks in the act of going from the park to the tree.
Unfortunately updates on their adventures will be less frequent. My "new" bike has arrived and my increased mobility prevents me from taking their pictures on my weekly trip to basketball practice. The pictures would be blurry, and there's no use posting blurry pictures of chicks (like these) on this blog.

South of Antarctica

2007-11-25T13:05:00.000+01:00

Today I read that the cruise ship Explorer sunk "north of Antarctica".
I can't help but wonder what lies south of Antarctica.

JFK in Belgium

2007-11-19T13:24:00.000+01:00

Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country:
I don't think JFK had this in mind.

This message was put here as another good excuse to mention one of the greatest policitians of our time. Not JFK, that would be too obvious, but Arnold Schwarzenegger, whose wife happens to be JFK's niece.

Kippen op stok

2007-11-17T15:18:00.000+01:00

This is the kind of content that justifies this blog's existance:
Chicks in a tree! Check them out here. Last seen in their tree last Wednesday, around 5 pm.

The perfect introduction

2007-11-16T12:18:00.000+01:00

Even during his second term as Governator in California, his movie legacy lives on. One of Belgium's quality newspapers recently published this list on their website, taken from one of Britain's quality tabloids. Not that I completely agree with the list, there's plenty of Schwarzenegger quotes available to fill the entire top 10.

The perfect introduction to this blog:

I'll be back.