The Mouser 3000™ : new & improved

The Mouser 3000™: new & improved!

-Fits in tight spaces.
-Cleans radiator with tail.
-Reaches where you can't.
-Self cleansing.
-Noiseless.
-No batteries needed.
-100% biological.

Irony

I'm melting, melting!

I'm melting, melting!
Ohhhhh, what a world, what a world.
Who would have thought that some little girl like you could destroy my beautiful wickedness.

Wicked Witch of the West


My foxy Snow Doll is melting away. As of now she has quite the hourglass figure.
And half of her face is missing and has turned into a puddle.

Yum

This past week I put up some balls of fat mixed with seeds for the birds in the garden.
Because of the heavy frost and heaps of snow the little critters go quite hungry because regular food sources are non-existent or scarce.
Mouser is quite pleased to see so much activity not too far from the house.

Quantum Theory made easy

Art History and un-science

Why is there such a confusion in my mind as to what the course I should be studying actually wants to be?
It's not Art Philosophy in its strictest sense, but it has that ambition. It is not Art Appreciation but masquerades as it. It's supposed to be an introduction to Image Analysis but its being confused with the other three kinds of Aesthetics.
Is it Post Modernist teaching rehashed, reheated and served all over again? Should I be worried why I find reading fourty year old articles inaccurate and outdated?
Colour photography will change the way we look at things.
Thank you 1970's Captain Obvious.
Why do I find it so hard to have to read articles that condemn academics trying to do historical accurate research without having to add their own opinion on everything. Why is not being interested in gender studies a big deal? Why does every article in my reader have to start with Plato's bleedin' cave or chair analogy? Why is Plato all of a sudden an authority on art? Just because he said some random things about it?
It probably all just boils down to name-dropping and citing irrelevant bits of other academics talking about Plato or Socrates. We are talking about people who thought Greek Tragedies was bad karma. But of course Plato apologists just add a an introduction note to his works saying his theory of art was probably never meant to be taken seriously.
How very un-sciency this all has turned out to be.
This is just a few reasons why Art History will haunt the realm of the humanities, or the wannabe sciences as I sometimes call them. Dare I say psuedo-science? It is clouded with half baked theories, polluted with uninteresting lines of thought and irrelevant facts and riddled with too much speculation.
How I loathe the ifs and maybes. I want facts dammit!

Sleep, my friend

Dr Livingstone's father died yesterday night.

I would like to share a piece he wrote about our little country:




Voor mijn Vlaamse vrienden

Nu ’t land schudt op zijn oud gerust
wat lang voordien moet zijn geweten
is 1831 dan toch vergeten?
en de Franse hulp in zand geblust?

Hollands koning had verloren
het Londens protocol was snel aanvaard
het Saksisch Gotha broed ook snel vergaard
en zie een koninkrijk was snel geboren

Tot 1914 werd Belgie groot
vooruitgang op vast elk gebied
maar lekgeschoten als vergiet
was het land in 1918 dood

Macht en geld nog in de Walen
een oorlogsdreiging waart weer rond
en weerstand rijpt op Vlaamse grond
als begin van Europa’s grote falen

En nu vraagt iedereen zich af
wat staat in België te gebeuren
politici moeten niet zeuren
wie dom is krijgt gewoonweg straf

Belgie splitsen is een domme zaak
als de hoop van slechte patriotten
laat Vlaam en Waal gewoon ravotten
totdat zij zich kwijten van hun taak

Maar daarvoor benodigd men wel moed
en dat schijnt nu teveel gevraagd
want als je strakke kravatten draagt
is communicatie een lastig goed

November 2007



Goodbye my dear friend

Ad hom dishonour wins

My Art Philosophy exam on Wednesday went quite swimmingly. I'm still on course for a first.

Although it had not been a very good start to the day for me.
Dr Livingstone was in hospital for surgery. So I was kind of absentminded. Then I had to collect him late afternoon and made it just on time for my exam in the evening.

We got a text we had to pick apart and find statements about art and critique them if they were relevant to questions Art Philosophy has ever concerned itself with.
All of my fellow students started to scribble and jot down right away. I wasn't really concentrating and felt the exam was going to go down the pan. But then most of them, after about ten minutes into prep time, started sighing and moaning.
And then that's when I got cracking...
The text was written by Patricia de Martelaere on Cloaca by Wim Delvoye (the guy who tattoos pigs).
Quite a lot of the text did not actually deal with art. Albeit, not enough I thought I could discuss profoundly at the oral examination. I found some bits that had a Hegel, a Heidegger and Lacan type wording, but nothing much that was really challenging. So I tackled the other bits.
I went in for the kill. I went for the intellectually dishonest ad hominem attack.
I attacked some logical fallacies Professor of philosophy de Martelaere made. And I critiqued the faulty empiricism of the Turing Test discussed in the article and the lack of understanding de Martelaere displayed of its testing goals and lack of nuances.
My own Professor was very impressed. I hope she'll accommodate me the grade that accompanies the impression.

As you might have guessed from this rant I was quite chuffed with myself.
If you'll now excuse me, I'll have to move away from my computer and leave the room because I have to make room for my gigantic ego.

Being frank is the best way forward

I attended a lecture a while back by Trees de Mits and was asked what works of hers have interested me most from an analytical viewpoint.

It must be the 'Sensory' stuff. The first aspect of her work is the subject matter and what it relates to, not what the art physically is. They are means of transferring ideas. The majority of her work consists of clay or porselain organs and body parts. Mostly painted with white latex, the unglazed ones underline the clinical aspect of things relating to organs as what they are perceived to be today in our world and society.
We think of them being removed in a clean environment when they are deformed or defective. Our society discards them because they are of no use to us.
De Mits creates these deformed, mutated, elongated organs and body parts and puts them in display cabinets as medical curiosities, in a manner reminiscent of the way they used to be stored or exhibited to educate medical students or travel around on fairs as anomalies.
Sometimes they are neatly arranged on the floor according to shape or object, tied together with surgical string, suspended on the wall, put up as a picture or as meat hanging in a cooler. Or even presented on a plate or under a glass dome.

She's been using colour since her stay in the Shikaraki Studio's in Japan. Through new works De Mits has been studying the impact of traditional Japanese glazes on her contemporary Western Art.
It has even given her work an added dimension of repulsiveness, moving a step away from the clinical cleanness and entering into the realm of the quasi reality. I say quasi because it has the colour of bodily fluids, but it does not appear to posses that trait in texture. The shiny glaze only captures the small moment of fresh, liquid blood. Not dried up as one should expect it to be on an organ taken out of the body and placed where air can touch it and the blood starts to coagulate.

It must be the repulsion I fist experienced when looking at the works. An uneasiness that turns into wonder and in a later stage fascination. I have a shared fascination for old laboratory stuff, old display cases like the ones you could still chance upon in a chemist or at the Brussels War Museum.
I'm not smitten with the works from an appreciative standpoint. But I have always had trouble with most contemporary art. The majority of things are just not aesthetically pleasing to me. So I have this border I always have to cross to look at things. And the best way to do this is to bar myself from thinking about whether I like it or not until I have really taken the time to look at it.
I have forced myself lately to choose modern art as subjects to discuss in papers. I am trying to detach my feelings completely from, if it is required, the works I need to analyze so I can really do it without any preconceived notions of esthetic values I would attach. I am wondering where this pre-occupation with Concept has come from. Is it a new form of Academism? Or is it just something to give Art History students, Art Critics and Artist something to talk about?

Sometimes I ask Dr Livingstone what he thinks of certain works I show him. He usually comes up with 'That's not art' or 'It looks like it was made by a four year old' or even the embarrasing take on art at auction: "Why is that being sold here? I thought it was an auction. That's not art". But then again, I am sure a lot of people would agree with him.

Oi, you looking at my bird?

Several of these creatures have been roaming around the gardens as of late. The hunters are driving the pheasants out of the woods and they take refuge here. Mouser is not amused and quite scared of the big birds stalking its grounds and strolling around aimlessly.
Btw, this pic was taken before the snow. There's about 15 centimeters of the white stuff here, I tried to get my car out of the drive way again, but to no avail.
I ran Dr Livingstone in his own car to the hospital early this morning, he's having surgery.
Hope all goes well. I can collect him in the late afternoon and then it's off to my Philosophy exam in the evening!

Provocative snow

While I was burrowing out of the driveway to set my Mini free, I turned the excess snow into a Snow Doll.
Not an ordinary snowman, not a snowwoman but a Snow Doll.

It doesn't have any arms because they keep falling off. I suppose that's what happened to the Venus de Milo.

To be honest, from the angle I took the picture it looks as if the Snow Doll is taking on quite a provocative stance with pouting lips. Hence the name Doll. Granted she's a bit heavy in the hip area to be a Pussycat Doll, but it's bloody freezing out, so this is as good as it gets.
I hope Dr Livingstone doesn't give it a kiss when he comes home tomorrow. Or some lonely farmer steals it under cover of darkness.

Moon Boots

I have to come clean: I have Moonboots.
For my young readers wondering what they are: A Moonboot is a piece of footwear highly popular in the 70's.
Think Dr Martens or Converse All Stars but without the cool. Moon boots went out of fashion three decades ago, but I've seen them re-emerge every winter since. They've actually never been in fashion come to think of it.
It's just something that happened in the 70's. Like disco. Or The Partridge Family. Or your mother in a catsuit.
Tacky. That's the word I was looking for.

But if the fashion police would call round, they'd take me down to the nick and beat some sense in to me.
I've owned a pair of these for fifteen years (the same ones btw) and today was the second day I've worn them. Ever.
They are the most hideous looking winter foot gear imaginable.
When you're a kid, they're great:
-No shoe laces to be tied. Let's face the music here; why are there laces on the thing anyway? It's not like the moonboot is going to come off when you're walking around. You just slip your foot in it and that's it. The wooly bits inside keep everything in the right place.
-You can't tell left from right. The bloody things look identical! Every time you want to put them on you try and find some resemblance of a foot feature or something. Does that slope slightly to the right? Has that worn through on this or the other side? I've always wondered why they don't sell them individual but always as a pair. Why not mix and match? It's the only pair of foot wear I know of that makes it possible. Perhaps espadrilles too.

So if you see anyone walking around with white Moonboots looking slightly embarrassed: It's me.

Guilty as charged Your Honour. I am ready for my hours of service in the community and will clear away the snow on the footpath and even in front of the bus stop. Not that there are any busses here today. The rest of the country: fine.
But here: no. Only tractors about on the streets.
It looks kinda grim to get to class today and tomorrow. And my exam on Wednesday as I come to think of it.
Perhaps I should borrow some snow rackets somewhere. Or hire a bull dozer to drive in front of me.

Let's go out for a Stroh

Dr Livingstone and I went for a stroll in our frozen little country that has now turned into an enchanting winter landscape. We were well dressed for the occasion (three layers of clothing, a pair of binoculars and a flask of Jägertee to keep warm during the walk).
On cold days like these we always have our warm alcohol with us. It makes us cheery, slightly light headed, gives us a false feeling of warmth and keeps us going until we reward ourselves with the next revitaillissement alcoholique en route. If I think of walks we did in the past our conversation never goes like "Remember we that time we saw .... and .... on a walk? Where was that again?"
Nope. It usually starts like this: "Remember when we took that flask of Jägertee with us and I spilt it. You know next to that river. When was that again?"

Anyway, we decided to curtail our escapade in the direction of Het Vinne. We are frequent visitors there; all year round the scenery looks different, but always equally stunning. It's Flanders largest natural lake and quite near to the medieval city of Zoutleeuw.
Mid 19th century the lake was pumped dry and Canadian poplars were planted there for the sake of making matchwood for the Union Allumetières. When no longer economically viable the scheme was abandoned. The Province of Brabant bought the land and has now again flooded the area and it is now a nature reserve. The webshots on Panoramio still map the area before it was flooded again.There are long and winding wooden footpaths in between the reeds, water and rotting poplars. During spring the noise nesting birds make is fascinating. Although I wouldn’t recommend going there just after watching Hitchcock’s film (of same name) or you’ll be ducking and diving all the way.
As the waterbirds nest in the reeds and you can get quite close to them and really see the animals in their natural habitat.
Some bird spotting cabins are scattered across the area. The lookout tower is the best spot however. You are surrounded by water and wildlife and the view is absolutely stunning, no matter in what direction you are gazing.
Last time we were there I even spotted a rare Alcedo atthis (Kingfisher). And we met a man who was strolling around with an owl on his arm. A half-year-old Bubo bubo (Eagle Owl) to be more precise. It had impressive big orange eyes and equally daunting looking claws. Dr Livingstone is a sucker for owls so that made his day.

The star gazing club Altair has a get together at the lake every third Saturday of the month, so on a clear night you can join them for some stargazing fun. I think there are still some plans on the table to have a sort of permanent observatory there. I've heard rumours of a 91cm optical telescope, a library and regular lectures. There is also talk of building a radio telescope.
In the visitor centre there is a permanent exhibition with interesting facts on all the different wildlife to be spotted around the area (kids from all ages will love it; including the big ones called Mrs B).
A free info booklet is available on the history of the lake, how the area was turned into a nature reserve again and all wild life to be spotted during the forest trail walks. En route there are several info signs on the eco system and animals to be found in the area you are traversing. There is even some science catching to be done, if you're a follower of the GPS craze.
Maps, binoculars, most stuff is available on loan for walks.

The Jägertee made me feel a little lighter on my feet but I don't think gravity agreed with me on that one.
But I was able to walk on the ice, albeit a bit apprehensive of not falling through it. It wasn't frozen solid in all places and some bits had cracked open. But we had a splendid walk, and I highly recommend going there.

Cramming

I'm still at it.

Catseye

Said to be inspired by the sight of his car head lamps reflected in the eyes of a cat on a dark, foggy night, PERCY SHAW (1890-1976) invented the Catseye reflective road marker. Manufactured by the company founded by Shaw in his hometown of Halifax, Yorkshire, millions of Catseyes have been installed in roads all over the world.

The romantic version of the story of how the Yorkshire road mender Percy Shaw invented the Catseye is that one foggy night in 1933 he was driving back to his home in the Boothtown area of Halifax from nearby Bradford when he hit a perilous stretch of road with a sheer drop down a hillside to the right of the road.
Drivers like Shaw usually depended on the reflection of their car headlights in tram tracks to guide them along the road, but the tracks had been removed for repair. It was so dark and foggy that Shaw could not see where the road ended and the hillside began, until suddenly he spotted in the darkness the reflections of his car headlamps in the eyes of a cat sitting by the road. It is then that he is said to have hit upon the idea for replicating the reflection of a cat’s eyes to guide drivers along dark and dangerous roads.

From The Design Museum

Best Wishes for 2009

Winter Dusk

Jupiter and a brand new crescent Moon (with Earth Shine) yesterday at dusk.

Doorstep delivery

Mouser is going out hunting again. I haven't given it the fancy tinned cat food it has been enjoying the past two weeks. Kitteh turned up sporting a fresh field mouse. The butcher delivering fresh meat on the doorstep is not something of times long past.

Yum

I hadn't had one of these in ages.
I just OD'd on one of these.
Beware of the three B's!
Bread, banana & brown sugar.

Food Pareidolia

Festive foodstuffs at our casa tonight.
The Teens™ felt kinda embarrassed.

Indoor flying

Dr Livingstone has been flying his indoor copter. The Blade mCX RTF by E-flite. That's a synonym for grown-ups-play-things. Every time the battery has recharged, he starts flying the contraption around the living room.
Mouser doesn't like it, but at least it's not as scared as is was from that weasel ball from Prague. The helicoper's trim was a bit off and it kinda flew in silly circles. But it's been adjusted now. I've only flown it only once. I tried to land it on my desk, but failed miserably. After crashing it multiple times I decided I'd had enough.
Dr Livingstone is so exited playing with it, he's even bumped into one of the bookcases and managed to break something that was on one of the shelves. He promised me he'd superglue the bit that broke off...

Ineptitude

Yves Leterme fails (again).

"Oh look Yves, pigs do fly!"

Omega Pharma retracts E-waves phone chip

News just in:
According to Belga Omega Pharma have just released a press statement saying they will stop the sale of the magical E-Waves Phone (y) Chip to chemists.
A huge mass of critical voices arose amongst scientists and bloggers after the press conference last week when the chip was launched with a lot of bells and whistles.
Intellectually honest scientists demanded a thorough testing of the chip. Which in my opinion is a very polite way of saying:"It's crap".
See, in this world the evidence needs to be supplied by the claimant.
Now Omeaga Pharma had it tested and -surprise surprise- the tests show it doesn't actually do what they claimed.
"This conclusion, and the fact that we take into account the criticisms of doctors and professors, has motioned Omega Pharma to stop the sale to chemists."
Oh and they have also issued an apology because the brouhaha of the press conference didn't actually coincide with the facts. (In other words; they were peddling porkies).
People who have bought the chip can now get a refund. Now who said there is no such thing as bad publicity?
So that's all right then?

Online Monkey

Plantin-Moretus's online monkey hadn't gotten its banana the day it typed up the text on the museum's 'Practical' webpage. I was looking for some directions on how to get there, where to park etc.
The Site warned me there was difficult access via the "Leien" and referred me to this site: http://www.deleien.be . I don't know what it intended to warn me about but I think someone forgot to pay the internet host and the domain name is up for sale now.
The Online Monkey also informed me that there was free access for people who were hadicaped.

Now my first thought was: Does Iranian Olympic Gold medalist taekwondo fighter Hadi Saei actually wear a cape? And why would I have to go dressed up like that to get into the museum for free?
(sidenote: If I was sitting at the counter, I'd let you in for free if you'd gone to all that trouble btw)
After my absurd reasoning I had to conclude it was just a typo. A bit of a no-no for a museum on the history of printing and all trade associated with printmaking. Including proofreaders and type-setters.
Oh and another thing: There is not a single sign post or map of the city anywhere to be found in poxy Antwerp. It's a bleedin' maze! Even Ghent is one-up on that point (though I hate to admit it).
And all the people actually living there are fully aware of the problem and kind of shrug their shoulders and go "yes, they should put up a few signs. But they're not gonna because everyone who lives here knows their way around".

*facepalm

Anyway, if you're ever in Antwerp, take out an entire day to visit the Plantin-Moretus museum. It is absolutely worth every minute of your time. It has a dazzling amount of important relics of the printing world, including two Gutenberg bibles. It's really enchanting and the 16th-18th century buildings are amazing. The walls are adorned with leather and every room has squeaky floorboards, but no moldy potato hidden underneath them (yes, that is another Blackadder reference). If you're a bibliophile like me you really have to go there..
Oh and pick up your freebies while you're there! I got a nice set of bookmarkers (12 pieces for every month of 2009) and two booklets on the history of typography and a catalogue of all the rooms and exhibits.

Moon Perigee

The Moon last night at perigee.
Only 356,566 kilometers from us.
So close you could almost touch it.

Omega Pharma quantum wave porkies: Follow up

A quick follow up on the Omega Pharma E-Waves Phone Chip scam:
The University of Ghent put up a press statement on their faculty website distancing themselves entirely from Dr Aelbrecht (of the company More Energy solutions). Find it here.

Apparently the Peter Aelbrecht putting the mumbo jumbo technobabble spin on the e chip scam is an entirely different Aelbrecht from the dr. Ir. of the same name who was attached to the Information technology research faculty at the UG.

I had expressed my doubts on Dr Aelbrecht's academic provenance in my Omega Pharma is peddling porkies post and the fact he was dubbed the 'radiation expert' of the UG, and had wondered why no one from the university had contacted the news desks spouting this disinformation earlier.
Now is this due to some sloppy reporting on behalf of the journalists or has Mr. Aelbrecht knowingly taken advantage of the position of his namesake to lend himself some more credibility?
The similarity is just too close for comfort.
I'm not aware if any corrections or apologies have been issued, especially from the public broadcaster who dedicated a lot of air time to the scam.
It's not because a company gives a press conference it's actually news or gobble up everything they claim as the Gospel. Guys, 'cmon.
And here was little Mrs B wondering if it was April Fools already.

Murder & Revenge at the Hair Salon

Morning coffee at the hair dresser. I'm reading Bloodfeud by Richard Fletcher. It's about murder and revenge in Anglo-Saxon England. Eleventh century history is not everyone's cup of tea, but the book is a fun, delightful read and gives a nice, clear explanation on why people were slain and the backstabbing going on prior and subsequent to the invasion of William of Normandy in 1066. Even though there might be some confusion as to the names everyone had. Ælfhelm, Ælfflæd, Waltheof, Eadwulf, Ealdred, Oswulf. And my favourite: Tostig.
"Did you hear about hat guy who got stripped and ty-rapped to a lamppost with a notice on his back saying he was a thief?"
So I'm reading about how King Harald of Norway and his ally Tostig had both met their deaths in an immense carnage and suddenly the hair dressers start yapping to each other, trying to outperform the noise the blow-dryers are making.
News nowadays suddenly seems so trivial.

List time

I'll just jump on the blog bandwagon and churn out one of those 'name x things' or 'have you' lists that go round once in a while:

1. Started your own blog (What are you reading right now?)

2. Slept under the stars (I hate camping but I've done it)

3. Played in a band (I have, until my drum kit caught fire. Yes it does sound Spinal Tappish but at least I didn't explode)

4. Visited Hawaii (Nope, but I'd like to go there and re-enact entire scenes of Magnum PI)

5. Watched a meteor shower (And plenty of 'em)

6. Given more than you can afford to charity (Can I consider myself a charity? Mihi. Btw still accepting donations...)

7. Been to Disneyland (The Paris one)

8. Climbed a mountain (And came down a hill?)

9. Held a praying mantis (Why would I want to do that?)

10. Sang a solo (My life should be turned into a musical)

11. Bungee jumped (And lived to tell the tale)

12. Visited Paris (I've even been kissed underneath the Eifel Tower)

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea (Going swimming during an electrical storm is exhilarating)

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch (Singing and linocutting (a printing art form) and I've also managed to turn bickering into an art form)

15. Adopted a child (I don't suppose my little darling Mouser counts)

16. Had food poisoning (No and quite pleased about it)

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty (I'm not keen on hights)

18. Grown your own vegetables (I once grew some lettuce, but instead of growing into a nice crop like shape it grew upwards and measured about a meter). 

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France (Doh! I've never been to the Louvre)

20. Slept on an overnight train (I took a sleeper train to Portugal once, which was very cool)

21. Had a pillow fight (I never had pillow fights as a child, only as an adult)

22. Hitch hiked (yeppers)

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill (I was stoned out of my skull and kept falling asleep, so I stayed home because I was useless)

24. Built a snow fort (On the rare occasion there was ample snow when I was a kid, I built a tower with a slide and other kids had to pay tribute money to come on the fort and go down the slide)

25. Held a lamb (every season they break loose and we have to put them on the right side of the fence) 

26. Gone skinny dipping (Frequently but not lately)

27. Run a Marathon (No, and I'm not planning on doing so in the near future either)

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice (I've not been to Venice or Italy (yet))

29. Seen a total eclipse (sun or moon eclipse? Hah!)

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset (I've seen more sunsets than sunrises. I'm not an early riser myself)

31. Hit a home run (No, I was a gymnast as youngster)

32. Been on a cruise (Not on one of those ships where they get food poisoning all the time. I've done boating trips though. I'll count that as a cruise)

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person (nooo)

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (I've been there, but it's only castle ruins left)

35. Seen an Amish community (No, but I've made fun of one)

36. Taught yourself a new language (Well, I'm still trying to get to grips with Norwegian)

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (Are you kidding me? Hungry like the wolf)

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person (Nope, Italy va bene)

39. Gone rock climbing (I usually take the stairs)

40. Seen Michelangelos David (Still in Italy... so no)

41. Sung karaoke (ah, the things you get up to while in higher education...)

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt (Nope)

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant (I'm also known as Mrs Scrooge)

44. Visited Africa (No, It's got scary insects, I'm not going there any time soon)

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight (Coincides with the skinny dipping)

46. Been transported in an ambulance (Yes, but it was only for a short feature film and I had to play dead)

47. Had your portrait painted (No, it would be a waste of canvas)

48. Gone deep sea fishing (Nope)

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person (It's the Italy thing again)

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris (yep, the year after I was there A View To A Kill was in movie theatres)

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling (No, I don't like not being able to breathe normal)

52. Kissed in the rain (mmmm)

53. Played in the mud (albeit accidently)

54. Gone to a drive-in theater (No, but I would like to)

55. Been in a movie (Being that corpse in the ambulance again)

56. Visited the Great Wall of China (Nah)

57. Started a business (Internet=serious business)

58. Taken a martial arts class (Yes, I actually had a demo judo class taught by Ingrid Bergmans)

59. Visited Russia (No, alas, top of my list is Putingrad*)

60. Served at a soup kitchen (No)

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies (No)

62. Gone whale watching (Yep, but the whale had snuffed it because it had washed ashore)

63. Got flowers for no reason (That sweet Dr. Livingstone...)

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma (Yep, the dark Leffe afterwards was an awesome reward)

65. Gone sky diving (No way)

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp (I've been to Breendonk a couple of times, a forced labour camp)

67. Bounced a check (Cheques are so last century)

68. Flown in a helicopter (Yes and nearly fell out of one for the record)

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy (I couldn't care less)

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial (No)

71. Eaten Caviar (Mmmm caviar)

72. Pieced a quilt (I'm not a shriveled up prune you know)

73. Stood in Times Square (Nooo)

74. Toured the Everglades (Nooo)

75. Been fired from a job (I've never actually had a job)

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London (Yep, but it will bore your pants off)

77. Broken a bone (How's an ankle for a bone)

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle (since I wasn't driving it, technically I wasn't speeding)

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person (Nooo)

80. Published a book (I wish, but who would want to depart with their hard earned cash to read my ramblings?)

81. Visited the Vatican (Nooo, that still in Italy last time I checked)

82. Bought a brand new car (I love my lovely Mini)

83. Walked in Jerusalem (Nope)

84. Had your picture in the newspaper (On several occasions thank you very much; even in colour!)
85. Read the entire Bible (I have sadly enough. Both the Old and New one)

86. Visited the White House (No, but I hope Mr Obama will invite me in the course of his term to discuss the role of the US in the world as a global actor)

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (No, we're not cavemen. I pay people to do that for me)

88. Had chickenpox (One in my eye to be more precise)

89. Saved someone’s life (If it involves giving blood then yes)

90. Sat on a jury (No, I haven't but I'd do it if I were asked)

91. Met someone famous (I have an extensive list)

92. Joined a book club (Online yes)

93. Lost a loved one (Several)

94. Had a baby (Thankfully no)

95. Seen the Alamo in person (If it's that movie starring Dennis Quaid then the answer is yes)

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake (No, that's got to taste icky. I would go and see Spiral Jetty by Judd if I was within spitting distance of Salt Lake)

97. Been involved in a law suit (Hell, yeh)

98. Owned a cell phone (And curse at the montly invoices that come with them)

99. Been stung by a bee (I trod on one by accident)

100. Read an entire book in one day (Even -dare I say- two!)

*aka Saint Petersburg

48/100 Not bad.
I must go to Italy, and the US to up that score a little.

And publish that book.

And piece that quilt.

Omega Pharma is peddling porkies

Omega Pharma is peddling porkies. In a big way.
I even saw Dr. Peter Aelbrecht claim the egg being boiled between two cell phones to be real.
How many times has that been debunked?
Something puzzles me about Mr Aelbrecht. In televised interviews he is dubbed the Radiation Expert of the University of Ghent. Now, I may have missed this part but didn't he cease working as a uni researcher almost a decade ago?
Maybe some people over at Imec could illuminate me on this subject of his affiliation with the UG (I know you guys have been lurking on the blog through webproxy).
I just chuckled all the way through the Omega Pharma press release. It's a real screamer and riddled with techno babble.

Here's a small excerpt:
"Their E-Waves Phone Chip beams a quantum physical information wave, which is in counter-phase with the harmful components of the electromagnetic waves — thus neutralizing the potentially harmful waves, as demonstrated in various studies and tests."

Let me run that by you again:
"Their E-Waves Phone Chip beams a quantum physical information wave,"
That's just gobbledygook. A red flag goes up when I spy the word "quantum". I will therefore deduct a minimum of ten legitimacy points.

We continue:
"which is in counter-phase with the harmful components of the electromagnetic waves — thus neutralizing the potentially harmful waves,"
If you cancel out electromagnetic waves... well then you're going to have what techno lay people call -a very bad line-. You are actually messing with the performance of the phone.

It goes on:
"as demonstrated in various studies and tests"
Impressive nonappearance of footnotes = epic fail.

Now, I'm not going to pick the whole terrible thing apart, I have a life you know.
.
.
.
.
Ok, just one more...


"Artificially created electromagnetic radiation interferes with the natural electromagnetic field. In particular for high frequency radiation (between 3MHz and 10 GHz), as can be found in mobile telephone use or DECT applications, there is a growing international consensus that frequent exposure to such radiation can be potentially harmful. On October 8, 2008 this consensus was reinforced with the publication of the interim findings of the worldwide Interphone study, conducted by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO)."

A growing consensus of potential harm? Of interim findings? They're really being economical with the truth yet again and streaching the use of qualifiers here.

From the Omega Pharma website:
Omega Pharma promotes creativity and entrepreneurship.

How very true. Being creative with facts and making a quick buck during the Christmas season (=the entrepreneurship bit) is something they really go for.

The part that worries me is that it will be sold through chemists, it lends some kind of air of legitimacy to it.
Ah well, they'll just put it next to all that homeopathic hogwash they sell (which, incidentally, is still being repayed by our Glorious Health System).

EDIT: I have awarded this marketing scam riddled with fraudulent claims by Omega Pharma the much dreaded Mrs B's Official Seal of Epic FAIL!


ps: Check out the follow-up post on this scam here

SAD

Seasonal depression.
It's that time of year again. Here's something to get everyone through the day.
A cute little Loldonkey with a rubber ducky.

-sigh-

Reverse Logic

I was on the scavenge again for a free Mini fleece blanket. Before I could enter the Mini site this challenging box appeared. Thankfully I grasp the concept of reverse reasoning but I'm sure loads of people do not. Or just do not understand one or the other language.
I wonder how many people end up clicking on the button that still leads to a page in a language they don't understand.
Someone's been thinking about this one. I think it's very clever.

Another One

Another freebie:
Invaders Must Die. New single by The Prodigy. Available for free download on their site here.
Doesn't sound bad either. Has that typical Prodigy sound to it. Starts out with a little rumble/tingle like No Good and then a reminiscent Breathe kick up.
For a limited time only! That's a Merry Christmas from the band to the fans. Full Album out in March 2009.

Science is everywhere!

As mentioned before, I'm not one to pooh-pooh freebies. So here to share with you all:
Interested in science? Even only slightly? Wanna know what the Belgian government is spending our pennies on?
Sign up for a free subscription today. Go to the science connection website and start clicking. Past issues available for download too.

From the Science Connection website:
The Belgian Science Policy has launched a new magazine "Science Connection". This free publication (five times a year) is designed to provide an in-depth review of the office's various components. Those who are keen on space, the arts or scientific trends will definitely be astonished at the items on offer in this publication issued by the "Ministry of Knowledge".

Ministry of Knowledge. Miniknow? Good thing they added those brackets themselves...

So this gets a big thumbs up and Mrs B's prestigious and much sought after Official Seal of Approval.
Remember, only if you see this Seal you know it has been verified and scrutinized for the sake of it's trustworthiness and guaranteed hours of pure, unadulterated fun by me personally.

Train of thought

Mrs B's train of thought:
1) I have friends in my neighbourhood?
2) Is someone stalking me?
3) Wait. What? I have friends? Friends. Plural.
4) Where did they come from?
5) Someone has a crush on me?
6) Crush Messenger? WTF?
8) There is no 7)
9) I get confused by spam banners.

Scientific Outreach with a difference

Dance your PhD winners were announced on Thursday!
For those of you who have never heard of it: It's a dance contest for people with PhD's.
Researchers from around the world are asked to interpret their Ph.D. research in dance form, film it and post it for all the world to see on YouTube.
For a quick run down on this year's winners: navigate here.
For a complete list of entries with videos check here.
So who said scientists were locked in an ivory tower? Last year's winner was an Oxford achaeologist sporting nothing more than a translucent loincloth.

The Elf Treasure

I feel sorry for the guide we got when visiting the Aachener Domschatzkammer on Tuesday.
Trust me to be in his group and ask him questions he did not have the answer to (I swear I didn't do it on purpose).
One of my fellow students pointed out he resembled Legolas, Elf of Mirkwood. I haven't seen any Lord of the Rings movies, but I did seem to remember that in popular folklore elves tend to have pointy ears and do not have pierced eyebrows.
Funnily enough there are several exhibits made out of Elfenbein (=German for ivory) on display and that made me chuckle all to myself.

Our Western Heritage

War, rape, pillage, bloodfeud, combat, mutilation.

I love the Middle Ages. Now if only I could remember all the details about roughly 700 years worth of information on economic, political, religious and cultural matters, my trial examination on Thursday will be a breeze.

6.67 x 10E-8 dyne

Dr Livingstone dreamt this little gem up yesterday. Here's his contribution to science philosophy:

"All sex really boils down to is actually just two people trying to overcome gravity."

That makes me stop and think about the first gravity experiments that were carried out by dropping balls from the Tower of Pisa...

I really read too much into these things...

The eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month

Napoleon is a kitchen utensil

Because Dr Livingstone broke the wing corkscrew (I told you it wasn't me!), he went out and bought one of those designer ones to replace it.
I have a severe case of pareidolia: I think it looks just like the silhouette of Napoleon in hat and cloak, legs a little astride.

It wasn't me (really)

Honestly, how many times have you heard that someone broke their wing corkscrew?
What was that? I have a 'Never' at the back. Thank you.
Moldy corks break, glass might shatter on a rare occasion, even eyes get poked out now and then when the contraption is used to remove a stubborn stopper (I once had a narrow escape as an interested moppet).
Ours has broken in two. Is it a severe case of metal fatigue? Or just plain old overuse?

(I plead not guilty, Your Honour)

America's new superhero?

Is this the face of America's new superhero?

It could turn out his legislature could be a lot like the plot of Superman III:

Disguised as an Army general and a WAC officer, McCain and Palin give Obama a chunk of republicanite as a gift, and are dismayed to see that it appears to have no effect on him. However, the compound begins to produce symptoms: after a flying, ambitious start of his presidency Obama becomes selfish, which causes him to delay in rescuing the troops serving in far away countries, delaying environmental and health reforms and to question his own self-worth.
As the budget cuts take effect, Obama becomes depressed, angry, and casually destructive, committing petty acts of vandalism such as blowing out the Olympic torch and straightening the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The Republicans, seeing this, create new plans and order a supercomputer to be built.
Obama sullenly assuages his depression with a drinking binge, but is overcome by guilt and undergoes a nervous breakdown. After nearly crash-landing in Afghanistan, he splits into two personas: the evil, selfish Obama and the moral, righteous Obama. The evil Obama and Obama, the embodiment of his remaining good qualities, engage in an epic battle. Although Obama is initially overpowered by his alter ego, he eventually takes the upper hand, feverishly strangling his evil identity until it fades from sight. Thereafter he is restored to his benevolent former self and continues to save the world and is elected to a second term.

Reanimocracy

Finally The Crazies (that whole Reagan entourage that was reanimated) are going to get turned out of the White House. I can't wait to see the look on Dubya's face in January. If you're going to miss the bushisms, download the iBush, "The Artificial Oval Office Occupant Simulator". (Mac OS X only). It makes political statements much like a certain Mr. G. W. Bush might do. Passes the Turing test every single time you click the button. Actual quotes make up over 90 percent of the statements generated by the application, the other 10 percent being filler material.
Mr Obama is going to have a lot of hard work to do in the New World. Let's hope it is not just all talk but he surrounds himself with some good advisors. It'll be a rough four years. But I'm glad so many people went out to vote.
There is one thing that gets up my nose every time I hear it. They always blurt out 'God bless America'. I don't get it. Not fair on all the atheists and people who dig Vishnu. And they keep saying it in the imperative. No wonder the country has been going downhill. The mythical creature they seem to be referring to obviously hasn't been blessing it.
Maybe the slaughter of a few innocents on the altar of democracy might help?