Oktober

"How to manage your site with Blogger, PHP, and XML" is what I'll be experimenting with today. I'd better use a test blog before trying it on the real thing, don't you think?

I've spend most of yesterday working on the XML version of this blog, and even though everything was working wonderfully in the end, I deceided to go back to the basic PHP version this morning. Reason for this is that the files were getting rather big and since the F2S server isn't very quick at the best of times, I thought it better not to press my luck. But I have learned a lot from the whole XML experience and who knows. Maybe someday when I have my own server/domain I can use the files. Also it has helped me to make the PHP version a lot slicker. I now have my archive files in a subdomain, which works much better.

Dutch television is 50 years old today!

Vandaag is 3 october en dat betekent Leidens Ontzet! "Dan wordt namelijk de bevrijding van Leiden tijdens de Tachtigjarige Oorlog herdacht. Na een maandenlange belegering door de Spanjaarden werd de stad op 3 oktober 1574 door de geuzen bevrijd. Daarbij zou een jongen binnen de verlaten Spaanse stellingen een grote ketel met daarin een mengsel van aardappelen, uien en wortelen hebben gevonden. Men kan zich voorstellen wat deze vondst voor de uitgehongerde bevolking van Leiden moet hebben betekend. Het gerecht kreeg de naam hutspot en geldt nog vandaag de dag als een van de meest typische Nederlandse gerechten. Helemaal kan het verhaal echter niet kloppen, want aardappelen waren in die tijd nog niet bekend in Europa. Hoe dan ook wordt er in heel Nederland en vooral in Leiden op 3 oktober hutspot gegeten ter herdenking van de historische gebeurtenissen. Bovendien eet men op die dag ook haring en wittebrood. Dit verwijst naar het feit dat de geuzen vis en brood voor de Leidse bevolking meebrachten. De naam 'wittebrood' wordt overigens uitsluitend in dit verband gebruikt; bij andere gelegenheden spreekt men van 'wit brood'.

In Leiden zelf wordt jaarlijks op 3 oktober haring en wittebrood uitgedeeld. Dit gebruik is pas in de negentiende eeuw ingevoerd. Oorspronkelijk kwamen er alleen de behoeftige stadgenoten in aanmerking voor, maar tegenwoordig ontvangt iedereen die er komt opdagen, een dubbel brood en twee haringen. Bij het uitdelen helpen vaak hooggeplaatste persoonlijkheden mee, vooral de Leidse burgemeester, maar soms zelfs leden van de koninklijke familie. In 1886 is de '3 October Vereeniging' opgericht die zich nog steeds bezighoudt met de organisatie van de herdenking in Leiden." (bron)

Bekijk de officiele website van de 3 October Vereeniging Leiden or read an English explanation.

"All growth is a leap in the dark, a spontaneous unpremeditated act without the benefit of experience." - Henry Miller

Which reminds me, I've signed up for my theory exam for my drivers license. Now I only have to find time to study for it ;-) I get to go at 13:30 next thursday.

Some more on Leiden » "...Het Ontzet van Leiden (the Relief of Leiden) is still celebrated every 3 October with a carnival-like festival of which hutspot, a stew said to have been found in the Spaniards' garrison, is a big feature..."

I just got an e-mail from illqx to join his ring for Dutch webpeople, called We have no mountains. Very flattering. Now I only have to find a place where the link will look good.

Finally! I can use the LAN to connect to the Internet again. For some bizar reason BlackIce thought it necesary to cut me off from the pipeline. It was so trivial I didn't even think of checking it when I noticed things weren't working anymore. Untill I finally did, out of pure despair.

Sigh. Don't you just love computers. After all these years, I still feel sometimes that I haven't learned a single thing.

Anyhoo, I've been doing some minor things to this site. Added a couple of links to some cliques on the main page and I've also placed links to blogs I like at the bottom of my blog page. There are some other things I've done offline, but I haven't uploaded them yet. One of these things is an article on Fusebox, which I'm trying to delve into. The same goes for Linux. I am now using the latest RedHat. And I must say, after reading a lot of articles and books and things and tweaking it to fit my needs, it is finally growing on me. Also I can get online with it. Which helps a lot. So who knows, maybe in a little while I can finally move on from the horror that is Windows. I don't know. I first have to find ColdFusion Studio for Linux. I have been thinking about it, and that is one of the few programs I really can't do without.

Well, I'd better get on with things. And I have to go offline. My dad will probably already want to kill me, when he checks this months phone bill. ;-)

"Mustaine Hopes For Metallica/Slayer/Megadeth Tour" » I've seen 'em all individually, but a combo would be very cool. Although Metallica should get their act together first.

Can't wait for tonight's episode of EastEnders. On Tuesday we all found out that Kat was not Zoey's sister, but in fact her mother! And their uncle Harry is her father! Oh my.

The Dutch media is buzzing with items about the upcoming release of the movie The Discovery of Heaven, which is based on the Harry Mulisch novel. The IMDb doesn't have a lot of information, but you can check out the official Dutch website, or the official English website. I was impressed to hear that actor Stephen Fry became fluent in Dutch during filming.

"De Nederlandse Speelfilm Website" » has a lot of potential. Now some more content.

In The Big Five Personality Test I scored like this

Openness to Experience/Intellect » (48%) You typically don't seek out new experiences.

Conscientiousness » (55%) You are neither organized or disorganized.

Extraversion » (9%) You probably enjoy spending quiet time alone.

Agreeableness » (22%) You find it easy to express irritation with others.

Neuroticism » (32%) You are generally relaxed.

Top 10 Mistakes in Site Planning » more people should read this.

On Lichter´s Slayer Page - Slayer News I read » From the SlayerHatesUsAll newsletter: "I understand Pantera's decision, but I think we'd be letting our European fans down if we cancelled the tour," said Slayer's bassist/vocalist Tom Araya. "We all have families, and are concerned about the potential dangers. But many kids in Europe have experienced attacks and assaults and terrorism throughout their lives, so I think Slayer should make the effort to go over there and play for them. As a band, we simply refuse to play into the hands of these terrorists, we won't allow them to disrupt our lives any further." Good for you, Tom.

I read an interview with journalist Robert Fisk in de Volkskrant Magazine this morning. Looking for more information, I found this information page. In case you're interested.

I got a very nice e-mail from Dragos from Romania this morning, with compliments for my site. That's always nice to hear, right? Maybe you'd like to take a look at his site, which has some very beautiful photo's on it.

What does your ultimate cubicle look like?

PHPBuilder.com - Coding Help - File rights and attributes » I have this exact same problem, but unfortunately nobody has replied. Sigh. Can someone help me, please?

Finally, my poll is working. Hurah! I had gotten it to work on my local machine ages ago, but for some reason it didn't work online. And I couldn't figure out why. It turns out I used some If statement for a redirect, with my host name. And instead of using ==, I used =. A fatal mistake with PHP. Shame on me. But now it works, so come on people, get voting!

Apparently I'm a Practical Pump. Just so you know. From Emode.com - Which Shoe Fits You? »

Skim latte and 20 minutes of that morning show: this sounds like how you might start your days if you're a Practical Pump. Maybe it's that you're the kind of person who looks put together - whether in jeans, an ultrahip suit, or a drop-dead dress. Or perhaps it's just that when you look good, you project a stronger sense of who you are. People take your ideas more seriously and think of you as a leader when it comes to everything from the boardroom to the barstool. You can be independent without being Gloria Steinem. Even in a chunky heel you can pull off a delicate spaghetti strap camisole with no problem. So straight-laced isn't necessarily your MO. You make that perfectly clear when you're feeling a little devilish. Whatever your take on looks and life, it's very clear that you never go out of style."

The Best Designs now covers blogs.

All you ever wanted to know about PHP and Weblogs, and more » on phpWebLog.org.

Hitler may have had gay lovers.

Guess The TV Show or Movie Name » "Think of the name of a TV Show or Movie. I'll try to guess which one you are thinking of using simple yes/no questions. If you're not sure of the answer to a question, answer 'No'."

Wat een gedoe met al dat overgebleven buitenlands geld. Geef het gewoon aan de Novib. Ben je d'r ook vanaf.

The Top 10 Ugliest Couches in America.

Uncle Joes Abortion Clinic » every blog in the world has mentioned this, so why can't I?

Get your rm -rf /bin/laden t-shirt at ThinkGeek.

I wanted to add a comment system to my Blog once more, but couldn't find a script that suited my needs, so I spend the last couple of hours building one that did. Just click on the ¢ after each post and have a blast. Look forward to hearing from you!

All your base are belong to us. Somebody set up up the bomb. It has begun. U.S. launches attack on Afghanistan » "The United States launched an attack against Afghanistan on Sunday in retaliation for the September 11 terrorist strikes on New York and Washington. Explosions were reported around the Afghan capital of Kabul."

The Website Fulifier is very excellent.

To get back to Eastenders, I found and article about it. Apparently the NSPCC aided EastEnders storyline » "An incest storyline in EastEnders was introduced only after consultation with the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) and the Samaritans." Good for them, very thorough.

Of all the movies NET 5 could air tonight, they chose Red Dawn (1984). Forsight?

For those who don't know » "It is the dawn of World War III. In mid-western America, a group of teenagers bands together to defend their town, and their country, from invading Soviet forces". Starring a very young Charlie Sheen and Patrick Swayze.

Also, US Starts Attacking Afghanistan on Slashdot.

Find your Linux applications here.

"Burn All GIFs, a project of the League for Programming Freedom." » I'm afraid I'm not really doing my bit. Shame on me!

I wanted some more content for my "Farewell" section, so I added the Einstein brain teaser, which I found a couple of weeks ago in a magazine and got completely hooked to. So I decided to make it into a PHP script and add it here. Hope you like it. Oh, and bribes are accepted for more clues ;-)

Kursk Salvage » "the Kursk has been lifted from the seabed and is currently on it's way towards surface". (via Slashdot)

Advanced Bash-Scripting Guide » A complete guide to shell scripting, using Bash. Very cool!

"The Indigo Children are the forerunners of what will eventually be the norm for the human collective as we progress in our genetic evolution, through Bio-instinctual Response to changing environmental conditions. Challenges presently faced by the Indigo Children will progressively become challenges of the norm, as humanity is now evolving into the genetic acceleration currently exhibited by the Indigo Children. Medical communities, whose paradigms of treatment area also based upon common physical science theories, have yet to recognize the full spectrum of DNA imprinting function or the direct connection between DNA, consciousness and the manifestation of disease, and so do not routinely look for such connection sin research and diagnosis. If society is to progress to accommodate the needs of Indigo Children and the general progression of human genetic evolution, these paradigms will need to expand. There are complimentary alternatives. The evolution of a culture begins with each individual."

I would like to read Jakob Nielsen's latest book (coauthored by Marie Tahir), called Homepage Usability: 50 Websites Deconstructed. "The authors present 113 homepage usability guidelines that will make your site easier to use, and apply them mercilessly to 50 popular sites." (here also)

Okay, after my XML adventure I've been thinking about placing my posts in some sort of sourcefile and reading that out with one simple php file. Similar to what I've done with the guestbook. And now it works. Hope it'll be a bit faster. Also, I've switched from weekly archiving to monthly.

And now I must go offline, because I have to study for my driver's license theory exam tomorrow. Wish me luck!

What's in a Name? » "Unwanted attention: Anthrax singer Scott Ian says "it's kind of weird" hearing the name in the news. [...] Maybe we should change the name now. A friend suggested 'Basket of Puppies'."

Slashdot | EU May Fine Microsoft » "The Wall Street Journal reports about a leaked European Comission document, that suggests that the EU may fine MS for anti-competitive behaviour. The fine can be up to 10% of the annual revenue, or $2.5 billion and may include the demand to remove certain programs from Windows."

I failed the driver's license theory exam. Sigh. 50 questions, where you needed 45 good answers. I had 42. Sigh. 60 guilders down the drain. I'll have to call tomorrow to make another appointment for next week. Hope I'll do better that time.

Hang on a moment, while I republish my archives. I've decided to switch back from monthly to weekly. The files where just to big. But this does mean I have to redo the PHP code for the menu and the archive pages. O well. Bare with me, though, because I can't guarantee a smooth transition.

I'm currently checking out the info on Vampirecosmetics.com, about Gothic make-up. I came there via Rebecca Blood's Goth page. Want to know more about Gothic? Check out the What is Gothic? FAQ. Very interesting. I wish I was more of a goth. But I guess I'm just not bold enough. But I do wear a lot of black and the occasional leather and velvet. And maybe that's goth enough for me. Oh, I don't know! Sigh. Never mind me on this thursday evening. I'm just in a weird mood.

The Literary Gothic, which is a library of electronic Gothic fiction and horror literature texts » very cool. Check it out. And maybe you want to see the website for Gothic Martha Stewart.

Winamp 3 Developers Beta has arrived! More info at MP3 Newswire.net.

Just wanted to let you know that Touristguy.com is cool. And that's all I'll blog today. I'm not in a good mood. I've had some bad news. Sigh. No, I don't want to talk about it, I don't even want to think about it. Sorry. Maybe later.

Op maandag wilde ik het volgende posten

"CBR-theorie-examen Rijbewijs B » morgen mag ik weer. Om half 11. Ik kan mijn lol niet op, dat begrijp je wel. Kan geen verkeersbord meer zien!"

Maar om de een of andere reden kwam ik niet meer bij de site van Blogger. Hij wilde niet laden. Terwijl er bij status.blogger.com geen vage meldingen stonden. Nou ja, het is me inmiddels wel gelukt. Erg vreemd.

Mijn rijexamen theorie heb ik dinsdag ook succesvol afgesloten. Hoera! Ik had dit keer 3 fouten. Na afloop ben ik trouwens gezellie met Tjerk wezen lunchen in Leiden bij de Chicken Cottage.

Heel vreemd. Ik kan nog steeds niet bij de Blogger website, maar ik kan wel posten via BlogBuddy. Vewy stwange.

Sociale milieus in Nederland » "Bent u eerder traditioneel of meer een kosmopoliet?"

I just read some information on the My Dying Bride website about the forthcoming album, entitled The Dreadful Hours. According to Peaceville, the scheduled release date is October 22. Can't wait. I need more money! I still want to buy the new Slayer CD, and there are a few more on my wishlist.

Bush for Dummies

I'm not doing much today. I'll be starting work on monday again and I've got on of my 2 remaining exams the monday after that, so you'd think I'd be eager to get to it. But I can't get myself to sort out my books and dive into it. That never worked for me, I need some time presure. So I'm sure I'll be panicking next week. But I'll cross that bridge when I'm there. My brother is suffering from the flu, in a way that only guys appear to be able to do. Selfpity is king. Or something. Anyhoo, I'm eating all the fruit I can find, so I have some vitamins to fight off the evil influenza with. It would really suck to get sick now, with work and my exam and everything. Sigh. Life can be hard. But I shouldn't complain. Atleast I'm not being bombed like all those people I see on CNN every day.

Something keeps going wrong with my archive file. When I post (or right after it), it only shows a few of the week archive files. Very strange. Let's try publishing again, see if it helps. Oh, I've also added a feature to the page which shows the number of comments for a certain post (right next to the ¢ character), except when there are none, then it just shows the ¢ character. So get commenting!

Now it only shows the first week. Arghh!

Absurd News

I'm still on the lookout for a better host. Though I am quite satisfied with Freedom2Surf, it is very slow. So I was checking out some free hosts and some not so free ones. Do you have any experiences, good or bad, with a not terribly expensive PHP host? Please, let me know. Cheers.

Heb de Wat is uw kijk op het leven? test ook maar even gedaan. Ik kom uit op 1. Ontplooiers; 2. Kosmopolieten; 3. Moderne Burgerij; 4. Postmaterialisten; 5. Convenience Georiënteerden; 6. Opwaarts Mobielen; 7. Traditionele Burgerij. Dat je het maar weet. Hier vindt je meer informatie.

I'm just checking out some prices at the Displeased Records website, which has finally had a makeover and looks much better. I want to order the new Slayer (God Hates Us All), Anathema (A Fine Day To Exit), My Dying Bride (The Dreadful Hours) and Therion (The Secret Of The Ruins). That will probably keep me entertained for a while.

"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed." - Albert Einstein

I'm just reading some info on astrology. I've found an excellent website, called Lore of Astrology. Check it out! By the way, I'm Pisces, my brother is Taurus, my father is Aries and my mother is Cancer.

Find out everything on the Evolution of Writing.

"One person claimed--perhaps facetiously--that music from an Atari 260 videogame had been playing in his head 'since 1986'." The Science Behind the Song Stuck in Your Head » With all the tunes out there, why is it stuff like 'My Sharona' that takes over our brains?

What Robot Are You Really? » find out now. Apparently I am C3PO. Or maybe you would like to take a look at the new and improved Periodic Table. Also, I've added my details to the WebLog Birthday Calender. Cool, huh? And one last thing, I am finally able to reach Blogger again. As it turns out, it was because of my BlackIce settings. It's really an excellent program, but it can be a bit over zealous sometimes. Or maybe it was a change in the Blogger communications. I don't know. As long as it is all working again, it's fine with me.

From eMode comes the What's Your Flavor? test » Mmm ... peppermint! Crisp and refreshing, you're the flavor of candy canes and after-dinner mints - everyone's favorite comfort candies. If you were a season, you'd be winter - bracing and energizing, but cozy, too. Your honesty and forthright personality make people feel like they've known you forever - they can't help but be drawn to your sweet, fresh nature. Perhaps a little old-fashioned, and occasionally shy, you're generally happy and well-liked. Traditional and invigorating, you're a truly tasty treat.

Name analysis » "The influence of Mirthe makes you positive, self-assertive, and independent. You can be creative, inventive, and ingenious in practical matters, such as handicrafts. When you have the opportunity to pursue your own goals and interests free from interference, you can feel very agreeable and express a buoyant optimism. On the other hand, you can be impulsive and forceful when opposed, and act without due forethought and discretion. Hence you have many bitter experiences and generally rather unsettled conditions in your life, with little progress and financial accumulation.

You cannot tolerate any domination by others, or circumstances that restrict your freedom and independence. You are inclined to make changes abruptly in your life as an escape from such conditions. When annoyed or offended, you can be very candid and sarcastic in your speech. Many disruptions in friendship and association have thus resulted. Verbal expression is difficult for you, and you can be forthright in situations requiring delicacy, even though it is not your intention to be. The intensity of your nature would cause you to suffer in the senses of the head, as well as with digestive problems. You also would have a sensitivity in your solar plexus. In extreme cases, mental turmoil, major stomach operations, and accidents of a serious nature could occur."

Money to spare? Try Tienpiek.net » get your Linux cd's for only 10 Dutch guilders. Or perhaps StickerNation » 100 vinyl stickers that say whatever you want for just $25.

LOTR Campout Begins » "queues have have already started lining up for The Fellowship Of The Ring." Isn't that a bit premature? I mean, the movie doesn't open untill Christmas.

Here I am again. Back at work. Day one of the rest of my life, untill retirement, as my brother was kind enough to point out. Sigh. ;-) Well, I don't know about that. But I'll be here for a while yet. I've got a new room and desk, but the same computer. That saves me some time to adjust everything to my needs again. I don't have a project to work on (not yet anyway), so that gives me some time to catch up on my Slashdot and Alistapart reading.

The best cartoons of the war so far can be found on MNFTIU, which stands for "My new fighting technique is unstoppable".

{ use.it.or.lose.it }, the one and only Jakob Nielsen parody.

Religion as a fit subject for comedy, by Rowan Atkinson » "For telling a good and incisive religious joke, you should be praised. For telling a bad one, you should be ridiculed and reviled. The idea that you could be prosecuted for the telling of either is quite fantastic."

You know you are a geek when...

TinyApps.org » a guide to very small software for your PC.

I would hereby officially like to thank Tjerk, for giving me his bacteria. He has been home with the flu for the past week, and I thought I would have been resistant. I mean, if I hadn't gotten it by now... But my throat started to get raw yesterday and it now feels like someone has scrubbed it with sandpaper. The rough kind. So thanks. Thanks a lot.

I'm still thinking about my own domain for this site. I've seen a very good offer at NameBay, a domain name registration service, which charges 12€ per year for a .org domain. And hosting is very cheap at DigitalSpace. Only $3 per month, including PHP and MySQL. So I'm definately tempted.

Plunk-O-Matic is terribly lame, but still kinda addictive.

Hurah! I've scored me some memory. Went from 64MB to 192MB. Finally, multitasking as it was meant to be.

Codito, Ergo Sum » I Code, therefore I am. T-shirts now available. LOL.

Spotting The Gecko » this might come in handy.

I've done it! I've registered mirthe.org! Unfortunately the domain has not been activated, this usually takes a few hours. But you can already access the site on it's new location via the IP address, which is 64.6.250.101. Hope you like it as much as I do. Now I have to change all my links and bookmarks and cross-references again. So I'd better get to it.

Just a moment, while I test my Blogger settings...

I've taken the day off work to study for my exam on monday. I just went online for a minute to check my mail and search for some material that might be useful, when I came across the SVC Resource Center (SRC). Very cool. Loads of summaries. I have a good feeling about this attempt.

Neighbours is exactly 15 years old today. And I admit it, I'm an addict. I've seen it all. Now you can calculate how many hours that totals.

The new domain appears to be working completely! Hurah! Mirthe.org it is from now on, my friends. Hope you like it. I'll upload the most recent version of the site in a day or two, which will also contain the right links, to the new domain that is. But I'd better hit the books again now. Why is it so boring? Who cares about liquiditeitsbegrotingen (sorry, I don't have a clue what the English word for this is)? I don't, so why on earth do I have to study the damn things anyway? I just don't get it. It's not like I'll ever have anything to do with them in my work.

How Geeky are You? » I am 57% geek. "Nerd, Freak, Geek, Dweeb. Sound familiar? That's okay, cause you will be the richest person at your 15th year high-school reunion. If a 'con' isn't happening that weekend."

Did the Bandwidth Place Speed Test. Here are my results » "Your raw speed was 58679.85 bits per second. There are 3 meaningful ways we can interpret this number: Communications context This is how communication devices are rated. Kilo means 1,000 and mega means 1,000,000. Examples of this context include 56k modem, 384/128 DSL, and 10Mbit Ethernet. » 58.7 kilobits per second; Storage context This is how data is measured on your hard drive and how FTP programs measure transfer speeds. Kilo is 1,024 and mega is 1,048,576. » 7.2 kilobytes per second; 1MB file download The time it would take you to download a 1 megabyte file at this speed. » 2.4 minutes"

Don't you just hate that terribly X10 Advertising campaign? Well, now you can opt out. This will prevent your computer from having the X10 "pop-under" ads appear for the next 30 days.

Milk The Cow rules. The object of the game is to milk the cows as fast as you can until you've filled up your bucket. God speed.

"If pancakes were green what color would grass be?" Good question (via ThinkGeek Fortunes).

Even the advertising is getting scary these days.

Some great shots of Alphen at Photographica.org.

According to TheSpark.com's Death Test I can expect to die on November 30, 2051 at the age of 72 years old. Just so you know.

I just read a Dutch translation in Vrij Nederland magazine of the article The algebra of infinite justice, which was written by Arundhati Roy and appeared originally in The Guardian on Saturday September 29, 2001. I thought you might like to read it.

Critics: Patriot Act puts privacy at risk » "President Bush signed legislation Friday that expands the ability to tap telephones and track Internet usage in the hunt for terrorists, new powers that drew praise from law enforcement officials and concern from civil libertarians." Where will it end?

Vannacht gaat de Wintertijd in » De zomer is voorbij, en dat zullen we vanaf morgen extra gaan merken. Vannacht om 3 uur worden in heel Europa de klokken een uur teruggezet, wat een einde van de zomertijd betekent. De volgende zomertijd duurt van zondag 31 maart, 02.00 uur tot zondag 27 oktober om 03.00 uur.

De zomertijd is in 1977 ingevoerd. Op grond van een richtlijn van de Europese Unie eindigt sinds 1996 de zomertijd in de maand oktober. Hierdoor is het begin en het einde van de zomertijd in de hele Europese Unie geharmoniseerd. Iedere vijf jaar wordt de zomertijd voor de komende vijf jaar vastgesteld. Daarbij geldt dat de zomertijd ingaat op de laatste zondag van maart en eindigt op de laatste zondag van oktober.

My exam in at 14:30. That should leave me enough time to read up on some extra stuff. I'm so not in the mood for this today. My nose is also still running. Great. But atleast it's finally cold enough (about 11°C) to wear my wintercoat. Wish me luck.

I'm still experiencing some trouble with my BP6 and my SB Live. Maybe this messageboard will help.

As you may have noticed, since I'm posting again, I'm done with the exam. Hurah! And I have to say I'm actually quite positive. So fingers crossed and hope for the best.

Because I have such a lousy connection to Utrecht with the bus and train, I was over 45 minutes early on the central station. To kill some time I checked out the latest books at the Bruna store. It's Tolkien everywhere. Special edition after special edition. Quite scary and commercial. Anyhow, I also wandered through the Free Record Shop, which ironically isn't free at all but one of the countries most expensive record store, when I found the video for Absolutely Fabulous' Last Shout movie. The only parts of the show I hadn't gotten on tape yet. It as only fl.14 so I couldn't really resist. All in all, a good day. Also, I didn't have to wait for eons at the busstop on my way back, since my mum was kind enough to pick met up from Alphen Station. Nice eh?

Check this out, an article called "Tim Berners-Lee on Microsoft's Latest Browser Tricks" and a website entitled "Living Without Microsoft" » "We created Living Without Microsoft because the market dominance of Microsoft leads many non-technical people to assume that there really is no alternative to using its software. In many cases, there are real alternatives, and our aim is to help you find them."

I love T-Shirt Hell, it's "where all the bad shirts go".

This new book, entitled Web Redesign: Workflow That Works looks very interesting. Definately one for the wishlist.

Tomorrow is Hallowe'en, or Samhain, the Celtic festival marking the start of winter. This year, the Hunter's Moon will be shining down on the fesitivies, reaching the peak of its illumination at 43 minutes after midnight EST.

Slashdot has a rather interesting article on Globalization and it's consequences today.

Just in case you're interested, I've been doing some updates on the website for Nederlandse Transplantatiestichting (NTS) and now I'll be working on the e-Vision website.

Palette Master is a great tool. You can select a base color and at the click of a button, instantly generate a 42 color palette that is perfectly complimentary to your base color! This comes in very handy when designing a site.

The Worst Halloween Costumes Ever

Looking for some humor » I Hate Computers: Volume 3. Great chapter titles, like "Josef Stalin's grave was a Communist plot." and "I love kids, but I don't think I could eat a whole one."