December 2002

I've trying out Foxmail as my mail-client. I'm getting so sick of Outlook. All those vulnerabilities and the bombarding of virii. Not sure if this will be an improvement, but it does have a pleasent interface and some nice features. We'll see.

Only a few more hours to go! Be careful with the fireworks.

My mom made Oliebollen this afternoon. Only now does it feel like the new year is about to commence. The first two, straight out of the oil, they're the very best. I'm finally able to sleep untill a decent hour again. Instead of waking up around the time my alarm normally goes off. And just as I've gotten used to it, I have to get back to work. Sigh. Well, 3 more days of freedom to enjoy. I'd like to add a warning to watch out for the new W32/Yaha-K virus. My mailbox is already full of spam and older viri, so it's getting rather annoying.

The article 2002: The year in technology is quite interesting. Later on today, I'm going to try out Arthur's Knights (Chapter 1: Origins of Excalibur) and The New Adventures of the Time Machine, which my brother gave me for Christmas.

Oh, you should check out The Return of the King Protest, which is a cool parody of the ridiculous Two Towers Protest.

Het Leidsch Dagblad » Rijnwoude krijgt ADSL.

Watched Requiem for a Dream yesterday. Not exactly Christmas material, but I was blown away by it. Very impressive.

It works! I'm currently surfing with our new ADSL line at 110kb/sec. Instead of the old ISDN, which offered a mere 7kb/sec. Anyhow, it's the second day of Christmas. My brother's still here, and we're spending our time watching the extra's on the Lord Of The Rings box set, which he bought and playing Age of Mythology. And enjoying the family dinners ofcourse.

Read all about Christmas' pagan origins. The tree is the one symbol that unites almost all the northern European winter solstices. Live evergreen trees were often brought into homes during the harsh winters as a reminder to inhabitants that soon their crops would grow again. The Druids used the tree as a religious symbol, holding their sacred ceremonies while surrounding and worshipping huge trees.

Been working on our ADSL connection for the better part of yesterday. We've had some proubles combining our existing network, the old ISDN line and the new modem and router. But it'll happen. I can feel it. It's strange to be at work. The rest of the world seems to have chosen to stay at home, these days before Christmas. The bus was quite empty this morning. But that's okay, there's lots to do. I also have to sort out some of my settings, as I switched computers friday. Though I'm so glad it's much faster, it always takes some time to get things back to the way I want them.

Rumors in the biz » is Microsoft To Acquire Macromedia? I don't even want to think about it.

I've just uploaded the new version of this site. Still some minor things to adjust, but the idea is there. Hope you like it. Let me know what you think. I do want to loose the table I've used in exchange for CSS. But I couldn't get the lay-out to look exactly like I wanted in both IE and Mozilla. But I'll keep trying. Also, don't forget to try the new look and feel feature.

Loads of reviews on Slashdot. I'm going tonight. Can't wait.

Chivalry is dead. My bus was late, this evening. Meaning I would probably miss the other one I had to transfer into. But fortunately it [the 169] was still standing there, when I got out of the 31. But I had to cross most part of the street to get to it. Instead of notifying the driver of my arrival, the bystanders just stood there. Looking at me. As if I was strange for running towards a departing bus. They just stood there. I hate it when they do that. Luckily I made it just in time. But it's the thought that counts.

The fellowship is broken. The power of darkness grows...

Peter Jackson rules. Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers was even better than I'd hoped. Casting was very good. I'm so glad they've chosen for relatively new faces, instead of a standard Hollywood cast. Even though Faramir reminded me of Megadeth's Dave Mustaine.

The CGI was especially impressive. Gollem and all the Uruk-Hai at Helm's Deep in particular. Clothing and scenary too were impressive. New-Zealand is awe-inspiring. It's going to be a long year.

Google 2002 Year-End Zeitgeist » displays the past year in searches.

Blogger is messing up my archive settings. Sigh. One moment while I test this thing.

Update: Nope it still isn't working. Found help in the knowledge base. But it's still not working.

Thirty years ago today since the last men left the moon. It's a shame we've really fallen behind so much since the end of the cold war. Well, not much going on today. Read the new Aardschok, a few chapters of Omertà and downloaded some music. I'm on a Stille Volk hunt at the moment. Oh, and I forgot to mention yesterday was friday the 13th. Mostly because I didn't realise it 'till this morning.

The pagan origins of the Christmas tree is explained at Pagans.net.

The concert was great! Opening act was Dutch band Autumn, which I did like. But because I didn't know the songs, they tended to blend into each other a bit. Then Anathema came on stage. They played a lot of the newer songs and ended with classic A Dying Wish, from my personal favourite album The Silent Enigma. Here are the lyrics for Temporary Peace, from their latest album, A Fine Day to Exit.

Lees verder

It was -8°C when I left home at 8:00 this morning! Can't believe how fast the temperatures have dropped. Soon I'll be able to go iceskating in the polder.

Two new goodies » Phoenix 0.5 (Naples) & Mozilla 1.2.1. The W3C site has been redesigned according to their own standards. And there's an interview with usability guy Joe Clark on Slashdot. Enjoy.

Spend the day in Breda, where ColdFusion guru Ben Forta was hosting a Macromedia event. Cool to see him in the flesh. That guy has a lot of knowledge of ColdFusion and it's related technologies.

Not much going on this weekend. What else is new? Finished my book, watched a movie or two, did some work on the redesign for my site. Oh, and I'm pleased to say it's finally below 0°C outside. It's -2.5°C to be exact. I love winter!

The paintings "View of the Sea at Scheveningen" and "Congregation Leaving the Reformed Church in Nuenen" by Vincent van Gogh have been stolen from the Van Gogh Museum. Damn shame.

GroenLinks presenteert plan Open Software. It's about time the Dutch government starts using Open Source! Also, there are some interesting findings in What the World Thinks in 2002 » How global publics view: their lives, their countries, the world, America. (via NRC)

It's Sinterklaas today. More and more sites popping up every year. One of my favourites is Sint.nl, but there are loads more to be found at Google. Here's the story of Sinterklaas in English.

Something to watch out for in the coming holiday season » Fake Email Greeting Cards.

Ikea received bomb threat letter, which makes me think of Fight Club for some reason. Anyhow, just got back from the library. Sometimes it's hard to choose. Ended up with Omertà by Mario Puzo, <a href=https://www.amazon.com/s?k=0425176037">Shell Game by Carol O'Connell and Chaim Potok's Davita's Harp. The question now is, which one shall I read first? Also, my DVD of The Mists of Avalon arrived earlier today. Can't wait to check it out. But I'm going to save it for the weekend, so I can watch it all in one go.

As an Asimov fan I'm a bit shocked to find out Will Smith will be starring in I, Robot. The Onion, by the way, has its own version, called I, Rowboat.

Oh, I received an e-mail from my dad earlier that our ADSL do-it-yourself package has arrived. Hurah! Can't wait to get rid of our current ISDN.

Reviews for The Two Towers are appearing. Can't wait to see it on the big screen.

Just heard the Queens of the Stone Age concert in Paradiso tonight has been cancelled due to illness. Good thing I couldn't get my hands on any tickets. Two cancelled gigs in 2 weeks is a bit more than I can take. Luckily the Anathema concert is still on. As far as I know, anyway.

Today is World AIDS Day. I've had to recycle last years image, because I am experiencing a lack of space. Insomnia was a bit disappointing. It was interesting, but a bit to slow. It was building up to some sort of climax, that just wouldn't come. I would really like to see the original though.