Queensday 2007: getting on with the floor

It's a great day for a walk in te park, or just anywhere for that matter. It's ‘Queens day’, a traditional Dutch 'holiday' celebrating the Queens birthday. Even though her actual birth date is a few weeks earlier on.

Anyway, usually I'll go out and visit fairs, or flea markets. But this being the three weeks we've got to get our apartment done and moving over, ‘Queens day’ is the last of my worries.

Today I'll be putting down the floors. I'll be happy if I get the living room floor done. We'll see..

A great old view of the future

The June 1933 edition of Popular Science Magazine covered "propeller-driven cars" that "hang from a monorail." Apparantly, this is what the future was supposed to be. What people imagened the future would look like.

An improved 'airline cab', capable of achieving up to 270 kilometers an hour, was one of the latest inventions of the French engineer who developed the trench mortar used during the World War. Suspended on monorails, the cabs resemble airplane fuselages.

I love these ideas of the future, especially when knowing what 'their' future a.k.a our present does look like..

Adoption..

More plans for the neighbourhood

Last week I posted about a new building that will arise across the street from the building where we'll be moving into. It's a smaller building about half as long, so it won't 'cover' the entire front of our building.

That left an opening for another building, which would stand directly across from us. At the opposite corner, so to speak. And now the plans are in. For that particular building. It will be a complex approximately the same height as our building. It will contain apartments and student-housing.

I'm no big fan of students when it comes to their living habitats, but something tells me this will work out fine. The building itself looks pretty good, so I won't get sore eyes whenever I look out my living room window..

Pimp my communist ride!

Seen at a car show near Moscow, a ‘pimped’ Russian oldtimer. I don’t want to rule this car under ‘some delusional guys’ badly painted promotional vehicle’, because it’s much more.

Actually, the paintjob looks nice, even though it depicts Stalin and glorifies his regime. The interior is in mint condition, clearly resorted with care.

And though I can’t believe they’re of any use in those far from original rims, but those Brabo disc brakes and red disc brake claws do promise a hell of ride.

Plastering: step 2!

Remember what the apartment looked like earlier this week? This is what it looks like today! Are those guys awesome or what!? Today the builders will come in and fix the ceiling, because that still has some flaws. And after that, fingers crossed, finally, I get to start with the floors! Hooray!!

Puttin' up the shed

The plastering work to the concrete walls in our apartment got finished last night, and it all looks awesome. But because it needs to dry we couldn’t get any work done today.

So, Suzanne and I set of to do some chores, like buying wallpaper, getting her prescription medication and visiting her grandfather. It being another warm day and all her grandfather decided it would be a great idea to put up the new garden shed. With a little help from his son, my father in law.

And guess what, it turned out to be pretty convenient that Suzanne and I dropped by, because within minutes I found myself on top of the shed, hammering away at the roof. So, even when I’m not working at my own ‘new place’, I’m helping out at someone else’s ‘new place’. I enjoy this kind of stuff, helping out where and where I can. But I'm affraid I 've had a little too much sun today. I feel faint and a headache has been bothering me all evening.. I wish it would rain. Really..

Erh.. ad for a pen with two tips..

Unfortunate location for outdoor ice-cream advertising..

Solo Mobile: walkie talkie

To demonstrate the walkie talkie feature on Solo mobile phones to Canadian audience, interactive transit shelters with built-in, two way radios were placed in Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto, and Calgary.

When people pushed the button they were connected live to another bus stop in another city. That's interactive marketing for ya..

Reality and fiction, not so far apart?

When mineralogist Dr. Chris Stanely of London's Natural History Museum did a Web search on the chemical formula of a recently-discovered unusual mineral, he was shocked to find out that the rock is Kryptonite. Or rather, it appears to be.

The mineral, found in a Serbian mine (where else?) by the company Rio Tinto, consists of the same chemicals as fictional Kryptonite as described in the film Superman Returns. From the BBC News:

"Towards the end of my research I searched the web using the mineral's chemical formula - sodium lithium boron silicate hydroxide - and was amazed to discover that same scientific name, written on a case of rock containing kryptonite stolen by Lex Luther from a museum in the film Superman Returns.

"The new mineral does not contain fluorine (which it does in the film) and is white rather than green but, in all other respects, the chemistry matches that for the rock containing kryptonite..." The mineral cannot be called kryptonite under international nomenclature rules because it has nothing to do with krypton - a real element in the Periodic Table that takes the form of a gas.

A copycat original

Todd Goldman has made a lot of money selling art and apparel with his artwork on it. His company, David & Goliath, is best known for a shirt that says "Boys are stupid, throw rocks at them."

Some of his t-shirts are mildly funny, but never very original. How 'original' they actually are is a mystery, since Goldman has the tendency to 'borrow' other artists artwork. I posted about this a couple of weeks ago. Some people asked me for more 'comparrison material', and this is what I've found.

Here's a large gallery of other artist's images alongside Goldman's art. Does Goldman copy other artists? You may judge for yourself.

It had to be a matter of time before someone came to the terrific idea of creating a t-shirt of his own, in true 'David & Goliath' style. This tee was inspired by the whole Todd Goldman situation.

Plastering: step 1

Yesterday, preparations were made before plastering begins later today. They should be done by Wednesday, allowing me to start putting down the floor early Thursday. Hopefully. Here's what the walls look like when 'plastering glue' is attached.. Yeah. Yellow. Hmm..

Comics, learn from them!

Web comic artist Neal von Flue has scanned a page from an old encyclopaedia which basically says that comic books are the root of all evil. He found it while helping his daughter do a school paper on "comets," and just, you know, skipped over a couple of pages.

Funny thing is; I kind of understand where this is coming from. Back in the days graphic novels were somewhat of a novelty and weren't based on literary classics by William Shakespeare, Edgar Allen Poe, Mark Twain or Charles Dickens. They were based on more violent adventures, with equally violent imagery. That could bring youngsters to the wrong ideas.

One of my final papers was about 'The Communicational value of comic books and the moral decay of comics in general'. To my opinion comic books are underestimated when it comes to their power of communicating certain messages/ behaviours to their under aged readers.

Because parents nowadays trust anything in certain comics (I won’t point fingers) kids can read stuff that’s actually not meant for them to read. Parents should be aware of this, and the possibilities. You could use comics for good!

Personal/ company censorship at its worst..

I think this is pathetic: British Airways has the tendency to cut scenes showing rival aircraft and aviation execs out of its in-flight movies. Isn't that just the dumbest thing ever? I mean, come on!

Thing is, Virgin boss Richard Branson appears briefly in the latest James Bond, 'Casino Royale'. He kinda bought his way into the flick. But hey, if you're a lifelong bond-fan, who am I to judge. I would very probably do the same thing if I had the cash..

However, British Airways passengers watching the film as an in-flight movie won't be seeing Branson's brief appearance. This because BA has edited Branson out of the film, along with a shot of a Virgin Airways aircraft. Ridiculous!

Commenting on the phantom edit a BA spokesman said "We do reserve the right to edit films, and many films are edited in some way on board." I wonder how the producer of the film thinks about that..

What the future brings..

One of my favourite websites is about the plans and projects in my home town Breda. It’s called ‘Breda in plannen & projecten’. It’s a website by some guy (I think) who works at the city council (I think) who has access to all the scoops on current and future development plans.

He posts links to newspaper articles for news and has a section on his site dedicated to fresh development. Here I found some plans for a new building just across the street from where we’ll be living soon.

It’s a pretty cool building and a real addition to the neighbourhood! I don’t know in what stage these plans are, but currently there’s still a DIY store at that exact location. So, before demolition and build, two to three years will have passed, I guess. Nevertheless, I applaud these kinds of developments. Hurrah!

Ah.. a Sunday on the boat..

We arrived in Heusden yesterday evening and spent the rest of our weekend doing nothing but Reading, relaxing, drinking coffee, dozing off and getting sun burned..

Yup, it's almost like a real summer.. It's like re-charging your battery. I'm ready for the next couple of days! Bring it on!

The hallway looks great!

Today we painted the hallway. We whitened it yesterday, but now we've put on the colour. Well, colour.. we have chosen a grey-ish colour, which suits the hallway perfectly. Combined with the floor and the woodwork, it will look very warm and welcome.

We’re actually thinking of putting this same colour up on the living room wall as well. Just one wall, don’t get me wrong. The rest of it will stay white. I think.

Anyway, the pictures don’t do it justice, I must admit. And now, we’re done until Monday. That’s when the concrete walls will be plastered. So, tomorrow is a day off. And I’m glad too: it’ll be pretty hot! We’re going to the boat, to take some rest and distance from all the work we still have to finish..

Being 'special' doesn't always mean a good thing..

There's the floor..

Today I went out to get the floors for the new place. See that stack? That’s about 82 square meters of floor, waiting to be laid down. 37 packages. Including the isolation materials and everything else, that is.

The company where we bought it had it stacked on a pallet, which luckily fitted in the trailer pretty easy. The tires supporting the trailer needed some extra air, but all in all it arrived in Breda without much problems.

I had to carry everything up to the apartment. I used a shopping trolley from the supermarket across the street. Never knew those things could carry so much weight. Ah well..

I’m very curious to what it will look like, eventually..

Fast Food deception, again!

This is an awesome idea. A couple of guys decided to buy fast food items and photograph them, the combining the photos with the photos in ads for the same product. Shown here: KFC Famous Bowl.

Each item was purchased, taken home, and photographed immediately. Nothing was tampered with, run over by a car, or anything of the sort. It is an accurate representation in every case. Shiny, neon-orange, liquefied pump-cheese, and all.
A comment added for explanation: “I worked (briefly) in the photogoraphy studio of one of the biggest ad agencies in NYC. They paid a professional "food stylist" around $2000 a day to make the food look like that. Every golden sesame seed or drop of crystaline dew was hand placed.

That maoynaise isn't mayo, it's hair gel and that chicken looks so good because aparently everything looks yummier when it's been sprayed with laquer. A lot of that "food" isn't food at all and the stuff that is food has been treated with more chemicals and "tricks of the trade" than most super models”.

So that’s how they make those meals look so much yummier!

World's oldest business ends 1,428-year run

On the subject of Japanese construction companies: a temple-building company in Japan founded in the year 578 is going out of business. Here's Business Week's article.

The circumstances of Kongo Gumi's demise also offer some lessons. Despite its incredible history, it was a set of ordinary circumstances that brought Kongo Gumi down at last.

Two factors were primarily responsible. First, during the 1980s bubble economy in Japan, the company borrowed heavily to invest in real estate. After the bubble burst in the 1992-93 recession, the assets secured by Kongo Gumi's debt shrank in value. Second, social changes in Japan brought about declining contributions to temples. As a result, demand for Kongo Gumi's temple-building services dropped sharply beginning in 1998.

By 2004, revenues were down 35%. Masakazu Kongo laid off employees and tightened budgets. But in 2006, the end arrived. The company's borrowings had ballooned to € 300 million and it was no longer possible to service the debt.

In January, the company's assets were acquired by Takamatsu, a large Japanese construction company, and it was absorbed into a subsidiary. A fast moving economy caught up with this almost ancient company. It's unbelievable, and I think there's an interesting story to be written about it..

And then, work starts..

Finally..

This is an answering machine

We're not in right now. Important things are happening. Please leave a comment, we'll get back to you soon..

It's a sign! A small sign, but still..

Live like a God in France.. erh.. China?

Remember me writing about the man who tried to stand ground to Chinese housing developers?

Apparantly those same developers now are luring the Chinese middle class with theme-park-style housing developments that try to be romanticized versions of European cities: Merrie Olde England, Paris, Venice, Italy, Zurich, Amsterdam, etc.

In Nanjing for example, there are Balinese retreats and Italian villas. In the southeastern city of Hangzhou you'll find Venice and Zurich. In downtown Beijing everything is about Manhattan, with Soho, Central Park and Park Avenue.

"Many people in China today associate the exotic with wealth. They buy into these developments to differentiate themselves from ordinary people," said Tino Wan, a manager of ERA Real Estate in Shanghai. In order to learn everything about different roof tiling, stone molding and other techniques they sent workers on three trips to Britain.

In the end they were so skilled at these old techniques that the team was asked to help work on a new Thames Town-like development — in Britain. The Chinese love for Europe is not new: a Netherlands-based themepark and a miniature-Europe have been popular among the Chinese for many, many years. The Chinese love for copying other products (I've mentioned counterfeit cars earlier) isn't new either, but this is combination is quite unique.

An ad-free city

Back in December of 2006, the mayor of the 11-million-person Brazilian city of Sao Paulo banned all outdoor billboard advertising, citing advertisers' unwillingness to comply with the city's rules on what sort of billboards can be placed where.

Now the rule is in effect, the statute's most visible impact promises to be at eye level and above. The outsized billboards and screens that dominate the skyline, promoting everything from automobiles, jeans and cellphones to banks and sex shops, will have to come down.

All other forms of publicity in public spaces, like distribution of fliers, will also stop. The law also regulates the dimensions of store signs, and will force many well-known companies to reduce them substantially by a formula based on the size of their facades. Another provision, much criticized by owners of transportation companies, outlaws advertising of any kind on the sides of the city's thousands of buses and taxis.

The law, as passed, also applied to advertising banners trailed by airplanes and ads on blimps. But in the first of what promises to be a long series of legal challenges, a court ruled the clause unconstitutional on the grounds that the federal government, not the city, controls airspace. Sounds like an almost communist approach to things, when attempting to stop kapitalism by disturbing free trade. I wonder how many companies would comply without any remark..

A bit crude, but very succesful

The 'Sydney Dogs Home' is known as a dog shelter. But it also re-houses cats. Or tries to. But because of their name, no one used to associate them with cats. As a result, well over 65% of cats were being put down.

So, the 'Sydney Dogs Home' changed its name to the 'Sydney Dogs & Cats Home'. In an attempt to generate low-cost buzz, they sent this postcard to media influencers to make them aware of the change in the hope that it would generate free media coverage. And it did, it did indeed.

Although the card is a bit crude and might be considered shocking (I can imagine people freaking out when they put one plus one together, even though it's more or less the power of suggestion), it sure as hell gets the message across and attracts attention.

Within the first week of mailing, five articles had been written and a story was run on a local current affairs TV program. Eventually the whole affair was a huge success. Let alone the free coverage worth €75,000 that came from a mailing which had cost a total of €230,-! I have two words: 'respect', and 'brilliant'. Plus, being a big cat lover myself, another hurray for the kitties!

1/1 scale model car: awesome!

This is awesome. Especially when you loved making models when you were a kid, like I used to do. And when you did, you always imagined how it would be if you were able to get in and drive away. Or was I the only dreamer?

These guys took a full size 1940 Ford hot rod, and turned it into a full-size version of a 1:25 scale 60's AMT "3 In 1" model kit, including parts trees, Testors paint and glue, and a giant X-Acto knife! A lot of effort went into making this.

They came up with the idea when imagining a original display for the car show. The Ford hot rod was chosen because most of the big parts are already black and is it's still in parts, so it was posible to use the fenders, running boards, etc. without too much trouble.

The table display is a 1/25th scale of everything in the actual "big" display, including flathead and nailhead engines, all six club cars, paint bottles, brush, X-acto knife, etc.

The only item not correct is the '48 Chevy model, painted to look like the '39 DeSoto hemi-powered club car. If you ask me, it's not just a display, but a true art installation. I love it. It should be in an automotive museum or something..

source: Hemmings Auto Blogs

Islands on the rise

Residents of Ranongga island in the South Pacific Ocean sit on a massive coral reef that was exposed by the magnitude 8.1 Richter scale earthquake that struck in the Solomon Islands last week.

The quake actually lifted Ranongga ten feet (three meters) out of the sea, widening beaches by up to 230 feet (70 meters), according to news reports. The uplift has left some of the island's pristine coral reefs fatally exposed.

"These are not unusual occurrences for an earthquake of this magnitude," said Rick MacPherson of the Coral Reef Alliance in San Francisco, California. "During the Asian tsunami two years ago, Banda Aceh [Indonesia], stretching down almost the extent of the peninsula, experienced similar uplift."

In some places the beaches in the Solomons now resemble a barren moonscape with once vibrant corals bleaching under the sun. On one beach the quake even revealed a sunken vessel that locals believe is a Japanese patrol boat from World War II.

More artists copying artists

Monday I posted an article on two almost identical cartoons from two different artists. Remember, I didn’t suggest anything about plagiarism! To me its unknown who came first, so who’s copying who, if there actually is any copying going on?

In some other cases its way clearer. But the thing about these cases is that the ‘stealing’ artist is getting all the credits and money for stolen work. One ‘artist’ in particular: Todd Goldman. Here’s the full story.

In relation to this story: here’s a brilliant website dedicated to businesses using art without permission of the artists. And here’s a weblog dedicated to the counterfeit practices of one clothing brand in particular.

And then there were three..

Last night the Royal family grew one member. His Royal Highness Willem Alexander and his wife princess Maxima have expanded their family with a new daughter, sister to Amalia and Alexia.

The ‘curse’ of the ‘Oranje’s’ seems to have struck again: Queen Juliana had three girls, Queen Beatrix had three boys and now, Willem Alexander has three girls.

In a few days the name to this new princess will be announced. I’m curious to what it will be. Will it start with the letter A, like the other girls names?

Hmm..

I think anyone who would buy these

a. is very impressed by himself by lack of comparison,
b. tries to score and shows everyone his condoms,
c. has really short legs, arms and upper body making his dick look really big and didn't read the ad right or
d. doesn't know how advertising works..

Anyone who would actually need them

a. is bummed out (every time his dick gets hard he faints because of the lack of blood in his brain, thus never consciously experiencing sex),
b. is very impressed by himself but lonely
c. walks around like Herr Flick of the Gestapo or
d. is a tripod.

Anyway, I don't fit either profiles. But I like the ad though..

Who’s the original genius?

I admit, I too believe in the theory that great ideas can originate from more than one person. But when a great idea is almost exactly the same in its design, it starts to get a bit shady.

I’m a big fan of Dutch weekly magazine ‘Nieuwe Revu’. Though I don’t have a subscription, I try to read it every week, adding it to my trolley when I do my grocery shopping. Anyway, this magazine has a cartoonist called Trik who sheds his/ her light on politics and other issues.

In February he/ she posted a great cartoon on the Iraq- Iran situation, illustrated by using a counter found on petrol-pumps and in cars. A clear notice that this whole war is about oil. Very smart usage of imagery.

But this weekend, when I browsed the web for great art and illustrations, I stumbled across the artwork of Hayan Maani. And guess what? In the ‘extra’ section of his/ her amazing website he/she has the practically same cartoon!

True, it's better looking (the blood is very real) and visually stronger, but still. The only big difference being that Iraq is on top, as opposed to Trik’s cartoon. But overall, one must admit the almost scary resemblance. So, is this a clear case of plagiarism, or just very coincidental?

UPDATE 1.1.2008: Just to be sure people don't get me wrong: In my opinion Hayan Manni is the original genius. The other 'artist', has copied work before. Please let that be clear!

It seems I'm a popular guy! Happy easter!

By the way, you can use Google to find easter-eggs..

By night everything looks..

A busy Saturday before Easter!

Happy Easter! In preparation to this feast, today we decided to decorate Easter egg shaped cookies.

Never knew this stuff exists, but it’s a box with four cookies, ‘eatable glue’ which tastes like apple, small ‘smarties’-like chocolates and flavoured sprinkles. We had a blast making them, and we truly felt like small children. Cool beans!

Earlier this afternoon Suzanne and I went out and ordered our new floor. Since we’ll be moving soon we’re getting ready with preparing. Packing stuff, throwing stuff out, etc. etc. It’s getting closer and closer, and our current house is looking more and more like a storage room.

Anyway, the floor. The floor we decided we want turned out to be more expensive. Not that we hadn’t checked it properly, but the prices went up! Still, we got a good offer. An Easter offer which steered the total price very close to the price we had in mind when entering the showroom. It turned out to be € 30,- more, but we get more. That’s the kind of deal I love to make.

Tonight finally, we went to Rob’s birthday. Suzanne’s ‘little’ brother turned 25. Naturally, we got the chance to see our niece Shakira. In all, quite a Saturday. Sunday then, hopefully, will be a day of rest..

I’ll have.. that one! No, that one!

Today my father in law and I decided to pay a visit to the AutoRai in Amsterdam. This is the Netherlands’ biggest car show where approximately every car manufacturer on earth shows its latest products.

And in stead of drooling over cars which we’ll very probably never buy (simply because we don’t fit in them), we only looked at cars which we think would be a genuine good buy. Hell, even a ‘Big guy car’ like the Mercedes ML, not the least of cars, offers too little space to sit properly.

I never understood people who torment themselves by checking out cars which are basically impossible to own. Ferrari’s, Lamborghini’s, Maserati’s and other super cars.

Anyway, the cars I predict to get big this upcoming year are: Ford Focus Convertible, Dacia Logan MCV, Mercedes A class and the Mercedes B-class, Volkswagen Fox and Dodge Caliber. All of them awesome vehicles, but all with their flaws.

The Caliber for instance is too heavy and has poor fuel economy. The Fox is only available as a three door car. I want a five door. The Focus Convertible is too expensive for me. Plus, a car should be suitable to use as a holiday car when going winter sporting.

So, which cars/ brands are still in the race? Dacia and Mercedes. Dacia because you get a lot of car for little money. Really. And I love the two backdoors which open separately, if needed. And Mercedes.. well, Mercedes.

The A- and B-class cars are excellent, and I fit in both of them. Still, their a dream away. The next couple of years a new car is out of the question. But some day..

Good Friday

Because the company where I work has some sturdy bases in Catholic beliefs the office will be closed today. Good Friday it is. An extra long weekend, lovely! As of that I decided to go to the AutoRai, which is basically a car show with all the latest models and some concept cars. As a true fan of automotive transportation I’m looking forward to anything I might see. My father in law is coming along: he too likes cars, very much. But everything has its price. I can’t post ‘live’. I can’t tell if I’ll be able to post in the evening. That’s why I posted this message on Thursday. And guess what, it’s my favourite ads of this week! The top one even for an insurance company! Happy Easter!

Preparing to move

Pretty soon our apartment will be finished and we’ll get the keys. From then on our lives will be about painting, putting down floors, fixing lights and moving. We don’t have much stuff, but still. It’s scattered all over. Most of it is in our current home. But the cabinets are in my dad’s garage. And Suzanne still has some stuff at her parents address.

The last couple of days we’ve been packing. CD’s and stuff have been boxed and stored. Monday we bought more boxes at the DIY store and packed everything which was in our room divider. So, all my Deluxe Ducks (48!) got cleaned before entering their temporary cardboard hideout.

The room divider was taken apart and will be moved soon. Naturally, we won’t pack everything just yet. We’ll still live here for some weeks, it should stay liveable, right? But it feels like we started the move already. And it’s a good feeling..

The fences are gone

At the build site the fences have been removed. The building is cleared from most rubble. Only the scaffolding around the tower remains: it should be taken down later today. You can expect some images of the completed building within the next couple of days.

A late weekend update

I haven’t posted anything on what we have done last weekend. And it was a busy weekend at that! Thing is, I have pictures to go with the post, but somehow I didn’t come to transferring them from my phone to my PC. But yesterday I finally did. Hence the delay.

Saturday my father in law and I worked in the garden. Not planting flowers or anything, but the roof of his house was being replaced and we cleared all the rubble. Stones, tiles, pebbles and tar the plenty.

Sunday then we went out for more chores. All of them boat-related. The boating season starts pretty soon and the boat needs to be prepared. Suzanne and I went out and cleaned it two weeks ago. In those two weeks though it got pretty dirty again. I wanted to clean it extra thoroughly, and opened the engine compartment. We had taken the engine off and cleaned it at the end of the season last year. All winter it had been standing in the basement until now. So, a good cleaning of the engine compartment was necessary.

As I opened it a surprise startled me. Apparantly a duck had used the compartment as a nest. There were feathers, there was poo. There were four eggs, two of which had hatched. The egg yoke was everywhere. And you know what egg yoke does when it doesn’t get cleaned? It hardens and starts smelling. Yay.

I took everything out, and started cleaning the gas tank, the floor panels, everything. It took me an hour and a half before everything was sober. The sun luckily had dried everything up nicely, so putting everything back neatly only took five minutes.

The engine was put back into place and connected to the steering rod, the gas tank and throttle. Somehow though, to the irritation of my father in law, it didn’t start. After about fifteen minutes I noticed the safety switch wasn’t set right. One turn and the engine started purring. Genius! It worked like a charm! We drove it around for a couple of minutes before docking it and returning home. That evening we went out for a bite of Japanese. I did’t eat anything that had egg in it though..

Now you see it, and now..

A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post on people who were reluctant to move or leave their house while their surroundings were demolished, or redeveloped. One story in particular made it to (inter-)national press. Many, including me, have supported and admired the Chinese man who refused to sell his house and budge under the pressure of corrupt local government and property developers.

It was a modern David-and-Goliath situation, with everyone rooting for the underdog; a man forced to live in a house on top of a column that’s in a pit, on a build site. Everyone has a soft spot for people like this guy, right?

But latest news is in: everyone has his price. Out of fear of financers backing out of the project because of bad publicity, the property developers made a (generous) deal with the persistent home-owner. A large amount of cash (how much isn't even told) and a brand new cribs-style villa have seemed to won the man over. Its a shame really, though understandable: climbing a rope ladder with two big bags of groceries doesn't seem that appealing..

May the faith be with you

Darth Vader? On a cathedral?! When I first read this story, I expected it to be an April-fools joke. When I showed it to a colleague, his initial reaction was kind of the same. The image shown here doesn’t do justice to the story: it doesn’t contribute to the believability, right?

But after some surfing and reading I found out this is a true story. One of the gargoyles/ grotesques on the Washington National Cathedral in DC is shaped like the dark lord of the Sith, Darth Vader, the emperor to all evil in the cult classic scifi movie-series Star Wars. Initially I expected it to be some stunt by the church to attract young people, showing they have a sense of humour and religion is something of all ages and times. And basically, that’s one of the main reasons they decided to do this.

Then why Darth Vader? Well, back in the 1980’s they wrote a competition asking people to contribute designs for the many gargoyles the cathedral houses. Darth Vader was the entry and design of 13-year old Christopher Rader. He reckoned Darth Vader would embody future evil, hence he’s a monster and very suitable to be a gargoyle. Gargoyles are monsters by definition. And remember, in 1980 Star Wars was even bigger than today!

So, Darth Vader was placed on the northwest tower with the other winning designs: A raccoon, a girl with pigtails and braces and a man with large teeth and an umbrella. Somehow you might think they don’t qualify as monsters, but wait until you see them! There are so many reasons why I love this whole ordeal!

Anyway, the gargoyles are cut by Jay Hall Carpenter. Check his website for gargoyle images and more of his cool stuff! Want info on the cathedral and Vader in partcular? Find out more!

How's my writing?

Artist Nadine Jarvis can fabricate pencils from carbon left over by incinerating human remains. Its part of a larger research project into post mortem.

She claims approximately 240 pencils can be made from an average body of ash. That should be lifetime supply of pencils for those left behind. In case you’re my size, that amount would double up to 500, I guess.

Though a tad bit morbid at first, I must admit I like the idea. Especially when your birth year and year of passing away are encrypted in the pencils. It’s like a little something to remember you by. Here in the Netherlands we have this saying, which loosely translated would say “I know him so well, I can read and write with him”. How appropriate.

Under construction..

If Dailyyoghurt.blogspot.com seems a bit odd today, you could be right. I'm kinda upgrading the templates. I apologize for any inconvenience! I hope to have everything up and running like clockwork later today..

Life's horrible without Chupa Chups..

Yay, (we think) it's Abrahams' birthday!

Ever since my teenage years I've been the proud owner of a more then terrific cat called Abraham. He's a real hoot, very intelligent and even listens. Or he simulates 'listening' very well, I don't know.

I found him as a young cat on a Saturday night, in front of a bar where I had been partying. Around three in the morning I stumbled outside and noticed the cat. Some drunk peasants tried to catch it and kick it, and I felt like it was my duty to save him. I caught it, brought him home and promised my mom to take him to the asylum the next day.

Naturally, as I lived in Goes at the time, the asylum was closed on Sunday. "Never mind", I told my mom, "I'll take him later this week". Obviously, that didn't happen. I named him and he became my cat. I paid for his shots and registrations and my mom made me swear I'd take care of him. And I've been doing so ever since.

But the thing is that I have no idea how old he is. I estimate he was a little under a year old when I 'saved' him, but I'm not sure. With a tree, you can cut it down and count the rings. But with cats.. I guess he's fifteen years old now. We never had him a birthday party, but have spoiled him occasionally simply because he's our buddy and a great friend. We call him our child from time to time. He welcomes us home and sleeps on the bed.

One day he fell out of the window and I was afraid I'd lost him forever. I was really upset and ran outside to find him. Luckily I found him within half an hour, because he's somewhat of a coward. He didn't go far and was hiding underneath a car from for a couple of birds. What a woos. But that’s Abraham.

Though he's about fifteen, he's very young and energetic, and I expect him to live for years and years to come. So, Suzanne and I decided it had become time to 'celebrate' Abraham's birthday. He was in need of a new scratching post and a litter box, so the presents were obvious.

With our new place coming up, we thought Abraham was due for a new place as well. Plus, it will make his transition to the new house a lot easier! First, we were afraid he wouldn't like it, but his scratching post was accepted within minutes after we put it down. His new litter box (which is triangle shaped in stead of the usual square one) hasn't been tested yet, but that's a matter of time..