Day after day
on Capitol Hill
the man with the foolish grin
has so much blood to spill
so many of US dislike him
they can see that he's just a fool
and when he gives an answer

The fool on the hill
sees our sons all shot down
and with the eyes of his vice
weigh their vig by the pound

Hell he will say
as if he is proud
is where all Osama's virgins
will lie on the shroud
and everybody fears him
they can see he's so uncool
yet somehow half revere him

but the fool on the hill
gave control of our ports
to the same kind of man
that he drags through the courts

Buddy Winston - Huffington Post

The Tiscali network I use (BabyXL) was upgraded recently (all analogue lines, at least; they're working on ISDN) to ADSL2/2+ [dutch announcement]. I have been using my trusty Copperjet 810 modem since I first started using ADSL back in … 2001 I think. And my modem is not up to the high speeds of this era's internet. So I've been looking into buying a new ADSL 2/2+ modem.

Ha!

The stores seem to sell modems that can do everything (apart from making coffee), alongside being a modem. They offer WiFi, Router, Firewalls, DHCP and such.

I have no need for that! LOL, I have a server at home - installed by Michiel - that can do all that.

Right, the modem. Up to about 1 hr ago, I was the high bidder on the modem xs4all provides all their new customers, but somehow someone went over the amount I wanted to spend on a second hand modem.

Sigh.

New search has been fruitful - I found this one: SMC ADSL 7904BRA-NL (-EU)

Any ideas if it will work on a *nix/bsd system too?

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Gekregen van mijn ouders:

Weet je wat ik ook nooit weet van Judith Herzberg.

Op de website van De Harmonie staat het als volgt omschreven:

Deze uitgave in een doosje is een waardige aanwinst in deze serie. Het bevat een wel heel bijzonder, ongepubliceerd gedicht dat door zijn aparte vorm zowel verrassend is om te geven als om te krijgen.

De officiele blurb op de achterkant zegt het volgende:

Hoe beschrijf je ravages? Meestal heb je aan een paar woorden genoeg. Dan begrijp je het wel, of nooit. Het zware werk wordt in je hoofd voltooid.
Of niet.

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Thanks to all for the text-messages, e-cards, phonecalls and comments!

I've had a great day! 

Nothing to report - turning 31 in a few days - on a Monday - work is busy, but fun - loads of new (and old) projects to finish - need to find gift for my dad - trying to figure out my insurance - need to burn files for a friend - want to order all my fanfiction sensibly - it's a mess now - should work on CSS for mvblog 2.0 (how much time will I have, Michiel?) - as I said, nothing to report :)

If you've ever been to any Olympic event, at any of the Olympic Games, you probably experienced the 'Olympic Spirit'. Even though all the Games have been inundated with commercialism (I was at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games), to me it always seems as if something's right with the world for a few short hours: only during the opening event (and perhaps the closing even more), however.

I get a little emotional watching all these countries carrying all these symbols. And last night with the opening of the 2006 Turino Games, there were two instances when I was choked up.

The beautiful dove and the 8 kick-ass women carrying the Olympic flag. Man, these organizers know how to play on people's emotions!

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My mom has bought a new car, and she traded in the old one.

Hello Citroentje, Good bye Smartie.

[Car Set @ Flickr]

[related post: Good-bye Smart] 

Taken on October 15, 2005 when I was in London. I was taking a break before catching the train back to London Stansted. Finally found the name of the courtyard - it is the courtyard of the St. Botolph's Church at Bishopsgate.

[link to the google-earth photo]

[incidentally, I used this tree when I created my own bankcard - photo]

I haven't read the book.

I won't read the book.

But the whole media-frenzy surrounding it makes for an interesting read.

A Million Little Pieces.

James Frey.

Oprah.

Read this editorial: Patrick Gavin: The 'O' is for 'Opportunism' [via The Huffington Post]