Quote:

Araud took the opportunity of the visit of the U.S. members of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly to offer, in his typically plain-spoken fashion, a thumb-nail history of U.S.-French relations since World War II, including our different approaches to NATO. Recalling an Cold War bromide, Araud said …

Sharing is what makes people like each other. Exchanging gifts is the first form that comes to a child’s mind; grown ups know that real sharing happens when you do something you like and the person next to you happens to like it as well.

The best sex works …

Experimenting with pie charts in OOo: time spent on thoughts on a random day…

It was night, I was traveling and I arrived into some form of inn seeking shelter. In the midst of the crowd I was reflecting on my day’s experience and wondering how I could sleep. A party was going on and all the inn’s rooms were full, so …

In one hour I will get ready to dance. As every Sunday this year, I will dance two times one hour; first as follower, then as leader. While I started the first course two years ago, I just started the second one. This is exciting, except there is a big …

Quote:

Si nous habitions la Lune, nous imaginerions-nous bien qu’il y eût ici-bas cette espèce bizarre de créatures que l’on appelle le genre humain ? Pourrions-nous bien nous figurer quelque chose qui eût des passions si folles, et des réflexions si sages ; une durée si courte et des vues …

Het verhaal zoals ik het mij herinner:

N. zingt opera in een gebouw dat op een bibliotheek lijkt. Zij stopt, zij is de tekst vergeten. Ik zoek de rest van het liedje met mijn mobieltje op Google. Voordat ik de resultaten krijg begint in de achtergrond een hoge stem het …

Het regent op de trein; ik ga naar Rotterdam. Het water loopt langs de ramen, op de andere kant van deze glazen wand. Ik denk aan mijn vriendin in Frankrijk. Zij gaat naar Mozambique rond de jaarwisseling met haar man, en vlak daarna gaat ze alleen naar Zuid-Amerika voor een …

“With great power comes great responsibility.”

It is not every day easy to be an adult. There was a time where I would wake up, serve myself a glass of vodka, and spend my time carelessly — taking the day as it came. Nowadays, a glass of vodka will make me …

Sometime this afternoon I will be standing before my stove, manipulating my pan hence and forth, shaking sizzling butter under layers of eggs, milk and flour. This cheerful self-entertainment, supported by adequate music, will further brighten my day already much enlightened by rest and peacefulness.

On my way to the …

The US military has warned that surplus oil production capacity could disappear within two years and there could be serious shortages by 2015 with a significant economic and political impact.

Reminds me of a comment from another time:

Imagine for a moment, then, that we’re discussing an experiment involving …

After Cameron shook the movie experience with Avatar 3D, movie studios have started jumping the bandwagon by adding an extra dimension to their shoots in post-production. The results are ugly! Have these people any standards at all?

Katzenberg, Bay and Cameron think that after-the-shoot 3D will so degrade the viewing …

Transitioning… Happening, without me even realizing.

The though tonight surfaced when considering the origin of the headache that bothered me all this evening. I have known this headache for a few years already; it happens every now and then, the pain creates each time a sensation of déjà-vu without clear …

Reported today by FreeBSD’s ”fortune” program:

Psychologists think they’re experimental psychologists.

Experimental psychologists think they’re biologists.

Biologists think they’re biochemists.

Biochemists think they’re chemists.

Chemists think they’re physical chemists.

Physical chemists think they’re physicists.

Physicists think they’re theoretical physicists.

Theoretical physicists think …

She hurt me.

A rusty kitchen knife dropping accidentally into deep scar tissue; ripping open a flesh that remembered an age old pain. An innocuous surface earthquake; well placed, and soon cracks appear at the bottom of a long extinct volcano and lets a sulphuric emulsion of nefarious gases and …

From Jan 7th:

Ik was nog klein,

maar niet heel klein,

ik voelde aan mijn shcouders:

geen vleugels,

voelde telkens opnieuw,

maar ik had geen vleugels,

zelfs niet het begin van vleugels

     of iets wat daarop leek

waarom vlieg jij niet, vroeg iedereen

ik heb geen vleugels, zei ik

ik …

A little over five months ago, I started the following experiment: I invited my best female friends to help me compile a comprehensive and didactic approach to handling complicated relationships.

My invitation went as follows:

Subject: a little group exercise!

Dear friends,

would you like to write something for me …

The year 2009 also saw the sad disappearance of English poet and author James Kirkup.

In his memory and to bring the spiritual side of 2009 to a coda, I would like to share one of his works from 1977, best known for being censored in the UK and elsewhere …

Disclaimer: this is a post about its author. If you just want to be entertained, you can skip reading.

One more page turning. While I have spent the official “big party time” of the year quite comfortably lying on a couch, watching TV and playing video games, the occasional greeting …