I think that after three years I’ve managed to galvanize the pain, sadness and longing to sit across from him and just talk, into a bittersweet happiness of having known him and be raised by him. I still miss him, though.
The Digital Freedom Compass
Elections are right around the corner in the Netherlands and it’s once again time to figure out who to vote for. It’s always been rather easy to figure out who NOT to vote for, since a few parties, like the PVV and the TON, are seriously just too absurd to even consider. Sadly, these absurdist parties are also the most populistic parties, screaming at the top of their lungs what the stupidest common denominator in our country wants to hear. (“All Moroccans back to Turkey!”) Because of that they gain a lot of traction, which is made all the more worrying when plenty of people are generally dissatisfied with the status quo and oftentimes voice their opinion by protest voting for those parties. As a result, I’ve decided that voting is important this year. I have, on occasion decided not to vote – never in national elections, just in the regional and local ones – because, well…I just don’t give a damn about the meso- and micro-governance of this country. (To be honest, I sincerely doubt there’s even need for the meso-administration since the country is so damned small.) In order to educate myself, I stumble upon the Digital Freedom Compass (de Digitale Vrijheidswijzer) by way of Karin Spaink‘s website. It seems I’ll be voting D66 this year.
(As an aside; Karin Spaink’s website is by and large a fascinating and informative read into privacy, digital privacy and information awareness. Don’t let the fact that she has a new kitten fool you, her posts are usually on topic!)
The Gone-Away World
Today, I started reading The Gone-Away World, a novel by Nick Harkaway, which was a gift to me by Jim and Tex, quite a while ago. It was put on the big To Read pile and finally I got to it, after I struggled with Full Metal Apache for a long time and placated my low intellectual self-esteem (especially after that book) with some pulpy 40K stories. It’s weird and hilarious and I think that out of all my friends Sam would probably dig it the most. Here are two sections that I found hilarious from the first twenty pages.
| “The Gone-Away World, p. 16” wrote: |
| Without genetic engineering, without intervention or expense, Jorgmund Company has remade him, barracked him in some halfway ville dortoir and stripped him of his connection with the world in a crash course of management schools and loyalty card deals, surrounded him with psuedo-spaces, malls and water features, so that he is allergic to pollen and pollution and dust and animal fibre and salt, gluten, bee stings, red wine, spermicidal lubricant, peanuts, sunshine, unpurified water and chocolate, and really to everything except the vaccum-packed, air-conditioned in-between where he spends his life. |
| “The Gone-Away World, p. 16-17” wrote: |
| Dick Washburn, known for evermore as Dickwash, is a type D pencilneck: a sassy wannabe paymaster with vestigial humanity. This makes him vastly less evil than a type B pencilneck (heartless bureaucratic machine, pro-class tennis) and somewhat less evil than a type C pencilneck (chortling lackey of the dehumanising system, ambient golf), but unquestionably more evil than pencilneck types M through E (real human screaming to escape a soul-devouring professional persona, varying degrees of desperation). No one I know has ever met a type A pencilneck, in much the same way that no one ever reports their own fatal accident. |
I love it.
The Ghosts of Amsterdam
I stumbled across this wonderful photo spread where someone mixed in old photos of Amsterdam together with current photos of the same location. It gave a really surreal and interesting juxtaposition of then and now.
| These Retrographs are the work of Jo Teeuwisse, a Historical Consultant in Amsterdam – and a master Retronaut. Over to Jo:
“Years ago I found some negatives in a fleamarket. I scanned them and put them online. I then found some of the spots in the photos and took pictures there. In the picture above, you can see a group of young factory workers posing probably outside the factory during the war. I cheated a little bit by removing some pots of flowers which are on the steps today…! |
| The picture above is of the Liberation Parade on Friday June 29th, 1945 in the Vijzelstraat, Amsterdam. |
| This picture is from the same parade and shows the Underground Press, wearing face masks. The banner carried is from “De Waarheid”, the Communist underground paper. |
| The Reguliersgracht in Amsterdam. These people worked in a factory and the office part was perhaps in one of these buildings. |
| The Reguliersgracht in Amsterdam. These people worked in a factory and the office part was perhaps in one of these buildings. |
| This picture shows the SS Recruiting Office in Dam Square during the Occupation, across from the “Big” Club. Some great film footage exists of someone climbing onto the lower roof and smashing the SS windows with great force – and great pleasure. |
| The final two pictures are of Dam Square on Monday May 7th 1945, two days after the German surrender. Thousands of Dutch people were waiting for the liberators to arrive in the square. They had lived through five years of war and months of fear and hunger. In the “Big” Club, members of the Kriegsmarine watched as the crowd below their balcony grew and grew, people danced and cheered.
Then, for some reason, the Germans placed a machine-gun on the balcony and started shooting into the crowds. It has always remained uncertain why it happened but the tragic outcome was that, at the brink of peace, 120 people were badly injured and 22 people died. The shooting finally came to an end after a member of the Resistance climbed into the tower of the Royal palace and started shooting onto the balcony and into the Club. Then a German officer together with a Resistance commander found their way into the Club and convinced the men to surrender. The first picture shows Peek & Cloppenburg, a large shop that was already there in 1945. Today Madame Tussauds is in the same building as well. We can see three members of the Scouting movement, which had been outlawed by the Nazis. As soon as the War came to an end, they put on their old uniforms and started helping the resistance and the Allies. Three brave young people are crossing the square. The Club is in the right side of the photo, and we can also see the Royal palace tower. Crowds filled the square very quickly when the Germans stopped shooting so its quite likely that these people were risking their lives. Note the shoes and hats dropped by the crowds as they fled for their lives. |
| In the final picture, we can see a wounded man being taken away from the square. There are no other people in the square at this point so the situation is still quite dangerous. The man on the left is a medic – he may be a doctor, a Red Cross volunteer or a member of the air-raid emergency groups. Luckily there were many present there on this day.
The building on the left in the Royal palace from which the Resistance started shooting back. On the right you see the “Nieuwe Kerk” (new church). Note the shoes and hats dropped by the crowds as they fled for their lives. The sidewalk is covered in blood and there is also a pram without a child in it. |
Perspective
Six billion people on one planet. Eight planets around one star. 200 billion stars in one galaxy. 100 billion galaxies in one universe. (God knows how many universes in the multiverse.)
Humanity is dust within humility’s splendor.