Hamburg photos

A selection of photos from Hamburg are now online on picasaweb. The photos from the marathon are also there, unlisted, just ask me for the link.

Programming for music

I am currently working in my spare time on a web project for Roskilde Festival which I volunteered for through the Roskilde Festival homepage. In return, on top of the honour of having contributed to the smooth execution of the best music festival in Europe, I get a free ticket to the festival.

The festival has lots of positions for volunteers every year, you can find them by checking out their website under 'jobs'.

Photo courtesy: Roskilde Festival

Belief

When I was in New York over easter, a friend of mine there asked me: "Are you religious?" He himself being a catholic, he was interested in knowing what church I belonged to. When I answered him "No" he was very surprised. "So... what do you believe in?" he asked. I told him, as I will tell you now, that I believe in people; I believe that people are good.

Please ensure...

Please ensure that: - your date of birth isn't in the future.

Thanks to WTF.com

Female peacekeepers

The UN has deployed an all-female peacekeeping force in Liberia. The female contingent are from India's Central Reserve Police Force. The effect of the female soldiers seem to be less agression and tension in the areas they are observing. Apparently, women are better at combining the roles of soldier and social worker which is the essential combination for military on for a peace-keeping mission.

Read more: Military women as U.N. peacekeepers

Salsa Groupie

Since I started dancing L.A. style salsa (summer 2006) I have been a frequent visitor at the SalsaTipica parties and practice mondays. This easter I finally signed up for a course, so now I am an official SalsaTipica groupie. Not only does it give a discount at Tipica parties, but also other advantages, such as being part of the crowd cheering for Manoah and Femke at the Dutch Open Salsa Championships. Wish them success for the competition tonight!

Photo courtesy: Kati van Helden

First place

Once again my sister won a race. This time she won a half marathon (21km) beating her own best time with 7min. I am proud of you sis!

Photo courtesy: crop from Oveschneider.dk

A bientot Nola!

I wish you a nice trip to La Reunion. We all expect to see nice underwater photos soon. Do not forget to enjoy the chocolate...
See you again in August!

Photo courtesy: Marc Pelissier on Webshots.com

First driving lesson

Yesterday I had my first driving lesson. Cool!

Illustration courtesy: Dutch road signs by Pieter Jan

Lefthanded toons

Thanks to lefthandedtoons.com

560km traffic jam

Holland has a serious traffic problem. Too many people commute by car every day, leading to very dense traffic on the highway and frequent traffic jams. When the weather changes rapidly or turns bad, like in the winter, it is even worse. Yesterday, after one and a half month of no rain, the sky opened for a refreshing day of rain. The traffic was affected by this to a total of 560km of traffic jam in the morning, where there is usually 'only' 180km on a normal day. The 560km of trapped cars made it to the top ten of the worst traffic jams ever in Holland.

Read more: Topdrukte op wegen door regen
Photo courtesy: sandaigprimary.co.uk

New Center for Protein Research

In the news: The Novo Nordisk foundation has given a grant of 600 million Danish Kroner (approx 80,5 m) to the establishment of a new Danish centre for protein research. The new centre will be placed within the Panum Institute in Copenhagen. The first two scientific leaders of the centre have been appointed: Matthias Mann, a world leader in Mass Spec research, currently positioned at the Max Planck institute in Munich and Søren Brunak, the current leader of the bioinformatics facility CBS at DTU.

The Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research is now in the news worldwide. Read the article in Nature News.

Bevrijdingsfestival Wageningen

Only five days after the renowned Queensday celebration, there is another great public celebration in Holland, the liberation day. All over Holland, on May 5th, the Dutch celebrate the end of the German occupation during WW2.
One of the biggest events is the festival in Wageningen where the capitulation documents were signed. Here they transform the whole city to present live music of all sorts, from jazz to heavy to techno to world music. In the park they have artists performing clowns acts, acrobatics, capoiera, flamenco music and dance. My favourites this year were the enticing rhythms of the samba band, and the lively show of Grupo Azul!

Encounter in the dark

I got an unexpected visit from two friends (Allantech and Graffen) from Denmark. They informed me only last week that they would visit me this week from Tuesday to Thursday. What a pleasant surprise! I took the day of Wednesday, and we went sightseeing in Nijmegen.
One of the most interesting sights was not a sight at all: we went to the MuZIEuM to experience what it is like to be completely blind. Guided by Bart, we walked through an office, a back yard, a park, a marketplace and a cafe in complete darkness. Our only aids were our canes and the comforting voice and support of Bart. The experience 'opens your eyes' for another way of 'viewing the world', namely with your hearing, your sense of smell and subtle differences in touch and feel of things. I can really recommend this museum for future tourists in Nijmegen.

Visit the MuZIEuM online.