Pomodoro e Basilico

Apparently, some scientists are making serious plans to prevent Asteroids from hitting us. They must have realized that, let's face it, Bruce Willis is not getting any younger and that we should have alternatives ready for when Bruce hits 65. Think about it, I don't see Orlando Bloom saving Earth from certain destruction any time soon, do you? Too bad we don't take this opportunity serious enough to finally focus on real tractor beams, teleportation systems and what have you. I tell you, if the day comes that we are facing one of those giant rocks hurtling towards us and we end up sending a bunch of old (or young) astronauts to it in order to blast it out of harms way, I'm going to post a black square on this Blog to mourn the day science lost the battle. And of course, you'll all be able to buy little black sympathy ribbons from my online store. (I'll make sure to have one, before the asteroid hits) On a semi-by the way note, Bruce's web presence is ...

  Contrary to what some people will have you believe, the Katrina effects on New Orleans were to be expected in a way. Of course, after a tragedy of such scale it would be too easy to say '...told you so...', but still... Read the beginning of this article from National Geographic and then check out the date it was written... October 2004 . Almost eerie... Now let's see if history will teach us something...

What am I talking about? I'm talking about the future of wireless. Radio waves? Infrared? BlueTooth? Neh... old fashioned... Just use your hands. So here you are with a digital camera in your hand and you want to print a picture? Just touch the printer... Anyway, here 's the site of the company that is developing this new technology... Bring it on!!!

Classic stuff... How to get to the Sacre Coeur within 8 minutes... From the Champs Elysees... And the scary part is... I don't think (judging from the age of the cars that flash by) there's any digital editing involved. Just a guy with nerves of steel and possibly shit for brains. It might also come in handy if you're lost in Paris and only have your laptop with you... Okay, okay, the sound of the Ferrari engine has been added afterwards...

They must be fun... Look at what they do with their craters... Even though, or maybe even just because, they know we're watching them... Smile! You're on candid camera...

Never would have guessed, but apparently there are people that agree on (some) of the things I say. Not that they know that I say (some of) the things they agree on, but still, it's a start. Here's a little snippet from an article on Wired , written by... James Cameron, yes I know, he's the guy that did the Titanic flick... but that's not important right now. Let's focus on the deeper thoughts of the guy... The last time humans crossed space to a destination was the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. In the 32 years since, no man has seen, with his own eyes, Earth as that beautiful, solitary blue sphere, and - reality check - no woman has ever seen it at all. We've been only to low Earth orbit since 1972, and from that altitude of 220 miles, looking at the 7,900-mile-diameter Earth is like peering at a basketball with your cheek pressed against it. Yes, you'll see curvature, but you're not seeing the whole thing. We've spent 32 years "exploring space...

The sun was shining today, so I figured I'd take a picture of where I live. Forgot to zoom in though. Ah well... Yeah, I know, I'm lying... it's an old picture... from Nasa Just wanted to share the geeky coolness of satellite images. Seriously, when can we finally buy a ticket for the Space Shuttle? Shameless plug for Zenno

You know what... I have faith in progress again. Here I am sitting in the middle of Dublin Airport... Wifi! In Ireland! It's an amazing world after all. Furthermore I've found a revolutionizing concept being developed in, of all places, the Netherlands... The PALV is on its way!!! The thing can reach speeds of up to 200km/h, both in the air and on land. You need a 50m take off 'strip' to take off and you can land almost vertically. It takes regular 95/98 unleaded petrol and has an action radius of between 550 (air) and 600 (land) kilometres. Anyway, who cares about the figures. It can take me to work and more importantly back home again in under 5 minutes! Beautiful stuff... I want one. Want to read more? Visit Sparkdesign . And if you still haven't visited Zenno , then it's about time you did...  

Sometimes Blogging is not about giving information. Sometimes it's not even about ranting or raving. In highly exceptional circumstances it's not even about venting frustrations. And guess what, it may not even be about simply typing for the typing. Sometimes it's just about sharing a feeling. Holding your breath for a moment and adoring a new life... So here he is, my nephew Zenno . You know, miniature things do not have to resemble iPods to be really impressive.

Holiday time! Have looked forward to this for many a month. Away from dull, rainy Ireland for three weeks. Where to? The Sunshine State! Florida! Combined with 5 days of New Orleans the perfect way to forget about stress, houses, rain and other dreary topics... So here I am, blogging from a hotel room in St. Augustine Beach, Florida. Why am I not on the beach, you ask? A hurricane is visiting Florida too. So without exageration (and I've seen my share of rain in Ireland and The Netherlands) I can tell you that I've never ever seen so much rain in such a short amount of time. Literally, sheets of rain, or rather buckets full sweep by our hotel window. It's horizontal rain too, due to the wind. So how bad is it? Well, we're stuck. We're not in the center of the thing, so we don't see any rooftops flying by (yet) but we are seeing pieces of the hotel flying by occasionally. The hotel clerk advised us that it was only a tropical storm, so there was nothing to worry ...

Anyone remember all those stories we were told when we were kids about how progress would go faster and faster and how the industrial revolution started a process that would continue to amaze people? Well, I don't buy it. I have a different theory. Progress has stopped. Think about it. Give me good examples of inventions of let's say the last 10 years. Heck, I'll give you 20 years or even 30. New inventions. Not improvements of an existing concept. Of course I can see the difference between a Ford T and a Ford Focus or Taurus or whatever. That's not the point. What is really new? Think useful as well, don't give me the entire 'what the invention of particle splitters can do for you' nonsense... I'm thinking household, or office tools. Think ovens. Think hoovers, think fridges. Fridges, good one. My view... the only real improvement of the past 30 years would be that kids can't lock themselves in a fridge anymore without being able to give the door a ...