The majik of Thijs

Nut roast, roast potatoes and mixed vegetables

2011-12-22T23:35:00.002+01:00

This is a classic vegetarian alternatief to a roast, but you can also make it into individual cutlets. When I was growing up 'nut cutlets' was used to deride the diet of the woolly sock brigade (vegetarians). Now it's just about healthy and tasty eating.

Preparation 20 mins

Cooking time 40 mins

Serves 4 adults

What you need for the nut loaf:

175g mixed chopped nuts, (not too fine)

175g breadcrumbs

4-6 mushrooms, sliced

onion, garlic, flour, seasoning

About 100-150g (sweet) potatoes per person

Vegetables
One large carrot
2-3 sticks of celery
mixed seasonal mushrooms/toadstools
cherry tomatoes (halved)
oregano

Pre-warm the oven to 190°C. Place a large basting pan in the oven with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Scrub and chop the potatoes, hustle with the oil in the basting pan and season with crushed salt and black pepper. Leave enough room in the pan for the roast/cutlets. Put the potatoes in the oven, skin side down, and let them warm up with the oven. The potatoes will need about 40 minutes at temperature to get nice and soft.

Fruit an onion in olive oil. Add garlic and sliced mushrooms, cook until soft. Sprinkle a tablespoon of flour on top and stir well. Add 300ml of stock or water and bring to the boil, stirring continuously. Stir in the breadcrumbs and seasoning. Salt and pepper are just fine but you can add parsley or tarragon to bring out the nutty flavour. Fresh chives (or chilli pepper if you're really adventurous) give a bit of a kick. Feel free to experiment.

About the nuts: if you use a blender it makes a very fine powder which is great for Bakewell tart, but it makes the roast a bit stodgy. You can just elect to wrap the nuts in a tea towel and give them a good bashing with a rolling pin. Trust me, you'll feel great.

The mixture will start to go all gooey and stick together. Now it's time to decide whether you want cutlets or a loaf. If it's the loaf, lump the whole mixture together into a more or less loaf shaped mass. Coat the loaf evenly with flour on all sides. Stick it/them in the now warm oven with the potatoes. Roast the loaf for 40 minutes, basting occasionally.

If you've chosen cutlets, you might want to put them on a separate tray lined with baking paper. Shape the mixture into beef burger sized cutlets, about an inch thick (25mm). Coat them evenly on both sides with flour and give them a dab of oil on both sides so they don't dry out. The cutlets need about 25-30 minutes to cook, so now's the time to check on the spuds. If they're still hard and white, which is highly likely if the oven's only just got up to temperature, wait about 10 minutes and then shove the cutlets in.

The lovely thing about roast dinners is you get oodles of time to clear the decks and prepare the side dish. I've made it really easy with stir fried vegetables. Slice the veg (make the carrot nice and thin), get the oil nice and hot and add the veg in the following order: carrot, celery, oregano, 2 mins, mushrooms, 2 minutes, cherry tomatoes, 1 minute.

An alternative cooking method for families with small children. Cut the carrot a little thicker and soften them up with the celery in olive oil at low to moderate heat for 10 minutes or until soft. Turn the heat right up and add just a splash more oil before adding the mushrooms and cherry tomatoes as above.
Don't waste lots of money frying in extra virgin olive oil, save it for salads or on bread ie when you consume it straight from the bottle. I always use a blended olive oil for frying, especially at lower temperatures.
If you're going to really stir fry then you need to use sesame oil because it can reach higher temperatures before it starts to degrade. In that case olive oil is not suitable.

Serve with the roast/cutlets and a dry white wine. Enjoy!

Rudolf Steiner on the nature of life and the human Ego:

2011-12-16T13:14:00.002+01:00

" He who would make proposals as to the future must not content himself with a knowledge of life that merely touches life's surface: he must investigate its depths. Life in its entirety is like a plant. The plant contains not only what it offers to external life; it also holds a future state within its hidden depths. One who has before him a plant only just in leaf, knows very well that after some time there will be flowers and fruit also on the leaf-bearing stem. In its hidden depths the plant already contains the flowers and fruit in embryo; yet by mere investigation of what the plant now offers to external vision, how should one ever tell what these new organs will look like? This can only be told by one who has learnt to know the very nature and being of the plant.

So, too, the whole of human life contains within it the germs of its own future; but if we are to tell anything about this future, we must first penetrate into the hidden nature of the human being. And this our age is little inclined to do. It concerns itself with the things that appear on the surface, and thinks it is treading on unsafe ground if called upon to penetrate to what escapes external observation. In the case of the plant the matter is certainly more simple. We know that others like it have again and again borne fruit before. Human life is present only once; the flowers it will bear in the future have never yet been there. Yet they are present within man in the embryo, even as the flowers are present in a plant that is still only in leaf. And there is a possibility of saying something about man's future, if once we penetrate beneath the surface of human nature to its real essence and being. It is only when fertilised by this deep penetration into human life, that the various ideas of reform ...can become fruitful and practical."

"Now man possesses a fourth member of his being; and this fourth member he shares with no other earthly creature. It is the vehicle of the human ‘ I ,’ of the human Ego. The little word ‘ I ’ - as used, for example, in the English language - is a name essentially different from all other names. To anyone who ponders rightly on the nature of this name, there is opened up at once a way of approach to a perception of man's real nature. All other names can be applied, by all men equally, to the thing they designate. Everyone can call a table ‘table,’ and everyone can call a chair ‘chair’; but it is not so with the name ‘ I .’ No one can use this name to designate another. Each human being can only call himself ‘ I ’; the name ‘ I ’ can never reach my ear as a designation of myself. In designating himself as ‘ I ,’ man has to name himself within himself. A being who can say ‘ I ’ to himself is a world in himself. Those religions which are founded on spiritual knowledge have always had a feeling for this truth. Hence they have said: With the ‘ I ,’ the ‘God’ - who in the lower creatures reveals himself only from without, in the phenomena of the surrounding world - begins to speak from within. The vehicle of this faculty of saying ‘ I ,’ of the Ego-faculty, is the ‘Body of the Ego,’ the fourth member of the human being."

What Steiner is saying is that whilst the concept or principle of a plant is apparent and present in every example of the sort, each human being is a concept or principle in himself and this is separate from his adherence to the general concept of a human being. In contrast to the idea of an omnipotent and external force (or God) acting upon him, each man who has come to know his real nature has the power over himself and the ability to guide his own actions.

Adapt: why success always starts with failure - a review

2011-12-16T12:35:00.001+01:00

This book, which has been described as groundbreaking, actually boils to down to a set of rules for dealing with complex problems defined by a Russian engineer at the turn of the 20th Century. His name was Peter Palchinsky and he was inspired by the failure of the burgeoning Communist rulers of the time to address severe industrial problems. He came up with three principles for successfully dealing with complex problems, specifically ones in which people are involved and which can change (or evolve) in response to circumstances:

1) Seek out new ideas and try out new things
2) When trying out new things, do so on a scale that makes failure survivable
3) Seek out feedback and learn from your mistakes on the way

The first and the third principle are relatively self explanatory, though the apparent simplicity can be deceptive. In general though, new ideas and feedback are things that allow themselves to be found if you look hard enough. So we turn to the the second of the principles; making failure survivable. The best way to safeguard this is to ensure that the failure is not catastrophic. The characteristics of a system that lead to catastrophic are: complex and tightly-coupled.

A complex system can be defined as any system where the link between input and output does not follow an obvious pattern of cause and effect. Drop a pen from the table and it falls to the floor. Use that same pen to write a scathing letter about (insert your favourite rant here) to the newspaper and you can't predict what will happen. Maybe the letter will get published, strike a chord and start off a chain reaction; it could just as likely end up in the editor's wastepaper basket.

The definition of a tightly-coupled system is one in which it is extremely difficult or impossible to stop the process once it has been started. Mix flour, yeast and water together and pretty soon it will begin to rise.

So how do you prevent complex, tightly coupled systems descending into catastrophe? Well, decoupling is one way. The best example given in the book is the domino rally where millions (the world record stands at almost 5million) of dominoes are lined up. The system is indeed complex and tightly coupled and in fact designed to fail: once the first domino falls, the intention is that all the dominoes fall. The problem is that you don't want them to fall over by accident, so they build in removable safety gates. That way if one section gets accidentally knocked over, the loss is contained to a few tens of thousands of dominoes, which while not being exactly painless, is still survivable.

So now we know about failure, or rather how to make failure survivable; what about success? Harford then shows us a curious anomaly about successful companies; they tend to fade away when new technologies supplant them. The reason is that they are so focused on developing and delivering existing technology to existing customers that they are not responsive to the itch caused by the small numbers of customers demanding new technologies. A telling example is Kodak who were a major producer of film photography consumables. When digital cameras came along they were at first largely ignored due to the image superiority achieved with film; my first digital camera bought in 1999 managed 1 megapixel. Now a little over ten years later almost no-one buys film anymore;, Kodak went out of business along with Polaroid. These companies had their eye on the ball, but the game changed. The ultimate irony is that film photography has now become a niche market.

This leads me on to a conclusion that wasn't really made in Harford's book. Peter Drucker concluded that a company has only two aims and no more than two: to create and exploit markets in which to sell their products and to innovate. Adding this to Harford's story I would conclude that companies (in particular) need to expend energy in invention and refinement of existing products and markets, but also in innovation in seeking out new markets and new products and technologies. This satisfies both of Drucker's criteria; the Palchinsky principles give us the framework in which to carry out both invention and innovation.

Butternut squash with walnut, mushroom and blue cheese filling, recipe courtesy of @Mrs_Gorman

2011-09-19T16:04:00.009+02:00

Got this recipe on twitter from Bethan Gorman. She is in the soon-to-be world famous band Louise and the Pins. She very generously shared this recipe with me and I set about making it. The instructions via twitter were, as would be expected from that medium, sparse but functional:

@Mrs_Gorman
@majikthijs Of course! Cut a butternut squash in half & roast it until tender (45 mins approx). While it's cooking fry some mushrooms in ...

@Mrs_Gorman
@majikthijs garlic & butter. Then put them in a bowl chopped
up with blue cheese and walnuts. Mix well. Then top your butternut squash with

@Mrs_Gorman
@majikthijs the mixture & put back in the oven for about 5 mins till the cheese melts. You can add a little honey if you like things sweet.

@Mrs_Gorman
@majikthijs Serve with a salad. x

Needless to say, I heeded the instructions and the result is shown for all to see. The photo elicited the following response from @Mrs_Gorman.

@Mrs_Gorman
@majikthijs Hurray! That looks ace. Nice bit of food photography there too. ps. I'm so proud.

So, besides being a great singer and all-round nice person, she can also cook. To prove it she's writing a cookbook in "Louise and the Pins" style (i.e. 1950s).

So, how did I get from those instructions to the culinary masterpiece depicted? Well it was actually very easy. The recipe is quite intuitive and there's not much else to do. The only thing missing are amounts, but that varies from person to person.

In general I would start with a butternut squash of around 250g per person, 300g per person for 'normal' pumpkin. This is because the cavity of a round pumpkin is larger than a squash and is full of seeds which will most likely be discarded. I hollowed out the squash a little bit to make a bigger cavity for the filling and put the flesh in with the cheese and mushrooms.

You'll also need about 100-150g of filling per person to make it a good main meal and you should divide that more or less equally between the mushrooms, walnuts and blue-cheese. You obviously don't count the carved out squash/pumpkin here because you've already taken it into consideration elsewhere.

Roasting root vegetables makes them sweet enough without adding honey, so I would only do that if you're adding really strong cheese. Goat's cheese works just as well, as does a good Brie, if you don't like blue cheese.

I roasted the pumpkin at 190°C in an electric fan oven (200°C without the fan) and it was nice and tender after 45 mins. Any warmer and it would have burned. I put the oven up to maximum (225°C) for melting the cheese. That way the cheese melts very quickly without overdoing the pumpkin and you can bake a part-baked baguette/ ciabatta at the same time.

So, thanks again to Bethan Gorman for this delicious recipe. Can't wait for the book!

Bastiaan: redder in nood

2011-09-01T20:13:00.003+02:00

Bastiaan haastte zich. Hij wist niet precies waarheen, hij volgde zijn instincten. Hij moest er snel komen, want er wachtte er iemand op hem. De weg oversteken, en door het gangetje tussen twee gebouwen; ja, dat klopt. Hij was op de goede weg; nog even en dan zou hij er zijn. Hij nam één vertraagde stap om zo zich van binnen te kunnen voelen; en dan weer vooruit. Met dit tempo zou hij er wel op tijd komen. Hij naderde de grote weg weer, zijn hart bonsde met de moeite, want het was druk.

Hij haatte de menigte die zich zo moeilijk en weg erdoorheen liet banen. Wat zijn die mensen sloom, dacht hij, even boos; ze verdienen het niet om gered te worden. Hij betrapte zich op zijn meedogenloosheid; daarom moest hij dit rotleven leiden, anders zou hij in de hel belanden. Hij was zijn focus kwijt en daardoor was hij langzamer gaan lopen. Hup, schiet op, anders kom je te laat, berispte hij zich. Hij kwam bij de ingang van een winkelcentrum; misschien kon hij er doorheen steken, het was korter, maar er waren wel meer mensen. Geen tijd om te dubben, doorheen en rennen.

Hij kon makkelijk een weg vrij maken door zich groot te maken, recht op zijn doel kijken en gaan. De mensen voelden hem aankomen, stapten onbewust voor hem opzij. Hij lachte hen uit, tevreden met zijn goochelarij, of was het psychologie? Eenmaal weer buiten was hij veel dichterbij zijn doel, hij bleef rennen, zijn hart bonsde van de inspanning, met zijn levenskracht. Zijn doel was nu bijna in zicht; nog geen honderd meter verder op, de hoek om aan de andere kant van de grote weg; daar was zijn rendez-vous.

Hij naderde de hoek van de straat, zag weinig verkeer en vloog over de weg. Meeeeeeeeppppp! Hij keek achter zich naar de auto die hem nauwelijks had gemist. Hij zag, alsof in een vertraging, hoe die auto op de stoep was gemonteerd, recht op een jong stel met kinderwagen af. In een reflex gooide de man zijn vrouw en kind opzij, maar werd vol aan geraakt en belandde hij op de motorkap.

De auto kwam tot stilstand en daarmee ook de hele wereld. Behalve Bastiaan. Hij spoedde zich daarheen; hij kon niet wachten tot iedereen weer bij kwam. Hij was net op tijd de ziel van de man uit zijn gebroken lichaam te zien stijgen. Bastiaan keek hem recht in zijn pas overleden ogen en zei, 'Ben jij Martin van Outenbosch?' De man knikte, verbaasd. 'Hoe weet je dat? Ben ik dood? Hoe kun je mij dan zien?'

Bastiaan ontweek die vragen met het antwoord, 'Je bent een held Martin; je hebt je opgeofferd om je gezin te redden. Ze zullen je altijd dankbaar zijn en ze zullen je nooit vergeten. Maar nu moet je ze vaarwel zeggen, want jouw tijd is voorbij. Ik heet Bastiaan en ik ben hier om jou te redden; loop maar mee.'

Devanand and Krista got married

2011-06-05T22:29:00.001+02:00

See the full gallery on Posterous

My very good friends got married recently and they threw a party this weekend at the http://www.landgut-strumpffabrik.de in Kerpen, Germany. This is a beautifully renovated sock factory (built by Hitler for training house-servants for the new elite). The Dutch couple who own it (Erwin and Kiki) are friends of Krista and they made us feel like guests in their house.

Highlight for me was accompanying Krista on guitar and vocals during a small ceremony to celebrate the wedding. Kiki came up with the idea on Saturday afternoon and provided a guitar and music. Krista and I rehearsed 'feel my love' (Bob Dylan / Adele) for about an hour until we got it off-pat. It sounded pretty good due to our complimentary voices and Devanand was as much moved as surprised when we performed. The guests all stood in a ring around the couple, Krista sang and they both received flowers and good wishes from everyone. It's times like these that I'm really glad I can play music :)

Lefty loosey, righty tighty...

2011-06-03T02:25:00.001+02:00

I left this post in answer to @RichardWiseman's request for favourite mnemonics (aid to memory - ezelbrug);

@ddunbar @RichardWiseman #mnemonic 'lefty loosey, righty tighty' good 4 explaining 2 less technically endowed how to un/tighten screws/nuts

My first thought was that the mnemonic was generally applicable in all cases where a right hand thread is used, which is by far and away the most common. In some cases a left hand thread is used when the natural motion of the joint is anti-clockwise (as in the case of the pedal on the left-side of the bicycle) and would lead to loosening of the joint. Ok, exception number one found and agreed upon.

But is that the only exception I asked myself, and why? Well the answer is simple, but as always in these cases, took me some time to arrive at due to my natural bias: as a right-handed person. In most cases where I would have to turn something to loosen or tighten it, I would place my right-hand thus that the natural turning motion of my hand to give maximum torque would always lead me to turn my hand to the left in loosening operations, and to the the right during tightening. The default spanner position and point of view plays no part in it, because to do the opposite would force me to put my hand in an unnatural position i.e. upside down and that would also mean that I would not be able to exert maximum torque. Job done, so I thought; but then I realised that this is only valid for right-handed people and for left-handed people it would be exactly the opposite. So there you have it, exception number two.

So, lefty loosey, righty tighty is valid for right handed people and right-handed threads. Still, you have to admit that as a mnemonic it did its job superbly...

How our sun got born

2011-04-17T22:40:00.004+02:00

The first Wonders series was re-run on BBC2 this week. I didn't catch it the first time round, but my mind-boggling respect for the second series meant I just had to watch the first. Due to the time difference Wonders of the solar system was broadcast at a hideously late hour, thus necessitating recording (which I was planning on doing regardless of the time) Anyway, I watched the first episode and there it was: the answer to my question about the birth of our sun. And that's why I love physics... classic tv moment of the decade, by the way; even better than the total solar eclipse.

What do you know? It was a swirling cloud of matter just hanging around in our part of the galaxy waiting until things starting getting heavy enough for gravity to do its thang. After that it was just a case of 'we have ignition!' and the lights go on for the next 10 billion years. Glad I'm not paying that celestial electric bill.

So it's a big thank you to @ProfBrianCox for answering my question before I even knew I was going to ask it. Who says Brian Cox doesn't know everything? Top bloke, even if he is an uncaged northern monkey.

Nuclear waste

2011-04-07T00:34:00.005+02:00

Got a bit of a bee in my bonnet about this one. On the one hand, something intuitively tells me that nuclear waste is not completely kosher; I mean how can we be sure that all the waste we are generating can be stored safely for generations, nay hundreds of generations, to come? On the other hand, I want to base my decisions and thinking on objective observations and measurements, insofar that is possible. Coupling this to good theory, the laws of physics and our engineering capability is the basis of science. If we are to emerge from the dark ages of nuclear campaigning, we have to know not only what the facts are, but also what they mean.

So, I'm on a crusade to find out the following information on nuclear waste:
1) how much nuclear waste is produced by a nuclear power plant in a) one year and b) its entire life time?
2) what types of waste are there and how much of each type is generated?
3) what is the radioactivity of each type of waste and how does that change with time: for example iodine isotopes are intensely radioactive but have a short half-life, whereas plutonium is not so radioactive but has a very long half-life (thousands of years). The problem is, how long does the plutonium remain harmful to humans and how do we define that?
4) what are the safe long and short-term exposure limits for different types of radiation (alpha, beta and gamma) and what is the effect of over-exposure in the short and long term.
5) are there any ways of shortening half-lives or treating radiation sickness (apart from the iodine tablets necessary to combat exposure to iodine-131
6) what is the environmental impact of producing the fuel eg. CO2 generated by uranium production when compared to savings on the generation side

This site is a good place to start, so I'm gonna try to glean the information I need and post it here. There are a couple of other good sites: one from the US.NRC and another from a bunch of physicists, if I can find it again.

I think I should nail my colours to the mast (if I hadn't already) by saying that I am a nuclear sceptic, but open-minded about the investigating the facts. I might get tempted to cherry pick, but I won't mind too much if that gets pointed out.

Lefty loosey, righty tighty...

2011-03-31T09:32:00.004+02:00

I left this post in answer to @RichardWiseman's request for favourite mnemonics (aid to memory - ezelbrug);

@ddunbar @RichardWiseman #mnemonic 'lefty loosey, righty tighty' good 4 explaining 2 less technically endowed how to un/tighten screws/nuts

@ddunbar had posted the lefty loosey, righty tighty bit as a mnemonic for prop positions in Rugby football, and that reminded me of the excellent mnemonic for unscrewing jars, screws, nuts etc. I got a whole bunch of comments about how it should really be clockwise or anti-clockwise, or is dependent on spanner position or viewpoint and that got me thinking about the general applicability of the advice.

My first thought was that the mnemonic was generally applicable in all cases where a right hand thread is used, which is by far and away the most common. In some cases a left hand thread is used when the natural motion of the joint is anti-clockwise (as in the case of the pedal on the left-side of the bicycle) and would lead to loosening of the joint. Ok, exception number one found and agreed upon.

But is that the only exception I asked myself, and why? Well the answer is simple, but as always in these cases, took me some time to arrive at due to my natural bias: as a right-handed person. In most cases where I would have to turn something to loosen or tighten it, I would place my right-hand thus that the natural turning motion of my hand to give maximum torque would always lead me to turn my hand to the left in loosening operations, and to the the right during tightening. The default spanner position and point of view plays no part in it, because to do the opposite would force me to put my hand in an unnatural position i.e. upside down and that would also mean that I would not be able to exert maximum torque. Job done, so I thought; but then I realised that this is only valid for right-handed people and for left-handed people it would be exactly the opposite. So there you have it, exception number two.

So, lefty loosey, righty tighty is valid for right handed people and right-handed threads. Still, you have to admit that as a mnemonic it did its job superbly...

Schoon genoeg van kern energie?

2011-03-30T10:56:00.003+02:00

Zo ja, dan volg de link naar de website een laat je naam achter. Greenpeace is met een actie begonnen tegen uitbreiding van kernenergie in Nederland. Er is een landelijke manifestatie gepland op 16 april om te protesteren tegen nieuwe kerncentrales. We moeten ons goed beseffen dat we bezig zijn met het maken van radioactief afval dat nog schadelijk is tot in de lengte der jaren. Op dit moment is het zo dat kernafval nog 10,000 jaar schadelijk blijft voor de gezondheid, er van uit gaande van de minst strenge schattingen over schadelijkheid (US Environmental Protection Agency)¹. In Europa zijn de normen strenger, wat als gevolg heeft dat kernafval bijna 1 MILJOEN jaar schadelijk geacht wordt.

Dit feit, gekoppeld met het feit dat het ontwerpen en bouwen van een kerncentrale minimaal 10 jaar nodig heeft en bijna altijd door de overheid gefinancierd moet worden ivm het afbreukrisico, geeft mij niet echt een goed gevoel voor de houdbaarheid van het concept. Of liever, ik geef mijn geld eerder uit aan een innovatieve energieoplossing die mij binnen een aantal jaren weer rendement gaat opleveren en waarvan ik weet dat de kosten van de opruiming niet gaat uitsmeren over een periode die gelijk is aan de hele mensengeschiedenis tot nu toe.

Maar dat is niet de enige oplossing; wij als consumenten moeten ook verantwoordelijkheid nemen voor de energie die wij gebruiken. We moeten ook kritischer zijn in het kiezen voor schonere goederen, minder vliegvakanties nemen, vaker de trein of fiets ipv de auto nemen, minder vlees eten en minder etensresten weg gooien. Als iedereen 10% direct minder energie verbruikt dan zijn we heel goed onderweg naar CO2 reductie. Doe je televisie (of je computer) uit en ga appelmoes maken, of kippensoep met de resten van de geroosterde kip. Speel een bordspel met je kinderen of ga vrijen met je partner of een willekeurig iemand. Word je nog blij van ook!

¹ Vandenbosch, Robert, and Susanne E. Vandenbosch. 2007. Nuclear waste stalemate. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 248

How did our sun get born? An open question to @ProfBrianCox

2011-03-28T13:16:00.006+02:00

I still have one burning question after watching wonders of the universe, which is: how did OUR sun get born? In the third episode, you explained how the elements were formed in progressively larger stars in a cycle of fusion, expansion, exhaustion, contraction and re-ignition. Iron is finally produced in the death throes when all the available fuel is spent, thereby allowing gravity to do its work. Since, according to NASA, our sun is made up of fractions of a percent of iron and other elements, excluding hydrogen and helium, it must therefore have been produced from the matter of a dying giant star. Is that correct so far? If so, and all of the hydrogen and helium were expended, how or where did our sun acquire new fuel and ignition for further fusion?

Furthermore, iron appears in the first third of the periodic table of elements, so how did the heavier elements get produced after the death of the star?

OK I admit, strictly it's more than one question, but they all address the same issue. Cool programme by the way, it's only a shame that we can't get the iPlayer in the Netherlands which means I can't get to see Wonders of the solar system until it repeats or gets sent out over here. Or is the DVD already out?

De lente is er weer

2011-03-20T21:55:00.005+01:00

De stralende zon duldt geen lelijkheid:
hij glinstert op zwevende spinnenrag,
maar hij laat mijn stoffige ramen zich schamen.

Als een ongeduldige minnares,
maakt de lente haar entree
met oogverblindende schoonheid

Alle donkere hoeken
die maanden in verlegenheid rustten
worden genadeloos bloot gesteld

The closure dyke

2010-07-30T22:44:00.001+02:00

or (in Dutch) de afsluitdijk. Built in the 1920's and 30's to a design by Cornelis Lely, this 30km long dyke sealed off the former zuiderzee and created the rather impressive IJsselmeer. And we cycled across it today!

I'm dreaming...

2009-12-25T12:01:00.000+01:00

... of a White Christmas.

turns out dreams do come true.

Kiran is potty

2009-08-12T16:58:00.005+02:00

Progress has been made in the potty training stakes. Kiran sat himself on the potty today, after pulling his own pants down, and did a pee. For all of you without children you won't know what an achievement this is. For those of you with older children, remember what it was like when you didn't have to cart nappies around with you everywhere. Yippeeee, freedom from the crappy changing facilities at just about every public place in the known universe.

I am very happy, oh yes I am, and proud of my son...

Am I paranoid, or are they really out to get me...?-

2009-08-11T21:53:00.004+02:00

I'm having a bad hair day today. It's one of those days when nothing seems to go right and I start to understand how Marvin felt: brain the size of a planet and all they want me to do is to go the docking bay to pick up the hitch-hikers..........

It started off with a flat tyre on the car. I changed the wheel, drove to the garage to blow it back up and put it back on. It doesn't appear to have gone back down yet, so that means some little b@#%trd let my tyre down. I don't know if that's worse than it being punctured....

Then I met my new boss and I felt a bit of a twat because it appears that I didn't go the right university. Aaaaarggghhhh, ever get the feeling that the decisions you made for an easy life when you were young come back to bite you when you're older? Well, today it happened to me and it wasn't the most pleasant experience I ever had I can tell you.

Finally, I drove by the Appie Heijn (supermarket) on my way home to buy some food and found out that it had been burned out. Bummer. Two kids in the garage playing with fire, gets out of hand and the whole place is smoked out. Probably the same little gits who let my tyre down.

No sex please we're British

2009-05-02T15:06:00.000+02:00

It appears that sex in the changing rooms is not unheard of in Amsterdam!

Double rainbow on the Amsterdamse Rijnkanaal

2008-10-01T17:26:00.002+02:00

Dead Renault

2008-09-09T15:00:00.000+02:00

I spotted this unintentionally funny poster at Schiphol airport. Bang bang, you're dead!

Another year bites the dust.

2008-08-22T08:55:00.001+02:00

38 years young today. The magic mrs majik brought me this fantastic breakfast in bed. Happy birthday to me.

Kiran gets tubby

2008-08-13T21:29:00.001+02:00

On our hols at the mo, camping in the camargue. Conditions are cramped, as you can see!

A garage by any other name...

2008-08-09T08:07:00.000+02:00

...is the barn where I parked the car avec velos on the first leg of our journey down to the sun.

Rocking monk

2008-07-18T22:10:00.007+02:00

Now this is the craziest thing I have heard for a long time. Listening to the radio (in Dutch) I heard about this Capuchin monk, brother Cesare Bonizzi, who is a grey haired, bearded 62 year old frontman for a heavy metal band. Infected by Metallica, he started up the band which has now produced two albums. Sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll!!

(Well, not sex obviously because he's still a monk)

Wanna buy a house in Den Bosch?

2008-07-18T21:52:00.001+02:00

In moving to Amsterdam, my house in Den Bosch became empty. I rented it out for a little while to test the market and to get settled in in the new life, but now that my tenants have moved out I have decided to sell the house. It's a beautiful apartment, right in the city centre. You'll love it.

There is a dutch language advertisment on Funda, see here. Otherwise you can mail me at majikthijs@gmail.com.

Everything must go!

La Mer - Charles Trénet

2008-07-18T21:29:00.001+02:00

My humble office

2008-07-18T08:43:00.000+02:00

This is where I spend my days. Tidy isn't it?

Kiran at the beach

2008-06-15T12:30:00.000+02:00

Kiran on YouTube

2007-04-30T11:36:00.000+02:00

Kiran is walking (with some help). I captured this video this morning (Queen's Day) and now it's on YouTube. Hello world!

Google: don't be evil

2006-07-21T18:22:00.000+02:00

Google has shown its true colours and, like so many before, have abandoned the noble principles upon which they were founded in favour of market share and dividend. I am talking, of course about the search engine supplied by Google to China which supports the restriction of searches for information which is censored by the Chinese Government. I don't get wound up by many things, but hypocrisy is one of them. A company which purports itself to be based on noble precepts should stick to them. Google does not have the responsibility to ensure that information gets on to the web, but it does have the responsibility as a search engine to be able to find what is there. The whole idea of Google is that if the page is deemed important by other web users, then the page will get on top of the rankings. If one of these pages happens to be censored by the Chinese government, then the Chinese will be closed off from what everyone else apparently finds incredibly important.

So, follow the link, read about what Google are doing. Go ahead and cut and paste the letter to Eric Schmidt (Google's CEO) and send it. It will take you a few moments and cost you one sheet of A4 paper, a bit of ink and less than one euro postage (€0.81 to be exact). Ironically the link has a page rank of 6. I wonder if the Chinese will be getting it; probably not if Google has anything to do with it.

Furthermore, I realise that I am also being a hypocrite, using a Google based blog site and also Google ads, so I will shortly be migrating to another blog site; the ads, as you can see, have already been removed.

Want to investigate the paranormal?

2006-07-05T23:28:00.000+02:00

I found this website whilst trawling this evening. It is a link from a link from somewhere on the BBC website, tucked away in a corner that they don't want you to know about, lest you stop taking them seriously. Anyway, the website is devoted to scientific research of paranormal activity and here's the killer....they're recruiting. So, if you fancy a crack at Zuul, the gatekeeper or the Pillsbury dough boy, then get over there and sign up.

ps. for those of you who don't know who Zuul et al are, you're probably not old enough to apply. Ask your dad about it, or better still, show him the website.

AdSense

2006-06-24T00:05:00.000+02:00

Ok, in a brazen attempt to eek some money out of the internet, I have allowed Google to pollute this blog with a bit of AdSense. That means that if you click on the adverts on this page, I get paid for it. You don't even have to buy anything. Go on, you're probably only wasting your bosses time anyway, so you might as well reward me for allowing you to waste even more of it. Or, if you're at home and still using Windows Exploder as a web-browser, then use the link in the sidebar to download Firefox for free. I use Firefox myself (and its companion Thunderbird which is a step up from Outlook 2003). Support open source software (and me) and download Firefox and install it on your computer. For my Dutch fans, you can download the software in Dutch too and there are lots of cool features, like pop-up blocker, tabbed browsing, password manager and generally looking cool and groovy. And it costs absolutely NOTHING AT ALL! What a bargain.

Kunstschatten langs de pelgrimsroute

2006-06-16T00:47:00.000+02:00

This is the website of a friend of mine (in the Dutch language) about a trip to the Burgundy region of France. The trip is basically a rambling holiday, based at a converted windmill. The twist of the trip is that the walks are based around important sites on the Pilgrim route (the one that eventually leads to Santiago di Compostella). The photo on the front page was taken by yours truly...

A child is born

2006-06-12T14:43:00.000+02:00

Nice one, my son!

After nine months of tense waiting, we finally got to meet the inhabitant of Mrs. M’s tummy. Kiran made his appearance on 7th June at around a quarter to two in the afternoon. He weighed in at 3040g and was 45 cm long (about 6lbs 11oz weight and 18 inches long for those still on the imperial system).

We called him Kiran James. Kiran is derived from the Irish name Ciârn (pronounced Kieran) meaning dark or darkness. Since absolutely no-one in Holland would be able to make head-or-tails from the spelling, we decided upon a spelling of a similar Sanskrit name, Kiran, meaning sunbeam (ergo light). The combination of light and dark, yin and yang in the name really appealed to us and, if I'm honest, one of the reasons I was hoping for a boy. Mrs. M chose James because she thinks it is a very English name and she is, of course, in love with all things English including yours truly.

Ring thing

2006-05-23T12:01:00.001+02:00

Further to the previous post, I realised that my ring was, in fact, too big. It must have been the warm weather making my fingers bloat out (or perhaps just my big bones) but the ring just get slipping down my finger. This is really annoying when you're typing I can tell you. I was changing the quilt cover and nearly shook the damn thing off my finger completely. So, I went back to the studio where I bought it and told my tale of woe. The owner told me that it was not possible to make it smaller beacuse of the design, so he offered to make me a NEW one!!!! The old one was not so badly worn and could be polished up and put back in the display cabinet. I was flabbergasted. Is that service or what? It is a little bit of a shame that I had to give back the ring that I wore on my wedding day, but at least the new one will fit better. I only hope for Mrs. M's sake that this is not an omen for the marriage. I think not!

A married man

2006-05-20T22:56:00.000+02:00

Well, here I am, almost a dad and now a married man. We got officially married on the 10th of May. We bought rings from a goldsmith in Amsterdam. The name of the studio is Studio Matrix and it is located in the Prinseneiland neighbourhood, just to the north-east of Amsterdam central station. We had been there a few years ago during an open studio weekend. The area in question is home to quite a high concentration of artists and once a year they open their studios to the public. We went to look at the jewellery in this studio and I was so taken with the designs I started to ask the smith about his colouring technique. The majority of the jewellery contained titanium and having worked with this material in my Master's thesis, I was intrigued at how he had achieved such beautiful results.

I decided then that I wanted to buy a wedding ring from him one day, so when we decided to get married, I immediately thought of the studio and we went there on the Saturday before the wedding to choose a ring. Strangely enough we decided on more or less the same ring. I knew straight away which one I wanted, but Mrs. M wasn't so sure. After a while she tried on the one I had, (which of course was miles too big), but she liked it. After a bit of 'hmm'ing and 'aah'ing she asked if he could make a ring in her size before the wedding. He could and only three days later Mrs. M picked up the rings which we were to give one another the following day.

If you are in Amsterdam (or in the vicinity) and you want unique jewellery at a reasonable price, you would do well to look up Studio Matrix. The smith is a very modest man in the best sense of the word. He didn't rush us, was very supportive and critical in our choices and was also very accommodating in making a ring more or less to Mrs. M's specification.

It's been a long time

2006-05-20T22:42:00.000+02:00

Hello to all my devoted readers, and you dad. A lot of “important things” have been happening lately, not least of which is getting a new job as a failure investigator. This is a sort of detective for when things go bump in the night, as it were. The general gist is that when things go wrong, there is almost always a reason and people pay good money to find out exactly what that reason is so they can prevent it from happening again, or at the very least try to catch it more quickly the next time before it goes bump (crash, wallop and other nocturnal noises) in the night.

So what, I hear you cry in unison (not difficult for my single reader)? Well, I am learning a lot of new tricks for ‘the field’ and I want to store them somewhere (not just in my head) and I had the idea to share them with the world, along with the other assorted rubbish which clutters up my mind from time to time.

To whet your appetite, here is the first tip for identifying nylon with no more than a paper clip, a cigarette lighter and an olfactory aptitude (your sense of smell).

Take the paper clip and unfold so that there is at least one pointy end. Heat the pointy end with the cigarette lighter until it is nice and hot (half a minute or so should do). Stick it in the bit of plastic you want to identify and if it is hot enough it should be quite easy. Take the pointy bit out again and there will be a bit of the plastic (for the purists, polymer) stuck to the paper clip. Burn this bit of plastic with the cigarette lighter. If it is nylon then it will smell like burning hair.

Admittedly you have to suspect that what you’re dealing with is nylon in the first place and not something else, like hair for example. Nylon is often used for linings and bearings where metal surfaces rub over one another. It is hard and translucent white (a bit like polyethylene). It is also used as a base material for tights (stockings) but I would advise against trying it out on those beacuse the person wearing them might not be too happy at having you stick a hot pin into her leg.

The majik inner world!

2006-01-20T10:56:00.000+01:00

So, this is the scan at twelve weeks (almost two months ago now actually) and things are looking normal. It was such a relief to hear that the risk of Down's syndrome was very low. We are getting used to the fact that there is a baby on the way and there are definite changes to Mrs. M's tummy.

We went to the haptonomist last night for pregnancy classes and I have to say it was an intimate experience. Haptonomy is the art of healing by touch. The idea is that where the hands go, the attention goes there too and that way a lot of tensions in the body can be released. These tensions can be in the form of painful experiences and traumas from one's youth or from the present stressful way of life. In any case, the pregnancy class consisted of getting in touch (literally) with mother and, more specifically, baby. It was difficult to feel anything at first because the baby is still very small and I wasn't sure what I should feel, but after a few moments and with the guidance of the haptonomist, I was in contact with this new life inside.

We have another scan next week, and this time I'll post the pics a lot quicker.

Out of this world

2006-01-20T10:44:00.002+01:00

Send your blog into space (at least that's what they're advertising). This is a free sevice that since this morning is apparently streaming the content of this blog into outer space! You can see this on the sidebar on the left which I think is pretty cool with it's knight rider type display. (A child of the eighties, how very sad).

Who knows, maybe one day I'll get contacted by intelligent life. I know the chances are slim given the sub-intellectual content of this blog, but one lives in hope. ;)

Update on the baby situation

2005-12-02T11:41:00.000+01:00

Ok, breathes a sigh of relief. Measurement of the neck folds have indicated a chance of Down's syndrome of less than 1 in 500. Considering that the 'normal' risk for woman of Mrs M's age is 1 in 52, that's a pretty big difference. It is actually the same 'normal' risk for a woman 10 years younger, so that is a pretty positive sign. All other growth signs are normal, the baby is floating about just fine and is starting to really look human, with a little face and hands and stuff. Funnily enough, I got a very strange premonition when I looked at the scan that it is a boy, but actually I don't mind either way.

Buddha reincarnated?

2005-11-24T19:59:00.001+01:00

A 15 year old Nepalese boy, Ram Bahadur Bamjan, is being hailed as the reincarnation of Guatama Siddharta (the historical Buddha). The boy has been seated under a pipal tree for the last six months, reputedly without food or water.

The popularity of the phenomenon is due to the resemblance to an episode in the life of the historical Buddha, who was born 160 miles away around 543 BC. The Buddha achieved enlightenment when he meditated beneath a sacred pipal tree for 49 days.

Although the boy is reported to have been sitting in the lotus position since 17th May this year, the local police doubt the veracity of the story and a team is investigating the possibility that someone could survive for such a long time with no food and water. Local doctors failed to reach a final conclusion, although they were allowed no closer than five yards from the boy mystic, declaring that they could confirm no more than that he was alive.

It's a kind of Majik

2005-11-09T10:17:00.000+01:00

NEWS FLASH:
There have certainly been a lot of changes in the Majik world recently. Firstly, Majik is going to be a dad. The picture on the left is the first photograph of the life growing inside Mrs. Majik as we speak. The picture is a little out of date (there has been one more scan since then), but this was the scan where the heartbeat was observed for the first time. I was, unfortunately not present during this scan, but I was present for the second one. It was quite the most amazing experience of my whole life so far, to see the heartbeat of this small being, strong and steady on the screen. S/he had tripled in length in two weeks' time and it was possible to make out definite features such as the split in the scalp, the brain, the cartilage for the nose and tiny protrusions for the arms and legs. Standing there in wonder, looking at our creation, I was amazed to see the baby actually move as if saying, 'hello dad'. It was indeed a 'moving' experience.

The next scan is on Friday and that is really a watershed. It may be necessary to perform an amniocentesis (removal of some of the amniotic fluid surrounding the baby in the womb) in order to check for Down's syndrome. First they will take measurements of the ratio of head to neck size and combine this with results from blood tests and other info to determine the risk of Down's. If this risk is above a certain level (more than 1 in 150, I believe) then we will most certainly be advised to do further definitive testing. I am not sure at the moment how I will react to this news. On the one hand, I am fairly sure that we will keep the child no matter what, but it will still be a big blow. I think it is not difficult to love a Down's child, but I have heard that the problems come later in life with aggressive and even violent behaviour, especially in puberty. Furthermore, such a child would need care for his/her whole life and that means that when we are no longer around, the care will pass to another, as yet unknowing, party.

I have also moved to Amsterdam for the time being and depending on the job situation, I may take up permanent residence in or around the Dutch capital city. I love Amsterdam and not for the reasons for which this city is most (in)famous. It is a truly vibrant city and walking along the grachten (canals) always gives me a feeling of being at home, of belonging. It is beautiful and cosy but yet still cosmopolitan and almost certainly one of the entertainment capitals of Europe, if not the world.

It's a GIVEthing

2005-10-26T10:10:00.000+02:00

Ok everyboy and everygirl, I want to tell you about a great idea created by my blogshares friend , StoryCharms, who has used Audrey Hepburn (IMHO one of the most beautiful women of all time) as her avatar.

Anyway, StoryCharms has started up a new 'community portal' website (clink the link) for people to discuss charities, fundraising events and basically anything which is related to GIVING (that's why it's called a GIVEthing, folks.) She has even designed buttons for people to say that they GIVE.

This is the sort of thing that we all think about as being a great idea, but it has actually been done and the site is quite user friendly and IMHO quite pretty. I especially like the little plaster icons used for the forum threads. So, go on, GIVE it a try, GIVE today. Or at least talk about it on StoryCharm's site.

And, a big

to StoryCharms, who also sent me this button.

Impressions of a great seminar

2005-10-20T16:42:00.001+02:00

Another superb and instructive iaido seminar is over. It never ceases to amaze me how much one can learn in a weekend and how much pain one can experience in one's knees after two days of shinkage ryu iaido.

The main emphasis this time was on tenōuchi, the grip on the sword hilt. The tendency is to grip the sword tightly, thereby inducing tension in the lower and upper arms. This translates into the use of too much power during cutting. The sword should be loose in the hands until the moment of the cut and then pressure can be exerted in controlling the blade and giving strength to the cut.

Other important lessons were the drawing together of the shoulder blades during sidewards cutting. Instead of focusing on the hands and sword, it is more efficient to draw the shoulder blades together; the arms move as a consequence: clever stuff.

Shinkage ryu seminar

2005-10-05T10:44:00.001+02:00

I'm really busy at the moment helping to organise the above mentioned seminar which will be held in Rotterdam at the end of this week. Our sensei will be coming over from Japan to guide us in the ways of Shinkage ryu iaido. He comes twice a year to Europe and it is always a great pleasure to see hime and his deshi (most advanced student) Kinomoto sensei. You can find more info about the seminar here. It will, I hope be the source of iaido posts and definitely inspiration for my training for the next sixth months.

Iaido art

2005-10-05T10:18:00.001+02:00

We are running an introduction course in the dojo at the moment and it turns out that one of the new students is an artist and she asked me if it was ok to come along with her brushes and paint and make some sketches of us. Of course I agreed and she spent the evening very quietly in one corner or another doing just that. Afterwards she showed us the results and I was very pleasantly surprised. Here are my two favourite sketches from her notebook; it was a hard choice to make.

If you like this work you can visit her website here or here.

Please if you use the images, put a link to the webpage of the artist.

My blogshares avatar

2005-09-30T08:57:00.000+02:00

or is it this one?

Still alive and kicking

2005-09-28T15:37:00.000+02:00

Just to let everyone know that I am still alive and kicking. Due to a technical hitch with my internet connection at home I am temporarily offline. The full details will follow whenever my IP provider and the telephone company get their act together.

ADIDAS Beckenbauer allround

2005-09-05T13:58:00.000+02:00

The football legend that is the Kaiser (or Franz Beckenbauer as he is more commonly known) endorses these trainers from Adidas. Leather upper with a suede section on the front and coloured branding stripes on both sides and now to be seen adorning the feet of yours truly.

Yes, I have succumbed to the fashion bug that bit me when I won the iPod. A flurry of fashionable purchases in the shirts and underpants departments have culminated in this latest and, I might say, most satisfying acquisition. Coming as I do from a rather large and consequently not-so-well-off family, I never had these kind of trainers when I was a kid and I used to enviously eye up the flash kids with their three stripes (and later other famous brands) whilst I had to make do with the Tesco tearaways. But now I'm a bit older and certainly a lot wealthier (you should see my balance at blogshares by the way, I'm a billionaire) I can afford these little luxuries, the pleasure of which is in no way diminished by the waiting. On the contrary, it has only heightened my enjoyment of the buying experience. So this is what they mean by retail therapy...?

BlogShares - my latest addiction

2005-09-01T22:47:00.001+02:00

I have discovered the ultimate way to avoid work (and life) - mucking around on blogshares (see link). This is a tremendously ingenious idea: trading shares in weblogs, generating ideas and artefacts and amassing chips and karma. I have no idea how it all works really, but it's great fun, and if you have your own blog and claim it, then you get 1000 free shares in your blog to play with, on top of the B$500 just for joining up. The atmosphere is friendly and helpful and with the aid of some ultra-rich players, I have managed to scrape a respectable B$4billion (yes, you read it correctly, a 4 with 9 noughts) together in just 24 hours, giving me an overal ranking of 841 and a phenomenal growth figure with too many noughts to remember. I can now sit back and enjoy the fruits of my not-so-hard-earned cash trying to work out how the whole game works.

By the way the graph shows just how amazingly the share price of this blog is doing. Get some shares before they get too expensive, link your blog to this one and watch your investment grow.....

Sandan

2005-08-28T18:36:00.000+02:00

Just to let everyone know that I passed my third dan exam in iaido today. I am feeling very good about myself and not at all smug.....

Day 4 – to Orleans!

2005-08-07T20:14:00.001+02:00

Hurrah and huzzah! We broke our slow pace with an amazing 89.5km; howzat!! It went really well and we averaged around 15km/h with stops in Méréville with its picturesque wash-house and breathtaking medieval wooden marketplace) and just outside Toury.

There by a giant haystack we had our lunch. We also had to make way for a bunch of race cyclists, but the going was very good.

On the in-road to Orleans we picked up a stray cyclist (French) who was a bit annoying (and drunk) and who volunteered to lead us to the campsite. I was not sure if he was going to ask for money, but we shook him off by doing some groceries. Arriving in Orleans itself, we were at a bit of a loss to find either of the campsites in our guide, so we asked a (non-drunk) French guy on a mountain bike who, having nothing else to do, promptly led us to the door, Never let it be said that the French are not capable of courtesy. This campsite was the cheapest so far, so we decided to stay an extra day to have a look around this historic city. I want to do the following tomorrow:
- check e-mail
- update blog
- buy spanner (for the back wheel) and bike computer

Camp site: Orleans St. Jean
Tariff: €8
Daily distance: 89.5km

Day 3 – shopping in Villiers, French style

2005-08-06T20:51:00.000+02:00

We took leave of our American friend but not before he took a photo of us, put us in his address book and promised to send a postcard before reaching his final destination of Madrid. Nice bloke!

We proceeded to spend the rest of the morning looking for a supermarket – over the motorway, lots of km to a very uninspiring shop. Why do the French build these monoliths which more or less force car ownership on the masses?

Further along the road we met two Belgian lads cycling the same route as us, although they claimed to be managing a staggering 130km per day! They were the second set of people we had met following the same guidebook, the first being a Dutch couple and their grandson who we met in the train on day 1 on their way to Compiegne to begin their tour.

Due to the complication with the supermarket, we didn’t manage to cycle that far today. We did, however, camp in a beautiful campsite in Omory. The campsite office was a splendid building with a large pond and lawns in front. We had made a bit of a detour to get to it, although I had seen the pond from the road, but not the campsite. Anyway, we were allowed to camp on the lawn in front of the office, so we picked a spot right next to the pond.

There was another Dutch couple staying on the campsite and you will never guess which route they were doing – the same one! Three in one day looked a bit too coincidental to me, so I expect that this will be quite a busy route. The couple had cycled this morning from the campsite in Paris where we stayed two nights ago and were averaging about 60-70km per day since leaving the Netherlands. I was really put out and felt a bit of a weed because we should at least be able to go at that pace. The American and the Belgian lads were just plain out-of-our-league km-eaters, but this couple were older than us. My ego was very seriously bruised.

Camp site: Omory
Tariff: €9
Daily distance: 45km

Day 2 – leaving Paris

2005-08-05T22:06:00.001+02:00

Cold, wet and windy! We lost our way and spent the whole morning trying pick up our route according to the guidebook. Apart from that we didn’t get too far. We met an American guy who claimed to be doing 100+km per day! He looked a bit battered (a student, what else!) but he was very friendly so we led him to the campsite in Villiers where we were the only two tents. He ate non-stop for a about an hour, drank a cup of tea with us and went to bed at around 8:30.

Had to fix my bike which was playing up a bit: one of the back wheel nuts was loose, pulling the chain to one side and making uphill going very difficult. The chap at the campsite rather sportingly loaned me the requisite spanners, so now it’s ok.

Camp site: Villiers
Tariff: €12.50*
Daily distance: 35km

*based on 2 persons, 2 bikes and one tent (not sharing a pitch with others)

Day 1 - Paris

2005-08-04T15:37:00.001+02:00

So, despite the fuss about the trains, we arrived in Paris to bright sunshine: yes, that's why we came all this way. We had met a couple with their grandson on the train who were also going to cycle the same route, but they were starting in Compiegne because they wanted to cycle into Paris. For me, cycling from Gare du Nord is just as good, because that is where Paris for me begins; the endless suburbs remaining a testament to the French habit of building beautiful houses and letting them fall into rack and ruin.

We cycled from Gare du Nord against the traffic, past Gare St. Lazare onto the Champs Elysees and then onto l'Arc De Triomphe. It felt a little crazy and heady cycling under this great monument to Napoleon's ego but watching everyone clamour for photos (us included) detracts from the experience somewhat.

Onto the camspite in the Bois de Boulogne, via the long route; it took us almost two hours to cycle the 10 km from Gare du Nord. The campsite was expensive camping, although at €16 per night for two persons, still the cheapest way to legally spend the night in Paris.

We're all going on a summer holiday

2005-08-04T15:23:00.000+02:00

At last, a real excuse to skive off work and still get paid: the annual holiday. We decided to go cycling again this year but to avoid the washout of last year, we decided to go a little further afield. In the spirit of my recent expedition along the pilgrim route, France seemed to be the obvious choice and so, armed with a cycle route along the St. James' route (which eventually leads to Santiago) we set off.

Well, actually that isn't quite the case because we didn't leave the Netherlands by bicycle, rather by train; to Paris which, despite strong advice to the contrary from the Dutch Railways telephone helpline, is possible and not too difficult with a bicycle. One operator even hung up on us, even though we were paying through the nose for the bad advice we were getting (€0.35 per minute). Eventually after a not too long time trawling the internet pages of the French and Belgian Railways, we discovered a reasonably quick route to Paris without too many changes and WITH THE TGV! which according to the expensive advice line was absolutely NOT possible. The Dutch Railways will be hearing about this. The annoying thing is that you can't take your bicycle on the fast train to Paris, but you can go from Amsterdam to Paris in six hours with two changes, and that ain't bad.

Sell our soles

2005-08-01T13:45:00.000+02:00

Selling souls and gathering cheap bread
to feed the hungry mortals
lying at the bottom of a disturbed sea
and tossing wheat into a garden of tranquillity.
Fire consumes my loins
and the lion demands a toll
of three score and forty-seven;
will he ever get paid?
The challenge of finding a good job
holding down premises of my own
and sharing six square feet
with a less than total stranger
not feeling the danger
of sinking into the quicksand
of mundane experience
seeking out new and interesting ways
to waste the same time
to sing and dance
and fart in public.

My idol

2005-08-01T12:54:00.000+02:00

My idol is a bright blue cone of slime
riding the destiny of a small girl's soup
and trooping the colour in a London Parade
gay as a marshmallow
and shallow as the dust on unwashed underpants.
Scantily clad,
although mad as an eagle
taking flight from the supermarket
on Sunday afternoon,
making old ladies swoon
and falter
as they adjust their halter neck turtles
and squirting ooze
into a fury
and waiting for the jury
to reach its verdict
over mis-fitting light bulbs
and tonnes of butter
in a greasy whorehouse
with mousy inhabitants
throwing small tittering glances
at the outside of the rundown mad-house
and down-at-heel puddings for naughty strangers
putting your life in danger
by taking a force-fed morsel
from the spring of eternal strife.

Divine Contentment

2005-07-29T11:25:00.000+02:00

Ok, so I finally got the official notification of my sannyas name from Pune. The meaning of the name is Divine Contentment and I see it as a goal to achieve in my life. The lessons to be learned from this name are to accept who I am and all that has and will happen to me. It does not mean to become a victim and just let life happen, but to witness what is happening, see what the processes are and how I can react and act out of wisdom and not out of my old fear, to not ride the roller-coaster of emotion, but to come more into contact with the peace inside myself.

The question you are asking is: what is sannyas and who is the freaky guy with the beard? Well, sannyas is simply the commitment to devote your life to meditation. It literally means follower or student, but Osho (the freaky guy with the beard) was not so hot on calling his sannyasin (pl.) followers. He did not want to leave behind a doctrine, but more a way of thinking which was not dependent on his words, but rather on the impression that they left on the listener. He even contradicted himself on many occasions with the intention of not leaving any clear instructions to his followers except this: that meditation is the way.

I know it sounds a bit airy-fairy, I thought so too; but the point is, meditation does not mean sitting in the lotus position for hours chanting “aum”. When I do this I just get agitated after a while and then I lose the meditation. Meditation is being aware of what you are doing, regardless of what it is: cleaning the car, cooking food, dancing, making love, having a terrible argument, throwing boots at next door's cat when he is yowling on the fence at three in the morning. It doesn't matter as long as you are aware of what you are doing, that you are doing it deliberately. That way you learn from your own actions and if it doesn't feel good, then you know that it is not your way, and if it feels good or right, then you know that it is good/right. No-one needs to tell you these things; you can find them out for yourself. And when you are really aware, you know already before you take a course of action whether it feels right or not and then you can really exercise your wisdom and judgement. That is meditation and that is why I chose to become a friend of Osho. Notice I didn't say follower; that is because I follow my own wisdom with the guidance of my friend's words.

Fontenay abbey

2005-07-28T12:49:00.000+02:00

I was in Burgundy last weekend with a friend of mine, preparing a trip combining rambling and medieval art, specifically the imagery and significance of tympani (the semi-circular portion above the door to a church). During this trip we visited the abbey at Fontenay and I was, to say the least, impressed. The abbey has been on the UNESCO list of World Heritage since 1981, and it is well worth the inclusion on that list. It is beautifully restored and maintained. The abbey was founded by Saint Bernard in a small marshy valley a few kilometres from Montbard (Burgundy) and moved to the current site in 1130.

I suppose for me the most impressive thing about this site was the forge. The 52m long building dates from the 12th Century and inside was a plaque bearing the emblem of the ASM (American Society for Metals) which attested to the fact that this forge was (one of) the earliest metallurgical factories in Europe and that the monks actually carried out significant development work in iron-working metallurgy.

Not all of the abbey buildings date back to the 12th Century though and you can see the difference between the functional austerity in the more contemporary structures (like the abbot's house and the refectory) and the complexity and beauty of the original structures; a particularly fine example of which is the cloister that, quite rightly, is world famous. On a beautiful, warm, sunny day it is both shaded and cool and imparts serenity compatible with deep contemplation. The intricacy of the designs of the columns is quite breathtaking.After the visit to the abbey there is a figure-of-eight walk in the region around the abbey. We only did one half (the part not going to the mines) and whilst it was a pleasant walk and worth the effort, I did feel there was almost too much walking along the road. Thankfully, there was not much traffic on the road; in fact, we noted that there was not much traffic anywhere in the region, which we found odd for such a beautiful area as Burgundy in the middle of summer.

All in all, a visit to the abbey is well worth the trip, especially if you're in the area. Although at €9 entrance fee per adult, it is a tad on the expensive side and that doesn't include being allowed to sit/walk or even breathe on the perfectly manicured lawns. You can have a picnic outside though by a pretty little stream and you're not even obliged to visit the (presumably also expensive) café.

Do the shuffle

2005-07-18T15:52:00.000+02:00

The waiting is over…

For the first (and probably last) time ever, I am the proud owner of a trendy gadget, namely the iPod Shuffle I won in the haiku competition. Actually, although it is a very funky bit of kit, I am not sure I would have bought one for myself, but then again, I am a self-confessed cheapskate. The controls are easy to understand and the feel of the whole thing gives credit to the obvious care that has gone into its design and production, but at the end of the day, it's just an MP3 player (ok and an AAC player and just about all the other audio formats you can mention). The price tag is purely a reflection of what a fashion icon Apple has become. There are a lot of nice players out there for a lot less money. That said, l still sold my old one and kept the iPod.
What a hypocrite!

The only down side of the whole thing is that the haiku competition was the swan song of the irrepressible rummaging blog. The author bowed out on a high citing the multitude of copy-blogs as the reason for quitting. The good news is that the author of rummaging is carrying on with his own personal blog, am.blogs.com. Happy reading and good luck with your new blog Andy (and thanks for the iPod by the way).

Night-time

2005-07-13T15:43:00.003+02:00

Night-time,
sitting on my night-line,
night-shirt
sweating with the exertion
of brushing mouldy teeth
glistening in glasses
and trashy novels
lying beside my bed.
With dead hamsters
and gerbils
going around in the gutter
and I utter an obscene cry,
"Why do I have to be a nutter?

Shut away from the un-seen, unclean world
and the sordid ice-creams
served in laboratories
where frontal lobotomies
are performed on unsuspecting coelacanths."

Back to my smelly pants
and the stink from my socks
which would destroy a tenement block
and could get me sanctioned by the UN
for being a potential weapon of mass affectation.
That's the problem with synthetic fibres
and the vibrations of a whole day's loafing.

Tree-time

2005-07-13T15:38:00.000+02:00

I avoid myself
do something else
other than face the truth
that there is no reason
for my existence.
This bundle of nerves
and cells and the molecules
that make up my thoughts.
My consciousness cannot be explained
nor understood
not even, or especially, by me:
I could just as well be a tree!

How will I die

2005-07-13T15:13:00.000+02:00

Now this is what I call wasting time. Try this quiz and find out the manner in which you are most likely to meet your end. Apparently I will end up just getting lost and disappearing into thin air....

Enlightened one

2005-07-11T16:12:00.000+02:00

Oh how the enlightenment
pours from your lips
and drips like honey from your tongue.
Burns my brain
causing incessant pain
to my already bruised pride
leaving nowhere to hide,
from the words that whip me
and wake me from a delicate slumber
comfortable in the lazy passing
of yet another year.
The feeling of impotence
at having to really decide for myself
to move into action
daring to express
the difference between you and I.
Caring enough to risk losing
the drug that I have become addicted to
the lie that feeds my mind
with feelings of its own importance.
Acceptance of dependence,
reluctance to freedom
and the realisation that I am alone.

My sperm

2005-07-11T16:11:00.000+02:00

Wriggling, jiggling and maybe giggling
squirming their way to the destination
on their way
to try and change my life
by making a new one
in the belly of the woman I adore
who loves me even though I snore
and sometimes tell boring stories to.

Cigarettes

2005-07-11T16:09:00.000+02:00

I seek solace in the ashes of burning leaves
that sink to the bottom of a clay crucible
and the searing fog
that covers my lungs
supressing my emotions
numbing my soul
and destroying my body
and killing me surely
with every inhalation of my life sustaining breath
hastening death
and rendering me unconscious.

Curiosity killed the cat

2005-07-11T16:07:00.000+02:00

Curious curiosity
peeking where I shouldn't be
seeing words written to another
listening to the message from your secret lover
and breaking into your e-mail
reading your letters
following the trail
you've left to your secret self

Stepping into nothing

2005-07-11T14:03:00.000+02:00

Sitting in the box looking out
at the great expanse of sky
shuffling to the edge
staring into the face
stepping out into nothing
falling blissfully to earth
feeling the wind
and the pull of the ground
innocent in its attraction
that draws me to my death
and suddenly I stop!
Pulled up by strings
floating in this other world
above the ordinary
I see everything transformed:
the peaceful farms,
the trees and the roads
cutting through at regular intervals.
I sail through the silence
I am walking with birds
my wing overhead
letting me down gently
to a place from which I am bound
never to escape
knowing that this is a temporary state.
Flightlessness
and the perspective of the lowly
when compared with the thrill of falling
and the peace of floating
are as far apart as man
and the moon.

My parents

2005-07-11T13:54:00.000+02:00

Who were my parents when they were young?
Were they consumed by the same passions,
the same horniness,
the same pleasure?
Did they treasure
each others bodies?
Do they still
lie next to each other and touch
in a way that they did
on the night I was conceived?
Who would believe
that they were ever in love
and couldn't get enough
of each other;
that they were lovers?
And before they came just another
mum and dad
they were really quite bad
and scantily clad!!

Growing up

2005-07-11T13:51:00.000+02:00

I dream of a time gone by
when simpler things occupied my mind
and innocence was a word
I had yet to hear
or realise I could lose.
Growing up so slowly
dwarfed among the giants of my peers
at the same time looking up to
and down upon them all:
for making me small
and defenceless
and scared.

When a man cries

2005-07-11T13:50:00.000+02:00

When a man cries
there is only one reason
a woman
and treason.
The king is dead
long live the king,
is the one sure thing
to make a man cry.

ssssssss

2005-07-11T13:47:00.000+02:00

Forget what you know
and go with the instinct
that tells you to leave everything
and do something crazy
to make you feel alive
shopping, shagging, sipping silently
sighing sheepishly singing
softly sitting supine
surprising strong sun sea sex sand strawberries
syrup stirrup stable straw
struggle stick stink shock.

Early evening

2005-07-11T13:44:00.000+02:00

I sit and watch
sun in my face and on the water below
a gentle breeze touches my arms
softly caressing the hairs
taking away the warmth of the early evening
and making it bearable.
A man walks along the street
and I say hello as he passes
the balcony where I sit,
too lazy to attend to my chores
feeling the rightness with the world
smelling other people's cooking
I feast on the aroma
of food I cannot rouse myself to make
Someone plays a guitar
and I sit and watch and wait.

Praying

2005-07-11T11:17:00.000+02:00

What are we saying
when we are praying?
And to whom?
Who hears our desperate plea for help,
the pitying of the self
and the anguish of denial,
the right to a fair trial?
Who never receives a smile,
unless the last bus has been caught,
or the mobile phone has been found,
the winning goal scored
and you're saved from being bored?

Girl on the train

2005-07-11T11:09:00.000+02:00

This girl is looking at me
with her brown eyes
and her boyfriend
trying to feel her breast
under the jumper he has wrapped around her.
And it excites me
because she is pretty
even though irritated.
She reminds me of someone,
the shape of her mouth
and the way it falls in her face
when relaxed.
Her hair is tied up
and is naturally blond
and I imagine how it looks
when she lets it down.

A watch

2005-07-11T10:45:00.000+02:00

It's five minutes fast
but it was built to last
longer than ten years.
It has seen tears
and had its fair share of beers
spilled over it
and the gin and tonic
that I drank at a wedding
and saw me bedding
the bridesmaid of my dreams
or was it in them?
I don't remember.
Then in December
and October
turning the dates over
or forgetting
and rather than being ahead
I find I'm behind
but it's all relative
a yardstick by which I live
hurrying from where I was
to where I am going to be
and the waste of time in between.
I could do something useful,
sharpen a pencil
or wipe your nose
or clean the fluff from between your toes.
But not in the train,
nor in the park;
it's not allowed 'til it's dark.

Peter Moerlands RIP

2005-07-11T10:41:00.000+02:00

He is dead and they burned him today
after showing photos of a beautiful life
hidden from view
from all but the lucky few.
No more chats in the lane,
racking our brains
to find solutions
or even just to remember old names,
or faces or places
where we both might have been
and will never return together.
The weather was fine
on this warm spring day,
looking away
from the box where he no longer lay
and saying goodbye to a man
who can no longer be my friend.

I forget

2005-07-11T10:36:00.000+02:00

Oh the yellow mist of forgetfulness
that arrives with the disenchanted dawn
and mourns
at thy lassitude
and the magnitude
of your sorrow.
What buys tomorrow
but can't afford today

And the bright chequered sail
of the ship to nowhere.
Sailing through the cornfield of contempt
although the emptiness
of the birdsong
will gradually
turn my mind
to thoughts of my own mortality
and the insanity
which stalks me from behind.

Stream of consciousness

2005-07-11T10:30:00.000+02:00

A stream of consciousness seeps from my mind
and makes me unkind
to my fellow passengers on the sea of life
I type-cast the fellow
with his yellow computer accessories.
What a mess he's making off the floor
with his down and dirty email
buzzing through the airwaves
and messing up my hair
and I just want to scream,
"leave the fucking thing alone,
give the dog a bone"
and say something clever like,
"I'm hanging myself up now".
And I see the fields
as they pass by the window
they will soon be gone
after they bypass another road
to the heart of nowhere
and the crazies will rush
to get out of wherever it was that they weren't in the first place.

Am I a madman

2005-07-11T10:25:00.000+02:00

Am I mad, I hear myself think
and in the blink
of an eye
I am transformed into the most formidable wielder of a pencil this side of Bermondsey
although I have never been there
and wouldn't know how to find it with both my eyes shut.
Maybe I should just take the rest of my career off
and go and turn over vegetables in some hospital somewhere.
I am sure they could use the extra care and attention
although I have no intention
of wetting the beds in the middle of the night.

An ode to Kieran

2005-07-08T12:49:00.000+02:00

See how he runs,
my blond haired, blue eyed boy.
No worries or cares,
or fears of growing old.
No weather shall mark your skin,
nor tears carve channels in your face,
but with boundless grace,
you leap from place to place
and conquer all who stand in your way.
Yet now and again,
when it gets late,
you will come to me and sit,
and I will cry because you could never be.
Existing only in my mind,
still it is not unkind,
when you hold my hand
and I fold my arms around you
and feel the softness of your skin,
the sweet innocence of a child.
And you will fall asleep,
with me holding you safe,
forever in my dreams.

Shit!

2005-07-08T12:45:00.000+02:00

Shit, shit,
oh what is it?
Now I went and stepped in it.
On my shoes
and in my socks,
stink up my nose
until it blocks.
Where is that dog?
I'll pull it's tail.
Or kick the owner
until he wails.
For it's not the hound,
but his careless master,
that let's a pooch,
leave messages after.

Darkness

2005-07-08T12:44:00.000+02:00

Darkness,
and the silence of an empty mind.
Floating,
eyes looking serenely,
through glass,
seeing only warm reflections,
of the cold, hard ground
and pinpoints of light
flickering endlessly
in an infinite sky.

Mirror, mirror....

2005-07-08T12:42:00.000+02:00

Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
who is the most neurotic of them all?
Am I thin, or am I fat,
can you tell me where I'm at?
Looking through saggy eyes,
I see the face that I despise:
wrinkly skin from too much laughter,
and the scars that came thereafter.

Come inside

2005-07-08T12:39:00.000+02:00

Let me fly, let me take you away,
Come and find me, what games we'll play.

When I first saw you, wanted you so bad,
now I really know you, you're the best I ever had.

Down on your knees, mind open wide,
don't need to say please, let me come inside.

Keep me active, heart and soul,
my mind is passive, I'll do what I'm told.

kiss my fire

2005-07-08T12:35:00.000+02:00

Baby kiss my fire,
let my words inspire
take you higher.
The world is unkind
and love is blind
leave you far behind.
Answers lie within,
from yourself begin,
enjoy without the pain.
Come in from afar,
follow my rising star
let me know who you are.
When we're finished,
you'll not diminish!
Thought I was better,
but I'm a bedwetter,
not a trend setter,
nor a go-getter.
Do you want to know the reason,
do you want to know the truth?
Don't ask another question;
I hate you

Sow the seeds and scatter

2005-07-08T12:27:00.000+02:00

All I feel is indifference.
I dread the knock of the door.
When you're here I want you gone,
and I'm relieved when you go.
But when you moan,
and ask for more,
take my hand, that's what it's for.
I sit in the stillness of my solitude,
bored with nothing but my existence,
the quiet moments tick slowly by,
as bedtime closes on another lovely day.
I knew a man who took his life,
but many more who took a wife,
and grew apart from the one they loved,
who doesn't in time forget.
I knew a man who took his life,
and that was deemed a waste,
but is that any more spoil,
than those that wed with haste?

De lege pagina

2005-07-08T12:23:00.001+02:00

De lege pagina verwijt mij:
zo mooi en schoon,
maar ik ga er op schrijven.

De lege pagina verwijt mij:
voor alle woorden die er nog
kunnen bestaan;
ze komen er aan.

Ze zullen er voor altijd blijven,
daarna zal hij zijn bezet,
dus de lege pagina verwijt mij,
hij wordt straks besmet.

Brothers

2005-07-08T12:15:00.000+02:00

I was a clock that never chimed,
a door that wouldn't shut,
the reason without rhyme.
But the tears flow through the trust in my brothers;
friends I never knew I had.
Looking love in the face,
feeling the energy and the power,
the thrill, the ecstasy, the sheer
unadulterated joy of being a man
in the presence of great men.
Now can I have my glasses back please?

My name is Majik

2005-07-08T12:08:00.000+02:00

My name is Majik and I am a man
Why am I here?
What will I share?
It must come from the heart if I dare.
Other poems may be longer,
or cleverer or more sad,
and then others will make you glad.
But I stand here,
giving you the gift of myself:
the poem is the poet,
opening myself up for all to see,
nothing scarier or more free,
not able to hide, only to be.
I came to this place to find out who I am,
I try my best and do what I can:
my name is Majik and I am a man

Haiku-a-go-go

2005-07-03T22:13:00.002+02:00

Yipppeee, what can I say more? For the first time in my life I actually won a competition for my writing. I was absolutely flabbergasted to read on the rummaging blog that I had won the haiku competition of recent fame. The prize is so much more than the iPod shuffle on offer (which of course is also a bonus), but the fact that I have a fan out there in webland. I haven't been particularly attentive to my own blog of late, so I will take this momentous occasion to avail you of the remainder of my entries to the competition. If you want to know which of my entries won, then follow the link.

Feedback given for the tent (see earlier post)
Divine Contentment
I hope u like ur new tent
and a dry summer

The secret is that it was me in disguise. I had already sold the tent and rather than disappoint the bidder (whose bid was way below the value of the tent) I used my sannyas name (which means divine contentment) to open a different account and buy the tent from myself. Sneaky eh?

I gave myself the following feedback for this item:
Super ebayer.
Smooth as clockwork transaction.
Bring on the summer!

I mean, you can tell it's me, can't you?

So, on to a legitimate transaction, namely for a two player card game which I sold. What I didn't tell the buyer was that the reason I was selling the game was that my girlfriend and I played the game twice and each time it ended in a huge fight. I wish the buyer the best luck in the world with the game because I genuinely liked it, having won both times in a most ruthless manner, thereby offending my girlfriend's sensibilities and sense of proportion. Here is my feedback haiku:
A card game lover,
who lives in the neighbourhood,
will enjoy his buy

But whether his girlfriend will enjoy it is another matter.....

So, now I will just sit back and await the arrival of my iPod shuffle. The down side is of course that rummaging is stopping indefinitely and that is a big shame, but I wish him luck in his new ventures and maybe he will come back to haunt us one day. I mailed him my address so he could send the prize, but I already got the real prize: my own creativity and the appreciation of at least one of my peers. Pretty groovy, huh?

More haiku

2005-06-07T10:43:00.000+02:00

I have been feeling in a very poetic mood recently, largely due to the e-bay haiku competition. It really inspired me to take a look at the things we take for granted in the world and to bring my creativity into even the most mundane actions, such as leaving feedback and selling my old gear to turn a fast buck (and clear out my appartment). The point is that it is precisely the performance of a purely aesthetic act that raises us above the ordinary. Beauty does not have to be superfluous nor secondary to function and indeed well designed functionality has a sort of beauty to it. This is why, for example, the Eiffel tower is both a work of art and a pinnacle of engineering excellence. This is a point that many designers and engineers of the post-war period appear to have forgotten. Just look at the post-war inner-city planning and architecture in any large European city and you will se many ugly, concrete blocks which have been thrown up without the slightest regard to the visual appearance. Even the functionality of such buildings can be called into doubt because they were generally badly lit and poorly laid out. I am not an architect so I will stop there.

Anyway, the point of this post was to add a few haiku to the collection and not to rant about aesthetics and form vs function.

So here they are, the haiku of the week:
Feedback left for a dvd seller after behind-the-scenes negotiations which resulted in a partial refund
Any transaction
successfully completed
brings joy to your life

Yes! I sold my first item on e-bay (but got stiffed with the postage)
Your hard earned money
as it hits my bank account:
the sun shines brightly

And the feedback from the buyer
Snelle levering,
verrassend leuke feedback:
een tevreden man

In English (amazingly it translated perfectly into a haiku)
Fast delivery,
surprisingly good feedback:
a satisfied man

e-bay haiku competition

2005-06-02T14:31:00.000+02:00

A little while ago I was skimming the internet and I came across the rummaging blog. They are (were if you're reading this after the end of June 2005) running a haiku competition for e-bay sales within which a haiku poem is inserted. The haiku should not refer to the competition nor to rummaging, but should appear as though it was intended solely as a sales aid. I have submitted more than one haiku in the attempt to win an i-pod shuffle. Don't know if I'll win, but it's a great idea.

Selling a DVD of the first series of kung-fu
David Carradine
acting like a Grasshopper
should have been Bruce Lee

Feedback left for a seller of a well packaged dvd
you sent me a disc,
ingeniously packed,
like the spring blossom

And this one for my tent
open up the zip
when everything is wet:
a tent keeps you dry

For those of you who don't know what haiku is, try this website

I'll keep you informed of the outcome..

Revenge of the Sith

2005-06-02T11:13:00.001+02:00

I know the secret of the Sith revenge - they want to disappoint us and bore us all to death. Yes, I went to see the new, and I sincerely hope last ever, Star Wars movie last night. Oh how I cried! Not because the scenes were so moving, but that they added this crap to the excellence of the first series. Actually, the rot was beginning to set in with Return of the Jedi, but I was too young and naive to see it then, but looking back on it, that was the first of the films that catered to 'the kids'.

That said, I liked the darkness of 'Revenge' but there just wasn't enough of it. I was already disenchanted with Episode 1 and the pointless killing of one of the best Star Wars characters ever: Darth Maul. Episode 2 almost completely passed me by and I eventually watched it on an overnight ferry crossing when I had really nothing else to do and insomnia set in. So, all in all I wasn't expecting much from Episode 3 and I was still disappointed.

You know that the acting is bad when a green puppet steals the show, but honestly, the fight scenes with Yoda were the best parts of both Episodes 2 and 3. The absolute highlight of the film was when Darth Vader put on his new mask. The heavy breathing and the smoky voice of James Earl Jones gave me goose pimples the size of oranges and sent such shivers down my spine that my neighbour nearly spilled his cola. In my opinion, the darkness of the Sith characters was never exploited to its full potential with Darth Maul being cruelly killed off in Episode 1. What a great confrontation that would have been to end the series with. Darth Maul was so hard, mean and just plain spine chillingly evil, that I would have loved to have seen how Darth Vader would have managed to do him over.

I guess the biggest complaint I have with this series are the mind-numbing dialogues and the sheer predictability of it all. That is what you get when you start filming prequels, but life is never as simple as all that. It was incredibly non-dimensional with platitudes flying left and right. A little bit of subtlety and an unexpected turn of events here and there might have left the public wanting more. Let's face it, you couldn't want less. That said, the great unwashed masses will probably flock to see to the inevitable Episodes 7,8 and 9 simply because they have nothing better to do. Cultural poverty is indeed on the increase.

On the subject of swords...

2005-05-31T11:40:00.000+02:00

After a visit to the Atsuta shrine (熱田神宮) in Nagoya, Japan I was inspired to dig into the history of the famous sword which is housed there. It is not possible to see the sword, or even enter the shrine: this is a privilege reserved only for members of the imperial family and high ranking priests of the temple itself. The sword is one of the three imperial treasures [1] of Japan and has a fascinating history, going to the very heart of Japanese Shintoism.

Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi (草薙の剣 Grass cutter) is a legendary Japanese sword, the history of which dates back to the legend of when the Japanese god of storms, Susano-O no Mikoto, encountered a grieving family headed by Ashi na Zuchi. The elder told that his family was ravaged by Yamata no Orochi, the fearsome 8-headed serpent of Koshi, who consumed seven of the family's eight daughters and was coming for his final daughter, Kushi-Nada-Hime. Susano-O proceeded forward to investigate the creature, and after an abortive encounter he returned with a plan to defeat it. In return, he asked for Kushi-Nada-Hime's hand in marriage which was agreed. Transforming her temporarily into a comb to have her company during the battle, he set his plan in motion.

He instructed 8 vats of sake to be put on individual platforms positioned behind a fence with 8 gates. The monster took the bait and put each of its heads through each of the gates. With the necessary distraction provided, Susano-O attacked and slew the beast. He decapitated each of the heads and then proceeded to the tails. In the fourth tail, he discovered a great sword inside the body of Yamata no Orochi which he called Murakakumo no Tsurugi (Two-edged-straight-sword-of-the-village-of-the-clustering-clouds). To settle an old grievance, he presented to his sister, the sun-goddess Amaterasu Omikami.

Amaterasu entrusted the Imperial Regalia [1] to her grandson Ninigi when he descended to the Japanese Islands. Ninigi’s decent to earth established the divine origins of the Yamato clan. He married a descendant of the storm god Susano-O and had a son Jimmu; he was the first Emperor of Japan. The Imperial Regalia are said to have passed from emperor to emperor until later in the reign of the 12th emperor, Keiko, the sword was given to the great warrior, Yamato-Dake as part of a pair of gifts given by his aunt, Yamato-Hime, to protect his nephew in peril.

These gifts came in handy when Yamato-Dake was lured onto open grassland during a hunting expedition by a treacherous warlord. The lord had fiery arrows fired to ignite the grass to trap Yamato-Dake in the field and have him burn to death. He also had the warrior's horse killed to prevent his escape. Desperately, Yamato-Dake used Murakakumo no Tsurugi to cut back the grass to remove fuel from the fire, but in doing so, he discovered that the sword enabled him to control the wind around him to make it move in the direction he swung. Taking advantage of the magic, Yamato-Dake used his other gift, fire strikers, to enlarge the fire in the direction of the warlord and his men and used the winds controlled by the sword to sweep the blaze toward them to kill them. In triumph, Yamato-Dake renamed Murakakumo no Tsurugi as Kusanagi (Grass cutter) to commemorate his narrow escape and victory. Eventually, Yamato-Dake married and fell in battle with a monster after ignoring his wife's advice to take Kusanagi with him.

At one time, the emperor possessed a real sword with this name. Along with the jewel and the mirror, it was one of the three imperial regalia until the Battle of Dannoura (1185), a naval battle that ended in the defeat of the forces of the child Emperor Antoku at the hands of Minamoto no Yoshitsune. Upon hearing of the defeat, the emperor's grandmother led the Emperor and his entourage to commit suicide (by drowning) in the waters of the strait along with three important artefacts which included Kusanagi. Although the enemy managed to stop a handful of them and recovered two of the three regalia of the Emperor, Kusanagi was never found. Emperor Sujin, ordered the fashioning of a replica of Kusanagi which can be found at the Atsuta Shrine in Nagoya. The actual Kusanagi [2] is likely to have been a sword in the style of the Bronze Age, typically double-edged and straight (very much different from the more recent sabre style katana, with its typical curved single-edged blade).

[1] The Japanese imperial regalia, "Sanshu no jingi", or "Three Sacred Treasures", consisted of the sword "Kusanagi no tsurugi", the jewel "Yasakani no magatama", and the mirror "Yata no kagami".
[2] The complete name of the Imperial sword is Kusanagi no-tsurugi which means "grass parting two-edged straight blade”.

Plastic charity wristands

2005-05-31T10:23:00.000+02:00

Got slightly wound up about the above article (follow link) on the charity bracelet phenomenon that is taking the (western) world by storm, with the things being sold on e-bay for twice or three times the original price. There are several issues here, not the least being that not all the money goes to the charity. It can be as little as one third of the original purchase price, somewhere around 33 pence, in the UK. Secondly, the bracelets are available for multiple charities in different colours and they seem to have evolved from the 'friendship' bracelet idea. In short, they are a fashion statement for students, teenagers and trendies. The practicality of the thing is not an issue in my mind, it is a good idea and the charities are cashing in on it: if not to the full extent, it is still income.

The thing that seems to have caught the criticism of the Guardian (among others who will undoubtedly come along at some stage) is that the bracelets are actually being manufactured in sweatshops in China. Ironically (so it would seem) the company involved in this so called scandal, in fact produces bracelets for the Make Poverty History campaign. The Guardian, among others, would have us believe that it is scandalous for a company dedicated to ending poverty to actually use cheap labour working in terrible conditions. I don't know the campaign or it's policies for co-operation (ethical trading initiative) so I will reserve comment for the time being, but what I will say that having actually visited China and having seen how people chose to live and work (yes there are people with jobs and money), then it is not quite easy to imagine that the conditions are not what we would tolerate in the West. It doesn't necessarily mean that they are being exploited, any more than fair traders in the Windward Isles are being exploited for growing bananas in a traditional way (i.e. climbing trees without a safety net or harness).

The idea of fair trade is that you operate with companies and sell their products in a receptive market and you set some standards for wages and conditions that are at least as good, if not better than those of other local companies of a similar nature in that country. Ideally the next step is to gradually improve safety, working environment and conditions by education. There are always companies which operate outside of the ethical standards (this also happens in Europe), but just running away from them doesn’t solve the problem or help the employees to get better conditions and pay.

I guess my point is that I think we in the west have a very rosy view of the world and how it should be and we lose sight of the fact that not everyone in the world enjoys such luxury as we do and, surprisingly, that they get along quite ok without it.

More on this later......

Iaido championships

2005-05-30T09:32:00.000+02:00

Well, it was that time again this weekend where I get to show how good I am at iaido and completely fail to get past the first round. Either my teachers are telling me that I am better than in actual fact I am, or they are not reading the same guidelines as the referees. It could also be that the referees are not reading the same books as my teacher and that they are also in fact wrong. This is not outside the realms of possibility.

Things were going reasonably swimmingly with me winning the first two matches, one with a 2 to 1 judgement and the other 3 to 0, but during the third match everything went pear shaped. Firstly, the judge who scored against me in the first match was sitting directly in front of me, so I already felt that there was no way I was going to convince him this time because my opponent was (imho) very much better than my opponent from the first match.

Then to my opponent: this is someone who trains in the same dojo as I, so I cannot blame differences in teacher or whatever on the fact that he won (with 2 flags to 1, I might add). I admit I was beaten psychologically before we even started. The funny thing is, I actually don't think that he is better than I am, although I admit he is good. I guess the point is that I will not permit myself to lose against him because I have been training longer. Thus these thoughts in my head, I go to compete and I even felt that I was not as "in the flow" as the previous matches.

I guess the upshot of all this is that when there was no question of winning or losing (only doing my best) then my iaido was much better and I felt more one with myself and my sword, but when these thoughts came into my head, my technique started to fall apart and I came out of balance. Food for thought indeed!

By the way, my opponent went on to win the silver medal, so that takes the edge off it a little.

Sword deity

2005-05-24T00:04:00.000+02:00

The Japanese god of the sword

This photograph was taken at the Osu kannon temple in Nagoya, Japan. This guy is called Fudo Myo-O ("the immutable one"), the Buddhist divinity of fire. Fudo is the principal deity of the five angry Lords of Light and serves as tutelary deity to many kamisama spirit mediums. He has intimate associations with the dragon divinity and with the waterfall of Fudo, one of the most important sites of mountain ascetic discipline (shugyo).

The term 'Myo-O' indicates that Fudo is one of the 'Wrathful Kings of Mystic Knowledge' Fudo Myo-O is also patron of the Martial Arts, and patron of all practitioners of mountain-centred ascetic mystic disciplines. He is known by his flaming sword and rope, with which he slashes away material connections and binds up evil-doers.

Furthermore, the sword itself cannot cut the rope; it requires thought and action on behalf of the wielder to do so. The wielder can thus use the sword for constructive or destructive purposes depending upon his intentions. His eyes are looking in opposite directions: one being in the corporal world and the other in the spiritual world.

And you thought George Lucas made that stuff about the "dark side" up all on his own?

Rummaging around on e-bay

2005-05-23T16:53:00.000+02:00

On the subject of excellent blogs, if you are stuck for reading material whilst sitting bored at your computer desperately trying to look like you are doing some work, then I suggest this one. Be warned, spontaneous burst of laughter will probably alert your colleagues to the fact that you are not assiduously finishing your assignment on the financial structure of Enron, but rather reading about the next internet art scam: toast and text messages.