The man with the camera

I switch to Twitter

2010-12-06T11:44:00.003+01:00

I am stopping this blog and changing to Twitter.

My comments on whatever is commendable can be found in my nearly daily Twitterblog. It even shows my Daily Newspaper!

Go visit me there and be informed.

See you on Twitter!

JohGHahn

Het Overstone Incident

2010-08-31T15:17:00.002+02:00

Een spannend boek over een verzwegen nucleaire ramp.

Over de manier waarop inlichtingendiensten te werk gaan bij het verheimelijken van de ware toedracht van een ramp.

Hoe ze onschuldigen beschuldigen omdat de waarheid even rampzalig is.

Hoe een man terugvecht zijn vrouw verlies, zijn dochter terugvindt en de strijd uiteindelijk lijkt te winnen.

Maar dan gebeurt er weer een ramp...

Een van de spannendste boeken van 2010!!

Daar kun je niet omheen.

Wees er snel bij. de eerste druk is bijna uitverkocht!

www.skidiz.nl/overstonincident

Een geheime nucleaire ramp met catastrofale gevolgen

2010-06-01T10:27:00.004+02:00

Op 18 juni verschijnt 'Het Overstone Incident', een roman over een nucleaire ramp.

Bij een ongeluk met een B-52 bommenwerper nabij Overstone Island in het noorden van Schotland komt Dorothy Durby om het leven. De zee raakt ernstig radioactief vervuild. Alexander Durby wil de waarheid weten over de dood van zijn vrouw en komt daardoor in conflict met de inlichtingen- en veiligheidsdiensten. Hij vreest voor zijn leven en vlucht naar Australië. Daar ontdekt hij een rijke diamantmijn en verdient hiermee een vermogen.

Twintig jaar later gaat zijn dochter Dorothy jr., die door een aanslag verlamd is geraakt en in een rolstoel zit, op zoek naar haar vader. Ze vindt hem in de Outback en samen besluiten ze zijn vermogen te investeren in het zoeken naar de waarheid over de dood van Dorothy Durby. Ze krijgen daarbij hulp van een groep briljante hackers en van de Nederlandse onderzoeksjournalist Joram Petzer. Met behulp van een ultramoderne spionagecomputer weet hij door te dringen in de systemen en archieven van de inlichtingen- en veiligheidsdiensten. Het lukt hem om de geheimen rond de nucleaire ramp en de dood van Dorthy Durby te achterhalen. Als hij zijn opzienbarende boek over het Overstone Incident publiceert, gebeurt er weer een ramp.

In 1966 en 1968 stortten in Zuid Spanje en op Groenland twee B-52 bommenwerpers met scherpe kernraketten aan boord neer. De archieven over deze nucleaire rampen zijn tot op de dag van vandaag vrijwel ontoegankelijk. Onder het mom van de bescherming van de nationale veiligheid hebben de inlichtingen- en veiligheidsdiensten van diverse landen hierin een uiterst dubieuze rol gespeeld.

Vanaf 18 juni 2010 verkrijgbaar in de betere boekhandel of via www.overstoneincident.com.

Verkoopprijs: € 24,95

NS zegt: Koop ons product vooral niet; het is geen goed product!

2009-12-24T08:01:00.006+01:00

In the Kumbum Monastery a new library is build with ancient old techniques: no nails or screws or other metal objects are used to connect the entire wooden structure of the four story building.

Labrang, near Lanzou, China

Stel je voor je hebt een winkel vol mooie begeerlijke producten. Prima producten waar nies mis mee is. Je maakt reclame, investeert in nieuwe vloerbedekking, in een nieuwe kassa, kortom een echte zakenman met oog voor de toekomst.

Op een dag gaat het sneeuwen. En dan kom je in de problemen. Je leveranciers laten het afweten, je voorraden zijn nog op peil, maar ja, zonder de sneeuw was je beter af geweest.

wat doe je dan: je raad je klanten af om je producten nog langer te kopen.

'Nee, kom net nar mijn winkel ik verkoop mijn producten niet.'

En dat drie lange dagen. Het gevolg is chaos in het hele land.

Zo ongeveer stel ik mij de NS en Prorail voor. Prorail is het bedrijf dat niet kan waar het voor betald wordt, namelijk ervoor zorgen dat treinen kunnen rijden. NS is van het hebben van producten maar het afraden om ze te kopen. Alle prachtige dure commercials van NS in een klap de grond in geboord. Weg vertrouwen in een goed functionerend spoorwegsysteem. De nationale rots heeft het een forse klap het eigen bestaan bijkans onmogelijk gemaakt.

Elke MKBer die het zich veroorloofd een 'negatief reisadvies' af te geven - met andere woorden zegt dat je beter zijn producten niet kunt kopen - is tot faillissement gedoemd. NS is monopoliehouder en kan zich een dergelijke charade veroorloven. En wat er dan gebeurd is helemaal bij de wilde spinnen af. We leveren als NS geen enkele garantie op onze producten. Als je al een product hebt (een of ander abonnement bijvoorbeeld) dan geven wij desondanks een negatief reisadvies. Zo van, jammer, maar je hebt een slecht product gekocht en dat is je eigen schuld. Garantie? Geen sprake van! Vergoeding bij vertraging? Nee, hoor eigen schuld. We hadden toch gezegd dat dat we slechte producten leveren. had je ze maar niet moeten kopen.

De absurde domheid van wat NS gedaan heeft (en negatief reisadvies door de aanbieder van de reisproducten zelf), levert stof voor marketingdeskundigen en onderzoekers.

Hoe was het ok alweer: marktwerking verhoogt de kwaliteit door concurrentie? Wie is eigenlijk de concurrent van NS? En wie van Prorail. Beiden zijn het monopolisten en die kunnen zich alles veroorloven.

Een mooie dag wens k u!

Big changes - grote veranderingen

2009-12-23T13:33:00.005+01:00

This Dri is often called a Yak, which is wrong. Yak is the male, Dri is the female Highland bovine. This one gave milk, so it must be a Dri.

Seasons Greetings to all!

Up to now I wrote my blog in English. That is gong to be changed. From now on I will add tekst in Dutch, my native tongue. My photo's will still be available in English ;).

Mijn blog verscheen tot nu toe onregelmatig en in het engels. dat gaat anders worden. ik stap over nar een Nederlandstalige blog. Het concept blijft gelijk: steeds een foto en een commentaar op wat er zoal voorbij komt.

Tibeten Monks after their daily prayer

2009-11-28T15:33:00.001+01:00

Tibetan monks putting their shoes on after their daily prayers, Shigatse, Tibet

Tibetan Nomads

2009-11-10T17:02:00.001+01:00

Tibetan nomad selling Yak cheese, Shigatse region, Tibet

a picture of nothing

2009-11-02T08:48:00.000+01:00

The beach after the sea has gone ...

Have a nice day!

Pilgrims at rest

2009-10-24T09:46:00.002+02:00

Tibetan pilgrims resting at the inner court of a monastery (Shigatse, Tibet)

Hardly visible in the water

2009-10-17T07:16:00.000+02:00

The hatchling is free to swim at last.

It did it. It is hardly visible in the giant sea, but it is in its element now.

Hopefully to survive and return in about 20 years to lay its eggs in a hole on the beach for a next generation.

Have a nice day!

Wow! (S)He did it!

2009-10-16T17:14:00.000+02:00

Although the first little waves thrown it back on the beach it reached the sea at last after about 20 minutes of creeping.

Enjoy Life!

Have a nice day

The morning sun is hot

2009-10-15T07:12:00.000+02:00

The sun is hot for a little creature that is meant to live in the sea

He nearly did it!

Have a nice day!

Still a couple of a small steps to go

2009-10-14T07:10:00.000+02:00

He (or she) nearly did it!

Have a nice day

Careta careta on its way to the sea

2009-10-13T07:07:00.003+02:00

One step for this little hatchling ...

What they do is enormous. This is a real struggle for life. Every little step on the five meter to the sea helps strengthen this little creature.

Have a nice day

Caret turtle hatchling on its 'long' way to the sea

2009-10-12T17:01:00.005+02:00

Caret turtle hatchling in the sand

It has to go its own way: digging itself out of its nest and creeping to the waterline strengthens it muscles. It needs these exercises to survive! Well, for a large number of human beings in the western hemisphere, this would be very useful: more and good exercising is better for your health than just sitting and eating too much, too fat, too much sugar ... !

Think about your health, when meditating the enormous job this hatchling is doing to survive.

Have a nice day!

Three Caret Turtle hatchlings on the beach

2009-10-10T09:50:00.004+02:00

Three Caret Turtle hatchling on the beach of Crete

They have the size of the palm of your hand. They have just been peeled out of their eggs. Born late; their hatchling brothers and sisters came out by themselves about ten days earlier. These ones got birthing assistance by a marine biologist and volunteers of Archelon the Carte Turtle Protection Organization of Greece.

In the next days we'll follow one of these hatchling on its way to the water of the Mediterranean. A walk of about 20 meter, a very long way for these little ones.

Have a nice day!

Caret Hatchlings - you must see them!!

2009-10-09T18:45:00.004+02:00

Eggs of the Careta Turtle (Careta careta) on a beach on Crete

Mind: about 20 years after their birth from this kind of eggs, these turtles (well, the girls only off course) return to their beach of birth to lay their eggs for e new generation. Volunteers of

Archelon, a Greek sea turtle protection organization (www.archelon.gr/index_eng.php) helped these hatchlings to get out of their eggs.

To be continued!

Have a nice day!

WHO DESIGNED THIS UNIVERSAL PLASTIC CHAIR?

2009-10-08T13:17:00.005+02:00

I'm back from a journey to Crete, the wonderful Greek Island in the Mediterranean.

I just put about 100 new photo's on my website - they are being uploaded right now.

I also have a BIG Question.

All over the world I have seen this universal plastic chair. In all thinkable colors.

It is weird that no one can tell me who the designer was that once made the model for this universal plastic chair. He or she simply seems to be unknown.

Well, maybe you know

Or you know someone who might know

Or who might have some information that ...

I'd like to know who the designer was ..

If you can help me contact me.

If you cannot help me, you can by sending this request to your friends and relatives.

Somewhere among the over 6 Billion people around the world there is that one man or woman that knows who and the is the one designer that once draw the first sketch for this plastic chair.

Get me in contact with him or her...

Let's do it!

Have a nice day!

Visit: http://www.hahn-photography.com - where I will publish the results of my UPCp Universal Plastic Chair project

Yak

2009-09-30T15:36:00.000+02:00

Highland bovine living above 3500 metres

Yak is the male bovine, Dri is the female. As yaks are commonly held for their milk (and hair and meat and bones and leather), most nomadic yaks are Dris as a mater of fact. We usually call all yaks just yak.

Have a nice day

Tibetan nomads

2009-09-28T15:35:00.000+02:00

Nomad women selling Yak cheese

Have a nice day

Monks putting their boots on after prayer

2009-09-25T15:33:00.000+02:00

Tibetan monks put on their boots after the prayer, Shigatse, Tibet

Have a nice day!

Tibetan monks boots

2009-09-21T15:32:00.000+02:00

Boots of Tibetan monks, Shigatse, Tibet

Chinese Wall

2009-09-17T15:31:00.000+02:00

View on the Chinese Wall, China

Off for three weeks

2009-09-13T15:26:00.000+02:00

Sunset over water, Texel, Netherlands

For the next three weeks I will not add the photo of the day or the comment of the day. After thorough preparation I'm going for a photo trip to Crete. I do have internet access in Greece, but I do not take my blog photo's with me. Maybe I can add some comment every now and then, but I doubt as I have a rather full photo planning ahead.

We'll see. I hope to be back in the second week of october.

See you then.

Have nice days!

Meeting in the middle of nowhere

2009-09-11T15:23:00.003+02:00

Farmer walking along the road in between Gyantse and Lhasa, Tibet

I met this farmer on his way home being 'somewhere over there', in the middle of nowhere on nearly 5000 meter above sealevel. He was spinning while walking and chewing hard yakcheese.

Have a nice day!

Two Tibetan girls

2009-09-07T09:55:00.001+02:00

The granddaughters of a farmer we visited in a small village near Shigatse, Tibet

Have a nice day!

Praying Pilgrims

2009-09-04T12:29:00.001+02:00

Praying Pilgrims in front of the Jokhang Temple, Lhasa, Tibet

Have a nice day!

Man reading the paper on the market

2009-09-02T15:07:00.002+02:00

Market, Lijian, China

Have a nice day!

Elderly lady in Lhasa

2009-09-01T08:44:00.001+02:00

Elderly lady in Lhasa, Tibet

Have a nice day!

Chinese Opera

2009-08-28T19:31:00.003+02:00

Monkey King in a Beijing Opera, Beijing, China

Music is special, especially if you are not used to it. My ears were not used to the singing in a Beijing Opera. So I very much liked the scenery, but my ears did not like the singing. Since my first and last visit to a Beijing opera I often when I have to visit a cultural event: ‘It is wonderful, but I hope they do not start singing’.

Many things we are confronted with are nice, but with restrictions. We often do not understand cultural expressions from other cultures. In a multi cultural society that becomes more and more a problem. Multi cultural is enriching and it asks the openness to have oneself confronted with unknown cultural expressions. We cannot live n One World together as long as we keep saying that our cultural expressions are of a higher value than theirs.

I try to be open and accept that other cultures around me show other expressions. This is sometimes difficult. I had my problems with the Beijing opera because my ears were not accustomed to this kind of music. I choose not to go back to the opera in Beijing. In the place where I live I do not have that choice. Unusual cultural expressions are everywhere around me. I get used to it, but sometimes the old feeling come up: ‘It is wonderful as long as they do not start singing’.

Well, they will start singing and I will have to get used to it. That is integration. Accepting that other people are other people and that they are enrichment for our culture, not a thread, like right wing politicians like to stress. The interchange between cultures enriches both sides, as long as both sides are ready to accept that. I am! Are you?

Have a nice day!

The heritage for our chldren

2009-08-26T08:52:00.002+02:00

Foam on the beach, Bergen/Zee, Netherlands

Walking on the beach. Traces of foam in bizarre forms. Few people know that they are traces of environmental pollution. Phosphates from our detergents make algae grow. Too much algae in the water make to much foam. What looks so cute isn't that positive. Green detergents contain fewer phosphates and have better impact on the quality of the water. Think of that when you are shopping!

Oh, yeah, before I forget: many cities pump their dirty water just like that in the environment. Large pipelines spit the dirt deep into the sea. Not only in third world countries. This happens in developed world also. Large industries use water for their production process or to cool their machinery and they too often pump dirty water back into the sea. Paper mills know about that and nuclear power plants and many other industries all over the world. Green industries invest in water cleaning installations. They have understood that they have a responsibility that goes farther then their stockholders interest. They are aware of the heritage for their children. Cleaning industrial polluted water is expensive, so why bother is what many a boss thinks. Mind your children and the world they have o live in. That is what I'd like to say them. Feel responsible for the world your children and grandchildren will live in. Think ahead, not one year, but many years and think about what you got from your parents and what you are going to leave for your children and grandchildren. A better world for them starts today with you and me!

We cannot live without the environment! We cannot live without clean water.

Water is the basis of our lives. Lets be careful with it!

Have a nice day!

Garbage everywhere

2009-08-25T15:21:00.002+02:00

Garbage bins on the grounds of the Lama temple, Beijing, China

I had to look into the garbage bins to know where to throw away what. The Chinese characters and the drawings are unclear for someone unknown to the Chinese language. I hope i did it right, for such beautiful garbage bins should be used in a proper way.

What do you do with your garbage? Separate it and discard off in different bins, so that it can be recycled and reused? It is the small differences that can change the world and that can help getting a bit rid of that huge amount of dirt we make everyday. Before we shout at those dirty third world countries we should be aware of the amount of garbage we produce and of the little effort me make to really do something about that. Just go on if you do, or lets start today! Yes we can!!

Have a nice day!

Strange food on a Chinese market

2009-08-24T12:36:00.003+02:00

A colorful food market in Lijiang, China

For a photographer who likes good food, Chinese markets are the places to be.

But - and one should never forget that - foreign cultures have foreign habits. They might eat things we usually do not eat. On Chinese food markets one should no be embraced to rats, cats, dogs, singing birds, frogs, and other living creatures either ready to eat or still alive to be prepared fresh. There is a saying about Chinese food that seems to hot the point: In China they eat everything having four legs apart from the table and everything that flies apart from the airplane. Well visiting a Chinese food market one gets the impression that this is very true.

But still eating in a Chinese restaurant is an adventure not to be compared to what the Chinese restaurants in the western world serve. I never liked to know exactly how it was called, what I found on the table. As long as it tasted well it was OK with me. Only with fish I was rather reluctant: the water in the rivers in China a so polluted that eating fish from those rivers seemed to me be so unhealthy that I either played the vegetarian or ate meat only. But never ask me what meat it was. It just tasted wonderful …

Have a nice day!

Singing children

2009-08-23T16:31:00.003+02:00

Two begging children in front of one of the temples in Drepung Monastery, Lhasa, Tibet

It is strange for a westerner to say 'thank you' if you give something to a beggar. In buddhist countries this is not uncommon. A beggar gives me the opportunity to add to my positive karma and therefo I thank him when giving him something. Begging is bieing seen in a totally different way. It is not a shame to be a beggar although many beggars certainly prefer having another job. Thse two little children sang song at the entrance of one of the tempels of the Drepung Monastery in Lhasa, Tibet. Our ibetan guide asked them to sing louder for the money she was going to give. They did, they sang fanaticalland got their fee.

A year later when I was in Lhasa again, they still sat at the same place in Drepung Monastery, but they no longer sang. Their hair had grown and they just sat there asking for a dime. They had become a bit shy, fearing to let their little voices hear. I had no guide with me to stimulate them. I just gave them some money.

How will their future be? As poor Tibetans in China occupied Tibet.

Have a nice day!

Water, our source of life!

2009-08-22T10:44:00.002+02:00

Pilgrims drinking blessed water in the Jokhang Temple, Lhasa, Tibet

Water is one of the most important elements for life. We can be hungry for a while but without clean water to drink we die within days. There is water enough, but it often is not clean. Investing in clean water is investing in human life. Bringing clean water to the dry areas of the world is bringing life. Digging wells to have water to water the land imeans bringing food. The future of millions depends on clean water.

When it is summerly warm in countries we open the tap and drink clean water or we buy bottles of clean drink developped ing water. In underdevelopped countroes thay lack this luxus. We can help by being aware of value of a simple glass of water. Just imagine how life would be without it.

These pilgrims drink blessed water at a holy well in the court of the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, Tibet. They often wander for weeks and months to visit this most important temple for the Tibetan Buddhists.

Have a nice day!

With love

2009-08-21T15:03:00.001+02:00

Just a cup of coffee served by a nice waitress on a terras in Aachen, Germany

Have a nice day!

Riding on a Yak ...

2009-08-19T14:21:00.004+02:00

Woman milking a Dri (female Yak) somewhere between Shigatse and Lhasa, Tibet

In Tibet life without Yakmilk is unthinkable. The Tibetans drink Yakbuttertea all day long. It is an important part of their nutrition. Liquid, fat and salt is needed on 45oo meters and higher above sealevel. I drank about 5 litres of water every day whilw hiking the country.

Nomads like this woman are soldom seen. They live in very remaote areas with their flock. Areas wher you even cannot come with a fourwheeldrive.

Riding a Yak on a narrow mountainpath is an unforgettable experience. The feet of the yak are quite certain. They never slide or stumble. If they would have, I would not have been able to write this blog! If you ever come to Tibet, try riding a Yak on a narrow mountaintrail. It's cool they say in these days!

Have a nice day!

Dish washing without a dishwasher

2009-08-18T18:10:00.002+02:00

Tibetan nun washing the dishes, Lhasa, Tibet

She has no dishwashingmachine, but the dishes have to be cleaned. In the full sun on about 4000 meter above sealevel. All by hand. Mind her back! Will she be in a couple of years like all those old women. A bended back!

How about us? Sp[oiled by our electronic devices. Ever done dishwashing by hand? In the garden. Bend like a bow? Mind this nun and her back, and her hands, when you fill you dishwasher.

Have a nice day!

Running for a living

2009-08-16T17:27:00.002+02:00

Number 10 at the Utrecht (Netherlands) Marathon 2008

They travel the world running Marathons for a living. Nearly unbeatable. They did the walking and than the running to attend school in the Kenyan or Ethiopian Highlands, where we do drive our kids to school by car. Every morning and every evening a ten miles walk to and from school gives you an strong heart and well trained leggs. If we want to become real runners we have to start training early. As with everything we do: learned early makes the real masters. The professional African runners are masters: they earn a living that make them rich in their own country.

Lets start running for a better world like they do!

Have a nice day!

They'll never understand what they did ...

2009-08-14T15:57:00.003+02:00

A winter tree (a nice shot for a hot summer day)

The bankers do not understand!

Mind your money!

It might be in the hands crooks that are not interested in your financial well being, but that have work only their own bank account. The bankers do not want to understand that the financial crisis that caused so much damage is mainly the result of their greed!

It is this greed that is still their leading principle: and it will be this greed that will bring the (financial) world further into the abyss. And no one can stop these scoundrels. It looks like their having the world economy in their hold. They act like the ivory tower leaders of a world no one likes to live in. They have their own empire, their own rules, their own world of greed and selfishness. It is an ugly world I do not want to live in! Their world has to be changed. Yes we can!

We can if we have some kind of Robin Hood. Someone who, outside the law, robs the bankers of their money to have it given back to those who lost it because of the banker’s greed.

Maybe the law enforcement should look the other way if the greedy bankers come and complain that they where robbed of the money they stole. What is so sad for them is good for the economy, is good for the world we live in.

It is a weird thing that we do not yet have a Robin Hood like that. In the first part of his Millennium trilogy the late Stieg Larsson describes how Sally steals the wealth of an economic scoundrel. I cannot say whether the method she used is realistic. But I think so. Isn't there a group of brilliant hackers out there that are willing to rob in the same way the millions of those banking scoundrels that rob innocent people of their money? And that still do so in spite of the financial crisis? Maybe if some of them are treated like those rich men, that met Robin Hood in the forest in the old stories, they will understand that they have to change their habit drastically.

Let us bring the greed of the bankers to a full stop and give the money back to the people that really worked for it. Stolen money can be stolen and given back to those it was stolen from. There is nothing bad about that. It is the kind of justice the law cannot grant. Obama cannot and Brown cannot and Merkel cannot and Berlusconi surely cannot. But we, yes can. We can do it outside the law. Yes we can!

Have a nice day!

The end of sunmer holidays

2009-08-13T12:26:00.005+02:00

Schoolboy doing his homework on the market in Lintian

You often see them in China, boys and girls doing their homework on the street, on the market (while their parents are at work as merchandisers). They work for their future. Chinese parents invest a lot in good education for their children. Often the education they had not due to the historical errors of the regime.

Education is one of the most important development issues worldwide. Boys and girls have to be able to attend school and learn about the world they live in. Hindering children to go to school is a crime against humanity and should be pursued. Regimes that do not invest enough in the education of their children should be forced to change their policy. The Afghan Taliban forbidding girls and women to go to school have unacceptable ideas about what a girl should learn. Using the Koran or even the name of Allah as an argument for their ideas about the oppression of females is blasphemous!

This Chinese boy on the market in Lintian will be able to read and write and so he will have access to knowledge and to the doors to freedom.

Have a nice day!

Nightview

2009-08-12T14:24:00.002+02:00

Nightview on Lintian, China

Aphoto that was impossible to make. No tripod, just a 'give it a try shot' from the window of my hotelroom. The result is just acceptable, no mote than that.

Linatian is a beautifull watertown in the South east of China in the middle of Minority area's. The town and the villages around are like An El Dorado for the serious photographer.

Have a nice day!

Cooling water on a hot day

2009-08-11T16:55:00.003+02:00

Streetspring in Princenbeek, Netherlands

It is quite hot overhere in the Netrelands. So some cooling down would be great. Internalising the cool water from the spring on the photo, deep meditating on 'cool water', it might help a bit. My suggestion for today: think yourself cool! By the way, the photo was made in late wintertime when it was just nice again to be outside shooting photo's).

Have an nice day!

Become a vegetarian?

2009-08-10T08:25:00.000+02:00

Roasted dog for sale on a market of Linjian, China

Have a nice day

Berlin again

2009-08-09T08:23:00.000+02:00

Dome of the resconstructed Synagige inthe Oranienstrasse in Berlin, Germany

Have a nice day

Berlin architecture

2009-08-08T08:20:00.000+02:00

Entrance of the German Historical Musuem, Berling, Germany

Have a nice day!

Mexcian Flu again

2009-08-07T08:15:00.003+02:00

Streetcar Phonebooths, Berlin, Germany

Be carfull: If you catch the Mexican Flu in the Neterlands and your boiler needs repair, count for the not coming in the technician. He calculates the chance of getting ill and will not show up!

So have your things repaired befor getting ill! Or you risk being ill and not being able to take a hot shower.

Have a nice day

2009-08-06T09:00:00.003+02:00

Construction detail of the Dome of the Reichstag, Berlin Germany

Construction details give interesting forms. Like this one. You do not know what is is exactly, but it has a fascinating form. I found this detail high up in the (Sir Norman Foster) Dome of the German Reichstag Building in Berlin.

This kind of contructions are also interesting because of the hundred of thousands of little pieces (like screws and plugs antc) that have to be broungt together and that have to fit together to 'make the building happen'. I greatly admire those technicians that are able to organize the construction. Bring all those parts together on the right place and time so that the builders can go on.

Buyilding a construction like this one is like a little artificial miracle to me.

Have a nice day!

Have a nice day

Prisons in Belgium

2009-08-04T15:38:00.003+02:00

Shops in the Scheunenviertel, Berlin, Germany

If you ever have to go to prison, ask for seclusion in a Belgian prison.

Why? Because of the best chance to get out of it.

In the last two weeks some 15 prisoners escaped from Belgian prisons. One being the most dagnerous of Belgiums inmates. One group of escapies robbing an couple of banks days after their escape collecting 100.000 Euro!

Most of tem are still not back in prison. The one that is is back in the same prison he escaped from.

Oh and before I forget: Belgium has excelent restaurants! So if you go to belgium forget the prison and go for good quality food. it definitely is better than life in prison even if you are an escapie.

Have a nice day!

Taxpayers ask for Open Access

2009-08-03T09:08:00.005+02:00

Details of a building, Leidsche Rijn, Utrecht, Netherlands

The results of research, paid by public money(!) should be accessible to the taxpayer. The problem is that a small group of publishers reigns the world of scientific journals, Elsevier being the largest one. They earn money by publishing journals of which the content is paid by you and me. Thse journals are expensive and we have no access to what we paid for. Libraries, also financed by public money, pay for the subscriptions of those journals. So the taxpayer pays twice and gets nothing.

As soon as scientists start a collective boycot of those unaccessible journals and publish in the Open Access journals (including peer review), the problem solves itself. As long as the researchers stick to the classicas like Science, Nature, the New English Journal of Medicine and the like the problem will never be solved.

By the way, when I was a academic researcher (1981-1995) I always published in Open Access journals using the the taxpayers argument. I even in those old times had my own little website with publications. The university did not like it and I had to leave the university in 1995. Now the universities also saythey prefer Open Access if research is payed for by public money. There is nothing new in the world. Only slow academic thinking.

Have a nice day!

Modern Architecture

2009-08-02T16:41:00.001+02:00

Just some houses in a street in Leidsche Rijn, a subburb of Utrecht, Netherlands

Have a nice day!

Mexican Flu

2009-08-01T10:40:00.006+02:00

Inside Sir Norman Fosters Dome on the Reichstag, Berlin, Germany

There is something strange going on about this Mexican Flu that is keeping the whole world under tension. Will t come, will an outbreak cost millions of lives? We will know by the end of the year. But there are a couple of thing i'd like to understans.

First I understand that it actually is a mild version of the flu. So why bother about? The farmacauticals are producing enough Tamiflu and vaccins to vaccinate the whole western world. The Dutch goverment ordered vaccins to vaccinate the whole population twice. But thet are still discussing who will be vaccinated(!?)

One major point in the Mexican flu hype is that western goverments only care about their rich developped country. I suppose they think that in the poor, lesser developped countries people die anyway of malaria, HIV and other diseases. The big farmaceuticals producing the vaccins make lots of money because we face a mondial disaster with thousands of people dying. Good for them and good for us. This autumn the vaccins will be available, so why this governmental panic? People live, people die. We have a flu every year and it costs hunderds of lives every year. Now they call the coming flu a pandemia, said to cover the whole globe, affecting all people. But they only care about those who are economically of interst. Goverments are to decide who will be vaccinated and who will be left to become ill or even die. I cannot simply go to my doctor or my pharmacy and buy me Tamiflu to avoid getting the Mexican Flu. I need a governemental consent and a prescription the medics will not give unless it is neccesary.

Milions are spend on scenario's about what to do if. Public Relation films are made but not yet broadcasted. The goverments are prepared but for what?

This very much sounds like the Millenium Bug that Microsoft induced in the late 90s. The 1999 - 2000 switch passed without any computerproblem. The biggest hoax ever told! The said upcoming pandemia of the Mexican Flu can either kill millions or it can fade away like the Millenium bug. A new worldwide hoax?

It is Ok that goverments are preparing for the worst. It is their job! But it is not OK that they are going to decide about life and death of civilians. If the Mexican Flu is going to be he killer of the year it will hit those who have no access to medication or vaccination. I have no governement hear speaking of the problems that are facing the developping countries. No one is sending vaccins to African countries. Sure, the rich and powerfull in those countries will care for themselves. They have the diamonds, the gold, the oil and the money to buy whataver they need. But what about the ordinary people here and over there? They will have no access to medical care. They will die because the west only looks as far as their arms reach. Caring for those who need our care costs too much money. That is exactly what happens with medication against malaria, HIV etc. It could be available if only we care more.

I suggest some lottery to decide who will live and who will die. A Russian Roulette with vaccination as the winners price! This is not new this is the reality we live in.

The way the responsables handle this Mexican Flu shows the lines of power and it shows the ruthlessness of those who are in charge. It showes the way governments think about the value of life: if you have an important job you will be chosen to be vaccinated. If not: too sad, but you risk not to survive this pandemia.

Have a nice day!

Green water and open bridges

2009-07-30T12:07:00.005+02:00

An open bridge on the A6 Highway to let some sailing boats pass under

Green water in the Urk Harbour

This is not the colour water should have. Blue Algues make the water green. It os one of nature's curses that we face every hot summer in The Netherlands. The Netherlands are a watery country. Ditches and dikes protect the low country for the water of the North Sea. Rotterdam is one of the biggest harbours worldwide.

It is interesting to know that a lot of Dutch seaman cannot swim, although they live with and the water.

A lot of ditches, kanals, rivers means also a lot of bridges. Even in National Highways ine can face a curfew because of an open bridge. The boat passing by? Well, some tourist in their sailing boat. Stopping all the traffic for about 15 minutes.

That is the charming side of a small country, a low country (Holland means 'low country' as des the Netherlands).

Have a nice day!

A happy man!

2009-07-29T17:53:00.007+02:00

Inside the Dome of the Reichstad (build by Sir Norman Foster) in Berrlin, Germany

I am a happy man today!

Dutch static researchers found out that more people have been murderd last year (176 in total). More males than females have been murdered - that makes me sad, because I am a male. But most murdred males were divorced and neither me nor my wife have the intention to divorce.

So I am a happy man today! Are you?

Have a nice day!

Social Networks linked together

2009-07-25T14:31:00.003+02:00

This is what 'linking' means in downtown Shanghai, China

Facebook, Hyves, Linkedin, Plaxo, Flicr etcetera. There are hundreds of social networks on the internet I could use. I do not have the time to use all of them. I have selected one and as I am a professional user I chose Linkedin. Ir serves my needs. Meanwhile I have friends that would like me to use Facebook, or Xing, or Plaxo because they use those social networks. It is sad for them but i have a lot more to do than working on my social networks. and if I do I want to do it well. So I stick to Linkedin.

But I wonder why there is not a software program that combines the largest of these social networks, linking them so, that I can in one single action post a message to all the social networks I'd like to, or change my profile n one single action in all the social networks i'd like to have my profile changed. Such a piece of software should nit be to hard to make, but no one did up to now. Or at least I have not yet found it.

I would be vary happy to get a suggestion as to this kind of software. A kind of Linkin Pin Software to several social networks. That software can build a powerful Super Network as is connects hundreds of thousands of people all over the world into one world-spanning social network. That is really revolutionary. It brings ultimate social power to my fingertips.

I am not a whizzkid. So I ask, who is picking up this idea and will build me this social network linking software? I have ideas as what that should be able to do and what functionalities it should have. Contact me if you can help me.

have a nice day!

Computer crash - Still a photo of the day

2009-07-24T18:14:00.002+02:00

Wind over Texel, Netherlands

I had a computer crash today and had to fix things first before I could get to my Blog. So only a photo today and no comment.

We had a very wet and windy and sonny day today. Strange weather all together. But you have to take is as it is. We can do a lot of things but making sun when it rains and rain when the sun shines is above our power. That is where we need the gods or something like that. In India they have young naked girls plow the field to attract the attention of the gods, and have them bring rain. I don't know wether it helps or not. If I where a god ...

Thank god I am a human being.

Have a nice day!

The blessings of a multi cultural culture

2009-07-23T08:05:00.005+02:00

Uyghur women singing at the Multi Cultural Festival Cultuure Clash 2009 in Utrecht, Netherlands

(She is one of the about 400 Uyghur political refugees from Xinjian (China))

The ultra right wing political party PVV in the Netherlands has a new idea to attract voters: they have asked all the ministries to calculate the costs of non-european citizens. You got it? The want to proof that non-european immigrants are more expensive for the state that white Dutchmen. They want to show that immigrants cost more tax-money, because they are more often unemployed (they are more often refused jobs), refugees have more physical and psychological problems then white people. With these figures they can argue that it costs money to let refugees in end you can better throw them out.

Well I do not need those figures the PVV is asking for. I just wonder what the PVV party costs the tax payer?

The main question is not what immigrants cost but the question is about the general quality of a nation, of a culture. The PVV is a shame for a nation. It is a single issue party that only focusses on attracting votes by saying the things racist like to hear. Social problems always tend to be put on the bill of the weaker part of the population. For lots of people - sadly enough - it is the immigrant population that causes all the problems. Well, I have seen a lot of social problems caused by really Dutch people, very white and very criminal.

I am proud of living in a multi cultural country!

I am proud of living in a country where people who are in danger can ind a save haven.

We live in a world that is no longer defined by its frontiers but that is defined by its unity! I live in One World.

I'd like to know where those PVV-people go on their holidays? Cheap flight into a far away country, all inclusive? And do they often get their food from the Chinese restaurant?

I am proud of living in a country that has for centuries been infected by foreign cultures: India, Indonesia, Surinam, Caribean, Morocco, Turkey etc. Cultural diversity is an enrichment for the typical white culture. Mono cultures have no chance to survive in a multicultural world that is more and more freed from boundaries and frontiers.

The Open Society has the future and parties like the PVV come and go like all exclusive parties.

I am proud of having learned to think and act inclusive and not exclusive.

Everyone will be a foreigner someday, somewhere.

I hope the PVV people realize that their hatred against immigrants goes back to their fear for change.

It is not the costs of immigrants, it is the way they enrich our culture! That is the central question. A question the PVV can not even think of in their frenzy for foreign cultures.

Ministries: tell the PVV how immigrants have enriched our monoculture and tell them that this enrichment has very high value!

Well I have a suggestion: go and visit a multi cultural festival these days! It is worth every Euro!

Have a nice day!

Mexican Flu and 40.000 people walking in Nijmegen

2009-07-22T08:14:00.004+02:00

Just a Dutch letterbox

More then 40.000 people walk the Vierdaagse (Four Days of Walking 30, 40 or 50 kms) this year. With the Mexican flu as a thread over their head. The organizers have been warned. 40.000 people from all over he world coming together in one city is a calculable risk. An now one participant probably has the Mexican flu. Bringing it from Britain to the continent. Sad for the soldier who will not be able to fly back to Britain with BA or Virgin Atlantic. These carriers do not accept people having Mexican Flu as passengers.

A pandemic is best spread around the world by getting lots of people together in a high risk period. The H1N1 virus will be glad to find masses around to spread itself.

And now the number of patent will grow and The Netherlands is part of the Pandemic family. Thanks to the organizers of the Vierdaagse that did not postpone the event in spite of them being warned well in advance. They could have. They only gave away mouth protection. And the government? Local? National? nothing was heard of them. Do they really protect us? Are they really in charge? When taking this kind of risks and letting events like this one happen without any precaution, i doubt about their functioning. Being warned and no action as hazardous! The Dutch governments on all levels took the risk. Who is gonna suffer from it? Exactly: you and me. You cab take it that those who think themselves in charge have access to medication to avoid hem from getting ill. But do you have?

Both the organizers of the event and the (local) government are acting with no sense of real responsibility for the well being of the population. The spreading of the Mexican Flu in the coming days and weeks in the Netherlands will show the effect.

Today will be a nice day for walking:these boots are made for walking and walking is what they'll do!

Have a nice day!

Bhutanese girl on her mothers back

2009-07-21T13:32:00.004+02:00

Little girl on her mothers back during a festival in Bhutan

In the Netherlands we call the summer time 'cucumbertime' the time where journalist have nothing to write so they write about things that are of no interest to anyone. Filling the pages with rubbish. That is 'cucumbertime'. That is now. As I have little to write, I will not write. Just a photo of the day. When time comes comment will come back. I hop you stat with me.

Have a nice day!

No Comment today

2009-07-19T18:14:00.004+02:00

A sheep being trimmed by the sheep trimmer

A day full of sun and rain and everything. And the British have their Open Golf Tournament: The Open. So there is no time for any comment apart from the fact that the border between the winner and the looser (that is: between Gold and Silver; The Jar or no Jar) is thin like a single hair. And that is all in the game.

Have a nice day!

The miracle of light

2009-07-18T13:05:00.003+02:00

Church of St. Anne La Palud, Bretagne, France

Light can make miracles. The grey end stony church floor of an old changes n a wonderful play of colors by the sunlight radiating through the stained windows. The dark interior of the church changes in a miracle of light and colors, even for someone who does not believe in a religious way. It is just simple beauty that astonishes me. Enjoy the beauty of nothing. It is worth wondering about simple beauty around you.

Have a nice day!

Just a marketplace in Venice

2009-07-17T09:50:00.002+02:00

Marketplaces are beautiful spots for photographers. They are full of life and colors. You have just to walk around, be friendly to the people and you come home with hundreds of wonderful and simple pictures. Like this one. Nothing special, but a colorful abundance of fresh vegetables.

Venice is much more than the San Marco and the many other churches and the gondola's. Venice is a city to walk around, to have eyes wide open and see through your lens to the beauty of nothing special. Go to the fish market in the morning - wonderful.

It is holiday-time in the Netherlands. Half the populations seems to be away. Maybe some will be in Italy, in Venice. They are lucky!

For those who have to stay home: beauty is everywhere around us, as long as you want to see it!

Open your eyes and your mind and enjoy the beauty of your everyday life!

Have a nice day!

Out of office

2009-07-10T08:17:00.001+02:00

In the coming days I will be out of office. The Photo of the day will be back on july 17th.

Hope to meet you then.

Have a nice day

Have a nice week.

Greed causes the crisis, says the Pope - we know

2009-07-07T17:01:00.000+02:00

Old roman church, Taize, France - even the tree look like a churche

Even the Pope in Rome seems to have read this weblog. His new social letter to his followers is on the crisis they say we face (I already told you that a crisis is a crisis as long as we call it a crisis). Well the reason for the so called crisis the pope gives, is about the same reason I gave in this weblog on May 27th: greed and the will of people to get more and more and even more without any limits. There really is nothing new about this. Everybody knows that and I wrote it down months ago. Now that the pope says it, it becomes kind of true. Well at least for those who believe in popes.

Welcome your Holiness to the world of social reality you live in! What you wrote all the world knows already. And wow, it will really help the world.

Maybe the pope should better care about other social problems he also seems to have no experience with, like the use of preservatives to avoid getting HIV. Mr pope, please do not try to put your western values on other cultures. Do not again the cultures you are in contact with. Let them be as they are. The church history shows that it won't work. That the clash between the papal culture and other cultures end in a disaster. It always ended in slaver, oppression and brutality up to murder by the papal followers. We don't want that again won't we? That's fine. Then I hope the new papal letter will be really new! I'm desperately waiting for it.

Have a nice day!

Urumqui, Lhasa, Beijing

2009-07-07T08:23:00.000+02:00

Waste paper basket at the entrance of the Lama Temple (Tibetan Buddhism) in Beijing

If you have the oil, the gas and the water you have the power. That is the way Beijing thinks and acts. It is the only thing that is interesting in far away regions like Tibet and Xinjian. Xinjian are rich of oil, and gas. The five biggest rivers of South East Asia find their spring on the high-plane of Tibet. Apart from costly minerals that are found in the Tibetan mountains. China robs the country of its beauty to get what it wants.

Both Xinjian and Tibet are typical border countries: the Taklamakan, one of the largest deserts of the world covers a part of Xinjian. The high plane of Tibet and the Himalaya's are perfect borders against the dangers of the south. Those they were in the days of Mao and Stalin. It was Stalin's idea to occupy Tibet and Xinjian to protect China and the Soviet Union for the British threat from India. Now the threat looks to be over. President Obama and President Medvedev might have peaceful goals together. Only China remains stubborn regarding the Uyghur and Tibetan minorities. No freedom of thought, no freedom of press, no freedom of speech. Only brute oppression of the minorities that only want to be their-selves. That want to live the way they want. Now they feel oppressed by the huge amount of Han Chinese that are more or less forced by the Beijing government to immigrate to their regions. The only thing Beijing knows is brute force. A year ago in Lhasa and other parts of Tibet and China. These days in Urumqui the capital of the Xinjian region in western China. The protests are about cultural and religious freedom. The answer of Beijing comes the Kalashnikovs of the solders. Hundreds of deaths and thousands wounded. People die for oil, gas and water.

When will this stop? When will Beijing stop killing the people in the region they keep occupied for over 60 years now. The Peoples Republic is no peoples republic. It is a Majorities Republic, A Han Chinese Republic, where the other ethnic groups do not feel at home. Most of them are too small. But both the Tibetan and the Uyghur minority are big enough to show their will to Beijing. But their the leaders are deaf and dumb. They only know the word of the bullets. Their solders doing the dirty job of killing innocent people in the Peoples Republic. Beijing fears it large minorities but fear has never been a good advisor. Only Beijing does not know that. They are after oil, gas and water at any price even those of human life.

Think of that when you buy 'Made in China'.

Have a nice day!

Take a taxi in Amsterdam

2009-07-06T12:09:00.005+02:00

Reminding me of the fairy tale of Hans Christian Anderson about

the Little Ugly Duckling: here is six of them

It is a good idea to go to Amsterdam. Beautiful city. magical city. The Amsterdam taxi-drivers are famous all over the world. They do everything except things like being polite, bringing you to the address you want, asking a fair price, driving carefully, taking care of you. Nothing of the sort. They are the most terrible kind of taxi drivers you have ever met. The newest way to get you out of a taxi killing people. This week a man was killed by a taxi driver. And neither the government nor the city council have the possibility to do something about the inferior quality of the Amsterdam Taxi business. If you have a driver license you can get a taxi license. Regardless of you qualification as such. The result is that the creep becomes a taxi driver. And they ruin the business for all those who try to earn a decent money. The creep rules the taxi business. So if you go to Amsterdam, try the taxi and get rid of everything you like.

Taking a cab in Amsterdam is like Russian Roulette. You never know who is gonna survive.

Who dares to take a cab in Amsterdam this summer?

Have a nice day!

Praying Wheel

2009-07-05T11:23:00.003+02:00

Women, turning her Praying Wheels near the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, Tibet

The turning of the prayer wheel is a typical thing to be seen in countries like Tibet, Bhutan and Nepal. Near the main temple of Tibetan Buddhism, the Jokhang Temple in Lhasa, men and women can be found sitting around in little groups, chatting and meanwhile turning their praying wheels. In this way they combine their social and religious duties.

Have a nice day!

Sheep trimming 2009

2009-07-04T12:49:00.004+02:00

Eleven sheep on a grassland nearby were shaven today

On a piece of land in the middle of our neighborhood we keep eleven sheep. Some of the neighbors take care of them. This year the ladies had no kids. But their hair had to be cut. Looked at by old and young - especially the children were curiously hanging around and watching what was going on - a man trimmed the sheep, while we had to catch the beasts. they were nervous and very quick, but we got them all. Finally after over an hour everything was done and someone could be made happy wit eleven sheepskins, ready to change them into a woolen pullover or something like that.

Thanks to good neighbor cooperation and a good sheep shaver our sheep can go on. Maybe next year some will have kids. Who knows.

Have a nice day!

2009-07-03T08:18:00.002+02:00

Sunset over the North Sea, Texel, Netherlands

Two major air crashes shocked the world in the last four weeks. Over 350 people died. One 12 year old girl survived a crash in the Indian Ocean as through a miracle. And meanwhile the 'Black Boxes' (that are orange colored) of both Airbuses are gone. Sunk into the deep sea with the plane. This is peculiar. Not the mere fact that the boxes are drowned, but the fact that black boxes are carried on board of airplanes. Technically there is no reason why the black boxes should be on board. Modern communication technology makes is perfectly possible to have all the data, now stored in the black boxes send to a ground station and recorded on a safe place. It is already done. Every 15 minutes the Air France Airbus that crashed in the Atlantic 4 weeks ago, send computer data to a ground station. That is how we know that something went wrong with the computer systems. So why not have all the relevant data send to that ground-station. The crucial data to trace the problems that caused the crash are safely stored and the search for what caused the crash no longer depends on the hazard of finding the black boxes in deep water.

This is the central point where the air plane industry can ameliorate its product on the level of passenger safety. Crashes are part of the air plane industry. They often cannot be avoided. But a new system of black boxes, no longer flying over the world in the planes, but on a safe place instead and connected to the plane over the air would be helpful in many cases. Of course, radio-transmission can be interrupted too. Of course there are more problems to be solved. But the fact that within a month two planes crashed and in both cases the black boxes are probably lost, demands from the technicians in the airplane industry to develop new safety systems. Maybe external black boxes are a good idea to help answer all the questions a plane crash causes. And to help those who lost a beloved one answer the question about what happened. And maybe in some single cases guilt can be found and justice can be done.

Technicians of all countries unite to develop the External Black Box System!

Have a nice day!

2009-07-02T13:56:00.002+02:00

A man from the Islamic Minorities repairing a sheet skin raft in Lhanzou, China

(This photo is one of a project I am working on: The Many Faces of China)

Sheepskin rafting on the Yellow River is one of the attractions of the city of Lhanzou. The skin is build of about eight sheepskins, kept together by some wooden rods. This skins are blown full of air like balloons and carry up to 8 people on the water.

This man of a Muslim minority is repairing a sheepskin. It had a hole and needed reparation.

By the way; i did not go on a raft. Although They offered everyone a safetyvest I did not dare to go into the yellow water.

Have a nice day!

How a scooter makes a train explode

2009-07-01T07:47:00.005+02:00

Inside the San Marco, Venice, Italy

In Viareggio, in Italy a gas-loaded train exploded. About 14 people died and a lot more were wounded. A whole area of the town was destroyed. And then Italy's famous prime minister arrives to 'get things to work'. And he already knows what caused the disaster: 'a passing by scooter', he tells, but he forgot to explain how that came, according to my e-newspaper.

Mr. Bersusconi often has problems explaining things. For instance what young girls are doing in his villa's. Or how he manipulates the media to get elected and reelected.

A country has the government it deserves. If that being true, than a country that is partly more or less governed by the 'causa nostra', the 'ndranggeta', the 'chamorra', the 'maffia', must have some kind of strange government leaded by a strange type of prime minister. I always wonder wether the Italians are aware of the way people in other countries look at their headmaster. A headmaster that promises things and lacks the courage, the will, and the power to realize them. Look at what happened after the earthquake in central Italy some months ago. Millions of Euros were promised and pumped into the region 'to get things done', to get villages rebuild and people back in their houses. Before Christmas people would have a decent house again, said Mr. Berlusconi months ago. But still thousands of people in the region live in barracks and tents. And there is hardly any serious rebuilding as the people tell to international camera-teams. And meanwhile the money from Rome vanished into thin air as money in Italy often vanishes into thin air. People no longer expect help from Rome. They depend on their mutual solidarity. Berlusconi is mistrusted by his own people and still he is very popular. Can you explain that?

Yes, if you are an honest person you have great difficulties to govern a country like Italy that has a rich tradition of 'family-feeling. 'My own clan first' some call that, even if that costs you your innocence, or the life of members of other clans. Their is always a priest available to pardon you. And things done for the own clan are well done. And so Italy wobbles from government to government with more then 50 governments since 1945!

Italy is very difficult to govern, especially if you promise a lot and never keeps your word. And that seems tradition in Rome.

Mr Berlusconi: what really caused the train accident? Was it the bad technical state of the train, as the serious media suggested? Or was it just a passing scooter, as you stated? Please explain to the world how that works. How such a disaster can be caused by just a passing scooter ...

Have a nice day!

Are Mrs Madoff and sons honest or not?

2009-06-30T17:16:00.004+02:00

Tibetan boy in Xiahe, China

The judge has spoken and 'the beast' Bernard Madoff got what he deserved: the rest of his life behind bars.

150 years prison sounds so simple but what is the real value of it for all those whose money he stole?

It is not the greed of the rich, it is the simple belief in a man with what they thought was a good and bona-fide name. He really looked like having a good track record. But it was all fake. Those who trusted Madoff, gave him their little money, their savings for later, they all where kicked in the back. Madoff was a thief of the poor and powerless.

Now the money is gone, but tell me what is about the New York penthouse his wife still lives in? What about the savings on the family Madoff bank accounts. It is the victims money! Madoff stole it. It is not his or his family's.

I know things are more complicated than they look like, but to do a little more justice it would be good if Madoff's wife and sons who have had a very good life from the money their daddy stole from rather poor people - not to talk from the charities he robbed! - would give to the people who lost everything all their money and possessions and get themselves into the desert to meditate about to have and to have not! It is an old custom to retreat from the world and leave all the worldly things behind you. The Madoff's can do to show some very little respect for their daddies victims.

It is time for the Madoff clan to realize that in this society there is no more place for them. Their place is among those who are maybe not guilty but who gained from the profit of him who is guilty.

Don't tell me they did not know. They knew about spending money for themselves. They knew about greed. They knew about everything but where afraid to talk about it. Where afraid to loose their wealth. I tell you they knew where the money came from. The fact that the sons gave in their father can easily be an way to protect the family, by sacrificing the old man. Then the sons and the mother can happily live on with the stolen money.

They could have known, but they choose not to ask the critical questions. They choose to turn away their head and enjoy the wealth they had gathered together. If you do not ask questions you may be as guilty as the one you did not ask the question. You cannot say 'I did not know', because if you had opened your eyes and had seen the suffering in the world around you you would have asked 'Why?' Only those who ask questions can be part of a solution. If you dare to ask question you make yourself into troubles. You become part of the problem, because you fear to see the truth.

Those who say they did not know have to prove their innocence. Those who dare to ask questions will survive.

If the Madoff clan has guts and character, they will act and leave the theater for ever, leaving behind everything they have had stolen. And the name Madoff will be erased from the book of the living. Thanks to their daddy!

Have a nice day!

What do (little) girls have with horses?

2009-06-29T10:24:00.005+02:00

Tibetan farmer ploughing his land with his two yaks, Near Shigatse, Tibet

This is not about Yak's - the typical Tibetan highland cow the Tibetans depend on so much (milk, yakbutter (tea), hiar (clothing, tents), meat), this is about horses and (little) girls.

Opposite of my house in a suburb of Utrecht, Netherlands, an owner has put his horse on a piece of free grassland. It is a nice looking riding horse. A ditch around the grassland keeps the horse in the field and people out of it. Only the gate makes contact between the passers by - mostly exercising their dogs - possible. I have seen people passing by but especially the girls in the neighborhood frequent the gate and try to get in contact with the horse - that is really not interested. Nearly always a girl is at the gate trying to caress the horse, plucking grass outside and trying to feed it - which he is not interested in as there is enough grass in his field - taking buckets with water to the horse - which he hardly drinks as he has the ditches to drink from.

Peculiar is that it are almost only girls that frequent the gate, nearly no boys. Sometimes a women - feeling girlish?

What do little girls have with horses. It is not a white horse, so this one hardly will induce the dream of the prince on the white horse. It is a brown horse. But in some way it attracts girls more than boys. The girls even cannot say goodbye to the horse, Their parents have to come and fetch them for dinner. then you see in their behavior their emotional attachment so it seems. They turn around, go away a bit, come back, talk to their mother or father, go with them, come back hesitate and finally choose to go home, to be there again half an hour later when dinner is over.

Meanwhile other girls arrive and go. One weekend nearly never the horse was left alone. The distance from my house to the gate is just too far to hear what the girls say to the horse, but they definitely talk to it, whisper with it.

What do little girls have with horses?

Have a nice day!

Settlements that will remain forever

2009-06-28T08:22:00.004+02:00

Peaceful prayer flags in the wind near Trungsa, Bhutan

My journal showed a photo of an Israeli so called 'settlement' in East Jerusalem. Its more a suburb then a settlement in my view.

I see four and five story concrete houses that look more like a new build city than like a settlement. To me the word settlement has a kind of transient meaning by nature. Settlements are small, temporary, not for ever.

What the Israeli are building is build for eternity. It is concrete. By building for eternity like they do on the Westbank and East Jerusalem the Israeli force a situation that only can provoke the Palestinians and the international world. It is a rather dangerous game the Israeli are playing by building in the occupied areas. In stead of negotiating with an open hand with the Palestinians the Israeli continue on a political line that will never end in peace. The Israeli provocations are symbols of superiority and violence can only result in responding violence. The question is not who started the spiral of violence. The question for the future world is who has the courage to stop it. To break the vicious circle of mutual violent destruction.

Concrete on the wrong side of a border cannot help building peace. It is building a state of war and terror. It shows that the Israeli politicians (elected by the people) are nit interested in in peaceful coexistence with their neighbors. They bet on the eternal support of the US, but if I understand Barack Obama well the US could easily stop the support of Israel in favor of peace negotiations. Then the Israeli will discover that their concrete on the wrong spot will, be counter productive.

To establish peace in the Middle East it is far better to stop the Israel settlement politics. To stop the building of new settlement in occupied territory. To dismantle existing settlements. To stop the Israeli state to be blackmailed by the ultra orthodox settlers. These people are the greatest danger to the existence of Israel. These people are the argument for the Iranian nuclear program. They do exactly what the orthodox muslim community wants them to do. Giving them an argument to prepare for the of the Israeli state.

Israel has its future in its own hands: stop acting against your own interest. Open your mind for those who are your enemies because you make them your enemies. Enemies are always enemies in your own head. Stop defining the others as your enemy and they stop to be a potential danger to you.

Open your heart and mind and open your hand. In an open hand a gun has no chance. If you open your heart your mind and your hand you can live together with those you always called you enemy, because he is like, sharing your fears, hoping your hopes.

Peaceful coexistence is possible as can be shown all over the world. If you only want te see it!

Have a nice day.

Wacko Jacko is dead

2009-06-27T18:07:00.004+02:00

The water of a canal mirroring in the glass-door of a Venetian house, Venice, Italy.

What a fuzz about the death of a rather peculiar man. Sure, he has done a great job in his life. He has added to the musical culture of the world. But he was paid for it and many other people are as good as he is in their jobs.

When they die, nobody seems to care. And they die just as everybody has to die. The extraordinary attention to the death of Michael Jackson seems to be in no relationship to what he is: a human being, who dies as everybody will. Death does separate a human being from the living. But death is not the end. Especially not for an artist that survives in his music.

Our dying it is the only thing we know for sure: we will die sooner or later. Now it was his time to die. Sad, but no more sad then the death of those people - children even - that die every minute of the day because they have not enough to eat! No one seems to mourn for them except their parents. No one even seems to care for them apart from those medical helpers that spend their lives helping the helpless. They are the real heroes of our tome!

To me the way we react to the death of Wacko Jacko is socially a shame.

To me those dyeing because they starve to death are of more importance than the death of any wealthy showman in the world (who lost his fortune, I know that but who did not starve for that).

Lets face the facts: their is enough food for everybody in the world. But we, the rich people lack the will to get the food where it has to be; with the poor people.

The death of Michael Jackson is sad for his family, his children, but the problems of our world have still to be solved. His death makes clear to me that we still have a lot to do in this world. Lets do it; make a better world!

Have a nice day

Transport in Kathmandu

2009-06-26T14:58:00.005+02:00

Man with fridge in downtown Katmandu

Have you ever tried carrying your fridge like this? On a warm and tropical sweaty day?

Go, try it and feel with this man who does carrying like this every of his life!

How does that feel while sitting in your air-conditioned car?

Have a nice day!

The March of Folly

2009-06-25T15:17:00.004+02:00

A elderly men being late for the 5 'o clock prayer in the Mosque at Xian, China

It is sad to see how leaders or organizations and countries nearly almost tend to do what just is in opposition to the interest of the organization. In her brilliant book 'The march of folly' Barbara Tuchman describes and analyses this way of counterproductive acting. She uses examples as The Trojan horse, or the way Britain lost his colony America or the way the US acted in Vietnam. Not only political leaders do this. Also top bankers and business men or leaders of other profit or non profit organization to to this strange kind of self-destructing behavior. Doing just the wrong things while being warned and thus being well aware of the results of your acting looks like being the biggest trap for those who are on the top. It looks like being a trap we cannot avoid as history seems to teach us little or nothing.

It os sad to see how Khamenei, Ahmedinejad and the Basheed (those black leather boys (a kind of secret and private army) with clubs on motor cycles that terrorize people) are just acting in the line Tuchman describes. Even if in the short term they can gain the internal civil war, they will loose on the long term and they can know this. If only hey would read history, to start with Tuchman.

History can even teach an islamic republic on what to do and what not to do. Denying the voice of the people apart from the answer wether the election have been corrupted, is foolish. In the long term the people always win, even in an islamic republic. Give the protesters the space to add with their knowledge and force to the power f the country. Accept that change is in the air. Do not oppress the cry for freedom. Let the people go, but do not let them die!

Read Barbara Tuchman and learn from what she has to say! Do not join the March of Folly and yours will be a prosperous country.

Two young monks blowing their trumpets

2009-06-24T12:37:00.003+02:00

Two young monks blowing a ritual trumpet

during the festival of Tangbi Mani, Bumtang, Bhutan.

Today is a wonderful sunny day that asks for 'no comment'.

Just relax and enjoy your life (like the two young monks did while doing their religious duty; they could hardly stop giggling and laughing while I was making photo's as you can see in their faces).

Have a nice day!

The Shah or Khamenei - it's all the same to the world

2009-06-23T08:05:00.005+02:00

Half moon on the roof of a new build mosque in Lintian, China

The recent pictures that reach the west from the protests in Iran show that the powerful in Iran are of the same kind as their predecessors. The young murdering butchers of Khamenei that can only beat and kill are of the same kind as their colleagues of the secret services of the Shah. The so called religious leaders of Iran are as cruel as the Shah's regime. This has nothing to do with islam or with religion. The so called 'religious' leaders of Iran are only interested in keeping their own power, camouflaging their fear for change with brute force. Misusing young boys that know nothing else then their clubs and guns. Brought up to be killers for the leaders that stay in their well guarded houses. They never show among the people knowing that they are not welcome in their country anymore. They failed establishing a religious state build on justice. They failed because they did not understand. They failed because they miscalculated the power of the people.

Beating up serious protests and killing innocent people never solves a problem. The best the leaders of Iran can do is recognize their failure to realize what they dreamed of and leave the country as the Shah did. Their time is over. How many deaths do they still need to see that the people want something they call freedom and that is exactly what those black robed rulers do fear. The world can only hope that they still have a small bit of decency and character to act according to the will of the people.

Go Shah Khamenei and let Iran be a free country: let your people live!

Have a nice day (anyway).

I want to ride my bicycle ...

2009-06-22T17:36:00.004+02:00

Flevobike, Greenmachine - my new recumbent bike

A wonderful day to show you my new recumbent bike. The Netherlands is a flat country where there are more bicycles then people. Among them about 200.000 Recumbent bikes, speedy ones and very comfortable ones, like mine. After creeping a Dutch bay learns how to walk and then how to tide a bicycle. I rode my sitting bicycle for many years but it was time for something new. I choose one of the most sophisticated technical bikes available, entirely Cad/Cam produced. A closed system that avoids dirtying your clothes. A ideal vehicle to get myself around without spoiling CO2! very energy friendly and much better than all that SUV's Humvee's and other petrol absorbing and stinking monsters.

Biking is good for your health, it is fun and you can get around on your own force! That is great. Try it!

If you take a recumbent bike it is also very comfortable indeed!

Have a nice day!

See you on monday

2009-06-19T08:30:00.002+02:00

Due to some technical (internet)problems, I could get no access to my blog and could not publish the photo of the day for several days. I hope to be back on schedule on monday juni, 22nd.

Sorry for that!

Harbour of Oudeschild, Texel, Netherlands

This long weekend (friday - sunday) I'll be on the Isle of Texel, where I go two or three times a year to enjoy the sea and the wind and the birds ...

Just relaxing.

So this weekend no photo of the day.

Hope to see you on monday again.

Have a nice weekend!

Lifelong imprisonment not in conflict with human rights

2009-06-17T08:16:00.000+02:00

A house painter in Kathmandu, Nepal, grinding his the ingredients for the wall-paint

If someone is sentenced to life long imprisonment then this verdict is not in conflict with the (his) human rights. This is a ruling of the High Court of the Netherlands. Their argument is that even with life long imprisonment there is the chance of a parole given. So life long has not to be all ones life.

It is a general ruling so I am not interested in the case as such. It is that I do not understand something. That the law seems so unjust in my view. Take murder as an example - most life ling sentences are for murder. The murder takes the life of his victim and no one can give that back. The victims sentence is final. Death is final. No parole. No come back in few years and go on with your life as if nothing has happened.

How is that? There always os the chance of parole. This sounds to me unjust as unjust can be. The verdict is or is not. And a verdict with the chance of getting it off, is no verdict. It takes the sting out of life long imprisonment. This way of thinking looks typical Dutch. saying 'yes but, ...' or 'no, but' but never really saying 'this is it. full stop!' This ruling by our High Court sounds unjust to me, thinking of the victims, whose human rights were ended the moment they met their murder. Sure even murderer have human rights, but their human rights should be in balance with the human rights of their victim. That sounds just. Then parole can never be the case and lifetime imprisonment is a final verdict ' till death end the life of the murderer as he ended the life of his victim. Justice to the victim might be of a higher order then justice to the murder.

Nevertheless: have a nice day.

The makers of a crisis

2009-06-16T07:57:00.005+02:00

Sundown over the North Sea at Texel, Netherlands

In the Netherlands we have this ultra right wing politician - I even do nit like to name him as I judge his positions as immoral and unjust - that seems to exploit his personal fears for political reasons. His irrational fear for 'islam' makes him internationally renown. Like our tulips wooden shoes and windmills. He uses the wrong numbers to underlie his argument, he manipulates with numbers to 'prove' that he is right.

He has only one mayor point: throw all islamic people out of the country and the social, political, cultural, financial, yes all problems are solved.

His problem is that he has a totally unreal idea of 'the islam', which does not exist, as 'the christianity' does not exist. Inside every religion we find factions that even combat each other. There are as much criminal people among the 'christian' part of the people as among the 'islamic' part. I have a lot of islamic friends that are as criminal as I am - that is not criminal at all. Sure, we have problems with a small number of boys with both the Dutch and the Moroccan nationality. Born in the Netherlands as second or even third generation guest workers sons. I do not deny the problems they cause, nor their criminality, but I resist the idea that this relative small number op people should be treated in another way and by other laws than 'white' Dutch people. This would be pure discrimination! And I think that that would be the beginning of a discriminating state. All people are the same under he same law, regardless their background.

Unfortunately I like the old words of (I think it was) Descartes: I detest your opinion, but I's die for your right to express them.

Even right wind politicians have the right to express their idea even if the sound like some kind of atrocities. But let their be other politicians that use the same way of communication to counter the ideas! Now there is to little counter attack. And if there are attacks they tend to lead to a kind of 'Calimero effect'. What we need - and this is true for most countries that suffer under right wing politicians with a big mouth - is politicians with a heart and with brains that are able to make people believe in a better world. Without this kind of sad making right wing bla bla bla, a lot of people believe in. Old politics have to be replaced by new politics.

May be we also need some kind of Obama, that brings new ideas to the people. We have to start believing that things can be better if we make our choice at the ballot not on the basis of the right of left wing political bla bla bla but on the basis of what we really believe in.

I believe in people. I believe that everyone has the opportunity to make his or her choice on the basis of a general altruism and no longer of a manipulated egoism.

Renaming what they call 'crisis'

2009-06-14T17:59:00.005+02:00

This nice lady with her praying wheel, I met a couple of years ago in Lhasa, Tibet.

We make a crisis by naming things that happen a crisis. Thus we frame the happening as something that might ruin our quit existence. A crisis only is a crisis because we call it a crisis. We can very well name it with another name and look at that: it stops to be something we have to fear. It begins to become something that influences us in a different way.

We make the crisis by shouting 'Crisis, Crisis!' again and again.

Lets stop that and add to the solution of the very unlucky things we called to life.

We really can help to solve the crisis by naming it with a different word. Thus reframing it. Getting the tension out of reality.

You don't have to believe that that communication works like that. You did it when your child came to crying because it had hurt its knee. It believed you when you said it does no longer hurt. Large parts of our feeling are suggested feelings. We can suggest is in another direction. From negative ('Crisis') to more positive. That adds to the solution!

I have some suggestions to help solve the crisis by renaming it. Here we go:

We face 'The Opportunity' to get rid of the 'greedies', those bankers and businessmen from the old economy that only think in terms of money, bonuses etc.

We can have 'New Hope' for a bit better world while rearranging wealth and spending the money we have but did not deserve on worldwide project to fill the gap between poor and rich.

We are facing 'The Greening' of our globe by changing our stand towards the environment. By no longer ripping the woods, killing the living beings, killing ch other, but by caring for the environment as if it was our own! Yes indeed, we can act as if we are the owner of the world - which we are actually not. We are the caretakers of the globe. A short time guest in the world. So we have no right to destroy the globe.

We are facing 'A new Era' in which enemies become friend, forgiving their mutual atrocities. Sitting together reflecting hoe they can work together instead of killing each other.

We are 'Preparing The Great Leap' that ends foolish wars against terrorism, stops killing people because they believe something else, because they have another color of skin, speak another language, that changes our attitude towards nature, which is no longer a target for destruction, but a source for life, ...

Yes We Can!

We can make a New World. We have the techniques, the chances, the opportunities, the money to build a new world.

We only lack the Collective Will to realize the dreams of the willing.

Yes We Can!

Lets do it!

There really is no crisis of we only start thinking the other way around: there are only chances and opportunities to start a new world together.

What crisis? No crisis!

Have a nice (new) day!

What Crisis? No Crisis!

2009-06-14T09:07:00.004+02:00

A feeling of safety? Or the start of a disaster?

Fire alarm and emergency phone in the Forbiden City, Beijing, China.

Naming and framing are two words often used in modern books on crisis-communication. They mean that we are able to name an accident or a crisis and frame it. We label it and most people accept the name and the frame, use the name and direct their thinking and acting in the direction the name and the frame suggest. Naming and framing is used to bring order in the chaos around a crisis. It helps getting hold of the chaos and to avoid panic.

You see what I mean?

The media are full of horror stories about what we are going to expect from the economic crisis, the Mexican flue, the international terrorism and so on. We live - if I got to believe the media - on an erupting volcano and the end of the world is nearer then ever.

What about naming and framing?

Why all the time stressing how disastrous the world-situation is?

What for? To feed the panic? to make people fear the future?

Sure the situation is not as it was 5 years ago, or 10 or 20. We live in a global dip. But we know rather well what caused the problems we are facing. But we dare to name them. We dare to frame them. We dare to point with our fingers to those who were so greedy that ... We dare to name those who were so selfish that ... We dare to name the politicians that only thought of their own wealth and power, hat lied because that suited their re-election best ...

We are afraid to name and frame as we are afraid to name and blame ...

We can, yes we can indeed; naming and framing the global problems we are facing in another way. The moment the media start naming an framing what they now call The Crisis' in a new way the problems start to be solved or even solve themselves.

We are naming and framing the world we live in. We define what we call 'crisis' or 'hope' or 'growth' and reality will follow the names and the frames.

I know what the hardcore journalist says: he is objective and just describing reality and things like that. Sure he does, he is a professional. But he has a responsibility too. And his objectivity is a hoax. Like mine. A good journalist is a journalist hat helps me to understand the world we live in. In times of crisis I need a help to show me the way out not the way in! The media are there to help us out of the crisis. Todays journalistic work pushes us deeper end deeper into the crisis.

Start naming and framing in a new way and after a year we will see.

Dare to swim upstream!

Naming and framing: an interesting couple we use too little.

Have a nice day!

The name of the Weblog

2009-06-13T14:24:00.003+02:00

I have been asked where the name of this weblog comes from.

I borrowed the name from one of the first Soviet cinematographers, Dziga Vertov. The inventor of the terminus 'Kinoglaz'. For him the film-drama was 'opium for the people', so he started taking his camera out of the studios into real life. Showing what he met. Meanwhile using the first serious editing techniques to make his film documentaries. One of his greatest films was 'The man with the camera'. i once made an analysis of this film while attending cinematographic lessons. That is where the name of my weblog comes from. To honor one of the very first and very great pioneers in documentary cinema. If you Google on Dziga Vertov, you'll find more thorough information.

Have a nice day!

A day of no comment

2009-06-13T13:37:00.002+02:00

The meeting of two cultures: a Dutch elderly lady enjoying a Turkish pizza.

This is how society should be! Living together means eating together. It;s what the lady with gray hairs shows us. Let meet each other and discover that we have more in common than we think.

Have a nice day

Where have all the cars gone ...

2009-06-10T08:36:00.003+02:00

Heavy traffic in Katmandu

Old cities are not build for modern traffic. The narrow streets are too narrow to allow two way traffic mixed with bicycles, motorcycles, rickshaws and porters. Katmandu is only one example of a city that should be auto-free. But what to do with the multitude of shops, that need product. Well, In Katmandu you see a lot of porters, carrying loads people in the west only have bad dream of. the same kind of bad dream I had when arriving on the airport with two heavy Samsonite cases. Yes, indeed, the little red Maruti (The Indian Suzuki) is a taxi! It works in the narrow streets of Katmandu, but the back is too small for my two cases. So the driver put them both in and left the cover open. He started driving and I got bad dreams of what would happen if one of the case would fall out. Would it be as strong as Samsonite tell us? Would my laptop survive? Would I ever find it back?

Well it all went OK. I had a few happy days in an overcrowded city - extremely overcrowded when you fly in from the Tibetan highland which is extremely underpopulated. And I got fascinated by the traffic. Of all thinkable kinds. They manage to get on using their horns in a cacophony of sounds spitting out gases in a mixture of odors, combining sweat, car-gasses, cooking, herbs, animals and the more you can think of. And he colors. A fantastic composition of mixing colors, mainly of the sari's of he women.

the only problem of Katmandu is the great number of western tourists that got lost in the city in the 60th and 70th. Weirdo's and other hippies that stayed there. Then look at Bhutan. Comparable, but so different., due to its wise ing, that made tourism in his country become in harmony with the culture and he nature of the country. Lets hope the hotspot Bhutan stays what it is: a jewel in the Himalayas. Let Bhutan not become a second Nepal. Let Bhutan stay Bhutan. Let it develop in its own way, which is the good way for the Bhutanese, who know best what they need.

Have a nice day!

Have a nice day

A thing of beauty is often small and unseen

2009-06-09T13:54:00.004+02:00

Window of an old land-house somewhere in the hearth of France

There is a rather old dutch song about the importance of small things: 'Het zijn de kleine dingen die het doen' in English: 'the small things that make the difference'. Today a photo of nothing that really matters. Just a window in a wall of an old land-house in France. But the result of this 'nothingness' is a fine photo of a detail that no one ever sees. Because we tend to look at the large things. Listen to the loud voices. Think that people with power are more important that people with lack of power. To me 'small is beautiful', not only as a manager, as a communication consultant, but also as a photographer and as a human being. I have little respect for people that make themselves big because they are too small and are afraid to be nothing. They think that boosting makes hem more that thy are. The only effect of boosting is loss of yourself. Be yourself, stand for what you think. Say what you think is important and be someone. You need no boosting! The small thing matter most. The unseen people are the most important. Be yourself as you are and you can be happy!

Have a nice day!

No photo yesterday - two photo's today

2009-06-08T11:02:00.006+02:00

Yes, the real Dutch wooden shoes are still made by hand!

Yesterday we had a big intercultural manifestation in our quarter. Hundreds of people from all over the world who live just around the corner. You hardly know each other. You are complete strangers to each others cultural heritage. Yesterday there was the great opportunity to meet people from other cultures. It was a great experience to see that we all are first and foremost human beings. That we have to live together means that we have to take and to give. Intercultural dialogue means listening and talking. Integration does not mean 'them' adapting to 'us'. It means opening up our minds and letting others into our lives.

Like this beautiful Uyghur women that found a new - hopefully temporarily - home in the Netgerlands, because their culture and their people are oppressed in China since the occupation of their territory in 1949. The Uyghurs are an Islamitic minority in the west of China with the same state of oppression like the Tibetans!

Uyghur woman singing a traditional Uyghur song at

the intercultural festival, Leidsche Rijn 6-7 june 2009

Have a nice day

The Dalai Lama in Amsterdam

2009-06-06T10:09:00.001+02:00

His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama wearing a cap he just got from one of the guests

Yesterday His Holiness met with members of parliament and with the foreign minister. To underline the non-political kind of the meeting it took place in a church in The Hague. A Clever chosen location, if you bear in mind that the Chinese ambassador has threatened the Dutch government not to meet the Dalai Lama (the head of the dalai clique - as Beijing always says) otherwise the economic consequences would be enormous. And the Dutch government bowed their knees to the Chinese leaders!! His Holiness took it as it is. No problem as his visit was of a non political nature. And a non political meeting has not to be attended by the Dutch Prime Minister is the Chinese do not like it. Other leaders met his Holiness and did not bow for the chinese threads.

Well choosing a church avoids from difficult topics as all know that His Holiness would not discuss politics in a church. So the Dutch governmental hosts not only bowed for the Chinese mixing up with internal political questions (who the Dutch Prime Minister is going to meet yes or no is not up to Beijing to decide), but they also organized it in a non conflicting spot as to show that the meeting was with a spiritual leader.

It really does not matter. The Dutch Prime Minister is really no real partner for His Holiness. The latter having a level of spiritual being that Mr Balkenende never ever will reach. I'm very sorry for the Prime Minister that he misses the wideness of view that meting His Holiness could have been in the benefit of both Tibet and China and of himself. Thank you for bowing for the Chinese pressure, mr Balkenende. But do not think that the Chinese will reward you, nor the Dutch economy. They now know for sure that pressure on the Dutch government is an effective political and economic tool. Good luck in negotiating with the Chinese. You passed their test! But you passed it not in a way that is for the well being of the Dutch and the Dutch economy!

Have a nice day!

A remarkable yesterday

2009-06-05T10:44:00.003+02:00

Mount Chomolungma (Mt. Everest as we call it) the highest mountain on earth, a place where the gods dwell, according to the Tibetans - in whose country the maintain can be found)!

Yesterday was a remarkable day. the Dalai Lama was in Amsterdam and I attended his lecture together with a lecture of Sogyal Rinpoche. It was the 2o-years-after-day of the Tienanmin Square massacre in Beijing. Red and White roses where laid down on a small square in the RAI congress centre in Amsterdam to remember the victims of he Tienanmin massacre that is still an giant tabu in China! sad for all those who lost someone by the bullets of their own army.

I made some sound recording of both lectures that I'm going to make available on my website in the next days - I hope it will work. And maybe one of the photo's of his Holiness is worth showing.

We'll meet again!

Have a nice day!

2009-06-04T09:55:00.000+02:00

Today I'll meet HH the Dalai Lama, who is visiting Europe. I'll attend two of his lectures.

Today it is twenty years ago that the Chinese government oppressed the students action on the Tienanmien Square with brute force. Soldiers shooting sharp at unarmed students. It still is not spoken about in China. Those who do disappear in prison. China is no democracy although it has something they call elections. A communist system not being a democracy is a joke! Power to the people that is what communism is about. But we know that 'some animals are more equal then others...'

In China the gap between powerless workers and the powerful communist clique is broader then ever.

Beijing, do not loose your face! You are hard on the way loosing it for ever!

Have a nice day!

A private island with a lighthouse

2009-06-03T15:50:00.003+02:00

The lighthouse on the Isle of Marken, Netherlands

One of the most delicate spots in the Netherlands. A tiny island with an old lighthouse. Private property, inaccessible for you and me. A fence is on the dike that leads to the island avoiding tourists to disturb the silence of the spot.

How I'd love to live there ....

Have a nice day!

They killed the trees: dead wood in mid winter

2009-06-02T16:46:00.005+02:00

Wood ready for transportation in a German forrest

One of the photo projects I am working on is on 'the elements' earth water wind and fire. In China they have other elements, like metal and wood. So my photo book on 'the elements' will not only picture our western elements, but also elements from other cultures like the Chinese.

This photo is one of the shots I made for this project under rather difficult circumstances in mid winter. There was a cold blueish light in the forrest giving the bunch of chopped trees a strange color. I called it he color of death; the color of dead trees. Where will they land? As paper under my penn? As furniture in a house? As firewood in a luxurious villa? Who knows?

Have a nice day.

Delicate balance in nature

2009-06-01T10:23:00.004+02:00

Some wild flowers covered with some kind of flies.

I'm not a biologist, so I do not know the names of the plants nor of the flowers. But what I see is that these two specimen keep a delicate balance together. They depend on each other.

This one picture is a everyday example of the natural balance we people are great in disturbing! Nearly everything we do is willfully or accidently aimed at disturbing the natural balance we are depend on. We do live in a natural environment we need to live and to survive. Making money is one thing, but making money does not mean that one does no longer need the natural balance we live with. We can be both rich and taking care of the environment. It works and it pays! Now and for our children and grandchildren! They deserve it.

It is weird to see people both having children and disturbing nature. We all do! We hardly ever realize that we disturb the natural inheritance our children need to survive! He or she who acts and destroys aspects of nature as a consequence is not a good parent! He or she is disturbing the lives of his or her kids.

The way we have ruined nature up to today and still continue doing so, makes us very bad caretakers of our natural inheritance. We are the killers of our own future by killing he biosphere our children need to survive. How long will we go on with being that self-sufficient and egoistic? Our kids ask us to let them live in the world they inherit. Let we give them a world that is worth living in: a world with natural resources, with undisturbed nature, with plants and animals that are worth living because they add to the richness of our own environment.

Have a nice day!

One of the tourist hotspots

2009-05-31T09:11:00.005+02:00

Traditional green houses on the island of Marken, Netherlands

Those who visit the Netherlands have been there: Marken. The former fisher island, since 1957 connected with the mainland. Typical green little houses. Women and kids showing in traditional costumes in the tourist season. All kept alive for the tourists only. Thousands of them visit Marken every year. Its just one step from Amsterdam. A small place too overcrowded. When you're there the best you can do is walk around the island:it's a two hours walk, very quit, very nice: alone with the sea and the birds; and some other walkers or cyclists every now and then.

Have a nice day!

Just a photo today

2009-05-30T12:09:00.003+02:00

Beach cabins, Texel, Netherlands

It is sunny over here. Life is wonderful on a day like this. How is life with you?

Have a nice day!

I promise you an unlimited bonus. For what?

2009-05-29T10:09:00.002+02:00

Instruments and dwellings of streetcleaners in Xian, China

No bonus for them! Do they not work hard enough?

You won't believe it: headhunters do it their own way. No crisis, no bonus discussion, no, just hunting after the money. Yesterday I found an add with the following (translated from the dutch original) promise: excellent salary and unlimited bonus. Yes indeed: I had to read it three times before I believed it.

A manager of a small regional office of a not to big headhunter form in the Netherlands still tangles people with this kind of promises. Why? Why not just give him of her a good salary. because he or she won't do hist best if there is no financial stimulus? The better you do, the more you get. That quite logical. But if it is unlimited the bonus no linger relates to the work you do. you just get it even if you do not work that good.

In the Netherlands the discussion about bonuses is about the principle: no one works so good that he or she deserves extra payment on top of his or her excellent salary. Just do your work for the salary you have and live in peace. Those bonus dependent bankers and chiefs of industry are just scratching for more money even without a good deal. The words ' unlimited bonus' sounds shameful in these days of financial crisis and bankruptcies. Try another one!

Have a nice day

Quality photography is worth every penny!

2009-05-28T07:56:00.005+02:00

Shops at the Scheunenviertel in Berlin, Germany

It is often complained that the charges for services of a professional photographer are rather high. Yes, if you take in account the 'visible' part of the services only, it might be high. But making good photo's is only part of the dal. The time and energy invested in the post production process (saving, backing up, editing, preparing, printing etc) is rather time consuming and it often is part of the deal. If you consider a photographer - and that suit not only the wedding photographer, but suits all the professionals (it is always now or never for a professional photographer) - to be a high grade professional the services are really on an acceptable level. They are not higher than those of any other serious professional. The problem is the the democratization of our profession, letting people think that photography is nothing more than point and shoot like they all do on holiday. The result is nice to remember those pretty days and as a proof of 'been there', but it is quite different from serious photography.

Ask you point and should cousin where he got his car repaired? Is he going to his little neighbor boy that can repair his lego-car? No, he gives his car in the hands of a serious and professional car-mechanic. Or ask him him where he goes if he needs new spectacles. I'm sure he does not get them from the supermarket next door but from the optician, who can guarantee the quality of the spectacles? the same applies for commercial photography. Lots of business reports (even of big industries) are ruined by bad quality photography, shot by the niece of the commercial director who's got a point and shoot camera at christmas. There still is a lot to be done for us. Lets go and do it! Choosing a serious photographer if you need real quality is worth every penny!

Have a nice day