Cogs can think.

Tim Berners-Lee, hero for life for inventing the Web, writes in a very short blogpost why net neutrality is so important. His opening line sums it up very well:

When I invented the Web, I didn’t have to ask anyone’s permission.

Let’s hope the US government/congress/senate/whatever aren’t as stupid as they look.

While working on a report for university, I suddenly had the answer to one of my most common computer problems: the problem of when you have a gazillion windows open (various Firefox windows, multiple Word documents, multiple .pdf’s), and you want certain windows off the taskbar, but not closed. The solution: a sort of secondary taskbar, a sort of place where you can put windows if you know you’re going to need them in a few moments, but for now, they’re just in the way and clogging up your taskbar.

I’m a genious, I know.

I decided to ‘publish’ an essay on Fiona Apple I’ve written for a university course in English writing. You can get it here, in .doc and .odt format.

They fall under the same Creative Commons license as my blog, see underneath.

Sex just got four wheels and an engine.

I had a really good day today, oddly enough. I basically woke up to a laugh, after Eugenia mailed the OSNews-crew list about this, after which I hopped into my car en route to Alkmaar Noord station, to get to school. For some odd reason, public transport worked flawlessly; I was about half an hour early at university, where I was supposed to meet up with Felicia. She came about 30 minutes later; we had a lot of laughs while waiting for our exam to begin.

The exam went fine. Seriously. I’m fairly sure I passed it. En route to home, I txt msg’d Felica, asking her how her’s went. In my car, I sang along to Garbage as if my life depended on it.

And here I am, again studying, for my last and final exam of this year. If I pass all the three exams I had/have this week, I’ll have my, eh, what we Dutch call ‘Propedeuse’, or all points of the first year. I never managed that in two years of Psychology.

I’m happy.

Now playing: Rammstein - “Sehnsucht”

I had an exam at university today– actually, for the 2nd time, as I failed it last time. I think I did make it this time, but I’m uncertain. I hate open-end questions. Tomorrow and Thursday two other exams and then… DIY time in my new house!

And of course, tomorrow, my Kingdom against Argentina; nice, as the Crown Prince’s wife, Princess Máxima, is from Argentina. Ain’t she just cute? I *love* her.

I noticed I drink my coffee differently than most other people. I always drink my cup of joy without sugar or milk (real men drink black coffee), but that’s not special. What is special, however, is that I wait for the coffee to be cooled down enough to drink it in one, big gulp. Most other people I know, sip their coffees, and prefer it to be as hot as possible.

I do know that sipping coffee better enables your body to process the caffeïne, and as such, the effects of the drug are better when you sip (compare eating one huge meal each day to eating three smaller meals a day).

But it doesn’t matter. I heart caffeïne.

Again, last night, I sat with sweat dripping off my forhead, my heartbeat reaching the excesses of 110, watching South Korea playing against France. With my South Korea football tee on, I was as enthusiastic as the South Korean supporters themselves. I danced around when Park scored the equaliser.

Ever since 2002, I have been a great supporter of South Korea. I liked their fresh play, their inexhaustible team spirit, their unconditional love for their country. It amazed me. After two matches in 2002, I bought the shirt, and I still wear it regurlarly. With pride.

Yesterday was very exciting. 28000 South Koreans were in the stadium, and afterwards, they partied on the squares of the city. They made a huge mess. Guess who cleaned up that mess.

Exactly, those partying supporters themselves. They did that in 2002 too, when the World Cup was (partially) held in South Korea. The supporters clean up their own mess. It amazed me then, and it still amazes me now. Go South Korea!

An article at CoolTechZone (I never liked that Fisher Price name) glorifies the iPod and states that Microsoft will never be able to crush it. How wrong they are. Microsoft needs to do little:

1. Design something that is as ‘good’ or at least marginally better than the iPod. Not hard to do, as the iPod is a crap little thing in every aspect (build quality, audio quality, price, fixability), and sell it at a bargain price (which MS can do with such cash reserves);
2. Install the sync/online shop software (Windows Media Player 11+) on every OEM install of Vista;
3. Give a big sack of money to any chart-leading ‘artist’ to carry one in a music video;
4. Byebye iPod.

It’s that simple. It will take very little to replace one inferior product with another. Of course I will continue to use HiMD.

Kadymae, OSNews reader, made a very striking blog post concerning the ‘issue’ of same-sex marriage in the US.

It is no suprise to many of the readers here that I’m proud to be living in a country where love is not patented by a 2000 year old book. Love is something personal, and marriage, which is the summit of love, should be possible for any human being on this planet, whether he be straight, gay, or both. It does not matter. Every man is created equal, right?

The United States, and just about any other state (with notable exceptions), is an apartheid state; one part of the people has rights the other part has not. I, as a straight man, can find me a nice girl, live together, get married, and make us some nice little kids. And in this country, a man and a man or a woman and a woman can do exactly the same. And yes, as a straight Dutchman, I am proud of this. It shows how much more civilised my Kingdom is compared to the rather barbaric and fundementalistic United States, France, Italy, and whatever other nation.

President Bush is hell-bent on fighting fundementalism in the Middle-East; however, he should start in his own country.