A Dutch Life

Don’t worry, this blog is not going to deteriorate into some sort of LOLcats rip-off. IT’s just this video cracked me up.

I’m not sure if it is the way the cat looks back at the owner as if to say “Aren’t you going to DO SOMETHING!”, or the casual way the Racoon grabs handfuls of food under a barrage of cat slaps. Slaps which are identical to those Phe delivers on me!

Outburst of emotion echoes across the land

It has been talked about for as long as I can remember, but without an apology, without saying “Sorry”, can it ever really be achieved?

Today, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, delivering on his promise, and on behalf of Australia, finally, finally said “Sorry”. The images on our televisions, even here in Amsterdam, were for the first time in a long time, showing what I believe is a true reflection of our beautiful country.

It is an incredible feeling to be so moved by so few words, but moved I have been. Lets hope that this is a new beginning for the process of reconciliation which has until now, not been given the prominence and respect it deserved.

“For the pain, suffering and hurt of these stolen generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.

“To the mothers and fathers, the brothers and sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry.”

I feel this good!

Just for the record, I did get a response to my last post, suggesting in a form of logic that is foreign to me, that it is actually the Scientologists who are being censored. No surprise there.

Just ask the Scientologists (I think even just writing the word in a blog post could result in it being red flagged, blinked, dinged, commented on by an OT VII and finally receive a DMCA takedown notice for violating some strange copyright), they have been trying for a lot longer than you guys, and with a lot more money and legal grunt than you can imagine.

Wikipedia Islam Entry Is Criticized

The Internet is censor proof, while you are at it, check in with the Chinese government and the Pirate Bay.

If you have some time this weekend, or actually even if you don’t, check out Juno. Filled with a million and one classic little one liners, with each flying past you like they are on the way to the pub for a coopers after living away from home for 8 years, you must stay alert!

More…

This has been THE topic of conversation in the blogosphere, and mainstream business media, since it was announced. I’m still in favour, and think it offers one of the only possible paths toward a serious competitor to Google in Search and Online Advertising. After all, fundamentally, this is what this deal is about.

One thing that has amazed me is this announcement by Google on their official blog  (and in a press release). It strikes me as an incredibly amateur and transparent first response to the news that their two biggest competitors may be combining. It reads like the sort of speculation a junior reporter would put together for a fast deadline on http://news.com.

Anyway, to keep it all in perspective, these are big companies, doing big company things, to other big companies. Their motives are of the purest sort, utter self interest (fortunately, pleasing customers is also in their self interest). In this regard, Google (“Do no evil”) is no different, and while I’m on the subject, neither is Apple. I wish these companies would stop claiming the high ground of Openness (like OpenSocial I presume they mean! yeah, very open).

Technologies trend toward natural monopolies by their very nature, whether that is High Definition video formats, Operating Systems, Advertising Platforms or iTunes music stores. The good news is that things move so fast, and are moving ever faster, that any dominant position is transitional. More than that, it is actually biased against the incumbent, and if IBM wasn’t a good example, then Microsoft certainly is.

For Google to speculate that:

“Could a combination of the two take advantage of a PC software monopoly to unfairly limit the ability of consumers to freely access competitors’ email, IM, and web-based services?”

Amazes me on two fronts, first, that they expect us to believe they would not/are not doing the same thing (especially given their existing Internet monopoly in Advertising), and second, that they of all companies think this is possible. The Internet is not new, and neither is Microsoft’s monopoly, if this were going to happen, it would have by now. The purchase of Yahoo is not going to suddenly make the PC more relevant.

So, Google, next time, put these posts through some time of review process huh? Could I recommend Microsoft SharePoint? We can help <grin>

An interesting project that collects together the x-rays from victims of terrorism.

Inside Terrorism – The X-ray Project

It makes no sense.

Wired has a great post describing what happens to your blog posts when you click “Publish”. To me, it describes why what you say on your blog will echo for eternity.

The Life Cycle of a Blog Post, From Servers to Spiders to Suits — to You

I will never be able to grow a beard. I’m 32, if puberty has not delivered by now, it is not likely to, ever. On the positive side though, with getting older comes a greater capacity to accept our humanly flaws. So, I’m glad I held out hope for as long as I did.