A Dutch Life

I have been back from Sharm El Sheik now for a week but I’m still feeling the after effects of total relaxation, we had a great holiday. The weather was perfect, I get the impression it always is, 38 degrees and a very clear sky. The water was an incredible 25 degrees, and come with stunning clarity. We stayed at the Hilton Sharks Bay, which was nice enough, good standard rooms, and the food was ok. It was the first time I had ever gone on a “Package” holiday, and while I cant say I will ever do it again, it suited us this time given how little time we had to organise it. The main disadvantage of such a holiday is the other guests your share it with, the sort of guests which result in the restaurant serving Egyptian food on only the one special “Egyptian” night, the rest of the time it was standard western fare. Of course the best food of the trip came on the Egyptian night, for obvious reasons, though it still could not match some of the food I had on my trip through Egypt with Scotty a couple of years back…..

Anyway, the only reason we were there was for the diving, and diving we did every single day (except for the one I lost to food poisoning). We got our PADI’s in the first 4 days there, and while being inside doing theory when you could be looking at fish is a pain, it was not as bad as it sounds. We also got to do all of our introductory dives in the sea, no pools for us, and the fish even on these dives were incredible. The last day, PADI certificates in hand, we went out to some large reefs for 3 dives and it left me completely hooked. Future holidays will now be built around the activity of diving. I’m a total evangelist. It has to be the most relaxing way to spend your holiday imaginable.

You are in a sunny place keeping cool. You are underwater and have the feeling of floating. You cannot here anything except your own slow breathing. You can move only in slow motion. And best of all you have some of the most beautiful fish and coral scenery surrounding you on all sides to look at. Really, what better way is there.

On this note I will leave you with the video taken on our final days diving. Jump In!

Diving in Egypt from Daniel McPherson on Vimeo.

But, unlike my mate Scotty, I’m not so good at doing them (truth be known, neither is he)…

Amy Walker however is truly amazing:

I like the way her facials change along with the accent. I remember when in the UK that the banks did a study to work out which accent people felt was the most trustworthy. The northerners got the nod.

…would we really be so relaxed about it?

Apr 30 – Muslims in western India have been observing a bizarre ritual – they’ve been throwing their young children off a tall building to improve their health.

The faithful have been observing the ritual at a shrine in Solapur, in western India’s Maharastra, for more than five hundred years.

They believe it will make their children strong and say no accidents have ever happened.

I have to say that after watching the video, I have my doubts about that last statement, regardless, is it really worth the risk of even one injury? Perhaps Michael Jackson should have claimed he hung his baby off that balcony in the name of the flying spaghetti monster.

I initially struggled a little about the place of interrogation techniques like waterboarding. While I was reflexively against any form of torture, I was seduced by the powerful argument of greater good when faced with the ticking time-bomb example.

That was a long time ago. Now I just see base inhumanity and worthless “intelligence”. Our struggle against “terrorists” (for want of a better word), those people who oppose the freedoms we enjoy in place like Australia and Holland, is one of ideas.

In many ways it resembles the struggle we faced during the cold war. I have spent some time lately listening to some of the great speeches of the last century, and I have to say, I have heard some truly inspiring things. The one sticking in my mind is that of Eleanor Roosevelt in her address to the United Nations General Assembly on the Adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Its beautiful in its idealism and defiance.

Where are our great orators now? Where are the leaders who can “mobilize the English language and send it into battle”? For this is the stage where our ideas are best demonstrated.

Like the cold war, this “War”, cannot just be won or lost. What we face is a generation long shift in the global environment in which we live. Courage does not come from confronting it head on, but from standing firm in what we believe. By strengthening our systems of government, and then using them to secure our individual freedoms.

This battle of ideas should be easier. Our “enemy” today cares little for life, believes positive propaganda includes decapitation, and has a world view that is more than 1000 years out of date. Sadly, each time we drop to their level, by waterboarding, by Guantanamo Bay, by Abu Ghraib and even by laws which restrict our freedoms, we make the distance between us and them smaller, and undercut what are our powerful ideas.

If you are still not sure about torture, take another look at waterboarding:

Amnesty ad condemns waterboarding

Italy’s Padre Pio goes on display

His body was exhumed in March on the 40th anniversary of his death. He was canonised by Pope John Paul II in 2002.

More than a million people are expected this year to see his body, which is said to be well-preserved. But there is reportedly no sign of the stigmata.

…..

The monks who exhumed his body in March said it was in “surprisingly good condition”, despite no special measures having been taken to preserve it when he was buried in 1968.

“We could clearly make out the beard. The top part of the skull is partly skeletal but the chin is perfect and the rest of the body is well preserved. The knees, hands and nails all clearly visible,” said Archbishop Domenico D’Ambrosio, who led the service to exhume the body.

I remember when first getting to Europe and visiting many of the big Cathedrals, in places like Cologne, and being shocked by the many “Relics” in their treasuries. These contained within them everything from Saint Such-and-such’s index finger nail, splinters from Christ’s cross, to whole skulls safely stored inside ornate precious mental boxes.

Ignorant as I am, I simply have to wonder just how these poor souls could possibly rest in peace with body parts spread to the four corners.

Thanks for the tip Mike!

These “modern shaped trousers which is often worn by youngsters..” are the perfect solution for Googling quick exits while running from the fashion police. Ah, but look closely! Now as you jump over fences and dodge barking dogs, you can take your chase music with you. Built into the knees are a pair of crotch rocking speakers that really add that extra level of excitement while sticking it to the man. Around back you have the added convenience of a back pocket for your “mouse”(which will be your only friend at this point). And for you gamers, there is even a joystick controller located just behind the front zipper.

It seems it is organised, my very humble post somehow appeared on a MAc fanboy site “Macsurfer”:

There it is, third from the bottom. Someone has a lot of time on their hands, or some seriously broad Google search alerts set up. Although, given my blog post title (linkbait), I guess I really nailed a nerve.

The interesting bit is I had 58 visit from this site, I suspect every commenter (except one) came from this direction, and I had 9 individual commenter’s, only one of which actually left a Blog URL. That is an awesome visitor to comment ratio and shows incredibly high levels of devotion!

I think I will do another post critical of Apple in a few months and begin tracking Macboy stats. <grin>

I have had a pretty funny weekend. I wrote a very quick and dirty post about the changes Apple recently made to its update tool so that it it was just slightly less aggressive about installing their software on your computer. I woke up Sunday to find 8, all negative, comments!

I used a pretty crazy blog title (should have ended it with a ‘?’ in retrospect, just I didn’t predict any reaction), just because I had been on the receiving end of too many Mac Fanboys at dinner parties ruining my meal because I worked for an “Evil Monopolist”. I guess I hit a nerve!

I finished it pretty tongue in cheek, saying “Anyway, seems I still have the chip.”, which of course relates to my probable bias!   

For the record, I still don’t believe Microsoft should have been convicted as a “monopolist” (you would be laughed at if you suggested an OS should ship without a browser today) though I do agree they had a number of overly aggressive business practices that did need to be curtailed, and have been. To this day they are held to a different standard than their competitors. They would certainly never get away with the behavior Apple has demonstrated here.

In fact I think the whole concept of a monopoly in IT is tricky. A great example of this is the Windows “N” product, the special edition of Windows, designed by the Europeans, which does not include Media Player and has sold as many copies as Microsoft Bob. I think it has had zero impact on the success of iTunes, with or without Media Player installed in the OS, it has become the most successful Media Player on consumer desktops today. Things just move too fast, and any Monopoly is transient, and becoming ever more transient.

Anyway, my point in the previous post was that the people defending Apple in this case are probably the first to criticize Microsoft and fail to see the tactic Apples employing as Monopolistic in nature. In this way they are holding their holier than thou company to different standards. This is dangerous.

Apple owns the iTunes/iPod franchise which dominates the music player and digital music markets with percentages Microsoft in its “Monopoly” days would have been proud of. In this case they are using the iTunes install base to increase their Safari install base. Its as simple as that.

For the record, they do have a monopoly class market share, from Wikipedia:

On September 12, 2006 Steve Jobs announced in his “It’s Showtime” keynote that Apple had 88% of the legal U.S. music download market

I’m sure it has gone backwards since then, but don’t take my word for it, search around yourself (or just look around at the colour of the headphone leads). But good on them, I bought a iPod Touch, I love it, but I hate iTunes and I will never shop at their store. That doesn’t mean I dont have to install it though, because they have chosen to make updates available only via that mechanism.

Anyway, only one of the commenter’s produced anything other than what I would expect from the Cult of Apple Think Samers. Just makes me laugh that the only other group that jumped on my comments after a post was the Scientologists. <grin>

The 20 Worst Foods in America

Just because it got number 1 doesn’t mean it really is Aussie.

2,900 calories
182 g fat 240 g carbs

Even if you split this “starter” with three friends, you’ll have downed a dinner’s worth of calories before your entree arrives. Follow this up with a steak, sides, and a dessert and you could easily break the 3,500 calorie barrier.