Journal entries - June 2008
Euro 2008: where were the great nations?
The Euro is over. Of football, that is (“soccer”, for those who think “football” is played holding a ball in one’s hands).
Some amazing games, a few fabulous teams, and a couple of surprises.
But all in all, one question kept creeping back into my mind: what ever happened to the great teams of two to ten years ago?
If today’s wars (the European ones at least) are played on a football pitch, it seems the balance of power has changed.
iTunesque: small themes for Leopard
The all-new iTunesque page has just gone live!
I won’t describe all that is inside, but if you feel something is slightly wrong with one or two aspects of Mac OS X Leopard’s User Interface, I suggest you take a look.
And thus cameth the holiday
Finally. After a total six weeks of toiling, of studying so hard the life was sucked out of me, I have prevailed. I have vanquished the devil. I have finished my exams.
In Belgium, university teachers still haven’t understood that what we call the “blocus” (i.e. studying for a fortnight without courses) is bad for students, because they force themselves to memorise things they’ll forget after the exams are over.
Sure, some of the learnt notions will stay, but only a few compared to the massive amount of stuff you’re supposed to know off by heart.
“No!”: how the Irish proved their ignorance
What makes people vote “no” to a text they have never read?
The Irish “Say No to the Lisbon Treaty” campaign has been the perfect occasion for people to express their dislike of a number of elements: the “Europe of Defence” military idea, increases in taxes, …
Yet who are the Irish to say “no” to a project they do not approve in its entirety? When has a veto on a small part of a project had any positive impact? Especially when the issues at stake had nothing to do with the Lisbon Treaty?
Snow Leopard, iPhone: certainties, hopes
I’ve been studying all day for an exam I have on Wednesday, and I only started learning anything useful two hours ago.
It so happens that this Monday, the WWDC kicked off with a keynote by Steve Jobs, the prophet who guides all Apple fans throughout the world. For the uninitiated, “WWDC” stands for “Worldwide Developer Conference”, and it is one of the major yearly Apple-related events.
Last year, Steve Jobs showed the world a feature-complete version of Mac OS X Leopard, among others. But this year, big disappointment if you’re not much into the iPhone and were hoping for a sneak preview at “Snow Leopard”, the next version of the OS. Disappointment, but surprise right afterwards.
Appreciating incomprehensible art
Have you ever looked at a painting or sculpture and wondered what influence the artist had been under while creating it?
When I grew up, I was taken to many art galleries and shown all the kinds of painting styles. But after a while, I’d lost all appreciation of a number of forms of art.
This was notably the case for any kind of painting that, to me, was incomprehensible, anything illogical.
Hello Flanders
Hello Flanders,
How are you? Long time, no see.
You may not remember me, so here’s a little reminder: my name is Peter, I’m twenty-one years old and I’m British. I’ve lived in Belgium, Brussels to be precise, for the past 16 years. I speak English and French, am fluent in Dutch and know basics in German and Japanese.
I read Le Soir and De Standaard every day, and watch only the television channels you have to offer. I’ve had university Law courses at St Louis and the KUB in Brussels, am now at the UCL and am hoping to do a “Master na Master” in Leuven in a year and a half.