Geoff Coupe's Blog

Reflections on life at “De Witte Wand”…

Year: 2005

The Dutch Media Are Revolting…

… against the introduction of the new spellings in the Dutch language. The Dutch Language Institute published the latest official dictionary of the Dutch language in October. As from next August, it is supposed to become the basis of the language of the government, public authorities and schools. But now, a powerful section of the Dutch media, including the leading newspapers, have rebelled and announced a boycott. They are objecting to what they see as abitrary changes in spelling. Suzanne Weusten, deputy editor of the Volkskrant is reported as saying: "Doubtless there are rules [for the changes], but who in godsname can remember them all?" Folkus Jensma of the NRC Handelsblad adds: "We already make enough mistakes in the paper, with this new spelling it will only get worse".

Speaking as someone who has extreme difficulty with the language as it now stands, I suspect that I will be echoing the sentiment of Folkus Jensma.

December 17, 2005
Neck Stretching For Fun

Sayuri turns up another Odd Thing From Japan: a neck stretcher. Perhaps there’s a market for it with the Padaung tribe?

December 17, 2005
Bill Hill

I’ve mentioned Bill Hill before. He’s a typographer who works for Microsoft, and is always fascinating to listen to. He’s back again on Channel 9 with other members of his team talking about the new fonts that are being designed for Vista – the next version of Windows.

Bill makes the point that for 500 years, font design has been dictated by the practicalities of the printing press. Now we are at the stage where people will increasingly read text from a screen, rather than the printed page. That change in medium will influence the design of fonts. Interesting stuff.

December 17, 2005
Ursula K. Le Guin

There’s a good article by Maya Jaggi in today’s Guardian profiling the writer Ursula K. Le Guin. Le Guin is one of my favourite writers (at the last count I had 28 of her books in my library). Good to know that, at the age of 76, she’s still writing.

December 17, 2005
XS4ALL: 4, Scientology: 0

The Dutch Supreme Court has today dismissed all claims brought by the Church of Scientology against XS4ALL and Karin Spaink. This legal case has been going on for 10 years, but finally, justice has been done.

December 16, 2005
Update: The Murder Victim Arrives

Following on from my "Justice is Done" entry, I now hand you over to the Natural History Museum in Rotterdam to learn the latest in this ongoing saga… If you want to see the video of the arrival then go here (in Dutch).

December 16, 2005
What’s The Internet For?

Well, one answer comes from this catchy little number… I’m afraid it’s got an earworm that will ensure that you probably find yourself humming the tune despite yourself. (hat tip to Gizmodo UK)

The World of Warcraft is an amazing Internet-based phenomenon in its own right. There are supposedly 4.5 million players in this virtual world. Personally, I have enough difficulty anchoring myself in my own reality without wanting to spend hours/days/weeks pretending to be in another. The attraction seems to have passed me by. Mind you, some people apparently insist on dragging more of their world with them into WoW, and this has been a step too far for some.

December 16, 2005
Guidance For Gaijin

There’s a short video doing the rounds that supposedly introduces foreigners to the mysteries surrounding the eating of Sushi in Japan. It becomes pretty clear that it’s a joke – along the same lines as telling a foreign visitor to London that it is customary to shake hands with fellow passengers on the Tube. Still, it’s worth a look.

Sayuri, over at the Odd Things From Japan blog, clears up some of the confusion…

December 16, 2005
Seiko Disaster Radio

Here in The Netherlands, the disaster warning sirens are tested at midday on the first Monday of every month. In the event of a real disaster striking, we’re all supposed to go indoors, shut all doors and windows, and tune into local radio for more information. Since the disaster may involve loss of electricity, the advice is to have a battery-powered radio on hand.

Japan is another country where they have a disaster warning system in place, because of earthquakes. Now those nice people at Seiko have come out with a handy-dandy portmanteau device combining a battery-operated radio, clock and torch (flashlight to you speakers of American). Hey, Seiko, perhaps there’s another market for this here in The Netherlands… Mind you, the best sort of design for a device like this is to have it powered by clockwork with a winding crank. Batteries run down…

December 16, 2005
Maya Masterpiece

You’ve probably read about the recent discovery of the earliest known example of Maya art near San Bartolo, Guatemala. But now, Dave Pentecost, one of the team who worked on documenting the painting, has published a video of the site on his blog. Amazing stuff. Although every time I see the image of HunahPu sticking a six-foot spear through his own penis as a blood sacrifice, I want to cross my legs, hard.

P.S. The downside of the video is the (not so) background music. Why do people insist on adding inappropriate music to videos? Admittedly, it’s not as bad as the Boar Semen Collection Music Video disaster I mentioned a couple of days ago. But still… Less is more, people!

December 16, 2005
Gouda in Lights – Part II

So, tonight I went down to the market square in Gouda and amused myself by taking lots of photos of the illuminations…

More here.

December 15, 2005
Mona’s Decoded

If you put any faith in these sorts of things, then it’s official: The meaning of the Mona Lisa’s smile has been defined. Personally, I liked the theory (was it expounded by Sister Wendy Beckett?) that she’s smiling because she knows Leonardo’s a poof.

December 15, 2005
Knitters Wanted

Instead of knitting that shapeless, hideous jumper for an ungrateful relative this Christmas, why not do something useful – knit a jumper for a penguin. As well as making them look as stupid as your ungrateful relative, it does actually have a useful purpose.

(hat tip to Improbable Research)

December 15, 2005
30 Years of the PC

There’s a very good history of the personal computer written by Jeremy Reimer over at Ars Technica. Worth checking out if you are interested in PCs. It strikes me that many of today’s geek youngsters don’t know the history. Those of us who lived through it tend to get all nostalgic, like me.

December 15, 2005
Gouda By Light

For the second year running, the townhall in Gouda is being illuminated at night as though it was made out of stained glass. Lex, a local photographer, has already been in the market square last night taking the first shots of the season. I’ll have to make a trip one evening to get my own set.

December 15, 2005
Cultural Dissonance

CW, over at the Ruminations blog, posts an illustration of how different cultural norms can clash. It’s the sand in the global machine.

December 15, 2005
Breaking News

There’s an old newspaper joke about newspaper sub-editors trying to outdo themselves with a story headline that touched all of their readers’ hot buttons. The apocryphal winner was "Black Bishop in Mercy Sex Dash to Palace".

The Telegraph web site currently has a story classified under "Breaking News" that appears to be making a bid for the prize: "Vicar ‘Imprisoned Me Like a Sex Slave’ Says Cleaner". I think that’s a worthy effort. Although the sub-editor would have got extra points by inserting the word "Gay" between ‘a’ and ‘Sex’ – even better, because it’s apparently true.

I haven’t seen a decent trashy headline like this since the days of Joyce McKinney and Kirk Anderson.

The story itself is pretty bizarre, and full of lovely touches like "[the cleaner], who lives with his diplomat uncle in Maida Vale, west London, said he also wanted to persuade his tormentor to return his passport so that he could renew his student visa".

Human nature – it’s a wonderful thing.

December 14, 2005
Disingenuous

Lord Falconer is either being disingenous or he’s a fool, with far too much power. Either way, he is a disgrace. That seems to go for far too many of his colleagues as well.

December 14, 2005
Monkey Portraits

Jill Greenberg’s portfolio of monkey portraits are worth seeing. Click through via the Flash site entrance…

(hat tip to Stewart on the Flickr blog)

December 13, 2005
Fancy Dress

Hah, kids have it too easy these days. If you’re going to a fancy dress party dressed as Frank-N-Furter from the Rocky Horror Picture Show, here’s a readymade costume for you. In my day, I made my own version. Hopefully, the only photos that survive are safely in my possession, under lock and key.

(hat tip to Boing Boing)

December 13, 2005