Skip to content

Geoff Coupe's Blog

Home
AboutI’m a British citizen, although I have lived and worked in the Netherlands since 1983. I came here on a three year assignment, but fell in love with the country, and one Dutchman in particular, and so have stayed here ever since. On the 13th December 2006 I also became a Dutch citizen. In March, 2006, we bought a farmhouse – De Witte Wand – in the Dutch countryside and retired to a quiet life together. De Witte Wand (the White Wall) is pictured above.
Wedding Album
Gardens
Wines I Have Known

Reflections on life at “De Witte Wand”…

Impermanence

All things must pass. Everything dies.

Perhaps it’s my age, but thoughts such as these increasingly occupy my mind. Not in a morbid way, but simply in the sense that it is so. This entry was triggered by Gelert posting his cosmic law:

‘You shall never clean the toilet without remembering you may never use it again’

At the same time, I’ve just started reading Joan Didion’s "The Year of Magical Thinking" – her memento mori, about her family, the death of her husband and survival. It opens thus:

Life changes fast.

Life changes in the instant.

You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends.

The question of self-pity.

But ain’t it the truth?

And then, today, Dr. Charles posts one of his literary entries: Lantern. His writing is brilliant. Read it.

September 21, 2006

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Δ

Loading…
Knowledge Dropped…

I mentioned the roundtable of Dropping Knowledge a while back, and mentioned my misgivings that it would be nothing more than a media event.

Well, I went back to the web site, and guess what? It was a media event. I love the chutzpah of calling this a global dialog. What I saw was 112 monologues. No dialogue was entered into. Colour me cynical.

September 21, 2006

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Δ

Loading…
A Most Singular Pavilion

This entry from Curiosities of Literature made my imagination spark into life.

September 21, 2006

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Δ

Loading…
The Future of Science

A friend has just sent me a link to a live video webcast of the Future of Science conference that is currenly going on in Venice. Today is devoted to the theme of "evolution of matter"; tomorrow is "evolution of life" and Saturday’s theme is "evolution of mind". Here’s the conference programme. Some good things. I particularly want to see Dan Dennett’s talk on Saturday.

September 21, 2006
One response to “The Future of Science”
1. Gelert
  
  September 21, 2006
  
  Thanks for this – I will try to watch.
  
  Reply
Leave a comment Cancel reply

Δ
Loading…
Branding

As Zune, Microsoft’s answer to Apple’s iPod, prepares to be launched, there’s a good overview on the likely impact on the digital music market in today’s Guardian.

Also in the article is a reference to a parody video that purports to show what happens when Microsoft’s designers stamp their branding on the iPod packaging. I’d seen the video before, and it’s worth seeing, because it is so very true. But what I hadn’t appreciated until now is that apparently it had been produced within Microsoft itself. An organisation that can laugh at itself can’t be all bad.

September 21, 2006

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Δ

Loading…
What’s The Number?

British telephone directories dating back to 1880 are being put online. The service is being run by Ancestry.co.uk, whose managing director, Josh Hanna, gushes:

”They contain very particular details about the lives of the famous, and the infamous, including the likes of Sir Winston Churchill and Bram Stoker.”

Erm, aren’t those "very particular details" simply the address and telephone number of subscribers, Josh? Hardly earth-shattering revelations, although not without a certain interest, I do concede. Stuart Jeffries, in today’s Guardian, has a humorous take on the news.

September 21, 2006

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Δ

Loading…
Did You Know?

A nice series of advertisments for Science World magazine. The second one appeals to my inner schoolboy.

September 21, 2006

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Δ

Loading…
Tenacity

I usually think of the state of being alive as very fragile. So when I come across a story like this, it gives me pause for thought.

September 20, 2006
2 responses to “Tenacity”
1. 桃
  
  September 21, 2006
  
  I’m studying in the U.S, and there are a lot of Ductchmen.They are a little loud.hehe
  have a nice day~~~
  
  Reply
2. Geoff
  
  September 21, 2006
  
  Yes, and usually very direct as well. Me? I’m not Dutch, I’m Manx. Cheers!
  
  Reply
Leave a comment Cancel reply

Δ
Loading…
A Shot Across The Bows

I see that the Royal Society has taken a shot across the bows of the supertanker that is ExxonMobil – telling it to stop funding organisations that undermine research done on global warming. All very laudable, but supertankers take 20 miles to turn. My suspicion is that ExxonMobil will continue steaming ahead as usual.

September 20, 2006

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Δ

Loading…
The Galaxy Song

Says it all, really.

(hat tip to Phil, the Bad Astronomer)

September 19, 2006
2 responses to “The Galaxy Song”
1. Gelert
  
  September 21, 2006
  
  A litre of snot?? I thought nine spiders in a lifetime (How do they know this?) was bad enough, but a litre of snot – a day?!
  
  Reply
2. Geoff
  
  September 21, 2006
  
  Aah, the highs and the lows of human existence… One minute it’s Beethoven’s 9th, the next it’s a litre of snot…
  
  Reply
Leave a comment Cancel reply

Δ
Loading…
Over The Top

Usually I have a lot of time for Sam Harris. But in his opinion piece in today’s LA Times, he does really seem to have made a mountain out of a molehill. Luckily, Steven Poole brings it back to a more manageable chunk.

September 19, 2006

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Δ

Loading…
Drinking With The Inbetween People In The Last Chance Saloon

An excellent article by Timothy Garton Ash looking at Europe through the eyes of Ian Buruma and Ayaan Hirsi Ali. I have Hirsi Ali’s book on my bookshelves, I await that of Buruma with anticipation.

September 19, 2006

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Δ

Loading…
Great Balls Of Stone

While the trigger-happy among us might point to Intelligent Design or Alien Interference, these stone balls in Costa Rica are apparently a totally natural occurence. Ain’t Nature amazing?

September 19, 2006

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Δ

Loading…
Soapbox

I see that Microsoft is gearing up to introduce its answer to YouTube – and it’s called Soapbox. The introductory video is suitably bizarre. God bless all who sail in her.

September 19, 2006

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Δ

Loading…
The Mind Boggles…

…That this advertisement ever escaped from the ad agency (M&C Saatchi) that dreamed it up. My instant reaction was eeuwww…

September 19, 2006

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Δ

Loading…
Talent

Gelert complimented me on the photos I took at the Hippisch Festijn. I replied that photography is a hobby of mine, but it’s more by luck than judgement when a picture turns out really well. I don’t have a talent for it, but bump along as best I can… Contrast that with this photo from Miukiutada, a student living in Tokyo. Her photos are amazing – she has an eye for pictures and a real talent. I stand in awe.

September 18, 2006

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Δ

Loading…
‘Nuff Said…

Irony is not dead.

September 18, 2006
2 responses to “‘Nuff Said…”
1. Xi
  
  September 18, 2006
  
  hi,Geoff ,i came cross saw ur Blog ,it was great !keep doing it!
  
  Reply
2. Geoff
  
  September 18, 2006
  
  Thanks, Olly – will do my best…
  
  Reply
Leave a comment Cancel reply

Δ
Loading…
Subversion

Art meets politics. Brilliant.

September 18, 2006

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Δ

Loading…
Varsseveld Hippisch Festijn

I spent an hour this morning watching the cross-country event of the Varsseveld Hippisch Festijn. The course crossed the path I take when walking the dog in the woods, so I positioned myself there and took some shots of the horses and their riders. A couple of examples are shown below, the rest can be seen here on Flickr.

September 17, 2006
2 responses to “Varsseveld Hippisch Festijn”
1. Gelert
  
  September 18, 2006
  
  Those are great shots Geoff – especially the second one, is it a hobby of yours?
  
  Reply
2. Geoff
  
  September 18, 2006
  
  Thanks, Gelert. Yep, it’s just a hobby. If I get a good photo, it’s more by luck than judgement. My favourite shot if 2005 was this one.
  
  Reply
Leave a comment Cancel reply

Δ
Loading…
La, La, La,

… I can’t hear you… The US National Association of Manufacturers appears to have fingers stuck in its collective ears…

September 17, 2006

Leave a comment Cancel reply

Δ

Loading…

←Previous Page

1 … 158 159 160 161 162 … 224

Search

Latest Posts

An Open And Shut Case
A Warning…
10 Years of Brexit
How Not To Win Friends And Influence People
The Oligarchic Endgame Theory
The Backlash is coming?

My Library

Flickr Photos

Categories

Favourite SF Authors

Iain M. Banks
James Tiptree Jr.
John Brunner
John Varley
Samuel R. Delany
Sherri S. Tepper
Spider Robinson
Tad Williams
Theodore Sturgeon
Ursula K. Le Guin

Favourite Gay Authors

Andrew Holleran
Armistead Maupin
Christopher Bram
David B. Feinberg
David Leavitt
Edmund White
Ethan Mordden
Felice Picano

Blogroll

Robert Reich
Writing From London
The Cosmopolitan Globalist
Pandaemonium
The Brexit Blog
Butterflies and Wheels
Andy Hayler’s Restaurant Guide
Web3 is going just great

Archive

2026
2025
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2007
2006
2005
2001
1998

Geoff Coupe's Blog

Reflections on life at "De Witte Wand"

Twenty Twenty-Five

Blog at WordPress.com.

Subscribe Subscribed
- Geoff Coupe's Blog
- Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.

%d