Column

Wekelijkse notities in de kantlijn van waar de wereld over praat. En waarover ik vind dat de wereld moet praten.

De maandagcolumn is een institutie in niemandsland.

SEO and the marketplace

What does the existence of "SEO-optimization" tell us about the phase of our civilization? How do we read it? Is it building up to something much more invasive and radical, or is it the harbinger of inevitable decline or collapse? First, is this occupation structurally new? Haven't people always tried to make themselves and ...
Flying to Kenya tonight
12 March 2012. Frankfurt am Main, Germany.Finally, plans materialize and we are flying one-way to Nairobi tonight. We're very much looking forward to seeing our friends again, helping the "Joy Valley" orphan home cum school in Kayole and learn a lot about hands-on local development. We don't have exact plans in Nairobi. All we know ...
The Younger Narrative
It's five in the afternoon, incredible lighting makes the rocky mountain in front of me, across the stream, more majestic, more real. It is not easy to pick the right words to describe it, and artificial will it sound, but however weak and dimly pronounced, they are here the words, marking a memory newer than ...
Do you love your own voice?

Go out into the world and learn to hear your own voice. In discussions about politics, commenting on a movie you've seen, consoling a friend, venting your discomfiture or dismay over a newspaper article, writing a note to your parents, leaving a message after the beep, you are using something most uniquely yours: your ...
In Amsterdam
18 February 2012. Amsterdam, Netherlands.We have been in the Low Lands for more than a week now, went on a family visit and arranged some boring bureaucratic "stuff". The good news is that we are almost ready to go South by South-East (as those will be the predominant direction of our journey: south to Kenya ...
We are going to Holland!
6. February. Istanbul, Turkey.For practical reasons, we have decided to visit the Netherlands for two weeks; Kamiel's family is there, and some unfinished paperwork. Add the fact that Dutch is his native tongue, so he can use the thing on media and potential supporters of Charity Travel. Plus we might get a chance to chime ...
The ‘Charity Travel’ book got published in Korea!

Remember that Yeon went back to Korea last October to work on her book publication? It's finally out in Korea!
The title of the book is 'Good Travel Design' and it contains the basic concept of Charity Travel, how we started to do Charity Travel project together, lots of episodes on volunteering and Yeon's general ...
The Next World War
This rant sprouts from the documentary film "Supermarket Secrets", a strong piece of investigative journalism concerning the UK food retail industry that came out a few years ago. I watched it with disbelief and tears in my eyes, disgust, then anger. This poor little apple that is not perfectly symmetrical like the snobby faces of ...
Commercial Break

It's time for a short commercial break. Get comfortable in your chair and watch the wonderful products. Don't believe the communist propaganda that commercials are made to seduce people into buying stuff they don't need. Commercials are essential to life and without them even the most basic human functioning would be unthinkable, we would ...