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.

Animals.

If there is any justice beyond human justice, the human race should be eliminated yesterday.

Picture of a symbolically tortured animal (homo sapiens "sapiens")Animal welfare activists don't shy away from coining their message in radical slogans. We all know horror stories of illegal PETA activists setting fire to legitimate pork factories or chicken ...
Fast Forward


It's not something to say aloud, but I sometimes have a hidden desire to fast-forward history. I read a lot of projections and predictions about the future, some cynical, some knowledgeable, most admitting that we simply cannot know what is coming.

Except these few certainties like climate change, global competition for food ...
Hölderlin and Neil Young

Dreams and dreamers are of all ages. They are standing on the strong shoulders of their culture and bury their gaze in the stars. Let's say that again because I like it. They are standing on the strong shoulders of their culture and bury their gaze in the stars.

Perhaps you decided to ...
The Club of Fifty-Six
Some people die too young, they pass away much too early, before they have come to realize their full potential. For rock-stars, the viral age seems to be twenty-seven, age at which some of the most intensely expressive musicians died. We all remember Joplin, Cobain and Winehouse.

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was a creative ...
Joining Forces across the Globe
Joining Forces across the Globe
8 October 2011. Seoul / DakarWe have joined forces with Brazilian freelance photographer and documentary film maker Marcos Piani. Together, we will produce multilingual articles and documentaries focusing on pure grass roots initiatives. We are looking forward to bring captivating stories of change that would otherwise remain below the radar ...
Book Publishing – Traversing Africa
Book Publishing - Traversing Africa
29. September 2011. Rabat / Seoul
Yeon and Kamiel have decided to work from different locations for a little while. Yeon will be promoting her book about Charity Travel in South Korea the coming month, while Kamiel will try to travel from Morocco to Kenya overland on a budget. If ...
Probability Practise, helping the Poor
Can we help the poor simply by increasing the probability that a skillful independent helper or her organisation finds them?

William Easterly, the development economist and author of "The White Man's Burden" makes a famous distinction between "Planners" and "Searchers". The Planners have led most of the development efforts over the past 40 years ...
Why I like cooking
This is not a recipe blog. There are far more knowledgeable cooks maintaining interesting blogs like this one here.

Why, then, does this blog write about cooking? To be sure, I do love cooking for reasons other than the psychodairy this blog serves at times. The smell of fresh rhabarber, a good garlicky hummus, a ...
Imagine a Planet of the Apes


The premisse is interesting and not so far-fetched as it was at the time of the original movie, given what our laboratories achieve. So I expected an engaging narrative around hyperintelligent apes demonstrating how to outsmart the humans by being incredibly cooperative. I expected a visionary tale of wisdom making us silent in ...