Column

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

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Tangiers
Getting organized in northern Morocco
August 12-14. TangerWe have safely arrived in Morocco and found a clean hotel room in a slanted backstreet just a stone's throw away from the new avenue Mohamed VI. Having been welcomed by the kingdom of Morocco, we now enjoy this hotel's wifi to start the planning of our Moroccan ...
On our way to Morocco
On our way to MoroccoAugust 12. AlgecirasWe have arrived in the seaport of Algeciras, Spain. After a long and wild journey with a lightweight transporter that took us through beautiful places like Lyon, Arles, Alméria and the Sierra Nevada, we will take a ferry to Morocco. That country will be willing to host us for ...
In favor of diversity, multifariousness, and heterogenity
There is an old joke about a German, a Frenchman and an Englishman telling each other the word for butterfly in their native tongue. "Butterfly", the soft-spoken English gentleman whispers and you could almost hear the movement of a perfect specimen in his voice. "Papillon", murmurs the Frenchman, and his friends are enchanted by the ...
Energy Saving – the Alaska Way
produces heat (and light)If you listen carefully you can hear some politicians murmuring about saving energy, suggesting we should ride our bikes more often, insulate our homes a bit, or unplug unused electronic equipment. Some brave public folks even go as far as invoking ideas that are anathema to consumer society, such as a slightly ...
Fleeing from North to South
Boat refugees are a common phenomenon: Every few weeks the news of a vessel trying to make it to Italian or Canary shores reaches us northern Europeans. The direction of the refugees is always south to north (with the exception of Australia of course, that is dealing with desperate newcomers from the north).

Of ...
Fight the System for a Moulded Bell Pepper

Today, in the supermarket, my conscious was brutally raped.

I had intended to buy a trio of red-yellow-green bell peppers and had laid the colorful things, wrapped in crackling plastic, on the belt.
The evil cashier glanced briefly at it as it was conveyed toward her, then resolutely grabbed it and tossed it ...
Money should have a flavor
How to start a contempary reflection about money, a reflection that should both instruct and entertain because it is bound to the format of a blog post, because it will live as an entry among millions on an internet website with a narrow time window of readership that extends not much further than two weeks ...
charity travel goes kindmankind
Charity Travel goes Kindmankind.
May 2, 2011. BerlinWe the people of charity travel have created a platform where independent volunteers can find and share grassroots initiatives around the world. Thanks to some amazing people, the collection of free and no-fee "volunteering opportunities" is already huge and our kind community of independent changemakers is contributing ...
Elevator Training
This is not about the intellectual skills needed for being transported in an elevator. If you are reading this at your workplace it is likely that you have successfully concluded an elevator journey this morning. This is about what could have happened during that short vertical journey. It is about reaping the benefits from that ...