tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53563052012-02-16T15:09:20.595Zabout everyday, and not so everyday, subjects.René Meijernoreply@blogger.comBlogger241100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356305.post-79403303453752745722007-09-19T14:29:00.001+01:002007-09-19T14:29:30.948+01:00

This Monday we picked up our pup from his kennel in Lincolnshire. The journey home was remarkably easy (no wee, poo, sick or whining for the whole 2 hour treck!). However, I do think we have found ourselves quite a little character here. With all his 8 weeks of existance Milo seems to have already decided that the world belongs to him. Everything that isn't bolted down inevitably ends up

René Meijernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356305.post-90688530623051428582007-04-10T17:15:00.000+01:002007-04-10T17:22:25.440+01:00

After a long and painful proces involving way too many banks and estate agents for my taste, we finally managed to get an offer accepted on a very nice house. If you want to have a look, check this link (hopefully the estate agents won't take it down just yet...). I'll put some pictures up later just in case. I'm off now, sorting some stuff out, I'll post a more in depth story later.

René Meijernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356305.post-48209575177688464512007-04-08T16:46:00.000+01:002007-04-10T19:44:42.255+01:00

While consuming my daily news feed for the day, my wrath was awakened by a tiny article on slashdot. For those not in the mood to click through and read, the article described how citizens in New Mexico had supported, and were now adopting, a new extra tax to allow them to build the first commercial spaceport.I really don't get what's commercial about spaceport that is being paid for by taxpayers

René Meijernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356305.post-69047620772363939802007-01-20T17:23:00.000Z2007-01-20T17:55:49.075Z

Today I received my Postgraduate Certificate in learning and teaching in Higher Education. While in itself not a very major award (it's just the first step towards my Masters and, hopefully, a PhD) it was a nice opportunity to experience an anglosaxon style graduation.On the right here you can see me in my fancy dress. One up front, and one from the back, so that you can see the colours on my

René Meijernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356305.post-1154000636278835942006-07-27T12:43:00.000+01:002006-07-27T13:07:49.816+01:00

I was just reading the blog of JackofClubs, someone I've had many heated but interesting debates with in the past. I came across his entry called With Friends Like These... . It is the type of post I can't read without responding to it.In my opinion, posts like this are extremely dangerous, and are the cause of much of the problems we have today, certainly not the solution.First of all I think

René Meijernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356305.post-1151839276167589372006-07-02T12:19:00.000+01:002006-07-02T12:21:57.386+01:00

More and more we live in a virtual world. I’m not talking about the virtual reality of computers and the internet; I’m talking about the virtual world of language and semantics. No longer do the mental constructs with which we judge the world around us come primarily from our own experience. It’s the subtle semantics of the media, politicians and other public broadcasters that build our moral

René Meijernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356305.post-1149323646878159022006-06-03T09:33:00.000+01:002006-06-03T09:34:06.890+01:00

On the surface, human rights are something we all intuitively agree with. Or maybe we feel we have to, as it tends to one of those dogmas that you are not even allowed to review critically. I’m inclined to believe though that the whole concept of it is fundamentally flawed in a way that is closely interlinked with our own selfish nature.My main problem centres on the word “rights”. Where did we

René Meijernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356305.post-1147685104937843562006-05-15T10:24:00.000+01:002006-05-15T10:25:04.953+01:00

One of the big topics in the news this morning, was our governments plan to counter terrorism in Britain. Obviously it had shocked a lot of people that the 7/7 bombers were home-grown British citizens. The problem, the government reasoned, was that there was not enough social cohesion, and these young men had felt alienated from society which had enabled them to attain a mindset that would lead

René Meijernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356305.post-1147640472711654562006-05-14T21:29:00.000+01:002006-05-14T22:02:40.850+01:00

Being in power distorts a mans perception. It makes them think they are more important then they really are. Less harmless is that it also tends to create an obsession with certain goals, with leaving a mark. And this obsession clouds all judgement on what means are justifyable towards these ends.An article in the Guardian today confirmed for me that Tony Blair has now definetly entered the stage

René Meijernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356305.post-1146775904352650322006-05-04T21:26:00.000+01:002006-05-04T21:51:44.426+01:00

The United States likes oil. Oil is what keeps the Dollar strong (as long as oil is traded in Dollars), and oil is what drives the economy. I think though that the US might actually be poisoning itself even faster then it is poisoning the rest of the world with this addiction. And I'm not even talking about the enviroment really.The US used to have a lot of Oil. Even then (way back in the sixties

René Meijernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356305.post-1145969221985096272006-04-25T13:45:00.000+01:002006-04-25T13:47:01.996+01:00

Since January I've been doing a postgraduate certificate in Education. It's been a while since I have done any formal training, and I've never actually experienced the UK education system from the learners perspective. I'm happy to say though, that I just passed my first exam with flying colours :)

René Meijernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356305.post-1145917864600379902006-04-24T23:11:00.000+01:002006-04-24T23:31:04.676+01:00

As I assume most of you know, The September 11 plotter Zacarias Moussaoui is on trail. His lawyers have made a very interesting plea: They asked jurors to sentence his client to life imprisonment rather than give him the martyrdom he seeks through execution.Now I just want to avoid the question on the validity of the death penalty istelf as a punishment for now, as that's not what interests me

René Meijernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356305.post-1145808439693204962006-04-23T17:06:00.000+01:002006-04-23T17:07:19.696+01:00

I find myself in the awkward position of being sympathetic to Iran when it comes the the issue of enriching uranium. Don't get me wrong, I would not be happy with a regime that threatens to wipe other nations of the face of the earth (Israel) having the capabilities to do so. But lets just try and look at the wider picture here.Having nuclear capabilities military puts you in the league of most

René Meijernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356305.post-1145708622090866772006-04-22T13:16:00.000+01:002006-04-22T13:23:42.090+01:00

You can have your cake AND eat it!While I prefer the flexibility of the blogger site, I know a lot of my friends and family would have easier access to my scribblings via MSN-spaces. Luckilly the great blogger allows you to publish to e-mail, and while MSN does not, it does allow you to publish from e-mail. Soooo....Whenever I post an entry to my blogger site now, it should automatically e-mail

René Meijernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356305.post-1145659183075410382006-04-21T22:37:00.000+01:002006-04-22T13:25:51.070+01:00

I remember in school there was this fantastic possibility of being right. Questions would have correct answers, and you could look in the back of the book on the answer sheet to see if you were right. I never really got why they printed the answers upside down in some of those actually. It's not like anyone is not going to figure out how to turn the book upside down?This monstrous flaw in our

René Meijernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356305.post-1145546411768943022006-04-20T16:16:00.000+01:002006-04-22T13:26:34.250+01:00

It's been a while since I've been here. I was surprised in fact, to see that it was still there.A lot has changed since the last time I was here, in fact pretty much everything has. I've lost a lot of loved ones, gained a lot of new ones, moved jobs and even countries! Still despite all that change, much remains the same. One of those things being my desire to write down the things I think about.

René Meijernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356305.post-1054845706062609152003-06-05T21:41:00.000+01:002006-04-22T13:27:06.600+01:00

Freedom must be the most misunderstood and abused term in the dictionary. If I am to believe popular opinion, evey man (and woman of course) wants freedom. And on the surface that makes a lot of sense. "Of course you want freedom", you bark like the little Pavlov dog you are. It is out before you even thought about it. But just this once, take a minute to think about it with me please.The

René Meijernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356305.post-1053457676471550412003-05-20T20:07:00.000+01:002006-04-22T13:28:10.176+01:00

You'll have to excuse my pants, they've been refusing to stay up since dropping to my ankles this morning. I was just enjoying my morning cup of coffee and reading the papers when one odd article caught my eye:"US military interrogators are using unorthodox musical techniques to extract information about weapons of mass destruction of fugitive Ba'athist leaders from their detainees - a fearsome

René Meijernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356305.post-1052858944191610552003-05-13T21:49:00.000+01:002006-04-22T13:28:27.693+01:00

Is this the age of super heroes? Reading the papers I must come to the conclusion that it is so. Every week mythical arch-villains with comic-like names such as 'Chemical Ali', 'Doctor Germ' and 'Mrs Anthrax' are defeated by Captain America in his quest for freedom in the world. Captain America's opponents are evil to the bone. As his trusted sidekicks explain, the evil villains are "killers

René Meijernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356305.post-1052678211608662062003-05-11T19:36:00.000+01:002006-04-22T13:29:55.333+01:00

We spent so much of our time looking for or working towards that something special. The perfect job, the perfect house, the raddest new graphics adapter or whatever it is that makes you tick. All this in preparation for that ultimate moment of being 'there', wherever that may be. And so we focus on the important stuff, 'cause we must stay sharp if we are ever to attain the ultimate state of

René Meijernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356305.post-1052421283454740642003-05-08T20:14:00.000+01:002006-05-10T12:51:12.760+01:00

Usually thursdaynight is the night I do Tai Chi. Since it's been rather busy at work lately, I go straight from the office to the deli in the shoppingmall nearby to get me a quick bite and then straight to Tai Chi. I didn't really feel like going today though, I was rather tired and so I just stepped into the car and drove home. So I took a left turn at the intersection and turned on my radio.

René Meijernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356305.post-1052338732864786892003-05-07T21:18:00.000+01:002006-04-22T13:30:56.656+01:00

"Son, daddy needs some cash for the hard times to come. Why don't you go to the bank and get me one billion dollars."How do you handle that? Any idea how much space you need to transport that? Can I take the Porsche to get it, Should I take the van or maybe get a big truck or multiple trucks even? These are difficult times and difficult choices must be made in a split second. On TV a million

René Meijernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356305.post-1052247023557911262003-05-06T19:50:00.000+01:002006-04-22T13:31:14.686+01:00

The template works a little better now, although I'm forced to make it fixed-size on 800x600 now. Somehow the width and heigth get screwed up whenever I enter percentages in stead of absolute pixels. I'll live with it for now though, it looks decent.Today was a nice day so far. I got a good nights sleep yesterday and I find that does make a tremendous difference. I'll probably conveniently forget

René Meijernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5356305.post-1052079163372988482003-05-04T21:12:00.000+01:002006-04-22T13:31:35.653+01:00

The regular Blogger stoically refused to post my pittyfull attempts at a original opening-post so I thought I'd try the new Blogger-beta. At least now I know it's bugged, so it won't frustrate me as much. first thing to do is to make a decent stylesheet for this little corner of mine. I must say who-ever made the default templates sure was a messy worker. These things look terrible (codewise I

René Meijernoreply@blogger.com