Dreams Unlimited©

Diary

archives

A list of recent thoughts, things I saw or things I spotted on the Net, things that excite me (Uuh, baby!) or upset me, stuff I hate or love or in any other way find worth the trouble of blogging right here for your entertainment or interest and my archive. ;)

	Monday, August 30 GmailFS - Gmail Filesystem #Posted by Dreams on 13:06 How do you manage an Email inbox that's 2 GB in size? There is only so much you can remember. Simple! You install the GmailFS - Gmail Filesystem. "GmailFS provides a mountable Linux filesystem which uses your Gmail account as its storage medium. GmailFS is a Python application and uses the FUSE userland filesystem infrastructure to help provide the filesystem, and libgmail to communicate with Gmail." Coool! B)
	Hamster-Powered Night Light #Posted by Dreams on 13:00 What do you when you're sitting at home and the power goes out...? All you hear is your breathing and... the hamster running like mad in his little wheel. EUREKA You make a Hamster-Powered Night Light! ROFL Read all about it!
	Sunday, August 29 Beach volleyball with ENIAC and Ssst@Soomers #Posted by Dreams on 21:57 Today I was supposed to play beach volleyball with my alumni group/club/friends from ENIAC, but I think I caught a real cold yesterday at my sisters BBQ in Almere. sigh sniff snotter caugh sniff But I drag myself there anyway, around 5pm, because I wanted to at least show my face to me peers and Soomers. Once there and outdoors, breathing fresh air, things clear up enough to enjoy the evening and Petra and I stay for dinner. Sadly, when the 2nd Ssst party at Soomers starts, I must go home because my head seems to explode and overflows with the ample production of clear and yellow fluids... Yuck! Time for bed!
	Saturday, August 28 Tiësto in Concert #Posted by Dreams on 10:39 Today, I got up at 830am to be first in line for the tickets for Tiësto in Concert. At 9am, the store owner had the machine all preset and pressed the connect button... a few minutes later we were told the sale didn't start until 10am. Duuh! I knew that! It was just too early to remember. LOL So at 10am I'm back and a couple of minutes later the proud owner of 2 tix! :bounce: Sadly, 5 minutes later my friend Martin calls me and tells me it is sold out. :shock: I run back to the store for him because I had no problems whatsoever, only to find myself at a loss when the lady tells me the tickets for Saturday are sold out!!! In 18 minutes... I quickly ask him if he'd like tickets for Friday, but he's unsure and needs to ask his (girl)friend. But that will prove to be too late too as 30 minutes later Friday is sold out too. :( Now we have a problem because we wanted to go together... Boohoo :'(
	Friday, August 27 Tiësto in Concert: 2 concerts! #Posted by Dreams on 23:58 For the people that did not know yet, Tiësto will organize 2 concerts in the Gelredome in Arnhem. The first one will be on Friday the 29th of October and the second one on the formerly anounced Saturday the 30th of October. Of course all the news regarding TIC in Arnhem can be found here www.id-t.nl.
	Thursday, August 26 ThinkGeek :: SoundBug #Posted by Dreams on 17:24 You must recognize this situation... you're sitting in a train or bus or in a meeting, listening to your iPod, IPAQ or mp3 phone and suddenly everyone wants to listen to your music! They are all bored and want to hear what great taste in music you have. :) Of course, you didn't small speakers and there aren't enough earphone repeaters to go around. Enter the SoundBug: "Smaller than a computer mouse, Soundbug plugs into the standard 3.5mm headphone socket of any audio device. A sucker push ring attaches Soundbug firmly to any hard, glossy surface such as glass, metal or MDF. An MDF desk top, MDF cupboard door, a window or even a glass-framed picture will do perfectly." Cooool! Check the action shots of people who've turned ordinairy windows into speakers, an aquarium, a guitar, a TV and even a plasma ball. B)
	Wednesday, August 25 Smart Recovery 4 - Freeware file recovery for Compact Flash, Smart Media, Memory stick & most digital memory cards. #Posted by Dreams on 23:22 While looking for some low-level tools to try and repair a broken 512 MB CF card that Sjoerd gave me, I found something else that I can definitely use. Smart Recovery 4 is a freeware file recovery for Compact Flash, Smart Media, Sony's Memory Stick & most digital memory cards. "Smart Recovery supports the following picture formats: .jpg, .tiff, .bmp, .gif, Canon .crw, Fuji .raf, Olympus .orf (E-XX), Olympus .orf (C5050), Kodak .dcr, Minolta .mrw, Nikon .nef (D1H/D1X), Nikon .nef (E5000/E5700), Sigma - Foveon .x3f. Plus Video files in .avi, QuickTime .mov format and audio files in .wav or .dss formats."
	ScreenSaver: Bluescreen v3.2 #Posted by Dreams on 15:37 Do you really want to mess with someone? Really like to get back at someone or another? Hehehe :devil: Just make your way into their house, "borrow" their PC for a minute "to read mail" and install the lastest Bluescreen screensaver! LOL It's a very accurate replication of the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) error message complete with rebooting cycling and CHKDSK... That'll scare 'em like hell, at least a couple of times. :devil:
	Wired News: It's Just the 'internet' Now #Posted by Dreams on 15:08 We should all no longer CAPITALIZE words like Web, Website, Internet and such. So from now on I will no longer do it. "Why? The simple answer is because there is no earthly reason to capitalize any of these words. Actually, there never was." LOL
	Are you fertile? #Posted by Dreams on 15:03 When you and your partner are trying to get pregnant, it's almost always the woman's fault when it won't work. We men never ever think of the possibility that there might be something wrong with our sperm. Why should we? Looks perfectly fine to me, last time I checked! :) But now we can be sure! Pria Diagnostics has the world's first fertility test for men: EleMENt™! "Element is the only non-laboratory test that comprehensively measures 95% of the conditions causing male infertility, including those affected by sperm count, motility and forward progression. The results of the kit are easy to understand and are displayed to the user at home in about thirty minutes." B)
	Coolest job in the world? #Posted by Dreams on 14:53 If you've ever wondered about how they make the beans that make your coffee in the morning and where the differences come from, besides biological differences such as region, growth, type of bean, read the article of a coffee roaster at Victrola Coffee. You'll be surprised to find out how difficult it actually is and you'll find yourself with a newborn respect for those people how seem to be able to turn out that same plain blend that you drink every single day, over and over again... yawn Go get gourmet coffee now!
	Tuesday, August 24 Sony Unveils Internal, External 16x DVD Burners #Posted by Dreams on 13:52 Sony Unveils Internal, External 16X DVD Burners! That's quick enough to burn a (single layer) DVD+R in 6 minutes... Holy moly! But the new burner also writes DVD+R DL at 2.4x speed, giving you a nice comfy 8.5GB of available space...
	Browse Happy #Posted by Dreams on 13:45 The Web Standards Project have launched a new campaign: Browse Happy. In an effort to get Microsoft up to speed with its unsafe Internet Explorer (IE), BrowseHappy actively promotes the others browsers: Mozilla, Firefox, Opera and Safari (Mac). Not because they're better than IE, albeit a little bit ;), but because they're safer and provide less security risks than IE. "Once, long ago, IE was a great example of a modern browser. But those days have passed. The last major version release was in 2001, and development appears to have slowed to a crawl with only a minor patch in 2004. New security flaws are reported at an alarming rate and major security organizations like the US Department of Homeland Security now recommend against its use. Internet Explorer, once the cream of the crop, is now a liability."
	Digitally Imported starting a Progressive channel #Posted by Dreams on 12:48 Digitally Imported, my favorite dance music mp3 station, is starting "a Progressive channel put together by our very own DJ Irish and the DI Crew." W00t! :bounce:
	Olympic Babes #Posted by Dreams on 12:03 Sport is good! Sport makes you healthy and keeps you that way. But sport also makes for beautiful people! Wannahaves has a special on Olympic babes from all over the world. I really like Kathy Radzuweit, volleyball player from Germany. But Italy has some great sports people too... sigh ;)
	Canon EOS 20D Hands-On Preview #Posted by Dreams on 11:46 Digital Photography Review has a Hands-On Preview of the Canon EOS 20D. Wow, I already know what my next new camera will be if I win the lottery tomorrow! ;) The 20D has some great new features. It's 8Mpx, okay, but that the least of the improvements. :) It's almost "instant on" at 0.2 seconds (verified!). It has the same CMOS sensor as the MarkII does with less noise at higher ISO numbers. The built-in flash has been improved much and been given a faster sync speed (1/250th). The EOS 20D also writes true RAW+JPEG now, which is handy for real photographers and owners of 4GB Flash cards. ;) There is also a B&W mode now, with different filters that you can choose from (i.e. red, blue, green or yellow filter, etc.) That saves you a lot of time in the (digital) darkroom. :) Finally, there are more focus points (9, up from 7) and the camera has USB 2.0 support! That's a live saver too, altough who doesn't have a multi card reader near their PC these days...? ;) For a list of all the changes, check DPReview's handy summary All in all a very, very good D-SLR and definitely worth considering. The 10D are dropping in price and this one goes for €1600. However, it still pays to buy it in the State (except for warranty issues!).
	Monday, August 23 Felix Da Housecat lyrics - Silver Screen #Posted by Dreams on 22:28 Pissed that I couldn't remember who wrote the song that they use in the latest Bacardi Breezer TV ad, I searched the Net and 'lo and behold: it's Felix Da Housecat - Silver Screen. :) Where would I be without Internet?!?!? :)
	Wrecked warship is a 'timebomb' #Posted by Dreams on 21:19 An old sunken American ship from WWII, is laying near the harbor of Sheerness. Aboard is approx 1400 tons TNT spread over 13,700 explosives. It's about 1/12th of the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima! BBC News says: "In 1970, government tests on the site showed a blast would hurl a 1,000ft wide column of water, mud, metal and munitions almost 10,000ft into the air." They're stuck because they can either cover it up in sand or concrete, or move it...
	CNN.com - Olympians largely barred from blogging #Posted by Dreams on 19:10 CNN.com writes: "The International Olympic Committee is barring competitors, as well as coaches, support personnel and other officials, from writing firsthand accounts for news and other Web sites. An exception is if an athlete has a personal Web site that they did not set up specifically for the Games." Well that covers just about everything. LOL :D Eve if you had a specific blog for the olympics, just make it more general and continue blogging after the Olympics... tsk tsk tsk When will they learn...?
	Sunday, August 22 Mysteryland 2004 #Posted by Dreams on 23:05 Much less of my friends than last year, but 50,000 new friends made up for it! Mysteryland 2004 this year was as good as last year! Great weather after days of rain and thunderstorms, but they left the fields saturated and gave mud pools. Oh well, everything else was fine. People were happy, music was outstanding and the food was great! (y) I had a great time at Mysteryland although I missed many of my friends who are normally with us. I'll see you at Tiësto in Concert in October!!!
	smugmug - The Tanning Salon #Posted by Dreams on 18:12 Smugmug, the world's best online photo gallery site, has introduced a new feature: The Tanning Salon. When activated, your photos will be processed "a technique used by glamour photographers to provide flattering skin tones". Don't use it on photos that were made indoors, though! :)
	Saturday, August 21 V.E.T. at Lipton Ice Tea Beach Club #Posted by Dreams on 21:45 The people at PartyFlock spotted that I was planning on going to V.E.T. at the Lipton Ice Tea Beach Club. Since they had been asked to sent someone who could make some pictures, they contacted me. I didn't mind and hopped on my bike to check out the party on the Noorderstrand in Scheveningen. When I got there, Victor Coral was already playing a stomping set, but only a few people were there. Sadly they missed this great DJ! Later, though, it got more crowded and V.E.T. turned out to be a great party!
	Friday, August 20 Canon EOS 20D #Posted by Dreams on 22:08 It's true! The new Canon EOS 20D is officially introduced! :) Not much new over what we already knew, though.
	funda #Posted by Dreams on 08:47 Petra and I are off in a jiffy to check out 4 houses in Den Haag. Next week we'll look at 3 more, most in the Bloemenbuurt. :) Hopefully we'll see something nice because Petra already sold her house (in principle) to a good friend of mine. So all's set!
	80% of WiFi Networks are still Insecure, #Posted by Dreams on 08:45 Slashdot \| 80% of WiFi Networks are still Insecure, Kismet Author Says: "Kismet is simply the best war driving tool out there plus it's free as in GPL and can even run on your linux PDA." You can use Kismet to sniff around on other WiFi networks or use it check if anyone's on yours. :)
	Thursday, August 19 Loaf - List of All Friends #Posted by Dreams on 15:45 "LOAF (List Of All Friends) is an extension to Email that lets you send out address book data without compromising your privacy. LOAF appends a hash-like data structure to each outgoing email, and collects similar attachments from the people who write to you. LOAF lets you check whether someone emailing you for the first time is a complete stranger, or appears in the address books of some of your trusted correspondents." That makes it along the lines of Orkut or Friendster or LinkedIn, without the need to register to any of them, fill in all the boring details yet again, upload pictures, and bother all your friends with the "I found this great new netwokring tool" messages... :) Cool B)
	Mozilla Releases Mozilla Sunbird 0.2 #Posted by Dreams on 13:27 On Slashdot I read that Mozilla Releases Mozilla Sunbird 0.2, a calendar application that is available as a plug-in for Mozilla, FireFox and Thunderbird as well as a stand-alone application (800 KB vs. 8 MB, resp.). Finally! I used to work with Netscape Calendar a long time ago and that was fine. Especially the open iCal support made it stable and open (for syncing with PDAs, phones, etc.). However, the features were bit stale to say the least. ;) Hope this is better and will evolve quickly.
	Leaked Canon EOS 20D Specs! #Posted by Dreams on 11:29 On Roodpetje.nl I saw rumors of leaked Canon EOS 20D specifications. And what do you know?! On DPReview's forums, there is a post that a Korean's website leaked Canon EOS 20D specs. I quickly looked around but Canon has already removed the Press Release material from their website. Bummer. Luckily, someone in the DPReview forum downloaded the pictures and I have them here for you too! Canon EOS 20D PR photo Canon EOS 20D angle Canon EOS 20D back Canon EOS 20D front
	Tuesday, August 17 Potential disaster in cryptography land #Posted by Dreams on 17:16 At this week's CRYPTO 04 conference, people have proven that the widely used SHA-0 crypto hash function is broken. However, the more secure version SHA-1 is now rumor of being broken as well. "The finding of a single collision in SHA-1 would not, by itself, cause much trouble, since one arbitrary collision won't do an attacker much good in practice. But history tells us that such discoveries are usually followed by a series of bigger discoveries that widen the breach, to the point that the broken primitive becomes unusable." Interesting, isn't it?! :) BTW, it took 80,000 hrs on a parallel 256 CPU cluster... it's still not trivial (yet).
	smugmug - Jan-jaap Aue (lighthunter)'s photo galleries #Posted by Dreams on 14:23 Another old colleague from KPN Research has got himself his own smugmug: Jan-jaap Aue. And he's a real (serious) amateur photographer too! B) Welcome!
	DJ Tiësto's playlist of Olympic Opening Ceremony in Athens #Posted by Dreams on 12:47 As I was stumbling over the Net, I found Tiestoworld.nl - The official Tiësto playlist website and discovered that Merel has the playlist of Tiësto's Olympic Opening Ceremony. :) Cool! B) Thanks, Merel! (y)
	3D Holograms Detect Fake Signatures #Posted by Dreams on 12:28 If you're thinking of practicing a bit to copy your partner's signature or handwriting, think again. There are now techniques that use 3D Holograms To Detect Fake Signatures. It's extremely reliable! For instance, when used with a ballpoint and normal paper, it distiguishes 100% between real and fake signatures. :) The article has links to other interviews and as well the research paper.
	Monday, August 16 YETI SPORTS is doing it again #Posted by Dreams on 14:26 YETI SPORTS, creators of the ever fun and popular hit the penguin game, have now create a Pentathlon of all five versions of their game in a row. Celebrate the Olympic feeling and see how well you do!?! Also, in line with the Olympics, they have a downloadable version (free registration required) for Ylympics for your mobile phone. It's a rebranded version of the classic in an Olympic theme with global high-scores. :) Excellent! There goes a couple of hours! ;)
	LinuxJournal's 2004 Editors' Choice Awards #Posted by Dreams on 14:15 So what are the favorites of Linux people and other Open Source users and evangelists? Check out the LinuxJournal 2004 Editors' Choice Awards. PostgreSQL for database stuff, GIMP for image editing, the IBM ThinkPad T41 must-have Linux-laptop and ClamAV anti-virus software. Isn't it about time you thought about switching away from the cozy, warm and fuzzy Micro$oft Mickey Mouse desktop and ventured into something new...? You did back in the early 90's with Windows 3.0a, remember?! How hard could it be?
	Sunday, August 15 Sleeping, resting and chilling #Posted by Dreams on 14:02 Not much to report. After yesterday, today was a day to do nothing expect sleep, eat and relax the old muscles again. :) That and edit a ton of pictures of course, the result of which has already been blogged.
	Saturday, August 14 FFWD Heineken Dance Parade 2004 #Posted by Dreams on 23:56 Aaaaaah, what a day!!! Great weather, just like last year! Sunshine, dance music, happy people, lots of people, gorgeous people, a couple of drinks and a ton of friends along for the ride too! I had an absolutely fantastic day at this year's Dance Parade 2004. Check the pictures and you'll see what I mean! Great DJs too: Ferry Corsten, Miss Nine, Johan Gielen, Michel de Hey! Outstanding! Big :hug: to all my friends!
	Friday, August 13 Hydan: Information Hiding in Program Binaries #Posted by Dreams on 17:25 Hydan steganographically conceals a message into an application. It exploits redundancy in the i386 instruction set by defining sets of functionally equivalent instructions. It then encodes information in machine code by using the appropriate instructions from each set." Coool! B) Wow, that is soo smart. But it uses are not only for secretly exchanging messages. You can also embed your signature into a file and track P2P sharing or other "abuse", or embed a checksum into an executable and detect if it has been tampered with by Trojans or virusses. Excellent!
	Millenium mark! #Posted by Dreams on 12:31 I just noticed that I've surpassed the 1000 blog postings! Woohoo! Small party here!
	A Slice of Time and Space #Posted by Dreams on 11:23 What if you could dream up your own world and live in it?! Or maybe not live in it but just play in it, for a while? As a kid, you did that all the time. I still do! Hehehe You make up imaginary friends and things and stories and live them. A researcher at Microsoft had the same thing. His girl wanted to play in her drawing, just like she did in the playground... So what does a good nerd dad do?! He grants wishes! Impossible things ready while you wait. Miracles take a little longer! Read the article A Slice of Time and Space and then watch the video! Don't cheat! Read first! :)
	Nevermind the weather! #Posted by Dreams on 11:00 LOL Forget the weather! Whatever it does, there is something to do this weekend. Should it also rain on Sunday, I'll go to the Den Haag Buitengewoon Culinair food party on the Grote Markt! B)
	i-Beacha at Lipton Ice Tea in Scheveningen #Posted by Dreams on 10:56 Saturday, weather permitting, I'll be at the FFWD Dance Parade in Rotterdam. There's also a free party below the Erasmusbrug there, so before, during or after, I can also go there and take shelter from the rain. LOL However, if the weather still sucks on Saturday I hope it'll be better on Sunday, so everybody can dance at the i-Beacha party in Scheveningen on the Zwarte Pad at the Lipton Ice beach club.
	Tiësto to perform Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games in Athens #Posted by Dreams on 10:46 DJ Tiësto, twice voted the #1 DJ in the world by DJ Magazine, will make Olympic history on Friday, August 13, when he becomes the first DJ ever to perform in an Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games. That today, 19:00 hrs CET... Cool! B)
	Thursday, August 12 Partyflock posted their pictures of Dance Valley 2004 #Posted by Dreams on 13:21 Partyflock, thé Dutch dance party site, posted their collection of 400 photos of this year's Dance Valley! If you have a couple of minutes or so... check them out!
	Tuesday, August 10 Walter De Maria: Lightning Field #Posted by Dreams on 23:33 OK, you're a geek and you're not really looking forward to a vacation away from your PC. The though of no Internet for 2 weeks is paralizing! You're girlfriend is, however, set on the idea of a nice warm sunny vacation far way from home. So now what? Hehehe, :devil: go visit the Walter De Maria: Lightning Field. This is New Mexico, nice, sunny and warm. However, this field at an elevation of 2400m provides a home to 400 polished stainless steel poles installed in a grid array measuring one mile (1.6 km) by one kilometer. :) And from may to early September it's thunderstorm season... get the picture!?! I thought you would! ;) Now go and pack! (Bring plastic clothing!)
	MSFN's Unattended Windows XP How-To Guide #Posted by Dreams on 18:12 If you find yourself lost on a weekend, it's rainy and windy and nothing much on TV, then check out this site: MSFN's Unattended XP CD. It tells you how to make a Windows XP boot CD with all your favorite applications, drivers and WindowsUpdate fixes... all in one™! However, it's not for those with weak hearts, low tolerances or easy error frustrations! So be warned! Also, you'll an original Windows XP CD to start with.
	Shark Tale #Posted by Dreams on 16:37 One word: Shark Tale. ROFL! Briliant! Go watch the trailer from Dave's Trailer Page!
	Internet Explorer v7.0 update? #Posted by Dreams on 16:10 Perhaps due to all the security problems or the recent competition from Firefox and Opera 7.50, Microsoft may very soon upgrade Internet Explorer! "It [Microsoft] has reassigned a high-profile Longhorn evangelist to the IE development team, advertised for browser developers and launched a widespread online offensive to solicit feedback from users."
	Proteoma-what?! #Posted by Dreams on 15:47 Friend of mine may start working for Efeckta, a company that builds analysers that analyse your proteins for defects before they ever show up in the form of diseases or so. B) Cool!
	Stripe Snoop: What's on a magnetic stripe? #Posted by Dreams on 13:25 I've often wondered about this myself: what the heck do they store on the magnetic stripes of the cards that I carry? Credit card, bank card, store card, ID card, video membership card, bus pass, annual train pass and so on. Well, seems like I was not the only one, because Acidus wrote Stripe Snoop, an open source tool to capture, modify, validate, generate, analyze, and share data from most common magstripe cards used today. You get the software, buy a mag card reader, solder the game port interface (or buy a cable (y) ) et voila! Snoop around in all the cards you have in your wallet... :) Also handy to change the information on them, but you better work with copies, not the originals... ;)
	ALIEN vs. PREDATOR #Posted by Dreams on 12:31 I soooo wanna see this movie!!! ALIEN vs. PREDATOR :bounce: Check the trailer of the fight scene on Dave's Trailer Page B)
	Dance Valley revisited #Posted by Dreams on 08:26 Petra posted her pictures of Dance Valley 2004 - a decade of dance online too. She took great pictures of all of us sitting and chilling and dancing... Excellent lighting conditions too! (y)
	Monday, August 9 Yet another reason to block pop-ups and not to view nor load banner ads #Posted by Dreams on 15:32 Netcraft reports that Banner Ads Are Used to Spread Malware. The whole mechanism is a bit unclear to me because I don't know whether you need to click on an ad or not, but it doesn't seem necessary. Malware - i.e. software with malicious purposes - banners load a pop-up which then redirects to site with Trojans and so on. As always, it's best to keep Windows updated, use current virus scanners and regularly scan your PC for Trojans.
	Tiësto in Concert 2004 #Posted by Dreams on 14:59 Barely back from Dance Valley, looking forward to the FFWD Dance Parade of this weekend, I'm already psyched for Tiësto in Concert 2004. :bounce: I hope, I hope, I hope I will be able to get tickets before they sell out... cross fingers here Last year's concert was outrageously fun and definitely worth doing again!
	See What You Share on P2P #Posted by Dreams on 12:38 Perhaps you use MSN Messenger, ICQ or maybe Yahoo!. Either way, chances are that you have left you're PC open to outside spies. In all these tools, there are security options that you must shutdown yourself. Who can contact me? Who can transfer files with me? Do I always accept or should the tool ask me first? Who can see I'm online? And the list goes on. All-in-one Instant Messengers like Trillian, GAIM and Jabber are also open since they simply transfer the different protocols to the corresponding servers. However, sine these tools do not support all the option of the native, original tools, they are somewhat safer, in my opinion. Please take a moment to checkout these options, especially if your sitting at a PC that contains sensitive materials, like at work or the PC at home that contains you personal files, dairies, financial statements, tax documents, etc. If not, you might end up on these pages: See What You Share on P2P...
	How To Build a Community #Posted by Dreams on 12:14 Sometimes some people make flyers that are so simple and so true... you just have to join them! :) So here I go... "How to Build a Community turn off your tv~leave your house~know your neighbors greet people~look up when you're walking~sit on your front steps plant flowers~use your library~play together~buy from local merchants share what you have~help a lost dog~take children to the park honor elders~support neighbourhood schoools~fix it even if you didn't break it have pot lucks~garden together~pick up litter~read stories aloud dance in the street~talk to the mail carrier~listen to the birds put up a swing~help someone carry something heavy~barter for your goods start a tradition~ask a question~hire young people for odd jobs organize a block party~bake extra and share~ask for help when you need it open your shades~sing together~share your skills take back the night~turn up the music~turn down the music listen before you react to anger~mediate a conflict~seek to understand learn from new and uncomfortable angles know that no one is silent though many are not heard work to change this"
	Sunday, August 8 The day after the day before #Posted by Dreams on 22:42 Sunday was very peaceful and relaxed. The sun from yesterday decided to stay and warm us up once again. Petra and I had spent the night at the house of Isabelle and Rob in Almere. She was at my parents' house in Condat for a week, but Petra needed a place with a garden to display her outstanding recipies for BBQ ribs and saté. So we chartered their house and Rob did shopping for us on Saturday. Marcel, Jacques and Sjoerd also came along, as a extra friend of Marcel and Jacques: Jan. So Petra and I spent some hours in the kitchen preparing it all, then we took a swim at a nearby beach and at 6pm we went back home, change and had ourselves a very nice BBQ 'til late... Sorry not many pictures, I was too tired.
	Saturday, August 7 Dance Valley 2004 - A Decade of Dance #Posted by Dreams on 23:30 Dance Valley 2004 - A Decade of Dance, it was wonderful! The day started a bit grey and threatning with dark rain clouds drifting North. Friends of mine from Rotterdam and The Hague reported it had rained all morning, but when we got to Dance Valley around noon, it was grey and overcast but showing promising signs. At 3pm, the sky broke clear in an instant and from then on, Dance Valley was toasted in scorching sunshine! :) The mood improved, if that is possible, and the partying really got started. 160+ DJs from all over the world played their sets and everyone picked their favorites or stayed whereever the music sounded good at any particular moment! Around 4pm, Petra and I wondered off to the Main stage and joined Antonique and Jeroen, who were already there. A little later Robin and Astrid joined us too and from then on people started dropping by and going away at their leisure. The sun started to loose in warmth and a blistering hillside turned into a beautiful lazy sun-drenched lounge spot. DJs came and went on Dance Valley's Main stage, but we stayed. By 9pm, almost the whole group was there and we all danced to Carl Cox's final set! I'd like to thank everyone: Rob, Sander, Caro, Petra, Jan Willem, Isabel, Sjoerd, Sylvia, Sandra, Bas and friends, Raymond, Arjen, Astrid and Robin for wonderful day!!! Big :hug: and (K) to all!
	Friday, August 6 Security-Updated Versions Of Mozilla Released #Posted by Dreams on 17:32 Following the recent security vulnerabilities in Mozilla and FireFox, mozilla.org released updated versions.
	FFWD Heineken Dance Parade #Posted by Dreams on 17:27 With 40 trucks and no Love Parade in Berlin this year, it is expected that the FFWD Heineken Dance Parade in Rotterdam next weekend will be the biggest dance event in Europe. The organisation expects about 450,000 people to come to Rotterdam... Pfff, better get there early! The afterparty will in the same spot as last year, however, the dusty sand beach of last year has been overgrown with green grass this year, after many complaints about the dirt and dust during the evening. (y) Cool!
	What to do in the weekend...? #Posted by Dreams on 14:22 This weekend is, of course, the 10th anniversary of DanceValley. I'm going there with a ton of friends. The weather will be gorgeous and hot. And with about 20 of my favorite DJs or so, I'm sure I won't be bored. The problem will be a logistical one, deciding when to go where or just to stay put. ;) Sunday, I'm going to my sister's house in Almere and Petra and I will (ab)use the place to host a BBQ with friends. Should you have nothing better to do, you can also go to strandtent Wij in Scheveningen and attend Good Afternoon! And I can't wait for the FFWD Dance Parade in Rotterdam, next weekend! LOL
	Belgian Miss REEF #Posted by Dreams on 14:15 REEF, a surfers brand and beach wear company, well known among guys for the gorgeous babe behinds on their calendars, is holding a pageant in Belgium for Miss REEF. This Saturday, the finals are held on the beach of Bredene (TWINS) at 8pm. But you can also check out the 20 finalistes on www.reefmodel.com
	InfoWorld: IBM says it won't assert patents against Linux kernel #Posted by Dreams on 14:08 The Open Source Risk Management organization recently discovered that Linux could very well violate some 250+ patents of different companies. Microsoft, IBM and some other held the majority of them. Now, InfoWorld: IBM says it won't assert patents against Linux kernel. That's might cool of you, big blue! :respect: Now let's wait for Micro$oft... ;)
	Taiwan to produce a new type of memory storage device #Posted by Dreams on 13:52 Taiwan?s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) and some local IT firms have come up with a new type of compact storage device, called the µcard (mu-card). It is 24x32x1.4 mm big (WxLxH), compared to 42.8x36.4x3 for the common Compact Flash cards. This makes it slightly bigger than an xD and about the same as the less common MMC cards. "The cards will be able to transfer 120MB of data per second, 10 times faster than Secure Digital (SD) memory cards, sources said. Additional features for the new card include USB 2.0 compatibility, low power, fast I/O and a compatible interface with existing memory cards, the sources added. Mass production for the new card will begin in early 2005."
	DanceValley visible on UMTS phones #Posted by Dreams on 13:46 Tweakers has an article (in Dutch) that Vodaphone is promoting DanceValley heavily. Not only large are MMS screens and Vodaphone Live! present on the grounds, they will also present highlights and images for UMTS phones for free! Until October 1st, the service is free... so you better hurry!
	Wednesday, August 4 Slashdot \| DEFCON WiFi Shootout Winners Set A Land Record #Posted by Dreams on 16:28 Slashdot \| DEFCON WiFi Shootout Winners Set A Land Record: "While attending the DEFCON 12 convention this past weekend I had the chance to see the standing ovation a group of 19 year olds received for establishing a 55.1 mile unamplified WiFi connection! They might have achieved an even greater distance, Justin Rigling said, 'but there was no road left.'" :respect: B)
	Alabama whistleblower fired for spyware #Posted by Dreams on 12:54 Alabama whistleblower fired for spyware. This guy, an IT sysadmin, who noticed his boss play Solitaire on his PC almost all the time and never do anything usefull, decided that after his complaints to his superiors went unnoticed he'd install spyware on the bosses PC and take screenshots at random intervals. Hopefully this would give him the proof he needed. Well, 7 months and 400 screenshots later he found his boss was 70% of the time playing Solitaire and rarely doing anything like MS Office or writing usefull Emails. He reported this to his boss and... was fired almost on the spot. He is now filing an appeal... read the appeal, it's cool. :) :respect:
	Skype 1.0.0.18 #Posted by Dreams on 10:50 For those of you who've tried this MasterPiece in Internet Telephony already, there is an update out: Skype 1.0.0.18. It has many bug fixes and a new feature to let you add SkyeOut numbers to your contacts. Handy if you want to call them on their land or mobile number! B)
	Tuesday, August 3 NaN>Christian Peper - MPEG-4 Primer #Posted by Dreams on 12:55 ROFL :D I was checking my website log files and discovered people searching for my old MPEG-4 Primer, which I wrote back in 2001 while working for Not A Number in Amsterdam/Eindhoven. :D Jeez! No idea it would live this long, let alone be visible on the Internet...
	Sony P150 hands-on Preview #Posted by Dreams on 12:43 On a brighter side... DPReview also posts a hands-on preview of the 7 Mpx Sony P150!!! Similar to the DSC-P100, this model has a bigger CCD (duuh!) as well as a new Real Image Processor to speed up startup, focus and other important functions... Excellent! Too bad that at 7Mpx, you need a hefty Memory Stick Pro and they do not come cheaply! :(
	Stolen Nikon D70 kits #Posted by Dreams on 12:39 DPReview reports that about 1900 complete Nikon D70 kits were stolen from Schiphol Airport recently. The warranty card's address is in Barcelona, Spain and all the serial numbers are known and listed on the website. If you're buying a Nikon D70 kit or you've recently bought one, be sure to check the serial number and report it to Nikon. Especially if you see a kit being offered at suspiciously low prices...
	Monday, August 2 Wi-Fi Toys: 1 km BlueTooth linkup #Posted by Dreams on 22:12 Wi-Fi Toys reports of a world-record in long distance BlueTooth connecting... They managed to connect a standard Sony-Ericsson T610 with a high-gain antenna connected to a Class 1 Bluetooth adapter kit from Bluedriving.com. "Using a 19 dBi panel antenna, a Linksys USB Class 1 adapter sporting a pigtail mod, and a Sony laptop with the default Widcomm drivers, the Bluedrivers transferred a picture file from a Sony-Ericsson T610 using the phone's built-in Obex file transfer protocol."
	smugmug - Petra : Best Cambodia photos #Posted by Dreams on 21:55 Petra did the impossible... she selected the 40-odd best pictures of her Cambodia trip, out of a 400+ collection of pictures of Cambodia... :respect:
	Slashdot \| RFID More Hackable Than Retailers Think? #Posted by Dreams on 16:46 All the RFID tags that stores and companies are starting to use to track and protect their assets can be easily hacked by consumers, or so Slashdot reports. "Lukas Grunwald, a senior consultant with DN-Systems Enterprise Solutions GmbH, is warning retailers that the RFID technology that they are quickly adopting can easily be hacked with the appropriate tools. Grunwald has written a program called RFDump which lets you read and display all metadata within an RFID tag and also modify the user data using a text or hex editor."
	Wired News: Stepping on Big Brother's Toes #Posted by Dreams on 16:05 Wired News has story about a privacy competition. A company called Privacy International tries to find the company who puts us the closest to George Orwell's 1984. :) "The awards are an annual attempt to publicly name and shame the government and private-sector organizations that have done the most to invade personal privacy in Britain." However, this year, there were so many bad companies from outside the UK, that the competition has been opened up. LOL
	Gotfrag: CPL Championship Post Match #Posted by Dreams on 15:54 Gotfrag has a coool story about the recent CounterStrike Championships, where Sweden was in the finals against... Sweden, much to the dismay of the US gamers. ;) I'm gonna try to find some demos or AVIs... cross your fingers!
	Sunday, August 1 Surprise Dinner in Scallywags for friends with Richard #Posted by Dreams on 23:57 Today, I was a bit stressy all day... When I was at Winery de Fontaine, tasting wines with Richard on July 4th, he suggested that we should cook a surprise dinner for Petra, once she was back from Cambodia. I thought it was a great idea, so I set out preparing things. I invited some friends, visited Scallywags several times to discuss details and the menu with Richard, and so on... :) Finally, today, I could make it happen. My only problem was getting Petra there with a reasonable excuse. I just happened to suggest we go there and have a quiet dinner for two because I had missed her while she was on vacation. That was good, but unfortunately, her best friend Houkje was also coming that weekend. That added another variable because I didn't know at what time she'd leave for home and if it wouldn't mess up my little plan... :) I could have clued her in, but that was a risk. In the end, however, we went to the beach and the weather turned chilly sooner rather than later. So I said we could pack up and go to town, grab a terras somewhere and head over for Scallywags for dinner... She tought it was a bit strange, but it was enough to get her there and surprise her! :) Petra made some pictures of Richard and I cooking "together". Most of our good friends were there too (Bas, Maaike, Astrid, Robin, Anto, Jeroen and Sjoerd) and with Saskia cancelling due to family reasons, I took Houkje along and simply filled the vacancy! Next time, Richard promised to let me do more cooking instead of just stirring and mixing. LOL