For the last ten days a bunch of consultant/audit gnomes has been sitting on our floor. They're locked up in a big conference room and it seems that they even sleep here. It's crazy. Even if you get here at 0745 and leave after 0800, they're here. They're always here. Luckily I saw that meeting room empty the first week I was here, so I know that they're not always here, but it's impressive. The smell coming out of that room fits no description: it's the stench of gnomes being pushed on harder and harder by their seniors ("partners").... Whoew, they're hunched over their portable computers, running around like madman and racing eachother to the fax, copy and printing machines, because they all want to make good impressions, they wanna "score". All they do all day long, is type numbers into spreadsheats/spreadCHEATS, who do some calculations and math on that input. The gnomes then analyze the results, and interpret them with majestic appreciation: oh they made more than 25% more profits this quarter: IMPOSSIBLE... So they go over the numbers once more, typing like madman, and then they change some parameters in their godlike equations; until... the story fits, the results are within acceptable ranges, and everybody's happy. At the end: you've got a trade of service: the company now has an officially signed certificate by a so called independant auditor that everything was done "by the book", the consulting/Auditing firms strikes the bull's eye ammassing FEES and FAME for providing the EXCUSE, the poor consulting gnomes hit a big bonus at the end of the year. But nothin really happened... Nothing was produced really,... Well, yeah, a lot of paper was consumed, print cartridges and computer time, not counting man hours, electricity, coke and cigarettes. All that resulting in a defiant declaration that everything is A O.K. And you can be damn well sure that the taxman doesn't have the resources to go over all these magical calculations, let alone the judicial system.
Funny how the world goes around...
Come to think of it... What did I produce today? Or what did I consume?
Troubling question for a neophyte worker - bee...
2002-01-31
Sometimes I get the feeling that my leg talks to me: it's just my imagination of course, but it's a strange vibration that travel through my body saying: stop working for a second, yo've been at it long enough. But it's tremendous,
today I went to visit the CIA WORLD FACTBOOK, an interesting resource of information. Once you start reading it you can't help but smile for the tone, music and style of the frases in that factbook. You read stuff as "major narco-traffic problems and substance abuse". It's funny. As for the capacity of the US Army: they have no idea, why would that be? Not offering too much information, are we?
Just to acknowledge that most information we digest every single minute is probably FALSE and full of BIAS/ biaisé...
Control the information, and you control society
today I went to visit the CIA WORLD FACTBOOK, an interesting resource of information. Once you start reading it you can't help but smile for the tone, music and style of the frases in that factbook. You read stuff as "major narco-traffic problems and substance abuse". It's funny. As for the capacity of the US Army: they have no idea, why would that be? Not offering too much information, are we?
Just to acknowledge that most information we digest every single minute is probably FALSE and full of BIAS/ biaisé...
Control the information, and you control society
2002-01-24
Hello and Welcome to Wonderland
now and again we stumble across a fantastic book:
Marc LEVY: "Et si c'était vrai..."
Une maman qui meurt, c'est une bibliothèque qui brûle
L'amour a un goût merveilleux:
souvens-toi qu'il faut donner pour recevoir
souviens-toi qu'il faut être soi-même pour pouvoir aimer
Nous sommes parfois impuissants face à nos désirs, ànos envies ou à nos impulsions et cela provoque souvent un tourment insoutenable. Ce sentiment t'accompagnera toute ta vie: parfois tu l'oublieras, parfois ce sera comme un obsession. Une partie de l'art de vivre dépend de notre capacité à combattre notre impuissance...
N'oublie jamais que le don de la vie... c'est l'émerveillement, le réveil au merveilleux...
now and again we stumble across a fantastic book:
Marc LEVY: "Et si c'était vrai..."
Une maman qui meurt, c'est une bibliothèque qui brûle
L'amour a un goût merveilleux:
souvens-toi qu'il faut donner pour recevoir
souviens-toi qu'il faut être soi-même pour pouvoir aimer
Nous sommes parfois impuissants face à nos désirs, ànos envies ou à nos impulsions et cela provoque souvent un tourment insoutenable. Ce sentiment t'accompagnera toute ta vie: parfois tu l'oublieras, parfois ce sera comme un obsession. Une partie de l'art de vivre dépend de notre capacité à combattre notre impuissance...
N'oublie jamais que le don de la vie... c'est l'émerveillement, le réveil au merveilleux...
2002-01-23
metropolitan vision::
excerpt from an email to one of my consiglieris
when i got off the metro station in the 16ième:
you know the drill, fantastic urban environment, beautiful houses and long
boulevards with shady trees, fantastic architecture and that typical bourgeois
french art de vivre
Me, i was enjoying the moment, you know, walking out of the bowels of the
hectic city and finding myself in this very topnotch exclusive surroundings,
ready to go to my friends' beautiful appartment where i was going to take a
refreshing shower (with a view on the eiffel tower: i "moon" the tower every
single day ;-)) and maybe afterwards go for a little tour on rollers...
but then it came to me: we cannot afford to waste soo much time not enjoying
life; it just hit me smack in the face; and a smile came to me...
but then i looked around, and saw nothing but tired parisiens, with a weary
look and a grim expression, sad eyes and hunched shoulders...
so much for my vision, right,
but inside i'm still glowing
and metro visions are still coming
excerpt from an email to one of my consiglieris
when i got off the metro station in the 16ième:
you know the drill, fantastic urban environment, beautiful houses and long
boulevards with shady trees, fantastic architecture and that typical bourgeois
french art de vivre
Me, i was enjoying the moment, you know, walking out of the bowels of the
hectic city and finding myself in this very topnotch exclusive surroundings,
ready to go to my friends' beautiful appartment where i was going to take a
refreshing shower (with a view on the eiffel tower: i "moon" the tower every
single day ;-)) and maybe afterwards go for a little tour on rollers...
but then it came to me: we cannot afford to waste soo much time not enjoying
life; it just hit me smack in the face; and a smile came to me...
but then i looked around, and saw nothing but tired parisiens, with a weary
look and a grim expression, sad eyes and hunched shoulders...
so much for my vision, right,
but inside i'm still glowing
and metro visions are still coming
2002-01-22
"The sustainable world will be a world of social and technological innovations, experimentation, high transparancy, and a fully interconnected community, a world in which agreements are reached through mediation, and with respect for civil rights. In this world, NGOs, governements, concerned consumers and businesses would act as partners. Thanks to dialogue and mutual respect, contiuous environmental and social values will be incorporated into market mechanisms..."
---
"We are at an essential moment in human history, for the first time, we are widely aware that our day-to-day decisions have the power to destroy our own habitat, the Earth..."
- 2 quotes from M. Gorbachev: President of Green Cross International
This made me think of the scene in the Matrix, where this sentient computer programme is explaining to T.Anderson what the world became...
Scary right... If you think about it, everything around us can in one way or another be related to the Matrix...
Or to David Lynch.
Saw Blue Velvet last night, and was shocked to see the same images as in Lost Highway... That haunting dark road, with the yellow lines snaking over it, whoah...
So Mulholland Drive is next...
More information:
daily per capita use of water
North America 350liters
Europe 200liters
Sub Sahara 0 - 20 liters
Metro Advertisement: Une force mystérieuse me pousse vers un but que j'ignore...
And you see this peregrine falcon flying over the mountains, it makes you wonder
¤ wacondah enterprises: we endeavor where no consortium of competitors has ever boldly gone before ¤
mais en tout cas;
"les horodateurs du quartier sont tous pêtés (sic)..."
Some days, you just discover too many mysterious messages
over & a domani
---
"We are at an essential moment in human history, for the first time, we are widely aware that our day-to-day decisions have the power to destroy our own habitat, the Earth..."
- 2 quotes from M. Gorbachev: President of Green Cross International
This made me think of the scene in the Matrix, where this sentient computer programme is explaining to T.Anderson what the world became...
Scary right... If you think about it, everything around us can in one way or another be related to the Matrix...
Or to David Lynch.
Saw Blue Velvet last night, and was shocked to see the same images as in Lost Highway... That haunting dark road, with the yellow lines snaking over it, whoah...
So Mulholland Drive is next...
More information:
daily per capita use of water
North America 350liters
Europe 200liters
Sub Sahara 0 - 20 liters
Metro Advertisement: Une force mystérieuse me pousse vers un but que j'ignore...
And you see this peregrine falcon flying over the mountains, it makes you wonder
¤ wacondah enterprises: we endeavor where no consortium of competitors has ever boldly gone before ¤
mais en tout cas;
"les horodateurs du quartier sont tous pêtés (sic)..."
Some days, you just discover too many mysterious messages
over & a domani
2002-01-21
Oh, just another little thing or 3 about the view the French have of the Belgians:
- the only thing we EVER eat is steak + fries + MAYO + BEER (lots of it); so I try to get them to stick to the image, because everybody knows that Belgian Cuisine is actually a lot better than the French would dare to admit.
- they love our beer, in fact every bar serves LEFFE around here, and STELLA is on TAP in half-liters
- Brussels is the Capital of Europe..., yeah right, but since it's now officially the BANLIEUE of PARIS (by THALYS), the French are happy.
- the same goes for LONDON: it is the financial capital of Europe, but by EUROSTAR it also became one of the BANLIEU'xsss.... so the french are happy
- so in fact PARIS is nothing else than a museum with a lot of banlieu's attached to it by some sort of railway...
- but on the other hand, when the french have a problem with a ring of child molesters in the Pas de Calais region: they IMMEDIATELY call it a FRANCO - BELGIAN network...
The French never STEAL public monney, they just find it in big suitcases sitting in their offices,
And The Belgians are absolute Robbers, and the Palermo of the NORTH is CHARLEROI, just like Bruges is the sinking Venice of the swamp (or something like that)
Belgians are RICH, because they can afford themselves twice the French number of Cabinet ministers/1000 inhabitants,
so the French are actively preparing to run over the country....
Belgium IS a French department; people even speak French there, and there is cultural protection for the other languages (just like for the Langue d'Oil, the Bretons,...), the code napoleon is the juridic basis of the belgian's department's law system, and they had FRANCS, and now EUROS.
And even old Jules César (who by the by était français) called the Belgians the fiercest tribe of all GAULES (the present day Renchman), like in Charles de Gaulle...
etcetera ad infinitum
- the only thing we EVER eat is steak + fries + MAYO + BEER (lots of it); so I try to get them to stick to the image, because everybody knows that Belgian Cuisine is actually a lot better than the French would dare to admit.
- they love our beer, in fact every bar serves LEFFE around here, and STELLA is on TAP in half-liters
- Brussels is the Capital of Europe..., yeah right, but since it's now officially the BANLIEUE of PARIS (by THALYS), the French are happy.
- the same goes for LONDON: it is the financial capital of Europe, but by EUROSTAR it also became one of the BANLIEU'xsss.... so the french are happy
- so in fact PARIS is nothing else than a museum with a lot of banlieu's attached to it by some sort of railway...
- but on the other hand, when the french have a problem with a ring of child molesters in the Pas de Calais region: they IMMEDIATELY call it a FRANCO - BELGIAN network...
The French never STEAL public monney, they just find it in big suitcases sitting in their offices,
And The Belgians are absolute Robbers, and the Palermo of the NORTH is CHARLEROI, just like Bruges is the sinking Venice of the swamp (or something like that)
Belgians are RICH, because they can afford themselves twice the French number of Cabinet ministers/1000 inhabitants,
so the French are actively preparing to run over the country....
Belgium IS a French department; people even speak French there, and there is cultural protection for the other languages (just like for the Langue d'Oil, the Bretons,...), the code napoleon is the juridic basis of the belgian's department's law system, and they had FRANCS, and now EUROS.
And even old Jules César (who by the by était français) called the Belgians the fiercest tribe of all GAULES (the present day Renchman), like in Charles de Gaulle...
etcetera ad infinitum
You're on the Thalys from BXL to Paris,
tired, but longing to get there,
you try to scan the airwaves for radio signals.
This is an exciting experience, since you're moving along at say >240km/h or even more?
You get a station, and just when you start to make out who's singing, it fades away.
Calling all stations, What's the frequency?
So, estoy en la tercera semana, 3rd week has begun.
took some digital snapshots (uploads next weekend), and brought my rollerblades to the city.
So hopefully i'll survive my workout on the streets tonight and get back to you tomorrow.
to all those working out there: KEEP ON WALKING during your lunch breaks...
Much healthier than running tredmills, etcetera. Less strain on za bones.
(the article was in TIME last week, so it must be correct...)
And also, another obsession of mine: fight those free radicals with anti-oxydizers...
by eating fruits and vegetables...
that's it for the advice today.
Was in a cab last night, after standing in line for about 30 minutes, and luckily the driver didn't mean to strike me down immediately with his insights, wit and conversation skills. We drove along in silence through rainy streets and empty avenues. Even in Rain, Paris looks like a Goddess.... in the doorway.
So long fellas, this cowboy has got some more horses to tame today,
light a big white man's fire, and get some coffee into his zoned-out system
Mañana màs
P.S. Some dude tried to show off his intelligence yesterday: it was real funny: he asked me to solve a very difficult riddle:
The rich want it,
Th poor have it,
If you eat it you'll die
What is it?
---
And I snapped, sharp, on the edge, where I gotta be: "NOTHING"
The dude looked at me, staring at me as if i where some supernatural cowboy, instead of the stupid belgian he mistook me for; and kept on begging for an explanation...
He'd just spent the last week figuring that one out all by himself.
Now,
my faithfull visitors: THIS is way you have to come back to visit, because WACONDAH.com posted this riddle about 6 months ago...
Talking about coincidences right! So I'm sort of acquiring a reputation around here,and not the typical one of a Flamand Rose, stupid Belgian dentist, or Das Diktat from Brüssel, or even worse.
So we'll continue to do research for this site, and post you our little discoveries and adventures into the familiar and the unknown,
after all, you may yet learn something, or simply smile, and think about the last time you felt great.
tired, but longing to get there,
you try to scan the airwaves for radio signals.
This is an exciting experience, since you're moving along at say >240km/h or even more?
You get a station, and just when you start to make out who's singing, it fades away.
Calling all stations, What's the frequency?
So, estoy en la tercera semana, 3rd week has begun.
took some digital snapshots (uploads next weekend), and brought my rollerblades to the city.
So hopefully i'll survive my workout on the streets tonight and get back to you tomorrow.
to all those working out there: KEEP ON WALKING during your lunch breaks...
Much healthier than running tredmills, etcetera. Less strain on za bones.
(the article was in TIME last week, so it must be correct...)
And also, another obsession of mine: fight those free radicals with anti-oxydizers...
by eating fruits and vegetables...
that's it for the advice today.
Was in a cab last night, after standing in line for about 30 minutes, and luckily the driver didn't mean to strike me down immediately with his insights, wit and conversation skills. We drove along in silence through rainy streets and empty avenues. Even in Rain, Paris looks like a Goddess.... in the doorway.
So long fellas, this cowboy has got some more horses to tame today,
light a big white man's fire, and get some coffee into his zoned-out system
Mañana màs
P.S. Some dude tried to show off his intelligence yesterday: it was real funny: he asked me to solve a very difficult riddle:
The rich want it,
Th poor have it,
If you eat it you'll die
What is it?
---
And I snapped, sharp, on the edge, where I gotta be: "NOTHING"
The dude looked at me, staring at me as if i where some supernatural cowboy, instead of the stupid belgian he mistook me for; and kept on begging for an explanation...
He'd just spent the last week figuring that one out all by himself.
Now,
my faithfull visitors: THIS is way you have to come back to visit, because WACONDAH.com posted this riddle about 6 months ago...
Talking about coincidences right! So I'm sort of acquiring a reputation around here,and not the typical one of a Flamand Rose, stupid Belgian dentist, or Das Diktat from Brüssel, or even worse.
So we'll continue to do research for this site, and post you our little discoveries and adventures into the familiar and the unknown,
after all, you may yet learn something, or simply smile, and think about the last time you felt great.
2002-01-20
Repost from the R-active forum
there seems to be a problem with the posting of comments...
We'll check on it one of these days
mail for inquiries
----here commences the post ----
tunnel vision / GrenzGänger
From: wacondah.com
Date: 08 Jan 2002
Time: 04:05:32
Remote Name: 195.238.2.211
Comments
Driving thru tunnels is a strange experience, claustrophobia and excitement seem to battle in your mind for control.
Tunnel vision sometimes hits you when focusing very hard on a particular matter, you seem oblivious to everything that surrounds you. This is truely fascinating. Man's ability to concentrate, to use the powers of our brains, - productively or not - is one of our greatest assets.
Anyways: a good read for everybody: Conversations with Reinhold Messner...
This alpinist talks about what gets him up and off the mountains, incredible stories and deep insights. A Must -read...
He calls himself a GRENZGänger/ one who walks the razor's edge between life and death, the familiar and the unknown.
---------
P.S. --- just saw an ad today for Pay & Go: "monogamie loont" since so many people use 2 mobile phones nowadays to communicate with their extramarital relations... they announce a campaign for monogamy. ???
there seems to be a problem with the posting of comments...
We'll check on it one of these days
mail for inquiries
----here commences the post ----
tunnel vision / GrenzGänger
From: wacondah.com
Date: 08 Jan 2002
Time: 04:05:32
Remote Name: 195.238.2.211
Comments
Driving thru tunnels is a strange experience, claustrophobia and excitement seem to battle in your mind for control.
Tunnel vision sometimes hits you when focusing very hard on a particular matter, you seem oblivious to everything that surrounds you. This is truely fascinating. Man's ability to concentrate, to use the powers of our brains, - productively or not - is one of our greatest assets.
Anyways: a good read for everybody: Conversations with Reinhold Messner...
This alpinist talks about what gets him up and off the mountains, incredible stories and deep insights. A Must -read...
He calls himself a GRENZGänger/ one who walks the razor's edge between life and death, the familiar and the unknown.
---------
P.S. --- just saw an ad today for Pay & Go: "monogamie loont" since so many people use 2 mobile phones nowadays to communicate with their extramarital relations... they announce a campaign for monogamy. ???
2002-01-15
Going for a walk on your lunchbreak is an absolute privilege and necessity:
stretching those legs and sore muscles becomes a ritual of relaxation.
Today I passed by the Ritz on Place Vendôme and couldn't help but spare a thought for Lady Di and Mister Do.
They had everything, and surely also some good taste. Not like most of the Japanese tourists swamping that beautiful area, hunched like the guy from notre-dame, under the weight of PRICELESS Lacoste T-shirts and Chanel scents.
The French even have Japanese announcements running when your metro-car passes underneath the major shopping districts.
So, keeping a watchful eye on the do's and don'ts.
Heard a sad joke, in the context of major international conspiracies. If you care to believe, read on:
yeah, well they sure as hell took our 2 towers, but we (?not sure who they mean here) at least took Diana...
Bad taste, ruthless lying, history will tell us all, 50 years down the road.
As a matter of fact, most of the people we encountered here still think that the tunnel-accident was a set-up, a hit, ...
but when you ask for more details, you get zilch.
Another joke I heard came from a CEO, adressing his board and co-workers...
With a lot of wit, he admitted that his INTENT for this new year was ... to work less...
That guy has it coming now, I figure, so watch out for more details... only on wacondah.com
Our intent is to keep you in the getting informed & entertained by us business...
stretching those legs and sore muscles becomes a ritual of relaxation.
Today I passed by the Ritz on Place Vendôme and couldn't help but spare a thought for Lady Di and Mister Do.
They had everything, and surely also some good taste. Not like most of the Japanese tourists swamping that beautiful area, hunched like the guy from notre-dame, under the weight of PRICELESS Lacoste T-shirts and Chanel scents.
The French even have Japanese announcements running when your metro-car passes underneath the major shopping districts.
So, keeping a watchful eye on the do's and don'ts.
Heard a sad joke, in the context of major international conspiracies. If you care to believe, read on:
yeah, well they sure as hell took our 2 towers, but we (?not sure who they mean here) at least took Diana...
Bad taste, ruthless lying, history will tell us all, 50 years down the road.
As a matter of fact, most of the people we encountered here still think that the tunnel-accident was a set-up, a hit, ...
but when you ask for more details, you get zilch.
Another joke I heard came from a CEO, adressing his board and co-workers...
With a lot of wit, he admitted that his INTENT for this new year was ... to work less...
That guy has it coming now, I figure, so watch out for more details... only on wacondah.com
Our intent is to keep you in the getting informed & entertained by us business...
Welcome to 2002...
Was at a meeting yesterday; corporate new years wishes and major announcement.
funny to "blend in", be a number, a "suit" (and wear one); metro boulot dodo. 'Cause that's the way it goes.
But great fun to go to some "substantial work" in the morning, although admitting that concentration is flawed after lunch break.
Paris is still very much a city under siege, armed CRS (Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité) and DST man (Directorat de la Securité du Territoire)
cruising around everywhere. Some guys at the entrance of bars, shops and cinemas give you the stiff eye if you dare to walk in with anything bigger than a woman's purse.
Mais tout baigne, tout va bien, l'économie tourne, les soldissimes au galéries Lafayette ont un succès de fou.
Amusant de voir des foules de consu- man & femmes se jeter sur des bacs de vêtements. Comme si on était au temps des Homo Neanderthaliensis... et que les gens avaient à se battre pour accéder à l'eau potable.
Ce dont - figurez - vous, je me charge maintenant...
Was at a meeting yesterday; corporate new years wishes and major announcement.
funny to "blend in", be a number, a "suit" (and wear one); metro boulot dodo. 'Cause that's the way it goes.
But great fun to go to some "substantial work" in the morning, although admitting that concentration is flawed after lunch break.
Paris is still very much a city under siege, armed CRS (Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité) and DST man (Directorat de la Securité du Territoire)
cruising around everywhere. Some guys at the entrance of bars, shops and cinemas give you the stiff eye if you dare to walk in with anything bigger than a woman's purse.
Mais tout baigne, tout va bien, l'économie tourne, les soldissimes au galéries Lafayette ont un succès de fou.
Amusant de voir des foules de consu- man & femmes se jeter sur des bacs de vêtements. Comme si on était au temps des Homo Neanderthaliensis... et que les gens avaient à se battre pour accéder à l'eau potable.
Ce dont - figurez - vous, je me charge maintenant...
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