Into the Wild

Chris McCandles / Alexander Supertramp's sad sad stories is being released as a movie: "an aesthetic voyager whose home is the road". After Jon Krakauer landmark rendering of this travels, Sean Penn tackles the story of this ambitious and naive young traveler, who set out on the road to pursue his dream to live "off the land". A 21st century of dream-chasing, friendship and unparalleled beauty: looking forward to see whether screens can capture more than words!

Buy the book before you check the movie!

World's Weirdest/Stupidest Conspiracy Theories

JFK was killed by his driver!

Hitler and some associates escaped to the Arctic in a submarine, to live with super-advanced aliens who reside within the hollow earth. (This story originated with Edward Bulwer-Lytton's novel The Coming Race, was treated as fact by the pre-Nazi Vril Society, was bolstered by the forged "secret diary" of Admiral Byrd, and was adopted by the likes of Ernst Zundel)

Back to the Future: (kite) Sailing Ships

Several companies around the world are experimenting with wind-assisted ships, which would reduce fuel consumption at a time where fuel can represent up to 60 percent of the running costs of operating a ship. But another goal is to reduce pollution: the toxic emission volume of the world trade fleet is roughly equivalent to the U.S. one today. In "The new age of sail," New Scientist describes a ship that will be partially pulled by a high-tech kite flying at an altitude of up to 500 meters where winds are more stable than at sea level. The German designers, who tested a prototype last year, estimate that such a hybrid sailing ship would see a 50 percent reduction of its fuel consumption. Danish and Japanese companies are also designing wind-assisted ships.

Codex Gigas - The Devil's Bible

Codex Gigas - Kungl. biblioteket: "Codex Gigas The Codex Gigas or the Devil’s Bible is a medieval manuscript at the National Library in Stockholm that is famous for two features. First, it is reputed to be the biggest surviving European manuscript. (Codex Gigas means ‘giant book’.) Secondly, it contains a large, full page portrait of the Devil. (This explains its alternative name.) This site contains a digitised version of every page of the manuscript as well as commentaries on its history, texts, script, initials and decoration. The manuscript was made in Bohemia (now part of the modern Czech Republic) between about 1200 and 1230. It is remarkable that virtually all of the manuscript, script, initials and decoration, appears to have been the work of one person who probably worked in a Benedictine monastery."

Belgian Fries - soon available in an automatic dispenser near you

Wacondah's blog was lacking something: an entry on "Belgian Fries" - probably the only product that Belgians nowadays agree to be proud off...

Belgium is "famous" for its fries. The Federal Government has an official FRITES website! No wonder that in times of constitutional crisis and ever-lasting government-formation negotiations, the surrealists of the world come up with a new wonder of technology: an automated Belgian Fries dispenser...

Even the "Fritkoten" are interested because it would enable them to serve fries 24/7.


Below is the wikipedia entry on FRIES: I call upon all Belgian Fries-friends to start editing this entry...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_fried_potatoes#Belgium
The Belgians claim that "French" fries are in fact Belgian, but definitive evidence for the origin has not been presented. Belgian historian Jo Gerard recounts that potatoes were already fried in 1680 in the Spanish Netherlands, in the area of "the Meuse valley between Dinant and Liège, Belgium. The poor inhabitants of this region allegedly had the custom of accompanying their meals with small fried fish, but when the river was frozen and they were unable to fish, they cut potatoes lengthwise and fried them in oil to accompany their meals."[8][9][10]

The Dutch concur with a Southern Netherlandish or Belgian origin when referring to Vlaamse frieten ('Flemish fries'). In 1857, the newspaper Courrier de Verviers devotes an article to Fritz (assumed pun with 'frites'), a Belgian entrepreneur selling French fries at fairs, calling them "le roi des pommes de terre frites". In 1862, a stall selling French fried potatoes (frietkot, see below) called "Max en Fritz" was established near Het Steen in Antwerp.[11][9]

A Belgian legend claims that the term "French" was introduced when British or American soldiers arrived in Belgium during World War I, and consequently tasted Belgian fries. They supposedly called them "French", as it was the official language of the Belgian Army at that time.[9] But the term "French fried potatoes" had been in use long before the Great War.

Whether or not Belgians invented them, "frites" "quickly became the national snack and a substantial part of both national dishes — making the Belgians their largest consumers,[citation needed] and to Europe, their "symbolic" creators.

Every Flemish Citizen pays 2.5€ / day to Wallonia

Bron: De Standaard

Een studie van de Facultés universitaires Notre-Dame de la Paix in Namen geeft aan dat in 2005 5,6 miljard euro van Vlaanderen naar Wallonië zou zijn gevloeid. Dat komt neer op 2,50 euro per dag per Vlaming, zo staat donderdag te lezen in de kranten van de groep Sud Presse.

Volgens de studie van Olivier Meunier, Michel Mignolet en Marie-Eve Leurquin betaalt elke Vlaming 929 euro per jaar aan de Walen. De krant voegt er aan toe dat Vlaanderen in 1949 een werkloosheidscijfer had van 19,5 procent, tegenover 5,2 procent in Wallonië.

De Naamse professor Robert Deschammps vindt niettemin dat we niet naar het verleden mogen kijken. Hij preciseert dat, mocht Vlaanderen zijn onafhankelijkheid uitroepen, 'de drie gewesten hun economisch welzijn zouden zien dalen'. sdg

imagini - visual DNA for the masses

imagini

A very simple 10 questions test to develop your own visual DNA: Wacondah is a "go-getter"!

;-)

SMILEY:25 YEARS OLD AND NEVER LOOKED HAPPIER!

Bulletin Boards? Sound familiar? Then you were part of the 80ies revolution! Long live dial-up frustrations...

911-debunking the conspiracies (BBC)

Watch this BBC show which gives a fairly balanced reality check of some of the wildest goose chases in the world: the 911 conspiracy theories:

Particularly of note was a key feature that had not tripped THE wire back in the early 2000s: 6 months before the 911 attacks, the USA was taken by storm by an X-Files spin-off called the "Lone Gunman".
The BBC set out to check with one of the key X-file & Lone Gunman screenwriters and had a nice chat on the need for people to be believe in conspiracies:

- when we are faced with such dramatic developments as the attacks of 911, our minds simply cannot accept the simplest explanation that this was just a bunch of lunatics that had just killed 3000 people, and had been training and planning for years under control of a madman in a cave in Afghanistan.
- if you debunk a conspiracy, you take people's security blankets away: they have been failed by their government in charge of their protection. Yet, however, they were not conspired against...
- from the documentary it is clear that their has been a cover-up after 911, not before...
- all "Loose Ends", such as the myths around the so-called 4000 Jews not showing up to work, or the missing plane at the Pentagon are adressed from both sides

Belgium: Crackdown on Religion

Heard this morning on the radio:

"Belgian Federal Prosecutor to initiate legal action against the Belgian chapter of the Scientology Church (pronounced a "sect" by the Parliament) and the European Headquarters (based in Brussels) and its 14 board members. A world première for a legal system taking action against an organisation that in some countries is a recognized religion..."

"Belgian Federal Prosecutor has sealed the offices of the Moslim Executive in Brussels, accused of trafficking, money laundering, falsification of bills and general misadministration." The former Secretary-General was already emprisoned in the past. The Moslim Executive is the official body recognized by the Government for representing Muslims in Belgium towards the administration (//just like Belgium recognises the Catholic, Orthodox and Jewish, ... and maybe some other religions as well) and is funded by tax-money at work, just as the taxpayers fund the other religions.

This reminds us of course of the intention of the Belgians, a couple of years back to go after any US General ever setting foot on our soil (especially when they need to visit any of the 2 NATO HQ's located in the country) or developing world-class international legislation that would have turned our lower courts into serious competitors of the International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague...

Could this be some spin to drive attention away from the Belgian Institutional Crisis? For more info on conspiracies, check out the BBC

For all tie-suckers out there: the WINDSOR

Rain: the sweetest entry full of British humour (h2g2/BBC)

This will kickstart your rainy day! Rain does not affect you while traveling in a submarine - honestly!

BBC - h2g2 - Rain: "If cows are seen to be lying down, rain is imminent (this, supposedly, is because when it rains the ground gets wet. So cows, like any other sensible creature, don't like to lie down in the wet. Hence, they lie down before it rains)."