17-6-2010 to 17-11-2011

It all started on June 17th, at the start of the summer of 2010. Was it a nice summer? I don't remember. We always seem to think our summers were worse than they actually were. Then it continued all through four seasons, up to the next summer. Now that one definitely was a bad summer. Which we spend in Greece. A country in trouble but not so much in trouble that our mixed Belgian-Greek friends living in a small, charming village called Lafkos, would be considering rushing back to Belgium 2 months later. It still continues till today, November 17th. 17th. 17. 17 months of unending political negotiations. Europe's on fire and we are now fighting over taxes on company cars and first class airline tickets. If these are the luxuries we fight over, we do not yet know the meaning of the word crisis. And those that fight taxes on company cars are the same people who claim that the unemployed are the Great Mass of Parasites and the only way to kick them back to work is by cutting their unemployment benefits in time. But don't we need jobs for the unemployed first, if we want to do that? And if we tell everyone we will have to work longer (which we should, provided we are able to physically) or that the existing pre-pension systems used to help companies restructure, will be dispensed with (because, yes, 54 is too young to retire), are we not pushing a lot of people out of unemployment and into social welfare and real poverty? And then I consider myself: imagine losing my more-than-averagely-paid job. Too old to find something else, no pre-pension arrangement possible and after 2 years a lose my maximum unemployment benefit which will be less than 30% of what I earned before. I will have worked all my life, with a great carreer, and I will end in poverty after selling my appartment and eating up any savings I will have left. Too bleak a picture? So let's not negotiate company car taxes. Let's try and focus on what's really important?

#OA is a long way off from #OWS

Last Saturday, Antwerp had its own Occupy Antwerp event. For those of you who don't know Antwerp or have never been there: walk around in the center of town on any given Saturday and you get claustrophobic (at least I do) from the masses of shoppers occupying the streets. I had to do some shopping myself this weekend, I only go to the center of town if I really-really-really have to. And when I do I try to do my shopping in a record time, avoiding and evading the crowds. In the afternoon Occupy Antwerp gathered some 500 people. The contrast between the thousands of shoppers and the hundreds of Occupyers was embarrassing. We are living in a country where 'economic crisis' seems very far away, with politicians claiming 'everything is under control' and 'nothing as bad as Greece of Portugal could ever happen here'. So let's all go spend money buying stuff we don't need instead of thinking about what is happening in the world out there. We should be indignado about thàt.

"The Center", a real ghost town

Imagine building a real city where no-one will ever live, because you want a playground to test out new ideas and new technologies. It's exactly what Pegasus is planning in New Mexico, according to the website of Fastcompany. It's going to be a real, 20 square mile, city for 350.000 virtual inhabitants and we are talking a (mere) 200 million $ budget. Building is supposed to commence in 2014, if and when the project continues, which is not at all sure today. This would certainly mean taking the definition of 'playground' to a new level.

Ooooh!

Lego Angry Birds: sooo cute :-)
Copyright Chris Pirillo on Google +, picked up by @seroundtable