During my four day excusrion to Belgium (acting as a kind of Passepartout, shall we say) we visited the battlefield site of Waterloo, where in 1815 Napoléon finally got the message that he wouldn't be able to beat Wellington and his allies.

The battlefield now has a small hamlet known as le Hameau du Lion. It has a handful of visitor attractions clustered around the base of a 43 metre tall earthen mound constructed in the years after the battle as a monument to (amongst others) William II of the Netherlands, who was shot from his horse by a musket ball. For a few euros you can watch a film, see a painted panorama of the battle and climb the 226 steps to the top of the mound, from where you have a 360º panorama of the Waterloo region.

Dedicated battlefield tourists - and we met some, including two gentlemen from Atlanta in the U.S.A, who had already ticked off the First and Second World War battlefields of France during this one vacation - can also enjoy a tour of the battlefield in the back of an open sided truck. It gave me great pleasure to see that on this battlefield, perhaps the greatest British military victory of all time, these old tour trucks are venerable British-built Bedford TK's. These tough old workhorses were a common sight of the British roads of my childhood - memorable because of their simple but elegantly formed bodywork, including the trademark "monobrow" over the headlights and grille.

Bedford Vehicles wound up operations when General Motors pulled the plug in the mid-eighties. This model and its successor were built for a few more years by a near-by firm called AWD, but the loss of important military contracts meant that they two wound up a few years later. Both firms were based in the east of England, not far from my home turf, and other than in the occasional military convoy are rare sights in the UK.

I spent a few days last week pootling around southern Belgium, escorting a certain VIP to various historic sights (and rather nice restaurants as well). We shot to Brussels in less than two hours by Eurostar, and then used a rental car to explore.

Belgian law obliges you to carry a warning triangle, reflective jacket, first aid kit and fire extinguisher in every vehicle. Perhaps a desperate legislative attempt to compensate for their consistently horrific driving? This is the extract that most interested me from my Lonely Planet guidebook to Belgium & Luxembourg.

'Aggressive' is the word generally used to describe Belgian drivers, and many foreigners who take to the roads here find it apt. Whether cruising on a sleek highway or bouncing over potholed inner-city streets, drivers have a reputation for being fast, impatient and at times abusive ... anyone idling at 120km/h in the fast lane of a motorway will be flashed from behind by speed demons doing 160km/h ... One peculiarity that ensures adrenaline-pumped journeys is the voorrang van rechts / priorité à droite (give way to the right) law, which operates in both Belgium and Luxembourg. Thanks to this rule, cars darting out from side streets sometimes have right of way over vehicles on the main road (but not always - signs with an orange diamond surrounded by white mean the main road has priority). Recent figures show that 250 people die each year due to this rule ... Statistically, Belgium has double the rate of road fatalities of most of its neighbouring countries (France is the exception) ... And if you think all this is a bit exaggerated, have a read of Pisa Test's recent study of 3000 European drives in which the Belgians came out as the worst drivers in Europe. Just 48% are capable of passing their driving test ...

Leanne Logan & Geert Cole, Lonely Planet: Belgium & Luxembourg (2007)

(photo: model of Le Plessis-Robinson, from wikipedia)

Yesterday I showed some examples of smart growth in Spain. Today, we'll have an overview of  what's happening all over europe, with the winners of the 2008 Philippe Rottier European Prize. Here they are:

Best Operation of Urban Renaissance in a suburban city - Plessis-Robinson, France
Best New City - Val d’Europe, Ile-de-France
Best Reconstruction of an Historic Center - Historisches Gesellschaft DresdenNeumarkt, Dresden, Germany
Best Reconstruction of a City Center - Palermo, Italy
Best New Village - Poundbury, Dorchester, UK
Best Public Intervention - Rathaus Viertel, Gladbeck, Germany
Best Neighbourhood Center - Borgo Città Nuova, Alessandria, Italy
Best European Urban Plaza - Plaza del Juncal, Irun, Spain
Best New Garden-City - Heulebrug, Knokke-Heist, Belgium
Best Urban District - Akroken Campus, Sundsval, Sweden

Details of all project can be found here.

(source: A vision of Europe, cool town studios)

A couple of weeks ago I was at Nieuwpoort for professional reasons. Around noon I managed to take this shot. Next to a fairly good composition it contains an certain amount of tension which makes I am quite satisfied with the result.

The current situation in Belgium is quite chaotic. In one hand is the struggle for more representation between the Dutch- Flemish speaking people and the French speaking Walloons and the question about finding an acceptable solution. I read in a newspaper that the king did not accept PM Leterme‘s resignation. The possibility of splitting Belgium after so many years of problems linked to influence, Brussels region, etc now seems very frightening. Even more, I think that time is passing by and things will get worse. Moreover, moving from one ultimatum to another does not bring any viable development. The king should have accepted his resignation. These problems are so rooted in the past that neither Leterme nor anyone else will be able to stop this critical situation.

Just try to imagine for a second Belgium splitting up. What will happen with Brussels? I remember some months ago I read about a poll conducted in France in which French people were asked if they will be willing to create the link with the Belgian French speaking part. The answer received was positive. I think economically it will be a suicide for the Walloon part.

I really hope I am wrong. This whole crisis is starting to get a tragicomedy feeling. Next week, on the 21 July Belgium will celebrate its national day – independence from the Netherlands in 1831. I am sure everyone will have a happy face and celebrate the festivities in front of the Royal Palace.

The saddest part that in this whole game between the government and the king I do not see where are the Belgian people- the voters. What happened to them?  Are they all gone in holiday? I won’t be surprised with this weather.

Daar, lap!  Maandagavond, Yves werpt de handdoek in de ring en laat het land in chaos en onbeschermd achter...   En nog geen paar uur later hebben die Amerikanen hun kans geroken.

Niemand hier die dit staaltje van schaamteloze laster maar heeft opgemerkt!  De schade is niet te meten!

"Belgium!  The only country that makes Luxemburg feel good about themselves!
As soon as I heard it I started drinking non-stop.  Before those Waffle-humpers change the formula!  ....
This is America's beer!  You cannot let a bunch of Belgians take it!!  I don't want to have to watch Superbowl ads [.. titled? ..] Hercule Poirot.
Besides we all know how Belgians bottle their beer!  That little boy statue pees in it!"

July 13, 2008

Russia is considering aiming nuclear weapons at Western Europe for the first time since the end of the cold war.

Defense sources in Moscow say among the schemes being discussed to counter US plans to station a missile defense shield in Europe is the possible deployment of ballistic missiles in Kaliningrad, a Russian enclave between the EU countries of Lithuania and Poland, The Times Online reported.

A Russian parliamentary committee visited the enclave 10 days ago to look into how a new generation of nuclear missiles could be based there, the report added.

If a deployment does take place, then it would greatly increase tensions in Europe between Moscow and Washington.

Only last week, the US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice signed an agreement in Prague to build a radar station in the Czech Republic.

A deal with Poland is in the works to host a base for 10 interceptor rockets on its border with Russia. The agreement is expected to be signed later this year.

Moscow is strongly opposed to the shield, saying that it is part of an aggressive US military expansion into its own backyard.

A source with close connections to the Russian defense ministry said, "One of the main steps under consideration is a redeployment of nuclear missiles to Kaliningrad and Belarus. These missiles would be pointed at Europe. It would be a perfectly legitimate step. If America wants to expand its military capabilities in Europe, then we have the right to act accordingly".

The source also went on to question the US claim that the shield was intended to intercept missiles only from the so-called rogue states. He said, "How would Washington feel if we placed interceptor missiles on Cuba or Venezuela?"

Experts said the threat of deploying missiles in Kaliningrad was largely aimed at strengthening the opposition to the shields in Poland and the Czech Republic. Experts went on to add that Russia would have to build new long-range ground-based ballistic missiles since it has destroyed most of its Soviet-era arsenal.

U.S. troops to hold exercises in Georgia, Ukraine

AFP
July 14, 2008


Georgian soldiers take part in war games with their US, Armenian, Azerbaijani and Ukrainean counterparts at the Vaziani training area on the outskirts of Tbilisi.

US troops on Monday began military exercises near the Russian border in ex-Soviet Ukraine and were poised to launch them in Georgia, amid tense relations between Moscow and Washington, officials said.

A ceremony inaugurating the Sea Breeze-2008 NATO exercise was held off Ukraine’s Black Sea coast, a Ukrainian defence ministry spokeswoman said, against anti-NATO protests and a hostile reaction from officials in Russia.

The NATO exercises "will increase political and military tensions in Europe as a whole," Sergei Mironov, speaker of the upper house of the Russian parliament, was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency in Moscow.

Sea Breeze-2008, which lasts until July 26, will also include forces from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Denmark, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Macedonia and Turkey, officials said.

Separate military exercises dubbed Immediate Response-2008 are due to start in Georgia on Tuesday with Armenian, Azerbaijani, Ukrainian and US troops taking part, a Georgian defence ministry spokeswoman said.

"The US-Georgia joint exercises will be held at the Vaziani military base" less than 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the Russian border with a total of 1,650 servicemen taking part, said the spokeswoman, Nana Intskirveli.

Russia to ‘neutralise’ US missile defence threat: report

AFP
July 14, 2008

Russia’s military is ready to “neutralise” any threat to its nuclear deterrent from US missile defence sites in Europe, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak said Monday, according to Interfax news agency.

Read Full Article Here

As a result of this a new module has been started to keep everything related to views and layers and such, and it will probably be called grokcore.browser (although it's currently called grokcore.view). Just as grokcore.component extracts the parts from grok that has to do with the component architechture, grokcore.[browser|view] has all the parts with Zope views. We hope to get this accepted into Grok itself, so that both Grok and five.grok ends up using it, because there is a lot of code, and a massive amount of tests to handle views, and it would be silly to have two implementations of everything.

As a result of this, five.grok now has both adapters and utilities and views, and is therefore right now starting to become useful. Some have today been sprinting on an example application of how to extend a Zope2 object with five.grok views. We hope this example application will show us what is missing and what the next parts to be added to five.grok is.

Right now I'm still living with the groaning after-effects of a day a the seaside.

From his neck, all the way down his chest, including his shoulders, and stopping in a dramatic red-white line at the bottom of his stomach, Boyfriend is a radioactive red. He has one splodge which is slightly less sunburnt than the rest since it's the only area I was allowed to put suncream, in the shape of a slightly deformed heart. Maybe I was a neglectful girlfriend (surely one advantage of having a girlfriend is that you have someone to rub suncream into your back, later avoiding those tan marks on your back that show exactly where you could reach with that arm-over-the-shoulder cream rubbing in action) but I promise that Boyfriend assured me he had the type of skin which could handle a northern Belgian sun. I thought it would be the hairs on his chest that would act as a natural sunscreen.

Luckily, our beach day in Oostende was fun. A friend on a "booze cruise" from London had driven over to stock his car with bottles of wines and spirits, for a home 'Dell Boy' style cocktail bar, at the huge supermarket in Calais and headed to Oostende just up the same coast. We played bat-and-ball, flew a kite, ate ice cream and swam in the freezing North Sea.

Boyfriend was even happier since he'd brought along his camera. We now have reels of pictures of seagulls side-on facing to the right, seagulls side-on slightly to the left facing right, seagull lifting a webbed foot, seagull airing a wing, seagull foraging for chips and a whole other collection of seagulls facing to the left.

It didn't take long for the beach happiness effect to wear off. Boyfriend started the week saying "I don't mind being sunburnt because I had such a good weekend." During the middle of the day he was showing his glowing chest to my female journalist friends and earning much sympathy which he adored. At the end of the day Boyfriend returned home armed with strong aftersun following a trip to the chemist - another opportunity to get his chest out. "Ooohhh" the chemist said recoiling from the heat blast as Boyfriend lifted his top, "c'est vraiment rouge ca."

Then the painful bit started. Painful for him, and a pain in the arse for me. In an attempt to help suffering Boyfriend, I offered to put aftersun on his back - after the torrent of AGHHGHs and ow, STOP-its I decided against doing it for a second time. But worse, were his flinches every time I came near him. Would I bump into his sensitive skin? Never! Boyfriend thinks that, although I don't mean to harm, I can go too far. Secretly, I know this is true but always deny it. This week, for a change, I've been good and kept my distance from his skin - but that hasn't stopped the wimpering.

OWWW - that's Boyfriend putting on a shirt.

EEEEEEK - Boyfriend getting into bed.

FOR FUCKS SAKE - Boyfriend in the shower.

Do I have to take the bins out? - Boyfriend claiming that sunburn exempts him from his bin duties.

But yesterday he made up for it all by cooking something good. It was a potato, vegetable, smoked-salmon dinner. I refrained from making any comparisons between his chest and the reddy-pink fish.

saia lagi pengen nulis yang ringanringan aja. [hey! am i ever wrote a "heavy" article? hehe]. jadi saia cuma mau cerita saja beberapa hal yang lagi sering saia lakukan dan juga hal yang saia pikirkan akhirakhir ini.

jadi beberapa minggu terakhir ini, saia:

1. jadi autis di depan komputer dan internet. i can spent more than 10 hours in front of laptop. huhu. fyi, if you live with a big family of 5 members, this will bother you.

2. bangun pagi, shalat subuh, tidur lagi.

3. at the brunch time, bangun, cuci muka, sarapan dan minum susu yang sudah dingin.

4. ngejongkrok seharian di depan komputer dan internet, kerja.

5. ngerjain thesis di hari libur dan weekend. poor me, i know.

6. everytime i'm in the middle of my working hours or working on my thesis, it will always end up on my Facebook account. T_T

7. mencoba menyelesaikan 1000 pieces of puzzle Grand Place Belgium bareng kakak, ibu, dan abah. oleholeh adek dari Belgia.

8. menceritakan halhal baru atau tempat baru ke adek, seperti "disini sekarang jadi tempat makan.." atau "yg itu udah tutup, udah lama, sekarang tanahny dibeli buat dibangun lab itu tadi.." dan lainlain. PS adek baru balik dari tinggal 1 taon di Belgia.

9. minum susu vanilla hi calcium minimum 2 kali sehari.

10. memikirkan dan mendambakan calon suami yang tampan, rupawan, dermawan, lagi hartawan. lol.

11. membuka web atau link online shop, dan..

12. bermain dengan kalkulator untuk mengestimasi pendapatan dan pengeluaran saia. hehe.

13. listening, talking, and chatting sama lakilaki di lain benua yang punya masalah hidup yang saia rasa sebelas-duabelas sama saia. yang bikin obrolan nyambung dan makes me stuck on MSN chat at 3 AM.

14. nonton in a row DVDs atau nonton sinetron yang enggak banget biar terlihat away dari computer. hehe.

15. memikirkan thesis, masa kuliah saia yang semoga selesai satu semester lagi, ujian kelulusan, juga rencana saia 1-2 taon ke depan. australia dan Fulbright, insyaallah. amien.

16. oya memikirkan kakak A yang lagi pelatihan, dan kakak B yang akan ke Kalimantan untuk kerja, juga Abah yang makin sering overland for guiding; and pray for them, of course.

sepertinya itu saja.
atau.. itu dulu.

regards, CHA.
have a great weekend, blogger :)

The clouds were gathering up the sky again so it was time to move on. I enjoyed my time in Borlinghausen, but the trip has to continue!

Yesterday morning I had a breakfast in Germany. It started to rain. I moved on.

At the day I had a cup of coffee with a croissant in Netherlands. It was raining. I moved on.

In the late afternoon I had a dinner in Belgium. Nothing fancy, but OK. It was raining heavily. I moved on.

In the evening I had a cappucino with baguette and cheese in France - quite nice. But it was raining. I moved on.

Late evening I arrived to United Kingdom. It didn't rain. Yes, you read right. It didn't rain in UK.
Driving on the wrong side of the road during the night was quite fascinating. It was much warmer than in Netherlands, less windy than in Belgium and did I already mention that it didn't rain?

I arrived to Brighton around 1am in the night, searched for a vacant hotel for around 2 hours and found one with a free room - nasty price though. Well, it was only one night. I still could get my evening-beer in UK like I decided.

Five countries in one day, with a Vespa. Whoah.

So we decided to take time out to relax in Brussels. I needed to catch up on jet lag, and Maja and Lauren needed to catch up on weeks of constantly running around. Our schedule in Brussels revolved mainly around eating and drinking, specifically waffles, fries, chocolate, and Belgian beer. The only other thing that we planned to do was to go to the Mannekin Pis which is a statue of a little boy, really a little baby, peeing into a fountain. Weird, but it's very famous in Belgium. He actually gets dressed in different outfits through out the year. The most recent outfit was one for the French national holiday, but he was naked while we were here.

When we got to Brussels on Wednesday, we started liking it right away. The people were very nice and friendly, and we stayed at youth hostel which was much better than the Peace and Love Hostel in Paris. After walking around most of the main parts of the city (Brussels isn't that big), we had dinner in the Grand Place, and Maja and I got Linndemann beer which is special to Belgium.

Our second day we just walked around the city, and Lauren commented that Brussels is exactly how she pictured Europe to be with the cobblestones and the quaint streets. Besides wandering and shopping, we finally got our Belgian fries and waffles. We got the fries in cones, and I got Salsa Diablo for the sauce which the guy definitely thought I couldn't handle. Of course, I proved him wrong. Our waffles we had after dinner for dessert, and Lauren and I got ones with ice cream, fudge and strawberries while Maja got the same plus whipped cream. They were amazing, totally lived up to their reputation.

Anyway, now we're off to Cologne.

A bientôt,

Kat

I've been doing very little at home now I have no commitments. Just waiting with baited breath for the moment of truth now (a.k.a. results day) and savouring my time before all hell breaks loose.

Feeling much better these days, perhaps the depression was due to the painful process of mentally preparing myself for a day when I would wake up and she would no longer be there. Maybe that phase has started to wane and I pray that I am past the worst of it. It is said that depression often subsides within 6-10 months, I truly hope that now the only way is up.

I knew I needed a good kick up the arse, I personally cannot stand people who mope about feeling sorry for themselves, so I was horrified as I felt myself beginning to join their ranks - hence my ensuing panic campaign to inject some hope and happiness into my life. First, I went to Belgium with some friends. Although it wasn't spectacular, I wouldn't have changed a thing. Despite the place being somewhat dull (there were hardly any young people around) and I saw a less than attractive side of one of my friends, it was still an undeniably uplifting and encouraging few days. It achieved my purpose of surrounding and refocusing myself on the positive, as well as giving me an alternative perspective - at least I have more hope and am more equipped to deal with the world than... (the friend who I now see in a slightly altered light.)

Of course, gorgeous Belgian chocolates and their world-famous waffles also helped things along...

In addition, I watched the Japanese drama 'A litre of tears'. Although not my usual kinda entertainment, the drama is based on the diary of a Aya Kito, who was diagnosed with Spinocerebellar Ataxia aged only 15. The degenerative disease slowly destroyed her body but her willpower and spirit was an encouragement to others - both healthy and impaired. To be honest, it didn't have the effect I hoped it would - a harsh guilt trip at my pathetic self. It was a tad too cheesy and overdone, but certain scenes and lines did trigger my appreciation for what I do have.

This is my way of trying to drag myself out of the dumps - chocolate, tragedies, friends and laughter. Wish me luck! :)

15 ΧΩΡΕΣ ΤΗΣ ΕΥΡΩΠΑΙΚΗΣ ΕΝΩΣΗΣ-ΟΧΙ ΟΤΙ ΚΑΙ ΟΙ ΑΛΛΕΣ ΕΙΝΑΙ ΠΑΡΘΕΝΕΣ- ΓΙΑ ΤΟ ΜΑΥΡΟ ΧΡΗΜΑ.

European Commission Warns 15 Members

On Money-Launder Rules

BRUSSELS (AFP)--The European Commission is warning 15 member states that they face legal action for failing to adopt E.U. anti-money laundering rules into national law as part of the fight against terrorism.

Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy raised the warning in a letter to Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, France, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden and Spain, a spokesman said.

Η ΣΥΝΕΧΕΙΑ ΕΔΩ

But other countries are facing similar challenges.  In India, the continuing debate over the status of the country’s nuclear deal with the United States has prompted a minor political crisis, as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh attempts to keep his fragile coalition together.  Singh’s government is comprised of a coalition of center-left parties.  Earlier this month, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the coalition’s junior member to Singh’s Congress Party of India, withdrew from the coalition over a nuclear deal signed with the United States.  The Communists argued that the deal represented a transfer of India’s sovereignty to the United States opened the way for the further colonization of India’s economy.  A confidence vote by the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian Parliament, is scheduled for Tuesday.  If the government loses the vote, snap elections will be called.

A vote on the nuclear deal, which would see the US sell nuclear fuel and civilian nuclear technology to India, is also scheduled for a vote in the Indian Parliament later this month.  Ironically, the outcome of that vote may be inconsequential for the nuclear deal, as the deal is currently stalled in the US Congress and appears unlike to move forward before the November elections.

The ruling coalition in Belgium is in even worse shape.  On Monday, Prime Minister Yves Leterme resigned.  Leterme took office in March after a nine month political deadlock in which the country officially had no Prime Minister or government.  The crisis sparked by Leterme’s resignation has been called the worst political crisis faced by Belgium in the country’s history.  Strong divisions between Belgium’s Flemish-speaking population in the north and the French-speaking population in the south have intensified in recent years, and it seems difficult to imagine how a new government, which because of Belgium’s electoral system will almost certainly have to develop out of a multi-lingual coalition involving four or more political parties, will be any more stable. 

So why all this political instability?  Certainly the nature of the parliamentary systems in Belgium and India play a role.  It’s widely held that parliamentary systems, particularly when based on proportional representation electoral systems, are inherently less stable than presidential systems based on single-member district electoral systems.  But for every unstable PR-based parliamentary system like Belgium or contemporary India, there is South Africa or historical India, which has the same political system but is far more stable.  Clearly the issues at play must also be important.  The unique status of identity politics in Belgium, given the country’s status as an artificial creation as a buffer zone between major European powers, clearly has an important influence.  Similarly, in India, the debate over the relative influence of the United States in Indian society is a serious one, as many Indian political leaders continue to hold to the tradition of non-alignment and home rule.

The elder Bush, who left office in 2009 under a cloud over the war in Iraq, has reportedly made numerous visits and calls to the White House in the last two weeks, telling his nephew to “get some gonads and bomb those Belgirian bastards,” a highly placed source said.

During the final months of his term, George W. Bush wanted to invade the European Union capital after Belgian brewer InBev reached a deal to acquire top American brewer Anheuser-Busch. As reported at the time in the online news service The Lost News, the merging of these two companies created not only the biggest brewing company on Earth but also a new superpower.  Since the merger, beer has rivaled oil, water, food and ribbed condoms in terms of scarcity — and as the source of international tensions.  Belgium has been able to dictate numerous conditions — including compelling American newspapers to show topless women on their front pages and  forcing the U.S. government to recognize global warming — to keep the beer spigots running.  Beer prices now stand at $300 a keg, and consumers are paying up to $35 for a six pack. 

Thus far, President Bush has managed to ignore his uncle’s counsel.  The elder Bush, now 82, suffers from a rare form of dementia that many doctors believe began when he was in his 20s.  He has apparently forgotten or may have always been unaware that the U.S. government will have to contract with Halliburton to launch the military strike.  The United States sold all of its military assets to Halliburton in 2021.

White House press secretary Morris (Mo) Lyon had no official comment on George W. Bush’s communications with the president. A spokesman for the elder Bush denied having any influence over the administration, but confirmed that the former president wants to see something done about Belgium.

“President [George W.] Bush firmly is on the record saying that he believes controlling the American people’s access to a cold brew has brought Belgium into the axis of evil,” the spokesman said.

Indeed, in a speech he made to the Rotary Club in Knoxville, Tenn. in March, the senior Bush described Belgium’s actions as “outright extortionification.”

Why this statement? A few weeks ago I met for lunch with the founder of an independent financial services company. He and his marketing manager (who’s an ex-colleague) wanted to know more about whole this social media stuff and they knew I was kind of ‘active’ in that area so therefor the lunch. A quick initial check during lunch on what they knew and didn’t know didn’t take long. Flickr? Never heard of. Okay – get it.

To get the right idea of what needed to be done they then started to explain what their business was and how they saw their company move into the future. And to be honest, they explained me the most innovative business approach that I had heard for a while. Unfortunately I can’t tell you what it is but just take it from me that it was. Everything was there. It’s totally different from the typical business approach in that sector, it gave incredible power to their communities, they really let go of control, … Very cool. So what was missing? The right tools, techniques, services, etc to do so.

And then it hit me again. It’s not because people are on Twitter, Friendfeed, Facebook and blogs that they’re necessarily innovative. On the contrary. If ever that is what an agency or a social media consultant comes to tell you then run away (fast). Don’t turn away though because someone hasn’t heard about Twitter. They still might be more innovative thinkers than the rest of us and you know what the coolest job of all is? Making sure you work with the right people and use the right toolset to translate that really innovative idea into reality. That’s what me thinks.

Oh and for the record, my friends at the independent financial services company is looking for someone to do exactly that.

Three men tried to abduct their brother and brother-in-law on his wedding day Saturday, intending to bring him to Morocco. They did not agree with the marriage since the bride did not fulfill their requirements, according to the Brussels prosecution.

In their interrogation the three said they did not agree with their brother's/brother in law's choice of a bride. The girl was of Moroccan origin but had Spanish citizenship and did not fulfill the family's criteria. Therefore they wanted to abduct the groom to Morocco. The prosecuting judge decide to keep the three under arrest.

Technorati Tags: kidnapping+the+groom+because+they+did+not+like+the+bride, Islamism, Muslims, Belgium, Brussels

click on the pics and see more at my Flickr Web-Album

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