Twitter: georgemaschke- Blue Mountain Gold coffee (a Jamaican variety) grown in Papua New Guinea. It is dark roasted and very good. :-) http://twitpic.com/2jcluj
- The rain on my windshield painted an impressionist landscape this morning. http://twitpic.com/2iae4n
- Rain in Holland is hardly news, but it has rained unusually hard in the past 24 hours, with water in the streets. http://twitpic.com/2iaa8u
- The unthinkable has happened: I have utterly and completely run out of coffee. Not a single precious bean left in the house!
- I have given up on Ubuntu One file synchronization. Too many glitches--including data loss--in particular with Tomboy Notes.
- If you would deny Muslims freedom to build #Park51 community center, then don't you dare call One World Trade Center "Freedom Tower."
- NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg's excellent defense of the so-called "Ground Zero" Islamic center project : http://huff.to/aNRwu5
- How to Access the Internet (A Guide from 2025): http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2010-06-24-n15.html
- Interesting commentary by @nickpatrick: "Did Americans in 1776 have British accents?" http://bit.ly/9buYtj
- This is the first coin dated 2010 that I've encountered. It's a Dutch 5 euro cent coin. http://twitpic.com/270jl6
Sites I Like
Welcoming the Year of the Tiger in The Hague
Lion Dancers at Chinese New Year Opening Ceremony
The Hague has its own Chinatown, and every year the city hosts a Chinese New Year celebration with a parade and fireworks. On Saturday, 13 February 2010, the opening ceremony welcoming the Year of the Tiger was held in the city hall atrium. I was able to take some pictures from the side of the stage.
The mayor of The Hague, Jozias Johannes van Aartsen, gave the opening remarks in Dutch and English (and translated into Chinese). Here he is exiting stage left after completing his address:
Mayor Jozias van Aartsen
The Chinese ambassador to the Netherlands, Zhang Jun, also addressed the audience, speaking in English and Chinese (with a few words in Dutch):
Ambassador Zhang Jun
As an American, I found it remarkable how open the ceremony was. Anyone could just walk in (as I did), go right up to the stage, watch, and take pictures. There were no security checkpoints or metal detectors to pass through. The mayor of The Hague passed within three feet of me after leaving the stage. I can’t imagine such openness in a major American city today.