[365 Toy Project: 050/365] The Humans Are Dead (Photo credit: nhussein)
Another cherished myth of our time is that there is enough for everybody, if only we would make the system just. This is a dangerous belief in the omnipotence of technology. Just because there are flaws in its implementation, there must be a way …
Cover of Mad Max (Special Edition)We have been taught to accept whatever choices people make, as long as they are lawful. Within an essentially unquestioned framework called “The Law”, we believe, people (I mean citizens) can live out their valuable freedom, and choose anything they want and cannot do in-justice.
Of course, “The Law” …
“Recently I had contact with a scale. Not an old squeaking household scale, but an industrial-grade scale with metal footholds and a very precise digital display boasting accuracy in the hundredths. I was naked, and the scale was thus threatening to tell me the only truth. I waited for a short moment, then gathered …
What is the value of writing? Thinking, shared. The ability to think old thoughts again, sharpen them, create a monument for our live thinking that otherwise would exist only as marginal comments to whatever circumstances we’ve concentrated our thoughts on. Systems of thoughts can be dangerous; history is full of examples. See the system of …
This huge airfield in the middle of the booming city has always been an oddity, and during the time of the Berlin Wall (1961-1989) even a symbol of the divided world. Thanks to the Airbridge, life wasn’t that miserable in the enclave of West Berlin. After reunification, Tempelhof allowed politicians to move swiftly between …
Here’s another all too human emotion I want to share because it might be familiar.
In a Virgin Megastore inside a recently erected Shopping Temple on Istaklal Street, Istanbul, I am browsing some books, mainly paperbacks. As the lighting is good I decide to take some pictures of the store.
Of course, the …
Everybody with a working brain knows about the paradox of efficiency. Production processes have to become more efficient in order to stay competitive, but that greater efficiency may *never* result in giving people longer vacations. Instead, workers need to work even harder because the increased efficiency means competition has increased, too. Instead of enjoying the …
Let’s categorize motives of people roughly in “doing it for the money” and “doing it for the fun” and we miss something essential. The third category of motivation, one that needs to remain vague and adventurous. Indeed: that other type of motivation has something to do with adventure. Not with just any treasure hunting …
What does the existence of “SEO-optimization” tell us about the phase of our civilization? How do we read it? Is it building up to something much more invasive and radical, or is it the harbinger of inevitable decline or collapse? First, is this occupation structurally new? Haven’t people always tried to make themselves and …
We weten dat er iets bedoeld wordt, dat er iets bedoeld zou kunnen worden, en we wachten in spanning totdat het moment is aangebroken. Iemand gaat zometeen aangekondigen, dat er iets belangrijks zal gaan worden gezegd en er schuifelt niemand meer met z’n voeten op de tegelvloer. Eindelijk zal ons precies verteld worden wat we …
Wat orakelde de jongen nog meer? Het volgende korte, dialectische gedicht bijvoorbeeld: kennie dichte moenie zeike niemand ken ze gelijke Het gedicht heft aan met een eenregelige jeremiade over het eigen gebrek aan poëtische uitdrukkingskracht, om direct daarna deze cynische zelfverfoeilijking met rauwe straattaal in de zeik te zetten. Er is niets om over te …
12 March 2012. Frankfurt am Main, Germany.Finally, plans materialize and we are flying one-way to Nairobi tonight. We’re very much looking forward to seeing our friends again, helping the “Joy Valley” orphan home cum school in Kayole and learn a lot about hands-on local development. We don’t have exact plans in Nairobi. All we know …
We all know people who occasionally proclaim that truth is beauty. But have you ever shared a table with somebody who made the statement in such a convincing way, that you felt that their whole existence was breathing this truth? I did, last week. I met a stage designer somewhere in Amsterdam, and there he …
It’s five in the afternoon, incredible lighting makes the rocky mountain in front of me, across the stream, more majestic, more real. It is not easy to pick the right words to describe it, and artificial will it sound, but however weak and dimly pronounced, they are here the words, marking a memory newer than …
Go out into the world and learn to hear your own voice. In discussions about politics, commenting on a movie you’ve seen, consoling a friend, venting your discomfiture or dismay over a newspaper article, writing a note to your parents, leaving a message after the beep, you are using something most uniquely yours: your …
What is he thinking?As a learned philosopher with a funny blog, I should have an opinion or two about the Thinking Beast of Ljubljana, the populist, famous, celebrated, roaring, one and only, please welcome Slavoj Zizek (the adornments on the Zs are intentionally left out) who twists psychoanalytical theories together with rabid Marxism and generates …
18 February 2012. Amsterdam, Netherlands.We have been in the Low Lands for more than a week now, went on a family visit and arranged some boring bureaucratic “stuff”. The good news is that we are almost ready to go South by South-East (as those will be the predominant direction of our journey: south to Kenya …
6. February. Istanbul, Turkey.For practical reasons, we have decided to visit the Netherlands for two weeks; Kamiel’s family is there, and some unfinished paperwork. Add the fact that Dutch is his native tongue, so he can use the thing on media and potential supporters of Charity Travel. Plus we might get a chance to chime …
Remember that Yeon went back to Korea last October to work on her book publication? It’s finally out in Korea!
The title of the book is ‘Good Travel Design’ and it contains the basic concept of Charity Travel, how we started to do Charity Travel project together, lots of episodes on volunteering and Yeon’s general …
