Overeducated & Unemployable

Because I can't be bothered to actually write the thoughtful posts that were sparked by the following things on the internet, I'll just give you the links with the short thoughts and you can follow them or not.

Belgian frites (frieten in Dutch) are a thing. They are less thick than chips, but thicker than fries sold at fast food restaurants, and they are baked twice, which gives them crunch on the outside and softness on the inside. You buy your frites in a stall on the street and eat them plain with some salt or with mayonnaise. Like the thing John Travolta sneers at in Pulp Fiction ("I've seen them doing it man. They fucking drown 'em in this shit." Though he's speaking of the Netherlands, where mayonnaise is sweet, which is — indeed — shit.) Seth Kugel from the New York Times wanted to find out what the fuss was all about and had some frites in Brussels. I ate at several of the featured frietkoten and the one I frequent nowadays, because it's closeby, got an honourable mention as well. You may guess which one it is.

Cycling in Brussels is nerve racking wrecking, especially when you are guiding a 5 and a half year old through traffic (don't get me started on van drivers not acknowledging the presence of a kid in the street, or a police officer shouting something at me (clearly to do with the kid) but not bothering to register I don't speak French and didn't understand what they were saying). Today I learned about Blaze. This small company designed a bicycle laser light that projects a green bicycle some 5 or 6 metres in front of your bike, alerting drivers and pedestrians that you are coming. Unfortunately the lights cost £125 (€150). I'd love to try one out for a couple of weeks in Winter before committing to part with the money. I promise I'll write a review...

My goddaughter turned 10 today. She asked for a handbag to carry her purse and bus pass. I made her this:



A Finch, designed by Fynn.

To support a campaign that urges people not to forget about Alzheimer's disease, Muntpunt will be sticking Post-It notes onto the facade of our local opera house. You can share your dearest memory or read whatever anyone else has written. They need to reach 10.000 notes to be able to cover the complete facade.

Just yesterday P. pointed me to a website he'd discovered: "Have you visited PinkStinks yet? These women are trying to..."
"Yes, I know. I've written about it like two years ago."

There's a lesson about the internet in there somewhere.

Following up on yesterday's post on the sexual intimidation by Pol Van Den Driessche, I'd like to point you to nwhyte's translation of an excellent piece by political journalist Liesbeth Van Impe. She points to a larger problem than what can be perceived in the debate of the last week.
In the meantime Pol Van Den Driessche has quit the political scene.

For those of you interested in photography, Brussels inhabitant Heleen Rodiers has set up a website to show off her work. It is mainly centred around places and has a definite otherworldly feel to it. Most photographs are devoid of humans, showing the the emptiness when people have left. Those that do feature in an occasional picture, look forlorn, travelling from one place to the next.
Heleen is quite curious to hear what other people think of her photographs, so please feel free to contact her with any remarks or questions.

Intriguing stuff by EVOL.

Thanks to Big Sis for posting this on her Facebook.