Archive for November, 2011

Carrier IQ: the smartphone spy

Wednesday, November 30th, 2011

Huffington Post: “A security researcher has posted a video detailing hidden software installed on smart phones that logs numerous details about users’ activities…In a post about Carrier IQ on his website, Eckhart called the software a “rootkit,” a security term for software that runs in the background without a user’s knowledge and is commonly used in malicious software…Carrier IQ could not immediately be reached for comment. But the company told Wired.com that its software is used for “gathering information off the handset to understand the mobile-user experience, where phone calls are dropped, where signal quality is poor, why applications crash and battery life.”

Yeah…rrrrright!!

The software has been seen on Nokias, Blackberries and various devices running Google’s Android, but not on anything from Apple…

So, are you happy with your Android, Nokia or Blackberry smartphone?? Keep on dreaming, grtx from my iPhone! 😉

Working to meet a deadline

Tuesday, November 29th, 2011

I am (well, actually we/’The Team’ are) extremely busy these weeks on preparing a proposal for a BIG tender. The deadline is today/tonight so the pressure is ON!!

It is a strange word actually; ‘deadline’ (as well as; ‘meeting a deadline’)…hehe, it does feel as we are almost dead after working so long and hard, but we didn’t meet any line and no one really died, so what about this ‘dead line’? As if there would be a living line that dies at a certain point? (huh, point, line…now I am getting really confused!! 😉 )

Anyway, we are continuing to work hard and through the night as we are not done yet (we did however send a crucial part of the proposal already, just in time!! 😉 )

Passport for Misha is IN!

Monday, November 28th, 2011

Yay, our little angel has his own passport (with the sweetest photo, see part I 😉 ), technically in 3 days, we only picked it up today…WAY faster than the embassy promised, nice!!

So this means that we are free as birds in the sky, can travel abroad and make Misha the youngest frequent flyer around! 😉

His first trip: The Netherlands for two weeks around Xmas and NY!

Besides the traditions that are mostly filling these days, we’re gonna show off our royal cuteness at his ‘baby shower’ on December 28 in the afternoon, everyone’s invited!!

Avatar on Blu-ray

Sunday, November 27th, 2011

Wow, WoW, WOW…we have been watching Avatar on Blu-ray tonight (finally I might add, I got the Blu-ray for Sinterklaas last year).

What a FANTASTIC experience: Blu-ray really brings out the best in the Philips HDTV (46PFL9704H)!!

This was as good as the 3D cinema experience, and after having a delicious burrito dinner first (Ozzie style), this was a great way to spend the last evening with my brother!! 😉

QOTD November 26 2011

Saturday, November 26th, 2011

Babatunde Olatunji: “Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. And today? Today is a gift. That’s why we call it The Present.”

‘Yo Bro’ in Norway

Friday, November 25th, 2011

Willem-Jan and Patricia are visiting us this weekend! Their third time in Norway and this time for one very obvious reason: Misha! (AND to have a great brother-brother weekend, of course! 😉 )

Hehe, they are very experienced travelers and therefore know how to travel light, uhhh, *ultra*-light; they arrived with just one small backpack!! It turned out that their suitcases never left Amsterdam, thank you Schiphol Airport baggage handling… 🙁

Anyway, it will sort itself out…I am looking forward to have a great weekend!

Once upon a time…

Thursday, November 24th, 2011

Your every day fairytale just took a different turn…

(c) Carlos Naude

Find more inspirational graphic design on his site.

Street View creativity; Address Is Approximate

Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011

Check out this amazing video; ‘Address Is Approximate‘!

The storyline: A lonely desk toy longs for escape from the dark confines of the office, so he takes a cross country road trip to the Pacific Coast in the only way he can – using a toy car and Google Maps Street View.

All screen imagery of this Google Street View stop motion animation short was animated – there are no screen replacements…it was made as a personal project by director Tom Jenkins, theoryfilms.co.uk /facebook.com/theoryfilms.

Please also pay attention to the FANTASTIC music: ‘Arrival of the Birds’ by the Cinematic Orchestra (cinematicorchestra.com).

Passport for Misha, part I

Tuesday, November 22nd, 2011

Living abroad with a baby means that having a passport for the little one is a must; there is no traveling without it and with Xmas/NY coming up, well, we simply NEED that passport! (yes, we WILL be in NL then! 😉 ).

The passport application is done, the embassy says it should take just a week, so it is all good…I just ‘had to’ post his passport pictures, too cute! 😉

 

QOTD November 21 2011

Monday, November 21st, 2011

A wise physician said to me, “I have been practicing
medicine for 30 years and I have prescribed many things.
But in the long run I have learned that for most of what
ails the human creature, the best medicine is LOVE..”

“What if it doesn’t work..?” I asked..
Double the dose” he replied…

New header graphic

Sunday, November 20th, 2011

We are almost out of ‘beschuit met muisjes‘!! Indeed, we have had a *lot* of visitors who emptied the 8 (!) packages with ‘muisjes’ that my parents brought with them, haha! 😉

…time for the ‘beschuit met muisjes‘ header graphic to be changed for something else, ah?

Since it is autumn, and since it is more foggy than snowy (to everyone’s surprise!), I found the perfect header graphic to reflect this moment: the picture was taken yesterday at Romtjern, a lake close to Hagan where we used to live…beautiful, ah?

 

 

Prison Break

Saturday, November 19th, 2011

It is becoming a tradition since we moved to Norway in 2007: around this time of year, when the days are getting shorter and the evenings are long and dark, we find ourselves an interesting TV series, get the full season(s) in, get hooked and become a couch potato a week orso! 😉

We did this before with ‘24‘ (Season 1 – 8!), ‘Lost‘ Season 1-6…Prison Break is this years choice; 4 Seasons, 80 episodes…let’s roll! 😉

Song of the Day: Seven Nation Army

Friday, November 18th, 2011

OMG, I could not believe that this song did not make it to a Song of the Day yet: The White Stripes with Seven Nation Army!

TGIF and have a great weekend y’all!!

Note to self; play more Jack White, one of the most unrated guitarists if this time! (whether that is The White Stripes, The Raconteurs or The Dead Weather!)

Buddha Misha

Thursday, November 17th, 2011

Angel Misha is 7 weeks old (/young 😉 ) today and is already turning into a little Buddha! 😉

Winter is coming to town

Wednesday, November 16th, 2011

Kristel’s mom and aunt flew back home tonight after a ‘long’ and nice weekend at our place. Ha, and it seems as if they took autumn with them and left us with winter…FINALLY I might add, in the past years snow arrived as early as October!

Oof, it is friggin’ -8C at the moment, the daytime temperature tomorrow will be -10C and the first snow is expected coming Friday evening…yeah, winter is coming to town!!

QOTD November 15 2011

Tuesday, November 15th, 2011

Rabbinical Saying: “Don’t limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time.”

Acceptance…

Monday, November 14th, 2011

An affirmation.

Say the following:

“I deeply, completely and profoundly, accept myself with all my faults, problems and limitations”,

“I deeply, completely and profoundly, accept myself with all my faults, problems and limitations”,

“I deeply, completely and profoundly, accept myself with all my faults, problems and limitations”,

Follow this with:

“I deeply, completely and profoundly, accept myself with all my gifts, strengths and ability to love”,

“I deeply, completely and profoundly, accept myself with all my gifts, strengths and ability to love”,

“I deeply, completely and profoundly, accept myself with all my gifts, strengths and ability to love”,

 

Add to this the activation of the acupuncture system by placing the tip of your fingers of your right hand just up over your left breast on the chest, and circulate your fingers up and out (clockwise).

It will move you in acceptance of the whole self…

(from Lindsay Wagner on Healing with the Masters last November 3)

Hi, my name is…

Sunday, November 13th, 2011

Hi, my name is Misha and I am SWEEEETTTT!!! 😉

…just 6 weeks old now and this little big miracle is growing like crazy!! (hehe, he has lot of catching up to do if he wants to become as tall as his daddy! 😉 )

He comes, he comes…

Saturday, November 12th, 2011

Sinterklaas has arrived with his ‘pakjesboot’ (boat full of presents) in The Netherlands today. We are still celebrating this dutch tradition as despite the distance, he somehow managed to bring some presents ‘Up North’ in the past years, NICE! 😉

We unfortunately have to do without the special atmosphere in the cities, children going crazy when Sinterklaas and his Zwarte Pieten appear, and obviously the sweets like speculaaspepernoten and kruidnoten…yeah, it’s a nice tradition! (and very hard to explain to foreigners, especially Zwarte Piet (Black Pete or Blackface)! 😉 ).

Ha, and I guess that this recording of the typical Sinterklaas song ‘hij komt’ does not really help either…jeez, Ellen ten Damme sings it sooo sexy! 😉

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRHwmhqqE4o

11.11.11

Friday, November 11th, 2011

Isn’t amazing that today, 11.11.11, feels so special, while dates are ‘just’ numbers and almost completely artificial? If you pick a different calendar (the Chinese for instance), it would be a different day, a different month and a different year…and yet, today *is* a special day!
The number’s link with the the ancient Mayan long-count calendar that ends on December 21, 2012 (the Mayan Apocalyps) marks the new spiritual era…11.11.11 is the unofficial start of the 2012 metaphysical year!

So, for today and all days to come: open your heart and let the LOVE flow in!!!