BeWelcome goes ONLINE

this article was first published on 22 February 2007

In February BeWelcome went online, the first legal open-source Hospitality Exchange Network. You can find more about it here : www.bewelcome.org or check out my Thorgal67 profile http://www.bewelcome.org/bw/member.php?cid=thorgal67
Whether you are looking to make friends or trying to find accommodation all over the world, BeWelcome caters for all travellers trying to get in touch with like-minded people. At the moment we have about 2200 members and the number is growing.

Elections in Belgium 2009

On June 7th, 2009, two elections will be held in Belgium. The elections for a new Flemish government and those for the European Parliament. I'm not sure yet if I will be able to attend, since it is also the weekend that the Berlin Beach Camp is being held.

On a Flemish website deredactie.be they created a poll that will help you find out which party has the same principles as you. I took the test, and it will come as no surprise that extreme-right parties like Vlaams Belang (VB ) and Lijst Dedecker (LDD) are not among my possible candidates. No, I'm more into the Green Party (Groen!). A valid choice I would say, as a good future is more important to me than always making more money. Especially in such a rich country as Belgium, where there are so many who have a good life at the expenses of a unhappy few (handicapped, homeless, ...)

Care to take the test yourself? Go to DeRedactie.be and click on the Stemtest.

You will need to understand Dutch in order to succesfully complete the test.

New Year’s Eve 2006 – Party!

This article was first published on 31st December 2006

This year we had a very quiet New Year. Claudia and I went to the sauna, later we spent a nice time at home and watched some movies. And of course we make a top quality dinner with my stone grill. It felt like back in the old days, when men only had a stone, some fire and a freshly killed mammoth…

Using Sing language with our baby

I recently started using sign language with Caitlin. I read there has been a movement to teach and encourage the use of sign language with toddlers before they learn to talk, because such young children can communicate effectively with signed languages well before they are physically capable of speech. This is typically referred to as Baby Sign.

I have to say that my efforts are met with some cynisicm from my wife, but recent studies seem to indicate that there is some truth behind the theory.
According to a study carried out by researchers like Acredolo and Goodwyn, using sign language with babies has the following benefits:

* larger expressive and receptive spoken language vocabularies;
* more advanced mental development;
* a reduction in problematic behaviours like tantrums resulting from frustration;
* and improved parent–child relationships.

Of course Caitlin is still too young to show any of those benefits, but I hope that in a couple of months we will have our first "conversation".

5 celebrities I had a crush on when I was a student

On one of these social network groups on Facebook you can enter your top 5 lists. 5 cars I owned, 5 sports I used to play, 5 favourite movies...you get the picture?

And yesterday I stumbled accross the following list: "5 Celebrities I had a crush on when I was young". That was fun filling in, and trying to remember what kind of posters I had on the wall. I remember having posters of Debbie Harry (of Blondie fame), Texas, Joan Jett and probably also the Beatles. But who did I really have a crush on?

5 Celebreties I had a crush on when I was young:

1. Debbie Harry

2. Nena

3. Olivia Newton-John (yes, I plead guilty your honour)

4. Jenny Agutter

5. Diana Rigg

The Official Line-Up for Couleur Café

The Official Line-up for the Couleur Café multicultural festival has been published, and it looks awesome!

26/06/2009

BEN HARPER & Relentless7
AYO
AMADOU & MARIAM
KHALED
KEZIAH JONES
ROHFF
NNEKA
BABYLON CIRCUS
ZIGGI & The Renaissance Band
SELAH SUE
NTOUMOS
COSTANZA (DJ's)

27/06/2009

ARNO - special project
EMIR KUSTURICA & The No Smoking Orchestra
ALPHA BLONDY
MAGIC SYSTEM
SHAMEBOY
MAMADY KEITA & Sewa Kan
THE SKATALITES
OI VA VOI
SAULE ET LES PLEUREURS
OZOMATLI
MOKOOMBA
BALIMURPHY
GORI KA DANCE ORCHESTRA
LOWDJO (DJ)

28/06/2009

BENABAR
CESARIA EVORA
ZAP MAMA
GROUNDATION
PATRICE
RZA (Wu-Tang Clan)
NEG' MARRONS
KASAI ALLSTARS
TERRAKOTA
BEN'BOP
DYNAMIC
KEL ASSOUF
PRIMITIV
TUPOLEV SOUND CRASH (DJ’s)

I will be there, you too?

Free tickets for Millennium: The Movie

I won 2 free tickets for Millennium: the Movie. Based on the bestseller of Swedish thriller author Stieg Larsson, this film tells the story of 16-year old girl Harriet Vanger who disappeared without a trace, on September 29th 1966. Nearly forty years later a journalist by the name of Mikael Blomqvist gets an unusual assignment.

Unfortunately I can't go to the cinema, but I am giving 2 tickets away for the Première on Wednesday May 6th in the UGC De Brouckère in Brussels. The movie starts at 20h/8pm and you need to be there 15 minutes in advance to collect the tickets.

Warning: the movie is Swedish spoken with Dutch and French subtitles.

Write me a mail and I will send the invitation through mail. Please respond only if you are 100% sure that you will go. By the way: the original title is "Män som hatar kvinnor" which means "Men who hate women". Sounds like a really interesting movie ;)

Oh, In England this movie has another title: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo