Security while you fly

It never struck me before, but they have adopted some weird procedures at Delta. And maybe it is even a nationwide regulation. The strange thing I noticed during my most recent flight is a flight attendent placing her trolley in such a way in the galley that nobody can go to the lavatory anymore. Blocking the way.

Why the beep is she doing that I was wondering. Untill a pilot left the cockpit to visit that mini restroom himself. Could it be that was the reason? It was. Everytime the door to the cockpit had to be opened, the trolley was moved from its 'parking position' in front of the exit door, turned 90 degrees and positioned in 'blockade position'. And it was guarded! Yes it was.

What must have been the oldest flight attendant still in active service put herself behind the trolley, crossed her arms, made her face grimlooking (not that that was necesassary, she was already pretty scary while trying look normal) and staired down the rows: "You ain't no passing me". LOL.

How useful is this? A 12 year old very junior terrorist trainee could jump over the trolley, kick the stewardess in mid-air and be in the cockpit before you could say "Watch out". So what is the sense of it? Beats me, but then again I am not in the security business.

-------------------------
Sent from my iPod

Nevermind Us - Field of Joy

Vanmiddag was het grote moment voor de jongens daar: hun eerste betaalde optreden. Trots maar ook wat voorzichtig begonnen ze om 2 uur met 'Start me Up' gevolgd door vijf eigen composities. Ze speelden sterk, met name hun eigen werk gaat ze goed af. Als afsluiter gooiden ze er nog even een andere Stones klassieker er tegenaan: 'Satisfaction'.

WoW & iPod Touch / iPhone

An iPhone loving and World of Warcraft playing cousin told me about it: there is a WoW application for the iPhone. And with the new version 2 software it also runs on the iPod Touch. The application is called Characters. Cool. Realy cool. I stole the pic from Rudi's website/blog. Saves me time from trying scan my own iThing. What is there to say other then to praise the creator? It is so nice, you can show off your fully epic geared char's to other WoW players. You can quickly check up on the gear of players in the PUG you are considering to enter. You can ... I do not know, but in a way it is a bit like being able to carry the pics of your children with you in your wallet (I know I am somewhat addicted to this great game).

Delta 39

A couple of times per year I cross the Atlantic. On an airplane. Mostly it is Amsterdam <-> Atlanta and that is either by KLM or Delta. Depends on which of the two has the cheapest business class ticket. (I have great employer, but they are not crazy) Unfortenately that is mostly Delta. Not that there is anything wrong with DL039, but their plane is somewhat older then what KLM puts in the air and thus (?) also a little bit less comfortable/luxerious. And I like the Delft Blue houses!

I already noticed it the last few European flights I made, but had not expected it would also be the case flying intercontinental with an American airline. Security stopped fuzzing about the liquids! Quietly without any explanation - which make sense, as they were making damn fools of themselves anyway by enforcing a totally useless and rather clumsy safety measure.

But what had remained the same was the interview: "Who is the owner of the bag? Who packed the bag? Has the bag been in your possesion since you packed it?" etc etc. What they want to accomplish by asking this kind of nonsense is beyond me, but then I am not into security. Funny thing is that if I would have boarded the KL flight, same trip, same departure time, same everything (except that KLM has the better plane and cuter flight attendants) nobody would have asked me anything.

-------------------------
Sent from my iPod

Lauren Harris

In my previous post I wrote that we went to see Iron Maiden perform in Assen. The first support act on stage was Lauren Harris, daughter of Maiden founder and bass player Steve Harris. I liked it very much. Not only the music but also the performance of the musicians, not to mention the mesmerizing hot presence of Lauren herself.
So what do you? You get yourself her CD: Calm before the storm.

And..... Is it as good as expected? Well, I guess it needs a bit more getting acustomed to. It is not as sizzling hot as on stage, that is a bit of a disappointment.

Perhaps I need to turn up the volume a bit more...

-------------------------
Sent from my iPod

Nevermind Us

Na enkele publieke optredens tijdens Plug & Play avonden in Rockcafé De Wurft en Open Podium op het Rijnlands Lyceum krijgen ze nu hun eerste betaalde optreden: Field of Joy festiviteiten in Noordwijk op het skatepark. Het berichtje op de site van de Stichting Jeugd en Welzijn Bollenstreek:

Band: Nevermind
Om 14u00 begint het evenement deze middag met een jonge Noordwijkse rock/hardrockband Nevermind. De band is in 2006 ontstaan en na een periode van roekeloos jammen en zoeken naar een zanger hebben ze uiteindelijk de band gekregen tot wat hij nu is!
Geïnspireerd door bands als de Rolling Stones, Red Hot Chili Peppers en Nirvana zijn de jongens van Nevermind dus uiteindelijk uit hun schulp gekropen en gaan de jonge honden voor het podium. Na een eerste optreden tijdens Plug&Play in De Wurft bijten zij dus het spits af op Field of Joy.
Nevermind is: Lars Spierenburg – zang, Barry Barnhoorn – gitaar, Leon van Amsterdam – gitaar, Mark van de Belt – drums, Martijn van Amsterdam – bas.

Iron Maiden - Assen 16 Aug 2008

Saterday was the great day. We, me plus my 2 boys and cousin Barry went to Assen to see and experience Iron Maiden. The youtube vid linked was not shot by me, but by a person happening to be standing very close to where we were. For that reason I am presenting it here. You can find us directly in front of the blond curly haired guy.
It was a very good concert and we enjoyed it enormously.

Fort Boyard

Another all time summer hit on the French television: Fort Boyard!
Also something I have seen once or twice offered by others, but nobody can cope with more then one season. Except the French! Twenty seasons it must be by now. There even once were Fort Boyard toys at McDonalds.
We like it. But at the same time I am sure that we only like it while on vacation in France. As with that simple wine you drink on that sunset evening in a small cosy restaurant in the Provence. It is great! But do not take a couple of those bottles home with you.

Rognons de Veau

WTF is rognons de veau? We were out for diner and the rest of the party was having steak in some kind of variation. So I decided to be a bit more original and explorative. The 'de veau' part I understood, and what could possibly go wrong with veal?
When the dish arived it looked a lot like a pile of mushrooms; champignons. Quite tasty actually.... Untill I took a first few pieces into my mouth. Strange taste, bitterish, earthy, dead old blood. Not a faul taste or anything, but still far from tasty. OK I ate about 1/2 of it, but that was all I could master. Politely enough.

Now I need a dictionary to look up what it was I put into my mouth.

La Carte aux Tresors

Something else that we think we only see in France: La Carte aux Tresors. And that is every summer we spent a few weeks vacation in France. I guess they only make this program in the summertime, but it must be for maybe 20 years already. For those who do not know the program, the concept is actually pretty simple: two teams need to find a treasure using a series of clues they receive from the program lead.

And French television would not be French television if it did not add a number of cultural things to it. So the clues are given within context, you will get a backgroud story, see some footage etc.
Lots of shooting is from a helicopter presenting the countryside, the whole scenery, to you. And the teams have a copter to their disposal as well. So as a viewer you may learn a lot about some specific unique kind of task the fishermen of Britany perform while watching the 'treasure hunters' running from one place to another. Who wins in the end is not so important. It is the roads leading towards the final stage where it is all about.
Vacance en France? La carte aux tresors!