Child psychology continued...

Playing the age game again (you know: Elise says "when I am twelve, Vincent is ten; when I am twenty, Vincent is eightteen" etc...) we asked Elise: 'And when you are eightteen?' "I want a motorcycle!"

Ingmar Bergman died

another genius bites the dust...

at a loss for words

Does it ever happen to you: while in a conversation you can't think of a certain word and it's on the tip of your toungue but yet you can't pronounce it... I had that today and I won't rest before I know the word. Strange thing is, I know for sure the letter it starts with. Today my word should start with a D. The word I was looking for? Organic....

Plants for People

Plants for People is the name of an international organisation distributing information about how plants in our environment can be good for us. Plants clean the air in our homes or at hte workplace - this air is often even more polluted than the air outside! Their site lists various plants and their function in cleaning up our polluted air, such as:
• Tobacco smoke: sansevieria, chlorophytum, pothos dracanea.
• Electronics (computers, tv, hifi, video, etc): cacti.
• Paint, detergents, carpet glue, furniture out of triplex, isolation material,
• Colorants: climbing plants, aloé vera, ficus.
• Soluables: chrysanthymums.

Plants help to fight against microbes, fungi and other (toxic) pollutants. "Dieffenbachia, begonia's, chrysanthymums and geraniums exert antibacterials and even antibiotics", apparently.

Plants which have yellow, brown, greyish or black leaves don't necessarily need water, they might just have too many pollutants in them. Up to you to figure out which ones...

Weblog Bagdad

Our eight o'clock evening news 'aired' a weblog on Bagdag today. 'People become numb for items and pictures of the war, but the war goes on and has an impact. A 29 year old inhabitant of Bagdad tries to paint a picture of his everyday life in this city and how it is impacted by the war.' Interestingly, the pictures I too have become numb for, got a whole new dimension while seen during his (for the occasion spoken) log. You can read the log (in Dutch) here.

Child psychology

An interesting example of child psychology: Elise knows she is two years older than Vincent. "I am four and he is two. When I am ten, he is eight. When I am thirtytwo, he is thirty," and so on. We were impressed and played the game for a while, calling out numbers between four and one hundred. However, when we changed the question into: when Vincent is four, how old will you be? she would not know the answer, no matter the ages we tried... Answering the question requires taking the perspective of the other and when you are four, this is virtually impossible.(It obviously was not so much math what she was doing; when we are doing math, she is able to answer the question!)

YouTube shit

I've been surfing a bit on YouTube and it struck me (again) how much unbelievable shit people put in their comments. It amazes me how single minded, short sighted, stupid and easily stepped on your toes (to name a few...) people can be. I noticed it before on these types of 'mass sites', but YouTube is a winner here in my mind...
Anyhow, a funny video for when you are in a bit of a silly mood, and just don't pay any attention to the terrible discussion about it in the comments....

Keyrings

One of my post recently got a comment asking me to send her a picture of my keyring so she could publish it and link to my blog. Gotta respect that, so here's the picture I sent her to publish on her blog.

stapelgedichten

Gaaf: trek een aantal boeken uit je kast, leg ze op elkaar, lees de titels van boven naar beneden en... je hebt je gedicht! Zie ook de blog erover. Stuur daar je foto en tekst naar toe en wie weet wordt het gepubliceerd! Hier alvast de mijne:

Alleen in Londen
Slagerszoon met een brilletje
Hele dagen in de regen
Golf van ontzetting

Kinderwijsheid

Werkend voor Kay, kwam ik vandaag deze wijsheid tegen:

Wat is er na de dood? Nou, geen dood natuurlijk
Victor, toen 7 jaar*

[*uit: Zelfmanagement voor de ziel door Maurice de Valk]

Jacuzzi

My neighbour bought a jacuzzi for in his backyard. Just forgot the jacuzzi could not be put there by carrying it through the house or via the side of the house. there is a solution to every problem:



(notice the jacuzzi hanging on the crane in the last picture)

Werelddag voor Internationale Gerechtigheid

Vandaag is de Werelddag voor Internationale Gerechtigheid. Op deze dag wordt herdacht dat op 17 juli 1998 het eerste permanente internationale hof voor de berechting van oorlogsmisdadigers (ICC) werd opgericht. De jet d'eau in het meer van Genève, met 140 meter een van de hoogste fonteinen ter wereld, kleurt vanavond rood. De rode verlichting symboliseert het bloed van honderdduizenden mensen die de afgelopen jaren in de Sudanese regio Darfur door oorlogsgeweld om het leven zijn gekomen.

Bron: Trouw

exchange of roles

At this very moment Rob is stitching his pants and I am reconfiguring my laptop [although the multitasking bit remains with me: I am preparing the weekly menu and am updating this blog at the same time...or maybe I am just having trouble concentrating...?]

Sigmund

Sigmund heeft deze week een strip aan mij "opgedragen":


(bron: Volkskrant)

Respect!

Last weekend a friend of mine got married. While he wore a snow white wedding suit, his bride wore a black latex weddinggown.


Yesterday, Elise received a birthday invitation from her friend Bo (turning 4 as well) via YouTube.