Author Archives: Jan Van Haver

Song of the day: Eels – Peach Blossom

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When the people close to me noticed that this blog is also featuring Song of the day posts, they have no doubt been wondering when the first Eels song would pop up here. Well, the time is now.

I picked Peach Blossom, a song from last year’s album Wonderful, Glorious. It’s a wonderful mix of rock and melody but also very catchy at the same time. A live performance of it last spring – during the concert in Brussels at the exact date of frontman Mark Oliver Everett’s (aka E) fiftieth birthday – was definitely one of my most memorable moments of 2013.

And as there is no such thing as too many Eels songs: keep listening to the stream below, as it contains a second track New Alphabet

Suggestions for a slightly better world #3

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Photo by Tim Reckmann (FotoDB.de)Some people think it’s a good idea to spend money on schemes or systems that promise to improve your chances of winning the lotto or lottery. I can tell you one thing: the only one who is certain to end up with more money is the guy selling the scheme. There simply is no such thing as manipulating chance. Probability calculation is an exact science. Although it might feel a bit counterintuitive, the chance of the winning Continue reading →

Song of the day: Gramophonedzie – Why Don’t You

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Like most of us, you probably thought you did not know any musician from Serbia. Well, that’s about to change: in a minute, you will either realize that you already knew one, but simply didn’t realize he was Serbian, or you will soon know one after listening to this super catchy Why Don’t You.

Gramophonedzie is a Serbian DJ best known for this song, released in 2010.

Suggestions for a slightly better world #2

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Traffic Jam by Lynac from SingaporeI don’t easily get angry (which was not always the case – should you want more details: keep following this blog, as a future post will be on anger management), but some things can cause a small internal eruption of the human equivalent of lava. One of them is linked to a specific situation in traffic. Or rather a collection of cases whereby a healthy dose of courteous behaviour is best practice: in traffic jams, when a pedestrian wants to cross the street (with no zebra crossing nearby), when a car wants to leave a parking during heavy traffic, to name only a few examples. Continue reading →

Quote of the day #8

“Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress, therefore, depends on unreasonable people.”

George Bernard Shaw
(in any collection of quotes, it’s inevitable for him to pop up sooner or later)
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Song of the day: Staygold – Wallpaper (feat. Style of Eye & Pow)

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When I get a new phone (I’m already dropping the prefix smart- to keep this post relevant for future use: we will soon all consider the term smartphone as something only older people use – compare it to the people still talking about a digital camera, while all of us are simply using camera to refer to these devices) I also pick a new ringtone. Requirements: catchy from the first few tones, not too loud, and an intro that covers at least the time it takes my voicemail to be activated.

This time I chose Wallpaper by Staygold, so whenever you want to hear this song: just give me a call.

In case you are unlike me and find the choice of phone more important than the choice of ringtone (yes, I do realize I belong to a minority): it’s a Samsung S III Mini (the requirements were: enable me to make phone calls and send text messages; allow me to check if there are urgent e-mails when I’m traveling; not necessitate the purchase of pants with oversized pockets).

Quote of the day #7

“Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”

Allen Saunders, American writer, journalist and cartoonist
(usually mis-attributed to John Lennon, who used it later)
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Hotel showers and how to conquer them

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For my job, I regularly have to travel to various countries across Europe and often this involves spending one or a few nights in a hotel room. Which usually come with a decent bathroom (I’m not going to go into the details of the time when a room pre-booked room turned out to come with something called a shared bathroom – suffice it ot say that the core problem is that it is cleaned only once a day, not after each indidual use of the shared facility).
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Using most of the equipment in those bathrooms in a proper way is pretty straightforward, although flushing the toilet can require several attempts of pushing or pulling things that are part of or can be found in the vicinity of the toilet. Continue reading →