blog.forret.com » Society

Pecha Kucha Brussels

Peter — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 20:48:32 +0000

I know I’m a bit late,and Ine, Bruno, Bart and … have already given their opinions, but I still needed an excuse to post some pictures of the event, so: last weekend I went to Pecha Kucha Brussels!

As everyone already mentioned, one presentation really jumped out: professor Jean Paul van Bendegem with his presentation “Wunderkammer”. It started with the painting “The origin of the world” by Gustave Courbet, which is essentially a frontal view of the crotch of a naked woman, which of course is a good way to catch the audience’s attention.

He then started free associating via freemasonry, over the Sherlock Holmes society, over women’s bottoms, the painting of the nude woman in court (I forget the details) and ended with the painting of a man’s crotch called “The origin of war”. There was no real message, but the voyage was vivid and entertaining.

From the other speeches, I remember the BioMODD, a (game server) computer designed by Angelo Vermeulen as a living organism (with algae and fish in the cooling system), Jan Vandenbergh’s fascination with the number ‘8′ and a removable park designed as a huge carpet of artificial grass. The rest was less interesting to quite simply boring.

I must say I like the Pecha Kucha formula, however. 20 slides of 20 seconds each makes for a turbo-speech of 6′40″. It can be brilliant, but in cases where it isn’t, the end is probably less than 5 minutes away. The Brussels edition had a lot of architecture speakers, which is not surprising when you consider the concept was created by people from an architecteral bureau in Tokyo, but still, some more variation would have been nice. Overall, the organiser Alok Nandi did a good job. I think I will go to #3.

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World clock (Poodwaddle)

Peter — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 10:55:46 +0000

One person dying per second, two being born. Not sure all the stats are accurate, but a fascinating view on the world’s day-to-day evolution.

Poodwaddle.com

via celsias.com

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If Kate Moss and Inspector Morse had a baby

Peter — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 16:16:06 +0000

Ok, she’s not Kate Moss, and he’s not Inspector Morse, but you get the general idea. If you father a child once you’re past 70 years old, the kid’s gonna have bags under the eyes.

made with www.faceresearch.org/demos/baby – via infosthetics.com

On a totally unrelated note: thanks for all the nice emails, SMSes, IM’s and other Facebook pokes I received for my 38th birthday. If I didn’t reply immediately: I had a wonderful weekend with the woman I love. I can only hope the rest of the year will continue on the same elan.

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my PersonalDNA

Peter — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 09:29:16 +0000

If you want to hear a lot of compliments about yourself that sound more-or-less correct, take the PersonalDNA test.

You’re in touch with what is going on around you and adept at remaining down-to-earth and logical.

Although you’re detail-oriented, this doesn’t mean that you lose the big picture.

You tend to find beauty in form and efficiency, as opposed to finding it in broad-based, abstract concepts.

Never one to pass on an adventure, you’re consistently seeking and finding new things, even in your immediate surroundings.

Because of this eagerness to pursue new experiences, you’ve learned a lot; your attention to detail means that you gain a great deal from your adventures.

The intellectual curiosity that drives you leads you to seek out causes of and reasons behind things.

…

You don’t mind being in social situations, as you feel comfortable enough with people to be yourself.

Your caring nature goes beyond a basic concern: you take the time to understand the nuances of people’s situations before passing any sort of judgment.

You’re a good listener, and even better at offering advice.

You’re concerned with others at both an individual and societal level—you sympathize with the plights of troubled groups, and you can care about people you’ve never met.

via bnox

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The Good Wife’s Guide

Peter — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 09:36:36 +0000

This is how women were advised to behave as a perfect spouse in 1955.

The Good Wife’s Guide (1955) (Flickr)

Be a little gay and a little more interesting for him. His boring day may need a lift and one of your duties is to provide it.

Listen to him. You may have a dozen important things to tell him, but the moment of his arrival is not the time. Let him talk first – remember, his topics of conversation are more important than yours.

Don’t complain if he’s late for dinner or even if he stays out all night. Count this as minor compared to what he might have gone through at work.

Don’t ask him questions about his actions or question his judgment or integrity. Remember, he is the master of the house and as such will always exercise his will with fairness and truthfulness. You have no right to question him.

A good wife always knows her place.

Actually, this is probably a fake ad. One guy claims he found the actual Housekeeping Monthly article and posted a ’scanned’ picture on Flickr too, but since it is an image copy (with identical underlining) of the images that circulate everywhere, it’s not really credible. Both Snopes and Wikipedia suspect that it’s a fake. I think it’s too much over the top too: “his topics of conversation are more important than yours”, “A good wife always knows her place”, that’s clearly written by a man to disturb women. Maybe someone at an advertising agency with too much free time on his hands?

Best soundtrack to this article: Daan’s Housewife

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WTF: face rip-off

Peter — Sun, 20 May 2007 21:24:27 +0000

First I thought it was just another spam email, but it wasn’t. One of my Chinese subscribers sent me an message to warn me that some guy from Antwerp is using my picture on his profile for AsianEuro, a site where Asian and European singles hook up.

So this guy describes himself as ‘attractive’ but puts a photo of someone else on his profile? If anyone knows this 26y old single psychologist called ‘Tom’ who loves football and snowboard, star sign Libra, length 185cm, from Antwerp (how many can there be?) could they give me his coordinates? I’d like that picture removed before I end up with a Chinese stalker.

Thx Susan!

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Virgo

Peter — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 08:00:11 +0000

You are 67% Virgo

How Virgo Are You?

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Melancholic

Peter — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 08:00:54 +0000

You Have a Melancholic Temperament

Introspective and reflective, you think about everything and anything.
You are a soft-hearted daydreamer. You long for your ideal life.
You love silence and solitude. Everyday life is usually too chaotic for you.

Given enough time alone, it’s easy for you to find inner peace.
You tend to be spiritual, having found your own meaning of life.
Wise and patient, you can help people through difficult times.

At your worst, you brood and sulk. Your negative thoughts can trap you.
You are reserved and withdrawn. This makes it hard to connect to others.
You tend to over think small things, making decisions difficult.

What Temperment Are You?

Brain gender Your Brain is 60% Female, 40% Male Your brain...
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I’m a 7

Peter — Sat, 22 Jul 2006 08:00:40 +0000

You Are 7: The Enthusiast

You are outgoing and playful – always seeing the happy side to life.

You’re enthusiastic and excitable. You love anything new.

Multi-talented, you do many things well… and find success easy.

You prefer to keep things light with others. Opening up is hard for you.

What Number Are You?

Myers-Briggs typology: I’m an ENFP Background I have never been a big believer in astrology....

Homage to beer

Peter — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 08:00:56 +0000

You Are Barney

You could have been an intellectual leader…

Instead, your whole life is an homage to beer

You will be remembered for: your beautiful singing voice and your burps

Your life philosophy: “There’s nothing like beer to give you that inflated sense of self-esteem.”

The Simpsons Personality Test

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Brain gender

Peter — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 08:00:38 +0000

Your Brain is 60% Female, 40% Male

Your brain is a healthy mix of male and female
You are both sensitive and savvy
Rational and reasonable, you tend to keep level headed
But you also tend to wear your heart on your sleeve

What Gender Is Your Brain?

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The Five Factor Personality Profile

Peter — Wed, 19 Jul 2006 08:00:53 +0000

Your Five Factor Personality Profile

Extroversion:

You have medium extroversion.
You’re not the life of the party, but you do show up for the party.
Sometimes you are full of energy and open to new social experiences.
But you also need to hibernate and enjoy your “down time.”

Conscientiousness:

You have medium conscientiousness.
You’re generally good at balancing work and play.
When you need to buckle down, you can usually get tasks done.
But you’ve been known to goof off when you know you can get away with it.

Agreeableness:

You have medium agreeableness.
You’re generally a friendly and trusting person.
But you also have a healthy dose of cynicism.
You get along well with others, as long as they play fair.

Neuroticism:

You have low neuroticism.
You are very emotionally stable and mentally together.
Only the greatest setbacks upset you, and you bounce back quickly.
Overall, you are typically calm and relaxed – making others feel secure.

Openness to experience:

Your openness to new experiences is high.
In life, you tend to be an early adopter of all new things and ideas.
You’ll try almost anything interesting, and you’re constantly pushing your own limits.
A great connoisseir of art and beauty, you can find the positive side of almost anything.

The Five Factor Personality Test

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