e n t r o p y

Fun in the sun at Amsteltje StreetParty

The weather at the yearly Amsteltje streetparty was traditionally beautiful. Great music, line up included the extremely gifted street artist Chuck Deely (MP3 sample), great Indonesian food, and great drinks all around. An also as every year the English had to start streaking again :).
I made a bunch of pictures, check them out >here

Today is Towel Day

"A towel is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value - you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine soredly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or to avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (a mindboggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you - daft as a brush, but very ravenous); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough."

In memory of Douglas Adams, in celebration of his work (and things to come).

"They Rule" - for all your conspiracy theories

Beautifully crafted Flash site on the rulers of corporate America. Find the shortest connection between directors of companies. Great site, go there now!
Or visit the related weblog...

Amsteltje Soapbox Team finishes 6th

Unfortunately the soapbox racing team of Het Amsteltje failed to win the Red Bull Soapbox Race. Despite extensive training and test sessions (see the speed trial below where eventually speeds of 85 km/h were reached) the team finished 6th in a field of 126 competitors. So a very good result by any standards, except Paulus's. More impressions here.

One to get you through the week

I can't help smiling watching this one. Simple, cute remedy against the minor set backs in life. Watch it here, if your bandwidth allows for it (4,7 Mb).

Is she Britney Spears?

Seems to be all around things of beauty today. A large weblog storm has been raging around a post of Channel 96. They claim they have received one of the six photographs Playboy took of Britney Spears. Playboy is assumed to have payed a total of 40 million dollars for the shoot. A well, all shall be revealed (...) soon enough. Otherwise it is one of the best fake/stand in jobs I have ever seen. As always, click on the image to judge for yourself...
UPDATE: Turns out she is a model called Emmie...

Or if you want a hilarious inside view in the secrets of the starts check this out (note: need some bandwidth for this one). Brought to you by ZipperFish.

Orange County Choppers

While on the subject of design, see the galleries of Orange County Choppers for some stunning bike design. You probably know these guys from the Discovery Channel series...
Or you can buy some goodies from their webshop...

Great design (most of the time)

I found this excellent site on design via Willy Dobbe. The post there was on the invention you see on the left, a teacup with a lock for people who are fed up with their cup being used by others in the office.
Exploring the site a bit further I found out it house a massive amount of excellent stuff on design. As well as the always comprehensive history of useless inventions. Or everything you need to know about robots.
Well worth a visit if design IS your cup of tea, guaranteed to keep you browsing for a while...

Falling in love causes gender-bender changes

Falling in love -- that crazy, blissful feeling -- causes gender-bender changes in men and women's testosterone levels. A study by an Italian researcher shows that when couples fall in love their testosterone levels alter. It falls in men and rises in women so they become more like each other.
"Men who were in love had lower levels of the male sex hormone testosterone -- linked to aggression and sex drive -- than other men," New Scientist magazine said Wednesday. "Love-struck women, in contrast, had higher levels of testosterone than their counterparts." Donatella Marazziti, a scientist at the University of Pisa in Italy, made the discovery after studying 24 people in love. "It's as if nature wants to eliminate what can be different in men and women, because it's important to survive at this stage," she said.
Not all scientists agree with Marazziti's interpretation of the results and some say changing testosterone levels could be a result of increased sexual activity.
But whatever the reason it doesn't last long. Two years later, when the same people were tested again and were no longer madly in love, their testosterone levels were back to normal.
[Source: Reuters]
Model: Alessandra Ambrosio (Brasil)

Microsoft - New publication on integration patterns

View the Preview Release of Integration Patterns, which extends the Microsoft pattern catalog into the area of enterprise integration. Integration Patterns uses a representative scenario to trace integration architecture and design patterns to implementations that use Microsoft products.
Make sure to see the Global Bank scenario, very clear dissertation, very insightful.