Lifestyle: another weekend on planet Earth

Another boring weekend in Brussels… grey skies, depressing weather, boring city. And yet quite a lot has happened. Not only here, throughout the world.

Not far from here, in Paris, at Roland Garros, the usual suspects won again (the glacial Justine Henin in a super fast match and the tennis machine Nadal, for the third time in a row, a muscled but passionless match).

At the same time, still in Europe, Mr Bush visited Albania, first visit of an american president to that country. That was a clear support to the independence of Kosovo, against the will of Serbia, which counts with the support of Russia. George Bush rejected in Tirana a “dialogue without ending” as regards the future of Kosovo and indicated that he was ready to support Kosovo’s independence even without the agreement of Russia. As a way of convincing Serbia, he indicated that Serbia could join the European Union. Amazing, since when does he decide what happens with the EU ?

In th emeantime, the big leaders of the G8 were meeting. At least they were nice enough to invite the leaders of some emerging powers, like Brasil, Mexico, South Africa India and China. But what about the poor powers, like Mali, Burkina Fasso, Bolivia, Mozambique or Vietnam? Shouldn't these issues be debated in the United Nations? Does the world need a G8, or G200?

Entre-temps, élections législatives en Belgique. Le pays tourne très nettement à droite. La coalition violette entre libéraux flamands et socialistes est finie. Au niveau fédéral belge la droite gagne bien, avec les trois premiers partis tous de droite, représentant 42,5% des votes. Les socialistes n’arrivent qu’après, 22% entre les deux socialistes, flamands et francophones… Le CD&V (chrétiens démocrates flamands) arrive comme prévu en tête des élections, avec 31 % des voix en Flandres( 28% en Belgique). Yves Leterme (son chef) a plaidé pour "Plus de sécurité, plus de justice et une réforme de l'Etat moderne, c'étaient les objectifs de notre programme et dès demain ce sera notre fil conducteur". On voit quelles sont les préoccupations de ce parti. La principale est l’indépendance de la Flandres ou au moins plus de pouvoir pour les régions fédérales. Leterme (tiens, un nom d'origine francophone) pourrait être le prochain (jeune, il a seulement 46 ans) Premier ministre belge, mais faut il attendre beaucoup de quelqu’un qui dit que les wallons (les habitants francophones du sud du pays) n’ont pas la capacité intellectuelle d’apprendre le flamand?

Le Vlaams Belang (parti d’extrême droite fasciste flamand) est maintenant le deuxième parti en Flandres avec 19% des votes! (et le troisième parti en Belgique, avec 12%). En même temps, les socialistes du nord et du sud sont en clair recul. En Wallonie le Parti Socialiste (PS) gagne encore avec 33% mais perd beaucoup de votes. Le parti Ecolo (verts) est en nette progression avec 10,5%. A Bruxelles, le MR (droite) gagne avec 23% et le PS arrive deuxième avec 14%. Mais même le Vlaams Belang y a pu obtenir 9,7% des votes (!), ce qui veut dire qu’une partie significative de la population flamandophone de Bruxelles a voté pour les fascistes. Mal, très mal. Bon résultat aussi à Bruxelles pour Ecolo (plus de 8%, en nette progression). Pas de quoi se réjouir, les élections belges. Il faut expliquer, pour les innocents, que dans ce pays (?) il n’y a pas de partis à niveau fédéral, mais qu’il y a des partis flamands et des partis francophones. Et oui, ils n'ont écrit leurs programmes que dans une seule langue. Au fait les langues, dans ce pays, au lieu de servir d’instrument de communication, servent souvent de facteur de ségrégation.
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A coté, en France, élections aussi pour l’assemblée Nationale (Parlement). Importante abstention, cette fois. Après la grande victoire de Nicolas Sarkozy dans les présidentielles, le parti de droite UMP du président est arrivé très largement en tête du 1er tour des législatives et devrait détenir une écrasante majorité à l'Assemblée, selon les instituts de sondages (faudra encore attendre le deuxième tour dans une semaine). En France on n'a pas un système proportionnel, si les candidats n'arrivent pas à obtenir 50% des votes au premier tour (25% de votes), il devront aller à un deuxième tour, qui aura lieu dans une semaine, le 17 juin.
L'UMP (droite) et ses alliés auront obtenu entre 45,6 et 46,4% des voix et devrait détenir entre 400 et plus de 500 des 577 sièges de l’Assemblée. Les socialistes (PS) n’auront qu’entre 35,6 et 35,7%, selon les sondages. Ils n'auraient qu’entre 69 et 170 sièges, très peu par rapport aux (déjà limités) 149 sièges actuelles. Le parti de Bayrou (Modem) par contre, n'a pas réussi un grand exploit, comme lors des présidentielles.

Le Premier Ministre, M. François Fillon, a indique que les électeurs veulent "donner un cap à la France". Il faut dire que ceci est difficile à avaler. Il semblerait que les électeurs ont une mémoire courte, puisque c’était justement ce parti qui était au pouvoir en France, lors des dernières années, et M. Sarkozy aussi, faisait depuis longtemps parti du même gouvernement. En plus il fau dire que depuis 1978 que le meme parti n’était pas reconduit dans le pouvoir en France. Alors je me demande comment peut ont appeler cette victoire un "cap"… Bien sur, Sarkozy y est pour beaucoup, avec une stratégie politique très intelligente, les résultats le démontrent, mais sera cette concentration de pouvoirs autour d’un seul homme positive, à la longue? On en reparlera dans quatre ans.
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On 10 June, the national day and of the Portuguese communities around the world was celebrated in Portugal. In Setúbal, military chars paraded and the president Cavaco Silva made a (boring) speech about the recent changes in the Portuguese armed forces, which were reduced from 300,000 man some 25 years ago to some 40,000 nowadays (now only professional). But why do we still have military parades on the national holiday? Aren’t there more interesting things to do? Other activities, speeches, something more creative? Or is it just an unavoidable formality?
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Something cultural as well… In Lisbon, the Book Fair in Park Edward VII ended and it seems that book sales increased between 30 and 50% from last year. Is this a sign that the economic chrisis is over? Or did the “alfacinhas” (Lisbon inhabitants) feel a sudden urge to read books?
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And in Venice, Italy, the 52nd Biennale opened to the public this weekend. It is the world's oldest and highest-profile international art exhibition, is to in northern Italy.
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Finally, Daniel Ortega, the president of Nicaragua, asked for a new world economic order which replaces capitalism and liberalism. He was in Iran, looking for support and investments for agriculture in his country. I agree with him, but maybe not in the same way. In any case, Chaves and Ahmadinedjad get a new ally in their crusade against Bush and the US.

Et voilà pour un weekend très animé… hélas pas ici.
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Lifestyle: Get a Second Life!

Do you already have a SECOND LIFE? if not, what are you waiting? Nowadays, the internet allows us more and more to escape boring everyday routine, meet "interesting" people all around the globe (why be limited to your boring next door neighbours or your uncreative work colleagues?), get to know people with who you have things in common, join different communities with similar interests, date interesting people, etc. The problem with a lot of those is that it is all quite 'virtual' and hardly ever goes 'real'.

Just think of MySpace, Hi5, Tunefeed, Meetic, gaydar, gayromeo, Youtube, MSN, and all those 'virtual communities'. Many of those have become quite trendy and if you don't have a profile there, you're NO one... It goes so far that there are even companies that 'create' fake 'friends' to fill your Myspace page (www.fakeyourspace.com). And not even Wikipedia escapes with 'fake' people writing fake 'facts' about the most different issues.

But now there's SECOND LIFE and that goes even further. With this virtual game (although it's not really a game) you can re-invent yourself or create multiple characters, become the gorgeous one you always dreamt of, etc, do all the things you never had the courage to in real life. And who knows, after all, whether this is not all a dream within a dream. Or if in our 'real world', we are only the 'avatars' of some bored beings somewhere out there in another dimension?

So what is SECOND LIFE after all? as wikipedia describes it:

"Second Life (abbreviated as SL) is an Internet-based virtual world which came to international attention via mainstream news media in late 2006 and early 2007. Developed by Linden Lab, a downloadable client program enables its users, called "Residents", to interact with each other through motional avatars [characters or profiles], providing an advanced level of a social network service combined with general aspects of a metaverse. Residents can explore, meet other Residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities, create and trade items (virtual property) and services from one another.
Second Life is one of several virtual worlds that have been inspired by the cyberpunk literary movement, and particularly by Neal Stephenson's novel Snow Crash. The stated goal of Linden Lab is to create a world like the Metaverse described by Stephenson, a user-defined world of general use in which people can interact, play, do business, and otherwise communicate. Second Life's virtual currency is the Linden Dollar (Linden, or L$) and is exchangeable for US Dollars in a marketplace consisting of residents, Linden Lab and real life companies.
While Second Life is sometimes referred to as a game, it does not have points, scores, winners or losers, levels, an end-strategy, or most of the other characteristics of games. In all, more than five million accounts have been registered, though many are not active, and some Residents have multiple accounts. Despite its prominence, Second Life has notable competitors, including Active Worlds, There, and newcomers such as Entropia Universe, Dotsoul Cyberpark, Red Light Center, and Kaneva."

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SL is a virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents. It has been so successful that it went from 1 million avatars in the beginning of 2006 to some 6 million profiles around the globe, by the beginning of 2007. It doesn't mean that there are as many as 6 million people using SL, in fact some people may create several characters. Indeed, why get bored? But it shows the growing interest it is creating.

As the site says "From the moment you enter the World of SL, you'll discover a vast digital continent, full of people, entertainment, experiences and opportunity. Once you've explored a bit, perhaps you'll find a perfect parcel of land to build your house or business. You'll also be surrounded by different creations of your fellow residents. Because residents retain the rights to their digital creations, they can buy, sell and trade with other residents."

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So what are you waiting for? Go explore the virtual world of SL...

Sport: championat du monde de Rugby 2007

Portugal make history to qualify for the Rugby World Cup 2007 in France:

Portugal’s remarkable Rugby World Cup 2007 qualification campaign has ended in joy as the Lobos hung on to complete a 24-23 aggregate victory over Uruguay in Montevideo to book a place at the finals for the first time.

C’est sûrement la première fois que je parle de sport ici… mais bon, ce n’est que pour rendre compte que le sport au Portugal n’est pas seulement le foot… La sélection portugaise de rugby vient d’être qualifiée pour la première fois pour un championnat du monde de rugby qui aura lieu en France, septembre prochain. Elle a difficilement éliminé hier l’Uruguay lors du dernier match de qualification. Elle participera donc dans le groupe C, avec la Nouvelle Zélande, l’Ecosse, l’Italie et la Roumanie. Il n’y a que 20 sélections qui participent, parmi lesquelles les favorites de Nouvelle Zélande, France, Australie et Angleterre…Ils seront très probablement les derniers mais c'est pas grave. L'important est d'y être.

Beijo colectivo em Lisboa

(foto André Kosters/Lusa)

O 'beijame' aconteceu. Foi neste sábado passado, no miradouro de Santa Catarina, em Lisboa. A iniciativa do MAL"Movimento Acorda Lisboa" teve beijos para todos os gostos, com e sem língua, consentidos, roubados, amigáveis, etc. Segundo os organizadores, houve mais mirones (voyeurs) do que actores (beijos), de resto lamentou a «inibição» dos lisboetas pela fraca adesão.
Mas a ideia é interessante e integra-se na filosofia do Movimento, que surgiu de "uma conversa de café" e que quer levar os lisboetas a "desfrutar a cidade", a divertir-se. Neste caso, o objectivo era levar as pessoas a vencerem as inibições, beijarem-se em público e deixarem-se fotografar. O Movimento tem uma página na Internet onde divulga as iniciativas, "sem fim lucrativo", que visam encorajar os alfacinhas (lisboetas) a conhecerem melhor a sua cidade e deixarem de ser "cinzentos". Convenhamos, é bem preciso, nos últimos tempos as coisas não têm andado muito bem para Lisboa, já normalmente com tendências "tristes"...

"O MAL- Movimento Acorda Lisboa, produziu este evento com todos aqueles que quiseram mostrar que esta rua é linda, que viver a cidade na rua é um prazer de partilha, de ver e ser visto de procurar… Nessa senda procuramos os exibicionistas e os voyeurs. Acreditamos profundamente numa comunicação aberta, numa linguagem explícita tão esclarecida e adulta como despretensiosa. Abaixo o tabu! Os voyeurs bateram os exibicionistas em número o que apenas significa que as muitas imagens que irão agora chegar ao beijame.org e a inúmeros blogs vão roer de inveja a quem não teve a coragem de dar um passo em frente!"

Lê mais e vê fotos em: http://www.beijame.org/

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Lifestyle: positive eating @ Wagamama

Wagamama is nowadays a minimalist/sleek canteen style restaurant chain (it's not fast food but it's quite fast…) serving japanese style food at reasonable prices. I still remember queuing in London's first of two restaurants, close to the British Museum, ages ago. In the meantime, after fourteen years, they’ve opened more than 70 restaurants worldwide - in London and throughout the UK, in Europe (Ireland, Netherlands, Antwerp in Belgium, Copenhagen and Istanbul) and even in Dubai and Australia.

The Wagamama is an experience of positive eating + positive living, as they claim. The concept is based on the ramen (noodle soup) shops popular in Japan. Ramen are chinese-style thread noodles, served in soups with delicious toppings or griddle-cooked (teppan-fried). Their rice dishes are also good as well as the excellent fresh fruit juices. There's a variety of side dishes including meat and vegetable dumplings, deep-fried prawns and in particular the gyozas (the duck ones with a spicy cherry hoi sin sauce are excellent!)…They told me they would open a Wagamama in Brussels a couple of years ago butI'm still waiting… anyway they are franchising now… so why nottry open one near you? ... luckily Antwerp is just half an hour drive away.

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Is love a drug?

Is love a drug?

"Amor é fogo que arde, sem se ver" Camões


New research suggests love may be a drive as primal as thirst or hunger. That seems to be one of the conclusions of a research conducted with lovesick college students.


In a brain imaging study a couple of years ago, Dr Arthur Aron, Professor at Stony Brook University, found that the students being tested (who had recently fallen madly in love) couldn't stop thinking about their partners. “That illustrates what a powerful force romantic love is”, said Aron. But, contrary to popular opinion, that force is not an emotion, he says. Rather, it is a motivational state, perhaps one as fundamental as hunger and thirst.
Recent research by Aron and others supports this theory. Magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies show that dopamine-rich areas of the brain light up when we think about a romantic partner. Such brain regions, such as the ventral tegmental area (VTA), are known as the motivation and reward system, and appear to activate whenever people get something they deeply desire—food, water, cocaine or perhaps a girl- or boyfriend's phone call, for instance. Some behavioral research, as well as people's description of romantic love, lends further support to the theory, Aron says. “For many people, the experience of falling in love is like being in a desert and suddenly seeing water out there,” notes Aron.”The fact that love, like thirst, can lead to a wide variety of intense feelings suggests that it's closer to being a drive than an emotion in its own right. People tend to think when you are in love you are happy, but love can also mean feeling anxious, angry, sad,” says Brown. (yep, we know that... been there…).


Another still unpublished study (by Bianca Acevedo) seems to confirm Brown's thesis. When students were given five target terms—anger, fear, joy, sadness or love— and asked to relate them to a list of 69 emotion words (affection, jealousy, bliss...), she found that people checked off about seven more list items when given the target term “love” than they did with the other terms! And what's more, both positive and negative words were linked to “love,” whereas the word “joy” only got positive associations. She concluded that “love”, in general, operates differently than emotions.

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Drug-like effects
It seems that all the basic drives are associated with the dopamine system, and so seems to be with romantic love. The increase in energy that people experience when they fall in “love” — their ability to stay up all night talking—may be due to a flush of dopamine. Dopamine-system activation is also related to focused attention, causing the feeling that one person is the new center of one’s world. Taken together, all the studies make believe that “love” acts somehow like cocaine, which also works through the dopamine system and causes intense craving. It seems that all addictions are associated with dopamine in one way or another… In any way, seeing love as an intense drive to be close to someone, rather than an emotion, may help professionals understand what people feel when they miss their loved-ones.

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Love's not sex
Most people think romantic love and sexual desire go hand in hand, and that you can't have one without the other. But while the goal of sexual desire is sexual union for the purpose of reproduction, romantic love is governed by the attachment with the goal of maintaining an enduring the bond between two individuals. Sexual desire is driven by the gonadal hormones of estrogens and androgens. Animal research indicates that attachment is mediated by the neuropeptide oxytocin (and it seems that a more robust oxytocin-receptor network is present in the female brain). While researchers think sexual desire is a key ingredient to passionate love, there seems to be a difference between what people find sexually attractive and what they find romantically attractive. It seems that “What turns you on physically is not necessarily what turns you on romantically”.

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The eternal question: Does love last?
One school of thought thinks love is destined to end and that every flame dies down, another finds it all depends on the lovers...
Elaine Hatfield, a psychology professor at the University of Hawaii who has been studying love since the 1960s says “Passionate love provides a high, like drugs, and you can't stay high forever”... but companionate love as well —the less passionate, but affectionate emotion that is associated with more long-term commitment—declines over time, she adds. In a study performed in 1981, she and fellow social psychologist Jane Traupmann found that passionate love decreased precipitously over time. It seems that love decreased for men and satisfaction decreased for both sexes. However, for the couples who managed to stay together, measures of commitment increased. The question is what keeps marriages and other long-term relationships going? Hatfield believes that passionate love comes back intermittently, like small sparks that keep the relationship alive.


Conversely, psychologist Robert J. Sternberg, thinks that love doesn't have to decline, but in order for it to flourish, both partners must share the same love “story.” He believes that most people seem to see “love” as story-based, because “people seem to relate strongly to love stories”. In a research conducted in the 90ies Sternberg identified about 25 types of story that people use to describe love. As he detailed in his book “Love is a story” (1998. New York: Oxford University Press), the stories range from the “travel” story (“I believe that beginning a relationship is like starting a new journey that promises to be both exciting and challenging”) to the “humor” story (“I think taking a relationship too seriously can spoil it”) to the “autocratic government” story (“I think it is more efficient if one person takes control of the important decisions in a relationship”). In a study published in 2001 Sternberg and his co-authors found that the type of story wasn't the deciding factor in forming a lasting relationship, but having a matching story... He adds “It's not the only thing that makes a relationship work, but it's important”. “If the stories don't match, sooner or later people become unhappy or unfulfilled,” he found, adding that the more people's stories matched, the happier they were.

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Doesn't matter how these mechanisms work... here's to chemistry and biology for the wonders they perform... and in the end, maybe the dopamine effects fade away with time... but as brasilian singer and poet Vinicius de Moraes wrote, "let love not be eternal because nothing in this life is, but let it be infinite while it lasts". Thanks dopamine!

... so, do you share a romantic love story with someone?

read the whole story here.
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Bruxelles: Catch-impro

Catch-impro: 'lute' théâtrale

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Suggestion de Vazy encore... moi je craque pour l'affiche (poster)! :-)

"Rien à voir avec Hulk Hogan ni Macho Man au 210, jeudi soir. Non ! En revanche, la compagnie Tadam affrontera sur le ring les improvisateurs français de Lyon. Cette lutte théâtrale à mort, colorée et déjantée à souhait, puise son originalité scénographique parmi les éléments fondateurs du catch américain. Ambiance surchauffée et coups bas verbaux seront donc bien sûr au rendez-vous. Vendredi ce sera le tour de Strasbourg : même lieu, même heure."

Bruxelles: ... et encore Bulex!

BULEX

> et encore Bulex samedi...

"Pour ceux qui en ont marre des clubs et des "moi-je-suis-plus-beau-et-mieux-sapé-que-toi" (I am better looking & more muscled than you), la très cool asbl Bulex propose des fêtes riches en rencontres et en amusements, et surtout sans prise de tête ! En plus, une Bulex, c'est vraiment pas cher ! Vazy rappele aussi qu'il y a les "Jeudibars" à la même adresse tous les jeudis, histoire de débuter le week-end un peu en avance...

Bruxelles: des activités pour tous les goûts

BRXL BRAVO - Bruxelles fête des arts/ arts festival

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Pendant le weekend du 2 au 4 mars, "une fête entièrement dédiée aux arts dans une ville bouillonnante de talents et de défis. Durant trois jours, partout dans la ville, à l’intérieur comme à l’extérieur, assistez à une multitude d’événements dans une explosion de couleurs, musique, danse, théâtre,... !"

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pour des infos cliquez ici!

HAPPY NEW YEAR OF THE PIG !!!

(photo: Reuters)

View your card here!

The New chinese year of the PIG is here! The pig is one of 12 signs named after 12 different animals on the Chinese zodiac, which follows the lunar calendar. Unlike the Western zodiac of 12 signs a year, Chinese horoscopes follow a system of one animal sign per year, for a 12-year period. People born in pig years are hardworking, loyal, honest, polite and lucky, obliging, loyal, indulgent, truthful, impartial, intelligent, sincere, and culturedaccording to Chinese astrology. Fortune tellers say this is a "golden pig" year, which comes around only once every 60 years, so the Chinese welcomed the new year worldwide in particularly exuberant style with the bangs and whistles of millions of fireworks.

Want to find out more about your chinese sign? Check here!

Lifestyle: How to avoid a kitschy Valentine…

Every year, as Valentine’s day approaches, shops make up their windows with pink and kitschy decorations, magazines publish ads for romantic weekends or intimate escapes, as do websites, publicizing the most beautiful flowers, cards and other gifts to offer the beloved one(s)… with perfect ideas for the most original gift and to escape routine. And many restaurants and hotels ride on the wave and offer exquisite packages and exotic and aphrodisiac menus, enticing those who wish to celebrate Valentine’s day in a more ‘classical’ way.

This was a very popular date celebrated mostly in the US but it has spread quite fast in Europe and shops have exploited it more in recent years, seeing in it as another market possibility to expand business between Christmas and Easter.

But now, do you wish to spend the evening in a restaurant next to other supposedly romantic couples without any intimacy expressing your love to your beloved one? Or do you feel compelled to send cards and buy flowers to your husband/ wife/ lover or boy-/girlfriend just because it’s Valentine’s day? And because maybe ‘she’ expects something (I guess the ‘hes’ care less about the date…). Or do you feel frustrated and miserable if no one sends you a card or offers you flowers or invites you for a romantic evening?

Well, if you don’t give a s*** about this date, now you don’t have to commit suicide (it seems that suicide rates go up these days, as they go around new year or before the proms in the US, when silly American teenagers feel miserable and think it is unbearable to have no date…). But only if you are American… The company Alibi Network has specialised in finding alibis to suit your needs to avoid having to celebrate Valentine’s day. For an amount from 35 to over 1000 US$, Alibi develops scenarios to cheat the wife, the husband, the lover and keep you out of trouble. It seems that this year men are eager to cheat their lovers rather than their wives…
As they say, “Politicians have spin doctors, celebrities have publicists, corporations
have lawyers and public relations departments, investment banks have analysts, now regular people have Alibi network”.

So why be sad or stressed? Get an alibi or just forget the pink, get a martini and avoid the blues…

... and again, a HAPPY, HEALTHY AND PEACEFUL NEW YEAR!

(click on the picture to enlarge & read... or scroll further down for a better quality one...)

Lifestyle: Global Orgasm ?

Approaching X-mas and the end of the year, a group of north-american pacifists propose the absolute weapon to stop war in the world: a planetary orgasm, to generate positive energy!

As is written in their website,
"The mission of the Global Orgasm is to effect change in the energy field of the Earth through input of the largest possible surge of human energy. (...) The intent is that the participants concentrate any thoughts during and after orgasm on peace. The combination of high- energy orgasmic energy combined with mindful intention may have a much greater effect than previous mass meditations and prayers. The goal is to add so much concentrated and high-energy positive input into the energy field of the Earth that it will reduce the current dangerous levels of aggression and violence throughout the world. (...) This is the First Annual Solstice Synchronized Global Orgasm for Peace, leading up to the December Solstice of 2012, when the Mayan Calendar ends with a new beginning."

The Global Orgasm experiment is open to everybody throughout the world, so on December 22... you know how to contribute to world peace. It may not work, but at least no one can blame you for not trying...

The organisors hope that the results will register on the worldwide monitor system of the Global Consciousness Project. That project, launched by a team of international researchers, wishes to demonstrate that there is a link between human consciousness and the physical world.

As regards the orgasm... it will be hard to achieve the target but the gesture is very positive. So on December 22, you know what to do...

read on Weekend le Vif, by Frédéric Brébant (www.lapremiere.be)

Lifestyle: Stoppons le Nouvel An...

L'organisation Fonacon, "Front d'opposition à la nouvelle année du comité d'organisation national", va organiser le 31 décembre à Nantes une grande "manifestation festive" pour dire "non à 2007"... ça vous dit? Partez sur Nantes et restez en 2006.

The French organization Fonacon will organise a demonstration in Nantes on December 31, to say "No to the year of 2007"... join them in Nantes and say NO!

http://www.fonacon.net/

Lifestyle: ... and some CHAMPAGNE for the new year!

Here some famous (and maybe less famous) words about champagne (courtesy of my friend Tomas):

There comes a time in every woman's life when the only thing that helps is a glass of champagne. ~ Bette Davis (in Old Acquaintance)

Champagne is the only wine that leaves a woman beautiful after drinking it.~ Madame de Pompadour

Gentlemen, in the little moment that remains to us between the crisis and the catastrophe, we may as well drink a glass of champagne. ~ Paul Claudel

Like the maturing of romance into a deeper human attachment, the making of Champagne is an art that becomes engrained in the lives of all who commit themselves. It must be conceived and created from raw materials with imagination, hard work and persistence. It doesn’t just happen. It is a lifetime work. It is a magnum opus. ~ William Kaufman, Author

Burgundy makes you think of silly things; Bordeaux makes you talk about them, and Champagne makes you do them. ~ Brillat-Savarin

If you like Champagne, you’re full of fun and love the festive. If you don’t like Champagne, you don’t know what you’re missing. ~ Parade Magazine

Whenever I drink Champagne, I either laugh or cry...I get so emotional! I love Champagne. ~ Tina Turner, American Singer

I drink champagne when I'm happy and when I'm sad. Sometimes I drink it when I'm alone. When I have company I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I'm not hungry and drink it when I am. Otherwise I never touch it - unless I'm thirsty. ~ Madame Lilly Bollinger

Champagne has the taste of an apple peeled with a steel knife. ~ Aldous Huxley

Come quickly, I am tasting the stars! ~ Dom Perignon, at the moment he discovered champagne
Champagne and orange juice is a great drink. The orange improves the champagne. The champagne definitely improves the orange. ~ Philip, Duke of Edinburgh

Some people wanted champagne and caviar when they should have had beer and hot dogs. ~ Dwight D. Eisenhower

A single glass of champagne imparts a feeling of exhilaration. The nerves are braced, the imagination is agreeably stirred; the wits become more nimble. A bottle produces the contrary effect. Excess causes a comatose insensibility. So it is with war: and the quality of both is best discovered by sipping. ~ Winston Churchill , who also during WW I told his soldiers that "Remember gentlemen, it's not just France we are fighting for, it's Champagne!" and paraphrased Napoleon, stating that "In success you deserve it, and in defeat you need it", and later in his life concluded that "Champagne should have three qualities: brut, cold and free!"

I drink champagne when I win, to celebrate . . . and I drink champagne when I lose, to console myself. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte

The effervescence of this fresh wine reveals the true brilliance of the French people. ~ VoltaireThere are only two occasions when I drink champagne, and these are: when I have game for dinner and when I haven’t. ~ S.D. Churchill, 19th century British wine merchant
No government could survive without champagne. Champagne in the throats of our diplomatic people is like oil in the wheels of an engine. ~ Joseph Dargent

In a perfect world, everyone would have a glass of Champagne every evening. ~ Willie Gluckstern

You couldn't smoke grass on the set of Dallas, I didn't want to do that, I was perfectly satisfied with my champagne. ~ Larry Hagman

Do not forget what the famous British economist George Maynard Keynes said on his death bed:
My only regret in life is that I did not drink more Champagne.

As Tomas said, to sum it up: La vie est nulle sans les bulles!

Lifestyle: the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator - better undertsanding the personality

Personality Type or Psychological Type are terms most commonly associated with the model of personality development created by Isabel Briggs Myers (aka Briggs Meyer, Meyer Briggs, Briggs & Myers ) the author of the world's most widely used personality inventory, the MBTI or Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. ® Myers' and her mother, Katharine Briggs, developed their model and inventory around the ideas and theories of psychologist Carl Jung, a contemporary of Sigmund Freud and a leading exponent of Gestalt personality theory. 2 Kinds of Mental Processes In her studies of people and extensive reading of Jung's theories, Myers concluded there were four primary ways people differed from one another. She labelled these differences "preferences" - drawing a similarity to "hand preferences" to illustrate that although we all use both of our hands, most of us have a preference for one over the other and "it" takes the lead in many of the activities in which we use our hands.

The first set of mental preferences relates to how people "Perceive" or take in information, with those who prefer Sensing Perception and those who prefer intuition perception. The second set of mental preferences identifies how people form "Judgments" or make decisions, with those who prefer Thinking Judgment and those whose preference is for Feeling Judgment. There are two other mental preferences that are part of the Myers-Briggs model: Energy Orientation and Outer World Orientation. The first one is the dimension of personality discovered by Carl Jung that became widely adopted by general psychology: Extraversion-Introversion. The second is the dimension of personality that is Myers' unique contribution to Jung's theory, an element she inferred from Jung's work but was not clearly addressed as an essential component of his theory of types. This is the style or orientation one uses in dealing with the external world: Judging or Perceiving.

The permutations of these four preference dichotomies (or tendencies I would add), result in the 16 personality types that form the basis of Myers' model and the MBTI inventory. The problem is that it is not always easy to understand which your determining or leading preferences really are. So what is your type? which “pattern” do you follow? Introverted Intuition with Feeling (infj), Introverted Feeling with Intuition (infp), Extraverted Thinking with Sensing (estj) or something else? Find out more in the MBTI site. And find out more about the 16 types here.

Lifestyle: détendez vous, c'est weekend!

Riez vous un peu, avez Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MdHnonHhI0&eurl=

Lifestyle: Bolo Rei e consumo natalício à porta

Em Portugal o Natal chega cedo. Não falo do típico "Bolo Rei", que hoje já se encontra durante todo o ano. Felizmente para quem, como eu, gosta. Mas no final de Outubro, já as iluminações estão praticamente prontas, as decorações das montras em bom ritmo e as promoções e a publicidade natalícias invadiram o quotidiano dos portugueses. Não há fuga possível a essa "febre" do Natal. Puro comercio e estratégia dos comerciantes, provavelmente numa tentativa de aumentar as vendas, em época difícil. Mas os portugueses deixam-se ir nesse consumismo e em finais de Outubro, já muitos portugueses têm as compras de Natal feitas. Estranho, pois nem na Bélgica, um país potencialmente bastante mais materialista, se vê este consumismo de Natal. Em Bruxelas as decorações começam mais tarde, assim como tudo o resto. Quem sabe, talvez seja justamente pelo espírito mais materialista e hábitos menos gastadores (para não chamar-lhe outra coisa) que aqui o comércio e as prendas de Natal têm menor expressão, parece-me. Os comerciantes e as cidades também não investem muito em grandes decorações (embora na Grand Place tenha havido decorações originais nos ultimos anos). Devo dizer que algumas decorações em certas ruas e galerias comerciais são mesmo muito pobrezinhas e tristes, quando comparadas com outros locais. A grande árvore de Natal do Terreiro do Passo? Impensável. Pobre estratégia dos comerciantes? Talvez, mas Bruxelas ainda está longe de ser uma meca de consumo como Londres ou Paris, onde as pessoas vão fazer compras de Natal. Mas a mim nada disso, nada desse desperdício de recursos me faz falta. Apenas um bom bolo rei, claro!

[english summary]

In Portugal Christmas comes early. As early as late October the streets start to get their X-mas lights, shops get their X-mas decorations and publicity and special promotions get on their way. The portuguese get in full X-mas craze. Of course there is the typical X-mas cake "Bolo Rei" (King cake), but nowadays, fortunately, one can find it all year long.

What is a bit strange is that in Brussels this seems to be much less important, with poorer decorations. Shoppers and local authorities do not seem to invest much in that and some decorations are even quite poor, for what would be expected in a city like Brussels. In recent years though, some original decorations have been installed in the Grand Place. Maybe it is all because belgians (not know for a generous spirit, like the dutch), in general, spend a lot less in X-mas presents. Anyway, personally I do not miss all that X-mas fuss, at all. But I certainly miss the "Bolo rei".

22°C à Bruxelles ce jeudi !

Ce jeudi à Bruxelles (Uccle) le thermomètre a grimpé jusqu'à 22°C. Selon Meteoservices à Louvain, le dernier record du 26 octobre vient d'être brisé puisqu'il s'élevait à 21,8°C et datait de 1913! Et il a fait non seulement doux, il y avait du soleil... Quelle différence par rapport aux tempêtes, pluie et vent qui se faisaient sentir en Espagne...
Il se peut même que le mois d'octobre constitue un record à Bruxelles... en tout cas ce sera bien au dessu de la moyenne.
Eh oui, le temps n'est plus ce qu'il était... moi je me réjoui, une Belgique plus chaude ce n'est pas si mal que ça, si on peut s'asseoir en terrasse! Mais bon, 26 jours de pluie un mois d'août c'est pas bien non plus (et quelles pluies)... le problème c'est que le climat, en Belgique et ailleurs, passe des extrêmes aux autres extrêmes... de la secheresse à la pluie, de la chaleur au froid... eh bien, avec le réchauffement de la planète... Bruxelles pourrait bientôt avoir une plage! Voilà de quoi se réjouir... Moi je cherche déjà à acheter un bon terrain avec vue de mer. Je cherche seulement l'altitude la plus convenable... 50 metres? 70?...
Et puis tant puis pour le Pays Bas, le Bangladesh, Nauru, les Maldives...

Lifestyle: the first "marroni"

Comes October, comes chestnut time... this week I tasted the first "marroni" in Brussels. Nothing to do with those "castanhas assadas" from Portugal... but good enough for a taste of the real thing... Soon I'll be able to taste those sold in the streets in Portugal. This year I will enjoy the St Martin summer "in situ", late October, early November. Time for "castanhas" and to try the new wine. Hopefully under those autumn rays of light...