Amat victoria curam!

This is a very neat idea of Elizabeth Gilbert: a Happiness Jar:

"Every day (well, almost every day) I write down the happiest moment of that day on a small piece of paper, and I fold it up and put it in this big jar. Then later (days, months or years later) when I am feeling blue, I sometimes reach into the jar and pull out a memory (one that would otherwise have been long forgotten) and I can remember one of the simplest and best random moments of my life."

What a great idea - it is something I have to start doing as well - but then again: I never feel blue!

After my first period on Android with the HTC desire HD it took a while before considering going back to this platform. Android 2.0 did not leave a favorable impression to say the least. Also having all the HTC "goodies" on a phone doesn't help.
But now Google has this awesome "Nexus 5" - with Android stock 4.4. and a great hardware this phone feels like a completely different droid. It's super fast, light and works like a dream. Google now is magical. So gone are the Lumia 920 and WP8 and hello again Google (I even re applied for Google plus) :-)

This year I wanted to do sometime classic with X-mas dinner: a Turkey old school. And then you have no other choice than to opt for the Kelly Bronze Turkey. This free range turkeys have it all: they are huge, fat and taste like ...uh... turkey! The funny thing is that they ALWAYS prepare flawlessly - it seems they actually like to be cooked :-)

Well it took an other 4 years after Prime Minister Brown apologized to Alan Turing - but now the Queen has officially granted him pardon after receiving a criminal conviction for his homosexuality in 1952...

This was also the year that young avengers Hulkling and Wiccan Kissed for the very first time :-)

Room 2 for the iPad that is. I greatly enjoyed the original game "The Room" - which I couldn't stop playing until I had finished. Now I have set a limit of 15 minutes a day for myself - to let me enjoy the sequel a little longer.

We are enjoying a rerun of all the nine series of Dad's Army and really, really enjoying it too. How is it possible that a comedy series which is 35 years old still is a funny as it is and not "Doooooooooomed..."? The cast is probably the answer - they are a perfect match for their individual characters. DA was also a movie, theatre show and radio series - maybe nice to listen to the latter.

Wow: based on a true story this "Pirate" movie is really intense - especially the last half hour or so. It has everything to do with Tom Hanks, in his best role ever. It is an emotional roller coaster which grips you the moment the pirates get aboard and only lets you go when Hanks is letting go... Surely the best performance of the year.

Would you like to breathe the air of the picturesque French town ofMontcuq? For just 5.50 euros (plus another five for shipping to the U.S.), a 250ml tin full of that air could be yours. And it is a big success. By the way in France the name Montcuq is frequently mispronounced as "mon cul," which translates to English as "my ass. So actually "Air de Montcuq" is something like "the wind of my ass." Well: you get the drift... On the label: "Fresh air of Montcuq is 100% organic, it immerses you in the depths of the city to refresh your ideas. Ideal when you are in need of creative inspiration. Attention: irreplaceable content, consumable once. Do not leave it open..."

Nice last minute X-mas present: A street map made up from the titles of over 600 books from the history of English Literature, including classics such as Mansfield Park, Northanger Abbey, Bleak House, Vanity Fair and Wuthering Heights as well as 20th and 21st Century works such as The Waste Land, To the Lighthouse, Animal Farm, Slaughterhouse 5, The Catcher in the Rye, The Wasp Factory, Norwegian Wood and The Road.

Benedict Cumberbatch will play Alan Turing in the upcoming movie The Imitation Game.
The script is adapted by Graham Moore from Andrew Hodges’ book Alan Turing: The Enigma

Time to set up our (Peruvian) Christmas nativity group.

I just got confirmation that our new car: the ALL electric(!) BMW i3 will be delivered this year. Very excited and a bit anxious about how this car will perform in a day-to-day manner...

What a great idea of the Press Museum to organize a walk along the famous spots in Amsterdam that Simon Carmiggelt wrote about in his "Kronkels". We will walk the route in January.

Santa Claus brought us these great sweaters from Joe Merino

I was keynote speaker at the anual SIDN (the administrator of .nl) seminar today. Because my subject was " My Mistakes as an Internet Entrepeneur" - I had to limit myself and focus on the biggest mistakes - otherwise I should have needed the whole event...

After the amazing Lego architecture buildings which you can recreate - it is time to create some awesome new buildings on your own. With this new kit you can do just that. Unfortunately it is sold out already... :-(

The nice thing about spending home for X-mas is all the X-mas TV specials. This year I am particularly looking forward for:

Downton Abbey
Call The Midwife
Sherlock
Mrs. Brown's Boys

And that very special documentary: "David Attenboroughs Natural History in 3D"

Jens Lennartsson is a photographer from Sweden who makes great pictures, but want to have a bit more interesting assignments - so he made a action figure of himself and mailed it to potential clients...

The world’s oldest animal was a shellfish, called "Ming". British scientists pried open the poor mollusk to “research” it and killed it on the spot - what a way to day after 507 years...

Eating a handful of nuts each day could help you live a longer and healthier life, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. A whopping 20 percent lower chance of dying from any cause actually and.. they also contribute to weight loss. What more do you need? NUTS!

As Doctor Who is nearing its 50th anniversary - the question is: who was the best Doctor anyway? For me it was Tom Baker. Especially his first three series were full of humor, quirkiness and funny shawls...

Now that selfie is the word of the year - what else could I post today than a...uh..selfie!

As always we are staying at the Marais near the place the la Bastille - a great area for eating, shopping and.. sleeping :-)

We are in Paris for the Paris Photo exhibition so we will have plenty opportunity to sample some excellent French food... :-)

I did see some a couple of years ago in Upsala, but now this one tracking suit fashion from Norway has firmly took ground in the UK. (It didn't help that the One Direction boys all are wearing them). It wouldn't be the UK if they hadn't created special X-mas onesies: You can buy a animal onesie fro your X-mas party everywhere.

While we're in Edinburgh we cannot avoid looking at rows and rows full of X-mas jumpers. Most of them with Snowman, Reindeer and Santa Claus. In the most terrible pattern, colors and extras (like bells). This year it seems that EVERYONE is supposed to wear such a jumper at X-mas in the UK. When did this "grandma self knitted" craze started? Was it Bridget Jones the movie?

Yes we are in Edinburgh and the castle remains one of the best views of the world in a city center. (specially with dramatic Scottish clouds)

When riding my motorbike in not so perfect autumn conditions I sometimes have to think about Evel Knievel. If you realize how many "accidents" this guy had during his motorbike stunts and always survived (sure with a couple of broken ribs and bones), then you feel much safer...

Now that the premiere of "The Hobbit part 2" is nearing (who ever had the idea of putting this thin book into THREE major motion pictures?) it is nice to remember the first time I read The Hobbit. I actually started with this book before The Ring trilogy and I was about 12 I guess. Every time I read parts of the story I immediately go way back in time when I first wandered in Rivendell and and the Misty Mountains

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