for it is not the same river
and he is not the same man.
Herakleitos
from Mountains of the Mind - Robert Macfarlane
5 June 2012
No man steps into the same river twice,
for it is not the same river
and he is not the same man.
for it is not the same river
and he is not the same man.
12 February 2012
stiptheid nmbs 2011: 87% of 66%?
- 87% van de treinen hebben een vertraging van minder dan 6 minuten.
- tel je afgeschafte treinen mee dan kom je aan 85,5% van de treinen die stipt rijden
- 84,6% van de reizigers zit op een trein met vertraging
- aangezien er niemand op een afgeschafte trein zit moet je ook corrigeren voor afgeschafte treinen, passen we dezelfde verschilfactor toe dan zit 83,1% van de reizigers op een trein met vertraging
- Ik heb voor een reis twee treinen nodig, dit betekent dat er voor een volledige reis dubbel zoveel vertragingen zijn, of dat 66,3% van de reizen stipt zijn.
- Dit houdt geen rekening met stakingsdagen, waarvoor de beschikbaarheid van treinen verder naar beneden moet bijgesteld worden. In 2012 zijn er ondertussen op anderhalve maand drie stakingsdagen geweest (2 algemene stakingen en 1 staking van de treinbegeleiders in Brussel Zuid)
28 January 2012
Hariku Murakami: Dans dans dans - quotes
Dit is het knooppunt - en dus maken we verbindingen. We maken de dingen stevig vast, zodat ze niet uit verband geraken. Dat is onze taak: schakelbord, verbinding maken. Dingen die jij gezocht en verkregen hebt, die maken wij vast, snap je?
Je hebt allerlei dingen verloren. Je hebt allerlei aanknopingspunten losgekoppeld. Maar je vindt niets ter vervanging. En dus ben je in de war. Je voelt nergens nog een band mee. En je hebt nergens nog een band mee. Alleen nog met deze plaats.
Hij frunnikte constant met zijn vingers aan zijn oorlel; het leek alsof hij een stapel nieuwe bankbiljetten aan het tellen was.
Het paard was dood. De indianentrommels waren niet meer te horen. Het was te stil.
books
Books I liked in 2011
- William Boyd: Restless
- Haruki Murakami: Blind willow, sleeping woman
- Patrick Süskind: Perfume
24 November 2011
Belgian government formation
It's almost two years now that Belgium tries to form a government without success. Even the previous government, with prime minister Leterme, was not fully baked and disintegrated quickly.
Why is is so hard to make a government in Belgium?
For each political family (basically one left, one center, one right) you have two parties: one Flemish an one French.
This means you need 4 to 6 parties to make a government (this gets worse if you need a 2/3 majority).
The linguistic split of the parties happened in the seventies. Originally these sister parties were closely linked. Making a government still fealt as dealing with the political family. Over the years they started to diverge. Nowadays, for example, the Christian center parties (CD&V and CDH) are very different and are no longer logical allies.
You can not manage any business or a country well with so many different parties is nearly impossible.
So while the focus in this crisis is on topics - basically regional resopsibilities and tackling debt - the problem is a structural one. Next time we will have a different topic, but we will always have the same complexity.
Once you accept this as the problem, the possible solutions are clear. You need political parties that are scoped to the territory that is governed. Either you reunite the parties to match the country of you split the country to match the parties.
The regional split of the parties is stimulated by the election system. Politicians for parliament are elected in provincial circles. This means that they do not have any interest in being popular in another region and that they benefit from defending the interests of that region.
One of the proposals in current negotiations was to have some politicians elected in nation wide circles. This would surely bring political families closer again.
The problems in Europe are not different from the problems in Belgium. Currently Europe is governed by representatives from each country, each defending his interest. If European political families do not unite and Europe is not governed through the representatives in parliament, Europe will disintegrate.
Why is is so hard to make a government in Belgium?
For each political family (basically one left, one center, one right) you have two parties: one Flemish an one French.
This means you need 4 to 6 parties to make a government (this gets worse if you need a 2/3 majority).
The linguistic split of the parties happened in the seventies. Originally these sister parties were closely linked. Making a government still fealt as dealing with the political family. Over the years they started to diverge. Nowadays, for example, the Christian center parties (CD&V and CDH) are very different and are no longer logical allies.
You can not manage any business or a country well with so many different parties is nearly impossible.
So while the focus in this crisis is on topics - basically regional resopsibilities and tackling debt - the problem is a structural one. Next time we will have a different topic, but we will always have the same complexity.
Once you accept this as the problem, the possible solutions are clear. You need political parties that are scoped to the territory that is governed. Either you reunite the parties to match the country of you split the country to match the parties.
The regional split of the parties is stimulated by the election system. Politicians for parliament are elected in provincial circles. This means that they do not have any interest in being popular in another region and that they benefit from defending the interests of that region.
One of the proposals in current negotiations was to have some politicians elected in nation wide circles. This would surely bring political families closer again.
The problems in Europe are not different from the problems in Belgium. Currently Europe is governed by representatives from each country, each defending his interest. If European political families do not unite and Europe is not governed through the representatives in parliament, Europe will disintegrate.
15 November 2011
9 November 2011
single molecule car
After the one molecule robot, an article in Nature now shows a one molecule car. Electron absorption make the wheels turn and drive the car. It only works under exotic lab conditions.
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