Netherlands and more

I already published a script that sets a random image file as desktop wallpaper. It has only one downside: you have to run it every time you want to rotate your wallpaper.

However GNOME since 2.28 allows assigning a slide show as wallpaper by providing an image list in XML format. There you can specify the order and duration for each image. Moreover, you can even define a transition from one image to another.

So I decided to create a simple script that generates an XML file for a given set of images and, optionally, sets that as the current wallpaper. It requires GNOME 3+ or Ubuntu (11.10 or later).

Read on »

It’s been exactly one year since I’ve had laser eye surgery. As aftercare I got a number of checkups: the next day, one month and three months later, and, finally, after a year.

Read on »

I once needed to connect my PC’s audio output to the AV receiver to enjoy music played by decent speakers. The distance between the desktop and the receiver is a few meters, and I didn’t want to get entangled by wires (it’s the third millennium after all).

The almighty Internet offered an elegant solution, in the spirit of the millennium, concisely called Logitech Wireless Speaker Adapter for Bluetooth® audio devices:

Read on »

At last, yesterday I’ve tried rocking-moving-trembling D-Box chairs I posted about more than a year ago. I saw an advertisement in a local newspaper about Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace reissued in 3D and with D-BOX Motion Code™.

Read on »

Happy New two thousand twelfth!

For me this year brought significant changes, and I hope they’re for the better.

Read on »

Johannes Heesters, an entertainer born in Amersfoort, who felt unwell just a few weeks ago, died on Christmas Eve, December 24, 2012, aged 108.

Read on »

About a month ago I posted about Google Music cloud music storage service opening for public (which is still officially available in the US only).

Uploading 130 GB of music to the cloud has completed in about four days, so now I can enjoy the whole collection online from anywhere—although with some shortcomings (which are perhaps to be eliminated once the service goes out of the beta).

Read on »

Singer and actor Johannes Heesters, who was born in Amersfoort, is again in local news.

He turns 108 on the coming Monday, December 5, which he wanted to celebrate by singing operetta. However about a week ago he got fever and felt unwell, so he is in the hospital now. His 80 year old daughter Wiesje Herold commented: “In his 108 Jopie is no longer the youngest. But he is a jack.”

Read on »

The outcome of a poll just held on BBC says that 81% of the British would be willing to pay 25% more for the ticket, if they could see conductors in buses again.

Read on »

Holland has been fogged for four days in a row. Sometimes the fog is so thick that one cannot see anything further than a dozen meters.

I published already fogged Amersfoort by night.

Now I show you pictures of fog by day.

Read on »

And—here we go: at last long-suffering long-awaited Google Music went public—the thing I’ve been eagerly waiting for so long! I’d be happy to send my 130 GB of music up in the cloud. I perfectly fit into the free limit of twenty thousand files.

Read on »

One of the things that make me wonder is comparison of prices for alcohol in Holland and Russia, and especially their relationship with the quality.

Alex Exler considers 1000 rubles (€ 25) for a bottle of decent wine in Moscow is a good deal. Here in Holland you would usually buy a collection item for this price, and definitely not Chateau Tour 2006. Even taking into account local alcohol prices are substantially higher than, say, in Germany.

Read on »