On the edge of real and Cyberspace there is one place you can go. The Knightcast media channel. Featuring a weekly podcast "The Knightcast" and a web Tv show "KW-Tv" Both deal with the everyday adventures of a modern day technofile, filled with tips, tricks, manuals and how-to's on how to tune technology into your everyday life and let tech work for you. All this and more using Windows, Linux, and Mac computers, Web2.0 sites, services and more to upgrade from geek to cyber-citizen. Real Technology for Real life.
Oh yes ! A quick update : SLASHDOT http://www.slashdot.com has JUST posted their article about the Mini Mac (Posted by samzenpus on Thursday January 13, @08:00AM) : That means that you could HEAR about the Mini-Mac HERE, YESTERDAY. So we BEAT SLASHDOT IN A HEADLINE !!!! How Geeky is THAT :)
Ok , got the first podcast up yesterday evening. Finally got around to reinstalling the damn thing and scheduling it to boot up every morning to download my Podcasts, Sync my Ipod and Download my appointments from an to my PDA (something I just don't get around to manually everyday). So this morning it worked out nicely and I have all the stuff i need by the time the cappuccino machine does his thing. Upped the first podcast last night (thanx Marco, for helping me test it) and am kinda nervous how people are gonna react. Nyana laughed (of course) but also gave me some pointers (she is SOOO sweet) and I’m gonna take it into heart next time I do a cast (probably this afternoon on my way home in the car). But enough about that. This website is not about this website and our podcasts aren't about our podcasts.. Now are they ? Ps : my ambition in becoming the first podcasting site in Belgium , http://www.podcasting.be/ Don't think so :§. But hey : THEY didn't invent the PRINCE OF THE POD title now did they :). Ps : To those who gave nice feedback to the site : Thank you , but don't hesitate to tell me what you think of the CONTENT.
Got an email from my former work buddies at HH-Hasselt ( from the no-marriage/no-kids club i was a member of). Of course they where surprised to find out me and Nyana where going to tie the knot. And I’m kinda mulling this over in my mind as to why we are getting married.. and its very hard to explain. Perhaps that is just enough reason. "Because it feels right". I might be a big blab on the outside but on the inside I’m one soft hearted romantic. We might appear very skeptical on the outside but between me and Nyana there is a very subtle and sensitive romantic connection that we hardly ever show to others. On top of that we give our own interpretation to the whole 'marriage thing'. Those who are thinking 'classic stuff , white dress, lots of similar cars and rice throwing : think again) We'll do this our own way ( Invitations will probably be E-mailed, those who have not been invited can probably follow the on line web-cam-cast over the internet). Not only the 'procedure' but also the 'meaning' is something that is unique to us. Its a duality. Its about telling each other we are ready to tell the outside world we have chosen our mate. Am I making any sense here ? Guess not. The bottom line is , Its because we don't need to get married , we want to get married. And its more about the "bond" between the both of us, then about what the world around us makes of it. (I can tell you , those are two TOTALY different things). People who start to push us into parties, dresses, and confor-mality will meet a very defensive Knight and Nyana ! (So don't even TRY !) Perhaps this union is about something we cannot put into words or explain. And that is reason enough : We can't say why.. It just feels soooo right. ( And don't worry Katleen , of COURSE you are still my back-up ;) ) To rest worried minds assured our opinion about children STILL has not changed. Whenever somebody wishes us : 'lots of baby's in the future' , for us its the equivalent of ' we wish you both an itchy annoying skin disease' Not that we don't like children , but its just not our thing. So if you don't want to insult us when giving your new years wishes : Don't mention uterus-related-prophecy's.
Well, she's up ! The new site i mean. I am pretty pleased with the layout and the result. ( Good work D'Shek) However I do wish I had a bit more time to add some more content. But that will follow soon. Its an incredibly busy week ! Haven't had a free night at home all week long. So updates and podcasts I had in mind ? No show just yett. But still , I hope I get around to it. News today ? Well it seams LIVEJOURNAL has been sold to another owner. I used to host my blog there (Swifts blog is posted at livejournal) and it was kinda a recurring problem that the whole thang went down about 6 times a day , I do hope it gets better. I still hit the page from time to time : Especially THIS page where you can see everybody's latest post chronologically :) Its great reading.For those of you who want to check their email everywhere, but don't want to use webmail : THIS is cool , The Thunderbird portable mail client. Runs from anywhere , just install the beasty on your USB stick and you have your POP mail around everywhere. For those of you using FIREFOX , you can even speed up the beasty some more with THIS As always the guys from hackaday.com came up with the tweak. Although it would not try THIS with my ibook !Speaking of my Ibook :( Still no news from Apple :( I do hope they can ship the baby out by tomorrow , so i can race up to Aachen to go-and-get-it. My old Toshiba Laptop is sold and its time to pass on my Acer to Nyana. I'm realy curious as to how I’m gonna handle the adjustment. Since Nyana is hot on the (lap)'top'every evening I won't have the option of dragging along 2 laptops when I’m on the road (one Win one OSX) So I’m gonna have to make due with the choice I’ve made. Nyana is also going through a MAC Craze, after she saw the 17" E-mac in the store , she went like , 'mmmmmmm'. So I just put my bid on a second hand Emac that’s for sale on Ebay. (perhaps the dude will swap it for one of my old pc's) And when you look at it , its indeed a way cool thang :) But i'll let you know how the whole thing turns out in the chronicles of : Newbie in Pantherland. New years resolutions. Well , in Africa people have made the resolution to eat more. In Iraq to fight less, In middle Asia to LIVE more and Drown less and here we have petty things like stop smoking and stuff like that. So I’m gonna refrain from new years resolutions that handle petty things (stop smoking, drink less, exercise more) cause i think we have all our harts desire down here. Its not right claiming to give up peaces of your elaborate wealth while in other countries people are starving. Is that cynical ? perhaps. But in these matters I don't handle stuff lightly. All this Tsunami news makes me even more sad when you hear the 'aftermath' stories. Stray dogs who are feeding on the corpses are running wild and attacking people. And even worse Pedophile tourists roam the ravaged towns in search of orphan children to abuse. It makes me sick ! And on the other hand, the disaster that happened has made me see a side of humanity that I have not seen often, the power to stand together. The whole world appears to unite these days and rush to the aid of the victims. Everybody's making a donation, every country is rushing to the aid. In Belgium you can even send a text message to 3108 , and you donate one euro by doing so (telecom operators are offering this service FREE) We'll also do our peace, visit the Belgian 1212 website http://www.1212.be/
Just to point out my thoughts on all the new years wishes : a dutch poem.
Chiquita
Duizend hongerbuiken in Rwanda Miljoenen Hutu-Tutsi’s gaan eraan In China loopt de allerlaatste panda En Chiquita is een prachtige banaan
Vliegtuig stort in zee vlakbij Biskaje Daarbij zijn er honderd doodgegaan Een deel is opgevroten door de haaien En Chiquita is een prachtige banaan
Palestijnen gooien steeds met stenen Het milieu lijkt steeds meer op de maan In België zijn kinderen verdwenen En Chiquita is een prachtige banaan
Tornado eist zo’n zesenvijftig doden Bij Fokker verliest duizend man zijn baan Le Pen haat alle negers en ook joden En Chiquita is een prachtige banaan
U ziet het nieuws dankzij de reclame Ziet u hoe we naar de donder gaan Van alle doden vergeet u alle namen Behalve Chiquita want Chiquita is een prachtige banaan
Out shopping today i hit the local bookshop/software store and went browsing around in the software section. Found a copy of Windows XP pro and was amazed at the price : allmost 400 euro's ! When i picked up the home edition I saw that that was 300 euro's. A quick calculation , adding office ( 350 euro's) Nero (50 euro's) and an antivirus program (50 euro's) , made me realise that using non open source software legaly is quite an expensive hobby. When you think of the misery we encounter when using Windows / Office and other programs sometimes cause us (misdesign, flaws, buggs) its amazing that people put up with it. A: they buy the soft and put up with the shit , B) They use the soft illegaly and put up with the shit. Now the second group has no right to complain. But the first group ? I would be shitfaced if something that cost me a 1000 euro's all together would be so buggy !. Lately i've been thinking about what a Linux-geek-friend of mine said. "The best thing that could happen to open source software , is that people would REALY HAVE TO PAY for all the non - open source software they are using right now." And thats true. People use windows cause its easy. But imagine you would REALY have to pay for it . It would be worth your time (not to mention over 200 euro's in software-money) to try to use Linux, Openoffice and Tha Gimp. Cause software is so easy to copy and distribute illegaly, people stick to using things like Windows, and for example an illegal copy of Photoshop. But if you where to make them pay for it , they would switch to open source in a flash. I'm not one FOR buying all your stuff legaly, If i look at the quality of programs like XP and so on I think its an outrage to spend that amount of money on it. But I do think that IF there is a way to use an open source program instead of using a pirate version , one should do that. In the past I used adobe Photoshop. Not because I needed the advanced functions of Photoshop, no just because I needed a program to do some image editing. Now I found out THA GIMP, the open source Photoshop alternative, and its available on Windows too. Cause pirating software is to easy , people use overkill software for their basic needs (using photoshop to resize a pic) Plus they stick to what they know as long as they don't have to pay for it anyway. Who needs open source when you don"t pay for your software anyway. Its not right is it. In a way Windows IS open source, because they let you ! Otherwise they would lose their high percentage of the market like that. I for one have made my new years resolution to go "as straight as possible" . Not because I want to kiss MS's butt, NO , because I want to find out as many open source alternatives that I can find and USE them. Letting the world know you can survive on open source ! Firefox, The Gimp, Open Office, Firstclass, Jabber, etc.. you name it , you can find it . FREE !
Have I gone fachistic ? not to worry my friends. But I must say I have wondered of the beaten path today. It was time for a change, time for something new and unexperienced as yet. A time to make a drastic choice. It was once again time for that one moment I have once every few years : What laptop am I gonna get for next year ?. As you know , every two years I switch laptops. I sell my old one and get me a fresh one. And since I have had this little Acer travelmate 660 for over a year and a half , it was time to shop around. Before disclosing the new candidate let me just point out how happy I have been with my good old Acer. Its been a great laptop, with a 15 " screen it was a bit on the large size but nice and flat. The screen resolution however was 1400 by 1024 and THAT my dear friends is a luxury you will not have on any laptop. Its great to fitt a lot on your screen. Its fantastic when you want do do website design and so forth. Surfing is a charm with a whopper resolution like that . So to anyone who wants to get a PC/laptop : GO ACER !. And yess ! I have spilled the beans : my next laptop is going to be 'different'. Looking for a smaller laptop with a more limited budget to spend , Its hard to find things that meet your needs. The new top had to be small, compaqt, multimedia capable, light and ... a challenge. Now what better challenge is there then to .. BUY AN IBOOK. Yess my friends you have heared it right. In the light of eclectism it is important to widen ones view of the computer industry. So inspired by how pleased I am with my Ipod, driven by the enthousiam of fellow Podcasters and blown away by the sheer beauty of the baby ( I am gonna get LOOKS with this one) I chose to go for a 12" Ipod. Small in size, light in weight and versitile in possibilities. Ok , it cannot be compared to my ACER when it comes to desktop publishing (screensize) but its something I can drag around anywhere (the Ibook is about the size of an A4) Powered by OSX (linux on the inside , mac style on the outside) it should present the most stable and versitile OS yett. When a pc is used to mess around with , you use a Mac to do your work. I know , that is hyped up mac-fanatic talk. But hey check out this example. I've spent months browsing the internet for the right MP3 player, read tons of reviews, browsed 100's of websites , compared , checked prices, filtered out unworthy candidates etc... It took me a long time to find the correct mP3 player. Had a creative, had a muvo, had a Rio , they where all lacking in some way. And then I bought an Ipod. And all discussions where closed. End of story. When I opened the box and stared using it , its like i heard : You have chosen the ultimate product , further discussion does not apply. And its true. Once you buy an Ipod you don"t NEED to discuss it anymore. You have the ideal product. Period. And being so pleased with my pod-buddy, I took the next step and put my money where my mouth is and bought an Ipod. Its not so expensive HERE is the price and configuration i payed for my Ibook. As you can see 512 megs of ram and everything. HERE is the pc price-equivalent. Now let us not compare processor speeds and all that. The one thing I AM pointing out is that for the same amount of money , the IBOOK is head and shoulders above its PC cousin in terms of quality. I will take 2 weeks for the Ibook to get here ( I bought it in Germany to catch the VAT on the rebound ) and i'm very curious how it will turn out.
Well, to those of you who thought we would never do it : We did. To those of you who thought that it would not happen : It did. To those of you who hoped she would never say yes : She did ! After being together for over eight years me and Saskia thought it was time to take our relationship to the next level. So just like a knight of the old code would do, I got down on one knee and asked the perfect girl to marry me. And she said yess. We have been through so much together, this does not change anything between us. We don't feel more secure then we did before and frankly (as with all things) we have our own philosofy behind this. Our 'engagement' is more a signal to the outside world, that we have found our soulmate, then anything else. We knew then as we know know we are made for eachother and make eachother happy. This ring is more a signal to the outside world then a reassurance of our own relationship. Some reactions of the people around us gave me a very interesting insight into how our relationship was percieved by the outside world. " I don't see why you should get married " a friend of us said. And quite frankly he was right. Why should we ? And just because of that, we can. For if you have a reason to get married , you presumably need your marriage to re-assure you in your relationship. We don't need that, and just because we don't , we do it anyway. " I thought you where engaged a long time ago" another friend said. I thought that was the nicest comment :) It gave me a new insight into how people saw us together. And the classic is of course 'I thought you said you would never get married." And that comment is also justified. We did say we would never get married. And we"ll stick by that. We won't get married the "average way" (white dress , church etc) and we won't get married a 'special way' ( driving to the church in 25 identical mini's ) We'll probably marry someday 'our way'. And thats quite hard to explain. To us this engagement is not about tying the knot. It has been tied years ago. Its giving the outside world a clear signal that we belong together (and also telling some bachelors and bachelorettes to 'lay off') Its our way of telling the outside world we have chosen eachother and want to make it public. And for ourselves its just a question , a ring , a smile and a tear of joy. No big deal, no big change, no big next step. Its just another day where we let the outside world SEE that we have sealed our packed a long time ago.
All over the world people are starving and getting killed in some war. Peace is a distant speck of light in a dark night of blood and humanity is racing towards its own oblivion within the next 200 years. Merry Christmas everyone ? If you can sit and pat your belly tonight, actually believing that Christmas is a time to think of your fellow man and all that then I hope you know who you are kidding. Once more the clock is ticking down on one of the saddest, most hypocritical and most disgusting nights of the year. Yes I don't like Christmas. Why ? because its become an orgy of presents and "getting". Under the all seeing eye of Santa clause (invented by Coca cola) we spend tons of money on useless crap, give it to each other and pretend that you are pleased with what you get. Christmas is no longer about sharing with your fellow man. We stuff our face with food as others starve, we give expensive gifts as others are poor. And we pretend to sit around the table with the people we love (or the ones we can 'stand') while others are lonely. Christmas is no longer the feast of peace. We are almost at war with each other fighting to get those presents bought. And peace is the farthest from my mind. Peace of mind that is. Why ? Not because I have the troubles of the world on my mind. Not because I’m thinking of 1000 starving children in refugee camps.. No .. They don't touch my soul the way 'she' does.
Who is She ? She is a little old lady, a little old grandmother with sweet eyes and a lovely smile. She is the one i always walk by whenever i go shopping in Aachen. I see her sitting there, At the base of the Aachen cathedral. All her belongings in plastic bags, huddled against the cold .. but ALWAYS , ALWAYS smiling at the people that pass by. Gentle but proud eyes. A warm smile when you put your change in the turned over hat she has before her. She never begs, never asks. She just sits there and smiles. And somehow I can't bear the thought of her sitting there. I can't banish her eyes from the back of my mind. Can't get rid of the thought that with the money we spend on gifts and presents, this lady would be able to survive for months to come. And I cannot sit and eat and feast .. knowing there is ONE person that cannot share what i have. I can banish the thousand children from my consciousness. But I cannot escape her smiling eyes.
So i refrain from wishing you a merry Christmas. You who are well fed, warm and covered in comfortable clothes. I will not wish you peace and happiness, for you have it all... More then you know. If if have my wishes to give it will be to her. That she may find peace in her struggle for survival. That she might find joy in these dark days. That she might find company when loneliness cuts like a knife. And that the good luck might pass us by and walk straight into her arms. In these days when everything is so unfairly divided, I can only pray for one peace to come to us.. Peace of mind.
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