Riko´s Weblog

Bone Yard

2008-12-06T22:51:00.004+01:00

scratcher

2008-02-23T15:59:00.003+01:00

Hi Tech Watch

2007-12-23T16:16:00.000+01:00

My new watch is quite a bit of a technology showpiece: It is self maintaining because being solar powered it doesnt need new batteries, and it syncs with three atomic time stations around the world (Denver, Frankfurt and Tokyo). Is that cool or what? Also has a dial for UTC/GMT so whereever you are, you always have a reference to this uniform zone. Furthermore the usual stuff like waterproof, 24 time zones, chrono, makes this quite the most complete watch I've seen.
Was not yet for sale in Europe, but with the cheap dollar made it purchase of the year when I bought in the US.

Lausanne

2007-10-14T00:17:00.000+02:00

PSV - Feyenoord (4-0!)

2007-09-30T23:16:00.000+02:00

Gran Canaria

2007-08-07T23:18:00.000+02:00

Genesis Concert

2007-07-01T21:50:00.000+02:00

Was good instrumental Genesis style sessions, but the Arena is just not build for accoustics.

cc test (click here)

2007-06-09T23:15:00.000+02:00

There is the Luhn formula that is a mathematical way of seeing if a creditcard number is real, and it goes something like this:
1. Double the value of alternating digits
2. Add the separate digits of all these results
3. Add the unaffected digits
4. Add the results up
5. If this final sum can be evenly divided by 10, we're good to go.

Anyway, click on the above to test this formula in a little javascript

Bloemendaal Beach

2007-02-04T22:40:00.000+01:00

The January storm blew beach sand up covering the terraces at Bloemendaal

Kite flying with Yvy and Peter

PSV - Heerenveen

2007-01-20T22:35:00.000+01:00

Dominic & Stephanie visiting

2007-01-04T22:29:00.000+01:00

Leideke & Christel

2006-11-18T17:15:00.000+01:00

Lausanne

2006-10-12T17:14:00.000+02:00

Summer in Rome

2006-08-07T09:40:00.000+02:00

Memphis

2006-07-28T13:53:00.000+02:00

Beale street was created in 1841, named after a solider from the Mexican American war. Siutated on the Mississippi river, it served as a trading point for merchants but really got its reputation from the black travelling musicians , making this the home of the blues (by act of congress). Muddy Waters, BB King, Rufus Thomas and loads of other blues artists played here during the 30´s and 40´s.

The Madison Hotel, one of the upscale hotels of Memphis, used to be a bank. The fitness room is in the former bank vault, and the impressive vault door still is there. Must have took some work to remove the iron vault walls!

Sedona, Arizona

2006-07-23T15:16:00.000+02:00

Quoted as one of the ten most beautiful sights of the US, Sedona is surrounded by landscape formed from ancient deposits of limestone, mudstone and sandstone when this area was the west coast of a still-emerging continent

Amsterdam - Houston

2006-07-22T21:42:00.000+02:00

This year KLM introduced a full C class configuration flight for its Amsterdam - Houston route. Seats drop almost flat, and the cabin looks like a cabriolet when the passengers go to sleep.

Holland vs Argentina

2006-06-21T20:32:00.000+02:00

World Cup Pool

2006-05-07T23:47:00.000+02:00

Seven New Wonders

2006-05-07T23:34:00.000+02:00

This website offers you the opportunity to participate in the first-ever global vote to elect the New 7 Wonders of the World. This vote will culminate with a live, worldwide telecaston July 7, 2007 - 07.07.07 to announce the New 7 Wonders of the World.

http://www.new7wonders.com/

Spring Water

2006-04-16T22:21:00.000+02:00

This is a natural spring, water pure to drink. Kelkheim, Germany

Jenny

2006-04-06T21:25:00.000+02:00

Jenny visiting Europe gave us a chance to meet again for the first time in 26 (!) years

old Nederlands Lyceum

2006-03-31T17:19:00.000+02:00

Visited the International School of The Hague again for the first time since 1988 -the school will be moving to a new location this summer.

Ford Focus ST

2006-03-12T21:11:00.000+01:00

The ST comes in brights Orange, and certainly matches the looks with performance. 2.5 liter with over 225 brake horse power. Only weighs 1300kg so delivers a top speed of 240 KMH.
The motor has a KKK Warner turbocharger, alloy block & head with ofcourse dual overheads.

But its still not fast enough to beat the Suzuki in the 0 - 100 run haha

Conference 2006

2006-03-06T22:33:00.000+01:00

Akane visiting

2006-02-26T21:05:00.000+01:00

Akane came to visit from Tokyo, also met up with Monique, Umit, Yasin, Herve again

Big Plans

2006-02-21T23:20:00.000+01:00

Belgium claim to have the first indoor ski dome. Now there are plans to create a mammoth indoor ski world, called Snowgames in Lessen, in French speaking Belgium.

The attraction, planned to be completed in 2008,
will transform an old abandoned stone quarry
into a 100,000 square meter wintersport park,
with blue, green, red and black slopes varyzing in length from 250 meters to 800 meters. Compared to the current world´s largest at 24,000 square meters in Holland, this project estimates to cost around 85 millions Euros, and will have a hotel, restaurants, swimming pool, and hundreds of parking spaces.

street art

2006-01-29T23:08:00.000+01:00

Sometimes street artists ARE really artists. Amazing.

It only works from one angle though - looking at this one from the other side :

Road

2006-01-29T23:04:00.000+01:00

Had to share this.....this looks like a really fun road to ride a motorbike on...

Prague Meeting

2006-01-20T22:30:00.000+01:00

Dubai developing

2006-01-15T21:45:00.000+01:00

Heres an interesting photo of before and after. This is the main road from Dubai Creek to the Jebel Ali area. How Dubai changed in 20 years.

Million $$ Homepage?

2006-01-02T16:49:00.000+01:00

21 year old Alex Tew of England had an idea to pay his college fees.
He made a homepage of 1,000,000 pixels, and sold each pixel
for a dollar. Started with a few friends buying in, followed by
a few local companies joining in for a laugh. But it soon got
the attention of mainstream internet and media, and now
he has sold 999,000 pixels for advertisements.
Amazing story.

http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/

Europe launches first satellite of Galileo Programme

2005-12-28T06:19:00.000+01:00

Kazakhstan, December 28 2005:
The European Space Agency launched atop a Soyuz booster the first (GIOVE - 'Galileo In-Orbit Validation Element' ) of 30 satellites to become the new global positioning system. This project will be compatible but no doubt also compete with the current, US military owned GPS systems, widely known for its current use in car navigation technology. Most important, it ceases dependancy on the GPS.
But this new $4.3 billion system, called Galileo, expects to be far more superior, with precision to the meter, compared to the GPS accurancy of 8 - 10 meters. It also is aimed to be deployed in several public and commercial sectors, bringing benefits such as increased road safety by distance control between vehicles, pinpointing lost children, guiding to nearby facilities in urban areas (ATM, hotel), controlling air traffic control, calling a taxi, tracking cattle, monitoring weather patterns etc.

This could be the next technological revolution following the internet 10 years ago.

Dubai Ski Park Opens

2005-12-02T21:53:00.000+01:00

Dubai now also has the largest indoor snow park as well. The surface area equates to about 3 football fields, and has artificial snow all year round. This snow is produced by shooting water at high pressure through freezing coolers. They plan to add an artificial rain forest as well to the park, which is estimated to be costing around $5billion to develop.

Autobahn

2005-12-01T23:16:00.000+01:00

The European Union is putting pressure on Germany to abolish their "no limit" policy on the Autobahn. Appreciate it while you still can.

Soccer Match

2005-11-12T22:26:00.000+01:00

Took Noah to his first Holland Soccer match. Venue, Amsterdam, 50,000 crowd. Appears he already has a better read of the game than dad, he decided we should leave after 10 minutes. Seeing the final result I realise why.

A silver Audi

2005-11-06T21:35:00.000+01:00

A sheik ordered his Audi A8 in silver. Real silver.

PSV - AC Milan 1-0

2005-11-01T22:31:00.000+01:00

Great stuff, with 19 year old Affelay and 17 year old Aisatti in the starting lineup, PSV beat finalists AC Milan with a goal from 21 year old Farfan. And to think PSV saw 5 regular players leave last season, when they went out to Milan in the semis of the champions league.

Blekermolen karting in Amsterdam

2005-10-28T22:49:00.000+02:00

Liam

2005-10-25T23:22:00.000+02:00

We are blessed with the arrival of our second son, Liam!

Czech Republic - Holland 0-2

2005-10-08T22:43:00.000+02:00

Opdam and Van Der Vaart seal victory to get Holland qualified for World Cup 2006 in Germany. Last time Holland played a tournament in Germany, was the European Championships in 1988 when they emerged victorious, with an inspiring Marco van Basten. Now he coaches the team..

Richard & Sarah

2005-09-10T15:00:00.000+02:00

Congratulations Richard & Sarah!

ttp://www.fotosmurf.nl/fotogallery/thumbnails_overzicht_vert2.php?limiter=0&amp;&act_cat_id=87&&maincat=86

Google Earth

2005-08-07T02:04:00.000+02:00

Google has created a "3d interface to the planet" where you can zoom into earth through satellite photos and smart mapping in true google style to surf from outer space to your house.
Download the programme from the link below. Definately worth checking out.
http://kh.google.com/download/earth/index.html

Ride the Nuerburg ring with your own motorbike

2005-07-31T13:38:00.000+02:00

More info on the Nurburgring:
http://213.239.207.198/nuerburgring.de/106.html?&L=1

Service information

2005-07-26T18:20:00.000+02:00

Sign posted in a London tube station.

Speedcameras

2005-07-17T18:40:00.000+02:00

The drivers of these vehicles received some mail that spoilt their weekend.

Conference 2005

2005-06-06T13:55:00.000+02:00

BMX tricks

2005-05-16T02:31:00.000+02:00

They say once you learn to ride a bicycle you never forget.... What, even this?

http://www.noahvansanten.com/clips/bmx.wmv
(10MB wmv file)

Maric in Dubai

2005-04-30T23:40:00.000+02:00

At the Japanese restaurant of the Intercontinental Dubai Creek

Airbus A 380 first flight

2005-04-27T13:23:00.000+02:00

Today the first test flight was completed of the newest, largest commercial plane by Airbus. This double decker will be 73 meters in length, 24 meters high, with a wingspan of almost 80 meters. Emirates Airways has ordered 43(!) already, and Singapore Airlines will probably have the first, scheduled for delivery in 2006.

Bumper Stickers

2005-03-21T00:39:00.000+01:00

Tiger Woods

2005-03-18T02:40:00.000+01:00

I´m not much of a golfer, but I can appreciate this is not as easy as it looks.
http://www.noahvansanten.com/clips/TigerWoods.mpg
(4MB mpg file)

Cannonball Bike Run

2005-03-01T22:20:00.000+01:00

During the 80´s the Cannonball run movies glorified illegal street races with stars like Burt Reynolds, Farrah Fawcett, Roger Moore, Jackie Chan, Sammy Davis Jr and Dean Martin.
But bet you didnt know that Cannonball Run was actually thought up by Erwin G Baker, a long distance motorcyclist back in the 1900´s.

To set the record straight, this August 25th the "real" Cannonball Bike run is planned to be held in Europe. Starting in Dover, UK, it consists of a race over a 1200 mile route through Europe.

www.cannonballbikerun.com

Ali G

2005-02-12T18:08:00.000+01:00

Following the film Ali G indahouse, Ali G, played by Sacha Baron Cohen interviews some famous politicians, pop & sports celebrities on HBO. Excellent sense of humour, and its fun to see how the interviewees react to his crude comments. Shame the season has come to an end, rumour has it he is now working on a feature film starring his alter ego - Borat, the wishy washy reporter from Kazakhstan. Also an excellent character.

For those of you who dont understand his vocabulary, heres some help.
http://www.hbo.com/alig/glossary/

Gatso speed cameras

2005-02-05T13:41:00.000+01:00

The "Gatso" speedcamera has been known for its ability to catch offenders driving in one direction.

Seasoned drivers could see by the angle they were facing which side of the road they were aimed at.

A new version released recently has the capability to flash in both directions. Spoils the fun.

Salzburg Conference 2005

2005-01-11T13:44:00.000+01:00

St. J´s and Cramers

2004-12-11T05:22:00.000+01:00

Met up in The Hague with the old NL and BSN gang, Greg, Jopie, Wam, Sacha, Jerry, Emir, Omar.

Back at Middlesex

2004-08-13T21:08:00.000+02:00

Went to London for Nick & Kerry´s wedding. Had a chance to meet the old gang, and also drop by Uni and Fairfields Crescent again.

bike vs car

2004-07-02T17:38:00.000+02:00

decided to do our very own "Top Gear" test of bike vs fast car. The Suzuki won. Sorry Wam.

Ralf & Annette´s wedding

2004-05-20T22:01:00.000+02:00

The boys meet up at Frankfurt again

Second hand Jeep

2004-04-01T02:31:00.000+02:00

Found a good deal for a second hand Mercedes Jeep, but just one question....

Khasab, Oman

2004-02-21T22:59:00.000+01:00

Crystal clear waters, dolphins and sea turtles. An unspoilt spot on earth.

Sacha & Dina

2003-04-19T22:44:00.000+02:00

Sacha and Dina´s wedding in California

Jopie´s wedding

2003-02-14T00:05:00.000+01:00

Congratulations! Came as a surprise, but thats always been the case with Jopie. Wam, Erland were there too.
The Hague 2003

Beer

2002-11-12T18:30:00.000+01:00

Not the best time to come up with a new name for your beer in Hong Kong.

Brussels conference 2002

2002-11-02T13:53:00.000+01:00

World Cup

2002-07-02T11:33:00.000+02:00

Now thats good marketing: Adidas has been the official supplier of the ball during every World Cup since 1970. A trip down memory lane.

The Telstar in Mexico, 1970
The first Buckminster type of design, using 32 black and white panels. Rumour has it this was designed for better viewership on (black & white) television.

The Telstar Durlast in West Germany, 1974
An improved version of the original Telstar.

The Tango in Argentina, 1978
Designed to show more elegance and passion.

The Tango Espana in Spain, 1982
This version of the Tango had rubber inlays to prevent water from entering through the seams. The last genuine leather World Cup ball.

The Azteca in Mexico, 1986
The first football with polyurethane covering to make it rain-resistant. First synthetic match ball.

The Etrusco in Italy, 1990
The first ball to have an internal polyurethane foam layer.

The Questra in the United States, 1994
This ball gave a better velocity of the ball when kicked, and a softer feel.

The Tricolore in France, 1998
The first match ball with colours. Red white and blue, the colours of the home nation´s flag. What chauvanists.

The Fevernova in Japan & South Korea, 2002
The 2002 match ball had thicker inner layers to improve accurancy of ball in flight.

New policy

2002-06-01T01:24:00.000+02:00

Sometimes you need to make some things clear

Top chart Songs

2002-01-01T08:58:00.000+01:00

If you are looking for a song but not sure of the name or artist, here´s a site that has categorised the past decade´s hits for reference.
http://pages.map.com/~freek/look.html

Karin & Axel´s wedding

2001-10-27T23:16:00.000+02:00

Menorca

2001-09-01T12:13:00.000+02:00

Visiting Kadi & Alex in Menorca.

Hilversum staff

2001-05-12T08:58:00.000+02:00

Ice T

2001-02-27T21:18:00.000+01:00

The 9 albums of Ice T -#3 Power was definately the best

Public Enemy

2001-02-26T21:11:00.000+01:00

Check this Jopie - The definitive list of P.E´s albums

Too $hort

2001-02-25T21:26:00.000+01:00

West coast style old school rap (Oakland California!)

Eazy E

2001-02-24T21:23:00.000+01:00

Another pioneer of the old rap school Eazy E teamed up with Dr Dre to create NWA

Noah

2000-05-23T11:59:00.000+02:00

Every parent probably says this, but your own child´s birth is probably the most amazing experience you can ever have!
I was there first hand to see our son Noah come into this world.

our wedding

2000-03-12T04:54:00.000+01:00

it rained all week, but fortunately that saturday it was excellent weather. Plus a beautiful bride and many friends and family on the greatest day so far!

test car

2000-02-05T00:30:00.000+01:00

Saw this camoflaged car on the German autobahn between Munich and Frankfurt.
Any idea what it was?

Urawa Reds visit Ajax

2000-01-23T13:59:00.000+01:00

Burj Al Arab

1999-12-01T01:48:00.000+01:00

Dubbed the first 7 star hotel in the world, this amazing hotel is built on an artificial island extended 280 meters out of Dubai´s Jumeirah Beach coast. With 321 meters, its taller than the Eiffel Tower in Paris, and consists of 200 duplex (thats two floors) suites It has a fleet of Bentleys and a helicopter to pick up each guest from the airport (now thats style). There is no reception area to check in, you do that in the confort of your room, that includes a rotating bed, private butler, view over the Arabian gulf, and a remote control console the size of a playstation. The external lighting scheme changes every 30 minutes.
In the first year it was open to public, but now its accessible for hotel guests only. Romour has it that due to the immense costs it would take 400 years of 100% occupancy to achieve breakeven.

New form of license plates

1999-11-01T01:26:00.000+01:00

Best thing against speedtraps. This license plate reflects the shine off speedcamera flashes to blur the image.

Tokyo

1999-08-29T08:31:00.000+02:00

Tokyo skyline, August 1999. In the distance you can see the Rainbow bridge. Apparently someone tried to hijack a 747 and fly it under the bridge. He later claimed that he was convinced he could as he tried it several times successfully on Flight Simulator.

Buy a Tank

1999-08-08T21:40:00.000+02:00

Internet makes shopping for a new car easy. But it can also bring tempting alternatives to the VW Golf.

http://www.coldwarremarketing.com/

barbeque at renooiplein

1999-08-07T13:35:00.000+02:00

Christel´s moving party

1999-08-01T12:22:00.000+02:00

A farewell party with Christels friends and colleagues.

Christmas 1998

1998-12-27T21:19:00.000+01:00

Mugshot Gates

1998-11-01T01:21:00.000+01:00

Getting a mugshot doesnt mean you cant be successful

Lamborghini Diablo

1998-09-01T01:18:00.000+02:00

Currently the fastest production car in the world. If you are priveledged enough to be able to get your hands on one of these, make sure you can handle it. These guys couldn´t.

Mr. Nice

1998-08-11T01:40:00.000+02:00

This is a good book I read recently:

In the mid-1980's Howard Marks had 43 aliases and 89 phone lines. He was Britain's most wanted man. He had contacts with such organisations such as the IRA, the CIA, MI6 and the Mafia. He spent 7 years in America´s most toughest penitentiaries. This autobiography tells the extraordinary story of his criminal escapades with humour and charm. You´ll like him.

180 pages • ISBN: 1856867536

http://www.howardmarks.info/mrnice/index.htm

houseboat

1998-07-31T22:38:00.000+02:00

greg turns ecowarrior and moves to a houseboat

Hong Kong Airport

1998-07-05T20:43:00.000+02:00

The building of the new Hong Kong International Airport and its accompanying required infrastructure -- the Tsing Ma suspension bridge, the Kap Shui bridge, the West Kowloon Reclamation, and the Western Harbour Tunnel -- not to mention the highway and rail links between and on these structures, is one of the largest engineering projects ever undertaken.

http://www.cpavirtual.org/CLK.htm

Ferrari

1998-05-02T01:27:00.000+02:00

If you´re going to crash your old junk of a car, might as well do it in style.

Extreme Landing

1998-04-07T02:19:00.000+02:00

Hong Kong airport is not known for an easy landing. Situated between mountains and Hong Kong Harbour, it takes plety of skill to land a plane, let alone a Boeing 747 Jumbo.

http://www.noahvansanten.com/clips/extreme_landing.mpg
(1MB mpg file)

Kadi´s birthday

1998-03-05T13:15:00.000+01:00

Akira

1997-09-21T01:58:00.000+02:00

In 1988, Japanese Anime was revolutionalised with the release of the 2 hour film Akira.
Based on the manga works he created, Otomo wrote and directed a fascinating storyline that came to life using a large color palette never used before, allowing animators to produce the highly detailed backgrounds of a post-apocalyptic Neo-Tokyo and bring the manga’s characters to life. Combined with a high frame rate delivering a fast-paced energy to the film, it made Akira a technological achievement in the days before computer-assisted animation was available.

The story is set in the year 2019, 30 years after the first AKIRA project led to the destruction of Tokyo and the start of World War III. The original AKIRA project was a secret experiment to develop a new form of human evolution through the manipulation of the abilities and powers of psychically gifted children. The military hoped to use the children as living weapons, while the scientists had hoped to develop a new genetically superior human being. But both the military and scientists involved in the project learned too late that the power they were seeking could not be controlled. Akira, one of the children involved in the experiment, developed into a force so great, the he literally destroyed everything about him through a terrifying burst of psychic energy, setting off a nuclear-like explosion which led to the world war. Now, 30 years later, the military and scientific communities decide to revive the AKIRA project, deluded by narrow-mindedness into thinking they could control a power their predecessors could not.

Arcades

1997-04-09T12:08:00.000+02:00

Tokyo Game Centre with Etsuko

Tamagotchi

1996-11-06T00:37:00.000+01:00

In 1996, Bandai created a virtual pet that started a rage amongst young and old, giving an ideal electronic pet that needs caring and the right attention to flourish. Since then, Bandai has sold over 40 million of these, in all sorts of colours, branding, and models.

Rumour has it that in 2006 Nintendo DS will revive this hype of the mid 90´s in "The Tamagotchi Connection: Corner Shop".

Check your kid´s toys, some rare Tamagotchi´s are now valued at over a $1000!

Crashed

1996-10-09T17:40:00.000+02:00

The black Seat came to an end on the Rijkstraatweg in Wassenaar. Some idiot in a Volvo jumped a red light.

Vondelpark

1996-06-09T13:28:00.000+02:00

Summer in the Vondelpark, Amsterdam