Video: get naked to prevent cancer

You won’t believe your eyes: at Laat wat zien” (Dutch for “Show something”) five male Belgian actors are pushing a most unusual nationwide campaign to convince women to have their breasts examined in the yearly free cancer screening.

What makes this campaign special is their most unorthodox approach: the five local male celebrities offered their (presumably tasteful) nude picture in order to convince women to sign-up for the breast cancer screening. Each time a certain number of screening sign-ups is reached, a larger part of their nude-shot is revealed… Personally, I feel establishing a link between “breast cancer prevention” and “nude male soap stars” to be far-fetched, bizarre and rather inappropriate.

Video (at the bottom of the page): would you really care to watch a male Belgian soap-star strutting his stuff?

Night of darkness: Antwerp to turn off public lighting

You’re looking at a satellite image of Belgium at night, taken somewhere in the 80-90’s: this tiny country looks like a lit-up Christmas tree. Well, in those days “global warming” was not a trendy buzz-word, energy was cheap and to be honest, who cared about the environment way back then? I sure didn’t. But times have changed: the cost of energy has gone through the roof and our climate has changed in a most unpleasant way.

While China and the US keep on ignoring the Kyoto Protocol, Antwerp (pop. 1 million) decided to “help save the planet”: most of us received one (1) “energy saving lightbulb” but obviously a more ’spectacular’ event was needed to show off our “good intentions”. On March 3th (and only on that single day) Antwerp will switch off all public lighting between 9 and 11 pm: the ‘night’ of darkness. The event is sponsored by Philips, once the largest manufacturers of light bulbs in Europe. We all laughed, realizing this must be one the dumbest non-events this city has ever came up with

USA: Beverly Hills election ballots in “Arabic”

Inhabitants of Beverly Hills reacted with dismay when they found out that their municipality printed the March 2007 election ballots both in English and Farsi (spoken in Iran). Some voters misperceived the language to be “Arabic”, which is not related to the Farsi translation on the ballots. From the LA Times:

The translation is the latest measure of the growing Persian influence in Beverly Hills, where Persians now make up about a fifth of the city’s 35,000 residents. The influx, which began in the late 1970s as wealthy Iranians clustered in Beverly Hills after the fall of the shah, has made a mark on many facets of the city, from architecture to the schools. But it has — as in the case of the ballots — caused friction. Some long-time residents have complained about newcomers tearing down historic homes in favor of what they consider monolithic white “Persian palaces.” [image: courtesy LA Times]

At the same time, Persians have flexed their political muscle by holding voter registration drives, electing the first Persian to the City Council in 2003 and making the Persian new year a holiday for students.Three of the six candidates running for City Council next month were born in Iran, and Councilman Jimmy Delshad will serve as Beverly Hills’ first Persian mayor if he wins reelection.

A reader was outraged: “To vote you need to be a US citizen. To become a citizen you are required to learn English. So then, why do we need to be printing up ballots in foreign languages?“ “It sends a bad message: It’s a message which is divisive, which I believe is designed to separate as opposed to unite. In fact, it’s done that.”

Translating voting ballots for rich migrants is absurd and polarizing : sounds like the rich European Union staff, living in the wealthy Dutch speaking Brussels suburbs, who insist on being addressed at city hall in French or English.

Anyway, in Antwerp, Belgium, voting ballots are in Dutch only, whatever your native language may be

Save a life in five easy steps

Yesterday I found out (to be honest, I knew) that saving a life can sometimes be a straightforward 5 step approach.

It happens every second: someone collapses in a public place, by-standers just call an ambulance and wait, while the victim dies. Performing Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is easy and becomes actually a life saver before the arrival of emergency services. Little Anne is a popular resuscitation practice mannequin - several members of my diving school practiced their skills last weekend [photo]

Still, considering that less than 5-10% of resuscitation succeed, I just hope I will never have to practice these skills

Conservative Washington Times gives voice to controversial Belgian right-wing blogger

The conservative Washington Times is increasingly giving editorial space to European “neocon” conservatives. In their Feb 14 edition, Paul Belien, the publisher of “The Brussels Journal”, a far right-wing online publication was given an entire editorial.

Quote:
“Those who think that Europe is America’s past, think again.Europe matters to America. It matters more than ever before. Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy and the liberal special-interest groups that currently dominate Congress want to reshape America in Europe’s image: socialist, secularist and multicultural.“

Quotes from his blog: (www.brusselsjournal.com): “Global Warming Is a Myth” - “Feminism Leads to the Oppression of Women” - “The [extremist]Vlaams Belang Goes to Washington” - well, you get the picture.

Dear Paul personally wrote all “speeches” for the extreme right-wing VB visitors when they visited Washington Feb 20-24, although they only met conservative Pat Buchanan and held a private meeting at the Crystal City Marriot in Arlington, VA, for the Robert A Taft Club. Link: Racist European party to meet with US anti-immigrant groups - Jewish ADL

The Washington Times conveniently forgot to mention that dear Paul Belien is the husband of Alexandra Colen, a former Antwerp MP for the “Vlaams Blok“, an extremist right wing Belgian party outlawed in 2004 for racism. Way to go, “Washington Times”

Leaving Antwerp

Two years ago, my female physician left Antwerp.

She was a truly amazing Doctor: empathic, extremely professional and even willing to make house calls. Her downtown Antwerp patients adored her, making her one of the most successful family practitioners near the riverbanks. But she left Antwerp for a new life as an MD in the green belt surrounding this one million ‘metropolis’.

“Don’t let the hassle of city living get you down”, a close friend recently told me, but that’s exactly what happened to my dedicated physician: she decided that she was no longer willing to put up with crime, noise, bumper-to-bumper traffic, overcrowding and everything that drives people to the tranquil, green suburbia.

I wonder, would you leave an overcrowded inner city if you were given half a chance? [Image: Antwerp, part of the ring road]

Thank you for subscribing to my feed

It’s a funny feeling: being a “low volume blog” (averaging 300 pageviews per day) I was used to a limited number of visitors who subscribed to my RSS feed. But since a couple of days, about 80 of you (yes, that number absolutely amazed me) subscribed. In return for all your time and attention I’m obviously more than willing to add your blogs to my blogroll.

So, If you feel like really making my day, just leave a comment with the url of your blog. Thank you

“100% legal”: Muslim stand up comedy in Antwerp

This was great fun: an Antwerp stand up comedian from Moroccan descent that made both natives and migrants laugh

Youssef debuted to a sold-out crowd in a mainstream Antwerp theater. Both the public and the critics just loved Youssef, but reading their rave reviews might prove tricky: it’s all in Dutch.

Anyway, although it was most refreshing to watch an Antwerp native from Arabian descent pulling large crowds, I did notice he carefully avoided all “difficult issues” (gays, fundamentalism, etc)

Egypt blogger Abdel Kareem sentenced to four years’ prison for ‘insulting Islam’

The AP just reported that arrested Egypt blogger Abdel Kareem Soliman was sentenced a couple of hours ago to four years in prison for “insulting Islam”. Most online publications carrying the AP feed are publishing the story right now: the BBC published the story an hour ago.

Quote: “During the five-minute court session the judge said Soliman was guilty and would serve three years for insulting Islam and inciting sedition, and one year for insulting Mr Mubarak. Egypt arrested a number of bloggers who had been critical of the government during 2006, but they were all freed. “This is a strong message to all bloggers who are put under strong surveillance that the punishment will very strong,” Hafiz Abou Saada of the Egyptian Human Rights Organisation told Associated Press.”

His blog at blogger is still online. The Arabic posts can be translated using google translations from Arabic to English.

Even in “moderate” Arab countries like Egypt, voicing your opinion online is apparently no longer a viable option

Singapore’s death penalty: Executed for selling cannabis

It’s a rainy but extremely mild Wednesday in Antwerp, Belgium. Unlike all the doom-and-gloom in Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” it’s a real treat being able to enjoy spring-like temps in the heart of winter.

The current 14°C/60°F in February broke yet another temperature record: it should have been freezing cold, but last weekend most street side cafe terraces in both Holland and Belgium were packed with sun-seekers. I was one of them.

[my photo: enjoying spring like weather in the historic part of Anwerp, Belgium, Feb 18, 2007]

Anyway, while trying to digitize my photo collections from the 90’s, I stumbled upon a box conveniently labeled “Singapore”.

Several layers of industrial-strength sealing tape revealed my previous intention never to open that box again, but I just couldn’t resist. In hindsight, the level of the emotions provoked by opening my old picture box was far greater than I could have anticipated.

Flamingo Valley, Singapore, was home during a short part of the 90’s. My partner was an expat, working in Singapore - the fact that I was his gay lover made temporarily moving to Singapore a very complicated endeavor.

Constitutional rights for gay people in Singapore were/are nonexistent, and penalties for “homosexual acts” were and still are unusually cruel. But then, we had each other, and in an naive sort of way we assumed “everything would work out” if we just played it right. People often manage to elude crazy rules for years, and so did we.
[Image: my former condo pool in Flamingo Valley, Singapore, 1990's]

Singapore is a rich, high-tech city state on the southern point of Malaysia, a country I often visited on weekends by just crossing the bridge and getting yet another stamp in my passport. But underneath all its wealth Singapore totally sacrifices all aspects of “freedom” in order to remain “clean”, crime-free and keep out their poor Malayan workforce, passing the border checkpoints twice each day.

Singapore is not a “liberal democracy”: more than 400 prisoners have been hanged in Singapore since 1991 (many for soft-drugs like cannabis), giving the small city-state possibly the highest execution rate in the world. Most Western civil liberties do not exist.

We both kept a low profile and I had a great time, enjoying a multitude of adventurous vacation trips to islands in the South China sea, with the spectacular island of Tioman being an absolute highlight - especially considering that we survived a killer storm, went trecking through a jungle without roads and spent nights in Meranti cabins, while monkeys and mosquitoes kept us wide awake throughout the night. You know, I’m a native Dutch speaker, so I really enjoyed the site of an old windmill in Melaka, and grave stones with inscriptions in Dutch, who used to be the colonials several centuries ago.

In the end, it all went horribly wrong. Singapore authorities disputed my ’status’ and no matter how much we both tried, I had to return to Europe. My partner was unable to do so. To put it very blunt: those racist, anti-gay Chinese bigots in Singapore were partly responsible for the demise of my longstanding, stable relationship in the 90s.

My partner tried relocating to Belgium/Holland, but failed. We tried to keep in touch, but the huge distance and his responsibilities made it a battle I had to lose. The last time I saw him dates back to 1999. I now realize why I sealed that picture box way back in the 90’s: I lost my heart in Asia.

Did you lose your heart on the other side of the planet? Do let me know

If you just follow, you’ll never lead

[Image: Restoration of the city Opera, Antwerp, Belgium, Feb 18, 2007]

The Sopranos, revisited

I’ve always been a fan of The Sopranos, the acclaimed HBO drama that presumably will air its last 9 episodes early 2007 in the US. Overhere the show is on a regular channel, enjoying wide popularity, in spite of being interrupted by countless commercials.

But I didn’t need the Sopranos to experience “the Mafia lifestyle, the American family, the Italian-American community, the effects of violence on the human soul, and the gray area between what society considers morally right and wrong”.

Just replace “Italian/American” with “Serbian” and hey presto: they were once living right next door.

Live and unscripted.

Leposova was born in ‘52 somewhere in former Yugoslavia, married and divorced twice and finally ended up as my neighbour in Antwerp, Belgium, as the spouse/partner of a filthy rich Serbian brothel owner. I never met all her children, but her youngest son will never forget me. In those days prostitution in Antwerp was not yet “regulated and sanitized” but looked like a Federico Fellini movie: “anything goes” was a gross understatement. A huge area surrounding Antwerp’s Falcon Square was buzzing with 24/24 activity, including human trafficking, counterfeited merchandise on sale, countless drive-by prostitution boots, sleazy bars, casinos, drug pushers - all in a city that had long stopped caring.

[image: "Falconplein/Falcon Square, Antwerp, Belgium 2006]

Leposova was an amazing woman. Proudly showing off her youngest son to me while he edited the “beverages price list” of his daddy’s La Perla “bar” (Champagne: the equivalent of 200 EUR/US $, excluding the girl) she carried her head proudly, being very much aware of her social status. Her partner might have been a Tony Soprano carbon-copy, she indisputably was a unpolished Eastern block diamond, flashing “I’ll cut your throat” signs to taxi-cab drivers that showed up 5 minutes late, while politely asking my opinion after yet another perfect home-makeover. She also constantly locked herself out, ringing my bell to ask if I could just “break a window”, as the 30 min wait for a locksmith was way too much to bear. During the summer she disappeared. Two months in her native Serbia was a yearly tradition. They owned several houses, apparently near the coast.

I was very fond of Leposova. In her own unique way, she was the most bizarre and yet the most perfect example of multi-cultural integration I’ve ever encountered: “Peter” I recall her exclaiming in Dutch, “juust taste theees laamb”, while dropping her Cyrillic alphabet newspaper and inquiring if I needed any specimens from her ever growing exotic plant collection. And unlike her tropical plant collection, she added more than a touch of exoticism to my life, she actually touched me profoundly.

One early spring morning, Leposova was found covered in blood, lying in front of our adjacent mailboxes. I’m glad I didn’t witness the gruesome attack. I’m unsure if the assailant was ever identified. In the end, Leposova was flown back to Serbia to be buried in a place I’m still unable to find on any regular map.

Many years have passed since Leposova died. The plant behind me was one of her small presents. It outlived her.

[Note: this is not a fictional write-up. Leposova once was my real life neighbour. Her son passed me by in a huge SUV/4x4 last week. "Hallo", he said in fluent Dutch. I smiled. Meeting him triggered posting this part of my past.]

Visit Antwerp, get vandalized

Antwerp, Belgium is a popular tourist destination. Most visitors are Dutch, but each day I pass a significant number of Japanese, Spanish and English speaking travelers. Some arrive by plane, train or coach, but most local visitors park their cars on the historic riverbanks.

Antwerp is known for its low violent crime rate, at least, the chances that someone will assault you with a handgun are virtually zero. However, downtown vandalism and “misdemeanors” are common and visibly on the rise: yesterday some creep emptied a spray can on my neighbors walls, tonight I once again accompanied a friend to the Antwerp police tower. He’ll probably think twice before parking here again: EURO 400 in damages and a messed-up weekend was not his idea of a social visit. If you plan on parking your car on the Antwerp riverbanks, don’t. You may want to consider finding a safer alternative.

And yes, those are the shattered remains of a car’s windshield. You know, sometimes I just long for that small town where everybody knows my name..

The failure of social planning in downtown Antwerp

According to recent figures published by local newspapers, downtown Antwerp faces severe social issues - eg: out of every 100 students, 65 have non-Dutch speaking parents. But language is not the basic problem: although many of these families are low income migrants, Antwerp faces social problems due to a total absence of realistic planning in the past: a significant number of downtown inhabitants lack basic education, creating impoverished areas with bored/criminal juveniles. Unassisted migration also just “happened” overhere in the 60-90’s: the doors were opened wide, and nobody really cared.

Middle class families increasingly enrolled their offspring in schools outside the inner-city area, where aggressive condo/ loft/ mega project developments have long been inducing growing tension between the rich arrivals and those in the nearby poverty-stricken streets. Urban/social planning in downtown Antwerp? You must be joking

Torture on US TV shows rising and copied by convicted US criminals sent to Irak

Quotes from www.primetimetorture.org:

“The number of scenes of torture on TV shows [especially the disgusting '24', a fear mongering propaganda show from the neo-conservative FOX TV network] is significantly higher than it was five years ago and the characters who torture have changed. It used to be that only villains on television tortured. Today, “good guy” and heroic American characters torture — and this torture is depicted as necessary, effective and even patriotic.“

“In interviews with former interrogators and retired military leaders, Human Rights First learned that the portrayal of torture in popular culture is having an undeniable impact on how interrogations are conducted in the field. U.S. soldiers are imitating the techniques they have seen on television – because they think such tactics work.”

“Hollywood writers, of course, did not create the environment that led to the torture and abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere; the U.S. government created this environment by authorizing coercive interrogation techniques, departing from the long-held absolute ban on torture and cruel treatment, suspending the Geneva Conventions, and by assigning soldiers to tasks for which they were not trained.”

Read the shocking truth about The politics of the man behind ‘24′ in this weeks issue of The Newyorker.

If you consider the fact that the reputable US www.palmcenter.org
[an official unit of the Institute for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Research at the University of Santa Barbara, California] reported last Tuesday (Quote):

“The number of convicted criminals who enlisted in the U.S. military almost doubled in the past three years, rising from 824 felons in fiscal year 2004 to 1,605 in fiscal year 2006, according to a new study.”
“The US Army data indicate that from 2003 through 2006, the military allowed 4,230 convicted felons to enlist under the “moral waivers” program, which enables otherwise unqualified candidates to serve.

In addition, 43,977 individuals convicted of serious misdemeanors such as assault were permitted to enlist [in the US army] under the moral waivers program during that period, as were 58,561 illegal drug abusers.“

Let me quote yesterdays New York Times:
“The sharpest increase was in waivers for serious misdemeanors, which make up the bulk of all the US Army’s moral waivers. These include aggravated assault, burglary, robbery and vehicular homicide”

Amazing.

“We support our troops” and even “bring the troops back home” (to the USA) might be a bad idea after all..

“Why we fight”, the movie - The dirty economics of US warfare

“Why we fight”: watch the full, shocking movie from Googlevideo (1h 40 min, 300 MB, but worth every second of your time)

Video available in bite-size pieces at www.whywefightmovie.com

US Director Eugene Jarecki launches a full-frontal autopsy of how the will of the American people has become an accessory to the Pentagon. Surveying the scorched landscape of a half-century’s military misadventures and misguided missions, Jarecki asks how, and tells why, a nation ostensibly of, by, and for the people has become the savings-and-loan of a system whose survival depends on a state of constant war.

From GoogleVideo:

“Is American foreign policy dominated by the idea of military supremacy? Has the military become too important in American life? Jarecki’s shrewd and intelligent polemic would seem to give an affirmative answer to each of these questions

The 2005 Sundance American Documentary Grand Jury Prize was given to “WHY WE FIGHT”, written and directed by Eugene Jarecki.

What are the forces that shape and propel American militarism? This award-winning film provides an inside look at the anatomy of the American war machine.

He may have been the ultimate icon of 1950s conformity and postwar complacency, but Dwight D. Eisenhower was an iconoclast, visionary, and the Cassandra of the New World Order. Upon departing his presidency, Eisenhower issued a stern, cogent warning about the burgeoning “military industrial complex,” foretelling with ominous clarity the state of the world in 2004 with its incestuous entanglement of political, corporate, and Defense Department interests.

Deploying the general’s farewell address as his strategic ground zero, Eugene Jarecki launches a full-frontal autopsy of how the will of a people has become an accessory to the Pentagon. Surveying the scorched landscape of a half-century’s military misadventures and misguided missions, Jarecki asks how–and tells why–a nation ostensibly of, by, and for the people has become the savings-and-loan of a system whose survival depends on a state of constant war.

Jarecki, whose previous film, The Trials of Henry Kissinger, took such an unblinking look at our ex-secretary of state, might have delivered his film in time for the last presidential election, but its timing is also its point: It does not matter who is in charge as long as the system remains immune from the checks and balances of a peace-seeking electorate. Brisk, intelligent, and often very, very human, Why We Fight is one of the more powerful films in this year’s Festival, and certainly among the most shattering.” Diane Weyermann.

Valentine’s Day 2007: “mommy is horny and feeling very naughty”

I couldn’t help smiling wearily when I stumbled upon a slightly amusing junk-post while browsing my daily spam comments (conveniently filtered by Akismet, a real life-saver from WordPress): “mommy is horny and feeling very naughty” exclaimed the US IP, conveniently listing a myriad of most inappropriate Valentines gifts.
Some US Spammers (yes, 90% of all spam merchandise originates in the US) assume that their unique best-selling combination of Tramadol (a strong opiate to relieve severe pain) and Viagra/Cialis is somehow ‘the’ knock-out surprise for a perfect Valentine. I had no clue “true love” was so painful

Bitching like a queen: the demise of Navigaytion 2007 in Antwerp

The yearly Antwerp riverside Gay Pride www.navigaytion.be, scheduled for July 14th, has been canceled, much to the dismay of Antwerp’s large gay community.
The organizers (affiliated with gay mega disco www.redandblue.be, but sponsored by Antwerp City) decided to pull the plug after it became clear that there was no way to compete with the concurrent gay eurogames, the biggest athletic event for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people in Europe, hosted by Antwerp from 12-15 July. Let’s give those party queens a two-year planner, a basic calendar and some common sense, the ongoing stream of public bitching has become distasteful and degrading

“Trapped in a loveless marriage called Belgium”

When major US newspapers make an effort to cover Belgium, the stories usually tend to focus on some amusing trivia, but Chicago Tribune’s Tom Hundley did an excellent job yesterday in his article titled Belgium: Land of chocolate, beer and an unhappy union. Without boring his readers he managed to analyze the “loveless marriage called Belgium”.

Quote: “They’ve been a couple so long they can’t remember what brought them together in the first place. But now they’ve grown apart. They don’t watch the same TV shows or listen to the same music. They don’t even speak the same language. About the only thing they have in common is a taste for beer and chocolate. They stay together mainly out of habit, and also because it would be such a headache to break up the household and divide the communal property. If you know a couple like this, then you will understand the Belgians.”

Dutch-speaking Flanders and French-speaking Wallonia are indeed trapped in what has become a loveless marriage, and while many dislike the extremist VB party rhetoric, they were quoted stating undeniable facts: ” “It’s obvious this is an artificial country. It was founded in the 1820s as a buffer state between Germany and France. There is no Belgian language. We are two people living apart together.”

Anyway, according to the Chicago Tribune there is no reason to worry about Belgium’s future: “A philosopher at Catholic University of Louvain says Flemings and Walloons are in it together for the foreseeable future. It’s not because of the love of the two people for each other, or our love of the monarchy or our glorious history. It’s simply because of the location of Brussels.”

Brussels, the capital, with a population of 2 million, is a Francophone island floating in the heart of [Dutch speaking] Flanders. French is the lingua franca of about 95 percent of the city’s inhabitants, and in addition to its growing importance as the administrative headquarters of the EU and NATO, 56 percent of Brussels’ residents are of foreign origin or have a foreign-born parent.

There’s just no conceivable way breaking that up, so we all are stuck in this truly loveless marriage called Belgium.

By the way: “French fries” actually should be called “Belgian Fries”, because Belgium deserves credit for what Americans mistakenly call french fries. [Image credits: Belgian King Albert, stuffed with fries, political satire by Vedeze]

Seventh Annual Weblog Awards 2007: does anyone care about the winners?

Unlike its early, very basic beginnings way back in 2001, the seventh annual 2007 weblog awards presented an overdose of the obvious, the commercial and the well-known, with many bloggers doubting the validity of the voting process: it’s no longer a quality award, it has become a visibility contest.

One of the five “Best Australian or New Zealand Weblog” nominees turned out to be aussielicious: a gay eye-candy blog featuring male nudes with brain-dead “xxx is just so damned hot” tag lines, while Gizmode managed to get an exaggerated 12 nominations, yet again. Most line ups were predictable and just plain boring: we all know that eg Boing Boing is a professional publication in a list of six equals, so I failed to see the need to cast my vote.

The only surprises were some smaller publications, but the “hey, that’s really original” factor was gone. Much like the Oscars, most 2007 weblog awards candidates have become way too predictable. The “winners” will be announced on Monday, March 12, but don’t hold your breath - it might well be more satisfying discovering the real jewels on your own

Steal from the poor

The European community is not a very “efficient” entity. In spite of countless laws and regulations, Europeans are still producing way too much produce of every variety. Some of these products do make it to the market though, primarily packaged as food aid, to be shipped off abroad or, at some rare occasions, targeted at people on welfare (yes, they do exist in wealthy Belgium).

Imagine my dismay when I opened this bottle of milk in the kitchen of some prosperous acquaintances last week: “EU aid” screamed the label in French/Dutch, with an additional warning that selling this product was strictly forbidden.

It was way beyond my comprehension that these middle class Belgians were actually stealing basic EU food support intended to be distributed among the desperately poor

Antwerp, Belgium: The revival of Studio 54

Several decades after the demise of New York’s Studio 54, Antwerp, Belgium also
revived the concept. Make sure to check out their site at www.studio54antwerp.be
[Image credit: gaygay.biz]

Travel the world in 4 hours

Sure, it can be done. Al least, if you just want to experience the taste of traveling the world, without leaving the airconditioned 2007 Brussels travel show, a yearly recurrent event that has attracted huge crowds for over 30 years. Although my car was in the shop for maintenance, I did manage to get to the Brussels fair today, returning with oh so many great travel offers, all of them most tempting and hard to resist. Enjoy my cell-phone cam-shots.

The mini booth from www.visitusa.org was a total disappointment, as expected.

Following the latest U.S. Department of Commerce data, the number of Belgian visitors to the U.S. in 2003 dropped as low as 151,069 - although the total number of outbound travelers from Belgium reached 16.6 million in 2004. Quote:”The specificity of the Belgian market is that the Belgians rank very high in per capita income in the world $ 29,000- $30,000 (OECD). Reported data suggests that Belgian international expenditure has reached $9.2 Billion in 2002. The Belgian tourist market needs to be given particular attention in order to capture a bigger portion of this significant level of expenditure.“.

Unfortunately, for most Belgian holidaymakers, the USA is no longer a desirable holiday destination: getting finger printed, spied upon and almost being treated like a criminal on arrival is not our idea of a great vacation.

And yes, American tourists visiting Belgium still get the treatment all tourists deserve, as most welcome guests, without fingerprinting, unacceptable privacy invasions nor any associated aggressive paranoia

Snow in Antwerp

First snow in the historic part of Antwerp in over a year, currently already melted

sex, lies, and videotape

Unlike the plot of “sex, lies, and videotape”, my weekend experience involved no sex, an overdose of lies and a total absence of any videotape.

But much like “sex, lies, and videotape” this weekend became an unpleasant turning point, and in a dark sort of way I was gradually forced to re-assess several vital social contacts in my own life.

When it became clear that a real close friend for most of my adult life apparently was suffering from deeply rooted “basic truth” issues he was not willing to discuss, I felt excluded and confused. ” Houston, we have a problem”.

Any advice on handling a guy for whom “distorting the truth and believing it” (ie: persistent and repetitive lying to gain a personal benefit, while still showing some consideration for the person being lied to) has become a new way of life?

[my photo: "zoete waters" lake, Heverlee, Belgium - Feb 2007]