Magere Hein

To quote Plautus: nomen sit omen. regards, Hein

Seattle Mariners outfielder Gregory Halman, a Dutchman, was stabbed to death this morning, in my hometown Rotterdam, alledgedly by his brother. Hmm. I see this topic sits in the DL Extracurricular subforum. Do we have a Dead Baseballers topic? regards, Hein

If Cain was to win next year, he would be inaugurated as President on January 20th 2013... While we're in the realm of mythology, does Mr Cain have the Mark? If so, we're doomed, doomed! regards, Hein

Of course. It's pretty much how I made my 2011 DDP team. You can see in my .sig how well that worked. regards, Hein

Well, that might work, but it's against the Unwritten Rules. See this post. regards, Hein

Must be Sinterklaas. Let's check the literature: which translates to English as: 1One can almost hear the pained thoughts the author of this deathless verse had: "bezoek, what's a rhyme for bezoek". regards, Hein

It seems it's working. He didn't appear in court yesterday, due to illness. The tribunal just ordered a full medical checkup in order to "better assess whether and to what extent his health condition could affect the preparation of the upcoming trial". AP has the story, regards, Hein

Beats the interviews as an excuse to "read" it. regards, Hein

Today in 1716 in Hannover German philosopher, mathematician, lawyer and polymath of a kind rarely seen since, Gottfried Leibniz died, aged 70. He's probably best known for his invention of calculus, independently from and at the same time as Isaac Newton. Those two learned men struggled for years over priority. Must've been fun in those wigs. regards, Hein

That, or a writing desk. regards, Hein

Today in 1982 Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, then General Secretary of the CPSU, died aged 75. regards, Hein

He celebrates his 83rd birthday today. A quick look at his website taught me that he's still a busy man. He also intends to be in Perth, Western Australia in February 2012. It seems to me his health has changed little in the last three years. regards, Hein

Of course it's silly, silly. We're just killing time, rather than pray for mr Hitchens' survival into 2012. And so we turn to a much more interesting question: do atheism, agnosticism and general disbelief coincide with intelligence? The politically correct answer is: there's no reason to think so. I know quite a few clever theists and several atheists who are thick as a brick. I don't sympathise with those godless heathens who call themselves brights. Oh fuck PC, there are reasons to assume that there is a correlation: I know several people who were raised on religion, who, through reason, discovered that religion is nonsense. It takes quite some intelligence to get there. Additionally, it takes courage to tell your relatives and friends about your apostacy. I live in a society in which the importance of organised religion is fading (Islam possibly excepted), but I'm well aware that in many places being an atheist openly isn't the easiest way to go through life, if not impossible. As a teenager I lived in a part of the Netherlands that was (and is) predominantly Roman Catholic. At school (run by Franciscan monks) I had a daft conversations after a classmate noticed I didn't join in morning prayer. It went like this: Classmate: "Hey, don't you pray?" I: "No." CM: "Why?" I: "I'm not a Catholic." CM: "Oh, so you're a Protestant, then." I: "No." CM: "Ehrm.... I got it, you're Jewish!" I: "No." CM. "Huh?" I: "I'm not religious." CM. "How can that be? You've got to be something!" I: "No." CM: "You're weird." Strangely enough, the boy I had this conversation with wasn't half clever and one of the best pupils in my class. Yet even at this young age he showed all the narrowmindedness of the True Believer. I never saw him after I left school, so maybe he got better, but I doubt it. And of course: the way many people let themselves be fleeced (or worse) by their priests is of an stupidity beyond belief. Back to normal. Several believers I know are very nice people. I rather doubt the moral virtue of people who need the carrot of heaven and the stick of hell to do the right thing, but if it turns them into nice people, I won't complain. regards, Hein

When you click that button, you'll get a popup window, with which you can insert some special format thingies in your post, like horizontal rules, links to other posts or topics and some more stuff. Choose what you want from the drop-down box in the top left corner and follow the instructions. regards, Hein

Not all POAs die young. May I present Feuerbach (1804-1872), Edison (1847–1931) and Huxley (1887–1975) as counterexamples. The life of Sagan (1934–1996) is, unfortunately, a data point for the Other Side. Gervais may still be a good candidate. regards, Hein

Consider it done. regards, Hein

Dutch woman seriously hurt by cow(s). (16 August 2011) Retribution for generation of forced labour and stolen milk and calves? regards, Hein

If he makes it to 2012, then he's going on my list for sure. And with a star like Joe Frazier we're sure to get consant updates from the media. Come on Joe, two more roundsmonths. You can do it. Seconds out, Hein

Like this, you mean? regards, Hein

First: a few tips. The edit box for a reply at the bottom of a page is not very useful for anything, other than a quick reply without fancy mark-up. Use the button labelled "More Reply Options". If you want to quote a post, hit the "Quote" button and then the "More Reply Options" one. That view has a "Preview Post" button that actually works. A very useful option in that view is the button at the upper left corner of the editor, with a picture of what looks like a small paperclip, but which I guess is supposed to be a light switch: . It toggles the edit mode of the editor to the one we're familiar with in the old version. I'll have to look into the URL bit, but in the "More Reply Options" view it works pretty much as it used to: Hit the button with a picture of a mask with a teardrop: . You'll get a popup window like: . Fill in a URL and a link to that URL (and with the same URL as link text) will be added to your post, like this: http://www.deathlist.net Type a link text, select it, hit the link button and fill in a URL. A link to that URL with your link text will be added to your post, like this: this is a link to our front page. Let me see: <b>"This sentence is supposed to be in boldfaced type."</b> So: no, I guess. All this newfangled software confuses me no end. Is IPB going the way of the Evil EmpireMicrosoft? Next lesson: posting pictures. regards, Hein

Talking about Dutch celebs how's Teddy Scholten these days? She must be about 80 now. Not sure they'd get a UK obit, though she might do as she pipped Pearl Carr and Teddy Johnson to the post and won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1959 (still one of the UK's most famous entries even after 47 years!) Got some ideas. Rijk de Gooyer. Actor, and well in his eighties. Dead, from pancreatic cancer, at 85. regards, Hein

Diddums is rotting in prison... - if he were released on "Compassionate grounds" he'd barely make it out the gate before the lynching mob would tear him apart. You say that as if it's a Bad Thing... regards, Hein

Dunno, if I try to link to the Dutch Wiki of Cas Spijkers, a Dutch TV cook who died last Saturday, I can insert a link without a hitch: http://nl.wikipedia....ki/Cas_Spijkers . Click the little button and follow instructions from there. I have some trouble using images in this post. Strange... Anyway, I mean the picture of a mask with a teardrop. regards, Hein

Oh fuck, I did make a mistake: the next day we're using a new version of the forum software. regards, Hein

HOWTO updated to version 1.10. I tried to update all questions to the current forum software version. I also added other HOWTO questions raised in this topic. If I made any mistake, please let me know. regards, Hein