dykstraNet

I’ve put my trusty GTI up for sale. I’ll be sad to see it go.

Ok… no word here since February. I’ve received lots of mail from my fans. Well actually… not that much. OK none. But that’s ok… this site matters… right?

In this high-tech, digital, hustle-tussle, I-was-too-busy-to-say-hi, era we live in, sometimes one has a totally analog, acoustic moment that reminds one that gadgets and money and velvet-rope access are not necessary to have a great time. On a cold February trip to Amsterdam, I had a great visit with an old friend who invited me over for din-din. He lives in an old house on the coast of the Netherlands in Zandvoort (Sand fort?). It’s a summer holiday spot… but no huge crowds in late February. We went out for beers.

There was some high quality kareoke going on at the bar. The beers were good and we had fun. The best part, though, was dinner in this 100 year old house with a fire roaring and my buddy playing the guitar (Marcel). I recorded some on my ipod. The recording is low quality, but I think it captures a moment of friends hanging out and enjoying simple analogue things and conversation. (Third voice on the recording is Minos)

Two recordings under some very old dutch wooden ceiling planks:

Shorter bit
Long bit (15.5 megs… better have a fast connection)

There is some good description from Marcel about 2/3 through where he describes how he plays flamenco (Long bit).

Flickr pictures from Zandvoort

Audra has got some pretty moving personal photographs of the destruction in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward.

It might be useful to have these an your screen as you watch Katrina hearings.

Chertoff Says He Is Responsible for Katrina Failures

Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) — U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told a Senate panel today that he is responsible for the federal government’s failures in responding to Hurricane Katrina and he promised to “fix what’s wrong'’ with his department before the next hurricane season begins.

Some coverage from the Netherlands.

Well, it appears that the effort to get the word out on hoaxster Freeman Watson may be working… kind of. Searches for “Chef Freeman Watson” are coming up well on Yahoo. Check it out… Audra’s blog ranked fourth!

Picture of Yahoo Results

Google still leaves something to be desired… but at least the dykstraNet entry is showing up.

Picture of Google Results

Check out the crazy contract Freeman Watson asked my sister to sign.
Lex has heard from others who have had a run-in with the super chef.

My sister Alexis worked hard last year to make it in Boston. It’s a big, expensive city and she supported herself while doing a semester at Boston University. To do that she was constantly working and looking for ways to make an honest extra buck… taking photography and modeling gigs where she could.

One day she called me and told me that she had been offered a role in a new television show on the Food Network. Celebrity chef Freeman Watson had found her modeling portfolio online and wanted her to co-host his new show, “The Passionate Palate”.

Well, Chef Freeman Watson turned out to be a fraud. Alexis wasted time she didn’t have indulging this freaky old guy’s dilusional fantasies. Thankfully, my sister is fine. In fact, “Chef” Watson didn’t know who he was messin’ with when he tangled with Alexis. She posted her whole story on her website: l3xy.com which has quite a following.

Since that time, she has heard from a slew of women that Chef Freeman Watson has ensnared. They have been stumbling on her website and writing to tell her their stories. Hopefully, his current and future targets are finding her site as well.

I’m linking directly to her story in the hopes that google will give it a higher rank for the search term “Chef Freeman Watson“.

If you find it interesting, link to her story on your website and get the word out on this creep.

I was on the phone with many friends last week back in Detroit in advance of Superbowl XL. Everyone was on and on about how Detroit’s hosting of the big game was showing off a watershed moment in Detroit history.

Photo found on flickr.com posted by umyeah.

Things have been tough since the riots of 1968, but it’s time for Detroit to eschew its bad image. I’d like to believe that this is true. Detroit it seems is always getting such bad press. But for the first time in recent memory, I was hearing good things. Here is a snippet from the Boston Globe:

DETROIT — I come to you in praise of Detroit. That’s right. I like Detroit. In fact, I love Detroit. I could live here. Really.

It’s fashionable for out-of-town sports columnists to invade a Super Bowl host city and trash the place. If memory serves correct, I may have been guilty of this once or twice in the past (Houston, we had a problem. Yo, Jacksonville — have you Big Gulp yahoos built a three-story hotel yet?). But not this time. Who needs Miami, Tempe, or Southern California? We have Super Bowl XL right here in the heart of the Motor City.

However, whatever cosmetic changes the city has been able to pull off, it appears that the real problems run deep.

George Will’s townhall.com column talks about Detroit’s fundamental problems in the context of the upcoming gubernatorial race. Among the things he mentions is that, according Northamerican Van Lines, the outflux of people from Michigan is at its highest level since 1982 (when unemployement was 16%).

Photo found on Flickr posted by archiscot

There is a historical analysis of Detroit’s problems here.

Detroit. It is a good place to be from.

UPDATE: My comment-shy Detroit friends have put me in my place via voicemail regarding the smug “It is a good place to be from” line. Actually, I’ve toyed with moving back from time to time and I wish Detroit would rebound in order to make that easier. A little house in Royal Oak. A cabin in Northern Michigan. A boat on Lake St. Clair. BBQ’s and baseball games with good friends and family. Life could be pretty good in Michigan after all.

Workaday rituals and day-in, day-out routines cause the calendar pages to flip. Then you stumble on images of some foreign land and wonder what life is all about.

What’s the use in working like crazy and seeing the same subway platform every day?

After all, there is a wide world out there to see right?

Check out the rest of these captivating images from China.