I hear that. My grandfather was descended of German nobility. Nothing major, but he was the son of a prince. To be clear: a complete nobody even when German nobility was still a thing pre-WW1. After the war, they pretty much abolished all that in a revolution.

But basically, if I go back four generations, we owned a ‘castle’ somewhere. Meanwhile, I’m solidly in the peasant class.

People know the ‘I only read Playboy for the articles’ joke but it’s genuinely why the magazine lasted as long as it has. Playboy certainly wasn’t the only one doing nude photography nor was it the most extreme.

But the magazine has had some genuinely great writers over the years. Notable ones like Roald Dahl, Jack Kerouac, Ian Fleming, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Hunter S. Thompson and a whole slew of journalists and columnists who went on to write great stuff.

Playboy tended to give their writers a lot of freedom and published things others wouldn’t. After all, if you’re already controversial, you might as well publish controversial writing.

Dutch cuisine is so boring and bland, it’s no wonder almost everyone prefers anything foreign. Everything traditional we cook tends to lack flavor and texture, it’s filling but not exactly attractive.

We also don’t really have a food culture here. Dutch people don’t like to spend more time eating than they have to. A meal never lasts more than 20-30 minutes tops.

It’s not exactly surprising that there’s no such thing as a Dutch restaurant outside of the Netherlands…

I hear ya.

These days I only buy things that have years of good reviews, or that I know how to inspect for quality issues. Learn what makes a good shirt, a good knife, a good tool… what are the signs of quality and signs of cost cutting that you should be aware of? A consumer really does need to do a bit of homework to find the diamond in the dung pile.

I also really love old gear and tech for that reason. Fewer things to break and easy to fix. I use film cameras that are older than I am, often by decades. It might be old, but at least it’ll keep fucking working AND can be fixed if it doesn’t.

Absolutely not. Just look at games these days. Number one complaint: everything runs poorly. Optimisation is an afterthought. If it runs like shit? We’ll blame the customer. A lot of games now run like trash on even the most high end graphics cards. Companies don’t seem to give a shit.

Vote with your wallet I guess.

I imagine that might be handy if you’re trying to book something somewhere. Assuming the musician is still alive, of course.

How often do you get disappointed stares when you show up somewhere?

I share my name with a famous referee. I’ve had people try and talk to me about that sport when I’m very clearly not said individual.

Sure, in a technical sense, that’s true - the car radio in our 2025 Hyundai i10 is a DAB+ radio, which supposedly still has backup FM capability. Which is never used, as you just pick the station from a list. It’s never used anyway - I much prefer podcasts.

The other day I got a press release about disaster preparedness for grade school kids.

It made mention of teaching kids how to use a battery powered radio to get information. And it suddenly struck me that my 8 year old nephew likely has never even SEEN an FM radio, much less would know how to tune one to a specific station.

Shit like that makes me feel reaaaaaaallllly old…

This is actually a pretty interesting topic.

I was born in 1982 and we didn’t get the internet until 1998. Which means I was a kid and teen in a mostly analog world.

Your day to day knowledge was formed by things you were taught in school, the things you saw on the news and the people you were surrounded by. That gave you a fairly broad understanding of the world.

If you really NEEDED a correct answer, you’d use an encyclopedia at school or the library, or any specific book on the topic. But you had to be motivated to do that. And even those resources might be limited in scope or unavailable. My local library in the Netherlands would’ve had some books on US history for example, but you wouldn’t really find say, a biography of Jimmy Carter. So at some point, you’d reach the maximum depth of knowledge to be gained in your particular situation.

The internet really helps us drill down way, WAY deeper than what we could find in the 80’s and 90’s. I can now have in-depth knowledge on the most obscure topic and drill down as far as I want.

It’s unfortunate that a lot of people don’t use the web for that. Or end up actually misinformed because of it.

I’ll take that for sure. Absolutely loooove winter. I downright detest summer. It’s too bright, too warm, sweaty, makes me irritable and I’m less productive in general.

To quote The Weeknd: I come alive in the fall time. My mood improves, everything gets cosy and comfortable. Fall and winter bring nice things like christmas, hot chocolate, gorgeous colors in nature, nice sweaters, warm jackets. Absolutely love it.

The other day I was riding home from work on my bicycle. This being the Netherlands, lots of idiots are on bikes as well.

A bike passes me on the left, with one guy pedalling at a good clip. And a second dude casually standing on the rear of the bike, with his arms crossed. As if he was standing at a bus stop.

Weirdest, most dangerous shit I’ve ever seen on a bicycle. This was a busy street at rush hour no less. I was sure I’d see the guy end up on the pavement, but had to turn off before I could witness the dismount.

If some fucker breaks into your house, kicks your dog, rapes your wife and steals your TV, you don’t ’compromise’ to let him keep the TV. You shoot that fucker right between the eyes.

Russia needs to get out, simple as that. After that, we’ll hang Putin for war crimes and put the rest of Russian leadership against a fucking wall.

The Netherlands is not the worst to live, but I for one could use a few days extra off for sure…

Sooooo build a bunker and hoard guns and ammo, then?

Yep. That’s a difficult nuance for people to grasp. Alcoholism isn’t really about the amount, it’s about your relationship to its use.

If you drink 7 beers on a random friday night, but nothing the rest of the week, you’re probably fine. But if you drink a beer with your breakfast so you can face the day, that’s clearly not a good place to be. Same amount of alcohol, but a different relationship to its use.

Basically, anytime you feel like you ‘need a drink to do X’ with any regularity, it’s time to talk to your doctor about alcohol use.

I had so many experiences like that. I was a voracious reader as a kid. I was reading books in English (my second language) about topics such as aeronautics and space exploration. I was reading far, far above the level of any classmates. And that lead persisted all through college.

Every time a new teacher would give us an essay assignment, I’d get called out to stay after class once they graded it. And they’d casually accuse me of plagiarism.

My usual response? Quiz me, right the fuck now, on any paragraph you want from that 20 page paper. And ask me the definition of any word you’re unfamiliar with. That shut them up right quick.

A large vocabulary is its own reward, but not so much when those who’re supposed to teach you are lacking in that department.

Exactly. Back in 1995, my dad could never get online. Heck, he couldn’t even remotely figure out a PC. We tried to teach him some basics like ‘click with the left mouse button to open something’, but he was downright scared of the thing. He never, ever touched it.

But ‘thanks’ to the iPad, he’s e-mailing, on Facebook, on YouTube, TikTok etc. Which also has the unfortunate effect of subjecting him to boomer brainrot. He’s now more actively misinformed than he used to be because of that fucking iPad.

We’ve made the web accessible to people who shouldn’t be on it. Because it’s hurting them and hurting society as a whole.

I’ve been online since 1995. I weep for what we lost. The web should have stayed a nerd domain. We’d have been better off as a society.

Do watch Andor. It’s not just good Star Wars, it’s ‘good TV’ in general. And I say that as someone who hates modern Star Wars with a passion. Andor’s excellent.

God yes. I was one of the first people to buy it. Back when you had to send Notch himself five bucks to play it. I was interested in the concept, but frankly didn’t think it would have much appeal beyond people who enjoy completely self-guided experiences with no set goals.

How wrong I was.

It’s been wild seeing it rise to the top of the pop culture heap, become popular with 12 year olds and eventually result in me seeing a movie starring Jack Black based on it.

It’s wild that it started with me and a handful of guys sending Notch a fiver.