All 18 entries tagged Little Ideas

Difficult Language

A thought that crossed my mind tonight as I was trying to remember my five years of French from seven years ago:

“If French wouldn’t have been such a difficult language, then maybe the French would have had some time left to study other languages.”

: 18 Mar 2008 23:18 |  Tags: 2008 English Little Ideas |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Stop Big Cars For Small People

Writing about web page http://diehardatminimum.blogspot.com/

This picture comes from a friend’s blog, to be printed out and placed in the windshield of any 4×4 or other big tractor-type of driving status symbol. Activism can be fun and light-hearted!

: 01 Feb 2008 16:39 |  Tags: 2008 English Little Ideas |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

It's A Big World

A maxim I thought up today. I call it the policy paradox.

The more an ordinary citizen moves towards a policy maker’s perspective, the more she or he realises that things or not that simple. The more a policy maker moves towards an ordinary citizen’s perpective, the more she or he realises that they actually are.

As always, open for comments.

: 17 Jan 2008 20:26 |  Tags: 2008 English Little Ideas |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

A Kiss

Sometimes you think something up and wonder whether you’re the first one to see it (it apparently being just a brilliant stroke of coincidence) or whether you’ve just come across the reason for it’s being as it is (the underlying idea or intentional correlation).

Well, I just had a little idea of the above category.

You know how people write “x” at the end of text messages and emails, meaning “kiss”. But why x? Is “x = kiss” just a random social convention, meaning kiss could also have been put down as “y” or “z” if it was widely enough used, or is there a more profound reason behind it?

Then my little thought came up. In Spanish the letter x is pronounced “ekys”, sounding somewhat like a Spanish person saying “a kiss” in English.
So does “x = kiss” perhaps originate from the Spanish? We will probably never be able to confirm that with all certainty.

: 11 Nov 2007 21:35 |  Tags: 2007 English Little Ideas |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

To Die For?

A great humanist phrase read in a leaflet:

“The killing of a human is not the defense of a doctrine. It is the killing of a human.”

As was written down by Sebastian Castellio in 1553. Some words have lasting value.

: 10 Sep 2007 23:27 |  Tags: 2007 English Little Ideas |  Comments (3) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Zeno enzo

Het stond in een foldertje. En was best wel cliché. En toch… er was iets mee. Er zat wel een harde kern van waarheid in. En ik hou wel van tot schijnbare paradox gesmeede frazen. En het was gewoon best een grappige zin. Dus ik wilde hem hier met jullie delen. Hier komt -ie.

Het enige dat blijft is verandering.

: 02 Aug 2007 21:01 |  Tags: 2007 Little Ideas Nederlands |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Wisselwerking

Als de zon over het landschap valt, worden de velden mooi. De aarde straalt, gezonder en gelukkiger dan een moment ervoor.

De zon is briljant, warm en machtig. De zon bezit de eigenschap dingen te kunnen verbeteren.

De aarde is zacht, groen en vochtig. Ze is delicaat en gevoelig.

Maar de zon heeft iets nodig om haar glans op te doen weerkaatsen. En de groene aarde is zonder licht triest en hard. Zon en aarde kunnen niet zonder elkaar; dit is de wisselwerking van energie en materie.

: 18 Jul 2007 18:25 |  Tags: 2007 Little Ideas Nederlands |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Use Your Sunday Profitably

There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.

- J. Brodsky

: 03 Jun 2007 14:34 |  Tags: 2007 Citing The Great English Little Ideas |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Een lichtje in het donker voor wie het niet meer weet

Ik citeer:

De wet van Schroeder: “Besluiteloosheid is de basis voor flexibiliteit.”

De observatie van Mullins: “Besluiteloosheid is de sleutel tot flexibiliteit.”

Bron: scheurkalender (zie eerdere posts).

: 03 May 2007 16:38 |  Tags: 2007 Little Ideas Nederlands |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

One of these things…

Why oh why…

- do housemates – wherever & whenever – feel justified in shamelessly stealing stuff from your shelve in the communal fridge? Using just the last bit of milk when you’re in a hurry and hardly awake in the morning?

- does that not happen when a guest brings something in and some stuff gets left over? Bits of uneaten and unclaimed food all over the kitchen, that will eventually have to be thrown away?

It’s just one of these things that are not worth my time, but keep me wondering all too often! Recognisable?

: 16 Apr 2007 22:32 |  Tags: 2007 English Little Ideas |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem