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Today,Andy donated some blood forfinding the cause of Kabuki syndrome. He donated about 22 ml of blood fordetailed analysis of his chromosome and analyzing his DNA. It went rathersmooth. I wonder how long it takes before we hear if he also has the duplicationin the p8.22-23.1 area that was found in Boston.
School report
This evening, I went to the meet the teachers ofAndyand discus with them his school report. This was the very first that I had aschool report meeting for him. His school report is in a A4-sized binder andcontains a lot of information. The were quite positive about Andy. He is veryactive and learning new things. Of course, he still has his weak points, andthey matched with what I had expected. They too did notice agreat change when Andystarted to take the Prednison and when hestopped taking it. His performance dropped again since he stopped taking Prednison.I thinking about asking our pediatrician about what he thinks about it.
Mild weather
This morning the temperature was 11.9 degrees Celsius. Yesterday a record hightemperature was measured for the time of the year.
Analyzing the game
Today,Annabel has a day of from school, because theteachers are having a study day. For this reason we could stay a little longerat theGo club yesterday evening.We both lost our games in the competition. In the middle of the game it lookedlike I was going to win. But then there was a small invasion, which I had seen.Just a little later I made a big mistake and lost a whole group in the corner,resulting in a lose with about 20 stones. Then I looked at a game between two ofthe strongest players of the club. When the game was over they started toanalyze the game, first with removing some stones to recreate earlier positions,but then they decided to replay the whole game. Quite amazing that they canremember the whole game, but of course there is a story behind each move, andmany moves follow each other logically.
Swimming again
Yesterday, I went swimming again. I got a pass for ten times swimming, becauseit 15% cheaper. I noticed that at the end I got in this same relaxing mood aswhengoing down the water slides just byswimming mindlessly back and forth in the pool. Itseems that swimming isnot only nice for your body but also for your mind.(follow-up)
Reply from the Google team
I received a reply from "The Google Team" with respect to the suggestion I madeon January 27 about joining the search results fromnews.google.com with those fromwww.google.com/. I made this suggestion after I discovered that you oftencan find information on current issues through news.google.com before they showup through www.google.com. They wrote "We especially like your idea". Almostsounds like I am the first one bringing up this idea. Of course, I should haveapplied for a patent. I am really amazed that the had not come up with this ideathemselves, combining the relatively static data from www.google.com with thevery dynamic data from news.google.com. I wonder if they will give me credits.
Going into the city
I went to the city by bike. I first bought some bread at the usual place andthen looked around some bookshops. AtBroekhuisthey were having the last day of their annual sale with a 75% price reductionon selected items. I could not find the book on Linus that I saw last week,and also the book that I sawtwo weeks ago appearedto have been sold. Finally at 13:35, I bought one little book about Hong Kongwith the titleHong Kong: A guide to recent architecture by Juanita Cheungand Andrew Yeoh, created, edited and designed by Ellipsis and publishedby Könemann for € 1.12, original price being € 4.49.And atDe Slegte, I looked at a second-handcopy ofGerhard Richter: Landscapes again.
Conspiracy Theory
Last weekend, I watchedConspiracyTheory on television. I did not see the first part of the movie, but jumpedin at the point that Jerry went down the stair in the wheel chair. At first alittle confusing, but nevertheless making it an interesting movie.
This evening, I watchedThe Third Miracle.Indeed a very interesting movie. Although I am not a Catholic (anymore), Isomehow felt it easy to identify with Frank Shore. Many of his doubts are alsomine.
The Return of the King
Today,my mother came to visit us. Of courseshe stayed for dinner. When I checked the movie schedule in the free cityweekly, I made some remark that we should go soon to "The Return of the King".Then my mother raised the question why we did not go that night. After somethinking, we decided that she would stay for the night, sleeping with Annabelin her two person bed. So,Li-Xia and I went to seethird part of "Lord of the Rings". We both found it a very impressivemovie. Also how the movie ends.(Seeing part one andtwo)
New computer
Yesterday, we got new computers in the office. It took some time before everythingwas working again. I namedmineFrans.And of course, you have to get use to many small things that are different, suchas a new keyboard. Also need to get use to the new TFT screen. I am using ahigher resolution (1280x1024) than with CRT I was using. With a TFT you arealways limited with respect the choice in resolution. Again a good example oflegasy. Inside the PC there is a card that translates a digital image into ananalog serial signal (with minimal synchronisation information), and inside theTFT monitor this signal is converted into a digital image again.
GODMODE
Yesterday in church, there was a short presentation ofGODMODE, the youth church in Enschede. Quitea number of people from our church are involved with this. Four people werebaptized that morning. We have a baptize service almost every month now.
Tooth
We just have been to the dentist withAnnabel. Itlooks like her tooth are still doing okay, but it is too early to arrive at adefinite conclusion. Yesterday, I was phoned by a lawyer, who is going tosupport me with claiming money from the insurance company related to thefirst accident. He thinks that the damage caused by thesecond accident will be considered as a result of thefirst. It seems that our health insurance has a different opinion. Our dentist haspromised to contact the insurance company. For him it is the first time hedealing with a two accident case.(follow-up)
I lost again
Yesterday,Annabel and I went to theGo club. She just played some training games against a 3rd Danplayer. Afterwards he told me that he taught her a corner Joseki. When she wasready she came over to look at my game and made some very good suggestions forme. But still I lost the game with about twenty stones. I felt quite terribleabout it. I was having some trouble from the start of the game. Having no ideahow to respond to certain moves. I guess my opponent must have been strongerthan his recorded strength. It was after ten when we arrived home. I doubtwhether we should continue to go there, because I continue losing games, and itgets too late for Annabel.
From the FFII press releaseEU Council "Compromising" on Unlimited Patentability:The Council of the Ministers of the European Union, currently presided by Ireland,is circulating a Working Paper with counter-proposals to the EuropeanParliaments amendments. In contrast to the European Parliament's version, theCouncil version allows unlimited patentability and patent enforcability. Underthe Council version, "computer-implemented" algorithms and business methods,as have been granted in large numbers by the European Patent Office againstthe letter and spirit of the written law, are by default patentableinventions. Publication of a description of a patented idea on a web server informal language constitutes a patent infringment, and use of patentedprotocols and file formats for the purpose of interoperation is not allowed.This proposal was prepared behind closed doors by the Council's Patent WorkingParty, a group of patent administrators who run the European Patent Office.The Patent Working Party has been encouraged in its uncompromising pursuit ofunlimited patentability by a campaign of letters to top-level politicians,signed by CEOs of some of Europe's largest patenting companies. These lettersfalsely claim that computer-controlled industrial processes are madeunpatentable by the Parliament's amendments and that software innovation isdriven by patents. In the context of another directive, the EU Council iscurrently pressing the EU Parliament to mandate criminal sanctions even forminor cases of patent infringment.
Not only makes this me worry about my future as a software engineer, it alsomakes me worry about the EU being a democratic institution. What use is therefor voting for members of the European Parliament when the Council ratherlistens to CEOs of large companies? If this law is passed, I think I betterremove some my pages and files related toreverseengineering of some binary file formats.(follow-up)
This evening, I watched"Finding Forrester". A rather interesting movie too watch. But notvery believable that this could happen in reality. Especially the ideathat good writers just sit behind a typewriter and write the most fantasticstories by hitting the keys as fast as possible (while talking to someone atthe same time), is I am afraid, far from reality.
Cold
This morning the temperature was 1.8 degree Celsius below zero and the windwas blowing from the North-East. The kind of weather that makes you longfor the summer again.In highschool I have been in love with some girl for many years.At most we exchanged ten sentenses during that time. I believedthat she too was in love with me, but that she was too shy totell me. In reality, I think she was rather annoyed by my continuousinterest in her. Today, I was looking at some pictures of my oldhighschool ona Dutch classmate site,when I found a class picture that had her in it.
Speckles of snow
This morning, there were some speckles ofsnowon the ground when I looked outside the window. It was 0.1 degrees Celsius whenI went outside. While biking to my office I was greeted by some more speckles ofsnow. Around ten o'clock it started to snow a little while the sun was shiningand while the sky was almost blue. The cloud from which the snow fell must havebeen overhead. Just before one o'clock there was some more snow, but non of itstayed on the ground.
Snow on the cars
This morning there wassome snow on the cars and thegrass, but the streets were clear. Must have melted away. When I left fromhome the temperature was 0.2 degrees Celsius. Around eleven o'clock it startedto snow again.Commissioner intervenes in Microsoft case:Frits Bolkestein, Europe's single market Commissioner, has intervened inthe European Commission's case against Microsoft to ensure that a finaldecision is not too harsh on the software giant. Mr Bolkestein's officials hadbeen worried that the Commission's proposed "remedies" in the case mightinfringe Microsoft's intellectual property rights by forcing it to share toomuch of its programming code with rivals in the market for computer servers.
Mr Bolkestein, a former Dutch liberal politician, also is one the drivingforces behind establishing software patents in Europe.It is more than seven years ago that we went to China inthe summer of 1996.Now we are considering the possibility of going this summer again. My motherwould like to travel with us. If we go, we would probably visit Beijing andUrumqi. While we haven't even made the go/no-go decision yet, we are alreadyover our neck into things that we have to figure out, because of the healthproblems ofAndy. Doeshis health insurrance allow it? Can we bring the special food he needs? Inliquid form it weights about 20 Kg. What alternatives are there? But we alsowonder how he would respond to the change. The weather will be hot. And whatabout infections he could get. Can we bring extra medicines just in case hewould need it.
Blizzards
This morning when I woke-up, I immediately looked outside to check if therehad been any additionalsnow fall during the night.There was still some snow, but it was the sam that fell yesterday eveningbetween six and eight. On the news I heard that the west of the Netherlands hadbeen struck by blizzards. Around seven o'clock there was already 300 Km oftraffic jams on the highways. Around a quarter to eight this had increased to529 Km. Only one runway of our national airport Schiphol is open. No trains arerunning around Amsterdam. And also the traffic situation around Utrecht andRotterdam is terrible. The traffic police is advising people to stay home ifthey can. Theradar images are showing abig cloud system sweeping over the country from the West to the East arounda low pressure area in the North of the country. Here we still have sunshinewith a clear blue sky. I wonder how long it will take before it starts snowing.Of course, it is possible that the cloud system has "evaporated" by snowing.Just before ten in the morning it started to snow in Enschede as well. Aroundeight o'clock the total length of traffic jam on the highways was 738 Km. Inthen quickly became lower again. It snowed till about twelve.
Macular Degeneration
Lately,Li-Xia has been complaining about seeing allkinds of spots in her left eye. Yesterday she was send to an eye doctor. Itseems that there is a great change she is suffering frommacular degeneration. She is scheduledforFluorescein Angiography on March 10.(follow-up)
Around four o'clock in the afternoon it startedtosnow a little. Although it was -2.8 degrees Celsius when I left home thismorning, temperatures have risen in the mean time and the snow just melts whenit hits the ground. Yesterdays snow has continued to melt away as well.
Bicentennial Man
Tonight, I watched the movieBicentennial Man. It really raises some questions about what makes ushuman, what makes us different from being a (very complex) machine. It alsoraises some questions about free will and the origin of identity if not withrespect to awareness/consciousness. But apart from this, the movie doesnot explain why this particular robot became so special, although at theend of the movie, it seems that the other robot of this kind also has becomehuman, as she violates the first law of robotics by following an order thatleads to the death of a human individual.
Fourth Birthday
Today, we went over to some friends of us because their daughter was havingher fourth birthday. It was rather busy, because this was the first birthdayshe celebrated on the 29th. It seems that most people believethat when you are born on a leap that you have to celebrate your birthdayon the first of March, but according to the astronomical calendar the 28this most of the time the best date.Today, it the second time that the leap day falls on a Sunday for me. It onlyhappens every 28 years, and the last time was in1976.
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