Writings by Hans de Zwart
In early 2020, I joined a sailing boat as a crew member and crossed the Southern Atlantic from Capetown in South Africa via Namibia and St. Helena to Salvador in Brazil. My captain was sailing around the world as part of the World ARC. My trip was wonderful (ping me if you want to read my diary of the trip).
Many people have asked me how to find a boat to join. Here are some tips:
Continue reading “How to become crew on a sailing crossing”Terwijl de Amsterdamse wethouder Scholtes pleit voor digitale onafhankelijkheid van Amerikaanse techbedrijven, blijft een belangrijke vraag onbeantwoord: waarom zitten we na twintig jaar aan waarschuwingen nog steeds vast aan Microsoft? De nieuwe verkenning over digitale autonomie klinkt veelbelovend, maar zonder actie blijft het bij woorden op papier.
Continue reading “Open source als route naar digitale vrijheid: Amsterdam moet de daad bij het woord voegen”Believing that for any situation, there is a perfectly apt quote from the film The Big Lebowski, I created www.thebiglebow.ski, a search engine for quotes from the movie with stills to match. Donations for keeping it running are welcome!
I’ve tracked how much each quote has been shared over the years. So here is a list of the 40 quotes shared the most. I’ve been having fun imagining the situations in which these quotes have been shared. Some of them are classics that I expected to be there, but there are some surprises, too. You can click on any of the pictured quotes to open them in the search engine for further copying, sharing, or downloading. Enjoy!
Continue reading “The Big Lebowski Quote Top 40”When I started my PhD in September 2024, I didn’t have any real clue what a PhD is about. So, I did what I usually do when I want to learn about something: I looked up the best books about the topic and started reading them.
Here is the list of books I’ve read and intend to read. I’ll keep updating this list as I’ll go along. Do reach out if you’ve read great books that you want to share with me.
Continue reading “PhD self-help books: my recommendations”
I bought a record player (so that I could listen to the ultimate Dutch hip-hop album, Eigen Wereld by Opgezwolle). I’ve quickly grown fond of the small ritual I’ll have to continuously perform while listening to my records. The player is fully manual, so I must get up when a side has finished playing and take the needle off the record. I’ll use my brush to keep things clean at the beginning and end of every play.
The side of a 12-inch LP is usually around 20-25 minutes long. I quickly realised this comes close to the ideal timing for a Pomodoro run (25 minutes). So, this is my new way of timing Pomodoro’s: starting an LP, working in full concentration while it plays, and then getting up, picking a new album, doing the small ritual, and continuing the work. Very mind- and joyful. Recommended!
The image “Audio Technica Record Player” by nan palmero is licensed under CC BY 2.0.