It is well known that the brain can be tricked optically, by looking at strange patterns et cetera. I’ve seen quite some examples of that on the Internet already, but once in a while a real good one comes along. I found one where you have to look at for at least twenty seconds, longer is better. Just stare at the centre of the animation and then watch to objects around you. I haven’t seen such a good example yet where my brain really did some strange things to objects around me. Some bananas laying on the fruitdish grew and shrunk in size and a painting on the wall looked to be alive. I also read that you can really notice its happening in your brain, because if you close one eye and expose the other to the animation and then look around using your non-exposed eye, you will still notice the effect.
Today I did an ice skating tour together with Nina’s father and sister on the Vechtplassen.The weather was perfect (again), it was freezing about two or three degrees Celcius and there was little wind, and a clear sky with the sun shining. The ice itself was quite good, but there were many snowy spots on it, which slow you down very often. But when we were heading back and had the wind in our back it went very smooth, that’s the way it always should be. On the left side you can see the medal I got for the twenty kilometers I ice skated. A nice souvenir to remember the winter of 2009, because I think it will be another five or ten years before such a winter happens again. You can watch somevideos I made and put on Youtube.
Since it started freezing two weeks ago, the moment came closer that it was possible to skate on real ice. The last time I skated on ice was already a few years ago and the skates didn’t fit me anymore. So last weekend I bought a new pair of ice skates (Combi I) from the brand Viking. A winter like we have now happens once every ten year I think, although every two or three year there are at maximum one or two days you can ice skate, but then it’s over. I already skated on our local schoolyard to test my ice skates and that went smoothly. Today was the big(ger) day and I skated on a lake nearby Zuidland, with really perfect circumstances. All trees had frost on them – nice ambiance – and there was no wind and the sun was shining, and last but not least, the ice was also very good. I measured the length of one round with my mobile GPS application (Nokia Sports Tracker) and it was exactly 1 kilometer. Anyway, it’s nice to see that when you are on the ice, almost everyone starts a talk with each other and everybody looks so happy that they can finally skate again after many years. It’s a pity that we don’t have that many good winters in the Netherlands.
Anyway, you can take a look at pictures I made with my mobile phone – I had no space left over to carry my semi-professional camera – which look actually quite good. And I also uploaded some live action footage to Youtube:
First, I wish my readers a happy and healthy 2009.
And now let’s talk about my Kronan bike. Especially about how much I like the bike, although many other people think different about my bike. The “real” Kronans from World War II were known to be sturdy and somewhere in the end of the 90’s some clever students reintroduced the Kronans. The first series of Kronan bikes where not sturdy at all actually, but a few years ago they started making new series which should be much better/sturdier. And I think my bike is from the older series.
I bought it in January last year and have repaired already half of the bike:
- saddle pin broke (was welded, had to buy an iron-saw to remove part of the pin and used a dremel to remove parts of the welding, which I didn’t succeed in)
- bike store owner refused to repair the saddle
- completely new front wheel (or back wheel, so much is happening with this bike that I forgot it)
- dynamo malfunctioned after a while (I have LED-lights now, with rechargable batteries)
- one pedal is slightly out of balance (10%)
- two times a flat tire
- repumped the last several months once a week my front wheel
- yesterday the front wheel gave up and I found a big hole in the front wheel
- pump-holder dop stolen/broken
- slowly oxidizing, but not that bad
- several crashes with other bikers in the city
But, the frame is still there and me too. And I really like the bike, it cycles very smooth – although that may sound strange. Today I bought some new parts online – you can’t find them in the usual bike store. So I hope to start repairing my bike this weekend or next week. I was thinking about buying an other second hand bike or even buying a new series Kronan bike, but I will give my current Kronan a try this year and a new Kronan will only be the case when we have a shed to put it in.
It is well known that the brain can be tricked optically, by looking at strange patterns et cetera. I’ve seen quite some examples of that on the Internet already, but once in a while a real good one comes along. I found one where you have to look at for at least twenty seconds, longer is better. Just stare at the centre of the animation and then watch to objects around you. I haven’t seen such a good example yet where my brain really did some strange things to objects around me. Some bananas laying on the fruitdish grew and shrunk in size and a painting on the wall looked to be alive. I also read that you can really notice its happening in your brain, because if you close one eye and expose the other to the animation and then look around using your non-exposed eye, you will still notice the effect.
Today I did an ice skating tour together with Nina’s father and sister on the 
First, I wish my readers a happy and healthy 2009.