More Dutch

I've been reading Dutch texts rather comfortably now, with the aid of a dictionary.
I've decided to use a sentence-aligned parallel corpus of Dutch and English in order to skip the dictionary, but the text is boring and it's hard to keep your eyes on two separate texts.

Yesterday, I met a group of young Dutch tourists at the beach. This was the first time I met Dutch people after studying Dutch, so I had a long conversation with them. They were nice and seemed entertained by me too, so it worked out well. I could pick out different accent features between them, like "s" vs "sh", "ei" vs "ai", "r" vs "R", though I understood almost nothing of what they said to each other as well as most of what they said to me. Learned very important curse words.
I am now at the stage where it's easier to speak than to understand. This will probably reverse once I'm living there, and I get accustomed to the way they say things, and I'll be struggling with expressing myself.

There is no question that speaking English is at least half of the way to speaking Dutch.

afzoenen; the economics of bikes in the Netherlands: tragedy of the commons?

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Interesting texts to practice:
Prostitutie: De tijger in de vrouw

Interesting dictionary definition:
afzoenen
1. kiss and be friends again

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The Economics of Bikes in the Netherlands

An ignorant foreigner might ask: If Dutch people ride bikes so much, why don’t they ride better bikes? The simple answer is that bike theft runs rampant throughout the country, and nobody bothers buying a half-decent bike because they’re unlikely to have it for more than a week or two. The upside is that nobody minds losing their bike much because a replacement, usually of suspicious origin, is easily found for 10 to 20 euros.

Is this a tragedy of the commons?

And as for "morality", which choice incents crime more: buying a $20 from them or buying a nicer $200 bike from a reputable dealer?
In the first case, I am encouraging further bike theft, since they can expect to sell the bikes they steal. In the latter, I am also encouraging theft by creating demand for such a tempting bike to steal (awkward sentence?). If people never bought new bikes, this market would go to ruins as the bikes deteriorated.

By the way, it's possible to opt out of this game if you are willing to pay $50 for a lock (it's worth it: $30 locks often get stolen with the $15 bike). So keep your lock safe!

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Kurzweil on Wolfram's "A New Kind of Science"

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Jacques Pitrat, including articles, such as AI Systems Are Dumb Because AI Researchers Are Too Clever and Douglas Hofstadter et les concepts fluides

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Problems inventors have yet to solve. I would like to make a Wiki list like this. I'm still trying to figure out how to create a Wiki for myself. I'm also looking for a solution to search a blog, while also posting to LiveJournal simultaneously (since LiveJournal sucks!). Suggestions appreciated.

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Groups of Skeptics, Rationalists & Atheists (mostly in Portuguese)

Word of The Day: Metoidioplasty

played piano and violin at Pedra de Toque; jamming & free meal at Panelão

Last tuesday I played piano at Pedra de Toque. Lost 80% of my stage anxiety. Screwed up a couple of times, but didn't care too much. I got to play violin in one song too. I guess this was the first time I had my 15 seconds of attention from a place that big (at least 50 people). Stayed up really late, like 4am, then went over to get a X-tudo burger chatting with the other musicians, among whom was Fabrício, a very talented and charismatic piano player. Went home at sunrise.

This weekend I played at Panelão, at Galeria João Roma, and played the instrument Edgar (professor of EE at a local university) projected himself with his CAD software, a mandolin-like instrument with the slowest possible decay (the body is really wide), and the tuning of a guitar. Truly an original sound, which could be used in bluegrass, in contrast to the fast-decaying mandolin. Played along with some chorinho, which unfortunately didn't seem to be improvised at all. At the end, the restaurant lady waived my bill, presumably because she liked my playing. I wanted to say "NO!!! I SUCK!", but I can't say no to a free meal.

I've been having fever, diarrhoea, slight joint pains, and a lot of trouble sleeping. Yesterday and today I spent the entire day at home, because I feel weak and also afraid of a public diarrhoa episode.

I'm wondering if I should go to tonight's jam. I'm a risk-seeker.