Back From The Future
#74 – GRUMPY BILLIONAIRS AND FRIENDLY ROYALTY
I recently read an article about how grumpy billionaires have become. The men who used to boast about the length of their superyachts and how far their private jet, or jets, could fly. They are actually becoming the laughingstock of society instead of shining examples for hardworking young people. Young [...]
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26
Oct
I recently read an article about how grumpy billionaires have become. The men who used to boast about the length of their superyachts and how far their private jet, or [...]
22
Oct
I'm going to get another shot. A Covid vaccination. Don't know if it really helps or not, but I figure: what doesn't freeze can't thaw. Yes, I think that's a [...]
19
Oct
A few years ago, a professor wanted to tell me about a great injustice. He had been screwed by his employer, a large university hospital, and by a pharmaceutical company. [...]
15
Oct
I'm not exactly a law-abiding citizen. If there's no traffic coming, I cross on red. On my bike too. And if a road is completely empty, I find it hard [...]
12
Oct
Somewhere in 1983, I was standing with a camera crew in a valley on the border between Iraq and Iran. It was just before Christmas and raining. A cold, wet [...]
8
Oct
It was sometime in the fall of 1969. I was standing somewhere in Amsterdam, where I went to school at the time, handing out leaflets. We were campaigning for the [...]
5
Oct
It was sometime in the fall of 1969. I was standing somewhere in Amsterdam, where I went to school at the time, handing out leaflets. We were campaigning for the [...]
1
Oct
I don't like churches. The smell of incense gets into my brain on its own, even when I'm still standing outside and there's no smoke anywhere. When I was ten, [...]
28
Sep
I’m currently driving through France, on the way, to my second home. We stayed in Burgundy last night and when I walked the dogs early this morning, I got lost [...]
24
Sep
I was in the middle of a recording with Going Zero, an American podcast about sustainability. Beep. Crackle. During a heavy thunderstorm, my Wi-Fi dropped to about 5 Mbps. Not [...]
21
Sep
I recently bought a program called Pangram. It tells you exactly what percentage of a text was written by AI. When I write something myself, it says 100% Human. I [...]
18
Sep
I’m fighting a battle with grass. That may sound a little silly, but once you know how destructive it can be to my land, you probably won’t laugh too hard. [...]
14
Sep
The temperature is finally dropping. It has even dipped below 30 degrees for a while. The chickens still don’t want to lay eggs, or maybe one or two, but that’s [...]
11
Sep
My son spends about 80 percent of his income on what he calls fixed expenses. His mortgage, energy bill, food and taxes, insurance, etc. When he sees me doing the [...]
9
Sep
This morning I read a column by Peter Middendorp in the Dutch quality newspaper de Volkskrant. Someone he knew had ended the friendship with his best friend. The guy [...]
7
Sep
Yesterday I was a guest on a podcast. My conversation with host Faiz Kamaludin of The Social Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Show turned to inheritance tax, and I let slip [...]
4
Sep
I will never get this image out of my mind. My wife Jacqui comforting a Nepalese mother sitting at the top of what had become a mudslide. It was in [...]
2
Sep
Yesterday I was a guest on a podcast. My conversation with host Faiz Kamaludin of The Social Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Show turned to inheritance tax, and I let slip [...]
31
Aug
Yesterday I pressed a few hundred liters of wine. Because I make natural wine, the magical time of waiting begins now. Waiting for fermentation to start. Every few days, [...]
28
Aug
Today, a little advertising. My novel 2125: The Hibernator has been selected by BookBub for a Featured Deal. That may sound like just another online promotion, but BookBub is [...]
26
Aug
Up early this morning. My Macabeu and Grenache Blanc grapes were ready. The Malvasia still needs some time. Earlier this week, two enormous rainstorms swept across Mallorca. It’s impossible [...]
24
Aug
At seventeen, I was excommunicated by the priest of our parish. I was no longer allowed to call myself a Catholic. This was because I had staged a protest during [...]
21
Aug
On Mallorca, one heat record after another is being broken this summer. And I’m right in the middle of it. I could quite easily be in Rotterdam right now. My [...]
19
Aug
On my finca in Mallorca, I actually have a gigantic emergency supply. Crates full of vegetables and fruit, liters of olive oil, honey, nuts, grain for bread, water in abundance, [...]
17
Aug
This is number fifty of this column Fifty short pieces about the problems we face today, but also viewed from the future, a hundred years from now. I locked myself [...]
14
Aug
Dutch people used to drive to Spain with their trunks packed with food from home. Potatoes, peanut butter, coffee, cheese. As if there was nothing to eat in Spain. I [...]
12
Aug
I have a seven-month-old grandson. I haven't enjoyed a little human being this much in a long time. I dedicated my book The Only Possible Solution to the little guy, [...]
10
Aug
I need to make a plan for what to sow and plant when on my little farm. Because right now, it's a mess. One moment I have ten crates of [...]
7
Aug
For the past few days, I've been at war with the enemy. Which enemy, I'm not entirely sure. Perhaps it's all of them.The Columba palumbus—the common wood pigeon—a scourge for [...]
5
Aug
For the past few days, I've been at war with the enemy. Which enemy, I'm not entirely sure. Perhaps it's all of them.The Columba palumbus—the common wood pigeon—a scourge for [...]
3
Aug
Last night we went out for dinner in Palma. For months now, Mallorca has seen growing protests against mass tourism. To be honest, I don't really feel they're directed [...]
31
Jul
Full house this week. Children, grandchildren, and their partners. Six of them in total. They're on vacation, enjoying the lazy life back at Mom and Dad's house. The refrigerator is [...]
29
Jul
The little Christmas boy is back. El Niño, named after the Christ Child because it usually appears around Christmas, has returned as a Super El Niño. That happens only once [...]
27
Jul
This week, it finally happened. After months of waiting, my new tractor was delivered. I'll admit it honestly: a machine like this doesn't really fit someone who believes in permaculture. [...]
25
Jul
This morning I was back in my bodega at six o'clock. Not because I like getting up early, but because during this El Niño-driven heatwave these are the only hours [...]
23
Jul
Today I read a remarkable newspaper article. From now on, chickens in the Netherlands may no longer be caught and hung upside down by their legs before slaughter. What an [...]