Changes in my bloglist

Dear blogging friends, I have made some changes in my bloglist. Some fellow bloggers are not updating their blogs anymore and sometimes I just lose contact with them. I have deleted the links to some of these blogs and added some new ones.
I am excited about some new contacts that I have made through VerveEarth. And I am also excited about the fact that my photo blog has entered the top 100 of this blogging community!
As a Dutch blogger, writing in English, I am especially interested in finding bloggers from around the globe. Many of them are Christians too, so we already share something that is very important to me. But I want to be open minded and I know that having a certain world view is also to a high degree determined by the place where you are born. So I think it is also good to exchange views and opinions with bloggers with different cultural and religious backgrounds.
I hope to add some more bloggers from Asia, South America and Africa to my favorites, especially if they are also blogging in English. Keep an eye on my bloglist and let me know if you want to be added too, so that I can have a look at your blog to find out whether your blog will be a good addition! Unfortunately I am not able to visit all the blogs all of the time, but I do try to stay in touch with most of the people that are included in my blog list. Of course I appreciate all feedback in my comments section and IN-box (abspoel at gmail dot com). Drop me a line or give me a shout!

Sprinting Sheep

I captured some lambs on video during their secret training session for the world championships sprinting for junior sheep. The images are a bit vague, I'm sorry about that, but remember this is a stealth recording... Enjoy - I think it is funny. And oh yes, I've posted some new pics on my photo blog too.

Not gonna bow and I'm not alone

I am reading the book of Daniel from the Message translation right now. Wow. Just read the passage below and see how exciting and inspiring these old stories are when you read them in contemporary English! I don't know about you, but I'm not gonna bow for the idols of this world, whatever the consequences. Let's all pray for the persecuted Church, our faithful brothers and sisters in Christ all around the world. They are certainly not alone!

Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it's your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory. 1 Peter 1:6,7

Furious, King Nebuchadnezzar ordered Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to be brought in. When the men were brought in, Nebuchadnezzar asked, "Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you don't respect my gods and refuse to worship the gold statue that I have set up? I'm giving you a second chance—but from now on, when the big band strikes up you must go to your knees and worship the statue I have made. If you don't worship it, you will be pitched into a roaring furnace, no questions asked. Who is the god who can rescue you from my power?"
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered King Nebuchadnezzar, "Your threat means nothing to us. If you throw us in the fire, the God we serve can rescue us from your roaring furnace and anything else you might cook up, O king. But even if he doesn't, it wouldn't make a bit of difference, O king. We still wouldn't serve your gods or worship the gold statue you set up.'

You can read the whole story online here - it is accessible and 100% free, just like God's grace! So what on earth is stopping you, for Heaven's sake?

Three of a kind

Robin, Pascalle and Sosha (left to right) had their pictures taken as a surprise for their mom and both grandma's. And dad is very happy and proud too, of course, as you all can see.

Window on the Sky

Sometimes you have to lay flat on your back to make an interesting picture. At least, that's what I did. Do you want to know what this is? Have a look at my photo blog !

Different Perspective

Another daisy, different perspective...

(see more pics on my photo blog)

Have A Closer Look

I took this picture this morning. Have a closer look at it (click to enlarge) and think about the pattern in the yellow heart of this little daisy. Someone did a great job in designing this, admit it or not. (More recent pics on my photo blog)

How fast is the earth moving through space?

I never thought of this before, but just read in a newspaper that the earth is moving with an orbital speed of 67,000 mph / approx 19 miles per second (108,000 km/h or 30 km/s).

Wow!

Are you still with me? Fasten your safety belts!

Trying to understand

Just like everybody else I hear about the recent natural disasters in Burma and China. Both countries are far away from where I live, so even if the news is shocking, it is possible to ignore it on this side of the globe. It is possible, but it makes me feel guilty. It's hard to imagine what our fellow human beings are going through in these terrible times and circumstances. The gigantic numbers of people killed and wounded, the cities, villages, houses that are destructed... the ruined lives... there's just no way we can ignore this. Just one picture on the BBC website sums it all up for me. I feel awful about all the human suffering in the world and I feel powerless too, to be honest. Lord have mercy on us all.

News update from the BBC: The official death toll for Burma's cyclone disaster has jumped to almost 78,000 people, with nearly 56,000 missing, according to state TV.

Previously, Burma was giving a toll of 43,000 dead and 28,000 missing while the Red Cross and United Nations had estimated a death toll above 100,000.

Just Joined VerveEarth

From an e-mail message that I received today:

Your blog PAUL'S PHOTO BLOG caught our attention. I'm the founder of a recently launched startup for bloggers. We are searching the internet for the world's blogs by geography, and we found yours for the Netherlands. I would like to invite you to our site which plots the content of the internet on an interactive map of the world. VerveEarth is an entirely new way to surf the net. It shows spatial and geographic connections that a blog search engine could never reveal.
So... I decided to participate. Have a look here

De Eersteling - Hoofddorp

Today all windmills and steam driven water pumps in the Netherlands opened their doors for visitors: Nationale Molen en Gemalendag. We stayed at home and had a closer look at our 'very own' grinding windmill 'De Eersteling' in our home town Hoofddorp.

From Wikipedia: In 1856, the first windmill in the Haarlemmermeer was built in the centre of Hoofddorp by Dirk David van Dijk. It was called "De Eersteling" (The first). Due to increased building around the mill, it wasn't able to operate for a long time, but in 1977 the mill was moved to another location near fort Hoofddorp. It was operated regularly from that moment, and is open to the public.
Dutch website 'De Eersteling'. Also check out these pics from 1977 (moving the mill from the town centre to its current place)

Have a look at my PHOTO BLOG to see some more pics.

Today was just too hot for this big woolly sheep...

Tower Stairs in Tzum

Taken without flash light... More pics from my visit to Friesland will appear on my photo blog soon. This one is taken in the church tower from a small village called Tzum (in Dutch) and Tsjom (in Frisian).

Statue Afsluitdijk

Let's Show You Around - Afsluitdijk

Today we went to Friesland for a fun day with my colleagues from the publishing house. I will upload some pics later on this blog and on my photo blog, but first I want to show you around on the Afsluitdijk (Closure Dike) connecting Holland and Friesland. Check out my second 360° video clip above (first one here) and have a look at this location on Google maps here and watch a satelite pic here.

New Spring, New Swans

Today is a beautiful Spring day in the Netherlands. Actually, it is the first day with Summer-like temperatures this year (check this Dutch meteorological web site - in Google translate). This week I made this pic of the swans and their new ducklings in the ditch in front of our house. The same swans as last year, the same nest, but with eight new sons or daughters! And yes, the moorhens are back too - again nesting close to their big swan neighbours. Funny. Have a look at my photoblog for some more Spring impressions from the Netherlands. See these April and May 2007 blog entries about these swans and / or click on the labels below.

Search Visualization

Searchme is new search visualization which lets you see the webpage before you surf there. This search engine is still in it's beta phase, but I like the idea. The website has an Apple-like 'look and feel' and will only be helpful as long as you know what your are looking for... The visual approach has some limitations, but if the developers do their homework, this might very well be the way to go. Similar idea here; and here you can read more about a better visual interface for search.
Source: Supergans.