My daughter has studied urban wildlife for most of her life, and this is for her. In the Netherlands, the cities are densely populated. So are what we call suburbs. But cross a bike bridge over the 8-lane freeway next door to Maarssen, and you’re in another world, with farms and nature preserved, a single […]

There’s a familiar metallic roar disturbing the peace of the Netherland’s bike paths. It’s the sound of gas-powered motorcycles. They’re supposed to be on the roads, but laws aren’t strictly enforced. They’re fast, and dangerous to the 15 mph (25 kph) traffic the paths were meant for. But they’re there, and their numbers are growing. […]

The test of democracy doesn’t occur when a candidate promises to do monstrous things. It doesn’t even come when the monstrous things are done. (Illustration from Magic Studio.) It comes when the monster’s people turn on him. Can they join with those who only warned about the monster, those who opposed the monster reluctantly, and […]

Tourists to the Netherlands are being advised to avoid Amsterdam, because the place is just too crowded. They’re especially trying to discourage young British men who come to drink, pee in the canals, and fight. They’re also restricting cruise ships and the construction of new hotels. After two weeks in the country, I agree with the […]

Zoe Kooyman is now running the Free Software Foundation. People I know and trust say she’s a good choice. She had better be. She’s walking into a Category 5 hurricane. The problem starts with DeepSeek. The Chinese LLM is available as open source under the MIT License. That’s different from the GPL, but Kooyman made clear […]

I rode a Swapfiets bike from Maarssen to a meeting in Amsterdam yesterday, as an experiment. The result was not good. I exhausted both the battery, and myself, over the course of just 16 miles. I also have some giant calluses. The problem was the limited speed and limited motor of the e-bike. It’s designed […]

Why is the gentleman next to me smiling? Possibly because he works in a small market. The U.S. media market has been more than decimated. (The word comes from losing 1/10th of your soldiers in a battle). Everything from The Washington Post to your hometown paper has either gone under, sold to a propagandist or […]

I came to the Netherlands to gather material for a book on e-transport. The book is changing as I write this. One point has become clear. Dutch people want to go fast, just like Americans. They want to get from Point A to Point B, with all the stuff they’ll need at Point B, in […]

In America you buy an e-bike. In the Netherlands it makes sense to rent. But these are different products. My Edison can go 20 mph, about 30 kph, before the engine says you’re on your own. The e-bike speed limit in the Netherlands is 15 mph, or 25 kph. The Edison has fingertip controls for […]

This is the question Ray Liotta asks Kevin Costner’s character in the movie Field of Dreams. Costner’s response, “No, It’s Iowa” reflects the fact that while the cornfield may look like heaven to Liotta’s Shoeless Joe Jackson, Iowa is a real place with real problems. The look on his face says something different. The same […]