What's made your day that little bit better?

I finally managed to get my PS3 to work with HDMI cable!

Bought the PS3 back in 2008 but couldn't get it to work on my HDTV. For some reason the TV wouldn't recognize any HDMI inputs, and I knew after trying it on some other systems that the cable's not faulty. Contacted the retailer and they weren't able to help either. So all these years I had to bear with that AV component cable that comes with the system. Not that I am fussy about picture quality but then using the cables that came with the PS3, the texts were impossible to read on some games so a lot of times I had to find out what the texts were possibly instructing by guessing.

Anyway today I read that earlier this month GTA 5 was announced, and that kind of put me in the mood to go back and revisit GTA 4, and that in turn reminded me of my struggles with that HDMI cable. I tried all the procedures again to no avail so I thought I better find the TV's model number and search for a solution on the web. As I was searching for that label with the model number I found another tiny board on the left side of the TV (hadn't seen it before) which had a few ports, including one labeled HDMI 3. I plugged the cable to this port instead of those on the back of the TV, and I also unplugged all other devices that were attached to the TV and it finally recognized the PS3! Woohoo!

A nice day yesterday with my daughter and my grandkids for Thanksgiving.

I went on a (Argentine) tango weekend and had a fabulous time.
For those of you who don't know what that exactly entails, it's a group of people coming together, dancing basically nonstop. During the day there are classes with respectable tango maestro's and in the evening there are 'milonga's' or dance evenings, where everybody dances, invites people to dance and gets invited.
Also the teachers will perform some show tango's for us mere mortals to enjoy.

Although the performances of the past weekend have not (yet) turned up on youtube, I wanted to share this one with you guys, as it is a dance of one of the couples that was teaching, and the performance is similar to the one they showed us on Saturday.

I still need to figure out what piece the music is, but I love it, and I love their performance.

For me tango is a perfect way to express the feelings I feel when listening to emotional music. For me these two are a nice example of showing this emotional connection (even though they are quite acrobatic about it sometimes )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJK22bQE … ture=feedu

Anybody any comments about it?

Elin

I'm more of a free-form party dancer myself, but I admire those who are able to discipline their moves. Especially in pairs. I'm sure there's a ton of stuff going on in tango that I can't see.

Oh, sometimes we do, when our signals get crossed, but it might happen once a night (when you dance for five hours or so).


That's really a misconception. It is not controlled at all. OK, the guy leads, but I have been told by men that have achieved a certain level, that they don't even think about the steps they are performing. It is just about letting go and flowing with the music. And if the guy is indeed a good leader as a woman you indeed don't have to think about anything, it is all in the movement of the man... All those leg flicks (called boleos and ganchos btw) are not something the lady does, but the guy 'makes her do'. I tell you from experience, it is really weird to feel your leg wrap yourself around his, and you are not even doing it 'consciously'.
For me it is really not about discipline, it is quite the opposite. It is a sense of freedom, and connection.


Yep, lots of change in partners, but you never have to dance with somebody you don't want to. It is part of the fun actually, to see what kind of connection you can create with another individual. Some are very peaceful, some are emotional, some are just plain fun.


She's a bit of a special case and I really loved the outfits she was wearing. It is very much her typical style. There are very different styles in tango, but I've never seen her style before.
usually tango is danced in high heels, but as she shows, it's not necessary.
Alma is BTW not from Argentina. She lives in Copenhagen, but is originally from the Balkan somewhere...
Forgot to ask her where she buys her clothes :-(

Dancing? All my life. Tango, about eight years or so, but I never found a 'fixed' tango partner to take classes with, which hindered me to 'get started'.

After some initiation lessons eight years ago, and loss of partners, and then not doing anything for seven, I got 'back on the horse' last year, and now I am at a level where I can dance with many different partners, and I can follow classes with different people who are at the same level as me.

And for me (a brainy type of girl) tango is the ideal way of dancing. It clears the head and it's all about connection, music and the floor, and it's not even my task to see where I'm going. There are so many times I dance with my eyes closed...

...and that's what's made your day better?

A couple of my colleagues went to a meeting in Amsterdam yesterday and reported to me that the meeting was stopped half-way through so Santa Claus could come in along with some blacked-up kids and throw biscuits around the room.

Martijn, does that sort of thing happen quite a lot in Amsterdam?

What Pawel said.

And yes, James, it happens incredibly often that tourists visit The Netherlands without any inkling, feeling, sensibility or interest at all in local customs, language or even law. Mostly they're Americans, though.

No.

Although I approve of the concept.

It should be brought back to teach children respect and to have a healthy fear of imminent death.

Oh good. Then I'm sure they've read up.

Please forgive my exasperation.
It's a constant source of amazement to me that whenever I visit abroad -for work or pleasure- I make it a point to know the bank holidays during that time, the customs, quirks and odds and ends culturally and practically, to make as sure as I can I'm not caught out in any way.

For some reason visitors to The Netherlands on the other hand seem to view us as an extension of their own nation, customs, law and language. Americans are the worst offenders, to be sure, but esteemed visitors from the UK and from France follow very closely behind as far as ethnicentrism goes!

I'm often embarrased by fellow Norwegians too, especially charter tourists.

But they're nothing compared to Americans and Israelites. Those are the worst, in my experience.

He, he....I KNEW that was coming.