Patrick Vanhoucke

Patrick Vanhoucke

@librarian.be

📌 #Brussels 🇧🇪 #Belgium 📚 #librarian ⏳ #timetraveller 🔎 #factsmatter 🗣 #nl • #fr • #de • #en • #es https://linktr.ee/librarianbe

741 followers931 following2.1K posts

“Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason.” — Often and falsly attributed to the American writer Mark Twain (1835-1910). But the fact that the source is incorrect does not, of course, detract from the saying itself. #politicians #diapers #POTUS47

I can’t say for certain whether I fully understood Steven Spielberg’s ‘Disclosure Day’. I think it is a lengthy evocation of 1 Corinthians 13:12: For now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know fully even as also I was fully known. #DisclosureDay

So now #POTUS47 has become a grave desecrator too. But who really cares anymore?

Financial Times@financialtimes.com

In a small cemetery in northern Vietnam, farmers are digging up graves to make way for a $1.5bn golf course and luxury residential project by the Trump Organization and its local partners. Read the full story here: ft.trib.al/HAtLxCh

"Hoe wordt bijvoorbeeld bepaald op de werkvloer wie Vlaming is.“ Dat is heel eenvoudig: wie zijn officiële adres heeft binnen het territorium van het Vlaamse Gewest, is een Vlaming. Het is het criterium dat ikzelf hanteer omdat dit het enige objectieve criterium is. vrtnws.be/p.ewm0kLX39#...

vrtnws.beLIVE Óf voor alle Vlamingen óf voor iedereen die in Vlaanderen werkt: Vlaamse regering wil van 11 juli betaalde feestdag maken | VRT NWS NieuwsLIVE Volg hier het meest recente nieuws uit de Wetstraat.

🏳️‍🌈 Brussels Pride 2026 will take place on Saturday 16 May 2026. The event will celebrate its 30th anniversary under the powerful theme “When Times Get Darker, We Shine Brighter”, in response to the growing climate of discrimination worldwide. #BrusselsPride2026 #BrusselsPride #Brussels

The only few seconds I really enjoyed in Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s film ‘Project Hail Mary’ was the reference to the iconic five-tone sequence from Steven Spielberg’s ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’ (1977). I was the only one in the cinema who laughed at that bit. #ProjectHailMary

As bored and unmoved as I was whilst watching ‘Project Hail Mary’ yesterday, I was equally charmed and moved whilst watching Thierry Frémaux’s ‘Lumière, l'aventure continue’ (2025) today. #Lumière #cinema #cinematography

Who would ever have thought that waving a flag of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in the capital of Europe would come to be seen as an act of resistance against the fascism of the United States of America? #US #fascism #NATO #Europe #Brussels

Francesca #Albanese, the #UN Special Rapporteur on the occupied #Palestinian territories, was awarded honorary doctorates by three universities in #Belgium. In an interview she says: “I’m not interested in #diplomacy. [I am] not a diplomat, but a defender of human #rights.” vrtnws.be/p.BlEY4QWRo

vrtnws.beVN-rapporteur voor de Palestijnen Francesca Albanese: "Ik ben geen diplomaat, maar verdedig de mensenrechten" | VRT NWS NieuwsZe wordt door Israël beschuldigd van antisemitisme en door Amerikaanse sancties belemmerd in haar leven en werk. Maar Francesca Albanese, speciaal VN-rapporteur voor de Palestijnse gebieden, vindt nie...

The fascist US dictatorship will use the selective release of the Epstein files to try to destabilise European states. We are already seeing this happen in the United Kingdom. #US #POTUS47 #fascism #dictatorship #Epstein

Patrick Vanhoucke reposted

Alfred (10) zou later graag bibliothecaris worden. Om mensen gelukkig naar huis te zien gaan met boeken of mensen te zien lezen. Hij vindt het altijd fijn om blije mensen te zien en zou het niet voor het geld doen, maar voor het plezier. www.bruzz.be/actua/jonger...

bruzz.beAlfred (10): 'In de bib van Jette is het rustig en kan ik mijn eigen ding doen'Elke week toont een Brusselse tiener zijn favoriete plek in de stad. Deze keer neemt Alfred (10) BRUZZ mee naar de bib in Jette.

Acteur François #Beukelaers overleden. Hij werd 88 jaar oud. Beukelaers acteerde voor #theater, #televisie en #film, doceerde aan Studio Herman #Teirlinck in Antwerpen en aan de Franstalige Brusselse toneelschool #INSAS. Hij was perfect tweetalig en regisseerde ook. vrtnws.be/p.YbG4kpPmx

vrtnws.beActeur François Beukelaers (88) overleden, de antiheld uit 'Brussels by night' | VRT NWS: nieuwsActeur François Beukelaers is overleden. Hij speelde in het theater, in tientallen Vlaamse televisiereeksen en hij schitterde ook in de bioscoop, zoals in 'Brussels by night'. In 2023 kreeg hij een Li...

Patrick Vanhoucke reposted

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” — George Orwell, ‘1984’. #Good #Pretti #US #Minneapolis #POTUS47 #ICE #truth #posttruth #2+2=5 #Orwell #1984

The fatal #shootings by federal agents in the #US show clear signs of democratic #decline and #politicisation of the #police. That is according to Christophe Busch, historian and director of the Belgian Hannah Arendt Institute. He draws comparisons with the past and the underlying mechanisms.

«La domanda è una sola: di chi sono i nostri giorni?» — ‘La Grazia’ (2025) di Paolo Sorrentino “There is only one question: to whom do our days truly belong?” — ‘La Grazia’ (2025) by Paolo Sorrentino #LaGrazia #grazia #pardon #PaoloSorrentino #Sorrentino

Now, if you know your #penguins, you also know that the images of the #American #president leading a herd of penguins in #Greenland, which we have been seeing on the web in recent days, are fake. Penguins only live in #Antarctica and the countries closest to Antarctica.

Patrick Vanhoucke reposted

« Nieuwe leesclubs komen als paddenstoelen uit de grond in Brussel. In Muntpunt komt er naast de ‘normale’ leesclubs voor de eerste keer een strip(lees)club, opgericht door striptekenaars Zie Groenen en Lode Peeters. » #brussel #muntpunt @brusselsebibliotheken.be www.bruzz.be/select/liter...

bruzz.beCollectief lezen in de lift: nieuwe strip(lees)club in MuntpuntNieuwe leesclubs komen als paddenstoelen uit de grond in Brussel. In Muntpunt komt er naast de ‘normale’ leesclubs voor de eerste keer een strip(lees)club, opgericht door twee striptekenaars.

Whatever one may think of #Venezuelan President #Maduro, if the #US invades the territory of an autonomous country with armed forces and kidnaps its president, that seems to me to be nothing less than a declaration of #war.

Polling USA@usapolling.bsky.social

It's finally happening, America has begun bombing the Venezuelan capital of Caracas And polls show that Americans overwhelmingly oppose this conflict before it even begins Read the latest polling for free here: usapolling.substack.com/p/america-ma...

Experts call the #US ‘intervention’ in #Venezuela a blatant #breach of international #law. While the US consistently justifies such actions, many nations condemn it as a violation of #sovereignty — though international criticism is unlikely to change its course.

2025 IN 12 MOVIES This is a selection from all the 109 films I saw in the cinema in 2025. For each month of the year, I chose a film. The reasons for this can vary greatly. Choosing always means losing. #2025in12movies #yearin12movies #cinema #film #movie #Letterboxd boxd.it/R3Emq

"Er komt geen verbod op sociale media tot 16 jaar", zegt de Vlaamse Regering na haar laatste ministerraad van dit jaar. Is dit überhaupt iets wat de Vlaamse Regering op het niveau van het gewest of de gemeenschap zou kunnen beslissen? Dit lijkt me een federale bevoegdheid.

vrtnws.beVlaamse regering sluit 'kerstakkoord': geen sociale media-verbod tot 16, "vergunningenrevolutie" en noodplan sociale woningen  | VRT NWS: nieuwsOp de laatste ministerraad voor de kerstvakantie hebben de Vlaamse ministers een hele reeks belangrijke knopen doorgehakt. Bekijk hier een overzicht van de beslissingen die we al kennen.
vrtnws@vrtnws.be

Vlaamse regering sluit "kerstakkoord": geen sociale media-verbod tot 16, "vergunningenrevolutie" en noodplan sociale woningen  vrtnws.be/p.dLaNJEEEL?t=176... @vrtnws.be

Patrick Vanhoucke reposted

One year into #POTUS47 second term, #America faces authoritarian drift. The #GOP, now fully Trumpist, pushes #autocracy, weaponizing government and purging dissent. Courts resist but the Supreme Court enables him. Public backlash exists, yet elite complicity aids his agenda.

Thomas Zimmer@thomaszimmer.bsky.social

Where America stands, one year after the election. A fascistic movement controls the government; they are building an authoritarian state; but they have not been able yet to extend authoritarian rule across society. A democracy no more, but not a consolidated autocratic regime yet. New piece:

#OpenAI has identified activity in my account that is not permitted under their #policy on #weapons. As a result, they have immediately deactivated my access to their services. 1/5

View full thread

2/3 This is the response: “Thank you for appealing the decision to deactivate your account access. After carefully reviewing your account, we are upholding our decision to deactivate your access. We will no longer consider additional requests to appeal this case.”

3/3 So I didn't even receive an answer to my question asking for evidence of how I had violated OpenAI's #policy on #weapons. I will make one last attempt to let OpenAI know that I am not contesting their decision, but that I simply want to know how I violated their policy.

#OpenAI has identified activity in my account that is not permitted under their #policy on #weapons. As a result, they have immediately deactivated my access to their services. 1/5

View full thread

5/5 Shouldn't testing and #exploring the limits of #AI systems simply fall under the freedom of #research? As long as I don't use the results in ‘the real world’ to do anything illegal, I don't see a problem.

#OpenAI has identified activity in my account that is not permitted under their #policy on #weapons. As a result, they have immediately deactivated my access to their services. 1/5

View full thread

3/5 I regularly run tests with #ChatGPT to put the system's performance to the test. Sometimes I also ask questions to test the ‘ethical content’ of the AI system (which it does not have, of course, as it is merely an #LLM, but I am still curious about the results).

#OpenAI has identified activity in my account that is not permitted under their #policy on #weapons. As a result, they have immediately deactivated my access to their services. 1/5

2/5 I have lodged an #appeal and requested that they provide me with immediate evidence of this alleged violation so that I can assess it and, if necessary, take steps to remedy it.

Veto inslikken of grondwetswijziging om nieuwe verkiezingen mogelijk te maken? Over een grondwetswijziging moet het federale parlement zich uitspreken. En laat dat nu net al meer dan 500 dagen zedig hebben gezwegen. Daar moeten we dus niets van verwachten.