Author Archives: admin

Het schilderseizoen is weer daar!

Tweede druk

Wie ook voor het schilderwerk van ramen en deuren binnen- en buitenshuis wil kiezen voor producten die gezondheid en milieu sparen, kiest voor zogenaamde Natuur*verf (het sterretje staat er om blijvend uw aandacht te trekken). Dat is een moderne verf die gebruik maakt van plantaardige en minerale grondstoffen, en niet van aardoliederivaten. Niet alleen is er respect voor de gezondheid van mens en aarde, maar ook de bestendigheid van het schilderwerk wordt in de verf gezet: degelijk uitgevoerd gaat dat probleemloos acht à tien jaar mee. Dat is een flinke besparing op grondstoffen, arbeidstijd en geld – ook wanneer je het schilderwerk zelf uitvoert.

Dit boek geeft alle nodige achtergrondinformatie, aanwijzingen, hulpmiddelen en werkmethodes om degelijk schilderwerk zelf uit te voeren. Het is bruikbaar voor alle merken Natuur*verf. – Oh ja, de asterisk, het sterretje in Natuur*verf, staat er om er aan te herinneren dat verf in de natuur niet voorkomt, het is een door de mens bedacht product. Als u zulke verf koopt, doe dat dan bij een bedrijf dat zijn sporen verdiend heeft in de sector van ecologisch verantwoorde producten.

Schilderen met Natuur*verf, uitgave Meta.Consort. 180 blz. geïllustreerd, met index en register. Gedrukt op FSC-papier, vrij van chloor en optische witmakers.
€29 + verzendingskosten.

Bestellen bij Meta.Consort, of via uw leverancier van Natuur*verf.

Meta.Consort – gabriel@meta-consort.eu – BE26 8601 1339 7729 – NICABEBB

Ah! Perfido, spergiuro! – about Facecrook

by Peter Malaise

With this title, we immediately bring in Europe’s music master, Ludwig van Beethoven, to give voice to both our boundless hilarity over Facebook’s name change, and our wrath over the perfidious choice of new name and new logo. If you didn’t already see it, the new name is “M**a”, preceded by an unbecomingly distorted lemniscate. If this is to be called a feat of arms, it is one committed with a paper helmet, a cardboard sabre and a war strategy from the kindergarten.

Why do I care about this? It just so happens that “meta” is the ancient Greek term that we chose with some friends in 1976 as the name for a new initiative. That initiative set out to revalue raw materials from living nature and handicrafts in a society whose economic players were mainly preoccupied with plastics, assembly line work and big business, without any regard for health and the environment. It was no longer about producing valuable goods, but about producing money for the happy few. Several small-scale initiatives arose from our set-up, two of which still exist 45 years later: Wood Shop Meta, in Antwerp/Berchem, which designs and builds looms, spinning wheels and related products, and the consulting company for sustainable products and services Meta.Consort of your servant.

Penis envy? Not at all, but at the time we had thoroughly thought and exchanged views on what the content of our name and the design of our logo were about. These were not chosen to suggest something that was not there. Nor did we want to achieve total world domination or a comparable alternative with our initiatives: there was a great deal of social involvement and more than once we stood at the maternity bed of other initiatives. If we look at what Facebook states as its mission, we do find that kind of perfidious objectives: “The mission of the Facebook company is to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together”. Pure fabrication, the real mission of Facebook is to realise as many dividends as possible for its shareholders, it is really not a social organization and certainly not a social service. You don’t have to pay for connectivity, because all the data that Facebook can secretly get its hands on – and there are a lot of them – is happily traded on, without your consent, and without you being paid for it. There are dozens of websites that explain this in detail. That is the commercial model of the Facebooks, Googles, Instagrams, WhatsApps and Pinterests of this world, and if you don’t want to be part of it, you should look for other, serious service providers; there are plenty of those too. Hence the title of this column: “Ah! Pretender, deceiver!”, the opening words of a concert aria for soprano by Ludwig van Beethoven.

We find the term ‘meta’ as we used it in the expression μετά τα φυσικά (meta ta fusika), ‘what comes after physics’, in Aristotle’s vision. That was the origin of the concept of metaphysics: “…the philosophical doctrine that investigates not reality as we experience it through our external senses (such as physics), but that which is beyond matter, the totality of all that is given” (Wikipedia). That expressed more or less what we felt: there is another reality than just the physical one and we want to take that into account as well, even though we cannot yet interpret it properly. We knew from our own experience that when people make something, bake a loaf of bread, hammer a piece of furniture or weave a rug, for example, they add a dimension, a value to the physical flour, the physical fibres or the physical wood, that transcends these materials. Mr. Z. just remembered that “meta” can literally be translated as “something that comes after something else” and nuked that as his new brand name. For us, our name “Meta” and our logo, a water vortex, fit like a hand in a glove and expressed something that was – and is – essential to our initiative.

The lemniscate – at first sight a horizontal figure eight – on which Mr. Z. based his logo is already a very old symbol, used to express infinity, endlessness, but also the interconnectedness between matter and what goes beyond matter. Its origin is found in the Ouroboros, the serpent biting its own tail, and we find this allusion in China, India, Egypt and Greece thousands of years BC. In Facebook/M**a’s version, it looks more like modern glasses. A certain Mr. H. has also recycled ancient symbols in a perfidious context.

Well, if Mr Z. thinks he can justify his parasitic trade in other people’s data with such feigning, and those other people let it happen… Mundus vult decipi, the world wants to be deceived. Your own fault, your own fault.

Meta.Consort & Peter Malaise – Die Zukunft erahnen

Meta.Consort Partnership entwickelt, berät, bildet und coacht nachhaltige Projekte auf der ganzen Welt, in jedem Marktsegment. Gründer und Geschäftsführer ist Peter Malaise, mit einer langen Erfahrung in diesem Bereich seit 1972 (siehe Biografie an anderer Stelle auf dieser Seite). Peter ist unabhängiger Journalist und Author, er schreibt Artikel und Kolumnen und kann für Konferenzen, Kurse und Seminare gebucht werden. Um mit Peter Kontakt aufzunehmen, senden Sie eine E-Mail an: peter ‘at’ meta-consort ‘dot’ eu.

Meta.Consort & Peter Malaise – Sentire il futuro

Meta.Consort Partnership progetta, consiglia, supporta e offre corsi di formazione per progetti sostenibili in tutto il mondo, in qualsiasi segmento del mercato. Fondatore e direttore generale è Peter Malaise, che ha una lunga esperienza nel settore, per averlo frequentato fin dal lontano 1972 (potete vedere la sua biografia su questa pagina). Peter è giornalista e autore indipendenti che scrive anche articoli e reportage e può essere assunto per conferenze, corsi di formazione e seminari. Per contattare Peter, invia un’email a: peter ‘at’ meta-consort ‘punto’ eu.

Meta.Consort & Peter Malaise – De toekomst voorvoelen

Meta.Consort Partnership ontwikkelt, adviseert, traint en coacht bestendigbare (duurzame) projecten over de hele wereld, in om het even welk marktsegment.

Stichter en algemeen directeur is Peter Malaise, met een langdurige ervaring op dit vlak die teruggaat tot 1972 (zie biografie elders op deze pagina).

Peter is een onafhankelijk consulent, journalist en schrijver van artikels en columns en kan geboekt worden voor conferenties, cursussen en seminars.

Om Peter te contacteren, stuur een mail naar: peter ‘at’ meta-consort ‘dot’ eu.

Meta.Consort & Peter Malaise – Pressentir le futur

Meta.Consort Partnership conçoit, conseille, accompagne et donne des formations pour des projets soutenables dans le monde entier, dans n’importe quel segment du marché.

Fondateur et directeur général est Peter Malaise, qui dispose d’une longue expérience en la matière, pour l’avoir cotoyé dès 1972 (voir sa bio autre part sur cette page).

Peter est journaliste et auteur indépendant qui écrit des articles et des chroniques et peut être engagé pour des conférences, des formations et des séminaires.

Pour contacter Peter, envoyer un mail à : peter ‘at’ meta-consort ‘point’ eu.

Meta.Consort & Peter Malaise – Sensing the Future

Meta.Consort Partnership is conceiving, developing, consulting, training and coaching sustainability projects worldwide, in any market segment. Founder and managing director Peter Malaise has a long-standing experience on the matter, going back to 1972 (see his Bio elsewhere on this page). Peter is an independent consultant, journalist and writer of columns and articles and can be booked for conferences, courses and seminars. To contact Peter, send an email to: peter ‘at’ meta-consort ‘dot’ eu.