Creating a ”’brand new country”’ is a startling endeavour. And today is Earth Day. An excellent day to go public with my passion. I’m giving it my whole heart, soul, and mind.
Previously code-named [http://wiki.aardrock.com/LandONE LandONE], I’ve renamed it to ”’Aarde”’. I’ve started the [http://aardsource.org/ Aarde blog]—domainnames aarde.org and aarde.net are already taken, so I’ve opted for ”’AardSource”’ as name space—an inexhaustable and ever abundant well for everything Aarde. A Wiki for global collaboration will follow soon.
Some ask me, why the name ‘Aarde’? It’s really quite simple. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon was once asked how he came up with the name ”’Amazon”’. “Well, it’s the largest river on Earth and it starts with an A.”. (the latter having an excellent free marketing value—you’re always near the top of alphabetical lists). I’ve never forgotten his answer.
In the same spirit ”’Aarde”’:
*is the largest planet around that has life on it (as far as we know);
*starts with a double A;
*has a Dutch connection—my home country.
[http://martien.van.steenbergen.nl/love/ Love],
:Martien.
