October 24, 2016

Dutch TV show clones dog to make a point

Filed under: Animals,Science by Orangemaster @ 9:47 pm

Dutch television station BNN, known for its edgier shows aimed at a younger segment of the population, is currently prepping a show that features cloned animals.

A bulldog in the Netherlands has been cloned, 12-year-old bulldog Joep from Rotterdam, by South Korean company Sooam Biotech. The cloning cost the broadcaster 50,000 euro, and a quick Internet scan tells us that an article on American site Refinery 29 mentioned 100,000 USD, which is about 91,000 euro, but the owner in question ended up with two clones of their dog. If you also include travel expenses in their case, it’s easily a lot more.

However, this was the first time ever a Dutch house pet was cloned. Cloning is prohibited in the Netherlands, but importing a cloned animal is perfectly legal. And the idea is to spark some debate. And what about abandoned dogs that need a good home and all that.

A lot of people were interested in cloning their dog for the show; I’m sure a lot of cat owners as well.

The owner of Joep the bulldog who has died, are apparently happy with their cloned dog that they got for free I imagine. “It’s not just the physical characteristics that are basically identical”, the couple said to De Telegraaf newspaper. “Daily we are amazed by the behaviour and character that are so similar to our old dog. That is unbelievable.”

(Link: nltimes)

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February 5, 2012

Dutch TV cannibals won’t be prosecuted

Filed under: Health,Weird by Branko Collin @ 2:39 pm

The public prosecutor won’t take legal action against two TV show hosts who had each eaten flesh that had been surgically removed from their bodies.

In December Dennis Storm ate a bit his left buttock, Today.com reported back then, and Valerio Zeno a piece of his abdomen. The meat was served with some green asparagus.

The website quoted a Dutch lawyer who said cannibalism in the Netherlands is only illegal “when it involves maltreatment or when it violates common decency.”

Nevertheless, the Christian Democratic Appeal (conservative party) had asked questions in parliament, and Minister of Education Marja van Bijsterveld told the venerable body on behalf of her justice colleague that prosecution was not in the cards.

(Link: De Pers. Logo and video: BNN.)

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March 10, 2008

Director fakes rampant racism, gets sacked

Filed under: General,Religion by Branko Collin @ 2:20 pm

Last week, a director working on a fake TV news item about racism in the Netherlands got caught with his pants down because a competing station happened to have a crew nearby filming the whole thing. The director had set out to film a piece exposing rampant bigotry by showing that people in Amsterdam will not stop and help a woman in need if dressed in a niqab.

In order to measure this bigotry, the crew’s reporter would drop a bag of oranges and see who would help her pick them up. After a while she would change to a niqab, a garb worn by some Muslim women that covers everything except the eyes, and repeat the exercise.

And it seemed the crew got exactly the sort of result they expected. When dressed as a Westerner, people would help the reporter pick up her oranges. But the moment she switched to the niqab, help was no longer forthcoming. The cold eye of the camera registered a forlorn woman, crouching in the middle of the street amidst her belongings, while passers-by took a wide berth around her.

Except that it was all staged. Local TV station AT5 was there, and filmed the whole thing. People who wanted to help the woman in the niqab were shouted at by the director who told them to move on. Even then that did not stop some of them to actually help. After 101 had streamed its program, AT5 contacted them for commentary. Originally, the youth channel denied that anything shady had been going on. They thought the attention was exaggerated, and that people only started to help when they saw the AT5 camera crew. But the station must have smelled a rat, because it later examined raw footage, after which it came out with a full retraction. Apparently, people had been trying to help the niqab-clad woman the whole time. “We ended our collaboration with this director,” the press release concludes.

Even in the 101.tv segment there are hints that not everything is as it seems. The host says that she herself has family members who wear a burqa except of course that she is not wearing a burqa but a niqab.

Via Wij blijven hier (Dutch). Source images: AT5 and 101.

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