This is the service desk of the architecture library at the University of Delft. Neat, eh?
(Photo by Flickr user IK’s World Trip, some rights reserved. Link, with more photos: Recyclart.)
September 14, 2010
September 13, 2010
Child therapy increased by 50% in two years
The amount of children under the age of 18 in psychotherapy has increased by 50% in two years, Volkskrant reports. The paper writes that “insurers such as CZ and Achmea” have noticed the trend.
Volkskrant further quotes an unknown quantity of unnamed sellers of therapy, the child therapists, as saying that children haven’t gotten any crazier in the past two years—it’s the parents who have gotten over their reluctance to seek help for their kids.
You’d better read the article yourself (Dutch) to see if you can discover anything resembling reporting in it.
See also: Dutch children could not be any happier
Tags: children, newspapers, therapists, therapy
September 12, 2010
Lawyers may not kiss their friends if these friends are also clients
A remarkable verdict from a disciplinary court: a lawyer was found to have acted without the dignity proper to his profession when he kissed a friend on the cheek in greeting while representing her.
De Pers reports that the unnamed lawyer greeted the friend at a police station in 2008, where an assistant prosecutor took offence and filed charges for ‘unseemly behaviour’. Two weeks ago the Amsterdamse Raad van Discipline (Amsterdam Disciplinary Court) agreed with the assistant prosecutor.
Apart from the fact that there are gradations of familiarity, and that kissing somebody on the cheek at the police station is perhaps not the same thing as walking around a court room in bathroom slippers, there is also a whiff of sexism attached to this verdict. That is to say, I cannot remember hearing of a similar verdict regarding shaking hands, which is how most men greet each other in this country.
The lawyer has received a warning.
(Link: Martin Wisse, second day in a row! Photo by Steve Punter, some rights reserved.)
Tags: behaviour, courts, discipline, judges, lawyers, mores, prosecutors
September 11, 2010
Gonorrhea infections among American teens 33 times higher than among Dutch teens
According to a study by Amy Chalet, 0.5 percent of all US teens aged 15-19 catch gonorrhea, whereas among Dutch teens the number is almost a statistical error (0.01 %).
There might be epidemiological reasons for the large discrepancy, but the evidence points elsewhere: Chalet’s study also shows “dramatic differences between the US and the Netherlands in rates of contraceptive use, teen pregnancy, abortion, and STI transmission”, as Lisa Wade writes (the American sociologist, not the Dutch TV personality).
Wade’s angle is that the Dutch (and Western Europeans) treat (teenage) sex as normal, not as ‘the nasty’, and that Dutch teenagers (therefore?) use condoms and contraceptives where their American peers do not. “Accordingly, most American teenagers hide their virginity loss from their parents, furtively popping the cherry in risky situations, often without protection against pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections (STIs). In contrast, most Dutch teenagers lose their virginity in their own bedrooms with their parents’ approval… and condoms.”
Americans can find comfort in the fact that according to some of their leading thinkers, “the way they do the statistics in the Netherlands is different”.
Link: Martin Wisse.
Tags: statistics, STDs, teenagers, traits
September 10, 2010
HEMA chain up for sale
Over the years, we’ve written a lot about HEMA, their products, their successes and their cock-ups.
Back in 2009 HEMA celebrated the end of Ramadan, which happens to be today for the Moroccan community and was yesterday for the Turkish commumnity here, my female Turkish baker told me yesterday at lunch with a devious smile.
HEMA opened a store in Paris (see video) last year, which made my Parisian friends happy.
In fact, HEMA is an essential Dutch brand, as seen by these tea towels here above. My co-blogger bought them for me knowing that the colours make you go ‘aaah’ of cuteness.
Even their sausages went national and made it on a stamp. And HEMA thought it cute recently to help children cheat on exams.
So the news of HEMA possibly being bought up by foreigners is more of an emotional shock, considering the Dutch have sold off many companies and even banks as of late.
What I like about HEMA besides it being inexpensive: the bright turquoise, bright green and hot pink colours that pull me into the store, from stationery to bed sheets. I like Chat-en-Oeuf wine because of the label (the wine is OK), the socks (they last) and some of their pots and pans.
HEMA purchases make you feel good somehow and so selling it off will be odd. Maybe they won’t pull any stunts anymore, that would be sad.
(Link: dutchnews.nl)
Tags: Hema
September 9, 2010
Klingon opera premieres in The Hague
Back in June 2008 we told you about earthlings of the Dutch persuasion planning to perform Klingon opera and that day has finally come.
The Klingon opera ‘U’ (that’s the name of it, pronounced ‘oo’) will premiere tonight at the Zeebelt theater in The Hague and run until 12 September, after which the show is heading to Qetlop in Farnsberg, Germany to perform at an exclusive event for the Klingons of the Khemorex Klinzhai Fleet.
Klingon language expert Marc Okrand, the creator of the language, will be the guest of honour at the 10 September premiere.
Classical trained opera singers will be performing, here’s a presentation of U at a FedCon sci-fi gathering, have a look at the video (1:03):
(Links: presurfer, u-theopera)
September 8, 2010
Postcards help against suicide
A mental health institution in the province of Friesland plans to use an Australian treatment to help people who have attempted suicide: sending them postcards. Six months after the attempted suicide, patients will be sent a postcard from a counsellor, asking them how they are doing and all.
The people at the mental health institution say it works, that patients like having someone think of them. If the patients are in need of more help, they’ll have something to read to that effect on their postcard.
Of course, it’s by no means a cure of any kind, but if it can stop even one person from trying to off themselves, it’s surely worth it explains the article. This postcard has a ‘lean on me’ quality to it.
(Link: waarmaarraar.nl, Photo: some card I got once)
Tags: mental health, postcards, suicide
September 7, 2010
KLIK! animation film festival bigger and crazier
This year’s edition of Amsterdam’s KLIK! animation film festival will feature more than 235 films from 63 countries from 15 to 20 September. Now in its fourth year, KLIK! has gone international, with satellite editions and festival tours around the globe. This year’s theme focusses on the wonderful and weirdly disturbing realms of science.
Movie freak and organiser Luuk van Huët talked to me again this year about KLIK! like a very proud father whose toddler now walks and says ‘papa’. He told me that they received an insane amount of films (1100!) to choose from this year.
The programme features great stuff for kids, student competitions and of course, smashing after parties.
KLIK! also still has a satellite edition in the city of Mopti in Mali, West Africa, where Dutchman Willem Snapper lives. He started the Mopti Foundation to help the locals build gardens and irrigation systems and also screens films in his own backyward every week, as there is no cinema to be found for hundreds of kilometers.
Beisdes watching the festival grow year after year, Luuk’s dream would be to have this as a job some day. Check out the funny animated e-cards and send them to friends!
(Link and image: klikamsterdam.nl)
September 6, 2010
Holland moped chic
In June of this year there were 1,000,000 mopeds on the Dutch roads for the first time, according to NOS.
That is 300,000 up from 2007, and even 600,000 up from 1995. In an article about bicycle manufacturer Batavus, Wikipedia claims that there were more than 2 million mopeds in the Netherlands in 1977, but I could not find anything to back that up.
I wanted to celebrate this millionth moped by creating a sort of “Holland moped chic” set on Flickr, analogous to Copenhagen Cycle Chic and Amsterdamize. Unfortunately, as you can see below, my photography skills were not up to the task and riders came out mostly blurred.
So I did the next best thing, and created a gallery of the best Flickr photos of Dutch men and women riding mopeds.
Dutch road laws make a distinction between bromfietsen (‘buzz bikes’) and snorfietsen (‘purr bikes’). The latter can only legally go 25 km/h, and are considered to be closer to regular bicycles in intent and use. Snorfietsen have also become very popular lately because they can look as good as regular scooter mopeds, yet you do not have to wear a helmet while riding them.
(Top photo by FaceMePLS, some rights reserved. Bottom photo by me, available under a permissive license soon from our Flickr account.)
Tags: Batavus, modes, mopeds, scooters, statistics
September 5, 2010
Temporary reduction of sales tax on renovations
Government ministers De Jager (Finance) and Middelkoop (Housing) have announced a temporary lowering of the sales tax on home make-overs from 19% to 6%.
The reduction is to take effect on October 1, 2010 and will last until July 1, 2011, Telegraaf reports. The care-taker government hopes that this will soften the blow of the crisis for the building sector.
Some of the rules for the lower tax are:
- Only for houses of two years and older.
- Only for labour costs.
- Only for improvements that will raise the resale value of your house.
(Photo by Yola de Lusenet, some rights reserved)
Tags: government, houses, housing, renovations, sales tax, taxes