May 26, 2011

Finally my tax euros working for me—free wifi on the train

Filed under: IT,Technology by Branko Collin @ 9:28 pm

Once we escaped the Schiphol airport tunnel earlier today, not just did I get to enjoy 5 minutes of free wifi, but Dutch rail was kind enough to tell me where I was, and where I was heading.

March last year the first Dutch Rail train was outfitted with free wifi. By then other European rail operators had already introduced wireless networking on their trains. In the Netherlands, both Arriva and Connexxion managed to get to the wifi grail before Dutch Rail. Arriva’s and Dutch Rail’s implementations are heavily sponsored by the national government.

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May 25, 2011

Calling James Sharpe a ‘porn baron’ is a bad, bad thing, judge says

Filed under: General by Branko Collin @ 11:25 pm

Former parliamentarian James Sharpe of the right-wing extremist Freedom Party (PVV) won an injunction against free newspaper Spits last week.

Spits is no longer allowed to call James Sharpe a ‘porn baron’. The epithet is ‘biased and unnecessarily hurtful’, internet lawyer Arnoud Engelfriet alleges.

One imagines the porn industry will be elated to see itself officially disassociated from Sharpe by a court of law.

Sharpe, son of a black immigrant and married to a Romanian woman, won a seat in parliament on a platform of hatred against immigrants, but resigned his seat when it became clear that he had lied about his Hungarian porn empire having a run-in with the law. This was during a time when Freedom Party front man (and single member) Geert Wilders still tried to get rid of representatives with a shady past—until he realised that this way he would soon be running out of viable candidates.

(Image: the Freedom Party logo. Any association with the logo of the Dutch Nazi party is, I am sure, as coincidental as flying the Dutch Nazi party flag.)

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May 24, 2011

Dutch café owner to speak at Scottish smoking conference

Filed under: General,Health by Orangemaster @ 4:03 pm
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The Dutch owner of café De Kachel in Groningen who fought against the smoking ban and racked up some 20,000 euro in fines has been invited to speak in Scotland about the smoking ban. Back in February 2009 Gerhard Sannes was the first café owner in the Netherlands to be fined for repeated smoking in his establishment, earning him international attention. He runs a small one-person pub and felt pushed to go out of business if he were to apply the ban, which he fought.

In Scotland, some 700 pubs have closed because of the smoking ban. The Scots are interested in the Dutch system, which allows small pub owners, usually self-employed owners with no staff, to allow smoking.

I cannot help but point out the irony of flying to Scotland at the moment, which is not possible because of volcanic ash. But maybe the ash will clear up on time.

(Links rtvnoord.nl, gic.nl)

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May 23, 2011

PM Rutte may have to cooperate after Dutch Senate elections

Filed under: General by Branko Collin @ 1:37 pm

Today the members of the 12 provinces will be electing a new Senate (in Dutch, Eerste Kamer) in the Netherlands.

It could be make-or-break time for the current right-wing cabinet who stand to lose a majority. There are three scenarios, likely to be decided on a single vote. 1) The government keeps its outright majority and continues on its merry way. 2) The government loses its majority and needs to negotiate a deal with the SGP (fundamentalist Christians who believe things like women should not be allowed to hold jobs). 3) The Senate will have a left-wing majority, and Prime Minister Rutte will have to negotiate majorities on a case by case basis.

As the left is fairly divided, none of the scenarios will be very problematic for Rutte. He might even forgo an alliance with SGP, who could mistakenly demand too much power in return for what little they have to offer.

The outcome may in fact be beneficial to Rutte personally, whichever way it turns out. A feisty senate—a political body otherwise mostly known for its roll-over-and-play-dead mentality—is what he is going to get anyway, and now at least he gets to show off his political acumen. For somebody of his ‘tender age’ (44) that’s not a bad place to be.

The election results are expected to be made public on Wednesday, although according to Elsevier the press will have their predictions ready around 4:30 pm this afternoon.

(Photo by Petra de Boevere, some rights reserved)

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May 22, 2011

Delft students aiming for space with amateur rocket

Filed under: Technology by Branko Collin @ 2:52 pm

In 2009 students of Delft University broke the European amateur altitude record with a rocket called Stratos. In 2012 they wish to get halfway the edge of space with a rocket called Stratos II.

The students, members of the Delft Aerospace Rocket Engineering association, successfully tested propellant at artillery range ‘t Harde during DARE Launch Day, two weeks ago. Stratos II will be a two stage rocket which will be launched in Norway in 2012.

DARE launched five rockets at its launch day, all of which contained an egg. Two of the eggs survived.

The first amateur rocket to reach space was the GoFast rocket (2004), built by the Civilian Space eXploration Team of the USA.

(See also: Youtube video by De Stentor. Image: DARE mission patch.)

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May 21, 2011

Cartoon about sexual abuse RC church stolen from Limburgs Museum

Filed under: Art by Branko Collin @ 3:22 pm

Last Thursday a cartoon depicting an altar boy raped with a crucifix was stolen from the Limburgs Museum in Venlo, Limburg.

According to Nieuwsblad, the thief took the drawing and just walked out.

The cartoon was made by Peter van Straaten for Vrij Nederland magazine, and netted the artist the Inkspotprijs 2010 award for best political cartoon of that year. It was part of an exhibition on cartoons, and was to be shown in Utrecht in October.

Meanwhile Toby Sterling reports that a priest of the Roman Catholic Salesian order was discovered to have been a board member of the Martijn Foundation, which tries to promote child abuse [1]. The priest’s membership was known to his superiors, who did not think it a big deal. Predictably the Catholic Church claimed “the church utterly rejects pedophilia”. “Dutch Catholic Church spokesman Pieter Kohnen said Saturday that […] if Superior Claes did not act quickly to reform the Dutch Salesian order’s leadership, the matter would be referred to Rome.”

[1] I’d link to the Association’s website, but it portrays children in a sexualized context, which might get readers in trouble.

(Illustration: Vrij Nederland / Peter van Straaten)

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May 20, 2011

Customers forget chip-based bank cards at the till

Filed under: General by Branko Collin @ 8:42 am

On 1 March 2011 the Dutch started a 9-month process in which bank cards with magnetic strips are replaced by chip-based ones. Paying in stores with a bank withdrawal is the most popular card based payment method. Cash is still good for 66% of all payments in brick and mortar stores, but paying with bank cards makes up almost all the rest of the payments, according the 2010 annual report of the Dutch National Bank.

The new chip-based cards must by stuck into a device rather than swiped through it, and this leads to problems with forgetful customers leaving their cards at the till, according to De Pers. The newspaper quotes Hans de Jong of the Esso van Hasselt gas station in the North of Amsterdam: “People keep forgetting their cards. I easily end up with ten to fifteen of them. I tend to wait a week for our customers to collect their cards, after which I will cut them in half.”

The chip based card is being introduced because it is allegedly safer than the swipe card.

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May 18, 2011

A day without immigrants would look empty

Filed under: Film by Orangemaster @ 9:08 pm

It’s funny and sad to think that some people in the Netherlands honestly believe that their country would be better off without any immigrants. As an immigrant myself, I’d miss my Turkish market and more than half of all my friends and aquaintainces. Oh, and my Dutch co-blogger would have to write all by himself.

Three films can be seen here. They are in Dutch although the images say a lot on their own.

The film projects are from Worldconnectors, a network of committed Dutch people who want to contribute in a positive way to the debate about social and cultural diversity and migration.

(Link: wereldjournalisten.nl)

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May 17, 2011

How to improve Rotterdam in 100 steps

Filed under: Architecture by Branko Collin @ 8:31 am

In 2010 the Rotterdam bureau for architecture, AIR, released a booklet called RTM100 that contained before and after photos of 100 possible improvements to Rotterdam’s public space. Sometimes comprehensive, like the filling of a disused canal shown here to create a park, sometimes small, and sometimes playful.

The ‘shops were created by Topotronic from Brussels and URA from Rotterdam. The booklet was distributed for free throughout Rotterdam in December.

Writes AIR:

Many places just scream out for a simple intervention. Turning a bench so it faces the sun. Moving a trash can so it is no longer in the middle of the sidewalk. A gate in an otherwise boring wall. A lick of paint on the grey concrete.

Via Holly Moors and AIR, where you’ll find more examples. Seeing as how this booklet was distributed for free I don’t see how you could order a copy, but maybe you could ask AIR.

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May 16, 2011

’50 years of human space flight’ out now

Filed under: Literature,Science by Orangemaster @ 4:08 pm

I was lucky enough to see a draft of this booklet thanks to former Amsterdam Weekly Editor-in-Chief Steve Korver a few years back and I’m happy it’s finally out. ’50 years of human space flight’ was written in English by Steve Korver, with photos by film director René Nuijens. They went to Russia in search of all kinds of info on Russia’s Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space. Russia recently celebrated the 50th birthday of this world-changing event on 12 April 2011.

You can order this booklet through the website: Road to Gargarin.

Enjoy the short film they made as well, ‘The Yuri Gargarin Goose Chase’:

(Link: amsterdamadblog, My photo of the Cosmonaut Museum in Moscow, 1996)

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