April 14, 2007
In March, we had the world record fire-breathing in Tilburg and one month later, we now have world record skippy ball hopping at Walibi World in Biddinghuizen, Flevoland. Exactly 2,518 children participated, which was enough for an entry into the new Guinness Book of World Records, beating the old record of 2,263. The event raised 70,000 euro, which will go to the St Jansdal hospital in Harderwijk.
Tags: biddinghuizen, records, skippy ball
April 13, 2007
Coba Beugeling who works for the animal welfare centre in Lelystad, Flevoland is planning to let children lease rabbits for a month. First, the child gets a speech on how to care for the bunny and if after a month they still get along, the child can keep it, with their parents’ permission of course. Proefkonijn (roughly ‘test rabbit’ although in English we say ‘guinea pig’) was initiated so that people don’t just release rabbits into the wild when they don’t want them any more. Guinea pigs and hamsters will soon be part of the leasing fleet as well.
(Link)
Tags: animal welfare, Flevoland, Lelystad, parenting, rabbits
April 12, 2007
The Instituut voor Life Science & Technology of the Hanzehogeschool Groningen has made a staircase shaped like DNA. It has several colours and can be accessed from two sides, making it a unique object of functional bioart. There are various hidden messages in this DNA staircase. To unravel these mysteries, the Instituut voor Life Science & Technology has turned it into a contest for all students and employees of the Hanzehogeschool Groningen. The prize is an iPod nano.
(Link)
Tags: DNA, Groningen, Instituut voor Life Science & Technology
The organisers of the Langedijker beddenrace (Langedijk Bed Race) want to boost participation by pushing their bed from the Eiffel Tower in Paris to the Frisian town of Noord-Scharwoude (Langedijk). On August 17, Michel Smit and Siem de Groot plan to cross that distance in time for the bed race back in Noord-Scharwoude on August 25. In the heyday of the Langedijker beddenrace, about 15 years ago, some 125 couples participated in the race, although nowadays it’s more like 65. Smit and de Groot plan to also make into the Guinness Book of Records with their tour.
(Link)
Tags: Friesland, Langedijk, Noord-Scharwoude, racing, records
April 11, 2007
On Friday, 20 April the Volkel airbase in Uden, Noord-Brabant will host a very special demonstration between a Royal Netherlands Air Force F-16 and a Dutch Spyker Formule 1 car driven by Dutch race car driver Christijan Albers. Unfortunately, the event is invitation only. The Air Force hopes to recruit personel and the Spyker F1 team wants to be seen and heard. Once upon a time, back in 1915, Spyker had been in the business of building airplanes.
(Link)
Tags: air force, Christijan Albers, F-16, Noord-Brabant, Spyker, Uden
Artist Marc Mulders was commissioned by the Church to make a stained glass window depicting an image of the World Trade Center attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people. On Easter Sunday, it was blessed by a Dutch bishop. The window, made up of about 20 different panes with representations of heaven and hell, has the WTC pane at the bottom, showing “hell on earth”. The window in the Sint Jan Cathedral in Den Bosch, in the province of Noord-Brabant got worldwide media attention because of the Twin Tower image, according to pastor Geert Jan van Rossem.
(Link)
Tags: 9/11, churches, stained glass, WTC
April 10, 2007
The amount of people who choose not to work and receive welfare benefits is dwindling, according to Dutch newspaper, De Volkskrant. Apparently, there’s pressure on them to get a job. The amount of people living off the government decreased last week to 300,000 (population 16 million), the lowest level in 25 years. In De Volkskrant, 51-year-old Gertjan van Beijnum, who has been unemployed for 28 years and receives benefits, says they are a dying breed. Van Beijnum stopped his art school studies in 1979 and has been unemployed ever since. “It’s not that I can’t work, I just don’t want to. I am against paid work.”
Orangemaster’s quick guide to avoid sloth:
1. Start your own business
2. Do volunteer work
3. Become a starving artist
(Link: fok.nl)
Tags: welfare
April 9, 2007
Last Saturday, the police in Nijmegen received various reports that men were jumping off the Waalbrug (Waal bridge, here opposite) and immediately rushed to the scene. They found two men in their underwear who were about to jump off the bridge, while down below, two other men were climbing out of the Waal River. Attempted suicide? Not even close. Apparently the men had met some women in a cafe who refused to date them unless they jumped off the bridge.
(Link: blikopnieuws)
Tags: Darwin awards, Nijmegen
April 7, 2007
This week, city sanitation workers in Maastricht, Limburg all received iPod nanos “in hopes of making them all appear more happy while doing their jobs.” The story goes that the people of Maastricht were unhappy with the sour demeanor of local sanitation workers. Searching for a way to improve the situation, the city council came up with the idea of letting the workers listen to music while working. A few weeks later, the city ordered 280 new ipod nanos for the sanitation team. After two weeks, the music seems to be doing the trick.
(Link, via Funtechtalk)
Tags: iPod, Maastricht, working
April 6, 2007
Apparently, The Netherlands is top dog when it comes to distributing animal pornography, as it is one of the few countries left where this type of pornography is not forbidden. Filming animal pornography mostly takes place in Central Europe and Brazil, as the legislation there is also non-existent.
“The top two companies are located in The Netherlands,” according to the Director of Topscore in Doetinchem, one of the two companies in question. The other one is Cybermedia in Nieuwegein. “Of the 10 new films we release every month, the three animal films sell the best”. Many foreigners come specially to Amsterdam to buy animal porn and most animal porn websites are hosted here. The Minister of Justice Hirsch Ballin is considering banning animal porn in The Netherlands.
Why is this news? There was a recent Dutch article about a man raping another person’s pony 45 times (!) who could not be prosecuted because there’s no law against having sex with animals. They were thinking of getting him from breaking and entering.
(Link)
Tags: Animals, bestiality, porn, records
