September 13, 2011

Blinded by false research about meat eaters

Filed under: Food & Drink,Science,Weird by Orangemaster @ 4:02 pm
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Professor Diederik Stapel from the University of Tilburg was recently suspended for making up research that the media actually took seriously and wrote about. The university is apparently looking into his previous ‘research’.

His latest nonsense that hit the papers was that meat eaters are more ill-mannered (aggressive, selfish, asocial, you know) than vegetarians. Professor Roos Vonk of the Radboud University in Nijmegen ran with this story and got nailed for doing so, once the media figured out it was made up. She claimed that she never thought for a moment that it could be false. Vonk explained that her expectations were that vegetarians were more empathic towards others than meat eaters, which turns out is 100% pure crapola. Vonk used to chair the animal activitst group Wakker Dier and is a member of the Party for the Animals. Call me crazy, but I suspect she’s a vegetarian.

She candidly admitted to have been stupid about trusting this research as she did have some doubts about Stapel’s methods. Human behaviour has shown throughout history that people believe what sounds good to them all the time.

And if Vonk truly believes that meat eaters are douche bags, she’ll want to buy into any nonsense that says what she would like to think could be true, making her vulnerable and gullible. You could argue that by not eating meat you’re doing a good thing, but placing yourself above others for that reason makes you a douche bag and in this case, a blinded, crappy scientist. It insults the intelligent, open-minded vegetarians and vegans out there that are not douche bags, for starters.

Oh and if you need to believe that your lifestyle choices are better by denigrating others, you’re also a douche bag.

UPDATE: Vonk eats meat sometimes, albeit organic. She admitted on Dutch telly that if the research had shown the opposite or that it didn’t matter what people ate, she wouldn’t have bothered with it. She also thinks meat eaters have a superiority complex, while she’s in fact the one thinking she’s a superior douche bag.

(Link: www.gelderlander.nl, Photo: veggieunwrapped.com)

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July 22, 2011

I do, I do, I do, I do, now off you go

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 12:57 pm

The town of Beuningen near Nijmegen in the East, with a population of about 25,000 is going to scrap its free civil ceremonies. Currently, you can get married at town hall for free, as long as you are from Beuningen. You get a private room where your friends, family and witnesses can watch the happy event. I cannot imagine that it costs them a bundle every year in a town with surely a handful of singles getting married, but OK, cutting costs is all the rage. As of January 2012, the now free ceremony will cost 100 euro.

However, the new town trend will be Las Vegas style, albeit without Elvis priests: the quickie marriage between 8:45 and 9 am at the wicket with a quick ‘ja’ (yes), the paperwork signed, and off you go. Somehow, the ‘charm’ of the quickie ceremony cannot possibly come close to anything I’ve seen or heard about Las Vegas.

In many cities, civil ceremonies cost different rates at different times. In an expensive city like Amsterdam, 9 am on a Monday is either free or cheap, as opposed to a Friday afternoon at 4 pm. It’s all about time and money, and not about the l-word.

(Link: gelderlander, Photo by Anthony Kelly, some rights reserved)

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June 19, 2011

Man gets driving ban in Germany for having a confusing address

Filed under: Automobiles by Branko Collin @ 3:42 pm
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During a routine check in Germany a man from Nijmegen had his driver’s license revoked and received a driving ban as he still had an outstanding ticket for going 40 kilometres over the speed limit in 2009.

Ronnie Gashi argued that he never received the ticket. The police ignored this popular excuse, but the Dutchman managed to have his driver’s license returned on the spot when he pointed out that the police officer was writing down his address incorrectly, and that this could conceivably also be what had happened the last time. The Nijmegen neighbourhoods of Dukenburg and nearby Lindenholt are numbered instead of named—rare for the Netherlands, and apparently also for Germany.

The Gelderlander reports that the police contacted a public prosecutor who advised clemency.

For some reason, the driving ban was upheld, the paper does not tell why. Gashi is still fighting the month long suspension. I am also not sure why “Lankforst 5336” instead of “Lankforst 53-36” would confuse the mail, in fact that is how I wrote my address when I lived there.

(Link: gelderlander, Photo of back of Dutch driving licence)

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April 15, 2011

Dutch student loses appeal to write thesis in Dutch

Filed under: Science,Weird by Orangemaster @ 11:56 am

A student had to write her thesis based on applied scientific research done in a company or institution, in this case, a hospital. The hospital demanded that her thesis be written in Dutch. The exam commission who will judge her thesis at the Radboud Univesity in Nijmegen demanded that her thesis be written in English.

The student couldn’t fulfil the requirements of her studies and decided to appeal the decision to be able to write her thesis in Dutch, which sounds weird. Exceptions have been made in the past to the English only rule, but that was then and those days are over: it’s English or nothing, which still sounds weird.

Her mentor also supported her appeal. It’s all fine that English be encouraged for the Dutch to be internationally recognised, but sabotaging someone’s studies to uphold a principle seems ludicrous. The University then blamed companies and institutions for not allowing students to do their thesis in English, but that doesn’t help this student at all.

Can’t it just be translated? In any case, if anything shows how English has became more important than Dutch (not that that is a good thing), this is a scary example of how things can go too far.

(Link: ru.nl)

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April 12, 2011

Looking through the Lookout Rabbit in Nijmegen

Filed under: Animals,Art by Orangemaster @ 10:12 am

The Lookout Rabbit was made of concrete, sand, grass, metal, wood, paint and cement coating by Rotterdam artist Florentijn Hofman who has this thing for cute animals.

The Lookout Rabbit is a temporary 12-meter high sculpture. It’s a rabbit with a red dot which you can enter and have a look out over the Waal river. The arwork is located at the Valkhofpark in Nijmegen and will stay put for at least six months.

There’s even a making of the Lookout Rabbit.

(Link and photo: florentijnhofman.nl)

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February 23, 2011

Thirty years after the Pierson Street riots in Nijmegen

Filed under: History by Orangemaster @ 2:14 pm

Today exactly 30 years ago, the Dutch government used 5 tanks, armored vehicles, a helicopter, nearly 3,000 soldiers (MP and special army units) and police, and two types of teargas (illegal use), to end a protest in my hometown of Nijmegen against the demolition of a centuries old residential area for a parking garage.

The major point was that there was (and still is) a lack of housing in Nijmegen and throwing people out of their homes to make way for a parking garage seemed like a good reason to fight.

The Mayor signed posters that read in capitals:

1. DON’T USE VIOLENCE.
2. DON’T THROW MOLOTOV COCKTAILS, FIRE BOMBS AND THE LIKES.
3 REMOVE YOURSELF.

UPDATE: Free and legal download of the punk track in the background and more by Nijmegen’s The Squats (Thanks Marco!)

(Tip: Thanks Rob!, Photo: studiezaal.nijmegen.nl)

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November 26, 2010

Stop snoring by learning the didgeridoo

Filed under: General,Music,Science by Orangemaster @ 11:46 am

Boffins over at the sleep research centre of the Canisius-Wilhelmina hospital in Nijmegen have concluded that learning how to play the Australian musical instrument didgeridoo helps reduce snoring. The specific training of the mouth and throat muscles to play this instrument apparently help reduce sleep apnea, which causing snoring.

Some 50 people were given a didgeridoo training for four months, which was not easy as one third quit, claiming they were not able to sustain the necessary circular breathing, never mind the time committment. No definite conclusions were drawn with such a small bit of research, but the boffins could be on to something. The Dutch were inspired by the Swiss who did something similar and obtained similar results.

To wipe away the associations some of us have of digireedoo players being Caucasian dreadlock-wearing backpackers who play on the street as they need cash while on vacation in major cities during the summer, have a look at the cool, modern sounding didgeridoo player jamming with South African rapper Jack Parow live at De Nieuwe Nor in Heerlen a few weeks back.

(Link: waarmaarraar.nl)

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September 28, 2010

Which city will win as the Most Hospitable?

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 4:08 pm
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Based on criteria such as ‘friendliness and safety’ and ‘accessibility and Information’, five Dutch cities are up for the Most Hospitable Dutch City this year.

Just to put things in perspective, none of the main Randstad cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht) were nominated, so that you understand why the Dutch aren’t fond of these cities and tend to complain about them to others. I found myself explaining to Germans last week why the Dutch are not proud of their capital city and it wasn’t easy.

Breda (Noord-Brabant), Haarlem (just outside of Amsterdam, North Holland), Den Bosch (Noord-Brabant), Maastricht (Limburg) and Nijmegen (Gelderland) were given top marks this year “in the research for the 2010 Most Hospitable City in the Netherlands.” The winner of this year’s award will be announced in Haarlem, the Most Hospitable City of 2009, on 14 October.

Haarlem is generally upper middle class, Caucasian and quaint. Breda is a student city and much-loved by the people there (that’s where DJ Tiësto and Mentos come from). Maastricht, also a student city, is the ‘jewel of the south’ where people celebrate carnival and speak their own dialect. Den Bosch is just as cute as a button and I enjoy visiting it. As for Nijmegen, another student city, I lived there for three years and I know that the Roman ruins and architecture attract many visitors, including my own family.

My guess is that Nijmegen or Maastricht will win it this year. I’m leaning towards Nijmegen.

(Link: dutchdailynews, Photo: a shopping street in Maastricht)

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May 12, 2010

Youth football club bans non-native children

Filed under: Sports by Orangemaster @ 11:21 am

Nijmegen youth football club Quick 1888 (in Dutch, under ‘Persbericht’) has adopted a discriminatory policy by “putting children of foreign descent who apply for membership on a waiting list, while accepting native Dutch youth members.” Apparently, parents of non-native children don’t help out with football, don’t have cars to drive the kids to games or have to work on Saturdays.

I played women’s football for a year in Rotterdam and I had no idea that I would spend so much time at the club outside of practices and games, so I do understand the problem. However, communicating to these parents what is needed is much better than telling them they are doing something wrong, expecting to help out of guilt and then turning around and banning their kids!

Not helping out is considered a sin at Dutch amateur football clubs. Currently, over 80 percent of Quick 1888’s juniors are of foreign descent, and it is suffering logistically as a result.”

Hmmm. I played against a Dutch club in Rotterdam that was entirely populated with girls whose parents obviously came from Surinam. Sure, we won 2-0, but it wasn’t easy and they had tons of people helping them out.

This discriminatory and dare I say racist blanket statement from the football club will not help the relations between the kids or the parents: it will shame the native Dutch, embarrass the non-natives who do help and if this article doesn’t help, show how intolerant some Dutch people have truly become.

(Link: rnw.nl, Photo by Wikimedia user Carolus Ludovicus, some rights reserved)

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September 12, 2009

First national footgolf championship held in Nijmegen

Filed under: Dutch first,Sports by Branko Collin @ 8:30 am

Argyle socks and knee-length shorts, those are apparently part of the dresscode for footgolf, a sport invented by advertising agency Nothing.

Last weekend professional football player Theo Janssen won the first national footgolf championship at the Rijk van Nijmegen golf course, beating his fellow FC Twente attacking midfielder Kenneth Perez. Other participants included PSV striker Danny Koevermans, local boy Roy “the phantom” Makaay and Pierre “Pi-Air” van Hooijdonk.

A wary press, realising the joke might be on them (the jury is still out) covered the event, including public broadcaster NOS:

The sport is just like golf, with the exception that you play a football instead of a golf ball, and you use your feet to play it.

Apropos ‘Nothing,’ the company’s website explains that the name describes the space where ideas come from, but I cannot help but notice that it also neatly covers the emperor’s wardrobe.

(Photo: Roy Makaay teeing off, source NFGB.)

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