March 31, 2007
According to the Beekse Bergen safari park in Noord-Brabant, Thursday, 29 March was the first time eggs have been successfully harvested from a southern white rhino, the one in question weighing 1,900 kilos. The eggs are to be frozen, fertilised and then inseminated into surrogate rhino mothers. These lucky mothers can look forward to an 18-month pregnancy followed by giving birth to a calf weighing about 66 kilos. White rhinos have two horns and are one of world’s largest land animals after elephants. They can grow to around 2730 kilos. Oh, and they are an endangered species.
(Link)
Tags: Beekse Bergen, endangered species, Noord-Brabant, rhinoceroses
March 29, 2007
Amsterdam is famous for its wonderful canals, the Van Gogh museum, the flower market, the … ah, who are we kidding, when you go to Amsterdam, you visit the Red Light District. If you have been to the Red Light District before, but shyness or prudishness, or even plain old out-of-pocketness have stopped you from availing yourself of the services of a prostitute, or from watching an erotic show, now’s your chance to look behind the famous red-lit windows. On Saturday March 31 from noon to 6 p.m., the Prostitutie Informatie Centrum will hold an open house (Dutch) at the Red Light District. You’ll be able to visit prostitutes’ rooms, a sex theatre, and even (children, cover your eyes) the Salvation Army.
Tags: Amsterdam, prostitution, Red Light District
F-16 pilots were given the order to fly a minimum of three kilometers above the town of Dokkum in order not to disrupt a jubileum performance of Bach’s St Matthew Passion in a local church. The local Cantarix choir had been practising for months and found out recently that the Air Force was scheduled to fly right over their church venue during their performance. The Royal Netherlands Air Force is currently stretching its wings for a mission in Afghanistan.
(Link)
Tags: air force, Bach, choirs, churches, classical music, Dokkum, F-16
The Geen Commentaar blog has built a front-end to Parlando, the government website that publishes the minutes of Dutch parliamentary sessions, including the texts of laws that are not yet in effect. The official Parlando service had several usability problems, including that it wasn’t possible to link to parliamentary documents directly, making hyperlinking far less effective, and making government far less transparent. The Dutch government has been aware of these problems since at least the end of 2005 and promised at the time to do something to improve the service, but had not even decided on a deadline by the start of this year.
Rumours have it (Dutch) that this slow progress is because the state has friends that it wants to share its big pie of work with, even at the cost of transparent government. I blogged about one of these friends before.
The new front-end can be found at www.geencommentaar.nl/parlando/.
Tags: blogging, Geen Commentaar, Parlando, parliament, transparency, WWW
March 28, 2007
With the slogan “will only words remain?”, these adverts warn against the extinction of rare animal species using images consisting of the names of the endangered species. The video adverts are particularly impressive, though I also like this particular one depicting a zebra crossing.
(Via Houtlust, here and here. Official IFAW campaign site)
Tags: advertising, endangered species
A fisherman in Arnhem convicted of smuggling drugs could deduct the cost of buying and shipping hashish to The Netherlands from his income on his tax return. Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reported that the smuggler appealed to the Arnhem court after being slapped with a tax bill in the millions of euro. The court ruled that because he had only been convicted of drug running and not trading he could deduct the cost of buying and transporting the drugs on his tax form, which cut his tax bill in about half.
In 2005, judges in the city of Leeuwarden ruled that witches can write off the cost of schooling in witchcraft if it increases the likelihood of employment and personal income.
(Two clichés for the price of one: we’re all on drugs and women have no serious career plans)
(Link)
Tags: Arnhem, courts, drugs, fishing, Leeuwarden, smuggling, taxes, witchcraft, witches
March 27, 2007
The town of Oirschot in the province of Noord Brabant will open the very first four star resort for alcoholics. The hotel, which will be called RoderSana, is scheduled to open in May. According to interim director Van der Meer, regular care facilities are full of drug addicts and there is no room for alcoholics. Moreover, he says that treating alcoholics is totally different than treating drug addicts. This will be the first facility in The Netherlands dedicated to kicking the drinking habit, as alcholics usually have to be treated outside the country.
(Link: fok.nl)
Tags: addicts, alcohol, hotels, Noord-Brabant, Oirschot
March 26, 2007
The Dutch sell the cheapest Big Mac at 2,95 euro. In Belgium it costs 3,40 euro, in Denmark 3,72 euro, and in Germany 2,99 euro. It is the first time since the Big Mac Index was started in 2002 that The Netherlands is the cheapest Big Mac country of Western Europe.
As a comparison, Switzerland is the most expensive at 3,91 euro, while the Ukraine is the cheapest at 1,32 euro (not part of Western Europe according to the index).
(All these food postings!)
(Link)
Tags: junkfood, statistics
March 24, 2007
Today was the first edition of National Pancake Day in the Ouwehands Dierenpark Rhenen. More than 20 cooks made thousands of pancakes for thousands of visitors, especially children. The Nationale Pannenkoekendag was organised by Tefal, in honour of the 40th year anniversary of the pan manufacturer. Tefal’s goal is to hold a National Pancake Day every fourth Saturday in March. According to Tefal, England, Ireland and Australia have been celebrating Pancake Day for centuries.
Well, the Russians have a very old tradition called Maslenitsa, which involves a whole week of pancake eating in February, with lots of real butter.
Tags: pancakes
Scientists in Wageningen are developing a new generation of foods that can help prevent obesity by getting people to eat less. The Top Institute Food and Nutrition is also developing food ingredients which can stop obese people from developing diabetes. Such nutrients could eventually be used in any kind of food. The Dutch public health agency concluded in a research report last year that 25% of deaths and serious illness caused by overweight and obesity would be avoided if adults shed 3 kg.
Eating right and exercising is pretty straight forward, but accommodating the obese seems more lucrative. As the article states, “such innovative products have higher margins than those of selling a tomato or a bottle of milk.”
(Link)
Tags: obesity, Wageningen
Deep linking to parliamentary documents
Rumours have it (Dutch) that this slow progress is because the state has friends that it wants to share its big pie of work with, even at the cost of transparent government. I blogged about one of these friends before.
The new front-end can be found at www.geencommentaar.nl/parlando/.
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Tags: blogging, Geen Commentaar, Parlando, parliament, transparency, WWW