January 10, 2012

‘A webshop run from home deemed technically illegal’

Filed under: Food & Drink,Online,Weird by Orangemaster @ 12:02 pm

Some judge in Den Bosch ruled that a webshop that sells alcohol from an industrial building was illegal because they should operate from a building marked as a retail shop or proper warehouse. The city is reviewing this decision, as it would also imply that any webshop run from a home would be illegal because a home is not location for this purpose. Imagine a physical liquour store taking a competing webshop to court and the latter losing because they aren’t run from an actual shop.

In the case of alcohol, the webshop cannot properly check how old someone is (an easy argument), but if this applies to all webshops — it probably won’t but imagine — some rules are going to have to change because they’ll give people a bigger headache than any booze could. Most webshops in the Netherlands are run from homes and the entire idea of having to be in a physical shop is preposterous.

(Link: www.z24)

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January 9, 2012

Court forces paedophile to move to Christian Internet provider

Filed under: Religion by Branko Collin @ 8:26 am

Last November the Zutphen court told a man to relocate to a Protestant Internet access provider (verdict, Dutch) as part of his punishment. The man had acquired a collection of more than 50,000 images and videos containing child pornography.

The public prosecutor had asked to give the man a suspended prison sentence of twelve months, to force the man to switch to Dutch Reformed provider Kliksafe, which provides censored Internet access, 240 hours of community service, and a treatment for ‘cannabis addiction’, whatever that is supposed to mean. The defense went largely along with this.

The court saw as a mitigating circumstance that the man had reported himself, and that it then took the Public Prosecution Service two years to act.

The non-profit foundation that owns Kliksafe writes about itself:

The basis of the foundation is God’s word, as is recorded in the Belgic Confession in Articles 2 through 7. It affirms completely and unconditionally the Three Forms of Unity as they were determined in the National Synod, held in Dordrecht in the years 1618 and 1619. It therefore declares the absolute power of God’s Word over all of life’s areas, including the use of media.

The filter criteria of Kliksafe are amongst others:

  • Sites that proselytize for non-Christian faiths
  • Sites that contain depictions of God
  • Sites that promote the desecration of Sabbath
  • Sites that promote unbiblical forms of cohabitation.

None of the parties in the court case seem to have seen anything untoward in sentencing a sex offender to start using the services of a provider allied to a religious denomination, even though the Abrahamic religions have a really dismal track record when it comes to healthy sexuality. The three judges seem to have seriously dropped the ball there.

(Link: Bright.nl.)

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January 8, 2012

BeBook e-reader company bankrupt

Filed under: Technology by Branko Collin @ 10:31 am

Another Dutch e-manufacturer of e-book readers has kicked the bucket.

Endless Ideas, the company behind the BeBook, was granted bankruptcy last week, Bright reports. According to the tech mag, the Utrecht based company was still working on an e-reader with coloured e-paper, but the technology took longer to develop than hoped.

Endless Ideas was not the first Dutch maker of e-readers, nor even the first to file for bankruptcy. Eightteen months ago we reported the demise of Irex from Eindhoven.

See also:

(Photo: inUse Consulting / Pelle Sten, some rights reserved)

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January 7, 2012

Welcoming the new year with a cannon

Filed under: Weird by Branko Collin @ 4:36 pm

Carbidschieten (igniting calcium carbide in a milk churn) is a popular New Year’s eve tradition in the rural areas of the Netherlands.

It seems that these days milk churns are considered too small for a decent bang, and bigger and better cannons are built. Not always with the desired effect. The following video’s were shot in Triemen in Friesland on December 31.

(Video: Youtube / Vancha112)

(Video: Youtube / Uko van der Meulen)

Both videographers have more vids of ‘carbide shooting’ on their Youtube accounts.

Kids should not try this at home.

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January 6, 2012

Women, children and gay men first at football match

Filed under: Sports,Weird by Orangemaster @ 4:52 pm

Back in September 2011, Turkish football club Fenerbahçe made an international, historical statement against supporter violence by only allowing women and children into the stadium for a match, for free I might add.

Upcoming Dutch cup competition AZ (Alkmaar) against Ajax (Amsterdam) has to be replayed due to a violent incident in December 2011 involving a supporter. With Ajax leading 1-0, an Ajax supporter ran onto the field and attacked the AZ goalkeeper. Yes, his team was winning. Problem is, the goalkeeper defended himself by hitting the supporter, which sounds like a normal response to being attacked. The goalkeeper was then dealt a red card and the whole thing led to the AZ players leaving the field in protest and the game being abandoned.

True, players are not supposed to hit supporters, but then supporters are not supposed to attack players on the field. This wonderful display of what pathetic looks like is still a good conversation starter at the local Dutch cafe.

According to Editor-in-chief Kristiaan Schimmel of Gay.nl, gay men should also be able to enjoy a day at the stadium. The obvious objection to this is that straight men will do their utmost to get into the game and will succeed. It just takes one fake gay guy to ruin the whole idea of punishing what is predominately if not exclusively male supporters’ bad behaviour.

How’s this for an idea: if supporters stopped acting like cocks this wouldn’t be an issue in the first place.

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

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January 5, 2012

Verstappen pulls a pit stop and runs down ex

Filed under: Automobiles,Sports by Orangemaster @ 12:19 pm

What sounded like an ‘Oh dear, Jos Verstappen got mad again flair up, has now turned into running down his ex girlfriend with a car.

Once the pride of Limburg in Formula 1 racing ‘Jos the Boss’ has now become just another abusive partner and criminal in many people’s eyes. According to the woman’s story, she jumped out of his car at a filling station and he drove after her, hitting her with his car on her side. She only had scraped and bruises, which even scares me as a I write this. He then drove her home and made the textbook profuse apologies, begging her not to call the police. Once she was home, she eventually called the police, and he’s been arrested.

Having compared Limburg to Québec where I come from in a PechaKucha presentation in Maastricht, I can tell you that Gilles Villeneuve (here above), Québec’s first F1 race car driver did some really weird and dangerous stuff on the track, but not to his loved ones.

Epic and pathetic fail, Jos.

(Link: limburger.nl)

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January 4, 2012

41 design pianos from Tilburg up for grabs

Filed under: Art,Music by Orangemaster @ 10:12 pm

Back in September 2011, a project entitled ”Play Me, I’m Yours” by English artist Luke Jerram at Tilburg’s annual Incubate Festival featured 101 pianos
all over the city
that people could play, painted in all kinds of colours and styles.

The pianos have been through all kinds of weather and are not functional anymore, but they make great conversations pieces and you can bid on them online. The proceeds will go to the foundation No Guts No Glory, which raises money for cancer treatment.

(Link: Incubate.org, Photo of piano keyboard by Adam Henning, some rights reserved)

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January 3, 2012

Musician buys old violin at flea market worth thousands

Filed under: Music by Orangemaster @ 1:12 pm

Gypsy musician Tata Mirando from Arnhem, aka Djangela Mirando (you may all know his family, the Mirando gypsy family), recently bought a violin for 50 euro at flea market in Den Bosch worth about 100,000 euro.

An elderly woman sold the violin, which was part of the collection of her departed husband. For his money Mirando also got a bag full of sheet music which contained a certificate of authenticity of the violin, stating that it was a Giuseppe Guadagnini from 1801. Mirando thinks the violin is worth less and says it does need to be fixed up.

Here’s what the Mirando clan sounds like in a restaurant in Epe, Gelderland

(Link: www.ed.nl, Photo of Carlo Antonio Testore violin, Milan, 1738 by Jason Hollinger, some rights reserved)

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January 2, 2012

The man who sells church interiors

Filed under: Architecture,History,Religion by Branko Collin @ 3:39 pm

Two weeks ago Der Spiegel published an interview in English with Marc de Beyer, a man who sells pews and other items for churches that are closing their doors:

Marc de Beyer is an art historian in Utrecht, located about a half an hour by train from Amsterdam, but one could also call him a liquidator. He’s a man who shuts down churches. When a parish is dissolved, when a church is shuttered, de Beyer is there. And he has a lot to do.

Some 4,400 church buildings remain in the Netherlands. But each week, around two close their doors forever. This mainly affects the Catholics, who will be forced to offload half of their churches in the coming years.

See also:

(Photo: the Dominican church in Venlo was turned into a ‘cultural podium […] when the priests left the city in 2005‘. This statue of a blackfriar still reminds passers-by of the building’s original purpose.)

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January 1, 2012

Stock market gorilla fails for the first time in 11 years

Filed under: General by Branko Collin @ 3:16 pm

In 2000, gorilla Jacko picked a banana with a basket of shares attached to it, and those shares have since then outperformed the AEX (Amsterdam) index handsomely.

Z24 now reports that last year the gorilla’s random pick fared worse than the AEX for the first time. In 2011 AEX only dropped by 13%, whereas Jackos stocks decreased 45%.

Measured over 11 years the gorilla is still doing much better than the market. Jacko’s basket rose more than 30%, whereas AEX dropped by 55%.

See also: Dolphins outperform market analysts

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