July 31, 2015
In the very religious town of Staphorst a three-colour calf (link to picture) has been born, which is said to be very rare. The Dutch called it a ‘lapjeskoe’, or ‘quilt cow’. The mother and father of the calf were white and black, but the calf also has reddish brown in its coat.
The Netherlands has about 10 ‘quilt cows’. In Noord-Brabant there is also a three-colour calf that people come and visit from far away just to take pictures, called Toos55:
(Link: www.rtvoost.nl)
Tags: calf, cows, Noord-Brabant
July 21, 2015
In 2008 a three-year-old and a six-year-old were harassed by the tax office for not filing a return, and now it’s the turn of a nine-year-old, which doesn’t qualify as an improvement on their part.
The girl erroneously received a tax return to fill in last year and her mother has been fighting with the tax office to straighten things out ever since. The tax office said the girl’s estimated income was EUR 1347, and the girl’s mother called to tell them that wasn’t remotely possible. The tax office said it would take some time to change the details in the system, but that was over a year ago, and the dreaded blue envelopes of the Dutch tax office keep coming in.
The girl wrote the tax office a letter: “I’m not allowed to work and I don’t get that much pocket money, so I can’t pay you.” Since this situation has hit the media, the tax office has again promised to try and sort it out, as they finally should.
Tags: tax office
July 15, 2015
The Amsterdam chapter of the Awesome Foundation that awards people money every month to realize ‘awesome initiatives that solve problems or bring joy to the world’ has given art collective Indebt Studios 1000 euro to plant marijuana seeds around town.
The group bought some 40 kilos of cannabis seeds and planted them in all kinds of green spaces in Amsterdam, from flower pots to community gardens, including the ones at the Rijksmuseum.
Why plant 40 kilos of weed? It’s an artistic statement against the increased stamping up of Amsterdam’s wild side, like trying to shut down prostitutes, coffee shops and all the things that make Amsterdam what it is in the first place. “Yoghurt bars are not going to make up for the loss, and that’s sad,” one of the guys said. Big cities like New York and London are losing or have lost their edge, and yes it would be sad if Amsterdam lost its grit, too.
(Link: nieuws.nl)
Tags: Amsterdam, cannabis, plants, Rijksmuseum, weed
June 23, 2015
Deventer’s football club the Go Ahead Eagles held a contest, and the prize was a dream trip to the club’s next away game in Hungary for two on 9 July. Problem is, the club’s away game against Budapest’s Ferencváros was to be held behind closed doors, with no supporters allowed due to some penalization given to the Hungarian club by the UEFA.
The couple who won the prize, Henk de Haan and his wife, a long-time volunteer, were afraid their dream trip would be cancelled. The aptly named Go Ahead Eagles put their heads together and came up with a solution: they are going to make the couple board members of the club today so they can come along. The couple are to appointed to the board later today.
(Link: www.ad.nl, Photo of Football by Bramus, some rights reserved)
June 18, 2015
Back in 2011 the Dutch government already fought over subsidizing astrologers for job seekers, and now companies offering to train ‘psychics’ are under scrutiny.
The contested training is geared towards ‘spiritual consultants’ and ‘hypnotists’, and has been approved for years, a training that particularly attracts the jobless aged 50 and over. Considering the discrimination faced by that age group as being expensive to hire, I’m not too surprised. A dozen people have taken the almost 1000 euro course. They learn about tarot cards, angel cards and reincarnations, the latter could be why the religious political SGP party was the one to complain about these courses recently.
After successfully completing the course, people can start up their own call line and make 0,29 euro a minute predicting the future, helping with relationship and financial problems.
(Link: nieuws.tpo.nl)
Tags: Dutch government, unemployed
June 12, 2015
Dutch press photographer Cor Jaring was best known for his association with the Provo movement of the mid-1960s when among others he covered the clashes between Provos and the police.
As Groene Amsterdammer writes: “Wearing a polyester shield underneath his clothes for protection, Jaring climbed on top of cars, stood on window sills, lowered himself into manholes and walked backwards in front of demonstrations” in order to get his shots.
Jaring designed and wore what he called a ‘magical press helmet’, but whether it was part of his personal protection is unclear. “The helmet had everything a photographer could need”, Groene Amsterdammer paraphrases Jaring, “an automatic subject finder, a flash installation, a semi-automatic activity alarm, a flip-flop switch, a radio installation and an escape device which could produce a 30 metre smoke screen in three colours, red, white and blue.”
Provo had a strange relationship with the Telegraaf newspaper that was both antagonistic and symbiotic. Every time Provo organised a happening – an event for which provoking the police into a violent response to an innocent trigger was a requirement – Telegraaf would report angrily to its conservative readers. Telegraaf’s reporting would in return help spread Provo’s ideas.
Provo’s sense of publicity resonated with Jaring, who was considered part of the movement. It is just possible he wore the helmet as yet another thing for people to talk about.
Huis Marseille hosts an exhibition of Jaring’s work until 28 June.
(Photo (1968) by Jac. de Nijs / Anefo, some rights reserved)
May 31, 2015
High school students in Zaltbommel got a fright when dozens of spiders came crawling under the doors of the sports facility in which they were having their written graduation tests.
The exams continued uninterrupted, but afterwards at least one student wrote a complaint to LAKS (the union for secondary education students), which is how we found out. LAKS received a record number of complaints (140,000) from the 200,000 students taking exams this year. The complaints ranged from smelly teachers to difficult exam questions.
Why the spiders wanted to be in the hall is unknown. Trouw doesn’t tell.
Tags: exams, high school, school, spiders
April 29, 2015
This week on King’s Day in Zoetemeer, South Holland, a lamppost came crashing down on a woman while she was cycling by with her young daughters, giving her a concussion. The kids were a bit shocked to see mum bleeding from her head, as the event was as unexpected as could be. Passers-by called the emergency services and all is well.
The lamppost was fastened onto cement tiles by a metal plate with screws, but came crashing down because its base had been eroded by dog urine.
I hope the kids aren’t too scared of cycling anymore and yes, the lamppost could have done even more damage to the children. The question is why did that lamppost give way and could others do the same? We’ll keep you ‘lampposted’.
(Link: www.omroepwest.nl)
April 23, 2015
Dutch siblings Erik (24) and Josephine (22) lost track of each other when their parents split up in 1999, as Josephine stayed in Breda with her mom while Erik and his twin brother Maarten went to live in Belgium.
Sixteen years later Erik and Josephine ‘swiped right’ on dating app Tinder, matched up, and started flirting. However, Erik felt that something was off and eventually shared his suspicions with others online. Erik and Josephine talked about their childhood, and then the pieces fell into place: they were family. They met up in Tilburg and reconnected. Twin brother Maarten is also happy about
the reunion.
(Link: www.ad.nl, Photo of Tinder app by Wayan Vota, some rights reserved)
April 3, 2015
You’re part of a gang of six guys who have robbed an elderly woman aged 84 of her bank card: what do you do next? You and your mates go and catch the movie ‘Fast & Furious 7’ somewhere in Breda, paying with said bank card and get caught because you all share the IQ of a tree.
The woman noticed her bank card was missing after having bought groceries and probably checked online to see if her card had been used elsewhere, like at the local cinema. The police grabbed the stupid six at the cinema because they bought numbered seats, which is a thing in the Netherlands, along with drinking beer while watching a movie.
A bit like a bad car chase scene, one of the stupid six managed to flee and lock himself in the disabled bathroom only to get caught as well because the cops saw him run into it.
(Link: nos.nl, Photo of Paris Louvre facepalm by Phelan Riessen, some rights reserved)
Tags: Breda, dumb criminals, theft, theives
