Can't work? Go fold an eggroll! (Friday 04th of July 2008 11:28:00 AM)
An interesting piece in one of the four free daily fishwraps we have in this country. Up until
a few years ago, and this used to affect the income of at least three people I know, when you
were disabled and couldn't work, the authorities ...
(more)Smoking ban (Wednesday 02nd of July 2008 12:22:00 PM)
Yes, we have it too, in the Netherlands: a smoking ban in bars, restaurants, and clubs. The ban
commenced yesterday. It's nothing new of course. Many other countries have such bans in place.
Still, knowing the country I live in, the coming months could ...
(more)Back to earth (Monday 23rd of June 2008 11:37:00 AM)
Mass hysteria. It's always an interesting phenomenon. Especially when it's crushed. This
country has been in such a state for the past two weeks, and yesterday it was all over.
Streets, stores, people's outfits... The color orange reigned supreme for ...
(more)Weekend update (Saturday 14th of June 2008 08:02:00 AM)
As most of you know, I'm not doing my blogging from home, and as usual, here I am at the
Enkhuizen library, which is a fifteen minute walk from my home. Normally, at this hour, 10 AM,
on a Saturday morning there's already a lot ...
(more)I can't think of a suitable caption for this one (Saturday 31st of May 2008 07:56:00 AM)
From something about my country that sucks, to something I'm truly ashamed of. We have a
pedophile party in this country. They tried to get into Parliament at the last general
elections, and fortunately failed to raise the 570 signatures required to get ...
(more)How do they make it? - Dutch beer (Wednesday 28th of May 2008 12:07:00 PM)
The past few months I've been part of a discussion, on and off, about the quality of Dutch
beer. I was the only Dutch person involved in this argument, mainly thru emails, so I had some
explaining to do, as we all agree, including myself, ...
(more)Gouden Kooi IV (Monday 26th of May 2008 01:47:00 PM)
I've devoted a few entries to a Dutch TV show called De Gouden Kooi, a reality show about ten
people living together in an expensive house, being smothered in wealth, with the person
staying the longest winning the house. The show was intended to go ...
(more)Good afternoon. That'll be 25 euros, thank you very much. (Tuesday 06th of May 2008 11:53:00 AM)
People just aren't social enough, are they? Whether you walk thru a crowd on the street, walk
past someone in the frozen dinners aisle, or sit next to a stranger on the plane... It's hard
for these strangers to even utter a 'good morning', or ...
(more)Police dogs (Friday 25th of April 2008 12:12:02 PM)
The Dutch police have to cope without their dogs for the next few months, maybe years.
Apparently the use of police dogs in solving murders is an unreliable method. This isn't the
fault of the dogs themselves however. It's the cops themselves who are ...
(more)What? 200 years? When? Tomorrow? (Monday 21st of April 2008 11:30:00 AM)
They couldn't stop talking about this on the radio, last Saturday. An Amsterdam newspaper, Het
Parool, discovered that exactly 200 years ago yesterday, the French appointed Amsterdam the
capital of the Netherlands. The newspaper called the Amsterdam city ...
(more)Holland v the Netherlands (Wednesday 16th of April 2008 11:33:00 AM)
A small item in one of the papers I read every day: the TV show Holland's Got Talent doesn't
get the high number of viewers they sort of expect. Why? Because of its name, and strangely not
because of the poor quality of the show. ...
(more)April fools day 2008 (Monday 31st of March 2008 11:32:00 AM)
April Fools Day again, tomorrow. Which means there will be another couple of attempts at
fooling the general public. Our local TV station, RTV Enkhuizen, are in on it this year. It's
not much of a TV station, by the way. Just written news, and ...
(more)Fitna (Friday 28th of March 2008 12:44:00 PM)
The Wilders movie is finally there... Rumors had it that the movie didn't even exist, but
yesterday at 7PM Dutch time, Geert Wilders posted it online at Live Leak. During the evening it
became impossible to watch it at full speed because there were millions ...
(more)Snow at last (Tuesday 25th of March 2008 12:39:00 PM)
Dreaming of a white Christmas in the Netherlands? Not a chance. These days, in December the
summer is still winding down. Now that spring has officially begun however, winter is
stretching itself for a final roar. Since Saturday we're finally seeing some ...
(more)Einstein (Friday 21st of March 2008 12:29:00 PM)
Every small town, even mine, has its local Einsteins. Ours gave another example of his wisdom
just a few days ago. There was a charity march around town, involving children of a local
elementary school. They were raising funds for an organization that ...
(more)Touchy (Saturday 15th of March 2008 09:11:00 AM)
The topical issue this week: what a comedian can and cannot say. On Tuesday, audience members
walked out of a show by Dutch comedian Micha Wertheim, after he purportedly offended a
handicapped man and reduced him to tears. The owner of the theater where ...
(more)Snitch (Tuesday 11th of March 2008 12:46:00 PM)
This country is sinking ever lower. Apparently it has become perfectly decent behavior to just
call the authorities on people you think do something wrong. Of course, if you know someone is
a lowlife pedophile who preys on children, your own children ...
(more)FF, ain't you glad you don't live over here? (Monday 10th of March 2008 12:29:00 PM)
With your brand new Kia, I mean? A handful of wayward boys were arrested last week for
vandalism. Apparently, they vandalized dozens of cars by kicking them from behind. The common
denominator you ask? Well, they weren't in fact Kias, but they were Ford ...
(more)Something I think not even George Orwell saw coming (Wednesday 05th of March 2008 01:15:00 PM)
It could have been part of some weird dream I might have had this morning, but I'm pretty sure
I was awake. I won't double check the story, because if it turned out it was a dream, there's
no entry for me to post. If ...
(more)Deep Throat (Friday 22nd of February 2008 02:34:00 PM)
Sunday night's the night. Christian groups are still trying to stop it from happening with
prayer marathons, but they don't stand a chance. Deep Throat, the popular porn flick from the
1970's will be aired on Dutch television. On public television. That ...
(more)Profanity (Friday 22nd of February 2008 02:24:00 PM)
Off-color language isn't what it used to be. At least, not over here. When I read this story I
tried to come up with as many Dutch profanities as I could, and I did pretty well, but the rest
of my country's people... All they ...
(more)What your favorite music says about you (Tuesday 19th of February 2008 02:05:00 PM)
One of the best ways to know someone's personality is to know what music he or she listens to,
according to a study published yesterday by Dutch professor Ton van der Bogt of the University
of Utrecht. He recoginizes four types of music (middle of ...
(more)City of broken relationships (Tuesday 12th of February 2008 12:28:00 PM)
A recent poll in the United Kingdom showed that Amsterdam, the Dutch capital, ranks third in
cities where couples break up during their vacations. The reason? The Amsterdam red light
district and our tolerant drug policies. Boy wants to smoke pot and ...
(more)They're on a roll (Monday 11th of February 2008 03:27:00 PM)
Only Sunday last week SBS6 Television exposed him whose name must not be spoken on my blog any
longer. The dust has barely settled and already their next sting operation has made headlines
in this country. Apparently security at our national airport, ...
(more)A Dutch poem I love (Friday 08th of February 2008 03:40:00 PM)
An idea 'borrowed' from SilverWind. She sometimes posts works she loves, under the header
"in praise of". There are thousands and thousands of good, funny, etc. Dutch language
poems y'all don't know about, so I'll share some of them with you, ...
(more)One more entry Joran, but that's it. (Friday 08th of February 2008 01:54:00 PM)
I have a feeling I'm giving this Joran way more attention than he deserves, so this is my final
entry on the subject. There's still news, though. These past few days I've seen four forensic
psychologists, three Dutch, one American, commenting on the case. ...
(more)The news just keeps coming... (Tuesday 05th of February 2008 12:36:00 PM)
Another entry on the Holloway case. It will fade away eventually, but for now the news is still
opened with it. It must not at all be great to be Joran van der Sloot these days. A lot of
people want hjm lynched. Seriously. He's ...
(more)My thoughts on the show (Monday 04th of February 2008 12:44:00 PM)
I did watch it last night. The confession in the Natalee Holloway case I mean. I didn't
actually intend to, but it turned out the show went on for two hours and fifteen minutes. I've
missed maybe half an hour of it. I must say ...
(more)A few comments on the Natalee Holloway case (Saturday 02nd of February 2008 10:45:00 AM)
As most of my American readers may know, tomorrow is the big day, when Dutch crime reporter
Peter R. de Vries will show the world what really happened during that fateful Aruban night.
I've read a lot of comments on both American and Dutch news ...
(more)The next Uri Geller (Monday 28th of January 2008 12:42:00 PM)
I'm pretty much allergic to talent shows on TV. Whether that be America's Next Top Model, Idol,
Dancing with the Stars, ... I can't watch it. Last Saturday, there was a new one (at least new
to my country) I did manage to watch for ...
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