MetaFilter posts tagged with netherlands

Vintage Safety

Think_Long — Mon, 06 May 2013 12:54:05 -0800

Fifty years of workplace safety posters courtesy of Geheugenvannederland.nl (Memory of the Netherlands).

De W van wakker, stamppot eten

saucysault — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 08:07:41 -0800

The upcoming inauguration of Willem-Alexander as King of the Netherlands has united his people in their hatred of the Koningslied, especially the lyrics written by committee.

"Coffee ... is still just roasted beans and water"

the man of twists and turns — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 09:03:22 -0800

Coffee Power To The People - "There are three young men in the Netherlands who want to take the barista, whom they see as a part-TEDx presenter, part-birthday magician, out of the equation. They want people to make their own coffee, and to make coffee they can be proud of."

a global trade in expensive white powder

MartinWisse — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 02:38:52 -0800

The Netherlands has of course long been a hub in the international illegal drugs trade, but the white powder currently being exported to China on such a scale that it leads to local shortages is not quite the powder you're thinking of: infant milk formula. Because of the 2008 baby milk scandals, in which local Chinese companies turned out to have adulterated their formulas with melamine, wealthy Chinese parents have turned to buying foreign formula instead, through informal friends and family trading networks. The idea being that, as one commenter at Blood & Treasure put it, that by buying it off the shelves of a Dutch supermarket, you know it's trustworthy. Which has led to Dutch supermarkets putting limits on the sale of (state subsidised) formula:

A Dutch supermarket manager in a large urban supermarket, who gave his last name as Bakker, knows all about Chinese food scandals. “Yes, of course we closely follow these developments,” he said. So far he decided against any signs. “That would be too discriminating. But we do want to protect our local customers. This is not about profit—our milk powder is subsidized by the Dutch government. It is about societal responsibility.” He understands the motivations of Chinese traders, but says Dutch sellers have been forced to these measures by “professional networks of Chinese extended families that systematically buy up supplies within a 10 km range.” While his store has noticed increased milk powder sales for years, the situation has become very noticeable in the second half of 2012, “possibly because the traders are becoming more organizationally sophisticated.” Those who are just buying milk powder for personal use feel the stares too. They are concerned about how the signs, as well as negative coverage in local media, are affecting the image of Chinese immigrants in the Netherlands. “Those milk traders make us all lose face.” Online, Chinese-language users of the BBS forum Gogodutch.com—who appears to be citizens of the Netherlands–complain about “locusts buying 8 or 10 cans at a time.” Or: “I see them get their milk powder without paying attention to the sign and being stopped by the counter. They don’t understand Dutch or English and just stand there, insisting on the purchase. It is so f*cking embarrassing.” Others point out that trading subsidized milk powder (average price of 90 yuan/tin) bought from Dutch supermarkets is equivalent to tax evasion at the cost of Dutch babies. The webmaster repeatedly tries to bring down the temperature of the discussion: “I understand that those who are not selling milk powder feel frustrated to meet with underserved discrimination. … Complaining is ok, but please don’t personally attack people. I don’t have the time to go through every message. Thanks for your cooperation!”

Breastfeeding meanwhile, thanks to both marketing and societal pressures, is largely discouraged in China, despite the advantages it has over formula.

Willemstad is the new San Pedro de Macoris

escabeche — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 19:14:12 -0800

If you were going to set out to build a successful national baseball team you probably wouldn’t select a country with most of its land sitting below sea level. Camden Depot presents a brief history of honkbal, as the Netherlands nine get ready to compete in the 2013 World Baseball Classic, exactly 100 years after the formation of Quick Amsterdam, Europe's first baseball team. Last time around, the Dutchmen knocked the mighty Dominican Republic out of the tournament. This year's Dutch team, led by veteran Andruw Jones and Orioles prospect Jonathan Schoop, both natives of Willemstad on the island of Curacao, puts more Dutch talent on the field than there has been since Bert Blyleven's last game. (Blyleven is the Netherlands' pitching coach.) Don't leave it till game time -- learn to speak honkbal now!

Going against the flow of history

MartinWisse — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 23:39:24 -0800

As you know Bob, the Dutch have long known how to deal with the threat of flooding, living in a country that was largely conquered from the sea. Over the centuries the Netherlands has learned to put its trust in bigger and higher dykes, dams and various increasingly clever solutions to keep the sea where it's wanted and away from where it would be a nuisance. There's a new threat however, that can't be solved with higher dykes, a threat that needs to accomodated by doing something very un-Dutch: reflood parts of the Netherlands. The problem is simple: shifting climate patterns in Northern and Central Europe has meant warmer, wetter winters, more rain and hence more water in rivers like the Rhine which makes them increasingly likely to burst their banks. As the Netherlands is basically a massive floodplain with not just the Rhine, but also the Meuse and Schelde draining into it, it is particularly prone to such floodings. Just building bigger dykes isn't sufficient, so the Dutch water management department, Rijkswaterstaat, has started a programme to provide more room for rivers to flood safely. What kind of measures this would entail can be seen in this handy infographic. According to The New York Times this programme is something America could do well to learn from in the way the Dutch government has made difficult, sometimes unpopular decisions and stuck to them.

The nitty gritty of how to keep the roads rolling

MartinWisse — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 11:58:18 -0800

"Hans explains there is a policy to keep certain routes clear. Since all streets in Dutch cities are categorised (also because of the ‘sustainable safety’ policy) it is very clear which streets are main routes that must be cleared. In the past, the cycle paths were not really thought important. But there were many complaints about it and the policies shifted slowly towards clearing the cycle paths more as well. Hans: “Especially when the city was elected Cycling City of the Netherlands in 2011, the department of public works felt it was our moral obligation to give the main cycle routes the highest priority. Now the cycle paths are cleared at the same time as the 8 main routes for motorised traffic.” -- Cycling blogger Mark Wagenbuur explains how one Dutch city, 'S-Hertogenbosch, deals with keeping the cycle paths clear during winter.

Not that many Dutch people care what you call the country

MartinWisse — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 14:58:55 -0800

Thinking of Holland you think of windmills and tulips, but the former is originally a Persian invention (as far as we know) while the latter came from Turkey. Worse, Holland is not even the name of the country you're thinking of. Luckily, there's a handy youtube video to explain the difference between Holland and the Netherlands. Bonus: while the Netherlands is complicated enough already, the author (C.G.P. Grey) of this youtube video is confident enough to take on the differences between England, Great Britain, the United Kingdom and more(previously) as well.

The unexpected nature reserve

Chrysostom — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 07:55:19 -0800

Twenty miles or so east of Amsterdam, set between the new towns of Almere and Lelystad, and lying five metres below sea-level, is the youngest wilderness I have ever seen. The Oostvaardersplassen is now a vast region of grassland, reed-bed, shallow lake and ragged forest, over 6,000 hectares in extent. Sea eagles and marsh harriers hunt its wide skies, spoonbills and avocets stalk its marshes, and vast herds of red deer, wild ponies and Heck cattle graze its savannah. But 40 years ago, the Oostvaardersplassen was underwater.

The cosmos is also within us, we're made of star-stuff. We are a way for the cosmos, to know itself.

Blasdelb — Sat, 03 Nov 2012 17:07:44 -0800

Cosmos: A Personal Voyage is a thirteen-part television series of one hour shows written by Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan, and Steven Soter, that was aired at the tail end of 1980 and was - at the time - the most widely watched series in the history of American public television. It is best introduced by an audio excerpt of one of his books, The Pale Blue Dot. Inside is a complete annotated collection of the series. 1 "The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean" September 28, 1980 After an introduction by Ann Druyan, including the benefits of the end of the Cold War, Carl Sagan opens the program with a description of the cosmos and a "Spaceship of the Imagination" (shaped like a dandelion seed). The ship journeys through the universe's hundred billion galaxies, the Local Group, the Andromeda Galaxy, the Milky Way, the Orion Nebula, our Solar System, and finally the planet Earth. Eratosthenes' successful calculation of the circumference of Earth leads to a description of the ancient Library of Alexandria. Finally, the "Ages of Science" are described, before pulling back to the full span of the Cosmic Calendar. 2 "One Voice in the Cosmic Fugue" October 5, 1980 Sagan discusses the story of the Heike crab and artificial selection of crabs resembling samurai warriors, as an opening into a larger discussion of evolution through natural selection (and the pitfalls of intelligent design). Among the topics are the development of life on the Cosmic Calendar and the Cambrian explosion; the function of DNA in growth; genetic replication, repairs, and mutation; the common biochemistry of terrestrial organisms; the creation of the molecules of life in the Miller-Urey experiment; and speculation on alien life (such as life in Jupiter's clouds). In the Cosmos Update ten years later, Sagan remarks on RNA also controlling chemical reactions and reproducing itself and the different roles of comets (potentially carrying organic molecules or causing the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event). 3 "The Harmony of the Worlds" October 12, 1980 Beginning with the separation of the fuzzy thinking and pious fraud of astrology from the careful observations of astronomy, Sagan follows the development of astronomical observation. Beginning with constellations and ceremonial calendars (such as those of the Anasazi), the story moves to the debate between Earth and Sun-centered models: Ptolemy and the geocentric worldview, Copernicus' theory, the data-gathering of Tycho Brahe, and the achievements of Johannes Kepler (Kepler's laws of planetary motion and the first science-fiction novel). 4 "Heaven and Hell" October 19, 1980 Sagan discusses comets and asteroids as planetary impactors, giving recent examples of the Tunguska event and a lunar impact described by Canterbury monks in 1178. It moves to a description of the environment of Venus, from the previous fantastic theories of people such as Immanuel Velikovsky to the information gained by the Venera landers and its implications for Earth's greenhouse effect. The Cosmos Update highlights the connection to global warming. 5 "Blues for a Red Planet" October 26, 1980 The episode, devoted to the planet Mars, begins with scientific and fictional speculation about the Red Planet during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds, Edgar Rice Burroughs' science fiction books, and Percival Lowell's false vision of canals on Mars). It then moves to Robert Goddard's early experiments in rocket-building, inspired by reading science fiction, and the work by Mars probes, including the Viking, searching for life on Mars. The episode ends with the possibility of the terraforming and colonization of Mars and a Cosmos Update on the relevance of Mars' environment to Earth's and the possibility of a manned mission to Mars. 6 "Travellers' Tales" November 2, 1980 The journeys of the Voyager probes is put in the context of the Netherlands in the seventeenth century, with a centuries-long tradition of sailing ship explorers, and its contemporary thinks (such as Constantijn Huygens and his son Christian). Their discoveries are compared to the Voyager probes' discoveries among the Jovian and Saturn systems. In Cosmos Update, image processing reconstructs Voyager’s worlds and Voyager’s last portrait of the Solar System as it leaves is shown. 7 "The Backbone of Night" November 9, 1980 Carl Sagan teaches students in a classroom in his childhood home in Brooklyn, New York, which leads into a history of the different mythologies about stars and the gradual revelation of their true nature. In ancient Greece, some philosophers (Aristarchus of Samos, Thales of Miletus, Anaximander, Theodorus of Samos, Empedocles, Democritus) freely pursue scientific knowledge, while others (Plato, Aristotle, and the Pythagoreans) advocate slavery and epistemic secrecy. 8 "Journeys in Space and Time" November 16, 1980 Ideas about time and space are explored in the changes that constellations undergo over time, the redshift and blueshift measured in interstellar objects, time dilation in Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, the designs of both Leonardo da Vinci and spacecraft that could travel near light speed, time travel and its hypothetical effects on human history, the origins of the Solar System, the history of life, and the immensity of space. In Cosmos Update, the idea of faster-than-light travel by wormholes (researched by Kip Thorne and shown in Sagan’s novel Contact) is discussed. 9 "The Lives of the Stars" November 23, 1980 The simple act of making an apple pie is extrapolated into the atoms and subatomic particles (electrons, protons, and neutrons) necessary. Many of the ingredients necessary are formed of chemical elements formed in the life and deaths of stars (such as our own Sun), resulting in massive red giants and supernovae or collapsing into white dwarfs, neutron stars, pulsars, and even black holes. These produce all sorts of phenomena, such as radioactivity, cosmic rays, and even the curving of spacetime by gravity. Cosmos Update mentions the supernova SN 1987A and neutrino astronomy. 10 "The Edge of Forever" November 30, 1980 Beginning with the origins of the universe in the Big Bang, Sagan describes the formation of different types of galaxies and anomalies such as galactic collisions and quasars. The episodes moves further into ideas about the structure of the Universe, such as different dimensions (in the imaginary Flatland and four-dimensional hypercubes), an infinite vs. a finite universe, and the idea of an oscillating Universe (similar to that in Hindu cosmology). The search into other ideas such as dark matter and the multiverse is shown, using tools such as the Very Large Array in New Mexico. Cosmos Update shows new information about the odd, irregular surfaces of galaxies and the Milky Way perhaps being a barred spiral galaxy. 11 "The Persistence of Memory" December 7, 1980 The idea of intelligence is explored in the concepts of computers (using bits as their basic units of information), whales (in their songs and their disruptions by human activities), DNA, the human brain (the evolution of the brain stem, frontal lobes, neurons, cerebral hemispheres, and corpus callosum under the Triune Brain Model), and man-made structures for collective intelligence (cities, libraries, books, computers, and satellites). The episode ends with speculation on alien intelligence and the information conveyed on the Voyager Golden Record. 12 "Encyclopaedia Galactica" December 14, 1980 Questions are raised about the search for intelligent life beyond the Earth, with UFOs and other close encounters refuted in favor of communications through SETI and radio telescope such as the Arecibo Observatory. The probability of technically advanced civilizations existing elsewhere in the Milky Way is interpreted using the Drake equation and a future hypothetical Encyclopedia Galactica is discussed as a repository of information about other worlds in the galaxy. The Cosmos Update notes that there have been fewer sightings of UFOs and more stories of abductions, while mentioning the META scanning the skies for signals. 13 "Who Speaks for Earth?" December 21, 1980 Sagan reflects on the future of humanity and the question of "who speaks for Earth?" when meeting extraterrestrials. He discusses the very different meetings of the Tlingit people and explorer Jean-François de La Pérouse with the destruction of the Aztecs by Spanish conquistadors, the looming threat of nuclear warfare, and the threats shown by destruction of the Library of Alexandria and the murder of Hypatia. The episode ends with a overview of the beginning of the universe, the evolution of life, and the accomplishments of humanity and makes a plea to for mankind to cherish life and continue its journey in the cosmos. The Cosmos Update notes the preliminary reconnaissance of planets with spacecraft, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the end of apartheid in South Africa, and measures towards the reduction of nuclear weapons.

For those in the US, it is also available on Hulu (Previously)

14 "Ted Turner Interviews Dr. Sagan" Some versions of the series, including the first North American home video release (though not the DVD release), included a specially-made fourteenth episode, which consisted of an hour-long interview between Sagan and Ted Turner, in which the two discussed the series and new discoveries made in the years since its first broadcast. 15 "The Meat Planet" Jun 28, 2011 In this never before seen episode of Cosmos, Carl Sagan takes us on a journey to the often misunderstood Meat Planet, examining it's origins, geological activity and atmosphere among many other unsettling details. More information on The Meat Planet. (Previously) Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space (1994) is a non-fiction book by Carl Sagan. It is the sequel to Cosmos: A Personal Voyage and was inspired by the "Pale Blue Dot" photograph, for which Sagan provides a sobering description. In this book, Sagan mixes philosophy about the human place in the universe with a description of the current knowledge about the Solar System. He also details a human vision for the future. The partial audio recorded by Sagan can accessed here (40:03) For those who have watched all of the episodes and still can't get enough of Cosmos, there is a sequel planned to be hosted by Niel DeGrasse Tyson and aired sometime in 2013 (Previously)

Rijksmuseum remix

Horace Rumpole — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 11:27:13 -0800

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, home to Rembrandt's The Night Watch and Vermeer's The Milkmaid, among many other masterpieces, today unveiled the Rijksstudio, 125,000 digitized images of its collections, available in a zoomable interface online or as high-resolution public-domain downloads (account creation required for the latter).

"I close my eyes and dream about a sunny holiday ... "

the man of twists and turns — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 00:03:54 -0800

Caro Emerald is a Dutch jazz singer. Her debut album "Deleted Scenes From The Cutting Room Floor" went sextuple-platinum in The Netherlands, and has the longest run at #1 on the Dutch charts. BBC Music reviews. Music Videos: Stuck

"One continental debutante who'd rather be in Saint-Tropez than hoping for the arrival of Santa Claus, dishes the dirt in her conversation du jour with that fast-talking playboy. And his endless promises that never seem to arrive on time. Don't worry about your dinner, big boy... here come your just desserts."

A Night Like This

"One night in a casino where dreams come true, leads to an oceanside cliff party of the rich and richer."

Back It Up (acoustic) - on SoulKitchen Reviews from UK shows in: the London Evening Standard, The Independent Her Twitter

Tina Turner, Holland 1971

Egg Shen — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 11:47:53 -0800

"She's known as the hardest working young lady in show business today. Ladies and gentlemen, Miss Tina Turner." She can do The Beatles. She can do The Stones. And, oh my, can she sing the blues. Oh, yeah... she does a Creedence number too.

Charles de Thierry: man of many lands, king of none

filthy light thief — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 14:30:53 -0800

Charles Philippe Hippolyte de Thierry lead a storied life, and many of those stories are ones he made up. His family was associated with the French court, though there is doubt to his claims of noble lineage. In England, he met two Maori chiefs and an English missionary from New Zealand, and attempted to purchase a northern portion of New Zealand in 1820. He then sought to turn this land into a colony first for Britain in 1822, then the Dutch government in 1824 when the English offer fell through. The Dutch, too, turned him down, so in 1825 de Thierry made the same offer to the French government, and was similarly refused. Fleeing creditors, he left for America. In 1834, he traveled south, where he was granted concession for cutting the Panama Canal. That, too, fell through, and he sailed west, reaching Tahiti in June 1835, where he elected himself king of Nuka Hiva. The kingdom was never his, and so he continued west and south, arriving at his plot in New Zealand in 1837, where again he offered land up to France for a colony. His efforts to claim a colony and a kingdom came to an end in 1840, with the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, sealing a deal between the British Crown and the Māori. Born of in 1793 to French parents who were associated French court, the family left France to escape the French Revolution, first to the Netherlands, then England. It was in England that de Thierry's father, Charles Antoine de Thierry, assumed the title of baron. This was a title the younger de Thierry would claim for his own, too. The family was close enough to nobles that during a visit to Edinburgh in 1796, Charles Philippe Hippolyte became the godson of the exiled comte d'Artois (later Charles X of France). In 1814, the younger de Thierry accompanied the Portuguese delegation to the Congress of Vienna, and in 1816 served briefly as an attaché at the French embassy in London. He married Emily Rudge in 1819, and the couple would have four sons and a daughter. In 1820, de Thierry met the Māori chiefs Hongi Hika and Waikato, who had traveled to England with missionary Thomas Kendall, who had returned to work on the book A grammar and vocabulary of the language of New Zealand (Google books). De Thierry, possibly posing as an exiled French adventurer, arranged for a purchase of a portion of New Zealand, with Kendall working as the intermediary between de Thierry and the Māori chiefs. De Thierry gave Kendall £800 worth of goods to buy "all the land from North Cape to Tauranga." Depending on the telling, this purchase was made with 36 axes, or possibly 500 muskets plus powder and ball, though it could be that Hongi Hika convinced Kendall to take him to London, where he sold gifts to acquire at least 200 muskets, playing a pivotal role in the Musket Wars of from 1818 and the early 1830s. However it worked out, de Thierry had the deed for 40,000 acres at Hokianga executed in 1822. According to the 1966 Encyclopedia of New Zealand,

Thierry requested British protection for the colony he was then assembling in London, but was rebuffed by the Colonial Office. He next approached the Dutch Ambassador in London in February 1824 with a proposal to purchase Holland's “rights” in New Zealand for £50,000; in April with an offer “to secure to the King of the Netherlands the Sovereignty and possession of New Zealand, which would … ensure His Majesty a yearly revenue of upwards of Five Millions of Pounds Sterling”. He modestly suggested that his appointment as “Viceroy of New Zealand” would be a fitting reward for his services, adding that he was born in Brussels and descended from the Counts of Flanders.

This effort also failed, and in October 1824, de Thierry was in France, where his godfather was now king. Despite this fact, he had no more luck getting support for his colony-to-be in France, and was again "financially embarrassed." He returned to England to again attempt to gather a colonizing party, only to fall short of his goal. He headed to the United States in 1827 with his family. Little is recorded about this period until de Thierry's family left from Virginia in 1832, possibly heading for Brazil, though de Thierry would later tell that New Zealand was always his destination. Thierry went through the Caribbean, gathering followers, subscriptions and supplies, stopping in Panama in December 1834. There, de Thierry received a franchise for a canal at Panama from General Simón Bolívar, the President of the Republic of (New) Granada. "Baron" Thierry was more enterprising than practical in his thoughts, and was unable to raise the required capital to make the necessary surveys and begin the work (Google books). Later, a more organized and qualified French group would actually start work on a canal, which the US would take over and complete. De Thierry was not done yet, and on his journey towards New Zealand he stopped in Tahiti in June 1835, where he elected himself king of Nuka Hiva, which two decades earlier, Captain David Porter of the United States Navy tried to annex in the name of the US. Porter, the first American imperialist, renamed the island Madison's Island, and named the American military settlement Madisonville (Google books preview), in tribute to President Madison. Neither Madison nor Secretary of State James Monroe ever acknlowedged Porter's unauthorized annexation. De Thierry fared little better, raising a flag and mustering a military force, but Robert FitzRoy denounced de Thierry as an imposter and unfit to have a military force at his disposal. FitzRoy was not de Thierry's only opposition of this sort. News of de Thierry's land claims and plans for a colony traveled faster than he did. De Thierry reached Sydney, New South Wales in July 1837, with British Resident James Busby striking the first three blows against de Thierry in a duel with quill pens, culminating in the 1835 Declaration of Independence of New Zealand, with support from 34 northern chiefs. Though Governor Bourke of New South Wales referred to the Declaration as ‘a paper pellet fired off at Baron de Thierry,’ the Declaration was a first step towards the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, which formalized the British sovereignty over New Zealand, annexed the country, protected the Māori, regulated British subjects and secured commercial interests. That was still five years away, and de Thierry had a colony to set up. He recruited colonists and money from Sydney, and sailed for Hokianga, arriving in northern New Zealand on November 4, 1837. Nene and Patuone denied the validity of Kendall's purchase of 40,000 acres, but Nene and Te Taonui granted Thierry 800 acres at Hokianga on condition that he give up his larger claim, much which was already claimed by other European settlers. His claim greatly reduced in size, de Thierry lost the confidence of his assorted colonists. Again down, but still not out, de Thierry sent inflated accounts of his success to France, still hoping to win support for his plans for a French colony. The Treaty of Waitangi ended de Thierry's hopes of being any sort of ruler in any land. The Flagstaff War (also known as Hone Heke's Rebellion, the Northern War, the First Māori War and the War of 1845–46) sent de Thierry south to Auckland, where he lived in meager conditions until news of the California gold rush hooked him, and he sailed off in hopes of riches. His luck was now on a sour streak, as he was left behind with four other passengers, stranded Pitcairn Island for a month. Their ship, headed to Honolulu, stopped to get fresh water. The tides turned or the winds picked up, and the captain decided it was better to leave than endanger the ship. But de Thierry did make it to California, though he only stayed for six months. He returned to Honolulu to work at the French Consulate until March 1853, when news of his wife's ill health took him back to Auckland, where he taught piano. In 1856, the New Zealand Government presented de Thierry with one hundred and six acres of land, in compensation for his claim of 40,000 acres. He continued to teach music until his sudden death on July 8, 1864. If this story is too short, or lacking in narrative flourishes, you might well enjoy Check to your King, which reads like an enthralling historical novel rather than conventional biography.... [Also offering] clear insight into the relations between white men and natives, by Robin Hyde, the most common pen-name for Iris Guiver Wilkinson, one of New Zealand's major poets (1906 – 1939). And you can read more of de Thierry's lineage at Lessels Website, a genealogy site for Lynly Lessels Yates. Note: many links lead to PDFs.

The Avian Flu: Transparency vs. Public Safety

zarq — Thu, 03 May 2012 07:25:42 -0800

"Experimental adaptation of an influenza H5 HA confers respiratory droplet transmission to a reassortant H5 HA/H1N1 virus in ferrets." After an extensive, months-long debate, one of two controversial papers showing ways the H5N1 "avian" influenza virus could potentially become transmissible in mammals with only 3 or 4 mutations was published in Nature today. The journal included an editorial on the merits and drawbacks of "publishing risky research" with regard to biosafety. The debate included an unprecedented recommendation by The US National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) to block publication -- a decision they later reversed. (Via: 1, 2) Nature's special report has additional articles, including interviews with the teams behind both papers.

Hungarian Schnapsody

pjern — Sun, 29 Apr 2012 11:00:31 -0800

No. 05 Hungarian Schnapsody as performed by Zoltan Kiss at the Lätzsch Trombone Festival 2011 / Night of Brass with the Netherlands Symphony Orchestra. Kiss is also a member of the Mnozil Brass. A little light comedy for your Sunday.

The Junkie Old Folks' Home

Omnomnom — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 15:46:41 -0800

"Woodstock is their last refuge, the only old-age home in the world where hard drugs are not a taboo, a place intended for people who, in their early 50s, look as worn out as if they were in their 70s." A model project keeps aging drug users out of the streets of The Hague. Video by Radio Netherlands Worldwide The 2010 analysis by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction according to which "meeting the needs of older drug users is a growing issue for treatment services". Example quote: In the United Kingdom (England), it was estimated that in 2006 there were 332 090 individuals using opioids (mostly heroin) or crack cocaine, of whom 122 323 (about 27 %) were between 35 and 64 years old. Furthermore, the prevalence of problem drug users in England increased for older drug users (35–64) between 2004/05 and 2007/08 from 5.77 per thousand population to 6.36 per thousand. In Austria, age-stratified analyses based on prevalence estimates show that the proportion of problem drug users aged above 35 increased between 2001 and 2007 from 28 % to 33 %. In Ireland and Greece, the 35–64 age group represent, respectively, about a third and a quarter of all problem drug users. Previously on Metafilter: Wet Houses

Helene Nolthenius

IndigoJones — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 14:34:57 -0800

Two years before The Name of the Rose, Dutch academic Helene Nolthenius published the first of three detective novels featuring the medieval Tuscan cleric Lapo Mosca. She died in 2000. Her own story is sadly affecting. (Via the Dartmouth History blog. The novels have been translated into Spanish, Italian, and German only and are not so easy to track down. Her scholarly work in English, is easier. Her biography was published in 2009, Dutch language only, alas for most of us.

The popular election system of the DPRK is really excellent

vidur — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 23:01:43 -0800

"This is my 24th visit to the DPRK, but it is the first time I have ever visited a polling station here." (Background here and here)

It's not the one Elvis sang about...

Unicorn on the cob — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 13:59:28 -0800

The Dutch Heartbreak Hotel offers separating couples throughout the Netherlands and Belgium a unique service: a complete, finalized divorce in just 48 hours. After paying the 2500 Euro fee, each partner checks into a five-star hotel (separately, of course!), he or she is given access to everything from lawyers to financial consultants and child psychologists in order to make the transition easier. English-language video explaining how the service works; it also mentions that seven couples have already used the service.

Some say I'm suicidal with a sense of humor.

monospace — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 09:38:26 -0800

"I've had enough; maybe I'll be seeing you around. Make it a great party." Ten years ago today, Dutch rock'n'roll junkie Herman Brood stepped out of this world. Brood was The Netherlands' only legitimate rock and roll icon, as well as an accomplished visual artist, and the country's most famous hard drug user -- which may have sabotaged his American breakthrough. Black Francis made an album (turned into a musical) in his honor. You can study to be a rock star at the Herman Brood Academie. His bronze bust in his (and mine) hometown Zwolle has been moved to keep it safe from copper thieves.

kulturkampf putsch?

palbo — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 13:27:58 -0800

Dutch state secretary for culture Halbe Zijlstra published a letter stating that €200 million would be cut from the arts and culture budget, starting as early as 1 January 2013. It should be a cause of concern for everyone that a minority cabinet with the feeble support of a parliamentary majority of only one seat would take such draconian and drastic measures without paying any heed to the other half, which has only one seat less than the ruling coalition. Zijlstra shamelessly admits that the proposals have no basis in fact, and display a total lack of sympathy for the field. Various people and organizations have published open letters about the matter. The actual memorandum can be found here (in dutch).

"A handbag?!"

likeso — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 05:21:52 -0800

What MeFite doesn't like a good niche museum? We've had posts about the great overview site Museum of Museums [previously], Patrick Acton's Matchstick Marvels [previously and previously], cat museums [previously] and even a mention of Velvetaria, the Museum of Velvet Painting [previously] - sadly now closed, awaiting new digs. I'd like to add a new one. May I present The Hendrikje Museum of Handbags and Purses? Located in Amsterdam, it houses the world's largest collection, so you can thoroughly track the evolution of the purse from 1420 via oddities through to obscenely expensive designer bags and the latest in contemporary offerings. And then enjoy a cream tea. The Netherlands has more niche goodies outside the capital, including a museum of gin - the drink genever, not the game - and a computer games museum, now apparently with Happy May - Vacation Offering!

10 years of cheese-eating, clog-wearing, tulip-loving, same-sex marriage

neushoorn — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 11:48:06 -0800

1 April 2011 marks the 10th anniversary of the legalization of same-sex marriage (homohuwelijk) in the Netherlands. Although Denmark was the first country to recognize same-sex unions (called registered partnerships and legalized in 1989), the Netherlands was the first country to make same-sex civil marriages legally equal to civil marriages between couples of the opposite sex. This was done by changing Book 1 of the Burgerlijk Wetboek^[NL] (the Dutch Civil Code) via a bill called the Wet Openstelling huwelijk^[NL]. This bill modified Article 30^[NL] of the Civil Code, which now reads: Een huwelijk kan worden aangegaan door twee personen van verschillend of van gelijk geslacht. This translates to: A marriage can be contracted by two persons of different or the same sex. The bill was championed by people such as Henk Krol^[NL], founder of gay magazine De Gay Krant^[NL]; Boris Dittrich, a then-MP who is now the Advocacy Director for the Human Rights Watch's LGBT Program; and Job Cohen, then the junior Minister of Justice, and later the mayor of Amsterdam. The bill passed the Tweede Kamer (the House of Representatives) with a vote of 109-33, and was approved by the Eerste Kamer (the Senate) on 19 December 2000. The law went into effect on 1 April 2001. At midnight, Mayor Cohen married four couples^{[NL, warm-fuzzy-inducing]}:

Mr Louis Rogmans and Mr Ton Jansen
Mr Peter Wittebrood-Lemke and Mr Frank Wittebrood
Mr Dolf Pasker and Mr Geert Kasteel
Ms Helene Faasen and Ms Anne-Marie Thus

Since then, 14,813 same-sex couples have married, making up less than 2% of all Dutch marriages. However, same-sex couples account for only 1% of all divorces. Only 20% of the 55,000 homosexual couples in the Netherlands are married, as opposed to 80% of the 4.1 million heterosexual couples. Why? It could be because of legal difficulties that same-sex couples face when they want to adopt children. Like straight couples, more and more gay couples are opting for registered partnerships, which have been an option for couples of any gender since 1998. Unlike a marriage, a registered partnership can be annulled without a court decision, along with a few other differences^[PDF], particularly when it comes to parentage. The constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Netherlands—Aruba, Curaçao, and Sint Maarten—do not allow same-sex marriages to be performed within their borders. However, they must recognize marriages that are registered in the Kingdom, regardless of gender. The city of Amsterdam will celebrate gay marriage in several ways:

On April 1, Mayor Eberhard van der Laan will marry couples at the Amsterdam Museum (Kalverstraat 92)
April 2-3 will be the Gay Bride and Gay Life Fairs at the Westergasfabriek (Pazzanistraat 4)
All month long, there will be an exhibit of family photos at the city hall (Amstel 1) called 10 jaar homohuwelijk

If you're in Amsterdam and want to learn about more gay goings-on, you can visit the Pink Point information centre, located next to the Homomonument and the Westerkerk (around the corner from the Anne Frank House). And in somewhat related news, 2011 will be the first time that officially-sanctioned, uniformed Dutch soldiers will join Amsterdam's Gay Pride Canal Parade.

The Little Homeless Dutch Boy Millionaire

msali — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 07:39:15 -0800

Jerry Winkler was a homeless drug addict on the streets of Amsterdam. His life had been one filled with strife and tragedy, until the fateful day he discovered his biological father was a millionaire.