DOOMSDAY part II - "Son of Superstorm"

(photo:cretinous hippy)
(Thanks to Laura K. for reminding me about this. And in response to offline requests, I'm going to try to update posts when relevant. Plus I really missed having this excellent photo on my frontpage).

Well, miraculously we survived the first "superstorm" predicted to devastate the Netherlands Nov. 24-28 by British crackpot little-appreciated scientific genius Piers Corbyn.

(photo: weatheraction.com)

The picture above, from his website, reassures me that despite Corbyn's lack of credentials and failures to predict weather accurately in the past, he's really on to something!

Here's a screenshot of the latest disaster prediction.

(weatheraction)

Damn! And I had just taken my Wellingtons off...

This guy has got it all figured out: it doesn't matter if you're wrong all the time, just keep screaming. You'll draw attention to yourself, and some small percentage of people will pay for your scam valuable forecasts out of boredom or superstition. Kind of like horoscopes.

There's just a certain percentage of people out there who want there to be some magic, mystery, romance, soap opera in their lives.


And yes, I know, I'm just helping him out by giving him attention.

But I did want to mention that it appears formerly respectable Dutch weatherman Piet Paulusma has shifted his stance somewhat: now he doesn't appear to be endorsing Corbyn's predictions.

On the other hand, he's not exactly disowning them either:
On his blog entry from Monday, Nov. 26, titled "Piers Corbyn: Superstorm coming a little later," he includes a story from laatste nieuws.nl. Here's my translation of the first two sentences:

"The chance of a superstorm in the Netherlands is not yet over. So says British weatherman Piers Corbyn, according to whom the extremely heavy winds will now be coming a little later. He predicts, with a 72 percent probability, that the storm will be raging over the Netherlands at the end of this week or the beginning of December. Most gusts will have a speed of 110 kph."

Did you know that 28 percent of all statistics are just made up right on the spot?

Anyhow, given that Corbyn has extended his prediction, it's only fitting that I extend my wager offer: 100 euros says no winds measured at more than 100 kph in De Bilt up to and including Dec. 2.

(jon appleyard)
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GeenStijl vs. Dutch Royal House

(photo: www.geenstijl.nl)

So, the Dutch Royal House is threatening to sue the website Geenstijl.nl if they don't take down the above photo of crown prince Willem Alexander and his Argentine-born wife, Princess Maxima.

What in the world is so controversial here? GeenStijl says the pair were in New York buying an iPhone, which would apparently be illegal to use in the Netherlands (?? as far as I know it just wouldn't have full functionality).

The Dutch Royal House is claiming breach of privacy. I really cannot see what privacy the couple could reasonably expect in an Apple store.

Threatening letter from Royal House: Willem Alexander and Maxima "determine when someone has invaded their privacy, not you."

GeenStijl response: "You are not going to determine what's news and what's not."

People get this wrong all the time _ I was taking a photo of Darth Vader on Dam Square a few weeks ago and some passerby yelled at me that I wasn't allowed to photograph her.

As if she were royalty! No, wait. As if she were celebrity! No wait. As if she were not subject to the same rules as everybody else, no matter who she was.

Read the law, you ignorant, arrogant person.

Anybody can photograph you on the street. They just can't use your image for commercial or promotional purposes _ to advertise a product for instance _ without your permission.

For the royals, I'd say they have a good chance of forcing GeenStijl to retract their claim that the pair bought an iPhone if it's demonstrably untrue. The store should have receipts, or not, right?

So GeenStijl would need to retract that as potentially damaging to the pair's reputation, if indeed it's illegal to own an iPhone over here for some reason, and if indeed it would defame (as opposed to improving) the Royal reputation. But even so, GeenStijl should be able to keep the photo up.

If it is true the couple bought an iPhone, well. End of story. Truth is always a very strong defense against accusations of libel.

On the other hand,



I confess some confusion in my value system about the recent incident where the Dutch pedophile organization Martijn posted photos _ free, hand-out publicity photos available on the Royal House's website _ of Willem and Maxima's children.

I'm against that and so were the courts. The essence of the argument is that the Royal House should not be forced to appear to endorse pedophilia. In addition, they owned copyright of the photos and had specified that they were to be used for "educational" purposes only.

But hard to say what would have happened if those photos were taken on the street and not used to 'advertise' the pedophiles in any way, but just buried in the members section of their website. Damn, it's hard not to get emotional about that one.

An easier case was when paparazzi used long-range lenses to take photos into the royal couple's living room for one of the House of Orange fan club magazines. In their own home, the royals have a reasonable expectation of privacy, and they won a case about it in the courts, rightly.

But in the GeenStijl case _ I don't see it. The owner of a store can forbid people from taking pictures on his property, but in this case obviously he/she didn't do so, or didn't enforce it.

Willem and Maxima are public figures, he the future head of state. He's doubly fair game for media scrutiny since the Dutch monarchy retains some real political power.

People may not like GeenStijl's taste or its satirical way of bringing the news, but there's simply no question it's part of legitimate public debate.

That the Royals are shopping in an Apple store is potentially the news equivalent of George Bush (Sr.) going shopping for groceries and never having seen a laser scan, or Wim Kok (previous Dutch prime minister) having never seen a computer 'mouse.'

So in short, I think justice and fairness are on GeenStijl's side. But no "Oraclar" prediction from me as to whether they will win actually win a suit if it comes to that.

The royals are truly awarded rights and privileges that others in the Netherlands aren't. For instance, it's a crime to insult the Queen.

That makes me mad, since (as a good American mutt) I don't believe some people should be 'more equal' than others just because of their pedigree.

And it's a restriction of freedom of speech.

For balance: the argument on the other side is that, under the constitution, the Queen can't stand up for herself, because that's delegated to the prime minister, who must take political responsibility for all she says and does.

I'm not buying that _ plenty of people can't stand up for themselves, but the royals are extremely wealthy and influential people who have other means at their disposal to get their way. To name just two: manipulation of media acces; and money for high class lawyers to send intimidating letters and even sue without grounds, never mind what it costs.

In short, with the privileges of royalty comes additional media scrutiny, and the Royal House should stop whining.

Agree?

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Dutch government to ban pimps?

(photo: wilwheaton)

It's a dark day for feathered caps, canes and high-heeled shoes: Dutch parliament has approved a motion that would ban pimping.

Say what?

Of course, prostitution has been legal in the Netherlands since 2000, and tolerated since donkey's years, but forced prostitution has always been illegal.

So you'd think there'd be no need to add a law specifying that pimping in *that* sense is illegal.

But take the next logical step: prostitutes often work in brothels for various reasons, including increased safety and vetting of customers _ and it's a slippery slope from paying for "protection" to ending up under the control of the brothel owner.

(professorpious)

And a recent government study found that neither the street pimp problem nor forced prostitution has been reduced by legalization.

(technokitten)

So, the justice minister Ernst Hirch Ballin is going to research whether there's anything to be done to crack down on pimps.



(christine (bpc))

Hirsch Ballin's predecessor, Piet Hein Donner (now the Social Affairs Minister), was a very unquotable guy, but he had one great moment.

Dutch media started using the English-inspired word "loverboys" to describe a group of young men in Rotterdam who would woo teenage girls with fast cars, jewelry, etc., and later force them into prostitution.

So there was a parliamentary debate where all the MPs were going on and on about the problems posed by "loverboys." This was back in about 2004 I believe. Donner was listening patiently and finally he asked "am I missing something here, or are we just talking about pimps?"

One final word on pimps.

A city council member for Labor (think: the Democrats) in Nijmegen, Paul Depla, is in hot water right now after website GeenStijl published a story titled

"PvdA-wethouder oraal bevredigd in fietsenhok"
or
"Labor Councilman Orally Satisfied In Bike Cage"

I wish there was some way to do justice to the Dutch word 'fietsenhok' _ it summons up the image of a rainy parking lot for bikes, with a corrugated tin roof, with puddles and wind and graffiti and a few French fries wrappers scattered around with mayonnaise still on them.

"Now, there's a clear headline for once," GeenStijl wrote. It's a little bit inside baseball from then on, but here's just a taste.

"In Havanna on-the-Waal they would rather have kept this quiet, but we like transparency, even in politics...The incident occured recently after a council meeting. After a no-doubt heated debate Depla retired with the only female member of the VVD (Republican) faction to re-evaluate the evening in their own special way."

Depla, married with children, had been tapped as a future top leader for Labor. The woman who is said to have blown him has resigned (no reason given). Depla takes the line Bill Clinton didn't: that there is simply no need to address allegations about his sex life.

Unfortunately, in the real world, when a rumor is this widespread, a politician either has to deny it or everybody assumes it's true.

Clinton, Depla: I feel your pain _ even politicians should have some privacy. However, considering the duty you bear to the people you represent, you should also weigh the merits of keeping your dick in your pants while you hold public office.

(the actual fietsenhok, photograph by Trouw)
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Dutch Student Protests

(photo: Indymedia.nl)

Dutch high school students have been "on strike" for two days now, protesting against extra school hours. They organize via instant messaging (chat) programs and mobile phones.

(Indymedia.nl)

Your reporter was on the scene (a little too late to see the action, unfortunately).

I keep thinking of the line from "Natural Born Killers" where Robert Downey Jr.'s character says,
"When the (bleep) hit the fan at Grenada, I saw it all go down at Grenada,"

Well, I saw the Dutch student riots of '07 and I lived to tell the tale.



Earlier, some people were throwing bottles at the cops and horses (why does throwing bottles at horses seems worse to me than throwing them at cops?! Maybe it's because the cops chose to be there, while the horses didn't, and don't understand what's going on.).

These young ladies, aged 14, 15, and 14 from left to right, didn't strike me as big trouble makers.



Run away! The "MA" is the riot police, btw.

NOS has a hilarious clip where some other girls are captured on film throwing eggs in The Hague. The reporter asks one why she's there and she says "to protest against the Education Ministry." The reporter points out that the building they're targeting is actually Parliament, and she says, "oh right. Bye!" and runs away giggling.

Lots of people are bad-mouthing the students, saying

they're a bunch of spoiled brats, etc.

I can see that. But I'm kind of glad to see the kids out demonstrating. Like: the Dutch cradle-to-grave nanny state hasn't sucked all the life spirit out of them yet.

I don't know about any of you out there, but