Author: Maarten

Crime does pay

Januari 29th, 2008 will reach the history books as the day crime legally does pay. A hindustan drugdealer from The Hague has been allowed to keep his ‘bijstand’, a fact undeniably righteous. Until you know the circumstances. The man (42 years of age) is a known and convicted drugdealer, has been sent to prison for it some 5 years ago.

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Something happened at the Maasvlakte

I’ll start with the pictures here: All those in Holland probably have heard of the Chinese freighter which drifted ashore last Friday. This Saturday, I went to the ‘Slufter’, which is at the very edge of the Maasvlakte, and saw the thing through my lens. It’s big, it’s bulky and old. Zhen Hua 10, owned by Shanghai-based Crane manufacturing company

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Relocation issues

Since this monday, we’ve been forced to vacate the flexplekken that have been my workspace ever since I started working on my thesis. Now, we have moved to the first floor in the buidling, and have taken up residency in what is called a ‘loungespot’. Yes, productivity is as high as usual. 😉 Take a look, and be amazed at

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Good and bad green

When you thought you knew it all, it hits you. Green energy is, despite the obviously good looking color green which exerts a feeling of wellness and positive attitude, not only good anymore! Minister Maria van der Hoeven (of Economics) received a list of good and bad biomass (of which green energy is made) from Mirjam de Rijk from Natuur

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CO2 mania

We all know our world is dying, and we are to blame. Our rigourous spending and consuming behaviour has led to the demise of our ozone-layer and the process of global warming. As Al Gore told us: we’re doomed if we don’t do something about it. In that light, our government has decided to heighten the taxes on all leased

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Environmentalist mob

All for the sake of animal welfare, or so it seems to be nowadays. For every subspecies that mother nature has gifted our world with, we Dutchies have an action group that strive for the common welfare of the animal in question. Ducks, chicken, sheep, cows, rabbits; all have certain groups favoring the quality of life of the animals, and

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Book galore

Yesterday I went to the BookFestival in Ahoy’ Rotterdam. This grande sale of mostly crappish (but new) books it held over 6 times a year throughout The Netherlands and Flanders. It houses vast amounts of really cheap books, and books you probably will never ever read or see anywhere else because of their, probably justified, obscurity. They sell the leftovers

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"Free" knowledge

Wouldn’t we all like to get that? Free knowledge, in a society like ours, where knowing stuff is the key to success and a bigger monthly paycheck. In an effort to reduce the financial burden on (young) families, our Cabinet has ruled in their great wisdom all books in the Dutch version of High school (Middelbaar Onderwijs) should be supplied

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