The Netherlands narrowly took all 3 points after a strong second half comeback from Spain. The Dutch emerged as 3-2 winners in a game that burst into life in the second half following a Dutch dominated first period. This game will be remembered as the game that Taeke TAEKEMA overtook Sohail ABBAS on the Champions Trophy all time goal scorers list.

Germany overcame England by the same score and Australia dispatched Korea 4-0

Germany 3 v 2 England HT 1-1 | 2009-11-28 13:05
No Venue | ABN AMRO Men’s Champions Trophy (National Mens) | Match Report(s)

Australia 4 v 0 South Korea HT 2-0 | 2009-11-28 15:05
No Venue | ABN AMRO Men’s Champions Trophy (National Mens) | Match Report(s)

Spain 2 v 3 Netherlands HT 0-2 | 2009-11-28 17:05
No Venue | ABN AMRO Men’s Champions Trophy (National Mens) | Match Report(s)

Este es aparcamiento que tenemos en la residencia de estudiantes.

Unas pocas bicis… ~ A few bikes…

En realidad es complicado encontrar aparcamientos techados, ahora mismo sólo recuerdo el que tenemos nosotros aquí y otro muy pequeño en la Facultad. Aquí  no es raro que llueva, menos que en Asturias pero podría decirse que es habitual, por eso me extraña que no se preocupen por esas cosas; en el mejor de los casos cubren el sillín con una funda que después quitan para no mojarse el culo.

Creo que no se puede ver pero el “aparcamiento” normal son unos hierros en los que tienes que encajar la rueda de la bici. Si me acuerdo ya sacaré fotos otro día para quede claro.

~

That’s the parking for bikes that we’ve in the Guesthouse.

Actually, It’s difficult to find parkings covered with a roof, right now I only remember this one and another at our Faculty. Here it rains often, not so much as in Asturias but is enough, thus I wonder why there’re not more under cover; the most they do is cover the saddle to not get wet their asses.

Likely you can’t see the “true” parking, the bike have to be fitted  between two iron bars. I’ll take some pictures other day to show this to you.

¡Buen fin de semana! ~ Have a nice weekend!

This project started as the brainchild of the Pioneers, a group of “innovative thinkers at the frontier of active citizenship.” Brought together by the great people at Humanity in Action and Felix Meritas, and supported by the Dutch government as part of the NY400, 20 Amsterdam and 20 New York City “P!oneers” set out to tackle the issues facing our societies. The initial ideas broke into 4:

1. Alternative Histories – working with educators to amplify marginalized voices to tell their own history
2. P!oneer Network – finding other P!oneers & expanding the ability to think openly
3. Ministry of the Impossible – re-imagining what is possible in society, politics, & culture by locating “impossible” but note-worthy tasks
4. Open My City – Imagine what you’d like to know about your city and then describe what you would do with that information.

The goal of the project was to get community organizations to answer: “If I knew this… I could do that”. How do people see their community and how would they rather see it? Is there a way for government transparency to usher in a new era of civic participation? Founded by Andrew Rasiej, Baratunde Thurston, Andrew Hoppin, Corline Van Es, Dr. Andrew Rasmussen, and myself, it was an exciting start to the project.

I spent time presenting this project at conferences on both US coasts and around the world – from Participation Camp to Barcamp Yerevan. 20 summer Humanity in Action volunteers interviewed dozens of community organizations in New York City, including Posse Foundation and Global Action Project.  New York City District 6 Councilwoman Gale Brewar has been at the forefront of “better use of technology to save money, improve City services, and bring residents, businesses and non-profits closer to government and their communitie” and her support has been an important addition to this and other Open Government discussions in NYC.

As the project developed and as the conversations grew, here are some of the answers that followed:

*    If I knew government spending on social services    <->    I could create a map to inform newly resettled refugees of the best access to services for their community.
*    If I knew the leaders of community centers and churches in my neighborhood    <->    I could invite them to my coop board meeting to talk about building mutually beneficial community relationships
*    If I knew who owns the 1.2 million sqaure meters of empty office space in Amsterdam    <->    I could my best to convince them to open their doors to those in need of space
*    If I knew The history of past rents for my apartment and those like it    <->    I could find out if i’m being overcharged and possibly save a tone of money
*    If I knew which buildings with a good floor were empty    <->    I would organize silent discos and hit-and-run milongas
*    If I knew how to find living space in Amsterdam via the official ways    <->    I could live legally in my own home-town
*    If I knew of Free municipal Portuguese language classes in my neighborhood (lower Manhattan    <->    I could volunteer on Saturdays as a mentor to the newly resettled immigrant Brazilian students we recently interviewed in Astoria, Queens, for TRACE magazine
*    If I knew what services were available to New York City public school students in the private sector    <->    I could facilitate the creation of a database that would be available to students, families, educators, city officials, and everyone else.
*    if i knew who all is in need of creative input/ideas    <->    i would happily put my mind to work
*    If I knew which elderly people were lonely    <->    I could help them connect to young people with time and an ear for their life stories
*    If I knew what citizens wanted and needed in their daily lives    <->    I would be a better representative and politician by focusing on people
*    If I knew where all the camera’s in public spaces in Amsterdam are    <->    I could orgaise a public spectacle using each and every one of them
*    If I knew (more about) the government’s/ municipality’s vision on arts and innovation and how they support these fields    <->    I could come up with ways to influence this vision and benefit from this knowledge
*    If I knew who in my neighbourhood doesn’t know how to use their computer to type documents or use the internet    <->    i would help them with a few friends to explain it
*    If I knew what created sustainable collaboration across political party boundaries     <->    I would get elected officials in my city to reduce homelessness
*    If I knew how to arrange the necessary city permits,    <->    I could (help) to realize more community and public art projects
*    If I knew where to put my trash (including and especially cardboard boxes)    <->    I would be able to prevent being fined or arrested
*    If I knew how to get $ for municipal projects    <->    I could pay for food, tools & supplies to do neighborhood clean up.
*    If I knew wich idiot decided to take away the soccer field for the kids..    <->    I would tell Johan Cruijff so he would open a Cruijff court for my neighbourkids

Word cloud from text provided from “If I knew this… I could do that” public entries. Clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently.

Data is still something that people find it difficult to wrap their heads around. One of our biggest challenges was the cognitive leap it takes for people to be able to answer “If I knew this… I could do that.” Matt Cooperrider, the organizer of many of New York’s Open Government projects, and I spent some time trying to hash out a “man on the street” strategy to bring in more people than exist in our existing civic and non-profit networks. Getting people to know what they don’t know, understand what they could know, then postulate what they’d do if they knew that, proved to be more difficult than initially anticipated.

Matching available government data with social groups is a bit easier, but requires a level of transparency that most institutions still find uncomfortable. In NYC, initiatives culminated with  our initial goal – the release of a Data Mine NYC, supplying many (though not all or even most) sets of public data produced by City agencies. Despite the newly launched Data Mine, having only 120 available data sets was an underwhelming amount to some, certainly limiting the ability to have a breadth of new project ideas. There is even a competition, NYC BigApps, to turn that data into useful applications for the people of the City. Graffitti awareness, restaurant inspections, taxi ratings and other ideas that come from a very specific demographic of programmers. To really target marginalized communities and make information technologies work for the city as a whole, they need to be brought into the conversation.

At the second installment of P!oneers, the ideas behind Open My City evolved into Open My Story. Combining with many of the ideas from Alternative Histories as well, the project turned interactive civics program. Here’s the pitch: This photography based program gives marginalized youth a transatlantic lens into the past, interaction in the present, and plan for the future. What are youth perspectives on their communities? What do they want to see it become? It provides a lens into a potential future based on the needs that they see. Ideas are then exhibited in the city to broaden the discussion. Utilizing new media tools youth can now become engaged players in the civic process & create the community they want to see. The cross-Atlantic platform is Project Roebling, which is currently being developed by Digital Democracy, in partnership with MIT & Eyebeam. There is a striking lack of FOSS (free and open source software) in the educational sphere and it’s exciting to be a pioneer in the field.

Stay tuned as the project continues to develop!

Guido

More info: about

VATICAN CITY (WJC)–Pope Benedict XVI has met at the Vatican with a Holocaust survivor from his native Germany. After his weekly general audience, the pontiff of the Catholic Church met with Cäcilie Peiser, the founder and honorary president of Child Survivors Germany. She presented him with a signed copy of her biography, which tells the story of her survival. Peiser was accompanied by Father Norbert Hofmann, secretary of the Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews.

“After the ‘Kristallnacht’ in 1938, at the age of 13, I was forced to flee with my younger sister Jutta and other children to Holland,” Peiser, who is 84, told the official Vatican newspaper ‘Osservatore Romano’. Her mother and younger brother were deported and killed.

After the war, Peiser dedicated herself to the care of former prisoners who had contracted tuberculosis in the Nazi death camps. “I also went to Palestine in 1946, where I struggled for peaceful coexistence between men of different cultures and religions. In 1957, I returned to Germany to work with handicapped children,” she explained.

*
Preceding provided by World Jewish Congress

November 27, 2009 – Europe has yet to come up with a unified approach to medical marijuana. The Dutch will tell you it is legal to use the drug to treat certain illnesses; while the Swedish don’t recognize any medical use for cannabis at all.

“European policy is not really changing at all and I don’t think this issue is even on the European agenda. The topic is too controversial and too political,” said Catherine Sandvos, a legal expert for the Hague-based Cannabis Bureau, a Dutch national agency aimed at providing high-quality cannabis for medical purposes.

Ms. Sandvos’s native Netherlands has led Europe when it comes to legalizing medical marijuana, which it treats separately from marijuana legally available at one of Amsterdam’s famous coffee shops. The Dutch police stopped enforcing laws against marijuana in 1976 following an overall tolerance policy in the country. “It’s hard when you try to explain to outsiders that it is illegal to grow cannabis in the Netherlands, but that it is tolerated to buy it,” she says.

But those who buy the drug on the streets are not getting the quality severely ill patients would need. The Dutch government set up the Cannabis Bureau — the only institution of its kind in the continent — in September 2003.

“The state realized that so many people wanted to use cannabis, so it said ‘why not give it to them via prescription instead of them accessing the drug illegally,’ ” Ms. Sandvos added.

The Cannabis Bureau ensures that patients who have a prescription from a doctor are getting marijuana that has been tested to make sure it doesn’t contain any pesticides or bacteria. Not only does the Cannabis Bureau sell cannabis across all pharmacies in the Netherlands through a prescription, but it also distributes the drug to Italy, Finland and Germany through the Ministry of Health of each country. According to the agency’s data, it sells around 100 kilos of cannabis every year.

The situation couldn’t be more different in the U.K., where it is unlawful to self-medicate cannabis regardless of the disease people suffer from. In 2005, Barry Quayle and Reay Wales, who were both afflicted by serious and chronic conditions, found no relief in prescription drugs and turned to cannabis to alleviate their pain. But a U.K. court ruled against them.

“The whole debate in relation to the use of cannabis for medical purposes is highly politicized,” said Daniel Godden, an associate solicitor for Hodge Jones & Allen LLP in London. Those who say marijuana is relatively safe can face severe political consequences. Last month, Professor David Nutt, the British government’s chief drug adviser, was removed from his post after he said the drug was less harmful than alcohol.

Favorable views toward cannabis face opposition from some local politicians and international lobbying groups. Jorgen Sviden, director of Stockholm-based European Cities Against Drugs, which represents 261 cities in 30 countries, isn’t convinced of the drug’s medical qualities.

“In principle, we don’t have an argument against cannabis as a treatment, but we haven’t seen any scientific evidence that provides a convincing argument for its medical use,” he said. “If in the future we come across proof that cannabis is a good treatment, then this is good.”

Some initiatives have managed to stay away from the political debate, however. The U.K. happens to be home to GW Pharmaceuticals PLC, which manufactures a drug based on marijuana extract — Sativex. Although it has some ingredients that derived from the actual drug, it has been treated by the U.K.’s regulators as a medicine like any other as it doesn’t contain the psychotropic substances marijuana does. The company is preparing to launch the drug into other parts of Europe, in partnership with Germany’s Bayer AG and Spain’s Almirall SA.

GW is hoping to sell its product, which will treat the symptoms of multiple sclerosis, across all countries in Europe but has initially filed for a license in the U.K. and Spain so far. Paul Cuddon, an analyst with KBC Peel Hunt in London, says he expects the drug to win approval in both countries in the first half of 2010 and then the firm will file for individual approval in each country.

“I’m not anticipating any legal problems in the rest of Europe at all,” Mr. Cuddon added. “This is a treatment that is highly different from raw cannabis and it has undergone rigorous chemical trials.”

Other countries have tough stances, however. Ireland, for example, doesn’t recognize marijuana as a drug with medical benefits. This means that manufacturing, producing, selling or possessing cannabis is unlawful for any purpose. The Ministry of Health is the only government branch that can grant an exception, but a spokesman said it never has.

Noel McCullagh, 34, has learned this the hard way. An Irish citizen, Mr. McCullagh lives in the Netherlands, where he uses cannabis medication to treat the severe effects of his muscular dystrophy. However, Irish authorities have warned him that he will be arrested if he enters his native country in possession if cannabis-based treatment.

In Sweden, the law doesn’t recognize the cannabis to have any medical use.

Beyond the debate of marijuana’s use, Dr. Willem Scholten, of the World Health Organization, believes patients should have access to high-quality medicine. So if cannabis has medical attributions, “there needs to be a system in place to ensure that patients get their medicine without any contamination and that they get the same content every time.”

Despite the radically different approaches in Europe, some believe the continent will eventually adopt it as a medical treatment.

“I can imagine European citizens will eventually think cannabis is a good medicine and that it should be accessible to people who suffer from serious pain as a result of HIV, multiple sclerosis or other grave illnesses,” said Brendan Hughes, senior legal analyst of the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction in Lisbon. By JAVIER ESPINOZA. Source.

It must be remembered … there are a lot of senior citizens in Bournemouth, and you can’t expect them to move very fast!

We’ve started planning for next year … we booked tickets and accommodation for the André Rieu concert in Maastricht next July. We already have several of his DVDs, and can’t understand why, to our knowledge, he’s only performed in Britain once (at the Royal Albert Hall, about five years ago) and nobody here seems ever to have heard of him. But, we can’t book the train tickets (the best way to get there) yet, because Eurostar will only (I think; I’ll have to check) accept bookings 80 days in advance.

We also have plans for Queensland in August, but we don’t want to do any more until we’re back from the cruise. Our passports are both due for renewal, and don’t want to commit a large amount of money till the new docs are back in our hands.

But, we don’t need passports at Easter, when we’re booked for dog-sitting.

Images like this probably attracted me to photography. Images that did not have the usual friends and family that we took but a different perspective of looking at things.

I guess there is a photograph waiting to be taken everywhere you look

A large hoarding near Harlem Centrum in Netherlands advertising a photo processing lab in Netherlands

• Place: Harlem, Netherlands
• Date: 30 August 2004
• Camera: Sony CyberShot DSC P-72
• Focal Length: 6.0 mm
• Aperture: f/5.6
• Exposure Time: 1/160
• ISO: 100

A recent research survey of 13,000 gamers across North America and Europe posted by WorldsInMotion reports on an international poll from market research specialists TNS and Gamesindustry which gives use a glimpse into the world of a gamers favorite subject gaming, what genre’s they play, and how much time they spend on it. And it’s yours for only 4,950 Euro sounds like a bargain to me. For those of use who aren’t so well off  WorldsInMotion has given use a brief (but still full of good facts) synopsis                                                                                                                                                                                                                   ” This report contains comparative data om MMO players across six surveyed countries. It comprises approximately 60 pages and 70 graphs. The product also includes a full table set comparing MMO players in all six countries across all questions of the survey allowing unlimited cross-analysis and detail. “ Source: Gamesindustry
MMOs constitute 14 percent of all time spent playing video games in the U.S., according to the survey results. Console games, by comparison, claimed 34 percent of game playing time in the States. The average age of those players my surprise you, but there is a good reason for that. To read the full article go to  WorldsInMotion

Ten North Naples Middle School students were suspended after they participated in “kick a Jew day.” The students received a one day, in-school suspension. The parents of the 10 students were also called. Parents of the students who were kicked were also notified of what happened. The Collier County School District has a policy on bullying and harassment. The students were disciplined in accordance with the bullying and harassment policy, which can range from “positive behavioral interventions up to and including suspension or expulsion, as outlined in the Code of Student Conduct.” What do you think should happen to these students?

Click On Links:
Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama And Jews
The Race Card
Swastika Next To Obama On Golf Course
American Nazis
Alabama County Celebrates Official Obama Holiday
Children Singing To Hitler vs Obama
Rev. Jeremiah Wright “Home Of The Slave”
Neo Nazi Immigration Rallies
White America Hate Barack Obama
The Race Card
Black People Don’t Like Black Conservatives
Obama, 100th Anniversary Of NAACP
Barack Obama A Muslim
Michelle Obama Chimp Image On Google

Alphabet via Netherlands locations = supa cool

From: 1nation

See previous photograph of  No. vision

Guido

More info: about

On a boat-ride through the canals: the ‘backyard’ of a house-boat, complete with drying laundry. This is what I like about Amsterdam…

See also Qussa.nl: Stories from Afar and Up Close

Leiden American Pilgrim Museum

Netherlands

Located in the oldest house in Leiden, built in 1375, it was opened in 1997 by

American Dr. Jeremy Bangs and is furnished with typical pieces from the

17th century. It is a living museum. Visitors can pick up cutlery, open cabinets

and sit in chairs. The characteristically cool northern light that drifts in through

the multipaned windows and settles shadows behind the collected objects

is reminiscent of 17th century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer.

In the 17th century Leiden was a city of refugees and tolerant to different religious beliefs.

It was here that a small group of Calvinists (about a 100), separating from the Church of England,

fled to avoid religious persecution in 1609, 11 years before sailing on the Mayflower to Plymouth

and celebrating their first Thanksgiving in 1621.

Over the fireplace a portrait of Edward Winslow, one of the passengers

aboard the Mayflower and subsequent Governor of Plymouth Colony…

Raised bed built into a recess with warming pan hanging to the side…

Nursing chair to the left of fireplace…

First person account of first Thanksgiving 1621 in Mourt’s Relation by Edward Winslow

“our harvest being gotten in, our governour sent foure men on fowling, that so we might after a speciall manner rejoyce together, after we had gathered the fruits of our labours ; they foure in one day killed as much fowle, as with a little helpe beside, served the Company almost a weeke, at which time amongst other Recreations, we exercised our Armes, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their greatest king Massasoyt, with some ninetie men, whom for three dayes we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five Deere, which they brought to the Plantation and bestowed on our Governour, and upon the Captaine and others.  And although it be not always so plentifull, as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so farre from want,  that we often wish you partakers of our plentie.”

*

I am so thankful for those who strive to protect our past so we can walk through it,

touch it and hear the echoes of essential human thoughts coalesced through time.

We are not alone. We have the combined experience of generations before us. We sit

at the Thanksgiving table with all our connections, and centuries old traces of the

men and women that moved us to this place. We are all part of a pilgrim’s passage.

Happy Thanksgiving

*

Follow the pilgrim’s footsteps in Leiden here

World of Interiors Dec. ‘08

photography Huntley Hedworth

]]> http://erkansaka.net/2009/11/26/what-happens-if-the-dutch-delegation-does-not-come-because-turks-do-not-want-a-racist-useless-criminal-minded-bd-included-in-the-delegation/ Thu, 26 Nov 2009 10:10:27 +0000 erkan http://erkansaka.net/2009/11/26/what-happens-if-the-dutch-delegation-does-not-come-because-turks-do-not-want-a-racist-useless-criminal-minded-bd-included-in-the-delegation/

Nothing happens except the Dutch loses…

Turkey say NO to Wilders

Turkey has announced that a Dutch parliamentary delegation will not be welcome if it includes Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders. Turkish ministers and MPs will refuse to meet the entire delegation if Wilders is among them. A spokesperson for the Turkish foreign ministry says: “This man has racist ideas. We fear his presence would overshadow the visit”. The popular Turkish daily Aksam was the first to report the news on yesterday: “Tension over Mozart”, the paper’s headline read, apparently referring to the Freedom Party leader’s exotic hairdo.
Turkish government is embarrassed by the situation and already felt in the trap of Wilders in my opinion They realize that refusing to meet Wilders will allow the controversial politician to accuse Turkey of being undemocratic and unable to take criticism. However, the government fears a media hype would stir up the emotions of its Islamist supporters. Islamists many secularists in Turkey and Wilders are fighting against, how ironically…

Dutch MPs back Wilders against Turkish boycott | Radio Netherlands Worldwide

No Red Carpet for Dutch Populist: Turkey Frets About Geert Wilders’ Planned Visit – SPIEGEL ONLINE – News – International

Far-right politician slams Turkey’s reaction as ‘stupid’ – Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review

Turkey lashes out at Wilders | Radio Netherlands Worldwide

Turkey ponders Wilders visit

ISTANBUL – Turkey’s government is reconsidering the visit of a parliamentary delegation from the Netherlands early January, because Geert Wilders is a delegation member. The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it is undecided whether to allow PVV leader Wilders entry to Turkey or not. Daily newspaper Aksam put Wilders’ proposed visit to Turkey on the

Turkish call for right to strike

Turkey & Israel: Trouble Behind, Trouble Ahead?

Israel’s Trade and Labor Minister, Benyamin Ben-Eliezer, just finished a three-day trip to Turkey, the first visit by a top Israeli politician since the downturn in Turkish-Israeli relations that followed the war in Gaza earlier this year. On the most basic level, Ben-Eliezer’s visit was a success. He met with Turkish President Abdullah Gul and Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu (PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan was in Libya during Ben-Eliezer’s visit) and managed to avoid the fate of Israel’s ambassador to Turkey, who on a recent tour of the country’s Black Sea region was pelted with eggs and upbraided by every second-rate elected official he met with.

Israel’s Industry and Trade Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer (L) and Turkey’s Defence Minister Vecdi Gonul attend the Turkey-Israel economic commission meeting in Ankara, November 24, 2009.REUTERS/Stringer

Israeli statesman’s deliberate misreading of Turkey

Israel’s Industry and Trade Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer (L) and Turkish Defence Minister Vecdi Gonul speak during an economic meeting after signing an agreement on cooperation in Ankara. Turkey and Israel Tuesday pledged commitment to improve ties as an Israeli minister held talks in Ankara, the first since the Jewish state’s war in Gaza poisoned ties between the two regional allies.(AFP/Adem Altan)

 

Turkey’s President Abdullah Gul (R) and Israel’s Industry and Trade Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer shake hands during their meeting in Ankara, November 24, 2009. REUTERS/Murat Cetinmuhurdar/Presidential Palace Press Office/Handout

Why is the West critical of Erdoğan?

by ABDULHAMİT BİLİCİ

When the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) was facing anti-democratic conspiracies, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian and other reputable papers openly adopted a stance to defend democracy in their editorials.

Dancing with Armenia – the Turkish view,

The Zurich agreement of October 10, normalizing relations between Armenia and Turkey after years of diplomatic void, was widely expected, but its reception has been mixed in Armenia and in Armenian diaspora communities all over the world, to say the least. It was mixed in Turkey, too.

Homework for The New York Times

The EU’s Identity Crisis

Mensur Akgün: Recent media reports on Turkey’s alleged foreign policy fail to acknowledge major positive achievements on behalf of the AKP government, notably Ankara’s attempts at reconciliation with its neighbors. Western pundits should ask themselves what this “western identity” that Turkey is supposedly moving away from, really is.

Spain: Presidency of the EU Council 2010

“The Presidency of Council configurations, other than of Foreign Affairs, shall be held by Member State representatives in the Council on the basis of equal rotation, …” says Article 16(9) of the Treaty on European Union, as amended by the Lisbon Treaty. The European Council, where the heads of state or government meet, has its own President – Herman Van Rompuy – under the Lisbon Treaty.

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, right receives Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, left during his visit to Tripoli, Libya Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009.

(AP Photo/Abdel Magid Al Fergany)

EU to ask Turkey to adopt a ‘more European Iran policy’ – Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review AS IF EU HAS A SUBSTANTIVE POLICY ON IRAN:)

Dutch news – Turks Swallow Wilders’ Bait, House Does Not

In case you are thinking of purchasing the new global version of Amazon’s Kindle for Christmas, be aware that there are still quite a few places that the global version will NOT work.  I was disappointed to find that the new version still will not work in my country.

Apparently the new global version will only work in SOME countries.   I thought it would be helpful to most expats to have a complete list of which countries it will, or will not work in (below).

It’s also interesting to note the PATTERN of groups of countries where the Kindle doesn’t work–some countries probably lack satellite coverage or delivery systems, while others probably don’t WANT readers to be able to download whatever they want by satellite.

STARRED (*) countries marked below indicate that Kindle needs to be ordered from a SPECIAL PAGE on the Amazon site.

The Global Kindle version DOES work in (as of Dec. 2009):

Aland Islands, Albania, American Samoa, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Aruba, Australia*, Austria, Bahamas, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Boznia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burundi, Cambodia, Canada, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands, Faroe Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Finland, France, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Gabon, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guatemala, Guernsey, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Holy See, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Kenya, Kiribati, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Latvia, Liberia, Leichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macao, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malta, Marshall Islands, Martinique, Mauritius, Mayotte, Mexico, Moldovia, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Mozembique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Caledonia, Nicaragua, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Norway, Palau, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Puerto Rico, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Réunion, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Serbia, Seychelles, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka,  Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Virgin Islands – British, Virgin Islands – U.S.,  Wallis and Futuna, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

The Global Kindle version does NOT work in (as of Dec. 2009) the following countries:

Afghanistan, Algeria, Antarctica, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bouvet Island, British Indian Ocean Territory, Brunei Darussalam, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chile, Chad, China, Christmas Island, Cocos (Keeling) Islands, Cuba, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, French Southern Territories, Gambia, Guinea, Heard Island and McDonald Islands, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Isle of Man, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Korea – Democratic People’s Republic of, Korea – Republic of, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Lesotho, Libya, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco (including the Western Sahara), New Zealand, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestinian Territories, Pitcairn, Qatar, Saint Barthelemy, Saint Helena, Saint Martin, Saint Pierre and Miquelon, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Somalia, South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands, Sudan, Svalbard and Jan Mayan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Thailand, Tokelau, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United States Minor Outlying Islands, Uzbekistan,  Yemen.

Wang Zifei, a student at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, attended Obama’s town hall at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum. Zifei sat in a spot that resulted in her appearing in a number of photos from the event. She has become an Internet sensation, with people referring her to as the ‘beauty in black beside Obama.’

This “Obama girl in black” or the “woman in black behind Obama” also captured attention by wearing a bright red coat to the event, and she became the subject of a popular animation which shows the coat being taken off, which you can watch here.

The same overnight fame happened to Mayara Tavares when Obama  and France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy did some site-seeing at the G8 summit in L’Aquila, Italy. Obama, Looking at woman in Italy

Click On Links:
Mayara Tavares
Obama, Looking at woman in Italy
Obama Visits Great Wall In China
Obama Bowing To Japan’s Emperor Akihito
Obama Wants More Internet Freedom In China
The World’s Most Powerful People
Burning Man Obama
Obamamania Hits Japan
Obama Image in Tomb
Michelle Obama Chimp Image On Google
Nicolas Sarkozy et Carla Bruni dans les Simpson !

In a recent blog post, Tony Delamothe, a Deputy Editor of the BMJ, reporting on a speech made on assisted dying by Lord Harries, the former Bishop of Oxford, stated that:

in Belgium apparently anyone over 18 can request it [assisted dying], regardless of underlying condition

In Belgium, the “patient [must be] in a medically futile condition of constant and unbearable physical or mental suffering that cannot be alleviated, resulting from a serious and incurable disorder caused by illness or accident” (Belgium, Act on Euthanasia of May 28 2002 (2003) 10 Eur. J. Health L. 329, s.3§1).

Further, Delamothe, and presumably also Lord Harries whose views he is recounting, confuses non-voluntary euthanasia with involuntary euthanasia when discussing the Dutch experience. Euthanasia is voluntary when it is ‘carried out at the request of the person killed.’  Euthanasia is ‘involuntary when the person killed is capable of consenting to her own death, but does not do so, either because she is not asked, or because she is asked and chooses to go on living.’  Non-voluntary euthanasia occurs when the individual is incompetent to consent to or refuse euthanasia and has made no prior decision. (Peter Singer, Practical Ethics (2nd ed.) (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1993) 176, 179). Dutch evidence of ‘termination of life without request’ almost entirely represents non-voluntary rather than involuntary euthanasia:

In the past, incidental cases had been found in which there had been no discussion with a competent patient, but in 2001 no such cases were found ([there is] no data for 2005). (Griffiths, Weyers and Adams, Euthanasia and the Law in Europe (Hart, 2008) 181-182).

The number of reported cases of termination of life without request in the Netherlands in 2005 was 24. (The 2005 reporting rate was 80%.) These 24 cases are described as follows:

When life was ended without the explicit request of the patient, there had been discussion about the act or a previous wish of the patient for the act in 60.0% of patients, as compared with 26.5% in 2001. In 2005, the ending of life was not discussed with patients because they were unconscious (10.4%) or incompetent owing to young age (14.4%) or because of other factors (15.3%). Of all cases of the ending of life in 2005 without an explicit request by the patient, 80.9% had been discussed with relatives. In 65.3% of cases, the physician had discussed the decision with one or more colleagues. (van der Heide A, Onwuteaka-Philipsen, Rurup ML, et al. End-of-life practices in The Netherlands under the Euthanasia Act. N Engl J Med (2007) 356:1957).

Finally, the post simply accepts an outdated account of the role of the doctrine of double effect in palliative care. Describing Lord Harries’ lecture, Delamothe writes that “his church accepts the principle of “double effect” – ie it’s legitimate to give patients large doses of morphine to relieve their suffering, even if this hastens their death. (Intentions, not outcome, are apparently crucial here.)” Later, he recounts Lord Harries’ asking “does the public really understand what palliative care can offer? Do they know that it’s legitimate for doctors to give them large doses of morphine to relieve their suffering, and that perhaps a third of (?cancer) deaths are hastened in this way?” Delamothe fails to point out that the stretching of the criminal law to accommodate the doctrine of double effect is no longer necessary, and may, although well-intentioned, have unintended side effects. In a review of the medical literature worldwide, Sykes and Thorns conclude that:

The doctrine of double effect is used as an ethical justification for the specific risk of foreseeable life shortening as a result of a medical treatment. However, we suggest that there is no evidence that the use of opioids or sedatives in palliative care requires the doctrine of double effect as a defence. We have specifically examined the role of this doctrine in relation to symptom control and found that in 238 patients in a specialist palliative-care unit (89% receiving strong opioids and 48% receiving sedation) there was no evidence that that the doctrine needed to be invoked in relation to any morphine therapy. . . . Thus, although the doctrine is a valid ethical device, it is, for the most part, irrelevant to symptom control at the end of life. To exaggerate its involvement perpetuates a myth that satisfactory symptom control at the end of life is inevitably associated with hastening death. The result can be a reluctance to use medication to secure comfort and a failure to provide adequate relief to a very vulnerable group of patients. (Sykes Nigel; Thorns Andrew. The use of opioids and sedatives at the end of life. The Lancet Oncology 2003;4(5):312-8, 317.)

In addition, the most recent UK evidence is that in 2007-2008, 22.5% of all cancer deaths and 17.1% of all deaths involved an end of life decision to alleviate symptoms with estimated ‘double effect’ (Clive Seale. End-of-life decisions in the UK involving medical practitioners. Palliative Medicine, Vol. 23, No. 3, 198-204 (2009).).

By Ulla Hadar

AMSTERDAM -—Going from Israel to Denmark at least twice a year for a family visit, the most used air route for me is via Amsterdam. There has not been any regular flight between Israel and Denmark for quite some years now.  This leaves me with a lot of “lay over” time at the airport.

Returning from Denmark a couple of days ago after a visit to my mother who celebrated her 80th birthday I was accompanied by my elder sister Shani, who also lives in Israel.

Returning we had to wait in Schipol airport in Amsterdam for approximately nine hours so my sister was quick to figure out we had time for a visit to the center of Amsterdam.

Although I have had many hours of waiting in this specific airport, I have never been bold enough to leave the airport before my connecting flight.  I always feared that something would go wrong and I would miss the plane. This time not being on my own, I grabbed the chance for a new experience.

The ride from Schipol to Amsterdam Central station takes only 15-20 minutes. The trains leave every 10 minutes and a round trip costs approximately  eleven dollars.

The weather was beautiful. A blue sky with sunshine was reflected with the magnificent buildings in the waters of the many canals gliding gracefully among typical Dutch houses.

Our plan was to visit the Portuguese Synagogue situated near Waterloo Square. We found the doors locked, but hoped someone still might be inside following Shabbat morning services.  Banging on the door and talking loudly Hebrew didn’t help us a lot, so we had to give up entered and settled with an outside view.

Sephardic Jews fleeing Spain and Portugal during the persecutions of the 16th and early 17th centuries settled in an eastern Amsterdam neighborhood that became known as the Jewish Quarter. In light of the ongoing conflict between the Dutch Republic and Spain, the community referred to themselves as “Portuguese Jews.”

In the early 17th century, there were three Sephardic communities in Amsterdam: Beth Jacob (founded as early as 1602); Neve Shalom (1608-12); and Beth Israel (1618). In 1639, the three communities merged to form Talmud Torah, or the Portuguese Jewish Community of Amsterdam, which still exists today.

The history of the elegant brick structure containing the synagogue goes back to 1665, when it was commissioned. It was built between 1671-75. When completed, the Portuguese Synagogue was the largest synagogue in the world.

Miraculously, the synagogue survived the Nazi invasion in 1940 unscathed. It is still not known why it was left intact when virtually all other synagogues were destroyed.

Before the Nazis occupied Holland, 120,000 Jews lived in Amsterdam, around 2,300 of which were Sephardic Jews. After the war, only 20,000 Jews were left in all of the Netherlands, including just 800 Sephardim.

Today, there are nearly 20,000 Jews living in Amsterdam and the Portuguese Jewish Community has around 600 contributing members.

Courtesy of my brother-in-law Ross Culiner, I obtained one of his private shots taken inside of the synagogue. Hopefully I will get a chance next time In Amsterdam to see all this for myself.

Leaving the Waterloo Square, Shani and I strolled leisurely through the huge crowd of Saturday walkers towards the flower market.

When we arrived there we could enjoy the colors of the different plants on exhibit. Passing through the small stalls filled with plants, flowers, we could choose from all kinds of small souvenirs. One stall even offered a 3-Euro starter set to grow cannabis!!!

Reaching the central station I was amazed to discover the parking lot next to the entrance. Instead of the usual parking garage for cars, here there is a four-story garage for bicycles. It is quite impressive. I could not start musing on how the bikes in Amsterdam look compared to the bikes in Israel. The bikes in Amsterdam looks like the ones I was used to in Denmark when growing up. Plain bikes with no gears, with a dynamo and a simple lock. Many of the bicycles have children seats in the front or in the back. I did not spot one single sport bike with gears during my hours in Amsterdam.

In Israel, the biking trend has been growing at the speed of an erupting volcano in the last five years. But in Israel the norm is that you can not start biking without buying at least a 24-gear sports bike with everything that comes with it (gloves, shoes, clothing etc.). This fact has always amused me, having grown up in another reality.

One fact that bothered me watching the many grown ups and children passing on the streets of Amsterdam was that no one wears a helmet. An accident can happen so easily and a child thrown off a bike or a grown up tripping over is helpless without any protection. I personally have experienced that the helmet protected me against serious injuries several times. In Israel and also in Denmark it is law to wear a helmet.

The two of us continued our stroll with a quick visit to a local fish and vegetable market leading us through small streets with typical Dutch architectural houses surrounding us.

Each corner in these neigborhoods has coffee houses well-frequented by local citizens.

As dusk started to cover us, we strolled back to the train station for the return trip to the airport.  My conclusion, the next time I have some hours to wait in Schipol airport I am definitely going for another stroll in this enchanting and beautiful city.

*
Hadar is bureau chief in Sha’ar Hanegev, Israel, for San Diego Jewish World

The Mirror, Vol. 13, No. 640

“Phnom Penh: Pointing to the importance to create a law about non-government organizations (NGOs) being drafted by the government, the Cambodian Prime Minister said on 24 November 2009 that previous problems caused by some NGOs encourage the government to create a law on organizations of different kinds, in order to ensure their proper operation, but this law will not affect the freedom of the NGOs.

“Examples raised by Samdech Akkak Moha Senapadei Dekchor Hun Sen during the 30th anniversary celebration of the partnership between NGOs and Cambodia, were of an organization which had been prosecuted in the United State regarding the adoption of children from Cambodia, which finally became human trafficking, and of another organization that sheltered under an NGO some years ago and had taken the British Embassy as its target for a terrorist attack, but this plan was suppressed in time by the government. [The terrorist] Hambali left Cambodia and was later arrested in Thailand, after the attack on the island of Bali in Indonesia.

“Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen said, ‘These examples do not imply that the Royal Government is suspecting other organizations that are implementing good activities of participating in terrorism, but please do not forget that some organizations are doing bad things.’ Therefore, we need a law to control NGOs. He stressed, ‘I guarantee that it is not an action to restrict the freedom of NGOs, please believe me.’

“During the 1980s there were just less than 30 NGOs in Cambodia. But by 2009, there are 3,207 NGOs and associations, where 1,933 are NGOs and 1,274 are associations, that is why Samdech Dekchor Hun Sen observed that Cambodia is a heaven for NGOs that carry out different activities.

“The claim about the practicality of an NGO law was made, while an NGO law is being drafted carefully by the Royal Government; some NGOs expressed the fear that the Royal Government will exercise prohibitive controls over NGOs through that law. Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen said, ‘I am aware that some NGOs that have acted correctly, and they do not care too much about this law, but some organizations protested loudly, and I wonder why they claim to promote the rule of law, but they want to act without a law.’

“Samdech Dekchor Hun Sen added, ‘Anyway, we will neither restrict the freedom to creat NGOs, nor take away the funding of NGOs.’ He added that some NGOs demand that the government has to be transparent, providing information, but they themselves do not have such transparency. The Royal Government wants to know where NGOs get the money from and how they use it for what. ‘Just this they do not want to tell, but they oppose the government. The Royal Government also wants to know how much capital is from government, from development partners, and from NGOs, so that we can know the total amount of capital to allocate each year in each sector, where at present, we do not control it and we are not aware of how many activities are contributed by NGOs. This point creates difficulties for macro management or other relevant tasks.’ Samdech went on to say that sometimes, there are some overlapping activities of NGOs, and what is more problematic is that some NGOs had expressed their voice absolutely in the same way as opposition parties. Such organizations protest more than others, because they feel afraid, just because the laws in Cambodia do not allow political parties to receive funds from foreign donors.

“Samdech continued to say that in the first stage of law enforcement on NGOs, there will be difficulties. Anyway, the Royal Government will make it function smoothly.” Kampuchea Thmey, Vol.8, #2107, 25.11.2009

Newspapers Appearing on the Newsstand:
Wednesday, 25 November 2009

Deum Ampil, Vol.3, #3, 345.11.2009

• A Man Entered a House to Rape a 14-Year Old Girl when Her Parents Were Not at Home [the man was arrested - Battambang]
• The Laotian Prime Minister Will Arrive in Cambodia This Morning [to visit Cambodia officially on 25 and 26 November 2009]

Kampuchea Thmey, Vol.8, #2107, 25.11.2009

• Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen Claimed that the Non-Government Organizations Law Will Not Block the Freedom of Non-Government Organizations
• The Cambodian Prime Minister Did Not Take Office by Robbing Power from Others like it Happened in a Neighboring Country [claimed Prime Minister Hun Sen]
• Three Top Drug Smugglers Were Arrested by Military Police in Takhmao [Kandal]

Khmer Machas Srok, Vol.3, #538, 25.11.2009

• If [Thai Prime Minister] Abhisit Vijjajiva Closes the Border, It Does Not Cause Any Trouble for [Prime Minister] Hun Sen, but for Khmer Citizens [who earn their living at those border crossings; but Prime Minister Hun Sen still announced his firm opinion that Cambodia does not care about the warning from Thailand to maybe close the border]

Koh Santepheap, Vol.42, #6814, 25.11.2009

• Samdech Deckhor Hun Sen: Now It Should Be Time to Create a Law about Non-Government Organizations and Associations
• The Former Singaporean Prime Minister [Mr. Goh Chok Tong, now a senior minister] Visited Cambodia [to study the current situation, especially different measures that Cambodia has been taking to deal with the global financial crisis and other future problems]

Phnom Penh Post [Khmer Edition], Vol.1, #25, 53.11.2009

• Prosecutors [of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal] Asked to Jail [Tuol Sleng former prison chief] Duch for a Long Period [for the torture and murder of many people]
• Oddar Meanchey Villagers [of 36 families] Sleep on the Ground opposite the National Assembly [they escaped from arrest by the Oddar Meanchey authorities over land disputes with Oknha and senator Ly Yong Phat]
• Netherlands Wants to Invest in Solar Power [in Cambodia, worth US$300 million]

Rasmei Angkor, Vol.16, #1477, 25.11.2009

• Fire in Boeng Salang Commune Destroyed Two Houses and a Car, and Other Property Was Totally Burnt [the fire was caused by an electric fault - Phnom Penh]

Rasmei Kampuchea, Vol.17, #5056, 25.11.2009

• Drug Smugglers Shot Police in Response, Killing One Policeman and Seriously Injuring Two Others [two suspects, husband and wife, were arrested - Phnom Prek, Battambang]
• Thai Former Prime Minister Mr. Samak Sundaravej Died of [liver] Cancer [both disputing countries, Cambodia and Thailand, expressed condolences over his death]

Sereypheap Thmey, Vol.17, #1819, 25.11.2009

• The Phnom Penh Municipal Court’s Position is Upheld [by the Appeals Court] over [the president of the Khmer Civilization Foundation] Mr. Moueng Son’s Case [the court sentenced him to jail for two years for disinformation, over his comment about fixing of lighting at the Angkor Wat Temple]

Have a look at the last editorial – you can access it directly from the main page of the Mirror.
And please recommend us also to your colleagues and friends.

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Dirk Nannes is the latest overseas star to sign up for next season’s Twenty20 Cup (following Adam Gilchrist’s move to Middlesex and the various other county comings and goings), having been snapped up by Nottinghamshire.

The Dutch-Australian fluent Japanese speaker and skiing enthusiast is widely regarded as a Twenty20 specialist, and given his success with Delhi, Victoria and Middlesex in the past (not to mention a certain incident over the summer), it’s hard to argue with Notts director of cricket Mick Newell’s assertion that Nannes is “the most effective Twenty20 bowler in the world“. If Graeme Swann, Samit Patel and Ryan Sidebottom are all available to their county over the summer, then the Outlaws will have quite a bowling line up in the short format next year.

Dutch altar girls in the church.

Guido

# new blog: toiletlandcapes

Today’s round-up of news about migraine, visual snow, persistent aura and related illnesses:

Company vs cardiologist: MIST lawsuit in limelight as UK justice secretary seeks libel law overhaul. www.theheart.org November 24, 2009. Shelley Wood. London, UK – The case of a British cardiologist embroiled in a libel suit with NMT Medical over comments he made to heartwire about the conduct and reporting of the Migraine Intervention with STARflex Technology (MIST) trial is now making news across the UK, amid growing calls for government to reform libel laws in that country.

Data from St. Antonius Hospital provide new insights into headache and migraine. www.newsrx.com November 23rd, 2009. According to recent research from Netherlands, “Migraine with aura (MA) is associated with cardiac right-to-left shunt. We prospectively studied the association between pulmonary arteriovenous malformations (PAVMs) and MA in hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT).”

Trent Consultants News ANXIETY DISORDERS LINKED TO PHYSICAL CONDITIONS. www.24-7pressrelease.com NEW YORK, NY. November 24, 2009. University of Manitoba researchers have found that anxiety disorders appear to be independently associated with several physical conditions, including thyroid disease, respiratory disease, arthritis and migraine headaches. Their findings, published today in the October 23 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, suggest that this co-occurrence of disorders may significantly increase the risk of disability and negatively affect quality of life.

Cup of mint tea is an effective painkiller. news.bbc.co.uk A cup of Brazilian mint tea has pain relieving qualities to match those of commercially available analgesics, a study suggests.

Daily salt intake allowances ‘were set too high’. news.bbc.co.uk The government’s maximum daily salt intake target has been set too high for people to avoid unnecessary stroke and heart deaths, UK experts are warning.