The Inquisitr » netherlands

Dutch advert has nudity… and what’s on her face?

Kim LaCapria — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:00:03 +0000

Europe is so much less uptight than the US, even in coffee creamer ads.

Via the Huffington Post comes this salacious commercial, featuring a guy’s bare bottom and what appears to be- well, if you don’t know I’m not going to tell you. Would you feel scandalized if you saw this on broadcast TV?

The Netherlands considering internet tax to prop up newspapers

Duncan Riley — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:12:26 +0000

The Dutch Government is considering a proposal to tax internet access to prop up the local newspaper industry.

The report, compiled by a Dutch Parliamentary committee, proposes a 6% tax on ISP fees which would go directly to heritage media. The report claims that “news and the gathering of news stories is not free, and the public must be made aware of that.”

It’s not clear from reports whether the proposal will become law, but local web companies and internet users are rightly outraged by the proposal.

(via Slashdot)

Dutch government ignores its own Internet tax study – listens to the people

Steven Hodson — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:51:14 +0000

According to Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten at TheNextWeb.com blog the Dutch government recently formed a special committee to come up with a course of action to save the Dutch newspaper industry. The main recommendation of the Brinkman committee was to place a special tax on all Internet access.

The idea being that the 2 Euros yearly tax all Dutch families would be required to pay, resulting in and extra 12 million per year, would be used on ‘innovative’ projects. These so-called innovative projects the committee suggested might help find a solution to the increasing decline in the newspaper industry.

Needless to say said Boris the blowback to this idea has been strong and swift

As you would expect there are thousands of angry comments on the online articles who reported on the issue this morning. They compare it to paying a ‘car tax’ to save the Horse-Drawn Carriage Industry. Or taxing email to fund the post office because people are sending less paper around.

It appears though that this response has been successful if the update from Boris is any indication

UPDATED: Dutch parliament will ignore the commission’s advice and has decided against an Internet tax. I’m sure that is a huge relief for a LOT of people.

Wow … a government that actually seems to listen to the people who elected them – how unusual.

Dutch Queen Beatrix Unharmed as Crazed Man Slams Car into Crowd, Killing 4

Paul Short — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 16:39:30 +0000

What was supposed to be joyous day for people in the Netherlands out to see their royal family quickly turned to horror as a crazed man plowed his car through a crowd of Royal Parade spectators, killing at least 4, critically injuring 6 and several others had minor injuries.

A 38 year old man who had fallen on rough times, lost his job and was being evicted from his home today decided to target Queen Beatrix and the royal family by attempting to attack them with his car. After smashing through the crowd at high speed and coming to rest against a monument, the car ended up just a few meters from the Queen herself. Her highness was visibly shaken but not harmed in the ordeal. Some of the spectators however, were not as fortunate.

I won’t embed the photos here on this page because they are quite graphic, horrifying even. This is fair warning to anyone easily disturbed by graphic scenes of people getting hurt. These are photos of the car crash as it happens and while people are still reeling from the impact…

Photo 1 and Photo 2

The man has been charged with several counts of murder, one count of deliberately trying to harm the Royal family and various other charges are pending.

[Props to Michael Van Poppel and BNO News]

Attention Train Drivers: If Self Loving While Driving The Train, Turn The Mic Off

Duncan Riley — Fri, 16 May 2008 02:58:36 +0000

This extraordinary footage was shot on a Dutch Railways train traveling between Zwolle and Leeuwarden, the Netherlands. There’s no rude pics, but the audio is line ball NSFW…it’s also one of the weirdest things you’ll see today

Local media reports (via the wonders of Google Translate):

“The driver of the vehicle, a full meeting of masturbation, had forgotten to unplug his microphone. Suddenly, loudspeakers interposed, travelers were able to attend live orgasm of the railway. A pure moment of happiness and laughter. All could not believe their ears.

The thirty minute-long meeting will be in all cases could be shared with as many as a passenger a little voyeur had the indecency – the villain! To film the moment and the poster on the most famous sites of trade videos, Youtube. At full steam!”