nrc.nl – International – Court upholds verdict on Hamas chant (the chant being “Hamas, Hamas, gas all the Jews” and the verdict being 80 hours community service)
Earlier this year Amsterdam and Rotterdam mayors, Job Cohen and Ahmed Aboutaleb, threatened a five-year ban on supporters at matches between Ajax and Rotterdam team Feyenoord if fans chanted offensive slogans.
Interestingly, the mayors come are Jewish and Muslim, respectively.
As you can see on the side of the page, I need your votes! I submitted a SXSW panel on the European startup scene and I’d love your support so we can go to Austin next Spring and tell everyone what’s up!
2009-06-28: I meant to post this over a month ago!
Malcolm Gladwell has a really fascinating article about underdogs using full-court pressing to win in basketball: Annals of Innovation: How David Beats Goliath. He looks at the larger question of underdogs beating better supplied, prepared – whatever – opponents and how it is often because the former don’t respect the (unwritten) rules and are willing to just work a lot harder.
It’s not the same thing, but I think you could make a connection with Total Football.
nrc.nl – International – Watch out – electric cars are coming to Amsterdam
Apparently only electric vehicles will be allowed in Dutch city centers. In 2040.
nrc.nl – International – Opinion – The Dutch stem cell taboo
Unlike some other countries, including the US, the test tube creation of embryos solely for scientific research is prohibited in the Netherlands.
This is surprising when you consider the generally and the fact that euthanasia is legal. However, as the article notes, traditional Protestant parties can be quite influential on issues they care about, thanks to being part of all the recent coalition governments.
Two cops biking right in front of me pulled over a car.
What awaits the iPhone in Europe? – International Herald Tribune
Wow. What a stupid article. Don’t get it me wrong, it’s well written and I think the central point, that iPhone sales in Europe have disappointed, is correct. However, I think they completely missed the reason why. It’s simple: many Europeans are buying iPhones in the US. Cracked iPhones are much cheaper (would you rather pay €400 or $400?) and they’re really easy to get. I know lots of people that buy several iPhones when visiting the US, and there are even companies that give them away in contests here in the Netherlands. Consider this:
Fueling speculation about an imminent strategic change by Apple are early sales of the device in Europe. Strategy Analytics, a research firm in Milton Keynes, England, estimates that Apple sold 350,000 iPhones in Europe in the fourth quarter of last year, below what it claims is Apple’s internal forecast of 500,000 devices.
The research firm also estimates that iPhone sales slowed to 300,000 in the first three months of this year.
But we’ve also heard that 1 million US iPhones were never registered with AT&T. Assuming that 2/5 of those unlocked phons went to Europe (which seems to be a reasonable guess to me), that’s 100,000 extra phones ‘purchased’ each quarter in Europe, which means Apple is actually close to its targeted sales.
I just got off the phone with Charles Schwab and I’m got some stuff to say.
First, I was shocked when the person helping me didn’t know how to answer my questions immediately. I had gotten so used to solving my problems within a minute of calling Schwab that I was honestly surprised to hear the woman say, “I don’t know. Let me check with someone here.” It didn’t help that she and her colleagues ended up having to wrestle with the system for almost 30 minutes to delete an automatic transfer, disconnecting me twice while I was on hold. That being said, they solved the problem, were very friendly and helpful, and offered me $100 for my ‘troubles’. Now that’s how to ensure customer satisfaction! (more…)
