Be ungovernable, like birds who make nests OUT OF ANTI-BIRD SPIKES. A new study describes resourceful Dutch & Belgian corvids besting evil architecture by stealing metal anti-bird strips and using them like thorny twigs, to construct their homes.
Like thorns, the spikes may protect their nests from predators.
everyone wants to romanticize the idea of living in the heart of a dense medieval city but the reality is I can’t get out my own front door to go get a coffee without being bowled over by the duke’s carriage or the Flame Pharaoh or a steamboat or some godsdamn ELVES on a QUEST who get offended when the locals don’t speak Sindarin
All the elections in Western democracies have become so ugly.
The societal fracture lines are so predictable that all that politicians have to do to win elections is to exploit them, regardless of basically any other input factor.
All the large cities in the #Netherlands (with the exception of Rotterdam), like basically all the large cities in the West by now, voted compactly for progressive and center-left political forces.
The rural side, and all the cities with less than 50k people, like everywhere else in the West, voted compactly for the populist and xenophobic far-right.
Large cities with large foreign communities are thriving and trying to send a political message - that diversity is ok and it's actually good. Rural districts that have almost no influx of migrants, on the other hand, keep being frightened by something they barely know.
The educational fracture line is also become too wide to ignore. Especially in these elections: https://www.dutchnews.nl/2023/11/analysis-votes-piled-up-for-wilders-as-migration-became-focus/. According to a poll, 62% of college-educated voters in the Netherlands voted for PvdA-GL. When combined with the preferences for other center-left parties (D66, Volt, PS...), it turns out a scenario where almost 3 out of 4 college-educated folks cast their vote on the center-left.
On the other side of the spectrum, however, things are flipped. 47% of those with mid-low level education voted for PVV.
And the old-vs-young divide is also becoming more and more relevant.
The results of these elections, and many others in Western democracies in the past few years, are really shaking my core political beliefs.
I'm probably part of the top 5-10%, but I support parties that want to increase taxes on people like me in order to spread wealth more equally.
I've already purchased my house in the middle of Amsterdam, but I support parties that want to build more houses in order to fix the housing crisis that has left thousands either homeless or struggling to pay rent - even if that means higher taxes on my house, or the value of my house going down once supply increases.
I've already completed my academic studies a while ago, but I want more people to get access to affordable high-quality education in order to have a chance to improve their lives.
I've already got a well-paying job, but I want more people to be granted the possibility of accessing well-paid jobs, and even have a dignitous minimum wage and a dignitous employment contract.
In other words, like many Millennials in my demographic group, and unlike the Boomers and even X-Gens that came before us, I support political forces that often go against my own interests because I see how structural injustice, scarce societal mobility, scarce attention given to equal opportunities for all citizens and outright discrimination affect millions. I support those causes because it's the right thing to do, even if it doesn't directly benefit me on the short term.
On the other hand, how do those who are oppressed the most cast their vote lately?
By voting for those who promise a minimum wage and decent contracts for everyone?
For those who promise to increase the number of paid paternity/maternity benefits, so people can actually take care of their kids and start a family?
For those who promise to increase the number of houses on the market so everybody gets their fair shot at buying a house and starting a family?
For those who promise more funds to education, so many kids will have a better chance in life than their parents?
No, they vote for an ugly racist face with an ugly wig who shouts "kut-marokkan" from a stage like a drunk peasant, who has no plan for fixing any actual problems, but wants people to believe that all of those problems are caused either by the low-skilled African who comes here to do the jobs that the Dutch no longer want to do, or by the highly-skilled EU/US citizen who comes here to do the jobs that the Dutch aren't sufficiently qualified to do, and that once we go out of "their" country things will get better for everyone.
This is seriously one of the biggest political identity crises I've ever faced. Is it even worth to fight political battles to bring more equality and opportunities, when those who need more equality and opportunities the most keep wasting their votes with abhorrent political pipers like #Wilders who have scapegoats for everything and solutions for nothing?
The dutch government now has an official Mastodon instance, this gives government organisations and institutions the chance to have an official account in the fediverse. The instance is not for all citizens wanting to join Mastodon. I hope more governments will follow because the fediverse gives them the possibilty to fully control the data , no advertising etc. https://social.overheid.nl/public/local #Netherlands#Mastodon
The United States has given the green light to Denmark and the Netherlands for sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine to defend against Russian aggression as soon as pilot training is completed, a U.S. official said on Aug. 17, according to Reuters.
THe minister of Defence of the Netherlands, Kajsa Ollongren, believes that if Russia is not stopped now, it will not stop in Ukraine and will pose a direct threat to the EU and NATO.
The Dutch Defense Ministry released the statement that six more F-16 will be added to the fighter package to Ukraine, increasing the total number to 24.
Almost 10 years after MH-17 the Netherlands send their regards to Russia.
Dutch, stop being so excellent! You're making it embarrassing for everyone else. This train station in Haarlem has a lending library between platforms 3 and 4.
Platform 3¾ —aka The Bookworm Express.
Last week the NRC reported about a little-known refueling (bunkering) point in the south-west of the #Netherlands, at the entrance of the Schelde near #vlissingen. The newspaper uncovered that it is being used by a #shadow#fleet of often badly maintained and very old tanker vessels which play a pivotal role in turning sanctioned Russian #oil in to not sanctioned oil. The vessels make their way from Baltic ports along the North Sea, either to India or Turkey. The newspaper called this bunkering point "Putin's petrol station", because on the way back the sanctioned vessels stock up on fuel. The ships all fly under several different "flags of convenience" and as their companies get put on sanction lists, the ships move to other owners.
It is not often that international politics, global capital, supply chains, the news and infrastructure congeal the way it does at Putin's Pitstop so I had to go take a look #infrastructours.
16 January 1900 | German Jewish woman Edith Frank (née Holländer) was born in Aachen. Mother of Margot & Anne Frank.
Incarcerated in Auschwitz with her husband Otto and daughters on 5 September 1944. She perished in the camp on 6 January 1945, 10 days before her 45th birthday.
Washington approves sending F-16s to Ukraine from Denmark and Netherlands (kyivindependent.com)
The United States has given the green light to Denmark and the Netherlands for sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine to defend against Russian aggression as soon as pilot training is completed, a U.S. official said on Aug. 17, according to Reuters.
Dutch Defence Ministry: If Russia Is Not Stopped in Ukraine, It Will Become Problem for Some NATO Countries (www.eurointegration.com.ua)
THe minister of Defence of the Netherlands, Kajsa Ollongren, believes that if Russia is not stopped now, it will not stop in Ukraine and will pose a direct threat to the EU and NATO.