kor
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Posts
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Posts posted by kor
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Over-rated:
- Anything military. I really don't care what kind of rifles the soldiers used at the battle of Hastings!
Obviously they should've spent a lot more time on this, because perhaps then you would've realised that the battle of Hastings was fought 700 years before rifles were even invented!
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I read too many books. It is impossible to pick a favourite.
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Nice
Personally I prefer poetry that doesn't take itself very seriously; my favourite poets are Piet Paaltjens (Francois Haverschmidt) and Drs. P., both Dutch poets. Paaltjens lived in the 19th century, an age in which poems tended to be melodramatic; he made his poems so over-melodramatic, that they're funny. They're a complaint in the direction of the established poetry as well as really showing what he was like; Paaltjens suffered severe boats of melancholy and depression and eventually killed himself.
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On msn, I have a total of 149 people in my contact list. Perhaps it's time to sort out a few, as that's only 1 away from the max
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Cool Fok.nl is on number 12, I visit that site daily
Seriously though, Fok has more than 70 000 registered members that actively post, and that's only on number 12. I can't really see how you can reach the top 20...
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Hmm, iirc the Americans use billion when most Europeans (not sure about British) use milliard. The step up from that is called a billion over here, not sure what the Americans call it (ie 1 000 000 000 000).
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On the site it explained it, Darkangel. Apparently 80% of the people my age with about the same height (in the US) weigh more than me.
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I weigh 57kg, and I'm in the 20th percentile. Not unexpectedly.
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But with air superiority it would've been easier for the German airforce to target the British navy.
Also, I think the chances of Russia falling were minimal. Even if Hitler had captured Moscow, the effect would've been little, as Russian production would've been resituated across the Urals and people would still fight. It would've ended exactly like Napoleon's Russian Campaign (who did capture Moscow, to find it utterly deserted).
Personally I think more of the occupation of the Netherlands rather than the military events in the war. Lots of people having to go in hiding (not just jews, also gypsies, the disabled, males between 18-30 who were sent to Germany to work, etc). Not a good time.
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Hmm, in history classes here in the Netherlands we get taught that all parties involved were equally guilty of stirring up trouble. Looks like we reached that conclusion sooner, but it's also easier for us to look objectively at the war, as we weren't involved, like the Belgians.
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It was Saint andrew who was crucified on an X cross; this is why to this day the Scottish flag has an X on it (seeing as Andrew is Scotland's patron saint).
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In the Middle Ages the Welsh also had much more liberal rules for women; they could divorce out of their own right, and bore their own responsibility. However, this of course changed when the English conquered the Welsh, as they were no longer allowed to follow their own laws.
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A book will catch my attention if the subject interests me. After that, I look up a bit on the author to see if he's a good and accurate writer (seeing as I only read history books, anyway
) and if the result is positive, I will buy it. -
Afaik it's not done in German nor in Dutch, however I did notice that Tim does it, but I think he's the exception rather than the rule in this case.
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Are you related to THE Dvorak?
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What famous Dutch composer? None of the great composers were Dutch, but there's quite a few pretty good Dutch composers, like Johan de Meij, who made a concert based on the Lord of the Rings (this was long before the move was made
). He made a lot of other musical pieces, too, and is really quite well known here. We have a couple of his CDs. -
There's another method that's used now and then that isn't effective at all, but we learn about it here anyway to explain about the ineffective contraceptives.
In Dutch, it's called "voor-het-zingen-de-kerk-uit" which means "leaving the church before singing"
Practically it means that you have sex the normal way, but the male withdraws before he mas tur bates. Of course, if the male is too slow this will have no effect whatsoever making it probably one of the worst forms of contraception.
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Both halves of the Roman Empire were Christian, as Klaas said; it's just that they applied it in a different way. The western Roman Empire more influenced by Western thinking, the eastern Roman Empire by ancient Greek thinking. The religious debates these two halves had were fundamentally different and because they couldn't connect, eventually the two churches just split up.
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Hey kor, my ex-gf is also a Bosch. Got family in Bruges perhaps? Oh, and isn't it possible you're related to the great painter Hieronymus Bosch?
I'm afraid I don't know of any family in Brugge; it might be that they migrated quite some time ago, but I don't know about it (for all I know, she could be a descendant from my part of the family that went to fight for Napoleon
)(I do have family from my mum's side living in Belgium; her sister married a Frenchman and now they live near Leuven; that's how your get Belgians
)And although it would be cool if I descended from Hieronymus Bosch, he lived a few hundred years before my family moved to the Netherlands, and his surname was due to his location (because he came from Den Bosch > Hieronymus Bosch) so sadly, no.
But as it is, the family tree is still a bit vague and I do want to do some more research into it later on.
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Middle Ages:
Earliest family descending from my mother's mother's side was Frisian nobility (one of the noble families being the Bonningas, who also held commanding positions in the Frisian military at the time; we descend from the sister of the Frisian hero Grute Pier, the Bane of the Hollanders. There's even a 16th century poem left about him, listing his titles (King of Friesland, Admiral of the Zuyderzee, Bane of the Hollanders).
The family afterwards became little more than wealthy farmers (that's what happened with the Frisian nobility after being conquered by the Burgundians); they have remained so till the early 20th century, when my great great grandfather (I think) hanged himself. As this was seen as a disgrace, my great great grandmother moved to Dordrecht, in Holland, in stead of Friesland, where she built up a new life, and where my grandmother (and grandfather) grew up.
In WW2, one of my relatives from this side (a great-great-uncle) built up a camp hidden in the woods, where Jews and other sought after people could hide. It was a success for most of the war, however it was found out in the end. Luckily not many people were captured, though my great-great uncle was one of them, and he was executed mere months before the war ended.
My grandfather (from my mother's side) was first an errandboy at an industrial factory. When the war started, and the country was occupied by the Nazis, he had to hide as he was of the age to be sent either to the army, or to work in Germany. He hid in (among others) a small kitchen cupboard, his uncle's vessel and in the factory he worked, with a whole host of others. After the war he followed an optical mathematics course and became a sort of engineer. He invented (among others) a vacuum cleaner, one of those tiny cameras doctors use to look inside you (
) and a camera for use on military planes, still in use today. It was also illegally sold to Iraqis and the Americans bought one to "take a look at it". He always disliked them because that's what they usually did; after buying one, they copied it.My father's father's side, the Bosch family, moved to the Netherlands in the early 17th century, from Germany. The first was a mason, who moved to Gelderland from the area around Hannover (iirc). His son became a professional soldier in the Dutch army, where he fought in many battle in the Wars of the Austrian Succession (~1744-1748, iirc) where he was captured several times (all the battles were lost by the Dutch/English/Austrian Alliance to the French) and he was also at the siege of Bergen op Zoom, which was also a loss and where he was also captured. After that, the Bosch family moved away from soldiering (although in the Napoleonic Wars, one Bosch fought for France and another for England) and went into the church in stead.
In the 1830's the Bosch family was one of the main drivers of a reform movement in the Dutch Protestant Church, which caused a rift and created the Gereformeerde Kerk, iirc. They continued to be preachers, like my great grandfather, who, in WW2, preached against Nazi ideology and had to hide as he was sought by the Nazis. Luckily he did so successfully. My father also became a preacher and here I am, throwing the family tradition away simply by being an atheist
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95% of people believe in God, but 8% are atheists. Strange country you live in, cos those statistics don't seem right
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So you're saying that more intelligent people should be given tougher tests while in the same class with slower people to help even out the grades? How fair is that?
Yes, I do think that is a good development in the school system. In the Netherlands we have refined the system further: in the last year of primary school, every kid takes the same, standardised test (of course a new test is made each year). According to the results of this test, which is partly IQ, partly general knowledge test, the child gets a score which will basically determine how far advanced he is in school. The people with the best scores go to the VWO, the highest form of high school, a diploma of which gives you instant access to University. VWO takes 6 years.
Secondly there is HAVO, which is for the above average kids. With HAVO, you can go straight into the Hoge School, the Higher School. HAVO takes 5 years.
Then there is MAVO, which is for the average kids. With MAVO you can go to the tradeschools. MAVO lasts 4 years.
Remember, all educational services are standardised here, so all Universities have to fullfill certain demands and have a certain quality. Universities here can be compared to the best US colleges like Princeton and Harvard. The average US Colleges on the other hand are more like Tradeschools or Higher Schools here.
And yes, I do think that is a good development. If someone who is very intelligent has to take standardised tests all the time, it's no challenge at all for them. By putting them in the same class with people of their own intelligence, taking harder tests, they'll feel more at home and also like the subjects more, as they're more challenging. For someone who wants to go to University, there are a lot of things he needs to know that are unnecessary for someone who wants to be an employee in a flowershop. Why should they follow the same education until they've finished high school?
Now, back to the speeding ticket.
See the punishment not as: "Someone who speeds, has to pay 120€" for example, but as "Someone who speeds, has to pay 0.5% of his/her income." You still have a concrete rule and a proper punishment.
It's not a matter of how badly it *hurts* you, it's a matter of being punished.Exactly. And a 120€ fine is in no way a punishment for a man who makes 7 million a year. It is a joke.
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Yes, there's some odd names in Dutch, but remember that they do the same in English and practically all other languages (Jean the Fearless is referred to as John, they always call Willem van Oranje William of Orange, Johan de Witt morphs into John de Witt, Vaclav becomes Wencenslas, as well as numerous other bas-tardisations of names, etc). But Jan zonder Land and Jan zonder Vrees do sound rather... peculiar in Dutch.
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I work in the supermarket, it's a great place for watching people.
Half a year or so ago, at our supermarket there was a presentation of coffee, the company had brought a coffee machine which was to be operated by one of their employees. At the end of the day, she stopped with the presentation and, before taking away the coffee machine, she went to the loo or something, letting the machine stand there. A colleague and myself were working on our department and saw a man walk up to the coffeemachine (which was switched off), he pressed the button to get a cup of coffee, but nothing happened, as it was off. He stood there waiting for his coffee for some time, felt the machine to see if it was warm and working, held his ear to it to hear if it was on, etc. Eventually he went away, then 5 mins later reappeared to see if his coffee was ready
We had a good laugh over it, without him noticing of course Yes, the supermarket is a great place to watch how people behave.
Rome: Total War
in Gaming Discussion & Match-making
Posted
A couple of "fun" screenshots I took:
The Dogs of War,
All dogs go to heaven,
and...
The day pigs fly!