Radio Netherlands: Is the World Cup too expensive for Africa?

"The investments were budgeted at a few million. The real cost will be a thousandfold; 3 to 5 billion. And that in a country where a large part of the population still lives in deep poverty."



(Apologies for the lousy embedded video obtained from RNW's site.)

See this related report from Democracy Now! (an interview made prior to the start of the matches) - Raj Patel on How South Africa Has Cracked Down on the Poor and the Shack Dwellers’ Movement

Oh right, the newsworthy Tiger Woods

[Confession: I'm no golfer and only knew about Mr Woods' trials and tribs because Yahoo "trended" him... Ha!]

But here's an interesting follow up to that "breaking," important News - but was really tabloid stuff - about the golfer on NPR, CNN and the other corpress. It's more a cultural observation:
"By His Wounds We Have Already Been Entertained: Tiger Woods, The Masters, and the Ritual of Celebrity Disgrace"

Evidently, however, the Chairman of the Augusta National Golf Club is not attuned to the rhythms of this Great Ritual, for he chose the eve of the Masters to issue a public condemnation of Tiger—for his “egregious” actions that let “our kids and grandkids” down.

Did the Chairman not know that, according to the Great Ritual, the days of righteous anger over Tiger’s immoral ways are now far behind us?...MORE

DUTCH NEWS BRIEFS: Dogs and Cooking

RADIO NETHERLANDS: Canicross racing in Holland - "More than 40 highly enthusiastic teams took part in the first canicross race in Hilversum this past weekend. Canicross is the sport of running with your dog in harness. Everyone, young and old, can take part." ... MORE



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"Eet smakelijk" | Enjoy your meal | "Bon appétit!"

24oranges: - An extremely rare 17th century Dutch cookbook, entitled ‘Het Koock-boeck oft Familieren Keuken-boeck’ (Cook Book or Family Kitchen Book) is now part of the Special Collections institute of the University of Amsterdam Library. According to Radio Netherlands, it is the oldest known cookery book in the Dutch language. ... MORE.

Yikes!

From today's Independent : 'I was waiting for a signal,' says skydiver who forgot to pull the cord – and lived

The veteran skydiver from Staffordshire had already made more than 2,500 jumps. He was calm and fully prepared for the astonishing thrill that comes with hurtling towards the ground, safe in the knowledge that his parachute would help him land safely.

Except this time there was one small problem. While he was concentrating on filming, his dive partner was supposed to be keeping a close eye on the rapidly approaching ground. But as the crucial moment approached the signal from his friend to draw his parachute failed to get through and Mr Boole slammed into the snow covered rocks at 100mph.

Remarkably, despite a broken back, a punctured lung and several broken ribs, the 31–year–old survived his ordeal. Recuperating at his home in Tamworth, Staffordshire, he recalled the moment he realised he had survived. "What went through my mind was my wife and daughter," he said. "I really thought I was going to die."

A self–confessed adrenaline junkie, Mr Boole had flown to eastern Russia to film a documentary about one of the most extreme forms of sky diving – "wingsuit base jumping".

Unlike standard dives, where jumpers release their parachutes far above the ground and float gently down to earth, Mr Boole prefers the base jumper ethos, where practitioners open their chute at the last minute to maximise their freefall time. He was also wearing a wingsuit – a specially designed bodysuit which allows jumpers to "fly" as they hurtle towards earth. In the right conditions, for every metre that a jumper falls while wearing a wingsuit they are also able to travel up to three metres forward.

ELEVEN CITIES TOUR CELEBRATES 100 YEARS

The Elfstedentocht or Eleven Cities Tour celebrates its 100th anniversary today. When it happens - only 15 times in its history - it's a grueling 200 km ice skating race.

What makes an Eleven-Cities Tour win so unique is the fact that the race cannot be held on anything like a regular basis. Dutch winters are usually too mild to allow thick enough ice to form for outdoor skating. For this reason, alternative races are organised in Austria or Finland. However, Dutch enthusiasts maintain that there is nothing like participating in the tour when it is held in Friesland.

A few of my Dutch cousins have skated it. The Prince of Orange - registered as W. A. van Buren - participated in 1986.

"It has be minus ten degrees for at least seven nights in a row for the event to go ahead," says a spokesperson in Friesland in De Telegraaf. He warns people to stick to official ice rinks, as the ice on the lakes is not safe. He could be right, as on New Year's Day the body of a 58-year-old man was found by his friends under the ice. And four people were saved from certain death by the quick thinking of a local man who used his surfboard to reach a group that had fallen through thin ice after he heard their calls for help.

WHICH WAY TO MECCA, JAKE?

The Burlington intifada against Burton Snowboards continues.

In Sydney an Australian artist has designed a line of 30 Islamic surfboards to bridge the cultural and religious divide in that country. Burton could take the lead in America and develop similar designs for snowboards. Now wouldn't that just please all those overparenting moms & dads in Burlington - progressive diversity-lovin' Al-Jazeera watching boarders - who were pissed off mightily about the Playboy bunnies? Redemption for bad-neighbor Burton, finally?! But wait, the Defenders Council of Vermont and zionists in South Burlington would have a field day.

España, campeona de Europa

Spain have been crowned European champions for the second time as Fernando Torres's first-half goal in Vienna proved enough to defeat Germany in the final of UEFA EURO 2008.

THE ROAR OF THE LION

A friend writes from Amsterdam

Holland exploded (ejaculated, more like it) four times yesterday evening!! The Dutch Lion Roared! From underdog to favourite at Euro2008! Two brilliant performances so far, the dwarf beating football giants Italy and France!

Even I have mixed feelings about watching sometimes boring football. I was jumping out of my chair 4 times!! It's the best thing which could happen to a depressed country!

My Dutch friends think this will give a boost to the national psyche and will reunite "us" - has anyone ever done a study on how sports does that?

This kind of boosterism is short-term; it's just a bit of welcomed respite from the intensive navel-gazing that's been going on.

Also the "allochtonen" wear orange now. (Even if deepdown they back the team of their parents' country, f.i. Turkey.)

HUP HOLLAND

Tonight, the Dutch national football team ended a 30-year wait for a victory over Italy in emphatic fashion as they won their European Championship 2008, Group C, Match 6, in Berne. The result was 3:0 for Oranje!

Pics of a Triumph (Courtesy PPE-Colourpress-Torsten Silz-ddp)