"The enemy is anybody who's going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on." - Joseph Heller
***
From a Facebook note:
During my 3-4 months in Montreal there is only one question that people have asked me more than the question “Are you Indian?” and that is “How do you compare McGill to NUS”. Well since the answer to the first one is pretty short, “No, I am Pakistani; Bitch!!”, I thought I’d save myself some time by posting the answer to the second question on Facebook. So here it goes.
STUDENT SOCIETIES
McGill is definitely far ahead when it comes to student societies and the freedom enjoyed by them. I’d guess that there are maybe five to six times more student groups/societies in McGill than there are in NUS and all of them are far more active than any of the societies in NUS.
Moreover, the student societies at McGill seem a lot more proactive than they do in NUS. In NUS you get the feeling that everyone at an event has still got studies on their mind, even if they are not sitting at a booth doing a Maths tutorial. Here its quiet the opposite, student societies not only conduct more events, but the events also seem more enjoyable. But I think the lack of enthusiasm in NUS can be blamed on the fk*** CCA points system, which NUS needs to get rid of soon.
The student union in McGill, SSMU, enjoys far more power and freedom than its NUS counterpart, NUSSU. So while NUSSU is busy licking the balls of the university administration SSMU actually serves a purpose in McGill. I still remember NUSSU’s decision to protest against the tuition fee hike by wearing black shirts. Here it was quiet a big rally that walked through the heart of the campus and proceeded slightly into downtown. Though the rally was not totally an SSMU venture, it just goes on to show the freedom and autonomy enjoyed by students in Canada as compared to those in Singapore.
STUDIES
curriculum
While the curriculum of an average module in NUS emphasizes more on the breadth of topics than on the depths of the topics, in McGill it is quiet the opposite. For the topics we covered in MA1505 (basic math), McGill engineering probably has 2-3 courses covering the same topics. So McGill is in the favour of covering a few topics in detail than a lot of them with minimum detail. Now am not sure if this means that NUS’ curriculum is harder or not but it is the next aspect of studies in NUS that makes u say ‘Gosh! My ass hurts’ a week into the semester.
competition
In terms of competition in classes McGill is light years behind NUS and a statistic that best reflects this bridge in competition is that 4-5 Pakistani engineering undergrads got 4.0/4.0 last semester alone, while hardly any of the Pakistani undergrads in NUS has ever achieved this in any faculty, let alone engineering. Moreover the marking in NUS is always (always!!) relative, but from what I get, its not in 3/4th of the modules in McGill. Assuming the papers are of the same difficulty in both universities, this can either mean that the undergrads in NUS produce such exceptional results that they need to be curved for them to hold any meaning, or that McGill is happy with giving each student what he/she deserves, which in effect reduces competition.
STAGNANT vs VIBRANT
During my time in McGill there has hardly been any new development except squabbling over the tuition fees, endless discussions over whether the McGill principal should continue her tenure and complaining about the lack of research funds in McGill. However since I have not spent much time in McGill I cannot say if there were any significant developments in the recent past, but the impression generally is that there is not much going on.
This is in stark contrast to what is currently going on at NUS. During my 3 years at the university the university has built a new administration building, a new music faculty building and a new campus for the law faculty. Developments in the not too distant past include the construction of PGPR (Prince Georges Park Residences) and the commission of the internal shuttle buses. Developments in the near future include the construction of an impressive new residence.
NUS is also much more active in providing students with the tidbits that spice up a degree. These include the NUS Overseas Colleges, Student Exchange Program, Technopreneurship Incubation Program etc. Though these programs exist in McGill they don’t seem to be as active as they are in NUS. For example it is rumored that NUS intends for half its undergraduate population to have gone on exchange by the end of 2009-2010 and judging from the fact that I alone personally know 10 ppl who are currently on exchange, I’d buy the rumor.
NUS' vibrancy is also reflected in the large amount of bursaries, scholarships and loan opportunities available for its students. The resources available for research and development, in NUS, are also famous by now and according to some have been the primary factor in NUS' high ranking. The Notebook Ownership scheme for the students in each university also goes on to show the resources available at NUS' disposal. While Mcgill only offers 1 notebook (atleast to my knowledge), the Toshiba Tecra, under the notebook ownership program, NUS offers various models from five different vendors at subsidized prices and with the opportunity to take a loan when buying them.
The Career centre at McGill is its only saving grace. Though I have not interacted with them much they seem to be doing some decent stuff. But again, NUS’ career centre has experienced somewhat of a resurgence in the past sem.
IT INFRASTRUCTURE
Well, like anything else that is high tech and requires a bit of money NUS is far ahead in IT infrastructure when compared to McGill. The IT infrastructure in McGill, to be quiet frank, is pathetic.
There is no centralized printing system, apparently each lab has its own balance and you need to buy balance at that lab to be able to print from it. In NUS the printing system is centralized, with the same cash card being used in every lab. The paper quality for the printing is pathetic and it is fk*** expensive.
McGill does not have any webcasting facilities, whereby lecturers are recorded and then uploaded on the course website, which NUS has in most of its lecture theatres. But I am willing not to be too critical of this because few universities around the world have this facility, but for the love of god at least try to upload the sound files properly. McGill does have a rudimentary voice recording system in some of its Lecture Theatres but you never know when you click on a particular sound file if it is gonna work or not.
The software that allows students to register for modules is known as Minerva in McGill and CORS in NUS and guess what Minerva gets the razzie for the site with the worst interface by the McGill professor who teaches the module Human Computer Interaction (HCI). So I don’t need to waste my time comparing them.
The software that displays and keeps track of course contents for students and lecturers is known as WebCT in McGill and IVLE in NUS and while they are essentially the same the only difference is that WebCT stops working before exams because McGill doesn’t have the money to buy storage space. Pathetic! I wasted 2 hours a day before the exam only to be greeted by a screen that told me that the system is overloaded, and that I should try gain later; maybe after the exam.
Moreover the storage space allowed for an email id on the McGill domain is 10 Mb while it is 1Gb in NUS now.
There is, however, one aspect of the McGill IT infrastructure that is far more superior to that of NUS and that is its wireless internet. The internet is truly wireless in McGill as opposed to being pseudo wireless in NUS. While the wireless Internet in NUS performs variably at different locations, the wireless internet in McGill is avaiable throughout the campus even extending slightly beyond its boundaries to places such as coffee shops, where I spent many lazy evenings surfing the net and sipping a cup of coffee.
CAMPUS
The difference between the two universities is nowhere more visible than in their campuses. The NUS campus is what would best be described as a suburban campus whereas the McGill campus is smack in the middle of the city, a minute’s walk from downtown. This difference in campus’ manifests itself in totally contrasting university experiences for the student population.
Due to it being further away from the city centre, the NUS campus is much bigger that that of McGill, with almost five different Internal Shuttle Buses operating within the university. In McGill you are almost always on foot, unless you own a bike. The location of the two campuses also means that in Mcgill, you can buy almost everything from food to sex within a five minute’s walk from the campus. In NUS, however, everything needs to be planned before going on a leisure or shopping trip outside the university which is quiet effed up.
In McGill, there are no college residences on campus: the university has bought a few buildings around the campus and converted them to residences, but they are not sufficient. This has lead to the small area of condominiums and flats encapsulating the university being known as the McGill Ghetto, because of the large number of students living in it. This in turn has a huge impact on the lifestyle of the McGill undergraduates. Since every student lives in an apartment and since most of them live nearby, house parties, dinner parties and all sorts of other parties are very common in the ghetto. With a sufficiently large social network you are guaranteed to have 2-3 parties in your calendar every week.
As compared to McGill, NUS has a large number of university residences with more than 9 different residence units scattered around its campus and since most of them have single rooms it means no house parties, no dinner parties, nothing!
Architecturally the NUS campus does not come anywhere close to the McGill campus. While every building in NUS looks box-like, bland and monotonous, buildings in McGill look more individual, posses more character and exude a more dominating aura. Of course I am talking about the general architecture here which excludes the architectural gems in NUS such as the new Music Conservatory etc.
SPORTS
As far as sports go, NUS cannot even be mentioned in the same league as McGill because it is not only the facilities that are superior in McGill but also the enthusiasm for sports, which is a spillover from the diverse culture existent in Montreal in and McGill.
As far as sports facilities go Mcgill has two big fields despite its small size. They are more of football fields which can be used for other purposes. While NUS can match Mcgill in terms of the outdoor facilities as it too has two big playing fields, has alot of tennis courts and alot of basketball and futsal courts, it is the McGill Sports Complex (or Gym) with all its indoor facilities that beats NUS to it.
With squash courts, basketball courts, an ice hockey rink, tennis courts (i think), a swimming pool, two gymnasiums and a whole lot of other facilities under one roof, the McGill Sports Complex is very impressive indeed. The Complex, however, is more of a necessity than a luxury for McGill considering that it is covered under snow half the year and since such complexes are a norm in Northern America.
Intramural Games (games where anyone can form a team and register for a tournament) are quiet common in McGill while they are non-existent in NUS. At the same time Inter Varsity sports, in McGill, are followed more closely by the student population, the rivalries run much deeper and the victories are much more sweeter. All this means that being on the Varsity Team is a much bigger source of pride for a student in McGill than it is for a student in NUS, and this fuels the passion for sports in McGill.
CULTURE
The culture existent in the student population of the two universities is also as different as the aspects discussed earlier. While every decision taken by an NUS student is aimed at achieving the singular purpose of increasing the efficiency with which he absorbs the sacred knowledge being taught in University lecture theaters, decisions made by McGill students include such aspects as quality of life etc. So while a Singaporean moves out of his home to live in college residences to save the daily commute, a Montrealer moves out because his parents cannot put up with all the partying, and he might well end up renting a place close to the clubs to save his own daily commute.
P.S. The note is based on my own personal experiences. Since i have spent very little time in Mcgill than in NUS, i can accept that there might be some discrepancies up there. But the general picture is not far from what i have written
L'origine de Bert
Showing posts with label sep. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sep. Show all posts
Friday, August 25, 2006
Being back in the land of SACSALs ("SACSAL refugee camp") is, in different ways, both comforting and depressing.
To mitigate the moral hazard problem inherent in group work (perhaps "solve" is too hopeful a word), in one module we're required to name the best and worst member of the group, and if there's someone who deserves more or less credit than the rest, and why.
The Ben and Jerry's waterbottle I thought I lost 2 semesters ago was in Chattercube! Though it had a year's worth of ants inside. Ugh.
After a short email exchange, Eurolines refunded me half the return fare from Utrecht to London.
A friend is going on exchange to the Netherlands this semester. Her visa got rejected because the bank's letter didn't say if the money in the account was in US$ or S$. Wth.
Florida's Natural now produces fruit juice nuggets. Wth? Incidentally it doesn't seem to be made from Californian oranges anymore. Guess the partnership fell through.
Stuff that's more expensive in Cold Storage:
- Champignons (maybe 2x the price)
- Potted plants (maybe 4x the price - my parsley!)
Maybe it's cheaper at Shop & Save.
Quotes:
Is this the right class? There's supposed to be 150 of you. First day, right?... For most of you this is the first classof the new semester, which probably explains why most of youaren't here.
*Flashes slide: "Expect this course to be hard"* That's the good news.
Some of the models will be pretty. Some of them will be ugly. You will take them all on.
Causes from MIT (courses)
Am I going too slow?... One nod. I guess it counts.
[On grading] 4% is attendance. It was forced upon me by the faculty.
[On homework] Copyright will be highly appreciated in this module... To be fair, I will punish both... You should keep your submission as confidential as possible. (He hasn't heard of Creative Commons)
Science faculty graduates earn 5 times more. Excuse me, 5 percent times more than arts graduates (more)
[On matrices] This matrix is totally different from the movie Matrix (...)
Change position means change the poles (Transposition, changing)
Row and colour (column)
[On matrix multiplication] Your reaction seems to be - *flashes clipart of woman with a dropped jaw*
If I give you a 100 by 100 matrix, can you invert it? Yes. But you don't have to know. The computer will know.
What are you doing in science? [Student: Life sciences] So you don't like maths? [Student: I like it.] She likes mathematics.
[To a Sikh] Am I allowed to crack any Singh jokes? [Sikh: I guess it depends.]
XXX. [Student: Actually my first name is YYY.] I know, but this sounds better.
What is the grade you got the last time you took my module? [Student: B-] You deserved it, did you? [Student: I think so, since you gave it to me.]
We have 2 Kenneth Tans. So who's Kenneth Tan 1?
[On a Dutch architect who designed NUS] This guy built this campus so students would get lost. [Student: No, it was so students wouldn't go on strikes... lots of hills, hard for students to congregate.] I hadn't heard of that theory. [Student: It's an urban legend.] I thought it was so the corridors would get wet everytime it rains. Please, this NUS building was not designed by engineers. It was designed by architects.
[On the previous lecturer not stopping on time] I will make sure he stops on time. I have been here long enough. I know how things work... I will tell him 'a girl from your class complained'. That will throw him off the scent. [Student: It's a guys' class.]
I don't like to call teachers here lecturers. Lecturers are like past US presidents who go around the country lecturing about the misdeeds which they have done.
[On prestige in degrees] There were 3 things we could've done. Engineering, medicine or law. The others were not. *pauses* That was the choice available to me, anyway.
Engineers have made themselves very boring. That might be a myth by the non-engineering people. The other group are doctors... They'll keep talking about past cases. You can't talk to them about current affairs. They'll take about some dead bodies.
[On a comparison with doctors and lawyers] Engineers are very stupid, they have no political clout.... If the engineers go on strike, nothing will happen.
A lot of ministers were engineers... They have moved to other fields. They are probably not boring anymore... How come no engineers are challenging me? I am insulting your profession. [Student: This is your personal view right?... Sad to say, I agree with you.]
They keep on inserting things, but they never take out anything... They have no time to digest... They just memorise and regurgitate. That is the way engineering is taught, not just in Singapore but all over the world.
Anyone knows what financial engineering is? You cook the books, is it?
If you come to me privately, I will not answer you. I will probably insult you and scold you and tell you to... run away.
[On giving examination hints by phone] I don't know who is on the phone. It may be a spy planted by the Vice-chancellor or the President to find if *** is giving hints.
[On The Bluffer's Guide to Teaching: Bluff Your Way in Teaching] I recommend this book. I use it all the time.
As I become less nervous, I think my voice will raise more (rise)
[On course information] Is that all? Oh yeah. My name is Dr ***. My first name is Ed. If you like, you can call me Ed. Unless you don't feel comfortable here [doing that].
My office - on the fifth floor. I can't remember the number, but you'll see my name on the door.
This is like a stage. 8 inches. *jumps dramatically off raised lecture platform*
[On the visualiser] This is a neat device. Anybody's a palm reader?
To mitigate the moral hazard problem inherent in group work (perhaps "solve" is too hopeful a word), in one module we're required to name the best and worst member of the group, and if there's someone who deserves more or less credit than the rest, and why.
The Ben and Jerry's waterbottle I thought I lost 2 semesters ago was in Chattercube! Though it had a year's worth of ants inside. Ugh.
After a short email exchange, Eurolines refunded me half the return fare from Utrecht to London.
A friend is going on exchange to the Netherlands this semester. Her visa got rejected because the bank's letter didn't say if the money in the account was in US$ or S$. Wth.
Florida's Natural now produces fruit juice nuggets. Wth? Incidentally it doesn't seem to be made from Californian oranges anymore. Guess the partnership fell through.
Stuff that's more expensive in Cold Storage:
- Champignons (maybe 2x the price)
- Potted plants (maybe 4x the price - my parsley!)
Maybe it's cheaper at Shop & Save.
Quotes:
Is this the right class? There's supposed to be 150 of you. First day, right?... For most of you this is the first classof the new semester, which probably explains why most of youaren't here.
*Flashes slide: "Expect this course to be hard"* That's the good news.
Some of the models will be pretty. Some of them will be ugly. You will take them all on.
Causes from MIT (courses)
Am I going too slow?... One nod. I guess it counts.
[On grading] 4% is attendance. It was forced upon me by the faculty.
[On homework] Copyright will be highly appreciated in this module... To be fair, I will punish both... You should keep your submission as confidential as possible. (He hasn't heard of Creative Commons)
Science faculty graduates earn 5 times more. Excuse me, 5 percent times more than arts graduates (more)
[On matrices] This matrix is totally different from the movie Matrix (...)
Change position means change the poles (Transposition, changing)
Row and colour (column)
[On matrix multiplication] Your reaction seems to be - *flashes clipart of woman with a dropped jaw*
If I give you a 100 by 100 matrix, can you invert it? Yes. But you don't have to know. The computer will know.
What are you doing in science? [Student: Life sciences] So you don't like maths? [Student: I like it.] She likes mathematics.
[To a Sikh] Am I allowed to crack any Singh jokes? [Sikh: I guess it depends.]
XXX. [Student: Actually my first name is YYY.] I know, but this sounds better.
What is the grade you got the last time you took my module? [Student: B-] You deserved it, did you? [Student: I think so, since you gave it to me.]
We have 2 Kenneth Tans. So who's Kenneth Tan 1?
[On a Dutch architect who designed NUS] This guy built this campus so students would get lost. [Student: No, it was so students wouldn't go on strikes... lots of hills, hard for students to congregate.] I hadn't heard of that theory. [Student: It's an urban legend.] I thought it was so the corridors would get wet everytime it rains. Please, this NUS building was not designed by engineers. It was designed by architects.
[On the previous lecturer not stopping on time] I will make sure he stops on time. I have been here long enough. I know how things work... I will tell him 'a girl from your class complained'. That will throw him off the scent. [Student: It's a guys' class.]
I don't like to call teachers here lecturers. Lecturers are like past US presidents who go around the country lecturing about the misdeeds which they have done.
[On prestige in degrees] There were 3 things we could've done. Engineering, medicine or law. The others were not. *pauses* That was the choice available to me, anyway.
Engineers have made themselves very boring. That might be a myth by the non-engineering people. The other group are doctors... They'll keep talking about past cases. You can't talk to them about current affairs. They'll take about some dead bodies.
[On a comparison with doctors and lawyers] Engineers are very stupid, they have no political clout.... If the engineers go on strike, nothing will happen.
A lot of ministers were engineers... They have moved to other fields. They are probably not boring anymore... How come no engineers are challenging me? I am insulting your profession. [Student: This is your personal view right?... Sad to say, I agree with you.]
They keep on inserting things, but they never take out anything... They have no time to digest... They just memorise and regurgitate. That is the way engineering is taught, not just in Singapore but all over the world.
Anyone knows what financial engineering is? You cook the books, is it?
If you come to me privately, I will not answer you. I will probably insult you and scold you and tell you to... run away.
[On giving examination hints by phone] I don't know who is on the phone. It may be a spy planted by the Vice-chancellor or the President to find if *** is giving hints.
[On The Bluffer's Guide to Teaching: Bluff Your Way in Teaching] I recommend this book. I use it all the time.
As I become less nervous, I think my voice will raise more (rise)
[On course information] Is that all? Oh yeah. My name is Dr ***. My first name is Ed. If you like, you can call me Ed. Unless you don't feel comfortable here [doing that].
My office - on the fifth floor. I can't remember the number, but you'll see my name on the door.
This is like a stage. 8 inches. *jumps dramatically off raised lecture platform*
[On the visualiser] This is a neat device. Anybody's a palm reader?
Post ID: 115649447550797911
Monday, August 07, 2006
I needed to use the toilet in Utrecht but I didn't want to pay, so I decided to use my museum card, which granted me free entry to 400+ museums in the Netherlands. I walked to the Nationaal Museum van Speelklok tot Pierement, but my museum card didn't get me free entry - there was a €3 supplement for the Royal Music Machines exhibition.
So I walked down to the Centraal Museum. I didn't have €1 for the locker, so I had to change my €10 note for lots of coins. And then I finally got to use my free toilet (yes!)
***
Eloquent fanmail I got:
"Subject: U suck
u fuckin muggy porn-deprived bastard! - Ur Mother"
This was on Diary of a Chinese High Boy - archived
***
Shianux:
"in Singapore, the implied meanings of what you say can also be taken into account
so saying that durai was on first class implies that he is spending lots of money
you're not implying anything
you're DIRECTLY saying that he's not creative
ironically its safer to just say things directly
because when they imply, they can imply anything they want
if you say "j00 sux0rs", I doubt they can find anything to imply"
So I walked down to the Centraal Museum. I didn't have €1 for the locker, so I had to change my €10 note for lots of coins. And then I finally got to use my free toilet (yes!)
***
Eloquent fanmail I got:
"Subject: U suck
u fuckin muggy porn-deprived bastard! - Ur Mother"
This was on Diary of a Chinese High Boy - archived
***
Shianux:
"in Singapore, the implied meanings of what you say can also be taken into account
so saying that durai was on first class implies that he is spending lots of money
you're not implying anything
you're DIRECTLY saying that he's not creative
ironically its safer to just say things directly
because when they imply, they can imply anything they want
if you say "j00 sux0rs", I doubt they can find anything to imply"
Post ID: 115494633764567466
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
Questionnaire on study skills in the Netherlands:
"16. Did you study in your room?
17. If your answer to question 16 is ‘never’, please explain why" (I wonder if anyone will say: "Because I didn't study, period")
"32. If the level of English of a lecturer was below your own standard, could you accept that?"
"49. Did you receive positive and stimulating feedback from your fellow students on your work during a course?" (This is what I mean by translation issues in European English.)
"62. The Dutch take a deadline very seriously as a final date to hand in an assignment. Was that clear to you when you started?" (Well, come to think of it, no one asked for extensions)
"79. Do you think it is important to achieve high marks?"
They also asked me what my mother tongue is. What Singapore claims my mother tongue is is not the same as what I know it is.
"16. Did you study in your room?
17. If your answer to question 16 is ‘never’, please explain why" (I wonder if anyone will say: "Because I didn't study, period")
"32. If the level of English of a lecturer was below your own standard, could you accept that?"
"49. Did you receive positive and stimulating feedback from your fellow students on your work during a course?" (This is what I mean by translation issues in European English.)
"62. The Dutch take a deadline very seriously as a final date to hand in an assignment. Was that clear to you when you started?" (Well, come to think of it, no one asked for extensions)
"79. Do you think it is important to achieve high marks?"
They also asked me what my mother tongue is. What Singapore claims my mother tongue is is not the same as what I know it is.
Post ID: 115433853670824862
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Friday, June 30, 2006
Throwing away stuff is depressing. Especially when I think of how much future tenants would like things like pillows, duvets, bedsheets, pillowcases and couches.
I was helping a housemate to move into her new place and assemble some furniture, and while we were at lunch we saw the most pathetic busker ever. He'd set up large speakers and was blasting his music. That was bad enough, but I noticed that he wasn't even singing. My housemate added that he was not even playing his guitar, only pretending to strum it, while bouncing around and pretending. What a loser.
I paid €34 (+€2,65 for the box) to ship 5,2 kg of stuff at the post office. This even though it's by sea. For all I know it's cheaper to just exceed the weight allowance at the airport.
When I told the woman at the post office where I wanted to ship my parcel to, she took out the list and her finger hovered on 'Singapore' for a while. Then she asked me if it was in China. Gah. I wonder if Singaporean Malays, Indians or Others get the same reaction.
I saw a cock car painted in orange and with its roof down (its available as a convertible too?!)
Some Dutch magazine ("Consumentenbond") actually went around rating frites places for how healthy their fries were ("Gezondgids"). This place, "Bram ladage" won.
Dutch = English + German + Phlegm
I wanted to buy some useless Orange stuff for fun, but when I went to Blokker today most of it was gone, since they got defeated by Portugal. Damn. In the end I got a "fan".
I saw this poster which was an ad for something about Leiden (probably education-related). There was a Dutch guy and an East Asian girl sitting on a bench, and he was putting a jacket on her. Guess the Asian fetish exists here too.
It's good to walk here for the same reason it's good to cycle - the land is flat.
My parsley plant was not doing well. It was like the primary school experiment about overcrowding. Well actually only some stalks were dying and had yellow/brown leaves - the rest looked pretty healthy. I threw it away anyway.
I think the Dutch are the leanest people in Europe I've seen. It must be all the cycling. Of course, they're not SACSAL size (and they *are* the tallest in the world) and there are fat people also, but overall they're all trim-ish. Interestingly I have also seen no slimming ads in the media at all, so maybe it's a curve - if there're lots of anorexic people or lots of obese people, there'll be a lot of slimming ads but otherwise no.
I saw a TV ad where 3 naked women were in a sauna (with strategic positioning of body parts, of course), and they heard men shouting. The noise of the voices got closer, until 1 woman got up, grabbed the only towel, exited the sauna with it wrapped round herself and held the door open as a horde of naked men (seen from behind) streamed into the sauna. It was a hairdye commercial. I'm still trying to make sense of it. Presumably the woman who exited the sauna had a different hair colour.
There was another TV commercial on which looked like a rock concert, but keywords flashing onscreen let me know the truth. The German housemate who'd returned to do some admin asked if I knew what it was, and I answered in the affirmative. He said American christianity was invading Germany too.
I saw a man on a bicycle and a woman on a motorcycle. He was holding onto her shoulder and being dragged along. Bah.
I have a feeling that many people think that the Netherlands, being the land of pot, hookers and euthanasia is a seedy place. Some might even think it dangerous. In fact, as a barometer, outside of the Amsterdam red light district, pornography is less openly advertised than in other continental European countries (descriptions may be found in previous travelogues, often by searching for the line: "Gotta love these Europeans). An especially graphic example is the postcards of topless German women and the Pope. Amsterdam is slightly different in that even outside the red light district, they sell naughty postcards, T-shirts and other souvenirs. Yet these almost always depict stylised, cartoon nudity or naughtiness.
One local student was saying that although the Chinese here blend in quite well, they integrate rather than assimilate, remaining a distinct group. However, they don't "stand out" and "cause trouble". She singled out 2 groups which did - the Turks and Moroccans.
Bottles from all over Europe
Someone was saying her friend had a 3.9 GPA in University College Utrecht, but when this person went to Singapore his GPA plunged to 3.1 (I hope it was not CAP).
UCU, the honours college here, is less slack than the main university. They have small classes which are more seminar sized, and one student complained skipping 6 lectures would get you in trouble. But they all live on the same small campus anyway, so it's not so bad. And it's still not as anal as in some places.
Some of the PRCs asked the tutor to let them zap the answers to some tutorials. Unfortunately, although the questions were in English the answers were in Dutch.
Someone was saying pair work is the best because when you do it alone there's no one to consult and give feedback, and when it's too big there's the free-riding problem. I must add that in big groups there's co-ordination and monitoring costs, and that in pair work each can easily motivate (read: harass) the other to dothe work.
We got an evaluation form for one module asking us if:
- we have a sufficient command of english to follow lectures (there's a "NA" option, presumably for those who skipped all)
- what percentage of the lectures and tutorials we prepared well and attended (I was confused, since I didn't prepare well for some I attended, so I gave a partially weighted average)
- how many hours a week we spent on the course excluding lectures, tutorials and other gatherings (the maximum option is 99 since you shade a box each for the first and second digits. Wth)
- if the lecturer's english was 'sufficient to properly convey the course content' (this is a good one. We need this in NUS, which needs to ask this question more than Universiteit Utrecht)
- If the course co-ordinator was easy to contact
- If the course content fit the description in the catalogue ("What you learn in University: never believe course descriptions.")
- If there's a coherence between the different elements - lectures, tutorials, assignments, group work and individual study
- 'The required efforts of the course are useful" - ???
- If the examination was an appropriate test for command of the content
- If we expected to pass (note: not our expected grade)
This is real module feedback, since it's almost totally anonymous (they're not as bo liao as to track down who filled in what).
I don't like to bake - it doesn't give instant (or near-instant) gratification and it leaves horrible stains on the pan, but it gives such a lovely glaze to meats basted in sauces. I should try it more when I return.
Sauerkraut Fried Rice
I had sauerkraut leftover after making stamppot so I threw it in this. "Mild" sauerkraut is too mild for me - it wasn't sour enough.
Mutant pepper
Zacht en Luchtig Vla
I didn't realise this was special Vla until I tasted it - if you look closely you can see bubbles. It's been aerated so it's light and fluffy.
Jolide - Even Dutch snack bars have gone online, with delivery services. I saw the delivery man downstairs today.
There's this snack bar called "Cafeteria Smurf" which I sometimes patronise, due to its being near UCU. Usually I only see the man, who looks Indonesian-Chinese, but two or three times his female assistant (I assume his wife) has come out. Today I noticed her reading a Chinese novel, so I asked the man if they were from Indonesia. He said they were from China. Damn, and all this time I'd been attempting to communicate in broken Dutch (about the only English word I've heard him utter is "takeaway?", when I didn't cathc the Dutch equivalent).
Quotes:
[Student: Was it common for caravans to expand along the journey?] Baby camels.
carer'wairn (caravan)
[Tutor: Market failure is the main argument for government intervention.] That's chapter 10, not chapter 11.
[On Brandon-Spencer analysis and a subsidy for Airbus increasing EU welfare at the expense of the US] It's a clear beggar thy neighbor policy, but then again, who cares?
mail tea laterns (multilateral)
[On digesting articles in the reader] Just read the article, think about it, have a wine or a beer. [Student: I fall asleep]
I was helping a housemate to move into her new place and assemble some furniture, and while we were at lunch we saw the most pathetic busker ever. He'd set up large speakers and was blasting his music. That was bad enough, but I noticed that he wasn't even singing. My housemate added that he was not even playing his guitar, only pretending to strum it, while bouncing around and pretending. What a loser.
I paid €34 (+€2,65 for the box) to ship 5,2 kg of stuff at the post office. This even though it's by sea. For all I know it's cheaper to just exceed the weight allowance at the airport.
When I told the woman at the post office where I wanted to ship my parcel to, she took out the list and her finger hovered on 'Singapore' for a while. Then she asked me if it was in China. Gah. I wonder if Singaporean Malays, Indians or Others get the same reaction.
I saw a cock car painted in orange and with its roof down (its available as a convertible too?!)
Some Dutch magazine ("Consumentenbond") actually went around rating frites places for how healthy their fries were ("Gezondgids"). This place, "Bram ladage" won.
Dutch = English + German + Phlegm
I wanted to buy some useless Orange stuff for fun, but when I went to Blokker today most of it was gone, since they got defeated by Portugal. Damn. In the end I got a "fan".
I saw this poster which was an ad for something about Leiden (probably education-related). There was a Dutch guy and an East Asian girl sitting on a bench, and he was putting a jacket on her. Guess the Asian fetish exists here too.
It's good to walk here for the same reason it's good to cycle - the land is flat.
My parsley plant was not doing well. It was like the primary school experiment about overcrowding. Well actually only some stalks were dying and had yellow/brown leaves - the rest looked pretty healthy. I threw it away anyway.
I think the Dutch are the leanest people in Europe I've seen. It must be all the cycling. Of course, they're not SACSAL size (and they *are* the tallest in the world) and there are fat people also, but overall they're all trim-ish. Interestingly I have also seen no slimming ads in the media at all, so maybe it's a curve - if there're lots of anorexic people or lots of obese people, there'll be a lot of slimming ads but otherwise no.
I saw a TV ad where 3 naked women were in a sauna (with strategic positioning of body parts, of course), and they heard men shouting. The noise of the voices got closer, until 1 woman got up, grabbed the only towel, exited the sauna with it wrapped round herself and held the door open as a horde of naked men (seen from behind) streamed into the sauna. It was a hairdye commercial. I'm still trying to make sense of it. Presumably the woman who exited the sauna had a different hair colour.
There was another TV commercial on which looked like a rock concert, but keywords flashing onscreen let me know the truth. The German housemate who'd returned to do some admin asked if I knew what it was, and I answered in the affirmative. He said American christianity was invading Germany too.
I saw a man on a bicycle and a woman on a motorcycle. He was holding onto her shoulder and being dragged along. Bah.
I have a feeling that many people think that the Netherlands, being the land of pot, hookers and euthanasia is a seedy place. Some might even think it dangerous. In fact, as a barometer, outside of the Amsterdam red light district, pornography is less openly advertised than in other continental European countries (descriptions may be found in previous travelogues, often by searching for the line: "Gotta love these Europeans). An especially graphic example is the postcards of topless German women and the Pope. Amsterdam is slightly different in that even outside the red light district, they sell naughty postcards, T-shirts and other souvenirs. Yet these almost always depict stylised, cartoon nudity or naughtiness.
One local student was saying that although the Chinese here blend in quite well, they integrate rather than assimilate, remaining a distinct group. However, they don't "stand out" and "cause trouble". She singled out 2 groups which did - the Turks and Moroccans.
Bottles from all over Europe
Someone was saying her friend had a 3.9 GPA in University College Utrecht, but when this person went to Singapore his GPA plunged to 3.1 (I hope it was not CAP).
UCU, the honours college here, is less slack than the main university. They have small classes which are more seminar sized, and one student complained skipping 6 lectures would get you in trouble. But they all live on the same small campus anyway, so it's not so bad. And it's still not as anal as in some places.
Some of the PRCs asked the tutor to let them zap the answers to some tutorials. Unfortunately, although the questions were in English the answers were in Dutch.
Someone was saying pair work is the best because when you do it alone there's no one to consult and give feedback, and when it's too big there's the free-riding problem. I must add that in big groups there's co-ordination and monitoring costs, and that in pair work each can easily motivate (read: harass) the other to dothe work.
We got an evaluation form for one module asking us if:
- we have a sufficient command of english to follow lectures (there's a "NA" option, presumably for those who skipped all)
- what percentage of the lectures and tutorials we prepared well and attended (I was confused, since I didn't prepare well for some I attended, so I gave a partially weighted average)
- how many hours a week we spent on the course excluding lectures, tutorials and other gatherings (the maximum option is 99 since you shade a box each for the first and second digits. Wth)
- if the lecturer's english was 'sufficient to properly convey the course content' (this is a good one. We need this in NUS, which needs to ask this question more than Universiteit Utrecht)
- If the course co-ordinator was easy to contact
- If the course content fit the description in the catalogue ("What you learn in University: never believe course descriptions.")
- If there's a coherence between the different elements - lectures, tutorials, assignments, group work and individual study
- 'The required efforts of the course are useful" - ???
- If the examination was an appropriate test for command of the content
- If we expected to pass (note: not our expected grade)
This is real module feedback, since it's almost totally anonymous (they're not as bo liao as to track down who filled in what).
I don't like to bake - it doesn't give instant (or near-instant) gratification and it leaves horrible stains on the pan, but it gives such a lovely glaze to meats basted in sauces. I should try it more when I return.
Sauerkraut Fried Rice
I had sauerkraut leftover after making stamppot so I threw it in this. "Mild" sauerkraut is too mild for me - it wasn't sour enough.
Mutant pepper
Zacht en Luchtig Vla
I didn't realise this was special Vla until I tasted it - if you look closely you can see bubbles. It's been aerated so it's light and fluffy.
Jolide - Even Dutch snack bars have gone online, with delivery services. I saw the delivery man downstairs today.
There's this snack bar called "Cafeteria Smurf" which I sometimes patronise, due to its being near UCU. Usually I only see the man, who looks Indonesian-Chinese, but two or three times his female assistant (I assume his wife) has come out. Today I noticed her reading a Chinese novel, so I asked the man if they were from Indonesia. He said they were from China. Damn, and all this time I'd been attempting to communicate in broken Dutch (about the only English word I've heard him utter is "takeaway?", when I didn't cathc the Dutch equivalent).
Quotes:
[Student: Was it common for caravans to expand along the journey?] Baby camels.
carer'wairn (caravan)
[Tutor: Market failure is the main argument for government intervention.] That's chapter 10, not chapter 11.
[On Brandon-Spencer analysis and a subsidy for Airbus increasing EU welfare at the expense of the US] It's a clear beggar thy neighbor policy, but then again, who cares?
mail tea laterns (multilateral)
[On digesting articles in the reader] Just read the article, think about it, have a wine or a beer. [Student: I fall asleep]
Post ID: 115140531037244709
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Sometimes I wonder if I have an unfair advantage over most of the students here since I'm a native English speaker; some Dutch students bring in and use dictionaries during exams.
There was a pair presenting an article which argued that, with respect to the WTO, manufacturing should be liberalised instead of services. This was because in both, developing countries would gain roughly the same, but developed countries would gain much more from liberalisation of services than manufacturing. They thought this this relative hobbling of rich countries would be "fairer". Wth.
To bolster their argument they said thousands of Africans would come across the Mediterranean in small boats on seeing how rich Europe was. They also suggested that developing countries use this as a bargaining chip so developed ones would redistribute some of the gains from services to them. Someone else raised the issue of justice vs fairness and brought up the case of how people's happiness depends on relative welfare rather than absolute welfare.
Maybe I should've lamented about the misery of the human condition, but on the up side, European notions of social justice are an exception to how libertarians are all rich and anti-abortion activists are all men.
They dressed up a couple in 18th century clothing (complete with wigs) and had them walk around the Hoog Catharijne one Saturday to promote some special shopping day they had. Very cute, especially since they were in orange (which I doubt was in in the 18th century).
Everything here is truly fried into submission. I had a 'supertje crizly' which was basically a kebab on a stick (with onions), but battered and then fried. It was served with fries (naturally) and satesaus. Aiyoh. It was heavy, even for me.
I saw a place selling a pistolet (bread in the shape of a mini half-baugette) with Dutch strawberries. Wth.
There's this product called Cornetto Soft which is basically instant soft serve ice cream. The ice cream sits in the freezer in cylinders and is served by placing them in a press which squeezes the ice cream into a waiting cone. Voila - instant soft serve (complete with swirls).
There was this brand of oil with a picture of an olive, and the bottle of which said it contained olive oil. I looked at the back and found that only 20% was olive. The rest was ominously labelled "vegetable oil and fat". Bah.
I was at Nettorama and they were giving out free samples of Nieuwe maatjes haring (New cut [?] herring). It was raw of course but what the heck, I decided you only live once, and decided to try one square. For about 20 seconds I was trying to suppress my gag reflex, but after that I could appreciate (so to speak) the product. Its texture was pretty much like smoked salmon, and it wasn't as slimy as I expected. There wasn't much of a taste beyond an off-salty taste (like salt with unspecified additives), but this stayed in my mouth for many minutes.
Nettorama is not quite as cheap as Aldi, but it has more brand-name goods. Also, the stuff comes in smaller sizes. Onions at Aldi come in 2kg packs, but I knew I couldn't finish 2kg of onions in as many weeks (still having a few left in the cupboard to boot). Nettorama, on the other hand, sells onions in 1kg packs also, so that's what I went for.
I made stamppot with instant mashed potato mix. It was the wrong texture but it was still nice.
Advertising slogan for Dr Pepper: "Can you handle the taste?" It's that bad, huh?
On 21/6, I found that the 2x500g packets of sliced, cooked potatoes I bought from Aldi which were due to expire on 24/6 were both bloated and smelled and tasted sour. I had to go buy a new packet from downstairs. Gah.
There's a street in Utrecht called 'parallelweg' (parallel to the track). Needless to say, it's parallel to the railway track. Gah.
I realise I can document my travels with soft drink bottles. Right now I can see a French Pepsi bottle, Greek Fanta Orange bottle, Austrian Coke bottle, German Fanta Orange bottle, British 7-up bottle and the numerous Dutch bottles in my room.
Seen in a snack bar: "Loempia cum laude" (Spring roll cum laude) and "Nasi Goreng Rol" (Nasi Goreng inside spring roll skin and deep fried). Gah.
One of my housemates said some of them were wondering if I was straight because when Jiekai was over they heard a lot of laughter from my room. Gah. Then when I laughed in response to their question one of them said it was the laughter he heard when Jiekai was over.
It's more surreal seeing mineral water in tetrapaks, somehow, than wine.
Quotes:
financial creases (crisis)
our pre'sentation (presentation)
the lest area described in the paper (last)
fill a pines (Philippines)
expert subsidies (export)
[On aid] You can't just give them a bag of money and say, 'Have fun'. I see your point. I even agree with it. How's that?
the cows and effect is unclear (cause)
What is the chicken and what is the ack? (egg)
Suppose the return on your education is 6%... The interest rate is 4%. So you borrow... If the interest rate rises to 7% you can continue borrowing... or stop living.
Question 6. Who has done question 6? It's an easy one, so it's good no one has done it. *explains question 6*
I will come to slaughter your presentations on Friday... One of my favourite activities. So be prepared.
[On Montenegro adopting the Euro and running a current account deficit] We hope, of course, that you will sell your country to foreign investors.
There was a pair presenting an article which argued that, with respect to the WTO, manufacturing should be liberalised instead of services. This was because in both, developing countries would gain roughly the same, but developed countries would gain much more from liberalisation of services than manufacturing. They thought this this relative hobbling of rich countries would be "fairer". Wth.
To bolster their argument they said thousands of Africans would come across the Mediterranean in small boats on seeing how rich Europe was. They also suggested that developing countries use this as a bargaining chip so developed ones would redistribute some of the gains from services to them. Someone else raised the issue of justice vs fairness and brought up the case of how people's happiness depends on relative welfare rather than absolute welfare.
Maybe I should've lamented about the misery of the human condition, but on the up side, European notions of social justice are an exception to how libertarians are all rich and anti-abortion activists are all men.
They dressed up a couple in 18th century clothing (complete with wigs) and had them walk around the Hoog Catharijne one Saturday to promote some special shopping day they had. Very cute, especially since they were in orange (which I doubt was in in the 18th century).
Everything here is truly fried into submission. I had a 'supertje crizly' which was basically a kebab on a stick (with onions), but battered and then fried. It was served with fries (naturally) and satesaus. Aiyoh. It was heavy, even for me.
I saw a place selling a pistolet (bread in the shape of a mini half-baugette) with Dutch strawberries. Wth.
There's this product called Cornetto Soft which is basically instant soft serve ice cream. The ice cream sits in the freezer in cylinders and is served by placing them in a press which squeezes the ice cream into a waiting cone. Voila - instant soft serve (complete with swirls).
There was this brand of oil with a picture of an olive, and the bottle of which said it contained olive oil. I looked at the back and found that only 20% was olive. The rest was ominously labelled "vegetable oil and fat". Bah.
I was at Nettorama and they were giving out free samples of Nieuwe maatjes haring (New cut [?] herring). It was raw of course but what the heck, I decided you only live once, and decided to try one square. For about 20 seconds I was trying to suppress my gag reflex, but after that I could appreciate (so to speak) the product. Its texture was pretty much like smoked salmon, and it wasn't as slimy as I expected. There wasn't much of a taste beyond an off-salty taste (like salt with unspecified additives), but this stayed in my mouth for many minutes.
Nettorama is not quite as cheap as Aldi, but it has more brand-name goods. Also, the stuff comes in smaller sizes. Onions at Aldi come in 2kg packs, but I knew I couldn't finish 2kg of onions in as many weeks (still having a few left in the cupboard to boot). Nettorama, on the other hand, sells onions in 1kg packs also, so that's what I went for.
I made stamppot with instant mashed potato mix. It was the wrong texture but it was still nice.
Advertising slogan for Dr Pepper: "Can you handle the taste?" It's that bad, huh?
On 21/6, I found that the 2x500g packets of sliced, cooked potatoes I bought from Aldi which were due to expire on 24/6 were both bloated and smelled and tasted sour. I had to go buy a new packet from downstairs. Gah.
There's a street in Utrecht called 'parallelweg' (parallel to the track). Needless to say, it's parallel to the railway track. Gah.
I realise I can document my travels with soft drink bottles. Right now I can see a French Pepsi bottle, Greek Fanta Orange bottle, Austrian Coke bottle, German Fanta Orange bottle, British 7-up bottle and the numerous Dutch bottles in my room.
Seen in a snack bar: "Loempia cum laude" (Spring roll cum laude) and "Nasi Goreng Rol" (Nasi Goreng inside spring roll skin and deep fried). Gah.
One of my housemates said some of them were wondering if I was straight because when Jiekai was over they heard a lot of laughter from my room. Gah. Then when I laughed in response to their question one of them said it was the laughter he heard when Jiekai was over.
It's more surreal seeing mineral water in tetrapaks, somehow, than wine.
Quotes:
financial creases (crisis)
our pre'sentation (presentation)
the lest area described in the paper (last)
fill a pines (Philippines)
expert subsidies (export)
[On aid] You can't just give them a bag of money and say, 'Have fun'. I see your point. I even agree with it. How's that?
the cows and effect is unclear (cause)
What is the chicken and what is the ack? (egg)
Suppose the return on your education is 6%... The interest rate is 4%. So you borrow... If the interest rate rises to 7% you can continue borrowing... or stop living.
Question 6. Who has done question 6? It's an easy one, so it's good no one has done it. *explains question 6*
I will come to slaughter your presentations on Friday... One of my favourite activities. So be prepared.
[On Montenegro adopting the Euro and running a current account deficit] We hope, of course, that you will sell your country to foreign investors.
Post ID: 115119349151056419
Saturday, June 24, 2006
I can hear a very fast, strong beat coming from a distant apartment, and the sound of people mingling.
If I didn't know any better, I'd think an Ah Beng was driving around in his car with his car stereo turned up to the max.
I guess this is why they call it Eurotrash.
At least the beat isn't blasting continuously.
Time to turn on the 9th Symphony.
Someone: ah beng techno is essentially spun off from "eurotrash"
ah beng techno is usually remixed a bit with some hokkien phrases thrown in
and some malay and indian swear words
If I didn't know any better, I'd think an Ah Beng was driving around in his car with his car stereo turned up to the max.
I guess this is why they call it Eurotrash.
At least the beat isn't blasting continuously.
Time to turn on the 9th Symphony.
Someone: ah beng techno is essentially spun off from "eurotrash"
ah beng techno is usually remixed a bit with some hokkien phrases thrown in
and some malay and indian swear words
Post ID: 115110045147247458
Monday, June 19, 2006
xxoos wanted to go to Amsterdam, and I still hadn't seen the Rembrandt-Caravaggio exhibition, so I went along as well. Sportingly (or stingily), she agreed to walk to the city centre with me.
Koningin Wilhelmina (Queen Wilhelmina). This is in Wilhelminapark. It's a really awful statue for a Queen.
Squashed pigeon on the way to the city centre
Besides being deaf, I am also blind. xxoos had to point this out. But at least I take better photos than the Cock. A guy in a car waved at me after I took this picture; this was damn weird, which is why I like this country - both liberal and weird, which is right down my alley.
xxoos had a better eye for zaogengs than I, and claimed that she could see a lot (including one patriotic female who was wearing orange), but then I can only look while being respectable if I'm gay, so. She also pointed out that many of them have big thighs (I theorise it's from a life of cycling), something which I had noticed but was reluctant to list in my previous "how to avoid zaogeng-ing while cycling" list both due to lack of visual confirmation and politeness (hah!)
"After I ate bacon, I never looked back" - contextless
I told xxoos to use the train toilet because it was free, but she claimed she wanted to use the one in the station because there was more space, so she wasted €0,50. (... women) A lot of women also had the same idea, so the queue for the female toilet was very long, almost spiling outside the toilet gates, so one popped into the male toilet.
In Amsterdam they had this party to celebrate 10 years of legalisation (Legalize! Educate not criminate! Stichting Legalize! Haal drugs uit het strafrecht!). There were a lot of police, and from the smell in the air, people were smoking it in public.
Pot cart
The performance artists were getting in on the picture also. This guy's costume was good, except he didn't paint his hands.
People getting relief from the summer heat in a pool behind the Rijksmuseum
Man and dog in pook
When I got to the Van Gogh museum for the Rembrandt-Caravaggio exhibition, I was pissed off to find that my museum card did not get me a reduction on the exhibition - I still had to pay €10 (they even had a sign specifically listing €10 as the price for those with the museum card for youth). This was not as bad as for those without the museum card, for they had to pay €20 for a combined ticket to the Van Gogh museum and the Rembrandt-Caravaggio exhibition - particularly galling since Van Gogh had nothing to do with Rembrandt and Caravaggio. I wonder if they'd have organised the exhibition if the asbestos problem had not hit the Rijksmuseum (how lucky that this year is the 400th anniversary of Rembrandt's birth). And then when I got in I found that photography was disallowed. Grr. It must've cost them a helluva bomb to get all the Caravaggios in. At least the audioguide was included in the price.
One was called the Southern Rembrandt and one the Caravaggio of the North. Gah.
The soft lighting of the exhibition was ironic since Rembrandt himself recommended that one painting by hung in strong light so it would be more striking.
They put Caravaggio's Judith Beheading Holofernes and Rembrandt's The Blinding of Samson beside each other. I found this interesting, because essentially the same event (female treachery) is given 2 completely different spins.
In Caravaggio's The Holy Family with St John the Baptist I saw Jesus' genitalia for the first time in painting.
I like clearly defined painting and dislike muddiness, evident in some of Rembrandt's pieces, but muddiness is employed to great effect in "The Denial of St Peter". Unusually, Jesus is in the background, almost invisible. This causes the focus of the viewer's attention to be directed to Peter's face which contorts as he realises his betrayal. Also, despite Jesus' face being in shadow, Rembrandt manages to make the disappointed look in his face evident (I won't go into the morality.
The end of the commentary on audioguide 8 told the listener that the exhibition continued above, yet there was room 9 beside room 8. Tsk.
"Caravaggio used to say that painting, however and by whomsoever it might be practiced, must remain no more than a vain and idle pastime so long as the principle of painting directly from life was not entirely and consistently adhered to... This was a view which was just as firmly held by our great master Rembrandt, who also made it his principle to paint only from Nature and who looked with suspicion on any tendencies contrary to this principle." - Dutch critic and painter Arnold Houbraken, 1719
This is ironic considering that Van Gogh greatly admired Rembrandt (even saying that he'd give 10 years of his life to sit looking at the Jewish Bride for 14 days with only a crust of dry bread), yet produced kindergarten crayon etchings that the latter would no doubt have despised. I wonder what the two would say about art from Impressionism on. One could always fudge and claim that grotesque buckets splashing on canvas is even more true to life and nature, since it reveals the inner dynamism of it. But then since this is not apologetics, no one (I hope) would accept such a lame excuse.
"What is a devout church father doing alongside a naked woman?" - The audioguide on placing Caravaggio's St Jerome writing beside Rembrandt's Bathsheba bathing. The audioguide called it a provocative choice. What they didn't add was that it was a seditious one as well.
A funny poem from 1681 by Andre Speltz (sp?) on Rembrandt's painted women: "When he'd paint a naked woman... as model no Greek Venus but a maid find in a wood"
Artemisia, the wife of Mausolus (of Mausoleum fame) mixed his ashes with wine and drank it so her body would be a living tomb for her husband. Uhh.
Rembrandt's Rape of Ganymede is funny since it portrays Ganymede as an ugly crybaby (and urinating at the same time). I wonder why people are offended when Alexander the Great and Frederick the Great are portrayed as bisexual and homosexual respectively, but no one complains about Zeus.
Caravaggio's "The Supper at Emmaus" offended people because he depicted saints as ordinary people. It's lucky these people who took offence did not mutilate or destroy the painting, since now another interpretation is that this prosaic quality allows a contrast with the ethereal figure of Christ.
In all the exhibition was amazing, if a bit overpriced. But since I can't prove I'm not a brain in a vat and all my thoughts are not pre-programmed into me, Rembrandt and Caravaggio might actually be crap and my reactions and evaluations dissolve into the ether and are worthless (damn, I'm getting good at Argumentum ad Ludicrum. I can get my PhD in theology now).
The exhibition noted that no one calls Rembrandt by his last name, and that Van Gogh didn't want to be called by his last name too. I think I once read that it's silly to call Leonardo Da Vinci by his last name (so to speak), since it simply means "From Vinci"; "Van Gogh" translates to "Of/from Gogh" (but I'm not sure what "Gogh" is so the translation might not be correct), but then no one thinks it's stupid to call people "Smith", "Taylor", "Baker", "Weaver" and the like.
Rembrandt enrolled in a Latin school so he could go to University. However, he dropped out at 14 to be an artist. Doubtless people bemoaned his irresponsibility and said he'd never amount to much. But then the expected return on making everyone an engineer is higher than of letting people do what they want: as the saying goes, "For every winner, there are dozens of losers. Odds are you're one of them". You just get a lower variance (probably).
At the end of the exhibition you could record your video reaction to it. Heh.
The only reason I'm not making a snide remark about the museum posting of the "Go to the museum as often as you can" quote by Van Gogh is because of the museum card.
I walked out the door of the museum, and then realised I'd left my bag in the cloakroom, which was beside the door. I tried to go back in, but the guy at the door waved his finger at me with a "no no" when I told him the reason. Annoyed, I dug out my museum card, and then my cloakroom token. I wonder if he'd have let me in if I'd only shown my cloakroom token. It's just beside the door, damnit.
A black woman with braided hair in the park near the Van Gogh museum asked me, in an American accent, if I would like her to braid my hair for me. Gah. Do I look like someone who wants braided hair?!
"A lot of people here don't wear bra one" - xxoos
Canal
I am told that this sign informs the viewer that Chinese get their first jug/glass of "wine water" (drinks) on the house. The discrimination is disgusting. It's one thing to give free soup/dessert/drinks to those who speak Chinese to you. It's another to discreetly discriminate by having a sign in Chinese saying you get a free drink, thereby excluding those who don't read Chinese. But to say that only Chinese get a free drink?! And what about Bananas who, unlike Urine, cannot read Chinese?
The restaurant with this sign, "Namtin" had lots of awards, but their har gao (€4 for 4) and siu mai (€2,75 for 4) (xxoos wanted to ta bao dim sum) was alright only. Actually the siu mai was mediocre - mostly meat and very little prawn. The only good thing I can say is that the pieces were huge.
I was sitting in a Chinese restaurant with xxoos and a machine came by to empty the dustbin outside the restaurant. Instead of the dustbin being turned on its head, emptying its contents into the truck, a snout-like appendage unfolded from the truch and started thrusting rhythmically in and out of the dustbin, guided by the hands of one worker. How appropriate for Amsterdam.
I ordered sweet and sour pork Hong Kong style at the restaurant. I was wondering how different it would be from normal sweet and sour pork, but it turned out to be the same. At least it wasn't drenched in the sauce like most sweet and sour pork, so it was a bit crispy. Meanwhile my duck was excellent - the skin melted in my mouth, being close to Hwa Ting quality.
Funky books: "Combat Training for the Special Technical Soldiers Taking Free and Passively Qin Na, Lectured by Liu Yi, The Combat Coach for Special Technical Forces, The 35th Generation Disciple of the Ancient Orthodox Shaolin Quan"; Chinese Kung-Fu Series 6, 8 and 15: "Ten Routine Spring Leg", "Changquan - Long Shadow Boxing", "13 Emei Shortsword Techniques"; Treatment of common diseases with Qi Gong Therapy, Believe it or not: Aneicnt and Mysterious Chinese Qigong
Also in the shop: MAO ZEDONG: Man, Not God - Quan Yanchi
Naughty figurines illustrate Asian Values
"All bikes will be removed and utterly destroyed" - Seen in a shop window or some such. Gotta love the translations.
"How are you? Wij zijn gesloten" (We are closed) - sign in a shop window. Gah.
Palace
Nieuwe Kerk
I don't know why so many places say they're 100% Halal. Is it possible to be 99% Halal? Maybe I can set up a restaurant where 10% of the ingredients are non-Halal, then it'll be 90% Halal.
The guy in front of me while queuing for the bus back from the station had 3 ABN AMRO wereldkaarten in his wallet. Wah lao.
Koningin Wilhelmina (Queen Wilhelmina). This is in Wilhelminapark. It's a really awful statue for a Queen.
Squashed pigeon on the way to the city centre
Besides being deaf, I am also blind. xxoos had to point this out. But at least I take better photos than the Cock. A guy in a car waved at me after I took this picture; this was damn weird, which is why I like this country - both liberal and weird, which is right down my alley.
xxoos had a better eye for zaogengs than I, and claimed that she could see a lot (including one patriotic female who was wearing orange), but then I can only look while being respectable if I'm gay, so. She also pointed out that many of them have big thighs (I theorise it's from a life of cycling), something which I had noticed but was reluctant to list in my previous "how to avoid zaogeng-ing while cycling" list both due to lack of visual confirmation and politeness (hah!)
"After I ate bacon, I never looked back" - contextless
I told xxoos to use the train toilet because it was free, but she claimed she wanted to use the one in the station because there was more space, so she wasted €0,50. (... women) A lot of women also had the same idea, so the queue for the female toilet was very long, almost spiling outside the toilet gates, so one popped into the male toilet.
In Amsterdam they had this party to celebrate 10 years of legalisation (Legalize! Educate not criminate! Stichting Legalize! Haal drugs uit het strafrecht!). There were a lot of police, and from the smell in the air, people were smoking it in public.
Pot cart
The performance artists were getting in on the picture also. This guy's costume was good, except he didn't paint his hands.
People getting relief from the summer heat in a pool behind the Rijksmuseum
Man and dog in pook
When I got to the Van Gogh museum for the Rembrandt-Caravaggio exhibition, I was pissed off to find that my museum card did not get me a reduction on the exhibition - I still had to pay €10 (they even had a sign specifically listing €10 as the price for those with the museum card for youth). This was not as bad as for those without the museum card, for they had to pay €20 for a combined ticket to the Van Gogh museum and the Rembrandt-Caravaggio exhibition - particularly galling since Van Gogh had nothing to do with Rembrandt and Caravaggio. I wonder if they'd have organised the exhibition if the asbestos problem had not hit the Rijksmuseum (how lucky that this year is the 400th anniversary of Rembrandt's birth). And then when I got in I found that photography was disallowed. Grr. It must've cost them a helluva bomb to get all the Caravaggios in. At least the audioguide was included in the price.
One was called the Southern Rembrandt and one the Caravaggio of the North. Gah.
The soft lighting of the exhibition was ironic since Rembrandt himself recommended that one painting by hung in strong light so it would be more striking.
They put Caravaggio's Judith Beheading Holofernes and Rembrandt's The Blinding of Samson beside each other. I found this interesting, because essentially the same event (female treachery) is given 2 completely different spins.
In Caravaggio's The Holy Family with St John the Baptist I saw Jesus' genitalia for the first time in painting.
I like clearly defined painting and dislike muddiness, evident in some of Rembrandt's pieces, but muddiness is employed to great effect in "The Denial of St Peter". Unusually, Jesus is in the background, almost invisible. This causes the focus of the viewer's attention to be directed to Peter's face which contorts as he realises his betrayal. Also, despite Jesus' face being in shadow, Rembrandt manages to make the disappointed look in his face evident (I won't go into the morality.
The end of the commentary on audioguide 8 told the listener that the exhibition continued above, yet there was room 9 beside room 8. Tsk.
"Caravaggio used to say that painting, however and by whomsoever it might be practiced, must remain no more than a vain and idle pastime so long as the principle of painting directly from life was not entirely and consistently adhered to... This was a view which was just as firmly held by our great master Rembrandt, who also made it his principle to paint only from Nature and who looked with suspicion on any tendencies contrary to this principle." - Dutch critic and painter Arnold Houbraken, 1719
This is ironic considering that Van Gogh greatly admired Rembrandt (even saying that he'd give 10 years of his life to sit looking at the Jewish Bride for 14 days with only a crust of dry bread), yet produced kindergarten crayon etchings that the latter would no doubt have despised. I wonder what the two would say about art from Impressionism on. One could always fudge and claim that grotesque buckets splashing on canvas is even more true to life and nature, since it reveals the inner dynamism of it. But then since this is not apologetics, no one (I hope) would accept such a lame excuse.
"What is a devout church father doing alongside a naked woman?" - The audioguide on placing Caravaggio's St Jerome writing beside Rembrandt's Bathsheba bathing. The audioguide called it a provocative choice. What they didn't add was that it was a seditious one as well.
A funny poem from 1681 by Andre Speltz (sp?) on Rembrandt's painted women: "When he'd paint a naked woman... as model no Greek Venus but a maid find in a wood"
Artemisia, the wife of Mausolus (of Mausoleum fame) mixed his ashes with wine and drank it so her body would be a living tomb for her husband. Uhh.
Rembrandt's Rape of Ganymede is funny since it portrays Ganymede as an ugly crybaby (and urinating at the same time). I wonder why people are offended when Alexander the Great and Frederick the Great are portrayed as bisexual and homosexual respectively, but no one complains about Zeus.
Caravaggio's "The Supper at Emmaus" offended people because he depicted saints as ordinary people. It's lucky these people who took offence did not mutilate or destroy the painting, since now another interpretation is that this prosaic quality allows a contrast with the ethereal figure of Christ.
In all the exhibition was amazing, if a bit overpriced. But since I can't prove I'm not a brain in a vat and all my thoughts are not pre-programmed into me, Rembrandt and Caravaggio might actually be crap and my reactions and evaluations dissolve into the ether and are worthless (damn, I'm getting good at Argumentum ad Ludicrum. I can get my PhD in theology now).
The exhibition noted that no one calls Rembrandt by his last name, and that Van Gogh didn't want to be called by his last name too. I think I once read that it's silly to call Leonardo Da Vinci by his last name (so to speak), since it simply means "From Vinci"; "Van Gogh" translates to "Of/from Gogh" (but I'm not sure what "Gogh" is so the translation might not be correct), but then no one thinks it's stupid to call people "Smith", "Taylor", "Baker", "Weaver" and the like.
Rembrandt enrolled in a Latin school so he could go to University. However, he dropped out at 14 to be an artist. Doubtless people bemoaned his irresponsibility and said he'd never amount to much. But then the expected return on making everyone an engineer is higher than of letting people do what they want: as the saying goes, "For every winner, there are dozens of losers. Odds are you're one of them". You just get a lower variance (probably).
At the end of the exhibition you could record your video reaction to it. Heh.
The only reason I'm not making a snide remark about the museum posting of the "Go to the museum as often as you can" quote by Van Gogh is because of the museum card.
I walked out the door of the museum, and then realised I'd left my bag in the cloakroom, which was beside the door. I tried to go back in, but the guy at the door waved his finger at me with a "no no" when I told him the reason. Annoyed, I dug out my museum card, and then my cloakroom token. I wonder if he'd have let me in if I'd only shown my cloakroom token. It's just beside the door, damnit.
A black woman with braided hair in the park near the Van Gogh museum asked me, in an American accent, if I would like her to braid my hair for me. Gah. Do I look like someone who wants braided hair?!
"A lot of people here don't wear bra one" - xxoos
Canal
I am told that this sign informs the viewer that Chinese get their first jug/glass of "wine water" (drinks) on the house. The discrimination is disgusting. It's one thing to give free soup/dessert/drinks to those who speak Chinese to you. It's another to discreetly discriminate by having a sign in Chinese saying you get a free drink, thereby excluding those who don't read Chinese. But to say that only Chinese get a free drink?! And what about Bananas who, unlike Urine, cannot read Chinese?
The restaurant with this sign, "Namtin" had lots of awards, but their har gao (€4 for 4) and siu mai (€2,75 for 4) (xxoos wanted to ta bao dim sum) was alright only. Actually the siu mai was mediocre - mostly meat and very little prawn. The only good thing I can say is that the pieces were huge.
I was sitting in a Chinese restaurant with xxoos and a machine came by to empty the dustbin outside the restaurant. Instead of the dustbin being turned on its head, emptying its contents into the truck, a snout-like appendage unfolded from the truch and started thrusting rhythmically in and out of the dustbin, guided by the hands of one worker. How appropriate for Amsterdam.
I ordered sweet and sour pork Hong Kong style at the restaurant. I was wondering how different it would be from normal sweet and sour pork, but it turned out to be the same. At least it wasn't drenched in the sauce like most sweet and sour pork, so it was a bit crispy. Meanwhile my duck was excellent - the skin melted in my mouth, being close to Hwa Ting quality.
Funky books: "Combat Training for the Special Technical Soldiers Taking Free and Passively Qin Na, Lectured by Liu Yi, The Combat Coach for Special Technical Forces, The 35th Generation Disciple of the Ancient Orthodox Shaolin Quan"; Chinese Kung-Fu Series 6, 8 and 15: "Ten Routine Spring Leg", "Changquan - Long Shadow Boxing", "13 Emei Shortsword Techniques"; Treatment of common diseases with Qi Gong Therapy, Believe it or not: Aneicnt and Mysterious Chinese Qigong
Also in the shop: MAO ZEDONG: Man, Not God - Quan Yanchi
Naughty figurines illustrate Asian Values
"All bikes will be removed and utterly destroyed" - Seen in a shop window or some such. Gotta love the translations.
"How are you? Wij zijn gesloten" (We are closed) - sign in a shop window. Gah.
Palace
Nieuwe Kerk
I don't know why so many places say they're 100% Halal. Is it possible to be 99% Halal? Maybe I can set up a restaurant where 10% of the ingredients are non-Halal, then it'll be 90% Halal.
The guy in front of me while queuing for the bus back from the station had 3 ABN AMRO wereldkaarten in his wallet. Wah lao.
Post ID: 115067173227694448
"Many central bankers view discussion of the monetary base with about the same enthusiasm as I would have for the propsect of being locked in a telephone booth with someone who had a bad cold, or some other infectious disease." - McCallum, 1999:8
I find the same way about this textbook.
Wth is this 3D empirical yield curve?! I suspect more than half the book is not only not in the syllabus but of a level far beyond what the syllabus requires.
Damnit, they need to get an American textbook for this module. It's hard enough already as it is.
I find the same way about this textbook.
Wth is this 3D empirical yield curve?! I suspect more than half the book is not only not in the syllabus but of a level far beyond what the syllabus requires.
Damnit, they need to get an American textbook for this module. It's hard enough already as it is.
Post ID: 115067784827261380
I'm going to die after going back to NUS, after nua-ing for so long.
Book seen in the library: "Taxation of international performing artistes". Uhh.
There was a party billed as: "Be there from 22h00 at Cafe de Steeg to celebrate the birthday of genius economists Smith en (sic) Keynes". Wth.
The only Dutch food you see in restaurants is pancakes. Hurr hurr.
Sign seen in the History department:
*Picture of a man lifting a glass of beer* (Each line gets progressively smaller)
Drink!
And forget who you are!
I sure don't want to know you!
What's MY name, anyway?
Beer is your friend!
It doesn't really say anything down here.
But thank you for checking!
I like fluffy bunnies...
At a Burger King in the Hague I saw 3 prices for onion rings. That was normal enough, but under them there was small print scribbled. I looked carefully and the small print told the viewer how many rings came in each packet size. Gah!
The cheapest hair salon I've seen so far: "No nonsense kapsalon voor Hem and Haar. Wassen, knippen, blowen va. €11/-"
English is sometimes used in signs, for headlines, keywords, motto or jingles. I suspect it's because the use of English is seen as cool and lends the product an aura of superiority or coolness.
Seeing ducks waddling across the grass while people are sunbathing in the park is very funny.
I saw the kebab man near my place walking from the minimarket with 3 6-can packs of soft drinks. Considering that the kebab van is right beside the supermarket, I wonder that people would mind paying more than twice as much for a can of drink from him when they could get one from either the minimarket or the newspaper/stationery agent across the road.
A slight majority of females here tie their hair. This might seem surprising given the climate until you disentangle the effect of their not having been forced to tie it for 10-12 years.
xxoos crashed for a couple of nights and wanted to eat pizza, so I finally had an excuse to call Domino's (or rather, place an order online)!
Creamy Bacon - Crème fraîche, kaas, dubbel bacon, ham, champgnons, ui en oregano (Sour cream, cheese, double bacon, ham, mushrooms, unions and oregano) xxoos doesn't eat onions and prefers tomato bases but I managed to cajole her into trying this.
It came about 10 minutes late; I made the order at 9:29 but the printout on the box said 9:40. Nonetheless the guy gave me a €1,95 discount since he only just made 10:10pm, so I only paid €10 for a 35cm pizza.
God, it's been years since I had Domino's!
xxoos also showed me what must tie as the most expensive toilet in the world (the tie is held by a toilet near Aachen which I will "feature" when it comes to it):
Urinoirs: €0.60
Toilettes: €1.10
This is in Luxembourg, which is supposed to have the most expensive Big Macs in the world. Unfortunately (xxoos is perverse) they cost the same as in Germany, but even so, they have [one of] the most expensive toilets in the world, so xxoos was pacified.
Quotes:
single levels (similar)
drive'rn (driven)
in core'm gaps (income)
croation of institutions (creation)
trading pot'ners
greater axis to foreign markets (access)
mare cher nissin (mechanism)
two come pens (companies)
trade berries (barriers)
to ablide by certain rules of the game (abide)
There are a few ways you could improve your presentation. Besides your special pronunication of English, your accent which is something different from what we're used to.
[Student: I agree. It's a bit boring.] What is boring? The artivle? The subject?
trade dee'er'spore'ras (diasporas)
verbertim (verbatim)
I forgot to bring a picture of a cola nut... It's chewed by Muslims in West Africa as a stimulant. Not unlike wine. Just kidding.
merchant gao'd (guild)
I will set up an incentive schedule... to incentivise it, to prevent moral hazard, I will not be giving the answer to these questions. To further incentivise you, I will ask one of these questions in the final exam. I will sit here and shout encouragement at you... the official break time is 4, but you can stop earlier.
Now we have some econometrics questions. I'm really bad at it. I asked *** [the other, main teacher] for the answers but she refused to give them to me because of the moral hazard problem. [Student: Your moral hazard problem] I have prepared some answers, but they are likely to be crap.
[On lowering expectations] Pretend that you don't know about econometrics, and people start *makes hand gestures*
Next week there's no tutorial at 3 o'clock. It will be at 11, because I have to be home in time for soccer.
[On the economic explanation for autocorrelation in the Taylor rule] You always have to remind the econometricians that there are people there at the end. Pulling the strings, moving the data.
[On Hayo & Hofmann, 2003, estimating the Taylor rule for the ECB from 1/99-7/02 and comparing it to the Bundesbank 8/90-12/98] 11 September is in it, so can we learn anything from this crap paper? They draw all kinds of crap conclusions from this.
Book seen in the library: "Taxation of international performing artistes". Uhh.
There was a party billed as: "Be there from 22h00 at Cafe de Steeg to celebrate the birthday of genius economists Smith en (sic) Keynes". Wth.
The only Dutch food you see in restaurants is pancakes. Hurr hurr.
Sign seen in the History department:
*Picture of a man lifting a glass of beer* (Each line gets progressively smaller)
Drink!
And forget who you are!
I sure don't want to know you!
What's MY name, anyway?
Beer is your friend!
It doesn't really say anything down here.
But thank you for checking!
I like fluffy bunnies...
At a Burger King in the Hague I saw 3 prices for onion rings. That was normal enough, but under them there was small print scribbled. I looked carefully and the small print told the viewer how many rings came in each packet size. Gah!
The cheapest hair salon I've seen so far: "No nonsense kapsalon voor Hem and Haar. Wassen, knippen, blowen va. €11/-"
English is sometimes used in signs, for headlines, keywords, motto or jingles. I suspect it's because the use of English is seen as cool and lends the product an aura of superiority or coolness.
Seeing ducks waddling across the grass while people are sunbathing in the park is very funny.
I saw the kebab man near my place walking from the minimarket with 3 6-can packs of soft drinks. Considering that the kebab van is right beside the supermarket, I wonder that people would mind paying more than twice as much for a can of drink from him when they could get one from either the minimarket or the newspaper/stationery agent across the road.
A slight majority of females here tie their hair. This might seem surprising given the climate until you disentangle the effect of their not having been forced to tie it for 10-12 years.
xxoos crashed for a couple of nights and wanted to eat pizza, so I finally had an excuse to call Domino's (or rather, place an order online)!
Creamy Bacon - Crème fraîche, kaas, dubbel bacon, ham, champgnons, ui en oregano (Sour cream, cheese, double bacon, ham, mushrooms, unions and oregano) xxoos doesn't eat onions and prefers tomato bases but I managed to cajole her into trying this.
It came about 10 minutes late; I made the order at 9:29 but the printout on the box said 9:40. Nonetheless the guy gave me a €1,95 discount since he only just made 10:10pm, so I only paid €10 for a 35cm pizza.
God, it's been years since I had Domino's!
xxoos also showed me what must tie as the most expensive toilet in the world (the tie is held by a toilet near Aachen which I will "feature" when it comes to it):
Urinoirs: €0.60
Toilettes: €1.10
This is in Luxembourg, which is supposed to have the most expensive Big Macs in the world. Unfortunately (xxoos is perverse) they cost the same as in Germany, but even so, they have [one of] the most expensive toilets in the world, so xxoos was pacified.
Quotes:
single levels (similar)
drive'rn (driven)
in core'm gaps (income)
croation of institutions (creation)
trading pot'ners
greater axis to foreign markets (access)
mare cher nissin (mechanism)
two come pens (companies)
trade berries (barriers)
to ablide by certain rules of the game (abide)
There are a few ways you could improve your presentation. Besides your special pronunication of English, your accent which is something different from what we're used to.
[Student: I agree. It's a bit boring.] What is boring? The artivle? The subject?
trade dee'er'spore'ras (diasporas)
verbertim (verbatim)
I forgot to bring a picture of a cola nut... It's chewed by Muslims in West Africa as a stimulant. Not unlike wine. Just kidding.
merchant gao'd (guild)
I will set up an incentive schedule... to incentivise it, to prevent moral hazard, I will not be giving the answer to these questions. To further incentivise you, I will ask one of these questions in the final exam. I will sit here and shout encouragement at you... the official break time is 4, but you can stop earlier.
Now we have some econometrics questions. I'm really bad at it. I asked *** [the other, main teacher] for the answers but she refused to give them to me because of the moral hazard problem. [Student: Your moral hazard problem] I have prepared some answers, but they are likely to be crap.
[On lowering expectations] Pretend that you don't know about econometrics, and people start *makes hand gestures*
Next week there's no tutorial at 3 o'clock. It will be at 11, because I have to be home in time for soccer.
[On the economic explanation for autocorrelation in the Taylor rule] You always have to remind the econometricians that there are people there at the end. Pulling the strings, moving the data.
[On Hayo & Hofmann, 2003, estimating the Taylor rule for the ECB from 1/99-7/02 and comparing it to the Bundesbank 8/90-12/98] 11 September is in it, so can we learn anything from this crap paper? They draw all kinds of crap conclusions from this.
Post ID: 115040676378031500
Friday, June 16, 2006
I went to Delft on the 6th of June. Due to usual inertia and laziness, coupled with a train delay, I only reached there at just after half past 11. I'd seen a Domino's from the train and went looking for it, only to find that it only opened at 4.
Canal in Delft
As I walked through the town centre, I heard the Wedding March played on church bells for the first time.
Stadhuis
Ice skates
Nieuwe Kerk from square
Stadhuis from square
Stadhuis detail
Inside Nieuwe Kerk
The bells I heard earlier were ringing from here
Organ
Stained glass
Stained glass featuring a man. I don't read Latin.
Tomb of William of Orange
Windows. The first features Prince William III, Stadholder and Mary, Queen of England
They're all 20th century (a fire in 1536 and gunpowder explosion in 1654 shattered the old ones) but still nice
William's Effigy
Windows
Memorial to William I
The Dutch seem fond of their monarchy - there was a lot of gushing in an exhibition on them.
Beatrix: "In a time of very critical conception the kingship means an additional, heavy burden for a ruling sovereign. It is remarkable how queen Beatrix performs her task with great commitment. Even in the early years after her coronation her demeanour commands great respect. Her zest and know-how deserve admiration. In all fields of society she develops activities and thoroughloy informs herself of what happens in society. She controls the main issues in her government, but, besides, she has a strong sense of detail, which is also apparent from her artistry. These are features which are to e found in her parents, grandparents and other ancestors"
William: "In some years young William of Nassau-Dillenburg develops into the prominent Prince of Orange, whose name stands for all that is smart, courteous and diplomatic in the whole of Western Europe."
The Dutch queens love to abdicate. Wilhelmina abdicated in 1940 for her duaghter Juliana who in turn abdicated in 1980 in favour of her daughter Beatrix.
Entrance to the vault
The vault is closed and isn't for visiting, but as a consolation they erected a map of the vault near its entrance.
'Miracles'
Miracles were ascribed to an image of their lady, but unfortunately the item wasn't powerful enough to prevent its destruction. Pity.
The Nieuwe Kerk was built because burning morass (marsh?) gas in the marsh area was taken to be of a divine nature and a sign to build a church to Mary there. I wonder what 'divine signs' will be understoof in the future.
I then climbed the tower of the Nieuwe Kerk. This is the first tower I've climbed with such precarious-looking steps. Instead of concrete or stone, the steps were just pieces of wood rammed into the wall and didn't feel that solid to boot, so I held the railing a bit more tightly:
Room in the middle of the tower
View from the top
It was 109m high. No wonder it was so xiong.
Me at the top
Maria van Jesse kerk
View from the middle
Painting Delft pottery at De Candelaer
These had flaws in firing and so were on reduced. I asked what the flaws were but the woman refused to tell me if I couldn't see them since she said if I knew I'd only see the flaws. The blue angel was €75 and the coloured €75. Shipping would've cost €26 for 0-2kg. There was a 19% discount for shipping to outside the EU, though (VAT).
The coloured stuff was invented at the same time as the blue stuff, but the latter is more famous.
Pottery
"Hugo Grotius (Huigh De Groot) was a Dutch legal scholar, playwright and poet. As a natural law philosopher, he is generally credited as the originator of "natural morality" and the "social contract" theory of the State. His 1609 book promoted idea that seas should be free for the innocent use and mutual benefit of all -- an idea disputed subsequently disputed by some Mercantilists. Grotius's 1625 treatise is acknowledged as the first in international law. More famously, Grotius argued that "property" was only the outcome of social consent, and thus had nothing "inalienable" in it. This conclusion was disputed by Pufendorf."
"Het wapen van Delft" was very proud of being visited by Clinton.
Outside of Amsterdam, Delft seems the most touristy city I've been to in the Netherlands. I heard voices speaking in American, French and German and the menus were multilingual - one can in 6 languages. The brown plaques on walls with information on places are bilingual (those in Utrecht are only in Dutch). And there was even a shop selling the risque Amsterdam T-shirts.
I then went to the Army museum. There were 2 temporary exhibitions - one called 'Boem' and about 1000 years of gunpowder and another a medieval one for kids. The former was nice because there was a video on sulphur mining and refining (melted in a pot over a fire), which really brought the process to life.
Guns of the type that killed William of Orange, Franz Ferdinand, JFK and Pim Fortuyn
'Boem' was also full of other videos: of buildings being blown up by gunpowder (it was quite weird) and of someone in medieval garb making firework rockets.
The medieval exhibit had nice videos also - one of a tournament melee (fun, but too bad no blood and gore was visible - they should've brought in the makers of Faces of Death VII) and one of a joust; I loved these filmed reenactments, but who pays for them? They must be very expensive, and museums aren't that rich. There were also the usual hands on exhibits - I tried pulling a bow string but failed because so much pressure was needed.
The temporary exhibitions were only in Dutch, but when I entered the 2nd floor of permanent exhibition I found it had English panels.
The gun below is the longest I've ever seen. It's for hunting floating water birds.
Ivory pistols from Maastricht
There was a 5m long iron pike. I've seen long pikes before but I'm not sure if they were 5m. Also, they're usually mounted vertically or diagonally so it's hard to get a sense of their size. This one was mounted almost horizontally, so I could get a better sense of how long it was. Unfortunately it was placed at the side of a sand table (for placing miniatures), and a good view of it was blocked by the sloping glass walls of the sand table.
"Spain my native country, Italy my hopes, the Netherlands mygrace" - Saying among Spanish soldiers, c. 1590
The first and ground floors of the permanent exhibition had no English panels. I felt a bit cheated, but I didn't really have time to look at everything in detail anyway.
When I exited the museum one woman at the counter was helping the other do makeup/eye manicuring. Tsk.
I then went to Prinsenhof, where William of Orange used to live (and was murdered). There were 18 lockers for visitors' use, but only 5 of them were not defective! The ground floor was dedicated to William of Orange and his life.
Model for a statue of William of Orange, Louis Royer, 1847
There was a video which interestingly enough was available in 4 languages and the versions could be toggled between by pressing a button in front of the TV.
William the Silent survived a 1582 assassination attempt and his third wife nursed him back to health. Unfortunately she died in the process. !@#$ He also financed his eventual death - he gave money to his future assassin to buy clothing to go to France, but the guy used the money to buy 2 pistols. The angry Dutch did morbid things to the assassin - they cut out his heart and threw it in his face.
'The horrendous state of the Netherlands', 1627.
This is very funny. The Duke of Alba is on the throne and a devil holds an imperial crown above him. The papal tiara is above Cardinal Granvelle, who is blowing revenge and bloodlust into the Duke's ear with bellows to incite him to religious persecution. In front of the Grote Markt (this scene is in Brussels), Margaret of Palma is fishing the possessions of the condemned out of a poll of blood. In front of the Duke we have shackled Dutch maidens and sacred writing on the ground like torn-up privileges.
The personality cult surrounding William of Orange was annoying. One 1620 painting had an "allegorical representation of the virtues of William of Orange" and the personifications of faith, hope and charity on elephants.
Bullet holes in the wall - 2 of the 3 bullets passed through William of Orange's stomach and into this wall
The first floor of Prinsenhof was a general museum of Delft, which got boring fast. My not leaving the house as early as possible thus didn't really matter. After all, once you've been to the Louvre, little in the Singapore Art Museum will be of interest and nothing will impress. I did pick up one or two things however; for example, when there're individual portraits of a man and his wife, they are painted and arranged so that it looks like the pair is turning to each other in silent union, honouring the divine ideal of marriage.
Apparently still life painting was at the bottom of the ranking order, and paintings with themes from history, the bible of mythology got the most respect.
Walking through the first floor, I entered one where all the panels were in Dutch. They probably figured no one not Dutch would bother going so far into the museum.
Street outside Prinsenhof. The church tower belongs to the Oude Kerk.
Oude Kerk
Smiley Wheelchair
The Oude Kerk wasn't as interesting as the Nieuwe Kerk, but what was noteworthy was that half of the walkable area was made up of gravestones. I hadn't found a church with so many gravestones embedded in the floor since Temple Church in London. If stepping on things (eg Da Vinci Code poster with a painting of the Last Supper in the background in Orchard MRT) is a sign of disrespect, then those who're buried in church floors must be really unlucky.
Main Organ, 1857, Silver
There're 3 organs in the church. Siao.
Glass
Pulpit - "the only thing that survived the iconoclasms". One of the "two of the most beautiful [pulpits] in the Netherlands"
I tried looking for the plaque marking Vermeer's grave's presumed location. The pamphlet said it was opposite the pulpit but I only found pews and carpet. Maybe they covered it.
Interior
The church had a 9 tonne Bourdon bell which is rarely used since its chime is so powerful that regular use could damage the church.
"For many years the subject of reptiles was practically taboo in the Netherlands. Snakes, lizards and crocodiles were considered to be nasty creatures. Only turtles could boast a moderate popularity" - Book in the Oude Kerk bookshop which I will not name since the salesgirl closed it on me.
Gemeenlandhuis van Delfland, 1505
There was an amaxing 'nightmarketdelft', a convenience store open till midnight 7 days a week, even on public holidays. It's the first 24 hour place I've seen in Europe open for so long. Naturally it was run by 2 immigrants (Indians). When they saw me writing, one of them came out to confront me. Maybe he thought I was a rival copying prices.
I was quite excited to see this in the window of a Delft restaurant which also had menus backgrounded with the Spanish and Italian flags. It's almost impossible to find Dutch food in restaurants, even in the Netherlands (though oddly enough this is not true of British food in the UK).
The menu reads:
- T-bone steak with cold garlic, Oriental sauce or garlic butter
-Enitecdte Entrecote with cold garlic, Oriental sauce or garlic butter
- Rib-eye with baked mushrooms or cold garlic, Oriental sauce or garlic butter
- Veal liver with baked onions
- Lamb cutlets with pepper sauce
- Goulash (?)
- Vienna Schnitzel with peppers' sauce (Wait a minute...)
- Beef steak with Stroganoff sauce (!)
- Tournedo with Stroganoff sauce
- Pork hare (? - I know it's the most expensive cut) with mushroom sauce
- Shasliks with 2 cold sauces
- Chicken fillet with curry-peanut or ginger sauce
GAH
Canal in Delft
As I walked through the town centre, I heard the Wedding March played on church bells for the first time.
Stadhuis
Ice skates
Nieuwe Kerk from square
Stadhuis from square
Stadhuis detail
Inside Nieuwe Kerk
The bells I heard earlier were ringing from here
Organ
Stained glass
Stained glass featuring a man. I don't read Latin.
Tomb of William of Orange
Windows. The first features Prince William III, Stadholder and Mary, Queen of England
They're all 20th century (a fire in 1536 and gunpowder explosion in 1654 shattered the old ones) but still nice
William's Effigy
Windows
Memorial to William I
The Dutch seem fond of their monarchy - there was a lot of gushing in an exhibition on them.
Beatrix: "In a time of very critical conception the kingship means an additional, heavy burden for a ruling sovereign. It is remarkable how queen Beatrix performs her task with great commitment. Even in the early years after her coronation her demeanour commands great respect. Her zest and know-how deserve admiration. In all fields of society she develops activities and thoroughloy informs herself of what happens in society. She controls the main issues in her government, but, besides, she has a strong sense of detail, which is also apparent from her artistry. These are features which are to e found in her parents, grandparents and other ancestors"
William: "In some years young William of Nassau-Dillenburg develops into the prominent Prince of Orange, whose name stands for all that is smart, courteous and diplomatic in the whole of Western Europe."
The Dutch queens love to abdicate. Wilhelmina abdicated in 1940 for her duaghter Juliana who in turn abdicated in 1980 in favour of her daughter Beatrix.
Entrance to the vault
The vault is closed and isn't for visiting, but as a consolation they erected a map of the vault near its entrance.
'Miracles'
Miracles were ascribed to an image of their lady, but unfortunately the item wasn't powerful enough to prevent its destruction. Pity.
The Nieuwe Kerk was built because burning morass (marsh?) gas in the marsh area was taken to be of a divine nature and a sign to build a church to Mary there. I wonder what 'divine signs' will be understoof in the future.
I then climbed the tower of the Nieuwe Kerk. This is the first tower I've climbed with such precarious-looking steps. Instead of concrete or stone, the steps were just pieces of wood rammed into the wall and didn't feel that solid to boot, so I held the railing a bit more tightly:
Room in the middle of the tower
View from the top
It was 109m high. No wonder it was so xiong.
Me at the top
Maria van Jesse kerk
View from the middle
Painting Delft pottery at De Candelaer
These had flaws in firing and so were on reduced. I asked what the flaws were but the woman refused to tell me if I couldn't see them since she said if I knew I'd only see the flaws. The blue angel was €75 and the coloured €75. Shipping would've cost €26 for 0-2kg. There was a 19% discount for shipping to outside the EU, though (VAT).
The coloured stuff was invented at the same time as the blue stuff, but the latter is more famous.
Pottery
"Hugo Grotius (Huigh De Groot) was a Dutch legal scholar, playwright and poet. As a natural law philosopher, he is generally credited as the originator of "natural morality" and the "social contract" theory of the State. His 1609 book promoted idea that seas should be free for the innocent use and mutual benefit of all -- an idea disputed subsequently disputed by some Mercantilists. Grotius's 1625 treatise is acknowledged as the first in international law. More famously, Grotius argued that "property" was only the outcome of social consent, and thus had nothing "inalienable" in it. This conclusion was disputed by Pufendorf."
"Het wapen van Delft" was very proud of being visited by Clinton.
Outside of Amsterdam, Delft seems the most touristy city I've been to in the Netherlands. I heard voices speaking in American, French and German and the menus were multilingual - one can in 6 languages. The brown plaques on walls with information on places are bilingual (those in Utrecht are only in Dutch). And there was even a shop selling the risque Amsterdam T-shirts.
I then went to the Army museum. There were 2 temporary exhibitions - one called 'Boem' and about 1000 years of gunpowder and another a medieval one for kids. The former was nice because there was a video on sulphur mining and refining (melted in a pot over a fire), which really brought the process to life.
Guns of the type that killed William of Orange, Franz Ferdinand, JFK and Pim Fortuyn
'Boem' was also full of other videos: of buildings being blown up by gunpowder (it was quite weird) and of someone in medieval garb making firework rockets.
The medieval exhibit had nice videos also - one of a tournament melee (fun, but too bad no blood and gore was visible - they should've brought in the makers of Faces of Death VII) and one of a joust; I loved these filmed reenactments, but who pays for them? They must be very expensive, and museums aren't that rich. There were also the usual hands on exhibits - I tried pulling a bow string but failed because so much pressure was needed.
The temporary exhibitions were only in Dutch, but when I entered the 2nd floor of permanent exhibition I found it had English panels.
The gun below is the longest I've ever seen. It's for hunting floating water birds.
Ivory pistols from Maastricht
There was a 5m long iron pike. I've seen long pikes before but I'm not sure if they were 5m. Also, they're usually mounted vertically or diagonally so it's hard to get a sense of their size. This one was mounted almost horizontally, so I could get a better sense of how long it was. Unfortunately it was placed at the side of a sand table (for placing miniatures), and a good view of it was blocked by the sloping glass walls of the sand table.
"Spain my native country, Italy my hopes, the Netherlands mygrace" - Saying among Spanish soldiers, c. 1590
The first and ground floors of the permanent exhibition had no English panels. I felt a bit cheated, but I didn't really have time to look at everything in detail anyway.
When I exited the museum one woman at the counter was helping the other do makeup/eye manicuring. Tsk.
I then went to Prinsenhof, where William of Orange used to live (and was murdered). There were 18 lockers for visitors' use, but only 5 of them were not defective! The ground floor was dedicated to William of Orange and his life.
Model for a statue of William of Orange, Louis Royer, 1847
There was a video which interestingly enough was available in 4 languages and the versions could be toggled between by pressing a button in front of the TV.
William the Silent survived a 1582 assassination attempt and his third wife nursed him back to health. Unfortunately she died in the process. !@#$ He also financed his eventual death - he gave money to his future assassin to buy clothing to go to France, but the guy used the money to buy 2 pistols. The angry Dutch did morbid things to the assassin - they cut out his heart and threw it in his face.
'The horrendous state of the Netherlands', 1627.
This is very funny. The Duke of Alba is on the throne and a devil holds an imperial crown above him. The papal tiara is above Cardinal Granvelle, who is blowing revenge and bloodlust into the Duke's ear with bellows to incite him to religious persecution. In front of the Grote Markt (this scene is in Brussels), Margaret of Palma is fishing the possessions of the condemned out of a poll of blood. In front of the Duke we have shackled Dutch maidens and sacred writing on the ground like torn-up privileges.
The personality cult surrounding William of Orange was annoying. One 1620 painting had an "allegorical representation of the virtues of William of Orange" and the personifications of faith, hope and charity on elephants.
Bullet holes in the wall - 2 of the 3 bullets passed through William of Orange's stomach and into this wall
The first floor of Prinsenhof was a general museum of Delft, which got boring fast. My not leaving the house as early as possible thus didn't really matter. After all, once you've been to the Louvre, little in the Singapore Art Museum will be of interest and nothing will impress. I did pick up one or two things however; for example, when there're individual portraits of a man and his wife, they are painted and arranged so that it looks like the pair is turning to each other in silent union, honouring the divine ideal of marriage.
Apparently still life painting was at the bottom of the ranking order, and paintings with themes from history, the bible of mythology got the most respect.
Walking through the first floor, I entered one where all the panels were in Dutch. They probably figured no one not Dutch would bother going so far into the museum.
Street outside Prinsenhof. The church tower belongs to the Oude Kerk.
Oude Kerk
Smiley Wheelchair
The Oude Kerk wasn't as interesting as the Nieuwe Kerk, but what was noteworthy was that half of the walkable area was made up of gravestones. I hadn't found a church with so many gravestones embedded in the floor since Temple Church in London. If stepping on things (eg Da Vinci Code poster with a painting of the Last Supper in the background in Orchard MRT) is a sign of disrespect, then those who're buried in church floors must be really unlucky.
Main Organ, 1857, Silver
There're 3 organs in the church. Siao.
Glass
Pulpit - "the only thing that survived the iconoclasms". One of the "two of the most beautiful [pulpits] in the Netherlands"
I tried looking for the plaque marking Vermeer's grave's presumed location. The pamphlet said it was opposite the pulpit but I only found pews and carpet. Maybe they covered it.
Interior
The church had a 9 tonne Bourdon bell which is rarely used since its chime is so powerful that regular use could damage the church.
"For many years the subject of reptiles was practically taboo in the Netherlands. Snakes, lizards and crocodiles were considered to be nasty creatures. Only turtles could boast a moderate popularity" - Book in the Oude Kerk bookshop which I will not name since the salesgirl closed it on me.
Gemeenlandhuis van Delfland, 1505
There was an amaxing 'nightmarketdelft', a convenience store open till midnight 7 days a week, even on public holidays. It's the first 24 hour place I've seen in Europe open for so long. Naturally it was run by 2 immigrants (Indians). When they saw me writing, one of them came out to confront me. Maybe he thought I was a rival copying prices.
I was quite excited to see this in the window of a Delft restaurant which also had menus backgrounded with the Spanish and Italian flags. It's almost impossible to find Dutch food in restaurants, even in the Netherlands (though oddly enough this is not true of British food in the UK).
The menu reads:
- T-bone steak with cold garlic, Oriental sauce or garlic butter
-
- Rib-eye with baked mushrooms or cold garlic, Oriental sauce or garlic butter
- Veal liver with baked onions
- Lamb cutlets with pepper sauce
- Goulash (?)
- Vienna Schnitzel with peppers' sauce (Wait a minute...)
- Beef steak with Stroganoff sauce (!)
- Tournedo with Stroganoff sauce
- Pork hare (? - I know it's the most expensive cut) with mushroom sauce
- Shasliks with 2 cold sauces
- Chicken fillet with curry-peanut or ginger sauce
GAH
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