The Sentinel Amsterdam vol.7 #15 by Consultancy Market Media

vol. 7 #15 – 05 August 2014

The Sentinel Amsterdam

Integrity, heart, humour

feature

health & well-being

THE PEACE CYCLE: REDUX

PEARL

CULTURE PERSPECTIVES LIFESTYLES TRAVEL OPINION REVIEW TECHNOLOGY ART FILM MUSIC TRENDS RECOMMENDED SPORT

content

feature - p.04

perspectives - p.16

culture - p.34

The Peace Cycle: Redux

Dam in 60 minutes! Zaandam

Poland: Poznan - Being itself

‘Israel at war- again - with Palestinians’

‘A ride together to Zaandam’

‘Spend some time there during typical working days‘

technology - p.96

sport - p.100

Spain: Costa Brava – walking into fire

User Interface The pixel life: Online courses

Sentinel Fantasy Football Leagues

‘A day of high adventure for urbanites’

‘‘Things’ that were exclusively offline’ more

city gem - p.72

perspectives - p.78

amsterdam city life - p.82

Brouwerij ‘t IJ

Speak to the living

Bring Back!

star beer guide - p.84

recommended - p.86

spotted - p.88

Tripel Kanunnik

Where is this in Amsterdam?

film - p.89

perspectives - p.92

health & well-being - p.94

Room 2C

Moonlighting

Pearl

The Sentinel Amsterdam

E-mail: sentineldesk@gmail.com Website: www.thesentinel.eu Contributors: Sam van Dam, The Observer, Dirkje Bakker-Pierre, E.R. Muntrem, Evelina Kvartunaite and Andrei Barburas

Editor: Denson Pierre Design: Dirkje Bakker-Pierre - no-office.nl Realisation: Andrei Barburas Webmaster: www.sio-bytes.tumblr.com Webhost: Andrei Barburas

The Sentinel Amsterdam does not intentionally include unaccredited photos/illustrations that are subject to copyright. If you consider your copyright to have been infringed, please contact us at sentineldesk@gmail.com.

travel - p.52

feature

‘You see people commuting to work but you can hear birds’

By E.R. Muntrem

Here’s the argument: The bicycle is an instrument of peace. With Dick Cheney claiming problems in Iraq are President Obama’s fault, not his, with Israel at war- again - with Palestinians - with Syria and rubble and with planes departing Schiphol being shot out of the sky, the argument is worth pressing one more time. It is my guess that Cheney, Putin, Assad and most of the people who justify dropping bombs on other people are car people.

‘Cyclists want other cyclists around. Cars want zero other cars around’

The Peace Cycle: Redux

feature

‘You see people commuting to work but you can hear birds’

feature

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Drivers are thus inherently enemies and once you have an enemy you tend to want to vanquish themâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

feature

‘In the fantasy of the car it is somehow meant to be an escape from the very world it helps create’

Walk to Central Station at 8:30 in the morning. You see people commuting to work but you can hear birds, see children, and enjoy the day. In any other city such an environment is possible only in a park. Here you get it all the time, even five minutes away from one of the country’s main transportation hubs, even as part of your daily routine.

It is also why cars are designed to take you away from your surroundings and put you into the environment it creates. In addition to always showing the roads as empty, advertisements for cars always show the interior as somehow distinct and private. In the fantasy of the car it is somehow meant to be an escape from the very world it helps create.

What Amsterdam proves is that you can make at least one necessity of life - getting around - fun. Not always, not perfectly, but usually, and as a norm. In the same way that eating good food makes life worthwhile while eating gruel (or struggling to find food) makes it drudgery, necessities can be a pipeline toward something positive or something negative, toward joy rather than dominance, peace rather than war. The system may not sway an evil heart, but if Putin had been a policeman on a bicycle in the Netherlands rather than a KGB officer in the Soviet Union and Russia, would he be so inclined to murder people?

You win the car commute by having a Mercedes, not a Toyota. Not so on a bicycle. Often the best cyclist is the dad ferrying his daughter home, the guy playing air guitar as he pedals, the mom laughing at her kids in a bakfiets (carrier cycle). Cycling offers countless ways to enjoy the ride and none of them depend on the cost of the bicycle itself. In a car your sense of self is established by what you own and how it helps you escape from the world around you. On a bicycle your sense of self comes from how you ride and your interaction with the world, even with others. There is huge freedom and equality in this.

CONSIDER THIS: CYCLISTS WANT OTHER CYCLISTS AROUND. CARS WANT ZERO OTHER CARS AROUND.

The most important thing ever said in one of those TED talks came from the former mayor of Bogata: “A democratic city,” he said “is not one in which poor people can have a car but one in which rich people ride public transportation.” In this sense, Amsterdam is the most democratic city in the world. It is silly to pretend that butchers who get to high office can only get there by car. But if nothing else, it is difficult to feel road rage while on a bike. Yeah, you get cut-off and riding in the rain is tough, but you receive fewer murderous impulses while on a bike than in a car; far fewer. There are certainly far more moments of fun. Rather than try to kill each other, to beat each other, cyclists weave in and out of each other, often in joy, almost always in peace. There must be something to learn from this.

Each and every cyclist takes a car off the road. Bad cyclists may annoy good cyclists, but so long as the roads are mostly car-free everyone can move along at his or her own pace. In this way a cyclist and any other cyclists are friends; allies who share a common cause. With cars being so large however, the more of them there are the more impossible it becomes to use the road. Slow drivers, to say nothing of those who break down, make driving frustrating. Very often the capacity limits of roads against the actual number of cars on them makes everyone into a slow driver; causes a downer for all. Drivers are thus inherently enemies and once you have an enemy you tend to want to vanquish them. This could well be one reason why people seem to invest so much ego into the car they own.

IN PUTIN’S FANTASY, HE IS FREE OF THE MURDER HE COMMITS.

feature

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Cycling offers countless ways to enjoy the ride and none of them depend on the cost of the bicycleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

feature

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Amsterdam is the most democratic city in the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

perspectives

Dam in 60 minutes! 16

Zaandam

By Sam van Dam

perspectives

‘See huge ships sitting in the water, waiting for their cargo to be lifted off’

breaths and set my mind to discovering a new city. The seagulls and ducks look at me in a welcoming manner, or so I’d like to believe, and off we go, everybody is rushing off the ferry, but noticeably in a less aggressive and pushy way than my fellow Amsterdammers do. A long stretch of road funnels all of the bikes and scooters into the city centre and I simply follow the mob of riders who all take off in the same direction, assuming that they’ll safely bring me into the heart of Zaandam. We go down into a tunnel; the sides are filled with colourful and pretty mosaics, but due to the speed I gather while racing downhill I miss most of them and it’s all just a beautiful blur. On the other side I orientate myself toward the city centre. Across a tiny wooden bridge I go, through a charming but slightly desolate looking neighbourhood with those lovely small Dutch city houses and suddenly I see large buildings and something else that catches my attention: a big structure that looks like dozens of those beautiful little buildings that are still very widespread in certain parts of the country, all stacked up on top of each other, a perplexing, yet pleasing view.

As I get closer I notice all the details and simply can’t stop taking photos of this lovely thing; I think calling it a building would not do it justice even though it is a hotel, and I spend the next half hour capturing it from all angles and still I had to force my shutter-finger away from the button. I turn around and take in the other magnificent houses that are the homes to the train station and the city hall, both very pretty looking with awesome details; above the entrance of the station two smiling whales watch over the travellers who enter. I walk towards the shopping area and join the throng of After a while the ferry port appears on the horizon and shoppers who walk along the artificial canal that cuts I causally steer my bike towards it, and as if the travel the main street in half or across its bridges to make it gods were on my side, the ferry arrives just when I’m to their favourite consumer outlets. I get a snack at a good and ready to make it to the other side. I roll bakery and enjoy a little rest by the water with the aboard and find myself a nice spot to the front, so that I locals before I start my own round through the mall for can watch the container ships and the occasional cruise some window shopping. When I’m done I hop back on ship float by. The ride across the North Sea Canal itself my bike and start my ride home but not without only takes a few minutes, but there’s something about thinking to myself that I should come back soon, travelling across water that always gives me this Zaandam seems a special place. intense feeling of being on vacation in some faraway country, so I lift my head up to the sky, take some deep

This time I am taking you to a place that I have wanted to visit for some time, but until this day had never managed, so, let’s go for a ride together to Zaandam. Our journey starts at the Sloterdijk station for a change, and I simply follow the signs in the general direction of Zaanstad from there. I pass by large clusters of office buildings, most of them empty, giving testimony to the ongoing financial- and real-estate crisis that has now hurt the Netherlands for years, and I turn left when I see the Nuon power plant after which the long steady stretch of the Westhavenweg opens up before me. I use the fact that I don’t need to keep full focus on the road as it goes straight on, allowing me to also keep an eye on my surroundings. I see huge ships sitting in the water, waiting for their cargo to be lifted off their bulky bodies, while on my left side, industrial installations give off strange and intriguing smells and puffy clouds of emissions. Here and there graffiti brightens up the seemingly endless overhead pipeline that runs next to the roadway and that becomes my travel companion for the better part of this little escape from the big city.

perspectives

‘Watch the container ships and the occasional cruise ship float by’

perspectives

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;I simply follow the mob of riders who all take off in the same directionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

perspectives

‘I should come back soon, Zaandam seems a special place’

culture

POLAND:

POZNAN

G N I BE F L E S IT By Denson Pierre

In order to develop a balanced view of how a city lives and thrive it tends to help to be able to spend some time there during typical working days. There is a lot of industry going on across Poznan where they start and complete their working day earlier than we typically do in the Netherlands. It cannot be established here whether this is a contributing factor to Poznan having a lower rate of unemployment than Amsterdam but they have managed to keep their rate at around the 4% mark while Amsterdam should show something twice as many in need of proper, non-seasonal work.

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Visit the properly historic core of the city by footâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

culture

‘A lower rate of unemployment than Amsterdam’

culture

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;There is the much more glistening and deliberately modern museumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

the entire history from the point when the settlement was becoming substantial and developing the need to fortify against other tribes or intruders. The ingenious engineering of the earthen and wood-filled defensive walls is narrated by a series of professors and other experts leaving you with a feeling that you want to find your own field and build one for fun.

Further along on this pretty special little island (I believe they are also wanting to anticipate UNESCO listing for some or all of it) there is the much more glistening and deliberately modern museum which focuses more on the history of the area from the time in the tenth century when Poland was forming itself as a recognisable nation state under the church. This is another of these high on architecture, technology and design museums that are now refreshingly to be found across Europe. It has many interactive elements, high-quality audio-visual aids to tell the many stories and actually does not feel like a museum, as we used to know them, but more like small adventures into the stories about the lives of the ancient Polans and Poznans. I like this island complex a lot as it can properly take two hours on it to learn so much and The archaeological museum is a freshly designed and even then catch some of the pretty impressive art well laid-out, with a small cinema (most major European and carvings within the cathedral. I suppose there languages provided per audio guide) hall. Before you are a couple considerations still left for UNESCO even have time to walk around and check the physical but with signs openly showing the cooperation artefacts on display and the exhibitions [the ideally with the European Union in terms of funding these suited walls are used to show art work and photography impressively new and reconditioned statements of which can in some way tie itself into the deep history heritage, and seeing the new generation of artists of the area] there is a 3D movie. This film dramatises using the surroundings as inspiration, one can only feel

At the beginning of July Poznan introduced the electronic travel card system to their public transport network, making paper card paid journeys obsolete. There were reports of unavoidable start-up problems but it did seem like the network did not grind to a halt, the comfortable trams at least appeared to be running and there was no chaos to do with automobile traffic. This was all fairly fine so I opted to visit the properly historic core of the city by foot together with my host from the local tourism promotion office. Poznan as a settlement can be said to have grown from a natural island on the river Warta. This is now home to the cathedral (and other churches) and most excitingly, the two museums charged with telling the entire story of the evolution of the city.

culture

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Small adventures into the stories about the lives of the ancient Polans and Poznansâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

culture

‘Make the time to visit it and its almost completely interesting cluster of addresses’

the performance of The Poznan Goats. A brilliant mechanical clock display on the market square (in the tower of the historical town hall), and there is maybe nothing more heart warming than hearing the gathered pre- and primary school children excitedly countdown (well, up) to the 12 times the rams clashed their heads for show and to re-announce themselves as the city of Poznan’s metallic time guardians. By the time they retracted themselves into their tower the time had come for me to prepare to head to the airport. How many counts it will be before I am back to dig deeper and wider into the pleasantness of this city I cannot yet be sure, but return I must.

Next morning the slight sadness that comes with having to leave somewhere you are growing fond of set in. As soon as I started making my way to breakfast, I was however, to realise, as I looked over the patio and dining area of my hotel from the second-floor glass window of the lift itself, that Poznans are truly high on design and play with space and decor to pleasing effect. The patio was called Patio Provence and with pastel colours and fine wine it actually worked a treat with all the sunshine that streamed in during my breakfasts over the three days I stayed there. Lovely, fascinating and full of contrast to the different scenes encountered as soon as you left the front door.

Genius Loci Archaeological Reserve www.muzarp.poznan.pl

My last act this time round was to join the hundreds of people gathered to applaud and marvel at

PARTNERS ON THIS PRESS TRIP:

‘Porta Posnania’ Heritage Centre www.bramapoznania.pl Hotel Kolegiacki www.hotelkolegiacki.pl Tourism Poland www.polen.travel

generally inspired by the little old island and say that visitors should make the time to visit it and its almost completely interesting cluster of addresses. With it approaching lunchtime there were two things left for me to do before I jetted out from Poznan this time. I was to be taken on a tour and lunched at Concordia Design. This is a super-impressive complex, in private ownership, that makes you think you are in Amsterdam, somehow. I was to learn that they do indeed have cooperation with Amsterdam and other international, creative partners but with their 3D printing, “we can print on anything” attitude, skills and machines, this was a lovely way of seeing from the inside one of the ways why Poznan can present itself so well to the outside.

culture

‘Their 3D printing, “we can print on anything” attitude, skills and machines’

culture

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;It actually worked a treat with all the sunshine that streamed inâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

culture

Applaud and marvel at the performance of The Poznan Goatsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

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The Mediterranean as it once was.

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www.visitgent.be

travel

‘MAKE A RATHER FUN TOUR OF THE BAIX EMPORDÀ LANDSCAPES’

‘BREEZILY PERCHED ATOP A 175M CLIFF THAT DROPS OFF STEEPLY INTO THE SEA’

Over breakfast at Hotel Ultonia (Girona) I was to be able to plot what I imagined the day would be like - it appeared to be a full programme. After another short drive we arrived in Gualta. It is all pretty quiet and picturesque and the population only stretches to a few hundred. It was here that the sport was to begin however.

Spain: COSTA BRAVA WALKING INTO FIRE

travel

‘WE SHOULD HAVE CAUGHT ON AT THE BEGINNING OF THE TREK’

The first event involved familiarising ourselves with the working of Segways rigged for ‘off-roading’. It is always funny to observe how Netherlanders, due to our affinity with balancing acts performed on our bicycles, quickly take to these apparatus. As a complete novice I did need to figure out the dynamics involved in safely stopping, going for an incline and most peculiarly, making descents, as this involved weightshifting that could feel counter-intuitive to everything else you have been instructed to do in making the Segway actually go forward. Suffice to say, after some expert tuition, we were all to make a rather fun tour of the Baix Empordà landscapes and return completely unscathed and really enthused. During the time we were e-motoring through the countryside the midday sun had arrived at its summit on another of those ideal, but hot, Mediterranean days. We drove further on to Sant Sebastià, Llafranc, to be up against the coast, but firstly to have another spectacular lunch (it is impossible to become used to

the pattern of having your main meal at this time of the hot day, after just a few hours or days to adjust). Not very often does the setting for a meal and refreshment so far outdo whatever the chefs can possibly come up with on such a stunning day however. Hotel El Far de Sant Sebastià is breezily perched atop a 175m cliff that drops off steeply into the sea. It occupies an area once home to a tribe of highland people who must have also found the extraordinarily contrasting views from the summit as breathtaking as we did. They did not prosper too far beyond the arrival of the Romans and the estate of the hotel-restaurant also consists of maintained structures from the 15th and 17th centuries. All extremely engrossing but you ought not lose sight and taste of the very fine food served-up here. A trip up to this exciting place will fill you with wonder. Whatever lunch we had could not prepare the vast majority of the press group for one of the most mixed events ever in tourism reporting of the 21st century. We were to take a coastal walk of tremendous beauty and qualities. Somehow however, the guide assigned to us seemed more intent on completing an entire route along the at times, rugged and steep sectors, as if we were indeed cross-country walkers and climbers and not mere journalists from lowland cities and villages. It can occur with guides that they really do not properly consider that conditions they are so used to (sometimes for all of their lives!) can be a bit alien to eager but not ideally equipped reporters. As far as the press group

travel

‘AN EVEN HIGHER POINT OF AN ANCIENT FORT, WHICH OF COURSE, IT IS SURELY WRITTEN SOMEWHERE, THAT CLIMBING UP TO IT, CANNOT BE SKIPPED’

were concerned we should have caught on at the beginning of the trek when the only other humans we encountered on foot during the first segment were clearly ‘professional’, rough- terrain, hardcore walkers. They were kitted out in the specialist shoes, short, light clothing, caps and of lean muscle, trained to walk hard and climb. We were not, and instead made it through to the other end of this walk, some 10 painful kilometres away, with a feeling that we had, despite capturing so many gorgeous images, actually been on the move, without a shaded break or quick cafe-coffee, for just over two hours, in then tropical heat. I suppose the guide, and she was a lovely, fit lady, was more interested in clocking-off her 2-hour job than in the suitability of such an intense exercise to a mixed group. It left me and my short and suspect hamstrings fairly battered. So battered in fact, that I will need to discuss these activities more thoroughly in future. What this also means though, is that if you are the walking type, with half of a day to do a fabulous, punctuated walk of this route from the cliff to Llafranc, then go for it, it felt like 10 kilometres over 2-hours to me, but it could be shorter and less taxing for a ‘professional’ or highland dweller. Not very often is the sight of our mini-bus transport so welcome, if only to get off hot, sore feet and rest leg muscles under some consistent shade and cooled air. The short shuttle ride was to a darling of a small town called Begur, which I truly hope to visit again, as all of its loveliness was a little bit lost on me, as, without

surprise, it was also on a hill. There is an even higher point of an ancient fort, which of course, it is surely written somewhere, that climbing up to it, cannot be skipped. My muscles had had enough of climbing and stretching for weeks before I even got there. Nonetheless, I was able to quite enjoy the inspection of one of the colonial houses, and there are many here, of those who had gone over to the New World, mainly Cuba and Santo Domingo, to revel in farming the riches from that part of the world and its people (and those labouring under duress there), only to return to towns and cities all over Spain to build these great mansions and set-up dynasties. Pain can be worth it however, as everything about Begur is beautiful and even the panorama from its top, spectacular. After a 9 a.m. start you can understand that it was a long day as we were only then headed by mini-bus to our place of rest for the evening. We somehow made good time up and with dinner (at yet another location) being at 8 p.m. I felt the excitement was to ease. No such luck. From the time we were atop Begur we could see in the distance that there was smoke from what looked like a bushfire. It was odd enough that this seemed so substantial when the surrounding countryside and forests seemed so green and lush. It was even more odd that as soon as we arrived at what was indeed the turn-off to our country-house bed and breakfast, that we found a cluster of emergency

travel

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;THERE WAS SMOKE FROM WHAT LOOKED LIKE BUSHFIREâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

vehicles and local television attending to a big enough fire that needed water-bombing planes to help contain it and ease the nerves of our wonderfully welcoming French hostess. Her hotel lay just 3 kilometres away from the flashpoint, across the fuel of grassy fields and woods. We could now freshen-up and take in the lovely surroundings of Can Bassa, then head to dinner at Restaurant La Cantonada, some 20-minutes away. Upon arrival at the super-homely restaurant, we could all but smile after a day of high adventure for urbanites. The food, wine and local herbal liquor were all so happily served and hungrily enjoyed that it was as if it was scripted that when we were offering compliments to the departing chef that she turned out to be the mother of the business leader and waiter. It just made sense, as the food was what you would call loving. I am sure that night, soon after I went horizontal on the bed of that fabulous lodge, that all of the compound and maybe those across the valley could hear me snore. This little tour though, is perfect for a young family. Mind your step.

Partners on this leg of the press trip: Hotel Gran Utonia www.hotelgranultoniagirona.com Occitania (Segway/bicycle tours) www.ocitania.cat Hotel El Far www.elfar.net Restaurant La Cantonada www.lacantonada.cat Hotel Can Bassa www.canbassa.com

travel

‘THIS LITTLE TOUR THOUGH, IS PERFECT FOR A YOUNG FAMILY’

travel

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city gem

M CITY GE

city gem

‘This truly legendary brand name in and of Amsterdam’

By Denson Pierre

Funenkade 7 & Zeeburgerpad 55 Amsterdam

Two summers had passed since my last visit to this truly legendary brand name in and of Amsterdam. Despite the dozens of microbreweries springing up all over and around the city, ‘The Windmill’ has kept ahead of the field by some distance in terms of having a signature taste structure, and now a whole lot more capacity to match the new business direction of supplying as many of Amsterdam’s hospitality addresses as possible with their brews.

The tasting room and terrace area remains a summertime must do and they have left as much untouched as is necessary there to ensure that authentic, Amsterdam feel. Their onsite pricing is staggeringly real and helpful. Success in marketing had created supply-side issues and over the past couple of years they have developed proper capacity which should see them better able to keep up with local demand for the next few years at least. Only at the end of July did they install five new storage and ripening tanks that will help increase their capacity by 40,000 litres per batch. Amsterdam is all the better for having this famous landmark of a drinking den and they are as such a city gem because they have invested even more into what it takes to be able to share their much liked brews around.

Brouwerij ‘t IJ

city gem

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Onsite pricing is staggeringly real and helpfulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

city gem

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Able to share their much liked brews aroundâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;

city gem

perspectives

Speak to the Living by The Observer

We should never wait, To tell our loved ones “I love you” For it may be too late. To our loved ones we should never hesitate to apologise, And we should always embrace the chance to show and say “I love you,” For he or she could be taken in the wink of an eye. We all came into this life tagged with an expiry date, We just don’t know how and when, so let’s not procrastinate, Whether to dwell in harmony and love or war and hate. 79

So while we are still in the land of the living, Let’s live a life of peace and loving, More laughter and less bickering.

The shooting down of flight MH17 over Ukrainian territory spiralled the world, especially the Netherlands, along with Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines and the United Kingdom into mourning over the incident and opened an abrupt, lachrymose season for the families and friends of the innocent victims. It also catapulted Malaysian Airlines back into the spotlight, prematurely removing the bandage to expose the fresh wound sustained last March 8th with the mysterious disappearance of MH370. This [so far unexplained] cowardly, abysmal act provoked a chain of vehement reactions from world leaders as the coffins housing their deceased citizens were returned to them. Whenever anything shocking happens in my life, a wise old man who lives next door will tell me, “always learn to expect the unexpected,” but there are some unexpected things that are just too damn unexpected to expect; such as this one. Most of

the passengers I reckon were frequent flyers who happily boarded that flight and were anxious to reach their destination to proceed with their lives. They, nor their families and cronies had any inclination when they dropped them off at the airport, bid them goodbye with hugs and kisses, promising to see each other again in a couple of days – weeks – months, that it would be their lifeless bodies or remnants thereof returning instead. Let it never escape us that in the midst of life lurks death. With this absolute knowledge at the forefront of our thoughts, let us live each moment because that is all we are assured of; the present moment, as if it is our last while pondering our legacy. Every fibre of my being aches for all of those left to cope with the aftermath of this nonsensical atrocity, as I pay homage to the men women and children who suffered that lethal element of surprise.

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For complete and world class tours of Prague Packages include: • Hidden and playful Prague (for families with young children) • Literary Prague • Prague Architecture through the ages • Religion and the city • The old city at night *These are detailed tours designed for visitors who wish to explore with great detail and not suitable for simply sight-seeing tourists.

Day segments and rates: PR: 08:00-12:30hrs / AG: 13:30-16:30hrs / UE: 17:30-21:30hrs All sessions are priced at u 25 per single adult. Group size upper limit = 8. Accompanied children under the age of five are gratis and school aged children pay 25%. Family package rates are negotiable.

Contact:

Jaroslav Cernosek +420 602 228 797 Mail: jcernosek@centrum.cz

JC Tours

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amsterdam city life

: K C A B G N I R B AD-DECORUM XXX By Denson Pierre

One of these adverts is for a pharmaceutical product which is meant to somehow - as they seem to pitch it - prevent and cure diarrhoea. What is more ridiculous [it is now the summer season when most of the Netherlands tries getting away for a break] is that they even suggest that it should be a definite purchase to ensure a diarrhoea-free holiday. It most bizarrely also shows a cutaway of a gentleman in what looks like a typically flash, middle-class household, suffering an attack. The other advertisement [which has spawned an equally dumb hybrid] has been found for months telling TV-hypnotised suckers that, especially if they already have a relationship, that harem-forming is to be encouraged. At first it seemed a message to desperate, delusional men who live in a mentally pornographic universe, but then again, it is glamorously packaged... I imagine it is the same company to have added the invitation to anyone interested to pay to contact women who are bi-sexual, as that is apparently all you need to settle your passion and prowess issues... Nothing about these two adverts is criminal or even offensive but I just have to wonder how stupid the typical viewer has become [advertisers do not randomly place and run their content in slots that are

not consumed]? Diarrhoea for instance, more rarely originates from Herpes (saliva), viral hepatitis (physical contact with infected/contaminated areas, persons or shellfish) and rotavirus (faecal-oral route). Commonly, diarrhoea has simple, obvious and behaviourallyinfluenced sources. Proper hygiene practises is the prevention but these are the offending contaminants that are much more likely to be found on animal flesh, other animal products and more uncommonly (and as such, unavoidably) in the drinking water supply of properly impoverished countries or regions: Salmonella (gut of animals and their flesh, raw eggs), Shigella (faecal-oral route) and E. Coli, a common form of ‘food poisoning’, is also to do with the intestines of warm-blooded animals and is transmitted via the faecal route. My question then has to be: Where exactly are the consumers of these misdirecting advertisements thinking they are headed to on holiday so that would require use of the marketed product? I travel a little bit, try and eat from food services where they practice proper hygiene and try avoiding close physical contact with persons clearly not keeping up decent levels of personal hygiene. I reduce my opportunities for infection by fully avoiding all animal products as part of my diet. As far as the second, pornographically suggestive, infidelity-encouraging, and with the wasted investment involved in finding any number of ‘loves’ advertisements go, I think they have their constituency. This unchanging group of persons with personality [esteem] deficit disorders consider this kind of ‘online dating’ to be something likely to bring happiness or sexual fulfilment. Bring back the need not to have those minutes of break in-between popular programmes that even I choose to check-out, being made a meeting place for excrement eaters and the deluded. Add or re-apply some decorum to TV advertising.

This is Amsterdam and we have some of the world’s most practised libertarians living here. It cannot be just my observation therefore that advertisers per television, appear to have been let off some kind of self-control leash. I will need to check if the regulations as monitored by the integrity and quality watchdogs have changed, but two recently and constantly aired advertisements have really caused me near -sadness each time I do not grab the remote-control in time to tune them out.

star beer guide

Star Beer

star beer guide

The Sentinel Star beer guide By Denson Pierre

TRIPEL KANUNNIK

(A.B.V. 8.2%)

A particularly tasty ‘anytime’ beer’

A star beer as it ticks all the taste and smoothness boxes and it is, when properly presented, rather pretty.

Sometimes beer brewing can resemble the Tripel Kanunnik is brewed by Wilderen art of cooking much more closely. This fine Brewery and Distillers, beer is another taken care of by brew masters Wilderen-St-Truiden, Belgium. able to concoct multiple grains and flavoursome spices to come up with what is a particularly tasty ‘anytime’ beer. It is however, on the borderline of what is considered strong beer, so temperance is advised in order to fully enjoy rather than being upset by the debilitating effects of drunkenness.

recommended

Cafe de Toog 16/07/14

ENDED RECOMM

We find the best, most fun, most typical, exciting, or local favourite restaurants etcetera in Amsterdam and bring them to you; an easy way to feel like a local.

Connoisseurs Delight

Café Westerdok Some of the very ﬁnest and rarest of beers available anywhere in the world. The warmest Amsterdam welcome. Café Westerdok Westerdoksdijk 715A Amsterdam www.cafewesterdok.nl

recommended

To be seen and tasted

Fun, Drinking & Music

Cafe de Toog 1890’s grandeur fashioned into Amsterdam-West, grand, brown cafe-restaurant-cool. Classy drinks and meals. Nicolaas Beetsstraat 142 hs Amsterdam www.cafedetoog.com

Parck Great fun, beautiful people and simply the best bar food in town! Overtoom 428 Amsterdam www.cafeparck.nl

Mulligans Irish Music Bar Amsterdam’s best address for live Irish music: Five (5) nights a week! Check our agenda for upcoming sessions. Amstel 100 1017 AC Amsterdam www.mulligans.nl

To Be Seen and Tasted

Connoisseurs Delight

To Be Seen and Tasted

Cafe restaurant Edel Cafe restaurant Edel is the perfect place for lunch, dinner or to simply enjoy a drink. Edel is a unique place in Amsterdam. Postjesweg 1 1057 DT Amsterdam www.edelamsterdam.nl

Incanto A restaurant with a classic Italian kitchen. Venetian chef Simone Ambrosin is known for his pure and simple style of cooking with great feeling for nuance. Amstel 2 Amsterdam www.restaurant-incanto.nl

Café Kostverloren Café Kostverloren is a contemporary cafe oﬀering the cosiness of a saloon, an open kitchen and the intimacy of a living room. The large terras is great for sunny days. 2e Kostverlorenkade 70 Amsterdam www.cafekostverloren.nl

Fun, Drinking & Music

To be seen and tasted

Cafe-Restaurant Du Cap A spacious and tasty helping to the Mediterranean vibe within Amsterdam’s new ‘West End’ entertainment district. Kwakersplein 2 Amsterdam www.du-cap.nl

Molly Malone’s An Irish pub as it should be and a home away from home! Cosy, friendly, and with its very own character! Oudezijds Kolk 9 1012 AL Amsterdam www.facebook.com/pages/ Molly-Malones-Amsterdam/ 293030997411277

Fun, Drinking & Music

Connoisseurs Delight

Fun, drinking and music

Bax A cosy and friendly local café with a focus on special or interesting beers and good quality food. Open 7 days a week with a professional kitchen oﬀering a lunch and dinner service. Ten Katestraat 119 Amsterdam www.cafebax.nl

Café Rose Red You will not see and sample a better selection of the very best of European beer elsewhere. Cordoeaniersstraat 16 Brugge www.caferosered.com

Gollem Gollem’s Proeﬂokaal, Gollem and Gollem II represent the best addresses serving the fullest range of top Belgian, Dutch and international beers in Amsterdam. Overtoom 160-161 Amsterdam www.cafegollem.nl

To be seen and tasted

Café Oporto Café Oporto is a traditional Amsterdam ‘brown cafe’. Welcoming tourists and regular customers alike, they oﬀer televised sports, wiﬁ and a wide range of reasonably priced beers and spirits. Zoutsteeg 1 1012 LX Amsterdam www.cafeoporto.net

spotted

Where is this in Amsterdam?

Answer to: sentineldesk@gmail.com

film

Room 2c film By dpmotions

Planet of the Apes (1968)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind If you are old enough to have seen this epic lightshow at around the time of its release, then there is a good chance you have forgotten detail of its plot nuance. An intelligent mix of fiction, science, music and extra-terrestrial contact. How does a simple family man convince the world about what he has seen? The best of Steven Spielberg’s writing and direction.

Some of the best sci-fi mixed with quasi-philosophy to ever hit the screen. An astronaut crew crash land on an earthlike planet after 700 years of travel. What they encounter is a version of earth society where apes have evolved to be the mammals in charge. All that is needed is to escape to ‘real earth freedom’. Charlton Heston broods in this super-classic with absorbing, relevant dialogue; mostly since forgotten by past viewers.

By dpmotions

(1977)

trends

Friends shipped ‘Have we, or rather have our kids reached tech and 3D saturation?’

By Dirkje Bakker-Pierre

This summer we are all seeing, tripping over and wearing a reinvention of the classic seventies hit - the friendship band. Renamed and reshaped as looming, using intricate contraptions made with colourful rubber bands instead of being woven with coloured yarn. The loom is blooming, it is unstoppable, it may even pose the risk of addiction. Whether it is girls or boys in the playground, their parents, random adults or the Duchess of Cambridge, loom is all over everyone’s arms. Kids everywhere are engrossed in training their loom skills, weaving more

This summer’s ultimate trend, has taken not only the Low Countries, but the whole of Europe by storm, or rather by hurricane force, and is bigger than anything we have seen throughout the past 10 years. It is as overwhelming as the toy rages that I remember from my own youth in the eighties. Then every summer was good for some new magical bit of plastic which everybody just had to have; like a tsunami washing over the continent. Back in those days and during such crazes there wasn’t a kid alive who didn’t have or desperately wanted to have a pogo ball, a Rubik’s Cube, a yo-yo or barrels of marbles…

and more intricate patterns. At one point its components were occupying all of the top-20 slots of Amazon’s best-selling toys. The fact that the rubber bands are really super-cheap and looming is affordable for anyone might account for its instant and complete success. There is no household in this country featuring kids where you don’t suck up a few of them every time you vacuum clean. You can get thousands of them arranged neatly by colour in plastic boxes at budget shops like Action (NL) where plastic products are practically free. Is it a move back to doing something with your hands? Can we link this trend to the comeback of knitting and home growing? Are kids just relieved and very happy to not have to be entertained by an Ipad or television all of the time, or busy sweating to learn the moves for the next computer game, which themselves have now evolved to being more complicated than learning how to make a triple fishtail strand? Is the magic to be found in the act of actually making something physical, to have an actual result of all your hard work instead of the emptiness of having a virtual crowd go crazy? Does this mean that today’s children are moving more and more back toward the real world instead of becoming more and more virtual? Have we, or rather have our kids reached tech and 3D saturation? Are we moving back in time? Maybe it is time to go into the attic and look up our wonder knitters (in NL we called it punniken). Why not collectively move back to the eighties, maybe a new trend can then be born?

perspectives

Moonlighting ‘Must do’s are things the whole city takes part in: King’s Day, Gay Pride or watching the World Cup’

‘To be an international resident is always to be a double outsider’

By E.R. Muntrem

Perhaps my sitting a few benches away causes the two girls to get up to walk away. In any case, that is what they do; their departure is cause for celebration as it leaves the bench with the best view of tonight’s full moon vacant. This is at the back of the Norderkerk, late at night, my last night in town for a while. The front of the church, as everyone knows, opens towards Winkel and a few other well populated cafes as well as to a courtyard that makes room for a market several days a week. And at its back, the apse extended say, the church guards a playground bordered by benches. Furthest from the traffic of the Prinsengraght, this bench is a tad remote. Perfect for me. The red carpet is not often rolled-out in Amsterdam, or at least that is how I think of it. The democracy of the

place means there is less need to fight for entry to the happening club or restaurant as you find happening in places like New York or Boston. Must do’s are things the whole city takes part in: King’s Day, Gay Pride or watching the World Cup. But otherwise, wherever the in-crowd is, the fight to stay on the interior impacts the city little. Or so it feels. Though of this I am just offering a guess; I’m not young enough to care where people feel the need to be seen in any city, let alone one where I am a foreigner. I am also not ‘Dutch’ enough (as some visitors manage to make themselves) to know the social circles that would care about ‘social success’. Even if you don’t mind the distance it causes, growing older is a kind of retreat. You might feel more settled away from home than close to it, but to be an international resident is always to be a double outsider. Anyway Proust, behind me, is one of the few place into which the Dutch feel compelled to pack into on weekends. I’ve no idea why.

perspectives

And my solitude is about to be interrupted. A homeless man approaching has made me his target. What is it about having no place to sleep that gives you that distinctive walk? He sits on the bench next to me and says hello. I return a greeting. He wants a cigarette. I’ve none. He volunteers that he has one euro in his pocket. “Why?” I ask. “I’m homeless,” he says. More scooters, more showy houses meant to show how rich the person is who lives there, and more broken people on the streets. In seven or eight years of visiting Amsterdam those are the most notable and important changes I’ve seen in the city. Whatever the forces of bad luck, poor choices, or hostile economy that broke this guy, he tries to remain intact. He’s drunk, but kind. He’s sad, not angry. He’s got nowhere to sleep but he is not dishevelled. His bag is full, but well packed. Before he leaves me he checks the proper tuck of his shirt. I offer him my sneakers. I should offer him a room for the night. Right? Or so I think. I mean that is what he needs. But I am renting a house and have just finished

making it clean before having to leave early next morning. It would be a hassle to have a guest I know, let alone one who needs what he needs. He declines the sneakers. Sneakers, he explains, start to smell and he can keep his sandals and socks fresh, though I don’t understand how. What he needs is money. This I provide, giving him the bills I have in my wallet. The act moves him and he puts his hands next to his heart before staggering off in the direction of, but not into, Proust. The hardest rain I can ever recall falling in Amsterdam falls that night. In my rented apartment the skylight over the kitchen fails and the kitchen floods. The stove is soaked, the lights short-circuit, and all the pots and pans are made a mess. Obvious water damage is everywhere and I am up all night trying to clean up and figure out how I will inform my landlord; I have left his house in a shambles. And my uninvited guest? Where is he?

‘More scooters, more showy houses ‘Whatever the forces of bad luck, meant to show how rich the person poor choices, or hostile economy’ is who lives there, and more broken people on the streets’

health & well-being

Pearl

By Evelina Kvartunaite

The big, glorious moon of 12/07/14 got me thinking about a gemstone that is intrinsically associated with it – pearl. It is said to be able to accept love - see the good parts of oneself so you can love yourself and others.

already made full use of the pearls, along with their shells, which were found in the Tennessee, Ohio and Mississippi river basins, as well as in the Atlantic Ocean. At one point so many pearls were making it back to Europe from the New World that it was sometimes called the “Land of Pearls”.

Pearl is the oldest known gem, and for many centuries it was considered the most valuable. Unlike all other gems, pearl is organic matter derived from a living creature: oysters and molluscs.

The pearl is an astral stone for the signs Gemini and Cancer, and astrologers link it to the moon. Additionally, pearls have been used for their medicinal value, since their earliest discovery by man. Interestingly enough, the modern pharmaceutical industry continues to use pearls in medicine. In particular, pearls that are of inferior quality and cannot be used in jewelry are ground into a fine powder and used to prepare high-quality pharmaceutical calcium.

Pearl is usually a favourite gem used at weddings and has been such a favourite for people of many and various cultures. An old Arab legend tells us that pearls were created when dew drops filled with moonlight fell into the ocean and were swallowed by oysters. When Spanish explorers reached the New World, they found rich pearl fisheries run by Native Americans. They

– ‘Pearl is the oldest known gem’ –

health & well-being

– ‘Legend tells us that pearls were created when dew drops filled with moonlight fell into the ocean and were swallowed by oysters’ –

– ‘Used to prepare high-quality pharmaceutical calcium’ –

technology

‘The majority are free and some of them even have mobile apps’

User Interface 96

The pixel life: Online courses

‘The best of higher education online’

‘Accredited or verified certifications after passing the quizzes, exams or assignments’

By Andrei Barburas

The year is 2014. We find ourselves more and more facing an electronic screen that is covered with pixels. Those pixels are becoming more and more involved in our life. Today’s pixel topic is about the state of online courses. Over recent years we’ve been seeing more and more ‘things’ that were exclusively offline, making the transition towards the online; school/university courses being one of those things. What makes things even better is that the majority are free and some of them even have mobile apps for you to learn something new on the go. Coursera and edX are currently the most prominent, at least according to me. I have myself finished a couple dozen classes both on Coursera and edX. To explain a bit more about those platforms, Coursera is an education platform that partners with top

universities and organisations worldwide, to offer courses online for anyone to take, for free. The class portals are quite simple and easy to use, including videos, quizzes and even discussion forums where students can discuss the topics they are following within the course. So far, Coursera is my favourite mainly due to the ease of use and the recent launch of their mobile app. The second platform I mentioned, edX, was created for students and institutions that seek to transform themselves through cutting edge technologies, innovative pedagogy, and rigorous courses. Through edX’s institutional partners, the xConsortium, along with other leading global members, they present the best of higher education online, offering opportunity to anyone who wants to achieve, thrive, and grow. According to edX, their goals go beyond offering courses and content. edX is committed to research that will allow them to understand how students learn, how technology can transform

technology

learning, and the ways teachers teach on campus and beyond. On another note, edX is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts and is governed by MIT and Harvard.

charge. I did not enroll in any class on Khan Academy due to the lack of time and due to the fact that I was committed to Coursera and edX.

Based on my own experience, the classes edX offers are a bit more in depth than those of Coursera, almost like doing a degree. Their platform is a bit cumbersome and I felt like I needed a lot more clicks to get to the actual classes. Nevertheless, the range of classes is still very interesting and will definitely raise your interest.

All the platforms mentioned above, also offer accredited or verified certifications after passing the quizzes, exams or assignments. However, you will have to pay for these certifications.

Another platform receiving a lot of attention is the Khan Academy. Khan Academy is an organisation on a mission. They are a not-for-profit with the goal of changing education for the better by providing a free world-class education for anyone anywhere. All of the Khan Academy site’s resources are available to anyone. It doesn’t matter if you are a student, teacher, homeschooler, principal, adult returning to the classroom after 20 years, or a friendly alien just trying to get a leg up in earthly biology. Khan Academy’s materials and resources are available to you completely free of

What about you? Did you follow any online classes? If so, what was your experience? Would you do it again? Links: https://coursera.org https://edx.org https://khanacademy.org

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Get advice on housing, rental contracts and apartments in Amsterdam

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