However, the value of these languages extends well beyond the university walls. Cultural exchanges between countries large and small are of great economic importance. Accordingly, the study of languages and cultures at academic level is vital –language students go on to work as writers, communicators, translators, interpreters, editors etc. If the University of Groningen’s plans to discontinue four modern language programmes take effect, unique expertise will be drained from the country, with devastating effects in the long term. With this petition, we urge the University of Groningen to reconsider these plans, and to continue to offer Danish, Finnish, Hungarian and Norwegian as part of the European Languages and Cultures programme. If you want to support our cause, please sign this petition and spread the word!

On behalf of staff, students and alumni of the departments of Scandinavian and Finno-Ugric languages at the University of Groningen

Prof. Muriel Norde
(Chair of Scandinavian Languages and Cultures)
Prof. Cornelius Hasselblatt
(Chair of Finno-Ugric Languages and Cultures)

For more information, or if you wish to share your thoughts, please visit our blog at http://savelanguagesingroningen.blogspot.nl

Daaruit blijkt waarschijnlijk dat de masten verstorend zouden kunnen werken. Niet veel later besluit de overheid dat het een goed idee is deze hoogspanningsverbinding dan maar langs een woonwijk met jonge mensen aan te leggen. Meer dan 60% van de mensen die hier wonen hebben kinderen onder de 10 jaar. Alleen een provinciale weg scheidt onze huizen van de 60 meter hoge masten.

Kinderleukemie en andere gezondheidsrisico’s
Het is wetenschappelijk onderzocht en bewezen dat de nabijheid van hoogspanningskabels onder andere de kans op kinderleukemie significant vergroot. Meer schrikbarende feiten over de gezondheidsrisico’s op: www.medischdossier.org/archief/jaargang_11/nummer_4/artikel_488/dossier_elektromagnetische_velden_ziekte_onder_hoogspanning.html.

In ons geval gaat de Nederlandse overheid uit van slechts 50 meter afstand! Dat er gezondheidsrisico's zijn sluit de rijksoverheid niet uit, maar zij redeneren dat een direct oorzakelijk verband nog niet bewezen zou zijn. Het verhoogde risico op kinderleukemie kan ook nog een andere oorzaak hebben, zo stelt de overheid opportunistisch. Een bezorgde Floriande bewoner heeft het rijk gevraagd schriftelijk te bevestigen dat onze gezondheid niet zal worden geschaad door de 380 kv. Die bevestiging is (uiteraard...) niet mogelijk.

Naast de gezondheidsrisicos’ maken wij ons ook ernstig zorgen over:

- Het feit dat het park van ons wordt afgenomen

- Onze huizen minder waard worden.

Geen communicatie
Naast het dreigende besluit voor het Westtrace, voelen wij ons ook genegeerd en geschoffeerd door een zeer slechte communicatie vanuit het project. Waarom de verbinding plotseling aan de andere kant van Hoofddorp moet worden aangelegd weten we niet. Schiphol of geld, wie zal het zeggen? Gecommuniceerd wordt er niet. De informatiebijeenkomst die het rijk in Hoofddorp op maandag 31 januari had gepland, werd drie dagen voor tijd plotseling afgelast. De laatste nieuwsbrief van december 2010 heeft niemand in de bus gekregen.

Conflict over onze rug
Zowel de gemeente als de provincie zijn faliekant tegen het westtrace. Zij hebben namelijk jarenlang gewerkt aan plannen om in het gebied van de westtrace circa 10.000 nieuwe huizen te bouwen, de zogenoemde ontwikkeling van de Westflank. Dit is van belang om de regio Schiphol aantrekkelijk te houden. Om diezelfde reden is toentertijd ook de wijk Floriande ontwikkeld. Maar nu dreigen de ministers Verhagen (EZ) en Schultz (Milieu) de hoogspanningskabel pal door deze wijken te trekken. Wij hebben aan de contacten met het ministerie gemerkt dat onze gezondheid geen enkele overweging is in dit conflict. Er is bestuurlijk overleg met de provincie en gemeente op vrijdag 11 maart. Wij als beraden ons momenteel op acties om aandacht te vragen voor onze problemen.

For the Department of Mathematics a committee of applied mathematicians has put forward a proposal to close the Geometry Section, which consists of six tenured positions and focuses on algebraic K theory, algebraic topology, and general/geometric topology. At the same time, some of the funds freed up by the abolition of the Geometry Section are to be used for the creation of two additional positions in the Analysis Section. This proposal has received the endorsement of the Dean of the Faculty of Sciences and of the Executive Board of the university. Two members of the Geometry Section will retire in the next two years and closure of the section will allow for termination of the other four tenured positions. Thus, the proposal's drastic measures will merely cut the total number of positions by two.

Of the four positions slated for termination, one is in general/geometric topology and has been held since 2001 by Jan Dijkstra. The other three people were appointed less than four years ago: Dietrich Notbohm, Rob de Jeu, and Tilman Bauer. This introduced algebraic K-theory and algebraic topology as new research subjects at the VU. In 2010, a research evaluation of all Dutch mathematics departments by an international committee took place. The committee welcomed these changes very much, stating that strong young people provided new impetus to the group in mainstream mathematics and offered promise for the future.

What are the consequences of the closure of the Geometry Section for the university? Algebra, algebraic topology, and general/geometric topology will vanish. Algebraic K-theory and general/geometric topology will cease to exist in the Netherlands, and only Utrecht will be left with research in algebraic topology. No pure mathematicians will be on the staff anymore. The university will give up central areas of mathematics and adopt a narrow research profile. The education of students offered at the VU will also become much narrower, which may lead to a drop in the yearly intake of students, and will certainly compromise the academic chances for VU graduates.

This petition asks for a reconsideration of this plan. By signing it you will help to save the Geometry Section at the Department of Mathematics at the VU!

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Het is 2009.. discussies en publiciteit omtrent de Malafide Hondenhandel is langzaam ingedut. Ondanks alle goede voornemens is er niet veel gebeurt. Integendeel..!!

Op internetsites tiert de “Hondenhandel”zo welig, dat het moeite kost om een “normaal”
Gezond dier te vinden.

Het leed is groot, bij het dier en bij de mens. Waarschuwingen en protesten op deze sites zijn niet toegestaan, het noemen van namen is Smaad.
Dieren mogen worden mishandeld en mensen mogen worden opgelicht.

Laten wij, fatsoenlijke mensen, dierenvrienden dan nu de handen inéén slaan.
Laten wij met zijn allen, Zovéél handtekeningen verzamelen dat de Politiek en de Pers er niet meer omheen Kán..!!!! Laten wij starten met de grootste handtekeningenactie aller tijden..!!

Het IJsselmeer, het grootste stiltegebied van Nederland, zal worden verpest door alles overschaduwende turbines met knipperlichten. Het leefgebied van zo'n 73.000 mensen wordt ernstig bedreigd. Comité Urk Briest! vraagt u ten strijde te trekken!

There are still lots of questions left. Thats why I, and all the people who signed this petition are asking NBC / TNT / Pretender Studio's / Micael T. Weiss and all the other actors who stared in The Pretender to create a final movie or continue the series.

Some ideas are that miss Parker and Jarod are going to be together, Miss Parker that finds out the truth about her mother and her real father etc. Please TNT and NBC, I am realy begging you, continue the pretender or release another movie!

Basically, the larger their circulation, the more advertisers pay. In order to compete with other newspapers, free newspapers are being overproduced. My friends in Amsterdam have encountered piles of dumped newspapers lying on street corners, next to the stations or supermarkets.

Newspapers are distributed through thousands of boxed slots at train stations and supermarkets. They are being picked up by the NS (Nederlandse Spoorwegen, Dutch Railroads) a few times a day and dumped in mixed garbage containers. Part of them gets recycled by the NS, according with agreements with Metro and de Pers, but there is no transparency about how much of it gets recycled.

The paper that newspapers are made of only partially comes from recycled materials. It would be helpful if free newspapers took responsibility by helping to sponsor installation of the recycling bins in stations as it recently happened in London or better yet RE-READ containers, where newspapers can be re-deposit and refolded after reading as in Hong Kong.

Recently, a very good idea was developed by Head of Distribution of Metro, developed an idea that combines both profit and sustainability. The idea concerns a re-used newspaper bins operated by OV-chips and/or mobile phones placed on railroad stations. The precedent already exists in Holland , as customers can get credit points for, for example, disposing of recyclable bottles at supermarkets. The credit is directly transferred to the customer's OV-chip or directly to their phone (in co-operation with Rabobank) at the check-out counters and could be used directly by getting discount on groceries or donating credit to charities.

The readers will place their used newspapers in the bin, getting immediately credited to their OV-chip or phone. This credit could be used for purchases or savings at all participating companies, such as McDonalds (which is already Metro's partner), or coffee kiosks, or even NS tickets at the station. Once deposited into the bin, the newspapers will be pressed and folded (the way it is done in Hong Kong ) and ready to be taken out again looking almost new. Other newspapers (De Pers, Spits! And Dag) can also participate in the scheme. They could be deposited and taken out of separate slots.

At the end of the day, newspapers from the bins could be recycled, saving the (huge) costs of cleaning the stations, trains and mixed garbage. The necessity to supply fresh newspapers to the train stations couple of times a day (and thus saving transportation and distribution costs) will be reduced. The amount of printed paper per day will also be greatly reduced. The readership of the newspapers could be increased and the costs of production, transportation, distribution and recycling could be cut drastically. Metro, by placing its logo on the bins, will also profit from supporting its image as an environmentally friendly newspaper and perhaps be able to attract greater government and EU subsidies for its scheme in other countries where it operates.

The reasoning behind this idea is based on commercial and social research among Dutch consumers. Research shows that Dutch customers are environmentally aware but will not actually do much about it if there isn’t a (small financial) incentive for them for doing so. Saving credit from Air Miles and similar schemes is popular in Holland , as is the use of gadgets such as mobile technology. Environmental awareness plus (small) profit, plus the use of gadgets could lead to the winning formula, but the idea still needs to be tested.

There are a number of Dutch as well as EU sponsors who could potentially be interested in financing the development and testing of such bins. If the test is successful (on one station, for example), it could be applied to all stations in Holland and indeed in the whole of Europe. we still need to see whether the idea is viable. If so, this would be a good example of how both profit and responsibility could be combined.

We petition to support this idea and for establishing greater transparency about the origin of paper used for production of newspapers and stricter production controls.

This petition aims to gather support for the motion that using the term 'Filipinos' as a brand name for a chocolate biscuit is needlessly offensive, stigmatizing and even racist, especially in certain advertisements.

'Filipinos' cookies are small, flat, donut-shaped biscuits topped with chocolate. Filipinos are produced by Artiach, a Spanish brand that is part of the UK's United Biscuit (UB). Its website claims that Filipinos are the leading chocolate biscuit in Spain.

The name is offensive for two reasons.

First of all, there is the simple name-association itself. Attaching the name Filipinos to a sweet product with a hole in the middle that is consumed for pleasure and contains little nutritional value is not very charming.

Secondly, there is the problem of the name being used in marketing campaigns and thus becoming depreciatory. One blogger already noticed the food instruction on the package: "Try Filipinos after one hour in the fridge." Worse yet is the present Dutch campaign to sell Filipinos that asks consumers: 'Are you as Tasty as a Filipino?'

'Filipinos' as a brand name for a chocolate biscuit needs to be abandoned.