Liberation Day, Netherlands

May 5, the Dutch celebrate the end of WWII and the liberation from the Nazis:

All-day free concert, Dam Square

Satellite Sports ... open all night for Super Bowl!

Live music in front of the Hard Rock

Guinness Pub and the Hard Rock

The Museumplein, Van Gogh Museum & Rijksmuseum

Upon Further Review

It's especially rich how Pakistan is pretending to be offended at the suggestion their military intelligence circles are thoroughly penetrated by Al Qaeda, as this quote from BBC today reminds us:

Referring to the raid, Chief of Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Kayani was quoted by the Reuters news agency as saying: "Any similar action violating the sovereignty of Pakistan will warrant a review on the level of military/intelligence cooperation with the United States."

Thank you  Captain Renault ... you're "shocked, shocked" to find there's terrorism going on in here?  I have news for you, pal ... there's already a review of military/intelligence cooperation going on, and part of it is examining the hard drives and USB sticks confiscated from the luxury pad Osama was enjoying half a click from your military academy!

Smile for the camera

Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden was spotted by facial recognition software while he was exercising in his Pakistan compound in September, it emerged yesterday.
The breakthrough set in chain a sequence of events which led to his death in a 40-minute operation witnessed by US President Barack Obama via satellite.
US officials revealed that bin Laden's Abbottabad compound had been under surveillance for several months.
And it was facial recognition software that identified bin Laden from satellite pictures as he exercised outside in September.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10723264

Ouch, what a burn for Osama .... Jack Bauer didn't get him, Chloe nailed him!

iSlavery

An investigation into the conditions of Chinese workers has revealed the human cost of producing Apple iPhones and iPads.
The research has revealed allegations of excessive working hours at two Apple plants in southern China.
It has also uncovered an "anti-suicide" pledge that workers at the two plants have been urged to sign, after a series of employee deaths last year.
The investigation gives a detailed picture of life for the 500,000 workers at the Shenzhen and Chengdu factories run by Foxconn, which produces millions of Apple products. The report accuses Foxconn of treating workers "inhumanely, like machines".
Among the allegations made by workers interviewed by the Centre for Research on Multinational Companies and Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour are claims that excessive overtime is routine, despite a legal limit of 36 hours a month. One payslip indicated the worker had performed 98 hours of overtime in a month.
Workers were sometimes pressured to take only one day off in 13. In some factories badly performing workers are required to be publicly humiliated in front of colleagues. Crowded workers' dormitories can sleep up to 24 and are subject to strict rules.
Foxconn produced its first iPad at Chengdu last November and expects to produce 100 million a year by 2013. Last year Apple sold more than 15 million iPads worldwide.
Foxconn manager Louis Woo confirmed workers sometimes worked more than the statutory overtime limit to meet demand but claimed that all the extra hours were voluntary. Workers claim that, if they turn down excessive demands for overtime, they will be forced to rely on their basic wage - about 1350 yuan ($257) a month for a 48-hour week.
Asked about anti-suicide netting being fitted beneath the windows of workers' dormitories, Woo said: "Suicides were not connected to bad working conditions. There was a copy effect. If one commits suicide, then others will follow."

 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10722773

Bin Laden Gone

Queen's Day Video

The Jordaan was packed, but mostly with adults and locals, less of a dangerous drunk vibe than the Dam Square area ... I didn't even attempt to go near Museumplein.

Queen's Day

Kid, by the end of the day I knew just how you felt.  For wayyyy more Queen's Day pictures, click here or the Queen's Day link in the Galleries section of the blog.