Someone want to explain this?

"Either I missed out on a lot as a kid, or the playgrounds here in Belgium are a LOT more fun than the ones back home.

EU pours £3.8bn into 'brainwashing campaign'

The European Union is spending £3.8 billion a year on "propaganda" to win over its sceptical citizens.

According to Lee Rotherham, the author of a new book which examines the EU's spending on its image, such initiatives are an "outrageous and cynical attempt to brainwash the young". The Europa Diary, a gift from the EU to schoolchildren, is one example cited by Mr Rotherham in Hearts & Minds: the Tax-funded PR Campaign to Make us Love Brussels.

Brussels Airlines gets Another Dot

Thirteen dots looked just right to designer Ronane Hoet.
Together they had the perfect balance to form a stylized "b" for the new Belgian carrier Brussels Airlines and the number also matched the airline's destinations in Africa, a key market. "It was harmony," she said, wistfully.
This week, however, Brussels Airlines was busy changing the 13-ball logo on the tail and sides of one of its Airbus jets and adding a 14th one in response to complaints from superstitious customers in the United States and Italy.
The airline, the successor to the merged SN Brussels and Virgin Express, won't start flying until March 25 and the company had only painted one of its planes with the new logo, which had prompted a flood of disapproving e-mails and calls when it had been unveiled last year.
"They said they were not pleased with an aircraft with a logo with 13 balls because they think it brings them bad luck," said Brussels Airlines spokesman Geert Sciot

Mozart gets his Penis Amputated

Mozart, an iguana with an erection that has lasted for over a week, will have his penis amputated in the next couple of days.
Veterinarians at Antwerp's Aquatopia had sought to treat the animal's problem, but decided removal was the only solution because of the risk of infection. The good news for Mozart and his mates is that male iguanas have two penises.
Mozart, sitting on the shoulders of his keeper as camera crews focused on his red, swollen erection, seemed unperturbed by the news.
"It doesn't bother him. He doesn't know what amputation means," said vet Luc Lambrecht, adding that Mozart's sexual activity should be undimmed by the operation.
"I don't think so. That's all in his head."

Dinner in the Sky

Dinner In The Sky is for people who expect more from their restaurants than four concrete walls and a solid floor. Instead, diners perch around a massive table, which is suspended from a crane high up in the air.
It sounds completely insane, but as the most unusual - and entirely legal - way of getting high over dinner, it is the new must-do experience for the super-rich and adventure-hungry who yearn for something a little more extreme at mealtimes.
Although based in Belgium, the "restaurant" can be driven to any destination in the world. ARTICLE AND MORE PICTURES

You Can't Make This Stuff Up!

Belgian candidate for prime minister sings wrong national anthem

Real life is constantly much funnier than fiction in Belgium.

The man aiming to lead Belgium sang the French national anthem instead of his own when questioned by reporters on the country's national day, reports said Sunday.
Yves Leterme, the head of the Flemish Christian Democrat party trying to form a coalition government, broke into the French anthem 'La Marseillaise' when television reporters asked him to sing Belgium's 'La Brabanconne' on Saturday.

Leterme was also filmed shortly afterward making a mobile phone call during a religious service to mark Belgium's 1830 independence from the Netherlands. READ ON

YOUTUBE VIDEOS

Strange Statues from around the World

Take a look at some of the strange statues from around the World COMPLETE LIST HERE

Who in the world is entrepreneurial?

The top four - New Zealand, the U.S., Canada, and Australia - place relatively few hurdles in the path of business owners. In each nation it takes between two and five days to start a business and requires five or fewer steps to do so. Those nations impose relatively low marginal tax rates too.

Not that it's a big surprise.....but Belgium is not your smartest choice if you want to start a business, and comes in a lowly 23rd.

READ CNN MONEY

The Italians have it figured out.

Last week, the Italian interior minister, Giuliano Amato, hosted a conference in Rome on "Islam and Integration." Italy, one of Europe's southern border states, has 1 million Muslims out of a population of 58 million people. Illegal immigrants arrive in Italy in huge numbers.

The Italians, however, have a way of dealing with illegal immigrants. They regularly transform them into legal residents by granting them official papers.

Most of them leave Italy shortly afterward. Since Italy belongs to the European Union and since the EU adheres to the principle of the free movement of persons, an amnesty gives immigrants the right to freely enter all EU member states. Italy allows the immigrants in so that they move out, to EU nations with more generous welfare systems.

READ CANADIAN FREE PRESS

Fatboys lunch for Cedric

Cedric being the latest STUD to be returning (back to Ontario) we had a little lunch for him Thursday at Fatboy's Sports Bar. Good Luck Cedric, we'll miss you.
click photo to enlarge

Another day, another stolen car in Belgium

Figures from Belgium's federal police show that motor cars of the Ford brand are the most coveted among the country's fraternity of thieves. (the tasteless thieves)
Over 12 thousand cars were stolen in Belgium in 2006.

The more expensive brands, BMW, Mercedes and Audi, are popular among thieves who are prepared to use violence and attack the owners in their own homes, so called car jackings. (sounds like fun)

Unlike in previous years no ambulances were stolen.The federal police are able to retrieve half of all the vehicles stolen in Belgium.

Steegmans wins Tour in Ghent

Belgium's Gert Steegmans on Monday won the second stage of this year's Tour de France cycling race. The Belgian was first in the bunch sprint in Ghent (East Flanders).
Steegmans finished just ahead of his team-mate Tom Boonen.
This was the somewhat bizarre end of the second stage. World champion Tom Boonen failed to get ahead of the rider who had been making the going for him for much of the race.Filippo Pozzato of Italy was third.Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara retains leader's yellow jersey.

You're not cold..are you dear?

I'd be remiss if I didn't wish the Canadian STUDS a belated "Happy 140th Birthday" from July 1st. I needed a way to work this picture in!

The Cheech and Chong Summer Home.

Police in eastern Belgium have discovered the biggest cannabis plantation ever to be found in this country. The plantation at Hechtel-Eksel consists of several thousand cannabis plants.
The plantation was discovered in an empty building with an indoor swimming pool along a busy main road. FLANDERS NEWS

If Only European Movies Were as Good as this Spot!

You could put an eye out with that thing!

Although American TV seems to have a drug commercial every five minutes...this one is entertaining enough to watch.
"if you experince an erection lasting more than four hours call your doctor?" I'm not calling my doctor, I'm calling every woman I know.

European winemakers forced to shake it up

Few wine merchants saw the ominous signs when Bordeaux produced a magnificent harvest in 1995, sending the prices for some of France's most prestigious wines upward.
Surely, the famously oenophile Europeans would continue to flock to French cellars. After all, more than nine out of 10 bottles Willy Goorden sold in his shop outside Brussels at that time carried those ornate French labels.
But the excellent French vintage also held the seeds of a curse.
"When the 1995 Bordeaux came onto the market two years later, it was very expensive, often double in price. People were shocked looking at the price tag," Goorden said.
On Wednesday, the European Union executive office proposed a total overhaul of the bloated sector, which now spends more than $700 million a year just turning unsalable wine into industrial alcohol.
Colruyt wine purchaser Freddy Steens has seen the New World wines take over the under-5 euro ($7) bracket in the past dozen years to account for 90% of volume now. READ USA TODAY

Proof that the Village Idiot can still get Elected!

French minister suggests Bush could be behind 9/11
Asked in an interview a few months ago whether President Bush could be behind the 9/11 attacks, now French Minister for Housing and Urban Policy Christine Boutin replied immediately, ‘I think it’s possible,’ reports Corriere della Sera. She went on: “The fact that websites which question 9/11 are visited every day by millions of people makes me think that the expression of the masses and of the people cannot not be based on a foundation of truth.” READ ON (in French)

BEST HEADLINE EVER!

HERO CABBIE: I KICKED BURNING TERRORIST SO HARD IN BALLS THAT I TORE A TENDON

A HERO cabbie who took on the Glasgow Airport terror suspects told yesterday how he booted one of them in the privates. From the UK Record.

What's for Dinner?

The police in Verviers found two bodies in a freezer in a home on the Eugène Mullendorss avenue in Verviers late on Tuesday night. A guest of the victim's husband discovered the bodies, the public prosecution department in Verviers announced.
A woman invited for dinner at the home on Tuesday planned to put the leftovers in the deep freezer. In the freezer however she found a woman's body. The woman immediately called the Verviers police. She was in a state of shock and was provided counselling. READ ON

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY

Happy Fourth to the American Contingent of STUDS out there. One of my favorite holidays because it mixes Rednecks, Beer, and Fireworks. (or god thinning the herd, as i prefer to call it)
What could possibly go wrong?

Bubba, hold my beer....and watch this!

A little Musical tribute

The latest Kitchen Accessory

Economic Indicator

A friend of mine who is native Belgian, says forget about statistics, here is the true economic indicator for Belgium. When you get a Cote d'Or with your coffee, things are going good. When you get a biscuit........not so much.