Finally: Urinal Video Games

Just what we've been clamoring for. For those with extremely limited attention spans and who can't manage to occupy themselves for that minute or so spent in the tavern restroom, a couple of Belgians have come to your rescue.

Two Belgian beer fans have launched a video game named 'Place to pee', which allows players to slalom down ski slopes or kill aliens while relieving themselves at urinals.

Werner Dupont, a software developer, and Bart Geraets, an electrical engineer, got the idea while drinking Belgian trappist beers, they told Reuters Television at a local festival on Sunday.

"This thing had to be invented by Belgian people and that's what we are," they said.

The 'Place to pee' booth is designed for two users at a time and offers two games -- blowing up aliens in outer space or skiing down a virtual slope. Gamers hit their target by aiming at sensors positioned on either side of the urinal.

The Belgians are apparently fascinated with urinating. Who knew?

Their 'Place to pee' logo resembles 'Manneken Pis', the little urinating boy fountain that is among Brussels' top sightseeing attractions.

Belgians To Politicos: STFU

25,000 march for Belgian unity
Urge politicians to stop toying with country's breakup

Some 25,000 people staged a Belgian unity march in Brussels Sunday to vent their anger at a linguistic spat that prevents a government from taking office, stoking speculation Belgium's Dutch and French-speakers would be better off breaking up.

Francophone and Dutch-speaking protesters, many sporting Belgium's black-yellow-and-red flag, gathered at the independence arch in Cinquentenaire park to sing the national anthem and hear speakers urge politicians to work for national unity and stop talk of a breakup of Belgium.

The protest at the soaring arch that marks Belgium's independence from the Netherlands in 1830 was organized by Marie-Claire Houart, 45, a civil servant in the city of Liege.

Her unity petition has been signed by some 140,000 Belgians in recent weeks as efforts to form a government deadlocked in enduring disputes between Dutch-speaking and Francophone politicians. It urged them to "stop wasting money at our expense on quarrels that interest only a small minority (and) respect our nation and its unity."

In a country that is a stranger to flag-waving, the protest was a rare sight.

On a bright but chilly day, scores of Belgian flags, large and small, dotted the crowd on the esplanade below the vast Cinquentenaire arch.

The demonstrators had walked there from the center of Brussels, the officially bilingual but overwhelmingly Francophone capital, long been a focal point of linguistic strife in this country of 6.5 million Dutch and 4 million French-speakers.

The demonstration came on the 161st day after elections in which Christian Democrats and Liberals won 81 of the 150 parliamentary seats. Despite that majority, the would-be partners — each split into Dutch and French-speaking camps — have been unable to form a government due to related disputes that touch on more self-rule for Belgium's two linguistic communities.

The political crisis is rooted in different visions of the future. In Dutch-speaking Flanders, all parties seek, at a minimum, more regional autonomy within a federal Belgium. But politicians in Wallonia, Belgium's much poorer and less populous southern half, see the push for more self-rule hiding an ultimately secessionist agenda.

The 161 days since the June 10 elections have seen an intensifying war of words across the east-west language frontier. Completely souring the mood was a Nov. 7 vote by Flemish parliamentarians to breakup a bilingual, Brussels area voting district against the wishes of all Francophone politicians.

On Sunday, Yves Leterme, the Flemish Christian democrat leader and would-be premier, remained invisible, continuing behind-the-scenes contacts with a view to forming a center-right government as yet, officials said.

Until a new government is formed, the outgoing center-left alliance of Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt stays on in a caretaker capacity.

Via IHT

Belgium Pays Ransom To Iran

Old Europe. What else can be said?

Boeve's return cost EUR 600,000
Not too many people were happy to hear world traveller Stefaan Boeve insist that he "will certainly be going back" to Iran.

Just after landing at Melsbroek the freed hostage declared that he wants to return to the site of the kidnapping to retrieve his jeep. The Foreign Affairs Ministry advises tourists not to visit this particular area because it is dangerous.

It is difficult to calculate exactly how much the Boeve affair has cost the taxpayer, but the total is in the area of EUR 600,000. To start Minister De Gucht will donate EUR 500,000 to a programme to combat drugs in the region where Boeve was kidnapped, "in gratitude for the good cooperation." This gift would not have been made otherwise.

Neville Chamberlain was unavailable for comment.

There's more.

Now on eBay: Belgium

Some may scoff, but this is a good idea.

Now maybe we can auction off some people.

Like this idiot for starters. He'll come cheap.

Someone tries to sell Belgium on eBay

BRUSSELS, Belgium - Hidden among the porcelain fox hounds and Burberry tablecloths on sale at eBay.be this week was an unusual item: "For Sale: Belgium, a Kingdom in three parts ... free premium: the king and his court (costs not included)."

The odd ad was posted by one disgruntled Belgian in protest at his country's political crisis which reached a 100-day landmark Tuesday with no end in sight to the squabbling between Flemish and Walloon politicians.

"I wanted to attract attention," said Gerrit Six, the teacher and former journalist who posted the ad. "You almost have to throw rock through a window to get attention for Belgium."

Well, he got the attention he desired, though not everyone is amused.

Six' idea got a mixed reaction on the streets of Brussels.

"Very funny, typical Belgian humor," said Anne Graux. "It's ridiculous," snapped Nathalie Ginot, a Brussels resident who had her own pragmatic solution to Belgium's woes. "We think it would be good to split Belgium into the three and make Brussels a tax-haven, a capital exempt from all taxes," she said hopefully.

Six vaunted Belgium's attractions to potential buyers from art nouveau architecture to the headquarters of NATO and the European Union and some great beers. But he also warned of the pitfalls of taking on the cacophonous mix of Flemish nationalists, Walloon Socialists and the mayors of all 19 Brussels' boroughs.

EBay was happy to take Six' advertisement.

"It was a really fun listing made by a Belgian," Peter Burin, PR manager of eBay Belgium. "This person, in a very funny way, reminded the Belgians what a great country Belgium actually is and it would be a shame to sell it."

Courage In The Face Of Adversity

Yesterday, Charles over at Little Green Footballs focused attention on the mayor of Brussels, Belgium, who has cancelled a 9/11 memorial march because You Know Who might be offended.

From Flanders News:

It is feared that conflict would arise between the protesters and members of the capital's large Muslim community if the planned demonstration were allowed to go ahead.

Mr Thielemans told journalists that "there could be a counter-demonstration. I'm not prepared to allow something to take place that could bring chaos to the streets".

Mr Thielemans says that he receives between five and six hundred requests for demonstrations each year and has only banned about half a dozen demonstrations since becoming Mayor at the beginning of 2001.

The organisers claim that Mr Thielemans' reasons for banning the demonstration prove their point.

They add that the demonstration will be held and that Mr Thielemans "is not fully aware of his responsibility, for as a mayor at EU's capital you cannot simply forbid ordinary European citizens from expressing their constitutional freedoms."

Three organisations are behind the planned demonstration; the Danish anti-Islam party SAID, the British group No Sharia Here and the German organisation Pax Europa.

Stop the Islamisation of Europe announced on Friday afternoon that it is [to] mount a legal challenge to get the ban lifted.

In response to this nitwittery, Stop the Islamisation of Europe, proponents of the march, has also launched an online petition drive.

Someone was even so kind as to provide the email addys of the governor of Brussels, Mme. Veronique Paulus de Chalet and the mayor of Brussels, M. Freddy Thielemans.

I wonder if Mayor Numbnuts would have the courage of his convictions to ban a march that would feature slogans such as, Jews Out Of Palestine, What Holocaust?, Death To Israel And The Great Satan, Ahmadinejad Is Right, or Submit Or Die?

For some reason, I doubt it.

Wouldn't want to offend anybody, you know.