World record beer pong
Running a half marathon barefoot through the ice desert of Finland or pulling an entire train only using your teeth: some people are capable of almost unbelievable things, as the Guinness World Records-books show. A group of students from the University of Twente now also wants to make a world record: they plan to have the largest beer pong tournament in the world on June 8, in a sports hall on campus. “We are aiming for 1,500 participants,” the organizers say in sister newspaper U-Today. At beer pong, a party game, two teams take turns in throwing a ping-pong-ball into cups filled with beer. In case of a successful throw, they have to be drunk.
In Twente, however, water instead of beer will be played with – after all, participants should still be able to walk after a whole day of playing. A problem? “The current world record was also played with water, so that’s not a problem. But for socializing, a beer during the game is of course a must.” Registrations are still open.
Fascinated by Taylor
Giving birth to the antichrist, leading a lesbian double life and distributing political propaganda for American president Biden. It is keeping pop idol Taylor Swift very busy – if you were to believe the conspiracy theorists. The Rotterdam sister newspaper Erasmus Magazine asked Simone Driessen, assistant professor of Media and Popular Culture, why the singer is such a cherished subject for conspiracy theories.
The fact that Swift appeared to be conservative for a long time – she started her career in country music and was born into a strict Christian family – but then it turned out she wasn’t, plays a role in all of this, says Driessen. Also, in her songs there are often hidden hints, for example, to the events in her life. “So, maybe also secret political messages, say the conspiracy theorists,” according to Driessen.
By the way, it is not just the conspiracy theorists who are fascinated by Swift. Scientists also find her interesting. There is even an international research network for Taylor Swift and her fans, of which Driessen is one of the founders.
Bicycle gone, that’s a bummer
Parking your bicycle outside the rack, just for a minute? We previously wrote in this section about the city of Maastricht taking a harder line against it from the beginning of this year: the amount due to retrieve your bicycle from the depot – where wrongly parked bicycles are taken – has been doubled from 25 to 50 euro. Apparently, this in itself wasn’t enough: 'errant bicycles’ will now also be removed more quickly after wardens have labelled them. Previously, owners had one hour to remove their bicycles, which is now only fifteen minutes.
Why this stricter approach? “Wrongly parked bicycles continue to be a problem,” states Stefan Gybels, Maastricht city’s management and communication advisor. “There are still a lot of them, despite the fact that we remove about three thousand every year.” We will carry out targeted actions at various places in the city in the coming weeks. Gybels: “Obviously we will always communicate this beforehand. Also at the university, for example, if we focus on the university library.” In addition, there will also be a ‘clean-up’ shortly, where the city will be cleared of bicycle wrecks and orphaned bicycles. So, avoid a fuss? Tip from the city: park in the racks.