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by ch4s3 1385 days ago
This is ridiculous. A single French teenager(17yo) jumped off the Nemo Building[1], which lead to mushrooms being banned. There are several problems here. This building has a low railing around the tall publicly accessible portion, and no real safety features to prevent jumping. Teens this age are notorious for impulsively jumping from these types of structures, it's why The Vessel in Hudson Yards in NYC was closed. There's no real reason to suspect the mushrooms caused the incident given the previous two factors.

As for the animal sacrifices, I couldn't find a single news article from 2000-2007 referencing this. I also couldn't find any good crime numbers.

The whole illegalization push in 2007 from available news sources was tied to this one suicide and damage to French-Dutch relations.

[1]https://www.google.com/search?q=nemo+building+amsterdam&rlz=...
1 comments
borski 1385 days ago
Having stayed on a crane in Amsterdam (Faralda crane hotel) which was absolutely thrilling and simultaneously insane, I can vouch for the fact that 'safety standards' in Dutch buildings are far lower than those in the US. I actually found it refreshing, to be honest, from the railings and gates I'm used to in the US, but there was nothing that was going to stop me from even accidentally taking a dive off the crane. The upshot of that is a rooftop crane hot tub, though, so I mean...
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ch4s3 1385 days ago
It's a cool place for sure. It seems like the US at 14 per 100,000 and The Netherlands at 11 per 100,000 have similar suicide rates. Jumping makes up a far higher share in the Netherlands at 3rd or 4th most common depending on the year (per statista.com), and barely registers in the US. Gun availability may be the reason here, but I wouldn't count out the total lack of safety infrastructure around heights as a factor.
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borski 1385 days ago
For sure; I have to say, while it was expensive (to the tune of $800-1000 euros for a single night, hence why I only stayed a single night), there is very little more thrilling than staying on a crane that still moves in the wind (giving you a new view every few hours), or skinny dipping in a hot tub on the roof of said crane because you're the only ones staying there, etc.

I know it sounds like I'm writing a Yelp review, but it was fantastic. :)

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ch4s3 1385 days ago
That does sound fun.
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