Amsterdam Weekly, the finest English-language cultural paper in the country, is in dire straits. I gave my best years I’ve been involved with the paper since the start, programming their CMS and writing small pieces. Now  one of their investors has pulled out, and they are asking readers to buy pieces of the paper. They have doctored a very unique and fun way for you to do this. By purchasing blocks, you make the actual paper appear.

Back that up a little.

Starting next week, Amsterdam Weekly, a regular paper-based paper, will by default print blank pages. Yes, actual whiteness (can you print nothing? good question–we will leave that to the philosophers). Only when a person buys a block, will that block appear in print.

I have created the web application that makes this possible (pads self on back–there). (about me)

It has turned out quite nice and it was all done in Rails, my favorite web development framework still. You can reserve blocks, un-reserve them, there’s your average shopping cart and payment with iDeal and PayPal. All in all a pretty basic shopping app.

Why blog about this? Well — the paper needs your help. Yes, you! For just 5 euros a block you can help save this unique paper. There’s prizes to win, there’s a party also and you can bask in the glory of being a formal investor in an independent newspaper. Do it now! Please?