May 31, 2007
As of this Wedsnesday, cemetery de Larikshof in Rhenen, Utrecht is the first to boast a digital headstone complete with screen, which can show films or slides. However, visitors of de Larikshof need a special battery to activate the screen. And of course, the films and slides are hopefully related to the dearly departed.
(Link: webwereld)
Tags: graveyards, Rhenen, Utrecht
May 30, 2007
The Slurpr, a WiFi access point which aggregates up to six ‘available’ (actually, unprotected) 54 Mbps WiFi channels into (as the link puts it) “one bigazz, ‘free’ connection”. It is the latest invention of Dutch hacker, Mark Hoekstra and his friend, Boris Veldhuizen van Zanten. Of course, use of the Slurpr in its current incarnation will likely violate wardriving (warbiking in the Netherlands) laws in certain countries. One can bravely pre-order Slurpr at Mark’s site for EUR 999 (US$1,347) a box today.
(Link: Engadget)
May 29, 2007
Artist Tilmann Meyer-Faje of Almere, Flevoland has started a ‘kroket’ art project and has been riding through the Stedenwijk Noord neighbourhood in a mobile kroket car he made himself. Once the artist found out that krokets had a rich past, he started collecting kroket recipes from neighbourhood residents. Besides collecting recipes and selling krokets, Tilmann also collected kroket stories. The kroket project will end on 7 July.
Some people keep arguing that krokets are not as junky as they used to be, but that does not mean they are healthy. And if anyone wants to catch the kroket car and taste sutff, here is the schedule.
(Link: vleesmagazine.nl)
A new little hole in the wall that serves ice cream has just opened on the Albert Cuyp Market in Amsterdam, called Yscuypje (‘little ice cream cup’ in old Dutch, with a reference to the Albert ‘Cuyp’ Market). The sherbets are full of fruit, the ice cream is actually made with chocolate and cream, and the pistachio ice cream is pistachio green and not chock full of E412 (aka guar gum) and tastes like pistachio. Their ice cream machine is a top-of-the-line 30-year-old Italian device that costs as much as a big German car. The flavours are very ‘Amsterdam’, developed by the owners themselves, and the prices are very reasonable. You can also buy litres of it for home enjoyment.
(Link and photo: Kreukreuscopie)
May 28, 2007
For the casual observer looking at the Netherlands, the Tulipmania story has it all: tulips, the Golden Age, the start of modern capitalism, windmills, clogs… OK, so everything but the last two. For the puritans among you, this tale has even got a moral. Here’s a quick recap of how the story goes:
In the 17th century, the Dutch were at the top of their wealth, both financially and culturally. The Dutch trading ships controlled the seas, and brought the treasures of foreign countries to these shores. This wealth ignited the local Renaissance, giving artists like Rembrandt and Vermeer, and scientists like Van Leeuwenhoek and Grotius a chance to plie their trade. A story from that time goes that the first economic bubble was also created by the Dutch. Among the many things they imported were tulip bulbs, which started to fetch higher and higher prices. At one point, a box of bulbs would cost as much as a house. But in the spring of 1637 the bubble was burst; Dutch pride was punished, and thousands of traders went bankrupt.
At least, that’s the popular version of the story. According to a recent book written by Anne Goldgar, most of what we know about the bubble stems from propaganda from the period. An interesting review from the Financial Times tells more:
Some contemporary pamphleteers attacked the trade, baffled by what one Englishman called the ”incredible prices for tulip rootes”, and disquieted by the godless materialism of it all. […] Most tulip tales we know, scolds Goldgar, ”are based on one or two contemporary pieces of propaganda and a prodigious amount of plagiarism”.
In fact, during her research Goldgar could not find the name of a single person who had been bankrupted by the burst of the bulb bubble.
Tags: capitalism, Golden Age, stock market, tulips
May 27, 2007
The Vismarkt area in the city of Utrecht, province of Utrecht has a sewage problem and the city is working on it. In the mean time, the city has asked the residents to use biological products and an eco toilet (probably not the one shown here) and yeah, they’re not happy about it. However, there are businesses on that street and even though some of them are willing to use bio dishwashing liquid, asking paying customers to use a camping-like eco-toilet is not going to happen. And these residents pay money for using the sewers, they should be able to do so as they please.
(Link: ad)
Tags: environment, sewage, toilets, Utrecht
May 26, 2007
Five students from an institution in Boxtel, Noord-Brabant have developed a powder that by adding water turns into an alcoholic drink. The powder has been baptised Booz 2 go and contains 3% alcohol. And of course, the students did their marketing research and found out that students like the I-can-take-it-with-me-anywhere idea. Once it hits the market, the powder will cost a little more than 1,50 euro. It seems to have all the trappings of a hype.
(Link: zibb)
Tags: alcohol, Boxtel, Noord-Brabant, students
May 25, 2007
A record that is not something to be proud of: The Dutch are now the heaviest smokers of Europe, followed by the Belgians and the British. In 2006 the Dutch lit up 1,511 cigarettes per inhabitant. The old record belongs to the Germans (from where this posting is being written – Munich). The Netherlands is one of the only European countries left that still allows some smoking in catering establishments. No one saw the cloud of smoke in the bistro car of my German night train this morning. The lightest smokers are the Italians with 1,175 cigarettes.
(Link: Blik op nieuws)
Tags: Belgian, German, smoking, statistics
May 24, 2007
A man on welfare benefits in Enschede, Overijssel was given permission to work for 10 months as a sex operator – pretending to be a woman called Ellen – for EUR 7,60 an hour, twice as much as on welfare. Francis Cappelle, 38, was aparently good at faking a woman’s voice and got the job, regardless of the fact that he has to lie about his identity.
Capelle is tired of what he does and feels he is cheating men out of their money. The placement agency UniJobs that found him the job said it’s just a job. The welfare people say if he doesn’t like it, he can get a job doing something else.
(Link: Telegraaf)
Tags: Enschede, Overijssel, sex, welfare
Bokito is no longer that world-famous gorilla that broke out of its pen at the Rotterdam Zoo (Diergaarde Blijdorp) last week, it is also a brand name with CDs, printed materials, clothing and advertising, although the gorilla already had its own clothing line at bokitoshop.nl (which from what I can gather, is under construction). Some other advertising features Bokito plugging potatoes. The zoo is trying to stop this madness by forcing the potato folks to stop. And people at the pub are talking about how terrible it is for people to profit from other people’s misery. Ironically, the Dutch have a word for that, ‘leedvermaak’ (roughly, malicious pleasure).
(Link: zibb)
