April 5, 2007

Action group cuts down advertising forest

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 7:51 pm

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The idea of a ‘visual assault’ was taken quite literally by an action group who got rid of some of the posters and put up some of their own last night. Here, you can read ‘Amsterdam, free of adverstising’. They claim – as many people already believe, if you ask around – that “the advertising firm in question is working on the further commercialisation of the city, destroying the charactertisitc street image.” Translation: nobody really likes this stunt and everybody thinks it’s ugly.

A Labour Party politican of De Pijp neighbourhood told 24oranges that this entire incident will be discussed in the next city district council meeting.

(Link)

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April 4, 2007

In your face advertising

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 4:45 pm
Heinekenplein

Until April 6, the Marie Heinekenplein in Amsterdam will feature a forest of adverts from the firm JC Decaux, which have been placed there for a contest. Nevermind the fact that the neighborhood ‘freaked out’ as soon as they saw this ‘visual assault’ on their otherwise nice square, 24oranges was called up and told to go and see for themselves.

I suppose you too can vote for the best advert in the hopes of winning a trip to Paris.

(Photo: Natasha, Tip: SM)

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Woman finds hand axe in street

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 7:48 am
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A woman from Meppel, Drenthe found a Neanderthal hand axe on the street in front of the supermarket and gave it to the Drents Museum in the town of Assen. Street builders probably found the ‘rock’ and unknowingly discarded it. The 80,000 to 55,000 year-old axe broke in two. The woman realised that it was a hand axe and took it home. Even if the axe is broken, the museum claims it is the nicest copy of the Northern Netherlands, which is now on display in the museum. Although Neanderthal hand axes are found only sporadically, finding such a copy in the street is highly unlikely.

(Link, and more here: Link)

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April 3, 2007

A good vibe for two good causes

Filed under: Gadgets by Orangemaster @ 9:46 am
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For ‘Ladies Day’ on April 3 during the AutoRAI car show in Amsterdam, sports car manufacturer Burton Car Company from Zutphen has come up with a way to raise proceeds for both the Dutch Cancer Society and Viva la Donna). The Celebrator, an invention of the Burton brothers, is a mini-vibrator modelled after the electric toothbrush.

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April 2, 2007

Bright orange Dutch architecture

Filed under: Architecture by Orangemaster @ 3:25 pm
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The new Agora Theatre is officially scheduled to open on May 25 in Lelystad, province of Flevoland and plans to feature performances and new media works. The building is the work of UN Studio, an Amsterdam design studio with theatre, museum and art buildings in its portfolio. Even without going to the show, the building itself is apparently worth a visit. It has a cafe open during the day and bright pink, curving staircase walls. The concert hall is red with unusual wall surfaces.

Follow the link for more details and pictures.

(Link: thecoolhunter)

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April 1, 2007

Tax day = Open Source day

Filed under: IT by Branko Collin @ 9:34 pm

Today is tax day in the Netherlands: time to get these return forms in and hope for a bit of cash from the government. Two years ago the state started demanding that business owners start filing their reports electronically, using a Windows and Mac only tool based on Adobe’s PDF. Last year they got smarter and developed their own tool, which works on Windows, Mac and GNU/Linux. The secret ingredient? Open Source libraries. Specifically: gSOAP, OpenSSL, wxWidgets, GTK+, ZLIB, Independent JPEG Group components, Autopackage, and NSIS.

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