June 27, 2007

The Nuna 4 unveiled today

Filed under: Automobiles,Science,Sustainability by Orangemaster @ 10:12 am
Nuon solar challenge 4

Today in Delft, South Holland (and hopefully with some sun) the unveiling of the Nuna 4 solar-powered car (see the car here) will take place, an event open to all.

The team designed a whole new solar-powered car in order to meet new rules of the World Solar Challenge: less solar cells on the car, the driver needed to be sitting up straight and security measures were tightened. In short, this new car is the first step towards an actual solar-powered car that is more like an ordinary car.

Oh, and the Delft University of Technology is looking for its fourth win in a row.

The Nuna 4 was designed and built by 11 enthousiastic students from the Delft University of Technology, who will be leaving for Australia this summer for the World Solar Challenge, the world championship of solar-powered cars, held from 21 to 28 October.

The unveiling will take place at 16:25 at the field in front of the Delft University of Technology on the Mekelweg for anyone in the neighbourhood.

(Link: TU Delft)

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June 25, 2007

Dutch films arrive 34 years later

Filed under: Film,Weird by Orangemaster @ 2:15 pm
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After 34 years, educational films about the Netherlands arrived at the Holland museum in the town of Holland, Michigan. The first box contained the English language educational films “Jan: Boy of the Netherlands”, “Rotterdam Europort: gateway to Europe” and “The Netherlands: blueprint of an urban society”. The second box contained the Dutch films “Zeilen en Holland: terra fertilis”. According to the manager of the local post office, someone found the boxes and finally decided to post them.

The boxes were sent to Michigan in 1973 by the University of Wisconsin and the University of Texas. Both universities had borrowed the films from the Netherlands Information Service (now the Holland museum), which existed from 1936 to 1974 in the town of Holland, founded by Dutch immigrants.

(Link: Bisnis)

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June 24, 2007

Famous Dutch biologist faces jail time

Filed under: Animals,General by Orangemaster @ 11:57 am
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Dutch monkey researcher Marc van Roosmalen faces 14 years in a Brazilian prison. He has been convicted of failing to apply for a licence for the monkey refuge at his home in the Amazon region of Brazil. Mr Van Roosmalen, hailed in 2000 by Time Magazine as a “hero for the planet”, is appealing against the sentence. Living and working for years in the Amazon, he has discovered several new species of monkey, one of which reminded him of Prince Bernhard. He named it “Callicebus Bernhardi” and five years ago he visited Soestdijk Palace to inform the now dearly departed prince in person.

Bert de Boer, director of Apenheul, a zoo and conservation organisation in Apeldoorn, Gelderland describes Mr Van Roosmalen as “A great conservationist.” He suspects that big companies have bribed the government to act against the vociferous biologist.

(Link: Radio Netherlands)

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June 22, 2007

Bike thieves get lucky in Nijmegen

Filed under: Bicycles,General by Orangemaster @ 9:16 am
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Police in Nijmegen, Gelderland started catching bike thieves using a bike with a transmitter on it. Problem is, within two weeks the bike disappeared and problably ended up in the Waal river. The test using a second hand ‘bait’ bike with a GPS transmitter started at the end of May. Although they actually caught three bike thieves so far, the bike eventually disappeared and that is how the story ends.

(Link: De Pers)

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June 21, 2007

The caterpillars come marching one by one

Filed under: Animals,Dutch first by Orangemaster @ 10:45 pm
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Although quite common in the southernmost province of Limburg as well as in Belgium, for the first time ever processionary caterpillars have been spotted in the Kralingse Bos, a forest in the middle of the city of Rotterdam. In Belgium, they even got the army to combat these caterpillars whose hairs can give people rashes and make them itch. As of tomorrow, the city of Rotterdam will start killing the critters, although they are few in rank. Due to the warm weather, they decided to go North.

(Link: Blik op nieuws)

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June 20, 2007

Bike spotting

Filed under: Bicycles,Design,Weird by Orangemaster @ 9:13 am

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Spotted in Vondelpark, Amsterdam in view of everyone yesterday, this odd bicycle attracted a lot of attention. The fact someone was filming could indicate that it is a rare breed of bike even by Dutch standards. It looks like someone took apart a bike and put it back in a completely different way. If anyone knows more, please tell us about it!

UPDATE: Thanks to Lola Granola (Heeey Bloom County, cool), I see that the man in the photo is the inventor, Michael Killian from Dublin.

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June 19, 2007

How to make money – a government primer

Filed under: Automobiles,General by Orangemaster @ 12:23 pm
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First passports, now driving licences.

The differences in price for a new driving licence are huge, according to a survey done by the Dutch ANWB automobile association. Prices ranges from EUR 21,90 to EUR 60. About 100 municipalities out of 443 were randomly selected. The ANWB finds these differences way too big and will try and remedy the situation by bugging the transport minister about it.

Some things to know:
– Smaller towns are cheaper than bigger ones
– From the five bigger Dutch cities, Eindhoven is the cheapest at EUR 30, while Amsterdam is EUR 49.
– And surprise, surprise, the prices on websites are not the same as the ones you actually pay.

(Link: zibb)

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June 16, 2007

Job Cohen honoured in Canada

Filed under: Dutch first,General by Orangemaster @ 9:48 am
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Yesterday Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen received an honorary Doctor of Common Laws degree from the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada. Cohen received this distinction because he was the first mayor to perform a same-sex marriage in 2001. He had presided over the necessary legislation only months earlier while serving in the Ministry of Justice. In 2005, Cohen was named one of Time Magazine’s European Heroes for his position on the murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh by a Muslim extremist in November 2004. Cohen rallied the citizens of Amsterdam – Muslim and non-Muslim – to condemn the murder and called for unity and tolerance in the wake of the racial tensions that followed the incident. Led by Cohen, citizens of the traditionally liberal city protested in the streets in outrage over the attack and Cohen was credited with diffusing a situation ripe with racial and religious violence into one of dialogue and social progress.

(Link: rtl, University of Windsor)

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June 15, 2007

Foiled toothpaste robbery

Filed under: Weird by Orangemaster @ 9:28 am
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Last Wednesday two thieves in The Hague made off with trays of toothpaste from a supermarket. One of them, an illegal Portugese (?) of 22, was arrested, while his friend managed to run way faster. The total value of the booty was 500 euro, according to the police.

A female employee saw the men around 3pm empty a tray of toothpaste into a bag and walk out of the store. The woman warned her colleagues when one of the thieves came back in. The man that was arrested confessed.

1) Illegal Portuguese? Aren’t we in the European Union??
2) Lame robbery – that’s why some toothpaste is cheaper on the outdoor markets
3) Can I make white teeth jokes?

(Link: bisnis)

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June 14, 2007

Dutch first: pee-separating toilets

Filed under: Dutch first,General,Science by Orangemaster @ 1:33 pm
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In the new Maasziekenhuis (hospital) in Boxmeer, Noord-Brabant specially designed toilet bowls that separate urine from water have been installed in order to keep hormones and medication out of the Maas river. This also means that men have to pee sitting down, as the bowls are fitted with the usual flush mecanism, but have a hole on the inside to catch pee. Aiming is required.

This is the first time in the Netherlands that urine is treated this way.

(Link: Omroep Brabant)

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