September 15, 2008

Bunny insurance is merrily hopping along

Filed under: Animals,Dutch first by Orangemaster @ 9:20 am
rabbit1.jpg

First, it was cats and dogs, and now it’s rabbits. Insurance, that is. You can now get health insurance for your bunnies. The Petplan company is claming that as of today it is the first insurance company in the Netherlands to offer health insurance for rabbits.

According to the insuror, rabbits are increasingly popular as pets. In the Netherlands there are about 750,000 of them hopping around. To many families, bunnies are just as important as dogs or cats. They also make their way around the house and are house trained. (And they are really quiet!)

The insurance market for pets is growing by 10 to 20% a year. Out of the almost 6 million dogs, cats and rabbits, only about 2% are insured.

If you think pet insurance is an odd way to find new clients, there is also the emergency car help for the highly educated.

(Link: depers.nl)

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September 14, 2008

Spectacular theatre group Dogtroep to close shop

Filed under: Art,Shows by Branko Collin @ 11:20 am

Dogtroep = wild theatre, outdoors, stunts, “live locations”, pyrotechnics, using the scenery, spectacle, and none of these for much longer. Citing reduced subsidies, the life-blood of their expensive type of theatre, the “troupe” will give one more series of shows called To Be To Not To be, and then quit. Their last show runs from September 15 to October 5.

Says Curving Normality in a farewell review:

Combining abstract narrative with the outstanding locations of their performances, the absurd visual compositions and daring stunts made their performances unsurpassed. I’ve seen them flood a ships-dock with a million liters of water (yes, some in the audience had some seriously wet feet), paraglide inside theater Carré (Amsterdam, the Netherlands), but also perform more tender scenes using small light after sunset in their out-door locations.

As always, the location the Dogtroep selected for yesterday’s performance was closely tied to their narrative. Using the outdoor location provided by the remains of the old steel factory ‘Montan’, the actors literally dug to find the unknown history of this forlorn place. Will they, the Dogtroep, become such a place themselves, or is there another message to be seen in this? As they say for themselves, the basis for this performance “at the edge of existence” are the plans, personages, and dreams that emerge from the crater they dig themselves.

Via BN/De Stem (Dutch).

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September 13, 2008

Copyright judges: “copying unnecessarily is always bad”

Filed under: General by Branko Collin @ 10:51 am

Copyright law professor Dirk Visser interviewed 17 judges of so-called “intellectual property” cases (copyrights, patents, trademarks) and found some remarkable similarities:

  • Cases are mostly decided in the first instance (usually of a Kort Geding, the fast track for law suits that demand speedy attention),
  • Judges feel that creating confusion or misleading is always wrong,
  • Judges feel that copying in itself is not bad, but copying unnecessarily is.

Unfortunately the article with the results is behind a pay wall, so I have to rely on this summary by Boek 9 (Dutch). The suggestion though seems to be that cases are decided on moral, rather than sound legal or economic grounds.

According to Boek 9, public research and expert opinion barely influence the judges—their experience being that such studies and statements are almost always imprecise, manipulated, one-sided or contradictory.

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September 12, 2008

Woman sues over lamp bearing her name

Filed under: Design by Branko Collin @ 10:23 am

This is the hanging lamp Bettine, named after Dutch table tennis diva Bettine Vriesekoop and made of 315 ping pong balls. It was created by Diaz Kleefstra and is being sold by him, and those of you who religiously follow design blogs will yell “old hat!” The lamp’s been out for a while.

What’s new is that Vriesekoop is suing Kleefstra for the use of her famous name. “It’s not about the money,” she tells Algemeen Dagblad. Oh, it’s so about the money, her lawyer says. Looks like they’re in the same newspaper but not on the same page. It’ll be interesting to see what intellectual property right the lawyer will claim, but as happens with so many of these cases it will probably all end in arbitration and settlement. In the meantime Kleefstra has removed the name from his website, but not the lamp.

Photo: Diaz Kleefstra.

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September 11, 2008

Preserved interior of Jewish family home found

Filed under: Architecture,History,Religion by Orangemaster @ 9:44 am
Mezozah

Researchers have found a house in Amsterdam-Zuid on the J.J. Viottastraat that has an almost intact 1940s interior which used to belong to a Jewish family. The living room, the most important and usually biggest room of Dutch houses, is apparently more authentic than the Anne Frank House. Alexander Westra, university teacher of heritage studies at the Universiteit van Amsterdam, confirmed this yesterday.

Westra stumbled upon this unique find last year when he was working on a project on historic interiors in the capital. The family of Jewish banker Lodewijk Korijn left the home in 1942 when they were carted off to concentration camps. And since then, the interior has barely been touched.

Westra believes that the home should be protected heritage. After the war, the house was used by theology students. The living room was their common room. In the vestibule there is still an original dresser integrated to the wainscoting on the wall. Even the lighting from that era still works, which is rare, says Westra. The backroom also features a few original details even though a fire raged through it once. The interior was made in Amsterdam school style.

(Link: parool.nl)

Update 11:30, by Branko: Alexander Westra, the scientist who made the discovery, sent us some photos he took from the interior. You will find them below the fold. Thanks, Alexander! According to him, the statues of saints and the crucifix were put there by later residents.

(more…)

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September 10, 2008

Life-like drawing of an abyss by Julian Beever in Rotterdam

Filed under: Art by Branko Collin @ 10:24 am

English (says Wikipedia) artist Julian Beever went to Rotterdam this week to draw one of his world famous optical illusions for insurance company Centraal Beheer at the “Koopgoot” (Shopping Trough, not the real name of this mall). Check out his many other stunning trompe-l’oeils.

The text “Even Apeldoorn bellen” is the company’s catch-phrase and means something like “now would be a good time to call my insurance company.”

Photographer unknown. Via Advertolog and Dutch Cow Girls (Dutch).

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September 9, 2008

A car with huge speakers to annoy everyone

Filed under: Automobiles,Music,Weird by Orangemaster @ 3:11 pm

DJ car

Dutch artist Olaf Mooij built a car with the sound system on the outside. In fact, he is standing in front of two turntables on this photo. His DJ Mobile is designed to be used as a driveable PA system, which you park, and then operate from a DJ platform while standing up through the open sunroof. It was inspired by the Faithless song ‘God is a DJ’ and I think it’s cool.

(Link and photo: gizmodo.fr, merci Alix!)

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Bucks for biking

Filed under: Bicycles,General by Branko Collin @ 9:16 am

Biking to work can net you 5 euro a day from 22 to 26 September, if you live along one of the five designated routes of the Fiets Filevrij campaign. The organizers, local and national governments and cyclists’ unions, hope to call attention to the use of bicycles as a means to reduce the rampant traffic jam problem. After registration participants have to print out their own bar code which they must then scan at booths along the bicycling routes. The routes are all between cities, and therefore longish.

Photo: Fiets Filevrij. Via Dagelinks (Dutch).

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September 8, 2008

Buying Dutch products is an illusion

Filed under: Food & Drink,General by Orangemaster @ 9:57 am
Douwe Egberts

One out of every three Dutch person prefers Dutch supermarket products over foreign ones. But can they really tell the difference? “Absolutely!”, 34% of respondents answered. Only 2% of respondents preferred foreign brand products in their shopping carts. The other 64% did not care where their products came from. So what’s up with the nationalism at the supermarket? Alexandra Blikman of the firm Deloitte explains (and debunks):

“In a previous survey about Dutch suppliers, many of them feel that there is a market for typical Dutch brand articles. We were surprised of that result and decided to check if that was in fact true. And it is.”

One question remains: what is a Dutch brand article? Douwe Egberts has been owned by the America’s Sara Lee for some 30 years. The typically Dutch Verkade biscuits and chocolate bars are owned by Britain’s United Biscuits, while Iglo was bought by Britain’s Permira. De Ruijter and Venz sprinkles are owned by America’s Heinz.

If you want to buy ‘Dutch goods’ you should buy Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, Dove soap and Sourcy water. At first glance, the first one is from the US originally, the second probably the same and the last one from Belgium. Or just eat vegetables from greenhouses and you’ll be as Dutch as it gets.

People have no clue what they are buying, but do like Dutch looking or sounding goods. If you slap a Dutch flag or some stratigically placed orange banner on your product you may sell more.

(Link: z24.nl, photo: en.wikipedia.org)

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September 6, 2008

The Silent Disco is a hit abroad

Filed under: Dutch first,Gadgets,Music,Shows by Orangemaster @ 10:24 am
Silent disco

The Silent Disco from the Netherlands is slowly making its way around the world. It started as an attraction at the Dutch travelling theatre show called ‘de Parade’ and now it’s going to be featured in London for the very first time. On 10 September they’ll be another first: Silent Disco at a live concert. The Fun Lovin’ Criminals are going to play for people wearing wireless headphones – no speakers. The first 650 tickets are being given away via Facebook.
Also performing will be Dirty Pretty Things, Mystery Jets and Supergrass.

I went to the Amsterdam Parade once and watched the Silent Disco as it was on an open dance floor outside. It’s strange to see people dance, but not hear any music. It was definitely one of the most interesting attractions I’d had seen.

(Link: bright.nl, photo: odemagazine)

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