Last week a silo being moved to its final destination on the Ciboga terrain in the city of Groningen had a curious passenger, Blik op Nieuws reports (Dutch). A homeless man who had made the empty building from 1910 his home refused to leave it for the transport. The movers then decided to leave the man where he was and transport the building with him in it. The silo was put in its old location, except that it now has a parking garage underneath.
June 5, 2008
Homeless person moved together with “his” building
June 4, 2008
England to support the Dutch at the EC
This weekend, the second most important sporting event in the world, the European Football Championship, will start in Switzerland and Austria. For the first time in more than 20 years, no team from the British isles have qualified, and as a result, the English press have gotten antsy for another team to get behind. Readers and writers of both the Daily Mail and The Guardian, two newspapers otherwise far apart, have picked the Netherlands as the team to support. The former selected 10 reasons why they would support ‘Oranje’, with “they like darts too” topping the list. The Guardian let its readers decide in what looks like a completely above-board and impartial Internet poll.
Via De Telegravin (Dutch). Souce image: The Guardian. The question was: “Who should we back in Euro 2008?”
Update 20:15: Arnoud Engelfriet spoils, er, spills the beans. Apparently the Guardian’s voting process was helped along by what the newspaper called “a triumphant piece of hacking” by the Geen Stijl-blog.
Tags: England, European Championship, football, newspapers
June 3, 2008
‘Oldest’ cat of the Netherlands dies
Black cat Mous from the town of Korte Akkeren passed away last Sunday at age 29, making it probably the oldest cat of the Netherlands. Such an age for a cat is quite exceptional. The average house cat lives to be about 15.
Here at 24 oranges, we had to put my 21-year-old cat Moonster to sleep yesterday, which makes this an interesting coincidence.
Our condolences to Mous’ owner, Cornelis Kalmeijer. We really, really know how you feel right about now.
Read more about Moonster the cat.
(Link and photo above, ad.nl, photo: Branko)
June 2, 2008
Foreign female professor in Nijmegen honoured in the US
Anne Cutler, professor at the Institute for Cognition and Information at the University of Nijmegen and director of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen, has been elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences in the US, a huge honour bestowed to very few people. To give you an idea, The National Academy of Sciences currently has some 2,000 active members, of which more than 180 are living Nobel Prize winners. Famous past members include Albert Einstein, Robert Oppenheimer, Thomas Edison, Orville Wright and Alexander Graham Bell.
Cultler’s research revolves around how the brain processes spoken language. In 1999 she was the first woman to be awarded the Spinoza Prize, a kind of Dutch Nobel Prize. Back then, Dutch feminists (Opzij magazine) jumped at the occasion to hail women’s achievements only to realise that Ann Culter is Australian. “The most intelligent woman in the Netherlands is Australian,” read the article.
And then most female top managers in the Netherlands are foreigners. Is the hint big enough now?
(Link: ru.nl)
Tags: Max Planck Institute, National Academy of Sciences, Nijmegen
June 1, 2008
Giant fried egg sculptures sunny side up in Leeuwarden
Google Maps and Google Earth introduced a new rule for the makers of public art: your art must be visible from outer space. Henk Hofstra certainly applies this new rule with vigour: first there was the river street in Drachten, now he’s installed a project called Art Eggcident in Leeuwarden, which consists of giant fried eggs on the Frisian’s capital’s Zaailand square. Many more photos at Hofstra’s site.
Via BoingBoing. Source photos: The Wooster Collective.
Tags: eggs, Henk Hofstra, Leeuwarden
May 31, 2008
Mamma Mia gay night and goody bags
The girls have had their girls’ night out at the movies, now the gays will get with a Mammia Mia! evening to make them feel all warm and peach fuzzy inside. The week before the première of the musical film Mamma Mia!, tons of movie theatres in cities such as Amsterdam, Utrecht, Groningen, Tilburg, Delft and Haarlem will hold special ‘gay nights’ on July 9.
What’s the big hairy deal? The gays get a goody bag after the show and a free drink at the nearest gay bar.
So the question remains: what’s in a gay goody bag? Condoms is the quick and dirty answer, and the mother of all clichés. A small bottle of raspberry Absolut vodka? Beauty products? I want to know.
(Link: fok.nl)
May 30, 2008
Record gift voucher to be replaced by chip card
The Nationale Entertainmentbon, colloquially still known as the Nationale Platenbon (national record gift voucher), has been given its sentence. At the end of this year, the voucher that would have celebrated its 50th anniversary next year will be no more, Dutch Cowboys report (Dutch). On 1 September, the voucher will be replaced by a chip card that gives its buyer a couple more options. Choices. The buyer can decide the amount (up to 150 euro), and can use the card to shop on the internet.
The Dutch Cowboys also mention that the association for Dutch music stores has seen its membership dwindle from 1600 to 400 stores in the past few years.
Tags: music industry, traits, vouchers
May 29, 2008
Christians get knickers in a twist over cereal advert
In Veenendaal, part of the Dutch bible belt, the local chapter of the SGP is “shocked,” “insulted,” and “hurt” over an ad for cereal which depicts a famous scene from the Old Testament, reports RTV Utrecht (Dutch). The Kellogg’s advert that so outraged the conservative Protestant party displays a prudishly covered Eve amidst a sea of apples, watched by a snake, and under a banner which reads “Meer fruit dan vroeger” (more fruit than before).
The SGP, known mostly for its extreme misogynist stance for which it undoubtedly borrowed heavily from the Old Testament’s Garden of Eden myth, has asked the city’s executive to condemn the campaign to Kellogg’s, which must be rubbing its corporate paws in glee for such a predictive gift of free advertising.
The manufacturer’s campaign features a second ad which also depicts a scene from a fairy tale (Snow White, to be precise), but as far as I know no one has protested that one.
Via Geen Commentaar (Dutch).
Tags: advertizing, bible belt, cereal, fairy tales, politics, Protestantism, Veenendaal
May 28, 2008
Booties for cows with sore feet
A veterinarian in Winterswijk, Gelderland has developed slippers for cows with inflamed feet. Ron Jansen made the slippers using foam rubber and velcro. The cows need to wear them for five days, during which the footwear will ease the pain and allow the inflammation to heal quicker by shielding it from manure.
We could not find a picture, but we did find a nice cow photo shoot.
(Link: www.agd.nl)
Tags: cows, Gelderland, veterinarians, Winterswijk
May 27, 2008
Cargo bike with 8 seats for children
This cargo bike (bakfiets) concept seats eight children and a hapless grown up who has to somehow keep an eye on that merry bunch and pedal too. Luckily for the cyclist, an electric helper motor is part of the plan, which was thought up by amongst others Henny Grave from Deventer (Dutch) and Gazelle’s Van der Veer Designers.
The design was originally born as part of a project to help parents fetch children after school. Grave has bigger plans though, and hopes to transport the elderly from and to the railway station with this bike, tourists around town, and garbage to wherever garbage needs to be.
Source sketch: Van der Veer Designers. Via Dagelinks (Dutch).
Tags: Deventer