Work a day for free, and reap the fruits of other creative professionals doing the same for you. That, in a nutshell, is the big idea behind the Doe Het Niet Zelf Days (Don’t DIY Days). These events can be themed—the Don’t DIY Week of last October was all about making animations—or have a more general purpose such as the most recent day last April which was for “creative entrepreneurs.” Creative Cities Amsterdam Area organizes these days—they will take registrations for the next event using online forms that prospective participants can use to explain what they have got to offer, and what they need.
The closest thing this reminds me of are BarCamps, volunteer conferences, though those tend to focus more on talks, where at the end of a Don’t DIY Day you end up with actual product.
The most recent Don’t DIY Day was in Hilversum—no new event seems planned at the mo.
(Photo of Pakhuis de Zwijger, hub for many “new media” events and iniatives in Amsterdam, by bMA, may be used under condition that the source is mentioned. Link: Bright.)
Najib Amhali is the country’s funniest ‘stand-up’ comedian, followed by Herman Finkers, according to a poll held by Intomart for Comedy Central. The two comedians switched positions in the Netherlands Humoronderzoek 2009, with Finkers leading last year, 
Patent lawyer 
A special type of dredger used for mining sand in the Groote Wielen area of Den Bosch enabled amateur paleontologists Anton Verhagen and Dick Mol not only to add to their collection of bones, but also to keep track of the corresponding geological eras. The sand harvested by cutter-suction dredger Den Otter was to be used for building a new, nearby neighbourhood, and had to be scraped layer by layer in order to separate high-grade building sand from the rest. This method of dredging is slower, but because it separates out different types of sand early on, it’s apparently still cost-effective.
