September 8, 2009
With 16 million people occupying a mere 14,526 square kilometres, the Netherlands is considered a densely populated country. For world-famous architect Rem Koolhaas that isn’t dense enough though. He imagined what the country would look like if the Dutch population density was that of Manhattan (shown here) or Los Angeles.
Strange maps doesn’t seem to mention where they got these images.
(Link tip: Tom Schuring. Image edited by me.)
Tags: cities, demographics, density, Los Angeles, maps, New York, population, USA
September 7, 2009
Unique exhibit of Jean-Pierre Leloir’s portraits of Jacques Brel at the little café underneath the ‘Multatuli bridge’ (Torensluis). 24 Oranges very own Orangemaster will be spinning discs during opening night!
Bright goes RL. The magazine that may be not entirely unknown to our readers will kick-off its series of Bright Nights, “presentations of inspiring innovators, demonstrations of cutting edge gadgets and displays of state of the art design.”
Tonight starts the Dutch version of British hit sitcom Yes Minister, called Sorry Minister in Dutch. Tune in to Nederland 3 at 10 pm.
Last weekend, the world record for watching television was broken by Efraim van Oeverenzondag, a 28-year-old student from Tilburg. He watched a whopping 86 hours of television in the building of media archive Beeld en Geluid in Hilversum and he only got 45 minutes of sleep. Since April of this year, the world record for watching television was held at 80 hours by a man from New Delhi.
(Link: destentor.nl)
Tags: Hilversum, television, Tilburg
According to a press release issued by the Westin Resort on the island of Aruba (part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands), the hotel is offering couples a 210 euro cheque (300 USD) for conceiving babies at their establishment.
“Couples who were inspired by Aruba’s coral mating ritual during their fall getaway (September 1 – December 19, 2009), and can prove they conceived during their stay [by way of a doctor’s note], will receive a $300 ‘Conception Credit’ towards a return visit to the resort in 2010. With all the stress of preparing for a new arrival, the expecting parents will surely be in need of a pre-baby Caribbean retreat.”
Just remember that Dutchman Joran van der Sloot, the guy who allegedly kidnapped and killed American Natalee Holloway pretty much ruined any kind of tourism on the island for a very long time. I guess desperate times call for desperate measures.
Tags: advertising, Aruba, hotels
September 6, 2009
In 2008, the Dutch police tapped an average of 1,946 phones on a daily basis, according to a letter written to parliament by Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin. “In 2008, a warrant for tapping was issued by the Public Prosecutor’s Office (OM) for 26,425 phone numbers, of which 90% were taps on mobile phones and 10% landline phones.”
Hirsch Ballin made a comparison of the Dutch figures with those of other countries. In France, 26,000 tapping warrants were issued in 2008, about the same as in the Netherlands. “In the US, the number of tapping warrants totalled 2,208 in 2007,” the minister reported. “In the UK, 1,881 warrants were issued, while Belgium had 3,603 tapping measures carried out in 2007. In Germany, 39,200 mobile phones and 5,078 landline phones were tapped in 2007.
Hirsch Ballin believes one cannot draw conclusions because the legal system differs in each country. However, it’s still interesting to point out that some European countries tap 10 times more phones than the US.
(Link: crossroadsmag)
Tags: mobile phones, wiretap
September 5, 2009
The ‘Colour-In’ Dress by Berber Soepboer and Michiel Schuurman comes with a set of textile markers included, assuming you are willing to part with 238 euro. The dress moved from concept to product quickly when the blogosphere picked up on it earlier this year.
(Via Bright.nl. Source photos: Berber Soepboer.)
Tags: dresses
September 4, 2009
A play set published in 1900 about the plight of Dutch fishermen, which was adapted for a modern context in Senegal, is returning to the Netherlands this month with Senegalese song and dance left intact, and with Marisa van Eyle as a Dutch narrator.
Op Hoop van Zegen (The Good Hope) is a play by Herman Heijermans about the eponymous fishing ship, its owner Bos and the brothers Geert and Barend, who know the ship is not seaworthy, but still sign on as sailors. The brothers then die when the ship sinks during its last voyage. The line “de vis wordt duur betaald” (the fish is dearly paid for), with which Kniertje, the mother of Geert and Barend greets the news of the death of her two sons, has become a saying in Dutch.
The Senegalese version, called Dieuna Diaffe in the Wolof language (Expensive Fish) and with Senegalese star Marie Madeleine Diallo as Kniertje / Yaye Cathy, was performed in 2007 and 2008 in the coastal cities of Senegal. It was adapted by sociologist Maaike Cotterink and directors Anna Rottier and Pape Samba Sow.
According to Cotterink in Trouw (Dutch): “These days, Senegalese fishermen are hired to work three months in a row on Korean and Spanish boats. Far from the coast they are put to work under horrendous conditions for 16 hours a day. Each year fishermen die, but they have little choice, as they have to support their families.”
The play will be performed this weekend in Amsterdam as part of the Fringe Festival, and next week in The Hague.
If you are unfamiliar with Heijermans, Archive.org has an English adaption of one of his other plays, The Ghetto.
(Source photo: Theatre Embassy)
Tags: drama, fishing, Herman Heijermans, Senegal, Socialism, theatre, working conditions
Poor, poor Amsterdam. It’s tough having everyone wanting to clean you up and use you as the symbol of everything bad in the world. As if the US was so clean and well-balanced. Fox News is so ignorant it’s sad. Dear American readers — do something!
“Robbert (26) and Elian (28) live in Amsterdam. They created the TruthAboutAmsterdam website as a response to silly prejudices about Amsterdam. TV host Bill O’Reilly from Fox News (USA) is one of the most hilarious representatives of these false ideas. We aim to show you a more realistic view of Amsterdam.”
(Link: truthaboutamsterdam.com)
