January 27, 2009

Electrical bikes gaining popularity

Filed under: Bicycles,General by Orangemaster @ 11:51 am
Electric bike

In 2008, according to figures published in Dutch daily De Telegraaf from the RAI association, about 120,000 electric bicycles were sold, which is almost 10% of the total amount of new bicycles sold. Also last year, the amount of bicycles sold were the same as in 2007, about 1,4 million. Owing to the popularity of the expensive electric bikes, the turnover rose and bikes in general have gotten more expensive.

Electric bicycles used to be sold to the elderly only, but apparently buzzing around town is not just for them. I for one want proof of this, as I do not know anyone with an electrical bike. I automatically associate electric bikes with the elderly, but then the trend of driving electric cars meant for the disabled sometimes has the male youth in my neighbourhood doing top speed.

(Link: telegraaf.nl, photo: fietsen.web-log.nl)

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January 26, 2009

Castle looking for lord

Filed under: Architecture,General by Branko Collin @ 1:06 pm

The foundation that takes care of the Brederode Castle near Santpoort (close to Haarlem) is looking for a couple that will live in and maintain the property. Unfortunately, this is not as romantic as it sounds, as the castle itself is in ruins. Algemeen Dagblad reports (Dutch) that the foundation, Kastelenstichting Holland & Zeeland, is looking for someone who is married, who will maintain the grounds and the collections, and who will provide visitors with information and coffee. The “lord of the manor” will get to live in a house on the property.

As you can see in the illustration, Brederode was already in ruins in Hobbema’s time. The castle was built in the 13th century and given as a loaner to the Brederode family by the Count of Holland. In 1426 part of the castle was destroyed and its occupant, Lord Brederode, was forbidden to restore it, says Wikipedia. No idea if that rule still stands.

Job description here, in Dutch.

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January 25, 2009

Possible world record for newborn in Utrecht

Filed under: Food & Drink,General by Orangemaster @ 12:55 pm
Beschuit met muisjes

On Saturday, 12 January at 10:53 am residents of the neighbourhood Tuinwijk in Utrecht celebrated the birth of Helena Dijkhuizen, the 300,000 resident of the city. The city wanted to make a big deal and threw her parents the biggest maternity party (‘kraamfeest’ in Dutch) ever. Everyone was invited and the neighbourhood offered the traditional coffee and beschuit (Dutch-type rusk) with special red and white sprinkles (‘muisjes’). ‘Beschuit met muisjes’ is what people traditionally eat when a child is born. They have blue sprinkles for boys and pink for girls, so the red was to make a point, I imagine. When a Royal child is born, they serve orange and white sprinkles, orange representing Dutch royalty.

The city wants to get its party in the Guinness Book of World Records and so we don’t know at this time if that is the case.

(Link: blikopnieuws.nl, Photo: helmaschreuders.web-log.nl)

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January 24, 2009

Less Brits in Amsterdam, but do they feel welcome?

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 1:27 pm
Pound

According to figures of the ATCB (Amsterdam Toerisme en Congres Bureau) featured in the latest paper copy of Amsterdams Stadsblad, less Brits are coming to Amsterdam to the tune of 6% less in 2008. The main culprit is the dropping pound, which is almost equal to the euro (1 GBP today is worth EUR 1.046 as I write this – hey guys, wanna finally have the euro?). Let’s face it, it’s time to visit London now… and I actually wanted to go to Dublin, but hey.

Many cafes in downtown Amsterdam which specifically cater to a UK-oriented audience have seen their clientele shrink. The article mentions that the usual Brits and Irish who frequent such places are mostly expats rather than tourists. Apparently, the talk of the pub is that the Dutch media negatively portrays Brits (and yes, I’m assuming the Irish, Scots and Welsh, too, though I could be wrong) as ‘loud, annoying drunks’. Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen even said on television in England that this group of Brits were not welcome. Now, picture the hard-working, decent expats at the pub with their pints rightly complaining that everyone is being depicted as idiots, like the media tends to do with ethnic minorities. Imagine the average Dutch person believing the newspaper they pay money to have delivered to their house and you have an image problem.

Why would any British tourist (or British pound user) want to come if they don’t feel welcome? What part of hospitality is the part where you insult a badly behaving minority to piss off the majority you’re trying to woo to your nation’s capital?

UPDATE: BBC four films in Amsterdam and gets Job Cohen’s opinion on camera.
Amsterdam plans ‘cannabis clean up’.

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Awesome ‘flyswatter’ bridge

Filed under: Architecture by Branko Collin @ 9:25 am

This bridge, which looks likes a huge flyswatter, is in Leeuwarden. It was designed by Bruggenbureau Van Driel and built in 2000 by Ballast Nedam and BSB Staalbouw. The way I figure it, it works as an ordinary drawbridge, except when you’re in a hurry, then it’ll flip you like a pancake (which is what you’ll look like afterwards).

This is the Slauerhoffbridge, named after a local poet. I translated his “Voor de verre prinses” once, but not very well, so I’ll just link to it.

Via Jalopnik. Photo by Van Driel Bruggenbureau, used with permission. Much more (and more recent) photos after the links.

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January 23, 2009

Bomb wreck jewellery exhibition in Groningen

Filed under: Art,Automobiles by Orangemaster @ 11:17 am
ring

The pieces of a bomb wreck in Baghdad that killed 38 people and that were collected and presented at the exhibition Autobomb III in September 2007 in Rotterdam have now been turned into jewellery, says Bright.nl. For this project artist Jonas Staal worked together with Jiska Hartog and Michiel Henneman, better known as Wanted Jewellery (see pics). The trio used glass and metal slivers from the bomb wreckage to produce a series of unique pieces of jewellery (more pics). The jewellery is on display in Groningen as of this evening.

And yes, the whole idea is not about producing jewellery out of people’s misery (the jewellery is not meant to be worn), but discussing the bombings and the idea of jewellery being used as a means of questioning social issues.

(Link: bright.nl, Photo: Hartog, Henneman and Staal)

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January 22, 2009

Dousing a hangover with drinks

Filed under: Food & Drink,Weird by Branko Collin @ 9:53 am

National Geographic made this handy interactive chart that shows how different cultures deal with hangovers. According to the chart, only one people kills its “brackish” feeling, as they say here, by pouring alcohol on top of alcohol, and that’s the Dutch. Visit the site and hover the images for more illumination about inebriation.

Via Sargasso (Dutch).

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January 21, 2009

Text message got students to see Obama live

Filed under: Aviation,Weird by Orangemaster @ 11:15 am
virgin1.jpg

On 16 January, two ‘poor students’ were at a congress called the Big Improvement Day in Amsterdam where Sir Richard Branson, CEO of the Virgin Group was a guest speaker. Through a back channel screen and using text messages (and oddly enough not free Twitter), people could ask Branson questions. Two guys jokingly asked him, “Would you bring two poor students to Washington?” to which Branson answered “yes” right away. They actually got to jet off to see Obama live yesterday. Cliché number one: ask, and you shall receive. Cliché number two: it’s easy to be off the cuff when you’re loaded.

Branson dropped the guys off in Washington, while the organisers of the congress offered to pay for their accommodations. Not bad.

(Link: rtl.nl)

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January 20, 2009

Squatters driven out by thugs, police puts them back in

Filed under: Architecture,General by Branko Collin @ 3:29 pm

Last Sunday a group of thugs who were sharing a building complex in the Kinkerstraat in Amsterdam with a group of squatters drove out the latter with the use of force, wounding three of the squatters. At the end of the fight, the police installed the squatters back in the building, and arrested 14 members of both groups. One of the squatters was taken to a hospital with a double fractured jaw.

The squatters told Parool (Dutch) that the thugs spoke Russian with each other and partly consisted of builders that were staying nearby. Quote thinks (Dutch) that the owner of the Vinkzicht buildings, Cornelis Komen, may have paid the thugs to drive off the squatters. Komen denies the allegations.

The buildings have had no designated use since 1972 until Komen bought the six buildings in 1999 for 1.6 million euro each, with the plan to wreck them and build a hotel in their stead. That plan came under heavy fire from the neighbourhood, which managed to convince city hall to declare the gables monuments.

The top floors of the buildings are rented out in so-called anti-squat constructions where a tenant gets a short-term lease typically at a low price. Sometimes, you can score magnificently large housing this way for a price way below the going rate of the average shoebox an Amsterdam resident calls their castle, though I hear that with the housing shortage in the city even the anti-squat rates have gone up.

Squatting is mainly legal in the Netherlands (albeit often frowned upon) because of a constitutional right to domestic peace. The police may not invade your home, even if your means to acquire the home may have been less than legal. The house owner must then go to court and prove they have a pressing need with their property to get the squatters evicted. Neighbours tend to prefer squatters over slowly decaying houses.

It’s been a while since I’ve heard of thugs being used to evict people. The university grapevine in Nijmegen had stories of students being evicted this way, but I cannot remember a single proven one.

This is one of those stories that spawns two new questions for every answer you find, so I’d rather field any actual questions our readers have.

Totally off-topic: many congratulations to Orangemaster for getting her Dutch driver’s license! Wootalicious!

Link: Radio Netherlands, the only medium I could find so far that thinks the fight was between two groups of squatters.

(Photo of the Kinkerstraat by Wikimedia user Ilonamay, some rights reserved)

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January 19, 2009

Screening process for Amsterdam prostitutes

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 5:28 pm
Moulin Rouge

In an attempt to reduce the number of women forced into prostitution, unexperienced working girls in Amsterdam’s red light district are to be interviewed and must answer a bunch of questions about why they want to get into the ‘oldest profession in the world’. Bordello owners will have to inquire about identity, age and nationality of the girl, her family, any criminal record, education and language skills. The first three you can get from a passport, unless it’s fake. It sounds like questions immigration usually asks even though they have 20 copies of the info already.

The girls will also have to divulge how they get to work (bicycle vs. some big guy in a BMW who tells me to shut up all the time?) and demonstrate ‘some knowledge’ of the Dutch language and of Amsterdam. Speaking Dutch, fine, but I bet they do have to speak a lot of English with those shy Japanese businessmen. Knowledge of Amsterdam? Like what, where you can get food at 2 am? The local government can barely get taxi drivers to show off their knowledge of Amsterdam.

According to the article, many employers already take the time to check out their future employees, but not all of them. The idea is to get everyone to weed out forced prostitution. If I remember correctly, I once read that 70% of all prostitutes in Amsterdam were foreigners, which I imagine makes the city ripe for exploiting women. But I don’t know, and hope this is all for the better. Oh, and only if this screening works will it be applied to other places in Amsterdam were prostitutes work.

(Link: parool.nl)

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