October 5, 2010

Cat buys tickets for a musical online

Filed under: Animals,Online,Shows by Orangemaster @ 10:16 am

I know what you’re thinking, if the musical was ‘Cats’ it would be a lot funnier.

A young Dutch woman in a small village was surfing some bidding site and her cat jumped on the keyboard because that’s what cats do when they want your attention. Unknowingly, the cat scored some tickets to the musical ‘ We Will Rock You’, which meant the woman was out 51 euro.

This is my cat Pussyminou (RIP), the bilingual cat, about 10 years ago on my desk. She just liked to sleep there. The vintage of my computer says it all.

(Link: waarmaarraar.nl)

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October 4, 2010

Double pillow

Filed under: Design by Branko Collin @ 9:34 am

The Slaapaap is a double-sized pillow designed by among others Maarten Mulder, Bright writes.

This pillow would probably go well with the mattress size called twijfelaar, ‘doubter’ (twin bed), which is somewhere between a single and a full, and which is very popular in the tiny bedrooms of the Dutch inner city. The price (60 euro) makes one wonder though who would buy this. For that money, I would take sewing lessons and make one myself.

(Photo: Slaapaap.com)

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October 3, 2010

Guerilla roundabout art: fat lady sitting on hamburger

Filed under: Art by Branko Collin @ 3:15 pm

Rotterdammers spotted this foam lady at a local roundabout last week.

Two days later and she had lost her head, a leg and an arm. The statue was made by Hans Kleinjan.

(Photo by Trendbeheer/Niels Post, some rights reserved)

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October 2, 2010

Iraq breaks world record for longest time without government

Filed under: Weird by Branko Collin @ 1:43 pm

According to the Washington Post, the Netherlands went without a government for 207 days in 1977.

That record was recently broken by Iraq. At least Iraq has an excuse: it is being occupied by a militarist pseudo-theocracy that is after its oil reserves. (Still, you have to wonder why it would take a puppet regime so long to form.)

Following the Washington Post’s definition (the period “between holding a parliamentary election and forming a government”), the Netherlands has now been 115 days without a government, but looking at the current formation talks there is hope yet that we may regain our old record.

Indeed, the caretaker government found out recently that not having any power at all can be a very powerful thing. When they had to get their budget approved, almost nobody protested. Nobody wanted to give up their chances of becoming a government party by alienating the parties in favour of the budget.

I don’t know why 1977 was such a troublesome year, but in more recent times the forming (and then holding on to) of coalitions seems to have been troublesome because of the wide spectrum of political parties that have come to fore in the last decade. Before that (and since time immemorial) there have been three major political blocks, the social-democrats, the liberals and the Christians. Those three could always form a viable coalition with a clear majority in parliament, and now they no longer can.

(Photo of Dutch government buildings in The Hague by Patrick Rasenberg, who released in the public domain)

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October 1, 2010

Dutch scientists win Ig Nobel Prize for medicine

Filed under: General,Science,Weird by Orangemaster @ 10:04 am

The Ig Nobel awards are tongue-in-cheek awards of Improbable Research, “Research that makes people laugh and then think”. At Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachussets yesterday, the Ig Nobel Prize for medicine was awarded to Simon Rietveld (University of Amsterdam) and Ilja van Beest (University of Tilburg) for research on ‘reducing astma symptoms by taking them for a roller coaster ride’.

The Dutch have won before, we posted about Rats cannot tell between Japanese and Dutch back in 2007.

(Link: nrc.nl)

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September 30, 2010

Small cafes get to allow smoking again

Filed under: Dutch first,Health by Orangemaster @ 9:41 am

While outgoing Minister of Health Ab Klink blew up his own political career recently with his yes-no-yes-no behaviour at a crucial moment, now one of his biggest political accomplishments is being turned over: the smoking ban.

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After fighting tooth and nail, small cafe owners with no staff will be allowed to smoke and allow smoking in their establishment. Although the smoking ban has been in effect since 2008 and there have been creative people with small cafes fighting it, the first nation-wide exception is coming up. This is a big ‘international sign of friendship’ salute to Mr Klink.

Besides the obvious monetary arguments, protecting staff again smoking when you don’t have staff is nonsensical. The Netherlands is funny that way.

(Link: dutchnews.nl)

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September 28, 2010

Which city will win as the Most Hospitable?

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 4:08 pm
Maastricht1

Based on criteria such as ‘friendliness and safety’ and ‘accessibility and Information’, five Dutch cities are up for the Most Hospitable Dutch City this year.

Just to put things in perspective, none of the main Randstad cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht) were nominated, so that you understand why the Dutch aren’t fond of these cities and tend to complain about them to others. I found myself explaining to Germans last week why the Dutch are not proud of their capital city and it wasn’t easy.

Breda (Noord-Brabant), Haarlem (just outside of Amsterdam, North Holland), Den Bosch (Noord-Brabant), Maastricht (Limburg) and Nijmegen (Gelderland) were given top marks this year “in the research for the 2010 Most Hospitable City in the Netherlands.” The winner of this year’s award will be announced in Haarlem, the Most Hospitable City of 2009, on 14 October.

Haarlem is generally upper middle class, Caucasian and quaint. Breda is a student city and much-loved by the people there (that’s where DJ Tiësto and Mentos come from). Maastricht, also a student city, is the ‘jewel of the south’ where people celebrate carnival and speak their own dialect. Den Bosch is just as cute as a button and I enjoy visiting it. As for Nijmegen, another student city, I lived there for three years and I know that the Roman ruins and architecture attract many visitors, including my own family.

My guess is that Nijmegen or Maastricht will win it this year. I’m leaning towards Nijmegen.

(Link: dutchdailynews, Photo: a shopping street in Maastricht)

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September 27, 2010

Oldest human remains found in the Netherlands

Filed under: Dutch first,History,Science by Orangemaster @ 10:14 am

In Swifterbant, Flevoland, the country’s famous province entirely made from reclaimed land and known for remains of all kinds, claims to have found remains of the oldest Dutchman. The excavation of a grave revealed some bones which date back to about 7000 BC, making it the oldest remains ever found in the Netherlands.

Note: we still can’t bring you new pics, bear with us, we’re waiting for it to be sorted.

(Link: destentor.nl, Photo: Salem graves by by Alanna Ralph, some rights reserved)

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September 26, 2010

Yasser Ballemans’ spiky bits

Filed under: Art by Branko Collin @ 11:49 am

Every roundabout needs its artwork, and here is Yasser Ballemans’ proof.

The photo shows workers putting in the centre piece of the roundabout near Hoogeveen airport.

I especially like the spiky bits that mirror the obligatory ‘shark’s teeth’ painted on the street (to indicate you must yield) and that just make the one in ten million chance that you crash through the front window of your car and impale yourself that much more interesting.

Check out Yasser’s website, he’s done a lot of interesting things lately.

(Link: Trendbeheer. Photo: Yasser Ballemans.)

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September 25, 2010

Intermittent glitches keep us from posting pics

Filed under: General by Branko Collin @ 1:46 pm

In the past few days, uploading illustrations has been breaking down regularly. Please bear with us while we try and convince our hosting provider that this is not acceptable.

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