May 20, 2011

Customers forget chip-based bank cards at the till

Filed under: General by Branko Collin @ 8:42 am

On 1 March 2011 the Dutch started a 9-month process in which bank cards with magnetic strips are replaced by chip-based ones. Paying in stores with a bank withdrawal is the most popular card based payment method. Cash is still good for 66% of all payments in brick and mortar stores, but paying with bank cards makes up almost all the rest of the payments, according the 2010 annual report of the Dutch National Bank.

The new chip-based cards must by stuck into a device rather than swiped through it, and this leads to problems with forgetful customers leaving their cards at the till, according to De Pers. The newspaper quotes Hans de Jong of the Esso van Hasselt gas station in the North of Amsterdam: “People keep forgetting their cards. I easily end up with ten to fifteen of them. I tend to wait a week for our customers to collect their cards, after which I will cut them in half.”

The chip based card is being introduced because it is allegedly safer than the swipe card.

Tags: , ,

May 18, 2011

A day without immigrants would look empty

Filed under: Film by Orangemaster @ 9:08 pm

It’s funny and sad to think that some people in the Netherlands honestly believe that their country would be better off without any immigrants. As an immigrant myself, I’d miss my Turkish market and more than half of all my friends and aquaintainces. Oh, and my Dutch co-blogger would have to write all by himself.

Three films can be seen here. They are in Dutch although the images say a lot on their own.

The film projects are from Worldconnectors, a network of committed Dutch people who want to contribute in a positive way to the debate about social and cultural diversity and migration.

(Link: wereldjournalisten.nl)

Tags: ,

May 17, 2011

How to improve Rotterdam in 100 steps

Filed under: Architecture by Branko Collin @ 8:31 am

In 2010 the Rotterdam bureau for architecture, AIR, released a booklet called RTM100 that contained before and after photos of 100 possible improvements to Rotterdam’s public space. Sometimes comprehensive, like the filling of a disused canal shown here to create a park, sometimes small, and sometimes playful.

The ‘shops were created by Topotronic from Brussels and URA from Rotterdam. The booklet was distributed for free throughout Rotterdam in December.

Writes AIR:

Many places just scream out for a simple intervention. Turning a bench so it faces the sun. Moving a trash can so it is no longer in the middle of the sidewalk. A gate in an otherwise boring wall. A lick of paint on the grey concrete.

Via Holly Moors and AIR, where you’ll find more examples. Seeing as how this booklet was distributed for free I don’t see how you could order a copy, but maybe you could ask AIR.

Tags:

May 16, 2011

’50 years of human space flight’ out now

Filed under: Literature,Science by Orangemaster @ 4:08 pm

I was lucky enough to see a draft of this booklet thanks to former Amsterdam Weekly Editor-in-Chief Steve Korver a few years back and I’m happy it’s finally out. ’50 years of human space flight’ was written in English by Steve Korver, with photos by film director René Nuijens. They went to Russia in search of all kinds of info on Russia’s Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space. Russia recently celebrated the 50th birthday of this world-changing event on 12 April 2011.

You can order this booklet through the website: Road to Gargarin.

Enjoy the short film they made as well, ‘The Yuri Gargarin Goose Chase’:

(Link: amsterdamadblog, My photo of the Cosmonaut Museum in Moscow, 1996)

Tags: , ,

May 15, 2011

Chopper gangs on a beer and bikes tour (video)

Filed under: Bicycles,Food & Drink by Branko Collin @ 5:23 pm

Here’s a video of the Key Town Cruisers (Leiden), the Rollin’ Daddies (Leiderdorp) and Chopaderos (“worldwide drinking club with a bicycle problem”, Amsterdam) on their yearly bock beer tour.

I had no idea choppers still existed. It seems they’ve not only survived the 1970s, but have gotten fashionable in the interim. These mean machines look like they could take on a bakfiets!

(Via Cycling without a helmet)

Tags: ,

May 14, 2011

Teenager’s boastfulness costs him 370,000 euro poker prize

Filed under: Sports by Branko Collin @ 7:15 pm

In March of this year the Jonker family of Kerkrade in Limburg seemed to have struck gold when father Jos (47) reached sixth place in an online poker tournament, netting him a cool 370,000 euro. The happy story turned sour quickly when 17 year old son Jimmy was found boasting in online forums that it was him that had been playing the finals, drawing the attention of organisers PokerStars.

Yesterday PokerStars decided that since it was against the rules for the underaged to play, it would not pay out the sum to either of the Jonkers, opting instead to donate the prize to an organisation that tries to promote responsible gambling by battling, amongst others, gambling by the underaged, AD reports.

Jimmy Jonker had been participating in the tournament using his father’s account, and the handle Zeurrr (Whiiine). The Jonker family refused to comment to the newspaper.

The Sunday Million tournament had almost 60,000 people compete for 11,825,600 US dollar in prizes.

(Link: PokerStrategy.com. Photo by Jam Adams, some rights reserved)

Tags: , , , , ,

Giant cupcake by Beerd van Stokkum

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

These colourful plastic cupcake cups, called Sweet Cakes, are 70 cm in diameter. Apparently they are meant as all-purpose containers, and can even be bought with a pillow for your cats to nap on—first take the toddler and the water out though. Designer Beerd van Stokkum sells them on his own website in most colours of the rainbow for 150 euro a piece.

(Photo: Beerd van Stokkum)

Tags: ,

May 13, 2011

ACAB is not an insult, Dutch court rules

Filed under: Weird by Orangemaster @ 11:31 am

Back in 2009 we told you about a man arrested for having an insulting, tattooed abbreviation, which was ACAB that stands for All Cops Are Bastards. Another man was convicted in the same year for wearing a jacket with the text ACAB on it.

In 2009 a lower court thought ACAB was worth a fine, but last year a higher court ruled that the abbreviation was not in itself an insult and told the lower court to take another look at the case, which is probably Dutch legalese for ‘move on already’.

Dear Dutch cops, if you can’t take an English (!) abbreviation, you’re just sad. As they say in Dutch, go out and catch some thieves.

We also reported in 2010 on seven men arrested for wearing the number 1312, which if you decode it, is ACAB once again. And then there’s the cute version ‘Appel Citroen Ananas Banaan’ (Apple, Lemon, Pineapple, Banana), which was a trending topic on twitter a few days ago (#appelcitroenananasbanaan), turning this whole thing into a big joke.

(Link: depers)

Tags: ,

May 12, 2011

Art Amsterdam 2011 sneak preview

Filed under: Art by Orangemaster @ 10:37 am

It’s true, this year’s edition of Art Amsterdam held at the RAI exhibition centre was indeed very international, with galleries from all over the Netherlands as well as ones from Paris, Montréal, Seoul, Berlin and more. 24oranges was lucky enough to walk around on VIP night before the fair opens to the general public today, running until 15 May, courtesy of a sponsor of art site Trendbeheer.com.

Instead of just selling art like the other galleries, Trendbeheer are doing something cool, they call ‘For The Love of Money’. Managing Director Niels Post, an artist himself (we saw his stuff in the 1500 euro or less art lounge) explained the plan to sell 150 unique works at 150 euro a pop with a frame and box. The works themselves (seen in the pic) are hi-resolution pictures taken of works of art at the fair with a red dot, meaning they have been sold. Photographers are taking turns running around the fair ‘dot hunting’ and snapping pics of sold works, printing them out, framing them and then selling them. Almost all the ones in this picture were sold and from the moment they started, it was going fast.

Of all the stuff I saw, this German work of art from I totally forgot to write it down shame on me caught my eye, probably because it had words on it.

If you’re up to buying art for your office or design studio, you have to check this art fair out. They also have books and there are presentations and even tours of the exhibition. If you just want to look at cool stuff, this is not quite the right venue, but it will give anyone with artist’s block some good ideas.

Tags: , ,

May 11, 2011

Buy an electric car, get a free parking spot in Amsterdam

Filed under: Automobiles,Bicycles,Sustainability by Orangemaster @ 4:34 pm

The goal of this ploy is to get residents of Amsterdam to buy an electric car so they can get a free parking spot with a free electricity charger near their house until 2012, which could be extended. Getting an actual designated parking spot in Amsterdam can easily be a 5-year to 10-year affair.

Amsterdam wants 5% of cars to be electric by 2015, which would be about 10,000 cars. The city’s freebies cover electric cars but won’t cover hybrids until the electric–only range of hybrids rises above 60 kilometres.

I wouldn’t get an electric car just yet, I’d keep biking, roller skating, taking public transport and walking like I already do.

Amsterdam’s green ethos seems very much intact. But one unintended consequence: in it’s enthusiasm for electric vehicles, the popularity of electric bikes is undermining pollution goals, as owners of foot-powered bikes upgrade to electric models.

The same way this implies that electric bikes are trumping electric cars, the fact that I work at home and don’t travel for work makes me less green than owning a car and not using it, which is plain stupid defeats the purpose.

(Link: smartplanet via presurfer)

Tags: ,