October 6, 2011

‘The Dutch still have poor eating habits’

Filed under: Food & Drink,Health by Orangemaster @ 1:58 pm
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According to the NRC newspaper, the government’s public health institute has been evaluating the eating habits of 4,000 people between 2007 and 2010, and have concluded that people in the Netherlands still eat crap (noun and incorrect adverb).

“People of all ages are consuming 100 to 120 grams of vegetables a day, when it should be 200 grams. Just 10% of children and 33% of the elderly manage to eat fish twice a week.”

Fish is more expensive than red and white meat (assuming that’s the competition), so that’s one easy explanation. The ordinary supermarket has a lot of junk food fish (fried, drenched in cream, battered) and not much fresh fish.

As for the veggies, many foreigners (nutritionists and ordinary people) are literally freaked out by how few vegetables are recommended (see explanation with fruit below).

“Children eat less than one piece of fruit a week and adults not quite one and a half. The recommended amount is two pieces. And the consumption of fibres is about 66% of what it should be.”

The recommended amount of fruit in Canada is like 3-4 servings a day and even 5 in the US. Harvard goes as far as to recommend “5 to 13 servings” and “potatoes don’t count, as they are just starch”.

A quick tour around the web says that France recommends 400 g of fruit and veg a day, twice what the Dutch recommend. They also say that lesser developed countries recommend 100 g and fervent Western European countries up to 450 g.

“The good news is that people are eating fewer trans-fats, mainly because producers of margarines, cooking oils and snacks have lowered the amount of trans-fats in their products.”

In other words, they got lucky and don’t think about what they eat. That’s not good news, that’s a warning.

(Link: www.dutchnews.nl)

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October 5, 2011

Red wine doesn’t reduce blood pressure

Filed under: Food & Drink,Science by Orangemaster @ 5:42 pm

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A recent Dutch study led by Ilse Botden, MD and PhD student at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, claims that the polyphenols found in red wine don’t promote a healthy heart by reducing blood pressure, as previous studies have held. She recently presented the findings at the American Heart Association’s High Blood Pressure Research 2011 Scientific Sessions in the US.

Health news website WebMD reported that red wine’s heart-healthy benefits have often been attributed to antioxidants called polyphenols. While expert opinions have varied on polyphenols’ effect on the heart, Dutch researchers have discovered that polyphenols don’t seem to promote heart health by reducing blood pressure.

What ordinary folks like me will find on the Internet is that red wine in moderation helps you relax, but what do I know.

(Links: dutchdailynews, Photo of Arrogant Frog wine by Martin Ujlaki, some rights reserved)

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October 4, 2011

Finnish guitarist run over by truck in Limburg

Filed under: Music by Orangemaster @ 9:54 pm

Sunday, 2 October, guitarist Mikko Laine of Finnish heavy metal Sole Remedy was run over by a truck in Baarlo, Limburg after having performed at the ProgPower Festival.

Dutch daily De Limburger couldn’t even bothered to mention the name of Mikko Laine in their report of the accident, while the ProgPower Festival website decided to close down for a while as a gesture of respect.

“Laine was apparently asleep backstage after performing at the ProgPower Festival in Baarlo when a vehicle loaded with stage equipment backed up over him. He was reportedly asleep next to a fence and died on the scene.”

May he rest in peace.

(Link: noisecreep.com, via www.limburger.nl)

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October 3, 2011

Illustrated atlas of the afterlife

Filed under: Art,Design by Branko Collin @ 12:17 pm

Last year Guido Derksen, Martin van Mousch and Jop Mijwaard published a book about how different cultures and religions view the hereafter.

Rather than limiting themselves to a dry summing up of various theories, the authors actually made an illustrated atlas: eighteen drop dead gorgeous maps! There are maps of Dante’s hell, the Egyptian Duat, the Islamic, Jewish and Hindu heavens, and many more (shown here: Valhalla). The book drew positive reviews from both the religious and secular press.

Reformatorisch Dagblad (protestant) wrote:

The chapter about the medieaval folk tale of Cockaigne is a welcome change of tone, being comical in nature. The map contains a Tokkelroom Dale with a town called Advocaat. We also find a mountain range called Top Fermenting with a peak called Two Fingers. […] In conclusion it is an original, fascinating and informative book.

Holly Moors added:

To some people this may be a confrontational and sobering book, but it thought it was lovely. A piece of folkloric religion becomes pure literature again—back to the realm of Tolkien.

And VPRO radio: “Real maps […], so you’ll know exactly where you need to be.”

Moors has several samples of the maps, as does the authors’ blog, which discusses (in Dutch) how the maps were made.

De Geïllustreerde Atlas van het Hiernamaals, by Guido Derksen, Martin van Mousch and Jop Mijwaard, Nieuw Amsterdan, 2010.

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October 2, 2011

French tourists angry about discrimination at Maastricht marijuana bars

Filed under: General by Branko Collin @ 3:28 pm

Coffeeshop owners in Maastricht have started to refuse catering to French patrons. The owners are anticipating a new law that obliges marijuana buyers to have a club card, the so-called wietpas. This card will only be available to adult Dutch residents or other legal residents of the Netherlands.

Writes De Telegraaf:

“C’est du fascisme,” an angry Frenchman yelled to the doorman of coffeeshop Easy Going on the Hoenderstraat in the capital of Limburg. The doorman had just refused him entry. Angry French people also said they felt discriminated against, and accused the doormen of racism.

Coffeeshop managers referred French tourists to venues in nearby cities. Coffeeshop Rasta Fari Boni was the only one in Maastricht still selling marijuana to French customers. German and Belgian tourists were still being served in Maastricht.

Coffeeshop owners fear that the trade in marijuana will disappear underground, where buyers will have to do business directly with dangerous criminals. It is logical to assume that this is exactly what the Rutte government wants, although I am not clear as to why somebody would want this.

(Photo of a Maastricht marijuana bar on a boat by Flickr user Thalling55, some rights reserved)

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October 1, 2011

Still lifes at FOAM

Filed under: Photography by Branko Collin @ 9:00 pm

Today I went to a photography workshop at FOAM Amsterdam, which is why this posting is a bit later than you might expect.

The photo museum on the Keizersgracht (Emperor’s Canal) organizes a different workshop each month, and this month the theme was still lifes, tying in neatly with FOAM’s birthday exhibition Still/Life. The workshop fee of thirty bucks gets you a guided tour through the museum in which the teacher points out what makes specific photos special. After that you get a short generic introduction to the basics of interesting photos, and then you get an hour to practice what you have been taught. At the end one photo per student gets discussed. I thought it was well worth the money.

Why a still life exhibition? Curator Colette Olof explains on Youtube:

This year we’re celebrating FOAM’s tenth anniversary. The whole year we’re looking towards the future with the question: “What’s next?” We thought it would be nice to make one exhibition with a theme based on the history of FOAM. In 2001 we opened the very first exhibition at FOAM with a Dutch theme, The Dutch Light, and it was a group show with Dutch photographers curated by Erik Kessels. Now ten years later we thought it would be nice to do a group show again with only Dutch photographers.

[…] The still life is also a classical Dutch theme. In the 17th century the Dutch and Flemish painters were known as the best still life painters in the world.

The Still/Life exhibition runs through October 26. My boring attempt below.

(Illustration top: Fruit, 2008, Krista van der Niet)

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September 30, 2011

Ships, slavery, Facebook and Atari

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 8:12 pm

Time for a funny clip. Historically, the Dutch did lots of bad things and according to some advert on telly just this evening, the Dutch were the last to abolish child labour in Europe, but skip that and have a good haha laugh.

Seamail for Mark Zuckerberg from the Dutch National Maritime Museum (Het Scheepvaartmuseum) to announce its new Facebook page.

(Thanks Jeroen!)

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Wordfeud outlawed in bar in Zwolle

Filed under: Food & Drink,Gaming by Branko Collin @ 3:23 pm

Owner Elles Hetebrij of the Hete Brij pub in Zwolle has had it with anti-social behaviour from mobile gamers, and has banned the Scrabble like word game Wordfeud from her establishment, De Stentor reports.

Sometimes the bar is filled with people playing Wordfeud. Nobody is talking to each other or to the bartender any more, much to his chagrin. […] We talk to our patrons about their behaviour. If you want to be on an ‘island’, you might as well play at home. This is a brown café where the atmosphere needs to be lively.

Manager Patrick Hugen added:

People even interrupt their game of darts to enter a word. This has to stop.

Wordfeud is a game that’s played on a mobile phone against Internet opponents. Is it really that addictive? I find that hard to believe. What do you think?

(Illustration: Wordfeud screenshot)

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September 29, 2011

Four of the 10 dirtiest hotels in Europe are in Amsterdam

Filed under: General,Health by Orangemaster @ 4:37 pm

Amsterdam has four hotels on the 2011 Dirtiest Hotels list on Tripadvisor.

First and second place are in Turkey, 3rd, 4th and 5th are in London, 6th and 7th are in Amsterdam, 8th is in London, and 9th and 10th are in Amsterdam. Recap: Turkey = 2, London = 5 and Amsterdam = 4.

Last year’s list is mostly shameful for the UK with 8, Italy with 1 and the Netherlands (Amsterdam) with 1.

“Free mice with every room!” and “All the sheets were spotted with hundreds of red dots.” sound quite disgusting to me.

(Link: welingelichtekringen.nl, Photo is of a reputable, bicycle friendly hotel away from the nasty downtown hotels)

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September 28, 2011

Dutch newspaper Miles Davis freebee riles up music critics

Filed under: Music by Orangemaster @ 3:54 pm

Twenty years ago today jazz legend Miles Davis died, leaving a trail of trumpet clad jazz music that is still highly appreciated today by die hard jazz fans and new generations of fans. Most of us probably own Kind of Blue, or have heard of it. My dad played it all the time — on vinyl.

However, a few Dutch music critics were not amused when NRC newspaper came out with a free book about Miles containing a free CD re-issue of Birth of The Cool, originally released on Capitol in 1957. And that’s where the commotion started: according to music critic Gijsbert Kamer who writes for De Volkskrant, the Birth of The Cool is not a Blue Note label recording and the NRC should not have implied that it is. But he’s technically wrong: the CD re-issue offered in the book is from EMI who owns Blue Note, making the CD a Blue Note record today, whether we like that or not. Even the book says that the album was released on Capitol in 1957.

The NRC has to quote Blue Note on the CD because that’s who owns the rights today to that record. It’s up to the reader to figure out when and where the record was originally recorded, if they even care. A newspaper gives away a free book with a free newspaper: score! If people want to know more about Miles, it’s up to them.

Then it gets more amusing: Kamer either ignored, chose to ignore or didn’t know that his own employer, De Volkskrant put out a box set by American jazz sound engineer Rudy van Gelder in 2006 with — you guessed it — a Blue Note packaging, including Birth of The Cool.

Problem is, Rudy van Gelder never originally produced Birth of The Cool, he was only involved in the re-issue, which is the one both newspapers are peddling, although NRC never mentions Rudy van Gelder anywhere. In other words, De Volkskrant critized the NRC of parading the CD as a Blue Note CD (which it is today), while they themselves did the exact same and also got the producer wrong.

Birth of The Cool was “originally released as singles, eight of the tracks were compiled in 1953 on a 10″ vinyl album in Capitol’s Classics in Jazz series, and Birth of the Cool was released in 1957 as a 12” LP that added the remaining three unreleased instrumental pieces (“Move”, “Budo” and “Boplicity”). The final track, “Darn That Dream” was included with the other eleven on a 1971 LP. Subsequent releases have been based on this last arrangement.”

So Birth of The Cool changed, grew and got remastered over the years.

Let’s listen to Miles playing in Amsterdam in 1957 and move on, shall we?

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