January 13, 2013

The paint-over painting

Filed under: Art by Branko Collin @ 12:42 pm

Daan de Houter writes:

Daan den Houter invites artists to produce their own paintings on the same single canvas. Each individual work is on display for one week only in De Aanschouw, the only opportunity to view the painting. Subsequently, the canvas moves on to a new artist, who will add a new layer. (50cm x 60cm, oils, started May 24, 2002)

Shown here are layers 27 and 28 by Martijn in ‘t Veld and Wouter Boot respectively. De Aanschouw is an art gallery in Rotterdam. Currently the 91st layer is on display there. Trendbeheer writes that each new layer makes painting the next one more difficult.

(Image: partial screenshot of overschilderschilderij.nl)

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January 12, 2013

Transparent trash bag for reusable garbage

Filed under: Design by Branko Collin @ 11:35 am

Have you ever hesitated to throw something in the trash because although you personally no longer had any use for it, it was still usable?

The incentive prize of the 2010 Dutch Design Awards was won by Waarmaker’s Simon Akkaya and his Goedzak, a transparent bag that you can use to put usable things out with the rest of the trash. Since it is transparent and has a bright yellow band, it should immediately draw the attention of any passer-by.

Not that lack of attention seems to be that much of a problem. In my experience when I have to throw away something like an old keyboard or tennis racket I just wait for a dry night and then put it out in the street by itself. The good stuff gets picked up in no time.

The name Goedzak, literally ‘good bag’, is a pun because it also means ‘kindly person’.

(Photo: degoedzak.nl. Link: Bright and Pop-Up City)

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January 11, 2013

Coffins increase in size due to obesity

Filed under: Health by Orangemaster @ 6:02 pm

Dutch coffin manufacturers are saying that the demand for large coffins is growing due to the increasing obesity of Dutch people. These coffins are far more expensive than the regular ones as they have to be made by hand. Moreover, 60% of Dutch crematoria have adapted their ovens to be able to cremate obese people, a bit like revamping your fire stations to make sure your big new fire trucks fit in them.

The National Organization of Crematoria says that businesses are now equipped to burn big people throughout the Netherlands, a process that lasts longer than normal due to the surplus fat and able to do so, as it is more difficult. Obese people should preferably be cremated at the beginning of the day when the oven is not yet at full temperature.

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

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January 9, 2013

Fire brigades buy trucks that are too big for stations

Filed under: Automobiles,Weird by Orangemaster @ 10:30 am

The fire brigades of the province of Flevoland have purchased 14 new trucks, five of which do not actually fit in the intended fire stations. The vehicles are just too high, and the decision-makers knew that in advance, but still wanted 14 shiny new trucks so the region would all have the same trucks.

The municipality of Noordoostpolder where the five trucks don’t fit has to modify their fire stations, which will cost hundreds of thousands of euro.

Do the decision-makers have friends in the contracting business for the rebuilding of fire stations? Possibly. Couldn’t they have chosen another type of truck? Possibly. Maybe the fire stations are too old-fashioned anyways so what’s the problem? Possibly. Was money saved by buying 14 trucks at once? Possibly. Was the PR on this decision well-spun in the media? Not really.

(Link: www.omroepflevoland.nl)

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January 8, 2013

Bell ringing pastor now calls lost sheep up

Filed under: Religion by Orangemaster @ 12:04 pm

We’ve posted about Priest Harm Schilder from Tilburg who had bell ringing issues a few times, attempting to defy the law using freedom of religion as an excuse.

Having lost that battle, he’s now moved on to ‘naming and shaming’, athough he insists this is not what he’s doing, by asking his congregation to pray for people who have decided to dechurch themselves. Schilder also calls these people up, a bit like a marketeer does, to find out why they decided to opt out, but can rarely convince them to change their minds.

The reasons people have apparently given the church for leaving is all the hate speech the Pope dishes out against homosexuals. I’m certain the bottomless pit of child abuse cases that keep cropping up involving the church is not exactly helping their brand name, either.

UPDATE On his blog, Schilder blames the media for twisting his words and blowing things out of proportion, but has caved and decided not to go ahead with his wall of lost sheep, calling it ‘risky’.

(Link: opmerkelijk.nieuws.nl)

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January 7, 2013

Satellite dishes are not always protected speech

Filed under: Architecture by Branko Collin @ 2:07 pm

A homeowners’ association in Rotterdam recently wanted a member to remove a satellite dish from his flat. Dishes are considered an eyesore and they decrease the enjoyment other owners have of their flats.

However, it’s not that simple, Internet lawyer Arnoud Engelfriet writes. Freedom of speech also includes the ability to receive information, which is why judges have been reluctant to outlaw satellite dishes in the past.

The homeowners’ association won its lawsuit last July because the homeowner had other ways to watch his favourite TV channels, such as on the Internet. A fundamental right does not always trump a homeowners’ association’s articles.

Engelfriet omitted to mention that the satellite TV watching flat owner was of Turkish descent. When Dutch people see a street full of satellite dishes, they generally assume that the neighbourhood is popular with immigrants. Homeowners fear that a neighbourhood’s property value will drop if the neighbourhood is perceived to be too ‘black’.

In this case, the plaintiff had also made it clear that it wasn’t he who needed access to the satellite channels, but his wife.

The plaintiff was ordered to pay all his opponent’s legal costs, which the judge determined to be 200 euro.

(Photo by Kai Schreiber, some rights reserved)

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January 6, 2013

Another Dutch word of 2012 – plofkip

Filed under: Animals by Branko Collin @ 9:23 pm

A late addition to our list of Words of the Year 2012 is that of Onze Taal, ‘the Dutch association for language lovers’.

That word is ‘plofkip‘ (literally ‘exploding chicken’), a propaganda word meaning ‘broiler’.

Second and third place went to ‘appen’ (to Whatsapp) and ‘pandapunt’ (points you get for sexual abstinence). Plofkip got 44% of the votes.

(Link: Eamelje. Photo by Flickr user normanack, some rights reserved)

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Kid shows off mad word game skills (video)

Filed under: Gaming by Branko Collin @ 12:19 pm

Ruzzle is a simple word game in which you have to tap a series of connected letters on a randomized grid to form as many words as you can in two minutes.

Here is a video by a guy called Flupkees who can guess 136 Dutch words in a single session (of the 302 possible words). He is going so fast I cannot even follow what is going on: pot, poter, poten, po, pon, ???, pik, pikt, pikte, prik, prikt, prikte and so on.

(Video: YouTube/Flupkees. Link: Marc van Oostendorp)

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January 5, 2013

Son pays Canadian’s fine after 54 years

Filed under: Weird by Branko Collin @ 2:28 pm

A Canadian tourist tried to pay a 54-year-old fine at the police station in The Hague during Christmas, but the police forgave his debt.

In 1956 Augustinus “Guus” Johannes Maria Niesink travelled with his sister Jo and her husband from Terborg in the Achterhoek region of the Netherlands (the -ink in the last name is a dead give away) to Maastricht in the South, when between Nijmegen and Venlo they were stopped by a policeman. It turned out Guus had faulty brakes on his Kaptein Mobylette (a discontinued Dutch moped brand from after the war when manufacturing mopeds was cheaper than importing them) and a fine was quickly drawn up.

A month later Guus boarded a ship of the Holland America Line to emigrate to Canada. He never returned, but he always kept his paper fine. He started his new life in Ottawa, and that is where he died a couple of weeks ago. On his deathbed Guus asked his son Patrick (50) to grant him one last wish: if Patrick found himself in the Netherlands, he would finally pay the fine.

(Photo: the police. Click the image for a larger version. Link: Der Westen)

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January 4, 2013

Power company covers up butt cleavage

Filed under: Fashion,Weird by Orangemaster @ 1:26 pm

In Dutch they call it ‘bouwvakkersdecolleté’ (‘construction worker’s décolletage’), which pertains exclusively to men, in English it is better known as ‘butt cleavage’, which actually includes both men and women. And in 2013, the male version should be a thing of the past if we can believe Dutch power company Eneco.

About 500 technicians — assumingly all male, but we don’t know for sure — are getting new uniforms that don’t show their unsightly butt cracks when they bend down. The trousers will have a higher waistline and jackets will be longer. I personally can understand the trousers, but most of the year they will not be wearing the jacket because it’s too warm. As well, the clothing will be more ‘sweat resistant’, which will surely enhance any experience with having burly men work in your house on your power supply.

What I do not like about the Dutch expression is that it automatically assumes that only men are technicians in the Netherlands, which is often the case, but surely not always. It also gives me the idea that female butt crack is acceptable, which leads to more inequality. Whale tails went out a few years ago (someone please pass this memo around, a lot of girls didn’t get it) and a technician with butt crack comes off to me as being less competent and desperately in need of attention.

(Link: www.ad.nl, Photo of Female shipyard workers by BiblioArchives / LibraryArchives, some rights reserved)

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