June 26, 2012
A new, Eindhoven-based label called Mal has introduced this Eames inspired chair called Mal 1956, intended to be used outdoors.
The specifications note that the chair is fitted with “a subtle drainage system to prevent stagnant water from collecting in the seat” and that it “can be cleaned using water along with common household cleaning products”.
A set of chair and stool will cost you 900 euro.
(Link: Bright. Photo: Mal.)
June 25, 2012
Professor Dirk Smeesters of the Erasmus University resigned after a study uncovered ‘irregularities’ in two of his papers.
Smeesters read Consumer Behaviour at the Rotterdam School of Management. The university accepted his resignation on June 21. The papers were withdrawn from scientific publications by the university, which stated in a press release today:
Two articles were found to have irregularities with findings that, in a statistical sense, are highly unlikely. The raw data forming the basis of these articles was not available for inspection by third parties, and the professor indicated that he had selected data so that the sought-after effects were statistically significant.
Last year professor Diederik Stapel from the University of Tilburg was suspended for making up pro-vegetarian research.
(Photo of the Erasmus University auditorium released into the public domain by Wikifrits.)
June 24, 2012
In the southernmost part of China lies the city of Sanya. Local housing corporation Vanke asked NL Architects from Amsterdam to design a bicycle club as part of a resort. This is their proposal.
The pavilion houses a bicycle rental, a cafe and a rooftop velodrome.
(Link: The Pop-Up City. Photo: NL Architects.)
Tags: China, NL Architects
June 23, 2012
You know those lottery ads where in big print it says you’ve won and then somewhere in the small print it says you haven’t won at all, except perhaps for the right to hand over your cash?
Well, one Dutch judge thought enough was enough and has found for six plaintiffs who thought they had won 2,500 euro each.
In a letter that the winners received in October 2010 from Postcode Loterij, the impression was given that the recipients were guaranteed winners if the two unique codes they received with the letter matched the codes printed in a table (see illustration). Once they had sent in their coupons, only one plaintiff received a minor prize and the other five received a lottery ticket—clearly not what they had expected.
The small print said that participants only had a chance of winning the prize, but judge Pauline van der Kolk-Nunes quickly disposed of the T&C: “[The letter] will raise an expectation with the average consumer that they have won a prize […] and that the table shows which prize they have won. The codes and the table are unlikely to have any other meaning. [The small print] contradicts the core of the agreement, which is: you will receive a gift.”
Karma can be cruel.
Postcode Loterij is planning to appeal the decision.
See also: The battle to outlaw poker rages on
(Illustration: iusmentis.com / Postcode Loterij. The text reads: “Do you have one of these codes on your lucky coin? And do you have a valid gift code? Then you will receive one of these gifts, guaranteed. Which gift is yours?”)
Tags: courts, gambling, gambling addiction, judges, lotteries, lottery, state crime
June 18, 2012
De Kracht van Rotterdam (‘kracht’ means power, strength) is a photo exhibition and contest in which 12 photographers, one for each neighbourhood of the city, show many facets of the largest port of the Netherlands.
The photographers had to base their pictures on a poem by Jules Deelder and Jana Beranová, and each had to shoot four photos within 24 hours. Click on the photographers’ names to see their works, a short bio, and a map that shows where in Rotterdam the photos were taken.
Starting July 2 there will be an exhibit in the streets of Rotterdam. The exact locations will be announced on the website. On that same day, Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb will award one photo with a prize of 3,500 euro at one of the locations. The exhibit will run until September.
From the website:
We should not just show [the power of Rotterdam] in the media and in museums, but also and especially outside these institutions, in the city itself. The people of Rotterdam can be found on the road more often than in a museum. Show Rotterdammers what their city looks like, what the city can do, what it does and achieves. Show South how North sleeps, show Hilligersberg an afternoon in Charlois, and show that there really isn’t much that separates dreams, ambitions and possibilities.
Shown here is the harbour area of Hoogvliet Pernis, as portrayed by Jet van Schie who graduated in 2005 from the Willem de Kooning academy.
Update 19-6-2012: I had a quick chat with the organiser, and have merged the info she gave me with the article—Branko.
(Link: Trendbeheer)
Tags: citizens, exhibitions, people, photo exhibition, Rotterdam
June 17, 2012
On June 28 Dutch National Ballet will perform a dance that includes a group of disabled people in their Canta cars.
The ballet is part of a larger project that includes a documentary series by Maartje Nevejan and a book by Karin Spaink about the Canta microcar, the only car that can legally drive on bike paths and pavements in the Netherlands, exclusively sold to the disabled.
Spaink herself has Multiple sclerosis. In the book, De Benenwagen, she writes about the moment when it was time to face the hard truth, the moment she had to get an invalid car:
Everything changed. Using my crutches, my speed was 3 km/h and my range 500 metres. With the wheelchair I reached speeds of 8 to 10 km/h for up to five minutes. […]
[When I took my first test drive], the speed scared me. “Oh no”, I panicked, “I cannot do this! I am so sorry… Please take it back to the factory! I made a terrible mistake.”
The mechanic made me stop to catch my breath. “Don’t worry, really, you’ll get used to it.” […] He was right. I got used to it in no time. […] The Arola [the Canta’s predecessor] gave me a large part of the freedom back that I had had to give up due to my disability.
The book talks about the history of the Canta, how it was designed by former Ferrari F40 racing driver Dick Waaijenberg, how it is the one car in the Netherlands that may drive on bike paths and pavements (other microcars are treated like mopeds before the law), and how Waaijenberg only sells them to the disabled. There are companies and organisations that own them, but they have to find theirs on the second hand market.
Karin Spaink does a good job of explaining the various aspects of the Canta and its predecessor Arola. The chapter where she joins the mechanic for his daily round is both insightful and moving. It provides a glimpse into the sort of people that need a Canta, and through Spaink we witness a man who gets sentenced to a life of decreased mobility, as his handicap has advanced too much for him to safely drive a microcar any more.
Benenwagen literally means ‘leg car’, and is used in an expression. If whiny kids ask their parents “but how will I get there?” when a distance is trivial, the answer will be “use the leg car”.
De benenwagen, Het succesverhaal van de Canta, Karin Spaink, ISBN 9789038894928.
Disclaimer: I have known Karin Spaink for almost two decades, and have supplied one of the photos for the book. The photo shown here though is by the prolific Facemepls, and is ‘some rights reserved‘.
June 14, 2012
According to a study by Rutgers WTF, only 60% of all Dutch women enjoy sex, as opposed to 78% of the men.
The study was held among 8,000 people. Rutgers claims it is the largest study on sexuality ever done in the Netherlands.
The number of women using birth control has dropped from 70% in 2009 to 69% in 2012. Of the fertile women that have sex but do not want to get pregnant, 9% don’t use birth control.
Acceptance of transgender people is low. One in five Dutch people prefer not to be around people who are gender ambivalent, and a similar number thinks there is something wrong with those who do not consider themselves clearly male or female.
(Photo by Flickr user Spec-ta-cles, some rights reserved)
June 13, 2012
When young people go out and enjoy themselves in horror movies, you know things are going to go wrong. Same thing goes for when a Dutch man doesn’t lock his bicycle…
This 2009 short called Vouwfiets Vaterland was made by Marten van Warmerdam and Wouter Zaalberg, and follows a day in the life of a folding bike.
The 7:25 minute long movie was shot for the Nederlands Online Film Festival. ‘Vouwfiets’ is Dutch for folding bicycle, and Vaterland is a bicycle brand.
(Video: YouTube/NFF. Link: Rona Justine)
Tags: Amsterdam, festival, folding bicycles, police
June 11, 2012
Last Tuesday the playful teen polar bear Vicks hurled rocks at the glass walls of his Blijdorp Zoo prison in Rotterdam , but ultimately shattered only 5 layers of the 7 centimetre glass wall (of an unspecified total number of layers).
Writes the zoo (in the video description):
The video shows that Vicks was simply playing with the stone and was not attacking the window deliberately. Shortly after 9 am Rob van der Horst (together with Ari Stolk) was unsuspectingly just shooting a film in he polar bear exhibit.
The strength of the window has been judged by various glass experts. Whether or not Vicks and his mum will be able to use their outdoor exhibit and the huge tank depends on the results of the investigation. The commitment of everyone in Rotterdam Zoo is to let Vicks stay in Rotterdam.
Some of the dialog at the end:
Gent 1: “Jesus, get out of here.”
Lady: “How is that possible?”
Gent 2: “The window is broken.”
And from there on it is a repetition of Jesuses and “The window is broken”. The matter-of-fact attitude by the people in the video may be explained by the fact that Blijdorp zoo has had high-profile break-outs in the past.
(Video: Youtube / Diergaarde Blijdorp. Photo of young master Vicks last summer by Flickr user jinterwas, some rights reserved. Link: Treehugger.)
Tags: Diergaarde Blijdorp, polar bears, Rotterdam, zoos
June 10, 2012
Child protection services has placed three children from the same family in Utrecht, ranging from 6 to 13 years old, under the supervision of a guardian for being dangerously overweight, De Telegraaf writes.
The children weighed 15, 18 and 51 kilograms too much in November 2011. The parents fought the services’ decision in court, but in a decision published in May, an judge in Arnhem found against the parents. The court felt that although it was obvious that the parents cared about their children, they lacked both the drive and the skills to deal with their children’s bad health.
According to Dutchnews.nl, “this is the thought to be the first time children in the Netherlands have been subject to a court order because of their weight”. NRC writes that in the UK, dozens of children have been placed under supervision since 2006 for being obese. Child protection services told the newspaper that they will only place children under supervision “if the parents refuse voluntary help and the problems are such that the development of the child is halted or endangered.”
Supervision means that although the children will generally get to stay with their parents, the supervisor must be consulted for all major decisions regarding the children, and orders given by the supervisor must be followed.
A high profile supervision was the 2009 case of then 13-year-old Laura Dekker who wanted to sail around the world by herself. The intent then was to determine whether Dekker was fit to sail the world by herself, although in hindsight the effect mainly seems to have been to instill a severe dislike for Dutch bureaucracy in the teen sailor.
(Photo by Quinn Dombrowski, some rights reserved)
Tags: children, fat children, Laura Dekker, obesity
