http://www.24oranges.nl Dutch things pressed for your pleasure Mon, 15 Mar 2010 11:45:16 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Yesterday I came across this pair of scissors doubling as a door handle at a barbershop in Abcoude. This simple and elegant solution presents a win-win-win situation for everyone involved: 1. Potential customers will be able to tell what kind of business this is. 2. Customers can use the handle to ... http://www.24oranges.nl/2010/03/15/scissor-shaped-door-handle/ TNT Post has issued an 8-page stamp in honour of the Dutch book week, which runs from March 10-20. The stamp is valued at 2.20 euro, which according to TNT's press release should be enough to send somebody a book. The book on the stamp was written by Joost Zwagerman ... http://www.24oranges.nl/2010/03/14/book-shaped-stamp-also-stamp-shaped-book/ Before the euro was introduced as a pan-European currency in 2002, the Netherlands used the venerable guilder. Until 2006 citizens could still exchange their guilder coins and bills for euro. The deadline for trading in guilder banknotes is 2032, and the Dutch national bank (DNB) estimates there are still about ... http://www.24oranges.nl/2010/03/13/half-a-billion-euros-worth-of-unclaimed-guilder-bills-floating-around/ Driving down the Dutch highway I have seen overpasses for deers and I have heard of frog overpasses and tunnels, but this is a first for me too: the very first beaver tunnel in the country. Yes, as of today, the wee village of Panheel (189 villagers) in Limburg has opened ... http://www.24oranges.nl/2010/03/12/first-ever-dutch-beaver-tunnel-opens/ The chair on the right is 'Cinderella’s Chair', a follow up of designer Anna Ter Haar's 2007 graduation project 'Buitenbeentje' (meaning 'odd man out', but literally translated 'outside leg'). "Glass is a malleable material when heated, so the glass was blown onto the chair, which provides every chair with its own ... http://www.24oranges.nl/2010/03/11/chairs-with-odd-legs/ On 8 March, Sotheby's auction house in Amsterdam auctioned off Dutch art belonging to cigarette makers BAT (British American Tobacco) to the tune of a record 13.6 million euro, the highest total for an art auction in the Netherlands. All but four of the 161 lots offered in Amsterdam found ... http://www.24oranges.nl/2010/03/10/dutch-art-goes-for-record-amount/ I saw this on Dutch commercial television, which more often than not features American series and subtitled or dubbed American advertising 'like you never left the US'. Translation: Guy: Hey, you owe me money. Girl: ... Guy: For the burger. Voice-over: So very Dutch! Our new (product name), etc. Guy: Yep, right amount. Voice-over: It can't get ... http://www.24oranges.nl/2010/03/09/fast-food-chain-exploits-dutch-stereotype/ Dutch women with partners are very happy with their part-time jobs and do not aspire to work full-time, a recent study reveals. Professor Jan van Ours of the University of Tilburg who performed the study together with Australian researcher Allison Booth, told De Pers: "People often assume that [Dutch] women ... http://www.24oranges.nl/2010/03/08/women-with-partners-prefer-part-time-jobs/ The beer arms race is still on. Brewers Het Koelschip from Almere have come up with Obilix, a 45% alcohol beer that will surely attract the attention of both beer aficionados and comics trademark holders. Last month previous champ BrewDog ousted Germany's Schorschbock with 41 percenter Sink the Bismarck. Pussies! Het Koelschip ... http://www.24oranges.nl/2010/03/07/dutch-brewer-makes-worlds-strongest-beer/ Last week the readers of Belgian online magazine Netties, an early supporter of Wikipedia, voted Catawiki the Best Website in the Dutch language. Catawiki is what you would get if you merged Librarything, an online personal library catologue, with eBay, and squared the result. It was founded in 2009 by René ... http://www.24oranges.nl/2010/03/06/catawiki-personal-catalogue-wiki-and-shopping-website-in-one/