In the Student Handbook 2010-2011 for students in Breda there’s apparently a two-page advert to get students, most probably girls, to work for phone sex lines. While students usually work at the supermarket for about EUR 7,50 or so an hour, talking dirty on the phone pays a cool EUR 24 an hour, which is a lot of money for a student. The advert has a funny title as well: ‘Geld verdienen met lullen’ (‘Earn money with talking’, although ‘lullen’ (infinitive verb) just happens to be the plural of ‘cocks’ as well). The students have to be 18 years of age to be hired.
Why did this make national news? Well, it preys on poor students. However, a job is a job, the company is legit and I don’t really see the problem. I know for a fact that talking dirty as a job for money is hard work because when I was a student, I used to translate such delightful phone messages before all of this was online for good money. Some of what you hear is very difficult and not funny or sexy at all. I can’t even imagine being the one answering to or saying these things on the phone for hours on end. The students deserve that EUR 24 an hour.
Meet Peter Smaardijk and Ilse Segers, twittering cops. These two police officers from Etten-Leur and Breda respectively have started posting about their beat from their Blackberries last week.
Together with two officers from Tilburg they will post tweets about their daily police life in order to be more accessible. The Noord Brabant police also hopes to increase its network of eyes and ears this way.
In practice, the four officers twitter both standard police announcements (“watch out for pick pockets”) and their day-to-day affairs (“Spent the rest of the night writing the report.”). The police recommend citizens do not to use Twitter to report a crime.
(Photo: Twitter.com / Politie Midden en West Brabant. Link: BN/De Stem.)
It all started with a Dutch beer advert featuring a walk-in fridge, which then got a ‘Dunglish’ sequel featuring a miscommunication between an Eastern European building contractor and a Dutch guy who ends up getting a walking fridge. The story continues with a parody on the first advert from another Dutch beer company and now we have four final year students in Breda from Avans Hogeschool who invented the RoboFridge. Watch it dispense soft drinks this time around, but I’m sure beer cans fit in there, too.
Filed under: Food,General by Orangemaster @ 2:11 pm
Giving things away for free these days usually arouses suspicion, but one Dutch restaurant owner decided to give it a whirl anyways: free entree and main course, you pay the wine and the dessert. The article also makes sure to mention that the bread and butter is included, because in the Netherlands, you usually have to pay for that.
Restaurant owner Jeroen Verpaalen of L’Entrecote in Breda serves a salad with mustard dressing and walnuts, French bread with herb butter, entrecote and fries for free. Nope, the wine is not overpriced, nor is the dessert. Verpaalen considers it marketing, as “we all need the help of our clients”. In return, his clients are so happy with the food and service that they order more expensive wine and leave more tip, the latter already included in the price.
Letting clients decide what your product or service is worth and paying for it accordingly is a trend in business circles here, but doing the same with food in an industry that is constantly raising the prices is pretty daring. (Skip the steak, I’m a fan of the seafood platter!)
Filed under: Food,Sports by Orangemaster @ 2:58 pm
A Feijenoord (Rotterdam football club) fan decided to complain to the director of NAC (Breda football club) for the free sausage rolls (‘worstenbroodjes’) that were handed out at the game last Sunday. The Breda fans were given the free meat snack to comfort them for their team getting kicked 2-0 by Feijenoord.
The Feijenoord fan thought they should have thought of vegetarians, maybe even offered a meat-free alternative. It reminded me of the airplane I took yesterday which offered cheese or pork sandwiches. It can be done.
I get what they guy is saying, but then you’d have to think of obese people, people who have low-sodium diets, gluten-free eaters, diabetics, people with peanut allergies, kosher, halal, and so on.
Surprise: we live in a mostly meat-eating society. Just say no and don’t eat it is also an option.
These metal and plastic grass lounge chairs in the Valkenbergpark in Breda were made by designer Lisette Spee and architect Tim van den Burg, who hope to be able to make more of them.
This lamp, the Ode 1647 by Jacco Maris from Breda, Noord Brabant, must be one of the spookiest I have ever seen, although the designer was mainly looking to recreate the grandeur of chandeliers. I want one in all its splendid tentacliness. Apparently they come in all shapes and sizes. The arms are made of copper weave.
Waiting for your order at a restaurant is never any fun. Restaurant ‘t Hart van Breda has solved this problem by installing a computer that takes orders: you click on a computer screen from your table and voilà. You can even play computer games and chat with guests of the place as well. According to owner Nanda Koomans, “it’s in tune with the times. We have a young target group who lives and works digitally. This is perfect for them.” She emphasises the popularity of the system using an example. “Yesterday we had a group of girls and boys that were chatting with each other. After their digital talk they all went outside to go out together as a group. That’s of course very nice!”
There are also eight “digital free” tables out of the 26 for the non computer-savvy. The system was developed in Israël where its introduction has usually led to an increase in turnover. Although the initial investment is pricy, Koomans believes it is worth it.
I’d rather use a computer than get stressed out over the service in the Netherlands, but computers break down and make mistakes too. Life is tough.
On 11 June 2008, Queen Beatrix royally opened the Graphic Design Museum in Breda, the first museum in the world dedicated to graphic design. The museum plans to function as a museum, knowledge centre, training facility, shop, designer café and production house for graphic design. It offers an international stage for established designers as well as a springboard for new talent.
It’s not yet on the market (and it will look different than this picture), but two inventors from Breda, North Brabant hope that it will be soon: a pillbox that reads the directions folders of medicine. Once the box is opened, it will start reading automatically. The box makes sure to state that it is medicine and not sweets, a good idea when children are around.
A text can be up to 4.5 minutes long, and a 60-second text can be read some 150 times.
Let’s hope that the direction folders are properly written (an issue about two years ago in the Netherlands), properly translated (always an issue) and not too long (nobody needs to hear an entire disclaimer in 27 EU languages).
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