October 7, 2013

Funny website lets designer Niek Gooren look for a job

Filed under: Design by Branko Collin @ 12:59 pm

Multimedia designer Niek Gooren from Weert in Limburg lost his job earlier this year. Applying for new jobs the traditional way did not help, so he decided to set up a website full of funny hyperbole to show the world why it should hire him.

Next to a photo of Niek begging in the street a banner admonishes would-be employers: “As a citizen of the Netherlands you contribute to Niek’s unemployment benefits. Surely it would be better to hire him. That way you and he both benefit.”

Overlayed on a photo of Niek watching noise on the television is the text: “While you are reading this, Niek lies on the couch at home, lonely and unemployed, eating crisps.”

Also: “Did you know that Niek likes his coffee black? That makes him cheaper than the average coffee drinking employee because you will save on sugar and milk.”

Gooren’s campaign appears to be a success. He told Bright.nl that he has got a day job, figuratively speaking, in going to job interviews on the basis of his website. He’s already been interviewed by Banbao (toys), Wehkamp (mail order), Air France KLM (airline) and De Bijenkorf (department store).

Gooren’s website is at helpniekuitdeww.nl, ‘help Niek off the dole dot nl’. The illustrations are screen shots of that site.

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August 9, 2012

Government snubs its own cookie law

Filed under: General,IT by Orangemaster @ 6:31 pm

Not only does the new cookie law confuse Dutch website owners, but the Dutch government who came up with it can’t be bothered to adhere to it either. Their argument is that they don’t need to follow the rules because the cookies are not being use for commercial purposes. Watchdog Opta disagrees and says that cookies can only be placed without permission if it impairs the functioning of a website or if it cannot offer certain services.

The cookies used on the government site Rijksoverheid.nl are used to keep statistics, and therefore OPTA says they are a no-no. The government has conveniently failed to provide a counter-argument.

This definitely fits the description of “Do what the preacher preaches, but not what the preacher does”.

(Link: www.nu.nl, screenshot: the Telegraaf cookie banner)

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April 18, 2010

The other ‘Anne Frank’ houses

Filed under: General by Branko Collin @ 12:08 pm

The Anne Frank House is called Het Achterhuis in Dutch, the apartment in the back, simply because that is what it was. The andereachterhuizen.nl website has collected 30 stories of other hiding places of Jewish refugees in World War II.

For instance, the story of Johan Sanders, who was separated from his parents and sisters. When he once met his sisters on the street, naturally he smiled. The other kids, not knowing the real deal, yelled that “ha ha, Johan van den Berk is in love with Lenie Vissermans.”

“That had a real impact on me.”

The people in these stories were hiding at one of 42 addresses. They received warmth or beatings. They were in the city or the countryside, alone or with others. They were in hiding or were not. They had to pay a lot, or nothing at all. They were treated like equals or as slaves. They were betrayed or not.

(The site is entirely in Dutch. Via Trendbeheer)

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March 6, 2010

Catawiki, personal catalogue, wiki and shopping website in one

Filed under: Online by Branko Collin @ 11:33 am

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 Schoenmakers and Marco Jansen, who bought an existing Flemish comics database with 110,000 entries to get started. Later catalogues for stamps, coins and telephone cards were added. The site bills itself as the catalogue for and by collectors.

Although Catawiki can be used to just show the world which books, comics and even barf bags you own, you can also use it to sell items.

(Link: Eamelje.net.)

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June 22, 2009

Trading private parking spaces

Filed under: Architecture,Automobiles by Branko Collin @ 9:32 am

In such a densely populated country as the Netherlands, it may appear strange that many private parking spaces are empty during the day, when their owners are off to work. Wannapark.nl tries to fill this ‘gap in the market,’ as the Dutch say, by bringing together the owners of both cars and private parking spaces.

A quick look at the Amsterdam section of the website shows that the recently started company hasn’t attracted many users yet—although to be fair, there is fairly little usable private parking space in Amsterdam. The spaces on offer in the old docklands, on IJburg and in West all seem to be in the parking garages of new buildings, with spaces smack in the city center going for 300 euro a month.

(Via press release aggregator Dagelinks.nl.)

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May 15, 2009

Meteorology site for outdoor cafes

Filed under: General by Branko Collin @ 10:16 am

Maastricht beer producer Wieckse, perhaps best known for its white beer, has started a website that will show you how sunny it is at many sidewalk cafes in the Netherlands. Called zonneradar.nl, the website also tells you where you will find the sunniest sidewalk cafe in the Netherlands of the moment. White beer is especially popular during sunny weather, according to Wikipedia, because it lacks the distinct hoppish flavour that is present in other beers.

Weather woman Helga van de Leur told Bright (Dutch): “The weather in the Netherlands isn’t as bad as people often think. Research shows that two-thirds of the population underestimate the amount of sun hours. You just have to know where it shines.” Not in Moscow, right now.

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