May 9, 2009

Twenty thousand visitors and counting – a milestone

Filed under: Architecture,Food & Drink,General,Weird by Orangemaster @ 3:29 pm

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We once set ourselves a goal of reaching 20,000 unique visitors a month (no one shot posting about something woohoo and then back to 6,000 or something) and thanks to everyone out there, we did it!

But first, about this photo: this is Gibeau Orange Julep ‘stand’ in Montréal, Québec. It serves orange julep, hotdogs and the likes. It’s a huge orange and the weather has a Dutch thing going for it.

As for what got 24oranges this far besides nicely pressed content, two words: Twitter and Flickr.

1) 24oranges is on Twitter and is getting lots more mobile phone and PDA visitors.

2) 24oranges is on Flickr. We share the photos we take ourselves and are proud to say that other blogs and sites use our photos.

Of course, the recent addition of 24oranges to Globalpost will definitely count for something soon.

Cheers!

(Photo by Bah Humbug, some rights reserved)

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May 8, 2009

It’s ‘Swine flu’ not ‘Mexican flu’ embassy says

Filed under: Animals,General,Science by Orangemaster @ 2:46 pm
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Although full of praise for the Netherlands in dealing with the flu situation, The Embassy of Mexico to the Kingdom of the Netherlands is displeased that the media and even Dutch governmental organisations are referring to the virus as the “Mexican flu”, and not “Swine flu” to appease the pork industry and animal rights activists that objected to the term “Swine flu”.

“The Embassy strongly rejects the use of the term ‘Mexican flu’. As evidence has shown, the virus’ initial outbreak in Mexico was merely circumstantial. Establishing a permanent association between the virus and Mexico is not only misleading, but also encourages discriminating attitudes towards Mexico and its people, that have already led to isolated incidents in the Netherlands, a country that prides itself of its tolerance and non-discriminatory values.”

Just blame Mexico. And there’s little old me trying to explain to Dutch friends that Mexico really is part of North America. I give up. A Mexican friend in Paris just this week told me she gave up long ago.

(Link: embamex-nl, via Taalpost, Photo: thinkgeek.com)

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Watching your watts with the Wattcher

Filed under: Design,Gadgets,Sustainability by Orangemaster @ 10:44 am

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“Wattcher is a product that monitors domestic electricity use, designed by Marcel Wanders for Dutch company Innovaders. The device plugs into a Dutch electrical socket and displays electrical consumption, encouraging users to reduce their energy use.”

Wanders Gained popularity with his Knotted Chair, designed for the world famous designers at Droog Design in 1996. Today he dabbles in all kinds of things and designs for European design firms such as B&B Italia, Bisazza, Poliform, Moroso, Flos, Boffi, Cappellini, Droog Design and Moooi.

(Link and photo: dezeen.com)

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May 2, 2009

Museum robbed at gunpoint, two paintings gone

Filed under: Art by Orangemaster @ 12:14 pm
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While both parties I worked at the last few days on Queen’s Day and on May 1 (Labour Day in Europe, but not in the Netherlands, though people took the day off) had people talking about a major incident involving a car ramming the Queens’ visit and killing five people, other weird things have been happening.

Around noon yesterday, masked people robbed the Scheringa Museum in Spanbroek, North Holland around noon. The robbers made off with two paintings, one by Salvador Dali and one by Tamara de Lempicka. Luckily, no one was injured, but they were threatened at gunpoint, and the police have no leads. They do, however, claim that the theft was specific, as the loot was Dali’s ‘Adolescence’, a gouache from 1941 and ‘La Musicienne’ by Tamara de Lempicka, an oil painting from 1929 (shown here). And yes, they are very valuable.

(Link: depers.nl, Photo: postdam.blogspot.com)

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April 28, 2009

Unlucky house number 4 changed to 2A

Filed under: Weird by Orangemaster @ 1:47 pm
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A Chinese-born couple has successfully asked the town of Nootdorp, South Holland to change the address of their recently bought villa from 4 to 2A. They submitted their claim, explaining that in Chinese culture, the number four (Pinyin transliteration: sì) is considered unlucky by many Chinese, as it also sounds like the word ‘death’ (so I’ve heard many times), a superstition known as tetraphobia, an aversion to or fear of the number 4. The neighbour at number 2 complained about the change, but his complaint was simply ignored because he sent it in too late.

This photo, taken in a residential building in Shanghai, has no 4, no 13 (triskaidekaphobia), no 14 and a weird -1.

The story goes that “404 error” HTTP standard response code on the Internet is not a particularly appreciated error message, either.

(Link: waarmaarraar.nl, photo: Photo by Chrisobyrne, used under the terms of the GNU Free Document License 1.2.)

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April 25, 2009

Koolhaas Prada Transformer opens in Korea

Filed under: Architecture by Orangemaster @ 9:57 am

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Today marks the opening of yet another Prada building designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas of Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), the Prada Transformer, a portable, shape-shifting cultural pavilion located in Seoul, Korea.

Having sat down and really enjoyed a recent television show/lecture with Koolhaas, I listened to him explain that the building could physically be transformed for four main uses: art exhibitions, special events, cinema theatre and a section called ‘waist down’. The idea is that instead of rearranging the interior of the building, a big crane has to reposition the Prada Transformer like a giant puzzle.

Some say, nonsense, what a waste of time, energy and resources, others thinks it’s brilliant. On telly, one of the students from the Delft University of Technology studying architecture said that all his teachers refer to him as ‘God’. He was also criticised amicably by the host of the show who said he is always in a rush to get somewhere to which he retorted that by rushing and getting to places faster, he has more time for himself once he arrives.

(Link and image: dezeen.com)

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April 24, 2009

Unique photo book of restaurant El Bulli

Filed under: Food & Drink,General,Photography by Orangemaster @ 9:18 am

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American Dutch, soon to be professional photographer Lori Lens-Fitzgerald published an online photo book about her very special visit in April 2008 to the world’s top restaurant (out of 50), El Bulli in Roses, Spain.

As Lori explains, “every year 2,000,000 people request reservations and only 8,000 people get them. One of my friends was lucky and had two extra spots. I took photos of every course (American tourist that I am!) and made a book.”

El Bulli is a three-star Michelin restaurant, run by Catalonian chef Ferran Adrià . It is mainly known for its ‘molecular gastronomy’, a mix of ingredients that you’d never imagine in your wildest dreams and a whole row of small dishes (25 to 30), with instructions on how to to eat them.

(Photo: Lori Lens-Fitgerald)

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April 23, 2009

Political party wants to ban vegetarian cookbook

Filed under: Animals,Food & Drink by Orangemaster @ 12:46 pm
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Henk Jan Ormel, parliament member for the CDA (Christian Democratic Appeal), said yesterday on Dutch radio (Radio 1) that his party wants to forbid the publishing of a vegetarian cookbook of the Voedingscentrum (Dutch Nutrition Centre). He claims it is propaganda for the non-eating of meat (?) and also said that the profit of this book (already assuming it’s going to be published regardless) should be put towards a campaign that explains ‘the social use’ of animal testing.

I once read from Belgian animal activists that the EU is working on a system that will allow companies to compare notes on animal tests already done so they don’t have to inject that shampoo into the rabbit’s eye like 50 times and get the same result.

But for the love of God or whomever, it’s just a cookbook!

(Link: vleesmagazine.nl, Photo: veggieunwrapped.com)

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April 22, 2009

The Dutch Cocaine Factory with filmmaker present

Filed under: Film,History by Orangemaster @ 10:11 pm

(Trailer of ‘The Dutch Cocaine Factory’ by Jeanette Groenendaal, 2007)

Screened at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IFDA) in 2007, ‘The Dutch Cocaine Factory’ by Jeanette Groenendaal is a documentary about the history of cocaine dealing in the Netherlands, claimed to be a fascinating adventure in both theme and form, with a David Lynch-like dream quality to it.

The fact is that for over 50 years, until WWII, the Netherlands was the best and biggest cocaine producing country in the world… and we are not talking about a scheme created by two bit junkies, but an operation created by the Dutch Royal Bank.

The film will be screened in the presence of Jeanette Groenendaal at De Nieuwe Anita in Amsterdam on Monday, April 27, at 8 pm. It’s a small, cozy place and sells out super fast.

A big thanks to Amsterdam-based American film expert Jeffrey Babcock for presenting such marvels and getting me to see good films for a change.

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Learn to be a prostitute in Amsterdam

Filed under: General,Weird by Orangemaster @ 8:41 am
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If you’ve always wanted to know what it’s like to be a window prostitute, now you can actually learn the tricks of the trade from an expert. The course is given by Mariska Majoor who used to work as a prostitute and now runs the Prostitute Information Centre in Amsterdam’s Red Light district. She lets people experience what it’s like to work as a window prostitute. Majoor says that she has been telling her story for ages and that “people still gape in awe and find it exciting, but don’t understand what it’s really like.”

Of all the people in Amsterdam, Mariska Majoor is probably the best ‘teacher’ you’ll ever have. A local expert in prostitution and educating people about it, she apparently provides information to some 22,000 visitors a year.

(Link: waarmaarraar.nl)

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