January 27, 2009

Electrical bikes gaining popularity

Filed under: Bicycles,General by Orangemaster @ 11:51 am
Electric bike

In 2008, according to figures published in Dutch daily De Telegraaf from the RAI association, about 120,000 electric bicycles were sold, which is almost 10% of the total amount of new bicycles sold. Also last year, the amount of bicycles sold were the same as in 2007, about 1,4 million. Owing to the popularity of the expensive electric bikes, the turnover rose and bikes in general have gotten more expensive.

Electric bicycles used to be sold to the elderly only, but apparently buzzing around town is not just for them. I for one want proof of this, as I do not know anyone with an electrical bike. I automatically associate electric bikes with the elderly, but then the trend of driving electric cars meant for the disabled sometimes has the male youth in my neighbourhood doing top speed.

(Link: telegraaf.nl, photo: fietsen.web-log.nl)

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January 25, 2009

Possible world record for newborn in Utrecht

Filed under: Food & Drink,General by Orangemaster @ 12:55 pm
Beschuit met muisjes

On Saturday, 12 January at 10:53 am residents of the neighbourhood Tuinwijk in Utrecht celebrated the birth of Helena Dijkhuizen, the 300,000 resident of the city. The city wanted to make a big deal and threw her parents the biggest maternity party (‘kraamfeest’ in Dutch) ever. Everyone was invited and the neighbourhood offered the traditional coffee and beschuit (Dutch-type rusk) with special red and white sprinkles (‘muisjes’). ‘Beschuit met muisjes’ is what people traditionally eat when a child is born. They have blue sprinkles for boys and pink for girls, so the red was to make a point, I imagine. When a Royal child is born, they serve orange and white sprinkles, orange representing Dutch royalty.

The city wants to get its party in the Guinness Book of World Records and so we don’t know at this time if that is the case.

(Link: blikopnieuws.nl, Photo: helmaschreuders.web-log.nl)

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January 24, 2009

Less Brits in Amsterdam, but do they feel welcome?

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 1:27 pm
Pound

According to figures of the ATCB (Amsterdam Toerisme en Congres Bureau) featured in the latest paper copy of Amsterdams Stadsblad, less Brits are coming to Amsterdam to the tune of 6% less in 2008. The main culprit is the dropping pound, which is almost equal to the euro (1 GBP today is worth EUR 1.046 as I write this – hey guys, wanna finally have the euro?). Let’s face it, it’s time to visit London now… and I actually wanted to go to Dublin, but hey.

Many cafes in downtown Amsterdam which specifically cater to a UK-oriented audience have seen their clientele shrink. The article mentions that the usual Brits and Irish who frequent such places are mostly expats rather than tourists. Apparently, the talk of the pub is that the Dutch media negatively portrays Brits (and yes, I’m assuming the Irish, Scots and Welsh, too, though I could be wrong) as ‘loud, annoying drunks’. Amsterdam Mayor Job Cohen even said on television in England that this group of Brits were not welcome. Now, picture the hard-working, decent expats at the pub with their pints rightly complaining that everyone is being depicted as idiots, like the media tends to do with ethnic minorities. Imagine the average Dutch person believing the newspaper they pay money to have delivered to their house and you have an image problem.

Why would any British tourist (or British pound user) want to come if they don’t feel welcome? What part of hospitality is the part where you insult a badly behaving minority to piss off the majority you’re trying to woo to your nation’s capital?

UPDATE: BBC four films in Amsterdam and gets Job Cohen’s opinion on camera.
Amsterdam plans ‘cannabis clean up’.

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January 23, 2009

Bomb wreck jewellery exhibition in Groningen

Filed under: Art,Automobiles by Orangemaster @ 11:17 am
ring

The pieces of a bomb wreck in Baghdad that killed 38 people and that were collected and presented at the exhibition Autobomb III in September 2007 in Rotterdam have now been turned into jewellery, says Bright.nl. For this project artist Jonas Staal worked together with Jiska Hartog and Michiel Henneman, better known as Wanted Jewellery (see pics). The trio used glass and metal slivers from the bomb wreckage to produce a series of unique pieces of jewellery (more pics). The jewellery is on display in Groningen as of this evening.

And yes, the whole idea is not about producing jewellery out of people’s misery (the jewellery is not meant to be worn), but discussing the bombings and the idea of jewellery being used as a means of questioning social issues.

(Link: bright.nl, Photo: Hartog, Henneman and Staal)

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January 21, 2009

Text message got students to see Obama live

Filed under: Aviation,Weird by Orangemaster @ 11:15 am
virgin1.jpg

On 16 January, two ‘poor students’ were at a congress called the Big Improvement Day in Amsterdam where Sir Richard Branson, CEO of the Virgin Group was a guest speaker. Through a back channel screen and using text messages (and oddly enough not free Twitter), people could ask Branson questions. Two guys jokingly asked him, “Would you bring two poor students to Washington?” to which Branson answered “yes” right away. They actually got to jet off to see Obama live yesterday. Cliché number one: ask, and you shall receive. Cliché number two: it’s easy to be off the cuff when you’re loaded.

Branson dropped the guys off in Washington, while the organisers of the congress offered to pay for their accommodations. Not bad.

(Link: rtl.nl)

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January 19, 2009

Screening process for Amsterdam prostitutes

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 5:28 pm
Moulin Rouge

In an attempt to reduce the number of women forced into prostitution, unexperienced working girls in Amsterdam’s red light district are to be interviewed and must answer a bunch of questions about why they want to get into the ‘oldest profession in the world’. Bordello owners will have to inquire about identity, age and nationality of the girl, her family, any criminal record, education and language skills. The first three you can get from a passport, unless it’s fake. It sounds like questions immigration usually asks even though they have 20 copies of the info already.

The girls will also have to divulge how they get to work (bicycle vs. some big guy in a BMW who tells me to shut up all the time?) and demonstrate ‘some knowledge’ of the Dutch language and of Amsterdam. Speaking Dutch, fine, but I bet they do have to speak a lot of English with those shy Japanese businessmen. Knowledge of Amsterdam? Like what, where you can get food at 2 am? The local government can barely get taxi drivers to show off their knowledge of Amsterdam.

According to the article, many employers already take the time to check out their future employees, but not all of them. The idea is to get everyone to weed out forced prostitution. If I remember correctly, I once read that 70% of all prostitutes in Amsterdam were foreigners, which I imagine makes the city ripe for exploiting women. But I don’t know, and hope this is all for the better. Oh, and only if this screening works will it be applied to other places in Amsterdam were prostitutes work.

(Link: parool.nl)

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January 18, 2009

Half-baked recipe advice from the supermarket

Filed under: Food & Drink,Science by Orangemaster @ 4:52 pm
Aluminium

Dutch supermarket chain Albert Heijn, which publishes those free, glossy repice magazines you can pick up at their stores, has warned consumers about a major mistake in a recent edition of their magazine, AllerHande.

Some meat and potatoes recipe says that the potatoes should be wrapped in aluminium foil and then put in the microwave. For anyone who does not know, too much aluminium foil in a microwave causes sparks. And if the sparks find something to burn in the microwave, you’ll have a not so cosy fire on your hands. So, yeah, you could risk it, but is it really worth the risk for a few potatoes? Nope.

Another problem with the recipe apparently, is that if you do ‘jackass’ the potatoes, they won’t be cooked since aluminium foil reflects microwaves. It’s stupid advice, no matter how you slice it.

I used to write recipes for a television show in a pre-Google era, and believe you me, the recipes were tested by a professional and changed if necessary. I remember trying to explain to people that cooking yoghurt is not disgusting and that one billion Indians eating fantastic curries, let alone neighbouring countries, can’t be wrong.

Find out more about aluminium foil, as I did.

(Link: vleesmagazine.nl)

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January 16, 2009

Proud of what exactly?

Filed under: General,Literature by Orangemaster @ 1:59 pm
Proud

Let’s start on the positive side: Job Cohen, the laidback mayor of Amsterdam on the cover, is popular in a good way, here and abroad. But I’m shaking my head at this new magazine’s cover. I collected some opinions to make sure I wasn’t reading too much into it.

Robin Pascoe over at Dutchnews wonders if anyone at city council realises that ‘proud’ means ‘gay’, and that this magazine with Cohen looking like a dirty old man in a rain coat is not exactly the way to sell Amsterdam as a hot business location. I totally agree, and to make sure we weren’t both reading too much into it, I asked gay Amsterdam politician Laurent Chambon what he thought. He said that it means gay to him straight off, while his partner peeking over his shoulder simply said “really scary”. I also asked Dutch journalist Jeroen Mirck, and he didn’t see the problem at all, except for the dirty old man disposition, of course. Let’s remember that this is an English-language magazine aimed at foreigners, but made by Dutch people.

Besides the gay thing (the Mayor is hetero by the way) and the flasher styling, there’s another questionable layer of meaning to using the word ‘proud’ as of late. It denotes the serious rise in populism plaguing the country. Nowadays, when the Dutch media talks about being proud of being Dutch for example, it automatically excludes any kind of foreigner. There’s even a new populist if not racist political party that has the word “trots” (proud) in their name.

I just don’t get the whole idea of the name. When you’re proud, you shouldn’t have to push it, just like when you’re cool.

(Tip: Dutchnews.nl)

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January 15, 2009

More spontaneous street art

Filed under: Art by Orangemaster @ 12:48 pm

Cups

After a tip from Etienne (thanks!), I took the tram to hunt down yet another cup glued to a pole. Since last November, these first cups have been firmly glued to a pole. Now, there’s another cup on the other side of the street.

We don’t know who or what, but will there be more? Stay tuned!

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January 14, 2009

Dutch-powered Frogsmoke blog calls it quits

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 1:30 pm
Frogsmoke

After two and half years of posting about anything from old French adverts to naked pictures of Carla Bruni and tons of stuff in between, Dutchman Romke Soldaat of English-language blog Frogsmoke has decided to call it a day. Having lived abroad for “a quarter of his existence”, Romke blogged about some of the best, funny, sad and scandalous things going on in France, with his laidback sense of humour.

According to his last post, Romke plans to retire in the middle of a French forest with the nearest neighbour at a kilometre down the road. He says he could come back, but he’s not making any promises.

24oranges wishes him and his entourage good luck in the future!

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