March 24, 2007

Yeah, it’s pancake day!

Filed under: Food & Drink by Orangemaster @ 10:01 pm
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Today was the first edition of National Pancake Day in the Ouwehands Dierenpark Rhenen. More than 20 cooks made thousands of pancakes for thousands of visitors, especially children. The Nationale Pannenkoekendag was organised by Tefal, in honour of the 40th year anniversary of the pan manufacturer. Tefal’s goal is to hold a National Pancake Day every fourth Saturday in March. According to Tefal, England, Ireland and Australia have been celebrating Pancake Day for centuries.

Well, the Russians have a very old tradition called Maslenitsa, which involves a whole week of pancake eating in February, with lots of real butter.

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Food that tastes like less

Filed under: Food & Drink,Health,Science by Orangemaster @ 9:23 am
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Scientists in Wageningen are developing a new generation of foods that can help prevent obesity by getting people to eat less. The Top Institute Food and Nutrition is also developing food ingredients which can stop obese people from developing diabetes. Such nutrients could eventually be used in any kind of food. The Dutch public health agency concluded in a research report last year that 25% of deaths and serious illness caused by overweight and obesity would be avoided if adults shed 3 kg.

Eating right and exercising is pretty straight forward, but accommodating the obese seems more lucrative. As the article states, “such innovative products have higher margins than those of selling a tomato or a bottle of milk.”

(Link)

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March 23, 2007

Pick of the day

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 11:53 am
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Dutch bank ABN Amro is currently having all its ATMs cleaned following the results of a nation-wide survey on nose-picking. The survey showed that ATMs and bankcard devices in shops are covered in bacteria coming from people’s noses.

The hygiene survey was conducted by Dutch health magazine GezondNU. Some 90% of the population admits picking their nose. Half of them do it once of several times a day. Men pick their noses much more than women do. Favourite nose-picking places include on the couch and in the car. More than 50% of people deposit their ‘findings’ in a handkerchief. Almost 10% eat them. One third of men roll them into a ball and then flick it away.

(Link)

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March 21, 2007

They swear they won’t swear

Filed under: Music by Orangemaster @ 11:46 am
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The town of Rijssen-Holten in the Province of Overijssel will pay a visit to the Elsrock metal festival on Saturday, 25 August to make sure that the bands don’t use blasphemous language. Mayor Bort Koelewijn has recently announced that the town will sue the organisors of the festvial if the lyrics contain any references deemed unacceptable from their orthodox Protestant point of view.

The organisors of Elsrock has assured the town that the bands will not use any blasphemous language. Yet, the reisdents of the town are still not convinced. The SGP (Dutch Political Reformed Party) is also not convinced and would like to ban the festival altogether.

(Link, Via Taalpost)

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March 20, 2007

Dutch radio DJ to spin at North Pole

Filed under: Dutch first,Music by Orangemaster @ 2:33 pm
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3FM DJ Michiel Veenstra is planning to broadcast from atop the North Pole for five days starting April 23. For the occasion, 3FM has been rebaptized Noordpool FM. The idea is to raise awareness for the greenhouse effect and figure out how The Netherlands can help find a solution to the climate problem. The last broadcast on April 27 will be at the actual pole, the northernmost point of the earth. This is the first time anyone has attempted to do a live radio broadcast from this location.

(Link)

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March 19, 2007

Follow the fossil route in Amsterdam

Filed under: General,History by Orangemaster @ 9:03 am
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It seems that the city of Amsterdam is full of fossils. No, no, no, not old people, real fossils. Many of the stones used on doorsteps, bridges and streets contain fossils that are 350 million years old. Species such as brachiopods and crinoid starfish appear as odd white rings on a black stone background. A new book entitled De Amsterdamse Fossielenroute (‘The Amsterdam Fossil Route’) promises a tour of Amsterdam that doesn’t involve Rembrandt, although the new bridge at the Rembrandt House is apparently full of them.

(Tip: Laurent, via Het Parool)

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March 17, 2007

Get a free printer thanks to poor usability

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 2:02 pm
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This week, smart surfers were able to trick the website of Wehkamp.nl into sending them a free printer after cancelling their order for a PC. When ordering a PC, Wehkamp.nl would throw in a free printer. The trick consisted in taking out the order for the PC from the shopping cart and still getting the free printer home delivered. To make sure the order was actually delivered, all one had to do was buy something cheap. The smarties score themselves a printer worth 70 euro.

Of course, Wehkamp.nl has removed the special offer from their site.

(Link)

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March 16, 2007

Stolen bike found seven years later

Filed under: Bicycles by Orangemaster @ 4:22 pm
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On Monday 12 March, the police in Dordrecht found a bicycle that had been reported stolen seven years ago. The current 17-year-old owner was brought to the police station and claimed she didn’t know the bicycle was stolen. She thought it belonged to her mother. The bicycle was spotted near a school without its original bike lock (these locks are usually part of Dutch bikes). The police’s computer system had the bicycle down as having been stolen in 2000.

In Amsterdam, some 80,000 bikes are stolen every year.

(Link)

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March 15, 2007

New fire-breathing world record

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 6:43 pm
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On Wednesday March 14, the world record for fire-breathing was broken in the Dutch city of Tilburg. Heuvel square in the city centre featured 115 people breathing fire simultaneously. The old record in the Guinness Book of Records had been around since 2003, a record set by 70 people from England. The 115 participants had previously taken a fire-breathing workshop and the money they had to pay for it was donated to the Warchild organisation. The Tilburg student association D’Artagnan organised the event.

(Link)

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March 13, 2007

DJ Tiësto plays in airport luggage hall

Filed under: Music by Orangemaster @ 11:29 am
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On Friday 16 March, DJ Tiësto will be spinning tunes in the new luggage hall at Schiphol airport. The DJ from Breda has already sold 2,400 tickets to fans who did not even know where the gig was to be held. Although the hall has not yet officially been opened, the ‘concert’ will last four hours, marking the beginning of the ‘Elements of Life’ world tour. Tiësto will also ‘perform’ in the Gelredome in Arnhem, the date of which will be announced on Friday.

(The quotes are a veiled reference to the Dutch tax folks who consider some DJs as ‘performing artists’ who can deduct costs, but other DJs as just some ‘people spinning records’.)

(Link)

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