September 7, 2015

Amsterdam and The Hague harbour mini-refugees

Filed under: Art by Orangemaster @ 11:05 am

Movingpeople

The Power of Art House collective have placed some 10,000 mini-refugee figurines in all kinds of places in Amsterdam and The Hague to draw attention to refugees and their plight. This guerrilla street art project is called ‘Moving People’.

The miniatures represent 10 actual people and their stories, giving a face to all the figures quoted by the media on refugees. These refugees from various countries wanted to tell their stories and were then scanned in 3D and turned into little works of art. The pose they strike are like the ‘title’ of their personal stories.

If you’re in Amsterdam or The Hague and have spotted a mini-refugee, share your photo with the hastag #MovingPeople on social media.

(Link: movingpeople.nu)

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September 4, 2015

A water bottle that doubles as a bicycle bell

Filed under: Bicycles by Orangemaster @ 12:58 pm
TDF 2007

Designed by former bicycle repairman Bill Rombouts from Heerlen, Limburg, the Bi-Bell is a water bottle with a built-in bell (eight-second video) aimed mainly at amateur racing cyclists. It took him three years to launch and it’s now available for 12,95 euro.

Dutch cycling law and etiquette requires bikes to have bells so they can warn fellow road users. However, many amateur racing cyclists can’t be bothered with bells on their bikes because real racing cyclists don’t have one. Then again, real cyclists have a race completely secured just for them, which is not the case for normal cyclists.

Racing cyclist enthusiasts go faster than most and cannot warn people properly that they are coming, making them ‘less sociable and less safe’, according to Rombouts. By putting a bell in a water bottle, a cyclist just has to extend their arm and ring their bell. Amateurs can now still look cool. After all even retired top racing cyclist Joop Zoetemelk has a Bi-Bell now.

(Link: www.deondernemer.nl)

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September 3, 2015

Karel Appel sculpture discovered on television show

Filed under: Art by Orangemaster @ 10:15 am

Appel-2

The Dutch version of British television show ‘Antiques Roadshow’ called ‘Tussen Kunst en Kitsch’ (‘Between Art and Kitsch’), has kicked off their new season with the discovery of an early work by Dutch artist Karel Appel made around 1948.

The artwork features the relief of a child figure made out of a door and was bought on the Waterlooplein flea market in Amsterdam probably from Appel himself. The owner paid 5 guilders (2,30 euro) for it and is worth somewhere between 20,000 and 25,000 euro. At that time Appel was quite broke and used materials from around the house to create his works.

In 2012 we wrote about a warehouse with 400 works by Appel found in the UK.

(Links and photo: deredactie.be, web.avrotros.nl)

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September 2, 2015

Man from Utrecht cycles around the world

Filed under: Bicycles by Orangemaster @ 11:17 am

Inspired by long bike trips his grandfather used to take, Dutch cyclist Rick Creemers from Utrecht is leaving the Dom City today to start a trip around the world.

Creemers will first be heading to Basel, Switzerland so he can practice going up and down mountains, then onto Turkey to get ready to hit the desert on his way to the Himalayas in Southern Asia. The route afterwards involves getting to Australia and flying over to Alaska to then cycle all the way down to Chile. Creemers will eventually make it over to Africa and through Turkey cycle back to Utrecht.

The entire trip should take two years. Creemers, who has recently finished his studies, says it will take him 55,000 kilometres with an average of 75 km a day. He also knows he’ll be cycle through unsafe countries and says he’s good at keeping low key.

I hope he posts to social media, so we can write about him again.

(Link: nos.nl, Photo by Mike Porcenaluk, some rights reserved)

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September 1, 2015

There’s an online Dutch shop for mermaid tails

Filed under: Fashion,General,Online by Orangemaster @ 3:03 pm

mermaid

Mermaids have always been popular whether you believe the happy ever after Ariel version or, like me, your parents read you the original Hans Christian Andersen tale featuring daggers, blood and pain. You can also read the difference between mermaids and sirens as the two are often conflated.

Parents Leo and Denise Bergsen were looking for a mermaid tail for their daughter who wanted one and couldn’t find one anywhere in the country. They decided set up a shop called Dutch Tails in Spijkenisse, South Holland that caters to the mermaid inclined, including professional mermaids. They make and sell mermaid outfits and also sell ‘monovins’ and fun swim stuff.

The couple say that very few boys have asked for a mermaid tail and that besides the hordes of little girls ages 6 to 12 who want one, more and more teenagers and adults are asking as well. “Blue is the most popular colour, then pink and purple. Orange not so much.”

(Link: www.z24, Photo of mermaid by Jolante van Hemert, some rights reserved)

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August 31, 2015

Dutch trains to run on 100% wind energy by 2018

Filed under: Sustainability by Orangemaster @ 3:04 pm

windturbines

As of 2016 Dutch Rail claims that 50% of all electric trains in the country will run on wind energy. In 2017 that figure should be 95% and in 2018 it would go up to 100%. If successful, it will mean a serious decrease Dutch Rail’s CO2 footprint, something it says is important to passengers.

Some 50% of the wind power needed to run the trains will be generated by new wind parks that will gradually be put into operation in the Netherlands, while the other 50% will come from wind parks in Norway, Sweden and Belgium, managed by power company Eneco and VIVENS, an energy procurement cooperative. “Drawing upon sources outside the Netherlands to source the railways means they avoid decreasing availability and also avoid increasing prices of green power for other parties.”

A total of 1.4 TWh of electricity for the rail system, equivalent to the amount of power used by all households in Amsterdam, needs to be generated.

(Links: techxplore.com, www.dekoepel.org)

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August 27, 2015

Unilever wins against vegan mayo makers

Filed under: Food & Drink by Orangemaster @ 10:05 am

chickpeas

Even though Dutch-British food giant Unilever had dropped its case against American vegan mayo maker Hampton Creek for its eggless mayonnaise Just Mayo, the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has ruled that Just Mayo is not mayonnaise and is not ‘healthy for your heart’, either.

Mayonnaise has to contain eggs, so Just Mayo needs to change its name and probably its logo currently featuring an egg on it. As well, Just Mayo claims to be ‘healthy for your heart’, but apparently it’s mostly fat: a 14 g serving (one tablespoon) contains 90 calories, 75% of which is fat. In comparison a 13 g serving (one tablespoon) of Unilever’s Hellman’s Real Mayonnaise has 90 calories, 100% of which is fat, but doesn’t claim to be a good choice. The definition of tablespoon is still used in many countries and fluctuates, making calorie counting a pain.

Instead of Unilever getting bad publicity for bullying vegans and spending money to attack Hampton Creek, the FDA did their work for them.

(Link: nos.nl, Photo of Chick peas by abrunvoll, some rights reserved)

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August 26, 2015

A Dutch marriage tradition partially disappears

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 4:03 pm

Yesterday a Dutch wedding tradition was updated: the custom of ondertrouw, which is said to be the equivalent of getting a marriage licence. In the Netherlands, a couple has to go to town hall to announce their intention of getting married, a pre-marriage legal requirement in Belgium as well.

As of September 1, couples can announce their intent to marry by filling out a form online in their municipality free of charge, saving some 10 to 20 euro. I would imagine it saves time and frees up one’s diary around a busy planning period as well.

The new electronic document is still needed two weeks before the actual wedding to have the right to marry, giving bureaucrats time to check the partners’ personal details. And just like before, this ‘permission to marry’ expires after one year.

(Link: www.binnenlandsbestuur.nl, photo of wedding figurines by ValentinaST, some rights reserved)

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August 25, 2015

Free app to send replies out when driving

Filed under: Automobiles,Technology by Orangemaster @ 3:35 pm

Dutch satirist Johan Vlemmix, who brought us questionable songs about wearing a burqa and buses full of Polish people, is currently designing a phone app.

Motivated by the amount of fines he has had for using a mobile phone while driving and causing minor accidents ‘with no injuries’, Vlemmix’s app would provide the equivalent of an ‘out of office’ reply but then an ‘I’m driving’ version for all incoming messages, including social media. The app would be available in September for Android and iPhone, and it will be free.

Besides replying to the recipient who wonders why you’re not answering them back quickly, Vlemmix would leave his phone alone much easier knowing a reply was sent. Maybe he needs to tell his recipients to chill or needs to learn to let go of his phone while driving and realise that it is illegal to drive and text because it’s dangerous.

Another argument from Vlemmix is that if ever the police were to stop you (well, him), he could prove he didn’t answer his phone. We’ve had two stories, Man fined 237 euro for scratching his ear and Man gets 150 euro fine for sticking finger in ear, where this app could have been useful.

(Link: www.ed.nl, Photo by Hello Turkey Toe, some rights reserved)

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August 24, 2015

Den Bosch tests noise barrier made of solar panels

Filed under: Automobiles,Sustainability by Orangemaster @ 11:06 am

solar_noise_barrier.jpg.662x0_q70_crop-scale

Boffins at the Eindhoven University of Technology have designed motorway noise barriers that are colourful instead of dingy and that also collect solar energy instead of just cutting down on noise and being dingy. Sonobs (Solar Noise Barriers) can be made cheaply, made resistant to vandalism and come in many colours.

The special panels built to make the barriers are made of luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs), coloured panels that receive light and direct it to the edges of the panels where traditional solar cells collect the solar energy.

“A year-long test project was launched on June 18 on two sections of noise barriers, each 5 metres wide and 4.5 metres high. The barriers are partially covered in the LSCs and partially covered in semi-transparent panels holding conventional solar cells, so that they can compare the performances of the two technologies.”

Initial research shows that a kilometre of the solar noise barriers can generate enough electricity to power 50 Dutch homes.

(Links and photo: www.treehugger.com, www.tue.nl)

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