April 4, 2007
Until April 6, the Marie Heinekenplein in Amsterdam will feature a forest of adverts from the firm JC Decaux, which have been placed there for a contest. Nevermind the fact that the neighborhood ‘freaked out’ as soon as they saw this ‘visual assault’ on their otherwise nice square, 24oranges was called up and told to go and see for themselves.
I suppose you too can vote for the best advert in the hopes of winning a trip to Paris.
(Photo: Natasha, Tip: SM)
Tags: advertising, Amsterdam, De Pijp
A woman from Meppel, Drenthe found a Neanderthal hand axe on the street in front of the supermarket and gave it to the Drents Museum in the town of Assen. Street builders probably found the ‘rock’ and unknowingly discarded it. The 80,000 to 55,000 year-old axe broke in two. The woman realised that it was a hand axe and took it home. Even if the axe is broken, the museum claims it is the nicest copy of the Northern Netherlands, which is now on display in the museum. Although Neanderthal hand axes are found only sporadically, finding such a copy in the street is highly unlikely.
Tags: archeology, Drenthe, Meppel, Neanderthals, supermarkets
March 31, 2007
According to the Beekse Bergen safari park in Noord-Brabant, Thursday, 29 March was the first time eggs have been successfully harvested from a southern white rhino, the one in question weighing 1,900 kilos. The eggs are to be frozen, fertilised and then inseminated into surrogate rhino mothers. These lucky mothers can look forward to an 18-month pregnancy followed by giving birth to a calf weighing about 66 kilos. White rhinos have two horns and are one of world’s largest land animals after elephants. They can grow to around 2730 kilos. Oh, and they are an endangered species.
(Link)
Tags: Beekse Bergen, endangered species, Noord-Brabant, rhinoceroses
March 29, 2007
Amsterdam is famous for its wonderful canals, the Van Gogh museum, the flower market, the … ah, who are we kidding, when you go to Amsterdam, you visit the Red Light District. If you have been to the Red Light District before, but shyness or prudishness, or even plain old out-of-pocketness have stopped you from availing yourself of the services of a prostitute, or from watching an erotic show, now’s your chance to look behind the famous red-lit windows. On Saturday March 31 from noon to 6 p.m., the Prostitutie Informatie Centrum will hold an open house (Dutch) at the Red Light District. You’ll be able to visit prostitutes’ rooms, a sex theatre, and even (children, cover your eyes) the Salvation Army.
Tags: Amsterdam, prostitution, Red Light District
F-16 pilots were given the order to fly a minimum of three kilometers above the town of Dokkum in order not to disrupt a jubileum performance of Bach’s St Matthew Passion in a local church. The local Cantarix choir had been practising for months and found out recently that the Air Force was scheduled to fly right over their church venue during their performance. The Royal Netherlands Air Force is currently stretching its wings for a mission in Afghanistan.
(Link)
Tags: air force, Bach, choirs, churches, classical music, Dokkum, F-16
March 28, 2007
With the slogan “will only words remain?”, these adverts warn against the extinction of rare animal species using images consisting of the names of the endangered species. The video adverts are particularly impressive, though I also like this particular one depicting a zebra crossing.
(Via Houtlust, here and here. Official IFAW campaign site)
Tags: advertising, endangered species
A fisherman in Arnhem convicted of smuggling drugs could deduct the cost of buying and shipping hashish to The Netherlands from his income on his tax return. Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reported that the smuggler appealed to the Arnhem court after being slapped with a tax bill in the millions of euro. The court ruled that because he had only been convicted of drug running and not trading he could deduct the cost of buying and transporting the drugs on his tax form, which cut his tax bill in about half.
In 2005, judges in the city of Leeuwarden ruled that witches can write off the cost of schooling in witchcraft if it increases the likelihood of employment and personal income.
(Two clichés for the price of one: we’re all on drugs and women have no serious career plans)
(Link)
Tags: Arnhem, courts, drugs, fishing, Leeuwarden, smuggling, taxes, witchcraft, witches
March 27, 2007
The town of Oirschot in the province of Noord Brabant will open the very first four star resort for alcoholics. The hotel, which will be called RoderSana, is scheduled to open in May. According to interim director Van der Meer, regular care facilities are full of drug addicts and there is no room for alcoholics. Moreover, he says that treating alcoholics is totally different than treating drug addicts. This will be the first facility in The Netherlands dedicated to kicking the drinking habit, as alcholics usually have to be treated outside the country.
(Link: fok.nl)
Tags: addicts, alcohol, hotels, Noord-Brabant, Oirschot
March 23, 2007
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)
Tags: ABN Amro, ATMs, hygiene, nose picking, statistics
Deep linking to parliamentary documents
Rumours have it (Dutch) that this slow progress is because the state has friends that it wants to share its big pie of work with, even at the cost of transparent government. I blogged about one of these friends before.
The new front-end can be found at www.geencommentaar.nl/parlando/.
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Tags: blogging, Geen Commentaar, Parlando, parliament, transparency, WWW