Golly! This here digital revolution hasn’t passed by the Netherlands’ finest athletes. The Holland 8 (the Olympic rowing team) are looking for a new coxswain, and are using Monsterboard to help them in their search. (Via :)= Esc.)
March 21, 2007
March 19, 2007
Follow the fossil route in Amsterdam
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)
March 18, 2007
Apollo 11 flag no longer stands on the moon
When Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first humans to land on the moon, they planted a US flag there; the photo Armstrong took of Aldrin with the flag is so well-known that it has become an icon. In its extensive report on this flag, NASA writes: “it is uncertain if the flag remained standing or was blown over by the engine blast when the ascent module took off”. Last week however, according to news paper BN/De Stem, a visiting Buzz Aldrin told an audience of students from the Delft University of Technology that the flag was no longer standing; when leaving for earth, the astronauts accidentally knocked it over.
Realising how sensitive the US public would be about such a thing, the astronauts decided not to tell upon return.
(Source: BN/De Stem)
Tags: Buzz Aldrin, Delft University of Technology, moon, space
March 17, 2007
Get a free printer thanks to poor usability
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)
Tags: advertising, printer
March 15, 2007
New fire-breathing world record
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)
Tags: fire, fire-breathing, records, Tilburg
March 11, 2007
Loan bank gets cynical with students
The Dutch government bank specifically founded to get students their loans and bursaries, the Informatie Beheer Groep (literally: information management group) apparently accompagnies its folder on how to pay back with a cartoon that shows a waiter presenting a long bill to a fat guy who has just excessively gorged himself on food and wine. I am guessing the PR department ordered a cartoonist to create an amusing drawing to spruce up an otherwise boring folder, but the result is a rather patronizing message. As if university students need to be told that there is a cost associated with gluttony. (And indeed, students are presented as the stereotype of the partying care-for-nothing; can you imagine a political party advertising to get new members by showing a cartoon of a guy lighting cigars with bank notes freshly stolen from the public?)
(Via Hay Kranen, via Sargasso.)
March 7, 2007
Flipje is back
The raspberry man of the Hero brand jam is making a comeback. The company from Breda had retired the advertising character last year. But when the story about his retirement hit the papers, radio and television, Flipje got caught up in a veritable media hype. It was recently decided to put Flipje back into use. The character was created back in 1935.
(Link)
March 2, 2007
I flag Friesland
I heart Friesland, this sticker of political party FNP appears to say. Except that the heart image is actually the leaf of a water lily, the symbol of Friesland. So this visual pun turns on itself; as eamelje.net paraphrases: “I slowly float on almost stagnant water that smells a bit funny. Beautifully subtle criticism.”
February 26, 2007
Interview with ‘money maker’ Oxenaar
In 2002 the Dutch exchanged their adventurous banknote designs for drab, super-safe euro ones. For those who want to take a trip down memory lane and re-experience the Netherlands’ former “monopoly money”, CR Blog has an interview with the designer of many Dutch banknotes, “Ootje” Oxenaar who at age 76 is still teaching at the graphic design department of the Rhode Island School of Design. The interview contains several examples of his remarkable designs.
Tags: banknotes, Dutch gulder, guilders, Ootje Oxenaar, Rhode Island School of Design
February 23, 2007
Coming very soon!
24 oranges is a Netherlands-based, English-language weblog about anything Dutch that’s fun, interesting, weird, cool and otherwise unique. We plan to virtually dredge Dutch canals and bike along the dikes to deliver snapshots and stories of juicy Dutch coolness just waiting to be ‘WordPressed’.
Forget the tourist traps, the Dutch clichés and all that ‘how to for expats’ bla bla: 24 oranges wants to become your suitable or not suitable for work link, a fav in your RSS and a blog that will make the Dutch and the world smile like when you stick an orange slice in your mouth.
Tags: 24oranges, odd Dutch news, The Netherlands