April 8, 2009

Hiddink not happy with vodka named after him

Filed under: General,Sports by Orangemaster @ 10:52 am

 

rossia

There are vodkas named after famous Russians like Pushkin, Yeltsin, Gorbachev and Putin and now there’s talk of one called ‘Hiddinka’, named after Dutch coach Guus Hiddink who coaches the Russian national team. His claim to fame as of late is getting the Russians to the semi-finals of Euro 2008.

Although the vodka is scheduled to hit Russian stores today and the rights are not yet all sorted, Hiddink is very upset about his person being associated with a vodka brand. His spokesperson said that he never wanted to be associated with tobacco, alcohol or sex. Hiddink turns down hundreds of such requests, no matter what kind of money was being offered.

The to be expected answer from the distillery was “but it’s an honour to have a vodka named after you” and “it’s not called ‘Hiddink’, but ‘Hiddinka'”, making it a female singular adjective to qualify the vodka. Yes, that’s why what your poison is called ‘Stolichnaya’ (Capital) and ‘Moskovskaya’ (Moscow, as an adjective).

(Link: depers.nl, Photo: Russian version of “going Dutch” )

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April 7, 2009

Dutch region of Twente to open ’embassy’

Filed under: Dutch first,General by Orangemaster @ 10:36 am
grolsch

The eastern provinceregion of Twente is planning to open what it calls an ’embassy’ in Amsterdam at the request of businesses who want to promote the region to a wider audience. The location will rent office space, serve food and drink, and be open to anyone interested in whatever Twente has to offer.

So far, all the possible office locations are in the Red Light District, making journalists’ life easier this morning with the puns and choice of photos. I can imagine that business people form Twente meeting Dutch and foreign clients in Amsterdam want to meet somewhere more pleasant than at the dreary Amsterdam train station plagued with the nowhere-near-ready subway station.

I think it’s a great idea, a nice way to connect with the some 20,000 people from Twente living in Amsterdam and obviously an excellent way to attract attention to the region. But what comes from Twente? Well, Grolsch beer (see photo) does, the only Dutch beer to really rival Heineken outside the country.

Come on, people of Twente, tell us more about your region and leave the fireworks factory explosion in Enschede and other nasty stories out of it!

(Link: enschede.tctubantia.nl)

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April 4, 2009

Too many people on vacation threaten Queen’s Day

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 12:23 pm
kday1.jpg

Since many families will be going away for two weeks (!) in May as school is out, some towns will not have enough volunteers to help out with all those Queen’s Day activities. Queen’s Day falls on Thursday, 30 April and many people will take Friday, 1 May off, which is not a holiday (Labour Day) in the Netherlands. Then they’re off to foreign countries with their caravans for two blissful weeks. Two weeks!

Although more people will stay home because of the recession, newspaper AD says many towns like Aerdenhout and Haarlem cancelled some Queen’s Day activities and sports events because they can’t find enough volunteers. Boo hoo hoo: two predominantly white, rich cities can’t find volunteers because the really rich folks will be gone. I will be working very hard both days, find out more here under ‘Upcoming’). Co-blogger Branko will be selling stuff on the country-wide flea market instead of buying this year and I promised to keep the coffee coming before working until 5 am the same evening.

The Royal Dutch Automobile Association (ANWB) estimated that about 450,000 people will be taking off. Do they all come from upscale Aerdenhout and Haarlem, and Rheden near Arhem, which I am assuming is white and loaded as well?

For those who don’t know: Good Friday (10 April) and Easter Monday (13 April) are days off, then comes Ascension (Thursday, 21 april – people often take Friday off too), and if that wasn’t enough for you, there’s Whit Monday (1 June).

And next year, Liberation Day (5 May) will also be a day off.

Boo hoo hoo.

(Link: ad.nl, Photo: Amsterdam Queen’s Day 1996)

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April 3, 2009

Traditional herring feast endangered

Filed under: Food & Drink,General by Branko Collin @ 12:20 pm

Lack of sponsors may cause the Vlaggetjesdag (Flag Day) festivities of Scheveningen to be cancelled this year, or to be shortened to an actual day, reports Algemeen Dagblad (Dutch). On Vlaggetjesdag the coming home of the herring fleet is celebrated in Scheveningen. Organiser Arie Kleijn is uncertain whether he can raise the half million euro the 62nd edition of the event would cost. Pledges usually come in at the start of the year, but this year he’s got nothing.

The commenters at Algemeen Dagblad seem to be happy with the disappearance of Vlaggetjesdag. They question its scale (small), the quality of its entertainment (second rate celebrities) and its cost (half a million for a few stalls?). They also reminisce about the old Vlaggetjesdag, when rather than receiving the fleet, the day was meant to celebrate the departure of hundreds of luggers adorned with many flags. Despite the critical attitude of the vocal readers of Algemeen Dagblad, Vlaggetjesdag rose from 62nd to 29th most popular national event last year, and brought 250,000 visitors to the village wedged in between The Hague and the North Sea.

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April 2, 2009

Zeeland to give free bicycle helmets to kids

Filed under: Bicycles,General,Sports by Orangemaster @ 8:35 am
kid-bike

Everytime I see parents with unprotected small children on their bikes, sometimes two, or when I see small children riding hard and recklessly in traffic without helmets, I cringe. And everytime single time I have brought this up at parties, the Dutch tell me to shut up because they know better and that no one gets hurt since they were all born on bikes.

If that really was the fantasy world we lived in, then handing out 35,000 free helmets to children in Zeeland would be a total waste of money, right? Over the next five years, the Zeeuws Coördinatiepunt Fiets (ZCF) in the province of Zeeland will be doing just that, handing out free bicycle helmets to stop children from getting injured or killed.

Last year, the emergency wards in Zeeland treated 4,000 children up to age 17 for head injuries. On an annual basis, 10 to 15 children under age 13 die in traffic riding bikes. About 20,000 children between age 0 and 12 get treated in hospitals as a result of a traffic acccident.

Imagine your cute kid dying because you think no one gets hurt on bikes. Blame all the cars? Write off Zeeland as a ‘different’ part of the country?

And then, the best argument of them all: snowboarders and mountainbikers use cool, hip helmets, what’s wrong with doing so on your bike? It’s not ‘tradition’? The statistics are wrong? Kids just don’t really get hurt?

Bravo Zeeland!

(Link: ad.nl, Photo: holcus.nl)

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March 27, 2009

Oldest Dutch resident turns 107 – and is Belgian

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 12:03 pm
birthdaycake

The oldest living man of the Netherlands, Jos Wijnant, is celebrating his 107th birthday today along with his daughters and other residents at the De Taling pensioners home in Den Bosch, according to Dutchnews.nl (English).

Wijnant, who is keen on following the news and enjoys a glass of wine, puts his long life down to never have done ‘stupid things’.

And if Wikipedia is accurate, he was born in Antwerp, which makes him Belgian.

(Link: Dutchnews.nl, photo freegeorge.us)

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March 26, 2009

Dutch municipalities reticent to comply with freedom of information act

Filed under: General by Branko Collin @ 11:34 am

Several municipalities have not only refused to comply with a WOB request (Dutch freedom of information act), but are actively discussing with each other how to frustrate the process. Webwereld reports this (Dutch) where Brenno de Winter is trying to find find out in how far municipalities are using Free and Open Source software.

On a closed mailing list, the municipality of Boekel (Noord Brabant) pointed out that not only would these WOB requests generate a lot of work, but also have “far reaching consequences,” whatever they may be. Boxtel and Schijndel, also from Noord Brabant, apparently replied that they too have received “nonsensical questions.” One of the suggestions was to hire an IT savvy lawyer. The name of Arnoud Engelfriet, formerly of Eindhoven, Noord Brabant, was dropped, who told Webwereld that he has no interest taking a job that “endangers a citizen’s right to freedom of information.”

In the meantime, De Winter has been replying in Webwereld’s comment section, and he seems to be suggesting that most municipalities that have responded, have done so in a positive manner: “[…] several municipalities have answered already. […] My phone is ringing all the time, and every time we manage to get to get a positive outcome.”

A 2008 informal study by journalist Jeroen Trommelen (Dutch) revealed that of 51 WOB requests sent to several ministries, only one came from an actual journalist.

Disclaimer: according to Webwereld De Winter’s WOB requests were made on behalf of him and the Vrijschrift foundation. I am an advisor to the latter.

Photo by Mark Crossfield, some rights reserved.

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March 24, 2009

Handing out curtains to spruce up the neighbourhood

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 10:10 am

 

gordijnen

In the category of news we could call “when life gives you lemons make some lemonade”, the city of Rotterdam has decided to hand out free house curtains to make run down houses in the neighbourhood of Charlois look nicer. Aaaah. A notorious rough area of the city, Charlois could use some visual freshening up. The makeover also includes painting houses and cleaning up gardens in some 12 streets.

(Link: telegraaf.nl, Photo: berthi.web-log.nl)

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March 23, 2009

Amsterdam’s lovely canals are just full of things

Filed under: General by Orangemaster @ 5:13 pm

Ashleigh Elson of Radio Netherlands tells about the stuff that is dredged out of Amsterdam’s canals. In the film, Gijs van Thiel, Senior Supervisior of Waternet gives us gory details.

“There are over 2,600 houseboats in the centre of Amsterdam, only 20% of the houseboats are connected to the sewer system.”

(Link: radionetherlands.nl)

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March 21, 2009

Bailliff to leave PC, TV behind

Filed under: General,Technology by Branko Collin @ 12:22 pm

The trade association of deurwaarders (bailiffs, court appointed debt collectors) has decided that its members should leave PCs, TVs and refrigerators untouched from now on when collecting debts because they are considered basic needs. The association, KBvG, which represents all 900 bailiffs in the Netherlands, has a list according to Algemeen Dagblad (Dutch) of basic necessities that a bailiff should not repossess, but the list stems from the nineteenth century and only contains items such as beds, books and food.

KBvG chairman John Wisseborn pointed out that people need a PC nowadays to apply for jobs and fill out tax forms.

Sociaal Raadslieden (municipal advisers) is happy about the change. According to them bailiffs can use their own discretion on what to take and what to leave behind, and have apparently figured out that just the threat of taking the PC can be a powerful means of putting pressure on the debtor.

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