February 7, 2012

Dutch pigeon sold for record 251,000 euro

Filed under: Animals,Weird by Orangemaster @ 1:15 pm

Last Monday, Dutchman Pieter Veenstra auctioned off 245 pigeons on a Belgian website for over 1.9 million euro, including “the record-breaking hen of the Dolce Vita breed”, which I’m guessing is a huge deal in pigeon land. The bird was bought by a Chinese businessman who plans to use it to breed rather than racing, something that is apparently up and coming in China.

The record breaking price fetched by the bird has sparked a furious debate in the world of pigeon racing, a cult sport in Britain, Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany that is not traditionally regarded as a rich man’s pursuit.

However, celebrity-in-the-making, 15-year-old Lloyd Schuilenburg (video in Dutch), aka ‘Duifmeneer’ (‘Pigeon Man’), is not making a fortune off pigeons, but has been trending on Twitter (@deduifmeneer) and even cranked out a carnival song (see below). His thing is making ‘hoo hoo’ (‘hoe hoe’ in Dutch) sounds to ‘steal other people’s pigeons’. Although very charming and entertaining, he’s not taken very seriously due to the nerd factor of his meme, his unfortunate looks and his thick The Hague accent. Schuilenburg is basically popular for no reason at all, and is enjoying the popularity while others make fun of him. It’s a Dutch thing.

(Link: www.telegraph.co.uk)

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February 6, 2012

Crowdsourcing measurement of ice thickness

Filed under: Online,Sports by Branko Collin @ 1:27 pm

The Dutch are waiting for three magic words: ” It. Giet. Oan.” If uttered by the 22 district heads of the biggest ice skating endurance race this side of the Baltic, they will signify the start of said race, the Elfstedentocht.

But first the ice along the canals and lakes of the 220-kilometre-long Elfstedentocht has to thicken. IJsdikte.eu provides a platform where volunteers can enter ice thickness in Friesland. Currently, there is a lot of ice of between 6 and 12 centimetres to be found. To be able to sustain the large amounts of people that would participate in the Elfstedentocht, the ice needs to be at least 15 centimetres thick. During the previous Elfstedentochten the ice was an average of 18 centimetres thick.

Earlier this morning the 22 district heads who had had their first meeting in 15 years, told the press that the ice was ‘fantastic’ in the North of the province, but weak in the South near Stavoren and Luts. At least another week of frost is required to freeze the weak spots. The Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) predicted yesterday that the ice would reach a thickness of 25 centimetres on Saturday 11 February.

The 22 district heads will meet again on Wednesday.

The Elfstedentocht is only open to members, many of which have been members for decades. There are also people who were registered at birth, but who have yet to skate their first race. The last race was in 1997, and won by Henk Angenent. If the race goes on (‘giet aon’), the province of Friesland expects to welcome 2 million spectators.

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February 5, 2012

Dutch TV cannibals won’t be prosecuted

Filed under: Health,Weird by Branko Collin @ 2:39 pm

The public prosecutor won’t take legal action against two TV show hosts who had each eaten flesh that had been surgically removed from their bodies.

In December Dennis Storm ate a bit his left buttock, Today.com reported back then, and Valerio Zeno a piece of his abdomen. The meat was served with some green asparagus.

The website quoted a Dutch lawyer who said cannibalism in the Netherlands is only illegal “when it involves maltreatment or when it violates common decency.”

Nevertheless, the Christian Democratic Appeal (conservative party) had asked questions in parliament, and Minister of Education Marja van Bijsterveld told the venerable body on behalf of her justice colleague that prosecution was not in the cards.

(Link: De Pers. Logo and video: BNN.)

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February 4, 2012

Temporary bench by Rogier Martens uses straps to attach to trees

Filed under: Design by Branko Collin @ 10:54 pm

The Pop-Up City writes:

As part of his ‘Aandeboom’ series, which means something like ‘attached to trees’, the Utrecht-based spatial designer Rogier Martens has come up with a remarkable design for a pop-up bench for urban parks and landscapes. Invited by the Dutch city of Amersfoort to design a temporary bench for a local park, Martens created this Tree Bench. The bench is specifically suited for festivals and other temporary situations with urgent sitting needs. The Tree Benches are made of waterproof laminated beechwood and can be easily attached to the trees using a suspension system.

(Photo: Aandeboom.nl)

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February 3, 2012

Dutch tax haven angers Portuguese

Filed under: General by Branko Collin @ 6:21 pm

A 2002 tax agreement between the Netherlands and Portugal has led 18 of the 20 largest Portuguese corporations to move their headquarters to the Netherlands.

This has led to 80% of all Portuguese investments being done in the Netherlands, De Pers reports.

The latest of these movers is Sociedade Francisco Manuel Dos Santos, owner of super market chain Pingo Doce (350 stores). The money drain in a time of crisis has led to calls for a boycott in Portugal.

The Portuguese government is now looking for ways to punish these companies for taking their tax payments elsewhere. De Pers has a tip based on what Brasil does: tax the tax flee-ers extra.

Dutch taxes for corporations are often low, and the Netherlands is the country with the most mutual tax agreements in the world.

The European Union has outlawed corporations that are not active in the country where they are legally located, but for some odd reason, the Dutch tax service sees no reason to check on companies that bring in a lot of money.

In 2009 TV show Zembla reported that these empty shell corporations pump 8,000 billion euro through the Netherlands, ten percent of all trade in the world.

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February 2, 2012

Frans Hals painting fetches 2 million dollars

Filed under: Art by Orangemaster @ 4:26 pm

At the end of January, a 17th-century painting by Frans Hals entitled ‘Portrait of a Man, Half-Length’ owned by deceased American actress Elizabeth Taylor was auctioned for 2 million dollars (roughly 1,521,000 euro), twice as much as it was expected to fetch.

Until last year experts attributed the painting to a student of Frans Hals until an expert from the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem (shown here) proved it was from the master himself, painted between 1625 and 1635.

(Links: artmarketmonitor.com, Photo of Frans Hals Museum by Andy Field, some rights reserved)

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February 1, 2012

Major fraud case explained in court using Playmobil

Filed under: Dutch first,Weird by Orangemaster @ 12:35 pm

A major real estate fraud case was recently explained in a court in Haarlem using Playmobil figurines. Although the explanation is in Dutch — starts at 1:43 — it’s quite clear even without sound.

The accused, who worked for an organisation that invests in new developments, sold a development to an investor for a much higher price than it was worth and embezzled the excess.

According to the film, three very experienced judges and two clerks worked full-time for over a year to sort the whole mess out.

The accused, now guilty of a whole bunch of crimes and off to jail, tried to walk off with 4 million euro.

I know nothing except that real estate and the construction world are riddled with fraud because space is scarce and very expensive, a reminder that the Netherlands is the most densely populated country in Europe and there are still not enough houses to properly house everybody.

(Link: www.rechtspraak.nl)

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January 31, 2012

Dutch pop music on postage stamps

Filed under: Music by Orangemaster @ 4:32 pm

Yesterday, the Dutch post office started selling a special postage stamp with the music of famous Dutch singer songwriter Boudewijn de Groot, which, if you scan it in with your smartphone you can hear his hit Land van Maas En Waal. Other Dutch artists are also featured in this series of Dutch pop music (‘Nederpop’), including Doe Maar, Het Goede Doel, Guus Meeuwis and Frank Boeijen, which will be out eventually.

I hope they include some women as well, dear post office.

(Link: www.entertainmentbusiness.nl)

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January 30, 2012

Animal emergency number forwards callers to local TV channel

Filed under: Animals by Branko Collin @ 10:36 pm

The animal police do not seem to be entirely sure what to do when people call their emergency hot line, 144, De Pers reports.

Ms Van der Meer from The Hague called the number last week because she had found a wounded bat. The operator forwarded her to Dierenambulance (a volunteer-run ambulance for animals), where they referred her to pest control.

Residents of the Amsterdam neighbourhood Geuzenveld called 144 because a cat had refused to leave a tree for several days —they were told to call the local TV station, AT5.

Press spokes person Ed Kraszewski of the National Police Services Agency said that “the 25 operators received training, but it is mostly ‘learning on the job’.”

Parliamentarian Dion Graus (PVV), the initiator of the animal cops and 144 thinks that operators are trying to sabotage his brain child from the inside.

(Photo of a Dierenambulance by Alberto Garcia, some rights reserved)

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January 29, 2012

Singer gets death threats over burqa song

Filed under: Music by Branko Collin @ 4:05 pm

Radio Netherlands writes:

Dutch satirist Johan Vlemmix has decided not to perform his latest hit Do the Burqa onstage following death threats.

The song, a carnival parody to the music of Van McCoy’s ‘Do the Hustle’, is a huge success on YouTube, so much so that the video provider has switched off the comments facility. Too many people were posting angry reactions saying that they had been insulted.

The images show a woman wearing a T-shirt which can be instantly converted into a burqa […].

The Dutch government wants to ban burqas, a head garment traditionally worn in the Arab world.

Vlemmix once ran for parliament on a platform in which he would become Minister of Fun. In 2007 the entertainer flirted with controversy over a song about Polish guest workers.

See also: Carnival song mocks liberal parties—”Behave yourselves!”

(Video: YouTube / Johan Vlemmix)

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