August 5, 2011

‘Four nights in the slammer for no bike lights’

Filed under: Bicycles,Weird by Orangemaster @ 12:16 pm

A man who spent four nights in jail after failing to pay a € 40 fine for not having lights on his bike has been given € 345 in compensation. I thought the fine was € 25, but OK, it must have gone up. And having learnt how to drive in Amsterdam, those lights on bikes are very important since there are so many cyclists.

The police discovered the man still owed fines after giving him one. They took him down to a police station, but when a friend came later to pay the fine, the friend was told to go away. That part I do not get at all.

The next day, the man was moved to Almere from wherever he was stopped because it was the weekend and apparently, the police there have a serious 9 to 5 mentality and don’t deal with fines on weekends. A cell mate even offered to pay the fine in cash, but this was not accepted either. I just don’t get it.

I guess the police were out for bad publicity and they got it: the man spent four nights in jail before he was released and the cops had to fork out more money that it was worth, courtesy of the national ombudsman (!).

(Link: www.dutchnews.nl, Photo by Flickr user heliosphan, some rights reserved)

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August 4, 2011

Dutch limoncello, one of the world’s best

Filed under: Food & Drink by Orangemaster @ 4:24 pm

Two Dutch brothers with Italian blood started producing limoncello according to an old family recipe. Limoncello Di Fiorito was born, a hand made exclusive limoncello made with premium organic lemons. Apparently, it is “the authentic production method that gives this exclusive limoncello its refined and original flavour.”

For people living outside the Netherlands, you can even order Di Fiorito Limoncello from a Dutch jeweler (!).

(Link: nu.nl, Photo of Limoncello by Shamballah, some rights reserved.

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August 3, 2011

The best places to live in the Netherlands

Filed under: General by Branko Collin @ 9:42 am

In a tongue-in-cheek article, daily De Pers figured out the ideal Dutch towns to live in for large groups of people:

For the poor, Vaals (in the Southernmost tip of the country), because it is apparently easy to get social security there. The town wants to crack down on social security tourism though.

For the gays, Hillegom (South of Haarlem), of which the Pink City Guide of Bureau Movisie says it’s the gay friendliest town in the country. The municipality is working on a policy to support eldery gays, amongst others.

For the elderly, Kerkrade (Limburg). The paper quotes a citizen as saying: “Perhaps we can even draw older people from the rest of the country or even from abroad, because growing old in Kerkrade is fun.” It doesn’t say why it is fun.

For muslims, Alblasserdam (near Rotterdam). The town sports the highest percentage of muslims in the country.

For the handicapped, Huizen (East of Amsterdam), which is quick in allotting funds for medical needs.

For the Polish, Venray (Limburg), which realizes it will always need seasonal workers, so why not be nice to them.

For the drug addicted both Amersfoort (near Utrecht) and Utrecht (near Amersfoort). Junkies get free beer in the former town, and free methadone in the latter. (Pretty girls get free beer in Weert, Limburg. From the bar owners, that is.)

For the students, Sittard (Limburg), as it has the cheapest student housing of the country.

And finally, for sailors, the devoutly religious town of Urk (near nowhere in particular) which refuses to charge boat owners money for delivering electricity and water on Sundays, as that would constitute working on a Sabbath.

(Photo: an abandoned looking factory in Huizen)

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August 2, 2011

iPhone app for dog pooh and bike carcasses

Filed under: Animals,Bicycles,General,IT by Orangemaster @ 12:03 pm

The iPhone app ‘Opgeruimd’ (‘Cleaned up’) being tested in Amsterdam West, where my personal experience says many users still don’t have smart phones as the population is kinda poor, lets people tell the district where annoying dog pooh and old bike carcasses can be found. Instead of calling or commenting on a website to complain, now the rich can use their iPhones, while anybody else can’t. You see where I am going with this.

You can even send in pics and the exact location of the annoyance until 1 November 2011. If all goes well, the rest of iPhone using Amsterdam can vent their grievances, while all us non smart phone, HTC, or other users will continue to be ignored by the city.

(Link: www.dutchnews.nl, via www.west.amsterdam.nl)

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July 31, 2011

Sixty hours community service for ripping open scrotum

Filed under: Health,Weird by Branko Collin @ 3:05 pm

A woman from Zeist near Utrecht was convicted last week for maiming her ex-boyfriend by twisting his scrotum in such a way that it tore open and a testicle fell out.

According to Algemeen Dagblad, the woman defended herself by claiming that the man had abused her before, and that she was afraid it would happen again. “He had been using drugs, and I could see in his eyes that things were not all right. […] I wanted to pull him off the stairs by his crotch.”

The man had to call an ambulance himself, as the woman’s phone credit had run out. The judge felt a claim of aggravated battery was not proven, says RTV Utrecht, and sentenced the woman to 60 hours community service, and awarded the ex-boyfriend 300 euro in damages.

(Photo by Steffen Zahn, some rights reserved)

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July 30, 2011

Apple shaped multi-story bike park in Alphen aan de Rijn

Filed under: Bicycles by Branko Collin @ 5:09 pm

This apple shaped multi-story bike park was commissioned by the municipality of Alphen aan de Rijn near Leiden, and installed in 2010. It holds a maximum of 970 bicycles, and is located right next to the town’s railway station.

The Bike Apple, sensibly named so by its creators, was designed by Rotterdam-based architects KuiperCompagnons. The butterfly shaped filigree covering the garage is a type of fabric called Lace Fence and was conceived by Dutch design house Demakersvan. The architect’s website has much more photos.

(Photos: KuiperCompagnons)

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July 29, 2011

Limburg town to refuse EU nationals without income

Filed under: Dutch first,General by Orangemaster @ 1:20 pm

Drielandenpunt (Vaalserberg), is where Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands meet, also the highest point of the Netherlands. Way back before 2002 you could pay your Dutch, German or Belgian fries (yes, three separate stands) with either Dutch guilders, German marks or Belgian francs.

The wee town of Vaals, Limburg, where back in the pre-euro days, my German friends from Aachen went shopping to buy Dutch food products, is now taking a firm stand on EU nationals eating up their welfare benefits. Vaals wants to refuse residency rights to those who do not have a job or enough income to support themselves as of September 2011.

Before critizing Vaals, let’s do the math. Vaals has a population of about 10,000 and claims that 40% of the 300 townspeople on welfare benefits (120 people) are from other EU countries. The town council says that’s a higher number than even Rotterdam, and is costing them a whopping €Â 400,000 a year. Out of every 100 people who want to live in Vaals, nine of them ask for benefits, mostly Poles and Romanians who do not yet speak the language.

Ironically, all this movement within the EU and within the Netherlands tends to expose all kinds of problems that nobody would have noticed if it wasn’t for EU nationals trying to work the system.

In nearby Plombières, Belgium, they’re already applying a European guideline to restrict residency for EU nationals without work or income. If and when Vaals does this, they will be the first Dutch town to do so.

(Link: www.volkskrant.nl.nl)

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July 28, 2011

The Impossible Project produces Polaroid film

Filed under: Photography,Technology by Orangemaster @ 2:36 pm

After purchasing the old Polaroid factory in Enschede filled with equipment back in 2009, the Dutch Impossible Project figured out how to actually make Polaroid film. By March 2010 they had developed a way to produce film compatible with Polaroid’s SX-70/600 instant cameras.

To give its viewers a sense of how the Impossible Project makes Polaroid film, How’s It’s Made recently visited the factory and produced this five-minute video that, as BoingBoing pointed out, is reminiscent of the old Sesame Street videos from inside a crayon manufacturing facility. “Conclusion,” Maggie Koerth-Baker writes, “The Impossible Project may not be necessary, but it sure is a lot of fun to watch.” See for yourself.

(Link: www.theatlantic.com)

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July 26, 2011

A night view of the Art Zuid sculpture exhibition

Filed under: Photography by Branko Collin @ 9:41 pm

Last Sunday I revisited the ArtZuid exhibition, armed again with my camera, but this time at night and while it was raining.

I added the photos I made to our ArtZuid 2011 Flickr Set; the night photos start here.

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Oldest Amsterdam resident reaches 106

Filed under: General,Health by Orangemaster @ 11:37 am
birthdaycake

Local TV station AT5 recently reported about the oldest resident of Amsterdam, Mrs Huizinga de Vries, who just turned 106. And in true straight up in your face Amsterdam style, she answered, “I may be the oldest woman in Amsterdam, but I can’t buy anything with it.” She has 40 grandchildren, calls them regularly and knows all of their phone numbers by heart.

According to the Dutch statistics bureau, in 2010 the Netherlands had 1,743 centenarians, with an increase in male ones. As most of you may know, women live longer than men, which makes this noteworthy. The Dutch age record, set in 2005 stands at 115, which the bureau says will not be broken in the near future.

If I were to think back to all the articles written about centenarians, they always seem to encourage being cheerful, surrounded by family (happy) and having some sherry or gin once a day before bed (some kind of happy).

(Link: www.dichtbij.nl)

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