October 31, 2016

Phone insurance company insults local hero

Filed under: General,Technology by Orangemaster @ 1:21 pm

The Netherlands has a lot of water near roads, and cars regularly fall into the water, something that is a fact of life.

In Barendrecht three weeks ago Raymond Heijboer jumped into the water to save a woman from drowning in a sinking car, which he did, and all was well.

However, being the hero that he was, he jumped in the water with his ‘insured’ iPhone, which got ruined and the insurance company didn’t want to give him a new phone because he “willingly” jumped into the water.

With what I’m sure was a ‘screw this’ feeling he got from the insurer, his luck turned and a radio show called him up early one morning at home and decided to give him a brand new water-resistant iPhone 7 live on the air. Of course it was a stunt, but it was a good move.

Having heard about the radio folks giving Heijboer a free phone, the insurer called Heijboer up and tried to offer him something as well. The insurer offered to pay Heijboer “for the value of his iPhone on the day of the incident”, which didn’t exactly make the hero very happy, especially after receiving a new and better phone from total strangers. In a letter, the insurer tried to make it sound like they cared, but offering a new deal after the radio stunt makes them look a bit pathetic.

In fact, it would have almost been better for the insurer not to change their stance instead of doing pseudo damage control after being nailed on Dutch radio. And giving the guy a free phone in the first place would have done wonders for their reputation, but apparently they were too busy counting their money and having no heart to care.

(Link: www.waarmaarraar.nl, Photo by William Hook, some rights reserved)

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October 29, 2016

Kyteman jamming at home on his Eurorack modular synthesizer

Filed under: Music by Branko Collin @ 8:10 am

kyteman-eurorackWhen Colin Benders aka Kyteman gets home, he kicks off his shoes (or so I imagine) and turns on his impressive looking Eurorack modular synthesizer for some jams, which he films and the best of which he puts on YouTube. As Metafilter says, just let it run.

Kyteman wrote: “Ever since I came back home I’ve been pushing out tracks non-stop. Finally got something of a workflow going it seems. Not looking forward to editing it all later but that’s another story.”

And tonight on his webcast on Twitch.tv he added: “Next stream is probably going to be on Monday, … Monday and Tuesday. […] After that I am going to get back into recording mode. I really have to start pushing out a couple of tracks, because I want to work to an EP release or something like that.”

So if you want to see him play live, tune in to Colin Benders’ Twitch.tv channel this Monday.

Previously:

(Illustration: crop from the video; video: YouTube / Colin Benders)

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October 28, 2016

Cute mushrooms from the woods near Amersfoort

Filed under: Nature,Photography by Orangemaster @ 9:18 am

Shiitake

Spotted during an autumn fall hike at the Treekerpunt nature area south of Amersfoort, Astrid Hinderks photographed these small mushrooms hiding inside an old tree, and they’re really cute!

Sometimes mushrooms are just mushrooms, not drugs in the Netherlands. We make ‘cheese’ out of them and there’s weird mushrooms that pop up in the woods.

(Link: www.treehugger.com, Photo of shiitake mushrooms by pjah73, some rights reserved)

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October 27, 2016

Dutch company designs world’s fastest submersible

Filed under: Design by Orangemaster @ 11:31 pm

Submarine

Dutch company Ortega has designed the MK.1C, a three-seater electric submarine for divers, and claim it is the fastest of its kind in the world. It was also designed without a cover, as the submersible’s target market is marine biologists, underwater archaeologists and special forces who need to bail quickly, albeit underwater.

Powered by two high-power, electric motors and built for both over and under water activity, fully equipped with a trimming tank, on-board breathing apparatus and HUD navigation system, each vessel can also have magnetometers, sonar, FLIR, extra air supply or an extended cargo hold of up to 250 litres; all on-board equipment supports dive depths of up to 95 metres

Four giant batteries power the vessel, a brand called ‘Hancell’ made by Ortega exclusively for their submersible, which are carefully monitored and charged when needed. And yes, it’s all very Thunderball.

(Link: www.dezeen.com, Photo: screenshot Ortega)

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October 26, 2016

Dutch firm unveils new clear air filter

Filed under: Dutch first,Sustainability by Orangemaster @ 6:30 am

At the two-day Offshore Energy 2016 Exhibition & Conference in Amsterdam this week, the Dutch Envinity Group from Den Helder, North Holland unveiled what they called “the world’s first giant outside air vacuum cleaner”, a large purifying system intended to filter out toxic fine particles from the atmosphere around the machine.

The system is said to be able to suck in air from a 300-metre radius and from up to seven kilometres upwards. It can treat about 800,000 cubic metres of air an hour, filtering out 100 percent of fine particles and 95 percent percent of ultra-fine particles, the company said, referring to tests carried out by the Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands (ECN) on its prototype.

Fine particles are caused by burning wood and other fuels as well as industrial combustion, adversely affecting our health, according to the European Environment Agency. As well, about 90 percent of EU residents are exposed to levels of such particles, which can cause cancer.

On a much smaller scale, there’s also the smaller air-purifying system called the ‘Smog Free Tower’ that was installed in Beijing last month by Dutch artist Daan Roosegaarde.

(Link: phys.org, Photo of a particulate polluted Shanghai sky by Wikimedia Commons user Saperaud, some rights reserved)

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October 25, 2016

Dutchman wants to sell fries in Antarctica

Filed under: Art by Branko Collin @ 4:36 pm

fries1In 2018 Arjen Boerstra from Den Horn, Groningen is planning to open a mobile fries shop in Antarctica, AD reports.

The artist started his first fries stand in 2004 as part of an art project sponsored by a local starch manufacturer. He took his stand to the potato fields of the north-east where he sold french fries to the only people there: potato farmers.

In 2007 he moved his wooden shack to the tip of the island of Terschelling where he entertained seals and seagulls and irritated hikers who felt he was disrupting the experience. One day a freight ship stopped 100 metres off the coast and sent a dinghy ashore to fetch fries for the crew of eight.

The next stop, Antarctica, started as a joke, but plans are now beginning to take shape. His stand will have to be outfitted with skis, the fries need to be pre-cut and he needs to think about how to heat the frying pan, “because butane gas freezes at 30 below zero. I think I will have to use a diesel jet burner.”

Boerstra does not yet know how long he will be running his stand there.

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October 24, 2016

Dutch TV show clones dog to make a point

Filed under: Animals,Science by Orangemaster @ 9:47 pm

Dutch television station BNN, known for its edgier shows aimed at a younger segment of the population, is currently prepping a show that features cloned animals.

A bulldog in the Netherlands has been cloned, 12-year-old bulldog Joep from Rotterdam, by South Korean company Sooam Biotech. The cloning cost the broadcaster 50,000 euro, and a quick Internet scan tells us that an article on American site Refinery 29 mentioned 100,000 USD, which is about 91,000 euro, but the owner in question ended up with two clones of their dog. If you also include travel expenses in their case, it’s easily a lot more.

However, this was the first time ever a Dutch house pet was cloned. Cloning is prohibited in the Netherlands, but importing a cloned animal is perfectly legal. And the idea is to spark some debate. And what about abandoned dogs that need a good home and all that.

A lot of people were interested in cloning their dog for the show; I’m sure a lot of cat owners as well.

The owner of Joep the bulldog who has died, are apparently happy with their cloned dog that they got for free I imagine. “It’s not just the physical characteristics that are basically identical”, the couple said to De Telegraaf newspaper. “Daily we are amazed by the behaviour and character that are so similar to our old dog. That is unbelievable.”

(Link: nltimes)

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October 20, 2016

Netherlands’ first ever vegan supermarket opens

Filed under: Dutch first,Food & Drink by Orangemaster @ 2:02 pm

chickpeas

All the big European cities have them, but for some reason the Netherlands has been very late to get with the program on this one, as the country’ first vegan supermarket opens today.

The honour goes to Groningen, that ‘way up North’ city full of bike paths and students, who are most probably the target market of the store located on Nieuwe Ebbingestraat in what used to be a former post office.

In fact, it’s mostly female students who are setting the trend in vegan food shopping according to employee Benny Lobo of the Vegan Super.

(Link: www.rtvnoord.nl, Photo of Chick peas by abrunvoll, some rights reserved)

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October 19, 2016

Man caught for trying to sell fake Van Gogh

Filed under: Art by Orangemaster @ 9:04 pm

van-gogh-harvest-detail

A man from Wanneperveen, Overijssel has been sentenced to nine months in jail with three months suspended sentence for trying to sell a painting by Vincent van Gogh using a collection of fake documents. He was trying to sell a preparatory sketch of the painting ‘The Harvest’ (close up shown here) for 15 million euro.

Someone who found out about the sale had the idea something was off and called the police. The man apparently had many dubious small companies in his name and already a bit of a bad reputation.

(Link: www.crimesite.nl, Image: extreme close-up of The Harvest via Van Gogh Museum)

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October 16, 2016

House in Huissen advertised as ‘haunted’

Filed under: Architecture by Branko Collin @ 10:30 pm

haunted-house-funda-1

You don’t often see night-time photography on housing sites, but this real estate agent had a special reason. They are advertising their 16th century, 270 square metre farm house in Huissen near Arnhem as haunted.

Whether they are taking their ghoulish inhabitants seriously, remains to be seen. The advert quickly adopts a more serious tone. The house is currently the property of Dutch celebrity Johan Vlemmix who in the first decade of this century unsuccessfully ran for parliament in the hope of becoming Minister of Parties. He bought the house in 2008 from another serial celebrity, positivity guru Emile Ratelband (catch phrase: ‘Tchakaaa’).

Ratelband had to sell the house, or so the story goes, because his wife thought it was haunted. Vlemmix tried to use the publicity in turn by organising ‘horror evenings’ in the old farm.

Having had celebrity owners and having a built in bar and cinema is not helping much so far. In the past eleven months the asking price has already been dropped by 50,000 euro to 350,000 euro. That doesn’t strike me as much, so maybe it is a monster to heat. Whether the prospective buyer will get all the props that were used for the photographs is unclear, but Vlemmix promises to throw in six caskets.

haunted-house-funda-2

(Photos: Funda.nl)

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