July 15, 2010

Giethoorn, a Dutch village with no roads

Filed under: Film,General,Nature by Orangemaster @ 4:46 pm

In the eastern province of Overijssel there is a lacustrine village called Giethoorn that has no roads, although according to wikipedia there is a bike path. Saying that is a ‘Venice of the North’ is a cliché since people call Amsterdam and St. Petersburg, Russia that already and with good reason. Giethoorn (referring to the horns of a goat) has some 2620 inhabitants, one of which we wrote about, Siegfried Woldhek, a famous caricaturist.

Back in 2008, Giethoorn celebrated the 50th anniversary of the film ‘Fanfare’ by Bert Haanstra, which was filmed there. See the news clip and bits of the film here:

You can always have a look at an elaborate video of Giethoorn, which starts with people skating over the water in winter:

(Links: Presurfer, Wikipedia)

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August 11, 2008

Air-purifying concrete for town of Hengelo

Filed under: Dutch first,Science,Sustainability by Orangemaster @ 9:34 am
Air purifier for concrete

Hengelo, Overijssel looks to be taking a rather unique approach to cleaning the air, with it now testing out a new type of “air-purifying concrete” developed by the University of Twente that promises to soak up the nitrogen oxide particles emitted by car exhausts. This is done with the aid of a titanium dioxide-based additive which, with the help of some sunlight, binds with the nitrogen oxide particles and turns them into harmless nitrates, which can apparently just wash away with the next rain shower. Hengelo is not fully sold on the idea just yet, with it only paving half of a road now under construction with these “green bricks”, while the other half is getting paved with plain old concrete. They will then take some air measurements from each section early next year and decide whether to continue paving the town green or not.

(Link: engadget.com)

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April 2, 2008

The face of Leonardo Da Vinci revealed

Filed under: Art by Branko Collin @ 8:30 am

Siegfried Woldhek is a caricaturist from Giethoorn, Overijssel. Having drawn over a thousand portraits for newspapers in the past thirty years he feels himself eminently placed to try and figure out what Leonardo da Vinci looked like. In a short presentation he held at TED last February he explained his method, and showed the result.

Via BoingBoing.

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January 21, 2008

Escaped Highlander shot dead for causing danger

Filed under: Animals by Branko Collin @ 4:08 pm
highland_cow.jpg
Photo: Highland cow in Hilversum, by Gerard M., distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License, version 1.2.

Last Saturday, a Highland cow was shot (Dutch) near Den Velde in the province of Overijssel for causing dangerous situations on the road. The cow had escaped three weeks before from near Reeze and had reportedly caused a lot of trouble in the neighbourhood already. Highland cows are often used in the Netherlands for grazing nature reserves. They are hardy beasts that require little supervision, and eat more than just grass. The Highlander was caught when it tried to make a run for Germany.

This is not the first time that the police treat nature like a problem. Last Wednesday, our modern day knights who say “ni” shot a cow (Dutch) that had escape with its calf. The orphaned calf is still on the run. And in the summer of 2007, a fox “had to be” shot for accepting food from photographers.

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May 24, 2007

Sex operator work as woman to get off welfare

Filed under: Weird by Orangemaster @ 9:45 am
phone1.jpg

A man on welfare benefits in Enschede, Overijssel was given permission to work for 10 months as a sex operator – pretending to be a woman called Ellen – for EUR 7,60 an hour, twice as much as on welfare. Francis Cappelle, 38, was aparently good at faking a woman’s voice and got the job, regardless of the fact that he has to lie about his identity.

Capelle is tired of what he does and feels he is cheating men out of their money. The placement agency UniJobs that found him the job said it’s just a job. The welfare people say if he doesn’t like it, he can get a job doing something else.

(Link: Telegraaf)

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