MetaFilter posts tagged with dutch

Dystopian Future (and present)

antonymous — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 18:18:04 -0800

Panopticon is a documentary which details how our concept of privacy is altered by the modern surveillance state.

De W van wakker, stamppot eten

saucysault — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 08:07:41 -0800

The upcoming inauguration of Willem-Alexander as King of the Netherlands has united his people in their hatred of the Koningslied, especially the lyrics written by committee.

"Coffee ... is still just roasted beans and water"

the man of twists and turns — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 09:03:22 -0800

Coffee Power To The People - "There are three young men in the Netherlands who want to take the barista, whom they see as a part-TEDx presenter, part-birthday magician, out of the equation. They want people to make their own coffee, and to make coffee they can be proud of."

"Onze helden zijn terug!"

zarq — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 20:43:19 -0800

On April 13, the Rijksmuseum will reopen to the public after a renovation and makeover that took five years longer than expected and went tens of millions of dollars over budget. The museum's most famous painting was also one of the last to be restored to its original location: Rembrandt's "The Night Watch". Sponsor ING Bank celebrated with a unique and special flashmob. Background * The Amsterdam Herald * Slideshow of the museum's new digs Explore the Rijksmuseum Online * Rijksstudio (Previously!) * The Collection * Masterpieces, including The Night Watch (Formal name: "The Company of captain Frans Banning Cocq and lieutenant Willem van Ruytenburch preparing to march out.") and The Milkmaid * A Timeline of Dutch history and background on Dutch historical figures. The Night Watch The painting was incorporated into the plot of a 1942 Nazi biopic entitled "Rembrandt". (That's the full movie, but it's in German.) * Rembrandt Painting: The Night Watch * The Art Wolf: "The night watch" * Art Encyclopedia 2013: The Night Watch by Rembrandt

The forgotten story of a dramatic imperial adventure

unliteral — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 18:59:06 -0800

As a companion to his fascinating Raffles and the British Invasion of Java, Tim Hannigan has a blog — Footnotes and Sidelights from the Story of the British Interregnum in Java, wherein he shares interesting stories that could not find space in the published book. Tim Hannigan previously.

"It wouldn't hurt you to seek out a little.....companionship".

lalochezia — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 07:48:27 -0800

Whoopi Goldberg Hugs Autistic Star Trek Fan on Dutch TV SLYT. Found on reddit here

Willemstad is the new San Pedro de Macoris

escabeche — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 19:14:12 -0800

If you were going to set out to build a successful national baseball team you probably wouldn’t select a country with most of its land sitting below sea level. Camden Depot presents a brief history of honkbal, as the Netherlands nine get ready to compete in the 2013 World Baseball Classic, exactly 100 years after the formation of Quick Amsterdam, Europe's first baseball team. Last time around, the Dutchmen knocked the mighty Dominican Republic out of the tournament. This year's Dutch team, led by veteran Andruw Jones and Orioles prospect Jonathan Schoop, both natives of Willemstad on the island of Curacao, puts more Dutch talent on the field than there has been since Bert Blyleven's last game. (Blyleven is the Netherlands' pitching coach.) Don't leave it till game time -- learn to speak honkbal now!

The Shuls with Sandy Floors

zarq — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 10:48:04 -0800

There are only five functioning Jewish synagogues with sand floors in the world, and four of them are in the Caribbean. How has the tradition been maintained for hundreds of years? The Five Shaare Shalom Synagogue (Kingston, Jamaica) - Wikipedia. - Article: Becoming Jewish in Jamaica. "The first ordained rabbi in 40 years to serve the Shaare Shalom Synagogue of Kingston, Jamaica, has attracted to his conversion classes candidates who include descendants of its once much larger and thriving population." - Article: Jamaica's New Tourism Spiel: Beaches and Reggae and Jews Beracha Veshalom Vegmiluth Hasidim Synagogue (St. Thomas, Virgin Islands) - Panoramic Photos. - Photo of the sand floor Mikve Israel-Emanuel Synagogue (Curacao, Netherlands Antilles) - Photos. (Also known as the Snoa, it is the oldest synagogue in continuous use in the Western Hemisphere, founded in 1651.) Neve Shalom (Paramaribo, Republic of Suriname) - Photos. - Wikipedia. Portuguese Synagogue Also known as the Esnoga. (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) - Wikipedia. - Panoramic Photos. - Video embedded here. Why Sand? A synagogue drawn in the sand: The custom may have originated in Amsterdam, where sand was used to dry mud on people's shoes. The Esnoga synagogue was near the edge of town, where most of the streets were unpaved and, thanks to the weather, often muddy. It was, therefore, practical to line the floor in the synagogue with sand to keep it tidy. There are a number of churches and taverns in the Netherlands dating to the 17th century that likewise have sand floors.
Synagogues in the Sand: There are two theories about the origins of the synagogue’s sand floor. One is that it symbolizes the desert through which Moses and the children of Israel wandered for 40 years. The other theory, considered by experts the more likely explanation, is that the floor harkens back to when Spanish Jews had to practice their religion in secret, meeting in cellars to pray.
More: A Journey to Jewish Curaçao. And a pdf article from Frommer's: Sanctuaries in the Sand

Touching Yarns

ouke — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 04:25:52 -0800

Loes Veenstra knitted more than 500 sweaters since 1955 & kept them in her house in the 2nd Carnissestraat. The sweaters were never worn. Until today. In the world of Dutch Design Superstars, Christien Meindertsma, known for the book PIG 05049 (previously, previously) likes to keep it down to earth. While being involved in an exhibition about the Carnisse neighborhood in Rotterdam, she found Loes Veenstra and her collection of randomly knit sweaters. While she was preparing a book about this labour of love, she also organized a tribute involving the whole neighborhood.

Don't try to fight it

Iteki — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 11:10:15 -0800

Dutch TV presenters volunteer to experience the pain of labour at a birthing center. Dennis and Valerio, hosts of Gunea Pigs, sign up for a two hour adventure in electro-stimulus-simulated labour. In the words of their supportive but no nonsense midwife, labour is no laughing matter. Via Gizmodo.

Ecstatic surface design

infini — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 01:33:30 -0800

Pinar & Viola are two Dutch post-internet artists whose work explores new totalitarian impulses and the decadence of global culture through what they call "ecstatic surface design". Pinar Demirdag and Viola Renate’s latest work takes inspiration from popular culture to lambast the absurdity of contemporary society using beach towels. They also cover Turkey's anti-evolutionist showgirls and interpret Frieze through Instagram. NSFW&Sanity warning before... Our website refers to little gif animations, kittens, lolcats, ‘Welcome to my homepage’, glitter, all the little decorations that make our daily lives more beautiful and joyful.

Nutmeg: smells of holidays from a history of battles and massacres

filthy light thief — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 11:30:22 -0800

This unassuming, feel-good spice "has been one of the saddest stories of history," from the gruesome, grisly tale of how the Dutch tortured and massacred the people of the Banda Islands in Indonesia in an attempt to monopolize the nutmeg trade. In the first century A.D., Roman author Pliny speaks of a tree bearing nuts with two flavors. Emperor Henry VI had the streets of Rome fumigated with nutmegs before his coronation. In the the sixth century, nutmegs were brought by Arab merchants to Constantinople. There was competition between Muslims and Chinese over control of the Indonesian spice trade, but life was good for the islanders, as nutmeg takes very little effort to grow. The islanders had do little but watch the nutmeg grow, collect it from trees and take out the nuts and trade them for food, cloth and all the things they needed with Chinese, Malay, Arab and Bugi spice traders.

It's no exaggeration to say that the hunt for nutmeg helped build the modern commercial world. In 1453, the Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople (modern Istanbul), embargoing trade across the sole sliver of land through which a few merchants had evaded the Arab-Venetian spice monopoly and forcing Europeans to find new eastern trade routes. Columbus sailed the blue Atlantic looking for a passage to India; and Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1497, his men charging on to the shores of Kerala crying, "For Christ and spices!" The Portuguese military genius Afonso de Albuquerque annexed the Indonesian Molucca islands, of which the Bandas form part, in 1511. The fortresses he built there established and then consolidated a Portuguese monopoly over the world's nutmeg that lasted almost a whole cushy century.

Then on December 25, 1616, Captain Nathaniel Courthope reached Run, an island in the Banda Islands, to defend it against the claims of the Dutch East India Company. Though Asian traders had long known of the "spice islands" and the Portuguese were the first to Europeans to claim the islands, a contract with the inhabitants was signed accepting the James I of England as sovereign of Run island. As a result, Run is considered to be the first English overseas colony. This was just the start of the spice wars in the Banda Islands, pitting the native people and some British forces against the Dutch, who subjected Run to four years of siege. The battles and disputes over Run and the other nutmeg-producing islands came to a close in 1667, when the Treaty of Breda saw the Dutch with control over Run, and the British getting New Amsterdam, which became New York. The British had diminished the importance of the Banda Islands by planting nutmeg trees in Grenada and Zanzibar, which also decreased the price of the costly spice. The former is still a major producer of nutmeg, where they grow in abundance. Thanks to modern cultivation, you can make many, many foods with nutmeg.

No dikes yet? No dikes yet.

akgerber — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 14:06:32 -0800

In 2009, the Dutch television network RTL reported on a proposal to build a Dutch-style floodwall across the Narrows at the mouth of New York harbor (SLYT), complete with an animation of what it was designed to protect against: flooding of 4 meters into Manhattan & the surrounding areas. This uncannily resembles what transpired this Monday.

"I close my eyes and dream about a sunny holiday ... "

the man of twists and turns — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 00:03:54 -0800

Caro Emerald is a Dutch jazz singer. Her debut album "Deleted Scenes From The Cutting Room Floor" went sextuple-platinum in The Netherlands, and has the longest run at #1 on the Dutch charts. BBC Music reviews. Music Videos: Stuck

"One continental debutante who'd rather be in Saint-Tropez than hoping for the arrival of Santa Claus, dishes the dirt in her conversation du jour with that fast-talking playboy. And his endless promises that never seem to arrive on time. Don't worry about your dinner, big boy... here come your just desserts."

A Night Like This

"One night in a casino where dreams come true, leads to an oceanside cliff party of the rich and richer."

Back It Up (acoustic) - on SoulKitchen Reviews from UK shows in: the London Evening Standard, The Independent Her Twitter

von Irvin Kershner

cthuljew — Sat, 13 Oct 2012 12:22:54 -0800

A documentary about Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, parts one and two, by Michel Parbot (fr.wikipedia), broadcast on Dutch TV in 1980 (so the first 30 seconds or so are in Dutch). This version is sadly not complete, as this fascinating article details. The documentary linked above is the one referred to at the bottom of the first page.

100

unSane — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 06:25:16 -0800

100 (from 0 to 100 years in 150 seconds)

FEAR THE ARTICHOKE KING

The Whelk — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 15:34:25 -0800

The History Of New York In 50 Objects (NYT)

Johannes Vermeer's "Woman Holding A Balance"

Egg Shen — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 14:04:53 -0800

Johannes Vermeer's "Woman Holding A Balance" Vermeer's visual music is utterly mysterious. He wasn't only abstract on the large scale of composition, negative shape and depth. When you look at the details, you see a system of coherent microforms in every representation of small pattern and texture, whether he's doing the faux-marble finish of a virginal case or resolving the optical glitter of a gold frame into tiny lozenges of paint. You're meant to enjoy both the illusion and the means by which it's brought about. Supremely conscious of his language, he puts all the machinery in the open--like Velazquez, but on a tiny scale. And then, suddenly, he pulls you inside, through the looking glass, and you are left in awe at the intensity of this seemingly quiet vision, its power to enclose you in its fictions. - Robert Hughes Bequeathed by the estate of Peter Widener to the National Gallery of Art in 1942, the painting is on display at the Detroit Institute of Arts through September 2.

You know, I think I'm too lazy to change all this back to normal, that's the real issue.

valkyryn — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 11:59:44 -0800

Little brother hacked your Facebook profile? Redecorate his room for a teenage girl. In Dutch, with subtitles. [SLYT]

What happens when you get your stockings in a bunch

hermitosis — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 14:52:40 -0800

Dutch artist Rosa Verloop's disturbing humanoid figures are made out of nylons all pinned together.

Youths big plans and vague longings, the binges, crashes, and marathon walks and talks

joost de vries — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 02:45:56 -0800

Joseph O'Neill on the Dutch literary hero Nescio No one has written more feelingly and more beautifully than Nescio about the madness and sadness, courage and vulnerability of youth: its big plans and vague longings, not to mention the binges, crashes, and marathon walks and talks. No one, for that matter, has written with such pristine clarity about the radiating canals of Amsterdam and the cloud-swept landscape of the Netherlands. Nescio's De Uitvreter (The Freeloader), Titaantjes (Little Titans) and Dichtertje (Little Poet) have been read by a lot of Dutch people in high school. They're very much part of the top canon lists in the Netherlands. There are not a lot of resources in English on Nescio. wikipedia. Joseph O'Neill is known for his novel Netherland. He's an Irishman living in New York who grew up in The Hague.

Dutch Kids Pedal Their Own Bus To School

Blasdelb — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 18:13:05 -0800

In the Netherlands, bikes abound. And now, they even take kids to school. Behold, the bicycle school bus.

Dutch royal railway waiting rooms

joost de vries — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 08:32:14 -0800

Dutch royal railway waiting rooms The Dutch railway system has published 360 degree videos of the waiting rooms that were constructed for the royal family at the end of the 19th century. Anyone who has stood on perron 1 of Amsterdam station looking at the ornate fence guarding the royal waiting room will appreciate being able to have a look inside. All the descriptions are in Dutch.

The Earth and its Peoples, over 100 years ago

filthy light thief — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:16:54 -0800

Take a photographic journey into the past with Illustrated Past, which offers glimpses of life in Brittany, a trip to Tunis and Algiers, scenes of Dutch daily life. These examples are excerpts from the Dutch book, De Aarde en haar Volken (Project Gutenberg), or The Earth and its Peoples (Google auto-translation). Where the 1906 edition featured photos from around the world, the 1877 edition featured etchings (Gutenberg; Google translation).

...a fundamental element of human nature LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

cthuljew — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 22:50:43 -0800

Chomsky-Foucault Debate in 5 seconds (SLYT)