All Things Holland

Sorry about the dearth (wordsmart word) of posts these last 2 weeks. Been away and busy. But today I was searching the news feed for a good Dutch story. Let's see; Dutch National Soccer coach steps down, nah, Forest boy really Dutch citizen, maybe later, oh, Royal Dutch Shell.... wait like Shell Gasoline? Remember when I did an article about Dutch companies? Well how about a company I had no idea was Dutch. A Huge Gasoline Company. BP is British; Chevron, ExxonMobil, ConoccoPhillips are American; Total S.A. is French; But who knew Shell was the shortened name for the Royal Dutch Shell company. Shell, founded in 1907 and headquartered in The Hague, is the 5th largest company in the world and 2nd largest Energy company. Shell operates in over 90 countries producing 3.1 million barells of oil daily with 44,000 stations worldwide. The name "Shell" actual came from when The Royal Dutch Petroleum Company merged with a British company (The Shell Transport and Trading Co

The title means -descending-.  Dit is goed, toch?

The London Olympic Games begin in less than 43 days. I thought it would be appropriate to break down which sports the Netherlands will be competing it. Here's the breakdown. -Archery -Track and Field;         Discus, heptathlon, marathon, shot put, decathlon, hurdles, various sprints -Badminton (I didn't know that's how it's spelled!)     Interestingly their athlete in this is Jie Yao who now resides in Holland. The competetion level in China is so great, she moved to the Netherlands to have a better chance of making the olympics. -Cycling    BMX, road, track, mountain biking -Equestrian    Dressage, eventing, jumping -Fencing -Field Hockey -Gymnastics     Trampoline, artistic -Judo -Rowing -Sailing -Shooting -Swimming -Table Tennis (similar story to Badminton) -Taekwondo -Triathlon Some of those sports never get televised. It'd be interesting to see. Especailly table tennis or something. I'm not sure of the total number of Dutch Athle

( Courtesy from Ken Jennings [yes that Ken Jennings] on www.woot.com ) Ok this is a little dry, and on the factoid side but very interesting. I think I'll do an article on it later. Doubt I can match the detailedness. But for now, I couldn't have said it any better Mr Jennings. I'll edit it for readability. He starts off with the Question; Are Tulips Native to the Netherlands? It begins.... "[Sure] windmills, wooden shoes, and heroin are pretty great, but, as signifiers of the Netherlands go, there’s everything else and then there’s the mighty tulip. What could be more Dutch than a field of brightly colored tulips, swaying in the wind? The Netherlands still produces three billion tulips every year, and its Keukenhof garden, near Lisse, is the largest tulip display in the world. But would it surprise you to know that tulips aren’t Dutch at all—that the de facto national flower is, in fact, a fairly recent immigrant? Tulips are actually native to the steppes of

Dutch company Mars One (website) plans on establishing a permanent human settlement on Mars by 2023. Ya, you probably said the same thing I did. That's only 10 years away! So what's the difference between this mission and ones we see in movies? Well, the people who go, don't plan on returning, ever. Also, they plan on funding this project mostly through donations by having every aspect of the preparation and mission open and public to the whole world. Almost a 'Big Brother' effect. They've already done their homework about the availability of the parts needed. All supplied by private companies. No tax payers involvement. Here is the proposed 'schedule'. 2016 communication satellite/supplies will be sent to Mars 2018 planetary rover will be sent to find a suitable location 2020 living units/life support/rover and supplies will be sent Sept 2022 humans leave earth for a 7 month journey April 2023 land on Mars The spacecraft the settlers will

I read this story this morning and it is just too weird to not post here. Normally the loss of a pet is a time to grieve. If it's a goldfish, then there's a ceremonial flush; a dog or cat, a private burial in the backyard. Some people have resorted to having their prized pets stuffed to 'last' forever. Well, Dutch artist Bart Jansen has decided to take the stuffed pet to another level. Headline: Dutch Artist turns dead cat into remote-controlled helicopter, dubbed 'Orvillecopter' . (more pictures and a movie there) Bart lost his beloved feline friend, named Orville, when it was hit by a car. He decided to embrace the influence behind the name of his friend and truly give the Wright brothers something to squirm about. Bart teamed up radio control expert Arjen Beltman and their creation was revealed to the public this last Saturday at the Kunstrai art festival in Amsterdam. Gota love Amsterdam, keeping with the unusual is normal standard. Just imagine this