Yesterday, as the first of the 5 or 6 prestigious restaurant guides in The Netherlands, the Dutch version of the Gault Millau Guide presented its 2010 awards and 2010 guide with the best 500 and something Restaurants and best 220 Hotels of The Netherlands here around the corner in The Hague. I’m a bit sad I had to miss the ceremony…so near by.
Today I received the sticker proving the Gault Millau editors deem Haagsche Suites worthy to belong to the best 220 Dutch Hotels in their guide. Thank you Gault Millau for the quick service, that even beats the new listings on your own website :-)
Gault Millau started in France as a restaurant guide in 1969. It was founded by two restaurant critics, Henri Gault (1929-2000) and Christian Millau. The French site is a mere window for their paper guide.
Plaese note the best restaurant has been awarded 20 points out of 20 which is remarkable in the Gault Millau history. At the same time our Belgian neighbors awarded a Dutchman, Roger van Damme the Chef of the year award for his Antwerp based lunches only restaurant.
Gault Millau’s top 13 Restaurants of The Netherlands:
Points
Restaurant
City
20
Oud Sluis
Sluis
19,5
Inter Scaldes
Kruiningen
19,5
Beluga
Maastricht
19,5
De Librije
Zwolle
19
De Leest
Vaassen
18
La Rive Amstel Hotel
Amsterdam
18
Chalet Royal
Den Bosch
18
De Lindenhof
Giethoorn
18
De Bokkedoorns
Overveen
18
Parkheuvel
Rotterdam
18
De Zwethheul
Schipluiden
18
De Leuf
Ubachsberg
18
‘t Brouwerskolkje
Overveen
Two of those top restaurants, Parkheuvel and De Zwetheul are easy to reach for a dinner when staying in Haagsche Suites.
Two other Restaurants Calla’s and Seinpost who also earned good points are even nearer to Haagsche Suites. Seinpost has the best wine food combining sommelier of 2010.
Austria, Italy, Germany and Switzerland each have their own Gault Millau guides.The US and the UK have their Gayot guides. Gayot was a friend of Gault and Millau and they published joint guides until a schism in 2000.
Gault Millau is said to be the guide of the food purists more than the Guide Michelin….
I love this picture. It is part of a video by Jennifer Allora & Guillermo Calzadilla that fetched a whopping £ 39,650 ($ 64,550) at a Christie’s sale in London, today: A simple dream of mine – Just motor-boating the inland canals, rivers and lakes all year long – in its most simplified form.
Rio Wins 2016 Olympic Games in a First for South America
COPENHAGEN — The Olympics were awarded to a South American city for the first time when the International Olympic Committee on Friday voted for Rio de Janeiro to host the 2016 Games.
Last week an anti terrorism squad lifted the director of the The Hague Todays Art festival from his bed with brutal violence and force. The reason was the posters the Todays Art Festival organization had spread over the town, just before the Dutch Queen addressing Dutch Parliament for the opening of the Dutch Parliamentary Year and just after remembering 09/11. I can understand that the Dutch anti terrorism persons are a bit itchy, especially after the 2009 Queens day attack by just another moron, but this action is a bit (to say the least) far fetched.
Here you see the Peace Palace against a lot of smoke.
A bit suggestive poster, yes off course, but that’s what art is about sometimes…get people thinking about their situation. A poster in blue….a bit suggestive no more than that. How worked up can you get when you claim that such poster invites terrorists to copy the outcome…..
Here you see a crater and some damage of the The Hague Town Hall.
This action of the Dutch police makes me think the repression by governments, their agencies and the politicians is going way too far again and we may need another 60ies movement to make people aware of the idiocies of repression. Luckily the director refused to take the posters down
This year’s Todays Art festival has as theme Conflict.
On Twitter they are known as @TodaysArt. I’m asking my readers for a bit support for them. Getting lifted from your bed and being interrogated by an anti terrorism squad is not nothing, if your only aim is to give the city a nice festival.
I’m looking forward to this fifth edition. Last year I enjoyed myself tremendously.
In 1838 a Chief of the Ahante tribe, Nana Baido Bonso (or Bonsu) II, killed two Dutch soldiers who invaded his farm. He was court martialled, hung and beheaded. His head was send over sea and ended up preserved in a bottle in Leiden University University Centre for Medical Research….I assume the chief did what every farmer would do to uninvited invaders of his property….
The issue of Nana Baidoo Bonso (or Bonsu) II’s head came to light when a Dutch historian Arthur Japin raised it during former President John Kufuor’s official visit to the Netherlands in October last year.
After hearing the story of the head, the former President instructed the Ghana Embassy to negotiate to secure the release and the return of the head.
After much negotiation the Dutch government finally allowed the release and the head was finally returned to Ghana on July 24.
I’m currently reading two books that shed new light on the influence of the Dutch on both the UK and the US. I will come back with the names and bearings. This is why this story drew my attention. It is part of our colonial history. I’ve not read much about it in our Dutch press….tellingly?
The people of Ghana will be glad to have the opportunity to give the chief peace with a proper ceremony…
Read the entire story by Francis Kokutse in the African Press blog:
Among today’s Twitter trendy topics I want to share this little story with you:
An ex tenant in Chicago twitters about a bad experience she had with a Chicago based Landlord. The landlord sues her seeking $ 50,000 in damages.
The Chicago Sun Times came with the news. Mashable picked it up.
The sheep in Twitterville are deeply upset about the Landlord who allegedly commented “We’re a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization,”
Now, again according to Mashable, the Landlord comes with a press release:
For Immediate Release
July 28, 2009
The following statement can be attributed to Company X [name deleted ed.]
The response to our libel lawsuit has been tremendous. We would like to take this opportunity to clarify some confusion concerning the circumstances surrounding our lawsuit against Mrs B [name changed ed.]
I would first like to take this opportunity to apologize for tongue in cheek comments that were made previously regarding our approach to litigation. This statement is not in line with our philosophy towards property management and was taken out of context.
I need to set the record straight on a number of issues.
The facts that gave rise to this Twitter lawsuit were discovered in the course of due diligence relating to a class·action lawsuit first filed by Ms. B. [ed.] relating to alleged Chicago Residential Landlord Tenant Ordinance (RL TO) violations. It is our position that this lawsuit is completely baseless and was waged merely as a pretext to address an underlying disagreement that Ms. B. had with regards to her apartment. This is a classic example of tenants trying to manipulate the controversial RL TO for their benefit.
No mold was ever found but her unit was one of several that experienced an overnight leak during roof repairs in late March 2009 caused by an error made by an external contractor. At that time. we immediately contacted all affected tenants to assess and resolve any reported water damage that occurred during these repairs. Ultimately, all tenant grievances were quickly and amicably resolved, except Ms. B.[ed.]
She moved out of her unit on her own volition June 30, 2009 at which time there was no evidence of mold in her apartment.
On June 24th, much to our surprise given her previous silence. Mrs B sued X, and we are currently defending this claim which. again, we believe has no merit. In conducting our due diligence into this matter, we identified B.’s [ed.] public Tweet regarding mold and acted to protect our reputation just as we would for any other related comment made in a public forum.
As you can imagine, allegations of mold are taken very seriously by our organization . We are proud of the fact that Company X [ed.] is recognized as one of Chicago’s premiere apartment leasing and management companies because we understand the importance of quality customer service and a well·maintained living environment.
We look forward to presenting our side of this matter before the court and putting the unfounded accusations of a single, former tenant behind us so we can focus on continuing to serve our more than 1,500 existing tenants throughout the Chicagoland area . ~
So there is more than just a claim for one tweet…. However it is once more a warning sign:
Be always careful what and how you communicate on the world wide web: The lady in question will shed some tears as well as the Landlord who made the “tongue in cheek” comment…. same counts for hotel reviews… I’ve read already about a case in Florida about a hotel suing a reviewer because he had insinuated the hotel was gaining from improper guest behavior (Unfortunately I forgot to jot down the corresponding links)….
Latest edit July 30, 2009:
Originally I had embedded a scribd version of the press release as provided by Mashable. However in checking my code at W3 org I noticed the scribd embedding code created a lot of errors while I have enough eroors to cope with already…. Now I copied and pasted the original scribd file.
Two Dutch University Teams have unveiled their new solar cars for the 2009 Australian World Solar Challenge (the 10th Challenge).
The WSC runs over 3,000 km from Darwin in North Australia to Adelaide in South Australia. The start will be on October 25, 2009.
Nuon Solar Team of TU Delft
The Nuon Solar Team consisting of 14 undergraduates from TU (Technical University) Delft, led by coach Wubbo Ockels, the only Dutch Astronaut, here left on the photo, have unveiled their entry for the unofficial world championship for solar cars. Nuna5 is ready for the team’s 5th title!
As the Nuon Solar Team has won 4 prior editions, their competitors will be putting every effort in beating them in this challenge. At first glance it seems that the Nuna5 is a further development of proven technology as could be found in its predecessor Nuna4
Twente University Solar Car Team
Twente University Solar Car Team Solar Team Twente will probably be one of the closest competitors of the Nuon Solar Car Team. Here is a video animation of it’s 2009 solar car:
They have refined two innovations of their former model: The cantilever wing design that enables them to turn the wing with solar cells to the sun and the Fresnel lenses to get more sun rays on the solar cells.
Some WSC History
To me it seems very odd that the “Official WSC Site” gives hardly any information about the 2009 edition.
The event evolved from an experiment by Danish-born adventurer Hans Tholstrup who, sponsored by BP, designed the world’s first solar car, called Quiet Achiever, in which he completed the BP Solar Trek, traversing the 4052 km (2,518 miles) between Sydney and Perth in 20 days. That was the precursor of the World Solar Challenge originally held every three years to one held every two years.
After the 4th race Hans Tholstrup sold the rights to the state of South Australia (source World Solar Challenge Wiki).
Results from the former editions:
1987
1st Place General Motors “Sunraycer” (USA) average speed 66.9 Km/h
2nd Place Ford Australia “Sunchaser” (AUS) average speed 44.48 Km/h
3rd Place Biel College of Engineering (CH) average speed 42.93 Km/h
1990
1st Place Biel College of Engineering (CH) average speed 65.18 Km/h
2nd Place Honda “Dream” (Japan) average speed 54.67 Km/h
3rd Place University of Michigan (USA) average Speed 52.53 Km/h
1993
1st Place Honda “Dream” (Japan) average Speed 84.96 Km/h
2nd Place Biel College of Engineering (CH) average speed 78.27 Km/h
3rd Place Kyocera “Son of Sun” (Japan) average speed 70.76 Km/h
1996
1st Place Honda “Dream II” (Japan) average speed 89.76 Km/h
2nd Place United High Schools of Biel (CH) average speed 86 Km/h
3rd Place Aisin Seiki “Aisol III” average speed 80.7 Km/h
1999
1st Place Aurora “Aurora 101″ (AUS) average speed 72.96 Km/h
2nd Place Queens university “Radiance” (CAN) average speed 72.17 Km/h
3rd Place University of Queensland “Sunshark” (AUS) average speed 71.68 Km/h
2001
1st Place Nuna “Alpha Centauri” (NL) average speed 91.81 Km/h
2nd Place Aurora “Aurora 101″ (AUS) average speed 90.26 Km/h
3rd Place University of Michigan (USA) average speed average speed 87.37 Km/h
2003
1st Place Nuon “Nuna II” (NL) average speed 97.02 Km/h
2nd Place Aurora “Aurora 101″ (AUS) average speed 91.90 Km/h
3rd Place MIT “Tesseract” (USA) average speed 90.20 Km/h
2005
1st Place Nuon “Nuna III” (NL) average speed 102.75 Km/h
2nd Place Aurora “Aurora 101″ (AUS) average speed 92.03 Km/h
3rd Place University of Michigan “Momentum” (USA) average speed 90.03 Km/h
2007 (NB lower average speeds due to 25% smaller solar panels)
1st Place Nuon “Nuna 4″ (NL) average speed 90.87 Km/h
2nd Place Umicore “Umicar Infinity” (Belgium) average speed 88.05 Km/h
3rd Place Aurora “Aurora 101″ (Australia) average speed 85 Km/h
A New Name: Global Green Challenge:
Ah….It turns out there is a new site and a new name on the block which gives much more information: The Global Green Challenge. Apparently the event has evolved. This is the new logo:
I believe that all parties involved have a task in bettering their communication. Teams involved communicate in their local languages and there are many loose ends.
The weather was gorgeous for the Queensnight. Everybody enjoyed it and then there was Queensday with the same glorious weather that ended in tragedy. Shortly before noon, when the Queen toured the city of Apeldoorn (45 km east of Amsterdam), a lunatic decided to crash his car into the watching crowd and came to halt within spitting distance of the open bus with the Queen and the Royal Family. At this moment 17 injured of which 5 heavily injured and 5 death persons. What a tragedy. My thoughts are with those people.
There were many cameras and TV cameras covering this horror, providing the world with horrible photos and TV footage showing people flying around when they were hit by the car, but I’ll share just one photo of the Queen whose day it was supposed to be. It shows the horror just after the crash. In front of the Queen you see her younger sister Princess Margriet and directly behind her Princess Maxima, the wife of her son Prince Willem Alexander. All festivities came grinding to a halt.
Approximately 11.3110.31hr AM local time a plane of Turkish Airlines crashed shortly before landing on Amsterdam Schiphol Airport (AMS).
According to an eyewitness and this picture there was no sliding or skidding. The plane didn’t have enough speed and literally fell out of the air. Immediately passengers started to leave the plane.
There are some bodybags, probably 4 to 5 dead and many wounded people.
I found it tremendously good news that with their second attempt Earthrace succeeded to circumnavigate the world with bio fuel in a record time. See their Blog for the day to day coverage of this adventure.
As I said in my prior post I’ll try to be as concise as possible when pondering 2008 and will be spilling my thoughts over several posts.
I enjoyed the year tremendously, despite the economic crisis.
Three most important worldnews Items of 2008 to my view:
I tend to stay away from most of the news. That may change in the near future, as (according to Alltop) I’m now a respected news source for The Netherlands.
A new President for the USA
I believe Mr. Obama will put the USA again on the map where it belongs: A Super decent Super Power as a role model. His choice of ministers gives a strong impression of his will to bridge differences rather than to enhance them. This maybe wishful thinking from a guy who grew up in the “Polders” (i.e. reclaimed land) with our famous “Polder Model” (i.e. endlessly discussing the differences until almost everybody agrees to a solution).
The Olympics in China
The Olympics did a tremendous job for China to make it more visible in the world as it should be. I particularly liked the impressive and impeccable organization of the spectacle including rockets to keep the rain away in stead of the students. I love the new Herzog Meuron “Knotted Olympic Stadium” I have a feeling the authorities have become a little more relaxed about freedom of speech partly because of the protests by the athletes and the press. I was proud to see my own small country The Netherlands ending relatively high in the medal count.
The bankruptcy of the financial institutions
I have always learned from my forebears that you shouldn’t trust bankers, although they are usually immaculately dressed. Almost all have proved a tremendous lack of due diligence. The bailing out of the financial institutions may be wise to prevent 1929/30 alike situations, but I have a strong feeling we have to get rid of all bankers. Kick all incompetent dummies out. Let’s start fresh from zero, scratch, zilch. Let banks be led by sensible diligent housewives who know how to flip a dime three times before spending it and who I trust not to spend anything on derivative nonsense. I’m not even talking about the hedge fund managers and the like: Back in the 60ies to 80ies we used to call them corporate raiders. In fact they are mere buccaneers or even thugs. Although I strongly disagree with the ideas behind Guantanamo Bay, I believe that’s a place they belong while their fortunes should be confiscated and used to curb the losses in bailing out the economy. I’m not a communist and neither a socialists, but the lesson of 2008 is that most financial guys have crossed the line and we (and particularly our “leaders”) all stood there and let them do it. I hope 2009 will be give us much more of “Back to Basics”. Let’s throw the greed out of the window!
