MONDAY, JULY 07
Dutch Rail to reduce train toilets
The number of toilets in trains and on railway stations is to be drastically cut back, the Telegraaf reports on Monday. Dutch Rail (NS) says scrapping a toilet allows it to build four extra seats in a train. The toilets are also rarely used and often vandalised, the company tells the paper.
Childless women
Over 25% of well-educated women born in 1960-1964 are childless, the same as women born in 1945-1949, says national statistics office CBS. But 15% of women with low levels of education born in the 1960s are childless, compared with 9% of those born in the 1940s.
TUESDAY, JULY08
Racoon plague
The agriculture ministry is to investigate the growing number of racoons in the Netherlands and what to do about them, says Tuesday’s AD. The racoons are invading the east of the country from Germany where they were introduced from North America in 1929. The paper says they eat just about anything and have no natural predators.
(I found the following racoon photo in wikipedia:)
Donald Duck tops students’ reading list
One in ten Dutch students reads the weekly comic Donald Duck, making it the most popular magazine among college and university goers, according to research by marketing bureau StudentServices. Students spend three hours a day watching tv and over five on the internet.
TNO
The TNO is never known by its formal name, which is Nederlandse Organisatie voor Toegepast Natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzoek (Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research). It was set up by parliamentary act in 1930 and its role is to ‘make innovation possible by translating scientific knowledge into practice’. It is based in Delft and employs 5,000 staff.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 09
Panda orphan
A baby red panda abandoned by its mother at Amsterdam’s Artis zoo has been adopted by a domestic cat which has just had four kittens. The cat is also feeding the panda, zoo officials told news agency ANP. Red pandas are an endangered species and part of a specialised breeding scheme.
(I remember to see red panda cage, I think, in Basel zoo. But it was empty and I was sad. I imagined to see a red version of common panda. Now I checked from wikipedia to see how they looked like: a bit disappointment. They very much look like racoons, and much smaller than common panda)
FRIDAY, JULY 11
Fake cigarette smell to mask sweat
A company in Groningen has developed a machine that bar owners can use to bring back the smell of cigarette smoke, after the smoking ban. ‘There is a need for an scent to mask the sweat and other unpleasant smells,’ Raymond Bolt of Rwin Showtechniek told the Telegraaf.
‘New train drivers go through red’
Many drivers for Connexxion and Veolia continue to drive through red signals, despite being warned to stick to the rules. This is leading to potentially extremely dangerous situations, the papers say. In one incident, a Connexxion train which went through red nearly collided with an NS intercity service, the paper says.
(This is surprising to hear from this country.)
Prince and family feel ‘unsafe’ in Argentina
During the short interview it also emerged that Máxima is not only a regular lunch time supervisor at her oldest daughter Amalia’s primary school but is also an official ‘nit mother’ and helps check Amalia and her classmates for head lice. Amalia also showed herself to have a mean left foot at football, ANP says.
statistics of the day
Fake euros
The number of fake euro notes found in the Netherlands in the first six months of this year has gone up by 20%, according to central bank figures. Some 72% of all false notes are €50 bills. Nearly 25,000 notes were seized, the bank says.
