Snowy roads in the Netherlands may be smelling sweet this winter

by Katie Hammel on

There seems to be a major salt shortage in the Netherlands this winter. According to Radio Netherlands Worldwide, the country normally uses about 70,000 tons of salt to de-ice the roads each winter. So far this year, over 100,000 tons have already been spread on icy roads around the country. If the temps don’t warm up fast, the Netherlands could run out of road salt.

To combat the shortage, some cities are using sand, which doesn’t work as well and is not good for the roads. But at least one town has gotten a little more creative. The town of Etten-Leur has spread 18 tons of scented bath salts on its roads in an effort to keep them ice-free.

So, if you find yourself driving in the Netherlands, you may notice the roads smelling a little sweeter than normal. According to the news report, the “coloured bath salts smell of lavender, green tea and mango.”%Gallery-79319%

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A short primer for Aruba rubes

by Aaron Hotfelder on

I’ll admit it: I didn’t know precisely where Aruba was until I had already decided I’d spend a week there last month. What language did they speak in Aruba? I wasn’t quite sure of that either. Major cities? Um, Aruba City? Needless to say, I was a complete Aruba rube.

Because I fear many of you are equally in the dark about this Dutch Caribbean island, and to go along with my post, “5 things to do in Aruba other than working on your tan,” I thought I’d offer a very brief primer on Aruba. So here goes:

  • In a nutshell: Famous for its miles of white sandy beaches, top-notch hotels and restaurants, and a rocky, deserted national park in the north, Aruba is one of the Caribbean’s most-visited tourist destinations.
  • Location: In the southern Caribbean Sea, only 17 miles(!) north of Venezuela.
  • Size: About 21 miles long, four miles wide
  • Capital and largest city: Oranjestad
  • Principal towns: San Nicolas, Noord, Santa Cruz
  • Currency: The Aruban Florin (US dollars are accepted everywhere)
  • Population: 103,000
  • Languages: Dutch and Papiamento are the official languages. Papiamento is a creole language derived from Portuguese and influenced by Spanish, English, and African languages, among others. English is widely spoken in Aruba.
  • Neighbors: The islands of Bonaire and Curaçao, which together with Aruba make up the “ABC Islands.” (Get it?)
  • Wait, isn’t Aruba Dutch or something: Why, yes it is. The Netherlands Antilles, Aruba, and The Netherlands form the Kingdom of the Netherlands. This means Arubans have Dutch passports and Aruba, though an autonomous region, does not have its own military.
  • Finally, is there anything to do in Aruba? Oh yes, plenty. For five of the best things to do, check out this post.

Step 1: Set camera’s self-timer for 2 seconds. Step 2: Push button. Step 3: Run away.

by Aaron Hotfelder on


“The rules are simple,” writes a photographer who goes by muggezifter (roughly “nit-picker”). “I put the self-timer on 2 seconds, push the button and try to get as far from the camera as I can.”

Over at the aptly-named blog Running from Camera, muggezifter has collected dozens of photos, mostly taken in his adopted hometown of Rotterdam, where he follows just this rule. Check out his excellent Flickr set here.
As I conducted a very modest amount of research for this post, I discovered that this idea has actually been done before. Photographer John Divola released a book in 2007 called As Far as I Could Get, which appears to be the inspiration for muggezifter‘s blog. (He links to Divola’s work prominently.) The major difference is that in Divola’s book, the photographer sets the camera’s self-timer for 10 seconds before taking off.

For any of you aspiring photographers out there in Blog-land, I know a sure-fire way to get your photo featured as Gadling’s Photo of the Day. Step 1: Set camera’s self-timer for two seconds. Step 2: Push button. Step 3: Run away. [Step 4: Don’t forget to upload your photo to the Gadling Flickr pool.]

The Netherlands to start full body scans of all US bound passengers

by Scott Carmichael on

The Dutch government held a press conference this morning announcing their plans to beef up security at Amsterdam Schiphol airport.

Within three weeks, fifteen bodyscan machines will be in place (sources say the machines are the Rapiscan Secure 1000 scanners), and a 100% screening of all US bound passengers may help prevent a repeat of the Northwest Airlines incident.

See – THIS is how you tackle security. Something happens, and within 3 weeks, you implement the technology required to prevent it from happening again. I’m not a big fan of the bodyscanners, but given how the terrorists are operating, I don’t see any other solution, short of asking people to fly naked.

Government officials made it clear that only one person will be able to view the scanner screen at a time, and that images can not be stored. The initial implementation requires border protection police staff to view the screens, but the next version will be fully automated, and a computer will determine whether any items are on your body that require closer scrutiny.

Of course, the Dutch privacy groups are very much against the scanners. My biggest concern is that images of naked children leak out, and make their way into the hands of pedophile groups. If governments are indeed going to start an accelerated roll out of these scanners, they’d better be 100% sure they protect our privacy – if they screw this up (and chances are, they will), the backlash will be fierce.

Amsterdam Schiphol airport in damage control mode after terror attempt

by Scott Carmichael on

If you want a surefire way to have the international aviation community look down on your airport, all you need to do is make the news as “the airport” where a terror attempt originated.

Amsterdam Schiphol is the airport where yesterdays trouble may have started. I’m of course talking about the attempt at blowing up a Northwest Airlines/Delta Airlines plane bound for Detroit.

The Nigerian passenger started his trip in Lagos, but transited in Amsterdam, and that part of his trip is at the core of political question time in The Netherlands.

According to airport security officials, he probably arrived at Schiphol with the explosives already strapped to his legs, but current screening technology at the airport can’t detect non-metallic objects. European airports have been asking for full body scanners for several years, but the European Commission is blocking their implementation because of privacy concerns.

Assuming Schiphol acted correctly, and screened the passenger as demanded by the United States, the airport can’t be blamed for allowing the passenger to board. Part of the screening procedure is a “fly/no fly” permission system, and according to the airline, the United States greenlighted the Nigerian terrorist to fly to the States – even though he was on an international watch list.

If you are flying from Amsterdam to the United States, you’ll need to be prepared for long delays, as all US bound planes are undergoing enhanced screening procedures.