A bit more than 1 year ago Danny posted a video on YouTube that changed his life. Since the video went live (got more than 21 million views so far), Danny MacAskill found himself featured in The New York Times, was nominated for the action Sportsperson of the Year Category of the Laureus World Sports Awards this year and has managed to shoot another impressive video. Here are Danny’s words about what happened in the last year: “I still can’t believe the first video reached so many people that actually liked it and passed it on. I mean, even Lance Armstrong thought it was a must see! Now I get to make another, even crazier video and basically ride my bike as a job. It doesn’t get any better than this.”
Welcome to Madurodam (map), the smallest town in the Netherlands. If you want to feel like Gulliver for one day, then that’s the place for you. Even though children are most enthusiastic about Madurodam, grown-ups enjoy their time there too. The smallest city in the Netherlands offers you a tour of the most important and famous places around the country.
The amusement park has actually a very interesting story: it is also a war memorial. It was open in 1952 to commemorate war hero and resistance fighter George Maduro who died in 1945 in a concentration camp. The parents of the Dutch hero financed the miniature town, intending to donate the profits to the Students Sanatorium.
Even though we’re dealing with a tiny city, its importance cannot be neglected. Princess Beatrix was the first mayor of Madurodam, holding this position until her coronation in 1980. Every year after that, a new mayor has been chosen by the youth municipal council of Madurodam, which consists of 22 secondary school students from The Hague.
The replicas you can find in this city are 25 times smaller than in reality. To be honest, the city seems quite real because everything was exactly replicated. The models are made of synthetic materials (some of them are 30 years old) and the green areas are real. According to Madurodam’s site, they employ 35 full time people just to take care and build the models. The ING office complex, for example, took approximately 4 years to be erected.
I personally had a great time checking all those models and seeing this complex city with railway systems, lakes, highways, airports, sea ports, windmills, and small towns. I did feel like Gulliver for one day. Here’s a hint of what you can see there…
Food miles are strongly associated with products’ carbon footprint, but most of the time a direct correlation not being the case. While carbon footprint is an indicator of environmental impact, the food miles address the distance food is being transported from its production point to the end consumer. Food miles are not an adequate indicator of sustainability and the issue is that they do not take into account the mode of transport, the method of production, the way the product is packaged, or other factors that have their own impact on carbon dioxide emissions.
Unfortunately, many consumers directly associate a higher number of food miles to higher carbon dioxide emissions. In this case, in order to have an objective and clear view of a product’s environmental impact is to look at the carbon footprint across the whole supply chain. The use of fossil fuels in production, packaging, transportation, and storage of a product is the factor that contributes heavily to a product’s carbon footprint.
Looking at the production process, we turn our heads towards distant countries which might have more efficient and cleaner production of some products than European countries. For example, in the northern countries the weather is not favorable for growing more temperature-sensitive vegetables. Onions, tomatoes or flowers are demanded by consumers throughout the whole year. In order to meet the demand, local producers have to grow them in heated greenhouses, which have a higher carbon footprint than those grown and imported from warmer countries. Even including the transportation emissions of those products, the carbon footprint is still lower in a country where there are no tractors and no chemicals used in the growing process.
Still in the production/growing process we have to take into account the type and quantity of energy used. Some countries obtain pollution free energy, with a very small percentage of energy coming from coal or gas, where other countries strictly rely on energy coming from fossil fuels.
Transportation does not necessarily make a product’s carbon footprint higher. Depending on the type of transportation used, the same product coming from two distinct places can have very different levels of carbon footprint. Container ships are the most efficient mode of transportation, having significantly lower emissions than air or road transport. This means that, in general, products coming from abroad on a ship can have a smaller carbon footprint than the local products (transported by trucks) even though they have a larger number of food miles. More than that, sea transport does not require the building of highways, therefore preventing the destruction of CO2 absorbing and oxygen producing vegetation.
A good sketch of the difference between food miles and carbon footprint of a product is made by Alastair Plumb in Food Miles: Does Distance Matter?. He gives an example of air-freighted fresh flowers from a sub-Saharan African country into UK. The roses produced in Kenya are grown outside, manually harvested, and with no other heating required. On the other hand, roses produced and imported from the Netherlands into UK require five times more energy due to the fact that they are usually grown inside and under heat-lamps. Even though the rose made in Netherlands has significantly lower food miles, the one produced in Kenya has 5 times lower carbon foot print, taking into consideration both the mode of transport and method of production.
Of course local production is good but trade is good as well, especially if you consider the impact on Mother Earth.
If you ask me, every country should promote itself through a time lapse journey. I can’t think of a better way to visualize the best places to visit, unless it’s some 3D technology that can take you there. The Japan time lapse gives me goosebumps. The images and the sounds are just perfect. If you enjoyed it at least as much as I did, you can actually help Brad Kremer, the author of this movie, to continue his wonderful project. More details here. Good luck Brad! Looking forward to seeing more beautiful time lapses.
Wal-Mart, the biggest American retailer, has a huge impact not only on the local economy but on the global one as well. The company’s strategy of having the lowest prices (which is not always necessarily true) seems to have much more implications than I thought. In a documentary entitled Is Wal-Mart good for America?senior producer and correspondent for Frontline, Hedrick Smith, emphasizes on the fact that a low cost for a Wal-Mart customer is actually a higher cost for many other stakeholders, mainly referring to the American economy.
Wal-Mart was one of the first retailers to discover and leverage the power of information hidden in the barcode of every product on their shelves. The black and white stripes hold an encyclopedia of information, from tracking sales throughout the time to product and inventory information. This gave Wal-Mart a competitive advantage making it an efficiency machine: it allowed them to speed up deliveries from plants to shelves (the retailer has a high turnover and low inventories). In this way, Wal-Mart became a world leader in logistics, giving them the edge to change the way goods are produced: a shift from “push production” to “pull production” where the retailer is the one calling the shots – the manufacturer is being told what and when to produce.
An interesting story presented in the documentary refers to the relationship between Rubbermaid and Wal-Mart. Changes in the market made Wal-Mart Rubbermaid’s most important customer since it significantly contributed to its growth in a very short period of time. Their relationship went well until the moment when the price of a production material went up. Wal-Mart, a strictly cost focusing company, did not accept the price increase for the Rubbermaid products, which lead to less shelf space for the supplier. This case reflects the risks a supplier takes when focusing too much on a single customer with such a big market share. Having such a high negotiation power, Wal-Mart can always go for the best deal, most of the times bargaining for an amount as low as 1 cent.
Lately, the markets became more and more competitive among suppliers in their quest of getting on retailers’ shelves. China, the world’s supermarket for the production market, has a lot to do with Wal-Mart’s strategy to keep costs as low as possible. 80% of Wal-Mart’s suppliers are Chinese, and that’s a lot of pressure on American producers. In order to sell in a Wal-Mart, a supplier has to be very competitive in finding ways of cutting costs. In most of the cases, the place where that is possible is actually China. This is now a global trend. More and more companies are moving their operations in Asian countries in order to cut costs and stay competitive. Some countries are trying to protect their own manufacturers by introducing import duties.
The bottom line is that Wal-Mart offers consumers a wide range of products at very low prices at the expense of putting people out of work and lowering living standards. Unfortunately this is not the only case, major European retailers are heading the same way but so far I don’t think they have such a big impact. It’s not a surprise anymore to see that the cheapest wines in a supermarket come from South Africa.
Even though it was made in 2004, this is truly an interesting documentary to watch. Most of the situations described in the movie actually intensified with the arrival of the financial crisis in 2008. You can watch the 5 chapters of the documentary here.
It’s about time Ken Block comes up with new awesome stunts in his Ford Fiesta (watch the presentation video). Even though the WRC season wasn’t great for him, Ken still hasn’t lost his touch when it comes to drifting and stunting. This time the action takes place in France, just South of Paris on an oval track called l’Autodrome de Linas. This 2.5 km long oval track was built in 1924 and it features banks as steep as 51 degrees. If you compare it to the NASCAR ovals, this is more than double the inclination.
Did I mention that the Fiesta was prepared by the Swedish from Olsbergs Mse developing 650 HP and reaching 100km/h in 1.9 seconds? Enjoy! Thanks Andrei for sharing this
And so I landed in the country of canals, marijuana, bikes, tulips, and under-the-sea-level living. It’s been more than 2 weeks since I have moved here, so I can tell you a bit about my first impressions.
Rotterdam looks like a nice and clean city to live in, with plenty of canals around. It does rain a lot and people say it actually rains more than in London. Even though you’re surrounded by water, I haven’t spotted many puddles on the sidewalks. Good job with the sewerage system. Other than that, there are some “strange” facts about this place, at least they’re strange for someone who lived most of the time in Eastern Europe.
As you probably know, Netherlands is a very bike friendly country with many bike paths and rights for their riders. Almost everyone rides a bike here: from kids to business people and old women carrying their groceries. What I didn’t know, and had to learn it the hard way, was that bike theft is also pretty popular. Last week I got a second-hand bike and it got stolen the second day. I did have a lock on it and it was parked right in front of the dorm. So, if you plan to come to Netherlands, get a cheap second hand bike, an expensive and thick lock, and try not to leave your bike outside, not even during the day – mine was stolen sometime in the afternoon.
Cars are also attractive to thieves. I have noticed that people here leave the glove compartment open so that potential thieves can see there’s nothing they can go for in the car. Unfortunately, a Romanian colleague found out about this the unpleasant and scary way. It looks like someone broke in his car and Police towed his car to a safe place. That’s the procedure here if Police finds out about it before you do. It’s all nice till the part when you have to pay 180 Euros to get your car back…
Another important aspect about living in the Netherlands is related to the money used here. I was ready to pay my bill using a 100 Euro banknote and I got a big No-No from the cashier. If you have 100, 200, and 500 Euro banknotes there is a pretty high chance that no one will accept them as a method of payment. I know it’s money, but I guess for different reasons – security?? – they don’t want to accept those banknotes. In some supermarkets they do accept 100 Euro bills, Albert Heijn for example. So, if you have your pockets full of 500 Euro banknotes, head to a bank and break them in 50s. That should work everywhere.
You should also know that Dutch people love cards. So far I have a public transport card – OV – chipkaart works for buses, trams, and the subway; a printing card, and a laundry card sitting next to bank cards in my wallet. Netherlands uses an electronic cash system called Chipknip that can be used for small payments. In order to do the laundry in my dorm I need a Chipknip friendly card so that I can buy tokens. Of course the international chip debit cards don’t work with this system, so I have to open a bank account here. After I get my Dutch chip-debit card I need to go to the loading points of Chipknip to charge it. Eventually, I get back to the dorm and buy tokens with this card, tokens that I can use for the laundry. There is an alternative, of course, prepaid Chipknip card, but it’s hard to find selling points and it is more expensive. Even though this might be rudimentary for the Dutch students, it’s more cumbersome for the international ones since we’re new around here.
So far my overall impression is that Netherlands is a well systematized country, clean, well organized, with good infrastructure, well maintained cars, and with a bit too much bureaucracy. People are polite and helpful, modest (haven’t seen too many SUVs here), and most of them – if not all – speak English. Since I was talking about systematization, check out what I ran into yesterday. Pretty cool, right?!
The second day of Rally Bulgaria started early Saturday, first car getting on tarmac at around 7:30. Unfortunately, we were a bit late and didn’t get to see the first runners. The good part though was that, at one point, we intersected with Kimi Raikkonen on the way to the 5th stage – Sestrimo. Being overtaken by a rally car and Formula 1 champion gives you goose bumps, especially when he starts warming up his tires in front of you. We even got to see Kimi pretty close, since we stopped next to the starting point. To be honest, if I didn’t know Kimi I wouldn’t say he’s a Formula 1 champion – he looked like a boy happy to play with his car that day.
After seeing half of the stage 5 in Sestrimo, we decided to catch stage 7 as well – Lybnitsa. After struggling to get there – closed road, no parking, pretty much sucky organization – the FIA safety delegate decided to cancel the stage on safety grounds because of large indisciplined spectators. I am not going to judge those people yelling “We’re in Bulgaria”, read it like in “We can do whatever we want”, but they should know that pushing a WRC stage to be cancelled is mainly stupid, if not retarded. Nevertheless, this way we got to see the cars driving at a lower pace and managed to take pretty close photos by almost staying in the middle of the road.
Being disappointed by the cancellation, we headed back to Sestrimo where, due to the 27 minute delay, we managed to catch the whole party from a better spot – straight line followed by a narrow curve with plenty of space for spectators. The lightning speed of the cars, the burning smell of the brakes, and the outrageous sound that hits you in the chest make your heart beat faster dreaming of becoming a small Loeb.
A couple of tips for future rallies:
Spectator tickets were not mandatory. You can easily get to some good spots without having to buy tickets. We used our tickets for 1 stage only, even though we got to see 3.
Parking tickets were useless. They sell an unlimited number of parking tickets, the parking space being limited and very small. Unless you go 2-3 hours before the start, you don’t get inside the parking. We found places in the village or on the side of the road.
Be careful where you stay. A good place for you might not look so good in the eyes of the marshals and they might move you somewhere else. Ask some official before you decide to take a spot.
Still in the production/growing process we have to take into account the type and quantity of energy used. Some countries obtain pollution free energy, with a very small percentage of energy coming from coal or gas, where other countries strictly rely on energy coming from fossil fuels.
Wal-Mart, the biggest American retailer, has a huge impact not only on the local economy but on the global one as well. The company’s strategy of having the lowest prices (which is not always necessarily true) seems to have much more implications than I thought. In a documentary entitled 
