The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam — which houses the world’s largest collection of the artist’s works, including one of his masterpieces “Sunflowers” — said it has reached a funding agreement with the Dutch Ministry of Culture that averts its threatened closure and “secures the future” of the institution.

The museum, one of Europe’s most popular art institutions, had long campaigned for additional government funding for what it said were essential renovations to help preserve its more than 200 paintings and nearly 500 drawings by Vincent van Gogh.

After a three-year feud that included often bitter negotiations and a legal complaint, the museum said in a statement last week that its future had been “secured.”

The museum and the culture ministry said that the details of the agreement, which was reached through mediation, were confidential.

Access full gift article, NO PAYWALL.

I’m absolutely furious and still shaking a bit.

​Earlier today, I was cycling down Amstelveenseweg on my bakfiets with my 6-month-old in the box, while my 5-year-old daughter was cycling in front of me. We are always really careful to stick to quiet back roads because she’s still young, but we have to use Amstelveenseweg for about 50 meters before turning right at the Trainmore.

​Right at that turn, some idiot on a fatbike decided to try and undertake both of us on the pavement. As my daughter turned right, he crashed straight into her.

​He gave a “very sorry,” but frankly, that’s worthless, and I told him exactly that. He endangered my kids because he thought it was acceptable to speed past a corner and undertake a child on the sidewalk. I pointed out that his cycling and anticipation skills were so poor that he caused a crash, and he actually tried to defend himself: “Yeah, but you were taking up the whole bike lane.” (We had just swerved …

Driving down a residential street today 20-25kmh - look in my rearview to see a kid aged around 11-12 on a fat bike approaching me at 40kmh, without peddling.

Look back, he’s now getting closer quite rapidly; he’s has pulled his phone out and is looking at it,.

I stop at a junction for a car; I watch helpless as fat bike kiddo rides into the back of me with some considerable force. So I’m out my car and tending to him; A few other people stop. Parents get called, papa turns up and is raging. He’s of the opinion that I’m at fault since I’m the driver, his son is the vulnerable road user so I’m 100% at fault.

Any ideas where to go with this one? I understand the vulnerable road user rule, but it feels a little off that I should be expected to repair his bike/phone and my own car etc. since I was stationary when he crashed into me.

@amsterdambells

Police issued a statement about Hadjar, a woman last seen around the RAI on October 4. The police said they were hesitant to release her name and photo, but now the case has more urgency. They have not said if there was a reason for the increased concern, other than she has been away for over a week.

Anyone with information can call the national tip line, 0800-6070, or the anonymous police line, 0800-7000.

For ages I translated even literally as “for a moment”, which worked until I started actually listening to how people use it.

Ik ga even naar de supermarkt. Kun je even helpen? Ik bel hem even. We gaan even kijken.

Then someone at work said he was going to “even” sort something out and disappeared into a meeting for almost an hour.

At that point I realised the duration is almost beside the point. Half the time even seems to make an action socially smaller rather than actually shorter. A request becomes less heavy, a plan sounds less dramatic, and something mildly inconvenient is presented as if we’re all just casually dealing with it.

Now I notice it constantly, and I’m also noticing how strangely blunt some perfectly grammatical Dutch sentences can sound without these tiny words. My textbook taught me verbs and word order, but apparently nobody warned me that a considerable amount of Dutch politeness is hidden inside words that look completely unnecessary on paper.

I …

Went to a small bakery on Saturday morning and walked into what looked like seven people randomly standing around a room.

One man was looking at the bread shelves. Two women were talking near the window. Someone was standing by the door holding a bicycle helmet. Nobody was forming anything resembling a queue.

I genuinely couldn’t tell who was waiting and who had already ordered.

Then the woman behind the counter asked, “Wie is er aan de beurt?”

A man pointed at the woman by the window.

She said, “Nee hoor, die meneer was eerst,” and pointed at someone else.

He ordered, stepped aside, and the whole thing continued.

When it was my turn, I hesitated because I wasn’t completely sure. Two people immediately told me I was next.

Nobody argued. Nobody tried to jump ahead. Apparently everyone had been silently keeping track of the order while appearing to pay absolutely no attention to each other.

It was weirdly impressive.

I’ve seen more …

Cheers to you all, we just finished up 10 days in the Netherlands and honestly it’s one of the best countries in Europe.

Here’s what we really appreciated while here:

1. Transport - absolutely on point, tap on/off with card, no stupid apps to download. Trains were punctual, fast, efficient and simple. You make Germany look like the third world in comparison.

2. Produce and restaurants- awesome quality food and produce and the variety was much better here than the rest of Europe which all leaned abit more ‘traditional’ in their offerings.

3. People - the stereotypes arent true, you guys are super friendly and easy to get along with especially as an Aussie you guys can definitely do banter.

4. Museums - you really show off your golden age. The museums and curations are phenomenal. Even the work to modernise most of the museums and galleries are very professional and well organised.

And for some niche ones:

1. Escape rooms - kinda niche but my god you guys do the best …

Time to poop in a bag and mail it to the government! Kinda gross, but I’m pretty sure colon cancer would be a much bigger pain in the ass. And it’s a much easier alternative to a colonoscopy.

If you get one of these in the mail, make like a protesting farmer in 2022 and deliver some manure to the government!

Hello, I’m active on r/seals and donated to the cause, but seems like donations were not enough.any of us joined and donated to make sure the 70 seal pups have a save heaven for them. If you can, please help and donate to Zeehondcentrum in the Netherlands and maybe those pups and seals in your country get a second chance. EDIT;

Article:

https://www.nu.nl/binnenland/6412937/stichting-zeehondencentrum-pieterburen-staat-op-het-punt-failliet-te-gaan.html

LINK TO MY ORIGINAL POST;

https://www.reddit.com/r/seals/s/ryDvznggkF

DONATION:

https://steun.zeehondencentrum.nl/donatie

IF YOU GET AN ERROR FOR PHONE NUMBER, JUST LEAVE THE FIELD EMPTY.