Greatest Dutch contributions to the world ?

[Maciamo]

After Japanese contributions and Belgian contributions, here come the Dutch contributions to the world.

The most notable Dutch inventions can be found here.

[mad pierrot]

beer, cheese, and New York. In that order.

[Miss_apollo7]

Liberal law, paintings and gouda cheese....I love gouda cheese!!!

[Duo]

liberal law, art, technology and also their great inventiveness in altering and manipulating their unfavorable land condition into their benefit. Great great engenering

[MasterGeek]

Microscope and telescope
Pendulum clock
Mercury thermometer
Electronic media (audio tape, video tape, CD, CD-ROM)


haha, everything scientific is on top of my list, worst contribution would be heineken...

[joel.lindgren]

Their cannabis legislation, nothing is of more importance.

[Meiki]

I don't think New York would have become New York if it was still in Dutch Hands.

[Meiki]

Van Gogh was inspired by japanese painting or woodblocks, something like that.

The scientific inventions are a great contribution.

[Dutch Baka]

Waaa im soo happy about this, thank you verry much !!!!!!!!!

well HEINEKEN for sure, if you see how big they are in the world!!!!!

cheese, yes i tasted australian cheese.. ( sorry guys) that was not nice.. we make nice cheese....

another thing that i miss is the water works.. the way we use water, making land, dams, etc etc... is amazing, as we will see the water rise because of the polar,,, you will see this things will be getting more important to the world!!!!

so this is the future contribution!!!

still i dont understand why we change NY , for surimane..( ... )


also our law, with canabis, is great.. i have never seen problems in amsterdam because of weed... ( of course we have with hard-drugs that is not legal..... well... some kind of xtc you can buy at the comercial party's here... Wierd)

but i think other countrys have much more problems because it is forbitten , then we have with it!!!! i think tourisme in amsterdam went up a lot.. ( just to many coffee shops around 800 in whole amsterdam...)

[Dutch Baka]

haha, everything scientific is on top of my list, worst contribution would be heineken...

why is heineken the worst??? they are still growing in the world.. as i know ( please tell me if i say wrong) they are the second biggest beer brewer in the world after budweizer..... i can see heineken everywhere in the world... at world party's , sport games, even in movie's!!!!!

so why is it the worst???

[Maciamo]

Van Gogh was inspired by japanese painting or woodblocks, something like that.

Don't see much similarity between Van Gogh and Ukiyoe (wood-block paintings). Anyway, the Japanese did not paint Van Gogh's works.

[DarkGhost]

Gouda cheese.

[Sensuikan San]

Well ... it certainly wasn't Gin ! Possibly the only drink I positively loathe ! And England, too, lays claim to it. But I still can't even stand the smell !

Van Gogh ?

In my opinion, the Dutch have made great contributions to the visual arts. The Dutch masters were just that - masters !

But why all the fuss about Van Gogh ? I always see him as one of the most overrated painters of all time ! He was psychologically disturbed (why else would you lop off an ear ... ?), a drunkard/drug addict (he ate his paints - cadmium is particularly nasty ...), and had the kindest, most concerned brother in the world (who seemed to spend his life writing out checks for Vincent ...).

Which would all be fine .... if I actually liked his work !

Dali was odd, too - but his work is superbly executed. Nearly all of the French Impressionists liked their absinthe from time to time (sometimes to excess..) - but just look at their pieces. Jackson Pollock was .... well, a little strange from time to time ... but - his work was original, not derivative.

"Sunflowers" ... is a pretty boring little painting !

Better to look at Vermeer, Rembrandt (...particularly Rembrandt...), Franz Hals ... or even Van Meegeren !

........am I ranting and getting "off - topic" .....?

I suspect I am .... so .... great Dutch contributions ....?

Civil Engineering - dyke construction and land reclamation.

(I used to live in England .... three feet below sea level.)

Thank God for the Dutch !

Regards

ƒWƒ‡ƒ“

[Mycernius]

There is one Dutch contribution to the world I wish they had never made. GATSO, better known as the speed camera. These little parasites have sprung up all over the place in the UK, ever since the government have said the police can use the revenue generated from them for themselves. Nottinghamshire, Northamptonshire and Staffordshire police seem to have fallen in love with the damn things. They are now refered to as revenue raisers in some areas, instead of speed or safety cameras.

[Dutch Baka]

that is dutch? wow didnt knew that.. sorry for that ... what most dutch ( angry) people always do is burn them!! hahaha



i dont think they are really that bad, just i think there on the bad positions... i mean on a straight way??? come on, put it before a corner or something.. when it is 3 in the night, and silent on the road. you dont want to drive 100km an hour...


Sensuikan San@ i agree with you, van gogh is boring ( i went to the museum , even my J-girl didnt liked it that much...) my fav painting would be the Night watch from Rembrandt then!!!! to bad they cut 2 pieces of on the side of it, because it didnt fit in a room!

the dykes are just amazing, after the 1953 water disaster the dutch builded special dams, and water constructions!!
for more photo's look here


but about the land reclamation, and drying it.. let pieces of land go lower even more! its great, but if the -5 meter change to 9 meter under sea level.. we Maybe could have a problem!!!! btw.. off topic i love the Kansai airport!! they build an island for it.. and to dont let it go down, it has a lift up construction!!!

[Pararousia]

I voted for "other" because of the way the Dutch keep their land above water...the New Orleaners could take a lesson or two from them!

[Tsuyoiko]

Good old Christian Huygens and Hans Lippershey get my vote.

[advigilo]

? sorry about the last thingie.

anyways i live in zeeland (SEALAND), so we are like 2 meters below sea level, and still getting lower.... so i am very happy with those special dams

best dutch contribution.. i cant choose...
but suriname was a great contribution, and perhaps HARLEM in the US?

[advigilo]

about the flitsers<--- what is it called in english? in our town the most of the time bump it with a car so it falls down and doesnt work anymore. what is nederland toch vindingrijk :P

[Dutch Baka]

? sorry about the last thingie.

anyways i live in zeeland (SEALAND), so we are like 2 meters below sea level, and still getting lower.... so i am very happy with those special dams

best dutch contribution.. i cant choose...
but suriname was a great contribution, and perhaps HARLEM in the US?

mmm i dont know about this... i just cant understand why we changed new york(new amsterdam) for suriname... no hard feelings.... harlem, brooklyn, and i believe qeeuns to...

btw.. Zeeland is a nice place to live!!!!! i dont think of green .. but i live in amsterdam hahaha

[X_Naruto]

Heineken!! My favourite!!!

Oh, and my aunt (by marriage) happens to be Dutch. ^^

[yakutatazu]

ho-hum.
I was unaware of a dutch-dude having invented CD's...

Heineken, BTW, sucks. Try Hertog Jan or Grolsch.

AND!
MY FIRST GREAT CONTRIBUTION TO THIS FORUM WILL BE:
a guide to living in Holland. not my own writing.

"The main form of public transportation in Holland is bikes. Feel free to take any bike of which you are able to pick the lock. Don't expect your own bike however to be where you left it three minutes earlier. The hunting season for bikes is open 365 days a year. Have fun.

The Dutch are supposed to be tolerant. They are not. They simply make too much money from the sale of soft- and hard-drugs, Malaysian women and pornography to foreigners to let an opportunity for making a good profit go by.

It is not necessary to show an interest in tulips, windmills, wooden shoes or cheese. Every Dutch men knows that you came for the soft drugs or the Amsterdam red light district, the Walletjes. Both are available in a large quantity and are easy to find.

There is a fast and guaranteed way of making a complete fool of yourself in Holland: Enter a coffee shop and ask for a cappuccino. Coffee shops do not -remember this- do not sell coffee. You can however get a good number of other stimulating drugs there. For some unknown reason coffee shops are extremely popular with French tourists.

Dutch men do not like to spend money; they'd sooner cut off their own ears. A Dutch men will become a friend for life if you give him something for free.

The story that copper wire is an invention of two Dutch men fighting over a found cent is absolutely true

Dutch leave their curtains open in the evening. This used to be so that the neighbours could always check if your family didn't gamble or drink alcohol. These days it is a precaution against junkies trying to steal the stereo from the family car, parked in front of the house. It has the fortunate side effect that you can watch Dutch men in their natural surroundings, in front of the television, watching soaps.

Dutch tap water is safe to drink. This is quite remarkable considering that most drinking water comes from polluted rivers like the Rhine. Plans to improve the quality of the river water, so that fish like salmon will return to Dutch rivers to spawn, can count on strong resistance from the Dutch don't like the idea of animals having sex in their drinking water."

yoinked from: http://vanbachum.over-blog.com/article-587263-6.html
censor if you feel like it.

(little secret: worst thing from Holland: their music. except maybe "watskeburt". I'm serious, guys like "Frans bouwer", who is huge in Holland, should be shot, burnt and flushed down a Zimbabwean toilet.)

[Dutch Baka]

why do you but this stuff on her? you really dislike the country you live in?

what city do you live in? btw whats wrong with a country there own lanquage songs? if you look at the top40 , around 50/60% of it is english, i am happy we still have some dutch left. but yeah wait 50 years or some, and no dutch will be spoken anymore

so if you would ask me, i dont think this is such a great contribution to the forum

[yakutatazu]

no no no, look, I have nothing against them (said songs) because they're dutch, I hate them to when in English or other languages, just it seems around 85% of the dutch songs produced are like that.

and you don't like the text I posted? well lighten up dude!
it's a joke and I just happend to think it was funny. so I thought I would share it with the rest of you, but no, you come along and pee all over it.

geesh.

(I do not hate all of Holland, realise that, please)

[Dutch Baka]

okay then we just had a misunderstanding...

I just thought it wasnt funny, most of what you said was true. but when you say this negative things *expect Watzkebeurt and Hertog Jan or Grolsch*, it feels like you dislike this country.

btw were do you live, where they just talk about cheese, and trekkers...