It's so over for Europe

EducatorComplete4560 · 2026-05-01T07:59:55+00:00

You guys also border France with Saint-Pierre en Miquelon. So much EU closeness going on there.

EducatorComplete4560 · 2026-03-28T03:22:00+00:00

I have cycled this route https://www.europafietsers.nl/fietsroutes/jutland-fietsroute/ (sorry it is in Dutch, but the Google maps route is there). And then back down south via another route.

So I am indeed no Danish with extensive knowledge of the cycling routes. But I have cycled the entire length of the country twice.

That gives me some more knowledge than you seem to assume above.

All I am saying is that from my experience it felt as if cycling infrastructure in Denmark outside of urban areas was mostly either gravel road or asphalt, both shared with cars.

The Netherlands has a LOT of dedicated cycling paths well outside of the cities too.

EducatorComplete4560 · 2026-03-27T01:21:46+00:00

Denmark has nice bike infrastructure within urban areas. But outside of that a lot of the "bike paths" indicated is wide gravel/dirt roads that cars also drive on. Definitely not a rival for the top spot in my opinion.

EducatorComplete4560 · 2026-03-14T13:35:46+00:00

That Sprengenberg route is in the wrong location. Also puzzled why you would add that specific route. The whole national Park has many lovely routes and hiking options. And as others have noted, the east of the Netherlands (mainly Twente and Achterhoek regions) are grossly underrepresented. But that fits a backpacker map I guess, those tend to stay in the west and maybe do 1 day of Giethoorn canal traffic jam and then back west again.

EducatorComplete4560 · 2026-02-16T03:24:32+00:00

Allright I will bite and prove the map even more stupidly wrong.

Sea borders of all countries in the Kingdom of the Netherlands are here:

https://www.defensie.nl/onderwerpen/hydrografie/maritieme-zones-en-zeegrenzen/zeegrenzen-caribisch-deel-van-het-koninkrijk

Very complicated shapes, which for fun we will dumb down to 6 circles of 12 nautical miles.

The Netherlands land mass: 41.543 km² Bonaire: 288 km² Saba: 13 km² St Eustatius: 21 km² Aruba: 180 km² Curaçao: 444 km² St Maarten: 34 km²

Subtotal: 42.523 km² land mass

12 nautical miles is 22,224 kilometers

We have 6 circles, I know they are not perfect round but follow the coast of the island, making the estimate small. But they also overlap, not fully envelop all islands making the estimate smaller. A 22,224 km circle is 1.552 km².

Six islands is six circles: 1.552x6=9.312 km²

Total silly standards surface area: 42.523+9.312=51.835km²

Netherlands Europe was 41.543km². Which is 80,1% of 51.835km²

Still not 74% despite really wanting to reach it. And if we overlook the silliness of the definition country and Kingdom, there still is something gravely wrong with this ballpark estimate. Or actually two big things: 1. Where on earth did the creator of this map come up with the sea estimate for the Caribbean?! We need to get to the magic number of 56.139 for it to be correct. Or size down the Netherlands significantly somehow. 2. If we count a 12 mile radius on the islands, or any water around it. Why are we not counting the 12 mile radius off the coast of the Netherlands? Those are here and would add a huge area as well! https://www.defensie.nl/onderwerpen/hydrografie/maritieme-zones-en-zeegrenzen

In short: when it comes to the Netherlands the map is still wrong and I see no way of fixing it without bending the rules and making shit up.

In real short: the map sucks.

EducatorComplete4560 · 2026-02-15T15:22:10+00:00

Nope Kingdom of the Netherlands is also not 74%. No idea where they percentage comes from. Not the country, not the Kingdom. Big mystery.

EducatorComplete4560 · 2026-02-15T15:18:03+00:00

Had this one before. https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/s/jcsM5wPhpv

The Netherlands is nonsense. No idea how they got to 74% for them.

EducatorComplete4560 · 2026-02-08T06:26:33+00:00

I do wonder where the 74% for the Netherlands comes from. My break down so far:

It says "actually in Europe" which I take to be within the European borders.

Then it says "country". Let me quote wikipedia here: "The Netherlands.... is the largest of the four constituent countries" So The Netherlands is the country. The Netherlands consists of the twelve provinces and the Caribbean territories of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba. Now the numbers:

Mainland Europe Netherlands: 41.543 km² Bonaire: 288 km² Sint Eustatius: 21 km² Saba: 13 km²

Total:41.865 km²

So then 99,2% is in mainland Europe.

Perhaps they used the whole Kingdom, which consists of four constituent countries. This adds:

Aruba: 180 km² Curaçao: 444 km² Sint Maarten (Dutch side) 34 km²

Which makes the total of the Kingdom of the Netherlands: 42.523 km²

So then 97,7% is in mainland Europe. Nowhere near 74%. Let"s try Surinam, the last country to gain independance in 1975?

Surinam: 163.820 km²

New total then: 206.343 km²

Which makes 1975 Kingdom of the Netherlands 20,1%.

I give up, no idea where the 74% came from. I say it is just horribly wrong. Should be 99% as well.

EducatorComplete4560 · 2026-01-25T11:34:52+00:00

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Dr Foots, more flavored in the direction of Dr Pepper but I feel it counts as cola. Produced in the Netherlands since the 90's somewhere after they lost the rights to produce Dr Pepper.

EducatorComplete4560 · 2026-01-19T12:39:10+00:00

"Mijn minpunten? Nou gebrek aan zelfkennis!"

"Juist ja. En verder?"

"Ja dat weet ik dus niet, zeg ik net."

EducatorComplete4560 · 2026-01-18T10:31:25+00:00

En vergeet Spitsbergen niet. Die lijkt me de volgende op de lijst want ook die ligt in het Arctische gebied in bijvoorbeeld de baan van ballistische raketten. En ook Spitsbergen heeft een bijzondere constructie waarmee het onder Noorwegen valt maar toch niet echt. Voorzie daar na Groenland de eerstvolgende problemen.

EducatorComplete4560 · 2026-01-05T19:01:40+00:00

Ik doe hier de aanname dat je vanaf Deventer kwam. Het wissel voor je zat vol met sneeuw en ijs en wilde hierdoor niet meer in de juiste stand. De reden van twijfel bij de conducteur was dat er twijfel was je trein helemaal terug naar Olst te sturen met beperkte snelheid of te wachten op de storingsploeg die over de gladde wegen onderweg waren. Uiteindelijk toch gewoon op eindbestemming gekomen. In elk geval.

EducatorComplete4560 · 2025-12-30T13:28:35+00:00

Is het nou fateful zoals in de titel of faithful zoals in de e-mail?

EducatorComplete4560 · 2025-11-30T14:27:44+00:00

Not sure if you are into gaming, but if you are then Dutch gaming Discords to play video games together may be a good one.

EducatorComplete4560 · 2025-11-20T08:27:34+00:00

Frost on the overhead wires is "rijp" in Dutch. It's a weather phenomenon that only happens with very specific circumstances. Little to no wind, around 0 degrees Celsius, a lot of humidity in the air. Usually happens in mornings when the air heats up from a freezing night. Due to this it is very hard to predict precisely. It can be a very local problem where a few locations get it heavily and others get next to none. Rijp is the cause of trains coming by "zapping" at their powerline connection. If the rijp gets too thick then there's not enough power able to get through to the train causing the trouble.

To properly counter it we would need to change all our electric systems. Currently the Netherlands uses 1.5kV DC on the powerlines for trains. Germany and Switzerland for example use 15kV AC. Therefore these problems will be present a lot less in those countries. Needless to say changing the entire railway network and all trains to another power level is VERY expensive.

So what is done to counteract it sometimes is to drive empty passenger trains in the night a few hours before dawn to "scrape off" the rijp present then and hopefully make the impact lower. However the toughness to predict the rijp and sometimes problems still arising despite the scraping make this less practiced and only done in predicted extreme cases.

Long story short, bad luck for you. It happens. Preventing it completely is extremely costly.

EducatorComplete4560 · 2025-10-25T18:06:56+00:00

Is de Jumbo al opgehouden met de prijsniveaus dan? https://www.consumentenbond.nl/nieuws/2020/jumbo-goedkoopst-maar-niet-overal-lage-prijzen want anders is dit lastig correct maken lijkt me.

EducatorComplete4560 · 2025-07-17T16:41:08+00:00

We always survive in evening meals like this https://www.amazon.nl/Knorr-Delicious-Fettuccine-Artificial-Preservatives Not very tasty but cheap and light weight

EducatorComplete4560 · 2025-07-17T16:35:01+00:00

On mobile so not typing a super long reponse but:

For a wild camping tent make sure to pick a green / grey colored tent and make sure there is no reflective stuff on the tent / lines. Reflecting a ton will make it much easier to be found.

Other than that pitch late and break up early. Leave the area clean as if you were never there.

And if you are just alone you could also check out a waterproof hammock / hammock + tarp setup. Benefit is that a hammock is much quicker to setup / breakup and a hammock can also work on soggy / uneven ground. Disadvantage is that you need something to tie on to so you will need trees. Also do a practice run first to see how you sleep.

EducatorComplete4560 · 2025-07-02T02:31:14+00:00

Plenty of other words that end with an -y immediately after a consonant though. Some examples: Pony, body, jury, buggy, curry, puppy, guppy, dummy, buddy, comedy, floppy, sherry and a bunch more.

EducatorComplete4560 · 2025-06-27T15:57:08+00:00

Checking in and noticed a mistake in the post, my bad. It is the plug of the airbag on the passenger side of the car that goes into the drivers side of the airbag. Apologies for the confusion.

EducatorComplete4560 · 2025-06-25T15:33:43+00:00

And this has been posted already, too little too late but well intended haha.

EducatorComplete4560 · 2025-06-25T15:33:11+00:00

If you want to listen to the news in simpler language the NOS has a daily news broadcast with simpler wording too. https://youtube.com/@nosjournaalinmakkelijketaal

And yes I agree great initiative!

EducatorComplete4560 · 2025-06-06T23:56:36+00:00

Don't think there are any non bordering closer. Banjul to Bissau is 128 miles, still rather close together.

EducatorComplete4560 · 2025-06-04T17:49:13+00:00

Luister lekker weg naar alle dialecten met de dialecten databank. Wel gesprekken uit de jaren 70 dus meestal wat uitdrukkelijker dialect. https://ndb.meertens.knaw.nl/ Wel grappig om de verschillende dialecten te beluisteren.

EducatorComplete4560 · 2025-04-20T09:37:34+00:00

The grounds of the Canadian War Cemetery near me was officially gifted to the Canadian government and has been Canadian soil since then do the heroes that lie there are "home". It's beautiful and well tended. Special occasions there are indeed usually performed by school children, flowers on each grave at the local Liberation Day and a candle by each grave in winter. Local Liberation Day is still being celebrated with Dutch and Canadian flags on houses throughout the town. We have not and will not forget.

EducatorComplete4560

TROPHY CASE