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Matthew Cook @matthew-cook.bsky.social · 3d

Dutch general elections are two weeks away and great fun for UK election nerds as it's basically the inverse of how the UK does it. These ad boards are up across the country listing all the parties running. Over a dozen of these could get seats. There are always new ones or ones I've not heard of.

A large billboard with 25 parties' posters, from normal and boring to incredibly mad

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Matthew Cook @matthew-cook.bsky.social · 5d

Fun afternoon yesterday at the Groen Doeners Fesitvaal at Oase in Rotterdam. Nature isn't in some farmers field, it's in the cracks between us all

An old harbour crane on the quayside, under are lots of people, trees and market stalls

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Matthew Cook @matthew-cook.bsky.social · 5d

On Friday I saw Transmutation at AFFR, 50 minutes of limestone mining, quarrying and processing. It was essentially a @machinepix.bsky.social super cut which was perfect after a long week's work
youtu.be/gV2O81SHJMU

TRANSMUTATION - Trailer - Bêka & Lemoine

YouTube video by Beka Lemoine

youtu.be

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Matthew Cook @matthew-cook.bsky.social · 5d

I spy Delft. I'm curious what you will be getting up to during your time here!

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Bruno Tonelli @brunotonelli.bsky.social · 17d

Just last week, in Milan...

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Matthew Cook @matthew-cook.bsky.social · 23d

the phrase the Boris Wave has been going around a bit but I only just realised what it meant. I had thought it was boriswave and I was imagining clips of a mop haired Johnson overlaid with a VHS filter and dreamy music, nostalgic for 2019

Matthew Cook @matthew-cook.bsky.social · 25d

Brits got a pretty easy ride in NL to get permanent residency post brexit, and it was still proper hard work to get it. The idea that ILR could be taken away from people who have made such a huge commitment to the UK is simply insulting.

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Matthew Cook @matthew-cook.bsky.social · Sep 16

My first memory of capital A Architecture is Grimshaw's RAC tower at the M5/M4 junction near Bristol. Seen from the back seat of a car it felt like the future. My appreciation for that building and all of Grimshaw's work has only grown over the years. Truly he was one of Britain's best architects.

The RAC regional control centre, a high tech tower of steel and glass, in the dusk light.
Image by Steve Franklin: https://www.flickr.com/photos/steve_franklin_images/22963146541

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Matthew Cook @matthew-cook.bsky.social · Sep 6

Not sure if you heard his interview with Emily Maitlis, he refused to answer questions on Careless People since he claims not to have read it and he didn't work for meta at the time. He then got shirty at any suggestion that maybe he should read it. It was all wholly unconvincing

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Matthew Cook @matthew-cook.bsky.social · Aug 28

Handig dat de oude Blokker waterkoker kapot gaat net nadat Blokker terug is

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Matthew Cook @matthew-cook.bsky.social · Aug 23

new business idea, dick and dom in da bungalow escape room

Matthew Cook @matthew-cook.bsky.social · Aug 18

I think the horse chestnuts near me were starting to go brown and crispy when it was still June. They are usually depressingly early but this seemed a bit much

Matthew Cook @matthew-cook.bsky.social · Aug 16

Exactly 10 years ago I moved to the Netherlands, I was not expecting to be here a whole decade later with a partner, a dog, and a whole life. It is freaking my nut!

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Matthew Cook @matthew-cook.bsky.social · Aug 14

Nailsea and Blackwell station is less than 5km away, but it is over 150m lower. Maybe a cable car connection could do the trick?

Matthew Cook @matthew-cook.bsky.social · Aug 11

Apparently the rest of the London based media didn't notice that either so I don't think the embarrassment rests solely on you! If only someone would start a proper London focused investigative local news site to report things like this

Matthew Cook @matthew-cook.bsky.social · Aug 11

The really bizarre thing about the delay was that apparently nobody was keeping track of progress until your extended Elledge/Foreman/Hazzard/Marshall-verse started tweeting about it looking half finished shortly before the planned opening

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Matthew Cook @matthew-cook.bsky.social · Aug 11

I'm (finally) reading City of Quartz, and I'm not sure I could find a more suitable spot in the Netherlands to read it if I tried

A view of the Rotterdam City centre skyline from the 12th storey of a building. There are skyscrapers and tower cranes busy building more. The book City of Quartz by Mike Davis sits in the foreground

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Jet Valk @jetemetet.bsky.social · Aug 10

Genoeg = genoeg.

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Matthew Cook @matthew-cook.bsky.social · Aug 9

This great FT piece correctly identifies the lack of stewardship in designing new settlements. We probably do need development corporations for new towns, but a more active planning later would already help a lot. I made this thread about it a couple of months back

www.ft.com/content/e5d0...

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Matthew Cook @matthew-cook.bsky.social · Aug 6

I have wondered what industrial uses might exist that could deal with the irregularities. It's not my field so I'm just guessing but I wonder about energy storage such as hydrogen electrolysis? Maybe production of heat or cold to be stored underground till later?

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Matthew Cook @matthew-cook.bsky.social · Aug 6

The consequence of temporarily super abundant energy is really interesting. As the share of renewable electricity increases, finding a use for huge excesses of electricity at irregular times will likely become very important

Andrew Sissons @acjsissons.bsky.social · Aug 5

And this misunderstanding leads to ignoring one of the big opportunities brought by renewables: sometimes it gives us really cheap electricity. Such as: today!

There is a huge opportunity here that we should learn to take advantage of...

bsky.app/profile/cele...

Celestial M Weasel @celestialweasel.bsky.social · Aug 5

Free electricity until 1630!

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Andrew Sissons @acjsissons.bsky.social · Aug 5

And this misunderstanding leads to ignoring one of the big opportunities brought by renewables: sometimes it gives us really cheap electricity. Such as: today!

There is a huge opportunity here that we should learn to take advantage of...

bsky.app/profile/cele...

Celestial M Weasel @celestialweasel.bsky.social · Aug 5

Free electricity until 1630!

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Matthew Cook @matthew-cook.bsky.social · Aug 2

'Luxury homes' never fails to make my eye twitch with irritation.

Also considering that most homeowners will ultimately have their last home go through probate, only 1% vacancy is very low, given how long that process can go on for

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Matthew Cook @matthew-cook.bsky.social · Aug 1

Amsterdam has decided to take a much more industrial approach when it comes to My Fair Lady

A photo of the outside of a 5 storey building with a gym on the ground floor. It has the sign TRAINMORE Ladies

Matthew Cook @matthew-cook.bsky.social · Aug 1

My metro station in Rotterdam has a large mural along the platforms explaining how James Watt and his steam pump were responsible for draining the surrounding land

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Matthew Cook @matthew-cook.bsky.social · Jul 31

Not only is it a UK requirement, I believe if anyone says anything, even as a joke, legally the ceremony is stopped and the objection must be checked. Registrars often do multiple weddings a day so if they don't have time you aren't getting married that day. A very quick way to destroy a friendship!

Matthew Cook @matthew-cook.bsky.social · Jul 30

UK political parties are missing out on abbreviated phrases for names, I mean come on, who doesn't want to be called PvdA/GL?

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · Jul 29

Zarah Sultana: “I think it should be called "The Left" or "The Left Party", because it says what it is on the tin. That is something I will be pitching.”

Is "the left party" a better party name than eg "Equality" or "Humanity" or "Fairness" or "Justice" or "Unity" or "People" or some other claim?

Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · Jul 29

Zarah Sultana: “I think it should be called "The Left" or "The Left Party", because it says what it is on the tin. That is something I will be pitching.”

Is "the left party" a better party name than eg "Equality" or "Humanity" or "Fairness" or "Justice" or "Unity" or "People" or some other claim?

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Matthew Cook @matthew-cook.bsky.social · Jul 27

I do wonder if being demographically dominant and getting your way electorally for years, to then start losing this to your kids generation as they start voting dependably and your cohort starts to die, has contributed somewhat

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Matthew Cook @matthew-cook.bsky.social · Jul 25

18m² is the legal minimum size of a dwelling in NL, it's hard to visualise. Mitchell van Eijk photographed a series of 18m² units in Eindhoven. I can say from experience it works, but only just, you need to have your life out of the home
mitchellvaneijk.nl/Portfolio/Willemstraat28

Willemstraat 28 - Mitchell van Eijk

Wonen in een spacebox van 18m². Met alles erin wat je nodig hebt. Mitchell van Eijk laat zien hoe bewoners aan de Willemstraat hun krappe ruimte indelen. Mitchell heeft 10 spaceboxen gefotografeerd. V...

www.mitchellvaneijk.nl

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