I laughed heartily at Tesco’s marketing blunder “Find it cheaper at ASDA and we’ll refund twice the difference”.

Similar promotions where done by several (!) Dutch supermarket chains at the same time just two years ago! Which of course led to the supermarkets lowering prices as each one tried to undercut the other one. The really large supermarkets (Albert Heijn, Jumbo) just swallowed their losses. No doubt helped by their massige buying-power which they agressively used to strong-arm their suppliers. In fact, for a while you could not get the popular 1,5 liter bottles of Coca Cola products since the Coke company refused to sell the bottles at the prices Albert Heijn wanted. Obviously most brands could not say no to Albert Heijn cause that would cripple their turnover due to the massive market share of Albert Heijn.

Some of the smaller supermarket chains could not keep up (for instance the Super-DeBoer group). A lot of the franchisekeepers of the struggling chains decided to join the ranks of…. Albert Heijn or Jumbo.

So essentially Albert Heijn and Jumbo won in three ways. They killed a competitor and they gained marketshare. On top of that, one of the more popular Dutch blogs made it a kind of competition for people to send in photos of people with as much loot as possible. There where people with 78 bottles of washing detergent, 85 crates of beer (the smaller crates with 12 bottles) and I kid you not triple-digit packs of candy!

BA Concorde
Northwest DC-10 (I did get a ride on a Northwest DC-9 twice!)
KLM Cityhopper F50 (of course Cityjet F50 is still possible, and that will happen some day or another)
Transavia B757

How long do the MD-11’s have left with KLM? Must be one of the last European airlines to operate these?

Last predictions are for 2015, but the plans have changed repeatedly the last few years. KLM is the only airline still using them on scheduled passenger service.

World Airways still have one or two MD-11s that can be configured for passenger service. So while they are mostly used for cargo flights, they can be used for passenger flights. From time to time the US military charters them.

No doubt the Eva is a cool shot, but the spot is no longer accesible by car. You’ll have to park in the nearby town of Boesingheliede and walk the remaining three or four kilometers. While cars are still allowed on that road, they are no longer allowed to be parked on or beside the road.

The people living next to the road are doing their best to get the road completely closed of for anyone except themselves, emergency services and ATC personnel (and that’s a concession on this road being an access road to the Polderbaan tower).

Having spoken to one of the people living next to the road, I will refrain from stating my personnel opinion on them. I don’t feel like getting banned here. Suffice it so say that they are having a bit of difficulties with the thought of anyone coming within a mile of their premisces. That is of course a weee bit unrealistic considering they live in the second most densely populated province in the Netherlands right under the smoke of Schiphol, the Amsterdam docks and the cities of Amsterdam and Hoofddorp.

I like this shot as well (but it’s mine so I’m biased). Another spot that is no longer accesible, though it is possible to stand in the final approach a few 100 meters to the left. No touchdown shots from there though unless you got a long lense and very favourable weather conditions.
http://www.jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=469787

Trust me, they are coming.

Can you also tell who will use them? Boeing on their 737 replacement, or Airbus. Perhaps Embraer or Bombardier?

Excellent selection! How busy is the place on a normal day? I would like to go there some day but would rather not go if there are only 3 or 4 testflights. It’s still a looooong drive and with today’s diesel prices…

How annoying would it be to drive all the way there only to see a Easyjet and a British Airways bus doing testflights! 😉

IKA, DEL, PBM, PTY, YYZ, BON, GYE, UIO, SXM, YVR, YUL, PBM.

If you’re really lucky you might even see on at AMS.

First trick
1) Put three coins in the tray and show to the host.
2) Take one coin out and put on table.
3) Take tray with two keys and put under the table. While doing so slip in a 3rd coin. (so one coin on table and three in tray)
4) Bang the tray against the table. One coin will stick to the magnetic ring.
5) Show tray (still under the table) with 2 coins.
6) Raise hand. The coin under the table drops into the tray. The coin above the table still on the magnetic ring.
7) Show tray above table while in the meantime getting rid of the coin on your ring. Should be easy for a magician since everyone will be focussed on the tray.

second trick (3:00)
Note how the two coins on the right are attached to eachother. When the magician banged the table these probably slid together with a small spring or something. Show a “4th” coin hidden under the table or in the magician’s palm and you got the answer.

He’s got me baffled on the third one though!