Delta Works: An Example for the Rest of Us

The Delta Works are an incredible flood prevention system that we can all learn from. And will need to learn from.
Simon's Social Media:
Twitter: / simonwhistler
Instagram: / simonwhistler
Simon's Other Channels:
TodayIFoundOut: / todayifoundout
TopTenz: / toptenznet
Biographics: / @biographics
Visual Politik: / @visualpolitiken
Highlight History: / @highlighthistory
Geographics: / @geographicstravel
Business Blaze: / @brainblaze6526

[@Kelnor277]

As an engineer I can’t imagine the dopamine hit those engineers got watching the entire system flawlessly spring into action years after they finished building it.

[@duckieduck8877]

try to imagine their panic when they were told.. o that dam of 5km's yeah that one, it has to let the seawater pass so the marine life is undisturbed and keep the same lvl of protection. in an inlet with a pretty rough tidal current. how i'd love to hear their initial reaction on that message from the state

[@Kelnor277]

Duckie Duck been there on a much lower scale. Oh no we want the api to return something completely different now.

[@duckieduck8877]

@@Kelnor277 noooo. the simple questions people ask can be so hard to answer. But yeah they were pretty proud off their work, most of the people that worked on it. for an engineer the construction site of the pillars probably is a great place to visit if you are ever in these parts i would recommend it. It is called Neeltje Jans, in case you want to more about the construction of it . If not well then it just is extra info that will be occupying space in the brain sorry :-p

[@barneymiller7894]

Im just an engine builder and I still get pumped when I complete a project, these guys probably lost their freakin minds 🤣

[@Kelnor277]

Mesophyl not sure what that has to do with my comment. But ok buddy

[@jelmund]

At the artificial island Neeltje-Jans, at one end of the barrier, a plaque is installed with the words: "Hier gaan over het tij, de maan, de wind en wij" ("Here the tide is ruled by the moon, the wind and us (the Dutch)"). This is badass.

[@TremereTT]

In Germany the saying is "The Dutch and their archenemy, the sea." Meet you cheesebobs in Duinrell in October!

[@mralderson5627]

i stopped there on a road trip and it was quite imposing indeed

[@jochembos3334]

An old saying goes "God created the world, but the Dutch made the Netherlands"

[@TremereTT]

@@jochembos3334 An old Frisian saying: God created the time. He never said anything about hurrying.

[@donweatherwax9318]

That's an almost Tolkien-esque line.

[@ernavill3261]

Just realised that the Dutch equivalent for 'the straw that broke the camels back' is 'the drop that caused the bucket to overflow'. Quite telling of how deeply it's engrained in our society

[@obimk1104]

Cultural explanation for "Dutch directness" it was drowning or to survive => so your "communication lines" need to be short and direct.

[@iridiumnext4126]

it's "the drop that caused the vase to overflow" in french, so I don't think this comes from the dutch issues with water

[@BrianJ.]

@@obimk1104 lol that's a bit of a stretch

[@obimk1104]

@@BrianJ. Gee, I am Dutch and I bet you never set a foot in my country.

[@corneliusantonius3108]

@@iridiumnext4126 Non Tu es incorrect

[@kevinsmit96]

13:54 Netherlands: Home of the largest joints in the world Sounds about right

[@wade5761]

😂

[@Sarge80]

This comment is so under appreciated 😂😂😂😂

[@mjp3186]

Hahaha

[@craftgames1882]

lolllll

[@nikosh6565]

Dankje Kevin. Dank je

[@rexcorvorum4262]

Poseidon: I AM GOD OF THE SEA Holland: Fish please

[@roddo1955]

Oh snap!

[@frostwing7308]

@Sebastiaan Meyer met de zegen van Nehalennia

Yeah, the Dutch list of things we're at war with looks kind of like: -Scilly Islands- -Germany- -Japan- -England- -France- -England- -France- -England- -France- -Spain- The Sea

[@anoniem9379]

@ WE are not at war with the sea, we colonised it.

[@Tristanimator_]

You just triggered us by saying holland instead of the netherlands

[@bullie86]

7:08 “as they say, this was the straw that broke the camels back.” Actually no, in the Netherlands we would say “that was the drop that overflowed the bucket.”

[@counterfit5]

Romano Böllermann ales sense that it’s water related

[@Diadras]

It was the drop that let the bucket overflow. :D

[@bullie86]

Diadras I know, I was just keeping the words in the order it would be if it was Dutch. 😅

[@Diadras]

@@bullie86 I know that you know, I just really wanted to say a dutch thing that doesn't make sense in english

[@bullie86]

Diadras eh, for this time I’ll see it through the fingers. 😂

[@kaidrache2395]

Germany here: On our yearly trip to Ouddorp we always have to cross parts of the Delta Works. Driving over that HUGE construction always reminds me how much work the Dutch had to put into it. This is literally a fight against mother nature. Extremely impressive!

[@roteredamus]

This comment makes up for the 600 eur fine I got for driving into the country and at the border getting pulled over for a 'random' drug test. Test proved I had smoked that month but not that day obv. I'm always sober when driving. Still hurts.

[@tclanjtopsom4846]

@@roteredamus its a daily occurrence in Australia, if you test positive you are driving under the influence. It doesn't matter if you smoked a month ago or 2 days ago and is ridiculous. I feel your pain as we know, its all about the money.

[@caniblmolstr4503]

A Question: Are Dutch swamp Germans or Germans hill Dutch

[@janrobertbos]

@@caniblmolstr4503 wir sind niederdeutschen; wij zijn nederduitsen.......................and now we`re friends again, fortunately..........

[@SievertSchreiber]

This comment aged badly knowing the 2021 flood

[@khulhucthulhu9952]

"The largest town in Flevoland is Lelystad with a population of 80 000" Almere (210 000): Am I a joke to you?

[@freudsigmund72]

probably

[@letheas6175]

@@freudsigmund72 True, i mean, Almere is kind of the joke of Flevoland (or even the Netherlands in general)

[@Energy2win]

@@letheas6175 Please explain Daniel.

[@letheas6175]

@@Energy2win It's a soulless city without any kind of identity. Even cities that have been ridiculed a lot, like Lelystad, have a better way of dealing with identity by specialising on a certain point. Almere isn't even the city with the most tourism in Flevoland. Basically, it could become something but it isn't at the moment. It's too much about prestige projects (that ultimately fail, such as the castle thingy, a failed ice skating hall and in the near future Floriade) in Almere.

[@maxvandenberg955]

Lelystad is a city not a town. City does not equal and cannot be interchangeably used.

[@dr.quintusvangalen6268]

Fun little bit of additional info on how they did it: When the delta plan was initiated in the 1940s and 50s, it was impossible to simulate the complex hydrographic system of the Meuse-Scheldt-Rhine delta in software. However, the engineers still needed to model the effects of any change to the system accurately, as any dam does not just stop the sea from coming in but also the river from flowing out. So they built a custom computer (Deltar) which used electrical current as a analogue for water current, with resistors taking the place of sluices and weirs and capacitors as reservoirs. The computer was used until 1984, after which it was torn down.

[@svenheilbron]

There is also a park in Flevoland which housed many scale models. Since Flevoland was situated so low, there was a netural current going from the natural land towards flevoland, which is used in the models. This models are not in use anymore but you can still see some remnants when visiting the park.

[@FailTorrent]

@@svenheilbron Exactly, The Waterloopbos. As a Dutchie myself I never heard of it until Tom Scott visited it. I want there two weeks later. Worth it.

[@bramvanduijn8086]

@@FailTorrent Last time I was there, there were some very friendly squatters taking care of an old building there. They have a nice garden and a small swap-library.

[@zethaabeee]

Yeah they found out that they had to keep the water level at stage as well.. Inmagtion what would happend with the contruction wooden poles in amsterdam

[@martijnb5887]

When the Afsluitdijk was created it was impossible to simulate the complex hydrograpic system of the Waddenzee in analogue electronic components. So the Dutch Noble price winner Lorentz devised a set of differential equations describing the water currents through all the channels. These equations were integrated using two class rooms of women performing the calculations while the results of both class rooms were cross checked frequently. Based on these calculations the bend in the eastern side of the Afsluitdijk was created to limit the increase of the water levels on the coast of Friesland. Hence the sluices on the east side are called the Lorentz sluices.

[@tdoek1869]

I'm a hydraulic engineer from the Netherlands, and I know they are currently planning to rework the entire area of the estuary of Zeeland to let more water in and out of the basin. Adding to that is that most new projects include the creation of dunes and other "soft" sea defenses (see the sand engine and Egmond aan zee) Just wanted to put that out there :)

[@julieenslow5915]

I live in Florida. I know that if climate change continues as predicted, much of Florida will be under water by 2100. Every time I think of that, I think of the Dutch people and their fight against the ocean. If no more work is done on the delta works, will it hold against the changes predicted by climate change?

[@frisianmouve]

@@julieenslow5915 Yeah I don't put much stock anymore in predictions like that, large swathes of coastal area would already be under water according to predictions in the 80's and 90's. It just always seems overestimation and fear-mongering. Like everytime there's a hurricane there it's supposedly because of climate change according to most media, but the record lack of US land-falling hurricanes from 2005 to 2016 wasn't.

[@julieenslow5915]

@@frisianmouve So happy you shared this, I am sure everyone was worried about you. But how does this effect the Netherlands - who have had an ongoing battle with water for a long time now?

[@pietpuk2991]

@@julieenslow5915 It will not. This is why every year a huge amount of money and effort is invested to improve on the already existing delta works.

[@julieenslow5915]

@@pietpuk2991 Thank you for the reply. I would say that even if climate change does not get as bad as predicted, it is all money well spent. No one wants to ever ever hear of a major water control disaster in the Netherlands. Or a minor one, for that matter.

[@TheB0sss]

15:05 when you said "it totally worked" it gave me a weird satisfaction lol. Incredible.

[@ronhilliard8863]

I've never heard of the delta works. Now that I have seen the video. All I can say is very impressive work. All countries should take note of this impressive work done by the Dutch.

[@romanplays1]

new orleans did get a plan from the dutch to get similar levels of flood protection. it was projected to cost 5 billion $. but it was declined.

[@alfredorotondo]

Venice tried a similar thing but every time that there's a storm the mayor doesn't close the gates because they simply don't work

[@AndreSomers]

@@alfredorotondo you don’t give that responsibility to a person. The maeslandkering closes off one of the busiest ports in the world. That is very expensive to do. So, the decision is made by the computer system controlling it, not by an engineer or a politician who may fear his career is on the line. It is only done manually for scheduled test runs.

[@alfredorotondo]

@@AndreSomers lol I wish in Italy was done at the same way, but not, the weathermen tell if there is going to be an high water level and then the regional president decides to close it or not in Italy Obviously if you close the dams the tourist cruisers and the containers cannot arrive so this shithead will always try to keep it open Also sorry for my bad English

[@cheekibreeki5183]

Well i mean the dutch are the only warriors in the world paid to combat the water.

[@Patrickmc_92]

13:57 who would have thought the largest joints in the world are in Holland..

[@yurizhivago4848]

We have a lot of "grass" in Canada too. BC Bud and Tommy Chong are famous Canadian people and products.

[@elwoodgizmo5382]

Works for me. Except for Jamaican Red, Acapulco Gold, Maui Wowie, etc.

[@rubberneck2855]

Best observation, laughed

[@baronvonlimbourgh1716]

Haha. 👍

[@joedufour8188]

I'm going to go a different route than everyone else. The largest joint in the world occurs when I have to take a piss.

[@j22karu]

"The Netherlands, the alternative used for Holland". Erm, I'm pretty sure it's the other way around Simon.

[@mw01720]

When he started out the video by calling the whole of the Netherlands as “Holland” kinda made me cringe.

[@Verschal]

and are not the same

[@witteroos]

The Netherlands is actually the entire country, Holland is officially only two provences (one in the Golden Age)... The main reason Holland stuck is because the sailors mainly came from the provence of Holland and when asked where they were from that gave that as an answer, rather than saying they were from the Netherlands.

[@Simonb1977]

That's not true. Holland is only 2/12 part of the Netherlands.

[@UmVtCg]

@@witteroos The Netherlands did not exist in De Gouden Eeuw. The Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden however, did exist. Now you can see that "Republic of the Seven United Netherlands" does not quite roll of the tongue.

[@bjorne46]

Though it's mandatory on dutch schools, the story remains fascinating. And bonus points for Simon attempting to speak Dutch.

[@the_fleeing_dutchman]

I believe that the damage caused by the flooding in New Jersey in 2019 was such that the Dutch engineers estimated that they could build a protection system for less than that.

[@nickvanachthoven7252]

yeah, we spend 5 bil on this delta works. and it already saved that amount several times over by preventing damages.

[@ronrolfsen3977]

Saw a documentary from 60 minutes a while back. They asked a dutch engineer about the cost. He simply replied, "150 billion dollars were lost in New Orleans. I do not think I need to say more". You would think that is all that needs to be said. Shamefully not true in the US.

[@thijstimmermans183]

@@ronrolfsen3977 link?

[@emeraldelneon328]

@@thijstimmermans183 kzbin.info/www/bejne/l6i8omiPqJmdgdk&ab_channel=60Minutes this is the summary version.

[@hds66nl29]

@@ronrolfsen3977 It was even better, the reporter said €500mln is a lot of money for something you barely use. His reply is what you wrote. It was an epic burn!

[@chernobyl4045]

9:29 Lelystad is the Capital of the Flevoland Provence, Almere is het largest city with over 200'000 inhabitants.

[@Ohmloud]

200,000 People that cant afford to live in Amsterdan live in Almere. Nobody realy wants to live there.

[@emmazijp6282]

Ohmloud And with good reason

[@Gandalfthefabulous]

For a long time that hasn't been the case anymore tough. I know many people, including myself, who prefer Almere over Amsterdam. It's a city with beautifull nature and so much green and water. It is well managed, public transport and cycling is the best here. Whilst in Amsterdam you can't have a normal nights sleep without hearing sirens or tourists. You can't walk in the streets without getting pickpocketed or having a collision with a cyclist. Tourists are everywhere. And if you'd still miss the 'culture' from amsterdam you can be there in 20 min by train. People in cities like tokyo or New York would kill to be able to reach the city center in that time whilst living in a much opener and better payable area. Many people now it from seeing it by train, which in truth aren't the pretiest sights. However there are really good looking parts nowadays.

[@cvb6089]

@@Ohmloud i used to live in Amsterdam had no problem buying a house there. But moved to Almere very nice city lots of space and nature and much better housing. Idiots like you have either never been to Almere. Or are just plain idiotic. Well which are you?

[@beu9245]

Which seems kinda strange since we have Almere buiten, haven, poort etc but Lelystad is the capital

[@puffin51]

King Canute: You can't turn back the tide. Dutch: Hold my bier.

[@deamon002]

"Hier gaan over het tij, de maan, de wind en wij."

[@remcoswenker667]

Or as the dutch would say it: Hou me biertje even vast

[@megaprojects9649]

I like that you spelled it bier.

[@thoregries6899]

@@remcoswenker667 houd mijn heineken even vast, wilt u.

[@thatdutchguy2882]

Heineken 🍺

[@Saartje05]

The Netherlands isn't an alternative name for Holland. The Netherlands IS the official name. Holland is really the two coast provinces North and South Holland.

[@starbase218]

Correct, calling The Netherlands "Holland" is like calling England Yorkshire.

[@casper6405]

@@starbase218 it's kind of our own fault aswell Holland was the richest of the provinces during the old days So someone would say they are from Holland instead of the Netherlands So it's kind of our own fault

[@starbase218]

@@casper6405 I’m not from Holland though, though I believe my grandmother was. Edit: Sorry, this probably comes across as adversarial. I get what you’re saying; the English never said to foreigners that they were from Yorkshire (unless that’s what they meant to say).

[@iamlooktoyou]

@@casper6405 I do not agree. That is something outsiders chose to call us. As most come for the Netherlands to Holland. I do not see many go elsewhere in the Netherlands. Atleast most vlogs and blogs take place in the holland region.

[@gwaptiva]

@@starbase218 Exactly right; it's naming the whole country after the only bits that are important :P

[@martinhertog5357]

A well known proverb is "God created the world but the Dutch created the Netherlands."

[@d3al3rplays68]

The Dutch are better, they partially created their own country. God created nothing cause god does not excist.

[@jansluis2509]

Ja, nu weten we dat wel,

[@svenNL]

17-18% of the Netherlands is reclaimed land

[@deamon002]

Don't worry Simon, we know our language is a special kind of torture to try and pronounce for native speakers of most other languages. And we find it hilarious. >:-)

[@hkbabel]

Thank you putting up with all the rest pf us! :-)

[@monkeydank7842]

And you are in most cases multilingual. Respect.

[@elwoodgizmo5382]

I'm from the US, essentially English speaking. I can't figure out why British can't pronounce a word ending with "a" without adding an R? Cuba becomes Cuber. Panda+pander. It's your language, people. What is the deal? I do understand that English is the hardest language on earth for a foreigner to learn, mainly because this tiny country of England was overrun by Jutes, Angles, Saxons, Normans, etc., and they all get mixed up together, but that was a long time ago. I'm not trying to give you a hard time; I really want to know.

[@garyoa1]

@@elwoodgizmo5382 That's mostly the New Yorkers and New Englanders who moved back to England. 😉

[@elwoodgizmo5382]

@@garyoa1 OK

[@michelvdhoek]

"Hier gaan over het tij, de maan, de wind en wij" ("Here the tide is ruled by the moon, the wind and us (the Dutch)"

[@thierrylei62]

Hope this translation also captures the meaning of "Hier gaan over het tij, de maan, de wind en wij" The moon and the wind rule the tides of the sea but here on this spot so do we

[@GundamReviver]

Goeie vertaling Thierry! Het heeft dezelfde humor nu :p

[@nicolaas1122]

@@thierrylei62 Here the tide of the sea is ruled by the moon, the wind and we.

[@mr.pcgamer]

Every country ; you can't control mother nature Netherlands ; hold my joint

[@wolverine4716]

neh let me take a good suck of my joint and it will be done hahahaha

[@rikleferink]

Were high as F I mean... Low

[@briankristiansen821]

Lmao 🤣😂

[@BartvG88]

Hey man, when your lands are low, you gotta get high

[@TestTest-eb8jr]

😂😂😂😂

[@ignitionfrn2223]

2:00 - Chapter 1 - Rising sea levels 5:05 - Chapter 2 - The zuiderze works 7:00 - Chapter 3 - The final straw 9:55 - Chapter 4 - The delta works 10:55 - Chapter 5 - Oosterscheldekering 12:40 - Chapter 6 - Maeslantkering 15:25 - Chapter 7 - The future - Chapter 8 -

[@augustus331]

You don't have to apologize about your pronunciations. The first thing you'll learn about us Dutch is that we don't care about how you pronounce our words, we're grateful to be mentioned

[@ImSNB]

yall good at potatoes

[@yurizhivago4848]

As long as we call your Country : The Netherlands nobody seems to complain. Holland seems to be a very taboo word even though it has been used and taught in North America for a very long time. I have friends in Rotterdam and yeah being at sea level must be very scary. Being in the middle of Canada ( Manitoba ) very high and dry is nice. However with -40C/-40F Winters we have our share of problems too.

[@michaelampe95]

:-D

[@Conservator.]

ImSNB The Netherlands is the second largest agricultural exporter after the US. Not just potatoes

[@c128stuff]

@@yurizhivago4848 nothing scary about being below sea level.. :-) its a good inspiration to do something about the sea wanting to intrude on the country early on.

[@markchip1]

I like that! - "Please forgive my pronunciation" Pronounces Zuiderzee almost correctly but spells it wrong!!

[@willemthijssen5497]

I was amazed that he pronounced "afsluitdijk" almost correctly.

[@remco6816]

Ook de Maaslandkering i wonder where he got the spelling from

[@franselshof]

@@remco6816 zijn spelling is gewoon goed: nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maeslantkering

[@remco6816]

@@franselshof hmm dat klopt, mijn fout vreemde manier van spellen eigenlijk.

[@PleegWat]

@Katlego Modise Precisely

[@mv7647]

I never ever expected that I would hear Simon try to pronounce my home town. A for effort Simon! And a small note: Holland technically refers to the two most populated provinces in the Netherlands, not to the entire country. Interchanging the two is comparable to calling the USA 'New England'.

[@nicosmind3]

Yeah but we do say America when refering to the US in English, and we dont mean the Americas. Just US. So we're weird like that in English. We know its wrong but we carry on anyway. It happens to the British too, as the odd time someone would say something like England when referring to Scotland or the UK. Or any other combination of wrongness when referring to the UK.

[@martijnb5887]

Or England to Great Britain. Don't try that in Scotland.

[@yorampaar2011]

@@nicosmind3 Yeah, I get kinda 'mad' when people call Great Britain/United Kingdom just 'England'. Probably because I don't like people calling The Netherlands 'Holland' either. I live in Gelderland for fucks sake, not Holland!

[@brentterschegget235]

Or calling the USA Carolina

[@johanvink2337]

Je bent een schat. Je probeert en dat horen we allemaal. Je bent beter dan de meeste Engelstalige mensen die niet in Nederland gewoond hebben in je uitspraak en zelfs mensen die hier meer dan 20 jaar gewoond hebben. Translation: You're a treasure. You are trying and we can all hear it. You're a beter than most English speakers that haven't lived in the Netherlands and even some that have lived here for over 20 years.

[@TheExplorder]

Don't worry about the pronunciations. I as a Dutch young man, appreciate the fact that you at least tried, and I'm happy that you mentioned our Deltawerken. If you ever want to have a tour though the Netherlands, you can contact me, Simon. There are a lot more awesome feats of engineering in the whole of the Netherlands.

[@sarathor8226]

We went to the Netherlands on our honeymoon in 2006 and visited both Maeslantkering and Oosterscheldekering. Very impressive! Thank you for making a video about it!

[@SievertSchreiber]

Why u go there for your honeymoon? Are u or did u marry an engineer, or a water manager?

[@Jonas-rq1mi]

sad honeymoon

[@visualdarkness]

Sounds like a great honeymoon!

[@sarathor8226]

@@visualdarkness Thanks! It sure was! 😃

[@throughthewindowpane]

The Deltaworks protect us against the water of the sea, but we have also river floodings to deal with. In the previous 20 years, we had a project ‘room for the river’ that broadened the stream of rivers, build higher dams and made water basins to store water. Still that is not enough, like we saw in the floodings last week. The fight agains the water is ongoing forever…

[@JoshSweetvale]

The Dutch language does exactly what the English language does: Every rule has more exceptions. ^_^ 8:40 Flevoland is an achievement. We used to have eleven provinces. Now we have twelve. :D

[@beu9245]

Exactly! and i hate both of the languages because of it (even though i use both on a daily basis)

[@tigervv6437]

When it come to pronounciation however. Dutch is quite straight forward. English is not.

[@jaspermay5813]

@@beu9245 What natural living language does not have rules with exceptions? What language don't you hate?

[@Ozymandias1]

@@tigervv6437 English is a mix of several languages. Dutch is mostly a Germanic language.

[@TheSuperappelflap]

uhm dutch is way better than english in that regard. english is a mashup of at least 3 completely different language groups and spelling is massively inconsistent. dutch has consistent grammar and spelling, its just complicated. german is the best though.

[@Odin029]

"I fear some of you might drop off"... we watched a 15min video about a very deep hole. Dutch flood barriers are a piece of cake

[@TanaisNL]

This is legit the first comment on this video that actually made me laugh, good job :')

[@raypitts4880]

we say that at a hole in the road (police are looking in to it) ie it takes a long time to get filled in.

[@bakerfrog]

Your channels have been a godsend since this pandemic started. You've help get me through the last 3 months of unemployment!!! Keep 'em coming.

[@MrPleers]

When I was a kid, we got a schooltrip to see it´s beeing constructed (in 1981 ) still not finished for the next 16 years. But very impressive to see. Especially the huge machines that were used.

[@loekert3749]

The sea: *exists* The Dutch: G E K O L O N I S E E R D

[@JWvdv]

S P E C E R I J E N

[@anglerfish61]

Ik was op zoek naar ede eerste gekoloniseerd reactie haha

[@Freddy65373]

@@anglerfish61 Je wordt er een beetje treurig van

[@LuchtLeiderNederland]

I N G E P O L D E R D

[@sebastiaanhoenderdos7458]

GekoloniZEErd?

[@briangarrow448]

I worked for 24 years in wastewater and stormwater pumping stations and have ALWAYS been fascinated by the Dutch people and their amazing systems of flood control. I wish I could have toured their facilities, I am sure it would be a great educational experience.

[@p3t3rtr33]

I have a great idea for the next episode the belguim constitutional structure it's more of less a megaproject for lawyers.

[@TheRocco96]

Or a video on the completion of the highway around Antwerp. Actually those works haven't completed yet, it took more than 20 years of planning, and the application for the building permits contains 2200 documents for a total of 5.5 million pages.

[@nathanvrugt6698]

Well if we are making a video about Belgium. Why not make one on how to form a government. That seems to be a megaproject for them. Hahaha

[@p3t3rtr33]

@@nathanvrugt6698 one of the bigger factors of the difficulty to make a government in belguim is the constitutional structure imo. So he could do both making a government and constitutional structure in one vid. "twee vliegen in een klap"

[@jordank5623]

No

[@p3t3rtr33]

@@jordank5623 YEs

[@glenndemoor3020]

As a general point of attention, mainly aimed at my salty countrymen: before we criticize foreigners on their use of Holland as the preferred toponym, we might want to consider making our own use of 'the Netherlands' more consistent. Dutch companies operating internationally, as well as the government and the tourist boards, are often employing 'Holland' in their communication simply because of its historical usage and broad international appeal. As long as they stick to it, we can hardly expect foreigners to switch to the more accurate name. And as a more specific point of critique: 9:26 While Lelystad houses the provincial government of Flevoland, Almere is far more populous with over 200.000 inhabitants. The first house was finished in 1976 and 44 years later it's the 8th most populous municipality in the country.

[@LetalisLatrodectus]

Not just that even dutch dictionaries list Holland as a synonym to the Netherlands.

[@Shoikan]

Agreed. I think it roughly matches how England and Great Brittain are used interchangeably. Though maybe not exactly correct in either case (referencing a part to indicate the whole) they are used widely enough that the difference becomes moot.

[@skillaxxx]

We even sing 'Hup Holland Hup' during football matches ourselves...

[@Lillith.]

I'll leave that to the westerners that use Holland. Please stop using it. I have never lived in nor will I ever willingly move to Holland or use that name to refer to the country I live in.

[@yorampaar2011]

@@skillaxxx Most people who go to the games are from Holland though. I always had kind of a weird feeling with that song

[@Vonaan]

I'm a big fan of your channels and I always marvel at the accomplishments of others. I'm Dutch and never realized the size of the accomplishments done just around the corner from where I live. It's amazing you cover this in your serie and I take my hat of with a deep bow how you've presented this with al it's details. I think nobody realizes how many times the systems have been used to protect our small country. Thanks for all your research and effort for speaking Dutch.

[@russellfitzpatrick503]

Having lived in the Netherlands (in Rotterdam) for many years you cannot help but stand in awe of their bloody mindedness when it comes to protecting themselves against the ravages of the sea. A fascinating introduction to the Dutch technical inventiveness ...., and well done for your attempts at Dutch

[@madmick3794]

Love that you did a video on this. My dad did a research tour to see the Dutch flood mitigation projects in the 80s. The stories and photos he came home with has meant this undertaking held my interest ever since.

[@micklumsden3956]

I’m proud to be living here in the Netherlands. Having come from England it seems to me that we English should be learning from our Dutch neighbours, not only in water management, but in traffic management. The engineering for the Dutch cycle network is also highly innovative and effective. That makes travelling in the Netherlands, much more pleasant and safe than in England.

[@smartyy86]

if iam not mistaken, at 9:45 you convert 1025miles^2 to 1650km^2, which is fales by approx 40%. you used the one-dimeonsal approax (1 mile = 1,6km approx), but the unit is squared. 1025mi^2 is equvialent to 2654km^2 (1,025 * 1.6^2). When coverting between banana and metric, dont forget the dimesions!

[@eijkenstaete]

There's a monument on a small artifical island where the final leg of the construction was completed. On a spare concrete block are carved the words: "Hier gaan over het tij, de maan, de wind, en wij". Freely translated : "Here rule over the sea, the moon, the wind, and we".

[@TigerXGame]

Fun fact, 'we' (being the Dutch) consult many other countries on flood protection, including New Orleans after the hurricane, but also Venice more recently. Our current king (Willem-Alexander) led a UN advisory board on water management as well. Ironically that advisory board has since been dissolved with nothing that I know of to take its place.

[@maartenj.vermeulen900]

Don't forget Bangladesh and Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia.... Further a polder is being created in Singapore by the Dutch now as well!

[@robertrijkers4923]

@@maartenj.vermeulen900 too bad that the Jakarta solution isn't working...because they keep using the city as an open sewer and the sluice systems keep getting clogged up with junk

[@alfredorotondo]

Venice is so a meme for us in Italy They built this monstrous flood protection structure but when the flood arrives they almost never close it The funny thing is that is called the "MOSE" Moses but cannot protect a lagoon lol

[@Rein_]

the king Willem studied watermanagement

[@fgroen1225]

The only reason that the Dutch pulled off these projects is because there is one topic that is not up for political faffing about: water management. It's just a matter of survival.

[@induristan]

My grandparents used to have a holiday home in Kamperland, cycling distance to the south end of the Oosterscheldekering. Troughout my childhood & youth, I have watched the builiding process. Absolutely awe-inspiring. Today we travel there every other year, my kids enjoy the Delta Expo and the beaches and I am still amazed by the Kering

[@uriblaketheriddimprotege]

Simon this is absolutely HILARIOUS, considering that i live in Rotterdam and am a dutch Caribbean citizen. you did your best chap lol

[@brianbaas8650]

Hoppa 010! 👊🏻

[@cr4fty90]

@spike spiegel can only come from an American

[@William-Morey-Baker]

@spike spiegel absolutely hilarious just how wrong you are.

[@remcodenouden5019]

@@cr4fty90 An American who never traveled outside of his own country that is

[@cr4fty90]

@@remcodenouden5019 ye but hey atleast they think they are the best ngl most of them are to simple minded

[@Conservator.]

Comfortably commenting from my house at 4,5m below see level.

[@Shadow81989]

Hopefully someone will read this on their tablet and answer, while comfortably floating on the dead sea at -428m! xD

[@FreddyEnergizer]

Lower then me i am at 3.2m but only 1 km from the sea

[@2009heyhow]

@@FreddyEnergizer Here we would have a nice new beach.

[@roddo1955]

Alexanderpolder. We have boats. I'm not worried.

[@Conservator.]

Freddy on the long Trail Well, if there’s ever going to be a flood at least you’ll be on an island 😉

[@jackthatmonkey8994]

Simon us Dutch people love it when non-natives have a go at our language, and we always have a hearthy laugh The way you pronounced afsluitdijk was gold!!!

[@raypitts4880]

here in the uk in the 60s american troops came over we had fun sending them to historic places with names they could not fatham peterbourgh came out as peter buuuur couldn't manage the gh, and Edinburgh was another favorite, also middlesburgh ho ho.

[@DutchyHusky]

The Delta Works are one of the 7 wonders of the modern world, for a good reason. We're dam (get it?) proud of our flood defenses, here in The Netherlands.

[@JJamahJamerson]

Oh crap, literally yesterday I was thinking “I hope mega projects does a video on the delta works”

[@archstanton6102]

Can you think of next week's EuroMillions numbers?

[@Benson_aka_devils_advocate_88]

@@archstanton6102 4, 11, 17, 32, 8

[@jeffreyrose4240]

Matrix:Confirmed

[@megaprojects9649]

It was highly requested :)

[@JJamahJamerson]

Megaprojects oh course it was, the delta works are amazing (as shown in this video)

[@mrdasboot45]

As a young man I had the pleasure of visiting one of the artificial islands where they were making the Oosterschelde Dam ,it convinced me to become an engineer. You left something important out when you where talking about the Oosterschelde Dam ,the 65 pillars you talked about where not build in place where they now stand. They were made in pits on 2 artificial islands ,after the pillars where finished the pit was flooded and a specially constructed ship called the “Ostrea” would lift the pillars (the size of a 10 storey building ) and move it to its place , if that is not impressive, then I don’t know what is.

[@LetsTalkAboutPrepping]

Interesting

[@ewoutvm1]

That's why they contracted the Dutch, when they wanted the Kursk lifted from the ocean floor (the Dutch price was significantly HIGHER than that of their rivals, but they still got the contract), or when they had to move a giant structure into place in Chernobyl. During operations the spoken language was Dutch. These are the rare occasions that I'm really proud of being (partly) Dutch.

[@skillaxxx]

And they only had two 30 minute windows per day to place them, during tide transition.

[@gfimadcat]

My dad was an engineer on the project and we lived close by, I've spent summers sitting on Neeltje Jans watching the pillars being built, and was there when they started flooding the first pit. Seen the Ostrea come in to pick one up a few times as well, was pretty interesting stuff to see as a little kid.

[@PyrusFlameborn]

@@ewoutvm1 and the artificial islands at Dubai in the shape of a giant palm tree

[@jefflynch8085]

I really like your show! Great presentations. My one comment is that I want more maps! You refer to a lot of places, and it would be great to see them in context. Love the work y'all are doing.

[@clydebalcom8252]

This is why I like your channel. You aren't afraid to call bullshit.

[@callabeth258]

This makes me better understand why in Randall Munroe's book What if? He says the Netherlands rule Mars.

[@duckieduck8877]

i just linked that one here lmao

[@adrianus13]

"God built the Earth, and the Dutch built Holland"

[@MBeckers]

God built the Earth, and the Dutch built the Netherlands

[@Ries]

😎👍🏼 (no "and" though or if you wish loose the "'," . But the first option is the correct one although they will mean the same..)

[@Spiritus_Invictus]

@@Ries it is not. Holland is a reference to two provinces of The Netherlands. "Noord Holland" and "Zuid Holland". The total of 12 provinces is called "The Netherlands". If you include the overseas islands you would call it "The kingdom of the Netherlands" /watch?v=eE_IUPInEuc

[@themagicinfidel]

Well put

[@Ries]

@@Spiritus_Invictus I know my friend, but it's a saying never the less. See my own comment stating the same as you just did here somewhere here in the comments.

[@erikdekoster1529]

Don't beat yourself up Simon about the pronunciations us cloggies aren't like that, I really enjoyed your video it brings back memories, at a school trip walked in between the concrete structures when they where built, yes I am that old, it was called Neeltje Jans site. I live for 20 years in Britland now and whenever I take family over to Holland they struggle to pronunciation some letter combination but I find that adorable. When my Scouse SO speaks Dutch in Holland people answer in English they will never let you struggle. You have a very nice manner over you Simon and it is always a pleasure to watch your videos. you should pay Holland a visit when you can if you not already have you'll find you get around without a problem speaking English as it is our second language we all learn in school.

[@extrastuff9463]

When I saw this title I was curious what you'd make of our language here, let's just say I'm impressed. A few words actually got close and most were understandable! Decent quick overview of the large scope of the whole thing as well, hard to do that right. Either it digs too deep into the details and too many people get bored or you're accused of skipping over things. Even people who live here actively learning the language tend to need quite some time for certain words and sounds. So while "got close and most were understandable" might not seem like much it's certainly much better than I've seen in just about any video on the internet of someone who doesn't speak the language.

[@marinecor23]

"I'd like to take a long tour ... But i fear some of you may start dropping off" Simon, do you even know why i'm here. Gimme the deets

[@darkv0gel]

9:27 Almere is the biggest city in the polders with a population of 212.965

[@jjakjjak5231]

Yeah, but Lelystad is the capital city of that new province. Easy mistake to make

[@therealdutchidiot]

@@jjakjjak5231 Also, the rest of the Netherlands would like to forget about the country's worst bicycle city as well.

[@mrpink3900]

nice one, I did my "werkstuk" in the 6th grade about the deltaworks I visited and got a 10 (A+) thats 24 years ago and still proud of it

[@pennehoesje]

There's a big plaque on the Oosterscheldekering (the biggest part of the works) with an inscription that translates as: Here, the tide is ruled by the wind, the moon and us.

[@ninao8460]

2:55 Did you really just say "the northern region of Holland" while showing a map of the south of the Netherlands?

[@Jognt]

Yup, he did. Guess it gets hard with this being in Zeeland and South Holland being North of that. North of South Holland is the Southern Sea, and North Holland actually doesn't reach as far north as Friesland. *shrug*

[@alexprijn5562]

Lelystad is not the largest city in Flevoland. It's the capital of the "new" province, but Almere is much bigger with 200.000 citizens. Almere has become somewhat of a massive suburb of Amsterdam.

[@nautassendelft]

Watching this while I’m in the bus on the Afsluitdijk! Love the episode

[@svenNL]

I trust the Dutch most with climate research and predicting rising sea levels. They actually depend on accurate predictions.

[@bdeheer]

Because New York and New Orleans are....?

[@bdeheer]

@@steiner554 also their own local government. I know that they confered with Dutch storm surge protection specialists who adviced to protect against a storm that would occur once every 10000 years, which is what we do here. They all chose a storm that would occur every 100 years. Now that means that every year has a 1% chance of that occuring. 25 years.. 25%. And then hurricane Katrina hit...

[@Joostuh]

"It totally worked" Of course it did.

[@baronvonlimbourgh1716]

Why would we build something that doesn't work? Doesn't make sense.

[@yoeriw7099]

That's why the only footage they have for a mayor flooding in the Netherlands stems from the 1950's

[@Hensepens64]

@@yoeriw7099 hmmmm we were "attacked" by the rivers in Brabant jn the 90's. But indeed . The Deltawork have delivered their values.

[@LegionOfEclaires]

"What's your favorite KZbin channel?" Me: Simon Whistler

[@Benson_aka_devils_advocate_88]

LoL! Right!? 😆

[@callabeth258]

Yes

[@shaunsocha421]

Nobody: Absolutely nobody: Me: yall heard of simon whistler ?

[@currykingwurst6393]

His (inactive) vlog channel? :P

[@joehoe222]

Captain here: Some much needed notes: - 45% is under sea level in the Netherlands, not 20% - De Zuiderzee means Southern Sea and just existed after 1200s when a giant flood destroyed large parts of the original wetlands there. - The IJssel (Icel) is a river ending in the new created lake of IJsselmeer (Icel Lake). - Den Oever (The coast/the river bank) - Zeeland (Sealand) is the original directory of New Zealand. The Dutch discoverer Abel Tasman (also discovered Tasmania, called after him) named it so. - The Afsluitdijk (closing dike) was originally planned to have a railway on it. Now it's a highway and you can drive over it. - Flevoland is the newest province of the Netherlands, made of the new formed lands. Flevo is derived from the name of the region by the Romans. - Flevolands largest city is Almere, not Lelystad (although that's the capital city of the province). - Lelystad is called after Cornelis Lely, the chief engineer and politician that made the plans for the Afsluitdijk. - All places in Flevoland are called after historical place names before the flood in the 1200s. - The Delta works were marvellous engineering. Sadly it isn't enough to make the end of the century with it if climate change will keep on this way. - Holland ≠ Netherlands. Holland is just 2 provinces.

[@drdonut2564]

Thank you for making this video! A few notes to clear up confusion: - Though Lelystad is the capital of the province of Flevoland, the biggest city is Almere, with 211 844 inhabitants as of January 2020. - Though the mentioned polders were created as part of the delta works, much of the land that was reclaimed earlier (as mentioned in the video) was also done through creating polders.

[@pantherason]

"The Netherlands, the alternative used for Holland"... the moment i died a little inside

[@Minifliek]

He's not wrong though, Holland and the Netherlands are interchangeable in the English language. Just because you might not agree doesn't make you right.

[@Minifliek]

@Lucifer Uchiha No America is a continent the country is called the United States of America. See what i did there.......?

[@Minifliek]

@SigmaTauri2 you dont speak sarcasm do you

[@RickBakker82]

Holland, Netherlands.. I am getting a bit tired of the moaning about calling the Netherlands 'Holland' It has been used extensively since a long time, by our own government as well (www.holland.com?) also in Football (Hup Holland hup) I am from Gelderland myself but, although I try to use Netherlands, Holland just rolls easier of fthe tongue so I use it much more. and see no harm in using it. Stop taking offence of it

[@Minifliek]

@@RickBakker82 thank you.

[@Zucadragon]

As someone from Friesland, this was really great :D, don't worry about pronunciation, we generally aren't fussy people about such things, which multiple Dutchies have said already, and it's true! Another interesting thing is that large portions in the north and some areas of the Dutch land were used to make Peat, something we call Turf, which also lowered areas a lot as we burned our own rich soil. Oh, and try to pronounce "Hagelslag" which despite sounding like it's construction debris. Is actually chocolate sprinkles we put on bread, it is tasty! Thanks for an awesomely informative video!

[@PanduPoluan]

Hagelslag is also very popular in Indonesia. I'm sure you can guess why ;) Although for reasons we call them "meses" which was a bastardisation of _muisjes_ ... (which is itself a totally different thing, for those of you not familiar with Dutch ... uh, things put on bread)

[@Zucadragon]

​@@PanduPoluan Oh yeah, definitely remember eating those a lot. Cinnamon, sugary coated little things. We had crushed muisjes as well. And hah, that is very interesting, do you also have like, double baked bread, which we call "beschuit" but is called Rusk in other countries. Hagelslag and beschuit is a classic mix here. Is the Meses thrown a lot at festivities? I'm sorry to say my knowledge of Indonesia is quite lacking!

[@PanduPoluan]

@@Zucadragon Oh we do have double baked bread. For reasons that totally escape me, it's called "bagelen" (the "g" is hard "g" like in "goal"). Usually with roomboter spread on it before the second bake. (And rather than from flat round bread, we use something like miniature burger buns...) As I mentioned, we misnamed hagelslag as muisjes; actual muisjes is a rarity in Indonesia. But if something is edible, we don't ever throw it and use confetti instead :D

[@TheB0sss]

@@PanduPoluan really, you have it in Indonesia? That's cool, never knew that. The reason is not so cool of course but yeah, still. Muisjes are indeed a different thing here but they're not eaten that much, mostly when a baby is born we eat them on "beschuit"

[@declan7797]

"Something in Dutch that I'm not even going to try" literally made me chuckle at your conviction of how bad you would butcher it, but you have done way better at pronouncing the words then I ever would

[@edwardmcewen]

Excellent video as usual! Thank you for your work!

[@prashantgupta3974]

Simon, how about a Mega-Cyber-Project like Tor, Stuxnet or maybe DARPA that evolved into what we now call, the internet?

[@Powertampa]

The internet was born out of three independent research networks established to link researchers in Europe, the United States and Japan. These had plans to connect across the globe years prior to the first concept of what the internet could be.

[@IlluminatiBG]

Maybe not DARPA, but the idea of putting underwater cables between the Atlantic Ocean I think can be considered megaproject.

[@monkeydank7842]

Folding@home would be great. It’s global, it’s top up to date, it’s interdisciplinary, it just set several world records, and it would help all of us! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folding@home?wprov=sfti1

[@farmyardfab]

Powertampa no Al gore Invented it right before discovering manbearpig

[@DomyTheMad420]

I have legit been waiting for this one since you started. Easily a modern world wonder and a lifelong inspiration for me

[@Rein_]

it is one of the 7 wonders of the modern world

[@Klikoderat]

When you drive on the Oosterscheldekeering from Schouwen-Duiveland, you see a large stone that has inscribed the following words: Here the tide is ruled By the moon, the wind And us

[@denniswijker7162]

Even as a Dutchie this was very informative and interesting to watch :D And I sincerely doubt anyone will give you a hard time for the pronunciations. Dutch is a REALLY difficult language to learn (just on pronunciation, grammar etc is reasonably easy). You did quite well ^^

[@scion2245ify]

My son and I love this channel- keep up the good work!

[@Leavemealone-]

Where does he find all the time? I wonder how big of a team they have.

[@Conservator.]

Austin Stude See the end of the video. 3 people. Presenter, writer, editor. Rijkswaterstaat (responsible government department) will have been very happy to provide all the info they needed.

[@thedamnyankee1]

Mega projects Simon: Sorry I cant say your words right Business Blaze Simon:

[@arjanzonderland4208]

As a native Dutchman, I laughed my ass off from your pronunciations. But don't worry, you did fine, and it was much better then most other people do.

[@jenieuwedocent]

Me as a dutchie watching this video:

[@roytelling6540]

I know one person from the Netherland we met in Finland :) BUT I only ever new that the Netherland had tulips and windmills. as they say in Finland Kiitos (thank you) for enlightening me

[@marcelimthorn9115]

Yes

[@gijskramer1702]

After the deltaworks you should talk about the dutch problem with river flooding. The Ruimte voor de rivieren project is working on that problem

[@Jim54_]

This is a lesson for the world on how to deal with rising sea levels

[@sevenprovinces]

Something that might make you chuckle, as an Englishman. During the Anglo-Dutch wars in the 17th century, whenever England felt the need for more abrasive, provocative 'diplomacy' they would send a certain mr. Downing as their ambassador to the Netherlands. While in times of appeasement, they would send something of a 'Hollandophile', a mr. William Temple. Downing once penned down a poem which contained the lines "Holland, that indigested vomit of the sea. That fell to the Dutch by just propriety." Luckily, there then is this video!

[@joyl7842]

"destroying parts of historic Rotterdam" the entire city was bombed to the ground by the Germans on 14 May 1940... so I doubt that

[@costeris35]

Bad as is was they didn’t manage to destroy the entire city, there is a lot of historic rotterdam left, outside the old citycentre.

[@Conservator.]

“Cafés where you’re not necessarily are looking for a cup of coffee” You mean a coffee shop. That’s where you get your cannabis. Cafes are for beers 🍺 and coffee ☕️

[@mourlyvold7655]

A tourist orders a glass of wine in a coffeeshop. The waiter tells her: "We don't sell hard drugs". True story...

[@Conservator.]

@@mourlyvold7655 Yes, some consider alcohol more dangerous than cannabis. I don’t agree but I can see their point.

[@mourlyvold7655]

@@Conservator. The effects of both are very personal in pleasure and potential risk...

[@Steveo4R]

Man your endings are always spot on.

[@tenaoconnor7510]

Bravo for my grandfather’s homeland. 👍🏻👍🏻 Ideas we can all take a lesson from 😎 It probably looks and sounds awesome when everything is flawlessly moving into action

[@mcdon2401]

Trust the Dutch to build the biggest joints in the world...🤦‍♂️ On a serious note though, flood defences are going to become a serious consideration for many areas in the years ahead. I doubt that many politicians or populations out there have looked that far ahead yet.

[@ruuddekoff1090]

If everyone start to build their own flood-protection there soon will be a shortage of materials.

[@SeanBZA]

To most politicians long term planning is the next election. The rest of the planning they do is in the direction of lining their pockets as much as possible.

[@ingmarhendriks8172]

Pure capitalism does not work if you want to built something like this. You need to have a socialist government to do it. I.e. everyone pays for the protection... even those who live many meters above sea level. That is something the USA will never do. Those living in las Vegas are just not going to pay for flood protection in Louisiana. And those that live there will either have to pay a lot because there is no government to prevent companies from charging outrageous prices, or instead just buy insurance so they can get some money back after it flooded. Or even worse... being too poor to do anything. Those who live at a safe place will just say 'it is their personal responsibility to protect themselves from flooding' and let their fellow countrymen suffer. Conclusion... It's impossible for the USA to do a project like this. Yes they have send people to the moon but this I consider impossible for the USA with the way their politics work and the mindset in their culture.

[@Ostalgie658]

Well that will never happen, becoming socialists I mean, as comrade sanders has dropped out, so that just sucks for you commies who think it will solve all your problems. I suppose the best system, capitalism will just have to fix global warming or wait climate change? What is it called this week? Now I’m sure that flooding is an issue I live in Houston so I know what it’s like to have your house flooded and guess what, it’s called the rainy season not climate change. It rains every year and sometimes it floods because of incompetence, after all Florida is steal here, and how long until every pacific island is under water? Or will that never happen who knows

[@d4mdcykey]

@@Ostalgie658 ~ Ah, we found the quintessential barely literate ignorant American blowhard, that didn't take long. Sometimes you people cause the rest of us sane individuals a great deal of embarrassment here in the States. Carry on, wayward son.

[@naysaykiller928]

Two megaprojects for the price of one?! Son of a gun, take my money now! Also, I really love how much Simon's personality is seeping thru to his other channels. Definitely a fan of the looser, more fun, "blaze" style of content. Makes me feel like Simon is a good friend, telling me a cool story🤣

[@MAITRYPATELTheAwesome]

A juxtaposition of a map that gives an idea of the geography would be such a nice addition to this amazing amazing video!

[@kikivoorburg]

For those wondering: In Dutch ‘ij’ is pronounced similarly to the English letter ‘I’. (However, the English letter is actually a diphthong between the sounds ‘ah’ and ‘ee’ (ah-ee, where ‘ah’ is pronounced as in British ‘bath’); in Dutch it is instead pronounced as a diphthong of ‘aa’ and ‘ee’ (a-ee where ‘a’ is pronounced as in “cat”). Another tough sounds in Dutch is ‘ui’. It is once again a diphthong but this time between more obscure sounds: ‘a’ and ‘ü’; a-ü where ‘aa’ is again pronounced as in “cat” and ü is pronounced as it would be in German. (or at least I’ve heard German uses ‘ü’ to demarcate the sound I’m referring to. I could be wrong.) Hope that helps! All things considered I think Simon did a decent job given the weirdness of the sounds lol

[@jeremy8189]

"What a beautiful inlet, how's the water?" "Murderous.". 😄😄

[@gerarduspoppel2831]

never really thought about how politically impressive this actually is.

[@FrancisBehnen]

I'd turn it around and say it's stupid this can't be accomplished anymore. When you literally see people dying due to a flood that scientists say will happen again, a government ought to do something about it. And that's precisely what our government is still doing. After the river floods in the '90s new projects started to prevent this type of floods. The remarkable thing imo is that the American government is unable to do something about their cities flooding.

[@gerarduspoppel2831]

@@FrancisBehnen .That is unfortunately true yes.

[@edopronk1303]

@@FrancisBehnen it took us, the Dutch, some centuries of political practice. We've got (one of the) worlds oldest political structure, de waterschappen (the watercommisions?) who's centuries of functioning was a practice for the cooperation for the Delta works. It's even a export product of the Netherlands, to create political support for projects. And there are still big (or bigger) projects like this. Around New Orleans, or Venice, or Jakarta. And most of the time, the Dutch are involved, one way or the other.

[@FrancisBehnen]

@@edopronk1303 Venice's project is rusting at the sea bottom afaik, but anyway yea, you're right, we do have more experience in this respect. Still, solving and preventing problems is the core duty of a government. Preventing floods sounds to me like a very important problem to prevent.

[@wimpie031]

In New Orleans prior to the flooding, Dutch water engineers visited the city and warned the city council that their water protection was in a very poor and dangerous state. Gave recommendations and everything. Sadly for some reason (politics?) they never did anything about it. The rest is history, so many lives lost needlessly.

[@afischer8327]

So many places will need the expertise of the engineers who work on these projects, and maintain them. Here in the UK, I believe that we have been helped by Dutch engineers at various times over the past 500 years, to enclose, drain and reclaim fenland, particularly in The Wash (Norfolk-Lincolnshire border), which before the Dutch assistance, was very soggy indeed. History and the present thanks you deeply. The future will need you.

[@RudyBleeker]

Dutch water management and engineering companies are doing that all over the world, even the USA. Of the (I believe) 14 civil engineering companies that were hired to update the water protection measures of New York City, 13 were Dutch. We've taken the lead in similar projects in New Orleans and in several other coastal countries in the Middle East and Asia. If you suffer from floods and other water related problems, you hire the Dutch to help you if you want the job done right.

[@Mdgd63]

You are good in explaining in a fast and simple way. Well done! And of course we Dutchies have to do a lot in the future to keep our feet dry!