Daily Image

10-01-2017
PreviousNext
Click here or on the picture for a full size image.

Whisper Dish stolen (and returned)

Submitter: Tammo Jan Dijkema
Description: In the last week of 2016, one of the whisper dishes disappeared from its spot along the Milky way path. In its place we found a tiny TV satellite dish. Paths on the grass clearly showed that the dish had been loaded onto a truck.

It turns out that we were the victim of a dubious tradition from the Northern part of the Netherlands. In this tradition, called 'Oudejaarsstunt' ('New Year's Eve Stunt') or 'nieuwjaarsslepen' or 'nieuwjaarstogen', remarkable objects are purloined, only to appear on another location on January 1st, usually to make some political point.

The whisper dish indeed turned up on January 1st. New Years club 'Tied Zat' showed the whisper dish in their village Zorgvlied. With their action, they wanted to draw attention to the poor mobile reception in some parts of Drenthe. They did not elaborate on how a whisper dish would solve this problem.

Luckily, the dish was returned to its original location last weekend. For their dubious purposes, Tied Zat constructed a special trailer, and the damage is limited to some trails on the grass, which they will repair when the weather permits.

Of course, we are not happy with the dish being stolen, even if it was only temporary. However, no damage has been done, apart from disappointment on the part of people who expected to use the whisper dishes during the Christmas break. Therefore, we can only be happy that the dish has been properly placed back, and be relieved no 25 meter dish was used for this stunt.

Local news coverage of the events (all in Dutch): 'Where is the whisper dish', 'Mystery solved: whisper dish found', 'Stolen whisper dish returned in Hooghalen' (with video), reaction Staatsbosbeheer.
Copyright: Tammo Jan Dijkema, RTV Drenthe, Tied Zat
 
  Follow us on Twitter
Please feel free to submit an image using the Submit page.