There is a difference between the two – the Netherlands, short for the Kingdom of the Netherlands refers to the country, while Holland – actually, North and South Holland – are two provinces out of the 12 provinces that make up the country.

However, the two names are commonly used interchangeably and this could be due to historical reasons. Holland used to be just one province during the days of the United Provinces (1581-1795), where a few provinces in the region came together to form the precursor to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and most of the nation’s governmental and commercial power was concentrated there. Hence foreigners came to think of the Netherlands and Holland as one and the same.

Though the right term for the country would be the Netherlands, matters are not helped by the country’s national tourism board also using the term Holland to refer to the entire country and in its tourism website address. Some encyclopaedias and books also refer to ‘Holland’ as another name for the Netherlands, further contributing to the common use of both terms to refer to the country.

Sources:

Name: Factiva.com
Source: The Arizona Republic
Title: Holland not the same as Netherlands
Author: Clay Thompson
Publisher: The Arizona Republic
Issue Information: 1 March 2007
Description: What is the difference between Holland and the Netherlands?
Last accessed date: 14 Jul 2010

Name: Factiva.com
Source: The Daily Express
Title: Your questions answered
Publisher: Express Newspapers
Issue Information: 4 November 2006
Description: Is there any difference between Holland and The Netherlands, or are they different terms for the same country?
Last accessed date: 14 Jul 2010

Name: Factiva.com
Source: Boston Herald
Title: Good question; It’s time to brush up on geography by going Dutch
Author: Beth Teitell and Roger Michel
Issue Information: 1 November 1998
Description: “Q: There are questions you just can’t ask after the third grade, and I’ve been carrying one around for 30 years – are Holland and the Netherlands different countries? And who exactly are the Dutch? Please help me with my secret shame!”
Last accessed date: 14 Jul 2010

You may also wish to refer to the following sources for more information on the Netherlands and her history.

Web Resources

Source: http://www.holland.com/global/aboutholland/history/
Title: History – History – The Official Website of The Netherlands Board …
Last accessed date: 14 Jul 2010

Source: http://www.minbuza.nl/en/You_and_the_Netherlands/
About_the_Netherlands/Highlights_of_Dutch_History
Title: Highlights of Dutch History – MinBuza.nl
Last accessed date: 14 Jul 2010

Source: http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/
travel-advice-by-country/country-profile/
europe/netherlands/
Title: Country Profile: Netherlands
Last accessed date: 14 Jul 2010

 Answered by Ms Lynn Koh, Associate Librarian, Adult and Young People’s Services

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If you have a different question, please email to ask@nlb.gov.sg instead of sending a comment

Kids ASK! about Myths & Facts

I must confess that I have always somewhat believed that if a baby is born on a plane, he or she will get free air travel on that carrier for the rest of his/her life. The truth is, airlines do not offer free air travel for babies born on their flights. It is an urban legend that has caught on in the public’s imagination, and one people believe is the reason for airlines’ restrictions on having pregnant women on board.

The real reason why airlines are very particular about having pregnant women in their third trimester on board is more medical than anything else. Pregnancy, if complications occur, can be dangerous for the mother and baby without professional help. Pregnant women also run risks of blood clot and inflammation in the veins of their legs when sitting too long. Air humidity in planes is kept at 8 percent and therefore it is easy to be dehydrated when on a plane. Different airlines have different regulations and many require a doctor’s letter if traveling within 30 days of due date of birth.

You can read here for information of restrictions some airlines have and here on risks of travel when pregnant.

That said, there have been 2 cases where babies have been given a lifetime of free travel from the airline carrier they were born in. In 1995, Dararasami Thongcharoen was born 2 months earlier than scheduled and it happened on Thai Airways. In addition to being able to fly for free on Thai Airways, she also got an educational scholarship and is considered a “daughter of Thai Airways”. The other baby, Mohd Aliff Mohd Fuad, was born in 1996 on Asia Pacific Airlines and he too got a lifetime of free air travel and education sponsored by the airline.

The other question commonly asked is of course what citizenship a child gets if he or she is born on a plane or on a ship in international waters. What do you think?

Reference:
Mikkelson, B. (2007, July 18). The plane truth. Retrieved January 24, 2009, from snopes.com Web site: http://www.snopes.com/pregnant/airbaby.asp

Easmon, C. (2005, April 1). Pregnancy and travel. Retrieved January 24, 2009, from netdoctor.co.uk Web site: http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/travel/diseases/ &pregnancy_and_travel.htm

If you want to read more about urban legends, here are books you can check out at our libraries.

For Children:

Image retrieved from www.amazon.com

Urban legends by Rachel Lynette
Publisher: Detroit : KidHaven Press, c2008
Call Number: J English 398.2 LYN -[FOL]

Image retrieved from shopping.discovery.com

Mythbusters: don’t try this at home! by Mary Packard
Publisher: San Francisco, Calif. : Jossey-Bass, c2006
Call Number: J English 507.8 PAC

For Adults:

Image retrieved from www.amazon.com

Lemmings don’t leap: 180 myths, misconceptions and urban legends exploded by Edwin Moore
Publisher: Edinburgh : Chambers, 2006.
Call Number: English 001.96 MOO

Singapore urban legends: myths & mysteries, edited by Tee Hun
Publisher: Singapore : SPH Magazines, 2005.
Call Number: SING English 398.2095957 SIN

All websites are last accessed on 24 January 2009. Please refer to the terms and conditions on the homepages for use.
For the availability of the above book titles, please check the library catalogue.

Answered by Felicia Chan,

Librarian, Children’s Services

Editor writes:  This interesting question with its corresponding answer will settle the honour of which is the largest airport in the world currently.   

There are three mega airports recently opened – Singapore’s Changi International Airport Terminal 3, Britain’s Heathrow Airport and China’s Beijing Capital International Airport.  Which is the biggest of them all? 

The answer: Beijing Capital International Airport. 

To understand the scale of this airport, the following information was taken from the article “Beijing opens world’s largest airport terminal”, The Press Trust of India Limited, dated 29 February 2008, extracted from the Factiva database:

China today unveiled the highly futuristic and world’s largest new airport terminal in the capital in preparation for a deluge of passengers for the Olympics and for meeting the country’s booming air traffic demand.

ASK! about Science & Technology

Firstly, there are actually different types of north poles.

True North Pole
The true north pole of the earth is where the earth’s spin axis meets the surface. The spin axis is an imaginary line through the earth.

Magnetic North
The magnetic north is where the compass will point to, since the compass reacts to the earth’s magnetic field. However, the magnetic north of the earth does not coincide with the earth’s true north pole. Thus, the direction in which the compass needle points is slightly different from the direction of the north pole at almost all places on the earth. It veers slightly to the east or west at almost all places on the earth.

Hence, even standing on the very spot of the north pole, the compass needle will still point north.

References:
Mahaney, W. C. (2001). North Pole. In World Book 2001. Chicago : World Book, Inc.
Hobbs, R. (2001). Compass. In World Book 2001. Chicago : World Book, Inc.
About.com, http://www.about.com/, True North, Magnetic North and Compass North: From Jim Shepard, retrieved: 4 Oct 07, URL: powerboat.about.com/od/navigation/a/ truenorth_wayup.htm

Answered by Ms Chiu Suet Fen , Librarian, Adult and Young People’s Services

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Post your comments, or send further questions about this or any other topic to ask@nlb.gov.sg

ASK! about Everything and Anything

It is not impossible to see foreign-registered vehicles in Singapore. All motorists will have to pay a fee for driving into and out of Singapore. For those driving a foreign-registered vehicle, they have to pay tolls and a vehicle entry permit (VEP) using the Autopass Card.

More information on driving in and out of Singapore can be found at the Land Transport Authority website .

Source:
Driving in and out of Singapore, Accessed Jun 3, 2007,

Answered by Chui Suet Fen, Librarian, Public Library Services

Found this question interesting? What do you think? Post your comments.
If you have a different question, please email to ask@nlb.gov.sg instead of sending a comment.

ASK! about Travel

Here are some books about various aspects of Tibet. For more titles, you could try seaching our online catalogue. For more relevant searches, add in additional keywords. For example, if you are looking for books on Tibetan buddhism or religion, try the following keywords: [tibet religion] or [tibet buddhism]. For travel guides, they are shelved in the TRAVEL section, you can find guides on Tibet under the Call Number: 915.1504. Most travel guides also provide a brief writeup about the country’s people/culture/history etc.

A beginner’s guide to Tibetan Buddhism : notes from a practitioner’s journey by Bruce Newman
Ithaca, N.Y. : Snow Lion Publications, c2004
Call No.: 294.3923 NEW
Click here for item availability.

Monk dancers of Tibet, text and photographs by Matthieu Ricard ; translated by Charles Hastings
Boston, Mass. : Shambhala, 2003
Call No.: q294.3437 RIC
Click here for item availability.
Description: “In the midst of the devastation that has been wrought on their culture, the monk dancers in the Shechen monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal, are devoted to preserving the sacred dances central to the Tantric tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. The dances, which originated in India and flourished for centuries in Tibet, are teaching stories: each mask, costume, movement, and gesture has a specific significance and embodies the values of Buddhism.”

Sacred landscape and pilgrimage in Tibet : in search of the lost kingdom of Bon by Geshe Gelek Jinpa, Charles Ramble and Carroll Dunham ; photographs by Thomas L. Kelly
New York ; London : Abbeville Press, 2005
Call No.: q299.54 GEL
Click here for item availability.
Description: “Before Buddhism, there was Bön. This book is a fascinating journey, visually and spiritually, through western Tibet by a monk of the little-known Bön faith, who is searching for the lost, sacred Bön homeland of Zhangzhung. Including a DVD of the Pilgrimage.”

Origins of Tibetan culture illustrated by Feng Ge ; translated by Geraldine Goh
Singapore : Asiapac, 2002
Call No.: 398.209515 FEN
Click here for item availability.
Description: The black and white cartoons of the Asiapac Comic series continue to open many eyes to the personalities and ideas of Asia’s different countries. This slim book introduces Tibet and includes its legends, arts and lifestyle and also offers explanations for some rites and habits which may appear bizarre to the outsider.

Tibetan phrasebook by Sandup Tsering, Melvyn C. Goldstein
Hawthorn, Vic., Australia ; Oakland, CA, USA : Lonely Planet Publications, 1996
Call No.: 495.483421 SAN
Click here for item availability.

Tibet, Tibet : a personal history of a lost land by Patrick French
New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2003
Call No.: 951.5 FRE
Click here for item availability.
Booklist review: “Prizewinning British author French does not allow his compassion for the long-suffering people of Tibet to cloud his sharp perceptions or derail his quest for facts and his commitment to telling the truth, however painful. And there is a great deal of pain in this finely woven blend of travelogue, reportage, and political analysis.”

Sky burial by Xinran ; translated by Julia Lovell & Esther Tyldesley
London : Vintage, 2005
Call No.: 915.150456 XIN -[TRA]
Click here for item availability.
Description: “In March 1958, a Chinese woman learns that her husband, an idealistic army doctor, has died whilst serving in Tibet. Determined to know what has happened to him, she sets off courageously to join his regiment. To her horror, instead of finding a Tibetan people welcoming their Chinese ‘liberators’, she walks into a bloody conflict, with the Chinese subject to terrifying attacks from Tibetan guerrillas. Before she can know her husband’s fate, she is taken hostage and embarks on a life-changing journey through the Tibetan countryside – a journey that will last twenty years and lead her to a deep appreciation of Tibetan culture in all its beauty and brutality.”

Tibet and China in the twenty-first century : non-violence Versus State Power by John Heath ; [foreword by HH The Dalai Lama]
London : Saqi, 2005
Call No.: 951.505 HEA
Click here for item availability.
Description: “John Heath’s overview lends perspective to this conflict through an impartial examination of the situation as it stands, as well as to how it has arrived at the present state of affairs.”

Web resources:
Official Website of the Central Tibetan Administration
BBC country profiles
Lonely Planet

All websites last accessed 19th Sep, 2006.

Answered by Jillian Lim, Librarian, Adult and Young People’s Services

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ASK! about Travel

According to the Travel Related Users’ System (TRUST), there are currently 733 licensed active travel agents in Singapore.
Source: TRUST

Of these, some are members of the National Association of Travel Agents, Singapore, which means they adhere to the Association’s Code of Conduct and Business Practices.

“From its humble beginning of only 82 members in 1979, the active membership strength has increased to 444 members as at January 2002. There are four classifications in the active memberships, namely Inbound, Outbound, Ticket Sales and Surface Transport. Active membership is open to licensed travel agents and tour operators in Singapore. They can sign up for more than one classification by paying the appropriate fees. We have also an associate membership category comprising about 100 travel related member companies.”
Source: National Association of Travel Agents, Singapore: Membership Information

In addition, the Singapore Tourism Board website contains statistics with respect to the travel and tourism industries in Singapore.

All websites last accessed 19th June, 2006.

You could also take a look at the following book, which is a commemorative publication for the 25th Anniversary of NATAS. It provides information about the Association, as well as some tips from actual travel agents.

Confession of a travel agent by Yeoh Siew Hoon
Singapore : National Association of Travel Agents Singapore, c2004
Call No.: SING 338.4791 YEO
Click here for item availability.

Answered by Lim Hwa Shan, Librarian, Adult and Young People’s Services

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Post your comments, or send further questions about this or any other topic to ask@nlb.gov.sg