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 On the blog of Fast Company, 6 reasons are given why Belgium will be the next hotspot for design.

Imke Dielen shared the link on Twitter, stating ‘finally some positive news again about Belgium’. I couldn’t agree more, that’s why I want to highlight the article here. Go go read it .

The Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels has always been one of my favourite museums. At the moment, it is hosting the exposition ‘Survivors of the X-treme’, showing how animals survive in the hottest, darkest, coldest, in other words the most extreme environments. Last weekend, we went there with our nephews of 3 and 8 years old.

And we liked it: The exposition is very interactive.  All kinds of installations make you experience or learn about the extreme conditions yourself. Which gives the exposition an extra touch, not only for children but also for adults. Discovering a dark cage, feeling the ice cold polar winds, measuring how much water your body contains, playing an exciting quiz…: you could do it all.

Most amazing, though, was the ‘heath sensor’, which shows the warmest (and less warmer) parts of your body using colours. Those colours totally changed after feeling the polar winds.

The exposition runs till the 30th of August. I don’t have to mention anymore to pass by (when you’re in the neigbourhood). Moreover, I made the cutest film of my boy friend and our nephews reaching a mountain’s summit and doing -uhm- funny things:

The website is travelling the world. And that’s no surprise. On Eternal Moonwalk, you can see people and other creatures doing the famous Michael Jackson moonwalk. And if you are inspired, you can film your very own moonwalk and add it to the website. Result right now are thousands of movies from all over the world. Some so funny and creative that you just have to keep on watching.

Eternal Moonwalk is an initiative from the Belgian radio channel Studio Brussel. The idea is Belgian as well. Behind it are Group 94 and Mortierbrigade. Proud to see a Belgian initiative conquer the world.
PS Don’t forget to try the buttons below with the ’s’, ‘d’, ‘f”… Brings your experience even a galaxy further .

Sometimes, the things you learn from YouTube films can be very practical and save you a lot of time and effort. Watch and learn how to open a banana. Properly. Like the monkeys do. Via Zofie.

We were out of bananas, but I’ll give it a try once we have bananas in the house .

When I opened my Facebook today, I was surprised to find a link to an article entitled ‘Tax agency spies via Facebook’ (the article in Dutch).

In short: the Belgian tax agency is said to watch people on network sites like Facebook and Netlog. Information that is found on the web, cannot be used as evidence, but may lead to further controls.

Main aim is to catch people whose lifesytle doesn’t correspond to their tax declaration. According to the article, the BBI (Belgian Special Tax Inspection) has already confirmed the story: “It is possible, it is allowed and it happens. Now and again information is gained via social network sites, but especially via eBay.”

After posting the link on Twitter, some people thought it was a hoax. Yet, I don’t think so. Somebody also wonders “how do they know my Ebay username”? I suppose they’re not just following anyone, but I’d like to know some more about it as well..

Simple and therefore (probably) very succesful: the current campaign of Belgian’s youngest mobile operator Mobile Vikings: Choose your favourite cellphone and spread it on Facebook. Consequently you might win the cellphone of your choice.

A viral marketing campaign like another, you might say. Indeed. Except for the fact that you can see how popular the cellphone of your choice is. The smartphone I chose, the LG KP500 Cookie is not that popular with only 5% of the people interested in it. With 33%, the Iphone 3G is the top choice at the moment, followed by the HTC Touch Diamond 2 (14%) and the HTC Touch Cruise 2 (11%). Very interesting for Mobile Vikings (and also other mobile operators …) as well, since it shows what smartphones people dream of.

Oh yeah, and here’s a competiton you can’t win anything with unless virtual fame forever. I found out that somebody put me on the list for Ms Twitter Belgium. However, I have been on holiday, the competition closes tomorrow and I thus have not enough time to organise a proper campaign . Yet, a warm appeal to vote for me (my Twitter name is theonehitwonder). Always nice for a girl And if somebody knows who put me on that list, let me know, I’m curious…

Tomorrow, I’m attending the famous Rock Werchter Festival with my sister. Very much looking forward to it. With artists like Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and 2ManyDJs it will be hard not to enjoy the music. Moreover, the weather will be very sunny, which will only enhance the atmosphere.

At 7pm there will be a twunch (short for Twitter lunch) at the festival, with already more than 35 subscribers. Googling for ‘twunch’ I found out that this is a Belgian invention. The (Belgian) Twitterati love to share their thoughts not only on the micro blogging tool Twitter, but in real life as well. So when you are into lunch at a certain place at a certain time, you launch it on Twitter. Other people, in the neighbourhood at that particular time, can subscribe and join. A great idea. And to be honest, the initiative just hàd to be Belgian, since we can’t get enough of lunch and dinner and beer and wine and … There is even a twunch website, with an overview of future and past twunches.

For my sister it will be the first meet-up with my ‘online’ friends and followers. Curious what she’ll think of ‘the bunch at the Werchter twunch’. And as for the twunch initiative: I hope it will have a long national and international life.

In the harbour of my hometown Hasselt, there is a brand new attraction: a huge rubber duck floating on the water and enjoying the summer sun.

The duck announces the beginning of a challenging art project in Limburg, called ‘Zoom Out’. The project wants to unfold the borders of art, architecture and landscape. Moreover, it wants to find out in which way art can be used in public spaces.

The duck will travel through the region of Limburg and is created by the Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman. It is entirely made out of polyester and doesn’t know any borders or political and cultural preferences. In other words: whoever you are, the duck will welcome you with a kind nodd - if the weather is a bit windy that is .

I’m curious what else the Zoom Out project will bring. More information, also in English, on the website of the Hasselt art centre Z33.

Picture by reinsafe.

I’m pregnant, yes I am. Our baby, who we call ‘babes’ while in my tummy, is due around the 23d of November .

Even though being pregnant means being very tired, I have done quite some geeky things meanwhile. Like visiting London with the Girl Geeks (I only had the suspicion back then that I could be pregnant), like going for an @twunch lunch, like attending the interesting conference ‘Social media in Belgium: building brands via social media and blogs’. Like announcing on Twitter that I’m pregnant. I loved the reactions. Some wished me luck with ‘our tweep’ (Twitter person), so babes already has a nickname: tweep.

While in my tummy, babes has already visited a lot of places and met a lot of people. That’s why I started a set of photos on Flickr, named ‘while waiting for babes’. Too bad I haven’t taken more pictures, but there are still 5 months left .

The pics (with comments in Dutch) can be found via this link or you can have a quick look at the slideshow here: