June 16, 2008
On 11 June 2008, Queen Beatrix royally opened the Graphic Design Museum in Breda, the first museum in the world dedicated to graphic design. The museum plans to function as a museum, knowledge centre, training facility, shop, designer café and production house for graphic design. It offers an international stage for established designers as well as a springboard for new talent.
(Link and photos: graphicdesignmuseum.nl)
Tags: Breda, graphic design, Graphic Design Museum
May 22, 2008
It’s not yet on the market (and it will look different than this picture), but two inventors from Breda, Noord-Brabant hope that it will be soon: a pillbox that reads the directions folders of medicine. Once the box is opened, it will start reading automatically. The box makes sure to state that it is medicine and not sweets, a good idea when children are around.
A text can be up to 4.5 minutes long, and a 60-second text can be read some 150 times.
Let’s hope that the direction folders are properly written (an issue about two years ago in the Netherlands), properly translated (always an issue) and not too long (nobody needs to hear an entire disclaimer in 27 EU languages).
(Link: rtl.nl)
March 31, 2008
Belgium wants to rent some 300 jail cells from jails in Breda and Maastricht, cities close to the Belgian border. According to the Belgian media, the country has some 10,000 prisoners (out of some 10,5 million inhabitants), while there is only room for 8,500. In the Netherlands some 20% of jail cells are empty. So far, the Dutch government has said no and suggested that they might rent or sell jail boats to the Belgians, which didn’t really ‘float’ with the Belgian government.
You could draw all kinds of conclusions from this article, the kind of article you learn to analyse at school to show off your debating skills: Why are Dutch prisons empty? Why are Belgian prisons full? What’s wrong with boats? And so on.
(Link: omroepbrabant.nl)
Tags: Belgium, Breda, Maastricht, Netherlands, prisons
September 15, 2007
(Promotional video that lead up to the event)
Today the city of Breda, Brabant has broken the world record Mentos Geyser, according to the spokeswoman of the organiser, sweets manufacturer Perfetti Van Melle of Breda who makes Mentos. Some 850 participants on the Kasteelplein with their ready to blow cola bottles plonked their five Mentos sweets at 2:30 pm in their cola bottles. The result was a lot of four to five-meter high fountains. And voilà , the home of Mentos entered into the World Guinness Book of Records.
Thanks to the artistic group the Eepybirds, the Mentos Geyser has become very popular around the world. The Eepybirds were also in Breda for the joyous occasion.
(Link: omroep Brabant)
Tags: Breda, cola, experiments, Mentos
August 18, 2007
Breda has declared Sunday, 2 September ‘Red Hair Day’, so that artist and painter Bart Rouwenhorst can paint and take pictures. Downtown Breda is expecting some 800 red-haired people for the occasion. As of Sunday, some 20 artisits with a fascination for “carrot tops” or “gingers” can check out pictures and paintings in de Grote Kerk. Rouwenhorst has been painting red-haired people for years “They are rare and special. Their skin colour is totally different, and so it is extremely difficult to paint them realistically.”
Van Gogh did a fine job if you ask me.
(Link: De Telegraaf)
Tags: Breda, carrot tops, ginger, red hair, Red Hair Day
March 13, 2007
On Friday 16 March, DJ Tiësto will be spinning tunes in the new luggage hall at Schiphol airport. The DJ from Breda has already sold 2,400 tickets to fans who did not even know where the gig was to be held. Although the hall has not yet officially been opened, the ‘concert’ will last four hours, marking the beginning of the ‘Elements of Life’ world tour. Tiësto will also ‘perform’ in the Gelredome in Arnhem, the date of which will be announced on Friday.
(The quotes are a veiled reference to the Dutch tax folks who consider some DJs as ‘performing artists’ who can deduct costs, but other DJs as just some ‘people spinning records’.)
(Link)
March 7, 2007
The raspberry man of the Hero brand jam is making a comeback. The company from Breda had retired the advertising character last year. But when the story about his retirement hit the papers, radio and television, Flipje got caught up in a veritable media hype. It was recently decided to put Flipje back into use. The character was created back in 1935.
(Link)
