The Consumer Category
We bring you the chic and unique, the best and most bizarre shopping offers both online and offline. We offer you tips on where to buy, and some of the less mainstream and crazy, individual and offbeat items on the internet. Anything that can be bought and sold can be featured here. And we love showcasing the best and worst art and design.
RyanAir passenger exits via the emergency door at Malaga Airport
“This man decided he wasn’t going to wait any longer. He activated the emergency door and left, saying: ‘I’m going via the wing’. It was surreal. He was sat on the wing for quite a while until the crew managed to get him back inside.” So says Fernando Del Valle Villalobos as he recalls how a fellow passenger on board a delayed RyanAir flight from Stansted to Malaga, Spain, grew tired of waiting to disembark and opted for the quicker exit.
The traveller, a 57-year-old Polish national, sat on the wing of flight FR8164 with his hand luggage. The plane sat on the tarmac. Coaxed back inside the plane, he was soon arrested.
A spokesman for Ryanair goes on the record: “This airport security breach occurred after landing in Malaga airport on 1 January. Malaga airport police immediately arrested the passenger in question and since this was a breach of Spanish safety and security regulations, it is being dealt with by the Spanish authorities.”
Reports that the man was a RyanAir employee investigating new classes of travel, and doing away with steps, are wide of the mark. Probably.
Posted: 3rd, January 2018 | In: News, The Consumer | Comment
The ultimate egg braking machine
All I want for Christmas is the ‘Egg Breaker eight line RZ-8, Wybijarka ośmiorzędowa RZ-8 OVO-TECH’:
Posted: 23rd, December 2017 | In: Technology, The Consumer | Comment
A terrifying talking Donald Trump robot debuts at Disney World
No sooner has Disney taken over Fox, President Trump’s favourite new bringer, than a terrifying talking Donald Trump robot debuts at Disney World. TrumpBot stands alongside other American presidents, like Abraham Lincoln, Barack Obama, and George Washington. All can be seen at the Mouse House’s Hall of Presidents.
Mickey Mouse Presidents, you say? Mickey Mouse is defined by the Urban Dictionary as: “Substandard, poorly executed or organized. Amateurish.” Bit harsh.
Anyhow, here’s roboDon:
“From the beginning, America has been a nation defined by its people. At our founding, it was the American people who rose up to defend our freedoms and win our independence. It was why our Founders began our great Constitution with three very simple words: We the people. Since that moment, each generation of Americans has taken its place in the defense of our freedom, our flag, and our nation under God.”
He does not say, “Grab her by the pussy!”
Posted: 19th, December 2017 | In: News, Politicians, The Consumer | Comment
Barry R. Glazer might be the world’s most honest lawyer: ‘I’m in it for vengeance’
Baltimore-based lawyer Barry R. Glazer is “in it for vengeance”. He has money. He’s been an attorney since 1968. And the principle – that thing that makes lawyer’s go ker-ching! – is for the idiots. This is about retribution. If his gun jammed, Judge Dredd would hire Barry Glazer.
Barry’s been hailed in film. You’ll hear his catchphrase – “Don’t urinate on my leg and tell me it’s raining” – and that he’s “Making it rain for the urinated upon”:
And now for more messages from Barry:
Posted: 15th, December 2017 | In: News, The Consumer | Comment
William Gass and his hates (July 30, 1924 – December 6, 2017 )
William Gass (July 30, 1924 – December 6, 2017 ) has words to the wise, telling the Paris Review in 1976
“If someone asks me, ‘Why do you write?’ I can reply by pointing out that it is a very dumb question. Nevertheless, there is an answer. I write because I hate. A lot. Hard. And if someone asks me the inevitable next dumb question, ‘Why do you write the way you do?’ I must answer that I wish to make my hatred acceptable because my hatred is much of me, if not the best part. Writing is a way of making the writer acceptable to the world—every cheap, dumb, nasty thought, every despicable desire, every noble sentiment, every expensive taste.”
Hate has been criminalised. Hate crime. Hate speech. Haters. Hate is bad in the therapeutic age of conformity.
Pimp my cement mixer: artist creates the disco ball truck
Public art is uplifting. Benedetto Bufalino pimped a truck into a Disco Ball Cement Mixer.
Spotter: Designboom
Posted: 9th, December 2017 | In: The Consumer | Comment
Miss Havisham insult teacups to die for
For tea with dash of bite and spite, may we suggest Miss Havisham’s sets?
Great fun. And perfect for some of the countr;’s best tea shops.
In 2007, Brighton’s Tea Cosy instituted a set of rules. Owner David Daly forbade anyone from resting their elbows on the table, insulting the Queen, handling sugar cubes and sipping from teaspoons, which must never be allowed to chink against the cup. Said Mr Daly: “I am just keen to teach people of the joys of a civilised cup of tea. People have to obey the rules in my tea rooms and if not they are asked to leave.”
Those of a vintage will recognise the name John Fothergill, mein host at The Spread Eagle in Thame in the 1920s and 30s, writer of the Innkeeper’s Diary, dramatised for BBC2 in 1981:
The fellow said, ‘I’ll never come here again,’ to which I replied, ‘Yes, but will you give me another undertaking: to tell all your friends not to come?’”
And there was Kim Tickell, aka Kim Joseph Hollick de la Taste Tickell, who ran the Tickell Arms outside Cambridge until his death in 1990.
* After parking carefully you approached the front door, on which was posted a long handwritten list of house rules – No Long-Haired Lefties, No Tee Shirts, No Trainers, No CND-ers and so on. The Squire himself usually presided over his empire in 18th century style attire including knee breeches and an eye glass. He was spectacularly rude, usually for no good reason, and was prone to outrageous behaviour. He once poured the ice bucket down a customer’s trousers because his shirt had come untucked and he was therefore “undressed”. A large pair of scissors was kept behind the bar so he could snip off any ties which offended him. Should a customer not have parked sufficiently neatly, he would call out their number plates through a megaphone, demanding they adjust the vehicle now. The walls were adorned with large weapons which he sometimes used for chasing people out of the building.
Pass the lemons…
Spotter: Boing Boing
Posted: 5th, December 2017 | In: The Consumer | Comment
Trumpy Bear: your very own Donald Trump-themed teddy to groom
Stuck for gift ideas? Looking for a warm hug ? Want something to groom? Well, Trumpybear is the answer.
Trumpy Bear is a plush 22″ bear with an attached 28″ by 30″ flag themed blanket. $39.90 plus $6.95 shipping. Trumpy has a zippered neck where the blanket is stored. Texas residents will be charged sales tax at the rate of 8.25%- all other states are neither collected nor remitted.
Do not set detonate your bear, pull its hair nor delve inside for sign of substance:
There is a 30 day money back guarantee for product price only. Shipping charges non refundable. Sorry, we cannot accept returns of intentionally damaged bears. Most orders are shipped within three business days. However, during periods of excess demand, please allow up to 6 weeks for delivery.
‘God bless Anerica. And Good Bless Trumpy Bear!”
Spotter: TrumpBear
Posted: 29th, November 2017 | In: Key Posts, Politicians, The Consumer | Comment
The Daily Mail versus The Guardian: wrapping Nazis and eugenics in Paperchase guff
Have you boycotted Paperchase, sellers of printed stationery – yep, people really do still send letters (though not to Daily Mail readers who communicate by holding their noses and yelling into the wind)? Hope not. Paperchase tried its best to shine a light into society’s darkest recess. It reached out to the Daily Mail’s Untermensch readership, hoping that in offering them two free rolls of Christmas wrapping paper, they’d be put on the path to decency.
But Stop Funding Hate thought Mail readers beyond salvation and bombarded Paperchase’s social media account with complaints. Paperchase didn’t rescind the offer, but did vow never again to reach down into the sewer. It was “truly sorry”. Some people are just not worth the effort. Wrapping paper is a not a right; it’s a moral choice. The tree gods gladly give up their own to wrap useful gifts like photos of Jeremy Corbyn, DVDs of The 100 Best Silences and the Pop-Up Book of Safe Spaces. But save for the odd Japanese knot weed and leylandii, no vegetation wants to be seen dead around the kind of stuff Mail readers buy at Christmas – jackboots, flaming torches and Jeremy Clarkson audio tapes.
Sarah Baxter tells Times readers Stop Funding Hate is interested in muzzling the Press. The group’s founder, Richard Wilson, ‘admitted on Newsnight that “the end point for us is a media that does the job we all want it to”.’ Which is? Baxter says it’s “suppressing the array of opinion reflected in the British press… Stop Funding Hate, however, has morphed into an arrogant group of hate-mongering activists who are outraged about an ever-expanding range of subjects”.
The idea is simple: starve the publication you don’t like of advertising money and watch it die. If this also deprives thick-as-custard people of reading the tabloids, all to the good. If those mouth-breathers can’t be banned from sharing views of the right-minded, their reading material must be censored. The caring Left knows best.
The Advertising Association is concerned, stating: “The UK has a free press and advertising plays a vital role in funding that. Pressure group lobbying of this kind has negative implications for our press freedom.” Advertising body Isba, warns: “We shouldn’t take for granted the freedom of the press.”
Over in the Guardian, which would surely be the only newspaper on the bottom shelf when the anti-haters have won the day, Peter Peston thunders:
Stop Funding Hate may legitimately urge Mail readers to quit (and Mail readers may, equally legitimately, examine the causes SFH espouses and make up their own minds). But trolling rather nervous companies such as Paperchase isn’t legitimate. It’s the thin end of a dangerous wedge – with no winners in sight, from left or right.
As last week’s Ipso complaints ruling on Trevor Kavanagh’s “The Muslim Problem” column for the Sun mordantly observes: “There is no clause in the editors’ code which prohibits publication of offensive content”. Nor should there be.
In the same paper, Stewart Lee writes beneath the headline: “My futile attempt to sell satire to the Daily Mail.” Well, the paper does employ the sublime Craig Brown, so maybe he’s enough? Guardian readers are told:
Usually, I am the sort of person who thinks that anyone who has ever worked for the Daily Mail is worse than Adolf Hitler, even the temps and the tea lady. And I’m not alone. So disgusted are youth voters by the repellent newspaper, it’s now clear that the Daily Mail’s increasingly hysterical attacks on Jeremy Corbyn, the coddled egg of British politics, may even have helped secure his triumphant loss in the last general election.
Worse than Hitler? Satire, right? Phew! And people not voting for Corbyn because the Mail told them, too? I thought it was about anti-Semitism. But, then, I’ve not been keeping up with the Guardian’s news on Jews and Jezza’ Labour Party, not since one of their columnists wrote in the Guardian: “I have developed a habit when confronted by letters to the editor in support of the Israeli government to look at the signature to see if the writer has a Jewish name. If so, I tend not to read it.”
I didn’t call for a boycott. And the sport pages are good. Boycotts are, after all, for censors and Nazis.
Lee also turns to the subject of Nazis, riffing on when the Mail hailed the blackshirts.
And a sepia-toned card of the first Viscount Rothermere, the paper’s 1930s proprietor, declares, in Daily Mail font, “I urge all British young men and women to study the Nazi regime in Germany. There is a clamorous campaign of denunciation against ‘Nazi atrocities’ which consist merely of a few isolated acts of violence, but which have been generalised, multiplied and exaggerated to give the impression that Nazi rule is a bloodthirsty tyranny. Congratulations on passing your driving test.”
Haha. Got one about the Guardian opposing the creation of the National Health Service as it feared the state provision of healthcare would “eliminate selective elimination”?
This is not to defend the Mail. It’s to highlight how censorship is formed by bigotry.
Owen Jones disagrees. He writes in the Guardian: “Paperchase rejecting the Daily Mail is another victory against hatred.” No, he’s not being ironic.
This paper, whose less than glorious history includes cheerleading for the Nazis and Oswald Mosley’s blackshirts, is one of the most vindictive bullies in Britain.
And the Guardian? The Spectator tells us that not all leading figures in the Left, including eugenicist George Bernard Shaw, minded tyranny. ( In March 1933 Shaw was a co-signatory to a letter in The Manchester Guardian protesting at the continuing misrepresentation of Soviet achievements: “No lie is too fantastic, no slander is too stale … for employment by the more reckless elements of the British press.”)
Malcolm Muggeridge, was initially supportive of the Soviet regime. But then he went to Moscow as a correspondent for the Manchester Guardian and learned about the Ukrainian famine. The Guardian censored his reports. The left was divided by the atrocities of the Soviet Union into honest, moral people and those who turned a blind eye.
Is this a row between newspapers: the Guardian in need of the Mail to showcase what it is not; the Mail and right-wing Press, doing much the same? The difference is, though, that only one side supports censorship.
Posted: 26th, November 2017 | In: Broadsheets, Key Posts, News, Tabloids, The Consumer | Comment
Reported to Nutshell Laboratories: Frances Glessner Lee’s Incredible Dolls’ House Murder Scenes
There’s a TV series in the work of Frances Glessner Lee (1878–1962), whose hand-made dioramas of murder scenes were used to train US detectives to “convict the guilty, clear the innocent, and find the truth in a nutshell.” It might be tad slow, as Lee manufactures a crime scene – assisted by carpenter Ralph Moser, a typical study took the duo three months and cost $3,000 to $6,000 (equivalent to $40,000 to $80,000 today). (Moser built the structures of the rooms and most wooden elements, like tiny working doors, windows, and chairs. He constructed every piece to Lee’s strict specifications, so much so that Lee once rejected a rocking chair made by Moser because it did not rock the same number of times as the original) – but have you seen some of the bilge on TV?
Lee even wrote up reports as “Reported to Nutshell Laboratories”. It’s all there: the crime; the character; the will-they won’t they romance; the wit. Call me TV, I have ideas…
Much more on Flashbak
Posted: 25th, November 2017 | In: The Consumer | Comment
Bulge like Michaelangelo’s David in these optical illusion pants
Stuck for a gift? Well, unstick yourself. These yoga pants and swimming trunks shorts are a snip.
Spoter: BB
Posted: 21st, November 2017 | In: Fashion, The Consumer | Comment
Paperchase must ban all Daily Mail suspects from its stores
Paperchase is “truly sorry” for speaking to Daily Mail readers, offering them two free rolls of wrapping paper in Saturday’s newspaper. Stop Funding Hate, the group that hates the Daily Mail and its pressie-wrapping readers, promising without irony to “tackle the culture of hate, demonisation and division that is poisoning our political discourse”, encouraged tweeters to complain, just as it did when Lego advertised in the Mail. Lego responded by vowing never again to advertise in the popular tabloid. One minute you’re a Danish-based company selling plastic figurines to children; the next you’re a force for moral good. Life moves pretty fast when your in the censor’s crosshairs.
Stop Funding Hate spotted the Paperchase promotion in the Mail and opined: “After a torrid few weeks of divisive stories about trans people, is a Daily Mail promotion what customers want to see from @FromPaperchase?” Paperchase, of course, laughed this off, arguing that pricey envelopes and novelty pens should be available to all people, even those who only send emails. No, of course not. It said: “We now know we were wrong to do this – we’re truly sorry and we won’t ever do it again. Thanks for telling us what you really think and we apologise if we have let you down on this one. Lesson learnt.”
With any luck, all ‘responsible’ advertisers will pull their ads and the Daily Mail will be much reduced, existing on a sponsorship of Nazi memorabilia, cricket bats and Downton Abbey merchandise before dying with their last reader’s final breath.
Not far enough, of course. Paperchase, which as you can see from the images above, thinks nothing of supporting arcane gender stereotypes, disappointing we who look it for guidance on all manner of pressing issues (such as: when does Christmas shopping begin? when are 2018 diaries discounted?; is there life after death?) needs to do more. Sam White suggests: “Paperchase, not good enough. You should question people wishing to enter your stores as to whether they have ever handled or looked at a Daily Mail. Those who have can be refused entry, or possibly sent for re-education.”
And there’s a card for everything, even the Untermensch:
When you see a card declaring ‘Intolerance will not be tolerated’, you know where to send it…
Posted: 21st, November 2017 | In: News, Tabloids, The Consumer | Comment
Win Copies of The Celestial Archive Advent Calendar
Fancy something smart and beautiful this Christmas? We’re giving away two copies of the terrific Celestial Advent Calendar.
Conceived , compiled and designed by Stephen Ellcock and Hugh Hales-Tooke, the Celestial Archive Advent calendar follows the format of a traditional Advent calendar with 24 numbered doors, but the images are a celebration of the celestial rather than religious or other typical yuletide imagery.
WIN one of two copies by following our sister site Flashbak on twitter – using the hashtag #celestialadventcalendar.
The calendar features a selection of pre-space age images of the heavens by artists, illustrators, astronomers, scientists, mystics and visionaries, spanning several centuries and many cultures and iconographic traditions.
The windows in the cover open to reveal celestial images printed on translucent paper, which, held up to the light, produce something like a stained glass window effect.
Buy The Celestial Archive Advent Calendar HERE.
Or WIN one of two copies by following our sister site Flashbak on twitter – using the hashtag #celestialadventcalendar.
Posted: 20th, November 2017 | In: The Consumer | Comment
Schools ban glitter to save the planet but the human virus lives on
To the Tops Day Nurseries, which all 19 branches have banned the 3,000 children they care for from using…glitter. Tops’ MD Cheryl Hadland says the glitter is harming the planet.
“We did a survey a few months ago and 86% of our parents want us to be eco-sustainable,” says Hadland. “I think a lot of our parents really want us to do this.”
Those are the parent who drop their children off at the daycare centre in cars, right? And do any of these children have siblings or pets? Are we not all the human virus? Shouldn’t we all be sterilized? Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn opined:
“Humans represent the most obscene, perverted, cruel, uncivilised and lethal species ever to inhabit the planet and [we look] forward to the day when the inevitable asteroid slams into the earth and wipes them out, thus giving nature the opportunity to start again”
Of course, this is just glitter. It’s not as if people are trying to ban skirts, playing, mum’s lunch, crayons, glue, marking, tackling, blazers, the school run, words and sausage rolls.
If children want an eco-friendly alternative to glitter, they can always try mixing snot with dandruff.
Posted: 18th, November 2017 | In: News, The Consumer | Comment
Barbie gets an hijab in accordance with ‘diversity’
There’s to be a Barbie doll based on US Olympic fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad, who became the first women who wear an hijab at the Olympics. According to Mattel, Muhammad is a “Shero”, which is bit like being a hero but for women; like heroine, yes, but the kind of portmanteau that makes for better branding and makes women a special case. So much for equality.
Sejal Shah Miller, Barbie’s vice president of global marketing, guffs out a statement: “Ibtihaj is an inspiration to countless girls who never saw themselves represented, and by honoring her story, we hope this doll reminds them that they can be and do anything,” It’s less about her than it is about us, say Mattel.
And as for girls’ ambitions, well they can’t do anything. NBC says Muhammad got into fencing because her mother likes the cover-all kit. “My mom just so happened to discover fencing,” says Muhammad on CNN. “She was driving past a local high school and saw kids with what she thought was like a helmet and like long pants and long jacket. She was like, ‘I don’t know what it is, but I want you to try it.”
So you can do anything, so long as you cover up. And don’t do it in Iran,where as one toy seller opined: “I think every Barbie doll is more harmful than an American missile.”
Whatever the backstory, the athlete is delighted, saying being immortalised in plastic is a “childhood dream come true”:
Thank you @Mattel for announcing me as the newest member of the @Barbie #Shero family! I’m proud to know that little girls everywhere can now play with a Barbie who chooses to wear hijab! This is a childhood dream come true 😭💘 #shero pic.twitter.com/py7nbtb2KD
— Ibtihaj Muhammad (@IbtihajMuhammad) November 13, 2017
Cynics might argue that Mattel needs to broaden its appeal, and what easier way than by tapping into a new market, albeit the relatively small one of female Muslim fencers. CNN Money notes: “Barbie has been working hard to make its collection of dolls more diverse in an effort to broaden the brand’s appeal… Barbie’s sales have slumped, down 6% in the most recent quarter compared to last year.”
More people as dolls here. Each one an inspiration…
Posted: 15th, November 2017 | In: News, Sports, The Consumer | Comment
The Beautiful Poetry of Donald Trump: Ode to 45
Donald Trump’s poetry is composite blend of Tweets, speeches and interviews edited by Rob Sears, who notes the “little known alternative fact that the 45th President, Donald J. Trump, has long been a remarkable poet.”
The Beautiful Poetry of Donald Trump considers Trump “a modern-day Basho or Larkin” with smaller hands.
The greatest misapprehension about DJT corrected by this volume, however, may be the idea that he sees money and power as ends in themselves. In fact, just as Wilfred Owen turned his wartime experiences into poetry, and Slyvia Plath found the dark beauty in her own depression, Trump is able to transform his unique experiences of being a winner into 24-karat verse. He didn’t build a huge real-estate empire for the billions; he did it so he could write poems…
Highlights:
I won!
Well, we’ve had some disasters, but this is the worst
Bad hombres
I’ve known some bad dudes
I’ve been at parties
They want to do serious harm
I’ve seen and I’ve watched things like with guns
I know a lot of tough guys but they’re not smart
We’re dealing with people like animalsBut they are the folks I like the best—by far!
I am the least racist person there is
I’ve always had a great relationship with the blacks
I remained strong for Tiger Woods during his difficult
period
Oprah, I love Oprah. Oprah would always be my first choice
Kanye West—I love him
I think Eminem is fantastic, and most people think I
wouldn’t like Eminem
And did you know my name is in more black songs than any
other name in hip-hop?
You are the racist, not I
I respect women, I love women, I cherish women
Vagina is expensive
No more apologies—take the offensive!
Hot little girl in high school
I’m a very compassionate person (with a very high IQ)
Just think, in a couple of years I’ll be dating you
It must be a pretty picture, you dropping to your knees
Come here, I’ll show how life works. Please.
We’ve got to stop the stupid
You know what uranium is, right?
It’s a thing called nuclear weapons and other things like lots
of things that are done with uranium including some bad
things
I have to explain this to these people, they don’t even understand basic
physics, basic mathematics, whatever you call it
I mean, they’re like stupid
Look at the way I’ve been treated lately
I should have been TIME Magazine’s Person of the Year
Just like I should have gotten the Emmy for The Apprentice
I should have easily won the Trump University case
I should have won New York state but I didn’t
I unfairly get audited by the I.R.S. almost every
single year
No politician in history—and I say this with great surety—
has been treated worse or more unfairly
Spotter: The Beautiful Poetry of Donald Trump , Dangerous Minds
Posted: 13th, November 2017 | In: Books, Politicians | Comment
This Heinz Stranger Things ketchup bottle top is brilliant
Spotter: Adam The Creator
Posted: 9th, November 2017 | In: The Consumer, TV & Radio | Comment
What happens when you tap on a shark screen that say ‘don’t tap on the shark screen’
Sharks get a tough run with humanity, whether it being fins made into soup, teeth worn as necklaces or the cultural approbation / plasticface that saw the biggest shark role in Hollywood history played by a machine. At the International Spy Museum in Washington D.C., visitors are advised against tapping on the glass. This is, of course, an invitation to tap on the glass, which one shark feast-sized human did:
The display is part of a museum exhibit called “Earth Redesigned.” The show includes the vision of fictional character Karl Stromberg of the James Bond book and film “The Spy Who Loved Me,” and his ideas about a post-apocalyptic war world beneath the sea.
“What would Stromberg’s world be like?” the museum asks on the display’s webpage. “Find out as you experience the residents in our virtual shark tank … but be careful — you never know when one might attack!”
Wait for it…
Posted: 28th, October 2017 | In: News, Strange But True, The Consumer | Comment
Peter Dahmen’s stunning pop-up books
Pop-up books done well are gorgeous. So here’s a peeks at the work of Peter Dahmen and his video Most Satisfying Video of Pop-Up Cards.
Spotter: The Kid Should See This
Posted: 26th, October 2017 | In: Books, Gifs, The Consumer | Comment
The hipster nativity is a thing of comfort and joy
Nicely done hipster nativity makers. The three wise men ride on Segways bearing gifts from Amazon for the newborn. Mary holds her Starbucks and pouts. She looks more than tad high. Joseph is taking a photo of his own head. The bard has solar heating; the sheep has a jumper; and one of the wise men is sporting a waxed ‘tache.
Posted: 25th, October 2017 | In: The Consumer | Comment
Amazon delivers 65 pounds of marijuana to couple who ordered a bin
Sometimes life just gives you a break. And so it was for one couple who instead of the four storage bins they ordered from Amazon, received 65 pounds of marijuana.
Can you imagine?
Amazon customers in Orlando got unexpected marijuana delivery 📦-65-pounds! #WFTV at 6pm pic.twitter.com/yYywuKYpnU— Jeff Deal (@JDealWFTV) October 20, 2017
“They were extremely heavy, heavier than you would think from ordering four empty bins,” the woman tells ABC.
She called the police, who impounded the contraband, and around a month later Amazon sent them a $150 gift card.
There really is no helping some people.
Spotter: WFTV
Posted: 25th, October 2017 | In: Strange But True, The Consumer | Comment
The meaning of sailors’ tattoos
Artist Lucy Bellwood explains the meaning of sea-farers’ tattoos with The Art of the Sailor. It first appeared in the Vancouver Maritime Museum’s traveling exhibit, “Tattoos and Scrimshaw: the Art of the Sailor.”
Spotter: Rusty Blazenhoff,
Posted: 23rd, October 2017 | In: Strange But True, The Consumer | Comment
A flame-activated edition of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451
The Anne Petronille Nypels Lab at Holland’s Van Eyck Academie showcases the work of French graphic design collective Super Terrain. They’ve created a version of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 in heat sensitive ink. At room temperature the book’s text is secreted under a layer of black substance. Heat it up and the words are revealed.
Spotter: Open Culture, Flashbak
Posted: 22nd, October 2017 | In: Books, Technology, The Consumer | Comment
Organic farming wastes resources and what about the animals?
We should all care where meat comes from. Poor animal welfare shames us all. Writing in the Guardian, George Monbiot has an idea:
One study in Britain suggests that, if we stopped using animal products, everyone in Britain could be fed on just 3m of our 18.5m hectares of current farmland (or on 7m hectares if all our farming were organic).
Organic is wasteful, then, right? And if we stop using animal product, where does the fertiliser for organic come from?
The study Monbiot cites is in the Land Magazine. You can read it there, and then know that according to the Soil Association, “Organic means…no manufactured herbicides or artificial fertilisers.”
Poo it is, then. We need farm animals. But we can all agree they must be well treated. Anything less is a curse on our age.
Posted: 21st, October 2017 | In: News, Technology, The Consumer | Comment