Bike Repair Vending Machines

As the current regime draws nearer to the day when we cannot afford to drive cars, it’s good to know that people are working on alternatives: like the bike repair vending machine.

The Fixtation is really just a vending machine, but with bike parts instead of snacks (though there are some snacks in case you’re getting hungry on your ride). What makes it most convenient is the bike mount and tools–attached with aircraft cables to prevent theft–alongside the vending machine. You can replace that flat or adjust your brakes yourself without dealing with the characters who usually are employed at bike shops. Of course, you may not know how to replace a popped tube yourself; now is certainly the time to learn, so you can take full advantage of the Fixtation when it moves into your city.

Via: http://www.fastcompany.com/1768512/bike-repair-vending-machine-for-bikers-on-the-go

 

Wood pulp in your taco?

QUICK! What keeps pre-packaged shredded cheese from clumping, low-fat ice cream creamy, and pre-made milk shakes smooth? You guessed it! WOOD PULP. They call it “cellulose,” but it’s just powdered wood pulp. The industry loves this stuff. It’s cheap. It helps stabilize food, lowers fat content, increases fiber. Did I say it’s cheap?

Via http://www.foodrenegade.com/would-like-some-wood-pulp-your-shredded-cheese/

 

Sharp Swiss: Anti-PowerPoint Party

Switzerland’s new “Anti PowerPoint Party” (APPP) claims that PowerPoint sucks the creativity, spontaneity and audience interest out of any given topic. “If you do a PowerPoint presentation and it goes well, in 95 out of 100 cases if you do it without PowerPoint, the version without PowerPoint will beat it,” said Matthias Poehm, the president of the APPP, in a not very exciting video presentation.

He has a lot of unverifiable statistics to back him up. By assuming that across Europe, 11% of the 296 million employees are being subjected to twice-weekly PowerPoint presentations, Mr. Poehm calculates that lost productivity due to PowerPoint amounts to €110 billion per annum.

You’ve gotta love those Swiss!

Via http://blogs.wsj.com/tech-europe/2011/07/08/swiss-party-campaigns-against-powerpoint/?mod=google_news_blog

 

Apps for Everything: Let the Fetus Pick Its Name

Available now at the App Store, an app to let the unborn pick its name: Kick To Pick

Is the app that lets your beautiful bump choose their own name from thousands of baby names or even a shortlist created by you.”

The app plays selected names, with the iPhone over the big bump.  When it senses a kick, that’s the name that the fetus picked.

My reactions:

1. If you’re lame enough to need an iPhone app to pick your baby’s name, you’re probably too lame to have an iPhone.
2. If you believe that the fetus is really picking its name, you’re certainly too lame to have a baby.
3. Yet, I have to admire the entrepreneurial spirit that could dream up and sell such high-tech snake oil.

 

Odd Odds: Likelier to Survive a Plane Crash than Click a Banner Ad

 

Sort of makes you wonder why they bother, doesn’t it?

Via http://www.businessinsider.com/its-more-likely-you-will-survive-a-plane-crash-or-win-the-lottery-than-click-a-banner-ad-2011-6?op=1

 

Why California’s Broke: $200,000 lifeguards

According to a city report on lifeguard pay for the calendar year 2010, of the 14 full-time lifeguards, 13 collected more than $120,000 in total compensation; one lifeguard collected $98,160.65. More than half the lifeguards collected more than $150,000 for 2010 with the two highest-paid collecting $211,451 and $203,481 in total compensation respectively. Even excluding benefits like health care and pension, more than half the lifeguards receive a total salary, including overtime pay, exceeding $100,000. And they also receive an annual allowance of $400 for “Sun Protection.” Many work four days a week, 10 hours a day.

Via http://orangepunch.ocregister.com/2011/05/10/lifeguarding-in-oc-is-totally-lucrative-some-make-over-200k/44783/

 

Rent a country for $70k per night

Ever want to rent a country?

You’ve heard of renting a palace, renting a mega yacht, even renting an island. How about renting a country? For $70,000 a night with a two-night minimum and a very strict cancellation policy, you can rent Liechtenstein. Yes, the entire country.  You can rent the country for a conference, a party – whatever you drum up for you and your 900 closest friends.

Now, if you’re forgetting your high school geography, Liechtenstein is a tiny Alpine country – population 35,000 – tucked between Austria and Switzerland.

So what to do with your own nation? Well, how about starting with a wine tasting at the prince’s estate while watching your own fireworks show. You want to make this a very personal experience? You can rename the city streets and town squares as you wish and even print your own temporary currency with your face on it.

Now, if you do decide Liechtenstein is the perfect place for your party, please don’t cause too much of a ruckus. The nation has only a handful of police officers and no military.

Surely, breakfast included.

Via: http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/25/for-70k-a-night-you-can-rent-a-country/?hpt=Sbin

 

The Customer’s Always Right

(A customer comes up to the counter, and looks at a bottle of wine we’re sampling.)

Customer: “What’s this?”

Me: “It’s a tempranillo.”

Customer: “What is a ‘temper-nillo’?”

Me: “It’s a red grape from Spain.”

(The customer picks up the sample cup, and looks at it in confusion.)

Customer: “This is a grape? I could’ve sworn this was wine.”*knocks sample back* “How about that!”

Via: http://notalwaysright.com/page/5

 

Citroen has a very witty advertisement, about a man pretending that his car has lots of high-end features.  It’s a great example of communication without words.

 

Gold to go

A gold-vending machine:

Shoppers who are looking for something sparkly to put under the Christmas tree can skip the jewelry and go straight to the source: an ATM that dispenses shiny 24-carat gold bars and coins. …   “Instead of buying flowers or chocolates, which is gone after two or three minutes, this will stay for the next few hundreds years,” [Thomas Geissler, CEO of Ex Oriente Lux and inventor of the Gold To Go machines]

The company installed its first machine at Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Palace hotel in May and followed up with gold ATMs in Germany, Spain and Italy. Geissler said they plan to unroll a few hundred machines worldwide in 2011. He said the Abu Dhabi machine has been so popular it has to be restocked every two days.

This reminds me of the old Peanuts cartoon: Lucy, when asked what she wants for Christmas, replies “Real estate!”  Lucy would have liked this vending machine.

 

Gas Prices: Arm, Leg

 

Sometimes, a picture is worth more than a thousand words:

Via: Gas Prices Hit Highest Level in Two Years – Transportation – GOOD.

 

Live Crabs! From Chinese Vending Machine

One more item for the “I’d not have thought of this” list:

Located in the Xinjiekou subway station, in Nanjing, China, this particular vending machine is full of live hairy crabs and crab vinegar, making it available to enjoy seafood on the go.

The quirky food dispenser was installed on the 1st of October, and at first, it surprised even the Chinese. People would stop and stare at the crustaceans inside, and others would even take out their cameras and take photos of them. Business was out to a slow start, with only one hairy crab sold per day, but as people got used to the thought of buying live crabs from a vending machine, the figures jumped to an impressive 200 crabs a day. People noticed they were cheaper than the crabs found at the local food markets, and buying them on their daily commute they also saved precious time.

Depending on size, crabs can be bought for 10 RMB, 12 RMB, 25 RMB and 50 RMB. They all seem dead, but their actually just hibernating due to the low temperature in the vending machine.

via Oddity Central – Weird Places, Odd Events, Bizarre News, Strange People and A Lot More – Part 5.

 

48 ads that would never be allowed today

From today’s perspective, ads from the past can be truly amazing.

There’s the “male-dominance” (or “spousal abuse”) theme:

The “women can’t drive” theme:

The “domesticity is sexy” theme:

The thoroughly incoherent:

(Those crazy Frenchies!)

And my favorite:

 

Top 48 ads that would never be allowed today » Article » OWNI.eu, Digital Journalism.

 

The best growth is spurred by the right kind of ruin.

via An Age of Creative Destruction – Council on Foreign Relations.

 

New Jersey: Manhattan’s Provence

From today’s Wall Street Journal:

I’m going out on a limb, to predict that this is the only time this century that New Jersey will be favorably compared to Provence.

However, before the pollution, government corruption, and organized crime, large areas of New Jersey probably would have been nice places to live.

Perhaps fortunately, California is so busy imitating Greece, that it doesn’t have time to copy New Jersey.  But I’m sure that we can get there.