I can remember the old yard sales that my mother would talk about having. Both of my parents were pack rats, and I remember a lot of old stuff from the 60s and 70s downstairs in the basement or in the attic. Mostly I can remember the smell of slight mold and dust over the pages of the record jackets and other things that I would find. Other than the smell and textures of the pages, I can remember thinking that the things came from an alien world. I was too young to really have a concept of time and different genres, but I was aware enough to sense that the combination of colors that I saw in these pieces were of a different visual language.
I’ve always loved how design and colors can transport the viewer through time. I couldn’t help remembering those old feelings when browsing around at wemadethis.
We nipped over to the latest Ephemera Society Fair on Sunday, and picked up a couple of tasty bits of print.First up is this Raleigh bikes brochure – no idea what year this might be – with a page detailing their bikes’ features picked out in cyan, magenta and yellow. As Dave in the studio might say, how fresh is that?Seems like all their bikes at the time had names that began with an ‘R’. You could choose from the Record (for the man who MUST lead the rest); the Rapide (for quality looks and value); the Rapier (as light and as sharp as a fencing blade); or the Royale (a whirlwind flyer with regal grace)! Loving the Raleigh logo – how bonkers is that G? Check out the full set of images on this Flickr set.More bike related ephemera following soon. And if you want to grab some for yourself, the next fair is Sunday 4 October. [From Raleigh ]
In contrast to the golden tampon bearing ballers of Dubai, much of the world of course is impoverished.
In Kinshasa, Congo, the only way people have been able to survive the collapse of the state and the economy is by bringing agriculture into the city. There are chickens and other animals roaming everywhere. These kinds of conditions transform the whole ecology of disease, speeding up transmission among animals and enabling the leap to humans. They create linkages and causal chains that weren’t there before.
In Kinshasa, Congo, the only way people have been able to survive the collapse of the state and the economy is by bringing agriculture into the city. There are chickens and other animals roaming everywhere. These kinds of conditions transform the whole ecology of disease, speeding up transmission among animals and enabling the leap to humans. They create linkages and causal chains that weren’t there before.
One example: Urbanization in West Africa has increased demand for protein in diets. At the same time, European companies have driven West African fishermen out of their traditional fishing zones, which provided most of their protein. Without fish for protein, people turned to the bush meat trade in the big logging countries such as Gabon. That demand for bush meat, for example from monkeys or chimps, has broken down all the biological species barriers for disease. People are eating wild mammals that carry exotic diseases like the Ebola virus or HIV.
One example: Urbanization in West Africa has increased demand for protein in diets. At the same time, European companies have driven West African fishermen out of their traditional fishing zones, which provided most of their protein. Without fish for protein, people turned to the bush meat trade in the big logging countries such as Gabon. That demand for bush meat, for example from monkeys or chimps, has broken down all the biological species barriers for disease. People are eating wild mammals that carry exotic diseases like the Ebola virus or HIV.
“Planet of Slums”
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