Month: February 2019

  • Pioneer Axe + more things

    Pioneer Axe was an old-time US manufacturing company. The company used skilled labour and machine tools to manufacture axes. The Pioneer Axe plant didn’t seem to have been invested in during the 20th century and globalisation was starting to make itself felt in light industrial areas. This documentary film about their manufacturing process was made…

  • Brexit approaches + more things

    Sky, Unilever and McDonald’s slash UK ad spend as Brexit approaches | The Drum – not terribly surprising. I would expect other changes as Brexit approaches. Changes in warehousing or even moving teams offshore. From a marketing perspective there is a compelling argument for a counter-cyclical strategy, which is how Proctor and Gamble built their…

  • AngloArabia by David Wearing

    I got sent a copy of AngloArabia and was interested in having a read of it. I grew up at a time when the Gulf states influence grew through OPEC. I started my work life with a brief time in the oil and gas industry. Since then I have moved on through a number of…

  • Roland file trademarks + more things

    Roland Files Trademarks For 303 & 808 Designs In Germany – Magnetic Magazine – interesting reading, in particular patenting designs so long after they were manufactured. Roland files trademarks and patents aimed at trying to stop Behringer who are due to be releasing a near perfect copy of the 808 drum machine Why Jeff Bezos…

  • One Small Step + more

    I had to start with this short film ‘One Small Step’ I saw that’s right up there with Pixar in terms of its storytelling and craft. One Small Step is an amazingly inspirational film. The space theme reminds me of the retro futurism of the Soviet bloc in terms of visual style. The characters have…

  • 100 spies + more things

    100 spies will monitor all SMS and email that goes in and out of Norway | Nettavisen – original in Norwegian. 100 spies sounds like a small amount of people, but they are likely to supported by likes of machine learning technology to filter down the data further. It will be interested to see how…

  • To kill the truth by Sam Bourne

    To kill the truth is very much a book of our time. It explores the power of historical records, the alt-right and technology. The plot opens with a very current battle between ‘woke’ academia meets the polo-shirted, tiki torch-bearing far right. A former academic has gone to court in order to dispute our understanding of…

  • CNY 2019 – year of the pig

    CNY 2019 is the Chinese new year of the pig! The pig is the last animal in the 12 year cycle of the Chinese horoscope. People born in the pig year, would need to be careful this year according to tradition. The reason is that they offend Tai Sui, the god of age in Chinese…