News you should read about, the July 27th edition

(Via Boingboing) Senior Girl guides above 16 want to learn how to ‘manage their money’ and how to ‘practice safe sex’. Younger Girl Guides, on the other hand, want to learn how to ‘cook a healthy meal’ and how to ‘pitch a tent’.

(Via Feministing) A South African woman saw her house burn down earlier this week after she committed the grevious offence of wearing pants. Shit.

Over at Nerd World, Lev Gossman wonders how Harry and Ron eventually end up working as Aurors, seeing how they never really completed the school curriculum.

(Via Feministe) Drinking Aquafina and wondering why it tastes like tap water? Well, probably because it is tap water!

In Fast Company, it reports that one in six people in the world, or 1 billion people, have no safe portable water to drink, yet Americans move around 1 billion bottles of water across the country every week.

Fuck you Anya Hindmarch; or why Hindmarch represents all that is wrong with ‘green consumerism’

I hate plastic bags. Sure, I think that steps are needed to encourage people to combat unnecessary wastage of plastic bags, but that being said - Anya Hindmarch is not the saviour of the reusable bags movement.

Don’t know who Anya Hindmarch is? Lucky you.

What’s Worse Than A Long Distance Relationship?

A relationship that happens to span not only space, but time as well. The Time Traveller’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger has been on my bookshelf for a while now, and I’ve read it twice. It was one of those books that everyone you knew was reading/raving about/contemplating reading/has bought and stashed away for when they finally get some time to theirselves to read it. Oftentimes books that dominate the zeitgeist for a while are a bit of a letdown. Sentimental drivel at best *cough*The Alchemist*cough*, and wannabe-philosophical nonsense at worse *cough*Life of Pi*cough*, I find that it’s usually best to find someone you know and trust who reads everything anyway to give you their opinion *cough*me*cough*. Trust me when I say – this is a fantastic book.

News you should read about, the June 28th edition

Via Boingboing. From a letter in 1938, it seems as though Disney didn’t want girls to become cartoon animators. In a rejection letter, it states: “Women do not do any of the creative work in connection with preparing the cartoons for the screen, as the work is performed entirely by young men. For this reason, girls are not considered for [animation] training school.” Disney’s logic is perfectly understandable. Afterall, if girls are going to spend their lives hunched over a table and drawing pictures, the Prince Charmings won’t be able to do their job of rescuing these dainty princesses from evil stepmothers and talking animals! Won’t someone think of the Prince Charmings who might be made redundant? They might have to end up working in a factory or something!

Starbucks has unveiled plans to promote “An Artic Tale”, a documentary about a polar bear and a walrus whose habitats are under siege. But wouldn’t it be better if Starbucks focused on its in-house policies instead? How about doing away with coffee sleeves, or actually paying the producers of their coffee beans enough money to sustain their families?

It was possibly the shittest flight for 200 Continental Airline passengers who had human sewage flowing out of the airplane toilets during their 7-hour long flight. However, Samuel L Jackson has refrained from commenting on whether this incident would inspire his next blockbuster hit, “Shit on a Plane”.

Making stuff out of older stuff

Five and a half has a great (and easy!) tutorial that shows you how to make a gorgeous notebook out of paper and glue.

Somewhere else on Craftster, jamiewatchthestars posts up a step-by-step tutorial on fusing plastic bags together to make a large piece of fabric. Totally rad.

But what would you make with a piece of plastic fabric? How about a makeup bag, a messenger bag, or even a dress?

Via Whipup, quilter Magpie and Cake has sewn a quilt using Starbuck’s coffee sleeves for material.

Here’s another old video by Threadbanger that shows how to make a bag from tshirts. Even if you’re just a novice sewer or worse, can’t tell the difference between a thimble and a bobbin case, I would vouch for this bag pattern because making bags like this is really really easypeasy. Crafter’s promise!

Eating Veal and Other Lesuirely Pursuits

My housemate eats veal like it’s going out of style. He makes schnitzel (yes, he is German) and boils up veal ravioli as a snack. You heard that right – tortured baby cow ravioli. I mean it’s one thing to eat veal, it’s another thing entirely to eat it in a form where another meat would work just as well (I hear a blend of minced pork and chicken is virtually indistinguishable from minced veal). I have nothing against meat eating, god knows I do it often enough. What I do have problems with is making life hell for the animals before we eat them for Sunday dinner.

Increasingly, people like my housemate are in the minority. The growing consensus is that the process by which veal is cultivated is unnecessarily cruel. Here’s the kicker though – the multitude of people who wouldn’t even dream of eating veal (people who would rather eat tofurky than indulge in veal) would still eat factory farmed meat.