Wednesday, October 25, 2006
The place of cupholders in society
... holding cups, presumably.
Jessica Helfand rants about cupholders, and other decadent artefacts which are undermining our society's moral fibre (like manicures). It's a funny article, and I started out agreeing with her - my parents recently bought a new Volvo which had, if I recall correctly , SEVEN cupholders between FOUR people - but when she says that "it vexes me to think that design, in this context, is merely a support mechanism for increased comfort and added convenience" - I can't help thinking "well, isn't that what design is? A mechanism for making life easier?"
So anyway. I really just wanted to record the moment that the phrase "security beverage" entered the language.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
12 comments:
It's all about heirarchy of needs. As a society, we're somewhere near the top of the pyramid now, and becoming traceably more decadent every month. As individuals, we don't have to join in.
I used to feel the same way about cupholders. Back when I lived in the UK and ran old bangers, my heirarchy of needs ran to ensuring that I could complete a given journey. Then Hector introduced me to the benefits of regular hydration, and suddenly I needed somewhere to store my Evian bottle full of tap water without it rolling off the seat during a cornering manouvre. I found myself bolting bottle cages from the bicycle shop onto the console.
On arriving in the States, I starting making regular trips between our factory and sales office - a 200 mile, 3 hour trip. On this kind of journey I needed a large sports bottle as a travelling companion. I also became aware of the availability of coffee at every filling station, signposted from the freeway, less than a dollar a pint in insulated, lidded cups. Suddenly my cupholder-to-person ratio doubled. I remember the exact moment I recognised I was becoming acclimatised - when I saw a cup-holder on a shopping trolley and thought "Oh, that's a good idea" instead of bursting out laughing. *Sob*.
I haven't sold out completely, though. My car is "pre-owned", I still don't own a TV - and I cut my own nails!
- and you still drink tap water. Healthier, more environmentally friendly and a thousand times cheaper than any bottled water. I do feel sometimes like I'm the last person in the world who still asks for tap water in restaurants.
- H
I find it tastes better if you let it stand for a few hours. (Obviously not practical in a restaurant situation.)
It's an aquired taste (depending upon where you live) tap water in Thailand is fruity, complete with flies.
Tap water in Bristol is disgusting, but so are the prices of bottled water. How can it be more expensive than cola?
tap water in the US is too chlorinated. I let it stand over night in reusable bottles. But Moomie, our Audi A6 has one cupholder and that is a pain also. I agree with the writer, one huge symbol of America's obesity and excessiveness is the US made van or minivan with Biggie sized cup holders. Please!
The luxuries we are now enjoying will be the first to disappear off the street in the next recession. manicurists, hobby shops, jewelry stores. Only the best and brightest survive.
yep, my A6 has just the one, too.
Tap water in Bristol is perfectly drinkable - I drink litres of it a day without ill-effect. Well, my speech has become slightly slurred and burred, but I figured that was as a result of spending time in the city, not necessarily drinking the water.
Colas and Waters have similar costs.
Recipe for Cola
Take water from local factory area
Filter it
Add syrup
Carbonate it
Bottle it, palletise it, warehouse it
Transport it, warehouse it
Merchandise it
Sell it.
The recipe for bottled water is virtually the same : you just don't add the syrup, but you do add Calcium ions to ensure that it comes up to EU regulations. A good wedge of the cost is in the logistics which applies to both. And that's why they cost the same. ish.
funny, not so funny story. We visited Seoul, Korea about 20 years ago, were told not to drink the tap water, only bottled which would be provided by the hotel. Well, early in the morning you could see the little old ladies (hunchbacked from years of hard toils) carrying the 5 gallon bottles out to the tap and filling them. We brought our own fortunately.
ps. don't eat at MacDonalds in Korea.
I guess there are fewer pollutants in bottled water than in Coca-Cola?
To clean up water that is suspect, add lemon cordial syrup, to make a strong cordial drink. The sugar precipitates the dirt out of it and the lemon flavouring nukes almost all cooties known to man. It's a special forces water purification trick.
That is good, useful information. Any ideas on desalinization?
Eat fish. that is if you're stranded on a life raft.
Desalination of water?
You need a big, deep container; a smaller, heavy container, a sheet of plastic and a rock.
Put the salty/brackish water in the big container, then put the smaller container in the middle, so it sits on the bottom, with its edge clear of the salt water surface.
Stretch the plastic over the top of the large container.
Put the rock in the middle of the plastic shet.
Leave it in the sun. The heat will evaporate some water, which will condense under the plastic and run down to the low point under the rock and drip into the small container. A two foot diameter outer bowl should produce enough water for an adult, if you rest in the shade during the heat of the day. The depth of the water in the outer container is not too important, but the shallower the water the faster the evaporation, as the water will heat up faster, in your artificial greenhouse.
If you can't find any water at all, cut young, soft foliage and put it in the big container. It will respire enough water to keep you alive. If you don't have an outer bowl then the foliage trick will work in a simple hole in the ground, with the plastic stretched over the hole.
Post a Comment