Words Are Important: Definition of "NORGANIC"

Causality / Design / Food

Sometimes you simply need to invent a NEW WORD in order to accurately describe a NEW PHENOMENA!

Have you heard any neologisms (new words) lately that have stuck with you? Or maybe you have coined a few of your own to fill some gaps in our lexicon. New words, and their recorded definitions, are in continuous demand to describe the increasingly complex physical and intellectual world in which we live. Language is responsive to this need. The Urban Dictionary is an online, open-source dictionary that allows people to submit their neologisms for editorial review, and inclusion  if the new word and definition meet certain guidelines. Over the years I have added many new words that I felt were lacking from our 21st century vocabulary. [here are some] Generally, more arcane words slip from popular usage, while new words - either created or adopted from other languages - enter common usage and understanding. In simple terms, this is how a language evolves over time. The English language has proved the most adept of all languages at "absorbing" foreign and new words into it's expanding dictionaries. This open-source dynamic has made English the lingua franca of commerce throughout the world.

What do you think of this article? Why not leave a comment below, and perhaps include examples of your own word creations and definitions. If you like the word "NORGANIC", and recognize it's significance in our mega-corporatized world of deceptive marketing, then use it with confidence. Explain the definition if anyone asks. I have found that people tend to intuitively understand the word and it's value quite easily.

If you like the word "NORGANIC" and it's definition click the THUMBS UP icon here: NORGANIC on "The Urban Dictionary".

6 commentsRead more

Gluten-Free is NOT a Flavour...

Causality / Design / Food

In recent years there has been a staggering proliferation of confusing new food labels appearing on items found on your supermarket shelves. Interpreting these new "dietary hieroglyphs" can be a challenge to even the most informed consumer. While some labels are issued by research-based Certifying Authorities and offer thorough explanations of what they signify, others are underpinned by less empirical foundations, if any at all. But which are which? The food-label design market is undergoing an unprecedented boom. (insert graphic here) It would seem that now would be an ideal time to be a graphic designer! The examples below, of competing symbols for the "Gluten-Free" label, are only a small sample of the myriad of symbols currently vying for pre-eminence in the new and increasingly lucrative "Gluten-Free" food market.

Apparent Difficulty Reaching Consensus On Label For "Gluten-Free" Foods

MEANWHILE, overheard at a grocery store near you:

"Do  you guys want to get some ice-cream?" I  asked  hopefully, as Kim, Skye and I strolled by the frozen section at our local grocery store.  
"Yeah!", both girls exclaimed in unison.
"What flavours have they got?" Kim asked, as we stopped to look.  
I began to read the labels, "Chocolate, vanilla, coffee, strawberr..."
"I want Gluten-free!", Skye interrupted,  striking  that self-righteous pose she'd  been practicing lately. 
"Gluten-free is NOT a flavour, Skye", I managed. Kim laughed.
"Yeah, it is!", Skye exclaimed. My eyes began to roll upwards.
"No, she's right", Kim said, "it IS a flavour- it tastes like crap".  

________________________________________________________________________________

The scenario presented above is intended purely for satirical purposes, (foodies, don't get your knickers in a knot) and the names of the consumers have been changed. Nonetheless, the truth it describes typifies a post-modern and unfortunate new trend in food consumerism and group decision-making. Eating is becoming more highly individualized and regimented, as opposed to the social and flexible activity it once was. The "Breaking of bread"(Gluten-free or otherwise) with others, sharing food and the conversation that follows is an integral part of building and living in community with others. Sharing food (nutrition for the body) and ideas (nutrition for the mind) is an essential cohesive dynamic. The more recent trend of "personalized" eating, take-away meals for one and the apparent rise in food sensitivities may foreshadow other emerging social  food/eating complications:

Have you experienced a similar "food control" issue lately? Have you perhaps avoided hosting dinner parties for fear of not being able to satisfy the ethical, political, economic, religious, and dietary needs of your friends? Have you stood for countless hours while shopping, carefully reading labels and trying to recall the precise difference between the "USDA Organic" and "Certified Organic" labels? If so...

Share Your Thoughts Below!

 For more information on the need to standardize food labels and the dangers caused by misleading or misunderstood certifications see: FOOD LABEL DANGERS

 

16 commentsRead more

Byron Bay's Utility Box Art: Russell and Callie

Causality / Design

Wandering around the beachside town of Byron Bay, New South Wales, you won't spot any of those eyesores of modern electrical convenience known as "utility boxes". Instead, those banal and industrial-looking urban warts have been given a makeover by two Lismore-based artists, Russell and Callie.  Their artistic boxes blend thematically into their environment, highlighting nearby subjects of interest and emphasizing the surfside imagery of Byron Bay. Art and Utility in Byron Bay!

HERE ARE JUST A FEW THAT I HAVE FOUND SO FAR:

So what is the difference between Graffiti and Street Art? When pressed, most people would seem comfortable with the distinction being made along the lines of artistic skill or technique. But such criteria can be quite subjective, and easily lead to a blurring of graffiti and street art in many cases. In Australia, the legal distinction between the two artforms is made simply on the basis of permission. Graffiti is defined under the law as "the marking of another person's property without permission". Graffiti is illegal throughout Australia. Street Art, such as the examples in the slideshow above, meet the crieria of "artistic work done with the permission of the person who owns the wall (or object) that the work is being done on, and the permission of the local council". As an example of this criteria, it can be said that the street art rendering of the Volkswagen van (top image) has thus been tagged illegally with graffiti! Ironically, the graffiti (in red) is sprayed directly above "Keep Byron Clean". Don't you just love irony?

What do you think? Have you seen anything like this in your neighbourhood?

8 commentsRead more

Victory Garden Posters

Design / Urban Gardening

I love these World War II era Victory Gardens posters.

They represent the ideal convergence of patriotism and artistry. The Work Progress Administration (WPA) hired artists to design these posters to help promote self-sufficiency and co-operative ideals on the home front as a part of the war effort.

Victory Gardens "cropped up" all over the country. At their peak, it is estimated that almost 20,000,000 gardens were growing, and that about 40 percent of all vegetables produced in the U.S. came from Victory Gardens. By the end of the Second World War, the Department of Agriculture estimated total home front production of over one million tons of vegetables valued at 85 million dollars.

Which is your favorite poster? Tell me why below:

5 commentsRead more

Free Garden Porn: 2009 "Seeds of Change" catalog

Design / Organic Gardening

From This:
In my childhood, the arrival of The Big Sears catalog was a significant and holy day for me. As a young boy I can remember "scrutinizing" the women's underwear and bra photos in my dog-eared copy of the Sears catalog. "The Catalog" weighed in at roughly 3 pounds. You know the one, right guys? What an illicitic wealth of information/ inspiration those glossy pages held! I spent untold hours ogling those curvey beige and skin-toned images...




To This:
In the intervening 25 years, catalogs continued to play an important role in my life. As a designer and builder, The Catalog was supplanted by Interior Design, Garret Wade, Dwell and Fine Homebuilding. A few years ago I started The Urban Garden Project, "re-purposing" a barren industrial lot adjoining my woodworking studio into an organic garden. As a result of this project, "The Seeds Of Change" organic seed catalog has recently achieved prominence in my ever-growing stack of reference catalogs. Magazines such as Mother Earth News and Permaculture are continuosly "cropping up" around my home. I have posted margin links to similar webmags here on vergelimbo.com as well as from my technology-based webpage: greengearonline.com

Seeds Of Change 2009 Catalog

The 2009 catalog [pictured above] is available for free, either in a downloadable pdf format or home delivered in it's glossy 108 page glory. The catalog is filled with beautiful photographs of countless vegetables-many of which I guarantee you have never seen or heard of. It features a wide range of heirloom vegetable seeds and informative articles on organic gardening, tools and techniques. Buying seeds online is easy, safe and very affordable. Peruse the magazine and pick a vegetable you have never tasted and plant some this spring. Last year I planted Dragon Carrots, Hopi Squash, Dinosaur Kale and the Sputnik-like: Kohlrabi.

What is your favorite catalog or freaky vegetable?
Leave you comments or any suggestions below...

3 commentsRead more

"January-Joiners" Infest Gyms Nationwide!

Causality / Cycling / Design

I suspect that the most common New Year's resolution made is to "Join the local gym". My suspicion is borne out by the swelling number of unfamiliar and often confused faces I see meandering around my local Y trying to figure out how certain machines work. These "January-joiners" swell the membership numbers of gyms, and cause congestion for the first few weeks of the New Year. Experience has taught me that by mid-February, attrition will claim the majority of these well intentioned, and the congestion and waiting for an open elliptical machine with a TV Monitor will become a fading memory...












What is wrong with the picture above?

If you are like me, you can recall the Professor on Gilligan's Island pedalling his bamboo and coconut bicycle to generate the energy needed to operate his Rube Goldberg-esque laboratory. Perhaps inspired by the Professor's ingenuity, Windstream llc is currently marketing a Bicycle Generator Kit that can easily adapt to fit any standard bicycle and generate and store electricity.

How cool is this? When used with the portable power pack, a determined cyclist is able to generate sufficient energy to power a laptop or television. An entire bank of such bikes could reduce the energy costs of any gym. It has always seemed a "waste of energy" to me that the elliptical machines at my gym actually need to be plugged in in order to power the LED screen.
How it works:
The Bike Power Generator consists of a powder coated steel trainer frame holding a permanent magnet DC generator. Your bicycle (typical adult 27 inch wheel diameter) is mounted securely to this frame and the rear tire is positioned to turn the friction drum that has been custom fit over the generator shaft. The amount of electrical power that can be generated by the Bike Power Generator is determined by the energy available from pedaling the bicycle. (more info)

Leave me a comment by clicking on the link below!

6 commentsRead more

Greengearonline.com: A Resource For Green Products and Technology

Design / Sustainable Living

As a side project to vergelimbo.com, a few months back I started greengearonline.com. Some friends and I felt there was a need for a green technology site that offered practical information for the eco-conscious, without pushing the deluge of shoddy "pseudo-green" products flooding the market. Like many people I had grown tired of visiting supposed Green Blogs and webpages looking for real and effective products and useful information, and finding little of value. I found most of these alleged Green sites to be little more than advertising sites pushing soi-disant "green products" as absurd and pointless as "organic yogurt infused yoga mats" and poorly designed, over-priced, hipster hemp clothing. The scroll function became my new ally. I scrolled and filtered the pseudo from the real.

In fact, few of these "greenitized" sites had anything to do with effecting real change or fostering new attitudes towards consumer behavior [ie: buy less, buy smart] or adopting new renewable-energy technologies such as solar, wind, and mirco-hydro. Rather, such sites excel at "propagreenda" and strive to sell the consumer un-necessary or irrelevant products cunningly presented under a guise of "green". I began to scroll and filter with this in mind...these filtered search results are what I now post on greengearonline: Real Green, All The Time.

Greengearonline.com will act as a one-stop resource for Green Technology, Eco-Conscious living and Sustainable Practices. Similar in format to Utne Reader, greengearonline will post the most interesting green news articles and information from the web as well as the print media. Updates will occur frequently and the majority of the material posted will pertain to issues of renewable energy technology, sustainability, green design and eco-awareness.

Check out greengearonline.com and let me know what you think of this new Green Reader. Leave your comments or suggestions for articles below!

5 commentsRead more

Green Ideas: Whole House-Off Switch

Design / Sustainable Living

Green Idea of the Week will spotlight new innovative green technologies, practices and products from around the world

Green Idea Of The Week:

The Whole House-Off Switch

[via Inhabitat]
Ever leave the house wondering if you left something on that should’ve been turned off? Wouldn’t you love to be able to power down your house with the touch of one button?
That’s the simple notion behind the Whole House-Off Switch by designer Jack Godfrey Wood, a single button that can turn off of the unnecessary power in the house, so as you walk out the door, you can be sure all the TVs, lights, and other appliances you may have left on are safely off and not consuming any electricity.

I know what you're thinking...What about my fridge, digital alarm clock, hot waterheater, house alarm, TiVo etc. There are many appliances one wouldn't want shut down upon leaving the house. A more expensive version "has a central switch that also allows the inhabitant to leave some items plugged into safe sockets around the house which can be left on for security or peace of mind when everything else has been turned off at the central switch". [Yanko Design]

What do you think about the Whole House-Off Switch?
Leave me a comment below and read what others have said

5 commentsRead more