STRANGEST EVER CEREAL GIVEAWAYS

There are a few ways to convince kids to eat breakfast cereal. One is to load them with a heart-skipping amount of sugar. Another is to link them to some utterly inappropriate celebrity or sports star (Mr. T had his own cereal. Yes, that Mr. T). Or you could offer some amazing free prize that will enhance your life and hopefully won’t choke you as you accidentally shovel it into your gob. And amongst the flying discs, action figures and space weaponry were some bizarre novelty enterprises, such as these…

BATMAN MOTION BOOKMARK

Before Christopher Nolan made Batman all ‘dark’ and ‘clever’, there was the film series featuring Danny De Vito dressed as a penguin and Arnie’s amazing turn as Mr. Freeze. So the Dark Knight probably wouldn’t have a sugary breakfast tie-in, but the 1992 film not only had a cereal but also a free bookmark, that featured ‘motion’ to a certain extent. (Source)

Read more...

ADVANTAGES OF A CASHLESS SOCIETY

The rise of payment cards, touch-less purchasing and virtual currencies such as Bitcoin are driving us to a world completely free of folding money. Soon cash and coins will be a distant memory, only good for appearances on exciting antiques shows such as Bargain Hunt and Bargain Hunt: After Dark. It’s hard to imagine this new, cashless world but there could be some distinct advantages to having nothing but non-existent money.

LESS POCKETS REQUIRED

Just think of it. No more loose change! Which means no more trouser receptacles needed to house that loose change. You may still need a wallet to keep all your plastic in, but this could be held in a large, individual pouch dangling from the front of any clothing. Delinquent teenagers would no longer be able to slouch about with their hands in their pockets – which is a filthy habit anyway.

Read more...

CHARITY SHOP STAPLES

While the traditional High Street might be suffering, one commercial endeavour appears to be flourishing: the charity shop. Hundreds have sprung up in recent years, supporting groups dedicated to everything from cat care to cat health. There are bargains galore to be had in these establishments, but for some reason certain items seem to be ubiquitous. Why? It’s a mystery that has confounded the greatest scientific minds, but here are just some of those charity shop staples.

INEXPLICABLE US SPORTS TEAM ITEM

Even if you are in a location as far away from Cincinnati as it is possible to be, there will always be an oversized Cincinnati Bengals t-shirt, or some equally off-beat American sports team, clogging up the clothing racks. Are these coming from US ex-pats disgusted by their team’s performance? Or impetuous airport buys by foreign travelers? Who knows, though I can only hope there’s an old lady in a Topeka Kansas thrift store holding up an Accrington Stanley team shirt with confusion.

Read more...

THE STRANGEST ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS

It used to be so straightforward. Display the product or item you wished to promote in an attractive manner, have a pleasant sounding jingle coupled with a warm but believable man intoning ‘buy this thing’. What happened? Now you get all manner of ‘techno’ music, flashing lights, screaming people and animals before the blurry image of a certain roll-on deodorant appears. It’s all very confusing. Advertisers have tried a variety of baffling and obnoxious methods to sell us stuff we don’t need – often diving distinctly off the deep end. Here are just some of the worst offenders…

WEETABIX SKINHEADS

In the 1980’s, the good people at Weetabix tried to convince the populous to eat their delicious brand of breakfast biscuits not via subtle coercion, but by veiled threat. A gang of bovver-booted, bracers wearing ‘skinheads’ ordered you to eat the cereal, ‘if you know what’s good for you’. Terrifying. An entire generation developed an unnatural fear of meals. (Source)

Read more...

THE ORIGIN OF FAMOUS FINANCIAL IDIOMS

The world of economics and finance has so many buzzwords, expressions and phrases attached to it, the whole lexicon can feel like a foreign language. We use these idioms constantly in our daily lives without giving it much thought. But where do these, sometimes obscure, turns of phrase derive from? Their origins are confusing and sometimes almost unbelievable, but a selection of them are right here…

COST AN ARM AND A LEG

How often have you expressed annoyance at the high price of an object by employing this phrase? But did you ever wonder whose arm and leg you were referring to? It was actually Tsar Olag the Deranged, a fourteenth century Russian leader who became convinced his own limbs were plotting a coup against him. He offered a reward for any serfs who could help overthrow these appendages, thinking few would take up the offer. Instead half a million peasants attended his castle with the intention of taking care of these rebellious limbs for him. The Tsar was never the same again.

Read more...

THE WORLD OF WEIRD APPS

Smartphones, tablets and pocket technology has transformed the lives of many. Up to date information, maps, weather news and the whole world wide web is available instantly at our fingertips. Downloadable apps are on offer for a wide range of services and lifestyle aids, covering practically every avenue of our existence. But there are some that appear to be completely pointless, utterly ridiculous or possibly the product of a crazy person. Which, obviously, is eternally entertaining. Here are some of the oddest, most baffling and thoroughly reprehensible apps ever devised.

WILL YOU MARRY ME?



Asking the person that you love to spend the rest of their life with you is surely one of the most important landmarks in life. Make sure you sully that memory forever by engaging this app to do the hard work for you. Enter your future bride or groom’s name, plus a brief message along the lines of ‘please marry me’, hand them the handset and see their face register an expression of supreme disappointment before hailing a cab. (Source)

Read more...

Hot Rocks - Gemstones to Die For

Diamonds, sapphires, rubies and emeralds are among the most prized gemstones known to mankind. The brilliant colours of these sparkling stones have fascinated us for a very long time. Some of the most famous ones have been deemed to have healing or magical powers or even carry a deadly curse. Large sums of money have been paid for these stunning stones over the centuries, but lesser mortals can view some of these beautiful baubles in museums, usually through bulletproof glass. Some of the priciest ones are still in private hands, so just in case you feel like putting in an offer, here’s a look at some of the world’s most valuable gemstones.

The Sancy Diamond

          (Source)                                                                                                               (Source) 

The Sancy is a very well traveled, pale yellow diamond of 55.23 carats. Where it was before 1570 is a mystery, but it’s thought the gem is originally from India.  In 1570, Nicholas Harlai, Seigneur de Sancy, French ambassador to Turkey, bought the diamond in Constantinople. Being pretty knowledgeable when it came to gems, the savvy Sancy took the gem back to France, where it attracted the attention of the king, Henry III (left). This particular monarch was going a bit thin on top, but rather than decorating his head with an unflattering comb-over, Henry wore a cap. Since he was a king after all, Henry wanted to look the part, so Sancy lent him the diamond to decorate his royal headgear.

Read more...

Weird Money Facts

Dollars and Scents

Do you spend your time sniffing money? Probably not, but have you ever wondered why paper money and coins smell the way they do? Or why coins in particular leave that distinctive metallic odor on our hands and fingers? Well, its something common to many of the metal objects we touch and iron is the culprit. The aroma is actually a kind of human body odor, since our skin oils break down and decompose after we touch iron or objects containing this particular metal. Money of course by its very nature gets handled an awful lot and perhaps we don’t really want to know where it’s been. It’s estimated that 42% of paper money and 13% of all coins bills have bacteria on their surfaces, including fecal bacteria. I guess that’s not quite the same as the sweet smell of success. (Source)

Read more...

Spectacular Business Failures

We’ve heard so much about banks collapsing in recent years, but what about regular business failures? These don’t necessarily need their major financial backers to go under and are quite capable of going bust by themselves, thank you very much. For every Bill Gates or Richard Branson, there seems to be a multitude of people and companies who haven’t exactly done spectacularly well in the business world.  Here’s a look at just a few crazy corporate catastrophes.

Flights of Fancy

Giveaways are a gimmick frequently used by companies in many different industries as a means of boosting sales. What’s more, they usually work, but you have to be careful when choosing what exactly it is you’re giving away. Hoover used to be so dominant in the UK vacuum cleaner market that people referred to “hoovering the carpet” in conversation.  When your company name becomes a verb, you’d think that would be a pretty unassailable business position. Unless, of course, someone as a really bad idea.

Read more...

MOST EXPENSIVE GIG TICKETS

Shock, horror and wild over-subscription has met the announcement of The Rolling Stones concerts in Hyde Park, with tickets reaching £300 and beyond (and ten times that on the black market). Despite the hefty cost of these VIP allocations, they sold out in seconds. Quite a contrast to their original legendary 1969 Hyde Park concert, which was free (though not free from hippies which is why admission prices are a good thing). But the Stones aren’t alone in allowing their fans to pay enormous amounts to see them play live. Here are a few more costly concerts…

STING

The celebratory show was his birthday AND his anniversary, but Sting fans may have felt slightly stung by the eye-watering prices of this very special concert in New York. The 2011 show featured Lady Gaga, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder and a whole host of others – and it was all for charity. But even though the dosh was going to a good cause, the £700 admission price must have hurt the scant few people who managed to get their hands on them.

Read more...