Traffic jamming

Handicap Parking Spot Painted Around Car and then Car is Towed

Road workers in Tel Aviv have found an clever way to increase cashflow for the local council. An angry motorist managed to dig up surveilance footage of them painting a handicapped parking spot around her car and then towing it. Ingenious!


I love great art no matter the medium

Bar codes



I love great art no matter the medium

Begin forwarded message:

From: Dark Roasted Blend <abramsv2@telus.net>
Date: August 22, 2013, 8:08:31 AM EDT
To: yes@therainbow.com
Subject: Dark Roasted Blend

Dark Roasted Blend

Dark Roasted Blend

Japanese Creative Barcodes

Posted: 21 Aug 2013 09:27 PM PDT

"QUANTUM SHOT" #398(rev)
Link - article by Avi Abrams



Cut out your UPC label and... frame it!

Barcodes, or UPC symbols, these ubiquitous emblems of our consumer civilization, have been receiving a radical makeover by the Japanese firm D-Barcode, which puts them on all sorts of products all over Japan.

Sometimes called the "vanity barcodes", these simple, yet brilliant designs have recently spread around the world, spawning the full blown "Barcode Revolution" in creative packaging design:




(images via 1, 2, 3)


When you first pick a Japanese-made bottle of pop or a milk jug from the shelf, you might not even notice anything different about the codes (with all the intensity and typical visual clutter of a great Japanese package design). Once you take a closer look, however, these charmingly designed UPC masterpieces will be impossible to ignore! The whimsical little codes will make you smile, and maybe even cause you to buy other products with such codes, just to start your collection!





Trust Japanese to "glorify" every single mundane design detail, to joyously enhance consumer experience - by adding something extra, a little thing, so easy to miss at first glance. But now, we suspect that (thanks to these creative bar codes) the package design in Japan has truly become perfect.






Other barcode art pops up from time to time around the world: this is "Flowers", by Dave Herbert:


(image via)


Russian Surreal Barcode Posters

Art Lebedev design studio has been issuing wildly creative posters (featuring barcode symbols) for years. As you can see, they have no shortage of ideas:










(images credit: Art Lebedev)


Creative Barcode Ideas Permeate Modern Design

Just try to have an exhibition of modern furniture without some examples popping up... like this one (left image): "The Bar Code Chandelier", by Mobilet design studio... or the one on the right: "Muscat City Centre", by Barcode Designed Lights:


(images via)


More glowing barcode light fixtures, by the Hampstead Lighting:




Check out this LEGO barcode scanner! It includes an actual miniature laser, no less - so handle it with care:


(image via)


How about a full-size barcode building? -


(image via)


Portraits, made entirely from the UPC codes and barcodes? Sure, check out the gallery of Scott Blake. He's got Monroe, Elvis and, of course, Jesus - which is, in itself, a succint comment on rampant consumerism and prevalence of kitsch in our times.




The "MAD" magazine ran a few imaginative barcode cover illustrations back in 1979:


(image via)


Want to know the time? Click on this Barcode Clock:


(image via)


And finally, as it's almost a custom nowadays to finish with a cute or LOL-lified cat picture (no matter the actual subject of an article), here are the "Barcode Kitties!" - a neat "Hello Kitty" spin-off for those in need of a dose of a truly geeky cuteness:






Today we find that UPS labels, QR codes and barcode symbols are deeply ingrained in the very fabric of our society. A fearless explorer of various "paranoid realities", the classic science fiction writer Philip K. Dick, for example, would've smelled a juicy conspiracy in all this. But we, innocent consumers, give it no mind; we just keep on shopping and cheerfully buying everything that scans.

Article by Avi Abrams, Dark Roasted Blend.


CONTINUE TO OUR POPULAR "COOL ADVERTS" SERIES! ->

Birds know when to fly!

Birds learn speed limits

As vehicles approach, birds in the road often appear unconcerned, until suddenly they take flight to avoid whizzing cars. The distance from an approaching car at which some birds take off varies depending on the local speed limit, according to a study published today (August 21) in Biology Letters.

Study coauthor Pierre Legagneux measured when birds took flight as he approached them at varying speeds while driving around the French countryside in a white Peugeot. He measured the takeoff distances of 134 birds including 21 species while traveling through zones with speed limits of 20, 50, 90, and 110 kilometers per hour (approximately 12, 31, 56, and 68 miles per hour).

The higher the speed limit, the sooner the birds flew away. But when Legagneux varied his speed, either driving above or below the speed limit, the birds’ responses didn’t change, indicating they were reacting to the speed of cars in each area in aggregate rather than gauging the speed of individual cars.

The authors said that the birds were likely varying their takeoff times in order to maximize time spent foraging while avoiding being struck. They said that the birds were not changing their behaviors due to natural selection, arguing instead that they were learning a variety of speed limits over a relatively small area and altering their behavior depending on their surroundings.


I love great art no matter the medium