Newley Purnell

Don’t tell the fine folks at BananaGuard.com, but there’s a new kid in town. Say hello to the Banana Bunker.

(Via FA.)

AFP:

Talk about a Chinese take-away. Astronauts Fei Junlong and Nie Haisjeng blasted into outer space with a full larder of Chinese specialities including cuttlefish and meat balls, and beef with orange peel.

But the pair of orbiting diners will have to do without chopsticks, which were considered too difficult to manoeuvre in the weightlessness of space. They’ll use forks and spoons instead according to the state Xinhua news agency.

(Emphasis mine.)

These particular taikonauts — as well as citizens throughout all of Asia — clearly need my chorks. (Note to self: have patent lawyer draft proposal for China National Space Administration STAT.)

Some background, for those of you who’re new to my chorks concept. While living in Taiwan last year, I really enjoyed using chopsticks — but I found that they failed in one crucial regard: picking up little pieces of food (vittles that’re too small to be grasped, and can only be poked). So I constructed the prototype you see above by fashioning tiny dumpling pokers to the ends of conventional chopsticks. And the chorks, thus, were born. Chopsticks plus forks equals chorks.

I’m still tweaking my current working model; in the meantime, I’m accepting overtures from angel investors who’re ready to change the world. Consider that the population of Asia is over three billion, and most of the people on the continent uses chopsticks. It wouldn’t take much market penetration to earn boat-loads of cash. But, of course, the chorks have never been primiarly a commercial endeavor: I just want the world to eat more efficiently. It’s that simple.

(News link via Ni Howdy.)

forks, chopsticks, chorks

I so want one of these. Although I’d settle for a butt-load of boondoggle key chains. Or a time machine. Or a bo staff. Or maybe, just maybe, a gift certificate for a lesson at Rex Kwan Do. (Bow to your sensei!)

Cool chair. The $2700 pricetag is tough to swallow, though.

I want some bad.

My mind is reeling with potential creative uses for Ziploc Big Bags (up to 2 feet by 2.7 feet!).

The Ziploc product line is available at Amazon.com.

(Via Kottke.)

Pizza Fork and Cutter:

Slice and eat with the same utensil! This time-saver cuts through pizza crust, forking up bites and delivering them right to your mouth! Great for other pancakes and waffles too. Stainless steel; dishwasher safe. 8 1/2″L x 2″W.

If there’s a market for this thing, then surely the world needs my chorks.

Very cool.

For those of you out there who feel normal H2O has too many calories, I give you this: Skinny Water.

water

I want one bad.

If you enjoyed the modest swimwear I mentioned a while back, you’re in for some more guffaws — Saudi Islamofascist style!

If there were ever a reason that we simply must win the war on terror global struggle against religious extremism, it is this.

(Via MeFi.)

swimwear, Saudi+Arabia, War+On+Terror

I knew that headline would get your attention.

Moleskine porn isn’t what you’re thinking it is. Moleskines aren’t animals or weirdo fetishists. They’re notebooks. (And good ones at that; I own a couple myself.)

For the best in Moleskine minutia, check this site out. And this one. This one’s pretty good for pics, too.

But my favorite moleskine site is micronomicon.com, which gives the Codex Seraphinianus a run for its money; the author also has a cool travel blog. (Micronomicon link via DY.com.)

Moleskine, notebook, journal

I am a passionate believer in the importance of Web design usability. Web sites, more than anything else, should be easy to use. Simple. Straightforward. Focused. No bells and whistles.

In my work as a Web strategist for nonprofits, I often argue for Web usability from an aesthetic and functional standpoint: people like the way simple Web sites look, and such sites communicate information more efficiently than cluttered ones. Web sites that are visually initimidating are frustrating to navigate.

But needlessly fancy Web design also has financial implications.

I was talking to my buddy Benny C. last night, and the subject of a gourmet rice pudding restaurant in New York City (yes, you read that right) came up. Our pal David Z. visited the place and sent their link around to us the other day and raved about it.

So Benny, being a foodie, went to the restaurant’s site and tried to place an order for some $50 worth of rice pudding. Note that I said tried — the joint’s awful Web site, which features music and dreadful flash animations, was so complicated that he couldn’t figure out how to buy their pudding — and Benny’s a very smart guy. But he got frustrated and gave up.

Think about that. The restaurant, which I’m sure provides an excellent product, went from having a complete stranger evangelize them — our friend sending their link around and talking them up — to losing a $50 sale and the future business of a potential customer. And all because whoever built their site was more concerned with coolness than effectiveness.

It’s a shame, if you ask me.

usability, design

…with custom chrome emblems.

(Link via Kottke.)

(Personally, when I go shopping for bling, I go straight to this site. Don’t hate the playa hate the game.)

The My Twinn doll is just plain creepy.