We've had whitewash; we've had greenwash; now - courtesy of Bristol's Cycling Demonstration City initiative - is it time for bikewash?

One of the few actual promises we've had to accompany the Cycling Demonstration City money the city's just got - if we ignore 'Bristol's Cycling Champion' Terry Cook's latest plans to close down the road network on a regular basis to run family-friendly cycling days on the 'Bristol's Biggest Bike Ride' model, which will improve the cycling stats and meet the targets while missing the point entirely - has been the promise of "the UK's first major bicycle rental network, modelled on a scheme in Paris".

Run by a company called Hourbike, a subsidary of a civil engineering multinational Vipre, the proposal is to set up around 20 bike hire stands across the centre of the city and run a fully automated bike rental system on a pay as you go basis.

"For a joining fee of just £10," they say, "the first half hour of each rental is free with subsequent time charged at £1 per hour."

Which has had a few of us scratching our heads and wondering how they intend to actually make any money. Leaving aside the fact that the vast majority of people who wish to cycle in the city tend to make the effort to own a bike and don't need to rent one, how will the company get any income if all the proposed stands are centrally based and less than a half hour's ride apart?

Are Hourbike some sort of charity? They must be when you consider that they'll be needing a few thousand paying journeys a week to make the scheme financially viable and they're simply not going to get them.

But wait! What's this on the Hourbike website?

Fantastic Advertising Packages Available

Align your brand with this innovative, green and healthy transport option for Bristol. There are various opportunities to advertise - on docking stations across the City and train stations, on membership cards and on our website.

Surely the real plan isn't to shove 20 large, unsightly advertising hoardings (surely docking stations? Ed.) up in prime city centre locations with a few hire bikes locked on to them for effect ... Is it?

And if that is the plan, let's hope someone's had the foresight to talk to Adshel, that charming little subsidary of that charming US communication empire Clear Channel, who have maintained a lucrative monopoly on Bristol's city centre street furniture advertising for many years now under the guise of the Legible City Scheme.

The deal always was that Asdshel hand over their crappy street furniture free of charge to the council while the council, in return, prosecute the hell out of fly posters and hand over the multi-million pound advertising rights on the furniture for free.

Let's hope Councillor Cook, his Cycling Demonstration City boys and Hourbike have thought this through properly then, or they might find themselves engaged in a hugely entertaining battle with one of the most aggressive corporations on the planet.

Holy shit, holy molly, I thought of this shit.
Well, I think we all have - TN Games took it to the next level and made the thing.
A gaming vest that lets you feel the pain, giving you the power to know exactly where those sneaky guys are firing from.

*****

Carbon Fiber Watch

I love this watch.
Haven't seen rubies used so well in a long time.

*****

Solar Powered Kinetic Animal Sculptures

Definitely going to get my hands on one of these.
This is pretty amazing - the video shows you the idea.
Here's a link to exactly how it works.

*****

The Billy Letters

I love this story.
A guy posing as a 10-year-old boy, writes letters to people like Dick Cheney to Charles Manson.
Read on to learn more.

*****

Adidas Grun Guerilla Gardners

Loving this whole campaign by Adidas.
shape + colour, maker of the article on this campaign (BTW, great place to visit, I approve[just in case you cared] ); be sure to read through it to get the full understanding...
or just watch the video and you'll get the idea.

*****

Traffic Thoughts

What would you rather be diong in traffic?
Terrific ad for the Renault Sandero.

*****

Swedish Design

How notcot.org described this one:
"Östra Kvarnskogen in Sollentuna, Sweden is a residential area with 40 buildings that almost floats in the air. It has been awarded the Wood Prize 2008 by the Swedish Forest Industries Federation."
They look so simple, that's what I love.

*****

Simple Cabin

It looks small, but is actually quite roomy.

*****

East Village Penthouse

I like a lot of the design technique in this place.

*****

City Shrinker

Cool site where the creator makes miniature replicas - looks like for fun.

*****

Collection of some stunning photos

A nice collection, here are some of my Favorites from this collection:
30. Pigeon Point Lighthouse - Just looks beautiful to me.
32. A conversation - that bird is asking for it.
34. Northern lights as seen from space - Amazing view of the Northern lights
38. Bird and Water - Haha, this one makes me laugh. Little bird shaking it's head.
40. All alone - I get a fear of heights just staring at this picture.
45. Cockfight - These guys look fierce.

*****

Worldometers

Live information tracking of what's happening in the world now!
Beware some of these statistics are quite depressing.
At least, for now, 'Births today' outnumber 'Deaths today'.
Good sign that we'll make it to tomorrow.

*****

Wasps use Orchids to pleasure themselves

Never thought a wasp could masturbate...
Well not really.
Even more intrigueing is the fact that the orchids trick the wasps into having sex with them.
Is that not amazing?
The orchid decieves many insects into believing they are a mating partner, lets them leave their sperm on it, in exchange the orchid gives it's little pollen sperm to the insect to carry on and helping the plants breed.

*****

materialicio.us

"weblog featuring residential architecture, design, craftsmanship, materials and products. Browse the site using the menu bar above. Enjoy."
That's what they say,
we'll see...or will we?...

*****

Wii Remote Cufflinks

I don't really wear cufflinks, but I'd sport a pair of these.

*****

Cool Tray

Nice tray design, allowing trays to be easier to carry.
Not sure what it says, but it looks like it adjust by the weight of the objects it is carrying.

*****

Leave Your Footprint

Awesome shoes that let you actually leave a very unqique footprint.

*****

My Beating Heart Pillow

Interesting pillow that actually has a heart beat.

*****

The Living Umbrella Stand

A garden and stand in one.

*****

Japanese Packaging

It's almost always entertaining.
The matches are cool.

*****

Porn For The Blind

Wow.
Now I'd like to say Blind people should be able to pleasure themselves just as much as anyone else,
but if you were blind wouldn't you want a woman to read to you?
Not some nerdy sounding guy, that's probably touching himself to the porn he's describing to you...
Be sure to check out the clip.

*****

Mc Donald's Outdoor Ad Puzzle

Cool interactive ad by Mc Donald's.

*****

WWII Airplane Art

My favorite is "She Couldn't Wait", check it out.
This is a few pictures of art on the sid eof US aircrafts, which I never knew was called "aerography".

*****

Hall Table

Cool design for a hall table.

*****

Christophe Huet

Love this guy's art work, a must see.

*****

Clue Premier Edition

Clue, the board game, very cool rendition.
Wooden box with nine "sunken rooms" that each show detailed layouts of the rooms.

*****

Felt Weaponry

For the felt fighter in all of us.
I like these things...I may look into getting one...or some...
Here's the website, but I don't see anywhere to buy them - too bad.

*****

Street+Pixels = Something completely cool

Love the art here, so simple yet still cool.
Being a video game fan the pixel art is always great.

*****

Popcorn+AdShel

Adshel is a company who basically takes normal bilboard advertising and excapsulates a small item inside of the advertisement.
Just click the link already.

*****

Belfast+Vodka+great advertising

That's what you have here.
A Vodka company in Belfast uses some cool ways to advertise their new Vodka release.

*****

H20 Architectes

These guys are hands down G's.
Mostly because this place is very efficient and still good looking.
Awesome.

*****

Street Advertising - Worth Every Penny

Video showing a innovative little way to advertise on the street.

*****

She Has A Boyfriend

"I have a boyfriend" - don't you hate it when they tell you that?
This is how all women should be treated when they dare alarm us of a boyfriend, proposterous.

*****

Free Beer for Life

Stolen Bus+bounty offer=justice
The video explains it all.
I would rather some cold hard cash (I'm not a big beer drinker), but free is free.

*****

BoingBoing.net

New reference site I'll be looking into.
Very blog like in that it's posts, but interesting stuff here.

*****

Country Codes of the World

Nice poster of the domains of the world (well the most popular ones).