Antonio Gramsci wrote:

QUOTE:
Experience-wise, Sev is much different than Starbucks. The lighting and ambience, obviously. And then there's the fact that I can't actually remember the last time I was in Starbucks and was accossted by a toothless Crystal Meth addict with red lipstick covering most of her face berating me for trying to steal her children.

Hey, I was raised by a toothless bearded hag. You don't suppose...?

(Cafe Hag, we used to call her.)

Bravo!

Starbucks retro logo update: This man is protesting against, and is mad as fuck.

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Talking of global brands and the Nazis, has there been a shout for Ikea on this thread yet?

I will speak against them (and be shot down as a weirdo throwback for preferrring an old fashioned chair to shit furniture).

I don't think anyone was particularly sticking up for IKEA stuff. Just, you know, pointing out that your ideal chair was, well, shit. On toast.

No, I'll stick up for them if it's just the usual lazy 'shit furniture' bit. If they've done something egregious on a corporate level that I'm unaware of, I'll need to rethink it.

One of the many charms of 7-11 are the random encounters with at-risk youth and/or the people who are being let down by America's inadequate public mental health services.

That, and the Slurpees.

I guess whilst we are railing against the big corporates, there is one brand that has brought more death and destruction than any other. It has made wars and conflict cheap and affordable.

I have seen Kalashnikovs for sale for $30 in Somalia and $75 in DR Congo. This cheap, robust killing machine is not only responsible for the deaths that have directly occured from it, but also indirectly from the insecurity and underdevelopment caused by making conflict and insecurity cheap and affordable to any wannabe tyrant.

Every year, throughout the world, roughly half a million men, women, and children are killed by armed violence – that’s one person every minute. http://www.controlarms.org/

You might want to sign this petition and support the joint Oxfam/Amnesty/IANSA campaign on small arms. It might help.

TonTon wrote:

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I don't think anyone was particularly sticking up for IKEA stuff. Just, you know, pointing out that your ideal chair was, well, shit. On toast.

And again, the wrongess of you lot knows no bounds. It's hard being a beacon and taste and decency amongst the herd.

Kalashnikov isn't a brand is it? I thought those were Soviet guns that they cranked out by the truckload.

Lord of War is a pretty good film and focuses on the international trade in Ak-47s - "The real weapon of mass destruction."

I think it clearly is a brand. Obviously its ownership is unclear, but it has all the hallmarls of a world famous brand. With 100 million in circulation, they have great market penetration...

Are they still being made, or is the world still working with the supply made by the Soviets? If they are still being made, is it just one operation or is an "open source" design sort of thing?

Reed, they are still being made, refined and modified

And this has to be one of the most tasteless "brand extensions" ever attempted.

"It looks like the legendary AK-47 Rifle, but it holds several rounds of the finest Original Russian vodka."

Loads of AK-47s are still being made - I 've heard figures in the region of a million each year. Because the design is so simple it&#