Scuttlebutt Pipeline

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To their high society owners, a pair of haute couture shoes can be a precious thing.

But to guard a 62,000 pound (120,000 dollar) pair of ruby- sapphire- and diamond-encrusted Rene Caovilla sandals at their London launch, retailer Harrods went to extreme lengths: bringing in a live Egyptian cobra to patrol the shoe counter.

Whether hiring a poisonous snake is, strictly speaking, the most effective means of guarding precious footwear might be a moot point with security experts.

But it makes for a pretty effective photo opportunity.

A spokeswoman for Harrods admitted that the cobra had been hired strictly for Monday’?s launch of the shoe collection.

“The snake has now been returned to its owner,” she said.

So no need to fear snake bites at the shoe counter, then.

“Not unless you’re a burglar,” the spokeswoman said
(Source)

I’m not even going to crack a joke about the shoes, although it’s very tempting. I mean come on, diamond, ruby, and sapphire encrusted shoes? Am I the only one that sees the ridiculousness of this?

Now about having a cobra for a security system. Well, truth be told that would probably deter most thieves. Unless of course you’ve got a gun with a silencer or have good aim with throwing weapons. In which case you have a poor dead snake and officials that look like idiots.

TrustedPlaces.com is an easy to use, and easy on the eyes, website whose aim is to provide feedback and ratings on different spots to hang out, eat and drink in cities from around the world. Users leave feedback on places they’ve been, telling others what the service was like and the overall experiance. From this you can better decide which places warrant a visit and which should be avoided at all costs.

Just because London restaurants and clubs happen to be the most popular sections of the site doesn’t mean that the website is geared exclusively to the European crowd.

We’ve all seen the clips and photos of the woman who came forward on the Today show to protest Southwest Airline’s treatment of her, but now we’ve got another one.

What, you haven’t heard? Just watch the MSN news clip.

Truth be told, I can’t find anything wrong with her dress that would require her to cover up. It has a v-neck? Yes, but nothing was being improperly displayed. In fact, that’s an outfit I would expect a lot of women to wear when they go out shopping, eating to a cafe even, in other words, it’s not attire one would expect to see only at a club, party, or college campus.

I’m thinking the flight attendant who told this woman to cover up might have been just a tad bit jealous.

Hey it might take some truly genius (or just really nerdy) people to explain what EMI Shielding and why it is necessary to the unknowing in a manner that anyone can grasp but it’s a no brainer that Europeans and Americans just have to be in on the latest fashions. And in places where labor and materials are cheap it’s a now wonder other countries are cashing in on greedy fashion enthusiasts.

AVISSAWELLA, Sri Lanka (AFP) - The denims look tattered and frayed, but shoppers in Europe and the United States are prepared to pay good money for “distressed” jeans and Sri Lanka is cashing in.

In the industrial town of Avissawella east of the capital Colombo, it takes workers around 13 minutes to cut and sew basic five-pocket denims.

They then spend another four days torturing the pants by dying, bleaching, and sandpapering them to get a “distressed” look.

“Each garment is dyed or dipped around 16 and sometimes as many as 30 times to achieve the proper torn, tattered look,” explains Indrajith Kumarasiri, chief executive of Sri Lanka’s Brandix Denim.

“We earn more money by making denims look dirty and torn, the classic clean look doesn’t bring us much,” Kumarasiri told AFP during a visit to the 10-million dollar plant, which can make over three million pairs of jeans a year.

Basic denim jeans cost around six dollars to make, but the shabbier “premium” ones cost twice as much.

“In many ways, premium denims are replacing the little black dress as the wear-anywhere fashion staple,” he said.

(Full Article)

Hey, I love my jeans. If I can get away with it you can expect to see me in jeans or cargos, that’s a fact of life. But maybe it’s because I can get my jeans faded, ripped, and worn without breaking a sweat, but I’ve never understood the point of shelling out a bucketload of cash for jeans that look “distressed” or “worn”. What the hell for? Give me a pair of jeans and I can get that look for you with no effort what so ever. That said, if I can buy a pair of $16 jeans and rip, fade, stitch, patch, or whatever them myself why would I go and pay $40 for a similar effect? It makes no sense to me which is why I got a kick out of this article. Why did I laugh when I read this? Simple. These people are cashing in on the stupidity of the fashion conscious!

What ever happened to the good old days, when the market’s hottest companies were in fascinating businesses and run by mouthy chief executives who provided some color and texture to the game?

Well, it turns out that there is one high-momentum company this year that actually makes stuff that comes in colors bright enough to light the dark corners of your closet. And as well as it has done, with a 90% move this year alone, there is probably quite a bit of upside left ahead.

That company is Crocs (CROX, news, msgs), manufacturer of the ugliest line of shoes in America, but also, ironically, one of the most popular. If you have never heard of them, just ask any woman of a certain age or her daughter. They probably have at least one pair, and probably two.

(Article Source)

To be honest I can’t see the appeal of these shoes and I honestly don’t understand why people are swarming to pick them up. I can name a dozen other shoes that are twice as comfortable as these suckers and they aren’t plastic either. Not to mention they cost less too.

Honestly, if you own a pair of these smack yourself on the head for your silliness and then load them in your truck with the garbage and haul them down to the dump. And if your truck has a tonneau cover even better, now even our neighbors don’t have to see just how bad your fashion taste is.