We have fair-trade coffee and various other ethically sourced and manufactured goods such as non-sweat-shop clothing.

Given most electronics manufacturing is now done in countries like China where labour is cheap and plentiful, and where sweat shops have most opportunities to grow, far from the eyes of Western consumers; is it now time for ethically manufactured electronics?

Read the article about Apple’s iPod factories on MacWorld UK.

Read the …

While out and about on another hot and humid Sydney day, I spotted three shoppers taking turns carrying their heavy shopping to the train station.

The heavy shopping was a large plastic canister of drinking water. It must have weighed 15kg or so – a lot of weight to be carrying around on a hot day. This was not buying water to drink there and then because we were …

I just saw a car ad on TV. It showed two identical 4WDs side by side. One was labelled “2007″, the other “2006″.

The premise of the ad was: the 2006 model is great value because you can’t tell it apart from the 2007 model and it is so much cheaper.

This of course prompted the question: if no one can tell the difference between the 2006 and 2007 models, …

Saw this ad in a catalogue:
Colour laser printer, 22ppm mono and 5ppm colour. 32Mb RAM, 17s to first page, 600×600 dpi, network ready, USB, parallel.

4 new toner cartridges = $954
New printer (including 4 cartridges) = $799
Difference = $155

Hey, I may as well buy 2 printers instead of a printer and a spare set of cartridges. That way, I have a spare printer the cat can use! And when …

Why is it that we are told our food must be 100% natural and totally organic; while at the same time, the goop we put on our faces must be clinically tested, 100% synthetic and totally “scientific”?

Spotted on the side of a dirty truck: “Grease Trap Cleansing”. Seriously.

Here’s my contribution: “X is a scientifically formulated cleansing solution for concrete, sandstone and bitumen surfaces; with added organic silica gel that penetrates deeply to nourish the rock particles and restore the original deep shine.”

Maybe I am in the wrong industry…

This was printed proudly across a packet of corn chips. Does this mean the previous variant was not totally natural? Would you eat anything made by this manufacturer ever again? What’s next? “Now 78.2% digestible?” “Now glass free?” “Now tested on orphans?”

Switch on the telly and count the number of ads that are based on greed (get more for less, buy two get one free, you want more?!!) and fear (lose weight now, quit smoking now, get happy now, borrow money to buy more validation now). Challenge – Can you remember and name three ads that are not based on greed or fear?

Spotted on top of a huge pile of steaming, golden, well-salted, freshly cooked, hot chips at a local pie shop was a neat little sign that stated unambiguously and clearly in a legible typeface: “Fresh Hot Chips”. Do we really need any more visual noise and unnecessary information like this? (Anyone for a T-shirt that says: “Live Human”?)