Category: Check This Out!

Playmobil Security Check Point

A friend forwarded me this link to an actual toy on sale at Amazon today, the “Playmobil Security Check Point“. I’m including the top rated review here so you can see the type of comments that are being posted here. Very funny (and kinda depressing :).. good though).

Customer Review

 

 

335 of 356 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Educational and Fun!, February 27, 2008

By Zampano

Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars

Thank you Playmobil for allowing me to teach my 5-year old the importance of recognizing what a failing bureaucracy in a ever growing fascist state looks like. Sometimes it’s a hard lesson for kids to learn because not all pigs carry billy clubs and wear body armor. I applaud the people who created this toy for finally being hip to our changing times. Little children need to be aware that not all smiling faces and uniforms are friendly. I noticed that my child is now more interested in current events. Just the other day he asked me why we had to forfeit so much of our liberties and personal freedoms and I had to answer “well, it’s because the terrorists have already won”. Yes, they have won.

I also highly recommend the Playmobil “farm fencing” so you can take your escorted airline passenger away and fence him behind bars as if he were in Guantanamo Bay.

Story of Stuff

sos_button.jpgI received a mass e-mail from Anne Feeney, an activist & musician I admire, the other day and she mentioned the following in here summary of 2007

“As most Americans are wallowing in stuff right now, I’m looking for ways to simplify my life. If you haven’t visited http://storyofstuff.com this would be a great time to do it. I’m planning a more sustainable 2008.”

So I went to the site and downloaded the movie (link provided below) and watched it last night. Yes it’s a bit depressing but it’s well done and in only 20 minutes they really drive the point home. It’s style reminds me alot of another site I’ve been watching videos on, http://www.commoncraft.com/ and their plain english videos (I recommend ‘Social Networking in Plain English‘ for a good example of a complex idea made simple).

Not sure exactly what I can change to be more sustainable but I’m starting to think about it more. First step is to admit you have a problem, right? Certainly having just unloaded our car after returning from our holiday travels and looking at our overflowing house Emily & I are both very aware of our ‘stuff’ right now. I also keep thinking of the classic George Carlin ‘A Place For My Stuff‘ routine.

So if you’ve got 20 minutes check it out. You can view the introduction on youtube here.

You can download this movie in its entirity from their site. Simply save the link below to your computer (50 MB).

downloadmovie.gif