"A surprising example of cleverly repurposing an object to perform a different function than the one it was designed for popped during protests in Portland this year. The Washington Post described the scene: Police fired tear gas at a crowd, and "as if on cue,a brigade of orange-shirted men with leaf blowers descended on the cloud, revved their engines and blew the tear gas away", the Post reported. "'Thank you leaf-blower dads!' shouted a young woman." Thus a bland symbol of suburban life becomes a tool of dissent. Crucially, this was not a one-off incident: The same tactic was used in Hong Kong protests last year. Similar examples have echoed from France to Chile to Lebanon: protesters repurposing tennis rackets to swat back tear-gas canisters and traffic cones to smother them, or using umbrellas as a crude defence against projectiles. Sometimes these ideas spread through direct communication, but often it's simply a result of protesters in one place seeing social media clips of protesters in another." (Via medium.com)
Bad book covers…
NEVER interrupt a man, says Arlene in her book, published in 1967. Always be fascinated. Hang on his every word. Swill down his awful choice in wine and praise it to the skies. Don't wear trousers because men don't like them. And never wear more than three colours in an ensemble.
A woman sued a TV weatherman after he predicted a sunny day, causing her to go out lightly dressed - and when it turned stormy, she caught the flu, missed four days' work, spent $38 on medication, and suffered stress. The case was settled out of cоurt for $1000, and the weatherman apologised to her.
