Design

The Couch Surfer / Federal Moto

This sharp little Honda CB360 from Federal Moto is a prime example of a budget build. Despite only being the Canadian workshop’s second build, it’s loaded with attitude and ticks all sorts of boxes. It’s based on two, non-runner ’74 CB360 donors that had to be Frankensteined into one—on a budget. The client is a young guy that lives, works, and parties downtown, explains Federal’s Shaun Brandt, hence we’ve named it The Couch Surfer. He wanted a whippy little tracker that he could tear around downtown, jump curbs, and have fun with — via Bike EXIF

Design, History

Sowden House / Lloyd Wright

The Sowden House, built by Lloyd Wright, the son of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This beautiful, unique structure, sometimes referred to as the Jaws house for its windows that resemble a shark’s open mouth, was built in 1926. The 5,600 square foot home in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles is currently for sale, listed at $4,875,000.

The house also has the dubious distinction of formerly belonging to a suspect in one of the most notorious unsolved murder cases in American history, the Black Dahlia (Elizabeth Short) murder. From 1945 to 1951, the Sowden house was owned by Dr George Hodel, who at one time was the prime suspect of the LA District Attorney in the Short murder. Hodel’s son, former LAPD homicide detective Steve Hodel, even wrote a book claiming that his father killed Elizabeth Short somewhere in the Sowden House — via Neatorama

Wildlife

Rock Hyrax / Chester Zoo

Chester Zoo, in Upton-by-Chester, Chester, UK, recently welcomed four baby Rock Hyraxes. Born 20 July, at the zoo’s African Painted Dog Exhibit, the quad of babies were just a few ounces at birth, and they looked like miniature versions of their parents, with eyes and ears open — via ZooBorns

Science, Wildlife

‘Dingo Simon’ builds sanctuary in fight to save species from extinction in wild

A Queensland disability pensioner with a love of dingoes has begun a personal crusade to save the animals from extinction in the wild.

Simon Stretton is battling biosecurity regulations and opposition from farmers as he tries to create a reservoir of purebred dingo genes to preserve wild populations.

Mr Stretton, who calls himself Dingo Simon, has started his own sanctuary at Durong in the state’s South Burnett region.

What I’m trying to do is save dingoes from extinction, basically, due to interbreeding from the wild dogs [and] also from the State Government’s excessive use of 1080 baiting, he said.

The dingo is considered to be a pest in Queensland — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Wildlife

Amur Leopards / Twycross Zoo

Twycross Zoo had a very special announcement on 23 July. The zoo, in Atherstone, Warwickshire, UK, is now home to two more of the rarest big cats on earth. The pair of Amur Leopard cubs were born to their two year old mother, Kristen, on 2 June — via ZooBorns

Photo: Gillian Day

Weird

How to Be Polite / Paul Ford

Most people don’t notice I’m polite, which is sort of the point. I don’t look polite. I am big and droopy and need a haircut. No soul would associate me with watercress sandwiches. Still, every year or so someone takes me aside and says, you actually are weirdly polite, aren’t you? And I always thrill. They noticed.

The complimenters don’t always formulate it so gently. For example, after two years ago at the end of an arduous corporate project, slowly turning a thousand red squares in a spreadsheet to yellow, then green, my officemate turned to me and said: I thought you were a terrible ass-kisser when we started working together.

She paused and frowned. But it actually helped get things done. It was a strategy. (That is how an impolite person gives a compliment. Which I gladly accepted) — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Craft

The Hat Maker / Nick Fouquet

The Hat Maker from Dean Bradshaw on Vimeo

We arrived at the shop early in the morning as the first light entered the room. Dust particles danced through sunbeams as we began to move items around the space, debating wardrobe and the shot sequence. Nick entered and listened to what we had planned. He nodded his head, pulled a piece of beaver felt down from a shelf, set it on the table and began to work.

Worries of the wardrobe, makeup, and set dressing fell away. It didn’t matter who he was, what he was wearing, or whose hat he was making — in front of the camera camera was a man and his craft, the beauty of his work uncluttered. Watching Nick work froze our day in time and if it weren’t for the light blinking on the camera we would have had no reference to the year.

In a society that often forgets the importance of making something by hand, Nick Fouquet’s artistry is a reminder of what is at the core of this country. We left inspired and grateful to be able to capture a timeless discipline passed down through generations

Craft, Wildlife

DIY cat tent / jessyratfink

This cat tent is super easy to make — you really just need a t-shirt, some wire hangers and a piece of cardboard. As a bonus, it really only takes five minutes, so if your cat ignores it you didn’t put too much effort in — via DIY cat tent

Design

Cast Aluminum and Wood Furniture / Hilla Shamia

Hilla Shamia, a product designer in Israel, developed an amazing technique for combining the natural and the synthetic. She places blocks of wood inside moulds, then pours in molten aluminium. The liquefied metal flows smoothly into every crack, filling it and providing support when it cools — via Neatorama

Politics, Rights

Al Jazeera journalists teargassed by security forces – in Ferguson, Missouri, USA

Here is a sentence that will be immediately familiar to anyone who has ever followed even a little news out of the Middle East:

Journalists from the Qatari news outlet Al Jazeera were attacked by state security forces today and blanketed in tear gas, as they attempted to film an ongoing protest; this is the latest in a string of attacks on journalists by security forces.

Now see if you can guess the country. It’s not Egypt. Not Tunisia.

Nope: this happened, exactly as described, in the United States of America on Wednesday night, in the Missouri town of Ferguson. Here is the video of Al Jazeera America journalists in Ferguson being clearly targeted with tear gas by Ferguson police (apologies for the poor quality) — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Design

Colors + Wood + Naked / Deejo

A relative newcomer to the French knife game is Paris-based Deejo, founded in 2010 by two friends looking to revisit the concept of the pocket knife. Originally designed for hiking, Deejo’s lightweight design has garnered a widespread following for its simple aesthetic and dependable 420-grade stainless steel blade. The hardwood options start at 37 grams, while the mechanical grade plastic comes in at 27 grams. However, for the simplest treatment and lightest weight, check out the naked stainless steel, that starts at just 15 grams—about the weight of two No. 2 pencils.

Deejo knives start at just €19 and are available via Deejo’s webstore. For those looking for a more custom experience, design your own knife online, with choice of blade artwork, finish, handle and size — via Cool Hunting

Business, Politics

Meet the Beer Bottle Dictator

Widely regarded as an eccentric bureaucrat, Kent ‘Battle’ Martin approves essentially every beer label in the United States, giving him awesome power over a huge industry.

For years, one man has approved virtually every beer label design in the United States. Among brewers, he’s a tyrant. A legend.

A pedantic pain in the ass.

Brewers and legal experts speak of him in hushed tones, with equal parts irritation and reverence.

He’s the king of beer. His will is law, said one lawyer who works with him regularly. The lawyer asked to remain anonymous, for fear of crossing the beer specialist. There’s one dude in the government who gets to control a multibillion-dollar industry with almost no supervision.

And he goes by the name Battle.

Any brewery that wants to market its wares in this country needs to get it through Kent Battle Martin, giving the federal official extraordinary power. With only vague regulations outlining what is and isn’t permissible, he approves beer bottles and labels for the Tax and Trade Bureau, or TTB, a section of the Treasury Department.

Those who have interacted with him describe him as brusque, eccentric, clenched. He is tensely and formally dressed on all occasions, with an encyclopedic memory of beer labels. He is bespectacled and somewhat awkward.

This year, Battle has singlehandedly approved over 29,500 beer labels, the only fact his press handler would provide. The TTB would not even provide basic biographical details about the famed regulator, much less make him available for an interview — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Entertainment

Obituary: Lauren Bacall

Lauren Bacall, the sultry actress with the husky voice who captured Humphrey Bogart’s heart both on and off the movie screen, has died at the age of 89.

Bacall suffered a massive stroke at her New York home on Tuesday morning (local time), a family member said.

Bacall was married to Bogart from 1945 until his death in 1957.

They appeared together in several films, including The Big Sleep (1946) and Key Largo (1948).

She was born Betty Joan Perske on 16 September 1924, in New York City, the only child of immigrant parents.

After her parents’ divorce, she adopted a variation of her mother’s maiden name, Bacal.

The public knew her as Lauren, the screen name hung on her by director Howard Hawks, while friends called her Betty.

Bogart simply called her Baby, in a love story that ended prematurely with his death from throat cancer at the age of 57 — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Wildlife

Baby Capybaras / Zoo Berlin

Zoo Berlin recently welcomed five baby Capybaras to their South American exhibit. Born just several weeks ago, the five pups, along with mother, Lucia, explored their enclosure for the first time. Careful to stay close to mother and each other, they enjoyed their time investigating various aspects of their home at the zoo — via ZooBorns