An English thrift shop that found itself buried under mountains of old donated clothes has gotten a helping hand from a talented designer.
Recent fashion and design graduate Victoria Ford approached the shop and offered to transform some of its unwanted rags into bespoke pieces for sale at premium prices.
The thrift shop proceeds benefit Derian House Children’s Hospice in Chorley. Still, rather than generating revenue to pay for the hospital’s expenses, the shop had mostly become a dropping off point for unwanted clothes, which piled up in “eyewatering amounts”. It sat unsorted in huge sacks in the shop’s warehouse.
Most would have probably ended up in a landfill if it weren’t for Ford’s belief in second-chance fashion and an eye for quality.
“Rather than letting things go to waste, I wanted to help Derian House give their unsalable clothing a new life, and to turn them into something others can enjoy,” Ford told the BBC.
Mick Croskery from the Derian House shop said Victoria’s collection was attracting a new crowd to the shop.
Victoria’s collection – credit Derien House Childrens Hospice
Running on “super tight margins” and “inundated with rags” too worn down, or with holes, stains, or burns, to sell on, Croskery said, “it is that kind of stuff that Victoria has repurposed for us that we couldn’t sell.”
They used to pay 70 cents per bag of donated clothes, but the shop was receiving so many “rags” that they eventually lowered the price to 15 cents.
Ford has had to get creative to make use of the excess, but she’s been doing just that since she was 10, she said, finding items in similar thrift shops and transforming them with her sewing machine as a child. She’s redesigned dozens of items and even made a handbag out of an inflatable mattress.
Derian House Children’s Hospice cares for more than 400 babies and toddlers, children, young people, and their families, and costs more than £6 million ($7.8 million) to run annually.
The good news in this story is that usable clothing is being made from what would otherwise be landfill rags, all while helping with child Hospice care. Today’s JohnKu talks about utilization. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.
Today I opened Circumstances of Childhood randomly to page 159. With eyes closed, I pointed to the page, and the word closest to my finger is “meetings.” This is our prompt today.
This post was authored by Marie Ann Bailey and me and published on April 21, 2014. I’m not in need of this service, but this list could be useful to someone. If not, then hopefully there is a laugh or two here.
Top Ten Things Not To Do When Signing Up With an Online Dating Service
10. When signing up for an online dating service, do not use your old high school senior photo in your profile. If you do, at best, your future dates might forgive you for being somewhat more overweight and wrinkled than your photo suggests. At worst, you might get sued by future dates for emotional and psychological trauma, especially those who thought they were going to date a 28-year-old.
9. When signing up for an online dating service, do not say that you live in a foreign country because you want to appear exotic. If you do, at best, your future dates will be relieved to learn that you actually live within driving distance of them and they don’t have to pay exorbitant sums for a first date. At worst, your dream date, who really does live in the country you claim to live in, will out you to everyone else in the service, and you will have to change your profile and identity and actually move to a foreign country.
8. When signing up for an online dating service, do not claim to be a great cook when you still can’t make a decent peanut butter and jelly sandwich. If you do, at best, your future dates will prefer to dine out anyway and will never find out your lie. At worst, your dream date will wind up in the ER after you actually try to prepare a romantic, home-cooked meal for your first (and now last) date.
7. When signing up for an online dating service, do not inflate your educational background so you can appear to be more intelligent than you apparently are. If you do, at best, your future dates will not be interested in your opinion on the Dunning-Kruger effect anyway, and you’ll be saved from having to present yourself as an example of it. At worst, your profile will be tagged as someone who suffers from the Dunning-Kruger effect*, which you will find frustrating since your last name is not Dunning nor is it Kruger.
6. When signing up for an online dating service, do not minimize your educational background to appear less intelligent than you really are because you are afraid of intimidating anyone. If you do, at best, your future dates won’t be interested in degrees anyway, just as long as you can enjoy conversations with each other. At worst, your future dates will look like the cast from “My Name is Earl” or “Duck Dynasty.”
5. When signing up for an online dating service, do not claim to be fluent in any language when all you can say is “Hello” and “Goodbye” in that language. If you do, at best, all your future dates have the same native tongue as you, but no foreign language fluency, so they get excited when you say “Bonjour” and “Adios” in the same sentence. At worst, your dream date will be fluent in the language you claim to be fluent in (let’s say, French, for fun) and invite you to a romantic getaway to Paris where the best you can do is say “Bonjour” to everything anyone else says to you, with the result that two hours into the romantic getaway, your dream date leaves you at a café with just your French-English dictionary to help you find your way home.
4. When signing up for an online dating service, do not claim not to have pets when you do, just because the dream date you picked out is allergic to cats. If you do, at best, you never get together with your dream date, but the second-best date not only asks you out but also happens to like cats (and then you live happily ever after). At worst, your dream date comes to your place for coffee and, within five minutes, develops red, itchy eyes, sneezing and coughing fits, and a facial rash, even though your cats are not in your house because you had them boarded. All of this results in you being on the hook for your dream date’s trip to the ER and allergy medication, as well as the boarding fees for a date that went nowhere.
3. When signing up for an online dating service, do not use a glamour photo for your profile, even if your friends insist it will get you more dates. If you do, at best, all your future dates also use glamour photos, so no one can complain when none of you look glamorous in real life. At worst, see the worst-case scenario for #1 and then double it.
2. When signing up for an online dating service, do not present yourself as a social butterfly when, in fact, you get panic attacks when you have to speak to more than one person at a time. If you do, at best, your future dates will be flattered when you say you prefer evenings alone so you can get to know them better. At worst, your future dates will think your Howard Hughes profile is creepy since they assumed you loved the party life and eventually leave you to your evenings alone as a party of one.
1. When signing up for an online dating service, do not pretend to be anyone but who you really are. If you do, at best, you will find someone who actually likes you for yourself, and you will make some new good friends. At worst, you’ll be stuck with a revolving door of dates but no relationships. (On the upside, that could be fodder for some good stories.)
*a cognitive bias where individuals with limited knowledge or competence in a particular domain greatly overestimate their own knowledge or skill. Proposed by psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger in 1999, it stems from a lack of metacognition—the inability to recognize one’s own incompetence.
By the miracle of time travel, we are going to visit the Valentine brown bag concert sponsored by the Lakeway Arts Committee. We are catered by La Barbecue of Austin. Our entertainment after the concert will be Sly and the Family Stone
Menu
La Frito Loco – Pulled pork, chopped brisket, chipotle slaw, black beans, Fritos, cheese, and jalapenos.
Chi-Town Pinata – Chicago-style hot dog with la barbecue traditional hotgut topped with dill relish, sport peppers, pickle spears, onion, and yellow mustard
Bobby Dawg – Housemade jalapeno sausage with your choice of brisket or pulled pork, topped with black beans, cheese, onions, jalapenos, and yellow mustard
Frito Pie – Chopped brisket, pulled pork, or la Barbecue chili, housemade pickled jalapenos, cheddar cheese, black beans, diced white onion
Chili Cheese Dawg – Housemade sausage, la Barbecue chili, cheddar cheese, diced onion, mustard, and jalapenos
Sloppy Ho – Chopped brisket, la Barbecue chili
Let’s go
Here’s the poster. Grammy winner Red Young and Silvie Rider Young.
Yup, we are in the right place.
Sound check and getting ready.
Valentine’s table centerpiece.
Red and Silvie are talking to audience members before the concert.
The stage is ready.
The chairperson of the Arts Committee with a few comments and introductions.
Red and Silvie take the stage.
Red begins the set with solo piano work.
Looks like folks are enjoying the music.
Looks like it’s time for food and more music. I hope you have a great week.
Staggering to the machine with the hope of relief that a hot cup of aromatic, steaming elixir will bring to quell the flashing neon sign behind my eyes that says in bright red, “Low Caffeine warning.” Red is also the color of Valentine’s Day, and that wish of love is certainly part of this post as soon as the coffee is ready.
Finally, the cup is filled, and the first sip begins the process of serenity. An interruption occurs in the form of the Westminster chime cacophony courtesy of some dope not reading the “Do Not Ring The Bell” sign. A couple of heart-shaped treats thrown into the soundproof room preserves the integrity of the windows and crystal, which would otherwise be in jeopardy from the bark to St Louis response of Igor’s Hounds. Slamming the door brings peace back to the valley.
A check of the monitor reveals a baby in diapers carrying an envelope and a bow. It must be Cupid or a very deranged delivery person. No need to go through the discussion about leaving the envelope, since the pattern is clear. With a sigh, the security shut-down process began.
The SWAT team needs to be put on standby. A quick text to the leader confirms that status. Also, the flight of A-10 Warthogs must be diverted. Another call to the commander puts that worry to rest. The SEAL team needs to be called off, and a call to the leader makes that possible. The MH-60 Jayhawk Helicopter hovering over the house is diverted. A call to the tow truck driver stops the deployment of an M1A1 Abrams Tank. The control panel simplifies the shutdown process of the security system. The boiling oil vats are put on standby, the turret mortars disengaged, the Trebuchet on safety, the concertina wire rolled, the Claymore mines reset, the tower Gatling guns on safety, the moat net dropped, the alligators fed, and the IEDs and shoulder-held rockets put away. The Proton torpedoes switched off. The gamma ray beams covered. The high-powered maser guns switched to standby, and the nanorobots were chained in the basement. The Klingons are called back, and the Targ is caged. Robbie’s Bot is sent to the basement. The Tasmanian Devil is directed to the food in his cage, and the door drops. The locks on the door are thrown. And the door opened.
The first thing Cupid does is hand me the envelope and a clipboard, which is signed and returned. The second thing he does is shoot me with an arrow to the heart. Love blooms on the porch. Cupid got a ten-dollar tip (clever boy). Inside the envelope is a note from Linda Hill. It reads: Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “love.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun, and happy Valentine’s Day!
In January, India recorded a mini-outbreak of the Nipah virus, an often lethal disease spread by contact between humans and animals.
There was little that could be done for the victims, as no specialized treatment for Nipah virus exists other than normal supportive care procedures such as the treatment of the resulting symptoms, rest, and hydration.
Some well-studied antiviral medications like ribavirin, remdesivir, acyclovir, favipiravir, have seen use on a speculative basis during certain outbreaks, but real efficacy is unclear.
Now though, the University of Tokyo’s Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology has developed a potential Nipah virus vaccine by inserting some of the virus’ genetic material into the modified measles vaccine. Early trials in hamsters have shown it to be safe and effective.
Nipah virus fatality rates are 40% to 75%. It’s typically spread by contact between humans and bats, often through people consuming tree fruit contaminated with bat saliva. Once thusly contracted, it can spread quickly through humans via any form of fluid exchange.
The virus is present in the tropics and often in rural areas where access to medical care may be limited.
Tokyo University’s vaccine candidate is now on its way to Belgium for a Phase 1 testing in humans, where with the help of a nonprofit called the European Vaccine Initiative, it will be examined for safety across 60 test candidates.
The trials are set to begin in April.
The good news in this story is that this emerging virus of which little is known has a high priority in finding a preventative. Today’s JohnKu talks about being proactive. I hope you have a super weekend.
Twiggy celebrated her Eighth birthday on Tuesday. Here she is with her present. Looks like she might have been expecting a treat instead but it was a good day.
Let’s join Twiggy and Tempeste outside.
“So twiggy. How’s that sun?”
“It’s delightful.”
“I have trouble just lying around like that.”
“Yeah, but you and I are different.”
“Well, that’s for sure.”
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to look for a toy so we can play.”
“What makes you think I want to play?”
“Well, it is a beautiful day and thought we could play.”
“I agree it is a beautiful day. I want to lie in the sun.”
“While you are lying there, what am I going to do?”
“You know, sometimes you just have to be alone and entertain yourself.”
“Entertain myself? What fun is that?”
“It may not sound like fun now, but think of something you would enjoy.”
“I do enjoy chasing a ball by myself. Maybe I’ll do that.”
Today, I randomly opened Detour on the Eternal Road to page 115. With eyes closed, I pointed to the page. My finger landed right between “handsome” and “guy.” Our prompt today is “handsome guy.”
I’m so happy to have Jacqui visit once again to give you some information about her new book which is book three in the Savage Land series. So without much delay, here is Jacqui.
I ran into John Howell online at some point in the past because we are both besotted by our dogs. John does a great series about his two dogs called “A Little Personal” where he looks at the world through their eyes. Really, I’m telling you, blog reading doesn’t get much better.
But that’s not what inspired me for this article to launch my latest prehistoric fiction, Balance of Nature, the third book in the trilogy about Neanderthals. John also does a great series on “10 Things Not To Do” and then discusses what you shouldn’t do with your Thanksgiving turkey, when trying to get published, when signing up for online dating, and similar. I thought it would be fun to apply that to my Neanderthals. What is the best way to interact with them? I came up with a lot of good suggestions in case you end up time-traveling 40,000 years into the past:
Top Ten Things NOT to do When You Meet a Neanderthal
10 If you meet a Neanderthal, do not be surprised that they don’t speak English, Spanish, or any other modern language. If you are surprised, at best, you might try gestures. At worst, their language–like Latin–is no longer spoken, so that you might drag out your Pictionary skills
9 If you meet a Neanderthal, do not try to fix your broken store-bought spear. If you do, at best, you will be pitied, and the Neanderthal will fix it. He’ll boil up some bark over a fire. Turn it into glue and reattach the tip to your spear or create an entirely new one. At worst, he will invite you home for a nice, boiled snake dinner.
8 If you meet a Neanderthal, do not miss the chance to pick the Neanderthal for your natural navigation team. He can’t read maps or written instructions, but he reads nature like no one you’ve met. If you are lost, the Neanderthal will know how to get you back to where you need to be, even if he’s never been there before. If you do miss the chance, at best, you may wander in the wilderness forever. At worst, you’ll be eaten by a big, hungry animal.
7 If you meet a Neanderthal, do not try to hide. If you do, at best, he has a cold. At worst, he’ll sniff you out, follow your trace, and find you, and not be in the best of moods either.
6 If you meet a Neanderthal, do not tell them there’s something he can’t do that needs doing. If you do, at best, he’ll figure it out. At worst, he will now believe you are an idiot.
5 If you meet a Neanderthal, do not be surprised. Neanderthals don’t complain–not about extreme cold, debilitating hunger, dangerous predators, loneliness, or anything else. They intrinsically realize it does no good. If you are surprised, at best, you may take that attitude for yourself. At worst, your concern about having no cell service will look pathetic.
4 If you meet a Neanderthal, do not try small talk. That doesn’t exist in their world. All conversations are to convey important information. Quiet is a friend. Human voices stand out in nature. If you do try small talk, at best, the sign of the finger on the lips should be enough. At worst, you may be left tied with vines to a tree and used for bait as your reward.
3 If you meet a Neanderthal, do not try to tell him the optimal location for a hearth in a cave. He knows where that is and how to dig ditches to deliver airflow to the fire. If you do try to tell him, at best, you’ll still be allowed to stay in the cave. At worst, you will be shivering outside in a foot of snow, listening to the stomach growl of the local half-starved meat eater.
2 If you meet a Neanderthal, do not tell him that you counted his tribe and one person is missing. He doesn’t need to count. He does it by a missing smell or the smaller size of the group. If you do try, at best, you will be ignored. At worst, the leader will give you some extra things to carry that don’t smell very nice and drip.
1 If you meet a Neanderthal, do not ask a Neanderthal if his life is boring. He has no concept of what that means. If you do ask, at best you’ll get a quizzical look. At worst, as you explain boredom, the Neanderthal will decide to see if you can outrun his spear.
Virtual Book Blast For
Savage Land Book 3, Balance of Nature
Summary
A tribe haunted by the past. Lies that threaten the future. A reason to find the truth.
Savage Land is the third trilogy about prehistoric man in the series, Man. Vs. Nature. Savage Land explores how two bands of humans survived one of the worst natural disasters in Earth’s history, when volcanic eruptions darkened the sky, massive tsunamis crossed the ocean in crushing waves, and raging fires burned the land. Viral tribes of Neanderthals and early man considered themselves apex predators, but that crown belonged to Nature, and she was intent on washing the two-legged blight from her lands. In Balance of Nature, Book Three of the trilogy, Yu’ung’s Neanderthal tribe hopes to settle at Gibraltar but instead finds unexpected threats and lethal challenges.
Follow the courageous Yu’ung, the determined Kazeb, the mystical Shanadar, and the pawed-and-clawed Canis as they navigate a perilous world of tribal conflict, unexplained visions, and shifting loyalties. Their journey is a testament to the resilience and strength of true leadership in a sweeping saga that ultimately leads to who we are today.
Excerpt
75,000 years ago The area we now call Gibraltar
Shouts woke the brothers from their sleep.
“A boat—on the Endless Sea! Headed toward us!”
At night? How is that possible? But Kazeb didn’t ask because it didn’t matter. What mattered was that it was there.
He and Turk had waited long for this news, Kazeb with excitement, Turk with dread. Without discussion, they raced across the grassland, leapt over crevices, the width familiar even in the dark, and then scrambled up Big Rock’s knobby flank, grabbing tiny ledges with their fingers and toes with a speed mountain goats would envy. The behemoth’s height dwarfed all hills on the peninsula save the distant, towering range that separated it from others.
The brothers summited the crest and crouched behind a thick patch of scrub at the cliff’s edge. The brisk breeze atop the promontory whipped Kazeb’s hair around. He clenched his fists, gritted his teeth so tightly he should have broken a tooth, and waited for the vague elongated shadow on the water’s inky surface to reveal its intentions.
Is it them? He glanced at his brother’s square face. Turk thinks it is.
Sun’s steady arrival slowly erased the dark, made the sea shimmer in shades of blue as waves crashed against the coastline. Just below the surface, under the foam, were sharp shoals. Any boat must tediously avoid these, better yet, continue down the shore where there was no risk, unless they knew of the sole safe mooring used by natives and those they shared the location with, like they did with the Tall Ones from long ago.
Turk hissed, “It’s them, Liis.”
The Clan called him Liis, but he preferred “Kazeb,” the name awarded him when he agreed to guide the Tall One Fierce to the sea’s end. That was far beyond anywhere he had ever traveled, but Fierce claimed Kazeb’s knowledge of the area was invaluable.
“We can’t tell who is onboard, Turk,” he said, though who else knew of the hidden cove?
Kazeb rose and scanned a full circle, hoping whoever came on that craft wasn’t looking up here.
“What are you doing, Liis?”
“I need to see if they’re alone, or do more come from other directions.”
Flat grassland bordered one flank of the promontory, water the rest. Sun’s earliest rays colored the sky in pinks and blues. Birds plummeted into the crystalline water. Fish with no desire to be food dove. Farther away, pigs rooted through the stubble and a herd of deer feasted on ever-abundant fresh young shoots, protected by the range of mountains from unexpected predators.
Jacqui Murray is the author of the popular prehistoric fiction saga, Man vs. Nature which explores seminal events in man’s evolution one trilogy at a time. She is also author of the Rowe-Delamagente thrillers and Building a Midshipman, the story of her daughter’s journey from high school to United States Naval Academy. Her non-fiction includes 100+ books on tech into education, and a freelance journalist on tech ed topics.
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