Denim Blunders, Reflections and General Nonsense.

[MJF9]

@Maynard Friedman yours too Marrin - we should know - happy birthday!!

Do you even celebrate at your grand old ages lads? 😜 I'm sure you do - all the best!!

[Double 0 Soul]

Slice of Battenberg and a small sherry while watching The Antiques Roadshow..

[MJF9]

... with the tv on maximum volume...

[Maynard Friedman]

…with all my great-grandchildren gathered around…

[beautiful_FrEaK]

Happy belated birthday to @Dr_Heech and @Maynard Friedman!

[Double 0 Soul]

I just been having a read through this blog with my morning coffee..

https://vintagedancer.com/1950s/1950s-greasers-everything-you-know-about-greasers-is-wrong/

The writing is a bit superficial and it's painted with a very wide brush but there is some good photos and old ads tucked away in here^

The site is a bitch to navigate and it's infested with ads.. they're catering to the costume / reenactment types rather than the denim-nerds but if you're prepared to pick through it.. the photos are ace!

[CSL]

There's some good stuff in there but man does this have me confused.

[Double 0 Soul]

You'd pull that^ off Carl.. Buco jacket, vintage Moschino tee, Warehouse prisoner stripes and Mister Freedom, Speedsafe shin pads .. no bother!

[Maynard Friedman]

The other fella’s accidentally put his motorcycle jacket on instead of his school blazer!

[mlwdp]

US Supreme Court just struck down tariffs.

[space_cowboy]

23 minutes ago, mlwdp said:

US Supreme Court just struck down tariffs.

I wonder if they'll be forced to issue refunds (I doubt it)

[StuartM]

I believe part of the case is seeking refunds for businesses who have paid tariffs. What the judgement says on that I don't know.

EDIT: Supreme Court did not rule on whether the US must refund revenue raised. 

Edited February 20 by StuartM

[Double 0 Soul]

I’ve just got a box of blood oranges.. 

 

We used to get these all the time when I was a kid.. I haven’t seen one for years 😋

[MJF9]

Look nice them Neal

I'm having a rock n roll night in 😉

I get the chilli chocolate from a fella who has a chilli shop selling all kinds of stuff up and down the chilli scale in there. I go periodically and buy different flavours each time... dark, milk, sea salt etc... each time he tells me the flavour I buy is 'his favourite flavour ever'... I never have the heart to pull him up on this such is his enthusiasm for his interests... I bet he'd like Sufu

[JohnM]

^ Looks good MJF9, though I'm a 70% dark guy.

 

[Hopethisoneisnttaken]

15 hours ago, Double 0 Soul said:

I’ve just got a box of blood oranges.. 

 

We used to get these all the time when I was a kid.. I haven’t seen one for years 😋

Down here blood oranges have the same peel as an orange orange. For a second there I thought this is an avocado 😅

[ATWM]

Yea our blood oranges tend to have a lighter peel still, not quite like a normal one.

The thing that gets me though is - the idea of branded produce altogether. It’s so ridiculous lol. 

[MJF9]

12 hours ago, JohnM said:

^ Looks good MJF9, though I'm a 70% dark guy.

 

You like your chocolate how I like my jeans John 

[Double 0 Soul]

45 minutes ago, ATWM said:

Yea our blood oranges tend to have a lighter peel still, not quite like a normal one.

The thing that gets me though is - the idea of branded produce altogether. It’s so ridiculous lol. 

I think the box is just a way of keeping them in tip-top condition..

Re- fruits that are not grown in the UK, they tend to be harvested while underripe, transferred to a chilled warehouse (for what can be weeks) then they use (i think) nitrogen gas to induce the ripening process before they're shipped out to supermarketrs but in the case of kiwi fruit, Pakistani mangoes, blood oranges ect..they're boxed at peak ripeness in their country of origin to keep them safe for transport then shipped to the supermarkets..  putting the name of the producers on the box seems logical to me.

 

Edited February 21 by Double 0 Soul

[Thanks_M8]

^tbf those boxed ones you got are a patented strain of blood oranges, same goes for dekopon/sumo mandarins, pink lady apples and so on.

Doesn't sit right with me to patent a plant strain, either, but usually the patents are free after 20 something years or so. Sometimes you can get plants via licensed dealers.

[Double 0 Soul]

What about the branded strains of weed?
 

I didn’t really put that much thought into it.. they looked nice so I bought them. I’ll have to be more careful in future!

They still need to be branded tho just for traceability reasons.

[Hopethisoneisnttaken]

1 hour ago, Thanks_M8 said:

Doesn't sit right with me to patent a plant strain

I think there’s some debate to be had here. It’s not like blood oranges are a commodity ingredient in every house hold. It’s more of luxury, exotic fruit in that sense. Blood oranges season is incredibly short, even in places they grow (somewhat) naturally (as far as I know). 
 

I think I’d agree with you with planets that are more of a basic necessity in a specific area. But this here is an example of strand somebody worked on for the sake of money, not the greater good or solving world hunger. 

[Double 0 Soul]

^like the different varieties of roses we plant in our gardens?

 

Hows the job hunting going @Thanks_M8 ?

Edited February 21 by Double 0 Soul

[Thanks_M8]

to be fair @Hopethisoneisnttaken it's a business in the end, like every business it needs to live and depends strongly on marketing and cashflow, in this case a very dark peel to more noticeable. The r&d takes a lot of time and money, so monetizing it isn't of the table, food production is a business like others and profits reign supreme. 

@Double 0 Soul thanks for asking, it's alright. Jobs here don't grow on trees, but that wasn't the case either last time, might even take a few weeks off inbetween. 

[Double 0 Soul]

Freeze dried Skittles 

.. weird 

[ATWM]

On 2/21/2026 at 7:46 AM, Double 0 Soul said:

putting the name of the producers on the box seems logical to me.

It's not this that is bonkers to me. 

When I go to the farm stop down the street from me (it's like a local farmer's market but a store - or perhaps like a grocer of yore) they note the farms that the the produce comes from. That's useful information in some circumstances.  

But it's the branding - the design, the image, the sometimes proprietary packaging the whole thing upping the price of the unit - on a plant, from the ground, that primarily took water and soil and sun (and sure, some chemicals probably and some IP maybe from manipulating genetics - another conversation) and making it something like a manufactured product. To be fair, the fact that I think about this could be considered absurd, but it is just one little corner of the "modern" world I look at that makes me sort of shake my head and think...this is a tiny sign of where things went wrong. Just a tiny one, but ubiquitous nonetheless - can't get past it, every time I pass "cuties" (branded small oranges in every supermarket in the US). I'm sure I'm not logically consistent on this - it's apparent to me I don't react quite the same way with products like coffee or tea, possibly because of the processing involved there feels more proprietary to me (even though maybe roasting is not as involved as hybridizing - I am out of my depth here), I digress..

[Maynard Friedman]

^ It’s food for thought…

[MJF9]

^^ it eats away at me too...

[OutSider]

On 2/21/2026 at 8:43 AM, Thanks_M8 said:

^tbf those boxed ones you got are a patented strain of blood oranges, same goes for dekopon/sumo mandarins, pink lady apples and so on.

Doesn't sit right with me to patent a plant strain, either, but usually the patents are free after 20 something years or so. Sometimes you can get plants via licensed dealers.

If you’re the one who cross bred a new fruit or plant that’s never been done before why shouldn’t you be able to patent it? 
 

 

 

[Double 0 Soul]

1 hour ago, OutSider said:

If you’re the one who cross bred a new fruit or plant that’s never been done before why shouldn’t you be able to patent it? 
 

Edited February 25 by Double 0 Soul