Logo Evolution – Pepsi vs. Coca cola

 The competition between Pepsi and Coca cola has been ages… I once wrote a post about the the ads war between them. Today, we will see how they compete each other in the logo design. Logo, as the key element in the Corporate Identity, Coca cola seems to stick to its first logo design since 1885 while Pepsi kept changing it for more than 10 times.

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10 Weird Drive-Thru Services Around The World

You are in your car, but stuck there. You cannot leave the vehicle even to buy yourself coffee or stop by a library to drop books. The concept of drive thrus was introduced in the United States so that drivers could grab some eatables and then be on their way; but since then, the idea has expanded and very strange drive thrus have appeared, where you can either pray, get hitched or even get treatment for a disease.

1. Strip Club Drive-Thru

There is a window Climax Gentlemen’s Club which provides a drive-thru with they’ll-do-it-in-my-car convenience of a drive-thru McDonald’s. One has to wait one’s turn, before spending a $ 10 per minute per person. A cinder block carport at the back of the building provides a view to the indoor activity through a diamond shaped window. A ‘pay here’ booth takes credit cards, and displays an autographed photo of Fred ‘The Honzman’ Honsburger, a right-wing radio talk show host on Pittsburgh’s KDKA.

2. Funeral Home Drive-Thru

The Pensacola drive-thru Funeral home is now closed, although if offered “an optional drive -thru viewing window” for quite some time. Lafayette Gatling, a former construction worker owned the Junior Funeral Home in Pensacola (Florida) felt that paying respects in soiled work clothes was a cause of discomfort so this drive-thru allowed viewing the remains of the loved one round the clock without ever leaving the car. Traveling visitors could pay their respects using the help of cameras and a sound system simply by signing the funeral register.

3. Emergency Room Drive-Thru

Stanford Hospital is testing a drive-through ER to treat patients in cars so that contagious conditions do not affect the public in a normal crowded ER. “Social distancing” is required during a pandemic or bio-terrorist attack therefore people could drive-thru and still be nursed outside the hospital. With timekeepers tracking the process, Weiss found that the drive-through reduced patients’ length of stay by 1.5 hours compared to what would have been expected in a traditional ER. Doctors tended the patients in the parking garage either in the car or on cots.

4. Wedding Chapel Drive-Thru

If you want to get married in an instant without the planning a big ceremony headaches or any other work and effort the Drive-Thru wedding chapel is the place for you to consider. Originally used for handicapped people who had trouble getting into the building, it has become a mainstay of Las-Vegas wedding scene.

5. Prayer Booth Drive-Thru

It was initially a photo booth but the “Main Place Christian Fellowship”, an evangelical church located in Tustin outside Los-Angeles, converted it into a drive-thru prayer booth. Any person driving a car can come here remain in his car while a pastor on duty prays for him through a window. It is not just the prayers, but free Bibles, bottled water and sometimes flowers are also a comfort to the passersby.

6. Art Gallery Drive-Thru

In 2006 a program from the Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver allowed drivers to glimpse the art using a drive-thru window. Any of the six short videos from Vancouver artist Brady Cranfield could be chosen by the drivers once they pulled up the kiosk.  Each piece from the series, called Day Tripper, was modeled after a hypothetical day in the life of a Vancouverite.

7. Coffee Shop Topless Drive-Thru

Savvy Washington drive-thru coffee stand owners have added one very popular item to their menu: Flesh.  One coffee stand, Hot-Chick-a-Latte, claims that their bikini baristas can make up to $300 a day. Apparently, the residents of Washington States really enjoy being served coffee by topless baristas in a drive-thru service.

8. Big Tree Drive-Thru

One can drive through the hallowed out stumps of some of the world’s biggest trees on California’s Redwood Highway. It is an experience in itself to be so close to nature and fancy oneself to be inside a tree, although you will have to pay for it.

9. Fire fighting Drive-Thru

There is a new drive-through service in McMinnville, Oregon. Their first customer was Craig Brown whose pick-up truck’s engine caught fire, and instead of pulling over he just drove to the fire station to get the flames extinguished. Fortunately for him, there were two fighters outside with a hose ready to put him out of the flames.

10. Public Library Drive-Thru

Ottawa Public Library in Ontario, Canada, opened a drive-thru window in 2005. It was the first library to open a convenient and quick way to drop the books – with a drive-thru to drop books open 24hrs.

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Police defend members in Bima incident

The National Police defended its members who were on duty at the deadly incident in Bima, West Nusa Tenggara, saying a thorough investigation into the incident was now in progress.

National Police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo said the investigation would focus on who started the shooting.

“Nothing wrong happened at the Sape Seaport, when the police were trying to remove demonstrators. There was sporadic shooting coming from between 700 and 900 meters from the seaport,” the police chief said, adding that the government was still investigating who started the shooting and why.

Timur said the police at the seaport carried out their tasks based on the commands of city and district police chiefs.

Separately, Police have named 56 Bima residents and five West Nusa Tenggara Police officers as suspects in the clash that took place between protesters and authorities at Sape port on Dec. 24, 2011. The 56 residents are now in police custody.

“We are handling 56 residents who have been named suspects in the Bima clash,” National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Saud Usman Nasution said at his office in Jakarta on Monday as quoted by kompas.com.

He also said that police had named two officer suspects in the Bima clash, adding to the three police officers previously named in the same case. “The two officers [most recently named suspects] come from the Bima Police, First Brig. A and First Brig. MS,” Saud said as quoted by tribunnews.com.

“We will bring all five [police] suspects to a disciplinary court in the near future,” he said.

Police had earlier indicted First Brig. F and First. Brig. S, both of whom are members of the Bima Police, and Second Brig. F from the West Nusa Tenggara Mobile Brigade.

Saud also said police were continuing their investigation to determine if bullets that killed and injured residents during the clash matched those used by authorities.

“We recovered eight rubber bullets from the bodies of victims who were injured and are now being treated in a hospital in Bima. We will determine what kind of weapon was used,” he said.

The clash began when a number of residents, citing environmental concerns, demonstrated against the Bima administration by blocking the road to Sape port, demanding the revocation of a mining permit issued to PT Sumber Mineral Nusantara.

Two residents from Suni village, identified as Arif Rahman, 18, Syaiful, 17, and a West Nusa Tenggara Muhammadiyah University student, Immawan Ashary, died as a result of the clash.

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Thousands of houses affected by floods in Surakarta

The Surakarta city administration has raised its status to alert for the next seven days following floods affecting thousands of houses in six regencies and 11 sub-districts in the Greater Surakarta area.

The regencies and subdistricts were inundated by floods after eight hours of rainfall in the area on the very first day of year 2012.

“Considering that the water level at the Bengawan Solo River reached 9.38 meters, the Surakarta city administration raised its status to alert for the next seven days,” Surakarta Vice Mayor F.X. Hadi Rudyatmo said Monday at the Surakarta City Hall.

As many as 3,684 houses in 11 subdistricts in the city, including a house belonging to the vice mayor, have been affected by floods 50 to 150 centimeters deep.

In Trucuk, Klaten regency, 500 families living in five villages were inundated by floodwaters 60 centimeters deep, resulting in losses costing more than Rp 100 billion (US$11 million).

Three embankments in Klaten regency; Dengkeng, Sungai Gamping and Kali Jaran, had broken down, with damages in various locations ranging in length from 15 to 25 meters long.

“If it is still raining on Monday evening, the condition of the embankments could become even worse,” Cawas district head Pri Harsanto said.

In Sukoharjo regency, 1,000 families in four districts have had to evacuate due to one to 3-meter deep floods that had inundated their houses.

As many as 163 houses in three villages in Boyolali regency were also affected by floods.

In Karanganyar regency, two districts, Jenawi and Ngargoyoso, were impacted by landslides, while two other districts, Kebak Kramat and Gondangrejo, were flooded in knee-deep water.

In Sragen regency, the five districts of Sidoarjo, Masaran, Plupuh, Sragen Kota and Tanon, were inundated by up to 2 meters of water.

The Wedi and Bayat districts were affected by overflowing water from an embankment.

Klaten Disaster Management Agency secretary Joko Rukminto said that the agency had coordinated with areas affected by the floods to distribute aid.

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German jobless rate up to 6.6 percent in December

Germany's jobless rate edged higher in December, but the overall picture in Europe's biggest economy remained positive as the average number of people unemployed last year was the lowest for two decades, official figures showed Tuesday.

The unadjusted jobless rate was up to 6.6 percent last month from 6.4 percent in November, the Federal Labor Agency said. The number of people registered as unemployed rose 67,000 to 2.78 million. Compared with December 2010, that was a decrease of 231,000.

It is common for unemployment figures to rise at this time of year as winter weather weighs on industries such as construction, though the agency said the increase was smaller than usual.

Germany's job market is in very good shape overall after two years of strong economic growth. Its strength contrasts with high unemployment in economically weaker countries that have been hit hard by the eurozone debt crisis - in the worst case, Spain, the jobless rate is above 20 percent.

The labor agency said the number of people out of work averaged 2.976 million over the course of last year, 263,000 fewer than in 2010 and the lowest overall figure since 1991.

Labor agency chief Frank-Juergen Weise said that "demand for labor was very high over the whole year." Last year's average jobless rate was 7.1 percent, down from 7.7 percent in 2010.

After a strong export-driven performance over the last two years, Germany is expected to see much weaker economic growth in 2012 because of the eurozone debt crisis and economic troubles elsewhere.

Tuesday's figures showed a still-positive underlying trend on the German job market, with the seasonally adjusted jobless rate dipping to 6.8 percent in December from 6.9 percent a month earlier. In adjusted terms, 22,000 fewer people were unemployed, following a similar decline in November.

Andreas Rees, an economist at UniCredit in Munich, said that the 6.8 percent figure was the lowest since German reunification in 1990, and noted that it was the 29th monthly decline in 32 months in seasonally adjusted unemployment. He added that the German labor market still has "substantial" momentum.

He said "companies are still sitting on a huge pile of backlog orders, thereby keeping the labor market going" despite signs of new orders decreasing.

"We expect job creation in the next few months to continue, which is good news for consumer expenditures in 2012," he said.

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Healthy living, organic Style

The importance of living a healthy life is a popular trend, with more nature-focused communities going for only natural and organic products.

Ahmad Nuh used to consume white cane sugar, the most common sweetener used in food and drinks. But the 30-something man decided to stop his habit when he started working at a palm sugar company around four years ago, finding that palm sugar was healthier since it contained more fibers and nutrients and had less carbohydrates than white sugar.

“White cane sugar undergoes a long process and producers sometimes add other refined sweeteners, chemical contents and even coloring, so it’s not that healthy,” Ahmad told The Jakarta Post.

“A long time ago, people ate palm sugar to boost their energy so they could walk for miles. So, let’s go back to the old days which ensured a healthier life.”

Since then, he eliminated white sugar from his daily intake, replacing it with palm sugar made from the sap of sugar palm trees or date trees. His family and relatives used followed his steps and used palm sugar to make soup or other dishes.

Ahmad was among the participants of the 2011 Organic, Green and Healthy Expo organized by the Indonesian Organic Community (KOI) and the Alliance of Indonesian Organic (AOI) at CNI Building in West Jakarta’s Puri Indah recently.

The event was aimed at introducing local certified organic and natural products as well as encouraging the public to adopt a healthy lifestyle.

Organic food products are made in ways that limit the use of synthetic substances including pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Among items on offer were vegetables, grains such as white rice, red rice and black rice, miscellaneous snacks made from cassava, sweet cassava and bananas, teas ranging from regular green and black tea to Rosella and kumis kucing (Orthosiphon spicatus), forest honey and palm sugar.

But the term organic is not only a matter of being pesticide free —the food must also be preserved in a chemical-free environment.

Theophillia Arispraptami of the Indonesian Forest Honey Network is promoting tropical forest honey, which is dubbed as organic, as the honey is not manufactured by humans.

The honey, she said, is derived from Apis dorsata bees, the most productive Asian bees living in tropical and subtropical areas such as Indonesia, the Philippines, India and Nepal.

“We collect and extract the honey directly from the hives in the forests, maintaining its natural nutrient values. The bees collect nectar and pollen from blossoms in the forest, while manufactured bees gathered nectar only from one type of blossom, depending on the season,” Theophillia said.

“The hives are usually found hanging on trees, caves and stones, while regular honey comes from worker bees in designed boxes.”

She also said that forest honey was safer, as the honeybees consumed wild blossoms that were not contaminated by hazardous chemical contents.

Sentarum Lake National Park in West Kalimantan and West Java’s Ujung Kulon National Park are two areas used to cultivate forest honey.

The network, she said, guaranteed that the honey was not mixed with water or sugar, not heated and contained no chemical treatments, because the cultivation was under supervision of organizations including her institution.

The farmers are trained before they harvest the honey so they don’t ruin the hives and the environment.

“We don’t squeeze the hives to get the honey. We only drain it so the honey will be more hygienic,” she said, adding that forest honey is sold from Rp 75,000 (US$8.20) to Rp 90,000 at a number of stores that specialize in organic produce in the capital.

Theophillia pointed out that forest honey production required well-conserved green forests, protected from illegal logging, fire and land conversion.

Eni Widarijani, a member of an organic community in East Java, said the production of organic foods required special treatment.

“Organic farming procedures are performed to conserve soil and water and reduce pollution,” Eni says.

“Firstly, we have to change farmers’ mindsets to go back to nature and leave all pesticides behind to boost their harvest. We had to give them some real examples to convince them.”

She and other members also encouraged farmers to go back to nature by making use of plants in their environment such as secang (sappanwood) and pegagan or button grass (Cetella asiatica), which can be turned into hot drinks.

To clean the grass from the dirt, they usually use lemon zest or aloe instead of using chemical-based disinfectants.

For many people, consuming natural and organic food poses some challenges, since such items are not easily found and the high prices may take toll on people’s wallets.

The author of Hidup Organik, Panduan Ringkas Berperilaku Selaras Alam (Organic Living, A Simple Manual to Live in Harmony with Nature), Bibong Widyarti, said the costly price was mainly caused by the long process of organic certification programs.

All organic foods, she added, have to meet some standards, including how the foods are grown, handled and processed before the products can be sold on the market.

Yuniken, who has consumed organic products since 2007 and organized women in West Java’s Bogor to farm organic products, admitted she had to be able to manage her household budget to support the healthy habit.

“One of the obstacles, however, sometimes is that it’s not easy to get organic items, especially when we run out of the stuff and don’t have time to go to organic food stores,” Yuniken said.

“But I’m trying my best to serve healthy dishes on my table with fresh organic produce. It’s for the sake of my family’s health.”

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