Photo District News recently posted 14 rare color photos from the FSA (Farm Securities Administration.)  The Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division which owns these FSA photos has a huge collection that you can view here. Lot’s of terrific old rural scenes, Great Depression shots, laborers and WWII images.  You can search for certain key words or by photographer.  The color ones are great to see as most of the photos of that era were obviously shot in B &W.

A couple books on the subject that might interest you can be found here and here.

I have been drinking more tea lately and just came across the “Sharky Tea-Infuser” by Pablo Matteoda from Argentina.  This design won Pablo 3rd place out of over 3500 designers in the recent “Beyond Silver Competition.”

Newline Miniatures from Carrollton, GA offers some amazing 1/6th scale military and vintage style civilian accessories and clothing of unparalleled detail and accuracy.   More info here.

WWII US Airborne Figure

WWII US M41 Uniform Set

WWII Roughout Boots (These are almost too cool for words)

Distressed Leather Luger Holsters

Civilian Chore Jacket

Civilian Workers Outfit

Newsboy Style Cap

Hollister Hovey is one of those bloggers that really understands what I like. She gets my taste and style to a tee.  It’s as if I am on the Truman Show or something when her daily email hits my box.   Her blog is seriously packed with great, interesting stuff.  How does she do it?  How does her brain work? Is she really a man pretending to be a woman.   Judging by her photo that is big NO.

The hat and sweater kill…… If that’s not enough she has a sister named Porter who also has a super cool blog called, Porters Polaroid Project. Be sure to check Porter’s photography web-site, Porter Hovey, as well.

I was reading Tony’s post today and for some reason thought about Jennifer Aniston in the movie, Office Space. Those were the days. I doubt many people are flipping off their bosses now.

Really, really sad times for millions of Americans. 2.6 million jobs lost in 2008. Worst since ‘45. Unemployment close to 8%.

**30+ sites to visit if you’re are laid off**

**91 year old Clara talks about the Great Depression**

**Recession Wire**

**Wise Bread**

**405 Club**

**Cards for those who lost their jobs**

Compiled from the head lines:

Goodyear: to cut 5,000 jobs

AstraZeneca: 15,000 Layoffs Through 2013

Bon-Ton to cut 1,150 jobs

Kodak announces big layoffs (3500-4500 jobs)

Boeing to Chop 10,000 Jobs

Starbucks to cut 6,700 jobs, close 300 stores

AOL axing 700 jobs in cost-cutting move

Klein says without state help, (New York) DOE could lay off 15,000 educators

Labor Department: Freightliner production shifts from Gaston to Mexico (850 US jobs lost)

Chairman: PPG could cut 4,500 jobs

Rendell projects 1,000 to 2,000 state job cuts

Avery Dennison to Cut 10% of Jobs (3,600) After Sales Decline

Target says it will cut jobs in weak economy

Best Buy to lay off workers

Corning slashes 3,500 jobs

Philips Halts Buyback, Slashes 6,000 jobs

Texas Instruments to shed 3,400 jobs

IBM to cut more than 2,800 jobs

John Deere trims 700 workers

ING Group to Cut 7,000 Jobs

Home Depot to cut 7,000 jobs, exit Expo business

Pfizer to buy Wyeth for $68 billion, cut (8000) jobs

Sprint to eliminate 8,000 jobs

Caterpillar Moves to cut 20,000 Jobs

About.com Study – 2009 retail industry store closings, including chains going out of business:

Circuit City: 567

KB Toys: 461

Goody’s: 287

Van Heusen: 175

Ann Taylor: 117 (by 2010)

Office Depot: 112

Club Libby Lu (Saks): 98

American Greetings: 60

Supervalu: 50

New York and Co.: 50 (over the next five years)

Ruby Tuesday: 40

Famous Footwear: 35

Yankee Candle: 28

Cost Plus: 26

Blue Tulip Gift Shops: 24

Sears: 22

Oneida Ltd.: 20

Gap Inc.: 15

Kira Plastinina: 12

Macy’s: 11

Filene’s: 11

Dillard’s: 8

Dominos: 8

Sweetbay Supermarkets: 7

Applebees: 4

Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops: 4

Good’s Furniture and Flooring: 3

Lane Bryant: 3

P and C Food Markets: 3

Pier One: 3

Virgin Records: 1

2009 retail industry job cuts:

Circuit City: 30,000

KB Toys: 10,915

Goody’s: 9,000

Office Depot: 2,200

Williams-Sonoma: 1,400

Saks Inc.: 1,100

Walgreens: 1,000

Macy’s: 960

Best Buy: 500

Albertson’s: 381

Neiman Marcus: 375

Ethan Allen: 350

Yankee Candle: 332

New York and Co.: 310

Charming Shoppes: 225

Stein Mart: 209

CDW: 190

P and C Food Markets: 164

Cost Plus: 145

Barnes and Noble: 100

Google: 100

Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops: 65

Brown Shoe Co.: 59

Gottschalks: “dozens”

Some of you may know that JanSport has introduced their Heritage line. Urban Outfitters recently started selling some of them but only a few of the range.

It’s nice to see all these companies that started back in the 60’s and 70’s are catching on that us 30 and 40 somethings have a thing for nostalgia. My school backpack in the early 80’s was a green JanSport. Unfortunately, it fell pray to the annual garage sale.

The Heritage site has some interesting photos and its cool to see the evolution of their brand. Their original logo is simply perfect.

The “Swinger” with brass zippers/hardware is coming soon.

Bag photo from a great blog I frequent called Men and Women of Industry

Did you know we spend nearly 5 billion dollars on men’s grooming products annually? There were over a 1000 new men’s grooming products introduced during the 1999-2003 period. Lets face it, all these aging baby boomers are waking up to gray or thinning hair and wrinkles that they are unwilling to accept without a fight. Surprisingly, I read somewhere that men spend 51 minutes each day grooming themselves while women spend 55 minutes.

With all the men’s grooming product companies trying to grab our attention you would think a few would rise to the top. Luckily for us, one such company has, Baxter of California. These well groomed, dapper gents are really making waves in the industry and we could all learn something from them. Not only do they offer an extensive, all inclusive product range but their products are made with natural ingredients and smell terrific + they are manufactured in the USA. Likewise, their packaging design and identity are both classy with understated graphics with a certain nod to yesteryear when men wore top hats and top coats.

We are in the middle of a little collaboration with Baxter and Michael, the Sales Director, was nice enough to send us a gift box bursting with goods >>>>>>>

Be clean and neat fellas and look your best – no excuses! Baxter has your back.

All this grooming talk got me wondering what the total amount spent on men’s grooming products would have been in 1982? A fraction compared to today. I went back through the old memory and tried to recall some of the contents that surrounded our bathtub and vanity in the early 80’s. Mind you, our father shared this bathroom with my brother and I.

Body On Tap Shampoo. Beer enriched and had a smell that could never be duplicated.

Jovan Musk. When the wind was just right I could smell my father, who coached our soccer and baseball teams, from the sideline. Still sold at Target and still splashed on by dear old Dad.

English Leather or Old Spice Soap-on-a-Rope. If these couldn’t get all the dirt and grime off from running all over the neighborhood then nothing could.

There  are a few pad lock companies still kicking about in the US. The American Lock Co, founded by John Junkunc in the early 1900’s is a newly acquired division of Master Lock.  Junkunc has the distinction of being the inventor of the first dial combination lock.  The American Lock brand is still being produced in Milwaukee, WI.  However, Master Lock who patented the laminated steel padlock in 1924, produces some of their locks in Milwaukee but then they are shipped to the company’s plant in Nogales, Mexico, for final assembly.

Below is a WWII government issue American Lock Co. pad lock.  Nothing beats the look of worn solid brass.

Another formidable padlock outfit, Wilson Bohannan Lock Co. in Marion, OH has a long interesting history and has been churning out some first class quality locks since 1860.  Today they remain the oldest family-owned padlock company still making padlocks in America. They have been in Ohio since the 20’s but started in Brooklyn on the corner of Broadway and Kossuth Pl.  Some of their designs are very interesting looking.  Tways has a great collection of antique WB padlocks as well as Lockpad1 who has one of the better antique padlock collections I have seen.  He currently has an  Ebay auction featuring 5 antique WB padlocks up right now that ends on 1/18.  Bidding starts at $9.99.

Yale locks continues to proudly make their locks in Lenoir, TN.  They have been at that plant for over 50 years.  Yale lock has to be up there amongst the oldest American companies still around.  Linus Yale Jr. transformed the locking industry forever with his many breakthrough inventions, but his most important invention was the Yale Cylinder lock.  He founded the company in 1840 in Newport, NY.

If you are into antique locks a number of nice examples can be found here.

File under: Original, useful, and cool.  Ben and Nathan the creative juggernauts over at Freeman Transport sent us these NOS recycled Campagnolo gear lever key rings.  Thanks guys!

Ring in the new year with the plush feel of an authentic Greek flokati shag rug. I ran into my Greek friend Phil recently and asked him about his flokati rug biz. Besides his interests in hi-tech gadgetry, traveling and his constant fiddling with his motorcycle he has a couple of online web stores specializing in real fokati rugs and pillows.

What is a flokati rug you ask? Well, in the 1400’s the Vlach culture who resided in Samarina, a Greek village located way up in the Pindos Mountains, were big time sheep herders. Some had flocks upwards of 10,000. Naturally, come spring, they sheered the sheep and used the wool for rugs. What makes Phil’s rugs so special is that they are indeed hand-made in Greece using many of the same age old techniques. Each of his rugs are placed, for up to forty hours, in a soap/chemical-free whirlpool bath filled with water from canal-channeled mountain streams, and then emerges, not only clean, but decadently thick because water pressure has caused its pile to swell. The rugs are then hung up to dry naturally, and graded according to the weight of its wool. The heaviest, most luxurious flokati rugs weigh in at 4000 grams per square meter.

And, in spite of their thorough friction wash, flokati rugs never lose the lanolin that kept the sheep which provided their wool warm and dry, so they have a built-in defense against water-based stains. And some flokati rugs – the label will let you know – can be machine-washed on a wool setting; they must be air-dried in order to keep their woolen backing from shrinking.

Anyways, I told Phil I would blog about his two on-line flokati rug stores. If you mention “Selectism” he will throw you an extra 10% off anything on his sites. He has some decent ‘recession-proof’ deals going right now.

Flokati Rug

Shag – Modern Rugs