Hasta La Ideas

The fifties was a decade of cold war between the East and the West. Sweden had a geographically precarious position between Nato and the Warsaw pact. Sweden also had one of the world’s strongest air forces and made serious plans to build nuclear weapons. In spite of all the money that was spent (or invested, if you will) in defense during those years, hardly anything remains. Nothing except the only skin care product almost every Swedish male knows and have used. Försvarets Hudsalva, or Defense Forces Cerat. The cerat was developed during the fifties by the Swedish Military Pharmacy as a remedy for blisters and cold sores, but its uses quickly expanded as grunts discovered its versatility. It was used greasing bicycle chains and door hinges, as shoeshine, as a substitute for butter, for dry elbows, as ski wax and, it is rumored, as frying fat. Today this icon product is also used as lip cerat, paw ointment for dogs and much more. A 25 ml pack is SEK 29:- (approx. USD 4:-) at the Swedish Pharmacy web shop. Manufactured by APL, Apoteket Produktion Laboratorier.brbr

We saw this in an ad in the paper the other day. The new auto shift bicycle from Skeppshult is called Arc Automat (gent’s version) or Nova Automat (ladies) and features an eight-speed automatic gear assembly from Shimano. There is no information on how it works on the Skeppshult web site, which is pretty lame, but it could be the same auto shifter from Shimano we posted on earlier. If so, it is electric and gets its power from a dynamo in the front hub. We are going to have to pedal down to our local bike shop for a test drive, but since the bike is priced at SEK 9,895:- (USD 1,415:-) we are probably not going to buy one. At least not this year…brbr

These are brake pads for ordinary V type bicycle brakes. Only they have a red LED light that lights up when you apply the brakes. The only back side is probably that they need batteries. Available from Swedish auto parts store Biltemas web shop for SEK 49:- (approx. USD 7:-) a pair. (Art.no. 27-287).brbr

Just like everybody else we do not floss enough. And if it were not for the little Hummingbird (that we posted on a while back) we would not be flossing nearly as much as we do. To that end, here is a new idea for a toothpaste tube with a built in roll of floss. This will obliterate the I forgot to buy floss argument forever. It is called Floss’n’Cap and as you can see it is from Aquafresh. It has been on the market for a while, but we have not seen it in Sweden. If it sells reasonably well, we would not be surprised if there is a Colgate and/or a Pepsodent version on the shelves pretty soon. The tube won a silver award in the 17th DuPont Awards for Packaging Innovation in 2004, and it is USD 3:50 a piece on Dentist.net. brbr

We must admit we are a bit partial to breakfast in bed. Particularly in hotels. But one problem with eating in bed is that most trays are very unstable. And the bread-crumbs, of course. But we digress. This tray, designed by Harald Hynell (who mailed us to tell about it) for Bosign, has a pillowy base which makes it adapt to whatever it is placed on (your legs, for instance). That makes it steadier than most. We are sure it is very good for using laptops on your lap top, too. It is available in black, white, willow- or wenge wood and it is SEK 494:- (approx. USD 70:-) on the PID web shop.brbr