The Flake is Back
As I was browsing looking for some kind of arthritis product to ease my aching joints (thanks so much to whoever is in charge of all the rain here in Southeastern Ohio) I saw that the frosted flake auction had been canceled.
Well, for a while anyway.
Seems that eBay had an issue with the flake because it’s a food product and that violates the site’s TOS.
“Something really dramatic just happened with our corn flake,” Melissa McIntire, 23, of Chesapeake, Va., said Tuesday, explaining that the sisters received an e-mail from eBay saying the state-shaped cereal was in violation of the site’s food policy.
Luckily for all of us, the auction was put back up and the sisters from Virginia, who took notice of such an interesting flake were able to continue their bid to fill the lives of flake collectors everywhere.
But the flake is back. The sisters say the Land of Lincoln twin they discovered in a box of Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes is still available after all.
McIntire and her 15-year-old sister Emily said they’ve relisted the flake on eBay, but this time they’re auctioning a coupon redeemable for it, instead of the cereal itself. Bidding early Wednesday was at $116.11.
Copycat items have popped up on eBay, including corn flakes shaped like Hawaii and Virginia. There’s also a potato chip shaped like Florida, and Illinois corn flake paraphernalia, including T-shirts and buttons.
The bad part wasn’t that the auction was pulled and then replaced. The bad part is that anyone would want to buy such an idiotic thing. And for that much money? Really? I wonder if it’s not Jay Leno’s people trying to procure it for that segment they sometimes do about strange things found on eBay.
And why are there copycat auctions? Is anyone really interested in a potato chip (crisp, for those on the other side of the pond) that’s shaped like Florida? Unfortunately, it looks like they really are. I wonder how much my chewed gum, in the shape of Shamu the Whale, would get.
Popularity: 8% [?]
Sphere: Related ContentCell Phone Towers into Pine Trees
Cheap Mobile Phones are easy to come by and abundant. These mobile phones, or cell phones as we call them in the U.S., need towers to transmit their signals (no signal/bad signal means bad business in this thriving industry). Unfortunately, towers can be unsightly and some municipalities don’t want to look at them. There’s a good solution to this problem. Simply disguise the towers.
Towers in Michigan are starting to take the form of pine trees and flag poles. As the towers become less noticeable more cities are looking at ways to add them to the landscape.
West Bloomfield and Shelby Township already have stealth towers, and Eastpointe could be the latest city to get one. Eastpointe’s Zoning Board of Appeals will meet Thursday to consider the approval of a stealth cell phone tower in the 17900 block of 9 Mile Road.
Gary Young, Eastpointe’s building official, said the tower would have the appearance of a flagpole and would be put near a Dumpster behind a McDonald’s. It would be the first stealth tower in Eastpointe, which already has four cell phone towers. Young, who made a recommendation against placing the pole so close to 9 Mile, said some residents almost always complain immediately after a tower is built near their home. That’s why companies are using the tree and flagpole designs to conceal the appearance of antennas and the technology that goes with them.
Of course, the cost of placing a tower can substantially increase with these “stealth” designs, which goes up the more elaborate the design.
Companies can face an additional $20,000 for an antenna — which can cost as much as $1 million alone — if they go with a stealth flagpole. The cost could increase if a more elaborate design, such as a lighthouse, is used.
Some residents still complain (there’s always a bunch of complainers for something like this) but when signals become that much clearer and people are less likely to “drop” a call, the cell phone companies could possibly see an increase in demand for these specialized towers. In some places they’re even made to resemble “boulders and cacti”. The higher price of placing a stealth tower could mean more revenue for the mobile phone companies which could mean more “pine trees” in residential areas. This trend could be very interesting to watch. How elaborate and imaginative can these companies become?
Popularity: 5% [?]
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