Space Sausage.

Someone’s been telling porkies. Now I’m guessing you’ve all seen the James Webb Space Telescope images and were as fascinated by them as I was. Ancient galaxies, dying stars and savoury sausages… wait what? French scientist, Étienne Klein, jokingly posted (to almost 100k followers) a photo of a chorizo slice against a black background with the caption “Photo of Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the Sun, located 4.2 light years from us. She was taken by the JWST. This level of detail… A new world is revealed day after day.”  A funny joke, in my opinion. But, clearly not to the thousands of internet trolls who have criticised the scientist for being irresponsible for spreading fake news. Just like the James Webb Telescope, this joke flew right over their heads. A lesson I guess, to not blindly accept things as fact just because the author has some credibility, especially when it would have simply taken a second glance to identify the chorizo for what it was. Klein was forced to apologise for misleading his gullible following, stating “no object belonging to Spanish charcuterie exists anywhere but on Earth.”

World’s Greatest Boss?

$80k minimum wage? Don’t mind if I do (Jo, I know you’re reading this). Seattle based CEO, Dan Price, has revealed that he pays his staff a minimum of $80k (£66k) as well as allowing remote and flexible working. He is now calling out for other bosses to do the same, claiming that he has taken a pay cut of 1 million to allow his employees to receive a fair wage. 6 years ago, he made headlines and was branded a socialist for raising his minimum wage to $70k. Since then, he’s seen revenue triple, customer base double, turnover half and an increase in employee engagement. For this reason, he’s bumped minimum wage salaries up an extra 10k. Unsurprisingly, they get well over 300 applicants per job…maybe that’s why they haven’t replied to mine.

Supersonic Sunnies.

You may be familiar with Ray-Ban Stories- the dual integrated 5MP camera and sunglasses combo that were released last year. To push these, Ray Ban recently announced ‘The Summer Sessions’- an intimate musical line-up in the lead up to All Points East festival in August. To promote the sunnies, Ray-Ban got wearers to effortlessly record up close and personal moments with the artists as they performed. For me, this is solving a major problem. How often do you find yourself at a concert or festival, surrounded by fans with their arms raised, ironically attempting to capture the moment by watching it through a 6-inch screen. Returning fans to the present moment, these glasses allow you to be completely immersed without having to think about capturing content for your insta story. But smart glasses aren’t an entirely new concept. We’ve seen bone conduction glasses, built-in microphones, as well as other brands try and fail with image capture. So, what sets Ray-Ban apart? For me, it’s their unique place in culture. With Summer Sessions as a perfect example, it seems Ray-Ban are almost cool enough to be the brand that pulls this off. Though, what do I know? Maybe they’ll flop. But I’m a sucker for novelty and if they didn’t have a £299 price tag they would already be in my basket.

Designer Trash.

Each time Balenciaga drops something new, it further validates my theory that they are conducting a social experiment to see how far people will go to flex their wealth. No one in this world can convince me otherwise. First it was those ugly Croc x Balenciaga heels and now this. A literal trash bag for $2k. The woman was too stunned to speak. Yes, majority of the time Balenciaga are known for pushing boundaries and innovating haute couture, but are you really telling me there is an ounce of creative integrity behind designer rubbish bags? That being said, there’s no doubt that somewhere in the world, there’s a wannabe fashionista with this bag slung across their shoulder. Whether they are trolling us, or genuinely believe they are revolutionising fashion with this, it can’t be denied that Balenciaga have created a buzz.

Corona Island.

Corona beer have officially announced the grand opening of Corona Island. No, not an island riddled with Covid-19, but a tropical sustainable destination for eco-tourism off the coast of Colombia. Corona island is completely free of single use plastic and encourages visitors to reconnect with the natural world through immersive experiences. I didn’t understand the link at first, but as a beer made with only natural ingredients that was born at the beach, it kinda makes sense. Partnered with international non-profit Oceanic Global, they have created the very first Blue Verified Island! They will be adopting sustainable operating practices at scale- from construction to energy production, food sourcing and guest experiences on-site, sustainability will be at the centre of every touchpoint of Corona Island. The idea is to highlight the beer brand’s environmental efforts (being the very first global drinks brand to achieve a net zero plastic footprint). You go Glen Coco!

Brand Vigilantism.

Booking.com has taken the role as neighbourhood vigilante this week in a social media feud with a Russian influencer. On a Vacation in Austria, Influencer Yulia found herself mocking and harassing Ukrainian refugees she met on the street and proceeded to post these videos on her Telegram to her 90k followers. She sounds like a pleasure to be around… Booking.com responded to this by deleting all of her hotel reservations. Ha. She returned to her socials the next day complaining “you ruined my vacation you b*tches”. Maybe try being a decent human being and that won’t happen in the future, Yulia. A brand taking a stand in the face of injustice? Personally, I rate it. But perhaps a slippery slope?

The Coolsh*t Podcast - Ep. 21.

Cosmic charcuteries, bosses being nice and thousand-pound trash bags. Has the world gone mad?