A chain of thought triggered tonight when I saw Northern Army Preservation Society of Canada via Quipsologies. They’re cataloguing Canadian logos that they want to preserve. I reckon we should just properly list logos and be done with it.
Like we do with buildings. Some organisation of other, international and neutral, probably Swiss for all the obvious reasons, considers the historic and social value of logos and identities and then when the time is right, they list them and prevent them from ever being changes (I think that’s how they do it with buildings).
Recently it would have protected American Airlines for example (there are others, but the thought chain isn’t triggering them). If a country doesn’t abide, then the international community pressures them with refusing any import / export of the brand. Boom. Cool logos forever.
The other time this idea was tickled recently was when Erin mentioned the William Morris Gallery and the Society of Protection of Ancient Buildings, something I never knew Morris was into. Got us to thinking how great that sort of thing is, but then also how not, and how maybe sometimes, old things are just rubbish and not worth saving.
Like the way some buildings that had windows bricked up for the window tax, are now listed with them blocked up. Listing preventing windows for goodness sake. Madness.
I have no idea if that’s actually true anymore though as watching QI has made me doubt a lot of things I previously thought ‘true’. A Pavlovian-esque klaxon sound parps in my mind when I realise I’m accepting something that I’ve not fact checked.
Another example of this is the idea that Subway ‘pump their smell out into the streets’. This was mentioned over lunch at 54B recently and we all nodded for while until the klaxon sounded and I realised how implausible it was. The one near us in Daslton doesn’t have any special tubes or funnels onto Kingsland Road. There’s not smell pump mechanism bundled along with the sauces in the franchise packet.
Urban myths. I fear most of what we know falls into that category. Bet Stephen Fry thinks that as well and it’s why he started QI. Bet he’s trying to educate the masses, using comedy as subterfuge. Clever brilliant bastard.
OK, quick ‘fact check’ then (meaning I will quickly Google for…):
Listed buildings with window tax… nope, can’t find anything.
‘Subway pump out smell’ search however finds:
no, according to [Mark] Christiano [Subway’s Global Baking Technologist], the smell is not intentionally pumped outside to entice passers-by, although he says: “We are proud of the smell. Any baked product smells good. And we want you to catch that bread aroma.”
Well they would say that wouldn’t they…
Documenteering 
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