If there is one place that doesn’t like meddling, it’s the local pub, and in Great Britain the growing number of glass related pub injuries has led the government to investigate changing the beloved pint glass into a controversial plastic pint.  According to recent statistics, over 5,000 pub-goers a year get glass related injuries from bar altercations, a figure that government officials believe can be lowered with a newly designed pint glass or simply changing the material.  Design Bridge, the firm working on a plastic alternative, must tread carefully over this touchy subject due to the sense of tradition that surrounds the classic pint glass.

The British Beer and Pub Association is in quite a tiff over the proposal and one member argues that the experience of a glass container is unparalleled because it “feels better, it has a nice weight and the drink coats the glass nicely.”  For others, it’s simply a question of safety.  The BBC reports on the touchy subject,

The Home Office Minister, Alan Campbell, said the redesign could make a significant difference to the number of revellers who are injured.  He said: “Innovative design has played an important role in driving down overall crime, including theft, fraud and burglary.  “This project will see those same skills applied to the dangerous and costly issue of alcohol-related crime and I am confident that it will lead to similar successes.”

BBC: “Pubs warn over plastic pints plan”

[via Core77]

Originally written for and published at PSFK.

Wired’s Bryan Derballa recently published a photo essay on the growing moped communities around the country and their passionate fascination with the fuel-efficient, but ailing, and often discarded, motorized bikes. Derballa’s three week immersion into the moped culture involved a run-in with the police and a group ride through Times Square.

The vibrant moped community in Brooklyn is centered on a little shop called the Orphanage in Greenpoint. The group support the little collection of bikes rescued from obscurity and repairs them to sputtering, though working, order. The mopeds often top out at 30 miles per hour and the little two-stroke engines pollute more than their larger counterparts, but more and more people are falling in love with these forgotten machines. This subculture, like much of the so-called hipster culture, thrives on the use of outdated technology like typewriters or NES consoles, though the moped community boasts a strong online forum. Beyond the Orphan gang of Brooklyn, there are moped “gangs” in most major US cities, including the Creatures of the Loin in San Francisco, the Puddle Cutter of Portland and Hell Satans in Richmond.

Wired: “Rebels Without a Hog: Inside Brooklyn’s Moped Gang”
Photos: Bryan Derballa/Wired.com

Originally written for and published at PSFK.