Is Derek a step too fur? is a post from bean bag crazy.

Marmite is as old as the hills. First discovered in the late 19th century as a by product from the brewing industry. German scientist Justus von Libig discovered that brewer’s yeast could be concentrated and eaten. In 1902 The Marmite Food Extract Company was formed, and Marmite was born. The name comes from a french term for a large, covered cooking pot.

The product was originally sold in earthenware pots until 1920 when it moved to glass jars. From those humble beginnings, the company and product went from strength to strength. Marmite is now available in countries across the globe.

For those that love it, Marmite works well with toast or savoury biscuits. It’s a perfect accompaniment for cheese. It’s also ideal for vegetarians (not to be confused with Bovril, a similar product made from meat extracts).

How do you eat Marmite? (answers below in the comment box below)

The thing that most of you will associate most with Marmite is the creative advertising campaigns. Below are some of our favourite ads. Which is your favourite (let us know using the comment box below).

Best of British: Marmite is a post from bean bag crazy.

Come and see us at Interiors UK is a post from bean bag crazy.

What is kite surfing?

Kite surfing is a surface water sport. The kite surfer uses a large kite, known as a traction kite to pull them across the water on either a small surfboard or a board similar to a wakeboard (known in kitesurfing as a twin tip). The most popular type of kite for kite surfing is an LEI (leading edge inflatable), this type of kite has an inflatable leading edge and struts, which enable it to float on that water. This makes it easier to relaunch from the water if you crash.

You might consider kite surfing a new sport, and relatively speaking it is. Kite surfing as we know it started to develop around the mid 90s, however the concept of using a large kite to pull something along can be traced right back to the 1800s, when George Pocock developed a four line kite system to tow boats and carts. Around 1998 Kite surfing became a mainstream sport, with kite schools opening up around the world.

How do I get into kite surfing?

With the development of ever more reliable and easy-to-use safety systems, kite surfing is much safer than it used to be in the early days of the sport. But it can still be extremely dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing. The only truly safe way to enter the sport is to take some lessons. There are kite schools all over the globe. Everyone learns at different rates, but you should be getting to the point of standing up and planing for your first runs after around 5 days on the water. Any experience in surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding or similar can make the going a little bit easier.

What kit do I need?

Kite surfing can be pretty expensive, eventually you will need:

• A wetsuit. In the UK you can probably ride in a thick 5:4 wetsuit all year round, unless you live in the south, where you might want a thinner, 2:3 for the summer.
• Kite/s (Many kite surfers have a quiver of 2 or 3 kites to allow them to go out in a larger range of wind conditions)
• Bar and lines (to control the kite)
• Harness – this connects the kite to your body so your arms don’t tire
• Board (either a surfboard style if you plan to primarily ride waves, or a twin tip if freestyle and tricks are more your bag)
• Helmet (optional)
• Impact vest (optional)
• Wetsuit boots, gloves and balaclava (essential if you want to play in the UK in winter)

Most of this equipment can be purchased second hand from e-bay. However, beware of really old kit; newer kites / bar and line systems (2008 onward) have much better safety systems. Before you part with your hard earned cash, speak to your instructor, other kite surfers and cruise the forums – ask lots of questions. It wall save you wasting your money and could save your life, (some kites are for experts only).

Why get into kite surfing?

Kite surfing is an amazing board sport with an infinite variety of jumps, grabs and spins at your disposal for the ultimate in self-expression. Once you have your gear and the conditions are on, you can just head for the beach and shred. Beware, once you start YOU WILL become hooked!

Kite surfing is exploding right now. Even British Airways recently used kitesurfing for a TV ad (below).

Resources

• British Kite Surfing Association (BKSA) – National governing body for the UK /
• XCweather.co.uk – for reliable wind forecasting
• Magicseaweed.com – for wind and wave forecasts
• Kitesurfing UK – Comprehensive UK kite beach guide
• Progression – Kite surfing techniques and tricks

Extreme Living:
Kitesurfing is a post from bean bag crazy.

Yes the PU fabric is durable and easy to wipe clean, and you can take your PU b bag outside. But we wanted to create something even more durable, a 100% Polyester with PVC backed fabric BUILT for the outside, queue our all new outdoor fabric.

Head over to the mighty-b page for the full range of colours.

The Mighty Gets
All New Outdoor Fabric is a post from bean bag crazy.

Welcome to British Brands in focus. We’re extremely proud to be a British manufacturer and as such we would like to celebrate British manufacture by focusing on one our favourite British brands each month. This month we’re taking a closer look at McLaren. If you didn’t catch the TV show about McLaren last week, as part of the BBC’s ‘How to Build…’ series, you can catch it for the next 6 days on their watch again service. We were completely blown away by it!

The program was essentially about the production of the McLaren MP4-12C, a super-car with Formula One heritage.

We’ve all watched programs like Top Gear and seen cars like the McLaren compared to other super cars, sometimes cars produced in a small workshop by engineers. To the layman, these cars are comparable. They almost all look beautiful and go like a scalded cat. However, when you at the design and manufacturing process behind McLaren’s cars, you realise that this company has a setup that no small workshop could ever hope to compete with.

The first thing in the BBC show that left us with our jaws on the floor was the Mclaren Development Centre, a purpose built facility designed for the pursuit of perfection. From the white corridor leading to a single lift (designed to clear your mind as you enter), to the endless glass facade looking out over a lake. Not to mention the Formula one cars parked inside the building. Talk about inspirational!

The cars themselves are constructed in a factory. But this is like no factory you’ve seen before. Row upon row of super cars at various build states, parked nose to tail in an environment so clean and clinical that it would put a hospital to shame.

Every single aspect of the car is designed to obsessively high standards. From the carbon fibre ‘MonoCell’ at the heart of the car to the unmatched perfection of its paintwork.

McLaren can now work to tolerances of 1000th of a mm for their entire body shell. No ill-fitting panels or bits dropping off here!

They have teams driving one of their cars around a track around the clock to reveal any problems that might occur through prolonged use. They have a guy who’s job is to design the exhaust note of the car. The body design started as a sketch, moved to CAD and then full size clay models to ensure the perfect shape.

McLaren have built a brand new production facility to enable them to produce 4000 MP4-12Cs per year whilst maintaining this incredible quality and attention to detail. This state of the art manufacturing facility has been designed in such a way that they can change the layout completely with just a couple of days’ notice.

You might expect that trying to manufacture a large number of super cars at such obsessive quality, that McLaren would keep the options to a minimum… Not so, head over to their web site and have a play with the vehicle configurator. There’s more options that you can get on a Mini!

Keep up the good work McLaren, you truly are an inspiration to British manufacturers.

Best of British: McLaren is a post from bean bag crazy.

In case you missed it, we just wanted to draw your attention to our latest product, the b-qubed. A funky piece of visual design in itself, you can use it to put your feet up, store your remotes or gaming controls. Or add the optional PVC table top and you have an uber cool coffee table.

The b-qubed is available in the following colours:

• Aqua
• Berry
• Black
• Brown
• Lime
• Orange
• Pink
• Red
• Royal
• Yellow

Here’s the full b-qubed range.

Extreme Lounging:
The NEW b-qubed and table is a post from bean bag crazy.

Gaming is a noble pursuit. Your rear end needs comfort and support — and it needs them to the extreme. That’s why we’re giving away the ultimate gaming throne, the sublime mighty b, to the gamer in  most urgent need of royal hindquarters upgrade! To be in with a chance to win, head over to our Facebook page, enter our competition, upload a picture of your current gaming setup and tell us why you need a mighty-b. Don’t hold back — we need to feel your pain!

The public will vote for the picture from the gamer most deserving of the b-bag (so don’t forget to get your mates to vote for you). The gamer with the most votes will win the bag. The competition closes on the 30th of November 2011, and we’ll announce the winner the following week.

We’ve decided to give you an extra month to get your entries in, the competition now closes Midnight 31st December 2011.

So what are you waiting for? Head over to our Facebook page and have a go!

Put Your Bum on the
Ultimate Gaming Throne! is a post from bean bag crazy.

If you were wondering how the other colours did, here’s a nice little pie chart with the results. Stay tuned for upcoming competitions by following us on Facebook or Twitter.

You told us: it’s all about the Berry is a post from bean bag crazy.

Rock ‘n’ Loll is a post from bean bag crazy.