Welcome. This is what my wife calls "a bunch of stupid jokes and pictures of paper bags." She's right about the jokes. She's wrong about the bags: some of them are plastic.

What the critics say: "Utterly unnotable" (Wikipedia editor). "Ridiculous collections #4" (Buzzfeed). Other comments: "As complete wastes of time go, it's a very high quality complete waste of time... An entirely dispensable source of inane comments about a truly trivial subject... A monument to the planet's worst corporate design... An unwelcome reminder of some of the more unpleasant moments in our lives."

Donations (unused, please) of bags not represented in the bag gallery are welcomed -- please mail to this address, and I'll credit you on this site! I am happy to trade any extras that I have. Check out the links to other bag sites, find out how you can use your spare bags, and explore the fascinating world of bag manufacturers. 

Highlights: The design features page reveals the secrets of professional baggery, and the logos page analyses the enigma of airline corporate identities. Search for your favourite bag, browse the bag gallery by country and airline, and check out the biggest, best and worst bags!

Altitude sickness?

Halfway up Everest and feel the urge to hurl? There are several fellow climbers are hanging on the rope below you, unable to dodge falling vomit. And close behind is a team of mountaineering lawyers who have paid the Nepalese government a hefty climbing fee. They are unlikely to be amused by being plastered with gobbets of semi-digested lunch impacting them at terminal velocity. They have a litigious reputation; you fear having to pay out millions in damages. Fortunately you have with you just the item for this occasion: a Black Diamond Barf Bag. Crafted from durable, water-resistant polyethylene tarp material with Hypalon®-reinforced dual handles, this bag is big enough to last you to the top of the Himalayas. You can even tie a rope to the handles and lower it to your altitude-sick colleague struggling up the rock face below. There's a separate compartment for your mobile phone, in case you need to call in a helicopter ambulance. Get this item from Moosejaw, a Michigan-based outdoors outfitters, for only $29.95. Order two to avoid having to pay for shipping. You get 299 Reward Points along with the bag.

If you don't have much cash spare after paying that climbing fee, you could plump for a cheaper alternative: the Moosejaw Barf Bag. This plain paper bag comes with a thumbhole to ease opening with frostbitten fingers, plus 19 Reward Points. But unusually for a barfbag, it's neither windproof nor waterproof, and has no ventilation. What do you expect for a mere $1.95?

Sunday, March 30, 2008 

Underbagged

What do Latvia, Liberia and Lesotho have in common? Yes, they all start with an L. What else? They're all missing from my barfbag collection.

What's the biggest country not represented? Chad. In terms of population? Burkina Faso. Other prominent absentees (coloured red in the map): Georgia and Rwanda. 

Major underrepresented portions of the globe are a swathe of Africa and chunks of Central Asia and Central America.

Donations from these areas especially welcome!

Centres of megabagdiversity are the USA (though many US bags are distressingly plain), China, the UK, Canada, Germany, Brazil and Indonesia. 

Click here for details.

For new baggists only

New to the world of bag collecting? Want to get a head start on your collection? Then send me an email, and I'll send you a randomly selected free starter pack from my surplus bag stock. There won't be anything rare, and you may end up with some duplicates, but at least you'll be able to show your friends a few more of these lovely cultural artefacts. Make sure you include your mailing address in your email. Offer good as long as stocks last.

This is where old news goes when it's too old to be news.

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