Unsalted
Posted: Sat 19 September, 2009 Filed under: 1BEM, Health, Norfolk, People, Stupidity, Sweary, Thoughts Leave a comment »Sometimes you read a story and your mind boggles right out of its tiny capsule.
In this case, it’s a story about Norfolk’s Trading Standards launching a campaign to get people to reduce their salt intake. “How?”, I hear you cry. Well, like this…
New saltshakers with fewer holes have provided for fish and chip shops in Norfolk to help cut salt consumption. The saltshakers only have five holes and dispense 50% less salt than the usual 17-hole versions.
What ?!?
So this ‘campaign’ is only in the 400-ish fish-and-chip places in Norfolk. If you’re in a chippy, I somehow suspect that the salt in it is far less of a long-term risk than the amount of fat that’s going into that meal. But no, we’ll focus on the salt. Genius.
And what the fuck has it got to do with Trading Standards? Are people no longer judged to have enough personal responsibility to manage their own salt levels on their food?
I despair. I truly do.
Cycle Hire
Posted: Wed 16 September, 2009 Filed under: Cynicism, People, Stupidity, Thoughts, Travel 6 Comments »I noticed yesterday a piece on the BBC about cycle-hire programmes being introduced in some places in the UK.
And while I think it’s A Good Thing™ to bring cycle-hire etc to the fore and work on making it into a sustainable concept, I’ve got to ask what kind of Twunt puts a cycle-hire facility in fucking Blackpool? Yes, it’s fine as a UK tourist spot – but on windy days (and there are more of those than sunny ones in Blackpool, in my opinion) it’s hard enough to walk into the wind, let alone cycle into it. (And while it’ll be fine cycling with the wind behind you, in my experience the wind is always against you as a cyclist)
The bit that really makes me laugh, though is this :
According to tourism body Visit England, the number of UK holidaymakers visiting the resort in 2008 was down 26% on the previous year. Tourism bosses hope the scheme will be another attraction for people visiting the resort.
Tourists don’t (in general) cycle around cities like Oxford and Cambridge, where cycling is already de rigeur. So why the hell would they bother in effing Blackpool, for fuck’s sweet everloving sake?
How Not To Do It
Posted: Tue 1 September, 2009 Filed under: News, Stupidity Leave a comment »Over the weekend, the Daily Express managed to get a spectacular error on one headline.
The Guardian’s Media Monkey today has a small article on how it happened.
Grammatically Challenged
Posted: Thu 27 August, 2009 Filed under: 1BEM, Stupidity 1 Comment »I’ve just signed up for a website dealing with audiences for seeing the recording of TV shows, and had a confirmation page with the following text on it…
VERY IMPORTANT: Please ensure that your email spam filters will allow mail from [email address] as have just emailed you about you’re registration.
Now that’s got some scarily bad grammatical errors in it.
I wonder if I should email and tell them?
Idiocy
Posted: Mon 24 August, 2009 Filed under: Charm School, Cynicism, Stupidity, Thoughts 7 Comments »Having read this story about a rescue helicopter that couldn’t land because some people wouldn’t get out of the way (and thus endangered themselves by being in the way of the rotors) I think we’re just too nice to idiots.
In this case, once people have been told to get out the way, it’s their responsibility to do so. If they fail to do so, and don’t take into account bloody great (unmissable) rotor blades above them, then they’re idiots and thus accept all responsibility for any accidents and/or damage that occur as a result.
As I see it, people need to take more personal responsibility, rather than letting others do it for them. If you do something stupid, and your excuse is “Well nobody told me not to”, then sorry, but you damn well deserve to have been hurt.
Poll-Fixing
Posted: Fri 21 August, 2009 Filed under: Charm School, Stupidity Leave a comment »(via Yorkshire Soul)
I wouldn’t normally add a link to a hate-mongering bigoted shit-rag (also known as the Daily Mail) but in this case I will.
Go to this survey (about halfway down the page) and vote Yes. The survey asks “Should the public fund a trans-gender police support group?”
Currently, the “Yes” result is pegging about 77%. Go on, fuck with the heads of Daily Mail readers – It’s certainly not the result they were expecting…
Inglourious
Posted: Mon 17 August, 2009 Filed under: Advertising, Stupidity Leave a comment »Personally, I’m really not bothered about seeing the new Tarantino film, “Inglourious Basterds“. (Don’t blame me for that spelling – it drives me crackers too) I’m not even convinced I’ll bother when it comes out on DVD.
What is very funny at the moment though is that various places seem to be having utter conniptions about advertising it because of the “naughty word”.
I’ve seen a few adverts on pre-watershed TV (i.e. before 9pm) that are just calling it “Inglourious”, with the “Basterds” covered in bullet-holes. (I’m not quite sure how bullet-holes etc. are acceptable pre-watershed, but the word Bastard isn’t)
On radio, they’ve been reduced to simply referring to it as “the new Tarantino film”.
The marketing department for the film itself must be having fits about the fact that half the time, advertising and media can’t even say the name of the film. It’s a really silly state of affairs.