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It's a bit like taxes really.
Posted Feb 19, 2003
People always want to pay less than they did before, and they'd really like to pay none at all... until that is, there's not enough money to provide the services they want.
It's the same with prices. Everyone wants goods in shops to be as cheap as possible... until that is, things are so cheap that there isn't enough money to pay enough staff to provide the kind of customer service they expect. Then they get all shirty because things aren't the way they ought to be.
People! 
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Latest reply: Feb 19, 2003
Just when you think you've seen the pinnacle of stupidity...
Posted Feb 14, 2003
I believe that in the UK it's forbidden to show a car being driven 'in an aggressive or fast manner' in any tv ad because it's reckoned that it encourages people to do just that, which of course is a dangerous thing to do with a car.
Makes sense to me - all those folks who say that what you watch on tv and in the movies, or what you play on your pc doesn't affect your actions are being quite naive, are denying the obvious... and are usually working in tv, movies, or the pc game business.
I've come to the conclusion that there aren't any such restrictions on car advertising here because almost every tv ad shows just how aggressively and fast you can drive this wonderful brand new car. Of course, there's always the obligatory small print - either 'Professional driver, closed course', or 'Obey all speed limits', or 'Drive responsibly', but if you're going to show people what a car can do, and then tell people not to do it... what's point of showing that the car can do it in the first place? 
So, in the past couple of years I've seen ads where a driver sits in his car watching the sun go down, then drives down a very long, straight stretch of road, faster than the rotation of the earth so that the sun comes back up and he can watch the sunset again. ::MESSAGE:: Drive this car fast!
I've seen an ad which at first depicts a computer-simulated (but very realistic) tornado travelling down a road, as far as a set of traffic lights. It stops at the red light, upon which it turns into a shiny new car driven by... the Warner Brothers Tasmanian devil. It sits there for a moment or two while you're given the stats - 0-60, how many horsepower, how much faster than all other cars in its class, until the light changes. Taz looks at it, and says "Green", upon which he floors it and it turns back into a tornado. ::MESSAGE:: Drive this car fast!
I've seen an ad where a black-painted car gets faster and faster - so fast in fact that the paint begins to strip off it. When it comes to a halt, it's no longer black, it's silver. ::MESSAGE:: Drive this car fast!
I've seen an ad where a silver-coloured car gets faster and faster until it's going so fast that it begins to glow red from the friction. When it comes to a halt you hear the 'ticking' noise that metal makes when it cools down ::MESSAGE:: Drive this car fast!
I've seen an ad where a car gets faster and faster (are you sensing a pattern here?), then drives into a tunnel. When it comes out of the other end it flies past the camera, there's a few seconds of silence.... and WHOOSH! A great gale of leaves, litter, branches, even a roadsign flies out of the tunnel in the car's slipstream. ::MESSAGE:: Drive this car fast!
But tonight really put the lid on it. A car is driving through fog. It gets faster and faster (yeah), until it simply cuts a swathe through the fog, parting it like the Red Sea. ::MESSAGE:: Drive this car fast in fog!
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Latest reply: Feb 14, 2003
Death in Texas
Posted Feb 5, 2003
Not an uncommon occurrence in these parts, what with the gun culture down here, the drivers who couldn't give a flying f**k about anything but driving something bigger than anyone else and driving it harder and faster, and a (so-called) justice system based on revenge.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2726927.stm
May I draw your attention to the final paragraph, which I'll reproduce here in case the page is updated in the future:
"Texas State authorities have never responded to a foreign plea for clemency, and the state has already executed six people this year."
It's February 4th.
There's a mind-boggling lack of respect for human life in Texas.
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Latest reply: Feb 5, 2003
No Bill for us
Posted Feb 4, 2003
Whilst listening to NPR yesterday morning I heard an announcement that Bill Clinton will be speaking at the University of Texas right here in Austin next week, and that the tickets will be free 
http://www.utexas.edu/spotlight/clinton030122.html
We called the number this morning to find out what time the ticket office opens today and got a recorded message telling us that it's open from noon to 6pm... and that all the tickets have gone 
Apart from rallies in London, I've never been to a speech given by a politician. I'd love to see Tony Benn speak, but I doubt I'll get the chance. He's well over 70 now.
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Latest reply: Feb 4, 2003
Huh?
Posted Jan 26, 2003
So, who do you think is Britain's highest paid actress? Joan Plowright? Judi Dench? Maggie Smith?
No.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/uk/2000/newsmakers/2691735.stm
Discuss this Journal entry [7]
Latest reply: Jan 26, 2003
There is only one thing worse than being Gosho, and that is not being Gosho
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