Pics For Thought
A few more day-to-day pictures:
 Enjoying it while I can |
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| The above comic was sent to me after my blog posts on Mr. Keen’s book about Internet media destroying society. The big-nosed guy on the right makes an interesting point, there will always be a need for writers no matter where we read our news.
Interestingly enough, does anyone else notice the bomb on the hippy on th left’s computer? I am not sure if this is a subtle addition by the author that all Internt news readers are terrorists, or if it just a poorly drawn apple. I am hoping it is the later, otherwise I’ll have to learn how to handle anthrax. |
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 A polite indicator |
I want to thank the construction company for politely letting me know that if I am planning an emergency, that there is a spot ahead for me to stop and attend to that emergency.
By definition isn’t an emergency something that is unplanned or unforeseen? For instance if the car I was in when I took this picture caught on fire, do you really think I would think to myself “Well, shit… I am not near an official emergency stopping area, guess I’ll keep on plugging forward?” Aside from the stupidity of this sign, I wonder how much this sign cost tax payers? I would also love to see statistics on how many people actually use these official stopping areas. Why does no one seem to realize when doing construction budgets how much of a waste things like this are? Let’s from now on spend money on paying the workers to get the work done faster so that “construction season” doesn’t run into winter. |
| This was a laminated pamphlet sitting on the table of a Toronto restaurant I was eating at. Making a leap I am assuming this was advertising something grown locally. I am not aware of what that plant is, but this was a pamphlet for wine and I am pretty positive this is not a grape vine or a wine barrel. Also I am kinda sure that ripping a plant out, roots and all, from the ground is not a sound gardening practice.
What gets me is: Who would think that this graphic a) indicates wine b) makes me want to purchase wine or c) tricks people into thinking that Toronto has dirt and plants? I did not take any marketing classes, but based on my knowledge of print and tv ads the only appropriate place for dirt as a marketing device is for washing detergent, and even then only if you are advertising how it whitens, not how it protects colours. For the later you would want bright clothes that have been washed 100s of times indicated as a caption on your ad. I did not have wine with this meal. |
 Dirt, an interesting sales strategy |
About the dirt in marketing bit …
As ever, it’s a question of terminology and the associated meaning. To the French-speakers, it’s not dirt, it’s “terre” (and someone in the marketing company should and problably does bloody well know). The WTF here is the inconsistency. That picture would have worked OK with “localement” or “d’ici” but not with “locally”.
What may have happened here is that the picture was created for the English market and some twit thought it would work in Canada not realising that the Anglos in Canada have adopted the term “dirt” with its negative connotations.