Purple (TM)

WE WERE SENT THIS AMAZING PICTURE OF SOME PACKAGING.

The packaging is coloured purple, and there is a small statement:

“The Color PURPLE is a trademark of 3M”

Can this be true? Do they own that film by Speilberg that had Whoopie in it? Do they own rights to Price’s Purple Rain?

Things are getting worse when a company can trademark a colour!

Is using Purple piracy? A copyright infringement? Downright theft?

Woody Grave Stone

AT EGLINTON TOLL THERE IS A MONUMENTAL SCULPTOR’S YARD THAT IS FILLED WITH EXAMPLES OF THEIR WORK.

There are many styles of tombstones or gravestones, but one which caught my eye was the one with Woody from Disney-Pixar’s “Toy Story”.

First sight of this gravestone brings a chaos of emotions and thoughts. I thought of how sad it would be for a small child to die, and how shocking such a grave stone would be to visit. Then I thought of the context — how out-of-place such a grave might be, what reactions it might cause in other people visiting other graves… unless there was a children’s area of the cemetery filled with similar scenes.

Another thought was about copyright infringement, but would Disney-Pixar sue a mother and father with a recently deceased child? Perhaps this is licensed by Disney-Pixar? Things would certainly be getting worse if promotions have moved on from McDonald’s paper cups to graves.

The World is Scary

WITH HALLOWEEN COMING UP, I THOUGHT I WOULD SHARE SOME PICTURES SENT TO US.

We do not usually do this as there are plenty of websites out there that do this sort of thing so much better. However, rules have exceptions, and this year ours are as follows:

First of all is a set of small screwdrivers.  Even given the fact that they may be made in a  non-English-speaking environment, the declaration defies a logical mistranslation-based explanation.

NOT TO BE INSERTED INTO PENIS

That is (always) good advice.

The second one caught my eye, because we are not supposed to use the word “Disabled”, so — for example, a disabled toilet is now to be known as an “accessible toilet”.

This sort of thing will surely play havoc with translations in years to come. In our next picture, we have “Deformed Person”.

The final one is the old favourite — public notices that have bad grammar or poor spelling.

What makes this one funnier is that it is black people in the USA with protest boards upon which they make reference to Martin Luther King Jr’s famous “I have a Dream” speech.

Dr King wanted black people to be educated equally with whites.  As the picture taken of a TV screen shows, black people in America are now just as badly educated as white folks.  They cannot even spell the word, DREAM on placards used in a public and televised protest. Ironic.

Things may be getting worse round here, but the world out there is a scary place too. Happy Halloween!

 

D+ Stress

I WAS STRUCK BY THIS NOTICE IN A HIGH SCHOOL & TOOK A PHOTOGRAPH USING MY CAMERAPHONE.

Click to enlarge image. It reads:

“Youth Stress Centre

Aromatheraphy Massage
Reiki
Self-Esteem
Relaxation
Reflexology
Stress Management
Anger Management

Appointments available at
Castlemilk Stress Centre
109 Stravanan Road
(above the shops)
Call us on 630 0111

MONDAY’S 6.00-8.30
WEDNESDAY’S 6.30-8.30

Funded by The National Lottery
NHS Greater Glasgow”

Where do I start? I have a problem with children going above shops for a massage.  This did not happen in my day, and I am not convinced it ought to happen today.

If  we overlook the terrible use of the apostrophe, the hours appear to indicate very early morning, before school starts.  On the other hand, perhaps it is meant to be PM  rather than AM or 24 hour clock, it is difficult to know for sure.  As Castlemilk is a very deprived and rough council estate, getting the times correct would be important, especially if one wanted to have less stress.

I do not understand how this can be part of the NHS, and yet receive funding from the National Lottery. I also do not understand how things like Reiki can be available under the auspices of either body when it is not recognised.  The Roman Catholic Church, for example, has outlawed Reiki practices as heretical and blasphemous!

• According to William T. Jarvis, Ph.D., of The National Council Against Health Fraud, there “is no evidence that clinical Reiki’s effects are due to anything other than suggestion” or the placebo effect.

Things are getting worse when school children are receiving early morning or late night hocus pocus to cope with “stress” all paid for by the Lottery and NHS. What will they do when they go to university or college — or later when they get a job? What will they do when they have real stress to deal with?

Would they not be better teaching children how to cope with their own stress, how to manage themselves without visiting a massage parlour in one of the biggest council estate black-spots in western Europe?

Bouncy Castle Inspector On The Run

I WAS SENT THIS PICTURE OF A LOCAL NEWSPAPER FRONT PAGE AND HEADLINE.

It is clearly a slow news day. The headline reads:

“BOUNCY CASTLE INSPECTOR ON THE RUN

He’s fled to South Africa after breaking inflatables ban”

Things are getting worse when a story like this makes the front page.

Seductive Wine

IN A LOCAL SUPERMARKET I CAME ACROSS THIS BOTTLE OF WINE AND THOUGHT I WOULD SHARE IT WITH YOU HERE.

It is called Dr Loosen. Simple as that.

I would imagine that some Lothario would buy this to seduce his Calista merely on the strength of the unusual name.  Perhaps it would loosen things up, or loosen her clothing!

Child’s Improvised Anti-Theft Device

I WAS STROLLED THROUGH SHAWLANDS WHEN I CAME ACROSS THIS CHILD’S SCOOTER PARKED BY THE ROADSIDE.

Clearly the child was aware of theft and had taken measures to secure the scooter, using a cable and the church railings. It is clear that the cable was usually stored in the wee pink bag fitted to the handlebars.

So there it was all carefully locked up, except that it would extremely simple to remove the cable and take the scooter. My heart went out to this little girl who took a degree of care in parking and attempting to secure her wee pink scooter.  I do hope no-one actually does steal it.

Things are getting worse when such small children are even aware of theft, and I can only imagine that this little girl has some experience.  She does not want her scooter stolen, but, when you look at the scooter, there is very little that can be done to secure it.  She’s done her best, but really an eyelet ought to be part of the design.

Elephant Saving Kitchen Paper

I WAS STOPPED DEAD IN MY TRACKS BY THE CLAIMS ON THIS PRODUCT IN MY LOCAL SUPERMARKET.

It states that — by simply buying their kitchen roll — you could save African Elephants!

No one wants to harm African elephants, which is (by implication) what you would be doing by either buying some other brand of kitchen roll, or simply by not buying this Thirst Pockets brand of kitchen roll.

Things are getting bad when the future of African elephants lies in the balance and depends on you  and your shopping decisions.

Curved Ball

I WAS SAD TO SEE A NOTICE REGARDING A PREMISES IN SHAWLANDS ARCADE.

It was for Curves – a workout gym for women. The poor souls could not open for business due to incompetence from Scottish Power.

Read the notice for yourself. Click on the image to enlarge.

It states:

Dear Members

Scottish Power cannot fit out new meter until Wednesday morning. We have pleaded with them to fix it sooner without success.  They have given us a timescale of 8am – 1pm . We will open immediately on installation of the meter. We are sorry for this disruption to your workouts & thank you so much for your patience. Please call Curves Paisley: 0141 887 5222 for details of neighbouring clubs you can use.

Things are getting worse when businesses can be disrupted in this way, when people (customers) can be disrupted like this.  Why do we all — domestic and commercial — put up with such poor service?

InSecurity

I WAS AMAZED TO SPOT THIS NOTICE PINNED UP AT THE FRONT DOOR OF A FANCY OFFICE BLOCK.

It simply states that Security will be back in 5 minutes. Yes, security – the people securing the building are unavailable for a few moments — and, importantly, were thoughtful enough to let us all know about this fact.

Things getting worse? What do you think?