The Urinator

I HAD TO TAKE A SNAPSHOT OF THIS PRODUCT IN MY LOCAL SHOP.

The Urinator — well, that caught my attention for sure!

Just in case you thought that The Urinator was some kind of strange superhero, it seems to be a product for potty-training infants!

So I thought I would find out more about The Urinator, and typed it into my browser’s address bar. I then got a pop up dialog box that stated:

Attention: The intent of the manufacture and sale of The Urinator is strictly for protecting your privacy of  a genetically predisposed medical condition

I clicked OK, and was presented with a website at www.urinator.com selling some “product” for nearly 150 US Dollars!  This simply cannot be the same thing as stocked in my local shop!

However, even after reading the page entitled “What is The Urinator?”, I had no idea what it is, does nor why it exists at all!

Another search turned up a tee-shirt at Zazzle.co.uk, so no luck with Google.

Things are getting worse when a product can easily be confused with another product altogether.

I eventually found a site called www.robharvey.com which had The Urinator – a product for cleaning items upon which cats and dogs have urinated. This doesn’t look like the product in my shop, and it is not for the same purpose (pets), but it is a lot nearer than all the other suggestions that the world’s favourite search engine returned. Anyway, couldn’t they have thought up a better name? Shhesh! It took me two minutes on the web, why couldn’t they have done this before naming their product and printing those labels?

Scotch Tat

IF THERE WAS ONE THING THAT DIVIDED GLASGOW FROM EDINBURGH IT WAS TOURIST TAT.

But now it seems to be changing; I have seen tourist tat increasingly in Glasgow shops.  Please click on the picture to enlarge.

The doll girls in tartan skirts, the mugs and teatowels with Edinburgh castle or The Forth Rail Bridge is all very well in auld Reekie — but surly not in Glasgow!

Things are getting worse when  such tat can be in  open display in Glasgow.  How awful!

Weird Danger Sign

I WAS STRUCK BY THIS UNUSUAL WARNING SIGN.

It seems to be alerting people to the danger of heavy stone ornaments overcoming their innate inertia to convert their potential energy into kinetic energy by suddenly becoming mobile and “leaping” from pedestals and other high places onto unwary bypassers.

The full sign is shown below — please double left click on the image to enlarge.

“Heavy stone ornaments can be unstable” is not really what one might call good news is it?  One would kind-of expect the heaviness to play a better part in making the stone ornament fairly stable.

Things are getting worse when, instead of ensuring the stability of heavy stone ornaments, a sign can be taken as good enough instead!  Particularly distressing is the additional sign regarding children!  Good grief, what kind of hazardous place is this?  Actually, it is a simple garden centre!

Just Another Hero?

WHAT IS GOING ON THE MINDS OF TOY MAKERS? Is it that they have run out of inspiration, or are they being controlled by the politically-correct brigade?

Just look at this toy (double left click on the image to enlarge).

It is called “MALE NURSE ACTION FIGURE” and includes a stethoscope and an x-ray clipboard! The tag line is: Physicians prescribe, Nurses provide!

Wait – a Male nurse action figure? Action? irrespective of gender, what on earth is going on? can a nurse really be the inspiration for an action figure? Am I missing something in my career as a ninja marine? This toy is actually worse than The Office Worker Action Figure I posted about back in July 2008.

Things are definitely getting worse when children want to get their excitement from male nursing. Hey, maybe they are all meant to be choking hazards so that you can heroically do the “Heimlich”.

Not an Exit

THIS IS A VERY STRANGE SCENE INDEED. We are grateful to have been sent this photograph; it shows very well that there are two main ways to approach a change of plan, namely: (i) that the original signs be removed, covered or replaced in favour of a new sign, or (ii) that a new, contradictory, sign be added to create utter confusion.

The option is also known as (a) sensible versus (b) daft. My, how things are getting worse!

No Parking Reason

THE SIGN IS PLAIN; IT STATES “NO PARKING” AND “24 HOUR ACCESS”.

The sign uses a nice clear font, black lettering on white, and a good size too — able to be read from the car — no need to park and get out to read this sign!

It contains all the relevant information — no threats of clamping, towing away or a fine.  It is quite to the point and succinct — until you spot the tiny yellow warning triangle at the top right corner.

Know, you do have to park, get out and go up to see what this is about.

How bizarre is that?  The warning triangle has a drawing of a running child, a trike and a ball along with a garage door that seems to be opening and closing at the same time.

As far as I am aware, this is not in the “Highway Code”, so someone has gone to a great deal of trouble to think up this sign and use it in this strange manner.

It may be that the sign maker had a sudden panic; what if non-English speakers wanted to park their car, the sign would not be understood!  This warning triangle seems like an after-thought. It is not a proper size to be seen from a short distance!

Oddly, there is a no-parking sign in the “Highway Code”, which begs the question — why didn’t they just use that instead?

Clearly, they wanted to provide reasons, using illustration.  However, this child and his toys do not really explain the requirement for 24 hour access!

Things are getting worse when we invent road signs that cannot be easily seen nor understood.

Council Cleaning Con

THE CITY COUNCIL ALWAYS AMAZES ME BY THEIR SHIRKING OF RESPONSIBILITY.

Take this poster for example.  Double left click on the image to enlarge.

This is a poster in a charity chop window on Kilmarnock Rd (which is the main street in Shawlands). It is about so-called “Community cleaning of a lane”.

Yes, it is advertising the fact that the council wants local residents to clean their own streets and lane.  Hey, isn’t that what we pay council tax for?

Things are getting worse when the council can take council tax from us, and then get us to do the work ourselves! How Bizarre!

Kebab Lunch

I WAS STRUCK BY THE MENU POSTED AT KEBAB JUNCTION, SO I HAD TO TAKE A SNAPSHOT FOR THIS SITE.

Please double left click on the image to enlarge.

If you cannot see the image for some reason, it states:

KEBAB JUNCTIONS
LUNCH TIME MEAL DEALS

Chick/ Lmb + chips

Kebab + chips

Pizza + chips (1 topping)

Chips + cheese

Don + chips

Spicy chicken + chips

Tandoori chicken + chips

Curry souce + rice

Chips cheese + curry souce

Baked patatoe + spicy chick/lamb

The lack of apostrophe in the shop’s name pales in comparison with the spelling of sauce (souce) and potato (patatoe). On the one hand they have lamb, on the other it’s abbreviated to Lmb.

Things are certainly getting worse when, in a kebab shop called “Kebab Junction, almost everything has chips, and “kebabs” are somewhat thin on the ground!

UFO Parking Bay

I SAW A VERY STRANGE THING IN THE CAR PARK OF THE ASDA SUPERMARKET IN GOVAN LAST NIGHT.

Normally (in my personal experience), supermarket car parks contain car parking bays and places for stacking up shopping carts.

Determining the one from the other is fairly straightforward; the bays for the carts have a trolley or two and rails at the sides to demarcate the region and to prevent damage to cars parked in the bays each side.

However, if you double left click on the image, you will see that this is a zone that is completely enclosed!  A trolley could not be wheeled in, and a car, pram or bike cannot be parked there — so this begs the question: what is this all about?

Things are getting worse when valuable parking space is wasted for no apparent reason. How bizarre! The only answer we can come up with is for UFOs.

Blind Smokers!

IT IS HARD TO BELIEVE, BUT I CAME ACROSS A BRAILLE NO SMOKING SIGN TODAY.

Yes; it’s true.  In the middle of a wall, a sign with Braille for blind people to read should they happen across it.

Things are getting worse when a blind smoker has to feel around all the walls to check in case there is a sign forbidding smoking!