little bits of everything

I've just finished "Long Way Down" by Nick Hornby. It's a great book, about four people who meet at the top of a tower block on New Year's Eve as they are about to commit suicide. It steers clear of sentimentality and fake happy endings. All four tell their owns stories, so you have to admire the different styles he keeps switching between.

A bit of free advice on the subject of washing machines. The German ones are reliable. John Lewis own brand is really a German one. This was told to me by a washing machine engineer, so should be pretty reliable.

"The new Nissan Navara - it gets respect" so the sponsor of Scrapheap Challenge on Channel 4 in the UK says. "We want a Nissan Navara" say the boys. "Why?" I say. "Because it gets respect." So I try to explain how you can't always believe adverts. It gets me thinking though. They aren't allowed to say some things though, such as "this breakfast cereal will make you thinner", yet they can say that getting a particular car will cause bin lorries to move out of the way for you, which clearly isn't going to happen. So what lies are they allowed to tell? Things that are generally unprovable? Things that no sensible adult would believe, even though children might? What do you think?

I regularly get phishing emails. Today I got one from "S A Salmon Security Advisor Barclays Bank PLC." Salmon. Phishing. Come on guys, you could do better.

On a news report about Norman Kember the "live" reporter said what people on "emails and chatrooms" were saying about his oversight of thanking the people who rescued him. So Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Participation Age , they are listening to us. (Is that too much hype?) Last night on the BBC News at 10 there was an item on the Blooker prize prompting me to write the above. tags: Participation Age Blooker

DCP03408 Originally uploaded by paulmorriss .