What!?!
I currently use Google’s brilliant personalised homepage thing (link) as my homepage, simply to keep me updated on various websites and feed me a constant stream of random information, carefully selected from my favourites list. I was alerted this morning (after being woken by my sister at about 20 to 7 this morning, way to early for a holiday!) to an article posted on WikiHow, detailing how to keep your toothbrush clean. This was puzzling, and when I read it (I had nothing better to do) all it basically said was to run it under the tap for 10 seconds. That should be common sense. This prompted me to think of all the other areas where we are now allowed to let common sense take a nice two-week holiday in Mauritius, and there are actually quite a few.
On a computer there are ‘helpful’ guides and things that pop up every two seconds to tell you something you already know. For example, Public Enemy #1, Clippit, helpfully tells you that you are writing a letter after you type the word “Dear”, and also informs you that running with scissors is dangerous.
Then there are the funny labels put on things, such as the warning “This drink may be hot” on the side of a cup of hot chocolate, or the label “This product may contain nuts” on the side of a packet of peanuts. But the ones that really got me were the labels in the Army. One, on the end of a shoulder rocket launder, read “Point this end towards the enemy”, and another published in a magazine gave helpful advice when flying:
It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over the area you just bombed.
Followed promptly by:
Cluster bombing from B-52s is very, very accurate. The bombs are guaranteed to always hit the ground.
And rounded neatly off with:
Try to look unimportant; they may be low on ammo.
Oh, what safe hands we are in! And recently in the national newspapers here in the UK there were articles detailing a cycle land that was barely 100ft long, with over 120 road signs on it. Now that is just overkill, even for the British Government.
On another note, some of you may have noticed that the design of my site has changed. It’s still not finished, but I hope it will be soon. If you spot any problems with it or anything then email me, or if you have any suggestions. Just click on the Contact link, where-ever it has gone…