dustbinman.com - movable tripe

Wednesday 17 May 2006

Hold Your Nose

You know how some news stories smell a bit fishy? Like a crazy mysterious news story is dreamed up by a PR firm to draw attention to something, or indirectly promote something? U.S. universities seem to regularly come out with a discovery or piece of research that coincidentally backs up a far-out theory used in the sci-fi blockbuster that's in cinemas from Friday, for example.

Well, this one honks of kippers.

I just can't work out what it is that's being promoted.

Posted by dustbinman at 10:38 PM | Comments (3)

That's funny because we regularly get reports that "British researchers" have discovered great things like the amount of alchol imbibed by a person is directly proportional to how said drunk person will perceive someone's attractiveness level.

Posted by: Peg on May 18, 2006 06:11 PM

I don't think they're trying to sell anything, unless they need a tourist rush of hikers? Also, for this silly American, what is a kipper, anyway? LOL

Posted by: KT on May 18, 2006 07:34 PM

As the wise Rose Tyler would surely agree, it must have been students... xx

Posted by: MJ

on May 19, 2006 11:07 AM

Wednesday 17 May 2006

Registering a complaint

I've always found The Register to be a fine source of information on all things technical. Where, for instance, would I be without the insight provided through their story about Deloitte's eerie view into the future, detailing how we'll live in 2010? I shudder to think how we'll cope with the change. No, scratch that. I shudder to think how much money Deloitte makes churning out idiocy like that. I can say that. Some of my best friends are Deloittes.

Anyway. I think editing standards may have slipped slightly - they missed the subheading on this story about BT's worthy attempts to introduce more Wi-Fi City zones around the UK.

Posted by dustbinman at 04:54 PM | Comments (0)

Tuesday 18 January 2005

Fair and Balanced

George Monbiot in today's Guardian, in reaction to the sacking of CBS staff for reporting on how Dubya avoided the Vietnam draft:

How many people have lost their jobs, at CBS or anywhere else, for repeating bogus stories released by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth about Kerry's record in Vietnam? How many were sacked for misreporting the Jessica Lynch affair? Or for claiming that Saddam Hussein had an active nuclear weapons programme in 2003? Or that he was buying uranium from Niger, or using mobile biological weapons labs, or had a hand in 9/11? How many people were sacked, during Clinton's presidency, for broadcasting outright lies about the Whitewater affair? The answer, in all cases, is none.

Posted by dustbinman at 12:30 PM | Comments (0)

Sunday 9 January 2005

David! David!

David Aaronovitch is one of those people that I often vehmently disagree with, and equally often agree with. Today is one of those days when he's pulled a great observation out of the hat.

".. being offended is an occupational hazard in a free society."

Of course, you have to read his whole article about the Jerry Springer patheticness to get to it, as it's right at the end.

Posted by dustbinman at 11:53 AM | Comments (0)

Friday 7 January 2005

All Mixed Up

Oh, how I laughed.

The Sun's reaction to the BBC Screening Jerry Springer - The Opera.

Sky TV Sponsors cheap tickets at the stage show of Jerry Springer - The Opera.

Sun Newspaper - prop. R Murdoch
Sky TV - prop. R Murdoch

Posted by dustbinman at 04:22 PM | Comments (1)

It's 8th January. Which means...

IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY!!

Happy Birthday, baby. xx

Posted by: MJ on January 8, 2005 01:12 AM

Tuesday 4 January 2005

Difficult

I know there are many thousands of terrible individual stories that can be told as we learn more about the impact of the Tsunami. But I'm slightly disturbed by the BBC's obsession with this story, which to me is detracting attention from the bigger picture. Not least because of the tenuous nature that one discovers when the details are considered.

Posted by dustbinman at 07:09 PM | Comments (0)