Free Newspaper distributors - where'd they come from?

For those of you making your way home from work in London these days, its unlikely that you have been able to get from your place of business to your tube stop without having a free newspaper pressed into your face.

I like to walk home from work, weather permitting, a journey that takes about an hour crossing from Picaddilly to Shoreditch. I take several different routes, but each seems to contain (on average) about 20 different people brandishing free newspapers at me.

Im not sure what orders these people are under, but Ive never met a group so militantly focussed on giving something away. Perhaps there is something in the ink that they arent telling us?

Im not sure if this is the best marketing technique for these papers, particularly as the standard of content is only marginally lower than this blog.

The other, and perhaps main, baffling point on these distributors is where they all come from? I mean, they seem to be everywhere in their rather indiscreet attire. What did these people do for jobs before these papers came along?

Or perhaps this is it, that the free papers have been recruiting hardline propagandists to 'move units' for them. Its all been so sudden and intense, I hardly think it reflective of London and recommend that they all be ignored forthwith.

Hypotheticals

This has been a week of technical awareness for me. My phone died on the weekend, taking with it my camera, diary and address book.

My home internet connection has also been in-and-out of service, leaving me without e-mail, internet (things I actually use for work and pleasure) and a home phone (being a VOIP junkee).

This left me wandering the streets with one light pocket (having no phone in it) and relatively disconnected from society. Society was no-doubt glad, though it made my job, and my life, a little trickier than normal.

Which raises the question, which is better; to have multiple objects providing a single service or a single object providing multiple services?

I am starting to favour the former, as it encourages diversity and new ideas, which (in this age of gentrification) can only be a good thing.

Granted, it may leave one looking like Mark Hamill in 'Star Wars: A New Hope', when he was dashing around the Death Star with that ridiculous belt of gadgets on, or it may lead to us downsizing or specialising.

This can only be a good thing, as anyone that has used Virgin Mobile, Virgin Airlines etc can attest. Personally, Id much rather Richard Branson brought his passion for airlines and hot-air ballooning togethor and re-introduced the Zeppelin as a mode of transport.

Votin'

Firstly, it's always great to visit Australia House on the Strand and seriously recommend it to anyone who gets the chance. I always feel like Im stepping into a piece of home whenever I enter, though that may have more to do with my home being a 4 story mansion with gaudi chandeliers.

It was also comforting to find myself in the Victorian line, surrounded by (our) asians, freaks and other people of varying ethnic origin. This was particularly comforting when looking over at the stiffs in the NSW line.

Diversity. Its a wonderful thing.

Not so comforting was the old, paper-based voting system. I mean, dude, my banking is secure on-line, so why can't my vote be? I put it to the winner of this 'progressive' election to shake things up a bit. Not everyone is on-line, true, but why should those of us with modems be forced to stand in line when we could be on-line?

Hypotheticals

OK, so you get some food that is really dry or bland on its own and only good with sauces. So which came first?

Did someone make some awesome sauce and say; "You know what this would be good with?", or was it the other way around?

Which brings another question; which is better; a dry but filling meal, or a sauce that wont fill you up but tastes amazing?

Is a little bit of something good all you need in life, or just something that will keep you going?

Best Commercial Moments

Ive recently been amazed by the latest Sony Bravaria advertisements (http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=CLUAbkRUvVQ), which may be because commercials seem so exotic to me since I dont have a television, but is also because they are such good ad's.

This got me thinking though, not in regards to the 'best ads of all time' (lord knows that subject has been touched on enough and the rest of us know that its the 'smash means mash' ads) but in regards to advertising moments.

For me, Im a sucker for any commercial for health or safety that involves family members walking around their house, the wife goes off to make tea and when she comes back she finds random family member unconscious on the floor and drops the tea/coffee/hot chocolate IN SLOW MOTION.
(http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-5bvmfUFk2U)

I actually saw this cliched piece of film work in a health and safety video recently and couldnt help but laugh out loud. I guess not everyone finds heart disease funny.

How much would you pay for a goat?

Just for interests sake.

Overrated Countries

Heres a question; which countries receive more kudos than they deserve (from a historical context).

Example - Italy is revered but hasnt done anything since the Romans (apart from swap sides in wars) so is overrated. Ireland have a nice history but havent done anything but export people, thereby keeping their rating up, so is overrated.

On the other hand, Portugal gets no props, but has a very rich and interesting history. Similarly Holland.

Thoughts?

Mobile Phones...What next

I detest fax machines and pagers (whats the point!) but do like a good mobile phone. I have even gotten rid of my camera as my phone performs the task more than adequately, though it should be noted that Im rubbish at taking photos.

But where else can they go, here are some ideas:
* In-built electronic shaver
* Wind turbine (doesnt need charging)
* 'wind instrument function' (to play music on the go)
and, of course,
* Lightsaber.

Any other ideas?

Top 9 Man Names

It seems someone has picked up on my idea and worked (very well) with it.

Im wondering if this is the same person that overheard me on the weekend commenting that Id like to name my first-born 'Stirling Mortlock'.

Anyway, hilarious, so check it out:
http://www.cracked.com/index.php?name=News&sid=2434

Hypotheticals

Right; it turns out by a twist of fate that you are the sole heir to a sovereign state that occupies an island in the Pacific. As the ruler, you have unquestioned authority over the entirity of the island, including its people and affairs.

The island is paradise, palm trees, glorious weather, golden sand, excellent farming conditions that provide a wide variety of good food and happy and friendly people.

These conditions, though, have brought about exploitation and corruption from your relatives in that the people are all still impoverished while the Royal residences are oppulent and you have a fleet of private cars and planes at your disposal.

You dont have an heir and the next in-line is equally corrupt as those that went before you, what do you do; maintain the status-quo or implement democracy?

Top 5 - Irish and Scottish Names

Ok, here we go:

Top 5 Irish Names
5 - Siobhan
4- Colm
3 - Sinead
2- Kieran
1 - Saoirse

Top 5 Scottish Names
5 - Bruce
4 - Doogal
3 - Alistair
2 - Doogal
1 - Hamish

Thoughts?

Hypotheticals

Heres one for the blokes...

You work in London. 80% of the year it is fairly bleak outside and you find most of your time spent surrounded by concrete.

One day someone approaches you claiming to be god and performs a few minor miracles to prove their status (levitation, wine into water etc).

They offer you two options of making your day marginally better, but you can choose only one of them. They are:
1) You will see a different beautiful woman every day on your way to work; or
2) You will see a beaufitul woman at least once a week on your way to work, you may see her again the next week or later in the week, or perhaps never again. You may see a different beautiful woman later in the week, or you may not.

What do you choose?

Fact of the day

For the unitiated, I love facts. Im not sure why, Im not particularly good at quiz nights and have adequate social skills, but love these snippets of geekdom.

So heres todays;
The Australian coat-of-arms contains the Kangaroo and the Emu. Why? Because neither can walk backwards.

Oddly, this would mean that they would walk into each other from either side of the shield, or have to awkwardly walk around one-another.

Stay tuned

Is it too late to start a Blog?

I realise that the we(blog) craze kicked off some time ago, but wanted to be sure it wasnt just another fad before I dipped my toe in the water. For the uninitiated, I am highly suspicious of new technology and fads. Don't even get me started on Facebook or hacky-sack.

Regardless, the point of this blog is to keep my adoring public up-to-date on what I am doing and any updates in the fields I am supposed to be interested in / know something about; Australians in London, organic farming etc.

Thanks for dropping by and stay tuned.

Dylan