Inconsiderate Umbrella Users
From a pedestrian
The other day during some rain I was trying to walk down a busy street in Edinburgh but was plagued by short folk with umbrella walking towards me. Surely people can see that they are endangering peoples eyes and should hold their brollies above other peoples head height? Common Sense Consultants, what can we do to cure this menace?
2 lacklustre pieces of inspiration on “Inconsiderate Umbrella Users”
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New SPD pedals
From someone with a bruised ego
I recently got new SPD pedals (the type you click into and then twist your foot to get out of) and fitted them to my bike. On the first outing when approaching some traffic lights I went to break and to unclip but was unable to do the latter. I was left with two choices; to get run down by going through a red light or to fall off my bike. I chose the latter. Surely manufacturers should set new SPD pedals to their slackest setting, not stiffest setting, when selling such things?
2 lacklustre pieces of inspiration on “New SPD pedals”
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Consultant G Says:
May 25th, 2010 at 11:49 amSorry Mr Bruise, but surely it common sense for the individual to check the pedals before attaching themselves to them.
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Consultant C Says:
June 11th, 2010 at 12:50 pmQuite so G, this chap is clearly a fool. It is his responsibility to ensure the safety of his equipment, seeking to blame others is poor form.
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Travel Size
From a recent traveller
I recently was flying so, knowing the rules on what is allowed on as hand luggage (max 100ml for any liquid), went out and bought a smaller bottle of deodorant spray. The one I bought clearly stated “travel size” on it but it turns out that it is not flight sized as it is 120ml! My question to the CSC is more to do with justifying the 100ml rule. You are not allowed a 200ml bottle with less than half in it as (and I quote) you may add another liquid to it and turn it into an explosive yet you can take any size of empty bottle through (into which you could add 2 liquids (should you wish and I would strongly suggest that making explosives is not a good idea!)). Are these rules not just letting the terrorists win by inconveniencing most of us while not really stopping anyone with a bit of imagination?
3 lacklustre pieces of inspiration on “Travel Size”
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Cynic Says:
May 25th, 2010 at 11:46 amThis is a dangerous area, because we do not want to give terrorists ideas. I am still amazed that I can buy a glass bottle (smash it = weapon) full of flammable liquid (alcohol) in duty free. This to me is madness.
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June 11th, 2010 at 12:54 pmIt is very difficult to set alight to standard strength drinking spirits - it is necessary to warm them first which would make for a rather slow improvised explosive device.
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June 15th, 2010 at 3:45 pmLets try !
Not on a plane, but in your garden sometime. We can buy a load of cheap booze (minimum pricing ????) and then try and set fire to it.How about we do it in work time ? Sounds like a good afternoon to me.
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Lightening Power Station
Someone thinks they have had a great idea.
Why don’t we use lightening to feed into the grid and use it as a source of energy? I think I may have solved the worlds energy needs!
One pearl of wisdom on “Lightening Power Station”
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Consultant K Says:
April 28th, 2010 at 12:33 pmWhat we are after is Watts! Lightening has a very very high voltage but a relatively low amperage. Multiply the two together and you get power (watts). Though it is not a small amount of power you will get it only exists for a very short time.
Lots of figures are out there but lets run with the following
1,000,000volts, 40,000amps and lasts for 1/10th of a second.
Volts times Amps gives us the Watts
Using the above we therefore have 40,000MW which is a lot but then we have the time factor which brings that down to a little over 1MW hours which is still a lot. But then when we put that strike into a house over a year it will only provide 126Wh for a year.
But then we have to take into account all the losses from the system. Energy from the strike lost to noise, light and inefficiencies in the system. Then how do we capture it? We would need to have spikes all along the grid waiting to collect it, rectify it to the grids phase and drop it in.All in all it is a nice idea but not one that is practical.
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Manufacturing Creativity
Heard on Radio4 this morning
An advertising executive was challenged about the fact that the UK economy was now dominated by the service industry and he said the following. ”We are really part of the manufacturing industries, we manufacture creativity.” Surely folk who say things like that should be shot, or at least pointed at and laughed at.
One pearl of wisdom on “Manufacturing Creativity”
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April 27th, 2010 at 12:03 pmI am not sure we can advocate shooting people. They should certainly be given a reality check though and perhaps work in a true manufacturing industry for a while. They should have their salary reduced to the minumum wage - then we shall see how creative they really are.
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Death by Greenhouse
From rural perthshire
I have a fairly large greenhouse and every so often a bird will fly into it, often stunning it, but sometimes killing it. People have suggested putting stickers on the windows but this is a large greenhouse and attempts with these to date just makes them fly into a different panel. Any suggestions?
2 lacklustre pieces of inspiration on “Death by Greenhouse”
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April 27th, 2010 at 12:01 pm1/ more window stickers so almost every panel is covered
2/ tall plants inside the greenhouse
3/ hanging baskets inside or outside -
April 27th, 2010 at 12:01 pm4/ solid panel down middle of greenhouse so birds cannot see straight through it
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Desire not to vote
Overheard by one of the CSC team recently
“By not voting I am protesting against political corruption”.
2 lacklustre pieces of inspiration on “Desire not to vote”
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March 23rd, 2010 at 5:37 pmNo. By not voting you are not taking part in the democratic system. It is your right not to vote but all you are doing is saying nothing. At least go and spoil your ballot paper. Ideally vote for the party that is closest to your views.
Don’t see not voting as something to be proud of!
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April 7th, 2010 at 1:00 pmK is correct. Use your vote in some way, as not voting is not a protest at all. If you do not vote, you have no right to complain about anything that the government does until the next election.
June 11th, 2010 at 12:48 pm
Physical violence may be appropriate but is outlawed in most countries. You could try selling these buffoons good quality waterproof clothing thus negating the need for their pesky brollies, however the simplest solution would be to walk on the other side of the street.
June 13th, 2010 at 3:39 am
Keep posting stuff like this i really like it