Owner: Daily Lemon URL:http://www.dailylemon.com Join Date: Mon, 02 Apr 2007 05:22:40 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Commenting on world and domestic events. Site statistics:Click here
Advertising bloopers... 2007-02-22 16:35:27 Those over-paid and under-worked ad exec's doesn't always get it right the first time. These are the nominees for the Chevy Nova Award. This is given out in honor of the GM's fiasco in trying to market this car in Central and South America. "No va" means, of course, in Spanish, "it doesn't go".
The Dairy Association's huge success with the campaign "Got Milk?" prompted them to expand advertising to Mexico. It was soon brought to their attention the Spanish translation read "Are you lactating?"
Coors put its slogan, "Turn It Loose," into Spanish, where it was read as "Suffer From Diarrhea."
Scandinavian vacuum manufacturer Electrolux used the following in an American campaign: "Nothing sucks like an Electrolux."
Clairol introduced the "Mist Stick," a curling iron, into Germany only to find out that "mist" is slang for garbage. Not too many people had use for the "Garbage Stick."
When Gerber started selling baby food in Africa, they used the same packaging as in the US, with th Read more:Advertising
The Tesla shield. Scam or...? 2007-02-22 16:35:21 Let me come clean right from the start. I don't for one second believe the yada-yada that is used to sell this thing. From the site:
"The Tesla Purple Energy Shield™ outer shell is made of aluminium, which is first anodised (electrolytic oxidation) and then colored. The spin of the atoms and electrons of the aluminium is thus changed in such a way, that The Tesla Purple Energy Shield™ is said to vibrate in resonance with the fundamental energy (Chi, Prana, Orgon) of the universe. The Tesla Purple Energy Shield™ coating was developed by Ralph Bergstresser after a patent and from the knowledge / information and ideas of Nikola Tesla, with whom he worked in the 1940s. With anodising, the field of the plating is changed and interacts with tachyons. The surface of the plating has a unique crystal-structure."
Yeah, right. There's also a pretty interesting disclaimer (scroll down after you hit the page):
"None of the statements in this or any other pages at this website should be c
Hotels with the worst wi-fi service. 2007-02-22 16:35:17 This is just the thing we're looking for. A chance to warn our readers to stay away from sloppy service. The hotel review site Hotel Chatter has presented a list of the hotels with the worst and the best wi-fi service. Check it before you book, but remember, things move fast in the wi-fi world, so this years worst may well be next years best. Good luck! Read more:Hotels
War in Iraq three years and counting... 2007-02-22 16:35:12 This is sad, sad indeed. These three years have cost the US taxpayers billions that most certainly could have been put to better use. The most current estimates of the war's cost generally start with figures from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, which as of January 2006 counted USD 323 billion in expenditures for the war on terrorism, including military action in Iraq
and Afghanistan. Just this week the House approved another USD 68 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, which would bring the total allocated to date to about USD 400 billion. The Pentagon is spending about USD 6 billion a month on the war in Iraq, or about USD 200 million a day, according to the CBO. That is about the same as the gross domestic product of Nigeria (MSNBC). And, unfortunately, far from being on the road to democracy, Iraq seems to be headed for a full blown civil war. For a current tally of the cost of the war, the National Priorities Project has a running counter.
The cost
Windows for cars. Heaven help us! 2007-02-22 16:35:07 This may be a bit late, but we think it deserves another mention. Here's the joke that's being bounced around the 'net: "If Microsoft made cars, they would crash twice a day, need regular upgrades and have to be replaced every time the lines on the road were repainted." Now, Microsoft does not make cars, but they've apparently been preparing a version of Windows
that is supposed to run and monitor the on-board systems in modern cars. The Win/Auto is supposedly to be accessible via an ordinary USB port making it possible to check up on your car's health with your laptop. This suggests to us that the USB interface also leaves any car with this system open for all kinds of interesting user mods. So, how many kids with great computer skills (and not necessarily driving skills to match) do you want to meet on the freeway today. Read more:Heaven
Insect torture chamber toy. 2007-02-22 16:35:01 This insect panopticon toy, a.k.a. torture prison, incorporates a clear plastic bowl for unobscured observation, a 3x magnifying-glass top for easy scorching and a built-in amplifier with earbuds so you can hear your tiny victims scream. Big Bad Bloomin' Bugs.
Organic farm to be destroyed for Wal-Mart? 2007-02-22 16:34:57 An organic farm that supports 250 families in the urban decay of South Central L.A., and has been operating for thirteen years, is threatened with eviction from their site. The farm is nearly self sufficient, and uses very little organic fuel. The city, it seems, would prefer a new Wal-Mart in it's place. Links to the farm's website, the eviction notice, and the mayor's email address are included here. Read more:Organic
Steve Martin to play Clouseau. 2007-02-22 16:34:53 While more or less idly browsing looking for nothing in particular, we come across the news that SteveMartin
is to star in an up-coming re-make of the Pink Panther. For everyone who are not familiar with the series of classic Pink Panther movies featuring Peter Sellers and Herbert Lom, this may not be such a bone chilling piece of information, but for someone who loves the old movies about the clumsy French detective inspector this is devastating news. Steve Martin!? Please! Even though he's been dead for years, we'd still prefer Sellers. This just goes to prove that nothing is sacred in the world of the movie moguls. Let's just hope that Steve Martin is producing the movie himself and will go embarrassingly broke when it premiers.
Destroying fruit to get water. 2007-02-22 16:34:49 An Australian company called O18 has come up with the idea that they can extract water
from fruit, and thus produce the purest water on Earth since it's been inside the fruit and sheltered from the world's impurities. So now they're probably destroying tons of oranges and apples to produce their water, that reportedly does not even taste of fruit. What happened to the vitamins, God only knows. The cost, both economically and ecologically, of going the long way around by growing apples and oranges to produce water, instead of purifying already existing water, seems to us to make cthis a really bad idea.
Internet censorship growing... 2007-02-22 16:34:44 Saudi Arabia has joined the United Arab Emirates, Quatar and several other fun-loving countries in censoring, among other sites, one of our favourite reads – Boing Boing. But not-so-democratic countries are not the only ones actively working against freedom of speech in the world. Several large American corporations also seem to be on the side of repression. Among these are reportedly Dell, Prudential, American Express, and Halliburton. Read more on Boing Boing. Read more:Internet
Second hand electronics outlawed. 2007-02-22 16:34:40 Japanese consumers are in for a bad time. Buying and selling second-hand equipment is a norm for the Japanese, who take care of their electronics
leaving them in good condition. Still, manufacturers aren't too crazy about the fact that this activity endangers profits, or rather stagnates it. To keep manufacturers happy, the Japanese government has passed a bill making all electronic goods sold before 2001 illegal on the second hand market. The government's excuse for the new ruling are security reasons. Who's security? Consumer's or management's? Read more:Second
, outlawed
Florida cops intimidate people asking for complaint forms. 2007-02-22 16:34:36 A CBS undercover reporting team went into 38 police stations in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties in Florida
, asking
for a set of forms they could use to complain about inappropriate police behavior. In all but three of the stations, the police refused to give them forms. Some of the cops threatened them (on hidden camera, no less) -- one of them even touched his gun.
Officer: Where do you live? Where do you live? You have to tell me where you live, what your name is, or anything like that.
Tester: For a complaint? I mean, like, if I have --
Officer: Are you on medications?
Tester: Why would you ask me something like that?
Officer: Because you're not answering any of my questions.
Tester: Am I on medications?
Officer: I asked you. It's a free country. I can ask you that.
Tester: Okay, you're right.
Officer: So you're not going to tell me who you are, you're not going to tell me what the problem is.You're not going to identify yourself.
Tester: All I asked you was, like, how do I c Read more:people
As if our kids didn't get enough sugar. 2007-02-22 16:34:29 The Soda Pop Tops looks like the sports tops you see on water bottles in the gym for instance. You know the open/close nipple like jobs. But they are not so innocent, since the Pop Tops are candy, lollipops made of sugar and flavouring. So every time you sip from your bottle of (sugar seetened) soda, you get an additional dose of sugar from the Pop Top. Now isn't that a clever way to get our children to ieat more sugar. Well, it would be, if lack of sugar was a problem. Unfortunately it's the other way around. Our kids ger more than enough sugar as it is. Soda Pop Top.
The French should be very much ashamed of themselves. 2007-04-05 15:22:01 The French
government recently passed a law, proposed by infamous French Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy, that in effect harsh puts a gag on bloggers and citizen journalists The law is threatening any non-journalist who photographs or videotapes for instance French police brutality and riots and posts the pictures on the internet with a prison sentence. Furthermore, anyone publishing such images could face up to five years in prison and a fine of EUR 75,000:- (approx. USD 98,537:-) possibly a harsher sentence than that for committing the violent act in itself. The French authorities obviously wants to control the internet, and what people can see and read. Remember Rodney King? With the French legislation, George Holliday, who filmed the cops brutally beating Mr. King would have been put on trial instead of the police. And my guess is he would not have been found innocent like the police officers were. France has taken a huge step towards a vile dictatorship, severely limiting Read more:themselves
Soccer is no longer justified as a spectator sport. 2007-04-12 09:51:20 Yesterday's Italian soccer riots where 18 people had to be hospitalized, combined with an almost endless series of fights, deaths and human suffering connected to soccer that has occurred during the last twenty or so years has finally brought me to this point: Soccer
is no longer justified as a spectator sport
. I know soccer is big business, and I know I'll probably get my behind chewed on for saying this, but here it is. If you want to keep employing teams and players and play games and tournaments, make them spectator free and broadcast via PPW. The betting can go on like before, and fans can still watch the games. But never again should thousands of supporters be allowed to try to kill each other in arenas. Never again should innocent citizens have their property vandalized by enraged fans of a losing team. Never again should tax payers have to pick up the bill for the hundreds of police officers required to keep the gangs apart. Stop it now!
The French should be very much ashamed of themselves. 2007-04-12 09:51:02 The French
government recently passed a law, proposed by infamous French Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy, that in effect harsh puts a gag on bloggers and citizen journalists The law is threatening any non-journalist who photographs or videotapes for instance French police brutality and riots and posts the pictures on the internet with a prison sentence. Furthermore, anyone publishing such images could face up to five years in prison and a fine of EUR 75,000:- (approx. USD 98,537:-) possibly a harsher sentence than that for committing the violent act in itself. The French authorities obviously wants to control the internet, and what people can see and read. Remember Rodney King? With the French legislation, George Holliday, who filmed the cops brutally beating Mr. King would have been put on trial instead of the police. And my guess is he would not have been found innocent like the police officers were. France has taken a huge step towards a vile dictatorship, severely limiting Read more:themselves
Recruiting an American mercenary army. 2007-05-03 14:21:27 The Roman empire, in its decline, was forced to rely heavily on recruiting foreign mercenaries to defend its conquests. Rome could not find enough able and willing Roman men to fill up its legions. Hitler's Third Reich, too, had to resort to recruiting outside of its own nation as the need for more men on the Eastern front became more and more desperate. Starting with recruits judged "Aryan", like the "Volksdeutsche" in Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, Scandinavians and Finns, the Waffen-SS soon had to widen its search and finally ended up with people from the Baltic, Russians, Bulgarians, Romanians, and Italians in their ranks. There was even a muslim SS division manned with Bosnian muslims and a sprinkle of Croatian catholics. Just to mention a few.
These examples from history come to mind as one reads Jeremy Scahill's "Blackwater - The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army." Scahill's book documents with a multitude of references the tremendous growth of Blackwater Read more:American
The backbone of over-cooked spaghetti. And the brains. 2007-05-03 14:20:53 The scandinavian hotel chain Scandic decided in April, after public critique by an anti-religious activist group, to remove all Bibles from the chain's 23,000 hotel rooms. Instead, Bibles, Qur'an's, and other religious writings were to be made available upon request at hotel receptions. Now, the chain, after suffering hundreds of booking cancellations by Swedish church organizations, have reversed their former stance and will now allow the Bibles back in hotel rooms. The initial withdrawal of Bibles and the sudden decision to allow them back is not, according to Scandic spokesmen, a result of opportunism or pressure by different interest groups. Not very likely. The Scandic corporate people, in their efforts to be politically correct, have shown an unprecedented and deplorable lack of backbone
. Making decisions, supposedly in the best interest of the company and its shareholders, is what these people are hired to do. Not to be weathervanes to the slightest whiff of criticism. Read more:cooked
Garuda included in the new EU "no-fly" recommendation. 2007-06-28 19:18:46 The European Union may deserve to be dissed for a lot of things, but the airline warnings seem to be pretty much on the spot. Not long ago the EU banned 96 African airlines from flying into EU airspace. Now the turn has come to Asia. Next week (according to Realtid.se, Swedish only) the EU will ban 51 Indonesian airlines from EU airspace, including the national carrier Garuda
. Since none of them fly into EU airspace at the moment, the ban serves as a warning to EU citizens abroad considering booking a flight with these airlines "They are really unsafe", says an anonymous EU spokesperson. Along with these, the TAAG Angolan Airlines and Ukrainian Volare Aviation Enterprise, ten Russian airlines, six Bulgarian, and eight Moldavian are also banned. For Pakistani PIA, however, the ban is lifted.
The world's top ten most polluted places. 2007-07-21 11:36:16 The Blacksmith Institute has put together a pretty scary top ten list. The world's most polluted places. Looking at the map, it occurs to me that the former Soviet Union has a lot to answer for with five of the world's worst polluted places on what used to be Soviet territory. The Soviet regime stopped at nothing to compete with the west; slave camps, ruthless mining, cardboard nuclear power-plants, you name it. The list is topped by Chernobyl (now in the Ukraine) the most deadly place on the face of the Earth.
Swedish art exhibition censored for fear of muslims. 2007-07-24 17:04:48 A curator for an art exhibition in the Swedish
province of Värmland, Märta Wennerström, has decided to remove three drawings by well-known Swedish artist Lars Vilks. The reason? Well, to put it short and blunt, Ms. Wennerström was afraid the works would enrage muslims in Sweden and abroad. After the fuss about the Danish Muhammed cartoons a while back, Swedish authorities and officials at every level have become very anxious not to displease the muslim community for fear of demonstrations, death-threats or worse. The fear of the predictable muslim over-reactions is clear and present at all levels.
It makes me think of Germany in the twenties and thirties, where Hitler's nazis, although quite a small minority, through the ruthlessness of their SA-troops intimidated the German majority into submission and silence as they destroyed Jewish property and beat up and killed German Jews and socialists in the streets. The German government at the time was weak and the democratic authoritie
The world's top ten most polluted places. 2007-07-24 07:56:07 The Blacksmith Institute has put together a pretty scary top ten list. The world's most polluted places. Looking at the map, it occurs to me that the former Soviet Union has a lot to answer for with five of the world's worst polluted places on what used to be Soviet territory. The Soviet regime stopped at nothing to compete with the west; slave camps, ruthless mining, cardboard nuclear power-plants, you name it. The list is topped by Chernobyl (now in the Ukraine) the most deadly place on the face of the Earth.
Garuda included in the new EU "no-fly" recommendation. 2007-07-24 07:56:04 The European Union may deserve to be dissed for a lot of things, but the airline warnings seem to be pretty much on the spot. Not long ago the EU banned 96 African airlines from flying into EU airspace. Now the turn has come to Asia. Next week (according to Realtid.se, Swedish only) the EU will ban 51 Indonesian airlines from EU airspace, including the national carrier Garuda
. Since none of them fly into EU airspace at the moment, the ban serves as a warning to EU citizens abroad considering booking a flight with these airlines "They are really unsafe", says an anonymous EU spokesperson. Along with these, the TAAG Angolan Airlines and Ukrainian Volare Aviation Enterprise, ten Russian airlines, six Bulgarian, and eight Moldavian are also banned. For Pakistani PIA, however, the ban is lifted.
The backbone of over-cooked spaghetti. And the brains. 2007-07-24 07:55:47 The scandinavian hotel chain Scandic decided in April, after public critique by an anti-religious activist group, to remove all Bibles from the chain's 23,000 hotel rooms. Instead, Bibles, Qur'an's, and other religious writings were to be made available upon request at hotel receptions. Now, the chain, after suffering hundreds of booking cancellations by Swedish church organizations, have reversed their former stance and will now allow the Bibles back in hotel rooms. The initial withdrawal of Bibles and the sudden decision to allow them back is not, according to Scandic spokesmen, a result of opportunism or pressure by different interest groups. Not very likely. The Scandic corporate people, in their efforts to be politically correct, have shown an unprecedented and deplorable lack of backbone
. Making decisions, supposedly in the best interest of the company and its shareholders, is what these people are hired to do. Not to be weathervanes to the slightest whiff of criticism. Read more:cooked
African Swedish group seeks ban on Tintin comic. 2007-08-23 09:45:02 The group, Afrosvenskanas Riksförbund, (approx. Afro-Swedish
National Federation) represented by coordinator Kitimbwa Sabuni, who happens to be a relative of the current Swedish Minister for Integration, Nyamko Sabuni, (who in turn happens to have been employed by the Federation before she became minister) claims the comic book Tintin i Kongo (Tintin in the Congo) is racist and degrading to blacks and wants it ripped from the shelves of bookstores and libraries.
The book was first published in 1931, and is written by Belgian Hergé (Georges Remi) who had never visited the Congo or Africa. It naturally reflects the 1920s and 1930s look on blacks and Africa. To demand its banishment and removal from bookstores and libraries is not only offensive to our idea of freedom of speech, it also projects a less than flattering light on Kitimbwa Sabuni. He should know that freedom of speech is fundamental in any civilized society, and it protects anyone's right to express opinions that anyone el Read more:African
Burning the Swedish flag - or so they thought. 2007-09-15 12:57:58 Sweden (along with all other civilized countries) subscribes to the principle of free speech and free press. This means that you're allowed to speak your mind without risking persecution for doing so. A concept far beyond the grasp of the bunch of wankers above.
Education can't be a big issue among devout muslims, either. Limiting schooling to learning to recite from the holy book, rather than studying science, is not actually working, as can be judged from the number of muslim Nobel Prize winners. Or by the "Swedish
" flag in the picture above.
When a bunch of muslim bigots such as these in Lahore, Pakistan, show their contempt for the cornerstones of democracy, I couldn't care less. It's when another bunch of muslim bigots just like them do the same thing in Örebro that I start to worry. Sweden is a democracy with free speech and a free press. Even for muslims, who have the right to protest if they feel insulted. That much they have managed to understand. But freedom of speech m Read more:Burning
, thought
Artist Vilks and Johansson sentenced to death by al Quaida. 2007-09-15 12:57:46 A leader of Iraqi al Qaida offers $100,000 to whoever murders Swedish artist Lars Vilks or Ulf Johansson
, editor-in-cheif of the Swedish newspaper Nerikes Allehanda. There's even an extra $50,000 bonus offered if either of the two men are "slaughtered like a lamb".
This is nothing but another brazen demand for submission by the bigot muslim clergy. And a rare glimpse of our future should we not stand up to their threats. Their demands. Our submission. The decision by the Swedish Government not to offer any kind of comment to the death
threats against two of the country's citizens can only be described as cowardly.
The threats must be taken seriously, considering the hundreds of thousands of muslims that have been granted asylum or some other kind of permission to stay in this country. Tens of thousands of them are Iraqis and a large number live in the city of Örebro (where the Nerikes Allehanda is published) and the southern province of Skåne, near where Lars Vilks lives and work Read more:Artist
Swedish art exhibition censored for fear of muslims. 2007-09-03 03:49:44 A curator for an art exhibition in the Swedish
province of Värmland, Märta Wennerström, has decided to remove three drawings by well-known Swedish artist Lars Vilks. The reason? Well, to put it short and blunt, Ms. Wennerström was afraid the works would enrage muslims in Sweden and abroad. After the fuss about the Danish Muhammed cartoons a while back, Swedish authorities and officials at every level have become very anxious not to displease the muslim community for fear of demonstrations, death-threats or worse. The fear of the predictable muslim over-reactions is clear and present at all levels.
It makes me think of Germany in the twenties and thirties, where Hitler's nazis, although quite a small minority, through the ruthlessness of their SA-troops intimidated the German majority into submission and silence as they destroyed Jewish property and beat up and killed German Jews and socialists in the streets. The German government at the time was weak and the democratic authoritie
African Swedish group seeks ban on Tintin comic. 2007-09-03 03:49:36 The group, Afrosvenskanas Riksförbund, (approx. Afro-Swedish
National Federation) represented by coordinator Kitimbwa Sabuni, who happens to be a relative of the current Swedish Minister for Integration, Nyamko Sabuni, (who in turn happens to have been employed by the Federation before she became minister) claims the comic book Tintin i Kongo (Tintin in the Congo) is racist and degrading to blacks and wants it ripped from the shelves of bookstores and libraries.
The book was first published in 1931, and is written by Belgian Hergé (Georges Remi) who had never visited the Congo or Africa. It naturally reflects the 1920s and 1930s look on blacks and Africa. To demand its banishment and removal from bookstores and libraries is not only offensive to our idea of freedom of speech, it also projects a less than flattering light on Kitimbwa Sabuni. He should know that freedom of speech is fundamental in any civilized society, and it protects anyone's right to express opinions that anyone el Read more:African
Artist Vilks and Johansson sentenced to death by al Quaida. 2007-11-01 18:09:10 A leader of Iraqi al Qaida offers $100,000 to whoever murders Swedish artist Lars Vilks or Ulf Johansson
, editor-in-cheif of the Swedish newspaper Nerikes Allehanda. There's even an extra $50,000 bonus offered if either of the two men are "slaughtered like a lamb".
This is nothing but another brazen demand for submission by the bigot muslim clergy. And a rare glimpse of our future should we not stand up to their threats. Their demands. Our submission. The decision by the Swedish Government not to offer any kind of comment to the death
threats against two of the country's citizens can only be described as cowardly.
The threats must be taken seriously, considering the hundreds of thousands of muslims that have been granted asylum or some other kind of permission to stay in this country. Tens of thousands of them are Iraqis and a large number live in the city of Örebro (where the Nerikes Allehanda is published) and the southern province of Skåne, near where Lars Vilks lives and work Read more:Artist
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