Posts Tagged ‘TV’
What Do You Want From Your Wireless Company?
March 12th, 2010 | 
Author: I saw a commercial on TV recently, T-Mobile if I remember correctly, that asked the question “What do you want from your wireless company?” The answer apparently was “cheaper bills than Verizon” or some such. Well, I guess cheaper where wireless plans are concerned is not a bad answer – although “cheap” and “wireless company” in the same sentence is a contradiction in terms.
So I thought long and hard about the question for oh…. at least 1 second and came up with a much better answer:
COVERAGE.
Inspector Morse – Yeah!
Those of you that know me well know that I love auctions. And I have certainly had some good deals and yesterday was no exception. Being English and living in the US I can’t begin to even get across to my American friends just how much I miss the quality of British TV (one of the main reasons I joined Netflix who have a really good selection) and consequently I am always on the lookout for British TV dvds.
The complete set of Inspector Morse mysteries was up for grabs at my local auctioneers (www.mountaineerauctions.com) yesterday. Now this is a 35 disc boxed set issued in the US by PBS. It wasn’t individually listed on their web site so I hadn’t done any research beforehand but I reasoned a set with that many discs had to be at least $150 and so I was prepared to bid accordingly.
To cut a long story short I got the set (in perfect condition by the way) for a paltry $45! I took a quick look online today and it goes for $430.
60 hours of quality viewing and I don’t have to put up with a gung-ho swat team. Marvellous!
Chimpanzee Caught Driving In Florida
Cappy The Driving Chimpanzee!
I was channel hopping the other night (as I often do in the vague hope of finding something watchable – particularly as the TV guide is far from reliable) when I paused briefly at the History channel.
It was a program that seemed to be about wild animals in general being kept in captivity in the US and chimpanzees seemed to be the featured species.
I am not going into the rights and wrongs of keeping wild animals (or the stupidity of the untrained people who do so) as that is not what this blog is about. There have been some absolutely horrific attacks by “pets” in general and chimpanzees in particular in this regard and I think they speak quite eloquently by themselves. Knowing what you are doing and legitimately keep a wild animal is one thing. Not knowing and keeping one because it’s cool is another thing entirely.
What caught my attention was the statement that in December of 1963, Florida police pulled over a car that was being driven by a chimpanzee. Allegedly at 70 mph. The chimpanzee had apparently been trained or taught to drive – I assume as part of an act.
Can you imagine the look on a cop’s face – drawing alongside a speeding car – when he realized it was being driven by a chimpanzee? Priceless!
P.S. Many thanks to Bill who provided this picture of Cappy who is still alive and well.
Posted in Strange | 
Tags: America, animals, chimpanzees, driving, Florida, police, TV | 
22 Comments »
Man In 23 Year Coma Was Awake The Whole Time
There have been many programs on TV over the years that have dealt with accident victims who have fallen into a coma and have subsequently been diagnosed as being in a persistent vegetative state. Some of these programs have been fictional, some have been factual.
I have always been somewhat pertubed by the willingness of some to “end their suffering” as there’s “no hope of recovery.” I wonder just whose suffering is actually being referred to. I am even more perturbed when organ harvesting is being touted by the doctors.
I was surprised this morning to read about the case of a Belgian man – Ron Houben – who spent 23 years in a so-called persistent vegetative state after having been paralysed in a car crash in 1983. Apparently he was aware of everything going on around him the whole time. Can you imagine that? The frustration? The pain? Being aware and not being able to communicate? Read the rest of this entry »
Quality Not Quantity
There’s an old saying…
Quality not quantity.
This is something that seems to have been completely overlooked by everyone in the US when it comes to TV. What do I mean by that? Well read on and I am sure you will find out. You may not agree of course if you’re American but then, you’ve had a lifetime of being brainwashed so the rest of us will just smile knowingly and let you be. Read the rest of this entry »
DUI Absurdity
Once again I am back to West Virginia. I was reading the local paper and to my surprise I saw an announcement about when and where the cops were going to be staging a DUI stop. WTF? I thought the whole idea of such stops was to actually catch drunks in charge of their personal missiles? This is the only country I have ever been in (and I’ve certainly been in a few) that announces to the media that they are going to hold such an event. And the press then goes on to publish the details. Or, as I have been told, the TV stations announce them on the news. Read the rest of this entry »
Shocked By A Naked Nipple But Not By Naked Aggression
It’s almost Superbowl time again which prompted a thought regarding the infamous (at least in American eyes – the rest of the world couldn’t give a damn) wardrobe malfunction whereby a naked nipple was missed – sorry - I mean seen by almost everyone. The resultant uproar was laughable. I dare say most people would have ignored it but were they allowed to? Read the rest of this entry »
Number Six Has Died
Number Six (US born but British raised actor Patrick McGoohan) has died at the age of eighty. He starred in a cult British TV series “The Prisoner” which also aired in the US in 1967 I believe. The show was an original concept back then and remains so to this day. I can’t think of anything offhand even remotely similar. Read the rest of this entry »