Inanimate objects bite back!

I loved this piece of video - just shows how dumb people can be, and how intelligent some inanimate objects are! I love the airbag going off in the second sequence, and the airbag smoke coming out of the rear door when he opens it......!

What next - the tyre biting cone, or the serrated edge yellow line?

I just wonder how one of those ambulance chasing injury lawyers would argue this one: "My client was so stupid, he thought the inanimate object wouldn't hurt him - even though yes, he passed two eight foot high luminous no entry signs marking the bus only lane; and yes, he did also missed the written warning signs for the raising cones!"

Thankfully, my Porsche blew up.....

Oh joy of joys - late Saturday night and in need of some relief, I pushed the button and: nothing happened. Try again - still nothing. Try replacing a fuse or two and - still nothing happened.

Great moment of joy as one realises that, much as though making a cup of coffee will be more like a boy scout adventure tonight, at last my Porsche designed kettle by Siemens had blown up and could be replaced

I bought it mainly because it had "designed by F.A.O Porsche" written in very small designer writing along the edge - it also looked very designer. Oh, and as my partner of the time pointed out with a woman's keen eye, it was a kitchen essential.

I know that all that wonderful expectation disappeared once it moved towards the kitchen sink tap for the first brew - and it was down hill for ever afterwards:

It was a complete disaster to fill

If you over filled it, the water frothed out of the top like Mount Vesuvius

It poured, at best, like an old desert spring - weakly, irregularly and unpredictably

Living in a hard water area, it needed regular descaling

Lime deposits quickly took the sparkle off of the outer surface - less designer, more dirty

Allowing friends or my mother to make any drink was a disaster - I almost felt I needed to instruct them on its horrors, and gain extra insurance to cover the resultant liabilities

I hoped when I moved it would stop working - but after 6months in Wales, it eventually did the honourable thing on Saturday night. Sunday morning I was at Comet when it opened at 10:30 so I could replace it with a decent non-designer Russell Hobbs - the undoubted Ford/GM of UK Kettle brands. But it is a pleasure to own something which actually does what it should - pouring is now a pleasure!

This whole adventure means that, if I ever do decide to splash out on a designer car, I may well head to the Ferrari garage - and blow to those Italian electrical wobbles!

On a more serious note, what designer brands have you bought and been disappointed by, but kept using because they were, well - designer brands that had cost you a fortune?

Too connected! The Crackberry reality....

I remember when I got my first pager - anyone who had one walked with one hip down or a large crease in their jacket, as the battery pack was that big/weighty. I also remember my first mobile - not the first model available with a car battery, but a Motorola brick that would have needed a semi-pillow sized pocket in your trousers to house it.

At the time, I embraced these pieces of technology - great fun and good business being more connected. So why is it that I just hate the day I have to embrace the phenomenon that is now termed the Crackberry? Is it because....

If you have a Crackberry, there is no message management: you are just available, 24/7. I quite like my sleep...

I don't want to spend an entire train journey looking like a less grown up version of a PSP addicted teenager - at least PSP's have a bigger screen...

Because if it was that important, then they'd call me! Perhaps people who have Crackberries just can't be trusted by those who give them to them, and resultantly everything needs to go down in writing?

If you think you can get away using your Crackberry in a meeting, then please - get a bit of respect for those who also gave up their time to be with you. You are also probably the discourteous person who has never explained why you left your mobile phone on in the same monthly meeting over the past few years, just so you could "reveal" your latest teenage fantasy mobile.....or worse, its latest ring tone.

This report by scientists on the health deficits, and this comedic News Report by a Canadian TV satirist just make me dread the day

Lesson in Life: you only need a Crackberry because - you know you just can't manage your life now! But don't think it will get any easier with one. Learn to manage your life, and those around you in business

Why do people embrace this technology - or why would you not?

Europeans don't want to learn...

I love learning - looking at things from new perspectives, adding to a portfolio of idea's. But something has struck me in the past month which is making me think - hard.

I attended a presentation recently, from an excellent presenter - some body who I would certainly recommend others to go and see and listen to. He mentioned in his presentation that he ran both open general courses and specialist/client focused courses, over either one or up to 3days. I went up after his slot, and asked when his next general open course was in the UK: "I don't do them normally in Europe these days - I don't get enough attendee's." OK, where do you run these events then was my question? "Asia - I run them regularly in Singapore, and all around South Asia. People want to learn there, and are willing to pay - in Europe, most don't."

A couple of days later, I got an invite to a series of seminars from a global sales guru. These were either available in America, one slot in Europe - or a whole plethora of options in South East Asia. Last week, I got one of Brian Tracy's excellent newsletters, together with his latest dates list. This year he's running one seminar of one type in Europe on one day. There are alternate options in America - but I notice around 60% of his courses are to be run in The Gulf and Asia, all offering his full portfolio.

OK, now there is a debate that perhaps the Asian's have not heard about these people and their programs, and perhaps this is just simple brand extension into a new market; and perhaps there are not enough 'experts' in Asia at present to fulfil demand. But following the simple principle of "the money follows the need", then the move into Asia is logical.

The more frightening conclusion for me - not that people want to learn, but that by conclusion: the European's don't. Now personally, that's more frightening than lower wages!