pro Bono? Seeing red?

Product (RED). I've looked at this cynically since it started, but couldn't quite put my finger on what made me dislike it so much. beyond the "What's the point?" factor. You see the whole idea behind Bono's big idea is that the company donate a proportion of the proceeds from the sale of the 'red' branded fashion products to charity.

Why only a proportion? Why not all the income from those "specially designed products"?

you see if I'm choosing this Gap T-shirt as a fashion statement, instead of buying this gap t-shirt) just because it helps a charity, then SHOULDN't IT DO MORE? There are other companies that already give a good share to charities without having ME advertise it for them. or why not just buy something less expensive and donate the difference, tax efficiently, and do more for the same?

The same goes for the AMEX card. Is it any more ethical than the other charity cards.

i can almost see the point in the iPod (RED). it's the same price as the other iPod nanos, so it really is $10 that the charity wouldn't get otherwise, if you're buying an ipod anyway (which i admit I want to do).

But still, apart from some nifty marketing, really what does the whole malarky (red) do?

The answer lies in what Gisele told the Sunday Times a few weeks ago. "We can all start shopping more and feel good about it. No more guilt!".

So there you go. You thought it was about alleviating AIDS, TB and malaria in the poorest parts of the 3rd world. Turns out it's about alleviating guilt in the richest, consumption frenzied parts of the world.

Speed kills

As we are told, over and over and over. And over. In Scotland Gatsos and their ilk are called Safety cameras, and the system that has raised over £22million in the last 5 years is for our protection, not to help fund the follies of the Scottish Executive, of which there are too many to name here.

The latest Government figures showing that in fact only 5% of accidents are caused by excessive speed (which means too fast for the conditions, not necessarily over the limit) must have caused some annoyance to the supporters of speed cameras. it also meant that the comment on the first page of the above link has had to be changed. You see it used to say that speed was the single biggest contributor to accidents, now it simply, actually long-windedly, says that when there's a crash, a faster one has worse injuries.

Well, I've been looking for evidence that the cameras work because, quite simply, I'm a driver. I want the roads to be safer, whatever it takes.

So far, I've found that:

1. Roadworks with cameras at them have a higher rate of fatalities and injuries than those without, so that's obviously working.
2. More cameras have been in use this year than last year in Grampian. In 2005 there were 53 fatalities, while this year there have already been 54. So that's working too.


Still, for someone else's view, I suggest looking here.

Remakes and Updates

Remakes. Never as good as the original, are they? Can you think of any classic lines from the 2003 film "The Italian Job"? Nope. The original is named as being responsible for one of the top ten of all time..

Of course when it comes to remakes there's always the exception to prove the rule. Some people might say this, or even this, but I've found the real exception.

Remember the Power Rangers? I think they were called Super Sentai in Japan, but it was probably the best badly made TV programme of the nineties. Actually the franchise is still going in various forms, but way back back when I were a lad, in fact when I was far too old to be watching it, it started.

A group of American teenagers who each had a coloured suit to wear which gave them super powers to fight the "Badly Dubbed Beyond Cheesy Evil Doing Bad Lady". Magically when they put on their suits their martial arts skills advanced so they could fight many enemies. Interestingly,when they put on their suits they also changed size and body shape.

You see the costumed fight scenes, and the scenes with The Bad Lady - Rita Repulsa, (played by Soga Machiko) were the original Japanese footage. Yup, the version shown in the US and UK was a top quality, no expense incurred version.

Which brings us to the remake. Now you might think I'm talking about the top quality Disney buy out? Oh no.

I'm talking about this.

In the (grammatically suspect) words of a certain clothing brand. Play colourful, boys and girls.

30 by 30

It's coming! And soon. 30 by 30 will be my pet project for the next 15 months or so. I hope. Think Challenge Anneka , but without Anneka Rice, or the beach buggy , or lots of shots of her bum as she runs down the street out of breath.

So not at all like it really. Except for the challenge part.