While loading up the cartoons from my recently purchased Looney Tunes Golden Collection set into my computer, I noticed text similar to the following on the back of all the cases:
“The Looney Tunes Golden Collection Vol. 5 Is Intended for the Adult Collector and May Not Be Suitable for Children.”
What's the deal with that? Not the Capitalising Every Word in the Sentence (although that does make me scratch my head), but that it “may not be suitable for children?”
I grew up watching these cartoons. My parents grew up watching these cartoons. Some of these cartoons came out when my grandparents were in their teens. And it was always considered to be good, wholesome family entertainment. But all of a sudden, it's no longer deemed to be fit for consumption by the next generation.
Is this a sign of how sanitised and paranoid our society is becoming, where people are afraid that seeing a cartoon duck trying to drop cartoon anvils on a cartoon rabbit will turn children into serial killers or something? Or is it simply not educational enough (I beg to differ... Thanks to Looney Tunes, I know not to waste my money buying anything from the Acme Corporation)?
I guess another possibility could be that some of the older cartoons do portray racial stereotypes and prejudices that would not be considered appropriate to show young children nowadays1. They tend to imitate things they see and hear, so I guess in that regard it might be good to keep them from seeing certain cartoons...
1Every disc from volume 3 on even starts out with the notice, “The cartoons you are about to see are products of their time. They may depict some of the ethnic and racial prejudices that were commonplace in the U.S society. These depictions were wrong then and they are wrong today. While the following does not represent the Warner Bros. view of today's society, these cartoons are being presented as they were originally created, because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming that these prejudices never existed.”
Showing posts with label Things That Don't Make Sense. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Things That Don't Make Sense. Show all posts
Sunday, January 15, 2012
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Baby on Board
You can fairly frequently come across a car or van with a “Baby on Board” sign in the window. Homer Simpson even wrote a song about them. But I frequently wonder what's the point?
Seriously, are people going to go, “I was going to accidentally rear-end that car, but OH NO! There's a BABY ON BOARD so I guess I can't!” Or maybe it's just a type of bragging. “Look at me, I have a baby and you don't!”
Just as dumb, in my opinion, are those decals I've been seeing more and more lately with stick figures of all the family members. Although I admit I found it hilarious when I saw one that was one stick person and a whole bunch of stick cats.
In the event that I ever have children at some point down the road, there are not going to be any signs and decals on my car...
Seriously, are people going to go, “I was going to accidentally rear-end that car, but OH NO! There's a BABY ON BOARD so I guess I can't!” Or maybe it's just a type of bragging. “Look at me, I have a baby and you don't!”
Just as dumb, in my opinion, are those decals I've been seeing more and more lately with stick figures of all the family members. Although I admit I found it hilarious when I saw one that was one stick person and a whole bunch of stick cats.
In the event that I ever have children at some point down the road, there are not going to be any signs and decals on my car...
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Price Matching Policies
I promised the fellow at the store I would blog about this, so here I am...
Recently, a critical part in the espresso maker I've had for 4½ years broke and rather than try and obtain a replacement part, if that's even possible anymore, I decided it was time to simply buy a new one. A few days later I bought myself a brand-new espresso maker from the local Sears. It's a great unit, a step up from my last one and I love it, except for one detail. A couple days later I stumbled across the exact same unit on sale from Amazon, for $93 cheaper. Well, to be precise, $104.16 cheaper including tax.
I walked in to Sears with my receipt and a printout of the Amazon.ca page for the product, and asked if I could get a price match. I was told no, because they don't consider Amazon to be a competitor. The answer remained no, even after I clearly outlined what my next steps were going to be—buying that unit from Amazon instead, packing up and returning the one I had bought from them, and them losing a sale and a customer.
On my way home I stopped by a couple other stores to see if they a) had that same unit in stock, and b) were willing to price match Amazon. They both indeed carried it, but as expected the price match was a no go. I'm considerably more forgiving in those instances, because in those cases it was simply a case of finding the best place to buy something, and hoping that someone would price match, so I wouldn't have to wait for a package to be delivered.
When those other two stores didn't match Amazon's price they lost a potential sale, yes, but that's a different scenario from the one Sears is in, where they are losing a sale because the sale was already made and it's going to be undone, plus now they're going to have a slightly used espresso maker to try and unload. From their perspective I think it would have been better for them to have lost $93 in profit (but at least they'd still have some profit, in contrast with the zero they're going to have now), but end up with a very satisfied, and most importantly, repeat customer, plus not having the hassle of dealing with another returned product.
I just finished placing my order on Amazon, so now I've passed the point of no return. Well, I guess not quite yet as I can still cancel the order up until when they actually ship it. The next thing is to pack up my other one to take back to Sears. But since they do have a 30-day return window I have some time to make myself a couple more egg nog lattes before going for a week with no espresso maker. At least I have plenty of regular coffee to hold me through.
PS - I know I could take the unit I get from Amazon and return that one to Sears, completely unopened, since they're identical, and save the step of repacking the one I have, but I don't know if my new one will arrive in time before Sears' return window closes. Plus, that would also end up being a huge help to them, eliminating their “slightly used espresso maker to try and unload” problem...
Recently, a critical part in the espresso maker I've had for 4½ years broke and rather than try and obtain a replacement part, if that's even possible anymore, I decided it was time to simply buy a new one. A few days later I bought myself a brand-new espresso maker from the local Sears. It's a great unit, a step up from my last one and I love it, except for one detail. A couple days later I stumbled across the exact same unit on sale from Amazon, for $93 cheaper. Well, to be precise, $104.16 cheaper including tax.
I walked in to Sears with my receipt and a printout of the Amazon.ca page for the product, and asked if I could get a price match. I was told no, because they don't consider Amazon to be a competitor. The answer remained no, even after I clearly outlined what my next steps were going to be—buying that unit from Amazon instead, packing up and returning the one I had bought from them, and them losing a sale and a customer.
On my way home I stopped by a couple other stores to see if they a) had that same unit in stock, and b) were willing to price match Amazon. They both indeed carried it, but as expected the price match was a no go. I'm considerably more forgiving in those instances, because in those cases it was simply a case of finding the best place to buy something, and hoping that someone would price match, so I wouldn't have to wait for a package to be delivered.
When those other two stores didn't match Amazon's price they lost a potential sale, yes, but that's a different scenario from the one Sears is in, where they are losing a sale because the sale was already made and it's going to be undone, plus now they're going to have a slightly used espresso maker to try and unload. From their perspective I think it would have been better for them to have lost $93 in profit (but at least they'd still have some profit, in contrast with the zero they're going to have now), but end up with a very satisfied, and most importantly, repeat customer, plus not having the hassle of dealing with another returned product.
I just finished placing my order on Amazon, so now I've passed the point of no return. Well, I guess not quite yet as I can still cancel the order up until when they actually ship it. The next thing is to pack up my other one to take back to Sears. But since they do have a 30-day return window I have some time to make myself a couple more egg nog lattes before going for a week with no espresso maker. At least I have plenty of regular coffee to hold me through.
PS - I know I could take the unit I get from Amazon and return that one to Sears, completely unopened, since they're identical, and save the step of repacking the one I have, but I don't know if my new one will arrive in time before Sears' return window closes. Plus, that would also end up being a huge help to them, eliminating their “slightly used espresso maker to try and unload” problem...
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Things That Don't Make Sense
Traffic control signs where they don't seem to be needed
Every day, I pass by a corner where there is a sign informing people that left turns are not allowed between 9AM and 6PM. Usually, such signs are for the purpose of improving traffic flow during rush hour. But if that's the purpose of this sign, wouldn't it make more sense to have it say something like 3PM to 6PM? Plus, this sign is for people turning onto a major street from a minor one. In no way do these left turners from Livingstone Avenue ever affect Peardonville Road traffic. In fact, I often think the sign should have been turned 90 degrees, because it's the people left turning off of Peardonville there that frequently disrupt traffic since there's no left turn lane, particularly if there happens to be more than one person wanting to turn left.
But the really strange thing is that despite this sign, there still are almost always several vehicles there waiting to turn left. Some people just don't know how to read signs, apparently. Which leads me to my next Thing That Doesn't Make Sense...
Every day, I pass by a corner where there is a sign informing people that left turns are not allowed between 9AM and 6PM. Usually, such signs are for the purpose of improving traffic flow during rush hour. But if that's the purpose of this sign, wouldn't it make more sense to have it say something like 3PM to 6PM? Plus, this sign is for people turning onto a major street from a minor one. In no way do these left turners from Livingstone Avenue ever affect Peardonville Road traffic. In fact, I often think the sign should have been turned 90 degrees, because it's the people left turning off of Peardonville there that frequently disrupt traffic since there's no left turn lane, particularly if there happens to be more than one person wanting to turn left.
But the really strange thing is that despite this sign, there still are almost always several vehicles there waiting to turn left. Some people just don't know how to read signs, apparently. Which leads me to my next Thing That Doesn't Make Sense...
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