Rick's b.log - entry 2009/09/06

Discrimination works both ways

The following poll was on the Daily Mail website:

Of course I voted NO. This isn't because I am an elitist male chauvanist prick. It isn't even based upon whether or not I think a female would be any 'good' getting excited over revving engines. It's down to something much more fundamental and simple than any sociopolitical aspiration.

It's because THE DYNAMIC WORKS. There's Hammond who is a right little nutter at times. There's May who might one day actually make it into top gear without getting nervous and hitting the brakes. And there's Clarkson, the mouthy one who would like us to believe he has balls but everybody (himself included) know that his balls are extremely tiny in comparison to Hammond's. It's like three private school nerds who spent their lunchtimes obsessing over the best carburettor design suddenly finding a popular television programme where that can continue being... three private school nerds who can obsess over which carburettor is best.
This has nothing to do with gender, and everything to do with an established dynamic. Three people who know each other very well and are able to play of their strengths and weaknesses. To introduce anybody (male or female) would just be artificial and would risk messing with this rappor. To know what I mean, wait for the next serious of Strictly Come Dancing when Arlene Philips is replaced by a lesser model (currently thought to be Alesha-Dixon)...

Real or a scam?

Of course I reported it to CocaCola. If it is genuine, they'll know. But as I'm neither a model nor do I have a portfolio, this sounds all a bit dodgy.

Exchange rate ripoff

Its selling price in the US is $229.99.
Off their own European distributor link (details here), you will see the price is €349.99.
Amazon France does it a little cheaper at €325.16.

Smell a rat?
No?
Maybe you aren't au-fait with exchange rates.
Pop over to Bloomberg's currency calculator and you will quickly discover that $229.99 equals €160.87 (rate at time of writing). And, in actual fact, the apparent European price, asides from being a total rip-off, is twice that of the unit - being in actual fact $500.36!

A better price in the UK is from the Red5 gadget shop, who offer it at £249.95.
But don't hang around long, for Rob of the BBC Mailing list found the best price so far at Toys-R-Us (of all places!) for £199.99. That's still a little pricey at €229.30, but we've managed to shave nearly a hundred and twenty euros off of the official list price!

While I know that comparative shopping on the Internet can be something of a nightmare (look for prices of any desirable gadgets to find a heck of a disparity), it is disheartening to note that the highest price on this site of the Atlantic would appear to be the company's own European distributor, and there would not appear to be much in the way of justification for this...

Younger than reality

People often say that I look quite a bit younger than I am (they obviously didn't notice the grey hairs), some have even given me an age of mid 20s which is nice. ☺
As for the official verdict? Half a year is neither here nor there, so I'm on par.

One interesting omission is that the test doesn't ask much about your job. I put in that I do 7 hours/5 days of strenuous "other" exercise per week. In other words, my job.

Your comments:

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Rick, 24th September 2009, 03:41

While the "allegations" of the BBC's attutide towards older women is regrettable (didn't they understand Anna Ford was dangerously close to MILF material?!?), it is heartening to see there may be some sort of a rectification on the way... http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8272453.stm Furthermore, I believe there is a certain credit to older newsreaders, of either gender. Look at some of the news programmes on other channels. CNN, for example: Christiane Amanpour, Becky Anderson, Fionnuala Sweeney... spot which one is a big-boobed blonde teenager. That's right - none of them. Older people don't necessarily carry more authority because they are older, it's because they have more experience and a greater history. They can interview notable figures and ask serious questions that we the viewers want answered. Younger presenters frequently appear to be either in danger of failing to listen to the interviewee because they are busy lining up their next unnecessary question, or on the verge of wetting themselves while jumping up and down squealing "I'm your biggest fan!". Post teenagers (young adults? gen-Xers?) are supposed to be good looking and host programmes involving flower gardens, or maybe presenting weather reports. They aren't supposed to be telling you the latest state-sanctioned bollocks about H1N1... That's not to say there is no place for younger presenters. Where would late night channel hopping be without the extremely cute Karin Giannone?

Rick, 3rd October 2009, 20:43

Evidently the BBC congratulated Ms. Dixon's introduction on Strictly Come Dancing, an act which further alienated a large number of viewers who thought that not only was she not a good judge, but she apparently voted to "save" a previous boyfriend, which can only be seen in terms of a massive conflict of interest. I don't watch the programme very often, but I would say that I felt Arlene to be the most logical and balanced of the judges... and Bruno... well, he's off on some other wavelength entirely! ☺

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