Shame on you, 153 Frederick Street!

How can people throw their liquor bottles on their front lawn like that! It's bad enough that students drink themselves stupid, but they don't need to throw their bottles on the lawn! Besides making my room look tidy by comparison, it's awful, especially if the landlord has to clean it up. The bottles are a nightmare to look at and if I got my hands on a Karcher, those drunks would be running faster than they can get themselves into debt with their student loans.

They should be recycling those and doing the environment a favour. Dunedin would be a better place for students if everyone stopped dumping their beer bottles on the front lawn and started recycling. Those bottles are a complete eyesore and people shouldn't have to suffer at the hands of some drunken students a few doors down. In fact, areas within a 1 km radius from the University of Otago should be made a liquor-free zone and the University should use their Code of Conduct to deal with anyone who doesn't respect the ban.

What rubbish!

On Lower Stuart Street, there are several cafes, two Japanese restaurants, and at one end, you'll see the courthouse and the railway station. Many businesses there have been mentioned in this blog, and Pinkalilly's Parties (which is where I got the photo from) is next in line for a review. Look at those outfits. Nobody in their right minds would wear that crap. Maybe 40 years ago, but not now. Sure outfits like those in the display might be suitable for a fancy dress party but they should stay in the 60s where they belong. They are just plain rubbish and they suck. There are more decent clothes at The Warehouse or Kmart. These outfits are out of line with what 2010 expects of you, and they are just not cool.

OK, so who created God?

I was not raised a religious person, but those who were picked up the theory that God created the world in six days. But hold on a minute. If that's true, then God can't have appeared out of nowhere. If God creates everything, then who created God?

I can eliminate Jesus because he's the Son of God. I can also eliminate myself because the closest thing I've created was $2000 of credit card debt back in July 2008. That took just two weeks to build up and I'm in my 21st month of paying it off. But I'm doing rather well, paying off more than the minimum repayment every month, and now I have only $70 to go. Then I'm closing the credit card, because repaying it has been 10% luck, 20% skill, 15% concentrated power of will, 5% pleasure, and 50% pain. How's that for 100% reason to remember the name? (For the record, Fort Minor didn't create God either.) So who did create God?

Cascadia: environmental movement or anti-Microsoft plot?

This picture is of the flag of a proposed nation in North America known as Cascadia. According to Wikipedia, the concept of this nation, consisting of the American states of Washington and Oregon and the Canadian province of British Columbia, is closely identified with the environmental movement. But think about it: is this really so?

Here's my theory of what's going on: Seattle alone is home to several companies like Microsoft and Starbucks. However, Apple is headquartered in Cupertino, which is in California. This means that Apple fans can discredit Microsoft by attempting to kick Washington State out of the Union. Once Windows users learn that Microsoft is no longer American, but Cascadian, then the most patriotic of them would lose faith in the Windows family of operating systems and get Macs when the computers they're using now are no longer useful.

Could this be a curse?

Cycle Surgery are the fourth business in Lower Stuart Street to come on our bad side within two short weeks. Look at the shirt. Doesn't that look like the rainbow jersey that only the top cyclists will ever wear?

To wear the rainbow jersey, you have to be the reigning world champion in any bicycle racing discipline. However, I have heard of a curse which seems to plague these champions (list adapted from Wikipedia):

1. Tom Simpson (UK) won the world title in 1965. During the following winter (Jan/Feb 1966), he broke his leg skiing.

2. 1970 world champion Jean-Pierre Monseré died wearing the rainbow jersey in March 1971.

3. Laurent Brochard, the world champion of 1997, became involved in a doping scandal a year later.

4. The 1987 winner, Irishman Stephen Roche, who had won the Tour de France and Giro d'Italia in the same season, missed nearly the entire 1988 season with a knee injury.

5. The 1990 winner, Rudy Dhaenens of Belgium, had no results in 1991, and was forced to retire shortly after with heart problems.

6.The 1994 winner, Luc Leblanc of France had a injury plagued 1995 season with very poor results, winning only one small race.

7. The 2003 winner, Spaniard Igor Astarloa, switched to the French team Cofidis for the 2004 season which almost immediately suspended itself from racing due to doping allegations against several members of the team. In response to this, Astarloa switched first to the Lampre team, and then the Barloworld team. He has had a very quiet career since his 2003 victory.

8. The 2004 World Road Champion Óscar Freire developed a saddle sore during the following season.

9. In August 2004 British professional cyclist David Millar was suspended for two years, stripped of his 2003 World Time Trial Championship jersey, and fined $1,600, after confessing to the use of EPO in 2001 and 2003.

10. On 24 September 2006, Italian Paolo Bettini won the Rainbow Jersey in the World Road Race Championship in Salzburg, Austria. Eight days later on 2 October his older brother Sauro died when his car struck an obstacle and overturned into a ditch. He himself had a few accidents in the beginning of 2007 season (Tirreno-Adriatico 2007) and technical problems (in E3-Prijs Vlaandereren his chain snapped).

11. On November 26, 2006, while wearing the rainbow jersey, Isaac Gálvez died during the Six Days of Ghent, following a horrific crash into the upper barrier surrounding the indoor track.

12. The 2008 World Road Champion Alessandro Ballan was diagnosed with CMV near the beginning of the 2009 season, and as a consequence missed the spring's classics and the Giro d'Italia, his home tour. As a result he was in poor form for that year's Tour de France, and only made a proper appearance once, on stage 19 when he unsuccessfully broke away near the end of the stage.

13. By having a rainbow jersey in their window, Cycle Surgery may be inadvertently putting a curse on their bikes.

Now they're putting "best" in their business name!

I captured this gem outside of a cafe on Lower Stuart Street called Best Cafe. I like the delicious fish meals they have, but there are 4 things that are not to be liked about the place:

1. One that keeps creeping up here: making potentially misleading claims that the place is "the best". But one thing sets this apart from the other two I've nabbed: The word "best" is now in the business's name!

2. The decor is outdated.

3. The Coke they have there is overpriced: a can costs $2.50 with your meal when I can get one from a vending machine at the Polytechnic for only $1.20. That would make anybody want to sneak outside Coke in.

4. Their coleslaw tastes like puke.

Check this load of bull out!

The travel agent that is displaying this ad is putting Malaysia in a positive light. Malaysia is NOT "Truly Asia". In fact, the place is such a hellhole, and here's why:

1. They have what's called an elective monarchy: what goes on is that their Yang di-Pertuan Agong is elected by a Council of Ministers from one of the sultans. Elective monarchies are stupid and weird.

2. Clauses in their constitution favouring what's known as "Bumiputra" are racist.

3. Malaysia is just way too hot.

4. Malay food tastes disgusting.

5. Those brutes still allow caning of male offenders between the ages of 16 and 50.

6. They've had the same ruling political party since independence from the UK.

When did this happen?

Read what the window says. It says that "her" favourite fashion label has just become "his", which probably means that Witchery now stocks men's clothes. And if a shop that's selling women's clothing is now selling men's clothing as well, it's either to attract gays or to get more men going clothes shopping with their expensive girlfriends. That's an experiment doomed to fail.

Branching out into menswear may be a good thing if you want another demographic buying clothes from your store, but think about it first. Men might not come to your shop. They already know that the place stocks women's clothing and they still won't come to the shop despite men's clothing now being sold there.

Great deal, bad hair.

Being a tertiary student, I sometimes find myself a bit hard up and for that reason, free money is a temptation. This billboard says that Westpac are offering a great deal on a tertiary account (including $40 to get you started).

But there is one turn-off: the hairstyle on the guy in this ad is just rubbish. Who would be so stupid as to grow such a stupid hairstyle? And what's with calling the account package "Westie Pac"? That's the worst name you can think of for such an offer, and if you couple it with that ugly-looking mullet, it's enough to scar you mentally and emotionally especially when the bank in question, Westpac, is owned by an Australian company!

And so the saga continues...

A few days ago I found an ad saying "Without a Doubt Dunedin's Best Burgers." Today, I found another ad from a taxi company that says it's "the best". Below the words "free phone" are the words "Use the best - forget the rest".

Before you advertise yourself as "the best", you should think about the impact that it will have. Sure you might get more people ditching your competitors for you but your competitors may think you're some sort of show-off. You should have proof to back your statements up before you go around saying you're the best otherwise it will cause hurt feelings all round.

Why do people still use charity boxes when there's a recession?

Call me heartless or cold or unkind if you want but there's a recession on and I'm surprised that people can still afford to put small change in a charity box while living in fear that they may lose their job the next day. I think that people should just put their spare change towards their credit cards or their retirement fund or something like that.

If you think ten cents isn't that much of a loss, it will be if you put ten cents in each of ten thousand boxes - think about what else you could've done with that $1000. You could've bought a new laptop or maybe a new ten-speed bike or you could've kept your family fed for a few more weeks. So, keep your spare change and don't just put it in the charity box.

What's with this whole 3D rubbish?

Hoyts have gone completely nuts over this whole 3D craze. They have given up all 8 of their poster spaces outside the theatre to promote a stupid 3D movie and they've even put "3D" on their doors like it's supposed to be a good thing when only two of the movies on right now are in 3D.

I've never been inside a 3D cinema but I know how they work: they cost more than a 2D film and an extra $1 for special ridiculous-looking glasses. If I had a choice between going to a 3D movie and being tased in the nuts, then you can tase me any day.

Why is a stupid anime convention such a big deal?

In two months' time, Dunedin will play host to one of the worst possible things ever: an anime convention! Excited? Well you shouldn't be! And here's why:

Anime is one of the lowest forms of entertainment you can think of. If you want to know what it is, it's animation drawn in a stereotypically Japanese manner. People who watch anime usually have nothing better to do with their lives and they should be Karcherized. They should be removed from the rest of human society because anime is rubbish and just plain awful. Nobody I know would even think about watching that crap.

OK, but is there any proof they're the best?

One thing that I don't like is the fact that some businesses claim that they're the best. Where is the proof of that? And what are the potential consequences such slogans will have on the competitors?

I think claims of being "the best" are most likely to come from show-offs who don't realize they could be selling products that may well be substandard. In the case of this billboard, there is no way that you can be certain you're getting the best burger from that place. I think Burger King makes the best burgers - especially their BBQ Bacon Double Cheeseburger.

Finally a billboard whose message I agree with

I think Apple's soon-to-expire offer on this billboard is a very good incentive to get students off Windows and on to a real operating system for real computers. But many Mac users would feel Karcherized by the fact that most Internet cafes run Windows XP on their computers. I am currently saving up for a Macbook to replace my Acer Aspire 5315 because like anyone with any sense, I'd rather my operating system were made by a company named after a fruit than one whose name is an accurate description of founder and former CEO Bill Gates's wang.

There is also one other issue: not everybody likes the Mac. Some people's negative attitudes towards Macs are completely unfounded. I suggest those people try the Mac out - they'll be surprised.

Since when do smart kids roughhouse others?

According to today's billboard, smart kids wrestle. According to me, that's bollocks. Children should not be exposed to such reckless behaviour like that depicted on the billboard, which only serves to teach children that roughhousing another human being will magically raise your IQ. To me, the idea that roughhousing another human being will magically raise your IQ is just BOLLOCKS, plain and simple. I do not know of any "smart kid" out there that would take up something so violent as wrestling.

UPDATE: The finger at the top of the photo is because it was raining and I didn't want to trip the water sensors in the headphone socket on my iPhone 3GS (which I've since sold online and now I have an iPhone 4).

Is this what Otago University student life is coming to?

If you look at the billboard on the left, then you'll think that getting a dozen beers from a liquor store just for free pizza at a nearby bar is a good deal. It is, especially when the pizzas cost $20 each. But what are the consequences of this?

This advertisement only encourages the purchase of alcohol which we already know can lead to some really nasty things happening. That's why the Otago University, which is not too far away from the bar in question, has managed to get tough on alcohol. For instance, the Captain Cook, which is also near the uni, is having to stop its regular "Cook-a-thons" if it wants to keep its liquor licence.

That is a start, but ads like this are now undoing all that hard work by encouraging people to buy alcohol in return for free pizza. That is a stupid move on the part of the two businesses involved in this promotion and I hope the area surrounding the University is one day cleaned out with a Karcher - that means no binge-drinkers, no couch-burners, no rioting during the Undie 500, etc.

Who do Vodafone think they are?

Look at this ad from Vodafone. I think it is a smear campaign against Telecom's XT network, especially one part (which is too small to read on this photo) where Vodafone calls itself "New Zealand's reliable mobile network". That part can be taken to mean that other mobile networks in New Zealand like Telecom and 2degrees aren't reliable.

The phone being offered looks nice but there is no way that I'm recommending that anyone on Telecom defect to Vodafone if Vodafone have that sort of attitude. I just hope those losers at Vodafone can afford a good lawyer in case they end up in court over this.

Maccas meals approved by Weight Watchers?

McDonald's has been known in the past for serving meals that are nutritionally inadequate, but they've been trying various ways to improve their public image over the past few years. A few years ago, they added salads to the menu. But now, they're trying out meals approved by Weight Watchers.

But wait a minute - McDonald's meals approved by Weight Watchers? That does not make sense. Everyone knows that you don't eat at McDonald's to lose weight. So how did they manage to come up with that rubbish?

Welcome to my blog!

As a disseminator of the truth, I will bring you the cold, hard, truth about anything and everything that I can. And that's about it.

If you want to know more about me, here goes:

Name: Scott Gall

Age: 21

Occupation: Student

Where at: Otago Polytechnic

Nationality: New Zealand