eye for information

A virtual chum pointed out this web site to me - and I wondered if it was for real, or one of those joke sites with deliberately bad designs like Bud Uggly - but as far as I can tell, it is for real.

Make sure you visit the related sites linked at the top, which are masterpieces of 20th-century school project design, and even sport an "untitled document" header. You may wish to turn the sound down first though, and wear dark glasses.

- or even a short sentence. I came across this little graphic "instruction book" in one of the many piles of paper in the kitchen, and neither I nor Mr W. can decide where it came from or what it means.

The best we came up with was "move a piece of paper over the top of your laptop in all 4 compass directions" - that was the Chinese version, but the English one might be "keep the case of your laptop clean" I suppose. I am awaiting enlightenment, but in the mean time, will merely observe that sometimes, a wordless explanation is not always helpful, although undoubtedly much cheaper to produce. As a technical writer, I find the first fact very comforting!

My chum Tom brought the rash of tedious selling blogs to my attention in the Help blog. I thought I'd see what they were like, as I must admit I tend to stick with my current blog friends these days! Well, look what I was missing:

Desktop is a passé. Now is the time laptop. The heavy consumption of these computers has helped in the increment of the IT professionals and hardware engineers. Without any doubt, laptops are considered to be one of the complicated pieces of equipment. However, the task of repairing of these machines is very simple and inexpensive as its cost can easily come into your pocket.

Well, Eric F Sims, male, 27, Florida, your post might qualify for the longest unbroken paragraph of the day, but a writer of English as she is spoke you isn't. What utter drivel - I had fallen asleep before I got to the point of it, which is to spam the search engines with his equally dull web site. D'oh.

I regularly get a spammy, illiterate, drivel-filled newsletter from some company I've never heard of, and was tempted to unsubscribe, even though it confirms my email to them. However, I decided to scan one first before I did so, and came across this piece of unpleasantness disguised as wit.

We hope you enjoyed our weekly update. We have sent it to you with great love and caring. However, if you’re no longer cool enough to hang out with us then we understand. We have a reputation too. It’s probably best that you admit: I’m just too boring to EVER get another Liquid Generation Newsletter.

Just remember that once you click, you’re gone! That is it! No going back. No re-subscribing. Ever. I know it’s hard but think before you click. Moron.

We discourage communicating via the US Postal Service but if you must:

Liquid Generation Inc.
8750 Wilshire Blvd. Suite 301
Beverly Hills CA 90211

So, I think perhaps not. Such primordial ooze, paying cynical lip service to the spam laws (if there are any) deserves no response whatsoever.