Technologies from stupid.com:

“With some people, it’s impossible to get off the phone.
Meet the Get off the phone excuse machine:
with just a press of a button, you’ll have a solid excuse that’ll get you off the phone, no questions asked.”.

Two examples:

Static: Press this button and say, “I can’t hear you. You’re breaking up!” Then just hang up the phone.

Car crashing: Just say, “Oh, my god!” and hang up.

“Sometimes it seems like mothers speak a different language.
Well, thanks to modern science and vivid imaginations, you can now instantly understand your Mom.

All you need is this Understand Your Mother Instantly Breath Spray!”.

“Pubblicità Progresso* is a non-profit association established in 1971 with a view to giving voice to people’s moral, civil and educational problems. Since then, Pubblicità Progresso has carried out 30 social campaigns.”.

Respect other’s opinion
(Bates Italia agency, 1973)

– Nobody has ever dared to contradict me. I’m great.
– Hey. You aren’t great. You are alone.
“Respect who doesn’t think like you.”.

If you listen you grow
(FCB Italia agency, 2001)

“The words of the others can enrich us. Listen to them.”.

Let’s improve ourselves
(ODG agency, 1995)

– Listen, have you read many books this year?
– No. No one, actually.
– Then, newspapers?
– Uhm…newspapers…no, I didn’t.
– Perhaps some course? Say English, computer?
– No. You know, lack of time…
– Then, what are you doing?
– Nothing.
– Nothing. But have you realized what you’re doing?
– It’s true. But from tomorrow things will change.
“Cultivate more interests. It’s your interest.”.

Above: “That mad says that two plus two doesn’t make four. What if he wasn’t mad?”, wallpaper detail.
(ODG agency, 1973)

*Meaning: advertising-progress
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The National Archives present: Public Information Films. “In 1973 the incomprehensible pronouncements from a ginger cat named Charley warned children against strangers, matches, water safety and other everyday perils.”. (Charley In The Kitchen) “The Central Office of Information produce a wide range of information campaigns designed to inform the public on a huge range of issues which affect their daily lives, such as health, welfare, education and rights.”.

British humour included.
See, for example, The Fatal Floor (1974).

Further material on the Andrew Wisemans’s Television Room* (aka 625.uk.com). A must see.

Above: Charley – Strangers (1973), frame.
Material subject to Crown Copyright, ©The National Archives.

*Requires a Real Player.

A journey into the British TV web sites: how television presents itself. Sub-TV presents the ATV history, “a fondly-remembered and popular UK broadcaster, operating from 1955 until 1981.”. 625.uk.com presents the Dave Jeffery’s Flash files collection of Idents, Break Bumpers, Clocks and Test Cards. You can find also some interesting clock screensavers. Ident* : a big resource on television branding from the Transdiffusion Broadcasting System. TV ARK The Television Museum* : “the place to watch and learn the history of tv channel presentation, title sequences, adverts, public information films, schools tv and more.”.

Right: ATV Zoom (1957-1964), end frame. (625.uk.com)

Requires Flash player. *Requires a Real Player.

High Delivery. An Orisinal flash game. By Ferry Halim.Music: Children of Beslan by Steven Cravis.

Play and listen also:

Flowers. Music: Our Love Never Dies by Ernesto Cortazar.

The Way Home. Music: Bedtime for Little John by Michael Dulin (from Atmospheres, 2003).

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“Never attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity.
Don’t assign to stupidity what might be due to ignorance.
And try not to assume your opponent is the ignorant one, until you can show it isn’t you.”.

(Joao Miranda from Assume Stupidity Not Malice in Meatball Wiki)

“You want to communicate your ideas. You want to be heard, preferably understood, and most preferably agreed with.
It doesn’t work. No matter how you try, they just dont’t get it.
Practice saying only those things that the people around you can hear.”.

(Michael Hill in Only Say Things That Can Be Heard)

“Once parked the Brompton stands on its own leaving both hands free. There are three main parts to fold and it takes just ten to twenty seconds. When folded, a Brompton stays locked together automatically. Vulnerable parts like lights and cable-runs are out of harm’s way, and because the chain and gears are inside there’s no worry about getting grease on your (or your fellow traveller’s) clothes. You can choose any combination of handlebar, gears, colours, weight-saving and other features exactly as you wish, almost without restriction.”.

The Brompton Bike.

Above: Folded Brompton, brochure picture (©Brompton Bicycle Ltd.).

“I Used To Believe will remind you what it was like to be a child, fascinated and horrified by the world in equal parts. The following pages will reassure you that the things you used to believe weren’t so strange after all.”.
(Matthew Connolley)

“Used to say our father, who art in heaven, hello whats your name?.”

I Used To Believe. The childhood beliefs site.

“Chinese. Japanese. Korean. What’s the difference?
Some say it’s easy to see. Others think it’s difficult, may be even impossible. Who can really tell? That’s what we want to find out.
And if you’re wondering whether or not to take offense, remember: alllooksame is not a statement. It’s a question.”.

All look same? by Dyske Suematsu. “The difference is in the eye of the beholder.”.

“I was 15 or 16 years old at the time and can’t explain why but it felt powerful to do that, to pick up a phone and call any location on earth just to see who was there and to find out what they were doing. I also remember calling a certain phone booth on Kennedy Boulevard, near the University of Tampa. Often when I’d call that booth a drunk would answer. I don’t remember saying anything when the winos answered that phone, but my actions might sound strange: into the phone I played tapes of myself playing piano. Sometimes people listened. Other times they hung up. Today I am a concert classical pianist, but I no longer play the random phone booth concert circuit.”. (Mark A. Thomas) The Payphone Project, by Mark A. Thomas.

Above: Phone on yellow pillar, by Tanner Beck.
Picture released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 license.