I’m fascinated by various “wonder treatments” and “guaranteed roulette schemes” (even though I get spammed with too many of them). I’m often tempted to buy just to see how they are supposed to work never mind actually use them.

A couple of people have sworn by  http://www.ecomagnets.com/ but do I believe them enough to spend £60?

So, why don’t the suppliers of alternative remedies and “make thousands of pounds from home” schemes take a leaf out of the shareware book and offer a free trial? I appreciate that time limiting or even partially crippling a product is trickier if it isn’t software but something ought to be possible. Products could be engraved “on loan” and require a deposit but it would give a chance to test them without forking out a significant amount.

OK a money back guarantee is an act of faith in the product but that assumes I trust them to honour the guarantee! If the product does as is claimed I would have no qualms paying for it or if it didn’t in returning it.

The obvious reason for no free trial is that the product doesn’t work, and that’s what puts me off the most!

Der and double der!

I got there and back from my motorway marathon in one piece - although I witnessed two accidents on the way up & got stuck in the same road works going and returning. Obviously no one was working on the road, just the usual miles of cones. Whether the accidents were a result of “Camagedon” or “Hot Pursuit Police Chases” computer games or just the usual crap driving who knows. As ever leaving a safe gap between yourself and the car in front was an invitation for someone to slip into it.

The “XBox car racing advert banned” story at

http://newsbox.msn.co.uk/article.aspx?as=adimarticle&f=uk_-_olgbtopnews&t=4023&id=5157149&d=20070404&do=http://newsbox.msn.co.uk&i=http://newsbox.msn.co.uk/mediaexportlive&ks=0&mc=5&ml=ma&lc=en&ae=windows-1252

reminded me of an older story at

http://www.nbc29.com/Global/story.asp?S=6246020

which basically says “People who play car racing video games are more likely to be aggressive and risky drivers”.

Which seems pretty obvious, getting used to taking stupid risks and doing mad things in a game surely spills over into real life. Yes I’ve played doom and never shot anybody but I don’t walk round carrying a shot gun and monsters don’t leap out at me. I do drive a ton or so of metal at (relatively) high speed and driving games are a much better simulation of real life.

There’s a story of a guy who spent so long crop spraying (in a real plane, not a simulator) that when he finished and drove home as he came up to the gate he didn’t stop but pulled back on the steering wheel to climb over it! We all know the feeling that 40 is no speed at all after a couple of hours at 70. We get used to stuff and driving is a very much auto pilot hind brain thing.

So what I want to know is when will they ban Carmageddon et al from motorway services - all that adrenaline, all that aggression and then you climb back into a real car and get cut up by real idiots - is that good idea?

I’ll give it some thought as I flog up 200 miles of motorway tomorrow…

I say competition but the winner only has the satisfaction of winning - no prizes I’m afraid! What is the weirdest thing you’ve seen asked for or offered on freecycle?

I’ll start things rolling with:

Wanted: 6 foot condom - they were taking part in an AIDs awareness day and needed a fancy dress outfit of a condom. Much like the safe sex scene in Naked Gun (2.5?) I guess.

Offered: Ex-Girlfriends Rabbit - no not the fluffy one, the buzzy one. OK I’m slightly cheating as this one was picked up by the moderators and didn’t make it onto the group but one of the mods told me about it.

Can anyone better that?

http://www.itpro.co.uk/news/109264/domain-authority-denies-xxx-domain-again.html

So, no top shelf for the internet? I didn’t quite understand that arguments against. I can see that not all sites would voluntarily adopt the name but I don’t see that as a problem. “Some” would be “some” help. There seemed to be an argument that someone (governments?) might impose the name and someone has define what is porn and what isn’t

(http://www.computershopper.co.uk/?news/news_story.php?id=109251 has quite a debate along those lines).

It seems simple enough to me. If you go into most newsagents the porn is on the top shelf. No one makes them put it there, but most of them do. People can mainly avoid it (though we all get an eyeful from time to time) and people can access it if they want. It’s an informal, voluntary custom just the way the internet is supposed to work - so why doesn’t it?

Freecycle is a wonderful scheme. An email list that lets people advertise stuff they don’t want or ask for stuff they need. No money or even swapsies must take place then it’s all clear from tax / liability / .. You just say:

I’m getting a new wardrobe, anyone want the old one?

Or

My sons grown out of his bike its yours if you want it

 AND

My sons grown out of his bike has anyone got a bigger one?

Hopefully someone will say “yes please” and arrange to come and collect it.

The prime aim of freecycle is to keep stuff out of landfill but in doing so it also reduces emissions from manufacturing and helps out if you are a bit strapped for cash.

The down sides are people don’t always turn up when they say they will, sometimes people don’t have transport and you end up delivering (your choice and you’d probably have had to take stuff to the tip anyway) and I seem to have collected more spam since I signed up (I don’t blame freecycle as such but I suspect yahoo groups are a popular email harvesting area). Also people can get ratty with each other in any situation so you might get a flame war about “the sofa was advertised as nearly new but smells of poo”, but it isn’t likely.

You will get a full inbox (there is a digest option but I’m getting 30-ish mails a day). And you may well get a full house / garage / shed. We all join to get rid of stuff but then the “Oh no, I can’t let someone send that to the tip, I might need one one day” kicks in

Maybe I’m not so much avoiding land fill as turning my house into one…

http://www.freecycle.org/ & groups in your area or http://freecycle.org/display.php?region=United%20Kingdom