The police/doughnut cliché
Jeremy noticed that when there are stories on the TV news about the Simon Overland/Sir Ken Jones senior police controversy, often stock footage of the two of them in front of a doughnut shop seems to get used. It got a run again last night.
It seems to have almost become the equivalent of the Myki machine falling apart footage.
This web site (which may or may not be authoritative) offers some interesting theories on how the cliché developed:
My understanding about the cops/donuts stereotype is that the donuts were largely incidental.
The bigger factor was that ‘back in the day’, donut shops were the only places open all night where the cops could get COFFEE.
PS. I also meant to say, the stereotype appears to have started in the USA and spread to elsewhere. After all, doughnut shops are not actually very common in most countries.
Tags: cliches, doughnuts, food, police
5 comments
I’m not a drinker
I’ve never been a drinker.
Oh sure, there were the social pressures in my uni days. But it’s a habit I just never picked up.
My parents weren’t drinkers. My partner isn’t a drinker. It’s just not my thing.
I’m not a teetotaller though. Occasionally (perhaps a few times a year) I’ll indulge in a beer or a glass of wine, but (particularly since the discovery that alcohol can sometimes help trigger cluster headaches), most of the time I’ll decline and stick to water.
So I find it a little puzzling that some people drink to excess. I can understand the enjoyable, social drink if that’s the kind of thing you like, but binge drinking, to the point of being sick? Why would you?
I suppose everybody’s different.
Time to go shopping
Both my digital camera and my electric shaver are on their last legs, in need of replacement.
I don’t think either has done too badly.
The Canon A70 camera was bought in April 2003, and from memory cost me about $600 at the time. The technology has got better and cheaper, and I expect a replacement (hell yes I’ll get another Canon) will cost about a third of that amount, and certainly won’t require 4 AA batteries to run.
The Philishave 6867 shaver was, as I recall, bought in 2002. From memory it cost a bit under $200. It too has gone the distance, though a couple of years ago the battery started misbehaving, making it necessary to shave while plugged into the mains. Now however one of the heads has broken, so it’s at two-thirds capacity.
Sadly Choice magazine hasn’t reviewed men’s shavers since 2004, but I’d happily buy Philips again.
Also in the land of consumerism, I invested in two bananas yesterday. At $11.98/kg, the two of them cost $4.65. Ouch. Tasty though.
Oh yeah, I also have to buy new shoes. I hate buying shoes.
Tags: bananas, cameras, shavers
9 comments
Spam-flavoured macadamias
My kids were in Hawaii over Christmas with their mum for a family get together.
They looked for something uniquely Hawaiian to bring me back, and settled on this.
I love getting a souvenir that is truly unique to a place.
It’s just as is labelled on the can. They’re macadamias, but they’re spam-flavoured.
Who knew?
Tags: food, nuts, spam
7 comments
Aussie Aussie Aussie
Go on then, name me something more Aussie than kangaroo sausages on the barbecue?
To be honest I haven’t previously been that keen on the kanga bangers when grilled or fried. But BBQ makes everything taste better… right?
Update 4pm. Amusingly given Tony’s comment, I flipped on the TV while I was eating and found Skippy on Gem. The snags were more enjoyable barbecued, though still not my favourite. A shame, since they’re so much healthier (eg virtually zero fat, compared to beef which are 20%+ fat).
Mind you, Macro Meats could do with someone to do a little checking of their packaging. Rogue apostrophes in this day and age.
Tags: Aussie, barbecue, kangaroo
9 comments
Cheese slices
Kath Lockett found some old adverts, including this one:
We sometimes had these cheese slices when I was a kid.
It must have been my early computer-geek (binary) mind at work, but I would eat them by folding them in half, so one half broke off, eating that, then repeating with the half that was left… until the bit left in my hand was so microscopic it couldn’t be folded in half any more.
Was that just me?
I think eventually everybody figured out that the processed cheese was really not that healthy compared to other snacks.
Tags: cheese, food, Kraft
13 comments
The wisdom of the barber
Much of the gossip and all the knowledge of a neighbourhood flows through the local shopkeepers, none more so than the hairdressers and barbers, where customers are most likely to have an extended conversation.
The two nuggets of information from my haircut last week?
I already knew this: breakfast is the most important meal of the day. If the body doesn’t get food within a couple of hours of waking up, it reasons that no more food may be forthcoming, therefore everything should be stored as fat for later.
The other one: according to another customer who is involved with high finance, the sharemarket’s heading for another fall, and this month would be a good time to move your superannuation out of most shares, into blue chip or other investments. And it must be true, because this guy saw the GFC coming.
Hmm. I’m not totally convinced, but on the other hand, if I don’t adjust my super, and it drops, I’ll be kicking myself.
Tags: diet, finance
4 comments
“Soup”?
So if it’s not actually soup, what is it?
See also: The “Blog” of “Unnecessary” Quotation Marks.
Tags: signs, soup
9 comments
