Snippets for today.....

Ikea launch ready-made mobile phone service.......
Oh don't ya just wanna see the instruction sheet for this one?!?!
Will it be flat packed and in DIY (destroy it yourself) form?
Will all the appropriate parts be present?
Will it be missing a couple of vital screws just as you manage to get the whole thing put together?
Apparently they are stressing the 'simplicity' of it's service!
Doing this as a replica of stores such as Asda and Tesco's - they are teaming up with T-Mobile as a special deal for their loyalty customers. I am not too sure what they are hoping to gain by doing this - a furniture store with a mobile phone package? Hmmmmmm.....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/aug/04/telecoms.ikea?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront

'Lad' mags to blame for absent fathers and sexism........
according to the Tories that is!
Here we go again - put the blame on something that has little to do with the situation and make it the root cause!
Men have and always will see women as sex objects - that is just the way it is - men are attracted by physical looks first (the hunter instinct to grab woman and procreate!) Now I am not saying all men are heartless unfeeling gits that are out for the one thing - they aren't - and it would be easy to go into the old joke about God only giving man enough blood supply to run one head at a time. It is a well known fact us women are more emotional creatures but we are not averse to looking at guys in the same way guys look at us and thinking, 'Oh hell yes!'
So what - there are pics of topless women in these magazines - they are mags for guys and the people that make them know that sex sells - always has always will.
If we were allowed to have nude pics of guys in women's magazines they would be there - but the penis is not allowed to be shown or it has to be categorized as pornography - so we get lumbered with a measly sketch of 'position of the fortnight!' Push comes to shove - men and women are more than capable of seeing each other as sex objects.
I agree - absent fathers are a problem - but the cause is not a magazine!
Education from within the home and schools from an appropriate age regarding intimate relationships between 2 people is a necessity.
Teaching respect for oneself and others in these relationships; responsibilities for both the male and the female (it is the female that gets pregnant and more emphasis should be placed on this) to use protection; teaching kids in school what sperm tastes like etc whilst not teaching responsibilities of being in a mature relationship and what those responsibilities entail in full is lunacy. After all teaching kids it is okay to take part in oral sex - how long do they really think it is going to be before the primal urges for both people take over to take it that one step further?
We are human - we are animals and we all have urges and needs. To continuously blame something that is a form of entertainment for the social problems within any society is getting old - it is about time the root causes were looked at.
Let kids be kids and stop trying to make them grow up so fast - teach them education is important - that sex is not wrong but that it is something to be respected and the consequences - i.e. another life can be created.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/aug/04/6?gusrc=rss&feed=networkfront