The 'On The Bright Side' thread..

[aliwood]

"The new ****** identity is strong, simple, timeless and memorable - recognisable, confident and reassuring, yet beyond fashion. It is authoritative yet approachable."

Sweet Jesus.

What have they done - changed the shade of one of the colours in the logo from "aqua dream" to "sky trails" or something?

Nah, they've ditched the capital letter at the beginning, so now it's all in lower case.

[skeptik]

Alternative energy.

A novel use for hand pumped compressed air.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 1782160188

[Joe]

Alternative energy.

A novel use for hand pumped compressed air.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid ... 1782160188

Shouldn't that be in the "transport" forum?

[peaky]

Sweet Jesus.

What have they done - changed the shade of one of the colours in the logo from "aqua dream" to "sky trails" or something?

No - we've gone from black & gold to white and red Surely a child could have worked out that gold and blacks is so ... yesterday?

[Joe]

Hmmm, black and gold... Nope, I can only think of JPS

Rebranding is something I'm all too familiar with. Working in the Internet/telecoms sector, I've sat in the same office for 5 years and worked for 4 different companies.

What I find most laughable is when the new CEO comes round to see us all and deliver the new corporate philosophy. I've heard variously that I have to:

1. "Be the customer"
2. "Do things differently"
3. Have a "can do" attitude
4. Be "Here to win"
5. <insert supposedly inspirational twaddle of your choice here>

I've been sent off on team building events where we've had to find a partner from some other part of the business, look into their eyes and ask "how can I support you better?", or recount to a total stranger the time in my life when I was badly done to and then examine what I could have done better to avoid it happening.

The last one I got sent on had some weird motivational mime-artist dude who got everyone in the auditorium to bang different coloured plastic tubes to a rythm, presumably as some kind of demonstration of the power of team work. The only thing it demonstrated to me was how willing people are to do what they're told, regardless of how far out of their "comfort zone" it may push them - especially when presented with enough peer group pressure. It struck me that the exploitation of this aspect of human behaviour (among others) is exactly how the likes of Hitler & Stalin rose to and subsequently held power, but I seemed to be the only person in the auditorium thinking this as I sat quietly at the back watching my colleagues getting high on group euphoria, enthusiastically banging their plastic tubes...

[isenhand]

<<enthusiastically banging their plastic tubes.>>

Ah, chimpanzees

<<The only thing it demonstrated to me was how willing people are to do what they're told, regardless of how far out of their "comfort zone" it may push them - especially when presented with enough peer group pressure.>>

And we learn from that what it is to be human No wonder we?re in a mess.

[thorgal]

Yeah, I perfectly understand what you mean, this feeling of distance that makes you contemplate the surrounding crowd's irrational or blind behavior. And the question : "what the hell am I doing here ?? I am not like them!"

But as I realized, you're definitely not the only one to feel this. Your example shows to me (as did other occasions I experienced) that individuals, even if they are aware that they're doing something as odd as what you described, have a hard time daring being the black sheep. You need some guts to stand up and say to an audience : this is bullshit, look at yourselves! Many individuals do not feel comfortable in taking this role, but a reasonable fraction would in fact support the daring one. When no one claims that role, you get what you describe. Of course, it doesn't remove the fact that a good fraction of the crowd is enthusiastic about whatever they are told to do, and are not feeling weird about it.
But don't feel you're one against many. If you dare speaking up, you could be surprised to see how many actually feel like you but are too shy to express themselves.

[Joe]

Yeah, you're right. I guess another "bright side" to it all is that people won't waste money making tubes out of plastic after Peak Oil

[oobers]

Nice Weather today.

Just thought I'd rejuvinate this nice cheery thread and bring it full circle.

I had been wondering if there was anywhere on this board where we were considering some upsides to PO and quite by accident, whilst searching for any evidence of people who had tried growing coffee here in the UK, stumbled upon this thread. What a nice surprise!

Could transport expense put an end to the illegal drugs trade? Or will a surge in depression just make people more determined to get hold of the stuff? Oops, not so cheery. Sorry

[Andy Hunt]

Could transport expense put an end to the illegal drugs trade? Or will a surge in depression just make people more determined to get hold of the stuff?

I think people will probably 'grow their own'! As they have done since time immoral . . .

[skeptik]

Could transport expense put an end to the illegal drugs trade? Or will a surge in depression just make people more determined to get hold of the stuff? Oops, not so cheery. Sorry

I dont think so. PO will have most effect on high bulk / low value items where transportation cost is a high proportion of final retail cost. Illegal drugs are very low bulk high value items.

A kilo of pure cocaine has a street value an order of magnitude higher than a kilo of muesli.

The price of the transportation fuel as a portion of the retail price of ilegal drugs is miniscule. Fuel costs could double a number of times before there was an appreciable effect on price. For the people involved it's far more important that the trade remain illegal, in order to maintain its uniquely high profitability. I dont think they're worried about fuel cost.

[Totally_Baffled]

Could transport expense put an end to the illegal drugs trade? Or will a surge in depression just make people more determined to get hold of the stuff? Oops, not so cheery. Sorry

I dont think so. PO will have most effect on high bulk / low value items where transportation cost is a high proportion of final retail cost. Illegal drugs are very low bulk high value items.

A kilo of pure cocaine has a street value an order of magnitude higher than a kilo of muesli.

The price of the transportation fuel as a portion of the retail price of ilegal drugs is miniscule. Fuel costs could double a number of times before there was an appreciable effect on price. For the people involved it's far more important that the trade remain illegal, in order to maintain its uniquely high profitability. I dont think they're worried about fuel cost.

Maybe.

But the countries that produce the stuff could be in absolute chaos.

Post peak Columbia /Afghanistan etc etc will be very nasty places. They have little to survive on now, let alone when their best customers are also totally skint.

[skeptik]

But the countries that produce the stuff could be in absolute chaos.

Exactly what drug traffickers like.

[MacG]

For the people involved it's far more important that the trade remain illegal, in order to maintain its uniquely high profitability. I dont think they're worried about fuel cost.

Spot on. Our societies pay tremendeous subsidies to the illegal drug trade just by keeping it "illegal". When societies crumble the profits in the drug trade will disappear.

[Totally_Baffled]

But the countries that produce the stuff could be in absolute chaos.

Exactly what drug traffickers like.

LOl yeah, but starving poppy producers dont produce very much !