STBO

It's good to see the operators of the ferries that ply the Solent take safety seriously, even at the risk of stating the bleedin' obvious (although if the ferry took on a list the warning might become inaccurate).

By the way, Douglas Adams' excellent Meaning of Liff offers a rather sweet definition of 'insolent': 'Fallen off the Isle of Wight Ferry'.

And on the subject of my beloved island, this very morning Mrs A spotted a car sticker proclaiming the driver as Wight trash. Fair enough; we are, after all, living in the Deep South!

Stating the obvious with Barack and Britney

According to a current BBC News story:

Of the billions of searches carried out on the portal, Yahoo.com, over the last year, Mr [Barack] Obama was third behind [singer Britney] Spears and World Wrestling Entertainment.

Mr Obama was, however, the most searched-for politician during 2008.

Isn't that second par rather obvious, seeing as neither Britney Spears nor the WWE are politicians?

BBC News: Britney more popular than Obama

Running over cyclists with truck = bad thing

Found a news story with a great example of stating the obvious – or rather, quoting the obvious. In the story, the technical manager of a major insurer is quoted as saying:

“Apart from the moral obligation to more vulnerable road users, killing or injuring cyclists can seriously damage truck companies’ reputations.”

So if you mow down cyclists with a truck, people will think less of you. That's good to know.

Think of your reputation!