Blow up man women's best buddy

He fits in a car's glove box, appears at a flick of a switch and, when a woman has finished using him, she can just pull the plug and he deflates.

He's the "Buddy on Demand," a blow-up man launched in London with the aim of making solo female motorists feel less nervous about driving at night.

The Buddy on Demand is being offered to female Brit drivers by Sheilas' Wheels, the British car insurance company, with a somewhat Australian name (in Australia the women's name Sheila is an expression used to refer to all women, especially sexy looking ones). The life-size figure is being offered to deter road rage attacks, carjacking and intimidating behavior by other motorists. Buddy is stored in the glove box and fills with air in 60 seconds when connected to a car’s cigarette lighter socket.

Research by the car insurer shows that 4 out of 5 women (82%) say they feel safer behind the wheel when there’s someone sitting beside them – but of course it’s impossible to always travel with a partner, friend or relative. This is where having a ‘Buddy on Demand’ can reduce the fear associated with driving alone.

"We're not saying that an inflatable man is the only answer but we do hope it will give women extra confidence and make journeys in the dark less fearful," said Jacky Brown, spokeswoman for Sheilas' Wheels.

According to Wikipedia, and confirmed by a Brit friend of mine, Sheilas' Wheels is probably best known for its advertising jingle on its television advertisements, sung in a mock mixture of Australian and British accent. It is widely acclaimed as one of the most annoying adverts ever. To see the ad and hear the jingle, visit: ilovesheilas.com, the official Sheilas' Wheels fan site.

For online insurance quotes visit Sheilas' Wheels and get a 10% discount.

A Follow On Story

Is the use of inflatable dolls while driving a new idea? Apparently not. In some parts of the world (e.g. US, Australia) motorists have placed inflatable dolls in the passenger seat to avoid fines for driving alone in car pool or express lanes; lanes limited to cars with more than one passenger at least during parts (e.g. peak hours) of the day. On this, I've read that police in the US train heat detectors on the passengers so the demand moved to inflatable dolls which give off a heat signal. As reported in Times Online, American police have caught drivers using their dogs to trick officers into thinking they were carrying a passenger and in California, a woman contested a fine on the ground that she was pregnant at the time and the unborn child was her passenger. Judge John Stipech in Denver, Colorado, fined a man $100 for dressing his mannequin named “Tillie” to make her look as realistic as possible and had her riding shotgun in his car as a decoy-passenger in the HOV (“high occupancy vehicle) lane of U.S. Highway 3. Judge Stipech did not stop there, continuing with his sentence that the man, Greg Pringle, 54, was also ordered to stand four one-hour sessions with his Tillie by the side of the Colorado highway with a large (4 ft by 2 ft) sign saying: “The HOV lane is not for dummies.” The judge added: “But remember, the dummy is not charged with anything.” Apparently, the Judge also ordered that any profits from Tillie's sale or if Pringle ends up on David Letterman’s show, then the proceeds must be donated to a driver safety awareness program.

Tillie was put up on ebay on March 20, 2006 with the proceeds going to Alive at 25, a driver safety awareness program. A company called Video Professor purchased the dummy on March 23, at the highest bid of US $15,000 and planned to take Tillie to various events and later auction her off again for charity.

See the freetilillie.com website and read this Colorado State Patrol press release to see how Tillie became Colorado’s most famous dummy.

Women Light Up

Talking about anti-smoking advertising campaigns, even as rates decline for men, worldwide more women are taking up smoking and activists blame tobacco-company marketing in the developing world.
According to a International Network of Women Against Tobacco report based on World Health Organisation data and released on Thursday, July 20, 2006 at a conference sponsored by the American Cancer Society, 12 percent of women worldwide smoke, and that figure is tipped to rise to 20 percent by 2025. International Network of Women Against Tobacco

A Grave View!

I just love this poster ad, shown here posted on the ceiling of a smoking room with young smokers looking up to it. Titled ‘Cemetery’ the poster is part of an anti-smoking campaign by the Cancer Partients Aid Association. The ad was created by Everest Brand Solutions (previously Everest Integrated Communications) of Mumbai, India and won a Bronze Award at Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival 2006. This agency is one of the most “Creative” agencies in India. The agency defines creativity as that which gets the client the highest impact at the lowest cost. There's lots of creativity in this anti-cancer ad!

As shown in the image, these life-sized posters depict the faces of solemn men and women staring down as though looking into a freshly-dug grave. Apparently they are posted on the ceilings of hotel lobbies, waiting areas of buildings, the landings of staircases and other areas where people tend to smoke. When the smokers look up they would feel as though they were inside a grave with people looking down on them as if they had died.......driving home the message that smoking kills. It doesn't really get more subtle than that. I'm sure you'll agree that it makes a hell of a statement. It’s a powerful message delivered in the most simple of ways.

For more anti-smoking ads, see "Collection of Anti-Smoking TV Ads".

Fluff

I received this email form a close friend and thought it would make an interesting read....

Hey Jana,

I enjoyed hearing about your new blog, God's Waiting Room, when we spoke a couple of weeks ago. I said that I really liked the idea and we chatted about a few things but you mentioned that you'd love to hear more about this incident that happened to me some years ago. Well here's the story.

When I was young I talked mum and dad into buying me a Samoyed and we called it Sam. Now Sam was a lovely looking dog but he was always up to no good. He'd pull clean clothes off the line and play and roll around with them in the yard, and mum wasn't too happy about that. He'd dig holes in the back lawn and chew the garden hoses, and dad wasn't to happy about that. Well on it went, he was just always up to no good.

Our elderly next door neighbours, Mr and Mrs Wilson had a pure white rabbit. His name was Fluff and you guessed it, he had a very fluffy coat. Fluff was a very special and much loved rabbit and I'll explain why. The Wilsons kept Fluff simply to entertain their young grandchildren who used to play with it when they came over to visit their nan and grandpa. Mr Wilson would often let Fluff out of his cage and let him run around and eat in their enclosed backyard. I'd often stand up on the fence and Mr Wilson used to let him out for me to watch and he'd sometimes also lift me over and let me play with Fluff on the lawn. I'd hold him and cuddle him like any young kid would do to such a gorgeous rabbit.

One day, I was 12 or possibly 13 at the time, the Wilsons went away for the week-end. I was alone at home at the time doing some homework and I think mum and dad had gone out either to grandma's or possibly to the supermarket to do the weekly grocery shopping and I heard Sam repeatedly barking in the back yard. Eventually I got up and to have a look. Well I nearly died. My heart sunk down low into my chest and was beating so hard that my chest hurt. I cried my heart out as I watched dumb Sam running around our back yard, and yes you read ahead correctly, with Fluff dangling from his mouth. Sam had dug himself under the side fence and just brought Fluff over to our place to play with, I guess. But I could see that Fluff was in a very bad way as his pure white coat was now just covered in blood and dirt. I just starred out of the window with disbelief and saw all this happening before my own very eyes. Fluff was obviously dead and his body was just swinging lifelessly as Sam grasping it by the neck, swung it backwards and forwards as he played with it, I guess. Every now and then he'd drop Fluff on the ground and sit back with his tail swinging and hind up high, and his head and muzzle down low on the ground just eyeing Fluff laying on the ground just in front of him. He'd then pick Fluff up and run around the yard a bit more before dropping him on the ground and repeat this awful game that he was playing. I know that I cried my heart out and just shit myself something really terrible.

I just thought don't worry about being grounded Adam as your life had just come to a sudden end; I would soon be leaving God's waiting room. I ran out of the back door and screamed and yelled at Sam but he just thought that I wanted to join him in the fun I guess as he made me chase him around the backyard with Fluff in his mouth and me running after him with tears just pouring down my face trying to catch him. At a distance he would drop Fluff in front of him and repeat this ritual that I mentioned earlier as if to wait and see Fluff get up and run away but of course he didn't and then when I got close Sam would just pick Fluff up again and run off to another part of the yard. This went on for quite a while fortunately, in some ways, I was alone at home at the time but I do remember thinking that some help would have been handy. I eventually managed to grab Fluff by the end but Sam by then had picked him up by the other end and it almost turned into a tug of war. My heart was beating something terrible as I just new something awful was about to happen but then as if there was some divine intervention, Sam just let go for that split second ands I managed to raise lifeless Fluff up high above me in the air. Sam was determined to try to get him back off me but I managed to run into the house with him.

I really didn't know what to do and just kept thinking that any time now the Wilsons or mum and dad would return home. In a moment of desperation and panic, and with Sam at my feet and just staring at me the whole time I decided to wash the blood and dirt off Fluff's coat so I dunked him in luke-warm water in the laundry tub and scrubbed him with soap and water and after drying him with mum's hair dryer, I covered the body with Baby Powder. I then scaled the side fence and placed Fluff back in his cage. My plan was that this way it would seem that fluff simply died in his cage, well that was the plan. I then also gave Sam a bit of a wash as he was also covered in some blood. After this ordeal I returned to m y room and tried hard to finish my homework. Not long after mum and dad returned and I recall mum coming into my room and asking how I was going and I said something like oh don't worry mum, every thing's under control. We had dinner and it seemed that we just got on with life, but that was short lived.

A few days passed and mum mentioned that the Wilsons had returned so I knew it wouldn't be long before all hell would break lose but funnily more days passed and still nothing was mentioned so I thought that my plan had worked. In fact I felt proud of my ingenuity. It was late on the Tuesday or Wednesday the week after the incident we were just finishing dinner and the front door bell rang. Dad answered the door and I heard him say come on in Edna and Bert......the Wilsons had returned. I knew then that my time of reckoning had suddenly come. I sneaked out of the kitchen and hid in the coat closet but could hear mum and dad clearly chatting to the Wilsons now seated with them around the kitchen table. Mum and dad asked about the holiday that they had and the Wilsons said it was fantastic. They chatted for seemed eternity as I squatted in the dark closet petrified and trembling with fear of what was going to happen. I just waited for the moment that I would hear dad scream out my name "A D A M" at the top of his voice! But it didn't happen. Just a friendly low key chat but then I heard Edna say to mum, "you know Mary, a funny thing happened while we were away." "It sure is funny," added Mr Wilson. "And what was that" almost simultaneously mum and dad asked. "Well," replied Mrs Wilson. "On the Friday morning before we left Bert found Fluff dead in his cage and so he buried him in one of the back garden beds but the funny thing is that on the day after we returned we found Fluff back and just laying dead in his cage!"

Prankster's Concrete Balls

Reported in Ananova on Tuesday 4th July was that German police are hunting a 'prankster' who has been filling footballs with concrete and leaving them around Berlin with signs saying: "Can you kick it?"

Apparently six of the concrete stuffed footballs have been found so far, all chained to fences. It's reported that a spokesman for the Berlin police said: "So far two young men, a 21-year-old and a 23-year-old, have been treated for injuries to their feet after kicking the footballs.

"We think they could have been left by someone who is sick of the FIFA World Cup and are investigating the matter as the balls seem to be deliberately designed to injure."

If anyone sees one of these concrete footballs please take a shot as I'm sure we'd all love to see it.

This could only happen in God's waiting room.....