Saturday, October 18, 2008

If A High life Man Falls In The Forest, You Will Not Hear Him Complain


Miller High Life (full disclosure: totally my brand) has brought back it's "limited-edition fall series" ad campaign, bringing you six packs of tall boys in camouflage printed cans perfect for your upcoming fall sporting event. Read: beer that is specially designed for your hunting trip.

For those of you playing along at home, this means High Life has upped the ante on it's own campaign last year of hunter's vest orange cans sold in 24 or 30 can hunting themed cases. But this time around, you can not only get drunker while firing rifles into dense undergrowth - you can be effectively invisible while doing it.

Now, I didn't grow up hunting, unless you can stretch your definition of the sport to stalking Pink Demons through digital labyrinths, so maybe I just don't get it. I mean, I've been on my fair share of fishing expeditions, and I understand the important role that beer can play in the sporting life. The difference being that I'm not likely to mortally wound a dear friend with a rod or reel, unless, I suppose, I was trying really hard. And I know, that, whether I understand it or not, and whether or not it appeals to my admittedly sissified liberal sensibilities, people are going to discharge high powered rifles while drinking heavily, and thus, beer companies are going to base multi-million dollar advertising campaigns, and even brands, around just that pastime. Fine.

But really, camouflage? Did the deer catch on to the orange cans? Are the creatures of the forest this much smarter than us? Have we fallen so far, that we can't even afford the luxury of being able to see one another while we drink and shoot guns? That can't say anything good.

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Gearing Up to Lawyer Up?

I listened to the debate on the radio last night, and thus didn't catch a lot of the facial expressions that McCain was being docked for by analysts. In clips this morning, I see what people were talking about. The Arizona senators aggressiveness was accompanied by an unattractive edginess, something that was especially unbecoming considering the Obama campaigns recent charges of McCain's erratic personality. And that look on TV is something that matters to viewers. Just ask Richard Nixon. That's interesting, because as I listened, I had the thing scored mostly a tie, and it was definitely McCain's best performance - he was on message and on the offensive, and nastiness aside, he did well, though he didn't deliver the game changing performance that common sense says he needed to.

That said, when you base your last month of campaign ads and your entire debate strategy on calling your opponent's readiness and reputation into question, it's hard to put all nastiness aside. I was particularly struck by this startlingly strong comment by McCain that was almost lost in the sea of references to an Ohio plumber last night. (Italics mine)

We need to know the full extent of Senator Obama's relationship with ACORN, who is now on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy.


Now, we all expected McCain to be on the attack, and he was. But this line seems like it carries something more. It's the sort of thing I would say if I was staring down the barrel of a loss in the November election and was considering challenging vote counts in close states. With the GOP turning all of their guns on McCain's former friends at ACORN, and McCain himself now talking about the threat to the basic fabric of American democracy that the group represents, it wouldn't be shocking to learn that the campaign was preparing the paperwork for a Bush v Gore style contention.

Am I being too cynical? I certainly hope so. But with raids being carried out on registration offices already, I don't think a challenge of at least one close state is out of the question, though that decision may rest in how close the election ends up being on November 4th.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Protecting Us From Ourselves and Each Other

Just about any handgun you can buy these days comes with a safety on it. The safety, as it's name suggests, is a neat little device that, when activated, prevents a trigger pull from firing the weapon. And it's a common feature on handguns because people are, by and large, stupid and irresponsible, which leads to us doing things that are stupid and irresponsible while wielding handguns. And if you have to let stupid, irresponsible people have dangerous things that they probably don't really need, then it's at least a good idea and more akin to a public service to at least include an off switch.

And while firearms manufacturers grudgingly arrived at this idea years ago, other industries are just now catching on to the fact that, regardless of what your local Bob Barr supporter will tell you, we do occasionally need protection from ourselves and the stupid, clumsy or ill advised things we get up to. This is the same reasoning that last week brought us a Gmail widget that makes you think twice before sending that slightly plowed rant to you boss or ill advised declaration of true and undying love to your ex. And it's presumably the motive behind the DriveAssist software system from Canadian tech firm Aegis Mobility, a nifty piece of gadgetry for your cell phone that senses when you're driving, forwards your calls to voicemail and won't allow you to call out while you're piloting a half ton of metal and plastic at sixty miles an hour down the freeway. There are certainly plenty of things to work out about the technology, which will be available as a monthly subscription service in the United Kingdom early next year. For one thing, a pay service will probably wind up appealing only to those responsible drivers who need this respite the most.

And there are bound to be technical kinks to work out as well. Will it let you talk on the phone when you're on a bus or train. What about when you're just riding in a car? And there's the rather creepy matter of it being able to tell callers where you are when they call, a cringe inducing feature that will lead to no shortage of uncomfortable explanations from philandering spouses, to be sure. But just like a safety, it's an imperfect solution to but one symptom of the seemingly intractable problem of humans being, but I'd rather someone have it than not.