Window Ads

On rare occasion, I am taking a short trip so I decide to listen to the radio, instead of a podcast.  No matter what station I listen to, the one thing I know for sure is that there will be ads for window companies.  These commercials are always insufferable:

1. They always have some phone number that they repeat 7 or 8 times at the end of the ad.  Does anyone actually remember these numbers?  They should just say the name of the company 8 times so people can search for it on Google.

2. The special offers are ridiculous.  I swear I actually heard this one yesterday: "Some window companies have lousy specials that are only 10% or 20% off.  But for a limited time we are offering 40% OFF!!  That's right, buy one window and get the second one for 40% off."

Sigh...

Nationals "Run The Bases"

We took the kids to a Washington Nationals baseball game on Sunday 4/28/13.  They were offering a special "Run The Bases" promotion, where kids would get to run once around the bases on the field after the conclusion of the game.

It started lightly drizzling in the 6th inning, and within a few minutes they flashed a big note across the scoreboard: "Due to the hazardous conditions, the Run The Bases event has been cancelled."

This is an outrage.  First of all, it has nothing to do with the hazardous conditions.  They just don't want there to be any damage to the field.  If they really think the running could somehow damage the field (?), then they should just come out and say that is the reason.  Second, there is nothing more hazardous about slightly moist dirt than dry dirt.  If anything, the dry dirt would be more slippery and more likely to cause a scrape than the moist dirt.  Did someone run a study comparing injuries resulting from different field conditions?

Regardless, I see no reason that a child's parents can't assess the field condition and make a reasonable decision about whether it is hazardous.  There is a calculation that needs to be done, for any activity, as to whether the value gained from the activity outweighs the potential risk, given the probability of that risk.  The Nationals decided to go ahead and make that decision for everyone.  No worry for them - they already sold the tickets and don't need to issue and refunds, so why bother?

Maybe they should just put up a message during every kids event: "Due to potential terrorist activity, for your safety today's kids event has been cancelled"

This whole episode is just bad PR for the Nationals for no good reason.