June 28, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: St. Croix newspaper article

Bob Sifniades submits a scan of a Health and Fitness article from the St. Croix Avis newspaper:

The St. Croix Avis, a US Virgin Islands newspaper published this AP article about body fat with a photo showing an MRI scan image.

The caption of the photo reads: The image is of an average-sized man who is 1.9 meters tall, weighs 79 kilograms and has a normal index of 21.7. Internal fat is show as yellow, external fat is green and muscles are red.

The image and the caption do not match - The image is distorted to make the figure look fat, most Americans don't know the metric system (FYI, 1.9 meters is 6 feet 3 inches, which is quite above average - 79 kilograms is 174 pounds), and the photo is in black and white so you can't see which parts of the image are muscle or internal and external fat.

June 25, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Rehearsal studio door bell

Felix Wells submits a picture taken in Kentish Town, London:

Me and my band spotted this doorbell at a rehearsal studio in Kentish Town. We were trying to figure out where the door bell was for a very long time before we figured out that the arrow was irrelevant and the door bell was staring us in the face.

Congratulations if you can figure out what the arrow is for - it appeared to be pointing at the door.

June 20, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Suggestion box at San Jose Airport

Gene Manuel submits a picture taken in San Jose, CA:

I spotted this suggestion box sign next to gate A2 at Norman Y. Mineta/San Jose International Airport while waiting for a flight.

A suggestion box is a great idea for soliciting advice on the retail and food services but the problem was that the actual suggestion box itself was missing. 

Maybe the people in charge of the suggestion box were reviewing the submissions, but from the look of the two holes in the drywall someone seemed like they were in a hurry.  The other problem was that it wasn’t near the food courts or shops, with the exception of the burrito place that the sign was posted across from.

June 19, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Bonsai nursery air plant product description

Jason Sherrill writes:

I found a Bonsai nursery air plant on Amazon.com. In the product features, the seller claims that no watering is required for this air plant.

However, in the product description, the care instructions state: "Provide bright or subdued indirect sunlight, humidity, warmth, and weekly watering."

So does this Bonsai need watering or not?

June 13, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Tide "High Efficiency" laundry detergent

J.D. Pierce writes in:

Regular Tide Free will get you 32, unscented, dye free uses.

High Efficiency Tide Free will get you 26 unscented, dye free loads of wash.

Both are 100 oz.

So, what does "High Efficiency" really mean?

June 12, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Shower head packaging

Philip J. Hollenback points out:

I found this Helping Hand product at Gristedes in New York City. The packaging reads 'Flapper Tank Ball' but this is clearly a shower head.

June 8, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Map color scheme

Preston Dyches points out:

The map above appears on a page providing directions to the hotel where I stayed called Hotel Avante.

If it wasn't a map, I'd applaud the creator for its appealing design.

However, it *is* a map, and since it is intended to assist those who may not be familiar with the area in finding their way, the use of blue to indicate land and white to indicate water is broken because it is disorienting.

June 5, 2007 12:23 AM

Broken: Detroit airport bathroom stall door

Doreen Sawani writes:

A bathroom stall door I encountered in a lady's bathroom in the Detroit Metro Airport has a handle on the same side as the door hinge. When I first came upon this door, which was in the open position, I saw the handle and, in my haste, grabbed it and pulled. Such is the suggestive power of a handle. It took me a moment to realize that pulling the handle was completely pointless.

June 4, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Airline magazine Route 66 article image

Alex Tyler points out:

I was on an international flight from China to San Francisco last May and was flipping through the airline's in-flight magazine.

The magazine contained a little article on Route 66 and I couldn't help laughing when I saw that they had placed Los Angeles in Alaska on the map instead of in California!

The magazine editors clearly need a geography lesson.

June 1, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Photocopier sign

Chris Gurney submits a picture taken in Toronto, Canada:

I thought that the sign posted on a photocopier in my friend's condo building deserved a photo.

It reads:
25 CENTS PER COPY. 
DO NOT USE QUARTERS.

May 28, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: AED Box at Oxford station

Ian Chard submits a picture taken at Oxford station in the UK:

This Automated External Defibrillator (AED), a device used in an emergency if someone has a cardiac event, has been missing for over a year.

There's another one across the footbridge, but if someone's having a heart attack the last thing you want to be doing is spending 2 minutes running back and forth to an AED box that actually contains an AED!

May 24, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Chicago Transit Authority customer assistant panel

Jay Born submits a picture taken in Chicago, Illinois:

This customer assistant panel has no working button. (Spotted on the Chicago Transit Authority subway transfer tunnel between the red and blue lines.) What does this say about how much the Chicago Transit Authority cares about their customers?

May 22, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: "Employee of the Month" initiative

Todd Everett submits a picture taken at a hotel in Michigan:

I took this picture of chairs that were being stored on the reserved parking space for the "employee of the month" while I was staying at a hotel.

(My friend manages the hotel so I won't provide the name of the hotel to protect his privacy).

May 18, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: "Energy awareness" signs at JC Penney

Therese Noren writes in:

I work as a retail merchandiser and have access to off-stage areas of the stores while I am working.

On a recent visit to JC Penney in the Twin Cities Metro Area in Minnesota, I noticed these signs are hanging all over the store's off-stage areas.

The one I took a picture of shows a sign posted on a light switch that reads "Wall Switch Here."

[I'm guessing that] these signs are being posted to help bring awareness to saving energy. If so, the signs would be more effective if they actually said something like "Please turn off when not in use"!

May 14, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Setra bus vent pictogram

A reader writes in:

My employer runs a coach bus manufactured by Setra for associates who need to commute between company sites. The overhead panels in the bus include the vents depicted below.

The pictograms for "open" and "closed" are the least intuitive I've ever seen.

Anybody have any guesses whether "rectangle" or "oval" means open?

May 5, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Mainstays Caulk Remover packaging

Scott Purcell points out:

I bought this product at a Wal-Mart in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. It is a caulk remover, which is funny enough on it's own, but adding to the hilarity is the carefully translated French text on the packaging which reads:

- Removes any type of caulk or sealant
- Pateneted design provides comfort grip and precision blades
- This would be the French version
- This would be the French version
of the above bullets

Despite the erroneous text on the packaging, the product worked pretty well and my wife was pleased at
how easily it removed my old caulk.

Maybe Mainstays concentrated so much on perfecting the product design of the caulk remover that they didn't have much time left to proofread the package design!

April 19, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Bus door instructions

Dave Reevely writes:

Here's a cell phone picture of the doors on a city bus here in Ottawa, Ontario. Bilingual signs are the norm in this bilingual city, but usually they say more or less the same thing in French and in English.

The English instructions state, "To open the door, wait for the green light, then wave hand near door."

The French instructions state, "To open the door, wait for the green light, then push the bar."

However, only the French instructions will actually get you off the bus!
The English decal must have been left over from some earlier model.

April 17, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Hotel door knob

Scales writes:

This is a picture of a door knob my friend encountered at the Galaxy Hotel in Athens, Greece.

To open the door with this door knob, you had to push the blue part in and then turn your wrist at an odd angle - making it very difficult to enter your hotel room.

April 13, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Forbes news article

A reader named Mick points out:

This text clip is from a Forbes article about Zimbabwe.

It quotes the US ambassador Christoper Dell, then puts up a link to news and stock quotes from Dell computers!

April 9, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Student loan re-payment letter

Hay Kranen from the Netherlands submits a scan of a student loan payment letter he received:

I received this letter (which is in Dutch) asking me to pay back my student loan.

The text of the letter is fine and informative, but the accompanying illustration is of a fat man who drank too much wine and ate too much fish, and is now being presented the bill.

If this is how the government thinks that students spend their loans, what else do they think of us?

A rough translation of the letter: at the top it says 'Paying back your student loan,' and at the bottom of the letter it ironically says: the IB-Groep (the institution that handles the loans) accommodates you.

April 2, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Amazon packaging

Mike Berman points out:

Amazon.com used an enormous box just for sending me a small electric shaver - they filled the rest of the box with about 20 of those little air-sacs.

They could have just sent me the electric shaver in a smaller box, which would prevented them from wasting packaging material.

March 26, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Train station posting

Ian Chard from the UK writes in:

This sign, or a variant thereof, has been on display in the ticket office of Kingham station in Oxfordshire, in the UK for at least two years. It reads:

Urgent Information

Please do not leave the station if the information screens are showing that your train may be late.

We regret that on occasions we have problems with the operating system please bare [sic] with us.

The information screens at all stations on the Cotswold line, including the major Oxford station, vary between displays of correct train information, randomly fluctuating departure times, impossible train descriptions (e.g. stations out of order or repeated), a display of "CANCELLED" when the train is in fact running... everything except a game of Tetris. 

Platform announcements, all automated, are similarly affected. You'd think that two years would be enough time to get this debacle fixed, or at least work around it. 

The problem is compounded by the public address system at the more minor stations on the route, which can't be used by local staff:  they can only play the automated announcements. 

So, Kingham's ticket office staff have taken to screaming across the platform when a problem really does occur!

March 21, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: DirecTV promotional offer

Dale Crawford writes:

I recently activated DirecTV and got the following form along with my sign-on package. The offer is for $150.00 “Cash Back,” but when you read the fine print, you learn that “Cash” according to DirecTV is a $10 per month credit on your bill for 15 months.

Furthermore, this “cash back” cannot be redeemed for actual cash. I think that when it’s time to pay my bill, I should pay in “Cash.” I’ll give them a $10 credit towards me paying my bill every month for 15 months.

Adding insult to injury, the form clearly states that reproductions of the redemption form are strictly prohibited. That’s all well and good, except that the original form itself is a photocopy.

Now that’s broken.

March 17, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: J.D. Power demographic question

Dmitri Mikhailov points out this J.D. Power and Associates demographics question, which asks:

Are you

- Yes, Cuban
- Yes, Mexican, Mexican American
- Yes, Puerto Rican
- Yes, Other
- No

What does being "No" mean?

March 15, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Lowery Park Zoo flyer

Shawn Kelly points out:

The pricing scheme below is on the back of a flyer for the Lowery Park Zoo in Tampa Florida:

Adults ( ages 12-49)
Seniors (60+)
Children ( Ages 3-11)
Ages 2 and under are FREE

How much is admission for people that are between 50-59?

Or are people between the ages of 50-59 not allowed to visit the zoo?

March 10, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Wired.com Daylight Savings article

Paul Collett points out:

This February '07 Wired.com article about Daylight Savings Time writes about the change in Daylight Savings Time, which from now on starts earlier in the year. The problem is that the article's animated graphic (static screenshot shown at left) shows the clock moving back, when people need to set their clocks forward. That's a pretty big detail to miss. [Remember to spring forward tomorrow, Sunday. -mh]

March 2, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Pharmacy refill label

Paul Morgan points out:

What does "3.6 refills" mean? I can understand 1 or 2 refills, or maybe even 1.5 (for half a month's supply or something like that)... but 3.6??

February 15, 2007 09:27 AM

Broken: Misuse of the word "some"

From a New York Times story today:

"Firedoglake.com has offered intensive trial coverage, using some six contributors in rotation."

What does "some six contributors" mean? Wouldn't "six contributors" be more accurate? Or does the reporter not know how many contributors there are? Then the word should be "about", not "some."

I see this all the time: newspapers and magazines say "some" when they really mean "about." The summary above could have said that the site is "using about six contributors."

I think that journalists don't like "about" because it clearly states that they don't know quite what the number is. "Some" sounds more accurate without actually being accurate. That's a cheap upgrade.

Broken: Road border paint job

Benedict Herold writes in:

I watched Seth Godin's talk from the Gel 2006 conference. This picture illustrates the 'Not my job' category that Seth discusses in his talk.

This picture, taken in India, shows a tree branch lying on the road.  Whoever painted the border on the road did not bother to move the branch and instead painted the border around the wood, which resulted in a crooked line.

February 9, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Fake invoice in the mail

Ryan Marle writes in:

I received in the mail something from "ListingCorp" that looks exactly like an invoice, except for the fact that I know I didn't register ryanmarle.com with this company.  In fact I've never even heard of Listing Corp.  It's a solicitation to pay a lot more money to switch my domain registrar.  It makes me wonder how many people would pay it without even thinking about it.

They did manage to put one line in small print on the back that says, "This is not a bill. This is a solicitation." How nice of them to cover themselves like that.

February 7, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Disney DVD credits

Randall Cooper points out:

The latest collectible set of Disney Treasures DVDs came out, with the long-awaited title - Your Host, Walt Disney.  It features over seven and a half hours of material featuring the familiar, kindly visage of “Uncle” Walt as we came to know him growing up in the 1950s and 60s. 

But at the end of one piece, the credits include an unfortunate misspelling (emphasis mine): "We hope you have enjoyed this special presentation of Disnelyand U.S.A. at Radio City Music Hall..."

February 1, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Impassable staircase

From Esther Dyson's Flickr photostream:

This staircase that goes neither up nor down is part of the Lloyd's heaqduarters building, at the corner of Leadenhallband Lime Street in London.

This is the kind of staircase you see in anxiety dreams.

January 24, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Self-serve ice bag freezer warning

Rachele DiTullio submits a picture taken at a Wal-Mart in Austin, Texas:

At my local Wal-Mart, there is an interesting sign on one of the self-serve ice bag freezers.

The sign warns: "Caution!!! Ice bag will drop from machine ceiling without notice!"

I agree that this is a cause for concern, however there are other freezers just to the right of the one making the ice. They should set it up so that only employees can access the ice-making freezer and then move them into a less dangerous freezer for customer access.

January 20, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Buzzer menu

A reader submits a picture taken in New York City:

This is the buzzer menu for a building located on the corner of Lafayette Street and Kenmare Street in Soho.

Which button would you press to to buzz the concierge?

January 16, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Office emergency exit door

Jeroen Bouwens writes in:

Imagine the building is on fire. You're surrounded by flames, there's panic everywhere and the only way you are going to live is by opening this emergency exit - it consists of a heavy sliding door that is locked by a mechanism designed by an engineer who did his best to make the task as hard as possible.

The "doorknob" is a smooth metal cylinder that takes a lot of force to turn. On top of that, unlocking is done by turning the knob CLOCKWISE. Yes, that's the direction all other doors in the world use for locking.

Also, the "manual" you see on the door was only added after we complained to the building manager that this was a really broken system. When we told her that this was not the fix we had in mind, she turned all indignant on us and refused to talk about it any longer.

Finally, this is located in the Netherlands. While most people speak English well enough, it seems a sign in our native language would be more appropriate. This may be the most broken emergency exit in the world...and it's in my office!

January 2, 2007 12:03 AM

Broken: Barricade at Cornell University

Zach Lipton submits a picture taken in Ithaca, New York:

This is a photograph I took on the Cornell University campus. A barricade was placed inexplicably in the middle of a pathway, forcing everyone to detour on to the grass to get to the event tent.

The barricade is captioned "Providing a safer environment for the visually impaired" - which makes one wonder how large objects in the middle of a walkway wouldn't be somewhat hazardous for the blind, not to mention for the trampled grass around the barricade.

December 28, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Emergency Exit door on Carnival Valor Cruise ship

Flickr user Pboy points out:

I saw this Emergency Exit door on Carnival Valor Cruise ship.

Where do the passengers exit in an emergency?

December 23, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Zalmar.com gift wrapping

Jeff Grobaski writes in:

I ordered a TV from Zalmar.com and took advantage of the "gift wrapping" option.

Not only did they "gift wrap" an LCD TV purchased in the month of December in BABY WRAPPING PAPER, but they wrapped it on the outside of the box and simply slapped a UPS shipping label on the wrapping paper!

The result is that my now my wife knows what she is getting for Christmas and now she thinks we might be having a baby as well!

December 18, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Gas pump response buttons

Joe Goldberg points out:

This gas pump in Seattle, Washington has two "yes" buttons.  I stood there for awhile trying to figure out how not to buy a car wash.

If you look carefully, you'll barely see the word "no" etched into the bottom button.

December 15, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Parking space border lines

Stefan Bucher submits a picture of a parking lot in Zurich, Switzerland:

How am I supposed to know which color marks the right borders for a parking space?

Blue, yellow, white or red?

December 8, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Home "improvement" projects

Here are two links to broken home "improvement" projects:
(Thanks to boingboing.net for the pointer)

From http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/tohnews/gallery/0,25895,1548031-1,00.html: "Wasn’t there a screen saver like this? This is a picture of some amateur plumbing work for the drain system of a home."

And from http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/tohnews/gallery/0,25895,1548031,00.html

This bathroom outlet is not a GFCI. Thank providence, this homeowner had the presence of mind to leave all of the tags on, advising of potential shock hazard, should one carelessly remove the tags.

From http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/tohnews/gallery/0,25895,1220600,00.html

December 6, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Street stop text

A reader submits a picture taken in Livermore, California.

December 1, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: St. Croix Avis newspaper headline

Bob Sifniades sends in a page from a US Virgin Islands paper:

My local paper, the St. Croix Avis, ran this headline - "Leisure hedline goes here" on October 13, 2006 for their weekly leisure column.

Oops!

November 24, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Emerson Biggins pub hours

Jacob Watrous submits a picture taken in Wichita, Kansas:

November 20, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Akeelah and the Bee DVD box credits

Mark Crummett points out:

Here, in the Akeelah and the Bee DVD box, the person under "Laurence Fishburne" is clearly not him, nor does Angela Bassett wear glasses and have a beard.

I know why the names are placed like this on the DVD box, of course - the main character's picture usually goes first, and the way the names are arranged is decided by their "star power." The most famous actor gets named first.

Still, it makes for some double-takes at the video store!

[P.S. I see this all the time on movie posters - names unaligned with headshots... does anyone know why this is, apparently, a standard practice in Hollywood? Please post a comment and enlighten us all. -mh]

November 16, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Unknown fabric at Wal-Mart

Derek Kwan writes in:

I saw this material at the fabric section at Wal-Mart in Newmarket, Ontario in Canada. The fabric label reads "100% unknown."

It would be a good idea to figure out what the fabric is made of before they decide to sell it, let alone make a label for it.

October 31, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Oil company mug

Maite Montoya writes in:

PEMEX, Mexico's national oil company, gave a promotional mug to their employees and friends. It is one of those mugs that changes color when it gets hot. When cold, the mug displays a landscape with trees and a hill of some kind in all black, as if covered in black oil.

When you pour some hot liquid in the mug, the trees disappear and an oil rig and some tankers at sea appear with what looks like a black oil spill in the water. Also, the trees are still partially visible on the background, but now they look like heavy brown smog. Disturbing!

October 20, 2006 12:23 AM

Broken: Hand soap dispenser location

Robert Hoekman points out:

This hand soap dispenser was foolishly placed on the back side of a restroom door.

So the workflow, for some unlucky winners, is something like:

1) Use restroom.

2) Dispense soap onto hands.

3) Get injured as someone walks in and flings the door into your head.

Of course, you never know when it will happen, so you just have to hope luck is on your side.

October 18, 2006 12:23 AM

Broken: Name abbreviation on logo

Chris Barr submits a picture taken in Panama City, Florida:

I saw this logo on an SUV in a parking lot in.  The company is called "Fluid Sealing Components" but the logo above contains "SSC." 

Shouldn't the logo be "FSC" to reflect the subtitle below it? 

With that in mind, I have no idea what SSC stands for since there was nothing else besides a phone number on the truck.

October 16, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: USPS change of address notification

Paul Schreiber submits a picture from Esthr's Flickr photostream:

Please notify the United States Postal Service to notify the United States Postal Service that the recipient has a new address.

October 10, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Two taps

Sean Cohen writes in:

There are quite a few public bathrooms where you'll see on the sink two taps - "hot" and "cold."

Under what circumstances would a person want to wash their hands under *either* scalding hot or freezing cold water, but not some combination of the two?

October 5, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Auto Zone job application

A reader named Brett writes in:

This is a picture of a part of a paper employment application for AutoZone.

In the "Reason for leaving your previous job" section of the application, they ask you to be specific but there is only text space big enough to write 3 words, which definitely doesn't allow enough space for a specific explanation!

October 2, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Oktoberfest date

Salem Whalen submits a picture taken in Sierra Vista, Arizona.

September 28, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Concrete truck sign

Elizabeth Perry submits a picture taken on Interstate 84 in New York and writes:

While the company may boast that they are "Not Just Concrete..." it looks as if they forgot to fill in the entire form when they requested a sign.

September 25, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Parking ticket machine

Vincent Maurin points out:

The text on this parking ticket machine near Luxembourg Airport says - "Press the green button," but there is no green button.

At least there is only one button, so its not that confusing, but they should have just input the text to display "Pressez Bouton" which means "Press the button" instead of "Pressez Bouton Vert," which means "Press the green button."

September 22, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Neorest toilet slogan

Yet another example of something that doesn't need to be called an experience.

The sales book of Neorest, a toilet manufacturer, promises "an experience beyond words."

September 15, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Walgreens naming of "Walborne"

Susie Wyshak points out the Walgreens knock-off of Airborne, the popular fizzy vitamin pill.

By naming it Wal-borne instead of Air-borne, it seems to remind us that there are lots of germs floating around at Walgreens.

September 11, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Wells Fargo buyer's defense program

A reader named Mike writes in:

September 8, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Target cart corral

Mickey Mellen submits a picture taken in Smyrna, Georiga:

Our local Target just revamped the entire inside of their store.  It took months, and it looks great.

However, a few days ago, they resurfaced the parking lot and painted new stripes, which made the parking angled.  The cart corrals (which are as wide as one parking space) are laid straight - not angled.  As a result, each cart corral chews up four parking spaces instead of just two, making for less parking.

September 5, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Hidden Marriott thermostat

Jack Mueller writes in: I was at the Marriott Pyramid North in Albuquerque, New Mexico and it was a little cold in the room, so I went looking for the thermostat. Finally I found it in the closet.

Notice that the closed door lets little or no ambient air in so the thermostat cannot sense when to turn on or off.

August 28, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Quizno's store hours

Emily Tomkins submits a picture taken in Torrington, Connecticut:

The text on the door describes the hours to a Quizno's restaurant -

Monday-Thursday: 11:00am-9:00pm
Friday-Saturday: 11:00am-9:00pm
Sunday: 11:00 9:00pm

What is the reason for having three lines of text to describe the store hours when each line gives the same information?

It would have been more efficient and easier to read if the text said:

Open everyday, Sunday - Monday: 11:00 am - 9:00 pm.

Also, they forgot the "AM" and the "-" between 11:00 and 9:00 pm on Sunday.

August 21, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Hammersmith traffic lights

Paul Adams submits a picture taken in London, England:

The mapping and information design on these traffic lights in Hammersmith bus station in London are broken.

August 15, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: ATM plaques

A reader submits a picture taken in St. Petersburg, Florida:

When I was downtown, I saw this ATM with six permanent plaques of information.

There has to be a better way to convey all the information in those six different plaques!

August 14, 2006 10:14 AM

Broken: (Seth Godin at Gel 2006)

Here's a video of Seth Godin, speaking at my Gel 2006 conference in New York City. Seth gave me the idea for This Is Broken three years ago, and here he suggests how to categorize broken things. (Bonus, he even mentions the comments page on This Is Broken itself!)

Watch video of Seth Godin at Gel 2006

Broken: Hawking book cover

Stephen Bedwell writes in:

It always aggravates me when libraries and bookstores put price tags or barcodes on the covers of books, often obscuring the title, author, or part of the synopsis on the back.

In this case, Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" becomes something entirely different.

August 4, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Rite Aid shirts

Will Andre points out:

These shirts are on sale at a Rite Aid in Studio City, CALIFORNIA. However, the shirts say:

“Team USA, Studio City, New York”

I’m not aware of the existence of a Studio City in New York, so I don’t think they were simply delivered to the wrong store on the other side of the country. The shirts should say "Studio City, California."

July 25, 2006 02:21 PM

Broken: (maybe) Home Depot self-checkout

Entertaining discussion at slashdot about Home Depot self-checkout. Link: Slashdot | Law of Unintended Consequences Strikes Grocers.

I work at Home Depot, as a cashier. I can back up all of parent's statements; people lose about fifty IQ points when faced with the self checkout. That's why ours have a cashier supervising them.

(Thanks, John S.)

July 24, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Bathroom access

A reader writes in:

Having a typepad and a sign with the code next to it seems like having a locked door with a key hanging from the handle.

July 21, 2006 11:31 AM

Broken: (comment) About the new comments-system

Hi, TIB readers -

If you've tried to add a comment today you might have noticed that we now require registration with the TypeKey system in order to post comments.

I know it's a hassle, but you only have to go through registration once, and then you remain signed in. Also, since it then remembers your signup info, you can post comments even more easily than before (since you don't have to type your name and URL every time).

We made this change because in recent months we've seen too many irrelevant comments, drowning out the legitimate comments, and forcing us to spend time manually cleaning things up.

We'll try this out for awhile, and I hope it raises the signal-to-noise level in the comments section. If not, there's always what other popular blogs like Boing Boing and Kottke have done - turn off comments altogether - but I hope to avoid that.

And now, the comments section for this post. Go ahead, let us know why this is such a broken idea ;) -mh

Broken: Swimsuit view

A reader writes in:

I was shopping Nike.com for a new (women's) swimsuit and saw this weird image of the back of the swimsuit. It looks, well, anatomically impossible - the woman's chest and bottom appear to be on the same side.

There's got to be a better way of showing what the swimsuit looks like!

July 8, 2006 09:08 AM

Broken: (List) Centuries of NYC complaints

A New York artist has compiled complaints sent to New York City mayors for centuries. Sounds a little like This Is Broken!

From Here's Proof That New Yorkers Like to Complain:

Indecency and the lack thereof are also lamented. In 1935, a correspondent asked Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia, "Would it be possible to amend the law so that girls in the burlesque shows in New York would be allowed to display their charms more without interference of the police?" In an indication of the conflicting pressures placed on public officials, the mayor's office received a letter not long after that began, "Please, Please, Please put an embargo on the new mesh swimsuit!"

July 7, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Bed model image

A reader named Kevin points out:

I saw this picture in the online catalog for Humble Abode.

Not the best place to set down a tray full of lit candles...

July 1, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Hotel toilet

Roberto Ramirez submits a picture taken in a hotel in Los Angeles, California:

If you ever stay at the Best Western hotel at Canoga Park in Los Angeles, and happen to be placed in room #202, you will see that it has an interesting bathroom design.

The toilet is arranged at a 45-degree angle from the wall, which makes for an interesting experience, to say the least.

June 27, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Electric scooter warning label

Cheeks Yorkie writes in:

I found this warning label on a razor E100 electric scooter which contains the text "This Product Moves When Used."

I don't see this as being necessary to state. Anyone who buys a scooter expects it to move. Isn't that the whole reason for buying one?!?

June 16, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Elevator panel

Marten Veldthuis submits a picture taken in France:

This elevator control panel is quite confusing.

1. There are only 4 floors in the building, so why have buttons for 5+ floors? Also, what does a '-' button do without a basement nearby?

2. What on earth does a '.' button do? Is that for people on the 2.3rd floor?

June 13, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Bank doors

Michael Champlin submits a picture taken in Derby, Kansas:

We have a branch of the Boeing Wichita Credit Union here in Derby, Kansas, and they just put in these new security doors.

Whenever I walk in, I find myself wondering, “Am I going in, or out?” These new doors certainly don’t help.

June 8, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Shower in the Waldorf Astoria hotel

A reader named Anthony points out:

I was staying at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York over the weekend. The shower knob in the hotel bathroom is broken in many ways.

I walked in the shower and read the directions below it, "pull knob."

So I did, but nothing happened, it wouldn't even budge. After realizing that the knob was already pulled, I pushed it in (if it was already pulled, why was the water not flowing?) and tried pulling it out again.

Still nothing. After doing this several times, water finally started flowing out of the faucet. Then, the water started flowing out of the shower head.

It turns out that there is a small pin to pull to get the water flowing out of the shower head which was already pulled out as well. After pushing the pin in and pulling it out a few times, the water finally started flowing.

Now for the final broken part of this shower, the temperature. You'll notice in the picture that, above the line with the 'C' and 'H' on the panel is an arrow etched into the face of the shower knob. I figured that the arrow would serve as the temperature indicator, so I turned the 'H' under the arrow. Low and behold, I got cold water.

I turned the knob and put the 'H' further under the etched arrow and got colder water. After tinkering with it for a minute, I realized that you get hot water by turning it counter-clock wise and cold water by turning it clockwise, which aligns the arrow with the opposite letter of the desired temperature.

I had to place the 'C' under the arrow to get hot water! For an expensive hotel, you would think they could design their shower to be more usable.

June 3, 2006 12:03 AM

Broken: Fire extinguisher placement

Michael Champlin writes in:

While shopping at my local JC Penny store I noticed that there looked to be a missing fire extinguisher.