Go north, young man

If you travel into Oil City, PA, from nearby Franklin, you'll come to this intersection. All three of those routes do indeed lead northward.

So, you're out there driving along and minding your own business, when suddenly, it's time to make a decision. The options really look different: you can go left, right, or straight ahead - it seems like all the choices a person could want. And yet, no matter what you pick, you're gonna end up going in about the same direction, anyway.

Is it just me, or is there an allegory in there somewhere?

Yep, they're still in business

I have nothing to say about these guys that I haven't already said, so here's the current sign from Short Street Motor Cars. Enjoy!

My mother's sister's daughter's cousin is confused

I took this somewhere in the Denver suburbs fully six months into the Obama administration. The Lennon sticker is straightforward enough, but the other one has me perplexed. Is it somehow beneficial to make someone go through a brain teaser to figure out who you're supporting, or is there some really subtle humor here that I'm not fully grasping? Anyone?

When you find yourself in a hole, keep digging!

Well, I guess I wasn't the only one who noticed the last sign from Short Street Motor Cars. Apparently someone dropped by and accused them of hating Obama just because of the color of his skin. So they decided to respond the best way they know how:


I'm not even going to comment on the other problems with this, because I see that they've given themselves away with just one word. They're telling the truth: they don't hate Obama because he's black.

"Facism"? Clearly, they hate Obama because he has a face!

Brilliant marketing strategy

Granted, the area I'm in right now (Oil City, PA) is rather conservative - McCain carried the county by 19 percentage points. But still, 40% of the votes cast here in that election were for Obama.

Really, I wish I had an award to give out, because this is genius: Use your business's sign, not to extol the virtues of the products or services you offer, not to provide useful information to prospective customers; use it to gratuitously insult two-fifths of your potential clientele.

Bravo, Short Street Motor Cars. I hope you beat the odds and manage to stay in business. I'm sure you'll be good for a few dozen more posts here.

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And lest you think this is a one-off, their last message on that sign (which I apologize for not getting a photo of) was about the state's senior Senator, after his recent party change: "Arlen Specter / A self serving American traitor". Keep up the good work, guys.

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UPDATE 1 Sept. 2009: The company has now responded to criticism of this sign. My prediction is starting to come true already. :)