Guy Turns His Wheelchair Into A Nifty Snow Plow

Tim Taylor operates his wheelchair snowplow
in snowy Pennsylvania. Add caption

I often feel bad for people with physical disabilities in the winter.

It's hard enough for them to get around any time of year, but when there's snow, it has to be especially challenging.

Tim Taylor, 30, of West Springfield, PA is making the best of it. He uses a wheelchair, and uses one as a snowplow, says the Huffington Post.

Taylor has limited use of his hands, so he can't construct things really well, but he can design and draw and do that sort of thing.

So he designed the snowplow wheelchair and had his father and brothers fabricate it under his direction.

 It's pretty cool!

"What I have right now is a prototype. It still has some issues that need to be worked out, but that's just prompting me to find a better way to design it," Taylor said, according to the Huffington Post.

There's a video of Taylor operating his snowplow at the bottom of this post.  I wonder how well he'd do in that huge blizzard bearing down on the East Coast this weekend.

He's also working on a wheelchair with a special mount that would allow him to go out on wildlife photography excursions, which is his favorite pastime. He's been paralyzed since a 2003 accident, and the wheelchair van he has is rusting out.

Taylor considered the tried and true method for these types of situations and was going to start a GoFundMe campaign for the money.

But he'd rather earn the money. So, he wants to work as a DJ and a snowplow operator with his wheelchair, which sounds like an awesome plan.

 I'd also suggest that he market his ideas for the wheelchair plow and the wildlife photography wheelchair. It probably wouldn't hurt if Taylor tried to sell his wildlife photography too, but I don't want to tell a guy what to do.

Seems like he can handle his own life all by himself, thank you very much.  .

Though I can't resist one more suggestion, based on this quote from Taylor: "Every day there can be a new achievement, whether you have a disability or not.....A new achievement in life helps keep you positive.

He's right, of course. But maybe he can make a lucrative living as an inspirational speaker.

My Search For The Rare Great TV Ad Reveals A Few Finds

With my well documented hatred of most advertising because it's stupid, here's another effort at positive reinforcement, which I do from time to time, to tell advertisers how it's done.

A screen shot from an excellent Bell's Whiskey
ad in South Africa  

I still have not found the logic behind most television ads, which operate on the premise that if you irritate the viewer, they will buy your product.

Maybe I'm just weird because I'm the opposite. A well-done, engaging ad might encourage me to buy, otherwise, not so much.

So, in the interest of being helpful to the ad agencies, here's a few good ones, most of them found in an occasion series of articles about advertising at vice.com

First, we have this heartwarming one from Bell's Whiskey in South Africa, called "The Reader.":




Here's a great newer ad for the new citizenM Hotel in Times Square (yes, it's lower case "c" on "citizen" just to be different.

Like the ad. It's a great stop-motion feature with two towel swans. It plays up the cliches of luxury, romantic hotels. And it's a got a great punch line:





And here's a four year old commercial for Volkswagon, that reminds me of the song "Little Old Lady From Pasadena." It's pretty funny, and the song playing in the background makes it that much tackier, which I love:




Next we have this clever Russian ad from a few years back about a guy searching for an insurance company, and finding customer service at one company to be a bit lacking:





Often, public service annoucements are the best ads. This is no exception. It's from Reporters Without Borders. an organization that advocates for full, unfettered press freedom worldwide. They get their message across wonderfully with this ad. The music in the background makes the video even more perfect:

Cameleon House

Jeff has been at it again.

My houae last week...

He says he needs projects over the summer, so when I come home in St. Albans, Vermont, I often find some major changes to the property.

A few days ago, I arrived to find the house was a different color and so was the strange gargoyle lamp post I have out front.

Much better, don't you think?

And now, with a much better shade of green and
a nice red and black lamp post.