Bambi NOT on ICE

You know that tall and gangly sports people are often described as being like Bambi on ice. Well, where do you think that Bambi is no longer on ICE?

ICE refers to Emirates Airlines' in flight system:

Information
Communication
Entertainment

Since Bambi is no longer shown on the ICE system it is not possible watch Disney's cartoon Bambi on Emirates now.

Poo!

DW


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The BBC Hitting Rock Bottom?

So, a Premiership footballer has been charged with assault and affray following an alleged assault in a bar. Nothing new there and not only football players can do that!

Now then, does anyone consider that a footballer potentially disgracing himself is worthy of being the second leading story on BBC News: Radio 4 news from 6 am today?

This man plays football for a living: why does that make this story of national import? I don't care who the footballer is, why is such a minor offence being made out to be a national importance?

Moreover, in my daily BBC email I see that this assault and affray is shown both under news and football. Is this really a football story? I don't think so!

DW

BBC News Falls Down the Stupid Tree ... Again

• Here we are again, happy as can be
• Listening to lots of hogwash from the BBC

They've said it before and they say it again: the number of suicides in the USA following the 1929 Wall Street Crash was exceptional. I read part of a book by JK Galbraith recently and he had a chapter on this topic. Let Galbraith tell the story:

In his classic examination of the 1929 Wall Street crash John Galbraith disabuses us of a widely held notion:

In the week or so following Black Thursday, the London penny press told delightedly of the scenes in downtown New York. Speculators were hurling themselves from windows; pedestrians picked their ways delicately between the bodies of fallen financiers.

In the United States the suicide wave that followed the stock market crash is part of the legend of 1929. In fact there was none. For several years before 1929 the suicide rate had been gradually rising. It continued to increase in that year, with a further and much sharper increase in 1930, 1931 and 1932 – years when there were many things besides the stock market to cause people to conclude that life was no longer worth living (chapter 8).

Galbraith goes on to say that in the two months following the crash the number of suicides in New York were actually comparatively low. There were in fact only two suicides on Wall Street ...

http://frontierpsychiatrist.co.uk/category/suicide/

Wall Street Crash 1929

That rather gay Aussie, Aaron, who works on the business news at BBC World yesterday compared the current global economic downturn to the 1929 crash. Completely off his trolley but he was allowed to say that without being challenged. It is well known by even the most amateur of economists that there is no effective comparison to be made between 1929 and now. It's more BBC driven hogwash but it didn't stop them showing a few news reel clips from 1929 on yet another programme today. In that programme, as a matter of interest, there was an "expert" who had learned to say that today's situation is unique. That's all, he had nothing else to say. I hope they didn't pay him for that. That was in a review programme in which three "experts" were brought in to discuss this year's financial crisis. Extremely low level, all three trying desperately not to offend each other. One of them was wearing the most ridiculous socksI've seen in quite a while: at least they matched his shirt!

Lame Duck President?

By the way, when and where did you first hear George W Bush denounced as a lame duck president? You know the story, someone thinks it's smart that they can say on the radio or television that a US President who is about to leave office must be incapable of taking decisions ... What do you think? November, October, September? How about February of this year? Some young girl of a reporter included that sentiment in a report she had put together. My guess is that there was a lottery syndicate in the newsroom: who can work in this lame duck president angle first.

DW

Merry Christmas One and All!

Christmas comes but once a year. Innit.

So, happy Christmas to all of my many readers. Hope you enjoy the next few days with those you love, doing what you want and enjoy.

And other heart felt and sloppy sentiments.

Don't worry about me though, working over the holiday. All alone. In a hotel room. By myself. In a foreign country.

Take a look at my web site's home page, by the way: revamped! Let me know your thoughts.

All the best one and all.

DW

Senior Citizen

I have impudently been asked by my barber if I am a pensioner since he gives discounts for senior citizens. I tell him to ask again in 10 years.

On Sunday, however, I was given a discount of 3 Ringgit at the Manara Tower in Kuala Lumpur on account of my age! She started by asking how old I was as I asked for a ticket to go up the tower and when I said 21 she looked completely flummoxed ... as if I hadn't understood the question.The innocence of it all!

Makes me realise that it won't be long before I am announcing to the world that "I'm 83 you know!"

It's a 33 degree very sunny scorcher today, since you ask!

DW

Free Entertainment Needed? Sit near the hat rack

Want some free but rich entertainment? Then sit yourself near the novelty hat rack in a Christmas market. You will have endless fun as old and young, male and female, couples and singles try them on.

The best sport is to be had by those who insist on having their photos taken in the hats. The more ridiculous hat the more they like it. V signs, forced smiles and endless patience all displayed.

Another mega top tip!!

DW
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... as others see us

Of course, the UK is seen around the world in any light you care to name, from fantastic to an utter waste of space.

Just watching the news on Channel NewsAsia and there were two reports on the UK:

• crapwrap
• cheese rolling

Crapwrap

In London you can pay to have someone wrap your Christmas presents so badly that your recipients will be convinced that you must have done it yourself. Apparently, as many people at one shop opted for this service as opted to have their gifts wrapped properly

Cheese Rolling

They showed several adventurous men (didn't see any women) hurtling down a very steep hill in Leicestershire (? sorry, but didn't catch the name of the village) after ... a cheese. It's a 30 year old tradition in which someone throws a round cheese so that it rolls at speed down the hill and the competitors have to chase and catch it. Good news? Not so many people had to go to hospital this time: only 19 this year, including the winner!

Madness but it's better than all that serious stuff we see in which politicians and the like illustrate how far and how quickly they are falling down and out of their stupid trees.

DW

Taxi Sir?

This happened in the street as I wandered back to the hotel:

Driver: Taxi sir?

Me: No thank you.

Driver: (without hesitation of so much as a nanosecond) Do you want a nice lady?

Me: (Sorry but I burst out laughing!!)


DW



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Is it a Barrage Balloon or just a Balloon?

It's shocking and I'm going to be sizist and sexist now.

Sitting in the departure lounge at Doha Airport, Qatar and there are many nicely slim Asian and Middle Eastern women walking around.

Then there are many, many British woman the size of barrage balloons wobbling around. What are they thinking?

• They are not healthy
• They are not attractive
• They are not cool

They are usually badly dressed too.

Then there is about one in three of these women sporting a tattoo. egads, it just gets worse.

At least they don't have the opportunity to go on a binge drinking episode while they are here do they?

This is another official rant!

DW

Pony Tails on Men

Well, hardly men are they!

I feel wretched every time I see a man sporting a pony tail. Especially sad, old and middle aged men who have either missed some boat or other or who think they are being dreamily cool.

My theory is that these pony tails pull the hair so tight against the head that it looks from the front as if the wearer has a short back and sides hair cut ... which is the hair style they REALLY want but are too stupid to admit.

That's an official rant.

DW

Are you sure?

Just read this on a news wire:

... say they have unearthed vials of perfume similar to those that may have been used by ...

Well, were they or weren't there, did she or didn't she?

DW

Long Legs: top travel tip

If you are tall and go somewhere where the population is much shorter, on average, be sure to take care when sitting down to eat in a restaurant. You WILL crack your knees if you don't.

You don't get top tips like that on those "Wow look where I am and you're not" travel programmes.

DW
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Jobs Like THAT!

You know the jobs I mean: someone calls or write or sends a text message asking you to do something really simple.

You accept the piffling challenge with a waft of your hand and a, "Don't worry! Consider it done"!

I just accepted a job like that: while you're there, can you buy me a mini Santa Claus ... I collect them from all over the world.

I set off. Hmm! This is work for a woman, I quickly decided. I then realised that while Singapore fully embraces the spirit of Xmas it does so simply by erecting Xmas Trees and draping tinsel everywhere. I found that the deep and detailed Xmas isn't here, in the shops, I mean.

That's not to say that is a bad thing, it's just the way Changi Airport is.

Well, I went into one shop and asked an assistant whether they had any toy SCs. Go to Terminal 3 she suggested. I boarded the Skytrain and got to T3. The Toy Shop is right next to the train. I found Xmas type bears and dogs and red noseless Rudolph. Oh, poo! I carried on and failed.

My eyes lit up at the sight of SC lying on top of some cotton wool in a display cabinet in an electronics shop. I asked how much they wanted for it. Not for sale she said. S$10, I offered. Again, I met a refusal.

I wandered off and even went into the Ferrari shop where there was a pukka Rudolph. Much too big and £40 to boot! I declined their kindly offer.

In the end I resigned myself to having failed and having to resort to buying Rudolph the Not Red Nosed Reindeer and returned to the toy shop, crestfallen. A job like THAT had done me in.

I plonked Rufolph on the counter but asked they had any toy SCs. She pointed at the perfect thing: the last one in the shop, suspended from a stand.

It's perfect, I said. She couldn't follow my excitement or my wittering on about it being the only one in the airport: T1 and T3 anyway.

So I bought my little SC for my friend and was content that I must have done something good today to deserve such an outcome.

DW.
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Milky Tea

I never, NEVER, have milk in my tea so why on earth am I staring at some ghastly looking milky tea that I just bought for myself?

What was I thinking?

DW

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In Common

Question: What do the UK, Singapore and Vietnam all have in common?

Answer: Slade ... So here it is merry Christmas, everybody's having fun ...

That song's played everywhere!!!

DW
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Lose $11 billion and still earn a bonus? No, thank goodness

The story is that those awfully incompetent people at Merrill Lynch have lost a total of $11 billion in the latest financial year. Never mind that the Bank of America that bought out Merrill has been provided with $25 billion in State aid.

Those awfully incompetent people have been reported as considering the payment of a BONUS of £10 million to the CEO of Merrill for performance and retention.

Erm, what performance? You lose $11 billion and that's so good that you deserve $10 million for yourself?

Retain who? Someone who lords it over such ineptitude?

Luckily, the Attorney General of the State of New York agrees that no one in such a position deserves a bonus let alone one of $10 million. So the Attorney General wrote to the Board of Merrill and said so. Read the letter here, it's great!http://www.oag.state.ny.us/media_center/2008/dec/Merrill%20Lynch.pdf

At last and well done that Attorney General!

DW

Motorbikes in Ho Chi Minh City

After an early evening snack and cup of coffee I looked out over the city from the balcony of the lounge near the top of the New World Hotel Saigon and was smitten by the number of motorbikes careening around the city. Come here and take a look as I did and you will see why I use the word careening!

I was so smitten that I immediately went down to the nearest road junction to capture what I saw. Here is just a couple of examples of what I snapped.

It was dark and I was in a hurry and even though I was there for just 10 minutes or so I think I must have seen 500 - 600 motorbikes going past me.

Fascinating!

DW

Katherine Jenkins

I recently heard that Katherine Jenkins is Britain's favourite opera singer or some such. Of course, that was on BBC early evening television and it is such arrant nonsense. However, that's not to say the lady is without talent. On the other hand, yesterday I read this in Krisworld, the in flight magazine of Singapore Airlines, December 2008 edition. The brief report on Jenkins was positive but should the editor have let this final sentence appear?

"This Welsh warbler is only just beginning"

DW

Snaps but I Need a Tripod With me

Here are a couple of snaps of Singapore and as always I find two problems:

• I always seem to hold the camera around 2 - 3 degrees off the horizontal (not important for what you see here, however!)
• I need to carry my tripod with me but never do

The first two photos are of the Fountain of Wealth just outside Suntec City Hall: normal and then on the move. The third photo is of a Christmas wreath taken on the move ... I really like the effect of the latter two photos!

DW

Sweat Bags

I took a 6 kilometre walk around Singapore yesterday and was lathered even though I took my time.

On Sunday, 7th December, they are holding the Singapore Marathon. I can't imagine the fluid intake to be needed to stave off dehydration.

DW


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