Saturday, July 14, 2007

[short saturday quiz] bastille day is mentioned


Double points today:

1] The official name for the day is:

a. Fête de la Fédération

b. Ménage à trois

c. Défilés du 14 juillet

2] It always ends with the much-cheered and popular:

a. Paris Fire Brigade

b. French Republican Guard

c. Ménage à quatre

3] Chirac did but Sarkozy will not give:

a. Ménage à sept

b. The signal to begin the fireworks

c. Interviews to the press

4] Bastille Day also falls during the running of the:

a. Tour de France

b. Bulls

c. Ménage à deux

5] One of the most famous incidents was the:

a. Bastille Oath

b. Ménage à trois

c. Tennis Court Oath

Answers here.

[blogfocus saturday] bastille day is not mentioned


1] Tuscan Tony is in a similar position to Praguetory, Sicily Scene and to a certain extent … me. There are some amazing places to visit:
Yesterday was a shining example of why I'm here - beaten back en route from a visit to my favourite restaurant (Il Botteghino in Matraia, near Lucca) by their clever and cunning strategy of not announcing their new rest day of Wednesdays, we ended up in a beautiful little mediaeval hilltop hamlet near us, sitting under an umbrella at a trattoria in the square.

2] Referring to the cypriot and Nigerian drug dealers who were caught, The Lone Voice adds:

These two girls could face years in a Ghanaian jail, a nation that has no prisoner exchange with the UK. Whining on their part aside they did the crime, and if guilty they will have to do the time. Something that prisoners here in the UK don't do as we as a nation let them all out early.

3] JaneJill is up in arms about the fashionable Irish:

I have just been reading someone else’s blog and they made an offhand remark which has upset me greatly ; this person said, and I quote, ‘the Irish do not have any sense of style’ well ,that’s me annihilated (after a fashion….) I need to respond to this….. I should tell this person I have had an innate sense of dress ever since I was about three and a half and had to wear my older sister’s cast-offs; as I was taller and plumper this was never going to be a good look. I have been trying to make amends (to myself for the indignity) ever since.

4] Grendel Grendel gives us our daily dose of Alistair:

He also said Mr Blair had talked him out of resigning after Dr Kelly died, saying it would be a "disaster" for Mr Campbell. Probably not as much a disaster as it was for Dr. Kelly and his family. Mind you, I’m sure Ms Booth would have autographed a copy of your resignation letter to be auctioned off to raise money for ‘the party’.

5] William Gruff sails close to the wind in his take on the term "ban":

It seems that neology is currently à la mode or, if not, is enjoying a discreet vogue, rather like one of the more respectable fetishes. Inspired, via Tim Worstall, by Harry Haddock's splendid neologism 'bansturbation' (Nation of Shopkeepers), PJC Journal has devised a number of definitions for words taking 'ban' as their root that are not only appropriate but amusing, so much so that a couple came to Gruff's mind.

6] It's tragic that I haven't visited the inimitable Prodicus for so long. Take this paragraph, for example:

Now look, Gordon. We may get grumpy with the Americans from time to time over some ad hoc issue but you are quite mistaken if you think it's an abiding visceral dislike, as it would be with the French, for example. We may roar at some of their governors from time to time, but we do not dislike the Americans as a species. We quite like them, actually and, if push came to shove, we would rather be with them on the liberty-and-free-markets side of the see-saw than with Frau Kanzlerin Merkel and Monsieur le President Sarkozy, both of whom (in truth) reject our peculiar national spirit - with which you are not acquainted even though you may protest the contrary.

7] Celia Green reflects on a familiar theme:

Women on the whole are unsympathetic to drive and ambition, especially in other women, and from the age of 14, if not earlier, I have always had at least one woman — and usually two — networking energetically against me. A friend was saying recently how much this must have increased the opposition against me. ‘Well’, I said, ‘I thought the way was open.

8] I make no apology for running Chris Dillow in this supposed gallery of new blogs because he's just good:

Congratulations to the Metropolitan Police. Sure, they waste time and money. But at least they account for that waste properly So, the Met knows about opportunity costs. In this respect, it's more advanced than most companies. You'll not read about opportunity costs in the average company's accounts. Few firms say explicitly: "we made £x million on this project, but that's a loss of £y million compared to putting the money in the All-share." Even fewer regard a potentially profitable venture that they failed to pursue as a cost of funds.

And so on. I hope to do another Focus on Wednesday, all being well.

[beijing's imperial palace] home of starbucks


In the early 90s I was in Salzburg, walking down one of the cobbled lanes in their "shambles", when suddenly - there was a McDonalds and what struck me was that it was a dusky green colour like the rest of the shopfronts in the lane. There were no golden arches and one might have missed it, it was so discreetly situated.

I'd always thought McDonalds refused to compromise on such things but I assure you it was so. Which got me to thinking about the need for American food outlets in every nook and cranny on earth. Is it U.S. cultural imperialism or is it the need for the American tourist to never have to leave home wherever he travels?

As I sat in that McDonalds, the familiar menu was a bit of a relief, it was reasonably priced compared to the local fare - in other words, one knew exactly where one was. It gave a lonely tourist a sense of security.

On the other hand, are there places where a McDonalds or a Starbucks simply should not be?

China's imperial palace has closed its Starbucks outlet following protests led by a state television personality against the American coffee chain's presence at a major Chinese cultural site. The small outlet, a popular resting spot for visitors to the sprawling Forbidden City in central Beijing, closed yesterday afternoon, the Beijing Morning Post and other newspapers reported.

The Starbucks opened in 2000 at the invitation of palace managers, but critics said it was inappropriate for the site. Palace managers offered Starbucks the option of continuing to operate as part of a combined coffeehouse with other brands but the Seattle-based company declined, the Post said.

I don't know. If there were a string of Chinese takeaways tucked into a lane round the corner, well all right. No need for a Starbucks. But if not, then I'd imagine the Starbucks would be a welcome relief after traipsing round for half the day.

Besides, every major city has its Chinatown so what's the big deal?

[new template] spot the changes

It's a brand new template, not a variation on the old and the idea was for it to be crisper. As I half-constructed it myself, there are still a lot of issues such as padding and so on. I had to rebuild the profile container because the template's version wouldn't "take". Hope you like where it's heading.

[workplace] much ado about something

Well, a lot of nervous energy swirling about and I don't really understand it all but basically there's been a reshuffle - it was explained to me but I can't remember half the names in this language. My Min has somehow gone under the direction of the President and our building is now occupied and he's next door in some super slick offices.

People coming and going, I was being introduced to this one and that one and hopefully it will all calm down soon. Min's doing his final two week tour of the U.S. from Monday so say hello for me over there if you see him - he'll be in New York. PM wants me for something next week but not sure what.

That's all I know and all I want to know. .Saturday continues and you're going to see a blog change later too.

Friday, July 13, 2007

[did you know] syria has invaded the lebanon

One of the sharpest thinkers and most erudite bloggers, Cassandra, has drawn our attention to something I had absolutely no idea of [quite a common occurrence for me, by the way]:
A few days ago Lebanese daily newspaper Al Mustaqbal quietly reported a limited Syrian invasion of Lebanon. (Via Naharnet.)

S
yrian troops on Thursday (5th July!) reportedly have penetrated three kilometers into Lebanese territories, taking up positions in the mountains near Yanta in east Lebanon's Bekaa Valley.

[revisionists] when may we shoot

"Apparently they want to stop teaching Winston Churchill…"

Let's assume it's not just a rumour and there really are plans afoot to drop Winnie from the official history and to insert yet another feministi instead.

I'd like to meet the person[s] who proposed this, the person[s] who even countenanced the idea and the person[s] who legislated to allow it.

I'd like to meet them and look deeply into their eyes and then quietly ask, [with my Apache helicopter hovering behind], just what the *&^%(%$* they think they're doing?

Maybe it's the same sort of person who has destroyed the education system, the law and the hospital system.

[name change] let's go to iraq


Two opposed views of the same incident:

Here

… and here

Personally, I think the copter crew were within their rights and those "farmers" were up to no good. Despite a number of blunders and some downright stupidity in Iraq, I can't see how the Apache straf falls into that category:

A senior Army official who viewed the tape said the pilots had the legal right to kill the men because they were carrying a weapon. He said there were no ground troops in the area and if the Apache pilots had let the three Iraqis go, the men might have gone on to kill American troops.

Keane agreed. "Those weapons were obviously not being pointed at them in particular, but they [the three Iraqis] are using those weapons in their minds for lethal means and they [the Apache pilots] have a right to interfere with that," he said.

Anthony Cordesman, an ABCNEWS defense consultant who also viewed the tape, said the Apache pilots would have had a much clearer picture of the scene than what was recorded on the videotape. He also said they would have had intelligence about the identity of the men in the vehicles. "They're not getting a sort of blurred picture. They have a combination of intelligence and much better imagery than we can see."

Now we'll never know.


[personal statement] regarding the vote over at blogpower

This post has been moved here on the grounds that it was distorting my new template.

[friday 13th] cocktail time!

As you all know, it's vitally important to sip your first cocktail at the crack of dawn whenever it's Friday the 13th so let's get going with these recipes before the day ages some:

Breakfast: Blushing Lady

The Blushing Lady is a perfectly designed fruity cocktail to get the day off to a good start. It's the right blend of tropical flavors and looks stunning when served in it sugar-rimmed glass. It's a great cocktail for almost any occasion, any time of year.

The flavor of a Blushing Lady is a medley of sweet, sour and tart [and the latter is sometimes necessary by your side]. One may find themselves entranced in this beauty of a drink, making it easy to reach the "one too many" mark and having one blushing as pink as the drink.

Ingredients:

· 1 oz PAMA Pomegranate Liqueur

· 2 oz vodka

· 1 oz pink grapefruit juice

· lemon wedge

· coarse sugar for rimming

Preparation:

1. Rub a wedge of lemon around the rim of a martini glass and dip the glass into a plate of coarse sugar. Set it aside.

2. Pour the remaining ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice.

3. Shake and strain into the garnish martini glass.

Lunch: Gin Fizz Recette du Cocktail

Something light and fizzy for the afternoon heat, to take those Friday 13th wobbles away and replace them with a different set of wobbles.

Ingrédients du Cocktail pour 1 personne

· 6 cl de gin

· 4 cl de jus de citrons

· 2 cl de sirop de sucre de canne

· 12 cl de eau gazeuse (perrier)

Supper: Crème Brûlée Martini

From Benjamin Maury at Bruno Jamais, NYC

Evening falls and the exotic Friday 13th draws to a much lamented close but don't despair. What better way to close out the day than the Crème Brûlée Martini.

Quite the alluring cocktail, the Crème Brûlée Martini transforms a favorite dessert (Crème Brûlée) into a fantastic beverage. You can get the real deal at NYC's Bruno Jamais with Mixologist Benjamin Maury. The creamy custard and vanilla flavors are accented beautifully with a hard caramel garnish. Quite impressive.

Ingredients:

· 2 Parts Stoli Vanilla

· 0.75 Parts Port of Crème Anglaise

· 1 Dash of Simple Syrup

· hard caramel for garnish (see photo)

Preparation:

1. Blend the above ingredients in a shaker.

2. Shake well and strain in a Martini Glass.

3. Decorate with hard caramel.

Go to it rightly and may your head still be in fine condition on Saturday the 14th.

[friday 13th quiz] know your leader

1] He claimed the middle S had no meaning, had been a haberdasher and loved to say, "If you can't stand the heat, you better get out of the kitchen."

2] In all, she had four children but the unions with her brothers produced no children. She took her own life, allegedly by means of an asp.

3] He was beaten as a child, his family called him Soso and his political repression and other moves are estimated to have cost the lives of up to 20 million people.

4] The achievements were by some very great subjects, ruled forty-five years, creating only nine peerage dignities, one earldom and seven baronies.

5] Acceded a few months before his fifth birthday, his principal means of taxation included the aides, the douanes, the gabelle, and the taille.

6] Gambling is not so Graceful, openly lived with the French film star Gisèle Pascal at one stage, nation bankrupt after WW1.

7] Joined the British colonial regiment, the King's African Rifles, killed maybe 400 000 citizens, called himself "His Excellency President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor[3], VC,[4] DSO, MC, CBE.

8] Her two daughters were raped and she rebelled against the oppressors; she wore a long, full skirt with a plaid or checked belted tunic over it.

9] The Governor-General sparked a constitutional crisis in 1975, toppling this tall, witty man from office and giving leadership to an ex-grazier.

10] Known for his flamboyance, he dated celebrities, sometimes wore sandals in the Commons, was accused of using an obscenity, and once did a pirouette behind the back of Queen Elizabeth II.

Answers here

Thursday, July 12, 2007

[flight next week] check here first

Flying next week? Fearful you'll be going down in a screaming, twisted heap of tangled metal and perishing in a ball of flame? Don't be worried. This Higham study is designed to help you, to allay your fears. Here are some of the conclusions:

Safest planes: Boeing 777, Airbus 340, Airbus 330, Boeing 767

Least safe: The real doozy is the Aerospatile Concorde. Don't take it. Then a range of Embraers, Fokkers, Airbuses and McDonnells. Boeing 747-400 is relatively unsafe but that might be because of age and the huge number of runs they have done.

Safest airlines: South West, America West, Delta Airlines [disputed here], Mexicana Airlines, Aerolineas, Argentinas, Varig, British Airways, Lufthansa, SAS, South African, Saudi Airlines, Qantas, All Nippon Airways, Air New Zealand [as long as you don't go near Mt. Erebus]

Least safe: Air Canada, Aloha Airlines, American Airlines, LAN Chile, Aero Peru, Cubana, Air France, KLM, TAP, Portugal, Egypt Air, Royal Jordanian, Air Zimbabwe, Singapore/Silk Air, Japan Airlines, Garuda Airlines, Phillippines Airlines

Wanting to check on some of these, I had a look at all airline incidents by airline [the things I do for you] and the real shockers, with multiple repeated incidents are:

Aeroflot, Air France, American, China, Dan Air, Korean, Pan Am, TWA, United, US Air.

Good luck if you're booked on one of these.

British Airways have 4 incidents in modern times so you have a chance of stayng up with them; the only recent Lufthansa incident was in an Airbus and Qantas has the cleanest record of anyone.

Safest seats: Theoretically speaking, the safest seat is one that is facing to the back of the aircraft. Conventional wisdom has sometimes influenced safety experts to conclude that sitting at the rear of the airplane provides a higher survival rate. If you survive the sickening plummet, being nearest to the exits ensure the best guarantee of a safe evacuation.

Newer better? Not necessarily. Today, manufactures and airlines refuse to agree on when old is too old because the life span of an airplane can be extended.

Danger times? Predictably, the take off and climb to cruising altitude, and the descent and landing of the airplane are the two most critical phases of the entire journey.

Pilot error is a far more likely cause of an airplane crash than mechanical failure or bad weather conditions. It is pertinent to note that commuter airlines and air taxis have almost double the accident rates of large air carriers. the cream of the pilots’ community is attracted to the more established airlines where training standards are better and pay is even more attractive.

Conclusions? Fly on established airlines whose planes are not jointly owned or developed by a number of countries and which have fared well in the accident records.

Be careful which American airline you take and which Airbus. Always ask first.

Choose main commercial flights, rather than charter or non-regular. Be careful of "long haul packages" which lump safe airlines with shoddy ones.

Apart from that, have a lovely flight and see you if you return ... sorry ... when you return!

[corruption] shot in the head

In my usual western way, I read about Zheng Xiaoyu, the former head of the country’s food and drug administration being sentenced to death for accepting bribes and allowing shoddy medicines on the shelves. Even though Radio Free Asia said:

In China’s judicial system, a death sentence passed in an intermediate court is automatically subject to review by a higher court and the supreme court. However, appeals courts in practice rarely overturn such high-profile convictions.

… nevertheless I sort of thought that once all the publicity was out of the way and China had shown the world it cared about this, that the man would slip away somewhere ignominious, to pop up some months later. Not a bit of it:

China executed its former top food and drug regulator on Tuesday for taking bribes to approve untested medicine, as the Beijing leadership scrambled to show that it was serious about improving the safety of Chinese products.

The Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People's Court carried out the death sentence against Zheng Xiaoyu, 62, the former head of the State Food and Drug Administration, shortly after the country's Supreme Court rejected his final appeal.

This is mighty fast. They must really want "in" to the American market. And over on the Chinese government website, they're running a poll on whether you think the decision was right. Yes 57.5%; No 35%. What i really like here is the 7.5% who clicked on No Comment.

Imagine if the corrupt pollies in the U.S. and Britain were all to be executed next week. How many would be left in the government?

[name change] don't "chastise" me


The squadron was formed at RAF Scampton during World War II on March 21, 1943 with the purpose of attacking three major dams on the Ruhr in Germany: the Möhne, Eder and Sorpe. The plan was given the codename Operation Chastise and was carried out on 17 May 1943. The squadron had to develop the tactics to deploy Barnes Wallis's "Bouncing bomb".

The commander of 617 Squadron Wing Commander Guy Gibson was awarded the Victoria Cross for his part in the raid. The Squadron's badge, approved by King George VI, depicts the bursting of a dam, in commemoration of Operation Chastise.

After the raid, Gibson was banned from flying and went on a publicity tour.
I want to know why Gibson was banned from flying? Can anyone tell me?

[giuliani] don't know what to think now


This is one case where the comments are more interesting than the main text. It's about Rudy Giuliani and his hero status:

According to angry FDNY firefighters, Mr Giuliani's campaign for the Republican Party's presidential nomination next year is based upon false pretences. They say front-runner Mr Giuliani has no right to cloak himself in the mantle of 9/11, still less to claim his track record on terrorism issues in New York qualifies him to become the next president.

It then goes into the yeas and nays of the whole business and my first reaction [and I state that I don't think Giuliani qualifies for president because of his transvestite capers but then again - who am I to say?] was that the supposedly bi-partisan criticisms were a bit thin.

It seemed to me a bit of a beat up.

Sure politicians are going to claim credit for one or two heroic actions when they've let the whole infrastructure rot for years before - it's in the nature of the job and which pollie is guiltless?

Here are some back and forth reactions:

# "Bipartisan"?? my back side!!!...all these unions are as liberal as they get!!

# No one has more right than the firefighters to call Rudy on his actions as mayor. His self righteous attitude, patting himself on the back, and false claims about what he did to fight terrorism speak for themselves. He wasted years when he could have updated the firefighter's communication system.

# It's like a Private commenting on how a General does his job, the private has no clue.

# These guys are just jealous. So what if he screwed up the radio thing, everyone makes mistakes, and so what if he made some money on 9/11, who wouldn't have?

And then one which hit home with me. I have no way of verifying it and don't know what to think:

# The idea that Guiliani is some kind of hero from Sept 11 is a complete joke. Not only did he do nothing, he was a traitor on that day. There were 2 or 3 journalists that Guiliani told prior to the collapse of WTC7 that they were going to purposely bring that building down. I think one was Tom Brokaw - TV personality, also a print journalist I think for New York Daily News.

It's very well documented. He knew in advance that WTC7 was going to come down. and he said so and then on the ground police were telling people with megaphones to clear back from the building in the minutes before the collapse and even saying that it was going to come down. That building was evacuated and nobody died in it (that we know of). But Rudy knew it was coming down in advance, the police knew, it was purposely evacuated.

That means it was demolished purposely just as Dan Rather said on live tv when it happened.

That means they had explosives in the building all up & down to make it come down at near free-fall speeds and directly down on its own foot-print … and then we have all the firefighters & citizens inside the buildings who witnessed the explosions going off.

People Magazine and the New York Times quoted people from the inside telling of it just before the collapse. There are audio recordings of the firemen who died talking of it. One survivor, William Rodriguez, lived to tell about the 2 explosions he witnessed inside the building.

Bottom line - Rudy Guiliani is a traitor and the firemen's lives were sacrificed. Rudy was in the command center in WTC7 when it happened. He knew what was going on. He played along. The firemen know from their internal communications networks that the whole thing was a fraud and that their fellow firemen were sacrificed. And they were told very strongly to keep quiet about it. This is why they're so upset. [Wally, By The Rivers Of Babylon, July 12th, 2007]

Predictably:

# It is election time. Told you before that the fun and games will begin and they have. Giuliani is a politician and is running for for nomination for president on the republican ticket. The unions are very anti-republican. Think you can figure out what is going on here.He was mayor on 9-11 and was responsible for the strategic part but that is all. He acted on what his advisors told him, fire and police commissioner and the head of emergency management. Still he did well but not enough to qualify him for the presidency.

[country spread] one last time

I misled you slightly in posting this, as the true state of my country share, the typical situation, is pretty well reflected below. The small percentages constantly change though. How about your spread?

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

[aircraft] ten greatest in history

They had to be dominant in their day but not too far back - the Kitty Hawk, for example, is historic but hardly great. Balloons, Zeppelins, helicopters, ulta-lights and so on are not included. Here is my list and why:

1] Supermarine Spifire - the hero of the Battle of Britain - didn't win it alone but dominated [Br]

2] Concorde- the sleekest and swiftest - it had its day [Br-Fr]

3] Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 - couldn't be touched for performance - it outclassed everyone [Ru]

4] B-52 Stratofortress - Vietnam - the machine with the big shoulders - one of the greatest workhorses ever [US]

5] Boeing 747-400 - revolutionized air travel [US]

6] de Havilland Mosquito - innovative, made of wood, annoyed the hell out of the Germans [Br]

7] Hawker Siddeley Harrier - vtol can't be sneezed at - great little craft [Br]

8] Messerschmitt Me 262 - many say if it had come into the war earlier, the result might have been different[Ge]

9] Piper Cherokee - put flying within range of the common man - grassroots plane [US]

10] F111- still dominates the Asia/Pacific area in revamped form [US/Au]

Had a lot of problems leaving out the Panavia Tornado [It/Ge/Br]. The Airbus was not included because it crashes all the time and is a French/German administered hotch-potch. Couldn't fit in the Lancaster or the Junkers.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Readers point me to the DC-3 and the Hurricane.

[all time] good people

Well, the post on the Top Ten Horses' Backsides did not get the response I'd hoped for but here's hoping the Top Ten Good People will.

Your criteria can be your own and mine are that the person must have had great character and great fibre - in other words, be a "good guy or girl". But that's not enough - he or she must have heavily influenced people.

A problem is someone like Nurse Cavell - heroine to the Brits but not to the Germans. Or Marconi -influential but what about the man? Or Richard Branson - a British icon but what is his contribution to world society? Or Jackie Gleeson - hugely popular but was he a nice man and was he influential down the ages?

With all that in mind, my top ten are:

1] Jesus of Nazareth [natch - but not because of divinity - I'm judging Him as a man];

2] Any saints of any religion who suffered for their faith;

3] Salvation Army [despite their religious slant, they were always there in time of need in many countries and aid was given freely];

4] Sakharov/ Solzhenitsyn [great, inspirational men under great duress];

5] Dr. Livingstone [the sheer humanity and learnedness of the man - opposed slavery];

6] James Cook [decent man, opened much of the world and countered scurvy];

7] Abraham Lincoln [despite the negatives behind the scenes - great man];

8] Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi [inspirational to more than Indians];

9] Florence Nightingale [nursing service angel].

10] Richard Branson [how an entrepeneur should be]

Couldn't find room for Aung San Suu Kyi, Dian Fossey, the Curies, Nurse Cavell and Joan of Arc and left out many noted philanthropists on the grounds that quite a number of these actually work for the dark side.

What are yours?