Tag Archives: General

You may remember yesterday I said there was something not quite right about the Cathay Hero Pilots!  Now it seems that Cathay says there was no shutdown of engines, while Civil Aviation Director General Normal Low says data retrieved from the aircraft shows there was a period when both engines malfunctioned.  Of course he then goes on to say this is not necessarily a contradiction, and: “I am pretty sure we are talking about the same thing.”  Really?  There are a few other issues to bring up here.  Some in the industry believe the flight crew should have immediately returned to Surabaya as soon as the engine problem manifested itself, it would seem that would be the safest option for a twin engined jet. That would be my preference, but I’ll concede there are pilots out there who will maintain there was no issue with continuing on one engine… and I’ll admit to being a paranoid flyer… and this is where I have to revisit my argument from yesterday.  As soon as a flight starts its descent my paranoia ascends… I’m in a constant state of heightened awareness wrought by anxiety.  I feel the airspeed, I listen for the flaps, I check the angle of descent, I listen for the pilot applying more power and assume he’s screwed up when he does, I balefully wait for the landing gear to go down and then hope it has locked and when eventually I hear them cut all power and watch as we descend the last 50 feet… I’m ready to throw women and children behind me and trample over the elderly in a rush to exit… should anything untoward happen on landing… which statistically is when ‘something’ is most likely to happen.  How?  How? How… did these people not know that they had just had the pleasure of an emergency landing?  So ignorant were they that some were trying to leave with their hand baggage.  Something is not right here and Chief Exec Mr Tony Tyler may see this ‘positive story’ descend into a PR nightmare, unless of course he gets his spin doctors working overtime.

This year I was one of the stadium announcers for the games at the Sevens, I didn’t touch a drop of alcohol all weekend, therefore watched every single game of rugby… sober… and you know what? I enjoyed it.  So I’ve came to the bitter conclusion that I am, now, officially old.  The South Stand no longer calls out to me, in fact it almost repels me, I say almost, as I couldn’t help cast an envious glance occasionally, but the envy was the confident youth on display, not the discomfort.  I see in the South Stand now, ghosts of sevens past, and forlornly yearn for when I too was a player, in the party stand, but nostalgia is one thing, a comfortable seat with a birds eye view, a screen for instant replays and a microphone are their own rewards.

Or so it says in an advert in today’s SCMP.  Quite where the figure three comes from it doesn’t say, but you can’t help feel it’s probably higher.

The advert is from Clean Air Network (CAN) and is asking us to get up off our arses, discard our complacency, shrug off our apathy… and sign a petition! Oh that will get ‘che che che’ Tsang’s attention, he’ll mouth a few more pitiful, pathetic platitudes which will be the usual lies and sophistry, and like the sniveling quisling he is, he’ll bend right over, yet again, for his vested interests, after all, he has his future bank balance to think of, or perhaps his seat on some inconsequential Politburo think tank.

We’re talking about a man so out of his depth he’d drown in a gob of phlegm; or in one of the puddles created by ‘operation team clean’ (lets hose down the pavements, that’ll get rid of SARS)

At least in this town petitioners don’t get locked up, or beaten up, but ‘che che che’ Tsang can, and will piss down our collective legs, blame it on the Northern Monsoon, or El Nido/Nino or the Mt. St Helen’s eruption and all the while he’ll smile that so very smug and aggravating smile, knowing that we, all of us, are  inconsequential in his grand scheme of aggrandisement.

If it makes the ‘CAN’ folks think better about themselves, then go ahead, but engaging these turds carries the risk that you legitimise their untenable positions and they’ll use any means possible to claim they’re “listening to the people.”

There is another option and it’s coming yet!

Ricks in Soho .

Tubby Tales for today.  I think it’s a bit devious for a restaurant to operate a discriminatory policy without having the balls to actually define it.  This one doesn’t say: “This toilet is not for fat people so waddle off.”  In the U.S. the vultures would be circulating with their class action lawsuits, but hey, it’s his restaurant, he can do what he likes, just not sure how he got it passed by the Fire Services Department though

Airlines however, continue to allow situations like the one pictured below; of course it’s an American Airlines flight. Without getting into the inconvenience caused to the wee skinny fella next to him, where would you want to be if you had to evacuate.

And don’t get me started on my excess baggage allowance argument.

But change is in the air,  Kevin Smith, the film director, who doesn’t even look fat,  got thrown off a Southwest Airlines flight for not being able to buckle his belt.  Meanwhile, Ryanair; you gotta love Michael O’Leary Quotes,  is considering a ‘fat tax’ and Air France are introducing a “buy two seats if you can’t get your arse in one” policy.

Bat fastard

Is it time for wee Asterix to take back our public space from big Obelisk, will our erstwhile wobbling weebles finally accept  the truth of a simple equation: If  X is calorific intake, and Y is energy expended and X=Y, we have equilibrium, however, if you sit on the couch gorging junk food all day and do sweet fuck all exercise, your lardiness is down to your tardiness,  it’s your freedom of choice and no-one else should have to suffer with your pathetic low esteem crap, not to mention the risk to us of a horrible death in a crash landing ‘cos some wannabe Mr Creosote got stuck in the aisle!

Um lets see.  Angola are leading 4 nil and there is eleven minutes to go.  I wonder what odds the bookmaker will give me on the final score being 4 each?  ”Yes sir,  Ladbrokes will be happy to give you odds of 4 billion to one.”

Final score 4 all.

cha chang