The best quotation in the American media this week? In my opinion, it would have to be this: Howard Stern is being considered to replace Simon Cowell when he leaves “American Idol” after this season. Apparently Satan was out of Fox’s price range. From Tony Hicks in the Contra Costa Times. You may also […]
Read More… from Best quotation on the Howard Stern–American Idol tie-up
We might get critical over the upcoming uniforms, but the service on Air New Zealand that I experienced was very good. The staff was brilliant (deserving of whatever award was given to them), and the personal screens remain a lifesaver for in-air boredom. (I was surprised that Lufthansa, an airline I used to enjoy flying, […]
When Fiat was in the poo, I remember heading in to Italy and the cabs were a mixture of German and French cars, with a few Italian ones. Generally, it was a reflection of the state of the local motor industry: cab drivers are, perhaps subconsciously, patriotic and quite traditional. If they reject the local […]
Read More… from Taxis signal how a local car industry is going
I have a feeling something is wrong with Cities I’ve Visited on Facebook. (Actually, something’s been wrong for a long time, either with the application, Facebook, or something between the two.) Not only has it not published new cities I’ve entered on this most recent trip, I now notice that while the important metropolis of […]
Read More… from Hong Kong disappears from Cities I’ve Visited app?
This is a punny one for my Swedish friends. I know this is an innocent warning sign, but when a foreigner comes and he has a different skin colour, his mind wanders on what it could mean! Here’s a bit of humorous context about a very inappropriate sign at the National Bank in Wellington, […]
Saw this old Mikado commercial a few days back: and, after searching on YouTube, it appears that it was repurposed in Germany for a completely different product. Either that, or this came first: The top one seems to work better, probably because of the idea we have about conservative Japanese management. Any idea […]
Blogger has announced that it will cease supporting its FTP publishing service, which means the shifting of this blog to Wordpress was well timed. It seems I would have had to shift in any case—the fact that this happened just over a month ago was fortunate. I received an email about this for the […]
Read More… from Blogger to end FTP publishing; shift to Wordpress well timed
I will have more from my Swedish and French tour soon, but I will say that I had a marvellous time in Malmö and Lund on my first day in Sweden (especially getting a feel for Lund’s environmental programmes), Kristianstad and Hassleholm on my second, and on my return to Stockholm. A big-up to Stefan […]
Read More… from When Facebook robs you of having a profile pic
I can’t explain why I like the Steve McQueen Ford Puma ad and dislike this one with Audrey Hepburn, even though I think the world of both actors. In terms of tacky, I reckon this one takes the cake as a celebrity endorsement: Come to think of it, this is worse. I believe the original […]
Preparing for one of my Swedish speeches, I came across this, which I delivered in India in December 2008: If you ever get to read Michael Lewis’s writings about the US financial industry, you’ll learn that a lot of people within there do not know what they are doing or why they are doing it. […]