Legless Man, Pal in Drunk-Driving Scrape

Why does this story make me think of Lok Ma Chow?

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who doesn't drive at all

Open my eyes that I might see

Today I will have surgery to remove cataracts on my eyes. The doctor will do one eye today and the other this Thursday. I am kind of looking forward to it. Cataracts are a mixed curse and blessing in that while you have them your vision deteriorates at a rather rapid pace. But the surgery gives you 20/20 vision. As the surgery has become almost routine over the past few years I do not understand why they don't perform it on severely myopic people. Myopia is as debilitating as the cataracts.

It is a shame that there isn't some type of surgery for the political cataracts that the Human Bow Tie has. Indeed it is a shame that the PRC officials and the DAB all seem to suffer from this disease.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who really has been wandering around in a fog

No Straw Monday? That really sucks

Today at lunch I decided that I was in the mood for something from the Worlds' favorite Scottish Gourmet (aka McDonald's) and since there was one near where I was that didn't have a line around the block I said to myself: "Fai Mao this is where you are gonna eat lunch!" So, I walked up to the counter and ordered a #6, dry without tomatoes. Everything was bliss until I reached for the dispenser to get a straw for my drink. The dispenser was empty. All the dispensers were empty. Only then did the counter girl, who spoke very good English by the way, tell me that today was "No straw Monday" to help save the environment.

Only being a rude angry Gweilow in my heart I simply said "That's silly" and because I'd not yet paid for the meal; I turned sharply on my swollen ankle and left through the same doorway I'd come in through three minutes before. I'll let them figure out how to sell the special order sandwich.

What McDonald's is doing should appeal to neither me or the left wing environmental goofs; and that is assuming that they aren't all vegans. The straw is the most expensive or second most expensive part of a fast food drink. Indeed, the cheapest part is normally the drink itself. Drinks are huge money spinners for restaurants because the profit margin is so high. Micky D's is simply not giving you the most expensive portion of the drink, which saves them money, and covering their poor customer service with the banner of saving the environment. That is irresponsible and wrong.

I walked a little farther down the road and got plate of curry at a Fairwood (Local Hong Kong chain) where I received a nice long straw with my Coke Zero.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Accidental Environmentalist

Maybe someone on the HK Judiciary should read this?

However, putting more reckless drivers in prison or keeping murderers in prison for longer than 13 months would mean money that wouldn't be available for the Human Bow-Tie to raise his salary with.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Throw in Prison and Throw-away-the Key Blogger

Another Chinese Food Scam

Somehow this doesn't quite look normal food poisoning to me.

I wonder if the PRC's North Korean Friends slipped something this guys sandwich?


Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger whose favorite sandwich is made at home

The List

My few regular readers will remember that I like to do top ten list. This link is actually much more detailed than a normal top ten list and even has an addendum. I think that one of the reasons that I like a list of things is because I work with adolescents. Kids don't have the attention span or desire to know a whole lot of things in an in depth manner and providing a list like this is an easy way to pique interest in a subject.

While informative and funny something that I find disturbing about these list is that they are too Amero-centric. Holy Cow! if they'd looked at the SCMP what would they have found? The China Daily? The Singapore Straights Time? Both ATV and TVB obviously slant certain news stories in various directions but I doubt either would admit to such.

I agree with the author of these list when he points out that the Internet did NOT make journalist less reliable but actually exposed some of them as liars. Matt Drudge didn't somehow make Bill Clinton ask Monica Lewinski for oral sex and the existence of EastWestSouthNorth didn't cause the movie reviews in Chengdu to be censored. Both these blogs (I'm not sure either of these is a blog. They might more usefully be defined as news aggregation services) simply expose what is already there. I'd have a lot more faith in the mass media if they'd do a better job of policing their own and admit they've had problems with trying to push an agenda. Every field has bad apples.

It kind of makes me uneasy when I read about media moguls and prominent journalist arguing for the censorship of the Internet , and make no mistake, that is exactly what Marvin Kalb was advocating in 1998 in the printed quote at the beginning of these articles. How can they advocate a "Free Press " and a controlled public Internet? I guess it is the old "Free speech for me but not for thee" syndrome.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who doesn't really trust Newspapers

Woman Killed by pet Camel

You can't make this this stuff up.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao

Damned if I do and Damned if I don't

This past two weeks is the busiest period of time for my job. That is a shame because there was a lot to write about and I was just too tired to care. Well, better late than never.

Last Friday the HK observatory raised the number 8 typhoon warning for the first time in two years. What a joke. They closed the city down for a mild thunderstorm. However what makes that giggle worthy is that it was an obvious overreaction to their lack of competence over the past two years.

Last year we had an actual honest to God typhoon come through here and they never raised more than a red rain storm warning despite the airport being being closed for a typhoon for several hours. The excuse given on TV was that because the winds never reached typhoon strength over the observatory they didn't feel a higher signal was warranted (that must have been the only place they didn't) was lame even for HK. Several months before that we had another strong storm come through that caused mudslides in the New Territories which killed a couple of people. We didn't get either a Black Cloud (Severe Thunderstorm) or a typhoon 8 signal (Hurricane) raised for that storm either. In both cases the observatory took a lot of well deserved criticism and honestly someone, or several someones should have lost their jobs though this being the HK government nobody did. Now that they are taking so much flak for overreacting to a breezy thunderstorm we probably won't get another typhoon 8 signal hoisted until the wind blows the HSBC building over.

But, not everything was bad new last week. Ma Lik died young of cancer. Oh boy I'll drink to that. Now he can ask Den Xiao Ping how many people really died at Tianamen Square in 1989. Too bad he can't then make a statement of apology in the SCMP.

Lastly I went to the doctor today. God I hate the HK health care system. Lets not even talk about having an 11:00 AM appointment and getting my number called at 12:50 PM. The government doctors here exhibit all the compassion and empathy of a French waiter. Actually the waiters are friendlier. I want to complain about the treatment.

I've been walking around on a swollen, painful ankle for nearly two years. I have to wear high topped shoes and a compression bandage everyday and I take anti-inflammatory medication for it as well. All that while I have been shuffled from one government specialist to another for a definitive diagnosis. Today they told me it was ligament and tendon damage but that they didn't ever recommend surgery on this condition for people not in their twenties. In other words: Take a pain killer and limp you unlucky bastard; because its going to hurt and we don't care!" I told the doctor that was unacceptable and he basically told me to go home and not come back. He came very close to needing some plastic surgery on his nose and possibly some dental implants. If I'd known that he'd have to use the public system rather than a private plastic surgeon in Vancouver or London I'd have hit him more than the once he deserved. But, only being an angry Gweiloh in my heart I didn't punch his lights out; I just left.

I ceased to have any admiration or trust in the HK health system when my Mother-in -Law died several years ago and it hasn't done anything restore my confidence.

What makes it worse is that the private doctors here all exhibit a scary level of incompetence or sliminess that causes me to feel that I have much of a choice. Besides I pay the taxes to support the public health system here I ought to be able to use it. I get tired of being labeled a "Rich Westerner" especially since I'm not.

So, I'm kind of damned if I do and damned if I don't and neither way do I feel I've seen a real doctor.

I really find that I get better treatment and more heartfelt concern for my health from the Chinese clinic across from the Tin Hau MTR station. I wonder what they can do for a gimpy ankle? I may find out soon.


Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who hasn't had a very good week

The T-Shirt patrol strikes again

This past week has been a good week for t-shirt sightings in Hong Kong.

Last Monday I saw one of the thousands of flat chested, straight hipped local teenage girls walking in Causeway Bay wearing a shirt that said :"Do you like my fat butt?" Down the back. I'd hate to see what she calls scrawny.

Some time this week I also saw a reappearance of the old standby "Just do me" with an upside down Nike swoosh. At times like that I wish my Chinese was good enough to ask the girl wearing the shirt if she really meant that? I wouldn't but I know some guys who probably would "like to do her."

Today the ever lovely, hardworking, really smart and looks 20 years younger than she is Chinese wife and I were in the big Wellcome below the CMA church in North point. There were two really offensive shirts there as well. The first guy I saw in the store was wearing a shirt with a fake eye chart on the front that looked something like this:

IM
AMOT
HERFUC
KINGBASTARD

He had a Bible in his shopping trolley so he'd just come from church. Must of been the Chinese service. But you'd hope that somebody informed him of his shirts' message.

There was also a woman in the checkout line behind us. She had a black t-shirt with a Duncan's Donuts sign on the the front but instead of saying "Duncan's Donuts" it said "Fuckin' Gonuts."

As always, when I write on this topic I'll end by saying: "Never ever, ever, wear clothing with things printed on it that you cannot read.


Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who wears plain T-shirts with nothing silkscreened on them

Shocking photos!

Oh the horror of it!


Until Next Time
Fai Mao

Dog Shoots Owner in the Back in Memphis, Tennessee

This is a more interesting story than the predictable ending to the sit-in at the Queens Pier yesterday.

I was actually surprised that the government let those guys stay that long. It appears to me that the protesters, at least the ones I saw interviewed missed the point. It isn't that the government is destroying historical sites. It is that the government is destroying the British historical sites. They are or so it appears to me, trying to slowly but completely remove references to British rule here. Don't get me wrong, a lot of the British drive me nuts with their condescending, snooty attitudes but to bury the history and legacy of Hong Kong because the Chinese government is still touchy over the weakness of China in the 19th century is simply wrong. Yet, that is what is happening.

The phony "harmonious society" mantra repeated by the Human Bow-Tie should be challenged. How did this action make HK a more harmonious society?

The tycoons and construction barons will happily go along with this because of the incestuously close relationship to the powers that be but that doesn't make it right. Perhaps when the harbor is completely reclaimed and you can walk from North Point to Hung Hom they'll begin to realize what they've lost.

I wonder how long it will be before Victoria Park becomes Jiang Qing Park? Probably not for a while but we'll see.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger with a degree in History

I can't get no satisfaction (with a vegan)

You can't make this stuff up.

All I can say is : In your dreams baby, in your dreams

Go choke on some celery you self righteous moron.

And they said that those actors in the Planet of the Apes movies were wearing makeup; I guess we know that's not true

Until next time
Fai Mao
The Big Mac of Bloggers

A whole new way to see the Stooges

I've been and will continue to be a stoogie as long as I live.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who when he shaves his mustache looks a little bit like Larry

Graphene?

I can see the new comic book character based on this stuff now

"The man of Graphene"


Until next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger without any carbon fiber paper

Tag, your it!

I have been challenged to state 8 autobiographical facts by the one and only Fumier.

OK

1. I lack any form of social grace
2. I was once voted by as the meanest teacher in the school where I am employed by middle school boys
3. I used to race bicycles
4. I prefer whiskey to beer
5. I believe that all great men have a mustache
6. I agree with Waylon Jennins. Charles may be a prince but "Bob Wills is still the King"
7. I have a PhD though my spelling doesn't show it
8. I was almost born in the back seat of a 1957 Chevrolet

Dyslexics of the World Untie

I don't agree with everything the guy linked to above has to say. I am, I think a little more mellow about my dyslexia. However, it is still a fairly good post and expresses some of the frustrations that dyslexic people struggle with.

I would also add that I think one of the biggest obstacles that dyslexics face is the over diagnosis of Learning Disabilities and the use of of the label for personal gain without the associated work and effort needed to achieve such.

Until Next time
Fai Mao
The untied Blogger

Commuting in Hong Kong

I don't drive. In Hong Kong you don't really need to. However, I have friends who have automobiles and so I know that driving, if you can afford it is still faster than the bus or even a taxi here.

I know a man here whose wife is a CPA. She actually put a pencil to it and figured out that for a family of four it is cheaper to take a taxi everywhere you go than to own a car when you include the taxes, licensing, maintenance and so forth. I'm not sure about that but driving is definitely not a middle class activity here unless you live in one of the government housing projects that provide you with a parking space.

Hong Kong has what must be surely one of the best bus systems in the world. There are also trains and subways which I don't normally take. The subway gives me the creeps because it is just two crowded and the train doesn't go past my job. However, there are still one or two days a month that I wish I had a car. Today was one of those. My bus broke down and I had to sit there until they could tow it to the shoulder and then transfer to another bus. It made me about 30 minutes late for work. If I'd had a car I could have been here on time.


When the school moves to a new location after Christmas break I will no longer have a bus that goes past my job. The time and money required to catch a bus, change to the train and then change trains again is going to be a real hassle. Causeway Bay to Shek Mun must be the only two places in Hong Kong that don't have a nearly direct bus route between them. It may be time to look into a scooter license. I still don't think I want a car.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger without a drivers license.

A short quote

"If men had postponed the search for knowledge and beauty until they were secure, the search would never have begun. We are mistaken when we compare war with "normal life". Life has never been normal. Even those periods which we think most tranquil, like the nineteenth century, turn out, on closer inspection, to be full of crises, alarms, difficulties, emergencies. Plausible reasons have never been lacking for putting off all merely cultural activities until some imminent danger has been averted or some crying injustice put right"
(Lewis, C. S. The Weight of Glory and other Addresses, William Eerdmans Publishing 1965, p 44-45)

This is perhaps a quote that someone could throw at the human bow-tie regarding universal sufferance in Hong Kong. There will never be a perfect time. There will always be one more problem that could be solved. There will always be reason to wait. Perhaps the HK government knows this. Perhaps that is the idea.

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who reads more widely than Donald Tsang

Pakistan: Revenge Attacks on Chinese Nationals and Security Personnel

Interesting.

And if you own a Chinese restaurant in Islamabad maybe frightening

Until Next Time
Fai Mao

I'M TOO SEXY FOR YOUR BUS

I don't know whether to feel guilty for laughing at this story or not

Until Next Time
Fai Mao
The Blogger who rides the bus