Day One and what to write?

Just back on the ground from Kuala Lumpur.
In Singapore and staying at the Hilton on Orchard because I couldnt get into the Conrad.
Going to Hanoi on Thursday and Bangkok on Friday before returning to Singapore on Sunday.

Boring eh?

Well that's my days. Taxi to airport, check-in, get in the plane, get out of the plane, taxi to hotel, check-in, check-out, taxi to airport. Now you know how my typical days are.

So I will add some content for today.

My constant annoyance with the airlines and seems to be their need to alter the meaning of the language to make themselves feel more important or the amuse the passengers:
1. "In the unlikely event of a water landing". There is no such thing as a water landing and I would appreciate if they stopped lying about that. In the days of the old flying boats there were water landings. Now if the plane hits the water it is a CRASH, and you could call it a water crash to differentiate it from a land crash but if you understand how hard water is when you hit it at high speeds, well it doesnt really matter does it.
2. "We will be on the ground shortly". Well duh......but will we be "landing"? Gravity being what it is, we will be on the ground eventually. Unless we experience the unlikely event of a water landing. Oh and I am pretty sure the tower would prefer we do place our plane on the ground shortly which usually implies attempting to land "short" of the runway.
3. "Personal Belongings"? That be, "your stuff" or just "take your belongings with you". Because it would be wrong to take someone else's and/or, does anyone know what a non-personal belonging is?
4. The Cockpit! Well isn't that special! And for our women pilots, they are seated in the cockpit?
5. "Put the mask over your mouth and Breathe Normally". Ya sure....or maybe I will try to breathe more appropriately for the situation thank you very much because when those masks drop things are no longer "normal".
6. Do not congregate near the rest rooms. Well hells bells where are we supposed to congregate? It seems some people with bad gas think they are supposed to congregate near my seat and break wind.
7. Use the restrooms in your ticketed cabin. Sure but isnt the first class loo totally better than the one in coach?
8. One of my favorites; Your FINAL Destination. Well lets hope not. I hope to be around to take the return flight. If I am traveling from San Francisco to Singapore via Tokyo isn't Tokyo my connecting point and Singapore is my destination? Is it any more so if it is my FINAL destination? Where are you going? My destination is Singapore. Do I need to say Final Destination and if I does it mean I will be in a different, Final Singapore.
9. Assist others in exiting the aircraft? Ok.....here's the deal, please place yourself as close to my butt as possible so that my airflow as I rush from the plane carries you along; and that should be all that is required.
10. Lastly, Please Remain in Your Seat until the Captain has brought the aircraft to a "Full Stop" at the terminal. This would be instead of a "partial stop"? Try using that logic with the traffic cop at the stop sign. I did a partial stop and the sign wasn't specific that I was required to do a "Full Stop". Sometimes also referred to as a "Complete Stop" versus the Incomplete Stop I suppose.
11. Sorry, one more. If you need to be shown how to buckle your seat belt then you are too stupid to be sucking precious oxygen on this planet and at the very least, you should not be using "transportation" of any form until you get some brains.


The Election

Of course is nice to be out of the country a lot so I can avoid some of the US election nuttiness.
I spend more than half of the year outside the country and I am often asked by people outside the USA, how could we have elected such a mean spirited and dangerous moron; TWICE?

Ok here is the deal. You have to study and take a written test and a road test to get a drivers license in the USA. If you are applying for citizenship, you have to learn how our government works and take a test. However, if you were born in the USA you can VOTE without any qualifications or knowledge or wisdom or common sense. The sad flaw of most democracies is that people get to vote (smile). Seriously.
You dont think this is a problem? I offer Exhibit A - Bush Junior.
You can not get behind the wheel of a car without some brains but you can vote by simply showing up and being an air breathing mammal.

But still, how did he get elected in the first place, much less twice?

Perhaps a little honest history will shed some light on our seemingly dim choice of leaders.
The popular myth is that the USA was settled by the best and the brightest who came to the New World in search of liberty, freedom, and boundless opportunities for success. NOT!
We are a nation of failed business leaders. Europe emptied it'd debtor prisons etc. Failed farmers, failed brewers (have you tasted our popular beers?), criminals, crazy people, and assorted other dregs of society. Not all but enough to taint the gene pool with a bias toward oddballs. Yet that wasn't bad enough. We also managed to attract every religious flake, fake, charlatan, and wacko that ever walked the planet. Given the gene pool this gives us as a base, and in some parts of the country a good measure of in-breeding, and you have the American Electorate.

In the 21st century, the shallowest end of the gene pool flocks to the evangelical churches where they are first fleeced of their money, and then instructed to vote for the only candidate who is moronic enough to work their hateful and intrusive (completely devoid of real freedom or liberty) agenda. All usually under the disguise of well thought out labels such as "Family Values" or "Morals", so that anyone who disagrees with their glaze-eyed prejudices is ant-family or immoral. Shocked? Someone probably told you we were a secular democracy.

The good news is that we have a chance to do better this year and given that the bar is currently set about as low as it could get, we are nearly guaranteed to choose someone who is better.