Boredom

During the lull in blogging action, I figured this image would at least provide some entertainment for Howard, George and the rest of the fleeting members of the LHCB drama. The image is not animated and I thought this type of optical illusion would be an honest tribute to the recent week I spend in Amsterdam...

Burka Wear(y)

The other day, I was doing half of my daily 2.5hr commute and a lady pulled along side of me wearing what appeared to be a welders helmet. Double-taking and trying not to hit the car immediately in front of me, I determined that she was not actually welding.

Living in the 20% Chinese community of San Francisco, I didn’t think the giant visor was all that odd, rather, I thought the use of the full-face device in the car was strange.

After a brief Google search, I found a hint of the phenomena: China is currently in the midst of a new headwear craze. It’s like a typical sun visor with a swivel down piece of dark transparent plastic which shades the face from the summer sun’s harsh glare. The protective plastic can serve as an extended visor (up), or sort of a whole-face “sunglass mask”

The strange thing was that The Shield looked like a burka. With the world’s governments busily banning such controversial wear, I thought that at any moment, the CHP would come bearing down.

But no such event happened. Instead and in true California-freeway form, the burka/UV-shield wearing driver cut me off.

Wasted Opportunity

As of late, I've been spending a rather large amount of time on airplanes. Recently, I was preparing to fly from San Francisco to Dallas and the synchronized air waitress team began their ridiculous presentation of life jacket etiquette.

Now aside from the obvious point that the trip between San Francisco and Dallas overflies no major bodies of water, it seems to me there must be a better use of the time it takes to demonstrate life jacket instructions on an airplane.


Based on my research, I believe there are exactly ZERO instances of planes crashing into a major body of water where people have successfully donned their life jackets and floated to safety.

So I have a better idea. What other situation does a company have to educate an audience of up to 450 captives? Instead of the life jacket instructions, why not do a "how to recycle" demonstration? Or a "reduce your carbon footprint" presentation. How about "dangers of excessive alcohol consumption whilst airborne". Conscientious airlines could even attempt to instruct captive Americans on basic skills such as global geography, alternative religions or (just imagine) new language skills. The world would definately be a better place.

And as for the "do not inflate life jacket whilst inside aircraft rule", I only have to offer the following picture as evidence that even the instructions provide are asinine: