The Grand Palace is the must see destination in Bangkok. It’s a little overwhelming when you first see it, a visual overload of colors and shapes.
Besides getting there, the one other thing you have to look forward to on an airplane is being fed. The whole process of serving food and eating helps make the time pass more quickly
For dinner, I had the beef.
The three pieces of shrimp in the cocktail were also good. I wonder how much thought went into choosing three shrimp as the appropriate number for an airplane shrimp cocktail. Maybe that’s all the shrimp that one packet of cocktail sauce can cover.
The rest of the tray was pretty mediocre.
Salad: lettuce and one tomato. I only ate it because that’s probably the only vegetable that I’m going to see on this flight.
Bread: dry and flavorless. Pretty much just a deliver vehicle for butter.
Dessert: a cross between the worst parts of a cookie and a brownie. Seems designed solely for the purpose of leaving crumbs everywhere.
It’s dark now, but I can’t sleep. Even Eat, Pray, Love isn’t putting me to sleep as I thought it would.
Breakfast is going to be a long night away if I can’t get to sleep.
Our flight out of Minneapolis got of to a slow start because of snow. Not falling snow, but a pile of snow. Our plane was a little late leaving the gate because of several minor issues. The pilot said that we could make up for the delay in the air.
The plane taxied for a short distance and then came to a sudden halt. The pilot came in and told us that if we looked out the left window, the outermost engine was in danger of hitting a snow bank if went forward.
The snow removal crews had left a snow pile that was too high for the very large 747 engine to clear. We were the first 747 to fly out today so they didn’t know that there was a problem until now.
The captain said that a tug would be sent out shortly to push us to a wider taxiway.
Because we were on an active taxiway, we had to stay seated with our seat backs up and no electronic devices. I ended up falling asleep. One of those uncomfortable ones where your head keeps bouncing up and down waking you up. Every time I woke up I’d look out the window and see the engine and the snow bank and know that we hadn’t moved.
After a total of two hours of waiting a tug pulled up to the front of the plane and pushed us to the larger taxiway. That’s two hours to spend in cramped coach seats and being no closer to out destination.
After the tug released us, we were finally on out way. As the plane made our final turning the taxiway to the runway, the speed quickened and the engines let out a deep throaty roar. It’s been a few years since I’ve been on a 747. I’ve gotten used to flying smaller regional jets that the airlines seem so fond of. And their engines produce more of a whine than anything else. I’ve forgotten the sheer guttural sound of the 747 as we powered into the sky. I’m near the very back of the plane so every little vibration seems exaggerated. Over the years I’ve been progressively less comfortable with turbulence and I’m not really sure why.
Our flight is taking us over Canada, Alaska, and then Russia before entering Japan. The captain mentioned that we’d be spending about two hours in Russian airspace. I guess the captain thought we’d be interested in the fact that we’d be flying in an airspace that once would get you shot down.
Unfortunately with the delay, we’re now due in around 6:12 pm Japan time which is 5 minutes after our flight to Bangkok is supposed to leave. Delta has about 11 hours to figure out if we’re going to make our next flight or be spending a night in Tokyo.
Well, we made it to Tokyo and whether by plan or convenience our Bangkok flight was delayed 45 minutes. By the time we made it to the gate we could hear our names being called out for boarding.
As I’m writing we’re approaching Bangkok arriving at 11:45pm Sunday night. Temperature outside is expected to be a balmy 85 degrees.
ESPN.com: Tom Fenton found, signed by Coyotes
It’s an amazing story, being an NHL player for a night.
NYTimes.com: To Conquer Wind Power, China Writes the Rules
One Chinese supplier here became so adept at making a 10-ton steel frame that keeps a wind turbine’s gearbox and generator aligned even under gale-force conditions, and making it so cheaply, that the Spanish company now ships the Chinese frame halfway around the world for turbines that Gamesa assembles at its American plant in Fairless Hills, Pa. Mr. Calvet said the American manufacturing sector had been so weakened in recent decades that for some components there were no American machinery companies readily available.
The Chinese have protected their companies by requiring a percentage of local content. The U.S. has no such requirement.
How many things can we no longer make in the United States even if we wanted to?
The League of Ordinary Gentlemen: Question for readers
If the publisher of a small website dedicated to the dissemination of the state-secrets of the Chinese government were operating their publishing outfit out of the United States and published a bunch of leaked Chinese state secrets (both on their website and through various larger media organizations) and the Chinese government declared that a violation of Chinese law, should the US government arrest and detain and possibly extradite that person to China?
Let’s assume for a moment that this person is a United States citizen. Is he guilty of treason against China? Let’s assume he is Canadian. Would it be reasonable to say this person was violating Chinese law and should be tried and possibly executed in China? Does Chinese law trump civil rights and civil liberties for non-Chinese citizens? Do China’s legitimate security concerns outweigh the civil liberties of non-Chinese citizens? Of American citizens?
One last question: Should all the media outlets who published the material they received from Assange be punished in kind? If not, why are they held to different standards? If so, what does this say about freedom of the press?
Makes you think a little about Julian Assange and Wikileaks.
CSMonitor.com: China counters Nobel Peace Prize with Confucius Peace Prize
What a joke. And like other Chinese knockoffs, it’s cheap- $15,000 to the winner.
The first recipient is Lien Chan, former KMT party leader in Taiwan. This is a total slap in the face to all those in Taiwan who seek independence. Not only that, the Panchen Lama was also nominated. The Panchen Lama is a Chinese government’s choice after the Dalai Lama’s selection for Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, mysteriously disappeared.
I’m surprised that they just didn’t give it to Hu Jintao and save the trouble.
ESPN.com: Pete Sampras’ tennis trophies stolen
Tennis star Pete Sampras says most of his trophies and other memorabilia were stolen from a West Los Angeles public storage facility.
The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday that Sampras still has 13 of his 14 Grand Slam trophies.
But thieves took his 1994 Australian Open trophy and most of the hardware from his 64 tour title wins, two Davis Cups, an Olympic ring and six trophies for finishing world No. 1 in the year-end rankings from 1993 to 1998.
…
The items were not insured because there was no way to assess their true value, he said, according to the report.
It’s a strange theft. What does one do with a room full of trophies? It seems like difficult items to fence.
These are the droids we’re looking for.
NYTimes.com: A Bully Finds a Pulpit on the Web
A shocking story about how a certain web retailer does business. It’s 8 pages long, but worth the read.
Google has already responded by changing their web algorithm to account for his business strategy.
NYTimes.com: Google Acts to Demote Distasteful Web Sellers