Anyone who has traveled by air anywhere in the world since the 9/11 attacks has been the victim of the idiotic security measures at airports.
Belts off, shoes off, laptops out, body scan or grope – you know the drill. All useless and ineffective and there, like a lot of other stuff, to give the impression that the government is doing something when in reality it is doing nothing.
And as always the stupid rules are enforced by even stupider people.
So, who is poor Oliver Buckworth?
He’s a 28-year-old Melbourne-based interior designer, a threat to no one, and a victim of the security morons that infest air travel these days.
You see Oliver was on a flight in Australia, on a carrier called Tiger Airways. To pass the time he started doodling in a note pad he had with him.
The doodle said “In a land of melting ice-cream, sandy feet and fluffy bears, how could anybody be fearful of terrorism?” and along with it was a visual pun with the word “terrorismadeup” picked out in different colors to suggest that “terror is made up”. Being an interior designer he also drew a chandelier on the same page.
Now you are probably asking, what exactly was his crime?
Doodling with intent to do what?
Not taking the air travel security farce seriously enough?
Having a sense of humor?
Or just getting bored and passing the time with his note pad and pen?
A busybody passenger sitting near Buckworth reported his doodle to the airline staff, who, instead of telling the other passenger to wise up, took the whole thing seriously. Yes, they were as stupid as the busybody passenger.
Apparently Tiger Airways have a “zero tolerance” policy “towards inappropriate and antisocial behavior” which seemed to include Oliver’s doodle. He said he was writing a sentence about the absurdity of recent fear-mongering statements about the threat of possible terrorist attacks, but it was enough to have him thrown off the plane and handed over to the Australian Federal Police.
To be fair to the police, after doing a background check on Oliver they realized that the airline idiots hadn’t uncovered the next Osama Bin Laden and they didn’t take any further action.
But, choosing not to involve themselves with common sense, Tiger Airways banned him from using the airline again, not that he’d probably want to now anyway.
Well done Tiger Airways, you done Australia proud – I think not!
Quiz Day it is and that means another twenty brain teasing questions.
The usual random mixture and also as usual, if you get stuck, you can find the answers waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down below, but please, NO cheating!
Enjoy and good luck.
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Q. 1: What is the most common non-contagious disease in the world?
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Q. 2: What drupaceous fruit were Hawaiian women once forbidden by law to eat?
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Q. 3: Arabic numerals originated in which country?
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Q. 4: What bird is used as the sign of peace?
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Q. 5: Who discovered penicillin?
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Q. 6: How many children were in Enid Blyton’s Famous Five?
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Q. 7: What was the name of the ‘professor’ in the movie trilogy ‘Back to the Future’?
a) Doc Holliday b) Doc Brown c) Doc Payne d) Doc Jones
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Q. 8: What was the first daily comic strip published in the United States?
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Q. 9: During which “war” in the 1950’s were the slogans “Better Dead Than Red” and “Better Red Than Dead” popular?
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Q. 10: By what process does the sun’s energy reach the earth?
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Q. 11: What is the highest, or maximum, break in a game of snooker?
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Q. 12: Which word means the forecast of the probable course or outcome of a disease?
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Q. 13: 10. What is the national symbol of Ireland?
a) Crown Jewels of Ireland b) Celtic Cross c) Celtic Harp d) Irish Wolfhound
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Q. 14: What color are white grapes?
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Q. 15: What is floating wreckage at sea called?
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Q. 16: Who said: “I’m the president of the United States and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli”?
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Q. 17: What creatures are the Canary Islands named after?
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Q. 18: What weapon did German gunsmith August Kotter invent in 1520?
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Q. 19: What is the collective name for a group of beavers?
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Q. 20: And an easy one to finish, what type of animal inspired the creation of Bugs Bunny, Brer Rabbit, and the Easter Bunny?
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ANSWERS
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Q. 1: What is the most common non-contagious disease in the world?
A. 1: Tooth Decay.
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Q. 2: What drupaceous fruit were Hawaiian women once forbidden by law to eat?
A. 2: Coconuts.
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Q. 3: Arabic numerals originated in which country?
A. 3: They originated in India.
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Q. 4: What bird is used as the sign of peace?
A. 4: The Dove.
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Q. 5: Who discovered penicillin?
A. 5: Alexander Fleming (in 1928).
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Q. 6: How many children were in Enid Blyton’s Famous Five?
A. 6: Four.
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Q. 7: What was the name of the ‘professor’ in the movie trilogy ‘Back to the Future’?
a) Doc Holliday b) Doc Brown c) Doc Payne d) Doc Jones
A. 7: The correct answer is b) Doc Brown.
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Q. 8: What was the first daily comic strip published in the United States?
A. 8: Mr. Mutt.
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Q. 9: During which “war” in the 1950’s were the slogans “Better Dead Than Red” and “Better Red Than Dead” popular?
A. 9: The Cold War.
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Q. 10: By what process does the sun’s energy reach the earth?
A. 10: Radiation.
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Q. 11: What is the highest, or maximum, break in a game of snooker?
A. 11: 147.
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Q. 12: Which word means the forecast of the probable course or outcome of a disease?
A. 12: Prognosis.
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Q. 13: 10. What is the national symbol of Ireland?
a) Crown Jewels of Ireland b) Celtic Cross c) Celtic Harp d) Irish Wolfhound
A. 13: The correct answer is c) The Celtic Harp.
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Q. 14: What color are white grapes?
A. 14: Green.
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Q. 15: What is floating wreckage at sea called?
A. 15: Flotsam (Jetsam is discarded material which has been washed ashore).
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Q. 16: Who said: “I’m the president of the United States and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli”?
A. 16: George Bush.
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Q. 17: What creatures are the Canary Islands named after?
A. 17: Dogs (probably a reference to monk seals once found around the islands, whose Latin translation is ‘sea dogs’).
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Q. 18: What weapon did German gunsmith August Kotter invent in 1520?
A. 18: The Rifle.
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Q. 19: What is the collective name for a group of beavers?
A. 19: A Colony.
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Q. 20: And an easy one to finish, what type of animal inspired the creation of Bugs Bunny, Brer Rabbit, and the Easter Bunny?
A. 20: Well maybe not quite so easy, the correct answer is a Hare. (No points if you just said ‘rabbit’.)
But, politicians being politicians, they cannot even have a mock war like a Cold War without the stench of hypocrisy attached to it.
For example, the United States blames Russia for interfering in the internal affairs of Ukraine, as indeed it is currently doing. But at the same time it attaches no blame to itself for also interfering in the Ukraine’s internal affairs, which it also did – in the process helping to create the mess we now see on our TV screens.
Now, not content with that, America has been coercing Europe to go along with it in imposing economic sanctions on Russia. And by and large Europe has meekly and unthinkingly followed the US lead.
It started with foodstuffs and freezing bank accounts and assets, which Putin has managed to shrug off without too much trouble.
Now they’ve upped the ante and imposed sanctions on Russia’s supply of energy which is it’s big wealth earner and which given time will no doubt hurt a bit. I say “a bit” because any long term shortfall in energy revenue from Europe will be more than made up for by energy hungry customers like China, India and the rest of Asia. China, for example, recently closed a $400 billion natural gas deal with the Russians.
As a matter of fact, with winter approaching, the sanction game may well end up hurting Europe a lot more that it does Russia.
You see, the thing is, the energy sanctions imposed by the US and Europe are on the sale of oil and gas. These are the things that Europe desperately needs, but are things on which America does not rely on Russia for at all.
Wait a minute, there’s that smell again.
Worse than that, the US did not invoke sanctions on the sale of Russian nuclear fuel, which America does rely on Russia for, since it just happens to power 10% of all American homes.
Now do you smell it?
At the moment it looks like this Cold War is going to get very cold in Europe and very expensive as the cost of heating increases with the shortfall in supplies.
The usual random selection of subjects and difficulties.
And if you get stuck you can find the answers waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down below, but please NO cheating!
Enjoy and good luck.
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Q. 1: What does ‘VSOP’ stand for on a bottle of Brandy?
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Q. 2: What country has not fought in a war since 1815?
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Q. 3: What ethnic group was largely responsible for building most of the early railways in the U.S. West?
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Q. 4: What animal is the symbol of the World Wildlife Fund?
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Q. 5: Which is the only country in the world which has the Bible on its national flag?
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Q. 6: What is the total if you add the number of months with thirty-one days to the number of months that have twenty-eight days?
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Q. 7: What does the term ‘Prima Donna’ mean in Opera?
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Q. 8: What is a ‘Portuguese Man o’ War’?
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Q. 9: What color is orange blossom?
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Q. 10: People who are ‘color blind’ cab detect some colors but have difficulty distinguishing between two in particular, what are they?
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Q. 11: What is the three dimensional image created by laser beams called?
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Q. 12: Who was the first U.S. President to adopt the informal version of his first name?
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Q. 13: Organic chemistry is the study of materials that must contain which element?
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Q. 14: What famous and influential Theologian claimed he could drive away the devil with a fart?
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Q. 15: What is the liquid inside a coconut called?
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Q. 16: In which month is the ‘October Revolution’ celebrated in Russia?
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Q. 17: What are the next three prime numbers after 37?
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Q. 18: This one is the name of a flower and the colored part of the eye, what is it?
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Q. 19: What bird features in the poem, ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge?
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Q. 20: Named after the characters in the Tin Tin cartoon series, how many people were in the band The Thompson Twins?
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ANSWERS
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Q. 1: What does ‘VSOP’ stand for on a bottle of Brandy?
A. 1: Very Superior Old Pale.
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Q. 2: What country has not fought in a war since 1815?
A. 2: Switzerland.
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Q. 3: What ethnic group was largely responsible for building most of the early railways in the U.S. West?
A. 3: The Chinese.
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Q. 4: What animal is the symbol of the World Wildlife Fund?
A. 4: Giant Panda.
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Q. 5: Which is the only country in the world which has the Bible on its national flag?
A. 5: Dominican Republic.
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Q. 6: What is the total if you add the number of months with thirty-one days to the number of months that have twenty-eight days?
A. 6: The answer is 19. Seven months have 31 days (January, March, May, July, August, October and December) and of course all twelve months have 28 days!
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Q. 7: What does the term ‘Prima Donna’ mean in Opera?
A. 7: Leading Female Opera Singer.
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Q. 8: What is a ‘Portuguese Man o’ War’?
A. 8: It is a sea-dwelling jellyfish-like invertebrate. Strangely though, the Portuguese never had a warship called a Man o’ War, and the Portuguese name for the jellyfish-like creature is Caravela Portuguesa, referring to an earlier Portuguese sailing ship design used for exploration in the 15-16th Centuries.
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Q. 9: What color is orange blossom?
A. 9: White.
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Q. 10: People who are ‘color blind’ cab detect some colors but have difficulty distinguishing between two in particular, what are they?
A. 10: They are the primary colors Red & Green.
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Q. 11: What is the three dimensional image created by laser beams called?
A. 11: A Hologram.
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Q. 12: Who was the first U.S. President to adopt the informal version of his first name?
A. 12: Jimmy Carter.
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Q. 13: Organic chemistry is the study of materials that must contain which element?
A. 13: Carbon.
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Q. 14: What famous and influential Theologian claimed he could drive away the devil with a fart?
A. 14: Martin Luther.
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Q. 15: What is the liquid inside a coconut called?
A. 15: It is called Coconut water. (Coconut milk, popularly thought to be the liquid inside a coconut, is made from the flesh of the coconut.)
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Q. 16: In which month is the ‘October Revolution’ celebrated in Russia?
A. 16: November. (Come on, it was never going to be that obvious!)
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Q. 17: What are the next three prime numbers after 37?
A. 17: They are all in the forties 41, 43 and 47.
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Q. 18: This one is the name of a flower and the colored part of the eye, what is it?
A. 18: Iris.
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Q. 19: What bird features in the poem, ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge?
A. 19: An Albatross.
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Q. 20: Named after the characters in the Tin Tin cartoon series, how many people were in the band The Thompson Twins?
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