Thinking Caps On Please – It’s Quiz Day!

July 6, 2015June 27, 2015 fasab Questions, Tests 2014 Winter Olympics, 2016 Summer Olympics, American painter and illustrator, beer, Berlin, best actor Oscar, best-known works, birds of a feather, blood sausage, brain, brewed, British Army Regiments, browser, canada, Canadian provinces, Carrie, center circle, city, common name, data, Dial M for Murder, diameter, education, Entertainment, Eskimo, Europe, financial crisis, first novel, Four Freedoms, fruit, general knowledge, Geography, grapefruit, High Noon, High Society, history, Ireland, Jack Nicholson, Labrador, movies, New Zealand, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Orange, People, places, prosperous peasants, questions, quiz, Quiz Day, quizzes, repressed, Rosie the Riveter, Russia, SAS, Saying Grace, sectors, soccer pitch, speech, sport, Stalin, Stella Artois, tangerine, The Country Girl, The Pearl of the Adriatic, The Problem We All Live With, Thinking Caps On, To Catch a Thief, Twenty questions, United Kingdom, Wall Street Crash, website, Willie Gillis, Winston Churchill, WOrld War Two, world's biggest island, WWII

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

July is almost a week old and we haven’t had a quiz.

But we are about to rectify that right now.

Another twenty questions to wrap your brain around.

As usual, if you get stuck, you can find the answers waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down below, but please NO cheating!

Enjoy and good luck.

Q. 1. What is the world’s biggest island?

Q. 2. In a speech on 5 March 1946 what did Winston Churchill say had descended over Europe?

Q. 3. What city is known as ‘The Pearl of the Adriatic’ ?

Q. 4. What is the official diameter of the center circle on a soccer pitch?

Q. 5. What does the term ‘SAS’ refer to in terms of British Army Regiments?

Q. 6. What famous American painter and illustrator’s best-known works include the ‘Willie Gillis’ series, ‘Rosie the Riveter’, ‘The Problem We All Live With’, ‘Saying Grace’, and the ‘Four Freedoms’ series?

Q. 7. Where were the 2014 Winter Olympics held?

Q. 8. Where will the 2016 Summer Olympics be held?

Q. 9. Whose first novel was titled ‘Carrie’ ?

Q. 10. What was the name given to the prosperous peasants in Russia who were violently repressed by Stalin?

Q. 11. The famous ‘Stella Artois’ beer was originally brewed in which country?

Q. 12. After World War Two (WWII) ended into how many sectors was the city of Berlin divided? (A point for the correct answer and bonus points if you can correctly name the countries in charge of the sectors.)

Q. 13. What is the common name of the small piece of data sent from a website and stored in a user’s web browser?

Q. 14. In the well-known saying, what do ‘birds of a feather’ do?

Q. 15. What fruit is a cross between a grapefruit, tangerine and orange?

Q. 16. What is the name for the Eskimo people of Canada?

Q. 17. We all know to our cost about the recent ‘financial crisis’, but in what year was the infamous ‘Wall Street Crash’ ?

Q. 18. What are the two movies for which Jack Nicholson received the Best Actor Oscar?

Q. 19. What is ‘blood sausage’ better known as in places like the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand and the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador?

Q. 20. Who was ‘The Country Girl’ who after ‘High Noon’ went on to ‘Dial M for Murder’ and ‘To Catch a Thief’ before entering ‘High Society’ ?

ANSWERS

Q. 1. What is the world’s biggest island?

A. 1. Greenland.

Q. 2. In a speech on 5 March 1946 what did Winston Churchill say had descended over Europe?

A. 2. An Iron Curtain.

Q. 3. What city is known as ‘The Pearl of the Adriatic’ ?

A. 3. Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Q. 4. What is the official diameter of the center circle on a soccer pitch?

A. 4. 20 yards (18.3 metres).

Q. 5. What does the term ‘SAS’ refer to in terms of British Army Regiments.

A. 5. Special Air Service.

A. 6. Norman Rockwell.

Q. 7. Where were the 2014 Winter Olympics held?

A. 7. In Sochi, Russia.

Q. 8. Where will the 2016 Summer Olympics be held?

A. 8. The 2016 Summer Olympics, commonly known as Rio 2016, will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Q. 9. Whose first novel was titled ‘Carrie’ ?

A. 9. Stephen King.

Q. 10. What was the name given to the prosperous peasants in Russia who were violently repressed by Stalin?

A. 10. Kulaks.

Q. 11. The famous ‘Stella Artois’ beer was originally brewed in which country?

A. 11. Belgium.

Q. 12. After World War Two (WWII) ended into how many sectors was the city of Berlin divided? (A point for the correct answer and bonus points if you can correctly name the countries in charge of the sectors.)

A. 12. There were four sectors, American, British, French and Soviet.

Q. 13. What is the common name of the small piece of data sent from a website and stored in a user’s web browser?

A. 13. It is called a ‘cookie’.

Q. 14. In the well known saying, what do ‘birds of a feather’ do?

A. 14. They ‘flock together’.

Q. 15. What fruit is a cross between a grapefruit, tangerine and orange?

A. 15. The ‘Ugli fruit’.

Q. 16. What is the name for the Eskimo people of Canada?

A. 16. They are known as ‘Iniut’.

Q. 17. We all know to our cost about the recent ‘financial crisis’, but in what year was the infamous ‘Wall Street Crash’ ?

A. 17. 1929.

Q. 18. What are the two movies for which Jack Nicholson received the Best Actor Oscar?

A. 18. They were ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’ and ‘As Good As It Gets’.

Q. 19. What is ‘blood sausage’ better known as in places like the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand and the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador?

A. 19. It is better known as ‘Black Pudding’.

Q. 20. Who was ‘The Country Girl’ who after ‘High Noon’ went on to ‘Dial M for Murder’ and ‘To Catch a Thief’ before entering ‘High Society’ ?

A. 20. Grace Kelly.

===================================

Jobs, Jobs, And More Jobs

June 26, 2015June 23, 2015 fasab bankers, Banks, Business, Current Events, Factoids, Politics, Rants 000 jobs, 200, America, as if it's really real, banksters, calculate, cost the country money, crow about, Current Events, discouraged workers, double the official figure, Dublin, economic reasons, economy, education, employed part-time, facts, financial crisis, foreign exchange markets, fraud, full employment, government, government bureaucratic jobs, government figures, greed, growing, growing slowly, Humor, information, involuntary part-time workers, Ireland, jobs, labor force, marginally attached workers, no jobs, no one is questioning any of it, not considered unemployed, official figures, official unemployment figures, official unemployment rate, Opinion, part time, pinch of salt, politicians, politics, produce wealth for the country, propped up the USD, prove anything, Rants, real jobs, real unemployment rate, recession, replacing, settled for part-time jobs, statistics, Steve Jobs, successful pop group, Thoughts, U-6 number, U1, U2, U3, U3 number, U4, U5 number, U6 number, underlying strength of the economy, unemployment rate, very low base, what you do with the numbers, workers, workers laid off, worse than that

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

This post is about jobs.

You might have guessed that from the title.

Not the late Steve, the other kind.

During the past months America has been creating approximately 200,000 jobs. At least that’s what the official figures are saying. It has helped to indicate the underlying strength of the economy, led to official unemployment figures of 5.5% and propped up the USD on the foreign exchange markets.

And no one is questioning any of it.

It’s as if it’s really real.

Again it’s all a question of what you do with the numbers.

The May 2015 figure for the labor force is 157.5 million. That is the figure the government uses to calculate it’s unemployment rate of 5.5%.

That’s what they call the ‘U3’ number. U3 is the official unemployment rate.

But there is also a ‘U5’ number that includes discouraged workers and all other marginally attached workers; and a ‘U6’ number that adds on those workers who are part-time purely for economic reasons.

Don’t ask me what happened to ‘U1’ or ‘U4’ because I don’t know. However ‘U2’ is a very successful pop group from Dublin, Ireland.

The problem is that the “official” unemployment rate (U3) does not count discouraged workers who have settled for part-time jobs or have given up looking altogether because they believe there are no jobs out there for them.

There are about another 7.5 million or so people who were not considered ‘unemployed’ because they were employed part-time for economic reasons. Those people are also called involuntary part-time workers – working part-time because their hours were cut back or because they were unable to secure a full-time job.

If you include those individuals, (the U6 number), you get a very different figure for the nation’s unemployment rate. Unlike other jobs figures, the U6 rate actually got worse in June.

So the real unemployment rate is well in excess of 12%, more than double the official figure.

But it is even worse than that.

The economy is growing, BUT it is growing slowly, and it is growing from a very low base caused by the financial crisis that the banksters brought upon us with their fraud and greed.

In that light, an increase of 200,000 jobs or so each month is basically just replacing some of the millions of jobs lost during the bank-caused recession, not creating ‘new’ jobs as such. In other words we’re just slowly getting back to where we were.

The forecasts aren’t optimistic either. If and when the workers laid off during the recent recession find new jobs and we get to what the government calls full employment, the labor force is forecast to grow at a rate of only 0.5% for the rest of this decade. At 0.5%, we grow at a rate of about 66,000 a month — nowhere near 200,000. Next decade it’s even worse, at 0.2%.

Add to that the fact that a great number of the jobs being created are government bureaucratic jobs that cost the country money, not real jobs that produce wealth for the country and you can see that there is little for the politicians to crow about.

As I noted in my post on Wednesday, with statistics you can ‘prove’ anything. Take any government figures with a great big pinch of salt.

==============================

It’s March 17th So Some Facts About Saint Patrick Today.

March 17, 2015February 1, 2015 fasab Current Events, Factoids, Religion African Americans, americans, artworks, assimilated, astronaut, blue, blue vestments, born in Ireland, British, Catherine Coleman, Chris Hadfield, City of Boston, coats-of-arms, converted to Christianity, Cork, Culture, Current Events, discrimination, disloyal, Dripsey, dry holiday in Ireland, Emerald Isle, endless rainfall, England, fact, facts, faith, fellow Irishmen, flags, floating weightlessly in space, flute, God, green, green beer, greenness of the countryside, harp, harp on coins, herding sheep, Holy Trinity, hope, independent country, information, International Space Station, introducing Christianity to Ireland, invented in the United States, Ireland, irish, Irish coats of arms, Irish flags, Irish gravestones, Irish group, Irish harp, Irish legend, Irish roots, Irish soldiers, Irish-American astronaut, kidnapped by Irish raiders, King Henry VIII, largest St Patrick’s parade, law, love, manuscripts, medieval period, monastery, myth-busting, national holiday, national symbol, New York City, New York Irish Aid societies, official New York City St Patrick’s Day Parade, oldest civilian parade in the United States, pagan rulers of Ireland, Patrick, photographing Ireland from space, political and social might, politics, popular Irish symbol, Protestant Irish, pubs were shut down for the day, rebellions against English rule, religion and culture, Roman Catholic Irish, Roman parents, Saint Patrick wasn't Irish, Saint Patrick’s Day, Scotland, separate entities, serving in the British army, Shamrock, singing Danny Boy, sold him as a slave, sports jerseys, St Patrick, St Patrick‘s Day parade, St Patrick’s Day has twice been celebrated in space, symbol of Ireland, the Chieftains, The Chieftains In Orbit, the Father, the Holy Spirit, The Son, tin whistle, United States, Voice of Ages, Wales, world’s shortest St Patrick’s Day parade

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day to one and all who celebrate these things.

Grab a glass of your green beer and find out a few facts about St. Patrick that you may find interesting and a little surprising.

Enjoy.

Let’s start with this fact,

Saint Patrick wasn’t Irish

and he wasn’t born in Ireland.

Although he is remembered for introducing

Christianity to Ireland in the year 432, Patrick was

born to Roman parents in Scotland or Wales in

the late fourth century (about 385 AD)

so actually he’s British!

And while we are doing a bit of myth-busting,

you might as well also know that the

Shamrock is not the symbol of Ireland.

It is a popular Irish symbol,

but the symbol of Ireland is the Harp.

As early as the medieval period, the harp appeared

on Irish gravestones and manuscripts and was

popular in Irish legend and culture well before that.

King Henry VIII used the harp on coins as early as 1534.

Later, it was used on Irish flags and Irish coats of arms.

Starting in 1642 the harp also appeared on flags

during rebellions against English rule and when

Ireland became an independent country in 1921,

it adopted the harp as the national symbol.

Harp national symbol of Ireland — The Harp is the national symbol of Ireland.

Although today many people claim that

the shamrock represents faith, hope, and love,

or any number of other things,

it was actually used by Patrick to teach

the mystery of the Holy Trinity,

and how three things,

the Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit

could be separate entities, yet one in the same.

Obviously, the pagan rulers of Ireland found

Patrick to be convincing because they

quickly converted to Christianity.

Patrick’s first introduction to the Irish was not a pleasant one.

At the age of 16, he had the misfortune of

being kidnapped by Irish raiders who took him away

and sold him as a slave.

He spent several years in Ireland herding sheep

and learning about the people there.

At the age of 22, he managed to escape and

made his way to a monastery in England where

he spent 12 years growing closer to God.

The original color associated with St. Patrick is blue,

not green as commonly believed.

In several artworks depicting the saint,

he is shown wearing blue vestments.

King Henry VIII used the Irish harp in gold

on a blue flag to represent the country.

Since that time, and possibly before,

blue has been a popular color to represent

the country on flags, coats-of-arms,

and even sports jerseys.

Ireland’s association with the color green

came later, presumably because of the greenness

of the countryside, caused by endless rainfall.

Today, the country is also referred to as the “Emerald Isle.”

The St. Patrick‘s Day parade was invented

in the United States, not Ireland.

On March 17, 1762, Irish soldiers serving in the British army

marched through New York City, the parade and accompanying

music helping the soldiers celebrate their Irish roots,

as well as reconnect with fellow Irishmen

serving in the British army.

In 1848, several New York Irish Aid societies united

their parades to form one official New York City

St. Patrick’s Day Parade which has become one of the

largest St Patrick’s parades with about 200,000

participants and 3 million onlookers.

It is also the oldest civilian parade in the United States.

Only the City of Boston rivals it.

By contrast, the world’s shortest St. Patrick’s Day

parade is in Dripsey, Cork, where the

parade lasts just 100 yards and

travels between the village’s two pubs.

And only the Irish know why this parade goes from

one pub to the other because until 1970 St. Patrick’s

was what was known as a dry holiday in Ireland,

meaning that all pubs were shut down for the day.

The law was overturned in 1970, when St. Patrick’s

was reclassified as a national holiday

– cheers to that!

In the United States during the mid 19th century,

the Roman Catholic Irish faced discrimination

much like that faced by African Americans.

Unlike the Protestant Irish who quickly assimilated

into their new country and became Americans,

(their descendants now number many millions in the USA),

the Roman Catholic Irish clung to their religion and culture

and were perceived as a potentially disloyal.

To combat this, they began to organize themselves politically

and by the end of the 19th century, St. Patrick’s Day was

a large holiday for the Roman Catholic Irish and an occasion

for them to demonstrate their collective political and social might.

In more recent times the political emphasis has faded along with

the discrimination, and the holiday has now become popular as an

opportunity for festivity regardless of one’s cultural background.

The New York and Boston St. Patrick’s Day celebrations

may well be impressive in their own right,

but they have a rival.

St Patrick’s Day has twice been celebrated in space.

In 2011, the International Space Station hosted

a St. Paddy’s Day celebration with Irish-American

astronaut Catherine Coleman playing a hundred-year-old flute

and a tin whistle belonging to members

of the Irish group, the Chieftains,

while floating weightlessly in space.

Coleman’s performance was included in a track entitled

”The Chieftains In Orbit” on the group’s album, ‘Voice of Ages’.

And in 2013, astronaut, Chris Hadfield, celebrated

St Patrick’s Day by photographing Ireland from

space while singing Danny Boy.

=====================================

I Spy With Your Little ‘i’ – A Free And Open Internet?

January 28, 2015January 6, 2015 fasab Business, Computers, Current Events, Factoids, Legal, Politics, Rants a free and open Internet, advertisers, Allies, Angela Merkel, apple, arrogance, Blogs, break neck speed, capture information, China, citizens of America, classified documents, Clinton administration, cloud computing services, commercial surveillance, commercial surveillance of users, common sense, communicate, communication, computer consultant, congress, contacts, corporate advertisers, culprit, Current Events, data protection, decent, Deutsche Telekom, Dilma Rousseff, Edward Snowden, emails, escaped, ethics, EU, European citizens, European institutions, facebook, facts, financial crisis, find information, foreign countries, Free And Open Internet, freedom of expression, Friendly nations, general public, German Chancellor, German government, giant corporations, Google, greed, groups with similar interests, hard working, hate and detest freedom, head of US intelligence in Germany, heads of state, honest, human right, Humor, IBM, immoral, innocent, International Atomic Energy Agency, internet, Internet companies, internet searches, intrusive, iran, Ireland, irresponsibility, journalists, lobbied, microsoft, military establishment, minimize privacy restrictions, moral authority, necessary evil, north korea, NSA, Opinion, politics, popularity was assured, President of Brazil, Prism program, private lives, profit strategies, public interest groups, Rants, re-engineer the Web, remove child pornography, Russia, search engines, search for friends, service providers, snooper's gaze, snoopers, Snowden, social and cultural life, social networks, spy, stranglehold, surveillance programs, surveillance society, telecommunications service contract, telephone conversations, terminated, the UN headquarters, UN General Assembly, unfriendly nations, United States government, unnecessary, unproductive, US, US Army, US digital companies, US Justice Department, US National Security Agency, Verizon, videos, war on terror, websites, world wide web, wrongdoing, XKeyscore program, Yahoo

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

When the internet was born it was a tool of the military establishment.

Then it broke out of that stranglehold and escaped into a world of freedom of expression and communication for everyone.

Never before had a system like this been available to the general public. Never before had it been so easy to find information, search for friends, communicate with groups with similar interests, etc. Its popularity was assured.

The world wide web developed at break neck speed, much too quick for the people who hate and detest freedom. They were confounded.

It was a free and open internet.

So how could it ever go wrong?

Well, as with the financial crisis, when you dig down a bit you find the Clinton administration again as the culprit.

During the 1990s, when the World Wide Web was first being woven into social and cultural life, internet companies and corporate advertisers lobbied the Clinton administration to minimize privacy restrictions, so that they could re-engineer the Web to enable commercial surveillance of internet users.

The warnings of public interest groups were ignored as social networks, search engines, service providers and advertisers lobbied hard against even the smallest of efforts at data protection. Motivated by greed, they ensured that commercial surveillance would be pervasively integrated online. They are still at it today, that’s really what cloud computing services are all about.

A few thousand giant corporations, like Google, have become able to capture information every minute, of every hour, of every day, from everyone who uses the internet. And they can’t stop because their profit strategies totally rely on accumulating user data.

Thus began the surveillance society. The government saw how easy this could now be done and began to catch up fast. If there was snooping to be done, they were not to be left out in the cold.

Until Edward Snowden, who had been a computer consultant working for a subcontractor to the US National Security Agency (NSA), copied several hundred thousand classified documents relating to surveillance programs being conducted by the US and its allies in the name of the war on terror, and sent them to journalists, nobody really understood the level of snooping that was going on.

Most of it was unnecessary, intrusive, unproductive and immoral, and after Snowden’s revelations nobody believed the United States government was totally innocent of any wrongdoing.

Further revelations published since have helped to reveal a surveillance system that intrudes into almost every facet of our private lives. Privacy in fact is a thing of the past, unless you have the time, resources and knowledge to try to circumvent it.

If the government was only spying on the communications of foreign countries such as China, Russia, North Korea and Iran, and if it was confined to what could be termed ‘unfriendly’ nations and their agents throughout the world, then I don’t think anyone would mind so much. It’s a necessary evil in today’s world.

But unfortunately it doesn’t stop there. Friendly nations and heads of state, European institutions, the UN headquarters, the International Atomic Energy Agency, to name but a few, have all also come under the snooper’s gaze.

This has not only shown up the irresponsibility and arrogance of those in charge of the snoopers, and their lack of common sense and ethics, but it has also created even more ill will against the United States.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, an ally of the United States, was a victim of the snoopers. As a result of that revelation, the German government protested publicly its outrage. It also terminated its longstanding telecommunications service contract with Verizon, directing its business to Deutsche Telekom instead. Two weeks after that it expelled the head of US intelligence in Germany.

The President of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, also took public stands against US privacy invasions. He, like Merkel, had also personally been a victim of the US snoopers.

Then the UN General Assembly voted unanimously to affirm online privacy as a human right, and in June 2014, responding to the EU, the US Justice Department had to promise to send legislation to Congress that would grant European citizens many of the (inadequate) privacy protections accorded to US citizens.

Bad enough not trusting your supposed ‘allies’, but US intelligence agencies have gone even further. Now they don’t even trust the decent, honest, hard-working citizens of America who have never broken any laws, nor have any intention of doing so.

The Prism program, for example, allows the NSA to collect data from your emails, telephone conversations, contacts, videos, etc., from major US digital companies including Facebook, Apple, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo.

The XKeyscore program uses several hundred servers distributed across the world to store information on the activities of every Internet user, including your emails, internet searches, the websites you visit, what you post on social networks, and blogs like this. (Whoops!)

The list goes on and on.

After Snowden’s revelations, commercial firms like Google, Facebook and others scrambled to distance themselves by professing outrage. Their protestations had little to do with political principle but a lot to do with ensuring they continued to make fortunes by collecting data on us.

The US Internet companies went on a public relations offensive, and also raced to reorganize their overseas operations, to reassure worried foreign customers that they were complying with local data protection measures.

IBM, for example, committed over a billion dollars to building additional data centers overseas, hoping to ease customer fears that their data was not safe from the US government’s surveillance. But then the US authorities demanded that Microsoft, which deploys more than a million computers in over 40 countries, hand over emails stored on its servers in Ireland. Data is not safe and private anywhere it seems.

Last week I wrote a post about the Facebook/US Army experiment in trying (successfully) influence how people thought. (Click here if you want to read it.)

And so it continues.

Personally I think it is a pity that the powers that be are able to devote time, energy and money against people who have done nothing wrong, yet seem unwilling to remove child pornography and other evils from the world wide web. But the latter would require a decree of decency and morals that is sadly lacking in those who direct such matters for the government.

The US has lost the moral authority to talk about a free and open Internet, because that free and open internet has already been destroyed.

No doubt there is worse to come.

==============================

The Quadling Country Quiz!

January 19, 2015January 19, 2015 fasab Questions, Tests amino-acids, Archimedes' Screw, below sea level, biology, body, book, britain, canton, chemical, CL, counties, country, curd, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, dogs, education, Entertainment, field, food, fought, France, fruit crops, fruits grow on palms, general knowledge, Geography, Gillkin Country, halyard, history, ippon, Ireland, Knesset, land, landlocked sea, L’etat c’est moi, legislature, metals, Monarch, movies, music, nature, news, Northern Ireland, pewter, Piedmont, poisonous, political entities, politics, Quadling Country, questions, quiz, quizzes, Republic of Ireland, Russia, sailing, science, singer, species of animal, sport, symbol, test, tests, Turkey, War, waza-ari, Whey, Winkie Country, wolves, Yas Marina Motor Racing Circuit, yuko

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

You will find out what the title means later in the quiz.

For now get your thinking caps on and have a go at the following twenty questions in this week’s fasab quiz.

As always, if you get stuck, you can find the answers waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down below, but please NO cheating!

Enjoy and good luck.

Q. 1: The terms ‘curd’ and ‘whey’ are associated with making what?

Q. 2: Which species of animal contains the most poisonous animal in the world?

Q. 3: Which two metals are used to make pewter?

Q. 4: What two fruits grow on palms? (A point for each correct answer and a bonus point if you are able to name both correctly.)

Q. 5: What would you use ‘Archimedes’ Screw’ for?

Q. 6: Amino acids are essential for the formation of what in the body?

Q. 7: What can dogs do that wolves cannot?

Q. 8: A ‘canton’, ‘halyard’ and ‘field’ make up what item?

Q. 9: What are the two largest fruit crops on earth? (A point for each correct answer and a bonus point if you are able to name both correctly.)

Q. 10: Which chemical has the symbol ‘CL’?

Q. 11: Who wrote the famous book ‘Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire’?

Q. 12: Ireland is divided into two political entities, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, how many counties comprise each part? (A point for each correct answer.)

Q. 13: In what sport can you score a ‘waza-ari’, ‘ippon’ and ‘yuko’?

Q. 14: The Knesset is the legislature of which country?

Q. 15: What landlocked sea is 422m (1385ft) below sea level?

Q. 16: Which monarch observed “L’etat, c’est moi”? (The language should give you a clue.)

Q. 17: Where is the Yas Marina Motor Racing Circuit?

Q. 18: The name was mentioned in the news a lot towards the end of 2014, which war was fought by Britain, France, Turkey and Piedmont against Russia between 1853 and 1856?

Q. 19: In what land are ‘Quadling Country’, ‘Winkie Country’ and ‘Gillkin Country’ to be found?

Q. 20: Which singer was ‘sailing’ in 1975?

ANSWERS

Q. 1: The terms ‘curd’ and ‘whey’ are associated with making what?

A. 1: Cheese.

Q. 2: Which species of animal contains the most poisonous animal in the world?

A. 2: Frogs.

Q. 3: Which two metals are used to make pewter?

A. 3: Tin and Lead.

Q. 4: What two fruits grow on palms? (A point for each correct answer and a bonus point if you are able to name both correctly.)

A. 4: Coconuts and dates.

Q. 5: What would you use ‘Archimedes’ Screw’ for?

A. 5: Lifting water to a higher level

Q. 6: Amino acids are essential for the formation of what in the body?

A. 6: Proteins.

Q. 7: What can dogs do that wolves cannot?

A. 7: Bark.

Q. 8: A ‘canton’, ‘halyard’ and ‘field’ make up what item?

A. 8: A flag.

Q. 9: What are the two largest fruit crops on earth? (A point for each correct answer and a bonus point if you are able to name both correctly.)

A. 9: Grapes, followed by bananas.

Q. 10: Which chemical has the symbol ‘CL’?

A. 10: Chlorine.

Q. 11: Who wrote the famous book ‘Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire’?

A. 11: Edward Gibbon. (You may have the point if you gave the surname only.)

Q. 12: Ireland is divided into two political entities, the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, how many counties comprise each part? (A point for each correct answer.)

A. 12: The Republic of Ireland has 26 counties and Northern Ireland 6.

Q. 13: In what sport can you score a ‘waza-ari’, ‘ippon’ and ‘yuko’?

A. 13: Judo.

Q. 14: The Knesset is the legislature of which country?

A. 14: Israel.

Q. 15: What landlocked sea is 422m (1385ft) below sea level?

A. 15: The Dead Sea.

Q. 16: Which monarch observed “L’etat, c’est moi”? (The language should give you a clue.)

A. 16: Louis XIV.

Q. 17: Where is the Yas Marina Motor Racing Circuit?

A. 17: Abu Dabi.

Q. 18: The name was mentioned in the news a lot towards the end of 2014, which war was fought by Britain, France, Turkey and Piedmont against Russia between 1853 and 1856?

A. 18: The Crimean War.

Q. 19: In what land are ‘Quadling Country’, ‘Winkie Country’ and ‘Gillkin Country’ to be found?

A. 19: The Land of Oz, from The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz.

Q. 20: Which singer was ‘sailing’ in 1975?

A. 20: Rod Stewart.

================================

Charles Munger Agrees With Me.

October 8, 2014October 8, 2014 fasab Business, Current Events, Investing, Politics, Rants AbbVie, agrees, American Companies, American people, Berkshire Hathaway, British rival, burger king, canada, change, Charles Munger, commercial powerhouse of the world, consumption taxes, corporations, Covidien, Current Events, cuts in corporate taxes, doughnut maker, encourage business to stay in the US, government, greedy and intrusive government legislation, headquarters, high US corporate taxes, Illinois-based pharmaceutical company, investment company, Ireland, Jacob J Lew, jobs will be lost, low corporate taxes, Medtronic, Miami-based Burger King, Minneapolis, new rules, Oakville, Ontario, Opinion, pending inversion deals, politics, President Barack Obama, Rants, relocating overseas, richest men in the world, shire, smart enough, stark raving mad, takeover, taxes, Tim Hortons Inc., Treasury Secretary, US companies, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., Warren Buffet, wealth creation, well-to-do people

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

I always think it’s nice when someone agrees me. Even more so when they are well versed in the subject matter.

Charles Munger is such a guy. And he agrees with me, or at least he would do, had he read a post I wrote recently about Burger King’s move to Canada to avoid high US corporate taxes. (Click here if you want to read it.)

Anyway, we’re saying the same thing, and that’s what matters.

For those readers who don’t know who Charles Munger is, he is vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the world famous investment company headed by Warren Buffet, one of the richest men in the world.

Munger says people who criticize Burger King’s plan to shift its headquarters to Canada, where tax rates are lower, are “stark raving mad”. What they should be calling for are cuts in corporate taxes to encourage business to stay in the US and even relocate there.

More than 40 U.S. companies have reincorporated abroad since 1982.

In fairness it has to be said that Munger does have a vested interest of sorts to stick up for Burger King. Berkshire Hathaway committed $3 billion to help finance Miami-based Burger King’s planned takeover of Tim Hortons Inc., the doughnut maker with headquarters in Oakville, Ontario.

But that’s not why he said what he said. He is smart enough to know what is good for business generally and levying hefty taxes on corporations is not good. In fact he said, “If I were running the world, I would probably have low corporate taxes and get at the well-to-do people in some other way, like consumption taxes.”

Unfortunately President Barack Obama isn’t so smart. He has continued to criticize American companies that move to other nations in search of lower corporate tax bills.

And his Treasury Secretary, Jacob J. Lew, has recently announced new rules aimed at making it more difficult for American companies to lower their tax bills by relocating overseas and that would wipe out the benefits for those that do.

The changes will affect only deals that are completed from now on. But they could include pending inversion deals, like the one involving AbbVie, an Illinois-based pharmaceutical company that is in the process of acquiring its smaller British rival, Shire, or the Minneapolis medical device maker Medtronic, which is acquiring Covidien in Ireland.

And if the government continues on this path what will happen?

I think if US companies are prevented from making these kind of deals by ever greedy and intrusive government legislation they will simply close down altogether in the US. Wealth creation will be lost, many thousands of jobs will be lost and America will lose its long held position as the commercial powerhouse of the world.

When the American people were offered “Change” I don’t think this is what they were expecting.

======================================================

Fasab Quiz Day Again!

September 22, 2014September 15, 2014 fasab Questions, Tests animal, Arabic numerals, August Kotter, Back to the Future, Better Dead Than Red, Better Red Than Dead, bird, break, Brer Rabbit, Bugs Bunny, Canary Islands, children, collective name, creatures, disease, drupaceous fruit, earth, education, Enid Blyton, Entertainment, Famous Five, first daily comic strip, floating wreckage at sea, forbidden by law to eat, forecast, Geography, German gunsmith, grapes, group of beavers, Hawaiian women, highest, history, invent, Ireland, maximum, medicine, movie, movies, national symbol, nature, non-contagious disease, not going to eat any more broccoli, numbers, outcome, Penicillin, President of the United States, probable course, process, professor, questions, quiz, quizzes, science, sign of peace, slogans, snooker, sun's energy, test, tests, the Easter Bunny, trilogy, United States, War, weapon, word

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

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.

Q. 1: What is the most common non-contagious disease in the world?

Q. 2: What drupaceous fruit were Hawaiian women once forbidden by law to eat?

Q. 3: Arabic numerals originated in which country?

Q. 4: What bird is used as the sign of peace?

Q. 5: Who discovered penicillin?

Q. 6: How many children were in Enid Blyton’s Famous Five?

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

Q. 8: What was the first daily comic strip published in the United States?

Q. 9: During which “war” in the 1950’s were the slogans “Better Dead Than Red” and “Better Red Than Dead” popular?

Q. 10: By what process does the sun’s energy reach the earth?

Q. 11: What is the highest, or maximum, break in a game of snooker?

Q. 12: Which word means the forecast of the probable course or outcome of a disease?

Q. 13: 10. What is the national symbol of Ireland?

a) Crown Jewels of Ireland b) Celtic Cross c) Celtic Harp d) Irish Wolfhound

Q. 14: What color are white grapes?

Q. 15: What is floating wreckage at sea called?

Q. 16: Who said: “I’m the president of the United States and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli”?

Q. 17: What creatures are the Canary Islands named after?

Q. 18: What weapon did German gunsmith August Kotter invent in 1520?

Q. 19: What is the collective name for a group of beavers?

Q. 20: And an easy one to finish, what type of animal inspired the creation of Bugs Bunny, Brer Rabbit, and the Easter Bunny?

ANSWERS

Q. 1: What is the most common non-contagious disease in the world?

A. 1: Tooth Decay.

Q. 2: What drupaceous fruit were Hawaiian women once forbidden by law to eat?

A. 2: Coconuts.

Q. 3: Arabic numerals originated in which country?

A. 3: They originated in India.

Q. 4: What bird is used as the sign of peace?

A. 4: The Dove.

Q. 5: Who discovered penicillin?

A. 5: Alexander Fleming (in 1928).

Q. 6: How many children were in Enid Blyton’s Famous Five?

A. 6: Four.

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.

Q. 8: What was the first daily comic strip published in the United States?

A. 8: Mr. Mutt.

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.

Q. 10: By what process does the sun’s energy reach the earth?

A. 10: Radiation.

Q. 11: What is the highest, or maximum, break in a game of snooker?

A. 11: 147.

Q. 12: Which word means the forecast of the probable course or outcome of a disease?

A. 12: Prognosis.

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.

Q. 14: What color are white grapes?

A. 14: Green.

Q. 15: What is floating wreckage at sea called?

A. 15: Flotsam (Jetsam is discarded material which has been washed ashore).

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.

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’).

Q. 18: What weapon did German gunsmith August Kotter invent in 1520?

A. 18: The Rifle.

Q. 19: What is the collective name for a group of beavers?

A. 19: A Colony.

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’.)

==========================================

Did You Know? – I Didn’t.

July 22, 2014July 22, 2014 fasab Factoids, Unusual 100 kilometers per hour, 1955, 6000 feet, animals, anti-stress drugs, Australian scientist, bacteria, banana plant, banana tree, bananas, Big Pharma, biological similarities, Boole, broken back and ribs, cells, Chernobyl disaster, common myth, Decca Records, discovered, Disneyland, easily curable, education, Einstein, Entertainment, fact, Fact day, factoid, factoids, facts, falling, faulty part, first man, for human consumption, Ford Motors, french, general knowledge, ground, HD189733b, Heinrich Schliemann, horns on their helmets, human body, ignorant, information, Ireland, James Boole, Japanese, killed by a robot, language, large brains, Latin, legend, malfunctioning machine, money, more smarts, music industry, mythical city, Native American Zuni tribe, nice, nuclear rain, original rides, parachute, planet, rains glass sideways, remains of the city, Robert, Robert Williams, sheep farmers, smaller brain, sound, spell, still in operation, stupidest decision, survived a fall of 6, The Beatles, trivia, Trojan War, Troy, ulcers, Vikings, weren't sellable

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

Yes, I have to admit that many of the facts that I use on these posts are just as big a surprise to me as they possibly are to you.

But I hope interesting, as well.

Here is the latest batch from the archives.

Enjoy.

There are 13 ways to spell

the “o” sound in French

There is a planet called HD189733b

where it rains glass sideways.

The language of the Native American Zuni tribe

has resemblances to Japanese.

Subsequent research confirmed

biological similarities between the groups.

For a long time the world believed Troy to be a mythical city

and the Trojan War to be little more than legend,

until Heinrich Schliemann discovered the actual remains of the city.

Despite the common myth that large brains equal more intelligence,

people like Einstein actually had a smaller brain

(only difference is, he used his!)

Vikings didn’t have horns on their helmets.

A man named James Boole survived a fall of 6,000 feet

without a parachute with only a broken back and ribs.

It is estimated that when Boole hit the ground,

he was falling at about 100 kilometers per hour.

There is no such thing as a banana tree,

bananas grow on a banana plant.

Nuclear rain from the Chernobyl disaster

fell as far away as Ireland

where sheep farmers were banned from

selling their animals for human consumption for a time.

For years Big Pharma made $millions off selling people

anti-stress drugs to cure their ulcers,

until an Australian scientist proved the ulcers

were quite often caused by bacteria and were easily curable.

Fourteen of the original rides from

Disneyland’s 1955 opening are still in operation.

Nice comes from a Latin word meaning “ignorant”.

Side by side, 2000 cells from the human body

could cover about one square inch.

When Robert Williams tried to retrieve

a faulty part at a Ford Motor’s casting plant,

the malfunctioning machine reactivated

and its arm slammed into his head, killing him instantly.

He is the first man in history to have been killed by a robot.

In one of the stupidest decision

in the history of the music industry,

Decca Records turned down the Beatles

because they “weren’t sellable”.

==========================================

What Day Is It? – It’s Quiz Day, And That Wasn’t One Of The Questions!

June 9, 2014June 3, 2014 fasab Questions, Tests $300 million, 1979, ABBA, adjusts the opening, aliens, assassinated, beautiful, Britain’s Royal Family, broken off, career, Chinese dynasty, Ching, city of Rome, clockwise, clouds, Cold War, cord, counter-clockwise, country, dessert, dried fruit, education, electricity, Entertainment, fairy tales, famous man, fantasy novels, Galapagos Islands, general knowledge, Geography, Greece, Hans Christian, Harry Potter, highest priced painting in the world, history, Ireland, island country, Jin, June 14th, largest city in North Carolina, Latin word, member, men who served, merry-go-round, Ming, movie, movies, Mullaghmore, music, mythical founder, mythology, named, Napoleon, old name, painted, politics, port city, Qing, questions, quiz, Quiz Day, quizzes, returned safely, sailing, sales price, second best bed, slats, slayer, small clouds, sporting tournament, star trek, Tang, tasers, television, The Card Players, title, tv, twin brother, U-boats, US president, USA, venetian blind, videos, war-like race, White House, wife, wife of King George III, wills, world war ii, wrote, WWII, Xin, YouTube

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

No, sorry, no points if you said it was Quiz Day, even though you are right.

Twenty more challenging questions for you to ponder over.

So get a pot of coffee going and try you hand at these.

As usual, if you get stuck, you can find the answers waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down below, but please NO cheating!

Enjoy and good luck.

Q. 1: You’ve heard of tasers, you’ve probably seen videos of them on TV or YouTube, but what do the letters ‘T-A-S-E-R’ stand for?

Q. 2: Out of the 40,000 men who served on U-boats during World War II, approximately how many returned safely?

a) 100% b) 75% c) 50% d) 25% e) 15%

Q. 3: When did the Cold War end?

Q. 4: On which side of a venetian blind is the cord that adjusts the opening between the slats?

Q. 5: To which country do the Galapagos Islands belong?

Q. 6: What member of Britain’s Royal Family was assassinated whilst sailing from Mullaghmore in Ireland in 1979?

Q. 7: Harry Potter is a very famous and successful series of seven fantasy novels, who wrote them?

Q. 8: Does a merry-go-round turn clockwise or counter-clockwise?

Q. 9: Which popular dried fruit is named after a port city in Greece?

Q. 10: Currently the highest priced painting in the world with a sales price equivalent to something in the region of $300 million, ‘The Card Players’ was painted by whom?

Q. 11: The old name for this island country stems from the Latin word for beautiful, what is it called today?

Q. 12: Complete the title of each of the following Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales. (And yes, you get a point for each correct answer.)

a) The Red ….. b) The Emperor’s … ……. C) The Steadfast … …….

d) The Princess And … … and, e) The Wild …..

Q. 13: Some wills are strange, which very famous man left his wife his second best bed?

Q. 14: It’s the name of a dessert, the largest city in North Carolina, USA, and the wife of King George III – what is it?

Q. 15: Which of the following was NOT the name of a Chinese dynasty?

a) Qing b) Xin c) Ming d) Jin e) Ching or, e) Tang

Q. 16: What huge sporting tournament begins June 14^th this year?

Q. 17: Who was the first US President to have electricity in the White House?

Q. 18: What are very small clouds that look like they have been broken off of bigger clouds called?

Q. 19: He was the mythical founder of the city of Rome and the slayer of his twin brother. His name was also used for a war-like race of aliens in the series Star Trek. What was his name? (And a bonus point on offer if you can also correctly name his twin brother.)

Q. 20: It was the end of Napoleon’s career and the start of ABBA’s, what was it?

ANSWERS

Q. 1: You’ve heard of tasers, you’ve probably seen videos of them on TV or YouTube, but what do the letters ‘T-A-S-E-R’ stand for?

A. 1: ‘Taser’ – Stands for ‘Thomas A Swift Electric Rifle’.

Q. 2: Out of the 40,000 men who served on U-boats during World War II, approximately how many returned safely?

a) 100% b) 75% c) 50% d) 25% e) 15%

A. 2: The correct answer is d) 25%. Out of the 40,000 men who served on U-boats during WWII, only approximately 10,000 returned safely.

Q. 3: When did the Cold War end?

A. 3: This year (2014) is the 25^th anniversary of the end of the Cold War, so take a point if you said ‘1989’.

Q. 4: On which side of a venetian blind is the cord that adjusts the opening between the slats?

A. 4: It’s on the left.

Q. 5: To which country do the Galapagos Islands belong?

A. 5: Ecuador.

Q. 6: What member of Britain’s Royal Family was assassinated whilst sailing from Mullaghmore in Ireland in 1979?

A. 6: Earl Mountbatten.

Q. 7: Harry Potter is a very famous and successful series of seven fantasy novels, who wrote them?

A. 7: The Harry Potter series was written by the British author J. K. Rowling.

Q. 8: Does a merry-go-round turn clockwise or counter-clockwise?

A. 8: Counter-clockwise.

Q. 9: Which popular dried fruit is named after a port city in Greece?

A. 9: Corinthians (after the port city Corinth).

Q. 10: Currently the highest priced painting in the world with a sales price equivalent to something in the region of $300 million, ‘The Card Players’ was painted by whom?

A. 10: Paul Cézanne.

Q. 11: The old name for this island country stems from the Latin word for beautiful, what is it called today?

A. 11: The old name was ‘Formosa’, but the island nation is now known as Taiwan or officially the Republic of China.

Q. 12: Complete the title of each of the following Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales. (And yes, you get a point for each correct answer.)

a) The Red ….. b) The Emperor’s … ……. C) The Steadfast … …….

d) The Princess And … … and, e) The Wild …..

A. 12: The five answers are a) The Red SHOES b) The Emperor’s NEW CLOTHES

c) The Steadfast TIN SOLDIER d) The Princess And THE PEA e) The Wild SWANS

Q. 13: Some wills are strange, which very famous man left his wife his second best bed?

A. 13: There was a clue in the question, the answer is Will Shakespeare.

Q. 14: It’s the name of a dessert, the largest city in North Carolina, USA, and the wife of King George III – what is it?

A. 14: Charlotte.

Q. 15: Which of the following was NOT the name of a Chinese dynasty?

a) Qing b) Xin c) Ming d) Jin e) Ching or, e) Tang

A. 15: They are all the names of Chinese dynasties except for e) Ching which I just made up! Take a point if you answered e).

Q. 16: What huge sporting tournament begins June 14^th this year?

A. 16: The football (soccer) World Cup.

Q. 17: Who was the first US President to have electricity in the White House?

A. 17: Benjamin Harrison was the first president to have electricity in the White House. However, he was so scared of getting electrocuted that he would never touch the light switches himself.

Q. 18: What are very small clouds that look like they have been broken off of bigger clouds called?

A. 18: Very small clouds that look like they have been broken off of bigger clouds are called ‘scuds’.

A. 19: His name was ‘Romulus’. His twin brother’s name was ‘Remus’.

Q. 20: It was the end of Napoleon’s career and the start of ABBA’s, what was it?

A. 20: Waterloo.

==============================================

Pandering To Minorities.

May 4, 2014May 3, 2014 fasab Business, Current Events, Rants alcohol, America, backbone, bacon, buckle under, burger king, Burger King menu, capitulate, contempt, core customers, countries, Current Events, demand, democracy, dictate, disappointment, El Al, Europe, facts, fast food chain, food and drink, fully conscious, hal-al, halal abattoirs, ham, idiots, impose our beliefs, India, inhumane, Ireland, Islamic hal-al, Israel, Israeli national airline, juicy steak, kosher, livestock, loud mouth minority interests, majority, morons, Muslim, Muslim community, Muslim country, nation, needlessly cruel, non-halal abattoirs, nonsensical, not permitted, Opinion, pandering, People, Rants, respect their laws, rules, sacred cow, slaughtering animals for human consumption, society, stock value, stores, stunned before killing, stupid, stupid people, stupidity, Subs, subway, Sunday Sermon, throats of the animals are cut, UK, United Kingdom, unnecessary suffering, vociferous minorities, Western nations, Westernere

“Fight Against Stupidity And Bureaucracy”

The Sunday Sermon

You know there is something very wrong with your society when it allows vociferous minorities to dictate how the majority of people are allowed to live their lives.

They still call it democracy, but it is not.

And it is happening more and more in Western nations, particularly America and Europe, and affecting more and more areas of our lives.

The reason it happens is not because loud mouth minority interests demand this or that or the other, but because the majority have lost any backbone they ever had and capitulate in the face of almost every demand, no matter how nonsensical.

It never works the other way because when Westernere go to other countries we abide by the rules of that nation. We do not try to impose our beliefs on them, not nowadays anyhow.

For example, if I end up in a Muslim country where alcohol is not permitted, I respect their laws and don’t drink alcohol. Similarly, if I want to visit Israel, I’ll eat kosher. Or if I go to India I won’t demand that they slaughter a sacred cow just so as I can have a juicy steak!

We’re on the subject of food and drink because the latest to buckle under is the fast food chain ‘Subway’ in the United Kingdom and Ireland. (Watch out, you’re next America!)

Because of the demands of a few within the Muslim community, Subway has chosen to ignore the wishes of the great majority of its customers and has removed ham and bacon from nearly 200 of its stores.

The meats that they still serve are also to be Islamic hal-al only.

In case you don’t know, hal-al is not the Israeli national airline (that’s El Al), but is a specific way of slaughtering animals for human consumption.

Traditionally in halal abattoirs the throats of the animals are cut while they are fully conscious – an act many campaigners say is inhumane and needlessly cruel – whereas in non-halal abattoirs, livestock are stunned before killing to prevent any unnecessary suffering.

So if you are in the UK or Ireland and looking for any of the following “Subs” you are in for a disappointment.

Chicken and Bacon Ranch Melt – BANNED!
Steak and Cheese  – BANNED!
Meatball Marinara  – BANNED!
Subway Melt – ham, bacon, turkey breast and cheese  – BANNED!
Italian B.M.T. – pepperoni, salami and ham  – BANNED!
Spicy Italian – pepperoni and salami  – BANNED!
Chicken Avocado  – BANNED!
Mega Melt – bacon, sausage, egg and cheese  – BANNED!
Sausage, Bacon, Egg and Cheese  – BANNED!
Sausage, Egg and Cheese  – BANNED!

As regards me personally, it’s Subway that is in for the disappointment, because I’ll be deliberately missing them the next time I get hungry enough for some fast food.

I fail to see why I should support a company like Subway for whom my tastes, as part of the majority of its customers, means nothing.

So well done Subway, you’re stock value should be heading the sub way too if you continue to show contempt for your core customers who made your company what it is – er, make that, what it was.

Now where did I put that Burger King menu???

======================================