The mile High club: Japanese style

From the BBC news "Cannabis blunder at Tokyo airport"

"An unwitting passenger arriving at Japan's Narita airport has received 142g of cannabis after a customs test went awry, officials say. A customs officer hid a package of the banned substance in a side pocket of a randomly chosen suitcase in order to test airport security."

"Sniffer dogs failed to detect the cannabis and the officer could not remember which bag he had put it in. Anyone finding the package has been asked to contact customs officials."

""This case was extremely regrettable. I would like to deeply apologise," said Narita International Airport's customs head Manpei Tanaka."

Pretty funny stuff. Can you imagine the passenger's face as they unpack especially if they are a stoner? Hey wow man, Banzei !

On the other hand, I just hope that passenger is not on route to Singapore and gets pulled up by customs.

"But, But But...that isn't mine". "No, you bad man. They all say that. You go to changi prison and get hanged".

Speaking of substances and instransit, pay attention to Dubai airport. From a previous BBC article :

"Travellers to the United Arab Emirates are being warned about its severe drug laws which have seen dozens detained for apparently minor offences. Fair Trials International said arrests were being made over tiny quantities of drugs and over-the-counter medicines."

"British tourist Keith Brown was sentenced to four years in prison after Dubai customs officers found a 0.003g trace of cannabis stuck to his shoe."

"Possession of painkillers like codeine and some cold and flu medication could result in a mandatory four-year prison sentence, Fair Trials International said. In one of the most extreme cases, it reported a man being held after poppy seeds from a bread roll were found on his clothes."

My advice if going to Dubai, just don't try smuggling cannabis in a teddy bear . If you do make sure the Teddy is called something innocuous like 'Eric'. Otherwise you'll REALLY be in trouble.

Phileas Fogg,
Houston, Memorial day 2008

Life in the bus lane

The other week I was driving from Wales to London Gatwick and passed a "National Express" bus on it's way from Swansea to Cardiff. On the side was sign 'Free Internet access' onboard. As a net freak with 3 hours boring driving ahead of me, it got me thinking about public transport and maybe that I should re-look at public transport in my future travels.

I'd recently used Gatwick and Heathrow expresses and they also had such features though in the casee of Heathrow, by the time you'd logged on, you'd be in Paddington.

When younger, I'd use National Express to travel. I quite enjoyed it though you'd have to allow some time to get there. This is similar to flying Southwest which if you are going a distance, allow for change overs. Some years back, I found a flight from Dallas to Seattle took us 8 hours. Not so good, if this is part of your long weekend.

With price of fuel going up, I see a resurgance of public transport for traveling. I love travelling by trains but in Texas, Forget it. Amtrak does go from Houston but I've been told it is such a slow trip. I envy North East for their choice.

I've yet to take a Greyhound bus trip but someday I will if only for the experience. But that brings up another disadvantage of publc transport: the public. You're hostage to having to sit next to some nut that nobody wishes to sit next to who may suddenly start singing.

Which brings me back to my car journey. As I got nearer to London, I picked up Eagle 96.4 and it was playing some rocking music. So I did something you cannot do on public transport: turn up the volume and sing your head off. Not unless you want to be regarded as some kinda nut that nobody wishes to sit next to that is..

Phileas Fogg,
Houston Texas but mentaly penned on M4 motorday going 'Up the smoke', UK

Say it loud, say it proud

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me.

A riddle for you: Dimitris Lambrou is a lesbian but he is a man. He was born a man and has not had a sex change. How can that be?

The answer lies is the fact that he was born on island of Lesbos: A native of Lesbos is a Lesbian.

As discussed in the UK's Times newspaper "Dimitris Lambrou, along with another Lesbos resident and a member of a nationalist pagan association, have started a legal action to gain the exclusive right to call themselves Lesbians. Their legal action seeks to prohibit the Greek Gay and Lesbian Union (OLKE) from using the name "lesbian". The claimants argue that the “seizure” of the term lesbian to mean more than simply “of the island of Lesbos” (in the northern part of the Grecian archipelago) has caused them mental distress."

The irony of this gave me a rye smile since 'Greek' is also slang for a type of sexual practice, forbidden until 2003 in Texas.

A different name argument is taking place in Greece and the former Yugoslavia "Republic of Macedonia" (FYROM) which is now an independent country. Athens' problem is that they also have a region on North Greece called Macedonia and thus, are concerned that FYROM names implies territorial claim on their Macedonia.
Would you believe it that it is now at United Nations level and it is holding up FYROM's membership of Nato? Even President Bush is involved in it. (That alone, will likely be an inverted Midas touch !).

Alexander the Great would be proud of this rift. Speaking of which, When Oliver Stone released his film "Alexander" a group of 25 Greek Lawyers wished to sue of portrayal of Alexander being so effiminate.

The Greeks are not the only ones claiming name exclusivity and resorting to legal system. Even though I like Cava from Spain, only the French have the right to make "Champagne": Bubbly can only be called "Champagne" if from the Chamgagne area. They have EU lobbyist that thank for that but it would be interesting to see if Champaigne Illinois fremented some grapes, could they call it US Champaigne and launch a spoiler product ? Whilst not a place per se, Budweiser US lost out in a claim against worldwide rights to Czech brewer of "Budweiser".

There are some places that no other country would wish to claim but are minor tourist attractions in their own right.

The Austrian place in photo above is one and for the Brits, Wank in Baveria.

Apparently in both places, they have to spend a lot of time replacing signs which get stolen by infantile British visitors.

One place which will not get a title claim against it is England's Great Snoring .

However, the ultimate is name trumps has to be the longest place name in the UK: Wales' Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch on Anglesey Island. A bit crap really in that your main attraction is your sign post.

Thieves beware on LLFPGG sign: To steal this sign will require at 3 people just to carry it. On the bright side, the Greeks will have no claim on it.

Phileas Fogg,
Houston, Texas
3rd May 2007