Crosswind landings

A combination of a powerful soundtrack with the awe-inspiring heroism displayed by these INCREDIBLE airline pilots makes for compelling viewing as Boeing secretly test the ability of the 747 and 777 to cope with crosswinds at an undisclosed location.

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Those pilots are worth EVERY PENNY of the salaries they are paid while they hold our lives in their hands. They train in secret, do their job unseen and then go home. Heroes all.

The power of television

Just watching a Christmas 'Challenge Anneka', Anneka put out a television appeal and no sooner had the phone number appeared on screen the switchboard started ringing with hundreds of phone calls one after the other.

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A truly awesome testament to the power of television. And astonishing to see that some people will pick up the phone and dial a number that appears on the screen apparently without a moment's hesitation. I was so surprised I thought I would blog it straight away.

Having a good giggle

There's such a fine line between laughing and crying when a baby is all excited. But this little one waits with great anticipation to be prompted into gales of laughter. Delightful.

A close shave in anyone's book...

This video would be enough to induce fatal apoplexy in half the Health & Safety Executive in this country. The other half however would seize all passports and introduce a permanent ban on all travel outside the UK. So if you are from the HSE, for all the good it might do, please don't watch.

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If you however are a fully paid up member of this planet, I guarantee you will watch this more than once for the sheer shock of the woman only just getting away with rushing across the path of an oncoming bullet train.

Join the queue...

The thing I hate about queues is that you always have to join them at the back. Somehow it offends my sense of entitlement.

December (First Day)

December (First Day), originally uploaded by magic fly paula.

The stamp of success

Did this pass you by? You can now purchase your stamps online, print out a pre-paid label with an address on, either straight onto an envelope or on to a piece of A4 paper, stick on to your letter and send!

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There is no extra charge for the service. You do have to pay £3.50 deposit but if that is unused after a year it is returned to your debit account. And you have to post your letter by the end of the next working day. But if you don't post it then you can get a refund within seven days on your stamp charges.

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How about that! And it looks quite professional too. Ahh, the Internet. It's handy sometimes.

Borat Answers Back

Sacha Baron Cohen has answered back concerning his latest film, Borat according to the Times. He is right to satirise racism wherever it is and to point out how deeply appalling it is. However, to egg people on to join him in his own brand of racism is not acceptable because he has caused offence to an entire nation.

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It's a massive own goal and in my view profoundly mistaken.

Borat, aren't you being racist?

I don't get what's funny about pretending you are from a foreign country, labelling your countrymen as backward, talking about how they call their women whores, abuse their children, drink horse urine, hate the Jews and beat their wives. Then suggest that the bemused manner in which Americans respond is evidence of latent racism in them.

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But if it is so funny, why didn't Cohen pick another country to stereotype? Say, a country with black people in it? Or Israel? Or an Islamic country? Of course he wouldn't. That would be far too blatant. Or dangerous. It would cross the line. He wouldn't do it because it would be deemed racist.

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So how does he get away with being so prejudiced towards Kazakhstan? Is it because they don't have the muscle to stick up for themselves? Is it funny because we don't know where Kazakhstan is on the map?

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In any event if I laugh along with Cohen's slurs, why is it not like laughing at the antics of a playground bully?

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In attempting to highlight the wrongs of others, Cohen has become an example of what he is trying to despise. I don't think I'll be going to see this film.

Favourite Movie of all Time?

A VERY difficult question because of the huge range of films to choose from.

Considerations

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1. Did I enjoy it regardless of its subsequent reputation?

2. Would I want to watch it again?

3. For the A-list, which movies would I grab if the building was burning down?

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Here are the interim results.

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A

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Band of Brothers, Driving Miss Daisy, Gladiator, Mona Lisa Smile, The Remains of the Day, Shadowlands,

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B

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Airplane, Ali, Arthur, Artificial Intelligence,

Back to the Future I, Bridget Jones, Blade Runner, Braveheart, The Bodyguard, Bourne Identity, Batman Trilogy, Beauty & the Beast, Bruce Almighty, Bugsy, Backdraft, Batman Begins, Batman, A Beautiful Mind, Black Hawk Down, Bourne Supremacy, Buffalo Soldiers, Bugsy Malone,

Catch Me if you Can, Chocolat, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Cider House Rules, Cinderella Man, Coach Carter, Cocktail, Collateral, The Color of Money, Cold Mountain, The Constant Gardener, Crouching Tiger: Hidden Dragon,

Dangerous Liaisons, Dead Poets Society, The Devil Wears Prada, Die Hard I II III,

Emma, Empire Records, Enigma, Entrapment, E.T. - The Extra Terrestrial, Etre et Avoir,

Fame, Far & Away, The Fast & the Furious, Fight Club, First Knight, A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, Forrest Gump, The Firm, Four Weddings & a Funeral, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe,

Gandhi, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, The Great Escape, The Godfather I II III, Good Will Hunting, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Good Morning Vietnam, Good Night & Good Luck, A Good Year, The Green Mile, Groundhog Day,

HP & the Philosopher's Stone, HP & The Chamber of Secrets, HP & The Prisoner of Azkaban, HP & The Goblet of Fire, Heat, Hitch,

The Incredibles, Indecent Proposal, Independence Day, Indiana Jones, In the Line of Fire, The Inside Man, It's a Wonderful Life,

James Bond I-XXI, Jaws, Jerry Maguire, Jesus of Nazareth, Joan of Arc, Jurassic Park,

L.A. Confidential, Last of the Mohicans, The Last Samurai, Leap of Faith, Leon, Lethal Weapon, Liar Liar, LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring, LOTR: Two Towers, LOTR: Return of the King,

Monsters Inc, Man on Fire, Mary Poppins, MASH, The Mask, Matchstick Men, Matrix I II III, Men in Black, Million Dollar Baby, Minority Report, Miss Potter, Mr & Mrs Smith, Mrs Brown, Mrs Doubtfire, The Muppet Christmas Carol, My Fair Lady,

Nanny McPhee, NL: Christmas Vacation,

Ocean's Eleven, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, An Officer & a Gentleman, Oliver Twist, Out of Sight,

Passion of the Christ, Patch Adams, The Patriot, A Perfect World, Phenomenon, Pleasantville, Police Academy, Pretty Woman, Pride & Prejudice,

The Railway Children, The Rainmaker, Rain Man, Rasputin, Remember the Titans, Road to Perdition, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, The Rookie, Roxanne,

Saving Private Ryan, Scent of a Woman, SeaBiscuit, School of Rock, Shakespeare in Love, The Shawshank Redemption, The Sixth Sense, Sommersby, The Sound of Music, The Snowman, Spellbound, Spiderman I II, SW: The Phantom Menace, SW: Revenge of the Sith, SW: Attack of the Clones, Star Wars: A New Hope, SW: The Empire Strikes Back, SW: Return of the Jedi, Superman I II III,

Terminator, Terminator 2, The Thomas Crown Affair, Three Kings, Top Gun, Trading Places, Training Day, The Truman Show,

Unforgiven, The Untouchables,

Wallace & Gromit: A Grand Day Out, W&G: The Wrong Trousers, W&G: A Close Shave, W&G: Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Wedding Crashers, We Were Soldiers, Willie Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, What Women Want, The Wizard of Oz,

The X-Men series, xXx,

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Movies I ought to see
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Casablanca, Citizen Kane, Goodfellas, Schindler's List, Serenity, Singin' in the Rain, The Usual Suspects

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Do you have a recommendation?
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Favourite TV Series of all time
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Airwolf (1984), All Creatures Great & Small (1978), The Apprentice (USA) (2004), The A-Team (1983), Bagpuss (1974), Band of Brothers (2001), The Bill (early hour-long version) (1984), Blakes 7 (1978), Cagney & Lacey (1982), CHiPs (1977), COPS (1989), The Cosby Show (1984), Dallas (1978), Dempsey & Makepeace (1985), Dog The Bounty Hunter (2004), Dragon's Den (2004), Dukes of Hazzard (1979), The Equalizer (1985), Fame (1982), Grange Hill (1978), Grey's Anatomy (2005), House (2004), Knight Rider (1982), Miami Vice (1984), Monkey (1978), Moonlighting (1985), Mr Benn (1971), Teachers (2001), The Muppet Show (1976), Robin of Sherwood (1984), Star Trek (1966), Vicar of Dibley (1994), The Waltons (1972), The X Files (1993).
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Can you believe those dates? What a trip down Memory Lane! Did I miss anything?

Reflection on Danish Cartoon row

If the Religious Hatred Law Bill had been passed this week then it would have been illegal for anyone to even show us the Danish cartoons. Tony Blair's personal mistake in failing to turn up and vote was all that stopped freedom of speech being consigned to history in the UK. I find that deeply disturbing.

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Secondly, I am so glad that Muslims in this country have been making full use of their right to free speech to give full vent to their views. It's such an excellent principle, isn't it? It is paradoxical they want to deny it to others.

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Thirdly, why have the government been actively seeking to shut down free speech but have done nothing about hundreds of people parading posters through London threatening another 7/7, making intimidating insinuations about 9/11, and trying to incite people to behead or exterminate those who offend them? Isn't there already a law about inciting or threatening violence?

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Fourthly, if the cartoons were satirising the fact that Islam has an extremely violent underbelly of terrorism and murder, what would be the best way to go about refuting it?

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Only now are we belatedly waking up to the drunken haze with which the government have been drafting these terrible bills. Governments must preserve principles that act as a plumbline in making laws that govern.

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Default on them and you default on your mandate to govern.

Not so great odds

Thinking of playing the lottery?

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Perhaps this might give a sense of perspective.

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'Casinos typically pay out more than 97 per cent of money staked. With Premium Bonds you actually get to keep your stake, plus an average of 3½ per cent, in prize money per year; small wonder the Government doesn’t promote them. The lottery payout? Fifty per cent.

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'And these pathetic returns are so skewed to the jackpots that the average player receives far less than that, even over a lifetime. If you bought ten tickets a week for 50 years, your chances of winning one jackpot in that time would be less than 1 in 500. You would almost certainly lose about 80 per cent of your cumulative stake.

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'To represent the vanishingly small chance of a lottery jackpot in the game of roulette, you would need to build a wheel with close to 14 million compartments; to scale, the wheel would be bigger than London — too large, in fact, to fit inside the M25.

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'If you were picking a card, the pack would be three miles high. And so on. It could be you. But it goes to good causes, right? Well, if you want to give 28p to a good cause chosen by the lotterycrats, buy a £1 lottery ticket. Or you could give £1 directly to a charity of your choice — that’s £1.28, with gift aid.

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'Nor is the lottery much of a tax. The operator, Camelot, raised £4.77 billion in 2004-05, of which it and the retailers shared equally the last 10 per cent: £477 million. The Inland Revenue, over the same period, raised £380 billion at a cost of less than 1 per cent of the money raised. '

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Thanks to the Times for the information

Two Wardrobes? Oh No!

Apparently there are now two wardrobes with a claim to be the portal through which you can enter Narnia. And check out the story of the real Lucy Pevensie in Jack's life who inspired him to get writing about the wardrobe.