Welcome to rascott.com
This is a
personal site that reflects my interests in news,
current affairs, aviation and travel.
email me:
robert@rascott.com
rascott.com
Home Page
Note that each Jan/Feb link leads to the remaining AOB
pages for that year. 10 years of diary keeping!
Photo Albums
My photographs have been moved off this site and are now stored on Picasa. They
were simply taking up too much space on my web host.
Please use
this link to see my list of photo albums.
Some
Useful links:
Information:
World Time
Clock
Exchange Rates
Journalism:
ForeignPolicy
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Project Syndicate
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Good causes:
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In
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Back in the UK:
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And for fun:
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There are many other links on my AOB blog page.
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An Occasional Blog |
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Dubai based Airine bloggers
TampaxTowers Egypt Thailand Blogs Thai-blogs.com - rather serious
2bangkok.com
-
not really a blog but always up to date on Bangkok news
Thai
Girl The exotic adventures of a literary
sexagenarian.
Thai Films
Asia Unbound - CFR
Dubai Blogs
dxbae
- picture blog - also Gerald Donovan
The Gulf Blog
Grumpy
Goat Arabic affairs blogs
The Arabist
Hong Kong Blogs
Hong
Kong Outdoors In China: Danwei - media and advertising news from China
Shanghaiist.com
Hong Kong Cinemagic
Chinageeks
In Singapore: Xiaxue - self-confessed mean, bitchy, sex goddess who says "wah" a lot!
Mr Brown
- colourful commentary from Singapore
In Burma:
In Canada:
Media:
Tabloid
Watch (UK) Aviation: Amadeus (airline schedules) Airline meals - see it b4 you eat it!
Airliners
- aviation forum, trip reports and pix
archive Planenation - commercial aviation news Airchive - a web museum of commercial aviation.
CrankyFlier - mainly US commentary
Sharjah -
1937
KPAE - Paine Field Blog
Johnny Jet News: The Guardian - UK
Arabian
Business Bangkok info sites: Worthy Sites:
Rconversation - from Rebecca
MacKinnon, ex-TV reporter-turned-blogger.
What Matters - McKinsey
Golf Sites:
Cricket sites:
Alternative
Cricket Almanac
Other Sports
Fun Sites:
Fun signs
Cooking
Technology Ideas:
Stuff -
gadgets
TNooz - Travel Tech
ViralBlog
Photography
The Rest:
Black
Flamingo - recipes and life (no golf!)
Author
Robert Scott lives and works in Dubai; born in England I have since lived in Canada, Hong Kong, Singapore and Bangkok. I am very happily married to Tai.
If you want to know more you only need to ask! ask.
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30 December 2014 Back in Dubai - for some reason EK has launched its January movies early - including "Hector and the Search for Happiness." What starts as an interesting idea just sinks into a morass of cloying nonsense. Roger Ebert is a far better film critic than me - here is his conclusions: "Good intentions are all over "Hector and the Search for Happiness." Clear care has been put into the project. There is nothing wrong with trying to put on film a parable about what it means to be human; stories about unhappy trapped characters who discover a way to cherish the life that they have. Films like "Wizard of Oz," "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Stranger Than Fiction," to name just a few, treat this same topic with sensitivity, creativity, and emotional honesty. "Hector" is an animated Power Point presentation in comparison." 16 December 2014 The Economist on the CIA torture report - a commentary that makes a whole lot of sense: "This week’s Senate report makes a return to torture less likely. The CIA’s black jails and the terrible things that went on in them were unworthy of the United States. However, amid the foreign gloating and the unedifying partisan rows at home, remember that unlike the rest, America tends to face up to its demons. That is an example other countries should follow."
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Authorities have
already instructed public schools and state agencies to hang a banner
listing Gen. Prayuth’s teachings on their premises. Oh dear.
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Hey
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**************************** DXB-GVA-DXB-BKK-SYD-PER-DXB. Four flights on Emirates; one on Thai Airways and one on QANTAS. Poor old Thai - there 747 is so dated now; with seats that have no support in the cushion. The worst was the cabin crew who poured a cup of hot coffee over my leg and then said "sorry - would you like the toilet." I didn't need the f***ing toilet - I needed some wet towels from the galley - now! Hopeless and really - sorry is the best you can do. How about a dry-cleaning voucher; a glass of champagne; an upgrade voucher? QANTAS cabin crew - friendly without being patronising and very, very efficient.
************************** I had a job offer to stay there. Life would have been very different. 15 December 2014 Just for the record anyone who posts abusive/racist comments on my social media feeds is never going to be someone that I regard as a friend. And if you do that - even in the heat of an ill-considered moment - you have been or will be deleted. This is not taking the moral high ground - this is simply because such behavior is so utterly unnecessary - and to do nothing is to accept the unacceptable. There have been hate messages after today's hostage taking in Sydney and people need to remember that it is not Islam, or any other faith, that is the issue; it is the lunatics and extremists within it that are not true Muslims and who believe in hate. This is true of all extremists.
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************************** The comparison between EK's confused, inexperienced, poorly-directed economy crew and the highly professional, relaxed, experienced crew on Qantas Domestic from SYD to PER is like night and day. And why - with just a 40% load does it take 30 minutes after the mea has been served to offer a drink to go with the meal. The drinks card did one return trip up and down the aisle offering nothing - before sometime later it slowly set off again. And as the drinks cart set off so did the coffee and tea trolley as well - until someone must have realised that they should be offering drinks first. That no - one in Emirates can work out how to serve drinks with a meal in economy class is sad. Every other airline in the world appears to make this work without a problem.
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How to stay safe in
England: 5 December 2014 The Thai definition of disaster is a bit different from the rest of the world - in Chiang Mai the temperature in Om Koy, Mae Chaem, Kalayaniwattana, Wiang Hang and Fang districts has fallen below 15 degree Celsius for three consecutive days prompting the Chiang Mai’s Public Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Centre to declare them disaster-affected area eligible to public disaster fund to help the affected residents. From ThaiPBS. 1 December 2014 Withdrawn Emirates A340-500 A6-ERA positioned Dubai – Lourdes for storage this afternoon as EK3073. The aircraft is now in all white livery.
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30 November 2014
NokScoot has taken
delivery of its first aircraft, a B777-200(ER), sourced from equity
partner Scoot. HS-XBA (msn 28521) arrived in Bangkok Don Mueang on Sunday,
November 23, following a ferry flight from Singapore Changi where it had
undergone a repaint into the start-up's distinctive livery - a hybrid
between that of Scoot and Thai parent, Nok Air. The airline expects to add a second 777 in 2014 and add routes to Osaka, Seoul and Nanjing.
Incidentally, it is a really silly name for an airline.
************************* There is more but this is a sensitive subject. 27 November 2014 They are at it again - "Emirates, a global connector of places, people and their passions..." - once again - it is just an airline folks....
********************* The answer is probably no - yes - no. 26 November 2014 Have been ignoring the blog -sorry - not intentional. Just distracted. Mr. Stenson won the DP World Golf Championship. Two great birdie on 17 and 18 sealed the win - as everyone else just seemed to lose the plot over the final few holes. They say a tournament really only starts with the last 9 holes on the final day. This was so very true in Dubai.
************************* 23 November 2014
Today's entertainment
at the DPWTC saw the two Royal Trophy captains paired together. All the
fun was saved for the back nine. Miguel Ángel Jiménez played the last 6
holes in 3 under while putting with one of his wedges after the
not-as-mild-as-you-think Spaniard launched his putter over the green into
a tree on the 11th. He then tramped over to the trees and booted the
errant putter a further 10 or 15 yards. 20 November 2014 It is a very good week for sports fans in the UAE Pakistan v New Zealand cricket; the DP World Tour Championship and the F1 grand prix in Abu Dhabi - all in the same week. 19 November 2014 With the new Hunger Games movie being released globally one country that has already seem the film's premier cancelled is Thailand where the films' three finger salute has become a symbol of protest against military rule.
Yesterday, the director
of the Hunger Games movies told The Sydney Morning Herald that he was
troubled by the Thai junta's actions against peaceful protesters adopting
the gesture. 15 November 2014
Emirates says it will
resume flights from Dubai to the Iraqi Kurdish regional capital of Irbil
after halting them following advances by the Islamic State group. Isn't that just a bit too close to ISIS territory? 9 November 2014 Corporate bullshit department: "Emirates, a global connector and facilitator of vital trade links..." says the press release - in case anyone is confused it is just a airline. 6 November 2014 Happy Loy Krathong Day.
************************* The flight will be operated by an A380. The return flight is oddly timed as it arrives back in Dubai when it basically connects with nothing. Rather than spending 20 hours on the ground EK 201 will then return as EK 208 and the A380 from EK 207 will return as EK 202. Just a rumour for now - but it may be that this new flight will replace the existing DXB-MXP-JFK flight which is subject to review by the Italian courts. 5 November 2014
EK fleet plans: EK currently have 4 A340-300s, 20 A330-200s, 8 A340-500s, 2 777-200s, 6 777-200ERs, and 12 777-300s officially in operation, with 1 A330-200 and 1 777-200 already sitting outside the DXB maintenance hangars with white tails. (On 5 November Emirates Boeing 777-21H A6-EMD positioned Boston – Tupelo as EK3147 early this morning for part out and scrap.) EK will keep at least 9 A330s, 6 777-200ERs, and 12 777-300s beyond 2015. The retirements will thus be about 25 frames between now and the end of 2015, which means a net increase of about 20 frames to the fleet in 16 months. So there is scope for a number of new destinations in 2015. 4 November 2014 Try and make sense of this - Global Village opens on 6 November and here is the Khaleej Times report on the pricing:
"Entry tickets are
priced at AED 15 per person and free admission for children under 3,
individuals with special needs and people over 65 entering. Every ticket
holder will receive a Scratch and Win voucher with guaranteed prizes. Why, why, why? Or are they just really bad at maths?
************************ 3 November 2014 Heading back to Dubai after 2 and 1/2 days in Hong Kong. Two and a half days in large part spend trying to understand the biggest protests in Hong Kong since the 1960s.
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