Re: Korean F1 GP ??

"Bob Dog" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> "Philip" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
> > "Bob Dog" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> > news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > >
> > > Between Carrefour and Costco, my life is so much
> > > easier here.  Meat at Costco is the same price as
> > > back in Canada, and it's USDA imported so it's not
> > > as likely to have mad cow disease as local meat
> > > (rumors say some Korean meat comes from Japan).
> >
> > My friend had one of his cows diagnosed with BSE (Mad Cow Disease) last
> > week.
> > It was a 12 year old dairy cow and the Vet said it was very unusual for
an
> > animal so old to contract it.
> > Now under Irish law, his entire herd will be culled.
>
> Better safe than sorry.  Wasn't there an instance of an
> idiot raising cows in England decided after his herd was
> ordered destroyed then used his slaughtered stock as
> animal feed, causing more livestock to be destroyed?
>

At one stage the compensation for destroying a herd was more than the market
value.
There was at least one case where a farmer was caught deliberately trying to
spread the disease.
But thankfully such morons are actually in the minority.

>
> > As his wife has MS, he's thinking about selling up :-(
>
> With no humour or sarcasm intended, might it not be MS?
> Or has it been long enough that they know?
>

Sadly it has been confirmed. She was diagnosed a few years ago and has been
slowly getting worse.
When I met her last Friday, I though that she looked pretty bad and was
obviously in pain.
Then when my wife spoke to her on Sunday, we were told that she had
collapsed at the weekend :-(

She is such a strong personality too - it's sad to see her going downhill.

>
> > > For some reason, I didn't go down to Itaewon all
> > > this month.  One of the best used bookstores is
> > > 100m from the islamic mosque...it was strange
> > > walking past the mosque two years ago, seeing
> > > Korean soldiers with M16s standing at the gates
> > > and giving the evil eye to anyone not Korean,
> > > Arabic, or Pakistani descent (ie., me).
> > >
> >
> > I think I know the feeling. I have had similar problems in England with
my
> > Irish accent for most of my life.
>
> I'm sure some 40ish Quebecois could empathize with you.
> What Shrub is doing to muslims in the US, the government
> in the early 1970s did to some French who criticized the
> government or spoke separatist rhetoric.

The movie "Under Seige" was on TV here earlier this week.
It was made in 1999 and it was real weird seeing it.

Unfortunately the reaction in blaming an entire nation/race/religion for the
acts of a few is all too common.
During the early part of the "troubles" we had "internment" here in Ireland
where anyone who the police thought were republicans or republican
sympathisers could be held without charge.

Sadly it appears to be a human trait.

>
>
> > It used to be a nightmare transferring via Heathrow and other English
> > airports.
> > Now it's ok, but anybody Arabic looking gets a terrible time in any
European
> > airport.
> > I was travelling with a Palastinian colleague last month and it took him
> > about 20 minutes to get through passport control in Copenhagen.
>
> I can understand the banning of anything that can be used
> as a weapon, or even the x-raying of shoes, but now I can't
> even take extra batteries for my walkman on the plane.
> Everybody else is paying the price of US foreign policy.
>

I haven't heard of the "no batteries" rule before .
But in most countries they search you for nail scissors, tweezers, etc.
Then you are let through to the duty-free shops where you can buy great big
glass bottles of alcohol (the well-known weapon of choice for drunkards in
Ireland is the ragged end of a broken bottle) !!!

Someone in the office just came back from Switzerland and claimed that he
saw them selling "Swiss Army Knives" in the duty free shop!

>
> > > > I still have some Carrefour plastic bags at home (other Irish people
> >  will
> > > > know why...)
> > >
> > > To wave at any passing Brit?
> >
> > Ah we're not *that* bad. There were even some Irish people supporting
> > England in the rugby !!
>
> No offense intended (especially since if they'd won Ireland
> would have gone home early!), but my second choice after
> England was Argentina.  They earned their success through
> hard work and almost made the second round at the world cup.
> They deserve plenty of respect if they're not getting it.
>

Yeah, the Argies were reckoned to be a major threat for us.

>
> > No, the reason is that the government put an environmental tax on
plastic
> > bags over a year ago. So now you have to pay 15cents per bag.
> > On top of the cost, there is also the knowledge that everyone knows that
you
> > are *anti-environment* and *pure evil* if you use a plastic bag
nowadays.
> > So plastic bags are really rare in Ireland nowadays, so anytime I get
some
> > when I am abroad I tend to hoard them.
>
> For years before I left Canada you had to pay for bags.
> I didn't like it then, but I can agree with it.  What
> annoys me about it when you bring in cloth bags or some
> other means of lugging your groceries home, many stores
> won't you bring them in.  It's either leave your stuff
> at the door (and the store won't take responsibility if
> your stuff is stolen), pay for bags (which is what I'm
> trying to avoid) or be called a shoplifter before I get
> into the store.  (The Canadian government won't give you
> a passport if you have *any* criminal charge against you
> ever, so why would I start stealing now...?)
>
> Fer crying out loud, they can look in the damned bag
> when I get to the checkout line!  What's so hard to grasp
> about that idea?  Apparently everything, based on the
> stores I've been to....  Does that stupidity go on where
> you are?
>

Absolutely not - you are encouraged to bring your "bag for life" with you
into the supermarket.
(And you get the "evil eye" if you don't !!)

In fact, I have only come across such a rule once in all my travels. I think
it was in Venezuela.
In most countries I use a shoulder bag when I'm shopping, simply for the
convenience - so I reckon I would have come across such a rule.

>
> > I watch Australian Rules every now and then on TG4.
> > That's the Gaelic channel, so the commentary is "as Gaeilge".
> > It's probably for the same reason, as this channel has very few viewers.
>
> No thanks to 19th century England.

Unfortunately there is also a backlash against the 20th century Irish policy
of making the Irish language compulsory at school.
My wife was "taught" Irish for 12 years in school, but utterly hated it. Now
she can't even help our 8 year old son with his homework. When my eldest son
learnt Irish at first, he thought that it was a special language for "boys"
so that the "girls" couldn't listen in (no offence to any girls out there,
it was just the way it happened in our house)

>
>
> > They also show "Survivor" and "The Muppets", again probably because they
are
> > cheap.
> >
> > My kids were astonished when we visited the U.S. on holidays this year
to
> > discover that the Muppets could speak ENGLISH !!
>
> You should see how unable Americans are to deal with hockey
> or other sports in French on Canadian TV.  I can't speak
> it, but I would watch it if there were no English language
> broadcast of a game or race.
>

I've even watched soccer matches with the commentary in German.
My german is minimal, but the commentator didn't seem to say much anyway.
Even a goal was met with a matter-of-fact "das ist ein Goal"....
unlike the stereotypical
"Goooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllllllllllllllll!!!!!!" of South
America...

>
> > Here there are three "footballs" to be confused about !
>
> I've seen Gaelic football on TV, too.

Are ya joining our campaign ?

http://sport.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,10488,1098588,00.html

>
> As a Canadian, it always bugs me that hockey is called "ice
> hockey" and field hockey is called "hockey".  Hockey was
> invented in Canada and it's played on ice.  Anything else
> shouldn't be called by that name. ^_^  (By that reasoning,
> Canada and US "football" shouldn't be called football....)
>

I'd always assumed that it was an English derivative of Shinty (which is a
Scottish version of Hurling).
I mean "Jolly Hockey-sticks" is SO quintissentially English, isn't it?

>
> > > Italy has mandatory service too, and some Canadians
> > > of Italian descent have been grabbed when they visit
> > > the old homeland.
> >
> > Hmmmmm... Maybe I should tip off the Irish authorities to this.
> > We could also use it to handle our American tourist problem.
> > (And would probably increase the Irish army 100-fold)
>
> Worse yet, a relative of my last boss I had in Canada was
> tossed out and sent back to his parent's country because
> the guy didn't have a Canadian citizenship (despite being
> born in Canada) and he had two drunk driving convictions
> against him.

Up until recently, anyone born in Ireland was eligible for Irish
citizenship.
Also, the parents of the child would be guaranteed citizenship or, at least,
residency.
But that has changed now. The Irish authorities have gotten very strict in
sending home illegal immigrants and failed asylum seekers.

>
> Lucky for the guy his parents were from England.  Imagine
> if he was from Russia, Bosnia, or somewhere he couldn't
> speak the language....
>

or Rwanda, etc.


>
> Bob Dog