Text 469, 139 rader
Skriven 2006-04-17 08:21:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av GLEN JAMIESON
Ärende: STATUS CYMBALS 537
==========================
 GJ> Apparently the double Star Gold cards are rare enough that there were
 GJ> no other contenders for 2A.

To be quite honest, there were 26 premium seats and only
about 20 qualifiers (comprising double golds, US Air golds
and silvers, employees on official business, paid first-class
patrons, and points and paid upgraders).

   In a reference to obsequious attendants,
 GJ> is it acceptable in your country to tip such persons as the check-in
 GJ> chick in a similar manner to wait staff, or does that come under the
 GJ> heading of bribery and corruption?

It is frowned upon, and that's one of the offenses for which
instant dismissal is mandated - another is the upgrading of
relatives and employees before the golds (I almost typed
gods) get theirs. That is of course not to say that the
agents don't upgrade their friends and refuse every $100 bill
folded into one's passport and boarding documents.

 GJ> A uniform and a bit of gold braid is immensely helpful there.

Not a chance of that for me, though my father is a wannabe army
person, with a lifelong fascination for firearms and other
weaponry, pomp and circumstance, and blind obedience. Of course
with his eyesight he wouldn't have got far in the service but
insisted on this kind of discipline with my brother, with the
result that on receiving orders, my brother stands to a sort of
parody of attention and bellows "yes, SIR" in an artificially
deep voice, something that meets with mixed reactions from my
father but that nauseates me. To tell the truth, the army might
have been good for my brother, if it didn't kill him first.

 GJ> Alternatively, if you are wearing mufti, a bevy of fawning acolytes
 GJ> orbiting around your august presence gives a similar effect.

Fawning acolytes too can be had for a hundred bucks apiece,
but for the price one might as well actually pay for first
class (something that, let it be understood, I never do
unless I will be reimbursed).

  
 GJ> (Carol isn't much help there.  She is not good at fawning.)

You noticed ...

 ML>  If it was a verifiable fact, it could not have been so
 ML> quickly and effectively quashed, as there are always malcontents
 ML> and troublemakers in the Nth Estate who would be more than happy
 ML> to stick it to the Man, whether credit card company or airline.
 GJ> That depends on Rupert's directives at the time.  Does News Ltd have
 GJ> any shares in AA?

You are a worse cynic than I am! Your Adelaide compatriot may
be the epitome of evil on this planet, but he doesn't yet have
complete control over all the media.

 GJ> I plead ignorance of such high level iconic status cards; mine are of
 GJ> a much lower level.

Of course. Back during my trips to Italy, I carried a card
of such rarefaction that both in Rome and Berlin it was
misunderstood as a low-status card. In Rome I succeeded in
having the agents call United and verify that the white card
trumped the blue, silver, and gold cards; in Germany the
inflexibility of the agent yielded me lovely row 36; after I
landed, though, someone apologized and admitted that I would
have gotten a first class seat had the agent been appropriately
following orders.

 GJ> On my last trip through Singapore, I had to unpack all my things,
 GJ> including my toiletry bag, before they found that the pointy object
 GJ> seen on the X-ray was a small pair of tweezers, oriented so that it
 GJ> looked like a tiny dagger.  That was a bit embarrassing, though the
 GJ> staff concerned were very good-natured, and not at all over-bearing or
 GJ> threatening, like some of the Australian and American examiners are.

Thing is had you been of the appropriately brown persuasion,
would you have suffered worse? The American examiners are in
general almost acceptably color-blind in their annoyingness.

 GJ> In the case of the Ethiopian aircraft, it was claimed that the problem
 GJ> was not the doors, as the fuselage was broken into 2 or 3 sections,
 GJ> but that water filled the space up to the roof, and because of the
 GJ> inflated life jackets people could not swim down to the lower level
 GJ> open end to escape.

This sounds more like Darwin at work than anything else.

 ML> The advantage of the "anyone can be a star" or "anyone can
 ML> become president" aspect of our particular mythology is that
 ML> it injects a (however illusory) tone of empathy into the
 ML> relationship of subject to nobility.
 GJ> And that is an advantage?
 
It's an advantage for self-perpetuation of the ideology.

MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06

      Title: Bahian-Style Fish Stew (Moqueca De Peixe)
 Categories: Seafood, Fish
      Yield: 4 Servings

   4.00    Sprigs fresh cilantro
   1.00 md Tomato, quartered
   1.00 sm Green pepper, seeded
   1.00    Onion, quartered
           Salt and black pepper
   2.00 lb Haddock or other firm
           White-fleshed fish
   0.25 c  Dried shrimp (available
           In Brazilian or Asian
           Markets), soaked
   4.00 tb Fresh lemon juice
   0.50 c  Coconut milk
   2.00 tb Dende (palm oil, available
           In Brazilian markets)
           Malagueta peppers,
           (available
           In Brazilian markets)
           For serving

  In workbowl of a food processor chop cilantro, tomato, green pepper
  and onion to a coarse paste. Heat paste in a large heavy skillet over
  low heat for 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add
  haddock and drained shrimp. Cover and simmer 5 to 7 minutes. Add
  lemon juice, coconut milk and dende and simmer 5 minutes more. Serve,
  passing Malagueta peppers separately.

  SOURCE: TV Food's Taste Show Copyright 1997, TV FOOD NETWORK SHOW
  #TS4781

  From : Dave Drum

MMMMM

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