Welsh Blogs.com

Since Tuesday, American Airlines has cancelled more than 2,600 flights, with a whopping 240 of its planes currently out of service due to a failure to address mechanical issues.Northwest Airlines, as far as I can tell, has cancelled 0 flights as a result of the issues facing American.Northwest Airlines' mechanics are members of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association -- a union.American Airlines' mechanics are not. It seems to me that a PR opportunity is being missed.As a side note: I'm sure many people have heard me say that if you have to drink crappy American mass-produced beer it should be Miller because it is union-made. I just noticed that Miller's workers are represented by... the auto workers' union. How does that make...

Remember those old Mountain Dew country cool ads? These were the ads that came before the days when Mountain Dew was target-marketed to morons. In the 80s, Mountain Dew ads were almost indistinguishable from ads for Busch beer. They generally involved a group of buddies gettin' together and throwin' themselves into lakes and rivers while hooting and slammin' back a few cans of the Dew. For our friends in the Home Nations, this is the sort of thing we do in America. Every day.It's from these commercials that I got the idea of Mountain Dew Moments. Well, it's from these commercials that Jim Moore got the idea of Mountain Dew Moments. Moore is a Texas-based journalist who is my prototype of what a proper journalist should be. He once quit a job because of personal ethics. A journalist with...

It feels like winter in Yr Hen Ddinas, which means that it is wet and windy and miserable. It's not all that cold, admittedly; by Minnesota standards it is spring-like. But the conditions make you want to stay inside, wrapped in a blanket and refusing to move, unless to shuffle to the kitchen for more port. This is Christmas in Cardiff.We are supposed to get 80 mph wind gusts overnight, but already the tree in our garden is dancing a strange sort of solitary mosh in the wind. On top of the house across the garden, there is a magpie clinging to a TV aerial (FTYPAH: "antenna"). He looks absolutely miserable and it strikes me as a particularly odd place for him to attempt to station himself. Surely birds instinctively understand things like wind and know better than to position themselves in...

For 50 weeks of the year, I'm not really all that interested in going to Germany. But then Oktoberfest comes along and I am once again kicking myself for not being there.Apart from lack of money, my main problem this time around is that I don't have anyone to go with. The child bride doesn't drink and she's not really a fan of being stuck amid a huge crowd of drunkards. Considering that some 6 million people are expected to take part in this year's German boozery, it's a good bet that Rachel won't be found anywhere near Munich over the next 16 days. If anyone out there is interested in going next year, let me know. My only requirement for a travelling companion is that you be able to lie convincingly -- you will need to do this when we return home and the child bride asks if I drank too...

I walked today from Barry to East Aberthaw and decided to turn the experience into an audio/visual blogging extravaganza. Well, perhaps "extravaganza" is a bit much. It's really no more than a slideshow with commentary.I apologise for the quality of the audio in some of these clips. It's blustery on the coast. Adding to the poor quality is the fact that in most of the clips I was walking. My goal was to do things quickly and give it a sort of "instant" feel, but arguably this still could have been achieved while standing still and out of the wind.The audio has the added factor of displaying my present hodgepodge accent. It's generally the old Minnesota-with-Texas-twang sound, but occasionally you pick up South Wales phrasing. It's most notable, I think, when I'm talking about mini-golf in...

Quickly, a few things referenced in a pub conversation I had last night:- George Carlin's seven dirty words- According to a recent USA Today story, Tijuana's murder rate is considerably lower than I stated. It is now down to one person killed every day. And only two kidnappings a week! Book your holidays now. The highlight of the evening was having Sara Huws' friend look me right in the eye and tell me that she hated Americans. I thought only Germans did that. Our friends across the North Sea are perfectly happy to state things so bluntly*: "You are American? There are 27 reasons I do not like Americans. I will list them for you..."I find that I get to spend a lot of time talking about America these days. More so than when I lived in Portsmouth, I think. The Welsh are particularly...

Original here: http://nannyknowsbest.blogspot.com/2007/06/nanny-bans-glasses.html I have reposted the whole thing below as it is just so good.I wrote some time ago about Nanny trying to ban glasses in pubs, on the grounds that they were dangerous.The fact that beer/lager when supped out of plastic tastes awful, appears to have no sway with Nanny. Doubtless this is part of her subtle campaign to stop us drinking, and make us easier to control.Anyhoo, it seems that Nanny is trying to introduce a ban on glasses via the back door.Many of Nanny's police forces are pressing for a ban on real glasses in pubs and clubs serving drinks in wine, spirit or beer; on the pretext of reducing injuries caused by people using them as weapons.The step has already been proposed in Bournemouth, Reading,...

I'm supposed to be revising. Instead I'm creating Facebook groups. Go...

I found this picture in my Flickr account last night; although I took it a year ago. I cannot for the life of me think why I never posted it on my blog. My only guess is that a year ago I had higher standards for what I put on this site. Or maybe it was shortly after Crystal made some comment about how she really hoped I wasn't the sort of person to pull my hair back. Sometimes you just need that shit out of your face, though. Ah, the long hair. Good times. Sometimes I miss it -- in that way that I don't really miss it. It looks sort of goofy-cool in pictures and my children will have a field day with pictures like this, but having all that stuff sitting atop my head was a major annoyance when it was actually there. I have found myself lately toying with the idea of growing it out again,...

Christmas in Britain kicks the ass of Christmas in the U.S. because of the number of booze-laden products available: mulled wine, mince pies with brandy in them, Christmas pudding with cognac in it, rum sauce to put on my brandy mince pies and cognac Christmas puddings! Woot! If anyone needs me, I'll be lying on the...

WENT TO the Audi R8 sports car launch in London with Jones The Bass. Mr Jones is more into his cars than me - he has more of the wherewithal for one thing - but I know a cool motor when I see one. And the R8 looks very cool to me. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it to you, on looks at least.This was entirely Mr Jones' gig to be honest. I was just along for the ride, if you'll forgive the pun. We rode, courtesy of Audi, in the new A8. Now I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, but the back of the Mercedes S Class feels rather more palatial to me. And the Merc is far easier to get out of when you're blinking through the massed flashlights of the paparazzi.Dress code is 'Stylish', a state of dress I don't normally do, but I compromise by wearing a pair of black patent leather...