When I first read this article, I couldn’t believe what I was reading – a woman Kansas spent two years sitting on a toilet. Her boyfriend eventually got help and she was taken to hospital to have the seat removed.
Apparently he took her food and drink and repeatedly asked her to leave the bathroom.
But aside from the legal implications now being discussed, I have a few unanswered questions:
– did no-one miss her in all this time? I mean, her boss, colleagues, family, etc.?
– where did her boyfriend go to the toilet for the last two years?
– what did they tell visitors to the house?
OK, perhaps that’s all none of my business, but it’s got me wondering, all the same…
Two years on the toilet
March 23, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Read this very carefully, I shall write it only once…
March 23, 2008 By 1 Comment
Yes, my interpreter mind is already wondering how phrases such as “Good Moaning” and “I was pissing by the door, and I thought I would drip in” could be reasonably translated into German.
Confused? Both are phrases from the UK sitcom ‘Allo ‘Allo which I used to watch and which finished its original run in 1992.
Not surprisingly perhaps, the show has never been shown in Germany. Then, last week, the BBC News website announced that ProSevenSat1 were to broadcast it dubbed into German.
Now I am completely intrigued as to how much of the original show will make it into the German version, as certain parts of it (symbols, salutes, etc.) are illegal here. Will these just be edited out or blurred?
Any what about the accents? The show relied on its over-exaggerated accents for distinguish between the languages “spoken”. Actually, I’ve heard German actors using overdone English and French accents before, so that wouldn’t be too difficult to arrange.
I just wonder what the German audience are going to make of it all! Let’s hope that ProSevenSat1 don’t think in a year’s time that it was a bad “mistake-a to make-a”!
Is bio-ethanol driving up food prices?
March 22, 2008 By 5 Comments
Readers in Germany may find this article interesting. Once again, bio-fuels are being blamed for taking the food out of other peoples’ mouths.
What’s new about the argument this time, is that there is an explanation as to why this is happening.
Normally I hear a straight forward claim, that the production in Europe is taking food out of the mouths of people in Africa – without any thought as to whether the food would have actually been transported to Africa in the first place.
The new claim is somewhat different – due to the bio-ethanol production the price of the raw materials has risen, and that means that aid agencies have to pay more for things such as grain. This in turn means that they can buy less of it to feed people.
Perhaps more regulation of the system is required so that the aid agencies still get their grain at a reasonable price, without stifling the competition of the bio-fuel producers?
I assume that other types of bio-fuel, eg. from wood chippings, is not affecting these prices and could therefore be a better option?
