The Prison Hotel

The idea of turning old prisons into hotels is not a new one, and one of the best examples is the Malmaison in Oxford, England, but now I read that Brits are now captivated by a new tourist “hotel” — the notorious World War Two prison Colditz. So I can see the advertising campaign already, “Come to a place that others tried so dam hard to leave, some even died trying, and pay us for the privilege”.

Guests pay £20 a night to stay in the Nazi castle where Allied officers such as legless RAF hero Douglas Bader were held. The guards’ living quarters and offices have been spruced up and 161 beds installed for visitors. Meals are served in the canteen used by wartime staff. Guests get a three-hour tour of tunnels and hidden rooms used by PoWs in ingenious escape attempts.

Colditz, in southern Germany, housed troublesome British officers who had already made repeated breakout bids from prison camps. Birmingham-based battlefield tour specialists the War Research Society have won the right to offer the “prisoner experience”. Official Alex Bulloch said: “The accommodation is spartan but the idea is to give people an idea of what it was like to be there as a PoW.

 “Colditz is the trip of a lifetime for anyone interested in this aspect of the war. To stay under the same roof as the Allied officers is incredible.” More than 30 prisoners escaped from Colditz before US troops came to the rescue in 1945. But I guess it does have a real historical story behind it and a hotel is a sensible use for such a beautiful building, but making money from such a history would not be my idea.

Moral Test for all UK citizens .........

Moral Test....Read to the end before making a judgement.

This test only has one question, but it's a very important one.

By giving an honest answer, you will discover where you stand morally.

The test features an unlikely, completely fictional situation in which

you will have to make a decision.

Remember that your answer needs to be honest, yet spontaneous.

Please scroll down slowly and give due consideration to each line.

*** THE SITUATION: ***

You are in London .

There is chaos all around you caused by a hurricane with severe flooding.

This is a flood of biblical proportions.

You are a photo-journalist working for a major newspaper, and you're

caught in the middle of this epic disaster.

The situation is nearly hopeless.

You're trying to shoot career-making photos.

There are houses and people swirling around you, some disappearing

into the water.

Nature is unleashing all of its destructive fury.

*** THE TEST: ***

Suddenly, you see a man in the water.

He is fighting for his life, trying not to be taken down with the debris

You move closer... Somehow, the man looks familiar....

You suddenly realize who it is.... It's the Muslim Cleric, Abu Hamza,

the one-eyed, hook handed bastard who hates non-Muslims and wants the

UK to become an Islamic state!!

You notice that the raging waters are about to take him under forever.

You have two options:

You can save the life of Abu or you can shoot a dramatic Pulitzer

Prize winning photo, documenting the death of one of the country's

most despised, evil and powerful men!

*** NOW THE QUESTION AND PLEASE GIVE AN HONEST ANSWER ***

Would you select high contrast colour film or, would you go with the classic simplicity of black and white?

How Times are changing....

A friend of mine sent these to me and I have to say some really made me laugh and a few even made me cry. It is scarey just how true and how sad they are:

Occupy the world !

I have to start by saying I don't fully understand the whole Occupy movement. You see for me I was not there at the start, I was living in a remote part of Africa at the time, so the only exposure was CNN and a few posts on Facebook, mainly my daughter, so for me all it was was people moaning about life and how unfair it all was. So when I came home late last year I wanted to get up to speed on the whole thing.

I went to vist the Occupy London camp at St.Pauls, and I must be honest to say that the people there just reaffirmed my view. People just moaning about how unfair life was, how hard life was, how the rich were all evil, how bankers were all greedy and how the world would soon end. It was all negitive, I did not hear one positive idea or suggestion. I just came away thinking how pointless the whole thing was.

Then I went online, I now had access to YouTube and so I watched copious videos and started to see both sides of the debate. And it was there I saw the first positives, social media was really being used to convey a message, and thats a really good thing. But when you check Facebook, the Occupy Movement starts to look such an American thing, 90% of the groups were US, a good thing and a bad thing in my eyes. However thanks to this wave of voices, the injustises of a country I had been living in, Nigeria, suddenly have a band-wagon they could jump on, and so "Occupy Nigeria" could take place. This for me was the second real positive.

But my issues are this, what is the point ? what is the goal ? who are these people ? and most of all, what ideas are they putting forward ?

I have personally lived beside real poverty, lived in countries that excell at political and commercial corruption, I have seen first-hand the impact of greed, I have also lived in Nigeria and South Africa, but I do wonder if this movement can or will make an actual difference. One thing I have learned through life is never take things at face value, to question is to learn.

Losing a whole day of thier life

The Pacific island nation of Samoa and its even tinier neighbor Tokelau are skipping Friday this week, jumping westward in time across the international date line and into the shifting economic balance of the 21st century.   
 
There are lots of serious reasons for doing this, but imagine if this Friday was your birthday or wedding anniversary, all of a sudden it's not there anymore, try explaining that to a five year old !!!

The time change, officially decided in June, is meant to align Samoa with its Asian trading partners; it moves the islands’ work days further from the United States, which dominated its economy in the past.

In this giant-step version of daylight saving time, the island’s 186,000 citizens, and the 1,500 who live in Tokelau, will go to sleep on Thursday and wake up on Saturday. The government has decreed that those who miss a day of work on Friday will be paid all the same.
Samoa has been out of alignment with its Asian-Pacific neighbors since 1892, when American traders persuaded it in 1892 to shift from the western side to the eastern side of the international date line to facilitate business with the West Coast of the United States.

That earlier shift took place on the American Independence Day — so the Samoans could celebrate July 4 twice. This one takes place at the stroke of midnight, so that two minutes after 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 29, it will be 12:01 a.m. on Dec. 31. The new time zone will put Samoa 3 hours ahead of eastern Australia rather than 21 hours behind it, and 22 hours ahead of California, instead of 2 hours behind it.       

It's a Fat Fat world.......

The world is getting fatter and fatter, and all at a time when the world is also starting to run out of food. It is also getting fatter when we are at a time when 8m kids will die of hunger this year alone. So we are running out of food, 8m kids will die from having no food, and yet the World Health Organisation is spending billions on the issue of obesity. Do you get the feeling something is not quite in balance with this situation.

 
This diagram from the W.H.O. shows that certain countries have a real challenge with fat adults. And I for one was surprised to see certain countries, like South Africa highlighted. I was not surprised to see both the UK and The USA, but was surprised to read that the States are not the fattest nation on earth, Nauru has that honour. But comming in at 3 and 4 on the list is the UAE and Saudi, and did surprise. The USA is fifth, and the UK comes in at number 10. Did you know that Hunger kills more people than Malaria, TB & Aids combined, that I am sorry to say is a lot of people.

Twitter rules the world @jack #Tweets

  Nearly six years ago, a small team of people started working on a prototype of the service that we now know as Twitter. On March 21, 2006, Jack Dorsey (@jack) sent the first Tweet.

Today, on every measure of growth and engagement, Twitter is growing at a record pace. Here are some numbers:

#tweets

·         3 years, 2 months and 1 day. The time it took from the first Tweet to the billionth Tweet.

·         1 week. The time it now takes for users to send a billion Tweets.

·         50 million. The average number of Tweets people sent per day, one year ago. 2009

·         140 million. The average number of Tweets people sent per day, in the last month. March2010

·         177 million. Tweets sent on March 11, 2011.

·         456. Tweets per second (TPS) when Michael Jackson died on June 25, 2009 (a record at that time).

·         6,939. Current TPS record, set 4 seconds after midnight in Japan on New Year’s Day.

#accounts

·         572,000. Number of new accounts created on March 12, 2011.

·         460,000. Average number of new accounts per day over the last month.

·         182%. Increase in number of mobile users over the past year.

The simple fact is that Twitter is now changing the world, it’s impact is startling and in truth just a little scary. Why are these 140 character messages just so powerful and what does the future hold ? Why are celebrities so hooked on giving us so much detail of their life, why are governments so afraid of this, does this mean we communicate more than before or less ? For me that’s the thing with Twitter, it has created so many questions rather than any answers.

I have a Twitter account, but in truth I have no real idea why, what I am doing with it, or if I will ever really have a use for it. But there are generations behind me that believe it is the most important application on the web. With all the millions of websites, the one that gives you 140 characters is the most important and most powerful. How weird is that.

The Christmas Number 1 ( #scd #simoncowell #xfactor #Militarywives )

I have posted on my blog about the xFactor before, I don't mind saying I watch the show, and for the most part, enjoy the light entertainment it provides. And this year is no exception, I have enjoyed it, At first I liked Janet, had a liking for Misha B until they stopped her singing her way and now I want Little Mix to win. But equally I won't be texting or calling to vote, and I seriously doubt I would buy an album from them or the winner of the show, not my kind of music at all.

But the Christmas number 1 issue is different. Just about every year it is the winners song that claims that prize and I say, fair enough. If people want it then they have that choice, and good luck to them. But this year, thanks to an amazing man, Mr. Gareth Malone, the honour of that title must be someone else. This is a moment I wish I had millions of followers on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and with this blog so I could really promote the Military Wives Choir. They must be Number 1 this year.

But the likes of Simon Cowell, the XFactor, Strictly Come Dancing do have the millions of followers and they can, must, be the ones promoting this single. Mr Cowell, do the right thing. Over the years these shows have shown support for the troops, they wear thier poppies with pride. But this is real help and this time they need real support.

This is a beautiful song, it has meaning and is sung with meaning and real feeling, everything an xFactor judge demands. It just must be this years Christmas Number 1. Below is the official video, enjoy.............

Have you listened to TED ? #TED #TEDTalks

By chance I came across a series of YouTube video's from an organisation called TED. I was doing some research into the use of video, and the vast and rapid increase of video content for the hotel industry. As is always the case, my industry does appear to be quite a bit behind the curve on this, but the actual use of video is far more advanced than I thought.

So I found this website, www.TED.com, and a video on it that was talking about the use and power of video for what they were trying to achieve. Ted is all about the wonderful concept of sharing ideas and knowledge, and this video was about the speed and benefit of doing so. I must admit that while the video I wanted to watch was only about 18 minutes I was hooked on their site for over 3 hours, watching a whole host of different speakers, and over and over, as each video pasted I kept seeing and believing in the superb power of video.

So to all my friends who are hoteliers, this may not be the first time you are hearing this, but I bet it is one of the first times, when it comes to selling your product, building your SOP's, supporting industry best practise, improving your training and making it more fun, video will be your future. You have been warned.

And as for TED, well I am heading back to listen, and watch, more of the TedTalks. It really is inspiring, creative, inventive and thought provoking stuff.

What is it with english girls....... #tramexperience

Oh my lordy, what is it with english girls these days, and more over, what is it with them travelling on London Transport.

This vile little madame has a right gob on her and speaks such pure english, she is a wonderful credit to herself and her england, and above all, her child. I bet her mum must be so dam proud, and the scary thing is that she maybe is. How she getss away without a smack I really don't know. I did hear she was arrested, and I wonder if her kid was too, as an accomplice ?

But no sooner has the above been doing the rounds, then this next video starts to circulate, and in some ways this one is even worse.

What is it in the water that is making these young women so bitter, so vocal and so revolting. And is one is arrested and charged will the other one also be? Plus, when you watch these on YouTube you see lots of video responces, most make sense, but a few are just as vile and racist, this could become a real can of worms. Ah Britian today, a land of happy people. 

Word association, just a bit of fun......

Here's a bit of word association. I saw it on a friend's facebook page and decided to indulge. I've typed exactly what came to mind when I read the word.

The rules are as follows (in case you haven't got the jist of it and want to try it yourself);

Type what comes to mind FIRST whenever you see these 50 words. No second thoughts, no going back and changing things. It's not about being PC and it doesn’t matter how random it is!
1. Beer: Cold
2. Food: Anything but Afang !
3. Relationships: Steady
4. Crush: Miss O’Brian a former teacher
5. Dreams: Too many some times
6. Life: Is for the living
7. President: Barry O’Bama, bit of a joke
8. Yummy: A proper fry up.
9. Cars: Vintage please
10. Movies: Fever Pitch and Quadrophina
11. Halloween: Pointless
12. Sex: What’s that.
13. Religion: Dangerous and Evil
14. Hate: I hate the word hate.
15. Fear: Got a few, too few to mention
16. Sport: Football
17. Blondes: Hair colour, who cares
18. Slippers: Nope not on my feet
19. Shoes: Prefer trainers
20. Men: I would never marry one !
21. Women: With brains please
22. Pass time: All sorts of everything
23. Cell Phone: iPhone
24. Smoke: Forever
25. Fantasy: X Rated
26. College: Would love to go back
27. High school: Would hate to go back
28. Pajamas: No idea
29. Stars: Really stupid
30. Goal: Arsenal to win the Champions League
31. Alcohol: Red wine please
32. Love: I have so much to give
33. Friends: Never had one, never will
34. Money: Please can I have some more.
35. Heartache: yep, once or twice
36. Time: 09:54
37. Divorce: Nope, I disagree
38. Dogs: Taste wonderful, 404 is ready
39. Undies: Boring subject
40. Parents: Dead
41. Babies: Would love one or even two
42. Ex: Forgotten
43. Song: Our House by Madness
44. Color: Red for life,
45. Weddings: Won’t do that again !
46. Pizza: Pepperoni with extra Pepperoni.
47. Hangout: At home, alone
48. Rest: When I sleep.
49. Achievement: Way to many to list.
50. Inspiration: DB10, the code of perfection.

MisFits....makes you wonder

Right from the start of this, let me say, I know TV is just make belief, and just fantasy. I am not quite that stupid. But I have just watched two series of the UK TV show, MisFits, and dam it makes you wonder. What would it be like to have a super power, and if I did have a power, just what would it be ?

Of course then there is the other side, if I had a power, just what would I do with it. Reading peoples thoughts might be useful, but I am not sure it would change my life. Becoming invisable might be quite good fun, but again would it be of any real help, however for me, the worst power would be immortality. Image living forever, yuk. I have no real fear of dying, I know it will happen, someday, and it does not really faze me. However the idea of just living forever seems like an endless purpose.

I guess time travel would be for me the most interesting, but perhaps it could also be quite a mindmesh. If you went back now and say killed Hitler, so many lives would be changed, 70 years of history would be wiped out, a whole host of different families would exsist, different people would live, it would change the world beyong anything, it just would not make any sense. And the deeper one thinks about it, the weirder it becomes.

I think this is a subject that will need to be re-visited.......