dave: December 2007 Archives

Lightening the load of travel

The purpose of this letter is to ask the MTR Corporation (SEHK: 0066) why there isn't some form of live entertainment in their stations.

The one that I am most familiar with, Central linking to Hong Kong Station, has a lot of empty space which could be dedicated to live performances.

I am not referring to unlicensed performers, but to those who have been given permission, and even possibly payment, by the corporation.

This happens in many underground systems throughout the world, including those of New York and Barcelona.

Commuters, instead of rushing from A to B, are often treated to shows of good quality, thereby lightening the load of travel and helping to make it a more enjoyable experience.

May I ask the MTRC to show more imagination in order to make the system even more impressive than it already undoubtedly is?

Chris Stubbs, Discovery Bay

That's just what we need in Central - chainsaw jugglers in the MTR station during the rush hour!

When entering a HEX WEP key, it needs to be preceeded by a $ and all in caps.

via Fake Steve Jobs.

Like pTerry, I aten't dead. The long hard slog down under is finished for the moment and we're off en famille to visit the ancestral pile. I get to go from Queensland in the summer to Ireland in the Winter in the space of a week. Niiiiiice.

Unfortunately, we have go there via the armpit of the known universe, London Heathrow (LHR), usually voted "worst airport in the world".

I haven't been through that place for nearly ten years, and it was a chaotic and poorly managed mess back then too. I doubt that it's improved, and they seem to have adopted the American attitude to security: Let's force people to abide by stupid rules and have thugs with guns shouting at stressed passengers. It's only when you deal with security theatre in other places that you realize just to calm and efficient Hong Kong International Airport really is.

Here's hoping we get through unscathed, and I'm looking forward to a piont mór dubha as we'd say back home if anyone actually spoke the First Official Language.

Oh, and the pint is Murphy's, not that foul Dublin muck.

UPDATE: We're here, and LHR was a surprisingly efficient experience. I was quite surprised by it really, as I was expecting the worst.

Or: Security Theatre in Action