THE LIGHTER SIDE OF THE BLOG

Cambodia’s Dog Day Afternoon
August 13th, 2009 by TT
Twitter finally has real appeal. The service now boasts the best read in Asian newspapering: The Phnom Penh Post’s “police blotter” column. The crime beat feature got off to a running start with an item about a bodyguard mauled to death by four vicious dogs. The follow-up: Three of the four dogs were drowned by police and sold to a dog soup restaurant for $90. There is justice in the world.

Bits and Bobs
May 14th, 2009 by TT
The phenomenon of Thai women taking the chopper to unfaithful lovers has made Bangkok the world capital of penile reattachment surgery, as we noted previously. According to Thailand’s the Nation newspaper, the latest victim is a 56-year-old Belgian tourist, Eddy Iam De Velde. His surgery brought additional challenges as Mr. De Velde’s lover was old school, using her teeth instead of a knife.

Happy as a Pig in … Kabul
May 13th, 2009 by TT
Swine flu has governments all over the world casting a suspicious eye over their porcine populations. Egypt was one of the first countries to announce a nationwide slaughter. As a mainly Muslim nation, the total pig population in that country is still a relatively modest 300,000. In certain other Muslim countries that number is considerably less, sometimes even zero. Afghanistan’s pig population, the BBC reports, totals one. Khanzir, who was a gift from China back in 2002, has been put in quarantine. Which begs the question: What were the cadres in Beijing thinking? Is this a case of regifting gone horribly wrong?

Fake Karma
April 27th, 2009 by TT
Here’s a case where counterfeiting really didn’t pay. Israeli oranges are much prized in East Asia for their sweetness, so it’s no surprise that someone in China decided to slap some fake Israeli stickers on locally grown oranges. Where they went badly wrong, however, was shipping the oranges to Iran. Given that Israeli goods are outlawed and relations between the countries is, shall we say, strained, it’s no surprise that the fruit was not a hit with consumers. As the BBC reports, the distribution center selling the oranges was sealed by authorities.


Courtesy of FEER