Snowman1234

Recently in Australia the chief executive of a National clothing icon, Pacific Brands, provided herself a 170 per cent pay hike and then sacked 1800 before moving the manufacturing to China.

It was revealed that the total remuneration for Pacific Brands' 13 directors more than doubled last year as the company planned to sack more than 1800 workers.

Chief executive Sue Morphet's pay jumped from $685,775 to $1.86 million , whilst the share price and profitability crumbled.

What corporate business behaviours are criminal. These and others ?

Do Americans still believe strongly that their country stands as a true good example of integrity , social respect, honesty and justice in the light of recent and longstanding negative events.

Namely :

- Bernard Madoff [ one of the US's leading finance figureheads - charged with fraud ]

- Rod Blagojevich and his predecessor, Republican George Ryan [ Corruption and Illinois Senators charged or jailed for corruption ]

-Current financial crisis [ Wall Street integrity , Fed Reserve Judgement and lack of protective regulation thru last 10 years ]

- Handling and perpetration of Iraq war based on innacurate intelligence [ politely ]

Thoughts ?

Media reports are surfacing of US Republican Vice President Nominee , Sarah Palin thinking dinosaurs co existed with man 6,000 years ago and that Africa is a country not a continent. Is it fair to say this typifies that Sarah Palin does not have the intelect or education to run for the US's 2nd or 1st highest office in the future ?

Our son [ my step son ] is just turning 7 and his father has been largely absent from birth. Maybe once or twice a year he'll jet in , but for the rest never calls , never returns calls , never acknowledges the success' of his little son and never provided even an acknowledgement when he was in hospital. He doesn't provide his address or contacts and it's a constant problem to track him down.

The man is 61 , has been a biological father to at least 2 other children and paid them little attention [ if any ] in their formative & growing years. He rarely or never makes even telephone contact with his grand kids. I think a way of putting it is "he's not interested" in his children or family.

From our own points of view we wouldn't be bothered , but from my observation of other's growing up it is important to at least know who your father is , if possible [ for some , sadly it's not ]. So bringing him into contact with his father will at least help understand who is father is based on his perceptions.

He does fantasise about him with regards to the very brief contact and giftts of the day.

How would you pursue this from our son's point of view?

Would you keep going and pursuing him to try and preserve a meagre amount of contact,

We're looking to make a long trip from London to Istanbul in 4 days, via Vienna overnight.

Firstly, is this possible ?

How many hours ?

Where to stay overnight with back up plans if necessary?

Reference websites ?

We have satellite internet and lap tops in the car.

Any idea ?

I just received a ticket for not wearing a seatbelt. But I was. and it looks like it's a police officers word against mine.

Now i have the frustrating decision of whether to just accept this as bad luck or go to the magistrates court and risk court costs , time , disruption to my business while i focus on this.

The circumstances are :

One traffic cop was holding a hand held speed camera, and the other walked out in front of my car while he flagged another car down for speeding.

In my right hand i was holding a phone which was not connected.

The officer flagging down the car was then positioned by the right hand corner of my slowing car.

As I altered the direction of the car to be a safe distance from the officer, who was in the middle of the road, i turned my right shoulder and arm [ holding the phone ] and replaced it in the central aisle. It looked to the cop as if i was refixing my seatbelt.

The officer with the speed camera issued the ticket.

What to do?

I researched this directory http://www.cheaperthanhotels.co.uk/Spain/ and found hostals from 18 euros [ per person ] and 2 / 3 star hotels from only 18 euros also [ two people to a room !! ] in the same location.

Wotif - http://www.wotif.com/ [ inside 28 days ]

Cheaperthanhotels - Spain - http://www.cheaperthanhotels.com/Spain/ [ last minute to 1 year ]

Travelocity - http://www.travelocity.com/

Expedia - http://www.expedia.com/

Venere - http://www.venere.com/

and why?

My son rolled his ankle 5 days ago, straining the first tendon and irritating the next two. I'd call it a mild rolled ankle.

He is an 18 year old winger and fullback relying on speed [ 11 seconds 100metres ] and good footwork [ step ] . This is first grade Premiership equivalent under 21's Colts team [ in Australia ] and it is his big game to get recognition for first grade in a couple of years.

He saw the physio who suggested just before this first big game he might be OK, and he did light training with no rugby step exercises on day 3 and 4. On both evenings after training he has iced and removed the bandage before sleeping.

Is he going to make enough of a recovery before day 6, the day of the game? What are the steps he can before entering the field to give him the best chance of using his full key abilities.

Just out of curiosity, has anyone visited a hostel which offers all you can eat breakfasts?