News Goat

The debate about whether men should wear facial hair has raged since the invention of shaving about 5000 years ago. Arguments have been made for and against the practice from a variety of stand points. For instance some have argued against shaving from a ‘time-and-motion’ perspective. The theory goes like this:

1. you spend 10 minutes a day shaving
2. there are 365 day in the year
3. you shave for 60 years of your life
4. that means that you spend 152 days of your time on Earth lathered up in front of your bathroom mirror
5. if you do 8 hour work days and 5 day weeks this is equivalent to 91.25 work weeks

Pretty shocking stuff. It may be mathematically accurate, but of course it is nonsense. Cut out shaving and you won’t suddenly feel that you have loads more time in your day. You will just have a hairier face. Also what equations like this ignore is the time and effort required to groom facial hair. Unless you are basically a human hedge, that is not zero. Take a look at this fine example:

You cannot possibly say that cultivating and maintaining a structure like that pictured above can be anything other than time consuming. So the time argument for facial hair can clearly be discounted entirely. This leads us into the crux and the heart of the personal grooming debate. This is, of course, attraction to the opposite sex.

A recent study has shown that women find men with beards more attractive. There is a caveat to this though, those involved in the study were all Australian.  Not to say anything untoward about Australians, but I think they would be the first to tell you that they are a breed apart. Still, they may be onto something, ladies take a look at the picture below, surely it will drive you wild with desire:

Now THAT is a great look. Possibly some women would feel the same though, so you may be well advised to consider another tactic to impress – maybe buy flowers or something.

this is up to date advice, as of the time of writing, about visiting Thailand. Thailand is an amazing country with great people, and it will always be a great place to visit. That said, the current situation means that the visitor must be prepared. Almost all of that preparation is in having the right information.

There are a few areas of Thailand which it is not advised for foreigners to visit at present. These areas are: Singkhla, Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani. It is advised that all but absolutely essential travel to these areas should be avoided. That still leaves the whole rest of the country so there is no reason to hold off booking flights to Thailand.

The political unrest in Thailand seems to have mostly calmed down. There have been no major incidents to be concerned with. There are still some restrictions restrictions and curfews in effect in certain areas, and you should respect these. Avoid any kind of demonstration or protest.

There are some laws in Thailand that the visitor needs to be aware of. As a visitor you will be required to have your passport on you at all ties. If you have it locked up in the hotel safe you can arrested. Similar no-nos include possession of illegal drugs (which carries the death penalty) and saying anything about the Thai royal family. If you mention the Thai royal family in any way judged to be critical you will face a sentence of up to 15 years, so it is best to stay away from any area of conversation which involves them.

Visa requirements for British visitors are fairly relaxed. For less than a month if you arrive by air you don’t need one! Be aware though that if you do not get flights to Bangkok but instead cross a land border that this period is reduced to 15 days. It is hard to obtain work visas for Thailand, but not impossible. Common jobs for foreigners include scuba diving instruction and teaching English.

England have just successfully completed their worst ever World Cup performance and are taking early flights to the UK. Remember back in 1994 when they didn’t qualify for the USA games? That was infinitely more dignified than the shocking display we were treated to this time. Never before in the sporting annals of this country have we seen a disgrace like the one that was wrought on the playing fields of South Africa.

A beautiful fan of the beautiful game.

Of course a lot of people are up in arms about Frank Lampard’s disallowed goal in the Germany game. Sure, it was a fine strike and everyone could see that the whole of the ball was over the whole of the line. Maybe, just maybe if England had been level at 2 all they would have played better, defended properly and forced a draw before the traditional exit on penalties.

Actually this major tournament exit is not as painful as previous ones. England were beaten fair and square, there can be no denying it. The entire tournament the scored just 3 goals. The German’s put more than that past David James in 90 minutes alone. The margin of defeat secures yesterdays games place in the record books. There has never been a defeat so heavy at a world cup for England.

So, it is time to play the blame game. This time it cannot be the players wives and girlfriends, as they were kept away. The referees, FIFA, the lack of goal line technology? Wouldn’t have made a blind bit of difference. Robert Green had a well publicized howler in the first group game of the USA, but it is unfair to pick out any one player. They were all just so bad. These players receive millions in salaries from their clubs, perhaps it is time for these under talented millionaires to book flights to Abu Dhabi and go into exile.