Paul's Race to 75 Part 32

This is Pasir Gudang Combined Cycle Gas Turbine Power Plant and it is what brought me to Malaysia in 1994. The white building in the foreground was my office for almost a year until I left for Singapore. This was the first private power station in Malaysia.



This is the sister project I was also involved with at the same time in Paka on the east coast of the country. I had to help train the staff from both plants and fell in love with the people during many of those sessions.

Books read so far:
1 North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
2 The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street by Helene Hanff
3 The Guards by Ken Bruen
4 Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel
5 Lyrics Alley by Leila Aboulela
6 Shadow by Karin Alvtegen
7 The Road Home by Rose Tremain
8 One Pair of Hands by Monica Dickens
9 Pure by Andrew Miller
10 The Appointment by Herta Muller
11 The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury
12 The Battle of Pollocks Crossing by J.L. Carr
13 No Glossing Over It by Gary Edwards
14 Unknown by Mari Jungstedt
15 The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
16 Offshore by Penelope Fitzgerald
17 Zoo Station by David Downing
18 The Troubled Man by Henning Mankell
19 Jack Sheppard by William Ainsworth
20 An Idiot Abroad by Karl Pilkington
21 The Fourth Man by K.O. Dahl
22 Christine Falls by Benjamin Black
23 Troubles by J.G. Farrell
24 My Life in Cricket by Dennis Lillee
25 Voyageurs by Margaret Elphinstone
26 The Affair by Lee Child
27 The Potter's Field by Andrea Camilleri
28 The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins
29 The Blessing Way by Tony Hillerman
30 Praying Mantis by Andre Brink
31 Parky by Michael Parkinson
32 All Men Are Liars by Alberto Manguel
33 The Detour by Gerbrand Bakker
34 The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula Le Guin
35 Legion of the Damned by Sven Hassel
36 Treblinka : A Survivor's Memory by Chil Rajchman
37 L'Enver de Treblinka by Vasily Grossman
38 Open Season by C.J. Box
39 Divorcing Jack by Colin Bateman
40 The Chalk-Circle Man by Fred Vargas
41 Lovely Green Eyes by Arnost Lustig
42 The Devil in the Kitchen by Marco Pierre White
43 Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury
44 Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
45 The Butterfly Effect by Pernille Rygg
46 Twist of Gold by Michael Morpurgo
47 Eternal by Craig Russell
48 Life by Keith Richards
49 The Caretaker by Harold Pinter
50 Sea of Poppies by Amitav Ghosh
51 The Half-Finished Heaven by Tomas Transtromer
52 Doctor Who and the Tenth Planet by Gerry Davis
53 War Horse by Michael Morpurgo
54 In the Heart of the Country by J.M. Coetzee
55 Doctor Who and the Loch Ness Monster by Terrance Dicks
56 The Coroner's Lunch by Colin Cotterill
57 The Day of the Daleks by Terrance Dicks
58 We Were Young and Carefree by Laurent Fignon
59 River of Smoke by Amitav Ghosh
60 Thirty Three Teeth by Colin Cotterill
61 Doctor Who and the Ice Warriors by Brian Hayles
62 Bad Intentions by Karin Fossum
63 Sharpe's Eagle by Bernard Cornwell
64 Empire of the Summer Moon by S.C. Gwynne
65 Disgrace by Jussi Adler-Olson
66 Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times by H.W. Brands
67 The Deep Dark Sleep by Craig Russell
68 Burned by Thomas Enger
69 Mr. Midshipman Hornblower by C.S. Forester
70 The Age of Doubt by Andrea Camilleri
71 The Man in the Queue by Josephine Tey
72 An Irish Country Doctor by Patrick Taylor
73 Room by Emma Donoghue
74 Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
75 The Silver Sword by Ian Serraillier
76 Doctor Who and the Three Doctors by Terrance Dicks
77 The Good Doctor by Damon Galgut
78 Beauty and Sadness by Yasunari Kawabata
79 The Sun King by Nancy Mitford
80 Death in August by Marco Vichi
81 Ratcatcher by James McGee
82 Hypothermia by Arnaldur Indriadson
83 Boudicca and her Barmy Army by Valerie Wilding
84 Doctor Who and the Crusaders by David Whitaker
85 Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kastner
86 Love and Summer by William Trevor
87 She's Never Coming Back by Hans Koppel
88 God's Own Country by Ross Raisin

Best Books of the Year so far:
Literary Fiction
1. The Road Home
2 Lyrics Alley
3 Room
4 Dandelion Wine
5 Sea of Poppies
Thrillers
1. Zoo Station
2. The Deep Dark Sleep
3. The Potter's Field
4 Divorcing Jack
5 Disgrace

12 in 12 categories

1: Historical Fiction 9/12
2: 19th Century Fiction 4/12
3: Biography 10/12
4: In translation 9/12
5: Series Starts 10/12
6: Scandicrimesters 9/12
7: Sci-Fi 9/12
8: Noughties 7/12
9: One Word Titles 6/12
10: African Born Writers 5/12
11: Bought and Read in 2012 10/12
12: Off the Shelves 0/12 (IN RESERVE FOR THE END OF THE YEAR)

Currently reading:



God's Own Country by Ross Raisin



The Joke by Milan Kundera



Two on a Tower by Thomas Hardy

List of my active series. Doesn't include series I own books but haven't started (far too many) or series that I have read all - Sherlock, Poirot, Marple, Dr. Who, Wallender, John Carter, Richard Hannay, Father Brown, Rougon MacQuart, etc etc etc

WRITER SERIES NEXT BOOK UP

1 Abbott, Jeff // Whit Mosley Black Jack Point 2/3
2 Adler-Olsen, Jussi // Department Q Disgrace 2/3
3 Akunin, Boris //Erast Fandorin Special Assignments 5/10
4 Atkinson, Kate //Jackson Brodie When Will There Be Good News 3/4
5 Aubert, Brigitte //Elise Andrioli Death from the Snows 2/2
6 Auel, JM //Earth's Children The Valley of Horses 2/6
7 Bateman, Colin //Dan Starkey Of Wee Sweetie Mice and Men 2/7
8 Billingham, Mark //Tom Thorne Good as Dead 10/10
9 Black, Benjamin //Quirke The Silver Swan 2/5
10 Black, Cara //Aimee Leduc Murder in Belleville 2/13
11 Blake, Nicholas //Nigel Strangeways A Question of Proof 2/16
12 Block, Lawrence //Matt Scudder A Drop of the Hard Stuff 17/17
13 Block, Lawrence //Bernie Rhodenbarr The Burglar in the Closet 3/10
14 Blunt, Giles //John Cardinal Crime Machine 5/6
15 Box, C.J. //Joe Pickett Savage Run 2/12
16 Brand, Christianna //Inspector Cockrill Heads You Lose 2/6
17 Brookmyre, Christopher //Jack Parlabane Country of the Blind 2/5
18 Brown, Dan //Robert Langdon The Lost Symbol 3/3
19 Bruen, Ken //Jack Taylor The Killing of the Tinkers 2/9
20 Burke, James Lee //Robicheaux Neon Rain 2/19
21 Camilleri, Andrea //Montalbano The Dance of the Seagull 15/15
22 Carr, Caleb //Kreizler The Angel of Darkness 2/2
23 Chandler, Raymond //Philip Marlowe The High Window 4/7
24 Child, Lee //Jack Reacher A Wanted Man 17/17
25 Cornwell, Bernard //Saxon Chronicles The Burning Land 5/6
26 Cotterill, Colin //Dr. Siri Disco for the Departed 3/8
27 Crispin, Edmund //Gervase Fen The Case of the Gilded Fly 3/9
28 Dahl, KO //Frank Frolich The Man in the Window 2/3
29 Deaver, Jeffrey //Rune Death of a Blue Movie Star 2/3
30 Deighton, Len //Harry Palmer Horse Under Water 3/6
31 Deighton, Len //Bernard Samson Faith 7/9
32 DeMille, Nelson //John Corey Plum Island 2/6
33 Dibdin, Michael //Aurelio Zen Medusa 9/11
34 Downing, David //John Russell Silesian Station 2/5
35 Doyle, Sir Arthur Conan //Brigadier Gerard Adventures of Gerard 2/2
36 Dunnett, Dorothy //Francis Lymond Queen's Play 2/6
37 Eastland, Sam //Pekkala The Red Coffin 2/4
38 Edwardson, Ake //Erik Winter Frozen Tracks 3/6
39 Eisler, Barry //John Rain The Detachment 7/7
40 Finder, Joseph //Nick Heller Buried Secrets 2/3
41 Forbes, Colin //Tweed Double Jeopardy 3/24
42 Ford, Richard //Bascombe Independence Day 2/3
43 Fossum, Karin //Sejer The Caller 8/9
44 Fraser, George MacDonald //Flashman Flashman in the Great Game 5/12
45 Freeling, Nicholas //Van der Valk Because of the Cats 2/13
46 Fyfield, Francis //Helen West Shadow Play 2/6
47 Gadney, Reg //Alan Rosslyn Immaculate Deception 5/6
48 Ghosh, Amitav //Ibis Trilogy River of Smoke 2/3
49 Gilman, George G //Edge Hell's Seven 9/61
50 Gray, Alex //Lorimer A Small Weeping 2/9
51 Harvey, John //Resnick Cold in Hand 11/11
52 Harvey, John //Elder Ash and Bone 2/3
53 Hewson, David //Nic Costa The Seventh Sacrament 5/9
54 Hill, Reginald //Pascoe and Dalziell Ruling Passion 3/24
55 Hillerman, Tony //Leaphorn / Chee Dancehall of the Dead 2/18
56 Holt, Anne //Vik and Stubo The Final Murder 2/4
57 Hurley, Graham //Faraday and Winter Cut to Black 5/12
58 Iggulden, Conn //Conqueror Bones of the Hills 3/5
59 Indriadson, Arnadur //Erlendur Hypothermia 6/8
60 James, PD //Dalgleish A Taste for Death 7/14
61 James, Peter //Roy Grace Dead Tomorrow 5/8
62 Jardine, Quintin //Bob Skinner Skinner's Ordeal 5/22
63 Jecks, Michael //Medieval Mysteries The Merchant's Partner 2/31
64 Johnstone, William W //Mountain Man Ordeal of the Mountain Man 17/32
65 Jungstedt, Mari //Knutas The Killer's Art 4/7
66 Kerr, Philip //Bernie Gunther A Quiet Flame 5/8
67 Leon, Donna //Brunetti The Girl of His Dreams 17/21
68 Lovesey, Peter //Peter Diamond The Summons 3/13
69 Lucarelli, Carlos //Negro Day after Day 2/2
70 Ludlum, Robert //Bourne The Bourne Supremacy 2/3
71 MacBride, Stuart //Logan McRae Shatter the Bones 7/7
72 MacDonald, Ross //Lew Archer The Way Some People Die 3/18
73 Mahfouz, Naguib //Cairo Trilogy Palace of Desire 2/3
74 Manning, Olivia //The Levant Trilogy The Battle Lost and Won 2/3
75 Mantel, Hilary //Cromwell Series Bring Up the Bodies 2/3
76 Marklund, Liza //Bengtzon Paradise 2/6
77 Martin, Andrew //Jim Stringer The Blackpool Highflyer 2/8
78 McBain, Ed //87th Precinct Killer's Choice 5/55
79 McCall-Smith, Alexander Tears of the Giraffe 2/13
80 Nabb, Magdalen //Guarnaccia Death of a Dutchman 2/14
81 Nadel, Barbara //Ikmen Deep Waters 4/15
82 Napier, William //Attila The Gathering of the Storm 2/3
83 Nesbo, Jo //Harry Hole Phantom 7/8
84 Nesser, Hakan //Van Veeteren The Inspector and Silence 5/7
85 O'Brian, Patrick //Aubrey Post Captain 2/21
86 O'Brien, Martin //Jacquot Confession 5/7
87 Plaidy, Jean //Tudor Saga Uneasy Lies the Head 2/11
88 Price, Anthony //Audley The Alamut Ambush 2/19
89 Rankin, Ian //Rebus The Hanging Garden 10/18
90 Rees, Matt //Omar Yussef The Saladin Murders 2/4
91 Rendell, Ruth //Wexford From Doon With Death 3/23
92 Rickman, Phil //Merrily Watkins Midwinter of the Spirit 2/11
93 Robinson, Peter //Banks Watching the Dark 20/20
94 Russell, Craig //Lennox The Deep Dark Sleep 3/4
95 Russell, Craig //Jan Fabel The Carnival Master 4/6
96 Sandford, John //Lucas Davenport Buried Prey 21/22
97 Sansom, CJ // Shardlake Dark Fire 2/5
98 Sayers, Dorothy L //Lord Peter Wimsey Whose Body? 2/14
99 Sigurdottir, Yrsa Thora //Gudmundsdottir Ashes to Dust 3/4
100 Silva, Daniel //Gabriel Allon Portrait of a Spy 11/12
101 Simenon, Georges //Maigret The Crime of Inspector Maigret 9/98
102 Sjowall, Maj //Beck The Man Who Went Up in Smoke 2/10
103 Smith, Tom Rob //Demidov Agent 6 3/3
104 Taylor, Andrew //Dougal Waiting for the End of the World 2/8
105 Temple, Peter //Jack Irish Black Tide 2/4
106 Vargas, Fred //Adamsberg Have Mercy on Us All 2/7
107 Waites, Martyn //Joe Donovan Bone Machine 2/4
108 White, Stephen //Alan Gregory Privelged Information 2/19
109 Wilson, Robert //Javier Falcon The Silent and the Damned 2/4
110 Wingfield, RD //Jack Frost Frost at Christmas 3/6
111 Cornwell, Bernard // Richard Sharpe Sharpe's Gold 2/21
112 Enger, Thomas // Henning Juul Pierced 2/2
113 Forester, C.S. // Hornblower Lieutenant Hornblower 2/11
114 Tey, Josephine // Alan Grant
115 Taylor, Patrick // Dr. Laverty
116 Vichi, Marco // Inspector Bordelli
117 McGee, James // Matthew Hawkswood

ALTERNATIVELY LOOK ME UP ON FICTFACT.COM WHICH HAS A FULLER LIST INCLUDING THOSE COMPLETED AND THOSE WHERE I HAVE THE BOOK BUT HAVEN'T STARTED THE SERIES YET (THERE'S A LOT OF THOSE)

NOBEL CHALLENGE

NOBEL WINNERS READ WITH FAVOURITE WORK READ SO FAR:
2011 The Half-Finished Heaven by Tomas Transtromer
2009 The Appointment by Herta Muller
2007 The Good Terrorist by Doris Lessing
2006 Snow by Orhan Pamuk
2005 The Caretaker by Harold Pinter
2003 The Master of Petersburg by J.M.Coetzee
2001 A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul
1998 The Year of the Death of Ricardo Reis by Jose Saramago
1995 Station Island by Seamus Heaney
1994 A Quiet Life by Kenzaburo Oe
1991 July's People by Nadine Gordimer
1988 Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz
1987 On Grief and Reason by Joseph Brodsky
1983 Lord of the Flies by William Golding
1982 A Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
1976 Herzog by Saul Bellow
1972 Billiards at Half-Past Nine by Heinrich Boll
1970 Cancer Ward by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
1968 Beauty and Sadness by Yasunari Kawabata
1964 The Age of Reason by Jean-Paul Sartre
1962 Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
1961 Bridge On the Drina by Ivo Andric
1958 Dr. Zhivago by Boris Pasternak
1957 The Plague by Albert Camus
1955 The Atom Station by Halldor Laxness
1954 The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemmingway
1953 History of the English Speaking Peoples by Winston Churchill
1949 The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner
1948 The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot
1947 The Counterfeiters by Andre Gide
1946 Steppenwolf by Hermann Hesse
1938 The Good Earth by Pearl Buck
1932 A Man of Property by John Galsworthy
1930 Main Street by Sinclair Lewis
1925 Man and Superman by George Bernard Shaw
1923 Collected Poems by W.B. Yeats
1921 And the Gods Will Have Blood by Anatole France
1907 Kim by Rudyard Kipling

UNREAD NOBEL WINNERS ON THE SHELVES

2012 Red Sorghum by Ha Jin
2010 The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa
2008 The Interrogation by J.M.G. Le Clezio
2004 The Piano Teacher by Elfriede Jelinek
2002 Fatelessness by Imre Kertesz
2000 Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian
1999 The Tin Drum by Gunter Grass
1993 Jazz by Toni Morrison
1992 Collected Poems 1948-1984 by Derek Walcott
1990 The Labyrinth of Solitude by Octavio Paz
1986 Ake: The Years of Childhood by Wole Soyinka
1985 Flanders Road by Claude Simon
1981 Auto de Fe by Elias Canetti
1978 The Family Moskat by Isaac Bashevis Singer
1973 Voss by Patrick White
1969 Molloy by Samuel Beckett
1965 And Slowly Flows the Don by Mikhail Sholokhov
1952 The Desert of Love by Francois Mauriac
1950 A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell
1937 Jean Barois by Roger Martin du Gard
1936 The Iceman Cometh by Eugene O'Neill
1933 The Village by Ivan Bunin
1929 Doctor Faustus by Thomas Mann
1920 Hunger by Knut Hamsun
1915 Jean-Christophe by Romain Rolland
1913 He (Shey) by Rabindranath Tagore
1905 Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz

am i too early? hope not!
hi there!

hi cee, your timing is perfect my dear, the thread is not yet capitalised! always lovely to see you here.

Another new thread! And look how early I am!

Hi Paul. Good to see what took you to Malaysia ... I hope your present office is more attractive:)

I'll be number 3! It beats number 5! Congrats on the new thread!

LOL. Sorry, number 4!!

Anne - It is of course getting late here already, but I know what you mean.

Calm - Unrequited love actually brought me to Malaysia but that is a whole different story! Present office I'll find an external shot for you.



My office is at the far end of the block, the right, and we occupy the top floor.

Mark - Well you are rarely lower than 5th anyway! Thanks mate.

Hi Paul, it looks like you have got a better office now, did you manage to sneak all those books into the house or has SWMBO found you out. It's getting a bit chilly round here but no major snowfall just yet unlike the west country which has had up to 6 inches with Bath getting 3 inches. Enjoy your reading mate.

Thanks John and I hope you can manage to keep warm over there in God's country. The books transplanted and catalogued successfully!

Re the discussion about the tone of comments on LT. I was trying to explain LT to a friend recently and she said she wouldn't want to be involved because there are so many harsh comments made on-line. I could honestly tell her that I have never encountered a harsh comment on LT (about a person anyway) and, to the contrary, have seen many, many demonstrations of caring. It really is a lovely place.

Hear hear as they say in the House of Commons, Reba - ok I'll admit it, I'm getting election fever too all the way from monsoon drenched Malaysia.

There are some groups who indulge in some more world wide web rough and tumble conversations. I've seen some decidedly unkind remarks on Pro and Con, but not on The Green Dragon, or the 75 Book Challenge, or Books and Gardens, etc etc. I agree that this is an unusual site for the civility and kindness of the exchanges. Three Cheers for Library Thing: hip hip hooray! hip hip hooray! hip hip hooray!

Lovely new thread, Paul! Hope I'm not too late to the party. Made it in the top twenty at least!

Hello Paul, thank you for posting so faithfully to my thread even when I can't always get over to yours. This morning I read all of your last thread, and thankfully only 19 posts of this one, so I consider myself caught up! I want to echo your (and others') sentiments about how much I appreciate the lively but friendly discourse on LT. So often it feels like different is wrong, terribly wrong. I spend my days celebrating difference with students (bringing out themes in read alouds to help cultivate respect, for example) and then spend my away-from-school hours cringing at the mud-slinging, name-calling, and general vitriol by people who are grown-ups... chronologically, anyway. What a lovely oasis LT is. Wish I had more time to spend here!

Hi Paul, I see you're reading Trevor's Love and Summer which I really liked. I've also read The Story of Lucy Gault which was wonderful, in a shocking way. I've meant to get back to Trevor but, naturally, other books keep getting in the way and there are always the 400+ unread books on my shelves.

Now that's a different opening picture for you. I guess there is an industrial side of KL haha.

Paul- I was just reading in today's paper about Jimmy Savile, the British TV personality from the 70s! What a horror story. Were you a fan of this guy, (monster)?

Go Bears! Go Bears!

Anne- Beautifully said! This is quite a place!

Another beaut of a thread, Paul. Fun to see where you work. The Bears are doing well so far, up 21-2.

What Mark said about Anne's comments. LT is a special place, and your threads are a big part of that.

Hi Paul. Two cups of coffee and some 200 posts later I am finally caught up with you one again here on thread 32.

Very curious to see what you think of Emil and the Detectives.... that one looks like something I would pick up! Happy Sunday - or at least what is left of it - and I hope you have a great work week.

Good morning, Paul! (It is still morning here, at least.) Thanks for sharing your stats on my thread--I found four ones I hadn't reported where I'm ahead of you!! Not for long, probably.

Hi Paul! I hope you had a lovely weekend.

My first thought when I think of Dune is that it's very mediocre. However, I read the entire trilogy way back in the day, so I must have enjoyed it on some level, but it was a long, long time ago. I suspect the first book is good and then it drops in quality.

UK version of Book Depository

Well, there's the problem right there. Their delivery service to the US is notoriously awful. It could take months! Dang it.

And I thought I was getting special books off of Paul's shelves (piles). *snivels*

>16 RebaRelishesReading:/18 I havent seen any snarky comments amongst my contacts on the 75 group. We are all lovely in my eyes :)

Hi Paul! Happy zillionth thread :) (Ive lost count now)
Love the office shots, you have come a long way since your first days, now you have the top floor!

Hi Paul, just dropping in to your new thread before it gets too old. Interesting to see photos of the industrial side of things for a change. But I love the fact that in commenting on the photos, it's the people you were working with and your affection for them that you emphasise.

hi paul -
new day, new week for you!
hope it is a good one -

does SWMBO do any reading? i imagine she is a busy lady and pressed for time, after all she takes good care of you ;-)

Well, I'm thinking you might be just getting up, Monday morning. So, good Monday Morning to you, Paul! Hope your week coming up is to be a great one!

Karen, I had a little look at your groups since you mentioned a few I hadn't heard of and I notice that you are a member of 46 groups, wow! I wonder whether that is a record amongst 75ers? I of course agree generally about the warmth and courtesy here and I commented about an example of the opposite as it is so rare.

Mamie - thanks my dear. You are always quick on the draw!

Nice and studied comments as always Anne. I have a record (surprise, surprise) of everyone who have visited my threads but I haven't updated for a while. I have around 200 threads starred and try to get to as many as I can as often as I can and I always enjoy seeing whats happening at chez vous.

Bonnie - there is a gentle viciousness in Trevor's novels that the mischievous in me always relishes. He always looks under the surface of thingsand the things he often finds are quite disturbing. I am a great fan of his.

Mark - Jimmy Savile? He used to have a programme on the tv when I was a kid called Jim'll Fix It where children used to write in to him and have their dreams fulfilled. There is a sick irony there in considering what he exacted from some girls for that. Always found him a bit strange and I am ashamed that he hailed from my home region.
Wow we stuffed the Titans 51-20. That is now 6 wins in a row since I adopted the Bears and it is now 7-1. Play-offs seem fairly sure at least.

Joe - Thanks and doubly thanks mate - so is yours!

Lori, hahaha - that must be quite some cup of coffee!
I don't read that much YA but the children's classics are always enjoyable I must say.

Roni - Those four books would have moved you up two places! I am disappointed with my own reading total this year. I have never, that I can remember failed to reach 100 books and this year will not be the first (he types defiantly!).

Kerri - at last someone who didn't fall head over heels with Dune. It is Monday morning here and I am about to shower and go to work.

Morphy - Well to be fair the books are off my shelves; I am just giving you nice clean versions of them! To be fair I have tracked the books and they have at least been despatched.

Megan - My Yorkshire breeding meant I took the property because it was so cheap. I am just behind the main road that leads into the very centre of town and my staff can enjoy free parking (well subsidised by me but season pass is only $15 a month and I'm not so stingy as to begrudge them the pass as a perk of employment).

Genny - it is funny, especially after posting up so many pictures of the sights of the country, that it is always the people that make a place what it is and not its buildings or infrastructure. Malaysia is fairly unique as we have three distinct ethnic groups living in comparative harmony and the people are warm, peace loving, law abiding and full of humour.

cee - thanks my dear and i trust your week will see you cast off your cast.
swmbo does like reading although it is generally in spurts. anita shreve, tony parsons, nick hornby and paul theroux would be her favourites.

Karen - You thought right my dear. Very much Monday already - I'm off to bask in William Trevor whilst Halim whisks me serenely through the morning traffic.

So, do you remember The Lone Ranger. Is it a show you watched? Here's a link to a YouTube story about him, in character, and costume, in a little - shall we say - situation. Very funny. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFabfnfhIaY

As to your election fever...if you had to endure the mean, ugly political ads we have here you would just want the whole thing to be over with...as do I!! I voted 3 weeks ago and feel like I should be able to find a way to be exempt from any more ads. California isn't a very hotly contended state for the presidential race but the San Diego mayoral and House of Representatives races are awful this time.

Karen - if I'm ever stoned (in Malaysia highly unlikely) and driving down the highway I want that guy in the back of my car!

Reba - It does seem to go down to the very basics doesn't it. The vituperation and the accusatory tone is startling to behold. Not everything done by either candidate over the course of their respective careers is either totally praiseworthy or blameworthy - why can't they have a little common ground and then only discuss rationally where they differ? Wouldn't be so much fun though, I guess?!

Great Bears win! 6 in a row for you! You stay firmly on that Bears-wagon! They are playing a very tough team next week, so we will see.

I do seem by absolute coincidence to be a lucky charm so far - long may it continue. Houston looks like a tough one as both teams have identical starts. Even the points for and against are close. They have racked up 237 points to the Bears 236 but the Bears defensively have the edge 120 to 137. I'll take the Bears to squeak past them by four points.

I bet free parking is a huge bonus. Good on you, if only my past bosses were as thoughtful.

I have a new plan for political campaigns. I say, 6 months of campaigning, max. If you can't get your point across in 6 months, I don't want to hear about it. Can't spend more than, oh, 10 million and NO TV ADS or pre-recorded phone calls. You want my vote, call me.
That's my plan. When I think how many people could have been housed and fed with the money spent on this campaign it makes me sick.
Ah. The end of election season blues.
>36 PaulCranswick: - as you say Paul, the rest of us have to live with each other and work with each other and our kids play together; we find the common ground. There's a lot to agree on. Politicians are totally out of touch with the real day to day issues.
End of rant. :)

Just a slightly different point of view: all that money spent by the political campaigns, local as well as national, does go to employ people; and the salaries do house families and provide food for those who earn the money. I am not saying that the amount of money spent is reasonable and should not be controlled, but it is not just cut up into little pieces and thrown into the land fills.

I have known many an unemployed person who cared about public affairs and issues who was willing to work on a campaign full time for very small beans.

I hope in our desire to improve matters that we do not indulge in throwing babies out with bath waters.

Hi Paul! Not even mentioning the new thread since now it's been a weekly occurrence for some time, it's just part of the routine! :-)

I only discovered William Trevor this year, and I'm pretty sure it's because of you. Have a bunch of his books on the wishlist. Hopefully I'll actually get to read one relatively soon.

Great new thread!

# 4 I read Emil and the Detectives as a kid and loved it but I have a sneaky suspicion that as an adult I may not feel the same way. So, I will steer clear of re-reading this one even though I am getting the urge to do so.

# 16 Chautauquan, Hear, hear! Love LT for being such a civil place. That's one of the things that keeps me coming back here regularly.

> 41 I absolutely agree with you, and I am fine with people getting paid to work on a campaign, I just wish that not such an obscene amount of money got spent and that a real person got paid to phone me instead of a computer... and I'm just starting to feel the election burnout. We've been fairly involved in our way - we have a nearly 14 year old and we have been actively engaging him in the whole process so he can see how it works. Not long until he can participate!

I do wonder at the amount of money spent and suspect there are better ways to spend at least some of it, but my biggest issue is just with the hateful, nasty tone of the ads (which at their best are no more than sound-bite advertising imho). Our local elections have reached a new low of ugly personal attacks this year. Thank heavens for the DVR.

Hi Paul, Just stopping by to say I've found your new thread. I'm busy writing away for Nanowrimo and am proud to say I have really worked on it every day despite some really good reasons not to! I made a big batch of chicken soup (my specialty and so good, if I do say so myself) a batch of split pea soup and a big batch of sauce or gravy, not sure what everybody else calls it! It's red, with meatballs and sausage and we put it over pasta. Anyway, much thanks to my husband for bringing meals to me as I worked on my novel. I made them, he dispensed them!
PS.- I'll still try to list some of the latest books I've acquired as I thought you might be interested. And even a review or two, I need a break now and then, and I feel as though I would get too far behind this close to the end of the year. Also, just wondering, do you get a show called "The Newsroom" there? I love it! Definitely my favorite show right now, with "Homeland" in second place. While there are a few others that I like I don't feel as enthused about them as I do "The Newsroom" Seems like something you would like.

I love the pictures of some of your projects and your office !!!, Paul.
It looks a bit different from the Malaysia about which I am currently reading. :-|

Megan - it is one of the reasons why I like the office location and gives the staff something to smile about - most of their friends complain about the cost of parking or note that the stingy boss won't subsidise them. My company has 6 car passes and it costs me only $90 per month to keep them all happy - the rest either have motorbikes or can walk to work.

Jenn - You know I agree with you on this. Religion is the same to broaden out the discussion if I may. All the major religions and the strands within religions spend far too much time looking for differences than emphasising the common ground. Toleration is taught in most of the religions to my knowledge but precious little of it is demonstrated in actuality. The ethical creed by which most of us live can be agreed upon without much argument in most part. One of the annoyances has been the focus on Romney's faith. I had one client's representative from Wichita who told me plainly that he thought Romney's mormon faith made him unelectable in the evangelical conservative heartland. In the 21st century what a shame that people still think like that. Of the two I would prefer Obama on the balance of my own beliefs and race, religion, gender and so on simply don't factor.

Karen - I have no problem with paid campaigning either but the standard of the campaign needs to be controlled. There is always a danger also that the wealthy can "buy" the campaign if they are allowed to smear the other candidate with half truths and innuendoes rather than presenting people with choices on actual record and the respective position on the issues.

Ilana - Hahaha thankyou. We are 47 weeks in and this is thread 32 so to be strictly accurate it is an occurence every 10.28 days but I take your point! I do recall raving about The Children of Dynmouth last year by Trevor and have a largish pile of them to work through myself.

Porua - Lovely to see you here. Emil and the Detectives will be finished this evening or tomorrow along with the other two I am now reading. I am looking forward to post three reviews in a day a la Suzanne!

Jenn - Good idea on getting the kids involved although you need to be careful they don't get put off the political process for life!

Reba - You have said in a nicer way than I have my own position with electioneering. We used to have a very left-wing politician who had narrowly failed to make it to leader of the British Labour party - Tony Benn. When he was elected to parliament in a bi-election in the early 1980's in the crooked spire city of Chesterfield - I was part of his campaign team, an aspiring (or was it perspiring) politics student. Far less glamorous than it sounds as it involved going door-to-door to seek the opinions and likely vote of the local populace and feed back if they needed help to get to the poling station. He won by the way but I never repeated the campaigning as it was too much like hard work. Payment - two strong cups of hot tea and the satisfaction that Tony was going to change the world.

Mary Beth - Luckily I have just finished lunch and can therefore staunch the drool that is inherent in reading of your culinary exploits. The very best of luck with Nanowrimo; I am sure that you will do fine. I think Eris is also involved in that this year.
The Newsroom does look good - I don't think we get it here yet but I'm sure that we will soon. I don't watch too much telly but the order of the day over here is a local soap opera called Adam dan Hawa or Adam and Eve which is extended over 80 shows and is a typical local brand of boy-meets-girl-girl-doesn't-like-boy-boy-likes-girl-girl-likes-someone-else-ends-up-realising-boy-is-her-true-love type of story. Wildly popular with local heartthrob Aaron Aziz in the lead role.

Well Ellen I thought I had spolit you all with all the best sides of the country it was time to get real and show you my contribution to the skyline here!

Adam and Eve in the Malay drama. Nadiya Nisaa (Hawa) and Aaron Aziz (Adam). The most popular show in Malaysia right now. SWMBO is hooked Monday to Thursday and at least it keeps her quiet.

Checking in, again.

>12 PaulCranswick:: Unrequited love, Paul? Do tell ;-)

Hahaha Nina I wondered when someone was going to pick up on that one! It was 1994 and I had been in a long term relationship with a lady from Derby. Our relationship had been, shall we say, a little up and down and she was having a great deal of difficulty for one reason or another to commit to a permanent arrangement. I had relocated to Derby and was working all over the country returning when I could to my lonely rented property. Whilst we saw each other regularly she wouldn't normally stay over and despite toying with the idea had withheld from the idea of setting up home together. The offer from Siemens to relocate to Malaysia came in and I was interested. I gave her a few choices - agree to move in together and I would stay; come with me to Malaysia or don't commit and I will go anyway because we were treading water............I came to Malaysia.

Hi mate, just thought i would update you on Michael Vaughan's strictly progress, after a sticky first three weeks the boy has done good. Halloween edition and he really pulled out all the stops and got a very respectable 31 points and then he follows it up with another performance that merited 31 points. This could have been due to having a practice session in the hallowed Lords long room and then he showed Natalie the Ashes urn and said that's the nearest an Aussie is going to get to it for a few years, pissed myself laughing. The last two performances were ballroom so he needs to get his latin head on or he could be struggling. Keep on reading mate.

John - We can't get Strictly Come Dancing over here as the BBC channel has been done away with. I do recall watching Ramps cutting a swathe on it a few years ago and I understand Goughie was also pretty nifty. Don't know what makes english cricketers such good dancers their footwork is normally a bit dodgy. Have a great week.

Just checking in over here - love the pictures of your work places!

Planned Reading for November
Love and Summer by William Trevor (Noughties 12 in 12)
Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kastner (In translation 12 in 12)
Boudica and her Barmy Army by Valerie Wilding ((Bought and Read in 2012 12 in 12)
August by Bernard Beckett (One Word Titles 12 in 12)
Mice by Gordon Reece (One Word Titles 12 in 12)
She's Never Coming Back by Hans Koppel (Scandi 12 in 12)
Of Men and Monsters by William Tenn (Sci-Fi 12 in 12)
God's Own Country by Ross Raisin (Noughties 12 in 12)
Young Bloods by Simon Scarrow (Historical Fiction 12 in 12)
Two on a Tower by Thomas Hardy (19th Century British Literature 12 in 12)
Ivanhoe by Walter Scott (19th Century British Literature 12 in 12)
The Joke by Milan Kundera (In translation 12 in 12)
Ake by Wole Soyinka (African Writers 12 in 12)
Devil's Peak by Deon Meyer (African Writers 12 in 12)
Doctor Who and the Crusaders by David Whitaker (Sci-Fi 12 in 12)

A fairly ambitious 15 books but I think I'll make it with a couple of holidays coming up and the first three almost done.

Thanks Amber - this thread I decided to go for more gritty realism!

Carrying on the theme of my project destinations. After the Pasir Gudang Power Station Combined Cycle Gas Turbine Plant, I went to Singapore to head up the commercial team for Changi Airport's Terminal 2 extension:
1995/1996

I'll be interested in see what you think of God's Own Country. I haven't read anything by him but I was looking at one of his books for my 2013 Category Challenge.

The setting of course appeals to me Rhian as, of course, Mr. SandDune can attest God's Own Country is where! With such an alliterative name I am expecting great things from him.

Yikes! Look at all the unread posts. Goodness, that's what I get for being sucked into the Time Vortex of NaNoWriMo. Anyways, hi Paul! Lovely offices you got. Also, Boudica and Her Barmy Army looks brilliant. :D

#46 - Hi, Mary Beth! Glad to see that I'm not one of the only LTers who is doing NaNo. I've been keeping myself motivated with a lot of candy, personally. Thank goodness for Halloween. How is your masterpiece coming along?

Hi Eris and thanks for my threadly fill of Tom Baker! The photo flatters the office a little but it is convenient and cheap!
Good luck to both you ladies with the writing, I'm sure you'll both produce something splendid.

Airports? Have you read Naked Airport. I read it several years ago and thought it thought provoking regarding the disintegration of public space due to security concerns. Gordon thinks that airports went to pot during the hijacking era of the 1970's when security trumped aesthetics. He names Kennedy's TWA terminal as the best ever airport terminal. I need to read some more of his work. He has done some interesting things regarding architecture.

I picked up three new fiction books this weekend so have added to the stash even though I finished 1Q84. Shouldn't that book at 925 pages count as two?

The election is tomorrow and people here are really holding their breath. This is a very tight election and will go down to the wire. I voted already, as has my sister, so we are waiting the results with bated breath. My other sister is an election officer so when I talked with her last night she was getting some early shut-eye in anticipation of a very long night on Tuesday.

In the last twenty years this country has been fairly evenly split with most of the elections much closer than the final results would say. That is the reason why we get a President from one party and the legislature from another. With this kind of even split it is really hard for anything to move in either direction. There is no way that a President or a legislative leader can stand up and say that they have a mandate to do anything. A mandate only happens when there is a clear majority. We haven't had a clear majority for fifteen years. The sad thing is that our system isn't really set-up for compromise, and compromise is what is needed when half of the population is left-leaning and the other half is right-leaning. Along that line, in my opinion, the extreme right wing, the tea party and the religious wing-nuts, get far too much press. Along with all that excessive news coverage comes the idea that they are more powerful than they really are.

Along that line, in my opinion, the extreme right wing, the tea party and the religious wing-nuts, get far too much press. Along with all that excessive news coverage comes the idea that they are more powerful than they really are.

I totally agree! Where is the press for the wingnuts on the left, for there are a few. But far too few, I guess.

Paul- Daunting November reading list! Good luck. I have not heard of very many of those titles or those authors, so I'll have to wait for your enlightenment.

Benita- I loved your thoughts on the US political scene. Very astute.

Hi Paul. I'm loving the pictures of where you worked and your projects. Keep 'em coming.

Number 67! Wow that must be a record for me? :)
Lovely thread as always, Paul. Better late than never is my new motto. ;)

One of my most favorite quotes from George Washington's Farewell Address - on political parties:

....Let me now take a more comprehensive view, and warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party generally.

This spirit, unfortunately, is inseparable from our nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments, more or less stifled, controlled, or repressed; but, in those of the popular form, it is seen in its greatest rankness, and is truly their worst enemy.

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.

View hallooooooooo

I have returned. Your voodoo was unsuccessful! Haha!

Benita - Insightful thoughts on public spaces and the political process in the USA. Not sure how much one man or woman can change things around working within the system of checks and balances set up to curtail dictatorial authority. From an international perspective Obama seems to have been an improvement on Dubya in that the crisis has been managed recently well, social issues have been handled sensibly, the car industry has been "rescued" and the banks curtailed somewhat. On the other hand Guantanamo is still open, Afganistan is still a bugbear, unemployment is rising and, for me, most importantly there does not seem sufficient foresight to tackle the economic and trade imbalance with China.

Karen - As I have gotten older extremism from either side becomes less and less attractive. I believe that the political spectrum is shaped like a globe - the extreme left and extreme right at almost at the point of touching.

Mark - Let's see mate; I haven't achieved any of my targets so far this year so I would be amazed if I get this one done.

Pat - I will post my return to Johor Bahru projects for you in a moment or two!

Valerie - With the speed of some of the threads these days that is a motto many of us should be living by.

Jenn - Old wooden teeth was quite an astute fellow there is no doubt. Stagnation in social intercourse due to the tit for tat of opposing polities is the bane of democracy. Look at Italy for a prime example of that.

RD - Your enforced absence has only served to emphasise for anyone doubtful of the fact (and I was never one of their number) what a splendidly popular institution you are in the group. If my voodoo had been turned against you mate it would have been to rid you of back ache so that you become a beacon of even temperedness and polite discourse. No, all things considered, I'd just get rid of the back ache; the rest is smileworthy.

In March 1996 I got married. I also took on my first assignment looking after the commercial and contractual interests of Korean contractors in Malaysia. This project brought me back eventually to Malaysia - it is Menara Landmark. A ten storey podium (car park and shopping), a 32 storey hotel and a 35 storey office tower. Ssangyong E&C my clients and I have been inseperable ever since and this project was for a consortium of Hong Kong developers not noted for their fair play towards contractors!

Howdy Paul! I've enjoyed viewing your projects through time. How cool it must be to leave your mark on this planet in such an aesthetic way. You also seem to be just the right person to train an international staff. Your intelligent and optimistic attributes surely must play a huge part in your success!

Paul, I appreciated a little trip through your past. It is so fun to get to know some of the details of our Reading Friends' lives! The "far east" (as it was called in my youff) is lucky to have adopted you!

Just being sociable, since I am not remotely able to keep up with your thread. I do like your phots and the description of you liking the people..

Hope all is well!

Paul, I enjoy getting to know you better through your work projects and past love stories. I guess there is more to life than books after all!

I'm another one who is glad the elections in the U. S. will be finally over today. I watched all four televised debates but thankfully have missed most of those petulant ads on TV. My DVR allows me to skip over them. I think all that money would be better spent reducing poverty or making a dent in our national debt. I know very little about the political situation in Malaysia. Care to enlighten us?

Lynda - Thanks for your lovely comments; I have played my part in those projects but so many others poured the concrete, laid the bricks and plastered the walls - my little office nowadays glories in the teamwork of our little group and its modest success is more to do with my guys than their boss.

Karen - I go lucky when I moved to Johor Bahru and bumped into my difficult, moody typhoon of a wife. I actually had my pick of the two power stations above and decided to take the one in the smaller photo because it was closer to Singapore. In that one decision my future was sealed.

Kath - Thanks; my week is a little busy too so I am having issues keeping up with all of you too!

Donna - ah the politics of Malaysia is pretty unique. The ruling "coalition" - the National Front or Barisan Nasional is made up of three parties representing the three main ethnic groups. UMNO (UNited Malays National Organisation), MCA (Malaysian Chinese Association) and MIC (Malaysian Indian Congress). The idea of having parties an politics based on race is anathema to most of the world and it is slowly waering thin over here too. There is an opposition with an Islamic Party (PAS) which is fairly moderate, a party supposedly disavowing race politics (DAP) which is seen as a chinese party by the majority of malays and are unelectable as a result!
It is difficult because the press are openly paid for and under the control of the governing party and the BN has been constantly in power since independence. Money politics is rife but done in a knowing and resigned manner. It is a Prime Ministerial system that closely follows the British first-past-the -post system.

Paul - I am also loving the trip through your yesterdays. And also the introduction on Malaysian politics. So interesting.

If my calculations are correct, you have survived your stint without Erni - she is back tomorrow, no?

Mamie - I have Erni withdrawal symptoms and need my fix (in a very pure and paternalistic and entirely selfish way I can assure you all) - unfortunately noword from her yet, but her island not having electricity or telephone doesn't aid her communication skills any.

Crossing my fingers for you that she returns tomorrow.

Thanks Mamie - I trust that she will too.

Mornin' Paul. Thanks for comments on Malaysian political system. With the American-centric news media here, it's hard to know much about other countries.

The history lesson is fascinating! Personal and Malaysian, both. Married in 1996...wow.

*twinge* Ow this backache keeps getting worse....

Reba - I suppose that, in some ways elections in the West, especially the USA which is so personalised, are far more interesting to observers because there is a genuine possibility that either party could conceivably win. On the BBC website there was a predicter game where you were encouraged to choose who you thought would win the key battleground states and it would then calcualate the electoral college votes. I tried the game and got 269 votes each.

RD, Thanks. On the backache I will see if I can find some voodoo to sort that for you, hahaha

>52 PaulCranswick: aaaaa-ha. There was a story behind it. I thought I may have missed something, and it turned out I had. Thanks for sharing :)
For similar reasons as that, Paul, I ended up back in NZ alone. I said to my (live-in) bf I was moving back to NZ and would he like to come with me...if not I would go anyway. He stayed, I went. And that was the end of that relationship.

>77 PaulCranswick: It is difficult because the press are openly paid for and under the control of the governing party
Difficult? I'd say!
(At least where I am the press are secretly paid of and under the control of the governing party;))

So with the return of Erni, comes the retirement of Sgt Major SWMBO? Mayne you'll all be happier in this case. Good luck that all goes to plan :)

Paul, your November reading list looks good. I seem to have gotten out of the habit of making a list of planned reads for the month because I would so frequently stray from my plans. I think I might take it up again.

Paul, it must be nice to have a job where you see such tangible results from your work.

Ahh...1996...I was 14. Why does that feel like a lifetime ago??? :)

Megan - C'est la vie I suppose isn't it? I think for me life turned out far better than I had hoped or had any right to expect had I stayed put. You have a very settled life with a fine fellow who knows (apparently) how to control the traffic and two delightful bundles of trouble and joy.
Hahaha for the subversive NZ press.
Sgt. Major SWMBO still very much in evidence this morning but hopefully she can be put on gardening leave later today.

Ellen - Lists are my pleasure and my folly. It would be lovely if I was able to achieve a single one of my reading plans this year!

Pat - I do often feel a sense of satisfaction when projects get completed but in my role looking after the money and managing the contracts that is where the arguments and fun often really begins.

Valerie - thank you ever so much for pointing out so discreetly how much older than you I am (16 years to be precise since you're counting!). It is certainly a lifestyle ago for me if not a lifetime.

Overlapping with the Menara Landmark project I took on another hotel project for the Korean group Lotte. Originally Castle Inn Hotel this project was a source of dispute for many years and lead to some landmark and controversial legal tussles. It was eventually completed and is now operating as Grand Paragon Hotel in Johor Bahru. It is the last major project I did in the city of my wife's childhood:

Wow, that building looks like a computer mock-up, are you sure its real? ;)
It is quite striking, id even go so far as to say interesting, but maybe not so far as beautiful.

Christchurch's buildings will all be a maximum of 7 storeys from now on as that is what has been deemed the height that tenants will tolerate in the wake of recent earth-quaking events. The cities mayor (and former host of TVs This is Your Life...what is it with celebrity elected into public office?) has been a brave soul and taken the top floor of the same building my sig other works in.
I think we will find all the exec's on the ground floor, as the new status symbol around here!

I myself would be happy with the penthouse suite atop your latest picture!!

>88 jolerie: Valerie, 1996 would be half a lifetime ago for you! ;)

Paul, we are young at heart!

I remember 1966. Clearly. As in, had independent thoughts and formed opinions and went to school and stuff. So it's all relative.

1966 .... graduated from the University that year, knowing nothing. Nothing at all.

They had universities in 1966?!? But but but there were still plesiosaurs and pterodactyls and stuff then!

I'm also enjoying your personal history and the description of the political system in Malaysia, Paul!

Actually the 269-269 scenario was getting quite a bit of press here. It seemed like an actual possibility. It would have been a mess but, looking for a silver lining, it might have prompted us to get rid of the totally out-dated electoral college system.

It is an actual photo Megan but I would agree that the building looks more surreal than real. One of the most difficult projects I have ever worked on with a Korean contractor that had never done an overseas project before, a Singaporean architect that had never designed a building across the border before and a Developer that, shall we say, had a reputation for dealing in the underworld.
Singapore are now designing buildings to be earthquake resistant as they are panicking that the Aceh incidents are getting ever closer to them.

Roberta - thanks my dear; there is a saying in less celubrious parts that you are as old as the woman you feel and my good lady tells people perpetually that she is 27!

1966 RD what a great year, Karen graduated, a certain sawn-off twin now residing in KL was born, England somehow won the soccer world cup, The Kinks, Rolling Stones and Beatles were all the rage and RD was still at school and not yet let loose on an unsuspecting populace.

Karen - I'm not sure sometimes that I have learnt very much after university!

Hahaha RD maybe that was only in Texas in the 60's. In Yorkshire the raptors ate the plesiosaurs.

Darryl - thanks mate; nice to see myself proven wrong today and Mr. Obama gets another 4 years to correct some of the wrongs foisted on your country by the previous regime.

Reba - I actually saw an explanation on CNN this morning that it would go to a state by state vote in the House. Good job that Obama wasn't foiled by such a "democratic" method.

And Erni? Is Erni back yet?

Paul my 50 year old cousin still tries to tell people she is 27. Her 29 year old son tells her she should bump it up a decade because she's starting to look a little "rough" for 27! The joys of children! :)

Someday perhaps we'll figure out that we're now technologically capable of just counting the votes and seeing who wins instead of needing to send men on horseback to the capital to work it out!!

The Founding Fathers didn't think that just counting the votes was good enough. They didn't want a tyranny of the majority. The Electoral College is one of the safeguards put in place to protect the rights of the minority. The minority in 1790 was something far different than what we think of as the minority today, but still the principle is what matters.

So, Is Erni back yet?

Mamie - Erni is back! She arrived at the bus station at 11pm yesterday evening and was tired but, I think, reasonably happy to be back. Belle was happily surprised to see her best pal our all having fooled her that she wasn't coming back for days yet. She has just placed a green Harrod's coffee cup next to my laptop.

Roberta - hahaha I have told Hani that her claims are becoming ever more difficult to justify and place myself in the invidious position of appearing to be a perverter of juvenile morals as our daughter is 15 making her pregnant at 11!!!

Reba - I agree with that. The state by state vote is essentially a winner-takes-all idea and has resulted three times in the candidate least favoured by the majority of the electorate being elected. I am sorry but that is perverse. Dubya "beat" Gore (whatever the rights and wrongs of spoiled chads in Florida) but this would have been rendered irrelevant if a simple popularity poll nationally sufficed.

Benita - I don't see how the minority is protected in the electoral college. If anything it has perverted the will of the people on three occasions. You have the states represented in the House and the Senate but the President is meant to represent all of you so what does it matter if he is more popular in Newport, Rhode Island than he is in Memphis?

Kath - Our posts crossed, the dear girl is back "home".

Paul, the Electoral College makes a little more sense when you realize the country was put together as a collection of States; and the Electoral College was one more way to assure the small sized states that their concerns would always have a forum. The great big states could not just run away with every election.

Less important today perhaps. But the history of the federal government is the history of weaving back and forth between States Rights and Federal Mandates. Senators did not used to be elected by popular vote. They were chosen by the States' legislators. Again, it was to preserve the power of little guys like Rhode Island and New Hampshire.

It does not make much sense today, but you do still get an Elector who will not vote with his/her State's popular vote. Rare. Very Rare. But it has happened.

Pshaw Paul, you're thinking linearly! My daughter is 32. I, on the other hand, am 21. Quantum multilocality subverts time's arrow.

Karen. I take the point but surely what was relevant in the time of Jefferson, Adams and Hamilton is not necessarily so today. To avoid revolution, evolution needs to be given air to breathe. The world would be a better place today IMHO if a popular vote had kept Dubya from the White House.

RD - Hahaha I have never been fond of mathematics and even less so as my own numbers get bigger year on year.

Update for those interested on the thread/posting league.
Top twenty:

1 Paul 8157
2 Richard 7536
3 Joe 6620
4 Kath 6619
5 Mark 6288
6 Mamie 4592
7 Darryl 4144
8 Stephen 4047
9 Ilana 3970
10 Claudia 3673
11 Amber 3215
12 Caro 3199
13 Megan 3089
14 Donna 2847
15 Bonnie 2602
16 Lucy 2573
17 Ellen 2550
18 Chelle 2485
19 Suzanne 2281
20 Linda 2231

Paul, I understand and largely agree with your points. I do know however there are still advocates of States Rights and there may be some who wish to be sure the small states can stand on a level playing floor with the big states, at least some of the time

But that is all pretty theoretical. I do not have any real life examples.

Karen - Isn't that why the senate has a 100 seats with 2 per state irrespective of size? The idea of the states rights in a federal constitution is pretty solid but the election of a President and Vice-President is surely to represent every single american and not represent the the interests of an individual state or faction. In the longer run I do think history will be kind to Obama and the change he is trying to bring. With a congress painted red I think he will have his budgetary work cut out for him but I wish him well and you all too as you will be affected by it immensely.

Well I for one, Paul, would like to see the electoral college eliminated and have the President elected by the popular vote. If you don't vote with the majority of your state your vote doesn't really count. I wouldn't mind seeing the rest of the states do what Maine and Nebraska do and divide their electoral votes by congressional district rather than winner takes all.

It's starting to look like we're becoming a one party country on the one hand and yet Romney certainly acquired an awful lot of votes. I don't like to see one party dominate because it's not good for the country. In a way, I'm glad they have split the congress. We need them to work in a bipartisan manner. We'll see if that happens. The stock market certainly isn't impressed.

Nebraska is the only state that has the good sense to save money and have only one legislative house. Having two legislative houses at the state level makes no sense to me.

Maggie1944 is exactly right about the balancing act between States Rights and Federal dominance. The founders and writers of the documents that govern our country had a great fear of an "imperial president." Most of them did not want a country made up of hereditary elite and were afraid that if the federal government were too strong there was a danger that it would become dominate in a way that it could not be thrown out of office. The electoral college was a way to make sure that wouldn't happen on a national level. It also allowed for an orderly change in case something happened immediately after an election that would make it so that the person elected couldn't serve. There are all sorts of reasons why they put in the electoral college. Whether it is superfluous to our time is another question. I don't believe that it would necessarily be a bad thing but I am not sure that it can or should be changed at this point.

By-the-way, I learned today that this election had the largest number of voters in the 18 - 29 year old category of any previous election. More of the young people turned out this time than the last time and they made a difference in several states. Not here in Alabama, even though in Tuscaloosa they had a huge turn-out among the college students. Some of them waited for hours while in line. The next highest age group to turn-out to vote were those 65 and older. That right there shows the split in the country.

It was also interesting to me that several states that voted majority for Obama then voted in Republican senators. It is also true that several states, like North Dakota and Montana, went for Romney and then elected Democrat senators. What does that say? Maybe it is a case of "they may be damn Democrat's but they are our damn Democrats" kind of thinking.

Bonnie - In the UK many of the consituencies are considered 'safe' for either of the two main parties. This system has two main defects in that parties with considerable national support but whose support is spread thinly across the country get little or no representation and secondly many of the voters are apathetic in safe constituencies as they feel their votes don't count one way or another. Maine actually do set a go precedent and a decent third way between the present system you have and a single one person one vote popularity contest which is clearly the most democratic. If this was replicated throughout the country so that all the electoral wards counting towards the states total for the electoral college are counted individually. That would mean for example that all New Yorks 29 electoral college votes would be decided in 29 state contests; so if 20 of these were won by Obama and 9 by Romney then they would get that number of electoral college votes. It seems that the winner take all per state is palpably wrong and each electoral college vote would then count.

Benita - As always a fascinating and illuminating discourse from you. Don't the senate and the congress and the judiciary already provide sufficient check and balance against an Imperial President without impeding unduly upon the nature of his selection? The split between age groups, religious persuasion, ethnicity and gender are all very interesting and show up the divided nature of the States; just as they would most anywhere else.

Hi Paul. Yo no habla politics. Thought I'd wish you a good day though as I close off mine.

Ilana - my political days are long gone too and probably explain the paucity of my arguments. Sweet dreams. x

The electoral college is vital still - prevents the popular vote from running away with the contest. It is a somewhat "lost" fact that the founders of America were actually trying to avoid democracy and create a government that would be safer than that of Athens - for example. Perhaps you have heard the saying that a democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what's for lunch? A good situation to avoid.
The issue is democracy with federalism (the Electoral College) versus democracy without federalism (a national popular vote). Either is democratic. Only the Electoral College preserves federalism, moderates ideological differences, and promotes national consensus in our choice of a chief executive.

>114 PaulCranswick: There have been steady erosions on checks and balances since the early 1900's. It seems to be a sort of philosophical change from a majority of the people desiring freedom and independence, to a feeling that a bigger federal government would somehow better protect them. I tend to disagree with this notion. I believe that our last 4 presidents - current one included have made "executive" decisions well out of their provenance, unchecked by either the legislative or judicial branches, with unfortunate consequences.

It is late and I will resist burdening you all with a longer lecture on the US Constitution...

Jenn - Thanks for the different opinion on federalism and democracy - I am maybe a little dense and not really attuned to the way of things in the American system but I cannot see logically how electing your President by popular vote (so you ensure that more people want the candidate than any other) should necessarily impact the way in which he is bound by the judiciary and legislature to act in accordance with your constitution. I take your point that successive Presidents of whatever hue have attempted to subvert the system by overstepping the confines of their office - surely they have done this with the electoral college in place and therefore its retention has made little difference in controlling the conduct. It is just the method of choosing, if you have a senate composed of 2 members per state and a congress brought into districts based on population what difference to federalism does it make whether the President got more votes than his opponent or not. Not particularly a big fan of Al Gore but losing an election in a two horse race when the other fellow got less votes is frankly perverse. I do find the process of politics and government absolutely fascinating as a previous political science major (I changed courses when I realised it was a sure road to unemployment) and everyones studied comments and views on this thorny topic are extremely illuminating.

Away from politics and back to history! I returned to Kuala Lumpur in 1999 mainly to build what was then Kuala Lumpur's tallest twin block condominium project. Suasana Condominium Project in KL Sentral - the new central transport hub.

At a similar time I was also involved in several other projects in various roles.
UITM university campus
Selayang Hospital in Kuala Lumpur
Keningau Hospital in Sabah
Putrajaya Archway Project (Gerbang)

This is Keningau



This is Selayang

This is the Archway gate in Putrajaya (I was advisor to the steelwork contractor)

This is the Universiti Teknologi Mara project near Kuala Lumpur for which my associate fim were the Quantity Surveyors.

>122 PaulCranswick: Its... purple. :)

Paul, I am very impressed with your projects!

Hi Paul- As usual your thread is such a joy to scroll through. I love the political comments and the refresher course it gives me on certain subjects. We have a smart, astute bunch here! See, it's not just about old musty books!
Thanks for sharing your work projects with us too! Very impressive!

I love purple! It's my favorite color! Paul, I love the description of your wife in # 76. Especially since you are obviously so appreciative of her just the same. I think my husband would find that description quite close to his own wife's attributes (I think we can all agree they are attributes, right Paul?) I admit to having mellowed over the years, though. I was married for approximately 11 years in 1996, and my husband has worked diligently at smoothing out my rough spots. Still, he did fall in love with that person so I don't want to lose her completely.(What do you suppose it means that I am speaking of myself in the third person?)

Seriously, those pictures are simply outrageously cool buildings. I tend to like the ones with fewer floors though for strictly aesthetic reasons, but I do dig that purple one...

Wonderful buildings, Paul. Asia definitely has some of the most striking modern architecture in the world. Love it!!

Paul, I forgot to tell you that I finally listed some of the newest acquisitions, most of them from local library sales and a local thrift shop, though I did purchase a paperback brand new from Costco, but that will be in my next list of books soon to follow. They are listed here:
http://www.librarything.com/topic/144324

HI Paul! Loving all the pictures of your projects, what an interesting life you lead!

#109 I am very surprised to see my name in the top 20 still since I've been so absent lately!

Hi mate, wow you've been involved with some wonderful buildings, just wish we had some like that in Yorkshire and more especially in Wakefield, we have some real shite. Hopefully in about 18months time we will have two really good railway stations, the new westgate station starts building work in January and a complete refurb of the Victorian Kirkgate station should start soon. On the plus side the monstrosity that was Crown House has nearly been raised to the ground and major works at the bottom of Kirkgate to the railway station begins in the new year and the infamous roundabout/subway is going to vanish.

How are you mate and how is the reading going. Don't want time to pass too quickly but i can't wait to see all your year end stats, they will make good reading and knowing your inimitable style will be really comprehensive.

>121 PaulCranswick: OOOOOOOOOO I *love* this one! So satisfyingly present in its space.

>118 PaulCranswick: - Because I just can't leave it alone...so help me, I am taking a course in Constitutional Law and I am learning so much...

There is no evidence that, just because there is a majority, that the majority is necessarily correct. The result of a direct popular election for president, would likely be frayed and unstable political system characterized by a multitude of political parties and by more radical changes in policies from one administration to the next. The Electoral College system, in contrast, encourages political parties to coalesce divergent interests into two sets of coherent alternatives. Such an organization of social conflict and political debate contributes to the political stability of the nation. You will agree that the US has been quite successful in maintaining political stability over the years.

Finally, the Electoral College maintains a federal system of government and representation. Their reasoning is that in a formal federal structure, important political powers are reserved to the component States. In the United States, for example, the House of Representatives was designed to represent the States according to the size of their population. The States are even responsible for drawing the district lines for their House seats. The Senate was designed to represent each State equally regardless of its population. And the Electoral College was designed to represent each State's choice for the presidency (with the number of each State's electoral votes being the number of its Senators plus the number of its Representatives). To abolish the Electoral College in favor of a nationwide popular election for president would strike at the very heart of the federal structure laid out in our Constitution and would lead to the nationalization of our central government - to the detriment of the States.

Notwithstanding the arguments against, States rights are being eroded and the central government is becoming more nationalized due to federal involvement in education, health care, and other areas that are not - Constitutionally speaking - the venue of the federal government. Since the election on Tuesday, I have heard some chatter regarding dividing the US in half and giving one half to the "liberals" and one half to the "conservatives" and see how things go. Essentially, things should already work this way in a federal system, and they have. On an electoral map, most states are solidly Democrat or Republican and based on the services those states provide, etc. people gravitate to those states. This is a generalization, but to make a very clear comparison, say California vs. Utah in terms of spending, taxation, social policy... that is generally how it should work. If you want the state to provide your health care, move to Oregon or Massachusetts. If not, try Texas. See what I mean?

I will now cease and desist with the Constitutional hijack of your thread...

I also need to say that the parade of projects/ buildings is quite impressive.

Morphy - It's funny but I don't remember the purple much! My main memories of the project are the fact that the structural engineer got a lot of grief about his design of the substructure which the Employer had re-engineered and refused to pay his fees and of dealing with an absolutely obnoxious Contractor's Project Manager.

Thanks Karen; my role in most of them is quite a humble one in truth.

Mark - This group is about much more than just the books isn't it mate? But it is the books that is the mortar that binds us all together.

Mary Beth - I also have a soft spot for purple. From now on the projects we will be seeing are ones done by my present company. The first one was for the manufacturing facilities for the company making monorail trains for KL and Mumbai and their corporate colour was plum. You would love the colour but it was a bugger to try to find the colour for the building cladding.

Reba - I would agree certainly that the architecture of buildings in South East Asia is very interesting.

Mary Beth - I will look up the list straight after this.

Chelle - You seem to have your moments too in New Scotland! You have slowed down a little of course since a certain event that many of us celebrated along with you earlier this year but you were running top twelve for most of the time before that.

John - I do have a soft spot for our railway stations and have spent many an hour in both of them, especially Westgate.
You are right on the stats mate it is still early November! Trust you are having a great week and that the weather in West Yorks is not too cold for you. I think Joe Root, Tim Bresnan and Johnny Bairstow may all miss out in the first test in India.

RD - Was one of my favourite projects. I pulled a fast one on the Employer that resulted in my Client making almost double the profit he had anticipated and provided me with a permanent retainer thereafter. I will revisit the building for my next thread top photo mate and capture it in the sunset hour.

Jenn - I take on board all the points as to the advantages and purpose of a federal system of government but I don't see how that is impacted by the manner in which the President is selected. My point is a very simple one - it is perverse that you elect a President who less people in your united states voted for in comparison with another candidate. The Federal system of government is proscribed as you rightly state in having the constitution reserve rights to the individual states. That the federal government is impinging upon this I would also agree is borne out by fact but this does not have any demonstrable correlation with the method in which you choose your federal leader which has not changed since independence in the main. I did advocate amending the electoral college such that it reflects the congressional districts and each districts votes therefore count for one electoral college vote (like Maine is doing in part).

83.

Boudica and Her Barmy Army by Valerie Wilding

Taking a leaf out of Amber's book this was read with Belle to give her an insight into British history. Part graphic book the story of Boudica is told in an interesting, light manner with use of mock newspaper cuttings and a faux diary. Belle liked it which was more important to me than the fact that I also thought it was ok.

6/10

84.

Doctor Who and the Crusaders by David Whitaker

David Whitaker wrote the first Who books and the best in my opinion. This tale features the first Doctor with Ian, Barbara and Vicki. The Tardis lands in a forest next to Jaffa and our heroes becoming embroiled in the intrigues of the Third Crusade.

7/10

>135 PaulCranswick: I think it sounds amusing. I suspect that I, being even older than you, am not the target market~

>136 PaulCranswick: One day I'll read a Who novel.

85.

Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kastner

Dated but still enjoyable YA mini classic from the pre-Hitler Germany of circa 1928. Emil is visiting his Gran from nearby Neustadt and his introduction to the big city of Berlin is troubled by having his money stolen on the train ride there. Emil thinks he knows who stole it and he is hot on the thief's heels.

One feature of the novel which is, well, novel is that an element of Hitchcock is introduced as the writer Mr. Kastner introduces himself as a character with a bit part role as did Alfred in all his movies.

7/10

Well Richard I think it wouldn't be too interesting for you - I mean you probably met the woman.
According to Eris it is compulsory to read at least one Who novel per Doctor to stay cool. You have plenty of street cred already so I wouldn't rush it mate I would hate to have the "low lit" savaged if the British institution was misconceived as having pretensions of seriousness.

86.

Love and Summer by William Trevor

My most serious reading presently I suppose.
A novel of restraint and insinuation that restrainedly insinuates its elegiac little tale into your consciousness over 215 tightly written pages. Small town love, both illicit and unrequited and the failure to meet ones potential are themes of this novel set in familiar Trevor territority.
Not my favourite of his by a long chalk but good nonetheless.

8/10

Boudica and I were tight, it's true...

My first Doctor was Peter Davison. But my favorite is Christopher Eccleston. Not sure I approve of the Whovie. Big screen Doctor? Errrmmm, well maybe....

Adore William Trevor!

RD - I also liked Christopher Eccleston but it seems we were two of the only ones that did. Not a huge fan of Peter Davison in the role but his predecessors Tom Baker and Jon Pertwee were the tops.
Trevor proves that you don't need to be verbose to be brilliant. Wonderful concise writing.

Mary Beth - I should add to your post #126 that successful marriages don't follow any unique prescription, in each one we make our own. You clearly have a wonderful relationship and I, well I have SWMBO - drives me crazy but wouldn't swap her for a gold pig. x

#135 J loved those Horribly Famous books. We've got loads of them on every historical figure you care to mention.

A flurry of books.
Gunning for 100 books? I think you'll do it!

>143 PaulCranswick: A gold pig?
LOL

Rhian - I think they're a great way of helping the kids learn about history. Will have to find some others in the series for Belle who seems to share her dad's love of history.

Megan - I have never failed to make it that I can remember but it is still not quite in the bag!
Yeah you will note I didn't say gold elephant - that may have been a harder decision to make!

Southeast Asia certainly but I was thinking also of Shanghai

Like Morphy, my eyes were immediately drawn the purple coloured building. :)
As I am sitting at my coffee table, sipping my steeped tea while the monkey naps and all I can see from my windows is a wall of white....welcome to my winter wonderland!

ok... don't know why i read all that political stuff, but i did. :PPPP it's like a bad book i can't put down.
i am however glad that some others are interested - someone has to be!

anywho - love your projects. thanks for sharing
i basically had 2 big projects - Wendy and Bridget. think i did ok. had a lot of help :)

yay! for erni's return. all is right with the world - coffee wise

Good day, Paul. I'm up in my early morning, so I expect your day is winding down. Fun to think of all that.

Put me in the column of wanting to be sure the U.S. government structures, including The Electoral College, continue to guard against the tyranny of the majority. Maybe it is perverse, and a bit messy, and ugly; and, perhaps we are seeing the beginning of the end of this grand experiment (people rule) but I'd rather we be careful with structural changes as they seem to have "muddled through" pretty well until now.

I think I am mostly recovered from my week long sadness and am almost ready to dive back into TOR. Unfortunately, all kinds of chores need doing before I fly off to vacation. I am sure I'll get more reading done then!

Sorry to hear about Wiggins & coach Sutton. Good to know they're 'only' badly hurt.

No way I can keep up with your thread, but I'm enjoying the architecture!

A full day away from my computer and LT as I headed to the northern states of Kedah and Perlis to look at two parcels of land for potential development. The first in Perlis is a stone's throw from the Thailand border and would be for housing intended to capitalise on the government servants (customs, immigration etc) based there as well as the large university nearby.
The second was in the rice bowl state of Kedah and has paddy fields and a waterfall discharging its teeming harvest onto the land. The Client wants to create an Agro-resort with an orchard and so on in a very traditional style. The land is picturesque in a backwater called Yam and is an interesting proposition.
One thing I noticed yesterday was the wonderful courtesy of the local people - on two separate occasions we were invited into their homes and given drinks and plentiful local background useful to my fesibility studies. Great day in all but I started at 5 in the morning and got home at 10 in the evening so I was pretty bushed.

Reba - I haven't been to Shanghai or mainland China in point of fact but the buildings and infrastructure there is already the stuff of legend.

Valerie - I do seem to recall plenty of discussion on colour schemes and there must have been some reason why the Architect (Malaysia's largest firm by the way) decided to go with the purple trim. The thought of a pristine white blanket when you survey the snowscape from the vantage of your front room window is a nostalgic one for me but I suffer in the cold so, as beautiful as it is, I am happy to keep warm over here. Trust Caleb is back to his best form after not being too well recently.

cee - maine does things differently! they have un-frosted bathroom windows overlooking fascinating waterways as well as a contribution to the electoral college based on districts rather than state wide. i am interested in both!
your projects were established with a management team of only 2 and an impossibility to delegate - i on the other hand were able to procure additional resources when i was floundering.
just had my morning coffee - she's a doll!

Karen - Good Saturday morning to you or late Friday afternoon depending on the giver and receiver!
The argument against change in that you might finish up with something worse is of course a valid one and is usually used in the UK to defend our system against structural change leading to permanent coalition government. It would have been better to have had the debate after the 2000 election rather than the present one where the candidate with majority support got elected anyway.
Losing our pets does entail a grieving process that is very real - they are loved ones that are an integral part of the family. The end of life is a part of life that we all have to struggle through, especially as we get older, and I am forwarding hugs aplenty in the hope that they make coming to terms easier. x

Nina - Wonder whether the lady driver was on the payroll of a rival team! Sure to spawn a fair few jokes about lady drivers! Shane Sutton (an Aussie of course) seems to be more badly hurt than Wiggo but he is a tough customer and will be OK and literally back in the saddle sooner rather than later.

Katherine - lovely to see you here anyway.

>153 PaulCranswick: One thing I noticed yesterday was the wonderful courtesy of the local people
Ill always remember the bus driver trying to convince me and my friend to come and stay at his house. We were heading towards Johor Bahru and had asked him about hostels or hotels for those on a budget, he was convinced there would be nothing available for us at such a late hour and even resorted to saying "You want beer? I buy you beer!". Im sure his intentions were honorable, he did show us pictures of his wife and kids, but we didnt take him up on his offer. We still laugh at his offer today, as its not like we were even after beer!

I do love coming across lovely people when out and about in other places. I hope it made up for the long day you had Paul! And did you manage to buy/smuggle any books by any chance?

Megan - hah no books at all this week! I am always impressed and gratified by the basic goodness of most people I come across and am pleased that you had positive experiences on the way to SWMBO's hometown.

Thank you, Paul, for your kind wishes. I expect leaky eyes for few weeks on this one. He was a very special dog and sometimes when I was walking him, I'd wonder how I could stand to lose him. These thoughts motivated me to get doggie # 2, the famous, and Head Bitch of the House, Greta Garbo. She, too, is missing Mr. Nicky.

All the hugs and good wishes from my LT friends have help immeasurably. Thank you, kindly.

Karen - hope the smiles can get the better of the leaky eyes as soon as possible. x

Since I set up my small project management company in 2006 we have looked at niche projects in aviation and for specialist developers from overseas. We have also undertaken a number of "rescue" projects for failed projects which had either stopped or been abandoned and have successfully handed over 968 housing units to members of the public who had looked likely to have had their investment unrealised.

One of our clients is a major US based aerospace manufacturing company and we have recently finished their logistics facilities in Subang next to the old International airport.

>140 PaulCranswick: Which of William Trevor's would you say were your favorites, Paul?

Paul- Speaking of William Trevor, I had a copy of his "Collected Works" in hand yesterday and put it back down. I'll get it next time. I also saw a Frank O' Connor collection that looked very good. Have you read him?

Linda - I would say unhesitatingly The Children of Dynmouth.

Mark - I have something of Frank O'Connor's in an anthology of irish writing but nothing of his otherwise.

111Isn't that why the senate has a 100 seats with 2 per state irrespective of size?

I believe that is the case Paul..

112 Well I for one, Paul, would like to see the electoral college eliminated and have the President elected by the popular vote

I agree... I have never figured out why the popular vote isn't good enough. If government is meant to be by the people , popular votes should rule the day.

113 Nebraska is the only state that has the good sense to save money and have only one legislative house. Having two legislative houses at the state level makes no sense to me.

Brilliant, and something I didn't know. Would that Pennsylvania would follow suit. #NeverHappen

Kath - Nice to see you. Sometimes history intrudes upon common sense when it comes to deciding on electoral systems. There is no logic whatsoever in the present electoral college system but many seem to cling to it for reasons of state rights in that the state reps would then select the President. No longer makes sense but people don't seem to much in a hurry to get rid of it - had you done so there would have been no Dubya!

>159 PaulCranswick: impressive building, and in true female style, Ill comment on the colour. I like that striking blue!
When we were in the market for a new car, I was hilariously female about it. I said to my lovely other: get whatever you want dear, just as long as it has a CD player and a mirror behind the passenger sun shade. lol. And he did!

Megan - it is funny but I have decided never again to buy a car that is blue. I had a blue Citroen and wrote it off avoiding a school bus full of kids coming around a bend on the wrong side of the road (the bus not I) and I had a blue Volvo which I wrote off aqua-planing on the North-South highway. I of course blame the colour not the driver. It also explains that, whilst not generally so extravagant, I maintain a driver avidly!

yup Paul, its definitely the car colour that is the common theme here. I dont believe I have every had a blue car, and have never written one off. So, that proves it!

There you go then Megan, I knew I was right!

I haver, according to Mark, become a good luck charm for the Chicago Bears, as they have won every game since I adopted them as "my" team. My more traditional sport and my first love (sorry SWMBO), Leeds United, an english soccer club of renown - historical giants of the game and loathed by most everyone else are not benefitting from my ability to telepathically transmit positive vibes across the ocean. As I posted on Mark's thread:

If I am a good luck charm in NFL my soccer team in UK, Leeds United, are in need of assistance. Takeover talks lingering 7 months already we were put to the sword at home by Watford 6-1! We would normally expect such teams to be cannon fodder for even fallen giants like ourselves and I slept with red cheeks yesterday after blithely predicting a cake walk for my boys!

The weekend can only get better!

Yay for becoming the good luck charm for the Chicago Bears..... every team should have a good luck charm!

Love the continuing tour through your projects history, Paul. Personally, so far I am partial to the Lotte hotel project.... very eye catching ... and kudos for working on the Changi airport expansion. I love that airport.... or at least I did when I last past through there some 20 years ago. ;-)

I hope you have a great weekend.

uh oh... i have a dark blue subaru
what does 'written one off' mean?
does this qualify:
blue subaru and i took an unscheduled jaunt thru the woods and over a granite ledge one icy morning to avoid a HUGE snowplow coming around a dangerous curve on MY side of the road. $8000 and a month later, we were on the road again!
so, not totally 'written off' - right?

Catching up here, Paul, and I have to admit that I also have never owned a blue car and have never had to write one off. Just saying...

Loving the stroll down memory lane with all of your projects - the Archway gate in post 121 is my favorite, but I also love the elegant condominiums posted in 119. Lovely!

Leeks United? Onions need a union now?

Lots of posts up there: In the longer run I do think history will be kind to Obama and the change he is trying to bring.
I hope so. I want him to be stronger and I also think we have to recognize the uphill battle he fights - with a very red congress and with the backlash that can occur if a man of color (especially an African American man) expresses anger in our country. It's a very delicate line he has to walk: how to appear strong without appearing angry. I just hope members of both parties get over their inexcusable partisan bickering and find some ways to compromise. We have got some serious problems to solve.

Hi Paul. Might I impose upon you to adopt the Washington Huskies as "your" college team?

Kedah sounds like an interesting state (region?). As I think you know, I'm suddenly very interested in Malaysia, thanks to Tan Twan Eng.

Richard, we must not underestimate the difficult and dangerous work conditions under which onions labor on a daily basis.

Commiserations on the Leeds United result, Paul. Mr SandDune wasn't happy about that one either, I can tell you.

"... spokesman for the Onion Union, Shallot, said today 'This is a grass roots problem. Working conditions for Onions as a class are generally hazardous. There are frequently knives involved, and it can get quite dicey in the workplace. There's a lot of chopping and changing on the boards, and things are just crying out for improvement. You've got to understand; we're no small potatoes....' "

#161 - Mark, I love Frank O Connor! One of the supreme short story writers in my opinion. I once heard Richard Ford give an excellent lecture on the major impact that Frank O Connor had on his writing. As for a favourite William Trevor, I would say Felicia's Journey. Two great writers!

Hi Paul!

#177 :)

>177 humouress:: ha!

>164 PaulCranswick: I totally agree. I don't understand the whole "states rights" thing. Government is government. Either way, what does that have to do with electing a federal official? If a person can't get the popular vote, they shouldn't be president, period. I also don't get how the "tyranny of the majority" applies to the popular vote but not when it comes to the state vote. Either way it's the majority. Whatever.

*waving and giggling* Just a quick run through before I leave for the airport. Love your thread. So much fun is had by all.

ominogue- I should have snagged the Frank O' Connor collection. I guess I'll just add it to the immense WL. Can you recommend a specific story collection?

Waves to Paul!

>177 humouress: HA! Love that, made my morning louder.

I never had a blue car, but I understand the choice to avoid them. I bought a red car one time. Very Very cheap. I hated everything about it.. named it Christine for its behavior, which continued the day I sold it.
GAh!

I think that having a driver is the absolute height of luxury.

Mark, I know O Connor's work through the collected stories. But my best guess would be that Guests of the Nation would be a good start - the title story is excellent and easily one of O Connor's most famous.

Very lovely day out with SWMBO and Belle. Two of her friends were in the mall and we spent most of the day feasting and chatting. One of the ladies has four daughters all of whom were with us and who endured my three sets of general knowledge match-em quiz. Three topics South American Countries/Cities, Wars and their battles and American Novelists and their Novels. I then list ten (If the writers one for example) writers on one side of the page with ten novels scrambled on the other side of the page and the object is to match the novels to the writer. Of the three tests Geography won out with 5/10, 2/10 in American Literature and 0/10 (!!) in World Military History. I think the three young ladies (number four is only about 5 years old) were glad that the mall closed!

Hani also, basking in the company of her pals, didn't raise an eyebrow at a mere 7 new purchases:

Roscoe by William Kennedy
Truth Dare Kill by Gordon Ferris
The Third Antichrist by Mario Reading
Hawk Quest by Robert Lyndon
Bel Ami by Guy de Maupassant
The Cutting by James Hayman
The Guilty One by Lisa Ballantyne

Lucky one of the ladies had their husband, my Japanese friend Masao in tow so I was too pre-occupied to really get into a splurge!

Nice to see so many visitors on my return. The wonderful Erni has provided coffee and I am going to read and reply.

Lori - I do hope that I haven't cursed it by referring to the good luck charm in advance of a tough assignment ahead.
I suppose the most important and iconic project I have been involved in was the Marina Bay Sands hotel in Singapore for which I acted as the contracts advisor to the Main Contractor, Ssangyong Engineering and Construction.

cee - written off or total loss as you almost realised is when a car is too badly damaged to be economically repaired by the insurance company and is therefore scrapped.

Mamie - I am getting closer to the present day with my projects and finding pictures of my Eurocopter Helicopter Centre, my 9Madge luxury Condominium project and my Langkawi tower project are tough as the buildings are still going up.
Blue cars are avoided by me from now on as I realise it had nothing to do with my excellent driving!

RD - Don't think anyone else could have made that post my dear fellow - trust you to go straight to the root of things.

Ellen - I honestly find it difficult to believe that anyone seriously thinks Dubya did a better job than Obama is doing. Far from perfect and hamstrung somewhat by a recalcitrant system and opposing congress I do feel that his administration has renewed somewhat America's reputation internationally as a beacon of hope and peace for others to aspire towards and gravitate towards.
I will of course adopt the Washington Huskies if they're your team Ellen and I will study up so that I am not entirely clueless about their progress and need of my assistance! Lovely dogs Huskies and always been fond of the work of Jack London!
Kedah is one of the more historic and strategically important of the states of Malaysia. Presently controlled by the PAS islamic party (the Chief Minister is a very enlightened, moderate and intelligent fellow I have had the pleasure of meeting on a couple of occasions) and it is the home state of the previous Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir and is the location of Langkawi, one of my favourite destinations and site of my most high profile present project.

Ellen (2) - When I think of all the struggles onions have to go through it simply brings tears to my eyes.

Rhian - It certainly wasn't our finest hour was it now? To be fair a player sent-off and then one more stretchered off with no subs left after 46 minutes didn't give us much chance. Roll on new owners.

Nina - Wonderful post - Not sure what Tennyson would make of it but the Lady of Shallot had apparently a tearful reunion at Headquarters upon hearing that a number of her members had been bottled up for being found in a pickled condition.

Orlaith - Don't think Trevor could write anything poor. Yours is a good pick too. Must read some Frank O'Connor soon.

Genny / Laura - Couldn't agree more; Nina's moniker could not be ore apropos!

Morphy - We are starting to make a habit of agreeing upon things! I'm going to have to read some dystopian stuff that I like so little just to get things back not in the swing!

Karen - Thank you so much - I'll get in another happy birthday for you even though I have sneaked into the 12th already by a matter of minutes. Hope you are almost in Hawaii and having a wonderful time. x

Mark - Good question mate, Orlaith (?) - (waves back smilingly!)

RD - Rather a case of you reaping what you sowed there I think! We went quickly from leeks to onions as I think the 75ers were a bit reluctant to have the welsh ladies up in arms denigrating their national vegetable.

Kath - SWMBO has a red Honda Odyssey which she loves with a passion. I think ladies are far more affectionate to their vehicles than men are. It is surely a feminine thing to name your car even if the name is Christine! Its funny because cars were always seen as a masculine preserve and I actually think women do better with them than guys do as the testosterone often affects the driving ability negatively.

Orlaith - Guests of the Nation it is that goes straight on the hitlist.

Hello Paul! I know it has been an insanely long time, but I've found your latest thread and did a bit of skimming! You have done some good reading! I have no idea how you do it all!

You and me both Brit! I was tired after my northern exertions on Friday and switched off the phone today to avoid being chased by Clients who believe that I don't need to spend at least a few hours with my family. Lovely to see you after a while.

Just now reading your comment about onions. Made me chuckle. :-)

Seven books. Nice mini-haul.

Ellen - Onions have never been so comical have they!

>195 EBT1002: Since when is 7 books a mini-haul? Oh yea, when Paul does it ;) For anyone else that's an actual haul.

cars were always seen as a masculine preserve and I actually think women do better with them
My lovely other hates it that I can parallel park better than him. I love it.

Good morning Paul *big smile and a wave* still trying to catch up on all the threads.
However, I absolutely love the pic in > 188.

And what an interesting book haul The Third Antichrist sounds very interesting, as there were no tags I checked the book on Amazon and noticed it is the third in a Trilogy. Did you read the other two already?

And here I also would like to introduce Paul to Paul. Our hedgehog - the vet wanted to put him down, because he was very small, badly injured and as consequence full of parasites and magotts. However, as usual my mum managed to pull him through :) I actually think it is a Paula.



The pink towl he is lying on is actually a hot water bottle.

I do love hedgehogs!

*waving from Kaua'i*

Having a wonderful time! It is raining a bit this early, early Monday morning, but i'm dry and in a nice tropical home with open windows, soft breezes, and great overhanging eaves so the rain is kept a little away.

I'm imaging BEACH for the rest of the day, but I have to wait and see what the house mate has up her sleeve.

Megan - I call it as I see it! Ladies have less accidents than guys behind the wheel and are a much less insurance risk - every young fellow who thinks he can handle a car believes he is Senna reincarnate.
When does a mini-haul become fully fledged - well SWMBO shouldn't be in attendance for sure.

Bianca - Marina Bay Sands is the most iconic building I have been directly involved in bar none. Costing around $960 million to build we engaged three different main sub-contractors to do the structural works for one tower each. The hardest of the towers (the angle of elevation was the most difficult) was given to the poorest sub-contractor and I spent many months trying to get their performance up to scratch and minimise the risk for overall completion.
Paul the hedgehog - I have been known to be a touch prickly at times too!
I haven't read the other two books but I am assured that it doesn't make any difference to an enjoyment of the Third Antichrist.

Rhian - it is funny we have been talking about highway misadventures and then Bianca introduces the ultimate in roadkill. I love hedgehogs too but Malaysia has very few hedges.

Karen - I hope Hawaii is coping with you! Sounds wonderful and it is not the tropics without a little rain! Have the loveliest time! x

Good for hedgehog healing mom!! Yay!

Nothing much to say. I am just starthing to read The Twelve...but first.. dishes need to be done.

A mini-haul. Ha ha ha. Your mini is my BEST DAY ever! ;)

Kath - I wonder what happens when you finish "end-of-the-world" fiction? Enjoy The Twelve anyway.

Valerie - I suppose it is all relative isn't it!

Really interesting Paul to see your buildings.

Bianca - that hedgehog! Your mother is amazing!

87.

She's Never Coming Back by Hans Koppel

Apparently a sensation in Sweden in the last couple of years this has echoes of Adler-Olsen's The Keeper of Lost Causes as a lady is snatched on her way from work by a couple bent on revenge for the mistreatment of their daughter who was bullied as a teenager to the extent of taking her own life. We see the situation from the bereft husband, the victim, the perpetrators, a journalist and ex-classmate. Good plot, well told and I would certainly never take a lift from strangers on the street in Scandanavia!

8/10

Thanks Lucy: This is the latest project I am helping my Korean clients, Ssangyong with in Kuala Lumpur. This is Parcel 1 of the Damansara City project, serviced apartments and will be completed in 2014.

This is a project called 9Madge which we are acting as Management Contractors for. One of my Korean ex-colleagues has a share in the development and called us in to help after his structural contractors floundered. This luxury apartment development of 23 units (average size is 3,600 ft2 floor space) will be completed in the first half of next year.

Today is the Hindu festival of lights Deepavali or Divali. To any persons celebrating this festival I wish you all the very best today with your families. Public holiday here so I will go into the office for an hour or two only.

Paul- Your last comment on Bianca's thread, really cracked me up. Thank you sir. And thanks for posting these amazing projects you are working on.

Hi Paul! Good thing I made my way here before you got a new thread up, yikes!

Have you read Bel Ami before? I read it last year and it's now among my favourites. Good for you for getting those books past SWMBO without any trouble. She must have resigned herself to a life with books long ago by now! :-)

Mark - of course it is just a coincidence that the hedgehog is called Paul and is getting, ah, plump!

Ilana - I haven't read Bel-Ami yet but I think I have read a few of Maupassant's short stories many moons ago. If SWMBO resigns I guess I'll really be in trouble! She has converted my reading/music room into a classroom for the children's tuition and moved some of the overstocked bookcases around in the process. Don't know how she and Erni managed it as I can hardly move the things which are in part stacked three deep.

Hi Paul,
I see your projects getting progressively more and more grandiose, what's next? An Eiffel Tower-esque apartment block? We see so few huge building developments here. Well, definitely here in Chch, but Id say the rest of the country too.

Did you get nervous when you entered your reading /music room to find your bookshelving gone? Were you thinking that Hani had taken a load to the Sallies? (talk about freak out moment!!)

Megan - Eiffel tower - now that you should mention it.....we are working on a project for Langkawi which includes a Hotel inside an iconic tower - called "The Tower Hotel" originally enough. It is the centrepiece of a reclaimed land development on 28 acres.
To be fair to SWMBO she didn't remove the bookcases - she moved them from one side of the room to the other.

Ah, Langkawi....the place where my friend was told she looked like Farrah Fuckit (Fawcett), and that I looked like the Titanic - which I can only hope meant the lead actress in the film (I should be so lucky) and not the actual ship! Ha, fond memories. But Im afraid I saw the budget side, and not so much the resort side of life there. Even if I can confess here that we snuck on to a private hotels beach for a slice of the fancy side of life.

Im sure the Tower Hotel will fit in nicely there, it has probably got even swankier since I visited! Do you get to do multiple site visits?

Megan - Fortnightly site visits all paid for by the Client - SWMBO has for some reason I can't quite grasp decided to take more interest than normal in the project!

Langkawi is on our itinerry for next spring too. Are we doing a Paul's projects tour?

Good morning Paul,
I love the pictures of the projects you are working on - stunning - Do you have any pictures from the Tower Hotel as well? I would love to see them as well. :)

Thanks for your comment on my thread as well, it made me almost spill my coffee. My mum is fab, never worry , if she starts feeding you - be sure you reach within short time Moby Dick size *grin*. I found a hedgehog beginning of February - I called him Spike (I know not very original) - he was also severly injured and weighed only 420g, AND the vet wanted to put this one down as well. When we released him into freedom end of April he weight almost 2kg *giggle* - I do believe, I don't need to say any more.

Wish you a great day Paul!

Just saying hello, Paul (and mind boggling at 2kg hedgehogs).

Reba - if you are heading to Langkawi next year we would be able to arange a meet-up. With my project there it is easy for me to excuse a trip up to the holiday island.

Bianca - The project is being redesigned at the moment. The hotel and tower were previously separate and are now being combined. I will get the geeks in my office tomorrow to come up with an image or two for me to show you.
All joking aside, I think it is wonderful that you have rescued a few of these fascinating animals and overridden the vet's advice too. x

Genny - hedgehogs should be more popular than they are; I guess their prickly personalities just puts people off!

88.

God's Own Country by Ross Raisin

We go into the somewhat addled and certainly misunderstood mind of Sam Marsdyke - expelled student and farmer on the Yorkshire moors (the title comes from a Yorkshireman's usual reference to his home county ~ ask John Simpson or Mr. SandDune and they will confirm the accuracy of this!), Sam is intrigued by the influx of city types, "towns" as he terms them into the locality and specifically in taking over a neighbouring farm. They have a daughter and the young outcast and the rebellious girl are drawn together with obviously dangerous consequences.

Sparse as the landscape he describes Raisin manages to recreate the skewed worldview of Sam very effectively and matter-of-factly through to its almost inevitable denouement.

Recommended.

8/12

God's Own Country looks a good read, Paul. I'll move it up the wishlist. Despite Mr SandDune agreeing with that description of Yorkshire it's noticeable that he's never shown even the slightest desire to move back to his home town of Halifax! I think if we did move anywhere else when we retired we would probably go to my home area of South Wales.

Greetings Paul, I've enjoyed the eye candy this morning. I never thought I'd say that about glass, steel and cement yet these photo's are quite titillating. But I suppose there is something sensual about the lines and style of a building or am I making more out of this than is necesary? But then again, it is art and art can have that sort of reaction. * off to read a book or something *

BTW: Pasir Gudang Combined Cycle Gas Turbine Power Plant excluded :0}

Nice review of God's Own Country, Paul. I greatly enjoyed that book, so I'm glad that you also liked it. I bought his latest novel, Waterline, recently, although I haven't read it yet.

Rhian - hahaha the gentleman will always keep his own counsel and follow the dictates of his lady.

Lynda - happy to oblige; most of the other major jobs I am working on are artist's impressions. Steel and glass combined nicely can be impressiveit is true.

Darryl - I wasn't aware that he had written a new novel - I must look it up. He has written a fair amount of poetry too and it can be gleaned clearly in his work.

>226 PaulCranswick: It looks as though I purchased Waterline on August 30, 2011; that was the day of the Cambridge LT meet up with Fliss, Jenny and Rachael (FlossieT) (photos from that meet up can be found in my profile's Member Gallery). It was one of the novels that the Guardian put forth last year for its Booker Prize longlist (Here's our Booker dozen – what's yours?). I probably would have bought it anyway, but that recommendation made it a "Must Buy" book. Now, if I could only find the time to read it, and the other books I haven't read from that list, namely At Last, The Visiting Angel and Pure.

I don't know about the females being in less accidents than males. Between 17 and 24, I was in SEVEN car accidents - about one a year. Only one was my fault, but it was rather ridiculous.

Darryl - I survey my overstocked bookcases of unread books on an almost daily basis and feel the pull of so many tomes restating the case for which I originally had to have them. I'm sure you'll get to it soon mate.

Morphy - There are exceptions to every rule of course. Would love to hear your "ridiculous" traffic accident in the one in seven that fault could be lain at your door.

Well, Paul, I am a little too early to wish you a happy morning. The roosters are crowing and the sun is just beginning to lighten the horizon here, at 6:25 am local time on Kaua'i. There is a wonderful window open to the southeast from our house and I love watching the sun arrive.

I once upon a time, long long ago, worked as a facilities planner for a school district and I was able to help with specifications for new buildings, and reviewed architectural plans. I loved it! So much fun to work on developing something new, and shiny, and which if done correctly will fulfill people's needs. I love the pictures of your projects. Awesome.

Paul, that would be great. We'll be on a cruise ship so only there for one day (March 20) but would love a meet-up if it works for you.

Dropping by to say hi!

Me, too, Paul. Looks like things are going swimmingly.

Karen - Grew up with Hawaii being the ultimate holiday destination so I am nicely envious of your trip and trust that you are having a wonderful time. One of the things that we always ensure when we are working on 'functional' buildings such as schools, hospitals, manufacturing plants, offices etc is to ensure a full dialogue to enable a complete understanding of the end-users requirements. It is amazing how many times buildings are amended at too late a stage at a needless cost of money by overlooking some need of the building user that the builders ought to have been aware of.

Reba - I will put March 20 in my diary and will do my best to arrange my schedule accordingly. It would be a fairly non-traditional meet-up as I can't think of a bookshop on the island.

Lori - Hi back! Back to work here after the Divali holiday this morning and I am expecting a busy day.

Joe - Thanks mate; I think that would be a fair description of life at the moment!

As requested by Bianca - an artists impression of the Tower project in Langkawi - it will look a little different as the tower is being redesigned to accommodate the hotel.

wow- that really does look Eiffel Tower-esque!

Looks like I was on the money with my outlandish prediction! Ill have to come up with some sort of space station construction project for you to ensure my estimations of your projects are suitably far-fetched.

hahaha Megan - The land on which the project will sit is being reclaimed at the moment so we have some time to play with the design.

Update on the thread/posting league

Now 198 over 100 posts
140 over 200 posts
111 over 300 posts
81 over 500 posts
61 over 750 posts
46 over 1000 posts
28 over 1500 posts
22 over 2000 posts
13 over 3000 posts
9 over 4000 posts
5 over 6000 posts
2 over 7000 posts
1 over 8000 posts

Those over 2000 posts:

1 Paul 8286
2 Richard 7679
3 Kath 6767
4 Joe 6740
5 Mark 6428
6 Mamie 4709
7 Darryl 4255
8 Stephen 4101
9 Ilana 4044
10 Claudia 3750
11 Amber 3244
12 Caro 3226
13 Megan 3155
14 Donna 2895
15 Bonnie 2645
16 Lucy 2620
17 Ellen 2608
18 Chelle 2516
19 Suzanne 2310
20 Linda (Wh) 2282
21 Stasia 2190
22 Terri (tym) 2036

Most Threads:

Difficult one really because people's habits are different. Some people get to 200 and change thread; some 250; some even longer; others adopt a monthly or quarterly method in deciding when to change thread.

Paul 32 (Posts per thread 258.94)
Richard 27 (284.41)
Joe 27 (249.63)
Mark 25 (257.12)
Kath 24 (281.96)
Mamie 18 (261.61)
Darryl 17 (250.29)
Stephen 17 (241.24)
Ilana 16 (252.75)
Claudia 15 (250.00)
Amber 13 (249.54)
Caro 13 (248.15)
Megan 12 (262.92)
Donna 12 (241.25)
Lucy 12 (218.33)
Bonnie 11 (240.45)
Ellen 11 (237.09)
Chelle 11 (228.73)
Linda 11 (207.45)
Suzanne 10 (231.10)

It is interesting (but misleading as part completed threads will obviously lower the average) that if RD had Linda's post/thread average he would be on his 38th thread and I would be on my 40th, whereas if I was following Richard's average I would be on my 30th not my 32nd!

The undoubted star of the 4th quarter has been Joe so far after a slowish start to it. He is now battling for third overall with Kath and has been 3rd on a number of occasions recently and is nip and tuck with myself for most posts in the quarter.
Of the 22 top threads 19 would feature in the top 22 for the 4th quarter which shows a fair amount of consistency. Stasia and Suz would be 23rd and 24th respectively and Chelle 27th.

Top 4th Quarter 22 so far:
1 Paul 1233
2 Joe 1229
3 Richard 1179
4 Mark 1087
5 Mamie 915
6 Kath 853
7 Darryl 676
8 Megan 548
9 Claudia 518
10 Ilana 508
11 Amber 507
12 Bonnie 427
13 Caro 424
14 Valerie 415
15 Donna 414
16 Stephen 386
17 Linda (Wh) 356
18 Ellen 346
19 Karen 321
20 Lucy 301
21 Terri (tym) 285
22 Rachel 280

Wow. Posts in the quarter is quite the horse-race! Thanks as always for the fascinating look at everyone's habits via stats. Most educational.

RD - I'm guessing that without the tropical storm you would have been much closer to Joe and I too if not in front.

How much does a busy thread affect one's reading? My own view is that my reading this year is slower than normal and I am rarely still only in double didgits into November and have never failed that I can think of. But still the records show that the 22 most active threads have mostly achieved the target and include this years (or so I think without Dejah and Luci updating) most prodigious reader in Suzanne.
Books read by the most active threads (RD's total includes his orphaned books - Stasia's total is an absolute guess as she and I both have little idea of her real total read in fits and starts)

1 Suzanne 368 (Projected total 427)
2 Amber 288 (333)
3 Ilana 156 (180)
4 Richard 151 (174)
5 Mark 138 (159)
6 Caro 133 (154)
7 Kath 129 (149)
8 Joe 123 (142)
9 Stasia 120 (??!)
10 Linda (Wh) 114 (132)
11 Lucy 113 (131)
12 Terri (tym) 110 (127)
13 Chelle 107 (124)
14 Darryl 105 (121)
15 Donna 94 (109)
16 Mamie 91 (105)
17 Paul 88 (102)
18 Megan 83 (96)
19 Ellen 79 (91)
20 Bonnie 76 (88)
21 Claudia 74 (85)
22 Stephen 68 (79)

Based on a pro rata projection, all of the top 22 threads presently will pass the 75 target with a little to spare.

Books read on next most active threads (23 to 50)

Morphy 249
Kerry 192
Judy (Delta Queen) 162
Heather 160
Rachel (TheHibernator) 158
Roni 145
Calm 133
Nathalie 121
Micky 104
Genny 99
Anne (AMQS) 92
Valerie 92
Linda (Lindapanzo) 90
Gail 83
Kerri (DorsVenabili) 79
Katie 78
Peggy 77
Rhian (SandDune) 70
Luxx 69
Nora 68
Deb 65
Joanne 62
Lynda (Carmenere) 61
Laura 56
Sara (Saraslibrary) 54
Kim (Berly) 52
Cushla 37
Jude 23

It is interesting that the top 22 most active threads have read a combined 2808 books or 127.64 books each
The next 28 to round out the top 50 have read only 2731 books between them or 97.54 books each
Therefore it would appear that an active thread does not prevent you from reading more books!

Good morning Paul :),
Thank you for posting that picture. Well, wow that just looks absolutely stunning. I just can't imagine how that must feel to be involved in such great projects. I agree with Megan, the tower really reminds a little bit of the Eiffeltower. I just have been trying to imagine how that would look as a hotel and how the room layout would be.

Interesting stats again. Ahem, do you check on people's thread how much they read? Or does everyone have a ticker?

Bianca - When the design for the tower hotel is finished I will share it. On the reading stats there doesn't seem to be any short-cut I have to go through everyone's thread. Your is an impressive 151 books of course to date and you are 69th in the most active threads league with 610 posts.
If I am to post the next 25 most active you would be top 10 in most books read equal with Richard.

I misspoke. It's not that the accident was ridiculous but the sheer number of them was. The one that was my fault was rather prosaic. I was too busy chatting with my companion to notice that a yellow light had turned to red.

Hey, Mr. Stat-Man! You are amazing, sir. I can't believe I'm in the 5th spot for total reads! Wow. And I'm sure there is no question, visiting LT affects your reading progress. How could it not?

Thans for posting the stats, Paul - always so interesting, and I love how you add something new or point something new out each time. SO you are projecting that I will read 105 books this year, eh? I guess I had better get moving so that I don't let you down! I was aiming for 100, but now I will reach for the stars to see if I can manage 105. I did just finish another book this morning, so that helps - only 13 more to go!

Morphy - I have had a similar accident racing a red light whilst doing something I really didn't ought to with my girlfriend many moons ago.

Mark - I thought you would like to note your 5th place in reading. It is from the top 22 most active threads only mind. I will put up the book reading league based on all those over 100 posts shortly.

Mamie - The stat I found most interesting was that the 22 most busy had such a large overall reading average (despite me pulling it down a tad). I reckon your October cost you 120 books this year.

Well, if not a book store perhaps a tea shop :-)

Love that project you're working on. How far along is it?

Reba - The land that the tower will sit on is presently being reclaimed. The project should be finished in 2014.

Sounds like there won't be much to see in March -- darn.

Just checking in on you in stat-land, Paul. You have been busy compiling! And deducing.

Reclaiming land.....does that involve sea walls and a whole lot of hard fill? My heart says I would be scared of its sinking, even if my head says its safe as.....houses?!

I'm getting predictable and boring. Sad Mark. How about a 4th spot or a 3rd? Huh?

Hi mate, loving all the stats as i am a stats nerd, amazing what loving cricket does for you. I will be listening to TMS for the next five days hoping for an England win or at least a draw, how about you.

I'm thinking if the monkey was self sufficient and I didn't so much of my free time on LT, I could probably polish off another book or two. Oh well! ;)

Sorry for my absence lately, Paul. It's that real life thing interfering with my LT life again. Loving all the architectural project (the Singapore Hotel is a real standout), the blue car talk, the latest statistics and even the political chat. Your thread is never boring. Lol.

I knew there was a reason I kept separate tickers!

Now I stare down the forty-four books on the liberry TBR...plus the five I need to review that I've already read...the hundreds glowering from crags and peaks about my bedroom...

*happy sigh*

hi paul,
i just read so many posts in my catch-up here, i can't remember most of it.
amazing architecture!
cutie hedgehog
have a good day!

Reba - There is enough to see in Langkawi for a day without looking over my construction site! The reclamation work would more than likely be finished and piling on the tower commenced. We would go somewhere else as the piling rigs don't enduce easy conversation.

Megan - funnily enough the most used materials for reclamation over there are sand and batu kawi (granite/quarry rock chips). It is important to prepare a rock bund to protect the cove from erosion and to compress the reclaimed land sufficiently such that land settlement doesn't continue too profoundly after you have started putting the buildings up!

Mark - see most 4th quarter posts - Mark in shocking 4th place move!!

John - I have bought the test series on satellite TV here but I would be astonished if we win on the sub-continent to be honest. Don't think Bell should play given that he is away for the 2nd test and Johnny Bairstow deserves to keep his place. Compton looks likely to play for Root which I think is probably a good thing. Patel is probably a better bet than Panesar as he is probably our best player of spin.
You are right a love of cricket has fostered the stats!

Valerie - I have two trusty lieutenants in the office who make my life easier; there are of course certain aspects of my business that only I can do though and that costs me 50 books a year easy.

Donna - Lovely to see you. I didn't think I would get away with the blue car story! Looking at your delightful grandchildren over on your thread I am not surprised that your time is delightfully busy these days.

RD - One of the things that is interesting about compiling the books read lists is the very different ways many have of listing, recording or even viewing their books. Whichever way you record your own your happy sigh is well deserved.

cee - the hedgehog is the star of the thread - thanks bianca.