About 3 years ago I took part in a "leadership" exercise. The exercise was designed to see who among a randomly thrown together group of people would emerge as a leader.

My group was about nine people strong. Most of them were above average height, athletic and had a military background. I on the otherhand have no military background (unless you count the Air Cadets), am shorter than average and not quite as fit as I should be. The activity was dubbed "team survival" the failure of which was i...

In the summer of 2000 I was on a business trip in Bangkok. The hotel I was staying at seemed very nice .... the staff were friendly, the rooms were clean and the facilities well kept up. The hotel's motto at that time I was told was "Always the best for every guest." Imagine my surprise when at breakfast I discovered that my melon tasted a little off. Turning it over, I noticed that the shell had the telltale signs of mold. I took it over to one of the duty servers who told me I shouldn't wor...