Sideswipe: December 2: Platform self-censorship?

When Disney+ debuted in Hong Kong earlier this month, subscribers got all 32 seasons of the Simpsons ... minus one particular episode, which originally aired in 2005. Titled "Goo Goo Gai Pan", it features the Simpson whānau traveling to Beijing. One gag shows the family in Tiananmen Square, where a plaque reads: "On this site, in 1989, nothing happened". A Chinese minder named Madame Wu (Lucy Liu) mocks Tibetan independence and Homer tricks Chinese soldiers by pretending to be a Buddha statue. At another point, Homer refers to Mao Zedong as "a little angel that killed 50 million people". It's not clear whether China ordered Disney to scrap the episode or whether Disney did so of its own volition and probably as a result of how important the China market is to any American company.

Pen set to keep the status quo

Testing the elderly

Tim Masters of Waihi Beach remembers a yarn he was told by an ex Ministry of Transport traffic officer: "He worked out of the Mt Roskill office near Three Kings. One of his jobs was re-testing the 'elderly'. A big thing for those over-70s. They apparently always got there early for their appointment, on 'edge', often with a book and thermos and waited out front. One morning the gentleman being tested passed all the preliminaries in the office, and just needed the 'practical' test. They went out to his car, and the man got in the car and drove off, leaving the officer on the side of the road. He came back about 10 minutes later, parked the car, got out and asked the officer - 'how did I do?' The officer reminded him, he 'didn't know, as I was meant to go with you'!"

Happy hour

Advice for encountering rude people

If somebody is rude to you, ask them to repeat themselves. Here's why ... "Sorry?" "Excuse me what was that?" "Can you please repeat what you said?" In a calm confused tone. They are most likely to either rephrase what they said or say it in a nicer way. Most people feel the guilt kick in once they get another chance of repeating what they said before, they get this little feeling of either "what is wrong in what I said?" or gives them a slight realisation of "wait, there seems to be consequences". This also makes the people around look down on the person that was offensive, shifting the focus at them once again.