The Amazing Race 14 Bangkok, Thailand

Possessions are the big issue in this episode. After the Roadblock, a couple of teams leave their bags in waiting taxicabs. This turns out to be pivotal.
Starting out, the five remaining teams board the same flight to Bangkok, Thailand. Once there, teams taxi to a boatyard on the outskirts of town and search the grounds for their clue.
Kisha and Jen's cab goes the opposite way from Margie and Luke's. Kisha assumes that Margie told one cab driver to tell the other driver wrong directions. Jen says, "as the race goes on, the teams become a little paranoid. It's fun to watch."
Margie and Luke are the first team to reach the clue box.
Cara continues to show the ugly side of her personality, but not as dramatically as in the last leg.
"The language barrier really aggravates and frustrates me and I become a lunatic and there is nothing I can do about it." The self-admitted Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde has a real personality disorder.

Roadblock

One team member must figure out how to attach an unwieldy rod to a propeller on a longtail boat.
Margie called the Roadblock "easy" and she finishes quickly to prove it. Jaime and Cara reach the Roadblock second. After attaching the rod with only a little more difficulty than Margie, they remember to return to the cab for their bags.
Default winners of the last leg, Victor/Tammy, arrive at the boatyard at the same time as Mike/Mark. Victor sweats over the task that Margie made look easy. Tammy yells encouragement in a monotone voice, "great job, Victor, great job." She must be very tired to phone it in like that.
After the propeller is attached, teams must navigate their boats through the Bangkok canals and search through the maze of routes on their map to find a certain peninsula and their next clue.
Riding in the boat, Tammy and Victor wave buoyantly to unresponsive orange-clad monks. Victor remarks how glad he is they brought their packs.
Kisha and Jen take off in their boat, leaving their fanny pack with their passports at the boatyard. They also leave their backpacks in their waiting cab. Initially, Kisha wants to go back to get their things and Jen tells her they didn't have to, not thinking of the fanny pack. The close-up on Kisha's face is heartbreaking. This might be it for them.
When Mike and Mark see that Jaime/Cara have their backpacks, they worry. But they don't decide to retrieve their bags until after they finish their boat ride. The decision is not unanimous. Mark is arguing with Mike about their bags while they jog down the street.
"Do we need our bags to do the task?" one shouts at his brother. They agree to pay 200 in Thai money for a cab to take them to the previous cab, They argue all they way; one says we just can't abandon our bags. The other one says we should do the task, then worry about the bags. M & M pay 400 to the first cab for a total payout of 600. I don't know how much money that is in dollars, but it feels expensive.

Detour: Broken Teeth or Broken Record

In Broken Teeth, teams make their way to an area that locals call "The Street of Happy Smiles." Once there, teams must search through fifty sets of dentures to fit five of the waiting patients. Kind of a disgusting challenge, but easy.
In Broken Record, teams make their way to a parking lot and choose one of the waiting party taxis with an on-board Karaoke system. While riding a five-mile course with a group of party girls, teams sing along to a Thai pop video until they reach their destination. The potential pitfall is the snarling Bangkok traffic.
Margie and Luke tackle the denture task. Singing would not be a good choice for hearing-impaired Luke. Fitting dentures looks a little gross, but at least Margie and Luke have gloves and masks. Margie says her nursing background made it not squeamish for her. The fitted patients all give the camera a beautiful, white smile.
Victor/Tammy, again have the most fun of all the teams, choose Karaoke. Their Chinese heritage makes it an obvious choice, says one. "Mommy would be proud," says Tammy.
Teams wonder if the party girls are transvestites. Seeing them in close-up, I think they are right.
Kisha/Jen make the opposite decision from Mike/Mark. They forge ahead without their things, assuming they can pick them up at the end of the leg. Without any money, Kisha and Jen ask for a free ride to the Pit Stop and they find a willing driver on the first try. Cab drivers seem to be pretty agreeable in Bangkok.
Mike and Mark must bargain for the balance of their cab ride to the Karaoke task. In the party van, they sing mightily and talk about the pretty girls. That the girls might be boys does not occur to them.
"Hopefully, someone stumbled worse then we did," said Mike. They barter their possessions twice with accommodating drivers for partial taxi fare.

Phya Thai Palace

Teams must race through the city to their Pit Stop, the Phya Thai Palace. Margie and Luke run a flawless race and end the leg with an easy first place. They win a trip to Puerto Rico.
Jaime/Cara end the leg as team number two. Kisha/Jen and Victor/Tammy foot race to the mat for third place. The athletic sisters beat them.
But Phil sends Kisha/Jen back for their things, saying he can't check them in without their travel documents. They should have figured as much.
Tammy and Victor encourage them Kisha and Jen to go back quickly. For the second week in a row, Victor and Tammy place higher than their actual finish because of another team's mistakes. Kisha is resigned to her potential fate.
Mike and Mark beat Kisha/Jen back to the mat. But Phil imposes four hour of penalties on the stuntmen. Since when are teams not allowed to barter their personal possessions? Four hours of penalties seems harsh.
Kisha and Jen return, not noticing the stuntmen sitting a few yards away. Jen cries on the mat when she is told they are fourth.
Phil waves the stuntmen in, only an hour into their penalty. He informs them that it is an non-elimination round. Phil looks pissed as Mark explains why they did what they did.
Doesn't seem fair that they have to add three hours of their remaining penalty to their departure time. It may be impossible for them to escape elimination next week.

Hunter Thompson, Captain Beefheart, Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs and Liz Smith: Inspirational Tales

The corporate world regularly rejects people who later achieve fame, wealth and greatness. Corporate America may nurture talent, but only talent that plays by their rules. Gifted, non-conformists must succeed on their grit, wit and talent.
You may have been laid off by your employer or may just resent the ties that bind. Either way, build your confidence by reading the stories of the misfits who made it big.
Immerse yourself in the biographies of some of these rebels and misfits who were either rejected or were cast off by traditional employers. Their stories will help you through these hard times.

Hunter S. Thompson

Hunter Thompson left this world on his own terms. He lived his life the same way. Still inspiring new generations, Thompson fuels their little flames of rebellion, sparks that usually extinguish themselves as real-life responsibilities set in.
Thompson channeled his rambunctious delinquency, his intellect and his vast capacity for partying into a raucous journalism career.
In 1958, the Air Force heaved a collective sigh of relief at Thompson’s departure. Later, Time Magazine fired him as a copy boy. Thompson lived hand-to-mouth for much of his career but he managed to live well.
He created Gonzo Journalism, where getting the story becomes the story. The writer and his venomous opinions became the central character of his books and articles.
Thompson rode with the Hell’s Angels for a year to get source material for his breakthrough book and for the fun of it. His second book, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, with one of the most memorable opening lines ever written, is a tale of drug-fueled trips to Las Vegas.
Thompson turned the phrase “fear and loathing” into a franchise. His articles turned Rolling Stone magazine into a political force.

Reading List:
Outlaw Journalist (2008 biography by William McKeen)
Hell’s Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (1966, nonfiction)
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1972, novel)
Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72 (1974, nonfiction)

Don van Vliet, aka Captain Beefheart

Captain Beefheart started his singing career in a conventional way as a white blues singer who could channel Howlin' Wolf, a valuable trait in the 1960's blues-based rock world.
After a minor hit single, Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band were dropped by A&M Records. They released their 1967 debut album, Safe As Milk, on Buddah Records. Finally, the band seemed on their way.
But a week before the Monterey Pop Festival, their guitarist quit and the band had to drop out of the influential festival. Commercially, this was disastrous to the group.
Don and the Magic Band retreated to the Mojave desert in search of "tension and discipline," recording their second album, Strictly Personal. But Don felt that the producer’s attempt to make the album sound more psychedelic by adding “groovy” sound effects ruined the album.
Making even more of a commercial retreat, Don moved the band to a house where, under his strict musical tutelage, he whipped the band into creating Trout Mask Replica, the first album in which Don was given free reign by producer Frank Zappa. The album is a milestone in pop music history.
In 1982, Don turned his back on the music industry to become a successful painter and sculptor.

Recommended Listening:
Trout Mask Replica (1969 album)
Doc at the Radar Station (1980 album)
Clear Spot (1973 album)

Albert Einstein

After his death, the world’s greatest genius, Albert Einstein, had his brain frozen and stored in a jar for study by future scientists. But did his peers, schoolmasters and employers recognize the genius of young Einstein? Not back then.
Little Albert didn’t speak until he was three years old. As a youngster, he hated school and learned more studying on his own. Einstein failed the entrance exam for the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. He graduated from the Institute of Technology in Zurich with an undistinguished record.
After graduation, Albert Einstein failed to find a teaching job, though many of his friends had. He got by on temporary teaching and tutoring gigs while finishing his dissertation. Einstein had moments when he questioned his choice of becoming a physicist and he felt like a burden to his family.
He finally got a job in the Swiss Patent Office with a friend’s influence. In the patent office, Einstein finished his work so quickly he had time to work on his personal scientific projects.
Einstein’s superior intellect did not get him a job, did not make him fit in socially and did not make it easy for him to succeed. But Time Magazine named Albert Einstein "Person of the Century".

Reading List:
Einstein: His Life and Universe (2007 biography by Walter Isaacson)
Albert Einstein, A Life of Genius (2003 biography by Elizabeth MacLeod)
The World as I See It (2006, nonfiction)
Relativity: The Special and General Theory (1921, nonfiction)

Steve Jobs

“Do you want to spend your life selling sugared water to children, or do you want to change the world?”
–Steve Jobs to John Scully of Coca-Cola

Steve Jobs, temperamental co-founder of Apple Computer, dropped out of college after one semester in favor of a Buddhist life. He decided to travel to India for spiritual study.
To fund the trip, he started a project that evolved into Apple Computer. Jobs’ company revolutionized personal computers, turning them into an appliance with warm fuzzy mass appeal.
Today, Apple Computer’s stock price rises and falls on rumors of Steve Jobs’ health. But in 1985, Apple’s Board of Directors, his own Frankenstein, ousted Jobs from the company. That’s a fine thank you for visionary leadership.
Lesson: a kick in the pants from those you serve can happen at any time in your career.
After being dumped, Jobs didn’t sit around and contemplate his navel while living on accumulated wealth. He launched Pixar Animation and NeXT, a computer platform development company.
Jobs returned to Apple in 1997 after Apple acquired NeXT. Soon, Jobs was leading his old company again. In the new Jobs era, Apple pulled out of its doldrums and created the iMac, the iPod and the iPhone.
You can change the world more than once, Jobs proved.

Reading/Watching List:
Insanely Great (1994, nonfiction by Steven Levy)
Macintosh Introduction (1984 Super Bowl commercial)

Liz Smith

It’s easy to imagine someone fired from a $125,000 a year job making comments like “It makes you feel like you lost your identity to some extent.” You might hear a rebel say, “I never sucked up."
Surprisingly, these comments came from Liz Smith, New York’s 86-year-old gossip columnist. The Diva of Dish was let go by the New York Post recently. Smith feels like many of us commoners and she is speaking publicly about her firing. I’m sure The Post loves that.
Smith hit town in 1949 from Texas with 50 bucks in her pocketbook. For the last 33 years, her gossip column appeared in New York newspapers.
Smith could retire, but she loves what she does too much—even now.
She is not letting her layoff set her back. Smith had already sown the seeds of her rebirth, as one of the founders of www.wowowow.com, a consortium of women on the web. She writes five times a week for the site and continues to be published in syndication.
I predict Liz, through her moxie and uncommon durability, will remain a voice of the New York scene long after newspaper printing presses shut down.
Reading List:
Natural Blonde (2001 memoir)