CNN

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You know when you are stuck in a hotel in a country where English is a second language?

Maybe you are away on business by yourself, and you have an evening to fill in, and you have chosen those two most reliable of companions: room service and TV. I tended to order a burger, fries and a beer, throughly enjoying the incongruity of seeing someone trying to make an occasion of wheeling the trolley in, uplifting the silver plate cover off a semi-assembled burger, and whipping the bottle top off a bottle of domestic beer all with a attempt at panache.

But, inevitably, all there is on TV is CNN on a 25 minute news loop with the same jokey presenters and ridiculous, low budget ads to flog financial services or infrastructure for get-rich-quick investors from emerging markets / low-cost base territories like Dubai, Nigeria, Turkey and Michigan (yes, its true, Michigan).

My favorite ad is from Nigeria, where (again I swear this is true) a graphic smiley yellow face bounds across the screen emphasising what a friendly place Nigeria is to invest in. Hang on? Isn't Nigeria the place where the usual executive traveller gets met at the airport by two chaps, one of whom drives and the other holds the sub-machine gun. What about all those advance fee fraud scams?

Odd fact: Dow Corning gives testimonials in ads both for Korea and Michigan.

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