A ding-dong bus driver, a miracle dog, and a series of in-your-face ads...

I have on occasions highlighted letters to the press, describing bizarre incidents.

This one is from Miss Tahiradulnisha Kader Ibrahim, whose letter appeared in today's ST (18 Nov), under this headline:

Extent of bus driver's English vocabulary? 'Ding' and 'dong'

I pressed the bell as SBS Transit's bus service 145 approached my stop... but the driver drove past the place. When I questioned him, the only words I could decipher from his reply were "ding dong", which he kept on uttering [shucks, the writer should have taken a video clip and uploaded it on YouTube!].

After alighting at the next stop, I [called the SBS Transit's hotline and] reported the matter... The staff replied that someone from the company would get back soon. No one did, and my subsequent email to SBS went unanswered...

SBS should improve its courses for teaching basic English and customer service. Drivers should [be required to] pass a practical test in handling customers and speaking in English in a variety of circumstances.

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Daniel the miracle dog

This next item is a heart-warming one, about a beagle that cheated certain death -- execution by gas chamber! The pooch has since been called "Daniel the miracle dog". I'll let this YouTube video clip tell this adorable canine's amazing story:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n2be30ebd6o

I have an especially soft spot for this breed, since one of my dogs, Brady, is a beagle:

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In your face!

The last item today is a controversial ad campaign by Benetton. Here is insing.com's story, with the link below:

A very unorthodox ad campaign has attracted massive international controversy. The ads in the "Unhate" campaign from the United Colors of Benetton features photos of unlikely pairs of world leaders locking lips with each other [such as] US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao; North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and South Korean President Lee Myung Bak; and Pope Benedict XVI and Imam Sheik Ahmed al-Tayeb.

The Vatican swiftly issued a condemnation of the ad campaign, calling it "a serious lack of respect for the Pope and an affront to the feelings of the faithful".... [Benetton said the] ads were presented as a way to promote "unhate", and are said to make a statement of brotherhood with a kiss.

http://news.insing.com/tabloid/unusual-ads-attract-controversy/id-54193f00

       
ST ran the story (18 Nov) with what I thought was an uninspiring headline:

A better headline would be:

'In your
face' ads
that rile