« Abolishing Public Schools | Main | The War's End » Did Albanians Steal Bush's Watch12 Jun 2007 05:13 pm It's all over the internet already, but it really does look like some Albanian steals Bush's watch here: At about 0:50 seconds, you can see a watch on Bush's wrist. Then his wrist is obscured for a bit because he's shaking hands and then when you next see the wrist, there's no watch. Fun fact: I realized recently that most older people don't realize that these days few young people wear watches because we're all used to checking the time on our cell phones. Comments (36)
My clunky dialup won't let me play the video, but doesn't he have his watch on the wrong wrist? I ordinarily wear my watch on the left, and shake hands with the right . . . isn't that usual? 
Albanian to Bush: I appreciate your time!
bwa ha ha ha ha.
Matt, I think most men still wear watches when they wear suits. The last time I wore a suit (to a wedding, a few months ago), I wore my old stainless steel Tag with the dead battery. Rea, Most politicians shake with both hands in a crowd situation like that.
I posted this story at a European forum, and the thread was locked really fast. Albanians have a bad reputation in Europe, and the thread was getting racist after only ten or so posts. I'm not surprised that the Bush administration told a white lie about it to smooth things over.
Hey - I just realized I could use my phone to tell time regularly! I may stop wearing a watch.
I realized recently that most older people don't realize that these days few young people wear watches because we're all used to checking the time on our cell phones. This has been another in the series "Yglesias posts that make me feel old, out of touch, and crotchety."
That watch was ripped off pretty quick. I'm surprised he didn't go in after the guy. That seems his MO.
I'm surprised he didn't go in after the guy. The guy is being waterboarded as we speak. He's already confessed to 27 spectacular terrorist plots and named 14 accomplices.
I'm surprised he didn't go in after the guy. You kidding? Dubya never does anything for himself. Coward, and all that. He sent others to do it for him.
I wore my old stainless steel Tag with the dead battery. A quartz Tag? Tacky, Fred. Tacky.
Slate has a great article on this. Male jewelry, I say. Might as well wear wrist-sundials for all their importance.
OK, I've read the Slate article and still don't get it. I thought the wave of the future was for my Treo to shrink down and get incorporated into my watch, so I could continue to tell the time with a quick glance but could also do so with my e-mail and calendar. Instead, it seems like the wave of the future is to return to the pocketwatch-- a bigger, harder-to-get-at, uglier pocketwatch. Do you people really unclip your phone from your belt or reach into a pocket every time you want to check the time? Why isn't that less convenient than just wearing a watch?
Do you people really unclip your phone from your belt... No, because self-respecting under 30's don't use belt holsters for cell phones. I'd rather wear a watch like grandpa than a belt clip like dad.
Not only do I use my cell as my time piece, Saturday night at the movies, my wife dropped something under her seat and after the show was over we used the phone as a weak flashlight to see under the seat. And down the row, some other couple was doing the same thing.
Do you people really unclip your phone from your belt or reach into a pocket every time you want to check the time? Why isn't that less convenient than just wearing a watch? The instances where one needs to check one's cellphone for the correct time are greatly reduced. For those of us who work in offices, the redundancy is compounded. Slate: These days, the correct time is everywhere: in the corner of the computer screen, on the television in elevators, on cable news channels, in train stations, as well as on car radios, microwaves, ovens, and in all sorts of public places.
Why isn't that less convenient than just wearing a watch? it totally gives you something to do during those awkward moments in an elevator with someone else
Like Jacob T. Levy, I just recently realized that, wow, I must be old. Since I only recently realized how young people check the time on cellphones instead of wearing wristwatches.
This is indeed a spreading generational trend that makes me feel old, since I'm younger than Matt is (by about 1.5 years, I think). I like watches. And so what if they're male jewelry? I also wear actual jewelry; at least this has functionality. Besides, I got into the muscle-twitch habit of checking my left wrist when I was, like, 13, so that's over ten years of conditioning I'd need to break.
"it totally gives you something to do during those awkward moments in an elevator with someone else" I recommend emitting noisy flatulence at those moments. It totally throws the other person off-guard.
My usual tactic is, "So, what do you think about health policy?"
Matthew writes: > Fun fact: I realized recently that most older Matt! My wife and I -- both 63 -- haven't worn Not only that but we also check the Daily Show Best regards - the silent generation
I think that most European that sees those headlines will be fairly uncomfortable with the subject. As a (fully house-trained) Russian, I feel doubly hesitant to wade in, but it's painfully clear that, contrary to the White House's claim, W didn't holster the watch prior to engaging with the crowd. I think I'll skip laughing at this one though. On the sartorial issue: though its practical utility isn't what it used to be, the watch as an accompaniment to the suit is not going away anytime soon. Who's ready to take fashion cues from the intern?
So, what's old, kid? I'm 47 and haven't worn a watch or used a regular alarm clock for four years because my cell phone takes care of both of those things for me.
Somebody'll strap a cell phone on your wrist one of these days, Dick Tracy style.
"A quartz Tag? Tacky, Fred. Tacky." Is it quartz because it has a battery? I have no idea. Let me grab it off the book shelf it's been sitting on since I wore it last in March and see... says "sapphire crystal" on the back -- is that the same as quartz? And quartz is tacky? Fascinating. Thanks for the Queer Eye tip. I'm going to put it back on the bookshelf now.
I'm surprised that the coward let anyone get that close.
The Bush administration's excuse is even worse than the fact some Romanian lifted his watch. It basically amounts to, 'I thought the gypsies were gonna steal my watch so I hid it. Won't get fooled again. hehe.' I have never worn a watch or a tie to the office but since I started the company no one mentions how unfashionable I am.
"it's painfully clear that, contrary to the White House's claim, W didn't holster the watch prior to engaging with the crowd." While I appreciate the gag as much as anyone, there are camera angles where you can quite clearly see Bush taking off the watch.
You think an Albanian pickpocket would have greater difficulty in lifting George W. Bush's cellphone? The one with the direct line to NORAD?
While I appreciate the gag as much as anyone, there are camera angles where you can quite clearly see Bush taking off the watch. Yeah, I saw one of these on the NBC News podcast. Though the angle didn't give a clear picture, and the video disproves the White House's claim that the watch was taken off prior to greeting the crowd. In any case, this is all purely a distraction from the liberal plot to do away with the wearing of watches--presumably, so we can all be as inefficient as government bureaucrats. What next, the pocket square or, gasp, the bow tie?
So, if I eschew my watch for a cell phone, does the phone have to match my belt buckle?
The Bush administration's excuse is even worse than the fact some Romanian Not Romanian, Albanian. If my grandparents were alive you would be in such trouble!
Geez, you guys going without wrist watches must be blessed enough not to spend much time in business meetings, graduate seminars, and other zones of despairing boredom where it is extremely difficult to discretely check the time every four and a half minutes without one. There's only so many times you can go for your pocket without arousing suspicion. (N.B. I'm 25, and so supposedly of the no-watch cohort. From my cold, dead wrist.)
says "sapphire crystal" on the back -- is that the same as quartz? And quartz is tacky? Fascinating. Sapphire is the face of the watch; cheaper alternatives might be plastics. Quartz refers to the timekeeping mechanism; a quartz crystal oscillates at a fixed frequency when fed electricity. A truly "non-tacky" watch would use a purely mechanical clockwork mechanism to keep time instead of being battery-powered.
Comments closed June 26, 2007. |
Search
Subscribe to this blog by Email Books by Matthew Yglesias
Recent Comments
Recent Posts
Weekly Archives
Categories
|
Copyright © 2008 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All rights reserved.
| 
Heads in the Sand
has it shown up for sale on ebay yet?
Posted by ebay-er | June 12, 2007 5:19 PM