To quote Nino Culotta, they're a weird mob those Yanks.

The internet chatroom conversation between the Gold Coast doctor and his brother in India showed he had an awareness of the terrorist plot, Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews said today.
.....NEWS.com.au

Joyce calls for tax-deductible home loans

Bananaby just doesn't get it, does he!

I have no idea just which point Gerard Henderson believes the media is missing with their reporting of the polls on Bennelong, just as I don't think Gerard knows which point he's attempting to make with his column today.

Any opportunity to take a jab at the ABC by the Murdoch press, it seems.

Imagine, for a moment, that major global corporates started sponsoring condoms. Suddenly safe sex would become a fashion statement like Shane Warne's Nike Slash ear stud.....

Yes, she's blonde. The latest piece of Playboy fluff inhabiting the Hefner Mansion hasn't a clue how she's made it there....

"I didn't work to get here. I don't know how I got here but I'm here"

There's going to be a lot of broken hearts when Hefner eventually shuffles off this coil. An equal if not greater number of broken bank balances too, I suspect.

I caught the first article on Media Watch last night, and frankly fail to understand why Kyle Sandilands still manages to occupy a place within the Australian entertainment industry.

What an absolute irony this is. David Hicks will get to vote against the Howardian Cabal. Chortle! Chortle!

Father’s Day 2007. Yet another anniversary of yet another example of American capitalistic zeal attaching to just about any emotive event where retailers can excuse their extraction of the almighty dollar from the average advertising dupe.

I love The Chaser, not so much for their willingness to push boundaries, but for their approach to satire as an art form. They really do have a unique capacity to bring out the best and sometimes the worst in Australian society.

There's something both obscene, yet expected in what Michael Duffy of ABC Radio National's Counterpoint has to say about 'recreational' drugs.

In most of the photos, you're hard pressed to spot the cellulite, excess baby-fat and stretch marks, but none the less, it's all there. Combine the less-than-refined, mediocre body with an intellect matched to the mime ability, and it's little wonder
her own peers don't think much of Britney Spears.

There is no conspiracy among the Murdoch rag's right-wing columnists, anymore than the ABC refuses to employ right-wing presenters.

Y'know, I keep on writing it in here, but it's true! Only in America does this stuff happen. However, if you're a conceptual artiste, you'll be awarded in the UK.

As my Dad always said, with a sad shake of the head, "takes all kinds to make a world"

Here's that idiot, Bolt again frothing over a subject he has bugger-all knowledge of, yet so much to say about.

No one will convince me that a federal government of Tasmania's Mersey Hospital before it really wanted to is in any way a move it makes willingly.

Proof positive that some men definitely proffer the wrong part of their anatomy for filling with grey matter, when bodies are being constructed.

I'm resisting the urge to re-create a category I had in a previous blog, entitled 'Only in America. Instead I'll probably resort to a series of posts sequentially numbered.

This program on tonight's ABC, filling between 7:30 Report and The Bill really takes the cake for mine.

Here's a quick take from the show....

"Because we have the biggest freezer around, we tend to wind up with everyone else's dead ferrets. We get a good price on cremation for 25lbs or more of dead ferret, so we tend to accumulate up to 25lbs and then afterwards, when we get the ashes back, we pass out a teaspoon or two for you, and some for you....."

I know, I'm always writing it in here.....but.......Only in America!

I'd like to see the Mythbusters duplicate this circumstance. According to previous arcing electricity experiments, it can't really happen unless the distance between penis and source is very short.

Being an outdoor urination exponent, I'd suggest the average distance between penis and ground wouldn't allow for a stream consistent with conducting of electricity. Still.....would make for a challenging test.

For more than 3,000 years the swastika represented life, the universe and all good things.

On the continuing subject of editorials, how's this effort from Herald Sun Editor-in Chief, Bruce Guthrie.

Clearly not. It seems that a movie about a wanna-be pop star, acted by a wanna-be (in my view anyway!) pop star and a whole collection of other non-actors has been voted 'Greatest Movie Soundtrack!

Bizarre? And then some! The flick only had two professional actors in the entire cast, and is critiqued as the worst acted film of all time. Equally bizarre, but revealing at the same time, is the vote for second spot going to The Beatles' 1964 movie effort, 'A Hard days Night'. Just goes to prove that sixties music will always have what it takes, despite gaudy costumes, synthesizers, funny hair & make-up holding sway with the arty-farty set.

Yes, we see these quiz things every second day of the week, however I found this one to be a tad different in some respects. So, for all you males out there, have a crack and see if you're 'manly' enough.

I scored 23 out of 25. I've never owned a firearm in my life, but how hard can it be to clean a bolt action rifle, and I'm not a boaty type, so the likelihood of my ever having to rescue anyone from a capsized yacht is pretty damn slim.

See how you go.

When I read the first few words of this article something deep-seated in my quirky sense of humour immediately brought this to the fore-front of my imagination.

Now, if I see news articles about the Great Circling Poets of Arium, or hear tales of 'an enormous mutant star goat' threatening to devour the Earth, I'll really get concerned.

Jodhi Meares - the former Mrs Jimmy Packer - reckons she wouldn't succeed in the high demand world of fashion today. I can't imagine why not. After all, she definitely isn't a 'waif' and has the physical maturity to make any outfit look good. The perfect female body, in fact. Soft, pleasantly arranged and all the bumps & curves in the right places.

Melbourne Cup day tomorrow, and as usual, the entire country goes ga-ga over a horse race which only a select few get to attend and many more use as an excuse to drink to excess and act like a buffoon

I never cease to be amazed at the trust and faith your average home buying punter puts in their chosen lender or mortgage broker.

Here's a damn good chuckle to start off the day. I've worked in collections and understand the angst which often arises between the debtor and the creditor, however, I've never stooped to this kind of assault.

As my Dad used to say all the time....takes all kinds to make a world.

This is just too witty to not repeat here. In fact, anywhere for that matter.

Here's an interesting article. Seasoned airline & military pilots collectively stating that too little has been done by relevant agencies to clarify the question of UFO sightings.

This little exchange doesn't exactly strike me as thorough investigative journalism. More like gutter-sniping. Given the Media Watch revelations on Carol Overington's journalistic behaviour, I'm hardly surprised at the woman's affrontary. It's clear that Overington has a decided conservative bent to her political allegiances and isn't afraid to exercise them. Given that this latest example of political physical jerks is blatantly aggressive towards the Labor candidate for Wentworth, I'd suggest that Overington ought to be watching her steps. Rupert might just look closer at the way she works on behalf his paper and do some exorcising of his own.

This is bizarre. In fact, it goes way beyond bizarre to the extra-ordinarily unbelievable in my view.

Spotted in today's online version of the Daily Telegraph. Aren't polls supposed to offer alternative options? Well, I guess this one does. If you're a politically conservative practitioner, that is.
SHEESH!!!

W00t is apparently now an accepted word. For real. Frankly I find the way the english language, and it's attendant cultural vocabularies around the world, changes to be completely bizarre. Why use numbers in an alphabetical language?

Then there's the other so-called 'Word of 2007' - Locavore. So, if you're a candy fiend, are you a sucravore? If you're an avid home brew maker as I am, are you automatically classified as Diyvore?

I realise english is regarded as the most difficult language to learn fluently, but seriously, aren't we who speak it somewhat fluently, only making it more of an elitist undertaking to be viewed as such by those for whom it isn't their first? I know.....it's a plot by leftist anarchists to deliberately keep those who don't speak english out of the club by creating these completely bizarre and totally useless words. Damn those lefties, eh?

Back at the grindstone, but still enjoying the slow take-up of business activity in the post Xmas lull. That enjoyment extends to getting back to blogging, which had a respite over the last three weeks. One I think was well and truly necessary after a hectic, and somewhat unproductive 2007. A little harsh, I suspect, but at least experience has benefitted, if not the bank balance. Here's hoping the latest changes on the income front are for the better.

There really is no other category for this post, than 'Bizarre'. If you've never heard of this event before, then you have now.

I'm really at a loss as to what more to write. Make up you're own minds, I suppose.

And you thought "Weekend at Bernies" was all in good fun. These guys took the idea just a tad too far.

The world of technology is a fascinating place, but every now and then, I get the distinct impression that people are being paid way too much to have too much time on their hands. Take, for example, this latest gizmo from the makers of the Walkman.

No intention to commercially market the thing, and frankly, I'm left wondering why anyone would bother, so why have anyone actually produce the thing in the first place?

...turn to paper. This is truly bizarre and one wonders whether Japanese space science took a wrong turn somewhere along the high technology road. Paper planes, it's hoped, may one day be utilised as re-entry vehicles from low-Earth orbit. Watch the video. I don't dare attempt an explanation.

Thirteen months ago, China used anti-satellite technology to destroy a redundant weather satellite. Now, in an act of tit-for-tat, it has been reported that the U.S. military will use similar technology to destroy a malfunctioning econ (read 'spy') satellite.

Spotted this story in the Daily Telegraph. It seems a senior Boeing delivery pilot decided to perform what we are led to believe is a replica of the 'fly-by' stunt pulled by Tom Cruise playing the hot-shot F-14 pilot 'Maverick'. The pics clearly show the massive Boeing 777-300ER swooping extremely low over the runway at Snohomish County/Paine Field Airport (KPAE) which is the home field for the Boeing 747, 767, 777 and 787 production line. The comments make interesting reading, but at least one indicates that the pilot-in-charge was a 'don't-come-Monday' waiting to happen. Striking aircraft, just the same.

It's not the first time a Boeing employee has pulled a stunt in a large airliner, but the company doesn't smile kindly on such activities, for obvious reasons.

....without clean underwear.

The employer in the story, a Serbian starionery store owner, is apparently offended by what he says are staff who eat garlic, don't bathe or use perfume or deodorant. He should try Brisbane's Citytrain network during the afternoon rush hour.

Yes, genuinely weird and undoubtedly an open invitation for confrontation with the relevant Union, but the question begs an answer. Just how does Mr Gligorijevic intend to enforce his 'clean underwear' edict? Snap inspections? What if your jocks were clean when you left home, but you happened to fart during the day?

Personally, I reckon two wears from a pair of undies is fair enough. Right way out one day, then inside-out the next. Saves washing.

There's little else I can offer to this weird tale other than to reiterate the post title.

This issue raises the question of just what is and what isn't acceptable to the Australian media - let alone the Australian public - in regard to what a PM's wife does for a career, what her earnings are & where they come from, and essentially, just how well off the PM might be due to his marital share in his wife's profitability.

The times they are a-changin'. The world is definitely slowing down if the best international news story coming out of Europe is coverage of the German Chancellor's tits!

Granted, her mammaries don't look altogether unappealing for a 54 year old, at least upon initial presentation, but a look at a few other shots soon reveals that Angela is prone to the ravages of gravity like any other woman her age. Still....good on her for having the dash to dress appropriately for an evening out. Who says women politicians have to be dull, studious types?

Call me an old grumble-bum, but I'd suggest this mindless stunt is the principle reason behind rational people of my vintage steering well clear of FM radio these days.

Give me ABC Radio National any day of the week.....or weekend for that matter.

Interesting revelation from Andrew Bolt at the end of this morning's Insiders program on the ABC. The all too common reiteration that global warming/climate change is a non-event was there, but thrown into his irrational approach to realities everyone else accepts was a claim that the 'stolen generations' have never existed. Rudd's apology to these indigenous Australians earlier this year, which apparently helped to raise our PM into the ranks of the world's top 100 most influential persons - thanks to Cate Blanchett, according to the Dolt - comes about as a direct result of an apology for events which never happened, to a generation of indigenous Australians which have never existed.

I'd be interested to know just how many indigenous Australians were watching, and what their reactions might be to hearing that the PM is riding to fame & glory on the back of an issue which even John Howard accepted, but Andrew Bolt thinks is a complete fabrication.

A 24 year old woman decides to express herself by appearing tastefully nude in an adult woman's magazine. Then her employer finds out, and she's sacked!

Beaks operating under the British judicial court system have adopted new dress.

As for looking 'star-trekkish', the comparison is so far distant from any Star Trek uniform, Starfleet or otherwise, a warp 9 starship would be needed to bridge the gap. Looks smart, I must admit, but just a tad too much like a long smoking jacket or dressing gown.

GASP!!  Such extravagant waste of a renewable resource!

That ubiquitous piece of Americana, Coca-Cola, isn't made on sugar! It's actually changed over the years. These days, Coke is made on high fructose corn syrup. Corn syrup has it's own problems in regard to the so-called western obesity epidemic, increased incidence of some diabetic complaints, etc, but I didn't know that once a year, the recipe reverts

This piece comes from a blog I stumbled across, so how accurate it is, is up for debate, however it does give one food for thought. Does Coka-Cola, Pepsi and other known brand names of popular fizzy drinks taste different when made on sugar, than on corn syrup? Can we really taste the difference? I'm curious to find out now.

I suspect they are by now. This is just plain bizarre, but not at all unusual in my view. Not unusual for a religion which relies upon symbolism, icons, ritual and pretence to capture its audience. And their money. You can bet your last holey dollar that a great many transient dollars will be separated from their temporary owners during the Catholic church's big drive to retain the interest of young people in its convocation of pomp and ceremony later this year, in Sydney. It's bizarre, to me, because idols and such are supposedly anathema to monotheism, especially the christian religion.

I'm driven to wonder how many young catholic acolytes will be caught up in some kind of emotive religious fervour, and want to, or even attempt to touch the casket of this long dead Italian rich man's son? Will the dry and dusty remains be on show, or will the faithful be required to exercise that faith by simply accepting that inside whatever container the Vatican decided to send out to Australia, lies the mortal remains of an unfortunate who died of poliomyolitis 83 years ago?

Yes, I'm an aethist. I have never understood this thing called religion, the need for it to be so rigidly structured and demand so much of it's followers. I've also wondered often at the idolatry which christianity practices in holding up it's chosen as being larger in death, than they ever were in life. Apparently they were almost always no-bodies in life. Aren't we all no-bodies in life? Why should some become somebodies because organised religion says so?

Crutch of the weak-minded? Cruel, but I believe so. If you think a box of bones - if there are any bones in the box - holds something special for you, then I'm afraid you're in need of a little more than a trip to Roman Catholicism's version of the Big Day Out.

Ever wondered just what does happen up the pointy end during those long international flights? I'd say Air India needs to make certain of the autopilot technology aboard its aircraft, and perhaps place a few appropriately loud speakers into cockpits. Clearly, making sure pilots are well rested and capable is also a major concern.

  We've all read the Dilbert cartoons in the papers. An American magazine recently ran a 'Dilbert Quotes' contest. They were looking for people to submit quotes from their real-life Dilbert type managers. These were voted the top ten quotes in corporate America:

Okay, I'll admit to having nothing much to write about today. Politics is boring. Climate change is far too vague at present to make any worthwhile comment about, and besides, I haven't finished reading the Garnaut Report yet. In desperation, I opened the Daily Telegraph - you know the one - and blow me down if the word 'dump' didn't leap off the screen at me.

Pammy dumps on Tommy; Jana gets dumped by the AOC; Morris thinks Labor want to dump him; a Parramatta thugby fan get's dumped and David Gallop dumps on Russell Crowe. Then there's Michael Hagan and Jason Taylor dumping on each other, an unknown Australian tourista - doubtless drunk, stoned or otherwise off his face - dumped on by a Pamplona bull with the page rounded off by Tim Ross dumping on Kyle Sandilands and an anonymous two-tonne lump of concrete doing some dumping of its own.

If you really wanted to get into the dumping mode, you could even drag in "Our Nic's" dad dumping on the secret behind her kid's name. But I couldn't give a shit, so I didn't.

Twelve months ago today, I wrote this post as an attention-getter, in a bid to have the author of the example nuisance email pay attention to my requests, which have since become complaints, to have my email address removed from his mindless mailing lists.

I received the email over the fold this evening, and thought it best to publicise it for the benefit of anyone out there in desperate job straits. I know I've been there.

Not being a fan of general lunacy or right-wing radicalism, I'm not an avid reader of Andrew Bolt.

I heard this yesterday evening while on the way home.

It seems the Queensland Premier is punting for the Mary Whitehouse Award. No tits out on the Gold Coast! Have you ever heard anything more ridiculous, reader? Queensland’s Gold Coast, Australia’s highlight of hedonism, will become the place of puritans for a week in October because Anna Bligh doesn’t think boobie flashing from high-rise balconies is suitably representative of the Queensland lifestyle.

Time to join the rest of Queensland society, Anna, and accept that getting your knockers out during Indy is as ‘Surfers Paradise’ as the concrete canyons of the glitter strip itself. Just keep yours to yourself if naked female breasts upset you. We don’t want to see them anyhow.

It seems that New Zealand has a porn industry.

I doubt I'm the only blogger in Oz to have spotted this, especially at 5:00pm, but I notice that the Fairfax determination for business as usual during a journalists strike isn't quite holding up.

Most of the online frontpage articles are dated May 28, 2008. I guess it's business as usual if you're temporally challenged. Perhaps Fairfax are feeling the pressure of a bloody-minded approach to industrial relations after all.

Especially for you, out there, on the so-called suburban Left. David Hicks is a terrorist and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation is his apologist. Things Piers Akerman seems to believe we all need reminding of.

Senator Cory Bernardi clearly didn't pay a lot of attention in biology class.

Gerard Henderson takes aim yet again at his ideological opposites in his SMH column. His own words - irrationality and gross hyperbole - describe the content perfectly. I wonder if I could get a gig with Fairfax?

Ideological wars never really end, do they?

Together with fast food, climate change, cigarette smoking and alcohol it's now been revealed that a faithful remedy for the common cold - Vicks Vaporub - is bad for us. Maybe that's what's made me such an irascible bloke? I blame my old man. He was always shoving Vicks up his conk if he had a cold, and like any impressionable young fella, we boys all did likewise. On the chest and under the nostrils as well. Sure, the fumes would get in your eyes, but not for long. Vicks evaporates pretty quickly on warm skin.

Personally, I'm with the manufacturers on this one. At 51 years of age, and having used Vicks all my life, intra-nostrily and all, I always found it cleared congestion. Not created it. I don't think Dr Bruce Rubin is a reliable sort of medico either if he believes chicken soup to be efficacious.

Here's an interesting proposition.

That fawning acolyte of John Winston Howard, Tony Abbott, has again suborned the pages of the ABC Online to ooze lyrical about what a great guy his messiah is and how said messiah having his ego massaged by a failed US president is a compliment to Australia.

"If Barack Obama were one day to give Kevin Rudd the Medal of Freedom, I'd be pleased for him and for Australia. Somehow, I think he's more likely to offer the US President his advice than our help."

As it ought to be too!

Maybe my warped sense of humour is driving this one.

The estranged wife of Bob Jane allegedly waved a knife at the tyre magnate and told him she was going to shoot him.....

Maybe the bullet is very small but very sharp. Maybe she wasn't wearing her correct specs? Maybe she just wasn't looking at all? I think it's pretty funny, anyway.

I have to relate something which really revolted me at the time, and has played on my mind ever since.

This is fascinating...

Incessant pen-clicking by hospital workers could be a Geiger-counter for stress and should be investigated

Deaths in the media this morning. Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and an un-named truck driver simply doing his job late at night. Jackson and Fawcett take masthead space across the major dailies. Tributes flow, the usual eulogies extolling virtues and ignoring flaws are available for all to read. What of the un-named TNT driver? Plugged by a stray bullet from what is assumed to have been a confrontation between criminal elements in a KFC carpark adjacent to the road upon which the B-Double truck was passing. Apparently death was instant, the truck simply stopped, which is in itself remarkable, but does the man's passing rate at all?

Who was he? Does anyone care? What were his contributions to the world at large? Meanwhile the world mourns the passing of a paranoid, perverted pop-star and a small town Hollywood wanna-be. We're a sorry society when all's said and done.

Only in America (and on Facebook which is inhabited primarily by Americans) could this sort of garbage make publication.

Absolutely bizarre!

Hey, who's seen Andrew Denton's new production, "Hungry Beast"? I'm undecided at this point, but it's certainly contentious. It's also sadly inaccurate. Tim Blair is NOT, in any way, shape or form, even close to being anything even remotely approaching the description of humourist. Bigoted, mindless arsehole, maybe.

More from the 'Liberal Party journalist of choice' soothsaying doom and gloom for the Rudd government.

Just about to doze off last night, with Radio National playing on the clock radio on a timer, when the midnight news came on.

This is an absolutely bizarre story, but strangely not at all out of place with American culture. Openly admitted to by the company concerned, Trijcon Inc.  apparently the inscriptions constitute the proselytising of religion by the US Military, which is constitutionally forbidden. Thing is, the US Military wasn't aware, or if it was, deliberately defied constitutional law. Something that I find really left field, and the truly bizarre part of the scenario.

Crusade?? Well, depends on when this bunch of corporate bible-bashers decided to start practicing this preaching through the point of a gun. Was it around the same time as the awarding of the US$660m defence contract? Surely, someone at the military end would have noticed, asked what the colon meant in the middle of a serial number? Serials aren't normally punctuated. Did anyone check, or is the end product accepted on delivery based on QA at the manufacturers end? Do all weapon sights from this manufacturer carry these inscriptions, or only those destined for use in Islamic theatres? One wonders why GWB didn't legislate for the Cross of St John to be emblazoned on all US military uniforms.

As if that isn’t preposterous enough for you, consider this. Audio bibles you can even hear in space!!! Bugger the food, water & medical supplies, or the financial where-with-all needed to get those essentials into the disaster zone. What about the eternal souls of those starving or dying of thirst & exposure? “Gahd sinds yoo hiz lurve!” A man may not live by bread alone, but he sure as hell can’t survive on fresh air & esoteric technology.

I know, Benjamin. Staggers my imagination as well!

Are our pollies just a little too precious?