'Naked' scanner in airport trial says the BBC.
Well you know who did it first? Airplane!.
So, instead of looking to psychics to predict the future, we should start looking at comedies. I wonder what mystical insights they will hold?
Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
Tuesday, 13 October 2009
Wednesday, 22 April 2009
Fiji Daily Post
I don't know about non-Australians, but if you are in Australia and read the paper about a week ago, you would have seen an article like this Sydney Morning Herald article.
The Fiji Daily Post have been printing articles like that as a way of making fun of the government censors.
So we get articles like Man gets on bus, Paint dry, Breakfast as usual and I'm guessing that King of the baize is also one.
I don't know about you guys, but all I could think of was The Onion.
The Fiji Daily Post have been printing articles like that as a way of making fun of the government censors.
So we get articles like Man gets on bus, Paint dry, Breakfast as usual and I'm guessing that King of the baize is also one.
I don't know about you guys, but all I could think of was The Onion.
Wednesday, 30 July 2008
Which Is Worse The Name Or The Court?
Being named "Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii", or the NZ Family Court placing the child under their custody? (Like my choice of source?)
This has been an ongoing discussion on Myspace for the past few days.
The girl given that name managed to avoid being bullied by calling herself "K".
This story spread quite quickly with it being found apart from the Honolulu Advertiser on theInternational Herald Tribune the BBC, CBC, CNN and Reuters.
What I don't seem to understand is why exactly the mainly American posters on the Myspace thread seem to think that a) the action of the courts was wrong and b) the child was permanently removed from the parents.
The linked articles all made the second point clear. The girl was placed in the custody of the court so her name could be changed. Based on that I think it would be quite safe to say that after the girl got her name changed (probably to whatever "K" was since most people knew her as that) her parents regained custody of the child.
I however, fail to see why the action of the court was the wrong one.
The girl clearly didn't like her name and the court, in doing what it did, complied with her wishes. It's like the Swedish court forbidding a couple from naming their kid Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116, which by the way, somehow corresponds to the name "Albin". I see no difference in what the Swedish court did and what this court did except that the Kiwi parent at least knew how to spell the name in such a way that it matched with the pronunciation of the name.
Yet I see mainly American people trying to argue that it is wrong.
What is the logic behind that? Or do they think that it is fair that children should be bullied for their name?
So parents want to give their kids "creative" names (honestly, "Number 16 Bus Shelter" as a name is as creative as me putting a dot on a white canvas and calling it "Ant in a Snowstorm"), but I guess that when I am older giving kids names that we consider "normal" today will become the new "crazy".
If parents can come up with a "creative" name that is good, and I mean good, not some stupid one, then by all means go for it. But if you want to name a kid something that stupid, then maybe you should move to New Zealand and see how far you get, or to the US where they don't seem to have any restrictions on giving your kids really, really, stupid names.
This has been an ongoing discussion on Myspace for the past few days.
The girl given that name managed to avoid being bullied by calling herself "K".
This story spread quite quickly with it being found apart from the Honolulu Advertiser on theInternational Herald Tribune the BBC, CBC, CNN and Reuters.
What I don't seem to understand is why exactly the mainly American posters on the Myspace thread seem to think that a) the action of the courts was wrong and b) the child was permanently removed from the parents.
The linked articles all made the second point clear. The girl was placed in the custody of the court so her name could be changed. Based on that I think it would be quite safe to say that after the girl got her name changed (probably to whatever "K" was since most people knew her as that) her parents regained custody of the child.
I however, fail to see why the action of the court was the wrong one.
The girl clearly didn't like her name and the court, in doing what it did, complied with her wishes. It's like the Swedish court forbidding a couple from naming their kid Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116, which by the way, somehow corresponds to the name "Albin". I see no difference in what the Swedish court did and what this court did except that the Kiwi parent at least knew how to spell the name in such a way that it matched with the pronunciation of the name.
Yet I see mainly American people trying to argue that it is wrong.
What is the logic behind that? Or do they think that it is fair that children should be bullied for their name?
So parents want to give their kids "creative" names (honestly, "Number 16 Bus Shelter" as a name is as creative as me putting a dot on a white canvas and calling it "Ant in a Snowstorm"), but I guess that when I am older giving kids names that we consider "normal" today will become the new "crazy".
If parents can come up with a "creative" name that is good, and I mean good, not some stupid one, then by all means go for it. But if you want to name a kid something that stupid, then maybe you should move to New Zealand and see how far you get, or to the US where they don't seem to have any restrictions on giving your kids really, really, stupid names.
Tuesday, 12 February 2008
Anonymous v. Scientology
I've actually been a little lazy in regards to this. Project Chanology has been going on for quite a while now, on Sunday there were protests.
I was expecting there to be something about it in the newspaper on Monday because the Scientology office thingy (they have a fancy name for it) is only a few metres away from the Advertiser building.
And there was. And here is a gallery of various people in masks.
I would have gone but I had to go to work on that day. And I didn't have a mask.
For those that don't know Project Chanology has its roots back in early 2008, when someone decided to post some Scientology videos of Tom Cruise getting some fancy medal of valour thing.
Gawker.com posted the video and kept it up there even after being threatened with a lawsuit.
Anonymous took offence and started bombarding Scientology with some rather childish stuff and a controversial DDoS attack on their website, which people like Andreas Heldal-Lund denounced.
After that they decided to hold protests, be more peaceful, and that is what they did.
Operation Clambake did quite well when it came to posters. I think that it is because it is pretty much the place to go to learn about CoS.
According to The Advertiser 150 people showed up, so that is 50 less then in Melbourne and the same amount as Sydney, but as a percentage of population represents 0.01% of Adelaideans
compared to 0.0036%, 0.0056%, 0.0020% 0.0027% of Sydneysiders, Melbournians, Brisbournians and Perthites (Perth based on the higher number).
Apart from allowing me to say that Adelaide did better as a percentage of population then the other Australian cities, there is another reason for me to say this.
CoS called Anonymous "cyber-terrorists" and they also said (from The Advertiser, the story has already been linked to):
This is the hypocritical statement of the _____.
A little interactive fun. Choose what you think fits the blank best:
But then again Scientology considers any negative criticism to be an attack, and the people who do it to be criminals and religious bigots. Picketing CoS buildings is not a religious hate crime. I would ask them how it is but I am certain that they wouldn't give a straight answer or any answer at all.
So what should you do against an organisation which has stolen government documents that were negative to the organisation, tried to drive a critic to suicide, just because she wrote a book critical to CoS, destroy families (if you can only read one link, make it this one), continue to cry persecution when they aren't considered a religion, and continue to this day ruin the lives of people branded SP (suppressive person)?
What they want is to be able to do all this, on top of scamming people out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, and not want us to stand up and do anything about it. Well you know what Church of Scientology? You can't attack people who disagree with you and then cry foul when people do something that is far less violent or damaging then what you do. Google may have removed the googlebomb on dangerous cult but you know what, you basically are even with your religious status in Australia.
Besides, have you guys ever thought that maybe we like our engrams?
I was expecting there to be something about it in the newspaper on Monday because the Scientology office thingy (they have a fancy name for it) is only a few metres away from the Advertiser building.
And there was. And here is a gallery of various people in masks.
I would have gone but I had to go to work on that day. And I didn't have a mask.
For those that don't know Project Chanology has its roots back in early 2008, when someone decided to post some Scientology videos of Tom Cruise getting some fancy medal of valour thing.
Gawker.com posted the video and kept it up there even after being threatened with a lawsuit.
Anonymous took offence and started bombarding Scientology with some rather childish stuff and a controversial DDoS attack on their website, which people like Andreas Heldal-Lund denounced.
After that they decided to hold protests, be more peaceful, and that is what they did.
Operation Clambake did quite well when it came to posters. I think that it is because it is pretty much the place to go to learn about CoS.
According to The Advertiser 150 people showed up, so that is 50 less then in Melbourne and the same amount as Sydney, but as a percentage of population represents 0.01% of Adelaideans
compared to 0.0036%, 0.0056%, 0.0020% 0.0027% of Sydneysiders, Melbournians, Brisbournians and Perthites (Perth based on the higher number).
Apart from allowing me to say that Adelaide did better as a percentage of population then the other Australian cities, there is another reason for me to say this.
CoS called Anonymous "cyber-terrorists" and they also said (from The Advertiser, the story has already been linked to):
"Anonymous is perpetrating religious hate crimes against Churches of Scientology and individual Scientologists for no other reason than religious bigotry"
This is the hypocritical statement of the _____.
A little interactive fun. Choose what you think fits the blank best:
- Month
- Year
- Decade
- Century
- Millennia
- Since Time Began
- Since Xenu Convinced the Galactic Council That Forceful Movement of a Certain Percentage of the Population for the Purposes of Reducing Overpopulation by Killing them on Earth Was A Good Idea.
But then again Scientology considers any negative criticism to be an attack, and the people who do it to be criminals and religious bigots. Picketing CoS buildings is not a religious hate crime. I would ask them how it is but I am certain that they wouldn't give a straight answer or any answer at all.
So what should you do against an organisation which has stolen government documents that were negative to the organisation, tried to drive a critic to suicide, just because she wrote a book critical to CoS, destroy families (if you can only read one link, make it this one), continue to cry persecution when they aren't considered a religion, and continue to this day ruin the lives of people branded SP (suppressive person)?
What they want is to be able to do all this, on top of scamming people out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, and not want us to stand up and do anything about it. Well you know what Church of Scientology? You can't attack people who disagree with you and then cry foul when people do something that is far less violent or damaging then what you do. Google may have removed the googlebomb on dangerous cult but you know what, you basically are even with your religious status in Australia.
Besides, have you guys ever thought that maybe we like our engrams?
Friday, 11 January 2008
RIP Sir Edmund Hillary
Sir Edmund Hillary died today
The first man to conquer Everest along with Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa, who spent his life exploring and helping the lives of the Sherpa's in Nepal through the Himalayan Trust.
He was also a member of the Order of the Garter.
He showed the world that people can do anything, even conquer the world's highest mountain, and has inspired hundreds of people to follow in his footsteps.
He also was a Kiwi. Which is a bit annoying, but at least all of us Colonials will be able to tell the Poms that it was a Kiwi who conquered Everest.
Rest in Peace Sir Edmund Hillary.
The first man to conquer Everest along with Tenzing Norgay, a Sherpa, who spent his life exploring and helping the lives of the Sherpa's in Nepal through the Himalayan Trust.
He was also a member of the Order of the Garter.
He showed the world that people can do anything, even conquer the world's highest mountain, and has inspired hundreds of people to follow in his footsteps.
He also was a Kiwi. Which is a bit annoying, but at least all of us Colonials will be able to tell the Poms that it was a Kiwi who conquered Everest.
Rest in Peace Sir Edmund Hillary.
Wednesday, 2 January 2008
A Tad Hypocritical Here?
Pakistan has started to calm down after a few days of protesting and looting.
The government is thinking that it will have to postpone the elections.
So naturally all the opposition parties are annoyed. And they are claiming that the government is going to lose.
The government has had 10 election offices burnt down by protesters and ballot papers have had their delivery disrupted. Depending on where these offices are, which looks like they are all in Sindh, there might be just enough time to keep the elections at the date.
Now the PPP are claiming that there will be violence if the elections aren't held on the 8th and it is probably because they want a sympathy vote. Their PM won't be Bhutto's widower because of corruption allegations, or her son who is too young, but vice-chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim.
But this post isn't about the PPP or the Pakistani government. It's about the PML-N, Nawaz Sharif's part of the PML.
On Friday the BBC reported this:
So if the elections went ahead on the 8th his party wouldn't have been in them.
From the BBC yesterday:
So now he says that he won't accept a change of date for elections that he would boycott if the date wasn't changed.
That is one of the most hypocritical things that you could ever say.
Besides if you are going to boycott elections that are held on a certain date, why bother complaining if the date is changed? You can still boycott those elections. There is no need whatsoever to complain that you can't boycott elections because someone decides to change the date.
In reality you shouldn't even have the right to complain. Unless you were only talking big and now the guy who overthrew you managed to out manoeuvre you.
The government is thinking that it will have to postpone the elections.
So naturally all the opposition parties are annoyed. And they are claiming that the government is going to lose.
The government has had 10 election offices burnt down by protesters and ballot papers have had their delivery disrupted. Depending on where these offices are, which looks like they are all in Sindh, there might be just enough time to keep the elections at the date.
Now the PPP are claiming that there will be violence if the elections aren't held on the 8th and it is probably because they want a sympathy vote. Their PM won't be Bhutto's widower because of corruption allegations, or her son who is too young, but vice-chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim.
But this post isn't about the PPP or the Pakistani government. It's about the PML-N, Nawaz Sharif's part of the PML.
On Friday the BBC reported this:
"Ms Bhutto's political rival Nawaz Sharif, who was deposed as prime minister in the coup, has announced his party will now boycott the election, saying free elections were impossible under Mr Musharraf."
So if the elections went ahead on the 8th his party wouldn't have been in them.
From the BBC yesterday:
"Mr Sharif said his party would not accept the expected postponement."
So now he says that he won't accept a change of date for elections that he would boycott if the date wasn't changed.
That is one of the most hypocritical things that you could ever say.
Besides if you are going to boycott elections that are held on a certain date, why bother complaining if the date is changed? You can still boycott those elections. There is no need whatsoever to complain that you can't boycott elections because someone decides to change the date.
In reality you shouldn't even have the right to complain. Unless you were only talking big and now the guy who overthrew you managed to out manoeuvre you.
Monday, 24 December 2007
Congratulations Are In Order
I think we should all stand and toast Israel.
They are building settlements even though they promised not to.
So, on behalf of the entire world that doesn't want this whole problem. Congratuations.
You have now given the militants another reason to continue trying to wipe your country of the map. But please, don't continue to listen to what the world would like you to do, continue to piss off the Palestinians and radicals, just don't start playing the victim when the world condemns you for the excessive use of force that you will use to collectively punish the Palestinian people.
One thing does seem quite obvious. If Israel stopped acting like stupid gits in regard to this whole thing we might find that peace works out so much easier because it would help break this vicious cycle that seems to occur in the region.
Alternatively if this is all about religion, then maybe we should hand Israel over to say China and then there would be no Holy Land for anyone.
They are building settlements even though they promised not to.
So, on behalf of the entire world that doesn't want this whole problem. Congratuations.
You have now given the militants another reason to continue trying to wipe your country of the map. But please, don't continue to listen to what the world would like you to do, continue to piss off the Palestinians and radicals, just don't start playing the victim when the world condemns you for the excessive use of force that you will use to collectively punish the Palestinian people.
One thing does seem quite obvious. If Israel stopped acting like stupid gits in regard to this whole thing we might find that peace works out so much easier because it would help break this vicious cycle that seems to occur in the region.
Alternatively if this is all about religion, then maybe we should hand Israel over to say China and then there would be no Holy Land for anyone.
Friday, 21 December 2007
A new fad is sweeping the net
Maybe.
Or at least allowing us to practise our sarcasm for use in the real world.
Since it seems that the World's media, by which I mean at the moment the US and Australia consider it to be rather important to mention in sections earmarked for "news" that Britney Spears' sister Jamie Lynn is pregnant that this new fad has started.
Clearly we know that this must be the first time in the history of the world that a teenager has become pregnant. I mean why else would it make such a fuss? It's not like there is some sort of teen pregnancy thing going on in the world right? Right??
I mean we all know that teenagers are the best at being abstinent...
Or at least allowing us to practise our sarcasm for use in the real world.
Since it seems that the World's media, by which I mean at the moment the US and Australia consider it to be rather important to mention in sections earmarked for "news" that Britney Spears' sister Jamie Lynn is pregnant that this new fad has started.
Clearly we know that this must be the first time in the history of the world that a teenager has become pregnant. I mean why else would it make such a fuss? It's not like there is some sort of teen pregnancy thing going on in the world right? Right??
I mean we all know that teenagers are the best at being abstinent...
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