Posts filed under 'Bizarreness'
…and then get arrested for your alleged trouble.
Metro has arrested a local father for letting his eleven year old son drive after he had too much to drink. The man and his son were stopped near Boulder Hwy and Twain. The man was arrested for suspicion of DUI and child endangerment and the child was released to a relative.
I’m struggling to work out whose driving would have been more dangerous. Over to the the courts to sort that one out now.
Samuel
July 11th, 2009 at 10:50am
And no surprises lay in the fact that it comes from within the US Government.
A proposed ban, on both the sale to, and smoking of, tobacco for military personnel. A move which could easily see a third, possibly more, of the military quit.
Pentagon health experts are urging Defense Secretary Robert Gates to ban the use of tobacco by troops and end its sale on military property, a change that could dramatically alter a culture intertwined with smoking.
Jack Smith, head of the Pentagon’s office of clinical and program policy, says he will recommend that Gates adopt proposals by a federal study that cites rising tobacco use and higher costs for the Pentagon and Department of Veterans Affairs as reasons for the ban.
The study by the Institute of Medicine, requested by the VA and Pentagon, calls for a phased-in ban over a period of years, perhaps up to 20. “We’ll certainly be taking that recommendation forward,” Smith says.
And worryingly it’s not just a lone voice supporting this.
Pentagon spokeswoman Cynthia Smith said the department supports a smoke-free military “and believes it is achievable.” She declined to elaborate on any possible ban.
Unless such a ban were to be extended to all US citizens, I really don’t see how it is legally workable. Tobacco, as a legal product, is a choice. Military personnel aren’t prohibited from drinking, so why should they be prohibited from smoking?
And how would the US military cope if a third of its staff were to quit?
One in three servicemembers use tobacco, the report says, compared with one in five adult Americans. The heaviest smokers are soldiers and Marines, who have done most of the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, the study says. About 37% of soldiers use tobacco and 36% of Marines. Combat veterans are 50% more likely to use tobacco than troops who haven’t seen combat.
It’s simple…it wouldn’t.
I’m not denying that there are health risks and associated health costs, related to smoking. But banning smoking won’t stop the smoking, it will just prompt the addicted to quit so that they can continue to smoke…and amongst the public, especially those sympathetic to the military, it will be seen as an assault on the military by the government…an incredibly unpatriotic thing to do, and not something any sane president would do while sitting on a “-7” approval rating.
Expect this report to be buried, and for the government’s propaganda machine to pump out a distraction quick smart. Aren’t they lucky that it’s Government Motors’ first day out of bankruptcy? And Obama is visiting the Pope? A perfect day to bury such a report.
Samuel
July 11th, 2009 at 12:29am
I note from Mark Parton’s blog that the Chief Turnip of the ACT, Jon Stanhope, nearly let out the F word yesterday, but stopped himself just before it came out.
Word is that the Chief Minister was addressing some business leaders yesterday. He was talking about potential budget blow outs in the upgrade of Civic….and he nearly said, “How the F….can it possibly cost that much”
He stopped himself on the F and went with ‘How in the world’ instead.
People seem to like politicians who comes across as honest and “one of the people”, and not “putting on a show”. I can’t think of a better way for a politician to gain popularity than to use the F word, in context, in a public setting, and enjoy the public rallying behind him or her when the media starts criticising them for it.
Sure, you’d get those who would be critical, but on the whole, I think the number of people who would be supportive would greatly outnumber the disapprovers.
Whilst it does have to be remembered that there is a time and place for everything, and that a business meeting is probably not the place for a political leader to shout expletives, it’s probably a better place for them to do it than some other places (the chamber, for one, would be a bad place). There isn’t really a “right place” in public for a politician to use expletives, but for an intended or unintended political stunt, yesterday’s meeting with business leaders would have been one of the better places.
I suppose I should be thankful that he didn’t use the F word though, because if he did, I might have been forced to defend him…and defending Jon Stanhope is one of the least comfortable things I could ever be forced to do.
Samuel
July 9th, 2009 at 06:54am
US Talk Radio host Mark Levin has been nicknamed “The Great One”. I suppose I should, therefore, be honoured that a spammer by the name of “Mr. Robert” has seen fit to dub me “The Good One”, which might make me a contender to fill-in for Mark one day.
As much as I’m pleased to receive an email purportedly from Switzerland, with the greeting “Dear Good one!!!”, I just don’t think that I’ll ever see the promised 232 million US dollars. Actually, I probably have as much chance of seeing the money, as “Mr. Robert” has of getting my personal details.
Samuel
July 7th, 2009 at 10:47pm
I’ve had two days to digest this one now, and I still don’t get it. Senator Mark Arbib, I submit to your superior intellect and ask you to kindly explain the difference to me.
There have been, like there’s a story today on the front page of the “Sunday Telegraph” and there’s been a number of them and almost all of these stories that we’ve gone away and checked out have been either inaccurate or not correct.
Yes, the stories are either inaccurate or not correct.
Meanwhile Mark also put on his psychologist hat during the interview, and came up with this pearler:
We’re going to create on the ground and the productivity gains that the country’s going to get.
I mean this is, to sort of question our intentions, [is] just – crazy
Mark, I have a job for you. There’s this bloke over in the US who talks to the media every day…sends them to sleep, uses the word “um” as every third word, and rarely has the faintest clue what’s going on. His name is Robert Gibbs, and he is the White House Press Secretary. I’d like you to take over his job. You make just as much sense, and with an attitude of “questioning our intentions is crazy”, you’d fit right in to the Obama White House.
Samuel
July 7th, 2009 at 08:37pm
Because if, for some strange reason, they actually succeed in building it, you can be assured that it will be plagued with problems. This time around, it’s lighting which makes train drivers sick.
Chatswood Epping Rail link a blinking farce
By Rhys Haynes
The Daily Telegraph
THE problems facing the $2.3 billion Epping to Chatswood Rail Link – a train line $1 billion over budget that goes halfway to it original destination – continue to mount.
Yesterday I travelled along the line, staring out the window like any of the 10,000 passengers would do each day.
I tried to count the individual lights as we went along, and at one point I swayed sideways because I felt so giddy.
I was able to look away and take a few seconds to readjust my eyes because I was dizzy.
I can’t even imagine what it is like for a driver trying to concentrate on his or her job.
It would be like trying to drive a car while having your front seat passenger flicking a torch on and off in your face – for 8½ hours.
RailCorp played down the claims of ill drivers when approached by The Daily Telegraph yesterday.
But in the same breath one of the organisation’s most senior executives, Andy Byford, said he had immediately implemented a number of considerable shift restrictions and driver rules because he was taking “no risks”.
[..]
The link won’t be officially in place until October when the line is integrated into the rest of the network’s timetable.
That means the Rees Government has less than 100 days to sort out the problems before it gets truly embarrassing.
Right now these issues are buried deep underground in a small pocket of Sydney’s northwest.
Steep tracks, loud trains, problematic concrete sleepers and cracks in the ceiling are just the start of it.
[..]
The latest problem on the Epping to Chatswood line involving a strobe-lighting effect seems staggeringly obvious to anyone who has travelled in the tunnel.
Why did it take a driver in hospital to force RailCorp to investigate the problem?
That would be a good question Rhys, if it weren’t the New South Wales government in charge. Have you ever known the Carr/Iemma/Rees et al government to build a tunnel or other bit of transport infrastructure, be it for cars, trains, aeroplanes or ferries, and get it right?
Didn’t think so.
Samuel
July 7th, 2009 at 11:51am
I’m playing catch-up here with stories from the last few days, so I apologise that some of these stories are a few days old, but this one made me fall off my chair when I heard about it.
One of the federal government’s infamous “taskforces” are proposing that obese people be given subsidies on gym memberships.
OVERWEIGHT people could be paid to lose weight under a radical plan to combat the nation’s obesity crisis.
The Rudd Government’s National Preventative Health Taskforce is next week expected to call for tax breaks or subsidies for gym memberships and fitness equipment. Parents could also get tax breaks to help pay for children’s sports club membership.
Junk food ads could be banned in children’s TV time and there could be new voluntary restrictions cutting salt and fat in packaged food. Fast-food restaurants could also be asked to give a calorie count on menus.
So let me get this straight…if I go and put on 500kg in the next two days, I could get a subsidised gym membership? Great! Somebody ring McDonalds and get them to bring a truck to my place.
A Sydney resident has been quoted in the article, stealing my thunder. Why should fat people be paid to join gyms, when people who aren’t fat (like me) have to fork out excessive amounts of our hard earned dollars to join gyms if we want to improve our physical fitness?
Darlinghurst resident Fleur Carter said yesterday it was unfair to offset the cost of overweight people to use the gym when the same scheme wasn’t extended to other people.
The 26-year-old pays $90 a month to use City Gym, where she is exercising to try to put back on weight she lost after a recent illness.
“You have got other people as well who have got health things like asthma where it is medically better for them to be fit,” she said.
“The Government doesn’t pay for them to go to the gym.”
And in signs that Australia is headed for a soft tyranny under Kevin Rudd after all, we’re all being told to change our lifestyles to fit the government’s agenda.
Employers will also be asked to do their bit by encouraging employees to stand while using the phone, instituting meetings as participants walk and organising regular work breaks.
Meanwhile the long-suffering smokers and drinkers are once again set to be forced to pay more to do something which is perfectly legal.
The cost of a pack of cigarettes could also rise by as much as $3 a pack to encourage 130,000 people to quit smoking and the taskforce will call for new restrictions on pubs and other venues selling alcohol.
And the justification for a soft tyranny? Further down in the article, this hoary old chestnut is trotted out as a reason.
The task force has warned, unless we change our lifestyles, the next generation may be the first to live for a shorter period than their parents.
How many times have we heard that one?
Meanwhile, over at Smart Company, recent ABS statistics have been interpreted in this headline:
The more we spend on weight loss, the fatter we get
Yes, it seems that despite our increase in spending on our personal fitness, we continue to expand.
62% of the country’s population was overweight during 2007-08, up from 54% the previous year
Gym membership…I think I’ll pass thanks Kevin.
Samuel
June 26th, 2009 at 01:09pm
The stuff which clogs up out courts…some days I just have to foam at the mouth and fail to produce sentences.
the classic children’s ditty Kookaburra and the Men At Work hit Down Under are set to go head-to-head in court amid accusations part of the rock anthem is a rip-off, The Daily Telegraph reports.
Music publishing company Larrikin owns the Kookaburra song and claims the melody that accompanies the line “Kookaburra sits in the old gum tree” is reproduced in Down Under. The case is due to start in full within days.
A fresh battle erupted yesterday, with lawyers for Down Under songwriters Colin Hay and Ron Strykert, and music giants Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Sony DADC Australia, EMI Songs Australia and EMI Music Publishing, claiming Larrikin doesn’t actually have copyright to Kookaburra – the Girl Guides do.
[..]
The entertainment giants, along with [Colin] Hay and [Ron] Strykert, have lodged a counter-claim against Larrikin alleging misleading or deceptive conduct.
The part of the Down Under song that is alleged to have breached copyright is the distinctive flute riff.
According to court documents, lawyers for the songwriters and the record companies will argue “the Down Under work does not incorporate the whole or any substantial part of the Kookaburra work”.
As this is before the courts, I should refrain from comment…I’ll just foam at the mouth in disbelief instead.
Samuel
June 26th, 2009 at 09:36am
A curious ad for a carpet shop which has recently changed its name, is currently airing on WIN Television in regional Victoria. The thing which makes it curious is what the shop’s owner says at the end of the ad.
Now that we’ve changed our name, you should change your carpet
I will keep that handy piece of correlation in mind if I ever need to change my name. I’m thinking fluoro yellow carpet which would be just as sensible as the reason for buying the carpet.
Samuel
June 18th, 2009 at 08:09pm
When I glimpsed the front page of the Herald Sun this morning, the first thing I thought was “gee, Dame Edna isn’t wearing as much make-up as ‘she’ used to”.
Now I can just sit back and wait for the Moran family to work out where I am, and set fire to my stuff.
Samuel
June 18th, 2009 at 05:39pm
And there’s no prize for guessing that it’s the gas industry which is infuriated by the debacle:
The gas industry has slammed the government’s Renewable Energy Target (RET) legislation saying it is flawed and was misleading consumers.
Under the RET legislation to be introduced in parliament this week, households which install an electric water heater can apply for a rebate.
The Gas Industry Alliance says under the proposed RET, electric heat pump water heaters qualify as solar products and will be eligible for rebates.
Group spokesman Peter Harcus said the legislation makes no sense and should be amended if the RET is to be effective.
“Would you call your fridge a solar product? These electrical hot water products run the same way, driven by grid electricity and generate more greenhouse gas than genuine solar products,” Mr Harcus said.
“Under this policy, if you put your fridge outside, it would therefore be considered solar. It is a complete farce.”
Mr Harcus said consumers were being misled by “bogus” solar products which run on electricity and produce more carbon emissions than a solar energy system.
The gas industry group is calling for electric heat pump systems to be removed from the scheme.
It says due to the inclusion of electric hot water systems for rebates, the RET will fail to deliver the 20 per cent electricity generation from renewable sources by 2020.
Hmmm, a solar fridge…that’s one thing I haven’t seen Malcolm Douglas pull out of the back of his four-wheel drive yet. Maybe he will do so the next time Channel Seven decide to show one of his dubious outback cooking shows.
Samuel
June 16th, 2009 at 05:15pm
I can only assume that one of the women who works in Josh’s Bakehouse in Deniliquin has changed her hair or her glasses since the last time I went in there, as she now looks just like Sarah Palin. It wasn’t until I heard her voice that I was sure that she isn’t Sarah Palin.
Samuel
June 16th, 2009 at 03:15pm
Seeing things like this just makes me think that Douglas Adams was right in The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy…the dolphins really are smarter than us.
Each Spring and Fall Equinox humanity is given the opportunity to merge with dolphin and whale consciousness on a global scale. The Golden Water Activation and Global Marine Meditation opens a portal (or doorway) into their world. It allows anyone who has the desire to go beyond normal boundaries and be lifted up into their frequency.
The meditations may be done by individuals or groups at any time. However, “where two or more are gathered” is such a powerful technology that we ask you to join us during the time specified if at all possible. The dolphins and whales will definitely be there as well.
The worrying thing is, these people are trying to justify their dolphin meditation sessions with “scientific research“, although it’s pretty easy to dismiss when it would appear that the entire reason, according to them, that dolphin meditation works, is that:
70% to 80% of the earth is covered with water. 70% to 80% of the human body is made up of water. There is an irrevocable link.
Apparently this 10% margin of error in water calculations allows “love vibrations” to be shared by humans and dolphins…or something like that. You try and work it out, I’ve given up due to laughter.
The Golden Water Dolphin Meditation for Planetary Healing raises the vibration of all the water molecules on planet earth – including the ones inside your body.
Scientific research proves that water molecules change when various vibrations are introduced. I’m sure you’ve heard of The Hidden Messages in Water by Dr. Emoto by now.
The most complex, beautiful, and pristine molecules are created through the vibration of Love – which is the predominant vibration one experiences when connecting with dolphins. The word dolphin also creates truly extraordinary and beautiful molecules.
Very sophisticated instruments have finally been developed that can measure vibrations. High vibrations create health and a sense of well being and low vibrations cause pain and dis-ease. It is in everyone’s highest and best interest to raise their own vibration and that of planet earth.
With this meditation you send healing love and light to the dolphins, whales, and their habitats. You stand and become one with them in UNITY and LOVE. You link hearts and minds and intentions and know that you are making a positive difference – not only to the oceans of the world, but also to yourself, and to all of humanity.
The dolphins emanate the vibrations of LOVE and JOY. Anytime you connect with those vibrations you are uplifted.
The whales hold immense knowledge and power. You are strengthened by connecting with them.
70% to 80% of the earth is covered with water. 70% to 80% of the human body is made up of water. There is an irrevocable link.
Humans are the custodians of the land. The cetaceans are the custodians of the sea. As we come together and join as ONE we are making the difference we are all desiring to make – to raise the vibration of everything and everyone on planet earth.
This work – if we can call it that – is so important that the words to the meditation were given to at least two people on opposite sides of the planet. David J. Adams from Australia was given this meditation in 1992 and there are many people around the world that have been joining with him each Spring and Fall Equinox for many years. I, Debbie from North America, was given the words to this meditation in 1998. And many have joined me as well each Spring and Fall Equinox. The meditations are held at the same time, they are the same, they are ONE. There are some very trivial differences. So whether you choose the meditation from this site, or the one from David’s – it matters not.
What matters is your intention to be LOVE, and to radiate LOVE, and to send LOVE to the sea.
Blessings,
Deb
So, uh, can anyone explain to me how the word “dolphin” can make “truly extraordinary and beautiful molecules”?
“42” you say…hmmm, I thought so…it makes about as much sense as the dolphin nonsense.
Samuel
June 15th, 2009 at 09:15pm
Seeing as this blog post is related, I should say to all of those of you who guessed that my “major infrastructure investment” earlier this week was a car…congratulations, you were correct.
I love hitch-hikers. They often have interesting and somewhat random (and often alcohol induced) stories to tell, and occasionally (OK, rarely) they pay for their ride. This morning I had one of these rare paying hitch-hikers. When we arrived at their house, they asked me to wait for a few moments while they got “some coins” which were apparently going to be more than worth my while…they weren’t kidding.
After waiting for a couple minutes, the hitch-hiker returned with what looked like a small bucket, which they then took a couple seconds to empty in to the front passenger’s footwell. The coins covered the entire footwell, seemingly layers deep.
It took me at least five minutes to pick up the coins when I got home…and whilst half a (full size) bucket of coins is an exaggeration, the bucket is certainly heavy enough, and it is going to take me quite some time to count.
This leaves me pondering a couple questions though. The coins are obviously worth a fair chunk of money, so how drunk was this hitch-hiker? And will they regret giving away so many coins when they wake up later today.
Secondly, who keeps large amounts of coins of all denominations, in buckets?
I’ll weight the bucket once the bathroom is (and the scales are) free. I’ll count the coins later on today. I’ll report back on both counts.
Update: 12.5kg of coins. End Update
Further Update 5pm: Having spent the better half of the afternoon counting coins, I can confirm that the coins are as follows:
In $2 coins: $398
In $1 coins: $228
In 50c coins: $92.50
In 20c coins: $57.40
In 10c coins: $21.90
In 5c coins: $6.30
In total: $804.10
I took this hitch-hiker from Barry Drive to Weetangera, a distance of about 7 kilomteres, which makes the cost of the journey a rather ridiculous amount of $114.87 per kilometre, or 11.5 cents per metre. To the same extent, the trip took about ten minutes, which is a pay rate of $482.46 per hour.
That was certainly a very generous hitch-hiker.
End Update
Samuel
June 6th, 2009 at 07:04am
I received an email today claiming to be from the Commonwealth Bank, informing me, as a customer (I don’t recall opening an account there, but I have been known to forget these things) that my account has been suspended, and that I should call 08 7123 3018 to “update my account” as soon as possible.
I rang the number to see what would happen. It rang twice, and I was then informed by the Telstra woman that “we regret that the number you have dialled is disconnected or unavailable”.
Intent on facilitating the theft of my identity, I decided to reply to the email, but alas it is “from” service@commbank.com.au with a reply-to address of no-reply@commbank.com.au
Looks like my identity is safe today.
Samuel
June 3rd, 2009 at 02:29pm
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