Monthly Archives: January 2010

Can I have a TV in my bathroom please?

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I’m in Beijing now, for the next few days.  Checked into the hotel early this morning to shower, change, grab a couple of hours sleep etc, before going out this afternoon to do some tourist stuff, and meet up with one of my Chinese colleagues for some dinner.  Normally I have showers, but in this hotel I’m definitely having a bath at some time, just so I can watch TV while relaxing in the bathtub.

Mind you, the glass wall between the bathroom and the bedroom will take a bit of getting used to, especially the fact that I can sit on the toilet and look out the window of my room … hope no-one in the apartments over the road is looking in.

Clutching at straws

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I think this is very much a case of that.  3 families are preparing to sue the Victorian government and its roads department for allegedly failing to prevent the deaths of loved ones who jumped from a bridge, in these cases Melbourne’s Westgate bridge.

On February 5 2009, 17-year-old Allem Halkic took his own life by jumping from the bridge after being bullied on a social networking website.  His family and two others are preparing joint lawsuits against authorities for failing to establish anti-jump barriers.   Father Ali Halkic said many more lives would have been saved if authorities had acted earlier and if better camera surveillance identified at-risk people on the bridge:

"Allem was our only son and we know at his moment of weakness the West Gate called his name,"

"But he should never have been able to walk that (1.2km) distance to his death and VicRoads, knowing how many lives have been lost, should have had measures in place to prevent these types of deaths."

he said.

A 2004 coroner’s report recommended anti-suicide fencing and senior police had for several years urged the Government and VicRoads to install the barriers. The State Government announced in December 2008 that it would erect safety barriers on the bridge, and temporary barriers were erected early last year (prompted no doubt by the death of 4 year old girl Darcey Freeman whose father allegedly threw her from the bridge – a year ago tomorrow).

I have no problems with governments, companies and individuals being held accountable for their negligence.  However in this case I think its stretching things too far to claim the owners of a bridge had a duty of care to prevent people wishing to kill themselves by jumping off it from doing so.  Sure, if there was evidence that people were at risk of accidentally falling from the bridge, yes there is a duty of care.  But there is no evidence that has ever happened, the people in question deliberately went there to kill themselves and in so doing circumvented the safety measures in place for normal bridge users.  It strikes me that these families are looking to blame someone for the tragedy they have experienced, and conveniently, that someone happens to be the party most likely to have the deepest pockets.

One thing mentioned was that since the safety barriers were erected the number of “incidents” on the bridge have been virtually eliminated.  I wonder if it means suicides were prevented, or it just diverted those individuals to finding another means of killing themselves?

Oh shit! So it doesn’t only happen in jokes

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This is the sort of thing you think has got to be a joke, surely it couldn’t happen in real life?

Doctors in Peru amputated the healthy leg of an 86-year-old man, then amputated the other leg when they realised their mistake.  He went in to have his right leg removed as it had an ulcer, but the doctors cut off his left leg, then upon realising it was the wrong one, cut off the right one too.

The Alberto Sabogal Hospital in the coastal district of Callao just north of Lima said it had suspended the doctors involved in the botched surgery for a life-threatening ulcer, pending an investigation.

I wonder what the doctors said when they realised their error – I’m betting “oh shit” would have been the first thing that went through their minds.  Definitely one of those “oh shit” moments!

Beats working

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I’m in Kuala Lumpur for work at the moment, till the end of the week, having arrived last Tuesday night.  So that means we had the weekend to do some sightseeing.   On Sunday, we spent the day at the Kuala Gandah elephant sanctuary, and fed, rode on, and swam with, the elephants.

Here’s some of what I did at the sanctuary.

First of all the keepers washed the elephants in the river.

Then we got to feed them, and ride on them, then the finale.  First, sit on the elephant….

over we go ….

the aftermath, drowned rats.

Well worth the effort to get there if you happen to be in Kuala Lumpur.  And we got a nice drive in the country, sampled some tropical fruits, had a go shooting targets with a blowpipe, and had lunch, local style.

However, back to KL, and work, now, for the rest of this week.

47 seconds of Lindsay Lohan

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I used to think Lindsay Lohan was pretty good in some of her earlier movies, like “Mean Girls” – the ones she did before she decided her mission in life was to outskank the likes of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.  Seems she’s gone through a rough patch, and according to someone associated with her, looking to clean up her act in 2010.

However her efforts look to be about to be undone by the release onto the internet of a sex video featuring her.  According to the source:

“The video film is dynamite. It is pretty seedy and shows Lindsay engaged in a particular sex act which, obviously, should remain behind closed doors.

“Lindsay was desperate to start 2010 off on a good footing and this is the very last thing she needs.”

The video, for which Hustler magazine is said to be willing to pay $175k for, is only 47 seconds long, and was filmed by a waiter from a chain restaurant.

Maybe there’s a couple of valuable life lessons she should take from the experience:

  1. if you don’t want everyone to see you doing the sexing stuff – don’t film it.
  2. giving blowies in the toilet/booth/at the table in the local Hooters/Chilis/TGI Fridays/McDonalds/whatever it was, is a dumb idea.

Rooting robots

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I’ve just been watching Battlestar Galactica, with all its Cylons, the machines that evolved into human form.  It seems that we are closer to that fictional universe than you might think.  Meet Roxxxy the rootable robot – a sex robot which was introduced at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas this week, a life-size robotic girlfriend complete with artificial intelligence and flesh-like synthetic skin.

According to her inventor:

“She can’t vacuum, she can’t cook but she can do almost anything else if you know what I mean,”

“She’s a companion. She has a personality. She hears you. She listens to you. She speaks. She feels your touch. She goes to sleep. We are trying to replicate a personality of a person.”

Roxxxy stands five feet, seven inches tall, weighs 120 pounds, and has C cup breasts.  She has an articulated skeleton that can move like a person but cannot walk or independently move its limbs.  Robotic movement is built into “the three inputs” and a mechanical heart that powers a liquid cooling system. (what exactly are those 3 inputs …. DVD drive, USB port, memory card slot?)  She comes with five personalities. Wild Wendy is outgoing and adventurous, while Frigid Farrah is reserved and shy.  There is a also a young, naive personality along with a Mature Martha and S & M Susan.

So we’ve got it covered, from those whose tastes go from the “barely 16” to MILF’s.  At the end of the day though, its basically an inflatable dolly that can move its arms and legs a bit and talk.   Users are still freaks – although at $US7-9k, fairly wealthy freaks.

Does this appeal to you?

roxxxy

If you’d like to own your own Roxxxy, go to this site.  And women, don’t feel left out – apparently they’re working on a male robot called Rocky.

Myself, I’d prefer a Number Six.

Cylon_number_six

Mind boggling

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Fascinating to read what some of our school teachers get up to in their spare time.  

Nepean High School teacher’s assistant Sharron Anne Lee, 40, was involved in a threesome at a drunken New Year’s Eve sex party which later descended into a brawl.  Her bail hearing was told Lee, had fought with her girlfriend of three years, Carlie-Anne Bell, from Glenmore Park, in her bedroom while the man they had picked up at the Penrith Panthers club, Nikola Murgevski, watched on.  The three had continued partying at Rooty Hill RSL before retiring to Lee’s bedroom after playing "strip pool" in Lee’s backyard.  The hearing was told the fight had begun because Bell was upset that Lee was having sex with Murgevski.

The attack saw Bell hospitalised with a tear to her bowel lining and severe bleeding.  She was expected to require surgery.

Lee was charged with recklessly causing grievous bodily harm.  Police prosecutor Kristy Madden said the charges related to "an unusual set of circumstances" and the facts read "horrifically".

The mind boggles – obviously the assault involved something being stuck in Ms Bell’s arse, but leaves me wondering how a dildo or vibrator would have got there in a fight … strange choice of weapon.

This story has “bogan” written all over it.  Happened in western Sydney, Rooty Hill RSL and Penrith Panthers must be bogan central in terms of nightlife venues in that area, one of the protagonists has an oddly spelt name (Sharron with 2 “r”’s), the other a double barrel one, weird sex, lesbians, threesomes and fighting.  Something tells me they were probably fuelled by Bundy and Cokes, and there just has to have been Winfields smoked somewhere in the time they were together.

Next instalment in this adventure is on January 11, when it goes back to court.