Making shit up as you go
That’s what the proposal to have an offshore refugee processing facility in East Timor looks to have been. Something our new prime minister, the ranga queen, Julia Gillard, made up the other day as a response to political pressure to do something about the problem of asylum seekers illegally entering Australia by boat. East Timor’s [...]
M&M’s, or should that be E&E’s?
It could be one of those only in Tasmania stories. Dwayne Grant Seabourne of Devonport may well be the world’s dumbest drug dealer. He travelled from Tasmania to buy some ecstacy, paying $6,000 for 400 pills. When intercepted by police at Launceston airport, Seabourne admitted to having bought drugs and handed over a cylinder wrapped [...]
Surely her 15 minutes is over?
I have no idea whether Nicole Richie is a nice woman, or not. Nor do I have any clue what she is actually famous for. I mean what has she actually done except be friends with Paris Hilton (another of those famous for being famous people who are famous for doing what exactly?). However, I [...]
Was she worth it?
Mark McInnes, chief executive of retailer David Jones, resigned today in the wake of sexual harassment allegations by a female employee. Board chairman Robert Savage told the press that an allegation was made by a current female staff member against Mr McInnes last week involving improper behaviour. Mr Savage said the complaint had come to [...]
Kevin the weasel
Something that Kevin Rudd made a big deal about in the 2007 election campaign was attacking the amount of government paid but really party political advertising that the then Liberal government undertook. Mr Rudd was going to tighten things up, and ensure government moneys were only used for legitimate informational advertising, and not political advertising. [...]
Meanwhile in the land of the crazy litigants
How’s this for ridiculous misuse of the legal process? An American man bought a clock on eBay, and wasn’t happy with what he got, so posted negative feedback. The seller, of course, is suing him for damages. Michael Steadman is being sued for $15,000 after posting negative feedback on the seller, Elliot Miller, accusing him [...]
Protecting people from themselves
There is some sort of debate going on among the locals around The Gap in Sydney’s eastern suburbs. The Gap is a scenic ocean cliff, and a well known suicide spot – some 50 people kill themselves each year by jumping off the cliff onto the rocks below. The local council is lobbying the Federal [...]
Well, that lasted a long time
Kraft proudly launched its new Vegemite variant on Saturday, calling it iSnack 2.0. This name was decided upon following a national competition to pick a name for the new product, which is a mixture of the traditional Vegemite and cream cheese. Following almost unanimous scoffing by Australians at the stupid name of the [...]
Even in the land of litigation, this is crazy
A man called Dalton Chiscolm is apparently unhappy with the service provided by Bank of America. So what does he do? Sues them of course – for "1,784 billion, trillion dollars". There are a couple of fundamental problems with his lawsuit. First, the judge can’t figure out what Mr Chiscolm’s problem with the bank [...]
She could have sent some of it my way
Callie Rogers won $3.7m in a lottery when she was 16. At age 22 she is broke and living at home with her mother. She spent the money on booze, two boob jobs and almost $500,000 of cocaine. About $400,000 was spent on a family holiday while a large amount was also spent on a string [...]