tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21289211645586704772012-01-20T09:55:52.908+10:00FigMincehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841668091720591745noreply@blogger.comBlogger133125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2128921164558670477.post-81710196210368232812012-01-19T07:44:00.021+10:002012-01-20T07:43:00.430+10:002012-01-20T07:43:00.430+10:00

Paula Deen, celebrity chef and queen of high-calorie white-trash cooking, is hugely big on fats, salt and sugar in the dishes she dishes up in her programs on America's Food Network – much to the dismay of those who worry about the country's growing obesity problems.Now, Paula's reported to be suffering from Type 2 diabetes, usually associated with the kind of diet and obesity she promotes.But

FigMincehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841668091720591745noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2128921164558670477.post-34821616073004870522012-01-15T07:50:00.017+10:002012-01-15T13:00:38.785+10:002012-01-15T13:00:38.785+10:00

Brazilian workers who answer work emails via smart phones outside their regular office hours are now entitled to overtime payments. On the one hand that seems fair enough, but what's to stop workers from conspiring to only ever email each other during out-of-office hours?But hey, am I the only genius who sees a hot opp for a hot app here?"It's called Konnect&Kollect®.Pedro and I email each other,

FigMincehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841668091720591745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2128921164558670477.post-28238896843916603282012-01-13T09:51:00.020+10:002012-01-19T08:01:09.843+10:002012-01-19T08:01:09.843+10:00

This week the Land Of The Free celebrated(?) ten glorious years of Guantanimo Bay which, okay, is actually (and deviously strategically) outside the Land Of The Free, because George W Bush created Gitmo to deny detainees any access to US laws. (The US Supreme Court has since ruled that detainees have the right to habeas corpus and their day in court, but nobody seems to have taken any notice of

FigMincehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841668091720591745noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2128921164558670477.post-21224301017275776982012-01-12T09:55:00.014+10:002012-01-12T14:22:13.695+10:002012-01-12T14:22:13.695+10:00

Australia's Gold Coast is home to the rich and fatuous pretending it's not really a crappy over-cranked beachside sprawl of suburbia that lives off tourists too stupid to go somewhere classy. (At this point, maybe I should declare a certain personal antipathy to the place.)Okay, so one of its annual crapfests is something they call the 'Magic Millions', which is the sale of horses that might

FigMincehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841668091720591745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2128921164558670477.post-42219151731932649692012-01-08T13:02:00.002+10:002012-01-08T13:05:24.888+10:002012-01-08T13:05:24.888+10:00

A group of French fans are suing Dr Conrad Murray, the doctor found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson, for compensation for the 'emotional damage' they've suffered because of their idol's death. Me, I don't think they stand a chance, because I'm pretty sure any lawyer worth his padded chargeable hours would be able to make the ipso facto case that being a Michael

FigMincehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841668091720591745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2128921164558670477.post-57612938687147853212012-01-07T11:06:00.018+10:002012-01-08T09:09:00.249+10:002012-01-08T09:09:00.249+10:00

On the outskirts of Sydney, there's a cemetery that's running out of room to bury the lately-local folk 'green' enough to prefer to rot away slowly rather than go out in a blaze of cremated air pollution. So now the cemetery wants to annex neighbouring traditional Chinese market gardens which have been there for more than a century. The market gardeners don't want to go – but then, I guess,

FigMincehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841668091720591745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2128921164558670477.post-7223341859415901382011-12-31T06:40:00.024+10:002012-01-03T12:46:24.114+10:002012-01-03T12:46:24.114+10:00

Well, here it is, New Year's Eve (although I'm still convinced that the calendar year should really start and end with the Northern winter solstice, but hey). So here in Australia, much of the the populace will gather to ooooh and aaaahh at spectacularly costly* fireworks displays organised by various governments to divert attention from the lack of money spent on chronically under-staffed and

FigMincehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841668091720591745noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2128921164558670477.post-36544286690336763592011-12-26T11:13:00.022+10:002011-12-27T06:21:32.252+10:002011-12-27T06:21:32.252+10:00

Here in Australia (as, I'm sure, in much of the rest of the world) our Government is exhorting all of us peons to use less electricity. We're offered taxpayer-funded audits to show us which appliances use the most power, along with tips like not leaving TV sets etc on 'Stand-By', and we've had subsidies to encourage us to install home insulation and rooftop solar power generation systems. It's

FigMincehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841668091720591745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2128921164558670477.post-28051265087166491322011-12-25T13:04:00.013+10:002012-01-01T09:53:14.121+10:002012-01-01T09:53:14.121+10:00

Once upon a time in a land far away from the rest of the world, Australians had an enviable record for welcoming refugees to their shores. In fact, despite the country's relatively small population, it still ranks third in the world for its intake of immigrants since the end of World War II (the city of Melbourne is home to the world's second-largest population of Greeks, exceeded only by Athens)

FigMincehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841668091720591745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2128921164558670477.post-37240991943775024902011-12-24T12:42:00.018+10:002011-12-24T16:49:29.324+10:002011-12-24T16:49:29.324+10:00

(I'm back. Maybe. Occasionally. Or not. We'll see. Who knows?)Here in Queensland, State Government regulations require fire hoses, illuminated exit signs, and displays showing evacuation procedures to be installed in all apartment, commercial and industrial buildings.The regulations also require 'appropriate' easily-opened fire doors.Trouble is, these one-set-fits-all rules apply universally.

FigMincehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841668091720591745noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2128921164558670477.post-10850915124696938012011-08-20T13:57:00.025+10:002011-12-22T11:59:12.672+10:002011-12-22T11:59:12.672+10:00

It's occurred to me that I really oughta explain to the seven-and-a-half people who used to intermittently follow this blog (and, I guess, those of you who've landed here by accident and really couldn't care less) why it's dormant.Back a while, I had a cheap-wine-induced epiphanous realisation that my personal opinions are worth nothing to anyone except me, and my ego finally came to grips with

FigMincehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841668091720591745noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2128921164558670477.post-64119268582978243592011-04-18T09:15:00.009+10:002011-04-26T09:40:35.894+10:002011-04-26T09:40:35.894+10:00

Donald Trump, as yet 'undecided' about whether he'll bid for the next US Presidency (maybe he's waiting for the price to drop further), has told CNN that America, by failing to exert its power more decisively to apply its foreign policy, has become 'the laughing stock of the world'."With hair like mine,I'm an expert on how tobe a laughing stock."

FigMincehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841668091720591745noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2128921164558670477.post-1347428805809539082011-04-17T08:35:00.008+10:002011-04-17T10:50:26.762+10:002011-04-17T10:50:26.762+10:00

The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, one George Pell, doesn't believe that climate change is a result of human activity, saying that there's no 'acceptable' scientific evidence for that conclusion. Any questions?"What? Hey, don't tryto confuse the issue.What I'm talking aboutis climate change, notthe existence of God."

FigMincehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841668091720591745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2128921164558670477.post-85468557197479295512011-04-11T14:24:00.023+10:002011-04-26T09:39:06.520+10:002011-04-26T09:39:06.520+10:00

In France, today is B-Day – when wearing a burqa in public officially becomes a crime. Oops, let me get that officially correct: the law doesn't specifically mention burqas or Muslims – it sneakily cops out and bans all French citizens from covering their faces in public places.After all, with only an estimated two thousand Muslim burqa wearers in the entire population of sixty-four million (aka

FigMincehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841668091720591745noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2128921164558670477.post-1197031146487204572011-04-11T09:49:00.018+10:002011-07-12T14:17:15.351+10:002011-07-12T14:17:15.351+10:00

A friend of mine has been called up for jury duty this morning, and when we were discussing the fact over the weekend, we joked about how if he were to front-up with a few days stubble and wearing some deadbeat clothes and looking like a congenital idiot, he'd probably be dismissed from being part of a decision-making responsibility that he doesn't feel comfortable about.But my partner the

FigMincehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841668091720591745noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2128921164558670477.post-33811269382223839622011-04-09T14:04:00.022+10:002012-01-05T11:27:18.268+10:002012-01-05T11:27:18.268+10:00

Always an avid watcher of the Royal Family (maybe it's to do with my Celtic heritage and a genetically-dictated imperative to be ready to run and hide at the first sign of English soldiers coming over a hill), I've become aware of the many items currently available to exploit the upcoming marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton.We mere proletariati will be able to feel like part of the

FigMincehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841668091720591745noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2128921164558670477.post-2632791325611348852011-04-09T09:47:00.015+10:002011-04-09T11:15:55.256+10:002011-04-09T11:15:55.256+10:00

Here in Australia, we're currently, and almost universally, outraged about half-a-dozen idiot teenagers killing a tame swan in a Melbourne park (in the state of Victoria) by pelting it with rocks.And in other news, it's officially the Victorian duck-hunting season."Bloody stupid teenagers!They should hafta pay fora licence and use a humanegun just like the rest of us.Besides, I didn't know weeven

FigMincehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841668091720591745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2128921164558670477.post-40041350884039701822011-04-08T12:48:00.009+10:002011-04-08T13:30:36.824+10:002011-04-08T13:30:36.824+10:00

Amnesty International has just released a report, 'Death Penalty and Executions in 2010', which includes the numbers of prisoners who were facing death penalties in various countries around the world at the end of 2010.No figures were available from China, but given its huge population and commitment to crushing dissidence by any means, it's assumed to have the highest number of condemned. Next

FigMincehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841668091720591745noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2128921164558670477.post-61950370833809059272011-04-06T12:47:00.024+10:002011-04-07T06:52:12.389+10:002011-04-07T06:52:12.389+10:00

The mayor of the French town of Neuville-en-Ferrain, near Lille, has removed a public sculpture of the nation's symbolic revolutionary heroine Marianne, she of the Delacroix painting 'Liberty Leading the People', and will replace it with a newly commissioned one.Pourquoi? Because the breasts on the offending sculpture are too big. So given the fact that Marianne's breasts are traditionally

FigMincehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841668091720591745noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2128921164558670477.post-85372317467435206152011-04-04T13:36:00.028+10:002011-07-12T09:10:06.063+10:002011-07-12T09:10:06.063+10:00

Many years ago an elderly, extremely didactic classical musician told me his definition of a gentleman: 'A gentleman is somebody who can play the saxophone,' he explained, 'but refrains from doing so.' And frankly, I now find myself wondering if maybe that same principle shouldn't apply to the dissemination of what we call information.In the previous post, I crapped-on about Pastor Terry Jones

FigMincehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841668091720591745noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2128921164558670477.post-82339369267100083722011-04-03T13:44:00.035+10:002011-04-03T17:01:57.977+10:002011-04-03T17:01:57.977+10:00

Like most reasonable people, I thought Pastor Terry Jones' mock trial and burning of the Quran was fundamentally gross. But then I had a periphany (my word for being just on the edge of a revelation).It occurred to me that if we completely did away with not only Qurans but Bibles and Talmuds and Vedas and so on, we'd also do away with most of the crap reasons that people use to justify killing

FigMincehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841668091720591745noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2128921164558670477.post-71638572019673932062011-03-31T08:52:00.020+10:002011-12-22T10:27:18.531+10:002011-12-22T10:27:18.531+10:00

Here in Australia, we have a minority government led by the once-left but now spinning right-of-the-middle Labor Party (and no, I don't know why they spell it that way, maybe the original founders hadn't finished school before they were sent down the mines or whatever).Meanwhile, one Tony Abbott, leader of the Liberal-led Opposition (and no, I don't know why they spell 'Rabid Tories' as

FigMincehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841668091720591745noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2128921164558670477.post-79302352624543108272011-03-08T13:38:00.017+10:002011-07-12T09:13:14.469+10:002011-07-12T09:13:14.469+10:00

Yes, it's International Women's Day which, in the best of all possible worlds, would be an anachronism. But as my partner the feminist d'une certain rage might put it, it still takes real balls to be a woman, even though anyone with half a foreskin who still believes that males are superior to females is clearly demonstrating how troglodytic he is. Mind you, some takes on female equality are less

FigMincehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841668091720591745noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2128921164558670477.post-46967914411711249942011-03-07T08:05:00.006+10:002011-03-07T08:39:58.556+10:002011-03-07T08:39:58.556+10:00

Apparently, Princess Anne, she of the prominent equinesque profile, has asked her future son-in-law, English rugby captain Mike Tindall, to get a nose job before he marries her daughter Zara Phillips in July."One must admit it suggestsa certain lack of inbreeding."

FigMincehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841668091720591745noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2128921164558670477.post-61231261104475943552011-03-06T09:22:00.052+10:002011-03-07T08:37:51.723+10:002011-03-07T08:37:51.723+10:00

Wow, poor old Colonel Gaddafi. Just because a few squillion of his subjects have decided to get a little subjective about the way he's been treating them, his fair-weather friends are turning on him.Various governments have decided that instead of just accepting his regime and ignoring his treatment of his people like they always have, they'd prefer to be seen calling for him to go. The singer

FigMincehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11841668091720591745noreply@blogger.com0