The boy showed no serious injury from the blow during the game on Friday but had an internal haemorrhage overnight and died in hospital the next day. 

Police are looking for the umpire, who has gone into hiding.

I’m guessing there won’t be any arguing whether you hit the ball or not, or whether the ball pitched in line or anything with this umpire from now on.

I’m listening to The Waifs – Moses And The Lamb

Two men walked into a petrol station near Auckland. One of them went to the pie warmer, picked up several pies and placed one inside his jacket. He then asked the attendant if he could have one pie for free but was told he would have to pay for all of them.   He storms off in a huff, then goes off and talks to his mate in the car outside, and decides he really does want his free pies.  But the attendant has locked the doors of the shop. 

The man returned to the car where he and his friend decided they would find another way to enter the store. They drove the car through the door, one of them picks up his pies off the counter and they do a runner.  A police chase followed, ended with them running over some police road spikes.

Seriously, a service station pie.  These guys have an instant insanity defence.  When has anyone ever had a decent servo pie.  Soggy, lukewarm, meatless, yes, but decent eating, never.

And in related junk food cravings news, also in New Zealand, a man flew into a rage after staff at a Wendy’s restaurant mucked up his order. He allegedly smashed tills, flipped tables and assaulted a police officer who responded to the incident. After being apprehended he was taken to hospital to be treated for injuries he had suffered during the arrest.

This one is more understandable.  I mean who hasn’t felt like throttling the idiot teenager who screws up their order at a takeaway.  I get pissed off with repeating orders twice or more, thinking to myself  “do I not speak English?” or “fuck you, listen” or “maybe if you concentrated on your job you wouldn’t fuck my order up”.

I’m listening to The Living End – Song For The Lonely

It’s been damn hot here, too.

Only one thing wrong with that sign, the beer is XXXX.  But beggars can’t be choosers, so they say.  (also, wouldn’t 0.2 degrees make it more of a beer slushie than a drink?)

A crocodile at a wildlife park in New South Wales, Australia, grabbed a lawnmower from workmen during routine park maintenance and dragged it into his pool.

The five-metre crocodile (his name is Elvis) had charged staff at the Australian Reptile Park at Gosford after they went into its enclosure about 8am today. The men – who used their lawnmowers as a barrier when the crocodile lunged – managed to escape unharmed.

A rescue mission was mounted a few hours later to retrieve the mower, which Elvis had dragged underwater.

I reckon Elvis is being falsely accused over this.  I mean look at his halo, which can be clearly seen in the photo.

And no way would I ever have gone in to rescue the mower.  No matter how distracted the crocodile was.  A long rope and a grappling hook would have had to do the job for me.  Or else Elvis could keep it – he might need to mow the bottom of his pool every now and then.

In March the owners found the dog almost lifeless, in pain and in shock, with De Shields in the garage.  A veterinarian later found traces of asphyxiation, as well as serious injuries to the animal’s rectum and internal organs.

We can all figure out what he did to the dog.  No doubt it involved him getting dog shit on his dick.

The chihuahua was only able to survive thanks to intensive medical care.

De Shields was high on methamphetamine at the time.  He is a long term drug abuser and criminal. In the last 19 to 20 years, he has only been free from jail or monitoring by the authorities for about five months.

He got 10 years jail for rooting the dog.  In an unusual move for an animal cruelty case, De Shields was also required to register as a lifetime sex offender, meaning he will have to wear an electronic surveillance device and keep a distance from schools and other places where children gather.

A chihuahua, really?

Mind you, a cute little puppy was probably an upgrade for De Shields.

I doubt he was likely to get an actual (living) human to ever shag him. 

A year and a half or so ago, I thought she’d be living at home till she was about 30, but she fell in love and has upped and left home as of today.

But I got custody of the dog.  Win!!!

The minister in charge of Australia’s broadcasting standards has dropped the F-word live on national television during children’s viewing hours. Communications Minister Stephen Conroy was answering an AAP question about the risk for investment in Australia at the National Press Club in Canberra that was being shown live on the ABC today. 

His offending remarks:

"In terms of sovereign risk, I love the debate about sovereign risk,”

"I have seen a new definition of sovereign risk, it’s asymmetrical.

"If a tax goes up, God, that is sovereign risk, but if a tax goes down that’s fucking fantastic, excuse me, that is fantastic.”

The opposition later attacked Senator Conroy for making a "sloppy and vulgar" speech at the press club.  No doubt there will be other guardians of all that is good and proper in the world who will be outraged (rather than disappointed, because these days no one is just disappointed, or annoyed, when they don’t like something … no, they are OUTRAGED, at least according to the mainstream media’s view of the world)

I’d actually rather see our politicians drop the occasional F bomb, or do other “normal” things rather than have everything they say scripted and coached, bland and afraid to offend anyone.

Besides, complaining about politicians swearing is akin to complaining about them lying.

PS – this just demonstrates my point from an old post, that “fuck” is the most versatile word in the English language.

Is it worth it?

You have to wonder when things like this continue to happen there.

A woman has been in jail for 2 years, having been imprisoned for adultery after having been raped by a relative at her home.  She had a child by her attacker, and was raising it in her prison cell.  And this wasn’t happening in some backwater far flung corner of the country – it was in the capital, Kabul.

Her case came to light when Afghan president Hamid Karzai intervened to have her released after receiving a petition with 5,000 signatures.  Karzai called a meeting where judicial officials decided to pardon her.  But there was a twist in this tail. 

The officials also said that the woman should marry the man who attacked her, due to fears she could be in danger if released because of the stigma surrounding her attack in ultra-conservative Afghanistan.  She agreed to this (no duress at all, right?) but only if her attacker’s (and future husband) sister married her brother.  This was said to be a way to try to ensure she wasn’t attacked by her rapist/attacker/husband.

In another example of how women are treated in this fine example of civilisation, a 17-year-old girl was seriously injured when caustic liquid was sprayed on her face by masked gunmen who broke into her home in the northern city of Kunduz.  Her mother and 4 sisters were also injured after being splashed with acid.  Her father blamed a former militia commander who had proposed marriage to her but was rejected by the family.

"A man asked for her hand. We rejected [him] and our daughter was engaged to someone else. I suspect that man might be behind this,"

he said.

Violence against women in Afghanistan appears to be increasing rather than decreasing, despite billions of dollars of international aid that has poured into the country during the last 10 years. 

About 87 per cent of Afghan women report having experienced physical, sexual or psychological violence or forced marriage, according to figures quoted in an October report by the charity Oxfam.

Last week, the United Nations said that a landmark law aiming to protect women against violence in Afghanistan had been used to prosecute just more than 100 cases since being enacted two years ago.

A wonderful civilisation isn’t it?  And our soldiers are being killed just maintaining the level of barbarism where it is, the argument being it would be much worse otherwise.  Worth it?

Maybe we should just all of those Afghans who want to join the 21st century to leave and go live somewhere else, then build a great big fence around those who want to go back to the 15th century, and let them kill each other off.

I’m listening to TISM – Greg! The Stop Sign

Wonder if I’ll get my blogging inspiration back some day soon?

I’m listening to The Saints – Love Or Imagination