A judge in New Zealand made a young girl a ward of court so that she could change the name she hated - Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii.

Judge Rob Murfitt said that the name embarrassed the nine-year-old and could expose her to teasing.

He attacked a trend of giving children bizarre names, citing several examples.

Officials had blocked Sex Fruit, Keenan Got Lucy and Yeah Detroit, he said, but Number 16 Bus Shelter, Violence and Midnight Chardonnay had been allowed.

One mother wanted to name her child O.crnia using text language, but was later persuaded to use Oceania, he said.

‘Social handicap’

The ruling, in the city of New Plymouth on the North Island, was handed down in February but only made public now.

The name issue emerged during a custody hearing for the young girl - who had refused to tell her friends her name and went simply by “K”.

“The court is profoundly concerned about the very poor judgment which this child’s parents have shown in choosing this name,” Judge Murfitt wrote.

“It makes a fool of the child and sets her up with a social disability and handicap, unnecessarily.”

Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii’s name has now been changed and the custody case resolved, court officials said.

New Zealand does not allow names that would cause offence or that are longer than 100 characters, Registrar-General Brian Clarke said.

Officials often tried to talk parents out of particularly unusual choices that could embarrass their offspring, the Associated Press news agency quoted him as saying.

The following paragraphs taken from his blog:

Today, in the spirit of my fifth criminal charge, I am going to make another ‘seditious’ or ‘criminal defamation’ allegation against Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak, in the spirit of what Anwar Ibrahim said to CNN last week (see the CNN report here: http://72.47.236.85/2008/content/view/10077/1/ ). And this allegation is that Najib met Saiful to discuss the sodomy allegation against Anwar and for no other reason other than that — and certainly not to discuss the young man’s future career or scholarship.

This time I am going for broke. This time I am prepared to go to jail for a long, long time just to make sure that Najib is not going to become Prime Minister of Malaysia in June 2010. Yes, I know I am headed for a fall, but I am going to bring Najib down with me. We shall both hit the dirt and become history, side-by-side.

And how will that happen? Well, this time I video-recorded a ‘confession’ session. And the video recording is now in a safe place, ready to surface during my trial when they charge me for this newest ‘crime’, whatever that crime is going to be.

Read more about it here

Values like these remind me of the Chinese Hell Bank Notes (shudder…)

Zimbabwe introduces Z$100bn note

In January, the bank introduced a Z$10m note

Zimbabwe is to introduce a bank-note worth Z$100bn in response to rampant inflation - but the note will barely cover the cost of a loaf of bread.

Some Zimbabweans are already calling for higher denominations in a country where the official annual inflation rate has exceeded 2,200,000%.

Independent economists believe the real rate is many times higher.

Zimbabwe’s meltdown has left at least 80% of the population in poverty, facing mass shortages of basic goods.

The country’s central bank has introduced several new notes already this year in response to the hyperinflation.

In January, a Z$10 million note was issued, followed by a Z$50 million. By June the denominations had reached tens of billions.

Daily bread

In a notice in the state-controlled Herald newspaper, central bank governor Gideon Gono said the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe would introduce the new notes - known as special agro-cheques - to help consumers.

“This new $100 billion special agro-cheque will go into circulation on Monday,” the notice said.

But Zimbabwe residents say the latest note is already worthless, and does not even cover their daily lunch.

“Nowadays, for my expenses a day, I need about Z$500 billion,” one resident said.

“So Z$100 billion can’t do anything because for me to go home I need Z$250 billion, so this [note] is worthless.”

Zimbabwe was once one of the richest countries in Africa.

But it has descended into economic chaos in recent years, with many international observers blaming the policies of President Robert Mugabe.

In this picture provided by the netizen, A Naughty Lion, the dome of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest is wrongly printed in the bottom of the note. [Photo: leotown.blog.sohu.com]

A Chinese internet user has found a regrettable printing mistake in the recently-issued special 10-yuan banknotes emblazoned with Olympic patterns, sohu.com reports.

In his online blog, the netizen – who identifies himself as A Naughty Lion - said the dome of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest was separated from the main structure and wrongly printed in the bottom of the note.

The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest, a landmark building in the south Beijing’s Temple of Heaven, is outlined on top of the banknotes with the Beijing Olympic logo printed on.

The notes, also featuring the newly-built National Stadium or the Bird’s Nest below the prayer hall, were sold out in no time after hitting counters on Tuesday.

The Chinese central bank issued 6 million Olympic notes to commemorate the upcoming Games. But the price of the notes shot up after the publication in a spate of questions over the less-than-expected quantity.

The notes have been priced at more than 5,000 yuan by some online retailers, more than 500 times its par value.

(CRI July 12, 2008)

Pic of Aina at school (right)

Dear YB Syed Hamid Albar
Home Minister

Re: Aina Mardiah Shahrial, 17

You may not know Aina, she is the eldest daughter of Shahrial Sirin, an ISA detainee. On the afternoon of July 2, about 3 pm, she was admitted into Kajang Hospital. The girl was fighting for her life. The family immediately informed authorities at Kamunting, where her father had been detained for the last 7 years.

Somehow, Shahrial was only told of her daughter’s illness at 10.30 am the next day, July 3. Aina’s mother made a personal appeal to the authorities at Kamunting to let her daughter be with the dad for the last time. The doctors said Aina had only a few hours of life left, God-willing.

The authorities at Kamunting said they could not release Shahrial. They had to get your signature on the release papers. Yes, YB, your precious signature.

Aina’s father was finally released at 5pm. It was the longest four-hour journey to Kuala Lumpur.

Shahrial got to her daughter’s side at 9.45 pm. He was too late. Aina had passed away at 6.20pm without seeing her father.

Thank you, YB, and may Allah bless you and your family.

pic: A father’s belated good-bye

Are these guys real???….. Excuse me, please stop flaunting your dirty linen in public. :-((

By SARBAN SINGH

GEMAS: A policeman has lodged a report against all his colleagues including his superiors allegedly over dissatisfaction on how the monthly bribes from those operating illegal activities was being distributed.

In retaliation, one of his superiors, a sergeant, lodged another police report against the policeman, a lance corporal, for allegedly selling station property to scrap dealers.

A source said the lance corporal, in his 40s, was dissatisfied with his superiors for allegedly taking the lion’s share of the bribes while the rank and file received very little.

“In fact, the complainant claimed that he did not get a sen,” the source said.

The report was lodged earlier this week.

The sergeant, in an apparent tit-for-tat, lodged another report against the lance corporal alleging that he had sold some old wooden and iron furniture from the police station to a dealer.

“His colleagues even know where the dealer is operating from,” the source said.

State police chief Datuk Osman Salleh confirmed that a report has been lodged.

“We are investigating the claims made by the lance corporal. We do not want to make conclusions straightaway as the allegations are serious,” he said.

He said all the policemen were still on duty and have not been asked to go on leave.

He said action would be taken against his men if the claims were true.

It is understood that the Anti-Corruption Agency has also started a probe.

A US man who was born a woman before undergoing gender realignment surgery has given birth to a baby girl, US media reported.
“The only thing different about me is that I can’t breastfeed my baby. But a lot of mothers don’t,” the magazine quoted him as saying.

It said the girl is Beatie’s first child, and he had given birth naturally, not by Caesarean section.

Beatie, who sports a beard, was dubbed the ‘pregnant man’ after appearing on Oprah Winfrey’s television talkshow to discuss his pregnancy.

“I feel it’s not a male or female desire to have a child. It’s a human need. I’m a person and I have the right to have a biological child,” he told the chat show queen.

Beatie’s unusual situation first became public when he wrote an article in the leading US gay magazine The Advocate in March, entitled “Labor of Love.”

“To our neighbors, my wife, Nancy, and I don’t appear in the least unusual,” he wrote, explaining that his wife was unable to have a child after undergoing a hysterectomy.

So he chose to become pregnant by artificial insemination, he said.

“Our situation sparks legal, political, and social unknowns,” Beatie wrote, adding the couple had experienced opposition from health care professionals, friends and family.

One doctor refused to treat the couple, after consulting an ethics board.

“How does it feel to be a pregnant man? Incredible. Despite the fact that my belly is growing with a new life inside me, I am stable and confident being the man that I am,” Beatie wrote.

This has got to be the most explosive news in the ongoing saga.

Read more about it here….

KAPAR: When a petrol kiosk owner stepped out to run some errands, his newly hired pump attendant started giving out free petrol.

The owner was alerted about an unusually long line of cars at his kiosk, and he rushed back to discover he had lost about RM3,000 worth of petrol.

According to another kiosk worker, the man in his 30s had asked for a job and was employed at RM12 per day. “Yesterday was his third day. Being confident he could do the job, the owner left to pay some bills. Within the hour-and-a-half the owner was away, the man gave out free petrol,” the other worker said.

Word of the free petrol spread and people took the opportunity to fill up their tanks.

The man ran off when he saw his employer return. It was later found out that he was mentally unsound.