Another Popsicle Award

Damir Dokic strikes again. Phew - what a loony. And isn't it interesting that it is always someone else at fault. When he was banned by Wimbledon for threatening a vendor over the price of salmon, it was Wimbledon who were at fault. And now it is Australia's fault that his daughter, tennis player Jelena Dokic, has claimed that her father physically abused her. So to this fruit basket, the obvious response was to call the Australian embassy in Belgrade and threaten to turn a 'bazooka' onto an embassy vehicle. But then when, naturally, police were called in to check the idiot out, they found homemade bombs and an a significant array of firearms at his place.

Now if you're going to dumb something incredibly dumb like threaten an embassy, it doesn't take a lot of brains to realise that the police will be calling around pretty soon afterwards, so why keep a supply of stuff on hand like that?

So congratulations Damir, you eff-wit - you're the next winner of my Popsicle Award for only having a Popsicle stick keeping your ears apart.

The best laid plans...

There is a kitchen clock at my place. It periodically stops working. Being a sufferer of Duck's Disease (my bum's too close to the ground) I have to clamber up on a chair to grab it and give it a gentle shake to get it going again.

So why does it stop like that? I suggested that perhaps the gears aren't rotating properly, that perhaps there was dust in the internals?

My housemate eventually decided to investigate. It is not like the good old days of tight-wound clock springs waiting to spring free. Surely it would not be that difficult to have a look?

So the back of the little black box was carefully levered off off, only to have small white plastic cogs drop out, the tiny motor fall out, the clock hands drop off - in short, bits everywhere.

Uh oh.

We both had a go at reassembling it. I managed to get cogs back in and driving each other in what looked like the right manner. But there was no way that the tiny motor would also fit in that space and the back clip on again. What on earth?

In the end, I decided that it was like a Rubik's cube. Easy to do if you know the trick, mind-bending fury if you don't.

The clock is still in bits, waiting to be replaced.

The best laid plans of mice and men...

Banking Bastards

I think we are definitely seeing signs that deregulation of our banking industry has some serious flaws.

The current economic crisis was significantly the result of a poorly regulated American financial system which allowed banks and other institutions to generate massive paper profits which eventually collapsed.

Here in Australia, these institutions are on a sounder footing. First, when interest rates are rising, they pass on more that the rate increases, which they are permitted to do. Now, yet again, when rates fall, they refuse to pass on all of that decrease.

The last time this happened, the banks overall only passed on 80% of the decrease with Malcom Turnball having the arrogance to basically claim that it was that only happened because he told them to. And now the banks are passing on even less of the rate cuts.

The banks and their shareholders profit but at the expense of the poor sods in the street. And it is all part of the same money-grubbing that brought the US system down. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has spoken out about international corporate greed, but look at what is happening in our own backyard.

Unprincipled bastards - nothing has really changed since my days in the banking industry during the hedonistic 1980s.

small update on Einfeld

A small postscript to the last post on Marcus Einfeld. Last night an interview with Einfeld was aired on Australian television. On being asked if he was an honest man, Einfeld took exception at any suggestion that he was anything but honest. Give me a break - the arrogance of His Dishonour just beggars belief. He had just pleaded guilty to the charges of lying to court - does an honest person lie to court? Does an honest person only admit to the lies in order to avoid even more trouble? Does an honest person get others to join in the web of deceit and deception? Of course not. Marcus Einfeld is an unrepentant liar and a disgrace to society in general and the judiciary in particular. In short, he is dirt.

Justice is served!

Remember former Justice Marcus Einfeld who lied through his teeth over and over again to avoid a $75 traffic infringement and the accompanying licence demerit points, even to the point of claiming a dead woman was driving the car? Then he had a friend swear on oath that she was with him in another town at the time of the offence, driving his mother's car, only to have that scam collapse when security footage proved mum's car hadn't left her place that day, let alone transport His Dishonour out of Sydney.

The New South Wales Supreme Court has sentenced this lying piece of scum to a minimum of two years in prison in a three year sentence. I was quite concerned that the judiciary would close ranks and attempt to protect one of their 'own'. Clearly however, the judiciary is as pissed off with him as the rest of the world. Justice Bruce James described Einfeld's behaviour as planned criminal behaviour - which is exactly what it was. James further described Einfeld as engaging in deliberate, premeditated perjury. Pretty damning stuff.

How funny is it going to be if Einfeld finds himself doing time with people that he banged up?

Miss England is too fat?

I just cannot believe these idiots who run the modelling and fashion world. Despite the likes of supermodel, Tyra Banks, continuing to push for a role for 'plus-size' models and models who actually have curves, and the divine Ms Banks had and continues to have one heck of a set of curves, check out this lunacy.

Miss England 2008, Laura Coleman, has been told that she is too fat to be on the catwalk. Oh give me a bloody break. In this image from her wikipedia page, Ms Coleman is a size 8. The naughty girl let herself become a disgustingly obese size 10! Oh the shame of it all.

Coleman has done a healthy thing but the lunatics who run the modelling/fashion world have effectively condemned her for it. What happened to this idea that the fashion industry was supposed to be pushing for more realistic, healthy role models? Do we really have to have more aspiring models literally starve themselves to death before these idiots wake up to themselves?

I say 'good on ya' Laura. Not that I generally give a damn about the Miss World pageant (except of course when Jennifer Hawkins won, but as an Aussie I'm just slightly biased there), but I'll be quietly cheering you on in South Africa at the Miss World finals.

Publish Post

Are Australia Post conducting a scam?

The dramas over the Australia Post company, First Direct Solutions, continues.

I received the documentation in the post that required I furnish particular identification details before revealing who they have sold my details to. Stay tuned for details once I have a response to that.

I am still receiving letters from various bodies as personally addressed mail, begging for money. I have begun contacting them to get myself removed from their various databases. The Fred Hollows Foundation was one of them. I asked if they obtained my details from the Australia Post company, First Direct Solutions. No, they assured me, they had no dealings with that company, giving me the name and contact number for the company that they had purchased a mailing list from. Guess who it turned out to be. That's right, it was First Direct Solutions. I contacted the Hollows Foundation again and let them know. The operative I spoke to expressed considerable surprise that they had been dealing with FDS. Apparently there had been a name change in the past, but that apparently occurred before I had completed the Australia Post Lifestyles Survey.

Another charity referred me to yet another mail list distributor who they claim that they purchased their list from. I have telephoned that company several times but only get an answering machine. I have requested removal from their database and requested advice on where they obtained my details from. I am yet to receive any confirmation that they have removed my name from their database and no response to my request for information. I shall give them benefit of the doubt for another few days. Maybe they're just slack in that office.

So what actually happened? I received an email that encouraged me to take part in Australia Post's Australian Lifestyles Survey, offering the potential for large cash prizes as an incentive. Was I stupid enough to participate? Yes. Caveat emptor! But having reviewed the survey form yet again, it does not state that Australia Post are using it to create a database that they are then selling on to who knows who, only a bland statement that survey participants 'may' be contacted by other businesses. Australia Post is getting two bites at the cherry here. They sell the database and then charge the purchaser postage for all the letters sent out to the persons they select from the database. It is only when you start digging that you really find out what is going on.

I telephoned First Direct Solutions again, asking them how I went about purchasing a copy of the database and what restrictions there are on how I may use the database. I was referred to their website. I checked and am unable to find any such information other than an automated contact point. So I am no wiser as yet.

At the end of the day, I did let myself become blinded by the prospect of scoring some bucks for nothing. How stupid was that! However I wonder just how many other respondents to that survey (FDS claim to have over 400,000 entries in their database) are aware of just what they have actually done? Admittedly FDS did remove my name from the database, but as previously detailed, I had to raise hell on the telephone before they did.

I fail to see how Australia Post can justify acting in this manner. Apart from anything else, how many natural resources are wasted in the junk mail being generated from access to their database?