What's in the News

  • 2873 replies
  • 659655 views
*

Lotus Eater

  • 7671
  • buk-buk..b'kaaaawww!
Re: What's in the News
« Reply #285 on: November 28, 2007, 01:44:45 PM »
"Deadly weapon" being feet that have played Aussie Rules?  I do keep telling them here that girls play soccer back home and they need to see a 'real' football game.

*

icebear

  • *
  • 183
  • ????
Re: What's in the News
« Reply #286 on: November 28, 2007, 02:16:08 PM »
They're in the military, its not surprising they're feet/fists are alleged to be deadly weapons.

*

Newbs

  • *
  • 443
Re: What's in the News
« Reply #287 on: November 29, 2007, 03:06:39 AM »
Here's some good news.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/28/2104456.htm?section=justin

Quote
More than a billion trees planted this year: UN

Posted 1 hour 36 minutes ago

More than one billion trees have been planted around the world in 2007, with Ethiopia and Mexico leading in the drive to combat climate change, a United Nations (UN) report said.

The Nairobi-based UN Environment Program (UNEP) said the mass tree planting, inspired by Nobel Peace laureate Wangari Maathai, will help mitigate effects of pollution and environmental deterioration.

"An initiative to catalyse the pledging and the planting of one billion trees has achieved and indeed surpassed its mark," UNEP chief Achim Steiner said in a statement.

"It is a further sign of the breathtaking momentum witnessed this year on the challenge for this generation - climate change.

"Millions if not billions of people around this world want an end to pollution and environmental deterioration and have rolled up their sleeves and got their hands dirty to prove the point."

UNEP said the total number of trees planted is still being collated, but developing countries top the list with more than 700 million and 217 million trees planted in Ethiopia and Mexico respectively.

Others include Turkey with 150 million, Kenya - 100 million, Cuba - 96.5 million, Rwanda - 50 million, South Korea - 43 million, Tunisia - 21 million, Morocco - 20 million, Burma - 20 million and Brazil - 16 million.

Mr Maathai's Green Belt Movement planted 4.7 million trees, double the number of trees it had initially pledged, according to UNEP.

Experts says that trees help contain carbon that accumulates the heat-trapping gases blamed for climate change.

Although the figure could not be verified, it sends a powerful message ahead of the December 3-14 meeting in Bali of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), a panel charting the path for negotiating pollution cuts to be implemented after 2012 when the Kyoto Protocol pledges run out.

"We called you to action almost exactly a year ago and you responded beyond our dreams," said Mr Maathai, who won the Nobel Peace prize for her campaign to plant tens of millions of trees to counter tree-loss and desertification in Africa.

"Now we must keep the pressure on and continue the good work for the planet," Mr Maathai said in the statement.

- AFP

*

Escaped Lunatic

  • *****
  • 10847
  • Finding new ways to conquer the world
    • EscapedLunatic.com
Re: What's in the News
« Reply #288 on: November 29, 2007, 09:06:51 AM »

OMG!!!  They banned the pushup bra ads!  NOOOOO!!!!!   ananananan

On those cold and lonely winter nights in Dongguan, I'd sit in front of the TV, mesmerized by hot Chinese girls suddenly becoming endowed with amazing cleavage.   ajajajajaj

Those ads should be considered to be a treasure of world heritage.  The people who ordered them censored should be made to drink lead paint.

I'm pro-cloning and we vote!               Why isn't this card colored green?
EscapedLunatic.com

Re: What's in the News
« Reply #289 on: November 29, 2007, 09:57:16 AM »
I feel for you EL. Don't you get the commercials for the miracle cream? I remember them vividly. A cream with basically the same qualities as a push-up bra.
"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination." Oscar Wilde.

"It's all oojah cum spiffy". Bertie Wooster.
"The stars are God's daisy chain" Madeleine Bassett.

*

Escaped Lunatic

  • *****
  • 10847
  • Finding new ways to conquer the world
    • EscapedLunatic.com
Re: What's in the News
« Reply #290 on: November 29, 2007, 12:46:48 PM »
Damn!  I never saw the miracle cream commercials.   asasasasas  llllllllll


In the meantime, I seem to have accidentally dropped a couple of shopping bags from my car on my last trip over to Tampa:


Dude, didn't we have 60 pounds of pot?

TAMPA, Fla. - The Florida Highway Patrol says anyone missing two big bags of pot can call their Tampa area office. A crew picking up litter from along Interstate 4 near Tuesday morning made an unusual find: two big plastic garbage bags stuffed with freshly harvested marijuana.

FHP Trooper Larry Coggins says the 60 pounds of pot might be worth around $54,000 on the street. It probably fell off or was thrown from a car on the interstate.

The plants appeared freshly picked and some had intact roots.

Coggins says it's not the largest amount of pot ever dumped along a roadside, but it's certainly not a common find.
I'm pro-cloning and we vote!               Why isn't this card colored green?
EscapedLunatic.com

*

Bugalugs

  • *
  • 1539
  • If we are what we eat, I'm easy, fast, and cheap.
Re: What's in the News
« Reply #291 on: December 01, 2007, 12:54:08 AM »
Drambuie not the drop for bogans

By Erin Tennant
ninemsn

If you're "a guy who wears skirts" or maybe one of those "rich people with taste in their arse" you just might take to this refined drink, but if you're a bogan … forget it.

Drambuie has released an online video of blue-collar drinkers struggling with free samples of the whisky blend that suggests only educated consumers will enjoy the drop.

advertisement
The video follows a market researcher as he approaches patrons at downmarket pubs in Sydney and Melbourne with a glass of the liquor served with lemon wedge and straw, then records their predictably coarse responses after taking a swig.

A tattooed, singlet-wearing patron guzzles a glass in one hit, then — as the remains of the drink drip through his beard — is asked by the deadpan researcher: "Can you detect the nuances of flavour, the subtle hints of honey?"

Other drinkers offer opinions about the types of people they think would like the drink instead, such as cross-dressers or people with wealth but no taste.

The video, which has been doing the email rounds since Monday, carries the apparently patronising tag line "made for princes, not bogans" but a company spokesman insists the campaign is sincere.

"These were genuine people who honestly didn’t like the brand," Drambuie marketing manager James France said.

Only one actor was used in the production — Jason Torrens, a former star of the kids' 1990s television show Pugwall, performs in his real-life role as a drummer with a Melbourne rock band.

Mr France said the clip is an attempt to re-launch a drink that "for years has been stuck in the old-men-drinking-after-dinner-in-leather-lounges category".

He said the video was aimed at "successful urban male in the 28-35 age bracket" and insisted the ad was done at nobody's expense in particular because "there is a bogan in all of us".

Luke Nathans of The One Centre, the Sydney-based advertising agency that produced the ad, said the video is meant to be taken in jest.

The video's humour partly serves to poke fun at "how difficult it is to market Drambuie and its history to an Australian drinker", he said.

Drambuie is said to originate with an eighteenth-century Scottish prince who drank the whisky blend as an elixir.

The ad is another in a range of marketing campaigns — most notably those for Carlton Draught — which hope to raise brand awareness through entertaining viral videos.

Simon Canning, a marketing and advertising writer with The Australian, said the Drambuie video ran little risk of offending anyone.

"They know the market they're mocking would never consider buying Drambuie except as a present for their mother-in-law," he said.

"The market they're talking to is a pretty sophisticated market: as a message, the ad is effective because it reinforces people's prejudices and talks to them in their own tone of voice."

Advertising executive Natalie McLeod believes the Drambuie ad's shock value should ensure it enjoys wide email circulation, but questioned whether the video was likely to lure consumers.

"As an advertisement we have to ask if people would buy the product based on someone else hating it," she said.
Good girls are made from sugar and spice, I am made from Vodka and ice

Do you have and ID Ten T error??

*

George

  • *
  • 6134
    • My view of China
Re: What's in the News
« Reply #292 on: December 01, 2007, 01:10:10 AM »
I luuurrrrve Drambuie! jjjjjjjjjj jjjjjjjjjj
The higher they fly, the fewer!    http://neilson.aminus3.com/

Re: What's in the News
« Reply #293 on: December 01, 2007, 01:38:39 AM »
Me too.  I also like scotch.  I also like rusty nails. agagagagag agagagagag agagagagag
Be kind to dragons for thou are crunchy when roasted and taste good with brie.

Re: What's in the News
« Reply #294 on: December 01, 2007, 02:14:37 AM »
I like Drambuie. It tastes nice and the romantic story behind only adds to the flavour. Sipping a glass and thinking about how the Young Pretender, having just seen his dreams of ruling England destroyed at Culloden, is whisked away, disguised as a woman and brought to the Isle of Skye. Wherefrom he departed in a rowboat one fog-enshrouded morning, thanking his saviours the only way he could, by presenting them with the recipe for Drambuie. Might be a load of hogwash but it's good hogwash  agagagagag agagagagag
"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination." Oscar Wilde.

"It's all oojah cum spiffy". Bertie Wooster.
"The stars are God's daisy chain" Madeleine Bassett.

*

George

  • *
  • 6134
    • My view of China
Re: What's in the News
« Reply #295 on: December 01, 2007, 02:24:45 AM »
Quote
I like Drambuie. It tastes nice
Right! End of story! It tastes nice!! Don't need all that extraneous hogwash!!
The higher they fly, the fewer!    http://neilson.aminus3.com/

Re: What's in the News
« Reply #296 on: December 01, 2007, 02:48:54 AM »
And on to other news...the new Australian Minister of the Environment is a rock star  agagagagag agagagagag That's so cool. All our minister are boring morons.
"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination." Oscar Wilde.

"It's all oojah cum spiffy". Bertie Wooster.
"The stars are God's daisy chain" Madeleine Bassett.

*

Stil

  • *
  • 4785
    • ChangshaNotes
Re: What's in the News
« Reply #297 on: December 01, 2007, 03:52:12 AM »

If you're "a guy who wears skirts" or maybe one of those "rich people with taste in their arse" you just might take to this refined drink

a drink that "for years has been stuck in the old-men-drinking-after-dinner-in-leather-lounges category".

I luuurrrrve Drambuie! jjjjjjjjjj jjjjjjjjjj

Not a suprise George.

Re: What's in the News
« Reply #298 on: December 01, 2007, 09:52:43 AM »
Yep, it's all over the news. She has been sentenced to 15 days in jail and then she'll be deported. The really stupid thing is, she did not name the sodding bear, the students did, after they came to a democratic decision that the majority wanted the bear to be called Muhammed. Then some yobbo decides that it is insulting to name a stuffed bear after the Prophet. Muhammad being a perfectly ordinary name in that area, I don't think any of the parties involved were even thinking about the Prophet. I am all for respecting the believes of others and, whenever possible, follow and obey the rules and customs of foreign lands, should I venture away from my rain-soaked island but this is just plain stupid! There are crowds demonstrating in the streets, demanding that the poor woman be shot! The British government has warned the Sudan officials that, basically, if they touch a hair on her head, their diplomats will be thrown out of England and the British Commonwealth will reconsider how much aid they want to give to Sudan. So not only has some overtly sensitive religious racist (I highly doubt this would have happened had the teacher in question been a Sudan native) caused a teacher to be expelled, but has also managed to put the relief aid that many poor and hungry Sudanese people depend on at risk. I work for Muslims and they even professed that they thought the whole thing to be ridiculous. Makes you wonder íf the complaint about the naming of the bear had more of an agenda behind it. What kind of sick, twisted, loathsome little pathetic sad excuse for a parody of a human being gets all worked up about what a child calls his/ her teddy bear? Religious insult??? They are children!!!! It's a stuffed bear!!! And....they are children!!!!!!!!!! llllllllll llllllllll llllllllll


Sorry about the rant but I have been reading articles about this case all day and it has gotten me somewhat worked up. I'll go lie down.....
"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination." Oscar Wilde.

"It's all oojah cum spiffy". Bertie Wooster.
"The stars are God's daisy chain" Madeleine Bassett.

Re: What's in the News
« Reply #299 on: December 01, 2007, 10:01:27 AM »
Ju8st an example of the insanity of it all...

Sudan protesters: Execute teacherStory Highlights
Some demonstrators demand execution of Gillian Gibbons, 54

Gibbons found guilty of insulting religion, sentenced to 15 days in jail

Teacher arrested after her class named teddy bear "Mohammed"
     
KHARTOUM, Sudan (CNN) -- Hundreds of angry protesters, some waving ceremonial swords from trucks equipped with loud speakers, gathered Friday outside the presidential palace to denounce a teacher whose class named a teddy bear "Mohammed" -- some calling for her execution.

 1 of 2  The protesters, which witnesses said numbered close to 1,000, swore to fight in the name of their prophet.

Gillian Gibbons, 54, was given 15 days in jail late Thursday after she was convicted of insulting religion. She was cleared of charges of inciting hatred and showing contempt for religious beliefs, her lawyer, Ali Ajeb, said.

Ajeb said they planned to appeal the sentence, which begins from the date she was detained, Nov. 25. Including Friday, she has 10 more days in jail.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said he was "extremely disappointed" that the charges were not dismissed.

Meanwhile senior British lawmakers were en route to Khartoum to try to secure Gibbons' early release.

The two members of the House of Lords were set to arrive in Khartoum about 5 a.m. Saturday (9 p.m. Friday ET), Time magazine reporter Sam Dealey told CNN, citing British and Sudanese sources.

They will meet with government ministers and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, he said.

Sources close to the British government and the Republican Palace in Sudan say it is expected that a deal will be reached, and Gibbons will be released, Dealey said. Visas for the two, he said, were granted "in record time ... by Sudanese standards."

Friday's demonstrations began as worshippers spilled out of mosques in the capital after Friday prayers. They marched to the palace, which is on the same street as Unity High School, where Gibbons taught grade school students. Those who named the bear were 7 years old.

A heavy police presence was maintained outside the school, but no demonstrators were there.  Watch men brandish knives, shout »

Armed with swords and sticks, the protesters shouted: "By soul, by blood, I will fight for the Prophet Mohammad. Western journalists who attempted to talk to the protesters were ushered away by men in plain clothes. Gibbons is being held in a women's prison in the Omdurman district of Khartoum, and she will be deported at the end of her prison term, British consular officials told CNN.

British Embassy staff said they were giving the teacher -- from the northern British city of Liverpool -- full consular assistance.

In leaflets distributed earlier this week by Muslim groups, the protesters promised a "popular release of anger" at Friday's protests.

The leaflets condemned Gibbons as an "infidel" and accused her of "the pollution of children's mentality" by her actions.

Omer Mohammed Ahmed Siddig, the Sudanese ambassador to Britain, was summoned for a second time to meet with the British foreign secretary late Thursday after the court's ruling.

Miliband also spoke to the Sudanese acting foreign minister for 15 minutes on the telephone during the meeting, the British Foreign Office said.

"Our priority now is to ensure Ms. Gibbons' welfare and we will continue to provide consular assistance to her," Miliband said in a statement.

The Foreign Office said there would be further talks with the Sudanese government Friday.

Gibbons was arrested Sunday after she asked her class to name the stuffed animal as part of a school project, the Foreign Office said. She had faced charges under Article 125 of Sudan's constitution, the law relating to insulting religion and inciting hatred.

She could have received a sentence of 40 lashes, a fine or jail term of up to a year, according to the Foreign Office.

British newspapers condemned Gibbons' conviction, with the Daily Telegraph calling for the recall of the British ambassador from Khartoum and sanctions against the heads of the Sudanese government. Watch a report on reactions to the verdict »

In an editorial, the tabloid newspaper, The Sun, said Gibbons' jailing was a "grotesque insult to Islam" and called Gibbons "an innocent abroad."

Don't Miss
Teacher charged in teddy bear case
Bid to stop whipping
TIME.com: The blasphemous teddy bear
Web site: Unity High School
Four vans filled with riot police were waiting outside the courthouse at Thursday's hearing, but there were no disturbances. Staff from Gibbons' school, including director Robert Boulos, were present.

Defense counsel later confirmed that the complaint against Gibbons came from Sarah Khawad, a secretary at the school.


Gibbons has been working at the school, popular with wealthy Sudanese and expatriates, since August, after leaving her position as deputy head teacher at a primary school in Liverpool this summer, Boulos said.

He said Gibbons asked the children to pick their favorite name for the new class mascot, which she was using to aid lessons about animals and their habitats. E-mail to a friend

"Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination." Oscar Wilde.

"It's all oojah cum spiffy". Bertie Wooster.
"The stars are God's daisy chain" Madeleine Bassett.