BS: Fools In The Real World

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 13 May 07 - 10:15 AM

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070508/od_nm/india_election_livingdead_dc;_ylt=AgO3Kw76haNc4OBb83qtlG_MWM0F

Man wants electoral voice for "living dead" By Sharat Pradhan
Tue May 8, 10:12 AM ET



LUCKNOW, India (Reuters) - A villager is campaigning in northern India for the rights of people declared legally dead by cheating relatives seeking to steal their assets.

Lal Bihari, a lower caste villager who lost his father's inheritance due to an unscrupulous uncle, formed the "Union of the Dead" in 1980 to fight for the rights of thousands he says have fallen victim to scams by relatives.

He is contesting as an independent in a month-long election in Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state, which ends on Tuesday.

In 1976, an uncle allegedly connived with corrupt local officials to fudge village records and declare Bihari dead. The uncle then won the inheritance of Bihari's father.

"It was only as late as in 1994 that I succeeded in proving myself alive," Bihari, 52, said.

Like many poor in India, it was very hard for him to get a court ruling to reverse the decision, due to corruption and a backlog of millions of cases in the judiciary.

"Nearly 3,000 others are fighting their independent battles in other parts of U.P. (Uttar Pradesh) to prove that they are alive," Bihari said.

Senior state government official V.K. Sharma said as per records, there are 313 cases of persons who have been wrongly declared as dead even though they are alive.

"Another round of probe is currently underway and we suspect many more such cases could be unearthed," he said.

In 1980, Bihari added 'Mritak', or "dead," to his name.

He even got his wife to apply, unsuccessfully, for a widow's pension.

He once staged the kidnapping of a cousin so that a criminal case could be brought against him -- and therefore prove legally he was alive.

"But even that did not happen as my relatives understood my intention behind the desperate move and knew that there was no danger to the cousin's life," he added.

Bihari has contested other elections, including one parliamentary election in 1989 against then Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

"Even my physical presence in the electoral fray did not help me to prove that I was alive," he lamented.

Victory came years later in 1994, when a local revenue official restored his status as "alive" in the same land records where he had been shown as "dead."

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: Bill D
Date: 13 May 07 - 11:08 AM

"We never mention Aunt Clara;
Her picture is turned to the wall.
Though she lives on the French Riviera,
Mother says that she's dead to us all."

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: Alice
Date: 13 May 07 - 12:01 PM

The manager of my ISP told me that he no longer forwards spam as he was told that unless
someone actually has been defrauded of money, law enforcement doesn't want to deal with them.

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: Little Hawk
Date: 13 May 07 - 06:28 PM

Why would anyone even bother opening unsolicited porn and other spam emails? You can't be offended by the content if you don't look at it! I shut off the preview feature on my email, so all I see there is a list of messages, showing who it's from (supposedly, at any rate) and what the subject matter is (again, supposedly). I then delete all the emails that are not most definitely from someone I already want to hear from without ever opening them. End of story.

I do sometimes open the Nigerian type spam, however, because it can provide a good laugh... ;-)

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 13 May 07 - 09:29 PM

"This thread was not intended to be just about SPAM, by the way... - Date: 01 Nov 03 - 06:59 AM"

Why are peoplw babbling on about just spam in this thread? The first post (about spam) is over 4 years old - and the thread is about SO much more than just spam...

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 14 May 07 - 03:42 AM

This one gets its own thread.... :-)

Tech: Noise in the Scale of C !!!

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: Joe_F
Date: 14 May 07 - 09:47 PM

About 40 years ago the office I worked in bought a microfilm reader from no less an outfit than Eastman Kodak. When it came, we opened the carton and gingerly removed a lot of vulnerable-looking components (heavy pieces of glass, etc.) and spread them out on a desk. At the bottom was a sheet of instructions for unpacking & assembly. The first instruction was to turn the carton upside down before opening.

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: Donuel
Date: 14 May 07 - 10:33 PM

In the real world I have basicly been reinacting the screenplay Rude Awakinings in one way or another every day of my life since 1984.


It's not just me...
All the characters continue to pop in and play their roles.
It certainly can be considered foolish, but the world obliges.

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 15 May 07 - 07:29 AM

"The first instruction was to turn the carton upside down before opening. "

Doing which obviously, would enable you to find the unpacking instructions, as the very first thing!!!!!


In what order do you think they packed it - the packing instructions were OBVIOUSLY meant to be the first thing you found...

:-)
~~~~~~~~
You're lucky, Donuel.

Some years ago, I discovered that I lived in the middle of a Troupe of Fooles...

Similar to a Circus, but without the performing animals - well...er...
mostly...

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 18 Nov 07 - 02:22 AM

Taking FSM seriously

http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/personal/11/16/flying.spaghettimonster.ap/index.html


Religious scholars mull Flying Spaghetti Monster

* Story Highlights
* American Academy of Religion to discuss Flying Spaghetti Monster
* The pseudo-deity was created to challenge intelligent design
* Supporters claim a Flying Spaghetti Monster created universe
* Followers call themselves Pastafarians

(AP) -- When some of the world's leading religious scholars gather in San Diego this weekend, pasta will be on the intellectual menu. They'll be talking about a satirical pseudo-deity called the Flying Spaghetti Monster, whose growing pop culture fame gets laughs but also raises serious questions about the essence of religion.

The appearance of the Flying Spaghetti Monster on the agenda of the American Academy of Religion's annual meeting gives a kind of scholarly imprimatur to a phenomenon that first emerged in 2005, during the debate in Kansas over whether intelligent design should be taught in public school sciences classes.

Supporters of intelligent design hold that the order and complexity of the universe is so great that science alone cannot explain it. The concept's critics see it as faith masquerading as science.

An Oregon State physics graduate named Bobby Henderson stepped into the debate by sending a letter to the Kansas School Board. With tongue in cheek, he purported to speak for 10 million followers of a being called the Flying Spaghetti Monster -- and demanded equal time for their views.

"We have evidence that a Flying Spaghetti Monster created the universe. None of us, of course, were around to see it, but we have written accounts of it," Henderson wrote. As for scientific evidence to the contrary, "what our scientist does not realize is that every time he makes a measurement, the Flying Spaghetti Monster is there changing the results with His Noodly Appendage."

The letter made the rounds on the Internet, prompting laughter from some and vilification from others. But it struck a chord and stuck around. In the great tradition of satire, its humor was in fact a clever and effective argument.

Between the lines, the point of the letter was this: There's no more scientific basis for intelligent design than there is for the idea an omniscient creature made of pasta created the universe. If intelligent design supporters could demand equal time in a science class, why not anyone else? The only reasonable solution is to put nothing into sciences classes but the best available science.

"I think we can all look forward to the time when these three theories are given equal time in our science classrooms across the country, and eventually the world; one third time for Intelligent Design, one third time for Flying Spaghetti Monsterism, and one third time for logical conjecture based on overwhelming observable evidence," Henderson sarcastically concluded.

Kansas eventually repealed guidelines questioning the theory of evolution.

Meanwhile, Flying Spaghetti Monsterism (FSM-ism to its "adherents") has thrived -- particularly on college campuses and in Europe. Henderson's Web site has become a kind of cyber-watercooler for opponents of intelligent design.

Henderson did not respond to a request for comment. His Web site tracks meetings of FSM clubs (members dress up as pirates) and sells trinkets and bumper stickers. "Pastafarians" -- as followers call themselves -- can also download computer screen-savers and wallpaper (one says: "WWFSMD?") and can sample photographs that show "visions" of the divinity himself. In one, the image of the carbohydrate creator is seen in a gnarl of dug-up tree roots.

It was the emergence of this community that attracted the attention of three young scholars at the University of Florida who study religion in popular culture. They got to talking, and eventually managed to get a panel on FSM-ism on the agenda at one of the field's most prestigious gatherings.

The title: "Evolutionary Controversy and a Side of Pasta: The Flying Spaghetti Monster and the Subversive Function of Religious Parody."

"For a lot of people they're just sort of fun responses to religion, or fun responses to organized religion. But I think it raises real questions about how people approach religion in their lives," said Samuel Snyder, one of the three Florida graduate students who will give talks at the meeting next Monday along with Alyssa Beall of Syracuse University.

The presenters' titles seem almost a parody themselves of academic jargon. Snyder will speak about "Holy Pasta and Authentic Sauce: The Flying Spaghetti Monster's Messy Implications for Theorizing Religion," while Gavin Van Horn's presentation is titled "Noodling around with Religion: Carnival Play, Monstrous Humor, and the Noodly Master."

Using a framework developed by literary critic Mikhail Bakhtin, Van Horn promises in his abstract to explore how, "in a carnivalesque fashion, the Flying Spaghetti Monster elevates the low (the bodily, the material, the inorganic) to bring down the high (the sacred, the religiously dogmatic, the culturally authoritative)."

The authors recognize the topic is a little light by the standards of the American Academy of Religion.

"You have to keep a sense of humor when you're studying religion, especially in graduate school," Van Horn said in a recent telephone interview. "Otherwise you'll sink into depression pretty quickly."

But they also insist it's more than a joke.

Indeed, the tale of the Flying Spaghetti Monster and its followers cuts to the heart of the one of the thorniest questions in religious studies: What defines a religion? Does it require a genuine theological belief? Or simply a set of rituals and a community joining together as a way of signaling their cultural alliances to others?

In short, is an anti-religion like Flying Spaghetti Monsterism actually a religion?

Joining them on the panel will be David Chidester, a prominent and controversial academic at the University of Cape Town in South Africa who is interested in precisely such questions. He has urged scholars looking for insights into the place of religion in culture and psychology to explore a wider range of human activities. Examples include cheering for sports teams, joining Tupperware groups and the growing phenomenon of Internet-based religions. His 2005 book "Authentic Fakes: Religion and American Popular Culture," prompted wide debate about how far into popular culture religious studies scholars should venture.

Lucas Johnston, the third Florida student, argues the Flying Spaghetti Monsterism exhibits at least some of the traits of a traditional religion -- including, perhaps, that deep human need to feel like there's something bigger than oneself out there.

He recognized the point when his neighbor, a militant atheist who sports a pro-Darwin bumper sticker on her car, tried recently to start her car on a dying battery.

As she turned the key, she murmured under her breath: "Come on Spaghetti Monster!"

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 18 Nov 07 - 08:15 PM

Although I've searched the FSM website carefully, a nagging question is unresolved.

In the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, when a child is Spaghettied (the rough equivalent of "christened") should the ritual sprinkling be with Parmesan or Romano - or are there separate schisms subscribing to each.

Our own congregation can't seem to come to an agreement.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 18 Nov 07 - 09:28 PM

You seem to be a natural to be a member of The Fooles Troupe, John...

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 28 Dec 07 - 09:58 AM

Egypt to copyright pyramids
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071225/lf_afp/egyptantiquitieslaw
by Rayad Abou Awad Tue Dec 25, 2:00 PM ET

CAIRO (AFP) - In a potential blow to themed resorts from Vegas to Tokyo, Egypt is to pass a law requiring payment of royalties whenever its ancient monuments, from the pyramids to the sphinx, are reproduced.

Zahi Hawass, the charismatic and controversial head of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, told AFP on Tuesday that the move was necessary to pay for the upkeep of the country's thousands of pharaonic sites.

"The new law will completely prohibit the duplication of historic Egyptian monuments which the Supreme Council of Antiquities considers 100-percent copies," he said.

"If the law is passed then it will be applied in all countries of the world so that we can protect our interests," Hawass said.

He said that a ministerial committee had already agreed on the law which should be passed in the next parliamentary session, while insisting the move would not hurt Egyptian artisans.

"It is Egypt's right to be the only copyright owner for these monuments in order to benefit financially so we can restore, preserve and protect Egyptian monuments."

However, the law "does not forbid local or international artists from profiting from drawings and other reproductions of pharaonic and Egyptian monuments from all eras -- as long as they don't make exact copies."

"Artists have the right to be inspired by everything that surrounds them, including monuments," he said.

Asked about the potential impact on the monumental Luxor Hotel in the US gambling capital of Las Vegas, Hawass insisted that particular resort was "not an exact copy of pharaonic monuments despite the fact it's in the shape of a pyramid."

On its website, the luxury hotel describes itself as "the only pyramid shaped building in the world," but Hawass said its interior was entirely different from an ancient Egyptian setting.

Hawass's declarations came after the opposition daily Al-Wafd published an article on Sunday called for the Las Vegas hotel to pay a slice of its lodging and gambling profits to the city of Luxor.

"Thirty-five million tourists visit Las Vegas to see the reproduction of Luxor city while only six million visit the real Egyptian city of Luxor," the paper lamented.

Samir Farag, head of Luxor town council in southern Egypt, home to the legendary Valley of the Kings, said that it would be difficult to prohibit use of pyramid shapes.

"We can't forbid people from using the name of Luxor and copying monuments from (Luxor) city, which is the world's richest city for monuments," he said, adding that "tourists going to Las Vegas doesn't affect our city's business."

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 28 Dec 07 - 07:55 PM

When I first heard about this new law, I was wondering how they would enforce it, but now I see it is only exact copies, so Las Vagas is safe.

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: John O'L
Date: 28 Dec 07 - 08:52 PM

Exact copies? There can't be many of them surely? They'd be pretty big. Where would you put one?

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 29 Dec 07 - 01:36 AM

Well, a long tome ago when I worked for a magazine publisher, they decided to purchase one of them new-fangled word processors. After due deliberation, they picked one. It had an inconvenient keyboard which was physically attached to the display so that there was no comfortable way to type on it, but it had one great advantage that the Editor thought was an overriding one: it would print in either red or black, so that various stages of editorial changes were apparent.

It was also slow, so after a day or so, only Xeroxed copies were ever circulated. Oh well.

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 30 Dec 07 - 07:40 AM

US town escapes 666 phone prefix
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7163767.stm

The reference to 666 is taken from the Biblical book of Revelation
A town in the US state of Louisiana is to be allowed to change its telephone prefix so that residents can avoid a number many associate with the Devil.

Christians in Reeves have been unhappy since the early 1960s about being given the prefix, 666 - traditionally known as the Biblical "number of the beast".

For the next three months, households will be able to change the first three digits of their phone numbers to 749.

Mayor Scott Walker said CenturyTel's decision was "divine intervention".

However, he admitted it helped that Louisiana's two senators had also lobbied for the change with the phone company and the state Public Service Commission.

"It's been a black eye for our town, a stigma," he said.

"I don't think it's anything bad on us, just an image," he added. "We're good Christian people."

Mayor Walker said he had already made the switch to using the 749 prefix and expected about 80% of the town's 450 homeowners to do the same.

The reference to 666 is taken from translations of the Biblical book of Revelation, which talks about the events leading to the end of the world.

Revelation 13:18 states: "If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666."

Although in recent years scholars at Oxford University said that they had discovered a 3rd Century papyrus, from Oxyrhynchus, which gives the Number of the Beast as 616.

And a manuscript fragment from the 11th Century lists the number as 665.

The traditional number, 666, has fascinated and puzzled Christians for centuries and led to a great deal of speculation about its meaning.

Many scholars believe it is a reference to the Roman emperor at the time Revelation was written - either Nero or Diocletian. Both men put large numbers of Christians to death.

Using the Jewish system of Gematria, in which each letter is given a number, either name can be made to add up to 666.

The fear of the number 666 is known as hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia.

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 01 Jan 08 - 07:20 AM

Pavement sex 'only floor play'
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article594932.ece
By ROBERT FAIRBURN

Published: 18 Dec 2007

A TEENAGER who tried to have sex with the PAVEMENT in a busy street claimed yesterday it was a drunken prank — and escaped being put on the sex offenders' list.

Motorists looked on in shock as Steven Marshall, 18, hauled down his trousers and started to simulate sex on the floor.

Marshall — drinking while taking pills for arthritis — also carried out a vile sex act in front of a horrified female taxi driver in Galashiels, Selkirkshire.

He admitted a charge of public indecency at Selkirk Sheriff Court and got 12 months probation.

Sheriff Drummond commented: "This was bizarre. Anyone who lies on the road in the daylight, is significantly intoxicated and is partially undressed has a problem."

But Marshall will NOT be put on the sex offenders' register after Sheriff Drummond accepted the June offence "was not primarily sexually motivated".

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: Charley Noble
Date: 01 Jan 08 - 12:22 PM

"sex with the PAVEMENT"?

What could he have been thinking? Various criminal charges come to mind:

Asphalt assault

Intersection intercourse

Cobble molestation

Pavement perversion

Road rape

The public should be grateful that no innocent manhole was involved.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 09 Jan 08 - 06:18 AM

Oliver electrocutes chicken on TV

http://www.taste.com.au/news+features/articles/789/oliver+electrocutes+chicken+on+tv

British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has electrocuted a chicken on television, in order to highlight the cruelty of industrial chicken farming.

In a scene from his latest TV show, Jamie's Fowl Dinners, Oliver electrocutes a chicken, slits its throat and drains the blood from its neck.

Another part of the program shows unwanted male chicks suffocating in an airless container.

The show, which will be broadcast in the UK this Friday, is part of the chef's crusade to encourage consumers to buy chickens which have been raised in more humane circumstances.

Animal rights groups, however, have expressed concern about Oliver's decision to kill a chicken in a television studio with an audience watching.

A spokesperson from the RSPCA in the UK told the Daily Mail that "The lights, the cameras, the noise could be frightening and cause animals potential distress."

Oliver, on the other hand, said "I think if even a small percentage of people watching were informed and decided to shop differently as a result that would make a real difference."

This is not the first time Oliver's actions have upset animal rights groups. In 2005, the man known as the Naked Chef was shown slaughtering a lamb while it was still conscious.

He has also landed himself in trouble with supermarket giant Sainsbury's, a company which pays him to endorse its products, by criticising them for not taking part in a debate on the program.

Source
Taste.com.au - January 2008
~~~~~~~~~~


"The lights, the cameras, the noise could be frightening and cause animals potential distress."

AAAAGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 09 Jan 08 - 06:33 AM

but not the electrocuting & throat slitting?

nicely said (typed?) Robin

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: Donuel
Date: 09 Jan 08 - 10:05 AM

There's a million dollars under your bed! Yes really. Go look; I'll wait.

Huh, that's weird. Did you look really hard? Are you sure? Maybe you should try again, and look really, really hard this time.

Hmmm, did you look under the carpet? Well, you gotta look under the carpet. I know what I said; but under the carpet under the bed is still under the bed.

Nothing? You can't just feel for lumps; it could be in large bills spread out in a thin layer. You've got to pull up the carpet. Hey, with a million dollars you can get a new carpet, right?

I don't think you're putting enough effort into this. You're going to have to tear up the floor too. Of course I'm sure it's there; It says so right here on this old treasure map. Can you prove the map's a forgery? I didn't think so.

Well of course you have to dig: it's buried treasure, isn't it? You always have to dig for buried treasure. Everybody knows that. Are you stupid or something?

Deeper.

Okay mister know-it-all, prove there's no treasure. See, you can't! It's an irrational claim. You'd have to dig all the way to China. You do believe in China don't you? Have you ever seen China? See, everybody believes in things they've never seen, so keep digging.

Deeper!

I had some of the dirt analyzed. There are minute traces of gold. You must be getting close. No, it can't be natural; if gold just occurred naturally we'd all be rich, now wouldn't we.

Deeper!!

This guy I know took the dirt sample you sent me, calculated the trace amount of gold per cubic foot, then calculated the total volume of a column of dirt the size of your bed stretching all the way to the other side of the earth, then made some adjustments for increased gold density near the core, and viola! scientific proof that there's a million dollars in gold under your bed! Isn't that great?

You can't stop now, you're so close. What are you so mad about? Look at what great shape you got in from all that digging! Surely that's worth a million dollars right there. I think you really believe that gold is there anyway. Why else would you have dug that hole? I think that you're just afraid that if you keep digging you'll find gold. Why do you hate money so much? Are you some sort of communist?

Okay, that's it, me and some of my friends are going to come over and make you dig. I will not stay out of your bedroom! Your rights? What about my rights? It's totally unfair for you to deny me the right to that gold just because you don't believe it's there. Or rather, claim to not believe it's there: I think you're really just lazy.

Why are you running around telling people there is no gold under your bed? That's just more proof that deep down you really know it's there. If you really didn't believe there was any gold there it would never occur to you to mention it. After all, nobody runs around saying "There's no Santa Claus buried under my bed." You only have to deny the Gold because you know it's true.

You agoldists are such hypocrites. You talk about tolerance and rights, then persecute those of us who just want to be left alone to make you dig under your bed. My congressman is going to hear about this.

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 13 Jan 08 - 09:31 AM

Boobies - What can I say!

http://questionablecontent.net/indietits/2005/05/double-update-because-i-keep.html

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 19 Mar 08 - 03:28 AM

WPhilippines warns 'crucifixion bad for health'
ednesday March 19, 02:45 PM

http://au.news.yahoo.com/080319/19/1679i.html

MANILA (AFP) - Philippine health officials Wednesday warned people taking part in Easter crucifixions and self-flagellation rituals to get a tetanus shot first and sterilise the nails to avoid infections.

Every Good Friday in this predominately Roman Catholic Southeast Asian nation dozens of men re-enact the crucifixion of Jesus Christ by having themselves nailed to wooden crosses.

At the same time hundreds of others, mostly men, strip to the waist and whip themselves until their backs are cut and bloody as a way of atoning for their sins over the past year.

The Catholic church frowns upon the crucifixions and self flagellations which have become a tourist attraction in a number of towns around the country.

The department of health issued a health warning advising people taking part in the rituals this Friday to have tetanus shots and to check the condition of the whip they will use before lashing their backs.

It warned that dirty whips could lead to tetanus and other infections.

Health Secretary Francisco Duque said that as was hard to discourage "flagellants from whipping their own flesh, the best penitents can do is ensure that their whips are well-maintained."

According to the Manila Times, in San Fernando City, Pampanga, some 23 people, including two women, plan to reenact the crucifixion on Friday.

"We are not trying to go against the Lenten tradition here because whipping has somewhat already become some form of 'atonement for sins' for some of us," Duque said.

"But this advice is important to make sure that no one will land in the hospital due to tetanus or other infections that penitents might get in the process," he said.

The health department has also warned that the six-inch (15-centimetre) nails used in crucifixions should be sterilised.

:-)

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 23 Mar 08 - 10:36 AM

Fire station 'wrong way round'
By Paul Carter
March 23, 2008 05:35pm

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23419572-29277,00.html?from=public_rss

A NSW Fire Brigades boss is downplaying "minor issues" over a new station in Bathurst which the firefighters' union describes as a total stuff-up.

NSW Fire Brigades Union secretary Simon Flynn said the $2 million fire station was built the wrong way round, making access impractical and dangerous.

Entry to its front driveway was severely hampered by a concrete median strip on the road outside the station, he said.

It forced fire engine drivers to make two tricky 90-degree turns when driving out the back door in an emergency onto another road without a median strip, he said.

"It is a total stuff up," Mr Flynn said.

NSW Fire Brigades director of regional operations Assistant Commissioner Mark Brown said the design of the Bathurst Fire Station was practical and safe.

"The fire station has dual access to two street frontages – Alexander and Suttor. However, Suttor Street provides the safest route due to traffic volumes on the main road," he said.

"This arrangement has no impact on response times. The station was designed and built for fire engines to respond in either direction."

The union said the Suttor St access was almost blocked by the median strip.

Mr Brown said leaks in the roof of the new station, which opened in March last year, had been fixed and quotes were being called for relocating an air compressor from the old station still used to fill air cylinders.

"As this is not an emergency activity, the location of the compressor has no impact on the brigade, however it will be more convenient once it is relocated to the new station," he said.

Mr Brown said relocation to the new station had been successful despite the "minor issues".

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 27 Mar 08 - 08:14 AM

State's sky to get heritage status
March 27, 2008 09:17pm
Article from: AAP

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23443024-29277,00.html?from=public_rss

THE sky above New South Wales is to be given heritage status by the National Trust.

The National Trust of NSW is set to classify both the day and night sky above the state as worthy of preservation.

National Trust NSW president Zeny Edwards said the sky viewed from NSW had extraordinary aesthetic, historic, social and scientific significance for all Australians.

The move was timely with Earth Hour on Saturday, when switching off city lights would allow the sky to be seen clearly, he said.

"Our sky is the only vista common to the whole country," Dr Edwards said today.

"We hope the listing of the sky will be a unifying symbol to help focus awareness on the need to protect our environment in the broadest sense.

"Unnecessary lighting of buildings at night diminishes our enjoyment of the stars, and the wide blue skies for which Sydney is so well known are increasingly obscured by smoggy haze.

"A clear view of the sky is the right of every Australian and should be preserved."

Dr Edwards said the Milky Way and Southern Cross were defining symbols for Australians.

"Our sky predates life on earth and is known to have been highly significant to the Aboriginal people who have depicted the sun, moon and stars in art and dreamtime legends," he said.

"The movement of the sun, moon and the stars guided our early Australian explorers."

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 21 Apr 08 - 10:33 PM

Shades of 'Danny Deck Chair'!!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Brazil priest carried off by balloons
Tuesday April 22, 06:50 AM
http://au.news.yahoo.com/080421/2/16kda.html

A Roman Catholic priest who floated off under hundreds of helium party balloons is missing off the southern coast of Brazil.

Rescuers in helicopters and small fishing boats were searching off the coast of Santa Catarina state, where pieces of balloons were found.

Reverend Adelir Antonio de Carli lifted off from the port city of Paranagua on Sunday afternoon, wearing a helmet, thermal suit and a parachute.

He was reported missing about eight hours later after losing contact with port authority officials, according to the treasurer of his Sao Cristovao parish, Denise Gallas.

Gallas said by telephone that the priest wanted to break a 19-hour record for the most hours flying with balloons to raise money for a spiritual rest-stop for truckers in Paranagua, Brazil's second-largest port for agricultural products.

Some American adventurers have used helium balloons to emulate Larry Walters - who in 1982 rose three miles above Los Angeles in a lawn chair lifted by balloons.

A video of Carli posted on the G1 website of Globo TV showed the smiling 41-year-old priest slipping into a flight suit, being strapped to a seat attached to a huge column green, red, white and yellow balloons, and soaring into the air to the cheers of a crowd.

According to Gallas, the priest soared to an altitude of 6,000 metres then descended to about 2,500 metres for his planned flight to the city of Dourados, 750km north-west of his parish.

But winds pushed him in another direction, and Carli was some 50km off the coast when he last contacted Paranagua's port authority, Gallas said.

Carli had a GPS device, a satellite phone, a buoyant chair and was an experienced skydiver, Gallas said.

"We are absolutely confident he will be found alive and well, floating somewhere in the ocean," she said.

"He knew what he was doing and was fully prepared for any kind of mishap."

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 23 Apr 08 - 09:59 PM

Wednesday April 23, 03:21 AM
Lynchings in Congo as penis theft panic hits capital
http://au.news.yahoo.com/080422/15/16ktt.html

KINSHASA (Reuters) - Police in Congo have arrested 13 suspected sorcerers accused of using black magic to steal or shrink men's penises after a wave of panic and attempted lynchings triggered by the alleged witchcraft.

Reports of so-called penis snatching are not uncommon in West Africa, where belief in traditional religions and witchcraft remains widespread, and where ritual killings to obtain blood or body parts still occur.

Rumours of penis theft began circulating last week in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo's sprawling capital of some 8 million inhabitants. They quickly dominated radio call-in shows, with listeners advised to beware of fellow passengers in communal taxis wearing gold rings.

Purported victims, 14 of whom were also detained by police, claimed that sorcerers simply touched them to make their genitals shrink or disappear, in what some residents said was an attempt to extort cash with the promise of a cure.

"You just have to be accused of that, and people come after you. We've had a number of attempted lynchings. ... You see them covered in marks after being beaten," Kinshasa's police chief, Jean-Dieudonne Oleko, told Reuters on Tuesday.

Police arrested the accused sorcerers and their victims in an effort to avoid the sort of bloodshed seen in Ghana a decade ago, when 12 suspected penis snatchers were beaten to death by angry mobs. The 27 men have since been released.

"I'm tempted to say it's one huge joke," Oleko said.

"But when you try to tell the victims that their penises are still there, they tell you that it's become tiny or that they've become impotent. To that I tell them, 'How do you know if you haven't gone home and tried it'," he said.

Some Kinshasa residents accuse a separatist sect from nearby Bas-Congo province of being behind the witchcraft in revenge for a recent government crackdown on its members.

"It's real. Just yesterday here, there was a man who was a victim. We saw. What was left was tiny," said 29-year-old Alain Kalala, who sells phone credits near a Kinshasa police station.

(For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/ )

(Editing by Nick Tattersall and Mary Gabriel)

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 26 Apr 08 - 06:05 AM

No Bull Mate!

http://au.news.yahoo.com/080425/15/16mc2.html
Saturday April 26, 02:03 AM
State moves to ban fake testicles on vehicles

TALLAHASSEE, Florida (Reuters) - Senate lawmakers in Florida have voted to ban the fake bull testicles that dangle from the trailer hitches of many trucks and cars throughout the state.

Republican Sen. Cary Baker, a gun shop owner from Eustis, Florida, called the adornments offensive and proposed the ban. Motorists would be fined $60 for displaying the novelty items, which are known by brand names like "Truck Nutz" and resemble the south end of a bull moving north.

The Florida Senate voted last week to add the measure to a broader transportation bill, but it is not included in the House version.

In a spirited debate laced with double entendre, Senate lawmakers questioned whether the state should curtail freedom of expression in vehicle accessories.

Critics of the ban included the Senate Rules Chairman, Sen. Jim King, a Jacksonville Republican whose truck sported a pair until his wife protested.

The bill's sponsor doubted it would succeed.

"It's probably not going to make it through the process," Baker said on Thursday. "It won't be much of story in a few days."

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: frogprince
Date: 26 Apr 08 - 10:37 AM

We've been entangled in one mess with "them" that it's getting hard to laugh about. We had been using the same local pharmacy for several years, with essentially faultless service. Then my wife's med coverage required her to start using Express Scripts mailorder service a couple of years ago. They've demonstrated their total incompetency repeatedly; several times we have sent in prescriptions written for a year, and had to get new prescriptions soon afterward because they lost track of everything; several other assorted screwups. They just topped themselves. We've had no changes in our address, personal information, or medical coverage for years. Yesterday we received a letter saying that they had to cancel our last med order because they can find no record that we have coverage.

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 05 May 08 - 03:35 AM

WA Liberals endorse Buswell as leader
http://au.news.yahoo.com/080505/2/16qhb.html

The West Australian Liberal Party has endorsed the leadership of Troy Buswell after a spill motion failed at a party room meeting in Perth.

The party room meeting was called for Monday following the opposition leader's admission he sniffed the chair of a female Liberal staffer in 2005.

...

Perth's only daily newspaper, The West Australian, carried a front-page editorial which called on the Liberal party to dump Mr Buswell.

"The ease with which he employs deviousness and downright dishonesty in a bid to achieve his personal ambitions is stunning by even political standards," the newspaper said.

Before becoming leader in January, Mr Buswell admitted snapping the bra of a Labor staffer last year and was accused of making sexist remarks towards another MP.
~~~~~~~~
Somehow I think the real fools are the electorate...

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 27 May 08 - 09:16 PM

FITRW: Gifts from Tokyo Customs!
        

Boy, they REALLY make tourists feel welcome here!
http://au.news.yahoo.com/080527/15/17156.html

TOKYO (Reuters) - One of the travelers who arrived at Tokyo's Narita airport over the weekend may have picked up an unusual souvenir from customs -- a package of cannabis.

A customs official hid the package in a suitcase belonging to a passenger arriving from Hong Kong as a training exercise for sniffer dogs Sunday, but lost track of both drugs and suitcase during the practice session, a spokeswoman for Tokyo customs said.

Customs regulations specify that a training suitcase be used for such exercises, but the official said he had used passengers' suitcases for similar purposes in the past, domestic media reported.

"The dogs have always been able to find it before," NHK quoted him as saying. "I became overconfident that it would work."

Anyone who finds the package should contact Tokyo customs as soon as possible, the spokeswoman said.

(Reporting by Isabel Reynolds; editing by Sophie Hardach)

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 03:53 AM

Kids' flaming footbag toy banned
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23883046-5006787,00.html

June 18, 2008

A BALL designed to be set on fire and then kicked around has been banned.

South Australian Consumer Affairs Minister Jennifer Rankine said the Fire Footbag was made from fire resistant material and was meant to be soaked in flammable liquid and ignited.

"The Fire Footbag essentially becomes a flaming missile which presents extreme safety risks for people who could quite easily be burned by the footbag once it's been set alight," Ms Rankine said.

"Making such a dangerous item available to children or anyone else is absurd and unacceptable."

The Fire Footbag has already been identified by the Federal Government as a dangerous toy.

One incident had been reported in Western Australia in which a teenage boy suffered burns to his hands while trying to use it.

Ms Rankine said that while there had been no reports of injuries in South Australia, the Government had decided to act.

"The Fire Footbag clearly presents significant health and safety risks," she said.

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 18 Jun 08 - 07:36 AM

Bundy Bear caught in binge brawl
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23885067-29277,00.html?from=public_rss
By Denis Peters

June 18, 2008 07:04pm
Article from: AAP

HE is the bear who knows how to have a good time, even when his mates cover him in pink.

But the Bundy Bear, TV advertising symbol of Queensland's Bundaberg Rum, stirred up a hornet's nest during Federal Parliament's question time today.

Health Minister Nicola Roxon, who just yesterday fended off suggestions she is a wowser because of the Government's crackdown on binge drinking, went on the attack today and had Bundy in her sights.

She pointed out that Nationals MP Paul Neville, whose seat of Hinkler encompasses the city of Bundaberg, actually had a life-sized facsimile of Bundy in his parliamentary office window.

She suggested Mr Neville's choice of window decorations symbolised the Opposition's "flippant" approach to the problem of binge drinking.

"Imagine my surprise, walking past the member for Hinkler's office - I came across, in the window of his office, a life-sized bear, not just an ordinary bear, in fact a white bear, a polar bear, quite a famous bear - Bundy Bear," Ms Roxon said to a howls from the Opposition.

"(It's) the only bear in the country with its whole life committed to promoting alcohol. The point is ... the Opposition has alcohol advertisements in the Parliament.

"You don't think it's a problem."

Mr Neville, who was absent from the chamber for the barbs, returned later to defend Bundy.

"(Ms Roxon) said that I promoted binge drinking. I have never promoted binge drinking. In fact I have promoted responsible drinking," he said.

"Secondly, she criticised my choice of window display, the Bundy Bear, which I've had in place for at least two terms of this Parliament, which has never (attracted) any question.

"It is a ... light-hearted symbol of my town which has taken the product in question to the sporting community of Australia and to the world. I am proud to represent that company."

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 22 Jul 08 - 08:54 PM

E-Mail Naivete Leads To False Prosecution
Tuesday July 22, 2008
http://blogs.pcmag.com/securitywatch/2008/07/email_naivete_leads_to_false_p.php

By now any experienced Internet user should know that e-mail headers aren't always what they seem to be. A message is not always from the person it purports to be "From: ".

Someone should have explained this problem to the New York City Police department and the Bronx County District Attorney, both of whom used an e-mail sent by one party to a second party, following an error by that second party, in order to prosecute a third party for sending it. In fact, in this case the header may have been accurate and the problem simple laziness in examining it.

Bronx resident William Hallowell was arrested on complaint of his supervisor, Robin Berson. Ms Berson had attempted to send an e-mail to Mr. Hallowell, but typed in the wrong address and sent it to a Ben Hallowell. Ben Hallowell's response made reference to illegal activities and hit on Ms. Berson in a crude way. Still not realizing what she had done she finked on William Hallowell to the Police who, despite a shocking absence of evidence against him, arrested him and held him for more than 30 hours. Prosecutors then took 4 months to dismiss the case. All these claims are as made in Hallowell's civil rights suit filed recently against police and prosecutors.

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 23 Jul 08 - 01:50 AM

Re: "Here are some actual label instructions on consumer goods"

I'm looking at a carpet mat in the shape of a surfboard.

Label says: "WARNING! Not to be used as a life saving device!"

I'm not making this up, you know...

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 23 Jul 08 - 07:20 PM

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7520149.stm

'Allah meat' astounds Nigerians

also lots of links to

SEE ALSO
Tropical fish 'has Allah marking'
31 Jan 06 | Lancashire
Christmas thief steals 'Nun Bun'
27 Dec 05 | Americas
India marvels at 'miracle chapati'
16 Nov 02 | South Asia
Message from Allah 'in tomato'
09 Sep 99 | UK News
Caravan park 'Christ' draws the faithful
11 Oct 00 | Asia-Pacific

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 01 Sep 08 - 12:29 AM

Man gets nut stuck around penis

August 31, 2008, 4:20 pm

A Malaysian welder had to have a nut removed from around his penis after an attempt to lengthen it before he gets engaged next week went embarrassingly wrong.

The nut got stuck on his penis following an erection, the Star newspaper reported, forcing him to seek help at a hospital in southern Johor state.

Staff from the Sultanah Aminah hospital had to drain some blood from the penis and cut away a top layer of skin before the object could be removed, the newspaper said.

It said the fire and rescue department were also involved in trying to remove the nut from the unnamed welder, who is in his 20s and hoped the nut would weigh down his penis to make it longer.

"The patient is now recovering and we hope to discharge him today (Sunday)," hospital director Daud Abdul Rahim told the Star.

On August 25, another young man in Kuala Lumpur had tried to increase his sexual prowess by slipping a steel ring around his penis, forcing the fire department to cut off the ring after doctors were unable to remove it, the newspaper said.

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: Charley Noble
Date: 01 Sep 08 - 04:02 PM

Surgeon to patient:

"We're just going to slice a little bit more off the top!"

Cheerily,
Charley Ignoble

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: gnu
Date: 01 Sep 08 - 04:34 PM

"Whadda you? Fuckin nuts?"

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 02 Sep 08 - 08:20 PM

Hard lesson...
Lipstick in School

According to a news report, a certain private school in Washington was recently faced with a unique problem. A number of 12-year-old girls were beginning to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom.

That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick, they would press their lips to the mirror leaving dozens of little lip prints. Every night the maintenance man would remove them, and the next day the girls would put them back.

Finally the principal decided that something had to be done.

She called all the girls to the bathroom and met them there with the maintenance man. She explained that all these lip prints were causing a major problem for the custodian who had to clean the mirrors every night (you can just imagine the yawns from the little princesses).

To demonstrate how difficult it had been to clean the mirrors, she asked the maintenance man to show the girls how much effort was required. He took out a long-handled squeegee, dipped it in the toilet, and cleaned the mirror with it.

Since then, there have been no lip prints on the mirror.

There are teachers ... and then there are educators.

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: Charley Noble
Date: 02 Sep 08 - 08:40 PM

Excellent!

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: olddude
Date: 02 Sep 08 - 08:41 PM

I have found that in life there are 3 types of people

those who understand math and those that do not

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 09 Sep 08 - 04:34 AM

Court rules Wikipedia not authoritative
http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/article.asp\?CIID=121850&eid=6&edate=20080909

By Egan Orion | September 4, 2008

A US APPEALS COURT has ruled that Wikipedia entries, which anyone might edit, are not authoritative sources of information suitable for federal judges to base their decisions upon.

In particular, the 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals decided last Friday that the Department of Homeland Security should not rely upon information found at Wikipedia in deciding whether to admit asylum seekers applying to enter the country.

The appeals court reversed a ruling by the Board of Immigration Appeals that said it wasn't an error for DHS to cite Wikipedia in its decision to deport Lamilem Badasa, an Ethiopian woman who was seeking asylum in the US, claiming her laissez-passer travel permit didn't prove her identity.

The government used a Wikipedia entry to convince an immigration judge that the document was just a one-way travel document based on information provided solely by the applicant.

In overturning the Board's decision, the appellate court noted that, because anyone can edit Wikipedia, there was no assurance that the information the government found there was accurate. The court said that looking up information on Wikipedia might have misled and tainted the government officials' decision in the case.

The court of appeals remanded the case back down to the Board of Immigration Appeals to explain why it believes that consulting Wikipedia did not taint the decision-making process.

That's the appeals court's restrained and oblique manner of saying to the judges down at the lower court, "You have got to be kidding."

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 18 Sep 08 - 07:39 AM

Baggy pants ban unconstitutional: judge

September 17, 2008, 5:58 am

A Florida judge has deemed unconstitutional a law banning baggy pants that show off the wearer's underwear, local media reports.

A 17-year-old spent a night in jail last week after police arrested him for wearing low pants in Riviera Beach, southeast Florida.

The law banning so-called "saggy pants" was approved by city voters in March after supporters of the bill collected nearly 5,000 signatures to put the measure on the ballot.

The teen would have received a $US150 ($A188) fine or community service, but he spent the night in jail due to a history of marijuana use, the Palm Beach Post newspaper said on Tuesday.

"Somebody help me," said Palm Beach Circuit Judge Paul Moyle, before giving his decision.

"We're not talking about exposure of buttocks. No! We're talking about someone who has on pants whose underwear are apparently visible to a police officer who then makes an arrest and the basis is he's then held overnight, no bond."

"Your honour, we now have the fashion police," added public defender Carol Bickerstaff, who asked the law be declared "unconstitutional."

The judge agreed with Bickerstaff immediately, reported the Post.

Laws that ban low-slung pants are on the books in several US cities, including Delcambre, Louisiana, where offenders can be fined up to $US500 ($A628) or jailed for up to six months.

Dallas, Texas and Atlanta, Georgia are among the larger US cities considering similar measures.

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 18 Sep 08 - 07:45 AM

Da Debbil made me do it...

BS: Fools In The Real World             95         18 Sep 08 - 07:39 AM
What does Sarah Palin remind you of?    308         18 Sep 08 - 07:38 AM
BS: Lipstick on a Pig                   267         18 Sep 08 - 07:38 AM
BS: The Ego Has Landed                   7        18 Sep 08 - 07:35 AM
BS: Crash of U.S. Economy               311         18 Sep 08 - 07:29 AM

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 19 Sep 08 - 02:19 AM

Court rules outdoor areas are inside

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 24 Sep 08 - 09:37 AM

D'oh! Simpsons and friends face Russia ban

September 24, 2008, 1:18 pm

MOSCOW (AFP) - Pornographic, extremist and immoral -- that's how Russian prosecutors are describing popular US cartoons like The Simpsons, Family Guy and South Park.

The channel that carries them has been forced to suspend broadcasts of the offending programmes pending legal action and throngs of teenagers have taken to the streets to demand their favourite cartoons back.

On Wednesday, a meeting of a government monitoring agency could take channel 2x2 off the air starting next month after a protest campaign by religious groups against the irreverent US cartoons.

Fans of the cartoons say critics just don't get the joke and are engaging in Soviet -style moral censorship, while opponents say the cartoons are poisoning the minds of Russia 's young.

"I've got no problem with my sense of humour but any satire has its limits," said Konstantin Bendas, a Pentecostal pastor and father of three who is heading the campaign and has written a formal complaint to prosecutors.

"If a character in a cartoon says 'All Jews are stupid' is that funny? If Christian communion is compared to eating faeces, is that funny?," he asked, referring to some of the 20 episodes of South Park he has watched.

Following Bendas's complaint, channel 2x2 now also faces a criminal investigation under strict new Russian legislation against extremism for broadcasting the notoriously foul-mouthed South Park.

Judging by a highly critical statement issued by the prosecutor general's office this month, the prospects for the channel and its cartoons appear bleak in a Russia that commentators say is becoming increasingly conservative.

"The cartoons broadcast by 2x2 propagandise violence, cruelty, pornography and anti-social behaviour," the statement said.

"They are full of scenes of mutilation and infliction of physical and moral suffering that evoke fear, panic and terror in children.

"This media product is of low moral and ethical content and has an extremely negative effect on children, it perverts their moral orientation and increases the danger of panic and neurotic ailments."

Prosecutors also said the channel was in breach of legislation for the protection of children and rules against "the proliferation through the media of material propagandising pornography, a cult of violence and cruelty."

A spokeswoman for 2x2, Maria Telesheva, dismissed criticism of the cartoons.

"We hope the federal broadcast monitoring service takes into account the opinion of our 11 million viewers and the support that we've had in the past two weeks," Telesheva told AFP, adding that viewers liked the cartoons.

The channel also insists in its defence that any violent cartoons are only shown at night and are not aimed at a children's audience.

The Federal Service for Monitoring in the Sphere of Connections and Mass Communications is set to meet on Wednesday to discuss whether or not to renew the channel's licence, which runs out on October 17.

In the run-up to the ruling, teenagers dressed in black -- some with studs and punk haircuts, others dressed as South Park characters -- have protested in Moscow and Saint Petersburg, the two cities where the channel is shown.

So far the dispute seems a classic generational conflict, with defenders of morals on one side and a thriving Russian counter-culture on the other.

But channel executives have suggested in recent interviews that the religious campaign could just be a cover-up for corporate raiding.

"Someone apparently needs our frequency... There's this bloodlust, there really seems to be an organised campaign against this channel," 2x2 director Roman Sarkisov said in an interview with the Kommersant daily this month.

Pro-Kremlin member of parliament Pavel Tarakanov on Tuesday said the channel's frequency could be taken over by a new state-controlled patriotic youth channel instead of cartoon "pornography".

"We need to form a new generation of Russians for the 21st century that wants to live in a civilized country and be proud of it. That's why we need a media platform with a large audience," Tarakanov told Interfax news agency.

The cartoons shown by 2x2 "can only bring about the degradation and corruption of a young generation and will damage our culture and state," said Tarakanov, a member of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's United Russia party.

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 09 Oct 08 - 09:20 AM

Council orders 'offensive' Aussie flag down

By Hannah Davies
October 09, 2008 12:01am

    * Council tells ex-soldier to take down backyard flag
    * Legal action threatened after neighbour's complaint
    * Council says flagpole could fall down in high winds

A BRISBANE council has ordered an ex-soldier to take down the Australian flag which flies outside his house because it has been deemed "offensive" by a neighbour.

Aaron Wilson erected the 5m high flagpole eight weeks ago, in honour of his friends who served in Iraq, The Courier-Mail reports.

But on Tuesday, Logan City Council called to tell him a neighbour had made a complaint, labelling it "offensive".

He was told to remove the pole or risk legal action. Mr Wilson, whose father fought in Vietnam, said he was disgusted.

"I find it astonishing that anyone could find the Australian flag offensive," he said.

"My family and friends have served for the country and the very least I can do is have a flag to show my appreciation for Australia.

"I thought the council had better things to do with their time than persecute people for putting a flag up."

Logan City mayor Pam Parker said she backed Mr Wilson. "I am offended that somebody should complain to the council about the Australian flag, and whoever they are should hang their head in shame," she said on ABC radio.

But she could not rule out his having to move the flagpole. A council spokeswoman said there was a concern the flagpole could fall down in high winds.

She said Mr Wilson, who is a salesman, needed a building permit, because the pole was only 4.5m from the kerb and, under the Queensland Development Code, it should be at least 6m from the front.

But Mr Wilson, 30, said other residents in the area had similar flagpoles that were closer to the boundary than his.

He said he would not be moving the flag. "You can't have rules for some people and not for others," he said. "I can't see how moving the flag back a bit is going to stop it being offensive."

Ex-serviceman Cr Ray Hackwood, who represents Mr Wilson's ward, said he would be monitoring the situation.

"As area councillor, I certainly won't allow anyone to pull down an Australian flag," he said.

Mr Wilson's neighbours last night were baffled as to who had complained.

Felicia Maybury, 28, said: "Mr Wilson's got a right to fly his flag in support of his country and his mates who fought for us."
~~~~~~~~

I live next door to the sort of nutter that would complain... I once got a letter complaining about my 'no-dig' garden bed...

Subject: RE: BS: Fools In The Real World
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 09 Oct 08 - 09:26 AM

100!