Following in the footsteps of the ever so popular ‘The Biggest Looser’ and ‘The Bachelor’ television networks have announced plans for a plus size dating show.  Instead of enlisting a cast of beautifully skinny contestants ‘More To Love’ will follow the search for love of a single eligible bachelor with a big waistline and even bigger heart. Shows producers will be calling for voluptuous ladies to join the race for the affections of this large husky hunk.  The creators of this idea believe the new programme will appeal to a wider audience of viewers promoting a more realistic reflection of the dating scene.

This style of programming is a breath of fresh air.  For so long women and men who are in the bigger weight bracket have barely been represented on television, not in reality TV anyway, except for the biggest looser where the shows contestants battle to be everything but big. Other reality TV examples such as Search For A Supermodel’ and ‘Are You Hot’ are sinful dribble, and the hollow contestants are not worthy of the airtime. ‘Idol’ and ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ at least illustrate the journey of young people working towards actually becoming good at something. The announcement of ‘Miss World’ the large version is also a wonderful initiative.

‘More to love’ will hopefully focus on what it really means to be in a relationship, despite physical appearances. You don’t have to be a size 1 to be loved, easy to say but very hard inhabit when society tells us otherwise.  Many people are genetically big, these are the people who can struggle their whole lives to accept and love their bodies the way they are. Others who are unhealthily over weight and know they shouldn’t be, are more prone to unhappiness, but are also the ones in need of motivation and a confidence boost.

I don’t see producers pitching the idea of ‘Ugly Love’ but I suppose they are not thick either. It is funny though to think of all these larger contestants herded together with one bulky common factor between them, all so that we can observe the fireworks, but what if there aren’t any?

Opposites do attract, how often do you see fat and skinny couples…. I do!.. all the time.  Those larger couples you see with their chubby kids ordering a family bucket at KFC to gorge on together seem happy,  I assume they are comfortable together in their greasy haven.  I feel that classifying people as fat and thin is the separation that causes sadness in the first place. Why not have a dating show where anything goes, people in wheel chairs, fat, skinny, stupid, beautiful, rich. Love is in the eye of the beholder.  It just seems a pity to herd all the so-called good-looking people together, why? So they can live together in their vain misery eternally.

 I can already see a whole lot of single skinny girls sitting at home on a lonely Wednesday night eating their lean cuisine, clawing at their television sets whishing they too were given the chance to get a bit of Mr Bigs’ big fat love pie.

An Australian Bikie gang member was bludgeoned to death at Sydney Airport last week. Rival gang members travelling on different planes both approaching Sydney called for reinforcements from their mobile phones before the planes had even landed.  One man was then set upon by 80 bikies armed with steel bars and sticks and beaten to his death in a terminal full of families and other terrified travellers. Suspects have since been arrested, as fears continue to grow that a full-scale bikie war is now festering. These Fears have intensified as the brother of the man killed at Sydney airport was shot in a drive by style shooting outside his home on Sunday night, he is now under armed guard in hospital.  Police and Politicians are calling for new laws to be introduced to help curb the movement of these gangs.

Bikie gangs have been around for decades and although these groups are drawn together with a common love of big fat Harleys and a yearning for male comradeship these gangs have abused their freedom for way too long. This attack at Sydney airport highlights bikies disregard for the law, the viciousness of the attack is a worrying indicator to the type of deeply violent characters that inhabit these groups.  I would like to believe there are lots of good law abiding bikers out there who enjoy a Sunday ride with their mates and who would rather shake hands than settle and argument with their fist, whose reputation is being damaged by a rotten few, but I don’t.  Those who may consider themselves separate from the events in Sydney who continue to wear club colours and advertise the bikie ethic are just including themselves in this world of evil.

 Bikie gangs can exercise such power in numbers, their status creates a climate of fear, something they then ride on to monopolise the drug market. This power is what is dangerous. 

 I think grown men who join gangs that wear matching outfits and condone killing and drug dealing are lame. To become a bikie member one must endure years of service and even belittlement before they are accepted.  If a grown man needs the influence and reputation of a bikie gang to enhance is sense of importance he needs to go and ask his mother to hold him and breast feed him a little longer, as he is obviously lacking in self esteem. I suppose many gang members maybe trying to replace a family that they never had, but the delusional moral code the bikie culture fosters is poisonous. 

Hopefully the new legal initiative to disempower these groups will see their assets seized and random raids carried out regularly, if the authorities aren’t bribed first.

Security concerns grew last week when it was suspected that the computer of the Dalai Lama was infiltrated with a new development that allows hackers to hear and see what is going on through other people’s computers. The theory that an espionage network based in china had hacked into the Dalai Lamas computer was outlined in a security experts report released on Sunday.  A Foreign diplomats’ staff were believed to have been contacted by the Chinese government about a proposed visit by the Dalai Lama, a possibility that had only just been discussed in an email moments before.  These networks of Malware (malicious software) are believed to not be exclusive to China, with a number of countries allegedly capable of using Ghost net to infiltrate unsecured computers. The computers of the priminister of Laos and NATO were also stated to have been affected.
This Ghost network is said to be able to take control of extra attachments such as microphones and cameras and use them to listen and observe in private premises. The hackers gain access by sending cleverly designed emails disguised to look like they are from contacts. Once accepted, other emails can be hijacked having their attachments deleted replaced by other contaminated files.

This is an amazing development in computer technology, email bugs have been a problem for a long time, however the progress of this type of computer access is scary. Everyone now knows not to open strange emails titled “your uncle john, or Hi its me” especially when the email addresses always look so strange.  Hackers need to get way smarter if they want to access my living room.
I doubt anyone would be interested in what is going on in my house anyway…. but what if they were?.  I assume keeping up with computer espionage is an essential part of most government’s security measures.
This type of hacking is considered cyber crime by many governments .If this technology fell into the hands of the wrong people it will be used for fraud and become a huge risk to our privacy.  The idea of web cams being used to watch us in our own home is the stuff of creepy movie scripts so I hope governments and computer companies are designing appropriate anti virus software to thwart such problems.   So maybe in the mean time its time to throw a towel over you web cam if your planning to pick your nose at your desk, as you never know who will be watching.

• Why don’t you ever see the headline Psychic Wins Lottery? #
• Why is the third hand on the watch called a second hand? #
• Stars v Panthers http://twitpic.com/2jwa3 #
• This is what it looks like to be on the glass http://twitpic.com/2jwqy #
• My sack of nuts – 1 nothing Stars after one http://twitpic.com/2k0pp #
• The Panthers are coming on strong. #
• Its about that time –> http://bit.ly/fyRmc #

The game didn’t end well for the Stars…

In my humble opinion, ten years isn’t long enough.

PALERMO (Reuters) – A Tunisian pilot who paused to pray instead of taking emergency measures before crash-landing his plane, killing 16 people, has been sentenced to 10 years in jail by an Italian court along with his co-pilot.

The 2005 crash at sea off Sicily left survivors swimming for their lives, some clinging to a piece of the fuselage that remained floating after the ATR turbo-prop aircraft splintered upon impact.

A fuel-gauge malfunction was partly to blame but prosecutors also said the pilot succumbed to panic, praying out loud instead of following emergency procedures and then opting to crash-land the plane instead trying to reach a nearby airport.

Full story here.

I am not a religious person myself. In fact, I don’t believe in a higher power in the traditional sense, meaning that I do not believe in deities as they are laid out in traditional religions. That being said, I am very tolerant of the religious and spiritual beliefs of others. However, I find it difficult to be tolerant when one person’s beliefs infringe on the rights and safety of others.

Prayer provides comfort in times of stress; that I understand. What I have difficulty comprehending is how a trained pilot could choose prayer over action at such a critical point. In lieu of emergency procedures that could very well have saved the lives of his passengers, he chose to pause and pray.

Sixteen people lost their lives. They are gone, their hopes and dreams snuffed out forever. Their families ripped apart, and why? All because some religious zealot decided that prayer was preferable to preparation.

Is ten years in prison sufficient punishment for the loss of sixteen lives? I don’t think so. If it makes you feel better, then by all means, pray. But please, don’t do so when your action, or inaction, puts the lives of others in danger.

Face.com – Face recognition for the masses..

This seems like a pretty cool idea.  It is a Facebook app that will first scan known pictures of you and then go out and find other that perhaps you don’t know are out there.  I have signed up for the alpha and will let you know how it works once I get a chance to play with it.

Facial Recognition Software

Bonnie Fuller: Cougars And MILFs Rule 40 Year-Old Women Are WAY Hotter Than 20 Year-Olds.

As I went through this list and looked at the votes it would sure seem that Boonie Fuller is right…

It’s official! Age is irrelevant… when it comes to women and beauty that is. Who has THE HOTTEST bikini-clad hard body at this very moment? It’s 48 year-old Valerie Bertinelli on the cover of People looking way hotter than she ever did during her peak, One Day at a Time, sitcom days in the ’70s.

Who are both men and women getting in a lather about at this minute? It’s nude 43 year-old supermodel Cindy Crawford, photographed in nothing but suds for Allure magazine. Her pics have been responsible for over 400,000 page views and hundreds of comments on this site alone in the past couple of days.

Just whose sexy toned biceps have been talked about even more than the new bank rescue plan? 45 year-old Michelle Obama’s. Who’s got the best legs in America and happens to be our nations’ most eligible bachelorette? No contest, it’s Jen Aniston, 40. And honestly, do we really care about the trials and tribulations of Lauren Conrad or Paris Hilton’s lovelives the way we care about Jen’s? Finding Jen’s Mr. Right is right up there as a far more enduring national obsession than, say, deploring the Octomom.

     After reading Ashleys post on Barack Obama’s statement about the legalisation of marijuana, I got to thinking about the drug problem at large. It seems the idea of legalising prohibited substances is tossed around every now and then with everyone seeming too hesitant to implement any sort of trial legal supply. It is so obvious that the existing laws are not attacking the drug problem with any real results. The cost to humanity, the drug related crime rate, loss of life and mental illness all caused by drug addiction is just so devastating that society screams for another tactic to be investigated. Marijuana is definitely the least harmful, non aggressive of substances with many users not having enough motivation to ever get clean, as while they are using they are able to maintain such normal lives. Long-term use can however drastically hamper some people’s ability to ever reach their full potential. Marijuanas effects are so de motivating that is keeps some users in a behavioural rut forever. Others who smoke recreationally, attributing a quiet joint to great creativity and relaxation could benefit from its legalisation, as these people are not dangerous criminals.

     Other drugs should be legalised before marijuana as the majority of hard drug addicts do hope for a better life one day, but are so emotionally messed up that they are caught in a never ending downward spiral. Some are more addicted to the deluded excitement of such a lifestyle than the drugs. The replacement of heroin with substances such as Buprenorphine and Methadone offer relief to some from the horror of hustling for money every day. These chemicals still damage the body and take months to detoxify from. Some addicts have to endure months of aching limbs, cold sweats and sickness to rid their body of these replacements drug. Naltrexone an opiate inhibitor that can be inserted under the skin to prevent users getting high should also be subsidised by the government.

     The legalisation of all drugs worldwide would call for a grand scale operation. All users should be made to have compulsory counselling before the drug is legally supplied to them. This cost would be great, but minimal compared to the cost of keeping drug related offenders in prison each year. 80% of the Australian prison population are incarcerated for drug related crimes. Users could still fit the bill for the legal drugs at a low rate, however the drug production should not be put in the hands of private companies creating another competitive market. A highly regulated government body should control the product distribution, lessening the danger of overdose, and damage caused by laced gear.

     Drug addiction is an emotional and spiritual problem and it needs to be addressed as one. Young people still do drugs to escape reality, and because they think its cool. This habit then deteriorates into dependence as coping mechanisms don’t develop and important self-discipline and other life skills never form. Many drug users need to hit rock bottom before they decide to change their life. The financial pressure and the ugly face of drug culture is a necessary factor that propels people to change their ways. This is one of the main conflicting factors in the legalisation debate. I don’t think drugs should be legalised to all just to those who struggle with long-term addiction. It just doesn’t make sense that a drug like alcohol that causes car accidents and violence is seen as the lesser evil.