I am outraged!

An article in The Age has outraged me today.

Dutch pedophiles are launching a political party to push for a cut in the legal age for sexual relations to 12 from 16 and the legalisation of child pornography and sex with animals <snip> The party said it wanted to cut the legal age for sexual relations to 12 and eventually scrap the limit altogether.
<snip>

The party wants private possession of child pornography to be allowed although it supports the ban on the trade of such materials. It also supports allowing pornography to be broadcast on daytime television, with only violent pornography limited to the late evening.

Toddlers should be given sex education and youths aged 16 and up should be allowed to appear in pornographic films and prostitute themselves. Sex with animals should be allowed although abuse of animals should remain illegal, the NVD said.

The party also said everybody should be allowed to go naked in public and promotes legalising all soft and hard drugs and free train travel for all.

I can't believe that shit! They should be stopped! I mean, honestly, FREE TRAIN TRAVEL FOR ALL? JUST THINK WHAT THAT IS GOING TO DO TO PEOPLE'S TAXES!!!

Tschüß,
'Brush

The Da Vinci "Load"

On Tuesday night, B and I, along with someone from her work and one of their friends, went to see The Da Vinci Code at an "original language" cinema in Frankfurt.

The film itself wasn't too bad, though it didn't contain as much detail as the book. I think this would have been hard to do, given that the book spends a bit of time covering the history of The Knights Templar, etc.

The disappointing part of the film was really the ending, which they changed a fair bit from the book. I won't go into it, but let's just say that they made some really strange decisions, that make absolutely no sense.

But, back to the real part of the story - the film viewing experience.

We rocked up to the cinema, and found seats. The film was due to start at 8:00, but I think the ads started rolling maybe 10min after that...and kept rolling for the next 45 minutes! That's right, 45 minutes of ads and previews! WTF?!?!?! I don't even watch the stupid things at home, so why would I want to pay to see 45mins of these things?

Ok, so bullshit ads are over, and the film begins. It's a good story - particularly for us nerds - and we are really into it by time the film is about half-way through. Then, in the middle of a chase scene, the film suddenly stops, and we have an "intermission". When was the last time you went to a film with an intermission? For me, it was about 10yrs ago, in a dodgy little cinema that they set up in Ocean Grove during Xmas.
The intermission lasted about 10-15mins. Just long enough to spoil the mood, and let all the built up tension drift away. Nice work, idiots!

Maybe next time we will try the cinema in Darmstadt. They don't show films in original language all the time, but surely the experience will be better.

Tschüß
'Brush.

Everybody wave, Europe is watching!

Just letting you know that I am sitting here, on a day of in Germany, watching the Australia vs Greece game live on TV. If you are there, then WHAT ARE YOU DOING READING THIS?!?!? But if you are there, and you happen to be so lame that you are checking this website, then please wave!

Tschüß,
'Brush

Hunger

Three hundred million children are hungry and 18,000 die every day for want of food while the world remains largely ignorant about the magnitude of the problem, the UN's World Food Programme has claimed.

"If the headline in the media tomorrow was 'Forty-five 747s crashed today, everyone on board was killed and oh, by the way, they were all children', the world would be outraged," said James Morris, executive director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).

"I genuinely think the public doesn't understand how serious the issue is."

The world produces enough food to feed everyone, with 17 percent more calories per person today than 30 years ago, according to the World Hunger Education Service.

But the distribution is unequal.

extract from a Reuters article.

'Brush licks balls in Belgium...

Screws took this killer photo when we visited the Atomium in Brussels, Belgium. You can find out about the Atomium here.



Suffice to say, that this thing was designed and built in the 50s for the World Fair. These balls are 59 feet in diameter, and would rival the biggest ones that Freddy ever got near. :) The top sphere houses a restaurant that can hold in the order of 140 ppl. Whoever came up with this idea really had balls! :)

Nice work on the pic, Screwsy. There will be more pics and a report on Belgium to follow l8r.

Tschüß,
'Brush.

PS: For those of you interested in chemistry - it is actually supposed to be an Iron molecule, rather than a mode of an atom (please no-one respond and say molecules are made up of atoms so its the same thing...) B

A Slot is a Slott is a Schloß...

So, flying in and out of Sweden is a pain in the arse. It seems that I am cursed to have all of my flights out of this airport (and some of them in bound) delayed. The only flight that has been on time, this trip, is the one from Germany to Sweden, but then Sweden to Norway, Norway to Sweden, and now Sweden to Germany have all been delayed...so this is coming to you from the lounge in the airport in Sweden.

The hotel that I stayed in here was Hässelby Slott (Slott, like Schloß in German, and Slot in Danish, means "Castle"). But to say I stayed in the Castle would be wrong - I stayed in an annex building. Also, the Castle is more a pretty European castle, rather than a "nights in shining armour" style puppy. But, either way, it still dates back to the 1600s.



Unfortunately, the room that I stayed in was by no means "stately". In fact, walking into this room reminded me of walking into the Kapooka Army Barracks many years ago (minus one hot chick...). It had all the mod cons of the rooms in the Army Barracks too...but it did at least add a TV into the poorly furnished, minimalist mix. It was a big change from the hotel I had in Denmark, where the "sitting room" was nearly as big as our lounge room in Darmstadt. But, the room wasn't the worst of it...

Tuesday night I am hungry (kinda), and wanting (kinda) some dinner. So, I head over to the restaurant in a wing attached to the Castle. I walk in and ask the waitress for "a table for one". She kinda looks at me, says "one moment" and walks away. She walks back and forward past me a few time, going into the kitchen, leaving the restaurant to go to the bar, and then back into the kitchen. Turns out that she was looking for someone who spoke English.

Finally we find someone, and she comes out of the kitchen (with the other waitress in tow). She says "Can I help you?", and I repeat my request for "a table for one, please".
Now, one expects the normal response of "follow me", or even "where would you like to sit"...but instead I got "tonight we have fish". Um...ok..."That sounds good". "Would you like the 3 course meal?". (Quick recap - we are still standing at the door to the restaurant.) "No, I'll just have the main. I had a big lunch". And finally I get "Where would you like to sit?".
So, we go to the back of the "restaurant", and I sit down. No menu on the table, and at no point does a menu come. 5 mins later, after ordering an apple juice, the fish comes. After the fish I get some coffee, and finally the bill.

Now, don't get me wrong, the fish was fantastic. But it was kinda strange to never receive a menu, and to be in a restaurant that only has one dish. Add to that, that the first time I got to see what any of this cost was when I received the bill. Very very strange. Are all Swedish restaurants like this? No bloody wonder that the Vikings went marauding! They had heard of these fabled "menu" things, and restaurants that "gave you a choice", and they had to go find out for themselves.

Anyway, at least I get to go home tonight, and I get my car back tomorrow! :)

Tschüß,
'Brush.

PS: Just uploaded this now, and thought I should add that we were put into a holding pattern for 30mins above Frankfurt. :(

København

That, by the way, is the Danish spelling of Copenhagen, and hence the real and correct spelling. For those who speak German, the ø symbol is roughly equivalent to ö, or in English, half way between o and e.

So, the lead up to the weekend wasn't so great (see a few posts earlier), but the weekend in København was a lot of fun...we even got to see Mary!



I dunno, but in the conversations I had with her and Kronprins Frederik, they came across as a little..I dunno...a little "fake" maybe?!? (Ok, I confess, that is a wax model of her in the Louis Tussaud Wax Museum, next to Tivoli Gardens). Did you know that she earned something like $5M last year? And who says that Tasmanians will amount to nothing!?!?! :P

We also visited the Freiheit (?) Museum, which documents the Danish resitance to the Germans during the second world war. This "resistance" is kinda interesting, considering the King decided not to oppose the Nazi forces, and let them come into Denmark, in an attempt to save Denmark from the war. This gave birth to an underground resistance movement, which involved itself in acts of sabotage etc.
Anyway, here a 2 pics that I took...one for Sprocket (that's a real enigma machine), and one for Damo (that's a real SS uniform). Sorry about the flash, but they were behind glass:



There's also this really cool concept of "City Bikes" in København. These "free" bikes can be found in numerous places around the city, and, for a deposit of 20Kr into the locking mechanism, you can unlock them and ride them around the city all day and night. Bel and I used these to go from our hotel to the movies and back one night, and to visit some "alternative" colony thing the next day. Really cool idea, IMHO. Melbourne could benefit from something like this.

Anyway, here are a few more random pics of København, including a duck, a palace, the Changing of the Guard, and a boat.



We did actually see the statue of the Little Mermaid (nothing like the one in the cartoon...this one had her boobies out on public display...not something that Disney would want little kids seeing), but it wasn't impressive enough to photograph, IMHO.

Anyway, if you get the chance to go to København, I would recommend it. It is a busy mix of old and new, with a very "foreigner" friendly atmosphere. Just remember to pack a jacket.

Tschüß,
'Brush

Willkommen in Deutschland!

Heute morgen habe ich einen Anruf von Ben & Tansy bekommen. Sie haben endlich in Deutschland angekommen, und bleiben für ein paar Tage in München, bevor sie fahren überall in Europa (oder etwas wie das). Willkommen in Deutschland Benny, und willkommen zu Hause Tansy!!! Wir werden uns bald sehen, und ich freue mich auf das! :)

Bis bald!
'Brush.

Park it at work, so it will be safe...

First, let me say that I have the summer tyres on the car now, which includes the nice alloy wheels...and here is a pic that Screws took.



It was very nice of Screws to take the photo from this side of the car...and here's why.

Oh yeah, I quickly want to remind everyone that I do love her...

So, a few weeks back I was in Denmark for the week that lead into a long weekend. Bel and I had the idea that she could come and meet me in Denmark, and we could spend the weekend in Copenhagen. Good idea, right?

Anyway, we had decided that Bel would take the car to work on Friday, and then park it at my work, before catching a train to the airport. That way the car would be safe, and I could pick up the car easily when we got back. Good plan, right?

On Thursday, Bel called me to say that someone at her work said that we could park the car at a park-and-ride a bit closer to the airport. I didn't want to do this, because I didn't want the car to get damaged, so we decided to stick with the park-at-my-work-plan. Better choice, right?

So, Friday afternoon I am back at my hotel. I call Bel to check how she is going, and she is sounding a little flustered (she was lost in the carpark, frustrated at the nav system that took her a stupid way, and was thinking she was running late).
While I am trying to direct her to where she needs to go, I hear a *crunch*, followed by "Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!", and then "I've hit something".

Let me paint a picture for you. The Tiefgarage has cream-coloured walls, and big fuck-off cream-coloured cement pilons. I also find that the roads in the Tiefgarage are a little tight, and you can see many scuff marks on the walls from where people have hit them while turning corners etc.

Turns out, that while we were talking, Bel had overshot at turn that she needed to take on the bottom level of the carpark, and was backing up to it, attempting to do a quick 3-point turn. (She is dictating this to me...Your Honour.) During the attempt, she backed my baby into one of these poles.

Now, people that know me, and how much I love my cars, would probably think that I would have gone spare at this point in time...and to be honest, I myself thought that I would have...but suprisingly enough, I didn't. When something like this happens to someone you care about, you are a long way away, and they are upset, then the last thing you give a shit about it a hunk of metal that gets you to work and back (albeit, a lovely, stylish, black beast of a hunk of metal...).

So, the car is now in the shop getting fixed, and we have a bullshit Hyundai Getz as a replacement (though, we have driven said Getz at 160kmph+ on the Autobahn...).

Unfortunately, I forgot to get a pic of the car where the dint was...which is probably a good thing. :)

Tschüß,
'Brush.

From Belinda - I would like to emphasise that I looked before reversing but did not see the poles as they are the _exact_ same coulour as the walls so I thought there was nothing there. And Brett didn't get mad at me at all (though there have been many jokes made) he was very good even though his baby was hurt (the car, not me)... B

Long time, no post

Hi all,

Whoa, it has been a while since I posted last - sorry. It has been for good reason though - I have barely been home for the last month. I had a week in Amsterdam, then a few days back home, then off to Zürich, then a week in Denmark, then back to Zürich again, and finally a week of vacation with Screws here.

Bel and I spent a weekend in Copenhagen, so I will make a posting with a few pics from that.

I will also make a posting with some pics from when Screws was "in da House".

Anyway, sorry for the delay, and the weeks of silence.

Bis bald,
'Brush