Old Browneye Face

Has Bert Newton ever possessed any discernible talent? Since I have been aware of his existence, he has done nothing but take nostalgic trips down memory lane into yesteryear, to talk about what other people have done. Ali should have punched his fat face in.

Watermelon Record

There are many Australian traditions, sports etc. which I do not have much time for. Many of them make me cringe. But I heard about one today which is awesome. Queensland man, John Allwood, broke a world record yesterday at the Chinchilla Melon Festival in southern Queensland. He headbutted 40 watermelons in 58 seconds.

Fucking brilliant!!! To John - you sir, are a winner.

banal

If anyone is aware of a more pointless and mundane statement than "have a safe flight", I would like to know what it is?

WeekEnd in Vegas

I have just returned for a weekend to the city I grew up in. This time I found the most distressing. I can deal with the encounters with family that we all endure & sometimes enjoy, the precious little time spent with old friends was great (sorry whit)but the general social climate has left me distrurbed. I found myself wanting to stay at home.

When I lived there were all the men so fat? were all the women so annoying? was everything so over priced? was everybody trying to be more sophisticated than they really are? Was it just me having a happy place in my memory that never existed?

I am so confused, I can now not refer to this near annual pilgrimage as returning home. I cannot do that anymore.... I have reached my crossroads & have no tollerance for this place that has changed so much for the worse. News Flash Queenslanders bigger is not always better!!!! The more concrete the more generic & characterless the place is. Farewell Bris-Banal!!!

Watergate Pun Run Its Course

The first time that somebody appended the suffix "gate" to the end of a scandal, it was probably funny. Oh yes, just like Watergate. How very droll.

However, now that we are twelvety zintrillion scandals on from that, the appeal of the joke is right down there with nada. The big bagel. Zilch.

Stop doing it! Now!

Varshitty

What the FUCK is "varsity". Seppos use the word as an explanation as to why they are exceptionally talented at something, or just generally superb.
"Yeah, what the girls really like about me is my physique. I was a varsity athlete."
In addition to this, does "One hundred twenty dollars" equal $120, or does it equal $2000?

Kylie Minogue Split

Kylie Minogue has split up with her boyfriend. This is how much I care:


For those of you who prefer pie charts:

Whistleblower: Confessions of a Healthcare Hitman

I thought that I would kick things of here at sixesallround with a book review - The Whistleblower: Confessions of a Healthcare Hitman by Peter Rost.

As you have probably guessed from the title, Rost is a whistleblower who spoke up about illegal actions which had been carried out by pharmaceutical companies that he was working for. This book was immensely entertaining. Rost was able to leverage recent Enron-inspired legislation, which affords whistleblowers significant protection from retaliation by their company, to speak out against his own company without getting sacked (well, for a while, anyway). The way he outmanoeuvred both lawyers and top company executives had me chuckling at every turn.

Let's not forget here, that what he was actually doing was also a good thing. The practices that he blew the whistle on were not only illegal, but also morally reprehensible. I have always had a huge problem with the way that the health industry (both medical and pharmaceutical) seem to be far more eager to line their pockets than actually give people the best medical care that they can.

I guess I did not find it surprising that he had his critics. Executive and medical director of the ACSH, Dr Gilbert Ross, voted for Rost for what he considered to be the ignominious title of the biggest “whiny whistleblower” for 2005. Let's just take a moment to examine the kind of man who would even come up with an award that denigrates whistleblowers. Ross has form. He has spent time incarcerated for his role in a scheme which defrauded the New York Medicaid program to the tune of $8 million. A judge once said of him that he was "a highly untrustworthy individual". As you can imagine, Rost was not overly offended by this flaccid attempt to ridicule him.

The Whistleblower comes highly recommended. I like Rost and hope that if I ever find myself in a similar position that I will take on the bastards, rather than being a "good employee".