A Dutch Life

Last Winter hardly felt like a Winter at all, in fact I remember getting excited when it got to –5 degrees. Well, for the last 3-4 days it has routinely been getting to below 8, and as I sit here its –4 at 2:30pm in the afternoon and then has been a steady, but very light snowfall since I woke up.

I went outside and took a few shots.

More here http://pictures.daniel.mcpherson.name/Amsterdam%20Winter%202009%20NYE

If you weren’t lucky enough to win your gun from the Church, you could always get one AND a new car!

A car dealership in the United States is offering a free handgun with every vehicle sold.

Max Motors in Butler, Missouri, says sales have quadrupled since the start of the offer.

Customers can choose between a gun or a $250 (£125) petrol card, but most so far have chosen the gun.

Lets hope this is not a place where there are a large number of drive-by’s.

I wish this was from “The Onion”, but its not.

An Oklahoma church canceled a controversial gun giveaway for teenagers at a weekend youth conference.

Windsor Hills Baptist had planned to give away a semiautomatic assault rifle until one of the event’s organizers was unable to attend.

The church’s youth pastor, Bob Ross, said it’s a way of trying to encourage young people to attend the event. The church expected hundreds of teenagers from as far away as Canada.

Now this is multi-multi-dimensional.

Its bad enough that a Church would be giving away a gun, BUT it’s even worse that it’s a semi-automatic, BUT its even worse that this whole this is specifically aimed at teens. Remember, this is a place where a “teen” cant even drink (you need to be 21). The mind boggles.

I just love the headline on this news story from the Beeb.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7792475.stm

Mice may be responsible for a blaze that killed nearly 100 cats at an animal shelter near the Canadian city of Toronto, officials say.

The fire at the humane society shelter in Oshawa also killed three dogs and some rats that were up for adoption.

An initial report from the fire marshal says mice or rats chewing through electrical wires in the ceiling are likely to have sparked the blaze.

I guess the Dogs and Rats would be considered collateral damage. Overall, I just cant help but let my imagination run wild with this WWII underground type force of mice plotting against the evil Cat oppressors.

This time last year I was down in the dumps about my inability to grow a beard.

This birthday, technology, research and development, and just plain good luck will leave me on top of the world.

Handmade BEARDS!!!! And they look so realistic!!!!

A cool look at the underground world of Ants. These guys filled an Ant colony with cement and then dug it up.

Living overseas, as I do, provides me with an incredible opportunity to look at my wonderful country from the outside. I’m always keeping my eyes open for articles about home, helping me keep in touch with the issues Australians are facing day to day. Over the last few months I have been informally collecting just some of those articles, largely these are from the BBC Front Page which is the only news source I read every day, its kind of like my 6:00 nightly news source. The funny thing to me is just what they choose to cover. Sure we get some articles about the election, or drought, or immigration, or race, but sadly these important issues are underrepresented when compared to the more quirky. Sometimes I wonder if these article even make the Australian news.

So, in the end, I’m left wondering what the hell foreigners must think….

‘Underpants’ minister loses job
‘Extreme waves’ worry Australia
Australia MPs ‘face breath tests’
Didgeridoo book upsets Aborigines
‘Big Dry’ turns farms into deserts
Australian plea for ‘ugly’ women
Eat kangaroo to ’save the planet’
Dog rescues woman from kangaroo
Man wrestles croc to rescue wife 

Anyway, this really isn’t scientific, not intended to be, but interesting none the less.

As a bonus point, here is one for our Kiwi friends that I just couldn’t resist:
NZ judge orders ‘odd’ name change
A judge in New Zealand made a young girl a ward of court so that she could change the name she hated – Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii.