It's like in American Beauty; if someone introduces me to their "partner" I ask them what they're selling!
I rather believe that time is a companion who goes with us on the journey and reminds us to cherish every moment, because it will never come again. - Captain Jean-Luc Picard
Exactly. I used to think 'Partner in business? I wonder' I am not saying I like the term or use it in my day to day dealings with people. One gay (EX) friend called his multiple partners his 'husband' when referring to one or the other. Another gay friend has a long term 'boyfriend' and yet another is looking for his 'life partner' to spend the rest of his life with.
Well personally...I don't like the title thing. Never use Mr & Mrs (if forced to I use Ms)...just like my name (on Invites, mail etc) If they are writting to you, they should know your name.
But at work...frequently ask patients/clients, about 'partner' as there are many kinds...and this term is more generic.
Glebe morgue in Sydney wants this controversial idea of handling dead obese bodies to use forklifts to move them around.
It was to prevent injuries in their work place, but I see this idea of dead obese people.
Yes of course, there is now more overweight people and aware of dying at an early age, but I am upset how Glebe morgue can come out to the media and want the living people to hey, you better lose weight, so it will be easier for undertakers and forensic staff, to do autopsies.
The idea of using a forklift or a crane to move the bodies around, really offends me, because yours truly is admittingly overweight (my dumb mistake)
Yes of course, there is now more overweight people and aware of dying at an early age, but I am upset how Glebe morgue can come out to the media and want the living people to hey, you better lose weight, so it will be easier for undertakers and forensic staff, to do autopsies.
Insensitive perhaps, but they did NOT say anything like that up there. I too read the article.
To me, it almost seems like the point of the article is to warn the obese they won't have any dignity in their death. I would be mortified if I thought a forklift would have to be used to move my dead body around.
Five die in Harbour joyride Lauren Williams, Rhett Watson and wires May 01, 2008 10:00am
FOUR of the five people killed in a collision between two boats on Sydney Harbour early this morning were young women, police have revealed.
Four women and one man, aged between their late teens and early twenties, died as their aluminium half-cabin runabout collided with a fishing trawler about 200m off Bradleys Head, near Taronga Park Zoo, about 2.40am.
The impact tore apart the stern of the smaller, aluminium vessel, which had 14 people aboard - even though it was only desgined to hold a maximum of eight.
The small cabin cruiser had been taken on a joyride without permission.
Police are not, as yet, saying it was stolen - although the comany that owns it is.
The Sydney Daily Telegraph Online earlier revealed that the vessel that was struck went missing from its Balmain berth overnight.
It is owned Sydney Ship Repair and Engineering, based on Goat Island, and was apparently being used on an unauthorised trip.
General manager Col McPherson told The Daily Telegraph Online that the boat was missing when his staff arrived at Balmain wharf at 6am (AEST).
The company uses the boat to ferry staff to work at its Goat Island operations.
No staff were involved in the crash.
"All my staff have been accounted for," Mr McPherson said.
"None of them work overnight."
Marine Area Commander Glenn Finniss would not say whether the smaller vessel's lights were on at the time of the crash now if alcohol or drugs were a factor.
These were all matters that would form part of the investigation, he said.
Police would also only say that the group was "mostly'' from Sydney.
It appears that 14 people, all aged between 18 and 31, were aboard the smaller vessel which belonged to a Sydney shipbuilding company.
Those who survived the impact were rescued by fishermen in a nearby dinghy, ferried to Taronga Park Wharf and rushed to Royal North Shore Hospital - one by airlift.
The fishermen also picked up the bodies.
Of the nine survivors, a 30-year-old man with severe head injuries has been wheeled in for emergency surgery in the Royal North Shore Hospital, doctors have revealed.
Emergency registrar Dr Andrew Rochford described him as a "multi trauma patient" with significant head injuries.
"The patient that has ended up in theatre is fairly critical," he said.
"The head injuries are the major, signficant (issue) at the moment.
"(He also has) some injuries to chest and to his (left) arm."
An 18-year-old woman and 31-year-old man have spinal injuries which doctors described as not being of a serious nature. They were reportedly considered stable.
The six others - aged 31, 22, 24, 30, 21 and 19 - have now all been treated for cuts and bruises.
Four have been discharged and left between 7am and 8am.
"They're in a fairly significant state of shock," Dr Rochford said.
"A lot of them aren't really sure of what went down, what happened.
"A lot of them don't really recollect what they were doing."
Dr Rochford said he did not believe there were any "complications to do with alcohol."
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Premier Morris Iemma have both spoken out since the crash.
Mr Iemma, who promised a full probe, is this morning visiting the survivors in hospital.
Mr Rudd, voicing condolences, said: "This is every parent's nightmare."
"I just am stunned by this. It's just terrible news, and for the parents of those who have lost their lives this is just a terrible, terrible day. Just terrible."
Mr Rudd said he thought he had misunderstood when told of the accident this morning.
"I had to be told twice this morning that this is what had happened. I thought I had misheard," he said.
"So much of Sydney's life and activity happens in and around the harbour. People go out to celebrate and have a good time, and for this to be the end of it is just breathtaking."
Acting Inspector Tony Bear, who was one of the first on the scene, said passersby helped in the rescue.
"Members of the public have come to the assistance of the victims and, as a result, coordinated effort between all emergency services have transported those people to Taronga Park wharf," Insp Bear said.
Another report said that one of the vessels was virtually cut in the back, while the other escaped serious damage.
"It would appear all the victims have come from the one vessel," Insp Bear said.
Officers were unsure why 14 people were aboard the smaller aluminium vessel.
Ambulance officers who helped the survivors said all crew were "relatively young".
The boat sustained serious damage to its stern.
It appeared as though the trawler struck from behind and then mounted it, buckling the cabin.
Police cordoned off the Taronga Zoo wharf as water police and Polair searched the water to confirm all had been found.
The trawler and the shipping repair vessel were later moved to Balmain Water Police where the victims' bodies were unloaded.
The father of one of the victims of last year's fatal collision between a boat and a ferry on Sydney Harbour said today's accident revives safety concerns on the busy waterway.
Robert Innes, whose 14-year-old daughter Morgan Innes was one of four people killed in the late-night accident in March last year - see full reports here - said the accident brought back terrible memories.
"There'll be lots of discussion later on about lights and laws and regulations, but I think right at this moment our thoughts really have to go to the victims' families," he told the Nine Network.
"All the victims from the Merinda accident have been on a hell of a journey and we really seriously hoped that we were the last, but it doesn't look that way right now."
The area is now a crime scene and a search is under way between Bradley's Head and Goat Island.
Sydney Water Police are heading the investigation.
For more on this story go to The Daily Telegraph website.
The first story is about where I live. I was exactly where this happened yesterday although, not at the same time, than goodness.
Toddler assault and torture charges laid
Published 13 May 2008 00:00 Updated 13 May 2008 08:42
By Amy Remeikis
A 22-year-old Sunshine Coast man will appear in Maroochydore Magistrates Court today after a two-year-old child was allegedly assaulted yesterday afternoon.
Police were called to what was originally reported as a child in a pram being struck by a car last night.
Subsequent investigations have led police to charge the man with assault and torture of the child.
Police and ambulance officers were initially called to Aerodrome Road, opposite Maroochydore’s Sizzler restaurant, about 3.45pm for what they thought was a hit-and-run crash involving a small child.
They arrived to a hysterical scene with passers-by and witnesses attempting to keep the child’s mother calm while a doctor and nurse from a nearby seven-day medical centre administered first aid to the stricken boy.
An unknown man made sure the child remained as still as possible.
The little boy made very little sound and lay with his hands resting on his stomach.
“He seemed to be in shock, he wasn’t really moving or anything,” one witness said.
“We were just trying to keep all the hysterical people away.”
The mother was shaking and clutching a bottle of water, from which she took quick sips.
She was led to the ambulance’s front seat and taken to hospital with her baby, who had serious head injuries.
A Nambour General Hospital spokesperson said the little boy was transferred to the Royal Children's Hospital overnight. Details on his condition were not immediately available.
Young Dumb Angry and most likely not the babies father.
Coolum cracks down
12:00a.m. 13 May 2008
| Mike Garry
Anyone who shows a bit of cheek at the Coolum Surf Club will now be shown the door – and no butts about it.
The surf club board has handed down a new edict that patrons must wear their pants at an acceptable level, not exposing their underwear or buttocks – or “back cleavage” as former Maroochy councillor Bruce Dunne described the look on Channel 7’s Sunrise yesterday morning.
Yes, the issue has gone national, with the club fielding media calls from far and wide.
But manager Peter Law said he had received about 30 text messages supporting the ban on low-slung jeans and high-riding undies for men and women.
Mr Law said the club had acted upon complaints from members.
“It’s not a nice look as far as we are concerned,” he said.
“It’s a family club and they shouldn’t have to come in and look at those sort of things.”
Mr Law said patrons whose bum cracks or underpants were visible would be asked to pull their pants up.
“If they don’t want to do that, then they leave the premises.”
Fearing it could be the thin edge of the wedgie, surf club patrons interviewed by the Daily yesterday were right “behind” the ban.
Dean Montgomery said that when he went to the surf club to enjoy a drink, the last thing he wanted to see was a bloke with “half his backside hanging out”.
“I think half these young blokes that go around wearing girls’ jeans and having them hanging around their backsides, there’s got to be something wrong with them,” he said.
Surf club regulars Keith Hammond and Steve Turk both described the look as “disgusting”.
“I don’t think it’s suitable for out in public, when it comes to the restaurant or the bar area,” Keith said.
“They’ve got dress codes that you’re not allowed to wear thongs after six o’clock so why should some kid come in and wear these types of jeans where you can see half of their backside.”
Maroochydore Surf Club operations manager Trish Johnstone said the cheeky fashion was not an issue at her club.
“We’ve never had any occasion to remove anybody from the club or refuse service to anybody dressed as such,” Ms Johnstone said.
“It’s probably different clientele that we have here to up there at Coolum.”
Injured toddler 'wouldn't stop crying' 12:00a.m. 14 May 2008 By Amy Remeikis and Rae Wilson
A man charged with a toddler’s torture in Maroochydore is alleged to have bashed the boy before claiming the child’s pram had been hit by a car.
The 22-year-old Mooloolaba student, who was led into the prisoner’s dock of court three at Maroochydore by a police officer yesterday, cannot be named for legal reasons.
The man, who was wearing a black, long-sleeved, collared shirt, sat with his back to the public gallery for most of his brief court appearance.
The toddler’s mother, who had previously been in a relationship with the man, had left her two-year-old in his care on Monday afternoon while she shopped nearby.
After questioning on Monday night, the man faced court charged with four counts of assault occasioning bodily harm, one count of grievous bodily harm and one count of torture against the toddler.
Police remain tight-lipped about the case but the Daily understands it will be alleged the little boy was injured after he would not stop crying.
It is also understood it will be alleged the accused punched the child after the two-year-old had struck out at him.
There were unconfirmed reports the child’s head had hit a wall or the ground.
Police allege the man then carried the child about 20 metres to the side of Aerodrome Road, opposite Sizzler restaurant, and left him there while he went to get the mother, telling her the boy had been the victim of a hit and run accident.
He later allegedly told police the child had fallen from the pram after he was pushing it too fast while they were playing a game and claimed it was a tragic accident.
But late on Monday night, police were told by medical personnel that the account did not match up with the child’s injuries.
The child was taken to Nambour Hospital and later airlifted to Royal Children’s Hospital in Brisbane, where he remains in a serious condition
Solicitor Alicia Thomas, from Greenhalgh Pickard Solicitors, told the court her client had been seeing a psychiatrist. She asked that he be assessed immediately by prison mental health services
She said her client had agreed to the assessment and a mental health nurse at the court confirmed she was already writing a referral.
Ms Thomas said her client would not make a bail application at this point and asked the court to adjourn the case.
The 22-year-old was remanded in custody to appear again on May 27.
The guy knew he had done the wrong thing because he tried to cover it up with lie after lie. The Mother is an idiot for trusting him. This is a tot, a baby really, in the scheme of things and this moron bashed/punches him! Lock him up and throw away the key. I should go and watch his next court appearance on the 27th. Honestly the people who we entrust our children to have to be above and beyond reproach. If we adults do not take care of and keep safe the children in our communities, then who will?
^^^^I will be in the immediate vicinity of the Courthouse on Tuesday.... might just pop in and see what's happening.
Burma's junta opens to cyclone aid after UN meeting May 23, 2008 04:56pm BURMA'S military junta has agreed to let all aid workers in to help the survivors of Cyclone Nargis, which left 134,000 people dead or missing.
The major breakthrough is being reported by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon after he met with top General Than Shwe, three weeks after the deadly storm.
The United Nations leader says the agreement has come in talks and means the aid workers can now help the 2.4 million survivors of Cyclone Nargis.
The country's military leaders shocked the world by refusing a full-scale emergency operation despite the scope of the destruction, and Mr Ban said he would try to persuade them to welcome offers of help with open arms.
"The whole world is trying to help Myanmar (Burma)," Mr Ban said as he visited a camp of survivors from the May 2-3 storm.
"Don't lose your hope," he told one woman in the devastated Irrawaddy Delta, the rice bowl region which bore the brunt of the worst natural disaster in the country's history.
"The United Nations is here to help you."
The European Parliament called for Burma junta leaders to be brought before the international court in The Hague if they obstructed aid.
Mr Ban said there were recent signs of "flexibility" from the regime, which in the past few days has consented to UN helicopters flying to remote villages to help speed up a relief effort criticised by the international community.
But the UN chief could not get the head of the junta, Senior General Than Shwe, to take his calls or answer his letters in the aftermath of the disaster, and the regime has a long history of thumbing its nose at world opinion.
The United Nations believes only 25 per cent of those in immediate need of food, water, shelter and medicines have been reached by international aid three weeks after the disaster struck.
There are French and US navy vessels with relief supplies at sea nearby, but the junta had refused to allow them in. It has also blocked visas for many of the foreign disaster relief experts needed to oversee the aid operation.
"The ships are waiting, just waiting for permission," said Michael Turner, spokesman for the US embassy in neighbouring Thailand. "How long they'll be there is difficult to say."
The Burma government has allowed just one US government relief expert in, and his colleagues remain barred, a US official said today.
William Berger, head of a US disaster assistance team, arrived in Rangoon yesterday for a junta-supervised tour of the Irrawaddy Delta.
Aid groups warn that hunger and disease are stalking many of the survivors of the storm, and that the death toll could rise if they do not get assistance immediately.
The official New Light of Burma newspaper, a mouthpiece for the junta, said yesterday: "Storm victims are not to trust the fabricated news made by destructive elements at home and abroad."
But AFP reporters who have been able to slip through the security cordon the regime has thrown up around the delta region have reported that many victims still have not received any aid from the government.
"I'm quite confident we will be able to overcome this tragedy. I've tried to bring a message of hope to your people," said Mr Ban - the first UN secretary general to visit the country in more than 40 years.
"At the same time, I hope your people and government can coordinate the flow of aid, so the aid work can be done in a more systematic and organised way."
The storm wiped out entire villages in the Irrawaddy Delta, but the country's main city of Rangoon was also hit hard.
Poor access, logistical bottle-necks and other problems have beset the relief operation, in addition to a decision by the ruling generals to keep out most foreign disaster experts.
Meanwhile the regime is pressing ahead with its political agenda.
Just days after the storm, it held a first round of voting on a new constitution, which dissidents say will entrench military rule.
The junta now insists on holding a second round of voting in the referendum Sunday in towns and villages that were devastated by the cyclone.
The regime's main foe, Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, is under house arrest, and her detention is expected to be extended shortly.
This kind of 'rule' in this day and age is obscene! The fact they have waited until now to take what was offered, 3 weeks after the Cyclone wreaked havoc only shows how Bloody Minded the Military Rule is. Morons. Anyone who could of been saved is now without doubt dead which to the Military Leaders is all well and good.
Dressed in a hat decorated with Australian flags and a long yellow dress, a resident, Kate McCulloch, emerged from the meeting hailing the decision and insisting that Muslims were incompatible with the local community. "The ones that come here oppress our society, they take our welfare and they don't want to accept our way of life," she said. A council report recommended that the application be refused after more than 3000 submissions had been received from the public. The vast majority opposed the development. Cr Patterson pointed to a report from council officers showing the proposed development was flawed on environmental and planning grounds. These included inadequate public transport to the site, in Burragorang Road at Cawdor, and fears that it might be contaminated by hazardous materials. Cr Patterson insisted the ruling was "on planning grounds alone". - with Jonathan Dart http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/islamic-extremism-fear/2008/05/28/1211654068635.html
The woman in the beginning of the article sounds like a Pauline Hanson Xenophobic clone!
Jailed for 14 years - but he's innocent May 28, 2008 - 7:31AM
DNA tests have exonerated a Chicago man who has served nearly 14 years in prison for the sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl who was attacked in the autumn of 1994 as she walked to school.
Dean Cage, 41, was convicted by a jury and sentenced to 40 years in prison despite his assertions that he was innocent and was home at the time of the attack.
Lawyer Peter Neufeld, co-founder of the New York-based Innocence Project, which investigates wrongful convictions, said that he was informed by the Cook County state's attorney's office that it had the case dismissed after DNA tests eliminated Cage as the victim's attacker.
Cage, who has been confined to the Illinois River Correctional Centre in Downstate Canton, is expected to be released within 24 hours, Neufeld said.
LONDON: The 19-year-old daughter of a woman held captive in a dungeon in Austria for 24 years has woken from her coma.
Kerstin Fritzl had been in a coma since late last month after she was taken to hospital from the cellar she shared with her mother, Elisabeth, and her two younger brothers.
The three children were fathered by Elisabeth's father, Josef Fritzl, who imprisoned them in the dungeon beneath his family home.
Doctors had feared Kerstin might die when her organs began to fail earlier this month. But they have now revealed that she opened her eyes at the weekend, sparking hope that she will recover.
"Elisabeth and family are very happy, but they know they mustn't get their hopes up too high. Kerstin's incredibly fragile. She'll be in bed a long time - probably months," a source told the Daily Mirror newspaper in Britain. Kerstin has not yet managed to speak to doctors or her family. "She moves when she feels pressure on her skin," the source said.
Auckland has beaten all of Australia's cities in the latest global liveability index.
Sydney has been named the top Australian city in the annual Mercer global index, ranked 10th, in front of Melbourne in 17th place, Perth in 21st, Adelaide in 29th and Brisbane in 34th.
Auckland is ranked fifth and Wellington comes 12th in the index, which ranks 215 cities on 39 criteria, including health levels, education, pollution, transport and public services, as well as the political, social, environmental and economic climate.
But Australian cities rank far lower on a separate personal safety index, with Melbourne, Perth and Sydney sharing 29th place. Adelaide and Brisbane are ranked 49th.
Auckland and Wellington share 10th place on that list, while Luxembourg places first and Baghdad comes last.
Zurich retains its 2007 title as the number-one most liveable city, followed by Vienna, Geneva and Vancouver. Three German cities - Dusseldorf, Munich and Frankfurt - round out the top 10.
Amsterdam ranks 13th, Berlin is 16th, Singapore and Paris share 32nd place and Tokyo has been named the 35th most liveable city.
London has been ranked 38th, Barcelona 42nd, New York 49th, Hong Kong 70th, Bangkok 109th and Beijing 116th.
Baghdad is ranked the lowest on the liveability index, which is dominated by European cities.
Mercer spokesman Rob Knox there are several reasons why Australian cities have scored so well.
"Australian cities offer great amenities," he said.
"They've got very favourable climatic conditions and Australia as a whole is a politically stable country, so I think those sorts of measures certainly weigh very heavily in Australia's favour."
Commerce Queensland has rejected a study that found Brisbane has a lower quality of living than Sydney, Melbourne, Perth or Adelaide.
Mercer ranked Brisbane 34th in its global quality-of-living index.
Sydney was named Australia's most livable city, ahead of Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and then Brisbane.
Commerce Queensland spokeswoman Beatrice Booth says the weather and laidback pace in Brisbane make it an ideal place to live.
"Brisbane has to be the most livable city in this nation - there's absolutely no doubt about that," she said.
"Of course the weather plays a huge part in that.
"If you like frenetic living then you would go to one of the other state capitals, but if you like a fairly mild pace then Brisbane's the place for you to be."
Ms Booth believes the survey's authors have got it wrong.
"Livability is a tick box score I suppose comprised of a lot of different factors," she said.
"But I'm sure that if you walked around Brisbane and asked people who moved to Brisbane what they think of Brisbane then they'd be telling you that they moved here for the climate, they moved here for the less frenetic pace."
Logged
I too read the article.
