What's all the stink about?

Many of you that know me personally, know that I have to live with certain, shall we say, odors. You could call these odors natural gas...

Picture if you will a farm in Sydney Australia. Animals, a barn, gas lines, grazing meadows. Can you see it in your mind? Good. Now picture the farmer doing his daily chores which includes feeding a 265 pound sow. Still with me? Ok.

Suddenly the farmer smells leaking natural gas! He panics! He phones the County Fire Service who immediately jump into action and send two fire trucks along with 15 firefighters out to his farm to contain the gas leak.

As they race up the driveway, they see the sow. Then they smell the sow. Then they hear the noise emanating from the sow's nether regions and realize that the "gas emergency" is just gas. Yep, that's right. The sow had a bad case of farts.

The story I read said "the pig's owner was "a little bit embarrassed to say the least," and it took fire crews a little while to compose themselves. "We could not only smell it, but we heard it and it was quite funny.""

All I have to say about that is this; if they enjoy gas that much they should come to my house today.

Those three little words…

Some of you may know that Tim and I met through the internet. Specifically we met through a chat room. I can remember the first time he said those three little words to me… I love you… and the way it made me feel like a teenager again. Isn’t it funny how three little words can mess you up inside? My stomach hurt, my head spun, I wanted to cry, all over three little words.

Tim wasn’t the first person to say those words to me (and he wasn’t the first one in the chat room to say them either) but when he said them I felt it. I felt it through the internet connection. Some people may think that’s crazy. Some people may even think it wasn’t too smart. I, personally, am glad I took that chance.

Because I had ‘read’ those words from other people in there, I didn’t put a lot of confidence in their sincerity. With Tim it was different. I knew he was sincere. With the others I knew, basically right away, that they weren’t true. I’ve always been pretty good at seeing through bull. I’m lucky like that. Not everyone is though.

A 56 year old Australian woman learned her lesson the hard way. She was chatting with what she thought was a 57 year old man in Nigeria. She believed him when he told her he loved her. She bought every word he said including that he was in need of medical treatment. She bought that literally by paying for the treatment. He bought two plots of land and a car with the money she sent.

In reality the 57 year old white man was a Nigerian undergraduate. He received 19 years in prison for duping the caring woman out of $47,000. She will receive $10,000 immediately and then $250 a month until all the money is repaid. She will also receive the money made from the sale of the two plots of land and the car.

Every time I read a story like this I think of two things. One, all the emails I receive that start off Dearest One… And two, how lucky I am to be able to read people well. With all the dishonest people on the internet and as much time as I spend here, I could be in real trouble. I’m glad the man was caught and the lady will get her money back. It’s heartbreaking for me to think of how many con artists are out there and how many victims.

Australian fires fuel koala love

The devastating Australian wildfires have claimed over 180 lives so far, countless homes and countryside. Most of the news I’ve read on the fires has been heartbreaking to say the least. But this morning I found a story that was heart-warming.

Volunteer fire fighters came across a scared and badly burned koala bear in the forest southeast of Melbourne. They carefully approached her and offered her water from a plastic bottle. She reached for the firefighters hand and drank all that he offered. It was so beautiful to me. I’m going to include the YouTube video of her discovery to the bottom of this post. They named her Sam.

Two days earlier another koala was rescued and taken to a wildlife shelter. He was also burned but not quite as badly as Sam. They named him Bob. Three of Bob’s paws were burned but shelter workers believed he would be able to return to the wild in about four months. Sam’s recovery won’t be as easy. They believe it will be 7 - 8 months before she’s ready to return to her home in the bush.

The workers at the shelter said that Bob and Sam became quick friends. They put their arms around each other and kept giving each other hugs. There are approximately 20 koalas that have been brought to the shelter in recent days but Sam & Bob are by far the most popular. A County Fire Authority Victoria volunteer said “My heart goes out to the people in these fires and this was so innocent so people have used this to distract them from all the sad stuff that has gone on. It gives people a bit of hope.”

If you would like to help through donations, visit the Country Fire Authority Victoria website or the RSPCA website. Every little bit helps so if you can spare anything it would be a great help to the Australian people and the animals that lived in the now burned up bush.

Updates, updates, updates

I got to wondering about some of the stories I’ve talked about here and decided today was as good a day as any to check up on them. I’ll stick to 2009 although it’d be very easy for me to go back to the beginning of this blog…

January 2: Locked away all these years

The Type 57s Atalante is set to go to auction February 7 in Paris. They believe it will be the most expensive car ever sold at auction with the bids going as high as £6 million or $8,576,292 U.S. dollars. That’s not too bad for a car that sat in a dark garage for 48 years. It was untouched from 1960 until it’s discovery in 2007. I’ll let you know what the actual price is when February gets here.

January 3: What is wrong with this world

I’m still upset over the treatment of the Travolta family after 16 year old Jett’s death. This is probably the fourth time I’ve written something about it. First, people in general suck (you can read my rant again if you’d like; I’m just leaving it at in general people suck).

It was reported on FOXnews.com that the document the lowlifes were using to try to extort $25 million dollars from John Travolta was a release form. Basically John Travolta was trying to figure out if it would be better to fly his son to America to be treated rather than taking the 45 minutes to drive him to the Bahaman hospital.

The document stated that the family wouldn’t hold the paramedics liable for anything that might occur if they drove Jett to the plane versus the hospital. Seems pretty standard to me. I assume ambulances are required to go to certain hospitals.

What isn’t standard is the people who were supposed to be trying to save a life using the opportunity to get some money. I believe previously I called them unscrupulous. I stand by that.

January 4: Dear soldier, thank you for my freedom

Dave and Fiona Fulton were arrested for sedition on Saturday, November 29, 2008 after writing emails about the Gambian government. They were sentenced to a year in prison with hard labor and fined £6250 or $8,933.63 U.S. dollars. They have plead with the government to allow them to return to their home in Britain but so far there has been no response. Their website, The Fultons in The Gambia states that you can help their case by writing a letter and gives instructions on how to do that if you are interested.

January 10: The dangerous seas

This is a never ending story for the ships that sail in the Gulf of Aden. Yesterday a German tanker was hijacked by pirates. The tanker has 13 crew members that are being held hostage. It was the 3rd ship seized by pirates in 2009 (I remind you January is not yet over) and more than 40 ships were taken over by pirates in 2008. Japan has now joined the fight to patrol the Gulf of Aden and along the coast of Somalia in the Indian Ocean.

January 13: Calling all beach bums!

Over 9000 people applied for the dream job in Australia and more than 2.3 million visited the website. The winner will be announced on May 6 and applications can still be submitted until February 22.

January 25: Have you seen this goat?

They still have the goat. It hasn’t changed back into a man yet. The government is conceding that it’s just a goat and are waiting for the owner to claim this now famous four legged car thief. I'm disappointed.

And finally...

January 27: This mornings headlines

The octuplets born to a California lady are all doing well. Seven of them are breathing on their own and one has an oxygen tube. The doctors are impressed with how well they are all doing. In a statement released by the family of the mother they said “The babies continue to grow strong everyday and make good progress.”

I’m happy to hear that. When I first learned of this story and the small size of the babies I was very concerned for their survival. Now I believe they will make it. They expect to keep the infants in the hospital for several more weeks. When they do go home they will have plenty of people to love them. The mother already has six children ages 7, 6, 5, 3 and 2 year old twins. 14 kids under the age of 10... I can’t even begin to imagine.

Calling all beach bums!

What could be better than living on a beautiful beach, snorkeling along the reef and exploring an island anytime you got the urge? How about getting paid for it.

Sounds like a dream job to me. But it’s not a dream. It’s exactly what the Australian government is offering. $105,000 plus a rent free beach home to live on this beautiful island for six months. All that’s required to get this job is the ability to swim, be able to speak and write English and not be shy.

The person who gets the job will be expected to talk to the media, keep a blog and provide video and photo updates. Australia is trying to bring more tourism to the country, specifically to Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef.

I can imagine the scene all too easily which probably means I’d love this job. Just the wildlife alone would be worth it to me. Plus you get to live on an island! Now that feels too good to be true. I’m already very jealous of someone. I don’t know who will get the job, but whoever it is, I’m jealous!

If you’re interested in applying for this job you can click here, but I’m warning you A LOT of people are interested and therefore the site is so busy it’s very hard to get to it. I tried for over half an hour before it would finally go to the site.

If you do make it to the site there are links to all the relevant issues pertaining to this job. There is a full job description you can download and details on the responsibilities, criteria and benefits.

If I had nothing else to do I would definitely apply for this job. Six months would go by so fast. Especially on an island. I wonder if it’s a one time deal. Or if you can sign up for another six months after the first ones have past. I imagine that answer is in the FAQ section included on the site. I think I’ll go read them now and have a little daydream about living on the beach.

Note: Today's news revealed that because of the high volume of traffic to the application site it crashed. It took several hours to get the site back up and some portions are still unavailable.