Teh interesting (non-PHL-related) news stub thread

[Grim]

Now this is what you call a dream job.

Australia offers 'best job in world' on paradise island

SYDNEY (AFP) – An Australian state is offering internationally what it calls "the best job in the world" -- earning a top salary for lazing around a beautiful tropical island for six months.

The job pays 150,000 Australian dollars (105,000 US dollars) and includes free airfares from the winner's home country to Hamilton Island on the Great Barrier Reef, Queensland's state government announced on Tuesday.

In return, the "island caretaker" will be expected to stroll the white sands, snorkel the reef, take care of "a few minor tasks" -- and report to a global audience via weekly blogs, photo diaries and video updates.

The successful applicant, who will stay rent-free in a three-bedroom beach home complete with plunge pool and golf buggy, must be a good swimmer, excellent communicator and be able to speak and write English.

"They'll also have to talk to media from time to time about what they're doing so they can't be too shy and they'll have to love the sea, the sun, the outdoors," said acting state Premier Paul Lucas.

"The fact that they will be paid to explore the islands of the Great Barrier Reef, swim, snorkel and generally live the Queensland lifestyle makes this undoubtedly the best job in the world."

Lucas said the campaign was part of a drive to protect the state's 18 billion Australian dollar a year tourism industry during the tough economic climate caused by the global financial meltdown.

"Traditional tourism advertising just doesn't cut it sometimes and we are thinking outside the box by launching this campaign."

Queensland Tourism Minister Desley Boyle said some people might question whether it was risky to let an unknown person become an unofficial tourism spokesperson for the state.

"I think the biggest risk will be that the successful candidate won't want to go home at the end of the six months," she said.

"This is a legitimate job which is open to anyone and everyone."

Applications are open until February 22. Eleven shortlisted candidates will be flown to Hamilton Island in early May for the final selection process and the six month contract will commence on July 1.

Job-seekers can apply on Islandreefjob.com

[clonezero]

China against prawnz

China Launches Crackdown on Internet Pornography


More like All your interwebz are belong to China~!

[Twin-Skies]

Now this is what you call a dream job.

It sounds like a dream job, until you remember Australia's beaches are also populated by critters like Box Jellyfish, Saltwater Crocodiles, poisonous sea snakes, Great Whites, and stingrays.

Pangandaman files libel raps vs De la Paz over blog
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/01/09/...-over-blog

A son of Agrarian Reform Secretary Nasser Pangandaman has charged with libel before the Lanao del Sur Prosecutor’s Office the 18-year-old antagonist in the squabble over a mauling incident at an Antipolo golf club.

Lawyer Ted Pastrana said the case was filed in Lanao del Sur because his client, Nasser Pangandaman, 27, is a resident and mayor of Masiu town in that province, where his reputation is at stake.

“Besides, Mayor Pangandaman is not known in Metro Manila despite the fact that he’s a son of a Cabinet secretary,” he said.

Pastrana said Marie Dhel “Bambee” de la Paz, 18, was sued for libel for the defamatory and malicious articles which she had written in her blog in the Internet.

The blog’s contents had triggered angry responses against the Pangandamans from bloggers nationwide, he added.

Mayor Pangandaman is not seeking any compensation from Bambee because the case is criminal in nature, Pastrana said.

However, Raymond Fortun, counsel for the De la Paz family, belittled the filing of the libel suit against Bambee.

“It’s not a big deal,” he said.

“It’s not an unexpected move by the Pangandamans because they have been threatening to file such case two days after the mauling incident.”

Fortun said being public officials, the Pangandamans are vulnerable to criticism.

After weighing the evidence, the court would eventually dismiss the libel charges, he added.

However, Pastrana said if the De la Pazes are sincere in settling the case, they should shut down Bambee’s blog as a sign of goodwill.

EPIC FAIL

[NiX]

http://i.gizmodo.com/5136722/how-illegal...h-in-china

"How Illegal Satellite (TV) Combated The Cencorsip of Obama's Speech in China"

- Amusing mention of the Philippines in this article.

[clonezero]

http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/columns...eb+2.0.htm

china's 50 cent army ... something I saw while reading the comments for Nix's post ahahaha

[Twin-Skies]

Palin announces 50 per cent renewable energy target for Alaska

As crazy as this sounds, I sincerely hope this will be the start of more smart decisions that just might make Palin a little more respectable.

It's a long shot, I know.

[AppleHead]

Fox News in Detroit featured a segment called "The Love Doctor" that focused on the relationship between President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama.

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/neCIg0BiXbE&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/neCIg0BiXbE&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Quote: "...There's a need to be affectionate. They do a lot of touching, kissing, even fisting..."

Fisting is usually defined as this:


or...


But of course the "sexpert" actually meant this:


Faux news, always so entertaining

[Grim]

Faux news, always so entertaining

Physically bonded LOL

[Twin-Skies]

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/articl...-2,00.html

An article discussing the conservative and liberal concepts on patriotism.

[maitreya]

http://newsbreak.com.ph/index.php?option...d=88889051

SC says shaven heads in workplace illegal strike; labor groups cry foul

Reporting for work with a shaven head or even a cropped up hair could be dangerous to your job.

That is essentially the opinion of magistrates of the Supreme Court as it upheld the dismissal of 29 union officers of Dusit (Nikko) Hotel following a deadlock in the collective bargaining agreement.

In a motion to intervene and to reconsider the ruling, four labor groups from the public sector sought Monday a reversal of the Court’s Second Division, which they say expands the grounds for illegal strike and violates freedom of speech and right to engage in peaceful concerted activities.

Through lawyer Rosselynn de la Cruz, they want the Court en banc to review the case and reinstate the dismissed workers.

In a ruling promulgated last November, the Court’s Second Division found the union officers to have engaged in an illegal strike for picketing the hotel premises last Jan 2002. The picket was prompted by the hotel management’s suspension of some union members who reported for work with shaven heads and cropped hair.

At that time, management and union faced a deadlock in its CBA. To express their protest, some male workers reported for work with clean-shaven heads and new hairstyle, which the management said violated the hotel’s grooming standards. The management barred them from reporting for work.

In response to the management’s action, the union picketed the hotel which management said affected the operations of the hotel. Management charged the union officers and workers with illegal strike, illegal picket, and violation of the grooming standards.

The workers however countered that they were only expressing their grievance as a result of the management’s refusal to allow the workers to report for work.

Velasco's ruling
In its ruling penned by Justice Presbitero Velasco, the Court agreed with the management that the workers’ violation of the grooming standards “was clearly a deliberate and concerted action to undermine the authority of and embarrass the hotel, and was therefore not a protected action.”

The Court said that when the workers decided “to come to work bald-headed or with cropped hair, (it) suggests that something is amiss and insinuates a sense that something out of the ordinary is afoot. Obviously, the Hotel does not need to advertise its labor problems with its client.”

Since it forced the hotel not to allow the workers to report for work, the Court said “it is not an unprotected act and should be considered as an illegal strike.”

The Second division, which is chaired by Justice Leonardo Quisumbing, a former labor secretary, noted that the inappropriate hairstyle of the union members also reflects the union's absence of good faith in the negotiations. It also did not help that the workers did not observe the 30-day cooling off period and blocked the hotel’s entrances during the picket.

Out of leniency, the Court ordered the reinstatement of 61 union members but ruled for the dismissal of 29 union officers.

'Restricts freedom of speech'
In their motion for intervention, the Confederation of Independent Unions in the Public Sector, the Postal Employees Union of the Philippines, the Public Services Labor Independent Confederation and Union of Statistics Employees argued the ruling “constitute an unwarranted expansion of the right to strike” which may have “adverse consequences to those for whom the right to strike is denied.”

As employees of the government sector, the intervenors said they are prohibited from staging a strike or work stoppage. But this does not mean government workers could not initiate collective acts short of a strike to express their grievance, they said.

In ruling that reporting for work with shaven heads to express grievance constitutes illegal strike, the labor groups said the Court “unduly restricts freedom of speech and the right to engage in peaceful concerted activities” which are both constitutionally- guaranteed.

“The decision of the High Court on the G.R. No. 163942 has a damaging effect on public sector workers’ already limited right to collective action, by setting a precedent wherein employers can arbitrarily and subjectively decide when a collective action can be considered a strike, rather than upholding the Labor Code’s clear definition of a strike as “any temporary stoppage of work by the concerned action of employees as a result of an individual labor dispute,” the motion said.

It further argued: “If peaceful picketing is considered protected speech, then certainly, acts of a lesser degrees, such as shaving of heads, cannot be said to be prohibited without afoul of established doctrines.”

The intervenors pleaded the en banc to reverse the Second Division’s ruling, not only because it is constitutionally infirm but also to prevent management in the private and public sector from using it as a tool to quash opposition.

“The effect of the High Court’s decision would embolden management in the public sector to bust unions and discourage their formation for the flimsiest reasons. They would also inevitable result to public sector unions to afraid to stand up against poor governance and graft and corruption,” the motion said. (abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak)

[Twin-Skies]

Apparently, 2008 won't be the last time we'll be hearing from Sarah Palin:

http://www.sarahpac.com/

Holy crap - she's serious about running for the White House

[maitreya]

Belkin's Development Rep is Hiring People to Write Fake Positive Amazon Reviews

[Sforza]

These two pieces of recent news just sound plainly fucked up if you're a Catholic.

Pope Pardons Holocaust Denier Bishop

The Pope has lifted the excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church of four bishops appointed by a breakaway archbishop more than 20 years ago.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7849226.stm

Criticism of Pope's Rehabilitation of Holocaust Denier Grows

The pope is coming under increasing fire from within the Catholic Church over his policies. A second German Catholic bishop Saturday raised unusual criticism of German Pope Benedict XVI for rehabilitating Holocaust denier Bishop Williamson, adding his objections to the pope's ultraconservative direction.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,3993755,00.html

Pope Promotes Ultraconservative Cleric to Bishop

Fr Wagner is also notorious for his extreme views - he has accused the popular Harry Potter novels of spreading Satanism, and described Hurricane Katrina as God's punishment for the sinners of New Orleans.

He wrote in a parish newsletter that the death and destruction caused by the hurricane in New Orleans was divine retribution for the city's tolerance of homosexuals and permissive sexual attitudes.

The future bishop said he was glad that Katrina destroyed not only nightclubs and brothels in New Orleans, but also five of the city's abortion clinics.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7863254.stm

[NiX]

So Hurricane Katrina = Tenchu? XD

Organized religion is just plain flawed. -_-

[clonezero]

=_= I seriously liked Pope John Paul II greatly over him ... maybe that is it his cracking under the pressure trying to live up to the previous popes =P