50 things every 18 year old should know

But we probably already know them, being of mature age...

Thanks to Minicapt.

Two-headed fish hatchlings cause finger pointing

I heard this story and was surprised at the amount it was beaten up.

Macadamia farmers on Queensland's Sunshine Coast are at the centre of a controversy over two-headed fish hatchlings.

The Department of Primary Industries in Queensland is investigating the discovery of two-headed Australian bass hatchlings on the Noosa River.

I remembered working at a rural university campus and a phonecall I received from a member of the public. She had a foal, a beautiful animal. The foal was born with five legs, one extra leg grew from the knee of one of its fore legs. She had spoken with her vet and couldn't afford the surgery to remove the extra leg (about $30k). She asked if the University would take the foal and fix it and keep it or find it a good home. I took her details and said I'd find someone to speak with her.

Later, I spoke with one of the vets in the school. She said it was quite common for animals to have such a deformity. She said that, much as she'd like to help, the University didn't have the funds to help and couldn't use the foal. This vet was an equine specialist.

People who live on the land would see many such deformities in animals for whatever reason. Usually, because of a breeding programme or because some deformed animals can not survive, the animals are killed, so we city folk don't see them so often.

You should have heard the dumb-ass questions the reporter asked on the radio!

PS: If people knew what was sprayed on their food at the farm and prior to picking, quite legally, they'd pitch a fit! Spuds are sprayed with a chemical to stop the eyes from shooting... that's just a start. Of course, all these chemicals have safe withholding periods and can not be used otherwise.

Transcrip & audio of ABC 13/1/09 AM story on this here.

Paternity

Paternity.
I had a visit from a commenter yesterday and visited his blog. This post reminded me of an issue I feel strongly about.

What I hear most clearly about proving a man is the father of the child he’s expected to pay maintenance for, and whom he forms a bond with, is that some people have a problem with a paternity test showing a lack of trust. There are women who will lie about this to a man. I know a man who was told that it was highly unlikely that he would ever father children due to a low sperm count. His wife became pregnant and he did have his doubts about paternity of the child. The child is now in her 20s and is the spitting image of her father. No doubt now. Had this test been carried out it would have dispelled doubt.

If it's mandatory paternity testing you won't get men being ripped off. I'm all for it. Women who have been true won't have a problem. When the result is negative paternity the women should be told their deception has been discovered and given a chance to explain. I'm sure there won't be many women caught, I don’t believe that there are that many deceptive people, but there will be a few. There are women who practise this deception and no man should be deceived this way.

Is the law the same now that the father on the birth certificate is the father by law? To disprove this you’d need a DNA test, and to get a DNA test you have to have the permission of the mother? Wrong!

Liam Macgill is another victim of this type of fraud. A book has been written about paternity fraud, too..

TGIF!

I have had such a good week, I’ll be so glad at the end of today…

Ok, let me outline how great it’s been.

Earlier in the week I leant over in my chair to pick up a dropped piece of paper. Chair went arse over tit and the back of the chair crashed onto my foot. I have a lovely purple line above the toes of my left foot. It hurt, too!

I’ve been trying to get hold of a DVD for a friend for Father’s Day (a very special gift). I haven’t been able to find it and I’ll have to go to a shop out of my way to get it, or pay an extra $10 for it. And Fathers’ Day is the first Sunday in September, and I need to post the gift in time to get there.

Last night I bought a chicken. It was still hot when I got home (three hours after leaving work). I left it out of the fridge. Thismorning, about 45 mintues from home, I remembered that the chicken was still on the bench. The dogs are going to enjoy that chook when I get home tonite. Grrr.

Thismorning was special. Roo, my Barista’s little girl (more on her later) is having her 9th birthday tomorrow. Last night’s little trip was to buy her a pair of earrings – and search for some wool for my mum. Earrings were found last night, and presented to Roo thismorning – she was delighted. YAY! in five weeks she can wear them. Pink heart studs. I got lots of hugs. Roo makes my day, even when it’s not her birthday!

Anyway, I collected my coffee from Roo’s mum. mocha. Yum. At work I picked the coffee up to get out of the car and the cup bent, lid popped, coffee all over me, the console, the wool for mum (inside the top of the bag) – getting out of the car is an amazing exercise in logistics, picking everything up and carrying it, and the coffee, is a pretty demanding exercise! Did I say it went all over me, too? The wool seat cover? I got upstairs and rinsed out the trewes, good thing I’m here so early. Now I have wet trewes from rinsing them out. It’s amazing how far a little mocha will go!

Now I’m just waiting for something else to happen.

Oh, and MDFD was mooching around Indooroopilly shops last night and, footsore and in agony, phoned me to tell me that she found herself outside the DVD shop, did I still need that DVD. YAY! Mission accomplished. She’s meeting her birth mum at the end of this year and I must try and stash some spending money for her.

PS: I also miscalculated the speed of the sliding door when I closed it during the week after feeding the dogs. Jammed my finger in it, just a little. Hurt a little. No great damage done. Well, a couple of days later now and it's swollen and the nail is split, didn't see that before. Plaster. Need a good, old-fashioned Elastoplast fabric strip... but they got taken over by Biersdorf, what a bloody useless piece of plastic crap they market as a fabric bandaid now. It's crap. Falls off in the shower. If I need a fabric strip, I need a plaster, I want the mongrel to stay on until I'm ready to take it off (or it drops off). I want to need to use eucalyptus oil to get the goop off. Torn nails need protecting. This sissy-pissy bandaidy things are just useless. Biersdorf sux. (I do still have some of the continuous cut-it-yourself fabric stuff... and it's MINE all MINE!)