Barnaby Joyce Volunteers To ‘Look After’ Pistol & Boo, Following Depp, Heard Divorce

The Deputy Prime Minister has put his hand up to help out in whatever way he can, after celebrity couple Johnny Depp and Amber Heard confirmed their divorce this week.

“They’ll have a lot on their minds, a lot of things to work through. All I’m saying is I can take care of the dogs,” Joyce said.

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New Dating App Connects You With People Within 1 Metre Radius

A new app called LookUp alerts users to family members and spouses located within 100cm, encouraging them to start a conversation, or even a relationship.

Creators of the innovative new service say the beauty of the app is that it will notify you of people in your immediate vicinity you hadn’t even remembered existed.

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Melbourne Café Now Selling Deconstructed Irony

A café in North Fitzroy is giving customers all the ingredients they need to make a smug social statement.

Served on an assortment of materials that can be used to build an old chopping board, the irony costs just $4, payable in four 1983 $1 notes.

Customer Sarah McTavish said she was one of the first to discover the new trend. “Going to cafés that pre-assemble their irony is so 2015. What a great idea to give you the materials to create your own self-important milieu”.

Trump Calls For US To Exit EU

Saying it was time to ‘make America Great again’, Republican presumptive Presidential nominee Donald Trump has begun a bid for his country to leave the European Union.

At a rally today, Mr Trump said. “Why should we answer to Brussels? Who even knows where Brussels is? I do. I’ve been there. I know loads of people there. And they’re not Americans. We’re Americans. Which is why we need to leave the EU. If I’m President, it’s the first thing I’ll do”.

“People are laughing at us. They’re actually laughing at us. People say to me, ‘Donald, why is America part of the European Union?’ And I say ‘Obama’. And they say ‘I hate Obama’. And I say, ‘I know Obama. I’ve met him. He’s not even American. And the European Union isn’t American either’.

“I know all the best unions. And the European Union is not one of them. The best union is the United States. So why are we even part of the EU? Let’s give the EU the finger. We won’t even need a referendum. We’ll just leave. I don’t even care if they try to stop us. I’m sick and tired of people trying to stop America leaving the EU”.

A poll today showed that 48% of Americans supported Donald Trump’s plan to leave the EU.

Pokémon Go Draws To Close After Final Little Piece Of Customer Data Captured

Describing it as a ‘wonderful, exciting adventure’, Pokémon Go creator Niantic has announced that the game will now come to an end, after the final, adorable little piece of customer information was captured in a suburban park in outer San Francisco last night.

“It’s been so much fun collecting all your data. We captured some really rare stuff,” Niantic executive James O’Neil said.

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Telstra Customer Service – A True Oxymoron

Telstra customer service – an oxymoron

I’m about as knowledgeable on telephonic hardware as I am with the inner workings of the female psyche but even I could have built a telephone out of cigarette ends and old tea bags, connected it to the telephone exchange with cold al dente spaghetti AND made the thing perfectly usable in the time it took Telstra to get me connected. I’ve waited more than a week and become painfully familiar with two dozen members of Telstra staff in as many ineffective departments.

A somewhat more serious side effect of spending so much of my life on the phone to Telstra, is not being able to get those bloody tunes out of my head. I feel violated by muzak.

Now that the telephone is connected, you’d think it was just a case of flicking a switch and the broadband would be activated but this is Telstra and nothing could be so simple.

No, Telstra insist that they need to send a modem even though I have made it clear that I have a one in perfect working order. They even agree that I can indeed use my existing modem and so I ask the obvious question.

After the usual pillar-to-post merry-go-round that is the Telstra trademark, the conversation with what sounded more like an Australian human than an Indian automaton (although I wasn’t entirely convinced), began like this…

Me – So, will you kindly activate my account?

Her – No, not until the new modem has been dispatched from our warehouse.

Me – But, you stated that I may use my existing modem, so why can’t you activate it now?

Her – The account is activated once the modem leaves the warehouse.

Me – But I don’t need a modem and you have clearly stated that I can use my existing modem, so why waste your money and my time by sending a new one?

Here – That’s just the way it is. If a modem wasn’t ready to be dispatched, I could activate it now but the new modem is waiting…

Me – Yes, yes, I know all that but why don’t you simply remove the modem from the order?

Her – I can’t do that…(computer says “No”)

Me – Audible sigh!

You get the picture. This goes on for twenty minutes. The customer support representative explains that nobody is able to prevent the modem from being dispatched even though it is a harmless inanimate object, sitting defenceless with no means of preventing intervention.
“Computer says No!”

So now I must wait several more days for these fuckwits to go through the motions before my broadband can be activated.

The sad thing is that no amount of complaining will improve their service. Telstra is one of those unwelcome and depressing certainties down under…..just like the flies!

Oxford

…an official who upholds petty rules even at the expense of humanity or common sense.

Cambridge

…someone who always obeys all the rules of their job even when they cause problems for other people or when the rules are silly

Collins

…a person who follows the rules of a job exactly, even when this causes problems for other people, or when the rules are not sensible

Wikipedia

…a jobsworth is a person who uses his or her job description in a deliberately uncooperative way, or who seemingly delights in acting in an obstructive or unhelpful manner.

Allwords.com

…a minor clerical worker who refuses to be flexible in the application of rules to help a client or customer.

Dictionery.com

…a person in a position of minor authority who invokes the letter of the law in order to avoid any action requiring initiative, cooperation, etc

There is quite a bit more to this farcical tale but by now you are are probably as bored as I am……

Say No To Vuvuzelas!

Along with the referees, the new ball and the underwhelming standard of play, this contemptible contraption has conspired to mar the current FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

Worryingly, stores here in Australia are unable to keep up with demand. For sports fans, this cannot be good news. The 2010 World Cup will always be remembered for these monotonous, obnoxious horns and God forbid they be allowed to permeate the Aussie sporting culture!

My advice is say ‘No’ and particularly if you cannot confirm their origin. For instance, I would highly recommend against importing vuvuzelas from Papua New Guinea, where they are more commonly referred to as a koteka or phallocrypt.

Strathdale NAB

I popped into the NAB in Strath Village shopping centre the other day to enquire about their merchant banking services and ‘virtual terminal’ facility. As part of some research I was doing, I remembered reading something on the NAB website. Unfortunately, I assumed asking in person might prove more helpful should I have questions.

I asked for the information I sought but the two female tellers glanced at each other as if I had just asked them to theorise some impossible mathematical equation and expected an answer in fluent badger! After some umm-ing and ahh-ing, which clearly demonstrated a mutual cerebral void, I offered them a release from their obvious agony.

I smiled sympathetically and headed for the door.

Unique, interesting or unusual ways to get fit?

I find it extremely difficult to motivate myself to go jogging. In fact, motivation for any sort of fitness-related exertion is nigh on impossible to muster. Before you jump down my throat with unhelpful comments related to bone-idleness and such, may I add that there is a genuine underlying medical reason for this. I’d rather go to the dentist AND watch paint dry than pound the pavement and so I am on a mission to uncover something a little more inspiring.