gobbledonk

Its amazing just how tough the human body is when you consider that its a conparatively frail creation alongside many other mammals. Early man might not have had our giant brains, but he must have been a tough mofo. I guess he had a pretty basic choice - tough or dead.

For all this talk of 'thin bones', I have never had a fracture worthy of medical attention (rarely even go near a doctor's surgery) - lets hope that sort of luck holds up.

I guess years of a sedentary lifestyle are catching up to me, cause I eat a mountain of dairy and tuna - supposedly the thing for calcium and vitamin D. Long story short, I had an x-ray on my lower back and it revealed a crushed vertebrae and 'thin bones'. If you want to avoid the crushed vertebrae, dont get hammered and fall over in the shower - the rest is down to pure laziness. Time to get off my butt and start putting these old bones to work.

Quickly walked through last week and the Square looked much the same as it had 6 months earlier - decrepit. I have waxed lyrical about the old tart in the past, but I walked away thinking that the wrecking ball would actually be a kindness - difficult to imagine how many rats and roaches will sprint from the upstairs apartments when the time comes. After Sticks recent description of roaches crawling up both legs post-flooding, I pity the poor devils who live and work in the vicinity. We arent just talking poor folk from Isaan, either .....

Guys, no question that her latter years werent her finest, but if a mate went to Patts and drank himself to death, is that the part you would want to remember ? They replayed 'The Bodyguard' the other day, and I could definitely see where all the praise came from - the tragedy is the number of dweebs who insisted on having 'Always Love You' blasting through a cheap PA at their wedding/engagement/circumcision. I'm sure it also got a hammering in Karaoke bars, but the instant I see some bitch lurch toward a microphone I leave. No amount of alcohol can drown out a Karaoke ambush - the horror, the horror.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitney_Houston

No question that it was a steady downhill slide from the mid-90s, but its ironic that she survived an abusive marriage only to die in a bathtub. I question 'accidental' whenever someone combines prescription drugs with gallons of alcohol, but I guess some folk have been doing it for so long that it seems like just another day on planet earth. RIP Whitney - your Superbowl anthem rendition is what you should be remembered for.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jeUINzHK9o

Good Lord, who would have imagined Cheetah was still around.

Exactly - I just assumed that there were several chimps playing 'Cheetah'. Jane Goodall, probably the foremost authority on chimpanzees, claims their personalities mirror humans in every way. Her biggest disappointment was when she realised they will kill their own kind, just as we do. I'm not an authority on Darwin, but didnt we get said personality traits from the apes ?

One thing she said that I didn't realise is that you can safely transfuse blood from a chimpanzee with the same blood type as the human recipient. Something very dark about that, IMO - shades of the Chinese milking bears for their bile.

This little girl wasnt famous, but I hope she finds more peace in whatever-comes-next than she did on this fucked up planet:

http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/-/world/12462779/us-babysitter-beats-dismembers-girl/

May his time in jail be long, brutal and completely without possibility of parole.

Singapore is SE Asia, does it fall into that "as in the rest of SE Asia"?

Good point, but Singapore wasn't inherently 'corruption free'. Whatever his faults, I often wonder if Australia could use a benevolent dictator like 'The Father of Singapore'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Kuan_Yew

Like many countries, Singapore had problems with political corruption. Lee introduced legislation giving the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) greater power to conduct arrests, search, call up witnesses, and investigate bank accounts and income-tax returns of suspected persons and their families.

Lee believed that ministers should be well paid in order to maintain a clean and honest government. In 1994, he proposed to link the salaries of ministers, judges, and top civil servants to the salaries of top professionals in the private sector, arguing that this would help recruit and retain talent to serve in the public sector.

I found the 'well paid' paragraph interesting - several here have pointed to the low pay that most Thai cops get as prime motivation for ongoing corruption, particularly as the gap between rich and poor widens in Thailand. Somehow I cant see the middle class agreeing to higher taxes to increase the pay packets of the boys in brown.

Jesus, suddenly my life doesnt seem so bad. Good luck with it - I've spent a lifetime avoiding 3 places : courtrooms, hospital beds and jails. God favours fools and drunks, I guess.

I'm tempted to say more about Ali, but you guys are right - this is about Joe. RIP.

Damn - Munchy must have a direct freakin' link to the Obit section at AAP !

I always thought Frazier was under-rated, and I agree that a lot of people lionised Ali while ignoring Frazier and Foreman. All 3 were streets ahead of most who came after them, particularly other heavyweight boxers. I dont remember anyone trying to bite his opponent's ear off, although I will concede that the 'accidental' headbutt seems to have been a feature of the sport for a long time.

92 isn't a bad innings, and its not as if he lived most of his life perched in front of the telly with a beer and a TV dinner. Now, where did I leave that beer ?

Windmill and X-Zone and places like that are kind of too hardcore for me and I find them a bit degrading. I like watching hot chicks dancing and flirting. Not being fisted by some 70 year old fat slob.... yeeeech...

Phew - at 52, I can only manage 2 of your 3 pet hates !

(am I the only one who loses 10 kilos when I start walking the streets in LOS ? Seriously - hit those Skytrain steps on a hot, muggy day and I look a lot better within a week or so)

Yup, some prophetic stuff from Steve, but then he HAD just 'beaten' cancer and was very aware of his own mortality. 56 years on the planet, but I could live 3 times that and still not have a single original idea - you are either born with that kind of creative (and marketing) genius or you arent.

I don't know if its a reflection on Vientiane (!), but everything I read on expat life in Laos points to Nong Khai as their 'escape valve' when they need a little more excitement in their lives. I've only seen it during the day, but I can imagine myself at one of the riverside cafes at sunset, gazing into the liquid pools across from me and thinking 'I wonder what those poor bastards are doing back in BKK ?'

'the big man' was certainly a legend within the music industry.

last saw the band in 2008 and he was certainly frail back then.

spent most of the concert sitting down and not getting involved as much as i had previously seen.

but when his party pieces were performed he was up and performing like a teenager.

I saw them in Oz somewhere around late 2002/early 2003 and he was in fine form then. Always felt a bit sorry for him when he had to play the triangle (!) and other simple percussion on tracks that didnt call for a sax, but I'm sure there are thousands of 'starving' jazz sax players who would have given their right arm for his pay packet. They were able to move on when Danny died, but this will leave a huge hole - no doubt there will be a line-up from the Brooklyn bridge to the Jersey turnpike if The Boss holds auditions for a replacement.

Flash, I felt the same way. I love it when they show you a hard luck story about a former high flyer on Wall St (or Hollyweird) who has hit 'hard times', as he leaves the courthouse and gets into a 911. Nothing like slapping your ex around to really put a dent in your ability to stay on top of Porsche's model updates.

He will be a legend in Jackass world.

Sadly, I think that's true - how the others have lasted this long is a mystery. Maybe they've moved onto 'extreme planking'.

Thanks Bada - as I said, timeless. You could play that in 50 years from now and, Buddha willing, spiky-haired kids will still be blown away.

It is with considerable sadness that I have to pass this on:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/e-street-bands-clarence-clemons-dies-at-69-20110618

No mention on the local news here - I guess the E Street Band arent as well known as their front man - but thats 2 gone from the original lineup.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_Street_Band

If you havent heard Clemons' wailing solo on 'Jungleland', I strongly suggest you give it a listen. Timeless.

Hang on Flash - didnt YOU survive SVN ?

Great - she is gone from a planet short on beautiful women, and Cheney still breathes.

Way to go, Coss - I just think back to where I was roughly two years ago and I know that the day WILL come, even if right now I feel like I'm in a prison of my own making. I have to start counting my blessings.

T Minus 600 days and counting. Stuff it - might as well stay here until I dont have to book a return flight, ever.

Man, this is better than 'The Bold and the Beautiful'.