Clearly I’m not rich!

Working from home today and waiting on a supplier phone call, so flipped over to The Age to see what the latest headlines bring us.  Something other than St Kilda and the “young girl”, was my hope.

While the “young girl” did still grab the picture spotlight (how many days is it now?), one of the headings took my eye.  A shonky health aid.  Oh, good – something different, I thought to myself.  Well, only partly, for Nick Riewoldt was mentioned as wearing one so it seems we can’t escape his name. 

The bands, worn by footballers Nick Riewoldt and Brendan Fevola as well as jockey Damien Oliver, were said to improve sports performance, but were found to be a scam.

The report quotes the ACCC chairman:

ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel said it was ”fairly obvious” there was no credible evidence to support claims being made by companies selling similar products.

”I’d be very interested to see other people demonstrate how the insertion of a hologram into a bracelet can have the sort of effects that they claim,” he said, adding that some of the things being said by companies ”beggared belief”.

”Distributors of other like products be warned: we’re on to this issue,” Mr Samuel said.

Now, what REALLY got me was – THE PRICE!  Hence my headline!  I’ve not heard of these wonderful Power Bands  and pendants and given they are selling for “up to $1,568”, I’m not surprised I haven’t.  My money is going in more constructive directions.  $1,568?  For a hologram?  The clasp better be diamond studded 18 carat gold for that price.

Source: The Age

Call me skeptical, but it looks like cheap plastic with a McDonald’s logo if you ask me.

Improve performance?  Eat better food, train harder and keep cameras out of your lives might be better advice!  Interesting that Brendan Fevola wears one.  When we consider his well-publicised challenges of late, I’m not sure such a band is the solution.  Good old-fashioned will-power is likely to be more effective.

I can’t help but ponder the never ending stream of things people will try to use to “save” themselves or make themselves “better”, from religion (mainstream or otherwise) to crystals to Power Bands.  Most of us would be better simply looking in the mirror and asking ourselves what do we need to change to achieve our goals.  We, us, inside ourselves and out.  Why do we prefer to look for miracles and magic?  Simply because those are……………. EASIER!  Maybe I’m just getting old and grumpy! 😛

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Julia must decide!

All I can say today is Julia Gillard must love Nick Riewoldt and the St Kilda FC this week.  Will she change her allegiance from the Bulldogs to St Kilda? After all, the media focus in Victoria (the Labor heartland, so we are told) has been shifted from such minor events as the Christmas Island tragedy to the saga of footballers having group sex.

This is news?  We didn’t actually know this already?  The Bombers might have finished down the ladder this year, but at least you always knew James Hird was never going to attract this kind of publicity.

Like an innumerable number of Victorians (if not Australians) I’ve seen the photo of Nick.  I can understand him demanding it be deleted at the time it was taken.  A) His facial expression is just plain weird; B) He “just got out of bed”, but in a very “unmanly” state as many men laughingly indicated within my hearing today and yesterday; C) Am I the only one who noticed he seems to be shaved in the nether regions?  I do agree most people sleep naked – who doesn’t?

There is much todo about where and when the photo was taken.  Should be simple enough to prove.  If I download a photo from my camera or my phone to my computer, a wealth of information is also transferred and easily accessed.  Here is a snip from my own computer.

Look at that – even records the aperture and focal length.  Surprise, surprise.

And the date taken:

A photo from a phone?  Not a problem!  Yes, I do indeed have a Nokia N97.

Let me make it very clear that if the young lady in question is telling the truth, I applaud her fortitude for fighting back.  I may well have questions about what a 16 year-old was doing cavorting with professional footballers, but I also know without a shadow of a doubt those footballers also have a responsibility to behave in a manner befitting their privileged status.  Group sex involving 16 year-olds is not responsible in any way, shape or form.

The fact this state, or this country, thinks this story is worthy of so much news coverage astounds me.    Let’s our politicians off the hook, doesn’t it?  Very convenient.

I read the AFL is “angry” with Channel 7.  The AFL may do well to remember the media is supposed to report openly and independently, not at the behest of a sporting fraternity.

There is so much about this whole thing that is so wrong.  From the actual events, the “he said, she said” aspect with no documented proof from either camp, the “pressure” supposedly being brought to bear on a media outlet for rights to televising games, to the totally unwarranted degree of media coverage when there are way more important things the media should be paying attention to.  Such as the treatment by the USA of an Australian citizen or the treatment of asylum seekers by Australians to name just two items of current importance.

Must be a slow news day.

I expect an annoucement any day that Julia has become St Kilda’s No. 1 ticket holder.

By the way – when exactly did Australia adopt American spelling?  Labour is Labour, not Labor, in Australia!