They are brilliant! I really love the cyclist one "unwanted door prize" made me LOL

It's really hard to be angry while reading Haiku - even if it's composed entirely of curses, it's still very peaceful.

Regardless of the date - that would have been a scary thing to bump into!

On the other hand...what an awesome costume! I wish we did Halloween here

I just had a look at the webcam and I feel a little bit sorry for her. She's just swimming backwards and forwards across the pool. I hope there's other entertainment for her from time to time. The poor girl is just so ugly she's cute!

I love the ones that are all organised neatly! The ones that look like all the bits are falling out make me feel a bit twitchy because I want to put them back together or in a box out of the way but the ones that are tidy look purposeful. Even if that purpose is only to look nice.

Santa should sit up a bit straighter. When he's all slumped over like that, little junior is going to think mummy took out Santa with that gun. Unless that's the idea...hmmmmmm

The National Library of Australia is doing something similar with Trove (http://trove.nla.gov.au/) they are scanning old newspapers from all the capital cities and many regional areas then they OCR the pages as a searchable resource. The best bit is..... they let us (members of the public) register to log in and correct the OCR text, so if you find an article on something interesting - you can go in and fix up the OCR as well. All changes are tracked, so I guess if you're doing the wrong thing you'd get blocked. Only problem is it's a bit addictive once you start.

I think it would depend on what the conviction was for. Surely being permanently unable to find a job because of a single mistake would be a cause of further criminal activity. Particularly in cases of the stupid things we do when we're young - it's easy enough to get a conviction but to have your life ruined because you got caught and your friend didn't... just doesn't seem fair.

That said, I'd think any sort of sex crime or violent offence should prevent you from working with children, the disabled or the elderly. Also having offended more than once would have to make you an exemption to the rules. And things like a driving position for people with DUI convictions, stock or financial control positions for people with theft convictions etc should be exemptions to the rules.

It's a pity there weren't programs where people could be employed in real positions where they can get experience and build a career during their incarceration and immediately on their release from jail. That way they could get references, skills and develop a work history that would make them as employable as someone who'd been in the workforce all along.

I'm actually kind of jealous. I think it'd be fun even though I am really bad at slalom games. It's now #2 on my list of "Things I'd Do If I Had a Penis" (#1 is write my name in snow).

I used to wake up around 4 or 5am every day. Once I quit smoking, I can sleep until 10am without any problem. I used to get a lot more done when I got up earlier.

Manowar were quite popular among the metal crowd in Australia (or at least, I liked them). Although I don't remember ever seeing that particular album cover - I'm fairly sure my teenage girly self would have liked it quite a lot thank you very much.

The green in this puts me off a lot, it's almost too well done! I think the hands were probably done with a star shaped cutter or mold and then a couple of points removed.

The Daleks always come back.

I have to admit to hoping they're no longer multicoloured. A Rainbow of Daleks is not OK - although I guess you could get one that wouldn't clash with the furniture.

Ha ha ha, that sounds like an awesome idea!

LOL @ Turkey Madoff.

I'd love to know what was in some of the others - there were a couple that looked pretty appetising but I'm want to know exactly what was in them before I tried anything.

I've never had twinkies before, and I'm not really sure about them - so I'd go the Turdunkin. Besides, it's got sprinkles!