Bali Bombers to die hating non-believers

Two hundred and two people died at Kuta Beach in Bali on October 12th 2002, including 88 Australians. The first suicide bomber walked into Paddy’s bar and set off his bomb in the middle of a crowd of customers. The second bomber waited for everyone to run into the street and set off a Mitsubishi loaded with explosive parked outside the Sari Nightclub.

For Ali Ghufron alias Mukhlas (left), Imam Samudera (centre) and Amrozi (right) it seems that their execution is now imminent. At last these three men who have only recently spoken of their hatred for Australians and warned us to stay away from Bali, will finally be executed by firing squad. They show no remorse for their crimes but incredibly appear to be extremely proud of it.

They will be executed by firing squads consisting of 14 members each, at three different locations, at exactly the same time. They will aim for their hearts, guided by a reflective device on their clothing. Indonesian authorities will quickly remove the bodies by helicopter because of the likelihood that hard-line supporters will be out in force.

Yesterday in Jakarta, text messages were circulating warning of terrorist attacks where Westerners gather, like shopping malls, bars, night clubs etc. Amrozi, Mukhlas and Imam Samudra have many faithful followers.

Amrozi said his targets were anti-Muslims, especially people from the USA, Australia and members of Nato. What would he say to the families of his victims? “To Muslim people I would say pardon, but Muslims only. While the unbelievers – they must be entering into hell. Allah says to all unbelievers that this road will bring you to hell” he said

A smiling Amrozi said “My smile is my weapon, it makes my enemies upset. This is a very special weapon for jihad.”

Bring it on!

Late Night Jokes

"That's the big story, that Sarah Palin has stopped taking advice from McCain and is only looking out for herself. But does that surprise anyone here in Los Angeles? That happens all the time out here. An old guy pulls hot chick out of obscurity, buys her a lot of expensive clothes, introduces her to a lot of famous people. She gets bored with him and stabs him in the back. Moves on. Happens all the time." --Jay Leno

Sarah Palin told a crowd yesterday, when she campaigns, she doesn't wear her wedding ring because the shape of it hurts her finger when she's shaking a lot of hands. And Bill said to Hillary, 'See! I told you I wasn't making it up." --Jay Leno

In Pontiac, Michigan, five bodies and the cremated remains of 22 others have been evicted from a funeral home. Evicted! That's when you know the real estate market's bad, when you're dead and they still foreclose on you." --Jay Leno

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, Americans drove 15 billion fewer miles in August than they did the year before. To which President Bush said, 'See, that's one of the advantages of not having a job to go to.'" --Jay Leno

Are you all getting ready for Halloween? The good news is, with the economy so bad, people don't have to work as hard to make their houses look scary. The lights are out, the windows are boarded up, the lawns not cut. Everyday is Halloween in America now." --Jay Leno

King Solomon's Mines - Is the Bible a myth or a true historical record?

Treasure hunters have been searching for King Solomon’s mines for over a hundred years. Now at last Archeologists believe they have found one of his mines in modern-day Jordan in an area called Khirbat en-Nahas, which means “ruins of copper” in Arabic. The region was known in the Old Testament as the Kingdom of Edom.

Now the debate will reopen about whether the Old Testament is a myth or a true historical record. It is said that the book of Proverbs and the Book of Ecclesiastes were written by King Solomon, the son of King David. Under his rule, Israel achieved great power and glory, possibly from these vast copper mines.

King Solomon was the third king of Israel and ruled for 40 years between 965BC and 925BC. He was famous for his wisdom, his wealth, and the size of his harem which included 700 wives and 300 concubines. He was also a gifted writer and composed 1005 songs and 3000 proverbs, one of which is still used today – Pride comes before a fall”.

In the middle of 10 hectares, covered in black slag, the site contains 100 buildings and a fortress and can be seen on Google Earth’s satellite images.

The findings are reported in today's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Liverpool Vasectomy

After having their 11th child, a Liverpool couple decided that they'd had enough as the social wouldn't buy them a bigger bed and they weren't strong enough to nick one.

The husband went to his doctor and told him that he and his wife didn't want to have any more children. The doctor told him there was a procedure called a vasectomy that would fix the problem but it was expensive. A less costly alternative was to go home, get a firework, light it, put it in a beer can, then hold the can up to his ear and count to 10.

The Scouser said to the doctor, 'I may not be the smartest guy in the world, but I don't see how putting a firework in a beer can next to my ear is going to help me.' 'Trust me, it will do the job', said the doctor.

So the man went home, lit a banger and put it in a beer can. He held the can up to his ear and began to count: '1, 2, 3, 4, 5,' at which point he paused, placed the beer can between his legs so he could continue counting on his other hand...

This procedure also works in Birmingham, Newcastle, parts of Essex, Cornwall , Sunderland, Wigan, Aberdeen and anywhere in Ireland .

The Gloves

A young man called Ron wanted to buy a Christmas present for his new girlfriend. They hadn't been seeing each other for very long and lived a considerable distance away.

He consulted with his sister and decided after careful consideration,that a pair of good quality gloves would strike the right note, not too romantic and not too personal. Off he went with his sister to Harrods and they selected a dainty pair of fur lined quality leather gloves. His sister bought a pair of knickers for herself at thesame time.

Harrods had a free gift wrap offer but the assistant mixed up the two items, the sister got the gloves and Ron got the knickers.

Ron sent off his gift wrapped present in a parcel with the following letter.

Dear Sasha,

I chose these because I've noticed that you are not wearing any when we go out in the evenings. If it had not been for my sister I would have chosen the long ones with buttons, but she wears shorter ones which are easier to remove.

These are a very delicate shade, but the lady I bought them from showed me the pair she had been wearing for the past three weeks and they were hardly soiled at all. I had her try yours on for me and she looked really smart in them even though they were a little bit tight on her. She also said that they rub against her ring which helps keep it clean. In fact she hasn't needed to wash it since she began wearing them.

When you take them off remember to blow into them a little bit because they will be naturally a little damp from wear.

I hope you will wear them for me on our next date.

All my love, Ron.

P.S. My mum tells me that the lateststyle is to wear them folded down with a little bit of fur showing.

Aboriginal income management is working

Children in the Tanami Desert community of Yuendemu enjoy the town's new pool, built with community donations and government funds. Photo: Glenn Campbell

Peggy Brown, Warlpiri traditional owner, wants the emergency income intervention to continue. “It’s working, no doubt about it, she said.

Jenny Macklin, Indigenous Affairs Minister met with Peggy and Ruby Williams, another Warlpiri woman for private talks yesterday and said they didn’t want any change.

The Warlpiri community is split over the intervention. The men don’t want it because it interferes with their grog consumption and the women swear by it because it puts food on the table. So far the women are winning.

With the help of the Intervention Taskforce head, Major General Dave Chalmers, the women set up the Nguru-Walalja shop which was an instant success, doubling turnover in months. “It’s now the best performing store in the Northern Territory” General Chalmers said. The shop now has 400 people on its books for quarantining and employs up to seven local people.

The Minister said “The division between men and women over income management could not have been sharper, I explained to the men that it was going to continue”.

I like Jenny Macklin. This month she overruled her own intervention review board and rejected a recommendation to make income management voluntary. Go Jenny

Being the boss of one of the toughest jobs in the country, Jenny Macklin’s out there doing it for the women and children of the outback.

Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs

Underwater Birth - Graphic Photography

Not for the faint hearted.

Oxford versus Cambridge

Eight years ago when Laura Spencer was 18, she found herself at the centre of a row after being refused a place at Magdalen College Oxford, despite getting 5 top grades in her A-levels.

Gordon Brown who was Chancellor of the Exchequer at the time got very upset and called Oxford’s decision a ‘scandal’ which started a debate about elitism.

But yesterday Laura, now 26, graduated from Wolfson College, Cambridge with distinction, eight years after being turned down by Oxford, the highest grade possible.

She was offered a £35,000 scholarship to study at Harvard and completed a degree in Biological Sciences and graduated with honours. She returned home four years ago to begin a graduate course in medicine.

Eight years ago she said: 'To be honest, I never disputed my Oxford rejection. I simply got on with life. My position at the centre of the row was difficult.'

And yesterday she said ‘I’m starting work as a doctor now but I don’t want to say anything more than that’.

Clever girl.

Doctor Doom

When an unknown New York University Economics Professor made accurate predictions about the global meltdown over 12 months ago, Nouriel Roubini suddenly finds himself sought after by politicians and businessmen all around the world.

World economists scoffed at Roubini’s predictions that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would collapse and that investment banks would be in serious trouble. They all laughed at him but no one is laughing now.

In London last week, Roubini predicted that hundreds of hedge funds will go under and that stock markets may soon have to close, perhaps for as long as a week to stop panic selling.

Fluent in English, Italian, Hebrew, and Persian, Roubini 49, is single and lives in a loft in Manhattan and insists he’s not a geek.

He was nicknamed Dr Doom at a meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in September 2006 when he told fellow economists of his pessimistic predictions for the world economy.

He told them that a generational crisis was coming, a once-in-a-lifetime housing bust would lay waste to the US economy, and as oil prices soared, consumers would stop shopping and the country would go into a deep recession.

The collapse of the mortgage market would trigger a global meltdown, as trillions of dollars of mortgage-backed securities unravelled. The shockwaves would destroy banks and other big financial institutions such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, America’s largest home loan lenders.

“I think perhaps we will need a stiff drink after that,” the moderator said. Members of the audience laughed. The London Times

So what’s the latest Doctor Doom? He says he can’t see an end in sight.

There's a bear on my roof

A man wakes up one morning in Alaska to find a bear on his roof. So he looks in the Yellow Pages and sure enough there’s an ad for “Bear Removers”. So he calls the number and the bear remover says he’ll be over in 30 minutes.

The bear remover arrives and gets out of his van. He’s got a ladder, a baseball bat, a shotgun and a mean old pit bull.

“What are you going to do?” the home owner asks.

“I’m going to put this ladder up against the roof, then I’m going to go up there and knock the bear off the roof with this baseball bat.

When the bear falls off, the pit bull is trained to grab his testicles in his teeth and not let go. The bear will then be subdued enough for me to put him in the cage in the back of the van.”

He hands the shotgun to the home owner.

“What’s the shotgun for?” he asks.

“If the bear knocks me off the roof, shoot the dog”.

Free Lunch in London

Fleet Street in London looked a bit different yesterday, there was a long queue outside a Mexican restaurant offering complimentary burritos. Many workers in suits and ties took up the free lunch time offer.

The sign said 'Burritos 100 per cent off' and it worked like a charm as customers queued for 30 minutes.

Surely, things aren't that desperate yet, are they?

An Aussie Meat Pie

At 1.30am one morning, Craig Moyle 34, was staggering home from a night out on the drink when he noticed the open door of Billy Mac’s Bakery, 40kms southwest of Brisbane.

Feeling a bit peckish he decided to wander inside and asked for a pie. The bakers were not amused and asked him to leave and as he was walking out Mr Moyle decided to grab a pie.

Moments later he came back, threw the pie and said ‘It tastes like s**t’. He then started running around the kitchen sticking his fingers in all the pies and challenged staff to a fight. At this point one of the bakers whacked him over the head with a rolling pin, knocking him unconscious.

Acting Magistrate Brad Skuse asked Moyle if he was under the influence of alcohol at the time of the offence and he said he couldn’t remember anything about the incident and had since apologised to staff at the bakery.

Magistrate Skuse fined Moyle $300 and ordered him to pay $30 restitution for spoilage of the pies.

You just can’t beat a good Aussie meat pie.

Annorexia

These pictures give us an insight into the frightening world of annorexia.

No sex for Madonna

Would you believe that Madonna and Guy Richie haven’t had sex for 18 months? How can that be you wonder, she’s supposed to be a very sexy bird.

But last weekend a British newspaper suggested that Guy Richie got fed up and has walked away from their marriage. Apparently she spends half the day working out at the gym and afterwards, she’s too tired to make love so near the end, Guy just wouldn’t be there anymore, he’d go to the pub with his mates. He says it’s like cuddling up to a ‘piece of gristle’, she’s lost all her soft bits and replaced them with muscle. Boy, this man knows how to hurt.

After a comment like that, it’s any wonder she’s hired Paul McCartney’s lawyer, Nicholas Mostyn QC, I bet she’ll have his guts for garters.

A Compassionate Crime - Assisted Suicide

If you help someone in Britain to commit suicide there is the possibility you will get a maximum prison sentence of 14 years. But what happens if you take them abroad to another country where assisted suicide is legal, are they safe from prosecution at home?

Daniel James 23, didn’t want to live anymore. Paralysed from the chest down after a football accident, he became suicidal and begged his parents to help him end his life so they took him to Dignitas in Switzerland.

Dignitas is a Swiss assisted suicide (euthanasia) group that helps those with incurable physical and mental illnesses to die with the aid of doctors and nurses. Dignitas helps people with incurable physical illnesses such as cancer or severe disabilities such as quadraplegia to commit suicide. Additionally, they provide euthanasia for people with incurable mental illness, provided that they are of sound judgment and submit an in-depth medical report prepared by a psychiatrist that establishes the patient’s condition as fulfilling the specifications of the Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland. Wikipaedia

Heartbroken, they watched as the son they brought into the world drank a milky barbiturate cocktail and quietly slipped away.

I think it’s about time we stopped being paranoid about this subject and made it legal. I know the legal profession are worried that some greedy people will start knocking off their aged relatives for their inheritance but surely if we follow the Swiss example, common sense will prevail – they seem to have everything covered.

Julie and Mark James have since been questioned by police and a report has been sent to the Crown Prosecution Service. Only time will tell what their fate will be.

When our animals are hurting, we don’t hesitate to end their suffering. How come humans don’t deserve the same consideration?

Kevin Rudd's Rescue Package

Kevin Rudd announced his rescue package yesterday for Australia. Our previous Prime Minister, John Howard and his Treasurer Peter Costello handed the Labor Government a huge surplus when they lost power at the end of last year. Kevin Rudd and his Treasurer Wayne Swan seem loathe to acknowledge any credit to their predecessors for this outstanding achievement and I think it’s really getting up the noses of the opposition.

Here is a brief summary of what he’s going to do.

One-off lump sum of $1000 per child from December 8 for families who qualify for Family Tax Benefit

First home buyers grant doubled to $14000 for an existing home purchased between now and June 2009

First home buyers grant tripled to $21000 for any newly built home purchased between now and 2009

Age pensioners get a single one off lump sum of $1400 from December 8

Wife and widow pensioners also get $1400

Age pensioner couples get a one-off lump sum of $2100 from December 8

Self-funded retirees with a seniors health card get a one-off lump sum of $1400. Couples get $2100.

There are also one-off payments for people on disability pensions, veterans, carers and the list goes on.


The Government is hoping those receiving the extra money will spend it for Christmas which will stimulate the economy and the building industry should also get a boost, because here in Sydney it's almost come to a standstill.

If I were a pensioner on a low income, I’d be sticking it under the bed for a rainy day. But Mr Rudd says that rainy day is here now and that's why he's spending the surplus.

It’s a bit hard to criticize a man with a fist full of dollars, only time will tell if he’s done the right thing.

A British dentist and a wisdom tooth

Art teacher David Baxter from Essex in the UK made an emergency appointment with Dr Tariq Mushtaq because his wisdom tooth was giving him a lot of pain. Dr Mushtaq took an X-ray and gave him three injections. After learning that his patient was $75 short of the final bill, Dr Mushtaq told him his tooth wouldn’t be removed until he had paid for the procedure in full.

Although Mr Baxter gave an assurance that he would be back tomorrow to pay the balance, he was told that no, all procedures must be paid for before treatment. So with a numb face from the forehead down he drove home to retrieve a cash card, returned to the surgery and paid the balance.

But he was kept waiting a further 40 minutes in the waiting room while the dentist was tied up with another patient and the anaesthetic was beginning to wear off.
When he finally go in the chair 'He tapped around a bit and asked if I could feel anything but I couldn't.

'He pulled my tooth out and it broke in half. He had to drill out the rest, when he got to the bottom I hit the ceiling. The pain was awful.

'He said I was being very brave.'

Nice one, Dr Mushtaq

Austrian dungeon monster declared sane

When I first read about this creature Josef Fritzl, I knew what his defense lawyer would say - that he was insane and therefore unaccountable for the terrible crimes he committed against his daughter and her children.

So today I rejoice at the news that a court-appointed psychiatrist has declared him to be sane. He was neither mentally ill, nor could he have been in a permanent state of inebriation for over 24 years.

There is a possibility that his trial could be delayed until next year. It will be interesting to see what punishment the Austrians deem appropriate for this evil man.

The Mousetrap

A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package.

"What food might this contain?" The mouse wondered - he was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.

Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning. "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, "Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it."

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"

The pig sympathized, but said, "I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers."

The mouse turned to the cow and said, "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!"

The cow said, "Wow, Mr. Mouse. I'm sorry for you, but it's no skin off my nose."

So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's mousetrap-- alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house -- like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey. The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer's wife.

The farmer rushed her to the hospital and she returned home with a fever.

Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient.

But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock.
To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig. But the farmer's wife did not get well and she died.

Because so many people came to her funeral, the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them. The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.

So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn't concern you, remember -- when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk.

Morning Poem

I woke early one morning,

The earth lay cool and still

When suddenly a tiny bird

Perched on my window sill,

He sang a song so lovely

So carefree and so gay,

That slowly all my troubles

Began to slip away.

He sang of far off places

Of laughter and of fun,

It seemed his very trilling,

brought up the morning sun.

I stirred beneath the covers

Crept slowly out of bed,

Then gently shut the window

And crushed his bloody head.

I'm not a morning person

Australian Prime Minister backs the banks

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd came across with the goods yesterday. He said his Government would guarantee all savings in banks, credit unions and buildings societies for three years.

He said that not one Australian bank was in trouble, they were the best regulated in the world and he is sure that the guarantee will never be called upon.

He will also guarantee all money banks have borrowed to ensure that overseas banks will continue to lend them money. European leaders were due to meet overnight at a summit in Paris to work out how to help their banks raise capital.

Although we’ve been told over and over that our banks are the best regulated in the world, I heard a woman on the radio yesterday asking a finance expert if she should take her $100,000 term deposit out of our biggest bank, The Commonwealth. It seems the bank guarantee from Mr Rudd came at just the right time.

Icelandic Banks

Iceland, population only 300,000. Someone once said that Iceland should be called Greenland because it's so beautiful and green and Greenland should be called Iceland because it's rather cold and forbidding.

Suddenly Iceland is in the news. Ten Universities, cancer hospitals, Building Societies, charities, local councils and even a Cat Protection Agency are suffering severe angst after having invested in the Icelandic banking system.

The British government says it will not cover the accounts but will provide help to individual municipalities that encounter trouble. Yeah, right.

“There are no councils that will run out of money tomorrow or next week, but these are sizable amounts of money,” a spokesman for the Local Government Association said, insisting he not be identified because of the organization’s policy.

Mr Brown got very cranky the other day, he froze the assets of Icelandic banks in Britain and threatened to use anti-terrorist legislation to take over assets of other Icelandic companies in Britain. Heir H. Haarde, Prime Minister of Iceland said Mr Brown’s comments were ‘disconcerting’. Now there’s an understatement.

“We will honour our obligations, but we need some support from the U.K. authorities to do this in a proper way,” Mr. Haarde said. “Clearly, everyone needs to be a little bit flexible.”

Good luck mate.

Some of the hardest hit British millionaires

Michael Spencer
Business: ICAP, a City of London money broker
Fortune at peak: £895million
Estimated loss: £483million
A friend of Sir Elton John, Spencer collects Jack Vettriano paintings and owns homes in Notting Hill, Suffolk and Manhattan.


Joe Lewis
Business: Investor
Fortune at peak: £2.8billion
Estimated loss: £602million
He loves to play golf for money and has been known to bet £30,000 on a hole. He has 200ft yacht.

Robert Tchenguiz
Business: Investor
Fortune at peak: Unknown
Estimated loss: £1billion
'I love my yacht. I have no intention of selling it. I've lost a lot of money but I'm not in trouble', he says.

Mike Ashley
Business: Sports Direct, sports retailer
Fortune at peak: £1.169billion
Estimated loss: £1billion
Newcastle football club owner Ashley left school at 16 to set up Sports Direct, which now has 400 stores around Britain. He is now trying to sell Newcastle United for £300million.

Lakshmi Mittal and family
Business: Arcelor Mittal, the world's largest steel group
Fortune at peak: £33.24billion
Estimated loss: £21.4billion
He threw his daughter a £34million wedding party at which guests drank 5,000 bottles of champagne and were entertained by Kylie Minogue. His son Aditya said recently: 'Money is a curse.'

Bruno Schroder and family
Business: Schroders, asset management company
Fortune at peak: £1.52billion
Estimated loss: £508million
Schroder ownes a private jet which he uses to fly to his 16,500 acre estate in Islay, Scotland, where he breeds Middle White pigs.

Anil Agarwal
Business: Vedanta Resources, a metals conglomerate
Fortune at peak: £4.29billion
Estimated loss: £2.95billion
'I have to have a Bentley, the best of chauffeurs and butlers. All these add to the confidence' he said. He lives in a £20million house in Mayfair, and has given £500million to found a new university in Orissa, India.

Are you feeling a little sorry for all these people? Not bloody likely!

Cartoon by Daniel Kurtzman

Germans perform first double arm transplant

Karl Merk, a 54 year old German dairy farmer remembers the day of his horrific accident 6 years ago.

'The corn-shredder seemed to be broken and I wanted to check what was wrong,' he said. 'But the machine suddenly started up again as I was looking at it. It was raining that day and I slipped. 'I got one arm stuck in the machine and, as a reflex, I tried to get it out with my other arm and it was all over in five seconds’

When he was found by a co-worker he begged ‘Kill me, please kill me’.

Surgeons at the Munich University Clinic in Germany took 16 hours to graft the donor arms onto Mr Merk’s body.

There was still a risk of rejection but doctors are hopeful he will be able to leave hospital in four to six weeks.

Amidst all the doom and gloomy news, today there is a bright spark of hope because our brilliant medical professionals all over the world continue to perform miracles like this.

Twenty million Britons have stopped going to the pub

A recent survey of 2,427 adults has revealed that twenty million Britons have stopped going to the pub.

They are also changing to cheaper supermarkets, taking a packed lunch to work and cancelling holidays and charity donations.

Price comparison website uSwitch.com spokesperson Anne Robinson who conducted the study said “The global crisis has had an impact on interest rates with fewer good mortage offers on the market than ever before.

'Consumers are also finding it harder to get their next credit or loan as providers lend with extreme caution.

'Consumers must continue to fight back if they are to keep their head above water at what is still a volatile time.'

The Brits not going to the pub? Impossible, I don’t believe it!

Train Analogies

Bones of the First Politician

An archeological team, on the outskirts of London, has uncovered 10,000 year old bones and fossil remains of what is believed to be the first Politician.

The Running of the Sheep at Boorowa

Boorowa is a small country town about 4 hours drives inland from Sydney with a population of about 2200. It's sheep country and every year in October they have a festival called The Running of The Sheep which brings around 15000 visitors, including me.

The festival has an Irish theme because back in the old days, Boorowa had a large Irish population. The story goes that someone said "Have you been to Ireland?" and the answer was "No, but I've been to Boorowa".

They run the sheep down the main street, the sheep dogs in complete control.

Then they have a 'Blessing of the Sheep' by both a Catholic Priest and an Anglican Minister.

It was also interesting to witness a stud ram sale which was held on a farmer's property. There were about 20 young rams for sale at the auction, the best going for $2600, the others sold for around $1200. The farmers were very discreet bidders, one elderly man just kept raising his eyebrows.

The surrounding paddocks were lush and green - there is no drought here at Boorowa.

Then there was the shearing competition. The young shearer in the photo won the novice section, (12 months experience or less) and the older chap with the beard won the $700 overall prize - he had the quickest time and his sheep had the least cuts - points are deducted for any cuts. They get $2.32 per sheep, the average is about $350 per day for around 150 sheep. The gun shearers (fastest) can do up to 400 sheep a day. It's back-breaking work and seasonal.

It was nice to get out of the city and into the country for a change. I was surprised at how friendly country people really are, they actually seem interested in where you come from and hope you are having a good time.

So if you haven't been to this lovely little town not far from Yass, keep the long weekend next October free. Incidentally, the caravan park and the pub are booked out 12 months in advance but the showground has the capacity to take around 100 caravans/motor homes and fifth wheelers.

A great country experience.

St John's Wort as good as Prozac

St John's Wort - the herb of happiness is as good as Prozac so say Scientists.

The study's lead author, Dr Klaus Linde, from the Centre for Complementary Medicine in Munich looked at 29 studies and 5,489 patients with mild to moderately severe depression.

The amazing study has found that the herbal extract from St John’s wort is as effective as anti-depressants and has fewer side effects. The result could see more GP’s prescribing it. In Germany it is commonly given to children and teenagers.

No one knows how it works but some experts guess it probably keeps the chemical serotonin in the brain for longer.

But it seems that St John’s wort products sold in chemists and health food stores vary considerably and some are more effective than others. These results only apply to preparations that have been tested.

The findings were published by the Cochrane Library, which specialises in systematic reviews of research studies.