Can't sleep? Enjoy Internet factoids

The Internet: your ultimate tool to procrastination. For some reason it's eerily comforting to be able to spend hours googling the subject of sleep deprivation while experiencing it in real time.

According to research the Nazis apaprently carried out during WWII, a human being will die at around the 11th day with absolutely no sleep.

Subject : Life Expectancy with TSD (Total Sleep Deprivation)
Puppy Dog : 96 hrs
Human : 264 hrs
Rhinoceros : 153 hrs
Sheep : 340 hrs
Army Ant : 24 hrs

Now there's a challenge for all the masochistic insomniacs out there... my record of TSD hours clocked up is approximately 52 hours. Try and beat it. Get Red Bull to sponsor you.

Watching George and Mildred on UKTV. Haven't seen this show for over ten years, but I still have a vague recollection of the episode! - George is locked out of the house wearing nothing but his bathrobe.

What's the secret?...

Merlin made a mockery of the whole Big Brother concept last night when he gave away the show's big secret, but come on, I picked it from the start!...



Live television goes wrong = riveting viewing. Seriously.

Watching Gretel try to keep the audience from rioting while simulataneously listening to the producer's instructions in her earpiece and plugging the sponsor's "gifts" was classic. And Merlin's act of silence was much more interesting than the stock standard "I had such a wonderful experience in the house, we were all great friends but just the pressure of the situation blah blah blah blah".

Why shouldn't we free the refugees, they may not be "real Australians", but surely they deserve the opportunity to win $1,000 from Mike Goldman by solving some inane word puzzle too?

Listening to: The backing rhythm of The Fugee's "Ready or Not", aka Enya's "Bodicea", over and over in my head thanks to the fact that it's been ripped off yet again by some RnB "hit" that's played every 20 minutes on commercial radio.

I'm chewin' it!

Ever bitten into a Big Mac and thought to yourself, "this burger just isn't chewy enough"?

No? Well odds are you just wouldn't cut it as a marketing executive at a Japanese corporation...


Don't tell dad, I replaced his beef patties with fake dog poo!

From news.com.au: IN A bid to boost sales and overcome fears of mad cow disease, McDonald's unveiled its latest product in Japan today - a beefed up burger with a chewy bun.

The McGrand made its debut at an outlet in a posh shopping complex in central Tokyo, ahead of a nationwide launch at 3,800 other stores.

"We are hoping this hamburger will attract first-timers or others who haven't visited our stores for some time," McDonald's Japan CEO and President Eikoh Harada said.

The McGrand, priced at ¥315 ($4) for a single patty and ¥399 ($5) for a double, features a larger 80 gram beef patty, lettuce and melting cheese in specially developed chewy buns.

But despite the new bun, the McGrand tastes similar to McDonald's other burgers.

This might be where the cultural divide comes into play, but as far as I know, a chewy burger is either a toy for a dog or something you'd find in one of those crappy "gag magic" showbags you buy at the Show.

Oh well, McDonald's Japan's limited time products can't all be this bizarre... Fish McNuggets with wasabi sauce, anyone?

Sipping Ocean Spray cranberry and strawberry juice. An acquired taste with a guaranteed blood sugar rush.

There's a bear in there, and some dykes as well...

So the Australian political world is up in arms because the ABC's Play School aired a segment where a little girl goes to the fairground with her "two mums".

The conservatives argue that this blatant representation of homosexual relationships in a children's program is political stunt which children shouldn't be caught up in.

With all the fuss, you'd think the segment had involved a little girl going to the fair with her single dad and his pre-operative transsexual girlfriend from Mexico.

I can't see anything wrong with it, kids are going to see gay couples in the streets, so why not on television? The reference wasn't explicitly sexual in nature, any more than saying "I went to the fair with my mum and dad" would be a reference to heterosexuality. But a family with two mums obviously doesn't fit Johnny Howard's good old fashioned 1950s values. Step into line or expect some budget cuts, Aunty!

Remember, lesbian mums pay their seven cents a day too...

Watching BB Up Late - crew member of the week Leon is reading a housemate-themed limerick a la Belvedere on GMA.

Best Fanta knock-off ever

New from the Qibla Cola Company, a soft drink manufacturer riding the anti-American backlash in the Middle East comes Qibla Fanta(...er, )sy.


Don't submit to unobtainable images: choose our lame imitations!

Check out the product blurb from their website:

A bright and sparkly orange carbonated drink.

Shattering the myth that belief is blind, we introduce Qibla Fantasy.

Despite an environment in which we have an opportunity to choose, that choice is guided, directed and cajoled into accepting blind values, with unobtainable images.

These restrictions must be replaced with conviction in your ideas, certainty in faith, and an assurance of decision.

Qibla Fantasy is an orange infusion, for those exercising their intellects in leading the crowd rather than following it. Don’t believe the hype, believe your taste.

Available in 2 litre, 500ml sizes and 330ml cans.

Okay, so that's the political ideology and product portion sizing covered, but more importantly, does it come in Grape?


Coming soon to a store near you: Fanta, Coke and Sprite's ethically guilt-free cousins!

Drinking a warm mug of skim milk.