|
|
ITV fined £1,600 for cruelty over 'rat risotto'LONDON (AFP) – ITV has been fined £1,670 for cruelty to animals over an episode of "I'm A Celebrity.. " which saw contestants kill and eat a rat, a spokesman said on Monday.
The broadcaster was taken to court by the RSPCA in Australia in December after two of the reality show contestants caught a rat and killed it in a bid to feed their starving team mates.
Celebrity chef Gino D'Acampo and soap star Stuart Manning were both charged with animal cruelty after the stunt in which the creature was served up with rice and beans.
D'Acampo, who went on to win the show, said: "I saw one of these rats running around. I got a knife, I got its throat, I picked it up."
The RSPCA said that killing a rat as part of a TV stunt was "not acceptable".
ITV said it had "apologised for the mistake" and paid a fine of $3,000 Australian -- £1,668.
"The production was unaware that killing a rat could be an offence, criminal or otherwise in New South Wales, and accepts that further enquiries should have been made," the spokesman said.
"This was an oversight and we have since thoroughly reviewed our procedures and are putting in place a comprehensive training programme to ensure that this does not happen in future series."
Contestants who ate the dish apparently enjoyed it with Hollywood legend George Hamilton describing it as "actually quite nice.
"We all said it was like chicken but chickeny-beefy kind of stuff so it was actually very nice. If you kill it you should eat it," the elderly actor said after leaving the show in December. I would just like to point out the incredible hypocrisy that goes into people's choices on what we can and cannot kill and eat. I didn't see this (I don't watch TV much and have no interest in "reality" shows), but I bet you dollars to nails that this rat died faster and easier and for more purpose than the millions of rodents people poison daily. So they get sued for killing it more humanely? Where are the suits against every store that sells D-con? and would they have cared if it was an animal that's "okay" to eat, like a cow? Tell ya what, your average person is a LOT more capable of humanely killing a rat than a cow.
Wed, Feb. 3rd, 2010, 08:21 am
Sony eReader
My PDA being old and starting to fail, and basically used now as a reader, I upgraded to a Sony eReader. For the most part, I'm happy with it. It is, however, giving me fits over 2 things: 1: The software installed on my computer will import and play audio files with no worries. It will, however, NOT transfer them to the reader. I don't particularly care, as I rarely listen to audiobooks anyway, but it torques me off that the adverts say "will import and play audio files" and fail to mention that that's ONLY on the computer. Well, gee, thanks. I can already listen to audio files on the computer, I didn't need yet another media player there. This one is a design/program issue, not a malfunction with my particular reader-it explains this in the user manual. 2: While it uploads PDA and BBeB and plain text files to the reader just duckylike, it will not upload a rich text file. THIS it is supposed to do. So I called customer support today. I shouldn't do these things first off in the morning, as even if I'm perfectly happy and content, my voice sounds gravelly and monotone and therefore cranky, which is always great for the service reps. Nonetheless, that's what I did. After wading through the phone tree (no 800 number, incidentally. That's annoying. This is freaking SONY, they can't afford an 800 number for tech support? Not that it matters to me, since I'm calling from a cellphone with free long distance, but really?) and giving the computer my phone number, I get transferred to a rep. First thing he asks? My phone number. I ask him (cranky, gravelly voice, remember) why I had to give the computer my number if it's not going to give it to him. I can almost hear the "oh god not one of these people" swallow before he answers. But his answer was brilliant. "With all due respect, I wonder that EVERY DAY." I laughed. Unfortunately, when we got to the actual issue, his answer ended up being "it does that sometimes, and we don't know why. Try saving it as plain text instead."
Mon, Feb. 1st, 2010, 09:09 am
Well. I'm quite glad this was my weekend off. Bossdoc got 4 cat euthanasias and 2 broken legs. Jan DC=37
I've started reading this book, by Mayer Allen Brenner. It has apparently been put out under both Catastrophe's Spell and Spell of Catastrophe. It is available for free download from the author's website: http://mayerbrenner.com/download/Since I'm sort of on a reviewing kick lately, I'll just continue on, shall I? About a third of the way in now. The story follows 3 sets of people who have been and/or will be entangled with each other, but currently are doing their own things. Sections switch between groups. Basic world is post-apocalypse? Definitely post-technological. It seems that at some point in the past, the gods showed up, said "No." to any technology beyond blacksmithing and ship building, and replaced tech with magic. Standard fantasy stuff, really, so the attraction of this book is primarily it's light-hearted sense of humor. One of the main characters, for instance, is Maximillian the Vaguely Disreputable. How can you say no to that? There are occasional typos, generally odd ones--substitution of 1 for I, for example. I suspect this is only found in the downloads and is a result of scanning to text, not actually the author's fault. The primary cast are Max and a couple of his friends, one of whom is being held hostage by a moving castle; a nameless (as of yet) private investigator that just got tossed in jail; and a physician/adventurer named Shaa. Shaa is hugely sarcastic and my favorite part of the book so far. A quote for a chuckle, chosen because it's the page I'm on: "Then we can get on with it," Shaa said. "I have some skill with boats." "Boats? But we don't have a boat." "Acquiring the boat is one of my skills."
Sun, Jan. 31st, 2010, 12:58 pm
Avatar
So we went to a matinee showing of Avatar in 3D yesterday. That's the Sci-Fi Avatar, not The Last Airbender. Overall, it was exactly what I thought it would be, and therefore I came away satisfied. Plot was about what you'd expect. Step-by-step rewritten from dozens of other stories you've already read or watched. No twists, nothing at all unpredicted from the beginning. Seriously; you've seen the movie Dances With Wolves? (The movie, not the book, the ending was changed for the movie.) Right? Ok, you know the plot. What? You don't remember Dances With Wolves? Oh, alright. Soldier (Marine, in this case) gets sent to outpost in the middle of nowhere (Planet Pandora). He is assigned to a science crew gathering info and learning about natives and native wildlife. He ends up living with the natives. He predictably "goes native", and points up all the horriblebad about our greedy, planet-stripping, consumerist, self-centered culture in contrast to the Eden-like native culture. Also, he likes the native girl. I told you you know the plot already. So lets get to why you really went to see this flick. It's pretty. It's really pretty. Go ahead and insert here all the trite phrases along the lines of "visually stunning" you can think up in the next 15 seconds. There you go. I was, however, not impressed with the 3-D. My brain already makes things 3-D and it does not process the fake movie 3-D for crap. I ended up watching the movie without the glasses, because it was actually less blurry that way. This does seem to be a fault in my brain, and not the movie, however, as both of the people I went with watched with the glasses. "The 3-D was really understated," says Bruce. This does mean that 3-D has progressed to the point that you can view it without the glasses though, unlike earlier movies where the dual images were just flat un-watchable. I had a slight headache at the end of the film, but that's pretty much par for the course for me with any theater movie, because of the insane volume levels, so I'm not blaming that on the 3-D. My one complaint? What nerd-boy decided it was necessary to give the fighter-mechs giant Bowie knives? I mean, really? Obviously, the only purpose for this decision was so that you can have the mech-knife-fight scene, it serves absolutely no other function. So. Go see it, but go knowing that you're seeing it for the pretty, not the plot. Oh, and ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) endotoxin, you're not the only one with some stomach heaves from vertigo. There was a woman trying to vomit quietly in the restroom afterward. No, the woman wasn't me.
Yesterday we met a lovely couple who called just after 8 and talked to Bossdoc about a dog that was whelping. He told them that if she hadn't had a pup by 9, we needed to see the dog. (Seems pretty straightforward to me, and I heard him say it--he wasn't waffling.) They showed up at 2:30 pm because there were still no pups. Then declined to have the dog spayed during section, despite Dr S telling them that the problem is the extremely narrow pelvis that won't allow pups to pass, and therefore the dog will NEVER be a good breeding prospect. So I ended up sectioning her, because Dr S had to go cut a bunch of bull calves. How the FUCK does someone decide that 6 1/2 hours is better to wait than 1 hour when the doctor gives you a specific time limit? I totally fail to understand how people have so little sympathy for birthing gone wrong, especially since the owner was a WOMAN. Would SHE have waited most of the day in labor at home before deciding to go to her doctor? And why take the risk of another litter, and another c-section? Spay the dog at the same time! It takes all of 5 - 10 minutes extra surgery time since I'm already in there, which means the spay costs about $50 over what the section is already costing. Instead, the choose having to come back later, put the dog through another anesthetic and surgery, and pay three times as much. I do not get it. So here's hoping they get off their (very fat) butts and get that dog spayed before she gets pregnant again.
Tue, Jan. 19th, 2010, 09:15 pm
Feed my reader!
Reading material! Where do you lovely folks go for download-able books? The places I know of are: Gutenberg Project, of course. Baen has a lovely Free Library with lots of stuff (though limited author selection) Palm.com occasionally has free stuff Mobileread.com has some goodies What am I missing?
and I'll say it again. Cinnamon roll icing is the way to go for topping waffles. YUM!
Fri, Jan. 8th, 2010, 10:26 am
Screwy year
Last year threw my death/day stats all off. January 36/31 = 1.2 February 33/23 = 1.2 March 26/31 = 0.8 April 27/30 = 0.9 May 32/31 = 1.03 June lost data July 23/31 = 0.74 Aug 36 or 53/31 = 1.2 or 1.7 September 33/30 = 1.1 October 30/31 = 0.97 November 31/30 = 1.03 December 26/31 = 0.84 So February, usually the month I dread, was matched or beaten out in death/day by several months this year. August was particularly craptastic, even if you count all the birds from one flock as one incident instead of 18 separate. July did hold it's own though, about the only time frame that was as expected.
If you are too damn stupid to tell your child to wash his hands after playing with the snakes, and your child's damn caretaker is too fucking stupid to wash HER hands after cleaning up the sick child, then you bloody deserve salmenellosis. Don't sue the damn zoo for your own fucking stupidity you stupid fucking fucks. This public message brought to you today by 3 nights straight of very little and less than entirely good sleep, and a cranky/tired/hungry draggon. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-snake-suit-31dec31,0,3797568.story
A pony that I didn't make, but received for Christmas! This is Peace Frog, made by the lovely and talented kresentia:    I adore her!
Sat, Dec. 26th, 2009, 07:18 pm
More pony-age!
I made this girl by request as a raffle prize (toys for tots raffle). Twice-As-Fancy Starrby: (Her scarf is herring-bone braided embroidery floss)   
"So you're saying that in this case, the polite thing to do is to fuck you in the a$$?"
Mon, Dec. 21st, 2009, 10:19 am
I refrained.
Marvel at my restraint. I did NOT say "What did you expect us to use? Pre-school toys?" when a client observed "That looks just like real dental equipment."
|