Hervey Bay Gossip

Cadbury in the UK certainly seems to think so - especially after finding that at the end of 2005 they had an over-abundance of chocolate after a computer glitch resulted in a production rate that far exceeded the market’s ability to consume the product.

Yeah that’s right … when things go wrong blame the computer guy

The ABC is reporting that a new study has identified several areas on the east coast of Australia that would be suitable for the construction of a nuclear power plant. Included in those areas are “the Sunshine Coast and other areas in Queensland”.

Watch out folks - vested interests want to build one and the PR push is just getting under way.

You can read the ABC’s report here

There is no doubt that people who use Apple computers are passionate about them - but sometimes you can go too far.

Die-hard Apple fans camp out on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue for two days in anticipation of opening of new flagship store.

You can read the full story here

If that’s normal behaviour then I must be insane - if I have to wait more than 10 minutes to buy a new computer then I lose interest almost immediately.

You’ll probably come out of this one smelling like roses because you took the unprecedented step of taking a phone call from the grieving widow but it seems as though someone is telling porkies about the death of that brave digger.

Why is it so important that we not be told the truth about his death Johnnie?

And don’t try the Wheat Board defence this time - you know what really happened over there and we want to know too. Our sons and daughters, husbands and wives deserve much better than to die because of your grubby little schemes.

Our diggers are worth more than a handful of wheat Johnnie and that’s why they’re over there isn’t it?

How would you feel if your house was badly damaged in a tropical cyclone and the local council then gave you just 90 days to have it repaired?

Well if you lived in Babinda and your house was damaged during Cyclone Larry then you are probably feeling more than a little shocked after opening the letter from Cairns City Council that demanded that you not only repair your home within 90 days but you have it rebuilt to 2006 building standards.

That’s right folks, Cairns City Council is so understanding that it sent letters out to all the home owners in its area that had houses damaged in the cyclone and threatened them with fines if they did not get their houses repaired within 90 days.

The big-hearted Cairns City Council agreed not to enforce the fines after several home owners sought legal advice.

Wow - so much for giving a person a fair go in Cairns.

Back on March 18 the Hervey Bay Gossip reported on a story that appeared in the Brisbane Courier-Mail on shared cellular memories. This is something that seems to be affecting some recipients of organ transplants but is it real or just imagined.

The Gossip decided to turn our specia l projects writer loose on the topic and here is Cellular Memories, his brief overview of what is a very interesting phenomena.

While must university students headed south for the annual Spring Break one student from Nebraska decided to to some reasearch for a magazine article on shopping.

So he went down to his local Wal Mart store - one that happens to be 24 hours a day - and spent the next 41 hours in the shop. He even ate in the shop - at the in-store Subway.

He had planned on staying a week but after 41 hours he began hallucinating so he went home.

41 hours in a department store? I get twitchy after 41 minutes.

You can read the full story here

Ok, so the Poms didn’t like out latest tourism advertisement and the Canadians had a problem with an ad that showed unbranded beer but Amercians have just taken the criticism of our latest ad to a whole new level. And sadly it shows just how narrow their view of the world really is.

The American Family Association (who look like a bunch of intolerant religious nut cases with too much time on their hands) feel that, according to their director of special projects:

“I just feel pretty sure the typical American family who is watching TV with their children and they’re exposed to this ad are going to be upset”

It’s a shocking phrase because we’re not familiar with it.

“I guess they use it all the time in Australia, but it’s a foreign language here so I think it’ll have a negative impact rather than positive.”

And for that reason they want to boycott our country.

Who would want intolerant and bigotted people like that here anyway?

You will find the full story in The Courier-Mail here

It’s the stuff of fantasy and something that you would never consider possible but three Queensland organ recipients are finding that they’re sharing memories with their donors.

The Courier Mail is carrying the story today of Queensland’s first heart and lung transplant recipient who now cries when he sees an Elvis movie. His donor was a fan of Elvis and a collector of Elvis memorabilia.

Then there is the 60 year old woman who was a red meat eater and loved Mercedes sedans. She became a vegetarian with a craving for chocolate and sports cars. Another Queensland recipient suddenly found that he had to get up in the middle of the night to write poetry.

While some medical professionals are beginning to accept the possibility that transplant donors and recipients are sharing memories others are far more sceptical.

You can read the full story here

There’s often an air of mystery and intrigue whenever the CIA is mentioned. Books dealing with the CIA are regularly published with large lumps of text excised or blacked out. Sometimes there’s so much missing that it would be easy to think that perhaps the text was never there to begin with.

But of course we accept that the US government has removed the text to protect CIA operatives and CIA procedures but it seems that the CIA - just like the FBI - is a little bit behind the times when it comes to the Information Technology Super Highway.

While the rest of us are zooming along searching for information these guys are still trying to find the on-ramp and so a recent investigation by the Chicago Tribune must have come as a rather nasty surprise.

The paper reports that, with the aid of the Internet and by using quite legal search sites and methods they were able to find the names of covert CIA operatives, internal telephone numbers, the location of 24 CIA installations and the registration and markings of a number of CIA planes used in transporting terror suspects.

Next thing someone will find that the CIA uses Hotmail for all of its email needs.

I’ve always said that any department or branch of the government that used the word ‘intelligence’ in its name was really flirting with a contradiction in terms.