Last night we rocked along to another Lotus User Group meeting in Sydney to hear the news from the latest IBMers to travel across the void and enjoy the sunshine in the beautiful southern hemisphere.
Archive for October of 2006
User Group - Sydney Style
tim rynne - October 27, 2006I said do you speak-a my language - he just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich...
tim rynne - October 23, 2006
before being bundled into a small van by the SWAT team from the USFDA...
Seriously, is it April 1st or something?
Laurette has drawn attention to a rather bizarre banning of the soul food of Australia, Vegemite within the USA. Vegemite is owned by the 2nd largest food and beverage company in the world Kraft - the largest being Nestle.
For the apparent reason that Vegemite contains folate (which can only be added to breads and cereals in the US), Vegemite has faced the wrath of the USFDA and has been the subject of border searches of Australian citizens in the USA. Let's get something straight - folate isn't a bad thing - in fact the USFDA encourages it for future and current mothers to help prevent birth defects. There are some issues and controversies surrounding it as well, however surely this can be addressed with a "Contains Folate" sticker...
It's possibly the end of the Australian traveller taking their Vegemite with them wherever they go as a fallback meal... most Aussies I met when I've been travelling around the world have seen the sights of the world with a familiar yellow and red labelled friend by their side.
I can see it now - being stopped at the US/Canadian border, and on sight of my Australian passport, being asked to step out of the vehicle to receive a severe "questioning" in a back room as to the whereabouts of any Vegemite on my person. After a 10 minute roasting and toasting (mmm... Vegemite toasting), I gingerly step back into the vehicle only to overhear the comments from the car next to me
...
(between mouthfuls of a double-cheese burger on sugar rich bread with extra cheese, cheese fries and cheesy onion rings, and between sips of high sugar, high caffeine Big Gulp 72 ounce cola)
"No sir - no pesky vegemite, but I do have a couple of pistols, a shotgun, and an AK-47 here in the back of my pickup truck"
...
"Ok then sir.. we're just looking out for your health and safety - carry on"
Seriously, is it April 1st or something?
Laurette has drawn attention to a rather bizarre banning of the soul food of Australia, Vegemite within the USA. Vegemite is owned by the 2nd largest food and beverage company in the world Kraft - the largest being Nestle.
"it's hard to see what's so scary about Vegemite that would cause it to be banned."
What the...? - USA bans Vegemite - laurette rynne
For the apparent reason that Vegemite contains folate (which can only be added to breads and cereals in the US), Vegemite has faced the wrath of the USFDA and has been the subject of border searches of Australian citizens in the USA. Let's get something straight - folate isn't a bad thing - in fact the USFDA encourages it for future and current mothers to help prevent birth defects. There are some issues and controversies surrounding it as well, however surely this can be addressed with a "Contains Folate" sticker...
It's possibly the end of the Australian traveller taking their Vegemite with them wherever they go as a fallback meal... most Aussies I met when I've been travelling around the world have seen the sights of the world with a familiar yellow and red labelled friend by their side.
I can see it now - being stopped at the US/Canadian border, and on sight of my Australian passport, being asked to step out of the vehicle to receive a severe "questioning" in a back room as to the whereabouts of any Vegemite on my person. After a 10 minute roasting and toasting (mmm... Vegemite toasting), I gingerly step back into the vehicle only to overhear the comments from the car next to me
...
(between mouthfuls of a double-cheese burger on sugar rich bread with extra cheese, cheese fries and cheesy onion rings, and between sips of high sugar, high caffeine Big Gulp 72 ounce cola)
"No sir - no pesky vegemite, but I do have a couple of pistols, a shotgun, and an AK-47 here in the back of my pickup truck"
...
"Ok then sir.. we're just looking out for your health and safety - carry on"
internet-less for our third week...
tim rynne - October 20, 2006
quick update...
Laurette and I are entering our third week without internet access from home - we still get it at work but I don't like to do anything blog-related from the work environment...
I attempted to move over to ADSL2, and since then (over 2 weeks ago), we haven't had internet access at all...
it's a little freaky... there are signs, but I don't think we're completely addicted or suffering too badly from withdrawal symptoms, but there are times that we miss our little know-it-all friend (eg when we see someone in a tv show that we recognise but can't place.. ahh.. how I miss imdb).
Deep down I know that when we get it hooked back up, there will be a big sigh of relief, followed by about 5 minutes of browsing just to make sure the internet is still out there, and then I'll probably get bored with it until I get a chance to read my rss feeds.
Anyway... just thought I'd take 5 minutes to drop an update out there as we're supposed to be getting back into things and have then gone quiet...
baby update - entering Week 29 - bought a cot last night, now I have to put it together and into the spare room without breaking into cold sweats at the thought of it actually becoming a "nursery"... and despite calls from some of the Lotus people out there, I don't think we're going to be naming her Dominique!
Laurette and I are entering our third week without internet access from home - we still get it at work but I don't like to do anything blog-related from the work environment...
I attempted to move over to ADSL2, and since then (over 2 weeks ago), we haven't had internet access at all...
it's a little freaky... there are signs, but I don't think we're completely addicted or suffering too badly from withdrawal symptoms, but there are times that we miss our little know-it-all friend (eg when we see someone in a tv show that we recognise but can't place.. ahh.. how I miss imdb).
Deep down I know that when we get it hooked back up, there will be a big sigh of relief, followed by about 5 minutes of browsing just to make sure the internet is still out there, and then I'll probably get bored with it until I get a chance to read my rss feeds.
Anyway... just thought I'd take 5 minutes to drop an update out there as we're supposed to be getting back into things and have then gone quiet...
baby update - entering Week 29 - bought a cot last night, now I have to put it together and into the spare room without breaking into cold sweats at the thought of it actually becoming a "nursery"... and despite calls from some of the Lotus people out there, I don't think we're going to be naming her Dominique!