Friday, July 17, 2009

Friday Fuckwits


TGIF . . it's ben a l-o-n-g week but I've realised that being time poor is beneficial for household organisation. Just seen the news about the bombing of the Ritz and Marriot in Jackarta after four incident free years, the ratbags are at it again but Friday Fuckwit is about levity and silliness so here's three that captured my attention.

Shock treatment for web addicts banned in China
A Chinese hospital has been ordered to stop using electric shock therapy to cure internet addiction. The Linyi Fourth People's Hospital drew international attention for using electric shock therapy to treat young people addicted to internet use. (Phew glad they were young).

Now China's Health Ministry has ordered the hospital to stop the practice. The reason given was that its safety was not guaranteed. The Beijing News has quoted Yang Shuyun, a hospital official, as saying that the practice had already stopped, following intense media pressure.

After an article in the China Youth Daily revealed the program, the hospital was inundated with media requests to observe the therapy but its administrators preferred to keep the procedure largely secret.


Novel published one tweet at a time
Frankly I find Twitter very slow from the computer and since I don't have an iPhone, I rarely venture there but one Fuckwit has decided to clog up the channel in a novel way . . .

Twitter is a popular micro-blogging service. An American writer who failed to find a publisher for his novel is putting the book on Twitter - 140 characters at a time.

Matt Stewart, a San Francisco-based novelist, began "tweeting" his first book, The French Revolution, on the micro-blogging service on Tuesday (local time). "As far as I can tell, I'm the first person to release a completed full-length literary novel on Twitter," Stewart wrote on his website.

Stewart says putting the book on Twitter is a "social experiment" to "see how the world reacts to a long-form tale told in snippets." He also acknowledges that he has been unable to find a publisher. (There you go you wannabe writers! Give the man a run for his money!) "My agent submitted The French Revolution to all the major publishing houses," Stewart said.
"Many of them loved it, but none were willing to buy what they viewed as a 'risky' novel - vivid language, elements of fantasy and farce, raunchy humour," he said. (It's probably a dog).
Stewart says it will take approximately 3,700 "tweets" to transmit all of the 480,000 characters in his book.

Overheard at the Office this afternoon
And finally to a client wanting to build a massive mansion on a 500sq metre block on one of the Landcom developments, lodged an appeal to break the caveat because his plans were rejected as being way outside the normal contractual conditions.

The man, formerly from Bosnia, claimed that he needed an enormous house because he suffered from claustrophobia and post traumatic stress syndrome and couldn’t possibly live in a smaller home with his large family. Nice try Luka! But no cevapi . . .

Well the clouds are threatening but I've got the washing on anyway. If it stays dry, big garden tidy and one bedroom renovation on the cards! Have a wonderful weekend!

24 comments:

Kate said...

Do they really have to attend hospital for the treatment - why not get them to plug their fingers into the socket - surely that would have the same mind numbing effect? I don't know - young people today....

I gave up with twitter ages ago - I find it strange and a bit boring - so a novel? No thanks.

Large houses take more cleaning I can testify to that - thats why I bought my bungalow!!!

Enjoy your weekend Baino!!

Brian Miller said...

shock therapy for internet addiction - i better not let T read this...

twitter book - sounds like a great way to lose followers. wonder if its any good?

have a great weekend!

Kath Lockett said...

I'd rather suck bird turds - one tweet at a time - than read a failed novel via Twitter!

Enjoy your weekend - am sat on the couch, surfing with the laptop as Love Chunks switches between the Ashes and the AFL. We're warm, contented and life's good (esp seeing as ECT isn't used her for 40+ year old internet addicts!)

Anonymous said...

Baino, "the reason given is that its safety was not guaranteed"; we're talking willingly allowing one-self to be electrocuted. It's a bloomin' rhetorical statement( have we time-warped back to the 1890's? ) Of course they can't guarantee safety! Then again, I'm surprised they haven't invented a drug, for this condition( hmmmm.... )

Twitter? No use for it, sorry...

And I could never understand why anyone needs such a house. I could do well in a small caravan or estate, if I had too( and I have )...excessive...

nick said...

Well, you can't have the Chinese population getting addicted to the internet, it might slow down that precious 8 per cent economic growth rate that's so important for er....er....something or other.

Candie said...

LMAO!!!So funny!All 3!Did that guy really ask that?HA!Can't believe it!Have a nice weekend too Baino!

Ces Adorio said...

HAHAHAH! Where do you get these stories Bains? Shock Therapy, works for just about everything! A book online and cannot find a publisher because it's probably a poorly written book. Duh! His own words: "farce", there you go! Have a great weekend dear!

Adam Bainbridge said...

characters at a time....omfg. there is desperate, then theres desperation.... seriously if its that bad u have to publish 140 characters at a time, maybe its not worth publiching. ppl willl get to 1500 characters and go-- you know what?, the publisher made a good call....this is shit! --

adam bainbridge said...

having said that. i just spelt publishing publiching. s maybe i should just shutup HA!

Grannymar said...

If I wrote a book it would be one tweet long!

Enjoy your weekend Baino.

Bimbimbie said...

Tsup*!* Do you suppose the Chinese could do something about that twits ego - he sounds like an ideal candidate for a big shock*!*

laughingwolf said...

i like bimbimbie's idea ;) lol

Melissa said...

Where do you find these, Baino!! :D Twitter books, eh? Maybe KJ and I should give it a go? :) Have a great weekend!!

Mike said...

Twitter is so boring to me! I hope no one needs to shock me to get me to stop blogging!

Jefferson Davis said...

Hmm...A Novel on Twitter? That's a novel idea. :)

Have a great weekend, Baino.

River said...

Washing on the line, clouds threatening? Keep note of the temperature. If you feel a sudden chill in the air, it's likely rain will soon follow, so get the washing in and finish it off in the dryer.
Twitter is a colossal waste of time.

Megan said...

Nice ones, Baino! Always a fabulously funny start to the weekend, these posts.

Hope the rain stays away.

kj said...

i.
don't.
see.
much.
value.
in.
twitter.
myself.
i.
could.
write.
a.
book.
in.
this.
format.
and.
it.
would.
just.
be.
two.
words:
thank.
you.

:)

Unknown said...

Electric shock for healing? Weird.

xxx said...

there's not enough Fridays for all the fuckwits :)

have a great weekend.
we're still hunting for a home :(

x Ribbon

jay said...

Sorry, but that confirms my regrettable prejudices where China is concerned. I have seen no evidence that they (as a nation) have much compassion for people or animals, but just want to save face.

Nothing against individual Chinese people, but I don't understand the culture at all. :(

Twitter a book? Yikes ... but why?

California Girl said...

the shock treatment thing...that's real? I mean, really real? That's friggin' insane.

The tweeting author is quirky but, hey, he got you to write about him. You know what they say, any publicity is better than no publicity.

Snowbrush said...

Interesting that China is coming to care about public opinion.

Do you mean you call them "cookies" in Australia? I had thought they would be "biscuits."

i beati said...

I thought I was the only one who finds twittering so laborious !!