1. When did ‘black eye’ become sexy?
So Glee star Heather Morris (who plays the dance-tastic but not very bright cheerleader Brittany on the show) has featured in a photo shoot from Tyler Shields sporting a massive black eye and being throttled by the cord from an iron. Because domestic violence is so chic, geddit? The photographer introduced the photo shoot by saying ‘even Barbie bruises’. Defending the shoot, Tyler said: “In no way were we promoting domestic violence. We wanted to do a bruised-up Barbie shoot and that’s exactly what we did!” Sure buddy. Late yesterday the photographer said he would auction off one of the prints for a minimum of $100,000 and donate the proceeds to a domestic violence charity because he did not mean for it to be ‘taken that way’. Hmmm. Remember the hairdresser ad from the week in pics last week? Yeah, turns out black eyes are totally in fashion. Bet that makes all the real victims of domestic abuse feel very sexy…
Check out the gallery below.
2. Europe and Australia to consider linking carbon price schemes
Prime Minister Julia Gillard has met with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso to discuss possibly linking the two carbon price schemes. Europe pioneered a collective carbon price mechanism six years ago and Ms Gillard said it would be ‘appropriate’ to put together a Europe-Australia taskforce of senior officials who could look at ways of linking the schemes. This would help offset potential price slugs on Aussie companies operating in Europe, like Qantas, and therefore cost increases to travellers.
3. Disability Support Pensions to be cut for thousands
After signalling the disability reforms recently, the Federal Government has now begun working on ‘impairment tables’ that would dictate a cut off for those deemed well enough to work ‘in some capacity’. But the National Council on Intellectual Disability says the cut-offs, which would force every person with an IQ between 70 and 79 off the pension, are arbitrary. There are currently 815,000 people who receive the pension. A spokeswoman for the Government said: “The government believes we can do better than a lifetime spent on income support for Australians who have some capacity to work.”
4. Retailers ‘bully’ eBay stores to stop selling certain items
The war between ‘bricks and mortar’ retailers and those who choose to sell online just gets nastier. A Senate inquiry into the state of retail in Australia has heard that some of the big stores who sell through shop fronts put the hard word on wholesalers and distributors not to compete with them by selling through online channels like eBay. eBay wouldn’t reveal which big stores it was talking about.
5. Drugs body considering placing ‘untested’ warnings on alternative medicines
The Therapeutic Goods Administration is ‘actively considering’ placing untested warnings on bottles of alternative medicines and herbal remedies because some people think they are viable options for treatment of illnesses. While most of the products are safe, failing to seek conventional medical treatment often was not. There have been four deaths in the past two years because of this and some reactions to some alternative drugs.
6. Amazing photos of animals in the womb
Just because they’re cool. National Geographic’s breathtaking documentary called ‘Extraordinary Animals in the Womb’ features stunning photos taken of animals while they’re still fetuses in the womb. The show’s producer, Peter Chinn, used a combination of three-dimensional ultrasound scans, computer graphics and tiny cameras to capture the process from conception to birth.
7. It’s Pippa Middleton’s 28th birthday … and her bum has its own appreciation day coming up
The Brits still care. Isn’t that nice. So much so that Pip, the Bridesmaid with the winning behind, gets her own ‘ass appreciation day’ on September 9. Remember when they wanted to heritage list Kylie Minogue’s bum? Yeah, they really get obsessed with these kinds of things. In case you are too, there’s a gallery of the admittedly gorgeous Pippa below.
*News brought to you by Rick.
Top Comments
I got two black eyes from an unfortunate stage-diving incident in 1995. Yes folks, women can injure themselves in other ways apart from being hit by men.
That said, using the ironing board etc to make an inextricable connection with DV is deplorable.
My husband was told in 2000 that "you will never work again" due to a laundry list of medical problems the most serious being severe depression. He had worked since the age of 15 and did not want to stop. The process of getting the disabilty pension is awful and soul destroying, the Centrelink doctor who assessed us was bored and showed it. My husband was able to gradually get back into it and is now working more than full time. These people who know people who sit on their couch all day etc, perhaps do not realise that these couch sitters are probably suffering from depression, whether diagnosed or not. Perhaps your friend who is on DP doesn't want to discuss their illness with you to the degree that you are able to decide whether or not they "deserve" the pension. There will always be some who rort the system, but if forced into work , these few make highly disruptive and difficult employees who then contrive to rort the workers comp system.