BAD IDEA OF THE WEEK: Mad Men

But, it's finally at its mad end, and you can toast said end with a selection of signature drinks from the series and its era (these recipes are from a non-metric source; for you metric people, multiply the number of ounces by 30 to get a near-equivalent in millilitres):

• Vodka gimlet: This is Betty’s signature drink and would most likely have been made with half vodka, half Rose’s West India Sweetened Lime Juice served over ice. When the Cuban missile crisis looms and there’s trouble in her marriage to Don, Betty orders a gimlet at a bar before engaging in a backroom tryst with a stranger.
• Dry martini: The show’s second season picked up in 1962, the year “Dr No” came out informing the world that James Bond drank a vodka — as opposed to the more traditional gin — martini that was shaken and not stirred. A traditional approach is 2 ounces vodka, ⅓ ounce dry vermouth, olive garnish. If you’re serving this over ice, it really doesn’t matter whether you shake or stir.
• Old fashioned: Back then this would have been made with a cheap, blended whisky, possibly Don’s favorite Canadian Club. Start with a sugar cube and a few drops of bitters and muddle in a cherry and orange wedge, adding the whiskey and possibly a lemon wedge garnish. These days, bartenders use a good bourbon or rye and add just a dash of sugar and bitters.
• Bloody mary: These are a leitmotif of “Mad Men,” sometimes served as a morning eye-opener and made by young Sally Draper for her parents, Don and Betty, in Season 2. Sally goes heavy on the vodka, but these drinks normally would have been made much as they are today. A simple approach is 1½ ounces vodka poured over ice in a tall glass, fill with tomato juice, add dashes of Worcestershire and Tabasco sauce, salt and pepper to taste, and a celery stick garnish.
• Bonus cocktail, the bull shot: This hasn’t been featured in the series, it’s the kind of off-menu drink that ad men would order in the ‘60s to boost their street cred. The recipe is simple — a couple ounces each of vodka and Campbell’s Beef Consomme, and a few shots of Tabasco and Worcestershire sauces, served on the rocks.
• And a recipe of mine, the Veintitres de Mayo (which I named after the date I first created it in 2013): 1 ounce each of Kahlua, galleano, amaretto, Bailey's, tequila, and Midori; serve neat and top with whipped cream. Just a word of warning, this one is about 25% ABV (50 proof) so be careful.

Aaaaaaand our golden run is over

Australia won the Cricket World Cup last night after beating New Zealand by 7 wickets. The Black Caps won the toss and batted first, scoring 183 all out. Australia scored 186 for 3 in their innings, denying the Black Caps the Cricket World Cup yet again. But at least they made it to the final, even if it was being played at a less advantageous ground this time round.

Heil Apple!

While the Android vs Apple conflict is one that deserves debate, it seems that one company went too far. Chinese tech firm Leshi TV (LeTV) has posted a print ad promoting its new smartphone that compares Apple to Adolf Hitler. The image was first discovered on LeTV founder Jia Yueting's Weibo page, according to The Verge. The text on the top of the poster compares the attributes of both Android and iOS, stating "Crowdsourced, freedom vs arrogance, tyranny". Below the text is a cartoon version of Hitler wearing a red armband with Apple's logo on it. "Under the arrogant regime of iOS domination that developers around the world love yet hate, we are always carefully asking, 'is this kind of innovation okay?'" Yueting wrote. He then went on to argue that Apple's lack of "freedom" will make it look like a "dusk" (dying) empire, and that Android is the way of the future. Wrong. Apple is the way of the future. Their stuff is better than the rest. If it's not an Apple, it's crapple.

GO BLACK CAPS!

Never have the Black Caps made it to the final of a Cricket World Cup, let alone win. And they worked hard to get there, winning eight consecutive matches in the process - the last of those being the most successful chase in an ODI (adjusted from 282 to 298 via Duckworth-Lewis) and the second-to-last featuring one of the best individual innings in an ODI (Martin Guptill 237 not out against the West Indies). I know the MCG isn't really the Black Caps' idea of a comfort zone (mainly because of its size), but they have won matches on that ground before, and I have faith that they will win another tomorrow. GO BLACK CAPS!

Guess who's back, back again? Coach is back, tell a friend!

You heard right - Craig T. Nelson is getting back in the coaching game for NBC. The network said that it has ordered 13 episodes of a sequel to the 1989-97 ABC sitcom that starred Nelson as Hayden Fox, head coach of a college football team. In the new series, nearly 20 years have passed and Fox has retired from coaching - that’s until he’s called in to serve as assistant coach to his grown son, the new head coach at an Ivy League school in Pennsylvania. Barry Kemp, who created the previous series, will write and serve as executive producer. Details on other casting for the sequel or an air date were not announced, but it'll be worth it when it does air. Let's hope NBC don't screw it up like ABC did in 1994 by using it as a lead-in for an actual football game.

Zayn and Jeremy shift to bottom gear

Well, it’s been quite an afternoon in the world of Celebville, hasn’t it? No sooner was it confirmed that Jeremy Clarkson would not be returning to ‘Top Gear’, than Zayn Malik caused a second wave of hysteria by announcing that he was quitting One Direction. After five years with the boyband, Zayn revealed on Wednesday afternoon that he was stepping down from the group, so he could try and live the life of a “normal 22-year-old”, while the band has confirmed it intends to carry on as a four-piece, without Zayn. It hasn’t escaped our attention that both announcements were made on the same afternoon, and there's now a vacancy on both 'Top Gear' and in One Direction which has got us thinking about whether some class of showbiz job-swap is about to go on right under our noses - but what's on my mind right now is who will be the Black Caps' first ever final opponents. Will it be Australia, who we already beat by 1 wicket earlier in the tournament? Or will it be India, who are also at the top of their pool's table? At time of writing, India have a target of 329 runs to chase and are almost an eighth of the way there.

Guess who's coming to their first ever Cricket World Cup final?

Regardless of the result, one team would be going to their first ever Cricket World Cup final. That team happened to be the Black Caps, who last night overcame a rain delay, loss of seven overs, and an increased target to beat South Africa by 4 wickets. Although South Africa were 281 for 5 in their innings, the Duckworth-Lewis rule came into play and the target was increased from 282 to 298 to account for the fact that the Proteas were playing like they had 50 overs and did not bat as aggressively as if they had known all along they only had 43. It was almost 11pm local time when the Black Caps made 299 for 6. Kinda makes up for the food poisoning incident at the Rugby World Cup final 20 years ago, doesn't it?

BAD IDEA OF THE WEEK: The 2D version

Seriously, don't bother. If you're going to see Insurgent, see it in 3D. Believe me, it is worth the extra few bucks.

Liverpool miss out on fourth place thanks to resurgent Reds outfit

Juan Mata’s brilliant brace handed Manchester United a key victory over Liverpool and a big boost in the race for the top four after this morning's action-packed encounter at Anfield that also saw Steven Gerrard sent off. Mata scored once in each half – his second a jaw-dropping acrobatic effort – to overshadow Daniel Sturridge’s second-half goal in a typically tense United-Liverpool encounter with Simon Mignolet even saving Wayne Rooney's stoppage-time penalty. Louis van Gaal and Brendan Rodgers both kept unchanged teams from their respective wins over Tottenham and Swansea, with Angel Di Maria, returning from suspension, and Gerrard, Liverpool’s outgoing captain, unable to force their way into the starting line-ups. That doesn't matter, nor does the four yellow cards. What matters here is the win. What would really matter is if Man United made it to the top of the table. It can still happen.

Boot Camp ditches 7

If you just bought a brand-new MacBook laptop, and you loathe everything about Windows 8 — but still need to run a Windows operating system on your MacBook for some reason — then we have a bit of bad news for you. According to the latest support page updates from Apple, owners of its newly refreshed MacBook Pro and Macbook Air laptops will be unable to run anything but Windows 8 via their laptops' Boot Camp feature. That means, of course, that you're stuck with Microsoft's divisive user interface for Windows 8 — that split between its touch-friendly, blocky Start Screen and the common Windows desktop you're probably used to by now. And if Windows 8 has drawn just too deep of a line in the sand for you to feel comfortable crossing, you'll just have to wait until Windows 10, which should hopefully work just fine on your new laptop's Boot Camp. But why would any self-respecting Mac user ever run something as horrible as Windows on their computer? If it's not Apple, it's crapple.

Guptill proves too windy for the Windies

Extraordinary. Amazing. Remarkable. A whole thesaurus of adjectives could be rolled out for what a full house of 30,000 witnessed this afternoon at Westpac Stadium in Wellington. New Zealand opener Martin Guptill blasted the second highest ODI innings of 237 not out, pummelling the West Indies bowlers into submission as the Black Caps racked up 393 for 6 batting first in the Cricket World Cup quarterfinal. The target proved insurmountable, as the West Indies only made 250 before losing their final wicket in the 31st over. Because of the 143-run margin, it will be us going to the semis and them going back to their respective islands.

23 flavours, 104 years

A woman who just turned 104 in the US has revealed her secret to having a long life, and it's not what you'd expect. Elizabeth Sullivan of Fort Worth, Texas, told KTVT that she regularly drinks Dr Pepper. That's right, Dr. Pepper. Strange, huh?

Stickers can't keep Austin racist

Stickers that said "exclusively for white people" appeared on the windows of businesses across East Austin yesterday, sparking condemnation and confusion as residents, activists, and at least one lawmaker wrestled with what the statements meant and who placed them there. "Maximum of 5 colored customers / colored BOH staff accepted," some of the stickers read, BOH referring to the "back of house" operations at a restaurant. They also featured a city of Austin logo and claimed to be "sponsored by the City of Austin Contemporary Partition and Restoration Program," though no such program exists. The city has said the use of its logo was unauthorized. City officials also said the businesses did not knowingly display the stickers, which were discovered by employees yesterday morning. No one had publicly claimed responsibility for them as of yesterday afternoon local time. Nevertheless, Rare Trends, a clothing store on East 12th Street that was among at least seven businesses targeted, received numerous angry phone calls and a visit from the Austin NAACP president over the sticker. Whoever's doing this, STOP IT. It's not funny, and it's giving people the wrong idea about the businesses being targeted. Don't put signs like that on people's doors just because you want to bring attention to your plight.

Another club bites the dust

Another club bites the dust
And another club comes and another club comes
And another club bites the dust
Hey - he's gonna get you too
Another club bites the dust

That's right, another soccer team is about to dance with the devil incarnate himself. West Ham’s decision to place ex-Everton scout Tony Henry in charge of their summer recruitment policy has increased speculation that David Moyes will be their new manager, according to the Daily Telegraph. The Hammers co-owners David Sullivan and David Gold have, significantly, opted to appoint Henry to lead their transfer plans instead of Sam Allardyce’s trusted scout Martin Glover. This is the biggest indication yet that Allardyce will not be landing a new deal and it would appear that Moyes is the prime candidate to take the reins. I wish those two would reconsider. He screwed up at Manchester United and he's not doing any better at Real Sociedad. If he takes the job at West Ham, the club runs the risk of being relegated within the next few years. There are much better candidates for the job, like Slaven Bilic, Marcelo Bielsa, Michael Laudrup, and Rafael Benitez. Out of those four, it should be Benitez that West Ham’s owners are trying to lure to the club. In 254 matches managing in the Premier League, the outgoing Napoli manager has a win percentage of 56 and can boast Champions League and FA Cup successes with Liverpool, adding a Europa League trophy to that during his short spell at Chelsea. And with the club set for the big stadium move in 2016, an exciting and high profile manager like Benitez would be just what they need to take them to the next level.

BAD IDEA OF THE WEEK: The Great White Spot

To be honest, there are more black bits than white. But the real problem is the loser who uploaded that filth to 9GAG. Come on (sorry but the badly-timed pun). We don't need to see the dried remains of your pubescent secretions. And besides, there's already a Great White Spot in our solar system. It's on Saturn (the one with the rings).

Clean sheet + three points = successful day on the pitch

Manchester United bounced back from the FA Cup defeat to Arsenal with a one-sided win this morning over Tottenham Hotspur to stay on course for a top-four finish in the Barclays Premier League. The Reds were 3-0 up by half-time at Old Trafford after fine goals by Marouane Fellaini, Michael Carrick, and Wayne Rooney. And although there were no further strikes in the second half (but two yellow cards all up), Louis van Gaal’s men saw out the game comfortably to once again move a point behind third-placed Arsenal in the table. That's good to hear, but there's only nine games left until the end of the season and Man United still have a chance at winning the Premiership. But they need to win at least the next three games (and even more if they are to retain that lead) and hope the teams above them don't score too many points. It can be done. But the question is, will LVG be able to do what the incompetent Moyes couldn't?

USB to get USBetter

One of the most welcome changes in Apple's new 12-inch MacBook laptop may well be the one not mentioned by the tech darling. The new MacBook will finally allow MacBook battery packs and third-party chargers via its new USB-C port - such a change means freedom from Apple's proprietary MagSafe chargers. Earlier MacBooks (including mine) would not charge without the MagSafe chargers, and will sadly continue to need them. But for those upgrading, most accessories supporting the USB Type-C specifications should work with your new MacBook. Apple won’t be doing anything to block any specific types of accessories — in fact, it will even allow external batteries or other Macs to charge the new MacBook. Sources say that any battery solution that meets the USB Power Delivery specifications should work with the new MacBook, though the battery will need to push enough power to actually recharge a laptop - but don't worry if you don't have one, for Apple has its own 29W power adapter that will come with the new MacBook. And for those of you wondering, yes, the USB-C port on the new MacBook will replace all the other power and data ports in earlier MacBooks. But those with legacy equipment need not despair - MacBook users can connect a USB-C multiport adapter to handle whatever accessories they want, including 4k displays. And for those with USB-A equipment, it's just a matter of getting a USB-A to USB-C adapter.

happy30th.com

That's right, the first .com web domain is turning 30 tomorrow. Exactly 30 years ago tomorrow, on 15 March 1985, a computer company in Massachusetts registered the world’s first dot-com domain: Symbolics.com. And with that, the dot-com era officially began. By the end of 1985, Symbolics.com was still one of just a small number of registered domains. Today, of course, there are hundreds of millions of domains floating around the Internet. The domain system is a key foundation of the World Wide Web, which was born in 1991, at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). Sir Tim Berners-Lee was the father of that idea, but it wouldn’t have gone far without a universal address network like the domain system. Click here to see how it all started.

Time for the knockout stages

Third Yogi for 2015 goes to the people who helped with the arrest and conviction of Bassel Saad, a weekend soccer player whose punch killed referee John Bieniewicz during a game last summer at a park in Livonia, Michigan. The incident happened as Saad faced ejection. Bieniewicz died two days later. Saad pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, which carries a maximum of 15 years in prison, although he'll be eligible for parole after serving a minimum sentence set by the judge. But those who helped serve justice on him are smarter than the average lawmen, for they stand to put one more crook behind bars.

Fourth and final Yogi goes to the Black Caps, who are smarter than the average cricket team, not to mention better at the game than anybody else. Over the last four weeks, they have delivered six consecutive victories, and they round off the group stages of the Cricket World Cup with a three-wicket defeat to Bangladesh, who proved to be quite a challenge, scoring 288 for 7. That makes them the only team not to be all out against the Black Caps, who scored 290 for 7 in their innings despite the odds seeming to be against them (required run rate hovered around 7 or 8 runs per over in the later stages) - it took several late boundaries to save them. Let's hope they keep it up in the knockout stages.

HAPPY FIFTH BIRTHDAY TO US!!!!!

Speaking of which, Tuesday was Chuck Norris's 75th birthday. Too bad we had to do that post about those racist frat chants. If you see any of the scumbags responsible for that crap, please hang them from a tree, preferably sooner rather than later.

Moyes's new club not safe from relegation

Around this time each year, we usually present three Yogi Awards for those deemed smarter than the average whatever over the past 12 months. But because tomorrow is our fifth anniversary, we will do it differently this year - present two Yogis today and two more on Friday. The first of today's Yogis will be going to the organisers of Leonard Nimoy's funeral. They were smarter than the average event planners as they had apparently kept the venue from the Westboro Baptist Church, who wanted to picket it for some reason. I don't know if that was deliberate, but if it was, thank you for letting Nimoy's friends and family grieve in peace. We do not need those bellends making the grieving process harder than it needs to be. Second is for the ownership of Manchester United, who back in April, were smarter than the average team owners when they decided that Moyes wasn't delivering and threw the hook on him. Whoever you are, thank you. LVG might not be at the top of the table right now, but he is still a better manager (Reds are in the top four now), and isn't firing blanks like Moyes continues to do at Real Sociedad, who are currently 11th place in La Liga and despite beating Espanyol 1-0 over the weekend, remain just six points clear of the bottom three.

BAD IDEA OF THE WEEK: Racist frat chants

Even with the national chapter shutting the Sigma Alpha Epsilon house at the University of Oklahoma, the school president said the university's affiliation with the fraternity is permanently done as a campus group called for the expulsion of fraternity members. The members had until midnight Central Daylight Time to get their things out of the house, university President David Boren said in a news conference yesterday afternoon. "The house will be closed, and as far as I'm concerned, they won't be back," he said, adding that the university is exploring what actions it can take against individual fraternity members. But what's the college's beef with SAE, I hear you ask? On Saturday, a video showing party-bound fraternity members on a bus chanting a racial epithet found its way anonymously to the school newspaper and a campus organization, which both promptly publicized the nine-second clip. The students on the bus clap and pump their fists as they boisterously chant, "There will never be a n***** SAE. You can hang him from a tree, but he can never sign with me." By Sunday night, SAE's national chapter had suspended the University of Oklahoma members and threatened lifelong suspensions for anyone responsible for the chant, but Boren took it a step further. First, he appeared at a campus rally and told students over a bullhorn, "I have a message for those who have misused their freedom of speech in this way. My message to them is: You're disgraceful. You have violated every principle that this university stands for." Whoever was involved in this crap, you are disgraceful and you're the ones who deserve to be hung from a tree. Stick to hazing like other fraternities.

The truth about MH370 is out

The first comprehensive report into the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has revealed that the battery of the locator beacon for the plane's data recorder had expired more than a year before the jet vanished on March 8, 2014. The report came as Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the hunt for the plane would not end even if the scouring of the current search area off Australia's west coast comes up empty. Apart from the anomaly of the expired battery, the detailed report devoted pages after pages describing the complete normality of the flight, which disappeared while heading from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, setting off aviation's biggest mystery. Families of the 239 people who were on board the plane marked the anniversary of the Boeing 777's disappearance, vowing to never give up on the desperate search for wreckage and answers to what happened to their loved ones. The mysterious circumstances of the plane's disappearance have in many ways overshadowed the grieving process for the families of the victims. The trauma has been compounded by government and corporate bureaucracy and floods of media coverage. Many of those directly impacted by the disappearance of the plane have formed a group called Voice370 to speak on behalf of the families. As a group they refuse to call the victims deceased and have continued to refer to them as "missing passengers." "Despite this complete lack of wreckage found or physical evidence of a catastrophic event, the Malaysian government has officially declared that the airplane crashed, leaving no survivors, and it has ended the rescue phase of the search effort," the group said in a statement issued to the press on Friday. "We do not accept this finding and we will not give up hope until we have definitive proof of what happened to MH370." Here's how I see it: it was sabotage. Somebody working for the airline probably had some grievance and armed with the knowledge of an expired battery in the locator beacon, claimed to have replaced it and from there, it was just a matter of planning for the plane's eventual demise. Unless, of course, ISIS had something to do with it.

It's getting hot in here, 'cos the Black Caps won again

If one thing is clear from today's Cricket World Cup action, it's that America isn't the only nation that's been kicking Afghan butt recently. And to that end, Afghanistan were next in line for a sound defeat at the hands of the Black Caps machine. Despite the relatively high target of 187 runs set after a very good innings from Afghanistan, who made 186 all out during their turn at bat and really made us work for those ten wickets (last wicket didn't fall until the 48th over) and our overall victory, the Black Caps had no problem taking on the target, reaching a final score of 188 for 4. Our last opponents before the knockout stages are Bangladesh, and I'm considering putting some serious money on them getting what's coming to them.

We're five days short of five years

But right now, it's the 25th birthday of conjoined twins Abigail and Brittany Hensel. And Jada Pinkett Smith has announced that she is leaving “Gotham” after its first season. Smith appeared at “Live With Kelly and Michael” and said she won’t be back for the television series’ season two. The actress explained that she signed for a year and she doesn’t think she would be back in Season 2 to reprise her role as the hotheaded nightclub owner. Will Smith’s wife however hinted that there are lots of things coming ahead on Fox superhero drama ‘Gotham.’ For instance, Smith said that her character, gangster Fish Mooney, still has a finale to go after a previous episode where she actually cut her own eye out. Even if Jada is leaving “Gotham,” the show itself, which chronicles the Batman origin story through the eyes of a young Jim Gordon, will be back for Season 2 after earning a full-season revewal in January. But thankfully Two and a Half Men won't be joining it.

Indiana Jones and the Crashed War Plane

Harrison Ford was injured yesterday when his vintage airplane experienced engine trouble and crash-landed on a Venice golf course — an accident that could well spur efforts to close Santa Monica Airport. Ford, an experienced pilot and owner of several aircraft, plowed the yellow-and-silver plane into a fairway at Penmar golf course about 2:25 p.m. Pacific Time, shortly after takeoff. According to air traffic control recordings, he reported an engine failure to the Santa Monica tower and had been cleared to return. Authorities said Ford managed to fly over Penmar, which is on the airport's departure route and provides a swath of open space for pilots to use in emergencies. He was flying solo in a restored Ryan PT-22 Recruit, a sleek two-place monoplane built during World War II to train Army Air Forces pilots. Federal Aviation Administration records show the plane is registered to MG Aviation Inc., a Delaware company. Los Angeles firefighters said Ford, best known for his roles as Han Solo in "Star Wars" and the title character in "Indiana Jones", was conscious when they arrived. He was outside the plane being tended by several bystanders. Paramedics treated Ford at the scene and he remained hospitalized Thursday night. At an afternoon news conference, Assistant Fire Chief Patrick Butler said Ford was alert and had suffered moderate trauma. He is expected to make a full recovery, but shortly after the accident, anti-airport activists and Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin, whose Westside district borders Santa Monica Airport, reiterated their positions that the embattled facility should be shut down. They contend that the airport is unsafe, and that surrounding neighborhoods are affected by noise and air pollution from flight operations. City officials have tried repeatedly to close the facility and to ban certain types of jets, but they have lost in court battles with the FAA. "Really, for me, the first concern has always been the fear of a plane falling out of the sky and landing in someone's home," Bonin said. "That has happened in the past." And those are all problems that could affect any airport - that's why many are situated either away from existing urban areas or on islands or reclaimed land situated just off the shore. It's also why flight paths are kept away from built-up areas. But our real concern here should be for Harrison Ford.

Now let's take our minds off what has been a rough week for the Star Trek community, for Manchester United landed a dramatic victory against Newcastle United yesterday morning thanks to Ashley Young's 89th-minute winner to crucially maintain a position in the Barclays Premier League top four. The Reds had plenty of chances to win the game at St James' Park before Young struck a minute from time, but found Newcastle United goalkeeper Tim Krul, a key member of Louis van Gaal’s Netherlands World Cup squad, in top form. His opposite number David De Gea was also forced into a handful of good saves, none more so than an injury-time block from Papiss Cisse, but the collection of three points could prove huge for United on a night when their fellow top-four rivals all won. Three players were yellow-carded.

Feds about to take on Ferguson

A federal investigation into the police killing of an unarmed, black 18-year-old in Ferguson, Missouri, lays bare what officials contend are racist, profit-driven law enforcement practices in the small St. Louis suburb. While the Department of Justice cleared Officer Darren Wilson of federal civil rights charges in the August death of Michael Brown, it also called for sweeping changes in a city where officers trade racist emails, issue tickets mostly to black drivers that generate millions of dollars in revenue, and routinely use what investigators called excessive force on people stopped for minor or non-existent offenses. Attorney General Eric Holder said that the department "found a community that was deeply polarized; a community where deep distrust and hostility often characterized interactions between police and area residents." Seriously, people, this has to stop. Ferguson must do better not only as a city, but as a state and a country. To that end, there are already signs of improvement. The city, for example, no longer issues failure-to-appear warrants, has eliminated a fee for towing cars, and rescinded warrants for nearly 600 defendants. But more needs to be done, for example, what about having more blacks on the force?

Royal wannabes get royal walloping in court

Australia's High Court has upheld a ruling that a radio station broke the law by airing a hoax call to a hospital which was treating the Duchess of Cambridge for morning sickness. DJs Mel Greig and Michael Christian made international headlines in 2012 when a nurse who fell for their prank later killed herself. The High Court overturned a previous decision which cleared 2Day FM. The station could now be fined or see its licence suspended or revoked. 2Day FM said today's decision "means that there is a serious defect in Australian broadcasting law". Of course there is a defect, the defect being that those two losers were even allowed on the air in the first place. It was bad enough they passed themselves off as the Queen and Prince Philip and caused the nurse who answered the call to kill herself, but the real legal problem is that the station broke the law by not obtaining consent to air the call from either of the hospital staff featured, but then again if they had, it would've meant blowing their cover before the call even made it to air.

BAD IDEA OF THE WEEK: Losing it over a cake

A Napier woman who baked an offensive cake about her former employers has been awarded more than $168,000 in damages following a Facebook breach of privacy and "loss of dignity". During a Human Rights Tribunal hearing last December, former NZ Credit Union Baywide (NZCU) employee Karen Hammond claimed her former bosses breached her privacy when NZCU took a screenshot of the offending cake from her Facebook page and distributed it to recruitment agencies. Ms Hammond left the company in March 2012 and five days later baked the frosty dessert for her workmate, whom she believed had been constructively fired from the company. The fruit and chocolate chunk cake, with "Credit Union Baywide f*** you" and "c***s" in pink icing, was taken to a dinner party of ten friends and an image uploaded to social media. Once NZCU executives obtained a copy of the photo it was distributed to recruitment agencies and Miss Hammond's new employer, Financepoint, with a request she be sacked. Ms Hammond, who represented herself during the hearing, was today awarded $168,070.88 in damages following the release of chairman Roger Haines and tribunal members Wendy Gilchrist and Brian Neeson's decision today. The award is broken down as follows:

• $98,000 for humiliation, loss of dignity, and injury to feelings;
• $38,350 for lost income, this being a pecuniary loss suffered as a result of the interference;
• $15,543.10 for pecuniary loss in the form of legal expenses; and
• $16,177.78 for the loss of a benefit Ms Hammond might reasonably have expected to obtain.

In addition to this staggering financial penalty, the following orders were made:

• Baywide is restrained from continuing or repeating the interference, or from engaging in, or causing or permitting others to engage in, conduct of the same kind.
• Baywide is to send a retraction of an April 12, 2012 email warning about Ms Hammond along with a copy of the decision to Red Consulting Group, Able Personnel, Adecco, and Grow HR.
• Baywide is to request that the email sent by Baywide human resource manger Louise Alexandra and any screenshot of the cake sent by her and any copy be deleted. A report is also to be provided to the Tribunal and to Ms Hammond detailing the steps taken in compliance with this order and the responses received by NZCU Baywide.
• Baywide CEO Gavin Earle is to forward to all members of staff a retraction of his April 13, 2012 email about the dispute along with an apology to Ms Hammond.
• Baywide, in conjunction with the Privacy Commissioner and at its own expense, will also provide training to its management staff in relation to their and the company's obligations under the Privacy Act 1993 in order to ensure they are aware of these obligations.

Although NZCU Baywide were clearly in the wrong here for getting all bent out of shape over a cake, this could also serve as a warning to all to be careful about what you post on social media.

Try solving this

LVG, you've done it again

The Bellend of the Month for February 2015 is Joseph Jesse Aldridge, who killed seven people and then took his own life in a house-to-house shooting rampage in Tyrone, a tiny town in the Missouri Ozarks. Aldridge killed his victims with a .45-calibre handgun on Friday at four homes in the community of about 50 people, many of whom are related to each other, and was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound before dawn in a running pickup on the highway about 30km away. But enough about that because Wayne Rooney’s second-half double this morning was enough to give Manchester United victory over a stubborn Sunderland side, who had ex-Red Wes Brown sent off in a case of mistaken identity. The Reds captain fired home a penalty in the 66th minute at Old Trafford after Radamel Falcao had been brought down in the box by John O’Shea when poised to pull the trigger. Referee Roger East showed a red card to Brown, despite the protests of his fellow former Reds stalwart O’Shea. The other cards were two yellows, but what matters here is the win.