What The Heck Is An Avish Life?

Anybody know what an avish life is? Strange headline on News.com.au today - The avish life of file-sharing kingpin Kim Dotcom

And their slogan is "Technology - Switched On". I'd say that the spellchecker was switched off. It's not some East Ender speak, innit?

What is an avish life?

When did Tasmanian child abuse constitute business?

OK, so I'm not aware of all types of business that people partake in but just when did Tasmanian child abuse constitute business? A rather strange headline aggregated by Google News into the Business section this morning.

When did Tasmanian child abuse constitute business?

When Does Manslaughter Get Relegated To The Entertainment News?

Looking at the news headlines on Google News yesterday and noticed an article about a manslaughter trial posted underneath the Entertainment News section. Thought that that was a bit weird. But there was a connection - it was Conrad Murray's trial for the death of Michael Jackson.

News of Conrad Murray's trial as he languishes in the Entertainment News

Ironman Nearly Drowns And Google News Considers This To Be Entertainment

It amuses me to see a news story relating to Joe Hockey, shadow treasurer, to be put away in the sports section of Google News. OK, that's just the name confusing the issue. It worries me, slightly, to see a story with the headline "Ironman nearly drowns at Coolangatta Gold" and it is considered to be entertainment. At least it should have been in the sports section, methinks. Are we that interested in blood sports today?

Ironman nearly drowns - is this considered to be entertainment?

Dollards? What Are Dollards?

Thank you Google News for bringing another fabulous headline to our attention. Look out you energy inefficient homeowners as you may lose thousands of dollards.

What the heck are dollards?

And Where Exactly Is Sputh Australia?

Classic headline from Google News this morning. I wonder just where exactly is Sputh Australia?

Where The Bloody Hell is Sputh Australia?

Has Ricky Nixon Had A Sex Change Operation?

Ricky Nixon, no stranger to controversy following the incident with the "St Kilda schoolgirl", has hit the headlines again. Months ago it was alleged that he was having an affair, and using drugs, with a teenager who had had sex with numerous footballers including a couple from Saint Kilda. The allegations tarnished his career as a football player manager, which led to his loss of a player manager licence, and the downfall of his marriage.

The headline, coupled with a photo of a woman, had me wondering - "Has Ricky Nixon had a sex change operation?" Probably not as the woman is none other than Christine Nixon, former Victorian Police Chief. The Google News aggregator has struck again.

Has Ricky Nixon had a sex change operation?

Growth Hormone Should Always Be Used Humanely

Those people against animal testing should also be standing up for the rights of humans. No humans deserve to be a used as guinea pigs. All growth hormones should be tested humanely - see Google News heading below.

Joe Hockey Sporty?

Who, in their right mind, would call Joe Hockey sporty? He's a rather obese character and currently the Liberal Party's shadow treasurer.

It was funny to listen to Don Randall today, a Liberal backbencher, go on about "This is just another one of their, as I said lunatic fringe type ideas. But that's the problem that the Gillard Government's got now, they've got a Green coalition which is dragging them to the left of Australian politics with all these crazy ideas." when he heard about the idea of banks being regulated in the interest rates they can charge especially when the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) changes rates. The idea was that banks be punished, in legislation, if they move their rates up more than what the RBA does. Turns out that this was Joe Hockey's idea. Dumb.

Joe Hockey is considered sport?

What really amused me is that the Google News aggregator thought that this story belonged in both the business and sports sections.

Now he's likely to be a political football. At least for a while. And you don't think that the Labor Party or the Greens will let that go through to the keeper, do you?

If opening your mouth to change feet is considered a sport then I believe Joe Hockey does belong in the sports section.

What The Heck Is This Doing In The Sports News?

I love Google News. It's a fabulous news aggregator. It would be nice to be able to pick a little more than just the Australian news stories as I would like to add a few English Premier League articles. NBA results wouldn't go astray either. But I digress.

I understand that no human involvement, apart from coding the algorithm originally, takes place. Here's how Google News works, according to Google. It basically looks for popular stories and puts them together in a collection.

I read the sports and business sections regularly. Today I was quite surprised to see President Obama as the top sports story. How the heck did that happen? His health care story has nothing to do with sport. I can only think that the big high-five resembles a basketballer's celebration but you'd have to admit that it's a long bow to draw.

What about the third most popular story? Obviously the golf club is sports-related but the article is about an attack with a claw hammer. It took place in the guy's driveway, not a driving range.

Time for the algorithm to be updated, methinks.

What the heck is this doing in the sports news?