Tourism Board under fire for using the word "bloody" in an international campaign.

I remember the day I found out "turd" wasn't really a swear word.

I remember my South African chemistry teacher telling us how he yelled at one of his first Australian students for saying "screwed". It is apparently up there with the eff word where he was from.

I remember saying "G'Day" to the desk clerk at the youth hostel we stayed at in San Francisco without even thinking about it and getting a strange (not overly friendly) look.

I remember saying "G'Day" to a primary school kid near the last day of my school life. The child replied in a very posh voice "do you always speak this way?" I replied that I do and she said something like "it's a habit I suppose" and wandered off. If she was hit by a bus the next day I wouldn't have cried. I hope the ambo said g'day to her.

It's just language. I probably wouldn't have even noticed the word (bloody) if I'd seen the (stupid bloody) ad. Bloody hell!

Note that the actual quote from the advert is "where the bloody hell are you?". I like how no-one cares that they're saying "hell".

Bart Simpson once said, "Hell hell hell! I sure as hell can't talk About hell without saying hell, can I?"

I can see it now, "Junior! We're not in Australia anymore, stop saying bloody!"

Days...

No Coffee: 1 for 3
Don't pay to read the paper: 3 for 3
Don't buy a drink with lunch: 2 for 3

SOLD.

Panasonic NV-HD670

6-head HiFi VHS VCR. Supports PAL and NTSC (playback and record). Jog shuttle. Editing features. Has played around 100-200 tapes. Almost never used to record. Has worked perfectly since purchase in Feb 1999 (from JB-HiFi). Comes with box and manual.

See manual.

$100 ono.

Drop off in Melbourne only. Will not post.

No, not really. They're going to discourage it though [Slushdot]. Retailers will have to prove any device (including cars) over five years old follows modern safety standards before they sell it. Europe has similar "don't sell old stuff" laws to try to phase out toxic chemcials in products, such as lead.

Their heart is in the right place.

The laws are for retail only. Individuals can still sell their old minidisc recorders on eBay.

However, it brings up a few fears. Some fear the laws could be used to get rid of any old device that doesn't respect DVD Regions, or DRM on CDs, or macrovision on VHS. I can easily see in five years time how difficult it will be to find a minidisc player that works.

I wonder what laws could be brought in to force a company that sells a storage technology to continue to provide a way to convert that format for a reasonable time in the future?