Young Mother Shot and Killed

23 year old Rachael Myring was shot and killed yesterday, in a murder suicide in a suburban real estate office. The office was also my real estate office. What I didn't know at the time of the incident, and didn't find out until the 6pm news last night, was that I had actually met Rachael Myring once. She was the girl who I signed my current lease with. Even though I only met her the once, she had told me during the course of our short conversation, that her and her partner had just bought a house together. I wasn't aware, though, that she was a mother to a young boy.

From my impression of her, she was a polite girl, full of smiles and genuinely concerned about any gripes I had with the service I had been getting. (The real estate was in the middle of changing hands from one company to another, and I had told her that I hoped the service would get better. It hasn't, but that's not the point.)

Reading the news this morning, I've learned more about the events that took place. The man who killed Rachael and then himself was a tenant who had believed that he had been overcharged in his rent. He was in his 60's, and by all accounts was "a quiet and good neighbour". The shooting was random, in that Rachael wasn't a specific target... she just happened to be the person who was on the desk at the time.

Possibly the saddest part in all of this, as well as the fact that Rachael's murder has left behind a fiance and a young son, was that Rachael was due to move jobs next week. She was getting out of the property management section and moving to finance, "because of who you deal with, to get away from those people", according to one of her colleagues. Even sadder, today (Friday) was her last day in property management.

Feel free to read more details here.

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Now, I know we all live in a crazy world. And, I know I don't live in one of the best suburbs in the world in terms of the population here. (It's apparently one of the worst suburbs to live in, in Brisbane, anyway.) I know real estate offices have a hard job keeping customers happy, what with rising rent and quarterly inspections and such. But what I don't understand in my mind, is how a small dispute over how much rent has been taken out can lead to a murder-suicide. Hasn't anyone heard of TALKING about things? Estate agents are usually supposed to be flexible, and I'm sure if too much rent had been taken out, they could have refunded him, or made other such arrangements. But to kill someone, and then yourself over something like that, is a bit extreme.

I don't know how the other workers in that office are going to deal with this. I don't even know how they are going to face goifng into work today, if at all. I don't even know how Rachael's fiance is going to explain to their little boy that mummy isn't coming home. What I do know, though, is that this incident was senseless, and in a perfect world, it needn't have happened.

But I also know that this world is far from perfect.

(And, as an aside, I now know I never want a job in real estate. That's a crap comment to make, and I'm sort of sorry that I'm making it. But whoever says you don't deal with irate people in a job like that is fooling themselves.)

~Frostilicus~

Holy Folks?!

I stumbled across THESE today, at my local K-Mart. And let me admit I was the first to say out loud "WHAT THE FUCK?" and to pick up my dropped-in-horror jaw. Why was my jaw dropped in horror, I hear you ask. (Or not.) Well, as a non-practising, non-religious person, I was actually offended to see this BLATANTLY obvious attempt to push religion on children.

Now I'm guessing this is some sanitised pseudo-Christian attempt to either a: promote toys that are violence free and teach love and happiness (yeah right, wait until the kids read the bible later), or b: (more likely) a blatant attempt to get more kids in church, by teaching them that "Jesus is COOL!" (ugh.)

I'm not sure whether this was a delivery fuck up, and they misread the delivery notice (which should have gone to some goddamn Christian shop), or whether they actually meant to deliver then to K-Mart. but what I do know, is that people have the right to freedom of religion, and as such, children should not be subjected to this sort of thing. "Play and Pray with us"?! I didn't look into the packaging, but I wouldn't be surprised if each one came with a copy of The Lord's Prayer, or a free bible, or something.

And no doubt, some religious groups are going to be more outraged than I am at this. What the fuck is next? Plush Mohammed?! Plushie Allah in a towel with a free copy of the Koran? (I wonder if the Allah model will come with a gun?) How about Plushie Buddha...or Plushie Ganesha? The mind boggles.

I'm off to buy me a Plushie Satan! Complete with Pitchfork. :P

RIP Momofuku Ando

"Who?" I hear you ask. Well. Might I suggest... 2 minute noodles. Yes, Momofuku Ando was the chairman of the Nissin Food Products Company, the Japanese company that invented 2 minute noodles (or Ramen). He was 96. I think the picture of him is pretty cool... aging hipster in sunnies, about to chow down on his creation.

I nstant Noodle Creator Dies

RIP, Noodle man. You will be missed... but never forgotten! At least not by frugal college types.

Rant Pants #5628: Make Up Your Fucking Mind!

I haven't bothered to rant or even post about this yet, which is sort of strange, being that it's worldwide news and such... But then I've been busy playing The Sims 2 on my housemate's kid's Xbox.

Anyway. A tyrant is now dead. Saddam Hussein, hung from the neck until dead on the 30th of December, 2006. Poor bastard didn't even get to see the new year in. And before any of you go thinking I had sympathy for him, I use the term "poor bastard" as a cynical element. Barely days later, grainy camera-phone footage was available on the internet. This was was the Iraqi Government didn't want you to see. Saddam being taunted by those who were there. Saddam taunting them back, or babbling in Arabic, which ever you choose to believe.. the footage was grainy, and the sound left a lot to be desired also. The most chilling image from that video, is one towards the very end. A grainy, badly lit image of Saddam's face as the life is going out of him, his head jerked to the side as the weight of his body, and indeed gravity, kill this tyrant who killed so many himself.

What makes me want to rant about this, though, is the reaction it has spawned from the global community. Some are saying that justice was served. (The US, predictably...but I would have expected no less from them. Although, I find it ironic that the Americans said they were "unable to interfere in the affairs of other countries" when they were asked to appeal the sentence. Unable to interfere?? Yeah...ok, you keep telling yourself that one, and we'll just remind you of it the next time you go globetrotting to destination X to crack some new skulls.) And then you have all these bleeding heart types, who say that he should not have been executed, and that the death penalty should now be abolished everywhere.

Well. Can I just say "WTF are you smoking?" and you are obviously smoking the WRONG shit there, buddy! Let's do a bit of a case comparison here, shall we?

1: Joe Schmuck from Nowheresville, kills some poor innocent family. Joe gets caught, sent to trial, says he did it, but isn't remorseful for his crimes, gets sentenced to a date with Old Sparky or Nora Needle, and unless it's the immediate family, NO ONE GIVES A FUCK, and he gets executed and no one, NO ONE bats a freakin' eyelid. "Justice" has been served.

2: Saddam Hussein... Tyrant, Despot, Dictator... Pissed off Bush Sr in the 90's, killed a shitload of people, didn't seem to do anything this time except maybe be #2 on the list to finding the REAL culprit of the 9/11 attacks (Remember him? That guy... what's his name... oh, that's right... OSAMA! But you know... GW doesn't care about fnding him anymore.) Anyway. Saddam ruled with an Iron Fist for 20 something years. Then gets deposed. And spends time on the run, and ends up being found in a HOLE, on a farm, looking nothing like his pretty portraits that used to line the streets of Baghdad. They had to SHAVE him to make sure it really was him.

Now. There was outrage when he was photographed in his undies. They said it was inhumane to treat him that way. INHUMANE? Yeah I'm sure the atrocities he committed were completely humane, too. I'm no expert on law, so I'm not going to comment on the legality of the trial and stuff like that... But all I will say is, someone like him would probably try and say ANYTHING to get out of a long drop on a short rope.

No doubt the guy was a dangerous man, and had links to dangerous people. So then WHY, now that he is dead, are people whining about it and saying "abolish the death penalty"? MAKE UP YOUR FUCKING MIND, WORLD! Either you wanted the bastard dead, or you didn't, THAT much is certain. You either supported the guy (if you were most likely an equally minded madman), or thought what the guy did was despicable and atrocious (if you're a "normal" type of person).

The point is, people are executed everyday, we don't often always hear about it, though. It all comes back to doing the crime, and paying the price, be it a life's worth of jail sentence, or being executed. If you are found guilty of a crime in a country, be it your own or a foreign one, then you have to suffer the consequences if you are truly guilty. I said the same thing to people that I talk to about Van Tuong Nguyen, who was hung in Singapore for drug trafficking. The penalty for such a crime there, is death. Same with the Bali Nine. If you're caught for it, and you are guilty, you pay the penance.

So what, people actually feel sorry for Saddam, now? The guy is still a murderer and a tyrant. Are we supposed to feel sorry for him because he was executed? The world isn't going to forget him very easily, especially not those who lived in Iraq under his regime, nor those who's families were directly affected by his actions.

So for anyone that wishes to know my stance on the death penalty:

I am FOR the death penalty, if the crime warrants it. This can relate to crimes of murder, especially the murder and abuse of children. Obviously to sentence someone to death for ripping off their business partner is a bit extreme. But if another life is taken, specifically a young life (NO child deserves to be murdered), then the death penalty should be an option.

Paedophiles deserve to be executed more than just a mere murderer, at least in my book. (As well as the books of most of my friends) Time and time again I hear on the news of paedophiles being released from prison and then (surprise, surprise) re-offending. What is the point of letting these scumbags out? Considering that if they don't re-offend within 6 months, they are hounded by the neighbourhood they are placed in. Paedophiles do NOT deserve freedom. They steal the innocent freedoms of young children forever, so why after so many years, are they then given theirs back?

As Muriel (my mother) always says... "The law is an Ass".

This has been a somewhat sketchy rant, I'm your host, Frostilicus. Good night.

Happy New Year from TFP

For those of you out there in bloggerland that read my humble little blog, I would just like to take the time to wish you all a happy and safe new year.

If you're drinking, make sure they don't get spiked (and keep a secret stash of aspirin for the headache in the morning!), if you're taking drugs, make sure you're taking the right drugs for you, and above all *please* party safely. And please don't drink and drive... I'm sure you're all much too cool to become some of the year's first statistics.

Here's to hoping 2007 brings you all you wish for.

Regards,

~Frostilicus Frost~