Our society deplores racism, homophobia and all similar evils. This is why to me, the ongoing, un-argued, and totally accepted existence of strip clubs is utterly mad. Places in which women stand on tables, or stages and take of their clothes while men watch? I cannot believe no move has been made against these places, and that normal, rational people condone their existence.

After all, we claim to be a society that does not exploit women. Let’s take a look at history – from time immemorial, women have been exploited. Through disenfranchisement, subjugation, forced marriage, or by being objectified, or burnt at the stake for witchcraft – shall I go on?  Being a women throughout history has never been conducive to a peaceful or prosperous life. Yet strip clubs persist.

What is a strip club other than an ‘entertainment’ version of misogyny and sexism? You can tell it is indeed sexism as these places are full of women wearing little to nothing, with ludicrously high, tacky heels. These decisions are made by men. This is what men want to see. This is the male fantasy. No strong woman in ‘control of her destiny’ would ever choose to appear like this in public. So let’s be honest here, strong, in control women do not work at strip clubs. End of story.

You hear these ludicrous tales, of strippers saying how they’re putting themselves through medical school by stripping, making it sound virtuous, empowering, in control. But think about it, if woman are having to strip to put themselves through varsity, and their male counterparts are not, surely this is indicative of an enormous social problem.

Is anyone seriously suggesting, that these sort of places could indeed be called charitable educational institutions that allow women access to higher education? Presumably the same higher education that men can receive without having to strip off their clothes, and by doing so their dignity?

Look at the past and how women have been objectified, then tell me it is alright to turn that objectivity into a form of light entertainment for men.

If you still think its ok, I want you to imagine a scenario, whereby a white man starts a cleaning company, or car wash, where the only employees are blacks, who are decked out like slaves in rags and manacles, and made to act subservient, and grovelling to the clientele. Given the history of slavery, and the past subjugation of women, is this scenario ANY more reasonable and any more acceptable?

In the beginning of the year, the news was full of headlines about a pet chimpanzee called Travis who had brutally attacked a woman. For his trouble he was hit with a shovel, stabbed repeatedly, and finally shot. The unfortunate lady who was attacked appeared on Oprah this week, and spoke about her ordeal. The pictures of her were truly shocking and appalling. She lost most of her face – lips, nose, eyes and her fingers were chewed off.

One element of the whole story that has been largely ignored, is to me, perhaps the most significant one. Exotic animals should not be taken away from their mothers at a young age, and sold to people who have a very limited understanding of their needs. Apparently Travis appeared in several adverts when he was a baby, and as he got older was kept as an adult ‘pet’.

When chimps get older, they become far too aggressive for their owners to manage. Their strength is unbelievable. Often owners discover too late how aggressive and strong they really are. This poor woman learned too late, and unfortunately both she and Travis paid the price. The chimps owner should, in my opinion be liable. She had no business keeping a wild animal caged up, he belonged in the wild.

1. You go to a store and the cashier accidentally gives you more change than you were supposed to receive. Do you hand it back and tell the cashier she gave you too much?
   
   Absolutely, its an honest mistake, and taking money that doesn't belong to you is theft. Its mean spirited to expect the cashier, who earns a pittance to have to pay in the money.
    

2. You come home from shopping and you find an item that you havent paid for amongst your parcels. Do you go back to the store and tell them they forgot to charge you?
   
   Depends how far away the store is.
    

3. You draw money from the bank, ATM or Counter, and you accidentally receive more money than you asked for? Only you know there is more money. (this is based on a true story)
   
   Yes, give the money back. Once again, it doesn't belong to you.
    

4. Your significant other is out of town. Hotty MacHotness says He/She is available for no strings attached tryst. Yay or Nay and why?
   
   Depends on the arrangement I have with my SO. Behind their back? Definitely not.
    

5. Would you commit murder?
   
   In self defence, or defence of someone I love, absolutely.
    

6. Your worst enemy is being wrongfully accused. Your knowledge could help them, do you offer your help or do you sell tickets to the execution?
   
   You help them. To not help, would exhibit such pettiness and spite.
    

7. You are about to write the hardest exam in your life, pass it and you will have the keys to the Executive bathroom. Someone offers you the answer sheet.
   
   Turn it down. Chances are, if you cannot pass the exam on your own, you'd be ill-equipped to handle the position, and would be found incompetent eventually.
    

8. You loaned an amount of money to a friend but they continually duck you. Times passes and he or she avoids you, what do you do?
   
   Let it go. Money isn't that important.
    

9. You caught someone out with a lie. And you feel the fool. What do you do?
   
   Depends on the lie and the consequences of the lie. If its just feeling a fool, you'll get over it, if the consequences are more serious, confront them.
    

10. Your SO cheats on your and confesses. Do you want to know details?
    
    No, what for?
     

11. Would you check your SO's phone/email/or Facebook page to see who they were communicating with. (You know who you are.)
    
    No way, thats so infantile. If you have no trust, the relationship is not worth being in.
     

12. Your boss underpays you. Is it ok to use the phone/internet/take home stationery as compensation?
    
    No, if you want a raise, ask for one. Why stay in a position in which you feel you are undervalued. Thats your fault.
     

13. You have had a few drinks and even Margaret with the thin moustache is looking take homeworthy. Do you drive home?
    
    Depends how many drinks, and how far away from home. A few glasses of wine, and just around the corner, yes. A bottle or two of wine, and a long drive, no.
     

14. You break up with someone, do you give their stuff back to them?
    
    Their stuff, yes. Stuff they've given me, no.
     

15. Your best friend breaks up with their SO. Months later you and former SO meet up, you click, there is an opportunity to get together, do you? Or is bros before hos? And if yes, do you tell best friend?
    
    If you want to go there, clear it with your friend before you do anything. If they give the green light, go for it. If they are horrified and upset, leave it.

1.  What was the last thing you put in your mouth?

A water bottle

2.  Where was your profile picture taken?

Dubrovnik, Croatia

3.  Can you play Guitar Hero?

Would rather watch paint dry

4.  Name someone who made you laugh today?

Woks, Fudge my cat

5.  How late did you stay up last night and why?

About 21h00, was tired from my run

6.  If you could move somewhere else, would you?

Moscow or San Francisco

7.  Ever been kissed under fireworks?

Yeah

8.  Which of your friends lives closest to you?

My sister – our houses join on the one side

9.  Do you believe ex's can be friends?

Absolutely. If you spent time with someone, and loved them once, why on earth would you want to excise them from your life just because you broke up? That whole idea just smacks of emotional immaturity. Its different if they tried to kill you, or beat you to a pulp, but on the whole, I’ve never understood holding onto animosity where exes are concerned.

10.  How do you feel about Dr. Pepper?

Don’t touch fizzy soft drinks

11.  When was the last time you cried real hard?

When my dad died in January

12.  Who took your profile picture?

A very cute guy I met in Croatia. He died in a car accident a month ago.

13.  Who was the last person you took a picture of?

Vicky at her birthday drinks a few weeks ago

14.  Was yesterday better than today?

About the same – all good

15.  Can you live a day without TV?

Haven’t watched in about 2 years

16.  Are you upset about anything?

Yes. Not going to elaborate.

17.  Do you think relationships are ever really worth it?

There are lots of kinds of relationships. I think we learn something from all of them, so I’d have to say yes.

18.  Are you a bad influence?

I can be, but I can also be the voice of reason

19.  Night out or night in?

Both – a healthy mix

20. What items could you not go without during the day?

Water, cellphone, friends

21.  Who was the last person you visited in the hospital?

My dad

22.  What does the last text message in your Inbox say?

Don’t know, I left my phone at home today!!

23.  How do you feel about your life right now?

I love my life. It has ups and downs but I am incredibly blessed. I have a wonderful life.

24.  Do you hate anyone?

People that I could hate, I wouldn’t, as I’d be giving them energy they don’t deserve. I’m indifferent to a few people.

25.  If we were to look in your facebook inbox, what would we find?

Invitations to parties, messages from old friends……

26.  Say you were given a drug test right now, would you pass?

Yes

27.  Has anyone ever called you perfect before?

Yes, didn’t take them too long to realise the error of their ways though J

28.  What song is stuck in your head?

Johnny Cash – Walk the Line

29.  Someone knocks on your door at 2:00am, who do you want it to be?

Dr McDreamy

30.  Wanna have grandkids by the time your 50?

I don’t like kids.

31.  Name something you have to do tomorrow?

Take my sister and family to the airport at crack of dawn.

32.  Do you think too much or too little?

I don’t think you can think too much.

33.  Do you smile a lot?

All the time.

34.  Do you think that the people you are tagging are going to answer with the truth?

Not tagging anyone.

Madonna has been denied the right to adopt a second child from poverty stricken Malawi.

The media as well as several loud-mouthed do-gooders around the world have been making a big hoo haa about the legal process etc, and saying how Madonna's previous adoption of David Banda also skirted the legalities of the Malawian adoption system.

Surely, what should be considered here, is the good of the child? Is a child really better off in a poor orphanage, with few amenities, no education or basic healthcare?

People really need to get over themselves. I think its disgusting that a child has been denied such a wonderful opportunity, all due to a few sour and miserable trouble makers. Lets face it, the country is incapable of taking care of its orphans and should welcome any opportunity to give a better life to one of them.

I'm not a huge Madonna fan. I think her practices strange, and her morals questionable, but this is beside the point. They are making an example of this for what exactly? What are they trying to prove?

Today, a notorious computer worm dubbed Conficker, that has previously infected millions of computers worldwide, is expected to do something bad, though no is quite sure what exactly.

What will actually happen today, is anyone’s guess. Even the real intent of the malware authors is not known, but we do know they have consistently bettered the worm, adding new functionality and anti-debugging properties with each variant.

Fears abound about a slew of infected machines being ordered to launch a coordinated attack or send out a flood of spam. Previous analysis of the Conficker worm has revealed that infected machines will "phone home" today to receive a new set of instructions.

At present, the worm can be detected by the individual scanning of machines, but as you can imagine, this is time consuming process. The worm can also be detected by watching for outgoing communications sent across a network, although Conficker was designed to lie low until today. .

For those who were around in the late 90s, Conficker reminds us of a time when worms such as Blaster and Sasser  caused chaos on the Internet by infecting one computer after the other no user action needed. Both these worms were far more virulent than Conficker.

Conficker reared its ugly head late last year, slithering in through a security flaw in Microsoft’s Windows OS. The software giant provided an emergency fix for the vulnerability in October, but too many systems were not patched or properly secured, allowing the worm to infect up to 12 million PCs.

Since the original, several variants have birthed, one is supposed to activate today, starting an assault on Windows machines. Infected computers become part of an army of compromised PCs and could possibly be used to attack Web sites, distribute
spam, host phishing Web sites or other nefarious activities.

:)

ITWeb is currently looking for junior journalists to join its online team. Ideal candidates would have a basic knowledge of technology, excellent spelling and grammar, as well as the ability to work underpressure to deadlines.

Anyone interested can mail me on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The past week has just not been a good cat week for me.

I don't know if its just me, but I find old Noeleen the most annoying woman in the world.