Yet another Hacker News

19 points sumnole 1 hour ago 19 comments

npc99 1 hour ago | parent

When I first heard about the case, I assumed prisoner was suing because he was being forced to accept toast with vegemite already on it or something, but turns out it was the opposite lol

Tade0 1 hour ago | parent

Was going to say the same. I acquired a taste for it, but you really have to spread it thinly.

Also the jar lid can and will get stuck on dried Vegemite, so at the same time you have to open it frequently, so as to prevent that.

alexjplant 5 minutes ago | parent

Two slices of bread in the toaster oven. Throw some sharp cheddar on one of them halfway through. Spread a thin layer of *mite on the other. Delicious. I threw some carmelized onions on there one time too and it was even better.

The *mite hate comes from people trying to spread it like Nutella because they think brown = chocolate. One must apply it like sunscreen or thermal paste. My last jar of Vegemite similarly glued itself irretrievably shut towards the end even with a quarter of its contents left. I treated it as a metaphor for existence and discarded it with spiritual indifference.

kleiba2 1 hour ago | parent

> Vegemite is typically considered an acquired taste at best by those who weren’t raised on it.

esafak 55 minutes ago | parent

That's cause you're on Team Marmite instead, eh? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marmite

kleiba2 53 minutes ago | parent

Haha, no, my +1 was not because I agree with the statement, I just appreciated the wording.

Toynbeeidea 42 minutes ago | parent

I prefer Marmite for its consistency. Marmite is sticky and goopy, Vegemite is kinda waxy.

I've never set foot in either Europe or Australia, but I liked both Marmite and Vegemite the first time I tried them.

ChrisRR 4 minutes ago | parent

Marmite would also be banned if it's because it throws off the sniffer dogs

somenameforme 54 minutes ago | parent

I loved it the first time I had it. On the other hand I also loved durian the first time I had it too.

comrade1234 1 hour ago | parent

From the article it's not clear if the problem with the drug-sniffing dogs is false-positives or false-negatives. So don't start hiding your drugs in vegemite just yet.

mrkeen 53 minutes ago | parent

  The judge upheld prison authorities’ argument that McKechnie had failed to provide any proper foundations for his opinion that Vegemite does not interfere with drug sniffer dogs.

What is the null-hypothesis, who is making a claim, who has the burden of proof?

zulux 35 minutes ago | parent

As a religious person, I find this ruling troubling.

We bend over backward for religious dietary restrictions.

Why not sincerely held secular dietary restrictions and convictions? I also suspect the ruling would have been deliberated more if this wasn't an Australian inmate requesting Australian foods.

BeetleB 16 minutes ago | parent

He claims this is actually due to religion. He needs the nutrition, and the only alternative is pork, which he can't eat due to his religion.

ChrisRR 4 minutes ago | parent

Or you know, a multivitamin

aunty_helen 28 minutes ago | parent

This goes against the vibe of the constitution.

moi2388 17 minutes ago | parent

“ Vegemite had been banned throughout the state’s 12 prisons for the past 20 years because it could potentially impair sniffer dogs’ ability to detect narcotics and could be used to brew alcohol because of its yeast content”

Well yes, but you can brew alcohol out of almost anything.

Also, everything “potentially” impairs sniffers dogs ability. Including attention. The question is, does it actually?

brettermeier 9 minutes ago | parent

I recently saw in a documentation, that jam was banned from german prison(s?) because you can use it for making alcohol. So might not be the first product which got banned because of this.

ChrisRR 5 minutes ago | parent

> As a Jew who observed kosher law

> serving a life sentence for murder

Well which is it?

drooopy 2 minutes ago | parent

Vegemite is more like a human rights violation.