Yet another Hacker News

23 points sumnole 2 hours ago 27 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 57 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.

wiether 49 minutes ago | parent

  > One must apply it like [...] thermal paste.

Instructions unclear!

https://www.technewstoday.com/best-pattern-to-apply-thermal-...

BobbyTables2 33 minutes ago | parent

I’m sure some will try using vegemite as thermal paste…

BashiBazouk 37 minutes ago | parent

Yup, I was in a youth hostel while backpacking down the east coast of Australia and decided to try it. I found if you spread a cracker with a thick layer of butter then a molecular thin layer of vegemite it came quite close to process cheese. Though that was the first and last time I tried the stuff...

kleiba2 1 hour ago | parent

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

esafak 1 hour ago | parent

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

kleiba2 1 hour ago | parent

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

Toynbeeidea 1 hour 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 55 minutes ago | parent

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

somenameforme 1 hour 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 1 hour 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 1 hour 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 1 hour 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 55 minutes ago | parent

Or you know, a multivitamin

n4r9 21 minutes ago | parent

> McKechnie dropped the thiamine issue as “not important,” after lawyers for the prison authorities objected to his evidence.

marky1991 45 minutes ago | parent

What is a 'secular dietary conviction'? Religious restrictions are 'God says it is morally wrong to consume this'. Are you suggesting that australian culture suggests 'it is morally wrong to not eat vegemite'? I don't think that's true.

Because if it's just 'australian people like to eat X, I'm australian, thus it's morally wrong to deny me 'X', I don't see how that's reasonable. It's also a strong australian cultural norm to not be confined to a small cell every day for the rest of your life, but that norm was knowingly taken away as part this inmates' conviction and sentencing. Surely eating vegemite is a much smaller concern compared to the imprisonment.

ghusto 9 minutes ago | parent

Thought about the other way around:

Religion is culture. If you doubt that, go to country X and ask them about god(s) then go to every other country and ask the same. Even if one of them got it right and is following the word of god, it would still mean every other country has got it wrong, and _theirs_ is just culture.

Now, if we bend for one cultural norm, why not another? I'd say it's not that his culture shouldn't be treated like religion, it should! It's just that religion shouldn't be treated specially in the first place.

kotaKat 24 minutes ago | parent

I'm surprised there's no possible options to provide a "secure" Vegemite sandwich or otherwise.

They do make single-serving portions, so I don't see why it couldn't be securely acquired from a supplier and doled out single-packet-by-packet and ensuring they've actually ate the Vegemite?

aunty_helen 1 hour ago | parent

This goes against the vibe of the constitution.

moi2388 1 hour 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 1 hour 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 56 minutes ago | parent

> As a Jew who observed kosher law

> serving a life sentence for murder

Well which is it?

drooopy 53 minutes ago | parent

Vegemite is more like a human rights violation.

ghusto 7 minutes ago | parent

Vegemite? Is that like shit Marmite?