Michaelangelica Posted November 26, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 26, 2008 Some OZ scienceStudents turn gas guzzlers greenTuesday, 25 November 2008ScienceNetwork WA By Shasta Calvo The zero pollution, zero carbon emission Renewable Energy Vehicle is a greener form of transport, and costs as little as $1.40/100km to run. Students from the University of Western Australia have converted a standard economy car into an electric Renewable Energy Vehicle (REV), with plans to convert a high performance race vehicle in the near future. Students turn gas guzzlers green*(ScienceAlert) Bacteria find could stop meningitisTuesday, 25 November 2008University of Western Australia The discovery has helped researchers understand how the meningitis bacteria infect cells. Work by a researcher at The University of Western Australia that could lead to the prevention of infections such as meningitis and bacteremia has been published in the November issue of the prestigious Journal of Biological Chemistry. Bacteria find could stop meningitis*(ScienceAlert) Ocean power reaching a fork in the roadTuesday, 25 November 2008By Tom Deniss At some point in the future, all energy consumed on the earth will be derived from renewable sources. The timeframe for this fundamental move from fossil to sustainable fuels is debatable, but the end result is not. It will occur for two reasons, one being environmental concerns and the effort to counteract climate change. The second reason is more unavoidable – simply put, the rate of use of the world’s fossil fuel resource outstrips its replenishment by a factor of millions. The life expectancy of oil is estimated to be decades. For coal, it is a few centuries. Reserves of coal, oil, and gas will simply run out. Many alternatives to fossil fuels exist, and. . .Ocean power reaching a fork in the road*(ScienceAlert)Mystery of Universe's missing hydrogenTuesday, 25 November 2008University of New South Wales Australian astronomers have found that the building block for life, hydrogen, is missing from the distant reaches of the Universe. Something vital is missing in the far distant reaches of the Universe: hydrogen - the raw material for stars, planets and possible life. The discovery of its apparent absence by a team of Australian astronomers is puzzling because hydrogen gas is the most common constituent of normal matter in the Universe. Mystery of Universe's missing hydrogen*(ScienceAlert)nternet will soon be faster, greenerWednesday, 26 November 2008University of Sydney The new chip could provide internet that's not only faster, but better for the environment too. Cheaper, more proven materials that already exist will allow unlimited bandwidth within the next five years, according to Dr David Moss, from the University's School of Physics. http://www.sciencealert.com.au/news/20082611-18493-2.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michaelangelica Posted November 28, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2008 You have to listen to this great interview on 'Late Night Live' form Tasmania with Australian author Richard FlanaganRichard Flanagan - Late Night Live - 27 November 2008ABC Radio National - Late Night Live - Home Latest Programs Thursday 27 November 2008 Listen Now - 27112008 | Download Audio (24.9 MB) - 27112008 Richard Flanagan listen | download (24.8MB) Acclaimed Tasmanian author Richard Flanagan discusses his new novel Wanting, along with his experience of co-writing the film script for Australia and the strange nature of the writer's life, in a conversation recorded at Hobart's historic Theatre Royal. ABC Radio National - Late Night Live - Home -- Michael "What could possibly go wrong?!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michaelangelica Posted November 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 29, 2008 Interesting interview with a delightful Australian (Taswegian?) writer. The Co-writer of the now movie "Australia" by Baz LomanRichard Flanagan listen now | download audio Acclaimed Tasmanian author Richard Flanagan discusses his new novel Wanting, along with his experience of co-writing the film script for Australia and the strange nature of the writer's life, in a conversation recorded at Hobart's historic Theatre Royal.Richard Flanagan - Late Night Live - 27 November 2008 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michaelangelica Posted November 30, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 30, 2008 One for the word smiths The following are results from an OZ-words Competition where entrants were asked to take an Australian word, alter it by one letter only, and supply a witty definition. Clearly, you need to be an Aussie to understand. Billabonk: To make passionate love beside a waterhole Bludgie: A partner who doesn't work, but is kept as a pet Dodgeridoo: A fake indigenous artefact Fair drinkum: Good-quality Aussie wine Flatypus: A cat that has been run over by a vehicle Mateshit: All your flat mate's belongings, lying strewn around the floor Shagman: An unemployed male, roaming the Australian bush in search of sexual activity Yabble: The unintelligible language of Australian freshwater crustaceans Bushwanker: A pretentious drongo, who reckons he's above average when it comes to handling himself in the scrub Crackie-daks: 'hipster' tracksuit pants. And for the Kiwi's amongst us: Shornbag: A particularly attractive naked sheep. Anybody seen the movie Australia yet?A young friend (just sailing though her PhD in minimum time- how do they do that?) says the only way for an Australian to see the movie is with a bottle of Bundy Rum, Tequila and/or vodka and take a swig every time someone says "Crikey!"Anyone seen it yet? I don't know about this but the links work so it must be true?http://blogs.crikey.com.au/firstblog/2008/11/30/80-wombats-die-after-beaching-themselves-to-protest-whale-cull/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flying Binghi Posted December 4, 2008 Report Share Posted December 4, 2008 Where the money ultimately comes from to pay for all those Australian government funded jobs - Coal burns bright for trade balance | theage.com.au methinks there are some government (over) funded AGW believers who have missed this little detail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buffy Posted December 5, 2008 Report Share Posted December 5, 2008 So what's the scoop on this Nicole Kidman-Hugh Jackman-Baz Luhrmann blockbuster "Australia"? Bear any relationship to reality? Or just an exercise in overwrought cinematic excess? You mates and sheilas enjoy it? (It opened there before it opened here, and I'm trying to decide whether to go see it before it disappears in the current tidal wave of really, really, really bad reviews....I have a weakness for romantic epics....) We have some of the most extraordinary landscape on the planet and we want to get two of the most extraordinary actors in the world and put them ... in that landscape, Buffy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michaelangelica Posted December 5, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 5, 2008 So what's the scoop on this Nicole Kidman-Hugh Jackman-Baz Luhrmann blockbuster "Australia"? Bear any relationship to reality? Or just an exercise in overwrought cinematic excess? You mates and sheilas enjoy it? (It opened there before it opened here, and I'm trying to decide whether to go see it before it disappears in the current tidal wave of really, really, really bad reviews....I have a weakness for romantic epics....) We have some of the most extraordinary landscape on the planet and we want to get two of the most extraordinary actors in the world and put them ... in that landscape, :)BuffyBoth Margaret and David gave it 3 & 1/2 stars which means it is certainly worth watching, above average but maybe not great. 4 stars is a MUST see, 5 is almost unheard of.SeeAt the Movies: AustraliaAt the Movies: Australia InterviewAt the Movies: reviewAt the Movies - ABC TVSee also my post on Richard Flannigan the Co-writer of the movie. Luhman has an amazing "eye" he has staged some amazing iconoclastic Opera productions I think.A friend said to take a bottle of rum to gulp every time they said "Crikey" (an almost unheard of cringe- word in Oz.- apart from the Australia Zoo's use of it) Re: AustraliaWhere the money ultimately comes from to pay for all those Australian government funded jobs - Coal burns bright for trade balance | theage.com.auYes that is good news for the economy.I note the NSW government has wapped a new tax on it - and the line-up of coal ships is still over 50 miles long from Newcastle Port. Some infrastructure spending would not go astray. Newcastle is looking especially prosperous these days, even more so if they get the second NSW international airport.No-one can complain about the noise. I was there one day when three hoons in F1-11's took off simultaneously, at full bore-absolutely deafening. We (or BHP) also have about half (?) the world's uranium too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michaelangelica Posted December 6, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 6, 2008 For some strange reason I get the USA "Drug War Chronicle - DRCNet <[email protected]>(I'm Irish "It's FREE!") It always has a case of police corruption in it. To me the whole war seems pointless - too much money involved to corrupt everybody Anyway we now have a recent Oz casualty-The Victorian State Police.Funny, the Commissioner just retired. Victorian police drug scandal - Google Search Secret police files leaked to alleged crime bosses Victoria: another day, another cop scandal - Local News - News - General - The Canberra Times Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooloola Posted December 6, 2008 Report Share Posted December 6, 2008 Michaelangelica - (replying to first page of this thread, sorry bit behind....) -'Indigenous Australians' ? nah mate it's Kooris or Murries depending what part of Oz. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flying Binghi Posted December 6, 2008 Report Share Posted December 6, 2008 While we're on Oz war history - William Edward Sing DCM (1886 - 19 May 1943) was an Australian soldier of World War I, and distinguished sniper during the Gallipoli Campaign Sing was born in Clermont, Queensland, in 1886, of Anglo-Chinese ancestry, to John Sing (of Shanghai, China) and Mary Anne Sing (née Pugh) (of Stratford, England). Billy Sing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooloola Posted December 6, 2008 Report Share Posted December 6, 2008 As I mentioned in my previous post I've only cottoned onto this thread in recent times, being new to hypoghraphy as is....but hey what a great thread and as Leunig says there are leftists to be found spooning porridge in dementia wards... I ought to know... i work in a dementia ward and hey that's where we be found... reading that post I was in stitches.....numerous posts about the weather around the country... at present the skies have been broiling for the last 4 hours and now the heavens have finally opened (Cooloola area inland from Fraser Island).As for the movie Australia... Buffy asks...I loved it. What I loved was the silence at the end just before the credits rolled when a few notes rolled onto the screen about the stolen generation, then about the new Government in 2008 apologising to the stolen generation and the stillness in that audience as they read those notes. For the last decade (more) I have felt great sorrow for the governments stance on the stolen generation (denial, blame) and when our new Prime ministers first act of parliament was to apologise I felt a cathartic release for all the pain we have experienced...if he achieves nothing else I will be happy...Baz Lurman has paid homage to that apology as well as give us a damn good love story. As for the bombing of Darwin, about time that story was told. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooloola Posted December 6, 2008 Report Share Posted December 6, 2008 Thanks F.Binghi for that info on Billy Sing. I went to a slide show in Brisbane in the early 90's and it showed the photos of William Yang, a Chinese Australian who was the biographer/photographer of Patrick White. Willy Yangs photos presented the face of Chinese Australians through life and death in this country.... the exhibition was titled 'sadness' . Willy Yang looked Chinese but as his story unfolded about his ancestors being there during the goldrush days and early darwin and early Atherton Tablelands I realised his Australian history went back farther than my own yet I 'look' like an aussie and he still looks chinese. One of those 'aha' moments. Never again would i judge a person on their looks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flying Binghi Posted December 6, 2008 Report Share Posted December 6, 2008 Shamefaced to the world ...a movie that is a huge grab-bag of cliches - a collation of gaudy images pecked from deserted movie sets by an insatiable bowerbird - isn't just bad storytelling. It's also an exercise in bad faith - a movie allegedly about Australia, defining Australia, that's shot by a man who actually doesn't understand the country, and doesn't like it, either. Via Andrew Bolt Shamefaced to the world | Herald Sun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooloola Posted December 7, 2008 Report Share Posted December 7, 2008 absolutely its a grab bag of cliches as are most big budget hollywood type movies. Not a rabbit proof fence that's for sure but alot of people are going to see it and it does bring up the question of racism, Andrew Bolt may disagree that we are a racist country, but I believe we are. I grew up in the burbs of Sydney, have lived in Brisbane, Townsville and other regional areas of Queensland and in my work as a nurse I see racism. Its like an undercurrent, people don't even know they are racist, 'I'm not a racist but..." all the time. And the group they are racist against the most is Kooris, followed by Asians and Arabs. Those who look obviously foreign or dark skinned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flying Binghi Posted December 7, 2008 Report Share Posted December 7, 2008 cooloola, you may want to have a rethink about Darwin. You can learn a lot about a place from a visit to the cemetery - The Gardens Road cemetery is situated at 191 Gardens Road and wasopened on 10 April 1919. The Cemetery served as the official cemetery forDarwin until 11 December 1970. It’s service to the Darwin communityencompassed two world wars and catered for a fast growing multi-culturalsociety including Greek, Japanese, Chinese, Malay, Northern European,Anglos and Celts. The cemetery exists as a microcosm of Darwin's historyand social associations with representatives from each ethnic group thatmade up of the culture of Darwin. The Depression years saw many of theolder, more prominent Darwin families bury their dead, with Japanese divers,ordinary citizens and a number of servicemen interred in the cemetery. Darwin City Council Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michaelangelica Posted December 7, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 7, 2008 As for the bombing of Darwin, about time that story was told.This was kept a"secret" for more than 50 years from Australians. I loved Clive Robertson, a quirky, NSW, news announcer one night mention the "Brisbane Line"The so called "Brisbane Line" became a public issue when Eddie Ward, the member for East Sydney, accused the previous Menzies government of having a plan to abandon northern Australia to the Japanese should they invade from the north. This was a view held widely by many civilians in north Queensland during World War 2. Reminding us of its existence and saying "Well you will be glad to know it is FINALLY working!"cut to. . . report of Japanese interests buying half of the Queensland Coast for a swish new golf course/resort!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michaelangelica Posted December 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted December 8, 2008 Anti-smoking lobby calls for increase in cigarette prices Posted 1 hour 20 minutes ago * Map: Melbourne 3000 New research has found smoking rates in Australia have fallen significantly since 1980. The Victorian Cancer Council's research shows that in 2007, 19 per cent of adults were regular smokers, compared to 34 per cent in 1980. The Executive Director of anti-tobacco group Quit, Fiona Sharkie, says smoking rates have fallen for three main reasons. "Very clearly it's increasing the price of cigarettes, continuing to run anti-smoking television commercials, and also bringing in more and more smoke-free areas," she said. She says Governments should continue to fund anti-smoking campaigns and consider further increasing the price of tobacco. "We haven't had a price increase since 2001." "If we'd continued with the World Health recommendations for the price of cigarettes, we'd be looking at cigarettes costing $19 a pack, rather than the $11 or $12 they cost today," she said. Anti-smoking lobby calls for increase in cigarette prices - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) Young Aussies turn their back on smoking3 hours 12 minutes ago. | AAP The Chaser returns: as a national treasure Australia is breeding a new generation of non-smokers. Latest tobacco figures show smoking rates among young people have halved in the past two decades Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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