A Glimpse at the Outback

Facebook, Failing

2009-04-13T12:42:00.006-04:00

F is for Fail and in this case, is also for Facebook as well. It has become so easy for college students to get caught up in hours of online procrastination thanks to Facebook. You may have an assignment due in an hour and get caught up scrolling through various Facebook accounts or photos of someone you haven't seen since elementary school. Academic research has concluded that on many such students, Facebook is having a detrimental effect of university results. Researchers from the US have found that students prone to accumulating friends, uploading photographs, chatting and "poking" other on Facebook may spend as little as one hour per week to their studies and academic work.

"Every generation has its distractions, but I think Facebook is a unique phenomenon," said Aryn Karpinski, a researcher in the education department at Ohio State University. Her study, conducted with a colleague at OSU, questioned 219 US undergraduates and graduates about their study practices and general Internet use, as well as their specific use of Facebook. They found that 68% of students who used Facebook had a significantly lower GPA then those who did not have an account with Facebook or use the site at all.
It is all to easy to waste precious study hour time and click aside to check Facebook messages. Rather than addressing this issue, some Australian university students have instead started setting up Facebook support groups to discuss how the site adversely affects their university grades. Which is quite ironic, in the sense that, rather than not using the social utility site or shutting their computers off they are simply creating anti-Facebook groups, using the actual website. The Sydney University-based group called "I want to sue Facebook if I fail university" has almost 1000 members who cite the social networking site as the primary cause for an increasingly amount of people failing universities. Thanks to the latest tech-savy invention of Facebook applications for Blackberries and iPhones there is even more tendency to simply stay on the website for hours at the palm of your hand.

You Want Garbage With That?

2009-04-13T11:53:00.004-04:00

McFilthy, is what this McDonald's along Hindley St. in Adelaide, Australia is being referred as. Numerous discarded brown bags, burger wrappers, and fry dispensers lay across the floor of this what looks to be abandoned McDonald's. Although it is really open, this video was taken in the dining area at 3 am last Sunday by an Adelaide law student, while on a night out with his friends, looking to grab some late night grub. The store manager stressed that the number of people that come in and out of the restaurant at those hours make such a mess. It's a safety hazard as well as a food hazard. According to the Food Act 2001, inadequately cleaned food premises can be fined up to $2500 on the spot. Whether the restaurant was short-staffed, extremely busy, or just plain lazy, thanks to a 22-year-old with a video cell phone, it now has a new name: McFilthy.

United by Ink, the Tale of Two Improbable Acquaintances: Mary and Max

2009-04-08T16:43:00.005-04:00

Adam Elliot has always seemed to feel out of place. The Oscar-winning Australian animator can often relate to the characters he creates based on his own real-life experiences. In his feature-length film debut, Mary and Max, Elliot provides us with the simple tale of a pen-friendship between two very different people: Mary Dinkle, a chubby lonely eight year old girl living in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia and Max Horovitz, a 44 year old, severely obese, Jewish man with Aspergers Syndrome residing in the chaos of New York. The concept for the idea of the film is based on a true story in which Elliot's own 20-year pen friendship with a Jewish-atheist-Aspergers-New Yorker inspired the film. Will he ever meet his long-lost friend who he communicates via mail? Elliot hopes to finally meet his pen-pal for the first time on an upcoming publicity tour to the Big Apple. The film utilizes a total of 212 puppets layed across 133 different sets in which he uses a form of stop-motion animation, or "claymation." Although Mary and Max may seem like a children's film it takes us on a journey that explores friendship, autism, alcoholism, psychiatry, alcoholism, where babies come from, obesity, kleptomania, sexual difference, trust, copulating dogs, religious difference, agoraphobia and much much more. The often dark yet comical film hits theatres nation-wide tomorrow (Thursday) debuting over the typically competitive Easter weekend. Here is a short trailer of what the film has to offer:

Summer Heights High: An Australian Success

2009-04-06T12:12:00.007-04:00

Australian media has taken a hilarious and satirical parody of high school life. Summer Heights High is an Australian television mockumentary series that lampoons Australian high school life and many aspects of the human condition and is filmed in a documentary style, with non-actors playing supporting actors. A mockumentary is presented as a documentary recording real life, but its actually fictional and is commonly used for parody and satire, both executed profoundly in Summer Heights High. The series premiered on September 5, 2007 at 9:30 pm on ABC TV and continued for eight weekly episodes. The program was a massive ratings success for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. To research this hysterical mock of high school life production and filming team traveled to a typical Australian public high school and followed the events and daily lives surrounding the students and staff for a single term. The team would then film a documentary from the opinions of the students and staff, especially the three main characters: Ja'mie King, a mean girl-type prefect exchanged from a private school; Mr. G, a charismatic drama teacher; and Jonah Takalua, a stereotypical Pacific Islander delinquent, all played by the series writer, Chris Lilley. Here is a short trailer of the hit Australian series, Summer Heights High:

Truly Australian: Aussie Pride in Wine

2009-04-06T11:52:00.008-04:00

The Australian wine industry is the 4th largest exporter in the world, exporting over 400 million litres a year. Australians consume over 400 million litres of wine per year, resulting in a compelling domestic market for Australian wines. The wine industry itself is a significant distributor to the Australian economy through production, employment, export and tourism. You may ask yourself: We'll what's so special about Australian wine? Watch this video to find out:

A Sticky Situation

2009-04-01T12:24:00.007-04:00

As today is April 1st, have you know, Aussies sure know how to utilize a fun yet devious holiday - April Fools Day. Several residents in inner-city Melbourne woke up to their cars wrapped in cling wrap this morning. The April Fool's day stunt sought out at least 28 vehicles which were wrapped tightly in the plastic wrap. According to tradition, people can pull pranks before noon today in the name of April Fools' Day but become the fool if they do it in the afternoon. The mischievous bandits hit upon popular shopping centers, railway stations and even in residential areas. On some cars, a note signed from “Evie” wished the owner a Happy April Fools' Day. [As seen in the photo] Fortunately enough for the victims, the hooligans held responsible for the acts conveniently left a pair of scissors for the innocent to cut the plastic wrap off to access the doors of their cars. How nice of them to do so, although I'm sure the victims of these pranks may have other uses for these metal cutters!

Toadal Annihilation

2009-03-30T19:44:00.002-04:00

For decades these poisonous cane toads have plagued Australians, breeding hastily, eating voraciously and bestowing death upon most animals that dare to consume it. Australians solution: Toad-Day-Out, which is to hold a festive mass killing of the creatures and turn their corpses into fertilizer for the same farmers who initially battled the toads for years.

The toads were imported from South America to Queensland in 1935 in a failed attempt to control beetles in sugar cane plantations. However, the toads couldn't jump high enough to eat the beetles who lived on top of the sugar cane stalks. It seems like Australia experienced a complete boomerang effect with this idea. This may seem likely to occur when you mess with the almighty Mother Nature. Now Australia's Toad-Day-Out is in a sense "celebrating" their mistakes with an annual day to exterminate these pests.

Australia: A Dying Language?

2009-03-24T17:31:00.001-04:00

When British settlers first arrived to Australia in the late 18th century some 200 Aboriginal languages were spoken. Of those 200 about 50 are now extinct, 100 are dying and some-odd 50 are inactive first-language use, more-so along the north coast of western and central Australia. English is the first and only language of some 83 % of Australia's current population. Minority languages during the 19th century included Chinese in goldfield communities, German in a Lutheran settlement in South Australia, and Gaelic and Welsh in rural families.

To get an idea of how serious these dying languages are, it is reported that of the withering Mati Ke language of aboriginal peoples of Australia's northern coast along the Timor Sea only 3 speaker remain. That's right just 3 people in the world still speak this language. Of the 3 people, 2 are brother and sister and are forbidden by their tribal custom from speaking to one another after puberty. So 2/3 of the people who are knowledgeable of the language are forbidden to speak it? I see. And the third does not live in the area and speaks a completely different dialect of the language. Therefore, of the 3 speakers remaining, their is virtually no common interaction and ultimately no one to pass the language to. It is unbelievable how a language of the world becomes extinct about every 2 weeks or 14 days. There are less than 7,000 languages spoken today, half of them bearing no written form to look back on. Some may say this is partly due to the overbearing dominant language such as the English language. The question of the matter is, "Should anyone care?" and if so, "What could be done to save these dying languages?"

The word "LOVE" in 28 different languages

Australia's Overseas Students Intake Not Affected by Harsh Economy

2009-03-21T16:47:00.001-04:00

When times are rough, Australia's recuitment of overseas students is still on the rise. With the latest statistics recording growth of 21.4 % higher over the same time last year, Australia continues to defy the global downturn. Surprisingly this number is on the rise including that the figures for the key month of March commencement period have not be released as well. China was the biggest contributer, which had more than 70,000 students enrolled in Australian universities, colleges and schools in January, followed by Indoa with just under 60,000 students. Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard described the growth as encouraging and showing the strength of a local industry worth $14.2 billion a year. The vocational education sector, which has campaigned strongly overseas in recent years, continued to record the best, up 46.3% compared to the same time last year.

Aussies Suffering from Loneliness :(

2009-03-18T12:15:00.002-04:00

Don't we all feel lonely every now and then? Apparently loneliness is a significant problem amongst Aussies. In a recent study, marriage benefits men more than women and single men are lonelier than single women. I can see the same results appearing here, in the United States. The Australian Unity Well being Index covered 2,000 people and focused on the link between well being and loneliness and money and debt. It said the well being loss associated with loneliness is most pronounced for males but that people who live with partners are the least lonely. I don't even have to be in Australia to realize this could took place anywhere.

It seems that men who are single struggle more to find that certain someone, while females who are single have men approach them about dating, potentially on a regular basis. The results also stated that men who never married, were separated or widowed are significantly lonelier than females in the same circumstances. The report said just over 30% of participants recorded their level of loneliness at or above the average score of 40, which indicated an average loss of well being. On the money side, men from households which earn less than $60,000 are significantly lonelier than men with a household income of $100,000 or more. I know that if I had an income above 6 figures, well yeah I'd be rolling in the dough and yeah that would make me a lot happier :)

Australia's Wealthiest Resident is an American

2009-03-12T16:56:00.001-04:00

The richest person residing in Australia is an American heiress that you are most likely not familiar with. Ms Parry-Okeden, is an American heiress, who lives in the town of Scone, whose fortune is tied to her 25 per cent stake in Cox Enterprises, a giant US media company founded by her grandfather James Cox. The 58-year-old former school teacher, inherited the stake in Cox when her mother, Barbara Anthony Cox, died in 2007. Ms Parry-Okeden was shot to prominence yesterday after being named as the word's 110th richest person in the annual Forbes list of the world's billionaires. She has no involvement with running the company, which owns 15 newspapers, 17 television stations and 86 radio stations. Her place on the Forbes rich list has been raised 44 places - to 110 - by the decline in the wealth of Australia's previous richest person, the mining entrepreneur Andrew Forrest. The financial crisis has trimmed the ranks of Australian billionaires and more than halved their fortunes. Only but 10 Australians have made it onto the annual Forbes list of the world's US dollar billionaires, down from 14 last year. Overall, their total combined fortune has weakened from $US 38.4 billion ($60 billion) to just $US 16.2 billion.

2009-03-07T11:41:00.001-05:00

Australia Back round: Geographic Perspective

This is to give everyone more insight on Australia as a whole and its general make-up. First and foremost, Australia is divided into 6 states: New south Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania, including 2 territories; the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory.

It is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the world's smallest continent and numerous islands in the Southern, Indian and Pacific Oceans. The continent of Australia has been inhabited for over 40,000 years by Indigenous Australians. The current population of over 20 million is concentrated mainly in the large coastal cities of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. The capital of Australia is Canberra.

2009-03-05T16:38:00.001-05:00

Raw Footage: Wildfires Engulf Australia

The death toll from the bushfires in southeastern Australia has risen to 210, according to police in the state of Victoria, this past Tuesday. At least 2,029 homes have been destroyed in the blazes, according to Australian news outlets. Victoria police are still working to identify all the victims of the fires that have raged earlier this month. As of late Tuesday, there were still seven fires ablaze, the County Fire Authority said, and several still posed a threat to residents.

Teeny Bikini at the Center of Piracy Claims

2009-03-02T12:18:00.001-05:00

Supermodel Miranda Kerr is in the midst of piracy claims. The swimsuit company Seafolly has launched Federal court action against a company it alleges stole the bikini pattern for its Zambezi range. Modelled by Kerr in its 2007 catalogue, Seafolly says the Zambezi pattern is a tribal-style design it has owned since 2006. The claim was filed last week by Seafolly alleging Sydney company Australian Downtown Marketing (ADM) sold copies of the bikini which were marketed under the Mooloola brand. It is the third time in four years that Seafolly has launched legal action against alleged knockoffs. Seafolly said it bought the Zambezi design from Sydney textile designer Longina Phillips in 2006. After purchasing it, Seafolly then simplified the design and printed it into fabric for use in the Zambezi range which included, bikinis, singlets, dresses and a kaftan. City beach, who owns the Mooloola brand, told Seafolly it had ordered stocks of the swimsuits, but they were "returned to its Chinese manufacturer as they were considered defective." What does Seafolly want out of the lawsuit? Seafolly wants a declaration that ADM has infringed its copyright, an order stopping them from doing it again, and all supplies of the fabric used to make the Mooloola suits and the profits from selling the togs.

Pants of a Feather?

2009-02-17T12:36:00.001-05:00

Imagine sitting in jail with a bunch of criminals and having to admit that it wasn't drugs or illegal weapons you were smuggling into the country, but a pair of pigeons! The 23 year-old man strapped two live pigeons to each of his legs under his tights for the 10-hour flight from Dubai to Australia. The man of Meadow Heights in suburban Melbourne had just landed at Melbourne Airport when customs and border control officers stopped him and searched his bags. Found in the mans pocket was a multi-vitamin container holding two bird eggs, and a further search revealed he was wearing black tights with two live pigeons stuffed inside, one in each leg. Officers also seized a money belt containing plant seeds and undeclared samples of eggplant in the passenger's baggage. It is unknown what the mans intentions were with the two birds but is expected to be charged on summons with wildlife smuggling offences. If convicted, the alleged bird smuggler could face up to 10 years in prison and fines amounting up to $110,000.