Australia

[Flying Binghi]

GetUp is a grassroots internet political pressure group

 

Perhaps channel seven did a little research and discovered just what "getup" really is...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

[Michaelangelica]

Australian political satire

John Clarke and Bryan Dawe

The 7.30 Report - ABC

[Michaelangelica]

So who needs asphalt

just about any bit of out back Oz would do?

You would get 50C+ easy

Solar Collector Could Change Asphalt Roads Into Renewable Energy Source

 

ScienceDaily (Aug. 14, 2008) — Anyone who has walked barefoot across a parking lot on a hot summer day knows that blacktop is exceptionally good at soaking up the sun’s warmth. Now, a research team at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) has found a way to use that heat-soaking property for an alternative energy source.

Mallick says the team concluded that the key to successfully turning asphalt into an effective energy generator will replacing the copper pipes used in the tests with a specially designed, highly efficient heat exchanger that soaks up the maximum amount of the heat absorbed by asphalt. “Our preliminary results provide a promising proof of concept for what could be a very important future source of renewable, pollution-free energy for our nation. And it has been there all along, right under our feet.”

Solar Collector Could Change Asphalt Roads Into Renewable Energy Source

[Michaelangelica]

Do you want to vote for the young scientist of the year in Oz?

(Yanks are sort of allowed since they have already given $3mil to one of them)

In my opinion in a country where even the Labor government continues to cut back science spending they should all be winners

Catalyst: People's Choice Awards - ABC TV Science

 

There should be video about there somewhere but i have too slow a connection (poverty)

[Monomer]

Do you want to vote for the young scientist of the year in Oz?

(Yanks are sort of allowed since they have already given $3mil to one of them)

In my opinion in a country where even the Labor government continues to cut back science spending they should all be winners

Catalyst: People's Choice Awards - ABC TV Science

 

There should be video about there somewhere but i have too slow a connection (poverty)

 

 

You don't need the video anyway since they've got the transcript.

 

Tough choice. Who did the US give all that money to?

[Monomer]

Michaelangelica you'll probably know the answer to this: what is the deal with ABC1 and ABC2? Someone said ABC2 is just the digital version, but it has completely different programming. Has it become like the BBC?

[Flying Binghi]

...speaking of TV - aparently channel nine seems to be a little sceptical of a certain issue -

 

A turning point in the debate: 60 Minutes is suddenly not so sure man is heating the world to hell, after all. And it won’t have been reassured by Kevin Rudd’s shaky grasp of the evidence in spruiking his carbon tax:

 

TARA BROWN: How certain are you that mankind is the cause behind global warming?

 

PM KEVIN RUDD: Well, I just look at what the scientists say. There’s a group of scientists called the International Panel on Climate Change - 4000 of them.

 

via -

 

Rudd feels the heat on 60 Minutes | Herald Sun Andrew Bolt Blog

[DougF]

Monomer

Michaelangelica you'll probably know the answer to this: what is the deal with ABC1 and ABC2? Someone said ABC2 is just the digital version' date=' but it has completely different programming. Has it become like the BBC? [/quote']

 

As I was curious about this also, I found a site that explains it,

And I thought I would post the site.

ABC Redefining Television

[Monomer]

As I was curious about this also, I found a site that explains it,

And I thought I would post the site.

ABC Redefining Television

 

Thanks DougF :doh:

 

I should have looked around the ABC website a bit more; how lazy of me! ;)

[LaurieAG]

As I was curious about this also, I found a site that explains it, And I thought I would post the site.

 

Once you get a digital decoder (SD or HD) you receive all of the channels in digital and gain access to ABC2, a couple of extra channel guides, and extra channels of HD as well as duplicate channels. If you have a SD decoder you will pick up HD channels but may have a problem viewing them.

 

If you can pick up a SD decoder that is hard drive ready you can add your own HDD and start recording off the EPG. At the moment it's a lot cheaper than buying one with a HDD.

[DougF]

Monomer

Thanks DougF

 

I should have looked around the ABC website a bit more; how lazy of me!

No problem mate, If you didn't ask then I would not have looked and I wouldn't have learned anything, Thank you. ;)

[Michaelangelica]

I live 60 K from sydney GPO and cannot get any digital chanel including SBS or mobile phone

What century is this?

..........

 

This Olympic win was very sweet

[

B]Anna Meares: Crash and burn to Beijing silver[/b]

Posted 9 hours 31 minutes ago

Updated 42 minutes ago

Anna Meares and Victoria Pendelton hug after the women's sprint final

 

Anna Meares has completed one of the greatest comebacks in Australian Olympic history. (AFP: Daniel Garcia)

 

* Video: A tearful Anna Meares wins silver at the velodrome. (ABC)

 

Australian cyclist Anna Meares is celebrating today after completing one of the greatest comebacks in Australian Olympic history.

 

Meares won a silver medal in the women's sprint just months after coming within millimetres of becoming a quadriplegic.

 

The Queenslander, a gold medallist in the now-defunct 500m time trial in Athens, crashed heavily in a World Cup event in January.

 

Travelling at close to 70 kilometres an hour, she hit the velodrome hard, hip first, then shoulder, then head.

 

She fractured vertebrae near the base of her skull. Just as painful was the work required to clean the burns she sustained sliding at high speed along the velodrome floor.

 

This was pretty good too

Surprise track silver thrills Australian athletics

 

Posted 10 hours 16 minutes ago

Updated 10 hours 7 minutes ago

Priscilla Lopes-Schliep and Sally McLellan celebrate wildly after dead-heating for silver

 

Canada's Priscilla Lopes-Schliep and Australia's Sally McLellan celebrate wildly after winning bronze and silver respectively in the women's 100m hurdles final at the Beijing Olympic Games on August 19, 2008. (Getty Images: Jeff Gross)

 

Australian Sally McLellan's surprise Olympic silver medal in the women's 100 metres hurdles last night came as American Lolo Jones lost control and "crashed and burned", giving the gold medal to compatriot Dawn Harper.

 

This looks like a great resource especially so other countries can get info on how to grow our plants. China already produces more eucalyptus oil than Oz

Online plant, animal database a 'massive task'

 

By Caroline Fisher

Posted Mon Aug 18, 2008 8:57am AEST

Updated Mon Aug 18, 2008 9:08am AEST

CSIRO researcher Jo Palmer examines original botanical items collected by Joseph Banks in 1770. They are part of the Australian National Herbarium collection on show this week.

 

CSIRO researcher Jo Palmer examines original botanical items collected by Joseph Banks in 1770. They are part of the Australian National Herbarium collection on show this week. (CSIRO)

 

* Video: Online database to include all Aust flora, fauna (ABC News)

 

 

Information on all Australian flora and fauna is being made available online.

 

Scientists around the country are putting together the Atlas of Living Australia, an online encyclopaedia of Australian biodiversity.

Online plant, animal database a 'massive task' - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

 

I have been trying to find the research on driving habits of Australians on the news today.

Anyone know where it is?

You know 30% eat while driving

42% engage in sex acts whilde driving

[Michaelangelica]

Ugly and Female?

Australia needs YOU!

Mount Isa's invite to ugly women

 

JESSICA JOHNSTON

 

August 16th, 2008

A SEVERE female drought has gripped Mount Isa, but Mayor John Molony thinks he has the answer: ugly girls.

 

Men outnumber women at a ratio of about five to one in the testosterone town and the female famine is taking its toll on young blokes.

 

But the quick-thinking Mayor suggested these could be the perfect conditions for `ugly ducklings' to flourish into beautiful swans and find true happiness in the Isa.

 

"May I suggest if there are five blokes to every girl, we should find out where there are beauty-disadvantaged women and ask them to proceed to Mount Isa," Cr Molony said.

 

"Quite often you will see walking down the street a lass who is not so attractive with a wide smile on her face. Whether it is recollection of something previous or anticipation for the next evening, there is a degree of happiness.

 

"Often those who are beauty-disadvantaged are uphappy with their lot.

Mount Isa's invite to ugly women | Townsville Bulletin News

Calling all ugly chicks! Mount Isa's mayor makes his appeal

Calling all ugly chicks! Mount Isa's mayor makes his appeal | theage.com.au

Beautiful Mt Isa

Who wouldn't want to live there?

 

The mayor seems handsome challenged, and said his wife is ugly too!

So he might need a new ugly chick himself

This was a fun take on it all.

ABC Sydney - TGIF August 22

[Monomer]

Hmm... A shortage of women in a remote mining town where there's nothing to do but hang out with miners... how strange!

 

 

'Ugly' Mount Isa women to protest

 

A plea for lovelorn female "ugly ducklings" to redress a gender imbalance in the north-west mining town of Mount Isa has sparked a protest march.

 

"We want an apology," local woman Rikki Loccisano said over comments made by Mount Isa Mayor John Molony at the weekend.

 

"We are offended and we want to settle the score."

 

Cr Molony has caused a minor storm over his suggestion "beauty-disadvantaged women... (should) proceed to Mount Isa", where women are outnumbered five-to-one.

 

The town's single women plan to hit back tonight, however, organising a protest rally on the lawns of the Civic Centre.

 

Ms Loccisano, a 22-year-old administration officer, said emails and text messages had been circulating around the town since 9am, urging women to "stand up and be heard".

 

"It paints the women here as second rate and suggests that the men will settle for anything. He has put everyone down," she said.

 

"We're going to get together to put forward our opinion."

 

Mayor Molony said he was "telling it like it is" in a town more famous for cowboys and mining heavy metals than match-making.

 

Fellow council members and the local Chamber of Commerce said they had been swamped with phone calls from both women and men complaining about the mayor's remarks.

 

"We have received calls from past Mt Isa residents, who are currently living overseas and read about the mayor's comments online...they're shocked and outraged," Chamber of Commerce manager Patricia O'Callaghan said.

 

"There are much more serious regional and economic issues plaguing our town than what we all look like."

 

It is expected up to 100 women will take part in the protest to confront Cr Moloney this evening with banners and placards.

 

"We're in discussions now about what we're going to do exactly," Ms Loccisano said.

 

Cr Molony did not return calls late yesterday.

 

Instead, it was left to local women to defend their battered reputations.

 

Mount Isa occupational therapist Anna Warrick, 27, said the town's menfolk were to blame for the dearth of female suitors because of their oaffish behaviour.

 

"We've got a saying up here that the odds are good, but the goods are odd," Ms Warrick said.

[Monomer]

What is it with Queensland...

 

 

What a flippin' joke – Townsville school becomes cartwheel cops

 

FORGET smoking or bullying – at Belgian Gardens State School, doing a cartwheel on the playground can get you suspended.

 

The school has banned all forms of gymnastics during breaks, including handstands and somersaults – even the humble forward roll has been given the flick.

 

Mum Kylie Buschgens was dumbfounded when her daughter Cali, 10, was told she could no longer do cartwheels, even on the grass.

 

"She came home from school a couple of times and said `I got in trouble for doing a cartwheel'," Ms Buschgens said.

 

"I thought she meant that it was wrong to do it on the concrete, but they made an announcement at assembly that gymnastics was banned."

 

Cali said cartwheels made her happy because she wasn't interested in other sports.

 

Her friend was busted and punished by the cartwheel cops this week.

 

"We had to practise for a play and she did one on the grass," Cali said.

 

"Two teachers took her upstairs and she had to sit down for the rest of the day and not do anything."

 

 

Why don't we just wrap them up in cotton wool and lock them in the house...

[Michaelangelica]

An Australian song we all wish was true

WE ARE AUSTRALIAN Judith Durham

I came from the dreamtime from the dusty red soil plains

I am the ancient heart, the keeper of the flame

I stood upon the rocky shore I watched the tall ships come For forty thousand years I'd been the first Australian. [chorus] We are one, but we are many And from all the lands on earth we come We share a dream and sing with one voice: I am, you are, we are Australian.

I came upon the prison ship bowed down by iron chains.

I cleared the land, endured the lash and waited for the rains.

I'm a settler. I'm a farmer's wife on a dry and barren run A convict then a free man I became Australian.

[chorus] We are one, but we are many And from all the lands on earth we come We share a dream and sing with one voice: I am, you are, we are Australian. I'm the daughter of a digger who sought the mother lode The girl became a woman on the long and dusty road I'm a child of the depression I saw the good times come I'm a bushy, I'm a battler I am Australian

[chorus] We are one, but we are many And from all the lands on earth we come We share a dream and sing with one voice: I am, you are, we are Australian.

 

I'm a teller of stories I'm a singer of songs I am Albert Namatjira I paint the ghostly gums I am Clancy on his horse I'm Ned Kelly on the run I'm the one who waltzed Matilda I am Australian

 

[chorus] We are one, but we are many And from all the lands on earth we come We share a dream and sing with one voice: I am, you are, we are Australian.

 

I'm the hot wind from the desert I'm the black soil of the plains I'm the mountains and the valleys I'm the drought and flooding rains I am the rock, I am the sky The rivers when they run The spirit of this great land I am Australian

 

(chorus) We are one, but we are many And from all the lands on earth we come

We share a dream and sing with one voice: I am, you are, we are Australian I am, you are, we are Australian.

[Michaelangelica]

You would think that capitalism/globalism would stop all wars

You just buy the bit of the other country you want

No armies, no wars, just stockbrokers.

With Australia with 21 million people China should make us an offer- say 2-10 million $ each? Very cheeep, we thow in Habor bridge for fee!

 

 

Chinese to buy into Rio Tinto

 

By Rebecca Keenan

Article from: Herald Sun /

August 24, 2008 10:59pm

 

=

 

THE Federal Government has approved plans by Chinalco to acquire as much as 11 per cent of miner and takeover target Rio Tinto.

The move effectively clears the way for the Aluminium Corporation of China (Chinalco) to block BHP Billiton's $143 billion all-scrip bid to win control of Rio's global operations.

 

"I have decided to raise no objections under Australia's foreign investment policy," Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan said.

 

Chinalco, in partnership with Alcoa Inc., bought a 9 per cent stake in London-based Rio in February and said in March it may seek to increase that holding.

 

The bid by China's biggest aluminum producer may make it more difficult for Melbourne-based BHP to succeed in its all-stock takeover offer for Rio, the world's third-largest mining company.

 

"This will underpin the Rio share price and also create uncertainty about whether or not BHP will get its deal over the line," said Stephen Bartrop, a resources analyst at Stock Resource.

 

"Even if Chinalco doesn't increase its stake, it shows they have the capacity to block the deal."

Chinese to buy into Rio Tinto | Business | News.com.au

 

What are the real estate prices in Miami like at the moment?