Clipmarks | Australia Clips

didgeridoos -female infertility

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 22:27:24 GMT

clipped by: zadoz
clipper's remarks: cultural taboo

Aborigines angry at book which says girls can play didgeridoos

ANGRY Aborigines say women face infertility - or worse - if they follow advice in a new book and touch a didgeridoo because it is ''men's business''.

An indigenous academic claims an extreme cultural indiscretion has been committed by the Australian version of an American activities book - The Daring Book for Girls - as it includes a section on how to play the didgeridoo.

The Victorian Aboriginal Education Association has even demanded the book be withdrawn.

The association's general manager Mark Rose said: "I would say from an indigenous perspective, an extreme mistake but part of a general ignorance that mainstream Australia has about Aboriginal culture.

"We know very clearly that there's a range of consequences for a female touching a didgeridoo.

"Infertility would be the start of it, ranging to other consequences. I won't even let my daughter touch one."

Dr Rose says there is men's business and there is women's business.

Tags: didgeridoos, mens bussiness

Rape victim's 'gunpowder in eyes' horror

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 08:57:27 GMT

clipped by: Smoke TNT

Clip Source: www.smh.com.au

A rapist who poured gunpowder in his victim's eyes and set it alight could be jailed for up to 25 years, a court has heard.

The 26-year-old victim, who cannot be named, was raped in front of her four-year-old son before she was tied up and the gunpowder set alight.

Dennis robbed the woman at knife point and threatened to hurt her son, telling her, "Maybe I should take you for a drive but I guarantee that if I take you for a drive that it will be an all night thing because I have some friends in a car and they aren't as nice as me. Would you like a big gang bang?"

He then raped her as her son watched, tied her hands and feet with rope, poured gunpowder into her eyes and lit it with a cigarette lighter.

"You know you shouldn't cry 'cos it turns me on,'' he told the four-year-old as he masturbated in front of him.

"I am going to lie on top of mummy and protect her.''

Judge Penelope Hock today described the use of gunpowder as a "completely gratuitous act which you might describe as torture''.

Tags: rape, australia, horror

Try chewing gum to reduce your stress...a study

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 23:35:13 GMT

clipped by: fewstingscorpio
clipper's remarks: Full article:
http://psychcentral.com/news/2008/09/01/stressed-out-chew-some-gum/2859.html

Clip Source: psychcentral.com

Stressed Out — Chew Some Gum

Clip Source: psychcentral.com

Monday, Sep 1 (Psych Central) -- A new study discovers chewing gum helped relieve anxiety, improve alertness and reduce stress among individuals in a laboratory setting.

The study examined whether chewing gum is capable of reducing induced anxiety and/or acute psychological stress while participants performed a battery of ‘multi-tasking’ activities.

The use of chewing gum was associated with higher alertness, reduced anxiety and stress, and improvement in overall performance on multi-tasking activities.

Andrew Scholey, Ph.D., professor of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Swinburne University in Melbourne, Australia led the research study of 40 gum chewers.

The participants who averaged 22 years old, were tested with the Defined Intensity Stressor Simulation (DISS), a multi-tasking platform which reliably induces stress and also includes performance measures, while chewing and not chewing gum.

Tags: stress, anxiety, psychology, science, research, testing, gum

In gold we trust...

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 11:29:11 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks: Looking now for options of using this by releasing particles into the atmosphere and then being initiated by the sun.

Clip Source: blogs.zdnet.com

Gold nanoparticles purified air in old churches

Chemists from Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Australia, have found that the air in medieval European churches was purified by gold nanoparticles used to paint their stained glass windows

when the gold nanoparticles are energized by the sun, they are able to destroy air-borne pollutants like volatile organic chemical (VOCs), which may often come from paint. The research team expects that this will help to develop more cost-effective and eco-friendly chemicals at room temperature

For centuries people appreciated only the beautiful works of art, and long life of the colours, but little did they realise that these works of art are also, in modern language, photocatalytic air purifier with nanostructured gold catalyst

Tags: nano, gold, air, environment

"Eco-architecture could produce 'grow your own' homes"

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 18:02:29 GMT

clipped by: cakebelly
clipper's remarks: http://www.physorg.com/news138541462.html

Clip Source: www.physorg.com

Eco-architecture could produce 'grow your own' homes

"Eco-architecture" may sound like a Buck Rogers vision of an ecologically-sustainable future, but that future is now thanks to the guidance of Tel Aviv University Professors Yoav Waisel and Amram Eshel. The concept of shaping living trees into useful objects -- known as tree shaping, arborsculpture, living art or pooktre –– isn't new. But scientists are now ready to use this concept as the foundation of a new company that will roll out these structures worldwide.

Pilot projects now underway in the United States, Australia and Israel include park benches for hospitals, playground structures, streetlamps and gates. "The approach is a new application of the well-known botanical phenomenon of aerial root development," says Prof. Eshel. "Instead of using plant branches, this patented approach takes malleable roots and shapes them into useful objects for indoors and out."

USA ground troops attack in Pakistan village?

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 11:11:10 GMT

clipped by: citizenbfk
clipper's remarks: Sad. Tragic. Annoying.

No. #1) The use of the term: "Afghan coalition forces."
Other stories say: "NATO forces."

In reality, if this was done it was done by USA troops but like in Iraq they say "Coalition Forces," when there is no real coalition: There are approx 158,000 USA troops, 140,000 USA paid mercenaries and 'private security contractors,' 3 troops from Latvia, 11 soldiers from Moldova, , 37 fine men from the Ukraine, 40 soldiers from Estonia, 70 fighting Albanians, etc. -- all of them pressured or bribed to participate except for Merry Old England with 5,500 approx. troops, loyal Australia with 900 -- (& 2,000 Georgians now gone). Some "coalition."

No. #2) Who is this soldier? Since he appears to have a M-16 is he American? Where are his identifying patches? Why face hidden?

Thus, in fact, thus, he's an 'unlawful enemy combatant." This is a sad and tragic photo for a U.S. fighting man. Looks like the KKK

Clip Source: edition.cnn.com

Claim: Afghan coalition forces kill 20 in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Coalition forces crossed the border from Afghanistan into Pakistan early Wednesday and carried out a raid which killed at least 20 civilians, according to a local leader.

Officials with the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan said they were not aware of such an incident.

Tags: pakistan, nato, coalition, us-led

Glow worms turn on to a rhythm

Mon, 01 Sep 2008 08:49:29 GMT

clipped by: pokkets

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Anna Salleh

An Australian researcher has foudn that glow worms switch their prey-catching light on and off to a daily rhythm.

Glow worms hang beads of mucus from an overhang to snare their prey (Source: Anthony O'Toole/UQ)

Dr David Merritt of the University of Queensland reports his findings in the current issue of the journal Biological Rhythms.

"A biological rhythm in the animal determines when they will turn on and when they will turn off," says Merritt.

Glow worms, not to be confused with fire flies, are larvae of a particular type of fly that only lives in Australia and New Zealand.

Special cells in the rear end of the animal produce light that is used to attract prey.

The larvae use strings of silk, beaded with sticky drops of mucus, to snare their victims that are attracted to the light.

"It's like a spider with its web," says Merritt.

"In the rainforest, the daylight causes them to switch off. They only turn on at night and turn off around dawn," he says.

Sex, lies and some existential questions.. :-)

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 22:51:28 GMT

clipped by: Bluewhale
clipper's remarks: So many orchids treat their pollinators so nastily, with false promises of food and sex or the occasional dunking of insect visitors into bucket-shaped petals full of liquid, that naturalists have puzzled over the relationship for more than a century.

Darwin was so consumed by the odd interactions that after “The Origin of Species,” his next book was an entire volume on the subject, “The Various Contrivances by Which Orchids Are Fertilized by Insects.”

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Sexually deceptive orchids, as biologists have long known, look and can even smell so much like a female insect that males will try to mate with the flower in a sometimes vigorous process that can result in pollination

. But scientists now report that the tongue orchids of Australia are such thoroughly convincing mimics of female wasps that males not only try to mate with them, but they actually do mate with them — to the point of ejaculation.

The discovery that orchids can induce such an extreme response is more than just bizarre natural history, because biologists have always assumed that the sexual misrepresentations of orchids were harmless to the duped males, no more than a comical exercise in frustration.

“If males waste all their sperm on orchids,” Ms. Gaskett asked, “what have they got to offer a real female?”

why, scientists asked, would orchids do such an evolutionarily foolish thing? Why would a flower evolve to compromise the ability of its pollinator to reproduce?

Tags: evolution, orchids, sex

Gene test could 'prevent' heart disease

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 06:11:43 GMT

clipped by: pokkets
clipper's remarks: I believe genetic testing should be an option, not a requirement. That may be a good principle for adults, but the call is for testing to be done on 'at risk' children under 10. I'd be surprised if they could find anyone in the world that wasn't subject to some genetic risk or another. Still, a DNA Database is as good as a chip, or an ID card, and much better than a finger print...but I'm a cynic..or perhaps an optimist with experience.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Anna Salleh

News analysis Australian health authorities could prevent costly heart disease cases with a nationwide genetic screening program, suggest some experts.

To what extent will knowing our genetic predisposition to preventable diseases change our behaviour?

But others caution safeguards are needed, and such tests may not be the quick fix for heart disease.

Three Australian experts this week called for more support to screen families with familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) - a defective gene that prevents liver cells from taking up cholesterol from the blood.

UK authorities may soon recommend at-risk children under the age of 10 years be screened for the FH gene.

"[The UK proposals] represent an approach we would like to see in Australia," says Dr David Sullivan, president of the Australian Atherosclerosis Society, who spoke at a forum organised by the Australian Science Media Centre

a genetic test could help identify FH early so people could take action to prevent heart disease

Nassim Nicholas Taleb: the prophet of boom and doom

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 09:41:52 GMT

clipped by: wildcat
clipper's remarks: In December he lectured bankers at Société Générale, France’s second biggest bank. He told them they were sitting on a mountain of risks – a menagerie of black swans. They didn’t believe him. Six weeks later the rogue trader and black swan Jérôme Kerviel landed them with $7.2 billion of losses.

As a result, Taleb is now the hottest thinker in the world. He has a $4m advance on his next book. He gives about 30 presentations a year to bankers, economists, traders, even to Nasa, the US Fire Administration and the Department of Homeland Security. But he doesn’t tell them what to do – he doesn’t know. He just tells them how the world is. “I’m not a guru. I’m just describing a problem and saying, ‘You deal with it.’”

take a moment and read the article

Clip Source: business.timesonline.co.uk

When this man said the world’s economy was heading for disaster, he was scorned. Now traders, economists, even Nasa, are clamouring to hear him speak

He is telling me how to live. “The only way you can say ‘F*** you’ to fate is by saying it’s not going to affect how I live. So if somebody puts you to death, make sure you shave.”

To explain: black swans were discovered in Australia. Before that, any reasonable person could assume the all-swans-are-white theory was unassailable. But the sight of just one black swan detonated that theory. Every theory we have about the human world and about the future is vulnerable to the black swan, the unexpected event. We sail in fragile vessels across a raging sea of uncertainty. “The world we live in is vastly different from the world we think we live in.”

Last May, Taleb published The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. It said, among many other things, that most economists, and almost all bankers, are subhuman and very, very dangerous.

Tags: nassim nicholas taleb, economy, black swans

Great Barrier Reef Saved- No Shale Oil Exploration

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 07:19:51 GMT

clipped by: klippety
clipper's remarks: Australians said no to more oil exploitation and future pollution. What a wise people with strong grass roots engagement. Engage people, engage.

Clip Source: www.greenpeace.org

Great Barrier Reef saved from shale oil exploitation

Australia — It's a victory for the Whitsunday Islands and the Great Barrier Reef, with a 20-year moratorium on all new shale oil projects in the region. Led by the Save Our Foreshore group, the success shows just how powerful local, grassroots campaigns can be.

The ban has been welcomed by just about everyone but the Queenland Resource Council, whose proposal was set to mine millions of tonnes of shale rock each year on a site just 10 km from the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef. The shale oil mine threatened to drain precious water supplies, and to risk toxic leaching and air pollution from waste rock. Shale oil production is extremely greenhouse gas intensive – emissions from this project, combined with the company's other planned operations, would have raised Australia's current total emissions by 30 percent within 20 years.

Aerial view of the Great Barrier Reef off the Whitsunday Islands.

jack the ripper....rip

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 04:09:08 GMT

clipped by: zadoz
clipper's remarks: will we ever know ?

Clip Source: www.news.com.au

Jack the Ripper may lay in Toowong Cemetery: historian

COULD this grave site in Brisbane be the final resting place of one of the world's most infamous and brutal serial killers - Jack the Ripper?

The headstone does not even mention the man many believe to be the Ripper, convicted killer, rogue impostor, backwater quack and man of a thousand identities Walter Thomas Porriott.

It merely reads: "Bessie" died 25th June 1957 and her husband.

But Brisbane City Council records reveal that he now lies beneath "Portion 7A, Section 185, Grave Number 9/10".

In 1997 Porriott's Sydney-based great-grandson, Steve Wilson, publicly claimed he had little doubt his late relative was the infamous serial killer.

Porriott was in England when all five "confirmed" murders were committed and when he sailed to Australia in November 1888 the murders stopped, among other pieces of supporting evidence.

"But this is a fascinating Australian connection to Jack the Ripper which cannot be completely dismissed."

Tags: jack the ripper, brisbane, toowong

Wusses produce by nanny states

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 04:27:15 GMT

clipped by: zadoz
clipper's remarks: at last some are see the damage that over protection causes !!!

Clip Source: www.news.com.au

Lunchtime games ban turns children into wusses: experts

SOMETHING has crept under the skin of top child and adolescent psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg.

"It's all part of this 'wussification' syndrome that we're seeing in contemporary Australia where schools have been forced to bow to the great god of occupational health and safety," Dr Carr-Gregg said.

"We have schools in Victoria which have banned birthday cakes with candles on them because the children might burst into flames and where soccer has been banned during recess because the kids might be hit in the face by the ball.

"When you do something that's a little bit on the edge, the (lessons) are learnt before you get to an age when the toys you're playing with can potentially kill," he says.

"If they haven't learnt appropriate risk-taking before they're in charge of a motor vehicle, the consequences are often fatal."

"When things do go wrong, children can pick themselves up, start again and learn from the negative experience.

Tags: wusses, schools, health & safety

Australia suffering 'man drought'

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 15:08:29 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: The Mayor of Mount Isa is in all sorts after suggesting women, who were not so physically attractive, might find a mate in the Isa.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

An analysis of new census figures has shown that Australia is suffering from an unprecedented "man drought".

The statistics have revealed that there are almost 100,000 more females than males in Australia.

The problem is worse in the coastal cities, where women have moved seeking better jobs and lifestyles, while many men have gone overseas.

Thirty years ago Australia was with flush with men thanks to immigration policies that favoured males.

That position has been reversed because thousands of Australian men in their 20s and early 30s have gone overseas either to travel or to work.

It has caused a gender imbalance that is having far-reaching implications.

Major cities in Australia now have concentrated groups of unattached women, along with dwindling numbers of the opposite sex.

Demographers have compiled a so-called "Love Map" that shows how the various clusters of unattached men and women are distributed across the Australian continent.

Tags: truth, creates, the, wrong, impression

Are UFOs lighting up the skies over Australia's outback?

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 10:58:26 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: In the Wycliffe Wells region, I have seen what are referred to as "minmin lights". They either follow the car or travel ahead of it. Always seems to be at the same speed, as you don't get closer or further away, even when varying own speeds.

Clip Source: www.sciam.com

In June, reports Northern Territory News, the town of Marlinja (population 112) was reportedly visited by three spaceships that hovered just a few meters over several homes. Residents were tipped off to their presence by a "strange, loud noise," the News reported. After running outside, several say they saw three red lights in the distance as the sound grew louder, causing the ground to shake. The encounter lasted "for what seemed like a couple of hours," residents reported, with the UFOs casting enough light to make them feel as though they were "sitting in a football stadium." The lights left as suddenly as they arrived, only to return briefly later that night as residents gathered to sip tea and discuss what they had just seen.