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The lack of an 18 rating was tangential to the issue at hand. (And GTA is not banned here, we have a modified version, though I got mine from New Zealand :)

This game was not banned because it featured graffiti in a fashion similar to how GTA features violence. It was because it (apparantly) contains material that is instructional rather than a shallow representation like the violence in GTA (or graffiti in Jet Set Radio Future). It wasn't considered to "promote" illegal behaviour simply because it represented that behaviour, but because it gave realistic instruction. The issue of promoting illegal behaviour is independant of the age rating so to suggest the game wouldn't be banned if there were an 18 rating is not really true.

All that according to the woman who cast the deciding vote who was on Hack today.

Which isn't to say I agree with the decision. I think it stinks!

Snakes in Queensland (where the toad was first introduced) have increased in length by 3-5% since the toad arrived. The theory is that the longer the snake, the greater the body mass, the better it can handle the toxin.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/enviro/EnviroRe publish_1250708.htm

I also remember reading somewhere about smaller heads in relation to body size thus limiting the size of the toad consumed and the amount of poison ingested.

Actually, several native species are beginning to target the Cane Toad.

Ric Nattrass, in his Wildlife Talkback radio segment (search on abc.net.au for more), often recieves reports about various birds and other animals beginning to eat toads.

Personally, we have native White-Tailed Rats that catch toads in our pond, and eat their insides, leaving a neatly-cleaned skin and skeletal parts behind.

So, although all is not lost, it takes some time, and many species are wiped out before they work out either how to eat them or to leave them alone. When they reach Kakadoo, it is going to be a disaster, but no one has any way to prevent it.

Doesnt come as a surprise given the following plans.

I think it is safe to say that we are all potential criminals.

For those that posted from my comment.. This is exactly what I meant.

I know IANAP (I am not a physicist) but I guess It just seamed like they are making a neutron gun http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/moments/s1153968. htm, and not really a reactor. Granted they are making one from heavy water, electricity, and some dilithium crystals not with nuclear decay.

Great to hear you've found a radio station you like. In Australia, we've got a radio station we're pretty proud of. It's the national youth radio station although it's audience stretches much farther than that. Triple J (http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/)

It's part of the ABC (Aussie version of the BBC) and is totally governement funded so there aren't even calls for subscriptions and absolutely no ads.

Best of all, very good music. You have to appreciate that it's 4am here on Saturday morning so it's pretty much electronic (albeit high quality). Check out the top 100 songs from last year (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triple_J_Hottest_100 ,_2005). 50% Aussie music this year so you might have to check out the previous years to get a feel for the style.

Well this is hardly a peaceful protest.

The annoying part is that I never really hear anything from the "non extremists" comdemning acts like this. You would think that if these people go apeshit over a poorly drawn one-panel cartoon, they would be a little more proactive in trying to convince the world not every follower of Islam is a psychopath.

Unless, of course, if the majority of Islamic followers ARE psychopaths...
=Smidge=

Here is a link to and science program in Australia called Catalyst. I actually managed to watch this episode and this reminded me of it and I was bored enough to google for a link.

What it says is that the brain doesnt mature fully until the age of 25.

http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s1424747.ht m

sentient or not, nature has it's way or ballancing things out. weather it's disease, biological adaptation, global warming, *Snowball Earth, or any number of things, there are dellicate systems made to adjust, and sometimes repair the dammage. HOPEFULLY the dammage we have done, is not perminant. *RE Snowball Earth: http://www-eps.harvard.edu/people/faculty/hoffman/ snowball_paper.html http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/moments/s98442.ht m

lol your right about cctv, actually in the state of NSW, police want a camera registry! NSW plans new security camera regime

Sociopath?

Disassociation of pain signals with the feeling of being "hurt" is a response to intense pain, and apparently it can also be learned through training. It is not the same as people who literally feel no pain.

Back 10-15 years ago I had cluster headaches that came about every 3 months. Cluster headaches have been described as "probably the worst pain that humans experience". The only way I could cope was to mentally disassociate the pain with the feeling of hurt. Basically I would mentally take myself to another place and watch myself feel pain as an outside observer, but not actually experience it in the first person.

The thought process was probably something like:
"Oh look, my body is telling me that I am in intense pain. How interesting."

I'm not as good at it anymore since I haven't gotten headaches in over a decade, but my threshold for pain is still much higher than average. I'd like to think that doesn't make me a sociopath.

I'd like to point to: http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/moments/s1213245. htm

It's an article talking about how easy it is to implant memories that never existed into peoples minds. In fact, not only do people end up remembering things they've never seen, but they also end up adding additional information to the stories. It's a bit scary actually, but it's a good thought on how one might "break" the system.

Quoting the article:
"It's one thing when implanting false memories is a laboratory experiment, but it's quite another when the accused wrongly end up in jail..."

Hey Lookie! Another article with an actual PICTURE!

The second picture of the fish shows that it is partially transparent.
So not only has it evolved and survived because it is so small, but also because it is almost invisible.

Hey Lookie! Another article with an actual PICTURE!

A picture is worth 1000 words.

American's are hardly the smartest people in the world. Yes, some smart people live there, but overall with comments like these featured in this Aussie commedy show nothing surprises me! (click the video links on that page to watch it!)

You may want to read this article next time you fill up your bucket with tar and start stripping the feather dusters. Throwing blame around doesn't help anyone, and only shows your own bias.

Try TripleJ. 128 kbit mp3 stream, non-commercial, massive variety. Lots of Australian stuff, obviously, but it is basically the only thing I listen to these days to find new music!

"You know I think that Bhutan is the one country where pigs do fly."

I think you mean "probably for ten years if no one builds more plants and if Australia builds no new mines and does not increase production".

Australia's ABC radio science show has had a bit on it in the past (as well as a very good summary of the waste disposal technology synrock) - http://www.abc.net.au/rn/ is a good starting point to get to the transcripts .

For Christ's Sake.

20 comments - the majority of which are 'French surrender' jokes.

1) Some originality would be nice.
2) I thought 2006 was the year the American public would wake up to the way they're manipulated (can you remember having the same contempt for the french prior to their [justified] opposition to Iraq II?)
3) Leave the french-hatred to countries that have a reason to hate the french. Like New Zealand or just about anywhere in the South Pacific
4) Some originality would be nice. Every time there's a French story, its like reading fark.
5) Please see points 1 and 5.

Actually on taking a further look it appears that Komodo's aren't a special case after all...just a couple months ago it was found that they have venom. Nevermind:( http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/ss/stories/s15209 86.htm

"The inherent danger in the ID ideas is that ID proponents somehow believe that because one their claims cannot be ultimately refuted (except by God), they somehow have the authority to declare the rest of science "bullshit"...."

Reply: "....I haven't yet seen any of them do that. Nor, for that matter, have I seen a Creationist do that. If you have a reference or two, that would be helpful."

Religiously inspired arrogance has become a little more subtle since they stopped burning witches, nowadays they do things like using school boards to change the definition of science.

From a western perspective religion and science were one and the same up until the scientific revolution. The modern idea of scientists in a labratory looking for cancer cures (or whatever) is as recent as Edison. A very large portion of the planets population still belives religious aurthority trumps all other authority in daily life.

"without direct observation, all statements about our past are no more than inference, therefore definitely ruling invisible pink unicorns...out of the question, however counterintuitive that may be, is not reasonable."

Following that argument to it's logical conclusion ends up showing that science is based on the FAITH that the real world exists seperate from my own thought processes. Denying faith in the real world would cause problems, if I told the therapist in my halucinations that they don't really exist then they will diagnose me as phycopathic and lock me into my padded cell halucination! They obviuos chaos that this type of thinking would cause is avoided by approximating "impossible" to "very improbable", eg: Given the evidence, it is beyond reasonable doubt to say pink-unicorns are a myth.

However, pigs do fly!

...the oil runs out, causing the global economy to collapse, so no money to develop these chips, nobody with money to buy them, no electricity to run them with.

You will never relay find out im afraid, they (the first wave natives) where killed by the secodn wave ones. Not one bit of DNA from the orignal humans who setaled Australia walks this earth alive.

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/science/ss/stories/s25455 8.htm
"Adcock found that Mungo Man's mitochondrial DNA is no longer found in humans. In fact, Adcock has reconstructed a family tree that places Mungo Man before "Mitochondrial Eve", the hypothetical common ancestor from which all of us have inherited our mitochondrial DNA."

My family were free settlers from Ireland who came over rather than starve.

Check it out: http://www.abc.net.au/dynasties/txt/s1010319.htm

A useful explanation of the phenomenon here. Note that it doesn't have to be a light source.

Marfa Lights have been known in the Australian Outback for a long time as minmin lights.
See this link http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s818193 .htm
Or google it http://www.google.com.au/search?q=minmin%20lights

That is what mirages do. You move, so do they. You get too close, they vanish. It's likely no more supernatural than ordinary water mirages.

Atmospheric conditions play a big part, air will do funny things with light under the right conditions. For example the Min Min Lights.

What the students did was verify that cars can indeed cause "mysterious" lights, and probably do at least part of the time.

Oh, well, here is an article about the Min-Min lights explained. Min-Min Lights Explained

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/02/11/10449 27598800.html
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/feb2003/schi-f13 .shtml (granted not the most objective news site)
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/07/09/10890 00352020.html
http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2004/s113 6609.htm

There would be, rightly, a furore if Australian politicians started making trips to the US, holding conferences and denouncing domestic politics.

Does freedom go down the toilet the other way around in the Northern Hemisphere?

Sadly, this story is no surprise, it's also happening here in oz. http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200507/s14223 56.htm

Unfortunately, the federalists were wrong.

Here in Australia our constitution was based on the very principle you refer to and includes no individual rights other than freedom of religion and the right to a trial in relation to certain types of offence. To this day a bill of rights is opposed, mainly be conservative politicians, because "we couldn't list all of our freedoms" and "it would be unneccessary" and so on.

Sadly, we have recently seen wave after wave of terrible, terrible legislation encroaching on the lives and freedoms of ordinary, innocent people. Refugees are treated like criminals rather than people who are likely to be seeking shelter and are detained in appalling conditions in the desert or on remote islands, potentially indefinitely. The original inhabitants of this country are marginalised and ignored. More fundamentally, every Australian is now subject to arbitrary and relatively unchecked laws relating to 'terrorism' which allow for extended periods of detention without trial and without a warrant. These laws are enthusiastically promoted by the police and security agencies. Australia has one of the highest rates of phone-tapping in the world, and also retains ridiculous sedition laws essentially making it illegal to criticise the government too strongly.

We have it worse than the US - at least you have SOME protected rights. We have none, and in times like these that means we are gradually losing them all. A bill of rights is essential in protecting basic freedoms, which are not inherent characteristics but human constructions and therefore must be protected by humans.

Unfortunately, the federalists were wrong.

Here in Australia our constitution was based on the very principle you refer to and includes no individual rights other than freedom of religion and the right to a trial in relation to certain types of offence. To this day a bill of rights is opposed, mainly be conservative politicians, because "we couldn't list all of our freedoms" and "it would be unneccessary" and so on.

Sadly, we have recently seen wave after wave of terrible, terrible legislation encroaching on the lives and freedoms of ordinary, innocent people. Refugees are treated like criminals rather than people who are likely to be seeking shelter and are detained in appalling conditions in the desert or on remote islands, potentially indefinitely. The original inhabitants of this country are marginalised and ignored. More fundamentally, every Australian is now subject to arbitrary and relatively unchecked laws relating to 'terrorism' which allow for extended periods of detention without trial and without a warrant. These laws are enthusiastically promoted by the police and security agencies. Australia has one of the highest rates of phone-tapping in the world, and also retains ridiculous sedition laws essentially making it illegal to criticise the government too strongly.

We have it worse than the US - at least you have SOME protected rights. We have none, and in times like these that means we are gradually losing them all. A bill of rights is essential in protecting basic freedoms, which are not inherent characteristics but human constructions and therefore must be protected by humans.

Unfortunately, the federalists were wrong.

Here in Australia our constitution was based on the very principle you refer to and includes no individual rights other than freedom of religion and the right to a trial in relation to certain types of offence. To this day a bill of rights is opposed, mainly be conservative politicians, because "we couldn't list all of our freedoms" and "it would be unneccessary" and so on.

Sadly, we have recently seen wave after wave of terrible, terrible legislation encroaching on the lives and freedoms of ordinary, innocent people. Refugees are treated like criminals rather than people who are likely to be seeking shelter and are detained in appalling conditions in the desert or on remote islands, potentially indefinitely. The original inhabitants of this country are marginalised and ignored. More fundamentally, every Australian is now subject to arbitrary and relatively unchecked laws relating to 'terrorism' which allow for extended periods of detention without trial and without a warrant. These laws are enthusiastically promoted by the police and security agencies. Australia has one of the highest rates of phone-tapping in the world, and also retains ridiculous sedition laws essentially making it illegal to criticise the government too strongly.

We have it worse than the US - at least you have SOME protected rights. We have none, and in times like these that means we are gradually losing them all. A bill of rights is essential in protecting basic freedoms, which are not inherent characteristics but human constructions and therefore must be protected by humans.

What will happen if this user will win the contest?!

Wrong. Dead wrong.

The Senator you are refering to is (ex) Senator Brian Harridine [0]. You can read here an interview on ABC Radio, AM (22 June, 2005) [1] on his Senate retirement. Harridine was a independent hardliner from Tasmania. The Senator you refer to is Richard Alston, Liberal Party Hack & now gracing the powers of London as Australia's High Comissioner in the UK.

'... Thankfully Alston lost his powerseat during following elections ...'

No it has to do with fixed terms in the senate. You can read this in reference 1.

'... Alston was exposed as the luddite nutjob he trully was and the sun once again shone. ...'

No (unfortunately). He was among other things appointed 'Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Information Technology at Bond University in Queensland'.

Reference

[0] Australian Parliament Hansard, 'Validictory, Senate Hansard, 21 June, 2005':
http://parlinfoweb.aph.gov.au/piweb/view_document. aspx?id=2220537&table=HANSARDS

[1] ABC AM, 'Brian Harradine bids farewell to the Senate':
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2005/s1397805.htm

[2] Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade, 'Richard Alston
Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom':
http://www.dfat.gov.au/homs/uk.html

Wrong. Dead wrong.

The Senator you are refering to is (ex) Senator Brian Harridine [0]. You can read here an interview on ABC Radio, AM (22 June, 2005) [1] on his Senate retirement. Harridine was a independent hardliner from Tasmania. The Senator you refer to is Richard Alston, Liberal Party Hack & now gracing the powers of London as Australia's High Comissioner in the UK.

'... Thankfully Alston lost his powerseat during following elections ...'

No it has to do with fixed terms in the senate. You can read this in reference 1.

'... Alston was exposed as the luddite nutjob he trully was and the sun once again shone. ...'

No (unfortunately). He was among other things appointed 'Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Information Technology at Bond University in Queensland'.

Reference

[0] Australian Parliament Hansard, 'Validictory, Senate Hansard, 21 June, 2005':
http://parlinfoweb.aph.gov.au/piweb/view_document. aspx?id=2220537&table=HANSARDS

[1] ABC AM, 'Brian Harradine bids farewell to the Senate':
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2005/s1397805.htm

[2] Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade, 'Richard Alston
Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom':
http://www.dfat.gov.au/homs/uk.html

ABC TV has...managed to survive with its current affairs programs intact, loathed by Labor and Coalition alike, as it should be. And as it should be, it still strives to put forward an alternative view. So that when the commercial media is dictated to by myopic intrusive ownership and ill-informed populism, is forced through thoughtless need to make irresponsible programs that lack both style and substance, caresses inflammatory and cheap, nasty demagoguery that seeks to marginalize the already marginalized, that describes the world in simple terms, provides simple solutions to complex problems and is purely a servant to fiscal outcomes, then the ABC will always seem to aggravate, annoy and frustrate and it's precisely when the ABC is doing this that it is serving its charter"

And the head of the ABC agreed with him! Said that the ABC's job was to cause discomfort to the comfortable, or some such seditious nonsense. There's already

ABC TV has...managed to survive with its current affairs programs intact, loathed by Labor and Coalition alike, as it should be. And as it should be, it still strives to put forward an alternative view. So that when the commercial media is dictated to by myopic intrusive ownership and ill-informed populism, is forced through thoughtless need to make irresponsible programs that lack both style and substance, caresses inflammatory and cheap, nasty demagoguery that seeks to marginalize the already marginalized, that describes the world in simple terms, provides simple solutions to complex problems and is purely a servant to fiscal outcomes, then the ABC will always seem to aggravate, annoy and frustrate and it's precisely when the ABC is doing this that it is serving its charter"

And the head of the ABC agreed with him! Said that the ABC's job was to cause discomfort to the comfortable, or some such seditious nonsense. There's already

ABC TV has...managed to survive with its current affairs programs intact, loathed by Labor and Coalition alike, as it should be. And as it should be, it still strives to put forward an alternative view. So that when the commercial media is dictated to by myopic intrusive ownership and ill-informed populism, is forced through thoughtless need to make irresponsible programs that lack both style and substance, caresses inflammatory and cheap, nasty demagoguery that seeks to marginalize the already marginalized, that describes the world in simple terms, provides simple solutions to complex problems and is purely a servant to fiscal outcomes, then the ABC will always seem to aggravate, annoy and frustrate and it's precisely when the ABC is doing this that it is serving its charter"

And the head of the ABC agreed with him! Said that the ABC's job was to cause discomfort to the comfortable, or some such seditious nonsense. There's already

ABC TV has...managed to survive with its current affairs programs intact, loathed by Labor and Coalition alike, as it should be. And as it should be, it still strives to put forward an alternative view. So that when the commercial media is dictated to by myopic intrusive ownership and ill-informed populism, is forced through thoughtless need to make irresponsible programs that lack both style and substance, caresses inflammatory and cheap, nasty demagoguery that seeks to marginalize the already marginalized, that describes the world in simple terms, provides simple solutions to complex problems and is purely a servant to fiscal outcomes, then the ABC will always seem to aggravate, annoy and frustrate and it's precisely when the ABC is doing this that it is serving its charter"

And the head of the ABC agreed with him! Said that the ABC's job was to cause discomfort to the comfortable, or some such seditious nonsense. There's already

Well, we are kinda dumb.

Pauliene does little wrong, apart from being shamelessly used by some crooks, and does a jail term, ending her career. (No, I don't agree with her politics, but they only consisted on repeating the ideas of part of the comunity back to them, which is an effective political strategy used by many.)

A cheif magistrate sends a threatening email to a fellow magistrate vowing to retaliate if they don't stop their (probably just) complaints against her, gets convicted, but the conviction is overturned on a technicality (aparently, magistrates can threaten witnesses with impunity!), she is compensated for her imprisonment and reinstated!
http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2003/s872203.htm
http://www.google.com.au/search?hs=4jH&hl=en&clien t=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&q=% 22di+fingleton%22&btnG=Search&meta=cr%3DcountryAU

A cannot believe that anyone coming before her would not try to have here removed from the case.

Yes, sometimes Australians get things wrong.

Mediawatch, an Australian Broadcasting Commission program highlighting some of the shenanigans that go on in our media industry, have their own awards for this kind of thing.
The Campbell Reid Perpetual Trophy, aka The Barra, is award "for the Brazen Recycling of Other People's Work."
The Jim Ball Prize for media dupes and creative journalism, is awarded to those lifting content from blogs etc. without checking if it is actually true.

Mediawatch, an Australian Broadcasting Commission program highlighting some of the shenanigans that go on in our media industry, have their own awards for this kind of thing.
The Campbell Reid Perpetual Trophy, aka The Barra, is award "for the Brazen Recycling of Other People's Work."
The Jim Ball Prize for media dupes and creative journalism, is awarded to those lifting content from blogs etc. without checking if it is actually true.

Mediawatch, broadcast by [Y]our ABC, have a long running tradition of delving into precisely this area in our print and television media. In recent years we have seen the 'Campbell Reid Perpetual Trophy for the Brazen Recycling of Other People's Work' awarded to precisely this kind of plagiarism. Do a search for the Barra articles and see for yourself.

Mediawatch, broadcast by [Y]our ABC, have a long running tradition of delving into precisely this area in our print and television media. In recent years we have seen the 'Campbell Reid Perpetual Trophy for the Brazen Recycling of Other People's Work' awarded to precisely this kind of plagiarism. Do a search for the Barra articles and see for yourself.

Mediawatch, broadcast by [Y]our ABC, have a long running tradition of delving into precisely this area in our print and television media. In recent years we have seen the 'Campbell Reid Perpetual Trophy for the Brazen Recycling of Other People's Work' awarded to precisely this kind of plagiarism. Do a search for the Barra articles and see for yourself.

It's all on the website:

http://abc.net.au/newinventors/

The tyre recycling system won it.

or this guy

I heard that an F1 racing car has enough downdraft to drive upside down at speed. True or false?

AFAIK, that is completely true. Or at least I saw it on some HD show and they said so. It seems completely possible. I just found here http://www.formula1.com/insight/technicalinfo/11/4 68.html:

A modern Formula One car is capable of developing 3.5 g lateral cornering force (three and a half times its own weight) thanks to aerodynamic downforce. That means that, theoretically, at high speeds they could drive upside down.

That is pretty intense, but I don't see how 3.5 g of lateral force translates necessarily to downward force. Lets click on the second google hit. http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/moments/s282081.h tm

A Formula 1 car uses aerodynamics to generate, at full speed, a downforce of 2-and-a-half times its own weight, so that it'll stick to the road really well. At 160 km per hour, they're generating their own weight in downforce - so they could theoretically drive upside down on the roof of a tunnel.

OK, 2.5 downward gs is enough.

I need a more fun job. By those specs, these things are basically a better handling fighter jet that can't go quite as fast, but pretty damn fast.