Monthly Archive for September, 2007

Take the American History and Civics Test

Published on September 29, 2007 in US-Australia Issues. 0 Comments

Much has been made about Australia’s citizenship test that features questions about Australian history and civics.  This just begs the question of how well Americans would do taking the same type of test.  As this studies shows it is a good thing America does not have such a test because we would have to deport just about everyone:

In fall 2005, researchers at the University of Connecticut’s Department of Public Policy (UConnDPP), commissioned by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute’s (ISI) National Civic Literacy Board, conducted a survey of some 14,000 freshmen and seniors at 50 colleges and universities. Students were asked 60 multiple-choice questions to measure their knowledge in four subject areas: America’s history, government, international relations, and market economy. The disappointing results were published by ISI in fall 2006 in The Coming Crisis in Citizenship: Higher Education’s Failure to Teach America’s History and Institutions. Seniors, on average, failed all four subjects, and their overall average score was 53.2%. [Civic Literacy Report]

Make sure you read the entire link because the findings are astounding.  Harvard University showed their eliteness by having their seniors score the highest on the test by barely passing with a D+ average of 69.6%.  You can take the test yourself and see how you compare to America’s so called academic elite at Harvard.  Just for the record I scored a 86.66%.  So I would qualify to be an American and I did it without a Harvard education. 

On Walkabout In: The Japanese Gardens of Canberra

Published on September 28, 2007 in ACT. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

My favorite park in all of Canberra that is worth spending lunch at are the Japanese Gardens snuggled against Lake Burley-Griffin near the Yarralumla foreign embassy sector of the city:

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The history of the Japanese Gardens is inscribed on a stone plaque in the front of the gardens that reads:

The people of Nara City, Japan present these Kasuga Stone Lanterns to the people of Canberra as a symbol of the friendship that exists between our two cities and between the peoples of Australia and Japan this gift was donated by the citizens of Nara City in the name of world peace.

April 1997
Yasunori Ohkawa
Mayor of Nara, Japan

For those that have never been to Japan, Nara is a beautiful city that once served as an ancient capitol of feudal Japan. The city is filled with many historic temples and palaces. However, the city is most famous in Japan for its friendly deer that are considered holy and wander around the city. The deer are all tame and some even know how to bow to tourists when feeding them special deer biscuits.

Even though there are no deer in Canberra, spring is the perfect time to visit the city and its Japanese Gardens because of the colorful cherry blossoms that fill the city and this park:

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In the very center of the park is a large stone lantern that overshadows Lake Burley-Griffin in the background:

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A walking path circles around the garden welcoming people for a scenic stroll:

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In the middle of the gardens is a wooden gazebo you can eat your lunch in and ponder the stone garden and cherry blossoms that surround the park:

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Here is a final look at the beautiful stone pagoda of the Japanese Gardens:

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Like I said before the Japanese Gardens are definitely worth stopping at and eating a picnic lunch, especially if you have never been to Japan before to appreciate Japanese gardens. This garden is no where near as meticulously maintained as the gardens in Japan but it is easily the most beautiful garden in Canberra by Australian standards.

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A Shocking Penis Story

Published on September 28, 2007 in Tabloid Crap. 0 Comments

For this guys sake lets hope lightning doesn’t strike twice:

AN Croatian motorbike rider was knocked unconscious when lightning struck his penis during a roadside toilet break.

Metro.co.uk reported Ante Djindjic, 29, escaped relatively unscathed from the incident, suffering only light burns to his chest and arms.

He said: "I don’t remember what happened. One minute I was taking a leak and the next thing I knew I was in hospital.

"Doctors said the lightning went through my body and because I was wearing rubber boots it earthed itself through my penis." 

"Thankfully, the doctors said that there would be no lasting effects, and my penis will function normally eventually."   [News.com.au]

On Walkabout At: Canberra’s Telstra Tower

Published on September 27, 2007 in ACT. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

As much as I love Canberra the one thing I do not like about it, is the tacky Telstra Tower that looms over the city no matter where you go:

No matter how many times I look at it, the Telstra Tower just does not blend in with the rest of the city. Anyway the Telstra Tower sits on top of Black Mountain and rises from the mountain for a heigth of 195 meters, so it is a fairly large tower:

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Despite its heigth, I can’t even recommend it for its views because it is expensive and you can get similar views from the lookouts on other mountains around the city. For example here is a view of the city from Black Mountain just below the tower:

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Forgive the grayness of the picture but it was raining when I drove up to the top of Black Mountain the day I took these pictures. Anyway there a few trees in the picture, but overall not a bad view of the city. You can see the National Museum on the peninsula at the bottom of the picture and the Captain Cook Fountain shooting up water in Lake Burley-Griffin. The mountains of Namadgi National Park can be made out in the distant horizon.

Here is a close up look of the Parliament House:

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If you got the money go for it and take a trip up the tower but as you can see, similar views are available on the mountain without paying the cost.

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The Brisbane Underpants Snatcher

Published on September 27, 2007 in Australia in the News and Queensland. 0 Comments

Word of caution to all my Brisbane readers, watch your underpants:

DETECTIVES are baffled by a brazen daylight attack at Newmarket, in Brisbane’s inner north on Monday, in which a woman had her underpants ripped off and bag stolen.

"It’s pretty strange. I haven’t heard anything like it before," Det-Sen-Sgt Brad Rix said.

He said the 23-year-old was grabbed from behind as she walked home from Newmarket train station about 4.30pm (AEST).

The offender then lifted her dress up, and pulled off her underpants before grabbing her bag and taking off. [Courier Mail]

I can only imagine how this thief pulled this off but this is definitely the weirdest purse snatching I have ever heard of.

On Walkabout In: Canberra’s Old Parliament House

Published on September 24, 2007 in ACT. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

A place worth checking out following a visit to the Parliament House in Canberra is a walk down to the Old Parliament House located right in front of the new one:

The Old Parliament House served as the seat of the Australian government from 1927-1988. As you can see in the picture below the building was one of the first structures built in Canberra:

The British queen did not visit the building until 1954 where she opened up parliament. Judging by the above picture it is no wonder why the British queen did not visit Canberra until 1954. The city was literally constructed in the middle of no where. Some today would still say it is in the middle of no where.

From the back of the Old Parliament House you get a picture perfect view of the current Parliament House:

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When walking down to the Old Parliament House it is worth walking around and seeing its adjacent gardens:

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When the Old Parliament House served as the seat of the government these gardens were open only to the parliament members to serve as a place to relax along with being a place to hold private conversations. Walking around the building it is easy to recognize the classical colonial British architecture of the building:

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From the front entrance you have a view across Lake Burley-Griffin towards the Australian War Memorial:

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Once you walk into the Old Parliament House you first enter a large lobby that has a number of statues of British royalty along with a head sculpture of each Australian Prime Minister. Here is the sculpture for one of Australia’s most infamous Prime Ministers, Harold Holt:

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Holt is famous because he was Prime Minister for only about a year before he either mysteriously drowned or was eaten by a shark just at a beach not to far from Melbourne. Rumors persist to this day with Australians that he was actually picked up by a Chinese or Russian submarine and other suggests aliens. Like I said the guy is infamous here. Anyway the people of Melbourne did what any mourning city would do when there national leader drowns at a beach near their city, they named a swimming pool after him.

From the front lobby you can then take a self guided tour to where ever you want to go in the building. The building is huge and you can pretty much walk in and view every room in the building. Each room has a display in the room explaining its significance and history. It will take you quite some time to see every room, at least half a day. If you don’t have that kind of time at least check out the parliament chambers:

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Then check out some of the key offices such as the office of the Prime Minister:

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Imagine being able to walk around the oval office and sit in chairs that world leaders sat in. That is what it is like visiting this office. It is pretty cool to say the least.  I wouldn’t quite call visiting the Old Parliament House a must see during a visit to Canberra but it is close and worth checking out if you have the time.

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On Walkabout In: The Australian National Archives

Published on September 23, 2007 in ACT. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

If you are into history or would just like to learn a little bit more about Australia an interesting place to visit in Canberra is the National Archives building:

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The National Archives holds a number of important documents from the founding of the nation along with documents and diagrams that proclaimed various laws and proclamations passed during the country’s history.

An example of this is this diagram below of the sketch that won the competition to design the nation’s capitol:

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During my visit to the National Archives they had a special display of war time propaganda posters used in Australia:

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Most of them were pretty interesting to look at but the funniest one I saw was this poster:

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The display said that the Australian government during World War II had to display these propaganda posters because the American soldiers stationed in Australia were constantly getting in fights with the Australian soldiers over women.

The archives also had this propaganda poster from the aftermath of 9/11:

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These posters were supposedly put up around America after 9/11 but this is the first time I have seen one. I wouldn’t call The National Archives a must see location in Canberra but it is an interesting place to check out if you have a deep interest in history and some time to waste in Canberra.

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On Walkabout At: Lake Eildon National Park

Published on September 23, 2007 in Victoria. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

My wife and I decided to take up a new hobby and try out fishing.  So we went to Big W and bought a couple of fishing poles and some basic fishing supplies.  The next day we then drove up to Lake Eildon which is about a two hour drive north of Melbourne.  I hadn’t gone fishing in probably ten years while my wife hasn’t fished in about four years.  Needless to say we are total amateurs, but we were going to give it go.

Lake Eildon is a large lake and we decided to try fishing on the National Park side of the lake on it’s northern end.  The drive up to the lake was quite nice on a remote road that twists and turns through rugged hill country.  Once on top of the hills you have a bird’s eye view of the lake:

We drove down the hills towards the lake.  The Lake Eildon National Park area of the lake has many good campsites, BBQ facilities, and restrooms for those inclined to camp there.  My wife and I may do that in the future, but on this day we were just going to make a day trip out of this.  We followed the signs towards the boat ramp and from the boat ramp road you can go off road around the shore of the lake to look for a fishing spot.

The weather was beautiful with perfectly blue skies.  We really couldn’t ask for a better day.  We set up to go fishing near this tree:

The first dam was constructed in Eildon back in 1915 and larger dams were constructed over the years to improve the water storage capacity of the lake.  At full capacity Lake Eildon holds five times as much water as Sydney Harbor.  However, the water level has dropped so much in recent years due to the drop in rain fall and the increase in water demand that now trees and buildings that were once covered by the water are reappearing:

This picture here give you an idea of how much the water level has dropped on Lake Eildon over the years:

Despite the drop in water level Lake Eildon is still 50 kilometers long and 76 meters deep in most areas.  So there is still quite a bit of water in the lake.  Anyway we fished for about five hours that day in a few different spots and had a few nibbles, but we did not catch any fish:

Like I said before we are total amateurs, but I think when people we keep running their boats by where we were trying to fish probably didn’t help our chances:

Speed boats and house boats kept coming by our area so I think next time we come here we will try and find a more isolated area to avoid all the boat traffic.  We might not have been catching any fish but the pelicans that showed up near our spot sure were.  There was a group of three pelicans and we saw them actually catch  few fish:

Unfortunately we weren’t as lucky as the pelicans and went home empty handed, but we still had a great time at the lake.  The weather was beautiful and the scenery was great so it wasn’t a wasted day.  We definitely keep trying our luck at fishing and hopefully we will eventually catch something.

For more about Lake Eildon you can visit it’s official website here.

BDS Spreads to WIN News

Published on September 22, 2007 in US-Australia Issues. 0 Comments

I have featured gaffes that US President George Bush has made before on this site, so I think he is fair game for legitimate gaffes that he makes.  However, I just saw today on Channel 9 WIN News a deliberate attempt to manufacture a gaffe made by Bush in order to bash him with.  WIN News played a video of Bush talking to reporters and he said this before the video was cut off:

"I heard somebody say, ‘Where’s Mandela?’," he said.

"Well, Mandela’s dead"

By just watching the edited video you would think Bush is an idiot because everyone knows Mandela is alive and well.  However, if you actually watch the entire video you will see what Bush really said:

Bush was clearly referring to the fact that Iraq has no Mandela like person to unite the country under because Saddam killed all the people with Mandela qualities.  However, by watching WIN News they don’t play the whole clip and they edit it to make Bush out to look like an idiot.  Bush makes enough genuine gaffes to make fun of him over, but I find it down right disgraceful that WIN News has to stoop to such a level to manufacture something like this in order to bash Bush with.

To be fair, WIN News is not the only one playing the Bush bashing game here.  I did a little research and found that Reuters is the one that started this attempt to manufacture a controversy where none existed by publishing this same story yesterday.  I’m willing to bet WIN News read the Reuters story and then edited the video to show their viewers here in Australia in order to bash Bush with.  This is clearly just another case of BDS. 

The First Boobs for Sailors Program in Australia

Published on September 20, 2007 in Australia in the News and Tabloid Crap. 0 Comments

I guess this is one way to recruit potential sailors:

THE Royal Australian Navy is paying for women sailors to have breast enlargements for purely cosmetic reasons, at a cost to taxpayers of $10,000 an operation.

Defence officials claim the surgery is justified because some servicewomen need bigger breasts to address "psychological issues".

Darling Point plastic surgeon Kourosh Tavakoli told The Sunday Telegraph the navy had paid for two officers, aged 25 and 32, to have breast-augmentation surgery at his private clinic.

Dr Tavakoli said the women had not been injured but claimed to suffer "psychological" problems.

"I’ve had two female officers who have got the navy to pay for breast augmentation for psychological reasons," he said.

"I know for a fact two patients claimed it back on the navy. They (the navy) knew it was breast augmentation and paid for it. [The Sunday Telegraph]

Maybe it is just me, but it seems like if you are having psychological issues due to your breasts maybe you shouldn’t be in the Navy in the first place?  Or maybe they were just trying to be casted in the next Sea Patrol series? 

You can read more over at Andrew Bolt.