The Australian Handball Federation [AHF] wishes to congratulate a group of university students which formed a men’s handball team to participate in the 19th World University Handball Championship.This event will be held in Venice and Jesolo Beach, Italy during 5th – 13th July 2008.
The competition is held every 2 years and this is the first time that a team from Australia will be competing.This year, there will be 16 men’s and 14 women’s teams competing, with Australia, Mexico and Japan being the only non-European countries participating.
Australia has been pooled in a tough draw with the host Italy, the Czech Republic and Austria. The championship will be played as a 1st round robin, with the top and bottom 2 teams of every group competing for final placing in the 16 via a second round robin and finals series.
The best 4 teams from the competition will automatically qualify for the 2009 Summer Universiade in Belgrade, Serbia, where handball is one of the major sports.
The Team is comprised of:
Name Position State
Matthew Attkins Goalkeeper Queensland
Nick Gregory-Roberts Wing, Centre Back New South Wales
Jordan Long Right Back, Left Back South Australia
Ognjen Matic Left Back, Right Back, New South Wales
Centre Back
Steve Plummer Left Back, Pivot New South Wales
Hugh Ronzani Wing, Centre Back New South Wales
Nick Russell Wing, Left Back New South Wales
Brett Saucis Pivot New South Wales
Vladislav Simanovic Pivot Queensland
Jack Streatfeild Pivot, Wing New South Wales
Ben Vordermaier Left Back, Right Back South Australia
Matt Walsh Right Back/Team Manager New South Wales
David Wilson Left & Right Wing New South Wales
Gilles Guillemin Coach New South Wales
AHF wishes the Team an enjoyable and successful participation in the tournament.
FILM REVIEW: Iron Man
SOUL IN THE IRON
The shallowness of this film is purely superficial.
It sets adrift from the familiar superhero doodles’ formula, namely: invincible preternnatural powers (girded in fancy dress) fighting Manichaean battles against freaky villains. But it sticks like a leech to the conventions of the genre (threadbare characterisation, over-the-top plot, jejune jokes) and panders to the ‘juvenile demographic’ with token sex and torture. In doing so it plumbs obscene depths, in which we see ourselves in caricature: magnificently trite and profoundly repugnant.
Tony Stark is half Victor Frankenstein (wanting so much from his creation, but ‘hoist with own petard’); half Mr Hyde (a doolally altered ego wanting nothing from his creator). We see, in sum, a renaissance hit-man designing death engines; firing back – with slingshot brilliance – at each missile his own ‘outrageous fortune’ can manufacture to hurl at him.
But science is pecking away at the chained carrion of this Stark tormented spirit. Trapped in his own private Jericho (‘Plato’s cave’ as a failed state of fatalism) ‘Professor Marvel’ tranmogrifies this mundane wretch into a callow Icarus: a point-device persona lurching up to heaven on napalm-fuel.
By its fatefulness Iron Man actually passes muster as ‘prescience-fiction’. The mother of invention manufactures a fey, feral, ferric, fatidic banshee wailing at the walls that the military-industrial complex has built for its nation-state. As those walls come thundering down we hear an elegy to our lost future as a booming echo.
So, Iron Man is the perfect metaphor for mercenary commerce exploiting evanescent freedom; and the Nemesis of zealotry pitted against venal liberalism. It heralds the new world order of the ‘market state’: where the weak perish in order for the greedy to profit. Therefore, no glory may be won; for there is no good to fight for. The most a hero can do is lead his tribe through a sea of red ink away from the slavery of moral bankruptcy.
As such, the film is an eerie reverberation of McLuhan’s creed that Satan is a great electrical engineer. The Stark panoply extends and assimilates. A ‘Tinman’ trope cursed to continually hack off whatever makes him human and artificially replace it – till he carves out his own heart. Iron Man is a sardonic inversion of John Stuart Mill’s philosophy that art determines ends; while science supplies means. Technology is a full metal straitjacket. A heart-piercing, soul-spiking iron maiden. An iron glove manacling a velvet fist: a shrapnel-ridden heart rusted on to anomic armour. The man in the iron mask suffers a secret identity crisis. Unmasked he is us.
SOUL IN THE IRON
The shallowness of this film is purely superficial.
It sets adrift from the familiar superhero doodles’ formula, namely: invincible preternnatural powers (girded in fancy dress) fighting Manichaean battles against freaky villains. But it sticks like a leech to the conventions of the genre (threadbare characterisation, over-the-top plot, jejune jokes) and panders to the ‘juvenile demographic’ with token sex and torture. In doing so it plumbs obscene depths, in which we see ourselves in caricature: magnificently trite and profoundly repugnant.
Tony Stark is half Victor Frankenstein (wanting so much from his creation, but ‘hoist with own petard’); half Mr Hyde (a doolally altered ego wanting nothing from his creator). We see in him a renaissance hit-man designing death engines, who – through his own slingshot brilliance – fires back at each missile his own ‘outrageous fortune’ can manufacture to hurl at him.
But science is pecking away at the chained carrion of his tormented spirit. Trapped in his own private Jericho (‘Plato’s cave’ as a failed state of fatalism) ‘Professor Marvel’ tranmogrifies him into a callow Icarus: a point-device persona lurching up to heaven on napalm-fuel.
By its fatefulness Iron Man actually passes muster as ‘prescience-fiction’. The mother of invention manufactures a fey, feral, ferric, fatidic banshee wailing at the walls that the military-industrial complex has built for its nation-state. As those walls come thundering down we hear the booming echo of an elegy to our lost future.
So Iron Man is the perfect metaphor for mercenary commerce exploiting evanescent freedom; and the Nemesis of zealotry pitted against venal liberalism. It heralds the new world order of the ‘market state’: where the weak perish in order for the greedy to profit. Therefore, no glory may be won; for there is no good to fight for. The most a hero can do is lead his tribe through a sea of red ink away from the slavery of moral bankruptcy.
As such, the film is an eerie reverberation of McLuhan’s creed that Satan is a great electrical engineer. The Stark panoply extends and assimilates. A ‘Tinman’ trope cursed to continually hack off whatever makes him human and artificially replace it – till he carves out his own heart. Iron Man is a sardonic inversion of John Stuart Mill’s philosophy that art determines ends; while science supplies means. Technology is a full metal straitjacket. A heart-piercing, soul-spiking iron maiden. A velvet fist manacled in an iron glove – raised in dead-weight anger against itself. A shrapnel-ridden heart rusted on to anomic armour. The man in the iron mask suffers a secret identity crisis. Unmasked he is us.
With the motto ‘Empowering Women To Shine’, Fernwood Women’s Health Club Belconnen, Gungahlin & Canberra City has launched the community initiative – the Venus Program, to help enrich the lives of women who face challenging life circumstances.
The Fernwood Venus Program is a 10 week program of learning and self discovery, providing women in the local community with the knowledge and support to become more self reliant and enabling them to make positive changes in their lives.
Supported by the Fernwood Team and the Gungahlin Child and Family Centre, the women will be encouraged to set realistic goals, complete a 10 week exercise program, and examine areas of their lives which can be improved. The program provides practical tools to help the women in everyday life, covering topics such as stress management, self esteem, health & beauty, diet and exercise, managing home finances and returning to work or study.
The focus in the first five weeks is on self-reflection and encouragement, with structured activities in both the workshop and training sessions, whilst the remaining five weeks covers self- management and moving forward.
Participants will also have access to their local Fernwood Women’s Health Club outside of the program and will be encouraged to use their club’s facilities.
The Fernwood Venus Program was rolled out in approximately 40 clubs across Australia in early 2007, with the pilot program 1st launched in Fernwood Gungahlin in late 2006.
Franchisee Kellie Toohey has been operating the clubs for 4 years on the northside of Canberra which currently has in excess of 3000 members and over 100 employees. Kellie and her Clubs have been recognized for working with the community and providing many memberships to help schools & non-profit organizations raise money.
Fernwood Women’s Health Clubs was established in 1989 as a single club in Bendigo, Victoria. Today, with over 70 health clubs across Australia, Fernwood is the largest women’s only health club in Australia, with more than 80,000 members, 2,275 employees, and an annual turnover in excess of $75 million.
For further information call the club on 1300FERNWOOD, or visit the website at: www.fernwoodfitness.com.au
The Government must come clean about which Australian banks are in danger of collapsing, instead of using taxpayer money to prop them up behind the scenes.
The Federal Government’s $62 billion Future Fund, comprised of three years of budget surpluses (taxpayer funds gouged by the rising GST charge on skyrocketing prices for food and fuel, but not spent on hospitals, schools or infrastructure), and chaired by former banker David Murray, injected $2 billion into Australia’s ailing banks between January and April.
It has now poured another $500 million into the deeply troubled ANZ Bank—the bank which lost nearly $1 billion on margin lender Opes Prime, and whose credit crisis has forced it to rethink financing for major projects like the Tasmanian pulp mill.
The Australian public deserve to know what the Government knows about which banks are in danger of collapse, before those banks go under and take the hard-earned savings of Australians with them.
Add this blatant taxpayer bailout via the Future Fund, to the recent announcement by Commonwealth Treasurer Wayne Swan of a scheme to establish a government-guarantee for up to $20,000 in depositors’ funds in banks, and Rabobank advertising itself as “Australia’s safest bank”—you know the banks are in crisis.
Instead of allowing the banking fraternity to coordinate their own secret bailout using taxpayers’ money in the Future Fund, the Government should implement the CEC’s Homeowners and Bank Protection Bill (HBPB).
The HBPB will stop homeowners, farmers and tenants from losing their homes, and protect depositors by stopping any banks from collapsing, by putting those banks under federal protection and regulation, and reorganising their toxic balance sheets through massive write-downs of their unpayable debt and inflated assets.
It is modelled on the Homeowners and Bank Protection Act put forward by Lyndon LaRouche in the United States, and supported by numerous local and state governments, which itself is based on measures used by US President Franklin Roosevelt in the Great Depression to stop a banking collapse.
LaRouche is the world’s most accurate economic forecaster. His forecast of a 1923 Weimar Germany-style hyperinflationary blowout of the world’s monetary system is unfolding in front of our eyes: banks in America, Britain and Australia are failing, millions of families are losing their homes, and the world food shortage underscores the severity of the world’s physical economic breakdown crisis.
The issue is whether the Government will act in the interests of the people, in a transparent way, through the HBPB, or continue to be an agent for private banking interests to use taxpayers’ funds to bail themselves out.
Join the CEC’s campaign for the HBPB, to make sure the common good of the people prevails. Click here http://www.cecaust.com.au/hbpa/ for more detail.
The Bend (2008) From ''Louisiana'' series. (2008) (edition of 3). Palladium prints. 60cm x 70cm. Courtesy of the artist.
MORE TRAVEL FOR YOU ART – SIGANTO SCHOLARSHIP NOW $10 000!
Dreaming of attending the 2009 Venice Biennale? Is there a residency overseas you’d love to be a part of? Wanting to exhibit at the New York International Art and Design Fair? Well here’s your chance!
The Siganto Travel Scholarship is a biennial bursary providing professional development opportunities through travel, open to emerging practitioners in the fields of visual arts, craft and design.
Awarded every two years, the Scholarship provides funds for the purpose of undertaking travel that will support an individual’s career development. Examples of projects funded by the Scholarship include attendance at international conferences, residencies and master classes, and international research projects required to access resources unavailable in Australia.
Applications close 5pm, Friday 8 August 2008. To download the application form visit www.artworkers.org
Hello and welcome again to your Weekly Wot’s Wot in Folkus & around the traps…
ed….
One of the best shows thus far at The Folkus Room last week. Harry Manx & Yeshe Reiners and over 300 VERY satisfied customers….. Be sure you stay tuned, there’s lots more quality to come….. or just turn up. There’s ALWAYS quality at The Folkus Room
INDEX
1. This Week in Folkus
2. Next Week in Folkus
3. Parish Notices
4. The Comics
5. Sport
1.
This Week In Folkus – TWO BIG SHOWS one Dance; one Concert and they’re BEST quality to the core …
The Folkus Room, (operates out of The Serbian Cultural Centre & Club) 5 Heard St. MAWSON ACT .. eastern side of Southlands Centre and just off Athllon Drive.. CHECK OUT OUR NEW MAPS PAGE…. just go to www.thefolkus.org.au and follow the links
Thursday 12 June .. That’s TONIGHT folks ADMISSION $20/$15….. Doors and Bistro from 6.00pm
from 9.00pm Gaelic Storm Direct from USA and the North Atlantic (they survived the Titanic)
PLUS From 8.00pm Owen Campbell He’s becoming Titanic!
2. …….
Next Week In Folkus … MORE GREAT AFFORDABLE LIVE ENTERTAINMENT
Friday 20 June … Richard Leschen (NZ) plus Bill McCarthy
3.
Parish Notices…….. who said Canberra hibernates in winter????
3a. The Folkus Room is offering annual subscriptions. … WE NEED YOU!
3b. Applications now open for the 2009 National Folk Fellowship. Closing date 30 June 2008 Established and emerging practitioners across music, dance and the spoken word can apply to research original folklore materials in the National Library that will lead to a performance at the 2009 Festival. Fellows receive: • special access to research facilities and collections • access to the Library’s professional sound recording studios • support for travel, accommodation and living expenses up to $8000 “We really wanted to build on the Irish tradition in its unique Australian context. We’ve found exciting repertoire for years to come!” Ben Stephenson and Adrian Barker, 2006 National Folk Fellows. … Dr Ronald McCoy, 2008 Folk Fellowship winner, describes his Fellowship as a “life-changing experience” and an opportunity to develop his folk music passion. His project on 150 years of Gaels in Australia and the program of his concert at the 2008 National Folk Festival is available at http://www.nla.gov.au/grants/nat-folk-fellowship/former-folk-fellows.html Find out more and apply online at http://www.nla.gov.au/grants/nat-folk-fellowship/ or phone 02 6262 1196
3c. Arlo Guthrie is in Canberra on Friday 13 June – TOMORROW NIGHT at The Canberra Southern Cross Club. There are still a few seats left…. phone 02 6283 7200 for bookings
3d. The notice with depth & C21…. The Battlefield Band, Tuesday 24 June at The Burns Club Kambah ACT 7.30pm bookings (02) 6296 2425
3e. for more info about Canberra LIVE! …. http://www.loadedog.com/?page_id=132
4.
Department of Water representative stopped at a farm and talked with an old farmer. He told the farmer, ‘I need to inspect your farm for your water allocation.’ The old farmer said, ‘OK , but don’t go in that field over there.’ The Water representative said, ‘Mister, I have the authority of the Federal Government with me. See this card? The card means I am allowed to go WHEREVER I WISH on any agricultural land. No questions asked or answered. Have I made myself clear? Do you understand?’ The old farmer nodded politely and went about his farm chores. Later, the old farmer heard loud screams and saw the Water Rep running for the fence and close behind was the farmer’s huge-horned prize bull. The bull was gaining on the Water Rep with every step. The Rep was clearly terrified, so the old farmer immediately threw down his tools, ran to the fence and shouted out….. ‘Your card! Your card! Show him your card!
the pome’s a long one today but I think it’s worth giving and that you deserve to have it …
Ode to Clothes
Every morning you wait,
clothes, over a chair,
to fill yourself with
my vanity, my love,
my hope, my body.
Barely
risen from sleep,
I relinquish the water,
enter your sleeves,
my legs look for
the hollows of your legs,
and so embraced
by your indefatigable faithfulness
I rise, to tread the grass,
enter poetry,
consider through the windows,
the things,
the men, the women,
the deeds and the fights
go on forming me,
go on making me face things
working my hands,
opening my eyes,
using my mouth,
and so,
clothes,
I too go forming you,
extending your elbows,
snapping your threads,
and so your life expands
in the image of my life.
In the wind
you billow and snap
as if you were my soul,
at bad times
you cling
to my bones,
vacant, for the night,
darkness, sleep
populate with their phantoms
your wings and mine.
I wonder
if one day
a bullet
from the enemy
will leave you stained with my blood
and then
you will die with me
or one day
not quite
so dramatic
but simple,
you will fall ill,
clothes,
with me,
grow old
with me, with my body
and joined
we will enter
the earth.
Because of this
each day
I greet you
with reverence and then
you embrace me and I forget you,
because we are one
and we will go on
facing the wind, in the night,
the streets or the fight,
a single body,
one day, one day, some day, still. ……………. Neftali Ricardo Reyes Basoalto (Pablo Neruda)
Stay Well & Truly Silly Gentle Folk
Bill Arnett
The Folkus Room
Canberra’s Acoustic Preference
61-2-62627265
0407 434 469
"No Strangers Come Here – Just Friends We Have Not Yet Met"
It was announced that the fireworks were not to be sold to the public until Friday, 6 June 2008, before the Queen’s Birthday long weekend.
Tuggeranong Hyperdome began selling the fireworks on Thursday, 5 June 2008, upstairs, near Coles, before the long weekend.
On the Thursday night news it was also announced that the fireworks were not to be let off, until Saturday 7 June 2008 to Sunday 8 June 2008, of the long weekend, from 5pm – 9pm.
On Friday, 6 June 2008, there was already a frightened dog, running around my street, uncontrolled and confused, from the fireworks exploding, which followed me around from Belconnen to Tuggeranong.
For several years, bungers were announced to be illegal.
It appears that everyone was selling illegal bungers to the public.
The fireworks commenced before 5pm on the weekend, with the bungers exploding after midnight.
It was like World War 3 had started.
My house shook from the explosions.
Fireworks can still be heard, as usual, repeating the same negligence, with no regard to the laws, that occurs each year, every June long weekend.
Apart from the fireworks causing pollution, hospitals, emergency, and doctors surgeries, always end up with extra patients, that they really don’t need, and can’t cope with, vets end up with more injured pets, that otherwise would be avoided, with CARA and the dog shelter, and even my group, also having to assist with the frightened, lost, injured and confused animals.
Last year the fire brigade had extra fires they had to extinguish, caused by the fireworks, and yet the stanhope government still refused to ban the fireworks for 2008.
Fireworks are labelled ‘dangerous goods’, how is it possible, to allow fireworks to be sold to the public.
The ACT government may as well just sell the bombs to the public, and be done with it.
2009 should see the end of Word War 3 – fireworks.
Wildlife Carers Group, caring for, and helping the community.
Please sign this petition www.gopetition.com/petitions/reinstate-our-act-kangaroos.html to reinstate our ACT native Eastern Grey Kangaroos onto the ACT Rehabilitation Licence for full term rehabilitation of sick, injured, orphaned native Eastern Grey Kangaroos, noting the fact that the ACT is the only state in Australia, that does not allow the full term rehabilitation of our sick, injured, orphaned Native Eastern Grey Kangaroos, which are acts of animal cruelty. PLEASE HELP SPREAD THE WORD.
On 10/6/08 – Discussions with defence disclosed where the research kangaroos are.
On 6/6/08, we visited the bnts site. The newly erected fences had not been dismantled, however, the hessian has been removed. There was no sign of the inappropriately, inumanely invasively collared research kangaroos.
Update – BNTS site visit on 2/5/08, More information on www.geocities.com/wildlife_carers_group/, Click on the news panel. We have succeeded in getting the stanhope government to back down for now, with some of the newly erected fences finally dismantled, although, on 25/4/08, upon inspecting the site, it appeared as though other fences have been erected, once again depriving some of our roos from water, and fresher feed, therefore, to secure the proposed Kangaroo Park and Wildlife Sanctuary, by WCG, please keep signing our petition and Click on http://gopetition.com/petitions/save-all-the-kangaroos.html to sign our petition individually, (29/5/08 – the innocent almost all cruelly and unnecessarily massacred) to save ALL our kangaroos PLEASE, and send it onto your family, friends, co workers, mailing list, etc. post it onto your websites, and (CURRENT) www.gopetition.com/petitions/reinstate-our-act-kangaroos.html to reinstate our ACT native Eastern Grey Kangaroos onto the ACT Rehabilitation Licence for full term rehabilitation of sick, injured, orphaned native Eastern Grey Kangaroos, noting the fact that the ACT is the only state in Australia, that does not allow the full term rehabilitation of our sick, injured, orphaned Native Eastern Grey Kangaroos, which are acts of animal cruelty. PLEASE HELP SPREAD THE WORD.
Support WCG. WCG is an independent, non profit, non government community based charity providing animal/wildlife care, rescue/rehabilitation and is also an animal/wildlife welfare group, providing protection for our wildlife/animals, run solely by volunteers, with no government funding. WCG relies on donations from the public in order to carry out its work. If you would like to make a donation to WCG, please send a cheque/money order made payable to Wildlife Carers Group Inc. to PO Box 3509, Weston Creek. ACT. 2611. AUSTRALIA. or contact us by email [email protected] or mobile: 0406 056 099 to discuss other alternatives. Thank you for all your support.
Aims and Objectives: To promote the general welfare and continued survival of native fauna and flora as an essential element of the environment, and specifically to undertake the specialised care necessary for the rehabilitation of orphaned, sick and injured native birds and other animals, to promote public awareness of the need to conserve existing wildlife species, and an understanding of their particular habitat and feeding requirements.
Support WCG. Become a WCG MEMBER, VOLUNTEER, WILDLIFE CARER, download the m/ship form from www.geocities.com/wildlife_carers_group/ and join up. Thank you for all your support.
Disclaimer: WCG and the author do not assume or accept any responsibility and shall not be liable for the accuracy or appropriate application of the information contained in this letter/email.
Did you enjoy the fireworks around Canberra over the long weekend? Or was Canberra like a war zone for you?
Was your dog inside or outside at night over the long weekend? Chances are it may have joined more than fifty others roaming the streets or at the RSPA shelter. Letters in “The Canberra Times’ today indicate opposing views on the issue of legal fireworks in Canberra.
One person, whose car windscreen was shattered by fireworks taped to it, reported feeling like he was in a war zone. Mailboxes and postboxes were also blown up by vandals. Not surprisingly, many Canberra residents feel that permitting anyone to access fireworks legally between certain hours spells trouble, and leads to irresponsible behaviour.
Others argue that people should stop complaining about people having harmless fun, and keep their dogs inside (‘what do they do with their dog when there is a thunderstorm?’)
As usual, there is tension between advocates of rights and/or responsibilities in this debate. The majority acts sensibly and respects the safety and comfort of others, but a minority appears to take liberties with this privilege, to the point of impinging on other people’s (and animals’) freedom. This dilemma repeats itself over and over in our democratic system. Often, no-one is particularly pleased with the end result.
Frequently, there are three courses of action. Public education, regulation with penalty, (from restricted hours and access to a total ban on the activity), and pricing/taxing.
In the case of fireworks, it is unlikely that public education in schools or via media campaign has been given much attention. The ACT government is currently regulating the access to certain age groups and the occasion and hours when fireworks can be legally used. ? It appears that the ACT Government is now considering a total ban.
However, as far as I know there is no requirement to inform your neighbours when and where you intend to let the fireworks off. Perhaps this would be a next step in the regulation process, and monitored where possible by Neighbourhood Watch or Suburban Policing. This could in some cases lead to local community involvement with a fireworks display, giving people an opportunity to get to know each other and show care for one another by respecting the needs of dog owners and young children frightened by the loud noises. As Healthy Neighbourhoods Project officer, I am always looking for ways to foster closer ties between neighbours. Could the next Queens Birthday long weekend be a chance for the Canberra community to find ways of celebrating together, rather than blowing us further apart and causing concern and conflict
If you have any concerns or tensions with your neighbours, feel free to contact Conflict Resolution Service on 6162 4050 for dispute counseling, referral or mediation.
Fiona McIlroy
Healthy Neighbourhoods Officer
June 10 2008
Did you enjoy the fireworks around Canberra over the long weekend? Or was Canberra like a war zone for you?
Was your dog inside or outside at night over the long weekend? Chances are it may have joined more than fifty others roaming the streets or at the RSPA shelter. Letters in “The Canberra Times’ today indicate opposing views on the issue of legal fireworks in Canberra.
One person, whose car windscreen was shattered by fireworks taped to it, reported feeling like he was in a war zone. Mailboxes and postboxes were also blown up by vandals. Not surprisingly, many Canberra residents feel that permitting anyone to access fireworks legally between certain hours spells trouble, and leads to irresponsible behaviour.
Others argue that people should stop complaining about people having harmless fun, and keep their dogs inside (‘what do they do with their dog when there is a thunderstorm?’) As usual, there is tension between advocates of rights and/or responsibilities in this debate. The majority acts sensibly and respects the safety and comfort of others, but a minority appears to take liberties with this privilege, to the point of impinging on other people’s (and animals’) freedom. This dilemma repeats itself over and over in our democratic system. Often, no-one is particularly pleased with the end result.
Frequently, there are three courses of action. Public education, regulation with penalty, (from restricted hours and access to a total ban on the activity), and pricing/taxing. In the case of fireworks, it is unlikely that public education in schools or via media campaign has been given much attention. The ACT government is currently regulating the access to certain age groups and the occasion and hours when fireworks can be legally used. ? It appears from comments reported in today’s Canberra Times that the ACT Government is now considering a total ban.
However, as far as I know there is no requirement to inform your neighbours when and where you intend to let the fireworks off. Perhaps this would be a next step in the regulation process, and monitored where possible by Neighbourhood Watch or Suburban Policing. This could in some cases lead to local community involvement with a fireworks display, giving people an opportunity to get to know each other and show care for one another by respecting the needs of dog owners and young children frightened by the loud noises. As Healthy Neighbourhoods Project officer, I am always looking for ways to foster closer ties between neighbours. Could the next Queens Birthday long weekend be a chance for the Canberra community to find ways of celebrating together, rather than blowing us further apart and causing concern and conflict If you have any concerns or tensions with your neighbours, feel free to contact Conflict Resolution Service on 6162 4050 for dispute counseling, referral or mediation.
2008 NATIONAL JUNIOR HANDBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS TO BE HELD IN SYDNEY
The Australian Handball Federation [AHF] is pleased to announce that the 2008 National Junior Handball Championships will be held in Sydney during 27 – 29 June 2008 at the Valentine Park Sports Complex, Glenwood.
This year, the tournament will be have a “State of Origin” flavour with participants from New South Wales and Queensland only, due to the recent discontinuance of Victoria’s membership.The teams will contest for titles in U18 Women, U21 Women, U18 Men and U21 Men divisions.The AHF is also pleased to note that both states are fielding two teams in the U18 Men division.
U18 Women
U21 Women
U18 Men
U21 Men
NSW
NSW
NSW A
NSW
QLD
QLD
QLD A
QLD
NSW B
QLD B
AHF President Alex Gavrilovic will take on the role of Competition Manager.He will be supported by the Tournament Committee comprised of officers and members of the New South Wales Handball Association.
The updated International Handball Federation rules will be applied during the competition.
Apart from determining the Champion Handball State, the tournament is an important vehicle for players to showcase their handball skills as a basis for possible selection in national teams which will be participating in national and international tournaments during the 2008-09 handball season.
For further information, please contact the AHF Media & Public Relations Officer, Violi Calvert thru email: [email protected]. or by phone: + 61 408 22 77 94.
In September 2007, I decided to go on exchange at Tsinghua University in Beijing to further my Chinese language skills. I chose to go on exchange because I believed it would significantly improve my language skills by living in a Chinese-speaking environment. I also wanted to experience something new and exciting that would take me out of my comfort zone. Whilst I had visited Beijing numerous times before exchange, it was always as a tourist. In fact, in all my life, I had never lived away from home let alone in a non-English speaking country. It would certainly be a whole new experience for me.
Initially I had some misgivings for I did not know anyone at Tsinghua University and I experienced some difficulty whilst getting checked into a dorm. The arrangement was that I would be provide with a room, however, when I arrived a week before the semester began, I was horrified to learn there were no rooms left. It was only until 11.30pm at night that the administrative staff realised I was from Melbourne University and a room was already booked for me. As a result, my first day in Beijing was largely spent in panic. To make matters worse, if that was even possible, I was swindled in my second week by a man fixing my bicycle who charged forty times the price of the retail bicycle part. These mishaps really made me question the benefits of exchange.
However, exchange proved to be a significant learning experience for me and I soon learnt to laugh at my misfortunes in Beijing. At first, I was absolutely furious with the bicycle swindler. Yet, in time I could laugh at my own stupidity for spending money on a bicycle part that was more than the cost of my bicycle. I learnt that though there were many swindlers around Beijing, there were also kind people, those who helped me pay for a parcel to send when I was short of cash. I also learnt how to be more accommodating and compromising. I suppose one has to when there were only three toilets, including two squat toilets, on a floor of about twenty-five girls. Sharing a room with my eccentric roommate who took photographs of all the handsome Korean guys on television showed me how lucky I was in Melbourne to have a room of my own, without having to worry about when to get changed or when to switch off lights or even when to wake up in the morning. Exchange made me appreciate what I used to take for granted in Australia.
Spending so much time in China, it was inevitable that I learnt the ways and habits of Chinese, eventually adopting them as my own. I learnt, as the Chinese do, to be aggressive and competitive on the roads. Riding a bicycle in Beijing can be a traumatic experience as bicycles share the same lanes as buses, so it is not difficult to imagine the chaos that eventuates when buses wish to stop, and there are cyclists. Towards the end of my semester in Beijing, I learnt to ring my bell right back at the buses who honked me to get out of the way. I also became aware that gaining weight in Beijing is to be expected as I mastered the art of eating copious amounts of food as the Chinese do, with huge bowls of rice accompanied by meat and vegetables. Additionally, I learnt that when one going out with Chinese people for dinner, and feeling as if I would burst from the amount of food I ate, the Chinese would still claim I had not eaten enough and then force me to wolf down the rest of the food on the table. Furthermore, I found out that the lacks of queues in China are a way of life, and pushing to get to the front is the norm. And if you need to ask a Chinese how long it will take to get to a destination, it is best not to wholeheartedly rely on their response, for when a Chinese person says a place is “not far” to walk, it really means a good twenty to thirty minutes walk.
Moreover, I found that my Chinese really did improve. Using Chinese everyday was such a new experience for me. Not only were all my classes conducted in Chinese, but I also had to use Chinese a great deal outside of class. Meeting Chinese, French, German, Korean and Japanese friends at Tsinghua where Chinese was our only common language greatly improved my Chinese speaking skills. It was strange speaking Chinese almost every waking hour, even to a great deal of English speaking people as they often did not understand me due to my apparently thick Australian accent. This was a nightmare at first; for there were many times I did not know the word in Chinese and made a fool of myself. However, gradually I felt that my Chinese vocabulary was expanding, even learning some Chinese slang. I learnt that when a guy says he is an “airport” in Chinese, it means he is probably very sleazy because lots of girls like to land on him. When someone asks “how many second milk cars do you own?” it means “how many mistresses do you have”. I even learnt how to use the Chinese term for “add oil”, which is equivalent to saying “go” in English. This could be used in almost any situation. When someone is struggling to finish their food you can say “jia you”. When someone is losing in a sports game, you can say “jia you”. When someone is struggling to get up, take a test you can say “jia you”. The real indication that my Chinese had improved was the fact that Chinese shop owners did not feel quite so inclined to swindle me. It was evident that I was no longer the ignorant international student when the item I had bargained long and hard for was practically thrown at me.
Subsequently, I found studying Chinese in Beijing a truly valuable experience. I made so many friends from all around the world, people who I want to meet again, and learnt Chinese in such a way that would not have been possible in Australia. I may have had times when I questioned why I had decided to go on exchange, but the kind hearted man who paid for a portion of my parcel when I was short of cash certainly cancelled out the bike swindler. I believe going on exchange has made me more compassionate about other people’s cultures and customs. It is ironic that at the beginning of my semester in Tsinghua I was counting down the days until when I would return to Melbourne, yet by the end, I was planning when I could return to Beijing. As a tourist I liked the sites, beauty and people of Beijing, but as a student, I loved it.
Do relationships conducted via the internet differ from relationships in the face-to-face world?
The researchers of the University of Sydney are currently investigating how relationships formed over the internet differ from those formed offline. Our study requires participants to engage in interactions either online or offline for approximately one hour a week over the duration of 5 weeks.
We are seeking individuals to participate in the study. They must:
Be aged 18 years and over to participate in the study
Be native English speakers or early bilinguals (having spoken English by the age of 5 years).
Lucy Baker is Canberra’s very own Suburban Shaman, and she’s on a mission. Like Steve Irwin before her, she’s on a trajectory to introduce a new way of thinking about and interacting with the world. This time, it’s our connection to the spirit world that will be demystified and explored, giving those in the audience a glimpse of their own subconscious connection to the other side, and to their own innate spiritual wisdom. A former Indigo child, Lucy is renowned for her grounded and humorous ability to connect with spirit energies and share knowledge in shamanic ways that allows others to reclaim their own inner shaman. Join Lucy on an evening of adventure, and discover the keys to deepened intuition and how to advance to the easiest, most progressive part of your life.
Join Lucy at her Canberra evening of The Suburban Shaman series of nationwide presentations on Thursday 3rd July, 2008, Albert Hall. Tickets are $45 and can be purchased by calling 6160 8690.