Germaine finally speaks out

There are some serious issues facing women right now.

Here are just two exercising the mind of Germaine Greer.

"Dickhead" writes headline

The Sydney Morning Herald is currently running a very poorly thought out headline to a story about a multiple drowning tragedy on NSW's south coast on their website. They will probably change it when someone complains, but in the meantime...

Indigenous Community of the Month

With a population of 2,500, Wadeye is the largest Aboriginal town and sixth largest town in the Northern Territory. The population is expected to double in the next 20 years.

First established as a mission in the 1930s, a local council body was established in 1975 in line with the Commonwealth’s policy of self-determination. The council is now essentially run by clan elders.

In 1976, the land upon which Wadeye is situated and its surrounds, was granted as Aboriginal Land under the provisions of the Aboriginal Land Rights (NT) Act.

Let's check in on how these policies are working out.

Revenge of the Rangas

Rangas have a long and (careful, language!) troubled history of persecution.

But following the landmark Ranga Sorry Day, it appears now they are getting organised.

No accounting for Kevin

In these dark and difficult days, it's good to know Australia has Kevin
Rudd, PM, crunching the numbers for us on the international
stage (see the last question):

"Did you agree with Hu that you should expedite the conclusion of the agreement in light of the global financial crisis? And what were some of the stumbling blocks, if any, that you addressed with him, could you identify and what progress did you make?

PM: That’s four questions Tony."

(BTW Get to the end to be rewarded with one of Kevin's trademark endings.)

Sounds like Kevin

The top 10 most irritating phrases according to London's Telegraph:

1 - At the end of the day
2 - Fairly unique
3 - I personally
4 - At this moment in time
5 - With all due respect
6 - Absolutely
7 - It's a nightmare
8 - Shouldn't of
9 - 24/7
10 - It's not rocket science

Enviro-fact of the Day

Growing about one third of all of Australia's food and supplying much of Adelaide's water, the Murray Darling basin faces continued drought.

To keep environmentalists happy, about 38 gigalitres of freshwater is diverted from the system every year and sent down the Snowy River. This is equivalent to 16872 Olympic swimming pools over the year or two Olympic swimming pools released per hour - most of it making the short journey back to the ocean.

You know you're (part II)

...Somalian ...Egyptian ...Moroccan ...Turkish ...Armenian ...Fijian ...Argentinian ...Vietnamese ...Jamaican ...Haitian ...Algerian ...Ugandan ...Mozambiquan ...Mexican ...Afghani ...Nepalese ...Albanian ...Cyprian ...Latvian ...Ukrainian ..Polish ...Swedish ...Finnish ...Danish ...Icelandic ...Norwegian ...Singaporean ...Thai ...Taiwanese ...Tunisian...Mauritian ...Panamanian...SriLankan ...Eritrean ...Sudanese ...Swazilander ...Tanzanian when... Swiss...Zambian ...

Highlights - from Morocco: "If you’re a girl, you’ve been harassed by random guys...". Albania: "...your parents beat the shit out of you with a tree branch." Tanzania: "Co-workers frequently walk by and casually mention that they have malaria". Fiji: "You've been given a beat down by your Father that lasted more than half an hour". Nepal: "Your are asked, 'hatti baliyo ki hatti chap chapal', you reply, 'ustai ustai ho Nanu'."

Exclusive preview - "Australia"

John Butler of the John Butler Trio (pictured) previews the much-hyped new film, "Australia".

Over to you John:

Looks like a chick film. I don't think I'll be seeing it.