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Australian Video Games





Once viewed as a fad for teens, video games have defied doubters and become an established part of the entertainment scene. Those teens grew up, and continue to play games with the same enthusiasm as they did decades earlier. All the while, new generations of Australians are joining in on the fun.


According to Business Information Analysts IBIS World the Video Games industry is set to grow by 11.9% ($433.85m) throughout 2011, making it one of the sectors to watch this year.



The video games industry is now double the size of the box office and more than 40 per cent larger than the movie disc industry in Australia







In 2008, 88% of Australian households have a device for playing computer games. Of these households, 39% have one device, 27% have two devices and 16% have three devices. 18% of game households have four or more devices for gaming. In other words, ofall Australian households, 34% have one game device, 24% have two devices, 14% have three, 16% have four or more and 12% have no game devices. The majority of installed game devices are consoles (43%), followed by PCs (39%) and handhelds (18%); however, point of sale data shows that handhelds dominated sales of new devices in 2007-2008. 90% of game households have PCs and these are used by most gamers.



The average age of computer and video game players in Australia is 30 years old.

Females make up 46% of the player population in 2008, up from 41% in 2007.

70% of parents in game households play computer and video games and 80% of these parents play them with their children. 67% of mothers and 69% of fathers agree that they play computer and video games as a way to spend time with their children. A third of parents play games with their children as a way to monitor what their children play.





Most of the world's commercial computer games are made by big international games publishers such as Electronic Arts, Sony and Vivendi Universal. Some Australian companies work with these publishers to produce games, while others are carving out their own independent niches. Australia's games production companies produce $100 million worth of games a year according to the GDAA. Analysts say this figure is growing bigger every year.




Working with top global publishers and device manufacturers, Australia’s more than 90 game development studios have won international acclaim for games such as Star Wars: the Force Unleashed and Clone Wars, Bioshock 2, Heroes of the Pacific, Rome: Total War, Flight Control and Puzzle Quest.

Felix the Cat




Felix the Cat was the most popular animated characters from the silent era. Felix the cat cartoons were made in the United States, but were produced by Australian Pat Sullivan, (born in Sydney in 1887 ) who was a film producer, and pioneer animator, produced the first sound cartoon and in 1928 had the first televised cartoon. Felix and his surreal antics were wildly popular during the 1920s.



In 1917, Pat Sullivan released a cartoon short entitled The Tail of Thomas Kat, more than two years prior to Feline Follies. Both an Australian ABC-TV documentary screened in 2004 and the curators of an exhibition at the State Library of New South Wales, in 2005, suggested that Thomas Kat was a prototype or precursor of Felix the cat.



Pat Sullivan said he named Felix the cat after Australia Felix from Australian history and literature. In 1924.

Felix the cats black body, white eyes, and giant grin, coupled with the surrealism of the situations in which his cartoons place him, combined to make Felix the cat one of the most recognized cartoon characters in film history.

Felix the cat cartoons began airing on American TV in 1953 in which they added new characters, and gave Felix a "Magic Bag of Tricks", which could assume an infinite variety of shapes at Felix's behest. The cat has since starred in other television programs and in two feature films.

Felix the cat is still featured on a wide variety of merchandise from clothing to toys.


Meteors Australites



In 1991 a meteorite named BA missed us by only 170,000 kilometres, less than half the distance to the Moon. That's about 2.3 hours flight time for the mini-asteroid, or 1.5 hours flight time for the Earth. It was the closest near miss of a meteor the Earth had ever seen. But there have been much bigger rocks which have just missed us. In March 1989 a 100 metre meteor (called 1989 FC) skimmed past at one and a half times the distance between the Earth and the Moon.




 In 1908, a fifty metre long meteor landed in Tungusta, in Siberia. It blew over all the trees for 50 kilometres around and changed the climate over the earth for several years.


Australia has about twenty known impact craters - and more are being added to the list each year.
 
 
 


The most famous one is Wolf Creek Crater (WA, 19º10'S, 127º48'E), about 130 kilometres south of Halls Creek.
The local Djaru Aboriginal people know it as Kandimalal. It was brought to the attention of science after being spotted during an aerial survey in 1947. 
It's the second most perfect crater known on the planet. The American astronauts came to train in it and to get a feel of what the moon craters would be like. It's a very grand crater, about 900 metres across, with a well-formed rim towering 25 metres over the surrounding countryside.





Henbury Craters (NT, 24º 34'S, 133º 10'E) are a collection of 14 craters, about 130 kilometres south of Alice Springs. They are scattered over an area of about one square kilometre. The craters range from 10 metres to about 73 metres across. The Aboriginal name for these craters is ''chindu chinna waru chingi yabu'' which roughly means ''sun walk fire devil rock''. They are quite young, about 15,000 years old.






Boxhole Crater (NT, 22º 37'S, 135º 12'E) is almost perfectly circular - 175 metres across, with the rim rising some 10-17 metres above the crater floor. It also was made about 30,000 years ago in Aboriginal times, about 30,000 years ago .




Gosse's Bluff (NT, 23º 50'S, 132º 18'E) is a magnificent crater. About 130 million years ago, a very fast, quite big lump rammed through our atmosphere and penetrated some 600 metres into the ground, where it vapourised and exploded. Several hundred square kilometres of countryside bounded into the air, and a mushroom cloud rose 20 kilometres into the upper atmosphere. The impact formed a huge crater 22 kilometres across.


Meteor Crater map



Tabatha Coffey hollywood





Tabatha Coffey is one of our great Aussie exports, hairstylist, salon owner, and American television personality. Her participation as a contestant on the television show, Shear Genius, led to her own television show, Tabatha's Salon Takeover, which airs on the U.S. cable television network, Bravo, and on FOXTEL's pay television network, Arena in Australia.
It is a great relief and refreshing, to hear an Aussie on American Television, actually talking like a real Aussie should. (giv meee yer keeys im takin over)



Coffey has since opened her own salon, Industrie Hair Gurus in Ridgewood, New Jersey. She also styles clients at the Warren-Tricomi salon in West Hollywood. Her approach is transformative, creating a special look for each individual, unlike other stylists who specialize in a certain look. She also works as a platform artist for hair care product company, Joico International. She tours different countries 6-12 times a year doing hair shows for the company, both to showcase her talent and to train other aspiring hairdressers.




Tabatha was asked recently, who has the best hair in Hollywood and who needs an emergency makeover.

"Kim Kardashian has the best hair," "It's lush and its gorgeous. But it's Paris Hilton I would most like to get my hands on. That look just isn't working for her anymore.




How much is too much to pay for a haircut?

Tabatha says "I think there are things that are applicable to every price range, depending on what you're comfortable paying. I think the biggest thing is happiness. And I don't think anyone minds paying for anything as long as they feel that they're getting something that makes them look great, works, lives up to its promise, and makes them really happy. I think a lot of women are dissatisfied with their hair and with the products they're using because they haven't been guided properly and they don't know what they're doing, and they feel like they're paying too much. And it's not because it's necessarily the money, it's just that they're not happy with the outcome."










Pavalova worlds best dessert






Pavlova is a easy made meringue-based dessert named after the Russian ballet dancer Anna Pavlova.

The dessert is believed to have been created in honour of the dancer either during or after one of her tours to Australia and New Zealand in the 1920s. The nationality of its creator has been a source of argument between the two nations for many years.




Pavlova is made simply by beating egg whites (and sometimes salt) to a very stiff consistency before folding in caster sugar, white vinegar, cornstarch, and sometimes vanilla essence, and slow-baking the mixture, similarly to meringue. This makes the outside of the pavlova a crisp crunchy shell, while the interior remains soft and moist.

Being polled as one of The worlds best desserts, it is a very popular dish and an important part of the national cuisine of both countries, and is frequently served during celebratory and holiday meals.






Ingredients


1 tablespoon cornflour

6 eggwhites

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 1/3 cups caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon white vinegar

200ml pure cream

Fruit of choice


Preheat oven to 200°C.



Using an electric mixer, beat eggwhites and cream of tartar in a large bowl until soft peaks form. Add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating constantly until thick and glossy. Add remaining 3 teaspoons cornflour with the last tablespoon of sugar. Fold through vanilla and vinegar.
Spoon meringue onto a tray with baking paper and dust with cornflour. Shape into a circle, with a slightly higher edge and a low centre. Reduce oven to 100°C. Bake for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours or until dry and crisp. Turn off oven and open oven door. Cool completely in oven (pavlova may sink during cooling).

Slide pavlova onto a serving plate. Spread with cream and top with bannana, passionfruit, strawberries, kiwi fruit or whatever fruit you have in the house.

Serve it up and watch the smiles!!



ACDC Aussie Band






After almost 40 years of hits, lulls and comebacks, the business of AC/DC, Australia’s biggest ever rock export, is still in commanding shape.

Scottish immigrants to Aussie icons, AC/DC and its birth began in Australia, and before that Glasgow, Scotland, where Angus and Malcolm Young, the musical core of the band , were born (in 1958 and 1953, respectively). 


 
In 1963, the Young family migrated to Sydney, Australia, where music would make its mark on the brothers.  (As a member of the Easybeats, Angus and Malcolm's older sibling, George Young, was responsible for one of Australia's first international hits, "Friday On My Mind," in 1966.  From 1974 through 2000, George and musical collaborator, Harry Vanda, produced a number of AC/DC albums including "High Voltage,," "T.N.T.," "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap," "Let There Be Rock," "If You Want Blood You've Got It," "Powerage," "'74 Jailbreak," "Who Made Who," "Blow Up Your Video," and "Stiff Upper Lip.") 
 
The origin of the band's name came from the electrical safety plate on the Young family's vacuum cleaner.




Since forming in 1973, AC/DC's high voltage rock 'n' roll has flowed out into the world via consistently sold-out concert tours and global sales totaling more than 200 million albums and counting. Sony BMG Music Entertainment's #1 best-selling catalog act worldwide,

AC/DC has sold nearly 80 million albums in the U.S. alone, making AC/DC one of the five top-selling bands in American music history.

In 1980, the band began work on a new album that would eventually become Back in Black, but Bon Scott would not live to see the project being finished. On 19 February 1980, Scott passed out in the car on the way back to friend Alistair Kinnear's house after a night of heavy drinking at the Music Machine club in London.  Pulmonary aspiration of vomit was the cause of Scott's death, and the official cause was listed as "acute alcohol poisoning" and "death by misadventure".


Following Scott's death, the band briefly considered quitting; they eventually concluded, however, that Scott would have wanted AC/DC to continue, and various candidates were considered for his replacement, including Buzz Shearman, ex-Moxy member, who was not able to join because of voice problems, ex-Back Street Crawler vocalist Terry Slesser and ex-vocalist of Slade, Noddy Holder. The remaining AC/DC members finally decided on ex-Geordie singer Brian Johnson.




The AC/DC concert – filmed at the Pavillon de Paris on 9th December 1979 – is to be released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 7th 2011 (postponed from January). The movie includes concert footage taken from the “Highway to Hell” tour as well as interviews from band members.





AC/DC: Let There Be Rock (Limited Collector's Edition) [Blu-ray]
This title will be released on June 7, 2011.


Sponge Bob Square Pants in Australia




Is Sponge Bob Square pants real?  Australian scientists have found proof of links much closer to the sea floor than with apes, with a study revealing that sea sponges like Sponge Bob Square Pants, share almost 70 percent of human genes.




Genetic sequencing of Sponge Bob Square Pants relatives from the World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef, showed the ancient marine animal shared many of its genes with humans, including a large number typically associated with disease and cancer.




Lead researcher Bernard Degnan, of the University of Queensland, said the findings "would shed light on a whole range of different things," and could lay the foundation for breakthroughs in cancer and stem cell research.





"Sponge Bob Square Pants and friends have what's considered the 'Holy Grail' of stem cells," Degnan told AFP.

Exploring the genetic function of Sponge Bob Square Pants stem cells could provide "deep and important connections" to the genes that influenced human stem cell biology, he said.

"It might actually inform the way we think about our own stem cells and how we might be able to use them in future medical applications," he said.
The study -- published in the journal "Nature" this week -- is the result of more than five years of research by an international team of scientists.
It required the extraction of "really pure DNA" from Sponge Bobs embryos (does that mean Sponge Bob Square Pants is a girl) and a complex sequencing exercise, Degnan said.

This finding confirms that Sponge Bob Square Pants is real!

"Oh" and so is Patrick!





"Who you callin pinhead?"








Cody Simpson vs Justin Beiber







Cody Simpson, our little Aussie battler is only 14 years of age and much younger than Bieber, but is already being tipped to be the next big thing.



Cody Simpson like Justin Bieber, began to record songs in his bedroom during the summer of 2009 on YouTube, performing "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz, "Cry Me a River" and "Señorita" by Justin Timberlake, "I Want You Back" by the Jackson 5, and his own songs, "One" and "Perfect.".




Cody Simpson was subsequently discovered on YouTube, by Shawn Campbell, a Grammy-nominated record producer who has produced for Jay-Z and other artists. He was signed to Atlantic Records May 15th 2010




Cody released his debut single, "iYiYi"  featuring American rapper Flo Rida on 15 May 2010. It was digitally released on 30 May 2010. The music video for "iYiYi" was released on 30 June 2010. The music video for Simpson's second single, "Summertime", was released on 20 September 2010.

Cody Simpson was born on January the 11th 1997, and is from the Gold coast, Australia. He has a brother (Tom) and a sister (Allie). Both are younger than him.


The Bieber

Justin Bieber was discovered in 2008 by Scooter Braun, who happened to come across Bieber's videos like Cody Simpson on YouTube and later became his manager. Braun arranged for him to meet with Usher in Atlanta, Georgia, and Bieber was soon signed to Raymond Braun Media Group (RBMG), a joint venture between Braun and Usher.



Famous Australians Lowitja O'Donoghue




 Lowitja O'Donoghue
One of the most admired and influential leaders in Australian history.
Lowitja has lots of charm, warmth and a great sense of humour. Those qualities are balanced by her mental strength and determination, which today, makes her one of our greatest ever Australian leaders.


Lowitja was born in 1932 in a remote Aboriginal community. In August 1932, Lowitja was a infant newly born into the Yankunjatjara tribe in the remote North-West Reserve of South Australia. Her mother was a full blood of the tribe, and her father the owner of a pastoral station which later passed into the hands of the McLachlan family. This was not a casual relationship and Lois is the youngest of five children born to the same parents.




In 1934, members of the frankly paternalistic United Aborigines' Mission visited her Yankunjatjara tribe at Indulkana, 200 miles north of Coober Pedy. They persuaded her mother it would be best for the child to be brought up at the Mission's Home for Children at Quorn. Without in any way approving such a policy, Lowitja acknowledges that she had a happy childhood there, and later at the Colebrook home at Eden Hills.

During that time, her mother did not know where her family had been taken, Lowitja was not to see her mom for 33 years.


Lowitja's first job was as a nanny looking after six kids with a family in Victor Harbor some 100 km south of Adelaide.

After a long struggle to win admission to a training hospital, Lowitja became the first black nurse in South Australia.



From 1950 to 1953 O'Donoghue worked as a nursing aide in Victor Harbor.

In 1954 Lowitja was in the first intake of unqualified students to attend the Royal Adelaide Hospital which offered good nursing career prospects. She qualified as a nurse and worked at the Royal Adelaide Hospital until 1961, being appointed a charge nurse just before leaving

She spent time with the Baptist Church working in Assam, northern India as a nurse relieving missionaries who were taking leave back in Australia.

After returning in 1962, she worked as an Aboriginal Liaison Officer with the South Australian Department of Education. She later transferred to the SA Department of Aboriginal Affairs and was employed as a Welfare Officer based mainly in the north of the state, in particular at Coober Pedy, some 200 kilometres south of her birthplace.

In 1967 Lowitja joined the Commonwealth Public Service as a junior admin officer in the Adelaide office of the newly formed Department of Aboriginal Affairs. After eight years she became the Director of the Department's office in South Australia, a senior officer position, responsible for the local implementation of national Aboriginal welfare policy.




In 1990 Lowitja was appointed Chairperson of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission a position she held until 1996.
.
In 1976, Lowitja was the first Aboriginal woman to be inducted into the new Order of Australia founded by the Labor Australian Commonwealth Government. The award was in recognition of her work in the welfare field

Lowitja was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1983, and was named Australian of the Year in 1984, for her work to improve the welfare of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. She was made a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in 1999.

Lowitja has received honorary doctorates from Murdoch University, the University of South Australia, the Australian National University, the Queensland University of Technology and Flinders University. In 2000 she was made an honorary professorial fellow at Flinders University and was a visiting fellow at Flinders University.



She is a National Patron at the The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre.

 Lowitja was inducted into the Olympic Order in 2000.

In 2005  Lowitja was made Dame of the Order of St Gregory the Great by Pope John Paul II.



Dame of the Order of St Gregory the Great





•1977 Member Order of Australia

•1982 Advance Australia Award

•1983 Commander of the Order of the British Empire

•1984 Australian of the Year

•1992 SA Great Award

•1993 Honorary Doctorate: Murdoch University, WA

•1993 Honorary Doctorate: University of South Australia, SA

•1995 Honorary Doctorate: Australian National University, ACT

•1995 Honorary Fellowship: Royal College of Nursing, Australia

•1996 Honorary Doctorate: Queensland University of Technology, Queensland

•1996 Honorary Doctorate: Flinders University of South Australia

•1998 Honorary Fellowship: Royal Australasian College of Physicians

•1998 Australian Living National Treasure

•1999 Companion of the Order of Australia

•2000 Honorary Professional Fellow: Flinders University of South Australia

•2000 Olympic Order 

And most of all a real true blue Aussie we can all be proud of !








Wild Dogs




Wild dogs are widely distributed throughout Australia.

Dead sheep, mauled wildlife, chilling howls in the day and night. That is the reality of living in wild dog country.
Imagine working your entire life to breed world class sheep only to see them torn apart by savage wild feral dogs that kill for fun, not food. That is the world of many farmers living and working in what they thought was a natural paradise in Australia.




They see wild dogs' destruction daily, and its impact on both farmers and native wild life that is eaten by feral dogs the dog trappers say are increasingly cross-bred & larger by the year. Many farmers are emotionally and financially crippled, want to sell up, or have little livestock left to make a living from.

Many feel like prisoners on their farms as they shepherd sheep the ancient way, in order to keep livestock alive.

At the same time, in unoccupied lands and areas of extensive cattle grazing, wild dogs are often tolerated, resulting in the local native animals being wiped out.

Dingoes were introduced to Australia around 4,000 years ago, gradually replacing the Thylacine as Australia's largest land predator. Domestic dogs-run-wild are dogs that have escaped, been abandoned or deliberately released over the last 200 years and have survived or bred in the wild.

On average adult wild dogs weigh between 15 and 25 kilograms. There is great variation in coat colour from sandy yellow to black, white and brindle.




They make homes in hollow logs, caves or wombat burrows. Wild dogs can hunt successfully alone or in packs depending on the type of prey. An average territory would be about 100 square kilometres depending on the available resources.
What makes things worse, is when wild dogs are removed from an area, others will gradually replace them.




The Wild Dog Barrier Fence (previously called the Dingo Barrier Fence) was first proposed in the late 1940s to protect sheep from being attacked by wild dogs. Erection, however, was not completed until the late 1950s.


Originally the graziers were responsible for maintaining the fence, but with drought and changes in the wool market it didn’t take long for the fence to fall into disrepair.

In 1982, a $3.6 million state government program commenced to rebuild almost half of the original barrier fence (2500 km of the original 5600 km). The program also realigned a large section of the fence to exclude previously protected areas in central-western and north-western Queensland. This meant the barrier fence would only provide protection from wild dogs in central-southern Queensland. The current Wild Dog Barrier Fence is the result of that program.

Today, the Wild Dog Barrier Fence is administered by the Department of Natural Resources and Mines. It is about 2500 km long and protects 26.5 million hectares of sheep and cattle grazing country.







Never approach a wild dog or call one to come to you and never tempt them with food. If you observe a wild dog, remain in a group and watch quietly from a distance. Do not touch scats as they may carry disease.

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