Poke! Video time: Poop Splash Elimination; Cosmic rays; Children's thought about 9/11 (9th September 2011)

As you may know, I watch YouTube A LOT. I have a couple of favourite YouTubers as well. But after their mostly daily vlogs that I watched from my subscription box, I found myself stranded in the YouTube desert where I crave for more YouTube videos!

But to fulfil the spirit of journalism, I have picked only something that is information, or something that you can learn from it. Not just those random funny (boring?) prank videos. Just like why I chose the name for this section, "Poke", I want these handpicked videos can give you a little poke at your brain, make you think, make you learn.

So today, I will present to you, 3 of my favourite picks today!

Poop Splash Elimination

This video shows you how to prevent the so-called Poop Splash that happens all the time when you drop your load. It's pretty basic actually, and I couldn't believe how easy it takes to solve this every day issue!

Are cosmic rays causing global warming? (And the flaws of cross referencing)

Is this really true that the science journal published earlier about the effect of cosmic rays is the main reason why the climate is changing so dramatically during this century? The answer might not be as straightforward as you might think.

Children post 9/11

From tonight's 6:30, A group of 10-year-old children shared their thoughts and feelings towards 9/11 attack during the year they were born. See how their interesting point of view about terrorism and muslim extremism, and their solutions to end all wars. Sometimes I just hope it is the children who governs the country.

D.

Poke! Cybercrime-fight costly; alternative ways to process asylum seekers?; Racist Goad Coast (8th September 2011)

Cybercrime fighting cost Australia over $4.5 billion last year [AM | ABC]

An astonishing cost has been put into fighting cybercrime in Australia, and it was as much as burglary and assault. This deemed to be a very serious problem happening on the Internet. Even though there are not strict regions for the web, people in Australia are impacted by the severe crime happening on the Internet. Since countering this kind of crime associates with a large productivity and time, not to mention other factors like people's responsibility to behave when surfing the web, as well as the government and companies attitude towards the size of the severity, it indicate we have to change and we have to act to avoid being a victim of a crime like this. They suggest users to install Anti-virus and firewalls to safeguard their computers. Aside from blaming the end-users, software companies should also keep on alert if there are any flaws and holes in their softwares and applications, this helps prevent hackers and criminals gain benefits from this mistakes companies have made beforehand.

Allowing Nauru and Manus offshore processing, while Tony Abbott disses "Malaysian solution" [The Australian]

I might be off about this one since I still don't really understand the complexity of this asylum seeker issue, but the coalition has considered they would allow asylum seeker processing on Nauru and Manus Island. However, the Malaysian solution as rejected by the High Court are still being on hiatus. Julia Gillard, while coming back from the Pacific Islands Forum in New Zealand earlier, will have to take charge of the unsolved mess as it is predicted that more asylum seeker will be arrived in the coming few days. But in the same time if we simply ban offshore processing for asylum seekers, the detention centres in Australia will soon be full and quickly overwhelmed. The article also mentioned about officials warning of unrest happening in the UK and Paris, where they processed asylum seeker differently from Australia, which could damage the support of multiculturalism.

Gold Coast business leader warns about 'Racism' threatening Chinese tourist boom [Courier Mail]

While Gold Coast is having a blast as a lot of Chinese tourists are visiting them, the chairman of Gold Coast Tourism has warned that locals "still need to overcome some of the feeling about having a lot of Asians in our city." Seeing Chinese tourists are apparently conquering places all over the world, and during these times, some people might think the Chinese are too much too handle. Sure, that would be racist if you try to ignore them, or even not providing service whenever tourists ask for it. But the consequence might be Chinese tourists being treated as crap. If they have a bad impression of Gold Coast, they probably won't come again and won't recommend to their friends. Slowly, the visitors count will slide down, and apparently, as a tourist city, Gold Coast cannot lose this chance. But even as a Chinese myself I think Chinese tourist are just a bunch of obnoxious people. Some of them are doing outrageous things in the public, like yelling and spitting, I've heard someone brought their kids to the sink and do their business there back in Hong Kong's Disneyland! I've seen plenty of them back in Hong Kong, so I don't really have a good impression to them as well.

D.

Focus: Lecture - Commercial Media

The topic for this week's lecture is commercial media. Well, as I came here from Hong Kong for the first day, I have already noticed difference between Hong Kong and Australia. The varieties of televisions, newspaper and radio channels are completely refreshing to me. For the first few weeks I have totally no idea on what time does the news starts, and what other interesting "content" does all those TV channels have. That took me quite a time to adjust and understand.

Australian media in a glimpse - Both commercial and public media

But in this lecture, I think our main focus is not about comparing which TV show is better, or which channel has more viewers. As a journalism student, we need to know the landscape of Australian media, no matter it be commercial or public. As well as the purpose of commercial media: why do they exist?

To me, the first thing I found in Aussie TV channels are huge promotions of whatever kind of products sold in supermarkets and department stores. They are, obviously, advertisements. Commercial media needs profits to maintain their day-to-day operation. That means they rely on advertisements to generate revenue. The revenue will be used to produce TV programmes, buying dramas, and all sorts of things we see on the TV screen. However, their business success is based on their credibility. If there is a chance that a commercial media did something wrong and their action was discovered by the viewers, they will quickly lose audience, and soon their business will flail.

Oh, don't forget other forms of media such as newspaper and radio. They are also important parts of the media landscape in Australia, as well as magazines, websites, sports news, etc. But for me, the interesting thing about these corporations is, they do literally everything: TV, radio, digital media publishing, tele-broadcasting... you name it. They can cover almost all kinds of media available for consumers in a single umbrella company. It's really fascinating to understand all the linkages made between one magazine and a broadcasting company.

So in brief, the main players in the industry are: 

• News Limited (Courier Mail, The Daily Telegraph etc.)
• Fairfax Media (Brisbane Times, The Sydney Morning Herald etc.)
• Nine Entertainment (Channel nine, major magazines, Ticketek etc.)
• WIN corporation (regional broadcasting, including TV and radio)
• Southern Cross Broadcasting (Free-to-air TV and radio)
• Seven West Media (Channel 7, The West Australian, Yahoo!7 etc.)
• Ten (Channel Ten, ONE, 11)

Apparently, I knew too little about all of these connection in companies, and this week's lecture has shown us so much about it. Looks like one day if I have a job in a newspaper company, that means I am also work for certain different company as well, or two, or even 3. Now, how cool is that?

D.

Poke! 'Inconvenient embarrassment'?; double-death; Coles, "down down!" brainwash (7th September 2011)

Amputee runner stormed out of interview after being named 'Inconvenient embarrassment' [Brisbane Times]

Oscar Pistorius, the African amputee runner who has won a historic medal at the world championships in the 4x400m relay was having an interview with the BBC radio programme Today. He was the only person who was using a sprinter for the race and he was competing with other official runners who has healthy legs. But as Pistorius was asked about he might be considered an "inconvenient embarrassment to South African authorities and the IAAF because, effectively, you're taking them into uncharted ethical waters". He then said, "I think that's an insult to me and I think this interview is over." If someone has to bring up something so sensitive like this, I reckon the host has to at least inform their interviewee that he/she would ask a question like that. Without a common knowledge or consensus prior to the show is on-air, it is very easy to trigger statements so controversial that the interviewee like Oscar wouldn't like to hear.

Mother allegedly murder daughter, then killed herself by plunging into Story Bridge [Courier Mail]

This morning in Brisbane, a teenager girl was murdered at her Paddington residence with stab or slash wounds. Shortly after, her mother jumped off Story Bridge and killed herself. Police are investigating and the crime scene has established at their Paddington property. Early investigation has shown that both incidents may be linked but in the mean time, we don't know why the daughter was killed and the mother committed suicide. I wonder if it is the mother who killed her own daughter but according to the article it seemed quite likely.

Young students are brainwashed into Coles slaves [news.com.au]

What blasphemy. First, there comes a very annoying TV ad with people kept singing "Down, down" through the whole advertisement. That's fine, I can take it, I could just ignore it while it's on air. But here what we're going to see is completely ridiculous. A bunch of little kids at a school in Sydney were led to the school hall and were being schooled on the benefits of the promotion. Then, schools held up Coles banners and parents are counting how many Coles vouchers their kids have collect. I mean, is this school anymore? Are we trying to tell the whole purpose of shopping is to grab all the vouchers and redeem goods and groceries from them? What are they teaching kids nowadays? Rita Princi, a child and adolescent psychologist from Adelaide summed it up quite well, "What they are doing is almost a form of manipulation and is a brainwashing exercise." So true. I can't believe the major supermarket is doing something so unethical to this extend. It's just ridiculous!

D.

Poke! Sydney bomb scare; airport parking mayhem; Somalian famine (6th August 2011)

Parramatta bomb scare, father taking teenage daughter hostage [The Daily Telegraph]

After the bomb scare that happened earlier in Sydney involving an 18-year-old girl, here is another angry person who is taking her daughter as a hostage in Parramatta, Sydney. It all happened as the mid-aged man walked into a legal firm and he went on a rampage, picked up a book and threw at the reception, and said he has a bomb in his backpack. After the evacuation, the man has took her daughter hostage inside and both police and fire department are at constant standby. As of the time of writing, the police was able to get his daughter out, but the man is still remaining inside the building. I hope the daughter will be fine and hopefully the father will finally turn himself in.

Brisbane airport to force drivers to park [Courier Mail]

There will be a pickup area for drivers to pick up their relatives and friends in some time next year and it will be free for a period of parking time. The purpose of it is mainly allow commuters to pick up travellers and to give them a chance to not parking, which usually the thing people hate when they are just staying at airport for a short period of time but they still need to pay for the fee. The airport has some of the highest carparking fees in the country, particularly for long-term parking, and people are trying to request for a pickup or a drop-off area for them. I mean, it's a welcoming chance, however I just couldn't fathom how awful much the airports around the world can generate revenue from car parks, it's just mind-boggling!

Famine makes 100 children die each day due to starvation [Courier Mail]

The United Nation says the famine now spreading across the eastern African is causing more than 100 children die of starvation. A very depressing article about the impact of famine and mass starvation. Not only they couldn't save themselves from it, seemed like the help given are not in its full effect. In the same time, there are also security concerns for the aids as there are gunmen raiding at the resource collection point with thieving. People in the first world country should take a note about this while enjoying their gourmet meals.

UPDATE: The hostage has now ended after the daughter was first rescued by police and later the man has finally taken into custody after a day long siege.

D.

Focus: How low is your balcony railing?

If you've read the news, you would've known there has been several deaths that happened around the balcony area, including the one that happened at my apartment building. So last night, I went to my balcony and took a look at the concrete balustrade of my unit. I measured the height of it and it was surprising low. It measured around 1.5 metres and seemed like I can climb easily over it. Well, I am not really tall, but if a guest who is very tall came by my place, I would certainly advise him/her not to get too close to the edge.

Balconies are quite high from the ground.

In light of this, I've spent some time investigating about how high should a fence like this should be, and the potential hazard of not following the guidelines given by the authorities.

According to my research, there are currently no requirements of legal heights for balcony railings and barriers. Besides of that, there appeared to be also no successful court case that suggest a legal height should be set by authorities. However, some suggestions by others say that the height of a balustrade or barrier should not be less than 1 metre above the floor the barrier is sitting on, or more than 4 metres where a person is able to fall through an open window.

Seeing how loose the government is controlling the last barrier of life, the balustrade of my apartment seemed to suit the suggestions of a potential hazardous balcony for people.

I live in here.

As I mentioned before, the balustrade of my apartment unit was 1.5 metres high and it's made with concrete. No round corners or railings. But that's only the case for lower-level compartments: the ground and the first level to be exact. After these 2 levels however, the barriers are built with glass with metal frames on it. With the handrail sticking together with the glass fence underneath, it is quite a horrible scene for people who are afraid of height to go out and have some drinks with friends. Plus the handrail, as I look at it from the outside, it was round, polished and smooth. Compared to what I have at my unit, which is rough, rigid and squared. I believe from what I've heard from the police that night, the person was fell onto the ground from the 2nd floor. And since there are 2 sides of the building: the front side has a platform at ground floor, and the backdoor side ends at the lower ground level. I would assume the fall would be fatal for the person who fell from the back side the the building, which if counted from the lower ground level, it's at least 15 metres high.

I didn't know exactly which unit the person was in during that night, but I couldn't believe that someone would fall off as easy as that. I reckon the smooth polished railings might be one of the causes.

According to the news article that updated with more detailed information about the incidents happened at Riverfire night, this person lost his balance, fell from his back and plunged three storeys into his death. Such a tragic death that could have been avoided.

Since there are currently no regulations regarding to the legal heights of the barriers at balconies, I believe residents who own a house or apartment unit should take note of the safety issues, especially with recent trend of high-rising apartments.

People who are living in the house, especially children, would easily fall for victim as they may get their head, arms or legs caught in the space between balustrade openings. The gaps between openings are also a cause that leads to falling, as children can fit in them very easily.

For adults, I believe they should always be aware of how high it is from the balcony and the ground. Make sure you beware of that because one would do something foolish if they don't have a sense on how close they are from the balcony's edge and for example, the planking death incident happened earlier when the craze is heating on around Australia. This has to be the stupidest way to die for people who would do foolish things on balconies which ended up to their deaths. Parents should also look after children as they would run around and do anything if no one stops them. Make sure they always stay away from the edge of the balcony, or if it's better, don't allow them to enter the balcony area.

Also, I don't recommend people to drink in front of the balcony, as the alcohol will influence your sense of balance and awareness, that would defeat all the safety measures aforementioned.

As always, keep yourself alert with any dangers, no matter you are outside our at your home. Hazards are potentially everywhere. Be smart and don't be fooled or over-relying on safety measures because even though they're there in your disposal, you might not even have a chance to utilise it since you are not aware of the common sense of protecting yourself from all sort of dangers.

Sources:
Riverfire plunges [Courier Mail]
Planking death [Brisbane Times]
Balcony, Balustrades and railings safety for children [The Children's Hospital at Westmead, NSW]
Australian Standard Building Law (Warning: large PDF)



D.

Poke! More Daniel's remains?; Mining tax breaks; cloth nappies to return (5th September 2011)

BREAKING: More remains found at Daniel Morcombe's site [Courier Mail]

I think throughout my entries, I have almost 70% of news that is about this case. But please bear with me, as I followed this story very closely. But today, just hours ago, the SES volunteer search team at Beerwah has discovered yet another human remains. Again, further forensic investigation is needed for this new pile of bones to confirm if the bones are from Daniel. In the meantime, the shoes found 2 weeks ago were still undergoing testing.

Highest paid miners need tax break? [Courier Mail]

Mining industry is regarded as the highest paid industry among others, but the workers there are asking for more, apparently. They earn an average of more than $100,000 and many coal companies already supplying houses or subsidising accommodation for workers, with bonuses of $10,000 for deposits to encourage people to live locally. However, there are still a lot of job vacancies left as workers refuse to live near the mining sites permanently. So an idea is sparked that maybe people are also worrying about the tax that fly-in workers have to pay every year. They believe tax-incentive to lure workers to live permanently is better than hiring local workers adnd fly-in, fly-out workers. The Government has also demanded companies to build houses in regional Queensland to ensure there is a regular inflow of residence are going in, or the town might be soon die out. But here also lies a few issue: marriage breakdowns, social problems. I am still not in favour for the government pushing the mining boom thing full on.

New trend as parents now prefer cloth nappies [Brisbane Times]

Look at all the trendy nappies!

What did I use when I was still a tiny bugger? I don't remember. But apparently my mum said I used pretty much cloth nappies all the time, that makes me wonder why do I like those little clips so much. But using cloth nappies are such a hassle. Not only you have to wash the disgusting soiled nappies with fecal discharges, you have to either line-dry it or dump it into the dryer. But since the invention of disposable nappies, things get much easier and convenient for babies and mums, they can save up time and whenever your lovely pumpkin threw a dump in it, you just throw it away! Well, that's kind of bad for the environment, isn't it? So, recently mums are starting to reuse the old-fashioned way of treating potty problems. I think what they now do is much better as imagine how many times a baby poop, and you have to change it so many times and all the disposable nappies will end up in landfills nd multiply it by millions of babies in the world. That's a lot of nappies wasted. So, keep on the trend, I'd say! Long live the cloth nappies!

D.

Poke! Killer confessed; Daniel's bone should've been found 5 years ago; Riverfire deaths (4th September 2011)

After the craze of Riverfire, we have to come together and celebrate Father's Day! Have you expressed your love to your Dad today yet? But sad news happens every day and today I'm going to post some sad news. Sorry for ruining the mood :(

Killer of girl confessed to The Sunday Telegraph [news.com.au]

Earlier back in Sydney, a man was pleaded guilty for using a fake Facebook profile to lure a animal-loving girl into the bush for saving injured animals but instead, he killed her. The sick Christopher James Dannevig was intended to cover himself in a fake identity on Facebook and tried to meet female victims to kill. Now that he's charged and staying in jail, he wrote a letter to The Sunday Telegraph and confessed about his psychotic disorder that he's been having since 13 years old yet no one would help him with that. But things won't change even he's confessed - The girl was already dead, and he is guilty of killing a person. But anyhow we could have ourselves taught with another case of murder and the deep impact for a psychotic person on how he act his crime.

Daniel's bone just across the road 5 years ago as volunteer searched [Brisbane Times]

Same road, different side. That made a huge different on how the Daniel Morcombe case would end up. Five years ago as SES volunteers searched for Daniel as police had information of the whereabouts the boy's body has dumped. However, five years later, as the search team has found 3 bone remains of Daniel they were actually located across the other side of Steve Irwin Way. A quite haunting retrospective of the case since if the volunteers had searched the other side of the road as well back then, the case would have been progressed completely differently. The Morcombe family's lawyer, Peter Boyce, said the inquest would never have happened had Daniel's parents not pushed for it. He believed without the Morcombe parents forcing to do an inquest, the case wouldn't have come into this stage. Again, even though I've mentioned a few times before, I personally will follow the story as it develops.

Death of 2 people during annual Riverfire display [Courier Mail]

I have never been so close to a death scene, as one of the people who fell off the balcony from the apartment building was actually died at the apartment I'm currently living in. Although this is a rather minor death incident that could have happened every day, I still think this is a very tragic event as this happened so close to where I'm living. My condolences for the household.

D.