2 degrees in November!

Ballarat's temperature dropped to two degrees this morning, and — as seen in this picture — locals put the small amount of snow that fell to good use.

 

More crazy weather in November!

A strong blast of cold air moved into Victoria, blanketing the Alpine and Dandenong Ranges with snow. 

Extreme Weather!

Extreme weather rocked parts of Australia today — lashing Victoria's Alpine and Dandenong Ranges with heavy snowfall, and sparking fires in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. 

Winds causing problems in NSW bushfires

Thursday Nov 16 07:09 AEDT

Strong winds are again expected to pose some problems to firefighters
working to contain two fires burning in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney.

More than 150 firefighters worked through the night trying to contain one of
the fires, burning about two kilometres north of Mount Victoria which has
burnt out more than 700ha.

The blaze is burning on both sides of the Darling Causeway and crews will
spend Thursday continuing containment lines begun overnight and mopping up
burnt out areas.

The second fire is burning about five kilometres north of Blackheath and has
burnt out 100ha of parkland in inaccessible terrain.

Cool conditions are forecast, however southerly wind gusts up to 50km an
hour are expected between 6am and 3pm, making conditions difficult.

Fresh crews will replace those who worked through the night and will be
assisted by 10 aircraft, including a skycrane helicopter.

Neither fire is currently posing a threat to property but nearby residents
are being advised they may be affected by smoke and ash.

The Darling Causeway remains closed between Mt Victoria and Bell, with
motorists advised to use either the Great Western Highway or Bells Line of
Road as alternate routes.

©AAP 2006

Teary Kylie thanks fans for support

Kylie Minogue says she has set a new benchmark for being late.

The pop singer has made a triumphant return to performing, after a forced
18-month break to undergo treatment for breast cancer.

An emotional Minogue held back tears as she thanked fans for their support
during the first concert of her renamed Showgirl Homecoming Tour in Sydney
on Saturday night.

"I have thought about this moment for a long time," she told the thousands
of fans at the Sydney Entertainment Centre.

"And I tried to practise in my head what I was going to say ... I couldn't
prepare anything, I really couldn't.

"So I am just going to say what comes to me. Generally I am, like, 10
minutes late ... this is officially fashionably late, a year-and-a-half, but
I mean fashionably.

"So thanks so much for all your thoughts and wishes. I am really glad to be
here, thank you all."

The 2004 Grammy winner was diagnosed with cancer days before she was due to
start the final leg of her Showgirl World Tour in Australia.

The tour was postponed indefinitely and fans were told to hold onto their
tickets.

After three concerts in Sydney this month, Minogue and her Showgirl troupe
will travel to Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth. They will then head back to
Europe, playing dates in the UK from January 2.

"Dad, you're in the audience, this is for you," a teary Minogue said to her
father Ron, before singing Especially For You.

Minogue was diagnosed with breast cancer in May last year. She underwent
successful surgery in Melbourne that month, followed by chemotherapy
treatment in Paris, where her French actor boyfriend, Olivier Martinez, has
a home.

The singer's fans weren't disappointed last night as she performed hits
including Better The Devil You Know, In Your Eyes, On A Night Like This,
Spinning Around, I Believe In You, Can't Get You Out Of My Head and Light
Years.

She also sang her new song, White Diamond, which she penned with American
pop group Scissor Sisters, and covers of Somewhere Over The Rainbow and
Madonna's Vogue.

"I'm just going to try and enjoy the moment, roll with the crowd and take a
few more risks and just let go," Minogue told journalists last week when
asked about the show.

She was at her energetic best last night, performing fast-paced dance moves
throughout the three-hour show.

Known for her cutting edge fashion, she wore costumes specially designed by
John Galliano, Gareth Pugh, Dolce and Gabbana, Karl Lagerfeld and Emilio
Pucci.

Teen mum bonus change 'will help kids'

Sunday Nov 12 15:02 AEDT
Federal Families Minister Mal Brough says stopping young teenage mums from
getting a lump sum baby bonus will ensure the money is used to help
children.

From January 1 next year, mothers under 18 will receive the federal
government's baby bonus - currently $4,100, rising to $5,000 from July
2008 - in instalments rather than as a lump sum.

They also will have to talk to a social worker about how to use the bonus
responsibly and ensure their baby is officially registered.

Mr Brough said there were strong concerns in the community that teenage
mothers were being irresponsible with the money.

Married Life - makes my eyes tear up, such a happy ending...

A couple had only been married for two weeks and the husband, although very
much in love, couldn't wait to go out on the town and party with his old
buddies.
So, he said to his new wife, "Honey, I'll be right back."
"Where are you going, Coochy Coo?" asked the wife.
"I'm going to the tavern, Pretty Face," he answered. I'm going to have a
beer."

The wife said, "You want a beer, my love?" She opened the door to the
refrigerator and showed him 25 different kinds of beer, brands from 12
different countries: Germany, Holland, Japan,
India, etc

The husband didn't know what to do, and the only thing that hecould think of
saying was, "Yes, Lollipop... but at the tavern...You know... they have
frozen glasses... " He didn't get to finish the sentence, because the wife
interrupted him by saying, "You want a frozen glass, Puppy Face?" She took
a huge beer mug out of the freezer, so frozen that she was getting chills
just holding it.

The husband, looking a bit pale, said, "Yes, Tootsie Roll, but at the
tavernthey have those hors d'oeuvres that are really delicious...I won't be
long. I'll be right back. I promise. OK?"
"You want hors d'oeuvres, Poochie Pooh?" She opened the oven and took out 5
dishes of different hors d'oeuvres: chicken wings, pigs in blankets,
mushroom caps, and little quiches.
"But my sweet honey... at the tavern.... you know there's swearing, dirty
words and all that..."

"You want dirty words, Cutie Pie?
LISTEN UP CHICKEN SHIT! SIT YOUR ASS DOWN, SHUT THE HELL UP, DRINK YOUR
BEER IN YOUR FROZEN MUG AND EAT YOUR HORS D'OEUVRES BECAUSE
YOUR MARRIED ASS ISN'T GOING TO A DAMNED TAVERN! THAT SHIT IS OVER, GOT IT,
JACKASS?"

.and they lived happily ever after. Isn't that a sweet
story?

Belinda Emmett, 32, loses fight

November 11, 2006 09:00am

ACTOR Belinda Emmett, wife of popular West Australian television personality
Rove McManus, has died after a long battle with cancer.

She died at Sydney's St Vincent's Hospital early today, with her husband,
television personality Rove McManus, by her side.

She was 32.

"It is with great sadness we advise that Belinda Emmett's battle with cancer
has ended,'' Emmett's family said in a statement.
"Belinda passed away just after dawn this morning at St Vincent's Hospital
in Sydney with her family and husband by her side.
"Those close to her have requested respect for their privacy at this time.''
Emmett grew up on the NSW Central Coast and got her acting break when she
appeared on popular long-running soap Home and Away, playing Rebecca
Fisher/Nash, between 1996 and 1999.
She was diagnosed with breast cancer while on the show in 1998, at age 24.
The actor successfully underwent surgery to remove a malignant tumour,
followed by six weeks of radiotherapy.
In 2001, while working on Seven hospital drama All Saints, Emmett was
diagnosed with secondary bone cancer.
"Our deepest sympathy is extended to Belinda's family who have supported her
through this illness,'' the Seven Network said in a statement.
"During Belinda's time on Home and Away and All Saints, she made many
long-lasting friendships.
"Her acting ability and her warmth made her a joy to work with and her
spirit will be remembered.''
Emmett's last television appearance was with McManus on ABC television's
Spicks and Specks Christmas Special, in December last year.
The actor's most recent public appearance was at Seven's 50 years of
television celebration in September.
There, she caught up with many of her Home and Away mates, including Kate
Ritchie, who plays Sally on the soap.
She also attended the recent ARIA Music Awards, but stayed behind the
scenes, watching McManus perform hosting duties.
Prime Minister John Howard today said he was saddened to hear of Emmett's
passing.
"I was very saddened to learn of the death of Belinda Emmett,'' Mr Howard
told AAP.
"She fought a very courageous battle against cancer.
"On behalf of (my wife) Janette and myself, I extend my deepest sympathies
to her husband, Rove McManus, and her family and friends.''
Opposition Leader Kim Beazley also passed on his sympathy to Emmett's
family.
"This is truly sad news which I think will affect all Australians,'' Mr
Beazley said.
"The tenderness and care in their relationship (Rove and Belinda) through
their adversity, I think, has been an inspiration to many many
Australians.''
Emmett and McManus, who went on to be known as television's golden couple,
met at the opening of Fox Studios in Sydney in 1999. The couple became
engaged in July 2004 and married in January 2005, at Mary Immaculate Church
in Waverley, in Sydney's east.
"We're kindred spirits,'' Emmett told a newspaper at the time.

Cell transplants 'restore sight' in mice

Thursday Nov 9 20:36 AEDT
British scientists say they have used cell transplants to restore vision to
blind mice, raising hopes the development could one day help people.

The mice, which had eye damage similar to that seen in many human eye
diseases, were able to see again after scientists transplanted immature
retinal stem cells into their eyes, the BBC reported.

UK experts described the research as "stunning".

"This is a stunning piece of research that may in the distant future may
lead to transplants in humans to relieve blindness," said Professor Andrew
Dick University of Bristol.

If the results can be translated to treat humans, it could help people
suffering from a broad range of eye conditions ranging from age-related
macular degeneration to diabetes.

In the study involving the mice, scientists took cells from mice aged three
to five days - the stage when the retina is about to be formed.

The cells were then transplanted into the retinas of the blind mice where
they implanted and connected with existing cells in the eye, restoring some
sight to the mice.

Tests showed that the mice's pupils responded to light and that there was
activity in the optical nerve, showing signals were being sent to the brain.

The study was funded by the Medical Research Council and involved scientists
from the University College London Institutes of Ophthalmology and Child
Health and Moorfields Eye Hospital.

"Remarkably, we found that the mature retina, previously believed to have no
capacity for repair, is in fact able to support the development of new
functional photoreceptors," said Dr Jane Sowden, one of the study's leaders.

Photoreceptors are a special type of nerve cell that are necessary for
sight.

To replicate the result in humans, stem cells would have to be taken from a
foetus during the second trimester of pregnancy.

But Dr Robert MacLaren, a specialist at Moorfields Eye Hospital who worked
on the research, said they did not want to go down that route.

He said the aim now would be to look at adult stem cells to see if they
could be genetically altered to behave like the mouse retinal cells, the BBC
reported.

Irwin honoured with eco tourism award

Friday Nov 10 18:34 AEDT
Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin is being honoured by Queensland's tourism
industry with an award in his name.

The winner of the Queensland Tourism Awards' eco tourism category will
received the Steve Irwin Award at next week's ceremony in Brisbane.

"This is our way of acknowledging the incredible contribution made by Steve
Irwin to conservation around the world and to promoting tourism in
Australia, and especially in Queensland," Tourism Minister Margaret Keech
said.

"This is an important category that celebrates ecologically sustainable
tourism, something that Steve endorsed and championed with an amazing spirit
and energy."

Australia Zoo at the Sunshine Coast has previously won a swag of accolades,
including one for tourism retailing at last year's state awards.

The zoo has received more than 100,000 messages of condolence from around
the world in the two months since Irwin's death.

Irwin died on September 4 after a stingray barb pierced his chest while he
was diving off the coast of Port Douglas in far north Queensland.

The Wildlife Warriors conservation fund Irwin helped establish before his
death has received more than $2.5 million in donations to date.

Fund chief Michael Hornby said that plans for the money would be announced
before Christmas.

The public's generosity would have "humbled and embarrassed Steve in the
best way possible," he said.

There were now plans to establish a branch of the Wildlife Warriors in the
US, Mr Hornby said.

©AAP 2006

More News from today!

Howard committed to nuclear despite poll
Tuesday Nov 7 18:34 AEDT

Prime Minister John Howard has dismissed a poll which shows only 17 per cent
of Australians back nuclear power while almost half think solar power is the
best way to tackle climate change.

Mr Howard, who has been promoting a nuclear energy industry for Australia,
derided solar power as a soft answer which would never be able to replace
coal-fired electricity.

He said he would not back away from his support for nuclear power because of
one opinion poll.

"This is going to be a long debate, but I am going to continue to argue
reason. I can't have a policy on something like this dictated by an opinion
poll," Mr Howard told reporters.

"In the end I've got to call it as it is and in the end I have to say that
solar and wind will not replace conventional power stations."

The ACNielsen poll in Fairfax newspapers found that nine out of 10 people
believe global warming is a problem and 62 per cent are unhappy with the
Howard government's response.

Almost half of those questioned cited solar power as the best weapon against
climate change, while 19 per cent supported a carbon tax on fossil fuels and
17 per cent backed nuclear power.

Mr Howard said the results were unsurprising given the publicity surrounding
last week's Stern report on climate change, which warned of dire
consequences if the problem was not immediately tackled.

"It's a natural response to that sort of question," Mr Howard said.

"I didn't find that surprising. I didn't find the 50 per cent who thought
solar was the answer surprising either, because solar is a nice, easy, soft
answer."

Mr Howard said solar and wind power could make a contribution, but would
never be enough to replace baseload power generation by coal-fired power
stations.

The only way wind power could create enough energy was to have a windmill
"every few hundred feet starting at South Head and going down to Malabar",
he said.

"Well you can imagine the residents of Sydney wanting that," he said.

"You simply won't be able to generate enough power from something like wind
in order to take the load off the power that is generated by the use of coal
and gas and in time I believe nuclear."

Therapeutic cloning bill passes senate
Tuesday Nov 7 21:03 AEDT

Senators have voted to overturn the ban on therapeutic cloning in a rare
conscience vote in parliament.

Drought declared 'worst in millennium'
Tuesday Nov 7 18:54 AEDT

The drought has been declared the worst in a thousand years, but a crisis
summit on the Murray-Darling Basin delivered little help for the parched
river system.

Labor premiers have jumped on the latest grim drought assessment by a
government agency as evidence of "uncharted territory" caused by climate
change.

But Prime Minister John Howard - already sceptical about "extreme"
predictions of the effects of global warming - publicly questioned a top
water bureaucrat's statement that the big dry was a one in 1,000 year event.

Murray-Darling Basin Commission (MDBC) official David Dreverman delivered
the bleak news to an emergency summit called by Mr Howard with the four
states which share the river system - NSW, Victoria, South Australia and
Queensland.

Despite Mr Howard questioning the assessment, Mr Dreverman - the
Commission's head of River Murray Water - said the figures backed up his
claim, showing a "quantum leap" in conditions.

Inflows to the river this year - already the lowest on record - were 54 per
cent below the previous minimum, Mr Dreverman said.

"It's more typical of a one in a thousand year (drought), or possibly even
drier, than it is of a one in a hundred year event," he told AAP.

"I made the comment trying to get the message that what we're going through
is not just the driest we've ever had, this year - in the five months to the
end of October - it's the driest we've ever had by about 54 per cent."

He said the dry spell was so bad that the three dams which underpin the
basin's southern farmlands - already predicted to run dry in May - could dry
up even sooner.

The conditions also were so severe that the MDBC's already conservative
sequencing that it uses to plan water allocations would have to be revised,
Mr Dreverman said.

He would not comment on Mr Howard's scepticism and said the MDBC did not
have enough statistics to show the current conditions had been caused by
climate change.

Mr Howard said Mr Dreverman's claim was an off-the-cuff remark.

"You say worst drought in a thousand years, I don't think anybody really
knows that," he told reporters after the summit.

All he knew was that "it's a very bad drought".

While Mr Howard was caught off guard by Mr Dreverman's assessment, South
Australian Labor Premier Mike Rann said it was evidence of climate change.

"What we're seeing with this drought is a frightening glimpse of the future
with global warming," he said.

Despite the urgency of the summit and Mr Dreverman's grim news, Mr Howard
and the premiers of the four Murray-Darling states offered surprisingly
little for the parched basin.

But the premiers of NSW, Victoria and South Australia did agree to begin
permanent cross-border water trading from the beginning of 2007 - a measure
which is expected to see more water delivered to areas which need it most.

NSW and Victoria, which have suspended water trading amid the dry
conditions, will resume temporary trading this Friday.

A working group of state and federal public servants will draw up
contingency plans to secure water supplies for the next water year,
beginning on June 1, reporting back by December 15.

In another measure, the CSIRO has been asked to report progressively by the
end of next year on sustainable yields of surface and groundwater systems
within the Murray-Darling basin.

Labor, the Greens and the Democrats attacked the meeting's outcomes as
woefully inadequate, saying the governments had failed to make any tough
decisions on water.

"The weak response of these governments is absolutely appalling," Greens
senator Rachel Siewert said.

Qld council rejects Steve Irwin memorial

Monday Nov 6 16:29 AEDT
A memorial to honour the late Steve Irwin at the outback town he used as his
retreat from the world has been knocked back by a local council.

The mayor of the south-west Queensland town of St George, Robert Buchan, had
submitted a plan to build a small memorial to the Crocodile Hunter by the
town's Balonne River, near where the Irwin family owns a large property.

It was to consist of a bust, a brief outline of his life and his
contribution to the area, and was approved by the Irwin family.

Mr Buchan said he had hoped the idea would have been the beginning of a
series of memorials along the river to honour St George's "favourite sons
and daughters" along the lines of an avenue of heroes.

It would have been "a shining example of what people can do if they get off
their backsides and do something", he said.

But after rejecting a memorial in September, Balonne Shire Council has just
knocked back a second proposal for a memorial, which Mr Buchan would have
funded himself.

"Steve Irwin, I believe, would be the most well-known Australian ever...
(and) was ridgy didge as we say, fair dinkum, and even that alone was worthy
of recognition," Mr Buchan said.

He said he was ashamed the idea had been knocked back.

Deputy mayor Richard Knights said the idea itself to commemorate Mr Irwin
had been knocked back, not the specific proposal.

He said while council was aware of Mr Irwin's contributions and were
supportive of state government-planned memorials, a local monument was not
appropriate.

"He had property in the area but I think a lot of it stems from the fact
that we haven't really gone down the pathway of recognising other local
people that have made significant contributions to the shire over a
lifetime," Mr Knights said.

"As to whether one person's more worthy than another person, it's not
something we've dealt with yet."

He said there was a possibility that something would be done on a broad
scale to recognise a host of people who had contributed to the shire, of
which Mr Irwin could be a part, but the idea had not yet been discussed.

Mr Irwin, 44, died on September 4 after being stabbed in the heart by a
stingray's barb while diving on the Great Barrier Reef.

Behave Boys... you're on show to the world!

Aussie cricketers 'rude' on podium
Tuesday Nov 7 21:11 AEDT
The Australian cricket team has been labelled "rude and arrogant" by the
Indian media for allegedly pushing aside the Indian board president on the
Champions Trophy victory podium.

Ricky Ponting's men were taken to task for pushing Indian cricket chief
Sharad Pawar off the presentation dais on Sunday after claiming the only
trophy in world cricket that had eluded them.

The world No.1 side arrived back home on Tuesday morning and CA spokesman
Peter Young said it would investigate the issue in the coming days.

Ponting, visibly impatient after the long presentation ceremony, reportedly
gestured towards Pawar with his forefinger, asking him to quickly give away
the trophy.

Indian newspapers had front-page pictures of batsman Damien Martyn appearing
to gently push Pawar out of shot with his right hand, so the team could pose
with the trophy in front of photographers.

The picture in the Indian Express came under the headline: "This is how
champions behave when they get the trophy."

The Times of India added: "They are supposed to be aggressive, even rude on
the field. On Sunday, Australia showed they are not exactly polite off it
too."

India's chief cricket selector Dilip Vengsarkar added: "You expect such
behaviour from uneducated people. If they wanted to pose for photographs,
they could have politely requested him.

"This is appalling."

Even India's little master Sachin Tendulkar, not prone to controversial
comments, took a swipe at the Aussies.

"I was not watching the proceedings but from what I heard, it was unpleasant
and uncalled for," Tendulkar said.

"Firstly, it should never have happened. It's important to show respect to a
person who is so dear to the cricketers and is involved with cricket. Such
incidents should be avoided."

The Australian side has been respected but far from universally loved by the
rest of the cricketing world over the past decade.

The side has dominated the sport since toppling the West Indies in 1995 but
its intimidating and aggressive on-field behaviour has won few fans.

Young said the players were thrilled to have won the biennial tournament and
had now returned to their respective states before the build-up to this
month's Ashes series.

"I do know the Australian players were very excited to win the trophy," he
said.

"It is a bit of a holy grail because it was the only trophy in world cricket
they had not won."

Indian cricket board secretary Niranjan Shah described the incident as
"unintentional," but added: "Anyway, you know how players are once they get
on the cricket field. They seem to leave good sense behind."

Pawar laughed off the incident.

"It was a small thing, a stupid thing," Pawar was quoted as saying in the
Hindustan Times.

"I don't want to react."

Young said the players had talked about the importance of respect for
players and officials at the pre-Ashes boot camp in August.

"The players have only just arrived back in Australia and over the course of
the next few days we will just be finding out what, if anything, did or did
not happen," he said.

Martyn and Ponting were unable to be reached while Martyn's management was
unaware of the incident.

The national squad reassembles in Brisbane on November 18 before the opening
Ashes Test starting November 23 at the Gabba.

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar, who was also present on the stage,
later weighed into the debate saying he was "hurt" by the incident and was
"not amused" when another Australian player greeted Pawar with "hiya buddy."

"I am not amused by one of the Australian players who said `hiya buddy' when
he went up to receive his medallion from Mr Pawar," the legendary opener
told the Mumbai-based Mid-Day newspaper.

"Just receive it quietly. You are not in your country. In India, we respect
our elders.

"Certain decorum has to be maintained, you have to show respect. Would they
have done such a thing to their prime minister?"

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=99948

Yesterday at Dreamworld with U2

U2 getting vertigo at Dreamworld
Monday Nov 6 16:41 AEDT
Irish supergroup U2 is preparing for its Australian tour opener by taking on
theme park thrill rides and getting up close to a Bengal tiger.

The band, which will resume its Vertigo world tour on Tuesday night after an
eight-month postponement, risked a dose of vertigo by taking on the scariest
rides at Dreamworld on the Gold Coast.

Frontman Bono, guitarist The Edge, bass player Adam Clayton and drummer
Larry Mullen Jnr had the theme park to themselves late on Saturday night.

The four 40-somethings took time off from rehearsals to try such thrill
rides as the Giant Drop, Wipeout, Tower of Terror, the Cyclone Rollercoaster
and The Claw.

They were also treated to an up close encounter with 12-year-old Bengal
tiger Mohan on the theme park's Tiger Island.

U2, which hasn't played a concert in Australia since early 1998, has been
based on the Gold Coast since last Wednesday, with the band members
regularly mixing with fans outside their luxury hotel.

Around 50,000 people are expected at the Queensland Sports and Athletics
Centre (formerly the ANZ Stadium) in Brisbane's south for Tuesday's tour
opener.

The band's last major concert was at River Plate Stadium in Buenos Aires in
early March.

The group flew from there to Sydney but headed home without playing a show
after a band member's relative became ill.

Since they last toured Australia, U2 has produced two of its most critically
acclaimed albums - All That You Can't Leave Behind and How To Dismantle An
Atomic Bomb.

Material from a new album expected to be released next year - including a
cover of Scottish punk band The Skids' The Saints Are Coming and a new track
Window In The Skies - could be sampled on Australian audiences.

U2 is being supported by Grammy Award winning hip hop artist Kanye West.

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said in a UK radio
interview that U2's 1987 hit Where The Streets Have No Name is his favourite
song of all time.

Said to be about division and violence in Ireland, the song is still
regularly part of U2's concert set-list.

U2 will play at Sydney's Telstra Stadium on Friday and Saturday nights
before heading to Adelaide, Melbourne and then New Zealand.

Health Concern!!!

Jet-lagged mice die young: study
Tuesday Nov 7 13:44 AEDT
Jet-lagged mice die younger, researchers said, in a study that suggests that
working unusual shifts and flying back and forth across time zones takes a
permanent toll on health.

Tests on more than 100 mice showed that old mice forced to live on a
confusing schedules of light and darkness, simulating rotating shifts or
international travel, died sooner than those on gentler schedules.

Young mice treated in a similar way did just fine, the researchers at the
University of Virginia added in a report published in the journal Current
Biology.

Gene Block, a professor of biology, and colleague Alec Davidson said they
had stumbled onto the findings.

Genetically engineered mice in another experiment died when they were put
under lights six hours earlier than usual, but no mice died if the light
schedule was delayed.

So they tested three groups of mice, with about 30 old mice and nine young
mice in each group.

One group had its light/dark cycle shifted forward by six hours - the
equivalent of waking people up six hours early - every week for eight weeks.

A second group had its schedule shifted back by six hours, and the third
group's schedule was unaltered.

They found that 83 per cent of old mice survived under the normal schedule,
68 per cent lived after eight weeks of shifting steadily backward, but fewer
than half - 47 per cent - survived when the lights regularly came on six
hours earlier.

When they sped up the schedule, changing the light schedule every four days,
even more mice died.

The mice were not obviously stressed by this - their daily levels of a
stress hormone called corticosterone did not increase.

"Alternatively, the general frailty of older animals rather than age-related
changes in the circadian system may make them less able to tolerate changes
in the light schedule," the researchers wrote.

Other studies have shown that hormones associated with wake/sleep cycles,
such as melatonin, as well as so-called "clock" genes, can affect aging and
immune system processes.

©AAP 2006

Urban speaks about the whys of rehab

Thursday Nov 9 11:32 AEDT
AP - Australian country music star Keith Urban spoke of feeling as if he was
drowning in the days before he entered a rehabilitation centre for alcohol
abuse.
But Urban, who married actor Nicole Kidman in Sydney in June, also advised
people struggling with addiction and sobriety to communicate with the people
in their lives.

The singer was speaking to men's magazine Best Life in the couple's home
town of Nashville, Tennessee, two and a half weeks before he entered rehab
last month.

The Grammy-winning singer, who has publicly acknowledged a former addiction
to cocaine, says his advice for souls at sea is to "stay communicating with
the people around you."

"Everybody gets overwhelmed at points, but it's when you think you can
handle it yourself and you don't reach out for help - that is when the end
is near," Urban says in the magazine.

"Recognise that you are about to tire, that drowning is looming."

He adds: "I've definitely been the drowning guy, and in the midst of
drowning, thought, 'I wonder if I should put my hand up?' ... I'm just
really grateful to be present and doing what I can. And if it overwhelms me,
I speak out and say, 'There is too much going on'."

Urban won male vocalist of the year for the second year in a row at the
Country Music Association Awards in Nashville on Monday night, although he
did not attend the ceremony.

His award was accepted by Ronnie Dunn, who read a letter from Urban in which
he thanked his friends and family and Kidman.

"I'm looking forward to coming home and seeing you all soon," Urban said in
the letter.

His new CD, Love, Pain, & the whole crazy thing, was released this week as
scheduled, but it was announced last month that he would postpone all
upcoming promotional appearances.

Urban won a Grammy this year for best male country vocal performance for
You'll Think of Me.

Keith sends message to Nicole!

Absent Urban salutes Nicole at awards
Tuesday Nov 7 17:38 AEDT
AP - Australian star Keith Urban, recovering in a rehabilitation centre,
issued a message to his wife Nicole Kidman as he won another major American
country music award.

"To my wife, Nicole, I love you," said a letter from the absent Urban, read
to the 40th annual Country Music Association (CMA) awards in Nashville,
where he won male vocalist of the year for a second successive year.

"I'm looking forward to coming home and seeing you all soon," said Urban,
who cancelled his appearance at the CMA awards after checking himself into
rehab last month.

When Urban's name was announced, he received a standing ovation, and his
award was accepted by Ronnie Dunn of country music act Brooks & Dunn.

How Bazaar!!!! Mad cow or what?

Surfing cow drowns in Queensland
Tuesday Nov 7 17:35 AEDT
A cow has gone for a four-hour swim in the surf in a bizarre bovine
spectacle before drowning off Queensland's coast.

The two-year-old Brahman-cross escaped from a nearby paddock during a muster
at Elliott Heads, near Bundaberg, on Sunday and travelled 2km to where it
was spotted by beachgoers paddling 300m out to sea.

Owner Neville Atkinson said when police phoned him to report his missing cow
had been sighted swimming in the ocean it was the strangest thing he had
ever heard.

"She jumped through the fence and raced down towards the ocean and that was
the last they (the drovers) saw of her," Mr Atkinson said.

"We searched all along the ocean front ... well, we didn't look in the
water, we didn't expect her to be in the water.

"She was probably a bit upset from the morning chase but why she went in the
water I'll never know."

A crowd of more than 100 were drawn to the beach as word spread about the
body surfing cow, which swam for three hours, coming to shore twice before
returning to the waves.

Mr Atkinson and a friend eventually took a tinnie out to try to rescue the
cow which was paddling in water around 7m deep but could not bring her to
land.

She eventually drowned from swallowing water.

University of Queensland school of animal studies lecturer John Gaughan said
it was the first time in 20 years he had heard of such strange behaviour.

Dr Gaughan, who researches cattle heat stress, said cows were good swimmers
and often waded out into dams.

But he said to swim in the ocean for that long was bizarre.

"If it was very hot it might have been just trying to cool off but it's
unusual behaviour to actually go out and start swimming around the ocean,"
he said.

"It is unusual, I've never seen anything like that."

I feel great!!!

Today I feel great. I feel great because I have done some study for my
science exam. I do not feel stressed about it. Its on next tuesday
(Melbourne Cup day!) at 1.30pm. I feel really comfy about it. I know that I
will get nerves on the day when Im actually standing outside the lecture
theatre.

Today started off overcast then rained. Now there are blue skies with a
lovely breeze. I love days like this!

I am going to scrap tomorrow. At least for an hour. I must scrap... I need
to scrap!

(scrap = scrapbook)