Since the days of Alexander the Great, binge drinking has been a very popular past time - leading to him apparently killing a friend and burning down Persepolis while drunk.

Those are some Great shoes to fill.

Yet, governments, schools and the media have repeatedly tried to teach us of binge drinking's dangers. 

Dartmouth University has taken the lead, instigating a new nationwide policy to curb heavy drinking by their students.

Pour me another glass.

Binge drinking is defined as "the consumption of five or more drinks in a row by men — or four or more drinks in a row by women — at least once in the previous 2 weeks. Heavy binge drinking includes three or more such episodes in 2 weeks."

Seems I don't know anyone who isn't a heavy binge drinker.

Do you think this definition should be changed or should we change people's attitudes? Or should you follow HPD's no fools guide to drinking a lot but not dying?  . . read more

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With Berlusconi before the courts and with Libya's war pornography helping the world get off, it's easy to forget that there's a 23 year old kid sitting in solitary confinement facing life imprisonment.

Bradley Manning, the U.S private accused of leaking 720,000 documents to WikiLeaks has been forgotten; he's not getting Assange like fame or reverence, or an Assange like house arrest.

Instead he's been shackled, alone in a cell and very often disrobed so he doesn't harm himself.  

Whether you agree with what he did or not, we have to remember that he's a U.S citizen, we have to remember what rights he has, and we have to remember what terrible long years he faces alone. 

We have to remember him.   . . read more

As surely as Kim Jong-Il will look stupid in his 70s' era glasses, as surely as BBC presenters will have the exact same accent, it is assured that Australia will completely dominate the Commonwealth Games turning them into a pile of gold for only one- a Singlewealth Games if you will. 

For Australia it's the opportunity to look amazing; strutting about as a country of 22million giving the collective finger to countries that have many times more than us in population, wealth and smarts. 

There is something a little depressing in it though- should Australia be so smug about their sporting prowess when the relationship between the indigenous and non-indigenous community is so fractured? Should Australia be so proud when their universities fall so far behind the best that England can produce?

Should Australia be seeking its wealth elsewhere to create a common achievement that we can all be proud of?  . . read more

First there's the unadulturated glee as you jump about the house, content in the knowledge that you are now, officially living off the fat of land.

Then comes that delightful sense of schadenfreude as you remember how crap hospitality and bar work is, and you think maliciously to all the poor suckers stuck in the grind.

And finally (usually after a few weeks) comes annoyance, as you realise you might have to go back to that job because that $445 a fortnight goes like the clappers when you live in Sydney.

Still though, living with ingenuity, battling to survive on a pittance and scoring freebies is so uplifiting that I can recommend living la dolecheque vita to as many people as is possible (who don't reduce my payments).  . . read more

So sit back and soak up some summer wisdom before heading out to your beach picnic, with a pill, a corona and lime and some tunes in your head.  . . read more

Last night while two young shamrock lads jumped from a ferry landing themselves in the icy waters of Sydney harbour, a merry group of young Australian partiers in Carlingford lit a friends head on fire as a practical birthday joke- By Simon Moore . . read more

The story that Canadian teen pop idol Justin Bieber has caused mass hysteria in a planned concert in Australia, has been reported the world over.

While the premise of what happened sounds simple- pop star, hyperventilating teen girls, absent parents, mismanaged security- the truth is a lot more complex.

It has shown that although Gen-Y is meant to be diffused and inherently individual there are still times- like for teen girls in the '60s during Beatlemania- that one group screaming for one thing dominates and scares the shit out the rest of us. 

So although Bieber Fever might not have a cure, it's a pretty amazing phenomenon and shows symptoms that maybe young people can unite.   . . read more