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

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

Alberto Granado, the friend and companian of Che Guevara in their famed motorcycle odyssey across South America, has died recently aged 88. 

Years before poverty porn and gap years to India were popular; Guevara and Granada exemplified the innocence of youth and the incredibly transformative affect that seeing truly oppressive poverty and injustice can have to open minds and empathetic hearts.  

For any young people starting out on their first big trip, perhaps this is change you seek.

Perhaps like Granado you'll look back and see yourselves as kids "who went looking for adventure and found the truth and tragedy of our homeland".  

But remember the essential point; when you see these terrible things you have to do something about it. You can choose to either take up arms against it and die young or practice medicine and make old bones.

The important point is to do anything to help. 

Are you on a Guevara/Granada big trip and hoping to change the world? What are you doing? Tell us and remember....Disqus!  . . read more

One thing I've learnt at University is that students are more interesting and do better when they have something else to focus on- for example homepageDAILY. 

That something else that students do, which is separate from University gives them a different base of experience to bring to discussion, and a new filter through which new information is dissected. 

It's my belief then that university should be the place where you think, consider and criticise- not the place where you gain your most transformative and life-defining experiences.   . . read more

Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott and Leonardo Dicaprio have a lot more in common than you would think. All three have invaded my hopes, dreams and aspirations, then carefully and systematically destroyed them.

Dream number 1. No more references to tomato sauce by politicians ever again. Failed. 

Aspiration number 2. Environmentally conscious and proactive politicians that utilise creative solutions to harrowing problems. Destroyed

Hope number 3. A government that reflects the voice of the people, constructively exhibiting how the democratic process can work. Slowly spiralling into the pile of discarded desires. 

As is evident by this charade of an election, neither party shall accurately carry the voice of the Australian people. What we need to do now is look forward forgetting the joke of a government that shall exist for the next four years or so.

We must look towards the young and aspiring politicians of Australia. What Australian politics needs now is depth, character and intelligence, so I ask of our schools, universities and workplaces, will the real Australian government please stand up?   . . read more

It offers (in addition to the catchy musical numbers) a different portrayal of Aborigines- avoiding, to a large extent, the sterotypes that we've come to associate with the indigenous people of Australia.

One of the most uplifting numbers takes place in the beginning (and the end) of the film with the chorus:

There's nothing I would rather be, than to be an Aborigine

It got me thinking.

When have we ever heard such a positive and unashamed pride of Aboriginality?

And what's your perspective on the Christian disciplinarian head-master who tries to change the beliefs and customs of the largely uninterested Aboriginal studentary?

Could this be the right way to tackle many of the problems in the wider community? . . read more

One day I would really like to get married; to walk down the aisle to stand before a priest or celebrant and sign my name on a dotted line to make myself legally one with a woman.

I want all the legal benefits that come with marriage; I want to have power of attorney, the ability to make life altering decisions in a hospital and the baby bonus if we're lucky.

Marriage as everyone knows- especially those who will participate in a conscience vote in Australian parliament- is a legal commitment between man and woman. 

Love is really irrelevant.

It would be nice to be in love when I get married but marriage throughout the ages has never had a focus on love- it's been about, securing by law, someone to reproduce with and to ensure they don't reproduce with someone else.

Something gay people can't do, so why make marriage irrelevant? . . read more

Seconds afterwards I sat up, in a daze, surrounded by metal, glass and petrol.

I should have been dead, but miraculously I walked away, only suffering a slightly sprained ankle.

The mental affect though has been a little more dramatic.

I keep replaying the images of the crash over and over again.

I keep seeing the look on my dad's face when I first saw him afterwards; I keep hearing my mum's voice when I talked to her, and I keep hearing the smashing screeching sounds of metal hitting metal.

All this has led to me to realise that the idea that my life, is my life alone, is ridiculous.

My life is part-owned by everybody that loves me- my family and friends, meaning that they all have a stake in it, and they all would be affected if I threw it away on something as stupid as riding a motorbike.

For most people this won't be revelatory.

But for me this crash has been life-changing.

It's shown me that the worst can happen to me,  that my shield of invincibility is breakable and that if I don't think about those around me before I act, I mightn't get to see them again.  

Smokers of the world rejoice, finally the fat bastards that fill the streets and make the world all the uglier will be receiving some of the flack we have. 

Of course we'll have to wait years until the rotund have to pay drastically more for airplane seats, junk food, and waste disposal.

All this talk of obesity has made me turn to the one appetite repressent I know and love- Kent Cigarettes- because a real man smokes Kent.  . . read more

Work is done half-assed (or ignored), and day dreaming is so common that the world of work and play are largely indistinguishable.

For Australians, with the heat, the culture of the barbie and a work ethic that regularly dips below that of a sleepy cat- the hardest part is waking up. . . read more