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

There are only a few times when somebody should lose their right to free speech- for Julia Gillard on the issue of Indian students- this is one of them.

It began right after this week's killing of Nitin Garg when we were treated to her robotic drone of a voice which sounded a tad unsympathetic when she said that:

"To say it's a race-based crime is not only premature, but stupid".

She followed that up by dismissing India's travel warning to Australia, saying:

"In big cities around the world we do see acts of violence from time to time; that happens in Melbourne, it happens in Mumbai, it happens in New York, it happens in London"

How fantastically irrelevant.

India is annoyed because their citizens are dying in Australia in what looks from the outside to be a concerted, racist attack. At the moment the media and the police have absolutely no reason to prove it isn't.

We haven't heard from any attacker, we've heard no motive, we have so little information.

No wonder families thousands of miles away are a little scared.

And that's why Gillard should shut-up.

A sensitive (and clever politician) would understand how emotionally charged an issue this is, and would realise that spouting political non-charlance will only inflame a story based on feeling rather than facts.

Instead of sounding like emotionless cardboard, why didn't she say something like?:

"Due to last year's terrible spate of racist attacks directed at Indian students we have every reason to believe this homocide may have been affected by Mr Garg's Indian ethnicity".

"We will wait till a police investigation can confirm this, but at the moment we are treating this as the beginning of a new wave of hate crimes that will be stopped...."

Also, for a country that prides itself on its tough skin why are the police and government getting so ancy about a pretty bland and obvious cartoon?

Especially a cartoon that makes a pretty good point.

Let's look at the facts:

- In Melbourne the police have known for over a year that Indian students have been disproportionately represented in official assault and robbery figures.

- Analysis of these figures led police to say that Indian students were being regarded as 'soft targets' for would-be attackers.

- If this is true, then the attackers are making a distinction based on race.

- The Oxford Dictionary defines racism as "the belief that there are characteristics, abilities, or qualities specific to each race"

- If the police want to discount this, and try to argue that these recent attacks are not race related they look like idiots.

-The KKK are racist idiots.  

  . . read more

By Sean Maguire

For Australians, the question of who we are is a topic that comes up constantly.

The answers are often difficult to come by.

Our image seems stuck on our famous flora and fauna, a part of us we can't really claim credit for creating.

The 2011 Ipsos Mackay Report, Being Australian seems to agree with our confusion as Australians struggle to define an identity which is solely ours.

Yet interestingly for countries that have a supposedly strong identity like the UK, U.S, Mexico and France any attempt to pigeon hole them gets an angry response.

The UK isn't the monarchy, bulldogs, stiff upper lips or eel pies
The U.S isn't guns, the founding fathers, Surfin' USA or Hollywood
Mexico isn't tacos, moustaches, violence or cocaine
France isn't arrogance, cheese, wine or the Eiffel tower

Every country is a multifaceted space where identities clash and no one represents every aspect of a country's clichéd self image.

It's time Australia stopped worrying about who we are and started worrying about what we can do.

What do you think about Australia's national identity? Is there something that binds us all together? Is it important if there isn't anything? Tell us and remember....Disqus!

Does seeing a person primarily as a nation rather than a person seem like the actions of a tolerant people?

And then to cap it off, this growing threat from johnny foreigner seems completely at odds to Rudd's claim that it is in fact home grown terrorists which are the biggest threat to our security.

So which is it?

Should be we be huddled together in fear of the outsider, or should we be constantly looking over each other's shoulders for a sign of external sabotage?

And finally, to finish off this frenzy of finger pointing, in no particular order here is a little prediction of the countries that are making the intelligence community quiver:

1: Somalia

2: Sudan 

3: Pakistan

4: Yemen

5: Eritrea

6: Indonesia (for obvious reasons probably wont be on the list)

7: Waziristan

8: Nigeria

9: Afghanistan

10: Iran  . . read more

It's fairly obvious that the imagery of a white christmas is at odds with the reality of an Australian summer, but still people try to combine the two contradictory set of symbols.

Why?

I'm guessing it's to give an Australian christmas the air of legitimacy by using images of northern hemisphere traditions while also paying respect to the uniqueness of the Australian experience.

Why bother?

Our christmas is so much more beautiful than our northern neighbours and the fact is our traditions- like having a picnic at the beach, prawns and champagne- should really be the inspiration and point of jealousy for the drab christmas goers of up north.

  . . read more

The article read ‘Al-Qaeda to attempt US attack soon’.

You know, like any other thing that we’re all anxious to see – ‘Roger Federer back in action in 2 months’ and ‘Lleyton Hewitt has vowed to shut his mouth in 3 weeks’.

Are you serious?

This isn’t news!

At best it is spreading fear of something that has absolutely no foundation whatsoever; at worst it’s a waste of space.

What’s this meant to warn us about?

Everybody knows about terrorists attack, and there’s nothing provided that we don’t already know.

Does it help us cope with anything?

Nope.

Does it prepare us?

No, all they say is Al-Qaeda’s “going to try”.

So what’s the purpose?

Start reporting some real news and stop spreading the fear. Because not all of us are so anxious to keep track of our favourite terrorist band.  . . read more

Marcus Kapitza was sentenced to 12 months jail after pleading guilty to one charge of riot.

Brent Lohman was sentenced to 11 months jail with a parole period of six months for repeatedly punching a man of Middle Eastern appearance in the head at Cronulla railway station.

Yahya Serhan, a Lebanese Australian was convicted of one count of being an accessory after the fact of malicious wounding over an attack outside Woolooware Golf Club in Sydney's southeast on 11 December 2005, that ended when a knife snapped off in the victim's back. Serhan had acted as the "getaway driver" during the attack and was convicted in April 2007 to which he was sentenced to thirteen months jail with a non-parole period of nine months. However, he was released on the day of his sentencing as he had already spent nine months in prison.

What is the difference between these men? Lex Wotton led a riot that caused no physical harm to a human being. Lex Wotton is also an Indigenous Australian.

I'm fluctuating between being stoked the sentence was so much smaller than expected, and horribly depressed that we were forced to keep our expectations so low that this seems like a positive outcome.

It's not. 

In the world's colder climes you can understand why we might not want to put pen to paper, pick to guitar strings or paintbrush to canvas when the world around us is so inviting.

Must admit, it doesn't leave much time or comfort for self-reflection.

So it makes you wonder whether heart-wrenching, mind-expanding, and life changing works can be made in landscapes that grab you and demand you come out and enjoy their beauty.

I ask you, you of the creative cold dank Northern Hemisphere, are the artistic journeys inside yourself worth it when you can't bare to go outside?

  . . read more