Unlike the U.S. Australia has not opened up the gates for Marijuana to be used for medical purposes. HOWEVER, this isn’t to say that medical and scientific professionals in countries such as Australia where it is still illegal, do not see the benefits of Marijuana.

Medical Conditions Treated By Marijuana

Studies have taken place to support the potential of Marijuana to treat and manage various medical conditions and/or their symptoms. Some of these conditions are:

• Lung cancer
• Pain
• Depression
• Brain Cancer
• Anxiety
• Breast cancer
• HIV

Doctors Recommending Marijuana in Australia

There are doctors in Australia who are suggesting patients consider Medical Marijuana, though obviously they cannot sign off on it. I’m aware of 2 cases where a doctor has recommended to people I am connected to as Marijuana for medicinal purposes.

My friends father who has cancer is one such case.  His doctor bought up the idea of marijuana as a means of helping him to deal with the pain.  Studies have shown that Marijuana may also inhibit the growth and spread of cancer.

Today, basic details of the new Australian Citizenship Test were released, including a practice version on THIS government website.  I slayed the test with a score of 24/25, making me a super Aussie, another mate of mine scored a 21/25 which made him, a bit of an Aussie, but an Aussie none the less. However, my third friend failed. The questions that focused on our government were a little on the difficult side for those of us on the more politically ignorant side of life.

This Summer should be very interesting. With what looks to be our hottest Winter on record, who knows what’s instore for us this Summer. They’re expecting a worse fire season, which last season was particularly fatal to Victoria. This in part is due to what they also expect to be a very windy summer which has already shown itself in the last few weeks.

How To Cope With Heat At Home?

I don’t know how my household is going to cope, it struggled enough last season without any airconditioning and a lack of any wire screening on the backdoor which prevents us from being able to leave it open so air can circulate through the house. If anybody can give me any hot tips on how to cope with the heat or how to prepare my house and my body for extreme heat, that would be great.

Well funnily enough this has made big ongoing news in our media, the opening of a SUPERMARKET! It really is big through, the supermarket that is. And it’s a Cosco, which is big news in the U.S. And it is our first one of it’s kind with plans of another in Sydney.

Official Opening Today!

Yep, she’s open for business and apparently has generated a large amount of interest. After scoffing about the place since even before it was constructed, up to an hour ago I had absolutely no interest myself in stepping into this enormous store of stuff and stuff.

But now, the place sounds so ridiculous in an American way that I find myself curious as to what this freakshow of a supermarket has to offer and whether amongst all this freak, there is to me the shopper, enough logical reason to consider this place as a place to actually shop.

Someone, prices?

There’s been rough guides in newspaper articles as to the cost of eggs and what-not, but details on more of the many products in the place would be of great interest. Perhaps this will come up a lot more in forums and things once more people frequent the place. At the moment I would like to know more about the cost of the electronics.

Will Digital Radio Last In Australia?

 Some believe that internet radio may make digital radio irrelevant and I can see why.

Portable Radio On The Go

Take the Smartphones like IPhone for example, it’s already ushering an age in Australia where we are wirelessly connected 24/7 with our phones making email so feasible that it will probably replace MMS and SMS, as it already has in other countries years ago. As data plans increase, using wireless internet radio on the go should become common place.

At Home

I already connect wirelessly to our internet at home to access a number of internet radio stations which don’t go towards my internet quota. With my IPhone I can listen through my headphones, speakers or get a dock/portable speakers etc to take high quality radio around the home and into the yard.

I guess, time will tell.

The Normality of Bongs

Last night I watched parts of the new Channel 7 series, “Word’s Strictest Parents”, Australia’s version of sending our nastiest teens to other parts of the world. The show was funny and pointless but what caught my attention was

• The way substance abuse amongst teens was casually discussed
• The casual imagery of the humble bong during these discussions

I’m Getting Old

I consider myself a relatively balanced person when it comes to being liberal and open minded about things such as drugs, this is obvious by this blog and some of my posts.

But I’m still a conservative in some ways and hold firm views relating to the misuse of drugs and the maturity required to manage their use. For example, I dont’ see the use of drugs during the teenage years as preferable and I’m starting to understand more and more just how rampant and “normal” this has become.

Seeing the way the bong was depicted on this show really helped to drive it home.
Just check out some of the classic quotes in this article about the show in the Daily Telegraph

I’m eagerly awaiting the Iphone 3GS release with the idea set firmly in my mind that it will change my life. But I’m finding news articles about the Australian release underwhelming. Where is the hype? Where are all the exciting reviews? Where is my invite to a ridiculously long queue for the Iphone?

I’m really keen to hear peoples views or experiences as I’m so tempted to get one on 26th of June (this Friday) when it’s released here.

It doesn’t mean anything. Because Kevin the Tool got the saying completely wrong.

 It’s “Fair SUCK of the Sauce Bottle”

But then on Saturday I’m told by some people of the older generation that fair shake is a legitimate saying and fair suck is another seperate saying. He still sounds like a complete moron none the less.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LjE9I3Cp-U

I want a Leader With Balls

Everything he says and does is a publicity stunt and in order to look well with the Australian people. The words I’ve read have really struck a chord with me. He’s NOT suppose to be our mate, he’s suppose to be our leader.

He is NOT suppose to relate too much with the Australia people because he is suppose to be better then the rest of us.  Obama is an elitist and he knows it, he acts like it and he comes across as leader that the American people can feel confident in. Where is ours?

I Got Hate Mail

After my post yesterday, understandably I received some serious hate mail. I could only allow one comment to remain, the rest were unpostable.  So instead of trying to explain myself and my post, I’ll like to bring attention to this article in The Age that quotes a Mr. Yadu Singh about the situation of racism, Australia and India.

Article Here

“Dr Singh said his committee was working to educate Indian students about behaviour that placed them at risk of being targeted, such as travelling alone on trains, walking and dressing “without confidence”, and identifying themselves as recent arrivals in Australia by speaking loudly in their native language.”

Telling People To Stop Being Racist Isn’t Enough

Thank you Dr. Singh! It’s good to see people who understand that being politically correct alone has little power against an ongoing and arduos fight. There are other more effective ways of fighting the problem, or at least ways to tackling the problem from multiple angles.

You Can Still Be Indian

It doesn’t mean that to be safe you have to hide your culture altogether, that’s not right. But as with Australians travelling overseas, a certain level of caution, education of a new culture you are immersing yourself in and compromise can go a long way.

Recently we’ve been treated to media coverage on the tension between Indian people and everyone else in Australia resulting in a epidemic of Indian beatings. Once such place Indian beatings are on the rise is Melbourne where thousands of Indians (and friends of Indians) congregated to rally peacefully against racism towards Indians.

Not So Peaceful Rally?

Unfortunately as with most things, not everyone was okay with the peaceful part. Indians are angry over the racist attacks so tensions ran high, people were arrested and windows on Flinders Street station were smashed. These are the pictures we are seeing of the Rally by the media today.

Soooo…Why are Indians disliked and targeted?

Personally, I know many people from many different backgrounds and the one race that cops the most negativety are the Indians. So what are some of the negative traits things that people attach to Indians as a race. But more importantly, what can be done about these things to reduce tensions.

• “They smell bad” is a common gripe. Some may argue though that everyone else may smell bad to them and it comes down to diet and other cultural factors. But at the end of the day it is a cultural factor and sense of smell evolves and is subjective.
  • How people can learn to tolerate each others odours, I don’t know.
• “The men are sleazy.” Many woman are completely grossed out by the Indian man and some say that they don’t like the way they look at them or speak to them. I’ve had more then one female say to me, I don’t hate Indian woman, I hate Indian men. So this is a combination of sexism AND racism. Rexism.
  • Education of Australia’s so called stance in respect to sexism and the equality of sexes could be the ticket here. In india, sexual equality is probably not that high and this is a culture that is far removed from a culture such as Australia where questionable treatment, including staring, towards woman is frowned upon. That’s not to say that Australians and other cultures are not guilty of misconduct, but politically correct conduct in Australia should be put forward in the interests of avoiding tension.
• “Their Music is horrible” Indian inspired music has actually been peaking its way into the mainstream with a few progressive artists, clever sampling the success of movies like Slumdog Millionaire. However, at the end of the day, the sound of loud Indian music is something of a loud and annoying ringing in the ears of the non-Indian. This means that the music can actually make non-Indians feel quite irritable, perhaps angry or even scared when subject to it particularly at high volumes.
  • A friend tried to convince me once that Indian and non-Indian people were biologically different in a way that meant ears were shaped differently and music is heard differently. Consequently, what may be music to an Indians ears, could be a mish mash of squeely random noises to a non-Indian. If this is the case, there is not much that can be done about this.
  • Maybe again it is just cultural and a matter of the music one has adapted too. So perhaps as Indian music continues to fuse with music we are more familiar with, hearing Indian music will not result in anger and irritability as much.
  • In the meantime, any music that is too loud and forced to be heard by others is annoying. Not just in public, but also in your own home when those that live around you have to hear it. That too is annoying.
• They are loud and obnoxious in public
  • This is actually an issue that was bought up by the government when this issue of Indian attacks first started to appear in the media. http://www.theage.com.au/national/indians-told-to-keep-low-profile-20090218-8bjz.html
  • Generally speaking, non-Indian people find loud talking obnoxious. Indians however do not and as the previous article suggests, this results in tension and irritability amongst the remaining population who do. This on top of the already negative views on Indian people just fuels the fire. So maybe, especially the adults, keep the tone on public transport and in public to a level that is more in tune with the surrounds.
  • As with music, speaking too loud isn’t just annoying in public, it’s annoying any place that others have to be subject to it such as for neighbours in a residential street.
• They speak their language and its annoying
  • Again, as with the music, this could just come down to sound phonetics. We may sound just as annoying to them speakin our English. So to help this problem the speaking at an appropriate level is probably best.
• They just want your money
  • Most Indians want to study here or migrate here with the motivation of improving their lives. It is a part of a bigger plan and as such, Indians are generally keen and motivated. This motivation can be seen as materialistic and money orientated and perhaps there is a fine line. I have no advice here, at the end of the day it is a cultural stereotype and every person has an ambitious aspect to their personality and more importantly, other aspects.