Success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one's dedication to a cause greater than oneself – Victor Frankl
With the deadline passed and no original content prepared it is only fitting to post another lazy compilation of five enjoyable songs heard on commercial radio stations located within a 50 kilometre radius, programmed during the preceding week. Subjective comments from readers on poor quality inclusions (and why) are more than welcome!
After sitting through Ke$ha’s programming of Girl Power Warrior Women Top 20 on MTV last week, although these top five picks are relatively popular they are still a long way from been synthetic, man-hating, cliched pop songs.
beck (Photo credit: marioanima)
Beck – Loser
Blink 182 (Photo credit: eastscene)
Blink 182- Boxing Day
The Creeps (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Camille Jones Vs Fedde Le Grand – The Creeps
My daughter’s camera. Metallica at the Forum in Los Angeles, USA. December 17th, 2008. She needs a better camera. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Although most Australians would probably say we’ve always been a heavy-drinking nation, the consumption of alcohol has followed a roller coaster curve since European invasion.
Alcohol consumption in Australia began at an annual high point of 13.6 litres of pure alcohol per head in the 1830s. It declined to 5.8 litres a year during the economic downturn in the 1890s, then to a nadir of 2.5 litres during the Great Depression.
After World War II, there was a long rise in per capita consumption to another high point of 13.1 litres in 1974-75. It then dropped again and rose slowly to the 2008-09 levels of ten litres.
There’s little doubt that alcohol is an important part of Australian culture. According to the author of The Rum State, Milton Lewis, heavy drinking was an established cultural norm transported to Australia at the time of colonisation.
Annual alcohol consumption has decreased from around 13 litres per person in the mid-1970s to ten litres in the late 2000s. Alesa Dam
It was the norm in Britain to drink heavily and gin epidemics were devastating entire communities at the time. Lewis says that alcohol in Europe had long served as a food and source of nutrition as the diets of the time were very restricted and there wasn’t a lot else to choose from.
Two drinking practices were established that still exist today. One is “shouting” in which each person in turn buys a round of drinks for the whole group; and the other, “work and bust”, is a prolonged drunken spree following a long period of hard work in the bush. This is basically an earlier term for the contemporary notion of binge drinking, and can be seen in the “Mad Monday” celebrations at the end of a football season.
But other factors were also at play. For a time, spirits were used in barter and convicts were part-paid in rum. In this way, rum became a currency of the colony – hence the term “a rum state”. The control of alcohol gave enormous political power. And alcohol was reportedly involved in the only military coup in Australia – the Rum rebellion in 1808.
Over the years, there have been many different social meanings of alcohol. In Australia and elsewhere, wine, brandy, beer and stout have been seen as good dietary supplements for invalids. Alcohol was once seen as a good, healthy food Lewis notes that it has been consumed as a sacrament, a toast, a fortifier, a sedative, a thirst-quencher, and a symbol of sophistication.
Wine is not a health drink. Alex Ranaldi
Temperance organisations sprang up in the early 19th century, and became active in Australian colonies from 1830s. They initially advocated moderation and would eventually demand prohibition. They were affiliated with Christian churches, and seen as a middle-class reaction to an upsurge in lower-class drinking of spirits, which was due to more industrialised production of distilled spirits, and the fear of the working class being more dangerous when drunk.
The highpoint of the temperance movement came during World War I and the Depression, when consumption went down dramatically across the English-speaking world. But after World War II, there was a backlash against the anti-alcohol movement. Drinking rates began to climb again along with growing prosperity and cultural shifts such as the changing role of women, and European immigration shaped the way we drank.
“Civilised” drinking – drinking with food and in moderation – became the norm. Wine became a much more popular drink by the 1960s and Australia invented the wine cask. A significant change occurred in Victoria in the 1980s with the Niewenhausen report, which promoted the liberalisation of licencing in Victoria. This was taken so keenly by successive Victorian governments that, on average, two new liquor licences were granted every day from 20 years from 1986.
Binge drinking has become fashionable again. Image from shutterstock.com
But as large alcohol manufacturers increased their range of products, ramped up the amount they were producing, upped the sophistication and diversification of their advertising and allied themselves with major sports and the major media outlets, civilised drinking has not remained the norm for a sizeable proportion of the population. In the last two decades, binge drinking has again become fashionable.
And the harm these drinkers inflict on themselves and on a large proportion of the community is preventable.
It doesn’t have to be this way. History shows us that overall average rates of alcohol consumption in Australia can change quite dramatically over time, and that drinking practices are highly modifiable.
This is the first part of our series looking at alcohol and the drinking culture in Australia. Click on the links below to read the other articles:
Rob Moodie received funding from the Department of Health and Ageing for work on the National Preventative Health Taskforce. He is deputy chair of the ANPHA Advisory Council.
This article was originally published at
Read the original article.
Common sense disclaimer: The blog owner wishes to advise that neither The Conversation nor the author Dr Rob Moodie necessarily endorse the original content of fmDXing.wordpress.com.
Repeats of Muscle TV are back showing on TV4ME on free to air digital television. This is a 30 minute programme presented by professional bodybuilders and personal trainers catering for those looking to get in shape.
A sample episode (5.3) included:
general nutrition and supplementation advice;
chef recipes for fat loss (‘getting cut’);
interviews with regular male and female gym participants regarding their personal weight restriction regimen;
a 35 minute routine for metabolism stimulation (featuring exercises using gym machines and free weights training all body parts) &
exercises designed for those with lower back problems.
Whilst some of the recipes featured appear to be visually unappealing and the nutrition section usually features advertising for a sport supplement manufacturer, the show serves as an excellent motivator.
The vast majority of exercise routines illustrated can be performed outside the gym. Only simple equipment such as bar bells, dumb bells, kettle bells, medicine balls and swiss balls is required, and perhaps a basic $100 bench.
The show is hosted by Tony Doherty and his down to earth approach is a refreshing change to some of the tossers that are on tv. This laid back approach makes for easy viewing plus you can tell all the people that are on the show are comfortable and talk freely giving great insight into their area of expertise.
Indeed, the presenters are intelligent and articulate speakers, avoiding bodybuilding jargon in order to cater to a wide television and DVD video audience. The programme is likely to appeal the most to an audience with some basic experience in gym work… but consider that even senior high school students generally have access to in house gym equipment, not to mention large companies. Not a programme for gym rats per se, Muscle TV is the ideal remedy for those bored for stale routines or newbies hungry for realistic advice.
TV4ME airs the show on digital channel 74 in metropolitan areas (channel 64 elsewhere) on Mondays at 8 pm and repeated at 5 pm Fridays. For readers whose television has been smashed in frustration due to the networks’ fetish for cooking and home renovation reality shows, Muscle TV can be streamed via the website or Youtube.
Amino Active P/L is owner of the copyright in the series Max’s Muscle TV. Stills are solely provided for the purposes of criticism, research & education under the Fair Use provisions of the Copyright Act in this jurisdiction.
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