Archive for December, 2008
Alcohol - Health and Social Aspects
Alcohol, or Ethyl Alcohol, is an intoxicating ingredient found in alcoholic beverages. Alcoholic beverages can be categorised into three generic classes: beers, wines and spirits. Ethanol is a psychoactive drug that is found to have a depressant effect on all human beings.
Everyday millions of people around the world suffer from negative after-effects of drinking alcohol [...]
Alcohol Advertising in the Mass Media
Advertising and the promotion of alcohol in the media and through sport sponsorships is a major contributing factor to the ongoing alcohol problem in Australian society. Teenagers are especially at risk from campaigns that mix sexual attraction with alcohol.
Advertising that appeals to teenagers, links alcohol with sexual and sporting success, and encourages questionable standards of [...]
Australian Weddings - Traditions and Etiquette
The marital union of, usually, a man and a woman is a life cycle event celebrated in all cultures and is the focus of considerable folklore. This begins with beliefs and customs that may be observed in the lead-up to the wedding day.
For example, in many Christian or European societies it is widely believed to [...]
Unassuming Melbourne: Arts Heartland of Australia
As so often in Australia’s history, Melbourne was founded through fraud when adventurer John Batman, an Australian who spoke in several aboriginal languages, made a “deal” with aborigines to lease land on behalf of investors.
While offering the Aborigines any compensation at all was progressive in a colonial culture that preferred to simply run them [...]
Modest Melbourne: Arts Heart of Australia
As so often in Australia’s history, Melbourne was founded through deception when adventurer John Batman, an Australian who spoke in several aboriginal dilects, made a “deal” with aborigines to lease land on behalf of investors.
While offering the Aborigines any compensation at all was progressive in a colonial culture that preferred to simply run them off [...]
Magical Taipei: Capital of Taiwan
After climbing 508 metres up the Taipei 101 tower, the highest structure in the world, it can be seen easily from anywhere in the city, one can look down on the genuine Taipei amidst all the modern buildings: temples, markets, the National Palace Museum and in between them, the many old streets and lanes where [...]
Beautiful Vilnius Lithuania: Architecture from the Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassical and Jugendstil periods
The Lithuanian city of Vilnius radiates southern charm under the northern sun. Positioned in the natural amphitheatre of the surrounding Lithuanian hills, Vilnilus has much to offer visitors interested in historical buildings.
Vilnius, which can look back on a thousand years of Lithuanian history, boasts one of the largest historical town centres in Eastern Europe. Among [...]
Stimulating Mumbai: Home of the Busiest Railway Station on Earth
Mumbai, once known as Bombay, is one of the most populated cities in the world. In 1533, when the Portuguese founded Bom Bahia, which means “good bay”, no one could have thought how Mumbai would work out.
In India there is no official system in place to register people and addresses. This makes any calculation of [...]
Unforgetable Vienna: Baroque Centre of Europe
Located in the centre of Europe, Vienna is both a bustling metropolis and a destination famous for its coffee houses, historic areas, stunning parks, elegant squares and romantic courtyards.
Vienna means cafe culture, music and wine. Where else can one so happily spend all day sitting in a cafe, reading a magazine, sipping a Viennese [...]
Copenhagen Home of Australia’s Princess Mary
Almost everyone who comes to Copenhagen visits the little mermaid harbour. Hans Christian Andersen’s popular fairy tale is about a young mermaid willing to give up her life in the sea and her identity as a mermaid to gain a human soul and the love of a human prince.
Love is capricious. In the end, the [...]
