Binge drinking, it is argued, is an epidemic currently gripping
It has not been established, to my mind, with any certainty that binge drinking today is any worse than it was yesteryear. Indeed, the evidence suggests that Australians, on average, are drinking less. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (Health Australia 2006), reported that in 2003 (the latest year for which cross-country data is available), Australians drank on average 9.8 litres of alcohol a year (the equivalent of 1.25 bottles of wine a week). This was the ninth lowest out of a sample of 22 countries. This is one-third less than what was consumed in 1973, and about the same as 1963. The long-term trend is a decline in alcohol consumption.
Yet some dear citizens have suggested that we need an alco-card to ration the alcohol we can purchase from the local bottleshop. Let us assume that such a project will cost $100 million to issue cards to all our dearest throughout
Clearly, under-age drinkers wouldn’t receive an alco-card, since they are automatically prohibited from purchasing alcohol. So clearly, the card applies to alcos older than 18 years. Should it apply to everyone? How do you tell if someone has a drinking problem — from the colour of their nose? What if you don’t have a drinking problem, are you still limited by a quota? Does the local priest need an alco-card if he is bulk purchasing wine for Holy Communion? Does the congregation have turn up with their cards? Did Jesus have an alco-card?
When you eat starchy foods, leftovers get into the pits and fissures and between your teeth. Chewing ‘hard’ after a meal displaces the lodged material. Moreover, it also promotes the production of saliva, which can also get into those hard to get places. Examples of hard food include foam strips impregnated of barium sulphate, non-cariogenic foods (such as nuts), and celery string.
Say what? It’s hard enough to hand out nuts at any school for fear of poisoning some allergic kiddie. And strips of barium sulphate? If kids don’t start tripping, their parents certainly will.
And you can’t seriously contemplate doing it at home either. Can you imagine introducing a reward system for your children: ‘son, if you do your violin lessons, I’ll give you celery string’. Why stop at celery string, why not feed them really small pebbles? ‘Crunch on these, son.’
But the emphasis o on education not handing out food. Poor bloody teachers are bombarded every day with requests by interest groups to gain access to the young kiddies. Our kids are certainly being educated, but not how to read and write.
If tooth decay is serious enough a health issue, most people would eventually learn of its importance and learn to floss a bit more.
Back of the envelope
We’ve all heard about the economic stimulus. And we all know the basics …. Its a yea old school style reversion to the madness of Keynesian economics.
However, no amount of forewarning can prepare you for this …
- Water bubbler program in Mosman — installation of water bubblers in various locations around Mosman, some (note not all) providing specific wheelchair access - $20,000.
- Dunny and signs - Nackeroo Lookout Area Upgrade, Timber Creek. Upgrade of the Nackeroo Lookout area, including the construction of ablution facilities, commissioning and installation of interpretive signage for tourists and signage on road and tracks to ensure environmental damage is limited. - $110,000
- Green dunny - Construction of an Eco-Friendly Public Toilet at
- Air conditioning - Community Hall Air-conditioning Installation, Bowen - Installation of split system air conditioning in McKenna Hall, Bowen. $100,000
To give you a point of reference National Builders Group is currently prepared to build you a single story house with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, one kitchen, a lounge, a dining room, a lockup garage and a theater room for $131,900. Included in that price is a margin for the builder.
I'm not sure when green dunnies and air conditioning became core economic infrastructure, but hey this is how were going to beat the recession (the one were not actually having).
WARNING THIS BLOG CONTAINS REPEATED REFERENCES TO HUMAN WASTE
Submission
find isolated areas around the country, in this areas we would put our human waste straight into a deep bore hole. The theory is that the waste will move its way back into our water streams with the distance from the waste station to the natural water systems used to filter the water.
Wrap up
This submission belongs in the hey lets create an inland sea category; however it has a wicked little twist that makes it worthy of comment. The idea is short, succinct straight to the point. Basically 856 is proposing that we dig big holes in the desert and fill them up with poo.
Why you may ask? 856 (he/she, although to be honest my money is on 856 being male) provides the following justification. The idea is that we create massive pits of raw sewerage in central region of
Of course there are a couple of minor issues with poisoning vast tracts of remote
For starters percolating through indices of rock and soil is probably not the speediest way to treat sewage. As a method for generating additional sources of water its best suited to those that are prepared to wait a couple of thousand years. It is definitely not going to satisfy the needs of drought effected urban populations. Given that actual supply augmentation may not be a big bonus we have to extend our analysis to consider social and environmental benefits. It is obviously a big plus for anyone who enjoys poo skiing or poo sailing (depending on the size of the hole), although measuring the value of this benefit may be a challenge in and of itself. Another external benefit would be the possible food source it would create for any native animal with the gastronomical dexterity to deal with human waste.
What will it cost? In the absence of any robust analysis we can generate some indicative numbers. A recent estimation of the
The back of the envelope
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