Robin Williams Pisses Off Australia

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has lashed out at US comedian Robin Williams for calling Australians “rednecks”, suggesting the star should look closer to home before bashing Aussies.

Rudd hit back at the Oscar-winning actor during a radio interview after Williams told US talk show host David Letterman that “Australians are basically English rednecks. You down there, ‘how are ya? Good to see you. Hello.’”

“I think Robin Williams should go and spend a bit of time in Alabama before he frames comments about anyone being particularly redneck,” Rudd said on Melbourne commercial radio on Wednesday.

The comedian went on to say: “I realised that if Darwin had landed in Australia, he would have gone: ‘I’m wrong’.”

Japanese Town Baffled By Kangaroo Sightings

It may seem odd, but the locals swear it’s true. People in a Japanese mountain region have reported a number of kangaroo sightings, and journalists are now trying to stalk the marsupials.

The descriptions given by the apparent eyewitnesses seem close enough. For years they have spoken of a beige animal with large ears, one to 1.5 metres (three to five feet) tall, that stands by the roadside and then hops away.

The sightings were all reported in the Mayama mountain district of Osaki city in Miyagi prefecture, a community of 441 households, located about 350 kilometers (220 miles) north of Tokyo.

The city has received about 30 reports of “kangaroo-like animals,” including three cases since December, when the mountain area was often covered in snow, said local official Tetsuya Sasaki.

“People aged in their 40s to their 60s have said they have spotted what looked like kangaroos while travelling to and from work in the early mornings and evenings,” said Sasaki.

5,200 Naked Australians Bare All For Photo Shoot

About 5,200 naked people have embraced each other on the steps of Sydney’s iconic Opera House for a photo shoot by Spencer Tunick.

Tunick, who is known for his nude group photos in public spaces, posed participants for more than an hour in a variety of positions Monday.

“It was difficult to get the straight participants to embrace the gay participants and vice versa,” Tunick said. “So I was very happy that that last set up finally got done and everyone came together (in a) united, friendly kiss, a loving kiss in front of this great structure.”

Nineteen-year-old student Art Rush said he was thrilled to participate.

“I’ll never get a chance to do this again; it’s not worth being inhibited,” Rush said. “It doesn’t feel sexual, it just feels tribal, a gathering of humanity.”

Today’s Top Eurotastic Song By Gina G

Here she is – the one and olny Gina G singing Ooh Aah… Just a Little Bit:

Ooh Aah… Just a Little Bit is a song written by British songwriters Simon Tauber and Steve Rodway, and performed by Australian singer Gina G.  Released as a single on 25 March 1996, it reached number one in the United Kingdom on 19 May 1996.

The song was the United Kingdom’s entry in the 1996 Eurovision Song Contest.  Although the song only finished in eighth place in the contest it was successful in Europe. 

The song also had some success in the United States, a rarity for Eurovision entries, peaking at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100, #13 on the Rhythmic Top 40, #5 on the Mainstream Top 40, #25 on the Adult Top 40 and #11 on the Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales chart.

Banker Caught Looking At Semi-Nude Photos On Live TV

An Australian banker is in hot water after being filmed looking at semi-nude photos of a model while a colleague was doing a television interview nearby.

He could be seen clicking on photos of Miranda Kerr in the background of the Channel 7 interview on Tuesday with an analyst for Macquarie Private Wealth.

The footage soon made its way on to YouTube and became a huge hit.

Macquarie Private Wealth, however, was not amused and said it was taking the matter very seriously.

The images of Ms Kerr could clearly be seen during the Channel 7 interview, only at the end of which does the banker turn to the camera and realise he has been filmed.

A Macquarie statement said: “Macquarie has strict policies in place surrounding the use of technology and the issue arising from the live cross on Seven News is being dealt with internally.”

The banker in question, David Kiely, a mid-level client investment manager, has reportedly been meeting executives to determine his future.

His colleague, Martin Lakos, had been discussing interest rates in the Channel 7 interview.

A spokesman for Channel 7 said it had expressed its concerns to Macquarie over the incident.

The Australian said Macquarie’s human resources department had e-mailed all 11,500 staff around the world with its internet policy, telling them to “familiarise themselves” with it.

Birth Month May Influence Athletic Success

Could you be the next David Beckham or Michael Jordan?

An Australian researcher has found your chances of becoming a professional sportsperson could depend on your birthday.

Senior research fellow Adrian Barnett from Queensland University of Technology’s Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation found that a person’s birth month could determine their health and fitness.

The results of the study are published in a book, “Analysing Seasonal Health Data,” which Barnett co-authored with researcher Annette Dobson from the University of Queensland.

Barnett analysed the birthdays of professional Australian Football League (AFL) players and found a disproportionate number had their birthdays in the early months of the year, while a fewer number were born in the later months, especially December.

The Australian school year begins in January.

“Children who are taller have an obvious advantage when playing the football code of AFL,” Barnett said in a statement issued by the book’s publishers, Springer.

“If you were born in January, you have almost 12 months’ growth ahead of your classmates born late in the year, so whether you were born on December 31st or January 1st could have a huge effect on your life.”

Barnett found there were 33 percent more professional AFL players than expected with birthdays in January and 25 percent fewer in December.

He said the results mirrored other international studies which found a link between being born near the start of school year and the chances of becoming a professional player in the sports of ice hockey, football, volleyball and basketball.

“Research in the UK shows those born at the start of the school year also do better academically and have more confidence,” he said.

“And with physical activity being so important, it could also mean smaller children get disheartened and play less sport. If smaller children are missing out on sporting activity then this has potentially serious consequences for their health in adulthood.”

Barnett said this seasonal pattern could also result in wasted talent, with potential sports stars not being identified because they were competing against children who were much more physically advanced than them.

He said a possible solution was for one of the sporting codes in Australia to change the team entry date from January 1 to July 1.

Rotating House Puts Family In A Spin

An Australian family is turning heads with a rotating house that can guarantee a different view every time they wake up.

The Everinghams have been in a spin since they moved into their dream home in the countryside north of Sydney three years ago. They can turn the house to follow the sun without having to leave the comfort of their armchairs.

“When you wake up you do wonder where you’ll be facing,” said Luke Everingham, a sound-engineer who came up with the idea with his wife, Deb, after chatting with neighbors.

The neighbors wished they had built their home 15 degrees further to the north to capture more sunlight.

The octagonal-shaped house sits on a turntable powered by a small electric motor and controlled by a computer, which allows it move on demand.

The house cost about A$700,000 ($641,000) to build and can complete a full rotation in about 30 minutes, according to the Everinghams’ own Web site.

Australians Up In Arms Over Kangaroo Chips

Some Australians are up in arms over a new kangaroo and emu flavored chip, horrified that people are encouraged to eat the nation’s coat of arms which depicts the iconic Australian animals.

Complaints to Australia’s Advertising Standards Bureau said the “BBQ Coat of Arms” chips were degrading for native wildlife and sent the wrong message to Australian children, reported the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper.

“It implies that it is perfectly OK to kill kangaroos and emus just for fun!” said one complaint.

But the company manufacturing the chips rejected the charge, saying the kangaroo and emu flavored chips celebrated Australia’s heritage.

The Advertising Standards Bureau investigated the complaints against the new chips but decided not to take any action.

Four Men Nabbed For Naked Car Wash Romp

Four young men who were caught cooling off naked inside a central Queensland car wash have been warned their prank could have had much more serious consequences.

The two 19-year-olds and two 23-year-old men paid $17 for the full service during a night out in Biloela, then stripped off and ran around inside as their girlfriends filmed them.

Police patrolling the area put a stop to the “fun” before the wash hit full-cycle, the Courier Mail reports.

“They were stopped before it went too far. They could have been seriously injured,” said a Queensland Police Service spokeswoman.

She said the men were warned of the danger of high-pressure cleaners and issued with notices to appear in court for public nuisance and wilful exposure.

“A car wash is for washing cars, not people,” said the spokeswoman.

A service station attendant said the high pressure sprayers had the potential to remove skin and “could’ve blown their eyes out of their sockets”.

Whitwell Posed Nude To Annoy Boyfriend

When young Kiwi teacher Rachel Whitwell decided to pose nude for Australian Penthouse she wasn’t thinking of the fame or the fortune.

She just wanted to annoy her boyfriend.

But the ploy has backfired badly, with saucy pics of Whitwell frolicking in a spa splashed across New Zealand papers, leaving both her career and her relationship in tatters.

This messy scenario can be explained by the fact that her boyfriend is New Zealand’s notorious porn industry king, Steve Crow, producer and distributer of X-rated movies.

The pair had been dating for nearly two years and planned to marry.

That was until Whitwell, 27, decided to test the 52-year-old’s commitment by sending him a series of raunchy anonymous texts and Facebook messages.

‘I wanted to prove to everyone who thinks he’s a sleaze that they were wrong about him,’ she told New Zealand’s Woman’s Day.

The problem was he fell for it, flicking back enthusiastic messages and organising a rendezvous.

A distraught Whitwell confronted him and moved out of the couple’s Auckland home, and sent her sexy photographs to the Aussie mag as a form of payback.

‘Posting my pictures on the web was only meant to annoy Steve, because he always says he’s not interested in going out with a nude model,’ the mother-of-one told the magazine.

‘Nothing good has come out of it, because all it’s done is leave me unsure and bitter.’

Crow – who happily describes himself as a ‘bald, fat pornographer’ – admits what he did was ‘monumentally stupid’ but he said he was wholly unimpressed with Whitwell’s attempt to trick him.

‘I think the whole concept of the ‘honey trap’ is despicable and I’ve said to (Whitwell): ‘If you throw the right bait at any fish, you’ll catch it’,’ Crow told the magazine.

He said their relationship was ‘probably irreparable’ and the damage done to Whitwell’s career may be the same.

The New Zealand Teachers Council has taken serious issue with the photos, which include two nude and four topless shots.

They are investigating her foray into nude modelling with a view to striking her off the teaching register, a move she claims is ‘totally unnecessary’.

‘People will vouch I’m a really good teacher,’ she told a newspaper recently.

‘My ability to teach and have good relationships with students is not affected.’

Additional coverage of the ongoing Rachel Whitwell saga: http://alindenauer.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/teacher-in-trouble-over-naked-pictures/