Sunday, August 8, 2010

Qantas staff buy lost property, 'sometimes enough to fill a van'

Scores of valuables such as mobile phones, laptops, and cameras left behind by passengers on plane kept by Qantas staffs routinely. The Sunday Telegraph stated that Qantas staffs conduct staff auctions to distribute those unclaimed valuables. Despite passengers are allocated with respective seats and leave contact detail to the company, but Qantas does not actively return those lost items. Qantas only sending its passengers to describe their lost items and mostly let its customer's wish to be disillusioned. They defend that passenger may possibly take away any valuables left behind in seat pocket.

However, Qantas hold staff auctions for those lost items and alleged part of it are endowed away for a philanthropy such as Salvation Army and Mission Australia in Sydney.. Ironically, Mission Australian spokesman denied the allegation and said they had not received any donations from Qantas for years.

When told of the denial from Mission Australia, Qantas said it had been donating the items to other charities.

Laws to target unexplained wealth

New laws come into force in South Australia this month, aiming unaccountable wealth related to syndicate.

From August 29 onwards, the laws will take effect and allow courts to deprive any wealth that a suspect can not explain. Attorney-General John Rau says the laws are formulated with intention to tackle heinous criminal activity by targeting the profit gained of those activity.
The new laws differ from the Criminal Assets Confiscation Act 2005 by allowing state to confiscate proceeds of crime with no need to prove the defendants engaged in criminal activity. Unless, the defendant has solid evidence to verify those wealth is acquired lawfully.

Also, the new law allow police to ask for relevant information from people holding money in accounts for others and apply for a warrant to search and withhold anything relevant to identifying, tracing, locating or quantifying a person's wealth.

The laws will only enforce against those who meet certain criteria, say for instance being suspected of a serious offence, being subject to a control order, or on justified reasons of engagement in crime.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Public health scare campaigns do not help obese, research finds

Research found that continuous warning from the Public health campaign have no significant effect on helping obese people to lose weight. Interview result of 142 adult with overweight problems indicated that they felt ashamed, humiliated and insulted by government health campaigns. Particularly the advertisement about the health council related the increased waist size will consequently lead to higher risk of getting cancer diseases.

Dr. Thomas said that causes of people with obese problems can be complex and different from each others, not only because of laziness and consuming the wrong foods. The campaigns also instilled the public with a mistaken opinion that overweight people are unhealthy, Dr. Thomas pointed out.

While, Craig Sinclair, director of the Cancer Prevention Centre at Cancer Council Victoria on the other hand defended the campaigns by saying that they have social obligation to arouse consciousness of public the risk of being obese and the its connection with cancer diseases.


Thursday, May 20, 2010

Argumentative essay: Television viewing Draft 2#

Television, an innovation which has revolutionized entertainment, communication, education and a host of other industries since it was invented. In developed countries, generally every household have at least one television set (Sharif 1999). Besides, according to American Time Use Survey 2003, US residents spent most of their idle time in watching television as compared to other leisure and sport activities. All the facts reveal that television has become a dispensable device in our daily life. Television viewing has become an eristic issue to be disputed. However, I firmly assert that television viewing is disadvantageous for children because it influences the development of thinking of children, causes behavioral problems and leads to low grade academic performance.

Firstly, watching inappropriate television programs for continuous time can profoundly influence the development of thinking of children. When children are at the growing phase with great curiosity towards the world, their comportment and notion can be easily affected by the programs they watched. For instance, child development experts argue that television as the primary element leads to violence tendency among children. Vast of graphic scenes relate to violence are screened on the television frequently, even the news. It has gradually instilled a mistaken concept on children that violence is a usual proportion of life and a proper way of tackling problems. Moreover, television programs like ‘Friends’ also express wrong thought and encourage children to think that all problems can be solved effortlessly . As consequence, when they confront intricate conditions in reality, they will be easily overwhelmed by the distress and ended up by giving up (Sharif 1999).

Additionally, over-indulgence in television viewing will trigger the behavioral problems in children as well. If the television becomes the exclusive companion of children, the ramification can be catastrophic. It is not unparalleled cases where children have put on Superman costumes and injured themselves badly by jumping out from high altitude. Disciplinary problems can arise as they imitate character with inferior behavior. Moreover, in many movies, its characters have parochially portrayed with given roles in life, especially men and women. These stereotypes adversely affect children in their behavior towards themselves and others (Sharif 1999).

Lastly, prolonged period of television also contributes to poor academic performances of students. People find it is more fascinating to flick between channels, looking for interesting programs rather than turn the television off. As a result, students neglect of their homework (Rutherford 2002). Educational psychologist points out that children who are heavily addicted in television viewing are those students who having poor academic achievement at school (Leigh 2001). In addition, present-day children’s programs and music video clips cause children nowadays having short attention spans as well. Eventually, it results in children are unable to focus on a specific matter for long period time, especially in study and homework (Sharif 1999).

All in all, television viewing apparently brings incalculable issues such as negative implication on thinking behavioral problems, and poor academic performance. Although some may argue that there are benefits in television viewing. But, after comparing its pros and cons, solid evidences show that its shortcomings outweigh its benefits. Hence, I strongly assert with my stance that television viewing is detrimental for the viewers.



Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Argumentative essay: Television viewing Draft 1#

Television, an innovation which has revolutionized entertainment, communication, education and a host of other industries since it was invented. In developed countries, generally every household have at least one television set (Sharif 1999). Besides, according to American Time Use Survey 2003, US residents spent most of their idle time in watching television as compared to other leisure and sport activities. All the facts reveal that television has become a dispensable device in our daily life. Also,television viewing has become an eristic issue to be disputed. However, I firmly assert that television viewing is disadvantageous for children because it influences the development of thought of children, causes behavioral problems and lead to low grade academic performance.

Firstly, watching inappropriate television programs for continuous time can profoundly influence the development of thinking of children. When children are at the growing phase with great curiosity towards the world, their comportment and notion can be easily affected by the programs they watched. For instance, child development experts argue that television as the primary element leads to violence tendency among children. Vast of graphic scenes relate to violence are screened on the television frequently, even the news. It has gradually instilled a mistaken concept on children that violence is a usual proportion of life and a proper way of tackling problems. Moreover, television programs like ‘Friends’ also express wrong thought and encourage children to think that all problems can be solved effortlessly . As consequence, when they confront intricate conditions in reality, they will be easily overwhelmed by the distress and ended up by giving up (Sharif 1999).

Additionally, over-indulgence in television viewing will trigger the behavioral problems in children as well. If the television becomes the exclusive companion of children, the ramification can be catastrophic. It is not unparalleled cases where children have put on Superman costumes and injured themselves badly by jumping out from high altitude. Disciplinary problems can arise as they imitate character with inferior behavior. Moreover, in many movies, its characters have parochially portrayed with given roles in life, especially men and women. These stereotypes adversely affect children in their behavior towards themselves and others (Sharif 1999).

Lastly, prolonged period of television also contributes to poor academic performances of students. People find it is more fascinating to flick between channels, looking for interesting programs rather than turning the television off. As a result, students neglect of their homework (Rutherford 2002). Educational psychologist points out children who are heavily addicted in television viewing are those students who having poor academic achievement at school (Leigh 2001). In addition, present-day children’s programs and music video clips cause children nowadays having short attention spans as well. Eventually, it leads to children are unable to concentrate in a specific matter for long period, particularly study and homework (Sharif 1999).

All in all, television viewing apparently brings incalculable issues such as behavioral problems, poor academic performance and negative implication on thinking. Although some may argue that there are benefits in television viewing. However, after comparing its pros and cons, solid evidences show that its shortcomings outweigh its benefits. Hence, I strongly assert with my stance that television viewing is detrimental to the viewers

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Argumentative essay : Junk Food Final Draft#

Over the past 30 years, the nutritional value taken by Australian children has been dropping significantly. The elevated accessibility and consumption of fast food is deemed as the main culprit of the issue (Weekend News 2005). Junk food is defined as any food that is insalubrious and of low nutritional value (Smith 2005). So, I strongly agree that the sale of junk food in school canteens should be banned due to the increase in childhood obesity, cause of behavioral problems and litter problem.

First of all, junk food triggers the behavioral problems in children, such as hyperactivity and inattention (Smith 2005). In order to enhance the taste and appearance of junk food and its shelf life as well, chemical additives are added into junk food. According to the Medical Association President, Dr Bill Cray says that the existence of junk food at school has led to malnutrition issue in students and affected their healthy development and growth, and their learning ability is depressed. Besides that, a noticeable improvement in student’s behavior in class is observed by teacher since the removal of junk food and soft drink form the canteen. The students turn into calmer after lunch (The Food Show 2005).

Junk foods are also accused as the major cause of health problems especially childhood obesity. Childhood obesity can stimulate future illnesses such as heart disease, osteoarthritis, and cancers (Weekend News 2005). Snack food such as biscuits, cookies, chips, confectionery, hamburgers, soft drinks and so on are categorized as low nutritional value food by Health Foundation (2005). It is typically high in salt, sugar, or fat and mostly contains artificial flavor enhancers (Smith 2005). Undeniable, junk food increases the kilojoule intake greatly and leads to weight gain. The problem is even compounded by the fact that most of the teenagers do not practice adequate physical activity (Weekend News 2005).

In addition, sale of junk food is the main contributor to litter problem in school. Tins, crisp packets, cartons and plastic containers are thrown everywhere by students after they consumed it (The Food Show 2005). Litter can be health hazardous and causes school to pay more in cleaning expense and also tarnish the reputation of our community (Smith 2005). Owing to litter problem, the groundsman has to spend more time on cleaning up the rubbish rather than maintenance projects (The Food Show 2005).

All in all, the sale of junk food in school canteens has caused vast problems such as environmental issue and health hazardous. Although some may argue that there are benefits in sale of junk food inside the school compound. However, after comparing its pros and cons, we can find out solid evidences that its disadvantages are exceeded its advantages. Lastly, a dietian, Samira Karimi advocated that schools are obligated for the welfare and safety of student, and that includes their health in The Food Show (2005). Therefore, I firmly agree that sale of junk food in school canteens should be banned for the sake of students.

Monday, May 3, 2010

Argumentative essay : Junk Food draft 2#

Over the past 30 years, the nutritional value taken by Australian children has been dropping significantly. The elevated accessibility and consumption of fast food is deemed as the main culprit of the issue (Weekend News 2005). Junk food is defined as any food that is insalubrious and of low nutritional value (Smith 2005). So, I strongly agree that the sale of junk food in school canteens should be banned due to the increase in childhood obesity, cause of behavioral problems and litter problem.

To enhance the taste and appearance of junk food and its shelf life as well, chemical additives are added into junk food. All of these additional additives result in behavioral problems in children, such as hyperactivity and inattention (Smith 2005). According to the Medical Association President, Dr Bill Cray says that the existence of junk food at school has led to malnutrition issue in students and affected their healthy development and growth, and their learning ability is depressed. Besides that, a noticeable improvement in student’s behavior in class is observed by teacher since the removal of junk food and soft drink form the canteen. The students turn into calmer after lunch (The Food Show 2005).

Junk foods are also accused as the major cause of health problems especially childhood obesity. Childhood obesity can stimulate future illnesses such as heart disease, osteoarthritis, and cancers (Weekend News 2005). Snack food such as biscuits, cookies, chips, confectionery, hamburgers, soft drinks and so on are categorized as low nutritional value food by Health Foundation (2005). It is typically high in salt, sugar, or fat and mostly contains artificial flavor enhancers (Smith 2005). Undeniable, junk food increases the kilojoule intake greatly and leads to weight gain. The problem is even compounded by the fact that most of the teenagers do not practice adequate physical activity (Weekend News 2005).

In addition, sale of junk food is the main contributor to litter problem in school. Tins, crisp packets, cartons and plastic containers are thrown everywhere by students after they consumed it (The Food Show 2005). Litter can be health hazardous and causes school to pay more in cleaning expense and also tarnish the reputation of our community (Smith 2005). Owing to litter problem, the groundsman has to spend more time on cleaning up the rubbish rather than maintenance projects (The Food Show 2005).

All in all, the sale of junk food in school canteens has caused vast problems such as environmental issue and health hazardous. Although some may argue that there are benefits in sale of junk food inside the school compound. However, after comparing its pros and cons, we can find out solid evidences that its disadvantages are exceeded its advantages. Lastly, a dietian, Samira Karimi advocated that schools are obligated for the welfare and safety of student, and that includes their health in The Food Show (2005). Therefore, I firmly agree that sale of junk food in school canteens should be banned for the sake of students.