Category: General news

What’ll they think of next? 

Easter chocolates, along with our favourite everyday foods, could taste just as good but be healthier in future, thanks to new technology that is revealing the science of chewing. 

CSIRO’s 3D mastication modelling is starting to provide researchers with new understanding of how to reduce salt, sugar and fat in food products, as well as how to incorporate more fibre and nutrients, and even how to create new food sensations. 

CSIRO biomechanical engineer and computer modeller, Dr Simon Harrison, said the world’s first 3D dynamic virtual mouth can provide detailed insight for developing healthier foods. 

Just in time for Easter, Dr Harrison has modelled a caramel filled Easter Egg to see what happens when the virtual mouth takes a bite. 

“In polite company, we can’t see inside someone’s mouth while they’re eating and, until now, it has not been possible to view how the chewing process alters food,” Dr Harrison said.

“Using a cutting-edge technique called smooth particle hydrodynamics, we’ve developed a virtual mouth built on real data about the physics of chewing. It predicts how a particular food breaks down and how flavour is released in the mouth. It also shows the distribution and interaction of components such as salt, sugar and fat. 

“Through this technology, we can view and analyse how food at the microscopic level works in the mouth, and how it influences our taste perception.”

This new data and understanding is helping to develop foods lower in salt, sugar and fat without changing the taste. 

CSIRO food materials scientist, Dr Leif Lundin, believes the benefits for the food industry could be enormous. 

“This technology will give food and ingredient manufacturers the ability not only to model the breakdown of a complex food product, but also the individual components,” Dr Lundin said. 

“It can also model the costs of making changes to a product, and then calculate the cost benefit. This will save time and money, compared to using the traditional ‘cook and look’ approach. 

“Our research should also help create new taste sensations that could find their way into new products on our supermarket shelves.”

Heritage Bank unveiled their top-secret project The Heritage Power Suit yesterday in Brisbane.

Made from 100% Superfine Australian Merino Wool by Australian tailor M.J. Bale, overseen by Japanese master tailor Kenichi Kaneko.

The Heritage Power Suit has a built-in Visa payWave chip in the sleeve, which is connected to your Heritage Bank account.

All you need to do is wave your arm to make a payment.

One out of the twelve prototype suits will be auctioned on Ebay and all the proceeds made from the auction will go to Mat Rogers’ 4 ASD Kids charity.

M.J. Bale CEO Matt Jenson says the most powerful men don’t carry wallets and the suit will allow you to be ahead of the technology game and look top notch.

“This suit allows you to join their ranks.”

“M.J. Bale has always been a brand for stylish gentlemen, the prototype means the wearer doesn’t need to ruin the cut of their trousers or jacket with a bulky wallet.”

Heritage Bank CEO John Minz says we all live incredibly fast lives, yet still want to look good and use cutting-edge technology.

“We are all about enriching people’s lives by embracing such new technology and finding innovative ways to help them do their banking.”

“Forgetting your wallet will now be impossible.”

Visit the Ebay auction here: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/261452304995

Learn more about the suit here: http://www.heritage.com.au/powersuit

Learn more about 4 ASD Kids here: http://www.4asdkids.com

Jesus’ crucifixion was God’s great act of solidarity with all who suffer – including asylum-seekers – according to Dr Philip Freier, Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne.

Jesus suffered a horrific death which seemed to mark a crushing and humiliating end to the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of love, compassion and justice that Jesus had come to proclaim and that his life was a shining witness to.

The dreadful violence and suffering that he endured was apparently the opposite of everything that he represented. The power of evil, it seemed, had triumphed. Here, indeed, was a sense of complete abandonment by God, expressed so poignantly in Jesus’ last words, quoting psalm 22: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Yet, paradoxically, this moment of apparent utter dejection, despair and failure was the very moment God’s love for us was seen most clearly for what it is. Here, in Jesus’ total self-surrender and self-emptying, was the supreme manifestation of God’s love for humankind. As St John puts it, “this is how God showed his love among us.”

Just as Christians believe that all people are made in the image of God, so we believe that the face of Jesus can be seen in all those on the margins of society – including the poor, the prisoner and the asylum-seeker. Jesus told us that whenever we do something for the least of people, we also do it for him.

The crucifixion was God’s great act of solidarity with all those who suffer, and He continues to share the suffering and pain of millions today who suffer through poverty, persecution, violence and cruelty, including the millions of displaced people in the world, Syrian refugees and asylum-seekers in offshore detention. The list goes on.

When we fail to respond to the cries of need among our brothers and sisters of whatever race, creed or background we fall short of our full humanity to which Christ bore witness and to which God calls us.

Good Friday was not to be the end of Christian hope – violence, suffering and death were not to have the last word. Jesus was to live again; and the Gospel accounts of the resurrection, as well as the lives of the apostles after Jesus’ resurrection appearances, are a powerful testimony to this.

Jesus lives still – a profound, life-transforming reality each one of us can experience if only we are prepared to open up our hearts and minds to His presence within and among us.

Christians believe this truth lies at the heart of reality, and millions of followers over the last 2000 years have born witness to it, and have been inspired by it to live out the Christian ideal of love, compassion and selfless service.

I invite you to make a pilgrimage to the heart this year, and to experience the love of the risen Jesus that dwells within, a love that embraces all.

Archbishop Freier will preach at the 10am Service on Easter Day in St Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne.

See his Easter message on YouTube at: http://www.melbourneanglican.org.au/Easter

Aboriginal people and their supporters will be demanding that the British Crown return all the land on the Australian continent that they hold illegally when the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visit Sydney and Brisbane this week.

Kooma man and member of the Brisbane Aboriginal Sovereign Embassy, Wayne Wharton, said “In 1992 the Mabo High Court case found that the Crown’s claim of ownership and sovereignty of this continent via Terra Nullius was illegal.  The court upheld that there was a system of governance by the original tribes and that our sovereignty has never been ceded.

“It is only through the Royal Family’s false and illegal claim of sovereignty over this continent that Federal, State and Territory governments derive their authority to pass laws and enforce them.

“By not answering the big question posed by the Mabo decision the Queen, her representatives and the Australian Government have effectively been lying to everyone who calls this continent home since 1992.

“All people who call this continent home need to start maturely and seriously engaging with the issue of Aboriginal sovereignty because the Queen and the Government have proven incapable of doing this.”

“We carefully managed this land for tens of thousands of years, then the British Crown illegally occupies it and in a blink of an eye much of the land is damaged.  Our sovereignty is NOT about deporting people or taking peoples homes, it is about our birthright and responsibility to protect this land and ALL the people (old and new) who live on it.

“That’s why we will be telling the Royal visitors, ‘Give back what you stole! Our Sovereignty has never been ceded!’”

Helen Abrahams hosted a meeting of West End residents at South’s Leagues Club on Saturday to go through the South Brisbane Riverside Neighbourhood Plan and its implications in detail.

Under consideration are the development sites south of Davies Park along Montague Rd which represent thousands of new apartments and residents. Westender recently reported Councillor Abraham’s challenge to the Brisbane City Council to explain the discrepancies between the revised draft City Plan and the approved Neighbourhood Plan. At the time she specifically focused on the changes to designated parkland along Montague Rd at what was the Distance Education Building. Instead, parkland appears on the plan where residents of Raven and Rogers St currently live.

Lord Mayor Quirk has formally replied to Helen, claiming that he has never said there would be parkland along Montague Rd and that Council has never said it would resume houses and has no intention of resuming houses to create parkland any where in West End or elsewhere Brisbane.

Councillor Abrahams presented a number of versions of the plan and pointed out to residents in attendance that various recent statements by council had referred to many different versions of neighbourhood plans including an old Wollongabba plan that was superceded more than eight years ago. “We can only presume their intention is to confuse the issue,” she said, advising residents it is up to them to review the documents, avail themselves of the facts and ask council directly for answers to their questions.

“I will help you as much as I can, but many of these matters are more effective when there are lots of questions coming directly from concerned ratepayers,” she said.

President of West End Community Association, Dr Erin Evans, advised residents that WECA has a strong vision for the area, based on input from a wide range of residents and developed over many years and she looks forward to working with residents to see that vision become a reality.

The residents have organised working groups to facilitate responsea to council including opposition to the revised City Plan itself. More information is available through Helen Abrahams office and WECA.

The Westender published a story on its online edition on Monday 7^th April regarding the purchase of the ABSOE property in Boundary Street by Sydney developers Payce Consolidated.

Part of the story may have given readers the impression that the owner of Payce Consolidated, Mr Brian Boyd, was in some way involved with criminal activity.

The Westender withdraws that statement unreservedly, and apologises for any damage to Mr Boyd’s reputation it may have caused.

The Publishers