Author: media

The Good Ship, a seething maelstrom of decadent musicality, are back in town with a show at West End’s newest venue – The Motor Room.

Joining the band will be the truthfully named Liam Bryant + The Handsome Devils and tunes from DJ Jimi Beavis.

The Good Ship was last seen in March – zooming all over the country with the Sea Monster tour. Directly following this the band bunkered down in a large ranch in the countryside for an intensive ‘band camp’ and conjured an album’s worth of new songs. Some of these will be getting their world premiere at this show.

Best of all, this gig is FREE ENTRY…. and please note well – it is a relatively early show. Doors are open from 5pm, there are fantastic markets on and the live music starts from 7pm.

Putting their weekend together for good use, the septet will also be filming a live performance of a new song for Project24 at State Library Of Queensland and then performing at the Teneriffe Festival on Saturday 5 July. The band can’t wait to get into a room together with you and show their wares – preloved, recent and shiny brand new too….

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THE GOOD SHIP With Special Guests LIAM BRYANT + THE HANDSOME DEVILS and DJ JIMI BEAVIS The Motor Room, Absoe Building, West End | From 5pm, Fri 4 July 2014

 

THE GOOD SHIP – A BIOGRAPHY

Drawing inspiration from fellow denizens of the deep like Nick Cave, The Decemberists and The Pogues, the pelagic folk rock of The Good Ship charts some dark and dangerous waters, and a more mangy, cross-bred collection of influences, from gypsy to bush-band via cabaret, country and rock you’ll not hear.

In the world of the Good Ship, it’s the good stuff that sinks to the bottom…

Live, The Good Ship is a seething maelstrom of decadent musicality, with up to seven members on stage at any one time and a whole heap of archaic instrumentation from mandola, lagerphone, banjo and trumpet to accordion. This sense of joy and anarchy hasn’t been lost on audiences and the crew have gathered a loyal following throughout Australia. A festival favourite, the band have delivered barnstorming shows for Festival Of The Sun, Falls Festival and Woodford Folk Festival.

The band formed in 2009, amassing material quickly from three songwriters and released debut album Avast, Wretched Sea in 2010. In early 2012, the band bunkered down in Neil Coombe’s White Room Studio in tranquil Mt Nebo and created their second (and not at all tranquil) album O’ Exquisite Corpse. The band released a trio of videos to accompany the album and hit the road to launch the album across the country. For their third album, the band created a mini-musical based on their song The Seven Seas – the album was released simultaneously with the performance of the work before a capacity crowd at the Brisbane Powerhouse Theatre in November 2013.

So far, 2014 has seen the band performing with the Lumineers, delivering shows for the Falls Festival and a national tour to launch the single Sea Monster. Much new material is being created, destined for the band’s fourth album, due to be recorded later in the year.

It may look like just dots on a page, but an image of distant galaxies taken last week represents a huge step forward for CSIRO’s Australia SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) radio telescope in Western Australia.

ASKAP is developing and proving technologies for the international Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope, which will start construction in Australia and South Africa in 2018. The image shows that ASKAP is now working as a fully fledged radio telescope after just a few months of commissioning.

Chief of CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science Dr Lewis Ball is leading a delegation of scientists and engineers presenting the results in Europe.

“These ASKAP results are generating great excitement in the office of the SKA Organisation in Manchester, UK, and at an SKA science meeting currently taking place in Italy, because they clearly demonstrate the revolutionary potential of CSIRO’s new phased array feed technology,” Dr Ball said.

Initial commissioning of ASKAP is being done with six of the telescope’s 36 antennas.

“ASKAP is now functioning properly as an aperture-synthesis telescope,” CSIRO’s Dr David McConnell, who leads the ASKAP Commissioning and Early Science team, ACES, said.

“We’ve never had a telescope like this before. We can see that the novel aspects of its design really do work, and that it will outperform a conventional telescope.”

Dr McConnell said when the ASKAP commissioning team saw the new image, they “practically fell off their chairs”.

The image, of a region of sky near the south celestial pole, is the equivalent of a black and white photo, but made from radio waves.

This image covers 10 square degrees on the sky — 50 times larger than the full Moon — and was made from nine overlapping regions (‘beams’) captured simultaneously.

The quality of the image vindicates ASKAP’s two novel features: ‘phased array feeds’ — new technology developed by CSIRO — and a special axis of rotation on each antenna.

The phased array feeds act as ‘radio cameras’, allowing the telescope to see large areas of sky at once.

“This image shows that the phased array feeds are stable over the 12 hours it takes to make an observation like this,” Dr McConnell said.

“Now we can start to use the other advantages of phased array feeds, such as changing the beam size and shape for particular kinds of observations.”

As the telescope tracks radio sources, the phased array feed is kept in a fixed orientation to the sky, thanks to a special axis of rotation built into each ASKAP antenna.

“With a conventional telescope we would have expected artefacts from bright sources at the edges of each beam,” Dr McConnell said.

“With ASKAP we don’t get that, because the phased array feed is held at a constant angle to the stars.”

The dynamic range of the image was 50,000:1, which would be a good result from a mature telescope, let alone one in commissioning.

Even at this early stage, ASKAP was able to make the new image twice as fast as any comparable telescope in the Southern Hemisphere.

When completed, ASKAP will be able to survey the sky 25 times faster still, and will be the world’s premier survey telescope for centimetre-wavelength radio astronomy.

ASKAP has also made a ‘snapshot’ of a single galaxy, NGC 253, from radio waves emitted by neutral atomic hydrogen gas (HI), the fuel for making stars. This is the telescope’s first image of the HI in a galaxy.

The image captures both the intensity of the radio waves — how much HI is present in each region — and how the galaxy is rotating — which parts are approaching us, and which receding.

“If the first image was like a black-and-white photo, this one could be compared to a colour photo,” Dr McConnell said.

“What we’re looking for here is the equivalent of ‘colour balance’ — if there’s a proper balance of the radio waves at all the different frequencies used in the image.

“Happily, that balance is good. The image compares very well with one made by our established Compact Array telescope.”

Acknowledging CSIRO’s achievement with ASKAP, Australian SKA Project Director Professor Brian Boyle said “the future of radio astronomy has arrived”.

The phased array feeds (PAFs) used for these commissioning tests are of the so-called ‘first generation’ design. Procurement is now under way for even better ‘second generation’ PAFs, which tests have shown will meet their ambitious performance targets. The PAF design last year won awards for innovation from Engineers Australia and the technology is expected to find applications outside radio astronomy.

Brisbane’s inner suburbs have some of the best examples of this state’s unique timber architecture. But for such a sought-after style of house there’s almost no consensus on what we should and shouldn’t call a “Queenslander”. Real estate agents know that adding the term to an advert can spike the enquiry levels. Builders are working the word into their descriptions in fairly imaginative ways (one applies the name to brick homes with timber-gabled facades – really?)

Maybe if it’s built north of the Tweed any house can legitimately share the title. But today we thought we’d ask you to share your thoughts: what makes a Queenslander a Queenslander? Surely there are four key elements: it’s elevated from the ground, has a hardwood frame and softwood linings, the main materials are timber and tin, and it has a verandah.

Looking back into our history there were plenty of practical reasons for elevating the homes: to keep residents cool in summer, to allow easy construction on sloping land, to avoid floods, and to keep the timber away from termites. Under the house used to be a place for playing out of the sun, hanging the washing and a bed for the dog (or even a not-so-welcome relative). In “modern” times we saw this as an opportunity for extra space for media rooms, studies and garages. Are these still Queenslanders?

During our early years there were plenty of variations on timber home designs. Those built from 1859 to 1901 are often called Colonials (for our time as a colony). Bungalow is the common term for the next generation of styles that were usually more elaborate and included gabled, asymmetrical facades. In the 1920’s we adopted elements of the Californian Bungalows – even way back then we were taking design cues from the USA. You’ll also hear them called “inter-war Queenslanders” and there’s a huge range of designs built through this era. Those with an eye for detail can often date a home from its verandah posts, balustrades and windows. How simple was life when to keep up with the Joneses you just needed a bullnose tin sunhood?!

Not surprisingly the Great Depression saw more simplicity and conservatism in design and by 1933 bricks were considered a modern option. Fibro was first manufactured in Queensland in 1936 and its easy-care maintenance meant it quickly became a popular cladding material. We’re still ripping the toxic stuff out of homes today.

If you’d like a very thorough read on the topic try “Brisbane House Styles 1880 to 1940” by Judy Gale Rechner (1998). Maybe every real estate agent should have a copy so we can get the terminology right! There’s no doubt we’re proud of our Queenslanders and their rich history – whatever the name means to you.

Rob Honeycombe – Bees Nees Realty.

Work has started on the construction of a new state-of-the-art learning facility as part of a major redevelopment at Brisbane State High.

The new facilities would feature 40 classrooms, an arts centre, staff centre, tuckshop and other essential amenities.

The complex will accommodate approximately 850 students and enable the school to cater for a total enrolment of up to 3,000 students.

Minister for Education, Training and Employment John Paul Langbroek said Broad Construction Services Queensland was awarded the contract for the design and construction of the building which will cater for future growth including the move of Year 7 to high school in 2015.

“During the redevelopment, Year 7 students will move into an interim, designated precinct on the school’s current Edmondstone Street site,” Mr Langbroek said.

Brisbane State High School is one of Queensland’s 80 Independent Public Schools and was established in 1921 as the first academic state high school in Queensland.

The Quandamooka Yoolooburrabee Aboriginal Corporation (QYAC) will lodge a legal challenge in the High Court of Australia against the Newman Government’s amendment to the NSIPSA Act to extend mining without Quandamooka consent.

QYAC invites you to the lodgement that will occur 10:00 am tomorrow  Friday 6 June at the High Court located at:

Venue:
Tank St entrance
Harry Gibbs Commonwealth Law Courts Building
Cnr North Quay & Tank Street Brisbane

DETAILS:
The traditional owners of North Stradbroke Island – the Quandamooka people – will challenge the Queensland Government’s controversial North Stradbroke Island Protection and Sustainability and Another Act Amendment Act 2013 (Qld) in the High Court. The writ will be delivered by Quandamooka elders to the High Court’s Brisbane registry office at 10.30 tomorrow morning (Friday, 6 June), following a traditional ceremony and blessing.

Tomorrow’s event will also mark the start of the Quandamooka people’s Don’t Undermine our Rights community campaign, which will include events around the G20 meeting in Brisbane and campaigning in key seats during the 2015 State election campaign.

The proceeding of events from 10 am will be:

• An acknowledgement of Country
• Traditional Dance Group performance
• Elders blessing of the court documents
• Elders lodgement of documents to court registry
• QYAC and QSNTS media interviews

 

CPSA points out contradictions in Government’s new means test

“From 1 July 2014, aged care fees will change, but with just four weeks to go, the Department of Social Services and the My Aged Care helpline have failed to address a major anomaly in the aged care means test”, said Charmaine Crowe, Senior Advisor, Research & Advocacy.

“In the Government’s new double-dip means test, the money you need to pay for your accommodation charges is also counted in the calculation of your co-contribution towards your care fee. As a result, you’ll be asked to pay more for your accommodation and care than the Government’s own means test says you can afford.”

Let’s use the Government’s own example of Peter.[1] Peter enters a residential care facility on 10 July 2014. Peter has assets of $1,344,500 and an annual income of $65,000.

The Government works out his daily means-tested contribution (his capacity to pay) as $167.21 per day, of which $114.72 per day would go towards care costs. That leaves $52.49 for accommodation. Peter has high care needs so the full $114.72 goes towards his care costs.[2]

Except, Peter’s accommodation costs $100 per day. That brings Peter’s bill to $214.72 per day – $47.51 more than what he is means-tested as being able to pay.

“Despite CPSA’s best efforts over a period of months to get clarification, no one in the Department of Social Services or at the My Aged Care helpline could justify the new means test, except to say that people can negotiate a lower accommodation fee or apply for financial hardship.”

“However, in practice the cost of your care is worked out after you enter a nursing home, when you have signed on the dotted line and handed over the money to cover accommodation charges. Also, care costs typically increase over time due to higher needs. This means nursing home residents will risk eviction or downgrading of their accommodation over time.”

“This scenario won’t just apply to people with high wealth. It could potentially apply to any resident with assets over $199,179, which is a threshold easily crossed if you are single and sell your house on going into a nursing home.”

“CPSA calls on the Government to sort out this mess as a matter of urgency. Departmental and My Aged Care helpline staff at least need to be able to explain to people what they could expect to pay and how they will afford it.”

[1]Information Booklet on fees for home care packages and residential care:  http://www.dss.gov.au/our-responsibilities/ageing-and-aged-care/aged-care-reform/reforms-by-topic/information-booklet-on-fees-for-home-care-packages-and-residential-aged-care-for-people-entering-care p.19

[2] Peter won’t have to pay this care fee once he has paid $25,000 in care fees, which would happen after 217 days in care.