Archive for December, 2008

Alcohol - Health and Social Aspects

Alcohol, or Ethyl Alcohol, is an intoxicating ingredient found in alcoholic beverages. Alcoholic beverages can be categorised into three generic classes: beers, wines and spirits. Ethanol is a psychoactive drug that is found to have a depressant effect on all human beings.
Everyday millions of people around the world suffer from negative after-effects of drinking alcohol [...]

Alcohol Advertising in the Mass Media

Advertising and the promotion of alcohol in the media and through sport sponsorships is a major contributing factor to the ongoing alcohol problem in Australian society. Teenagers are especially at risk from campaigns that mix sexual attraction with alcohol.
Advertising that appeals to teenagers, links alcohol with sexual and sporting success, and encourages questionable standards of [...]

Australian Weddings - Traditions and Etiquette

The marital union of, usually, a man and a woman is a life cycle event celebrated in all cultures and is the focus of considerable folklore. This begins with beliefs and customs that may be observed in the lead-up to the wedding day.
For example, in many Christian or European societies it is widely believed to [...]

Unpretentious Melbourne: Arts Heart of Australia

As so often in Australia’s history, Melbourne was founded through deception when explorer John Batman, an Australian who spoke in several aboriginal dialects, made a “deal” with aborigines to lease land on behalf of investors.
While offering the Aborigines any compensation at all was progressive in a colonial culture that preferred to simply run them [...]

Booming Taipei: Capital of Taiwan

After climbing 508 metres up the Taipei 101 tower, the highest structure in the world, it can be seen easily from anywhere in the city, one can look down on the genuine Taipei amidst all the modern buildings: temples, markets, the National Palace Museum and in between them, the many old streets and lanes where [...]

Exciting Vilnius: Rome of the East

The Lithuanian city of Vilnius exudes southern charm under the northern sun. Nestled in the natural amphitheatre of the surrounding Lithuanian hills, Vilnilus has a lot to offer tourists interested in historical architecture.
Vilnius, which can look back on a thousand years of Lithuanian history, can boast one of the largest historical town centres in Eastern [...]

Exciting Mumbai: Home of Asia’s Oldest Stock Exchange

Mumbai, once known as Bombay, is one of the most densely populated cities in the world. In 1533, when the Portuguese set up Bom Bahia, which means “good bay”, no one could have thought how Mumbai would work out.
In India there is no official system in place to register the population and addresses. This [...]

Stunning Vienna: in the Heat of Europe

Located in the very heart of Europe, Vienna is both a lively modern metropolis and a destination known for its cafes, historic areas, beautiful parks, elegant squares and romantic courtyards.
Vienna means cafe culture, music and wine. Where else can one so happily spend all day sitting in a cafe, reading the newspaper, sipping a [...]

Copenhagen Capital of Denmark

Almost everyone who comes to Copenhagen visits the little mermaid harbour. Hans Christian Andersen’s popular fairy tale is about a young mermaid willing to give up her life in the sea and her identity as a mermaid to gain a human soul and the love of a human prince.
Love is unpredictable. In the end, the [...]

Tehran - Capital of Iran - City Profile

Tehran is currently among the most densely populated capitals on the planet, yet for many centuries Tehran was nothing more than a small, insignificant city on the stage of world history.
Aga Muhammed Khan, founder of the Qajar dynasty, chose Tehran as the capital of the Persian Empire in 1795, largely because of its location on [...]