I’ve commented before that childhood obesity is a fashionable cause to which Andrew Barr is partial. He’s now announced even more funding for specialist PE teachers in primary schools to enable “primary school teachers to deliver quality PE for students over the next three years”.
First of all, primary teachers are already qualified to deliver quality [...]

A bit of a tenuous Canberra link here, but some of the researchers were from ANU so I’ll run with it. I just thought it was hilarious.
The story is that 600 women “moved their child’s birth from the last week of June 2006 to the first week of July so they could receive the extra [...]

Just in ABC radio reports that a plane at Canberra airport coming in to land did a go around just metres from touch down because there was another 737 still on the runway. Apparently landed planes need to be 52 metres away from the runway to consider it having cleared. The pilots of [...]

The Canberra Walk Against Warming is on this weekend, Sunday at 2PM starting from City Walk. Details are available from the Walk Against Warming Website here.

After a very vigorous debate here on RiotACT, as well as stories in all major news outlets across Australia, it turns out claims that Stromlo High School gave permission for a year 10 student to smoke are false.
Note to journalists: check your facts.
I’m pleased to note that a few of the comments here were sceptical [...]

The idea of a public holiday for a horse race in Melbourne is a joke. However I’m not one to look a gift racehorse in the mouth and I enjoyed my free day with my family and community. I forgot to watch the race, but plenty of Canberrans had a flutter with ACTTAB reporting no [...]

Lately in the news the residents of Pialligo have been complaining about the land grab that the airport will do placing the new entrance roads to the airport within 5 metres of a house boundary: Canberra Times article here.
The new road will be 11metres closer to the house boundary, or about the width of my [...]

Meet the Candidates – help decide the balance of power this Wednesday!
Polling is showing that the voters of Canberra may well decide the future of
the incoming government’s reform agenda – whichever party dominates the
House of Representatives.
Traditionally regarded as having safe seats, Canberra has now become
critical, with a single Canberra Senator potentially holding the Senate
balance of [...]

Anyone interested in doing Boot Camp in Canberra tonight?
Dan and James from Professional PT are running another month of boot camp, reasonable prices at reasonable hours.
12 sessions for November on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at Reconciliation Place (the grass bowl by the lake in front of Questacon)
Starting at 5.45 PM tonight and going for an [...]

Amber Jane Westin has rammed another elderly woman and been sentenced again, this time for assault with a shopping trolley (no license for that either) according to this ABC story. Shes been sentenced to 2 months gaol to be served at the same time as her current sentence.
The story says that she [...]

All,
I am interested, there has been a plethora of comments, mostly against (how can there be a problem with a day off?) in regards to the upcoming holiday tomorrow.
After close to three weeks of sitting in meetings listening to our esteemed business leaders speaking about this at length, I wondering what the dear RiotACT rabble [...]

So…I hear that Woolies supermarkets are open tomorrow.  But what else?  I wouldn’t mind a wander about the shops and the coffee, but are my chances Buckleys…or none?

All the other RiotACT admins are too baby faced to grow a mo, so I’ll be flying the team RiotACT flag for Movember this year. RiotACT have registered a team with movember.com so if you want to get onboard with us drop me an email kramer(AT)the-riotact.com and I’ll send you the official invite. As Che [...]

Not wanting to start another Bun fight. But has any one noticed the new “Covered” Speed Camera signs on the Hindmarsh overpass?

Sadly I can find nothing online about this. However, various radio stations are reporting that a girl at Stromlo High is allowed to smoke during school hours as she needs to do so to get through the stress of it all.
Apparently the school has given her the go ahead, and it is thought that she [...]

The Canberra Times is reporting that perhaps, just perhaps, that the Government giving Canberrans a public holiday on Melbourne Cup day (because we can all see the obvious links to Canberra in the name can’t we?) was not very well thought through, bad for the community and bad for the local economy.
Penalty rates for [...]

Yes it’s that time of year again, the time when grown men find yet another excuse to do something silly. It’s Movember – it’s time to grow a Mo.
Movember the month formally known as November is a charity event held during November each year.
At the start of Movember guys register with a clean shaven face. [...]

The Canberra Times is reporting that the National Archives have received eight personal films of Harold Holt, including rare footage from a birthday boating trip just months before his death.
Sadly there is no footage of the Russian submarine that whisked him away to see his mate Kim Philby on that fateful day,

The ABC is reporting that, in a blatant piece of bacon giving the Federal Government has announced $2 million in funding for a new mental health facility in Queanbeyan.
oh to be in a marginal seat and get the some of the swill.

The ABC reports that RA favourite Deb Foskey has criticised development in the new Gungahlin suburb of Forde, saying new homes will not be able to adequately harness green energy.
Dr Foskey says despite promises of environmentally friendly living, the blocks being offered for sale are too narrow or have poor orientation for solar energy and [...]

ABC 666 brings the news that one of their own presenters/journalists; Claire Gorman, has just taken out the Best Documentary category in the National Press Club of Australia Excellence in Health Journalism Awards for her radio and online series on organ donation.
The ABC article has several good quotes from ACT Organ Donor Coordinator, Holly Northam, [...]

If last the sprouting of green grass isn’t enough to prevent you forgetting last Sunday’s storm then these images photographed from Weston Creek care of Gregory Nelson should do the trick.
More from Greg’s series of photo’s of the storm can be found here.
Enjoy.

All pictures copyright Gregory Nelson.

Looking for something to do this weekend? Well if the recent Murrumbateman Moving Feast was any sort of indicator then this should be fantastic.

Details can be found here on the events page of the Canberrawines website.

In a world where many musicians believe they can charge outrageous prices for their concerts, it’s nice to know that it’s still possible to win free tickets…
666 ABC Canberra is currently offering the chance to attend the upcomming Elton John concert at Stage 88 – all you have to do design some Elton John-style [...]

I understand why nobody else had posted this from Gungahlin, as the region has suffered a Comms blackout last night.
It seems a contractor may not have Dialled before he Dug, and the fibre optic cable to Gungahlin Exchange has meant that much of Gungahlin is home telephone and broadband free since about 2pm yesterday.
Does anyone [...]

The Canberra Times reports that Tiger Airways will be flying initially from Canberra to Melbourne from February 2008 with fares ranging from $40 to $50 one way and special fares of $10, taxes included. Fortunately the flights go to Tullamarine.
Well I went and made a booking today for a holiday in Victoria in March. [...]

Northside Infants School turns 40 this year, and there’s a party on at the school on Saturday 3rd November.
They’ll have all the usual attractions for kids, plus lots of old girls/boys turning up, several of the old teachers, photos and other memorabilia. There’s a sausage sizzle and other food, or you can bring your own [...]

After what seems a pretty good innings in anyones book, Emeritus Professor of the John Curtin Scool of Medical Research, Professor Frank Fenner, has been honoured ahead of his pending retirement. ABC Online have a couple of brief artciles here and here on the man who cured smallpox and along with Clunies Ross, injected himself [...]

CT had this story thismorning on a recent poll in the marginal seat of Eden Monaro which showed an overwhelming majority of respondants wanted more spending on health and education rather than tax cuts.
Now those of us over the border here are far more savvy and know that such polls are usually structured to [...]

It must be real estate weekend. Today’s CT has this report, of people camping out overnight for the latest land release in Forde. The keenest punters camped out from Thurday morning through to Saturday morning to ensure they got the best block. With blocks ranging in price from $198,000 to $399,000 (yes – that is [...]

According to the Canberra Times, the Federal Golf Club in in Red Hill is preparing to sell off 4 hectares of primo land for housing. This has property developers circling the ailing club like sharks, while the Red Hill NIMBYs are up in arms.
Federal is a great golf course and club (I actually had my [...]

It seems the media is in a tizz at the moment about property prices. Canberra has been highlighted as one of the capital cities where property prices are booming. Although prices in the Canberra market do appear to be slightly overinflated, so with another interest rate rise looming, are we seeing the boom before the [...]