Discovery - June 2006

The Goth thing...

A PEAK TOO FAR

Leaving a man to die so that you can make it to the top of the world’s tallest mountain means you’ve missed the whole point of achievement. 8-9

JohnHughes

“That

POOR DAN BROWN

A non-Catholic art expert and a member of Opus Dei both visited Perth to reveal some of the slight technical problems with The Da Vinci Code. If you weren’t there, you missed a great meeting.

INSIDE: DEATH IN SINGAPORE

A lawyer talks to discovery about how representing condemned Australian man Nguyen Tuong Van in Singapore changed his life and made him a campaigner against the death penalty 10

CARS AND HEDGES

“What I am going to say, I want you to remember for the rest of your life...:

- Archbishop Barry Hickey, sepaking to Perth students during the LifeLink webcast on June 7

■ By Jamie O’Brien

One question grabbed attention during the live webcast for the LifeLink Appeal, as a secondary school student asked Archbishop Barry Hickey about homeless people.

Schools had the opportunity to email questions to the Archbishop and Auxiliary Bishop Donald Sproxton and to view and hear their responses, although the volume of traffic was so great most questions were not answered.

The Prendiville College student asked the Archbishop, “Your Grace, do you have to face a lot of people who are homeless and wanting food and water?”

“What I am going to say,” replied Archbishop Hickey, “I want you to remember for the rest of your life.

“It’s the most important question I have had so far - do I have to face a lot of people who are homeless and wanting food and water?

“Most of us don’t.

“We live out in the suburbs and

Discovery

Catholic magazine for families

EDITOR PETER ROSENGREN

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Discovery is a bimonthly publication distributed through parishes and schools of the dioceses of Western Australia.

people have got their own homes, but I live in the centre of the city - that’s where God has placed me, if you like - and in the centre of the city there are a lot of homeless people.

“Many of them have found a refuge on my front verandah.

“Last night there were eight homeless people wrapped up in blankets.

“ I give them food…a little. I give them water.

“I give them coffee and I could say these people are unwashed, they’re smelly, they’re dirty and I don’t want them, they should go elsewhere.

“But there is nowhere else for them to go!

“Wherever they go they get kicked out. So what is God asking me to do? Is he asking me to kick them out like everybody else?

“Jesus said words that I can’t forget. He said, ‘whatever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters, you do to me.’

“So I am challenged to see Jesus in all these homeless people with tons of problems and I have to respond as if I am responding to Jesus.

“So do you! So does everybody who has been baptised.

“It is the most important lesson that we can learn.

“I have had to learn it the hard way, and it is still hard.”

More than 120 primary and secondary schools took part in the two 45-minute sessions. Students logged on through the IT facilities of the Catholic Education Office.

LifeLink Day is an annual event that encourages young people to show they care for people in the community who need help.

LifeLink is the umbrella organisation through which the Archdiocese funds 13 agencies that help more than 60,000 West Australian families and individuals each year.

The agencies provide practical assistance and supportive programs for the unemployed, homeless, migrants and refugees, people with physical and intellectual disabilities, those suffering from HIV/AIDS, families in crises, those battling addictions and abused women and children. Many schools use it as the foundation for practical education in Christian charity.

The complete recording of the webcast is available at www. LifeLink.com.au. Information is also available about the LifeLink agencies and there are facilities for donations to be made. All 13 agencies of LifeLink deliver more than $24 million in services each year.

Always your brother or sister ‘Farmers need our prayers’

Archbishop

Hickey

calls on schools, parishes to pray for rain "until the heavens open."

Archbishop Barry Hickey has described the critical situation existing in the wheatbelt and called on all schools, parishes and religious communities to pray for the rain desperately needed by farmers and rural communities. A number of the priests on the Council of Priests for Perth are based in country areas and raised the critical situation of farmers at a recent meeting of the Council on June 8. Many farmers have been unable to commence seeding because of the lack of rain. The Archbishop wants every Parish, School and Religious Community to pray for rain until the heavens open.

“City people”, he said, “are often unaware of the plight of the farmers yet most of the fresh produce they

eat comes from our agricultural areas. Let us show solidarity with them by asking God in his

providence to send rain now to ensure good crops and a livelihood for the farmers”, he said.

The movies that are fun for all the family - from young to old 4-5

Confronting poverty: we are called to see Jesus in all the homeless, Archbishop Barry Hickey told students during a live internet broadcast for the schools’ LifeLink Appeal.

Parched: This NASA photograph shows drought outside the green southwest tip of Western Australia.

Photo: NASA

in brief...

Women’s work at home worth Judge’s salary

A full-time, stay-at-home mother in the US would earn US$134,121 a year (that’s $182,532 Australian dollars at the moment) if paid for all her work, an amount similar to a top US advertising executive, a marketing director or a judge, according to a study by compensation experts Salary.com.

And a mother who works outside the home would earn an extra $85,876 annually on top of her actual wages for the work she does at home.

To reach these figures the survey calculated the earning power of the 10 main jobs a mother does: housekeeper, day-care teacher, cook, computer operator, laundry machine operator, janitor, facilities manager, van driver, chief executive and psychologist.

Employed mothers reported spending an average of 44 hours a week at their outside job and 49.8 hours at their home job, while the stayat-home mother worked 91.6 hours a week.

Girls shelve Barbie in favour of virtual family

Playing house has taken on a new meaning as children forsake their Barbie and Bratz dolls for a video game that allows them to orchestrate the life of a suburban family.

The Sims, which appeals to middle-class school children - particularly girls - has sold more than 60 million copies globally since its introduction in 2000.

Though it is rated T for Teen, younger children like The Sims. And parents seem happy with it. One father says: “It seems as if it teaches them a lot about the different motivations and desires people have in life and it shows them some of the frustrations of running a household...like if one of their Sims doesn’t want to go to school or is messy or if there are conflicting desires in the family.”

Girls make up more than half the game’s players - an anomaly in an industry in which fewer than 25 per cent of video game players are female.

Down among the Goths

They're fashionable in a weird kind of way, and the last surviving remnant of the glam era. But is there a darker side to 'Goth' culture?

■ By Mark Reidy

Researchers in Scotland have reported that selfharm and attempted suicide are associated more with the Goth culture than with any other identifiable youth subculture. They also found, however, that the majority of those attracted to this lifestyle had a tendency to hurt themselves before they joined the scene and that the sense of belonging to this group provided them with valuable social and emotional support.

The study, conducted through the University of Glasgow, surveyed 1,258 young people during their final year of primary school (aged 11) and again at ages 13, 15 and 19. They were asked about self-harm and identification with a variety of subcultures, including Goth.

Though difficult to define, the Goth culture is generally associated with black clothing and boots, nail polish, eyeliner, body piercing studs and zippers, a preference for heavy, moody music and a fascination with the darker side of life.

It can provide a place to belong for those who have difficulty fitting into the mainstream teenage scene, but the study found that many bring with them a tendency to self-harm.

Even babies have TV in their bedrooms

Eight out of 10 of the youngest children in the United States - those up to the age of 6 - watch TV, play video games or use the computer for about two hours on a typical day.

Even for the littlest tots, TV in the bedroom isn’t rare: 19 per cent of babies under 2 have one despite urging from the American Academy of Pediatrics that youngsters not watch any television at that age.

Researcher Victoria Rideout found that parents claimed TV and computer games taught their children, when they themselves didn’t have time. It enabled parents to cook or take a shower, using screen time as a reward, or to help kids “wind down” at bedtime. (the effect has been shown to be the opposite.)

“There’s this enthusiasm and a tremendous lack of concern,” said Ms Rideout.

While deliberate self-harm is estimated at 7-14% for young people in the UK, the study found that those belonging to the Goth subculture were at a much greater risk.

The Scottish research indicated that 53% of this group had selfharmed and 47% had attempted suicide.

Reseachers also took into account other factors associated with selfharm and suicide, such as: being female, having divorced or separated parents, smoking and drug taking and prior depression but found that identifying with the Goth lifestyle remained the strongest predicter of self-harm.

Among the 14 other common youth subcultures that respondents were asked about, several others, including Punk and Mosher were also linked with higher possibilities of self-harm, but to a lesser extent than Goth.

Authors of the study, published in the British Medical Journal in April 2006, however acknowledged that the research did not determine whether youths with suicidal tendencies tended to become Goths or whether Goth culture influenced teenagers to become suicidal.

Lead researcher, Dr Robert Young, said that it was more likely from the data collected that young people with a tendency to self-harm were attracted to the culture.

He also added that it was possible that, “rather than posing a risk, (youths belonging to the Goth culture) are gaining valuable social and emotional support from their peers.”

These findings were consistent

too far: when does body piercing become self-harm?

with a separate study conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that investigated issues of violence following the Columbine High School Massacre in 1999. This research cautioned against making quick judgements regarding a culture’s effect on any individual.

The study quoted a 24-year-old former Goth who highlighted the research findings.

“In high school, before there was even the label ‘Goth’, some of the disenfranchised youth started to hang out together to give ourselves a safe place to be depressed. Really,

that is how I remember it. We were all fed up with not fitting in, not being happy, not being athletic, and so forth, and EXTREMELY fed up with being picked on by those who were.

“So, we started to band together as a support group. Left to ourselves, we listened to depressing music, watched depressing movies, and generally moped about.

“We also started wearing black, which at the time was mostly to distinguish ourselves from the ‘normals’ of the school, than to make a real statement.”

Going

Pixar’s latest animation goes wild

Over the Hedge - A worthwhile romp for the kiddies which also shows that Pixar still holds the lead in computergenerated animation.

When a new suburban neighbourhood arises, how does life change from the perspective of the cute little woodland creatures? The people from DreamWorks explore such a question in Over the Hedge, their fun but forgettable new computer-generated imagery tale, inspired by the popular comic strip of the same name and directed by Tim Johnson and Karpy Kirkpatrick.

One day a group of forest critters wake from hibernation to find that a mysterious bush, which stretches as far as they can see, now occupies their woodland home. A cautious turtle named Verne (Gary Shandling) leads this varied bunch of little animals, who call themselves a family and protect one another. As they debate what to do, a wry raccoon named RJ (Bruce Willis) appears, and explains to the beleaguered animals that the strange bush is called a "hedge" and that the unusual creatures on the other side are called "human beings".

The remarkable things about these humans, RJ relates, is that instead of eating to live, like every other animal, they live to eat. They eat all day and all night. They carry food in boxes, bags, and trucks. They keep their food in their homes. They talk about food, pray over their food, and wear their food. And when they're finished with all this

food, "they leave the rest in these pretty, shiny, silver cans for us!"

What RJ has not divulged, is that he must amass a ton of food in six days to give to a sinister bear named Vincent (Nick Nolte) or suffer dire consequences. After giving them a taste of delicious nacho chips, RJ succeeds in enlisting the forest family to unknowingly help him in this endeavour. To complicate the situation, human beings, of course, do not want wild animals anywhere around them and before long the adorable critters must number an enthusiastic exterminator and an acrimonious female home owner among their antagonists.

“They talk about food, pray over their food, and wear their food. And when they're finished with all this food, "they leave the rest in these pretty, shiny, silver cans for us!"

Of notable quality are the action sequences. While not as clever as some of its predecessors, Over the Hedge at times, is one of the most thrilling animated films of recent years. Early in the film, Verne the turtle hustles away from a large marble ball in a brief action segment reminiscent of the opening scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark. The audience goes along with the

ride when the creatures careen down the road in a speeding truck or zoom into the air dragged by a wayward balloon.

Over the Hedge contains some clever moments as well. A skunk (Wanda Sykes) disguises herself as a cat to attract the home owner's feline pet in a delightfully witty reversal of the Pepe Le Pew dynamic. When the critters steal a television set and remote, a group of porcupine youngsters quickly learns how to operate it and become more proficient than any of the adults, mirroring the human world. And in probably the most successful sequence of the film, an already

Our Pilgrimage Leaders of Faith…

manic squirrel (Steve Carrell) secures a caffeinated energy drink with results so precious that they will not be revealed here.

Furthermore, the movie has occasional sparks of bright, humorous dialogue. A possum father tells his daughter: "Playing possum is what we do. We die so that we may live." RJ, the raccoon is explaining what an SUV is to his curious companions. "Humans are slowly losing their ability to walk and this helps them get around."

When asked, "Really? How many does it hold?", he answers: "Usually one."

However, the laughs of this

DreamWorks production come considerably less frequently than in the last two Pixar efforts, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles. Ultimately, Over the Hedge remains largely innocent of the sarcasm and flippancy of some recent entries in the genre. Two or three mildly crude jokes arise, but hardly offensive. A few segments may frighten very sensitive children, but over all, the movie is appropriate for all ages. The adults however, only there as chaperones, will view it and promptly get on with their lives - on this side of the hedge.

Justin Myers is a film reviewer in the Washington DC area.

100 per cent realistic: Pixar animators model their lifelike creations.

RJ the Raccoon and Verne the Turtle in a scene from DreamWorks computer-animated comedy OVER THE HEDGE.

Tank full of humour

■ By David DiCerto

Having already set the standard for computer-animated entertainment with movies such as "Toy Story," "Monsters, Inc." and "Finding Nemo," Pixar continues to raise the bar with "Cars"(Disney), a delightful, family-friendly film with a full tank of humour and emotion that is likely to leave its competition in the dust.

Directed by John Lasseter and Joe Ranft, the tale takes place in a world of anthropomorphic autos, centering on cocky racecar Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson), a rookie hot rod with his headlights set on the prestigious Piston Cup and the fame it will bring. While en route cross-country to compete against two veteran speedsters (voiced by Michael Keaton and real-life racing legend Richard Petty), Lightning is unexpectedly detained in the neglected desert town of Radiator Springs, which, in its heyday, had

been the jewel of the Route 66 crown.

Though revved up to burn rubber out of town, Lightning, through his growing friendship with its motley four-wheeled residents, has a change of heart about life in the fast lane, learning that "there's a whole lot more to racing than winning."

A top-shelf cast provides the characters with endearing personalities; they include: Bonnie Hunt as a pretty Porsche; Cheech Marin as a 1959 Impala with flair; Tony Shalhoub as a high-strung Italian Fiat; and George Carlin as a hippie 1960 VW bus who brews his own organic fuel and has a good-natured running feud with neighbour Sarge, a patriotic World War II jeep.

Hollywood icon Paul Newman lends his gravelly muffler to Doc Hudson, an old-timer who guards a big secret under his vintage hood and who frowns his fender

at Lightning's egotism. But a rusty, dimwitted tow truck with an engine of gold named Mater (voiced by comedian Larry the Cable Guy) steals the show, including a funny scene where, for kicks, he initiates Lightning into the car-equivalent of cow-tipping involving a field of easily spooked tractors.

Following past Pixar successes, the writing is sharp, while the vibrant visuals - impressively rendered metallic surfaces, shiny tailfins, high-octane race sequences and lovely painted desertscapestake a backseat to solid storytelling.

Though lacking the epic sweep of "Finding Nemo" and the character depth of "The Incredibles," given our hectic world of fast food, express lanes and high-speed Internet access, the film's gentle message charmingly reminds us that on the highway of life it is important to slow down and appreciate the scenery.

Catnap review for kitty tale

Not too sure: Viewers may not appreciate the film’s slapstick gags.

“Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties” (20th Century Fox)

Trivial, if innocuously entertaining, sequel to the 2004 comedy based on the Jim Davis comic strip, in which the wisecracking, lazy orange housecat (once again computer animated and lethargically voiced by Bill Murray) travels to England, where he inadvertently switches places with a pampered blueblood feline (voiced by Tim Curry) who has just inherited a castle, finding himself in the cross hairs of the estate’s kitty-hating, next-in-line

human heir (Billy Connolly) while enjoying the royal treatment from the manor’s barnyard staff of talking animals (voiced by the likes of Bob Hoskins, Vinnie Jones and Rhys Ifans).

Directed by Tim Hill, the followup improves on the first, but the bland script once again relies heavily on the kind of screwball sight gags and slapstick that the kiddies may find amusing, buteven at a mere 75 minutes - may induce accompanying adults to take a catnap.

Break-up shows truths about relationships

“The Break-Up” (Universal)

Tepid but fitfully affable romantic comedy charting the deterioration of the relationship of an art gallery assistant (Jennifer Aniston) and a loutish Chicago tour bus operator (Vince Vaughn) who ultimately learns to be a more considerate person. Director Peyton Reed draws good work from the stars, especially

the effortlessly appealing Aniston and a scene-stealing Judy Davis, though the protagonists from the start seem distinctly incompatible. Underneath the not-very-funny funny business, there are some universal truths about relationships, but the setup never quite rings true, and the script should be way sharper.

Perfect personification: A charming production, which conveys a gentle yet integral message of friendship.

Party pills, Cannabis, mum’s pills, all threaten teens

A British man who consumed an estimated 40,000 ecstasy pills during his twenties is thought to have permanent memory problems and paranoia, even though he had medical help for about six years. The man, whose case is reported by doctors from London University in the journal Psychosomatics and who is now 37, started taking around five pills each weekend and built up to a peak of 25 per day for a period of four years. Mr A was also a heavy cannabis user. After stopping his use of ecstasy, seeking help and decreasing his use of cannabis, his health improved. But

he dropped out of treatment and has disappeared.

“If this is what is happening to very heavy users, it might be an indication that daily use of ecstasy over a long period can lead to irreversible memory problems and other cognitive deficits.”

Generation DDIY’s home skilld gap blamed on parents

Blaming a lack of time and poor training from their parents, up to half of those under 30 who responded to a survey in Britain said they did not know how to do simple jobs around the home. The DDIY (or Don’t Do It Yourself) generation is exposed in a YouGov poll of 2294 people commissioned by an insurance company. One in four were unable to wire a plug,

half could not bleed a radiator, and 27 per cent could not sew a hem. The comparable figures for the over-fifties were: 6 per cent, 10 per cent and 4 per cent.

The skills gap means that people in their twenties can be paying tradesmen at least £1700 a year to do simple household chores.

Parents of grown children are increasingly being called on to fix simple problems around the home – a fitting penalty, perhaps, since one in five younger people said their parents did not teach them such skills.

Teen girls stressed by money/marriage worrries

Rising expectations of life are putting girls under more pressure than boys, an Australian national survey of 1000 teenagers has shown. Nearly half the girls in the Australia SCAN survey, commissioned by the magazine Dolly, said they needed to reduce stress in their lives. Only a quarter of the girls were “very happy” - the lowest figure since the surveys began a decade ago.

Despite their disposable income doubling in that time to $80 a week, the teens’ greatest concern is money – for 55 per cent today compared with 41 per cent a decade ago, said

researcher David Chalke. Think movies, magazines, top-ups for their mobiles, their iTunes cards, says Dolly editor Bronwyn McCahon. Worries over money and the fear of not getting married – which has risen 10 per cent since 2003, but dipped since the mid-1990s – could be the result of conflict between parents over family finances, said Mr Chalke. The fact that half the children surveyed lived in “nontraditional” families was behind the push to get married, he added.

Childhood obesity and big backyards

More than a third of British children aged two to 15 are either overweight or obese, a recent Government report revealed. The percentage for girls was 46 and

for boys 37 in a survey of 2000 children. Figures for adults were no better, with almost one in four obese. Children with big back yards to play in are less likely to be overweight, according to a South Australian study. Flinders University Achieving a Healthy Home and Environment study surveyed 280 suburban families and found the size and set-up of homes contributed largely to children’s health.

“We found the bigger the backyard, the more active the kids,” said paediatrician Dr Nicola Spurrier. “But we also found the amount of play equipment and play areas in a back yard had a big impact too.”

Dive into the deep end and swim

■ By Catherine Parish

Having a family is definitely a totally life-changing experience. I didn’t realise how life-changing until sitting with a group of younger women, a number of whom are comparatively recently married and childless as yet.

Looking for a pen in my handbag, I was suddenly painfully conscious that, unlike my companions who carried smart little shoulder or clutch bags, what I was scrabbling in actually is not a handbag, but a bottomless pit, containing among other things Bertie the Bus, 3 pairs of toddler’s underpants (clean), Toby the Tram Engine, an ancient bag of fruit loops (TM), some cheese cubes, a yoyo and several

defunct shopping lists and brekky bar wrappers.

You don’t even realise that you are on this big trek into a strange wilderness when you begin making a family - and you certainly leave behind more than your natty clutch bag! And whilst you have to carry a bigger bag to accommodate the needs of your family, you also have to let go of a whole lot of things as you go along. That can be a bit painful sometimes, and I began to muse upon some of the other changes motherhood brings, especially as the family grows in size; such as:

• The only clothing label you religiously shop for is the one that says ‘non-iron’.

• The fifth baby doesn’t need to talk at all because all his wants are anticipated by his doting siblings - and when he does. deign to speak they understand him better than his mother does.

• You arrive home and suddenly notice an ominous buzzing sound. You check the computer, the fridge, the freezer, the washing machine, the air conditioner - and then locate the source as your handbag (see above) where Bertie the Bus is merrily motoring amongst the old dockets.

• The mums at kindy each successive

year you turn up get younger and younger.

• You suddenly realise you could be your youngest child’s grandmother.

• You begin to look, feel and sound like your youngest child’s grandmother.

All people see sometimes with a larger family is the work, the worries, the cost, the grey hair and the lost figure - and they think they don’t ever want to go there. But if

you have the courage to dive in at the deep end and swim for it, it can be a wonderful adventure in life and love.

Like all the best adventures, it has its scary moments - but you somehow keep afloat by keeping on moving those arms and legs in swimming movements, sometimes just avoiding drowning, other times floating along on a plateau of calm or swimming fast and free with long sure strokes.

But whatever stage you are at, cruising or flailing, you don’t mind any of it because you have a wonderful husband who loves you and five beautiful children who give you so much joy you can’t even imagine life without them and wouldn’t want to.

When I count my blessings I don’t have to go past six before everything is back in perspective again. I just clean out that handbag and get on with it!

Little book delivers great hope for all

“The Greatest Surprise”

by Mary Evans

Illustrated by Kasey Kearney

■

Book Review by Mark Reidy

Death is a topic that makes most people uncomfortable and is therefore generally avoided. But this adult awkwardness means that children are left with few avenues to understand and come to terms with its reality. ‘The Greatest Surprise’ is designed to break down these barriers.

Beautiful yet simple in its presentation and content, this book

Men keener on marriage than women, US study shows

The idea that men are less keen on marriage than women has taken a knock in a new study from the United States. The survey by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention involved more than 12,000 men and women aged 15 to 44 and asked a variety of questions related to marriage. It is the first time men have been included in the agency’s study, which has been conducted periodically since 1973.

Responding to the statement, “It is better to get married than to go through life single,” 66 per cent of men agreed compared to 51 per cent of women. Another statement, “It is more important for a man to spend a lot of time with his family than be successful at his career,” won agreement from 76 per cent of men and 72 per cent of women.

The survey also showed that 55 per cent of men and 46 per cent of women intend to have a child. And among fathers in their first marriage, 90 per cent live with their kids and are involved with them, from feeding and bathing to helping with homework and taking them to activities.

Divorce causes death

A study in Denmark has found the death rate among divorced men in their 40s twice as high as for other men in the same age group. Alcohol-related disease and suicide accounted for many of the deaths and one-quarter were caused by heart disease, the Copenhagen Post reported.

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen tracked 2,500 men born in 1953. The study included information about marriage and divorce among their parents and grandparents. Lead researcher

aims not only to assist children who are grieving the death of a family member or friend, but to help all children recognise that God’s love exists beyond life on earth.

‘The Greatest Surprise’ was written after Sr Mary’s grandnephew Aidan Telcic, died from a brain tumour at the age of 7 in November 2002, after being diagnosed at the age of 5.

The idea began when Sr Mary, from the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions, was looking for something to give Aidan that would help him understand death.

It was during this time that she woke early one morning and started writing ‘The Greatest Surprise,’ based on the biblical creation story from Genesis.

Rikke Lund said Denmark should do more to keep marriages together. In Norway, said Lund, mandatory counselling for couples considering divorce has led to 25 to 30 per cent of couples changing their minds.

Condom lessons fail to change student behaviour

A program aiming to prevent HIV through promoting condom use among public high school students in Mexico made no difference to condom use, a study found. Nearly 11,000 young people at 40 high schools in the state of Morelos participated in the randomised and controlled study. Schools were divided into three groups, one of which did not receive the program but only the existing sex education course.

Students at the intervention schools received a 30 hour course over 15 weeks on HIV prevention and life skills, designed in accordance with guidelines of the United Nations program on HIV/ AIDS. Two extra hours of instruction on “emergency contraception” were given to students at one group of schools. The researchers, led by Dilys Walker of the National Institute of Public Health in Mexico, report that knowledge of HIV and emergency contraception improved, but risk behaviour did not, “so such courses need to be redesigned and evaluated”.

Strange but true: Mowers harm 20 000 kids a year

That is approximately how many people under the age of 19 received medical attention for lawn mowerrelated injuries in the United States in 2004, reports the US Consumer Product Safety Commission. The young people were among a staggering 230,500 people who fell foul of the power mower, described

Gently weaving the cycle of growth and new life that emerge from God’s “surprises” in creation, Sr Mary Evans introduces the concepts of seedlings and cocoons to parallel the transformation from earthly life to a new life with God in heaven.

She says the writing of the book also helped her to face and pass through her own brush with cancer several years ago.

The book includes two pages of removable stickers so that children can become actively involved as they move them throughout the glossy pages.

‘The Greatest Surprise’ is a beautiful book that provides a wonderful opportunity for parents

as “one of the most dangerous tools around the home” by the American Society for Reconstructive Microsurgery.

The ASRM has teamed up with other medical groups to draw attention to lawn mower safety during June, which is US National Safety Month. “Lawn mower injuries often include deep cuts, loss of fingers and toes, limb amputations, broken and dislocated bones, burns, and eye injuries. Most of these can be prevented by a few simple safety tips,” says ASRM president L. Scott Levin. These include:

● Children should be at least 12 before they operate any lawn mower, and at least 16 for a rideon mower

● They should never be passengers on ride-on mowers.

● Always wear sturdy shoes while mowing, not sandals.

● Young children should be at a safe distance from the area you are mowing.

● Before mowing, pick up stones, toys and debris to prevent injuries from flying objects.

to introduce their children to an inevitable stage of life and allows them to lift the veil of secrecy and anxiety that can often surround it.

All proceeds of this book will be forwarded to projects assisting women and children in developing countries.

This inspiring book has won two internaitonal awards at the Multimedia International 2005 ceremony, winning Best in Print section and also winning the Overall Peace Award.

Cost: $8.00 plus postage.

Available fom: (08) 9272 3285 or (08) 9271 0008

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Left for dead

Not everyone makes it to the top but some don’t even make it back down. Everest is the ultimate challenge and some people are willing to let their peers die in order to make

Carolyn Moynihan

Getting to the top isn't everything in mountaineering — not if you have to walk past a dying man to reach your goal. Just over a month ago a man died near the summit of Mount Everest. He was not the only one to lose his gamble with nature on the mountain this year - 13 others have also succumbed - but his fate sent a tremor of alarm and indignation around the world. Forty other climbers passed David Sharp, an Englishman, as he lay under a rock half frozen and without oxygen, but, while a few made attempts to help him, they all ultimately moved on and left him to die alone.

humanitarian for his commitment to the welfare of the Sherpa people, knew exactly what to say. On his expedition in 1953, he said, a death that the team did not try to prevent would have been nothing less than a "disaster".

"I am absolutely certain that if any member of our expedition all those years ago had been in that situation we would have made every effort. think you have to have your priorities. If the priority is just to get to the summit and let another man die, okay, you do it. But if you have someone in great need and you are still strong and energetic, then you have a duty, really, to give all you can to get the man down, and getting to the summit becomes very secondary."

The order of priorities in which a

much more dangerous than death... lack of compassion, selfish ambition and silence". Coming from a mountaineer, such a statement is reassuring in the face of the many arguments justifying the decision to abandon Sharp. Even his mother has said, "Your responsibility is to save yourself not to try save anybody else."

for getting on up the hill. If a man is dying, so much the more reason for someone to stay and accompany him. Even if his body is too frozen to benefit from physical help, his soul can still respond to the human warmth of a comrade, to compassion, and yield to death in peace. It is unbelievable that out

it to the summit

there to survive, to come back alive, unharmed, and even doing my absolute best came back with five frostbitten fingers and frostbitten stumps." With all due respect to a man who has shown so much guts,

“

To be fair, some efforts were made. Sherpas with the New Zealand led team that is in the spotlight over this episode gave the man oxygen, but he seemed more dead than alive and the decision from the expedition leader back at base was to move on. People from two other teams also tried to assist but gave up the effort - in one case because they could not get Sharp on his feet. He reportedly told one group to leave him alone, he only wanted to sleep.

“

Sherpas with the New Zealand led team that is in the spotlight over this episode gave the man oxygen, but he seemed more dead than alive. ”

of so many people who saw David Sharp dying, not one could see the

But no one with their heart in the right place is going to make a delirious wish like that an excuse

if they get into trouble (David Sharp was on a budget deal). Commerce, though, trades on an idea of sport in which winning, and with it a kind of instant stardom, is everything. Everest has its "rules" and the main one now seems to be that you pay your money and you get to the top. To make the system work, more or less, people don't go roped together in parties but are hooked up to permanent lines - "like at the supermarket", said one experienced mountaineer. They are effectively being dragged up by guides, he added. Furthermore, everyone knows the score. All the climbers know the risk they are taking and how much help they can expect. An Australian professional mountaineer commented: "You don't know people on the mountain and climbers are responsible for their own decisions."

Hall, too, had been left for dead by his expedition, but a team led by American Dan Mazur saw signs of life in the frozen body ”

one has to say that "survival" is not the real issue when one is about to climb another 300 metres and back. The issue is getting to the top and surviving. While fellow Kiwis have not wanted to be too hard on Inglis, many have expressed disappointment that he missed the opportunity for an even more heroic gesture than being the first double amputee to conquer Everest. "Double amputee ditches

summit attempt to comfort/save fellow climber" might have been the bigger news story, wrote one. If any one of the climbers who saw Sharp that day had insisted on staying with him and getting help, who knows what the outcome would have been? Less than two weeks later Australian climber Lincoln Hall was rescued after 48 hours in the "death zone", by which time he was severely frostbitten and suffering from altitude sickness and disorientation. Hall, too, had been left for dead by his expedition, but a team led by American Dan Mazur saw signs of life in the frozen body and set about rescuing him, giving up its attempt on the summit. Hall soon began to make a remarkable recovery. Mazur told Thomas Sjogren of mounteverest.net that once Hall was found, there was no question of leaving him and pressing on to the summit, even though the conditions were ideal. "We didn't even discuss it. We just all felt like we knew that's what we had to do.

How could we leave a person like that? The summit is still there and we can go back. Lincoln only has one life."

Now, if you ask me, that's real sporting talk. Competitiveness and pushing oneself to the limit is only part of the sportsman's code; a larger part has to come from more fundamental values: respect for life, solidarity, compassion. The fact that many people, including many in the mountaineering community, have been saying so during the past couple of weeks gives hope that the trend of rugged – not to say, ruthless – individualism in sport can be turned around.

"Maybe the new Everest is for someone to be the good Samaritan at 8000m,"wrote one blogger before the rescue of Lincoln Hall. In that case the new Everest already exists and we should hear less in future of dying climbers being left to freeze alone.

Carolyn Moynihan is Deputy Editor of MercatorNet. She writes from Auckland, New Zealand.

Did you know...

A new, individualistic ethic reigns at Everest and no one should be made to feel guilty for not forfeiting their own personal goals to help a

Mark Inglis, the New Zealander who, incredibly, did the climb on artificial legs and was one of those who passed Sharp, explained his position like this: "It's such a tough place... 8,500 metres is an awfully hard place to survive. I went

Everest’s goes by many different names. In Nepal it is called Sagarmatha, which means ‘goddess of the sky.’ In Tibet it is called Chomolungma which means ‘mother goddess of the universe’. The name everest comes from the American Sir George Everest, the British Surveyor General of India. He was the first to record its height and location.

How ten ordinary men sacrificed themselves for their mates in Shackleton’s doomed expedition to the Antarctic

■ Book by Kelly Tyler-Lewis

■ Reviewed by Francis Phillips

An historian, the author of this account of Antarctic exploration spent two months in Antarctica researching her book. Using personal journals, letters and previously unpublished photographs she has laboriously reconstructed the unknown side to Sir Ernest Shackleton’s unsuccessful Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition of 191417. Thanks in part to the film with Kenneth Branagh as the charming, energetic and persuasive Shackleton, most people know the story of how his ship, the Endurance, broke up in polar ice on the Weddell Sea, leaving 22 members of the party stranded on Elephant Island and Shackleton himself with five companions to navigate a 20-foot open boat 700 miles to the island of South Georgia. The extraordinary feat of bringing the castaways to eventual safety is heroic in itself - but it has overshadowed a more generous feat of suffering and sacrifice: the saga of the Ross Sea party.

Shackleton’s strategy was simple, on paper at least. In December

1914, as Europe was being slowly engulfed by war, he would sail to Buenos Aires and thence to the Weddell Sea, there to strike out overland for the South Pole. Meanwhile another ship, the Aurora, with a complementary group of men would sail to Tasmania and from there set sail for the Ross Sea, the other side of the Antarctic continent. These men, the Ross Sea party, would commence to build a chain of supply depots up to the Beardmore Glacier for Shackleton’s party their own provisions exhausted - to use as they trekked north from the Pole to meet up with the other team on the other side of the continent.

As we know, the savage and unpredictable Antarctic climate thwarted this neat plan. Shackleton never set foot on the continent and the rudimentary wireless technology

of the time prevented the Ross Sea party from knowing this until 1917.

Believing rightly that the success or failure of Shackleton’s expedition depended on their efforts to lay the depot trail the 10 men chosen for the shore party continued to carry out the explorer’s instructions doggedly in the face of immense obstacles.

They were “ten ordinary men”: two teachers, one clergyman, a geologist, a medical orderly, a clerk, a seaman, a college athlete and two other sailors. Most of them had never met Shackleton before.

When asked his plans, the great explorer had announced that “the journey across is the thing I want to do”. He was unprofessional in his inattention to the small details needed for his expedition. It was underfunded from the start. The Aurora proved to be ill-equipped and the sledge dogs were untrained mongrels rather than huskies. When their ship was forced away from the Ross Sea by severe storms in May 1915 with all its crew, the ten were marooned without enough clothing, food or equipment. It was two years before the ship was able to return.

It is a testimony to human courage that the shore party did not simply give up and lie low in the hut at Cape Evans built by Captain Scott’s ill-fated expedition, spending their time hunting seal for food and blubber and whiling away the long weeks and months until rescue with cards, quarrels and an old set of the

Age of Everest

Everest was formed about 60 million years ago

Elevation:

8850m

First Ascent: May 29, 1953 by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay,

First Oxygenless: May 8, 1978- Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler

Everest by the numbers

Youngest person: Temba Tsheri (NP) 15 on May 22, 2001

Oldest Person:

Sherman Bull May 25, 2001 64 yrs

First Blind Person:

Erik Weihenmeyer May 25, 2001

Best and Worst:

1993 129 summitted, eight died; 1996 - 98 summitted - 15 died

Highest cause of death:

Avalanches-about a (2:1) ratio over falls

Corpses remaining on Everest: about 120

Ten ordinary men in Antarctica

Encyclopaedia Britannica. Knowing they could only trek through the frozen land during the short Antarctic “summer” - November to mid-February they managed to build five depots between January and March 1915 in the expectation that Shackleton and his men were relying on them.

Conditions were appalling: drifts, pack-ice and crevasses impeded their progress, the temperature fell to -15 at night; they suffered from snow-blindness and frostbite and their clothing never dried. In one two-and-a-half hour period they progressed 150 yards. Another time it took them 11 hours to move one mile. On another occasion they spent three days gaining seven miles. Sixteen dogs died during this period. Victor Hayward, who volunteered for the position of “general assistant” wrote, “We have to relieve Shackleton at the Beardmore Glacier 400 miles distant without any equipment to speak of…” This summed it up.

Mackintosh and Spencer-Smith being dragged on their sledge they were still at their work during the Antarctic winter when the temperatures often fell to -50. Their poor sledging diet of pemmican and dry biscuits brought on severe attacks of scurvy, bringing about the slow death of the kindly, cheerful chaplain and photographer of the party, Arnold Spencer-Smith, whose body was buried in a snow drift. Two other scurvy sufferers,

Mackintosh, the often irascible oneeyed commander of the shore party, and Hayward attempted to return to the base camp when still weak and without provisions. They never arrived and their bodies were never recovered. Yet against all the odds the Ross Sea party managed to drag 4,500 pounds of supplies, sledging over 1,356 miles to lay the chain of depots.

When they were reunited with Shackleton and learnt that their sacrifice had been in vain, the survivors built a cairn for their fallen friends with an epitaph taken from the poet Swinburne: “Things done for gain are nought/but great things done endure”, adding words of Browning which were more exact: “Let me pay in a minute life’s arrears of pain, darkness and cold.” Pain, darkness and cold had certainly been some of what it was about; courage, camaraderie and stoicism were the rest. Kelly Tyler-Lewis tells the story of the “ten ordinary men” soberly and with a fine grasp of detail, carefully balancing it with an account of what happened to their drifting ship’s crew while they laboured on shore. Sometimes her chronological and other data threaten to overwhelm the narrative itself. In books of this genre, her story cannot equal the classic, personal accounts of Captain Scott’s own Journal or Apsley Cherry-Garrard’s The Worst Journey in the World. But it is a tale worth telling. - MercatorNet

“ I would have hoped that some of our captains of industry would stand forward and try to deal with these issues.

the Executioner ’s Foe the Executioner’s Foe

■

By

Paul Gray

For three tough years, lawyer Julian McMahon defended his client, the young Melbourne man Nguyen Van Tuong, who was hanged last December for carrying 396 grams of heroin into Singapore.

For McMahon, the hardest part in all these years was the last few hours of Van’s life. He can barely speak about it, even six months later.

By the day of his execution, says McMahon, Van had not only undergone a spiritual conversion - to Catholicism - but had also become a deeply loveable and good person.

This made the prospect of his being killed by mandatory order of the state “even more senseless than it might be in some other cases of execution, if that’s possible to say.”

Van was executed at 6am on Friday, December 2. His mother, Kim, and brother Kha visited him for the last time on the previous afternoon.

McMahon recalls: “His mother and brother, as they left him for the last time, on the evening before he was executed and ah, um [the normally talkative lawyer pauses here for a long moment before continuing] …. being involved in those last 12 hours was the hardest part of the whole case.”

“Their suffering was” - McMahon

pauses again - “intense. And helpless, as they had to say goodbye to a healthy, happy, beautiful family member, knowing that he would be choked to death the next morning by order of some official.”

The case of Van Nguyen became a landmark one for the conscience of Australia. Six months on, McMahon has praise for three sections of the community who really supported the effort to save his client.

He praises Amnesty International, who co-ordinated nationwide protests over the execution. He also praises many Australian political leaders including Alexander Downer (the Foreign Minister) and Kevin Rudd (the Labor spokesman on foreign affairs) for their tireless

work to save Van’s life. McMahon also praises the Catholic Church and its leaders. “In fact two Popes asked for clemency for Van,” he says. “One of the last things Pope John Paul II

“ They had to say goodbye to a healthy, happy, beautiful family member, knowing that he would be choked to death the next morning ”

ever did was to ask for clemency for Van, in about February 2006. And then in November 2006 Pope Benedict also asked for clemency. That wouldn’t have come about without Cardinal George Pell’s

”

An Australian lawyer looks back at how representing a condemned man in Singapore changed his life and made him an opponent of the death penalty - a his life and made him an opponent of the death - a

active assistance.” Pope John Paul II’s teaching and advocacy against capital punishment in general is also important, McMahon says. “Pope John Paul articulated more than many Popes concerning the Church’s view of capital punishment. He regarded it as cruel and unnecessary. In documents like the encyclical Evangelium Vitae, and in speeches, he described the need for capital punishment as being practically non-existent, and certainly in any modern country, completely non-existent.”

McMahon says the Pope was greatly influenced in his thinking on the death penalty by people in America, including prison nun Sister Helen Prejean (played by

A woman lights a candle before a Mass in Sydney in support of Tuong Van Nguyen in last November. Photo: CNS/Reuters

Van’s mother weeps at the Singapore airport before leaving the day after her son was hanged. Photo: CNS/Reuters

Australian protesters maintain a vigil for Van outside a Singapore government building in Canberra. Photo: CNS/Reuters

Melbourne lawyer Julian Mc Mahon relaxes with a cup of coffee as he talks to discovery in his offices. Representing Australian man Nguyen Tuong Van, who was executed by Singapore on December 2, 2005, was a life-changing experience for McMahon, who also represents other clients facing the death penalty.

Photo: Peter Casamento

Susan Sarandon in the movie Dead Man Walking.) “She spoke to him and asked him to be clearer in what he said, and subsequently, he was.”

The death penalty remains an important international issue. “The worst country in the world, in terms of the number of people executed, is definitely China,” McMahon says. “America is I think about the fourth worst.”

“The worst country in the world on a per capita basis of executions is Singapore. Of all the advanced countries in the world, Singapore is the only one to have a mandatory death penalty for many crimes.

“It was one of the shocking injustices in our case, that our client was never allowed to be in a position to say, before a court, ‘even though I’ve done the wrong thing and even though I deserve to be punished, for the following reasons I don’t deserve to die’.”

McMahon rejects any suggestion

that there is any real “intellectual support” for the death penalty in Australia today.

One pro-death penalty argument which has been used by some, including Prime Minister John Howard, is the argument that if the death penalty is part of the law in another country someone who is caught breaking that law must put up with the consequences.

“People who run that argument, for instance, our Prime Minister who has run that argument in support of the execution of the Bali bombers, are not consistent with it. For example, recently in Afghanistan a man converted from being a Muslim to a Christian, and there was an uproar that that particular law, allowing for execution because he’d converted, should be followed.

“Now the Prime Minister said he was literally sickened by that prospect. But on the other hand, it’s merely another application of

the same principle that the Prime Minister had supported in another context.”

McMahon believes a more principled stance against the death penalty is needed from Mr Howard.

“The Prime Minister has generally described himself as pragmatic on this issue. That sort of pragmatism leads to the sort of confusion with which we are viewed in other countries. The absence of a principled position is a great mistake. In fact we have almost no legitimacy in international debate on these issues at the moment because of our confused messages and different signals, depending on whether the person facing death is Australian or not Australian, or depending on the crime.”

McMahon, whose media profile was high during the last days of Van Nguyen’s life, said he was obliged to return to court for another case on the very afternoon of his client’s funeral. Earlier this year, when his court commitments allowed, he

finally took a two month family holiday which he says he needed.

Julian McMahon believes that the experience of defending and befriending Van Nguyen Tuong has changed him as a human being.

“We worked on Van’s case for three years and we worked very hard,” McMahon says.

He says he is already working

on other death penalty cases, and he hopes to be part of the push in Australia to firstly make the nation’s position clear and unequivocal. I ask McMahon whether he misses the client he first met in jail in March 2003. He smiles. “Yes,” he says. “Yes. But I see his mother regularly, and she’s a lovely person.

“From a Catholic point of view, Van not only became a Catholic, but became a deeply holy and spiritual person who greatly affected everyone who came into contact with him, and .... yep.”

At this stage, there are no more words.

This is an edited version of a more extensive article which first appeared as an exclusive in discovery’s sister publication The Record. After its publication students from Santa Maria College responded with their thoughts on the original report and the issue of the death penalty. Students are still welcome to respond with Letters to the Editor via: cathrec@iinet.net.au

Anesthesiologists refuse to end a human life

Concerns over lethal injections have ethicists in the US questioning whether capital punishment should be administered

■ By Stephen James

When two anesthesiologists refused to participate in a scheduled execution of a California death-row inmate in February, they did so out of concern for the ethics of their profession.

The doctors, who were in the execution chamber under court order, were supposed to ensure that Michael Angelo Morales was rendered fully unconscious before he was put to death by lethal injection on February 21.

The order was issued by US District judge Jeremy Fogel in response to concerns that the injections used - pancuronium bromide or potassium chloridecould cause the inmate intense

pain. After the anesthesiologists’ walkout forced a postponement, Fogel immediately issued a second order authorising the state to execute Morales using a single, massive dose of barbiturates, provided the drug was injected “by a person or persons licensed by the State of California to inject medications intravenously.”

Within hours of the judge’s second order, however, a spokesman at San Quentin State Prison said the execution would be postponed indefinitely because the state could not “find any medical professionals willing to inject medication intravenously, ending the life of a human being.”

New challenges

The chain of events that swiftly flowed from the Morales execution debacle was so sudden and unexpected that most people were caught off-guard. Under the California lethal injection protocol, known formally as ‘San Quentin Institution Procedure No. 770,’ injection of the two chemicals follows an initial injection of sodium

thiopental. The state concedes that without the accurate administration of the first compound - a sedative to induce unconsciousness - the second two doses would cause excruciating pain.

The effect would be similar to that of boiling oil or branding with a red hot iron, according to a Columbia University anesthesiology professor.

In the questions that ensued Judge Fogel did, however, acknowledge that the Morales case presented new evidence about the lethal-injection process that was not considered in earlier cases.

That new evidence included the sworn declarations of medical experts and detailed records from prior California executions. The expert testimony and execution data revealed problems with the process that have existed, but remained essentially under the radar for more than 25 years, according to Fordham University law professor and death-penalty researcher Deborah Denno.

But in crafting a solution to the problem, Fogel may have opened a

Pandora’s box that may be difficult if - not impossible - to close.

Fogel inadvertently exposed the primary problem with the lethal-injection process, explained Denno.

“It’s actually a sign of a lack of sophistication as well as knowledge on his part that he would even ask doctors to do that, not realising that they might refuse’ she said.

The situation now invites a constitutional challenge to the lethal-injection process itself — in essence, the same type of challenge that forced a change from electrocution, lethal gas and other forms of execution to lethal injection, Denno said.

“{In the past] There was always another execution method to change to,” she said.

In response to Fogel’s order, the American Medical Association issued a terse statement.

Now the genie is out of the bottle. The public and the courts will have to confront the fact that although the lethal injection process used throughout the US is essentially a medical procedure, licensed medical professionals are rarely involved.

“The American Medical Association is alarmed that judge Jeremy Fogel has disregarded physicians’ ethical obligations when he ordered procedures for physician participation in executions of California inmates by lethal injection.”

The face Australia knew, above, and at left as a boy in happier times with his brother Kha. Singapore executed Van for a first offence. Photos: AAP

People hold symbolic yellow gerberas during a vigil in Sydney at the same time as Van’s execution.

Photo: CNS/Reuters

Lawyers Lex Lasry QC, left, and Julian McMahon were both changed deeply by their experiences.

Photo: Peter Casamento

RAIN RAIN RAIN The drought cycle

Archbishop Hickey calls for prayers

At the recent Council of Priests meeting the Archbishop spoke of the critical situation existing in the wheatbelt.

A number of the priests on the Council come from country areas and spoke of the desperate situation of farmers, many of whom have not even been able to commence seeding.

The Archbishop wants every Parish, School and Religious Community to pray for rain until the heavens open.

“City people”, he said, “are

often unaware of the plight of the farmers yet most of the fresh produce they eat comes from our agricultural areas.”

“Let us show solidarity with them by asking God in his providence to send rain now to ensure good crops and a livelihood for the farmers”, he said.

On the next page you will find some prayers for rain, which you can cut out to make a prayer card. You can either laminate it or stick it on to some cardboard and cover it in contact.

Perth has experienced some unusual weather lately. You may have heard adults say that the weather is not what it used to be. The Bureau of Meteorology collects data every day and used it to study weather patterns. They also uses this information to compare 'records'here is some of what they've told us.

A record winter

Records were smashed early on Saturday, 17 June, with many weather sites around the metropolitan area recording their coldest ever temperature, including the official “Perth City” site.

The city recorded -0.7C just after 7am, it is the first time ever that the city has recorded a minus figure.

Our previous record was 0.0C recorded on 15th July, 1997 and again on July 27, 1998.

The previous coldest June temperature was 1.2C, recorded on June 19, 2003 and also on June 2, 2004.

Perth Airport also recorded their coldest temperature in history, getting down to -1.3C.

The previous recorded at the Airport was -1.1C way back on July 27, 1946.

Pearce RAAF got down to -2.9, while Jandakot Airport had a minimum of -3.4C, both temperatures were also all time records.

Rainfall in the city is also at record lows.

It took 19 days into winter for Perth to get rain, the previous record was 10 days.

To June 21 we’ve only had 4.4mm of rain. The lowest ever rainfall for June is 54.9mm which occurred way back in 1877.

SOURCE: Perth Weather Centre

El Nino to blame? Unlikely

Although originally named for a local warming of the ocean near the coast of Peru in South America, “El Niño” now refers to a sustained warming over a large part of the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. Combined with this warming are changes in the atmosphere that affect weather patterns across much of the Pacific Basin, including Australia. These altered weather patterns often help promote further warming of the ocean because of the changes they cause in ocean currents.

El Niño events occur about every four to seven years and typically last for around 12 to 18 months. They are a natural part of the climate system and have been affecting the Pacific Basin for thousands of years.

Each El Niño event is unique in terms of its strength (as measured by numbers such as the Southern Oscillation Index or changes in ocean temperature), as well as its impact in terms of altered rainfall

Did you know?

patterns.

Furthermore, El Niño events have a life-cycle during which the impacts vary, both in terms of spatial extent and timing.

El Niño - What it isn’t

El Niño is not a freak of climate, it’s not a rogue weather phenomenon, and it isn’t in any way abnormal. Furthermore it is not a scourge, and

In the 1500s, fishermen who lived in South America began to wonder about a current of unusually warm water that came to their shore every few years near Christmastime. Since the fishermen believed in the birth of the Christ child at Christmas, and since they spoke Spanish, they named the hot water El Niño, which means “the infant” in Spanish.

Why all the fuss anyway about some hot water in the tropical Pacific Ocean? Well, it’s not just the hot water. It’s also the hot air.

Try this: take two cups that are the same. They can be ceramic, plastic, styrofoam, whatever, as long as they’re the same. Fill one with cool water. Fill the other with hot water. (Not boiling, just good and

as far as Australia is concerned, it shouldn’t be thought of as a synonym for drought, although it’s often linked to reduced rainfall in eastern and northern Australia.

Finally, and unfortunately, it’s not regularly periodic so that predicting an event with more than about six to nine months warning is extremely difficult.

SOURCE: Bureau of Meteorology

hot.) Place them on a table. Hold each of your hands over one cup and feel the difference in the air above the water. (Don’t actually touch the water. Just feel the air.) The hot water warms the air above it. The cool water doesn’t. Now, imagine you fill your bathtub with hot water. Think about how warm and steamy the air in the bathroom gets. Now, imagine millions and millions of bathtubs-ful of hot water. All of that moist, hot air has to go somewhere. Scientists know that hot air rises and carries the moisture with it. Once the

moisture gets into the air and starts to cool, rainclouds start to form. Now try this: hold a small mirror over the cup of hot water for a few minutes. The moisture in the air should collect on the mirror, and, as it cools, form tiny droplets. Imagine the bathroom mirror after you fill the bathtub with hot water. The “water” on the mirror is caused by the water vapour in the air gathering and cooling. Now imagine the air over the hot water of the tropical Pacific Ocean. Huge rainclouds start to form and flooding results in South American countries along the coast.

Prayer for Rain

Farmers and gardeners alike all have to pray for rain periodically.

This prayer can be said in conjunction with the novena to St Isidore.

O God, in Whom we live and move, and have our being, grant us rain, in due abundance, that, being sufficiently helped with temporal gifts, we may the more confidently seek after eternal gifts. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

The Australian Bishops issued a suggested form of words for a prayer for rain a few years ago during another dry spell:

Lord God, creator of the world with all its seasons, we ask that you would hear our urgent prayer for life-giving rains for our country. Amen.

Q

What happened to the cow that was lifted into the air by the tornado?

AUdder disaster!

Q

What did one tornado say to the other?

ALet’s twist again like we did last summer.

Q

What did the thermometer say to the other thermometer?

AYou make my temperature rise.

Q

What’s the difference between a horse and the weather?

AOne is reined up and the other rains down.

Q

What did one raindrop say to the other raindrop?

AMy plop is bigger than your plop.

QWhy did the woman go outdoors with her purse open?

ABecause she expected some change in the weather.

QWhat’s the difference between weather and climate?

AYou can’t weather a tree, but you can climate.

Q

What happens when it rains cats and dogs?

AYou have to been careful not to step in a poodle.

Q

What do you call it when it rains chickens and ducks?

AFoul (fowl) weather.

Q

What did the hurricane say to the other hurricane?

AI have my eye on you.

QHow do you find out the weather when you’re on vacation?

AGo outside and look up.

Deconstructing Dan Brown

One week after the movie opened in Perth nearly 1000 people turned out to hear an expert on Leonardo Da Vinci and Renaissance art and a member of Opus Dei reveal some of the slight technical problems with The Da Vinci Code...

Dan Brown was wrong on almost everything he said about Leonardo Da Vinci and Renaissance art

woman is Mary Magdalene. Dr Challis said that she had been surprised by the assertion; even in her familiarity with the work no experts had considered the possibility of.

But while the figure next to Christ, St John the beloved disciple, is certainly strikingly effeminate most would not know that the famous painting has been repainted on at least 14 occasions because of rapid deterioration in the surface, she revealed, while Napoleon’s armies had used the room as a stable for horses on one occasion and the building in which it is housed was substantially damaged by bombing in World War II.

However, more importantly, a comparison with other figures painted by renaissance artists reveals that young men were often painted in what is considered today an effeminate way

Wealthy renaissance men wore jewellry, expensive furs and velvets and took extreme care in their appearance – more like a modern-day woman. Angels, usually depicted as male figures in renaissance art, were also noticeably androgynous or

''

Richard Vella said he felt sick when he saw the way a fictional Opus Dei member was portrayed in the movie

effeminate in portrayal. Meanwhile, the absence of a golden chalice in Da Vinci’s portrayal of the Last Supper is due not to the fact that the real Holy Grail is Mary Magdalene, but that Da Vinci was a realist and knew that the cup used at the Last Supper would have been an ordinary drinking vessel: intricately-crafted chalices and the like simply would not have existed in ordinary Jewish homes at the time of Christ

Dr Challis revealed an interesting possibility in relation to one of the dominating images of Dan Brown’s book – the Mona Lisa

It is possible, she said, that Da Vinci was homosexual; he never married, and left all his possessions, including the Mona Lisa painting, to a lifelong male companion when he died.

Modern scholars have also offered a theory that the Mona Lisa is really a feminised self-portrait of Da Vinci. Morphing his own self-portrait into that of the Mona Lisa reveals many similarities.

However, it is also known that the Mona

Lisa was married to a Venetian merchant, who paid for the completion of the painting in instalments.

But only two or three years after the portrait was commissioned the young woman who is portrayed died in childbirth, and her husband did not want the painting anymore, she said.

Richard Vella, who is Dean of an Opus Dei-run residential college for students attached to the University of New South Wales, said he had been sickened by the way a fictional Opus Dei member was portrayed in the movie

Instead, he discussed what Opus Dei is really all about – the idea that growth in spirituality is not only for priests and nuns but also for ordinary people in every moment in their lives.

Mr Vella also spoke about how he had joined Opus Dei 16 years ago at the age of 21, when he felt called to the vocation of being a numerary – a single member of the organisation who devotes himself or herself to offering Christian formation to others through their ordinary work.

Meanwhile, women who join Opus Dei receive a spiritual formation very similar to that given to men studying to become Catholic priests; this is not the sign of an organisation that believes in repressing women, as portrayed in the Dan Brown novel.

There are no monks in Opus Dei and formation is given not only by priests but by laymen and laywomen, he said

As for mortification, an optional practice, this has been practised by many of the great saints and figures in the Church including Mother Teresa and Pope Paul VI; what is portrayed in the movie is a gross and sickening distortion

Instead, Opus Dei spirituality sees mortification as lying more in the little but difficult sacrifices for others; getting up when the alarm goes in the morning or making a special effort to be attentive to someone that one finds difficult to relate to, he said. Record editor Peter Rosengren said he was pleased with the large turnout and looks forward to organising similar events in the future

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2007 Application Guide Launch

The University of Notre Dame Australia’s Vice Chancellor, Dr Peter Tannock officially launched the University’s 2007 Admissions Guide on the Fremantle Campus this month. Principals, careers advisors and senior staff from Catholic, Government and Independent Secondary Schools attended the launch.

Dr Tannock pointed out that, “The admissions process is designed to ensure that we continue to attract high quality applicants. The University’s goal is to have all students graduate,”.

The Manager of the Admissions Office, Mrs Rommie Masarei, explained that the admissions process for Notre Dame is a unique point of difference, in that admission goes beyond the use of a single score.

“School leavers who apply to Notre Dame are assessed on their personal qualities and motivation, their contribution to the community and school life, their academic record and an interview,” said Mrs Masarei.

This year Notre Dame is extending the admissions process to include an Early Offer Scheme for outstanding students. Under this scheme, high achieving Year 12 students nominated by their schools will be given the opportunity to apply for a place at Notre Dame, be interviewed and offered admission for 2007 by the end of August this year. This offer will be conditional on the student maintaining their high standard of academic performance through to the end of Year 12. These early offers acknowledge the outstanding achievement and contribution to school life by students.

For further information on the Early Offer Scheme please contact the Admissions Office on 08 9433 0538 or admissions@nd.edu.au

Coming up events...

COURSE INFORMATION EVENINGDATE VENUE

Philosophy,Theology & Ethics 4 July, 6-8pmMain Lecture Theatre 19 Mouat St Fremantle

The era we live in is challenging and interesting to the development of individual social inquiry. Courses in the School of Philosophy & Theology include subjects such as the Philosophy of the Human Person, Business Ethics, Faith & Culture, 19th and 20th Century Philosophy and Moral Philosophy which can develop our abilities and insights into living in the 21st Century. This evening will provide an opportunity for prospective students to speak to the staff and get a feel for the University, as well as providing the most up to date information about the courses being offered. EVENTSDATE VENUE

UNDA - A Day In The Life of a University Student 14 July, 9am-2pmPrindiville Hall 19 Mouat St Fremantle

This is a fun day out during the July school holidays that has proven useful to Yrs 10,11 & 12 students hoping to pursue study beyond high school. Students register and enrol in units of study much like real students, and sit through two ‘mini-lectures’ in areas they are interested in. Lectures this year include:

• Acting for the Avant-garde

• On medical negligence and individual responsibility • Criminal Law & Philosophy

• Drown proofing toddlers: an exercise science perspective • Homer Simpson – pain in the buttocks. Will physiotherapy help?

• Nursing- an art and a science

• Creating the NEW Behavioural Scientist – one degree a thousand careers • Finance Fun?

• Media Interview 101 • Successful Essay Writing • Discover your senses

Get a group together and book your place now by contacting the Prospective Student Office on 9433 0533

UNDA OPENDAY 13 Aug, 10am-4pm19 Mouat St Fremantle

Enjoy the Notre Dame experience for yourself at our annual Open Day on Sunday 13 August from 10am to 4pm. This year’s Open Day promises to be more interactive and filled with more activities than ever before!

• course information sessions • participate in interactive demonstrations and workshops • campus tours every half hour

• BBQ with current ND students • PLUS course expo with teaching staff available to discuss course details with individual students

For a full schedule of events phone (08) 9433 0533.

Law at Notre Dame

My interest in learning through small class sizes attracted me to Notre Dame. I’m certain that in a few years time, if I was to revisit the campus, my past lecturers will still be able to recall my name. Not only do the class sizes foster a greater environment for learning, they also enable strong friendships to evolve between students of all nationalities and ages.

My studies allowed me the opportunity to gain an international perspective through the Study Abroad Program offered in London. Outside the classroom, I was fortunate enough to be involved in the politics of the university as President of the Student Association in 2003. I believe that these experiences combined with the challenges of completing a Notre Dame degree have given me good grounding for my current role as a Desk Officer in the Legal branch at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra. My lasting memories of Notre Dame will be of the stern challenges, invaluable life skills and enduring friendships I have enjoyed here.

Mid year applications are now being accepted. ...if I was to revisit the campus, my past lecturers will still be able to recall my name.

OWEN WOOLCOCK Graduate