Portly Australians

When I say Australia, what is the first thing that pops into your head?
"Cricket!" "Rugby!" "Beaches!" "Fit bodies!"
Great! You have correctly identified the most popular images associated with the country...Now it's time for a reality check...

AFP has the latest from Australia:

Australia has an illusion of being a nation of sportsmen and women," said
Deakin University obesity expert Boyd Swinburn.

More than 7.5 million of the 21 milllion who live in Australia are now estimated to be overweight or obese, accounting for two-thirds of all men, half the women and one quarter of the nation's children.

International studies consistently rank Australia among the fattest countries in the world, with the nation's Baker Heart Institute in 2008 suggesting it faced a "fat bomb" outranking even that in the United States.

Getting fatter means needing more space...As a result an entire industry of things designed for the human body has to upsize starting with toilet seats...

The standard strength of toilet seats is slated to triple, after the national safety watchdog Standards Australia found the maximum unsupported weight capacity of 45 kilogrammes was not enough.
Toilet seats will soon have to pass flex and rigidity tests at 150 kilogrammes -- "a precautionary measure to accommodate the increasing size of humans," a Standards spokeswoman said.

Just in case your toilet seat,designed for pre-McDonald's humans,can't take the stress of your new 'normal' weight and you fall into the toilet, don't fret...Just call emergency services...

The Royal Flying Doctors, Australia's iconic outback air ambulance, is the latest service to supersize, announcing last month that it was seeking larger aircraft to cope with heavier patients.
The new Flying Doctors planes will be able to carry total patient loads of up to 260 kilogrammes (572 pounds), while with current aircraft individual patients weighing more than 140 kilogrammes (308 pounds) must travel by road.The planes will join a fleet of "mega lift" road ambulances already in use in New South Wales, Australia's most populous state

In case you don't make it to the hospital, funeral directors are also up-sizing...

with the standard coffin size growing from 18 inches (46 centimetres) across the shoulder to 20 inches. Most coffin-makers now stocked a range right up to 32 inches—once considered a "custom order," said Heritage [president of the Australian Funeral Directors Association]. Crematoriums were upgrading their ovens to expand door widths closer to 100 centimetres (40 inches) and gone were the days of a "standard" grave, he said.

Australia says 'no' to use of red pen by teachers

Australia, if you want real problems please let us know...We will be happy to export some of ours...

The teachers in Australia have been asked to stop using red pen to mark students’ work as it can harm their mental health.

A kit devised to help teachers to focus on mental well-being of the students offers a list of tips by experts that points out: “Don’t mark with a red pen (which can be seen as aggressive), use a different colour,” according to AAP report here. The kit was submitted in Queensland’s parliament today by Deputy Opposition Leader Mark McArdle.

“Given your 10-year-old Labor government presides over the lowest numeracy and literacy standards of any state in Australia, don’t you think it’s time we focused on classroom outcomes rather than these kooky, loony, loopy, lefty policies?” McArdle asked Premier Anna Bligh in parliament.

Bligh said the question was trivial at a time of the economic crisis. “Thousands of Queensland retirees for example are seeing their superannuation earnings go through the floor, and the opposition wants to speak about the colour of pens being used by teachers in the classroom,” Bligh said.

Opposition Leader Lawrence Springborg said there was nothing wrong with teachers using a red pen. “How crazy is this government?” he said.

But Health Minister Stephen Robertson, whose department devised the kit, said youth suicide was such a serious issue. “If mental health professionals determine that as one of a number of strategies teachers should consider, then I’ll support them every day of the week,” he said adding, “This is not a matter for ridicule, this is serious.”

Thanks: Business Standard