But that's enough from me, let's get on to what you came here for... ENJOY!

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I need some help with the Ezine and I've found in the past the best way to get answers is to actually ask the question, I'm going to do so. This will be completely anonymous, I am the only person who will see any of these emails and know who said what etc.. This information has never went beyond me in the past when I've received emails and never will, I'm a person of my word. I believe that if you can't look in yourself for honor you have no right to expect it of someone else, my point is, your emails will remain anonymous *S*. I would like for any of you who have a minute to please email me at ch_zine@hotmail.com and rate the following between 1 & 10. You may also comment on anything you like, as I said I am the only person who will be reading these and I'm not even sure they will ever be posted. I'm not saying they will or won't at this point, but you get the idea *S*. However, if I decide to post the outcome all that will be posted will be the averages. (any questions email me)

Please rate the following features between 1 - 10. (not just this issue, but overall)

~*Chat Diva*~
Featured Chatters
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My2CentsDealW/It
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Dear Senile Fantasy
Recipes
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The new Australian Section

Is there anything else you can think of you'd like to rate? Have added? Read about? Please include this on your email. Thanks so much, Michie.

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My Two Cents

by My2CentsDealW/it!

Dear2c@hotmail.com

My Two Cents
on Information Overload

OK, Ladies and Gentlemen, Let's talk Information overload.

From the time I wake up in the morning, until I go to bed at night, I am constantly bombarded with a variety of information. I'm sure everyone else out there experiences the same thing to some varying degree. My question is, Are we getting TOO much information to be able to properly process it?

Coffee? Cream or non-dairy creamer? Sugar or Sweet-n-Low? Flavored-coffee? Cappuccino or Latte? Breakfast/lunch/dinner? Meat or vegetarian? Mad-cow, foot & mouth disease? Low-fat/no-fat salad dressing? Decisions - decisions?

Billboards, commercials (radio/TV/internet ads), News, talk shows, Four BILLION channels and nothing is on, cell phones, pagers and laptops! Always connected!

Family, friends, co-workers, bosses... Everyone telling you who, what, when, where and how to do everything!

Since we have become a society of single parents, dual income families, people working two or more jobs, I think that people have lost much of the art of rational, critical thought. We have mortgages, loans and credit cards, as well as a future to think about, such as kids, college, retirement, health insurance, stock investments, etc. 

Now don't get me wrong, Information is good! At what point, though, do people exceed their ability to take in this onslaught of information. Tide or Cheer, Smoking or Non-Smoking, Social Security or IRA, Gun Control or Gun Safety, Abortion or Adoption, Birth Control or Abstinence, and the list goes on...

Is there a limit as to how much information people can absorb and process?

I think there is and the evidence is all around us. We live in the "Information Age" and with all the information available to us, more and more people are less and less informed. People used to read (books, newspapers, etc.) and absorb the information at a rate they could process. Now they are spoon fed information in 20 second sound bites, 30 second commercials, spam email and websites of questionable accuracy. The majority of the information mediums being controlled by those of a particular ideology and people too over-whelmed, over-worked or strapped for time to seek out corroboration or opposition to what they are bombarded with. The News portrays violent crime after violent crime, but yet all they surveys, studies and statistics show that violence crime is unmistakably DECLINING! 

It seems to me that people today are so over-whelmed with the information that is available to them or thrust upon them that they have tuned out all together! It seems to me that many people are relying on emotion or gut reactions for their decision making instead of critical thinking and research. The information overload has been a boost for the entertainment industry because people would rather be entertained or escape from reality than deal with the decisions they must make and the information that those decisions require!

Turn on Jerry Springer, grab a beer or a bong and to hell with it all!

Much of this is a time issue in our society of rush, rush, rush and instant gratification, but I think alot of it is controllable as well. I am a firm believer in the Constitution, Free Speech and all that, but those things do NOT protect out-right lies, fabrications and propaganda for the purposes of misinformation. With the amount of information we have available, there should be some way of verifying it's accuracy and eliminating the blatant falsehoods that lead many astray! The News media needs to be LESS concerned with being the FIRST with a story and MORE concerned about getting the fact RIGHT! News should be a public service and NOT a business operated around the Neilsen ratings! Advertisers and even politicians should have stricter guidelines in regards to "false advertising" or HYPE! There should be independent verification services that review website content for accuracy and some type of seal, award or other indication that the content has been independently verified. Book, Newspaper and Magazine publishers should have their own researchers or a researching service to verify the accuracy of the material they publish.

Basically, we all just need to SLOW DOWN and "Do it right the first time"! Our information overload is as much do to lack of time as it is to too much information and the abundance of misinformation. We need to set aside the whole "freedom of speech" issue and stop using it as a shield to protect people who spout hate, lies, misinformation and propaganda. The Constitution DOES NOT protect those things! We need to put some of our great entrepreneurial minds together with our top notch researchers and fact checkers to develop businesses and services to independently verify the information that we submit to the information hungry time strapped public. To quote Joe Friday from Dragnet, "Just the facts, Ma'am!". Give us clean factual information that the rushed general public can take, consider, analyze and process. Let them exercise their own critical thinking skills and come to their own conclusions based on the accurate factual information with no hype, no lies and no propaganda!

Once we all have the facts and are informed, rather than misinformed, then we can work on the bigger issues we face. We can't do it when half the population is drunk or stoned in front of the boob tube. We can't do it when only 1/3 of eligible voters vote and only a small fraction of them are "Informed Voters"! Clean up and control the flow of information and many of our problems will disappear, simply do to people being able to learn the TRUTH!

Now, would someone please accuse me of proposing CENSORSHIP, I would love to argue that one with you!

Please Welcome the new...
AUSTRALIAN SECTION
*The Ezine goes GLOBAL*

AUSTRALIA………….HOW WE BECAME AND WHAT WE ARE….
by ~*Nikola*~

Australia was first officially sited from the HMAS Endeavour on April 20, 1770.
The great southern land, previously referred to on maps only as "a place where there be dragons", was about to become a part of the new world.  Previously Australia’s existence was almost folklore, with the belief that “Terra Australias Incognita”, had to exist to counteract the new world.

A word for my own ancestors here, LOL, The Dutch also, although a tad recreantly looked at the great southern land, through Van Diemen, but alas, we were settled by the British!

In 1779 the British government decided it needed a new penal colony as far away as possible from Britain.  1530 people left the shores of Britain and it took them 8 months to reach and settle in Australia. They named the colony New South Wales (like the sub tropical climate of NSW is ANYTHING like Wales!), which is now the largest populated state in Australia, the capital of which is Sydney. They landed in Botany Bay (a suburb about 8km from the centre of Sydney) on 18th of January 1788.

Prior to 1788, Aborigines occupied all of mainland Australia and most of the inhabitable islands near the coast, including Tasmania.

The word Aborigine is derived from Latin and means "from the beginning". This is the name given to the native Australians by the Europeans. This is not the name they called themselves. They prefer to call themselves: Koori.

Having begun life as a penal colony, I would say it was obvious that Australian life was only to get more interesting. AT the turn of the century, a Gold Rush, second only to California, caused massive immigration from all over the world, but in particular Southern Europe.

In Australia today, you will find multi-culturalism like no other country. British ancestry by no means dominates. In Sydney you will find a little Italy, A little Malta, China Town, Many Greek areas, Turkish, Lebanese, Baltic, German, of course Dutch (*L* You can tell my ancestry), French, African etc etc.

In 1901, Australia ceased to be a British colony and became the Commonwealth of Australia – a term really defining the joining of the states. The new constitution follows the Westminster model– in other words a self-governing country, but still part of the British Commonwealth. (In 1999 and in opposition to MY personal belief, we had a referendum to become a Republic and totally separate from Britain, and this was rejected!). Effectively, on a Federal basis we vote for the party, rather than the leader as they do in the US. The party selects the leader and it is the Cabinet (the senior advisers of the governing party) and the Caucus (the whole of the elected members of the governing party) who make the decisions. Our leader (Prime minister) is effectively a figurehead, no one person has total power in Australia. A Governor General is also appointed who is considered the Queens Representative, however the power is more honorary and has only been used once in the history of the Australian Parliament.

Australia consists of the States of;

New South Wales (Capital Sydney)
Queensland (Capital Brisbane)
Western Australia (Capital Perth)
Victoria (Capital Melbourne)
South Australia (Capital Adelaide)
Tasmania (Capital Hobart)

Territories
Northern territory (Capital Darwin)
Australia Capital territory (Capital Canberra which is also the capital of Australia)

(Which also have their own governments)


How we are different to your country;

 Guns are and have always been illegal in Australia, without a permit. They are not a “constitutional right”
 Voting is compulsory in Australia and you are fined if you do not vote.
 We vote for a Federal Government, a State Government and a Local (Council) Government.
 Any change to the constitution requires a referendum to the Australian people
 To become a citizen of Australia does not involve rejecting your home country.
 84% of Australians have a grandparent born in another country.
 We have socialised Health care
 Universities are free in Australia. There is a minimum enrolment fee (about $1000 AUD and is waived if sociological circumstances warrant it) and a HECS fee. Entry to University in Australia is based solely on your Higher School final exam.
 Australians do an extra year of schooling to the US, but Undergraduate University degrees are generally shorter. We generally do not do a general degree first and then specialise, we generally start straight at our specialty.
 Australia has the highest rate of home ownership (purchasing their own home), in the world.
 Australians are believed to have the highest Internet usage in the world per capita (although this will be confirmed by the impending census).
 Australians vote and drink at 18.
 Australia’s population (according to the ABS) is just under 19 million.
 Immigration to Australia, is very difficult.
 Australians consider themselves “The Lucky Country”.

~*Nikola*~, AKA ~*Anna*~, AKA ~*She*~

Next week: Famous Australians.

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