For Frock Paper Scissors.
Is your favourite Christmas movie The Grinch? Do you blanch at $50 baubles and screw your nose up at forced festive cheer? if you still want to join in the celebrations this silly season – minus the gaudy Santa cutouts – take our advice.
Local Brisbane artist Lauren Carney has your cutely warped gifts (and possibly Christmas Cards) sorted at her lovely Etsy shop – think Santa bomb-diving into a pool of horrified children. There’s some gorgeous eco-friendly and fair trade decorations at Biome for those who need a kick up the bum in the tinsel department, and they’ve got a nifty gift guide too. Their gifts are for anyone who thinks the spend-a-thon that proceeds December 25 should be put to better use, or at least not wasted on throw-away ties and socks made in sweatshops. An even brighter idea for the anti-consumerist within you is a Really Wild Gift that goes towards WSPA’s charity work. You can even tailor it to benefit your loved one’s favourite creatures. Plus, if anyone asks what you got your mum for Christmas, you can say “vitamin enriched orangutan milk” or “oh, I saved a bear on her behalf, no big”.
If these get you in the spirit, there’s free events abound this season – from fighting for a spot to view the beautiful Myer window display on the Queen St Mall, to the Festival of Carols at Albert Street Uniting Church on December 17. We can also take some pride in the King George Square Christmas tree this year, as it’s the world’s largest solar powered pine, with over 16,000 lights. If ‘bah, humbug’ is still on your lips, you could always drive around and mock the efforts of this year’s Christmas Lights Winners, or catch a screening of sadistic Finnish Christmas flick Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale.
Merry Christmas from the FPS team, regardless of whether you’ve been naughty or nice.
A JAPANESE spacecraft the size of a basketball carrying material from an asteroid is set to touch down in Woomera in June.
The Hayabusa spacecraft, which weighs only 17 kilograms, will be the first craft to bring asteroid materials back to Earth.Defence Minister Senator John Faulkner said Australian authorities will assist the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency in ensuring a safe return for Hayabusa.
The Australian innovation Minister Senator Kim Carr said this was a great example of Australia's ongoing contribution to international space programs.
"Australia is proud to support Japan in this world-first expedition," Senator Carr said.
The craft, which first made contact with the asteroid Itokawa in 2005, will land in Australian defence land, at the Woomera Prohibited Area in Southern Australia.
Dr Michael Green of the department of innovation said the capsule is protected by heat-sensors that activate as it nears Earth, and a parachute will be deployed before its landing.
"People looking at the night sky at the right time will be able to see a shooting star like object," Dr Green said.