Final Exam

Starkville has many different places to eat.  Many of them are tasty and make you want to go back again, but just like every town there are those that you go once and decide to never go again.  In my opinion the best place to eat in Starkville is Grumpy's.  It has a lot of variety in their menu and the food is never disappointing.  Grumpy's is also a local hangout spot for the college students and the environment is very relaxing.  You can choose to eat inside or outside and they have a big screen tv outdoors that everyone can see no matter where you choose to sit.  One of the worst places to eat in Starkville is Huddle House.  The food is terrible and looks like they just got it from the garbage out back.  The meat they use is a Grade C, which is ummmm.... NOT good.  The place is rarely ever clean when you walk in and is just not worth the time or money to go there.  If there was one place I'd want Starkville to establish it would be Sonny's BBQ.  Sonny's is a small BBQ joint in Jackson, MS.  It is one of two places, I believe, but the food is INCREDIBLE!!  They have several different BBQ sauces on each table and every one of them is satisfying.  The atmosphere is amazing and makes you want to come back again.

Final Exam

Starkville has many different places to eat.  Many of them are tasty and make you want to go back again, but just like every town there are those that you go once and decide to never go again.  In my opinion the best place to eat in Starkville is Grumpy's.  It has a lot of variety in their menu and the food is never disappointing.  Grumpy's is also a local hangout spot for the college students and the environment is very relaxing.  You can choose to eat inside or outside and they have a big screen tv outdoors that everyone can see no matter where you choose to sit.  One of the worst places to eat in Starkville is Huddle House.  The food is terrible and looks like they just got it from the garbage out back.  The meat they use is a Grade C, which is ummmm.... NOT good.  The place is rarely ever clean when you walk in and is just not worth the time or money to go there.  If there was one place I'd want Starkville to establish it would be Sonny's BBQ.  Sonny's is a small BBQ joint in Jackson, MS.  It is one of two places, I believe, but the food is INCREDIBLE!!  They have several different BBQ sauces on each table and every one of them is satisfying.  The atmosphere is amazing and makes you want to come back again.

Australian Vocabulary

Ever wonder what in the world Australian's mean when they say certain words or phrases??  I know I do. Well if you're curious, here are some answers to the most common words and phrases used in the Australian culture.

Outback - remote, sparsely populated area
Jackaroo - type of agricultural worker
Paddock - field
Mate - friend
Dinkum - true
Sheila - woman
Bludger - someone who is lazy
Bung - 1) broken, 2) person pretending to be hurt
Bluey - person with red hair
Jumper - sweater
Slinglet - sleeveless t-shirt
Sunnies - sunglasses
Pluggers/Thongs - flip-flops
Biscuit - cookies or crackers
Bikkies - biscuits
Rockmelon - cantaloupe
Sarsaparilla - root beer
Maccas - McDonald's
Goony - Plastic cask
Gin - older Aboriginal lady
Esky - portable cooler
Prawn - shrimp
Shrimp - someone who is short
Barrack - hoot or cheer in support of something
Root - a noun and verb referring to the act of sexual intercourse
"Sticky Wicket" - in a tight situation
"Play a straight bat" - give a non-committal answer
"Shoulder arms" - dodge the question
"Taking it on the front foot" - take a proactive stance
"Taking it on the back foot" - reacting to matters
Footy - football
Ute - utility vehicle
Fourby - 4x4
Panel vans - used by police to transport prisoners
Paddy wagon - panel van
Digger - soldier

Stars and Crosses

September 3, 1901 was the first day the Australian flag was flown and is now celebrated as Australian National Flag Day.  The Australian Flag was actually born out of a competition in the early 1900's.  Anyone was able to participate and send in what they thought would be an appropriate flag for Australia.  The government had a panel of expert judges look at each drawn flag to see which one would represent their country.  The panel looked at:  history, heraldry, distinctiveness, utility, and cost and manufacture.  There were well over 32,000 entries in the contest from men, women, and children alike.
The Australian Flag features the five stars of the constellation of the Southern Cross and the Commonwealth Star, and the combined crosses of St. George, St. Andrew, and St. Patrick.
The union of crosses represents Australia's early settlers.
The Commonwealth star with its seven points represents the unity of the six Australian states and the seventh point stands for all Australian territories.
The stars of the Southern Cross stands for the geographic position in the Southern Hemisphere.
The Commonwealth star stands for the federation of states and territories.
The crosses represent the principles on which on Australia is based, namely, parliamentary democracy, rule of law and freedom of speech.
http://www.flagaustnat.asn.au/history.php

Australian Born Country Star

Keith Urban has become one of the most listened to country artists in the past decade.  He is a lone singer with his several cd's.  He was born in New Zealand and raised in Australia, then moved to the United States where he made it big time in Nashville, TN as a recording artist.

To read more about Keith Urban's biography go to this link:
http://www.cmt.com/artists/az/urban_keith/bio.jhtml

How about some music from down under?

Aboriginal Australians were the continent’s first musicians, passing down their culture through songs accompanied by wind instruments like the didgeridoo. The first non-Indigenous music was rooted strongly in folk, with early bush ballads lamenting the hardship and isolation of a new land. Successive waves of settlers - starting with British, Irish and Scottish convicts – continued to shape this tradition. Country music grew out of this tradition and by the 1930s was a huge part of Australia country life. Jazz emerged during the 1920s and grew strongly in popularity, particularly after the Second World War. Australia is well known for its original rock and popular music, with foundations laid by artists such as Johnny O’Keefe, the Easybeats, AC/DC, INXS, Men at Work, Crowded House, Midnight Oil, John Farnham and Olivia Newton-John. Opera in Australia started in the early 19th century and today Opera Australia is one of the world’s busiest opera companies and has the spectacular Sydney Opera House as its home. Each of Australia’s eight states and territories has a symphony orchestra and the smaller Australian Brandenburg Orchestra and Australian Chamber Orchestra also have world-class status. Australia’s many migrants from around 200 countries continue to enrich Australian music.


http://www.australia.com/about/arts.aspx

Paradise!

With more than 80 per cent of Australians living within 50 kilometres of the coast, the beach has become an integral part of our famous laid-back lifestyle. From Saturday morning surf-club training for young ‘nippers’ to a game of beach cricket after a barbeque, we love life on our sandy shores. We jostle for a spot on packed city beaches, relax at popular holiday spots and drive to secret, secluded beaches in coastal national parks. We go to the beach to enjoy the sun and surf or to sail, parasail, fish, snorkel, scuba dive and beach comb. It’s where we socialise and play sport, relax and enjoy romance. It’s also the site for celebration. On New Year’s Eve, revellers dance in the sand and watch fireworks at Manly and Bondi beaches in Sydney and Glenelg in Adelaide. Many beaches host citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day  and on Christmas Day up to 40,000 international visitors converge on Bondi Beach wearing Santa hats and swimming costumes. Australia’s most famous beaches - Bondi and Manly in Sydney, St Kilda in Melbourne, Surfers Paradise on the Queensland Gold Coast, Cottesloe in Perth and Glenelg in Adelaide – attract locals as well as international tourists.


http://www.australia.com/about/culture.aspx

Multiculturalism

Since 1945 more than six million people from across the world have come to Australia to live. Today, more than 20 per cent of Australians are foreign born and more than 40 per cent are of mixed cultural origin. In our homes we speak 226 languages - after English, the most popular are Italian, Greek, Cantonese and Arabic. Our rich cultural diversity is reflected in our food, which embraces most of the world’s cuisines and artfully fuses quite a few of them. You’ll find European flavors, the tantalizing spices of Asia, Africa and the Middle East and bush tucker from our backyard on offer everywhere from street stalls to five star restaurants. Tuck into Thai takeaway, dine out on perfect Italian pasta, do tapas in our city’s Spanish strips and feast on dumplings in Chinatown. You can also embrace our melting pot of cultures in the many colorful festivals. See samba and capoeira at Bondi’s Brazilian South American festival, dance behind the dragon parade during Chinese New Year or stroll through streets transformed into a lively piazza during the annual Italian celebrations.  As a nation, we embrace a rainbow of religious belief and you’ll find Catholic and Anglican churches, Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist temples, mosques and synagogues lining our streets.
http://www.australia.com/about/culture.aspx

What are you famous for??

Australians invented notepads (1902), the surf lifesaving reel (1906), aspirin (1915), the pacemaker (1926), penicillin (1940) the Hills Hoist clothesline (1946), the plastic disposable syringe (1949), the wine cask (1965), the bionic ear (1978), dual-flush toilet flush (1980) anti-counterfeiting technology for banknotes (1992) and long-wearing contact lenses (1999). The iconic kangaroo is unique to Australia and one of our most easily recognized mammals. There are an estimated 40 million kangaroos in Australia, more than when Australia was first settled.Australia's 85.7 million sheep (mostly merinos) produce most of the world's wool. With 25.4 million head of cattle, Australia is also the world's largest exporter of beef. Kalgoorlie in Western Australia is Australia's largest producer of gold. It also embraces the world's largest political electorate, covering a mammoth 2.2 million square kilometers.  Australia produces 95 per cent of the world's precious opals and 99 per cent of its black opals. The world’s opal capital is the quirky underground town of Coober Pedy in South Australia. The world’s largest opal, weighing 5.27 kilograms, was found here in 1990.
http://www.australia.com/about/facts.aspx

Aboriginal culture: a rich and timeless tradition

The Dreamtime is the sacred ‘time before time’ of the world’s creation. According to Aboriginal belief, totemic spirit ancestors emerged from the earth and descended from the sky to awaken a dark and silent world. They created the sun, moon and stars, forged mountains, rivers, trees and waterholes and changed into human and animal forms. Spirit ancestors connect this ancient past with the present and future through every aspect of Aboriginal culture. Rock art, craft and bark painting reveal Dreamtime stories, mark territory and record history, while songs tell of Dreamtime journeys, verbally mapping water sources and other essential landmarks. Their special lyrics have been passed down virtually unchanged for at least 50,000 years, and are often accompanied by clapsticks or the deep throb of the didgeridoo. Similarly, traditional dances reveal creation myths, enact the deeds of Dreamtime heroes and even recent historical events.

Australia Source

Gotta Have Famous!

Australia is home to many of the most magnificent and rare creatures on the planet.  Several of those creatures have just happened to make the history books as legends.  The Great Barrier Reef is home to the world's largest oyster which is 3 kilograms or 6.61 pounds.  That's one big oyster.  It's hard to picture one that big.  When I think of oysters I think of the little bitty ones from the Gulf Coast.  Another Aussie legend is the world's longest earthworm stretching up to 4 meters or 13.1 feet!  How'd you like to find that bad boy coming at you?  In the Bass Strait near Tasmania the heaviest crab in the world resides.  It is 30.9 pounds!! 
The guys will find this interesting.  Australia is also home to the world's longest piece of straight railway, which is 478 kilometers or 279 miles.  It is also home to the world's longest continuous fence which is 5,531 kilometers or 3440 miles. 

Great Barrier Reef

Australia is home to one of the most famous wonders of the world, the Great Barrier Reef.  The reef is located off the coast of Queensland.  It stretches over 2,000 kilometers and is the most diverse aquatic biome known to man.  Many new life forms have been discovered in the Great Barrier Reef and many more are waiting to be found.  The Great Barrier Reef is also known for being a great tourist attraction.  Tourists can sail along the reef and if certified, may dive and swim the reef with guides.  The reef has about 900 islands and can be seen from outer space.