Australians are known for drinking out of shoes. The English are known for talking about the weather. Americans are known for having remarkable confidence in their own opinions.An American CrossFit influencer recently reinforced this stereotype, criticising a Bali bakery for offering free tea and coffee to vaccinated customers.Dave Driskell, who held the title of IF3 World Champ (40-45) in 2019 and the title of Fittest Male Asia (35-40) in 2017, and who lives in Bali, was apparently angered by an Instagram post by Sinamon Bali, a bakery known for its cinnamon rolls, announcing it would offer free tea or coffee to vaccinated patrons.

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The owner of the bakery, Connor Hood, showed Insider screenshots of the now-deleted comment, which Driskell allegedly posted earlier this month.“F–k this you pandering fools. This is such a f–king joke. Giving out your sugar coated food while 78% of Covid mortalities had obesity issues. Me and my business do not support you. You are the problem. A sheep in wolves clothing.”Driskell has almost 93,000 Instagram followers, and works at a gym in Canggu, a town popular with tourists and Chlamydia.“He was super rude to us,” Hood told Insider. “And we were not even trying to force people to get a vaccine. Just giving a free coffee for people who chose to get it.”Driskell says his remark was taken out of context, posting a statement to his own Instagram in the aftermath (read it in full here), claiming that he’s not a “loony anti-Vackser.”“From the start of this pandemic I have been vocal on how metabolic health is of paramount importance for when viruses and disease arise.”“… This massive issue I believe should be explained to the public and that with proper diet and exercise we can eradicate bad health and the horrific issues that come along with it.”“As a passionate health and fitness coach for the past 11 years I only want health for Indonesia and the rest of the world to get back on its feet ASAP.”This is not Driskell’s first skirmish with the media. He recently claimed a news.com.au piece took his remarks out of context, too.

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A post shared by Dave Driskell (@davedriskell)

Hood told Insider the only negative feedback he’s got regarding the initiative is from foreigners “that have a very anti-vaccine agenda.”COVID-19 measures have been questioned (and flouted) by various foreigners living in Indonesia in recent months – a country that is now Asia’s new COVID-19 epicentre, reporting a record 350,273 new cases in the week of July 11 to July 17.According to Insider, at least 78 tourists were deported from Bali in the first half of 2021, some for violating COVID-19 restrictions.

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A post shared by Niluh Djelantik (@niluhdjelantik)

Two ‘prankster’ influencers found themselves in hot water earlier this year after, for a Youtube stunt, they painted face masks on their face and entered a supermarket. The video drew so much attention Balinese authorities seized both of their passports. The pair have since apologised.

Watch the apology video below

In these instances, individual tourists often become a flashpoint for people to express their frustration with the broader issues of tourism.The attitude of some expats doesn’t help.In parts of Bali like Canggu, “people live as if there is no pandemic at all,” Daniel Prasatyo, an Indonesian language teacher in Bali, told Insider.Stuart McDonald, an Australian writer who’s lived in Bali for 13 years described Canggu to Insider as “one of the epicenters of foreigners not wearing masks” and said “there is a resilient anti-vax posse of people here.”Indonesia has recorded nearly three million total COVID-19 cases and more than 76,000 deaths. The true number could be much higher though, due to a lack of testing.

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The post American Fitness Influencer’s Rude Remark Leaves Bali Bakery Shocked appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Anyone who exercises will be able to tell you about the positive rush of emotion they feel both during and after. Summoning the motivation to workout in the first place, to go for a run, or take a swim in the ocean can be an arduous task, but after tackling it head on, the feeling you get afterwards is one of pure joy, empowerment and invigoration.Many of us aware of the chemical reactions that occur in our brain as the result of exercise, but for those a little out of the loop, the Dana Foundation explains it perfectly:“When you exercise, your body releases chemicals such as dopamine and endorphins, which make you feel happy. Not only is your brain dumping out feel-good chemicals, but exercise also helps your brain get rid of chemicals that make you feel stressed and anxious.”“People who exercise tend to be happier and less stressed compared to those who don’t, and regular exercise can also help you control your emotions when you do feel angry or upset.”On that note: Stephanie Regan, a clinical psychotherapist, trauma and relationship specialist recently told Metro that movement, mood and memory are all linked – yet another reason why many people may be experiencing brain fog, or reduced productivity, in lockdown.“Because being physically active has a direct impact on memory, decreased activity throughout the pandemic has played a part in the way different memories have changed,” she told Metro.“We know that memories that are emotionally charged tend to be remembered better and so, outside of the pandemic, much of what was occurring was emotionally charged and people could remember these things. But as the pandemic continued, memories blurred and days did, too.”Pretty compelling evidence then, to strap on a pair of running shoes and keep yourself active, fit and healthy. But while the biological link between physical stimulation and brain activity has been recorded and can be explained, what is to be said of the psychological benefits of being active? These experiences and reactions are likely to be subjective and will likely be moulded or dictated by the particular sport one participates in.You may find a positive team performance gives you a far more positive mindset at home in the days following your victory, which would be the result of more than just a dopamine release.To gain a greater insight into this link between activity and brain stimulation, DMARGE spoke exclusively to Damien Fitzpatrick, former NSW Waratah player and the founder of PILLAR Performance, to find out how physical stimulation affected his brain activity both during his playing days and now that he is in retirement.Damien relates that his “life was geared towards physical activity from an early age.”“As a kid, we were always outdoors, on a field, in a pool or at the beach. It was something my parents encouraged and supported. I was lucky enough to earn a contract with the NSW Waratahs straight out of high school which was a huge learning curve when it comes to physical training, nutrition and managing your body.”“Coming into that environment and living out my dream of playing professionally taught me lots of valuable lessons. I began to connect the way that training would impact my mood overall, given I was being introduced to new levels of intensity and consistency I hadn’t experienced before.”“Unfortunately, I was better known for being injured than my exploits on the field which any athlete will tell you is extremely frustrating.”

“It was these periods of adversity that taught me the affects physical activity could have on my state of mind.”

“During my first two ACLs – being sidelined and on crutches for several months I found it hard to concentrate at university which I was still completing.”

“During this time in my career when I had the most ‘free’ time, turned out to be the hardest for me to concentrate. I later learnt that I am far more productive after completing something physical – regardless of the intensity.”

Indeed, Damien expands on how he felt during his injured periods, claiming his biggest mental struggles came “when I’ve not been physically active.”“I tore my ACL three times before a defect in my left knee was eventually uncovered. I’d eventually undergo a complete tibial osteotomy – a brutal procedure with a long recovery.”“Any athlete who is out injured can tell you how frustrating that is, in my early days I missed pretty much three years of rugby – countless weeks and months in rehab watching my teammates out on the field desperately wishing I was there.”“It’s a pretty lonely place, even with the outlet of rehab training, which progressively intensifies as injuries progress. To come down from being so physically active to a lower level can take effect mentally, which is why I periodically reduced the amount of exercise I ‘needed’ immediately after my retirement.”

“My mind and body both still required a high level of physical exertion for quite some time.”

Now finding himself in retirement, Damien is still committed to keeping as active as possible, for the mental benefits it brings.

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A post shared by Damien Fitzpatrick (@damienfitzpatrick)

“Now in retirement, I’ve still got the bug when it comes to being active. I ocean swim every morning – my knee is still a limiting factor to other activities – but regardless, I love swimming and choose this as the way to start my day as it equally gives me time to gather my thoughts in the water.”“My body and mind are now in a place that is comfortable from exercising in the morning to a moderate level, but the importance of it in my routine I feel is now even greater.”“There are so many days that I wake up and immediately feel stressed with the weight of the days before or what lay ahead with my business. I enter the water and immediately feel that weight life and by the time I am finished I feel prepared, relaxed and energised to attack the challenges of that day.”Former AFL star Tom Derickx is another to advocate the importance of routine, previously telling DMARGE, “I’m still learning, but I’m interested in [meditation], but I just try to get up at the same time every morning, I do two 20 minutes of meditation a day, one in the morning and one in the arvo.”“Then I’ll just do something active, whether it’s a run or a stretch, and I make sure I jump in the ocean, just to get the body moving. I try to not look at my phone until I’ve done all that stuff. I think that’s a tough habit to get out of, but I think it’s an important one.”

“It’s all about creating a habit so it becomes second nature and once you stop, you really notice it.”

Yet more evidence that physical activity can be damn beneficial for your mental health.

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The post The Key To Keeping Your Brain Sharp Could Be Right Under Your Nose appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

What do you get when you cross a (locked down) outdoorsy population with a quickly spreading virus?A bunch of weird indoor hobbies.But let’s just back up a second, and start from the beginning.The pandemic seemed to be over in Australia. No lockdowns and no restrictions; life was practically back to normal, especially in Sydney.Just over a month ago, I was drinking cocktails with my friends in crowded bars, planning to take a few days off and travel south to the snow grounds.How quickly things can change. Now, having spent almost a month in lockdown, as many Sydneysiders have, there are only so many hours in the day you can spend watching Netflix before getting bored, or attempting Chris Hemsworth’s exercise routines before getting sore.My solution to going stir-crazy? Well, last year everyone was baking sourdough bread but, so far, no new ‘lockdown trend’ has emerged for Sydney’s 2021 lockdown; unless you count people taking bets on what colour coat NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian will wear for her daily COVID update.Therefore, I am putting forward an idea: brew your own beer. Call it cliché if you like (I certainly am), but hear me out…Let me preface this by saying, making beer at home is not for the faint of heart… or to be less dramatic, I wouldn’t recommend this activity unless you truly love beer or you really are starting to go mad with cabin fever.Take my boyfriend and I, for example; he loves beer. Seriously. During Sydney’s 2020 lockdown he created an Instagram where he drank and then posted reviews of various craft beers daily (RIP his liver). Flash forward to this lockdown, he’s still doing it.Multiple cupboards at his house (where we’re both currently locked down) are home to various craft beers, as is the top shelf of his fridge; and a second fridge he recently acquired is literally filled with nothing but, you guessed it, beer.Then there’s me; a girl who would prefer a gin and tonic to any type of beer, but is sorely missing her friends, family, and socialising of any kind. So, when my boyfriend suggested we brew our own beer, I happily went along for the ride.Photos from around the world, seen on Instagram, show we are not alone in this habit.

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A post shared by @calculatedriskbrewery

We already had a beer brewing kit, as I gave it to him as a present months ago, that came with all the ingredients and most of the equipment you need.You start by sanitising all the equipment, then boil a pot of water, add the grains, and constantly stir it for an hour. While this is going on, you separately boil another pot of water with the intention being you eventually combine the two in one huge pot… Something we didn’t realise until about fifteen minutes before we had to do so.Now, the first pot with the grains and water was three and a half litres, and the second pot was four and a half litres, meaning we needed a pot large enough to hold at least eight litres; a pot we definitely didn’t have.With the grains bubbling away, and after manically looking in every kitchen cupboard, we had less than ten minutes to find a huge pot or the whole batch of beer would’ve been ruined. Frantically, we messaged every neighbour on our street; my boyfriend ran up the road to check out a neighbour’s pot (of course, while social distancing) which was sadly too small. All hope seemed lost.Until another neighbour finally responded telling us he had left on our doorstep, the holy grail: a ten litre pot.Extremely grateful, we continued. We added the hops, syphoned the concoction into a carboy (a large bottle that came with the kit), and added the yeast. Now, we wait ten days before adding more hops, another four days before we bottle our beers, and another fourteen days before we can drink it.My main takeaway from this experience is you need a lot of patience and time, as making your own beer can take a whole afternoon, and then takes about a month to properly ferment and carbonate, which is what makes it a perfect lockdown activity. Oh, but before you begin make sure you have a damn big pot.

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The post I Tried 2021's Most Cliché Lockdown Trend. It Was A Complete Disaster appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

While Australia is still suffering through winter (and another round of strict lockdowns thanks to our vaccine ‘stroll-out’), Europe, as well as the rest of the Northern Hemisphere, is enjoying summer for the first time in what feels like a lifetime.Of course, just because Europe’s vaccine rollout is going better doesn’t mean they should lull themselves into a false sense of security – European COVID case numbers are orders of magnitude higher than Australia’s. But that’s not the topic of discussion today.What is worth discussing is how many Europeans have got stung upon arriving at popular summer holiday destinations – and we don’t mean a sting from a Pfizer jab. We mean a sting to one’s wallet.An unprecedented shortage of hire cars in Europe right now has driven prices sky-high – and that’s if you can get your hands on one in the first place. It’s so bad that it’s actually scaring off some holidaymakers: a worrying phenomenon that some in the industry have dubbed a “carmaggedon”, CNN reports.

By way of an experiment, DMARGE tried to book a hire car in Saint-Tropez, a popular French summer tourist hotspot. According to Kayak, the average price for an intermediate (i.e. a small sedan like a Hyundai Elantra or a crossover SUV like a Peugeot 3008) car hire in Saint-Tropez is about A$200 per day. Expensive, but so is Saint-Tropez. We tried booking with Europcar, which Momondo says is Saint-Tropez’s cheapest hire car provider.RELATED: Forget Saint-Tropez: Turkey Is Now The Centre Of The Luxury Yachting UniverseThe first issue? Europcar is fully booked all the way until the start of November. So much for a summer runabout. But even if we wanted to book a car, it would cost us over A$900 a day for an intermediate (Europcar offers a Fiat 500X as a reference vehicle in this category, for… reference).Prices are similarly exorbitant and availability similarly scarce throughout Europe, from Lisbon to Lake Geneva. While prices are apparently less extortionate if you choose to go with smaller hire car companies, especially local ones, it’s still slim pickings across the continent.It’s a cautionary tale that Australia and other Southern Hemisphere tourist destinations should take to heart before the summer holiday season kicks into gear over here. Australia’s vast distances mean that hiring a car is often a necessity for many tourists – but if we don’t have enough hire car stock on the ground ready for summer, we could find ourselves in a real predicament.

Indeed, some Australian tourist destinations are dealing with their own “carmageddons”. Traveller reported back in March that Tasmania is already experiencing what Europe’s grappling with right now, as well as providing a succinct explanation for the phenomenon:

“Burdened by the sudden disappearance of international and domestic tourists after the pandemic was declared last year, a panicked Australian car rental industry sold off much of its fleet to willing local buyers who were ditching public transport because of health concerns.”

RELATED: The Used Car Market Is A ‘Wild West’ Right Now. Here’s How To Avoid Getting Swindled

“Then, as domestic tourism began to rebound, the same rental car companies couldn’t buy enough new replacement vehicles because global car-maker supply lines have also been badly disrupted during the pandemic.”This is exactly what’s happened in Europe as well. Maybe Europe should have learnt from Tasmania’s experience…

Still, finding a rental car is only one logistical hiccup one’s likely to encounter during their 2021 Euro summer. Perhaps the most important part of booking a holiday is getting a hotel room – but that too is shaping up to be a challenge for many holidaymakers.There’s no shortage of rooms available, as hotels are eager to welcome guests – but because the industry laid off so much staff thanks to COVID, they’re now struggling to meet demand, as this Washington Post article relates. So it’s a similar story to what’s happening with rental cars.Such is life in 2021, we suppose.

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The post Europe’s Emerging Carmageddon A Warning Sign For Australia’s Tourism Industry appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

World Travel: An Irreverent Guide is full of savvy pieces of advice (and, as The Guardian puts it, “the flayed raw humour of a morgue attendant”).But there is one quote from the late chef, storyteller and writer Anthony Bourdain that really stuck with us.“It was never my intention to be a reporter, a critic, an advocate. It was also never my intention to provide audiences with ‘everything’ they needed to know about a place – or even a balanced or comprehensive overview. I am a storyteller. I go places, I come back. I tell you how the places made me feel.”“Through the use of some powerful tools like great photography, skilful editing, sound mixing, colour correction, music (which is often composed specifically for the purpose) and brilliant producers, I can – in the very best cases – make you feel a bit like I did at the time. At least I hope so. It’s a manipulative process. It’s also a deeply satisfying one.”RELATED: The Embarrassing Mistake Every Tourist Makes In Japan’s BathhousesAnother quote comes from the Kenya episode of Parts Unknown.“Who gets to tell the stories? This is a question asked often. The answer, in this case, for better or worse, is, ‘I do.’ At least this time out. I do my best. I look. I listen. But in the end, I know: it’s my story, not Kamau’s, not Kenya’s, or Kenyans’. Those stories are yet to be heard.”Though Bourdain is being self-reflective here, not giving explicit advice to anyone, we reckon we can all learn from his humility.Why? It captures something we all often forget – destination guides are just stories. Well written ones maybe, but stories. Glimpses through a certain lens.This is evident in the ‘naive’ myths Australians believe about Europe’s drinking culture, as well as the ‘classy’ myths we believe about its beaches, for instance.RELATED: Australian Wine Snob Learns Important Lesson After Committing Ultimate Barossa Valley SinAnother Bourdain insight that stuck with us from reading World Travel: An Irreverent Guide are the perils of crap airport food (on page 8, Bourdain is quoted on “the depressive spiral a bad airport hamburger can bring on”).

“I feel like Quasimodo, the hunchback of Notre Dame – if he stayed in nice hotel suites with high thread count sheets. I feel like of like a freak, and… very isolated.”

Finally, we’ll leave you with a Kitchen Confidential quote, to prepare you for the days when we are all allowed to travel freely again, and maybe motivate you to be a bit more adventurous.“They say that Rasputin used to eat a little arsenic with breakfast every day, building up resistance for the day that an enemy might poison him, and that sounds like good sense to me.”“Judging from accounts of his death, the Mad Monk wasn’t fazed at all by the stuff; it took repeated beatings, a couple of bullets and a long fall off a bridge into a frozen river to finish the job.”“Perhaps we, as serious diners, should emulate his example. We are, after all, citizens of the world – a world filled with bacteria, some friendly, some not so friendly.”

“Do we really want to travel in hermetically sealed popemobiles through the rural provinces of France, Mexico and the Far East, eating only in Hard Rock cafes and McDonalds?”

“Or do we want to eat without fear, tearing into the local stew, the humble taqueria’s mystery meat, the sincerely offered gift of a lightly grilled fish head? I know what I want. I want it all. I want to try everything once.”

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The post The Most Important Travel Advice From Anthony Bourdain's New Book appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

Sydney has been in lockdown for over a month – the first full-city lockdown the city has experienced since early 2020. The lockdown is in place to fight the Delta COVID-19 variant now in the community. 172 new cases were recorded today.

It’s not just Sydney suffering – half of Australians have been locked down at some point in recent weeks, with Victoria’s restrictions set to ease tonight (though some will remain in place). Brisbane just came out of a lockdown too.

Many are frustrated with how slow the vaccine rollout has been. Not only does it leave our health vulnerable, but also our economy. It also has meant we have shut our international borders.

Now though, with the Delta variant of COVID-19 having broken out in Sydney, ATAGI has changed its advice for Sydney adults under 60. Rather than being advised to get Pfizer (as the rest of Australia’s adults under 60 are still are being advised to do), ATAGI is now urging all adult Sydneysiders to “strongly consider” talking to their GP and getting AstraZeneca – which is available much more readily.

Brooklyn Ross, who is a newsreader for Sydney’s # 1 breakfast radio show “Kyle & Jackie O,” recently took to the air to share his take on the situation.

 

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A post shared by Brooklyn Ross (@brooklynross)

Entitled, “How Pfizer is keeping Sydney locked down longer,” his video claims, “Our fear of AstraZeneca is going to keep Australia in lockdown for months longer.”

Ross says: “Australia still has 17 million vaccines to jab into arms but we don’t have those vaccines yet. We get a million doses of Pfizer every week from Europe, but if we keep choosing Pfizer over AstraZeneca, it’s going to take 5 months for us to get fully vaccinated. That’s maybe December.”

“Our AstraZeneca jabs are Australian made in Melbourne. We have heaps spare and we could be making two and a half million doses every week.”

“If we all got AstraZeneca we could literally be 80% vaccinated within 5 weeks,” he says.

“Pfizer really means 5 unnecessary months in lockdown.”

“But I know what you’re thinking – won’t AstraZeneca kill me?” he adds, addressing people’s concerns around the vaccine’s very rare blood clotting side effect, which is reported to be more prevalent in young people.

Ross puts it like this: “The chance of dying from a blood clot of AstraZeneca is literally 1 in a million.”

“If you go out and catch COVID in Sydney right now, you’ve got a 1 in 300 chance of dying. That’s 3,000 times deadlier than AstraZeneca.”

“Astra Zeneca beats Pfizer in other ways as well,” Ross says. “A study found that against the Delta strain AstraZeneca after 4 months provided better protection than Pfizer.”

“AstraZeneca was also better than Pfizer at preventing symptoms, according to this Canadian study [he provides the link to the study in the comments], and those flue-y effects you get after a vaccine – they’re worse with Pfizer… and that’s according to a survey done from Westmead hospital.”

“The reality is the AstraZeneca is not any more dangerous than a heap of other safe and common medications [like the contraceptive pill and viagra].”

“But our fear of it is literally going to devastate Australia’s economy unnecessarily.”

“Every single person who thinks it over and chooses to get AstraZeneca rather than Pfizer is literally helping us get out of lockdown earlier.”

“If you can do it, thank you.”

This is a rather different message to the one we heard from Infectious diseases expert Michelle Ananda-Rajah and Director of Health and Aged Care at the Grattan Institute, Stephen Duckett, on Q&A on the 1st of June.

 

When a 31-year-old audience member asked if he should get vaccinated with AstraZeneca, for the greater good of the country, he was told the following.

Note: we must stress this was almost two months ago, in a different context. If he asked again now, on July the 27th, and lived in Sydney, the answer would be: “strongly consider” talking to his GP and getting the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Infectious diseases expert Michelle Ananda-Rajah told him: “My advice is to follow the health advice.” At the time, this was to get Pfizer if you are under 60.

“In young people, say 20 to 40, 20 to 60 even, the risk of TTS is not really clear, and that’s mainly because the countries that rolled this out actually suspended the use of AstraZeneca when they started to see the signal in young people. So we estimate that the risk [of getting one of the rare clots] may be somewhere in the order of 1 in 20,000 to 1 in 40,000, based on data from Norway and ATAGI’s own data.”

“We understand young people are desperate to be vaccinated – they want to do the right thing but we would urge calm and we would urge patience because even if you took AstraZeneca today, your next dose, which you do require to give the Delta strain a knockout blow, won’t be for another 12 weeks.”

It should be noted here that though ATAGI’s recommended interval between dose one and two of the AstraZeneca vaccine is 12 weeks, ATAGI has also said that shortening the interval from 12 weeks to no less than four weeks ‘is acceptable and may be appropriate in certain circumstances‘ such as imminent travel or anticipated risk of COVID-19 exposure. 

Expert Ananda-Rajah added: “Realistically you’re not going to get it [the second AstraZeneca shot] in September, you’re probably going to get it in mid-October and mainly because the GP’s have a huge backlog of second doses to deliver to patients.”

Stephen Duckett, Director of Health and Aged Care at the Grattan Institute, claimed on the 1st of June, on the same episode of Q&A: “If Tristan [the man who asked the question] has his vaccine tomorrow it will not bring forward the border opening one second.”

To see how other countries around the world are using AstraZeneca, the following insights from SBS News are quite useful.

“The United Kingdom was first to roll out the AstraZeneca vaccine back in January and originally approved it for adults of all ages,” SBS News reports.

“In April, that advice was updated to over 30s, after the UK’s medicines safety regulator recorded 79 blood clots and 19 deaths after 20 million doses were administered. That gave a risk of about four in one million developing a blood clot, and one in a million of death.”

“In May, the advice was further revised to only over 40s being able to have the AstraZeneca vaccine after the numbers rose to 242 clotting cases and 49 deaths after 28.5 million doses.”

“But Britain’s access to alternative vaccines Pfizer and Moderna means all adults are now able to get vaccinated, and almost 80 per cent have already had their first dose.”

South Korea took a different tactic. South Korea, being in a different situation to the UK, lifted its over 60 rule in April “to allow anyone under 30 to get AstraZeneca, with the country’s Disease Control and Prevention Agency saying the benefits outweighed the risks.”

The Philippines, Brazil, Indonesia and Mexico all allow unrestricted use of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

In Germany, after earlier limiting the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine to the over 60s, the country now allows anyone over the age of 18 to receive it.

Australia is not the only country to take a more cautious approach, however. SBS News reports: “Italy and Spain are also restricting the use of AstraZeneca to the over 60s, while Denmark and Norway have stopped administering the jab altogether.”

What is key to remember though, is that each country is making decisions based on how great the threat of COVID-19 is at any given moment, and what other vaccines are available (and in what quantity).

RMIT immunologist Dr Kylie Quinn told SBS News the availability of alternative vaccines in any given country, including Australia, was a critical factor.

“When you’re considering whether a medication is approved and recommended within a community, you also need to consider whether there are alternatives available.”

“For example, is there an alternative available that would be better suited to a particular age group?”

Dr Quinn also told SBS News: “When we are faced with the impacts of COVID-19 in our life – health impacts, but also those broader impacts on our ability to open up as a community and avoid lockdowns – then that certainly explains the increased interest in getting these vaccines, too.”

As SBS News reported earlier this month: “Until recently, Australia’s slower approach to the vaccine rollout could be justified by the absence of community transmission of COVID-19, with most virus leaks from hotel quarantine handled within a few days.”

“Now, more than half the nation is in lockdown, and the past week has seen locally acquired cases in six of eight states and territories.”

University of Sydney clinical epidemiologist Professor Robert Booy told SBS News: “What we are experiencing right now in Australia is areas of community spread, where people rightly feel in imminent danger.”

“So the balance we have to address in Australia of risk versus benefit has come into focus because we have potential disease which carries a much greater likelihood of hospitalisation and clotting and dying.”

He told SBS News the risk of developing a blood clot from COVID-19 itself was about 10 times higher [than that of getting it from the AstraZeneca vaccine].

Professor Booy also said the Immunisation Coalition is currently developing a risk-benefit calculator to help Australians make informed decisions about getting the vaccine.

“The simple fact is we have the AstraZeneca vaccine which is both safe and effective at almost any age,” he said.

“I think there’s too much politics and not enough logic in the discussion that’s going on.”

The bottom line on AstraZeneca, according to Hassan Vally, Associate Professor at La Trobe University, writing for The Conversation, is that “we must remember the AstraZeneca vaccine is a fantastic vaccine.”

“It’s safe and effective, and two doses offer almost complete protection against severe disease and death from COVID, including the Delta variant.”

“It does carry a small risk of the blood clotting and bleeding condition, but this risk is incredibly small. COVID is much more of a threat to your health than the vaccine, as we are seeing in NSW right now.”

“If you’re under 60 years of age, the decision to have the AstraZeneca vaccine is one only you can make. But if you do make it, you should understand the benefits go beyond just preventing severe disease.”

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The post 'Waiting For Pfizer Really Means 5 Unnecessary Months In Lockdown' appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

With international travel mostly off the cards for everyone this year, thanks to The Spicy Cough, adventurous types around the world have turned to road trips and camping to get their kicks.

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This in turn has seen a number of vehicles see a huge spike in popularity, on top of the already rather heated car market. Of course, if you want to live that #vanlife you need a van, so Toyota HiAces and Volkswagen Transporters are hot property right now – but the real hot ticket items have been 4x4s like the Suzuki Jimny, Land Rover Defender and Australia’s perennial favourite, the iconic Toyota Land Cruiser.

Naturally, with fun road trip cars thin on the ground right now, adventurous types have been forced to look elsewhere. But one American man has turned heads by choosing a rather unlikely vehicle to turn into an off-road monster – indeed, to turn into his full-time home on the road: a 2008 Porsche Cayenne S.

RELATED: Porsche’s Controversial SUV Overtakes Iconic 911 As Brand’s Most Popular Model Ever

Harrison Schoen, a US Navy veteran and self-described “regular guy” has turned many heads by choosing the luxurious German SUV as the basis for his off-road build.

“Since getting out of the Navy shortly before COVID, I’ve felt tied down and trapped in regular routine,” he explains on one of his videos.

“Bills coming in, going out and so many unnecessary things occupying my time. I’ve decided to leave those behind and live completely from my Cayenne. An unlikely pick for this type of thing, but it’s what made the most sense for me.”

Few Cayennes go anywhere other than strip malls or the school run, but the Porsche isn’t as outrageous of a choice for an off-road build as one may think. All Cayennes have permanent four-wheel drive and torque to spare, as well as a wide variety of meaty engine options.

Indeed, Porsche even made a super-capable limited edition variant called the Cayenne S Transsyberia, designed explicitly to compete in the eponymous (and gruelling) Transsyberia rally in Russia.

RELATED: Super Rare Porsche 4×4 In Tasmania Possibly World’s Most Collectable Car

Schoen bought the vehicle for US$9,000 with 125,000 miles on the clock, although he’s spent several thousand dollars modifying the car, with things like a 4” lift; tougher upper and lower control arms; bigger wheels and tires, and amenities such as a portable shower and awning.

He points out, however, that choosing a more “practical” vehicle for one’s 4×4 build – like a Jeep Wrangler or Toyota 4Runner – would have a much higher cost of entry, as those cars are more expensive to buy second-hand in the US.

Actually, the economics work out similarly in Australia, too. On Carsales right now, a nice first-gen Cayenne will set you back between AU$12,000-20,000 – which is pretty comparable to (and often cheaper than) the price of entry for a Land Cruiser or Nissan Patrol of the same vintage, to use some common Aussie 4×4 build choices.

RELATED: Toyota Land Cruiser ‘Blood Pact’ Shows How Crazy Australia’s Car Market Has Become

Maintenance has also been reasonably hassle-free. DMARGE spoke with Schoen, who explains that other than the water pump and alternator being tricky to replace, the car’s been no less reliable (or expensive) to maintain than other alternatives:

“Parts aren’t really that much more expensive. The biggest cost would be if you took it to Porsche or an independent Porsche outfit, and they’d have a big labour cost.”

 

 

 

 

 

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The Cayenne is widely considered one of the least reliable Porsches ever made (although considering Porsche’s track record of making superbly reliable cars, that’s an incredibly relative label). Schoen’s 4×4 build, however, is a one-car rebuttal to anyone who says the Cayenne is unreliable – or that luxury cars can’t hack it as genuine off-roaders.

RELATED: Wild Porsche Statistic Puts Other Car Manufacturers To Shame

With many of Australia’s biggest cities staring down the barrel of another few months in lockdown, Schoen’s build could serve as a bit of inspiration. Maybe we all ought to be trying out some unconventional off-road builds of our own so we can get out of the urban jungle, like so many other Americans have been doing.

We’d like to see someone put a bull bar on a Bentley Bentayga…

Read Next

• Toyota Land Cruiser ‘Blood Pact’ Shows How Crazy Australia’s Car Market Has Become
• This Tough 4×4 Is The Land Rover Defender Revival We’ve All Been Waiting For

The post Check Out This Mental Porsche Cayenne Off-Road Project appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

The last eighteen months have seen a seismic shift in men’s fashion.While the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic saw us ditch suits for tracksuits, now that things are looking up (well, in some countries at least), we’ve seen men get more experimental with the sorts of colours they wear. We’ve been cooped up, and now we want to have fun – and our outfits have reflected that.It seems that we’re now seeing the same thing happen with watches. Traditionally, the most popular colour for men’s watch dials has been black – with blue and green dials experiencing a real spike in popularity over the last two years. Indeed, back in February, we boldly proclaimed 2021 to be the year of the green dial.But 2021 has seen another trend start to rear its head: pastel-coloured watches. And it could be just the thing the watch world needs right now. Like a big ol’ scoop of ice cream on a hot day.

One brand that has really got the ball rolling on the trend has been Hublot. The youthful Swiss brand surprised and delighted watch fans last year with their Big Bang ‘Millennial Pink’, a collaboration with Garage Italia’s Lapo Elkann. Choosing such a characteristically feminine, pastel colour for such a tech-focused, masculine watch was a masterstroke and was perhaps the first sign that this trend could really have legs.Off the back of that, Hublot has just unveiled another new pastel-coloured limited edition: the Big Bang Unico ‘Summer’, which features an appropriately balmy pastel turquoise colour scheme, reminiscent of the turquoise Rolex Datejust ‘Tiffany Dial’ that made such a splash last year.RELATED: The Best Of Rolex’s New Watches In 2020Hublot has demonstrated a real willingness to experiment with colour recently – just take the eye-catching Big Bang Unico ‘Yellow Magic’ they unveiled during Watches & Wonders earlier this year – and this summery chronograph is yet another win. The way they’re choosing to release it is rather experimental, too.Just 200 of these unisex pieces are being released, initially only available on their online boutique and in-person at their Mediterranean boutiques in Capri, Forte dei Marmi, Mykonos, Ibiza, Bodrum, Saint-Tropez and Monaco. These are all classic European summer destinations, so it’s highly fitting that they’ve been chosen as the exclusive homes of such a summery watch.

Speaking of ‘unisex’, another brand that’s pushing pastels is Breitling, who recently unveiled their Superocean Heritage ’57 Pastel Paradise Capsule Collection. This similarly tropical collection sees the iconic retro dive watch decked out in a variety of rather culinary hues that immediately evoke sweet treats during a day at the beach.While it’s technically a women’s timepiece, its rather large size for a women’s watch (38mm) as well as its classically handsome design makes it more than suitable for more masculine watch fans. Pastels aren’t just for women, you know.RELATED: Why Breitling’s New Watch Collection Is Quietly BrilliantEven Richard Mille – a rather masculine brand known for its technical and material wizardry – has got on-board the pastel trend with their latest watch family, the RM 07-01 ‘Automatic Winding Coloured Ceramics’.

As the name implies, the TPT or precious metals that normally constitute their watch’s cases has been abandoned in favour of vividly coloured ceramic cases – in blue, pink or lavender – paired with intentionally colour mismatched rubber straps and abstract art-like dials.RELATED: Jay-Z Celebrates 4th Of July In Style With New $3.4 Million Richard Mille WatchOf course, this wouldn’t be the first time Richard Mille has played with pastels. Back in 2019, they shocked the watch world with their ‘Bonbon’ collection, which juxtaposes their signature ultra-technical materials with deliberately child-like motifs of sweets and cakes. Indeed, the RM 07-01s revive the cupcake-shaped crowns from the Bonbon collection. Cakes, gelato, iced lattes… Talk about a sugar high.Maybe that’s why pastels are becoming so big: they’re inherently playful as well as a somewhat unexpected choice for a luxury watch. It’s disruptive; it’s innovative; it’s refreshing, especially in a period of human history that’s otherwise so sobering.In any case, we’re absolutely here for it.

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The post The 'Gelato’ Colour Trend Taking The Watch Industry By Storm appeared first on DMARGE Australia.

In a world of pandemics, blue light, caffeine and desk jobs, it’s not hard to end up an unhealthy, sleepless wreck.But at the same time as social media has taken away our self-control, an industry has cropped up where ‘healthy living gurus’ show us how to get it back.From scorching saunas to ultra-endurance marathons to ice baths, there are a lot of mad strategies we have been encouraged to challenge ourselves with of late.Enter: Joe Rogan – a 54-year-old podcaster and UFC commentator. Whether you dismiss him as a ‘bro’s bro’ or whether you froth over his curious soul, you can’t argue with one thing: he’s bloody fit.Rogan this morning took to Instagram to share a radical departure from his usual mind-melting activity (the sauna), sharing a 20-minute video of himself in the ice bath. The reason he gives for filming it? To pressure himself into lasting longer.

Watch the video of Joe Rogan’s 20-minute ice bath experience below

He can be seen sucking in big breaths for the first 10 minutes, before starting to really shiver around the 10-minute mark.“Oh fuck. Wooooo,” he says, getting out of the bath (at 20 minutes) and then stumbling onto the ground.“Holy shit.”

“Oh fuck, I can’t move.”

“I don’t know if that was smart, but I just did 20 minutes,” he says, explaining that seeing as his friend Jocko’s son did 20 minutes, he figured he should too.“I think the big thing is the breathing exercises. Once I did that it was way more tolerable,” he tells viewers at the end, through clenched teeth.“Now my whole body is just fucking freezing.”

“But it’s nice to know I can do it.”

Rogan captioned the video: “I’m not sure how I did it, but I did 20 minutes inside the ice bath. I blame @jockowillink’s kid!”“The @morozkoforge cold plunge keeps this thing at a steady 33 degrees Fahrenheit. It’s fucking wild.”

“I was shivering after this for a solid 30 minutes. I drove to work, it’s 90 degrees out in Texas and I had the AC off and I was shivering the whole way to work.”

Quite the departure from his usual challenge (see below), that’s for sure.

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Rogan has certainly come a long way from the days of telling listeners, “just pick up the damn mug” – the first piece of motivational advice that really stuck with this author, which cropped up during a podcast episode in the early days, when Rogan was talking to a fellow comedian about depression, and about (not) leaving kitchenware to rattle around in the footwell of your pick up truck.Baby steps.Rogan has also recently shared with his 12.9 million followers on Instagram that he is now enjoying switching between the ice bath and the sauna.He said: “The sauna is challenging, and very beneficial to your health, but WAY easier to endure than the ice bath! That @morozkoforge ice bath is 33 degrees Fahrenheit!! I’m gonna have to work on enduring that shit!”

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A post shared by Joe Rogan (@joerogan)

Study after study has suggested cold water immersion has serious health benefits.Just taking cold showers can boost muscle recovery, immunity, circulation, alertness and even aid with depression.Media coverage reflects the public’s increasing interest: from this Vice article on the popularity of swimming (in trunks) in Brighton’s icy waters to this ABC report on an Aussie ‘outdoor swim enthusiast’ who travels to New Zealand to swim naked with icebergs, cold water therapy is a burgeoning phenomenon.Before it goes mainstream, though, it’s important to understand the health risks, because even people like Peter Hancock, who “has been pursuing outdoor swimming for more than 20 years” (ABC) are not immune from “afterdrop” – a potentially deadly phenomenon which occurs after exiting freezing cold water.“I come out cold, but then as the blood from my extremities returns to my core, I’ll start to get cold again,” Mr Hancock told the ABC; “The rewarming, and preparing for that, is very important.”According to Dr Garry Couanis, a specialist sports physician, you can train to increase your body’s capacity to deal with this, but never completely eliminate the risk, telling the ABC, “Cold water cools the body faster than almost any other medium.”“The reason there is so much risk of hypothermia is as warm-blooded animals we rely on … stored energy in our muscles to burn it to generate our own heat,” he added.“As the body shuts down, the brain gets confused, the heart rate slows, and a slow heart rate puts you at risk of developing arrhythmias.”So why, again, do people do it? As Mr Hancock’s next comment suggests – for the same reason they climb mountains, surf and skydive.

“It gives you a bit of a buzz.”

Read Next

• This Brutal Danish Ritual Could Be The Key To Happiness 
• Cold Water Therapy Is Gaining Popularity, But Doctors Warn Of A Serious Health Risk

The post Joe Rogan Introduces Followers To Brand New Form Of Fitness Torture appeared first on DMARGE Australia.