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Swimming legend Susie O'Neill breaks world record at 50 years of age

<p>Susie O'Neill has broken a world record at the age of 50 in a triumphant return to international swimming at the World Masters Swimming Championships in Japan.</p> <p>The two-time Olympic gold medallist won the 50m butterfly, breaking the world record and championship record for the 50-54 age group. </p> <p>She touched out Britain’s Michelle Ware record by 0.52sec, with a time of 29.08 seconds, securing gold for her age group. </p> <p>The swimmer nicknamed Madame Butterfly during her career, proved that she's still got it after winning her first competition and butterfly race since the Sydney Olympics in 2000.</p> <p>This comes two months after she set another record when she swam an excellent time at the Masters championships in Queensland as part of her 50th birthday celebrations, which qualified her for the world championships. </p> <p>She agreed to compete at the relay event in the Masters championships to celebrate her 50th, with her <em>Nova 106.9 Breakfast </em>co-hosts Ash Bradnam and David Lutteral, plus one of their listeners.</p> <p>In a post-swim interview O'Neill told her co-hosts: “I felt like vomiting at the end to be honest,” </p> <p>“In the olden days I was nervous before the race, but I was calmer when I went out behind the block. This was like the opposite. I was calm before, but as I walked out behind the blocks I got a bit dishevelled compared to normal. Really jittery.</p> <p>“It was time to go out, and my goggles had come apart. My hands were shaking - and I couldn’t put my goggles on because they came apart at the nose-piece.</p> <p>“So, I had to get a lady to help me, and the girl that I ended up just beating was trying to calm me down. My nerves hit me really, really badly.”</p> <p>“I got a massive surge of adrenaline, and I reckon it helped me,” she said.</p> <p>O'Neill added that she initially didn't realise she had broken a record. </p> <p>“I wasn’t sure when I first finished.”</p> <p>Despite the challenges, the swimming legend relished in the camaraderie with a few swimmers that she had met in the past. </p> <p>“I met so many people in the marshalling area that I knew. For example, there was a Canadian girl in that race, and we swapped clothes in 1989 when we came to Japan for the Pan Pacific Games,” she said. </p> <p>The swimmer told Channel 7’s <em>Sunrise </em>that this was a one-off and she has no plans to continue racing. </p> <p><em>Images: Instagram</em></p>

Body

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Become a master record keeper

<p>Whether you want to brush up your admin skills for your current job, seek new employment, or you’re simply keen to further your knowledge and become the master of your own personal admin, understanding the process of record keeping can be very rewarding. Take Over60 community member, Di Rieger, for example.</p> <p>“During my time [working and volunteering] I assisted with customer service, collection and data entry of statistics, brochure management, information research, ticket and retail sales, preparation of the volunteer roster, writing applications for grant funding and writing award submissions,” Di explains.</p> <p>From working in libraries to volunteering, her experience in research and administration tasks instilled her with the knowledge and know-how to start researching the genealogy of her family. An experience, which she says, changed her life.</p> <p>“Would you believe that while doing an Internet search for my husband’s great grandfather I found information that I did not already have – his parent’s birth and death dates and places, his siblings and all of their birth dates and places and quite a lot more information. One of my cousins had never seen a photograph of [our relative] Thomas Oscar Miller that I found. She is thrilled that I am able to send her a digital copy of the photo.”</p> <p>Whether you want to get a little more organised at home or take on a research project, learning the art of record keeping is a skill that is transferable to many fields. Here are some basic tips and tricks that will help get your personal affairs in order.</p> <p><em><strong>4 tips to become the master of your personal records</strong></em></p> <p><strong>1. Divide and conquer</strong></p> <p>Nearly all of your admin and financial papers can be divided into three categories: records that you need to keep only for the calendar year or less, papers that you need to save for seven years (according to the ATO), and papers that you should hang onto indefinitely.</p> <p>For example, you don’t really need to hang onto all of your ATM-withdrawal receipts, deposit slips or credit-card receipts do you? Once you’ve crosschecked receipts with your bank statement, you can throw them away.</p> <p>While it’s a good idea to keep receipts for major purchases, it isn’t necessary to hold onto sales receipts for minor purchases after you've satisfactorily used the item a few times or the warranty has expired.</p> <p>Shortly after the end of the calendar year, you should be able to throw out a slew of additional paper, including your monthly credit card and or other bank statements, utility bills (if they are not needed for business deductions), and monthly or quarterly reports for the previous year.</p> <p><strong>2. Paper place</strong></p> <p>Designate a place – a desk, corner or room – as the place where you deal with paperwork. If you don’t have the space for this, a drawer, cabinet, or closet where you can store bills and current records, situated near a table on which you can write, will do. Stationery items such as manila folders will come in handy for filing the papers, as will a file cabinet or cardboard box to hold the records. Keep your will, birth and marriage certificates, insurance policies, property deeds, and other permanent records in a safe but accessible place near your other financial documents, so you and your heirs will always be able to get to them quickly, if they need to.</p> <p><strong>3. Organised systems</strong></p> <p>Having a plan for how you process all records is key. A rudimentary filing system will do. The simplest method is to sort everything into categories – for example, tax related, financial or house. Each area should have it’s own folder or drawer. Then, when you sit down to either pay your bills or gather information, you'll have all the paperwork you need in one spot.</p> <p><strong>4. Stay in front</strong></p> <p>Once you have a system in place, you’ll want to make sure you stay on top of things and don’t have a backlog of unsorted paperwork. Set aside a half an hour a day to sift through old papers, perhaps while watching the news or listening to music.
You'll be amazed at the difference a little organisation makes.</p> <p>Interested in record keeping or looking into your family history, but not quite sure where to start? The Open Training Institute offers a <a href="https://www.opentraining.edu.au/courses/administration/cert-3-recordkeeping" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Certificate III in Recordkeeping</a>. As well as teaching you the necessary proficiencies you could use to research your own family tree, the course can lead to employment as an assistant records clerk or an assistant registry officer. Visit their website to find out more. </p> <p><em><strong>For information about the Open Training Institute and the courses on offer, or to simply ask a question, call 1300 915 692.</strong></em></p> <p><em>Image credit: Shutterstock</em></p>

Mind

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LEGO recreates Van Gogh’s iconic Starry Night

<p dir="ltr">Art enthusiasts are now one step closer to owning a genuine Vincent Van Gogh artwork (which generally go for over $20 million at auction), with the next best thing soon to be available. </p> <p dir="ltr">Teaming up with New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), LEGO is set to release an official The Starry Night set, which lets customers replicate the Dutch artist’s famous 1889 artwork.  </p> <p dir="ltr">The artistic concept was initially pitched by Hong Kong-based PhD candidate Truman Cheng on the LEGO Ideas platform, which garnered considerable online attention. </p> <p dir="ltr">One year later, it's hitting the shelves. </p> <p dir="ltr">“What makes The Starry Night so irresistible is the expressive brushwork and vibrant colours used throughout, which tell the story of humanity’s everlasting dream for better things,” explains Federico Begher, Head of Global Marketing at LEGO. </p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/tv/CdqQkqhMdWl/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/tv/CdqQkqhMdWl/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by LEGO (@lego)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">“Truman’s design was a masterpiece in itself – showing how many different LEGO elements and techniques could be used to replicate van Gogh’s iconic painting.”</p> <p dir="ltr">“It was a good brain tease to come up with tricks and techniques to capture the look of the original painting,” adds Truman Cheng. </p> <p dir="ltr">“The brushwork goes into many directions in the moon and the swirling cloud, so there was some creative use of bracket and clip elements involved.</p> <p dir="ltr">The Starry Night was originally painted by Van Gogh in 1889, and was inspired by the view from Vincent van Gogh’s window at the Monastery of Saint-Paul de Mausole Asylum in Saint-Rémy, France.</p> <p dir="ltr">The LEGO Starry Night set will be exclusively available to purchase for both LEGO VIP and MoMA members starting from May 25th, while the global release is scheduled a little later on June 1st. The price? $260.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image credits: LEGO</em><span id="docs-internal-guid-91017a6a-7fff-b6f2-3dc2-fb7393ae3f19"></span></p>

Art

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The variation advantage: how to master tennis, learn a language, or build better AI

<p>Want to become a better tennis player? If you repeatedly practise serving to the same spot, you’ll master serving to that <em>exact</em> location, if conditions remain similar. Practising your serve to a variety of locations will take much longer to master, but in the end you’ll be a better tennis player, and much more capable of facing a fierce opponent.</p> <p>The reason why is all about variability: the more we’re exposed to, the better our neural networks are able to generalise and calculate which information is important to the task, and what is not. This also helps us learn and make decisions in new contexts.</p> <p><strong>From fox to hounds</strong></p> <p>This generalisation principle can be applied to many things, including learning languages or recognising dog breeds. For example, an infant will have difficulty learning what a ‘dog’ is if they are only exposed to chihuahuas instead of many dog breeds (chihuahuas, beagles, bulldogs etc.), which show the real variation of <em>Canis lupus familiaris</em>. Including information about what is <em>not</em> in the dog category – for example foxes – also helps us build generalisations, which helps us to eliminate irrelevant information.</p> <p>“Learning from less variable input is often fast, but may fail to generalise to new stimuli,” says Dr Limor Raviv, the senior investigator from the Max Planck Institute (Germany). “But these important insights have not been unified into a single theoretical framework, which has obscured the bigger picture.”</p> <p>To better understand the patterns behind this generalisation framework, and how variability effects the human learning process and that of computers, Raviv’s research team explored over 150 studies on variability and generalisation across the fields of computer science, linguistics, motor learning, visual perception and formal education.</p> <p><strong>Wax on, wax off</strong></p> <p>The researchers found that there are at least four kinds of variability, including:</p> <ul> <li><strong>Numerosity</strong> (set size), which is the number of different examples; such as the number of locations on the tennis court a served ball could land</li> <li><strong>Heterogeneity</strong> (differences between examples); serving to the same spot versus serving to different spots</li> <li><strong>Situational</strong> (context) diversity; facing the same opponent on the same court or a different component on a different court</li> <li><strong>Scheduling</strong> (interleaving, spacing); how frequently you practice, and in what order do you practice components of a task</li> </ul> <p>“These four kinds of variability have never been directly compared—which means that we currently don’t know which is most effective for learning,” says Raviv.</p> <div class="newsletter-box"> <div id="wpcf7-f6-p191362-o1" class="wpcf7" dir="ltr" lang="en-US" role="form"> </div> </div> <p>According to the ‘Mr Miyagi principle’, inspired by the 1984 movie <em>The Karate Kid</em>, practising unrelated skills – such as waxing cars or painting fences – might actually benefit the learning of other skills: in the movie’s case, martial arts.</p> <p><strong>Lemon or lime?</strong></p> <p>So why does including variability in training slow things down? One theory is that there are always exceptions to the rules, which makes learning and generalising harder.</p> <p>For example, while colour is important for distinguishing lemons from limes, it wouldn’t be helpful for telling cars and trucks apart. Then there are atypical examples – such as a chihuahua that doesn’t look like a dog, and a fox that does, but isn’t.</p> <p>So as well as learning a rule to make neural shortcuts, we also have to learn exceptions to these rules, which makes learning slower and more complicated. This means that when training is variable, learners have to actively reconstruct memories, which takes more effort.</p> <p><strong>Putting a face to a name</strong></p> <p>So how do we train ourselves and computers to recognise faces? The illustration below is an example of variations of a fox for machine learning. Providing several variations – including image rotation, colour and partial masking – improves the machine’s ability to generalise (in this case, to identify a fox). This data augmentation technique is an effective way of expanding the amount of available data by providing variations of the same data point, but it slows down the speed of learning.</p> <p>Humans are the same: the more variables we’re presented with, the harder it is for us to learn – but eventually it pays off in a greater ability to generalise knowledge in new contexts.</p> <p>“Understanding the impact of variability is important for literally every aspect of our daily life. Beyond affecting the way we learn language, motor skills, and categories, it even has an impact on our social lives.” explains Raviv. “For example, face recognition is affected by whether people grew up in a small community (fewer than 1000 people) or in larger community (over 30,000 people). Exposure to fewer faces during childhood is associated with diminished face memory.”</p> <p>The learning message for both humans and AI is clear: variation is key. Switch up your tennis serve, play with lots of different dogs, and practice language with a variety of speakers. Your brain (or algorithm) will thank you for it… eventually.</p> <p><img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=191362&amp;title=The+variation+advantage%3A+how+to+master+tennis%2C+learn+a+language%2C+or+build+better+AI" width="1" height="1" /></p> <div id="contributors"> <p><em><a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/people/behaviour/the-variation-advantage-how-to-master-tennis-learn-a-language-or-build-better-ai/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">This article</a> was originally published on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cosmos Magazine</a> and was written by <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/contributor/qamariya-nasrullah" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Qamariya Nasrullah</a>. Qamariya Nasrullah holds a PhD in evolutionary development from Monash University and an Honours degree in palaeontology from Flinders University.</em></p> <p><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p> </div>

Technology

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Ash Barty praised for generous gesture

<p>Claiming her fifth title of the year, Ash Barty has won the title at the Cincinnati Masters and when she went up to accept her victory, she asked her team to come on to the court so they could celebrate with her – a generous action many have praised her for.</p> <p>It's these types of gestures which prove Barty is a class act - both on and off the court. Fans are praising the 25-year-old for her heartwarming insistence that her team come on to the court and celebrate the victory with her.</p> <p>Her coach Craig Tyzzer, partner Garry Kissick, physio Mel Omizzolo and physical performance coach Matt Hayes all joined Barty and posed for photos with the trophy.</p> <p>Barty, who often refers to her achievements as ‘we’ instead of ‘I’, if the first one to acknowledge the role her support team plays in helping her get the best out of herself.</p> <p>“I know the work that I’ve put in with my team,” she told <em>WTA Insider.</em></p> <p>“That’s where all the gold lies. That’s where all of our good stuff hides,” she added.</p> <p><strong>World No. 1 women’s tennis player</strong></p> <p>The Aussie tennis star’s dream run ended when she beat Jil Teichmann in the final of the Cincinnati Masters.</p> <p>With this win, Barty can add this latest trophy to the silverware she’s won in Melbourne, Miami, Stuttgart and at Wimbledon this season as the world No. 1 women’s tennis player.</p> <p>Barty’s game was impeccable as she played her Swiss rival, beating her 6-3 6-1 to continue her winning streak. She is the first Australian to win this tournament since her idol Evonne Goolagong Cawley did so 48 years ago in 1973.</p> <p>Barty told reporters at the Cincinnati Masters: “I think being able to come through and play a really clean week and walk away with the title is probably not what I really expected of myself, but (it’s) certainly nice,”</p> <p>“Then, when I get to come out here and I get to enjoy my matches and when I’m really locked in, that gold stuff comes forward and that’s when I play my best tennis,” she said.</p> <p>Barty has been overseas for five months and she opened up on the emotional toll being away from home and playing at such a high level has had on her.</p> <p>“I think sometimes after big wins — and I felt it both times after the French Open and after Wimbledon — there’s been a little bit of a big crash, more emotionally than anything else, because there’s so much invested into that event,” she said.</p> <p>“But I’m so incredibly lucky to have such a good team around me who can put things into perspective and then also lift me up and lighten things up, typically those weeks after big events.”</p> <p>Barty didn’t drop a set in Cincinnati and she’ll head into the US Open later this month as the hot favourite to scoop up major title number three.</p> <p><em>Photo: Getty Images</em></p>

News

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How I mastered baking a yeast bread from scratch, and saved money doing it

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">By Jeanne Sidner</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">My introduction to baking started with the home-kitchen classic that cracks open the oven door for so many – chocolate chip cookies. It was the 1970s, and most of the mums in our largely Catholic neighbourhood were busy raising big families. For the girls in my house, that meant our mother made sure we knew our way around the kitchen. At the flour-dusted table, Mum taught eight-year-old me how to make the cookies perfectly chewy with a crispy exterior. (The big secret: Always chill your dough.)</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">So from a young age, I was crystal clear on the power of a baked-to-perfection cookie to make people happy. Baking cookies – then brownies, cakes and pies – became my hobby and a tasty form of social currency. First I used my skills with butter and sugar to impress a series of teenage boyfriends. In time, the fresh goodies were left on doorsteps to welcome new neighbours and set out in the break room for co-workers. Baking was my superpower.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A few years ago, I became the content director for Taste of Home, Reader’s Digest’s sister magazine and website that celebrates the treasured recipes of home cooks. I’d never been more excited for a new job, but privately I worried that my baking chops wouldn’t measure up. Why? I had a secret as dark as an oven with a burned-out light bulb: While I had baked sweets my whole life, I’d never made a yeast bread from scratch.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Still, this was no time for excuses. I was a baker, now one with Taste of Home attached to my name. I may have been intimidated by bread, but it was time. I wanted in.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Getting started, I found Instagram to be a friend. A basic no-knead bread was the one I was seeing online overlaid with dreamy filters. People described it as easy, and to be honest, the thought of removing even one intimidating variable – kneading – was enough to get me to buy two kilograms of bread flour and dive in.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">I gathered everything I’d need (“be prepared” is the first rule of any baking), including my mum’s trusty Pyrex. It had seen me through my first days as a baker, so I was counting on it to work its magic. I had an easy Taste of Home recipe all set on my iPad. I mixed the flour, salt, and yeast and made sure the water temperature was just right – 38 to 46 degrees – before pouring it in.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">And then it happened – or didn’t happen. I followed the instructions to the letter, but my dough didn’t rise. Somehow, impossibly, it looked smaller. Sludgy, gooey, wet with a few bubbles. Sad.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Three hours later, after I’d resisted the urge to keep checking on it like a nervous mum with a newborn, a puffy dough filled the bowl. I hadn’t killed it; it was just … sleeping. A quick fold, a second rise, and then my bread went into my Dutch oven and off to bake.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Thirty minutes later, I took it out. Sure, it was slightly misshapen, but in my eyes, it was golden-brown, crusty perfection, right down to the yeasty-sweet hit of steam coming from its top.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Naturally, the first thing I did was grab my phone and hop on Instagram, positioning my beautiful bread just so in a shining stream of daylight on a wooden cutting board. No one needed to know it was my first yeast bread ever – or how close it came to getting scraped into the garbage can. The online reactions started almost immediately – heart emojis and comments like “This looks DELISH!” from my friends.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Finally I cut into that lovely brown crust and doled out slices to my husband and kids. Those slices led to seconds, then thirds, each piece slathered with softened butter and a little sprinkle of salt. I made my family perhaps happier with slices of warm, buttered homemade bread than I had with all the sweets combined. </span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">At last, I was a bread baker – despite yeast’s best attempts to intimidate me on this first try. No more feeling inferior or afraid. Now I make bread and homemade pizza crust regularly. And I have enough confidence to start thinking (and stressing!) about my next difficult baking challenge: homemade croissants.</span></p> <p><em>Image credit: Shutterstock</em></p> <p><em>This article first appeared in <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/food-home-garden/home-tips/how-i-mastered-baking-a-yeast-bread-from-scratch-after-years-of-failure" target="_blank" title="Mastering yeast bread">Reader’s Digest</a>. </em></p>

Retirement Income

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"Other masters": Lisa Wilkinson's bizarre Gladys theory

<p><span>Lisa Wilkinson has berated the New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian after the state recorded 124 new cases of Covid-19 on Thursday.</span><br /><br /><span>It is the highest number of positive cases in the current outbreak despite Sydney having been in lockdown for a month.</span><br /><br /><span>Talking on <em>The Project</em> from Sydney, Wilkinson told her co-hosts that Ms Berejiklian likely now “regrets being disparaging about (Victorian Premier) Dan Andrews and how he handled things”.</span><br /><br /><span>She also theorised that Ms Berejiklian might have “other masters” she is obeying, who are preventing her from making the lockdown even tougher.</span></p> <p><img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7842629/daily-2.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/32e67dac68a14900853d90cef03e718a" /><br /><br /><span>Over the course of an entire month, the state has repeatedly recorded several days of cases below 100 before shooting up into three digits again.</span><br /><br /><span>The state has been unable to reduce the number of people who are out in the community when they were likely very infectious.</span><br /><br /><span>With cases seeping out from the epicentre in Fairfield in the city’s south west, the suburb has been put on a strict lockdown.</span><br /><br /><span>Sadly, Ms Berejiklian has warned that the worst may be yet to come, and that “case numbers will continue to go up”.</span><br /><br /><span>She urged people to avoid any non-essential contact with other people, even family members.</span><br /><br /><span>“It’s cruel how contagious it is. It is spreading like we’ve never seen before.”</span><br /><br /><span>Wilkinson couldn’t help but question why the Premier didn’t enter a hard lockdown sooner, on Thursday night’s episode.</span><br /><br /><span>“Gladys has been telling us for days there is all the green shoots, but we watched them wither on the vine today with her predicting that it is only going to get worse,” she told fellow hosts Carrie Bickmore and Peter Helliar.</span><br /><br /><span>“I’m wondering if she regrets being disparaging about Dan Andrews and how he handled things.</span><br /><br /><span>“In New South Wales, we’re looking at Victoria and how quickly you went into lockdown and how tight the numbers are staying and thinking ‘that’s what we should have done.’”</span></p> <p><img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7842628/daily-1.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/3a1a4f5135df4c9d8e42be500791e634" /><br /><br /><span>Bickmore said that Victorians who are currently in lockdown five were now used to “doing the right thing”.</span><br /><br /><span>She went on to say Victorian authorities had made the effort to visit 436 homes, to check people were isolating, only to find them all indeed at home obeying the rules.</span><br /><br /><span>“That’s pretty extraordinary. That everybody is just going, ‘I’ll do what I’ve got to do’”.</span><br /><br /><span>Later in the program, Wilkinson again said the “numbers were going in the wrong direction”.</span><br /><br /><span>The host stated she “didn’t understand” why the state government wasn’t bringing in tougher rules, and hinted that there may be political motives behind the decision.</span><br /><br /><span>“(Ms Berejiklian) says she is following the health advice; a lot of people think if that’s the health advice that she has been following from the beginning then either the health advice is flawed or she has got some other masters that we don’t know about.</span><br /><br /><span>“Because there is plenty of people who would like to see some of these rules reigned in so we can knock this thing on the head and get down to the zero (cases) that she keeps saying is her objective.”</span></p>

News

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Bunnings launches LEGO-style collectables perfect for the grandkids

<p><span>Bunnings have just announced their latest drop that is sure to give kids across Australia something to enjoy as the summer holidays come to an end.</span><br /><br /><span>The mega warehouse store has just released a range of five “building blocks” toys for fans to collect.</span><br /><br /><span>It is very similar to the Woolworths “Ooshie” campaign that took Australia by story, however the five Building Block collectibles have been designed to complete a Bunnings Black Warehouse.</span><br /><br /><span>For the 168-piece scales-down model of the store, it retails for $30. However pint-sized DIY experts can recreate with just a few assembly blocks.</span></p> <p><img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7839471/bunnings-1.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/97931a12d91c403a815ef0a5056017b9" /><br /><br /><span>"Each add-on will be a replica of features you can easily spot inside a Bunnings Warehouse so that customers can collect and build some of their favourite in-store features," a Bunnings spokesperson said.</span><br /><br /><span>A new mystery collectible items will be available with every Bunnings person from January 14 up until May.</span><br /><br /><span>The first add-on feature includes Bunnings truck, which has been described as a replica of "the quiet hero, always ensuring the shelves are fully stocked with more than 40,000 products for customers to choose from."</span><br /><br /><span>"This model truck always delivers and can be assembled using 117 durable building blocks. Wherever you live, this Bunnings Truck will transport you and your kids to a fun place, every single time you play with it."</span></p> <p><img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7839472/bunnings.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/f1911d73782340d6982b7a023026102e" /><br /><br /><span>Each item will cost $10, and is available storewide and online while stock lasts.</span><br /><br /><span>WA restrictions have limited availability for Bunnings Building Block add-ons. It will be available in Armadale, Broome and Bunbury stores and through Click and Deliver online in WA only.</span></p>

Home & Garden

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How I mastered baking a yeast bread from scratch after years of failure

<p>My introduction to baking started with the home-kitchen classic that cracks open the oven door for so many – chocolate chip cookies. It was the 1970s, and most of the mums in our largely Catholic neighbourhood were busy raising big families. For the girls in my house, that meant our mother made sure we knew our way around the kitchen. At the flour-dusted table, Mum taught eight-year-old me how to make the cookies perfectly chewy with a crispy exterior. (The big secret: Always chill your dough.)</p> <p>We crafted them by the dozen, measuring ingredients from yellow Tupperware containers and mixing everything in my mum’s aqua Butter­print Pyrex bowl, part of a set she’d received as a wedding gift in 1963. Friends who grew up in “fresh fruit is dessert” households could not get enough when they visited. And if they happened to come over when the cookie jar was empty, they were not shy about sharing their disappointment.</p> <p>So from a young age, I was crystal clear on the power of a baked-to-perfection cookie to make people happy. Baking cookies – then brownies, cakes and pies – became my hobby and a tasty form of social currency. First I used my skills with butter and sugar to impress a series of teenage boyfriends. In time, the fresh goodies were left on doorsteps to welcome new neighbours and set out in the break room for co-workers. Baking was my superpower.</p> <p>A few years ago, I became the content director for Taste of Home, Reader’s Digest’s sister magazine and website that celebrates the treasured recipes of home cooks. I’d never been more excited for a new job, but privately I worried that my baking chops wouldn’t measure up. Why? I had a secret as dark as an oven with a burned-out light bulb: While I had baked sweets my whole life, I’d never made a yeast bread from scratch.</p> <p>Mum couldn’t help me with this one. For her, store-bought frozen dough was her go-to when she needed “from scratch” bread. I understand why: Bread dough provides so many opportunities to fail. Cookies are forgiving. You can be a little off in your measurements, and, trust me, those cookies still disappear from the office break room. Not the case with yeast breads. Most recipes recommend weighing ingredients carefully, down to the gram.</p> <p>Then there’s the yeast. Yeast is fussy, the Goldilocks of ingredients. Mix it in water too cool and it won’t activate; too hot, and it dies. Yes, yeast is a living, one-celled member of the fungus family. Because it is alive, I could, of course, kill it – and unfortunately rather easily.</p> <p>And don’t forget that other potential failure point: the kneading. Too little kneading and the bread will be flat. But don’t overdo it! Knead it too much, and the loaf will be tough and chewy.</p> <p>Still, this was no time for excuses. I was a baker, now one with Taste of Home attached to my name. I may have been intimidated by bread, but it was time. I wanted in.</p> <p>Getting started, I found Instagram to be a friend. A basic no-knead bread was the one I was seeing online overlaid with dreamy filters. People described it as easy, and to be honest, the thought of removing even one intimidating variable – kneading – was enough to get me to buy two kilograms of bread flour and dive in.</p> <p>I gathered everything I’d need (“be prepared” is the first rule of any baking), including my mum’s trusty Pyrex. It had seen me through my first days as a baker, so I was counting on it to work its magic. I had an easy Taste of Home recipe all set on my iPad. I mixed the flour, salt, and yeast and made sure the water temperature was just right – 38 to 46 degrees – before pouring it in.</p> <p>And then it happened – or didn’t happen. I followed the instructions to the letter, but my dough didn’t rise. Somehow, impossibly, it looked smaller. Sludgy, gooey, wet with a few bubbles. Sad.</p> <p>The Pyrex bowl didn’t save me, so I had to figure out how to do it myself. Frantically googling “bread dough didn’t rise” yielded a likely answer – the room was too cold. But I found some solutions too. I put the disappointing dough in the oven with the light on, a trick that provides just a bit of gentle heat, to let it try again.</p> <p>Three hours later, after I’d resisted the urge to keep checking on it like a nervous mum with a newborn, a puffy dough filled the bowl. I hadn’t killed it; it was just … sleeping. A quick fold, a second rise, and then my bread went into my Dutch oven and off to bake.</p> <p>Thirty minutes later, I took it out. Sure, it was slightly misshapen, but in my eyes, it was golden-brown, crusty perfection, right down to the yeasty-sweet hit of steam coming from its top.</p> <p>Naturally, the first thing I did was grab my phone and hop on Instagram, positioning my beautiful bread just so in a shining stream of daylight on a wooden cutting board. No one needed to know it was my first yeast bread ever – or how close it came to getting scraped into the garbage can. The online reactions started almost immediately – heart emojis and comments like “This looks DELISH!” from my friends.</p> <p>They couldn’t taste it, but virtual sharing yields its own rewards.</p> <p>Finally I cut into that lovely brown crust and doled out slices to my husband and kids. Those slices led to seconds, then thirds, each piece slathered with softened butter and a little sprinkle of salt. I made my family perhaps happier with slices of warm, buttered homemade bread than I had with all the sweets combined. They were used to the cookies and brownies; this was something totally new and equally delicious. Soon enough, I was left with a butter-smeared knife, a few lonely crumbs on the cutting board, and, of course, my post on Instagram as the only evidence of its existence.</p> <p>At last, I was a bread baker – despite yeast’s best attempts to intimidate me on this first try. No more feeling inferior or afraid. Now I make bread and homemade pizza crust regularly. Yeast and I have such a good relationship that I’m done buying the little packs – I buy it in large enough quantities to fill its own Tupperware container. And I have enough confidence to start thinking (and stressing!) about my next difficult baking challenge: homemade croissants.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Tips from my trial and error</strong></p> <p>Read the whole recipe before you start.</p> <p>We’ve all gotten halfway through a recipe only to find we don’t have any buttermilk. Plus, a quick read can help you prepare for what’s ahead, particularly if there are any techniques with which you’re not familiar.</p> <p><strong>1. Use butter at the right temperature</strong></p> <p>Most cake and cookie recipes call for softened butter, which is the right consistency for creaming with sugar. Biscuit and pie pastry recipes call for ice-cold butter in order to create the flakiest layers. If your butter isn’t the correct temperature, your bakes won’t mix up the way they should.</p> <p><strong>2. Weigh all your ingredients</strong></p> <p>When it comes to baking, it’s always preferable to measure your ingredients by weight rather than volume. This ensures you get exactly the right proportions. It may not be critical for something simple like a pan of brownies, but it’s important with fussier baked items, such as macarons.</p> <p><strong>3. Chill cookie dough</strong></p> <p>We know how tempting it is to get your cookies in the oven the second you’re done mixing up your dough. However, chilling the dough can help develop flavours and prevent cookies from spreading too much. Do not skip this step!</p> <p><strong>4. Coat mix-ins with flour</strong></p> <p>When a recipe calls for add-ins (dried fruits, chocolate chips, and/or nuts), you’ll often see instructions to toss them in a bit of flour before adding to the batter. You might think that’s a waste – after all, there’s flour in the batter. But coating these heavy mix-ins helps prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the pan. The extra step gives you even distribution and a prettier result.</p> <p><strong>5. Cool cakes completely before icing</strong></p> <p>Always let your cakes, cupcakes, and cookies cool completely before icing them. If they are too warm, the icing will slide right off the top of your cake or melt and soak in. Cooling racks speed up the process. If you don’t have one, take the cover off your ironing board and use the board as a cooling rack.</p> <p> </p> <p><em>Written by </em><em>Jeanne Sidner</em><em>. This article first appeared on<a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/food-home-garden/home-tips/how-i-mastered-baking-a-yeast-bread-from-scratch-after-years-of-failure"> </a></em><a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/food-home-garden/home-tips/how-i-mastered-baking-a-yeast-bread-from-scratch-after-years-of-failure"><em>Reader’s Digest</em></a><em><a href="https://www.readersdigest.com.au/food-home-garden/home-tips/how-i-mastered-baking-a-yeast-bread-from-scratch-after-years-of-failure">.</a> For more of what you love from the world’s best-loved magazine, </em><a href="http://readersdigest.com.au/subscribe"><em>here’s our best subscription offer</em></a><em>.</em></p>

Food & Wine

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Hamish Blake’s stark admission on Lego Masters: “It’s a MasterChef trick”

<p><span><em>Lego Masters’</em> cheeky host Hamish Blake may have just caused another reason for his show and rival program <em>MasterChef</em> to clash after admitting they had pinched a “trick” from the Network 10 cooking show.</span><br /><br /><span>Towards the end of Monday night’s episode, two teams went head-to-head as they were forced to battle it out and build a realistic logo model.</span><br /><br /><span>While elimination loomed over their head and the contestants raced to meet their deadline, Hamish and the rest of the team looked down on them from a constructed platform metres away.</span></p> <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/B_yZsg5owDb/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B_yZsg5owDb/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by LEGO Masters Australia (@legomastersau)</a> on May 4, 2020 at 6:20pm PDT</p> </div> </blockquote> <p><br /><span>It’s a set-up avid <em>MasterChef</em> watchers might be familiar with.</span><br /><br /><span>“Under the rules of reality television, during a head-to-head build, anyone who’s safe must be elevated off the floor,” Blake explained.</span><br /><br /><span>“No-one knows why that’s the rule, but it certainly adds a lot of pressure!”</span><br /><br /><span>As the build continued, Blake cheekily mentioned the elephant in the room: “What, it’s like <em>MasterChef</em>?” he whispered to the contestants. “No it’s not! No it’s not!”</span><br /><br /><span>Blake also went on to say in an interview shown on the program: “Making them go head-to-head, with everyone watching? That’s not a ‘<em>MasterChef</em> trick’, that’s just a TV thing …”</span><br /><br /><span>Then Blake pretended to speak to an off-camera producer:</span><br /><br /><span>“What’s that? Did <em>MasterChef</em> invent it, did they? Did you work on <em>MasterChef</em>? Did you really? Five seasons? Which ones? Oh, Poh!”</span><br /><br /><span>“Yep, it’s a <em>MasterChef</em> trick.”</span><br /><br /><span>Both<em> Lego Masters</em> and <em>MasterChef</em> are receiving incredible ratings this season, with the two shows pulling in more than a million viewers per episode.</span></p>

TV

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Lego Masters contestants break record in Australian TV first

<div class="post_body_wrapper"> <div class="post_body"> <div class="body_text "> <p>When it comes to building with tiny Lego bricks, who’d have thought that tackling height was the biggest challenge on the game board.</p> <p>But on Sunday night’s episode of<span> </span><em>Lego Masters</em><span> </span>on Channel 9, a single challenge proved that stacking blocks on top of one another is the toughest task to appear on the program.</p> <p>In the first challenge, Hamish Blake tested contestants' abilities with a task that nine-year-olds around the country would scoff at.</p> <p>“Build the tallest building possible,” said Blake to the eager contestants. The prize? An advantage for a future build that could ultimately lead to a prize pool of $100k.</p> <p>But it wasn’t as straightforward as it seemed, as a hurdle was thrown into the mix sending gasps throughout The Brick Pitt.</p> <p>Build as high as you possibly can without any assistance from a stool or any other device to give contestants any form of extra height.</p> <p>“You are stool-less for this challenge. I repeat – no stools,” warned Blake.</p> <p>“You have two hours. Two hours to go as high as you can. Tallest tower wins.”</p> <p>With no aesthetics being judged, no story, and no design features to follow – contestants had to beat the 4-metre stick and build the tallest structure in the room.</p> <p>Some took the challenge in their stride, others got caught out with “flimsy” structures that put everyone on edge.</p> <p>“This is intense,” Blake said as the timer ticked away.</p> <p>“This is the fastest build we’ve ever had on Lego Masters and also the highest build. A double record day.”</p> <p>High school sweethearts Tim and Dannii had a strong start but best friends Andrew and Damian were not planning to let them win.</p> <p>But despite the mates beating the stick, in the end it was childhood friends Jay and Stani who showed the rest of the room just how well they could beat the stick, with a final structure “well over four metres”.</p> <p>“It’s closer to five metres,” said Blake in awe.</p> <p>“That is just unbelievable.”</p> <p><em><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.9now.com.au/lego-masters/season-2" target="_blank">Lego Masters airs on Channel 9</a> each Sunday at 7 pm and Monday at 7.30pm.</em></p> </div> </div> </div>

TV

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Master of manipulation: The evolution of “puppy dog eyes”

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">According to a new study published in the </span><a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2019/06/11/1820653116"><span style="font-weight: 400;">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">, the “puppy dog eyes” is a real thing that dogs developed over time to better communicate with humans.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The study involved dissecting the cadavers of domestic dogs and comparing them to wild wolves, who are the ancestors of dogs, according to </span><a href="https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/home/pets/dogs-developed-humanlike-eyebrow-muscles-to-enable-them-to-bettter-connect-with-us-their-best-friends/news-story/f933b4fec943edb65e0cf621e83abe15"><span style="font-weight: 400;">news.com.au</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;">.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A separate part of the study had scientists videotaping two-minute interactions between dogs and a human stranger then repeating the same experiment with wolves.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This was done to closely track how much they use a specific muscle around the eye that produces an inner eyebrow raise.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The researchers found that two muscles around the eyes were routinely present and well formed in domestic dogs but were not present in wolves. The dogs also only produced high intensity eyebrow movements as they looked at the humans.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“It makes the eye look larger, which is similar to human infants,” Professor Anne Burrows of Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, who was one of the co-authors, told AFP. “It triggers a nurturing response in people.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As the movement is present in dogs and not wolves, “that tells us that that muscle and its function are selected,” she added.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The paper also puts forward two explanations for why dogs are trying to capture our attention.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The first explanation is that the eyebrow movement is significant for human-dog bonding “not just because it might elicit a caring response, but also because it might play a role during dog-human communicative interactions.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The second explanation is that the exaggerated eyebrow movements expose the whites of the dogs eyes, which humans find appealing in other animals.</span></p>

Family & Pets

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Body language expert explains: Why did Hamish always fidget with this wedding ring on Lego Masters?

<p>Channel Nine’s Lego Masters finally wrapped up its first season on Tuesday.</p> <p>While there are many highlights from the show, one thing the viewers could not help but notice was the way host Hamish Blake regularly fiddled with his wedding ring while presenting.</p> <p><img style="width: 500px; height: 281.25px; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7826866/hamishring.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/9aa98ce2fab242db87635391f50701ae" /></p> <p>According to a body language expert, the 37-year-old’s habit might be due to “nerves” on set.</p> <p>“A wedding band is often an item of comfort, familiarity and fond memories – when this is the case, in a setting where one might feel nervous,” body language expert Holly Bartter told <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-7029561/Why-does-Hamish-Blake-fiddle-wedding-ring-Lego-Masters-Body-language-expert-reveals-reason.html" target="_blank"><em>Daily Mail Australia</em></a>.</p> <p>“It’s a habit that likely Hamish isn’t even noticing himself.”</p> <p>Bartter also said the ring might serve as a “grounding item” that helped Hamish focus during shootings. </p> <p>“A wedding band will immediately link Hamish back to his loved ones, so it's a grounding item which also may help him to refocus while he shoots,” said Bartter.</p> <p>Another possible explanation is that the ring was uncomfortable in the filming studio. </p> <p>“Under hot studio lights, Hamish’s ring might simply feel a little uncomfortable when his hands are warmer,” said Bartter.</p> <p>“It’s likely he’s rearranging his ring without even thinking about what he’s doing.”</p> <p>Hamish has been married to author and entrepreneur Zoë Foster Blake for seven years, with the pair sharing two children – son Sonny, 5, and daughter Rudy, 1.</p> <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BplvQEeAw-W/" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BplvQEeAw-W/" target="_blank">A post shared by ZOË FOSTER BLAKE (@zotheysay)</a> on Oct 31, 2018 at 12:48am PDT</p> </div> </blockquote> <p>On her Instagram account, Zoë shared that her husband gave her a special gift every time he returned from filming. </p> <p>“Hamish made me a little Lego thingy each time he went to set,” the 38-year-old mother wrote alongside a clip of a constructed toaster-shaped toy.</p> <p>On Tuesday night, Henry and Cade were crowned as the show’s first winners after building a diorama of Poseidon battling a sea serpent. Alongside a Lego trophy, the pair also took home $100,000 in prize money.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"> <p dir="ltr">We're catching up with our winners <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HenryAndCade?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HenryAndCade</a> for a quick Q&amp;A, let us know your questions or send them your congrats! 🧱🏆 <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LEGOMastersAU?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LEGOMastersAU</a> <a href="https://t.co/VcDYqsZxOS">pic.twitter.com/VcDYqsZxOS</a></p> — LEGO Masters Australia (@LegoMastersAU) <a href="https://twitter.com/LegoMastersAU/status/1128397159194296321?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 14, 2019</a></blockquote>

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Love is in the air! LEGO Masters Miller and Kaitlyn reveal their new romance

<p>Nine’s <em>LEGO Masters</em> wasn’t intended to be a dating show, but turns out, two of its contestants have revealed that they’ve found love!</p> <p>Speaking to <a rel="noopener" href="https://celebrity.nine.com.au/2019/05/10/18/41/lego-masters-2019-miller-and-kaitlyn-are-a-couple" target="_blank"><em>9Honey Celebrity</em></a>, Miller and Kaitlyn – who started the show with their teammates Jordan and Marielle – said it was through the show that the pair discovered their feelings for one another.</p> <p>“We were friends from when we first met, and we’d hang out during free time in between filming. But I had no idea Kaitlyn liked me,” said Miller. “I was completely oblivious to Kaitlyn’s flirtations. The other contestants had a lot to do with us getting together.”</p> <p><span>Henry and Cade, another team on the hit show built a strong friendship with Miller, and knew he was interested in Kaitlyn.</span></p> <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BxWz4_sBfJI/" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="margin: 8px 0 0 0; padding: 0 4px;"><a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BxWz4_sBfJI/" target="_blank">Lego Masters became Love Island for Kaitlyn and Miller after falling for each other on @legomastersau #lego #legomasters #love #realitytv #couple #legolove #@channel9</a></p> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A post shared by <a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/fionahamiltonphoto/" target="_blank"> fiona hamilton</a> (@fionahamiltonphoto) on May 12, 2019 at 1:51am PDT</p> </div> </blockquote> <p>“And then Kaitlyn’s partner Marielle told Cade that she was interested in me, so he ended up telling me,” said Miller.</p> <p>But their romance didn’t start right away.</p> <p>“We went out on a few dates, but it was still kind of as friends,” said Miller. “Then we went and had breakfast one day, and I kind of just leaned over the table and said, ‘Kaitlyn, I’ve just gotta get something out of the way. I just want to make sure … is this … is this a date?’</p> <p>“And she kind of said, ‘I don’t know. Is it?’ and I said, ‘I guess it is now?!’”</p> <p>While the new couple managed to keep it a secret from everyone on the show until now, the two say their <em>LEGO Masters</em> co-stars could not be happier.</p> <p>“Everyone was really supportive, they were all really happy,” says Kaitlyn.</p>

Relationships

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LEGO Masters star Maddy opens up about her challenging past

<p>For some, appearing on the hit new show <em>LEGO Masters</em> might be enough of a childhood dream come true, but not for Maddy.</p> <p>Maddy appears on the show with her husband Jimmy, but for the Melbourne-based children’s entertainer, she wanted to do more.</p> <p>Maddy has written a book for kids, which she hopes will teach young people, their families and schools the signs of an eating disorder.</p> <p>She told <a rel="noopener" href="https://celebrity.nine.com.au/2019/05/07/16/04/lego-masters-2019-maddy-interview-eating-disorder" target="_blank">9Honey Celebrity</a>:</p> <p>"It's called <em>When Ana Came to Stay</em> and it's a kid's insight into eating disorders and the challenging things that come with that," she explained.</p> <p>"It's based on personal experience and I'm hoping that this book can reach out and help even just one kid."</p> <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BxKFnFhgsEe/" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="margin: 8px 0 0 0; padding: 0 4px;"><a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BxKFnFhgsEe/" target="_blank">@jimmyjameseaton and I starting to feel the brick pressure! 🌵🌮🔨🤓 #JimmyAndMaddy #EvilVillian #Lair #Cactus #CactusGirl #TimsTacos #Lego #LegoLove #LegoFan #LegoLife #LegoLifestyle #HappyKids @Channel9 #LEGOMastersAU #LoveStory #MaddyTyers</a></p> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A post shared by <a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/maddytyers/" target="_blank"> Maddy</a> (@maddytyers) on May 7, 2019 at 3:15am PDT</p> </div> </blockquote> <p>Maddy was only nine years old when she started to develop her own eating disorder.</p> <p>"I was really young," she says. "I wasn't hospitalised until I was a teenager so throughout those early years, I started developing really toxic behaviours and habits around food and they were really subtle changes.</p> <p>"I've gone through my fair share of therapy and counselling wondering 'what started it, what caused it?' and I think it's a combination of being a really sensitive kid growing up and a perfectionist as well.</p> <p>"I was always wanting to be the best in school, in sports, in all of these things and sort of push myself and then paired with low self-esteem and having role models that I wanted to look like -- that's how it started."</p> <p>However, it wasn’t until Maddy was a teenager that she realised that she had an eating disorder.</p> <p>"It's such a challenging disease because it does sneak up and it takes time to develop and the next day you're in hospital -- or even worse," she says.</p> <p>She’s written a book to help young boys and girls who risk going through the same things she went through.</p> <p>"This book is for me wanting to get the message out to young kids, families and schools that if there are young people struggling that we can nip things in the bud before they become bad," she says.</p> <p>If you’re worried about yourself or someone you care about, call <a rel="noopener" href="https://thebutterflyfoundation.org.au/" target="_blank">The Butterfly Foundation</a> on 1800 334 673. </p>

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“I felt terrible!” Lego Master’s Hamish Blake admits to causing trouble on show

<p>Hamish Blake is well known for stirring up trouble and making those around him laugh. However, the star has taken things to a whole new level as he hosts<span> </span><em>Lego Masters</em>.</p> <p>He had his sights set on 71-year-old grandmother Lyn, who joined the series in a team with her grandson Matt, 17.</p> <p>Lyn told <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.nowtolove.com.au/reality-tv/news/hamish-blake-lego-masters-drama-55547" target="_blank"><em>TV WEEK</em></a> that she loved Blake.</p> <p>"He's always been my favourite," Lyn explained.</p> <p>"I've always thought he's rather funny and his humour is similar to mine, but he didn't give me time to act starstruck because he started teasing me straight away!"</p> <p>Blake was quick to admit his part in stirring the pot.</p> <p>"Lyn was a bit concerned about being on a reality show," he confessed.</p> <p>"So I spent much of my time trying to mess with her during filming. I'd go up to her and say, 'Look, the producers just want you to shove someone and create some drama.'</p> <p>"She got so stressed – I felt terrible!" he laughs.</p> <p>However, things were not meant to be for the grandmother-and-grandson duo as they were eliminated on last night’s episode of<span> </span><em>Lego Masters</em>.</p> <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/BxKI8QghhHZ/" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="margin: 8px 0 0 0; padding: 0 4px;"><a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BxKI8QghhHZ/" target="_blank">They may not have won #LEGOMastersAU, but they won in many other ways. ❤</a></p> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A post shared by <a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/legomastersau/" target="_blank"> LEGO Masters Australia</a> (@legomastersau) on May 7, 2019 at 3:45am PDT</p> </div> </blockquote> <p>While things didn’t go as planned for the duo, Blake is still beside himself with joy at landing the gig as host of the show.</p> <p>"It's crazy," he gushes. "I wish I could time-travel, go back in time and have one quick conversation with my nine-year-old self!"</p> <p><em>LEGO Masters</em><span> </span>airs Sunday at 7pm and Monday to Tuesday at 7:30pm on Channel 9.</p>

Mind

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How to master the art of slowing down

<p>There are some periods in our life that are unavoidably busy. We have an impending deadline or a flurry of events we've committed to one after another or it's school holiday time and we're trying to meet the needs of our children and work all at the same time. You've probably already noticed that things tend to come in waves.  </p> <p>But what happens when a wave subsides and we're left with not as much to do? Many people tell me that they feel restless or lazy as soon as they're not doing anything productive and this can be heightened off the back of a particularly busy period. You might notice this particularly when you go on holiday, and even though you may think to yourself "I'm just going to chill out and do nothing" you inevitably fill your days with activities because, well you're on holiday so you better make the most of it. We can fall into the habit of perpetual "doing" just because we feel more comfortable being busy. Yet the benefits of slowing down are undeniable. </p> <p>When we take our foot off the accelerator and create some space in our lives, our body has a chance to catch up. It's not accustomed to running at a hundred miles an hour from the time we wake up in the morning to the moment we lay our heads down at night. Slowing down improves our digestion, reduces anxiety, nourishes our nervous system and can help to calm our thoughts. It can improve our sleep, energy levels and immune system as well as encourage optimum sex hormone balance. All this just from slowing down!  </p> <p>Slowing down might look like reading a book, going for a gentle walk in nature, taking yourself and/or the family down to the beach or the park. It might be taking 10 or 30 minutes to watch the sunset, doing a restorative yoga class instead of a more vigorous one or meditating. In an ideal world, it would be technology free to give your brain a break from devices as well – but that might be something to work towards if it feels too challenging. Perhaps slowing down for you is just making a commitment not to check work emails once you're outside the office. Keeping our work to our working hours as often as possible is a wonderful way to reduce stress and give our body a proper break. </p> <p>As I've already said, there are going to be periods in your life that are busy beyond your control. The art of slowing down is learning to recognise when you're filling your time just because you've become accustomed to living at a particular pace and you don't know what you'd do with yourself if you slowed down. </p> <p>If you know you need a bit more space in your life but don't know where to start, try scheduling in downtime to begin with. It may seem silly to put aside 30 minutes to read but if you honestly have such a full calendar, scheduling your downtime can deter you from filling that time with something else. Make a real effort to keep those appointments. After all, you keep your appointments with everyone else so why not keep those you make with yourself? </p> <p>Remember also to ask for support. Many of us feel like we have to be everything to everyone and that we will let people down if we don't hold tight to all the strings. Most of us have people in our lives that would love to offer us more support. Reach out and ask the question. If you're the one in your immediate family that organises the shopping, is the primary caregiver for the kids, main cleaner and cook – could you ask your partner to take over something? Sometimes we think it's easier just to do everything ourselves but this can inevitably affect our health in the long run. Take care of you, you're so worth it. </p> <p><em>Written by Dr Libby Weaver. Republished with permission of <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Stuff.co.nz</span>.</strong></a></em></p>

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Masters' $1 billion miracle

<p>Three months after Home Consortium <a href="http://www.oversixty.com.au/finance/retirement-income/2017/08/masters-reopen-as-shopping-centres-for-christmas/" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">announced it would be transforming</span></strong></a> 40 former Masters Home Improvement stores into warehouse-style shopping centres, the doors of 10 locations are finally being opened – just in time for Christmas.</p> <p>Last year, UBS investment banker David Di Pilla and a group of wealthy backers spent around $725 million buying up the former sites from Woolworths. They have since spent a further $250 million transforming 40 locations into centres with 38 retailers including Coles, Woolworths, Chemist Warehouse, JB Hi-Fi, Nick Scali and Toys ‘R’ Us.</p> <p>“Home Consortium is a great news story,” Di Pilla told <a href="http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/retail/home-consortium-resurrects-abandoned-masters-sites-in-1-billion-retail-rollout-just-in-time-for-christmas/news-story/0203499ab7b4946efc2eba80045c400e" target="_blank"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">news.com.au</span></strong></a>. “We had Masters closing down at the end of 2016, lots of empty centres, people out of work, tumbleweeds.</p> <p>“Inside of 11 months (there is) a vibrant new retail entrant into the market in Australia. One quarter of a billion dollars in capital is being spent, positioned in some of the best growth corridors in the country, we estimate over 5,000 new jobs.”</p> <p>Eight locations at Marsden Park, Penrith and Rutherford in NSW, Pakenham and South Morang in Victoria and Toowoomba, North Lakes and Tingalpa in Queensland have already begun trading, while two more are set to open before Christmas – one in Joondalup, WA and one in Ballarat, Victoria.</p> <p>Di Pilla says he expects to have 30 more Home Consortiums up and running by the end of next year. “They’re in prime locations, highly visible, 400 car parks on average, really convenient, easy access, best brand retailers all under one roof, great amenities, great facilities, fully airconditioned,” he said. “And the most important thing is we’re delivering at very competitive rents.”</p> <p>Tell us in the comments below, has a Home Consortium opened near you? If you’ve already visited it, what did you think?</p>

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