WORLDLY UNWISE

CANBERRA: Australians are catching affluenza, with their homes so “fat” with superfluous belongings that just under half feel anxious, guilty or depressed, a think tank said. Eighty-eight percent of respondents in the Australian Institute’s “Stuff Happens” report said at least one room at home was stuffed with too much…stuff…while the average house had three or more rooms crammed to bursting. Four in 10 respondents reported being emotionally affected by clutter. “One person interviewed said that at one stage she actually wanted her home to burn down in a bushfire. It was that cluttered,” said researcher Josh Fear, who oversaw the survey of more than 1,000 Australians for the left-wing institute. One in five respondents said they had built a shed or garage to store belongings, while 12 percent had moved house to accommodate goods they owned but never used.

‘Brand’ishing a fake
BEIJING: Beijing’s Silk Street Market, famous for knock-off designer gear from North Face jackets to Louis Vuitton bags, has unveiled its own brand and, apparently with a straight face, warned counterfeiters not to copy it. The first items to bear the SILKSTREET name include “apparel such as neckties, shirts and scarves, as well as a few household items such as tablecloths”, Xinhua news agency said. They are marked “quality guaranteed” with a label that tells buyers that “the goods are certified by the Silk Street Market. “SILKSTREET products are sold exclusively in the market. Anyone using the brand outside will be held liable,” the Beijing Evening News quoted Wang Zili, general manager of the market, as saying.

Lost a sheep? Get a DNA test
BEIJING: For cowboys in the Wild West, a red-hot branding iron did the trick. But a herdsman in remote northern China has turned to DNA testing to prove ownership of his sheep. Alaha, a herdsman from Xilin Gol in Inner Mongolia, became the first person in China to use DNA testing to prove ownership of his animals, the China Daily said. Last March, one of Alaha’s employees discovered that 46 pregnant ewes were missing from their herd and a search led to Alaha’s neighbour, Daoriji. Daoriji admitted that some of the sheep belonged to Alaha, but later demanded proof. Alaha contacted a lawyer who suggested a DNA test. “The test showed that the 36 ewes were the mothers of the 36 lambs, and the 26 stud rams were the fathers of 34 out of the 36 lambs,” the paper said. The tests cost more than 40,000 yuan ($6,000), four times the value of the sheep, but Alaha was glad to be proved right. (Reuters)