http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/bill-birtles/ Bill Birtles is a 24-year-old Sydney-based journalist with Triple J News, but he makes no claim to being an Ambassador for Generation Y. For one thing, he quite enjoys golf and billiards (and not entirely in an ironic way). For another, he moonlights as an ABC reporter, where he drops his youthful facade. Prior to reading the news to the young and music-loving of the nation, he completed a Media and Comm degree at UNSW, worked on documentaries and wrote career guidance books. He also, obviously, studies Mandarin with the intention of one day being able to make Hu Jintao giggle. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:49 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/assaulting-my-ears-is-as-bad-as-polluting-my-lungs/ A European initiative to restrict how loud you can listen to your iPod could vastly improve your next public transport experience. In the latest attempt to protect us from ourselves, the European Union this week proposed an 80 decibel limit on the volume level on portable music players. This, their scientists say, would protect the five to ten per cent of music listeners who crank it up a little too loud from damaging their hearing. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Bill Birtles) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/assaulting-my-ears-is-as-bad-as-polluting-my-lungs/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/assaulting-my-ears-is-as-bad-as-polluting-my-lungs/#item1371 Thu, 01 Oct 2009 19:40:53 +0000 Bill Birtles | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/our-pm-shouldnt-be-so-shy-about-his-language-skills/ It’s a bit embarrassing to admit it, but if it wasn’t for Kevin Rudd, I would be among the majority of Australians who can only speak one language. It was almost two years ago, and I was watching the news coverage of the Sydney APEC summit, enthralled by the pre-election battle between John Howard and Kevin Rudd. Though the outcome already seemed a foregone conclusion, a few sentences of cool, calm and collected Mandarin from the PM-in-waiting seemed to put that final nail in the coffin. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Bill Birtles) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/our-pm-shouldnt-be-so-shy-about-his-language-skills/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/our-pm-shouldnt-be-so-shy-about-his-language-skills/#item1119 Fri, 04 Sep 2009 18:00:50 +0000 Bill Birtles | Author bios | The Punch