Adventure Australia

Dog is a Real Redhead

2010-03-20T22:09:00.001+10:00

"I'm not a blond. I'm a redhead."

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Caterpillars Are Changing into Butterflies Earler

2010-03-20T21:57:00.002+10:00

Climate change is making butterflies more violent. They are coming out 10 days earlier than they used to in spring. The change has been caused by a 0.91ºC increase in temperature in Melbourne. All species that interrelate with the Common Brown butterfly (Heteronymph Merope) breed earlier as well.

A group of academics funded by the Australian Research Council has researched this issue. Members of the group studied caterpillars bred at the old and new temperature in the laboratory and noted the changed. Observation of the butterfly in the wild has confirmed that caterpillars are changing into butterflies earlier.

If butterflies are coming out sooner then other insects must doing this as well. This means that crops will have to be planted earlier in to be fertilized by insects. People in cities do not understand the importance of pollination on food crops.

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Dog Not Happy

2010-03-18T21:40:00.000+10:00

"The holidays don't make me happy."

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The Hobbit a Small Human on Flores Is Proven

2010-03-18T21:34:00.002+10:00

Many people have written off the "hobbit" find as being just a joke, a sad hoax played on society. However, finding tiny "humans" is, apparently, real. Most scientists have accepted it though some still scoff at the whole issue without looking into it.

In 2004 archaeologists in Indonesia found skeletons, not fossils, skeletons of small human-like creatures who lived on the island of Flores as recently as 18,000 years ago. While humans spread around the world, these small "humans" carried on hunting pygmy elephants and other local species in isolation. Flint flakes found in million year old volcanic sediment show hobbit activity there a very long time ago.

The question is - When did the early humans leave Africa? Considering Man left the continent no more than 100,000 years ago why did other excursions of early man end in extinction? At least one group survived long enough to enlighten us about the numerous times humans left Africa. Evidence from bone structure shows that the hobbit descended from an earlier type of human than the small-brained Homo erectus which left two million years ago.

Spending time considering how hobbit came to be on Flores is quite irrelevant. Whether they went by boat, raft or just walked when a land bridge appeared, they got there and thrived.

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Cat's Home

2010-03-16T23:37:00.001+10:00

"It is nice and comfy."

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Too Many Curriculum Changes Are Destroyng Western Education

2010-03-16T23:27:00.003+10:00

Peter Freebody advisor on the national English curriculum is completely wrong when he says we shouldn't be looking back to a golden age of literacy when everyone could read. He says look at the over sixties and see that most cannot read and write. What absolute rubbish. The baby boomer generation is this golden generation that could read and just as importantly - add up. Few over sixties cannot competently write a letter and this is what they were taught to do. Unfortunately, the current generation is not taught to do such mundane things. They are taught to do "an in depth analysis of modern literacy as it relates to the widespread phenomena of the Internet" or some such gobbledygook which is foisted upon them by so-called experts in academia.

It is university educated advisors that have ruined prospects for a literate society. Get back to basics and start teaching rote again, because that is where the mistake is being made - the absence of rote learning. Ask a youngster today to reel off the arithmetic tables and he/she cannot do it. Children don't learn to add up correctly by messing around with pieces of wood of different colors and lengths. Teaching children to sort things into sets will not get them anywhere in real life.

Another thing Mr Freebody goes on about is lack of access to education, but children from all social strata can find a school to go to. It is the methods used that are wrong. For example, teaching trigonometry at high school is putting something in the curriculum that should not be there. This belongs at college level and above.

The problem is in making schools too academic. Teach children how to do arithmetic not mathematics. When you build a table you don't need maths. You must measure and cut to length. That is arithmetic. Three levels of mathematics are offered at high school when most pupils have not mastered arithmetic. You cannot run until you can walk. All schooling must return to English, Arithmetic and History and these must be compulsory. Concentrate on these three and leave the rest for college and university.

Curriculum, curriculum, we must change the curriculum - that is all you hear decade after decade. Too much change has sorely damaged Western education systems. Peter Freebody's statistics are wrong. He says people have never been more literate. Just ask an employer and he will tell you how literate! People cannot add up a list of numbers correctly, nor read written instructions. It went down hill when calculators were allowed into schools. It is like saying give all Australian children a computer and they won't need books. What rubbish. The Internet is no good for doing assignments because everything is brought down to a page, a paragraph, a sentence then a word. Go to Encyclopedia Britannica and look up "Australian History". A paragraph gives the whole history of a nation. Search for "Ned Kelly" and all the sites give the same paragraph.

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Animal Watching

2010-03-14T22:03:00.001+10:00

"I'm watching you! Heh, heh, heh.

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State Government to Force People to Sell Their Land to Developers

2010-03-14T21:58:00.000+10:00

State Government is to help developers buy land. The New South Wales government is bringing in legislation which will establish a state body to compulsorily purchase land then on sale it at a special price to land developers - and you can bet that price will be low, below the going rate I should imagine.

What would be the purpose of setting up something that forces people to part with their land if it wasn't to help developers get that land? The state government gives the excuse of the renewal of Sydney. This of course is to hide the real reason from voters.

"The key is we do need to ensure that land holders are fully compensated." Yeah, sure. For landholders to be "fully compensated" let developers offer them the going rate for land.

Thankfully, the conservative opposition has seen the scam and is protesting. One would expect such a policy to be from a conservative government, but this is a Labor government. Relieving the land shortage by making some land cheap is not the answer. Developers will soon up the price when they on sale it.

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I'm Not Here!

2010-03-12T21:54:00.001+10:00

"I'm not here!"

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Some Registered Psychologists Are Deemed to be Undertrained

2010-03-12T21:16:00.004+10:00

The standards of psychological treatment in Australia is in question. The Psychological Society of Australia has been accused of allowing the industry to employ only partially trained psychologists. Six qualified practitioners have made this claim. Although psychologists register with the society not all are qualified.

If this is the case it is appalling. How could untrained people possibly be allowed to treat the sick, particularly if these patients are suicidal.

Apparently, clinical psychologists are fully qualified though they can be members of the society, whereas the remainder of registered psychologists are not trained. GPs refer patients to a registered psychologist who then treats the patient. The counselling is subsidized under Medicare. Over the last five years the Government has paid out twice as much to the practitioners than was budgeted.

A deeper look into the issue shows, however, that some academic bigotry is involved. Clinical psychologists who complete a degree followed by a Masters or Doctorate are saying registered psychologists who do a degree and two years supervised training are under qualified. This could be a case of an elite trying to freeze the others out of business.

The US and Britain insist on a Masters or Doctorate ticket. Australia says two years post degree training is enough.

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Sick Dog

2010-03-10T15:25:00.001+10:00

"I'm sick, but I gotta keep my website up to date"

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Fossilised Eggshells Are Ideal for Extracting DNA

2010-03-10T15:20:00.000+10:00

Jurassic Park is getting closer to reality. Australian scientists have managed to get DNA from fossilised eggshells of extinct birds. The Team warns though that bringing ancient creatures back to life is a long way off. Particles of fossilised eggshells from Australia, New Zealand and Madagascar were used in the research.

A target species was the Moa bird which lived in New Zealand into the 18th century. Another was the Elephant Bird extinct in Madascar during the 17th century. Older bird were also worked on: the New Zealand Duck, Australian Owl and an Emu which was 19,000 years old. In work on older fossils, results did not come up with usable DNA.

Techniques used were the usual reduction of sample and polymeras amplification. These were very short pieces of DNA obtained from minute samples. Eggshells were found to be even better than bones and hair for storing DNA.

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Cat Race

2010-03-08T23:22:00.000+10:00

"Race you to the top."

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Movie Stars Get Paid Only When Movie Breaks Even

2010-03-08T23:11:00.003+10:00

Hard economic times hit Hollywood. Movie star salaries once topped $25 million a movie. Falling DVD sales has seen this fall. Actors in the movies up for Oscars tonight have not yet been paid. The total to be paid to the leading stars in all the top ten films combined comes to a grand figure of $20 million - full amount. Young people just don't see why movie stars have to be paid so highly. The over-thirties pay to see movies and they go less these days.

Producers, executives and agents just don't want to talk about pay to actors. It is such a touchy subject. It's as if they fear the wrath of actors and they want to keep the truth from the public. Now studios want to sign deals where actors are paid only if there is a profit. The break even point is talked about so much.

Only a few current stars like Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt can still get $20 million plus, but Pitt's payment is $10 million upfront and the rest if the movies make more than break even. Brad Pitt's co-stars in the "Hurt Locker" had to take a pay cut. Most work at Guild Minimum which is $65,000 including food.

It seems the days when actors could swan around most of the time picking and choosing whether to work on this or that film are over. Many taking up acting now will find it difficult to make a full time living. Rather than sunning themselves on yachts and partying, most will be on unemployment benefits when out of work.

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Starch Ears

2010-03-06T21:28:00.001+10:00

"What do you mean, too much starch?"

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Police to Identify People by Nose Shape

2010-03-06T21:24:00.001+10:00

Police are upgrading detective work from fingerprints to "nose prints". It seems we all have different noses, so we can be identified by surveillance cameras. While fingerprints and iris scans are being used for logins and entry to premises, work on identification by nose shape is being ramped up. A lot has been done on ear shape, which differs quite markedly from person to person.

People tend to cover everything but their noses when they are up to no good. Another thing is, if a suspect does not cooperate he/she can be identified by the shape of their nose.

Plastic surgeon Dr Peter Callan says some noses are easy in determining a person's identity. For example, there is the classic Roman nose, Greek nose, turned-up, snub and hawk nose. Cameras that film in 3D give a very accurate picture of nose shape. However, to take a picture this way a person has to be moving quite slowly. It would be okay for prisoners. For general camera surveillance only a basic shot can be taken.

It seems pinning a person down by nose shape will remain a backup system. It certainly does have its uses. Iris, face recognition and finger printing will still be the main ways of identifying a possible felon.

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Just Hanging Around

2010-03-04T22:19:00.001+10:00

"Look, no hands."

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If You Sit Down You Die

2010-03-04T22:14:00.000+10:00

Humans are built to stand up all the time. How ridiculous this sounds, but this is what scientists say. You will die younger, get diabetes, and fall victim to cancer if you sit down too much. Doing exercise wont stop it apparently. Even sitting down at any time is damaging. This is "silly science" because though people sit down longer than ever before they also live longer. Statistics prove this.

Scientists say the body only functions "normally" if we are standing. They cease if we sit down. If these body operations work when we are standing what proof is there that they are really necessary? There is no proof. This is just a whim and let's hope it soon passes before people bring cases to court against employers.

There is no more ardent a person against smoking than an ex-smoker. Guess What! The main researcher on all this stuff, Professor Levine, has taken to standing all the time. This bloke is a bit of a nutcase, an obsessive compulsive if there is one - he walks around the room like in the old movies with an almighty long telephone cord. He also invented machines where you can keep walking or cycle while still using a computer. Health and safety has deemed these device too dangerous to use.

Levine wants to change the world like all obsessives. "What you need to do is to create an overall environment of health." Yeah, like those people selling ordinary tea that supposedly makes you lose weight. Beware, the Professor has four large US companies on board to find out how much can be saved in dollars by walking around all the time. You could be next on the test list.

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Flying Dog

2010-03-02T23:15:00.001+10:00

"I'm flying man."

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European Skull Found In New Zealand Dating before British Arrival

2010-03-02T22:33:00.010+10:00

Captain Cook discovered Australia for Britain in 1770. If you believe this you are living in dreamland. The Portuguese took Malacca, a small Malaysian state, in 1511. Spain controlled part of the Philippines from 1521. Indonesia welcomed the Netherlands from 1596 and the Southeast Asian country was later ruled by the Dutch from 1825. France sent emissaries to Siam in 1600.

The question is did any of the sailors from these countries land in Australia before the British arrived in Singapore in 1819: note Britain had been around in India since 1612. It is obvious that Dutch sailors landed on the north coast of Australia because Indonesia is just next door. Why didn't they claim it? Why didn't Portugal claim it? The Portuguese colonized East Timor from 1613 and that is even closer. The truth is they didn't want it because they couldn't find any advanced societies there. No trade was on offer. In those days trade was everything. There was no welfare state in those days. You had to earn or starve. Seeing a few Aboriginals along the beaches and cliffs, they took on water and left.

What is surprising it that no real evidence of Europeans being in the Antipodes has been found - until now. The skull of a European woman has been found in Wellington, New Zealand. Carbon dating shows she was alive there in 1742. Dating is now very accurate. This settles the dispute about Aboriginals having genes for red hair. The gene definitely came from Europeans who landed in Australia, before the red-haired Aboriginals were discovered.

So Europeans had visited New Zealand before Captain Cook "discovered" it in 1769. It was claimed for Britain in 1839, first being ruled from New South Wales. Then the whole country was claimed by Britain in 1840.

Getting back to the skull. When first found police thought they had a murder on their hands when they saw puncture wounds. The woman must have arrived there by "independent' means, probably by a European ship sailing at the captain's whim. Abel Tasman saw the shore of New Zealand in 1642 but had no women aboard his ship. Why did it take Europeans another century to search for the great southern land again?

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Dogs Take Life Easy

2010-02-28T18:35:00.001+10:00

"I reckon we should take life real easy."

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Lawyer Billing to be Reviewed

2010-02-28T18:30:00.001+10:00

Australian lawyers charge what they like and get away with it. When you get a letter from your lawyer or solicitor with advice to come into the office, you know to bring your wallet with you. A normal charge for a talk seems to start at $500. But it can go into the thousands of dollars - just for a talk. Paper work of course is extra. Reforms are needed as soon as possible.

Lawyers are really annoyed that the Government is daring to review how their billing system operates. They say it is only a few who charge too much. The truth is most legal advisors grossly overcharge. They do, because they can. It is time the legal profession had guidelines and restrictions like other industries. Unlike the actual justice system which is separate from Government lawyers just offer a service to consumers. They have no right to be protected under the same umbrella as the courts.

Thankfully the Government has ignored their pleas and only one of their number has been appointed to the new review body. States will appoint members and consumer bodies will be represented as well. Lawyers expected all members to be from the legal industry. How sweet it is! Some justice at last.

Let's hope the review makes real changes and is not a case of window dressing.

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Basket of Cats

2010-02-26T21:20:00.001+10:00

"It was made for the both of us."

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Australia Is Facing a Crisis in Aged Residential Care

2010-02-26T21:10:00.006+10:00

Australia is heading for a crisis in residential care for the aged. Young people do not understand what their future will be like if investment in homes for the elderly is not increased. With society going the way it is family will not be around to help feed, clothe and look after you when you get old. The nursing homes whether public or private won't be there.

The problem is money. The cost of aged care is getting more expensive by the year. Qualified, experienced staff expect high wages. In 2050 people over 65 years will double in number. Those living more than 85 years will quadruple. The strain will not only be felt in the aged care sector proper. Provision of health services for these people will be difficult.

In the future, care for the elderly will be basic at best. The ratio of "patients" to staff will rise from five per nurse in 2003 to more than twelve per nurse on average. Some nursing homes now have one nurse for over 30 residents. But those over 90 need continual care because of constant illness and memory problems. Today nurses are companions as well as carers. This will end.

Because nurses in nursing homes are paid less than their counterparts in mainstream health, nurses are leaving residential care. Only more money from government will stop this.

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Rocking Cat

2010-02-24T23:59:00.001+10:00

"Rockabilly, rockabilly. Rock, rock,rock!"

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Links for 2008-07-06 [del.icio.us]

2008-07-07T00:00:00-07:00

Screensaver lost
After delaying to re-install an anti-virus/trojan barrier program I got a bug on my computer that changed my desktop backgound with a warning message written in the middle (it took me a while to discover that it wasn't a program sending out a "danger Ha H

Links for 2006-06-09 [del.icio.us]

2006-06-10T00:00:00-07:00

tysaustralia.com The site for those interested in Australia, planning to visit or emigrate to Australia.