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El Niño Threatens but La Niña Persists in Australia

While a new very strong El Niño is on the way, fears of continuing La Niña are real as well. Although Australia is known as a drought country, severe floods are damaging. This is because the continent is flat with a few mountains in the east of the country.

If the El Niño does not arrive flooding will continue. Furthermore, the drought in the US will cause further damage to their economy. The odd thing at the moment is that Australia has drought inland with flooding along the coast. This isn't s normal state of affairs. It could be due to global warning.

We have had a very long intermediate period where La Niña persists and El Niño threatens. Research shows that La Niña will return every 13 years instead of 23 years. It seems to Australians that La Niña has been here for ever with the long intermediate period persisting. There are extreme El Niño and La Niña though. And it is these that do the most damage economically and socially.

✴ Science by Ty Buchanan ✴

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Daily Jabs to Control Insulin Ends - Wednesday 21 January 2015, A Great Day!

With today's technology why can't an artificial pancreas be put into a patient's body? Well, now it can! Xavier Hames is only four years old. Autoimmune disease has destroyed his pancreas. An artificial one is working very well indeed inside his body.

The artificial pancreas is more a computer than a body organ. It monitors low insulin levels, even predicting its future trends, then controls insulin delivery. It is particularly useful as night when external insulin treatment can fail resulting in a coma.

Preparations are in train to implant another artificial pancreas in an adult, Jane Reid. This could mean an end to eight jabs a day to test blood levels of insulin and continuous injections to control it. This could save governments millions of dollars in the long term.

✴ Health by Ty Buchanan ✴

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Australopithecus africanus were much like humans. They had evolved to use their hands to do intricate thing. It would have been possible for them to turn a key or hold a hammer. Coming down from the trees "caused" manipulatory advancement. The most useful attributes spread to more of their number due to longer survival and breeding capability.

While anthropologists are not sure that they used the advanced abilities, it is highly probable that they did otherwise the traits would not have become dominant. This pushes tool use way, way back to 3 million years ago.

How do scientists know that Australopithecus had complex skills? Trabeculae which is inside bones in the hands shows how hands were used. Humans, for example use the fingers and thumb region more than chimpanzees. Our friendly relations mainly use their fingers.

The supposition that tool use began millions of years ago was only theory: now it is proven. Culture must have been passed on to offspring as well. Tool use is a skill that must be taught. Humans are capable of learning all their lives. Chimpanzees can learn how to break nuts using a rock when they are young. If they watch this being done when they are adults they never learn how to do it.

✴ Science by Ty Buchanan ✴

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Closing Aboriginal Cmmunities in WA is Immoral

You cannot change culture by legislation. The Western Australian government is closing remote Aboriginal communities citing poor health, suicide and not much work. Aboriginal children are brought up in "strong" communities where they learn local languages and rituals passed down for generations. Closing communities will result in total loss of language and culture.

How can Aboriginals buy housing in cities? They have no tradition of hereditary wealth or access to education to better one's life. White governments are absolutely responsible for the situation of modern day Aboriginals. White people forcibly took this country from them and forced them into the margins of society where they have remained for centuries.

What remote Aboriginals need is more money from government. They have a right to live on their ancestral lands. They were born there. The WA government will be closing rural towns next. Where does this end? If Aboriginals decide to move back to closed remote communities they are entitled to welfare payment due to lack of work. After all, they are Australian citizens. Governments sometimes fails to accept this.

Culture by Ty Buchanan

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Millions of years ago kangaroos were much different than they are today. The sthenurine kangaroo once dominated Australia. It became extinct only 30,000 years ago when the maga fauna era ended. They were two meters tall, much too large to hop. It is surmised that they walked like humans.

Their face was flat and they looked like a rabbit with a large tail. They were a side branch of the kangaroo family. The main line continued to become modern kangaroos. Procoptodon golliah grew to three meters tall and weighed about 240kg.

Scientists had assumed that they hopped like modern kangaroos. The most obvious conclusion is usually the best, but in this case it was wrong. Their bone structure points to them walking. Having a large tail was a bonus: it improved balance.

The mega fauna period has been painted as a time of happy giants. For humans it would have been frightening. These oversized creatures would have been difficult to hunt. Indeed, humans probably had a policy of keeping their distance. Just because most did not eat meat does not mean they weren't dangerous.

Funny Animal Pictures by Ty Buchanan

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Destination Australia

Just what has Australia got? Quite a lot actually. The visitor can indulge in the rich Australian culture - G'day mate! The largest island in the world, though for some reason it is not classed as an island, too big apparently. Wildlife sanctuaries, busy cities, dry mysterious deserts, tropical beaches, it is all here.

Sydney is a clean city with bright blue harbour water. Must sees are Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. Enjoy surfing Bondi and Manly beaches in the hot sunshine.

Cairns in Queensland has the Daintree ainforest and the Barrier Reef. Go scuba diving, snorkelling and hiking. island resorts abound. Vacationers always view the whales and dolphins.

Alice Spring in the hot center stands on it own. You can get a drink anywhere. It is a long drive but worth it. Two hundred miles away lies Ayers Rock (Uluru). Another ideal place to take a driving holiday. Darwin on the other hand is a busy place.

Melbourne is the go ahead city. Something new is always going on there. It has the country's leading museums covering science, history, culture and sport. Enjoy a coffee in one of the varied cafes.

Other places to visit are the other capital cities, not on the one vacation though. Adelaide has many old hotels where you can partake in a counter lunch. Queensland is a real holiday destination. Perth has it all being well away from the other Australian cities: water sport is the thing to do.

Travel by Ty Buchanan

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No One Can Claim Ancestry to Native Tasmanian Aboriginals

There is a problem in Australia in regard to claims that one is an Aboriginal. In the past, part Aboriginals have identified themselves as native Australians, so they are entitled to welfare benefits that white Australians cannot access.

The Palmer United Party Senator Jacqui Lambie has ignited the debate by claiming she is Aboriginal. This is questioned by other Aboriginals. Sure she does look a little bit different than "pure" white Europeans, but the difference is minuscule. She actually claims that she is a descendant of Mannalargenna, a famous Tasmanian Aboriginal leader.

Her offer of a DNA test to substantiate her claim is not of much use. Aboriginals originally came from Africa, as we all did. No genes have been identified as being unique to Australian Aboriginals. DNA testing was suggested in 2002 at the Tasmanian ATSIC elections.

The issue is that Tasmanian Aboriginals were a different "race" than mainlanders. They were all killed by European immigrants to Tasmania. The original Tasmanians had a very primitive culture. They believed that fire was mysterious and magical. They did not know how to light fire. If the fire went out they had to steal it from a neighbor.

All Aboriginals living in Tasmania today are Imports from the mainland. They left their cultural bases on the mainland more than a century ago so their lineage cannot be traced. The theory that mainland Aboriginals were the first people to leave Africa is brought into question by the earlier presence of Tasmanian Aboriginals.

✴ Culture by Ty Buchanan ✴

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The English Still Treat Aussies as Low-Class Dumb Asses

After more than a century of independence, we still have to put up with being stigmatized by the English as filthy colonials. This dates back to the time when England faced its first loss in the game of cricket to the ex-convict upstarts. An obviously "honorable" English woman actually burned the bails from the stumps in heartbreak at the humiliation.

Aussies can always put on a posh accent at a barbecue for a laugh at the poms. You see, an Aussie who adopts this accent, and some do particularly on the ABC, loses a few mates and wonders why. As Ian Chappell the famous Aussie cricketer said to many English opposition players, "Have you had your monthly bath yet?" Though we sweat a lot because of the hot climate Australians do not smell. A shower every morning is part of the culture.

The highfalutin Royal Geographical Society is treating Australians like dirt because a deal they had went bad. It holds a set of paintings by Thomas Baines done on his visit to Australia in 1855-57. There are 21 watercolor paintings in all, plus drawings.

Kerry Stokes of Western Australia haggled over the asking price; then the Royal Geographical Society accepted the offer. With the export licence approved the Society has reneged on the deal. It has now decided to sell the collection to any British buyer at a price 35 per cent lower.

To say the price reduction is due to currency fluctuation is a "cop out". The institution is clearly miffed at losing the collection to the land under whose name shall not be spoken. The English clearly still have a superiority complex today. Obviously, modernity has not enlightened them.

✴ Culture by Ty Buchanan ✴

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Oil Found Off Australia's North West Coast

There has always been a belief that Australia's future lies in finding a mineral that is plentiful in the north west of the country. Till now this has not been achieved. Everyone knows that Western Australia is full of iron ore so this is not what they are looking for.

Drilling for many years has just made holes in the ground. Companies have gone over ground already explored before. This is how the latest find was made. There is oil there and in vast quantities. Apache Corp. has made the announcement that was greeted with surprise by some people.

Apache was searching for gas when it made the discovery. Considering Australia's oil production has fallen to its lowest level for forty years this can only be good news.

Income to Western Australia from iron ore has declined due to a fall in Chinese demand. The price for iron ore is down by a third since January. Australia is producing far more ore than it can sell. Coal is not doing well either.

The oil found by Apache is of very high quality so a high price is expected for it when it eventually comes on line. Unfortunately, it could be some time before this happens. Normally developing a new oil field takes decades.

✴ Economics by Ty Buchanan ✴

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New Chinese Theme Park for Australia?

A theme park is to be built at Warnervale in New South Wales. It is not your usual holiday inspired park like Marine World or Disney World. The name of the new entertainment precinct is not yet known, but it will be devoted solely to things Chinese. Buddhist

It is aimed more at Chinese tourists than Australians. A panda paradise, thanksgiving temple and treasure ship are expected to draw the customers. A massive half a billion dollars is dedicated to the project.

The rather odd name of "Chappypie China Time" is being put forward as the preferred choice by Chinese developers. This choice will not go down well with Australians. It is awkward and doesn't translate well into Australian culture.

It will based on "old" China, not the present totalitarian state. Things such as a copy of the Forbidden City, thousand-hand Guanyin and dragon boats will be the main theme. Developers say it will rival Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House. However, these are thing quintessentially Australia. How can a Chinese project be marketed as an Australian icon?

The Wyong Shire Council insisted that the park must have rides to make it relevant to Australian customers. Disney has also said that legal action will follow if the word "Disney" is in the park's name. The move by the Chinese consortium comes as a bit of a shock to Disney which says there is no local market there for such a huge investment.

Such a project could be a ruse to build a thanksgiving temple. This will be the first thing constructed. It could also be the last. Local people would not want such as large temple built near to them. Councillors should be wary of the "easy out" clause in the contract.

Culture by Ty Buchanan

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