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Egyptian Mummification Began in Tribal Times

Scientists put all the facts together about a subject then reach a decision on what is truth. This decision is agreed upon by the majority of specialists in the area and becomes fact that is put forward in books and education. Unfortunately, time sometimes proves these "facts" to be wrong.

Australian researchers using the latest findings have changed their view on the age of Egyptian mummies. The artifacts are now believed to be 1,500 years older than was put forward in the scientific literature.

Mummification began as far back as 3,500BC. The original claim of 2,200BC was wrong. Even in prehistoric tribal times Egyptians embalmed their dead. Evidence from objects on show in Bolton Museum, England, proved the thesis. They were analysed and the shock discovery was made. Chemicals from an old embalming process were identified.

This preservation of mainly the hands and heads of deceased people with high status began before written language was developed. Of course, this belief about language could also be proved wrong in the future.

Science by Ty Buchanan

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Australian Blog★
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Aussie Coffee Shops Take New York by Storm

Australians love a beer and a good coffee. This country is really a coffee culture. Most workers take time out during a working day and go for a coffee either on their own or with friends. We don't like the instant stuff. Only the best will do. Popular coffee shops have regular customers.

Since last year four Australian coffee shops have opened in New York. Soon their will be another. Toby's was already established in 2012. Australian businesses will be a new experience for New Yorkers. Waiters bring your coffee to the table. Fancy, interesting snacks and even full meals are on the menu. They have the best chefs unlike the usual coffee bars that employ unskilled workers.

Service, service, service is the driving factor. Brunswick is a chain named after a street in Melbourne. It plans 12 shops in New york within two years. Staff are polite and friendly. This is the new atmosphere that will be offered.

New Yorkers like going to new businesses with novelty. The Aussie accents fit in nicely. They will be fun places where you relax and have a good time. Wait for a TV sitcom based around an Aussie coffee shop in New York.

Culture by Ty Buchanan

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The Aboriginal "Race" is in Danger

Aboriginals have been in Australia for at least 40,000 years, perhaps 60,000 years. If they were the first to leave Africa this could be pushed back to 80,000. Because they are so different from Asians this could be the case. A skull found in South America is clearly aboriginal - How did it get there?

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders number about half a million of Australia's 23 million. Numbering them is difficult as many, like the American black population, have white people in their ancestry.

There is a strange state of affairs with more than a quarter of the overall population in Australia being born overseas. This has meant an important inter-cultural mix. However, the Aboriginal culture is dying out. Few young people speak native tongues in depth. Older people are not able to pass on languages completely: there are thousands of Aboriginal dialects across the country. Religious rituals in particular are disappearing.

Aboriginal art is very strong and many earn income from this. It is in demand not only in Australia but worldwide. Indeed, Aboriginals tried to patent the "dot" in their painting. The claim was turned down which left fake paintings by white people as a problem in the market.

Absorption into the white population has been the country's main aim for centuries. There are a few Aboriginals who stubbornly stay out of this idea. They are losing as time passes. City Aboriginals know nothing about traditional Aboriginal life. They would die of starvation if left in the outback. Their forebears knew how to survive.

Anthropology by Ty Buchanan

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Australian Blog★
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Australian Prime Minister Totally Wrong Saying Australia Was "Empty"

There isn't much doubt that we have the most "out of touch" prime minister in Australian history. He goes oversees and visits world leaders and says absolutely stupid things. It makes you wonder if he lives in the same world as everyone else.

He blatantly believes that he didn't lie about what he would do if he won office. He has gone full circle and made cuts to areas he said he would not change. He takes voters for granted thinking they are as stupid as he is.

Again, he has made a statement that the majority of Australians know to be untrue. He said Australia was unsettled when Europeans arrived. Color blindness seems to be one of his flaws.

Suggesting that British investment made Australia what it is today is applying modern theory to times when economic theory was in its infancy. There was little understanding of investment in those days. Anyway, Britain's investment was really more people, unwanted in their homeland. The only real investment was in the police force that did cost a great deal.

Admittedly, white people brought industrious ideas with them and they were responsible for growth in the economy by hard work and toil. Australia is a harsh land and back breaking effort was required to survive. They just applied European ideas to a land that had the Aboriginal culture which was not economically based. Given time, Aboriginals would have caught up if they had continued to have the land to themselves.

Economics by Ty Buchanan

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Australian Blog★
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Are We Moving Toward a Secular World?

The world is polarizing with those who want to stay with religions and others who want to live their lives without any belief system. Certain norms of behavior remain from the past. The prayer before parliament begins goes back centuries.

Few people go to church on Sunday anymore. Even in Muslim countries some want to live a secular life with fewer prayers throughout the day. Of course, the majority in these countries want worship pressed into law. It is human nature to make others do what you want. Unfortunately, many protest against this.

The main problem is we all have different realities. There are seven billion realities on this planet. Though we are all presumed to be born the same everyone is different. No two people have the same range of hearing, color vision or even musical ability. What is truth for one is myth for another.

In the past, force always won in the long term. Today freedom and independence is the call everywhere. When force meets force today there seems to be no winner. Going to war seems futile now. All you get is destruction, pain and suffering. Past wars were fought over trying to retain an old accepted milieu and a changing social system with new ideas as populations grew.

The Internet revolution has changed all societies. We all have access to knowledge and most importantly the latest news on what is happening anywhere in the world. In other words, we are all "in the know". However, we do not know what the future will be like. Force is no longer working. Unfortunately, manipulation is!

Culture by Ty Buchanan

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Australian Blog★
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New Food Varieties From Plant Enbryo Culture

Natural pollination was used for years in plant research. it was thought to be the only way that a "pure" line could be preserved. Plants vary in characteristics depending on altitude and longitude. Crossing plants from different geographical region was the method put forward by Nobel Prize Laureate Dr Norman Borlaug who led the way in the Green Revolution.

This method only produced three generations of new varieties each year. A different system was needed. Embryo culture is the result. This is used in combination with changes in water, temperature, humidity, light and potting mix and is much more productive. Plant embryos are like stem cells. The neutral "baby" plants are nurtured and placed onto a media culture that determines what type of plant they will become.;

Pure-line plant genotypes are obtained in a shorter period. This is a major change in the creation of new crops that will feed the world's growing population. It will obviously take several decades to achieve the higher growth rates of the new food crops. However, scientists are optimistic.

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Conservation by Ty Buchanan

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Finding a Partner Online Does Not Bode Well

Finding a life partner online is not a good thing. From the start there is a culture clash if each of the parties come from different countries. Visiting someone for periodic short periods in their own culture is not a good way to see if a couple will get along permanently. Even worse, if pregnancy is the result of these short visits there is a high probability that court action will have to be taken to settle a custody dispute.

A case in point is a an Australian man who married a Japanese woman because she fell pregnant while he was seeing her in Japan. They married in Australia and the marriage had broken down. Like most custody battles the woman gained custody. Whether the child will be brought up in Australia or Japan is not known. In court the judge said both parties had exaggerated how bad the other party was.

It seems the main problem is the diets of people from different cultures. Apparently, the husband hated rice and the wife would only cook rice. This may seem trivial. but diet is important to individuals and they cannot just change and like something they were not given while they were young.

An understanding could have been reached by the husband if he had agreed to cook his own meals. However, Australian culture clearly nominates the female as the one who does most of the cooking for a household. The husband's role extends only to doing the odd barbecue. The husband also claimed that the wife was always shouting and hitting him. A thing not usually done in public in Australia.

Just why some Australian men prefer Asian women as wives is not clear. Perhaps they see such women as being subservient. As this man found, this view can be entirely wrong.

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Conservation

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The Casual Aussie

In the modern world many types of behavior are tolerated. Angry people are allowed to run the streets chanting their violent slogans. Individuals are entitled to live the life of a hermit, barely communicating with anyone else. Saying that things have changed is too simplistic. The more things change the more they stay the same.

Some have said that Australia's new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is too familiar with all those around him, calling fellow members of cabinet by their nicknames. It has been said that this is new for Australia. This is nonsense. Australians quickly find the names of strangers and from the "get go" call them by their first names. I remember watching a talk on television some years ago and the American was really upset by the Australian, who was also being interviewed, for not addressing him as Mr "Smith".

Australia is an unusual country. It has a culture of bringing everyone to the same level. Honorifics have little place in such a culture. Judges for example are treated as just public servants. Other countries rank judges highly and ordinary people would not even attempt a jovial conversation with them. Australians can see no barrier.

In recent years Australia could be said to be moving in the other direction. The street barbecue is fading away and neighbors rarely talk to each other. I hope Australia does not go down the same road as Britain and France where false "upper-class' accents are adopted by those trying to move up the fixed societal ranking. No, let Australia be. It has a unique heritage and being different is a good thing.

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Conservation

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Man Can Survive a Major Disaster

If there is a major world disaster will Mankind survive? In the past our forebears got through environmental difficulties, so there is no reason to believe that this will not continue to happen. As technology becomes increasingly specialized, things we take for granted will be lost. Humanity will take a few steps back or fall right back into a survival-type culture.

The skill to print could end. Story telling could return as a way to pass on culture. Man has always been inquisitive about what lies over the horizon. Experimentation will still be the key to survival. In a major disaster only those species that can adapt will live through it.

Neanderthals were not smart enough to survive. This is despite their brains being larger than humans. The brains of Man obviously operated differently. This could have been the power of imagination. Neanderthals learned more by direct copying of behavior. Humans can deduce answers from information.

Another important factor is present in humans. We have the ability to live in close proximity to each other. Living in cities is a feature of Man. Neanderthals only existed in small groups. They could not "pool" knowledge and make it available to everyone. We develop and control our environment. Neanderthals did not.

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History

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Beatboxing - Percussion Sounds of the Mouth

There must be a dearth of things to study. Scientists are now researching the odd sounds that people make. It may seem weird but its true. Those who can make odd sounds are called beatboxers.

Scientists are interested in percussion sounds. These are expressed in Celtic, Chinese, North American and Indian cultures. Hip-hop is an area of great interest. A young "practitioner" had MRI scans done on his mouth while he created percussion sounds.

The conclusion reached is that a lot of brainpower is involved in imitating percussion. It "is a small part of the larger puzzle," experts say. In my view it takes little mental concentration. Just put your tongue behind you top teeth a "tap" away.

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Society