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Australian Blog★
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Heat Kills

Everyone knows that Australia is a hot country, perhaps not as hot as Africa. Nonetheless, it can get "stinking hot" here. In the past, some regions have experienced 10 days or more with temperatures close to 40 degrees Centigrade (100 Fahrenheit).

We are going through a cool period now with La Niña. However, this winter has been the warmest on record. There seems to be rain along the coast, hardly any inland. This is an odd situation. La Niña should make it wet everywhere.

Australians treat heat as a way of life, knowing that the cool will end and the scorchers will soon arrive. Most do not know that heat is the country's greatest killer. If asked in the street, most would not believe this.

Combine deaths caused by bushfires, storms and cyclones. The number will not be near as many who die from heat. Research has shown that most heat related deaths occur on January 27. This is a day after Australia Day, a bank holiday where people celebrate with too much alcohol. Could this be a factor? No, Australians drink all year round. Being outside around the barbecue could contribute though.

With electricity prices going through the roof in Australia staying in an air conditioned room is now a luxury. This is why more of the poor will die. The elderly are next on the list and those with preexisting illnesses not being adequately treated are last. It could be said that death from heat is a wealth problem - take note politicians!

Society by Ty Buchanan

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Australian Blog★
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Jetstar Warns Passengers of Imminent Drug Search - Jetstar Says it is Routine

Are we becoming too accepting of drug use? When a business advises its customer that intensive drug tests are about to happen it makes one wonder. Is this taking customer service too far?

The flight crew on Jetstar, the Australian cut-price airline, told passengers to flush drugs down the toilet because there would be sniffer dogs and inspectors when they landed. Jetstar said it was just a joke. Passengers took it seriously and it is not known if some avoided arrest. There was a rush to the toilet after the announcement.

Apparently, this isn't the first time this has occurred. Jetstar admitted that such warnings are routine. This undermines its claim of a joke. Is their apology sufficient? Surely a change in company culture is needed.

Drug taking is a drain on the health system. Continuous use does damage the body despite what many users claim. Being blasé about it is certainly not the thing to do. Responses on Facebook were overwhelmingly supportive of the airline. However, many silly things are done by seemingly rational people.

Society by Ty Buchanan

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Australian Blog★
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Aboriginal Subsistence Fires Benefit the Ecosystem

Bush fires are natural in Australia. Far from being a curse, they benefit the environment and wildlife generally. Of course this has to be qualified by houses being destroyed and injuries to people. Aboriginals have been intentionally lighting fires for thousands of years.

Actually, it has a positive impact on kangaroo evolution. A fire promotes an increase in kangaroo numbers. To get the greatest benefit the best time for a burn-off can be identified. Human subsistence is crucial in managing this. It compliments the ecosystem.

Modern farming is detrimental to the way wildlife functions. The system is thrown off-balance. Stopping the burn-off and mono cropping changes everything. Australia needs more burning, not less. Authorities are following the wrong policy. Leaving native trees to grow tall can only lead to eventual disaster as a massive fire results as time passes.

Managed fires provide more food for animals as new shoots appear. Animals can also hide from predators in patches of older growth in the flatter landscape. It is only in farming areas that kangaroos increase to pest proportions. There is a natural peak in regions still controlled in the traditional way by Aboriginals.

Anthropology by Ty Buchanan

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Australian Blog★
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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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Dutch Prisoners to Pay a Fee

The welfare state is failing. Too any people rely on taxpayers money to live without contributing anything themselves. Basically, governments do not have the income from taxes to pay for it.

Old age pensions are going with people being forced to pay into their own superannuation. In Europe, particularly, countries like Britain cannot afford welfare benefits for people who have moved there from other European nations.

In the Netherlands prisoners will soon have to pay for their incarceration. The controversial bill will soon go through parliament. If you break the law it is your fault. There will be a charge for imprisonment and another fee for the police investigation.

Leaving things as they are will result in 19 prisons having to close with the release of thousands of prisoners. If you cannot pay the fees while you are in prison you will have to pay it when you have moved back into society.

Society by Ty Buchanan

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Society by Ty Buchanan

Australian Blog★
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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

Australian Blog★
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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

Australian Blog★
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Memories Are Not Real the "Specialists" Say

Childhood memories are figments of your imagination. If you believe that, you'll believe anything. Children in the UK were asked to recall memories of things their parents said didn't happen. But how do we know if children were trying to please their parents? Most children live in a dream land anyway. So asking them to recall seeing Santa Claus is just "baiting". And asking them about flying through the air is "hypnotising" for dream recall.

If you broke your leg as child you would certainly remember that, and whether the sun was out when it happened. The pain makes it stay in your mind. One thing that really remains is the care one receives from others. You remember things done with grandma because she was always kind and forgiving. Furthermore, really horrible events like being involved in a road accident and then being taken to hospital remain as clear as the day they occurred.

We wouldn't have an identity without memories. We are the sum of our experiences. Taking that away from someone is condemning that person to live in the forever "now". Debate is rife about whether learning is anything of value. For example, a day after taking exams most of it is forgotten. But a university degree or any other academic test is something the individual values and society values. Whether you actually remember things taught is quite irrelevant. You have gone down that road and reached the destination. Surely, that is what life is about: having experiences chronologically with the past leading to the present and into the future and remembering certain milestones.

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Conservation

Australian Blog★
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Artificial Insemination of Budgies

Artificial insemination is common these days particularly to produce better animals for meat in the market. Cattle, sheep and even horse insemination could be said to a be the norm. Higher quality animals is the goal. Should artificial insemination be used to improve animals kept as a hobby?

Breeding show budgies is taken very seriously by many people, so much so that widespread "cheating" takes place. Clipping of cheek patches is not allowed but it is still sneakily done. High quality show winners are usually produced by putting fertile eggs from good birds under "sitters", common budgies with a better breeding instinct.

Michael Pace went to extremes to breed his prizewinner in the opaline class at the Australian National Budgerigar Championships. He practiced artificial insemination in his own way. A capillary tube was used to extract sperm from the male which was then inserted into the female within six hours. A lot of hit-and-miss took place. It took four years to breed the show winner.

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Conservation

Australian Blog★
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Move by Coca-Cola to Improve Health - or Profit

Coca-Cola announces that it will fight obesity. This is ironic considering chemicals are put into soft drink to make it possible for more sugar to remain in solution. Despite offering sugar free coke, consumers still favor coke with sugar. In the US this is high-fructose corn syrup. Basically, it is still concentrated sugar.

Decades ago major sugar companies paid for research to determine benefits from consuming sugar that could be used in commercials. Unfortunately, findings showed there were no benefits whatsoever. Mankind is addicted to sugar. China, for example, has a sugar reserve to prevent social disorder if international trade is disrupted in any way. People can get there sugar requirements by consuming vegetables. Production of sugar is purely to satisfy an addictive demand.

You cannot blame the community from being cynical about the announcement by Coca-Cola to push low-calorie additives, exercise and no advertising to children. The only real solution is to pass legislation making it compulsory to not add sugar to soft drink. However, Coca-Cola has millions to lobby politicians against doing this.

It must be noted that some American states have limited sales to small cans only. Unfortunately, this is exactly what Coca-Cola wants. People buy two cans now and this increases profit. Let's face it: Coca-Cola knows advice on healthy living is ignored. Furthermore, reduced calorie drinks make up only 25 per cent of sales. It seems that the whole program is a way to make money. At least this is how the public perceives it.

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Business

Australian Blog★
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No Women Please: It's Magic

When was the last time you saw a female magician perform? You will say "never". This is a phenomenon little understood. For some reason women hardly ever choose to become magicians. All magical societies may as well declare themselves men-only organizations.

Some blame the history of witch burning for this outcome. However, witch burning hasn't been done for centuries. A female in an act is commonly perceived to be the magician's assistant. This idea is entrenched and is more likely to be the cause.

When most organizations were initially founded it was in the time of male dominated secret societies. This could be a factor. Another theory is that conjuring is somehow akin to maths. Boys prefer maths much more than females. Indeed, it has been found that members of school maths and science clubs will also be members of magic clubs.

The suit commonly worn by magicians is also a turn-off for females. Perhaps they feel that an audience will not accept a skirt or dress. Magical societies will surely be the last bastion to fall in the feminine revolution, perhaps when we first see a magician wearing a skirt - unless he/she is Scottish.

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Entertainment

Australian Blog★

Donkeys and Mules Are Celebrated

Donkeys and mules are not forgotten. There are people out there who care a lot for these animals. They have established the Donkey All Breeds Society of Australia National Donkey and Mule Show. They deserve a medal for creating such a long title for the celebratory weekend.

Entrants were brought in from all over Australia. The tiny Mediterean Miniature donkey was the cutest in the show. Very large animals were represented like the 16 hands high American Mammoth donkey.

Many animals performed for the spectators. It is a myth about the independent, angry mule. Indeed, they like to be trained. Donkeys really put on show in the trail, driven, sulky, halter and snigging classes. Trainers were as young as five years old. Some donkey entrants were elderly, in their mid-twenties. The show was such a success that it will continue. It is affectionately called the long ears show.

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Society