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Taxi Licence Test Is Too Difficult
Making entry tests for such things as taxi driver licences or new residents has really gone off course. This is not restricted to Australia. The US test for residency has been shown to have incorrect answers to key questions. New migrants to Australia complain about the relevancy of some questions. In regard to the test for a taxi licence in Queensland one in six is failing despite many being Australian born.
The Queensland test is extensive with reading, writing, numeracy. speaking and listening all being evaluated. Just how this improves taxi service and safety is unclear. It should be adequate for drivers to understand what customers are saying and to be able to communicate satisfactorily in return. It seems the whole job is tested as well. Map reading, following verbal directions, determining fares, giving change and solving situational problems are all thoroughly checked. It is known that many people are stressed and nervous doing such examinations. Even normally intelligent and adaptable people can fail.
Queensland taxi drivers are saying the test is too extensive and unnecessary. Even Australian born drivers with decades of experience are not passing. Many say it is a show test, a gimmick developed by bureaucrats. Many things tested for can only be learned on the job, after drivers have a licence to use. Experienced drivers are also being caught out because they must sit the examination when renewing their licences. One driver who had driven taxis for most of his life failed and said that's the end for me I will have to live off the pension now.
The Queensland test is extensive with reading, writing, numeracy. speaking and listening all being evaluated. Just how this improves taxi service and safety is unclear. It should be adequate for drivers to understand what customers are saying and to be able to communicate satisfactorily in return. It seems the whole job is tested as well. Map reading, following verbal directions, determining fares, giving change and solving situational problems are all thoroughly checked. It is known that many people are stressed and nervous doing such examinations. Even normally intelligent and adaptable people can fail.
Queensland taxi drivers are saying the test is too extensive and unnecessary. Even Australian born drivers with decades of experience are not passing. Many say it is a show test, a gimmick developed by bureaucrats. Many things tested for can only be learned on the job, after drivers have a licence to use. Experienced drivers are also being caught out because they must sit the examination when renewing their licences. One driver who had driven taxis for most of his life failed and said that's the end for me I will have to live off the pension now.
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Society
The Poor Have to Live With High Rents
The poor in Australia are doing it tough. While the economy is booming the price of housing has continued to rise. Despite the recent levelling off, further increases are forecast. With the higher valuation come higher monthly mortgage repayments and rental payments must keep up with this. Only one per cent of low income earners can afford to pay such rents. If you are on welfare and cannot get public accommodation forget it - you have to live on the street, unless you live with relatives and friends who can put a roof over yours head.
The real problem is not the cost of actually building a house. Modular housing can be purchased, but people who have new houses put up do not chose such basic designs. Rental housing is largely designed for the wrong people. Unless government takes the lead and actually builds modular housing for the poor the situation will stay the same. Costs involved in getting land ready for construction is the real problem. Land levelling and servicing is very expensive. Councils are the main reason for this. There is no competition is regard to charges. A builder must pay fees to councils at council set rates.
Without established affordable housing it is virtually impossible for a person to contribute to society by holding down a job. Even when learning job skills rents are very high for accommodation near educational institutions. User certainly pays in this regard. Low income earners are also competing with each other to get the cheapest third of advertised rentals. Plenty of houses are available in rural areas of course. Living off welfare payment is almost mandatory there because there is no work. By definition where there is work rents are high.
The real problem is not the cost of actually building a house. Modular housing can be purchased, but people who have new houses put up do not chose such basic designs. Rental housing is largely designed for the wrong people. Unless government takes the lead and actually builds modular housing for the poor the situation will stay the same. Costs involved in getting land ready for construction is the real problem. Land levelling and servicing is very expensive. Councils are the main reason for this. There is no competition is regard to charges. A builder must pay fees to councils at council set rates.
Without established affordable housing it is virtually impossible for a person to contribute to society by holding down a job. Even when learning job skills rents are very high for accommodation near educational institutions. User certainly pays in this regard. Low income earners are also competing with each other to get the cheapest third of advertised rentals. Plenty of houses are available in rural areas of course. Living off welfare payment is almost mandatory there because there is no work. By definition where there is work rents are high.
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Society
Australian Aboriginals Were Not Dying Out
When Europeans landed in Australia it was said that the Aboriginals were already a dying race. After 40,000 year of successful domination of the this land their population was actually growing. Though not changing in a European sense, into industrialization, over several centuries they could have formed larger federations of tribes.
Cave paintings in the Sahara show people with boomerangs as well as bows and arrows. Apparently, the Australian Aboriginals did not find bows and arrows that useful on the new continent but the boomerang suited them well. The boomerang could be easily carried on long hunts. Running with a bow and a sheath of arrows over the shoulder or in the hand was too cumbersome. There is no reason to believe that they had not had the bow in times passed.
Anthropologists estimate that the Aboriginal population grew from a quarter of a million 10,000 years ago to a million in the eighteenth century. This increase is quite fast in historical terms and there is no solid explanation for it.
Something had to be improving in either an environmental or societal way. How could life remain difficult for 30,000 years then suddenly get better? They did adopt fish farming. This would improve life for people on the coast. They had no need to build fixed settlements. There was always another fresh area to move on to.
People spread from Africa, usually along the coast as they used up resources at each place. When they arrived in Australia the land was so vast this type of competition ended. It must have been a hard existence at first. As "tricks" for surviving became cultural knowledge things obviously improved.
Cave paintings in the Sahara show people with boomerangs as well as bows and arrows. Apparently, the Australian Aboriginals did not find bows and arrows that useful on the new continent but the boomerang suited them well. The boomerang could be easily carried on long hunts. Running with a bow and a sheath of arrows over the shoulder or in the hand was too cumbersome. There is no reason to believe that they had not had the bow in times passed.
Anthropologists estimate that the Aboriginal population grew from a quarter of a million 10,000 years ago to a million in the eighteenth century. This increase is quite fast in historical terms and there is no solid explanation for it.
Something had to be improving in either an environmental or societal way. How could life remain difficult for 30,000 years then suddenly get better? They did adopt fish farming. This would improve life for people on the coast. They had no need to build fixed settlements. There was always another fresh area to move on to.
People spread from Africa, usually along the coast as they used up resources at each place. When they arrived in Australia the land was so vast this type of competition ended. It must have been a hard existence at first. As "tricks" for surviving became cultural knowledge things obviously improved.
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Anthropology
Blaming Australian Business for Inaction is Futile
It is claimed by "specialists" that Australian business failed to plan for the high dollar. They carried on without cutting basic running costs. With over 60 per cent of businesses being involved in international trade this is deemed to be a "sin". The American Express FX International found less than 40 per cent did nothing.
The research body said it was surprised at this. It is hardly surprising in the real world where costs are kept as low as possible on a constant basis. How can a business have a program to tackle this problem when it is a daily matter of trading? Common sense would inform you that not much can be done. The market sets the price. The high dollar means firms get less profit when they receive payment in foreign currency. Running costs inside the international barrier in Australia continue to rise. Most international trade is done in US dollars and this has become very weak.
It isn't much good longing for days passed when the exchange rate was less than 50 US cent to the Aussie dollar. It is quite astonishing that the employment rate is so high when times are really tough for manufacturing and retail. Prices are being cut to the bone, apart from food which people must have. Saying firms should have locked themselves in with future exchange contracts is dwelling on something that is impossible to change. The dollar is high and it is too late. Not much can be done now. Australian industry will shake itself out with bankruptcies until survivors can benefit from a weaker dollar which appears to be a long way off.
The research body said it was surprised at this. It is hardly surprising in the real world where costs are kept as low as possible on a constant basis. How can a business have a program to tackle this problem when it is a daily matter of trading? Common sense would inform you that not much can be done. The market sets the price. The high dollar means firms get less profit when they receive payment in foreign currency. Running costs inside the international barrier in Australia continue to rise. Most international trade is done in US dollars and this has become very weak.
It isn't much good longing for days passed when the exchange rate was less than 50 US cent to the Aussie dollar. It is quite astonishing that the employment rate is so high when times are really tough for manufacturing and retail. Prices are being cut to the bone, apart from food which people must have. Saying firms should have locked themselves in with future exchange contracts is dwelling on something that is impossible to change. The dollar is high and it is too late. Not much can be done now. Australian industry will shake itself out with bankruptcies until survivors can benefit from a weaker dollar which appears to be a long way off.
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Business
Giant Ants in Ancient North America
Big insects once roamed the US. They were very big. Ants were the size of small birds 50 million years ago. They are thought to have crossed the arctic land bridge that once existed between Europe and the US. The Green River site in Wyoming has given up many new finds in the past.
Bruce Archibald of Simon Fraser University in British Columbia noted that the fossil was similar to one found in Germany. Only the queen of the Dorylus wilverthi species of ant living today reaches this size. Fittingly, the new ant has been named Titanomyrma lubei. Louis Lube found the specimen. While this ant is big for North America, big ants probably lived in other parts of the world because large fossils of other creatures have been found there.
Large ants only live a tropical climate in the present so North America was tropical millions of years ago. It is a mystery how they crossed the temperate Arctic region then. For brief periods this area became quite warm, up to 8 degrees Celsius, though not tropical. Bursts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from sediment was the culprit. With two sources for ancient giant ants now known it may be possible to identify where they originated.
Bruce Archibald of Simon Fraser University in British Columbia noted that the fossil was similar to one found in Germany. Only the queen of the Dorylus wilverthi species of ant living today reaches this size. Fittingly, the new ant has been named Titanomyrma lubei. Louis Lube found the specimen. While this ant is big for North America, big ants probably lived in other parts of the world because large fossils of other creatures have been found there.
Large ants only live a tropical climate in the present so North America was tropical millions of years ago. It is a mystery how they crossed the temperate Arctic region then. For brief periods this area became quite warm, up to 8 degrees Celsius, though not tropical. Bursts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from sediment was the culprit. With two sources for ancient giant ants now known it may be possible to identify where they originated.
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Science
Tasmanian Tiger Did Not Fill the Evolutionary NIche of a Dog
It was believed that the Tasmanian Tiger perished in mainland Australia due to the dingo taking over their habitat. New findings show the dingo did not directly compete with the marsupial dog. They had different ways of getting their food.
Dingos were brought to Australia from Asia in recent times. It is not native to Australia. The demise of the Tasmanian tiger on the larger part of Australia 3,000 years ago was coincidental. Settlers in Tasmania feared their cattle and sheep would be slaughtered so they eradicated the quite timid animal in the early twentieth century.
Dingoes are wild dogs that run for long periods running down their prey. Tasmanian tigers were not distance runners. They ambushed sick and young animals. The tiger's skeletal structure was more like cats than dogs, particularly the elbow joint which was feline in character. The dingo has elbows that lock, while the marsupial dog had a flexible joint. This undermines the theory that the Tasmanian tiger filled the evolutionary niche open in Australia due to the absence of a native dog.
Dingos were brought to Australia from Asia in recent times. It is not native to Australia. The demise of the Tasmanian tiger on the larger part of Australia 3,000 years ago was coincidental. Settlers in Tasmania feared their cattle and sheep would be slaughtered so they eradicated the quite timid animal in the early twentieth century.
Dingoes are wild dogs that run for long periods running down their prey. Tasmanian tigers were not distance runners. They ambushed sick and young animals. The tiger's skeletal structure was more like cats than dogs, particularly the elbow joint which was feline in character. The dingo has elbows that lock, while the marsupial dog had a flexible joint. This undermines the theory that the Tasmanian tiger filled the evolutionary niche open in Australia due to the absence of a native dog.
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Science
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