"When I grow up, I wanna be a tiger."
Felons With Guns Are Percieved as Being Larger
Though widely accepted in law courts it is well known that witness evidence is suspect. Even victims in many cases get it wrong. A querk in humans beings is the ability to identify members of one's own race, for the most part, but the noticable inability to recognize people of other races. The phrase "you all look alike" is relevant here.
What people see can be distorted by a felon carrying a weapon. Human perception is still based on how our ancestors saw danger. An opponent carrying a weapon was more dangerous so was perceived as being big and strong.
A current study shows that a witness describing someone with a gun said the gun carrier was larger and taller than he/she actually was. This brings into question prevailing theories on memory. Could a person be seen as being bigger if more aggression was shown without a weapon?
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Society
Society and High Intelligence Go Together
We have large brains due to social interaction. In early societies culture meant things had to be remembered. Another important function leading to large brains was tools use, though chimpanzees use tools. The most intelligent people would inevitably become leaders and have the choice of mates, thus passing on their genes.
Intelligence and brain size are of course interdependent. Animals such as dolphins and elephants have social structures. They are also very intelligent. Higher intelligence appears to be naturally selected for in any species.
Apparently, when society develops intelligence must increase otherwise an individual will be "put upon" by the smarter ones. There is some evidence that really clever individuals tend to be disruptive to a society. The naive are certainly at a disadvantage.
A thorn in the side of the above theory is that some highly structured societies are composed of small creatures with tiny brains. Ants, bees and wasps are in this category.
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Society
Cane Toads Are Killing off Saltwater Crocodiles
You Don't have to be big to kill a crocodile. A small imported pest can kill one. Cane toads are in plague proportions in the Northern Territory.
Cane toads have poisonous sacks on their heads. When a saltwater crocodile eats one assuming it to be a tasty snack the crocodile ingests the poison and dies.
The problem is so serious that the population has fallen by half in some areas. Because the species takes a long time to breed up numbers, the crocodiles could become very scarce in some regions.
Introducing cane toads was a great mistake by Australian scientists. They were brought in to combat beetles destroying sugar crops in 1935. But the toads ignored the beetles and now threaten many native species by eating what they eat. To travel faster around the country some toads have developed larger hind legs to cover a greater distance before the sun goes down.
Cane toads have poisonous sacks on their heads. When a saltwater crocodile eats one assuming it to be a tasty snack the crocodile ingests the poison and dies.
The problem is so serious that the population has fallen by half in some areas. Because the species takes a long time to breed up numbers, the crocodiles could become very scarce in some regions.
Introducing cane toads was a great mistake by Australian scientists. They were brought in to combat beetles destroying sugar crops in 1935. But the toads ignored the beetles and now threaten many native species by eating what they eat. To travel faster around the country some toads have developed larger hind legs to cover a greater distance before the sun goes down.
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Society
Man Tortures Kangaroo
Culling an animal species is acceptable but cruelty is not. The exact population of kangaroos in unknown. There are at least as many as there are people in Australia.
Culling involves a direct gunshot to the head. Using your car as a weapon to run over a kangaroo, then kicking it to death is definitely not on.
Nigel Franks went even further: he dragged the carcass two kilometers along the road with a rope attached to his car. A woman found the dead animal in the high street of a town.
In court the defendant was told he was in serious trouble. He had already broken the law before, not complying to a community order. He has to return to court on June 4 to find out what his sentence will be.
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Culling involves a direct gunshot to the head. Using your car as a weapon to run over a kangaroo, then kicking it to death is definitely not on.
Nigel Franks went even further: he dragged the carcass two kilometers along the road with a rope attached to his car. A woman found the dead animal in the high street of a town.
In court the defendant was told he was in serious trouble. He had already broken the law before, not complying to a community order. He has to return to court on June 4 to find out what his sentence will be.
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Law
Housing Not Affordable for the Young
The concept of building one and two bedroom houses instead of the traditional three and four bedroom homes seems doomed to failure. More adult children than ever are going back home to live with their parents. A single person simply cannot earn enough to get a loan for a house. If you are a labourer or a TAFE trained worker this is increasingly the case. As many as 70 per cent of people aged under 35 cannot buy a home of their own.
While specialists say tax incentives are needed to enable young people to buy, this is not the problem. Australia will have a housing shortage for decades because there are not enough qualified builders in outback Australia. This is particularly the case in booming Western Australia with mineral companies being forced to have accommodation built at great cost.
Giving the young tax breaks and just giving them handouts is not a solution. It is a bottom up issue not a top down problem. Getting trades persons from other countries will not make any difference either. Countries have unique building codes. For example, in the UK houses are built in double brick where the two walls hold up the roof. In the US they built much larger houses. In Australia brick veneer is the norm where timber holds up the roof and bricks are just decoration.
The next Australian government will probably be Liberal/National. They will not be inclined to give handouts. Moreover, with the push toward a balanced budget next year the current Labor government has no money to spare.
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~~~~~Society~~~~~
Campaign To End Sale of Battery Eggs
Environmentalists launch a campaign to stop the sale of battery eggs. This involves "pestering" consumers in supermarkets who are about to buy battery eggs. The environmentalist will not win the war. They will just make consumers angry. Radio advertisements will have the same effect.
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If battery eggs are banned the price of supermarket eggs will increase from $2.50 to $10.00 a dozen. The government will also have the burden of compensation for battery farms which are forced to close.
The campaigners believe that consumers need to be educated about chickens living in tiny pens. People already know this. They don't need to be force-fed the truth. They also know that cows must be kept alive for blood to be drained from the body after they are knocked out. This doesn't stop them buying beef.
European countries are trying to change, but the supply of free-range eggs is insufficient to meet demand. Not enough businesses are prepared to re-invest in bigger cages. Furthermore, a recent university study showed that battery hens were not stressed.
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Society
"You blew off didn't you?" Capitalism is Bad for Us
Research shows that capitalism is bad for us. Since the 1970s there has been an increase in mental illness of adults and children. Indications are that it is due to capitalism because the rise has been noted in English speaking capitalist countries and not in non-English speaking non-capitalist nations.
An average 23% of Americans, Britons, Australians, New Zealanders and Canadians suffered from mental illness in the last 12 months, but only 11.5% of Germans, Italians, French, Belgians, Spaniards and Dutch which have more restrictive trading systems.
Selfish Capitalism has massively increased the wealth of the wealthy, robbing the average earner to give to the rich. But there is no "trickle-down effect". Real wages have decreased in the US over the last three decades. Governments have reduced tax payments of the rich, placing responsibility for payment on low income earners.
An average 23% of Americans, Britons, Australians, New Zealanders and Canadians suffered from mental illness in the last 12 months, but only 11.5% of Germans, Italians, French, Belgians, Spaniards and Dutch which have more restrictive trading systems.
Selfish Capitalism has massively increased the wealth of the wealthy, robbing the average earner to give to the rich. But there is no "trickle-down effect". Real wages have decreased in the US over the last three decades. Governments have reduced tax payments of the rich, placing responsibility for payment on low income earners.
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Society
Parents and Children Hit by New WA Drug Laws
Western Australia is about to fill up its jails and children's care homes in the war on drugs. New legislation will jail parents and take away children for the cultivation of one cannabis plant. The jail terms are mandatory for the manufacture of small amounts of other drugs.
The conservative government has certainly lived up to its ideals of trying to turn back the clock a century or so. Transportation to a far off land could be next for "criminals". An earlier Labor government had decriminalized minor marijuana use. Just why the WA government would want to change a situation that seemed to be working is the real question. The premier must know that tough regulation like in the US has failed, totally. If legislation worked, such action would be justified
Even in the UK, people found with a small amount of drugs on their person are given a warning the first time it happens. Only serial offenders are jailed. This is the best idea. Target the dealers not individuals who in many cases are experimenting. We let people damage their health by smoking tobacco. Allowing them to cultivate a small amount of marijuana for their own use is akin to that.
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Society
Rift Valley Created by Tectonic Event - Findings of Early Man Fortuitous
The birthplace of Mankind is believed to be the Rift Valley in East Africa. It was thought that the valley formed over a long period of time. James Cook University scientists in Australia have found that a tectonic event changed the flow of the Congo, Nile and other rivers thus creating the Ethiopian-Kenyan eastern segment, and the Ugandan-Malawi western branch.
Formerly the assumption was that this didn't happen at the same time. The eastern section developed up to 25 million years before the western segment. This was the prevailing theory.
The Australian evidence indicates that the tectonic event created the eastern and western branches at much the same time. Climate change models will now have to be reviewed.
Because the region is rich in fossils ongoing investigation occurs there. It is the only late Oligocene terrestrial fossil deposit in Africa below the equator. Though fossils of early Man have been found there, it may not be the actual birthplace of Mankind. If could just be fortuitous that evidence has been found there.
Formerly the assumption was that this didn't happen at the same time. The eastern section developed up to 25 million years before the western segment. This was the prevailing theory.
The Australian evidence indicates that the tectonic event created the eastern and western branches at much the same time. Climate change models will now have to be reviewed.
Because the region is rich in fossils ongoing investigation occurs there. It is the only late Oligocene terrestrial fossil deposit in Africa below the equator. Though fossils of early Man have been found there, it may not be the actual birthplace of Mankind. If could just be fortuitous that evidence has been found there.
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Science
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