Australia Is Moving Toward a Cashless Society

Whether we like it or not, Australia is moving toward a cashless society.  People do not like to carry cash. While the older generation draws money from ATMs and banks to go shopping, young people prefer to carry just a credit card. Most debit cards are held by the aged who do not like to go into credit card debt.

In Australia 86 per cent of transactions are made with a card. This puts Australia 6th in the world in the cashless country list. Developing nations still use cash for about half of all payments.

Using cards for payments is safer than cash. If felons know a person is carrying cash they could be theft targets. There is another side to a fully cashless society: the taxman will be able to trace all transactions, business and private, if suitable laws are passed to gain access to bank data. At present only the police can view data on a person's financial affairs if they are investigating a crime. This will probably be extended over coming decades to social security and the tax department to make sure people are not "ripping off" the taxpayer. Tax avoidance will be a thing of the past.
Whether we like it or not, many people do not carry cash. While the older generation draws money from ATMs and banks to go shopping, young people prefer to carry just a credit card. Most debit cards are held by the aged who do not like to go into credit card debt.

In Australia 86 per cent of transactions are made with a card. This puts Australia 6th in the world in the cashless country list. Developing nations still use cash for about half of all payments.

Using cards for payments is safer than cash. If felons know a person is carrying cash they could be theft targets. There is another side to a fully cashless society: the taxman will be able to trace all transactions, business and private, if suitable laws are passed to gain access to bank data. At present only the police can view data on a person's financial affairs if they are investigating a crime. This will probably be extended over coming decades to social security and the tax department to make sure people are not "ripping off" the taxpayer. Tax avoidance will be a thing of the past.


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Society by Ty Buchanan
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Halt Cat

 "Whoops!  That was a bad stop."
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Yoga Dog

 "Why cant I do yoga?"
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Pensioners Will Be Denied Income

Pensioners have gray hair. They are also entering a gray area, politically, socially and economically. Most people reaching pension age have never paid superannuation and others have only been paying it for a few years of their working lives. The amount saved by super is certainly not enough to live on. This group relies on the government to provide them with an income.

Calls are coming from all sides for an increase in the pension to a "livable" level. Basic costs like council rates, rents, electricity, gas, water and sewerage have gone through the roof in the last decade. There is no solid reason why this should be so. Electricity companies keep saying the old infrastructure has to be renewed. Surveys show they have actually over-spent, pushing the cost onto consumers.

Giving those who could afford solar power a massive discount for feeding electricity back into the grid is appalling political decision making. Pensioners could not afford solar. They are subsidizing the wealthy.

We are entering a tough period for older Australians. As time passes retiring workers will have full superannuation cover. What happens about those already on the government pension? When Paul Keating introduced compulsory superannuation it was with the intention of phasing out state funded pensions. Both sides of politics are pushing toward this. They are not planning to increase the pension by the needed $4,000 a year.
In the past the wandering tramp was common and this wasn't only during the depression. Nearly all of these were elderly. They could not afford to put a roof over their heads. Within a decade, such a social class will return. This time though they will join the homeless young who exist on unemployment benefit that it much lower than the pension.
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Society by Ty Buchanan
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Normal Cat

 "How am I sitting on this chair?  That is a secret."
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Funny Animal Photos by Ty Buchanan
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Being Overweight Causes Osteoporosis

Being overweight leads to heart disease but it can also cause osteoporosis. This is due to people cutting out vital elements in the diet in their attempts to lose weight. Dairy products are essential for strong bones. Yet milk, butter and cheese are precisely what it being disregarded in diet by 30 per cent of women. Another danger is the consumption of bread. An astounding 40 per cent of women have stopped eating this food that is calcium fortified.  It must be remembered though that bread has only been part of the human diet for 10,000 years.  It could be the cause of many humans "diseases".

Research has shown that the real cause of weight gain is carbohydrates. Yes, it's as simple as that. People who only cut out sugar lose weight very quickly and maintain a low body weight thereafter. People concentrate on eating low fat diets even though research shows this to be the wrong thing to do. Look at movies made up to WWII. Actors and actresses and especially the extras were all quite skinny then. In those days most Western nations had not developed the high sugar habit. And most workers then went to work on a large fatty fried breakfast.

Danger in the future will not be with low fat diets. Young people today just refuse to eat vegetables. Cabbage and broccoli are high in iron. Young people steer well clear of these. Hope lies with the intake of fish. The young do like fish. Note the dash for seafood at Christmas. Fish contains calcium and minerals. Processed food is high in sugar. Government needs to have a policy aimed at lowering sugar intake in our diets.
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Conservation by Ty Buchanan
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Limbering Cat


 "Just limbering up."
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Funny Animal Photos by Ty Buchanan
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Australian Headset Slows a Car During Driver Inattention

Every car manufacturer in the world is working on a self-drive vehicle, but is this the way of the future? How is it possible to have self-driven and human-driven cars on the same road at the same time in the "change-over" period? Auto-drive vehicles tend to be small, though there is no real need for this. It seems designers are trying to force us to accept tiny cars that get around on their own. Most elderly people use their cars to do the weekly shopping. with no boot/trunk this is impossible.

Accidents are caused by drivers not cars. It is human error, particularly not paying attention that is to blame. If human concentration can be improved there will be no need for auto-driven vehicles.

Researchers in Australia are working on a "headset" that monitors brain activity during driving. As brain activity changes when a driver is distracted the cars automatic braking system comes into action.

At the moment the headset is quite large - it has 14 sensors. This is only the beginning of the program though. Several different types of distraction were used: switching radio stations, using mobile phones, drinking water and reading maps.

Gaze rate, blink rate, blink duration and dwelling on a fixed point were also measured by the headset. A great deal of data is collected. This is not difficult to analyse with modern computers. Reducing accidents by making a car slow down then speed up again is paramount to lessen the 46 per cent of fatal accidents caused by inattention.
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Technology by Ty Buchanan
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Cat Sit

 "How am I sitting on this chair?  That is a secret."
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Funny Animal Photos by Ty Buchanan
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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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