"No, you move"
Funny Animal Photos by Ty Buchanan
Australian Retail Problems Not Caused by the Mineral Sector
There is clearly something wrong with the Australian economy. We seem to in the same position of Indonesia several decades ago when it had oil and the high price was pushing up the value of the currency. A high currency makes it difficult for those producing "non-boom" products to export. That is why the US is printing more dollars to weaken the currency, improve the economy and create more jobs. Nothing much is happening for it though because the US dollar is the major international currency as gold used to be.
Just why Australian shopkeepers are crying fowl is more difficult to understand. A strong currency means imports are cheaper. Australians are very import dependent in their spending habits and buying cheap imports is what they like to do. They buy such imports over more expensive Australian made products, but this shouldn't hurt the bottom line of retailers.
They claim Australians are spending less. Though figures show this to be the case, spending is not that easy to understand. If people save, the banks have more money to lend out to business and those who want to go into debt. However, due to the financial crisis Australian banks have tightened up on lending criteria. They will no longer lend to those with no offsetting assets. In other words, banks are withholding money. This money is not active within Australia. It may be invested overseas by banks.
The retail sector is wrong to blame exporters of minerals, the economy in general or interest rates. Obviously, the cause of reduced spending is the behavior of banks. Government could force the hand of banks. It will not do this as politicians fear a bank crisis occurring here in Australia. Some European countries were devastated by the global banking crisis. Their governments lost billions in propping up banks by giving them money that borrowers could not pay back. It was taxpayers money they were "giving" away.
HIV Reaching Record Levels in Australia
It seems Mankind hasn't moved far away from its ancient existence - living in a literal "bath" of disease. All other living things live in hostile environments, if not from predators then from a plethora of diseases.
Antibiotics are losing their efficacy. They no longer work. There are only a few that are effective against hospital acquired infections (HAI). Furthermore, it will be a shock to many that there is still no real treatment for fungal infections. Once you suffer from fungal problems you have to keep on applying various ointments.
Australia has reached a dangerous point in regard to HIV. Last year new HIV infections rose to their highest point in 20 years. Because younger people are experimenting with sex, this is the group contracting the disease at the highest level. Infections have been increasing since 1999. It is now at a rate of 24 per cent a year, from 10 per cent in 1999.
Despite attempts to destigmatize the way HIV is contracted, the reality is that 60 per cent of new infections are between consenting males. Perhaps there is a strong case for allowing marriage between same sex couples. This would reduce philandering to a significant degree. Otherwise, we could see some countries introducing a register of those with the disease and major penalties for intentionally infecting others.
Health by Ty Buchanan
No Improvement in Mental Health
After a great deal of research we still do not know what mental illness is and what causes it. There seems to be only general ways of categorizing individuals suffering mental problems. Each person's illness tends to be unique. Some people are on extremely high levels of medication. Indeed, many have to rotate medications because the drugs lose their effectiveness.
It is no wonder spending on the treatment of mental illness has not increased in the last twenty years. Reforms carried out have not improved matters at all. When sufferers attempt suicide they are kept in the mental health section of public hospitals, given medication and sent on their way a day or so later. There is usually a little talk with them, but they are thrown out to deal with life's problems, alone.
Nearly half of Australia will have mental problems at some time in their lives. This is a frightening statistic. Furthermore, there is discrimination. In OECD countries Australia is near the bottom for the number of people in the workforce who have mental issues.
It is difficult to treat something that is not understood. If your hip or knee fails you, an operation providing a new joint is an option. For mental illness there are many medications that only seem to help for a short time. The only form of treatment that has been there from the beginning is talking to the patient. This will continue of course.
Amputees Go on a Dove Hunt
You would think people who have lost limbs would have compassion. Sadly this is not the case. In Olney, Texas, those who have lost limbs meet to exchange stories about their lives and "shoot doves". I am not making this up. Apparently they get a kick out of hunting down the defenseless creatures.
The "club" was established in 1972 by Jack Northrup and Jack Bishop. Seventeen people showed up at the first meeting. Apparently, not all members actually shoot doves. Some attend to enjoy the talk about life and the gadgets amputees have made to improve their lives
The doves multiply to such an extent that they are in plague proportions in 40 states. No less than 400 million are believed to exist. The hunt is not wasteful: they make a good meal. Cooks have experimented by wrapping doves in Bacon then stuffing them with jalapenos. Now the word is out the club expects to get visitors from all over the world.
The "club" was established in 1972 by Jack Northrup and Jack Bishop. Seventeen people showed up at the first meeting. Apparently, not all members actually shoot doves. Some attend to enjoy the talk about life and the gadgets amputees have made to improve their lives
The doves multiply to such an extent that they are in plague proportions in 40 states. No less than 400 million are believed to exist. The hunt is not wasteful: they make a good meal. Cooks have experimented by wrapping doves in Bacon then stuffing them with jalapenos. Now the word is out the club expects to get visitors from all over the world.
Conservation by Ty Buchanan
Share Article
Drone Deliveries Are Out of This World
As if courier deliveries in Australia are not unreliable enough - they don't send out parcels and expect you to pick up from the depot - there is an attempt to deliver with no driver! Yes, the era of drone delivery is upon us it seems.
Next year Zookal will deliver text books from the University of Sydney directly to your mobile phone location. This is ludicrous. Can you imagine the congestion over cities with drones flying everywhere with no control. Why do we need air traffic controllers? They are essential to maintain safety of course.
Students are saying it will be good to receive university library books by drone. However, some scholarly books have more than 1,000 pages and are extremely heavy. Drones will have to be enormous to carry these. Crashes will be frequent with damage to buildings and those spinning blades will cause personal injury. Note, they will head to a phone and cannot see people.
Zookal assumes their concept will be accepted by Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA). They may insist on a control system. This will cancel out any potential profit. I cannot believe that CASA can possible agree to flooding the lower sky with drones darting about all over the place.
At the moment only emergency services use drones, so there are very few drones flying in the same geographic zones. Let us hope common sense prevails. Domino's Pizza recently delivered a Pizza by drone. This was a test and it ended at that point. Collision avoidance systems in drone is unreliable at the moment. When faced with a large flat wall like on a skyscraper they usually crash into it.
Society by Ty Buchanan
Subscribe to:
Posts
(
Atom
)
