"I've just had a fright!"
Funny Animal Photos by Ty Buchanan
Neither Labor Nor Liberal Understand the Needs of Education
With fewer students choosing not to maths and science, or even worse doing badly in the subjects, there is a real shortage of people who can work in big data tech. Research scientists for universities are simply not there. Business pays twice as much as universities. Basically, universities need more money. The government is doing nothing about this commercial reality.
Labor took a big chunk out of university funding with its educational reforms. The Liberal national government has promised less for both universities and schools, despite the Abbott back down. Just what the government plans to do is unknown at present. The Gonsky reforms are up in the air. Some states are not yet on board and states who have signed want the money promised by Labor.
Universities are in the wings waiting for some kind of positive action by the government. If the Gonsky funding goes ahead there will very little left for the tertiary sector. Robbing tertiary to fund schools does not make any sense. Both should have got a larger slice of the money pie. This is like taking money out of high schools and giving it to kindergartens. It is not rational. Education is a complete working body, from top to bottom. Maybe Chrisopher Pyne was right in his claim that we need a new start, but his version announced as cutting future spending in all educational sectors is not on.
Education by Ty Buchanan
Education by Ty Buchanan
If You Stand Up You
Humans are built to stand up all the time. How ridiculous this sounds, but this is what scientists say. You will die younger, get diabetes, and fall victim to cancer if you sit down too much. Doing exercise won't stop it apparently. Even sitting down at any time is damaging. This is "silly science" because though people sit down longer than ever before they also live longer. Statistics prove this.
Scientists say the body only functions "normally" if we are standing. Normal systems cease if we sit down. If these body operations work when we are standing what proof is there that they are really necessary? There is no proof. This is just a whim and let's hope it soon passes before people bring cases to court against employers.
There is no more ardent a person against smoking than an ex-smoker. Guess What! The main researcher on all this stuff, Professor Levine, has taken to standing all the time. This bloke is a bit of a nutcase, an obsessive compulsive if there is one - he walks around the room like in the old movies with an almighty long telephone cord. He also invented machines where you can keep walking or cycling while still using a computer. Health and safety has deemed these device too dangerous to use.
Levine wants to change the world like all obsessives. "What you need to do is to create an overall environment of health." Yeah, like those people selling ordinary tea that supposedly makes you lose weight. Beware, the Professor has four large US companies on board to find out how much can be saved in dollars by walking around all the time. You could be next on the test list.
Scientists say the body only functions "normally" if we are standing. Normal systems cease if we sit down. If these body operations work when we are standing what proof is there that they are really necessary? There is no proof. This is just a whim and let's hope it soon passes before people bring cases to court against employers.
There is no more ardent a person against smoking than an ex-smoker. Guess What! The main researcher on all this stuff, Professor Levine, has taken to standing all the time. This bloke is a bit of a nutcase, an obsessive compulsive if there is one - he walks around the room like in the old movies with an almighty long telephone cord. He also invented machines where you can keep walking or cycling while still using a computer. Health and safety has deemed these device too dangerous to use.
Levine wants to change the world like all obsessives. "What you need to do is to create an overall environment of health." Yeah, like those people selling ordinary tea that supposedly makes you lose weight. Beware, the Professor has four large US companies on board to find out how much can be saved in dollars by walking around all the time. You could be next on the test list.
Health by Ty Buchanan
The NBN Needs Private Enterprise Not Bureaucracy
If the National Broadband Network ever gets finished health care for rural Australians will improve. The Abbott Government has sacked the NBN board. It has also began an inquiry. When will this end and real completion goals be set? The previous government made the mistake of not having goals. This is what led to its demise in the last election - it had lost its way on most issues.
An inquiry is seen as more "pussy-footing around". We need a clearly defined schedule. All major construction projects have dates set out for finalization of each stage. Why does the NBN have to be any different? Surely they know how much time it takes to lay "X" amount of fiber optic cable. This is the problem with monopolies: they consume time and money. Why not put stages out for competitive tenders? Surely real competition can get things moving.
The inquiry must come up with positive workable solutions. We cannot have another government mess up. Get rid of the bureaucrats. These are the expensive hangers on. Get private enterprise in on the job. Of course, the problem is - Has the Labor government locked us into unbreakable contracts? Getting out of these contracts could prove to be very expensive. However, something needs to be done, and fast!
Economics by Ty Buchanan
Keeping Australia's Car Industry Afloat Is Not Economically Rational
There are calls from many quarters for keeping Australia's car industry alive. I am not so sure that a country needs its own motor industry anymore. Times have changed. No vehicle is made entirely in one country today. The days of getting prestige from it are long gone.
Propping up a floundering car sector is against all practical economic and social theory. It doesn't make sense to spend taxpayers money in such a wasteful way. Holden and Ford continue to take handouts while still not making any profit. Ford has already gone. The days for Holden are numbered. Holden was never a truly Australian car. It was an old General Motors design left in a drawer collecting dust until it was thrown on the table at a meeting in Australia.
Australia has never been a manufacturing country. It is not like Britain which has very in the way of natural resources so must generate income somehow from industry. Large businesses have only been in the primary sector. Exporting what comes out of the ground has always been the way Australia survives.
Those who hang on to so called Australian icons are sentimentalists. Things do change and old things fall away. Vegemite and Billy Tea are foreign owned. This doesn't stop us from claiming these icons. If Holden dies in this country that will be it. The car is not composed completely of Australian parts anyway. We can always rebadge an American designed car and race it at Bathurst.
Economics by Ty Buchanan
Society by Ty Buchanan
Eucalytus Trees Store Gold in Their Leaves
A way of detecting gold deposits beneath the ground has been right in front of our eyes for years. Eucalyptus trees take up gold particles into their leaves. X-ray imaging could replace test drilling.
Eucalyptus roots go down a very long way in search of water. Some sinker roots reach 40 meters below the surface. If there is gold in the ground it is concentrated in the leaves. It is pushed to extremities of the tree because gold is toxic.
Research has proven the theory. Trees above gold deposits store gold, but in gold-free areas there is no stored gold. It is place specific as well: the amount of gold particles varies with the level of gold deposits in the ground.
There is no threat to the trees as the amount of stored gold is minuscule. All types of plants store minerals besides eucalyptus. However, the overwhelming number of plant species in Australia are eucalyptus.
It is no longer necessary to drill in difficult, rocky places. Taking a few leaves for analysis does not damage the trees. This will make the search for gold much easier and cheaper.
Society by Ty Buchanan
Subscribe to:
Posts
(
Atom
)
