"I can do this all day."
Funny Animal Photos
🐬
Developing Australia's North is Just Pie in the Sky
The "opening-up" of northern Australia is pie in the sky by both leading political parties. Unless billions of dollars are put into the north development will not take place. The Ord River Irrigation Scheme is an example. However, the scheme is not a real success. Salinity is rising and destroying productive land.
Are the political parties planning to build dams? No, not in new northern regions! Neither is putting forward substantial money for investment. Kevin Rudd's promise to extend the Ord River Dam will only drag up more salt. Just telling people to move north is a silly idea. Like the draw to Western Australia there must be financial incentives. The mining boom there means better paid jobs.
Those suggesting development of northern Australia don't even study the climatic and geographic realities. Tropical soil is very thin. It barely covers the surface. To grow any plant in large quantities thick fertile soil is needed. Tropical soil may be fertile but there isn't enough of it.
Making the Northern Territory a special economic zone with reduced taxes will not bring agriculture to the region. And there is no skilled workforce for factory work. Most countries are now finding special economic zones do not benefit them. The zones don't put money into a nation's financial "kitty". Indeed, they are a drain on national revenue. Companies move there just to dodge paying tax - no extra jobs.
Conservation
Share Article
Sea Levels Fall in Eastern Australia
It seems the Earth is trying to balance out global warming itself. There could be a natural balance level that the planet is attempting to reach. In Australia an unusual phenomenon has taken place.
We have had a lot of rain in coastal regions, while inland it remains dry. The arid regions have soaked up the excess water only gradually releasing it to the ocean, so sea levels have not increased. Indeed, sea level has fallen 7 millimeters.
Damaging floods cost Queenslanders millions of dollars. It was so bad that insurance companies refused to reinsured low-lying towns. Even the dry Northern Territory had floods. One of two very close La Ninas was the strongest ever recorded. The year 2012 was rain, rain and more rain.
This is not something that global warming critics should put forward as a natural solution. Only in Australia does the unusual geographic structure of the continent exist. Humid air moved slowly east but moved as far south as Melbourne, pushing up rainfall 20 per cent. Tropical air has never reached Melbourne before.
The fall in sea level is only a blip on the rising graph. The average rise is 3.2 millimeters a year. By the end of the century ocean levels are expected to increase by 820 millimeters, up from previous estimates of 590.
Rising use of carbon fuel may make sea levels rise even more. The oil "boom" in the US threatens all the good work being done by environmentalists to change behavior. Higher production has pushed "peak oil" well into the future. Enthusiasm for non-carbon power sources is waning.
Conservation
Share Article
Angus Cattle Carry a Dangerous Recessive Gene
There are serious problems involved in breeding top class cattle for the market. Like in breeding budgerigars recessive genes coming together can cause some young to be victims of early death.
http://www.blogger.com/home?pli=1&pli=1
In creating the "perfect" animal, weaknesses have been seen in Angus cattle. The disease is call Development Duplication (DD). Its general name is polymelia. Embryos are dying and some are born with extra limbs.
In creating the "perfect" animal, weaknesses have been seen in Angus cattle. The disease is call Development Duplication (DD). Its general name is polymelia. Embryos are dying and some are born with extra limbs.
The disease is common in all cattle, but selective breeding has increase its prominence in Angus cattle. Some affected animals have had operations to remove extra limbs. This is complicating the issue particularly if they are used for breeding.
Tests are available to identify the recessive gene causing the problem. It occurs at a rate of 3 per cent in the Angus breed. Pairing a sire with the recessive to a dam without it produces a normal calf. The recessive gene is passed on, however, not eliminated. It is believed that the presence of the gene has improved growth and fertility. This is a dangerous path to follow. Keeping something deleterious for perceived market benefits.
Conservation
Australpithecus sediba Is Not an Ancestor of Man
The Announcement that skeletons found in South Africa belong to a new species of Man is premature. They were found in a cave near Johannesburg. The "new species" was named Australopithecus sediba. It was claimed to be the "rosetta stone" into the past. They were also the most complete skeletons ever discovered. The creatures walked upright, had long arms and powerful hands. Unfortunately, they were small brained.
Paleoanthropologists not involved in the find say the name chosen is just a "wastebasket" category. They are not ancestors of Man. Furthermore, some animals in the species could have had larger or smaller brains. It could still be transitional in evolution to Man, but very distant.
It may fit into Homo. Perhaps it is a sister species to Homo habilis. The brain size of Australopithecus sediba is the same as Homo floresiensis, the Hobbit, of Indonesia. The features in sediba are similar to those in other Homo species. Paleoanthropologists put very early finds in Homo. Sediba is not so unique as to have a lineage of its own. Indeed, Australopithecus africanus is older than sediba and africanus does have unique lineage. Sediba is too primitive to be a direct ancestor of Man. Older Homo species have features more like Man than sediba.
http://adventure--australia.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Conservation
Share Article
Global Warming Threatens Native Marine Species
As meteorologists tell us that natural disasters are becoming regular occurrences due to climate change, so the threat to certain animals species increases. Marine animals are in serious danger. The sea is warming up.
It is accepted that whales beaching themselves is "normal". However, dugong doing the same thing is not. CSIRO which is always at the forefront of Australian research says that south-eastern and north-western sea regions around Australia have become significantly warmer.
As some species move or even die out and new species arrive the ecological dynamic is disrupted. Death from new diseases becomes the norm. New species eat the food that native creatures eat, so marine animals that have been in the same place for thousands of years are doubly threatened.
The future looks bleak. The climate could level off and remain changed but stabilize. On the other hand, change could be ongoing and the variation in marine species could decline. This could affect food supplies for people.
Conservation
Finding a Partner Online Does Not Bode Well
Finding a life partner online is not a good thing. From the start there is a culture clash if each of the parties come from different countries. Visiting someone for periodic short periods in their own culture is not a good way to see if a couple will get along permanently. Even worse, if pregnancy is the result of these short visits there is a high probability that court action will have to be taken to settle a custody dispute.
A case in point is a an Australian man who married a Japanese woman because she fell pregnant while he was seeing her in Japan. They married in Australia and the marriage had broken down. Like most custody battles the woman gained custody. Whether the child will be brought up in Australia or Japan is not known. In court the judge said both parties had exaggerated how bad the other party was.
It seems the main problem is the diets of people from different cultures. Apparently, the husband hated rice and the wife would only cook rice. This may seem trivial. but diet is important to individuals and they cannot just change and like something they were not given while they were young.
An understanding could have been reached by the husband if he had agreed to cook his own meals. However, Australian culture clearly nominates the female as the one who does most of the cooking for a household. The husband's role extends only to doing the odd barbecue. The husband also claimed that the wife was always shouting and hitting him. A thing not usually done in public in Australia.
Just why some Australian men prefer Asian women as wives is not clear. Perhaps they see such women as being subservient. As this man found, this view can be entirely wrong.
Conservation
Dinosaurs Found in Australia - What is Fact?
Australia is a very old continent. It seems the ancestors of Tyrannosaurus rex lived here. A hip bone has been found that dates to 110 million years ago which is 40 million years before T.rex roamed elsewhere on earth. Until now it was believed that T.rex only lived on northern continents.
Many of the things stated as fact by scientists are indeed just matters of faith until they are "proven" otherwise. Scientists argue about when dinosaurs developed feathers and why. They claim that birds today are direct descendants from dinosaurs. This is like saying humans are descended from dinosaurs. Much evidence points to birds having a line of descent completely separate from dinosaurs.
The same rings true with the Hobbit people of Flores Island. Some scientists will not accept that people different from humans survived until 18,000 years ago alongside humans. Neanderthals lived until 50,000 years ago, so why not another type of human? Science is much like religion. What is just theory is put forth as fact. Ah, the dangers of religion - and science!
Many of the things stated as fact by scientists are indeed just matters of faith until they are "proven" otherwise. Scientists argue about when dinosaurs developed feathers and why. They claim that birds today are direct descendants from dinosaurs. This is like saying humans are descended from dinosaurs. Much evidence points to birds having a line of descent completely separate from dinosaurs.
The same rings true with the Hobbit people of Flores Island. Some scientists will not accept that people different from humans survived until 18,000 years ago alongside humans. Neanderthals lived until 50,000 years ago, so why not another type of human? Science is much like religion. What is just theory is put forth as fact. Ah, the dangers of religion - and science!
Conservation
Bombs Dropped Near Barrier Reef
The Us has dumped bombs near Australia's Great Barrier Reef. It was not intentional. Two of their Marine aircraft were in fuel trouble and had to jettison the dangerous cargo for safety reasons.
Before dumping the explosive devices they were disarmed. The planes were operating from a Navy ship. The now harmless bombs are sitting in a deep channel away from the Barrier Reef. They are in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage area, however.
Plans are under way to retrieve the bombs. Just how this is to be done is unknown at present. It is not an international incident. The Australian government knows full well the immediacy of the action. There has been no protest. Removal will be done as soon as practicable.
Conservation
Improving National Productivity Will Not Be Easy
There is a problem with the call for improvement in productivity. Those calling for it will not be the ones working harder. The experiment was tried in the 1970s when many UK factories moved in the time and motion guys and started timing machinists.
Unions and workers saw them coming, however. Before they even got going unions tied management down with a new contract that guaranteed workers would not be put on a lower rate if the business ran out of orders. They would be paid at the previous month's average rate when walking around doing very little. This was done to make sure employees would not lose income due to them working harder. Furthermore, when foremen, leading hands and motion "experts" started milling around a machine workers knew what was about to happen. An older naturally slower machinists was soon moved in and lathe speeds were reduced. Considering the motion timers had never seen capstan lathes before this was an easy trick.
It took several years before management caught on to what was going on. Ultimately, workers did work harder. They moved up the machinist grades A, B, C and D. Thus improving their pay per task. Obviously, they speeded up machines and produced more per hour to increase overall income.
In the long run businesses failed to make a profit. Paying employees to work harder then continuing to pay them at the same rate when work ran out was plainly stupid. A country needs easy dismissal laws to make a more flexible workforce, a nervous workforce in fear of being sacked.
It must be remembered that a monitored worker must be watched by someone. Extra staff like a separate time and motion division was a costly burden. Every new product made for new tasks. Time and motion was working harder than anyone.
BHP Billiton CEO Andrew Mackenzie is banking on a Coalition win in the next election to change industrial relations laws. Let us hope he is right because business needs a boost. Changing a country's working culture is very difficult though. Pumping money into timing employees raises costs. And workers will duck and weave to block any change forced on them.
Source: Based on Wellworthy Engineering, a factory in Ringwood, Hampshire, England.
Source: Based on Wellworthy Engineering, a factory in Ringwood, Hampshire, England.
Conservation
Subscribe to:
Posts
(
Atom
)
