"Is it dinner time yet?"
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✴ Funny Animal Pictures by Ty Buchanan ✴
Ships' Ballast Water Spreads Marine Creatures
As international trade continues so does "equalization" of the planet. Many marine species are now found in all waters of the world. This is because transport ships literally hoover up animals in ballast water, which is released at any time, any place, when it is no longer needed.
All ballast water is released into a port when cargo is taken onboard. Marine survivors of this rough treatment give the local environment a go. Some are successful and multiply to epidemic proportions. Zebra mussels and Pacific seastars in particular are a major problem.
An Australian study gathered data such as ports where ballast was likely to be taken on and where it would probably be released. Marine species spread this way were identified and it was predicted how long they would survive. This data was fed into a computer.
It was noticed that shipping volume was increasing mainly in the transport of primary products. Most of this Australian export was delivered to Asia and Southeast Asia. This meant that marine species from this region were unloaded into Australian waters.
New laws were introduced in 2001 to ban the emptying of Asian ballast water into Australian seas. The new rules have been totally ignored. Furthermore, the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments (BWMC) directed ballast water be unloaded into holding tanks. Shipping is not complying.
✴ Environment by Ty Buchanan ✴
Cre
Inquiry Into Tax Dodge by Tech Giants is a Lie Fest
It amazes me how people can blatantly lie, and continue to lie, when everyone else knows the truth. There is a Senate inquiry in Australia into big companies, mainly tech giants, avoiding tax that is owed to this country. Mr King, the head of Apple Australia strongly denies that the company is reducing its tax payments through questionable methods. Fair "crack in the door mate" we all know what is really going on. Is Ireland involved in these methods?
Apple and Google are the major companies targeted by the inquiry. Britain is planning to regulate to make them pay what is due there. Other countries are watching to see what Britain does. Of course, the easiest way to get money out of the tech megaliths is to introduce a revenue tax irrespective of profit, because it is profit that is being skimmed off subsidiaries by head office for non-existent services.
The Australian Tax Office wants its pound of flesh from internationals as it does from locals. Last year Apple paid $80m in tax from profit of $250m. Revenue was $6 billion. While this is a tax rate of 32 per cent, the profit margin of only 4.17 percent is highly suspect. Apple charges a fixed rate of 30 per cent on all app revenue in its App Store. Furthermore, it has huge income from sales of its own merchandise for which the profit margin is not widely known.
Mr King said that Apple would willingly enter into an agreement with the ATO. By saying this he clearly believes that he can choose not to follow Australian law. Apple's tax rate of 32 per cent seems reasonable at first glance when compared to Google Australia's rate of 15 percent. However, Google's profit margin of 13 per cent is more realistic.
Lastly, Mr King of Apple said that Australian app developers had made a fortune out of new apps. He fails to mention the gargantuan amount made by Apple from these. The guaranteed 30 per cent on all downloads is a money grab by any definition considering Apple has set this rate itself and it can easily raise it at any time, even for apps already available.
✴ Technology by Ty Buchanan ✴
Body Rhythms are Set by Color as well as light
Light affects us in many ways. Nordic countries have light treatment for citizens who suffer from a depressive outlook due to lack of sunshine during winter. Their circadian rhythms are disrupted. Recently evidence points to the fact that color is important as well.
With only dawn sunlight in the test room mice seemed confused and their body temperatures lagged behind the norm by 30 minutes. When orange and blue was added to the dawn light the mice were perfectly normal in behavior and temperature.
It seems the light/color information is stored in suprachiasmic neurons in a special way. Biopsies show a time lag in the firing of these neurons which ties into low body temperatures. Mammals have evolved in tune with this planet. The animal to Earth "bonding" seems to be very close indeed.
✴ Biology by Ty Buchanan ✴
Saccharin to Treat Cancer
Are you sweet enough? Maybe you are if you use saccharin. But wait! Are there other uses that this comforter can be used for? Scientists believe that it could treat cancer. The saccharin molecule deactivates carbonic anhydrase IX, a protein in aggressive cancers.
Carbonic anydrase IX regulates PH so that cancer can more easily spread through the body. It is hoped that saccharin can change the PH level. If it is not at an optimum level the cancer can be successfully treated with radiation and chemo therapy.
Healthy tissues, except for the gastrointestinal tract, have no carbonydrase anydrose IX. Other carbonic anydrase proteins are there though. Molecules tested before blocked similar carbonic anydrase proteins which are present to make the body work. By tweaking the saccharin molecule it was discovered that it does not affect helpful anhydrase proteins.
Tests have begun on liver and breast cancer. These are currently on animals. If the research is successful work on humans will open a new road to treating aggressive cancers.
✴ Chemistry by Ty Buchanan ✴
Diving Squirrel
"I will do a forward two and a half somersault with tuck."
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✴ Funny Animal Pictures by Ty Buchanan ✴
Only the Christian Science Church is Exempt from Vaccination
It seems odd to me that Tony Abbott has not exempted Catholics from the new compulsory vaccination law. The only church outside of the new regime is the Christian Science church. Scott Morrison the Social Services Minister tried to keep this a secret. He was stupid to think he could do this. Nothing is secret in politics!
Any exemption is folly. People will be queuing up to join the church but never attend services just to get their children in school. There must be a back down on this decision. Just a letter from the church exempts children of members. Court cases are expected by followers of other churches. A court will allow exemption across the board because the decision is discriminatory.
Health professionals say the new rules will not work because all children have a legal right to attend school. Can you imagine the uproar if parents just choose to take their children out of school and plant them in front of the TV?
There are only 1,400 Christian Scientists nationwide. The decision to exempt them is weird. They obviously have great influence over government. Lobbyists would like to know their secret. Considering members of this church do accept treatment from doctors and hospitals, their belief in self-healing is weak. Furthermore, followers do vaccinate in other countries with compulsory vaccination. This government is continuing not to surprise. It will do the ridiculous.
✴ Politics by Ty Buchanan ✴
Objections are Strong Against Carmichael Coalmine in Queensland
Conservation has always been ideologically polarized in Australia. There are those who seem to want to stop all development to prevent any deleterious change and those who want to rape the environment in search of the holy dollar - and ne'er the twain shall meet! With the Greens now gaining a handful of seats in the Senate they have voting power beyond their number. All shades of national government will have to compromise. Even state governments are not free of the Green "scourge", as they see it.
There is an issue with a planned coalmine in Queensland, the Carmichael mine near Bowen. Former premier Campbell Newman was fully supportive of the development and showed an intention to introduce new legislation to achieve it. This has changed. Labor is not so enamored with new projects at any cost. This is the case even though the Greens do not have the balance of power in the Queensland parliament.
Like medication you get from your doctor - there are always side effects. The natural environment will certainly be damaged in some way by a new mine. Objectors say the black-throated finch which is already threatened will be wiped out. Even the Waxy Cabbage Palm could be decimated. The evergreen problem of changes in water flow means that Doongmabulla Springs will probably dry up.
Claims by the investor Adani that a 30,999ha site will be set aside for the bird are not based on solid theory. The birds have access to that area already. And land used in the development will be taken away. Black-throated finch prefer their home ground and have never been known to travel to new areas. Raving about economic benefits will not change the views of ardent greens.
✴ Economics by Ty Buchanan ✴
Cancer in Clams Spread Cells Floating in the Water
Clams along the United States' eastern coastline are suffering from cancer. Like the "bug" in the Tasmanian devil it spreads from individual contact. Rogue cells jump between clams by floating in the water. The most common cancer of clams is leukemia - the sea creatures have a circulatory system.
The find happened because Carol Reinisch of Massachusetts Marine Biology Laboratory (who works on soft-shell clams) asked Stephen Goof of Columbia University to look for clams getting cancer by a virus. He was shocked to discover a toxic cell that spreads cancer all along the eastern seaboard.
Only two other cases of the spread of cancer by cells are known. One is decimating the Tasmanian devil. The other is transmitted sexually in dogs. At present Geoff Goff's research is supposition. A lab experiment which shows cancer spreading by a cell in water has not yet been done.
Scientists will soon carry out the relevant test. Then we will know whether something dangerous has been discovered. Though people cannot get cancer by eating clams, there could be a danger of getting the same or similar cancer by swimming in water contaminated by the cells.
✴ Biology by Ty Buchanan ✴
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