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Atheists Are Bad Citizens

Atheists are bad people. New findings show religious people contribute more to the community than non-believers. Apparently those who have no faith just get on with their lives caring only for themselves. But there is a saying "all of my best friends are atheists." They could be friendly. However, they have little drive to help society in a general sense.

Considering religious citizens believe in the writings of books that "command" believers to help others this finding is hardly surprising. Saying that such people are "nicer" though is too simplistic. Moreover, a fellow soldier who does not believe is just as likely to take a risk to save you in a battle as a religious person.

Atheists also give less to charity. Considering most charities are religious institutions, this is to be expected as well. Is the behavior of believers really altruistic? They are trying to get into heaven after all. Belief is a fickle thing. Even atheists have faith. They have faith that God does not exist.

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Religion

Washing Cat

"The chores are never done."

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Funny Animal Photos

Culling of Camels in Australia's Outback Is Misplaced

Where there's money to be gained someone will jump in. This is now the case for camels in Australia. Plans are being made to kill the animals in exchange for carbon credits. It is claimed that their flatulence is polluting the atmosphere.

Northwest Carbon apparently believes it owns the camels or has the sole right to cull them. The Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency first suggested taking such action. Apparently, one camel produces a ton of carbon dioxide each year. This is an exaggeration.

Culling camels has nothing to do with reducing Australia's carbon footprint. It is just a money-making exercise. Admittedly camels are feral. They were introduced into Australia in the 19th century because they were ideal for moving goods about in the dry outback. But their metabolism is higher than cattle and their pollution level is low.

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Climate

Dog Lips

"Taking me for plastic surgery master was a mistake."

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Funny Animal Photos

Kelp Can Be Used to Make Biofuel

Biofuel can just be picked up as you go for a walk. Yes, and there's plenty of it. It's plain old kelp, particularly the Laminaria digitata type which grows along the coast of Wales. The plant's carbohydrate level peaks in July. A high level of carbohydrate is needed to produce more ethanol.

There is so much kelp in the world lying around beaches. It would be rational to use this resource because little of it is used for human consumption. The plant is very dense in its growth. Much more biomass per square meter is produced than with sugar cane or other ethanol crops.

Using prime agricultural land to grow crops to produced ethanol directly affects the supply and price of food. The oceans have almost limitless resources waiting to be utilized.

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Science

Squirrel Photographer

"Sure, I'll take a photo of you."

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Funny Animal Photos

Mary River Turtle in Danger From Global Warming

Australia has a rare turtle restricted to the Mary River in Queensland. The University of Queensland has concluded that global warming will seriously endanger this species. Eggs were collected and incubated at 26, 29 and 32 degree Centigrade. Young turtles from eggs incubated at the highest temperature stayed in shallow water because they had difficulty swimming.

Life expectancy would be short for these young. Food is in deeper water and there is safety from predators. The Mary River turtle, Elesor macrurus, is classed as endangered. Numbers have been falling for several decades. Other dangers to their survival are eggs being collected to the pet trade and introduced predators such as dogs and foxes.

It is suspected that other species of turtle are similarly affected. Circumstances for the Mary River turtle are particularly dire because nests are in shallow water which can be directly affected by a warming atmosphere.

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Science

Cat Go Out

"Shall I go out? No I don't think so."

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Funny Animal Photos

DNA Tests on Coconuts Show They Have Been Used by Man for a Long Time

The mystery of coconuts is solved. This useful fruit has been used for centuries. Besides being a healthy food it can be used as a carrying container, made into charcoal, its fibre used to make rope and it will save your life if appropriately adapted as a flotation device.

DNA tests have been done on coconuts worldwide. They have been spread around so much by people transporting them in their travels that they are quite homogeneous by type. There are only two main kinds: one from the Indian Ocean region and the other from the Pacific. Tall types predominate. The dwarf coconut accounts for only 5 per cent of all coconuts.

Both types of coconuts are used for different purposes. The niu vai is the usual kind with sweet juice inside. Copra is obtained from the niu kafa. One mystery still remains. While their are two distinct types, Madagascar has a variety that is a combination of the Pacific and Indian Ocean types.

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Science

Water Please!

"Water, water, I must have water!"

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Funny Animal Photos

Australian and US Institutions Work Together on Biofuels

Despite claims that growing crops for fuel is pushing up food prices the University of Queensland and Carolina's Clemsen University have signed an agreement to develop biofuels. The work will revolve around transforming sugar cane residue into fuel using algae. A pilot plant is to be built in Queensland. More research on cellulosic monomer conversion will be done.

Clemsen University has concentrated on converting sorghum and switchgrass into ethanol. A new base called loblolly pine is also being examined.

This combined project will benefit both institutions. Pooling funding and resources will speed up projects. Despite possible drawbacks of biofuel it is intended to seek further funding and press on with research.

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Science

Lemur Do

"No, no, you're not doing it right. Do it like this."

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Funny Animal Photos

Sheep and Cattle Are in Danger From Volcanic Ash

Air passengers have been crying fowl because of the volcanic ash problems in Europe and South America. It is not only humans who are suffering. Sheep and cattle have no grass to eat because ash on the ground has turned to sludge. The provinces of Rio Negro, Chubut and Neuquen in Argentina are in dire straits.

Farmers have to put sheep in pens and feed them. There is no clean pasture to move them to. Many farmers from the Atlantic Ocean to Chile have nothing to give their sheep and there is a shortage of pens. There are fears that sheep and cows could go blind if they eat the poisonous sludge. Cows and horses are trying to separate clean grass with their hooves but sheep cannot remove the ash so easily.

The volcanic ash is a phenomenon farmers have never faced before. Local deer are blindly stumbling around. Cows have already lost a quarter of their weight. Argentina is one of the world's major beef exporters. If the volcano remains active meat prices could soon rise.

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Agriculture

Wedge Cat

"Nice and comfy."

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Funny Animal Photos

Eat Pork and Lose Weight

For many years it was believed that pork was fatty and if eaten regularly would lead to weight gain. A new study has shown the opposite to be true. Overweight people were split into two groups. One group was given 1050g of lean pork each week. The other group was provided with 750g a week. Even with this little difference in pork intake, after six months there was a noticeable change in the high-intake group.

Those eating more pork actually lost fat from their abdomens. Waists were narrower. Body composition improved over the whole body. So weight can be lost without dieting if you eat more pork. A further benefit from eating more pork is the high thiamine level. Many overweight people have type 2 diabetes which can lead to thiamine deficiency.

Tests are now being done with chicken and beef to compare with pork. It could be that the high-protein diet due to eating the pork was beneficial. Maybe similar results in regard to weight loss will eventuate from eating more chicken and beef. Findings will be released in January 2012.

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Health

Yoga Cat

"My yoga classes are going great."

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Funny Animal Photos

How Do We Select What to Pay Attention to?

How do we select which sounds to pay attention to? When we walk down a street we ignore the sounds of cars passing by, the gossip of people, and on, but we pay attention to a short, sharp whistle. Even little children know the sound of the ice cream truck.

Psychologists have been trying to find out how we select some things over others. Our brains record everything. Hypnosis has shown this to be true. We could not possibly take note of everything around us. Attention allocation operates by combining two functions: the predictive principle and the uncertainty principle.

The predictive principle is logical in that the brain searches for the more meaningful from the background "noise".

With the uncertainty principle the brain looks for the unusual, the odd thing out.

Animal research has shown that they do use both principles. However, tests on humans had clearly shown the predictive principle at work but not uncertainly. New tests show humans use a variant of the uncertainty principle called negative transfer. This involves ignoring new associations (outcomes) to a cue once a particular association has been learned. In other words new associations take longer to register in humans. The more "severe" the new association the quicker the uncertainty principle kicks in.

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Society

Mum and Kitten

"My mum."

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Funny Animal Photos

Plastic Resin Pellets Pollute Western Australian Beaches

Western Australian beaches are in the throws of an ecological disaster. Tiny pellets of plastic resin are in the environment which absorb industrial chemicals particularly pesticides. The pellets are a bi-product of plastic drink bottle manufacturing.

There is real danger that Bisphenol A will create estrogen leading to infertility. Bisphenol A was first found in plastic in the 1950s. Such plastic is now found everywhere. It is not known how or even if marine animals consume the plastic. Other chemicals, many estrogenic, are put into bottle plastic for flexibility, color and other properties. The chemicals are not fully absorbed in the plastic, so they migrate to the surface and escape. It was established several years ago that PCBs, DDT and HCH chemicals. all hormone disruptors. were in plastic resin pellets.

Australia is playing a "waiting game", watching to see what other countries do in regard to these pellets. Many people are not worrying because the pellets blend into the sand being small and a similar color. Stopping production in Australia will not do any good: many pellets drift here from other countries.

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Science

Problem Solving Cat

"There must be a solution to this problem."

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Funny Animal Photos

Aboriginals Had Knowledge of the Stars

Aboriginals had knowledge of movements of the Moon, Earth and Sun. This is not surprising. Ancient people had nothing better to do at night than to look up and note movements of those tiny spots of light. Apparently it was known that tides were linked to the moon and seasons came and went cyclically.

Aboriginal culture revolved around movements in the heavens. They used it for guidance on long hunting expeditions, for marriage ceremonies, and knowing when types of fruit would appear. Eclipses were bad news. They believed something bad would soon happen. This is probably due to the moon turning red, like blood, during an eclipse. Like ancient religions Aboriginals saw the heavens as a canopy held up by spiritual pillars

Human beings tend to interpret things in a similar way though they may be from different tribal groups or live in varied parts of the world. First there were many Gods, now there is one. This has happened as beliefs became factual knowledge over eons of time.

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Science

Waterbird Landing

"Get out of the way I'm landing....well I will be landing soon."

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Funny Animal Photos

"Crocodile Headed" Dinosaur Found in Australia

A dinosaur with a head remarkably like modern crocodiles has been found in Australia. It didn't walk on all fours though. It stood upright on two legs like a T.rex. In the Cretaceous 146 million years ago they wandered over most of the Earth. This is the first time they have been found so far south.

It seems this group of dinosaurs, spinatosaurids, were really mobile. This find confirms that all dinosaurs travelled long distances populating great area of the planet. The fossils were overlooked since they were found in the 1990s. Paul Barrett of the Natural History Museum London was examining samples at the Museum of Victoria. He noticed that the vertebra was the same as Baryonyx walkeri a long clawed spinatosaurid found in Europe.

A new look at other dinosaur specimens showed examples in old Gondwana which included Australia and Laurasia, so millions of year ago different species of dinosaur lived alongside each other right across the globe. At the end of the Cretaceous the land mass separated and species began to differentiate much more because of isolation.

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Science

Afternoon Sun

Catchin' the Afternoon Sun

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Funny Animal Photos

Labels: carpet , cat , chair , dog , door , floor , four , light , room , sun

Australia - Proprietor of Absolute Mechanical Beats Elderly Lady to the Ground

I received a disturbing email. I have checked the names of persons involved and the facts.

A motor car was taken into Absolute Mechanical, Beerburrum Road, Caboolture, Queensland for the air conditioning to be repaired. The business was off to a bad start by replacing two items in the air conditioning system that were already working perfectly. They couldn't understand why the system was still leaking badly. They then proceeded to remove the dash to test the evaporator. Removal of the dash was unnecessary because the evaporator can easily be checked for leaks by dying the gas, re-gassing and looking up from underneath the vehicle with the car on a hoist. After determining that the evaporator was indeed leaking they decided, "Oh heck we'll stop here the job is too tough." At no stage did the customer tell them not to continue.

In hindsight they were incapable of doing the job and should not have taken it on in the first place. They were very capable, however, of handing out the bill even though the air conditioning had not been repaired.

Not satisfied with their complete failure to complete the job they did the following damage to the car out of pure vindictiveness:

1) Intentionally smashed conduits, clips, globes and strengthening plastic inside the dash.
2) Cracked the dash fascia.
3) Discarded the boot opening relay because they broke the boot opening button inside the glove compartment; if the relay had been in position the boot would have been permanently open.
4) broke the illumination globe inside the radio.

On entering the office to pick up the vehicle the Proprietor set upon the 87 year lady beating her to the ground. She had to be taken to hospital for treatment. No action was taken because there was no "independent" witness. A relative was there but obviously his testimony didn't count. It seems to get action one has to get a complete stranger to come in from off the street to witness what goes on in a business office.

Claiming through Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) is too complicated and stressful for the lady whose health has deteriorated. This case shows how the public is at the mercy of predatory businesses.

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Absolute Mechanical

Bird Flight

"I won't take this flight again if the landing is rough."

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Funny Animal Photos

Australian UFO Files Lost

Don't bother doing research on UFOs in Australia: the files have disappeared. The Sydney Morning Herald put in a freedom of information request to write a story. It is feared that the files have been destroyed. Data only remains for UFOs at Woomera.

It is not really a problem because the Australian Government stopped collecting new data in 2000. Much of the interesting stuff has already been published in books. UFO buffs are of course calling it a government conspiracy.

If there are aliens out there please make your presence known to all of us. It is so silly playing hide and seek. If you did visit our leaders it had no effect. They obviously feel you are not worth talking about.

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Society

Cat Camera

"I think it's called a camera."

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Funny Animal Photos

Surely Australia Could Pay a Little More for a Cleaner Planet

It is so strange how support for Kevin Rudd's Emissions Trading Scheme has totally evaporated. Kevin Rudd rightly claims that his backing down from trying to pass the legislation cost him leadership of his party and the country, so great was public support for it then. Times have changed. With big rises in water charges and electricity charges across the country people just don't want a bar of it anymore.

The proof of global warming is considerable. Ice is disappearing from the North and South Poles. Those who still contend that it is made up just to get money out of the public must be living on another planet - in their minds at least. No one wants to be paying higher prices for essential items than consumers in other countries, but the world is changing. China is making major changes. to reduce pollution. Finland introduced the world's first carbon tax in 1990. That is two decades ago. Sweden followed in 1991. Great Britain brought in a climate change levy in 2001. Boulder in Colorado has had a carbon tax on electricity since 2007. There has been a tax on all fuels in Quebec from 2007. British Columbia initiated the most efficient carbon tax in 2008 with $10 tax per metric ton rising to $30 in 2012. So Australians would not be alone in paying higher prices.

Young Australian families today have never known hard times. Economies go in boom and bust cycles. Australia has been lucky in avoiding the busts due to a small population "owning" a tremendous resources base. It is the only country in the world with this economic advantage. Surely Australia can do it a little tougher and help show the way to a better world.

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Society

Animal Watching

"I see you! Ah, ah, ah."

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Funny Animal Photos

Young Australian Student Discovers Missing Mass in the Universe

A young 22 year old Australian lady finds the answer to missing mass in the universe. Amelia Fraser-McKelvie is not even a post-graduate researcher. She is studying for an Aerospace Engineering/Science degree. She was in a research team when the mysterious substance showed up in her data.

In theory, there should be a lot more observable mass in our local universe. It was thought to be "hidden" in shoelace-like filaments. When the data were first analysed they were dismissed in the usual manner as not showing anything, but Amelia suggested they check it again and the strings were there for all to see in the X-ray wavelength.

Though the achievement was mainly her's, Amelia gives credit to Dr Kevin Pimbblet and Dr Jasmina Lazendic-Galloway the other members of the team. This is a dream start toward a future career for the young student.

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Science

Small Dog, Small Chair

"This is a nice thought, but...."

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Funny Animal Photos

New Treatment for Asthma With Beneficial Side Effect

A new method of treating asthma has been discovered. Formoterol is a synthetic form of catecholamine. This is a hormone that regulates metabolism, heart rate and breathing. It increases metabolism without raising the heart rate. Tests on animals have been promising.

The drug is selective in that receptors in the lungs take on the catecholamine but receptors in the heart do not. A positive side effect it that it burns fat from the body. Eight men without asthma were given the medication for a week. Their energy metabolism increased by 10 per cent. Fat was burned off by 25 per cent. Protein only fell by 15 per cent. This means people can do more with leaner bodies.

We may be entering a new age where obese people no longer have to suffer. They can have healthy bodies in the normal weight range. Tests on those with asthma will set the stage for this. Subjects will be closely monitored to determine long term effects. Hopefully they will all be beneficial.

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Health

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