ACEAS Database Explains Australian Animal Extinctions

How do we stop the mass extinction of native animals in Australia? That is the big question. Building up a database of endangered species will help but action is needed now. More than a hundred kinds of animal are under threat.

Species are quickly dying off. Small marsupials are becoming extinct. These are in remote regions where humans seldom go, so this is a bit of a mystery. The answer could be imported predators which have been brought here since Europeans arrived.

Though feral cats and foxes are seen as mainly responsible, changing the landscape for farming and housing has also had an impact. Open land assists cats and foxes - they can more easily see their prey.  Small slow-moving native animals
stand no chance at all.

The Australian Centre for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (ACEAS) database has identified areas most in need of conservation management plans. Animals are in the process of moving to new locations as the climate changes. Species fill environmental niches. They must move to places a place where their external needs are met. If they do not find suitable environments they will become extinct.
Conservation by Ty Buchanan
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Dinner Cat

"What's for dinner?"
Funny Animal Pictures by Ty Buchanan

Useful Drones for Conservation

Despite the fairytale stuff put forward about delivering things to houses in built up areas of large cities, drone can be useful. Patrolling of protected regions for environmental damage is efficient and less costly than other methods.

Conservation Drones a US company is mass producing drones to meet projected demand. Accidents will occur even though the drones will not land away from the operator, but injuries should be rare. Drones zooming around above our head will become the norm. Will there be complaints? Yes there will.

The first major project will be to protect elephants in Africa. The distance that drones can travel will have to be significantly improved to do the job properly. At the moment helicopters are used. These can be expensive as well. They do have better range, however.

Maximum range for non-military drones is about 40kms. High resolution videos can be taken. Preprogramming is possible to carry out surveillance and data collection. A test to monitor frigate birds has been successful in Western Australia.
Conservation by Ty Buchanan

Meeting Cat

"Right, let the meeting begin."
Funny Animal Pictures by Ty Buchanan
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Individual Solar Power Systems Will Replace Power Stations

So the energy companies have Australians by the "..." in regard to charging what they like for electricity? This may be fact now but in a few years the tables will be turned. By 2018 the cost of off-grid power will be on par with charges by electricity producers and distributors.

Battery storage from solar generators will be adopted by people living in the bush. Some are so far away from the main grid that they do not have an electricity connection at all. The methods they find cost effective will be copied by city people. There are varied methods and combinations so choices can be made.

Rural towns could pool resources and create a generating system for the whole town. They will have to solve the problem of the unevenness of power flow to households which results in failing TVs, fridges and washing machines first though.

Because of costs saved from higher scale production those in higher populated centers could set up non-carbon electricity system cheaper, so hobbyists and experimenters could be first to go off-grid.

With this trend, the part-privatization of electricity by allowing another level of distributors into the market will prove to be a problem. These distributors will face falling profits and cost cutting could begin. The average consumer could face lower charges.

Non-carbon energy methods no longer need government subsidies. They are now cost effective. Indeed, set up costs are falling very rapidly. Increases in recent electricity charges due to generating companies repairing old infrastructure could be money wasted. The new electricity poles could be left standing with no active wiring in the very near future.
Conservation by Ty Buchanan
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Snowman Cat Fight

"Look here buster; you won't be here much longer!"
Funny Animal Pictures by Ty Buchanan
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Eastern Antarctic a New Danger Area to Raise Sea Level

There is a lot of research on climate change. However, countries are doing very little to reduce pollution. They are not reacting at all to the clear data pointing to damage caused to the planet by humans.

In the Antarctic the latest evidence shows some movement in the ice "plug" holding massive amounts of ice back from the ocean. If this plug fails, ice will slide into the sea raising the planet's water level by many meters, permanently. Cities on the coast around the world will be flooded.

It was thought that only the western side of the Antarctic was in danger of raising sea level. It now appears that the eastern side where the plug is situated is also at risk.

The weather in the US has been extremely erratic over the last ten years. The cost to the nation is in the billions of dollars. Insurance companies will react as they have done in Australia. Premiums have more than doubled in recent years. Some areas of Australia cannot get insurance cover at all for their homes because they are seen as low-lying or at high risk in bush fires.

Climate change is ongoing and people are at risk of losing everything in a chain of catastrophes. The world economic system will be affected. It cannot be avoided. We ignore it now at our own peril.
Conservation by Ty Buchanan

Stuffed Cat

e
"When I said stuffed I didn't mean to get him stuffed!"
Funny Animal Pictures by Ty Buchanan
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Coca-Cola is It - Just Watching You

We are reaching a point now where you will not be able to stop companies having free reign to monitor and cajole people into doing things enterprises want. The legislation to prevent this will just be too complex to effectively use. Individual rights will be trodden underfoot in the rush for higher company profits as oligopolies rule the world.

These big companies are snapping up smaller rivals at their whim. They have massive amounts of money to spare. Australia is a favored testing ground for such enterprises due to its small population and established markets
. Companies can easily check out something new and see how it will work in larger economies.

Coca-Cola is putting facial recognition software on fridges in Australia so it can watch the behavior of customers and how they react to adds on the refrigerator. Sales have increased by 12 per cent over standard fridges. This is great for building up your waistline and for Coca-Cola.

When you go to get a fizzy drink in future you will enjoy a targeted entertainment program which is really just a colorful add just for you. If it is a hot day expect shows of people frolicking on sunny, sandy beaches quaffing coke.

It must be noted that targeted ads are commonplace today. What do you think Google does with all the data? Facebook is sending ads just for you right now. All the spyware and trojans are just ways of collecting information.

There could be hurdles though - what if governments legislation to make facial recognition an opt in service? Oh, by the way, turn off that location finder on your mobile phone. It is not there to help you! Soon Coca-Cola will be putting drink machines only in hot areas of buildings. Heat and higher sales go together.
Technology by Ty Buchanan
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Nexus 7 Review - Poor, Do Not Buy!

You have to be careful buying new tech products. There is a belief out there that a new version is always better than the old one. This is not always the case. Take for instance the new Nexus 7. A lot has been written about this with some rave reviews.

I don't know what some of these reviewers are on, but they certainly are not seeing things clearly - some bias is there. The widely held view that buying the latest Nexus 7 is the road to Nirvana is wrong. If you have another Android device with the same login you will not get an automatic restore. It just does not work because Google picks up the two Android devices. A trip into the Play Store will be necessary. Click on the icon in the top left and "My Apps" will be shown. You have to click "All" to see the apps you have paid for.

Re-installing each one in turn is the requirement and don't think all your data is automatically backed up. You discover that you should have backed up the data for each app separately before you dumped the perfectly good older version. A thing that you will regret.

The only virtue of the new Nexus 7 is that it is thinner. That sums it up. Despite having stereo speakers one at each end it does not cut the mustard. What a stupid idea having stereo on such a small device! Sound quality is very poor indeed. It really is disgraceful. If you plug it into a hi-fi you have to turn the volume up to number 22. This compares with 10 using the old version of Nexus 7.

Another odd thing is the hi-fi volume can be turned to maximum and it doesn't get louder - it gets more distorted. The old Nexus had beautiful base and full hi-fi volume could not be set as it was too loud. There is just a pinging "sort of" base with the new one. It is an odd sound. You cannot enjoy listening to music, podcasts only I would say. Even then there is only treble, no base at all from the two speakers. There was some base on the older version playing on its own.

A mystery to me is that all the BBC apps have disappeared from the Play Store. Has Google had a falling out with them or something. This sudden parting seems strange.

Don't be reckless and buy the new Nexus 7. It is a waste of money. No wonder the price has fallen. Many customers would return it if they kept the receipt. Oh, how I miss my old Nexus that unfortunately was dropped and became stuck in the "ON" position. Google picked that up and would not do an automatic install.  Buying online may be easy, but it is risky.  I should have gone to a store and taken it for a test drive.  You do learn something every day.
Technology by Ty Buchanan