New Ways to Repel Sharks

Like South Africa, Australia is known as a region of frequent shark attacks. A lot of research has been done over the years in an attempt to reduce such attacks. Humans are not normal food for sharks. It is when humans behave in a similar way to injured fish that attacks occur.

Electronic pulses and sounds have been tried with limited success. Colored diving suits have also proven to be ineffective, until now. It has been discovered that blue lines on wetsuits disrupts the vision of sharks because they are color-blind.

White stripes also work as a deterrent but in a different way. Poisonous fish have white on their bodies. It tells potential predators that eating them will have dire consequences.

The cryptic wetsuit that "blinds" sharks is aimed at divers, while the white stripped warning suite is for those close to the beach. Diving equipment and surfing gear is also being colored to match the wetsuits.

Though shark attacks cannot be stopped entirely, the number of people injured is certain to fall. Tests at the Oceans Institute in Western Australia has shown that the new suits work very well. The new products will be sold by a company called Radiator.
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Conservation
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Beautiful Cat

"Just making myself bewdival"
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Australian Birds Change Breeding Times to Suite the Harsh Climate

Human beings may be having problems with variable weather in Australia, but animals are coping well. Zebra finches, pelicans and woodswallows seem to know when the weather changes. If the Spring comes early they nest early. If it is too dry to breed they hold off until times are better. They change their breeding point by months either way.

When glaciation was at its peak the woodswallow population actually boomed. In boom times there is a larger pool of gene carriers ideal for genetic selection when times become harder. More of the birds die off. Yet, the survivors have traits that suite the changed environment.

Australia has the harshest of climates with long periods of drought. Consequently, birds such as pelicans live a longtime on a meagre diet so they can wait for good times to breed. Zebra finches seem to do well even when times are very hard.
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Conservation
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Changes to Treatment of Young Offenders

The Queensland state government is making drastic changes to the way young people who commit crimes are treated. Young offenders are to be named and shamed. Those punished by being sent to institutions will be transferred to adult prisons when they reach the age of eighteen.

Many of the "young criminals" are victims of crime themselves. Difficult home life has pushed them into crime. Naming them would make their lives intolerable.

The government decision has been made on just one survey. It seems the decision was made before the survey began. Young people are not mature adults. They are growing and learning. Judging them at such a stage in their lives is marking them as bad citizens for life.

Other changes include making fixed penalties for some crimes committed by adults. Judges will not have the discretion to modify the sentences according to prevailing circumstances.

A change that just about everyone agrees on is courts knowing the case histories of adult defendants during a trial. Many offenders get away with crimes simply because their past behavior is not known.
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Conservation
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Microsoft to Offer VPN

Microsoft is going to offer a way for consumers to get around national firewalls. It is aimed at domestic US consumers to access corporate resources but it will make for a revolution in bypassing national restrictions, particularly for music and television programming.

Of course you will need a Windows mobile phone to access the feature. This is a trump card that Microsoft has played. However, like with cloud services when one enterprise gives something extra all competitors provide it as well.

While it is essentially for business use, VPN access will ultimately be used to access local content in countries that restrict it to their citizens. Just how program providers will react to this is not known. This announcement has been a surprise. However, many users pay a few dollars a month for VPNs already. It makes for easy use of programming supposedly blocked for overseas people.

If business gets "free" use of VPNs, the ordinary consumer will want it too. Soon rivals to Microsoft will take it a step further by giving business and general Internet users automatic VPN access.
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Conservation
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Beer Animal

"This is good stuff."
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Too Many Maths and Science Graduates

For many years it has been said that Australia lacks maths and science graduates. Maths teachers are in short supply we are told. Professor Ian Chubb, a chief scientist, certainly pushes this case.

Unfortunately, data does not support this premise. Like qualified information technology people, maths and science graduates find the job market difficult. It seems there is real demand only in geological science. A little more than half of graduates say their qualifications are relevant to their work. They hold down jobs only in distantly related fields.

One would think that with science and technology moving forward at a rapid pace such qualified people would be sorely needed. Employment in agricultural science is falling because young people are leaving rural towns and refuse to learn about farming. It is seen as glorified laboring.

Getting a post-graduate qualification does not help to find work. Employers see higher degrees as narrowing educational scope. Government is continuing to push universities to offer science and maths teaching despite labor demand falling. Places for teachers are available, but when first employed new teachers have to work for ten years or more in the bush before they can choose where they want to live.

Though historically Australian culture was based on bush life, today the young are urbanites. They love big cities and living near the ocean. The trend is for elderly grandparents to spend their last days in rural areas, while their offspring live it up on the coast. Maths and science, however, may not be the road to financial success.
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Down Dog

"I'm really down Man."
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The Casual Aussie

In the modern world many types of behavior are tolerated. Angry people are allowed to run the streets chanting their violent slogans. Individuals are entitled to live the life of a hermit, barely communicating with anyone else. Saying that things have changed is too simplistic. The more things change the more they stay the same.

Some have said that Australia's new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is too familiar with all those around him, calling fellow members of cabinet by their nicknames. It has been said that this is new for Australia. This is nonsense. Australians quickly find the names of strangers and from the "get go" call them by their first names. I remember watching a talk on television some years ago and the American was really upset by the Australian, who was also being interviewed, for not addressing him as Mr "Smith".

Australia is an unusual country. It has a culture of bringing everyone to the same level. Honorifics have little place in such a culture. Judges for example are treated as just public servants. Other countries rank judges highly and ordinary people would not even attempt a jovial conversation with them. Australians can see no barrier.

In recent years Australia could be said to be moving in the other direction. The street barbecue is fading away and neighbors rarely talk to each other. I hope Australia does not go down the same road as Britain and France where false "upper-class' accents are adopted by those trying to move up the fixed societal ranking. No, let Australia be. It has a unique heritage and being different is a good thing.
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Conservation
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Squirrel Hunter

 
"It's shooting season agaim.  Git me to them pesky humans!"
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Whales Continue to Beach Themselves

Why do Whales beach themselves? The theory is that some coastal regions are shallow so sonar does not bounce back to the animals to tell them to keep away. This is only a theory. There seems to be no way of stopping the mammals from laying themselves on the sand to die a painful death. Dragging them out to sea is an attempt to save them, but they continue toward the beach again within hours.

A few days ago killer whales beached themselves on sandbars near Fraser Island. Three of them died. Fishermen have been told to keep their boats well away from the animals. They are trying to find deeper water. The hope is that open sea will attract them and they will move away from the shallow sand.

Apparently when a whale beaches, the whole pod panics. The presence of boats, particularly motorized ones, stresses them more. One would have thought that evolution would have "bred" out the beaching trait. The numbers who die each year on beaches is obviously not high enough to affect the breeding population so those with the trait pass it on to the next generation.

It is feared by many people that beaching could lead to extinction of species. There is no possibility of this as the number who swim safely along the coasts remains very large. It is good for people to try to save them. Unfortunately, humans cannot change nature.

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Conservation
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Back Off Kitten

"Stay away!"
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Memories Are Not Real the "Specialists" Say

Childhood memories are figments of your imagination. If you believe that, you'll believe anything. Children in the UK were asked to recall memories of things their parents said didn't happen. But how do we know if children were trying to please their parents? Most children live in a dream land anyway. So asking them to recall seeing Santa Claus is just "baiting". And asking them about flying through the air is "hypnotising" for dream recall.

If you broke your leg as child you would certainly remember that, and whether the sun was out when it happened. The pain makes it stay in your mind. One thing that really remains is the care one receives from others. You remember things done with grandma because she was always kind and forgiving. Furthermore, really horrible events like being involved in a road accident and then being taken to hospital remain as clear as the day they occurred.

We wouldn't have an identity without memories. We are the sum of our experiences. Taking that away from someone is condemning that person to live in the forever "now". Debate is rife about whether learning is anything of value. For example, a day after taking exams most of it is forgotten. But a university degree or any other academic test is something the individual values and society values. Whether you actually remember things taught is quite irrelevant. You have gone down that road and reached the destination. Surely, that is what life is about: having experiences chronologically with the past leading to the present and into the future and remembering certain milestones.
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Burrying Cat

 
"I know I burried it here!"
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New Type of Flu From the Middle East

Generally, people do not keep up with the latest infectious diseases that could come their way. We all know about the Asian flu because it has been around for a while. However, there is little fear involved because many believe that they will not catch it.

Last year a new disease appeared called Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). It killed more than half of the 79 people infected. In the serious 1957-1958 Asian Flu outbreak the death rate was 0.13 per cent.

While MERS is still present, the number of new cases has held steady. There is a worry that the disease could suddenly become highly contagious. It is not yet known whether the virus is spread by human contact or it has an animal source. The number of cases did rise during the Muslim hajj to Mecca.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is in an emergency sitting at present considering whether to declare the coronavirus a public health emergency. An emergency would allow travel restrictions to be put in place. Pilgrims may deem to ignore this and travel anyway, putting their faith in God. The Saudi government is not keen to stop Muslims attending the hajj. Countries cannot be forced to implement restrictions.
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Health
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Tired Pup

"I'm soooooo tired."
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The World Needs EXtroverts and Introverts

The world is full of extroverts and introverts. Society needs them. Some must lead and others must follow. This is the normal way of things. Can you imagine if everyone was an extrovert. There would be arguments aplenty. Nothing would be settled.

Extroverts need people. While their behavior will to a degree drive others away, extroverts don't like to be alone. Introverts on the other hand like their own company. They can happily work on their own for months.

The problem is that these categories are not clear cut. There are some in the middle, those who have characteristics of both groups. The way people behave in their spare time is the best indicator of where they fit. Introverts avoid parties because it is a drain on them. They prefer to go fishing, for example. Extroverts go up the pub to mix with others.

Both groups will eventually have to change as their needs are fulfilled. Body and mind tells them to switch off and go the other way. It may be only for a short time, but batteries can be recharged and they can again push full speed ahead to where they are most comfortable.
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Society
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Greeting Bear

"Hello.  How are you?"
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El Niño Predicted a Year in Advance

The world is in a crisis of bad weather. Extremes of climate are becoming regular phenomena. While coastal eastern Australia is getting unprecedented levels of rain. inland there is a drought. We have a drought even though El Niño has not been in effect for years. It could be said that the rain on the coast is caused by La Nina. This does not explain "the dry" inland. Where once weather could be clearly predicted by the El Niño/La Niña cycle, this is no longer the case.

Improvement in weather forecasting now helps in knowing a year in advance whether El Niño or La Niña will be dominant. An El Niño is due. The US would be pleased to get some relief from damaging drought and fires. Australia's last drought was severe. The Queensland government invested heavily in water catchment and storage. When La Niña arrived the government was condemned and even ridiculed for "wasting" money. At the time the investment was deemed necessary by government and constituents alike.

Knowing what will happen a year in advance and preparing for the consequences are not ordinarily done. We usually take action after the fact. There is a lot of inertia out there. People have short memories. When El Niño arrives grass pastures will turn to dust and water rationing will return as well. Australia has historically experienced climatic extremes. This will not change.
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Conservation
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