"What a bad joke - messed up my day!"
Funny Animal Photos by Ty Buchanan
Funny Animal Photos by Ty Buchanan
Funny Animal Photos by Ty Buchanan
Fracking and Conservation Do Not Mix
There is always conflict between industry and the natural ecosystem. With the arrival of extraction and even mass agriculture comes pollution detrimental to the flora and fauna. This is no different in Aboriginal regions as in urbanized cities.
Dean Mathews is a Yawuru Aboriginal and Project Officer for the Nyamba Buru Yawuru Aboriginal Corporation. He monitors the impact on groundwater by agriculture and mining. He has made a video. It is significant that the location he tested did not have any visible industry there, so it would be expected that the water was still pure. Test the water adjacent to mining activity and the results would be quite different.
Much has been made of Aboriginal cooperation with industry - too much for my liking. One has the feeling that local Aboriginal have been duped. The mining industry employs people whose sole motivation is to change public opinion to accept the "job-creating" mining companies. The problem is of course that few Aboriginal are qualified to get these jobs.
In my opinion this is just a public relations exercise. As modern agriculture and mining becomes widespread pollution will occur. The states have allowed fracking for natural gas to take place anywhere. The effects of this is disastrous with farmers showing that gas which seeps up after fracking can be ignited with a lighter.
Aboriginals should try as best they can to have their native regions isolated completely from industry. They got the vote and ownership of their land. Now, they have to go one step further and fight for the right to keep minerals where they belong: in the ground.
Conservation by Ty Buchanan
Crowd Wave Observed in Prairie Dogs
The crowd wave at sporting events in not an entirely human thing. Prairie dogs do the "jump-yip". This keeps others involved and tells an individual how alert others are. It begins like the human wave. One or two will start doing it and at first it is ignored. Then it takes on a mind of its own and soon all are doing it.
The wave is just as noisy as the human wave with loud yips coming from everywhere. Prairie dogs use their whole body to make the sound. They raise there front legs then lower them with a "wee-oo" call in sequence. Like humans prairie dogs live in towns.
It was believed to be a warning call of the presence of predators, but prairie dogs continue the wave whether a predator is there or not. It is a social activity to test the alertness of others. If fellow animals do not respond a prairie dogs will not forage very much. On the other hand, if everyone is at it, they assume they can eat in safety. Somehow they are making a judgement about the prevailing danger.
In humans, the wave is usually done when the local team is doing well. Boredom about the state of play can trigger it as well. When the visiting team is doing well there is less motivation to do it - unless it is done in jest. It serves a social function in both species.
Nature by Ty Buchanan
Dog House
"This is a great home."
Funny Animal Photos by Ty Buchanan
Funny Animal Photos by Ty Buchanan
Funny Animal Photos by Ty Buchanan
New Prehistoric Crocodiles Found
A new type of crocodile now extinct has been found in northern Africa. It had three sets of fangs like wild boar tusks for killing other animals. Another kind of crocodile was found nearby. This one used a flat, wide snout to catch fish. A third species of crocodile also located close by was only three feet long. This had "buckteeth" for eating plants. It was a rich find with two other known kinds of crocodile being dug up there.
The National Geographic Society sponsored the successful project. The new crocodiles show that the region had unique animals 100 million years ago. much different than in surrounding regions. These reptiles could run along at quite a fast pace then dive into the water and swim off. Unlike modern crocodiles which have legs on the side of their bodies these had longer legs set underneath. Luckily there were no people around for them to chase and eat.
The three new species are as follows:
1) BoarCroc (Kaprosuchus saharicus) 20 feet in length with three pairs of fangs sticking out of the side of their mouths like a warthog.
2) PancakeCroc (Laganosuchus thaumastos) again 20 feet long with shorter legs, laid in wait for fish grasping them with spiked teeth set in flat wide jaws in a head 3 feet long.
3) RatCroc (Araripesuchus rattoides) 3 feet from nose to tail, had buckteeth and dug for plants and grubs.
The National Geographic Society sponsored the successful project. The new crocodiles show that the region had unique animals 100 million years ago. much different than in surrounding regions. These reptiles could run along at quite a fast pace then dive into the water and swim off. Unlike modern crocodiles which have legs on the side of their bodies these had longer legs set underneath. Luckily there were no people around for them to chase and eat.
The three new species are as follows:
1) BoarCroc (Kaprosuchus saharicus) 20 feet in length with three pairs of fangs sticking out of the side of their mouths like a warthog.
2) PancakeCroc (Laganosuchus thaumastos) again 20 feet long with shorter legs, laid in wait for fish grasping them with spiked teeth set in flat wide jaws in a head 3 feet long.
3) RatCroc (Araripesuchus rattoides) 3 feet from nose to tail, had buckteeth and dug for plants and grubs.
Sexy Cat
"Is this sexy enough?"
Funny Animal Photos by Ty Buchanan
Funny Animal Photos by Ty Buchanan
Firms attempt to Circumvent Australian Consumer Laws
This country has longer "proving" times for consumers. It means that a product must do what it expected to do for longer than in other countries. The public is well protected here.
Fisher & Paykel a New Zealand company recently lost a court battle because it did not exchange faulty goods. Clearly, businesses do not like the protection laws. It is not only foreign firms like Apple that are ignoring or trying to circumvent Australian consumer laws. Harvey Norman, a large chain of franchises, has had five of its stores fined for not abiding by the law.
Companies continue to fight to the High Court where all cases so far have been lost. The law is very clear - a product must serve its primary function for a decent period of time. If it doesn't, a refund or exchange for a new item must be given.
Because firms are wasting court time the fines are increasing. They have reached $32,000. Besides the fines, stores are ordered to display signs setting out consumer rights and staff must do a compliance program.
Business by Ty Buchanan
Society by Ty Buchanan
Recognition of Aboriginals in the Constitution a Waste of Time
Tony Abbott is planning to include Aboriginals in the Constitution as the original "owners" of the land of Australia. This is like like Kevin Rudd's speech apologizing for the lost generation of Aboriginals forcibly taken from their parents and put into institutions or brought up by White people. Talk is cheap.
What Australia needs is a planned development program to make life better for Aboriginals. The right for men to receive unemployment payments was taken away by a still paternal federal government in the Northern Territory. It was taken on the premise of bad treatment of Aboriginal children. This was a blatant lie. No Aboriginal has ever been charged for ill treatment of children.
Money is needed to spend on Aboriginal communities. Tony Abbott has no money to spare, particularly with his right-wing policy of reducing taxes for wealth whites. How is Australia going to decrease the deficit with such a policy? The only thing that government can do is reduce spending. This will hit the economy and bring hard times upon us.
How can a prime minister be known for development, as Tony Abbott announced, if he has no money to spend, unless he has a magic wand up his shirt. The private sector will not voluntarily help Aboriginal communities. There is no profit in it and business has only one motivator - make more money. Telling industry to employ more Aboriginals will change nothing: they have never been taught the needed skills.
Politics by Ty Buchanan
Subscribe to:
Posts
(
Atom
)
