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Senin, 14 Februari 2011

Cultural Differentiation Should Be Encouraged

Despite the perception of Australians being "outside" people, spending their leisure exploring the bush, we are a nation of "stay-at-homes". A quite startling statistic shows that most Australians travelled only 16 kilometers from their homes in a decade.

Australians are parochial - they like the town where they were born. Anyway, this finding of only 16 kilometers of travel is questionable. It would be very difficult indeed even in remote towns for people to move in such a small radius from their homes. Even doing the weekly shopping would entail travel of more than 20 kilometers.

I favor strengthening the "bushy' culture of Australia - whether it be true or not. In this day and age societies are so similar as to be boring. We all have mobile phones and widescreen TVs. Hell, even Asians living in the mountains have such technology. And Africans meandering along dusty roads hold mobile phones to their ears and tinker with the Internet.

http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/
http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/
http://www.feeds.feedburner.com/AdventureAustralia
http://www.technorati.com/blogs/http://adventure--australia.blogspot.com

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Selasa, 16 November 2010

Australian and Mediterranean Great White Sharks Have the Same Ancestry

Luck pays a large part in evolution. Climate suddenly changes and if by chance a species of animal carries suitable genes to flourish in the new environment that animal lives on. Other species die off because they cannot cope.

New findings about the great white shark highlights this. Australian great whites and the Mediterranean type have genes that point to common ancestry. It is believed that a few related female sharks split up. Some going north to the Mediterranean from the larger gene pool in the south, or they peeled off from the main group in the Atlantic some going north the others going south. Narrow channels in the Mediterranean stopped this group from rejoining the Australian gene pool.

This happened 450,000 years ago. Mutations since that time make the timeline clear. It is believed that swordfish and tuna the main food of the great white also split off from the their main groups. Great white sharks followed the food supply.

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Minggu, 22 Agustus 2010

New Solar Power Station in Western Australia

Australia goes its own way in lower carbon power generation by opening a solar-diesel power station, the world's first, in Western Australia. Solar panels track the sun during the day. The station is built in a location that holds the record for the most days of maximum temperature. Use of the solar panels will lessen greenhouse gas emissions by 1119 tonnes a year.

the local Aboriginal community if fully supportive of the power plant in the Pilbara. Aboriginals named it Pippunyah, the name of the river nearby. Funding came from the Federal Government in its renewable remote power generation program via the Office of Energy in Western Australia.

It is unfortunate that solar power generation had to be combined with fossil fuel generation. Even getting natural gas there would have been better than diesel. It seems there is no perfect solution to the pollution problem. New systems only seem to meet requirements half way.

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Selasa, 25 Mei 2010

Enjoy Ireland in Australia

If you want to experience Ireland go to Melbourne, Australia. Yes there are Irish pubs here. The benefits - live in a warm country but move in Irish culture. With Guinness on tap and U2 playing over the PA you are right at home. The problem is Poms, the English, like drinking there as well. Scots also warm to the occasion. Australians treat this pub as their local and enjoy the goings on.

The best time to be there is for St Patrick's Day and Christmas. Food served up is much like the Brits - bangers and mash. What gives the pub atmosphere is music, Irish music and it is played continuously. Guinness is served here - cold, very cold. The way it should be.

The problem with Irish pubs is, according to the Irish, they are nothing like Irish pubs. Apparently, Irish pubs are about the same as anywhere else. They are good to stop at for a meal and a drink while you are travelling, but hang around for a while and you will probably feel you have something better to do.

Well, you can't win them all. Just visit Irish pubs in Australia and live in a pleasant land of make believe.

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Senin, 17 Mei 2010

European Names Were Not Forced on Aboriginals

Aboriginals are barking up the wrong tree. Saying that White invaders forced name tags on them is a bit rich. Aboriginals gladly accepted European style names. An Australian who is 80 percent white taking an Aboriginal name is ridiculous, considering many do not speak any native tongue. They cannot opt out of registration of births. It is against the law.

Another thing is Aboriginals calling themselves a group of nations like the nation tribes of North America. Native Australians were spread across the land in very small tribes. They had no concept of federated nations. Communication only existed between neighboring tribes.

Too much has been made of the Mabo decision. This was based on tribal land rights over a piece of land that Aboriginals had always occupied. It does not apply to Aboriginals living in cities. The Mabo finding cannot apply to people who are more European than Aboriginal. Native Britons were invaded by foreigners with Celtic blood being diluted by inter-socialization. The same has occurred to Aboriginals. Virtually no full-blood Aboriginals exist today.

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Minggu, 25 April 2010

Ray Martin Is a Weak Aboriginal - The Flag Issue

A new debate about the flag has been instigated by Ray Martin. With 45 percent of people in favor of keeping the existing Australian flag and 27 percent against there is not much more to be said. Ray Martin claims to be Aboriginal. Just take a look at him. He is 95 percent white! Many Australians who have one Aboriginal ancestor wear Aboriginality "like a flag". That is exactly what Ray Martin is doing.

What is the alternative? It would be worth considering a change in flag design if there was a popular alternative. Apart from the Aboriginal flag which is tied up in legal argument by Tasmanian Aboriginals there isn't another choice. The only other flag that some would accept is the boxing kangaroo. But that is a silly comic like kangaroo, a caricature, not a well designed and poised animal. There are other Australian animals just as worthy, for example, the platypus, Tasmanian devil, or koala. What about a blow in? Somebody draw a camel! Seriously though, designs need to be created and put forward in a selection process.

The flag and republic issues will become relevant as years go by. At the moment Australia has other things to worry about, like immigration, the skills shortage and housing. Change is needed with the national anthem as well. "Advance Australia fair." What is that supposed to mean? Are we fair as in playing sport, or are we proud of our white skin? A survey would find that hardly anyone knows what it really means.

Australia has many problems. The flag, republic and anthem issues can wait.

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Jumat, 23 April 2010

Abbot Is Naive to Stop Young People Getting the Dole

Tony Abbot's call to send young people to work down the mines is a bit radical for an opposition leader. The "dole bludger" term is very old hat nowadays. With government strengthening of loopholes in getting unemployment benefits it no longer applies.

Abbot says young people do not know what is good for them and they are naive. Working down the mines will not make them less naive. Furthermore, they do know that going underground will not do them any good. Abbots condemnation of them joining environmental movements instead of mainstream political parties is like the cat calling the kettle black. Another "naive" statement from Tony Abbot is the idea of testing young people to see if they are "mature" enough to receive unemployment benefit.

Though Tony Abbot believes that depriving the young of unemployment benefit will make them move to the remote bush of Western Australia, this is a childish, simplistic dream. Recruitment officer Kevin Wealand says mining companies need skilled workers. They don't want labourers. Abbot says this will be Liberal Party policy. Ultimately this attempt at social engineering will not work. Mine owners and union leaders are cringing at the thought of having unskilled workers operating dangerous mining machines. Queensland Resources Council director Michael Roche says Tony Abbot is misguided - he is completely off the track.

Putting it bluntly, Tony Abbot comes across as a twerp. Does he sleep with that bike? Where have all the real leaders like Malcom Turnbull and Peter Costello gone? The Coalition needs to get a decent leader to be a contender for Prime Minister.

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Jumat, 12 Maret 2010

Some Registered Psychologists Are Deemed to be Undertrained

The standards of psychological treatment in Australia is in question. The Psychological Society of Australia has been accused of allowing the industry to employ only partially trained psychologists. Six qualified practitioners have made this claim. Although psychologists register with the society not all are qualified.

If this is the case it is appalling. How could untrained people possibly be allowed to treat the sick, particularly if these patients are suicidal.

Apparently, clinical psychologists are fully qualified though they can be members of the society, whereas the remainder of registered psychologists are not trained. GPs refer patients to a registered psychologist who then treats the patient. The counselling is subsidized under Medicare. Over the last five years the Government has paid out twice as much to the practitioners than was budgeted.

A deeper look into the issue shows, however, that some academic bigotry is involved. Clinical psychologists who complete a degree followed by a Masters or Doctorate are saying registered psychologists who do a degree and two years supervised training are under qualified. This could be a case of an elite trying to freeze the others out of business.

The US and Britain insist on a Masters or Doctorate ticket. Australia says two years post degree training is enough.

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Selasa, 09 Maret 2010

Fossilised Eggshells Are Ideal for Extracting DNA

Jurassic Park is getting closer to reality. Australian scientists have managed to get DNA from fossilised eggshells of extinct birds. The Team warns though that bringing ancient creatures back to life is a long way off. Particles of fossilised eggshells from Australia, New Zealand and Madagascar were used in the research.

A target species was the Moa bird which lived in New Zealand into the 18th century. Another was the Elephant Bird extinct in Madascar during the 17th century. Older bird were also worked on: the New Zealand Duck, Australian Owl and an Emu which was 19,000 years old. In work on older fossils, results did not come up with usable DNA.

Techniques used were the usual reduction of sample and polymeras amplification. These were very short pieces of DNA obtained from minute samples. Eggshells were found to be even better than bones and hair for storing DNA.

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Selasa, 02 Maret 2010

European Skull Found In New Zealand Dating before British Arrival

Captain Cook discovered Australia for Britain in 1770. If you believe this you are living in dreamland. The Portuguese took Malacca, a small Malaysian state, in 1511. Spain controlled part of the Philippines from 1521. Indonesia welcomed the Netherlands from 1596 and the Southeast Asian country was later ruled by the Dutch from 1825. France sent emissaries to Siam in 1600.

The question is did any of the sailors from these countries land in Australia before the British arrived in Singapore in 1819: note Britain had been around in India since 1612. It is obvious that Dutch sailors landed on the north coast of Australia because Indonesia is just next door. Why didn't they claim it? Why didn't Portugal claim it? The Portuguese colonized East Timor from 1613 and that is even closer. The truth is they didn't want it because they couldn't find any advanced societies there. No trade was on offer. In those days trade was everything. There was no welfare state in those days. You had to earn or starve. Seeing a few Aboriginals along the beaches and cliffs, they took on water and left.

What is surprising it that no real evidence of Europeans being in the Antipodes has been found - until now. The skull of a European woman has been found in Wellington, New Zealand. Carbon dating shows she was alive there in 1742. Dating is now very accurate. This settles the dispute about Aboriginals having genes for red hair. The gene definitely came from Europeans who landed in Australia, before the red-haired Aboriginals were discovered.

So Europeans had visited New Zealand before Captain Cook "discovered" it in 1769. It was claimed for Britain in 1839, first being ruled from New South Wales. Then the whole country was claimed by Britain in 1840.

Getting back to the skull. When first found police thought they had a murder on their hands when they saw puncture wounds. The woman must have arrived there by "independent' means, probably by a European ship sailing at the captain's whim. Abel Tasman saw the shore of New Zealand in 1642 but had no women aboard his ship. Why did it take Europeans another century to search for the great southern land again?

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Selasa, 16 Februari 2010

Cane Toad Survives a Plane Flight Across the Country

Australian cane toads really get around, in most unlikely ways. A cane toad got into a golf shoe then survived a plane trip from Brisbane to Perth. It stayed in the shoe six days before being discovered by the shoe's owner.

Apparently, this is not unusual. The pests are very tough and resilient.

In the above case, quarantine authorities would not comment, though a spokesperson did try to make out that it was a tree frog. The owner of the shoe lived in Brisbane for many years and said it was definitely a cane toad.

It seems cane toads won't have to walk across the top of Australia (as they steadily are). Crossing the country is far easier by plane.

Cane toads are intelligent as well. It is known that if water is scarce they will follow a cow drawing moisture from cow pats until the cow eventually reaches a river or dam.

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Minggu, 14 Februari 2010

Australia Gains Good Resource Areas

Australia gets richer with little effort. The United Nations has granted an expansion of Australia's territorials waters. This has resulted in Australia gaining large swathes of undersea areas containing rich gas and oil deposits.

The region gained is five times the area of France. There is a problem. The minerals are in very deep waters. But with the price of oil rising, it won't be long before it will be economical to mine the region. Oil obtained in deep waters from the Gulf of Mexico is being sold on the world market.

The area of greatest potential is off the north west coast where extraction of gas is already taking place. Development in the Great Australian Bight and off Tasmania will not take place soon. However, the future in the long term looks secure for Australia.

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Senin, 25 Januari 2010

Calls to Change the Australian Flag

Celebrities like Ray Martin want to change the Australian flag, but it is the national anthem that needs changing. I do not believe there is enough support for changing the flag. After all we do not yet have a republic so there is no call to remove the Union Jack from the corner. Moreover, the Southern Cross is a star constellation that truly represents the country and is the natural view of the heavens from here.

Ray Martin is about twenty percent Aboriginal so he calls himself a native Australian. Just why he believes that he has more right than anyone else to decide on what happens to this country is beyond me. There is one thing that will push Australians to choose to become a republic. That is Prince Charles becoming king. If Prince William is the next King of England many Australians could want to keep him as head of state.

Getting back to the Australian flag. Ray Martin would obviously want the Aboriginal flag in the corner. But I personally do not want this. Aboriginals have been here for perhaps 60,000 years, yet they did not at any time form a nation. If the British flag is irrelevant to new Australians then certainly the Aboriginal flag will be as well. It is unlikely that the Aboriginal flag will ever be incorporated into a new national flag. Tasmanian Aboriginals own rights to the Aboriginal flag, or so they say. And they have put a caveat on its use demanding land, a treaty and more rights than white Australians.

A possible alternative could be the Eureka flag. It denotes rebellion, a fight against a tax on gold mining. Not enough Australians would agree on anything else. So prospects are not strong on changing to a new flag.

When people from other countries think of Australia they can hum a tune about the country and that tune is not Australia Fair. That song is Waltzing Matilda. And everyone knows that Matilda does not refer to a woman. The reason why this is not the Australian National Anthem, the tune at least, it due to a copyright problem. Apparently, the melody is owned by an American company. Though this ownership is contentious. After all these years if the company is not forthcoming in an agreement for Australia to use the tune this nation should go ahead and use it anyway. A little international "tango" would liven up debate.

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Sabtu, 23 Januari 2010

Humans Wiped Out Australia's Megafauna

Humans destroy more things in the environment than climate change. This is especially the case in Australia where over the last 50,000 years people have wiped out the county's megafauna. Before Aboriginals arrived flightless birds, large reptiles and giant marsupials lived a carefree existence.

Humans slaughtered the large animals in a very short period of time. More accurate dating of bones shows that megafauna died out abruptly. When the giant creatures were in large numbers there is no evidence of human tools. After the Diprotodon, Australia's largest marsupial, large kangaroos and flightless birds died out stone tools appeared. Accurate dating shows they did not exist at the same time even though they were found together at certain locations. When humans became settled the large animals were gone. The odd thing is that humans and megafauna must have coexisted for at least 5,000 years. But this is a very narrow window to find evidence of both living side by side.

This gives weight to the theory that the arrival of modern Man in the Americas caused the demise of the mammoth. Though there is a problem with the American story. Megafauna "ruled" during the ice age which occurred 12,000 years ago. Its seems that when the ice ages ended life changed for the large animals. The climate was then well and truly against the survival of mammoths, short-faced bears, giant bison and sabor-toothed tigers. Some megafauna, however, continued to survive in Kansas, and Nebraska after the ice age period. The skeleton of a giant beaver has been found dating from 10,000 years ago. So Man could still be the culprit.

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