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We are Heading for a Protectionist World - Tariffs Will Return!

More jobs for the US economy. Globalization has failed. Countries are distinct cultures. Working life may be the same, but the values people live by are much different, particularly in regards to religion. Jobs have been lost in developed countries as so called developing countries keep labor costs down by manipulating their currencies and not giving their workers social welfare support. Americans want jobs A case in point is Australia's compulsory superannuation. This was a silly idea to begin with as companies went to the wall and workers lost all their super. This is a cost burden on wage costs. Employees must live now, so wages rose to leave enough current spending after paying in superannuation. This is seldom mentioned by economists let alone governments. Developing countries do not have this cost burden. No wonder Donald Trump is supported by a large slice of the American population. He promises to put up trade barriers to create jobs at home. His re

Predictions About a Cashless Society are Wrong

A cashless society will not happen despite predictions by economist and journalists. In the near future some countries could legislate to ban the use of coins and notes. This will be a drastic move. Indeed, people in the United States would argue that it is a protected right in the Constitution if it passed both governmental houses there. A shop would be stupid to put this sign out A myth is promulgated throughout the world that Singapore is a cashless society. This certainly isn't true. Ninety per cent of consumers in Singapore prefer to use cash rather than electronic payment. Just why there is a push to get rid of cash is a mystery. One can understand governments wanting to keep all transactions visible - it will stop tax evasion. However, there would be no benefit for people generally to use cards and transfers to buy everything. Economists and journalists have got the future totally wrong. How could cash be abandoned when it has almost universal appeal? I

Water Chemistry in Caves is Changed by a Bushfire

The chemistry is altered in the cave water below a bushfire. Raging fires on the surface of the planet affect caves that intertwine below. Research into climate history is now complicated by this finding. Australian and UK scientists analysed water dripping in cave after a fire and found that the chemistry of moisture changed. There could be a new horizon, however. Stalagmites and stalactites store information about fires. The caves tested have clear data stretching back 200,000 years. Oxygen-16 is lighter than oxygen-18 and it evapourates quicker, so dripwater with more oxygen-18 would indicate fires or hot spells above. Pauline Treble of the University of New South Wales found that sites in a cave only 23 meters apart had different water chemical readings. This was caused by a recent bushfire in 2005 localized to one of the cave sections. ◆ Chemistry by Ty Buchanan   ◆ Tys Country Amusing Animal Photos Odd Weird Things Articles News Reviews ● Vista Comput

Male Chicken Euthanization to End With New Technology

New technology automates sexing of chicks. Fattening up male chicks is a waste of resources. Furthermore, having to manually check the sex of chicks that are sold to producers is a costly burden. There must be an easier way. In Europe a way of determining the sex of chicks while still in the egg will revolutionize the industry. Female chickens fatten up much quicker than males. Moreover, males do not lay eggs. It may be possible to on-sale the "rejected" eggs for production of egg powder. The new system is 95 per cent effective after the ninth day of gestation. The way male chicks are disposed of at present is not pretty: they are crushed alive by an industrial crusher. At first, Wouter Bruins of the Netherlands had the aim of ending this mass euthanizing. Now it is seen as a potential extremely profitable enterprise. Sexing can be done at the rate of 4,500 an hour. ◆ Technology by Ty Buchanan   ◆ Tys Countr y Amusing Animal Photos Odd Weird Thin