Adventure Ausrama Blog

A cache of old photographs has been put on display in Scotland. It is not known who took them, but the person must have been an ardent world traveller. There are pictures taken in Bolivia, Argentina, India and New Zealand. The images are of very high quality. The collection had been stored at the Roslin Institute for many years. This is where Dolly the Sheep was born. Photos of animals were probably taken during research at the institute. It is possible the "culprits" were James Cossar Ewart (who did travel widely) and Robert Wallace who were professors there from 1882. The rest of the photographs are a mystery. The animal pictures are interesting enough, though the images of people in other countries are illuminating. In one, a leper is carried by two boys with a hanging container for alms. The boys use a carrying pole to distance themselves from the leper. Another picture shows a child with a lamb. The most significant scene shows a Maori Girl in fu

It seems the first signs of general acceptance of extreme weather from climate change are forming. Some scientists are openly declaring that change in weather patterns will be permanent or worsen as climate change takes hold. This past year has been one of the wettest on record in eastern Australia. This is blamed on damage to the environment by human activity. Change is regional with heavy rains in Europe, east Asia and Oceania. The US and Africa were very dry. Greenhouse gasses caused a warming of oceans. This put more moisture into the atmosphere to fall as rain in the large land masses of Europe, Asia and Oceania. A downpour occurred in New Zealand that was a once in 500 years event. Just  why the US remains dry is a problem. It should have received more rain, but weather patterns tends to vary around the world due a balancing effect in humidity. Hurricane Sandy indicates the probable future damage from extreme weather due to climate change. Rising sea levels inc

Don't throw wildlife around! You may be punished for it. A New Zealand man has to attend court for throwing a hedgehog at a teenager. Mr Singhalargh threw the poor animal five meters at a 15 year old in the eastern North Island town of Whakatane. The teenager was injured. He got a large red welt and several puncture wounds. The man was arrested shortly afterwards for assault with a weapon, namely the hedgehog. The police did not say whether the hedgehog was alive before the ordeal, but did say that the animal was definitely dead afterwards. 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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Society

Why is Australia in such a bad way? The country is exporting at record levels. China is paying up front for these exports. Interest rates are not too high. Remember the Keating days of 14 per cent? We do have a "dual" economy with manufacturing doing it tough due to the high dollar, but Australia never has been a strong exporter of manufactured goods. Retailers are saying people aren't spending. You would think that people can only spend what they earn and no more. However, due to the multiplier effect, according to economic theory, when a person spends a dollar that one dollars turns over about five times. In other words the money supply, the real paper dollars out there, is actually only about a fifth of the money on the books in an economy. So what happens when a consumer saves? Think about it. The money in circulation "shrinks" by four more dollars. This is what is happening in Australia. We all envied Japan in its good years when they had very h