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Ancient Potions Work!

If your current collection of medications to fight disease no longer works, look to the past. That is what scientists are doing. They are reading through books hundreds of years old on "home" remedies. A medieval book mentions a substance that has shown promise in destroying methicillin resistant "staphylococcus aureus" (MRSA), a damaging infection common in hospitals. The potion was used a thousand years ago in Viking times. Notably, the "cure" was used to treat a simple stye, a common eye complaint in that era. The concoction was found in a book called Bald's Leechbook. Though the title is rather off putting there is a lot of truth in it. Work is gathering apace with the formation of the AncientBiotics Project. This was the first attempt at testing an ancient remedy. The future looks promising based on this positive finding. Apparently, medieval medicine was not all quackery. Though misguided by blood letting many of the po...

Tony Abbot's Government Has a Clear Policy

The Abbott government has a clear policy driving its actions : it strongly believes in the free market mechanism and is "trying" to balance the books like a successful business. However, a government is not a business. It operates to benefit its people. You need a heart to understand what your citizens want. Unfortunately, Abbot does not have a heart. He is selfish in forcing his beliefs on the Australian people, because that is what they are - beliefs. The market will not provide a fair health care system. In the US market health care runs riot over the welfare of the people. This is what Abbott wants to foister on Australians. Tony Abbot is not interested in democracy. Belly aching about not being able to get his $7 GP co-payment through the senate was laughed at by delegates at the G20 conference. How obsessed can one be? He is definitely too selfish for words. He wants to force his views on the country like John Howard did. Note, Howard not only los...

Cat School

"Pay attention.  You little runt!" Funny Animal Photos by Ty Buchanan http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/ http://adventure--australia.blogspot.com/atom.xml . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vista Computer Solutions Blog        Australian Blog ★                          ALL BLOG ARTICLES · ──► ( BLOG HOME PAGE) Share Article

Woman Complains About Gollywogs

Be careful! There might be a gollywog about. A Melbourne woman saw a gollywog doll for sale and she is now campaigning to stop it. But is she stopping racism or preventing the gollywog from existing? This all goes back to the Noddy series of books by Enid Blyton. Gollywog, who held an important position as Toytown garage proprietor, was a major character. Enid Blyton had no racial intentions by including him. Though she did admit that she hated children. The woman says, “It’s a shock to see them brought back." However, they didn't actually go away. They have been available for many years in shops despite Gollywog's removal from Blyton books after 1980. These days you can buy Caucasion, Asian and African style dolls, so what is the big problem about selling gollywogs? Banning things always causes problems because it makes an issue out of something when no bad feeling is intended. Australians used to call people from Italy and Greece wogs in the 1960s and 70s. These new...

Dog Reads Cat News

"I'm going to find out all I can about these pesky cats." http://vistacomputersolutions.blogspot.com/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Funny Animal Photos

More University Students Studying Online

Soon universities and colleges made of bricks, stone and concrete with be a thing of the past as young and old turn to the Internet to get their degrees. Leading Australian universities are trying to "buck the trend" by not offering online course, but if they don't change their student enrolments will fall. Initially it was mature age students who chose to study online; now more of the young are studying this way as well. Next year the restriction on the number of places Australian universities can offer will be abolished. The market will open up as institutions will be able to offer as many openings as they want. With no investment in new buildings planned new offering have to be online. Charles Sturt University already has two-thirds of its students studying online with growth at 14 per cent a year. For many, the only time they will set foot on a university campus will be to receive their degrees. Lecturers will no longer be able to hide their heads in text ...

The Ebook Market Will Quickly Mature - down to song prices $0.99 a book

Electronic publishing will not improve income for authors. There isn't much hope that the Australian Society of Authors will get its way. The ASA wants 35 per cent return for ebooks. With an expectation of $10 for a new novel that is $3.33. That is a much more than traditional paper publishers pay. Trying to manipulate the electronic medium for more profit is not on. Book publishers have been paying only 10 per cent of the sale price for years. Demand is only high now because many old favorites are available for free. Most consumers are prepared to pay only cents for new work. The same thing will happen as happened with music. Some will buy books then distribute them online for free. When Internet book publishing matures consumers will pay only what they pay now to get a song from iTunes - $0.99. Publishing firms are selling more new books in ebook format than paper, but this is the honeymoon period. As sells mushroom, profit margins and price will crash. Don't forget the dange...