Adventure Ausrama Blog

We all know that rats can get really big, particularly when they eat "quality" garbage left by humans. Yet, city people have never seen the giant rats found in East Timor. Africa was thought to be the home of large rats, but this is not the case. No less that seven new species of large rats have been observed in East Timor. If you can image one 10 times larger than your "domestic" beast, you are getting close to the mark. The giants weigh about 5 kilograms. There is evidence that ancient man actually ate the rats on Timor as far back as 50,000 years ago. This was before tools were introduced from Asia. It seems that they were hunted then thrown onto the fire to cook because there were no cooking pots. The study aims to find out what animals were like before humans arrived there from Southeast Asia. Were they large then? It is known that mammals actually get smaller when isolated on an island. ◆ Science by Ty Buchanan   ◆ Adventure Australia

We hear so much praise about progress of the new broadband network being rolled out by the National Broadband Network (NBN). The problem is - there has been little progress. Apart from the acclaimed network in a part of Tasmania, few customers enjoy ultra-fast broadband anywhere else. The Internet divide still exists between city and rural. Obviously the NBN will be laid out in city areas because this is where the greatest income will be obtained. As it now stands rural regions will not get faster Internet until way past 2020. Many people will be dead by then. How do we know if fiber optics will be superceded? Soon the ocean protection walls will be finished around Venice and there are cries that it is old technology and will not save the valuable city. Perhaps the same will be said about the NBN. In the present economic climate where will be few businesses left in populated cities to enjoy the improved communication. Only if the mineral sector declines and the Aussie dollar