Adventure Ausrama Blog

Microsoft is unhappy about a country that does not like government data stored overseas. It is jumping up and down about this policy in Australia. The question that must be asked is - Why is the big data giant so miffed about it? The loss in income for Microsoft cannot be that great. There must be another reason. Like Google, is Microsoft collecting data to use for its own ends? It is so upset it refuses to launch the Office 365 service in Australia. Microsoft is aggressively lobbying the Coalition government to change the rules and open up the market. It must be after something more than profit. Everything put into the cloud can be accessed by the cloud's owner. These services already hold data from many countries. If say a major government could get its hands on such data think of the power they would have. It seems only reasonable that countries should consider national security to be more important than reducing costs. Internet by Ty Buchanan http://www...

Research shows that capitalism is bad for us. Since the 1970s there has been an increase in mental illness of adults and children. Indications are that it is due to capitalism because the rise has been noted in English speaking capitalist countries and not in non-English speaking non-capitalist nations. About 23 per cent of Americans, Britons, Australians, New Zealanders and Canadians suffered in the last 12 months, but only 11.5% of Germans, Italians, French, Belgians, Spaniards and Dutch.  Could language itself be a factor? Selfish Capitalism has massively increased the wealth of the rich, robbing the average earner to give to the rich. But there is no "trickle-down effect" despite what politicians say. Real wages have decreased in the US over the last three decades. Governments have reduced tax payments of the rich, placing responsibility for payment on low income earners.  Nothing is being done to reduce "middle class welfare".  Many people use the term mid...

When you go into hospital for an operation you either get a "feel good" pain clinician who believes that no one should be in pain when medications are available, or you get an "ethical" physician who gives pain relief when he/she deems it to be "right". The problem is moral judgement differs from person to person. Another issue is - Can pain be a disease in itself? Some calculate the failure to treat pain in working days lost. The problem is, taking analgesics will reduce some pain from the flu, for example, but you are still too sick to work. Furthermore, taking high levels of analgesics can make for a euphoric state where one does not want to work. Looking at it in terms of days lost is questionable. Specialists are also calling for pain relieving medications to be shipped in large amounts to poorer countries where medical treatment is not widely available. Considering the drug problem in virtually all countries, this may not be a good thing to do. I...

Capitalism is a good thing - or so we believe. The world is getting more obese. Large international companies that produce high-sugar, high-fat products are buying out local distribution firms in developing countries to dominate the market. More than a Quarter of China's population is obese. Twenty years ago each Chinese person consumed only two teaspoons of sugar a day. Currently, China keeps a sugar bank, The government is terrified that a sugar shortage will lead to social unrest. Mexico is becoming fatter than any other nation on Earth. Coca Cola practises price segmentation. In cities where income is higher, coke costs more than average. Poor rural regions get coca cola at a much cheaper price. Young children suffer from malnutrition while their parents are overweight. Sugar and fat consumed regularly is a killer. Diabetes is increasing at a rapid rate. In developing countries medical care is poor, so diabetes goes untreated and people die. There can only be one...

Why does Australia have the highest rate of food alergy in the world?  This is a question that should be answered.  Managing the problem is important.  Research is needed to find out why this is the case. People in developing countries are rapidly catching up with the Western world as they adopt a "modern" food consumption style.  Clearly we are eating the wrong kind of food.  Refined products and those with artificial food flavoring, coloring and preservatives must be responsible.  Humans have eaten natural food for over 99 per cent of evolutionary time.  The way we live has also changed.  Children today are protected from the natural environment.  Only a small minority of Western children actually play outside, where there are are natural flora and fauna so they can build resistance. Food allergy has increased more than alergies such as asthma.  Only northern Europeans evolved to be able to digest milk.  It is no wonder that mi...

Though populations in Western countries are getting older, the proportion of young people in developing countries is extremely high. There are no fears of a future labor shortage because of this. However, Western economies will probably face higher unemployment and lower tax revenue if they do not employ older citizens. Countries that go through boom times seem to end up with societies that do not produce enough children to "even out" the general population over time. A case in point is Japan. It was a strong economy from the 1960s. Now it is struggling but the propensity not to have children persists. Savings were high in Japan. Elderly people have already sold off assets that they had accumulated to fund their retirement. Savings have fallen from 15 per cent of GDP to only 3 per cent. Baby boomers experienced the highest standard of living ever so they had the opportunity to save. Younger Japanese workers today do not have the income surplus to put aside for the...

Be careful what you put on your skin - the skin absorbs chemicals on its surface. In other words your body consumes and ingests things like soap and toxins in engine oil, etc. Little research is done on this serious issue. In New Zealand a dangerous chemical which lowers IQ in children has been found in sunscreens. It is as damaging as lead paint. Even spraying the chemical into the air where is can be breathed in and ingested can lower IQ. Piperonyl butoxide is also present in insect spray. Cancer Society products even contain the substance. Low vitamin D has been blamed for many diseases when in fact it could be trace chemical in commonly used household goods. If vitamin D deficiency is causal then people in temperate countries would have higher cancer, Alzheimer's, heart disease, autism, depression and ADHD than those in tropical regions. This is only true for some of these illnesses. Too say 31 per cent of Australians in this hot country are deficient is ridiculous. h...

Only Western people get depressed due to their fast way of living - right? Unfortunately, this is not the case. Those in developing countries are also stressed as they struggle to survive. While Westerners do not have to worry too much about securing food, getting adequate sustenance for themselves and families is in many cases the main priority for the Third World population. An examination of depression in developing countries by the University of Queensland on 480,000 subjects highlights this disturbing finding. People in Third World nations just do not go to doctors for treatment. The survey in 91 countries shows that stress is common across the board. There is a fine line between depression and stress. Many would say they are the same thing. Anxiety was found to be higher in the USA with depression there being the lowest. Examining depression specifically, developing countries had more than twice the rate of the US - 9 per cent. Political and military conflict was the main...

Google Gmail offers a new Internet phone service if you have a Gmail Account. There is one thing about running such a service on the Internet; that is it costs nothing for the company providing the service to run. Users pay a local telephone company for access to the Internet from their homes and on their mobile phones. The connection goes through each country via local telephone companies servicing the internet and phone lines. There is no charge for US Gmail users and a charge per call for those living in other countries. Though it is a small amount it is discriminatory. The Internet goes all around the world like a net. Access to this net is open to anyone. No country charges its population to access the net to other countries . The European furniture company Ikea has already been accused of cross-subsidization for charging different prices for the same products in different countries. The production and even distribution costs are much the same. Google's discriminatio...

The culture of Greece is at risk and this is where democracy was born, Surely, funding can be found from other countries. National cuts have reduced the archaelogical workforce to a dangerous low level. Up to 50 per cent of workers in total will be dismissed, Just maintaining ancient structures is expensive. Of more immediate threat are museum pieces, not fixed ancient buildings though illegal diggings are threatening these. museum security guards have been laid off. Armed robberies are increasing. Offical research projects funded from other countries are continuing. but all local digs have ceased as the money is stopped. Work on ancient walls built in the time of Pericles located under the metro rail line, no longer takes place. The dig is important to understand how the access way from Athens to the sea affected the way the fleet of ships was used during the Peloponnesian War. There will be a real loss of experienced specialists as they take early retirement. Those left spend...

Nations in the Pacific are the first to be affected by global warming. The tide is literally coming in higher and higher. Children play in sea water as it enters homes built on the highest points available on small islands. The Australian Government's Pacific Climate Change Science Program (PCCSP) has released a report on the Pacific region. The last decade has been the warmest ever recorded. Acidity in sea water is also rising because there is more carbon dioxide. Cyclones are predicted to increase with greater rainfall. Day and night temperatures will be higher. While the report will help Pacific nations show what damage has been done by the developed world, it is doubtful advanced countries will assist financially. Knowing what will happen will help island nations plan for the future though the changes are already apparent as the sea takes over the land. http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/ http://www.feeds.feedburner.com/Adv...

Eye Size is not accidental. It is determined by evolutionary factors. This is not so obvious today because in the twentieth century people moved to new countries in regions quite different from their place of origin. Eye sockets were measured from 55 skulls of native people throughout the world. The skulls were in museum collections from the 1800s. Large eyes were synonymous with large craniums. The native population of Micronesia had the smallest eyes. Scandinavians had the largest. This is contrary to the belief that Africans have the largest eyes. Eyes size is affected by the length of day and sun brightness. Bigger craniums were due to more brain allocation to sight. It did not make people smarter. This finding must mean that being able to get about in low light was important for survival. Features important for survival until the age of reproduction are carried on to later generations. Some things, however, can remain in a population if they affect life after puberty, ...

Everything in society is controlled to make it safe, right? Wrong! Herbal medicine can be consumed freely without restriction even if it kills you. Try to buy opiates which can be taken for a lifetime without harm and all sorts of restrictions apply. Drug addicts die of illnesses such as aids and hepatitis. Recent tests were done on an Australian who took Ayervedic medicines. His body had eight times the maximum safe level of lead in it. The mistake he made on a visit to India has ruined his life. Ayervedid herbs are normally contaminated with heavy metals. Whether this part of their "healing" function is not known. Imagine taking lead, arsenic and mercury, daily. In Australia, Indian and Chinese herbs are monitored for dangerous levels of heavy metals. That's where it ends: the efficacy of the "medication" is not tested. You can buy such herbs on the Internet from countries where product quality is not regulated. It is surely time for the herbal medicine mark...