Adventure Ausrama Blog

Japan plans to resume whaling in the Antarctic next year. It will modify its "scientific" research system to fit in to what the International Court of Juctice (ICJ) wants, although the court stated that scientific whaling per se was illiegal and would always be illegal. Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) says it will take the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) to the ICJ to stop it harassing Japanese whaling ships when they carry out future legal scientific whale hunting in the Antarctic, in short the resumption of killing of whales for food. Just why Japan is so pig-headed about continuing to wastefully kill whales says something about Japanese culture - they are arrogant.  Japanese consumers want whaling despite not actually buying whale meat. This nation has tonnes of whale meat in storage because it doesn't sell, despite being highly subsidized. I am about to get personal about this issue. Those readers easily offended should stop

If Germany expected immigrants to become German by living there it is no wonder people are disappointed. The best one can hope for is that the children of immigrants born in the new country will be fully integrated. If a model of "multiculturalism" was needed Australia could be the example. In the 50s, 60s and 70s the term "wog" was prevalent. Though Australians should have more correctly called people from the Mediterranean region "waps", these Greek and Italian "new Australians" quickly moved into enclaves of major cities. They not only imported themselves, but corner store businesses sprang up selling goods that no native born Australian would buy. The stores did quite well from the local expatriate clientele. It was common to hear people on buses and in queues speaking the language of their mother country. Australians were not offended by this because the new people were hard working and they didn't try to change Australian culture per

Natural pollination was used for years in plant research. it was thought to be the only way that a "pure" line could be preserved. Plants vary in characteristics depending on altitude and longitude. Crossing plants from different geographical region was the method put forward by Nobel Prize Laureate Dr Norman Borlaug who led the way in the Green Revolution. This method only produced three generations of new varieties each year. A different system was needed. Embryo culture is the result. This is used in combination with changes in water, temperature, humidity, light and potting mix and is much more productive. Plant embryos are like stem cells. The neutral "baby" plants are nurtured and placed onto a media culture that determines what type of plant they will become.; Pure-line plant genotypes are obtained in a shorter period. This is a major change in the creation of new crops that will feed the world's growing population. It will obviously take sever

In the modern world many types of behavior are tolerated. Angry people are allowed to run the streets chanting their violent slogans. Individuals are entitled to live the life of a hermit, barely communicating with anyone else. Saying that things have changed is too simplistic. The more things change the more they stay the same. Some have said that Australia's new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is too familiar with all those around him, calling fellow members of cabinet by their nicknames. It has been said that this is new for Australia. This is nonsense. Australians quickly find the names of strangers and from the "get go" call them by their first names. I remember watching a talk on television some years ago and the American was really upset by the Australian, who was also being interviewed, for not addressing him as Mr "Smith". Australia is an unusual country. It has a culture of bringing everyone to the same level. Honorifics have little place in such

If there is a major world disaster will Mankind survive? In the past our forebears got through environmental difficulties, so there is no reason to believe that this will not continue to happen. As technology becomes increasingly specialized, things we take for granted will be lost. Humanity will take a few steps back or fall right back into a survival-type culture. The skill to print could end. Story telling could return as a way to pass on culture. Man has always been inquisitive about what lies over the horizon. Experimentation will still be the key to survival. In a major disaster only those species that can adapt will live through it. Neanderthals were not smart enough to survive. This is despite their brains being larger than humans. The brains of Man obviously operated differently. This could have been the power of imagination. Neanderthals learned more by direct copying of behavior. Humans can deduce answers from information. Another important factor is present

There must be a dearth of things to study. Scientists are now researching the odd sounds that people make. It may seem weird but its true. Those who can make odd sounds are called beatboxers. Scientists are interested in percussion sounds. These are expressed in Celtic, Chinese, North American and Indian cultures. Hip-hop is an area of great interest. A young "practitioner" had MRI scans done on his mouth while he created percussion sounds. The conclusion reached is that a lot of brainpower is involved in imitating percussion. It "is a small part of the larger puzzle," experts say. In my view it takes little mental concentration. Just put your tongue behind you top teeth a "tap" away. http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.blogspot.com/ http://adventure--australia.blogspot.com/atom.xml http://www.technorati.com/blogs/ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Society Vista C

It was believed that early humans painted the cave art in Europe. Scientists are leaning toward associating this art with Neanderthals. The old theory surmised that humans created cave art soon after they moved into Europe from Africa. New tests show the paintings are older than first thought. They are now known to go back 41,000 years. This puts them clearly in the era of Neanderthals. Art was not a sudden achievement. It developed slowly over tens of thousands of years. The age of cave paintings was established by U-series dating. Samples of calcite that directly covered the paintings were taken. Paintings in El Castilo Spain were dated specifically to 40,800 years ago. Art in other Spanish caves were pushed back in time from 17,000 to 35,000 years. At this time humans were new to Europe but Neanderthals had been for there much longer. Early jewelry and use of ochre were part of Neanderthal culture. http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.com/ http://www.tysaustralia.

Swearing is part of Australian culture. Indeed, to be accepted as truly Australian, you have to swear a lot. So it is with great surprise that Australia is bringing in a swearing ban! The furore has been caused by the airing of Gordan Ramsey's programs on televisions. In 40 minutes he did say the "f" word more than 80 times. This may be excessive. But if one goes into a public bar, particularly when there are men who have done a hard day's grueling labor, such as shearers, the "f" word will be expressed a lot. The Australian Government has made recommendations to Australian television networks advising them to review the way they set program guidelines "to stop" coarse language. Just how they are going to do this is a mystery considering Ramsey's programs are very popular, swearing or not. It is said there is a culture of crudeness. Well, This is Australia and this is part of Australian culture. http://www.adventure--australia.blogspot.

Aboriginals had knowledge of movements of the Moon, Earth and Sun. This is not surprising. Ancient people had nothing better to do at night than to look up and note movements of those tiny spots of light. Apparently it was known that tides were linked to the moon and seasons came and went cyclically. Aboriginal culture revolved around movements in the heavens. They used it for guidance on long hunting expeditions, for marriage ceremonies, and knowing when types of fruit would appear. Eclipses were bad news. They believed something bad would soon happen. This is probably due to the moon turning red, like blood, during an eclipse. Like ancient religions Aboriginals saw the heavens as a canopy held up by spiritual pillars Human beings tend to interpret things in a similar way though they may be from different tribal groups or live in varied parts of the world. First there were many Gods, now there is one. This has happened as beliefs became factual knowledge over eons of time. h

Despite the perception of Australians being "outside" people, spending their leisure exploring the bush, we are a nation of "stay-at-homes". A quite startling statistic shows that most Australians travelled only 16 kilometers from their homes in a decade. Australians are parochial - they like the town where they were born. Anyway, this finding of only 16 kilometers of travel is questionable. It would be very difficult indeed even in remote towns for people to move in such a small radius from their homes. Even doing the weekly shopping would entail travel of more than 20 kilometers. I favor strengthening the "bushy' culture of Australia - whether it be true or not. In this day and age societies are so similar as to be boring. We all have mobile phones and widescreen TVs. Hell, even Asians living in the mountains have such technology. And Africans meandering along dusty roads hold mobile phones to their ears and tinker with the Internet. http://www.adventure-

What is multiculturalism? It is the acceptance of multiple "micro" cultures within a national culture. Many believe that it is ethnic groups taking on a national culture. This is where the problem arises. In Europe at the moment there is the issue of the burka, worn by traditional Muslims. Furthermore, there is the problem of mosques to be built in New York and Moscow. Some European political parties are taking a stand against multicultural polices, saying they will stop more immigration and even take away the rights of ethnic groups in their own communities. Popularity for banning the burka is increasing. Australia has been suggested as a model for other countries in regard to multiculturalism because of the way ethnic groups have integrated into the wider Australia. But the reason for its success is the way new Australian have been absorbed into society not for the traditions of ethnic groups surviving for generations in this country. As new arrivals looked for homes and wo