Adventure Ausrama Blog

The whole world changes all the time. Cultures alter at different speeds depending where you are on this planet. Faster communication is creating a "one world community' as many would say. However, cultures do differ between nations and ethnic groups. Australia has gone through dramatic change, from being an outpost of the British Empire to independence and self governance. Once Australians saw themselves as British first and Australians second. Going back "home" for a holiday to see mother England was a dream for many. Even after Britain joined the European Community Australians flooded into London. Today, Australians are "thin on the ground" in England. Work restrictions are killing off the attraction. You can only work if you are European. Working visas issued to Australians has halved since 2006. Only 10,000 Australian citizens actually reside in the UK. Businesses promoting Aussie travel to Britain have closed their doors and Internet site...

There is a problem with the call for improvement in productivity. Those calling for it will not be the ones working harder. The experiment was tried in the 1970s when many UK factories moved in the time and motion guys and started timing machinists. Unions and workers saw them coming, however. Before they even got going unions tied management down with a new contract that guaranteed workers would not be put on a lower rate if the business ran out of orders. They would be paid at the previous month's average rate when walking around doing very little.  This was done to make sure employees would not lose income due to them working harder. Furthermore, when foremen, leading hands and motion "experts" started milling around a machine workers knew what was about to happen. An older naturally slower machinists was soon moved in and lathe speeds were reduced.  Considering the motion timers had never seen capstan lathes before this was an easy trick. It took severa...

The battle goes on between Australia and the UK about the shortchanging of British people who were born, lived and worked in their homeland before emigrating. They paid their taxes and crucially paid there "stamp" every working week toward the state pension. However, the UK does not align payments with inflation for ex-pats living in "wealthy" countries, only those retiring in developing nations. UK governments, indeed previous governments of all political shades, have "stole" from these elderly people. Today the British pension paid to those who emigrated permanently to Australia is worth a pittance. There is no way they could live on it. Australia has to make up the shortfall even if ex-Brits have lived in Australia for only a few years before retiring. This is disgraceful behavior from a supposedly civilized country. It certainly fails the Australian norm of a fair go. On average the rate of pension paid to those living in the UK is more...

The era of academic journals being closed off from the general public by financial barriers is coming to an end. Publishers are terrified by this. It means they will have to get funding from other sources rather than annual subscriptions. There will be a time limit placed on articles, so after a short period they will have to be released so everyone can read them. This move is being put forward by the UK government. It is pushing for open access from the very beginning of publication. Unfortunately, the government intends to make authors pay publishers. This is unrealistic. Admittedly, university lecturers are in a secure financial position. However, scientists find it difficult to get funding and allocating part of income on publication is another financial burden. Universities are saying that the government is looking after publishers, protecting their income while passing the cost onto educational institutions. Martin Hall says we must move forward to get full funding in ...

The European economic situation is becoming a world problem. There seems to be no way the Euro can be saved. There will definitely be a flow-on effect to the world economy. Despite the new agreement, without the UK, nothing has really changed. The regulation and punishment for spending too much is too late for Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Italy. When these countries ultimately default, and they will, France and Germany will be drawn into Depression with them because their banks have continued to lend to these deficit countries. There will be another problem in Europe that no one has highlighted. When unemployment gets too high in the struggling countries life will be unbearable. Labor is free to move across borders in the EC. Workers will move to where the work this. That is Germany and to a lesser extent France. Economic refugees will flood across the borders. The UK will not be exempt from this. For centuries England, Scotland and Wales have been destinations for w...

No wonder West Indians had a rough time when they moved to the UK in the mid-twentieth century: with the polluted atmosphere common at that time many suffered from a vitamin D deficiency. Their children born in the UK had more problems than their parents because growing up in a sun depleted climatic environment with a dark skin led to long term lung problems. Australian research shows the lack of vitamin D leads to altered lung structure, with the lungs partially shutting down. In adult life people of West Indian heritage have decreased lung function. Mice were tested with some being made deficient in vitamin D while others had an adequate level. Tests with a plethysmograph showed lung obstruction was markedly greater in mice lacking vitamin D. Overall, lung volume was reduced. Lungs were also smaller than average. It was unclear as to whether the problem was basically due to heritage, or mothers being deficient during pregnancy, because test mice had to be bred to have low sun-to-vita...

Access to the Internet prevents it from being a world levelling device. In Australia people will have to wait up to eight years to get broadband. South Africans living in "dangerous" areas will never get an Internet connection because telco companies fear theft of copper wire. India is too poor, so many regions will have to remain on dial up Internet. Those in remote places in Britain are still waiting for a method to be chosen for broadband distribution. Leading Western countries are the main source of software for all Internet users. Even Twitter and Facebook are based in the US. People also use these sites to interact with those of similar ilk. The world is segmenting into cliques and a broad world view is not materializing. This is despite more information being available for the average person than at any other time in human history. People are essentially parochial. They identify with the region and country they are in. Though international news is easily accessed, many...