Adventure Ausrama Blog

Australians on welfare cannot afford to pay rent even with the $67 weekly subsidy. They get a job which is usually part-time, but they find that they are no better off. Fuel for their car, if they have one, or transport costs are at least $100 a week. With Centrelink now docking payments when recipients do the slightest thing wrong in their job applications, they are being pushed onto the streets. The number of homeless is going through the roof. It is rising at an alarming rate. Not only single people are affected. Parents with large families are in hardship as well. Of more than 65,000 houses surveyed just 10 could be secured by those on Newstart. Homes are available; though they can be taken only by renters on a good income. Buying a place to live will never be possible for low-income citizens. It is out of the question for all of them. Indeed, many families who successfully rent are having to make do with one and two bedroom residences. They need help now. Rents have...

Yes, we know that electric battery cars cost as much to run as petrol ones, but demand is increasing. An Australian company is planning to make the little beasties. The number of quiet cars purchased increases by 40 percent every year. Australasia has had a slow uptake, favoring combustion engine powered motors. ACE Electric Vehicles (formerly GetGreen) intends to alter that. The business began by producing solar farm equipment. It is based in regional Queensland. The firm has patented its manufacturing process. Production will start later in 2018. To suit the Australian market a ute (Yewt) is the going to be the first model offered. This will be followed by a van aimed at commercial operators. They will be basic products selling for less than $40,000. The power train will give 40 kilowatt per hour with a range  of 350 kilometers. While it will be ticketed as an item of Australia, only assembly will be done here. Manufacture of components will be in China. The long term go...

They are out there! Well they could be according to an astronaut. In 1969 Buzz Aldrin claimed he saw a UFO on his journey to the moon. He was adamant and passed a lie-detector test. Furthermore, three of his companions on the trip who made the same claim also passed close scrutiny. Cross examinations on the sightings of the L-shaped craft were done by the Institute of BioAcoustic Biology. There were differences in what was actually seen. Gordon Cooper said he saw a cluster of objects, while the others only observed one. Voice pattern tests showed all were telling the truth about what they saw. Buzz Aldrin believes that there is life on some planets in the Milky Way galaxy. Whether there are alien civilizations close to us is another question. The astronaut is not bothered by the "vehicle" that followed his moon-landing craft. He has his beliefs and that is that. The famous astronaut is pushing hard for his exploration plans to be adopted by NASA. He is working w...

Despite all the technological achievements there is no real practical way to store data for the posterity of the human race. All the methods we have break down over time.  New optical disks that use gold particles may be the answer. They have a 10TB capacity and it is claimed that they will last six centuries. The disks can be mass produced. Currently, standard disks used by data centers hold 2TB of data and last only two years. If the new technology is for real it will be a huge step forward. The best disks all optical, we have to date last for a maximum of 50 years and they have not been put into service because of high cost. Australian and Chinese researchers say there is still a long way to go before the gold particle strategy is fully developed. Gold nanomaterials are combined with hybrid glass which produces a structure with great strength. Data can be stored across the whole spectrum of visible light rays. There is a trade off :  increasing the storage lev...

Our grandchildren will not enjoy the natural environment as we do. Yes, visits are organized for sightseers, but at least we have something to look at. We ignore the damage we do at our peril. This couldn't care less attitude has to change. Water shortages will become normal in urban areas and country regions. Ironically, Australiasia is experiencing a lot of rain at the moment. Will this continue? Perhaps the nation is becoming more tropical. However, El Niño will return eventually. When the weather is hot, plants and people do not do so well. There is plenty of food available in Western countries now. This could change with a persistent drying climate. The West does not seem to care about those suffering famine in Africa. Starvation and malnutrition could happen at home. Animal and plant biodiversity also suffers from severe change. In the last decade 50 percent of native animal species have died out in Australia. When an organism meets its demise the whole ecosystem ...

A new more efficient battery is needed. While computer chips have made fantastic gains, batteries have stood still. Lithium dominates the market. There seems to be no choice, but new research has come up with something. Lithium batteries came to the fore in the 1970s when they superseded lead acid, though not in cars. However, litio is getting scarce. The price has risen dramatically recently. People require storage devices: demand is rising. A completely new kind of device for storing electrical energy is on the horizon. It is called the proton flow battery and has been developed within Australia. A carbon electrode stores hydrogen. During the charging process carbon couples up with protons by splitting water. When in use H2O is reproduced with oxygen from the air; thus power is generated. Protons are moved to achieve this. Another type of cell has been around since the 1930s, the vanadium redox. Despite a lot of investment this has not taken off. Countries such as the UK have ...

Magpies do learn much of their cognitive skill by the level of intake of energy. Reproductive capacity also improves skills. Australian magpies are very intelligent.  Found all over the country, they love urban areas.  They soon latch on to your pet's food bowl and accept any scraps you throw out.  Gymnorhin tibcen dorsalis live in groups of three or more.  A study was done to find out more about them.  Findings were based on detor-reaching, where food was hidden in transparent containers. Food was also put in the same place and birds were observed. Unfortunately, little detail of how this proved the connection with non-social group performance. The social milieu hypothesis is still the primary causative factor. Just how this and individual discerning cognition advancement can be separated for research is problematic.  They are complex creatures. Bold claims by this study are yet to be justified. Just seeing magpies behave in our gardens shows...