Adventure Ausrama Blog

New Tasmanian laws to ban smoke are a joke and out of touch with reality. While the rest of the world goes on its merry way it will have no positive effect. Diesel trucks pump tonnes of filth into the atmosphere and there is no legislation to stop them. Not only will the new rules stop gardeners from burning waste vegetation, barbecues will be monitored as well. Recently a new type of barbecue has been released called the "turbo" or "low'n'slow" which increases the flavor of meat by creating more smoke. Ban criteria are just pulled out of the air. Smoke should not be visible for more than 10 minutes continuously. A fireplace cannot give off smoke for longer than 30 seconds. How are you going to stop burning wood from constantly giving off smoke? Fines are extremely large - $1,600 for the first offence. This is bureaucracy gone mad. If you are having problems with a neighbor they can make your life hell by reporting you for every fire you light

The paper-free culture is impacting on sales of printers. Many consumers now tick the box to have their bill sent my email. They must pay by BPAY or some other auto method. You still need a paper copy of a bill to pay at the post office. Printer sellers have seen a big bumpy fall this year. Industry analyst IDC recorded a decline of 8.8 per cent to 446,000 units in the first quarter. Fewer inkjet and laser printers are being purchased: 9.3 per cent and 8.6 per cent respectively. Canon was hit the hardest. It had a drop of 21.2 per cent. It seems the Canon product is being avoided (could be those fixed page inkjet replacements). Market leader HP retained almost the same sales as last year. Brother did the best of all with a rise of 17.3 in sales. Traditional laser producers Ricon, Xerox and HP were ignored by buyers. Most took home a Brother laser. Fuji Xerox had a massive hit of 30 percent. Analyst Jimmy Lee says the traditionals are now aiming at the prestige end of the

The common Sydney octopus does not look like a happy chappy, but he always looks gloomy. It is just the way he is. Not doing so well in the sea around New South Wales he has moved down to the cooler waters off Tasmania. Because they increased in number from a few early arrivals their genetic diversity is less than those on the east coast. More are arriving from NSW and Victoria so things are improving. The exodus began in the mid-2000s. A joint project between James Cook University, the Centre for Marine Socioecology (CMS) at the University of Tasmania and the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) is researching the genetics of the species. Gloomy octopuses have been found as far south as the waters near Hobart. A new study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, suggests the species is thriving in Tasmanian waters with a healthy mix of genes from local and interstate populations. The species, also referred to as the common Sydney octopus, or octopus

Forget your plastics. There is a naturally occurring material with better properties. It is produced in the nests of the Australian masked bee. The substance is resistant to fire and repels water. Furthermore, it is very strong. A company called the Humble Bee located on New Zealand is reverse-engineering the cellophane-like material in an attempt to create a biodegradable substitute for plastic.  If successful, world pollution will be substantially reduced. We are so dependent on things made from oil. The little bees sourced from Noosa in Queensland hold out great hope for a reduction in such products. A way of trapping the Hylaeus nubilosus has been developed by Chris Fuller of Kin Kin. Veronica Harwood-Stevenson has spent her house deposit and winnings from the Wellington Regional Economic Development Agency's Bright Ideas Challenge on the project. It is in the early stages. Ways of manufacturing are being studied. The aim is to initially make outdoor apparel and

The platypus is a peculiar creature. When first brought to England and put on display, it was said to be a fake made up of parts of other animals. For centuries it was just an oddity. Only recently it was found to have stingers. The venom is painful though not lethal to humans. This poison contains a useful chemical. A hormone, glucagon-like peptide-1 (or GLP-1), stimulates the release of insulin. Investigation is ongoing to find out if GLP-1 can be used to treat type 2 diabetes with GLP-1. Usual medication break down in the body fast. Human disease related to sugar control, or lack of it, is a stomach issue. GLP-1 is produced in the "stomach" as well as the stinger of the monotreme. The platypus genome project in 2008 showed that the animal has discarded a massive number of digestive genes, so it does not have a fully-functional stomach. The new wonder hormone breaks down very slowly. A more effective treatment may be on the way. Funding of $200,000 has been given by

According to new research humans purposefully set out to reach Australia. It seems scientists can read minds now - what a great leap forward! Seriously though, knowing what individuals are thinking is an impossible thing to do, largely because people perceive settings differently. No two people are exactly alike not even twins. Perception is a function of consciousness as perceived through the senses which differs for everyone. Sea levels were lower in 65,000 BP, so islands off the coast of northern Australia could be seen from high points on islands off Indonesia. There is a problem here, however, in that there are major racial differences between Australian Aboriginals and Indonesians. Surely, some dark skinned inhabitants of the South East Asian archipelago would have remained and interbred with "typical" Asians we see today. Note, Papua New Guineans are different than Australian "natives". To say that an assembly of about 100 boats were organized

Jellyfish are spineless little devils. I do mean that in a good way. They are the most efficient swimmers on Earth, pulling their way forward rather than pushing. The "immortal jellyfish" rises phoenix-like from the dead. When it dies the decomposing body puts out stolon stalks which become babies. They are rapidly increasing in the world's oceans due mainly to Man. Most variations breed under man-made marine structures such as piers. The killing off of predatory fish for human food allows the transparent creatures to vastly increase in number. Cyaneidae have caused many problems over the years. Those going for a swim regularly get stung. In 2006 the seemingly invulnerable USS Ronald Reagan was put out of action by masses of jellyfish clogging the cooling system. Power plants and desalination facilities have also been stalled. Two million workers became unemployed when the comb jelly native to North America invaded the Black Sea in 1980 and destroyed anchovy