I know that you shouldn't take horoscopes as any type of 'truth', however it struck me as interesting how these statements were presented as FACTS in this horoscope snippet. (These appear on www.news.com.au each day).
The hungry must be fed, the homeless housed, the sick treated and the weak protected. These, surely, are the duties of any who hold - or aspire to hold - any kind of power. Given that we live in a world where none of these standards are yet being met, you might think that our leaders required no further tasks or challenges.
Apparently this is the belief of Mr Jonathan Canier, who writes these horoscopes.
I do not believe that it is the task of Government to feed and house everyone who comes begging. I do believe that opportunity should exist for people to provide these things for themselves and their families. But seriously the money for these things needs to come from somewhere and if we all decided that the Government is the one who should be providing these things for all of us - who is going to pay for it?
Monday, May 31, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
TTKS #301
Conversation in the car today
Miss 6: "What's an anniversary."
Me: Something you celebrate every year, like our wedding.
Miss 8 (in a incredulous tone): "You keep TRACK of how long you've been married?"
Miss 6: "What's an anniversary."
Me: Something you celebrate every year, like our wedding.
Miss 8 (in a incredulous tone): "You keep TRACK of how long you've been married?"
Sunday, May 23, 2010
TTKS #300
Overheard in the lounge:
Hubby to kids: "Do you remember the rule about three toys on your beds?"
Miss 8: "Yes, it didn't work too well, did it?
Hubby to kids: "Do you remember the rule about three toys on your beds?"
Miss 8: "Yes, it didn't work too well, did it?
Friday, May 21, 2010
Targeted Marketing?
While watching N.C.I.S. an advert for a men's beauty product came on:
I was amused by
a) a men's beauty product and
b) it being advertised during this program.
Oh and if you're actually interested in the product you can find all the details at http://www.lorealparis.com.au/skincare/men/men-expert/brand-roll-on-hydra-energetic.aspx.
(For some reason this computer won't let me post links).
I was amused by
a) a men's beauty product and
b) it being advertised during this program.
Oh and if you're actually interested in the product you can find all the details at http://www.lorealparis.com.au/skincare/men/men-expert/brand-roll-on-hydra-energetic.aspx.
(For some reason this computer won't let me post links).
Thursday, May 20, 2010
I think that was a good decision
Miss 8 loves reading books - preferably science books and biographies (she read one recently on 100 great scientists).
Booktopia (great place in Australia to buy books) had a sale the other week and there were some books from a series called "Blast to the Past".
These are stories written around famous people in the past. I bought the ones on Alexander Graham Bell, Abraham Lincoln, and Benjamin Franklin. They arrived the day before yesterday.
She immediately started on the Bell one and this morning she still had her nose glued in it as she walked down the steps from the front of our house into the car :)
So if you're looking for captivating books for a good young reader I can recommend these!
Note: This is what she's reading when taking a break from her current favourite non-fiction book - "The Science Book" (by Peter Tallack). This book is a real challenge for her and she's working through it sentence by sentence looking up definitions and synonyms.
Miss 6 meanwhile is making her way through "Polly Princess and the Pony" from the "Usborne First Reading" series. I really like this book for her as the words, on the whole, are "sound-out-able".
Booktopia (great place in Australia to buy books) had a sale the other week and there were some books from a series called "Blast to the Past".
These are stories written around famous people in the past. I bought the ones on Alexander Graham Bell, Abraham Lincoln, and Benjamin Franklin. They arrived the day before yesterday.
She immediately started on the Bell one and this morning she still had her nose glued in it as she walked down the steps from the front of our house into the car :)
So if you're looking for captivating books for a good young reader I can recommend these!
Note: This is what she's reading when taking a break from her current favourite non-fiction book - "The Science Book" (by Peter Tallack). This book is a real challenge for her and she's working through it sentence by sentence looking up definitions and synonyms.
Miss 6 meanwhile is making her way through "Polly Princess and the Pony" from the "Usborne First Reading" series. I really like this book for her as the words, on the whole, are "sound-out-able".
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
From today's news http://www.news.com.au/national/fines-for-refusing-to-take-part-in-abs-health-survey/story-e6frfkvr-1225868423359.
Fines for refusing to take part in ABS health survey
UP TO 50,000 people face a fine of $110 a day if they refuse to divulge information on their health and lifestyle to Australian Bureau of Statistics researchers.
The Australian Health Survey announced in last week's Budget will be the most comprehensive research on the health of Australians ever undertaken and will be jointly funded by the National Heart Foundation.
But the 50,000 people chosen to take part will be compelled to do so.
Participants will be weighed and measured and will be asked to give a blood and urine sample.
They will also be asked detailed questions on what they drink and eat and their physical activity.
The ABS said participation "is ultimately compulsory for those chosen by random sampling to ensure the survey accurately represents the Australian population as a whole".
However, participants would only be compelled to answer questions. Providing a blood and urine sample and weighing in would be voluntary.
While it would seek co-operation of those selected, the ABS said it had the power to direct unwilling respondents to provide information.
"If a participant was directed in writing and continued to refuse to comply, they may be prosecuted under the Census and Statistics Act 1905 and a fine may be imposed," a spokesman for the ABS said.
"A fine of up to $110 per day may be imposed until such time as the information is supplied."
Australian Medical Association president Dr Andrew Pesce said the survey would provide valuable information for designing preventative health policies.
"I can't imagine the Government has any intention of prosecuting people who don't co-operate," he said.
National Heart Foundation chief Lyn Roberts said she understood the survey would be conducted in a similar way to the ABS's National Health Survey.
"The difference is a voluntary component allowing participants to provide biomedical data which will allow policy-makers to use verified data on their health for the first time rather than self-reported data, which we know . . . can be unreliable."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wow! Compulsory participation ... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Fines for refusing to take part in ABS health survey
UP TO 50,000 people face a fine of $110 a day if they refuse to divulge information on their health and lifestyle to Australian Bureau of Statistics researchers.
The Australian Health Survey announced in last week's Budget will be the most comprehensive research on the health of Australians ever undertaken and will be jointly funded by the National Heart Foundation.
But the 50,000 people chosen to take part will be compelled to do so.
Participants will be weighed and measured and will be asked to give a blood and urine sample.
They will also be asked detailed questions on what they drink and eat and their physical activity.
The ABS said participation "is ultimately compulsory for those chosen by random sampling to ensure the survey accurately represents the Australian population as a whole".
However, participants would only be compelled to answer questions. Providing a blood and urine sample and weighing in would be voluntary.
While it would seek co-operation of those selected, the ABS said it had the power to direct unwilling respondents to provide information.
"If a participant was directed in writing and continued to refuse to comply, they may be prosecuted under the Census and Statistics Act 1905 and a fine may be imposed," a spokesman for the ABS said.
"A fine of up to $110 per day may be imposed until such time as the information is supplied."
Australian Medical Association president Dr Andrew Pesce said the survey would provide valuable information for designing preventative health policies.
"I can't imagine the Government has any intention of prosecuting people who don't co-operate," he said.
National Heart Foundation chief Lyn Roberts said she understood the survey would be conducted in a similar way to the ABS's National Health Survey.
"The difference is a voluntary component allowing participants to provide biomedical data which will allow policy-makers to use verified data on their health for the first time rather than self-reported data, which we know . . . can be unreliable."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wow! Compulsory participation ... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Spider Webs from Goats
In today's news at: http://www.news.com.au/technology/meet-spider-goat-the-dna-enhanced-web-flinging-nanny-that-may-one-day-knit-your-bones/story-e6frfro0-1225867617374
Meet Spider Goat - the DNA-enhanced web-flinging nanny that may one day knit bones
ON a farm in Wyoming, USA, goats are being milked for their spider webs.
And if that sounds bizarre, molecular biologist Randy Lewis claims that within two years, spider silk milked from goats could replace your body's tired or strained tendons and ligaments - maybe even bones.
Professor Lewis and his team at the University of Wyoming have successfully implanted the silk-making genes from a golden orb spider into a herd of goats and are now, finally, producing one of nature's strongest products in useable quantities.
The technology is cutting edge, but the science isn't. Spider silk has been used for centuries to dress wounds with varying degrees of success, but the problem has until now been how to get it.
"We needed a way to produce large quantities of the spider silk proteins," Prof Lewis told news.com.au.
"Spiders can't be farmed, so that route is out and since they make six different silks, even that would not work if you could."
Spiders also have a tendancy to eat each other, so milking one thread from six out of a solo spider was clearly never going to service the entire human race.
Prof Lewis and his team singled out the "dragline" - the outer strand of the web - as the strongest of the six types of silk.
They spliced the DNA that creates the silk into a female goat's DNA, then waited for it to give birth and start lactating.
"(The splicing) turned out to be relatively easy as there are known gene promotors that only produce expression in the mammary gland during lactation," he said.
"Those were hooked up to our spider silk genes."
After the milk is collected, it's taken back to a laboratory where the silk protein is filtered out. It solidifies when exposed to air and is wound onto a roller.
Prof Lewis said the team collects about four metres of silk for every four drops of protein they gather.
The pure material had a wide range of medicinal applications as sutures and binding agents - including ligament replacement - but its use could extend well beyond our hospitals.
"If it works, frankly one of the first applications is maybe fishing line," Prof Lewis said.
"I think we will be testing real world applications in less than two years (but) when they reach market is really beyond my control."
And in case you were wondering, no goats were harmed during the making of spider silk milk.
Prof Lewis said there was no evidence to suggest the goats in the experiment behaved any differently to regular goats, in either physiology or "psychology".
One day, the burden could be lifted even from goats.
Prof Lewis said the technology could have farm applications - he told Science Nation they were developing the same technology for alfalfa.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While I can appreciate the value of this type of scientific advancement I really am concerned about it. It feels that we're messing more and more with "nature" and I'm not so sure about the long term wisdom of that.
Meet Spider Goat - the DNA-enhanced web-flinging nanny that may one day knit bones
ON a farm in Wyoming, USA, goats are being milked for their spider webs.
And if that sounds bizarre, molecular biologist Randy Lewis claims that within two years, spider silk milked from goats could replace your body's tired or strained tendons and ligaments - maybe even bones.
Professor Lewis and his team at the University of Wyoming have successfully implanted the silk-making genes from a golden orb spider into a herd of goats and are now, finally, producing one of nature's strongest products in useable quantities.
The technology is cutting edge, but the science isn't. Spider silk has been used for centuries to dress wounds with varying degrees of success, but the problem has until now been how to get it.
"We needed a way to produce large quantities of the spider silk proteins," Prof Lewis told news.com.au.
"Spiders can't be farmed, so that route is out and since they make six different silks, even that would not work if you could."
Spiders also have a tendancy to eat each other, so milking one thread from six out of a solo spider was clearly never going to service the entire human race.
Prof Lewis and his team singled out the "dragline" - the outer strand of the web - as the strongest of the six types of silk.
They spliced the DNA that creates the silk into a female goat's DNA, then waited for it to give birth and start lactating.
"(The splicing) turned out to be relatively easy as there are known gene promotors that only produce expression in the mammary gland during lactation," he said.
"Those were hooked up to our spider silk genes."
After the milk is collected, it's taken back to a laboratory where the silk protein is filtered out. It solidifies when exposed to air and is wound onto a roller.
Prof Lewis said the team collects about four metres of silk for every four drops of protein they gather.
The pure material had a wide range of medicinal applications as sutures and binding agents - including ligament replacement - but its use could extend well beyond our hospitals.
"If it works, frankly one of the first applications is maybe fishing line," Prof Lewis said.
"I think we will be testing real world applications in less than two years (but) when they reach market is really beyond my control."
And in case you were wondering, no goats were harmed during the making of spider silk milk.
Prof Lewis said there was no evidence to suggest the goats in the experiment behaved any differently to regular goats, in either physiology or "psychology".
One day, the burden could be lifted even from goats.
Prof Lewis said the technology could have farm applications - he told Science Nation they were developing the same technology for alfalfa.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
While I can appreciate the value of this type of scientific advancement I really am concerned about it. It feels that we're messing more and more with "nature" and I'm not so sure about the long term wisdom of that.
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