Random thoughts

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The key to cleaning copper cookware is probably in your fridge

 

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agree totally

They’re local heroes. But do Australia’s unpaid ‘firies’ deserve more?
WHY WE WROTE THIS
Volunteering can be its own reward. But when it comes to battling bushfires, honor and gratitude can only do so much to offset the danger and fatigue involved. Should Australia start paying firefighters?

Martin Kuz/The Christian Science Monitor
They’re local heroes. But do Australia’s unpaid ‘firies’ deserve more?
Volunteering can be its own reward. But when it comes to battling bushfires, honor and gratitude can only do so much to offset the danger and fatigue involved. Should Australia start paying firefighters?
Read 7 min.

They’re local heroes. But do Australia’s unpaid ‘firies’ deserve more?

 

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imagine billions aloe,apart from,and in the future,annually from the past,into the future

 

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Can CRISPR Save Tufty Fluffytail? | JSTOR Daily

 

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no doubt Aussie only
sigh

Platypuses on the Precipice
This furry, duck-billed, venomous mammal lives what might be considered a cryptic lifestyle. They’re incredibly hard to spot even in peaceful times, so scientists have no idea how the species has fared in the bushfires.
READ MORE →

ATLAS OBSCURA TRIPS
Meet the Tailless Whip Scorpion
It’s harmless to humans, but would you put one on your face? Six brave travelers in the Peruvian Amazon did.
LEARN MORE →

Hail Storm
Australia is in dire need of precipitation to end a drought that helped kindle the spate of devastating fires, but needs slow, soaking rains—not the golf-ball-sized hail that Australian capital of Canberra was pelted with last week.
READ MORE →

 

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smile

Berlin's panda twins ready for public debut
The Berlin Zoo has revealed its star panda cub twins to the press ahead of their official introduction to the public. The zoo will take extra measures to handle the expected crowds.

Berlin's panda twins ready for public debut | DW | 29.01.2020

Berlin Zoo reveals names of panda twins 09.12.2019
Berlin Zoo has ignored calls to name its panda cubs Hong and Kong in support of ongoing protests. Instead, its first panda cubs have been given more traditional names.

Twin baby panda boys charm Berlin zoo 09.12.2019
Twin baby pandas born in August in Berlin have made their first public appearance. "Meng Xiang" and "Meng Yuan" are the result of China's "panda diplomacy" – Beijing allowed their parents to come to Germany in 2017.

Berlin Zoo: First German-born pandas 'thriving'14.09.2019
The panda twins born two weeks ago are showing first signs of how they'll look once they mature. Berlin Zoo has played down a newspaper poll suggesting they be named "Hong" and "Kong" in solidarity with protests there.

 

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always been close to my heart
the homeless, associated with Mental Health
often
we are an uncaring society,at times

Here’s how cities count their homeless population

If you’re not signed up for this newsletter, change that by clicking this link.



Before daylight Tuesday morning, Maria Beltran and Cecil Joseph crept around Phoenix in a white minivan searching for any flashes of blue tarp, litter, or shopping carts.


They’re part of an effort to tally homeless people living on the street for a national survey called the “Point-in-Time” count that’s done at least every other year. In the past few days, thousands of other cities across America — Los Angeles, New York, Austin — have also counted their homeless populations to assess the scope of the housing crisis and tap into government money to try to fix it.


This year, the count particularly matters in Phoenix. Rent is rising there faster than any other major U.S. city, and last year’s data showed that overall homelessness grew a whopping 18% since 2017.


But counting the city’s “unhoused” population is a challenge. Volunteers know many people would rather not be spotted. Women, for example, can be more difficult to find, especially if they have kids. Child welfare services might separate family members if they’re found to be homeless.


In one instance, a homeless man trying to help the volunteers showed them where four fellow homeless people were sleeping: tucked behind some bushes near a highway overpass. Other homeless people within the volunteers’ assigned “grid” were more conveniently sleeping by walking paths or in ditches, or nested in gravel patches by the road.


“I don’t like the shelters. I’d rather be out here,” said 51-year-old Stacey Sizemore, who was holding a sign that read “Please help a veteran.”


After finding someone who’s homeless, the volunteers ask a bunch of questions: How old are you? Are you Hispanic? Are you a veteran? Did you age out of the foster care system? Where did you sleep last night? Do you drink? Do drugs? How long have you been out here?


“We’re trying to talk to homeless people so we can get more government resources,” Beltran explained to a Native American man sleeping in a ditch behind a gas station.


Read more from Emma Ockerman on VICENews.com.

 

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Ixia viridiflora

Funky Frog - Time Out

Scadoxeus puniceus

Funky Frog - Golfer

Three Little Pigs

We LOVE gardening!

seperate the wheat from the chaff

 

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Rather than mandating the building of houses that are less likely to burn down, we should be mandating the provision of good shelters. ANDREW BROWNBILL/AAP
Building standards give us false hope. There’s no such thing as a fireproof house

Geoff Hanmer, UNSW

People die protecting homes. They are wrong to believe their homes

Building standards give us false hope. There’s no such thing as a fireproof house

Building standards give us false hope. There's no such thing as a fireproof house



We’re used to images of firefighters with hoses, but more of the firefighting effort goes to clearing vegetation than spraying with water. Dean Lewins/AAP


Out of control, contained, safe? Here’s what each bushfire status actually means

Out of control, contained, safe? Here's what each bushfire status actually means

 

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one thing i dont think Aussie has
we NZ have two types i think

Saving the Chinese Deer
Though nearly 7,000 Père David’s deer roam the wetlands of China today, the species was declared extinct in the wild in 1900. Its resurrection was the result of an accidental tag-team collaboration between a French missionary-cum-zoologist and an English duke.
READ MORE →

 

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this they do have


Emu poo study the key to finding out how they could be reintroduced in Tasmania
ABC Radio Hobart
By Georgie Burgess
Posted Tue at 3:19pm

PHOTO: Researchers say Tasmania's ecosystem has been missing out since it lost the emu. (Flickr: The b@t)
RELATED STORY: White emu draws awe and finally solves a bit of a local mystery
RELATED STORY: Emus once roamed Tasmania, so what happened to them?
RELATED STORY: Council push to evict emus has WA town's human residents in a flap
Tasmania's ecosystem could be missing out by no longer being home to wild emus, and researchers say the answers are hidden in the large birds' poo.

Key points:

• Emus became extinct in Tasmania in the 1800s
• Researchers say they were important in the state's ecology because they dispersed seeds far and wide
• Now researchers are gathering clues in south-east Victoria about what emus eat, and are thinking about how they could be reintroduced to Tasmania

Emus became extinct in Tasmania during the mid 1800s, and very little is known about how they lived.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-28/researchers-study-poo-to-find-answers-on-tasmanian-emu/11886884?utm_source=sfmc&utm_medium=email&utm_content=&utm_campaign=[specialist_sfmc_29_01_20_science]:125&user_id=cb53a1c368e708ac713d21ca78e70f2312c4d01d8c26bf97af51ee964c35adbc&WT.tsrc=email&WT.mc_id=Email|[specialist_sfmc_29_01_20_science]|125story_4_img

plus
billions of

Ants are everywhere in Australia, but how much do you actually know about them? Find out in our ant quiz
Share

• By environment reporter Nick Kilvert and Anna Salleh
  
  Updated Tuesday at 14:49
  First posted Sunday at 09:00
  
  
  Ants play a vital role in maintaining ecosystem function.
  
  (ABC Science: Edwina Seselja)
  Ants can be faster than an Olympic sprinter, crazier than a cut snake, ferocious and delicious.
  
  As part of ABC Science's summer survival guide, here's some fantastic ant facts, mixed with some far-flung fables.
  
  Can you spot the bull ... ant?
  

Ants are everywhere in Australia, but how much do you actually know about them? Take the quiz

 

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PODCASTS a poem for Aus

The Coastline – as vital as your skin. Keep it healthy or we die.

The Coastline – as vital as your skin. Keep it healthy or we die.


Fate, and predicting the human mind

Fate, and predicting the human mind

 

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'They look after us from above': American firefighters honoured in memorial service
Three Americans killed in an air tanker crash while fighting a bushfire in New South Wales are described as heroes who "paid the ultimate sacrifice" during a memorial service in Sydney.

 

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Victorian Supreme Court orders temporary halt to logging due to impact of Gippsland bushfires
The Victorian Supreme Court puts a temporary halt to logging as the state figures out just how badly threatened species were affected by bushfires.

Bushfires in southern New South Wales spark race against time to save billion-dollar timber industry
Harvesters and timber mills are racing against time to fell bushfire-ravaged pine trees in the Riverina before they become worthless.

Bushfire-affected farmers falling through the cracks unable to qualify for government grants
Farmers say they are still "falling through the cracks" of state and Federal Government assistance after the bushfires.

High temperatures and increased fire danger forecast for all of Victoria until Sunday
Victoria is back on alert for bushfires as a heatwave and northerly winds are forecast to hit the entire state from today.

Inland Rail Senate inquiry gets flood of community concerns about building line through floodplain
A rail link from Melbourne to Brisbane is met with criticism over the route to be constructed through farmland in southern Queensland.


Farmers struggling with hand-feeding as dry conditions continue
Farmers on the east coast of Tasmania say continual hand-feeding of stock is wearing thin as the rain stays away.

Threatened ghost bats a 'main issue' for Northern Territory gold mine's green light
An NT gold mine which could create up to 80 jobs, but a population of threatened ghost bats poses a hurdle.

River health monitored through grunting fish, rasping snails and even farting riverbeds
Scientists capture the chorus of underwater sounds that fish, snails and insects make to monitor the health of rivers.

 

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TRAVEL

TODAY'S YOUR LAST DAY TO GET ONE-WAY AMTRAK TICKETS FOR $15

i would have been living on AMTRACK for tghe several months they had that deal going

TRAVEL

EVERY STATE, RANKED BY HOW MISERABLE ITS WINTERS ARE

 

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WHO declares coronavirus a public health emergency
It is just the sixth time the World Health Organisation has made the declaration, and will mean a greater focus on a worldwide response and more screening at airports.

Australian-made coronavirus copy reaches high-security CSIRO lab
The coronavirus grown in Melbourne is relocated to the high-security CSIRO Animal Testing Laboratory in Geelong, where scientists will become the first to test and examine the grown virus.

This map tracks the spread of coronavirus
Health data has been used to populate a world map to visualise the extent of the virus's reach, but it has its limitations.

What we know about the coronavirus evacuations to Christmas Island
Hundreds of Australians are expected to be flown from China to Christmas Island in the midst of the global health scare around coronavirus, but how will it all work?

'I work in the shadows': The doctor who sleeps four hours a night to diagnose coronavirus patients
Jen Kok is one of 10 scientists working to diagnose coronavirus patients at Sydney's Westmead Hospital and says more severe cases are likely.

 

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well ..

WUHAN FLU: HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM THE MYSTERY CORONAVIRUS


"This virus might simply fizzle out or lead to a full-blown pandemic."

MEHAU KULYK/SPL
The mysterious pneumonia-like virus that has gripped Asia is spreading across the United States. Dubbed 2019-nCoV, the coronavirus, which originated in China, has sickened almost 8,000 people globally and killed 170 so far, all in China. The first infected American was a man in his 30s who recently visited the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the new coronavirus was first identified. Health officials told the New York Times the man, who is in Washington state, seems to be recovering.

Five other people have also been diagnosed with the coronavirus in the United States. On Thursday, the CDC reported the first human-to-human transmission within the United States, between a Chicago couple. There have been eight total cases of human-to-human infections around the world.

As the outbreak grows, health officials are racing to learn how the virus spreads, how it impacts the body, and, crucially, how to contain it.


READ MORE
STEPHEN J. BRONNER
1 HOUR AGO

 

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obsessed with putting Australia out there at this time
with what theyve gone thru,dont believe a country has so much, in recent times, its deserved
thank you owner Mr. LPSG, for allowing it, this information
i believe it to be very factual and unbiased

The number of coronavirus cases in Australia is likely to be quite small, but there could be substantial broader effects. Stringer/EPA
Grattan on Friday: Coronavirus adds to Scott Morrison’s many woes
Michelle Grattan, University of Canberra

Parliament will reopen in the final month of a summer of horror for the country in general and Scott Morrison in particular.

A catastrophic summer has brought climate change into sharp relief – and our media need to have clear policies about how to report on it. Bianca de Marchi/AAP
Media ‘impartiality’ on climate change is ethically misguided and downright dangerous
Denis Muller, University of Melbourne

Given the summer we have had, media acquiescence in climate change denial, and failure to follow the weight of scientific evidence, looks like culpability.

Exposing people to likely disinformation campaigns about bushfire causes will help inoculate them. JASON O'BRIEN/AAP
We have the vaccine for climate disinformation – let’s use it
Stephan Lewandowsky, University of Bristol; John Hunter, University of Tasmania

The best way to inoculate the public against climate disinformation campaigns is to tell them what's coming.

Breathing bushfire smoke can be particularly dangerous for people with pre-existing conditions. Erik Anderson/AAP
How does bushfire smoke affect our health? 6 things you need to know
Emil Jeyaratnam, The Conversation; Phoebe Roth, The Conversation

Millions of Australians far from the bushfires' direct path have been affected by smoke haze. Here's everything we know about the effects of bushfire smoke on our health.

Health + Medicine

• Curious Kids: how do voices come out of our mouths?
  Sally Hewat, University of Newcastle
  
  The sound comes from our lungs and our voice box, which is at the front of the throat. Here's how it works.
  
  
• Don’t believe the myths – taxing sugary drinks makes us drink less of it
  Gary Sacks, Deakin University; Christina Zorbas, Deakin University; Kathryn Backholer, Deakin University
  
  Myths that taxes on sugary drinks unfairly disadvantage the poor and will result in job losses don't hold up. Here's what the evidence says.