tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59032713453358079582024-03-05T22:57:59.399+09:30The Monsoon FrogRuminations on Life in the Monsoonal Tropicssurfie999@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05868151801037588945noreply@blogger.comBlogger369125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5903271345335807958.post-4368675796710575352017-09-27T15:03:00.000+09:302017-09-27T15:03:27.944+09:30Your Work Email Is NOT Yours!<h2 style="color: #111111; line-height: 1; margin: 1.5em 0px 0.625em; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; word-wrap: break-word;">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Tips for your work email - it is not YOURS.</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">It can be tempting and easy to reply to anything using your work email. Common sense indicates to take a deep breath and reflect before you run off at the finger!</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">While far from resolved, the key points from the current [ September 2017] Channel Seven and Starr cases is that all employees should follow some simple guidelines:</span></div>
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<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 1.1667; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 5px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Have a work email and a personal email — and keep them separate.</span></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 1.1667; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 5px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Use your personal email for private communication.</span></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 1.1667; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 5px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Don't use personal email for work-related issues — this is something Hillary Clinton and currently Jared Kushner have been reflecting on.</span></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 1.1667; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 5px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Don't use work email for personal communication as your employer has the right to check your work emails.</span></li>
<li style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; line-height: 1.1667; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px 0px 0px 5px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Rule of thumb — if you wouldn't say it in the middle of the office, don't say it on social media or any other e-communication. It is there forever and you don't know how it will be interpreted.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #111111;">This is the central tenet in the article written by </span><span style="color: #111111; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;">Peter Holland, an associate professor at Monash Business School in the article that appeared on the ABC web site today.</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Sounds like good advice, but as a few comments below the article allude, the work / personal space is less clear in today's world. </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">For the full article - visit:</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #111111; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/goog_108003621"><br /></a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="color: #111111; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-27/what-not-to-say-on-your-work-email/8990380">http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-27/what-not-to-say-on-your-work-email/8990380</a></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Lots of sensible and considered advice in today's connected world.</span></span></span></div>
surfie999@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05868151801037588945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5903271345335807958.post-45958229941382750472017-07-06T14:45:00.001+09:302017-07-06T14:46:52.011+09:30Vegemite - NOW owned by Australian Company<br />
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Vegemite back in Australian ownership</span></h1>
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<section class="f-right" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, "lucida grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><figure style="box-sizing: border-box; float: right; height: auto; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; overflow: hidden; width: 316.4px;"><img alt="vegemite" class="attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image" src="http://d9lhxyivbnow1.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/06101228/vegemite-604x270.jpg" height="270" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; float: right; height: auto; margin: 10px; max-width: 100%; vertical-align: middle; width: 316.4px;" width="604" /></figure></section><div style="font-family: "helvetica neue", helvetica, arial, "lucida grande", sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Bega Cheese has now finalised its takeover of the Vegemite brand on 6 July 2017, after a cyber attack stalled the deal.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In a deal worth $460 million, Bega has acquired food giant Mondelez International’s Australian grocery and cheese business, which includes the Vegemite brand, as well as others such as ZoOSh salad dressings and beef extract Bonox.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The acquisition includes the brands’ manufacturing facilities.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Bega Cheese executive chairman Barry Irvin has said the Vegemite brand will continue to focus on local growth, however there are also plans to expand to the Asian market.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The deal has led to the creation of 200 jobs in Melbourne.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The takeover was initially stalled due to an outage of the Mondelez global IT network, which was attributed to a <a href="http://www.manmonthly.com.au/tasmania-factory-cyber-attack" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(0, 75, 133) !important; hyphens: none; text-decoration-line: none; word-wrap: normal;">global cyber attack</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This is the first time in 90 years that the Vegemite brand has been in Australian ownership.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Vegemite is an Aussie icon......loved by many Australians and equally loathed by many non Australians. Lets describe vegemite as an acquired taste!</span></div>
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surfie999@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05868151801037588945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5903271345335807958.post-79133274420151201082017-06-16T13:58:00.000+09:302017-06-16T13:58:34.185+09:30Hardly Frog WeatherIt is now mid June. Deep in the dry season with low humidity [ 20% or so], quite vigorous SE winds, no rain, cool to cold nights [ < 20C] - well, at least for the Darwin area........and more to come it seems. A great burst of serious dry season weather.<br />
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Hardly seems any time since the complaint was about high humidity and plenty of rain.<br />
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Current conditions are NOT frog weather! Needs to be enjoyed while it lasts though.surfie999@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05868151801037588945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5903271345335807958.post-85459909947715117962017-03-21T10:53:00.000+09:302017-03-21T10:53:06.755+09:30Frog Weather<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The monsoon is visiting again.........or maybe it is best to consider it has been here since just after Christmas.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Only been a few days it has not rained since January 1, and many have been very very wet. Several weekends have received more than 200mm over the 2 day weekend period........makes it difficult to get things done.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Our zoysia lawn has not been mown since a few dry days in mid-January, although the nature strip had a mow when the neighbour did their nature strip area last weekend - really just a light topping.......weather has been poor for grass growing, with rain and overcast conditions.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This morning the forecast was for continuing monsoonal conditions for a few days at least with the possibility of the conditions extending past the weekend. At least it is not so hot and with cloud cover also reducing the baking from bright sunshine.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">It is easily described as ideal frog weather.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Unfortunately, there has been a rise in cane toad numbers / sightings in our street, and we managed to somehow miss eliminating two of the blighters in the front yard over the past few weeks. First ones actually seen in our front yard since a year or so back. Disappeared into the shrubbery and under the house.....out of reach of the weapons of mass destruction.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Vigilance has increased.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">But of course the more pleasant green tree frog continues to vocalise in the neighbourhood.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Also had a small [ very small really] yellow tree snake noted in a palm over the past weekend.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Is it just frog weather?</span>surfie999@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05868151801037588945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5903271345335807958.post-21399230536301136542017-02-01T14:49:00.000+09:302017-02-01T14:49:35.145+09:30Orchids in Flower<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Those amazing orchids flowered again today.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">How is it that all of them seem to flower on the same day.........every time? Not just at our house where we have 4 or 5 large orchid plants on separate palm trees around the yard, but near neighbours as well.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">All have different watering and nutrition regimes, even different light profiles, as some are well shaded, other are not.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">A magnificent perfume aroma this morning as I walked into the garden.......and a huge flower display.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">HOWEVER........flowers last but 1-2 days.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Needs to be enjoyed while there!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji1BRspYOXz8Arb4dyCgOMRn7Bz8bTJtBKjWAehH-v51DEoegGGASZGrDiDZp_sqiWNSNxwvn8UMPD8bibyU1WcwKYKz4cBrSt6Hhyphenhyphenoss24JVJlksYSlLr619WN7v1Q-FzYB42feUX8cY/s1600/20170201_105430.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEji1BRspYOXz8Arb4dyCgOMRn7Bz8bTJtBKjWAehH-v51DEoegGGASZGrDiDZp_sqiWNSNxwvn8UMPD8bibyU1WcwKYKz4cBrSt6Hhyphenhyphenoss24JVJlksYSlLr619WN7v1Q-FzYB42feUX8cY/s320/20170201_105430.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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orchids in flower 1 Feb 2017</div>
surfie999@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05868151801037588945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5903271345335807958.post-10577440360971712642016-08-03T15:46:00.001+09:302016-08-03T15:46:08.287+09:30GOLD - 31 Incredible Facts<br />
<div class="entry-content">
<section class="f-right"><figure><img alt="gold_5.jpg" class="attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image" height="181" src="https://d9lhxyivbnow1.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/06051143/gold_5.jpg" width="278" /> </figure><div class="latestnews">
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</section><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">No metal can claim a legacy comparable to gold.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Gold has been used to show affectionate love, but it has also represented power, status, and riches for the greatest kings of antiquity. Gold’s history is truly legendary, ripe with colorful tales and anecdotes from people ranging from William Shakespeare to Christopher Columbus.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But gold doesn’t just “talk the talk”.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Gold also walks the walk, because its grandeur is backed up by impressive chemical properties and uses. As we documented in our extensive <a href="http://www.visualcapitalist.com/gold-series-sought-metal-earth-part-1-5/">Gold Series</a>, it’s been used as a monetary metal for thousands of years by ancient civilizations such as the Lydians, Greeks, Chinese, and Romans. It’s the most malleable and ductile metal, and it doesn’t tarnish or corrode. Over time, these properties have helped people to associate gold with concepts such as immortality or royalty.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Even today, people are still finding new uses for gold that are impressive in their own right. For example, scientists recently discovered a gold alloy that is <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-36855705">four times tougher</a> than titanium.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Without further ado, here are 31 incredible facts about gold.</span><br />
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<section class="f-right"><figure><span style="font-size: small;">31 INCREDIBLE FACTS ABOUT GOLD</span></figure></section></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The following infographic puts the rich history of gold into perspective.</span><br />
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<a href="http://www.visualcapitalist.com/31-incredible-facts-about-gold/"><span style="font-size: small;"><img alt="" border="0" src="http://2oqz471sa19h3vbwa53m33yj.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/31-incredible-gold-facts.jpg" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Courtesy of: <a href="http://www.visualcapitalist.com/">Visual Capitalist</a></span></div>
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surfie999@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05868151801037588945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5903271345335807958.post-41026335947361838012016-07-23T09:58:00.002+09:302016-07-23T09:59:08.223+09:30Rare Earths - Help Run our World<img alt="7 Rare Earth Elements that Run our World" src="https://www.911metallurgist.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/7-Rare-Earth-elements-that-run-our-world-1.jpg" width="540" /><br />
<a href="https://www.911metallurgist.com/rare-earth/"></a><br />
<br />
7 Rare Earth Elements that Run our World [Infographic] by the team at<br />
<a href="https://www.911metallurgist.com/rare-earth/" nbsp="">911 Metallurgist</a><br />
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<br />surfie999@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05868151801037588945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5903271345335807958.post-55731855796640278042016-03-18T11:21:00.001+09:302016-03-18T11:21:21.114+09:30Some Notes on Zika Virus - US source<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The link provides a direct link to an infographic and text about Zika virus from data in early 2016.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Not totally relevant for Australia but still a good set of information guidelines.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The main carrier mosquito is NOT present in the Darwin region.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/health/zika-virus/?hpid=hp_no-name_graphic-story-b%3Ahomepage%2Fstory">https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/health/zika-virus/?hpid=hp_no-name_graphic-story-b%3Ahomepage%2Fstory</a> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Worth reading to help sort fact and fiction.</span><br />
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<br />surfie999@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05868151801037588945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5903271345335807958.post-2800581273182567672016-02-05T00:30:00.000+09:302016-02-05T00:30:08.596+09:30Orange Footed Scrub Fowls Most consider them a pest.........they excavate mulch and toss it everywhere in their hunt for food in suburban gardens.<br />
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Yet, are they filling a role in turning over the mulch and surface soils, eating army worms and sod worms and generally improving soil quality?<br />
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Anyhow....... captured them in action in some photos at our house block over the past week. If a local I am sure the same scene has been noted if you live in a house, and not an apartment. Enjoy the action photos.<br />
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There are also Torres Strait pigeons nesting in the palms - with one enjoying a bit of sunshine last week.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Torres Strait pigeon</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Orange footed scrub fowls in action - excavating - what they do well!</td></tr>
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<br />surfie999@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05868151801037588945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5903271345335807958.post-57826448215216101462016-02-04T11:07:00.004+09:302016-02-04T11:07:39.305+09:30It is Raining in February 2016<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rain fell in late January.......so lowest ever records of rain for January were not broken.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But that said.......the total amount for January was VERY low, compared to the average or median values.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Rain started to fall over the last weekend of January and has continued into the first week of February. The met bureau describes it as a weak monsoon burst, but heck.......it is raining, and quite regularly, the sky is overcast and cloudy.......typical monsoon conditions, and predicted to continue next week as well. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And Darwin River dam is inching closer to being full, as are local aquifers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And it is considerably cooler. Blessed relief from the burning sun, although there is mostly enough solar energy to keep the solar HWS ticking over nicely.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Pleasant weather.</span>surfie999@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05868151801037588945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5903271345335807958.post-18224670766303792752016-01-29T10:37:00.000+09:302016-01-29T10:47:56.240+09:30When Will It Rain?<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">As we approach the end of January one needs to realise that rainfall over the past month has been VERY LOW in Darwin.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Quite a burst of wet weather around Christmas.........not much since.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The lowest rainfall EVER for Darwin Airport was 136.1mm. While there are a few days left this month, and the Met Bureau is talking about a wetter weekend, the reality is..........rainfall has been poor in January 2016.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Records show that officially we have not yet exceeded the lowest record for Darwin Airport, but close to it [ 132.8mm as of today, 29th January]. However, there may be many other locations around the Darwin area below the 136.1 mm claimed as the lowest on record from 1965. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The average is 427.1 mm and median 418.6mm. For the record the highest for January was 940.4mm in 1995 and the highest daily rainfall a mere 290.4mm also in January 1995[ the third].</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Remember though that full seasonal rainfall for Darwin varies wildly between months, yet still is often reasonably close to the median or average. Some months still to come!!</span>surfie999@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05868151801037588945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5903271345335807958.post-10885021540383528992016-01-14T16:57:00.000+09:302016-01-15T22:54:19.451+09:30Will a Detox Diet REALLY Rid your Body of Toxins and Make you Healthier?<h1>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: small;">A Detox Diet</span></span></h1>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The following article was on the ABC web site today and really says it all. Do not believe the hype about detoxifying to clean your system.......just make longer term changes to eat well.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="timestamp" ts="January 14, 2016 12:58:24"><time class="relative " data-format="l" datetime="Thu Jan 14 2016 11:28:24 GMT+0930 (AUS Central Standard Time)" title="Thu 14 Jan 2016, 11:28am"><span class="print"><br /></span></time></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-02/grapefruit-juice-and-fruit/4929224"><img alt="A glass of grapefruit juice and some cut fruit." src="http://www.abc.net.au/news/image/4929224-3x2-340x227.jpg" height="227" title="Do you need to detox to rid your body of toxins?" width="340" /></a><a class="inline-caption" href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-02/grapefruit-juice-and-fruit/4929224"><strong> </strong></a></span></div>
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<a class="inline-caption" href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-02/grapefruit-juice-and-fruit/4929224"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><strong> Photo:</strong> We all overindulge from time to time, but will a detox program help rid your body of the 'toxins' created by an unhealthy lifestyle? <span class="source">(iStockPhoto)</span> </span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Detox diets are hugely popular at this time of year. And little wonder. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Promising to rid your body of the "toxins" resulting from poor diet and lifestyle, the claim is these diets will leave you cleansed and revitalised — and perhaps a few kilos lighter to boot. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But do these programs, which often involve consuming expensive powders and potions, really do anything to improve your health? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Generally not, says Tim Crowe, an associate professor in nutrition at Deakin University. It is a view supported by many others, including a thorough review of studies of eight popular detox diets published in the <a href="http://www.mq.edu.au/newsroom/2015/02/06/literature-review-finds-no-evidence-to-support-detox-diets-for-weight-loss-or-detoxification/" target="_self" title="">Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics</a> in 2015. "A lot of things they recommend cutting out are actually not a bad idea," Professor Crowe says. "If you cut out alcohol, stop smoking and eat less junk food, you will feel better. But that's not because you're eliminating toxins. You're just putting less rubbish in your body."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But Professor Crowe says the premise that our bodies need to be "cleansed" of toxins built up from our lifestyle is not supported by scientific evidence. </span><br />
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">What is a detox diet? </span></span></h2>
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">You can find a wide variety of detox programs and kits; some last a day or two, others go on for several months. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Some simply aim to boost your intake of raw vegetables and unprocessed foods, while encouraging you to cut out caffeine, alcohol and refined sugar. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Others involve the use of supplements (such as vitamins, minerals and herbal supplements) or laxatives. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Some even border on starvation diets, permitting you to drink only juice. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25522674" target="_self" title="">2015 literature review</a> found there was <b>NO</b> compelling evidence for the effectiveness of detox diets. </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"We encounter toxic substances all the time, but our body does a perfectly good job of removing them," he says.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fruit and vegetables, for example, contain natural insecticides that could be harmful to our bodies. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But our kidneys, liver and gut effectively neutralise such substances within hours of eating them, converting them into products that can be passed out of our bodies. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Our lungs, skin and immune system are also primed to remove or neutralise toxic substances. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Professor Crowe says there are no special herbs, juices or diets that enhance that process, and the companies marketing detox programs cannot even name the toxins they are claiming to remove.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"You won't find any evidence that following any of these programs means you will eliminate more toxins full stop," he says.</span><br />
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Potential detox harms include bowel issues, aches and bad breath.</span></span></h2>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Not only are detox diets not actually "detoxifying", in some cases they can be harmful.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"Some can be very extreme; they can eliminate whole food groups, particularly dairy foods," Professor Crowe says. This means you can miss out on important nutrients.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He says drastically cutting kilojoules can also cause: </span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">stomach and bowel upsets</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">feelings of tiredness </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">aches and pains </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">bad breath</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is often claimed to be a sign your body is getting rid of toxins. "But it's actually just a sign you haven't had enough carbohydrates; you're going into starvation mode," Professor Crowe says.You've done the 'bad thing', now here's the detox diet to absolve you of your sins. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"While you will lose a lot of weight quickly, this is because you're losing mostly fluid and your carbohydrate stores, rather than stored fat. You regain that weight as soon as you start eating normally again."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Detox diets recommending you drink large amounts of water can also lead to dangerously low levels of sodium in the blood that can cause seizures, comas or even death. This is especially a problem if your salt intake is already low from severely cutting your food intake. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Consumer group CHOICE has identified a number of ingredients in some detox kits that are potentially harmful for people with conditions such as high blood pressure, or those taking medicines such as blood thinners. Warnings about these ingredients are often lacking.</span><br />
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<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">They are popular because they offer an apparent quick-fix solution to poor lifestyle and diet habits.</span></span></h2>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">"You've done the bad thing, now here's the detox diet to absolve you of your sins so you can start a clean slate," he says. "If a detox diet makes you start eating better that's a wonderful thing," he says.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But if you are serious about improving your health, you need to make changes that last beyond the few weeks or months of your detox program. "Eat more fruit and vegetables and less processed foods, cut back on alcohol, quit smoking if you're a smoker, and do more exercise," Professor Crowe says.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A few preliminary studies have suggested certain nutritional components found in coriander, grapes and wine, and citrus fruits, may be useful for the elimination of toxic metals, but more robust research is needed to verify if this is really the case.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So................save your $$$, and do not buy that detox kit that is for sale in the chemist or supermarket, just eat sensibly, and in many cases just ease off the booze!!</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-size: x-small; font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">By </span><a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/cathy-johnson/6761062" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Cathy Johnson</a>. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; font-weight: normal;">Originally posted </span><span class="timestamp" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; font-weight: normal;" ts="January 14, 2016 12:58:24"><time class="relative " data-format="l" datetime="Thu Jan 14 2016 11:28:24 GMT+0930 (AUS Central Standard Time)" title="Thu 14 Jan 2016, 11:28am"><span class="noprint">on </span><span class="print">Thu 14 Jan 2016, 11:28am</span></time></span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>surfie999@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05868151801037588945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5903271345335807958.post-960327467153766042016-01-12T15:17:00.001+09:302016-01-12T15:25:21.973+09:30World's Most Expensive Materials<h1 class="article__title article__title--single" itemtype="name">
<a href="http://2oqz471sa19h3vbwa53m33yj.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/worlds-most-valuable-substances.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; font-size: medium; font-weight: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img alt="The World's Most Valuable Substances by Weight" border="0" src="http://2oqz471sa19h3vbwa53m33yj.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/worlds-most-valuable-substances.png" scale="0" title="" /></a></h1>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This infographic was produced by Jeff Desjardins a founder and editor of Visual Capitalist, a media website that creates and curates visual content on investing and business. Amazing stuff!!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Worthwhile thinking about.........dreaming of course!</span><br />
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surfie999@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05868151801037588945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5903271345335807958.post-38848107653546971572015-12-31T10:54:00.002+09:302015-12-31T10:54:35.000+09:30Frog Weather<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yes, frog weather has arrived in the north over the past week.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">With close to 600mm in the rain gauge since the week prior to Christmas, including one big day with close to 200mm [ many other places with much more than this, and on multiple days] the monsoon arrived in serious mode. Ground developed a serious squelch - absolutely saturated!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Unfortunately these conditions also accentuate conditions for the nasty soil borne disease meliodosis - often fatal. Our neighbour was infected and although now on the mend, had a nasty,awful, horrible time and seems to have suffered quite badly with pain. He is recovering, thankfully. At least locally in Darwin, if you present at emergency at the hospital, they are sufficiently aware of the issue to start treatment quickly - a major step to prevent death. I noted when at the doctor myself a few days ago - there was a poster about the disease on the wall - a needed warning! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The rain was however, a pleasant relief, given the dry, yet humid weather of the past two months of so.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Now - New Years Eve - it is drier, with no rain for a couple of days, although humid with rain around - just not in the rain gauge!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The expected cyclone fizzled into a tropical low as it moved SE across the NT- mainly because it failed to move over water and pick up intensity, yet it was an important and major event, as it moved SE to South bringing RAIN .</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It brought good drought breaking rain to the parched areas of western and south western Queensland, Barkly Tablelands, the SE of the Northern Territory and is continuing to move south with more rains forecast at least for today in those regions.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Western Queensland was in serious drought - and had been for some years. I bet there are some glimmers of smiles on property owners faces now. BUT........it will be a long and difficult time back to recovery, as most places have got rid of stock and no doubt prices for new stock will rise as demand escalates over the next few weeks or more. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">They do need more rain- not necessarily huge quantities just a more normal rainy season the help rebuild pastures, vegetation and soil cover. Lets hope they really have a decent rainy season.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For Darwin, a few days without rain are welcome - gets the solar HWS charged up, and allows a few activities outside. The cloud cover is still around which keeps pool water temperatures a bit lower, and the monsoon wind flow is still strong at around 20 - 35km/hr from the west, also creating a few miserable choppy waves at local beaches.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Still plenty of green tree frogs around at night though, enjoying the change in weather! AND - so far seen no cane toads this past week or two. Even a healthy and fat Torres Strait Pigeon or two around.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-SI-tC1lIUb5tp7mV33VVGqUk50d-Icp9xw_TUIVIkMJ91emhpBffP27c7rjQ180NPWdWJLCiGL4KZHATSNsz43FsuUxueMLlzrcOOuYKOz5FEtHHCXFz8Nw6HxcC-1SUcEmihDPxexo/s1600/DSC05971.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-SI-tC1lIUb5tp7mV33VVGqUk50d-Icp9xw_TUIVIkMJ91emhpBffP27c7rjQ180NPWdWJLCiGL4KZHATSNsz43FsuUxueMLlzrcOOuYKOz5FEtHHCXFz8Nw6HxcC-1SUcEmihDPxexo/s400/DSC05971.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Torres Strait pigeon on African Mahogany tree</td></tr>
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<br />surfie999@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05868151801037588945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5903271345335807958.post-51178131451033575672015-11-19T17:28:00.001+09:302015-11-19T17:28:09.017+09:30NEW DISCOVERY - World's Second Largest Ever Diamond<span style="line-height: 1.6;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Lucara Diamond Corp has uncovered the world’s second largest single diamond - not the largest!.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The 1111 carat, type IIa, gem was found from the south lobe of Lucara’s Karowe mine, in Botswana.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The miner was ecstatic over the find, with CEO William Lamb stating "this historic diamond recovery puts Lucara and the Karowe mine amongst a select number of truly exceptional diamond producers”. “The significance of the recovery of a gem quality stone larger than 1000 carats, the largest for more than a century and the continued recovery of high quality stones from the south lobe, cannot be overstated."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Our focus on mining the south lobe, which is delivering value beyond expectation, has been perfectly timed with the commissioning of our recent plant modifications, enabling the recovery of these large, high quality exceptional diamonds."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The world famous Cullinan diamond, which sits in the British crown jewels, is the largest, coming in at 3106.75 carats, roughly three times the size of the new diamond.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I think I would be impressed if I had found a quality diam</span>ond THAT big!<br />
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<img alt="" src="http://www.australianmining.com.au/getmedia/1f005ad6-567a-493d-b50a-22409714f283/diamond-2.aspx?width=600&height=454" style="height: 454px; vertical-align: middle; width: 600px;" />surfie999@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05868151801037588945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5903271345335807958.post-44929829125251049452015-11-10T10:00:00.000+09:302015-11-10T10:00:00.146+09:30It's VERY HOT........Trees Thrive<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Over the past week the weather has turned NASTY, VERY NASTY. Hot and sticky, relatively windless and oppressive. Sunday was awful- 36.9 maximum [ just 0.3C below all time hottest for November] and there is little relief in the offing. Oh for a cooling storm!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">There has been virtually no rain around Darwin over the past month or so, after a burst on one day of around 15 - 25 mm. While there has been rain south of Darwin, it has not penetrated as far north as city areas, although there has been rain south of the city around Berry Springs and Adelaide River, and even further south to Katherine.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">But oh the local trees.............they are flowering magnificently.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Pride of India - pink and purple, Albizzia / <i>Samanea saman</i> the majestic rain tree covered in yellow fluff, Poinciania [ <i>Delonix regia</i>] - both red and orange forms; a wide range of colours in frangipanni, a few yellow flowered Peltophorum, <i>Allosyncarpia sp</i> - now more common as a street tree in Darwin city and even in a few suburbs with their attractive pale yellow/ lemon bunched flowers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">One should not forget the displays of bougainvilia shrubs - white, purple, red and many more colours also now in full flower. They thrive on dry weather! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It is time.........the regular pre wet season flowering.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2VhMoGm2yXiAGDdC0Yefj4vKj2pyCefRsZLiClWy0udColfPQWfoImMZXSnssdcwJOkylA2yY5jTXLBzEqCcXKbRXJkKo7bOc4HvP5Fp2yVg2xVtx8aWucvQiZzfQt0DQR6nakxCWxtQ/s1600/DSC05905.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2VhMoGm2yXiAGDdC0Yefj4vKj2pyCefRsZLiClWy0udColfPQWfoImMZXSnssdcwJOkylA2yY5jTXLBzEqCcXKbRXJkKo7bOc4HvP5Fp2yVg2xVtx8aWucvQiZzfQt0DQR6nakxCWxtQ/s320/DSC05905.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHiDsacM8674Vsn9Oe0iMkXKtbKwuoopFCVqfWGfBjMFPDNp7lxJu7RUBdyhWK_S_jBzgorTxe2hF0nu92q7NvediUUGq4yy6vjJzhZvMaj557zoOgyyOIl_fCyT3-pfHeo5zulsCkFWI/s1600/DSC05906.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHiDsacM8674Vsn9Oe0iMkXKtbKwuoopFCVqfWGfBjMFPDNp7lxJu7RUBdyhWK_S_jBzgorTxe2hF0nu92q7NvediUUGq4yy6vjJzhZvMaj557zoOgyyOIl_fCyT3-pfHeo5zulsCkFWI/s320/DSC05906.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Purple Pride of India street trees</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoQno5OeEFS8umIuKM9UHBdmb3q2lErwHWjMdRWhAhiJ4RtXmsH-qK2frbbgRX9327oWtk4FNcFr_6imtnW0m0crkU1kfwnzGWGvwHBQGyG9FEj8zPnXiZvv0SYmhcu1WV-GE_LAV-x1w/s1600/DSC05907.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoQno5OeEFS8umIuKM9UHBdmb3q2lErwHWjMdRWhAhiJ4RtXmsH-qK2frbbgRX9327oWtk4FNcFr_6imtnW0m0crkU1kfwnzGWGvwHBQGyG9FEj8zPnXiZvv0SYmhcu1WV-GE_LAV-x1w/s320/DSC05907.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Red Poinciania in flower</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjETmeJQeezo-0tfGWeD3bzlRfiryQukoGyH_7o7XALtUVKPstjl1lIx5MoXfgH8kqjLVXBekddrNNDsDRT7RBAj6DuyI0X4xWXXoIJavFRVDrrgKxGef3-md9hoEuvq0rXsC1x2yAaciQ/s1600/DSC05908.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjETmeJQeezo-0tfGWeD3bzlRfiryQukoGyH_7o7XALtUVKPstjl1lIx5MoXfgH8kqjLVXBekddrNNDsDRT7RBAj6DuyI0X4xWXXoIJavFRVDrrgKxGef3-md9hoEuvq0rXsC1x2yAaciQ/s320/DSC05908.JPG" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peltophorum in flower - bright yellow</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9v27ozL_XlLagT7-iecxuc1RLDsw6P3F354HeDLa65v2yVGkGAxQUzTyyAv5l9YNRtNNJSwv_FxEJ_wsmndZR1jSGyZRlgO-E7hZoK69swr4fdyXXON2DitGrYEqoB9-UY1QOxNQTUIQ/s1600/DSC05913.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9v27ozL_XlLagT7-iecxuc1RLDsw6P3F354HeDLa65v2yVGkGAxQUzTyyAv5l9YNRtNNJSwv_FxEJ_wsmndZR1jSGyZRlgO-E7hZoK69swr4fdyXXON2DitGrYEqoB9-UY1QOxNQTUIQ/s640/DSC05913.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The piece de resistance - a magnificent orange poinciana [ fairly uncommon] near the Trower Road overpass, in absolutely glorious full flower</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>surfie999@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05868151801037588945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5903271345335807958.post-74573393543110943282015-11-09T10:33:00.003+09:302015-11-09T10:38:03.820+09:30BYOW - Bring Your Own Water<h1 id="article_title">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">How to Reduce Your Water Footprint (Infographic)</span></h1>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It’s no secret that we <a href="http://www.care2.com/causes/you-use-twice-as-much-water-as-you-think.html" target="_blank">use a lot of water</a> in our day-to-day lives. However, eating locally and choosing to drink the local water rather than bottle water can help reduce your water usage and footprint. While there are some places where bottled water is certainly the safer option, in most developed countries the tap water must pass rigorous testing. This infographic from <a href="http://www.wheelsforwishes.org/bottled-water-footprint/" target="_blank">Wheels for Wishes </a> details some ways to reduce your water footprint as well as some details on how much water we actually use.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">It has been extraordinarily hot in the NT over the past few days. Near record maximum temperatures, as well as very high minimum temperatures, so warm that even a dip in the pool is not all that pleasant either.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">the inforgraphic is a great reminder that everyone can do their bit to be sensible about water use, and try to bring your own.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Would hardly be a cyclist around that did not carry their own water so follow that example!</span></div>
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<a href="http://dingo.care2.com/pictures/greenliving/uploads/2015/11/reduce-your-water-footprint.png"><img alt="reduce-your-water-footprint" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1368325" src="http://dingo.care2.com/pictures/greenliving/uploads/2015/11/reduce-your-water-footprint.png" height="4305" width="630" /></a><br />
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Infographic via <a href="http://www.wheelsforwishes.org/bottled-water-footprint/" target="_blank">Wheels for Wishes</a></div>
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Read more: <a href="http://www.care2.com/greenliving/how-to-reduce-your-water-footprint-infographic.html#ixzz3qwzBJuXk" style="color: #003399;">http://www.care2.com/greenliving/how-to-reduce-your-water-footprint-infographic.html#ixzz3qwzBJuXk</a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">While US focussed there is no doubt the story for Australia is similar.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Remember the common story...........BYOW........yes, <b>Bring Your Own Water</b></span><br />
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surfie999@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05868151801037588945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5903271345335807958.post-88792689313768846482015-10-22T11:51:00.000+09:302015-10-22T11:51:14.332+09:30Marijuana Use in USA Doubles<div class="main_title_cont" id="nointelliTXT">
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<h1>
US Marijuana Use Has More Than Doubled in a Decade</h1>
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by Tia Ghose, Senior Writer | October 21, 2015 11:00am ET </div>
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</span> <span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Marijuana use in the United States more than doubled from 2001 to 2013, according to new research.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> In 2013, nearly 10 percent of U.S. adults reported using the drug in the last year.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Moreover, as more people began using <a href="http://www.livescience.com/24559-marijuana-facts-cannabis.html">marijuana</a>, the number of people with the <a class="itxtnewhook itxthook" href="http://www.livescience.com/52543-marijuana-use-doubles-in-decade.html?cmpid=NL_LS_weekly_2015-10-21#" id="itxthook1" rel="nofollow" style="background-image: none; border-image-source: none; border: 0px transparent; display: inline; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><span class="itxtrst itxtrstspan itxtnowrap itxtnewhookspan" id="itxthook1w" style="border-color: transparent transparent rgb(0, 204, 0); border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #009900; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; text-decoration: underline !important;">mental health</span><img class="itxtrst itxtrstimg itxthookicon" id="itxthook1icon" src="http://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/icon1.png" style="margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px 0px 0px 4px !important; vertical-align: baseline !important;" /></a> condition that researchers call "marijuana use disorder" also increased, to about 3 percent of U.S. adults, the researchers found. People are considered to have this disorder if, for example, they wind up using the drug more often than they had intended, or if it interferes with their work or family life. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> The uptick in marijuana use coincides with a profusion of increasingly permissive marijuana laws. Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia have legalized <a href="http://www.livescience.com/24554-medical-marijuana.html">medical marijuana</a>, including four states that have also legalized recreational marijuana. However, whether further efforts toward legalization will increase marijuana use remains uncertain, the researchers wrote in their study, which was published today (Oct. 21) in the journal JAMA Psychiatry. [<a href="http://www.livescience.com/48246-odd-facts-marijuana.html">11 Odd Facts About Marijuana</a>]</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> But based on past experience with alcohol and nicotine laws, "changes in laws and policies (e.g., minimum legal drinking age and smoke-free laws) do appear related to changes in use and consequences," the researchers wrote. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This suggests "that the legal status of marijuana could influence the rate of marijuana use disorders, particularly if legalization of recreational marijuana alters attitudes and permits financial interests to override public health and safety concerns," they wrote.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<strong><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Increased use</span></strong><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> The new <a class="itxtnewhook itxthook" href="http://www.livescience.com/52543-marijuana-use-doubles-in-decade.html?cmpid=NL_LS_weekly_2015-10-21#" id="itxthook2" rel="nofollow" style="background-image: none; border-image-source: none; border: 0px transparent; display: inline; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><span class="itxtrst itxtrstspan itxtnowrap itxtnewhookspan" id="itxthook2w" style="border-color: transparent transparent rgb(0, 204, 0); border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #009900; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; text-decoration: underline !important;">data</span><img class="itxtrst itxtrstimg itxthookicon" id="itxthook2icon" src="http://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/icon1.png" style="margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px 0px 0px 4px !important; vertical-align: baseline !important;" /></a> comes from a broad survey of alcohol and drug use among 36,000 adults, a study called the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, which researchers conducted between 2001-2002, and again in 2012-2013. Between the two time points, the percentage of people who said they used marijuana in the past year jumped from 4.1 percent to 9.5 percent.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> The increase in use was largest among older users, <a class="itxtnewhook itxthook" href="http://www.livescience.com/52543-marijuana-use-doubles-in-decade.html?cmpid=NL_LS_weekly_2015-10-21#" id="itxthook3" rel="nofollow" style="background-image: none; border-image-source: none; border: 0px transparent; display: inline; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><span class="itxtrst itxtrstspan itxtnowrap itxtnewhookspan" id="itxthook3w" style="border-color: transparent transparent rgb(0, 204, 0); border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #009900; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; text-decoration: underline !important;">women</span><img class="itxtrst itxtrstimg itxthookicon" id="itxthook3icon" src="http://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/icon1.png" style="margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px 0px 0px 4px !important; vertical-align: baseline !important;" /></a>, people living in the South, and black and Hispanic users, the study found. (A separate study has found that <a href="http://www.livescience.com/52231-teens-views-on-marijuana.html">fewer younger adolescents are now smoking pot</a>.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> The rate of marijuana use disorder also climbed, from 1.2 percent to 2.9 percent of adults. The researchers identified people with marijuana use disorders using criteria from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a standard psychiatry guidebook that classifies mental disorders. Some of the criteria for marijuana use disorder include using the drug for a longer period or more frequently than intended, experiencing strong cravings for the drug, engaging in risky drug use, or experiencing problems in <a class="itxtnewhook itxthook" href="http://www.livescience.com/52543-marijuana-use-doubles-in-decade.html?cmpid=NL_LS_weekly_2015-10-21#" id="itxthook4" rel="nofollow" style="background-image: none; border-image-source: none; border: 0px transparent; display: inline; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><span class="itxtrst itxtrstspan itxtnowrap itxtnewhookspan" id="itxthook4w" style="border-color: transparent transparent rgb(0, 204, 0); border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #009900; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; text-decoration: underline !important;">social</span><img class="itxtrst itxtrstimg itxthookicon" id="itxthook4icon" src="http://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/icon1.png" style="margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px 0px 0px 4px !important; vertical-align: baseline !important;" /></a>, work or family life as a result of the drug use.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> However, while the total number of people in the United States with marijuana use <a class="itxtnewhook itxthook" href="http://www.livescience.com/52543-marijuana-use-doubles-in-decade.html?cmpid=NL_LS_weekly_2015-10-21#" id="itxthook5" rel="nofollow" style="background-image: none; border-image-source: none; border: 0px transparent; display: inline; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><span class="itxtrst itxtrstspan itxtnowrap itxtnewhookspan" id="itxthook5w" style="border-color: transparent transparent rgb(0, 204, 0); border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #009900; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; text-decoration: underline !important;">disorder</span><img class="itxtrst itxtrstimg itxthookicon" id="itxthook5icon" src="http://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/icon1.png" style="margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px 0px 0px 4px !important; vertical-align: baseline !important;" /></a> increased, the fraction of pot smokers with the disorder actually dropped slightly, from 35.6 percent to 30 percent, between the two waves of the study.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<strong><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Changing laws and attitudes</span></strong><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> The new study finds that marijuana use has increased in parallel with the rise of more permissive laws regarding the drug.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> "All forms of legalization increase the availability of marijuana in some manner," the researchers wrote in the paper, which was published today (Oct. 21) in the journal JAMA Psychiatry. "Medical marijuana laws have little effect on adolescent recreational marijuana but may affect adult risk."</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> However, it may not be that the new laws are causing an increase in marijuana use. Rather, it could be that changing attitudes toward marijuana are driving both the new laws and the increase in use. For example, fewer Americans now view smoking marijuana as risky, according to a study published this year in the journal <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0376871615000927">Drug and Alcohol Dependence</a>.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> Scientists disagree on the <a href="http://www.livescience.com/24558-marijuana-effects.html">health risks of marijuana</a>. Some <a class="itxtnewhook itxthook" href="http://www.livescience.com/52543-marijuana-use-doubles-in-decade.html?cmpid=NL_LS_weekly_2015-10-21#" id="itxthook6" rel="nofollow" style="background-image: none; border-image-source: none; border: 0px transparent; display: inline; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><span class="itxtrst itxtrstspan itxtnowrap itxtnewhookspan" id="itxthook6w" style="border-color: transparent transparent rgb(0, 204, 0); border-style: none none solid; border-width: 0px 0px 1px; color: #009900; padding: 0px 0px 1px !important; text-decoration: underline !important;">studies</span><img class="itxtrst itxtrstimg itxthookicon" id="itxthook6icon" src="http://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/icon1.png" style="margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px 0px 0px 4px !important; vertical-align: baseline !important;" /></a> suggest pot can stunt IQ, compromise lung health, reduce sperm counts and boost the risk of psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia. However, other studies suggest that risk factors, aside from the marijuana per se, may actually be the cause of those negative health outcomes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> "Given the robust connection between beliefs about riskiness and actual use, changes in such beliefs may play an important role" in rates of marijuana use, the researchers wrote. "Therefore, public education about the risks of marijuana use, presented in a reasonable, balanced manner, appears increasingly important to counteract public beliefs that marijuana use is harmless."</span><br />
<br />
<em>Follow Tia Ghose on </em><a href="http://twitter.com/#!/tiaghose"><em>Twitter</em></a><em>and </em><a href="https://plus.google.com/101897839070491804371/posts"><em>Google+</em></a><em>.</em> <em>Follow</em> <em>Live Science </em><a href="https://twitter.com/LiveScience" title="http://twitter.com/#!/livescience"><em>@livescience</em></a><em>, </em><a href="http://www.facebook.com/#!/livescience" title="http://www.facebook.com/#!/livescience"><em>Facebook</em></a> <em>& </em><a href="https://plus.google.com/101164570444913213957/posts"><em>Google+</em></a><em>. Original article on </em><a href="http://www.livescience.com/52543-marijuana-use-doubles-in-decade.html"><em>Live Science</em></a>.</div>
</div>
surfie999@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05868151801037588945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5903271345335807958.post-44546617563859841692015-03-11T10:18:00.000+09:302015-03-11T10:20:53.280+09:30Solar Impulse on Round the World Flight - by Sun!<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After 13 years of planning, the Solar Impulse SI2 took off from Al-Bateen Executive Airport in Abu Dhabi at 7:12 a.m. local time a day ago. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This initiated the first leg of its historic attempt to be the first solar-powered airplane to fly around the world. If all goes well, the plane will return to Al-Bateen in June or July. As reported in January, the first leg was a short 12-hour “shakedown cruise” to Muscat, Oman, piloted by Andre Borschberg. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The plane landed safely in Muscat, more or less on schedule.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Of the two pilots who will take turns behind the wheel, Borschberg is the engineer and former fighter pilot who is intimately familiar with every detail of the plane’s design and construction.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is a flight that representatives of the aviation industry, when approached, said couldn’t be done, at least not to their standards of safety.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Of course, it should be understood that <span class="intopic-ad-popup-link" data-url="http://app.intopicmedia.com/clickserver.php?publisher_code=771bbe8ee17ec6a0b4cb27773ab78e5b&ad=673&campaign=168&keyword=7732&url=enn.com" id="ITM_REPLACEMENT" rel="%7B%22ad%22:%22673%22,%22campaign%22:%22168%22,%22keyword%22:%227732%22,%22microbanner%22:%220%22%7D" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 255); border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-width: 3px; color: blue; cursor: pointer; padding-bottom: 0px;">commercial</span> aviation operates with a high margin of safety. This flight has many known risks that would not be acceptable to commercial flyers. That is why these two men, Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg, are pioneers, risking their lives for a principle that they believe in. That principle is, in essence, <em>we can do it without <span class="intopic-ad-popup-link" data-url="http://app.intopicmedia.com/clickserver.php?publisher_code=771bbe8ee17ec6a0b4cb27773ab78e5b&ad=673&campaign=168&keyword=662&url=enn.com" id="ITM_REPLACEMENT" rel="%7B%22ad%22:%22673%22,%22campaign%22:%22168%22,%22keyword%22:%22662%22,%22microbanner%22:%221%22%7D" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(0, 0, 255); border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-width: 3px; color: blue; cursor: pointer; padding-bottom: 0px;">fossil</span> fuels</em>.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There have been plenty of images on tv in Australia, with no doubt, more to come.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Early stages are relatively short, but there is one to Hawaii which is a 5 day - yes 5 day - leg across the Pacific. That will be interesting, and yes it flies non stop over that period including at night!!</span><br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBckk5YfLeTDVbagDCKDvevAYIob5i-__tqdRO5PHoJLKJNlwczgTcQzwhau-Bb567FV0i47ZleAe3zpGooRMhpxdTb62PRW9bWbycvZP_lElKQ5JYNdclKRe4atp9RhcZoVukGIQ3RKQ/s1600/solar+impulse+grand_format_407.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBckk5YfLeTDVbagDCKDvevAYIob5i-__tqdRO5PHoJLKJNlwczgTcQzwhau-Bb567FV0i47ZleAe3zpGooRMhpxdTb62PRW9bWbycvZP_lElKQ5JYNdclKRe4atp9RhcZoVukGIQ3RKQ/s1600/solar+impulse+grand_format_407.jpg" height="374" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Solar Inpulse in flight</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
partially sourced from ENN.surfie999@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05868151801037588945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5903271345335807958.post-58079046581550081302015-01-22T08:33:00.000+09:302015-01-22T08:38:46.926+09:30Radical Islam - Newspaper Articles by Thomas Friedman<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Thomas L Friedman is an author and journalist now working for the NY Times. He has written a number of books and was based in the Middle East for many years.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">He is a well respected author and columnist and has recently penned a few columns around the theme of radical islam, protest and events in France in early 2015.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The following two articles which appeared in the NY Times in early January are part of his comments on the unfolding theme around Islam and reformation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Google his name to see the extent of his writings and books.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">-----------------------------</span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 24pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></b></div>
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<b><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 24pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We
Need Another Giant Protest<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">JAN. 13, 2015 <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/thomaslfriedman/index.html" title="More Articles by THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN"><span style="color: blue;">Thomas L.
Friedman </span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
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<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This makes it sound as if the Charlie Hebdo terrorists set out to commit
a random act of violent extremism and only subsequently, when they realized
that they needed some justification, did they reach for Islam.</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In short, jihadist zeal is easy to condemn, but will require multiple
revolutions to s</span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">President Obama was criticized for failing to attend, or send a proper surrogate to, the giant anti-terrorism march in Paris on Sunday. That criticism was right. But it is typical of American politics today that we focus on this and not what would have really made the world feel the jihadist threat was finally being seriously confronted. And that would not be a march that our president helps to lead, but one in which he’s not involved at all. That would be a million-person march against the jihadists across the Arab-Muslim world, organized by Arabs and Muslims for Arabs and Muslims, without anyone in the West asking for it — not just because of what happened in Paris but because of the scores of Muslims recently murdered by jihadists in Pakistan, Yemen, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria and Syria.</span><br />
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<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Abdul Rahman al-Rashed, one of the most respected Arab journalists, wrote Monday in his column in Al-Sharq Al-Awsat: “Protests against the recent terrorist attacks in France should have been held in Muslim capitals, rather than Paris, because, in this case, it is Muslims who are involved in this crisis and stand accused. ... The story of extremism begins in Muslim societies, and it is with their support and silence that extremism has grown into terrorism that is harming people. It is of no value that the French people, who are the victims here, take to the streets. ... What is required here is for Muslim communities to disown the Paris crime and Islamic extremism in general.” (<a href="http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/8375.htm"><span style="color: blue;">Translation by Memri.org</span></a>.)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The truth is there is a huge amount of ambivalence toward this whole jihadist phenomenon — more than any of us would like to believe — in the Arab-Muslim world, Europe and America. This ambivalence starts in the Muslim community, where there is a deep cleavage over what constitutes authentic Islam today. We fool ourselves when we tell Muslims what “real Islam” is. Because Islam has no Vatican, no single source of religious authority, there are many Islams today. The puritanical Wahhabi/Salafi/jihadist strain is one of them, and its support is not insignificant.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Ambivalence runs through Europe today on the question of what a country should demand of new Muslim immigrants by way of adopting its values. Is <a href="http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/war-between-two-worlds#axzz3OkgJNDmW"><span style="color: blue;">Stratfor’s George Friedman</span></a> right when he argues that Europeans adopted multiculturalism precisely because they didn’t really want to absorb their Muslim immigrants, and many of those Muslim immigrants, who went to Europe to find a job, not a new identity, didn’t want to be absorbed? If so, that spells trouble.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">mbivalence runs through Washington’s ties with Saudi Arabia. Ever since jihadists took over Islam’s holiest shrine in Mecca in 1979, proclaiming that Saudi Arabia’s rulers were not pious enough, Saudi Arabia has redoubled its commitment to Wahhabi or Salafist Islam — the most puritanical, anti-pluralistic and anti-women version of that faith. This Saudi right turn — combined with oil revenues used to build Wahhabi-inspired mosques, websites and madrassas across the Muslim world — has tilted the entire Sunni community to the right. Look at a picture of female graduates of Cairo University in 1950. Few are wearing veils. Look at them today. Many are wearing veils. The open, soft, embracing Islam that defined Egypt for centuries — pray five times a day but wash it down with a beer at night — has been hardened by this Wahhabi wind from Arabia.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But U.S. presidents never confront Saudi Arabia about this because of our oil addiction. As I’ve said, addicts never tell the truth to their pushers. The Saudi government opposes the jihadists. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Unfortunately, though, it’s a very short step from Wahhabi Islam to the violent jihadism practiced by the Islamic State, or ISIS. The French terrorists were born in France but were marinated in Wahhabi-Salafi thought through the web and local mosques — not Voltaire.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Also, the other civil war in Islam — between Sunnis and Shiites — has led many mainstream Sunni charities, mosques and regimes to support jihadist groups because they’re ferocious fighters against Shiites. Finally — yet more ambivalence — for 60 years there was a tacit alliance between Arab dictators and their Sunni religious clergy. The regimes funded these uninspired Muslim clerics, and these clergy blessed the uninspired dictators — and both stifled the emergence of any authentic, inspired, reformist Islam that could take on Wahhabism-Salafism, even though many Muslims wanted it. An authentic reformation requires a free space in the Arab-Muslim world.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“Muslims need to ‘upgrade their software,’ which is programmed mainly by our schools, television and mosques — especially small mosques that trade in what is forbidden,” Egyptian intellectual Mamoun Fandy wrote in Al-Sharq Al-Awsat. (<a href="http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/8375.htm"><span style="color: blue;">Also translated by Memri.org.</span></a>) “There is no choice but to dismantle this system and rebuild it in a way that is compatible with human culture and values.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">tem — revolutions that will require a lot of people in the
Arab-Muslim world and West to shed their ambivalence and stop playing double
games.<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-size: 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size: 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A version of this op-ed appears in print on January 14, 2015, on page
A25 of the New York edition with the headline: We Need Another Giant Protest.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 8pt; line-height: 115%;"><br clear="all" style="mso-special-character: line-break; page-break-before: always;" />
</span>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span lang="EN" style="font-size: 24pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Say It
Like It Is<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">JAN. 20, 2015 <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/thomaslfriedman/index.html" title="More Articles by THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN"><span style="color: blue;">Thomas L.
Friedman </span></a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I’ve never been a fan of global
conferences to solve problems, but when I read that <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/01/11/statement-press-secretary-white-house-summit-countering-violent-extremis"><span style="color: blue;">the Obama administration is organizing</span></a> a Summit
on Countering Violent Extremism for Feb. 18, in response to the Paris killings,
I had a visceral reaction: Is there a box on my tax returns that I can check so
my tax dollars won’t go to pay for this?<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When you don’t call things by their real name, you always get in
trouble. And this administration, so fearful of being accused of Islamophobia,
is refusing to make any link to radical Islam from the recent explosions of
violence against civilians (most of them Muslims) by Boko Haram in Nigeria, by
the Taliban in Pakistan, by Al Qaeda in Paris and by jihadists in Yemen and Iraq.
We’ve entered the theater of the absurd.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Last week the conservative columnist <a href="http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/01/charlie-hebdo-of-course-it-is-islam-114277.html"><span style="color: blue;">Rich Lowry wrote an essay</span></a> in Politico Magazine
that contained quotes from White House spokesman Josh Earnest that I could not
believe. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I was sure they were made up. But I checked the transcript: 100
percent correct. I can’t say it better than Lowry did:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">“The administration has lapsed into unselfconscious ridiculousness.
Asked why the administration won’t say [after the Paris attacks] we are at war
with radical Islam, Earnest on Tuesday explained the administration’s first
concern ‘is accuracy. We want to describe exactly what happened. These are
individuals who carried out an act of terrorism, and they later tried to
justify that act of terrorism by invoking the religion of Islam and their own
deviant view of it.’<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The day before, Earnest had conceded that there are lists of recent
‘examples of individuals who have cited Islam as they’ve carried out acts of
violence.’ Cited Islam? According to the Earnest theory ... purposeless violent
extremists rummage through the scriptures of great faiths, looking for some
verses to cite to support their mayhem and often happen to settle on the holy
texts of Islam.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">President Obama knows better. I am all for restraint on the issue, and
would never hold every Muslim accountable for the acts of a few. But it is not
good for us or the Muslim world to pretend that this spreading jihadist
violence isn’t coming out of their faith community. It is coming mostly, but
not exclusively, from angry young men and preachers on the fringe of the Sunni
Arab and Pakistani communities in the Middle East and Europe.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If Western interventions help foster violent Islamic reactions, we
should reduce them. To the extent that Muslim immigrants in European countries
feel marginalized, they and their hosts should worker harder on absorption. But
both efforts will only take you so far.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Something else is also at work, and it needs to be discussed. It is the
struggle within Arab and Pakistani Sunni Islam over whether and how to embrace
modernity, pluralism and women’s rights. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">That struggle drives, and is driven
by, the dysfunctionality of so many Arab states and Pakistan. It has left these
societies with too many young men who have never held a job or a girl’s hand,
who then seek to overcome their humiliation at being left behind, and to find
identity, by “purifying” their worlds of other Muslims who are not sufficiently
pious and of Westerners whom they perceive to be putting Muslims down. But you
don’t see this in the two giant Muslim communities in Indonesia or India.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Only Sunni Arabs and Pakistanis can get inside their narrative and
remediate it. But reformers can only do that if they have a free, secure
political space. If we’re not going to help create space for that internal
dialogue, let’s just be quiet. <i>Don’t say stupid stuff.</i> And don’t hold
airy fairy conferences that dodge the real issues, which many mainstream
Muslims know and are actually starved to discuss, especially women.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Arab journalist Diana Moukalled, <a href="http://www.aawsat.net/2015/01/article55340356"><span style="color: blue;">writing
in the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat last week</span></a>, asked: “Don’t all
these events now going on around us and committed in our name require us to
break the fear barrier and begin to question our region and our societies,
especially the ideas being trafficked there that have led us to this awful
stage where we are tearing at one another’s throats — to mention nothing of
what as a result also happens beyond our region?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/meet-the-honor-brigade-an-organized-campaign-to-silence-critics-of-islam/2015/01/16/0b002e5a-9aaf-11e4-a7ee-526210d665b4_story.html"><span style="color: blue;">a remarkable piece in The Washington Post</span></a> Sunday
by Asra Q. Nomani, an American Muslim born in India, called out the “honor
corps” — a loose, well-funded coalition of governments and private individuals
“that tries to silence debate on extremist ideology in order to protect the
image of Islam.” It “throws the label of ‘Islamophobe’ on pundits, journalists
and others who dare to talk about extremist ideology in the religion. ... The
official and unofficial channels work in tandem, harassing, threatening and
battling introspective Muslims and non-Muslims everywhere. ... The bullying
often works to silence critics of Islamic extremism. ... They cause governments,
writers and experts to walk on eggshells.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I know one in particular.<span style="font-size: x-small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size: 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN" style="font-size: 8pt;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A version of this op-ed appears in print on January 21, 2015, on page
A23 of the New York edition with the headline: Say It Like It Is.</span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
surfie999@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05868151801037588945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5903271345335807958.post-39970133369945758472015-01-15T17:00:00.000+09:302015-01-15T17:00:02.069+09:30Leatherneck - Definition and Meaning<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Leathernecks were to prevent
beheadings!! This is the True history of Islam in America !!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here is a little history, including how
the term ‘Leatherneck’ came to be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Most Americans are unaware of the fact
that over two hundred years ago, the United States had declared war on Islam,
and Thomas Jefferson led the charge!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At the height of the eighteenth century,
Muslim pirates were the terror of the Mediterranean and a large area of the
North Atlantic . They attacked every ship in sight, and held the crews for
exorbitant ransoms. Those taken hostage were subjected to barbaric treatment
and wrote heart breaking letters home, begging their government and family
members to pay whatever their Mohammedan captors demanded.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">These extortionists of the high seas
represented the Islamic nations of Tripoli , Tunis , Morocco , and Algiers –
collectively referred to as the Barbary Coast – and presented a dangerous and
unprovoked threat to the new American Republic .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Before the Revolutionary War, U.S.
merchant ships had been under the protection of Great Britain . When the U.S.
declared its independence and entered into war, the ships of the United States
were protected by France . However, once the war was won, America had to
protect its own fleets. Thus, the birth of the U.S. Navy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Beginning in 1784, seventeen years
before he would become president, Thomas Jefferson became America ’s Minister
to France . That same year, the U.S. Congress sought to appease its Muslim
adversaries by following in the footsteps of European nations who paid bribes
to the Barbary States , rather than engaging them in war.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In July of 1785, Algerian pirates
captured American ships, and the Day of Algiers demanded an unheard-of ransom
of $60,000. It was a plain and simple case of extortion, and Thomas Jefferson
was vehemently opposed to any further payments. Instead, he proposed to
Congress the formation of a coalition of allied nations who together could
force the Islamic states into peace. A disinterested Congress decided to pay
the ransom.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In 1786, Thomas Jefferson and John
Adams met with Tripoli ’s ambassador to Great Britain to ask by what right his
nation attacked American ships and enslaved American citizens, and why Muslims
held so much hostility towards America , a nation with which they had no
previous contacts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The two future presidents reported that
Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja had answered that Islam "was
founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Quran, that
all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that
it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found,
and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every
Musselman (Muslim) who should be slain in Battle was sure to go to
Paradise."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Despite this stunning admission of
premeditated violence on non-Muslim nations, as well as the objections of many
notable American leaders, including George Washington, who warned that caving
in was both wrong and would only further embolden the enemy, for the following
fifteen years, the American government paid the Muslims millions of dollars for
the safe passage of American ships or the return of American hostages. The
payments in ransom and tribute amounted to over twenty percent of the United
States government annual revenues in 1800.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jefferson was disgusted. Shortly after
his being sworn in as the third President of the United States in 1801, the
Pasha of Tripoli sent him a note demanding the immediate payment of $225,000
plus $25,000 a year for every year forthcoming. That changed everything.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jefferson let the Pasha know, in no
uncertain terms, what he could do with his demand. The Pasha responded by
cutting down the flagpole at the American consulate and declared war on the
United States . Tunis , Morocco , and Algiers immediately followed suit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Jefferson, until now, had been against
America raising a naval force for anything beyond coastal defence, but having
watched his nation be cowed by Islamic thuggery for long enough, decided that
it was finally time to meet force with force.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He dispatched a squadron of frigates to
the Mediterranean and taught the Muslim of the Barbary Coast a lesson he hoped
they would never forget. Congress authorized Jefferson to empower U.S. ships to
seize all vessels and goods of the Pasha of Tripoli and to “cause to be done
all other acts of precaution or hostility as the state of war would justify”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When Algiers and Tunis , who were both
accustomed to American cowardice and acquiescence, saw the newly independent
United States had both the will and the might to strike back, they quickly
abandoned their allegiance to Tripoli .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The war with Tripoli lasted for four
more years, and raged up again in 1815. The bravery of the U.S. Marine Corps in
these wars led to the line “to the shores of Tripoli ” in the Marine Hymn. They
would forever be known as “leathernecks” for the leather collars of their
uniforms, designed to prevent their heads from being cut off by the Muslim
scimitars when boarding enemy ships.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Islam, and what its Barbary followers
justified doing in the name of their prophet and their god, disturbed Jefferson
quite deeply. America had a tradition of religious tolerance, the fact that
Jefferson, himself, had co-authored the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom,
but fundamentalist Islam was like no other religion the world had ever seen. A
religion based on supremacism, whose holy book not only condoned but mandated
violence against unbelievers was unacceptable to him. His greatest fear was
that someday this brand of Islam would return and pose an even greater threat
to the United States .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This should bother every American. That
the Islams have brought about women-only classes and swimming times at
taxpayer-funded universities and public pools; that Christians, Jews, and
Hindus have been banned from serving on juries where Muslim defendants are
being judged, Piggy banks and Porky Pig tissue dispensers have been banned from
workplaces because they offend Islamist sensibilities. Ice cream has been
discontinued at certain Burger King locations because the picture on the
wrapper looks similar to the Arabic script for Allah, public schools are
pulling pork from their menus, on and on in the news papers….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It’s death by a thousand cuts, or
inch-by-inch as some refer to it, and most Americans have no idea that this
battle is being waged every day across America . By not fighting back, by
allowing groups to obfuscate what is really happening, and not insisting that
the Islamists adapt to our own culture, the United States is cutting its own throat
with a politically correct knife, and helping to further the Islamists
agenda. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sadly, it appears that today’s America
would rather be politically correct than victorious.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Any doubts, just Google Thomas
Jefferson vs the Muslim World or click this link:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Barbary_War" target="_blank" title="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Barbary_War">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Barbary_War</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
surfie999@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05868151801037588945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5903271345335807958.post-53246180310570552372015-01-14T00:30:00.000+09:302015-01-14T00:30:03.013+09:30Reforming Islam<br />
<hgroup class="typog-content-header main-content-header"><h1 class="fly-title">
Where change comes from</h1>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When news came of <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/europe/21638076-islamist-terrorists-claim-their-latest-victims-french-cartoonists-death-satire">today's appalling terrorist attack in Paris</a>, I was in the middle of drafting an Erasmus post with some thoughts on the question: can we expect Islam to undergo its own version of the Reformation, or to produce its own Martin Luther? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The subject is <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2015/01/02/islam-will-not-have-its-own-reformation/" target="_blank">addressed</a>, in quite an intelligent way, in the latest issue of <em>Foreign Policy</em>, an American journal, and it is a topical one because various modern figures, from the Turkish preacher Fethullah Gulen to Egypt's military ruler Abdel Fattah al-Sisi have been described, however improbably, as Muslim answers to Martin Luther.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Today's ghastly events in France make the question even more pressing, because some people will undoubtedly say: this is proof, if proof were needed, that Islam is incorrigibly and by its very nature violent, intolerant and incapable of accepting the liberal ideal of free speech. And if that view gains traction, many Muslims will in turn conclude that in the face of such unremitting hostility, there is no point in even trying to explain their faith to others or seeking accommodation with their neighbours. So the stakes are very high. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Nick Danforth, the <em>Foreign Policy</em> writer, does a decent job of deconstructing the “Luther” question and showing how posing it reflects a linear, Anglo-Protestant view of history. According to this view there is a single-file march towards secular modernity, with reforming Protestants out in front, Catholics being dragged along a bit reluctantly, and Muslims far behind. “For most of American history, it would have been self-evident to the majority of American Protestants that the celebrated separation of church and state in the United States became possible because the Protestant Reformation tamed the Vatican in the 16th century.” You don't have to be a Protestant to argue for this sort of view; you could say, as many do, that the Reformation's real merit was that it reduced the importance of religion in general, and ushered in a more rational world. In fact, the article counter-argues, every religion has it own trajectory and its own way of negotiating the boundary between revealed truth and changing reality; it's not helpful to imagine a single track along which people travel at different speeds.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Here are some of my own thoughts on the subject. They have to do not with the merits, attractiveness or truth-claims of any religion, but with the way that religions in general work.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.biography.com/people/martin-luther-9389283" target="_blank">Martin Luther</a> raised his voice against the abuse of clerical power by the Catholic authorities of his time: the ways in which sacraments (in other words, rituals which require a priest) were manipulated for cynical or venal purposes, doctrines were distorted, and ordinary people denied the opportunity to seek religious truth for themselves. He spoke with the authority of a well trained Catholic monk, versed in the Bible and in early church history. He wasn't rejecting all religious authority, or the idea of a sacrament as a ritual in which God was present; if he had taken that uncompromising view, he probably wouldn't have found many followers. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In my experience, Muslims' first response to Luther's protests is usually something like: the abuses that he addressed are never likely to arise in Islam, because Islam has no equivalent of sacraments or priests who come between man and God and monopolise certain rituals. Islam has imams or prayer leaders, but no bishops or father-confessors. (Shia Islam does have a tradition of powerful clerics, but the power they now enjoy in Iran is, arguably, a historical aberration.)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At the same time, many Muslims would stress that the "reform" or "renewal" of their religion, in the sense of cutting away unwanted accretions and getting back to Islam's original inspiration, has been a recurring theme in their history; and they would probably agree that some reform is badly needed now. But it's worth stressing that in neither Christianity, Islam, Judaism nor any other major religion can "reform" be equated with moderation or emollience. A stripped-down, minimalist religion can be more violent and intolerant than an elaborate one; just ask Oliver Cromwell or the Pakistani Taliban.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">At this point, many non-Muslims might say, "we don't really care whether Islam is elaborate or stripped-down, we only care whether its followers can be persuaded to renounce terrorism, beheadings, and the pursuit of political power." Well, passionate arguments against all these things are being heard within the world of Islam, although they get less publicity than the violent voices. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Look, for example, at the personally courageous stance of Hamza Yusuf, an American-born scholar with a wide following in the Islamic heart-land, in denunciation of Islamic State, its aims and methods. In recent weeks some 300,000 people have used the internet to hear him <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJo4B-yaxfk" target="_blank">condemn</a>, in rigorously Islamic terms, the claim of IS to be authentic representatives of the Sunni creed. His voice comes from deep inside scholarly, traditional Islam, just as Luther's came from deep inside sacramental, episcopal Christianity—and many people are listening.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Islam will not be scolded, scorned or aerially bombed into reforming by outsiders; it is deeply immune to external pressure. But it can and will change from within, as the founding texts and traditions are reread and refracted by successive generations. Nobody can predict which way that change will go—and there is not just one, single historical path along which it will or won't progress.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">from the Economist , Jan 7 2015 - Erasmus Blog.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">------------------</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is a well written and erudite piece and well worth the read. And no, it is not my work, but a valuable and easily accessible piece that needs reading.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
surfie999@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05868151801037588945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5903271345335807958.post-84190422440118684192015-01-13T08:30:00.000+09:302015-01-13T13:16:57.479+09:30Wine Price and Wine Quality<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Can a wine drinker judge the quality of a bottle by its price? The
nature of this relationship has always been contested.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We expect that consumers are willing to pay more for higher quality
wines, while higher quality wines typically cost much more to produce. Some
studies have identified that better quality wines do in fact <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1574-0862.2001.tb00058.x/abstract">sell
for higher prices</a>,, while others <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13504850701222145#.VI5EmnuK2Vo">have
not</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fundamentally, it is the subjective nature of wine quality assessment
and the lack of quality information held by consumers which potentially drives
a wedge between price and its quality.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Even though expert wine tasters are able to provide a sensory evaluation
of a wine’s characteristics, evaluation is subjective and different tasters
often maintain different opinions for the same wine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Further, wine is often argued to be an “experience good” - which means
that consumers need to purchase and consume the good first to evaluate it. This
subjective nature of wine evaluation and the inability of consumers to know
what’s in the bottle before consuming it means that the pricing of wines
according to some measure of quality may prove particularly difficult.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The data on wine buying<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">To explain how wine prices differ statistical models have been developed
to examine the relationship between wine price and its quality and a series of
other factors thought to influence prices. These statistical models are called
hedonic price functions. These hedonic functions recognise that price depends
upon both demand and supply factors and are employed generally for
differentiated goods, such as houses, personal computers and cars. For wine,
hedonic price functions statistically estimate the relationship between prices
and measures of a wine’s quality, reputation, variety, region, vintage, and
other factors, (<a href="http://csusap.csu.edu.au/~eoczkows/hedonic%20price%20function%201994.pdf">see
Oczkowski, 1994</a>) for one of the seminal wine studies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In an attempt to shed light on the price-quality debate, Chris
Doucouliagos and I have recently <a href="http://ajae.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2014/07/12/ajae.aau057.short">undertaken
a meta analysis</a> of the relation between wine prices and quality ratings.
The purpose of a meta analysis is to summarise previously published results
from studies and make general conclusions of the major findings of a body of
literature.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The meta analysis examined more than 180 hedonic wine price models
developed over 20 years covering many countries. The research identifies that
the relation between the price of wine and its sensory quality rating is a
moderate partial correlation of +0.30. This correlation is positive and statistically
significant in approximately 90 per cent of cases. In other words,
approximately 90pc of models estimated in the literature identified that the
positive relation between prices and quality is not due to chance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The findings from the meta-analysis indicate, however, that the
correlation between price and its quality is not perfect. That is, some wines
are over-priced compared to quality, others may be under-priced. This
recognition suggests some important implications for both wine producers and consumers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For wine producers specific pricing strategies to follow will depend on
the quality of the wines produced and the nature of competition that producers
face in the market. For example, some low quality producers may be able to
charge higher prices than implied by quality, in the short term, as buyers may
find it uneconomic to conduct the necessary search to identify quality.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In other words, some consumers may be fooled by higher prices inferring
higher quality, and pay higher prices than they really should. This deception
may only occur for a short period of time as consumers become more aware of the
wine’s quality over time. Alternatively, high quality producers may seek to
charge higher prices than suggested by the wine’s quality level given that
low-quality producers cannot sustainably follow a similar strategy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">For consumers, the results imply that price may or may not infer
quality. In other words, consumers should be wary of using price as a sole
indicator of a wine’s quality. This implies that better informed buyers could
potentially identify bargains in the short run. In this context expert wine
guides potentially play an important role and I have developed a web-based tool
called the <a href="http://csusap.csu.edu.au/~eoczkows/winestart.htm?gclid=CLzokZ3uzsICFUwDvAodzjoAgg">Australian
Wine Price Calculator</a> to help identify under and over-priced wines.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Turn to the critics<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The question naturally arises, if wine experts differ in their opinions
of a wine, what does a consumer do? Wine expert <a href="http://www.jancisrobinson.com/">Jancis Robinson</a> suggests that
individual consumers may wish to follow the “preferences and prejudices” of a
specific wine critic in making wine purchase choices.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The moderate price-quality correlation identified across numerous
studies occurs despite the lack of information held by consumers about a wine’s
quality and the inconsistency of expert tasters when evaluating wines. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Despite
all this, it can be argued that quality still does matter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is an interesting article and the comments in the original are significant.</span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
<hr align="center" size="3" width="100%" />
</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><!--[if gte vml 1]><v:shapetype id="_x0000_t75" coordsize="21600,21600"
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o:href="cid:image006.gif@01D02F29.A773E7A0"/>
</v:shape><![endif]--><!--[if !vml]--><img alt="The Conversation" border="0" height="1" src="file:///C:\Users\Peter\AppData\Local\Temp\msohtmlclip1\01\clip_image001.gif" v:shapes="Picture_x0020_8" width="1" /><!--[endif]--></i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>This article was originally published on <a href="http://theconversation.com/">The Conversation</a>. </i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Read the <a href="http://theconversation.com/what-drives-our-wine-choice-taste-or-the-price-tag-35252">original
article</a>.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://theconversation.com/profiles/eddie-oczkowski-147677">Eddie
Oczkowski</a> is Professor of Applied Economics and Quantitative Methods at
Charles Sturt University. He received funding for previous research from the
National Centre for Vocational Education Research and the Rural Industries
Research and Development Corporation.</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-language: EN-AU;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
surfie999@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05868151801037588945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5903271345335807958.post-42181628072630958342015-01-12T00:30:00.000+09:302015-01-12T00:30:02.469+09:30Murraya in Full Flower - Sunday Morning Coming Down<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Must have looked fantastic, but then it rained..................and it was on the ground.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Many around Rapid Creek looked similar on Sunday, with white flowers as a ground carpet, knocked off by rain and wind.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEichq72_cWe4xw89YoAnW82vtGZURWpVlTgjvxWOoJ1r_1QxbvUQ9jc7IAN66T3HjaKsD9FdrY66G5cjPkiXCv0JLM9-8Ln5BJ15vSQYlrBCj85qvmCAvNyCQHvEGN7yN3Kya_og5tv8d0/s1600/DSC01806.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEichq72_cWe4xw89YoAnW82vtGZURWpVlTgjvxWOoJ1r_1QxbvUQ9jc7IAN66T3HjaKsD9FdrY66G5cjPkiXCv0JLM9-8Ln5BJ15vSQYlrBCj85qvmCAvNyCQHvEGN7yN3Kya_og5tv8d0/s1600/DSC01806.JPG" height="400" width="266" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Murraya in flower</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Sunday morning - coming down!</span>surfie999@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05868151801037588945noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5903271345335807958.post-19463862143571930992015-01-11T23:03:00.003+09:302015-01-11T23:04:09.266+09:30Top Drop<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq9xyIO-NZIPr0zcm0p7fyXDh2_Ov-6TnI6kDGuBX2OvxPx12OdsCPla41N3LAgixkcXE2ogFBY-TMaIzsW4aKlPMNmaDbyeqvFYeUkx21g5sUSUaG_sAR0W9EsGALY3-3ElcN5QkRXYY/s1600/DSC01821.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq9xyIO-NZIPr0zcm0p7fyXDh2_Ov-6TnI6kDGuBX2OvxPx12OdsCPla41N3LAgixkcXE2ogFBY-TMaIzsW4aKlPMNmaDbyeqvFYeUkx21g5sUSUaG_sAR0W9EsGALY3-3ElcN5QkRXYY/s1600/DSC01821.JPG" height="400" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">top drop<br />
<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Opened for a steak before Christmas but not all consumed and went missing in the drink fridge.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Found and finished last night with a pizza. Went down very well.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Note on the bottle suggests cellaring till 2015 -2018. On the money!!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I believe I might still have one or two left. Not absolute top drawer but a VERY smooth Clare Valley Shiraz.</span><br />
<br />
<br />surfie999@gmail.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05868151801037588945noreply@blogger.com0