Category: Archive

Rudd misleads Australia over whale watching program

admin /4 January, 2008

Scopical reported today that the Rudd Government is misleading the Australian public, with the new Government appearing to have broken its first pledge.

A commitment to ‘watch over’ the operations of Japanese whalers using aircraft and ocean vessels has been called into question, with revelations the P&O owned Oceanic Viking is still docked in Freemantle, and the Airbus A319 that was meant to be conducting air surveillance, not yet receiving clearance from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA).

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith and Environment Minister Peter Garrett had in December pledged to dispatch within ‘a few days’ of the announcement, an ocean vessel accompanied by an aircraft, in order to collect surveillance against the Japanese whaling operations.

However it was revealed yesterday that the ship, the Oceanic Viking, remained docked in a West Australian port, and the aircraft allocated to conduct surveillance had not yet lodged an application to fly south.

Dance Party isolated in local floods

admin /4 January, 2008

The State Emergency Service (SES) will bring drinking water by helicopter this afternoon to more than 500 people trapped by flooding in a national park.

The SES says there is as many as 700 people in the Bonoo Bonoo national park near the northern NSW town of Tenterfield for an alternative dance party.

North-west region controller Steve Martin says heavy rain has swept away the only access bridge to the area they are in.

"They’ve indicated that they’ve got enough food for a couple of days but fresh water’s going to be a problem, even though there’s plenty of rain around the place," he said.

"They usually use the creek water that is fairly pristine, but of course with the turbulence of the stormwater coming down, it’s not something they can use now."

Scientists Test Sonic Levitation on Goldfish

admin /3 January, 2008

From Live Science

Researchers at the Northwestern Polytechnical University in Xi’an, China have developed a device that uses sound waves to levitate objects and small animals. Needless to say there has been substantial unrest in the Chinese cockroach community.

Reading 78 Apple Peeler

admin /3 January, 2008

Same proven design since 1878   Lightning fast! It’s almost worth buying one just to watch it work. Peel over 10 apples per minute!   Spike apple of any shape or size onto holding-fork In just five turns of the crank the apple is peeled and automatically pushed off the fork Cast iron and brass Continue Reading →

PNG goes ahead with palm oil

admin /29 December, 2007

The PNG government continues to approve rainforest destruction and diminishment even as they vocally seek to be paid with carbon market funds for their "protection"

By Rainforest Portal, a project of Ecological Internet – December 27, 2007

Caption: The endemic Woodlark Cuscus may well go extinct if its habitat is cleared for an oil palm plantation

The oil palm biofuel industry — the scourge of Asia and the world’s rainforests — is continuing to expand into Papua New Guinea (PNG). Malaysian company Vitroplant has been granted necessary permits by the PNG government to begin clearing 70% of the rainforests on biodiversity rich Woodlark Island, some 60,000 hectares, in order to establish a massive plantation of oil palm trees.

Expansion of oil palm plantations at the expense of primary rainforests runs contrary to PNG’s government public support for preserving rainforests for climate and other benefits. Prime Minister Somare’s government has been highly vocal, including at the recent Bali climate talks, regarding the desirability of "avoided deforestation" payments. Yet large scale industrial logging and now oil palm expansion continues to severely diminish PNG’s rainforest and carbon storage capital.

Introducing the Solar Tree

admin /29 December, 2007

The streets of Europe could soon be lit by solar energy due to the fact that a solar tree prototype recently passed a key test phase.

The solar trees went on display for four weeks in October on a busy street — the Ringstrasse — in Vienna, Austria.  They were able to provide enough light during the night-time even when the sun did not show for as much as four days in a row.