Stingray stabs fisherman in chest off SA

I saw This on the ABC Online earlier today

What is going on? Is the stingray population feeling guilty and trying to even the score?
They, who “apparently” have only killed 1 person in history, until they got the Croc Hunter, have now struck 3 people in the chest since that world famous incident.
For mine, I think they are trying to show Steve it was an accident…

A fisherman is recovering in hospital after being stabbed in the chest by a stingray off the South Australian coast.

Police received a call from a prawn trawler just before 10:00pm ACDT last night.

The crew member had been working on the boat seven nautical miles
north-west of Wallaroo when it is believed he was stabbed by the ray.

Ambulance crews met the trawler at Wallaroo and rushed the man to the local hospital.

Police say the barb pierced the man’s chest but did not lodge.

Conservationist Steve Irwin was killed when a stingray barb pierced his chest in September.

Technorati Tags: Stingray, Steve Irwin, Croc Hunter

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CSIRO slams carbon reduction strategies

I don’t supose they have ever pulled thier punches, but this article helps to compile “the state of the game’ as far as the green house gas emissions is concerned. It highlights why this stupid carbon credits idea will never work.

1. China won’t join
2. How to police/register/monitor automobiles, stoves, furnaces… every driver has credits/debits?
3. Who pays (say a nation like Canada, or a person like me when we successfully reduce emissions.)
4. Or if you draw a line under say power-stations, where do you draw the line, and how do you compensate those above the line?

Heres a quote, I encourage you to read the article, and post any others in the comments. I will highlight them down the track.

Monday, 27 November 2006 Cosmos Online  SYDNEY: The rate of increase in carbon dioxide emissions has more than doubled since the 1990s, according to a new Australian study, raising fears that the rising levels of carbon dioxide may be unstoppable.

Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station in Tasmania. Air samples collected here indicate that carbon emissions have more than doubled since the 1990s

Why do all our gadgets break?

I agree 100% with this story on Crave (Cnet.com). I have been through so many mobiles, they make them with the screens easily scratch, weak pivots, and electronics that break when you drop them in your pocket!!
From the article…

“Of course, we live in an upgrade culture, in which mobile phones, laptops and iPods are discarded for cosmetic reasons as much as technical. But there is a
splinter cell whose members don’t want to upgrade their current product, yet is forced to by the increasingly poor build quality of many modern consumer electronics.

… Engineers have built obsolescence into mass-produced technology since the 1920s. There are two kinds of planned deterioration in a product: one is technical, the other is stylistic.
The fashion industry relies on your eagerness to keep up with changes in style to keep their new products selling, while the technology industry used to rely on the simple fact that computers were never
quite fast enough for the average user.

And the kicker

The electronics industry has clearly spotted this problem, [how to get people to keep buying their products when they havn't improved much] and has worked out a simple way to make you upgrade even if you’re not a slave to fashion: your gadgets will simply break within the year. The evolution of the microchip to a point where the average consumer cannot tax it technically has ushered in The Age of the Flimsy — delicate, beautiful supermodels that can’t go the distance.

Technorati Tags: Gadjets, breaking

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Absolutly useless trivia — No l

I don’t remember where I read this, But it is a real statistic, there are over 1500 people killed EVERY YEAR mining COAL. So how old is the nuclear industry?

From reccolection the same story said that even post Chenoble, there is less than 2000 people who have been HURT or effected negatively by nuclear accidents…

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Now I ask you

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  Is Coal safer? Who For?

Genes, Experiences Determine a Person’s Ability to Bounce Back

Interesting that the thinking that has linked peoples contrasting reactions under stress, is now going back, to where people used to believe that what you see under stress is the “real” personality. Unfortunately I feel both views are a little simplistic, as some people act totally calm and totally different in stressful situations, but fall to pieces over time, and others are the exact opposite. I fear the truth is closer to a cognitive-emotional-logical “override” mode that works in some, and possibly not in others, as otherwise, (like most of psychology), this study actually generates more questions than the science answers…

Why do we always expect one little titbit to be able to explain the worlds most complex organism, and the “only” (for the purposes of this debate) one with free will and imagination to complicate even the simplest cognitive theories…

Long-term studies of child
development indicate that some people remain psychologically healthy despite
years of severe deprivation and trauma. Researchers are now studying the
characteristics and circumstances surrounding the ability to endure stress and
bounce back-a quality they call resilience, reports the December 2006 issue of
the Harvard Mental Health Letter.

Ok so that is common sense so far