What's in the News

YES YES YES - finally!!  Another smear of shame removed from our face.


Mandatory detention ... changes flagged (AAP: Mick Tsikas)

Refugee support groups are welcoming planned changes to the policy of mandatory detention for asylum seekers.

Minister for Immigration Chris Evans is today expected to announce several reforms including a new emphasis on only detaining those posing a security or health risk to the community.

The change will mean that it will be up to the Immigration Department to argue why a person should be kept in detention.

Under the changes asylum seekers denied a visa will be offered legal assistance and efforts will be made to shorten detention periods.

The announcement will include the temporary closure of the $400 million detention centre built on Christmas Island by the Howard government.

On ABC1's Lateline, Dr Graham Thom from Amnesty International said this will bring Australia into line with other western democracies.

"We are certainly hoping that most of the people in detention will be released," he said.

"The vast majority are either asylum seekers or visa over-stayers.

"This is a very fundamental change because really for the last 15 years Australia has reserved the right to mandatorily detain somebody simply based on their lack of a visa and wanting to keep them in detention for as long as possible."

Dr Thom expects the new refugee policy will mirror those of other western democracies.

"Hopefully these changes will bring Australia in line with other western democracies and into line with our international obligations," he said.

       

Good on Oz.  While I recognise their right to control immigration, there has to be a better way than building gigantic prisons for the crime of being in Australia, which-

...Naw, too easy.

Beijing gets mixed review from Greenpeace
Last Updated: Monday, July 28, 2008 | 3:04 PM ET
CBC News

The Beijing Olympics received a mixed review of its environmental initiatives from Greenpeace just days before the Games begin.

In a report issued Monday, Greenpeace praised Beijing for achieving and in some cases surpassing original environmental goals, but also criticized the host city for missed opportunities to create a better short-term and long-term environmental Olympic legacy for the city.

Furthermore, the organization said, China's efforts were hampered by a lack of policy transparency and independently verified data.

Greenpeace based its assessment of Beijing's environmental initiatives for the Games on two public reports by the United Nations Environmental Program and the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG).

"Greenpeace's ability to conduct its own comprehensive independent evaluation was constrained by limited access to Olympic venues and comprehensive data," the report says.

"Some crucial data needed to comprehensively assess the Olympics were unavailable."

In the report, Greenpeace focused on six key environmental areas: air quality, energy use/climate change and refrigerants, transportation, water, forestry, and toxics and wastes.

Beijing received kudos from the organization for energy-saving technology in Olympic venues, stricter vehicle emissions standards and expanded public transport.

But in other areas, Beijing's air quality still falls short of international standards, the report said.

The city's measures of PM10 — particulate matter 10 microns in diameter, about a seventh of the thickness of a human hair — have consistently stayed above Chinese national standards and stricter World Health Organization standards, Greenpeace said.

Lo Sze Ping, Greenpeace China's campaign director, told a news conference Monday that Games organizers and "sports teams from the various countries have reason to be concerned."

"In the event PM10 conditions cannot meet with national standards and WHO standards, then there are reasons for different parties to suggest that certain events be delayed," Lo said.

For four days now, Beijing has not experienced a "blue sky day," when the air pollution index stays below the national standard for "good air quality."

Beijing did not even officially collect statistics on smaller particulate matter and ozone, pollutants that worry health experts, Greenpeace said.

"Beijing has also missed a golden opportunity in using the Games as a platform to implement more ambitious initiatives," Lo said.

Greenpeace's report also recommended that Beijing:

- Continue to tackle air pollution through strictly regulating vehicle emissions standards and to set an example for other Chinese cities.
- Continue to upgrade industrial technologies and to push them toward clean production.
- Widely promote renewable energy technology used at Game venues across the city, such as solar lighting and geothermal heating.

I don't think it is just the frog that can do this in China!

Chinese frog has tuneable ears

Tuesday, 29 July 2008 Jennifer Viegas
Discovery News
Odorrana tormota frog

The frog's unusual ears and ultrasonic calls allow it to communicate in noisy environments (Source: Albert Feng)

Just as humans tune into their favourite radio station, an unusual frog from China can shift its hearing from one frequency to another in order to selectively choose what it hears.

Known as the Concave-eared Torrent Frog, Odorrana tormota, is the only known animal in the world that can manipulate its hearing system to select particular frequencies, according to a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Humans appear to possess a modicum of control, but our system is slow compared to that of the frog and we cannot, with precision, tune our ears to match sounds.

The researchers believe the rare amphibian likely evolved its hearing talent out of necessity, since its environment is so noisy.

"Their calling sites are on the steep banks of a fast-flowing body of water - the Tao Hua Creek (at Huangshan Hot Springs in central China)," says co-author Professor Albert Feng from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Feng says the site is especially noisy after spring showers, pointing out that humans often cannot hear well over heavy rains either.

"We pretty much have to shout at one another," he says.

The frog doesn't shout, but it instead sings like a bird either in audible chirp-like frequencies or by emitting very high-pitched ultrasonic sounds.
Transparent ears

Curious as to how the amphibian could hear these different vocalisations, Feng and his team analysed the frog's hearing system, which wasn't too challenging since the frog's eardrum is completely transparent.

The scientists used a laser to measure the eardrum's vibration, and noticed that while it could respond to both audible and ultrasonic sounds, sometimes the eardrum's sensitivity to ultrasonic noise mysteriously disappeared.

Further investigation determined the frog actively opens and closes two narrow channels known as the Eustachian tubes, which connect the pharynx (part of the neck and throat) to the left and right middle ears.

When open, the tubes couple the frog's left and right ears, making them sensitive to audible sounds from all directions. When closed, their ability to pick up ultrasonic frequencies kicks in.

"We said, 'Woah! This is bizarre.'" Feng says. "In all textbooks on sound communication and hearing in frogs, it is plainly stated that the Eustachian tubes are permanently open."

Amazing accuracy

The ability to tune into specific frequencies at will isn't the frog's only claim to animal fame.

It possesses recessed ears instead of ones that, like those of most other creatures, are located on the body's surface. It can also localise sound with astonishing precision.

With an error of less than 1%, males of this species leap directly toward calling, wooing females, with a level of accuracy never before observed in frogs.

"On the one hand, I am surprised that any frog can open and close the Eustachian tubes," says Professor Carl Gerhardt from University of Missouri.

"But on the other hand, I am not too surprised that this frog does it because it is also the first to be shown to have ultrasonic hearing and calls with ultrasonic components."

The frog's unique hearing system is already being used as a model for "intelligent" hearing aids that can spatially separate sounds, process them the way that human brains do, and boost sound signals of interest, such as differentiating background noise from that of a desired conversation.

It is not unique.

I have a girl friend who does that.

I have a female parental unit who can do the same.

I have found that the majority of fellas can tune out any other frequency when watching sport.

Actually we can',t that's why we really want all of you shut up while we're watching.

Stil, expect a bill from Apple.

There's a "Bill" at Apple?

I thought bill was with microsoft?

Russia is in a military conflict with Georgia.  This is just what we need the most. 

Yeah, so I read.  Russia is bombing targets inside Georgia, who have shot a few planes down.  Nasty implications here.  Where's the rest of the world in this?

... Where's the rest of the world in this?

At the Games in Beijing. 


Actually, Putin has left BJ and headed to the Georgia-Russia border.  Don't know if he thinks a close-up visit will help solve tensions, but he's gone there.

50-year old (US) comedian Bernie Mac died at 2:00 am of pneumonia complications.