Australia

Bikes As Teleportation Devices

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From peopleforbikes.org

BICYCLES ARE INSTANTANEOUS TELEPORTATION DEVICES, SAYS SCIENCE

April 26, 2016

Michael Andersen, Green Lane Project staff writer


On the Indianapolis Cultural Trail.

Sorry, I don’t have time to use the car to get there. That’d take too long — I’d better bike instead.

No, I don’t mean “biking saves you money and time is money.” I mean biking actually saves you time.

No, I don’t just mean during rush hour. Sure, everybody knows that in a city during rush hour, bicyclesusually travel faster than cars. No, I mean biking is always more time-efficient than driving.

In fact, a study released last year found that riding a bicycle transports you from place to placeinstantaneously. As in, it takes no time at all.

Stay with me.

Naturally, this study came out of the University of Utrecht. Utrecht is a Dutch city that’s about the size of Wichita, with the minor difference that about half of all trips of five miles or less in the city happen on bicycles. That means that the Utrecht scientists had really good data to analyze. They studied the habits of 50,000 Dutch people, most of whom rode bicycles for various amounts of time each day, over the course of many years.


Utrecht. Photo: Jonathan Maus/BikePortland, used with permission.

Here’s what the study found: for every additional 75 minutes a week that you spend on a bike (that is, for every 11 minutes per day) you generally increase your lifespan by six months.

This isn’t super surprising in principle. Virtually every scientific study of what makes us healthy is just a complicated way of saying one of two things that we all already know: (1) don’t eat much junk food and (2) get your heart beating for a little bit each day, the more the better. Maybe that’s why this study didn’t get wall-to-wall coverage when it came out in 2015: it seemed obvious.

But the longer you think about this finding, the more interesting it becomes.

Eleven minutes per day. That’d be 3,906 minutes per year. Over the course of, say, 70 years, it’s 273,385 minutes.

Which comes out to … six months.

Which is exactly the amount of extra lifespan that these scientists discovered that 11 more minutes of biking per day will give you. Which means…

Woah.

Every minute you spend on a bicycle increases your lifespan by one minute.

I don’t know about you, but in my case I know that riding a bicycle also makes me happier. The first day I rode a bike to work, I could feel the endorphins tingling appreciatively in my elbows.

But when I’m deciding whether to go somewhere on a bike, I still find myself weighing that happiness against time. Can I afford those extra 10 minutes? I could spend those 10 minutes writing emails, or finally organizing my desk, or just relaxing with Facebook.

But those things don’t actually make me happy. (OK, having a clean desk does, but we both know I’m not actually going to do that.) And one thing is for sure: those minutes don’t come back.

When you think about it, this study means that any time you spend on a bicycle is literally free time.Every minute you spend is coming back to you. Because bicycling is going to give you back all the time you invested, there’s no net time lost.

Which is why, if you do the math, a bicycle is basically a teleporter.

A teleporter that makes you happy.

Saves you money, too.

 

Beam me up, Scotty.

Gun Laws Do Make A Difference

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Australia sometimes gets dragged into America’s perennial gun law debates and the claim is often made that our laws made no difference to homicide rates. Well here are the figures and they are pretty impressive.

From The Land:

Deputy Premier Troy Grant says no changes are flagged for NSW gun laws

ALEX DRUCEApril 21, 2016, 11 a.m.
News

 

 

Figures from the University of Sydney's gunpolicy.org database show a drop in gun-related deaths since 1996.

 Figures from the University of Sydney’s gunpolicy.org database show a drop in gun-related deaths since 1996.

TENSION over Australia’s gun legacy is palpable in NSW as the 20-year anniversary of the debate’s horrific catalyst rolls closer.

But while groups such as The Shooters, Fishers, and Farmers (SFF) and The Greens argue over the merit of the 1996 reforms – and whether further restrictions will protect or vilify law-abiding residents – Deputy Premier Troy Grant says government’s focus is not whether possession laws should tightened or loosened.

It is keeping illegal weapons out of the hands of hardened criminals.

The 20th anniversary of the Port Arthur Massacre has thrust gun reform back into the national spotlight, Mr Grant said his government had no plans to tamper with the strength of the NSW Firearms Act when it came to gun ownership and licensing.

“Legal gun owners in NSW already undergo stringent but necessary checks to ensure the safe use and storage of their firearms,” Mr Grant said.

Deputy Premier Troy Grant.

 Deputy Premier Troy Grant.

Mr Grant’s real concern is illegal firearms.

Reforms passed last October mean a maximum penalty of 14 years’ prison now applies to a range of gun offences, including relating to unauthorised possession, use, supply, or acquisition of a prohibited firearm or pistol.

It is also illegal to have digital blueprints that allow firearms to be manufactured using 3D printers.


Halting this trade and lessening the statutory burden on recreational and sporting shooters, farmers, and legal gun owners has been a key plank of the argument put forward by SFF MP Robert Brown, both in recent weeks and throughout his time in parliament.A recent Australian Crime Commission report conservatively estimated there were 250,000 long barrel guns and 10,000 handguns on the nation’s the illegal firearms market.

This month he appeared on the SBS forum Insight to claim the 1996 reforms pushed through by John Howard cast legitimate shooters as “criminals in waiting” while making it hard for them to obtain certain licenses.

An oft-quoted counterpoint has come from the NSW Greens – led by upper house MP David Shoebridege on the issue – who points out Australia has not seen a massacre since the National Firearms Agreement came into play.

Mr Shoebridge has also advocated for a five-gun limit to be introduced in NSW for each “good reason” for owning a firearm, after which point a “separate and extraordinary reason for owning each additional gun” should be made.

A Quick Break

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Thanks to the generosity of some friends, Margaret and  I spent a few days in Pokolbin in the Hunter Valley.

Pokolbin-Holiday-02

The area, of course, is famous as one of Australia’s prime wine-growing districts. Although it seems to me that tourism is now a bigger industry around there, wineries are still important.

 

The Hunter Valley Gardens are an impressive attraction. They were developed by the Roche family who made lots of money from the Nutrimetics brand before moving into property development in a big way.

The gardens consist of 10 separate themed gardens such as Italian, Indian, Chinese, formal and so on. The most intriguing one is the Storybook Garden. Pokolbin-Holiday-19Pokolbin-Holiday-18Pokolbin-Holiday-17Pokolbin-Holiday-16Pokolbin-Holiday-15

 

Topiary is a major feature of the gardens. It would be a full time job giving the various figures their regular hair cuts.

Pokolbin-Holiday-14

There is plenty of opportunity for rest and reflection during the long walk.

Pokolbin-Holiday-13

When you have a few million dollars and your daughter is getting married, the obvious thing to do is build your own chapel.

Pokolbin-Holiday-11

Our accommodation package included breakfast at the on-site restaurant. Lunch was definitely not required.Pokolbin-Holiday-08.jpg

We had a great time, but I always think “There is no place like home.”

Fishy Price Tag

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The Same Sex “marriage” plebiscite scares the activists because they are afraid they might lose and actually fear democracy as an institution. So it’s no surprise that they exaggerate the cost of voting in an attempt to pressure the Government to abandon the plebiscite.

From the Centre for Independent Studies:

Something fishy about PwC’s plebiscite price tag Peter Kurti 24 MARCH 2016 | IDEAS@THECENTRE

same sex marriage equality 1Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott promised to settle the marriage equality issue democratically by allowing voters to state their views in a national plebiscite later this year.

Malcolm Turnbull has committed to honour that promise — unless he is intimidated into silencing the Australian people, and scuppers the plebiscite plan altogether.

A new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers puts a price tag on each of the options for consulting the Australian people on the future of one of our society’s fundamental institutions.

Leaving it to the pollies is the cheapest option — $17 million according to PwC. And a stand-alone plebiscite with a compulsory vote on same-sex marriage is the most expensive at $525 million.

If it looks like fish and smells like fish, it probably is fish. And this report from PwC definitely has a fishy pong to it. Especially when you add in the estimated $20 million bill for mental health costs.

Scare tactics are being used by same-sex marriage advocates desperate to keep the issue well away from the voters. Suddenly a plebiscite is said to be a waste of time and money.

72% of Australians support marriage equality, according to Australian Marriage Equality’s website. But if that is true, why worry about letting Australians have their say?

It’s not to save money that the advocates want to shut down public debate about changing the meaning of marriage. It’s because they’re worried they might lose a plebiscite vote.

So rather than trust the integrity and decency of the Australian public, advocates would rather silence the people and leave it to the elites to stitch up a deal.

Democracy has a price well worth paying; in fact, it’s a price we must always be prepared to pay. Marriage equality advocates may well be on the side of the angels with justice on their side.

But unless they place their trust in the hands of the Australian voters and allow the people to decide on marriage equality, the advocates will never quite dispel the stench of a fishy fix-up.

The War On Christians Continues

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Some people say that claims of Christians being persecuted in the West are merely that our previously privileged position at the expense of other groups  is being removed. The fact is that cultural “elites” are working hard to remove all traces of chrsitianity from the public spheres.

From IPA:

Religious freedom is under attack at Australian universities

by on March 15, 2016 in Education
SUEUlogo

The University of Sydney Union has threatened to deregister the Sydney University Evangelical Union over the requirement that members have faith in Jesus Christ.

The University of Sydney Union, a student-led multi-million dollar organisation responsible for the provision of services and management of the university’s clubs and societies program, considers the requirement that members of a Christian club be Christian as “discriminatory”.

Deregistration, in practice, would starve the Evangelical Union access to funding, orientation week stalls, and room bookings, making it very difficult for the society to function.

This move comes from the same University of Sydney Union which has spaces exclusively reserved for queer, female and international students.

Bible Society, which has previously reported on discrimination against Christians on campuses across Australia, reports on comments from Sydney University Evangelical Union president George Bishop:

The Executive believes that it is necessary, to maintain our identity as a Christian group, to maintain a faith-based declaration as part of the membership process

The Executive believes that individuals who wish to join any society need to be able to ascribe to the core beliefs, objects and aims of the society – which for a Christian society necessarily include faith in the Lord, Jesus Christ.

The University of Sydney Union, which all students fund through a compulsory levy, the Student Services and Amenities Fee, is suppose to equally represent all students. However, it appears some students are more equal than others.

What Is Wrong With This Picture?

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All you need to know about the terminal decline of Western culture is in this news item.

When a society so glorifies sexual licentiousness, the end is not far off.

Only a full-on move of God’s Spirit bringing people back to Him can save us from ourselves.

From the ABC:

Giant pink condom put onto Sydney’s Hyde Park obelisk to remind residents to have safe sex

Giant pink condom goes onto obelisk

In a move to promote safe sex, a New South Wales health promotion organisation has put a giant pink condom onto the obelisk at Sydney’s Hyde Park.

The 18-metre tall condom was put onto the heritage-listed structure on Friday night in the lead up to the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, to be held next month, by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) health promotion organisation ACON.

The organisation’s chief executive Nicolas Parkhill said the Mardi Gras was a good time to remind people that using condoms was one of the most effective ways to stop transmission of HIV.

“Every year around 80 per cent of HIV transmissions in NSW are among men who have sex with men, so it’s vital that we use opportunities like Mardi Gras to remind gay men about the health benefits of using condoms,” Mr Parkhill said.

“While new drugs are starting to provide other means of protection against HIV, condoms remain central to the fight against the virus because they remain one of the most cheap and effective ways of preventing the transmission of HIV and other sexually transmissible infections.”

He said the giant condom was first put up for World AIDS Day in 2014.

“It was a huge hit … so we thought we’d roll it out again for this year’s Mardi Gras to act as a highly visible safe sex reminder, not just for locals but also for the thousands of international visitors who come to Sydney for Mardi Gras.”

ACON also held a launch for its Stay Safe campaign at Bondi Beach today, as part of efforts to put an end to HIV transmissions in NSW by 2020.

The organisation gave away 1,000 pink inflatable rings, which they called “lifesavers” and described as “condom-like” to the public at the beach.

Established in 1985 as the AIDS Council of NSW, ACON works to end HIV transmission among gay and homosexually active men, and promote the lifelong health of LGBTI people and people with HIV.

It is funded by the NSW Government through the NSW Ministry of Health.

The obelisk was built in 1857 to vent Sydney’s first sewerage system and now provides ventilation for the city’s stormwater system.

An Aussie Legend

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I have family members who would aspire to this kind of greatness

From the ABC:

Burping world record claimed by Darwin man with fizzy drink-fuelled 110.6-decibel belch

Fizzy drinks, cold water and a perpetually stocked beer fridge — these are just a few trade secrets from a Darwin man who has unofficially broken a world record for the loudest burp.

Humpty Doo man Neville Sharp decided to challenge a Guinness World Record for the loudest burp after being egged on by his mates at the local pub.

The record has been held by UK man Paul Dunn for a burp of 109.9 decibels.

The phone hasn’t stopped all morning. A Melbourne radio station is playing my burps. My wife actually woke me up at 5:30 this morning saying ‘you’re on telly’.

Neville Sharp, very loud burper from Darwin

Mr Sharp underwent a strict training regime before belching into a decibel reader at Charles Darwin University’s sound room yesterday.

“It would’ve been a 600ml Coke and some cool water,” Mr Sharp told 105.7 ABC Darwin.

“And my beer fridge is always full.”

Mr Sharp had one relatively extended yet audibly unsuccessful attempt of 97.8 decibels before a hearty and robust belch registered 110.6 decibels.

The proud burper told local Darwin media that he learnt how to belch as a child after his sister taught him to gulp air, and that breaking the record had “always been” a bit of a personal goal.

An unscientific comparison of sound levels, including Darwin man Neville Sharp, who has measured a burp at 110.6 decibels.

Mr Sharp will have to formally apply to Guinness World Records to claim the title, however in the eyes of both his wife and the Australian media, he is already a bit of a star.

“The phone hasn’t stopped all morning. A Melbourne radio station is playing my burps,” Mr Sharp said.

“My wife actually woke me up at 5:30 this morning saying ‘you’re on telly’. It’s gone off its head.”

Mr Sharp said he wished he could make money from his talent but, unfortunately, burping more loudly than a hand drill was not a particularly lucrative business.

“It would be very handy but I think it’ll be my five minutes of fame and then everybody will forget about it,” he said.

And what does his wife think of his training sessions at home?

“She loves me,” he added.