The Blame Game !

It is probably inevitable that this coronavirus pandemic would get the rumour mill running.  The Chinese Communist party leadership is using that same fake news strategy that was employed to divert votes in the 2016 American election to suggest that this virus actually originated in the United States.

A story launches from a Canadian disinformation site has tweeted a video of US Congressional testimony suggesting COVID-19 did not originate in Wuhan but in the United States instead.  Like all such disinformation, it was cleverly  edited and framed to deceive.  Now that the epedemic seems to have run its course in Wuhan, China is posturing to present itself as the world's saviour and carefully erasing its disgraceful attempts to shut down news of the outbreak by heavily punishing doctors who sounded the alert.

Prominent Chinese diplomatic officials and news outlets  are now promoting the outright conspiracy theory that the US military  brought the coronavirus to Wuhan.  This is more in line with the tactics employed by Moscow and echo the methods of the old Nazi propaganda machine that " if you tell the same lie often enough it will become the truth ".

This is intended to hide the fact that the CCP government " handled this horribly " and the entire world is paying a price for that.  The Chinese model did not solve this virus dilemma.  It created it - and it wants to hide that.

It is noticeable that for the first time President Donald Trump has referred to COVID-19 as the " Chinese disease " as a counter to the disinformation campaign.  COVID-19 has disrupted the world economy and the passage of time will decide whether or not it leads to a world recession. There is no doubt it will alter career paths for many people and it seems that China is desperate to shift the blame elsewhere.

Interestingly, China may be wondering about the reaction of its big neighbour - Russia..  The Russian economy is dependent on oil sales - and the oil price has dipped to below thirty dollars a barrel.  If Russia is struck with mass unemployment President Putin may decide that a national  military adventure is the best way to draw attention away from economics.

It is impossible to predict just where this coronavirus outbreak is taking the world, except in a very different direction from the immediate past.

Coronavirus - And The Criminal World !

This Pandemic phenomenon sparked a rush of panic buying.  Crowds of people rushed the supermarkets buying insane quantities of toilet paper, hand sanitizer, face masks and food that will not deteriorate in storage for a long period of time.   There was a similar panic buy of chemist items and as a result shoppers are now finding bare shelves and quantity buy restrictions have been imposed.

Australia is on a virtual war footing as it tries to limit the spread of a deadly virus and inevitably the conditions are right for the emergence of a price gouging black market.  The criminal world will see this as an opportunity to exploit shortages and the internet is the ideal way to connect the seller with the buyer. We have laws in place to stop the hiking of hard to get theatre tickets, but they do no apply to general merchandise and we will need specific new laws if this is to be brought under control.

The measures taken to restrict crowd numbers and force isolation will move many businesses to the point of closure and the government is handing out subsidies to keep them open.  It is again evident that criminals will exploit this opportunity with magnified claims and the need for speed will hinder the close investigation of each claim.   It is more important to get the money flowing to keep jobs filled and the work to weed out fraud will be left until later.

What is extraordinary is the length that people will go to set up a new criminal endeavour.  A Sydney couple have just been charged with an intricate day care scam that defrauded the Commonwealth government of four million dollars.  Seventeen people have so far been charged for complicity in making a day care centre that did not exist seem real and some were the parents of children supposedly attending that mirage.

This bogus day care centre was the brainchild of a man and his wife who enlisted others in a complicated criminal enterprise.  It even involved time sheets filled out to support day workers and a roster of children supposedly under the care of the centre, and it is likely that more charges will be laid as the investigation goes deeper.

Right now money is being handed out without the necessary legislative safeguards being in place to check the bona fides of the applicants.  That is of necessity, and later the necessary investigators will take a long look at how things worked out.

Eventually, this Conaravirus will have run its course - and then some interesting questions will need answers  !

Into The Unknown !

This Pandemic is taking us on an interesting journey and at this stage nobody can accurately predict just how it will turn out.  The pundits claim that we may be heading into a hundred billion dollar deficit when all the assistance to keep the economy running is added up.

Initially, the world tried the containment strategy.  The Covid-19 originated in Wuhan, China and Chinese movement around the world was heavily restricted in an effort to stop it reaching this country.   That clearly failed and the virus is now loose in the community and we are starting to see the panic effect as the population reacts.

The supermarkets have experienced a rush on goods customers are keen to stockpile in preparation for a coming siege.  Opening hours have been reduced and a limit placed on the number of items that can be passed through the checkouts at each visit.  Surprisingly, the item that heads the list is toilet paper, and that is not expected to play a major part in what is essentially an influenza epidemic.

The sporting world is the first casualty in a drive to reduce the number of people congregating together and assisting the spread of the virus. Most sporting contests have been either cancelled or held in empty stadiums and legislation is restricting group activities to crowds of less than five hundred people.  Industry is urged to have their employees work from home rather than attend a crowded office.

At this stage, the schools are still open although the universities have taken education online to try and service the vast number of overseas students prevented from returning to Australia to commence this years courses.   The world tourist industry has taken a hit and airline companies have been grounding planes and many cruise ships are stuck at sea as ports refuse them clearance to dock and discharge passengers.  It is obvious that this will be a lean year for the many activities that have made Australia a world tourist destination.

This was to be an Olympic year in Japan and that is still scheduled to proceed, although much will depend on how the virus progresses.  There is encouraging news on a virus vaccine development but that will need months of trials to eliminate safety concerns.   Each night the number of virus cases confirmed in Australia continues to climb in the news reports and it is now obvious to most thinking people that the world we knew is about to  change.

The world that emerges when this virus finally runs its course is going to look very different.  Many aspects of that old world will have faded away and been replaced with something entirely new.  These may be exciting time for the entrepreneur looking for new opportunities.  For most people what the future looks like will be dictated by the need for survival  !

That " Fluoride " Question !

As moves to engineer a vote at a coming council election to remove fluoride from the water supply grows stronger it raises alarm in state medical circles.  There is a small cabal in the Port Macquarie  Hastings council who are making fluoride a political issue.

Queensland local government councils have an election due on March 28 and already thirteen have removed fluoride from their water supply by popular vote. That happened in 2013 and now the dreadful effect on dental health is plainly evident.  Dentists report an enormous surge in tooth cavities across all age groups but with particular impact on children.

Natural fluoride is lacking in most Australian sources of water and to achieve dental health most communities have agreed to its addition, but there has always been a small element of opposition.  This is mainly encouraged by the same rumour mill that creates opposition to having children vaccinated against childhood diseases and this is despite overwhelming scientific advice that fluoride is perfectly safe.

Just as opponents of vaccination claim that this programme is responsible for autism the people against fluoride claim that it is a poison that the government insists on  using as some sort of control measure.  That is widely believed in conspiracy theory circles and some adherents  even drive miles to bring household cooking water home from a non fluoride source.

Unfortunately, this very active rumour mill can be very convincing and when they sew doubt in enough minds the tenets of democracy swing into action and a geographical area is excluded from fluoride protection.  It is possible for fluoride supporters to switch to toothpaste with a fluoride addition but inevitably tooth deterioration soon becomes evident.

The strong action of the government has swung solidly behind child vaccination.  To achieve herd immunity the government is refusing enrolment in pre-school and schools for unvaccinated children and this has resulted in some die hard opponents resorting to home schooling.

It is quite possible the issue of a popular vote will be indecisive.  In  1991 Port Macquarie voted to remove fluoride but that was treated as a request and denied by NSW Health.  It seems that the democratic process does have limitations and the government can claim a mandate in the operation of public health issues.

If nothing else, the timing of this fluoride question was ill opportune.   Just as the Federal government was issuing strict health guidelines to combat a Pandemic.

Computer Glitches !

A lot of people who have the Windows 10 system on their computer will have recently had an approach asking them to permission to install an update.  If they have chosen the " later " option it is likely that the next time they boot up their computer they will find that update will stop them in their tracks because it will commence automatically.   The time your computer will be out of your control will run to about two hours.

Windows 10 uses that update to install a search engine of their own - and they don't bother to ask your permission. You may find that when you try and use whatever old system you had installed you  are blocked from internet access.  Usually the blockage takes the form of an interruption to accessing items on Facebook, or working familiar internet programmes.  Strangely, the inward and outward flow of emails is not affected.

That annoying message that your internet is blocked becomes very persistent.  Self help will detail ways to correct the problem, but few with basic computer skills will manager to achieve that outcome.  Usually it involves the cost of getting external help and it does raise the ownership issue.  It is more than just a minor nuisance.  If you conduct your financial affairs on the computer the lack of internet access can isolate you from your bank and cease your bill paying ability.  Coming at a time when this Covid-19 virus is forcing people to isolate themselves to stop the infection spreading the computer remains the only safe way of communicating for many people.

What annoys many people is that every upgrade in the operating system imposed on them leaves vast changes in the operating system that they need to work out on their own.  Simple procedures such as adding a new contact to the address book has taken a new format and often what seemed a simple and straight forward procedure from the past has been abandoned - without warning or comment.

In many ways the computer can be compared to the automobile.  When we buy a new car we accept the technology that it represents at that time.  We may encounter newer and more advanced models on the road in later years, but the technology in our vehicle remains unchanged.  We have the choice of  sticking with the technology we know and understand - if that is our wish.

It should be the same with computers.  - with the old and new technology running side by side.  Upgrades should be a matter of choice, not something forced on computer owners.  There is an old maxim that the sales people should remember.   The  customer is always right  !

The " Colour " Question !

Shreya  Siddanagowda was just eighteen when she had the misfortune to be a passenger in a bus crash on one of India's chaotic roads.  Her hands were crushed and because there was a delay in  extracting her from the wreck and getting her to hospital the surgeons had no other option that to amputate both arms below the elbows.

She was put on the waiting list for a transplant, but in India that is a slow process because Indian families are reluctant to donate limbs.  Barely a year later she was offered the option of replacements for both hands.  They matched her blood group, but they were far bigger than her originals - they were hairy and the colour was much deeper than her own body colour.  They were the hands of a man.

The donor was a man killed in a motorcycle accident who was pronounced brain dead on arrival at the hospital.  Shreya accepted instantly, and after a thirteen hour procedure they were successfully attached.  Now, two years after the operation her doctors are baffled.  Very quickly the donated hands began to show a lot of change.  They are now hairless and slender and appear to be changing to the body type of the now twenty-one year old student.

Even more remarkable is the colour change.  The much darker skin has lightened and the doctors are convinced that this is because of the actions of MSH - a brain controlled hormone that stimulates melanin production.  It seems to suggest that MSH influences the skin colour.

Obviously, this will attract the attention of many of the pharmaceutical companies scattered around the world.  MSH is barely understood but it offers a promising avenue of research which would bring a fortune to the company able to patent a product that changed skin colour.

That would certainly introduce social change of an overwhelming nature.  Our skin colour is something we are born with and which dictates many aspects of the life we will lead in most countries of the world.  The prospect that one day skin colour may be optional opens new avenues of challenge.

Perhaps the day when the colour of one's skin will be seen as a fashion statement !

A Suspect Named !

A curious accusation has emerged in the inquest into the disappearance of William Tyrrell, the boy in the Spiderman suit who mysteriously disappeared while playing in the garden of his grandmothers home in Kendal on the state's north coast.

A woman was babysitting two young boys and what is called William's song " Bring him Home " was playing on the radio.  The younger boy suddenly blurted that " he knew who killed William Tyrrell ", and his older brother tried to shut him up.  It was suggested that if the secret was revealed their mother's neck would be snapped.

The younger boy went on to comment that William had been killed and his body buried in a suitcase.  The killer was named as Frank Abbott, who is in Cessnock prison serving a paedophile sentence.  The shocked babysitter recounted this to her mother, who took it to the police and this resulted in a dam and a caravan at Logan's Crossing being closely examined by forensic police.  Frank Abbott previously lived there but the search was unproductive.

A reward of a million dollars was recently posted for information that broke this case and there is always hope that the lure of money will get some associated person to talk.  Frank Abbott is now a person of interest to the police, but no connection has been discovered that would link him to the boy's disappearance.

It seems strange that a young boy would make such an accusation without prompting and the babysitter is adamant that he appeared truthful.  The only factor leading to the admission was the song and its reference to William that was playing in the background.  That information has been in police hands for some time, and the case has not progressed.

There is no doubt the William Tyrrell disappearance has convinced many parents that he was the victim of a paedophile.   The personal freedom kids enjoyed in an earlier age has come to an end and today they are more likely to be escorted to and from school than allowed to make this journey on their own or in a group.  Several famous missing children cases come to mind every time a boy or a girl goes missing and these range from the Beaumont children in Adelaide to Samantha Knight in Sydney.  William Tyrrell is rapidly becoming a similarly remembered name.

No statute of limitations exists in murder cases and the police books will be open in this case until it is solved.