Maths Study Inspiration Spot 2

Anything & Everything that helps & inspires me study.

[maths-app-spot-home]

The good oil on medicinal cannabis in Tasmania

Who can get it? Who can grow it? And what security will they need? We explain all you need to know about medicinal cannabis in Tasmania.

The island state of Tasmania is considered a good place to grow medicinal cannabis.

The fertile earth of Australia's southernmost location is expected to play a big part in meeting the growing demand for the product as more states and territories allow its use.

Tasmania is edging closer to allowing sick people access on September 1 - but there are several steps still to be taken.

Here are some of the things you may be wondering.

How many companies have been granted licences in Tasmania?

Two, kind of. Companies need approval from both the Office of Drug Control (ODC) and the Tasmanian Government.

Tasmanian Botanics has the licences it needs from the ODC, but is still waiting on some state approvals.

Tasmanian Alkaloids and AusCann announced this week they had been granted a medicinal cannabis cultivation licence and a research and development licence.

The companies will need extra federal and state approvals before they can go to market.

Tasmanian Alkaloids produces about 40 per cent of the world's legal opium crop from fields in Tasmania.

The ODC won't say if any other companies have applied for licences.

In February, 25 companies had applied for licences to grow and manufacture medicinal cannabis in Australia.

There is no set number of licences to be issued. Companies have to apply to the ODC and see how they go.

Where will the crops be?

There is a lot of secrecy surrounding this. Authorities are worried people will break into the facilities and steal the cannabis.

Companies with medicinal cannabis licences face massive fines and could even lose their licences if they make the location of crops public.

What kind of security will crop growers need?

Barbed wire fence for poppy field Licence holders won't say but the ODC has said security must be "robust".

We do know that medicinal cannabis crops require stronger security than you see at commercial poppy fields. That's because there's more of a black market in Australia for cannabis than poppies.

Poppies need to be processed, and some varieties can even kill you.

Heath Kratzer from lobby group Medicinal Cannabis Australia said it was unlikely medicinal cannabis would be grown outside.

"You've got to grow it indoors under lights," he said.

Mr Kratzer said security could even be as strict as not allowing workers to wear uniforms with pockets.

"They are suspicious some people might be trying to smuggle out when they are working there," he said. What form will the product take?

Many. Patients will be able to choose from many forms including oral drops, pills, capsules, topical applications and mouth sprays.

Tasmanians will have access to medicinal cannabis from September 1.

You'll have to book an appointment with your doctor, and explain why you need it. Your doctor will have to apply to the Tasmanian Health Department for approval to prescribe it to you.

There's no set criteria for assessing the application, but doctors have to demonstrate why you will benefit from medicinal cannabis.

A big factor is whether or not you've responded to other medication. You don't have to have a specific illness or condition to ask for a prescription.

The department says applications will be considered on a "case-by-case basis".

When will I be able to get Tasmanian cannabis?

Probably not until the middle of next year. Tasmanian Botanics is carrying out building works.

It has a licence to import medicinal cannabis from Switzerland and Canada to meet demand across Australia until then.

Will cannabis crops be as popular as poppy?

Tasmania supplies half of the global stocks of legal narcotic raw material.

The Tasmanian Government says the state's poppy industry is worth about $290 million including farm gate and factory.

The Australian domestic market for medicinal cannabis is worth an estimated $100 million a year and with raw material difficult and expensive to import there is plenty of interest.

Tasmanian Botanics managing director Troy Langman says he expects both industries to continue to do well.

"At the end of the day it is what is best for the patient," he said.

"Certainly there will be a need for opiate products for pain and there will be a need for medicinal cannabis products for pain."

[maths-app-spot-home]

Farmers turn to hydroponics, aquaponics and greenhouses

Australia is rapidly becoming a world leader in protected cropping as farmers look for creative ways to grow more food.

Australia is rapidly becoming a world leader in protected cropping as farmers look for creative ways to grow more food using less land and resources

Protected cropping is one of the fastest-growing areas of food production in the country, with almost 30 per cent of all Australian farmers growing produce in some form of a soil-less culture system, according to peak vegetable industry body Ausveg.

Protected Cropping Australia chairman Robert Hayes said the efficiencies of protected cropping were the biggest drawcard.

"It's the best way to use your water. We don't waste any fertiliser at all, there's zero discharge effectively in to the environment, and we can have a much better control of our quality," he said.

"We are in business 52 weeks of the year."

Temperate climate an advantage Don Grant, a hydroponic herb farmer from New Zealand, said he had been watching the Australian industry go from strength to strength over the past 15 years.

"I've seen a huge change in the uptake of technology here," he said.

"Back in 2003 New Zealand was way ahead of Australia, and not only has Australia caught up, they've absolutely surpassed us, incredibly so.

"Australia now has some of the best growers in the world."

Mr Grant said Australia's temperate climate gave it considerable advantage over other countries.

"With the cold, you've got to heat a hell of a lot more so your costs go up," he said.

"You've got a nice temperate clime here so it's a lot easier to produce."

Massive potential for jobs Apex Greenhouses director Folco Faber said the protected cropping industry could provide more certainty for producers and their workforce.

"When you're growing in a protected environment you can grow 12 months of the year, so you're not susceptible to climate, to extreme weather events," he said.

"It's a more consistent supply for the supermarkets and more consistent employment for people as well."

Mr Faber said in South Australia, which had experienced massive job losses in the automotive and manufacturing industry in recent years, there was a massive opportunity to fill a gap in demand for labour.

"Availability of skilled labour to work in greenhouses is a massive issue for us," he said.

"We've seen in Adelaide the shutdown of many large industries. We think there's now a lot of scope for a lot of these workers to be allocated to protected cropping, but they need the training to be able to work in those industries."

Energy costs and security the biggest challenge The biggest challenge facing the industry is the cost and security of energy in Australia.

Major power outages across South Australia in 2016 left areas of the state without power for days.

Mr Faber said that had hit some producers in the power-reliant protected cropping industry hard.

"There's a couple of growers I know of who didn't have their backup power generation sorted. They suffered considerable losses due to that energy shortage," he said.

"There's also several growers I know of who are heating with gas, and their prices have doubled in the last 12 months.

"At the end of the day, surety of energy supply and pricing is a really important component of our industry."

[maths-app-spot-home]

A new legal briefing has been drawn up by specialist lawyer Louise Whitfield, outlining the current legislation protecting women-only spaces and services.

[sandor-clegane-app-spot]

App Price Drop: Untangled HD for iPhone/iPad is free (was $1.99)!

[maths-app-spot-home]

Indigenous shearer hurdles literacy obstacle to excel in TAFE wool classing

Indigenous shearer looks to hang up the handpiece after tackling literacy shortcomings.

Aching knees and a sore back, coupled with providing encouragement for his son, inspired Indigenous shearer Garry Pittman to tackle wool classing at Dubbo TAFE.

After leaving school at the age of 15 with rudimentary reading skills, Mr Pittman spent more than three decades shearing.

Working the sheds mainly around the Dubbo-Coolah area, he would often class wool for property owners, which sparked an interest in knowing more.

He was spurred on when one of his four children decided he wanted to go to TAFE for a shearing course.

However, the son was reticent, so Mr Pittman decided to go along to provide support.

From there he enrolled in the wool classing course, but it was a daunting experience when he started classes.

"I felt funny the first couple of times. I thought 'Nah'. But I kept going," Mr Pittman said the afternoon of his graduation.

For Mr Pittman, it was not just a matter of studying for his wool classing qualifications.

He said he had a reading age of about eight, so to overcome this he combined the wool classing lessons with a foundation skills course aimed at improving reading and writing.

"I felt embarrassed, real embarrassed. I was real slow. It took me a while to do paperwork but I slowly got there," he said.

Qualifying as a wool classer was just part of it — Mr Pittman was also named TAFE Aboriginal Vocational Student of the Year for the western division of New South Wales.

Determined to succeed One person who never doubted his determination was wool classing teacher Kerri Capill, who is also involved with the foundation skills course.

"When I first saw Garry's attempts at writing, I thought yes, he needs help. I spent more time with Garry," she said.

"He is a great role model for saying you can do anything. I think the other students here could see how determined he was, especially toward the end of the course.

"You could see he was getting frustrated and he was so close.

"I don't have another student with his tenacity, his willingness to succeed.

"There were times he didn't have a vehicle for three or four months and it would be pouring with rain.

"Garry would walk in dripping wet. He had walked to TAFE. When you see that in a student, you step up."

Wool is handled in a shearing shed. Mr Pittman is looking forward to hanging up his handpiece. (ABC News) Keen to teach shearing Now he has cleared the initial hurdle, Mr Pittman is interested in furthering his education so he can teach shearing at TAFE.

And while he builds a reputation for wool classing, he still does shearing, at times under the watchful eye of Ms Capill, who runs sheep.

"He is our quality man. When we are shearing we are shearing for sale. They have to be good. No ridges, no cuts," she said.

"They have to be good and we know Garry is pretty consistent and very reliable."

With a laugh she points out that even when shearing, Mr Pittman is taking an interest in what is happening around him.

"He tries to give orders while he is on the board. He'll be doing the long blow and be pointing the finger," Ms Capill said.

After three decades on the board he will not miss bending over, sweat dripping off him while wrestling with a sheep.

"Once I hang up that handpiece, that's it," he said.

[libraryjournal]

Reports that the EPA's open data webite is shutting down this Friday are just normal government shutdown bureaucracy and the site is not going away.

A miscommunication  from a federal contractor about the EPA website  raises some interesting issues about open data on federally funded websites to be aware of.

Yet, while the EPA’s open data website appears safe for now, this does raise the larger question of funding for open data hosting. As the US Government continues on its path to make more and more of its datasets openly available, it has chosen to date to do so largely through its own proprietary Government-developed platforms. This leaves them intensely vulnerable to funding disruptions, where a shift in funding priorities could indeed literally wipe out vast numbers of datasets with a single funding bill.

[reverseracism]

Seen at the March For Science 🙌🏽

[purplebuddhaproject]

The art of knowing is knowing what to ignore.

Rumi

(via purplebuddhaproject)

[planned-planethood]

From astrophysicist Katie Mack. I’m 100% behind her.

[needsmoarcat]

[kittymudface]

It gets better—the guy is deaf, and he taught his cat the sign for “food.” So the cat’s not just saying “put that in my mouth,” it’s actually signing

[lutefiskcrowsandbeef]

Not only that, but if you notice at the beginning, the cat *gets the man’s attention* as any person who wanted to talk to a deaf/hoh individual would (well, and vice versa IME). I’ve done sign since I was 5, and generally, w/o eye contact initially, you wave a hand or lightly touch the arm (if that’s ok with the person you’re trying to converse with, of course).  Generally, adult cats meow mostly to humans, but this cat has figured out that’s not going to work and has adapted. Animal companions! They are INCREDIBLE.

[leannewoodfull]

Amazing.

[fromseveralroomsaway]

EVERYONE STOP WHAT YOU ARE DOING AND LOOK AT THIS CAT.

[oldgray-blog]

this is pretty remarkable 

[claire-the-rhino]

A cat who can use sign language? Omg… I love these animals so much! :3c

[did-you-know]

After the Battle of Shiloh in 1862, many Civil War soldiers’ lives were saved by a phenomenon called ‘Angel’s Glow.’ The soldiers, who lay in the mud for two rainy days, had wounds that began to glow in the dark and heal unusually fast. In 2001, 2 teens won an international science fair by discovering the soldiers had been so cold that their bodies created the perfect conditions for growing a bioluminescent bacteria, which ultimately destroyed the bad bacteria that could’ve killed them. Source Source 2 Source 3

[darling-with-no-probs]

[timhortons]

i hope youre all lying and hyping your cv/resume’s up

[timhortons]

i have never gotten an interview and not been offered a job position after it

[timhortons]

I mean lets be honest if everyone else is gassing theirs up like no tomorrow and you’re being as honest as you can who th are the recruitment team going to be more interested in

[timhortons]

There’s people working in my banks head office with me WITH MUCH MORE EXPERIENCE than me BUT ARE GETTING PAID LESS

[timhortons]

we’re doing the exact same job role

[timhortons]

the point I’m trying to make here is if you’ve handled finances for a company you’re now what i would call a treasurer my g, if you’ve done admin work you are now a secretary (or as I’ve put Management secretary)

[timhortons]

you help some kid with his homework? you’re a private tutor.

keep your bullets points for the job role as concise and important sounding as possible AND ALWAYS EMPHASIS THAT YOURE A TEAM PLAYER IF YOURE GOING TO WORK IN A TEAM.

[timhortons]

go into that interview room and get your story straight the night before and remember that interviews are two way conversatons yes they might be grilling you but at the end of it make sure to grill them BACK. do you have any hesitations about my qualifications? my suitability for the job? any feedback on my cv? how long have you been working at this company? do you like it here? whats the work environment like?

I ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS GET THE SAME FEEDBACK WHEN THEY GET BACK IN TOUCH WITH ME

“ive never been asked those questions before” / “you were one of the strongest candidates”

[timhortons]

throughout the interview emphasise that youre about progression, that you want more responsibilities than you did at your previous job, tell them the hours here are more suitable for me than my last ones were, AND WHEN IT COMES TO SALARY NEGOTIATION its all about continuity. tell them again that it boils down to progression. make up a reasonable figure for how much you were paid in your last role (do your research for how much the industry youre applying to or the role youre applying for pays, base it on that) tell them you expect more than you were previously paid. do not give them a figure. progression is your primary focus, tell them if youre progressing youre happy. leave it at that.

[timhortons]

LIE THROUGH YOUR TEETH AND GET THAT MONEY

[infiniteglitterfall]

I had an interview yesterday, at the place I’ve been temping, where I busted out the “is there anything about my skills or background that makes you concerned about my fit for this job” question for the first time.

Neither of my supervisors had never gotten it before either. They had to think for a while, and then it turned into them telling me how great I am and what they love about me.

This stuff is real. I would also say: none of it is lying. This is taking experience that you normally downplay and write off, and putting it in accurate words they’ll understand.

It’s hacking the capitalist system. Why ISN’T helping a kid with homework “tutoring”, when the only thing missing is a paycheck?

It’s especially important for anyone who isn’t a cis white man, because many of us are so thoroughly trained to feel like we are not good enough.

Privilege tells people they can fake it, and that they’re good enough just as people and can learn the skills on the job. Abuse and oppression tell people they aren’t good enough as people and that even their high skills are probably below average, and that unless they had the specific job title or were using certain skills officially, nobody will think it counts.

The goal is to at least fake the confidence of a privileged person, to give the employer a chance at seeing the skills that you’ve been trained to undervalue.

[wakeners]

[postgenderspock-deactivated2018]

These affirmations Octavia Butler wrote very early in her writing career revive my weary spirit. 

[rosehustle1]

Wow

[fuckyeahscifiwomenofcolour]

Author Scott Lynch responds to a critic of the character Zamira Drakasha, a black woman pirate in his fantasy book Red Seas Under Red Skies, the second novel of the Gentleman Bastard series.

The bolded sections represent quotes from the criticism he received. All the z-snaps are in order.

Your characters are unrealistic stereotpyes of political correctness. Is it really necessary for the sake of popular sensibilities to have in a fantasy what we have in the real world? I read fantasy to get away from politically correct cliches. 

God, yes! If there’s one thing fantasy is just crawling with these days it’s widowed black middle-aged pirate moms.  Real sea pirates could not be controlled by women, they were vicous rapits and murderers and I am sorry to say it was a man’s world. It is unrealistic wish fulfilment for you and your readers to have so many female pirates, especially if you want to be politically correct about it! First, I will pretend that your last sentence makes sense because it will save us all time. Second, now you’re pissing me off.  You know what? Yeah, Zamira Drakasha, middle-aged pirate mother of two, is a wish-fulfillment fantasy. I realized this as she was evolving on the page, and you know what? I fucking embrace it.  Why shouldn’t middle-aged mothers get a wish-fulfillment character, you sad little bigot? Everyone else does. H.L. Mencken once wrote that “Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.” I can’t think of anyone to whom that applies more than my own mom, and the mothers on my friends list, with the incredible demands on time and spirit they face in their efforts to raise their kids, preserve their families, and save their own identity/sanity into the bargain.  Shit yes, Zamira Drakasha, leaping across the gap between burning ships with twin sabers in hand to kick in some fucking heads and sail off into the sunset with her toddlers in her arms and a hold full of plundered goods, is a wish-fulfillment fantasy from hell. I offer her up on a silver platter with a fucking bow on top; I hope she amuses and delights. In my fictional world, opportunities for butt-kicking do not cease merely because one isn’t a beautiful teenager or a muscle-wrapped font of testosterone. In my fictional universe, the main characters are a fat ugly guy and a skinny forgettable guy, with a supporting cast that includes “SBF, 41, nonsmoker, 2 children, buccaneer of no fixed abode, seeks unescorted merchant for light boarding, heavy plunder.” You don’t like it? Don’t buy my books. Get your own fictional universe. Your cabbage-water vision of worldbuilding bores me to tears.  As for the “man’s world” thing, religious sentiments and gender prejudices flow differently in this fictional world. Women are regarded as luckier, better sailors than men. It’s regarded as folly for a ship to put to sea without at least one female officer; there are several all-female naval military traditions dating back centuries, and Drakasha comes from one of them. As for claims to “realism,” your complaint is of a kind with those from bigoted hand-wringers who whine that women can’t possibly fly combat aircraft, command naval vessels, serve in infantry actions, work as firefighters, police officers, etc. despite the fact that they do all of those things– and are, for a certainty, doing them all somewhere at this very minute. Tell me that a fit fortyish woman with 25+ years of experience at sea and several decades of live bladefighting practice under her belt isn’t a threat when she runs across the deck toward you, and I’ll tell you something in return– you’re gonna die of stab wounds. What you’re really complaining about isn’t the fact that my fiction violates some objective “reality,” but rather that it impinges upon your sad, dull little conception of how the world works. I’m not beholden to the confirmation of your prejudices; to be perfectly frank, the prospect of confining the female characters in my story to placid, helpless secondary places in the narrative is so goddamn boring that I would rather not write at all. I’m not writing history, I’m writing speculative fiction. Nobody’s going to force you to buy it. Conversely, you’re cracked if you think you can persuade me not to write about what amuses and excites me in deference to your vision, because your vision fucking sucks. I do not expect to change your mind but i hope that you will at least consider that I and others will not be buying your work because of these issues. I have been reading science fiction and fantasy for years and i know that I speak for a great many people. I hope you might stop to think about the sales you will lose because you want to bring your political corectness and foul language into fantasy. if we wanted those things we could go to the movies. Think about this!  Thank you for your sentiments. I offer you in exchange this engraved invitation to go piss up a hill, suitable for framing.

[rejectedprincesses]

Here follows is a non-comprehensive list of historical female pirates and sailors, women of color first:

Ching Shih (1775-1844): controlled south China seas, had 80,000-man fleet at her disposal, outlawed rape, extorted retirement package from the Chinese government.

Sayyida al-Hurra (1482-1562): Pirate queen of Morocco who bedeviled Portuguese and Spanish fleets after being kicked out of Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella in her youth.

William Brown (1800s, birth name unknown): married Grenadan woman who disguised self as man after fight with her husband and became a sailor.

Jacquotte Delahaye (1600s): half-Haitian woman who, according to some sources, took over an island and led a force of hundreds of pirates.

Hingyuon (1800s): Filipina warrior/probable pirate who led armies in Cebu; relative of Humabon, “first truly wealthy person in Cebu”

Lai Choi San (1900s): Chinese pirate who commanded 12 ships and was a model for the Dragon Lady archetype; thinly-sourced

Mary Lacy (1740-1801): willful bisexual runaway who became first female shipwright; disguised self as man but claimed pension under own name

Alfhild (400s): Viking princess who decided to become a pirate instead of getting married.

Anne Dieu-le-Veut (1661-1710): French pirate who fought along Laurens de Graaf for many years.

Anne Bonny and Mary Read (1700-1782, c.1690-1721): probably the two most famous female pirates of all time

Granuaile aka Grace O’Malley (1530-1603): Irish pirate queen who led rebellions against England, personally negotiated with Elizabeth I, gave birth on a ship.

Cecilia Vasa (1540-1627): Swedish princess who got into endless scandals, became a pirate briefly, was utter black sheep, hated the English.

Mary Patten (1800s): Took control of ship when her husband suffered mutiny, learned medicine, navigated to port, all while pregnant

Christina Anna Skytte (1643-1677): Swedish baroness and pirate, very ruthless 

Jeanne de Clisson (c.1300-1359): burnt down much of the Normandy coast and sank a ton of ships after her husband was killed. 

Charlotte Badger (1778-?): Australian convict/single mom who took over ship, sailed to New Zealand, settled with Maori tribe.  

In conclusion: read a goddamn book, critic person.

[riahchan]

My favorite here is Charlotte Badger with the ? for a death date implying that she is still alive out there…

[icecreamsandwichcomics]

I should actually be asleep right now

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