After the cheating/plagiarism issue, we come to the obvious, that some universities are … well … let the papers say it shall we?
  https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/adelaide-university-is-far-financially-too-reliant-on-chinese-students-centre-for-independent-studies-report-warns/news-story/77ac7a11b63a361cd80efd7686514c60
  https://www.cis.org.au/app/uploads/2019/08/ap5.pdf?

“Adelaide University is one of the most overexposed institutions to the Chinese student market in the English-speaking world, putting it at great financial risk from any downturn, a report warns. A Centre for Independent Studies report lists Adelaide among seven “elite” Australian universities with “extraordinary levels of exposure” to the Chinese “cash cow”. It says Chinese nationals account for 53.8 per cent of Adelaide’s international students and 15.8 per cent of all its enrolments. Income from Chinese students was 13 per cent of Adelaide’s total revenue in 2017 – $120 million out of $929 million. All international students were worth $204 million to the uni that year. From 2001-17, Adelaide grew its overseas student numbers by 322 per cent, compared to 49 per cent for domestic students. Its foreign student numbers are up 27 per cent this year alone, to more than 10,000. The report says the biggest financial risk factors are a Chinese recession, China introducing tighter currency controls on what its citizens can spend on foreign education, or adverse movements in exchange rates. It says small percentage declines in Chinese enrolments could cause “significant financial hardship” to universities, while large declines would be “catastrophic”. The bad news for taxpayers is that, like banks, universities are “too big to fail” and would need government bailouts, according to the report. Adelaide vice-chancellor Peter Rathjen has previously blamed government funding woes for universities being “addicted” to foreign student revenue. But the report rejects that argument, noting the biggest proportional rises in foreign student were in periods of funding increases. Adelaide and UniSA bosses this week spoke of the need to “diversify” foreign student intake to reduce risk, but the report says that is “doomed to fail” because India is too poor and other markets too small. The report says unis “routinely compromise” entry standards for foreign students via foundation courses, but Adelaide said its standards were the same regardless of the pathway. The uni said foreign students’ contribution to SA was more than economic.’’

     This story deals with an extreme situation, but it shows what a junk food diet can do to even young people:
  https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/teen-went-partially-blind-after-eating-only-pringles-fries-ham-and-sausage-case-study-1.4574787

“A teenager in the United Kingdom described as a “fussy eater” partially lost his vision due to a strict diet of Pringles, French fries, white bread, processed ham and sausage. A case study published Monday in Annals of Internal Medicine, shows the boy suffered from nutritional optic neuropathy, a dysfunction of the optic nerve cause by a diet low in nutrients required for nerve fibres in the eye to function. The condition can lead to permanent vision loss if left untreated. Researchers at the Bristol Eye Hospital in the U.K. said the boy first visited his family doctor as a 14-year-old with a normal body mass index, but complained of tiredness. His doctor gave him some vitamin B12 injections to treat low levels of the vitamin and suggested some dietary changes.”

     Bushfires are normal events in this season in tropical and sub-tropical latitudes of the southern hemisphere – in Australia, Africa and South America. Even Captain Cook noted many fires in Eastern Australia in 1770, long before the era of “global warming” hysteria. What is unusual is the number and ferocity of recent Australian fires. Destructive bushfires need three things – a big load of dry fuel, hot dry winds and a point of ignition. A big load of dry fuel, close to towns and buildings, in this season, is a sign of gross mis-management (seen most commonly in public lands). That fuel should have been raked, dozed or burnt in safer weather conditions. Hot dry winds are not unusual in this season in these latitudes – no use whinging. But how do 100+ bushfires start suddenly? Machinery occasionally starts fires but not 120 fires in a short time. There have been no lightning storms so who are the arsonists or idiots starting these fires?

     Greens know that Australia could not electrify our cities, farms, mines, refineries and factories, nor power our road, rail, air and sea transport with just solar, wind, hydro and batteries. Yet green activists, their adoring media, their tax-funded academics, their subsidised green “industries” and their vote-seeking politicians keep babbling about “zero emissions”. Greens know that Australia could not feed itself without farmers, graziers and truckies using electric and diesel-powered pumps, tractors, harvesters and trucks to produce food and deliver it to the cities every day. Yet they tax and vilify diesel and make electricity more expensive and less reliable. And they lock up productive grasslands and open forests thus producing pest-ridden “parks” and “protected” vegetation infested with feral animals and invaded by inedible and fire-prone eucalypt weeds. Greens know that we need more water storage just for today’s population. Yet they continue to sterilise potential dam sites, delay new dams and waste conserved water on “environmental flows”. At the same time they boost water consumption with more tourists, games, immigrants and “refugees”. Greens know they need a crisis in power, food and water to achieve their goal of centralised UN control of all aspects of our lives. Thanks to the many fools and quislings in Federal, State and Local governments, and in tax-funded academia, education and bureaucracy, this sinister hidden agenda process is well advanced. And all of this will provide ZERO climate benefits.

To The Australian        Nick Cater is correct to describe Brexit as "the pressing political issue of the day" for Britain ("Deserters help a resolute Boris", 11/9). This is because the result of the current struggle will determine whether for the foreseeable future free speech is returned to the British (by their escape from the jurisdiction of the Kafkaesque European Court of Human Rights) and whether their nation regains full sovereignty. What lover of freedom wants his or her people to be ruled by a supra-national, bureaucratic tyranny? In this context Janet Albrechtsen is right ("The prime minister cannot be in two minds about 18C") to urge our own government to be more proactive on defending intellectual freedom and allowing the expression of "uncomfortable views" so long as physical harm is not being clearly threatened.
  Nigel Jackson, Belgrave, Vic

To The Age        Nick Miller is wrong to state that the de facto UK election campaign now beginning "will centre on whether risking a no-deal Brexit" is or is not desirable ("A parting scuffle as fight for power looms", 11/9). No, it will in fact centre on whether or not the UK will leave the EU or remain a member. The short-term frustration of Boris Johnson's plans to give effect to the decision of the people in the 2016 referendum will soon be a thing of the past. Remainers have won a battle and lost the war. This is because too many Britons now realise that their traditional freedoms will be permanently lost if they do not get out of the trap. Thus, a significant win for the Leave cause is the likely result of the next election, and then the new House of Commons will facilitate and not obstruct the nation's departure.
  Nigel Jackson, Belgrave

     I watch every day for the crisis which will take down the universities and put them out of their misery. Here is a trend of growing failure in the US:
  https://www.thecollegefix.com/expert-predicts-25-percent-of-colleges-will-fail-over-next-two-decades/

“‘It’s going to be brutal across American higher education’ As the higher education bubble bursts, will it pop dramatically like a pricked balloon or will it fizzle out like an air mattress with a small hole? It looks like the answer has become clear — the higher ed bubble is popping, slowly but surely. Over the weekend, CBS This Morning featured a segment titled “Why more houses of higher education are shutting down.” It focused on how nearly a half-dozen colleges in the New England area have closed over the last year or so: Green Mountain College, College of St. Joseph, Southern Vermont College, Atlantic Union College and Newbury College. An education expert told CBS it’s just the tip of the iceberg. “I think 25 percent of schools will fail in the next two decades,” said Michael Horn, an expert on education trends. “They’re going to close, they’re going to merge, some will declare some form of bankruptcy to reinvent themselves. It’s going to be brutal across American higher education.” Horn cited several factors, including the fact that more families are having fewer kids, which means fewer students to educate. But he also talked about the rise of faster, cheaper and more flexible and affordable programs. Advancements in technology are certainly playing a role in how higher education is being reshaped. In February 2019 the Chronicle of Higher Education in its special report headlined “The Rise of the Mega-University” detailed how online degrees are becoming popular, especially with older and non-traditional students. “At a time when many colleges are struggling with shrinking enrollment and tighter budgets, Southern New Hampshire is thriving on a grand scale, and it’s not alone. Liberty, Grand Canyon, and Western Governors Universities, along with a few other nonprofit institutions, have built huge online enrollments and national brands in recent years by subverting many of traditional higher education’s hallmarks. Western Governors has 88,585 undergraduates, according to U.S. Education Department data, more than the top 14 universities in the annual U.S. News & World Report rankings combined,” the Chronicle reported.”

     We are no fans of the Beatles here, that Left-wing group from the 1960s that helped get many of these cultural agendas going. But it is ironic that one of Paul McCartney’s grandsons got robbed in knife-saturated minority White London:
  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7412281/Paul-McCartney-reveals-grandson-robbed-knifepoint-London-phone-taken.html

“Sir Paul McCartney has revealed one of his grandsons was mugged at knifepoint in London and said it is 'scary' how much knife crime there is at the moment. The former Beatle, 77, did not identify which grandson had their phone stolen in the attack but advised not to react if a knife is pulled on you. The grandfather of eight aged between seven and 20 said the episode reminded him of when he was attacked while growing up in Liverpool. 'I said: "No, no, no, no! The guy had a knife and you don't know, the guy might be able to use that knife". So it is scary these days.' It comes amid a crime wave in London which has seen 92 murders this year as politicians and police struggle to deal with knife crime in what has been labelled 'Wild West' Britain. The legendary singer-songwriter then recalled an incident from his youth when four men crowded around him and stole his watch.”

     This, I suppose, is one of the more amusing things to come from this week’s coverage of the madness of the university: academics talking to plants, and speculating about plant communication:
  https://www.thecollegefix.com/university-researcher-claims-she-can-communicate-with-plants/
  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/26/style/can-plants-talk.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur

“A senior research fellow at Australia’s University of Sydney believes plants are intelligent and can communicate. Monica Gagliano’s personal anecdotes about our CO2-breathing fellow terrestrials include her “being rocked like a baby by the spirit of a fern” and getting advice from an oak tree … about a grant application. According to The New York Times, “plants have directly shaped [Gagliano’s] experiments and career path.” Some of her published studies conclude that “plants are, to some extent, intelligent” — they can “hear” and even interact. Gagliano realizes her claims may come off as, well, “delusional” and could harm her career. Nevertheless, she says “I want people to realize that the world is full of magic, but not as something only some people can do, or something that is outside of this world. No, it’s all here.” A group of biologists who published a recent study titled “Plants Neither Possess nor Require Consciousness” refers to Gagliano’s views as “a new wave of Romantic biology.” Scientist Heidi Appel said Gagliano “commingl[es] science and spiritual experiences.”

    This is too difficult to summarise, being a massive volume of information, but with the hard times ahead, every bit of information about off grid medicine will help. There is not much on prepper sites dealing with the issue of parasites, so this could be of interest to readers, given that the modern world is infested with them. Enjoy, if that is the word.
  https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/17/11/12771/htm

     Feel the richness. Live the diversity. Swim in the beauty of the multicult. Oh, did you know that Christmas is cancelled, in some district, maybe yours soon?
  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7433753/PC-gone-mad-Fury-plans-make-Perth-Christmassy-appeal-non-Christians.html?ico=pushly-notifcation-small

“A proposal to water down Christmas festivities has been met with strong backlash. The City of Perth's Cultural Development Plan promises to deliver a Christmas season that is 'representative and inclusive of city's multicultural community'. Residents have taken to social media to express their outrage over the idea, with many claiming the council is going too far. 'This is just madness in my opinion. I'd love a Christmas as Christmassy as it can get,' one man wrote. 'PC gone mad,' wrote another. 'Absolutely what a great idea the world needs less joy throughout the year we have too much good news, community spirit love and happiness,' another wrote. However, one man thought it was a good idea. 'It'll still be festive guys, just more broad and inclusive,' the man wrote. Chief Commissioner Andrew Hammond said the council's current holiday-season celebrations did not acknowledge or create a sense of belonging for non-Christians. 'We're not about to change Christmas celebrations. We're just taking a common sense approach that about 50 per cent of people are Christians and about 50 per cent are not,' he told 9 news. 'While Christianity is an important part of Perth's cultural identity (46 per cent of Greater Perth demographic), the City of Perth's current holiday-season celebrations, which include a nativity scene at Council House, do not fully acknowledge or create a sense of belonging for the remaining 54 per cent, including 32 per cent who have no religion at all,' the plan states. The council has consulted a number of community groups about its plan, it said.”

To The Age        Alex Njoo has used regrettably insulting language in describing Australia as "a white blot in a brown sea" (13/9). It is certainly true that our nation was founded, essentially, by whites, to whom we should be permanently grateful; but it has, especially since World War Two, welcomed into its citizenry many people who are not whites. Thus it is not true that "this fundamentally British colony has not divorced itself from its origins." On the contrary, it is moving too quickly and thoughtlessly away from them, misguided by an increasingly anti-traditional elite backed by its socialist apparatchiks. At grave risk are liberty before the law, free speech, religious freedom and the integrity of government - all benefits that our British heritage bequeathed to us.
  Nigel Jackson, Belgrave

     Jack Donovan has done important work in defending the traditional concept of masculinity, as well as publishing many thoughtful essays. His recent essay, and he does not publish all that much nowadays is, “The Bill of Rights is What Matters Now.” This is a superficial piece.
  https://affirmativeright.blogspot.com/2019/09/the-bill-of-rights-is-what-matters-now.html

“I’m skeptical of the view that we’re living in some kind of “end time” or cyclical inversion of all righteous values. People have always carried signs saying “the end is near.” Sometimes it is, and sometimes it isn’t. Our golden perception of the past is colored by its most successful myth-makers. I’ve heard that my secret “master plan” is Evolian but the truth is that I’m tired of hearing about the Kali Yuga from fans of that time-traveling love child of Jordan Peterson and Dr. Strange. Maybe it’s the end of some grand historic cycle. Maybe it isn’t. Maybe it gets better. Maybe it gets much, much worse. …”

     Just to bring you up to date on the wild and woolly world of university litigation, truly exhilarating stuff, like mountain climbing:
  https://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/james-cook-university-ordered-to-pay-peter-ridd-12m-for-unlawful-dismissal/news-story/a9a00f937b78d90520df00bccf78f94d?utm_source=The%20Australian&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=editorial&utm_content=TodaySHeadlines

“James Cook University has been ordered to pay reef scientist Peter Ridd $1.2 million for unlawfully dismissing him after he publicly criticised the institution’s climate change science. Federal Circuit Court Justice Salvatore Vasta on Friday handed down the penalty following hearings earlier this year. He ordered the Townsville university to pay Dr Ridd $1,094,214.47 as compensation for past and future economic loss because of the unlawful sacking, as well as general compensation for more than “three years of unfair treatment”. JCU will have to pay a further $125,000 as a way of penalty. The judge lambasted the university, saying it had “failed to respect (Dr Ridd’s) rights to intellectual freedom”. The physics professor, who specialised in marine environments and worked at JCU for 30 years, on Friday lamented the ugly affair, saying it was “a fight that should never have started in the first place”. “I have worked for 35 years on the Great Barrier Reef, and my genuinely held belief is that there are systemic quality assurance problems at Great Barrier Reef science institutions,” he said. “I had a right, a duty, to say this. “JCU have still not accepted this fundamental right despite the importance of the debate to the north Queensland region.”

To The Australian        Henry Ergas has provided a superb defence of the traditional roles of art galleries and museums ("Trying to redefine museums - it's a disease of our times", 13/9). Clearly our cultural inheritance is endangered by political fanaticism and meanness of spirit. At back of this rottenness, however, is something Ergas does not mention: the gathering failure of the Christian sacred tradition which formed the basis of Western European civilisation. Great voices have over the centuries pointed to the need for reform and release from erroneous theological straitjackets; but they have not been adequately heeded. We need a reinterpretation of our sacred scriptures that can command the assent of the best minds. That will then translate into ethical action that will curtail the follies of politicising zealots.
  Nigel Jackson, Belgrave, Vic

     In my articles here, I have been encouraging people to keep fit by walking, whatever age, as long as one can still move. Even going out in a wheel chair is something, working on those last remaining upper body muscles. Yes, we of Dad’s Army need to keep in shape for the final battle of Western civilisation, and one would not want to miss it through the odd heart attack, would one? Or out of control osteoarthritis:
  https://www.naturalnews.com/2019-09-09-a-10-minute-walk-a-day-keeps-osteoarthritis-away.html

“Ironically, a recent study suggests that if you want to manage the symptoms of osteoarthritis, you should consider moving around more. According to the study, which appeared in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, brisk walking for just one hour a week can help people with osteoarthritis maintain their independence and postpone disability.

     This article reports on an IBM survey, based on job displacement in the US economy, that optimistically sees the need for at least 120 million workers needing to be reskilled due to the Great AI Replacement:
  https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-09-07/120-million-workers-need-be-reskilled-due-ai-says-ibm-study

“Over the next three years, 120 million workers in the world's 12 biggest economies may need to be retrained as a result of widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) and automation in the workplace, according to a new IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV) study. Only 41% of CEOs surveyed have the resources in place to close the skills gap brought on by new emerging technologies. That means 59% of the CEOs surveyed have no skills development strategies in place for their employees in the early 2020s. "Organizations are facing mounting concerns over the widening skills gap and tightened labor markets with the potential to impact their futures as well as worldwide economies," said Amy Wright, Managing Partner, IBM Talent & Transformation, IBM. "Yet while executives recognize the severity of the problem, half of those surveyed admit that they do not have any skills development strategies in place to address their largest gaps. And the tactics the study found were most likely to close the skills gap the fastest are the tactics companies are using the least. New strategies are emerging to help companies reskill their people and build the culture of continuous learning required to succeed in the era of AI." The IBV study, "The Enterprise Guide to Closing the Skills Gap," includes input from 5,670 CEOs located in 48 countries, points to challenges that companies will face in the early 2020s with managing their workforce through the technological shift. BM said, the "era of AI" will be a transformative period for the global economy as the skill gap through employee training will take time to close. The company's study indicates new skill requirements for jobs will be required due to the fast pace of AI and automation adoption, while other skills become out-of-date. The study lays out a guide for businesses to better foster talent and close the skills gap in a timely fashion.”

     As the New York Times has recently discussed, the West is facing a profound spiritual crisis where high suicides and a drug epidemic, linked with crime and social breakdown, are indicators of vast social anomie and alienation. This is especially impacting upon men who have had their traditional roles undermined. And it goes so deep that even sexual practices have become reduced to a minimum, or are non-existent for some men, the incels, involuntary celibates. The Dissent Right sites like to slam these young men, but sober consideration would reveal that many Middle Eastern terrorists also fall into this category, and having nothing left to lose, or no hope of gain, are willing to embrace death, something the comfortable internet writers would shiver at the thought of, from the safety of their mom’s basements.
  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/07/opinion/sunday/the-age-of-american-despair.html

     Once, men who were not alphas, but ordinary blokes, could hope to get some reasonable woman, but now, empowered females are fully pursuing hypergamy, seeking higher level mates, meaning that a large segment of the male population will miss out on having a partner. This is discussed in a book by F. Roger Devlin, Sexual Utopia in Power, (2015), and some recent comments have been made at Affirmative Right.com:
  https://affirmativeright.blogspot.com/2019/09/enforced-inceldom.html#more

     Here is an interesting letter by someone fleeing Sweden, a Nordic refugee, perhaps the first of millions, as Sweden becomes the walking dead:
  https://www.amren.com/news/2019/09/the-consequences-of-cultural-enrichment-in-sweden/
  https://gatesofvienna.net/2019/08/the-consequences-of-cultural-enrichment-in-sweden/

“Tania Groth has translated two Swedish items that are suitable as emblematic bookends of life in Modern Multicultural Sweden. First, this somber letter from a Swedish woman who has decided, along with her husband, to relocate to Budapest. From Katerina Magasin: “We have been discussing leaving Sweden for five years and have now bought an apartment in Budapest”

     See, nature itself embodies feminist principles. Just ask the dragonflies:
  https://thewildchild.co.za/female-dragonflies-fake-their-death-to-avoid-males/?fbclid=IwAR0h9cP3KZHB-ua8PCzFyhgOZA-3kd8FLYK09odYdbXN33OjB51LWXYEyCI 
  https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2017/05/death-dragonflies-switzerland-mating-sex/

“Everyone has those nights when their significant other comes to bed and — for one reason or another — they decide to feign sleep to avoid talking or …doing other stuff. Well, female dragonflies take this kind of sneaky rejection to the next level — faking their own deaths to avoid having interact with aggressive males. Scientists recently captured this phenomenon on video for the first time while observing moorland hawker dragonflies in the Swiss Alps. In the newly released footage, the female is seen freezing mid-air and plummeting to the ground, where she lies motionless until the male leaves. (When researchers approached the females, they immediately flew away — showing they remain alert throughout the fake death.) This behavior, which has been previously observed in five other species, is called ‘death feigning’. It’s believed to have developed as a survival tactic, since female dragonflies often risk injury or death when coerced into mating. “In a lot of dragonflies, males try to seize the female with or without consent,” Rassim Khelifa, a biologist who recently published a study on the phenomenon, told National Geographic. “The fittest — that is the fastest, most powerful male — is usually the one who mates.” Male dragonflies often pounce on their female victims as they bask in the sun by the water. After a female has laid eggs once, Khelifa found, she’s pretty much met her quota for male interaction. And that’s when she starts playing dead. It’s apparently an effective escape method, since more than 60% of the females who employed it successfully deceived their male pursuers — and every female who didn’t was intercepted. Other methods used by female dragonflies to avoid mating include laying their eggs in dense vegetation and avoiding areas heavily populated by males.”