1. Had Kate Miller-Heidke's Caught in the Crowd stuck in my brain.
2. Found a page about the location of Tallygarunga. I might have looked at it before and then forgotten about it. I'm not sure.
It's north-east of Melbourne. I'm having a bit of deja vu, so maybe I already did learn that.
The closest town is Narragyambie. Is that a real town?
Okay. No, that's the made up town. I probably saw the name on the forums.
Wow. I have to say that the creator of this Tallygarunga...Mousie. She's extremely creative, and detailed.
She has a post with a map of Victoria. She has real cities and pretend cities. Then she has the broom distance and flight time for various trips.
It takes 2 hours and 15 minutes to get from Tallygarunga to Melbourne.
3. Looked at Mousie's list of magical schools in Australia. Obviously Aussie kids have much more education choice than British wizards. There are 20 secondary schools; six in Victoria alone.
There's nothing in Sydney.
What's up with that?
Well, it's okay. Sydney now has my puppet shop wizarding village.
Anyway, doesn't the UK have only Hogwarts? Or maybe not. Maybe there are other creative people like Mousie, and they've created more British schools.
4. Received an email from someone who found my blog. She talked about the asylum seeker situation, giving me a less left viewpoint. This person isn't way on the right. She seems to be somewhere in the centre.
I can't say she's converted me away from the left. But she's given me a lot to think about, and she makes me realize I have a lot to learn.
You know...no matter how you look at it; it's a shitty situation.
I'm not completely oblivious to the centre and/or right viewpoint. I know it's hard for a country to absorb many new people. I know asylum seekers are a strain on society. I know the boat smuggling business is a nasty one. But then I also see people struggling to find a place in the world. They need a country. Meanwhile people shout out that Australia is too crowded, and a rich man pleads for Australians to make more new babies.
5. Started to watch a video that the email-person sent to me about the asylum seekers. It's about the boating accident near Christmas Island. It's so complicated. How do you get people to stop doing dangerous things, especially when the people might feel there's no alternatives.
Is there an alternative? Why do people come on dangerous boats? Why don't they come over on safe boats? Why don't they come over on airplanes? Is it that they can't afford the transportation fee?
I've heard the term queue jumpers before, and the writer of the email alludes to this. Is there a safer and more legal way of coming over as a refugee? Why aren't the boat folks taking this route instead of the dangerous one?
If Australia is okay with refugees, but just doesn't want people sneaking over in dangerous boats, why don't they occasionally send out their own boats and planes to pick people up. They can call it the refugee express. All aboard if you want to flee your country!
6. Decided to read the government immigration page about refugees. There are two categories; Offshore Resettlement and Onshore Protection. I'm not sure what each one means.
I'm not sure I understand the offshore thing. It's for people who face discrimination in their home country. Yet to apply for this thing they have to be living outside of their home country. So where the hell are they supposed to go? Limbo-Land?
It says here, Most humanitarian visas are granted to applicants who are outside their home country. If a person is living in their home country, it is unlikely that they will meet the criteria to be granted a refugee or humanitarian visa.
So if you're in the country that's causing your life to be shit, Australia probably can't help you. Well, if Jack, Tim, and I were in a country that treated us horribly, and I felt our lives were in danger; you know what I would do? Well, if I was desperate enough, I might hop on an illegal boat to come over to Australia. What the hell else are we going to do?
7. Saw that there's a Protection Visa. This is for refugees who are already in Australia. Would that include those people who came over in a dangerous boat?
What I'm getting so far is that there's a category for people who have escaped their country but are not in Australia yet. And there's a category for people who are already in Australia? Why don't they have something for people still stuck in the country being mean to them?
We talk about these dangerous boats. But they're probably less expensive than going on a nice big safe boat. If someone is having a rough time in their home country, isn't it feasible to imagine they might not have a lot of financial resources?
There's obviously an illegal and very dangerous people smuggling business in existence. Why not have a legal and safe one competing with it? Maybe there is one, and I just haven't heard of it yet?
8. Started to read a blog post by David Koch. He looks familiar. I think he's on TV. Okay. Yeah. Lord Wiki says he's on Sunrise.
Anyway.....He writes about the refugees.
I think the keyword here is xenophobia. Koch says, People are afraid of the unknown, of anything different, and so instantly shout these xenophobic and intolerant rants. I agree. I know there are some who want to keep Australia scarcely populated. For them it's an environmental issue. But I think for many people, it's not about quantity of population; it's about quality. And quality to them equals light skinned people and/or people who speak fluent English. Certain religions are also more tolerated than others.
Would people have as much a problem with a boat full of Christian Canadians?
9. Liked Koch's quote here. The reality is that refugees contribute a hell of a lot to our country, both economically and culturally. Not only is accepting them the compassionate thing to do, and the right thing to do. It’s the Australian thing to do. We have a great country built on multiculturalism. Why is everyone scared of a few hundred desperate people running for their lives?
Koch lists some well known Australians who came to the country as refugees. Yes, sometimes immigrants can be a strain on society. Native Americans and Aboriginal Australians can likely attest to that. But often the newbies contribute wonderful things as well.
10. Embarrassed. Very embarrassed! Because I learned through an email that Bourke was a governor of New South Wales; not the Burke from Burke and Willis. I made that mistake the other day.
I'm trying to decide if I should fix it. I guess I'll just put an edited to add type thing on that post.
The correction was in the same email as the asylum seeker thing, but I had skimmed over it last night. I kind of skipped ahead to the asylum seeker thing. Then this morning I wanted to respond to the email, so I read the whole thing more carefully.
Anyway, I just went to correct the mistake.
No, it's not horrible to make a mistake. I know it happens. It's just that I was so proud of myself for connecting Bourke with Bourke and Willis. I think I felt a bit smug about it.
11. Listened to Blow Up The Pokies by the Whitlams. I got the link to the video in an email.
12. Started watching another I Expect Better videos. This one is of a couple who went to Spain to get married. The part at 1:31 made me laugh. The part at 2:12 gave me a little tear. One of the men is showing off their Spain wedding album. He shows a picture of his husband's eighty-four year old mother. He says she's old and Catholic, yet she's learned to accept him as her son-in-law. If an elderly Catholic can accept gay marriage, why not an atheist?
13. Watched the new Follow the Yellow Brick Road video on their Facebook Page. This one is the boat going from New Castle to Coffs Harbour. They saw some whales. It's pretty cool. Whales sometimes scare me a bit, but I enjoyed seeing them in the video.
14. Laughed at a dark joke on Facebook. I feel kind of guilty, because it's mean (both to animals and humans). It was a comment on a story about crocodile meat being exported to China. Leonie said, How about sending some live crocs to Indonesia?
Marina says (about eating crocodiles) that's so sick. chinese people should stop eating 'exotic' meats. bah! So, it's okay to eat non-exotic animals? What's the difference?
Jack and Tim have eaten crocodile before. They've also had alligator, kangaroo, wild boar, and other stuff. I would have joined them if I wasn't a vegetarian.
I did eat mealworms with them once. I totally support eating bugs; but I can't say I enjoyed the experience.
15. Read article that says Julia Gillard is slightly backing down from her send-children-to-Malaysia plan. She's getting pressure from the UN.
Then there's a refugee advocate who was strongly against John Howard's way of handling the situation. But I guess he now sees them as being okay compared to Gillard's. He wants to go back to Howard's methods. That involves Nauru. I don't know much about that.
Here's an article. I guess Nauru used to play the part in the situation that Malaysia is playing now. Refugees were sent there in what's called offshore detention. They stopped all that, and now they're starting it again.
16. Read article that says 25% of Tasmanian sheep are infected with a fatal disease called Ovine Johne's disease. It seems to be the type of disease that is less prevalent during drought times, since it's spread through water. Now that there's been a lot of rain, there's a bit of an epidemic. Hopefully, the farmers and other folks can keep it contained. Well, it's already a bit of a mess, but hopefully it won't get even worse.
17. Found an article about Asylum Seekers. It's another fact vs. myth type thing. It might be an editorial. I'm not quite sure yet.
Okay. It's an editorial. Jessica Irvine talks about how people panic over population growth and blame it on the asylum seekers. She points out that the number of asylum seekers is small compared to the number of migrants in general. She says, According to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, 171,320 people arrived as part of the permanent migration intake in 2008-09. That's a lot of people. But we seem to fret less about them.
18. Had a deep thought. I was thinking maybe the reason people fear asylum seekers is that they come from a troubled place. Maybe there's that feeling they're part of the trouble, and they'll bring trouble to our country. It's kind of like the Jews during the Holocaust. I think often they were rejected as migrants because of anti-semitism.But sometimes they were rejected because of anti-German feelings. Even though the Jews were victims of Germany, other countries still saw them as Germans.
I know. This is not a brilliant thought. I'm sure smarter people have thought of it way before me. And at some level, I'm sure I already knew it. But I think this is the first time it's gelled a bit in my head.
Anyway.....
Even if someone is trying to escape from Iraq, they might still have a love for their country. They might still cling to their Iraqi life, and they might be resistant to the Australian life. It was probably the same with the Jews coming to Australia. Despite hatred and violence spewed at them, I think some of them still saw themselves as German. It was probably hard to adjust to a new language and culture.
2. Found a page about the location of Tallygarunga. I might have looked at it before and then forgotten about it. I'm not sure.
It's north-east of Melbourne. I'm having a bit of deja vu, so maybe I already did learn that.
The closest town is Narragyambie. Is that a real town?
Okay. No, that's the made up town. I probably saw the name on the forums.
Wow. I have to say that the creator of this Tallygarunga...Mousie. She's extremely creative, and detailed.
She has a post with a map of Victoria. She has real cities and pretend cities. Then she has the broom distance and flight time for various trips.
It takes 2 hours and 15 minutes to get from Tallygarunga to Melbourne.
3. Looked at Mousie's list of magical schools in Australia. Obviously Aussie kids have much more education choice than British wizards. There are 20 secondary schools; six in Victoria alone.
There's nothing in Sydney.
What's up with that?
Well, it's okay. Sydney now has my puppet shop wizarding village.
Anyway, doesn't the UK have only Hogwarts? Or maybe not. Maybe there are other creative people like Mousie, and they've created more British schools.
4. Received an email from someone who found my blog. She talked about the asylum seeker situation, giving me a less left viewpoint. This person isn't way on the right. She seems to be somewhere in the centre.
I can't say she's converted me away from the left. But she's given me a lot to think about, and she makes me realize I have a lot to learn.
You know...no matter how you look at it; it's a shitty situation.
I'm not completely oblivious to the centre and/or right viewpoint. I know it's hard for a country to absorb many new people. I know asylum seekers are a strain on society. I know the boat smuggling business is a nasty one. But then I also see people struggling to find a place in the world. They need a country. Meanwhile people shout out that Australia is too crowded, and a rich man pleads for Australians to make more new babies.
5. Started to watch a video that the email-person sent to me about the asylum seekers. It's about the boating accident near Christmas Island. It's so complicated. How do you get people to stop doing dangerous things, especially when the people might feel there's no alternatives.
Is there an alternative? Why do people come on dangerous boats? Why don't they come over on safe boats? Why don't they come over on airplanes? Is it that they can't afford the transportation fee?
I've heard the term queue jumpers before, and the writer of the email alludes to this. Is there a safer and more legal way of coming over as a refugee? Why aren't the boat folks taking this route instead of the dangerous one?
If Australia is okay with refugees, but just doesn't want people sneaking over in dangerous boats, why don't they occasionally send out their own boats and planes to pick people up. They can call it the refugee express. All aboard if you want to flee your country!
6. Decided to read the government immigration page about refugees. There are two categories; Offshore Resettlement and Onshore Protection. I'm not sure what each one means.
I'm not sure I understand the offshore thing. It's for people who face discrimination in their home country. Yet to apply for this thing they have to be living outside of their home country. So where the hell are they supposed to go? Limbo-Land?
It says here, Most humanitarian visas are granted to applicants who are outside their home country. If a person is living in their home country, it is unlikely that they will meet the criteria to be granted a refugee or humanitarian visa.
So if you're in the country that's causing your life to be shit, Australia probably can't help you. Well, if Jack, Tim, and I were in a country that treated us horribly, and I felt our lives were in danger; you know what I would do? Well, if I was desperate enough, I might hop on an illegal boat to come over to Australia. What the hell else are we going to do?
7. Saw that there's a Protection Visa. This is for refugees who are already in Australia. Would that include those people who came over in a dangerous boat?
What I'm getting so far is that there's a category for people who have escaped their country but are not in Australia yet. And there's a category for people who are already in Australia? Why don't they have something for people still stuck in the country being mean to them?
We talk about these dangerous boats. But they're probably less expensive than going on a nice big safe boat. If someone is having a rough time in their home country, isn't it feasible to imagine they might not have a lot of financial resources?
There's obviously an illegal and very dangerous people smuggling business in existence. Why not have a legal and safe one competing with it? Maybe there is one, and I just haven't heard of it yet?
8. Started to read a blog post by David Koch. He looks familiar. I think he's on TV. Okay. Yeah. Lord Wiki says he's on Sunrise.
Anyway.....He writes about the refugees.
I think the keyword here is xenophobia. Koch says, People are afraid of the unknown, of anything different, and so instantly shout these xenophobic and intolerant rants. I agree. I know there are some who want to keep Australia scarcely populated. For them it's an environmental issue. But I think for many people, it's not about quantity of population; it's about quality. And quality to them equals light skinned people and/or people who speak fluent English. Certain religions are also more tolerated than others.
Would people have as much a problem with a boat full of Christian Canadians?
9. Liked Koch's quote here. The reality is that refugees contribute a hell of a lot to our country, both economically and culturally. Not only is accepting them the compassionate thing to do, and the right thing to do. It’s the Australian thing to do. We have a great country built on multiculturalism. Why is everyone scared of a few hundred desperate people running for their lives?
Koch lists some well known Australians who came to the country as refugees. Yes, sometimes immigrants can be a strain on society. Native Americans and Aboriginal Australians can likely attest to that. But often the newbies contribute wonderful things as well.
10. Embarrassed. Very embarrassed! Because I learned through an email that Bourke was a governor of New South Wales; not the Burke from Burke and Willis. I made that mistake the other day.
I'm trying to decide if I should fix it. I guess I'll just put an edited to add type thing on that post.
The correction was in the same email as the asylum seeker thing, but I had skimmed over it last night. I kind of skipped ahead to the asylum seeker thing. Then this morning I wanted to respond to the email, so I read the whole thing more carefully.
Anyway, I just went to correct the mistake.
No, it's not horrible to make a mistake. I know it happens. It's just that I was so proud of myself for connecting Bourke with Bourke and Willis. I think I felt a bit smug about it.
11. Listened to Blow Up The Pokies by the Whitlams. I got the link to the video in an email.
12. Started watching another I Expect Better videos. This one is of a couple who went to Spain to get married. The part at 1:31 made me laugh. The part at 2:12 gave me a little tear. One of the men is showing off their Spain wedding album. He shows a picture of his husband's eighty-four year old mother. He says she's old and Catholic, yet she's learned to accept him as her son-in-law. If an elderly Catholic can accept gay marriage, why not an atheist?
13. Watched the new Follow the Yellow Brick Road video on their Facebook Page. This one is the boat going from New Castle to Coffs Harbour. They saw some whales. It's pretty cool. Whales sometimes scare me a bit, but I enjoyed seeing them in the video.
14. Laughed at a dark joke on Facebook. I feel kind of guilty, because it's mean (both to animals and humans). It was a comment on a story about crocodile meat being exported to China. Leonie said, How about sending some live crocs to Indonesia?
Marina says (about eating crocodiles) that's so sick. chinese people should stop eating 'exotic' meats. bah! So, it's okay to eat non-exotic animals? What's the difference?
Jack and Tim have eaten crocodile before. They've also had alligator, kangaroo, wild boar, and other stuff. I would have joined them if I wasn't a vegetarian.
I did eat mealworms with them once. I totally support eating bugs; but I can't say I enjoyed the experience.
15. Read article that says Julia Gillard is slightly backing down from her send-children-to-Malaysia plan. She's getting pressure from the UN.
Then there's a refugee advocate who was strongly against John Howard's way of handling the situation. But I guess he now sees them as being okay compared to Gillard's. He wants to go back to Howard's methods. That involves Nauru. I don't know much about that.
Here's an article. I guess Nauru used to play the part in the situation that Malaysia is playing now. Refugees were sent there in what's called offshore detention. They stopped all that, and now they're starting it again.
16. Read article that says 25% of Tasmanian sheep are infected with a fatal disease called Ovine Johne's disease. It seems to be the type of disease that is less prevalent during drought times, since it's spread through water. Now that there's been a lot of rain, there's a bit of an epidemic. Hopefully, the farmers and other folks can keep it contained. Well, it's already a bit of a mess, but hopefully it won't get even worse.
17. Found an article about Asylum Seekers. It's another fact vs. myth type thing. It might be an editorial. I'm not quite sure yet.
Okay. It's an editorial. Jessica Irvine talks about how people panic over population growth and blame it on the asylum seekers. She points out that the number of asylum seekers is small compared to the number of migrants in general. She says, According to the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, 171,320 people arrived as part of the permanent migration intake in 2008-09. That's a lot of people. But we seem to fret less about them.
18. Had a deep thought. I was thinking maybe the reason people fear asylum seekers is that they come from a troubled place. Maybe there's that feeling they're part of the trouble, and they'll bring trouble to our country. It's kind of like the Jews during the Holocaust. I think often they were rejected as migrants because of anti-semitism.But sometimes they were rejected because of anti-German feelings. Even though the Jews were victims of Germany, other countries still saw them as Germans.
I know. This is not a brilliant thought. I'm sure smarter people have thought of it way before me. And at some level, I'm sure I already knew it. But I think this is the first time it's gelled a bit in my head.
Anyway.....
Even if someone is trying to escape from Iraq, they might still have a love for their country. They might still cling to their Iraqi life, and they might be resistant to the Australian life. It was probably the same with the Jews coming to Australia. Despite hatred and violence spewed at them, I think some of them still saw themselves as German. It was probably hard to adjust to a new language and culture.