Media, Support, Brisbane, and Universities

1. Saw article about Apple and Samsung fighting each other in Australia.

Samsung wants to have the iPhone 4S banned in Australia.  They think it violates their patents.

This might be in response to Apple accusing Samsung of copying their technology.  And they tried to get Samsung's Galaxy S Smartphones and Galaxy Tabs banned in Australia.

It's all a bit silly.

Copying can be a bad thing.  It's wrong to steal someone's idea and call it your own.  But as the saying goes, sometimes copying is a form of flattery. And copying brings about advances in technology.  If inventors and entrepreneurs didn't copy each other, there'd probably be one brand of light bulb, one brand of television, one airline, one computer company, etc.

And technological history would probably be very static.  

It's better when people build upon each other's ideas.

2. Read article about the Australian government's planned response to a terrorist attack.  It talks about what the Prime Minister plans to say to Australians, and it talks about guidelines for the media.  

Basically, what I'm getting is that they're trying avoid the mistakes of the America media.  

The article says, In particular, security officials will highlight "the dangers of live coverage of eyewitness accounts, which may create fear and alarm, of direct contact between the media and the terrorists, and of reporting police and, where relevant, Defence Forces' movements or tactics.

Yes, thank you. People really don't need to see graphic images repeated over and over.

How many times did we see the Twin Towers falling down?  

The media is great at taking a tragedy and turning it into a huge media circus.  

Another thing the article says is, However a subsequent section indicates the media will be encouraged to "concentrate on the criminality of the terrorists' actions - not on the terrorists or their cause".

I totally agree with this guideline. If terrorists are trying to raise awareness for their cause, we certainly shouldn't help them.  

The problem with the news media is that these companies have all this time and space to fill. If you have a 24 hour news channel, I'm sure it's hard to fill it. So then they start digging deep— getting teary interviews from grieving people; going into depth about the terrorist's goals; showing graphic images of injuries; and informing the public about other scary things that could happen.

To their defense, though, when something huge and horrible happens, many of us want to know more and more about it. We obsess over it. We're glued to the TV's. We search through the internet for more information.   It's hard to think about other things.

3. Read the article again. I was wondering with Australia's plan of action, would there be too little information.

I guess there would be enough.

 It's just that they're going to concentrate on other things.   They want the media to reassure Australians that the government is strong, and capable of handling the problem.    They want to talk about the victims. Give them sympathy.  And they want kudos given to the workers who responded to the incident.

That makes sense.  

I think they just need to make sure they don't go too far in their reassurances.

The American government and media went too far in exploiting the fear and anger of Americans.    Let's make everyone terrified and hateful of Muslims; then we can get them to agree to a war!

But if you go too far in the opposite direction....

Well, it kind of sounds like something in a horror movie—the ones where the government is keeping the public in the dark.

Your neighbours have turned into zombies and are wanting you for lunch.  You turn on the TV and see your country's leader.   Please stay calm and be rest assured that everything is under control.   We are doing everything in our power to bring order back to the country.   

Yeah.  Okay.  

4. Read article about the Labor Party's intervention in the Northern Territory.  

There's a rule that Aboriginal parents will have their welfare payments suspended if they don't send their children to school.

As a homeschooling mom, I can't say I support that.

Why is school seen as the answer to all problems?

It's not the only way to get an education, and it also doesn't guarantee a happy and successful life.

We watched The Colbert Show the other night.  One of the guests was Melinda Gates.  She and Bill Gates give a lot of money to American public schools.  She talked about studies showing that schools meeting certain criteria result in children doing better in college.  I turned to Tim and said it's interesting she mentions doing well in college. How about doing well in LIFE?

Tim joined in on my rant and talked about how public schools in America provides a free service that then feeds into an extremely expensive service.   

As for the Aboriginal families, instead of forcing all kids to go to school, why not have a more comprehensive look at the family?   Could the children be learning outside the school?   Why are they not in school? When the kids are not in school, are the parents taking good care of them?

If the children are living horrible lives at home, then yeah, it's probably better for them to be in school.  But if the child is thriving without school, I see no reason not to keep them at home.

5. Went to Tallygarunga.   

Today I'm going to read Taking It Slowly.  It's about Artemesia Bellerose.

There's a message on the story that says collaboration story-post by Arti and Reade's players. ;D 

I'm guessing this means it's going to be like the Reade and Jackson story from a few days ago, where two writers wrote one post together.

The story takes place in St. Ringo's Wizarding Hospital on October 6.

Maybe now I'll figure out what happened to Arti.

6. Started to read.

7. Felt sad when I read this. Glancing up as soon as she heard them entering, Arti twisted the blanket in her hands a little as she looked to the family, the way Reade’s parents seemed to give him strength reminding her of what she didn’t have.

Sometimes I'll see other people getting the support I've often wished I had. I'm happy for them, but at the same time I'm sad for myself.


8. Learned that Arti was raped.

9. Learned that Arti can't talk. Something has happened to her throat.  Is it permanent?

I guess it's good she knows all that sign language.

10. Finished reading the story. It's very well written and very depressing.

It deals with rape—how the victim feels, but also how the partner of the victim feels.

And how does it feel to be the parents of the partner of the victim?

I guess with any major illness, injury, or tragedy, there are levels of people needing support.  First, there's the primary victim.  That's Arti. She's going to need a lot of love, patience, and understanding from Arti.  Will he be able to deliver?  I don't know. It's a tough job.

Someone going through that tough job will need a lot of support themselves. Will Reade's parents help him through it?  Can they help Reade help Arti through it?

I really feel for them. And I really feel for all the real people out there who are going through similar things.  There's lots of them.

11. Saw that my Australian of the day is Valentin Andreevich Antonieff. 

He was born in the Ukraine in 1877.  But back then, his birthplace was known as Russia.

Some of my ancestors supposedly come from the Ukraine.

12. Learned that Antonieff got himself a religious education and ended up becoming a Russian Orthodox priest. 

He joined the Russian army as a chaplain.  Maybe he did some fighting too. I'm not sure.

He got wounded twice, but that could just come from being AROUND the fighting.

13. Learned that Antonieff sailed to Australia when he was in his 40's.

I'm not sure why he left Russia.  It was in the 1920's. Maybe bad things were happening back then.

14. Consulted Lord Wiki.  He says crazy things were happening in Russia around that time.

There were revolutions and civil wars.

It was a fight between communist and anti-communist entities.

The Australian Dictionary of Biography says Antonieff fought in the civil war. He was on the white side, which was anti-communist.

The communists won, and I'm guessing that's why Antonieff escaped to Australia.

In Australia, he did construction and mining work.

15. Learned that Antonieff left his wife and four children to come to Australia. Fortunately, though, they were able to join him about a year later.

The family moved to Brisbane.

A lot of Russian immigrants came to Australia.   A Russian Orthodoxy church was established for those living in Brisbane.   Antonieff wasn't the head of the church at first.  Someone else had the job.  But then that guy moved to America. Antonieff got the job.

16. Enjoyed watching an embedded Swedish music video on James' blog. It has Swedish school children.

It makes me think of Let The Right One In.  I really liked that book.

17. Started to look at another John Lampard Flickr set.   This one is of the University of New South Wales campus.   

18. Wasn't impressed by this building.

I'm just not a big fan of modern architecture.  

19.Thought the modern buildings did look kind of cool at night.  

I like this night picture as well.  

20. Had a good warm feeling when I saw this picture.   I'm not sure why. I think it kind of reminds me of my childhood...living in Madison Wisconsin.

I don't know why I connect that time in my life to this picture.     

21. Looked at the Australian Monopoly board.  

The next space for me is Free Parking.

I'll skip that.

I'm now on the red properties.

That Monopoly is represented by streets in Brisbane.

Today I have Stanley Street.

22.  Looked for Stanley Street on Google Maps.   I see something, but it looks really small.   It's hard for me to imagine it's a major street. And it's supposed to be a major street.

Maybe I'm looking at the wrong thing.  

Lord Wiki says the street connects the Southern and Eastern suburbs and South Brisbane.

That confuses me.  Does it connect both those suburbs to South Brisbane? Does it also connect the two suburbs to each other? 

23. Saw Google Maps has other Stanley Streets listed.  I missed that before.   I'll check these out.

24. Found a much more substantial Brisbane Stanley Street.  

25. Confused by Lord Wiki's discussion on Stanley Street.  There's all this stuff about street name changes.  This used to be called this and that used to be called that.

I'm just going to skip over it and look closely at Stanley Street on Google Maps.

26. Saw that Stanley Street goes through Mater Misericordiae Hospital.

I don't think I've ever heard of that before.

Lord Wiki says there's a hospital with the same name in Dublin. 

27. Tried to find out what Mater Misericordiae is.

I did some googling, and learned the words are used in a hymn about Mary, the mother of Jesus.



It's quite beautiful.

28. Saw that there's a North African restaurant on Stanley Street called La Kasbah.  It serves Tunisian and French food.

I'm looking at the menu.

It looks pretty nice.

29. Looked at the Chalk Hotel.  It's on Stanley Street.

It doesn't offer accommodations; but people can eat and drink there. 

30. Learned from the Chalk Hotel's website, and things I saw in Google, that the name of the area is called Woolloongabba.  That name is very cute....like Woolloomooloo.  

31. Saw that on Tuesday nights the Chalk Hotel has something called Comedy Trivia.

It's a trivia game with a twist.

Well, I think they're trying to make it more fun than usual trivia games.

I think trivia games usually are fun.

I don't think I've ever been to a bar one.  Or maybe I have? It would have been a really long time ago.   I have vague memories.....

It's probably been a long time since I've played any trivia period.  

I remember back in the 1980's when Trivial Pursuit was so popular.

Was it popular in Australia?

32. Saw that there's a bridal dress store on Stanley Street. It's called BellaDonna Gowns. 

Five out of six of the brides on the website's home page are blond.

Actually, maybe all five of them are the same model.

They look alike.

33. Saw that there's an antique shop in Brisbane. It's called Lavin Antiques. 

We have a fairly nice antique shop in Fort Worth. Not that I'm an expert on such things.  

It's fun, but very overwhelming.

I don't really look at the furniture much.  I like looking at the old toys, books, jewelry, etc.  

34. Saw that there's a Lord Stanley Hotel on Stanley Street East.

Like the Chalk Hotel, this one doesn't have accommodations either.  

35. Downloaded Lord Stanley's menu and saw that they have Pavlova.  I don't think I've seen a restaurant that has it.  If I ever encounter one when we're in Australia, I'll probably forgo my no-egg rules for the occasion.  

36. Saw that the Stanley Hotel has gambling.  

37. Went to Thomas Simmonds' YouTube channel.  

He's young—only 14. That's the same age as the arrested child in Bali.

38. Saw that Thomas sings a lot of songs by The Kooks.

I've heard of them, but wasn't sure if they were Australian or not.

They're not.

They're British.

Here Thomas Simmonds singing Naive by The Kooks.



He reminds me of a young Leonardo DiCaprio and/or River Phoenix.

It's hard for me to hear his singing over the loud guitar.

39. Started to listen to Thomas sing "Big Jet Plane" by Angus and Julia Stone. 



40. Listened to the Angus and Julia Stone version.



They have such distinctive voices.

I like them; but in only small doses.  

41. Wondered if Ben's going to be on The Sing Off tonight.   He's missed the first episodes because his father was very ill, and he needed to go back to Australia to be with his family. 

Monopoly, John Pilger, Clucky Women, and Western Australia

1. Realized I haven't checked the Australian dollar in a few days.

So....

It's equal to .97 American dollars. It's gone down a bit there.

It's equal to .62 British pounds. It's gone down there as well.  The last time I checked it was at .63 pounds.

It's equal to 6.67 Swedish Krona and 74.68 Japanese Yen.

2. Looked at my post from a few days ago and compared what's there to what I'm seeing now. The Australian dollar has gone down in Sweden and Japan as well.

3. Looked at an Australia-themed Monopoly board with Jack—thanks to Lord Wiki.

Jack's suddenly obsessed with Monopoly.  It's not the first time. He used to love it when he was younger.  We played it often, and ended up buying three new variations of the game.

Anyway....

The Australian Monopoly has different streets from around Australia.

The Boardwalk is represented by King's Ave. I didn't even know what that was. We clicked on Lord Wiki's link, and saw it was in Canberra.  It kind of surprises me that this was chosen as the most expensive property.  Yeah, Canberra is the capitol of Australia, but I think it's less famous and prestigious than cities like Sydney and Melbourne.

4. Looked again at the Australia Monopoly board. 

It's a good way to learn about streets in Australia.

Maybe I'll learn about a street a day.

That might be fun.

5. Looked at the first property.  It's one of the cheap $60 dollar ones. The street is Todd Street in Darwin.  

Strangely I can't find it on Google Maps. I see only Todd Crescent.  

6. Saw that there is a Todd Street in Alice Springs.  

Lord Wiki might be confused. Or is Google Maps missing Darwin's Todd Street?

7. Found an Australia-related dream in my old Livejournal.  It's been awhile since I've seen one. I think in April, and in the beginning of May 2007, I had been thinking less about Australia because I was busy trying to rewrite my novel.  I was a bit preoccupied with that.  

The dream I found today is from May 22, 2007.

Stuff about Australia. Thinking of going there. Thinking about plane ride. Thinking of taking sleep drugs, but then thinking even then...I might be awake for long time. Wondering if it really is 24 hours or could it be even longer than that.

Saying the only thing I want to see is Great Barrier Reef. But then changing mind and saying I want to see Sydney Harbor.

I used to think the plane ride from America to Australia was 24 hours.  We went to a Wiggles concert, and I thought one of the Wiggles men had said that. I think what he meant was that with connecting flights, it might take 24 hours.  

8. Continued to read K.E. Mill's The Accidental Sorcerer. I'm starting to like it a lot.

9.  Listened to part of an interview with a guy named John Pilger and Phillip Adams. My email-pal sent me to link.

 Pilger thinks Australia acts too much like America's 51st state.  

I don't know if I agree with that. But I do think some Australians put too much thought and energy into America.   There's that hate-love thing going on. It reminds me so much of relationships I have with certain people.  I'm angry with them.  I want to NOT think about them and push them out of my mind and life.  But then I continue to think about them.

10. Decided that Australia and America are friends, but it's not always a healthy and egalitarian friendship.  

Now I'm just talking about the two countries as a whole—and probably the two governments.    Individual American citizens and individual Australian citizens can certainly have great and healthy friendships with each other.

11.  Listened to more of John Pilger and Phillip Adams.

Pilger believes the American government is run by the military—that they have more power than the president.

That's interesting.  Maybe it's true?  I don't know. I do feel like the president doesn't have much power.  I think it's because they have to fight so hard to get things done. They can't just come up with an idea and make it a law.

It's frustrating when I like the president's idea, and want it to become policy.  But I also know that if there's a president with an idea I don't like, I'll be glad it's not easy for a president to make massive changes.  

12. Liked Miss Sparkle's blog post about feeling clucky. She's feeling that every women she sees is either pregnant or with a newborn.

She says, I've spent a lot of time with kids these past few years and I absolutely love all things kid - bedtime stories, fairytales, trips to the park, singing the same nursery rhymes over and over, answering their endless questions, helping them reach the top shelf, all of it. I feel that I'm so ready for that next stage of my life and I'm just patiently trying to wait the next few years out.

In my opinion, those are good reasons to want a child.  If you love the world of childhood, having a kid gives you an excuse to indulge in all that.

It's not all easy though, and Miss Sparkle is clever enough to recognize that.  She says, I'm sure in about five years time when I haven't slept a full night in months, I'm tripping over toys and dealing with nappy rash I'll be longing for these days where I had almost infinite time to do whatever I wanted.

Exactly.

Parenting is fun, especially when you love childhood things.   But it IS hard work. It's stressful, scary, and exhausting.

13. Thought of other reasons people have children. I guess personally I find these reasons to be less admirable.  But other people might be okay with them.

A) Pass on the genes and the family name
B) Following tradition.  I'm supposed to be a mom, and that is that.
C) Wanting to buy cute baby clothes and nursery furniture
D) Wanting to have something you can control.
E) Wanting to be loved in that special way moms are loved by their young children.

I think I had E when I was a preschool teacher. The kids liked me, but I saw the way they loved their mommies and daddies. I wanted that.

I don't know if it's necessarily bad to want that love.  But I'm not sure if it's good to have that as your main reason to want a baby.  Mom and Dad aren't always going to be #1 in the kid's life.

It's probably not a great idea to have a baby just so you'll be the center of someone's world.

14. Decided I probably also had a little bit of A,B and C.  I don't think I had much of D. I've never been one of those people who had a child so I could mold it to my liking.

I got over A pretty quickly.  I no longer care about passing on my genes or my family name. Maybe playing Sims 2 and 3 helped with that. I passed on the genes of my Sims through many generations.   I got all that out of my system.

I'd like to have grandchildren just so I can play in the world of childhood again. But if Jack doesn't make or adopt babies, I'll try to have a good relationship with my great-nieces and great-nephews.   

15. Listened to more of the John Pilger thing. I like what he says about the American population.   He says we're NOT like our rulers.

That's what I wish people around the world would understand.   They can be against the American government without being against the American people. I think most people can manage this.  But with some, their hatred of some things American, has leaked into their feelings about everything American.  

16. Found myself disagreeing with John Pilger.  He takes his defense of the American people way too far.   As some make the mistake of lumping us all into the role of George W. Bush fans, he goes too far in the other direction.  He makes it seem like we're ALL on the left. We all want health care for all. We all want an end to the war.

That's not true at all.

I know of some Americans who are very right wing. They perfectly fit the stereotype that many people have of Americans.  They're ethnocentric.  They don't believe in paying taxes to help those less fortunate than themselves.  They believe in the war. They believe any type government health coverage will likely lead to us becoming Communist.

17. Thought about how it annoys me when someone lumps everyone in a group together...even if it's positive.

Americans are all different.  We're a country made up of different people. We don't all have the same beliefs, opinions, intelligence levels, attitudes, etc.

The same goes for everyone, including Australians.  The other day someone learned that I have a thing for Australia. They told me Australians are such nice people and that they love Americans so much.

Many Australians are very nice, but not all.   Some are quite awful, in my opinion.

I've only encountered a few who have a great love for America and Americans.  Others I've encountered really can't stand America, but will make an exception here or there....as long as you tread very carefully.  

Others have a very balanced view of America and Americans.  They like some and they dislike some. They take the good and the bad.

18. Remembered feeling that Australians were super nice the first time I visited...with only a few exceptions. I think that's because I had my rose-colored glasses on. Although it could be that there's an Australian tradition of being very friendly towards tourists.

I'm not sure though if it's different in other countries.

Are Americans usually less friendly towards international tourists?  

I don't know.

My suspicion is that most countries are made up of a mixture of people. Some are very friendly.   Some are mildly friendly. And some are cold and rude.

Australia might have more friendly people than other countries. I'm not sure. How do you test that?

19. Saw that Askmen.com has a listing of the friendliest countries. They put Australia at #4.  

They say the friendliest country is Ireland.

20. Saw Forbes has a list as well.  They talk about which countries are most friendliest towards expats. In their top three: South Africa, Bermuda, and Canada.  The United States and Australia came in after those.

21.  Figured some countries might be very friendly if you're a tourist, but less friendly if you're planning to stay for a long time.

Some people might be friendly enough to take the time to give you clear and careful directions when you're lost.  But they may not be friendly enough to invite newbies to the neighborhood barbecue.  

22. Thought it might be wonderful if we could magically place Earth's people in countries that would fit their political beliefs.

What if America became a right-wing paradise? All of us on the left or in the center would disappear.

Well, we wouldn't vanish from the planet, but we'd end up in a new country.   How about Australia?  I'd like that. Australia could be the left-wing country, but not the extreme left. We'll send those people to another country.  

Would there be enough room for all of us left-wing people? Maybe. Because all the right-wing people would be in America.

There's so many other countries out there, of course There'd be so many choices.   

I was going to say there could be a country for each group of religious extremists. But I think it would be more fun to put them all in one country together. Then they'll be too busy fighting each other to fight the rest of us.

23. Decided there could be a sorting hat. It would know which country is best for you.

Would it work?  Would people get along better that way?   Would there be less internal conflict?  I think so...maybe. Although there'd still be variations within the group, and people would still find excuses to be intolerant.

Families would likely be separated, but there would be email and video chat.

What about children, though?  Do you send them away as soon as they get ideologies that don't fit the country? Or do you wait until they're a certain age?

24. Went to Tallygarunga.

Hey!  Maybe there could be a country for Harry Potter fans. That might be fun.  

25. Found the story thread I'm going to read today.  It's called Don't Push Me, I'll Bite.   It's starring the bully-victim pair— Jack Dalton and Reade Ainsworth.

I saw a really sad bullying story yesterday.  I can't find the article I read, but here's another one. A 14 year-old New Yorker named Jamey Rodemeyer committed suicide after years of relentless bullying.  Now even in death, people are being incredibly nasty.  When Lady Gaga's "Born This way" was played in honor of Jamey, people began to chant, Better off dead.

It's absolutely disgusting.

How could people be so evil?

Later that day, we watched The Simpsons.  It annoyed me because of the way they presented the  bullying issues.  Other days I might have been able to tolerate (maybe even enjoy) the humor, but not after hearing Jamey's story.

First, they took one of the show's bullies and showed him in a very positive light.   I'm fine when they do that with Nelson. We've known for a long time that he has a sweet and tender side.  But this was different....at least to me.

Then there were jokes about the whole push for parents to look out for bullying and victim behavior in their children.  

I got the feeling the creators of the show were pushing the mindset that we shouldn't worry about bullies.  Let kids be kids.  It's fine and normal for them to cruelly taunt each other. We're overreacting, blah, blah, blah.

I think it's fine and normal for kids to tease each other a little bit.   I think it's fine and normal for kids to have disagreements sometimes.

It's not fine and normal for children to be relentlessly teased and abused. It's not fine and normal for people to cheer over the death of someone committing suicide.

26. Started to read the Tally story thread.  It takes place on October 1, on the Quidditch field.

27. Confused because Reade's post describes Jack's feelings.

I'm guessing the two role-players talked about it beforehand. But if the first post was supposed to be through Jack's eyes, why not have him do the first post?

I'm lost.

28.  Finished reading the post. I'm guessing for the story to work, maybe they needed multiple viewpoints in one thread.

Anyway, all that aside.....

What happens is Jack says nasty things about Reade's sister.  Reade gets very angry and punches Jack.

In his head he says, Insult me, call me mutie I don’t tangoing care, but don’t you dare talk about my sister like that. She’s thirteen for god’s sake! And Arti is a thousand times a better person than you are on your best day without even trying! You think you’re so tough? See how you like my fist in your face you ass!

It's nice that he defends his sister like that.  It's very sweet.

29. Started to read Jack's post.

He's shocked about Reade punching him.  Good!   I wonder what his reaction will be now. Will he leave Reade alone?  Or will this make him go after Reade even more?

30. Wondered if the role-players were at all inspired by the Casey Heynes story. This was the story in which the teenager finally fought back against his bully, and it was all caught on video.

31. Saw that Jack struggled to fight back against Reade's attack.  He's very angry and also a bit scared.

32. Consulted Lord Wiki about John Pilger.

From what Lord Wiki says, Pilger is probably too far left for me. Well, actually I got those feelings before consulting Lord Wiki— I guess from what I'm hearing in the interview and the little article/introduction that accompanied the interview.  Lord Wiki's just confirming my suspicions.

Pilger seems to be anti-Israel. He's been accused of being biased in that regards.

He blamed the 2005 London bombings on Tony Blair saying that he was the cause of the anger that led to the bombs.  

I'm very much against the idea that violence towards innocent people is deserved, and that it's the fault of the people who made the terrorists angry.  

33. Read some of Pilger's editorial about the bombs.

I do agree that the war in the Middle East was a huge dangerous mistake.  If you attack, something is likely to attack back.

But it all starts somewhere.

Could we then blame Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda for the war in the Middle East?   If they didn't want America to invade Iraq, they shouldn't have bombed NYC.

It doesn't begin there. I'm not an expert on history. But I know Osama Bin Laden and his minions were angry at something the United States did in the past.

It keeps going and going. One group does something bad and the other seeks revenge.Then the other group seeks revenge against the revenge.

Innocent people die.

I say the blood of the innocents is on the hands of those who couldn't resist seeking revenge.

34.   Read more of Pilger's editorial. It's pretty much America and Israel=very bad. Muslim Countries=innocent victims.

It's really not that simple, and that type of attitude annoys me as much as the far right's attitude.

I wish the far-right and the far-left would get together, have their fights, and leave me out of it.

The annoying thing, though, is that some of the far-right people seem to assume I'm in agreement with people like John Pilger.  This is the thing.   If you don't think America is the best and most important country in the world, and you don't think all Muslims are evil and the scum of the earth, then it must mean you hate Israel and support terrorism.   

35. Wondered if I'm being ridiculous by not immediately recognizing the parallels between what's happening in the world and the fight scene between Jack and Reade.

I liked that Reade stood up for himself and attacked Jack. I enjoyed that violence. I thought Jack totally deserved it.

So if I can cheer on Reade, shouldn't I also cheer on terrorists who fight back against what Americans have done in the Middle East?   Should I then have sympathy for those who cheered about September 11?   Should I feel the bombings in Bali were valid responses to what's going on in the Middle East?   Yeah.  It's sad that some Australian tourists died, but hey it's not the fault of the bombers.   It's the Australian government's fault for being too friendly with America.  

I think it's very different though.   Reade attacked only Jack.  He didn't go and kill innocent wizards in honor of his anger towards Jack. He didn't kill innocent wizards so he could scare people into not-supporting Jack.

It's one thing for a bully's target to fight back against the bully. It's another thing entirely when they take a gun and start shooting random students in the cafeteria. To me, the former is somewhat admirable. The latter is disgusting and evil.  I don't care how much torment the bullying victims have endured; once they kill innocent people, they're just as bad as the bullies.  

36. Annoyed at the world.

I think it's no longer a matter of what's right and what's wrong.  Most people pick their good guys and
bad guys; and stick to that no matter what.

America can do no wrong. They're always right.

America is the cause of all the world's problems.

Israel is always right.

Israel is always wrong.

The Muslims are bad.

The Muslims are all good.  None of it's their fault.

Americans all disagree with their government.

Australians are all friendly and love Americans.

It would be really nice if we could move past generalizations and hyperbole.  

It would be really nice if we could condemn the violence and/or hypocrisy of those on our own teams as much as we condemn the violence and hypocrisy that we see coming from the opposing teams.

37.  Saw that my Australian of the day is an artist named Leonard Lloyd Annois.

The Australian Dictionary of Biography says he more often went by the name Len Annois.

Len Annois was born in Melbourne in 1906.

When it came time for him to choose a career, he picked engineering.  He did that, and then he became a concrete salesman.  I guess that means he sold concrete?  Did he lose interest in engineering, or were there no jobs available?

38. Learned that Len Annois lost his concrete job during the depression.  He then started taking art classes.

Without a job, how did he afford the classes?

39. Saw that in 1935 Len Annois became employed again. He got a job with the advertising department of G.J Coles and Co.

I googled that, and learned it's Coles, as in the supermarket.

40. Learned that Len Annois painted landscapes.   The Australian Dictionary of Biography says he went beyond the typical sunburnt plains and blue distances seen through gum trees. He tried to give a different perspective of Australia.

41. Looked at a website that has Len Annois' paintings. 

I don't really like any of them too much. I don't think it's my type of thing.

42. Did like this Annois painting a little bit. It's called "Country Road".  

43. Went to blankankle's YouTube channel.  

He has walking fingers with a cover of "Little Red Riding Hood".  




It's very....interesting.

I think he sings pretty good.  

As for the fingers. I think he does a great job of making them look like legs.   I'm just not sure their movements match the song very much. Sometimes they do....sort of.

44. Watched blankankle do a cover of a Dave Matthew's song called "Typical Situation"



I hear a good voice in there, but it's kind of a struggle to hear it. The guitar's too loud.

I'm getting the idea it's hard for people to balance instruments with the voice.   I'm finding people sometimes sing too quietly, or their instruments are too loud.  

45. Started to look at more of Baroo42's Darwin to Perth Flickr set.    

46. Liked this photo.  It looks very stereotypical Australian.  

I like this one too.   It's beautiful.  

46. Liked this photo.   

There's a lot of lovely scenes in this set.  

47. Loved this picture.  

I'm sorry I'm being repetitive.

I'm at a loss for words.  There's not much you can say about beautiful scenes.   As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.  So why add more words?

48.  Figured this might be The Pinnacles.  

And this picture makes me believe it even more.  

49. Looked up the Pinnacles (near Cervantes) on Google Maps.   I forgot where it was. All I remembered was that it was in Western Australia somewhere.

Anyway, it's about 2 hours north of Perth.  

50. Thought this rock looked like a friendly troll-type creature.

Mental Illness, Wrists, Andrews, and Victor Zammit

1. Dreamed about Alex, one of our favorite Australian friends.

I make him a plate of ribs.  I guess I'm serving him? Then I forget I'm a vegetarian and I take a bite out of his food.  I remember, as I'm chewing; and feel regretful.  The ribs taste great, though.  

The funny thing is I felt embarrassed about betraying my vegetarianism, but I didn't seem to be embarrassed about eating off of Alex's plate.

2. Dreamed about my blog.  I think it was inspired by The Hunger Games.  We're reading that now.

I have people working for me, like publicists. They're excited about these three things regarding my blog.  (Maybe something like my blog being mentioned in  three other places).  I personally don't think it's as big a deal as they do. The publicists have this idea that we should hold a baby over a balcony.  I think it's a horrible idea. 

One of my fears is a child being held over a high place.   I have these nightmare daydreams where someone we know grabs Jack and holds him over a balcony, or something like that.  They do it as a  scary joke type thing.

I think it has actually happened, but I can't remember the exact details.  I think I've blocked it out of my mind, or I've distorted it.  It was in Australia, at the Sydney Harbour.  Our friend picked Jack up.   I remember that.   I remember telling him not to do it.   I remember him arguing that he would never drop him, blah, blah, blah.  It was kind of like where the blame is passed to you. It's hard to explain.  But there's that idea of, what?  You don't trust me?  You don't think I'm strong enough?  Why would you think I'd ever drop him?

I don't know if he actually held him over the railing or if he simply came close to the railing (because maybe I stopped him before he went further)   I'm guessing it's the latter.  I think if he actually did it, I would have freaked out more.

I had vague memories of it; didn't really think of it often.  Then I overheard Jack recently talking to other kids; and he told them that, when he was in Australia, our friend held him over a balcony. He wasn't telling it like a horror story—more like a this-was-so-funny story.

3. Bewildered over Amanda's post about a safari park in Denmark.  You know those places where you drive through and see animals?  Well, this one has a tiger in it!  I've never heard of anything like that.  I've been to safari parks; but the ones I've been to have relatively safe animals like giraffes and buffalo. If they have things like lions, they're in cages. They can't approach your car.

I think it would be a little bit cool to have a tiger approach your car.  But I think I'd also be a bit terrified.  That's one of my recurring dreams. I'm out somewhere and there're lions and/or tigers roaming about freely.  I'm scared, but no one else seems to mind.

4. Looked at the safety page of the animal park in Denmark. They seem to be pretty strict about the tiger area.  You have to stay in your car. I guess they trust that the tigers can't attack people when they're in their vehicle.

I was going to say, well, what if people are crazy and get out of their car?  But then I guess you could say the same about people at regular zoos.  Crazy people can jump into some of the animal cages.

5. Learned a little bit about Amanda. She's one of those blogs I added to my follow list, but then never read. I do that a lot.

Then the tiger thing caught my attention.

Anyway, this page gives her story.  She's a Perth girl who loves to travel. She's visited 40 countries, and she's lived in Germany, Japan, and Slovakia.  That's awesome. I'm trying not to be too envious.

The title of Amanda's blog is Not a Ballerina: A Travel Blogger's Life.  She has a cute explanation of why her blog is named that.

6. Saw another article about the threat to Julia Gillard's leadership.  Gillard is saying she won't go without a fight.   She thinks she's the best person for the job. Does she really?  And is she? Or is she just wanting to avoid the shame of losing?

The article quotes her as saying,  I'm not going anywhere. I'm doing this job because I am the best person to do it.   That seems a little arrogant to me. Is she trying to say that no one in the Labor Party is as competent as her?

7. Read article about a small freshwater crocodile being found in a Darwin pool.  The lifeguard thought it was a joke at first, but then realized there really was a crocodile.  He scooped it up with a leaf net thing.

The article says the crocodile was 40 centimeters, which is about 15 inches.  That's pretty small.  But then the article has a picture of a crocodile at a pool. It looks much bigger.

It's confusing.

8. Read article about patients dying in Victorian mental hospitals.  The article says that thirty-six people died unexpected, unnatural, or violent deaths between 2008-2010.  That's pretty scary.

The article says 975 mentally ill patients have died since 2006-2010. But not all of them were under the direct care of a mental health facility at the time of death.

Psychiatry can save some, but it can't save them all.

It's interesting.  I remember reading anti-Scientology stuff.  There were patients who turned to Scientology faith-healing and failed to get psychiatric help. They died.  So anti-Scientologists present that as evidence that the religion/cult is horrible.

I don't think it's fair, because psychiatry is not a perfect system. It has many flaws. It can't fix everything. And from this article, I'm getting the idea it can actually KILL someone.

I was going to say it's not fair that Scientology is villainized and psychiatry is not.   But that's not really true.  Psychiatry is seen in a bad light by...Scientologists, and others (like me).

I guess it's fair.

9. Consulted Lord Wiki about Scientology deaths in Australia.

One was a woman named Linda Waliki. The hospital prescribed her anti-psychiatric drugs. Her parents didn't give them to her because they were Scientologists and against psychiatric drugs.   Instead they gave her vitamins.

Then Linda started acting worse. Her parents backed down from their Scientology beliefs and gave her the drugs.  Three weeks later she killed her dad and sister.  Dr Rosanna Capolingua, the President of the Australian Medical Association said, if Linda had had access to appropriate medical treatment it could have changed the course of her life.

The key word there is COULD.   It could have changed her life. Or it could have made things worse.  If she had kept on with the vitamins, maybe that would have changed her life for the better.

Who knows.

Maybe there was nothing in the world that could have helped Linda. Maybe she was a lost cause.

The article about Victorians dying in mental health facilities tells of a guy named Mr. Travaglini.    He died in 2008 at Easternhealth Upton House, a psychiatric hospital.  His death was caused by anti-psychotic drugs.  According to witnesses (staff and patients), the day/night he died, he begged them not to give him more drugs.   That's really sad.

So if we can say, if it wasn't for Scientology, Linda's dad and sister would still be alive; we should also be able to say if it wasn't for psychiatry, Mr. Travaglini would still be alive.

Yet I'm sure Scientology has worked for some; and I'm sure psychiatry has worked for some.   Different paths work for different people.  Sometimes people go down the path that is wrong for them. Sometimes the result of that is very tragic. 

For some schizophrenic people, vitamins are the answer.  For other people the answer is psychiatric medicine.

10. Read about the other Scientology incident in Australia. A man named Frank Vitcovik went on a killing spree. He killed eight people plus himself.  Some of the blame went to Scientology because he took a Scientology personality test.  The person who administered the test failed to suggest that Frank seek psychiatric help and instead encouraged him to take a Scientology course.

But what if Frank DID go to get psychiatric help. Would that guarantee he'd recover and live a decent life?  Would that have saved the lives of the eight other people?  Maybe, but not necessarily.

As the news article said, 975 Victorian mental patients died between 2006-2010.

Psychiatry isn't a guaranteed solution.

11. Went to Tallygarunga.  Today I'm going to read the continuation of Oh!  It's You.  This is the story with Eudoxia Karras getting a visit from an old friend.  That girl is full of reunions lately.   Okay. Well, maybe there's been just two. But still.....

12. Forgot where I left off in the story thread.

It might be post #29.

I'll start there and see.

Eudoxia was apparently holding Thomas' wrist for someone reason.  Thomas moved a bit so they'd be holding hands. Eudoxia dropped his hand, and Thomas felt rejected.

I'm having trouble finding the part where Eudoxia initially holds his wrist.  Why does she hold his wrist in the first place?   I'm reading through posts, and so far I can't find the answers. I'll keep looking.  I must have missed something.

13. Read more closely.

If I'm understanding things correctly, Thomas shoplifted. They're at a shopping center.  Thomas went to an electronic store and slipped a phone into his pocket.  Then Eudoxia put her hand in his pocket and pulled it out.

14. Found the wrist part. Finally. Sometimes I worry about my reading skills.

It says,  It was fairly busy and she did her best to weave through the crowd taking loose hold of Thomas’ wrist something she hadn’t done since childhood, dragging him to look at whatever she had wanted him to see.

I guess wrist-holding is seen as less intimate and romantic as hand-holding.

15. Finished reading what's in the story thread.  It's a love triangle, basically.  Thomas has feelings for Eudoxia.  Eudoxia has feelings for Jason.  Thomas wants a relationship with Eudoxia, but she seems to see him as a player. He wants to let her know he's done with that game. Eudoxia misinterprets things and guesses that Thomas has settled down with someone.

16. Wondered if Eudoxia is failing to get a clue.   Thomas did try to hold her hand.  Or maybe that's just the way he is—flirty.   Maybe she expects that behavior from him, and doesn't take it as a sign that he has feelings for her.

Or maybe she does understand he's pursuing her, but she's denying it because she wants Jason.

17. Saw that my Australian of the day is Henry Martyn Andrews.   He's the first of eleven Andrews covered by the Australian Dictionary of Biography.  

18. Saw that Henry Martyn Andrews was born in England in 1845. I wonder if Andrews is a British surname. I would guess it was; or I'd guess it was German.   Maybe Swedish or Swiss?

19. Consulted Lord Wiki about the name Andrews. He says it is British. The highest frequency of the name, in the UK, is in Dorset.

Let's see.....

Henry was born in Shropshire. Is that near Dorset?

Nope.

I just checked Google Maps.   Dorset is in the south and Shropshire is up north.

Lord Wiki says the name is more popular in the south of England than north. But of course that doesn't mean it's not in the north...and all over the world.  

20. Started to read about Henry Anderson. He was a headmaster and professor.

When he was a child he was inspired by factory engines.  He wanted to be an engineer.  Did he end up being an engineer professor?   Or was it one of those many childhood dreams that get lost and forgotten?

When Henry was eight, his family moved to Melbourne.

Several years later he started studying at the University of Melbourne. The guy seemed to like learning. He studied math, physics, chemistry, zoology, and physics.

He gave up engineering when he realized his prospects of employment were low.  In those days the career favored people with apprenticeship training rather than university training.

It seems that's totally changed these days. Now there's such an obsession with getting a university degree.

Personally I think an apprenticeship is better.

Then again, a university degree in engineering would probably work as long as there's hands on experience.  I'm guessing there is in most cases. I would just hope that if someone didn't get a degree, and instead learned with hands on training, they'd still be able to find a job.

I think the world would be better off if we paid less attention to degrees from fancy universities; and paid more attention to the actual skills someone possesses. The skills could come from a degree.  They could come from a training program. They could come from watching one's parent or neighbor.  They could come from self-training via books, videos, etc. There're so many ways to learn.

21. Learned that Andrews became a professor of civil engineering. It wasn't a very popular class, though.  He had only one student.

Henry seemed to have more success at  Wesley College in Melbourne. There he taught science and math classes.

In his early 20's, Andrews went back to England and did more studying at Cambridge. A few years later he returned to Wesley College. Two years after that, the Headmaster retired and Henry took the big job.

22. Learned that Henry wasn't very popular as a headmaster. People seemed to prefer the previous guy.

23. Learned that Henry died young. He was only 43. Bad health plagued him throughout life and then put him in the early grave.

24. Started to look at another Peter Lindenburg Flickr set.  This one is called Animals of the East Coast of Australia.

Here's a very cool butterfly photo.  

25. Loved this owl photo.  It makes me think of Harry Potter, and other stuff like that.

It's a Powerful Owl.

I mean that's the name. It might not actually have magical powers.

Lord Wiki says they're from the east—Queensland to South Australia.

26. Loved this Kookaburra photo.

27. Impressed with this photo of a Purple Swamphen.  

28. Consulted Lord Wiki about the Purple Swamphen.  He says there are different types.  The one in Australia has the scientific name Porphyrio porphyrio. It's found mostly in New Zealand, but is also in Australia and other nearby places.

29. Thought this Brown Thornbill was very cute. 

Peter has so many cute animal photos. I think they could provide great inspiration for people who make cartoons and/or write children's books.

This guy would make a great character.

I wonder who could do his voice.

30. Thought that this Eastern Water Dragon would be a good character too.  

31.Thought this Crested Pigeon had a unique appearance. 

32. Guessed that this Noisy Miner bird had recently been rejected. He has that look about him. 

Then this guy is saying, Hang on there, kiddo. It gets better.

33. Started looking at Peter's Birds Around Deniliquin set.

Where is Deniliquin?

34. Found Deniliquin on Google Maps.  It's in western New South Wales, about three hours west of Wagga Wagga.  

I don't think I've ever heard of it. Because of that, I sort of guessed it would be one of those small, quiet, rarely heard of towns.  But it's not.   Lord Wiki has a lot to say about it; and there's a population of about 7000. It's not that tiny.

35. Learned one of the main industries in Deniliquin is wool.

Rice is big too.

36. Looked up Phillip Maher.  Peter mentions him in his photo set.  I'm guessing this is the right guy.  He lives in Deniliquin, and does birding stuff.  Here's the home page of his site.   

Phillip has various tour options available. He has ones already planned that people can sign up for.  Then he also offers private tours.

I see he just started a tour today.  It's of the Strzelecki Track in the outback. That goes until September 22.

37. Consulted Lord Wiki about the Strzelecki Track.  He says it's in South Australia; and it's an unsealed road.

38. Downloaded the PDF booking form on Maher's website. I like it because it asks for food allergies; and it also asks for foods you intensely dislike.  I like that they're sensitive to that.

Although what if he's really not a birding expert; and he's really a torturer? He could want to know your most hated food so he could torture you with it.   

Yeah, because the PDF form also asks, What are you most afraid of?  And they ask, how much does it bother you when people scrape their fingernails across a chalkboard?  

That's some SCARY stuff.

Then there's that bit that says, Please do not inform family and friends that you'll be on this tour.   Wouldn't it be better to surprise them after the fact?  You can impress them all with your pictures. If you tell them before you leave on the tour, it will ruin the surprise.

39. Started to look at Peter's photos.

This Red-Rumped Parrot looks very amused.  But here he didn't get the joke.  He looks confused. 

Now he's trying to share the joke with some friends.  I have a feeling he totally messed it up.  

40. Thought this little guy was very cute.   

41. Thought more about the over-the-railing story. I don't think it actually happened. Jack is easily frightened.  I think if someone actually held him over a railing, he would have totally freaked out.   I'm guessing our friend was planning to do it, but I stopped him before he could.  Maybe.

42. Thought about memories and how we forget things.  That gave me the urge to read about reincarnation.  I googled reincarnation and Australia.   I found this post from a spiritual blog.    It talks about a woman in Sydney who had past-life regression therapy. She remembered a life in Somerset England from 1765-1982.   If it's a true story, it's quite compelling.   She knew all this stuff that she couldn't have known by natural means. I'd like to think it's proof of reincarnation.  It might be.  My other theory though would be that she's simply psychic.  She went to the place and was able to "read" it.

No...now that I think of it; that wouldn't make sense.  From what I read here, she didn't know all this stuff until she had the hypnosis. If it was just a psychic thing, why would she know so much about this one specific place?  She should be able to know about a variety of places.

43. Went to the website of Victor Zammit.  He's the one who wrote the book where the blogger heard the Sydney-Somerset reincarnation story.  

Victor says he's a lawyer from Sydney.

See...I get skeptical when it comes to supernatural stuff.    I believe in all these things, but I also have a lot of doubt.   When I looked at Amanda's blog, I didn't doubt her story.  I didn't say/think, she's a woman who SAYS she's done a lot of traveling.    I take her at her word.   I give her the benefit of the doubt and assume she's honest.  But if someone has supernatural type claims, I want to know their credentials. I question whether they're telling the truth or not.  

44. Wanted to believe in Victor Zammit's impressive law credentials.  He says he worked for the High Court of Australia.

But I'm skeptical for now.  My bullshit antennas are up mainly for the fact that, so far, when I google I get Victor's own site, or other supernatural sites.  

I tried Lord Wiki. Lord Wiki doesn't like Victor.  He says that Victor is Another shameless self-promoter trying to misuse (him) for free publicity. 


45. Went to the High Court of Australia website.   I thought Victor was a liar because I didn't see him on their list of justices.  But then I thought, maybe I'm looking at the wrong thing. These are justices.  That would be different than a solicitor.   Right?

46. Decided to try and find information about a case Victor says he worked on. It was called R v Borg.

When I google that, I find a law case in Canada, some tennis stuff, and Victor's own site. At least that's what's on page 1 of Google.  

47. Used Google News archives to try to find an article about R v Borg. Victor says it was published in the Sydney Morning Herald.

I don't see any article.

I'm not finding anything that compels me to believe that Victor is telling the truth about who he is.

I'm not saying he's lying.  He could be completely honest.  But I would feel more trustful if I had something to back him up.

I'll keep looking.....

48.  Hoped no one took me serious about #38.

49. Became even more skeptical.

Victor talks about a so-called famous bank robbery case.   He says, It was one of the most sensational and most controversial cases ever in Australia where Dragosevich, the bank robber, was shot dead by the police. 

Okay, so this case is controversial and sensational. Shouldn't it be easy to find via Google then?

I googled, and guess what I get?  Victor's websites.

Victor says stuff about articles being published in the news. It's like he's saying, You have to believe me.   I was in the newspaper!  And maybe he was. Maybe Google just hasn't archived it.  But it's a bit suspicious. And if he really understands that people like me are going to be skeptical, why doesn't he simply scan the article and put it on his website? 

50. Used Google News archive to try to find a November 12, 1978 article about Dragosevich.   Why?  Victor claims the article is out there.

Google doesn't seem to have it.

Why should I believe Victor?

He makes me very suspicious.

51. Tried to find another article that Victor references in his biography.  It's supposed to be from December 22, 1980; and it's supposed to be about him leading a protest near the United Consulate.    He says he was protesting about the Ayatollah Khomeini hostage thing.

52. Did not find the article.

Three times I've come up empty.  For a man who claims to be such a prominent lawyer, it's weird that I can't find anything about him in the news archives.

53. Searched Google News archive from 1970-1981 (the time period Victor says he was doing his law stuff).   I can't find anything on him. I can't imagine a lawyer would not have himself quoted at least once in a news article.

54. Tired of searching for Victor Zammit. I wish I could have found something.

55. Found blog entry about Victor Zammit. It's written by a guy who reminds me somewhat of myself.  He believes, or is open to believe. But he's not going to believe without question.    

Michael Prescott says, Zammit seems to feel that either you're with him totally, or you're against him totally. Since I raised questions about the precautions against fraud taken in Sydney, he has decided that I'm a "skeptic."

Still Michael defends Zammit to a point.  He says,  Victor Zammit's a good guy, and his heart is in the right place. I agree with him on many (probably most) issues regarding the paranormal and the afterlife. In this case, I think his ego is wounded and he's lashing out. It will pass. 

I think it's very generous of Michael to say that.  

56. Wondered what's the truth here.

A) Is Victor exactly what he says he is—a lawyer who now is a promoter of the afterlife. And maybe the internet doesn't have as much information as I imagined? 

B) Victor has genuine evidence of the afterlife. He felt no one would believe him, so he invented the lawyer credentials.

C) Victor is lying about almost everything.

I want to believe it's A, but I fear its somewhere between B and C.  

57. Wondered if I would have been less skeptical about Victor if he didn't proclaim every five minutes that he's a lawyer. What if he just had a website about the supernatural? I wouldn't have believed anything without question or lingering doubt; but I think MAYBE I would have been less skeptical.

How would people have felt about my blog if proclaimed in every blog title that I'm a lawyer, doctor, or something like that?  

58. Figured I'd probably be most trusting of Victor if I was able to find information on him outside of spiritual and skeptic websites. I would have felt much better if I could find the articles he mentioned, or at least find this so-called bank-robbery case.

I don't like this about myself, but I do find myself less skeptical with people who have professional and conventional credentials....if I feel they're not inventing those credentials.   

I'd be trusting, but somewhat less trusting if he was just another person with a blog sharing his experiences and believes. There's a lot out there. I trust some people more than others. If certain people say,  I've seen a ghost, I at least believe they THINK they saw a ghost. I trust certain people enough on the internet to believe they're not making stuff up.   

I hope that when people read my blog, they believe my little weird stories. They're all true, but I can't say whether or not they're supernatural or just wild coincidences. I understand, though, that people have the right not to believe.   They have the right to suspect I'm making things up.

I'm not.

But how does anyone know that?

They just give me the benefit of the doubt.

If I started bragging about my credentials, though, and saying there are articles out there about me....shouldn't I then have links to the articles?

What if I talked about us going to Australia, but didn't have one photo of us in Australia?   Would that not make people a bit suspicious?

59. Decided my talked-about credentials for this blog are that I'm weird, I'm American, and I'm obsessed with Australia. My blog posts are proof enough of my weirdness and my obsession.   I think most people would believe I'm American. If not, they could watch one of my videos and hear my American accent.



Although I could be an Australian faking an American accent. Or maybe I'm a Canadian.

I could be a Dutch person pretending to be an American who is obsessed with Australia.

Jack and Tim are speaking American too, though. It would be a bit far-fetched to imagine our whole family is faking it.    

People Smuggling, Cruise Ships, Counting, and 2000

1. Had a dream inspired by Andrew.   I'm staying at a beach house with people.  We have a big window where you can look out and see the ocean.  I start thinking that I need to take photos of the house....lots of them. I decide it would be also fun to take pictures of all the food we have in the pantry.   

2. Dreamed about Deborah Mailman.  I'm standing in a hallway talking to Jack.  Then Deborah Mailman is sitting on a metal chair against a wall.  She's wearing a red dress.  She watches us. She gets my attention silently and mouths the words "How old is he?" She's very friendly. Strangely, I'm not starstruck about the whole thing.

I then introduce her to Jack.  I forget her name though. I say to Jack that she's an actress from my favorite TV show. Then Deborah Mailman says something about us needing to move to Australia.   Jack says he has only one problem with that...the language.  Deborah Mailman is amused. She jokes around by speaking in a fake foreign language. Then I join her.

Later when I woke up I started to worry.  What if she wasn't speaking a fake foreign language?  What if she was speaking an Aboriginal language and I mistook it for a fake language?  What if she thought I was mocking her?

Then I remembered it was a dream, so either way it's probably not a big deal.

And since it's MY dream, I get to say what was happening.  She wasn't speaking an Aboriginal language.  She was speaking a made-up silly language.

3. Tried to understand world economics by reading this article.

It seems like everything is falling....like dominoes.

Gold is doing okay though.

4. Read Julian Burnside's editorial about asylum seekers and refugees.  

He has powerful opinions and powerful words.

He reminds us that asylum seekers are not illegal.

He reminds us that the original white Australians WERE illegal.  He says, We forget that the first white settlers in this country were true illegals: sent here by English courts for a range of criminal offences, and the soldiers sent to guard them, and the administrators who, following London’s instructions, stole the country from its original inhabitants who, if possession is nine points of the law, had the backing of 30,000 years of law to justify calling the white invaders “illegals”.

I agree with all that.

I don't think asylum seekers are illegal. But I do think it's unfair for them to think they deserve immediate residency in Australia while there are thousands of refugees waiting in Malaysia.  

Burnside says, And how many of us pause to remember how different it was for 85,000 Vietnamese boat people 30 years ago? They were resettled here swiftly and without fuss, thanks to the simple human decency which Malcolm Fraser and Ian Macphee showed, and which Abbott and Gillard so conspicuously lack.

Wow.  So Australia brought in 85,000 refugees?  In one year?

Maybe there'd be less of a waiting list in Malaysia if they did that.

5. Consulted Lord Wiki about Vietnamese refugees.  Between 1976 and the late 1980's, Australia received about 90,000 Vietnamese refugees.

6. Found this website about Vietnamese migration to Australia.  They say 120,000 Vietnamese came to Australia between 1976 and 1994.  If I divide the number of refugees by the number of years, I get 6,666.  They took in more some years than others; but that's an average.

The policy of Australian government right now is to take in 13,000 refugees a year.  It doesn't appear that the intake has been reduced.

7. Looked at government page about refugees and asylum seekers.

From 2004-2010, at least 13,000 refugees were given visas.

I added all the numbers up for each of the years, and came up with the number 80,630. That seems like a generous number to me.  It doesn't like a country that's locking it's doors against people who need help.

Could Australia take in even more than that. I have no idea. Maybe?

It might get crowded.

Lord Wiki says there are 100,000 skilled migrants allowed into Australia.  It's been reduced the past few years. But maybe it can be reduced more.

Am I to believe that all the desperate refugees are lacking skills?  Wouldn't some of them have the skills Australia needs?

What gets me is when you have all these desperate refugees; and then some rich Australian businessman pushes Australians to make more babies.   Lindsay Fox thinks people should have sex so they can populate Australia.  I think that's a sad thing to suggest when so many people out there are in need of a home.

8. Wondered about Julian Burnside's viewpoint of people smugglers. While the government paints them as criminals, he makes them out to be heroes.

He says:

Instead of attacking the refugees directly, which is their real purpose, they attack the people smugglers instead.  Because, aren’t people smugglers the worst people imaginable?  They forget that Oskar Schindler was a people smuggler, and so was Dietrich Bonhoeffer. And so was Gustav Schroeder, captain of the ill-fated MS St Louis which left Hamburg in May 1939 with a cargo of 900 Jews looking for help.  He tried every trick in the book to land them somewhere safe, but was pushed away.  He ended up putting them ashore again in Europe, and more than half of them perished in concentration camps.  Abbott and Gillard forget that Captain Schroeder was a people smuggler.

Are people smugglers doing all this out of the goodness of their own heart?  Why are they asking for so much money then?  I can imagine they need SOME money.  There's expenses to pay.  But what about the family that paid $55000 for five people.  That's $11,000 per ticket.    How can a ride on an unsafe fishing boat coast that much? Why is it cheaper for me to fly to Australia on a relatively safe airplane?
 

Maybe there are good people smugglers and bad ones?  Maybe some do it out of the goodness of their heart and others do it to exploit people in need.

9. Decided it's unfair to assume all people smugglers are villains. At the same time, I think it's a bit ridiculous to assume they're all heroes.

10. Started to read Amnesty International's page on people smuggling.  

They say estimates indicate that over 4 million people are smuggled across international borders, and this criminal trade brings in 10 billion dollars a year.

Sorry, but I can't image a business, that existed for mainly altruistic purposes, would be so lucrative.

Amnesty International doesn't seem to support people smuggling, but they believe asylum seekers shouldn't be punished for their chosen method of coming over.   They remind us that these asylum seekers are desperate, and that they often fall prey to deceptive people smugglers.

Amnesty International says, Asylum seekers are usually desperate and people smugglers are often deceptive, eliciting further funds from the refugee once they arrive and making threats against family members left behind. There are reports of false promises in relation to visas, treatment and even destination.

Yeah.  I understand that Oskar Schindler started out as a greedy womanizer, but I think it's unfair to compare him to the people described above.  Did he make threats against the family members of the Jews he saved?  Did he give Jews false promises?


I don't think so.

11. Wondered again. Why doesn't Australia send their own boats over to pick up the refugees?   They don't have to make people pay with their life savings, but they can have sliding-scale fees.   Then that money can go towards transportation costs and providing services for the refugees.  

12. Wondered if there are old out-of-use cruise ships that can be donated for this purpose. I'm guessing there are ships out there that are still safe, but out of use because bigger and better ships have come along.

Australia can get volunteers for the ship by creating one of those volunteer holiday programs.    People can go on the cruise for a discounted price.   In return they have to work a certain amount of hours.  They can help take care of children, provide English lessons, entertain the Aussie newbies, provide counseling (if they're skilled in that area), etc.   

13. Found this website.  They say there are 35 surviving classic Ocean Liners in the world.

They're retired and probably sad.

I bet they would love to go out there and rescue some asylum seekers.

14. Thought about how there's two extremes in the asylum seeker argument. There's the racists who don't want more dark people coming over. They say they don't want Australia to become more crowded, yet they're fine with baby-making.

Then there's the people who think we can and should help EVERYONE.   Their heart is in the right place.  But we can't save everyone.

It's like the mother who has such a good heart and wants to adopt all the needy children out there.   She hates to see a child suffering.  Every child deserves a good home.  Every child deserves a mother's love.

Let's say she adopts ten kids and they have a happy family.  She has done something wonderful.  She has saved children who'd otherwise likely have a life of doom.

But then she decides it's too sad that there are other children out there needing a home. She adopts more and more kids.   Soon she has thirty of them.  The problem is she doesn't have the money or the resources to take care of them.   And also while it was possible for her to love and cherish ten kids, it's not easy for her to love and cherish 30 of them.  The kids get neglected.  They live in crowded conditions.  There's not enough money for all the kids to have nourishing food.

Because of the crowded and depraved conditions, the kids become restless and angry. They fight.   They don't live up to their potential.  Their lives become not much better than it was before.

15. Read fun article about the Australian census that is happening right now.  I'm excited about it.  I wish we didn't have to wait ten months for the results.

The Australian census is going to have 60 questions.  It sounds much more interesting than our recent one.   I think ours had less than five.  The only thing I remember is they wanted to know if we were Hispanic or not.

16.  Looked at US census website.   They have the 2010 questions.  They wanted to know if we own our home, our sex, age, race, and whether or not we're Hispanic.  

17. Went back to reading the article about the Australian census.

Australians have the option of removing confidentiality about their identities in 2110.  That way historians can use the information to learn more about the past. That's pretty cool.   I personally would say yes.

18. Saw that the article mentions a man named Bikram Adhikar.   He arrived in Australia after being a refugee for 18 years!   I can't imagine.  Now he's helping with the census by questioning people who have limited English skills.

It's nice that Bikram finally has a home. The article has a picture of him and his family.  They look very happy. 

19. Went to Tallygarunga.

I wonder if wizards fill out census forms.

I was thinking about this for my fictional blog.   I actually haven't quit completely.   I wrote a post yesterday saying that we're in the wizarding village and have very minimal internet access.   In a few weeks I'll decide if they're going to stay in that situation; or get out.   If they get out that means I want to go back to writing the blog.  They'll go back to the Muggle world and have adequate internet capabilities.  

Anyway, I was wondering whether wizards are legal citizens of their countries. I would assume Muggleborn wizards are citizens. Hermione Granger would have been counted when her parents filled out a census form.   But how about the Weasleys? Are they legal British citizens or are they unofficial hiding ones?

20. Found the Tally story thread I'm going to read today.  It's called One Day Closer.  The stars are Tamarah Blair and Forrester Smith.

Tamarah Blair looks different.  I don't know if her face claim has been changed, or just the photographs.

Or maybe nothing has changed and I'm imagining things.

21. Saw that the story takes place on the Quidditch Pitch.  It's a place for wizards and witches to practice their Quidditch skills. 

The timing of the story is the evening of August 8.

22. Started reading the story.

Tamarah is the captain of the all-star team.  I didn't know that.  The team made up of students from the four houses.

Tamarah is having bad memories and worries about her arch enemy, Sally Fitzgerald. In the past, Sally ridiculed Tamarah for being a lesbian.   This is what brought Tamarah out of the closet to her father.

Tamarah reacted to the ridicule by breaking Sally's nose.  She's worried she might lose control again on the day of the game.

Why?

Is Sally on the team?  Another team?  Does she go to Tallygarunga, or another school?

23. Started to read Forrester's post.  He's been dropped by the team, but doesn't seem to hold ill feelings towards them. He seems very supportive.  I think that's very admirable.

Well, actually...I reread it.   I get the idea he's STRUGGLING to be supportive rather than resentful.

I think that's admirable as well.

24. Decided to read the biography of Sally Fitzgerald. 

It looks like she's new.   It says here that she joined on June 11 and has only two posts.   I read an old story that involved her.   I can't remember whether or not she was one of those characters that are mentioned, but don't have their own posts.  Or maybe she did have her own posts, but had a different role-player.

25. Found the story I had read.  It's from October 2010.  Sally is mentioned there, but she doesn't have her own posts. I guess now she's a full-fledged character.  

26.  Learned that Sally is a student at Penrose. That's the private school for witches.

She's Muggleborn.  That kind of surprised me.  I'm used to the purebloods being the bullies.  That's  prejudice of me.  

27. Learned that Sally is popular.  She sounds very typical to me.   Her group sets the fashion trends.  She's adored by the teachers.  She does well in academics and in sports.  That's how I remember the popular kids from my school days.

28. Learned that Sally has a sweet and insecure side she hides from everyone except her dad and kitten.

29. Started reading Sally's history.

She had trouble with the whole puberty thing.  I think it's because she had an early one—eleven years old.   I've heard that's hard on girls.

Sally's mother left Sally and her father for another woman.  Maybe this is why Sally has some anti-gay feelings.

I wonder if Sally had an extra hard time with her parent's divorce because she was disgusted and ashamed that her mother was a lesbian.

Or was she disgusted and ashamed her mother was a lesbian because it led to her parent's divorce?

While all this was going on, Sally received the letter informing her that she was a witch and had a place at Penrose.  She thought it was a cruel trick and ripped up the letter.  I like that. I mean I don't like that she did it.  But it seems like a realistic response.

30. Loved what I learned about Sally's dad.  He works at a a Muggle hospital on a team that has connections to the wizarding health provider.   They help with injuries that may have been caused by magic.  He also serves as a mentor to Muggle families recently learning about the magical world.   That's very cool.

31. Liked Sally despite her bitchiness and homophobia.  I see her as the type of character who can get past most of that.   The role-player has the same hopes.  She says, Before I begin, let me firstly say that Sally’s view’s are so different from my own!  She’s been though a lot and it really twisted her views on things. I’d like to think that there is potential for growth in Sally though at this stage.

I have a big soft spot for bad characters who turn good...or at least, not so bad.   I love Draco Malfoy and Dudley Dursley.  Ben Linus is another great character like that. Oh, and I guess Sawyer would be too.

32. Lurked in the Tally chatroom and saw that someone was looking for a face claim for their 9 year-old character (Ella).  I started frantically searching for young Australian actresses.

I don't know of many.  I don't think the Australian shows I watch often have kids, at least not as main characters.  Then I remembered flashbacks.

I went to Offspring on IMDb and found Virginia Cashmere.  She played "Young Billie" in two episodes.

I googled her and found her listing in a Victorian casting agency.  She's very cute.  

33. Looked at young Nina.  This is cute.  It looks like they used sisters to play the sisters.  Nina's played by Alexandra Cashmere.  She has a video on YouTube, and so does her sister.

Apparently their father has a farting problem in church.  

The Cashmere girls probably wouldn't work for Ella because Ella is supposed to have brown hair and brown eyes.   I think the Cashmere girls have hazel or blue eyes.  

Oh well.

34. Learned that my Australian of the day is Joseph Anderson.  He was a soldier.

Like most Andersons I read about; he was born in Scotland.

When Joseph was in his forties he was sent to Sydney.  Then he was sent to Norfolk Island.    He was commandant of the island from 1834-1839.   One of the things he was responsible for was dealing with convicts who participated in a revolt.  Thirteen of them were executed.

The Australian Dictionary of Biography says that he was more humane than his predecessor.   Under the other guy's rule there were about a thousand lashings a year.  With Joseph, there were only around 70-75 a year.  The biographical dictionary says, the island was quiet under his administration, and Bourke attributed the tranquillity to Anderson's 'humane but firm and vigilant superintendence.

Bourke was the governor at the time.   He liked Anderson, it seems.   Not everyone did, though.   The island's chaplain accused Anderson of cruelty, fraud, and abuse.

It's kind of like the people smugglers.  Some see them as heroes and some see them as villains.

35. Consulted Lord Wiki about Joseph Anderson.   He indicates that Anderson could be cruel at times.  He says at one time Anderson gave a convict 1500 lashes.

Lord Wiki also says that Anderson overworked the convicts.

36. Went to the Australian Census website.   I wanted to make sure it was secure, and that random people couldn't fill it out.

No, I wouldn't do that in my delusional quest to feel Australian.  I was just CURIOUS.

Anyway, no.  It's not that easy.  They've passed out census forms to people in Australia. Then those people get a number they should use to validate their online census form.

It makes me wonder though.  If Australia needs to count their Australians, how do they know how many census forms and numbers to hand out?

Well, I guess they do an estimate.

37. Started watching flash program about the census.

It's cute.  

38. Started getting worried.  This program is asking me all these questions—gender, age, postcode.   I hope it's just for fun, and they're not trying to trick reluctant Australians into giving out their info.

Well, I think it's just for fun.   Probably.   

39. Looked at the infographic the program made for me. They talked about the stuff in the flash program, but it went by so fast.

Anyway, it's a mixture of fact and fiction.

I don't know Australian post codes so I just randomly took one of the examples they provided—2000.

It's somewhere in New South Wales.  

40. Looked up 2000 postcode.  It's Sydney!

Awesome.    

41. Looked at the rest of my infographic.

Close to seven billion people live on Earth.

.3% of the people live in Australia.

It would take me 379 days to shake hands with everyone in my state.

I better have a lot of antibacterial gel handy.

Hey, and does this factor in sleep time and toileting?  What about eating?

Maybe people will shake my hands while I'm sleeping?

I don't want anyone shaking my hand while I'm on the toilet.  I need my privacy.

Maybe after doing my toilet business, I'll shake hands really fast for awhile to catch up on my handshaking.  I'd want to make sure to get in my quota.

42. Saw that 1/2175 Australians are Jewish.  I guess that's fairly rare., but not super rare.

As for my country of birth, .3% of Australians were born in America.

There's 295,000 other people in Australia who are 38.  That's cool.

I said I do 5-14 hours of unpaid housework each week.  I'm not sure if that's true or not.  I've never timed my work.

I don't do a lot.

That's why our house often looks like crap.

I'm pretty sure I do at least 5 hours a week.

If I did more than 14, the house would probably be spotless.

43. Figured if I did the cooking, the hours would go up.  I think cooking is time-consuming.

The type of jobs I do are quick and gross—like cleaning out the cat litter.  I dread it, but it takes only about ten minutes.

Cleaning up cat vomit takes up 5-10 minutes.

Cleaning out the cat's ear takes about 30 seconds.  That's all I can manage before the cat runs away and hides.

Unloading the dishwasher takes about five minutes.

Doing laundry is fast if you discount the washing and drying time.   The gathering, loading, and putting away doesn't take much time.   

44. Saw that the Australian dollar is now at 1.0214 American dollars.   It's getting lower and lower.   But I don't know if it will stay low.   

It seems so odd that the Australian dollar is becoming equal to the American dollar at this time.   I understand that America's economy problems are leaking through to other countries.  That makes sense to me.  But I would think it would be proportional.   I would think America's dollar would go down, and then Australia's would go down relative to America's dollar.

I don't know if I'm making any sense.

45. Went to Flickr.  This will be my last day of stalking Faun070.

I have two of his albums left.

The first is Kakadu.  I'm eager to see that.

46. Saw a picture of Faun070 with Little Corellas.    

I think it's some kind of parrot. 

47. Consulted Lord Wiki about Little Corellas.

He says they're white cockatoos.  

They're known to be a sort of pest because they cause destruction to tree twigs.

48. Noticed that Faun070 uses "gay" as a tag in some of the photos. This one says dutchguygay.  

I guess that's fair.   We all have our interests.  I seek out photos of Australia.   Other people might be wanting to see gay men from the Netherlands.

49. Looked through more photos and I'm not seeing any gay tags.

I wonder why they wanted certain pictures tagged that way.

50.   Found another couple of gay-tagged photos.   Here's one.  His pose is sort of sexy.

51.  Saw photo of both of the guys together.   There's no gay-tagging here, or in any other together-photo I've seen.    It's almost like they're trying to appear single and sell themselves to Flickr members.

52. Loved this photo!  It's part of the Ubirr Art Site.

Lord Wiki says it has Aboriginal Art.

He says the work has been painted and repainted for 40,000 years; and that the paintings there now are about 2000 years old.

There's a very sacred site called the Rainbow Serpent Gallery.  It's supposed to be for women only, but Lord Wiki says the rules are relaxed for non-Aboriginal tourists.    That annoys me, sort of.   I guess I sort of feel they're selling out.   Or it's almost offensive.  It's like non-indigenous mean don't count.  

Well, no I'm being unfair.

I can understand it if I put it into perspective.

It's kind of like Jewish ways of thinking.   Religious Jews believe all other Jews should follow the hundreds of rules.  For example, we're not supposed to eat shrimp or lobster.  However, these rules apply only to Jews.   Jews don't believe that non-Jews need to do these things. They believe non-Jews can get into God's good side by simply following the seven laws of Noah.

In comparison Jews have 613 laws they need to follow.  

In a way it's nice. The gentiles supposedly get an easier time on Earth.  

But it's also perhaps a bit condescending.

53. Wondered if Faun070 and his partner advertised their gayness in other albums.

I didn't notice, but I don't know if I looked at their tags much on other days. 

54. Intrigued by this photo.  The two guys are together.   They advertise that they're Dutch, but not that they're gay.

You know what. Maybe they're just trying to provide eye candy.

I think people look out for certain nationalities when seeking out people to crush over.

55. Tired of people coming to my blog to see Rachel Carpani nude.

It's getting ridiculous.

Well, I shouldn't say that.  Then I'm being judgmental against porno fans and maybe also against Rachel Carpani's body.

I'll just say it's getting tiresome to me.

56. Googled Rachel Carpani nude to see what I'd get...well, in terms of my own site.

I looked at the little snippets provided.   One quotes from the post in which so many people are landing.   It says, I have Rachel Carpani on my mind. We don't even watch McLeod's.... Then she can let me borrow a nude photo of her and my blog can be REALLY ... 

Does it sound like I have a nude photo of Rachel Carpani?   Do I sound like a porno site?

And the title of the post is "Well, She's Not Nude, But....."

NOT nude.

So in no way is my blog providing false promises.   It says right in the title that I do not have naked photos of this person.

The other post snippet says, Statcounter is telling me a lot of visitors on my blog today are looking for photos of Rachel Carpani being naked.   I don't have any nude.....

See.  It's right there.   I have NO nude photos of Rachel Carpani.   I don't have any naked photos of any actress or actor.   

57. Started to look at Faun070's other Northern Territory Album.  

They have a lot of photos of the Wildman Wilderness Lodge.  I guess that's where they stayed.

58. Looked at the website of Wildman Wilderness Lodge.  

It's interesting.   I guess it's sort of like an all-inclusive resort...or some-stuff-inclusive.   You pay per person rather than per room.  It's pretty pricey.   They have two options.   One is a tent, and that's $245 per person.   The other one's a habitat, and that's $315.   Those are the prices in 2012.   The prices for 2011 are lower.  And in 2011 they have family tents.   In 2012 they don't.

The resort is open only April-November.  I guess it's too rainy in the other months.  

The price includes the room, breakfast, and dinner. Tours cost extra.

59. Found this picture of the two guys on the boat.  This is the first together-photo I've seen in which they tagged themselves as being gay.  

60. Finished looking at Faun070's Australian photos.

I might miss those guys.

61. Went to Mousie's music datebase.

First I'm going to listen to the same song as yesterday.   I had it in my head when I was taking a shower today.  



62. Started to listen to the next song on Mousie's list.    It's "Slow Motion" by Little Red.  



63. Started to look at page 4 of Frans de Wit's Australia album.  

It looks like he went into some actual mines in Coober Pedy.

64. Loved this photo.   It makes me think of Mars. 

65. Amazed at the clouds in this picture.   They look so low!

66. Thought this was an interesting view of Uluru.  

67. Happy to see Siany is back to making videos!  I was afraid she'd give up after she met her birthday goal.

Here's she's singing a Cat Stevens song.



68. Inspired to watch a Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens video).




It's lovely.

Lord Wiki says Yusef Islam gave up his music when he became Muslim, but then slowly returned to it. That's good.

I think religion becomes scary when it dramatically changes someone; especially when they give up such a beautiful part of themselves.  Apparently though, it wasn't the religion itself that stopped Yusef from singing.  It was his misinterpretation of it. 

69. Listened to this song (which I love because when I was a kid we used to swim at a place called Devil's Lake)




Then I started thinking that Yusef's story is kind of like Footloose. 



70. Thought about Anne Rice. She kind of has the same story as Yusef. She re-found the Catholic Church and dropped her vampire writing.

Well....wait....never mind.

I just went to talk to Lord Wiki.

It seems she's gone back to not being a Christian.

But she still follows Jesus.   She said, In the name of Christ, I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control. I refuse to be anti-Democrat. I refuse to be anti-secular humanism. I refuse to be anti-science. I refuse to be anti-life. In the name of Christ, I quit Christianity and being Christian. Amen

I like that.