Bobbing Around
Volume Seven, Number Eight
June, 2008
Bob Rich's rave
bobswriting.com/ anxietyanddepression-help.com/ mudsmith.net/ other issues
Bobbing AroundVolume Seven, Number Eight Bob Rich's rave
|
|
*About Bobbing Around
|
From Al Gore: Dear Bob, A few hours from now I will step on stage in Detroit, Michigan to announce my support for Senator Barack Obama. From now through Election Day, I intend to do whatever I can to make sure he is elected President of the United States. Over the next four years, we are going to face many difficult challenges -- including bringing our troops home from Iraq, fixing our economy, and solving the climate crisis. Barack Obama is clearly the candidate best able to solve these problems and bring change to America. I've never asked members of AlGore.com to contribute to a political campaign before, but this moment and this election are too important to let pass without taking action. That's why I am asking you to join me today in showing your support for Barack Obama by making a contribution to his campaign today: https://donate.barackobama.com/support Over the past 18 months, Barack Obama has united a movement. He knows change does not come from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue or Capitol Hill. It begins when people stand up and take action. With the help of millions of supporters like you, Barack Obama will bring the change we so desperately need in order to solve our country's most pressing problems. If you've already contributed to Barack Obama's campaign, I ask that you consider making another contribution. If you haven't, please join the movement right now: https://donate.barackobama.com/support On the issues that matter most, Barack Obama is clearly the right choice to lead our nation. We have a lot of work to do in the next few months to elect Barack Obama president and it begins by making a contribution to his campaign today. Thank you,
I am responsible for anything I have written. However, where I reproduce contributions from other people, I do not necessarily endorse their opinions. I may or may not agree with them, but give them the courtesy of a forum. Bobbing Around is COPYRIGHTED. No part of it may be reproduced in any form, at any venue, without the express permission of the publisher (ME!) and the author if that is another person. You may forward the entire magazine to anyone else |
Laraine Anne Barker on bipolar
Linda Morelli on adoption
Hi Bob
I was actually surprised to learn people with bipolar COULD be violent to others. I always thought they were more of a danger to themselves than anybody else. Certainly it's like that with our dear friend Dave, who has been married to his wife Anne for over 30 years. Now THAT last fact should surprise you! :-)
Well-known British actor Stephen Fry recently "came out" in a television series in which he described his fight to overcome the suicidal urges of bipolar and live a normal life. It's a very moving documentary from an amazingly courageous man. I wish my husband had saved it to a DVD.
Kind regards
Laraine Anne Barker
Finalist Dream Realm Awards 2001: THE OBSIDIAN QUEST
Prize-Winning Story: THE LITTLE DRAGON WITHOUT FIRE
STRANGER IN THE MIRROR
Web Site: http://lbarker.orcon.net.nz
Laraine is referring to a response from Ron Peters to a contribution from Alfredo Zotti.
Hi Bob,
Interesting one on adoption & ADHD. My hubby and I have four children, two definitely grown (41 & 31) and two at home, 13 and 15, both adopted. Naturally, that article caught my eye. Very interesting...and out of about 20 friends and/or acquaintances who have also adopted as a result of meeting and/or talking to us about the subject, only one couple had a problem with the child they adopted. Then again, the son was in a group of 4 siblings and he was the oldest, so he most likely remembered his parents. Ah well, that's another story.
Anyway, I always enjoy your newsletter!
Linda is also responding to a response from Ron Peters.
Linda
Linda Morelli is the award-winning author of FIERY SURRENDER, SHADOW OF DOUBT and LANI’S CHALLENGE. She reviews for MyShelf.com and is a part-time consultant, professional artist, creative writer/editor and fundraiser. Visit her web site at: Linda's Place - A Site for Romance Readers and Writers.
Is torture ever right? from John Hill
The Unraveling Crisis in Tibet by Brandon Wilson
Dear All:
I just received the following horrific news on a discussion group I belong to and thought I should pass it on as it seems to be getting very little publicity.
I hope I have some happier news next time I write.
John Hill
An enormous number of US torture documents (some 300 pages, many of them handwritten interrogation reports) from the Department of Defense were released two days ago by the American Civil Liberties Union, which obtained them through a Freedom of Information Act request.
The story was barely covered in the United States. There was an inconspicuous Associated Press story up briefly on Yahoo News, given without a link to find the documents. It disappeared in less than 24 hours. The New York Times didn't cover the story at all, so far as I can find (I just searched). You can find a story, though, in the Russian News Agency, Novisti.
But it's better to read the documents yourself -- and to have your students read them. You can download all of them from this link.
Overview of the documents, which "include the first on-the-ground reports of torture in Gardez, Afghanistan, to be publicly released:"
http://www.aclu.org/safefree/torture/34923prs20080416.html
We all knew it, but these documents describe it in vivid colors. Download just one document randomly and see for yourself. For example, selecting file #1 (this is a PDF file):
You find on page 20, selected randomly -- there is worse elsewhere:
> [Blacked out] a Category interpreter, interviewed [Blacked Out] who stated at the beginning of 2003 while working in the Seto Pass Checkpoint, U.S. soldiers from the firebase came and arrested him and his crew. He was handcuffed, then brought back to the firebase where he was further blindfolded. He was made to sit on his knees and then had a snow and water mix poured on him for 18 days. During the 18 days he was kicked, and punched in the kidneys, nose, and legs if he moved form (sic) his knees. During interrogations he was kicked and told if he did not tell the truth he would be killed. He said he was held for 20 days and about at day 18 he saw the body of Jamal NASSER, which was swollen, and discolored on his face, knees and feet like he had been beaten. After being taken from the firebase he was kept in [most of the rest Blacked Out].
And on page 21:
> [Blacked Out] the Americans went to the Setu Pass Checkpoint, and arrested [Blacked Out] and his men. they were brought back to the firebase and put on their knees facing a wall, if the (sic) moved any they were kicked or punched. The prisoners also had water poured on them while sitting on their knees. During interrogations he [i.e., whoever was being interviewed, Blacked Out] could hear screams from the interview room and a gunshot when [Blacked Out] was interviewing someone. [Blacked Out] stated he saw the victims when they left the firebase and that they were very bruised and beaten. He did not see the body of Jamal NASSER [killed during interrogation].
Dozens upon dozens of similar stories in the multiple files.
No commentary or discussion necessary. The top US news stories that day (as today) have to do with the Pope's visit to the US and the "polygamist scandal" in Texas: "All the news that's fit to print," to use the NY Times motto.
The story on the Pope's mass in Washington today is covered in 4,206 news stories (on Google's count a few minutes ago). The new torture documents, released two days ago, have been covered in 162 stories world wide, outside of the AP story, mostly not in major outlets.
I was astounded and sickened by an article our local newspaper ran addressing recent events in the unraveling crisis in Tibet.
For those who aren’t aware by now, Communist Chinese Army forces and police recently clamped down on what began as a peaceful demonstration by monks marking the 49th anniversary of the Tibet National Uprising in Lhasa. This peaceful protest in the Himalayan capital swiftly escalated into widespread riots after police fired live ammunition into the crowd. It was a brutal crackdown reminiscent of the atrocities of Tiananmen Square, complete with tanks and troop carriers. CNN reports 140 protesters were killed at the hands of the army with nearly 1,000 arrested.
Those events have snowballed into worldwide demonstrations against the oppressive occupation of Tibet by China for fifty years. Truth be told, it’s hardly an image the world’s emerging superpower, China, likes to convey, especially while it’s trotting the Olympic torch around the world on a “Journey of Harmony” not unlike Hitler first did in the days preceding World War II.
Besides the reporter’s blind eye to what is visually documented on Lhasa’s streets, I especially take exception to their way of equating the construction of a road, a railroad, or a few high-rise buildings or schools to progress and a better life for Tibetans.
To suppose that the Tibetan people are better off today because of their invasion and near-extermination is colonialist at best. At its worst, it reeks of 18th and 19th century imperialism. One can well imagine politicians and industrialists spouting the same twaddle in 1860s America as Native Americans were either rounded up onto reservations or exterminated. Sure, they could boast they’d brought them the railroad, schools, and a new religion, along with haircuts and high button collars. All it cost the indigenous people was their land, their culture, their lives…their freedom.
Today the same thing is happening in Tibet. When the Communists invaded in 1950, they killed over 1.2 million Tibetans. They destroyed over 6,000 Buddhist temples. Over the past fifty years, there have been massive resettlement programs. Hundreds of thousands of Han Chinese have moved into Tibet, set up businesses and intermarried. In exchange, they receive the best jobs, exclusion from the one-child policy and preferential treatment in China if and when they return.
The touted completion of the railroad from Beijing to Lhasa has only accelerated Tibet’s annihilation. The former annual invasion of a hundred thousand tourists has recently increased to several million. Old Lhasa, the capital my wife and I once knew, has been ravaged and replaced by strip clubs, karaoke bars, pool halls and brothels. A garish park featuring a Chinese fighter plane now surrounds the Potala Palace, one of the world’s architectural gems and traditional home to the Dalai Lamas.
Should the Tibetans be grateful?
At school, lessons are taught in Chinese, not Tibetan. The currency is Chinese. The best jobs go to the Chinese or Chinese-speakers. Traditional Tibetan clothing and food is being replaced with Chinese goods. Many villages have loudspeakers that broadcast music and news from China several times a day. The remaining temples have been turned into museums, while the atheistic Chinese decide who may even join monastic life. Their ranks now decimated, a would-be monk has to profess love of the Communist Party.
Today, even as you read this, over a hundred monks and nuns suffer torture and imprisonment in the worst conditions imaginable: most are there for small infractions such as having a picture of the Dalai Lama or singing songs of freedom.
Is this progress?
The Panchen Lama, second in the hierarchy of Tibetan Buddhism, was kidnapped as a six-year-old boy ten years ago and hasn’t been seen since. He remains the world’s youngest political prisoner. Shortly after his disappearance, the Communists had the excuse, as well as the audacity, to appoint their own Panchen Lama, a task normally reserved for the Dalai Lama.
The invasion and rape of Tibet has been highly successful while much of the world looks the other way. Today the Tibetan people are a minority in their own country and most are not permitted to legally leave its borders -- although thousands risk their lives each year escaping each winter in severe conditions to walk over the high Himalayas to India.
Yet this is just a brief summary of the many injustices they suffer. These conditions are not imaginary or fabricated. Their misery is very real and has been documented by the Red Cross, Amnesty International, the UN, International Campaign for Tibet, and human rights groups worldwide.
Let me make clear, my problem is not with the Chinese people, as many of them are just as oppressed. It is with the Communist Chinese government, the 5% who control the country.
As someone who personally walked across Tibet and stayed each night with peasant families or former monks, I have seen much of this with my own eyes. I have heard the conditions and despair whispered around their fires over a cup of yak butter tea. What is happening today is nothing less than what the Nobel Peace Prize winning Dalai Lama called “cultural genocide.”
So, I must ask, “Is this progress? Should the Tibetan people be truly grateful the Communists have “liberated” them?” Or perhaps I should ask, “Isn’t fifty years too long to suffer, even while the Dalai Lama repeatedly calls for tolerance, patience and a middle path of nonviolence?”
No, the western world has been all too silent. For a while the US aided Tibetans with smuggled arms through the CIA until Nixon took office and went courting Chinese business. Since then, especially after Clinton granted China “most favored nation” trade status -- worth billions of dollars -- our dollars have spoken louder than words. Our stores have been flooded with their cheap exports. Meanwhile, our workers have lost their jobs. Then, by selling the Communist Chinese party billions of dollars of treasury bonds, we have made the world's largest violator of human rights our friendly banker.
But there is still hope, and the time has never been better. The world’s eyes are upon China. Call or email Congress to insist the Communist Chinese sit down to negotiate autonomy for Tibet with the Dalai Lama. This is a simple act they have resisted for over a decade. Pressure President Bush to personally boycott the Olympic ceremonies, such as other conscientious world leaders plan to do. (One might think he’d have better things to do these days anyway.) Pressure China to cancel the Olympic torch relay across Tibet as it will only result in more violence and death. Demand that the Panchen Lama be released. Pray for peace.
Finally, I would hope the enlightened people of the world, and especially Native Hawaiian people would be sympathetic to the Tibetan cause. After all, these islands know all too well the problems wrought by the ill-conceived notion of “manifest destiny.” Let us not wish the same fate on any other sovereign nation.
Brandon Wilson
(author of Yak Butter Blues: A Tibetan Trek of Faith)
www.pilgrimstales.com.
Environmentally better mobile (cell) phones
A laptop case that recharges batteries
South Korea's coming ecological disaster from Glenn Barry
Choose green roses from Union of Concerned Scientists
Electric car on the way
Free public transport
What happens when you are charging your phone battery (or the rechargable battery in any other device)? Eventually the battery is full. The charger still draws current, as you can tell if you put your hand on it. You'll find it to be warm. So, this costs money, and adds to the waste that is destroying so many things on this planet. That little bit of unnecessary heat generation is a small part of what is going to cook us.
Well, new Nokia phones let you know when the battery is full, so you can switch off the power.
As with other consumer items, dead phones are a dead load on society. I have seen statistics about how many football fields could be covered by discarded mobile phones in Australia alone.
Nokia's response has been to manufacture phones entirely from recycled components: aluminium cans, rubber from tyres and so on. This new phone is named "Remade."
You can read all about this at http://coinsdig.com/
If you go to http://www.voltaicsystems.com/bag_generator.shtml, you will see a laptop computer case with a built-in solar panel and charger. It is claimed to be powerful enough to recharge the onboard battery of any computer that fits within the bag (17 inch screen), as well as any other device such as a phone, audio player or the like. In full sunlight, the bag generates 14.7 watts, and power is stored in a battery. Leave the case on the windowsill while you use your computer, and when you put it away, its battery will be recharged.
Sounds great. The only thing is, the price of $ US 599 is a bit beyond my budget.
South Korea's "Grand Canal", to Link Major Rivers, a Grand Ecological Disaster
EcoEarth.Info, a project of Ecological Internet http://www.ecoearth.info/
TAKE ACTION
South Korea must be convinced not to sacrifice its natural river ecosystems for a cross-country concrete canal that will severely damage the nation's water security. http://www.ecoearth.info/alerts/send.asp?id=south_korea_grand_canal
South Korea's new President Lee Myung-bak has proposed a project to connect South Korea's four major rivers (the Yeongsan, Geum, Nakdong and Han) with canals. The "Grand Canal" is intended to accommodate 5,000 ton cargo ships and would require dredging, deepening, widening and laying concrete along approximately two thousand kilometers of shallow river courses in South Korea, and perhaps more in North Korea. Such massive canalization of rivers will severely damage the hydrology of whole river systems and have enormous negative impacts upon South Korea's water resources, wetland ecosystems, and riparian biodiversity. Join Korean environmentalists in highlighting the importance of natural ecosystems for national well-being.
Take Action: Please send rewritten protest email re: FSC and ancient forest logging as well.
U.S. residents spent $8 billion on flowers in 2006, but many of the beautiful blooms we purchased were hiding an ugly past. Flowers sold in the United States are generally grown on large farms and treated with massive amounts of pesticide; this not only endangers the health of farm workers, but also pollutes local air and water supplies.
In addition, many flowers are imported from Asia and Central and South America, where environmental regulations are often less stringent. For example, the International Labor Rights Fund and the U.S. Labor Education in the Americas Project (LEAP) have found that 20% of the chemicals applied to flowers in Colombia, a top exporter, are restricted or banned in the United States and Europe. Transporting these flowers to U.S. stores magnifies their environmental impact, as trucks and airplanes (including the needed refrigeration) contribute to air pollution and global warming.
http://ucsaction.org/ct/FpMVh0M17Ycs/ Remember that great book 50 Simple Things You Can Do to Save the Earth? Well, it's back! And UCS is profiled in a chapter about renewable energy and what we can all do to help America shift away from dirty power and toward clean energy sources like the wind and sun. You can find out more and order a copy for yourself on their website.
Fortunately, the number of eco-friendly flower options is growing. Consider these tips the next time you want to impress that special someone:
Buy local. As with any agricultural product, locally grown flowers decrease smog-forming and global warming pollution by traveling shorter distances to market, and reduce the risk of plant pests being transported to new areas. Plants adapted to the local climate also need less fertilizer and pesticides, and are less likely to be rare, foreign species. Beware of invasive species that can crowd out native plants; see the related links for a list of plants considered invasive in your region. If shopping at farmers’ markets or pick-your-own farms, ask the growers to ensure that their plants are not invasive.
Look at the labels. Several certification programs have been created in recent years to tout flowers that have been grown in both environmentally and socially conscious ways. These labels include:
Grow your own. Consider purchasing live plants instead of cut flowers; they not only can provide you with blooms year after year, but can also be grown with low-impact organic plant food and compost. And if you still like your cut flowers, consider planting a cutting garden. In choosing your flowers, avoid wildflower seed mixtures, as they almost always contain invasive species.
Related Links:
Audubon Magazine A Rose is [Not] a Rose.
Fair Trade Flowers
U.S. Department of Agriculture National Invasive Species Information Center.
The Organic Garden-Journal Planting an Organic Cut Flower Garden.
Want to have a bigger impact on environmental issues? Add your voice.
Help us develop practical solutions to environmental problems by joining the Union of Concerned Scientists.
The Energetique EV project is a joint project involving a number of companies from countries all over the globe, including Switzerland, USA, China, Korea, UK, Italy, and Australia. It is an initiative of Energetique, an Australian company based in Armidale, NSW. The design concept was for a highly efficient and functional battery electric vehicle (BEV) with performance specifications that would be acceptable by the public familiar with internal combustion technology.
The vehicle is planned to have impressive specifications, including a range of 300km, a top speed of 130km/h, a 0 to 100 km/h time of less than 10 seconds and a weight of under 1200kg. The EV will use a lithium battery pack and a liquid cooled, synchronous induction motor with regenerative braking.
Prototyping is expected to be complete in early 2008. There will then be a small production run of a few hundred vehicles which would be used for testing the technology and concept. Once partner companies are satisfied, larger production runs are planned. Production capacity has been identified for the European, US and Australian markets. The vehicle will initially be released as a four door retrofit, followed by a custom designed four door commuter and an urban commercial vehicle.
Energetique is currently building an investor base that comprises a large number of small investors.
For more information contact Energetique Pty Ltd, 100 Barney Street, Armidale NSW 2350,
ph:(02) 6772 7113,
email info@energetique.com.au
www.energetique.com.au
In the Belgian city of Hasselt, which covers an area double the size of Dundee, congestion was eliminated in the late 1980s after the introduction of a totally free public transport system.
Free public transport would be the biggest single pro-environment policy enacted by any national government anywhere on the planet, dramatically slashing car use and CO2 emissions.
Free fares would represent a major shift of wealth in favour of the many thousands of people who currently pay sky-high fares to subsidise the transport companies.
Boosting public transport through free travel is a concrete means of tackling global warming.
For more information visit http://links.org.au/node/475
I fully agree. In the 70s, studies showed that the more you improve the road network, the more cars drive around, so that traffic congestion is not eased. The only way to reduce car use is to provide viable alternatives. Public transport is a service, not a business. It should be paid for by the taxpayer, for common benefit.
The orthodoxy in the biological sciences is that it’s mere superstition to consider life, sentience, consciousness to be more than just byproducts of the workings of a very complex machine. If you dissect and analyse and examine till the cows come home, you never encounter a self, a doer within the body, the inner little person that sees and hears and thinks and feels. Thinking and feeling and the like are there, no longer denied as in the behaviourist 50s and 60s, but not real in the sense that shifts in brain chemistry and electrical activity are.
This is nonsense. They can’t find that inner little person because they are looking in the wrong place, using the wrong tools.
We have no language for the relevant concepts, so the only way to explain is through analogy.
A computer is a heap of hardware until you install an operating system. Then it is capable of doing things. But what is the operating system? Is it a non-material thing within the material thing?
Of course not. It is information, and you cannot look at information by examining semiconductors and wires and things. That information can be on magnetic storage, or on a CD, or encoded by a pattern of electrical activity within an organised array of semiconductors. The material substrate is not important, as long as patterns and relationships within it represent the information.
A human-made computer is a very simple thing compared to the simplest virus or amoeba. But I hope this analogy shows why vitalism is not superstition. It is a question that can be decided using the methods of science, but not by analysing and dissecting.
Suppose there was scientifically valid evidence that SOMETHING survives death, and goes from life to life? That would not tell us anything about the nature of what survives, but would demonstrate that the reductionist argument is wrong.
Well, there is such evidence. In science, the strongest support for a theory is if there is “converging evidence:” that is, if disparate findings all support the one conclusion. There is convergent evidence for reincarnation. Two lines of research will stand up to examination as rigorously as any other finding. A third consists of indisputable evidence, the most plausible explanation for it being reincarnation. And one more is all anecdotal, but surprisingly consistent across cultures.
1. Little children sometimes say things they can’t possibly say, and do things they haven’t ever been taught. Most people in western cultures grow out of this, because it is contrary to “common sense.” All the same, instances have been found everywhere researchers have looked for them, even in Muslim countries where the idea of reincarnation is heresy.
Best known is the work of Dr. Ian Stevenson. Look him up on Wikipedia. Forty years of research by him and his team is only one source of carefully conducted research showing that some kids have memories that have come from... somewhere. Once I was sensitised to this, I came across many examples too. A 42 year old woman I know was 4 years old when her mother said to her, “You’re so beautiful, you’ll be famous one day.” The little mite replied, “I don’t want to be famous again.”
2. Entirely independently, many hypnotherapists have reported sessions in which clients returned to experiences that can only be described as past lives. A number have elicited testable claims from the client, and then looked for the evidence. Most impressive is the work of Peter Ramster. His best-known case was a woman in Sydney, who apparently recollected a life in the 18th Century when she was a girl in England. She was sitting on paving made of stones with carvings on them. She drew the patterns of carvings, and could pinpoint the location. She and Peter went to Britain, found the claimed location, which was in a poultry yard, and started to dig. Under two feet of black soil, they found the paving with the exact carvings that had been drawn in Sydney.
3. Carl Jung developed the concept of the collective unconscious, based on the remarkable similarity in dream content, myths, legends and stories of cultures that had no previous contact with others. Several explanations have been offered for this commonality. One is that these memories are carried by the part of a person that survives from life to life -- the operating system. The evidence is incontestable, although other explanations are possible.
4. Return from clinical death experiences are also remarkably similar across cultures. This is inherently anecdotal evidence, in that the only way to test them is to die and then return -- and then your report is only anecdotal evidence for other people.
In my book Cancer: A personal challenge, Yvonne Rowan has a wonderful little essay, which reports her experience from two episodes of clinical death.
Some people who die and return can remember nothing. However, those who do all claim to have encountered a person who cannot be described other than being an incredibly beautiful glowing presence. This person communicates without speech. The message is completely unjudgmental love, but with an unshakeable firmness. Depending on the temporarily dead person’s cultural background, this presence is taken to be God, Jesus, an angel, a spirit guide, or your ancestor. The message is typically that it’s not your time to die yet, because you still have work to do in this life.
So, it’s at least reasonable to accept that SOMETHING exists that’s not in a meat machine, and that the operating system for the meat machine is something other than what you can find by dismantling and analysing it.
Not good enough
Exploitation by counselor
Help with an assignment
Can you trust a "living will"?
Hello Sir,
well, I'm not quite sure it's ok for me to contact you for help but I thought I'd give it a shot.
I'm someone with low self esteem, who knows absolutely nothing about time management and who's very emotional. For the past month I've been suffering from dizziness, I'm being treated but it's taking time, with all my college assignments and my graduation project that is due in two months and my final exams that are 5 days away! I'm a total mess...not to mention that I'm having a hard time getting over my best friend whom I've had feelings for for the past four months, he's been dating someone else for the past two months and he has absolutely no idea of how I feel so he's been pushing me to be friends with his girl but I tried to convince him that it's not such a good idea, so now seeing them together, seeing him and hearing his voice, knowing I'm losing even his friendship since he's spending more time with her all these things are kind of making me feel unhappy. The only thing I can do is write, it kind of relieves some of all those negative feelings I have. I'm sooo stupid to have fallen for him that way.
I want to get over all this, get over my best friend, become independent, someone capable of pursuing her dreams, someone confident that she's one of a kind and I simply want to be a pro-active person. I want to really change and feel better about myself. If only I can get the words "I'm not good enough" out of my head, life would be alot easier.
I know that I may not be making much sense to you or perhaps I'm acting like a crazy person but I've bottled all these things up for a long time so when I finally got a chance to speak up they all came out at once.
Thank you for your time...
Narelle
Dear Narelle,
Yes, it is all right to contact me. Every week, one or two people do, and currently it is my role in the world to help people to move out of misery into a better life. I hope I may be able to do this service for you too.
Chances are, your physical distress (feeling dizzy etc.) are part of your reaction to your feelings and the stress they give you. However, you should use them to get a deferment of your exams, and extra time for your other study commitments. I am sure this can be arranged.
Narelle, when I was about 23, I asked a girl to marry me and she said no. I felt devastated, unlovable, useless. Six months later, I was married to another girl, and she has been my wife for 41 years.
It is possible that for you too, what seems like a tragedy now may end up as an opening the right person can fill.
You wrote: “I want to really change and feel better about myself. If only I can get the words ‘I'm not good enough’ out of my head, life would be a lot easier.”
My dear, when you were a little girl, you made sense of some events in your life by forming the belief that you were not good enough. This is often because of conditional love from caregivers. I don’t know you at all, but let me tell you: you are good enough. You are exactly right, the way you are. Some of the things you do are excellent. For example, how many people are intelligent enough to be graduate students? Other things you are doing need improvement, for example your time management skills, and the kinds of things you say about yourself. But these are not parts of you. They are things you’re doing: habits. And if a habit doesn’t suit, then change it.
There is a reason for suffering: it provides opportunities for growth. Handle this painful time right, and you will end up as a better, more mature person. You are exactly good enough. You are intelligent rather than stupid, and whatever needs to be changed in your habits is in your power to change.
Love,
Bob
This young lady and I exchanged another 4 or 5 emails. I think I was the only support she had. She successfully completed her studies, and hopefully, she is moving on with her life.
I was in long term counseling with my minister from January 2005 through December 13, 2006. He held himself out to be trained and qualified to do such work. The work, which he referred to as therapy and analysis, led me to believe such things. During the last 6 months of the relationship, he began to invite me to project my sexual fantasies onto him and even asked "What is the next level for this relationship, beyond sexuality, what is the next level for us?" I allowed the comments for about 6 months until I finally confronted him. He denied ever saying those things, when he also had recorded the sessions with a digital voice recorder. I found out in December of 2006 that he was not in possession of a counseling license, and was actually in school getting his masters in counseling. (he is about to enter into the field.) He has since destroyed the voice recordings, unlawfully diagnosed me as borderline and bipolar (which I'm not) and now I am filing civil suit against him for emotional damages that occurred because of his negligence. This has been very hurtful for me and it's almost been a year and I'm still struggling with it. I have no health insurance to get further counsel, and even if I did, I am scared to go back into a sacred space.
So, how can someone heal from being emotionally exploited by a counselor who is manipulative and controlling? How can a sense of peace be attained? And, most importantly, how can one make better choices when searching for a qualified counselor?
My dear,
The very fact that this man gave you so-called therapy for so long proves him to be incompetent. Psychological research over the past 50 years has generated very effective techniques for empowering people to make changes in very much less time than this. Only the very worst effects of chronic childhood abuse are likely to take years.
I would think that a betrayal by a therapist, especially one who claims to be a representative of God, would be about the worst you could experience. You have every right to pursue your complaints, and even a duty. We don’t want to let him loose on other targets.
I am afraid there are predators in every field. The ministry, and people in the helping professions, are no exception. However, this does not mean that the next person is likely to be of the same kind.
Anyone can call himself a counselor, and get away with it. However, professions like psychology and social work have registration requirements, with a registration board and a professional body to oversee ethical conduct. This does not eliminate the risk, but does control it.
I don’t know what the law is in Tennessee, but in some places, the disciplinary process may provide funds for you to receive therapy to allow you to recover from the effects of this betrayal. However, even if you have to pay for it yourself, I feel you should seek out a competent professional with more than a Mickey Mouse diploma in counseling. Seek out a psychologist with at least the minimum qualifications for registration in your State. Don’t be afraid to ask questions before the first session.
You have been through a very nasty experience. You ended up taking power in your hands, and are now proceeding with courage. So, is there a silver lining on this cloud for you? Think about the ways you have grown, and become a better person because of this episode in your life.
You will heal because you have gained power. You will be less gullible, and for a while less trusting, but I am sure your intuitive judgment of people will have improved too.
i was hoping you could answer some questions for a school assignment.
1.How is ur service funded?? through government?? payment for services?do u do fundraising?? or prices??
2.What services are offered?? broad or limited?? what kind of issues can YOU assist with??
3. How accessible is your service?? to get there and to book a appointment.?? how long does someone have to wait for assistance??
4. what training qualifications do the staff have??
please reply!!
Dear Kay,
I am a counselling psychologist. You can look up what that means at http://psychology.org.au. Click on 'groups' then 'colleges' then 'College of Counselling Psychologists.'
Currently, I am in private practice. Until November last year, I worked one day a week at an Aboriginal Health Service. I was funded through the local Division of General Practice (doctors) by a Federal Government program called Better Outcomes for Mental Health. In private practice, I have:
You need a psychologist when you are stuck in a problem. Typically, people are in this situation when their attempted solutions make matters worse, or when their situation appears hopeless. My job is to unlock their inner power to solve their own problems, which they can. Occasionally, I may need to do some teaching, for example if a person never learned certain essential skills like behaving assertively, or using appropriate nonverbal communication.
In this role, I have assisted people suffering in every imaginable way, and even some you wouldn't imagine.
I work 3 days a week, in 3 different locations. This includes after hours and weekends, so I can accommodate working people and school students. I make myself available as soon as possible after contact -- don't have a waiting list. On occasion, this has meant 9 one-hour sessions a day, but I have tools in place for looking after myself.
I don't have any staff -- I am it. My training is the equivalent of 14.5 years at University, plus a lot of experience.
False memories can play a significant role in the discrepancy between an individual's true preferences for end-of-life treatment and what is instructed in their living will. Life-sustaining treatment preferences often change as people age or experience new health problems, and advance directive forms typically remind people of their right to update their directives if their wishes change. This assumes that people recognize when their wishes about end-of-life treatment have changed, and remember that their current wishes are different from those documented in their living will.
"Living wills are a noble idea and can often be very helpful in decisions that must be made near the end of life. But the notion that you can just fill out a document and all your troubles will be solved, a notion that is frequently reinforced in the popular media, is seriously misguided,"ť said Peter Ditto, professor of psychology and social behavior at UCI.
In research reported in the current issue of the American Psychological Association journal Health Psychology, a sample of 401 adults older than 65 were interviewed about which life-sustaining treatments they would want if they were seriously ill. They were interviewed again 12 months later to test their recall of earlier decisions. About one-third of participants changed their wishes regarding medical treatment such as CPR and "tube feeding" over the course of the year, and in 75 percent of these cases, participants falsely remembered that their original views on the issues matched their new ones.
Interviewers also talked to individuals empowered to make medical decisions if the study subjects were no longer able. These potential surrogate decision makers were even less sensitive to changes in their loved one's wishes, showing false memories in 86 percent of cases.
"On a policy level, these results suggest that living wills should have an 'expiration date.' People can't be counted upon to update their directives as their wishes change because they often have no awareness that their wishes have changed," Ditto said. "On a more personal level, our research stresses the importance of maintaining an ongoing dialogue among individuals, their families and their physicians about end-of-life treatment options." The study was conducted by Ditto, Loftus, Maryanne Garry of Victoria University of Wellington, Jill A. Jacobson of Queen's University and Stefanie J. Sharman of the University of New South Wales.
http://today.uci.edu/news/release_detail.asp?key=1765
Teaching sells
Local writing = endless inspiration by Sara Webb Quest
A strike against Amazon?
Instructional non-fiction outsells all kinds of fiction. If you have knowledge or skills other people want to learn, you can do a service to them and earn money doing it.
If you are already a writer, you have a huge advantage over most of your competition. “How-to” books tend to be stodgy. Here is a picture of the dish, the ingredients and a recipe. Go for it. Or here is a drawing of the device, with parts identified, and page after page of instructions, probably in Chinese English.
I only ever enjoyed reading one textbook: an introduction to Chemistry written by Isaac Asimov. He could even make a highly technical subject like that interesting -- and so can you.
There are dozens of books on how to build a house, from textbooks for apprentices to books based on the author’s experience of building one house. Of these, my Earth Garden Building Book: Design and build your own house has done the best in Australia (being quite a large, heavy book, shipping costs to other lands make it too expensive).
Why?
Because it is not just a cookbook for building a house. It is entertaining and inspiring as well as being instructive. Aim for this in your own field of knowledge, and you’ve got a winner.
A couple of examples: the book has a couple of pages about a single mother with three small children who built her own house. Is this inspiring? It also teaches, although the details of how she assembled a wall are not there. (That’s in another chapter.) You can learn from her how to use the help of others, how to organise time and materials, and so on. And in the section on planning your house is the story of a couple in their 60s. He lost his left leg as a young man -- but they built a house. In this case, the instruction is on the solar-efficient aspects of the building, but knowing that people with their limitations could do it just has to convince you that you can too.
My second book, Woodworking for Idiots Like Me, takes this concept further. It consists of 22 stories, some the fictionalised accounts of people I know, but most autobiographical. Readers have told me my humour gives them a chuckle, the stories do what stories are supposed to -- but also they lead to instructional sections that teach you woodcraft. This book sold some tens of thousands of copies between 1994 and 1999, and last year I reissued it as an electronic book. It won its section in the EPPIEs Awards.
Cancer: A personal challenge starts with a fictional story. It contains a few poems, highly emotional personal stories as well as technical material that gives you an understanding of the problem and its causes, and instruction on:
So, do you know lots about ice skating, or knitting, or mountain climbing or motor maintenance? Write an inspiring, entertaining book that also teaches.
Ever thought you could gain money and publicity by writing locally? Anyone can – as long as you know where to find local / regional publications, how to make contact, and what to offer.
WHERE: YOUR LOCAL STORE LOBBY
You know those freebie magazines and newspapers stacked high as soon as you walk into any local market? They may include local parenting publications, magazines excerpted from regional newspapers, kids and family guides. I found two local gigs this way, the first being two columns for Cape Cod Parent and Child newspaper, the second being an interview contributor for Prime Time Cape Cod, a free excerpt from The Cape Cod Times. I snagged those publications for free, brought them home, and read each, cover to back. Then, using the internet and Google.com, I searched for their online homes by inputting the publications’ titles. Another fantastic place to look is in your local market’s check-out line. Woman’s World, for instance, is just over a dollar to purchase and uses freelance writers as contributors.
HOW: CONTACT THE EDITOR
Once you are at a publication’s online home, you’ll see a menu of links on the left-hand side of the site. “Submissions” is the link to click. You already know what the publication is about. Now, you must find out what it needs desperately. In the submissions section, the editor tells just that. In the rare event the publication doesn’t have an online home, just look at the editorial list which is usually on the first or second page of a publication. Here, you’ll find the editor’s (or publication’s) contact email address.
WHAT: GIVE THE EDITOR WHAT S/HE DESPERATELY NEEDS
Again, what you must focus on is what the particular publication desperately needs. If you can’t find it in the “submissions” section online, contact the editor via email to query an idea. For instance, Cape Cod Parent and Child was missing a non-fiction book review column for parents. In discovering this as the main need, I queried the editor and became the new “Off-The-Shelf” columnist! For Woman’s World, I noticed in one section after one mother’s article, a request was made asking for more like it, but with a unique bent. So I queried a memoir-type essay about a unique family tradition shared in my childhood with my own mom, which we’d called “Mother-Daughter Skip Day.” That was one of two articles that I’ve had published in Woman’s World.
I’ve had over a dozen interviews published in the local Prime Time Cape Cod magazine. I got this job after emailing its editor a couple samples of children’s articles and reviews I’d written for another local publication. Guess what? Writing locally pays well and is fun.
In other words, profound inspiration can come from your neighbors. There are amazing, free publications in grocery store lobbies that will pay interested writers WELL (as I found out from my Prime Time and Woman’s World paychecks) and provide them with fascinating subjects to write about.
Once you’ve secured a local gig, endless inspiration is the reward. Since a recent Prime Time article I wrote about “Clementine” author Sara Pennypacker, I’ve created my own chapter book based on my daughter’s funniest life events and words!
Sara Webb Quest lives in South Yarmouth with her husband, daughter and cat. Her stories have appeared in Fandangle, Cape Cod Parent and Child, Woman’s World and Prime Time. She has written many children’s books that crave an agent (including her humorous chapter book Aydil Vice & Her Disgustin’ Hair Knots, which has already received rave reviews from award-winning authors. Quest is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. www.authorsden.com/sarawebbquest is her website, where anyone may sign-up for her writing-life newsletter.
Online book giant Amazon has been upsetting some people in the trade by increasingly tying up all aspects of production and sale of books. For some years now, I have not bothered to list my own books there, because it can actually COST a vendor to have a sale through Amazon. The only way to make money is if you have your book listed, then sell new copies as "used" on the same page. You'll gain on these sales, while losing on the Amazon-sold ones if you count all the costs.
The high cost of coing business with Amazon has even affected some large publishers. A recent report states that Britain's biggest publisher, Hachette Livre UK, is organising a boycott of Amazon, for much the same reasons as my small boycott. Many authors are applauding.
Community Harvest Project
TRI Studio contest results
Million Dollar Run Across America for Charity
Humanity is on trial
Video trailer of Mari Bushman's book
7th Writers' Boot Camp
Lea's monthly resource
Humor in Carolyn's newsletter
Bainstorming as usual
Victorian schools' garden awards
This is local to the Yarra Valley and Dandenong Ranges area, where I live, but why don't you set up something similar in your locality?
Announcing The Community Harvest Project
- Information evenings beginning in July -
What is The Community Harvest Project?
The Community Harvest Project is an initiative of the Hills Organic Box Scheme and the Yarra Valley Permaculture Group. It has been developed in response to growing pressures in the community, such as rising food, fuel and other living costs, social disconnection, climate change and peak oil.
The Project will work with individuals and groups to identify and map existing local food resources, increase the supply of local, sustainably produced food and connect people with the resources they need to begin growing their own sustainably produced food, support others in growing food, starting local food related enterprises and much more. In this way we intend to work with the community to build community and ensure access to healthy, affordable food, for everyone.
Information evenings begin in July in the Shire of Yarra Ranges - details of the first two can be found on the attached brochure (for individuals) and information sheet (for organisations). Further information evenings are in the process of being finalised.
Please feel free to email, print or otherwise share our publicity among your networks as widely as possible - the project is starting in Yarra Ranges however we are receiving a lot of interest from other areas and are keen to assist other communities in taking it up.
Best wishes to you!
Kerry Dawborn,
Coordinator
Michelle Jones,
Faciliator
The Community Harvest Project
communityharvest@bigpond.com
ph: 03 59689828
PO Box 29,
Cockatoo 3781
Victoria
July 1st: Wandin North Public Hall Cnr Clegg Rd & Warburton Hwy, Wandin Nth, 7-9pm, RSVP June 26th
July 7th: Lilydale - Community Room, Lilydale Lake Parkland, Swansea Rd, Lilydale, 7-9pm, RSVP July 2nd
July 16th: Selby Community House, Minak Reserve, Wombalana Rd, Selby. RSVP July 11th
July 29th: Healesville Memorial Hall, 237 Maroondah Hwy, Healesville, 7-9pm, RSVP July 24th
July 30th: Yarra Glen Memorial Hall, Cnr Bell st & Anzac Ave, Yarra Glen, 7-9pm, RSVP July 23rd
TRI Studio LLC Announces Winners of the 2008 Out of the Box Promotion Idea Contest for Writers
Judged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson
TRI Studio LLC, in cooperation with Authors’ Coalition, announces the winners of The 2008 Out of the Box Promotion Contest for Writers in an e-book publishing their winning ideas. The top winners include promotional experts Janet Elaine Smith, Allyn Evans, Phil Harris and Billie Williams. Ideas range from a Book-of-the-Week Club that partners the publisher and author with an internet radio program, to an Amazon Tour Group, a Video Tour Group, and an idea that allows readers to watch the progress as an author writes a book. The e-book is available from TRI Studio and Authors’ Coalition as a free download. It is also available for free distribution for interested parties to post on their websites.
Winners of the Honorable Mention awards are presented in random order and include authors Mindy P. Lawrence, Dorothea Buckingham, Nikki Leigh, Margot Finke, Karina Fabian and Jessica Kennedy. The contest was sponsored and created by TRI Studio LLC, producer of The Fiction Flyer, a free e-zine for writers of fiction.
Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of The Frugal Book Promoter and The Frugal Editor, judged the contest based on the following criteria:1) the originality of the idea, 2) The breadth of applicability, and 3) the ease of use. Says Johnson, “There were some very interesting ideas which made judging extremely difficult.” According to Kathe Gogolewski, author and President of TRI Studio LLC, the contest was created as a way to showcase new and interesting promotion ideas by authors and for authors. “We wanted to create a tool to help writers in their craft,” she adds.
The e-book, The Winners of The 2008 Out of the Box Promotions Contest for Writers is available for download and distribution here: www.tri-studio.com/outofthebox.html Interested parties may contact Kathe Gogolewski or Carolyn Howard-Johnson.
Richard Singer Announces
Million Dollar Run Across America for Charity
Author and therapist Richard Singer has recently signed an agreement with the Guiness Book of World Records to attempt to break a 27 year old record by crossing the United States in 46 days on foot. He will be benefiting 6 charities representating different aspects of life. 50% of his book sales royalty will also be donated to charity. He hopes to raise 1 million dollars and show the world what one person can do to make lasting changes. Richard is seeking donations for charity and to help fund this world record attempt as well as donation of food, lodging, etc. as I cross the US. More about Richard please visit www.RickSinger.org.
This is basic information and more info will be released shortly.
One notable fact about this event thus far is that leading celebrity publicist Anthony Embry has taken the position of Lead Publicist and a documentary will be discussed later this month when I fly to Knoxville. Anthony is a well known publicist from Desperate Housewives, American Pie, and Traffic as well as other films.
This event is going to be incredible as we help numerous charities and raise awareness in the world.
Pass it on and anything you can do is appreciated.
Philip Harris has invited you to join Humanity on Trial- Countdown to 2012
Is humanity worth preserving? By December 1st, 2012, this court will render its verdict.
This is a bulletin board, blog, discussion list with many interesting and intelligent members.
http://humanityontrial.ning.com/?xgi=afnN5Gk
Many, many, many thanks in advance!
Mari
Miracle, the novel--Read the prologue and first chapter, order the eBook or the paperback
Three pieces of your reading puzzle found! www.jigsawpress.com
For a little Plain Talk, visit www.mlbushman.blogspot.com
Extensive writer resources: www.mlbushman.com
If you want to make a quantum leap in your writing career, THIS IS THE PLACE TO BE!
Attend the 7th Writers' Boot Camp, ran by Borderlands Press.
WHERE: Marriott Burkshire Hotel, Towson, MD 21204
WHEN: January 23-25, 2009
2 Sessions—Novel and Short Fiction—each session accepts 16 to 20 participants who qualify.
"This past weekend I spent three days in Baltimore attending the first (2005) Writers Boot Camp put on by Borderlands Press. My evaluation of that experience? -If you are serious about your writing and have the opportunity to go next year, don't miss out. IT WAS THAT GOOD." Joe Nassise, Past President HWA
Any and all genres acceptable.
You will be expected to log in many hours of intensive analysis and criticism from your peers and the four guest instructors who will be guiding you through all the major elements of writing fiction.
COST: Short Fiction $995.00; Novel $1195.00
Further details from http://www.borderlandspress.com
Human dynamo Lea Schizas has circulated this notice. Many writers will know Lea as the organiser of the annual free online writer's conference.
Monthly eBook Newsletter is filled with links to agents, publishers, magazines and more. As of August 1st, 2008 this monthly eBook will be available for the low cost of ten dollars yearly. If you join now, however, you'll continue to get it for FREE. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MonthlyEbookNewsletter/
Award-winning author and authors' advocate Carolyn Howard-Johnson and former Glendale News-Press columnist Anne Louise Reinhard live just 10 minutes from each other here in the great Los Angeles area, but didn't meet until they each traveled 2,200 miles to Dayton University's Erma Bombeck Writing Conference in Dayton, Ohio. To further the coincidence, Howard-Johnson is a sporadic movie reviewer for the News-Press.
Anne Louise attended an editing workshop conducted by Howard-Johnson, author of The Frugal Editor, and as she listened to the speaker, realized that Howard-Johnson was talking about their hometown. So after the session, Anne Louise introduced herself, and handed the author her card. Good thing she did, because it turns out that Howard-Johnson forgot to collect her newsletter sign-up sheet from the session, and would have been unable to contact the attendees if it weren't for the business cards she had collected. So she sent an-e-mail to everyone whose card she had, offering the newsletter to them.
The response was huge, and Anne Louise was among those who asked for an e-handout. Howard-Johnson says, "I'm a great recycler. Think of the paper we saved!" The two writers started e-mailing, and now Howard-Johnson's "Sharing with Writers" newsletter has a creative new columnist, Anne Louise Reinhard, to fill a previously empty niche -- humor writing. Howard-Johnson says, "Even my subscribers who aren't humorists can learn something from Anne Louise's 'Humor Hints.' Even a serious book proposal can benefit from a touch of humor."
Howard-Johnson is the founder of Authors' Coalition. Writers interested in her "Sharing with Writers" newsletter filled with tips on craft, promotion and tech may send an e-mail with "Subscribe" in the subject line to HoJoNews@aol.com. Learn more about her at www.howtodoitfrugally.com.
Anne Louise can be read, and reached, at http://annelouise.net.
Subjects in May: Progress report, Boomer Retirement? Bad Guys in literature, Book Reviews, Mistletoe Meet, Science Fiction & CERN, Our Outstanding Medical System -- duh!, Bain Muses, Lost Books, Excerpt From Bark!
And subjects in June: Free Short Story (Warning: not a happy ending), Comeuppance, Scientists Reading Fiction, Progress Report, Movie Credit, Book Reviews, Readers: born or made?, Bain Muses, Kissing and Longer Life, Continuing Saga of Betty, Last Honest Man, Bain Blunders, Unusual Mother's Day Present, Enjoying Dated Science Fiction, You Read it Here First, Patenting Genes, Bain Predictions, Excerpt From Savage Survival
Darrell Bain
Fictionwise 2005 Author of the Year. Double Eppie Award winner 2007. Dream Realm Award, 2007. See www.darrellbain.com for all my books.
Department of Education and Early Childhood Development Victoria
For all principals and schools
2008 Victorian Schools’ Garden Awards
For more than 30 years the Victorians Schools’ Garden Awards have encouraged school communities to utilise their gardens and grounds effectively, and have supported the full development of every student. Indeed, the Awards provide a great opportunity for students to explore fresh ideas in the face of water scarcity and climate change.
All Victorian schools are invited to enter the Awards program. Schools and regions affected by drought are especially encouraged to participate, thereby expanding traditional notions of what gardening can embrace or lead to.
Judges will visit entrant schools during Term 3, and regional winners and state finalists will be announced during Term 4. In late October, popular gardening personality Jane Edmanson (and her team of judges) will again take to the skies to visit state finalists, and presentation of the Awards will take place in December.
Entries close on Friday 25th July, 2008.
General information regarding the Victorian Schools’ Garden Awards is available on the Department’s website: http://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/events/garden/default.htm
For further entry information... Contact Debbie Daks, VSGA Program Coordinator, on 0417 507 574, or visit the Nursery & Garden Industry Victoria website: http://www.ngiv.com.au
Dr Peter Stewart
General Manager
Infrastructure Division
Farmers might be doing their bit to prevent bladder cancer. An international team of researchers discovered broccoli sprouts can lower the incidence of bladder cancer in rats by more than half.
This study builds on past evidence that vegetables from the cabbage family containing glucosinolates stimulate the body's defence mechanisms against cancer.
More than 300,000 people worldwide are annually diagnosed with what is the fourth most common cancer in men and the eighth most common in women.
Now scientists hope to look at ways of growing mature broccoli with high levels of glucosinolate compounds.
New Zealand scientists Carolyn Lister from Crop and Food Research and Rex Munday, from AgResearch collaborated with two United States researchers and another from New Zealand to arrive at these findings.
It was funded by Horticulture Australia Limited (HAL) under its Vital Vegetables program.
"We were interested in the results of the study from the perspective of developing vegetables with elite characteristics," Dr Lister said.
"The fact that we've shown this extract can cut the development of bladder cancer in rats is great news for our broccoli and Vital Vegetables programs since the compounds, known as glucosinolates, are also present in the mature broccoli plant, and one of the aims of our research is to produce conventionally-bred broccoli with naturally high levels of them."
The researchers' latest experiment, the findings of which were recently published in the prestigious international journal Cancer Research showed that this is indeed the case.
An Obituary
Nick's super-efficient water vapour condenser
Here Lies
The Growth Economy
DIED
early in the 21st Century
after a long and painful illness
Once adored by all, eventually despised for breaking so many promises.
Flourished in the days of greed, status and power, but withered when sense prevailed.
Was given to manic-depressive fits and starts; when depressed was prone to trample firms, workers and whole regions.
Fatal illness: gluttony. Daily consumption reached 50 million barrels of oil, 9,000 tonnes of copper, 13 million tonnes of soil, 20,000 third world children $2 billion worth of arms, 40,000 Ha rainforest.
Symptoms: waste, pollution urban decay, selfishness, apathy, war, underdevelopment, poverty, repression.
Finally choked to death; unable to consume all it produced or to reduce consumption to sensible levels.
MOURNED BY FEW
(The few who owned all the capital)
R. I. P. (Really Inadequate Performer)
I have a quite large collector of condensed water vapour.
It collects on average 207 litres of beautiful clean drinking water a day. It's built into my house, costs nothing to run and can go almost indefinitely without human intervention. It also has a 22,000 litre back up capacity so it's very very reliable. I believe it used less energy to built it than one of those high tech condensation collectors.
Granted, it does take up a little more space than one of those things.
Nick Ritar
You may not have guessed it. Nick is referring to the roof on his house. :)
The Federation Press, Sydney, 2007
ISBN 978 186287 656 9
I would expect a book with this title, compiled and produced by an organisation called Researchers for Asylum Seekers, to be passionate and biased. The passion is there, but the bias is not. The 26 essays by 37 contributors form a document that is fair, even-handed and informative.
I am a refugee myself, although from a time when Australia actively sought migrants. I’ve been involved in working for asylum seekers for years. All the same, I learned many interesting facts from reading Yearning to Breathe Free.
As just one example, today’s response to asylum seekers is the child of the Labor Party, not of the Liberals. John Howard merely used a tool developed for him by Bob Hawke. When the boat people started to arrive from Vietnam, Labor was scared they would all turn out to be staunch right wingers; future Liberal voters. Misleading terms like ‘queue jumpers’ and mandatory detention were the result. In recent years, Howard simply used the same strategies, and the same turns of phrase, to oppress and vilify a different group of people desperate to escape oppression and violence.
I was impressed by the list of contributors. Some names were new to me, but most Australians will know Malcolm Fraser, Carmen Lawrence, Lindsay Tanner and Lyn Allison; Phillip Adams, Sir Gustav Nossal and Arnold Zable. Anyone involved with human rights issues will have been inspired by Julian Burnside, QC, another contributor.
Any collection of contributions from a wide range of authors can be expected to vary in both style and quality. All I can say is that someone has performed a wonderful bit of editing, because the writing is uniformly of very high quality, clear and understandable. Style varies from dry academic to poetry in prose, but all of it is informative and inspiring.
The level of difficulty of this book is such that any senior high school student should be able to understand it. And I have no doubt that all high school students, and their parents, should be set Yearning to Breathe Free as compulsory reading.
boomerang
memories of Australia
bounce back
When I read this, I was amazed at the depth of many-layered meaning so few words could hold.
Winter is well on the way where I am, so it's strange that Bookswelove is running a Sizzling Summer contest. What can they be about?
I've had lots of visitors to my page there, registering in my Guest Book so they can qualify for perhaps winning a free prize. Actually, they get one from me as well: every visitor to this guest book gets a little story from me.
The main prize of the Sizzling Summer contest is an eBookwise Reader, plus a selection of electronic books, including titles from me. In addition, there will be a monthly drawing of print books.
The contest runs from the 1st of June to the 31st of August, and I refuse to write these dates in the back-to-front way of people who run a summer contest in winter.
If you received a copy of Bobbing Around and don't want a repeat, it's simple. Drop me a line and I'll drop you from my list.
You may know someone who would enjoy reading my rave. Bobbing Around is being archived at http://mudsmith.net/bobbing.html, or you can forward a copy to your friend. However, you are NOT ALLOWED to pass on parts of the newsletter, without express permission of the article's author and the Editor (hey, the second one is me.)
If you are not a subscriber but want to be, email me. Subject should be 'subscribe Bobbing Around' (it will be if you click the link in this paragraph). In the body, please state your name, email address (get it right!), your country and something about yourself. I also want to know how you found your way to my newsletter. I hope we can become friends.
Contributions are welcome, although I reserve the right to decline anything, or to request changes before acceptance. Welcome are:
Submission Guidelines
It is a FALSE RUMOUR that you need to buy one of my books before your submission is accepted. Not that I cry when someone does so.
Above all, contributions should be brief. I may shorten them if necessary.
Content should be non-discriminatory, polite and relevant. Announcements should be 100 to 200 words, shorter if possible. Book reviews, essays and stories should be at the very most 500 words, poems up to 30 lines.
Author bios should be about 50 words, and if possible include a web address.