We’re all going on a summer holiday... or so we all wish.
Love Holidays
I love holidays, and it’s nice to be able to travel to some fun places and to be able to spend time with my mother and other relatives, but it hasn’t always been easy. There were times when we had no children and no mortgage and could leave at the drop of the hat to head overseas. Then there were times when we had children and lots of expenses, including a mortgage and school fees!
Holidays for the lean times
During these years, we’d save for a couple years for a big holiday. One thing we never did was travel on credit cards as we knew we’d never be able to pay them off. Some of our friends are now in this position (some now retired and with lots less income and some young and experiencing big mortgages). So, how can they have a great holiday without going into debt?
YHA
Holidays are expensive, aren’t they? Well, have you tried staying in a youth hostel? Did you know that you can join at any age and that they have family package prices? There are some lovely hostels at top locations including many beach ones.
Camping
Camping is another way to travel more cheaply. Yes, buying the gear is expensive initially, but perhaps you can borrow some from a friend. I know we borrowed gear one year and travelled the west coast of the US with young children. We had a ball (and so did the kids!).
House Exchange
Perhaps you don’t fancy a hard bed, well I have another idea. What about changing houses with friends in another city or town? In their sixties, my parents exchanged with friends in Holland for a month and then later exchanged with another couple for another couple months in Stockholm. However, it doesn’t have to be an exotic location. It can be fun to get to know another area even if it isn’t a usual tourist destination. You know some of our overseas visitors have said that Yass was the highlight of their overseas trip.
Yass?
What did we show them in Yass? Just the town really. Oh and they all loved the play at the Rep theatre. Every play has been popular. They just loved the intimate little theatre where they got to talk to the stars. The local shops with wonderful shopkeepers were popular. Seeing the sheep and local farms was a hit, and some have been lucky enough to see Burrinjuck and its wonderful, accessible wildlife!
And if you really can’t get away this year, why not spend a day in town. When did you last visit the museum or the railway museum or Cooma Cottage or how about the archives?
Canberra
If you can get to Canberra, there is even more to see. Have you seen all of the following lately: the National Museum, the National Gallery, Parliament House (old and new), Regatta Point, the lake, the National Archives, Black Mountain, the Botanic Gardens, the War Memorial, Calthorpes House, the Bicycle Museum and so much more.
I know that I’ve left out so much to do in Yass and in Canberra, so why don’t you hop on to the blog and add some more places for the world to see.
Have a wonderful Christmas and I hope you also have a holiday (even if it’s only one day). Enjoy.
Until January
Useful Links
http://webweedswisdom.blogspot.com/
http://www.yha.com.au
http://travel.yahoo.com/p-travelguide-2750996-canberra_things_to_do-i-rec-y
http://www.canberrabicyclemuseum.com.au/
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Monday, November 12, 2007
Green Religions?
Religions and the Environment
The Belonging Group at church has been discussing the environment and Chrsitianity, After doing some reading, we decided that we had no choice in whether to be part of the solution as God called us to be caretakers of His world.
How did we come to this conclusion? Well, some of the Bible excerpts were quite clear. For instance, in Job (12:7–10): “But ask the animals, and they will teach you; the birds of the air, and they will tell you; ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of every human being.”
Then in Genesis (2:15): “And the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to do work in it and take care of it.”
We then looked at what some other Christian churches were thinking.
Pope John Paul
On 1 Jan 1990 Pope John Paul said: "Christians, in particular, realise that their responsibility within creation and their duty towards nature and the Creator are an essential part of their faith."
Anglican Synod 2007“There was unanimous support for all parishes in the Sydney diocese to implement an environmental policy to reduce the carbon footprint and a call on governments at all levels to take the issue of climate change seriously.”
Uniting Church
Maroubra Junction Uniting Church has switched to GreenPower, is installing a grey water treatment system, is involved in car sharing and community gardening, and runs an “eco-mowing” service for the local community.
Looking further
So do other religions have enironmental beliefs? Definitely YES.
The Dalai Lama
In 1992, the Dalai Lama spoke at the global Earth Summit in Brazil.
“I believe that to meet the challenge of our times, human beings will have to develop a greater sense of universal responsibility. Each of us must learn to work not just for his or her own sake, family or nation, but for the benefit of all mankind. Universal responsibility is the real key to human survival. It is the best foundation for world peace, the equitable use of natural resources and, through concern for future generations, the proper care of the environment.”
Buddism
“Out of a concern for the total living environment, Buddhist environmentalists extend loving-kindness and compassion beyond people and animals to include plants and the earth itself.”
In the view of the Thai monk, Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, “The entire cosmos is a cooperative. The sun, the moon, and the stars live together as a cooperative. The same is true for humans and animals, trees, and the earth. When we realize that the world is a mutual, interdependent, cooperative enterprise . . . then we can build a noble environment.”
Islam
“Assuredly the creation of the heavens and the earth is greater than the creation of humankind; yet most people understand not.” (Koran as quoted in This Sacred Earth, edited by Roger Gottlieb)
‘If a Muslim plants a tree or sows a field and men and beasts and birds eat from it, all of it is charity on his part,' and again, 'The world is green and beautiful and God appointed you his stewards over it'; environment consciousness is born when such values are adopted and become an intrinsic part of our mental and physical make up. (Dr. Abdullah Omar Nasserf)
Hinduism
Hindus believe that the earth is a manifestation of the goddess (Devi) and that she must be treated with respect; that simple living might serve as a model for the development of sustainable economies; and that the concept of Dharma can be reinterpreted from an earth-friendly perspective.
Harvard
Harvard hosted a three year series on “Religions of the World and Ecology”. Their site states: “Clearly religions need to be involved with the development of a more comprehensive worldview and ethics to assist in reversing this environmental crisis.”
Your religion?
How does the environment rate in your religion?
Until next month…
Useful Websites
http://www.tibet.com/Eco/dleco4.html
http://www.gipl.org/pdf/Green_Sabbath/ReligiousQuotationsOnEnvironment.pdf
http://environment.harvard.edu/religion/religion/index.html
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2007/s2038372.htm
http://nsw.uca.org.au/news/2007/green-discipleship_08-10-07.htm
The Belonging Group at church has been discussing the environment and Chrsitianity, After doing some reading, we decided that we had no choice in whether to be part of the solution as God called us to be caretakers of His world.
How did we come to this conclusion? Well, some of the Bible excerpts were quite clear. For instance, in Job (12:7–10): “But ask the animals, and they will teach you; the birds of the air, and they will tell you; ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of every human being.”
Then in Genesis (2:15): “And the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to do work in it and take care of it.”
We then looked at what some other Christian churches were thinking.
Pope John Paul
On 1 Jan 1990 Pope John Paul said: "Christians, in particular, realise that their responsibility within creation and their duty towards nature and the Creator are an essential part of their faith."
Anglican Synod 2007“There was unanimous support for all parishes in the Sydney diocese to implement an environmental policy to reduce the carbon footprint and a call on governments at all levels to take the issue of climate change seriously.”
Uniting Church
Maroubra Junction Uniting Church has switched to GreenPower, is installing a grey water treatment system, is involved in car sharing and community gardening, and runs an “eco-mowing” service for the local community.
Looking further
So do other religions have enironmental beliefs? Definitely YES.
The Dalai Lama
In 1992, the Dalai Lama spoke at the global Earth Summit in Brazil.
“I believe that to meet the challenge of our times, human beings will have to develop a greater sense of universal responsibility. Each of us must learn to work not just for his or her own sake, family or nation, but for the benefit of all mankind. Universal responsibility is the real key to human survival. It is the best foundation for world peace, the equitable use of natural resources and, through concern for future generations, the proper care of the environment.”
Buddism
“Out of a concern for the total living environment, Buddhist environmentalists extend loving-kindness and compassion beyond people and animals to include plants and the earth itself.”
In the view of the Thai monk, Buddhadasa Bhikkhu, “The entire cosmos is a cooperative. The sun, the moon, and the stars live together as a cooperative. The same is true for humans and animals, trees, and the earth. When we realize that the world is a mutual, interdependent, cooperative enterprise . . . then we can build a noble environment.”
Islam
“Assuredly the creation of the heavens and the earth is greater than the creation of humankind; yet most people understand not.” (Koran as quoted in This Sacred Earth, edited by Roger Gottlieb)
‘If a Muslim plants a tree or sows a field and men and beasts and birds eat from it, all of it is charity on his part,' and again, 'The world is green and beautiful and God appointed you his stewards over it'; environment consciousness is born when such values are adopted and become an intrinsic part of our mental and physical make up. (Dr. Abdullah Omar Nasserf)
Hinduism
Hindus believe that the earth is a manifestation of the goddess (Devi) and that she must be treated with respect; that simple living might serve as a model for the development of sustainable economies; and that the concept of Dharma can be reinterpreted from an earth-friendly perspective.
Harvard
Harvard hosted a three year series on “Religions of the World and Ecology”. Their site states: “Clearly religions need to be involved with the development of a more comprehensive worldview and ethics to assist in reversing this environmental crisis.”
Your religion?
How does the environment rate in your religion?
Until next month…
Useful Websites
http://www.tibet.com/Eco/dleco4.html
http://www.gipl.org/pdf/Green_Sabbath/ReligiousQuotationsOnEnvironment.pdf
http://environment.harvard.edu/religion/religion/index.html
http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2007/s2038372.htm
http://nsw.uca.org.au/news/2007/green-discipleship_08-10-07.htm
Monday, September 17, 2007
Energy Smarter!
Previous Article
In March, I wrote about energy smart houses, mainly about the companies who are providing energy efficient light bulbs. This is still a good idea, and if you haven’t been replacing your old bulbs with energy efficient ones, you should consider it. Remember the Enviro Saver group will do this for you for no cost!
Sustainable House Day
The Sustainable House Day is organised by a non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting the environmentally sustainable use of energy. The event is made possible by volunteers, community support, and ethical corporate and government sponsors.
On this day, many architects and people hoping to make a difference open their houses to show the rest of us what can be done.
My goal
David and I visited two house which were interesting, but I didn’t really learn much. Then we happened to visit a home build by a very passionate young couple. They were so knowledgeable and so passionate that they have turned me around from someone who thought it would be good to be a bit more efficient in my power and water use to someone who now thinks I should aim to be close to energy and water neutral in the new house I am planning.
Neutral power—How?
All of the hot water can easily be heated by solar. The solar panels we now have are getting quite old, but the newer solar tubes are much more efficient as sun doesn’t have to hit the top directly in order to produce good heating. You could also use solar tube heating to circulate under the floor (tile, polished concrete, etc) to provide free energy floor heating.
This is good, but did you know that you can also produce enough electricity from the sun to run your other household devices? Solar tiles can be used to pass electricity through to the electricity grid during the day and then you can buy it back in the evening. In others words you can have an electricity meter which actually runs backwards part of the time! The young couple I told you about paid for no electricity as they produced as much as they used. The had mostly normal appliances except for a couple energy saving ones.
Insulation, etc
In order to be energy neutral they had build carefully. Huge windows facing solar north with a high thermal mass (floor, walls and false wall panels); proper overhangs, insulation in walls, under floor, in ceiling and a metre out from the house; double glazed low e argon windows; cross ventilation; and low energy light bulbs all contributed to this wonderful result.
Composting Toilet?
Yuk; an outhouse in my house? No way. But wait… I saw a working composting toilet and it looked like a conventional toilet without a flusher. It didn’t even smell and this toilet produces only a small amount of compost from a family over a period of year. This can then be buried. That’s right no water. However if you want to use water, there is a composting toilet which used 500ml a flush, the envirolet toilet. It is still expensive from $2000 to 3500, but if you can afford it, this would be a good way to avoid black water in the system. There are cheaper systems and if these can be installed in Canberra, I sure hope they can be installed in Yass.
Grey Water
Now if you have no black water, you can treat the remaining used grey water through a filtration system so that after 5 days you can have recyled water which can be held in tanks and used for laundry and watering. The young passionate couple I mentioned have lived in Canberra city since early December and have not connected to the water supply yet! Amazing. So why aren’t we doing this in Yass when water is so precious to all of us.
The garden
I’ll leave this information for Lisa, but much water saving can be incorporated here as well.
So much we can do
Yes, all this will cost more, but if you can afford to build smart now, do it! You will not only save money in the future, but you will help to save the resources of our planet. If you are renovating an older house, consider what you might be able to incorporate to make it much more energy efficent.
Until next month…
Useful Websites
http://www.solarhouseday.com/info.shtml
http://www.enviroletvf.com/
http://www.rotaloo.com/01loo.html
http://www.envirosaver.com.au/
www.greenhousegasnsw.gov.au
In March, I wrote about energy smart houses, mainly about the companies who are providing energy efficient light bulbs. This is still a good idea, and if you haven’t been replacing your old bulbs with energy efficient ones, you should consider it. Remember the Enviro Saver group will do this for you for no cost!
Sustainable House Day
The Sustainable House Day is organised by a non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting the environmentally sustainable use of energy. The event is made possible by volunteers, community support, and ethical corporate and government sponsors.
On this day, many architects and people hoping to make a difference open their houses to show the rest of us what can be done.
My goal
David and I visited two house which were interesting, but I didn’t really learn much. Then we happened to visit a home build by a very passionate young couple. They were so knowledgeable and so passionate that they have turned me around from someone who thought it would be good to be a bit more efficient in my power and water use to someone who now thinks I should aim to be close to energy and water neutral in the new house I am planning.
Neutral power—How?
All of the hot water can easily be heated by solar. The solar panels we now have are getting quite old, but the newer solar tubes are much more efficient as sun doesn’t have to hit the top directly in order to produce good heating. You could also use solar tube heating to circulate under the floor (tile, polished concrete, etc) to provide free energy floor heating.
This is good, but did you know that you can also produce enough electricity from the sun to run your other household devices? Solar tiles can be used to pass electricity through to the electricity grid during the day and then you can buy it back in the evening. In others words you can have an electricity meter which actually runs backwards part of the time! The young couple I told you about paid for no electricity as they produced as much as they used. The had mostly normal appliances except for a couple energy saving ones.
Insulation, etc
In order to be energy neutral they had build carefully. Huge windows facing solar north with a high thermal mass (floor, walls and false wall panels); proper overhangs, insulation in walls, under floor, in ceiling and a metre out from the house; double glazed low e argon windows; cross ventilation; and low energy light bulbs all contributed to this wonderful result.
Composting Toilet?
Yuk; an outhouse in my house? No way. But wait… I saw a working composting toilet and it looked like a conventional toilet without a flusher. It didn’t even smell and this toilet produces only a small amount of compost from a family over a period of year. This can then be buried. That’s right no water. However if you want to use water, there is a composting toilet which used 500ml a flush, the envirolet toilet. It is still expensive from $2000 to 3500, but if you can afford it, this would be a good way to avoid black water in the system. There are cheaper systems and if these can be installed in Canberra, I sure hope they can be installed in Yass.
Grey Water
Now if you have no black water, you can treat the remaining used grey water through a filtration system so that after 5 days you can have recyled water which can be held in tanks and used for laundry and watering. The young passionate couple I mentioned have lived in Canberra city since early December and have not connected to the water supply yet! Amazing. So why aren’t we doing this in Yass when water is so precious to all of us.
The garden
I’ll leave this information for Lisa, but much water saving can be incorporated here as well.
So much we can do
Yes, all this will cost more, but if you can afford to build smart now, do it! You will not only save money in the future, but you will help to save the resources of our planet. If you are renovating an older house, consider what you might be able to incorporate to make it much more energy efficent.
Until next month…
Useful Websites
http://www.solarhouseday.com/info.shtml
http://www.enviroletvf.com/
http://www.rotaloo.com/01loo.html
http://www.envirosaver.com.au/
www.greenhousegasnsw.gov.au
Sunday, September 02, 2007
Fathers Day and Parenting
Fathers Day
Did you have a nice Fathers Day? We had a great one. It’s the first year in about 10 that we had both children at home and they made a delicious lunch that we ate outside as it was such a lovely day. We then got a little exercise playing croquet and laughing. What fun!
I know not everyone has had great experiences with their father, but I am very sure that everyone has had a wonderful male role model in their life at some time. Perhaps they are stepfathers, uncles, a big brother or next door neighbour. It’s a good time to honour these other father figures as well.
Parenting
I think today it is hard for people who bring up children by themselves, although some do a wonderful job. The qualities of both male and female seem so complementary. There’s a Erma Bombeck writing on the marvelcreations site which talks about God creating fathers and mothers and the differences. It’s cute, but actually contains some good information.
We looked at this in the Belonging Group at church. It was interesting to find scripture about God the Father’s characteristics which are quite manly such as discipline. On the other hand we thought that the Holy Spirit displays the more motherly characteristics of comfort.
Good Parenting
What help is out there to help fathers and mothers with parenting? I think help is important as I remember my early months as parent with no family around. Friends are so important and espeically older friends who have already gone through the process. I don’t know what I would have done without Ann Furner Holmes in those days. Having someone to reassure me that all was well was so very important.
There are lots of people who are in the position that I was in and it is tough. Besides family and friends, there’s lots on the Internet that can be helpful.
Web Help
The Royal College of Psychologists have a wonderful leaflet on parents. This site talks about the importance of praise, but also says the rules are an important part of everyday life. If children learn to follow rules, they learn to get along with other people and will be much happier and less frustrated.
The Australian Parenting website, Raising Children, is really well organised according to age groups of children, plus a section for parents including things like budgetingand depression.
Some of the hints
1 Stress the positive. Spend more time talking about what your child does right than critising. Affection and respect will reinforce good (and change bad) behaviour.
2 Eat together often as meals are a great time to talk about the day and develop a close relationship with your children.
3 Provide an environment for your children where a foundation of mutual appreciation, support, and respect is the basis of your relationship and this will continue into their adult years.
4 If you can be calm and clear with your commands as it will help with communication. Saying something like `Please turn down the CD player” or `It's time for bed now’ is a calm way of requesting an action.
5 If you phrase your requests so that your child can say yes, your desired response will come more easily. The child will listen if you phrase your request in a way that appeals to his/her need for control and independence. If you say, ‘Would you like to set out the plates or the spoons?’ you are more likely to get cooperation than if you say, ‘Set the table NOW! (Raising Children site)
6 One of the things I found most useful and important to remember was when your child is making you angry, go into another room or even outside, then calm down before trying to talk.
Parenting is one of the most exciting, wonderful, but hard times of our lives. Enjoy, but do seek help when its needed. There is lots of help out there.
Useful Websites
Web Weeds & Wisdom blog:
http://webweedswisdom.blogspot.com/
http://www.marvelcreations.com/fathersday.html
http://www.fathers.com/
http://www.friendshospitalonline.org/parenting%20tips.htm
http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealthinformation/mentalhealthandgrowingup/2goodparenting.aspx
http://raisingchildren.net.au/
Did you have a nice Fathers Day? We had a great one. It’s the first year in about 10 that we had both children at home and they made a delicious lunch that we ate outside as it was such a lovely day. We then got a little exercise playing croquet and laughing. What fun!
I know not everyone has had great experiences with their father, but I am very sure that everyone has had a wonderful male role model in their life at some time. Perhaps they are stepfathers, uncles, a big brother or next door neighbour. It’s a good time to honour these other father figures as well.
Parenting
I think today it is hard for people who bring up children by themselves, although some do a wonderful job. The qualities of both male and female seem so complementary. There’s a Erma Bombeck writing on the marvelcreations site which talks about God creating fathers and mothers and the differences. It’s cute, but actually contains some good information.
We looked at this in the Belonging Group at church. It was interesting to find scripture about God the Father’s characteristics which are quite manly such as discipline. On the other hand we thought that the Holy Spirit displays the more motherly characteristics of comfort.
Good Parenting
What help is out there to help fathers and mothers with parenting? I think help is important as I remember my early months as parent with no family around. Friends are so important and espeically older friends who have already gone through the process. I don’t know what I would have done without Ann Furner Holmes in those days. Having someone to reassure me that all was well was so very important.
There are lots of people who are in the position that I was in and it is tough. Besides family and friends, there’s lots on the Internet that can be helpful.
Web Help
The Royal College of Psychologists have a wonderful leaflet on parents. This site talks about the importance of praise, but also says the rules are an important part of everyday life. If children learn to follow rules, they learn to get along with other people and will be much happier and less frustrated.
The Australian Parenting website, Raising Children, is really well organised according to age groups of children, plus a section for parents including things like budgetingand depression.
Some of the hints
1 Stress the positive. Spend more time talking about what your child does right than critising. Affection and respect will reinforce good (and change bad) behaviour.
2 Eat together often as meals are a great time to talk about the day and develop a close relationship with your children.
3 Provide an environment for your children where a foundation of mutual appreciation, support, and respect is the basis of your relationship and this will continue into their adult years.
4 If you can be calm and clear with your commands as it will help with communication. Saying something like `Please turn down the CD player” or `It's time for bed now’ is a calm way of requesting an action.
5 If you phrase your requests so that your child can say yes, your desired response will come more easily. The child will listen if you phrase your request in a way that appeals to his/her need for control and independence. If you say, ‘Would you like to set out the plates or the spoons?’ you are more likely to get cooperation than if you say, ‘Set the table NOW! (Raising Children site)
6 One of the things I found most useful and important to remember was when your child is making you angry, go into another room or even outside, then calm down before trying to talk.
Parenting is one of the most exciting, wonderful, but hard times of our lives. Enjoy, but do seek help when its needed. There is lots of help out there.
Useful Websites
Web Weeds & Wisdom blog:
http://webweedswisdom.blogspot.com/
http://www.marvelcreations.com/fathersday.html
http://www.fathers.com/
http://www.friendshospitalonline.org/parenting%20tips.htm
http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealthinformation/mentalhealthandgrowingup/2goodparenting.aspx
http://raisingchildren.net.au/
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Century of Communication
We live in the century of communication
This morning I listened to Nau’s sermon on communication and prayer. This started me thinking about the huge changes in communication in my lifetime. As a child, we had a big old black phone with a party line so another family might pick up the phone listen in while we were talking to someone else. By the time I was in high school we had princess phones; nice slim phones and extensions in many rooms of the house.
However my kids grew up with a couple lines in the house and a mobile phone when Bec was in high school. What a change; I could talk with her wherever she was. Mobiles, pagers other electronic communications got the Tiananmen Square information out of China in 1989.
The Internet
Of course computers and the Net quickly became part of our world. We could email friends and relatives around the world very cheaply and messages arrived almost instantaneously. We loved it, and this proved t be a very important form of communication, including broadcasting the updates of Hurricane Katrina much earlier and better than commercial communication channels.
After email, we learned to create and use websites, including personal ones. Instant messaging and then voice phone over the Internet (VOIP) for almost free phone calls were next.
Pull, not Push communication
Even though we still get junk mail, junk email, and junk TV ads that we don’t want, today we have the ability to select the material we choose to read or listen to. I guess we just need to become much more selective so we don’t get information overload.
We can now create our own news with RSS feeds on a reader page. We can have the topics we want appear from the sources we love. How will this change newspapers? What about TV programs on demand? Already we are getting quality free information feeds from experts we trust. Will this continue to be free or will we pay for the items we receive? We are also sharing memories and knowledge with people we know and people we don’t.
Politicians
Now we have our politicians on the Net at YouTube trying to communicate with a younger generation. Have you seen John Howard’s short video there? If you have dialup (and I’m still waiting for Telstra to make broadband available to me), you will wait quite a while to see and hear him. By the way, he got a 2 star rating (out of 5) from his audience.
Social networking
I wrote about our high school reunion wiki a few months ago. This website has been created by classmates, now in their 50s and many had hardly emailed before they started putting up pictures and writing comments. It’s now growing quite well and certainly has taken on a life of its own.
Wiki websites and others that allow collaboration and sharing are really growing. Jane wrote about the parallel world of SecondLife where people create a new persona, buy, sell, take on studies, and “live” another life. This is interesting, and if I had enough bandwidth and a better video card, I would certainly try it out. However, I’m much more interested in the social networking of real people who are mostly being themselves. Facebook is one of these sites where in the last few weeks, I have met up with children of my friends who are now living all over the world. This network is growing quickly as people invite their friends to join in.
Where will all this lead?
It is important that students today gain expertise in these and future technologies, but I think it’s also important for the rest of us living in today’s world, otherwise we could miss out on some wonderful interactions and communications.
I’m not sure what’s next, but I am sure that I will still enjoy meeting my friends for lunch or coffee at the uni or in town. Much as I appreciate these new forms of communication, F2F (face to face) communication will never die!
Until next month.
Useful Websites
John Howard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5jtiJPlv4Y
Most read blog: http://www.engadget.com/
stats: http://technorati.com/pop/blogs/
This morning I listened to Nau’s sermon on communication and prayer. This started me thinking about the huge changes in communication in my lifetime. As a child, we had a big old black phone with a party line so another family might pick up the phone listen in while we were talking to someone else. By the time I was in high school we had princess phones; nice slim phones and extensions in many rooms of the house.
However my kids grew up with a couple lines in the house and a mobile phone when Bec was in high school. What a change; I could talk with her wherever she was. Mobiles, pagers other electronic communications got the Tiananmen Square information out of China in 1989.
The Internet
Of course computers and the Net quickly became part of our world. We could email friends and relatives around the world very cheaply and messages arrived almost instantaneously. We loved it, and this proved t be a very important form of communication, including broadcasting the updates of Hurricane Katrina much earlier and better than commercial communication channels.
After email, we learned to create and use websites, including personal ones. Instant messaging and then voice phone over the Internet (VOIP) for almost free phone calls were next.
Pull, not Push communication
Even though we still get junk mail, junk email, and junk TV ads that we don’t want, today we have the ability to select the material we choose to read or listen to. I guess we just need to become much more selective so we don’t get information overload.
We can now create our own news with RSS feeds on a reader page. We can have the topics we want appear from the sources we love. How will this change newspapers? What about TV programs on demand? Already we are getting quality free information feeds from experts we trust. Will this continue to be free or will we pay for the items we receive? We are also sharing memories and knowledge with people we know and people we don’t.
Politicians
Now we have our politicians on the Net at YouTube trying to communicate with a younger generation. Have you seen John Howard’s short video there? If you have dialup (and I’m still waiting for Telstra to make broadband available to me), you will wait quite a while to see and hear him. By the way, he got a 2 star rating (out of 5) from his audience.
Social networking
I wrote about our high school reunion wiki a few months ago. This website has been created by classmates, now in their 50s and many had hardly emailed before they started putting up pictures and writing comments. It’s now growing quite well and certainly has taken on a life of its own.
Wiki websites and others that allow collaboration and sharing are really growing. Jane wrote about the parallel world of SecondLife where people create a new persona, buy, sell, take on studies, and “live” another life. This is interesting, and if I had enough bandwidth and a better video card, I would certainly try it out. However, I’m much more interested in the social networking of real people who are mostly being themselves. Facebook is one of these sites where in the last few weeks, I have met up with children of my friends who are now living all over the world. This network is growing quickly as people invite their friends to join in.
Where will all this lead?
It is important that students today gain expertise in these and future technologies, but I think it’s also important for the rest of us living in today’s world, otherwise we could miss out on some wonderful interactions and communications.
I’m not sure what’s next, but I am sure that I will still enjoy meeting my friends for lunch or coffee at the uni or in town. Much as I appreciate these new forms of communication, F2F (face to face) communication will never die!
Until next month.
Useful Websites
John Howard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5jtiJPlv4Y
Most read blog: http://www.engadget.com/
stats: http://technorati.com/pop/blogs/
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Birthday of the Queen
Day off?
I think most of us are looking forward to a day off work on Monday, 11 June 2007, unless we live in Western Australia when the Queen’s birthday will be celebrated on Monday, 1 October 2007. For most of us the Queen’s birthday signals winter and the opening of the ski season. (Perhaps there will even be snow there this year!) Does the Queen’s birthday also mean more to us?
Real birthday
When was Queen Elizabeth really born? That was on 21 April 1926 at 2.40am at her grandparents’ house in London. Although most Commonwealth countries celebrate her birthday, no country appears to use her real birthday. England celebrates in June, but the day changes. They have the Trooping the Colours, the Queen's Birthday Parade, so a nice summer day in June is preferable to a cold spring day for this occasion.
Canada celebrates her birthday on Victoria Day, but wikipedia says not many Canadians realise that it is a celebration of Queen Elizabeth’s birthday as well as Queen Victoria’s. Other countries that have celebrations include Fiji, where she is no longer head of state. However, Hong Kong gave up their holiday when they were handed over to China.
Bonfires?
So why do we celebrate with bonfires in Australia? Well this started with her ancestor, King George 111, whose birthday was celebrated on 4 June with a celebration and pardoning of convicts. The day ended in bonfires as they had lots of wood to burn.
In Australia, I think we enjoy our fireworks as much as our bonfires. I have great memories of the Yass Public bonfires and fireworks nights. We’ve also had smaller family celebrations around big fires with small fireworks, and then there’s the showground. Wasn’t that great last year?
How much to you know?
Check your knowledge about the Queen. The following questions came from the 80 facts about the Queen on the royal government site below. This site was set up for her 80th birthday. The answers can be found on that site or on our blogspot.
1. Over the reign, Her Majesty has given regular Tuesday evening audiences to how many British Prime Ministers?
2. Queen Elizabeth II is the (25th, 35th, 40th, 45th) monarch since William the Conqueror obtained the crown of England?
3. How many times has the Queen visited Australia?
4. Can the Queen drive a car?
5. Besides Corgis, what other dogs does the Queen breed?
6. True or False: The Queen has visited the sets of a number of popular British soap operas including Coronation Street and East Enders
How will you spend the day?
So what will you do? Think about the Queen and what she means to you and to our country, spend time with the family, go to the bonfire, or you could always attend the Queen's High Tea Party at Australia Zoo or perhaps you will be awarded an Order of Australia! Whatever you do, enjoy it!
http://webweedswisdom.blogspot.com/
http://www.statusquo.org/aru_html/html/birthday.html
http://www.australiazoo.com/visit-us/calendar/?event=1&item=33
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen's_Official_Birthday
http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/page4823.asp
Answers
1.10
2. 40th
3. 15 times Her Majesty most recently visited Australia in March 2006 to open the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
4. Yes, The Queen learnt to drive in 1945 when she joined the Army.
5. dorgis,Labradors and Cocker Spaniels
6. True
I think most of us are looking forward to a day off work on Monday, 11 June 2007, unless we live in Western Australia when the Queen’s birthday will be celebrated on Monday, 1 October 2007. For most of us the Queen’s birthday signals winter and the opening of the ski season. (Perhaps there will even be snow there this year!) Does the Queen’s birthday also mean more to us?
Real birthday
When was Queen Elizabeth really born? That was on 21 April 1926 at 2.40am at her grandparents’ house in London. Although most Commonwealth countries celebrate her birthday, no country appears to use her real birthday. England celebrates in June, but the day changes. They have the Trooping the Colours, the Queen's Birthday Parade, so a nice summer day in June is preferable to a cold spring day for this occasion.
Canada celebrates her birthday on Victoria Day, but wikipedia says not many Canadians realise that it is a celebration of Queen Elizabeth’s birthday as well as Queen Victoria’s. Other countries that have celebrations include Fiji, where she is no longer head of state. However, Hong Kong gave up their holiday when they were handed over to China.
Bonfires?
So why do we celebrate with bonfires in Australia? Well this started with her ancestor, King George 111, whose birthday was celebrated on 4 June with a celebration and pardoning of convicts. The day ended in bonfires as they had lots of wood to burn.
In Australia, I think we enjoy our fireworks as much as our bonfires. I have great memories of the Yass Public bonfires and fireworks nights. We’ve also had smaller family celebrations around big fires with small fireworks, and then there’s the showground. Wasn’t that great last year?
How much to you know?
Check your knowledge about the Queen. The following questions came from the 80 facts about the Queen on the royal government site below. This site was set up for her 80th birthday. The answers can be found on that site or on our blogspot.
1. Over the reign, Her Majesty has given regular Tuesday evening audiences to how many British Prime Ministers?
2. Queen Elizabeth II is the (25th, 35th, 40th, 45th) monarch since William the Conqueror obtained the crown of England?
3. How many times has the Queen visited Australia?
4. Can the Queen drive a car?
5. Besides Corgis, what other dogs does the Queen breed?
6. True or False: The Queen has visited the sets of a number of popular British soap operas including Coronation Street and East Enders
How will you spend the day?
So what will you do? Think about the Queen and what she means to you and to our country, spend time with the family, go to the bonfire, or you could always attend the Queen's High Tea Party at Australia Zoo or perhaps you will be awarded an Order of Australia! Whatever you do, enjoy it!
http://webweedswisdom.blogspot.com/
http://www.statusquo.org/aru_html/html/birthday.html
http://www.australiazoo.com/visit-us/calendar/?event=1&item=33
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen's_Official_Birthday
http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/page4823.asp
Answers
1.10
2. 40th
3. 15 times Her Majesty most recently visited Australia in March 2006 to open the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
4. Yes, The Queen learnt to drive in 1945 when she joined the Army.
5. dorgis,Labradors and Cocker Spaniels
6. True
Monday, May 07, 2007
Wikis: reunions & the earth
Wiki? What?
I’ve spent the last couple months on wikis: new work project being documented with a wiki, a high school class reunion wiki and now Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth Wiki.
So what is a wiki?
A wiki is a website authored by a group of people. This group of people could be a small closed group; semi open group where the world can read it, but only those people with permission can write; or a group consisting of everyone in the world.
Work group
Our work group wiki is read and authored by small closed group where everyone trialing new learning management systems is recording the problems, successes and general thoughts. This is working well, but could be working much better if we could get everyone to automatically write their thoughts on the wiki before emailing some or all of us.
High School Reunion
A wiki I started for my high school graduation class reunion is open to the world to view, but only those with permission are allowed to put up pages. Again the numbers of contributors is small (about 25 out of a graduating class of 250 minus those who have passed away or whose whereabouts is unknown).
However, this wiki is turning out to be a fun exercise. We have had pages added on missing classmates, cars then and now, class plays, proms, events we went through, a map where people are able to pinpoint where they live today (there are at least 2 of us in Australia) and more. I’ve used wetpaint to create the wiki, and Frappr to create the map. Both of these are free so you might want to try them for many reasons including writing a family history from many perspectives.
Wikipedia
I’ve talked about this wiki before. It’s turning into a wonderful online encyclopedia written by many, many people who continually correct each other. This type of resources drives teachers and librarians wild, but most of the time it works well.
An Inconvenient Truth
Friday, I watched the Al Gore movie (An Inconvenient Truth) at lunch. You could have heard a pin drop in that lecture theatre containing many staff and students. There were so many statistics and pictures from around the world that it would be silly to say that people are not causing global warming and that global warming is not a huge problem needing quick action.
However, I suspect that some facts may not be perfectly presented so I went to the Internet to see what I could find out. I went through pages and pages of research, but could find little credible information to dispute his statistics, so I turned to wikipedia. This site (an inconvenient truth) summarized information well for me and gave me links to additional information and scientists who support Gore’s facts and governments who don’t (mainly Bush and Howard!). There certainly are people, including scientist who dispute some of the facts, but even if only a fraction is correct, I think we need to act now.
The earth has been very forgiving in the past, but in the past we (much fewer of us) had smaller tools, and created less damage. So if panic is not needed, at least great care should be taken!
"I left Earth three times. I found no place else to go. Please take care of Spaceship Earth."
(Wally Schirra, who flew around Earth on Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions in the 1960s).
Useful Websites
http://www.wetpaint.com
http://www.frappr.com/
http://www.wikipedia.com/
http://www.an-inconvenient-truth.com/whatyoucando.html
http://www.realclimate.org/
I’ve spent the last couple months on wikis: new work project being documented with a wiki, a high school class reunion wiki and now Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth Wiki.
So what is a wiki?
A wiki is a website authored by a group of people. This group of people could be a small closed group; semi open group where the world can read it, but only those people with permission can write; or a group consisting of everyone in the world.
Work group
Our work group wiki is read and authored by small closed group where everyone trialing new learning management systems is recording the problems, successes and general thoughts. This is working well, but could be working much better if we could get everyone to automatically write their thoughts on the wiki before emailing some or all of us.
High School Reunion
A wiki I started for my high school graduation class reunion is open to the world to view, but only those with permission are allowed to put up pages. Again the numbers of contributors is small (about 25 out of a graduating class of 250 minus those who have passed away or whose whereabouts is unknown).
However, this wiki is turning out to be a fun exercise. We have had pages added on missing classmates, cars then and now, class plays, proms, events we went through, a map where people are able to pinpoint where they live today (there are at least 2 of us in Australia) and more. I’ve used wetpaint to create the wiki, and Frappr to create the map. Both of these are free so you might want to try them for many reasons including writing a family history from many perspectives.
Wikipedia
I’ve talked about this wiki before. It’s turning into a wonderful online encyclopedia written by many, many people who continually correct each other. This type of resources drives teachers and librarians wild, but most of the time it works well.
An Inconvenient Truth
Friday, I watched the Al Gore movie (An Inconvenient Truth) at lunch. You could have heard a pin drop in that lecture theatre containing many staff and students. There were so many statistics and pictures from around the world that it would be silly to say that people are not causing global warming and that global warming is not a huge problem needing quick action.
However, I suspect that some facts may not be perfectly presented so I went to the Internet to see what I could find out. I went through pages and pages of research, but could find little credible information to dispute his statistics, so I turned to wikipedia. This site (an inconvenient truth) summarized information well for me and gave me links to additional information and scientists who support Gore’s facts and governments who don’t (mainly Bush and Howard!). There certainly are people, including scientist who dispute some of the facts, but even if only a fraction is correct, I think we need to act now.
The earth has been very forgiving in the past, but in the past we (much fewer of us) had smaller tools, and created less damage. So if panic is not needed, at least great care should be taken!
"I left Earth three times. I found no place else to go. Please take care of Spaceship Earth."
(Wally Schirra, who flew around Earth on Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions in the 1960s).
Useful Websites
http://www.wetpaint.com
http://www.frappr.com/
http://www.wikipedia.com/
http://www.an-inconvenient-truth.com/whatyoucando.html
http://www.realclimate.org/
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Earth Day: 22 April
"May there only be peaceful and cheerful Earth Days to come for our beautiful Spaceship Earth as it continues to spin and circle in frigid space with its warm and fragile cargo of animate life."
--United Nations Secretary-General U Thant, March 21, 1971.
What is Earth Day?’
Earth Day is an annual international observance, held on April 22, to increase public awareness of environmental issues. Each year on Earth Day, millions of people throughout the world gather to clean up litter, to protest threats to the environment, and to celebrate progress in reducing pollution.’ (Worldbook)
There is a beautiful flag associated with this day that can be found on the wikipedia site or if you’re on our blog, just click flag. The flag has a dark blue background with a NASA picture of the earth taking up its entire centre.
Let’s Celebrate 22 April
Our southern hemisphere autumnal equinox is on 22 April, and is the day when we have equal amount of day and night. This is a good time for us to increase our appreciation the Earth’s environment and help with its future. However some Australian towns will be celebrating on 13 April.
--United Nations Secretary-General U Thant, March 21, 1971.
What is Earth Day?’
Earth Day is an annual international observance, held on April 22, to increase public awareness of environmental issues. Each year on Earth Day, millions of people throughout the world gather to clean up litter, to protest threats to the environment, and to celebrate progress in reducing pollution.’ (Worldbook)
There is a beautiful flag associated with this day that can be found on the wikipedia site or if you’re on our blog, just click flag. The flag has a dark blue background with a NASA picture of the earth taking up its entire centre.
Let’s Celebrate 22 April
Our southern hemisphere autumnal equinox is on 22 April, and is the day when we have equal amount of day and night. This is a good time for us to increase our appreciation the Earth’s environment and help with its future. However some Australian towns will be celebrating on 13 April.
Facts?
We all know that we are doing lots to harm the earth, and that we could use much less of the world’s resources and do more to take care of our beautiful world. For example; travel and the transport of goods takes lots of energy, consider the following.
- By 2030 the number of automobiles in the world will increase by 50%.
- The world consumes two barrels of oil for every barrel discovered.
- It took 125 years to consume the first trillion barrels of oil – the world will consume the next trillion in only 30 years.
Australian Geographic
As a special dedication to our planet, the National Geographic Channel in Australia is supporting this day with a 24-hour marathon of ‘green’ programs featuring some of our environmental experts. One program that I hope to watch is at 6.30pm ‘Scrap House’ which will show how a house was made from completely recycled items.
The Earth Report will explore events from the perspective of how they and we have affected our planet. This will include: huge floods, tsunamis and deadly droughts, like the one we’re experiencing and worse. It will also include information about new technologies (like new fuel sources) that will and are changing the ways we relate to our world.
Ecological Footprint
On the earthday site, I took the ecological footprint quiz and found that if everyone lived like me, we would need 7.8 planet earths to support us. That’s quite shocking! Most of my high scores came from travel along with goods and services.
So, what can I do?According to the earthday.net site and others, there a number of things each of us can do to help our precious earth.
- Car: drive less, share transport, get tune-ups, drive slower, don’t idle, use an energy efficient car
- House heating and cooling: consider a higher or lower temperature, ceiling fans and insulation
- Light bulbs: replace with compact fluorescents that can last for a decade or more
- Plants: plant water efficient plants (& mulch) which will help with carbon and also provide shading and windbreaks
- Food: buy or grow organic and foods in season, eat local foods (less transportation costs) and also eat less feedlot meat
- Recycle: recycle what you can and buy recycled goods (second-hand bikes, clothes, etc). Op shops are big in the US for many, not just the poor.
- Buy less: most of us buy much more than we need
- Help clean up the environment around us
- Use green cleaning methods:
So let us go forward, not only to celebrate God’s good, green Earth, but to make a small difference ourselves.
Useful Websites
http://earthday.envirolink.org/ http://www.earthday.net/resources/2006materials/Top10.aspx http://www.worldbook.com http://www.earthday.net/Footprint/info.asp
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Energy Smart?
How does your house rate?
Last week, I was thinking that we should really change all our light bulbs over to compact fluorescent. I’ve been putting it off as it’s such a huge initial cost. We’ve been pretty good with water usage, but really haven’t done enough to reduce our electricity consumption.
On Friday evening, I walked through Belconnen Mall and saw an Enviro Saver stall offering free energy audits. I stopped to see what it was about and asked if they would audit us in Yass. They said absolutely. They were doing the ACT and were just about to move into the country areas. She explained to me that they would come to our house and change over all our light bulbs, and shower heads if we had electric hot water. Then they would audit our energy usage and make suggestion on how we could save. It sounded great so I asked how much. FREE she said. Wow, why? She said it was saving greenhouse gas emission under government policy.
Why Free?
I’ve since read more and it seems to be a win win situation for all.
In 2002, NSW mandated a greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme (GGAS) in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production and use of electricity. NSW set greenhouse reduction targets and issues penalties to those who fail to reach the targets. These organisations that are giving away products are producing credits which have value and can be sold. The NSW site on greenhouse gas explains this very well.
What do Home Energy Ratings Mean?
According to the Energy smart site, the star ratings run from 0-5 with 5 being a very energy efficient house. Wouldn’t it be good if we could all obtain that rating? It will be interesting to see how expensive it will be to move the rating of our house closer to the top. The average household rating is 2.5 and a house with a rating of 1 using an awful lot of energy.
I was amazed to read in the Enviro Save Program leaflet (also on their website) that “the average household uses enough energy to produce about eight tonnes of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) every year.
What can we do to improve?
Changing light bulbs to low energy ones can help; even if these bulbs cost $10-15, they will work out much cheaper over the life of the bulb, counting initial cost and electricity. Choosing the correct amount of wattage for the light that you need for the task is also important. Do you know that a fifty year old needs 6 times as much light as a ten year old to do a task? A sixty year old needs 15 times as much light. Where are those 100 watt light bulbs? I knew I could read a phone book outside in bright sun, but never indoors without glasses…
We could also choose energy efficient appliances as we need to replace the old ones. I know some cost more, but again work out the cost over the life of the appliance, not just the initial cost.
I know our solar hot water system cost oodles when we put it in about 20 years ago, but it has saved us so much over the time.
Manly can, can Yass?
Manly Council has this information on its site already; perhaps Yass will be doing the same. In the meantime, if you’re interested, get your name down. I don’t know what you can lose.
Useful Websites
http://www.energysmart.com.au
http://www.envirosaver.com.au/
www.greenhousegasnsw.gov.au
Last week, I was thinking that we should really change all our light bulbs over to compact fluorescent. I’ve been putting it off as it’s such a huge initial cost. We’ve been pretty good with water usage, but really haven’t done enough to reduce our electricity consumption.
On Friday evening, I walked through Belconnen Mall and saw an Enviro Saver stall offering free energy audits. I stopped to see what it was about and asked if they would audit us in Yass. They said absolutely. They were doing the ACT and were just about to move into the country areas. She explained to me that they would come to our house and change over all our light bulbs, and shower heads if we had electric hot water. Then they would audit our energy usage and make suggestion on how we could save. It sounded great so I asked how much. FREE she said. Wow, why? She said it was saving greenhouse gas emission under government policy.
Why Free?
I’ve since read more and it seems to be a win win situation for all.
In 2002, NSW mandated a greenhouse gas emissions trading scheme (GGAS) in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production and use of electricity. NSW set greenhouse reduction targets and issues penalties to those who fail to reach the targets. These organisations that are giving away products are producing credits which have value and can be sold. The NSW site on greenhouse gas explains this very well.
What do Home Energy Ratings Mean?
According to the Energy smart site, the star ratings run from 0-5 with 5 being a very energy efficient house. Wouldn’t it be good if we could all obtain that rating? It will be interesting to see how expensive it will be to move the rating of our house closer to the top. The average household rating is 2.5 and a house with a rating of 1 using an awful lot of energy.
I was amazed to read in the Enviro Save Program leaflet (also on their website) that “the average household uses enough energy to produce about eight tonnes of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (CO2) every year.
What can we do to improve?
Changing light bulbs to low energy ones can help; even if these bulbs cost $10-15, they will work out much cheaper over the life of the bulb, counting initial cost and electricity. Choosing the correct amount of wattage for the light that you need for the task is also important. Do you know that a fifty year old needs 6 times as much light as a ten year old to do a task? A sixty year old needs 15 times as much light. Where are those 100 watt light bulbs? I knew I could read a phone book outside in bright sun, but never indoors without glasses…
We could also choose energy efficient appliances as we need to replace the old ones. I know some cost more, but again work out the cost over the life of the appliance, not just the initial cost.
I know our solar hot water system cost oodles when we put it in about 20 years ago, but it has saved us so much over the time.
Manly can, can Yass?
Manly Council has this information on its site already; perhaps Yass will be doing the same. In the meantime, if you’re interested, get your name down. I don’t know what you can lose.
Useful Websites
http://www.energysmart.com.au
http://www.envirosaver.com.au/
www.greenhousegasnsw.gov.au
Monday, February 26, 2007
NSW Election 24 March
Compulsory voting for all Australian citizens over the age of 18 years is a corner stone of our democracy. Compulsory? Too right! Preserving our democracy is a responsibility for all adults. And while other democracies might vaunt their freedoms including their freedom to vote or not, Australians have recognised the danger of skewed results when voting is left to personal whim. Come the 24th of March all voters in NSW will go to the polls to determine who will form the state government.
Substance beats Style
In order to help you decide I have put together a series of links to policies, events, commentary, polls, and the transcript of the Stateline debate between Premier Morris Iemma and Opposition Leader Peter Debnam. It is interesting that a SMH poll dated
NSW vs NewcastleSydneyWollongong
I agree with the poll. I think policies are extremely important. And I’d like fair policies, not ones that favour major coastal cities at the expense of regional NSW. It irritates me that the current water tank rebate brought in by the NSW government can only be claimed by residents of the
Want policies that are friendly for regional NSW? Drop in to Katrina Hodgkinson’s office for copies. Or hop on line at home or at the library and check out my list of links. This article and its links can be found at the Web Weeds & Wisdom blog: http://webweedswisdom.blogspot.com
Sites to Visit
Katrina Hodgkinson MP for Burrinjuck
www.burrinjuck.com
NSW Nationals
www.nsw.nationals.org.au
www.andrewstoner.com.au
NSW Liberal Party
www.nsw.liberal.org.au
www.peterdebnam.com.au
www.nswalp.com
www.morrisiemma.com.au
NSW Greens
www.nsw.greens.org.au
NSW Democrats
www.nsw.democrats.org.au
ABC Stateline: Transcript: Iemma vs Debnam Debate
www.abc.net.au/stateline/nsw/content/2006/s1850166.htm
ABC Stateline: Transcript: On the Stump
www.abc.net.au/stateline/nsw/content/2006/s1855943.htm
ABC: Carr bequeaths Iemma electoral buffer by election analyst Antony Green
www.abc.net.au/news/indepth/featureitems/s1428242.htm
ABC: NSW Nationals launch regional development plan
www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200702/s1850647.htm
SMH: Iemma recycles $2b pledges - Launch of Labor and Nationals campaigns
www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/02/18/1171733612746.html
SMH: Iemma accused of fudging spending
www.smh.com.au/news/national/iemma-accused-of-fudging-spending/2007/02/18/1171733612782.html
SMH: Love my family, love youse all: the cult of Morris
www.smh.com.au/news/national/love-my-family-love-youse-all-launching-the-cult-of-morris/2007/02/18/1171733612749.html
SMH: We'll recycle water: Debnam
www.smh.com.au/news/national/well-recycle-water-debnam/2007/02/16/1171405413490.html
SMH: Peter Debnam takes the yuck factor head-on
www.smh.com.au/news/editorial/peter-debnam-takes-the-yuck-factor-headon/2007/02/16/1171405437026.html
SMH: Voters' choice: it all comes down to water
www.smh.com.au/news/national/voters-choice-it-all-comes-down-to-water/2007/02/16/1171405446702.html
SMH: Polls
www.smh.com.au/polls/politics/form.html
Crikey: Does Morris Iemma understand how justice and democracy work?
www.crikey.com.au/Politics/20061214-Does-Morris-Iemma-understand-how-justice-and-democracy-works.html
Crikey: The silent Peter principle by Richard Farmer
www.crikey.com.au/Politics/20070212-The-silent-peter-principle.html
Crikey: The race starts in NSW: both nags are suspect
www.crikey.com.au/Politics/20070219-The-race-is-on-in-NSW-.html
Mumble: January 8 entry - change in government in NSW has favoured the loser's federal counterpart at following national election
www.mumble.com.au/index_oldish28.html
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Happy Valentines Day
Aren’t holidays wonderful?
They help us to reconnect with our friends and family and to remember what we sometimes start to take for granted or have just forgotten in our busy lives. I truly love all holidays and love to mark special occasions with a celebration; large or small.
St Valentine?
So, who was Valentine? Well, I have no exact answer, but I have found lots of opinions from around the world. Wikipedia states that there were two Christian martyrs named Valentine, and another site states that there may have been three Valentines.
According to the many sites, he was a holy priest in Rome who assisted martyrs under Claudius II. He was beaten and beheaded on 14 February; not a very romantic person at all. However on another website it was said that while he was in prison he sent messages saying, “I love you” and “From your Valentine”. In another story it is said that Valentine was a priest who secretly married couples, defying the law of Emperor Claudius which forbid marriage of single soldiers.
Valentine Cards
In the Middle Ages, people began to send love letters on Valentine's Day. Early Valentine cards were handmade and four types are mentioned on the ‘how stuff works’ website. These included: pinpricks (with holes made by pins to resemble lace), cutouts (made by fold and cutting a lace design), acrostic (where the first letters in the lines of the verse spelled out the beloved's name) and rebus (where pictures replaced some of the words).
Then the exchange of commercial Valentine cards may have begun in the 1840’s. Anyway February 14th has been the day to honour LOVE, usually the romantic type.
When I was in primary school we all bought or made Valentines for each person in our class. We were very careful to find or write the appropriate words for each person. These Valentines were deposited in bags or boxes near each student’s desk, and then were opened at the end of the day during a small party with refreshments.
Some cards weren’t signed and it was fun to guess who had written them. Today there are a number of websites containing free online e-Valentines or patterns for making your own. It’s not too late to send one to a special friend!
Too commercial?
Valentines Day, like many other holidays, has grown commercially and now many people buy flowers or chocolates for their loved one, and others go out to a romantic dinner.
But what about just doing something special for the person (people) you love. Some extra kind words are always nice or make dinner special by adding candles and taking more care with setting the table with perhaps a nice table decoration. I have a wooden structure with red hearts hanging from it, and it always makes me feel good at Christmas and on Valentines Day. What about giving gift coupons that you write yourself: “good for 1 hour of my time”, “good for 1 hug”, or “good for one game of croquet”.
Should we celebrate 14 February?
So, should we celebrate Valentine's Day? Of course! Just because we're not quite sure who Valentine was, we certainly know that the idea of love, even romantic love, is so important in our world today.
Let's try to make Valentine's Day an extra special day by displaying even more love than usual to those around us.
Useful Websites
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine's_Day
http://people.howstuffworks.com/valentine1.htm
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/golden169.htm
http://www.kidsturncentral.com/holidays/valentines.htm
They help us to reconnect with our friends and family and to remember what we sometimes start to take for granted or have just forgotten in our busy lives. I truly love all holidays and love to mark special occasions with a celebration; large or small.
St Valentine?
So, who was Valentine? Well, I have no exact answer, but I have found lots of opinions from around the world. Wikipedia states that there were two Christian martyrs named Valentine, and another site states that there may have been three Valentines.
According to the many sites, he was a holy priest in Rome who assisted martyrs under Claudius II. He was beaten and beheaded on 14 February; not a very romantic person at all. However on another website it was said that while he was in prison he sent messages saying, “I love you” and “From your Valentine”. In another story it is said that Valentine was a priest who secretly married couples, defying the law of Emperor Claudius which forbid marriage of single soldiers.
Valentine Cards
In the Middle Ages, people began to send love letters on Valentine's Day. Early Valentine cards were handmade and four types are mentioned on the ‘how stuff works’ website. These included: pinpricks (with holes made by pins to resemble lace), cutouts (made by fold and cutting a lace design), acrostic (where the first letters in the lines of the verse spelled out the beloved's name) and rebus (where pictures replaced some of the words).
Then the exchange of commercial Valentine cards may have begun in the 1840’s. Anyway February 14th has been the day to honour LOVE, usually the romantic type.
When I was in primary school we all bought or made Valentines for each person in our class. We were very careful to find or write the appropriate words for each person. These Valentines were deposited in bags or boxes near each student’s desk, and then were opened at the end of the day during a small party with refreshments.
Some cards weren’t signed and it was fun to guess who had written them. Today there are a number of websites containing free online e-Valentines or patterns for making your own. It’s not too late to send one to a special friend!
Too commercial?
Valentines Day, like many other holidays, has grown commercially and now many people buy flowers or chocolates for their loved one, and others go out to a romantic dinner.
But what about just doing something special for the person (people) you love. Some extra kind words are always nice or make dinner special by adding candles and taking more care with setting the table with perhaps a nice table decoration. I have a wooden structure with red hearts hanging from it, and it always makes me feel good at Christmas and on Valentines Day. What about giving gift coupons that you write yourself: “good for 1 hour of my time”, “good for 1 hug”, or “good for one game of croquet”.
Should we celebrate 14 February?
So, should we celebrate Valentine's Day? Of course! Just because we're not quite sure who Valentine was, we certainly know that the idea of love, even romantic love, is so important in our world today.
Let's try to make Valentine's Day an extra special day by displaying even more love than usual to those around us.
Useful Websites
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine's_Day
http://people.howstuffworks.com/valentine1.htm
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/golden169.htm
http://www.kidsturncentral.com/holidays/valentines.htm
Sunday, January 14, 2007
Robotic Kitten?
I have just finished a very busy time of lots of relatives coming and going for four weeks, a wedding, a big Christmas party and things have just settled down so I could think about a new kitten. I have been thinking about her for the last few months and it’s great to finally have her with me; full of mischief, purrs and cuddles.
Heathy
Animal are supposed to help us to reduce stress and generally make us nicer people. In fact the Burmese cat first lived with monks in Burma (Myanmar). Each monk had a kitten and was to spend his time pleasing the cat. I wonder what they learned from that. The cat they bred certainly became a wonderful, independent, fearless cat.
Can’t have a cat?
I can hear some one you saying, but I can’t have a dog or cat because I live in a flat, am allergic to hair, have a father who hates cats or …
There is a solution and in the future the solution might be even better!
AIBO
My favourite robotic pet was AIBO. AIBO is very cute and it's personality develops by interacting with people where it learns its owners voice and face. It learns about its environments and reacts differently based on its experiences. Each AIBO develops its own "personality" and each AIBO grows in a different way, based on its individual experiences and the software being used. It seems to work well and is programmable.
AIBO walks smoothly, has a ball and to play with, can sit, lie down, and even self-charges. It uses its face, sounds, voice communication and motions to express a wide variety of emotions (happiness, sadness, fear, dislike, surprise, and anger). It sounds like it might be almost as good as a real pet. However it costs the price of a horse or show animal; $2,000 US is the quoted price. I guess most of us with stay with the real thing for a while longer.
Cheaper option
Pleo a robotic dinosaur that can sense its surroundings while walking on 4 legs, react to touch, and show emotion. Besides that, it’s quite cute.
This "pet" doesn’t understand words, but reacts to the tone of voice and touch. When you get this pet, you will need to touch him a bit so that it will explore its surrounding. When it "wakes up" it will stretch and if you continue petting it, it will start to play.
Pleo also can learn from its experiences, and its actions or personality will develop by the interaction it has and the programming built into him. Pleo has had great reviews and sells for about $200US.
Other useful robots
This search then took me to look at robots that could be used in the home. I was amazed at the progress made. Some are actually at the point of development that they seem really useful. (Do you remember when home computers were just a games machine and not something people expected to have in their homes? Then spreadsheets were developed and home computers took off really fast. Perhaps we are getting to this stage with home robots.)
Vacuums and Cleans
The most successful home robot has been the Roomba, a platter shaped robot vacuum cleaner which can move around carpets cleaning as it goes. It is cheaper than a Dyson and works without a person. The more expensive models return themselves to self-charge as needed. It’s something I will certainly look into when buying my next vacuum; just think it could do my work while I sleep!
The same company, iRobot makes a hard floor cleaning robot name Scooba that is said to do a better job than most people as it can go under hard to reach places and you can use it more frequently.
Doesn’t look like a robot?
OK, you’re right. These robots don’t look like Rosie of the Jetsons, but have a look at Honda’s new model Asimo. This robot made quite a hit at his debut in January this year in Las Vegas. It’s starting to be the robot you might want to own in future. It’s more people size, it walks and runs (4mph), and it talks. It can carry objects and can move in sync with a person holding its hand.
It is hoped that robots like Asimo will be able to provide home help to many of us in our later years; getting medicine, food, helping us move about and so on. How exciting.
Until next month
Useful Websites
http://www.robotadvice.com/sony-aibo-ers-7m3_robot.html
http://www.robotadvice.com/ugobe-pleo_robot.html
http://world.honda.com/news/2007/c070109ASIMO/
http://www.irobot.com
Heathy
Animal are supposed to help us to reduce stress and generally make us nicer people. In fact the Burmese cat first lived with monks in Burma (Myanmar). Each monk had a kitten and was to spend his time pleasing the cat. I wonder what they learned from that. The cat they bred certainly became a wonderful, independent, fearless cat.
Can’t have a cat?
I can hear some one you saying, but I can’t have a dog or cat because I live in a flat, am allergic to hair, have a father who hates cats or …
There is a solution and in the future the solution might be even better!
AIBO
My favourite robotic pet was AIBO. AIBO is very cute and it's personality develops by interacting with people where it learns its owners voice and face. It learns about its environments and reacts differently based on its experiences. Each AIBO develops its own "personality" and each AIBO grows in a different way, based on its individual experiences and the software being used. It seems to work well and is programmable.
AIBO walks smoothly, has a ball and to play with, can sit, lie down, and even self-charges. It uses its face, sounds, voice communication and motions to express a wide variety of emotions (happiness, sadness, fear, dislike, surprise, and anger). It sounds like it might be almost as good as a real pet. However it costs the price of a horse or show animal; $2,000 US is the quoted price. I guess most of us with stay with the real thing for a while longer.
Cheaper option
Pleo a robotic dinosaur that can sense its surroundings while walking on 4 legs, react to touch, and show emotion. Besides that, it’s quite cute.
This "pet" doesn’t understand words, but reacts to the tone of voice and touch. When you get this pet, you will need to touch him a bit so that it will explore its surrounding. When it "wakes up" it will stretch and if you continue petting it, it will start to play.
Pleo also can learn from its experiences, and its actions or personality will develop by the interaction it has and the programming built into him. Pleo has had great reviews and sells for about $200US.
Other useful robots
This search then took me to look at robots that could be used in the home. I was amazed at the progress made. Some are actually at the point of development that they seem really useful. (Do you remember when home computers were just a games machine and not something people expected to have in their homes? Then spreadsheets were developed and home computers took off really fast. Perhaps we are getting to this stage with home robots.)
Vacuums and Cleans
The most successful home robot has been the Roomba, a platter shaped robot vacuum cleaner which can move around carpets cleaning as it goes. It is cheaper than a Dyson and works without a person. The more expensive models return themselves to self-charge as needed. It’s something I will certainly look into when buying my next vacuum; just think it could do my work while I sleep!
The same company, iRobot makes a hard floor cleaning robot name Scooba that is said to do a better job than most people as it can go under hard to reach places and you can use it more frequently.
Doesn’t look like a robot?
OK, you’re right. These robots don’t look like Rosie of the Jetsons, but have a look at Honda’s new model Asimo. This robot made quite a hit at his debut in January this year in Las Vegas. It’s starting to be the robot you might want to own in future. It’s more people size, it walks and runs (4mph), and it talks. It can carry objects and can move in sync with a person holding its hand.
It is hoped that robots like Asimo will be able to provide home help to many of us in our later years; getting medicine, food, helping us move about and so on. How exciting.
Until next month
Useful Websites
http://www.robotadvice.com/sony-aibo-ers-7m3_robot.html
http://www.robotadvice.com/ugobe-pleo_robot.html
http://world.honda.com/news/2007/c070109ASIMO/
http://www.irobot.com
Christmas on a budget
Wow isn’t it dry and don’t we wish for rain for Christmas more than anything else? There’s a group praying for rain each Saturday morning at the Riverbank Park and many more us praying at home. It will rain, but in the meantime many people are going to have a leaner time this Christmas. Does that mean it will be less meaningful or less fun? I don’t think that has to be the case.
Presents?
Why do some people (especially buyers of presents) value presents according to what was spent for them? My work colleagues and I realised a couple years ago that we all had too many things, so we decided to only exchange "use upable" presents. These are also relatively cheap and have included a miniature plum pudding, candle, soap, cookies, and this year I’m giving cupcakes!
One year a friend and I on a budget made tiny stockings out of fabric for each person and filled them with $2 presents and hung them on a tree. A great time was had by all to find their present and to see where our imagination had led us.
Do you have old photos gathering dust? Why not put some into a small album (with comments) for your parents, grandparents or grown child? You could even give "service" presents (coupons for 2 evenings of babysitting or one afternoon work in the garden or a batch of cookies).
See if you can put more thought and less money into your presents this year, and if you do this really well, you might even find that you have money left over to buy a gift for the giving tree at Fosseys or another charity.
Wrappings?
You can save by recycling paper (wrapping, newspaper, magazine pages). In the past I have used brown paper (very cheap) which I’ve printed with a potato cut in half and then carved and cheap paints. Also I’ve used children’s school drawings. With a bit of ribbon, yarn, dried flowers or grasses, these presents can look as special as those in the expensive wrappings
Of course it’s easy to make gift tags and cards and they often are much more appreciated because of the time and effort put into them.
Dinner
Turkey and ham are expensive, but chicken or a lamb roast can be just as tasty. Take special care the vegetables that go with it. Consider a soup for the first course. Apple pie seems to be enjoyed by everyone and doesn’t cost that much to make, but it does require a bit of time.
Your dinner will be special if you set the table with your best dishes, find or create a lovely centrepiece and have a number of cheerful topics for conversation ready in case you need them. Remember to take time out to send thanks for the reason for this celebration dinner and be thankful that we have plenty to eat compared to many others in the world.
Activities
There are lots of Christmas activities that cost nothing or very little. You could walk around town and look at the beautiful shop windows (love Country Charm’s Australian Christmas tree), walk or drive around town to see the light displays, or attend carols by torchlight at Cooma Cottage. Attending a church service (the youth at the Uniting Church are putting on their presentation next Sunday) is a good activity for this season.
You could even play games with the family or your neighbours. (Haven’t you got some cards, a monopoly game or chess set put away somewhere?), What about doing a group jigsaw puzzle? Enjoy some neighbourhood sport—tennis, cricket, swimming or perhaps just walking or jogging.
There are many activities online and you could try kidsdomain or you could even make decoration with family or friends.
Next year
Of course, if you start in January, you can gather recipes and buy things at sales throughout the year, and not only will you save money, but you’ll save stress.
Until next month, have a peaceful and meaningful Christmas season.
Useful Websites
http://www.abc.net.au/westernvic/stories/s1788308.htm
www.cheapskates.com.au
http://www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/xmas/index.html
Presents?
Why do some people (especially buyers of presents) value presents according to what was spent for them? My work colleagues and I realised a couple years ago that we all had too many things, so we decided to only exchange "use upable" presents. These are also relatively cheap and have included a miniature plum pudding, candle, soap, cookies, and this year I’m giving cupcakes!
One year a friend and I on a budget made tiny stockings out of fabric for each person and filled them with $2 presents and hung them on a tree. A great time was had by all to find their present and to see where our imagination had led us.
Do you have old photos gathering dust? Why not put some into a small album (with comments) for your parents, grandparents or grown child? You could even give "service" presents (coupons for 2 evenings of babysitting or one afternoon work in the garden or a batch of cookies).
See if you can put more thought and less money into your presents this year, and if you do this really well, you might even find that you have money left over to buy a gift for the giving tree at Fosseys or another charity.
Wrappings?
You can save by recycling paper (wrapping, newspaper, magazine pages). In the past I have used brown paper (very cheap) which I’ve printed with a potato cut in half and then carved and cheap paints. Also I’ve used children’s school drawings. With a bit of ribbon, yarn, dried flowers or grasses, these presents can look as special as those in the expensive wrappings
Of course it’s easy to make gift tags and cards and they often are much more appreciated because of the time and effort put into them.
Dinner
Turkey and ham are expensive, but chicken or a lamb roast can be just as tasty. Take special care the vegetables that go with it. Consider a soup for the first course. Apple pie seems to be enjoyed by everyone and doesn’t cost that much to make, but it does require a bit of time.
Your dinner will be special if you set the table with your best dishes, find or create a lovely centrepiece and have a number of cheerful topics for conversation ready in case you need them. Remember to take time out to send thanks for the reason for this celebration dinner and be thankful that we have plenty to eat compared to many others in the world.
Activities
There are lots of Christmas activities that cost nothing or very little. You could walk around town and look at the beautiful shop windows (love Country Charm’s Australian Christmas tree), walk or drive around town to see the light displays, or attend carols by torchlight at Cooma Cottage. Attending a church service (the youth at the Uniting Church are putting on their presentation next Sunday) is a good activity for this season.
You could even play games with the family or your neighbours. (Haven’t you got some cards, a monopoly game or chess set put away somewhere?), What about doing a group jigsaw puzzle? Enjoy some neighbourhood sport—tennis, cricket, swimming or perhaps just walking or jogging.
There are many activities online and you could try kidsdomain or you could even make decoration with family or friends.
Next year
Of course, if you start in January, you can gather recipes and buy things at sales throughout the year, and not only will you save money, but you’ll save stress.
Until next month, have a peaceful and meaningful Christmas season.
Useful Websites
http://www.abc.net.au/westernvic/stories/s1788308.htm
www.cheapskates.com.au
http://www.kidsdomain.com/holiday/xmas/index.html
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