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NOAHIDE WORLD INFORMATION DATABASE

 

NATIONS

 

The United Kingdom

 

AUSTRALIA

About Australia

Head of State: Monarch of the British Commonwealth

Australian Designate: The Governor General, Australian representative of the British Monarch

Government; Constitutional Monarchy of the Commonwealth of Great Britain

Head of Parliament: Prime Minister

Type of Political Structure: Democracy

Major Political Parties: Labour (lef wing), Liberal (right wing), Greens, Palmer United Party, Family First, Australian Democrats, National Party

Official Language; English

Currency: Dollar & Cents – 100 cents makes 1 dollar.

Capital City: Canberra

Territorial Breakdown: States and Territories.

Population: About 23 million as of 6177 SC (2014 CE)

National Sports: Cricket, Rugby League, Rugby Union, Soccer, Australian Rules Football, Basketball, Golf, Netball

Major Cities: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Hobart, Adelaide, Perth, Canberra, Darwin, Newcastle, Wollongong, Gold Coast, Townsville, Cairns, Wagga Wagga, Launceston, Geelong

Major Religions: Catholicism, Anglicanism, Orthodox Christianity, Protestant Christianity, Evangelical Christian denominations, Pentecostal Christian denominations, Independent Christian denominations, Islam, Buddhism, Scientology, Judaism, Bahai, Hinduism & Wicca

Major Companies operating in Australia: Woolworths, Coles, McDonalds, Big W, Bluescope Steel, Public Service, KFC, Harvey Norman, Domayne, Bunnings Hardware, Aldi, Meyer, Westfield, Mitre 10, Magnet Mart, Hungry Jacks, Pizza Hut, Dominos Pizza, Bing Lee, Sanity Records, Impact Comics

 

Australian Animals

From 'Noahide World Information Database'

by Daniel Daly

Copyright 6177 sc

There are many types of animals which God created in the beginning. Animals which live on the land and animals which live in the waters and animals which fly in the sky, and animals which can do more than one of these. In Australia we have animals like the Kangaroo and the Wallaby. The Kangaroo comes in many varieties, and the national Rugby League side of Australia are called the Kangaroos while the national Rugby Union side of Australia is called the Wallabies. The Kangaroo has a long tail and gets around by jumping on its substantial legs. The Kangaroo is usually slightly larger than a wallaby. Australia also has an animal called the Platypus, a very unusual animal with a bill, but is not a bird. It is a monotreme. Australia has all sorts of animals such as the Emu, which is very similar to an ostrich, a flightless bird which runs around very fast. The Kangaroo and the Emu both feature on the Australian coat of arms, and the platypus features on the Australian 20 cent piece. There is also the echidna, or spiny ant eater, which is similar to a hedgehog in some ways. It's body is covered with spiny needle like points, which protect it. It is featured on the Australian 5 cent coin. The Kookaburra is an Australian bird which is very well known for its laughing sound that it makes. Australian aboriginal culture is full of all sorts of stories about Kookaburra's and Kangaroos and other animals. There are many deadly spiders in Australia, such as the funnel web spider, which you find in Sydney a lot, and the redback spider, which is also very poisonous. It also has very many dangerous snakes, such as the Queensland taipan, which is extremely poisonous. Magpies are common in Australia, we have an eagle called the wedge-tailed eagle, and there are crows, cockatoos and rainbow lorakeets which are extremely colourful. Australia, indeed, has a diverse arrange of wildlife, which fill a beautiful sunburnt country.

 

Australian Television

Australian Television includes the major TV networks of Australia, and the shows produced in Australia which feature on Television. Currently, Australia FREE to AIR TV has 5 major channels, Channel 10, Channel 9, Channel 7, SBS & ABC, and through the FREEVIEW network each of the channels has other subsidiary channels from the same TV Network which they run from their own company. For example, Gem and Go are owned by channel 9 and One and Eleven are owned by Channel 10. There are currently numerous free to air channels on Australian TV as of 6177 SC (2014 CE). Television is a system of Television sets purchased from stores throughout the land, which, when an aerial is connected to them, receive frequency waves which are attuned to being received by the Television Set. Australia currently has a digital network, replacing recently the traditional analog network, which is no longer running. Australian television shows programs from Australia, US & the UK predmoninantly, but SBS concentrates on many nations of the world, and each channel occasionally features programs from other nations and cultures apart from the big 3, including Canada, New Zealand and Ireland which don't have as strong a content showing on Australian TV as the UK, Australia and the US do. The major networks produce a lot of the television programs they show themselves, but equally many are produced by independent companies and contracted to be shown on the various channels. There are numerous international agreements between the Australia Television companies and other television companies from around the world to screen shows from their networks. The programs are meant to be for entertainment of the populace and cover a large array of subject fields, including News and Current Affairs, Dramas, Comedy, Sports & documentaries as well as Movies and Music, amongst others. It is free to air TV which costs nothing to watch, apart from the initial cost of the TV set and paying the electricity to power the TV set, which is a minimal cost. The programming is paid for via advertising from businesses and other organisations on the channels, with TV ads shown in 'Breaks' between programs and at the end of programs. Advertising is the fundamental way TV networks cover their costs, but ABC is funded by the Australian Government, and is a non-commercial entitty. Apart from free to air TV, there is also the pay tv networks, which required subscription costs to pay for the use of the networks. Pay tv networks traditionally have a much larger array of programming, especially on things like movies and music and sports. Television is a staple of most Australian households, but some households choose not to own a TV for various reasons, sometimes including religious reasons because of the suggested corrupting nature of many of the programs on youth and teens. Australian TV has TV guides, some published in newspaper and magazine formats, which tell you what is showing at what time throughout the week, as well as many of the newer tv sets having TV guides built in which are operated through the remote control. Australian TV reflects the Australian culture, and has been programming since about the 50s, ever increasing in shows and dynamics. It is a staple part of Australian society now, and one of the major avenues, along with the Internet and newspaper-magazine media and radio, of the communication of knowledge, information and news.

 

 

HISTORY



Hadrian's Wall


Hadrian's Wall is a long running stone wall across northern England. It is presumed to have been built at the behest of the Roman Emperor Hadrian, runing from the River Tyne on the North Sea to the Solway Firth on the Irish Sea, begun in AD 122. The wall was intended to have forts every mile, but there are also larger forts along the wall. Roman soldiers built the wall, as Rome occupied Britain at the time. It is thought that the wall was meant to keep the Picts of Scotland at bay in some way, and served as the northern most extent of the Roman Empire. There are many relics of the building period of Hadrian's wall surviving today, kept in museums, including unusal things liks Roman Sandals, which actually have the makers mark on them, and coins, and bits and pieces of ceramics and other things. The Romans quarried the stone from locations nearby the wall. There are inscriptions on the wall in various places of Roman soldiers believed to have built particular sections of the wall.



The Australian Bushrangers

In Australia you hear stories about the bushrangers. These were outlaw men, often former convicts, who had turned to a life of crime robbing people in the bush of Australia. They would hold up stagecoaches and riders on horses, and other places, and with their guns usually force people to hand over their money, often killing them if the whim took them as such. They were part of the history of Australia in the 19th century, and many poem and songs and stories have been written about them, as well as the general records. They would often be hung when they were caught, but Australia has a love affair with their bushrangers, often seen as heroes of the people, especially the famed Ned Kelly who wore a metal head mask, with a section cut out which he could see through, generally Australia's most famous bushranger. His last words before he was hung were apparently 'Such is life'. They would ride on horses often, but sometimes just come out of the bush, and while they are legends of Australian folklore, the coppers still considered them the criminals of their day, which they ultimately were.


The American Civil War

The American Civil War was fought between the Yankees of the North and the Rebels of the South. The south were called the confederate, and General Lee was a major leader of thr south, and the North were called the Union. It was fought from 1861 to 1865 of the common era. There were a number of issues that caused the conflict, but one of the major traditional issues is that the North wanted to abolish slavery of black people, yet the south wanted to keep it, so they separated and went to battle to try and claim victory over each other on the issue. The North ultimately won the war and slavery was indeed abolished, but not until the civil rights movement did black Americans earn proper equality with their white counterparts, and segregation between the races had been the status quo since the war. The war was fought with rifles and cannons and horses for the most part, and many battles took place at various places in America, including the famed battle of Gettysburg which took place from July 1 to 3 around the twon of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania. The TV mini series North and South was a popular rendition of life during the civil war, and the movie Dances with Wolves charts the life of a soldier getting involved with native Americans during this period. Americans have remained united since this war, yet culturally the divisions between the North and the South are still quite prevalent in the 21st century.



World War II

World War II was fought between the Axis of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and Japan and the Allies of the British Empire and France with the USA as well as various other nations. The wars took place in Europe and in the Pacific Ocean for the most part, but there was also conflict in North Africa and other places. Germany, through its Fuhrer Adolph Hitler, had risen to power after Hitler's Nazi party had taken control of the nation. They started a program of expansion and invaded Austria, claiming it part of the German Empire. They also invaded Czechoslovakia, but what began the war was when they invaded Poland, and Great Britain felt an obligation to declare war on Germany to stop the rise of this power. The War lasted from 1939 to 1945. France was conquered by the Germans, and famed of this war are the French Resistance, underground fighters who fought the Germans even though France had been conquered. Codes and codebreaking of messages over radio transmission were a key part of the war, and movies have been made on World War II codebreakers. The war used guns, tanks, jeeps, aircraft and battleships, but in the end the most decisive element of World War II history was the introduction of the Atomic Bomb which was used to destory Nagasaki and Hiroshima in Japan which caused Japan to surrender. After this historically we don't have world wars in reality, as when the cold war between Russia and the USA took place, if real war ever broke out with nuclear weapons, life on Earth could have been completely destroyed virtually. In some ways World War II was a war to end wars, but conflicts have remained mostly between non-nuclear minor powers, with bigger nations often using force in the guise of 'Peacekeeping'. It is believed that Adolph Hitler killed himself in a bunker near the end or the war, when it was obvious Germany were going to lose, but there have been numerous supposed sightings of Hitler after the war, especially in South America, and this is part of the legend of the man and his albeit dastardly legacy. The war saw the holocaust of millions of Jews in concentration camps by the Nazis, the result of the Aryan doctrine of racism, which placed Jews at the bottom of mankind's races of men. Indeed, the Allies ultimately proved victorious in World War II, and surviving the Battle of Britain gave Great Britain great confidence as a nation in succeeding generations.





MUSIC

 

Music

Music is a melody of the soul, of the spirit. It is a melody of love of the heart and mind and inner being. And it perpetuates its glory through our ears, and goes in vibrating through our ear drums, into our very brain, our very mind, the centre of our innermost being, and talks to us of pleasant variances and pleasant trills and pleasant steps and inclines and flourishes and glories. Music is noise, weird noise, not like talking, for it is a combination of individual solitary sounds, with voice music, yet indeed intermixed with words of singing on occasion, but the sounds which grade themselves often upon a scale, for one note resonates with it corresponding note at higher pitch in measures of octaves, the same type of sound, higher or lower, but in betwixt is the variation of those sounds, which each compete with each other, likewise with their own brothers and sisters at higher pitches of upper and lower octaves. In notation type music common in the world, the scale is notes A Asharp B C Csharp D Dsharp E F Fsharp G Gsharp and then, at the higher octave, an A again. Thus there are 12 original notes in each octave, from A to G sharp. A key is the scale of the octave a musical piece is set upon. A is a key, and music is played from the base sound of the A scale. Each of the notes forms the basis for a key of music. A musical piece played in one scale can be modulated to a different key also. Music can be notated on sheet paper uopn a scale, often using the treble scale and the bass scale. Notes which define length of the note by their various shapes sit in arrangements together on the parallel lined scales, either on a line, or between a line, those positions defining the place on scale the note is. On the treble clef for example the bottom line of the 5 parallel lines is defined as the note 'E'. The next space is an 'F' and the second line is a 'G' and so on. A sign called the sharp sign or the flat sign can also be placed next to the note if it is a sharp note or a flat note, which raises the note one pitch length or, for a flat, lowers the pitch note one length. There are also signs for double sharps and double flats. This notation format can accurately record most types of musical pieces rather accurately with the other types of information you can place around the scale lines. Famous composers of the classical era include Mozart and Bach, and Beethoven is a master of the romantic period, in traditional orchestral music. In the more modern era of the 20th century and beyond, we have rock music and pop music and all it various and many sub-genres, and these usually use core instruments like the keyboard, piano, guitar and bass and electric guitars and bass, as well as the drum kit. A standard rock and roll band can often have around 3, 4 or 5 members, and sometimes more or even less, though those are about the most common numbers, and they often have a witty name which they call the band, such as 'The Beatles' or 'Black Sabbath'. Music is ancient – at the beginning of Genesis we have different types of instruments already being formed, so music is nearly as very old as man himself. It is an ancient pleasure, a true and good pleasure, and we must thank God for the great gift such sounds can be for our souls. 

 

Bon Jovi

Articles prepared by Daniel Thomas Andrew Daly. Copyright Daniel Thomas Andrew Daly 6177/6178sc and Copyright Noahide World Information Database

John Francis Bongiovi was born in New Jersey back in the day. Mid 20th century some time. In the 70s he was starting to learn music. In 1980, his first official recording was for a Star Wars Christmas record with the song 'R2 D2 We wish you a Merry Christmas' about the droid R2 D2. It's an ok sort of song, I guess, but not exactly the riveting rock and roll magic which was to soon follow. He worked at the 'Power Station' music recording studio for a while, and recorded some early music, which was later on, after Bon Jovi had become huge, released as the 'Power Station Recordings' by John Bongiovi (Not Jon Bon Jovi). The first single release of Bon Jovi was 'Runaway' which was recorded with the Bon Jovi All Stars, which included Hugh McDonald on it, the bass player for the band later on after Alec John Such left. But the video for the single was with all the first 5 members of Bon Jovi, lead singer 'Jon Bon Jovi', Guitarist 'Richie Sambora', Bass Player 'Alec John Such', Keyboardist 'David Rashbaum – who changed his name to David Bryan' and Drummer 'Tico Torres.' It was a moderate hit in the US, and the first album self titled 'Bon Jovi' contained also the second single 'She Don't Know Me' which was also of moderate success. The album itself established the band as an up and coming rock and roll band from New Jersey (in the United States of America on the East Coast), and the second album '7800° Fahrenheit' established them as an up and coming band of decent reputation. The second album had 4 singles, but an extra one 'The Price of Love' was released in Japan only. Fahrenheit had been released in 1985, just a year after the first album had been release, yet it was the third blockbuster from the band, released in 1986, which spawned 2 number one singles on the US Charts, 'You give love a bad name' which was number one for a week and 'Living on a Prayer' (still just about their biggest hit, apart from perhaps 'It's my life'), which charted at the top slot for 4 weeks. Living on a prayer was a huge fan request on MTV (the music tv pay tv channel), and the album 'Slippery When Wet' went on to be a multi-million seller, achieving in time 'Diamond status' in the US which denoted 10 million album sales. The album had 4 singles, plus a video promo for the song 'Wild in the Streets'. The fourth album of the 1980s, released in 1988 was 'New Jersey', named after the band's home town, and it also contained 2 number ones, 'Bad Medicine' and 'I'll be there for you', alongside the other 3 singles from the album, and one promo video for 'Blood on Blood'. Video compilations for the band had been released on video cassette in the 1980s, which included 'Breakout', just the vides from the first 2 albums, 'Slippery When Wet' which contained the videos and footage of the band from various times in their lives, the same structure for the 'New Jersey' video cassette. New Jersey was a multi-million seller in the world, but hasn't quite lived up to the success of sales of Slippery When Wet. Bon Jovi's music was hard rock type of music, yet the sound in the band on later albums tended more towards a traditional 'Rock' sound. Early on they were linked in with the heavy metal scene quite a bit, but this diminished as their career progressed. As of today they have released 12 studio albums and a number of other types of compilations, some of original music also as well as greatest hits and live albums. They have, since the 1980s, remained consistently popular in the music scene, still gaining number one albums with new releases, and on the live tour scene are one of the highest grossing bands of the current era. In the 1980s Bon Jovi also released non-album tracks including 'Borderline' which was released in 1986 in Japan only, being track 2 on the A Side of the Borderline EP (which had Living on a prayer as track 1 on the A side). Edge of a Broken Heart was released on the 'Disorderlies' movie soundtrack, and 'Love is War' was released on the B side of the 'Living in Sin' single. Rare releases also include the 'Red Hot and 2 Parts Live' EP, which has a long version of 'In and Out of Love' live on on it, with an excellent intro guitar work done by Richie Sambora. The Burning for Love EP is also a hard to get release. Even 'Let it Rock' was released on a UK promo record, and these rarities can be found online through a websearch, usually available from various online record stores. Consulting the wikipedia article on the Bon Jovi discography is a good way to get a picture of most of the Bon Jovi releases, including rarities. There are also a plethora of live bootleg albums which can be found online, and the 'Hidden Treasures' and 'Hidden Treasures 2' albums are really worth tracking down if you are a diehard Bon Jovi fan. I'm pretty sure it is Hidden Treasures 2 (which I think was an Italian release) which contains the then unreleased songs from the original Bon Jovi sessions for the album 'New Jersey' when it was originally planned for the album to be a double album. If you really want those songs, though, they are available on the recently released 'Bon Jovi – New Jersey' Deluxe edition CD, which also features Love is War on disc 1. There are numerous b sides (the songs released on singles releases) from Bon Jovi which do not feature on the regular album, and a huge number of these can be found on the 4 disc compilation album '100 Million Bon Jovi fans can't be wrong', which also has 'Edge of a Broken Heart' on one of the discs. '100 Million Bon Jovi Fan's Can't Be Wrong' is easily enough available currently online. Edge of a broken heart is also found on the 'Always' CD single, which was a prom song from the first greatest hits compilation album 'Crossroads'. (Technically, though, the Australian Only Release 'Hard & Hot' precedes Crossroads as a compilation album, containing songs from the first 3 Bon Jovi albums.

 

Bon Jovi Studio Albums Discography as of 6178 sc / 2015 ce/ad:

Bon Jovi

7800 Fahrenheit

Slippery When Wet

New Jersey

Keep the Faith

These Days

Crush

Bounce

Have a Nice Day

Lost Highway

The Circle

What About Now

 

Bon Jovi: 7800 Degrees Fahrenheit – Album & Song Reviews

I have been listening to this album on and off since about 1987/1988 and these days I like it more than ever.  It certainly doesn't have the commercial polish of Slippery When Wet or New Jersey, but it's minor key sounds and the intensity of it lyrically and emotionally - his heart burns through here with intense passion - have made this album a growing favourite of mine and will possibly end up my favourite Bon Jovi album.  It is one of those albums which genuinely improves with age, especially over a long listening life when your musical knowledge and appreciation has increased, and this is one hell of a album from the Jovi as far as I am concerned.

 

REVIEW OF BON JOVI'S SONG "SECRET DREAMS" FROM THE ALBUM 7800' FAHRENHEIT BY DANIEL THOMAS ANDREW DALY: I thought I'd write a review for the Bon Jovi song 'Secret Dreams' from their 2nd album 7800' Fahrenheit. The songwriters were Jon Bon Jovi, Richie Sambora, Tico Torres and B Grabowski. This is still the only Bon Jovi song which features Tico (the drummer for the band) as a songwriter with a credit. Tico does sing on a track on 100,000,000 Bon Jovi fans can't be wrong, but is not given to songwriting by the looks of it. The song is about unbridled passion and desire of a lover for his woman. Yet the only place he finds this lover, is in his dreams. It is a longing of the heart, and soul, very desperate 'I've got to get to you' for example from the song, in which he is anxious in his heart to win the woman he loves - or perhaps, desires. He falls, every night, when he wakes from his dreams, and loses the intimate love he has with his obsession. The real world pervades which he falls back into, but he fantasises that he will meet his woman face to face one day and 'We won't lose' when he does meet her. Potentially, because the lady is just a lady of his dreams, she could be a pop star or actress or some other out of reach celebrity, which is in the heart of his dreams, and he fantasizes about meeting her eg 'We won't lose when we meet face to face', but the only time he ever really does do so is in his 'Secret Dreams'. And, perhaps, he is also just a secret admirer of hers, because it is secret dreams, which nobody can know about. The lyrical passion is intense in this song, and it is a great way to finish off 7800 - the melting point of rock. The song itself is catchy and genuine hard rock and roll, but it is not quite up to single status for the time period. Other tracks on the album had a greater warrant for their inclusion as the singles. But its a great Bon Jovi song, apparently one which has never really been played live since the 1980s, as the band have a rather lesser view of the songs on 7800 than the rest of their catalogue. I love the track, and Secret Dreams will be one of my faves for a long time to come. 10 out of 10. Daniel Daly.

 

REVIEW OF BON JOVI'S SONG "KING OF THE MOUNTAIN" FROM THE ALBUM 7800' FAHRENHEIT. REVIEW BY DANIEL THOMAS ANDREW DALY: I have decided to review individually the songs from Bon Jovi's second album 7800' Fahrenheit - one at a time. I have no particular order of review, the first song reviewed being Secret Dreams, and now 'King of the Mountain' being the second. 'King of the Mountain' was written by the most popular Bon Jovi songwriting collaborators of Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora. So many of their big hits are co-written by this team, often with Desmond Child who brings that 'Touch' to some of their smash hits. The message of the song is to challenge authority in a sense, rise up against the working 'Boss Man' who oppresses you in your hard working conditions, find a time to rise up and 'Rock and Roll' and be King of the Mountain on a night were the 'Magic in the air makes you come alive.' And the victory of the night is when you become 'King of the Mountain', undefeated. It is obviously a message of hope and perseverance, and shows so much of the spirit of 'Rock and Roll' liberation songs, which defend a persons right to have a good time, party and forget about all the troubles of life. Personally, I feel the song is a little bit of a departure by Bon Jovi from the sound of the first album and the sound of the second album in general. It has a strong bass riff, not overly used in Bon Jovi songs, and stands out with a different sound and feel to it from the rest of the album. It's like the odd one out in a way. At first, when I got this album on cassette back in about 1987/1988/1989, I had always felt King of the Mountain was a little bit of a poorer track from Bon Jovi, yet at this time of life I was more moved by Hard Rock's commercial edge in its melodious glories like 'Panama' from Van Halen, and 'Nothing But a Good time' from Poison, and felt that a more, I guess, alternative sounding rock song was just not what I was looking for. Back then, it had to have a commercial slickness to it, or I wasn't terribly interested. That mindset stayed with me a very long time, and really still influences my CD purchasing habits (I usually look for catchy songs), but recently I spent a lot of time listening to 'King of the Mountain' on youtube, just to get used to the song, and it has started winning me. It's sort of like that with a lot of music, actually. When you start to become very familiar with it, you can start enjoying it more. Some people probably really enjoy King of the Mountain a lot. For me it took a while. But watching a live performance of the song the other day on Youtube I was starting to 'Get it', and could identify somewhat to Jon's happiness as he bopped around on stage singing one of his gems. After a while (from my perspective) King of the Mountain DOES grow on you if you persevere with it. Some might get the connection straight away. Some may pass it off as mundane. But for some of us, its not an instant classic, but one which sneaks up on you over time and says 'I'm a great song. Give me a chance.' Like the rest of Fahrenheit, I love the music now, and am a big fan of this era of Hard Rock Glory. The song gets about 8 out of 10 at this stage, but that might change one day. Who knows. Daniel

 

REVIEW OF THE BON JOVI SONG 'ALWAYS RUN TO YOU' FROM THE ALBUM 7800' FAHRENHEIT. REVIEW BY DANIEL THOMAS ANDREW DALY: This is my third review of songs from 7800' Fahrenheit by Bon Jovi. (The prior 2 were: 1) Secret Dreams & 2) King of the Mountain). I am reviewing the entire album song by song in an order I have now chosen myself. This song, 'Always Run to You' is from the songwriting team of Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora, perhaps the most common songwriting credit throughout Bon Jovi albums, perhaps apart from Jon solo. This figure of lust that Jon (I guess) is after, is perhaps again the Secret Dream desire of his from 'Secret Dreams'. The line 'And when Morning Comes and I go to sleep When I close my eyes she's waiting for me', echoes similar ideas to the figure of Secret Dreams obsessed over, so that perhaps this is a lady who Jon can always Run To in his dreams, a lady of strength who can be a sanctuary for Jon who has a 'Heart of Chrome and a Soul of Steel'. But therein is some of the interesting aspects of who this song represents in a way. 'A Heart of Chrome and a Soul of Steel.' It becomes even more obvious with lyrics like 'We've done more white lines' and 'Any road that you choose'. It is Jon's fascination with a 'Destination Anywhere', the title of his second solo album, as well as his 'Lost Highway', the Bon Jovi album from the 00s, which shows, essentially, Jon's desire to hit the road in an automobile '(ie heart of chrome soul of steel)' when he is 'Out on the streets again'. It is more than his love of his secret dreams, it is the Road of Adventure, the 'Destination Anywhere' the 'Lost Highway' of his heart, which Jon and Richie are teaching here, the spirit of getting away from it all and 'Running to the one which will give him freedom always. ie I can ALWAYS run to you. It is escapism from the harsher realities of the city life, and it is one of the loves of the heart of Bon Jovi. And, perhaps that love of the open road, is why he wants to be a cowboy so badly, and find the freedom of the frontier and the 'Getaway' for his soul from the tough world of desperate New Jersey nights. Musically, the song is another of 7800's fine rock songs, but while it could have been a single perhaps, there were more favourable choices on the album to promote. It is a song of escapism and hope in a trusted sanctuary, and its pure and great rock and roll, and another of the true classics this album has to offer the discerning rock and roll audience. 8 out of 10. Daniel Thomas Andrew Daly.

 

REVIEW OF THE BON JOVI SONG '(I DON'T WANNA FALL) TO THE FIRE' FROM THE ALBUM 7800' FAHRENHEIT. REVIEW BY DANIEL THOMAS ANDREW DALY: This is now my fourth review of tracks from 7800' Fahrenheit by Bon Jovi. (The previous 3 were 1) Secret Dreams, 2) King of the Mountain & 3) Always Run to You. You can find those reviews easily here on youtube by going to the various songs from 7800 individually on youtube. They are also at http://www.facebook.com/noahide . ) 7800' Fahrenheit came out in 1985, a year in which Hard Rock was really starting to come into its own. The second half of the 1980s saw some of the best Hard Rock/Hair metal albums of all time released, and this album from Bon Jovi was one of those early front runners which offered a taste of the glory to come from the 1986 epic 'Slippery When Wet'. But 7800 stands on its own terms and, in the end, its own fanbase. True, way back then in 1985 I owned one cassette tape - an Australiana collection of Songs which I had gotten for a birthday or perhaps christmas present some time, and a very simple tape player. That was about the total limit of my music collection, as at 12/13 I hadn't really gotten into collecting any music yet. I did watch video hits a bit, and was familiar with the big acts like Dire Straits and Madonna and Genesis and Billy Idol and Cyndi Lauper and especially Michael Jackson, and while I listened on mum's radio a fair bit, buying albums was not yet 1) affordable or 2) something I could really be concerned at all about anyway. The first album I ever owned through my own purchase was 'Serious Fun' by 'The Firm' a novelty album. But, to be fair, around that time a bestie had given me a dubbed copy of 'Slippery When Wet', which was my first rock album ever owned, and I listened to it constantly. I bought the cassette some time later brand new, and the earlier albums of Bon Jovi and 7800' Fahrenheit were purchased quite quickly as well. For me, rock and roll, for the most part, started with Bon Jovi. Thus, in 1985, I was not yet familiar with Bon Jovi, even though they had charted on various charts around the world, even in Australia, and the album and the band WERE a known thing. It's strange - many people's first memories of Bon Jovi will be 'Livin on a Prayer' which started the ginormous run of success the band had and continues to have but, in all fairness, they have an older and perhaps more loyal fanbase, than the ones who came with Slippery, for they sold albums before they hit the real big time, and there are dedicated Fahrenheiters out there, I would say, who still remember the original Bon Jovi before the big rush. I don't wanna fall to the fire is solid rock and roll on an album full of solid rock and roll tracks. The message, to me, seems one which sits in the heart of Bon Jovi's Faith - his catholic upbringing. The lines 'We would take no prisoners cause there was nobody giving in' speaks of his belief in a church which is embracing the authority of the world - (ie Society) - a society which Jon says, if you join, the heart of your innocence dies. This is a confronting reality for many of the christians of the modern era. Balancing the desire to remain faithful to Jesus who saves them - ie in the song itself Jon cries out to his lord 'Can you help me hear me call can you save me from it all' - and the reality that with his birth into the realm of Led Zepplins' 'Rock and Roll', he has emerged into a new world, the United States of Rock in many ways, but more than that, mainstream USA, with its liberal views and permissive lifestyle choices at his beck and call, from which he is crying out for deliverance, for he doesn't want to fall down to that 'FIRE' (of hell). To me, the church became society a long time ago. Caesar took care of that. Yet Jon wants to remain pure to the Kingdom of God and not give into the temptations of Babylon he sees in his treasured US of A. The question remains to his Lord - Can you Save Me From It All???? I guess with 'AMEN' we got our answer - Jon has risen above and kept his faith, and Bon Jovi did n't end up just a Hair Metal S,D&R&R band in the end. They became more than that. It's a great track, and it has a feel of other parts of the album on it, and is part of the 7800' Fahreneheit sound. Potentially a single if they had chosen it, but I think they got the choices for that mostly right in the end anyway. 8 out of 10. Daniel Thomas Andrew Daly

 

REVIEW OF THE BON JOVI SONG 'THE PRICE OF LOVE' FROM THE ALBUM 7800' FAHRENHEIT. REVIEW BY DANIEL THOMAS ANDREW DALY: In the end, there were 5 singles released from 7800' Fahrenheit. This might make some people question who have seen the videos for the album, but 'The Price of Love' was indeed released as a single without a video - IN JAPAN ONLY. I have a copy of the 7 inch glory, and you can still track down a decent copy online if you are willing to go search for it and pay the bucks. The Price of Love was written by Jon Bon Jovi solo, as quite a lot of the Bon Jovi songs were and are. Often Jon is all that is required for a genuine hit, as he has had plenty of great songs written by his pen alone, and this is another genuine release from the second Bon Jovi album. 'Practicing his love lies he runs to his wife'. The Price of love, obviously, is one of betrayal of the fidelity of marriage. This is a song of the risks the adulterer takes in finding that love and romance, indeed the one who takes that chance as the master of romance. It is about the 'Game' were there is no real time to consider what you are doing 'No time to wonder why' and the wife, holding the knife has 'Nobody to hear her cry'. It's a very striking image of the lusts in life, particularly prevalent then in the mid 1980s, when the adulterous affair was something everyone seemed to know about a couple, indulging in those forbidden sins. Flash forward 30 years and 'Cheaters' is common as muck - a song which was a sign of its time, but which has become oh so the trend in so many marriages which have thrown the idea of life long fidelity to a partner out the window. In a way, it shows the innocence of the age, and how 30 years later the moralists and free livving sinners have drifted that much further apart, that much more of a contrast in the lives of people who have a free spirit, compared to those they think are indoctrinated by parents, priests and pastors - the religious elite. The Price of Love remains an eternally relevant song for those who have convictions of fidelity to a marriage partner, and shows the 'Rush' involved when you take those steps, but also the pain it can cause as well. Musically its a great rock song, and good enough for Japanese release as a single. A video in the theme of the others from this album would have been great, but financial and time constraints at that time made it a no goer. But its a great rock song, full of passion and life, one of the hits from 7800' Fahrenheit, and I give it 9 out of 10. Daniel Thomas Andrew Daly

 

REVIEW OF THE BON JOVI SONG 'THE HARDEST PART IS THE NIGHT' FROM THE ALBUM 7800' FAHRENHEIT. REVIEW BY DANIEL THOMAS ANDREW DALY: (This is my sixth review of songs from 7800' Fahreneheit, and the prior five reviewed in order were 1) Secret Dreams, 2) King of the Mountain, 3) Always Run to You, 4) (I Don't Wanna Fall) To the Fire, & 5) The Price of Love. These reviews can be read on youtube by searching for each of these songs by Bon Jovi individually and reading the comments section, or you can find them all at http://www.facebook.com/noahide ). The Hardest Part is the Night has a live video which is featured in the video cassette compilation tape 'Breakout' which has the 6 videos from the first two albums. I first saw these songs on 'Breakout' back in the 1980s when a schoolfriend lent me his copy of the tape. I got my own copy some time later. The song was written by Jon Bon Jovi and David Bryan, which is, in a way, the other songwriting team for quite a number of Bon Jovi classics. Everyone knows about the big hits from Jon and Richie, but a smash like 'In these Arms' from Keep the Faith was the heart of David Bryan's brilliance. And that songwriting talent worked with Jon to produce this particular hit also. The message of the song is straight forward enough in a simple way - the hardest part is getting through the night. But this message, on closer scrutiny, shows why this album from Bon Jovi does represent the spirit of latter albums like Keep the Faith and These Days as well. It is very simply a song of those living on the streets of Jersey, or whatever city you choose, the homeless, the disaffected, the mentally unwell, the runaways, who find, in the cold world they live in, that really, the hardest part is the night. For example, the line 'All alone in a place where the lonely, they all have to walk through the rain,' speaks of the harsh realities of the natural elements which homeless people endure, and the following lines of 'And they dance on the edge where you only only pray that is has to end' is were they live on the edges of your city, where, when someone from the sheltered and protected world Jon is singing to, the rest of the, the lucky ones, would pray that if we were in that situation it would just end already. It is a prayer for the disaffected, the outcast from society. Perhaps the toughest message is the stark truth of 'You lose at life it ain't no game.' A number of the songs from 7800 tackle moral issues, and have a moral heart, and this one is one which addresses those who are the less fortunate in life, those on the edge of the city who, when they cry out, they cry out in the hardest part of it all - the night. It's a great rock and roll song musically, and has all the skill and musical expertise the young band had developed in their years of training, and has stood the test of time as a continued hit for the band, if not as mega and imposing as some of the other major's from the big albums. Like some of the other tracks on the album, it has a 7800' feel to it - it fits with the sound of the album, and deserves its place, deserves its single status, and is simply just a great rock and roll song which people should indeed check out. 9 out of 10. Daniel Thomas Andrew Daly

 

REVIEW OF THE BON JOVI SONG 'ONLY LONELY' FROM THE ALBUM 7800' FAHRENHEIT. REVIEW BY DANIEL THOMAS ANDREW DALY: (This is my seventh review of songs from 7800' Fahreneheit, and the prior six reviewed in order were 1) Secret Dreams, 2) King of the Mountain, 3) Always Run to You, 4) (I Don't Wanna Fall) To the Fire, 5) The Price of Love & 6) The Hardest Part is the Night. It's obviously Rocky himself. Obviously. As he is out there, running along the streets of Philadelphia, that famous anthem playing, you hear it in every part of it. Only lonely was, as the whole 7800 album was, recorded at the Warehouse in Philadelphia, the same hometown for the Rocky movies. And the spirit of Philadelphia and Rocky runs all throughout this song, as it does throughout the album to a degree. But more than that – it is a hero's song and, again, more than that – heroes song. The video has all 5 members battling crime elements, for the heart of a lady, and the passion and intensity of that video, in my own opinion, could be reconstructed into its own movie as well, such being the strength of the storyline of the video. Only Lonely was one of the singles of Fahrenheit, and while, like the other singles, failed to reach any dizzying heights of chart success, it mattered not. It was a competitor from an emerging bunch of rockers, full of passion, full of life, and with an edge which suits the panache and style we know so well in the bois from joisey. It is hard rock in many ways as, at that time, rock and roll was usually a bit softer a sound than its current 2015 proteges. Even pop today has an edge which might have practically been called hard rock back in the day. Things have progressed in music – not so much heavier, really – but more passionate – more intense – more competitive. So, in that sense, this song, in its day, with its obvious rock and roll upbeat style which we would call it in this day and age, was hard rock back then and Bon Jovi were linked into the heavy metal scene somewhat, with shows at big metal fests. Today, is it dated? Has only lonely softened and gone off to the wellpool of long forgotten hits which no longer give out that buzz the modern music listener so much craves. Not entirely. In fact, listening to an Iron Maiden track from the 80s the other day, I sort of feel that this area of 80s music – passionate hard rock/metal – has the kind of musicality in it that has the potential of genuine chart success in terms of top 40 popularity today. Music has grown in passion, so the heavy stuff from years ago, which only the devil's own were often associated as to the listening of, is practically mainstream today. Or maybe that is one soul's personal observation. Only lonely holds up. It's not dated yet, nor is the album in any great respect and, if in time, it manages to exude that magical quality of musical excellence which has kept the likes of Mozart and Beethoven in vogue for centuries, then the glories of Bon Jovi's second platter will be played and loved for years to come yet. I love the passion of the track most of all and, apart from that, it is a genuine enough early hit from the band. It's strong, musical and likeable. The video compliments the song greatly and, something I have noticed about the album in recent plays even more, the more you listen to 7800 over a long time, the more and more you actually start liking the album. It is really one of those classics, which has genuine quality, which can continue to grow on you with repeated listens. There are bigger Bon Jovi anthems and, true, the heyday of the album I suppose has come and gone, but Only Lonely has that simple class of a classic rock track and, for lovers of fine music and cool rock and roll, it's sill one worth putting on the turntable, or into the tape or CD drive, and enjoy for a while yet. 9 out of 10.

 

Taylor Swift



Madonna

Madonna (Madonna Ciccone) emerged in the music scene as a solo artist in the early 1980s. Her early hits included Holiday, Borderline, Lucky Star and Burning Up as well as big hits like Like a Virgin and Papa Don't Preach, and the intoxicating Material Girl. She was a dominant force in 80s pop music but also in 80s iconic fashion, and the Madonna look was copied by every teen girl it seemed for a while. The 1990s saw a more mature edge come from Madonna, with Vogue kicking off a new image for the mother of reinvention, with Erotica, Bedtime Stories and Ray of Light being big hit albums for her. In the2000s she had become very well established and songs like Hung Up and American Life cemented her icon status forever. In the 2010s she continued on and MDNA, a more recent album, is to me one of her finer efforts with strong pop of a more intricate nature, showing a subtley sarcastic heart from the Material Girl. She's had millions of album sales over the years, a plethora of number one singles, and at 60 years of age shows no sign of stopping any time soon. She's been married more than once, has 2 children, a boy and a girl, to two different fathers, as well as adopted children. Currently she is single, but has boyfriends she associates with, and the last album, Rebel Heart, released just a few years ago to moderate success, is at a pinnacle of her career where we can potentially expect a great new reinvention, for which she is well known, or perhaps a more predictable jaunt into regular pop sensibilities for which she is most traditionally known. Only time will tell.

 

LITERATURE AND MEDIA

 

Books

Books are pressings of paper with information on them, collected together into a single volume, with a cover binding holding it together in place permanently, so that each page of the book is permanently in place and can be turned over, one page and then then next, so that the entire book can be read, the pages remaining fastened to the inner binding or spine of the book. The information conveyed in books is a wide variety of information, on practically every subject under the sun. You name it, it has probably been written down in a book. Books can be of fiction or non-fiction. Fiction books are 'Invented' books were the author or authors are making up a story conceived from their own imagination, and this 'story' has been published in a book. The author has usually gone through an agent which refers the book to a book publisher which is called a submission. If the book publisher likes the book, they may agree to a publishing deal. If they do, a certain number of books, usually judged on market estimations of how well the book will sell, are prescribed for printing. The printers, who are not necessarily even part of the publishing company, will print the book to the number of copies asked for. These are then marketed through distributors, which are usually booksellers. Popular best selling books of the 20th century include 'The Lord of the Rings', 'To Kill a Mockingbird' and 'Patriot Games', amongst a plethora of books published in the century. Apart from fiction books there are non-fiction books, which are books written on factual things in society. Libraries house books on both fiction and non-fiction, and the library catalogue is a good place to understand the broad subjects of non-fiction books published. Books can be quite expensive, and very affordable on new purchase, and after time some can be very collectable in the collectors second hand market, depending on demand for early printings of the book. Books have words usually, bot often pictures as well, both diagrams, black and white photos and colour pictures also (which was not a feature in the earliest books, apart from artists works). Books tended to flow on from earlier types of record keepings, which were usually scrolls or papyrus, which were similar to the paper used in books, but kept rolled up instead. The Torah Scroll is still a feature of modern synagogue usage.

 

Libraries

A Library is a place were books and magazines and other information articles are stored. It is usually in the form of a building, often with more than one level, full of bookcases on which the articles are stored. Bookcases can be made of wood or metal, and often other materials as well. A library, also, can be in the form of an online library, were a collection of articles are found and can be accessed by some sort of index page or contents page. In physical libraries, there is often an indexing card system which you can use to look up books, usually by author first of all, using the author's surname to start with. The articles are organised in the modern world under the dewey decimal system. This system organises non-fiction books into categories or subjects, so that books on the same subjects are organised in the same basic place on the shelves. All the various branches of main knowledge mankind has are organised within the structure of the dewey decimal system to organise articles. Fiction is also stored, and is usually just ranked in alphabetical order based on the author's surname first and then, when the same surname appears for more than one author, first names and then middle names if necessary. Libraries can be quite small, or they can also be enormous. School's usually have their own libraries for student's to borrow books from, as do universities and colleges. There are state libraries, the main library for your state, and nations usually have a 'National Library' as well. In Canberra in Australia we have our national library, and it is a requirement for all non-fiction works published in Australia to have a copy kept at the National Library. Articles come in various sizes, and it is the job of the 'Librarian' who looks after and organises the library, to store the books properly, to catalogue them properly, and to file them after they have been borrowed and returned. A library is an essential part, and often the nub of study of any successful community.

 

Comics

The Joy of Comics
No, I'm not ripping off 'The Joy of Sex'. Although that is quite tempting. Comics are a joy. A happy pastime to read the adventures of Wolverine ripping off some cronie's skull, or Batman outwitting the Joker, or even Bugs Bunny pissing of Daffy Duck for the millionth time. Where would we be without our pannapictagraphist hobby? I'd probably be collecting stamps with a bit more enthusiasm, annoyingly going to the philately club, drinking down tea and coffee, eating chocolate biscuits, and commenting that I have a watermarked error Victoria which is surely increasing in value, a banal conversation my philatelists have heard 100 times that month. But, no, Superman graced us all in June 1938 with Action Issue 1, and we have a huge Superhero Universe of icons of action and wonder to devour on a monthly basis (these days bi-weekly for some), and it gives entertainment to lives which are perhaps to geeky to get off on sports too much, preferring the back room of the 'Mancave' were we can check out stock of acid free backing boards, contemplate whether we can afford $199.95 for that VF copy of Amazing Spider-man 300, and sift through our long boxes looking for that copy of Amazing Wonder Comics we are sure has the first appearance of 'Lizard-Freak Kid', who showed up in the movie, and has a hot mini out, the demand for the issue skyrocketing.. God help us all.



DC Comics

DC Comics is a comic company, also formerly known as 'National Comics'. Comics are illustrated stories in a short magazine format, usually of uniform size for standard American comics, the major publisher of comics internationally. The most typical comics are 'Super Hero' comics which are stories of, usually, humans who often have extraordinary powers and are 'Heroes' who fight for justice. Superman is the first of the Superheroes of the Comics industry, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, and is a DC Comics character also. Superman's debut was in Action Comics number 1 published in 1938. Batman followed a year later in Detective Comics number 27. DC traditionally publishes comics of ongoing issues on a monthly basis. Currently running from DC are the '52' line of comics, which are 52 separate titles published monthly in the DC multiverse of 52 separate universes. Popular characters from DC include Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Aquaman, Lobo, Harley Quinn, Robin, Batwoman, Green Arrow, Booster Gold, Blue Beetle, Firestorm and many others, with other popular superhero team books such as 'Justice League' and 'Teen Titans' and 'Suicide Squad' amongst many others. Superheroes have adventures, usually against villains, and traditional villains show up regularly. For example, Lex Luthor is a millionaire who opposes Superman very often. The Joker, the Riddler, The Penguin and Catwoman often opposed Batman. Comics are a very collectible commodity and many collectors spend their life times collecting new issues and past issues, which are called 'Back Issues', often from comic stores and occasionally second hand bookstores and, in this modern era, from online Internet sources. Certain back issues can be extremely expensive, depending on such things as first appearances of major characters, the condition of the comic, the age of the comic, and often wether it is the first issue of a run of comics. As an example, a very high graded conditioned copy of Action Comics number one from 1938 could easily cost upwards of two million US dollars these days, a very great expense indeed, far beyond the affordability of the average comic collector. DC have published consistently since the early 1930s and, alongside Marvel Comics, form the foundation for the crux of the comics industry in America today, although there are other companies which don't quite have the success of DC or Marvel. Traditionally, comics were for younger boys, but as time passed, and in today's world, comic collectors can range in all ages. Very often it is 30 and 40 year olds who are the main people collecting comics. Many genres are published by DC, not just superhero, an example being the Vertigo imprint from DC which specializes in mature age comics for older readers, often from darker themes of supernatural like characters.



Review of Man of Steel Movie from DC Comics

Superman is the cornerstone of the DC Universe. The firstborn of the Superheroes. Maybe, not quite technically the firstborn, as while Action Comics Number One, the first appearance of Superman from 1938, is the debut of the Golden Age, the pre-historic platinum age before then, which goes back to 1935 for DC, has a number of heroic identities who might make a potential claim on the glory of Comics number one. But, in practical reality, and what the people really believe, Superman hit hard first of all and flew like a bird, faster than a speeding bullet, before Gotham's caped crusader soon joined the pack, and the Wonderful Amazonian Beauty joined no long later. But it started with Superman – the Man of Steel. They've done a few movies over the years from DC Comics – even back in origin time Superman and the Mole Men was a flick, and there were the TV adventures, and even some cartoon. But Man of Steel kicked off this recent DCEU, a rival to Marvel's MCU, and while it lacks the anthemic Superman theme from John William's 1978 'Superman' masterpiece, it's own theme is strong enough and, in terms of visuality, Man of Steel does things which 1978s 'Superman' can really only dream of. But that's what it's been like for a while in the Movies. The last couple of decades of stuff. Major upgrade over 1980s things we saw in earlier years. The dialogue – not a huge amount of change. Some old conversations, and the writers have not made any real extraordinary leaps and bounds. But its probably a bit more refined now, somewhat through formula being learned, but also just plain experience in what works well in story telling, and what was often perceived as 'Cringeworthy' moments. Man of Steel is pretty spectacular all things considered. I watched Aquaman the previous night, and that was quite special, but the Krypton scenes at the beginning, and the heaviness of the plot concepts with General Zod's concerns for the welfare of Krypton, reached a level which Aquaman didn't quite achieve, though he was getting there indeed. It was a fine movies, visually stunning as I have said, and the plot was followable and didn't get lost in a mess of redundant alternative plotlines. It wasn't too caught up with techy details, or intellectual details which movies often go into, especially on genre specific subjects, where really only those involved in the field have much of an idea of what they are talking about. Certainly, you are going to have to have a bit of a handle on Sci Fi or Superhero concepts to follow it in most ways, but the regular kids are still going to essentially get what is going on and enjoy the experience because of it. It was well enough received critically, and I think generally so. Detailed enough, never really boring, but like Aquaman not too overpaced, and steady enough. Flashbacks were understandable, and the flow from scene to scene made sense as I watched the movie. It wasn't too complicated, it wasn't too simple, it wasn't too flashy either, and it wasn't a movie bragging about its own glory. It was pretty solid superhero movie action from the current era, and it generally, all things considered, is a pretty damn fine motion picture. Highly recommended.


Review of Aquaman Movie from DC Comics

Strong action, likeable characters, decent humour. The mythos of Aquaman established in this movie is generally good enough. Atlantis was decent enough in its visual appeal – probably as spectacular somewhat as Corcuscant in Star Wars on the big screen. Traditional elements of Adventure movies, and while it is indeed a Superhero movie, it comes across as a traditional fantasy/action/sci fi epic movie in its own right. It carries its own weigh. It's not simply a DC movie to meet a prescribed protocol for the next slice of pie in the DCEU, which is indeed the marketing point of DC & Warner Brothers to make an income and establish their franchise, but it has enough character, charm, originality and concern for itself that it's a genuine enough motion picture from Hollywood. It's not a fake company product. They did their job professionally enough with enough of a damn given about Aquaman. Its the genuine article well enough. The excitement factor is strong enough, and at a certain point in the movie you start not judging it for being just enough action Hollywood blockbuster, but a movie which has started to draw you in with enough interesting ideas and storyline. It's never really boring, the pace though is not nuts, but well paced action. It seems to do its job in a lot of standard sort of dramatic ideas in a decent enough way. Really, it's quite a good one. As superhero movies go, you can know it is divorced from reality somewhat, but it turns its fantastic concepts into enough realism somewhat in the psychology of the DC Superhero Universe. Overall strong enough chapter in the DCEU, and if you haven't checked it out you probably should. The acting seems definitely competent enough, and some of the scenes are special enough to generally make it worthwhile. A solid effort.


 

One Star Squadron

Like classic 'Dial H for Heroes' comics, DC Comics One Star Squadron runs with a similar idea. Led by Red Tornado, the One Star Squadron are a Superhero for Hire Service which, according to the preview information will answer to such things as requests to attend a children's birthday party or deal with an alien invasion. Apparently no job is too small or too big for the One Star Squadron. The team behind OSS are Mark Russell the Writer and Steve Lieber the artist, who have working on other DC products previously. In a title were Heroism meets Capitalism, DC have given us what appears to be humour on the lighter side of life. The protagonists of this adventure include Red Tornado, Power Girl, Minute Man, Flying Fox, Heckler and Gangbuster. The Antagonists are Nazis, the Royal Flush Gang and Lex Luthor. There is inspiration in for the form of a motivational success book by Maxwell Lord of the JLI, and looking at the comic itself, Power Girl, in her Power Woman outfit seems like she will obviously be something to reckon with. Steve Lieber is also the inker, Dave Steward the colourist, Dave Sharpe the letterer and Chris Rosa, Brittany Holzherr & Mike Cotton the Editors. With a cover date of February 2022, it was published on December 7 2021, and is scheduled to be a six issue mini series.



Checklists for Comics

Regular comics usually have issue numbers. The issue number starts at number one (sometimes number zero), and ascends numerically one issue number at at time corresponding to each chronologically released issue. Standard comics from DC Comics and Marvel comics usually come out one issue every 4 weeks, sometimes one issue every month. Recording your collected issue numbers on a piece of paper forms a checklist. If you are collecting an older series of comics from a completed or finished series, and are buying back issues (back issues are older comics which have been released in the past), having a checklist with the issue numbers you already own is an easy way to see the issue numbers you still need to complete your collection. By persisting and persevering with back issue collecting from older series and ticking off the issue numbers as you go, in time you can complete the series. This allows you to enjoy reading the full collection without any interruptions in the issue you might not have, thus maximising comic reading enjoyment. Of course, you can keep your records of older issues in a notebook, or even on a computer database or word processing file. But not only comics, but bulletins, newspapers, magazines and so on - anything which has a numbered or monthly indicated issue, can be solidly and reliably collected by recording the details of the issue numbers.



Comics Organizing Therapy

The idea is that you have comics. And the idea is that you have a job. Or an income. Or an allowance. Or a pension. Stealing? Not advised. You need money. Legal money. Kapiche? Legal money. Legally earned cashola. And with that legal dosh – you buy comics. And you keep on buying comics. Lots of comics. You collect comics. It's called Pannapictagraphy. You collect comics. And you keep the comics. You pray to God for the comics to be Eternya – that they last forever – and you keep the comics forever. Don't get me wrong – you might have a hot box which are comics for potential flipping and long term investment – but apart from those ones, you keep your comics. And then you organize your comics. This is part of the hobby. You certainly look at the covers and artwork and read the comics. And you certainly enjoy buying them and getting them in the mail. But you also organize your comics. A big part of the therapy of comics is organizing them comics. And when you have over 1000 of them comics organizing therapy is a big thing. It is very soothing. Flicking through your comic boxes and arranging the storage order, and putting them in issue number order, earliest at the back of the pack or the front of the pack, depending on preference. Random order can be ok for the same title or hero or group, but it can be a bit confusing. It is your choice though. Of course it can be organized on other ideas. Standalone issues where the story is complete in that issue. All your standalones together – easy as a go to pile for you and others for comics you can just read. Or team books together and individual heroes together or the team and their heroes in the teams together and lots of ways. Even all the number 1 issues together as the hot keys or other key issues together. Even display the comics on the wall if you want. And all this is part of the hobby and can be therapeutic. It keeps you busy and can be quite soothing.

 

 

TECHNOLOGY

Clocks, Time and the Measuring of the Days

Clocks are time devices. Time devices are things which measure time. Time is the passing of the moments, the passing of life, the passing of the passages of activity of the universe. The space in which everything happens from day to day. Each day, in the biblical sense, is composed of evening and then morning, the day. Modern 21st century society divides the day up into 24 equal periods called 'Hours'. Further, these individual hours are broken up into individual equal bits called minutes. There are 60 minutes in an hour. Further still, each minute is broken up, again, into 60 individual bits called seconds. So there are 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in an hour and 24 hours in a day. Of course, there are 7 days in a week, and approximately 52 weeks per year. 365 days per year, or 366 days every 4 years, which we call a 'Leap Year'. We also use 'Months'. The 12 months we use are, from the beginning of the year to the end in chronological order, January with 31 days, February with 28 days, but with 29 days in the leap year, the one exception, March with 31 days, April with 30 days, May with 31 days, June with 30 days, July with 31 days, August with 31 days, September with 30 days, October with 31 Days, November with 30 days and December with 31 days, totally 365 days, or 366 days in a leap year. A year is how long it takes for the Earth to go around the sun. The year has Summer (in Australia the months of December, January and February – the hottest season), Autumn (in Australia the months of March, April and May, a moderate season when the leaves start to fall), Winter (in Australia the months of June, July and August, the coldest season of the year) and Spring (In Australia the months of September, October and November, when everything is new again). A clock is a mechanical device which is made using springs and cogs, which click over with 'tics', often measuring seconds also in some clocks, but usually just the minutes and hours. Clocks are usually based on the 12 hours of each half of the day. They are numbered from 12 at the top of the clock face – a circle usually – and go around the clock face, going rightwards to start with, with evenly spaced numbers going first to 1 O'Clock and then 2 O'Clock, all the way around back to 12 O'Clock. 1 PM to 12 PM is from 1 O Clock just after Midday (which is 12 AM), to 12 O'Clock at Midnight. And then from 1 AM to 12 AM at Midday, the middle of the waking day. Every hour is of course even in time. You also have electronic digital clocks, which can use a clock face, but are usually represented with this sort of time '12:45' which is 45 minutes past 12 O'Clock. Wether it is AM or PM is often also indicated on a digital clock, but is not on the standard 12 hour regular mechanical clock. Of course, clocks have been made of differing number of hours, often for use in science and for collectors and so on. Apart from clocks, an hourglass is a way of measuring the hours of the day, and a sundial is also another way of telling the time, both of those being ancient time devices. You can also, especially with experience, tell the approximate time of the day by just looking at the positioning of the sun and moon throughout the day, and noting the day of the year in the seasons. Very experienced souls can likely tell the time reasonably well from that. Time is absolutely essential to the running of the worlds Commerce and Schooling and other industries in our current society, and jobs are very often based for the pay on how much time is worked each day. Schedules, meeting times, bus schedules and train schedules and so on are all based upon the time of the day for when their services operate. In fact the 24 hour day is absolutely fundamental to the current smooth running of the world. What on earth would we do without our clocks? God only knows.

 

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Planes

Planes are flying machines, which people are seated within, which fly through the air from one destination to another. They are powered by a fuel of some sorts, some sort of diesel or liquid gasoline or petrol or some other fuel, which runs through the engine or engines of the plane, which propel the propellers or various other engines which thrust the plane forwards. They have 'wings' which are designed to, when the plane is thrust forward at a fast velocity, to cause the plane to life from the ground and also to lower itself down to the ground. They land on the ground usually on wheels, but some planes can land on water as well. The first successful flying plane was invented by the Wright Brothers in the early part of the 20th century. When world war 1 or the great war advented about a decade later, planes were part of the conflict, and developed in technological capabilities and design ever since. Today we have an enormous array of planes which fill the skies, and they are one of the major forms of transport for larger distances both nationally and internationally. They are quite quick, and you can get half way around the world in as little as 24 hours, or a day. Often long flights have interconnecting flights, were you transfer from one plane to another. Plane networks are common, such as British Airways, Qantas (an Australian company) Virgin, and many other global competitors. Often someone books a flight or a tour through a travel agency, but you can also go direct to the plane network itself. Plane crashes are not unknown, but statistically they are safer for travel than cars or motorbikes. Planes come in a variety of sizes, and very big passenger airplanes can carry quite a lot of people. They are a standard part of the transport industry, and will likely remain relevant to modern society for quite some time to come. Planes are built often of metal and other textiles, and early on other materials were used. A 'Pilot' is responsible for flying the plane, and a pilots license, which requires strict training, is required before somebody can fly a plane.

Trains

Trains are machines which run on train tracks. Train tracks are parallel lines of metal bars, which are nailed to wooden lugs, which are placed securely in the ground. Train track lines now feature around every country of the world for the most part, and train lines travel all throughout the countries. The train itself has metal wheels which securely run on the train tracks. The train tracks are uniform in width, and the way the train wheels are designed they do not come of the tracks. Steam trains were an early part of the train designs, which often ran from wood or coal powered engines, which caused the wheels to turn which propelled the train forwards. Electricity is now often used to power trains. Traditional trains usually have the main train itself, were the engineer controls the train, and the engine is, and linked to the main train are 'carriages' which carry people. Trains also are a popular form of transporting 'goods' and the number of carriages can be extremely many on some trains. Railway crossings are were road intersect with railway lines. There are usually train lights there which flash when a train is coming, and often automated bars prevent a car from crossing, which raise themselves when the train passes. Travelling by train remains a popular way of transport over long distances and in cities comprehensive train networks abound to get around the city. Trams are a close similarity to trains, which also run around cities. Mono-rails are trains which run on a single track and are increasingly becoming popular. 'Murder on the Orient Express' is a classical Agatha Christie mystery novel set upon a train.

Automobiles

Automobiles are usually cars, trucks, utes, vans, buses and motorbikes and mopeds of various kinds. They use the 'Roads' of our world for getting around on and are used for transporting people as well as goods. Private ownership of an automobile is very common, whereas private ownership of planes and trains are far less common. Cars run on 4 wheels, one at each corner of the vehicle, usually made of metal. An engine powers the automobile which causes the wheel to turn. Trains are able to slow down and stop and travel backwards, whereas planes can't go backwards. Yet most automobiles can also reverse or travel backwards, which is often used for parking and reversing into driveways. Trucks are much larger than cars, and while cars are usually for transporting people, and carry up to usually about 5 people as a maximum, and can contain a boot in the back for storage of things you wish to transport, trucks are much larger and are mainly used for transporting goods as well as other materials used in manufacturing and gardening and so on. Utes are like a car/truck combination. Motorbikes are like bicycles, but larger, and powered by an engine. They have two wheels, one at the front, and one at the back, and it takes a little skill to balance them properly. Licences are required to drive automoblies, and in Australia the Road Transport Authority is responsible for issuing licences, which are gained after an applicant passes both a theory test to know the road rules, and the driving test itself to show they can drive properly. Automobiles are universal, and have been around about as long as planes, and have increasingly become better and safer technologically. Car racing and motorbike racing is an extremely popular sport, and television stations often show car races, especially on weekends. Formula One is usually the top line of car racing. Cars can travel at high speeds, not usually as high as planes, and via the comprehensive road network, which links up the buildings of each city and town and connects towns and cities together, cars have their way of getting around. 4WD are special types of cars, larger, and are very commonly used for going 'Cross Country' or out on the natural landscapes were there are no officeal roads. Roads themselves are often laid down with bitumen, but there are a lot of dirt roads around the countryside as well. Big car makers include 'Holden' and 'Ford' and 'Mitsubishi' and 'Toyota' and so on. Cars are also called 'Motorcars'. They are fuelled at 'Service stations' and repaired at car 'Mechanics'. BP is an example of a very popular service station. Service stations also very often repair cars and automobiles as well, with a mechanic on hand.

 

Media Storage Devices

Compact Disc 

A compact disc, or a CD, is a little plastic disc with data encased within it, which can be read by a laser disc reading device and decoded for PC and Music use and other devices. Music is mostly recorded on CD, and the usual maximum running length of a music or audio CD is about 80 minutes. Band albums these days range from the usual 35 to even up to 70ish minutes, as in the last 15 or so years many artists are releasing slightly longer albums on average than they did in earlier decades of the modern era. A music album on CD comes in, usually, a little plastic holder (but these days other textiles are often used instead of plastic), which the CD fits into and usually a booklet which has the album cover on it and often the lyrics of the album songs and other recording information, often with 'Thank You' and 'Dedication' details from the artists as well. From personal observations a high quality album cover usually means a better quality of CD – from personal observations – which flies in the face of the traditional 'Don't judge a book by its cover'. CD singles are often released of singles released by the band to promote the album, but most CDs are for music albums themselves, which often contain from 8 or 9 to as many as 15 or 16 tracks on average, and sometimes more. For examples 'The Beatles' 1 album has 27 songs on it, mostly short 3 and 4 minute songs. Compilation CDs of various artists single released often have a greater number of songs on them than standard album releases from an artist. A CD is played on a CD player. In the early years of CD back in the 1980s, a CD player usually needed to be run through and connected to a Stereo player via cords, for it to play the music, but nowadays most CD players come ready to play themselves, and, in fact, record and tape cassette stereo systems are not as common any more as they once were in shopping centres to purchase. Portable CD players which you can carry around with you which have earphones plugged into them by a thin cord, the earphones plugging into your ears so you can listen to them without bothering other people, were in vogue quite strongly in the 1990s, but mp3 players, which are simple data storage devices with music on them, uploads of songs done via a computer, have become the dominant form of personal music listening on earphones now, and often now through mobile phones with built in mp3 players. The Phillips compnay developed the CD system, who also release a lot of stereo equipment and related material. Currently CD purchases are still in vogue to a large degree, but have diminished in recent years due to the upsurge in downloading songs from the internet and your computer straight onto personal mp3 players. The much younger audience are more strongly affiliated with mp3 technology, Generation X and the baby boomers more affiilated with CD technology. There are millions of CDs released each year around the globe on music, and also quite a number of released on video game consoles and pc programs for computer usage. CDs, largely, replaced the tape cassette and vinyl records of earlier music recordings, and although those platforms are still in place, CD has vastly outnumbered them in current usage.

DVD

A DVD or Digital Versatile Disc is the same size and structure of a CD, but runs on slightly different technology, and is used for transmitting 'Visual' or 'Optical' data. Movies, in other words, or any other type of filmed programming can be stored on the data streams of a DVD, whatever visual thing you could imagine. DVDs run on a DVD player and, also, on most blu ray players, which is a slightly improved version of DVD technology. DVDs replaced the Video cassette system of VHS and BETA video cassettes throughout the 90s and by the 2000s they had indeed become the dominant form of movie storage device for personal use in homes. DVDs connect to Television Sets via cords, and utilize electricity from power outlets to run them. DVDs are akin to CDs in prices for the most part, and now are the more common format of personal programs storage, although blu ray is becoming increasingly popular. Judging, though, the way the market is progressing, it seems actually doubtful that blu ray will actually replace DVD and that both systems will remain popular for the time being, especially as DVDs play on a blu ray player usually. DVDs are purchased from a variety of stores, supermarkets very often, as well as DVD specialty stores and often varioius other places, even including service stations, which often sell CDs and DVDs on a rack. Unlike CDs, DVD techonology can run the programs on much greater lengths. In fact, they can be quite long but, often, the quality of the image and sound is slightly diminished for much longer running DVDs. Nearly every Hollywood movie produced these days will end up on DVD and often there are straight-to-DVD releases, which don't even go into the cinemas.

Video Cassette

Developed in the 1970s, the Video Tape Cassette systems of VHS and Betamax or BETA were tape systems, which could be recorded with on VHS recorders as well from programs on TV, were storage systems for film programs. Usually movies, but a whole host of programs, were recorded on to video cassettes which could be played and viewed via a video cassette player connected to a television set. Video cassette was the primary storage device used for broadcasting film on private TVs, usually in domiciles, but also used extensively in schools, as technologies which have since replaced them are doing as well currently. All sorts of programs have been put on Video Cassettes, and they were a major part of especially the 1980s culture, when going to a video rental store was something everybody did to hire the latest new releases, or older films as well. Millions of video cassettes were produced when they were in vogue and while DVD and blu ray systems have almost completely replaced them, there are still places you can order new ones, primarily online, even of new release movies. The VHS video tape became the dominant platform, yet the Beta system used smaller video cassettes which, you perhaps might have imagined, would have been more convenient to manage. Recording programs from TV was a major part of many households and individuals occupations yet, from memory, this seemed to be a grey area legally on copyright concerns, yet everyone seemed to be doing it. When a program was recorded directly from TV on to a tape for personal family use it seemed to be culturally acceptable for this to happen, which seemed to be the whole point of the recorder itself. Yet many individuals would also directly copy a video cassette themselves by connecting easily available cords to another Video Cassette Records (VCR). Doing that was usually called piracy, though, yet not really prosecuted much it would seem. It was, though, known in society that doing this was a little bit more of shady activity, especially when pirated tapes were sold on black markets. Personal recording off TV seemed to be culturally acceptable, and was not really prosecuted much.

 

COMPUTING



Word Processors (Click Me)



Commodore 64

The Commodore 64 was a computer produced by Commodore International in the early 1980s. It was an early example of a PC or Personal Computer. It was one of the mainstays of personal computing of the 1980s internationally, a very popular computer with a large array of programs, primarily games, associated with it. It also allowed printers to be used with it. Games were run via a tapedrive which was connected to the computer by a plug-in cord, as well as disk drives and cartridges which were plugged straight into the PC. Joysticks were the most common way of playing games, and 2 joystick ports were part of the computer. You could also connect specialised monitors to the PC, but many simply ran them through their television sets. The capabilities of the C64 were pushed to a fair degree, and by the end of its era it had spawned thousands of video games, and magazines and had become a bit of a cult classic. Even connecting to the internet of its day was a capability of the C64 through a modem, and there are even rare hard drives for the C64 which plug into it, which can store a great deal of permanent memory for the C64. Technically, its capabilities could indeed still be exploited in time, and with the strength of a latter game like 'Mayhem in Monsterland' which was one of the only games to ever receive a 100% rating, whose graphics were quite outstanding for the machine, further games for the C64 of practically endless designs could still be created. There is no real reason the system itself has to go out of vogue, despite there being far more complex computers and gaming systems. But the tradition it offers as well as the variety of programs and games already associated with the PC make it a classic of the ages.

 

Exploiting the C64's capabilities

Firstly, I would invent a single joypad similar to a Nintendo 64 or Playstation designed joypad, and have a cord which, at the end, plugs into both of the joystick ports. One of the weaknesses of the original joysticks was only one button. But a single joypad, with two buttons and two direction capabilities, via using the two ports to control a single 'avatar' on screen greatly enhances the capabilities of the C64. Further, a more advanced use of cartridges and hard drives would be ideal, and exploiting the graphics capabilities more akin with advanced games, indeed such as Mayhem in Monsterland. The whole point, though, with the C64 is to use the machine with its capabilities. If you want to progress you simply go off to another more advanced PC or video gaming system, but for 'Purist 64ers' the whole point and ethic is to work within the ethos and capabilities of the machine itself and 'make it cool with what it already has'. Further, the traditional 'Paddle' associated with the game could likewise be utilized with a joypad and also using the direction of the joystick, further exploit the capabilities of the C64. But, as said, if you want more complex, go to another machine – the whole point of C64 purism is to remain true to the core PC itself and work with the capabilities it already has. Naturally, online options could be very good for potential multi-game competitions.

 

Some Classic Game titles of the C64

Great Giana Sisters

Buggy Boy

Ikari Warriors

Breakout

Wizball

International Karate +

Rainbow Islands

Head over Heels

Super Sprint

Afterburner

Ultima IV

Defending the Crown

Arkanoid

Creatures

Ruff n Reddy

Robocop

The Last Ninja

Slicks

Barbarian

Mayhem in Monsterland

Solomon's Keys

Boulder Dash

The Great Escape

Fairlight

Wizardry

 

 

GEOGRAPHY



Earth

Earth is a planet. It is made of elements formed together in different ways. The 4 primal elements are earth, wind, fire and water. These break down into the elements defined in the periodic table of elements in scientific thought. The structure of the Earth is a globe made up rock with a motlen core (supposedly) and covered in vegetation on the land surface as well as water. Large croppings of land form mountains and mountain ranges. Smaller mountains are called hills. Gaps between mountains are called valleys. Level areas of land are called plains. Where the land meets the ocean it is called the seaside or beach. Waves of water go into the beach at low tide and high tide. The vegetation of the land is grase and a variety of other plants such as trees, bushes, shrubes, vegetables and fruit as well as flowers and this and that. There are a large variety of animals which live both in the waters and on the land. Land is mankind's natural habitat. Mankind develops complex strutures in the world, while animals develop far less complex structures, but complex in their own way. Rivers of water travel down from mountain ranges, and flow to the ocean. Bodies of water on land are called lakes and ponds and other names. Mankind usually develops congergations of dwellings callcd villages, towns and cities. Some cities have millions of people in them, London being an example. Earth has air which animals and humans breaths, which provides oxygem which our bodies need to survive. The vegetation produces thi oxygen in a cycle. Animals and mankind eat plants to survive and sometimes other animals. We drink water also and fruit jucies and verious other concoctions mankind has developed. Earth, in the year 2018 of the common era has about 7.5 billion inhabitants on it.

 

Cooma& Berridale

Cooma is a township in New South Wales, the oldest state of Australia. It is situated in the south east of New South Wales, about 100 odd kilometres from the coast. Cooma is known as the gateway to the Snowy Mountains. It is ideal in many ways as it is close to the city (Canberra) the coast, and the Snow, so that summer and winter vacations and city getaways are a very real thing for residents of Cooma. The oldest part of Cooma is the Lambie street district in the west of the town. It has many pubs, as well as the Cooma Ex-Serviceman's club, a popular venue for eating out. Centennial park is in the centre of town, which has a famous statue of the Man from Snowy River, as well as the flags of the nations and a run of mosasics alongside the flags. There are markets which are held at Centennial park from time to time, and it also has a amphitheatre were drama and music can be performed. There are a healthy number of shops in Cooma, and it has most of what you need for a regular life. The mainstream churches are represented well, and there are several sporting grounds for football and cricket. There is a squash court, tennis courts and it also has its own cinema complex. There are numerous places to stay in town, and staying at pubs is quite common as well. The Snowy Mountains Engineering Corporation (SMEC) is a large part of Cooma's work, and there is a Defence Call Centre in Cooma. Nanny Goat hill is in the centre of town, famous for its excellent views and statue of a nanny goat. Cooma has its own public pool, which is now sheltered, but open on its sides. There are a number of places to hire skis in town, which gets a lot of activity from Canberra and Sydney and the region in the snow season. Cafes serve traditional Australian food, and hamburgers, chips and pizza are very popular in the town. There are also oriental eating establishments. Cooma has the Catholic and Public schooling systems available to it, as well as a Christian schooling system. The annual Cooma show plays a big part in the entertainment life of the town, and it usually closes with a spectacular fireworks display.

Berridale is 20 miles to the west of Cooma, nearer the snow, and is a much smaller village. It is a quiet and sleepy town, with more basic features. Very pretty, and a good place to live for a far more sedate lifestyle. There is a pub in Berridale, shops with cafe, and a post office. Berridale is a unique Aussie village in very many traditional ways, and is a safe and happy place to live. 

 

Tuggeranong

Tuggeranong is a district in the city of Canberra. Canberra is the capital city of Australia. Tuggeranong is in the southernmost section of Canberra. Canberra is located in the Australian Capital Territory, one of the territories of Australia. Most of the land of Australia is taken up by the 6 states, but the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory take up a reasonable amount of the land of the continent. There are other territories of Australia, the majority being small offshore islands. The ACT is completely surrounded by the state of New South Wales. About 100 odd kilometres south of Tuggeranong is the township of Cooma, known as the gateway to the Snowy Mountains. Tuggeranong has suburbs. The suburbs of Tuggeranong are Macathur, Gilmore, Chisholm, Richardson, Calwell, Theodore, Isabella Plains, Monash, Fadden, Gowrie, Waniassa, Kambah, Bonython, Oxley, Greenway, Banks, Conder& Gordon. Greenway is the main town centre of Tuggeranong district, and the hyperdoms is located in Greenway, a major shopping mall. In Waniassa there is the Erindale shopping centre, in Chisholm you find the Chisholm shops, in Calwell there are the Calwell shops, and there are also the Gowrie and Isabella plains shops, slightly smaller, and the Lanyon Shops, down in the Lanyon valley which comprises the suburbs of Gordon, Banks and Conder. The Tuggeranong Vikings are the Rugby Union side for Tuggeranong, and there are also the Tuggeranong Bushrangers, the Rugby League side for Tuggeranong. Greenway has a large Southern Cross Club, a large club for Catholics and friends, and the sports clubs have a number of locations. These are major centres for eating and a lot of slot machines for gambling. In Erindale there is a public pool and there is the major Tuggeranong pool down in Greenway. The Tuggeranong pool is very nice. The Murrumbidgee river runs along the western edge of Tuggeranong, and Pine Island near Greenway, and Kambah Pool (which is the river) are major swimming holes for residents of Tuggeranong and the area. Tuggeranong is a rather newer district of Canberra, formed around the 1970s for the most part. There are a number of schools in the district, and Lake Tuggeranong college in Greenway caters for year 11 & 12 students, and began its schooling in 1990. There are actually 2 public libraries in Tuggeranong, a rarity for Canberra districts, being Tuggeranong library adjoining Tuggeranong college and the Erindale library, adjoining the Erindale college. The suburb of Fadden is notable for the street signs which carry famous military people associated with them. Fadden pines is a lovely playing field and picnic field for Tuggeranong, as are the Kambah playing fields. Tuggeranong people play standard Australian sports, and many are catered for in our district. Most of the major churches have congregations in Tuggeranong, and there is also an Islamic presence. Tuggeranong, geographically, is bordered by the Brindabella ranges to the west, above the Murrumbidgee, and it is mostly surrounded by mountains on most sides, and is somewhat separate and detached from the rest of Canberra. The Action bus network runs through Tuggeranong, and there is a bus depot which is in Greenway. The Action bus network services all of Canberra. There is a cinema complex at the hyperdome, and the food court of the hyperdome has a fine range of places to eat at affordable prices. Tuggeranong is really quite modern and up to date, and is growing in affluence at this time. In Greenway, many of the major commercial buildings have the same red tiled rooves, which is very noticeable from a distance. In Greenway there is also Lake Tuggeranong, an artificially created, but quite lovely lake.

 

The Euphrates River

Its source is Murat Su and Kara Su in Turkey, the confluence of if being in Keban in Turky and the mouth of the river is at Al-Qurnah, in the Basra Governorate in Iraq.  Significant lakes associated with it are Lake Assad, Lake Qadisiyah and Lake Habbaniyah.  Cities which congregate along it include Birecik, Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor, Mayadin, Haditha, Ramadi, Habbaniyah, Fallujah, Kufa, Samawayh and Naisriyah.  And the countries it flows through are Iraq, Syria and Turkey.  It is of course the Euphrates River.  The Euphrates flowed out of Eden in the Beginning of Things, and is spoken of in Genesis chapter two.  Somewhat parallel to it runs the Tigris, and betwixt these twin rivers is a cradle of much of civilization, Meospotamia.  It is the longest river of western Asia.  Most of its water is from rain and melting snow, and peak months of its flow are April through to May.  There are tributaries, including the Sajur and the Balikh, and its total length is 2800 kilometres or 1740 miles.





ENTERTAINMENT

COMEDY

Dan's Stand up

You know, I'm an ole pommy from way back. All of 3 bloody months, or thereabouts, living in England, as a wee little one, then back to Australia with mum and Dad, returning from grandmas, to live in Berridale. But fuckit, the patriotism rose up in me, and I supported the English all my life in sports, and didn't give a damn about the aussies. And then I became a citizen - to join the public service. Legal requirement for a permanent citizen. Good huh. Become an aussie to fill the selection criteria. Still, supporting old england in a place like Australia does not necessarily make you many friends. A degree of mockery you can expect, but, in truth, the Australian male today has – evolved. Have you seen that show 'House Father's' or 'home fathers' or something like that? Do you get that here? Well garry sweet and some other charming aussie blokes are now the politically correct housed dads, sending their kids off to school, dealing with parental problems, doing all things for their kids, while the women, I guess, does all the work. How far has the Australian male fallen. Remember the 80s. Crocodile Dundee. Out comes that fucking knife. Big as your fucking arm. That's a fucking knife,' he says. Rambo kiss my arse. Bob Hawke - prime minister. the quintessential Aussie male in the 80s. Australia - tops at cricket. Winning the Americas cup. Sporting champions in so many endeavours. Valiant men of the southern cross. And now their house dads. And you know what that is? a grown up snag. A grown up Sensitive New Age Guy.. But it was bound to happen. With the rise of the femminazis's as I like to call them, the great Australian bloke's day was limited. Once it was 'Get me a fucking beer, bitch.' Now its 'Could you pour me a glass of chardonnay, hubbie. It is been a difficult day in the office.' Femminazis. Fallen. the Aussie bloke has fallen from grace. And how far have they fallen? Julia Gillard. a female prime minister. Quentin Bryce - a female governer general. And the most sacred of male glories now gone - the female footie commentator. The Aussie blokes days of glory are well gone. And of course - the cricket. 18 nyears thrashing the poms, and 2005, the glory departs. don't worry mate, they won 5 nill the following time, but lost both following series. Rugby union. hardly a win for the wallabies in a decade. france looking more threatening. i mean, france. olympics. 7 gold or something like that. and the poms? 29 remeber the bragging of old? Fallen, I tell you. I mean, come on, you know what Ricky Ponting says when he loses the last ashes series in australia? i was enjoying it so much, i didn't even mind losing. great captain australia. way to go Ricky. The great australian male. what can he do? The fundamental problem, now, of course. is ipod. ipod and mobile phone and xbox. the kids are so fucking soft now they would rather watch sonic collect love potions and chase mario around a racing track then get off there arses and kick a footie around. depressing, aint it. But, life goes on. for the battler, the great aussie bloke, the true blue dinky di bronzed aussie male still lives. and when the sons of the southern cross will need it most, a bradman will emerge, or a wally lewis, or a lionel rose, and remind the world once more of that tried and true rebel yell. aussie, aussie, aussie

 

Scots humour

You know how tight Scots are? Give em a piggy bank and they''ll put in a penny and six months later they will still expect a return. (He takes the pigggy bank and shakes it,' getting out the one coin and says 'and the rest ya bastard.')



Lazy People

Lazy people have an advantage over the rest of us. We don't expect too much of them so, when they are sitting on the couch, eating chocolate biscuits, in a t-shirt which hasn't been washed for 3 months, and we're shaking our heads and saying, 'Pathetic', remember, as long as you have a little bit of a smile, look partially apologetic, and grin and say 'I'll improve. I'm working on it', people will usually accept that, realizing you are a hopeless soul who the Lord really needs to have mercy on and, when they have buggered off to their work responsibilities and social scene, you can raid the pantry, find the hidden pack of jelly babies and sit back, put on the latest superhero movie, and be completely surprised when they show up later and you are half naked on the couch, snoring, and wake innocently, asking what time it is, and did they have a good time, and they continue shaking their head, unimpressed, as you relax when they are gone, and click on the TV to carry on with the show. Life is good. But you don't always earn a lot of cashola, the lazy sun who sleeps in proverbs, and when times are tough you need sweet talking skills with social security to remind them you are a citizen, and that you did those 5 hours of labour on work for the dole, and you had nothing but anxiety problems, and you really should be on a sickness pension because of it. You'll do whatever it takes to do nothing at all, which is a lot harder than it looks, so you can enjoy your websurfing and heavy metal music, and appear as pathetic as possible to remind them you are a lost cause, all the time disguising you are twice as bright as them all and are using well thought out tactics developed from years of observation to 'Get away with it' so they can be the heroes of the day, supporting the deadbeats in the family, and you can enjoy 'the good life' because of it.

 

 

SPORTS & LEISURE

 

English Sporting Accomplishments

Daley Thompson was a famous English decathlon athlete of the 1980s. He was highly competitive and won olympic Gold for Great Britain. Ian Botham was another famous 1980s English sportsmen, a cricketer and allrounder for England. Nigell Mansell won the F1 world crown, and was a famous British F1 driver. Indeed, England has had a fair share of competitive athletes in many sports. The games of Rugby and Football (Soccer) developed in England, as well as Cricket, and they are a staple of English culture. England and the UK or Great Britain compete on the world stage in many sports areas, and are a successful and competitive nation. We have an enviable records in the Olympic Games, being currently the overall 3rd biggest haul of Gold medals winner, behind the Soviet Union in second, and the United States of America in First place. Yet we are very lucky to be the only nation to have won both at least one Gold and one Silver medal at each and every of the modern olympic games, and only missing out at one games on a bronze. At the recent 2012 London Olympics Games we won 29 Gold Medals, which was an excellent effort, especially in comparison to our old rival of Australia, who bagged a decent yet modest claim of 7 Gold medals (especially more so as Aussies have great aspirations at Olympic success). England is proud and true in its sporting accomplishments, but it is through dedication and perseverance and a determined spirit which lies behind our success. That said, every nation strives for its own glory, and each should be proud of the successes they have all gained. Sporting accomplishments are in many way a focal part of modern society, for we test ourselves and our abilities and passions through this competitive world. Hopefully, in the end, the English legacy will not be a brave boast on our various wins and medals and so on, but a contribution of the idea that 'Fair Play' and 'Friendliness' be at the heart of sports, and be a way we can come together and celebrate that virtue of hard and honestly earned won accomplishment and glory.

 

Swimming Pools

Swimming pools are hollowed out areas, filled with water, which people bathe and swim in. Modern swimming pools are usually paved, often with cement, and painted. The water often has chemicals added to it to keep it sanitized, as people often have diseases (as well as urinating) which affect the water, so the chemicals address these issues and keep the water safe enough to swim and bathe in. There are very little problems from bathing in pools these days, as they are carefully regulated. Competitive swimming competitions often take place in swimming pools with 'Lanes' which are parallel and even in nature encompassing the length of the pool. Pool lengths and sizes vary in size, often 25 metre and 50 metre long pools very common, 50 metre long pools the usual length for competition at higher levels. Personal pools in domiciles back yards are increasingly common these days. Chlorine is a common chemical used for sanitizing a pool, but saltwater pools are also used. Safety signs with rules about not running and watching over younger swimmers are often found at swimming pools. Children are often taught to swim at very young ages, and even babies, held by parents or swimming instructors, are introduced to the water. Swimming lanes are often separated by a rope covered in little floaters made of plastic, which run the length of the pool separating the lanes, floating on top of the water. The best swimming time (the fastest) is how competitions declare the winner, being the first to finish the race. In olympic competition, which is the current highest level of competition globally, the rules are very intricate involving the starting, timing and finishing of the races. Usually there are 8 lanes for a competitive swimming pool. Swimming centres, also called aquatic centres, often have a large pool and a smaller pool as well, and sometimes pools are heated also, to have a degree of warmness in them. Heated pools are also very popular. In lake Tuggeranong swimming centre there is one large pool, which is able to be used for competitive practice, a smaller heated pool for younger users usually, but also for adults who prefer the warmth and the gentler wading, as well as a bubble spa and a babies shallow swimming pool. There is also a heated sauna, which is a steam room, with benches, were steam is generated for people to enjoy. Pools are very common universally, and are an increasingly popular way of enjoying water activities.

 

Games

Board Games

Board Games are traditional games which children, adolescents and even adults play, often in groups amongst themselves, as families and even competitively in competitions. As the central idea implies, they usually use a 'Board' which is a sheet of cardboard (usually), which has a crease and can usually be folded in two, with elaborate designs on one side of the board, where the game takes place. Often one or more die are used in the game (dice are a fundamental part of many board games), the number of which determines how far along the board your marker moves. But it is not just marker based board games, which are things like Monopoly and Squatter and Snakes and Ladders and Trivial pursuit, but things like Scrabble, which is a game based on forming words, which the individual letters of have points associated with, putting them down on a grid and forming them in a crossword like pattern. Chess is not so much a scoring game, but a strategy game involving a set of two player with various pieces of different moving styles, which are also set up on a grid, an 8 by 8 one, of alternating two tone colours. Chess is probably the biggest of world board games, and one of the most complex and challenging. Risk is a board game now gradually becoming popular, which is a dice game were players try and conquer the world or various missions on a board which has the map of the world divided up into various provinces, and pieces with different values which determine the strength of the armies. Draughts or checkers is a much simpler idea than chess, with just the standard set of pieces arrayed against the other, moving a step at a time in a diagonal fashion. Modern culture of the 20th and 21st centuries has seen a plethora of new board games released, very often using similar themes of other board games, especially use of the dice, and often a board game is released to coincide with a particular cultural product which has become popular at any particular time of an era. In many ways video games replaced a large chunk of children's playing time on board games, as has internet tablets, which so many children now have for themselves, and traditional board games are far less in vogue than they were just 50 years ago. But they still endure in the 21st century, and many people still enjoy playing them a great deal.

 

A CHESS BOARD (Also used for checkers/draughts).

The startup position of the pieces. Usually called white pieces versus black pieces. In the normal grid, the bottom right hand square must always be a white square. Queen is always placed on her own colour for both sides.

Rules of Chess (Basic)

K = King

Q = Queen

B = Bishop

Kn = Knight

R = Rook

P = Pawn

Moves

King. One square at a time in any direction.

Queen. As many squares at a time as she wants, but only horizontally or diagonally, in any direction, forwards or backwards.

Bishop. As many squares diagonally as he likes, forwards or backwards.

Knight. May only move in an L shape. 2 moves forward or sideways or backwards in one direction, and then one move either side of that square, either forwards or backwards.

Rook. An many squared horizontally or vertically as he likes, either forwards or backwards.

Pawn. One square at a time forwards only – can't move back. May moved 2 squares on the first move only of each pawn if he chooses to. If the pawn reaches the end of its column to the other side, it may be promoted to any piece, apart from a King or Pawn, that it chooses.

Object.

Capture the other sides King. When their king cannot move without moving into check, and is in a position where you can take him (is currently in check) then it is checkmate, and the game ends. If a King cannot move, and is not in check, and no other piece on his side is available to move, it is a stalemate. The state of check is when the opposing team can capture your king on its next move.

Capturing a piece.

Any piece can take any other piece by moving to its square if it is a legal move. You can not jump over pieces. The Pawns usually only take diagonally, but 'En Passant' means a pawn can take another pawn which has used the two move rule for its first move, and normally avoided being taken by a close pawn, and the double square move is treated if it is still just one square that it has moved. A player doesn't have to use the En Passant move if it doesn't want to, but once he declines the option, it can not be done on a subsequent move.

 

Games created by Daniel Thomas Andrew Daly

TRADITIONAL 52 CARD DECK CARD GAMES

Rules for 'Foundation' Card Game

From 2 to 5 players may play. More players make it easier to finish, but 2 players can be a lot more fun.

Standard 52 card deck with Joker's removed.

Setup: The 4 Aces are removed and placed upwards as the 4 'Foundation' piles. Players may only play Black cards on Black Foundations and Red Cards on Red Foundations, either of the suit of colour is fine.

Object: This is just a team solitaire sort of game. You don't play against anyone, and it is just for fun and passing the time and the challenge. The object is to build from the 'Ace' to the 'King' in the 4 piles of cards. All the cards are dealt out, and there is always a dummy hand given. With 2 players, you have 2/3 of the deck between you, and the odds of finishing a foundation are less than if there were 4 or 5 players. You can play more than 5, but it takes the challenge out of the game. You simply alternate turns, and you choose a card from your hand to place on a foundation, and the object is to complete the runs between you as a team from the Ace to the King. It's not really a game of any skill, but it is a game of fun to see if you complete the challenge. The cards must go in ascending order from Ace to King, and must be the same colour, but suit doesn't matter. You always have to place a dummy hand so that it becomes a challenge to see of you gut lucky with the cards. It is an excellent game for making bets on. You can bet whether (in 3 players for example) there will be 1, 2 or even 3 complete runs. You can bet what run each suit will finish at. ie Spades may reach number 7 etc 

 

Rules for 'High Card'.

Use standard 52 card pack. No jokers. 2 to 6 players recommended.

The order of value of suits is Hearts first then diamonds then clubs then spades. All cards are dealt out and players keep cards to themselves. The object is to play a card from your pack of your choice, and each player in turn places a card on top of the first card. The card which is highest wins the trick. The ranking is Ace of Hearts highest, then Ace of Diamonds then Ace of Clubs then Ace of Spades then King of Hearts then King of Diamonds and so on all the way down to the two of Spades which is the lowest. The player with the most tricks once all cards are played wins the game. A very simple 'Tricks' game. 

 

Rules for Quigmire.

Quigmire is a card game they play in 'Sunlands' state in the 7DF nation of Macarthur. The 4 kings are the quicksand, and the more of the 4 kings you have in your deal of 12 cards, the deeper in trouble you possibly are. The object is to gain points. All picture cards are worth 10 points, but the Kings are worth negative 50. 2 to a maximum of 4 players can play. All cards are dealt out and it is a simple tricks card game. The number cards are worth their numbers, and order of suits for equal numbers to trump are hearts first, then diamonds, then clubs then spades. If someone plays an Ace, which are high, you can offload a king on to that and get rid of the negative points, but if you are left lumbered with a king and win the trick with it, you bear the negative points. The first player to 700 points wins the game. If you gain all 4 kings in a single round of play, you lose negative 700 points, which is the Quigmire, and if you are less then negative 700 points all up, you are out of the game. 

 

LORD OF THE RINGS RISK VARIANT GAMES

Vale of Erech

First, separate all the ‘Gondor’ Cards and place them face down in a pile, with the ‘Vale of Erech’ card face up at the bottom of the pile. Players then take turns in drawing all the remaining nation cards 1 at a time.

 

Battle for Nations

The first battles are simply to conquer the nations where you have troops. In this game you may not transfer troops over national boundaries. When you have conquered a nation completely you gain a ‘Gondor’ card from the pile by drawing one. The last nation to fall gains the extra Gondor card.

 

Battle for Vale of Erech

When all nations have fallen you transfer all your national troops to the corresponding Gondor card for that nation which was drawn from the Gondor pile when you conquered the nation. Each turn your total number of armies allocated is based on total number of armies and your standard nation allocation number. This can never be lost during the Battle for the Vale of Erech.

The object of the Game is to move into the Vale of Erech and hold it for 5 turns. You can’t lose your Gondor national cards, so the battle is always on, and each player always gains the minimum of the ‘nation’ allocations, if nothing else in each turn.

Once you hold the Vale of Erech for 5 turns, you can claim the card and victory.

In other respects, apart from the rules set above, standard risk rules apply.

 

Mountainhold-Foresthold

Hold all the Mountain Territories of Mt Doom, Rhun Hills, Weather Hills, Tower Hills and Evendim Hills OR Hold all the Forest territories of Old Forest, Lorien, Fangorn & South, Eastern and North Mirkwood for 3 turns to claim victory. Regular gameplay unfolds as normal, but if a player can meet the challenge they win. If not standard game is played out.

 

The Eriador Gambit

Standard game rules apply, but if a player holds ALL of Eriador when the ring arrives at Lothlorien they claim victory. (Obvious Variants are the ‘Arnor Gambit’, ‘Rhovanion Gambit’, ‘Rohan Gambit’, ‘Mirkwood Gambit’, ‘Rhun Gambit’, ‘Gondor Gambit’, ‘Mordor Gambit’ & the ‘Haradwaith Gambit’ based on exactly the same rule).

 

The Isengard Imperative

This is a team game of good versus evil. Before the ring gets to Lorien, if one of the evil players has captured and held Isengard he is declared ‘Lord of the 4 Corners’. Instantly the ‘Lord’ must surrender his territory cards to the draw pile, and all troops he has in play are distributed evenly to each of the 4 corners of the Earth, which he has claimed, those being ‘Andrast’, ‘Khand’, ‘North Rhun’, and ‘Forlinden’. Full ‘Nation’ reinforcements are not affected by this, so if a player holds the remainder of ‘Haradwaith’ etc, he still gets his reinforcements as normal. Empty territories can be claimed on a player’s go simply by moving his army into that territory. The other evil player now has the responsibility for hassling the good teams as much as possible. The only way the evil team can win is by eliminating the good players from the game.

The ring, now stationed in Lorien, must now travel to each of the 4 corners of the world, and finally to Mt Doom, where it is destroyed automatically and good then claims victory if they are successful in getting it that far. However, for the ring to be able to move from Lorien, each and every territory the ring moves MUST be moved by a good player holding that territory and moving into or defeating a territory where he wants his ring to move to. A ring can be transferred to the other good player’s territory for keeping if necessary for the movement of the ring. There is no obligation to move the ring each turn.

Evil’s advantage is that ONLY a ringbearing army can attack each of the 4 corners, which usually will make them quite strong by the time the ring finally arrives at each of them. A Lord of the 4 Corners can also claim victory by attacking any adjacent territory in his turn which holds the ring and, if he or she is successful, they win the game also by becoming the ringbearer. This is only possible though for the Lord of the 4 Corners. To enhance this game 2 extra full sets of tokens for each colour are employed which leads to a maximum army size. Lords of the 4 corners can not own any of the other territories. If Isengard is not held by evil when the ring reaches Lorien, normal gameplay continues.

 

 

PHILOSOPHY

Life

 A series of, perhaps random thoughts, or if you take the time to try and make some coherent sense of the whole, perhaps something deeper. But probably not.

I was inspired to start this task by the book ‘By the Waters of Galilee’ by Fr Luke Fay of Catholic faith. I had read the first two chapters, was enjoying it, and started thinking. And I thought of a work called ‘Life’ with a similar cover to the cover of Fr Fay’s work. And the idea was simply a writing of life. Perhaps the closest thing that was to come to it was a self-help book, but in its purest form I intended it to not even be that. Perhaps philosophy, but I am not trying to be philosophical, yet it probably is philosophy, even though that is not my intent. I simply wanted to write thoughts on life, thoughts about a positive moral life, which might make it almost a religious or spiritual text, but that was not the intent. It is simply to be about life, not a novel, not a work of science, but just thoughts on life.

How about the oil spill off the American coast. Thank God it’s over there is probably the bottom line for this shallow environmentalist.

Anyway, enough with current affairs. Actually, no, I will write on some current affairs. I prayed, a while back, for Kevin Rudd to be Prime Minister for 21 years. I am keeping the faith on that prayer, as I am a left wing idealist. My friend Adrian Chan is not the biggest fan of politicians, but I assume they generally have good intentions, and that the demands of satisfying everyone means they aggravate a lot of people. But that is only life after all.

I like listening to music. I have schizophrenia so often go on mad rampages and destroy half of my cd collection in a fit of psychosis. But psychosis affects a lot of people, so I am not alone.

I was at the pool recently and I thought up some ideas for a whacky book called ‘Zen I’. The dialogue goes something like this.

Zen Zen I Zen I Zen I

Zen I Zen I Zen I Zen I

Zen Zen Zen Zen I I I I Zen I Zen I Zen I Zen I

Zen I Zen Zen Zen I Zen Zen I

Zen I Zen I Zen I

Zen Zen I Zen I Zen I

Zen Zen I Zen I

Zen Zen Zen Zen Zen Zen Zen

Zen I Zen I Zen I Zen I

Zen Zen I Zen I Zen I

Zen Zen I Zen I Zen I

Zen Zen I Zen I Zen I

Zen Zen I Zen I

Zen Zen Zen Zen Zen Zen Zen

Zen I Zen I Zen I

Zen Zen I Zen I Zen I

Zen Zen I Zen I

Zen Zen Zen Zen Zen Zen Zen

Zen I I I I I

Zen Zen I Zen Zen Zen I

Zen I Zen I Zen I

& so on and so forth in about 40 pages of a little hardback anthology. On the final page the last line goes:

Zen Zen I Zen I Zen I Zen Zen (4XQR#) Zen I Zen I Zen I

It is not stop Zen I until that line. I don’t know why, it just is. Heh.

I reckon Madonna should go into the studio with a compilation of new songs written by songwriters she has hired. She should do an album a day for 3 years straight – over 1000 albums – just doing one or two takes of each song, and being filmed all the time, and with video workers simply making videos for all the songs for her from the ongoing video of her singing. Just one to two takes of the song, get the album finished, and released. And do this every day for 3 years. She can hire countless mixers and producers for the stuff and just realease a shitload of albums and videos. Overkill in the most extreme, and it really doesn’t matter if they sell that much, because there will be enough diehards who will buy all of them and she will sell tonnes. She is a hard worker, could get the job done, and it would get her the highest album sales of all time after a while. Someone with her fame and wealth could do that, and I would if I could sing, had her fame and her money.

4 + 4 = 8

8 + 8 = 16

16 + 16 = 32

Mathematics is a very entertaining subject for intellectuals. You see, intellectuals are what they call in classic American schoolyard jargon, the nerds. And the nerds like Maths, English, Science, and putting computer systems together.

I hope to be a fully qualified nerd upon retirement. Think of all the dollar bills they end up getting, hey. I mean look at Billy Gates. Come up with Microsoft and what the Trillions role in. But apparently the kids don’t get a cent, and have to work for themselves. Now that’s a responsible parent.

Intellectuals also like philosophy, sneering at religious people who believe in creationism (which I do), and listening to classical or alternative music and disdaining all things commercial. Heavy Metal has a similar attitude, especially back in the day. I mean, if you were a metalhead and listened to the Spice Girls it was a death penalty offense or excommunication from the headbangers ball. And if you touched Boyzone they would torture you first.

Heavy Metal gurus are another bunch of pseudo-intellectual snobs. Parading their Black Sabbath albums, saying that Led Zeppelin are gods, and that such and such a band – their current fave – has reinvented heavy metal forever.

They love to give ratings in heavy metal mags, but rolling stone does that too. And people honestly take an interest in these ratings. But if there is one thing I have discovered is that tastes are often very subjective – they vary widely from person to person – and an album that somebody may rate very poorly, another set of persons might enjoy tremendously. Especially poppy commercial stuff which is, again, sneered at, but which usually sells the most because the kids have enough sense to buy albums which are actually fun and not laden down with depressing angst and bullshit feelings of a so-called contemplated soul. Intelligent albums SUCK unless there is a quality of music which is attractive, melodic and memorable. Michael Jackson, for example, may be on many supposedly serious music critics hate list for his pop classic ‘Thriller’, but he is at number one because he knows what the kids like. And, funnily enough, these commercial artists who sell the most end up being the ‘Beatles’ of their era, and end up very respected. It happens to them with time and age. Mozart was an upstart to some to start with, despite his brilliance (apparently). Justin Beiber, for example, would be laughed at by a supposedly serious music critic, but the kids are not dumb. He sings a song which perfectly captures their vibe as teenagers, and is entirely appropriate and critically excellent for his target audience. He doesn’t have to produce Amy Lee or Bob Dylan. That is not his audience, and would be stupid to suggest it is. But that is what people often fall into with age – they forget the younger generation are learning, and that they too once liked such stuff.

Oh, and as a confirmed Noahide, I don’t really mind if the Beatles thought they were bigger than Jesus for a while. They possibly were.

When I was younger I felt it important to develop religious morality to be a perfect person. I still think that somewhat, but don’t worry as much anymore. Jesus says in the gospels ‘Be Ye Perfect as your Father in Heaven is Perfect.’ A challenge to Christians I suppose.

You know, there are a hell of a lot of those 2 billion Christians (I have seen the statistics – approx 1 bill Catholics and 1 bill non-catholic Christians) who work there assess of spiritually to give Jesus a hell of a witness for the continued growth and establishment of his church of Glory.

As a Noahide I view Jesus as an ambitious Jewish man, dedicated to his own glory, by and large.

Now, as a Christian most of you view Jesus as God. But he isn’t. He wasn’t. And he never will be. He was just a bloke. If you don’t believe me ask God the father (ie Yahweh). These days he might possibly inform you upon the answer to that question, as he is severely pro-Israel from all my personal observations.

Anyway, in current rankings of the all time most popular human beings, the rankings approximately come up like this.

Number One – Jesus of Nazareth

Number Two – Muhammed

Number Three – Jesus mother, Mary

Number Four – Buddha

Number Five – Moses, I think

Number Six – Apostle Paul

Number Seven – The current number seven is either Taylor Swift or Miley Cyrus on current myspace page hits. This might surprise you, but this is their era and the current ‘Cult of Personality’ has HUGE fanbases. Really fucking HUGE fanbases.

Anyway Miley and Taylor edge out Apostle Peter, King David, Abraham, Jacob, Adolph Hitler, and Justin Beiber for the present, but he is in the top 20 all time just about. I know that is recent, but you don’t know the power of the current fame monster, as Gaga puts it, with the ever expanding human population.

Mao Tse Tung, Joseph Stalin, Karl Marx, Shakespeare, Robert Pattinson, Daniel Radcliffe, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Victoria Beckham, George Washington, J K Rowling, J R R Tolkien, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Winston Churchill & Emma Watson are some of the very big names, likely in the top thirty to forty all time. Add on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig Van Beethoven who are currently the two number ones in the classical scene – they share the honour.

But number one is the carpenter from Nazareth. Still caining after 2000 years. Believe me, that takes some effort, but with the beloved ‘Cross’ at his disposal, which the faithful were around their necks with pride, the ‘Christ Child’ isn’t letting go of the number one slot any time soon. Hey, people think he is actually God himself, and that takes a lot to compete with. But somebody’s got to do it.

Probably 666 will show up, some dude or dudette thinking that might work for a while, and take on the JC fellow. Bad news at the moment, though, because most humans are patently aware that the mark of the beast is bad news on judgement day. But, fucking hell, Iron Maiden released ‘Number of the Beast’ and sold a shitload. I guess the Antichrist is a keen competitor to the big fellow. You never know, he might grab the top slot for a while. What was that? Seven years says my pentecostal friend? Tribulation glory, but it won’t last? Aye Carumba.

So how did Jesus get to the top slot? I have written on that before, but lets just say this much. If you can win somebody’s respect, and then start a religious cult, and then have that cult evangelize their socks off for 2000 years, it sure as hell helps.

So how do you potential wannabes start a religious cult then? In Christianity every tom dick and harry started a church for a while. They were called protestants. So, to be a protestant, it is simple. Tell your current pastoral overlord to take a running jump, and start preaching those doctrines you have always wanted to preach, and evangelize. Evangelization is easy. First, do up a free website on angelfire, and post your church doctrines and teachings. Go to the library and print off 100 pages of A4 flyers, 4 flyers to a page, and cut them into 4s and make sure you put the name of the church and the website link and email address. And then, if you really want to build wonderchurch, make it your hobby to go to carparks, put flyers on car windows, and do this for 20 years. Its slow, but it works.

Now, for you lateral thinkers, Christianity is basically covered. Try something new. L Ron Hubbard did. He called it scientology, and the freaks practically worship him.

So go for something pseudo spiritual, a catchy name, special key teachings on enlightenment, and stick to your guns. Oh, and be dramatic. It helps.

Those thoughts will do for now. I might continue this some time.

Daniel

http://noahidebooks.angelfire.com

 

Progress

Progress. It's a popular concept, especially in the western world mindset. Progress is about advancing society, advancing civilzation. It is about learning from the past, learning were society currently stands, and looking to the future to see how things could be improved and a better society created by this. There are core things which are addressed in progress, perhaps the most important being the sociological and political idea of 'Quality of Life' or 'Living Standards.' Ultimately, the whole point of progress is to improve our lives, both individually and on a societal level. To do this we address things like wages and salaries, seeing ways we can improve them for the working population to give them more earning potentiality. Also things like improvements in general services for society, such as garbage collection, water and sewerage works, and the management of the urban cities roads and public places, alongside those of the rural districts. Essential services are always a key factor in the progress of a nation, but also cultural factors like improvements in schooling and education, improvement in public institutions like libraries and museums and archives, and other things which are part of the public domain of society which we all have access to. But not only those things, yet especially these days improvements in technologies for better quality products in a vast array of areas, such as household appliances and equipment, improvement in food quality, medicine and drug research, and of course, improvement in our laws and governances and policing institutions. In fact, all the things which make a society tick over are constantly examined by this or that management or brainstorming team, or this and that review board or research and development department, or whatever political branch of politics is in office at any given time. Progress is the whole kit and caboodle of how society works and how we take what we already have, and look for ways of improving it even more so. The world continues to grow and develop and, especially as population increases, we need to look at ways to ensure we maintain a decent quality of life, yet, if we are serious, ways we can continue to grow and develop our world and make it a better place for everyone. Every culture, ultimately, progresses in some way or another. There are constants in society, naturally, and we really need those constants, especially unchanging moral truths which are the safeguards against anarchy and chaos. And while so many things are great the way they are, and so many things are constants and should remain as such, it always helps to have someone think outside the square they live in and ask the question 'How can we do this better?'

 

The Pursuit of Excellence

Who of us can really say we pursue excellence? Who of us can ever really say we even go halfway towards achieving it. Of course, the pursuit of excellence can be a motivator in the greatest achievers in society. A wonderful thing which propels them forwards to great and greater heights of accomplishments. So many projects and dreams have been realized in this world by those who pursue excellence, that we can rightly bow to their magnificent efforts. Can't we? Shouldn't we? Mustn't we? Personally, I don't really give that much of a shit about pursuing excellence, because I'm not that much of an excellency anyway. More of a mundane soul, specializing in actually having a decently well developed personal education and getting things right kind of mindset, but as for going after the glory of even my own power principles of success, fuckit. There was a time when I sought to be 'Perfect as my father inn heaven was perfect', but no longer, no way, just fuck that bullshit. My thinking and reasoning is that the human condition contains a fair number of fuckwits, dimwits, idiots, morons and fools that, when we get to the list of cool kids, we find it drastically shallow of any real depth. Humans are stupid, and don't apply themselves to the level of excellence at all, or even anywhere near it, because its just too much hard work, and we are lazy, and the point is that laziness is how a normal person who is flowing in the natural order actually gets decent rest and, in the end, functions a hell of a whole lot better in life anyway. You see, really being excellent is telling excellence to fuck itself and just be your fucking self and tell the critics to go fuck themselves, coz its your life, and don't give a shit about the superstar go getters coz they are only exercizing their natural God given talents and motivations anyway. Excellence? Why are you so far up your fucking arse that you want to be excellent. Flow in the spirit and act like you really are. Avril Lavigne said 'Why do you have to make things so complicated?' She was driving at that your not really acting like yourself. Tina Arena sang to Soulmate number 9 that she would have loved him if he had just been who he was. Hey, me, I like having a cluttered and messy room, and mum can get stuffed when she complains. That's the way I like it. It takes care of me and my preferred easy lifestyle, which I find natural and real and true, and trying to exceed myself unnaturally by behaving as 'Mr Cool' and 'Mr Charming' is not what Danny Danny Daly is all about. Excellence is the natural soul, which is devoid of excellence anyway. It is just your real self. It is not about 'Getting somewhere'. It is more about finding yourself and that, wherever you go where you are really means, find the ass you are sitting on and realize it doesn't have to fuck off to Hollywood to be all that it can be in the end. If you have talents, and want success in life, just do what YOU like to do and tell the world to go to hell. For writing I ONLY write what I enjoy writing and what tickles me dick at any given moment. I don't have drafts – I write it out once, its finished. Technically I don't mind spell checks and grammar formatting, but I don't like to change my dialogue much, unless its grammar or wordplay is a little awkward or could be expressed a little better. But there is only ever the tiniest alterations in my writings from when they are typed. That's what I mean. Be yourself. Tell the world to fuck itself. And find the excellence within in a happy soul which is content in making its own decisions and being its own master.

 

 

SOCIETY & EDUCATION

 

Society

Society is what we are all part of. It is the broader community of our family, street, suburb or town, city, state, nation and world. It can mean all of us, it can mean one of those aspects mentioned, but whatever it is, it is a social setting into which we are placed which we must aspire to be part of in some way, shape or form. Society is formed of people. And in those groupings, it can be people of all sorts of lifestyles and backgrounds. Often, traditionally, when talking of society, it was the upper class elite to which you had to aspire and join. There were rituals in society for 'Coming Out' and making yourself officially known at a certain age as a member of society, and those rituals are still somewhat practised today. But society is more than a class thing. Society, as it ideally should be, is the community around us which helps us out and watches over our life somewhat, helping us to know that we are not alone in the world. So many families can be very independent, but even then you can find a sense of the community of it all, which is what the society is – our community. A society has values, morals, laws and customs and traditions. These values are usually quite entrenched after a while, but as history progresses, many values get updated somewhat, and some older ones can pass away in time. But usually a sense of morality in common remains. For example, in Australia, one of the customs is to call a friend 'Mate' and even a stranger you might meet at the pub or the shops. 'Thanks mate' is one of the most common sayings you might here in a typical Australian town. Such an example of a saying is one of the things which typifies the values of a society. Things held in common. Societies are different all over the world, yet there is still ultimately a common human society which defines us and, even in deepest darkest Africa, they know when you are hungry and thirsty, when you need to wash and when you are in the mood. Our very humanity is a core society of which all of us are born into, in this sense. People can often wish to rebel against society, and many like to form society's or societal institutions of their own, to help better their lot in life. Not everyone is happy with the standards of society, people often thinking both, that they are either too strict or too lenient. In this sense, a society needs to be somewhat flexible to accommodate its diversity of citizenship, but it needs to remain true to itself also. Society is alive with institutions, roles which people play in society, and culture of all sorts of things which defines various societies. As you grow from youth, the best advice, in the end, is to try and work out how your society you are part of works, and do your best to get along with it, appreciate it, and let it help you to the best of your advantages.

 

'ROADS & PATHWAYS'

A road is something travelled upon, often as a pedestrian (individual walking or running on a road) or in a vehicle of some kind. The usual kinds of vehicles which travel on roads were, in older times, horses, horse & carts, horse & chariots, horse & caravans, horse & carriage as well as bulls & carriages for carrying things. Horsepower is a phrase to describe the use of horses in pulling vehicles with wheels on them along the road, usually relating to the number of horses being used and the pulling strength. In recent times vehicles are automobiles like cars and trucks and vans and utes and lorries, as well as motorbikes and motorcycles and mopeds and things. You can also get standard bicycles and tricycles and mopeds and scooters which use roads. Roads are often paved with concrete and bitumen, or sometimes, especially in days of ancient Rome, of stones with a flat side put together on the ground, formed together, to make a flat surface for people and vehicles to travel upon. Essentially a road is a pathway or a segment of the ground running in a line which goes from one destination to another, across the land. The nations we are part of are usually connected by roads all throughout the country and in the villages, towns and cities which connect everything together. Houses and abodes have addresses based on the name of the street (a term which has many variations such as crescent, avenue, circuit etc, based on the type of street), which usually have a road in front of them, which the vehicle of the abode drives out on to to travel to the destination it wishes to go to. The address is usually numbered, for example, 7 Bent Street Berridale, which is for the address in Bent Street in Berridale which is number 7, along the road called Bent Street. Roads have intersections were they meet up with other roads. A cross intersection is called a 'Crossroad', and there are often roundabouts on roads, were you travel around the roundabout and use your indicator to indicate to other road users the road you are turning off the roundabout to travel on to. Pathways are like roads, but primarily used just for humans to walk upon, though bicycle pathways are common these days, used mainly for bicycles, but humans use them a lot as well. Pathways are like roads, and can use similar materials like roads to cover them. Often roads and paths are simply made of the ground dirt of the earth itself, which is how they all were in the early days, and still common enough in country areas in the 21st century. Roads and paths connect places. It's how we travel around in human society.



'MEGA-CITIES'

The idea of Mega-Cities is to put aside a suburb of about a square kilometre. You build huge skyscrapers in the suburb – 2 dozen or so – going up 3 or 4 miles or even more. One of the scrapers is a food production scraper. You have a sewerage system in the basement, you use a series of mirrors to reflect the natural light from outside on each level, you have solar powered sheets on the walls of the scraper for energy, and wind turbine energy generator on the roof. On the hundreds of levels you have aquaculture, horticulture and farming industry. Use soil – the world has plenty of it – and place earth and grow grass on the soil within each level. The natural lighting from the mirrors helps it grow and with the energy from the solar and wind generators you can use additional lighting if necessary. There needs to be appropriate air conditioning and appropriate water recycling systems used for the food tower. In the remaining scrapers you simply house people. With the huge height of the mega city scrapers we can now build, potentially millions of people or more could fit in a standard suburban mega city.

 

'RECYCLED WATER'

Recycled water is actually very clean water and fine for drinking. If you watch docos on it, you will find it is very clean water. But it just has a stigma associated with it. However, if they recycled the water in plants on the edges of cities, and then pumped the water upstream quite a bit to pour it out into the rivers of our catchments, and let the water 'Naturalize', it would lose its entire stigma. The result would be enough clean, safe and 'Natural' water for us too drink, which has lost its stigmatization. A very fussy procedure, in reality, but its what people want anyway.


Jail

Jail is were people who have committed crimes are imprisoned. Depending on the nature and severity of the crime, the punishment can vary. Minor crimes might attract warnings or fines. More serious crimes can involve time in jail, of varying lengths, again depending on the seriousness of the crime. Some murderers who have killed multiple victims can have jail times in their sentences of many centuries. This normally elapses well after they have died. In the doctrine of the ANM we recommend to God and the world that such sentences should remain in force in world to come scenarios until such criminals have completed their sentence. In world to come scenarios jail should be used as a deterrent and punishment to deal with criminal and sinful behaviour, according to the appropriateness of the misdemeanour at hand. It can prove an effective way of maintaining and eternal society were criminals are properly and, if necessary, comprehensively restrained.

 

Schools

A school is a place where knowledge is taught by teachers. In Australia, when a child is about 5 or 6 years of age, they are required to start their schooling, usually in kindergarten, which is followed by years 1 through to year 10 as mandatory, and in some places you must study till age 17 now, which would include year 11. There is also year 12. After that comes tertiary education which includes colleges, institutions of technology and universities, as well as various other trade schools and learning institutes. Prior to kindergarten, there is often pre-school and early childhood centres were children can get an early start on their education. The teaching is done from simpler form of society's basic knowledge in earlier years, to more complex forms in latter years. By high school, which is usually years 7 to 12, you are starting to study information which is directly useful to working jobs and is more complex information. Subjects which are taught are 'English' (or your nations language/languages), Mathematics, Science, Social Sciences, Religion (In religion schools and often as scripture studies in public schools as well), Computing Studies, Physical Education/Sports, Economics or Commerce, Art, Music, Tech, Home Economics & various other subjects. Those are broadly high school subjects, but are similar to subjects in younger years of education, which might also include things like 'Spelling'. In earlier years, students sit in the same class for the year, in Australia with around 25 students per class, with one teacher who teaches the whole curriculum (areas of knowledge taught) for the year. In high school it is more usual for specialist teaches to teach individual subjects and for students to work on individual timetables a lot of the time which place their subjects at differing times in the school day. Often you have an occasional free period, in which it is recommended to do personal study. Throughout your schooling years you take lessons and overall performance is analysed by regular 'Tests'. The tests form the annual grades of a student. Later on, in high school and tertiary education, grades are a very important part of the way students are evaluated. Schools usually have a head teacher called the 'Principal'. He or she is in charge of organising the general running of the school as a whole. A school will often have a janitor or handy-man responsible for the maintenance of school property and mowing grass and things like that. The curriculum for the school for each year is usually set, in Australia, by the State Government. There is also home-schooling, for students whose parents prefer to teach them at home, which also have basic requirements on the curriculum, but with a fair degree more flexibility, as the student is usually taught at home by a parent. Schools are a traditional and ancient part of society, and one of the best ways we have for teaching knowledge to our citizens for the ongoing maintenance of filling the jobs of various complex natures to run society properly.

 

 

POLITICS

 

'THE AUSTRALIA PLAN – NATIONAL OBJECTIVES'

Australia has a constitution. It has a legal framework to settle disputes amongst its citizens. Yet, till now, it has been the part of Australian Citizens and groups and organisations within the Australian Community to form their own plans and objectives for life, if any at all. Political parties also represent a general plan of sorts in their political philosophies. Yet a nation of the 21st and 22nd centuries and so on need a specified Document, similar to a 'Constitution' or a 'Bill of Rights' which establishes the core mission statement of the nation and its key and agreed upon National Objectives. It cannot be a partisan plan - controlled and voted in on by one party only. It needs to be a united position representing the voice and will of the Australian people. Within this plan such structures as Governmental support and planning for businesses and other organisations with a 'Government Service Worker' (GSW) assigned to a Government Sponsored Organisations (GSO), a legal Australian Organisation or Institution whose membership or workforce exceeds 500 individuals (as a suggested number) whose objective is to assist and help prosper the organisation to meet its own objectives and stay afloat while, at the same time, retaining its contribution to society and the objectives of the Nation as a whole. A GSW should naturally be assigned to all business, as an example, whose workforce numbers is 500 or more, to aid the business in its ongoing profitmaking initiatives or its voluntary mandates. The Australia Plan needs to focus Australia and Australian citizens on a purpose for the nation, and give a sense of meaning and life objective for the individuals within the nation, especially when many individuals often lack a clear purpose and sense of direction in life.

Yet not only Australia, but the UK, USA, Ireland and all nations of the world really should have a core working 'Agenda' or 'Plan' which spells out its own purposes as a nation and results it is attempting to achieve on the various facets of national life, commerce, culture and even philosophy.

 

'MICRO-NATIONALISTIC GEO-SCIENCE'

Politics is dead. The old political system is built on the Monarchical system. Its laws are now established. It's work complete. The next system is NOW.

Micro-Nationalistic Geo-Science - RISE OF THE MICRO NATIONS.

Geo-Science is the managament and utilization of key Factors of Wealth and Commodity accross the Global Geo-Scientifically based community, as knowledge of improving Science is the key indicator of Micro-Nation status and success. Micro-Politics is too crude a term for the NEW AGENDA. It is Micro-Nationalistic Geo-Science. UN Principle - Every one has the right to self determination, including groups of individuals in seceeding against old political structure in a micro-nationalistic geo-scientific endeavour. Successful Geo-Science Micro-natons of the future build on the New Agenda of Advancing Societal Knowledge. Political systems built on the Monarchies. Geo-Science, in turn, builds on the Political systems. We respect the laws, legal codes and institutions of the UN Nations, yet we craft our own agenda within this framework of stability for advancement of our own Micro-Kingdoms and Micro-Nations. The Monarchies of old birthed the Political system. English Parliament arose from the death throes of Monarchy. Kingston upon Hull in the England is part of Yorkshire in the 'Royal' designations, but a Unitary Authority in the 'Political' designations. The Political system is built upon the Monarchical system. Micro-Nationalistic Geo-Science is, in turn, built upon the Political system of, essentially, Christendom. Karaite Noahidism recognizes the political system, its religious adherents and citizens, as those who vote and accept the countries of the United Nations and the political structures they represent. The business economies, institutions and cultural realities of this political system are the foundation upon which the new Micro-Nationalistic Geo-Science Karaite Noahide community is built. They are our FOUNDATION. Yet, we are separate to a large degree, involved mainly and usually only with partaking of foundational funds from the older political system, if necessary, in work involvements and welfare/social security payments to establish ourselves, and we honour them and thank them because of it, but, in time, we as a Karaite Noahide community establish our own Micro-Nations built upon this UN world political structure foundation, and spiritually align with our own Geo-Scientific community built upon the old structures. Our ideas are new. We can form a micro-nation in our parents home in our own room, or our own house or flat or farm, which doesn't need to be recognized by the old political structures, simply because of our UN right of self determination to do what we want with our own lives. The Karaite Adamide-Noahide Geo-Science micro nations of the future recognize EACH OTHER and form our own economies, culture and traditions of a more advanced and developed technologically, morally, spiritually and intellectually advanced culture. The Kingdom of Noah, as described in the first Rainbow Bible, is the foundational and first micro-nation of this new system. More will follow. 

 

Public Service

The Public Service has its roots in the Plebs of ancient Roma. They were workers of the general public who did special administrative and other work for society in general, rather than being specified markets of trade. In the modern world of the 21st century, taking as an example the Australian Public Service, it is generalized sort of societal work which they undertake. Work which relates to administrative and societally oriented sort of works. Examples include: Road and Traffic Authorities. Garbage and recyling maintenance. Public facilities maintenance. Quarantine and customs workers. Taxation workers. Commonwealth Superannuation workers. Centrelink Social Welfare workers. Medicare health workers. Public hospital and medical health workers. Police, Judges and legal aid. National Parks and Gardens workers. Public Education workers. Public Library workers and, indeed, a whole host of other related interests in the types of services for society which are often and usually best run by a public service organisation, paid for directly by taxation, and indirectly by fees and other related costs from the public itself who use the services. The public service is meant to be impartial in relation to which political branch is in office at any particular time, and each department is meant to work faithfully for which ever government minister is in office at any particular time. In Australia Public Service Department name changes happen regularly, and structural changes and this particular group or service can often be moved about through various departments on a regular basis. Restructuring is a common way of life in the Public Service. Within the service itself there are a great deal many office jobs which find regular workers like clerical assistants and managers and accountants across all departments of the public service. In Australia Canberra is the main gathering place for national public service workers. Society often complains that too much is spent on the public service and the right wing likes to often slash services and decentralize and privatize public services, whereas the left wing often is responsible for great increases in the number of public service, through public service spending, when they are in office. In Australia, currently, the Liberal/National coalition usually represents the right wing of politics and the labour party usually represents the left wing of politics. Pay rates in the public service are usually quite good when compared to the same kind of work in the private sector, and while there is a tradition that if you get into the public service you keep your job for life, which is not 100% the case, there is indeed usually still a great deal of job security in public service positions, and it remains an attractive career choice for many individuals. Each public service is usually divided up in managers and subworkers at various levels and the public service is still a very traditional hierarchical organisation, which it will likely remain for the foreseeable future. In fact, there are often quite a number of levels you can rise in the various public service department, and there are often incremental wage increases with time served for your level to a certain point. Generally a public service job in Australia is a position worth obtaining for a stable, if usually non-thrill-seeking, career.



Diplomacy

Diplomacy is the fine art of kissing arse without looking like you are kissing arse. It is an attempt to reconcile hostile forces with a more sedate mentality which is more amenable to the general public. Calming down hotheaded individuals who are enjoying their power games and trying to maintain a sense of law and order and balance in the situation. Diplomats are smooth people with buttery words who talk like they agree with everything you say while, at the same time, putting a spin on the situation to try and make you do the complete opposite. They are peacekeepers. Persuading iconoclasts, dictators and despots to rethink their plans because the situation could get too uncomfortable for a lot of people who are enjoying their comfort zones in life and really don't want to be bothered by the latest troubles in the middle east or that recent African coup. It's challenging work and you have to have the ability to compromise your own position in the immediate concern, or at least look like you are compromising, to appease the concerns of the other parties and tell them that what they are doing is just not in their or ours best interests. Like negotiations in hostage situations somewhat, the diplomat can be dealing with their intense and passionate people opposed to them who really do not like the current state of affairs for their own nation or party and are trying to exhert themselves and you, as a diplomat, are trying to persuade them to calm down return to some semblance of the usual status quo in things. Using dialogue which talks of a bright future for all of us and the way we can work together to get things done which will help all of us and the world are the kinds of things diplomats instinctively say to put a positive on the situation and encourage opponents to lighten up and let sanity prevail. And having said all that, that is a sarcastic take on the situation, but despite the mocker a grim amount of reality quite frankly. It's a political job to smooth talk opponents in the political world schema of things, challenging work, but essential in competing nations to make sure we get along well enough and trade issues and other international relations issues can continue well enough without too many dire interruptions or bothersome sanctions or, last resort, military interventions.

 

 

SCIENCE

Science

Science is the art of knowledge. Science is the art of knowledge researched, understood, and conforming with the factual laws of the physical universe. And when an hypothesis progresses to theory, one would hope that science is advancing, yet one must always question just how wise a theory of evolution really is. And whether this science of ancient Terra firma, with its conforming, yet shape-shifting truths of historical certainties of geological conundrum and biological certainties really, in the end, are the fruit of sound theorisation, or hypothesis gone mad. It is debated, creation versus evolution, and each side is certain of its facts, yet will one ultimately prevail? By God's grace the truth and the proper scientific method will be exalted on fact by hard won fact. To speculate and build an entire doctrine of existence on believed things is perhaps not that wise. And evolution is guilty of this, because it lacks historical witness upon its validation. Yet, in truth, so does religion. It lumbers ahead with a conclave of 'theorists' who have properly expounded the facts of God's creation, and just exactly were Noah's Ark really finally came to rest, and why dinosaurs were indeed on the ark, despite the obvious observation of young John sceptic that 'that's a pile of baloney.' Science, in the end, will or will not reconcile with religious truth. The evolution, if a theistic evolutionist may admit this, and the creationist expounds it most certainly. Yet, as we progress, what I fear in the tomes of so many 'reliable' future textbooks on the certainties of abiogenesis is that they will quote such and such as certainly correct and so and so as definite in his scholasticism, yet all the time ignore the plethora of voices in their own field who contradict and deny and see it this way and that way and indeed the other also. Science is the true understanding of the universe, and while so much of physical and chemical and biological truths have indeed been rightly taught, and indeed by both warring parties, the key issue of origins remains a murky field which neither party is willing to give much or any ground on either. A rationale approach questions, with all the obviousness of it all, that there certainly couldn't have been so many animals on the ark, and because of this obvious fact, how can it really be true? And the creationist continues to insist on dogmatic literalism’s, and will not brook any queries from the inquiring mind which does not yet know the full story as to why their bible seems to have a lot of problems with it. Nay, the theologian of fundamentalism would rather mock willy nilly, than say to the fellow 'you know, in God's truth, we haven't really got all the answers quite yet either.' It's way too much faith in their views, which bugs me. It's way to much of simply accepting the bible without rational and critical reasoning which just puts me off to the general vibe and attitude of the whole creationist world for the most part. They indeed might have the very truth of how we all got here – which I do personally in fact assent – but they don't really always come across as having that. In fact, its conceit a lot of the time, and half baked theories to explain biblical problems, rather than acknowledge there is still a lot of greater clarification of the core scientific principles and facts which need to be unearthed to gain the proper picture. And while Ty Tabor might say the scientists dogma seems awfully religious, so does the fundamentalists at times as well. What is the genuine truth seeking inquirer who just puts the debate on hold, pissed off at the conflict of it all, really supposed to do or believe? The spirit of true science, which is investigation into how things works and fit together in this universe and how we can apply this knowledge for the betterment of society really needs a great respect for its core discipline of the scientific method, and a lot of people need to be a lot more respectful and cautious before they go around either damning to 'cultic fundamentalism' or 'atheistic hell-fire' their opponents, and show each other more respect, more consideration and a far more courteous and civilised scientific investigation into the evidence, the facts and the truth of what still is a heated and debated centre of current scientific understanding. Science, in many ways, has those three main branches: Physics, Chemistry and Biology, and there are professors throughout the world experted and trained on their disciplines knowledge to amazing levels of scholastic expertise. But what is so disappointing is a rivalry of thought which, in the end, refuses to cooperate in a friendly and peaceable investigation into scientific foundations and truths, which make this field still such a quagmire of heat and divide when mankind should really have started working out better paradigms, in the scientific analysis, for understanding the bigger picture.

 

Rocks

Rocks are a composition of minerals fused or cemented together, and hardened up after having previously been molten lava, or magma, in the earths upper mantle and lower crust. There are two main types of Magma – Basaltic and Granitic. Basaltic magma forms in the asthenosphere were the peridotite melts and rises to oceanic ridges to form the lithosphere of the seabed. Granitic magma is formed beneath mountain ranges and also at points were the sea meets the land. Magma undergoes various cooling processes, often at divergent temperature and rock is formed. Rock's undergo a rock cycle which sees them go from Igneous rock, the first volcanically formed rock to sedimentary rock then on to metamorphic rock, before once again going to igneous rock. This is called the rock cycle, but there are other routes for the rock cycle, and the process is not always uniform. These three main types of rock, Igneous, Sedimentary and Metamorphic, are the main classifiers of rock types.

Igneous Rocks

Igneous rocks are created from Magma from volcanoes. The magma comes out of the volcanoe, and through the cooling process and interaction with the environment takes on differing forms. Igneous rocks are classified according to two major factors: Composition, which is the minerals which compose the rock, and texture, from rough to smooth. The source material of an igneous rock is the material of which the pre-magmatic rock was made up of. As the rock heats up and travels upward through the earth, compositional changes can take place. The source material is made up of silicates and oxides which have differing melting points. The differing constitutent materials of the source rock have differing melting points. Some minerals melt at much higher temperatures and at temperatures not quite as high. Because some of the constituent minerals solidify in the cooling processes more quickly, as they take a higher temperature to melt, these can be left behind in the process of travelling upwards to the magmatic state. Thus compositional change from the source material, depending on mineral constituents and melting points, can occur as the process towards magma proceeds. When the rock cools crystallization occurs, the hardening of the rock. There are five different types of rock crystallization textures. These are glassy, which is magma which has cooled quite quickly under water and in which noticeably distinct crystallization is not obvioius, the rock being very smooth and uniform in its texture. The next texture type is a smooth texture, in which the crystalization is not noticeable to the human eye but can be seen via a microscope. This second type of texture is called 'Aphanitic' or fine-grained. The third type of texture is one which the crystallization is more noticeable to the human eye, a rougher type of texture known as phaneritic. This is magma which has cooled more slowly than the glassy and aphanitic rock. In aphanitic and phaneritic igneous rocks the crystals are usually of uniform or the same size. A fourth texture is Porphyritic, which is a mixture of crystal sizes. This occurs when differing cooling temperatures have affected the rock. Large crystals are usually formed first in this process with smaller ones surrounding them. The final type of texture is 'Pyroclastic' which is rock which does not have crystalline structure, but has been ejected from volcanoes and formed of fragments which have been welded together when hot or cemented together later when cold. The texture of igneous rocks helps us understand the cooling processes involved in the formation of the rock. This dual classification structure of texture and composition is the basis for understanding igneous rocks.

Sedimentary Rock

Sedimentary rocks are rocks formed from sediments which have built up in layers, hardened, and become rock. The sediments are smaller grains from Igneous rock which have fragmented due to various physical processes. The three main types of sedimentary rock are clastic, chemical and biogenic. Clastic sedimentary rocks are rocks made from fragments of older rocks which have eroded due to wind or water and other affects, and often form in sandbanks and mudflats. In clastic rocks the fragments are suspended in water. In the second type of Sedimentary rocsk, chemical rocks, the material dissolved in water. This rock forms in things like playa lakes and warm shallow seabeds. When the water of these rocks in which the material was preciptated (evaporated water into the atmosphere to form clouds) the mineral remains solidified and formed sedimentary layers. Examples of this are rock salts and limestone. Often it is argued that the title of chemical sedimentary rocks is innacurate due to the process being called physical as it is the dissolvement of soluble minerals in water and the subsequent precipitation to form the layers, this being physical rather than chemical change. The final type of Sedimentary rock is Biogenic, which is essentially the remains of living creatures being fossilized, in which the hard remains of their substance forms rock.

Metamorphic Rock

Metamorphic rocks have undergone change from intense heat and pressure or one or the other. Metamoprhic rock runs to around 20 kilometers of the earth's crust, comprising about 85% of it. They are formed under mountain ranges. One of the most common features of Metamoprhic rock is the banding or layering of the rock, known as foliation, which occurs from the pressure on the rock minerals at right angles to the source of the pressure. Slate is an example of this type of Metamorphic rock. Under greater pressure crystallization can occur and Metamorphic rocks known as Schists can form. During high intensity metamorphism segregation of the minerals can occur resulting in lighter and darker layered levels, the resulting rock type known as Gneiss. Metamorphism does not always produce foliatiion, this being due to the minerals involved being largely of one type. Marble is an example of this.

 

 

ECONOMICS 

The Market System

Australia works on a free market economy. In a free market economy we have a medium of exchange called money. The current Australian monetary units are the Dolars and Cents. There are 100 cents for ever dollar. Money is distributed by the Reserve Bank into the economy at various points, which brings in more buying and spending power into the economy. Money is spent – used as the medium of exchange – to buy goods and services. For example, if you wanted a haircut, you could give around $30 to a barber, and he would cut your hair for you. This is an example of a service. Generally, Australia does not have a fixed pricing system, but certain controls are in place to prevent corruptive pricing schedules. Another example. Say, you wanted to buy a hamburger and chips and coca cola from a local cafe. You might hand over $12.50 for the total price in money, and you will receive the food you are buying. The money goes back and forth through buyers and sellers in the economy of the nation at a constant rate. People usually work in occupations or jobs to acquire money. They work for a certain amount of hours each week, doing certain prescribed tasks, and their employer pays them for their work. This money can then be used to afford the goods and services the worker wishes to buy in life. Australia also has a welfare system, managed through the government department currently known as Centrelink, which provides money for those out of work, but seeking work, who are required to fill in a job seekers diary, as well as providing for people who have some sort of disability and can not work, or only work at limited potential. Centrelink provides an assortment of pensions for peoples in various circumstances. Shopping centres and Malls are the most common place to spend your money and buy the things you want in life. All sorts of things, from foodstuffs, clothing and shoeware, to all the various entertainment items of various kinds. Even prostitution can currently be legally paid for with money in Canberra in Australia. Money can also be acquired from succesful legal gambling, money earned on interest from bank accounts with a large bank balance (a great deal of money). Shares in company pay dividends of money to shareholders on a regular basis, and shares can be bought and sold on the stock exchange. Also, royalty cheques and various other forms of income can all lead to the gaining of money, as well as inheritances from deceased relatives and also life insurance and other forms of insurance. Wherever you get the money, it is usually spent on things you might wish to own in life. Australia doesn't have a great deal of restrictions in its market system, but not every good and service necessarily passes health and safety standards to allow them to be sold in Australia. Often, there are product recalls of faulty goods which are returned to the originating company. Collusion between competing companies on certain products in price fixing is generally illegal in Australia. There is a whole host of law which governs the economy and the market system, and a big part of the political party you might vote for is related to their policies on the market system, and especially their tax policies.

 

National Financial Responsibility





FOOD AND HEALTH

Cleaning Utensils

Take your metal, plastic and wood (and so on) utensils. Put them in the sink. Turn on the cold water tap. Rinse the utensils under the water tap one by one and use a clot to wipe of the major gunk and place the utensils in a pile on the sink bench. When you have completed rinsing all the utensils, fill the sink with warm water. Put the utensils in the warm water and clean them again, this time more thoroughly. One by one clean the utensils and place them in the holder for utensils on the sink rack for storing crockery and utensils and so on. Let them dry naturally. When they are dry put them in the draws and storage places you keep your utensils. I recommend you do not use chemicals in cleaning your utensils and crockery. These chemicals often leave trace elements after cleaning which can affect your food. The best principle is to minimize the number of manmade chemicals in your diet as much as possible, even if they are not too problematic – nature's way as much as you reasonably can, and there is just no real need to worry about chemicals when cleaning utensils. It is important that utensils be properly cleaned so that they do not affect the food you prepare and eat by old bits of grotty food, which can lead to sickness and queasy feelings in your stomach. Keep utensils clean for use naturally and take good care of them.


Making Sandwiches

Wash your hands and have them dried. Take 2 slices of bread from a loaf of cut bread or cut your own from a loaf of bread. Take the bread and use butter of margarine as usual options (or not if you prefer) and butter one side of each of the slices of bread using a kitchen knife, usually one you eat your nightly meals on a plate with. Next you can add toppings or preserves or other ingredients onto the slices of bread on the butter or margarine, and when you have done that, you place the other slice of bread on top of the first slice which has had its toppings added to it. It is an optional extra to cut the bread sandwich in half, either across the centre or diagonally, depending on your preference. Even hypothetically into quarters, which is popular for party food.

Common Ingredients for Sandwiches:

Jams / Preserves. (Examples: Marmalade, Strawberry, Raspberry, Apricot & Plum Jam).

Peanut Butter

Vegemite / Marmite

Honey

Salad Sandwiches. (Lettuce, tomato, beetroot, cucumber & carrot are often common ingredients.)

Salad Sandwiches with sliced meat. (Common sliced meats are Ham, Pastrami, Turkey & Devon)

Meat spreads

Steak Sandwiches

Cheese (which can be added to Salad and Steak sandwiches and others)

& Various others

Further to Sandwiches, you can use bread rolls in a similar way to accomplish similar purposes. Sandwiches are often toasted, the bread being toasted first in a toaster, and sometimes a toasted sandwich maker.


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Hospitality Worker Advice

Be on time to your job. Be reliable. Being reliable means you do the things you say you are going to to and you do them properly and it means doing the things you are asked to do and doing them properly. Properly means up to the standard required by your employer and, when necessary, the standards required by the laws and industry standards, to meet legal requirements and obligations and regulations. Being reliable means you do what you say you will do and the employer can rely on you to do the job that he or she needs done, to do it well, and in a timely fashion and manner. It also means being in the job in the prescribed work hours for the job, not being too late to the job, or leaving too early. Doing all your regulated work hours and not shirking. It means being very presentable, as you are dealing with the public, and the job relies on you looking neat to impress the customers so that they will be encouraged to come again to that place. You need to make sure you have your clothes washed and dried properly, and ironed where necessary, and this needs to be worked into your home life routine so that it always gets done properly. Be conscientious about this work – work to work, if you know what I mean. Be well groomed in hospitality. Make sure hair and facial hair is presented neat, tidy and clean. Make sure you wash your body well and don't smell, and be cautious about your breath. Take fresh mints if you have bad breath problems, and if you have body odour problems strongly consider deoderants. Walk well throughout the day in your job. Don't walk around in awkward manners, but learn to be smooth and fluid in how you chart yourself around your place of employment. When carrying trays and mugs and things, it is very important to not spill things on the ground or, worse still, on customers. Always map out how you are going to get around the restaurant or shop before you start the small journey, and be flexible to alter your course if necessary because someone is getting up from their table. Be polite to customers and fellow employees and your boss. That is a given. Be honest in all financial dealings with customers. Do not overcharge them. They usually know when they have been ripped off, and might not always comment, but might not come again. It never pays ripping off customers, and is illegal if you really must know. Be careful with figures, and use a calculator if necessary if no cash register is involved. Be hygienic. Clean the workplace properly with brushes and wiping cloths and things, and make sure you do that to get rid of all mess and grot and untidy bits. Put things away when they are not in use, and ensure all equipment is working properly for use. Check things regularly. Follow your organisations work procedures carefully, and speak in a friendly way with people. Be considerat and kind and thoughtful. It keeps you employed that way. In cooking food, makes sure you cook it according to the recipe, and never have practical jokes with the food, or pranks, as this is meanspirited and childish. Do your best and always listen to the advice of your supervisors.