Thursday, July 31, 2014

Thu Jul 31st Todays News

It is said to have happened on this day, but it may not have happened at all, but it is certainly the case that Daniel Defoe was certainly not harmed by his stay in the stocks in 1703. It was said after that he had been pelted with flowers, not the more traditional rotten fruit after he had announced a poem to the Stocks. He had been placed in the stocks because King William had died and Queen Anne had different policies, and Defoe wrote satire. A particular pamphlet in this case had been written by Defoe anonymously, but he had been identified. He had suggested that non conformists be killed. John Robert Moore later said that "no man in England but Defoe ever stood in the pillory and later rose to eminence among his fellow men". 

Also on this day the Spanish Armada was sighted off the English coast. But, it was never a real threat of invasion as the large number of troops that had been assembled would never have been able to board the ships as they were never able to get past the smaller Dutch ships which would have prevented it in shallower waters. Even so, it was a remarkable success and allowed Queen Elizabeth to later give her stirring speech at Tillbury.

"My loving people, we have been persuaded by some that are careful of our safety, to take heed how we commit ourselves to armed multitudes for fear of treachery; but, I do assure you, I do not desire to live to distrust my faithful and loving people. Let tyrants fear, I have always so behaved myself, that under God I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and goodwill of my subjects; and, therefore, I am come amongst you as you see at this time, not for my recreation and disport, but being resolved, in the midst and heat of battle, to live or die amongst you all – to lay down for my God, and for my kingdoms, and for my people, my honour and my blood even in the dust. I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king – and of a King of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm; to which, rather than any dishonour should grow by me, I myself will take up arms – I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field. I know already, for your forwardness, you have deserved rewards and crowns, and, we do assure you, on the word of a prince, they shall be duly paid you. In the mean time, my lieutenant general shall be in my stead, than whom never prince commanded a more noble or worthy subject; not doubting but by your obedience to my general, by your concord in the camp, and your valour in the field, we shall shortly have a famous victory over those enemies of my God, of my kingdom, and of my people"
Mark Antony had had success at the Battle of Alexandria, 30 BC, against Octavion, but instead of a stirring speech to his men, he committed suicide. One can learn a lot by studying Elizabeth Rex. Antony's example is less glorious.


Today is another of infamy for anti semitism. In 1492 the Alhambra Decree took effect, kicking all Jews out of Spain, five years after the Spanish King had instigated the Spanish Inquisition. In 1932 the NAZI Party won 38% of the vote. One can only guess what the 38% wanted of them, their activity was evident from the beginning. Brutal and ugly. In 1941, 
Hitler instructed Hermann Göring to give orders to SS General Reinhard Heydrich to "submit to me as soon as possible a general plan of the administrative material and financial measures necessary for carrying out the desired Final Solution of the Jewish question."

In 1201, John Komnenos the Fat failed to usurp the Byzantine empire. In 1498 on his third voyage, Christopher Columbus discovered Trinidad. In 1658 Aurangzeb took control of India, ending secular administration and putting in place Islamic rule, his administration was to mark the downfall of Islamic leaders in India. In 1715, 12 Spanish treasure galleons set sail from Havana, eleven sank in a storm, allowing their treasure to be claimed centuries later. In 1763, Chief Pontiac defeated British in the Battle of Bloody Run. In 1777, the US Second continental Congress gave Lafayette an honorary rank of Major General of US forces. In 1790, US granted a patent for Potash. In 1856, Christchurch became a city. In 1913, the Balkan states signed an armistice. In 1919, Germany adopted the Weimar constitution. In 1930, radio program The Shadow first aired. In 1931 the future TV WCBS first broadcasted. In 1938, archaeologists discovered gold and silver plates from Darius the Great at Persepolis. In 1945, Pierre Laval, former socialist turned fascist leader of Vichy France, surrendered to allies in Austria. 
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For twenty two years I have been responsibly addressing an issue, and I cannot carry on. I am petitioning the Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to remedy my distress. I leave it up to him if he chooses to address the issue. Regardless of your opinion of conservative government, the issue is pressing. Please sign my petition at https://www.change.org/en-AU/petitions/tony-abbott-remedy-the-persecution-of-dd-ball

Mr Ball, I will not sign your petition as it will do no good, but I will share your message and ask as many of friends who read it, to share it also. Let us see if we cannot use the power of the internet to spread the word of these infamous killings. As a father and a former soldier, I cannot, could not, justify ignoring this appalling action by the perpetrators, whoever they may; I thank you Douglas. You are wrong about the petition. Signing it is as worthless and meaningless an act as voting. A stand up guy would know that. - ed

Lorraine Allen Hider I signed the petition ages ago David, with pleasure, nobody knows what it's like until they've been there. Keep heart David take care.

I have begun a bulletin board (http://theconservativevoice.freeforums.netwhich will allow greater latitude for members to post and interact. It is not subject to FB policy and so greater range is allowed in posts. Also there are private members rooms in which nothing is censored, except abuse. All welcome, registration is free.
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Happy birthday and many happy returns Michael HuynhGeoggery TirJeremy Dery and Anthony Hunter. Born on the same day, across the years. Along with John Canton (1718), John Ericsson (1803), George Liberace (1911), Milton Friedman (1912), Ted Baillieu (1953), Wesley Snipes (1962), J. K. Rowling (1965) and Emilia Fox (1974). On your day, Ka Hae Hawai'i Day (Flag Day) in Hawaii; Feast day of Saint Ignatius of Loyola. 1703 – English writer Daniel Defoe was placed in a pillory for seditious libel after publishing a pamphlet politically satirising the High Church Tories.
1917 – First World War: The Battle of Passchendaele began near Ypres in West Flanders, Belgium, with the Allied Powers aiming to force German troops to withdraw from the Channel Ports.
1941 – The Holocaust: Under instructions from Adolf Hitler, Hermann Göring ordered SS General Reinhard Heydrich to handle "the final solution of the Jewish question".
1975 – The Troubles: In a botched paramilitary attack, three members of the popular Miami Showband and two Ulster Volunteer Force gunmen were killed in County Down, Northern Ireland.
1991 – Soviet Special Purpose Police Unit troops killed seven Lithuanian customs officials in Medininkai in the most serious attack of their campaign against Lithuanian border posts. Avoid seditious libel that will get you pilloried. Also, avoid big battles. Try and solve problems without hurting people. Or you may become a joke. Sometimes, it might be best to turn a blind eye .. and just have fun.

Matches
Hatches
Despatches
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All we are saying, is give war a chance

Piers Akerman – Thursday, July 31, 2014 (6:57pm)

THE real message coming from the Gazan conflict is give war a chance. That’s right. All peace-loving people should be demonstrating in the streets and singing, “All we are saying, is give war a chance”.

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'All we are saying, is give war a chance'
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SARAH CAUSE-EFFECT

Tim Blair – Thursday, July 31, 2014 (5:08am)

As Labor has learned, Greens bring trouble
An internal report provided to the Immigration Department has warned that, when Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young turns up at a detention centre, there is a corresponding spike in “incidents” involving asylum seekers.
The operational brief provided by the security company Serco to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection claimed “high profile” visits to detention centres sparked an increase in reportable “incidents” and “adverse behaviour” among detainees. 
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ISLAM IMITATES COMEDY

Tim Blair – Thursday, July 31, 2014 (4:58am)

Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc
Women should not laugh out loud in public, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc has said while complaining about “moral corruption” in Turkey …
“[The woman] will know what is haram and not haram. She will not laugh in public. She will not be inviting in her attitudes and will protect her chasteness,” Arinc said. 
Excellent US sitcom Parks and Recreation:



(Via Miss Piggy)
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CRATE OF ORIGIN

Tim Blair – Thursday, July 31, 2014 (2:43am)

An interstate crate dispute has broken out over Lord Mayor Clover Moore’s plans to install $9.3 million worth of public art throughout inner Sydney.
Just one day after Moore’s plans were announced to widespread ridicule, Melbourne artist Jarrad Kennedy claimed that he was the first to design and build a giant milk crate.

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Victoria vs NSW: state against state, crate against crate

A similar giant crate, named Pavilion and designed by Sydney artist Hany Armanious, is a key feature of Moore’s proposed art project. 

Icon Arrow Continue reading 'CRATE OF ORIGIN'
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Hamas to the children: shoot Jews. UPDATE: Sydney protest:  “jihad is the answer”

Andrew Bolt July 31 2014 (6:10pm)

What does Hamas care that Palestinian children die in the war it started and will not stop? After all, it’s been recruiting them for years for jihad.
What kind of culture broadcasts this filth?
UPDATE
Filmed on the streets of Lakemba, this protest, with young men chanting:
Philistine philistine (Arabic for Palestine),
Allah hedik Israel (God destroy you Israel)
Palestine is Muslim land
With the Umma we will stand
Palestine is Muslim land
The solution is Jihad
Palestine is Muslim land
Your oppression will not stand
You can never stop Islam
From Australia to al Sham (Syria)
One umma hand in hand
From Lakemba to Gaza
(Thanks to readers Philip and Robyn, with help from Mariane.) 
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Gaza debate tells us to scrap laws against free speech

Andrew Bolt July 31 2014 (1:00pm)

Reader Graham Hyde, a solicitor and barrister, says the Gaza debate shows why our hate speech laws must be repealed:
The debate over Israel’s military action in Gaza shows why section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act should be fully repealed and replaced with a Federal Freedom of Expression Act or a guarantee of free expression in the Federal Constitution.
Presently, Jewish activists could complain to numerous Human Rights Commissions that former Ambassador Ross Burns (‘Israel may not have a way back‘, 31/7/14) has breached s.18C or other censorship laws as in the Kazak case. They may argue that he accuses Israel of cruelty, apartheid, ethnic discrimination and cleansing, and encaging, blockading, and sending tanks through Gaza’s population like the ‘Sudetenland’ (comparing Israelis to Hitler?) thus committing war crimes.
Jews may find this offensive, insulting, humiliating, vilifying, or bigoted, or think it incites racial hatred. Given the Holocaust, and recent attacks on Jews in Europe and elsewhere, some may even think it is intimidating, or incites violence or even genocide.
I strongly disagree with Mr Burns, but support his right to free expression, as I believe the vast majority of Australians do. ’
Graham adds:
Note: In the case of Kazak v John Fairfax Publications Limited [2000] NSWADT 77 on very similar facts a complaint against journalist Tom Switzer was upheld. He said among other things: ‘...the Palestinians cannot be trusted in the peace process..the Palestinians are the true culprits in derailing efforts to reach an agreement over Gaza and the West Bank…the Palestinians remain vicious thugs who show no serious willingness to comply with agreements….’.  Note also the use of the term ‘Israelis’ (joint reference to the people of Israel?) in Mr Burns’s opening paragraph and his repeated use of the term Israel and see paras 78 to 83 of the Kazak judgement). [That judgment was later overturned on appeal.]
The recent case of Clarke v Nationwide News Pty Ltd trading as The Sunday Times [2012] FCA 307, demonstrates that the publisher of offensive material (eg The Australian newspaper in respect of Mr Burns’s article) could be held liable for the simple act of publication.
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Embedded with Islamists. So be wary of their reports

Andrew Bolt July 31 2014 (11:32am)

How free are the reporters embedded with Hamas terrorists in Gaza free to see and to report?
HAMAS is not just targeting Israel­i civilians, threatening Gaz­ans and using them as humans shields.
It has another terror tactic: intim­idating foreign journalists…
Reporter Peter Stefanovic, of the Nine Network’s news, stationed in Gaza, received a surge of abuse and threats when he tweeted that he had seen rockets fired into Israel from near his hotel, in a civilian area…
John Reed, a reporter for Britain’s Financial Times, tweeted about seeing “two rockets fired toward Israel from near al-Shifa hospital (the largest in Gaza), even as more bombing victims were brought in”. He was also subject to threats and abuse.
The Wall Street Journal’s reporter Nick Casey fell foul of Hamas by reporting that Shifa hospital was Hamas’s control centre. On July 21, Casey posted a photo on Twitter of a chief Hamas spokesman being interviewed from a room in Shifa hospital in front of a makeshift backdrop of a photo of a destroyed house… Almost immediately, Casey received a flood of online threats. Two days later, the tweet was deleted…
French-Palestinian journalist Radjaa Abu Dagga wrote that he was forcibly blocked from leaving Gaza and detained and interrogated by members of Hamas’s al-Qassam Brigade at a room in Shifa hospital next to the emergency room. His account of his treatment, in the French newspaper Liberation, also has since been taken down from the paper’s website at Dagga’s request…
Italian reporter Gabriele Barbati tweeted on Tuesday: “Out of #Gaza far from #Hamas retaliation: misfired rocket killed children today in Shati. Witness: militants rushed and cleared ­debris.”
He was referring to a strike on Monday at al-Shati refugee camp which, together with a near-simultaneous hit on Shifa hospital, killed 10 people, including a number of children.
Israel vehemently denied responsibility and said it had proof via photos and radar that misfired Islamic Jihad rockets had caused the deaths.
In his tweet, Barbati backed up the Israeli version (the fast clean-up suggests a cover-up) — and implied that he would not have been free to say this had he been in Gaza.
Then there’s the double-counting of Palestinian victims, many of whom aren’t as innocent as usually portrayed:
According to the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Centre, out of 775 fatalities analysed (as of July 23), 229 were militants or terrorists, 267 were civil­ians, and 279 could not yet be classified.
The Meir Amit centre examines each reported casualty’s background on Palestinian websites and looks for details about their funerals to determine their occupation and to confirm or rule out any affiliation with terror groups, giving much greater accuracy about whether the person was a civilian. 
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Back off, Big Brother

Andrew Bolt July 31 2014 (9:52am)

Too much Big Brother? What’s it to you if I decide to eat only baked beans so I can spend some of my dole on a nice bottle of champagne for Christmas, just to feel rich for a day?
ABOUT 2.5 million welfare ­recipients on “working-age ­payments”, including disability support pensioners and carers, would be forced into a cashless world where 100 per cent of their payments were income managed and they were banned from purchasing “prohibited” goods. 

The radical proposal is ­contained in mining magnate Andrew Forrest’s blueprint for indigenous welfare and employment, which he has delivered to the Abbott government…

Mr Forrest also wants all families receiving family tax benefits to have access to the money directly linked to school attendance of their children.
But, yes, I agree that pension payments for children should come with strings attached. Even payments to the unemployed.
But to the disabled, too? And the sick? Their carers? 
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Scrap this useless tax and the spending it was meant to pay for

Andrew Bolt July 31 2014 (9:21am)

Judith Sloan is right. The mining tax must go - along with the mad welfare spending it was stupidly meant to fund:
It has been a fiasco from the start. The first version was a form of institutionalised theft which would have meant every global mining company leaving Australia in due course. The second version, which was designed by the big mining companies themselves, is much less harmful in terms of discouraging investment, but it doesn’t really raise any revenue…
The net effect ... has been to produce a mere $600,000 in net revenue to the federal government in the June quarter…
Recall that the Gillard government, under the stewardship of treasurer Wayne Swan, expected to raise $300 million this financial year and a total of $26.5 billion over the period 2013-14 to 2016-17.
If the dribble of revenue is not bad enough, the Labor government’s decision to link a whole lot of poor quality spending to the revenue from the mining tax has been calamitous…
But here’s the thing: the mining tax is unlikely to raise serious revenue and the spending commitments amount to some $17bn over this year and the next three years. Something has to give — the expenditure has to be abandoned along with the tax. 
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Once again. The Jew-haters return

Andrew Bolt July 31 2014 (8:32am)

Culture wars, Islamism

image
A PUTRID Jew-hatred has returned to the West, fed by mass immigration and stoked by the Left. 

Do not mistake this anti-Semitism for mere anger at Israel over the war in Gaza. That war is just the calculated pretext for a month of menace that has terrified many Jews — as well as those of us who prize civilisation over barbaric tribalism.
France now has more than six million Muslims and two weeks ago Arab protesters — some chanting “death to Jews” — attacked synagogues, torched cars and burned Jewish shops in Sarcelles, a suburb of Paris dubbed “Little Jerusalem”.
Germany now has four million Muslims.  Arab and Turkish protesters were this month filmed shouting “Gas the Jews” and other Jew-hating slogans and a Berlin imam, Sheik Abu Bilal Ismail, was filmed at his mosque preaching: “Oh Allah, destroy the Zionist Jews ... Count them and kill them to the very last one. Don’t spare a single one of them.” Two Jews wearing yarmulkes were attacked in Berlin.
(Read full article here.) 
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There is no “root cause” to discuss with such animals

Andrew Bolt July 31 2014 (8:15am)

I hear ABC presenters forever talking about negotiating with various Islamist extremists - this time Hamas - about addressing “root causes” of their anger.
And then the Islamic State releases a video showing how gleefully it slaughters unarmed civilians (CAUTION -GRAPHIC) and demonstrating that there is no root cause that can be addressed that doesn’t involve Jews and other unbelievers dying. There is nothing to talk about with such people, and the only rational response is to shoot them before they shoot you:
You think I talk too brutally? I sound too harsh? Then tell me how exactly what settlement you’d expect to reach with animals that do this - and CAUTION - GROSS SCENES OF BEHEADED SYRIANS:
There is an evil. Israel is on the front line in fighting it.  
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Abbott must lead us back home

Andrew Bolt July 31 2014 (7:42am)

TONY Abbott has led well, but his crusade for justice for the victims of MH17 looks increasingly likely to fail.
Even more reason, then, for his switch back to domestic politics this week — and for managing some expectations.
The 230 police and soldiers sent by the Prime Minister to search the Ukrainian fields where MH17 was shot down have been blocked for days from even visiting the site, let along conducting a methodical search. Remains will inevitably be lost and evidence destroyed.
The problem is that there is something even stronger than Abbott’s will: Russian power and Ukraine’s self-interest.
(Read full article here.) 
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The warming pause is 13 years and four months

Andrew Bolt July 31 2014 (7:30am)

Global warming - general

image
Christopher Monckton checks all five of the main measures of global warming and works out the mean. Conclusion:

... the Great Pause has endured for 160 months – i.e., 13 years 4 months.
And the rise in temperatures we’re seen since 1950 has been at the non-catastrophic rate of no more than 1.55 degrees per century:
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Who wouldn’t feel bad after a visit from Hanson-Young?

Andrew Bolt July 31 2014 (7:06am)

Sarah Hanson-Young makes me feel depressed and angry, too, so I fully understand:
AN internal report provided to the Immigration Department has warned that, when Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young turns up at a detention centre, there is a corresponding spike in “incidents” involving asylum seekers.
The operational brief provided by the security company Serco to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection claimed “high profile” visits to detention centres sparked an increase in reportable “incidents” and “adverse behaviour” among detainees…
The Serco report, however, revealed that, during a visit by the Senator to Christmas Island between January 24 to 28 this year, the number of incidents more than doubled to 15 from an average of around six.
An accompanying graph showed the number of incidents peaked at 15 on the second day of her visit. It did not specify the types of incidents but claimed the visits caused “anxiety” and “elevated levels of adverse behaviour”.
I’m sure Hanson-Young does not wish or intend harm, but there is no question that reports of trouble in detention centres is useful to the cause of “refugee” advocates. I suspect detainees know this, and are also made by supporters to feel like victims rather than queue-jumpers. 
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=== Posts from last year ===

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"That they have been able to live out their lives enjoying the freedoms of this country, after depriving others of freedom and life itself, is an affront to the memory of those who perished," said Paul Shapiro, director of the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.
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Here's a pic from New Years Eve. The overlook was windy, wet, and freezing, plus the Island security was threatening to throw us out, but we made our case and they looked the other way. Trespassing fun on a San Francisco night!
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<So wrong on so many levels. Irony meter just exploded.>
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<"Progressive". Quite possibly the most misleading term ever employed in political discourse.>
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The truth came out and it only took one day of peace negotiations to hear it. 

Those advocating for apartheid are from the Arab side. Their goal: A Middle East "judenrein" -- with no Jews in it. 

Evidence: This statement from Abbas, and the history of Jewish displacement from Arab lands over the last 70 years:https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=555027591186706
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Wayne Matey Mattner.
familiar with this issue
, its about Kids sexually abused at schools in SA and the Premier and education ministers denying they received any warnings. The Current Premier who was education minister at the time had his email history wiped.>
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Andrea Tantaros unimpressed by Left’s ‘binder full of weiners’ ==> http://twitchy.com/2013/07/30/andrea-tantaros-unimpressed-by-lefts-binder-full-of-weiners/
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Sarah Palin was criticized for the telling the "biggest lie of the year" about ObamaCare in 2009. Now, the former head of the Democratic Party suggests she was right all along. 

How will this affect you? Plus, hear Palin's reaction on tonight's Hannity! Watch: http://tinyurl.com/lxyoury
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Australian test batsmen are wearing too much wool .. - ed
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Andrew Danger Nguyen
If I started a workout business it would be called Pecasaurus Pty LTD, and all the workout programs would be dinosaur based puns like BICEPatops, TRAPasaurus Rex, and instead of reps you take on REPtors‪#‎reasonswhynooneasksmeforhelp‬ ‪#‎awesomebusinessideas‬ ‪#‎dinobots‬
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The Coalition will take strong action to ensure trade unions are more transparent and accountable – you can read our policy here:http://lbr.al/4kju

We will ensure that elected officers of trade unions operate to the highest standards.
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Well initially this might look to you like any normal girl being treated by a doctor,the girl in the photo is not any normal living girl but the mummy of a 15 year old child who has been dead for about 500 years. 

She was found in 1999 near Llullaillaco's 6739 meter summit. An Argentine-Peruvian expedition found the perfectly preserved body and she was nicknamed "La doncella" which means “The maidenAccording to the Inca she was chosen to go and live with the gods. But in reality she was a sacrifice to the Inca Gods and had been brutally killed in the name of religion. 

Scientists say that her organs are intact and its as if she had died just a few weeks ago. From testing the samples of her hair they could determine the type of diet she was on before her death. This lead to the discovery that the Incan fattened their children before killing them. Months or even years before the sacrifice pilgrimage these children were given diets which were those of the elite, consisting of maize and animal proteins.
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Someone asked a well known novelist, how do you write a novel.

The answer - every day.

If you write every day, not only do the words quickly mount, but the story and characters stay alive in your imagination.

This is one of the great pleasures of fiction.
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Problem: Warren reads 20 pages in 30 minutes. At this rate how long will it take him to read 66 pages?

That was a question in the Australian Mathematics Competition a couple of years ago. Tomorrow ACT students will join 500,000 kids in a giant multi-country maths test.

A lot of them would probably work that brain teaser out in seconds, maybe minutes. 

Do you know the answer?

Adam Shirley will reveal it on air after 4pm today.

Photo by doviende, Creative Commons

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Maltese underwater statue of Jesus Christ
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There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. – 1 John 4:18

‪#‎god‬ ‪#‎holy‬ ‪#‎digitalbible‬ ‪#‎bible‬ ‪#‎holybible‬ ‪#‎love‬‪#‎jesus‬ ‪#‎prayer‬ ‪#‎power‬ ‪#‎fearless‬ ‪#‎soul‬ ‪#‎fear‬‪#‎anxiety‬
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Stars can't shine without darkness
Joy has no value without sadness.
There is no many without a few
There is no life without you
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K2
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Events[edit]

Births[edit]

Deaths[edit]

Holidays and observances[edit]

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““You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:14,16 NIV
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning

Font size"And when he thought thereon, he wept."
Mark 14:72
It has been thought by some that as long as Peter lived, the fountain of his tears began to flow whenever he remembered his denying his Lord. It is not unlikely that it was so, for his sin was very great, and grace in him had afterwards a perfect work. This same experience is common to all the redeemed family according to the degree in which the Spirit of God has removed the natural heart of stone. We, like Peter, remember our boastful promise: "Though all men shall forsake thee, yet will not I." We eat our own words with the bitter herbs of repentance. When we think of what we vowed we would be, and of what we have been, we may weep whole showers of grief. He thought on his denying his Lord. The place in which he did it, the little cause which led him into such heinous sin, the oaths and blasphemies with which he sought to confirm his falsehood, and the dreadful hardness of heart which drove him to do so again and yet again. Can we, when we are reminded of our sins, and their exceeding sinfulness, remain stolid and stubborn? Will we not make our house a Bochim, and cry unto the Lord for renewed assurances of pardoning love? May we never take a dry-eyed look at sin, lest ere long we have a tongue parched in the flames of hell. Peter also thought upon his Master's look of love. The Lord followed up the cock's warning voice with an admonitory look of sorrow, pity, and love. That glance was never out of Peter's mind so long as he lived. It was far more effectual than ten thousand sermons would have been without the Spirit. The penitent apostle would be sure to weep when he recollected the Saviour's full forgiveness, which restored him to his former place. To think that we have offended so kind and good a Lord is more than sufficient reason for being constant weepers. Lord, smite our rocky hearts, and make the waters flow.

Evening

"Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."
John 6:37
No limit is set to the duration of this promise. It does not merely say, "I will not cast out a sinner at his first coming," but, "I will in no wise cast out." The original reads, "I will not, not cast out," or "I will never, never cast out." The text means, that Christ will not at first reject a believer; and that as he will not do it at first, so he will not to the last.
But suppose the believer sins after coming? "If any man sin we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." But suppose that believers backslide? "I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him." But believers may fall under temptation! "God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." But the believer may fall into sin as David did! Yes, but he will "Purge them with hyssop, and they shall be clean; he will wash them and they shall be whiter than snow"; "From all their iniquities will I cleanse them."
"Once in Christ, in Christ forever,
Nothing from his love can sever."
"I give unto my sheep," saith he, "eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." What sayest thou to this, O trembling feeble mind? Is not this a precious mercy, that coming to Christ, thou dost not come to One who will treat thee well for a little while, and then send thee about thy business, but he will receive thee and make thee his bride, and thou shalt be his forever? Receive no longer the spirit of bondage again to fear, but the spirit of adoption whereby thou shalt cry, Abba, Father! Oh! the grace of these words: "I will in no wise cast out."
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Today's reading: Psalm 51-53, Romans 2 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Psalm 51-53

For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict
and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;
you taught me wisdom in that secret place....

Today's New Testament reading: Romans 2

God's Righteous Judgment
You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things. 2 Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth. 3 So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment? 4Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
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