Monday, December 26, 2016

Mon Dec 26th Todays News

The December IPA Review is out and Jason Potts writes how new technology might be the “Big Cure” for Australia’s health system. There are very strong historical reasons for why our health system is the way it is. Privacy, research, and exploitation of results makes a minefield which prevents change for the better. But modern technology with smart phones, apps, blockchain processing and AI presents an opportunity whereby research can be done, peoples rights can be respected and decisions can be made which benefit people in a truly flexible health system. All that is needed for the paradigm shift is to make ownership of health data something belonging to individuals, as opposed to the government. Creating a lot of data is not hard with a smartphone. Keeping the data secure is not hard with a block chain. Mining data for individualised results is not hard for an AI.

Currently, that is not possible, even though the technology exists, because health data belongs to governments. Research is often not possible because of the impediments governments place on data. Data protection restricts research. Healthcare and Human Services cost $315 billion annually and make up 60% of the budget. Imagine if it were cheaper and better?

It seems like celebrities are dying and fewer are being born. That is a perception thing. George Michael is the latest who won’t attend a Trump inauguration. He was a greatly talented singer who took drugs. Some say he took too much drugs and it ruined his career and took his life. Others say to just cool it. Or legalise it or something. It is getting time, as JN noted, for people to wonder at the cost of Sydney’s fireworks for New Year celebrations. For the same price, we could plunge South Australia in darkness for many hours. At night. Or, keep a celebrity in a jet aircraft flying to venues to warn of Anthropogenic Global Warming. Yeah, that last idea fizzles too.
=== from 2015 ===
 Boxing Day is not a result of a stoush between Kangaroo and Emu. That is a myth. Waleed Aly has not argued with Andrew Bolt, but has attacked Mr Bolt. Had Aly argued with Mr Bolt he would have found that Mr Bolt's concerns regarding Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) alarmism is correct. AGW is another myth. The world has been heating since the ice age. Carbon dioxide is not a culprit of AGW, but plant food. Hysterical attempts to limit plant food will do nothing for world temperature. The substantial increase in recent years of plant food has not heated the world, but has corresponded with a decrease of temperature relative to 1998. Moving forward, we need cheap energy and we need plant food. But Mr Aly lies and abuses Mr Bolt to the cheers of a well paid lobby. 

For some, at the moment, the Sex Party has more credibility.
From 2014
A somber Christmas after Australians had a tough year thanks to others:
  • As shoppers faced the tough task of seeking Boxing Day bargains, Sulayman Khalid, from Regents Park in Sydney’s West, was facing Parramatta Local Court after being charged by counter-terrorism police with possessing documents and material designed to facilitate a terrorist attack. SBS brought him to national attention when they tried to get him to air his 'opinion.' Apparently he won an ISIL flag on the show. 
  • Amnesty International documented a number of cases of jihadi capturing non Muslim girls (some as young as 10) and forcing them into sexual slavery or even suicide bombing. IS have stoned to death for adultery at least 8 women in Mosul, and ten women were killed for speaking out against the group
  • A German journalist has been warned that ISIL intends to conquer Europe. 
  • Former Australian PM Malcolm Fraser slammed police for anti terrorism raids following the Sydney Siege. 
  • Yasir Arafat plays for Scorchers. He has the name of a Palestinian terrorist. He should not be playing where families of holocaust victims must endure. 
  • 'No threat to the dead' according to the judge who bailed a terrorist who committed the Sydney Siege. He was wrong in that judgement. 
Not all stimulus is bad .. Japan is being sensible. Their stimulus is aimed differently to the Australian one, and aims to promote their industry to spark growth. 
From 2013
Alan Turing, convicted of gross indecency in 1952, has been granted a posthumous royal pardon. His crime was in reporting a break in to his residence to police, it was discovered he had a homosexual relationship with another mature man. And rather than be sent to prison, he accepted chemical castration. He took cyanide in 1954. Turing was a genius who had contributed to the world's defence against Nazism as a code breaker. He is considered the father of modern computer science and artificial intelligence. When circumstances are not just, it is nice to believe that the royals can intercede. But this just seems too late. 

On the issue of injustice and forgiveness, the US has imprisoned Jonathan Pollard. Israel's PM Netanyahu has stood up for him, calling for his release, but because of the politics of the situation, Pollard remains in jail. His crime was one of US government mismanagement, he was a known security risk and, through lack of appropriate supervision, became an Israeli spy. It is apparent that the claims are not of the order of Assange or Snowden. Pollard has served more time than any one else convicted in the US of a similar crime. He is an Israeli citizen. Maybe Obama could release him, as a gesture favouring peace? 
Historical perspective on this day
In 1135, coronation of King Stephen of England. 1481, Battle of Westbroek: Holland defeated troops of Utrecht. 1776, American Revolutionary War: In the Battle of Trenton, the Continental Army attacked and successfully defeated a garrison of Hessian mercenaries. 1790, Louis XVI of France gave his public assent to Civil Constitution of the Clergy during the French Revolution. 1793, Second Battle of Wissembourg: France defeated Austria. Also 1793, the wedding of Prince Friedrich Ludwig of Prussia and Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz took place. 1799, four thousand people attended George Washington's funeral where Henry Lee IIIdeclared him as "first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen."

In 1805, Austria and France signed the Treaty of Pressburg. 1806, Battles of Pultusk and Golymin: Russian forces held French forces under Napoleon. 1811, a theater fire in Richmond, Virginia killed the Governor of Virginia George William Smith and the president of the First National Bank of Virginia Abraham B. Venable. 1825, advocates of liberalism in Russia rose up against Czar Nicholas I and were put down in the Decembrist revolt in Saint Petersburg. 1846, trapped in snow in the Sierra Nevadas and without food, members of the Donner Partyresorted to cannibalism. 1860, the first ever inter-club association football match took place between Hallam F.C. and Sheffield F.C. at the Sandygate Road ground in Sheffield, England, United Kingdom. 1861, American Civil War: The Trent Affair: Confederate diplomatic envoys James M. Mason and John Slidell were freed by the United States government, thus heading off a possible war between the United States and United Kingdom. 1862, American Civil War: The Battle of Chickasaw Bayou began. Also 1862, Four nuns serving as volunteer nurses on board USS Red Rover were the first female nurses on a U.S. Navy hospital ship. Also 1862, the largest mass-hanging in U.S. history took place in Mankato, Minnesota, 38 Native Americans died. 1870, the 12.8-km long Fréjus Rail Tunnel through the Alps was completed. 1871, Gilbert and Sullivan collaborated for the first time, on their lost opera, Thespis. It did modestly well, but the two would not collaborate again for four years. 1883, the Harbour Grace Affray between Irish Catholics and Protestant Orangemen caused five deaths in Newfoundland. 1898, Marie and Pierre Curie announced the isolation of radium.

In 1900, a relief crew arrived at the lighthouse on the Flannan Isles of Scotland, UK, only to find the previous crew has disappeared without a trace. 1919, Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox was sold to the New York Yankees by owner Harry Frazee, allegedly establishing the Curse of the Bambino superstition. 1925, Turkey adopted the Gregorian calendar. 1941,  U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the United States. 1943, World War II: German warship Scharnhorst was sunk off of Norway's North Cape after a battle against major Royal Navy forces. 1944, World War II: George S. Patton's Third Army broke the encirclement of surrounded U.S. forces at Bastogne, Belgium. 1948, Cardinal József Mindszenty was arrested in Hungary and accused of treason and conspiracy. 1963, The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "I Saw Her Standing There" were released in the United States, marking the beginning of Beatlemania on an international level. 1966, the first Kwanzaa was celebrated by Maulana Karenga, the chair of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach. 1972, Vietnam War: As part of Operation Linebacker II, 120 American B-52 Stratofortress bombers attacked Hanoi, including 78 launched from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, the largest single combat launch in Strategic Air Command history. 1976, the Communist Party of Nepal (Marxist–Leninist) was founded. 1982, Time's Man of the Year was for the first time a non-human, the personal computer.

In 1991, the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union met and formally dissolved the Soviet Union. 1994, four Armed Islamic Group hijackers seized control of Air France Flight 8969. When the plane landed at Marseille, a French Gendarmerie assault team boarded the aircraft and killed the hijackers. 1996, six-year-old beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey was found beaten and strangled in the basement of her family's home in Boulder, Colorado. Also 1996,  start of the largest strike in South Korean history. 1997, the Soufrière Hills volcano on the island of Montserrat exploded, creating a small tsunami offshore. 1998, Iraq announced its intention to fire upon U.S. and British warplanes that patrol the northern and southern no-fly zones. 1999, the storm Lothar swept across Central Europe, killing 137 and causing US$1.3 billion in damage. 2003, a magnitude 6.6 earthquake devastated southeast Iranian city of Bam, killing tens of thousands and destroying the citadel of Arg-é Bam. 2004, a 9.3 magnitude earthquakecreated a tsunami causing devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives and many other areas around the rim of the Indian Ocean, killing over 230,000. Also 2004, Orange Revolution: The final run-off election in Ukraine was held under heavy international scrutiny. 2006, an oil pipeline in Lagos, Nigeria exploded, killing at least 260.
=== Publishing News ===
This column welcomes feedback and criticism. The column is not made up but based on the days events and articles which are then placed in the feed. So they may not have an apparent cohesion they would have had were they made up.
===
I am publishing a book called Bread of Life: January. 

Bread of Life is a daily bible quote with a layman's understanding of the meaning. I give one quote for each day, and also a series of personal stories illustrating key concepts eg Who is God? What is a miracle? Why is there tragedy?

January is the first of the anticipated year-long work of thirteen books. One for each month and the whole year. It costs to publish. It (Kindle version) should retail at about $2US online, but the paperback version would cost more, according to production cost.If you have a heart for giving, I fundraise at gofund.me/27tkwuc
===
Editorials will appear in the "History in a Year by the Conservative Voice" series, starting with August, September, October, or at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/1482020262/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_dVHPub0MQKDZ4  The kindle version is cheaper, but the soft back version allows a free kindle version.

List of available items at Create Space
Happy birthday and many happy returns Ann Thompson. Born on the same day, across the years, as
December 26: Boxing Day in Commonwealth countries; St. Stephen's Day (Western Christianity); Kwanzaa begins in Canada and the United States
Flannan Isles Lighthouse
Our coalition held. The army protest failed. We saw the lighthouse. We have an insurgency. We strike. Let's party. 
Deaths
===
Tim Blair

GREEN ON THE SCENE

To his credit, Jonathan Green yesterday joined hundreds of Victorians defying terrorist threats against Melbourne’s St Paul’s Cathedral.
26 Dec  

LIMITS TO TOLERANCE

It doesn’t take much to be considered “far-right” in France.
26 Dec  

GEORGE MICHAEL

Wham! singer George Michael has died at just 53.
26 Dec  

TITO’S MERCEDES

Attention, dictators! Why slum it in an ordinary modern Mercedes when you could be lording it up in former Yugoslav strongman Josip Tito’s glorious 1971 600 Pullman?
26 Dec  

JUST 0.0000425 PER CENT OF HILLARY VOTERS

The prospect of Donald Trump’s presidential election led to many Hillary Clinton supporters claiming they would flee the US for Canada. But how many have even tried?
26 Dec  

RICK PARFITT

Status Quo guitarist Rick Parfitt has died at 68 following his third heart attack.
26 Dec
===

CREATIVE TURNSTILES

Tim Blair – Saturday, December 26, 2015 (6:31pm)

The MEAA – Australia’s “largest and most established union and industry advocate for Australia’s creative professionals” – takes credit for the Boxing Day Test:



That explains the delayed start, the small crowd and the uncompetitive cricket. 
===

NO ROCK STAR EVER RECEIVES A POLITICIAN’S WELCOME

Tim Blair – Saturday, December 26, 2015 (1:05pm)

One of my favourite journalistic clichés:



This has been going on for some time. In fact, rock star welcomes occurred even before rock stars were invented: 
Napoleon enjoyed a rock star’s welcome in the West. 
Even the exact opposite of rock stars win rock star welcomes: 
Al Gore received a rock-star reception. 
They’re rockin’ in New Zealand, where welcomes aren’t always appreciated: 
German Chancellor, Dr. Angela Merkel, was welcomed like a rock star when she appeared before 300 invitation only guests in Auckland. 
Some rock star welcomes are strangely defined: 
Prime Minister Tony Abbott received a rock star welcome of the type normally reserved for modern royals when he was warmly mobbed at Noosa Heads Surf Life Saving Club yesterday. 
A rock star welcome “normally reserved for modern royals” would be a royal welcome, surely. Every politician receives a rock star welcome at some point: 
Mayor of London Boris Johnson enjoys a rockstar welcome at University of Northampton.
Joko Widodo, Indonesia’s first president from outside the political and military elite, got a rock-star welcome.
John Howard has received a rock-star welcome joining the Liberal candidate on the Canning campaign trail.
Rock-Star Welcome for President Jammeh.
Germans give Obama rock star welcome in Berlin.
Justin Trudeau gets rock star welcome at G20. 
The Trudeau clan knows all about rock star welcomes. 
Rock star welcome for Aung San Suu Kyi in Melbourne.
Narendra Modi Arrives in New York to a Rock-Star Welcome.
Prime Minister Rudd received a rock star’s welcome when he attended the Filipino Friends of Labor fundraiser.
On Tuesday Ms Gillard received a rock star’s welcome.
Mrs Obama, who was given a genuine rock star welcome by the crowd … 
As opposed to a fake rock star welcome. We journalists use special equipment to detect the difference.
===

MONIS CONSPIRACY EXPOSED

Tim Blair – Saturday, December 26, 2015 (2:08am)

“It is now obvious,” declares Alex Mitchell, “that the Martin Place siege gunman Man Haron Monis was an ASIO agent from the time he arrived in Australia in 1996.”
Thanks for that, crazy Alex. It should be noted that Mitchell, prior to retirement, was a Fairfax state political editor and president of the NSW Parliamentary Press Gallery who once called for David Hicks to be named Australian of the year.
===

THIS CAN’T POSSIBLY FAIL

Tim Blair – Saturday, December 26, 2015 (1:53am)

Following previous triumphs with celebrity candidates, Labor aims to recruit another: 
Editor of Mamamia, Jamila Rizvi, has confirmed that she wants to stand for parliament as speculation mounts she will run for the safe Labor seat of Wills, after long-time MP Kelvin Thompson announced his retirement.
It has been reported that Rizvi, a former Labor staffer who worked for former prime minister Kevin Rudd and former minister Kate Ellis before joining the Mamamia women’s network, would throw her hat in the ring …
Other potential pre-selection candidates include former journalist Helen Kapalos and media personality Mary Kostakidis. 
Rizvi has one advantage over Kostakidis: she doesn’t live 900 kilometres from Coburg. Also, she could easily bond with the electorate by sharing stories of her $60,000 wedding. That’ll win the love of those working class voters, although Kostakidis and Kapalos are probably even wealthier.
===

REMEMBER ROSIE

Tim Blair – Saturday, December 26, 2015 (1:29am)

A fine farewell for a respected roach.
===

POPE-ULAR OPINION

Tim Blair – Saturday, December 26, 2015 (12:53am)

I’ve long supported gay marriage, but believe legislative change should only follow clear public approval. That’s why a popular vote is a good idea. Peter Brent disagrees: 
A popular vote on same-sex marriage is wholly unnecessary … 
Well, it is if you don’t care what other people think. Brent is possibly concerned about a local result similar to this: 
Slovenians have rejected same-sex marriage by a large margin in a referendum.
Almost two-thirds of voters said no to a bill that defined marriage as a union between two consenting adults ...
Slovenia’s conservatives were backed by Pope Francis, who called on the mainly Catholic country to “back the family as the structural reference point for the life of society”. 
Unendorsed legislation to introduce gay marriage in Australia would likely increase division rather than reduce it. Incidentally, note how little coverage Pope Francis’s gay marriage views receive relative to his opinions on climate change.
===

BIRDY NO MA’AM

Tim Blair – Saturday, December 26, 2015 (12:32am)

The natural enemy of the rampant Australian frightbat is the endangered British discrimination parrot:

===

Piers Akerman – Friday, December 26, 2014 (9:58am)

This has been a sombre Christmas for many Australians, a view shared by Margie Abbott, Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s wife, in the couple’s heartfelt message to the nation.
“Mostly Christmas is a joyous time - but it can be a sad time too and this year we are thinking of those families who have lost loved ones.
“This is a time to reach out - to those who have had a difficult year, as well as those who, for whatever reason, are doing it tough.” Mrs Abbott’s remarks were refreshingly direct. It has been a confronting year with too many tragedies to gloss over.
Many Australians have had a very tough year through no fault of their own and all too often because of the activities of others.
Her husband frequently frames his policy hopes with appeals to “our better angels”.
Again, too often, that call is ignored.
As last-minute city shoppers hurried home for Christmas Eve, many paused for a few minutes of reflection at the site of the spontaneous floral tribute to murder victims Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson in Martin Place.
The contemplative crowd was a microcosm of our society. Office workers, shoppers, tourists, people who made a special trip in from the suburbs, families with children, even members of Sydney-Hobart yacht race crews who had taken an hour off from preparing their vessels to pad up to the impromptu shrine in their deck shoes from their boats in Rushcutters Bay.
Some carried flowers obviously cut from home gardens. Others had simple bouquets. For most it was a moment of connection with the loss felt by the Dawson and Johnson families.
As they stood in the grey light, a sneering young man named Sulayman Khalid, from Regents Park in Sydney’s West, was facing Parramatta Local Court after being charged by counter-terrorism police with possessing documents and material designed to facilitate a terrorist attack.
Police said the documents ‘certainly talked a little bit about potential government targets and so on, and what that did, coupled with other things that were seized during the search warrant, gave us significant concern to be able to act early.” A rifle, a shortened shotgun and a double-barrelled shotgun were among objects seized.
Khalid, a part-time labourer, came to national attention when he appeared on the SBS Insight program with his then lawyer, the former Palmer United Party candidate Zali Burrows.
He stormed off the set after being quizzed about the cancellation of his Australian passport by ASIO last December. Khalid - who calls himself Abu Bakr after the Prophet Mohammed’s father-in-law - had worn an Islamic State flag on the SBS show and said that he sympathised with the values of Islamic State as he was being unfairly targeted by Australians.
A report by Amnesty International released on Tuesday gave a glimpse of some of those values when it detailed the capture of young non-Muslim girls - some as young as 10 and 12 - and told how they were forced to endure torture, rape and sexual slavery, and confirmed that several abducted girls committed suicide.
A Lebanese Australian man was identified as being in control of the sale of the young women to IS members who were seeking sex.
Pandering to sexually starved torturers is not the only role IS members have performed as they impose their Islamist caliphate across Syria and northern Iraq.
At least eight women have been stoned to death for alleged adultery in IS-controlled areas in northern Syria, activists say, and at least 10 women in Mosul have been killed for speaking out against the group.
The barbarism rampant in the Middle East is just a beginning, followers of the death cult boast.
In an interview with veteran German journalist Juergen Todenhoefer in Mosul, a spokesman for IS bragged that the killers have greater goals.
“We will conquer Europe one day. It is not a question of if we will conquer Europe, just a matter of when that will happen. But it is certain ... for us, there is no such thing as borders. There are only frontlines,” he told the German journalist.
“Our expansion will be rapid and perpetual. The Europeans need to know that when we come, it will not be in a nice way. It will be with our weapons. Those who do not convert to Islam or pay the Islamic tax will be killed.” Having beheaded and executed thousands and enslaved members of religious minorities and women, there is no reason to doubt that IS believes it will conquer the world and is prepared to commit whatever horrendous acts it deems necessary in the pursuit of that goal.
Todenhoefer noted that IS is a lot more dangerous than it has been perceived by Western leaders.
His interview was published shortly after former prime minister Malcolm Fraser slammed police for conducting anti-terrorist raids in the aftermath of the Sydney cafe siege.
Fraser, who was PM between 1975 and 1983, said the action was misguided “because of the timing of their raids it will be allied to what happened in Sydney”.
There is an appalling naiveté abroad this nativity season.
===

NO THREAT TO THE DEAD

Tim Blair – Friday, December 26, 2014 (12:07am)

Magistrate William Pierce last year granted bail to Martin Place terrorist Man Monis and his wife Amirah Droudis after they were charged with the murder of Monis’s previous wife, Noleen Hayson Pal: 
A transcript of the bail hearing reveals that Mr Pierce thought the prosecution case was “circumstantial” and “weak” …
Ms Pal was stabbed 18 times and set alight outside [Monis’s] Werrington apartment in April 2013.
Monis claimed the unit was broken into and a number of items were stolen including an Islamic book, a gold necklace and some cash. In a transcript of the bail hearing, prosecutor Brian Royce said Monis’ claims that ASIO or the Iranian secret police were behind the break-in were fanciful.
Mr Pierce disagreed, saying the claims should not be dismissed ... Mr Pierce said he would be “very wary” of coming to the view that ASIO or the Iranian secret police could not have been involved. “It could have been ASIO. We don’t know that it wasn’t,” he said. 
It gets worse: 
Mr Pierce then granted Monis and Droudis bail on the grounds that the case against them was “weak”.
“Are they a threat to other people? No they are not. If there was a threat it was to this woman who was murdered,” Mr Pierce said. 
Yes. He really said that.
===
===
Dean Hamstead
"Nevertheless we try to represent this data relationally, because we have a relational database, and when you have a hammer, you go around hammering everything with it, whether or not that thing needs hammering."
=
If a movie is released in the USA, then 2 months later in Australia - I'm just going to pirate it.
===

The legacy of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
www.bbc.co.uk
Ten years after the cult TV series was broadcast on the BBC, what is Buffy the Vampire Slayer's legacy and why there are so few “daughters of Buffy”: strong and complex fictional creations, who aren’t simply the sole female lead in a predominantly-male cast.

There needs to be a story to tell that hits the right notes. Joss Whedon is not alone with having a great style .. I love Moffat's Dr Who and what he does for the female companions .. which he also did in Coupling (UK version). But there is a cult in writing promoting character external to a storyline .. it isn't character, but story which creates the character .. Buffy was hurt and damaged .. nobody does that to a character they like .. but it is only then that character asserts itself .. ed
===
US migrant stats 'can't be produced fast'
www.news.com.au
US prosecutors say they can't meet a judge's demands that they quickly deliver documents about thousands of immigrants who've been detained across the country for months or years as their immigration statuses are reviewed.
Don't blame Obama? - ed
===
Vic journo appeals to Thai governor
www.news.com.au
AN Australian journalist, increasingly anxious over law suits brought against his Thai-based website by the Royal Thai Navy, has lodged an appeal with a provincial governor to try to persuade the navy to drop the charges.
Australian journalism is so poor that it is hard not to feel sympathy for Thailand. - ed
===
Unbelievable facts
In October of 1994 Pulp Fiction, Forrest Gump, The Shawshank Redemption and Jurassic Park were all in theatres at the same time.
===
When an old man died in the geriatric ward of a nursing home in an Australian country town, it was believed that he had nothing left of any value.
Later, when the nurses were going through his meager possessions, They found this poem. Its quality and content so impressed the staff that copies were made and distributed to every nurse in the hospital.

One nurse took her copy to Melbourne. The old man's sole bequest to posterity has since appeared in the Christmas editions of magazines around the country and appearing in mags for Mental Health. A slide presentation has also been made based on his simple, but eloquent, poem.

And this old man, with nothing left to give to the world, is now the author of this 'anonymous' poem winging across the Internet.

Cranky Old Man

What do you see nurses? . . .. . .What do you see?
What are you thinking .. . when you're looking at me?
A cranky old man, . . . . . .not very wise,
Uncertain of habit .. . . . . . . .. with faraway eyes?
Who dribbles his food .. . ... . . and makes no reply.
When you say in a loud voice . .'I do wish you'd try!'
Who seems not to notice . . .the things that you do.
And forever is losing . . . . . .. . . A sock or shoe?
Who, resisting or not . . . ... lets you do as you will,
With bathing and feeding . . . .The long day to fill?
Is that what you're thinking?. .Is that what you see?
Then open your eyes, nurse .you're not looking at me.
I'll tell you who I am . . . . .. As I sit here so still,
As I do at your bidding, .. . . . as I eat at your will.
I'm a small child of Ten . .with a father and mother,
Brothers and sisters .. . . .. . who love one another
A young boy of Sixteen . . . .. with wings on his feet
Dreaming that soon now . . .. . . a lover he'll meet.
A groom soon at Twenty . . . ..my heart gives a leap.
Remembering, the vows .. .. .that I promised to keep.
At Twenty-Five, now . . . . .I have young of my own.
Who need me to guide . . . And a secure happy home.
A man of Thirty . .. . . . . My young now grown fast,
Bound to each other . . .. With ties that should last.
At Forty, my young sons .. .have grown and are gone,
But my woman is beside me . . to see I don't mourn.
At Fifty, once more, .. ...Babies play 'round my knee,
Again, we know children . . . . My loved one and me.
Dark days are upon me . . . . My wife is now dead.
I look at the future ... . . . . I shudder with dread.
For my young are all rearing .. . . young of their own.
And I think of the years . . . And the love that I've known.
I'm now an old man . . . . . . .. and nature is cruel.
It's jest to make old age . . . . . . . look like a fool.
The body, it crumbles .. .. . grace and vigor, depart.
There is now a stone . . . where I once had a heart.
But inside this old carcass . A young man still dwells,
And now and again . . . . . my battered heart swells
I remember the joys . . . . .. . I remember the pain.
And I'm loving and living . . . . . . . life over again.
I think of the years, all too few . . .. gone too fast.
And accept the stark fact . . . that nothing can last.
So open your eyes, people .. . . . .. . . open and see.
Not a cranky old man .
Look closer . . . . see .. .. . .. .... . ME!!

Remember this poem when you next meet an older person who you might brush aside without looking at the young soul within. We will all, one day, be there, too!

PLEASE SHARE THIS POEM (originally by Phyllis McCormack; adapted by Dave Griffith)

The best and most beautiful things of this world can't be seen or touched. They must be felt by the heart!
elderhelpers.org
===

Peter Cosgrove Set To Become Australia's Next G-G
www.businessinsider.com.au
General Peter Cosgrove is expected to replace Quentin Bryce as the Governor-General of Australia, according to a report.

===
Andy Trieu
I told a bunch of tourists once that boxing day was named after a famous Australian boxing match between a kangaroo and a emu...#boxingday
===

Drive free, America -- why Lyft, Uber and Sidecar are the future
www.foxnews.com
Government is as crude and annoying as a speed bump, but individuals looking for better ways to do things keep cruising ahead.

===
http://www.news.com.au/national/the-surprising-reason-why-man-flu-is-a-real-thing/story-e6frfkp9-122
www.news.com.au
Soldier on - ed===
<Do the Alarmists check both sides of the debate or just go ahead and publish already busted alarm stories?

They're Ba-a-ack! With the busted c@w f@rt methane causes global bµllt!sh!>
The Australian Climate Sceptics Blog: Holy Cow! Another Global Warming Myths busted.
theclimatescepticsparty.blogspot.com
http://theclimatescepticsparty.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/holy-cow-another-global-warming-myths.html
===
<... I just don't care. I still like seeing Xmas trees. There are worse things to look at despite being conflicted.

" The Christmas tree, now so common among us, was equally common in Pagan Rome and Pagan Egypt. In Egypt that tree was the palm-tree; in Rome it was the fir; the palm tree denoting the pagan messiah, as Baal-Tamar, the fir referring to him as Baal-Berith. The mother of Adonis, the sun-god and great mediatorial divinity, was mystically said to have been changed into a tree, and when in that state to have brought forth her divine son. If the mother was a tree, the son must have been recognized as the 'Man the branch.' And this entirely accounts for the putting of the Yule Log into the fire on Christmas Eve, and the appearance of the Christmas tree the next morning."

That sure puts a different spin on Christmas traditions, now doesn't it?

Most Christians don't even realize that G-d warned us about such things in the Bible.

In Jeremiah 10:1-4, G-d warns us against putting up these decorated trees like the pagans were doing....

Hear what the LORD says to you, O house of Israel. This is what the LORD says: "Do not learn the ways of the nations or be terrified by signs in the sky, though the nations are terrified by them. For the customs of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter."

The Puritans understood this. It comes as a surprise to most Americans to learn that the Puritans once banned Christmas trees in many areas of the United States because they were considered so pagan. ">
The Mystery Of The Pagan Origin Of Christmas: Jesus Was Not Born On December 25th But A Whole...
unexplainedmysteriesoftheworld.com
Why is Christmas celebrated on December 25th?  Most people assume that it has always been a Christian holiday and that it is a celebration of the birth of
- See more at: http://unexplainedmysteriesoftheworld.com/archives/the-mystery-of-the-pagan-origin-of-christmas-jesus-was-not-born-on-december-25th-but-a-whole-bunch-of-pagan-gods-were#sthash.a8Rz2Kjr.dpuf
David Daniel Ball Atheist researcher attacks Joseph Atwill's work ..http://www.patheos.com/.../joseph-atwill-has-not-proven.../
===

Has Holden accidentally leaked the 2017 Commodore?
www.news.com.au
HOLDEN'S new 'We're Here To Stay' commercial was intended to reassure Australia that the brand will not disappear in the future. But has the carmaker shown more of the future than it meant to?

Holden promise to continue making substandard cars for Australia, but not in Australia. - ed
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Muslim Brotherhood declared terrorists
www.news.com.au
EGYPT'S military-installed rulers have declared the Muslim Brotherhood of ousted president Mohamed Morsi a "terrorist" organisation, blaming it for a deadly police headquarters bombing already claimed by an al-Qaeda-inspired group.
Who knew? - ed
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8 Ways Magic Mushrooms Explain Santa Story
www.livescience.com
Maybe Santa only thought his reindeer were "flying" while he was tripping on mushrooms. The modern-day story of Santa derives from a Siberian shaman who gave out 'shrooms, according to one theory.

===
"Mommy?"
"Yes, Max?"
"Does Santa go to every country in the world?"
"Yep."
"How about Australia?"
"Yep."
"Africa?"
"Yep."
"Even South Yorkshire?"
===

Antarctic cruise ship stuck in ice south of Hobart
www.abc.net.au
Antarctic cruise passengers spend Christmas Day waiting to be rescued after their ship gets stuck in ice.

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Eight Things Holocaust Survivors Need You to Know
http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/eight-things-holocaust-survivors-need-you-to-know/2013/12/06/
With the passage of time, fewer and fewer people are left to testify about life and death in the camps at the hands of the Nazis.

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Islamic report: Sharia science proves dogs can’t be kept as pets
www.examiner.com
Putting aside the Islamic scientific proof that the earth is flat, or that Mecca is the center of the universe, the Islamo-centric information and cultural news

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Obama the Philosopher, Netanyahu the General | Jewish & Israel News Algemeiner.com
www.algemeiner.com
In an off-camera aside following a recent television interview in which I discussed the respective Israeli and U.S. approaches to Iran’s nuclear program, the host turned to me and asked if I could help him understand what President Obama is thinking. “I know I won’t agree (with Obama),” he said, “bu...
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Netanyahu Defies Americans, Will Announce Extended Construction
www.israelnationalnews.com
PM plans to announce extended Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria next week, parallel to the release of another 26 terrorists.

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Baghdad: Christmas Bombing Targets Iraqi Christians
www.israelnationalnews.com
Terrorist attack targeting worshippers leaving service, as Iraq's Christians face a bleak future.
===
===
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6 NIV
===
Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon

Morning


"Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."
Isaiah 7:14

Let us today go down to Bethlehem, and in company with wondering shepherds and adoring Magi, let us see him who was born King of the Jews, for we by faith can claim an interest in him, and can sing, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given." Jesus is Jehovah incarnate, our Lord and our God, and yet our brother and friend; let us adore and admire. Let us notice at the very first glance his miraculous conception. It was a thing unheard of before, and unparalleled since, that a virgin should conceive and bear a Son. The first promise ran thus, "The seed of the woman," not the offspring of the man. Since venturous woman led the way in the sin which brought forth Paradise lost, she, and she alone, ushers in the Regainer of Paradise. Our Saviour, although truly man, was as to his human nature the Holy One of God. Let us reverently bow before the holy Child whose innocence restores to manhood its ancient glory; and let us pray that he may be formed in us, the hope of glory. Fail not to note his humble parentage. His mother has been described simply as "a virgin," not a princess, or prophetess, nor a matron of large estate. True the blood of kings ran in her veins; nor was her mind a weak and untaught one, for she could sing most sweetly a song of praise; but yet how humble her position, how poor the man to whom she stood affianced, and how miserable the accommodation afforded to the new-born King!
Immanuel, God with us in our nature, in our sorrow, in our lifework, in our punishment, in our grave, and now with us, or rather we with him, in resurrection, ascension, triumph, and Second Advent splendour.

Evening

"And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually."
Job 1:5
What the patriarch did early in the morning, after the family festivities, it will be well for the believer to do for himself ere he rests tonight. Amid the cheerfulness of household gatherings it is easy to slide into sinful levities, and to forget our avowed character as Christians. It ought not to be so, but so it is, that our days of feasting are very seldom days of sanctified enjoyment, but too frequently degenerate into unhallowed mirth. There is a way of joy as pure and sanctifying as though one bathed in the rivers of Eden: holy gratitude should be quite as purifying an element as grief. Alas! for our poor hearts, that facts prove that the house of mourning is better than the house of feasting. Come, believer, in what have you sinned today? Have you been forgetful of your high calling? Have you been even as others in idle words and loose speeches? Then confess the sin, and fly to the sacrifice. The sacrifice sanctifies. The precious blood of the Lamb slain removes the guilt, and purges away the defilement of our sins of ignorance and carelessness. This is the best ending of a Christmas-day--to wash anew in the cleansing fountain. Believer, come to this sacrifice continually; if it be so good tonight, it is good every night. To live at the altar is the privilege of the royal priesthood; to them sin, great as it is, is nevertheless no cause for despair, since they draw near yet again to the sin-atoning victim, and their conscience is purged from dead works.
Gladly I close this festive day,
Grasping the altar's hallow'd horn;
My slips and faults are washed away,
The Lamb has all my trespass borne.
===

Today's reading: Zephaniah 1-3, Revelation 16 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Zephaniah 1-3


1 The word of the LORD that came to Zephaniah son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, during the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah:
Judgment on the Whole Earth in the Day of the LORD
2 “I will sweep away everything
from the face of the earth,” declares the LORD.
3 “I will sweep away both man and beast;
I will sweep away the birds in the sky
and the fish in the sea—
and the idols that cause the wicked to stumble.”
“When I destroy all mankind
on the face of the earth,” declares the LORD,
4 “I will stretch out my hand against Judah
and against all who live in Jerusalem.
I will destroy every remnant of Baal worship in this place,
the very names of the idolatrous priests—
5 those who bow down on the roofs
to worship the starry host,
those who bow down and swear by the LORD
and who also swear by Molek,
6 those who turn back from following the LORD
and neither seek the LORD nor inquire of him....”

Today's New Testament reading: Revelation 16

The Seven Bowls of God’s Wrath
1 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.”
2 The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly, festering sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.
3 The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died.
4 The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. 5 Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say:
“You are just in these judgments, O Holy One,
you who are and who were;
6 for they have shed the blood of your holy people and your prophets,
and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve....”
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