1 weekend and 8 dead on Victorian Roads

The weekend just past, the second weekend of November 2011, was a horrific one for the Victorian road toll.

I feel for the emergency services who had to attend the scene, I feel for the people who had to knock on the parents doors. I feel for the kids involved and I feel for the friends of these kids. Because kids are what they are.

I have a 20 year old, driving and when I was teaching her. I made sure she knew the consequences of ‘bad’ behaviour. I hope I have managed to achieve this. We were lucky, we had the opportunity for my daughter to do 200hrs of driving under her ‘L’ plates, which was all noted in her logbook.

I don’t know what the solution is, I honestly don’t.

Kids seem to think they are bullet-proof. We have the luxury of having purchased my daughters car and one of the rules of driving was that any penalty infringements received, would result in the vehicle being confiscated for 1 month PER POINT LOST. We were able to do this, because we PAID for the car and it is OUR right to enforce ANY rules we choose, if she chooses NOT to obey the road rules.

Her response was…. “you can’t do that” Our response was “Yes we can, we own the car and we can do what we please, if it means you are alive to tell your children about it, then we have succeeded.”

Two years later, no infringements have been received. I don’t care HOW we achieved the outcome, but I’d like to think that this rule and the risk of losing ‘her’ car had something to do with it.

Mid-October we witnessed an event of colossal stupidity, It occurred within 10m of our vehicle and in front of about 50 witnesses. A driver, (since disclosed to be about 25yo) did 3 donuts in the middle of a very busy intersection, just because he could. He placed himself and others in extreme danger and thought nothing of it. This same vehicle was also witnessed travelling the wrong way around a round-about some 10 minutes later. It wasn’t peer-group pressure as he was travelling alone.

So why did he do it? Because he thought he could get away with it with no consequences. 

The hoon laws only apply IF YOU get caught……………………..

Every action has a reaction, Teach your children this and perhaps we can save them, one action at a time.

ALL EUROPEAN LIFE DIED IN AUSCHWITZ

The following is a copy of an article written by Spanish writer, Sebastian Vilar Rodriguez and published in a Spanish newspaper on Jan. 15, 2008.

REMEMBER AS YOU READ -- IT WAS IN A SPANISH PAPER
Date: Tue. 15 January 2008 14:30

ALL EUROPEAN LIFE DIED IN AUSCHWITZ By Sebastian Vilar Rodrigez

I walked down the street in Barcelona, and suddenly discovered a terrible truth - Europe died in Auschwitz ... We killed six million Jews and replaced them with 20 million Muslims. In Auschwitz we burned a culture, thought, creativity, talent. We destroyed the chosen people, truly chosen, because they produced great and wonderful people who changed the world.

The contribution of this people is felt in all areas of life: science, art, international trade, and above all, as the conscience of the world. These are the people we burned.

And under the pretence of tolerance, and because we wanted to prove to ourselves that we were cured of the disease of racism, we opened our gates to 20 million Muslims, who brought us stupidity and ignorance, religious extremism and lack of tolerance, crime and poverty, due to an unwillingness to work and support their families with pride.

They have blown up our trains and turned our beautiful Spanish cities into the third world, drowning in filth and crime.

Shut up in the apartments they receive free from the government, they plan the murder and destruction of their naive hosts.

And thus, in our misery, we have exchanged culture for fanatical hatred, creative skill for destructive skill, intelligence for backwardness and superstition.

We have exchanged the pursuit of peace of the Jews of Europe and their talent for a better future for their children, their determined clinging to life because life is holy, for those who pursue death, for people consumed by the desire for death for themselves and others, for our children and theirs.

What a terrible mistake was made by miserable Europe ..

The Global Islamic population is approximately 1,200,000,000; that is ONE BILLION TWO HUNDRED MILLION or 20% of the world's population.
They have received the following Nobel Prizes:

Literature:
1988 - Najib Mahfooz

Peace:
1978 - Mohamed Anwar El-Sadat
1990 - Elias James Corey
1994 - Yaser Arafat:
1999 - Ahmed Zewai

Economics:
(zero)

Physics:
(zero)

Medicine:
1960 - Peter Brian Medawar
1998 - Ferid Mourad

TOTAL: 7 SEVEN

The Global Jewish population is approximately 14,000,000; that is FOURTEEN MILLION or about 0.02% of the world's population. They have received the following Nobel Prizes:

Literature:
1910 - Paul Heyse
1927 - Henri Bergson
1958 - Boris Pasternak
1966 - Shmuel Yosef Agnon
1966 - Nelly Sachs
1976 - Saul Bellow
1978 - Isaac Bashevis Singer
1981 - Elias Canetti
1987 - Joseph Brodsky
1991 - Nadine Gordimer World

Peace:
1911 - Alfred Fried
1911 - Tobias Michael Carel Asser
1968 - Rene Cassin
1973 - Henry Kissinger
1978 - Menachem Begin
1986 - Elie Wiesel
1994 - Shimon Peres
1994 - Yitzhak Rabin

Physics:
1905 - Adolph Von Baeyer
1906 - Henri Moissan
1907 - Albert Abraham Michelson
1908 - Gabriel Lippmann
1910 - Otto Wallach
1915 - Richard Willstaetter
1918 - Fritz Haber
1921 - Albert Einstein
1922 - Niels Bohr
1925 - James Franck
1925 - Gustav Hertz
1943 - Gustav Stern
1943 - George Charles de Hevesy
1944 - Isidor Issac Rabi
1952 - Felix Bloch
1954 - Max Born
1958 - Igor Tamm
1959 - Emilio Segre
1960 - Donald A. Glaser
1961 - Robert Hofstadter
1961 - Melvin Calvin
1962 - Lev Davidovich Landau
1962 - Max Ferdinand Perutz
1965 - Richard Phillips Feynman
1965 - Julian Schwinger
1969 - Murray Gell-Mann
1971 - Dennis Gabor
1972 - William Howard Stein
1973 - Brian David Josephson
1975 - Benjamin Mottleson
1976 - Burton Richter
1977 - Ilya Prigogine
1978 - Arno Allan Penzias
1978 - Peter L Kapitza
1979 - Stephen Weinberg
1979 - Sheldon Glashow
1979 - Herbert Charles Brown
1980 - Paul Berg
1980 - Walter Gilbert
1981 - Roald Hoffmann
1982 - Aaron Klug
1985 - Albert A. Hauptman
1985 - Jerome Karle
1986 - Dudley R. Herschbach
1988 - Robert Huber
1988 - Leon Lederman
1988 - Melvin Schwartz
1988 - Jack Steinberger
1989 - Sidney Altman
1990 - Jerome Friedman
1992 - Rudolph Marcus
1995 - Martin Perl
2000 - Alan J. Heeger

Economics:
1970 - Paul Anthony Samuelson
1971 - Simon Kuznets
1972 - Kenneth Joseph Arrow
1975 - Leonid Kantorovich
1976 - Milton Friedman
1978 - Herbert A. Simon
1980 - Lawrence Robert Klein
1985 - Franco Modigliani
1987 - Robert M. Solow
1990 - Harry Markowitz
1990 - Merton Miller
1992 - Gary Becker
1993 - Robert Fogel

Medicine:
1908 - Elie Metchnikoff
1908 - Paul Erlich
1914 - Robert Barany
1922 - Otto Meyerhof
1930 - Karl Landsteiner
1931 - Otto Warburg
1936 - Otto Loewi
1944 - Joseph Erlanger
1944 - Herbert Spencer Gasser
1945 - Ernst Boris Chain
1946 - Hermann Joseph Muller
1950 - Tadeus Reichstein
1952 - Selman Abraham Waksman
1953 - Hans Krebs
1953 - Fritz Albert Lipmann
1958 - Joshua Lederberg
1959 - Arthur Kornberg
1964 - Konrad Bloch
1965 - Francois Jacob
1965 - Andre Lwoff
1967 - George Wald
1968 - Marshall W. Nirenberg
1969 - Salvador Luria
1970 - Julius Axelrod
1970 - Sir Bernard Katz
1972 - Gerald Maurice Edelman
1975 - Howard Martin Temin
1976 - Baruch S. Blumberg
1977 - Roselyn Sussman Yalow
1978 - Daniel Nathans
1980 - Baruj Benacerraf
1984 - Cesar Milstein
1985 - Michael Stuart Brown
1985 - Joseph L. Goldstein
1986 - Stanley Cohen [& Rita Levi-Montalcini]
1988 - Gertrude Elion
1989 - Harold Varmus
1991 - Erwin Neher
1991 - Bert Sakmann
1993 - Richard J. Roberts
1993 - Phillip Sharp
1994 - Alfred Gilman
1995 - Edward B. Lewis
1996- Lu RoseIacovino
TOTAL: 129!

The Jews are NOT promoting brain washing children in military training camps, teaching them how to blow themselves up and cause maximum deaths of Jews and other non Muslims. The Jews don't hijack planes, nor kill athletes at the Olympics, or blow themselves up in German restaurants. There is NOT one single Jew who has destroyed a church. There is NOT a single Jew who protests by killing people.

The Jews don't traffic slaves, nor have leaders calling for Jihad and death to all the Infidels.

Perhaps the world's Muslims should consider investing more in standard education and less in blaming the Jews for all their problems.

Muslims must ask 'what can they do for humankind' before they demand that humankind respects them.

Regardless of your feelings about the crisis between Israel and the Palestinians and Arab neighbours, even if you believe there is more culpability on Israel's part, the following two sentences really say it all:

'If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel.’ Benjamin Netanyahu

It is a matter of history that when the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, General Dwight Eisenhower, found the victims of the death camps he ordered all possible photographs to be taken, and for the German people from surrounding villages to be ushered through the camps and even made to bury the dead.

He did this because he said in words to this effect:

'Get it all on record now - get the films - get the witnesses - because somewhere down the road of history some bastard will get up and say that this never happened'

Recently, the UK debated whether to remove The Holocaust from its school curriculum because it 'offends' the Muslim population which claims it never occurred. It is not removed as yet. However, this is a frightening portent of the fear that is gripping the world and how easily each country is giving into it.

It is now more than 60 years after the Second World War in Europe ended. This e-mail is being sent as a memorial chain, in memory of the, 6 million Jews, 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians, and 1,900 Catholic priests who were 'murdered, raped, burned, starved, beaten, experimented on and humiliated' while the German people looked the other way.

Now, more than ever, with Iran, among others, claiming the Holocaust to be 'a myth,' it is imperative to make sure the world never forgets.

This e-mail is intended to reach 400 million people. Be a link in the memorial chain and help distribute this around the world.

How many years will it be before the attack on the World Trade Center 'NEVER HAPPENED' because it offends some Muslim in the United States ?

Do not just delete this message; it will take only a minute to pass this along.

(This came to my by email – I’ve left it completely untouched, do as you feel you should)

The below links I believe show/prove that the text is an accurate translation of what was originally written in Spanish.

Gerry Charlotte Phelps
My Peoples Voice

Where did Piss Poor come from? - A Point in History

Interesting History

They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee in a pot & then once a day it was taken & sold to the tannery.......if you had to do this to survive you were "Piss Poor"

But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn't even afford to buy a pot......they "didn't have a pot to piss in" & were the lowest of the low

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water temperature isn't just how you like it, think about how things used to be.

Here are some facts about the 1500s:

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in May, and they still smelled pretty good by June.. However, since they were starting to smell . ..... .

Brides carried a bouquet of flowers to hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone in it..

Hence the saying, "Don't throw the baby out with the Bath water!"

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof...
Hence the saying
"It's raining cats and dogs."

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house. This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings could mess up your nice clean bed.
Hence,
A bed with big posts and a sheet hung over the top afforded some protection. That's how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt. Hence the saying, "Dirt poor." The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way.
Hence:
A thresh hold.

(Getting quite an education, aren't you?)

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that always hung over the fire.. Every day they lit the fire and added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that had been there for quite a while.
Hence the rhyme:
Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old. Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special. When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It was a sign of wealth that a man could, "bring home the bacon." They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and chew the fat.

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the upper crust.

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days.Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather around and eat and drink and wait
and see if they would wake up.
Hence
The custom of holding a wake.

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive... So they would tie a string on the wrist of thecorpse, lead it through the coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell.

Someone would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard
shift.) to listen for the bell; thus, someone could be saved by the
bell or was considered a dead ringer.

And that's the truth....Now, whoever said History was boring!!!

So...get out there and educate someone! ~~~ Share these facts with a friend.

My father taught me

As some of you might be aware – I lost my father recently.

I was thinking, after a conversation I had with my son about Grandpa, that my father (my sons grandfather) taught me so much and from the sounds of it my son also.

Some things were way out there, but many things have stood me in good stead over the last 40 years.

Some things my father taught me (in no order)
1. Dynamite when handled with bare hands will give you a headache!
2. A Mattress is a good blast suppressant!
3. How to ride a bike
4. How to turn off mains water supplies without cracking pipes further up the line.
5. Gravity-fed water is the best water you can have in an emergency
6. How to saddle a horse (when we finally got a saddle!)
7. How to light a wood heater
8. How to read house plans.
9. How to spell accommodation (& many others, but that has its own story)
10. How to problem solve if something wasn’t working
11. You can wrap a horses feet in hessian and stop snow ‘balling’ in the foot
12. How to fish and tie the right knots and which rigs to use for where.
13. How not to cook fish on an open fire!
14. How to steer and moor a boat.
15. How to drag a flathead home (hook & line still in place) It was bigger
than the pan (I think I was 7 or 8yo)
16. How to enjoy eating seafood.
17. How to set a rabbit trap and how to hide your smell

And so much more – how do you count in point form what you father (or mother) taught you?

I do miss my father, he used to call about 10pm at least once a week and ask for help with a computer problem. I’d always be able to fix it.

After the fires, the roles changed somewhat and I think he relied on me more and more. Help to sort out some problems with the town, contacting various people in leadership roles and I’d act on his behalf.

Then the stress of everything got to him and he had a massive stroke. Thankfully it was quick and over within minutes. For that I am grateful even if I do miss him.

If you have a Mobile Phone and/or a GPS read on...

We all know not to put our address on our house keys or our registration on the car keys - but have you thought of this?

GPS
A couple of weeks ago , some people had their car broken into, while they were at a football match. Their car was parked on the green which was adjacent to the football stadium and specially allotted to football fans. Things stolen from the car included a garage door remote control, some money and a GPS which had been prominently mounted on the dashboard.

When the victims got home, they found that their house had been ransacked and just about everything worth anything had been stolen.

The thieves had used the GPS to guide them to the house. They then used the garage remote control to open the garage door and gain entry to the house. The thieves knew the owners were at the football match, they knew what time the game was scheduled to finish and so they knew how much time they had to clean out the house. It would appear that they had brought a truck to empty the house of its contents.

Something to consider if you have a GPS - don't put your home address in it. Put a nearby address (like a store or gas station) so you can still find your way home if you need to, but no one else would know where you live if your GPS were stolen.

MOBILE PHONES
I never thought of this........

This lady has now changed her habit of how she lists her names on her mobile phone after her handbag was stolen. Her handbag, which contained her cell phone, credit card, wallet... Etc...was stolen.

20 minutes later when she called her hubby, from a pay phone telling him what had happened, hubby says 'I received your text asking about our Pin number and I've replied a little while ago.'

When they rushed down to the bank, the bank staff told them all the money was already withdrawn. The thief had actually used the stolen cell phone to text 'hubby' in the contact list and got hold of the pin number. Within 20 minutes he had withdrawn all the money from their
bank account.

Moral of the lesson:
Do not disclose the relationship between you and the people in your contact list.

Avoid using names like Home, Honey, Hubby, Sweetheart, Dad, Mum, etc....

And very importantly, when sensitive info is being asked through texts, CONFIRM by calling back.

Also, when you're being text by friends or family to meet them somewhere, be sure to call back to confirm that the message came from them. If you don't reach them, be very careful about going places to meet 'family and friends' who text you.

*PLEASE PASS THIS ON
* I never thought about the above!
As of now, I no longer have 'home' listed on my mobile phone.

L is for learning, P is for Practice

Well that’s what I thought this meant when displayed on a vehicles front and rear windows. Until now. Last week, I saw a bronze Mazda, travelling south on Merriang Road, tailgating, speeding, applying make-up AND talking on the mobile, all whilst displaying P plates!

Alright, multi-tasking to the extreme, but let’s look at this closely.

P Plater – needs all their concentration just to drive the vehicle

Tailgating – did not pull back when the vehicle in front applied the brakes, nearly up their clacker

Speeding – the speed limit has just been reduced, yet maintained the old speed of 100kph

Make-up – as soon as the traffic slowed down to 10kpm, the mascara comes out

Mobile Phone – the mascara brush goes down and the phone goes up

FFS – no wonder our kids are being killed left right and centre on Australian Roads, either they don’t care or their parents haven’t drummed into them the importance of driving and single concentration.

It was two weeks ago – that a major newspaper showed that 75% of drivers failed to see the clown on a unicycle whilst talking on a mobile phone and they are experienced drivers!

I keep coming back to the same thing – and that is that my daughter has already been threatened with loss of vehicle either permanently or temporarily depending on what punishment is dished out by the law. We figure license suspension – lose vehicle; demerit point loss – 1 month per point. To disable the car is as simple as applying a steering wheel lock and or removing 1-2 tyres and placing on blocks. Something I am quite capable of doing by myself.

The reason for this is that we own ½ of the car, in that we are paying for 50% of said vehicle, she pays the other 50% and registration AND insurance – so we have the power to disable/sell the car if we choose to due to a poor driving record and don’t think I won’t.

I would rather her walking and alive then driving and dead and if that means a sullen attitude for next couple of months/years then so be it – she can’t afford to buy a car without our funding assistance.

Big Dog, Little Dog, Sad, Dog, Vicious Dog, Dead Dog

I am not even going to pretend I know what it’s like to be mauled by a dog – I am sorry for those that are affected.

Please don’t blame the breed of dog, blame the dog, blame the owner, BUT not the breed as a whole.

I had a Rottweiler when my first child was born. People said I would have to get rid of the dog because she (the dog) would get jealous and hurt my first born.

No – I refused to get rid of Rottweiler, instead I made an effort to incorporate that dog along with my baby into the family unit. I had my Rottweiler for a total of 14 years of which 8 years she lived side-by-side with my daughter, protected her, guarded her, pulled her pram and helped me around the house. (The dog, not the child)

The dog was known to bark when my daughter was getting up to no good, the dog would not permit people near the pram when the child was in the pram. The dog would sit between myself and the person I was having a conversation with and play verbal tennis. Her head would go from speaker to speaker, listening/watching the people and the conversation.

This dog was truly a member of the family, she was socialized, she was well-adjusted, she was loved and most of all she loved.

Dogs, just like children need discipline. Dogs need to know that you are the master. Once the pecking order has been established, they understand where they stand in their ‘society’ as they see it.

Dogs, just like people, have the good, the bad and ugly. The causes could be upbringing, genetics, all sorts of events that can cause trauma. Sometimes a dog will instinctively try and protect itself, not mean any harm but do harm inadvertently.

Other times a dog will just lose the plot, just like humans; again, genetics, upbringing, illness, old age.

Children SHOULD NEVER be left alone with a dog of ANY size, I’ve been attacked by terriers and poodles, yet have not been attacked by Rottweilers, Ridgebacks or German Shepherds. Often this is because the owners of large dogs acknowledge their responsibility in that owning a big dog requires that dog to be disciplined and controlled at all times.

Often you will find that dogs which do attack, are dogs that belong to young males, who ‘rough’ them up for a bit of fun, teach them to attack cats and similar small animals, simply for the thrill of controlling another animal.

These dogs are often un-socialised and allowed to rot in the backyard until it is time for some entertainment by the owner.

Dogs do get jealous, dogs do get lonely, dogs do feel pain, dogs do feel panic, dogs do feel aggression. They may not be able to express these feelings and many people can’t read these feelings in animals, but they do feel them and often display these with ear movements, tail location and even lip movements.

It is not the dogs fault as a general rule – more often than not, it is a human’s fault, for allowing unsuitable dogs to breed OR not socializing animals, or not integrating them into the new family properly.

All non-breeding animals should be de-sexed, it should be compulsory for all dog owners to get a license, something like a drivers license, to permit the ownership of animals, and if an animal kills another animal or human, then the dog should be euthanized immediately. No court rooms, no argument, If your dog kills, due to your lack of care and responsibility then you and the dog are punished. Then IF the owner of the dog can be located, they are banned from owning a dog for 10 years and the ‘license’ revoked, pending a new application in 10 years time.

These thoughts and ideas are mine alone, but sometimes, once again, common sense needs to be re-introduced into society. Without common sense, many things go wrong which could cause devestation to a family.

Take care.

How to stop drink drivers

Courtesy of Ms18 who has acquired P plates and can’t understand why people are so stupid and insist on consuming alcohol and then drink driving, without a thought for other road users.

Her idea is civilian manned booze buses with 1 or 2 sworn in officers – running 24/7, in shifts of 6 hours. Switching locations every 6 hours (at change of shift) Perhaps 10 vehicles – working 7 days a week and being on the roads constantly.

This would create more employment for civilians AND reduce the manpower required by the police force to maintain the drink/driving campaign presence on the roads.

This could be backed up with uniformed officers, running drug and road worthy checks, along with the camera operated licence plate checks, which new technology allows for.

This would:-
1. Reduce the number of drink drivers
2. Reduce the number of police required to man such operations
3. Increase civilian employment
4. Reduce the number of drug affected drivers
5. Reduce the number of unlicenced drivers on the roads
6. Reduce the number of unregistered vehicles on the road
7. Reduce the number of unroadworthy vehicles on the roads

I can’t see anything against it – The only thing missing is someone taking the bull by the horns and actually implementing it.

Your thoughts and ideas?

I think it is a BRILLIANT idea and coming from an 18yo, makes it even shinier, brighter and smarter than any idea your average politician could think up.

Taiwan and air conditioning temperatures

With the onset of the Australian summer and Victoria in particular being subjected to a very early heat wave, once again the topic of air conditioners and the temperature they should be set at raises its’ ugly head.

I’ve owned property for 20 plus years, it wasn’t until 2007 that we had our first and only air conditioner installed. Not because of cost, not because of a change of location, not because of climate changes, simply because I am finding that with the circulation problems I now have due to injury, life is just a little more comfortable.

Over the weekend – Radio Asia was publicising the fact that Taipei 101 (which is the tallest building in Taiwan) will be encouraging all tenants to raise the A/C temperature to 26’c. This is part of a raft of measures being put into place to make the building more environmentally friendly and allow them to claim an award that says as much.

When the announcement was made, I thought that 26’c was little too high, perhaps 22-24’c but certainly not 18’c as many people here in Australia seem to think is an acceptable temperature.

There is nothing more frustrating that walking into a building and it’s cold on a day that outside is 30-40’c. I believe there is nothing that will make you sick better than walking into a building hot/cold cold/hot. Your body’s thermostat is unable to keep up with the changes.

I suppose you could compare it to a cars speed, just because the dial says you can do 210kph, doesn’t mean it can actually do that. The same goes for air conditioning, just because the lowest temperature you can get on the dial is 18’c doesn’t mean you have to push it down that low.

Set the thermostat at 20-22’c and let the air conditioner do its job. Turn it on a little earlier and not when the room reaches 40’c.

The power saving is HUGE if you follow the above suggestions and other savings may even result in less doctors visits and days off!

Consider it – not just for the dollar value, but for your childrens’ sake and the power grid!

Don’t get too hot under the collar this year and remember – it may be hot outside, but stay in contact with the outside world – it could just save your life.

Do you have a will?

Sounds morbid doesn’t it?

Well seriously, it doesn’t matter what age you are – from the moment you start working, you start collecting assets.

Be it that lovely collection of beer cans, dolls, or even your car. The money in your bank account will be frozen until probate clears, if you don’t have a will, then the process is far more complicated.

Have you thought about what will happen to your assets, no matter how minor they seem, once you depart this mortal earth?

If you have a will, the process of getting the money or proceeds of sales from assets is far easier for everyone. If you do not have a will, the process is very complicated and long winded.

By having a will, the decision as to who gets what is simplified and clarified, it speeds things up.

By NOT having a will, no one person is responsible and assets are distributed by a formula set by the government, which may include an ex-partner, to whom you haven’t spoken to for many years.

For peace of mind, get a will, it might cost $100-$200 for the will, but you have peace of mind. If there are children involved and you don’t have a will, what happens to your assets? They may not be divided the way you want them to be divided.

Remember also that if your situation changes, you will need to update your will. As your children get older, as your relationships change, as the value of assets change, all these changes need to be accounted for as you travel the road of life.

Don’t assume that the will you drew up when you are 18 will still apply when you are 30. By that time you could be married and divorced.

There are so many factors that can affect your circumstances. Keep up with the changes.

Get a will today – you never know what is around the corner

And don't forget your online presence - If you were hit by a bus tomorrow…………

Muck up (Get Arrested Day) for Students

Yup – that is what it seems the celebration for finishing year 12 has come to.

I woke up this morning to the radio news telling me that an incident occurred on and near a railway station in the Eastern Suburbs of Melbourne. That the same school students who were doing the assaulting (Which is what it is) were under attack 2 days prior and I believe 1 or 2 students still remain in hospital. Those attackers have not been located yet.

In the railway station attack a teacher was man-handled when they tried to intervene by removing 2 cartons of eggs from offending students.

Is this considered acceptable in today’s society? – I think not. But perhaps I am wrong.

On the way to taking my son to school – who I normally drop off approx 1km from school and let him walk, I decided to drop him off at the school gates as there were students in costume yelling and screaming, with air horns and sirens, I felt threatened – I can’t imagine what my 12yo son would have thought. But knowing him – he would likely join in – which is something I wanted to avoid!!

Has there been such a drop in moral standards – that today’s children think it is acceptable to threaten, bully and attack both other students and people in authority because ‘it is their right?’

My daughter who has just completed Year 12 – and her muck-up day was Tuesday, she said that they had no problems, that everything went smoothly. Only one concern, which she did mention but didn’t seem to think odd. One of the rabbits (there were two) did not speak and no-one was aware who it was. This didn’t raise an eyebrow with her, maybe I am too suspicious, but I thought perhaps an interloper? Don’t know, but all was okay in the end.

Today’s youth, from about the ages of 15 to about the age of 25, seem to think that they can do as they please, whenever they please, regardless of who they hurt/kill/maim and it doesn’t matter.

And here we go – when I was growing up – if I EVER spoke back to my parents or an adult in authority – there were consequences. God help us if we spoke back to a police officer. I understand that not every parent, every person in authority, every police officer is always right, but what about the majority? Do normal law-abiding citizens have to cower inside their homes and cars and hope that nothing happens.

Does the ordinary citizen have to walk away from helping people in distress because of the threat of attack?

Muck-Up-Day – is not only the responsibility of the school, it is the responsibility of the parents, to ensure that they know what their children are up, that those children know the boundaries, that these children know when enough is enough.

Life is not a video game – you can’t just press reset.

Muck-Up-Day as a celebration is fine – but get it off the streets, and back in to the school yard, away from the public eye and punish those students that do things off school ground IN school uniform and bring the school into disrepute.

God save the youth of today, because it would appear no-one else has the power.

Kids and Discipline

I love my children, I would like to think they are the best out there – we all want to think that – we all wish for that.

The difference between my children and the next is often only in the beholders eyes.

I would like to think my children are perfect, but in my heart I know they are not.

I would like to think my children can do no wrong – but that is not possible

Every child and every adult on this planet has faults, that is human nature.

Often I find that children that are classified as troublemakers or similar, aren’t necessarily bad at heart, they are just confused. They receive mixed messages from home, from school from someone they look up to.

One of the worst things a parent can do is contradict the school and the teachers. An example of this was a child that didn’t wear his blazer, school policy requires that he wear a blazer, when in school uniform off the premises. That was a condition of attending the school. The child was subsequently caught NOT wearing said blazer and received a detention. The parent decided that it was only a small ‘infringement’ and the child shouldn’t have to do the detention. This causes two problems. The first being that school knows nothing and rule breaking is no big deal, the second is that the parent shows the child that rules can be broken and it’s okay.

I disagree completely with this attitude, if my child decided not to wear his blazer (different school, same policy) I have asked him to consider how he is getting home after the detention (we live 25km from the school and 7km from public transport). My thoughts being that if he chooses to break the rules, he can sort out the consequences and repercussions of such behavior. 12 months in and still no detention for not wearing his blazer, which indicates one of two things, either he is wearing his blazer OR he hasn’t been caught yet.

Another example, was my darling daughter, you have met her before, was caught wagging, she received 3 lunchtime detentions and I had to sign a note indicating that I was aware of this. I signed the note and then added please double said punishment. Didn’t hear anything back from the teacher, but my daughter in the 3 years since has never been caught wagging again, so once again I can only assume that either she hasn’t been wagging OR she hasn’t been caught.

Children need boundaries, they also need to be able explore their environments and be able to suffer the consequences (as long as those consequences won’t harm them) as often as possible.

I have blogged about bits and pieces of this previously – here are some examples:-
I hope this will save my daughter’s life sometime in the future – a little pain now – might save a lot of pain later on:- Children, Roos, Seatbelts and Windscreens - Childrens, Roos, Seatbelts and Windscreens

I hope this shows my children that yes I can be hard, but there is a reason for being so and sometimes, you think life is pretty hard, well this shows that you have it pretty good by comparison:- Kids and Life