From the deep depths of my memory. It was, I think, 1948 and a huge hailstorm hit Sydney. The great concourse of Sydney's Central station had (in those days) a completely glass roof, and every panel was smashed, resulting in today's much more limited expanse of glass.
fulltimestudent
JoinedPosts by fulltimestudent
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massive hail storm hits Sydney
by zeb innews reports.
"golf-ball size hail.
" anyone know anyone who was under that?.
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massive hail storm hits Sydney
by zeb innews reports.
"golf-ball size hail.
" anyone know anyone who was under that?.
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fulltimestudent
I wasn't, but then for some reason storms seem tso go round the inner west suburb where i live. A few heavy showers last night, so I likely will not need to water the garden for a few days. And maybe 3-4 minuts of small hails stsones
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Cardinal George Pell sentenced to 6 years in Jail
by smiddy3 intoday cardinal pell received a sentence of 6 years in jail with a 3 years & 8 months before he is eligible for parole.. and he has been put on the sex offenders register list for the rest of his life.. his appeal case comes up in june .. i wonder what pope francis will do now ,wait till after his appeal is heard before he acts ?.
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fulltimestudent
I think one recent anecdotal story about Pell, illustrates what sort of person he is.
An abuse survivor alleges he spoke to Pell about the priest who abused him, and Pell replied, "Did you enjoy it!" It appears that he had little sympathy for anyone who was abused by a catholic priest. (An attitude that many elders seem to have).
Its hard to feel any sympathy (in connection with his age and health) for him as he begins his jail sentence, particularly as he was this christian churches"enforcer' for the sex rules instituted by the church (e,g, sex only in marriage, adultery, homosexuality estc)
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Cardinal George Pell convicted of sex abuse
by wozza inhe is the highest rank catholic to cop this in australia .
his case was suppressed for some time but now is public ,.
the news is just breaking on tv he has right of appeal still denying guilt.
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fulltimestudent
One of the young boys that George Pell raped committed suicide some years ago. Australia's ABC tells the boy's reaction to the rape, under the heading ....
How a devastated family watched their son's life spiral after George Pell abuse
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Jehovah’s Witnesses Hunted Down And Deported
by Bangalore injehovah’s witnesses hunted down and deported.. https://bitterwinter.org/jehovahs-witnesses-hunted-down-and-deported/.
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fulltimestudent
The difficulties in Xinjiang have a complex background, As far back as Roman times, the then early Chinese state, the Han Empire had established a presence in Central Asia, as this map indicates.
The separation of the two empires (Rome and China) was then caused by the Sasinanian (Persian) Empire. Later in time, China and Persian Iran began a trading relationship that is still active (I've personally met a large group of Iranians in China - about 12 years ago- on a buying junket).
The so-called 'Silk Road' (a term I do not like to use, as the 'East-West Trading Network' is a far better descriptive term to describe this network, which at times involved maritime trading) passed througn what is now called Xinjiang. At times in history, various Central Asian Turkic empires also held parts of this territory, From a contemporary viewpoint, a modern historical episode could BE deemed to commence with the rise of the Manchu (Qing) Empire. The Manchu were one of the various inter-related people that fought with what we now call China and at times established similar kingdoms to the Chinese Empire and later become integrated within the Chinese Empire. During the Manchu rise to power several groups like the Turkic people now called Uyghurs (And the Tibetans) became part of what is more correctly called the Qing Empire. That Empire included Han* Chinese also, with the ruling Manchu elite choosing to live in Beijing.
There are nearly 22 million Muslims living in China. During the so-called 'Cold War' the American security forces attempted to foment unrest in, at least, two areas of China, Tibet and the south of Xinjiang (where most Uyghur live. I wont go into those American efforts (unless someone requests it), suffice to say that they have failed in Tibet, but have had a limited success in south Xinjiang
Of the ethnic groups that live in Xinjiang, the Uyghur people number nearly 9,000,000. The second largest group are Han Chinese (see below) but there about 13 different nationalities, including Kazakhs, Kirghyz, Manch, Xibes, Tajiks, Ozbeks, Tatars and even some Russians. Some of these groups are small, some large. There are near to 1,4 million Kazaks and near to one million Hui. Most of these people are likely to be Muslim.
One poster wants to see the,problems in Xinjiang as the Chinese government persecuting Muslims. I don't think that is true. Why? First of all, there are Muslims all over China, so why is this problem only occurring in Xinjiang? There are over 30.000 mosques in China, the oldest dating to the 8th century is located in Xian.If you know the history of Islam, you will appreciate that mosque must have been established close to the beginning of Islam, There are some in south China, close to port cities that were the centre of trading with the Arab bloc before Europeans even found the skill to navigate around Africa (truth is the early Portuguese navigators enlisted the help of Muslim Arabs),
There are no reports of 'persecution' of Muslims in other parts of China, only in Xinjiang. So what's different in Xinjiang? I'm sure the 'experts' that know all about this, know that China has a border with both Afghanistan and Pakistan - both being centres of Muslim terrorism. Do these 'experts also know that there have been many terrorist incidents in Xinjiang, In one, more than 100 people were slaughtered by five knife wielding terrorists. In your country, what would be the result of such an attack? These attacks have been happening for at least 10 years. It is also known that a training camp for Xinjiang terrorists was established in Taliban held Afghanistan, The Chinese authorities would surely wonder what will be the result of a new government in Afghanistan with Taliban membership (its rumoured, but has not yet happened),
So what about these prison camps? I do not doubt that there are such camps, but how big/many would they have to be to hold one million prisoners? But granting for a moment that there are a lot of prisoners held, and there is a program to re-train their outlook, isn't that what a lot of western people think should be happening in their own countries?
One final comment. The program apparently being attempted in Xinjiang is not directed at Islamic thought. Neither, is the program that seems anti-Christian directed at all Christians, In both instances these programs are directed at anti-state activities. In the case of christian activity its directed at those who sneak into China using the pretext that they are English teachers, also at those groups that do not want to register their activity
If anyone, thinks the Chinese government can control the thinking of 1.4 billion people, then they need some re-education in reasoning. A security guard, I once had a talk with (via an Australian Chinese interpreter) said, "No-one can stop Chinese people from doing something they want to. That was one of the messages in the cultural Revolution. Its "OK to Rebel." I've seen it happen here in Australia, PRC Chinese told they cant do something, and then arguing for a long time that they should be allowed to do it. But it can be a problem when your enemy adopts that thinking. If you wish, learn Chinese and start using the internet. It can, I'm told be pretty ferocious, But yes, there are a few topics that cannot be discussed,
* However, even though the term Han is applied to those who the West sees as Chinese, the reality is that 'Han' really includes all the racial groups that over the centuries accepted Chinese civilisation. And, there we see the principle difference between East Asia and Europe. When the western Roman Empire collapsed (under the pressure exercised by Central Asian nomads, some of whom had pressured the Chinese Empire, Europe broke up into smaller Nation-States. In East Asia, the pressure came from peoples like the Mongols and Manchu's in the north and the Turkic peoples in the West, the Tibetans - and others - in the Southwest and Tai (Thai) people and Burmese people in the south. Over the centuries, areas controlled by each party, waxed and waned, and what you see today is contemporary China, with over 160 different ethnic groups in the border areas. Most of them living in autonomous areas. So almost the direct opposite of the European experience.
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Jehovah’s Witnesses Hunted Down And Deported
by Bangalore injehovah’s witnesses hunted down and deported.. https://bitterwinter.org/jehovahs-witnesses-hunted-down-and-deported/.
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fulltimestudent
I've posted before on the topic of opposition to christiainity in China, mostly dealing with the terrible Christian Taiping revolt, against the Qing Empire, who then ruled China (?? so was China the entity we know as China during the 250 years (approx) that China was part of the Qing Empire - just an historical teaser). That war likely, caused more deaths that any other war in human history (some 35 million). It was a result of the British and French efforts to colonise China, and the various treaties made when the Chinese State was defeated. One provision was that christian missionaries had open slather in China. Much of the persecution and the atrocities that were committed in the later (so-called) Boxer rebellion in China was a result of christian missionaries having open slather and not being subject to Chinese law. Even though the later dictator, Jiang Jiesi (aka Chiang Kai shek) flirted with christianity, a deep dislike of christianity has remained a constant in Chinese thinking.
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Cardinal George Pell convicted of sex abuse
by wozza inhe is the highest rank catholic to cop this in australia .
his case was suppressed for some time but now is public ,.
the news is just breaking on tv he has right of appeal still denying guilt.
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fulltimestudent
As the poster Barry has pointed out, Pell legal team is appealing his conviction. A matter that two of his supporters, former Prime Ministers, John Howard (who wrote a character reference for Pell's use in court) and Tone Abbott ( a Catholic) both believe. apparently, that the appeal will quash the conviction, So we shall have to wait and see whether the conviction will stick.
But there are other things that inform us as to the character of George Pell. A Sydney lawyer, John Ellis. who was himself sexually abused by a priest, and who was denigrated by George Pell, writes in a Fairfax newspaper:
" George Pell has been a controversial figure for decades and has been a staunch defender of the church. He has repeatedly touted his credentials as a person to whom sexual abuse of minors is an abhorrent scourge on the church. He has done so as a cover to seek to divert attention away from his record as a man who has waged a covert war on victims and survivors of abuse and who orchestrated the church’s defence to my claim – the "Ellis defence", by which I was figuratively hung, drawn and quartered and displayed as a warning to any other survivor who may have the temerity to seek to sue the church. It claimed there was "no legal entity responsible for sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.""
Whether or not Pell's conviction stands, Pell is guilty of something worse than the sexual abuse of a child, he is guilty of attempting to pervert justice. Particularly so, since the injustice is based on a certain perception of sex and its function in humans, that has been taught and advocated throughout the areas we call 'the West.'
Ellis further wrote of Pell,
"George Pell apologised to me for the legal abuse perpetrated by the church under his watch as Archbishop of Sydney. Before he departed for Rome in 2014, he famously recited a public apology not to me but to the assembled audience at the conclusion of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse public hearing. I had a cup of tea with him. While that was a private meeting and will remain so, I can say that I have never felt any warmth from the man. I was not left with a sense of any acceptance of personal responsibility for how he sought to crush me or any appreciation of the impacts of his own actions."
Pell's view of the world parallels that of the Watchtower Society's -- whose only motivation is the protection and perpetuation of a grimy unneccessary organisation that has no place in a rational world.
Link to the Canberra Time article: https://www.canberratimes.com.au/national/history-will-judge-george-pell-the-cardinal-who-sought-to-crush-me-20190227-p510ma.html
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A Night to Remember? Or to forget (as most have done). One night in the Garden.
by fulltimestudent inin 1930.
20,000 americans rallied in new york to celebrate- an event largely forgotten from recent american history.. https://vimeo.com/316176375?from=outro-embed.
more at: https://anightatthegarden.com/?fbclid=iwar1tahxn2rba9hrzd7onms_gel-bmbraexatzykox1s4thjkivyrp0wm62q.
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fulltimestudent
In 1930. 20,000 Americans rallied in New York to celebrate- an event largely forgotten from recent American history.
https://vimeo.com/316176375?from=outro-embed
More at: https://anightatthegarden.com/?fbclid=IwAR1Tahxn2rba9hrZd7oNms_GEL-BmBRAeXATZykOx1s4tHjKIVyrP0wM62Q
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Has anyone had a cataract affect eye lens replaced with an artificial lens?
by fulltimestudent ini have a cataract in one eye, and am scheduled for an operation sometime ()when my turn comes up).
i'm told the artificial replacement lens will be multifocal.
i'm hoping that my sight will go back to near normal.
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fulltimestudent
Thank you to all for commenting.
I'll respond, In the chronological order of posts, to those whose information was of value to me.
1. waton - I have no information yet as to what type of lens I will be offered. I understand it is likely to be an implant with two focal lengths, but I guess I will find out if I have a choice at the pre-op meeting with the hospital.
2. LongHairGal - That's what I really wanted to be sure of, that the results will be OK.
3. Nathan Natas - Good! I'm hoping that my left eye will have an excellent result also. And, No! I will not travel to Cuba for this work. As I understand it, the Sydney Public Hospital that I've been referred to, will do the procedure for free. So far, all the work is free, from an initial consultation with my usual medical centre when I found left eye was seeing a blurred image. to the the three hours of tests at Sydney eye hospital to make sure there was not other complications, etc have been free.That's because the government-owned universal Health Insurance scheme pays for these procedures. I guess some would call that socialism. I just see it as a government owned business. But for those who are curious, it usually works as well as if it was owned by an individual or a company. Generally in Australia, the best hospitals are owned by the government, Although, the university from which I recently graduated, owns a so-called 'private' hospital.
Tantalon - That's interesting, I'll ask about this possible warm tone/cool tone differentation when my turn comes.
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Has anyone had a cataract affect eye lens replaced with an artificial lens?
by fulltimestudent ini have a cataract in one eye, and am scheduled for an operation sometime ()when my turn comes up).
i'm told the artificial replacement lens will be multifocal.
i'm hoping that my sight will go back to near normal.
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fulltimestudent
I have a cataract in one eye, and am scheduled for an operation sometime ()when my turn comes up). I'm told the artificial replacement lens will be multifocal. I'm hoping that my sight will go back to near normal. At this time, typing becomes a bit tedious as I seem to making more mistakes.
If anyone has has this an artificial lens fitted, what's been your experience with its?