Blog Archives

Sept 30th

9/30/2013

www.theguardian.com

Nearly 300 children aged 11 or under were admitted to Accident & Emergency units across the UK last year after drinking too much, a BBC Radio 5 live investigation shows.

The data came from 125 of the 189 UK National Health Society organizations following Freedom of Information requests. A total of 6,500 under-18s, more girls than boys, were admitted in 2012-13.

Revealing UK-wide data for the first time, the data revealed that Charities and public health bodies report fewer children are drinking overall, but those who do may be drinking more.

Children get alcohol from home, primarily from their parents and friends. They are exposing themselves to significant danger because the young body cannot handle alcohol.

www.telegraph.co.uk

An A&E consultant said, "The typical patient may be found in a field. They often need to hide away from any sort of adults in the area so they're picked up by the ambulance service. They have difficulty locating where they are because the description comes through from a distressed half-drunk teenager potentially saying that they're under a tree somewhere in a large park."

When they're found, they have vomited and are unable to defend themselves even from assault. The vomit may go down the wrong way into the lungs, leaving them defenseless. In many cases, young intoxicated, distressed teenage girls do not know if they have been sexually assaulted.

What a distressing scenario. No parent would want this to happen to their child.

Why do the youngsters experiment this way? I'm sure the experts have all sorts of opinions. However, I wonder if the reason boils down to the fact that they see no hope for the future. There are too many people competing for the same job. Even if I child achieves higher education, or even a diploma, they are not guaranteed a place to work. As my grandson says from Australia, "the problem with a booming economy is it tends to equal a lot of educated people which tends to result in competition."

On Sunday, I said,

Congratulations on graduating, Navar. Tell me what you achieved and what you hope for the future.

He replied,

Thanks a lot. I don't feel like I've achieved too much ATM I feel when I have a job in the field I'll be a little more validated. Right now it all feels a little like a waste. But I knew this coming in and I'm certain what I need is just around the corner.

Is he right to feel hopeful in this overcrowded world? What can a young person look forward to in their future?

10 Comments

Sept 29th

9/29/2013

6 Comments

On the news today, three things inspired me to write.

1) The respected broadcaster and naturalist, Sir David Attenborough, told the BBC recently that population growth was "out of control".

By this, he means human. The reverse is true for animals. Other experts predict that the human population will peak in 40 years. How can the Earth support so many of our species? Surely, balance is required. I hate to think how that will be achieved.

1) Two women from Essex received a reply from Sir Paul McCartney, half a century after trying to contact him.

A tape they'd recorded as teenagers turned up at a car-boot sale containing their letter. A television program contacted them. Once reunited, Sir Paul wrote: "Hi Linda and Barbara, thanks very much for you lovely tape. It finally got through, better late than never. Great to hear that you found each other after all these years. Keep enjoying the music, love Paul." See more here. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-24318839

This is one of those heart-warming stories. Friends reunited, and a contact from the past.

1) Dentists have found striking levels of bad teeth in athletes competing at the London 2012 Olympic Games. A fifth of athletes surveyed said their oral health actually damaged their training and performance.

The study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, suggested cavities, tooth erosion and gum disease were common.

Researchers said athletes, as a group, had worse dental health than other people of a similar age. Eating large amounts of carbohydrates regularly, including sugary energy drinks, was damaging teeth. Tooth pain and the resulting impact on diet and sleep may also damage performance. Many sports medics have anecdotes about athletes missing medals at major competitions as a result of oral health problems. Inflammation elsewhere in the body may also affect recovery time and susceptibility to injury.

Oral health is already a suspect in other seemingly unrelated conditions such as heart disease. People who do not brush twice a day are at higher risk of a heart attack and inflammation is common to both.

This is interesting. In my own life, my teeth suffered after producing three babies in the space of four and a half years. Apparently, my body withdrew calcium form my teeth to fund the babies' formation. Probably my bones too, because I developed osteoporosis. In the 1960s, no supplements were given to mothers.

Apart from their diet, the same theory could apply to athletes. Their body might divert calcium from one place to another. I see the effect of training on a female athlete's body. Our athletes give up a lot in their pursuit of the highest physical performance a human can achieve.

6 Comments

Sept 28th

9/28/2013

8 Comments

www.chinadaily.com.cn

Chinese police have rescued 92 abducted children. Two women were also freed in an operation involving police forces in 11 provinces of the country.

Every one of their parents must have breathed a huge sigh of relief. I'll bet they can't wait to fling their arms around their child. In China, some families buy trafficked women and children to use as extra labor and household servants, as well as brides for unmarried sons. There will be psychological problems of course for the abductees.
I could weep for them.

Authorities have held 301 suspected members of a huge trafficking network who are believed to have targeted children in the south-western Yunnan and Sichuan provinces and then sold them in other regions. Good. But what punishment could ever take away the harm they have caused?

Last year, more than 24,000 abducted women and children were freed in China, according to the public security ministry. Some of those kidnapped had been sold for adoption or forced into prostitution.

Child-trafficking has become a serious problem in China, BBC correspondents say. Critics blame the country's one-child policy and lax adoption laws, which have created a thriving underground market for buying children.

www.outdoormediacentre.org.uk

Whenever the evening news brings the story of a kidnapped child or teen living in our own country, the terrifying prospect of abduction fills the minds of parents. But it's important to remember that most kids pass through childhood safely.

One of the challenges of being a parent is teaching your kids to be cautious without filling them with fear or anxiety. Authorities say a child goes missing every 5 minutes in the UK. This is shocking!

About 2,100 missing-children reports are filed each day in the U.S. Many cases might be solved more easily if parents can provide a few key pieces of information about their kids, like: height, weight, eye color, and a clear recent photo as well as custody rights if needed.

It's almost as if a parent needs to keep proper records on each of their children as if they are property in case the child is stolen. But caution and paperwork will make filing a report so much easier.

8 Comments

Sept 27th

9/27/2013

8 Comments

theage.com.au

Ali Baba, a character from medieval Arabic literature, is described in the adventure tale of Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. He conjures up the original version of magic and stories of impossible deeds. But life has moved on, and foreign lands are no longer full of mystery. Baghdad, Iraq, north of Saudi Arabia is in trouble.

Sectarian violence has surged across Iraq in recent months, reaching its highest level since 2008. At least 23 people have been killed in blasts targeting markets in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, with many injured as the area was packed with shoppers.

More than 5,000 people have died so far this year in Iraq, 800 of them in August alone, according to the United Nations. The worsening violence is also seen a spill-over from the conflict in Syria.

There are fears of a return of sectarian violence that peaked in 2006-2007 and killed tens of thousands of people. I don't even remember this. What's going on in the world with all this violence? I suppose there's no returning to former days of wonder about foreign lands.

www.victorianweb.org

Picture: The North Gate, Baghdad. Arthur Melville.

I don't know about you, but the name Baghdad brings romantic images to my mind. I spent my early years in Parhran, Melbourne, surrounded by wonderful, colorful people. One of my mother's friends introduced her twenty-something daughter, who worked in the theatre. My mother made her wonderful dresses with full skirts and tight bodices as was the fashion in the fifties.

One of the first live shows in which we saw Jeanette Lydall play the female lead was Kismet, the lavish 1955 musical fantasy. Wonderful costumes, heart-breaking romance, memorable music, a whimsical plot, and the mystique of a foreign land. I'll never forget the songs like And This is My Beloved.

Will these troubled times ever become a story to delight the senses with romance and mystery?

8 Comments

Sept 26th

9/26/2013

6 Comments

brown bear

Good news this morning: Europe's key animals are making a comeback—not startling, but animal and bird populations are building up.

Over the past few centuries, animals in Europe have not fared well. Hunting, habitat loss, and pollution sent animals into decline.

The researchers from Zoological Society of London, Birdlife and the European Bird Census Council looked at 18 mammals and 19 bird species found across Europe. Mammals are doing the best. Over the past 50 years, conservationists say species such as bears, wolves, lynx, eagles and vultures have increased in numbers.

They found that all, apart from the Iberian lynx, had increased in abundance from the 1960s.

www.flickr.com

The largest increases were for the European bison, the Eurasian beaver, the white-headed duck, some populations of the pink-footed goose and the barnacle goose. These had all increased by more than 3,000% during the past five decades.

For top predators such as the brown bear, numbers have doubled. And for the grey wolf, which saw serious losses in the past, populations have climbed by 30%.

The reasons for the increase in wildlife numbers points to conservation schemes and the fact that people are leaving the country to live in cities. This could all be reversed if the population increases, and more land is cleared for food production. The study group intends to keep a close eye on future changes. But for now, the same blueprint can be used across the conservation movement globally.

This news is so heartwarming. The figures show that humans are not totally destroying the environment. We're leaving places for birds and animals to live, hunt, and breed. I see a rosy future.

6 Comments

Sept 25th

9/25/2013

4 Comments

www.bbc.co.uk

An earthquake has erupted in Pakistan killing hundreds. Helicopters were airlifting the most seriously injured to Karachi while others were being cared for in neighboring districts.

Is this catastrophe another case of the Earth fighting back? Or simply a natural movement of the planet's tectonic plates— in other words, the forces that produce movement and deformation of the Earth's crust?

History of earthquakes. I counted 47 deadly earthquakes since 18 April 1906, when San Francisco was hit by a series of violent shocks which lasted up to a minute. Between 700 and 3,000 people died either from collapsing buildings or in the subsequent fire. They are listed on http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-12717980

www.exploration-online.co.uk

Back to the latest news. In Tuesday afternoon, the 7.7-magnitude quake in Pakistan killed at least 238 people in the remote south-west province of Balochistan, the largest, but least populated, province. Many houses were flattened and thousands of people have spent the night in the open. People in the region mostly live in mud houses as opposed to multi-storey concrete structures.

After the quake, witnesses reported seeing a small island off the coast near the port of Gwadar. People gathered on the beach to see the new island of about 9m (30ft) high and 100m long.

Pakistan's military responded quickly to the crisis with the heavy presence already in the area because of their fight against a long-running separatist Baloch insurgency. The army sent more than 200 soldiers, medical teams and tents from the regional capital Quetta, but the mountainous terrain is hampering the rescue operation.

Lord, we don't need another (insert - island). "What the World Needs Now Is Love" Listen to the 1965 popular song with lyrics by Hal David and music composed by Burt Bacharach. Posted by RoundMidnightTV.

4 Comments

Sept 24th

9/24/2013

8 Comments

www.123rf.com

There is no single law that defines the age of a child across the UK. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by the UK government in 1991, states that a child means every human being below the age of eighteen years unless, under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier (Article 1, Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989).

Now, child psychologists are being given a new directive which is that the age range they work with is increasing from 18 to 25 years. Read more here.

There are three stages of adolescence—early adolescence from 12-14 years, middle adolescence from 15-17 years and late adolescence from 18 years and over. Neuroscience has shown that a young person's cognitive development continues into this later stage and that their emotional maturity, self-image and judgment will be affected until the prefrontal cortex of the brain has fully developed.

Some young people may want to stay longer with their families. Perhaps they need more support during these formative years. All young people don't develop at the same pace.

www.lovethesepics.com

The solution to not having 25 and even 30-year-olds living at home is making them do their own washing, pay their own way, pay towards the rent, pay towards the bills, to take responsibility for cleaning up their bedroom and not waiting on them hand and foot.

My brother-in-law and his wife have taken their son back into their home after he left to live with his girlfriend. They were struggling, so the solution was for them both to move back to his large home. Both families are living together comfortably with the retired parents gaining extra help and companionship, while the younger people are working and gaining free lodgings.

I left home at 18 to marry my first love. By the time I was 23, I had three children. If I could re-live my time, I wouldn't have been so headstrong. And yet, my family circumstances weren't ideal so perhaps my choices were limited. My sisters both married well and are prosperous.

What are your experiences as a young person? When did you feel ready to be independent?

8 Comments

Sept 23rd

9/23/2013

4 Comments

www.guardian.co.uk

Work is to begin on the largest tidal turbine energy project in Europe after the Scottish government approved it. The predictable nature of tides makes them an ideal renewable energy source. Despite high costs, experts say tidal power is more reliable than wind.

Mankind must tackle climate change. The sun and moon's gravitational forces produce tidal energy which is completely free, just like the wind. We need to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels through better and more efficient uses of energy. At the moment, The SeaGen project in Northern Ireland is the largest grid connected tidal turbine in the world.

MeyGen is to install the tidal array in stages in the Pentland Firth, between Orkney and the Scottish mainland. With careful planning the project will harness Scotland's huge wave and tidal energy to help cut climate emissions, while safeguarding the nation's tremendous marine environment.

Work will begin with a 9MW demonstration project of up to six turbines, with construction expected to take place on a phased basis until 2020. When fully operational, the 86MW array could generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 42,000 homes or 40% of the homes in the Highland.

Essentially, engineers try to tap tides in two ways: one involves building barrages across tidal estuaries that use the ebb and flow of the waters to turn turbines. The other method involves planting turbines underwater in fast flowing tidal streams in areas such as in coastal waters around Cornwall and Scotland.

Cornwall? That's interesting. I've written nine novels set in Cornwall, five futuristic and four taking place in the present ... Add to that, one draft of how the world flooded. Six of the novels are already published. Of course, the one that springs to mind is the recently released novel Tidal Surge, which you'll see on the right. This ties in beautifully with the news today about tidal power.

Everyone has little voices inside their head. Some give advice for using a wise course of action, and others try to tempt us to do the wrong thing. From the bible, we learn that even Jesus told the devil to get behind him. These voices can be as powerful as the surge of the tide. In this novel, Mother and daughter battle during visions over good and evil thoughts, neither knowing who they are confronting. The main character in the novel, Liliha, sinks into visions where she sees through her contact's eyes and whispers advice.

Here's an excerpt from the novel:

* * * *

Relief flooded Liliha at helping someone through a difficult situation—her customary role restored. She regained awareness on the sofa next to Oliver.

"Are you okay?" Oliver's forehead furrowed with concern.

She nodded. "I helped a family escape a tidal surge. Did you bring me here?"

"Yes." He grasped her shoulder. "I want to protect you."

"It's all right. The vision was a normal one." The tenderness in his expression made her swallow. "Darling, I've been thinking about what's occurring."

Oliver frowned and the skin over his jaw tightened. "What's that?"

"Perhaps the person I help needs a difficult situation to trigger greater effort." She paused. "In the last vision, I was with Colleen. She was frightened of heights. The poor woman had to overcome that fear and let rescuers winch her up on a flimsy rope into a helicopter. She wouldn't have made the effort without her family's safety at risk."

"I see what you mean. We'd probably never push ourselves out of our comfort zone unless we had to. I wouldn't."

"Yes. That's it exactly."

Oliver gave a faint sigh and gazed into her eyes. "You've always said the human soul is powerful. You should believe in your ability to help people through whatever comes." He took her hand and stroked her fingers. "You're not blocking anything. You're strong, and wise ... and good."

He understood—he believed in her. Reaching out, Liliha slid her fingers down his cheek. "You're very precious to me."

"I love you too." He leant back on the cushions, staring through the studio window in the fading light.

Assessing the ring again, she held onto the hope that she could handle whatever occurred.

4 Comments

Sept 22nd

9/22/2013

4 Comments

www.mirror.co.uk

Three young people were killed when a car crashed into a hairdressers' studio on Monday—the driver and two passengers. One, a nineteen year old girl, had recently been given the all clear following a cancer diagnosis. Her mother described her as a happy go-lucky person and had a lovely outgoing personality that meant she embraced life to its fullest.

What springs to mind is the old saying: If the bullet has your name on it ...

Do we all have a time to die? Maybe it's useless to fight against the sure and certain eventuality.

Source. Read more: http://www.gotquestions.org/appointed-death.html#ixzz2fbaNg6uP

The Bible tells us that “all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (Psalm 139:16). So, yes, God knows exactly when, where, and how we will die. God knows absolutely everything about us (Psalm 139:1-6). So does this mean our fate is sealed? Does this mean we have absolutely no control over when we will die? The answer is both yes and no, depending on the perspective.

The answer is "yes" from God’s perspective because God is omniscient—He knows everything and knows exactly when, where and how we will die. Nothing we can do will change what God already knows will happen. The answer is "no" from our perspective because we do have an impact on when, where, and how we die. Obviously, a person who commits suicide causes his own death. A person who commits suicide would have lived longer had he not committed suicide. Similarly, a person who dies because of a foolish decision (e.g., drug use) “expedites” his own death. A person who dies of lung cancer from smoking would not have died in the same way or at the same time if he had not smoked. A person who dies of a heart attack due to a lifetime of extremely unhealthy eating and little exercise would not have died in the same way or at the same time if he had eaten healthier foods and exercised more. Yes, our own decisions have an undeniable impact on the manner, timing, and place of our death.

~~~~~~~

“I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it.”

― Mark Twain

One of the things the seer Edgar Cayce revealed gives pause for thought. We are spiritual beings residing in one of the many levels of Heaven. Sometimes, we elect to come to Earth to learn a lesson. Before we are born, we chose three points when we could die. Each one can be avoided if we are not ready. Once we've arrived, most of us forget our former home. There have been examples of children and people who remember a former life. In one case, an English woman took a research team to a place where she claimed to have lived. They found evidence which backed her statement.

I was sure I'd die at the age of sixteen. A sort of a fateful thing. Yet, I wasn't ready because I lived on. I could have died twice since then. Next time might be my moment. I'm ready to leave this earthly body behind and I anticipate the next stage with joy. I hope I've learned the lesson I chose.

What do you think about a specific time to die?

4 Comments

Sept 21st

9/21/2013

7 Comments

Charges in the US have been dropped against a Saudi princess who was accused of human trafficking after a Kenyan maid said her passport was taken and she was forced to work for meager pay. According to the ruling, the maid falsified her claim to gain entry into the country.

This brings the shocking facts of modern slavery to the forefront.

www.antislavery.org: cotton in Uzbekistan

Although enslaved labor was abolished in 19th century, slavery still exists today despite its modern forms differing from the captured Africans transported to work in a foreign land. Link to Anti-Slavery here.

According to the International Labour Organisation, nearly twenty-one million men, women and children around the world are captive. In the 21st century people are still at the complete mercy of their masters, sold like objects, and forced to work for little or no pay.

Many different points distinguish slavery from other human rights violations, however only one needs to be present for slavery to exist. Someone is in slavery if they are:

v forced to work—through mental or physical threat;

v owned or controlled, usually through real or implied mental or physical abuse;

v dehumanized, treated as a commodity or bought and sold as 'property';

v physically constrained or has restrictions placed on his/her freedom of movement.

Contemporary slavery takes various forms and affects people of all ages, gender and races.

Nowadays, bonded labor affects millions of people around the world, with biggest numbers in South East Asia. At the start, people take, or are tricked into taking, a loan for which they are unable to ever pay off. Some bonded laborers receive basic food and shelter as payment for their work, but due to penalties and rates, no matter how hard they work they are never able to pay off the loan.

blogs.state.gov.

Child Slavery, which includes child labor and child trafficking, affects an estimated 5.5 million children around the world.

Early and forced marriage predominately affects women and girls who are married without choice, forced into lives of servitude often accompanied by physical violence and have no realistic choice of leaving the marriage.

Many forms of slavery involve more than one element. For example, trafficking often involves an advance payment for the trip and organizing a promised job abroad which is borrowed from the traffickers. Once at the destination, the victims are told they cannot leave the job until the debt is paid.

How could such inequality, and, in the case of children, still exist in our world today?

7 Comments

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Francene Stanley, author of many published novels. If you like my writing, why not consider purchasing one of my books? You'll see them on the sidebar below.
Born in Australia, I moved to Britain half way through my long life.

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