Using their pleasure for tango to help others who desperately need it

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We’ve all had the experience where we’ve gained so much value from people or an activity that we feel a need to return something. It called reciprocity  – the desire to do something in return.

Cheryl & John

In this episode of  Your Story we talk to John and Cheryl Lowry about how they have fulfilled this desire in themselves for all the pleasure that they’ve had from being involved in learning and dancing tango. They’ve returned the favour not to the greater tango community but by using that communities desire to dance tango socially as a means of generating income to support disadvantaged children in Argentina by setting up Para Los Niños children’s charity.

Internationally supported

The charity is supported internationally to enable income to be generated through milongas (tango dances) which is then used in Argentina to support many desperately in need children to have what we would call the necessities of life.

Here is an example of one of the Milongas that has been orginised in aid of Para Los Niños.

The charity website for Para Los Niños is paralosninos.net

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Music is from

Che Papusa
“La Milonga” (mp3)
from “Buenos Aires Tango Dance”
(Suramusic S.R.L)

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Juanjo Hermida and Gabriel Merlino
“Sauvage” (mp3)
from “Tangos En Duo”
(Suramusic S.R.L)

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One of the best Episodes Re-Published

It’s a rare world that we live in. I don’t mean you… I’m thinking of a few rare people that I meet from time to time and myself.

Stories of Our City

Most people are worried about what I call the noise of life. You know what I mean… All the stuff that is out there that we’re told to be afraid of or we need to be entertained by. Look at the news channels and reality TV, it’s all there… The Noise of life.

But there are a few of us who look for the substance of more important things. The stories that are real and live in everyone. “But normal people are boring”, I hear you say. NO! You’re the normal people and you have amazing stories. We all just need to take the time to turn off the damn idiot box and listen to the real stories that live in everyone around us.

That’s what I’m doing here on Your Story and what I’m encouraging others to do on Create Your Life Story. Get into real stories, not the media beat up that we’re familuar with.

It’s rare that I meet someone who has similar ideals in this regard. Sure, many people pay lip service to it but few (and I mean very few), actually do something about it. But there are a few…!

…and she has the personality to match the smile

Recently one of the previous episodes was picked up by another podcast. To my joy Stories of Our City has republished an edited version of the Episode 48 : Tiffany. Infidelity Investigator. It’s a brief example of what we’re doing here at Your Story and I encourage you to see what Katy is doing with Stories of Our City and listen to some of the other stories that she has published maybe even on iTunes, they’re eye opening to the life that she observes in the middle east.

Katy is one of us dear reader/listener. She knows the power of stories and how sharing them makes all of us much better to the greater world.

 

I’ve been a Tad Busy with a Flood

I want to bring you up to speed in this episode 26 of Your Story Addendum to help you understand what’s been happening, particularly in the last three weeks with the flooding of the Brisbane River and it’s impacted on me.

This Episode 26 Recorded Here in the Foreground

If you would like to understand my experience I’ve written a post about the Brisbane Flood 2011, on my personal blog about what it was like to prepare and make the most of a community flood but in this episode I just want to explain and remind you that all is still good and I’m still here although maybe a little busy dealing with my other podcast Create Your Life Story and a few of the issues that come up from time to time

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Today’s Episode 54 of Your Story is about looking at what we are told regarding domestic solar power generation and how viable it is as an environmental and economic alternative to base load power generation such as coal, gas, hydro, geothermal and nuclear.

From a personal interest in energy and a desire to share what he knows with society in general and other members of the University of The Third Age (U3A), Ken Harrison has set about looking at the viability of solar generation and has come up with some surprising and disturbing facts relating to the viability of using grid connected domestic solar panels to augment and replace power generated by the coal fired power stations in New South Wales.

Ken’s interest in managing power developed while he was responsible for strategising the energy usage of the Australian National University immediately after the first energy crisis in the 1970′s. Because of his hard work,  ideas and understanding of the use of power around the university he was able to reduce the ANU’s energy costs and consumption by elimination its usage of fuel oil in favour of electricity and by computer controlling that usage in the most cost effective and efficient manner. This hands-on understanding of energy usage in actual situations is the foundation of his interest in wanting to understand how the new system will work and how efficient it will be.

To my surprise, despite what we are told, the introduction of such systems does not have any guaranteed effect on reducing carbon dioxide production and could very easily make the electricity grid unworkable if the scheme is extended to the levels envisaged by some of its proponents. The scheme will also increase the cost of power in direct proportion to the extent of its adoption. They are only a waste of money that could be used in better ways. Ken suggests that spending the same amounts of money on stand alone, off the grid domestic power generation would have the positive financial and carbon benefits that are desired

If you would like to read his papers or wish to contact Ken send an email to chat@yourstorypodcast.com and I’ll pass it along to him for a reply.

In summation of his paper Ken recommends the following:

SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS.

There is no way that any of the renewable energy systems can replace our coal fired steam turbine generators.

There are only two options that can do this, namely gas fired steam turbine generators or nuclear powered steam turbine generators. The latter is the complete answer to carbon dioxide emissions as well as any other nasty emissions at the point of generation; however, there is some CO2 release through the mining and processing phases. Its only drawback is the very serious one of waste management.

Geosequestration seems unlikely to be a solution for NSW even if it is ultimately shown to be viable. IGCC is the only developing technology that may be useful to NSW.

NSW has to do something about future generation very shortly – it is possibly already beyond the critical time for planning to be complete.

Since I have no expectation that any government will do the right thing I set out for your consideration what I would do if I were a dictator.

1. Introduce a scheme to eliminate or, at least, severely reduce our wastage of electricity. This would give a breathing space of several years with reduction of emissions to levels lower than any mentioned so far at Kyoto or Copenhagen.
2. Withdraw the present subsidy scheme on domestic photovoltaic generation and replace it with one that offers a generous subsidy for anyone prepared to go off the grid entirely i.e. a “stand alone” system.
3. Continue with research and the introduction of renewable energy generation wherever it has some engineering viability.
4. Build our first nuclear reactor as a matter of some urgency.
5. Plan the longer-term close down of coal-fired plant replacing it with nuclear where alternative systems couldn’t do the job.
6. Fund infrastructure schemes that can make good use of the skills of those who would become redundant with the demise of the coal industry.
7. Modify the ETS to give it real power to achieve emission reduction.
8. Scrap our existing financial system and replace it with something based on more rational considerations than the fear and greed, of an extreme minority, that characterises our present system.
9. Introduce methods toward achieving zero population growth by 2015.

K.W.Harrison
March, 2010

What do you think?  Write a comment below and share your thoughts on what Ken has mentioned.

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Music is from

The Airmen of Note
“Blues for Mundy” (mp3)
from “Today”
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Over the last few weeks there have been quite a buzz in the skydiving community of Australia with the 50th Anniversary of the Australian Parachute Federation(APF) and Newcastle Sport Parachute Club(NSPC).

The latest APF National Conference is underway and a few weeks back NSPC had a huge week end of celebrations for their 50th.

Podcast Episode with Claude Gillard

Last night I was looking at a lot of images on the Facebook fan page for the APF and was reminded of the podcast episode I did with Claude Gillard two years ago. Claude was one of the early pioneers in parachuting in the late 50′s and president of the APF for 30 odd years.

If your interested in some stories of the early days of Australian parachuting when skydiving was a truly dangerous activity please go to the post and listen to what Claude has to say.

I’ve always had a huge respect for the early pioneers in all fields and as skydiving was once one of my great passions in life I have read a great deal of those early days. Today many people entering the sport or doing recreational tandems jumps don’t realise the grand adventure that was parachuting in the late 50′s and 60′s.

I encourage you to go and listen to one of the great story tellers of Australian Skydiving talk of those days.

Remember you can comment below.

 

Welcome To Episode 47 of Your Story.

Cliff Hawkins story is of someone who in helping his own family with food allergies discovers that he has found a mechanism to help the greater community with some of the most damaging and deadly autoimmune diseases and cancers. Only then to be financially destroyed by the greed of a large corporation when he attempted to move his discoveries to the rest of society.

My local, wonderful sour dough bakery, Sol Bread recently started using an additive within some of their range that allow people with gluten intolerance to eat their bread. I immediately wondered how is this possible and what has been created that allows the bread to function during the baking process to still be as good as normal but doesn’t have the negative effects on people with these issues.

As many of us know wheat, dairy, soy and peanut/legume allergies cripple millions of people around the world with ill health effects from irritation to full blown life threatening Anaphylactic Shock and long term health issues.

I tracked down Cliff Hawkins of Biohawk to share with us exactly what he has developed, but I had no idea how deep this rabbit hole was to go.

Cliff explains that most food allergies come from the part of the protein within the food that is designed by nature to protect it from damage so that the plant can continue to utilise it for it’s needs. This protection mechanism unfortunately for some people is the cause of food intolerance.

As with 30% of the Australian population Cliff’s family, with it’s Irish heritage has a gene that reacts to these proteins in harmful ways, creating many dangerous health issues for his children and grand children. He set out 40 years ago to find a food and the relevant enzymes that would achieve the amazing task of neutralising these proteins. Using sound scientific processes gained as a medical research scientist he searched food sources dipping into knowledge known for centuries to discover within the ginger plant, specific enzymes that had the ability to cut out these dangerous proteins rending them harmless and making available all of the protein for digestion. Cliff explained to me that, within the individuals genome there are genes that when turned on, causing an immune response to these specific proteins.

Simply through the use of a natural, whole food in this unique way, Cliff has developed a product that makes the protein easily digested, with better nutritional value, tastier and without any health issues. I have no idea how Cliff has managed to pull this off but he has not synthesised anything or stripped out just the reactive components insofar as creating a substance that could be defined as a medicine but uses the whole ginger food. He has some limited, simple processing which I have no idea of but the essence of his work is that his product is nothing but ginger, so falls into the safety of the Pharmacopoeia as an accepted, approved additive to any food or medicine.

NB. According to the University of Maryland website, ginger has been used as a medicine in Asian, Indian and Arabic herbal traditions since ancient times. In China, ginger has been used to aid digestion and treat stomach upsets, diarrhoea and nausea for more than 2000 years. Ginger is also used by natural health practitioners to treat arthritis, colic, headaches, fever, swelling, heart conditions, the common cold and nausea associated with motion sickness, morning sickness and chemotherapy.

He claims that the more serious health conditions of auto immune diseases have a basis in food allergies caused by creating a hyperimmune system that attacks various parts of the body including diseases such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, Autism, Schizophrenia, ADHD, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and many others. These Autoimmune Diseases are due to the immune system sending proteins to make the B cells that make antibodies to attack the the dangerous pathogens disproportional to the threat, meaning the immune system is overreacting. These excess proteins then go on to react with the body, creating the auto immune disease. Cliffs product has the same effect on these proteins by cutting the excess proteins out, reducing them to normal levels, then allowing the body to return to normal.

That same strategy used by plants to protect their energy stores from being broken down are also used by viruses, bacterium and cancers to protect against the immune response of our bodies. These serious pathogens and cancers have a high proportion of these dangerous proteins on their surface which Cliff’s product has the effect of trimming off allowing the body to react and destroy the cells. The Ginger product simply removes their protection, so our immune system can do it’s job and destroy them and the danger.

Though there is ample evidence to show the benefits of Cliffs ginger products they are sold as Aid to Digestion only and the benefits will be dependant on individual circumstances and the conditions being treated.

To understand better how this works from Biohawk here is an explanitary PDF.

Although this is hard science it also has an element of a craft, with a passion in caring for the greater community and realising that nature, in it’s whole has many of the answers for what we need.

Not only are these human health but also animal husbandry issues and like us, many farmed animals are grain fed and have many of these same health problems.  Cliff has discovered that the same health effects can be gained with animal health particularly with race horses, cattle and poultry. With animal health there are direct financial benefits to the owner of the stock justifying the use of the Animal Health range.

Having received his initial training at the prestigious John Curtin School of Medical Research, Cliff  is the former Professor of Chemistry, Dean of Science and Pro-Vice-Chancellor at University of Queensland  (Biological Sciences). This is his Linedkin Profile.

Cliff’s products are available online and through agents and pharmacies. His main products are DigestEasy sold as a solution and Relief both sold as an aid to digestion and Bake Aid.

His website is biohawk.com.au
email is info@biohawk.com.au

To help you understand a little better Christopher’s condition, these are the PET scans mentioned that had been done at the time of our discussion.

Additional Content

I recorded much more detail with Cliff than I was unable to include in this episode. If you would like to go deeper into this story listen here to Cliff with the full recording.

In this episode we also chat with Ant and Natalie about how they dealt with discovering that their 16 year old son Christopher had Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and how they used a treatment including Cliff’s product to return him to health. If you like to, listen to the Full Story of Christopher.

In my discussion with Ant & Natalie, they mentioned that they would be happy to assist anyone with additional information by being first contacting me. If you would like to contact them, in the first instance send me an email to chat@YourStoryPodcast.com and I’ll happily pass on your contact  to them so they can contact you in return.

Twelve Common Medicinal Herbs

Mayo Clinic – Ginger

Ginger – Overview

University of Maryland – Ginger

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Music is from iodaPROMONET
Night Style
“Imagine” (mp3)
from “Pour L’Instant Fantastique 2″
(Stranamente Music)

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Alex Theory
“Oasis” (mp3)
from “Saturn Returns”
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Welcome To Episode 46 of Your Story.

As some of you may know I’ve recently been working for a short time on the latest in the The Chronicles of Narnia at the Warner Roadshow Studios on the Gold Coast. This next, Episode Three, is The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and as it was for the previous two episodes this one is being Executive Produced by Doug Gresham.

As I mention in the introduction, I meet Doug very briefly while I was working on the film but didn’t have a chance to engage with him while working there. However my supervisor mentioned a few of the things that Doug had mentioned to him and I immediately thought, this sounds like an interesting fellow who wouldn’t mind a chat if he has the time.

Doug is the step son of C.S.Lewis and is now responsible for the continuation and is the head of the C.S. Lewis Company. From that wellhead these films have sprung. After a lifetime of wanting to have them produced he is now, for want of a better title the Executive Producer but as he says, he’s the one to blame. We chat about some aspects of the challenges and the joys of film-making and if you listen to Doug you can hear his passion for film-making and particularly the production of these The Chronicle of Narnia.

Quite a bit is published about Doug and his heritage with C.S. Lewis, including his autobiography Lenten Lands of his childhood with his mother Joy Davidman and Lewis which was made into the television film in ’85 Shadowlands and remade as a feature film in ’93. Doug also mentions writing a biography of Lewis Jacks Life: The Life Story of C.S. Lewis published in 2005.

Doug however is not just all about C.S. Lewis and the The Chronicles Narnia, he is also a committed Non-Denominational Christian with strong opinions on his practical views of Christianity that led him to live by his faith, running and caring for people from around the world in Ireland as a psychotherapist, but also to living an independent lifestyle as a Dairy Farmer in Tasmania and an ABC Radio announcer in Perth.

Now living in Malta, Doug has a world view and strong opinions on where our Western Society has gone wrong, even suggesting what, in his view, what we need to do to fix these issues.

Strong, forthright and thought through opinion is what I discovered in meeting Doug Gresham and a personality that is not easily forgotten.

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Sorry about the miss spelling of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader as I spelt it Trader :/

Music is from iodaPROMONET

The Homemade Jamz Blues Band
“Penny Waiting On Change” (mp3)
from “Pay Me No Mind”
(Northern Blues)

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Argentine Libertarians

While sitting in the airport waiting to head back to my home in Australia I thought that it was time to share my thoughts on my time in Buenos Aires, it’s time for a wrap up on my visit. So I pulled out my Zoom H4 here they are, additional to the last Your Story Addendum where I sat down with my friends to give you an overview.

I also mention that I spent some time the night before with some Libertarians who mentioned  some interesting political points.  I would have loved to have recorded some of these conversations but alas it’s not possible on this trip and hopefully by staying in touch with them through some of their online systems, when I return I will have the opportunity to share some political stories and history of this once and maybe future great country.

 

Welcome To Episode 41 of Your Story.

Yanqui Mike, as he is known here in Buenos Aires now lives a life of duality as a migrant from the US to Argentina. From a corporate career in transport logistics in the US, living in the Mid West and Chicago, Mike has learnt and now continues his wife’s family heritage as a rancher in Argentina.

Over a few beers (and many more later) we chatted about what brought him here and what keeps him living a country life on the Campo and a cosmopolitan, cafe life in the heart of Buenos Aires. His love for the people and culture and why he is happy to stay in Argentina and not to return to the United States of America.

Contrasting his love for Argentina, Mike is heavily involved in the US ex-pat community having started Democrats Abroad in Argentina and takes great pride in being involved, in his small way towards the election of Barack Obama, involving the US citizens here, with the aptly named Drinking Liberally.

Late Addition 13/01/2010 I’ve just found in my iTunes a file that I recorded with Mike on my iPhone after I turned my recorder off and thought that as it’s such wonderful content I’d put it up as a bonus Easter Egg. It’s only 2 minutes but worth listening to.

His website is yanquimike.blogspot.com

email is letters@yanquimike.com.ar

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Music is from Diego Arolfo

from the Album Haciatuencuentro

diegoarolfo@yahoo.com.ar

 

Welcome To Episode 20 of Your Story Addendum.

As today is Anzac Day I thought I’d do a recording of the dawn service to share with you a little of the atmosphere of the morning. If your an Australian and you’ve never been to a Dawn Service give yourself the experience, at least once, if your from elsewhere here is a little of what it’s like.

The Eternal Flame

I’ve been attending the Anzac Day Dawn service in county towns and city squares for fifteen or twenty years and I’m always moved by the spirit of the occasion however I don’t understand why I feel the need to attend and why it always brings a lump to my throat and a tear to my eye. I seem to have a deep intimacy with the spirit of World War One and find that attending the Dawn Service quite cathartic. It’s just one of those things that I feel compelled to do.

Brisbane Dawn Service

At 4:28 am the city is still asleep and although there are many thousands of people in the small Anzac square I find the quiet of the service extraordinary so much so that you can still hear a cough across the square.

I mentioned that the ABC has build an amazing site for Anzac Day which shows the events that happened on 25 April 1915.

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“I just don’t get why people want to sit on the computer or walk around with their mobile phones telling the world what they are doing, why don’t they go and make real friends?”…  is what I hear being said by people who have not been on twitter, used it enough or understand the different ways that there are to build relationships.

Connecting in “Real Life” isn’t the only way to have a relationship, ever had a long heart felt telephone conversation or a pen pal?

More than that though is with twitter as the most recent new development in human interaction, once connections are made online that friendship can be taken offline. When you do get to meet each other for real you already know some aspects of each other and have an instant ice breaker. You already know each other and there are instant discussion points from what’s been happening online.

The thing is the people that you meet aren’t just the Nigel No-Friends but the full cross section of the community that you would find in any social group.

Slowly these online relationships are developing into real life social, personal, business and professional relationships. Yet again it’s the market square relationship that is moving elsewhere.

 

Recently as mentioned on the show I had an email from Drew in Kelowna B.C. Canada to say hello.

…I am very happy to be able to hear the story’s, people, etc. That you expose. Community is one of the very most important things to build, and uphold. Sharing idea’s, and info in a dialogue, exchange scenario is, I think, helping to create closer communities worldwide that add to our human mosaic in the most positive way possible.

He included this stunning image that he took.  I’m was in awe of how beautiful it looks (especially as we don’t do snow here) and wanted to share it with you.

Kelowna

In a second email he mentions…

…Kelowna has a few small mountains that exist right in the middle of the city, and urban sprawl has us building as high as possible. They’re small mountains, about 8 or 9 hundred metres or so.

Thanks Drew

 

Have you ever thought about doing something for the greater community? Have you ever considered donating blood?

I first gave blood back when I was only 19. I didn’t initially do it out of generosity but because I was able to do it during work time and they gave us a free lunch of as much as we could eat. As a 19 year old with a ravenous appetite I made sure I filled up.

After a short while of doing a couple of donations I realised that I was actually doing something good for the community so I’ve continued now for 30 years. I wouldn’t say I’m a regular, my lifestyle doesn’t enable me to make that sort of commitment but when I have the time I often pop into the local blood service where I might be living and give.

Whole blood can only be donated every 3 months to enable time for the body to regenerate so if I had been regular I could have only made a maximum of 120 donations to date. As it is I’ve just clocked up 45 donations so you can see how irregular I am. But hey it’s 45 donations and every bit helps.

All these years I’ve been donating whole blood but my last visit 6 weeks ago I gave plasma for the first time and today I donated plasma and platelets for the first time.

The procedure takes quite a bit longer, for me about an hour hooked up to the machine whereas for whole blood I can normally fill a bag in under 10 minutes. However plasma and platelets can be donated every 3 weeks and are very highly valued as it requires more of a commitment and the platelets have a shelf life of only 5 days.

Here is a little video of me being jabbed and hooked up to the machine to give you a bit of an idea. Thanks Shelly

If you want to do something for the community that costs you nothing but your time consider donating. There are blood services all over the place, it’s a pleasant way to chill for a while and they give you something to drink and eat. Maybe you’ll even get an ice cream like I received today.

Go on you’ll feel good for doing it.

 

Welcome To Episode 33 of Your Story.

Today we talk with Gavin Heaton who as Servant of Chaos is one of the better respected Internet 2.0, Social Networking and Public Relations experts in Australia.

Gavin Heaton

When getting involved in this world of Social Networking it’s important to have the runs on the boards which Gavin has with 10+ years of working with many organisations in Australia, however it’s more important to have the passion for the subject to go with the knowledge and Gavin shows us the knowledge and enthusiasm he has for Social Networking both online and offline.

Online he’s active on all the Social Networking platforms and offline he’s the one who invited me to meet a group of the Sydney online community at the Friday morning Single Origin coffee morning in Surry Hills.

On a personal note it was wonderful to meet many people that I knew from online in the flesh and to meet new people who I now follow online. There is something wonderful with putting a face to the personality that is gained online and it’s good to get away from the computer and connect with folk for real.

Gavin spends time sharing the essence of the way social media works and how we all can interact in this new world no matter if we are an individual, company or government. He explains the Social Network behaviours and then the social judgements that develop because of the interconnection that you have with other people in your field of influence.

Importantly he explains why participation is necessary to make the connections that lead to these relationships and how making yourself real in the social world of the web creates the information that are your footprints on the internet.

During this episode Gavin mentions being inspired by The Cluetrain Manifesto and using it to create a presentation inspired by the images taken by his children. Here is that presentation.

His website is servantofchaos.com
email is servant@servantofchaos.com

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Music is from iodaPROMONET

Raygun
“Velosophy” (mp3)
from “The Best of Vol. 1 LP Part 2″
(Night Drive Music)

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Welcome To Episode 19 of Your Story Addendum.

Hello all. I’m in Sydney catching up with friends, making new friends and recording a few podcast episodes so I thought, as I like to do, give you a quick opinion of my thoughts of Sydney and a few of the things that I’m up to.

This is short and sweet little episode and just dropping in basically to say Hello.

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Welcome To Episode 31 of Your Story.

Today we talk with Marty Richards who recently set up yet another coffee shop in my local area of West End, but with a twist. I asked him how he could enable himself to stand out in an area with a multitude of coffee shops and what makes him different.

To my surprise I discovered that not only does he roast and take a great deal of care with the craft of the barista.

With his Blackstar Coffee there is a mission to use fair trade coffee with his own particular blends. Also he has an underlying social consciousness not only with where the coffee is sourced but also the integration of the local West End community in ways that surprised me.

His website is BlackStarCoffee.com.au
email is marty@blackstarcoffee.com.au
44 Thomas Street, West End, Brisbane, Qld, Australia
Phone +61732172323

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Music is ‘Blackstar’ taken from Peter B & The Homeless Souls’ debut album, ‘Far From Home’ recorded in London and Brisbane. It is available at Blackstar Espresso Bar, or by contacting Peter at peterb@gmail.com
The site is http://itspeterb.wordpress.com
On Facebook – the group is called SECONDHANDRECORDS, and there are free tracks to download through the My Band
Peter B & The Homeless Souls
www.myspace.com/2ndhandrecords
Lesson MC
http://www.myspace.com/lessonmc

 

Welcome To Episode 18 of Your Story Addendum.

Saturday 13 December 2008 saw rallies around Australia in all capital cities against the Australian Federal governments plans initially to trial and eventually introduce a mandatory ISP level filter. In Brisbane several hundred concerned people turned out to speak and make their feelings heard.

Sam Clifford from Queensland Greens summed up the majority of points about the filter and to read his full speech go to his site. On a personal note Mike Fitzsimon showed how medical support research would most likely be shut down by the filter due to the use of inappropriate terminology that the filter would flag.

I’ve mentioned previously that I feel that this is an appalling idea so to add a little weight to the protest I went to listen and participate in any way that I could. In the crowd I managed to catch up with Cameron Reilly from The Podcast Network, Ben Grubb from Tech Wired Australia, Michael Meloni from Somebody Think of the Children and Anthony Voevodin.

The speakers and each of the people that I spoke to added a little to the information that is out there. If you don’t know what the filter is about these people will help to give you a bit of a grounding on the debate.

This episode of Your Story Addendum is of some of the speeches and a couple of quick impromptu interviews from some of the people on the ground at the rally.

Additional information go to:

nocleanfeed.com
nocensorship.info

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As today is the 90th anniversary of the end of World War One I thought I might reflect on some things that have been on my mind.

It’s been a while since the kerfuffle about Paul Keatings comments recently regarding Gallipoli.

From the Herald Sun newspaper…

He said he has never been to Gallipoli and never will because it is nonsense to think the nation was born again or redeemed there.

On the one hand we were out to prove that ‘the British race in the antipodes had not degenerated’, yet we resented being dragooned into a war which did not threaten our own country or its people,” Mr Keating said.

Given Australian loyalties to England at the time, Keating said it was entirely understandable that Australia troops fought the Turks at Gallipoli, but the experience was shocking.

“Dragged into service by the imperial government in an ill-conceived and poorly-executed campaign, we were cut to ribbons and dispatched,” he said.

I’ve been musing for the past few days as to what Anzac Day means to Australians and why there is such an outcry to his statement.

I think most are reacting to the tradition of Anzac Day being sacred not because they have thought it through but because they are told and believe that it is something to treat as holy. A case of tradition for traditions sake.

If you take the time to consider the reality of 25 April 1915 it has to be admitted to being an abject disaster with the British using disposable Australians as cannon fodder and where over the duration of the war 61,720 died from an Australian population of 5 million. One of the greatest per capita disasters for any  country in the war.

If we want to celebrate a battle I agree with Paul Keating, in that the victory of holding back the advancing Japanese on the Kakoda Trail and the outstanding success of the Australian and New Guiniea troops there would be a far more favourable example of achievement over adversity. Or if you want to stick with Anzac Cove, lets celebrate without enemy knowledge, the withdrawal of troops as a huge success and without a single life lost. Now that’s an achievement!

The question is really “Why does Anzac Day resonate so?”

When the first and most importantly, impromptu Anzac Day dawn service was held it was not a celebration of a great battle it was a simple quite reflective remembrance of an event and loss.

The Dawn Service which I’ve been attending for about twenty years is about a loss of innocence, about a realisation that we are on our own and that war and the sacrifices made to it are folly.

I think what Anzac day has given the Australian personality, is a sense that we are on our own, which also lead  to Our Troops being identified as Australian rather than as being part of the British Imperial Forces in all conflicts after World War 1.

We don’t identify as being British any more and war is a waste of the best of our young people, not to mention the resources that the country must throw at it. Shear stupid waste! This is what Anzac Day has given us, it’s not a party but a reminder to move forward independently and to use our most precious resourses, our people, wisely.

Lest We Forget

 

If you have been following the news lately it’s been heating up that the Australian Government under Kevin Rudd is planing to introduce what some are referring to the Great Australian Firewall. Internet

censorship at the ISP level that simply can’t work for reasons that I respect from others far more knowledgeable than myself.

I decided that this was serious enough to act on so I’ve sent a letter to Senator Steven Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and Digital Economy and to my local Federal Member who just happens to be Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia. Hey, he’s my local member so that’s who I send stuff like this to.

I remember many years ago someone in the media said that a phone complaint was worth another ten who didn’t complain and a letter was worth a hundred. Today with email and the Internet we’re lazier than ever. If an online petition is worth one, a phone call is worth ten, and email is worth 100 maybe a letter posted is worth 1000 simply because of the effort it takes and a follow up blog post for those of us who know how is additional to that and a little more value. Nothing will change if nothing is done and every little bit helps.

So I’ve done my bit towards stopping this stupidity and I’ll look to do more as I’m educated as to how.

To help you understand the issues and educate yourself check out this rave by Angry Aussie.

To read more and see what you can do to help go to No Internet Censorship for Australia and to understand what the ISP’s think go to this interview by Ben Grubb.

Also if your interested here is what I sent to Kevin Rudd and Stephen Conroy.

I understand your government is considering filtering the Internet at the Internet Service Provider level, a measure that I have grave concerns about.

I appreciate that it is important to protect our children at all times from predation and exposure to adult concepts but it’s the considered opinion of experts in this field that attempts to filter such content will only drive these concepts to other methods of propagation. These have been discovered and are well known by those interested in this field. Filtering simply will not work.

Filtering technique are hugely expensive and will force smaller ISP out of business.

Filtering leads to false positives that are flagged for reasons that will shut down huge numbers of sites from being able to interact with Australia. The percentages are small (best case is 3%) but due to the number of internet sites these are still huge numbers. This will cripple the effectiveness of the internet.

On a personal note. I am a parent of a 17 year old girl who has been using the internet for about eight years. She now has her own laptop and free access to anything on the web that she wishes to interact with. When she was younger I used filter methods on search to restrict some access. I have educated her to realise that it’s important to keep some information private and not to share with anyone. I’ve also educated her that there are somethings adult, alternative or just very odd by our community standards that she will trip across if she is not careful and that she should sometimes choose not to go some places as these are not places for her and could well disturb her.

I feel fortunate that through education I have the best filter for my daughters welfare. Herself!
The internet is no different to any other part of our society with the same mix of events happening within it. It is no more and no less dangerous than elsewhere in our lives and like all parts of our society we negotiate it, not through restriction but through education, experience and judgement. Occasionally mistakes are made which we learn from, that is our responsibility.

This action is akin to cracking an egg with a  sledge hammer. It won’t work and it will make a mess of everything.

Please do not continue forward with this concept.

Sincerely

Ian Kath

http://yourstorypodcast.com

 

Welcome To Episode 26 of Your Story.

It’s been some time since there has been a Your Story Episode, unfortunately the constraints to produce an episode while on the road travelling made it difficult to find the time required for the standard necessary to do justice to the wonderful people that I meet.

However now that I’ve returned to Australia it’s possible to finish the necessary work required to get an episode out and here it is.

Today we talk with Michael Kierans who in is a Canadian migrant living with his Czech wife in Prague, Czech Republic. He is established as a successful business owner of two cafes bars having moved from his successful life as a lawyer in Canada to Prague after the fall of Communism. Michael explains the difficulties of dealing with a different cultural and mental attitude that permeates all aspects of life in the Czech Republic from organising the necessities of running a business to the way that the government and politicians operate.

Michael explains the ever so subtle differences that he is able to be aware of now that he has been in Prague for a considerable period of time. He explains why the personality of the Czech people is the way it is, due to the long history of the Czech Lands and the impact that this history has had on the culture particularly during the communist era. Also he shows his enthiusium for this country and why there is an exciting time for the Czech Republic into the future as the next generations come through with their new and different mindset and continuation of their cultural heritages.

Impressively Michael explains what keeps him in Prague and why he loves it so much to make it his home.

His website is kava-coffee.cz

email is kava@mbox.vol.cz

To automatically receive this podcast freely to you, click on one of the links to the left or search in iTunes for “Your Story.”

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I asked a few questions that I would apprediate a quick response to if you feel inclined to help me with understanding the direction to direct Your Story. Please send you thoughts to chat@yourstorypodcast.com.

• Am I hitting the mark and what is it that interests you about Your Story?

• What is it that you like or don’t like?

• What type of personalities would you like me to find and what interests you?

• Did you enjoy my addendum episodes or would you rather I just stick to the main Your Story episodes?

Music is from iodaPROMONET

Time Machine
“The Groove That Just Won’t Stop” (mp3)
from “Life Is Expensive”
(Glow In The Dark Records)

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Welcome To Episode 22 of Your Story Addendum.

Today we chat with Romy who while studying Social Services has continued to work and develop her childhood passion for Social Circus as a mechanism to enable children to develop and grow their communication skills, self worth and community interactions. She now has a huge opportunity to help develop the concept of Social Circus in the United States which will develop the concept even further.

Romy explains a little of the support that the German government gives to single parents to enable them to support both their studies and raising their children and how she has been able to develop with the aid of the support of the government.

We briefly discuss the new post Berlin Wall interactions between East and West Germans and a little of the inequity that is still present between East and West.

Her website is ro-und-ro.blogspot.com

Her Email is romy.backofen@googlemail.com

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Music is from iodaPROMONET
Bitter:Sweet
“Salty Air” (mp3)
from “The Remix Game”
(Quango)

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Welcome To Episode Fourteen of Your Story.

Today we talk with Fiona Stager who has developed an award winning community book store The Avid Reader in West End, Brisbane.

Everyone knows this type of store. They exist in every community that still cares about fine things and a place for passions to be shared. Fiona mentions all the usual challenges of owning a small business, the frustrations, the stresses with a life outside of the business and dealing with the uncertainty of peak times of the year.

However now she has to also deal with the emerging internet based technologies that can swamp small business and her strategies for dealing with them is by using the classic techniques of good traditional retail sales, namely community building and individualised service.

She doesn’t mince her words, sharing her opinions on Amazon and the unfair tactics of not paying GST in Australia and state taxes in the US so giving an unfair advantage to them at the cost of small businesses like hers. While still reminding us that even still the advantage can be your local store.

The Avid Reader is a hub for the local community of West End and a place for interaction, a coffee and a chat or just perusing another fine book.

The web site is www.avidreader.com.au

email is books@avidreader.com.au

To automatically receive this podcast freely to you, click on one of the links to the left or search in iTunes for “Your Story.”

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Music is from iodaPROMONET

The New Rochelle Rotary Club
“Air Currents” (mp3)
from “Air Currents”
(Radar Recordings)

More On This Album

 

Welcome To Episode Thirteen of Your Story.

Today we talk with John Pene-Fonmosa who in explaining his heritage from the slavery of the South Sea Islanders known as Kanakas and their strong work ethic offers an opposing thought on the Sorry concept that is in the public mind at present.

He feels that the Aboriginal Australians should say sorry to the Australian populations for surprising reasons.

He has strong opinions on how fortunate we all are in Australia and how he is creating his own reality through the development of his Authentic Aboriginal Art Gallery in Brisbane.

His website is www.indijnarts.com.au
email is indijnarts@bigpond.com

His poem that he recites during the show is…

Please Forgive Us

Aborigines lived, on Australian plains
No-one else there, but the wind and rains
Happy and free, living as one
Listen, the birds, the animals
Greet the morning Sun

For thousand of years, or so it appears
The air was pure, the land was clean
The mountains, the forests were pristine
Hunters, gathers, on the move
How could they know, these pale strangers, would disapprove

Hunted and chased, like animal herds
Far from their lands, to be placed on reserves
The dancing, the dreaming, their art to be scorned
The hurting, the weeping, the bitterness, had been spawned

Made to feel like a stranger, in our own land
Please try and help us, to understand
What you have taken, was rightfully mine
There was, no agreements, of treaty to sign

Is it wrong to ask, that justice be made
For all the broken spirits, your foundations have laid
We’re only asking, that the truth should be known
Please forgive us, if bitterness and anger we’ve shown

John Pene-Fonmosa
Fingal Head N.S.W. 1985

Music is from iodaPROMONET

Levan Vs Ekala
“Happiness” (mp3)
from “Happiness”
(System Recordings)

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Welcome To Episode Twelve of Your Story.

I sometimes wonder how the world sees the Australian culture that I know so well. Do they believe the myths that are played out in the media or do they believe something else? I also wonder, but very rarely, what is going on with mental health, a field I know no one to have interacted with. Also what of the impact of drug use on mental health, is it something to be concerned with, especially as I have a teenage daughter? Well here are some insights from some one who knows.

Today we talk with Adam who as a psychiatrist working within the mental health system in drug and alcohol issues. He made the leap to Australia as a migrant a few years back.

In his own British style he gives us an interesting and insightful view of Australia from the government to social and personal cultural styles.

Adam explains some of the failings of the health system but also what works. Particularly how through support from the compassionate community around a person with mental health issues there is the possibility for a bright future.

The points that Adam primarily makes will resonate with most, as the fundamental issues that we all want in life. In that we all want a good, happy life with our community.

Despite the many and I’m sure appalling things that Adam has seen he has an upbeat and positive view on Australia. Mentioning several times how people managed to succeed in the majority of cases and that it is the few that fall through the system that we focus on rather than the majority of successes.

To automatically receive this podcast freely to you, click on one of the links to the left or search in iTunes for “Your Story.”

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Music is from iodaPROMONET

Craig Taubman
“Maoz Tsur” (mp3)
from “The Hanukkah Lounge”
(Craig ‘n Company)

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Welcome To Episode Seven of Your Story.

Today we talk with Troy Dorosz who is inspired to connect community groups with his Bound Together concept.

It’s a simple concept of combining the resources of many different groups, while maintaining their individuality, maximising their strengths to fill the holes of other groups, ensuring that those in need and those who donate sponsorship get the greatest possible benefits.

His website is bondtogether.org and his email is troydorosz.gmail.com

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Music is from iodaPROMONET

Matt Chandler
“I Am Yours” (mp3)
from “I Am Yours”
(RecEDGe Records)

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