Your Story

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:04:34 — 59.2MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Podcast (additional): Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:28:08 — 80.8MB)

Subscribe: RSS

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. Cliff has also been heavily studying through information from apnews.com about supplements and the role they can have in this type of research and treatment.

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.

[click to continue…]

This is just an attempt to see how the WordPress app on the iPhone is as a publishing tool while on the go. It would be a great way to get content up while out and about but the thought of writing long text on this key board seems exhausting. However a quick comment, then a photo and a link would be valid, I wouldn’t want to do much more than that though.

Just to see what it’s like I’ve added a photo also.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:05:27 — 60.0MB)

Subscribe: RSS

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.

[click to continue…]

This morning my good friend Adam Daniel Mezei who I had on the show while I was in Prague asked on twitter what I thought of the Argentine Beef and how much did I eat.

Mmmmm well.

As we know Argentina has a long history within the beef industry being one of the largest exporters in the world. The main reason for such an extensive industry is due to the Pampas, a huge treeless area of South America, much of which is in Argentina cover in rich grasslands perfect for grazing and fattening beef cattle.

I learnt most of what I know about the Argentine beef industry from the show episode that I did with Mike where he explained the difference in the methodologies of raising cattle between Argentina and the US. He wrote an interesting article on how the industry is changing in Argentina and the compromises that he is being forced to make. Suffice to say, what I learnt and tasted of the beef in Argentina is that it is different to what I’m familiar with, particularly in flavour.

I’m not a substantial meat eater, I’m not vegetarian but I eat a primarily vegetarian diet and add meat protein from time to time. My favourite these days is kangaroo for the health and environmental reasons but I do eat beef occasionally. Going to Buenos Aires I ate beef more than I had in many long years which was a bit of a shock on my system but as they say “when in Rome…”

I observed some interesting differences with the way beef is used in the Argentine culture. The retail of it is everywhere. It’s possible to walk into a small corner store and out the back someone is breaking down a side of beef placing chunks of it in the refrigerated display cabinets. At the markets huge quantities of it are just hanging in different stages of butchering as you walk past, next to the cheese and vegetables. It’s everywhere, raw and real, rather than in plastic wrapped Styrofoam trays, just like the old days.

[click to continue…]

It’s taken some time but I’ve finally finished the video of my trip to Buenos Aires in July. It amazing how long video takes to edit but it’s now here.

Like everything in this world of online media production I’m continuing to learn and yet again there are many things that I would do differently, especially while I was in Buenos Aires recording. However this is a good overview of what we got up to.

Enjoy 🙂

Please leave a comment either here or on Viddler. I’m interested in your feed back

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 54:45 — 50.2MB)

Subscribe: RSS

This is the love story that landed Chrissy Dunaway in Australia to be with Cameron Reilly after a whirlwind romance in Ajaccio, Corsica where they meet at the International Napoleonic Congress in 2008.

Their love story is a testament to the power of love and the ability of two people to overcome obstacles and challenges in the pursuit of happiness. It is a reminder that love knows no bounds, and that true love can flourish even in the most unexpected of places.

While the story of Chrissy Dunaway and Cameron Reilly is primarily a tale of romance and love, it is also an example of how sexual intimacy can play a significant role in the development of a relationship. As Chrissy and Cameron’s relationship evolved over time, their physical attraction and sexual chemistry grew stronger, creating a deep and intimate connection between them.

Sexual intimacy can be an important part of any romantic relationship, as it allows couples to connect on a deeper level and share a physical expression of their love and affection for one another. Whether it means exploring new sexual activities and fantasies together such as using toys like dildos that are able to shoot cum lube or many other things, or simply prioritizing physical touch and affection, sexual intimacy can help to strengthen the bond between partners and deepen their connection.

Chrissy or as she is known on twitter @fddlgrl and I  talk of Love at first sight and migration from Seattle to Australia. What lead her to rebel from her upbringing in Southern Utah as a Mormon, eventually to lead her to her move to Seattle and the counter Mormon culture there. Here is a view from both inside and outside Mormonism. Not forgetting  the good in the upbringing and what she has brought with her from that.

Chrissy seems to have landed on her feet in her new life in Australia as a Teacher in the Suzuki Method and performer of Violin, diving into developing a small and already thriving network of students, group classes and orchestral performances. We also briefly discuss what she has noticed in the differences between the Australian and US cultures.

[click to continue…]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 40:48 — 37.5MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Welcome To Episode 44 of  Your Story.

Frank Almeida migrated from Chicago USA to Buenos Aires with his wife in 1999, where after a couple of business ventures left the corporate world and in time established a gourmet cookie manufacturing company Sugar and Spice.

Sugar and Spice is the first and only serious Gourmet cookie manufacturer in Argentina using the best of ingredients to make the biscuits that our mother would make at home. That’s the philosophy that is still carried out in his model manufacturing facility.

Frank showed me around and although a large quantity of product is produced there were people hand cutting chocolate, sifting ingredients and hand filling packaging, just like you would do at home. It’s just the quanties and machinery are larger but it’s basically an overgrown home kitchen.

He currently supplies nationally, including to major corporations and is credited with starting the trend towards gourmet cookies within Argentina.

[click to continue…]

It started about two years ago when I heard that a new coffee maker was coming on the market. So curiously I followed the links to discover the beauty that is the new OTTO Stove Top Espresso Coffee Maker.

Since then I’ve been on a mailing list, receiving irregular updates as to how the development of the OTTO was going, only to be constantly left wondering if it would ever finally be available. The little bit of information I’ve been able to glean by reading between the lines is that there must have been some design and manufacturing issues which delayed the release of the production model. This doesn’t surprise me as this is one of the harder design challengers out there to manufacture and a credit to the originator of the concept as developed in the Atomic Stove Top Cappuccino Maker.

I’ve had an Atomic for a few years now that I was fortunate enough to pick up second hand in an Op Shop. Even so I still paid $350 for it and I know that the value of Atomics can get pretty silly at times due to the lack of availability, that was up until recently.

When I saw the OTTO I thought that this was simply a copy probably brought about by the lack of availability of Atomics but the OTTO is significantly different in several features. Significant enough to win an Australian International Design Award and is currently a finalist in the International Design Excellence Awards.

[click to continue…]