Category: Copy

Paul – GetUp! Reply| Sat 9/12/2017

https://outlook.live.com/owa/?path=/mail/inbox/rp

Paul says this at the beginning of his letter:

“In a shocking abuse of power, the Turnbull Government’s just introduced a ‘GetUp Clause’ devised to attack our independence.1 ”

Reference:
[1] Electoral Legislation Amendment (Electoral Funding and Disclosure Reform) Bill 2017, Section 287H, 7 December 2017 

AND THERE ARE MORE REFERENCES:

[2] GetUp! readies for court battle over bid to link it to Labor and the Greens, Sydney Morning Herald, 23 October 2017
[3] Getting GetUp!: Foreign influence laws target crowdfunded activist, The New Daily, 7 December 2017
[4] ‘Chilling effect’: Charities slam foreign donations ban, Sydney Morning Herald, 5 December 2017
[5] GetUp: Activist group in fight with Australian Electoral Commission over funding disclosure rules, 23 October 2017
[6] Ban on foreign political donations is both too broad and too narrow, and won’t fix our system, 7 December 2017

If you read on here

https://outlook.live.com/owa/?path=/mail/inbox/rp

you can find out more about the Australian Government’s shocking abuse of power and what can be done to halt this kind of abuse in some way. People like the Get Up people and their  supporters give me hope that maybe not all is lost yet in our so called democracy.

 

Looking up old Diaries

THE FOLLOWING IS FROM MY DIARY FROM 2011:

“5th of December, our second daughter’s birthday; the youngest daughter’s birthday is coming up in four days. The two girls are exactly twenty years apart!

Tomorrow, Tuesday, is Thai Yoga for beginners with Chaija Noradechanunt from the University of Wollongong. In the pamphlet it says:

‘Enjoy stretches, breathing work and relaxation practices in a women only place.’

On Tuesday, the 13th December, is going to be the last class for this year.

I like these Thai Yoga classes. I hope they’re going to continue next year. For the Thai Yoga I go to Coniston, which is two trainstops away from where I live.  The Older Women’s Network hire the Community Hall in Coniston for these classes. They say:

‘You’re in good company with Illawarra OWN Wellness Centre. What is a Wellness Centre?

A Wellness Centre provides older women with a different model of health and wellbeing. We offer a holistic approach to improving and maintaining health and coping with illness by providing a variety of choices for healthy living. The Wellness Centre provides an informal, friendly and supportive environment.

We are committed to:

.  Flexible, “drop in” attendance

.  Learning from each other, as well as from health professionals

.  Consumer involvement & participation

‘Social isolation is a threat to the well being and health of us all. As women tend to live longer than men, they are more likely to feel isolated. Being on a limited income further restricts many people and decreases our ability to lead full and productive lives. To enjoy healthy senior years our minds and bodies need to be active and we need to do all we can to ensure we foster a willingness to stay well by keeping active.

An older woman is generally considered to be 50 years and over. Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Women aged 45 Years and over. All are welcome at the Wellnes Centre.’

Thursdays I usually go to a class here in Dapto. It’s a gentle exercise class with Marta Venegas. This class is to improve core strength and balance. I  like these classes. Marta always brings stimulating music along. She sees to it that we keep up with a bit of dancing and also some more serious fitness training. Some of the exercises can be done sitting or standing. This class is breaking up next week. The break lasts to the beginning of February! I must aim at going to the swimming pool more often to maintain some kind of fitness.

My laptop is playing up sometimes. I think I need to take it for another service.”

 

ON THE 5TH OF DECEMBER I PUBLISHED THE FOLLOWING:

“This week we’re going to celebrate our youngest daughter’s birthday: She’ll turn 33 on Friday. Yesterday another daughter of ours turned 53!

Here is a picture of our lovely baby with me at North Wollongong Beach.

I am 44 in this photo. I think our dog was already 13  or 14 years at the time.”

Link to my post from 7th of December 2017

Here is the link and what I wrote yesterday after reflecting on a quote by  Noam Chomsky.

https://auntyuta.com/2017/12/07/december-diary-2017/

. . . .  the expression “diverted to consumerism or hatred of the vulnerable” demands my attention. As a pensioner in Australia without major assets (except for owning own house), I would have to count myself to the bottom half in the population. And yet I must say I lead a comfortable life with most medical expenses covered by Medicare. Is it because the general population in Australia is “diverted to consumerism”? Or is it “hatred of the vulnerable” especially hatred of so called illegal migrants that makes us prosper in Australia? Well, this is something to contemplate. If we stop being “apathetic and passive” does our good life end then? How important is it to have a “good ” life at the expense of the vulnerable? Would the vulnerable have a better life if we stopped consuming so much?

So, the powerful think they can do as they please. They may think they can do it, but surely eventually this must lead to some kind of disaster. I mean some major disasters like wars are affecting the vulnerable already, but maybe it is only a matter of time when major disasters hit everyone on this planet. So should there be any survivors, they are going to have a lot to contemplate . . . .

Today, Friday, I want to reflect a bit more on Chomsky’s quote. He speaks about the powerful and that they “can do as they please”.  I ask myself why do they seem to think that they “can do as they please”? Does anyone know the answer to that?

Here is Chomsky’s quote again:

DSCN3541

 

Christiane von Goethe

In my previous post I published my thoughts regarding the equality of women in connection with the Life of ChristianeVulpius: 

https://auntyuta.com/2017/12/03/christiane-vulpius/https:/

The following is another article about her Life that I just copied from Wikipedia:

“Christiane Vulpius spent her childhood in the Luthergasse, one of the oldest parts of Weimar. Her paternal ancestors were academics for several generations. On the mother’s side she came from a craftsman family. Her father Johann Friedrich Vulpius , office archivist in Weimar, d. H. File copyist, had studied law for a few semesters , but stopped studying. His job was poorly paid, the family lived in very distressed conditions, especially since the father did everything to allow the eldest son Christian August tostudy. Christiane was forced to work as a cleaning lady in a small Weimar factory with Caroline Bertuchaccept; this was a branch of Friedrich Justin Bertuch , who was not only active in the publishing business. This was all the more necessary as the father was dismissed prematurely because he was charged with an irregularity. But she was not a worker, but was one of the employed “unemployed girls of the middle classes”. From her six siblings later her brother Christian August was known as a writer of entertainment novels.

Christiane and August von Goethe, watercolor by Johann Heinrich Meyer(1793)

Memorial plaque on the house Luthergasse 5 in Weimar

Grave on the Jacobsfriedhof in Weimar

Due to various requests for help and applications Goethe knew the location of the family. On July 13, 1788, he met Christiane Vulpius himself in the park on the Ilm , where she gave him a petition for her brother Christian August. In fact, Goethe later repeatedly advocated for his future brother-in-law.

In that summer a passionate love affair developed rapidly between Goethe and Vulpius. The following year, on December 25, 1789, the first child, the son of August , was born. Four other children followed, all dying very early. The happy life and love in this conscience inspired Goethe to his most serene and erotic poems, starting with the Roman Elegies – which not only processed the amorous adventures of his first trip to Italy, but also indirectly sang Christiane – to the 1813 dedicated to his wife poem found (“I went so in the forest for myself …”).

Goethe took the young woman to his house together with her half-sister Ernestine and her aunt Juliane; their sphere of influence remained completely limited to the house and garden. The Weimar court and the society rejected the illegitimate and improper connection, so that Goethe, on the advice of the Duke, had to leave the house on the Frauenplan in the center of Weimar and temporarily move to the “Jägerhaus” on Marienstraße. The victory of the Napoleonic troops after the Battle of Jena and Auerstedt on October 14, 1806 met Weimar hard. When the city was looted by French soldiers, the house on the Frauenplan was also threatened: Christiane energetically opposed invading soldiers and was able to stop the looting until Goethe had achieved official protection by the French commander.

Even after her marriage Christiane was accepted as a “Geheimrätin von Goethe” by the Weimar society only reluctantly and hesitantly. To change the social rejection of his wife, Goethe asked the wealthy widow Johanna Schopenhauer , mother of the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer , to break the barrier with an official invitation to tea. She did it with the remark: “If Goethe gives her his name, we will be able to give her a cup of tea.”

Von Goethe’s letters to her husband show a natural and common sense, but also their educational gaps. Joyful, practical and energetic, she took on the extensive household. For example, after the death of Goethe’s mother, she regulated Aja , in Frankfurt am Mainthe inheritance matters. Goethe often enjoyed social gatherings, danced with pleasure and often attended theatrical performances in Weimar, but also in other places such as. B. Bad Lauchstädt, where the Weimar Theater Society guested in the summer. Even a harmless flirt she was not averse. The correspondence with Goethe proves that he also tolerated occasional “making an apex”. Goethe possessed aesthetic sensibility and the ability to differentiate, and he was sometimes able to advise Goethe. Thus Goethe confessed that he could not and would not continue the theatrical affairs in Bad Lauchstädt without her. These were, of course, sites that remained hidden to many, even close acquaintances. But it was not completely hidden from posterity, which was expressed, among other things, in that one of the Weimar court sculptorsCarl Gottlieb Weisser’s bust of Christiane von Goethe was set up as a bronze copy in the specially erected pavilion of the spa park Bad Lauchstädt at the end of the 19th century .

As he grew older, Goethe’s state of health fluctuated. In 1815 she suffered a stroke. The following year, severe renal failure was added in severe pain. After a week of painful suffering, she died on June 6, 1816. The funeral, in which Goethe did not participate, took place at the Jacobsfriedhof Weimar . Her grave was lost for a long time and was only found again in 1888 and provided with a grave plate. She wears Goethe’s Farewell verses: “You try, O sun, in vain, / To shine through the gloomy clouds! / The whole profit of my life / Is to mourn her loss.”

Christiane Vulpius

These days we hear a lot about women’s equality,  that means, women have the same rights as men. So, at least in our Western societies we have achieved a lot as far as women’s rights is concerned. I keep asking myself, why do some men still not want women to have equal rights? Maybe it is a reflection of what nearly all men were like in the past, Maybe some men just find it too difficult to change. For sure a lot has to do with upbringing and education and what they feel a man must be like.

I am very interested in finding out how prominent women used to live during the time of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s life. In that connection I am especially interested in finding out about women that did not belong to the nobility as for instance Christiane Vulpius who rather late in life became Frau von Goethe, the wife of Wolfgang von Goethe.

It seems to me what class you belonged to very much affected your upbringing and your lifestyle. The class system of course also very much affected men; still the fact remains that men had far more opportunities for advancement than women. with perhaps one exception namely when a women at the right time in her life managed to marry into a different class. In Christiane Vulpius’s case this seemed not to have worked out very satisfactorily. By the time Goethe married Christiane the couple already had a sixteen year old son. And she died ten years later.  I think this is why it is interesting to read about Christiane’s life. I read the biography that Dieter Wunderlich wrote. I copy here the last part of it:

http://www.dieterwunderlich.de/Christiane_Vulpius.htm

“After the defeat of Prussia and Saxony against Napoleon on October 14, 1806 at Jena and Auerstedtplundered the French Weimar. What exactly happened the following night is not guaranteed. Allegedly, Christiane Vulpius saved her lover’s life by courageously putting herself in the way of the soldiers who wanted to plunder the house on the Frauenplan. She held the men down until October 16, when Goethe received a sauvegarde , a letter of protection issued in the name of the Emperor, which kept him and his house safe from French soldiers.

Three days later, on October 19, 1806, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Christiane Vulpius married in the Jakobskirche. Her sixteen-year-old son August was there.

In order to introduce his wife into Weimar society, Goethe persuaded Gdańsk’s widow Johanna Schopenhauer (1766 – 1838) – the mother of the philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer – who moved to Weimar only a few weeks ago, to have tea with them on 20 October. However, the hostility in the population against Christiane von Goethe persisted.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe not only traveled without Christiane, but also lived alone in Jena for months. And when he was at home, he retired to write in the evening, while Christiane played cards with friends.

Goethe’s and Christiane’s life is largely separate. (Sigrid Damm, loc. Cit., Page 214)

Christiane von Goethe was anything but an intellectual, but she liked to go to the theater; she had common sense, was practically gifted, and led the big household with a strong hand. When her mother-in-law Katharina Elisabeth died in 1808, Christiane took care of the inheritance matters of her husband, so that he could write undisturbed.

At the beginning of 1815 Christiane von Goethe suffered two strokes. A third stroke took place at the end of May 1816. Presumably, Johann Wolfgang and Christiane von Goethe saw each other for the last time on May 30, because the poet kept away from his terminally ill wife and lay in bed himself after a painful week on the 6th. June – probably due to uremia – died. He also did not participate in the funeral on the Jacobsfriedhof in Weimar.”

 

How to live an ethical life and change the world

https://www.theguardian.com/australian-ethical-invest-for-a-better-world/2017/sep/25/how-to-live-an-ethical-life-and-change-the-world

Paid for by:

https://www.australianethical.com.au/

“Ethics is about making the right choices for ourselves and the society we live in. With so many challenges facing us and the planet, what can we be doing better?”

I just had a look at this article. I must say that a lot that is pointed out in this article I find fascinating. I am going to copy here just a few sections in this article that I noticed in particular. But I think it is to be recommended to take the time and read the whole article and maybe look at some of the links also. Apparently there are among very successful people quite a few who want to do something good for the society we live in!

In the following copied section is talk about ‘Tribalism’ and how it stands in the way of an honest discussion.

I just read a few pages in Chapter Nineteen of Judy Nunn’s new novel “Sanctuary”.  It seems to me the discussion among people in this chapter shows how tribalism affects the thinking of people. Judy Nunn is very good in showing this in her writing.

https://www.penguin.com.au/books/sanctuary-9780143783855

The following are a few copied sections about what we can do to change the world:

“To live a more ethical, sustainable life we need to avoid letting habits or impulses guide our actions. We need to engage in ethical reflection and conversation. We need to understand ourselves, and we need to talk to others.”

With so much ethical and factual complexity in the modern world, Dr Palmer stresses it is essential to challenge our assumptions and seek out different sources of information, as well as different perspectives on that information.

 “We need to have constructive conversations with people who know
things we don’t, and with people we disagree with.”

Working against this, however, is a tendency towards “tribalism”, which means we often fiercely defend shared opinions rather than investigating issues with an open mind and engaging in complex debate.

Climate change tribalism is one clear example, he says, with similar challenges facing the discussion of issues like refugees and migration, marriage equality, and inequality and discrimination more generally.

“There are different policy approaches we can take (on climate change). But that’s not the roadblock. Tribalism is standing in the way of an honest discussion of the urgent action needed, like a price on carbon to accelerate the transition from fossil fuels to renewables.

“People resist and embrace change to different degrees, but our capacity to change is part of our humanity, and change is going to be essential to meet the massive social and environmental challenges we face.”

 

 

Life and style Empty nest? Not a chance

Saskia Sarginson writes in The Guardian about “millennials”. She says if you Google “millennials” you will come across several negative articles citing their failings. I just read Saskia’s article where she points out that her children millennials, but far from the stereotypes society pokes fun at.

https://www.theguardian.com/profile/saskia-sarginson

My children are millennials, but are far from the stereotypes society pokes fun at

Her article with the above heading was published in The Guardian on 25th  November 2017. Saskia explains that a millennial is a young adult, aged 18-34, She says about the millennials the following:

“They are depicted as entitled, narcissistic and lazy, sponging off  their parents while procrastinating about what to do with their lives; their favourite occupation is documenting every detail of their days in a series of selfies; if they do indulge in a little light ‘adulting’, say microwaving their own supper, then this too will be recorded and posted.”

But Saskia says that her own children are not entitled, narcissistic or lazy but angry, for instance that they have no prospects for getting on the property ladder. Most of all they are angry about the state of the world, such as:

“Global warming, plastic floating in the oceans, fracking, the destruction of the rainforests, pollution, and the evils of factory farming.”

Saskia says that none of her children plan to procreate. Her son says this is the right decision because the world is “so fucked up”. It saddens Saskia, that her children have so little hope for the future.

To read the whole article please go to:

https://www.theguardian.com/profile/saskia-sarginson

 

 

 

 

 

My Grandfather was in the Sejm and later in the Senate

I googled my grandfather’s name and found the following:

https://translate.google.com.au/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Spickermann&prev=search

Josef Alexander Spickermann (born March 6, 1870 in Bloto, Lodz [1] (probably Zgniłe Błoto ), died March 22, 1947 in Leipzig ) was a German politician and deputy of the German minority in Poland in the Sejm of the Second Polish Republic .

Table of Contents [Verbergen]
1 life
1.1 Family and work
1.2 Political career
2 literature
3 individual proofs
Life Edit ]
Family and occupation [ edit | Edit ]
Spickermann graduated from the school in Łódź and already passed the master craftsman carpentry exam at the age of 19. He was also a real estate dealer in Łódź. At the time of the German occupation from 1939 to 1945 he was senior master of the carpentry guild Litzmannstadt, Reichsgau Wartheland . [1]

Spickermann was married and had nine children, three of whom died in infancy. Three sons and three daughters reached adulthood and they started all families. In 1945, the Spickermanns, who joined other relatives, escaped to Pouch at Bitterfeld . [4]

Political career [ edit | Edit ]
From January 1919 Spickermann was a city councilor in Lodz. In the same year Spickermann and Ludwig Wolff were elected as representatives of the German People’s Party (DVP) for the district Lodz- Land Lask – Brzeziny in the Polish Constituent National Assembly (1919-1922) . Spickermann initially remained until 1920 deputies, but was re-elected for 1922-1928 in the Sejm, now for the constituency Konin – Koło – Lentschütz . From 1928 to 1930 he was senator for the Łódź Voivodeship . On 22 November 1930 Spickermann again ran successfully for the Senate, but had to resign his mandate due to an “internal agreement” in the German People’s Association to August Utta . He then retired from politics. [1]

Literature [ edit | Edit ]
Bertold Bergmann: Josef Spickermann, life picture of a German parliamentarian , in: Landsmannschaft Weichsel-Warthe: Jahrbuch Weichsel-Warthe 1960 , Munich 1960 [for this article so far not evaluated].
Ursula Brehmer: Responsibility as a task and life law, Josef Alexander Spickermann on the 50th anniversary of death in: Landsmannschaft Weichsel-Warthe: Jahrbuch Weichsel-Warthe 1997 , Berlin / Bonn 1997, pp. 68-72.
Karl-Heinz Reschke: Josef Alexander Spickermann, On the 60th anniversary of the death of the Sejmabgeordneter and Senator in Poland , in: Landsmannschaft Weichsel-Warthe: Jahrbuch Weichsel-Warthe 2007 , Wiesbaden 2007 [not yet evaluated for this article].
Individual proofs [ edit | Edit ]
↑ Hochspringen nach: a b c d Wilfried Gerke: Contributions to the History of the Germans in Poland during the Second World War 1939-1945. Herne 2008, p. 67.
Hochspringen ↑ Eduard Kneifel: The Protestant-Augsburgischen communities in Poland 1555-1939. Vierkirchen 1971, p. 318.
↑ Hochspringen nach: a b c d e f g Ursula Brehmer: Responsibility as a task and law of life. Josef Alexander Spickermann on the 50th anniversary of his death. In: Landsmannschaft Weichsel-Warthe: Jahrbuch Weichsel-Warthe 1997 , Berlin / Bonn 1997, p. 68.
Hochspringen ↑ Ursula Brehmer: Responsibility as a task and law of life. Josef Alexander Spickermann on the 50th anniversary of his death. In: Landsmannschaft Weichsel-Warthe: Jahrbuch Weichsel-Warthe 1997 , Berlin / Bonn 1997, p. 71.
Hochspringen ↑ Mads Ole Balling : From Reval to Bucharest – Statistical-Biographical Handbook of the Parliamentarians of German Minorities in Central and Southeastern Europe 1919-1945, Volume 1, 2nd Edition . Copenhagen 1991, ISBN 87-983829-3-4 , S. 182nd ( Limited preview on Google Book Search ).

. . .

Kimchi

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimchi

Google referred me to the Wikipedia article about Kimchi, the Korean vegetable dish. This article looked very interesting to me for I like to eat lots of vegetables. I copy here some of this article:

“Kimchi (/ˈkɪmtʃiː/; Korean: 김치, translit. gimchi, IPA: [kim.tɕʰi]), a staple in Korean cuisine, is a traditional side dish made from salted and fermented vegetables, most commonly napa cabbage and Korean radishes, with a variety of seasonings including chili powder, scallions, garlic, ginger, and jeotgal (salted seafood).[1][2]There are hundreds of varieties of kimchi made with different vegetables as the main ingredients.[3][4] In traditional preparations, kimchi was stored underground in jars to keep cool, and unfrozen during the winter months.[2]With the rise of technology, kimchi refrigeratorsare more commonly used to make kimchi.”