Uta’s Diary, Mach 2016

This is Fairy Meadow Beach on Saturdarday, 4th of March. Peter and I were yesterday at that beach. It was a warm day. I wanted to go into the water for a bit. There was a sandbank a short distance from the shore. The water in the front looked beautiful and clear. However, when I attempted to go in it, I felt the sand under my feet shifting a bit. I decided then, I would rather stay out of the water for I was a bit scared I might to easily lose my balance.

The water was warm enough for Peter. He did go right in it, while I was watching our belongings. As I said, it was a warm day and very sunny. But it was also a bit windy. So we did not feel too hot. We stayed only for about half an hour on the beach. Afterwards we did some shopping in Fairy Meadow’s Leisure Coast Fruit Shop, where we met up with Caroline and Mathew.

Before I left the beach area I found some facilities:

Someone had built this in an area where the sand was moist enough.

I thought this cloud had a rather curious shape.

Fairy Meadow Beach is actually the beach that we had been to for the first time in July 1959 after we had been in Australia for only a couple of months. We went swimming there in the midst of the Australian winter. We did find the water warm enough for us. And the sum was shining and felt beautiful hot!

Playing Pokies?

https://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/pokies-play-you/pokies-petition-costello/you-don-t-play-the-pokies-they-play-you?t=4REogTBLE&utm_campaign=Pokies+set+to+%22slaughter%22&utm_content=10577&utm_medium=email&utm_source=blast

You don’t play the pokies, they play you

Industry whistleblowers broke the silence on poker machines last week, in explosive documentary Ka-Ching! Pokie Nation.

Composers, mathematicians and animators went on the record to reveal the truth: you don’t play the pokies, the pokies play you.

With few politicians willing to speak out against this multi-billion dollar industry, it’s up to us to stop the con.

We’ll be working with Tim Costello and the Alliance for Gambling Reform, who have all the expertise we need to take on the pokies industry. All that’s missing is a grassroots movement to back them in.

Will you sign onto the petition to get the pokies con out of our communities and our politics?

For too long the pokies industry has deflected attention away from its machines, targeting the “irresponsible gamblers” who play them. Ka-Ching! went inside the machines to show how addictive technologies are used to keep people playing well beyond their means.

Watch Ka-Ching! Pokie Nation online

So what next?

We’re working with Tim Costello and the Alliance for Gambling Reform, who have all the to hold to account the people who make, control and regulate these machines – from Woolworths, the largest poker machine owner in the country, to government ministers, many of whom sit cosily in the pockets of the gaming industry.

If we can build enough power together in coming weeks, GetUp members will work closely with the Alliance for Gambling Reform to uncover the truth about poker machines. Together we’ll:

Blow the lid off the gambling industry by exposing how poker machines are designed to keep people playing and fuel addiction
Shame companies profiting from pokies addiction, costing them customers and investors
Take on the poker machine industry in the courts.

Then, when we’ve demonstrated the deliberate, misleading conduct of the pokies industry, we’ll take the fight to Parliament House, to the doorsteps of our MPs and senators.

GetUp is joining forces with the Alliance for Gambling Reform on ‘The Pokies Play You’ campaign. Read more about the Alliance in the drop-down link below.

Who are the Alliance for Gambling Reform?

Tell me more about the pokies con

Poker machines are mathematically programmed to return around 90% of the money put in – put in $10, get back $9; then put in your $9 and get back $8.10, and so on. This means, the more you play, the more you lose, until users are left with nothing.

Revelations about poker machine design have shown how machines are custom built for “process addiction”, triggering positive chemical responses in the brain. Users are awarded with sounds and animations to reinforce “desirable” behaviours.

Poker machines manipulate the user through techniques like “losses disguised as wins”. This is when a user is fed some winning lines, which are celebrated as a win with bright lights and loud noises, when they’ve actually experienced a net loss.

Another technique is “near misses”, where the reel of the machine is laid out to mislead the user into thinking they’ve only just missed out on a win.

With almost 200,000 poker machines in Australia, generating billions in revenue every year, pokies represent a ruthless transfer of wealth from ordinary Australians ensnared by addictive technologies, to the gaming industry and government.

Fed up with your community being conned by an industry built on addiction? Let’s stop the pokies con.

What John Lord writes about today in AIM (Australian Independent Media) Network

I find this article by John Lord well worth reading

If you want to read it, please go to:

http://theaimn.com/day-to-day-politics-the-evil-priest/

John Lord says in his article: “Cardinal Pell in giving evidence to the Royal Commission into the abuse of children uttered two of the most debauched sentences ever spoken by an Australian cleric. . . .”

Further he says: “Is John Howard seriously suggesting that people such as these don’t speak out because of some sort of fear of political correctness? That’s the most ludicrous thing I have ever heard. . . . ”

And then there are some interesting observations by John Lord about “the Safe Schools programme” and the “Broadband policy”.

The following (John Lord’s thought for the day) is towards the end of his article.

My (John Lord’s) thought for the day:

‘Truth is pure yet fragile and requires delicacy in delivery. There are however times when it needs some diplomatic force to make it register’

Uta’s Diary, a Continuation from the 26th of February 2016

I reblogged on the 25th of February 2016 this article which has the title:

“CONDITIONS MASQUERADING AS DEMENTIA”

They say, that dementia and even Alzheimers can be controlled by adopting a very healthy life-style. Here is a link to that article.

https://auntyuta.com/2016/02/25/7-conditions-masquerading-as-dementia/

I said in my diary from the 26th of February that I wanted to come back to that article, which is written by health coach MARGIE KING. She says among other things “A new program from UCLA and the Buck Institute for Research on Aging offers new hope. In the first study of its kind, researchers have proved that natural therapies can not only slow the progress of dementia but can actually reverse it.”

This article is actually written by health coach MARGIE KING, She says among other things “A new program from UCLA and the Buck Institute for Research on Aging offers new hope. In the first study of its kind, researchers have proved that natural therapies can not only slow the progress of dementia but can actually reverse it.”

The UCLA protocol recognizes that dementia can have many causes and those causes are often reversible.

I copied the following from MARGIE KINGS’S article:

” . . . Sharp Again Naturally (www.sharpagain.org) is a non-profit organization formed in 2012 to educate the public and the medical community about the reversible causes of dementia.

Here are seven areas Sharp Again Naturally suggests you investigate before accepting a dementia or Alzheimer’s diagnosis. These are conditions that may cause memory loss and dementia but can be reversed.

1. Nutritional imbalances and deficiencies. Deficiencies of omega 3s, vitamisn B12, vitamin C, magnesium, selenium, probiotics, and other nutrients frequently cause symptoms of Alzheimer’s and dementia.

Adhering to a balanced Mediterranean-style diet is associated with slower cognitive decline. It’s also linked to a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s.

Studies also show low vitamin D levels are linked to Alzheimer’s. Low folate (vitamin B9) may also lead to cognitive decline.

Adding coconut oil may rescue a brain from Alzheimer’s. And turmeric is known to boost working memory in just one dose.

2. Artificial food colors, flavors, and sweeteners. Artificial additives of all kinds may cause dementia symptoms.

Studies show the artificial sweetener aspartame impairs cognitive function and leads to memory loss.

3. Prescription medication side effects. Drugs, especially pain medications, and psychotropic drugs can severely disrupt cognition.

Statins are particularly harmful. In one study from the University of California – San Diego, 90 percent of patients who stopped taking statin drugs reported improvement in cognitive problems in a matter of weeks. In some of the patients a diagnosis of dementia or Alzheimer’s was reversed.

Another study showed that the sleep drug Ambien increased the risk of dementia in elderly patients.

4. Inflammation from low-level infections, mold, food allergies, and Lyme Disease. Inflammation is the body’s attempt to get rid of a toxic element or organism, and so it occurs in many different situations, even root canals and urinary tract infections.

Studies suggest that mental disorders result from neuroinflammation.

5. Stress and stagnation/inactivity. Stress elevates cortisol levels, leading to inflammation, and in turn to hormone imbalances, cognitive impairment, heightened blood sugar levels, hypertension, delayed healing time, and susceptibility to disease. The body’s self healing mechanisms depend on unimpeded flow of lymph, blood, and other fluids, all of which are promoted by exercise. Inactivity, by contrast, allows cellular shutdown and blockages, taxing the whole system and interfering with healing on every level.

One study showed that in patients younger than 65 years-old, 41% of dementia diagnoses were incorrect. Misdiagnosis occurred most frequently in patients with depression or alcohol abuse.

6. Thyroid and other hormonal imbalances. Many people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or dementia simply have low levels of T3 thyroid hormone. However, standard thyroid tests completely miss T3 levels, and Synthroid (T4) doesn’t help. It is estimated that 10 to 15% of all nursing home residents may be there because of low T3.

7. Mercury and other heavy metal poisoning. So-called silver amalgam fillings contain 50 percent mercury, and that mercury is neither stable nor inert. It off-gasses, crosses the blood-brain barrier, and destroys neurons even without contact. Removing these fillings is hazardous unless done with mercury-safe protocols.

Annual flu shots are another source of these toxins. Research shows that people who took the flu shot for five consecutive years had 10 times or 1000 percent higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s Disease than people who only had one or two flu shots due to the accumulation of mercury and aluminum in the vaccines.

Most doctors are not expert in these causes of dementia or how to treat them. Sharp Again Naturally is building a medical advisory board and a database to get the word out. It also offers help finding functional medicine specialists, naturopaths, or doctors who practice integrative medicine who are familiar with these areas.

Click here for more information on natural approaches to preventing and overcoming dementia.

The Marriage of Opposites

https://auntyuta.com/2016/02/07/charlotte-amalie/

“The Marriage of Opposites”, is an excellent title, I think. I had this book renewed by the library, but today is the day when it finally needs to be returned. The weeks vanish so quickly. I cannot believe, I’ve had this book for so many weeks. I just remembered, that I had intended to make a note about the different chapters in that book.

Chapter One starts in 1807. It is set in Charlotte Amalie, on the island of St. Thomas, and Rachel Pomie is the narrator. This Rachel did strike me straight away as a very interesting woman. Her relationship with her mother and father in her childhood reminds me a bit about the relationship that I used to have with my parents. I reckon, there are some similarities, but the outward circumstances are totally different to the way I grew up, namely I grew up in a very different place and in a very different time. Due to WW Two and the separation of my parents after the war, I saw my father overall not very often, whereas Rachel’s father always lived with the family . . . . Rachel is not at all the way her mother would like her daughter to be. Girlish things do not interest her at all, but she loves her father’s books and his conversations. Rachel’s father treats her as an intelligent person. This is how she becomes a fairly well educated woman.

The last chapter in the book, CHAPTER ELEVEN, starts in 1855. It is again set in Charlotte Amalie on the island of St. Thomas, and again Rachel by the name of Rachel Pomie Petit Pizarro is the narrator. 1855 is the year when she is determined to go to Paris to live there for the rest of her life. She goes on the sea voyage together with Jestine, her longtime friend from the islands who wants to join her daughter in Paris whom she has not seen since she had been kidnapped as a child. Rachel’s husband was going to come to Paris soon after. He first had to close up their business on the island.

Rachel soon feels very much at home in Paris. She goes on narrating her story in 1863. Alice Hoffman fictionalized the life of Rachel. But all the dates and instances are based on the life of Rachel Monsanto Pomie Petit Pizarro, who died in Paris in 1889 at the age of ninety-four. One of her sons was Camille Pissaro, the artist.

Here now I made some notes about the dates and various narrators in the CHAPTERS TWO to TEN of “The Marriage of Opposites”:

Chapter Two, 1818 Rachel (narrator)

Three, 1823 Rachel (narrator)

Four, 1824 Rachel (narrator)

Five, 1825 Abraham Gabriel Frederic Pizarro (narrator)

Six, 1826 Rachel (narrator)

Seven, 1841 Jacobo Camille Pizzarro (narrator)

Eight, Paris 1847 Lydia Cassin Rodrigues Cohen (narrator)

Nine, St. Thomas 1848 Jacobo Camille Pizzarro (narrator)

Ten, St. Thomas 1855 Camille Pizzarro (narrator)

During most of the book, Rachel is the narrator. The other narrators are the artist, Jacobo Camille (Rachel’s son), Frederic Pizzarro (her second husband) and Lydia, the daughter of Rachel’s friend Jestine, who had been kidnapped from Charlotte Amalie as a child and taken to Paris. When Jestine sees her daughter finally in Paris some twenty years later, the daughter is already married with three beautiful daughters!

Rachel had two marriages, a lot of children (many died early). She did like very much to spend time with her grand-children.

Uta’s Diary, towards the end of February 2016

Yesterday was another very hot day. A couple of days ago we had a beautiful full moon. With the next full moon we’re going to have Easter within sight. I am so looking forward to have Lucas and Alexander around for Easter!

I reblogged yesterday this article about the research they did at UCLA (University California Los Angeles) concerning the disease of dementia, and especially Alzheimers. I found out that dementia and even Alzheimers can be controlled by adopting a very healthy life-style.

From memory I write down now a few things that seem to be very important for good health. If at all possible one should try to live without too much stress, eat only healthy food, sleep enough during the night, namely at least 6 to 7 hours, eat the last thing three hours before one goes to bed, and eat the next thing in the morning after at least 12 hours have passed since having eaten in the evening.

To be continued.

7 Conditions Masquerading As Dementia

Aleppo: A Post by Bryan Hemming

If you want to find out a bit more about what happened recently in Aleppo, please go to the following link. Bryan Hemming raises in his post some interesting questions and observations. I wanted to reblog his post, but somehow the reblogging did not work. Still, if you go to the following link, you can find out very interesting information. The internet is a good thing for getting information from different sources.

https://bryanhemming.wordpress.com/2016/02/19/aleppo-the-corporate-media-credibility-gap/#comment-3385

Aleppo: The Corporate Media Credibility Gap

The following is a copy of just one paragraph from Bryan Hemming’s blog:

” . . . As Turkey’s Recep Erdoğan hardens his resolve to drag NATO into a war from which no winners can possibly emerge, his threats to world stability, following the latest Ankara bombing, are being virtually ignored by the corporate media. To look at headlines featured on the latest Guardian on-line front page, at the time of writing, you could be forgiven for thinking a news blackout has been imposed. . . .”

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/nato-worried-about-possible-turkey-russia-hostilities-a-1078349.html

Putin vs. Erdogan: NATO Concerned over Possible Russia-Turkey Hostilities

Please go to the above link to find out what NATO’s concerns are.

Uta’s Diary, February 2016

This is a picture I took soon after M and D arrived with the hired truck on Thursday, the 11th of February. We were expecting a small truck, but it turned out to be a huge truck! One of the first things they unloaded was some garden furniture, which I think is going to be lovely to have in the backyard.

These are some of the boxes they unloaded apart from the above garden furniture and lots and lots of other things.

Before that Thursday, the 11th, we sorted out hundreds and hundreds of books. Several hundred books were given away or recycled. But still quite a few books remained for ‘safe’ keeping. We had to rearrange a lot of bookshelves!

Last Sunday was the 14th of February. We took a break from sorting out things and met the family for lunch in the park. Afterwards we went to the Port Kembla Saltwater Pools. There were heaps of people in the pool area, for it was a very warm beautiful summer’s day. Our whole family enjoyed the water, including our darling little great-grandsons.

Here now are some pictures from the park by the lake, were we met the family for lunch. Monika did bring along fish and chips for all of us from a nearby shop.

Alexander is happy after his big meal and some drink.

Ryan with Lucas can be seen in the distance. — Ryan can be seen in the distance keeping an eye on Lucas who is roaming along the shore of the lake.

A bit of adventure for Lucas! — This is quite an adventure for Lucas!

It was so good to see all the family on that Sunday. We are looking forward to seeing them all again at Easter. We probably can see quite a few more family members since not everyone was able to make it last Sunday.

During the last few weeks, we discarded some of our furniture that we do not need any more and to make room for a new set-up. Here is one piece of furniture that is to stay, for now!