Good morning all, just a bit of something happy, Australia made it into the final 16 of the World Cup in Qatar. Yay
I have been following it @matildagirl
I am slowly starting to enjoy some of the matches after what seemed a bit of a slow start to the tournament.
I am really pleased Australia are through.
I thought you may be interested in some stories regarding Christmas down under.
Merry Christmas
Regards to all
Just a small thing to get away from unhappy news all the time. After those bad bushfires in 2019/20 and the last couple of years of rain, a bit of a reward.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-12/flannel-flowers-bloom-in-huge-display/101522112
Regards to all
Just in case you are interested the 2023 lamb add has arrived.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bq3UpFAwPbA
Regards to all
This was so much fun to watch. (I also feel that way about lamb!!!)
Thanks for sharing!
NSW in Australia had their state election yesterday and Labor appears to have won and will probably be a majority government. That means as well as Labor being in Federally all the States except Tasmania are now Labor (similar to Democrats).
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-25/nsw-election-labor-predicted-to-beat-coalition/102145470
Chris Minns will become the 47th New South Wales premier after Dominic Perrottet conceded defeat in the state election.
"I take full responsibility for the loss this evening," he said.
He also congratulated Mr Minns on a positive election campaign, that "truly was a race to the top".
"A genuine, battle of ideas, and that is when politics is at its best.
"And that is why I truly believe and have no doubt that he will make a fine 47th premier of New South Wales."
Hopefully more will happen on climate change and hospitals, education etc.
Regards to all
Hi
For some reason I woke in the middle of last night thinking I should explain the differences between our right wing party the Liberal National Party coalition and your Republicans as I have in the past likened them to Republicans and Labor to the Democrats. It’s not really comparing apples with apples.
The LNP is the party that brought in gun control and the gun buyback in the 90’s, they support Medicare, they support 18 weeks paid parental leave (minimum wage $812.60 per week), the disability insurance scheme, 4 weeks annual leave, 10 days sick/carer leave a year, 11% superannuation on top of wages for our personal retirement fund, they brought in the 30% govt subsidy for private health insurance also if you take a pension from your super fund instead of a lump sum the pension is tax free. So since I retired and am living on a pension from my super fund and a part government pension I pay no tax and no longer do a tax return.
So I think the MAGA crowd and republicans would think that’s Communism/Socialism. We consider them right wing because they have gone down that Murdoch/Fox news route with a bit of white supremacy and racism thrown in, they used to be more in the centre, championing the battler, but playing to their fears.
Most of the good things we have have been brought in by Labor and then the LNP get in try and water it down etc. If they try to cancel them, or take away funding or water the legislation down too much they get voted out so hence they support them, perhaps not gracefully.
We tend to think of Labor as the mother and LNP as the father. Labor looks after us LNP look after business and finance. If we have a Federal LNP government we tend to vote in Labor for the states and vice versa. There is also usually a cross bench in the Senate that the government has to negotiate with for legislation to pass. A bit of checks and balances. So far it seems to work.
It’s unusual at the moment that Labor is in government in the states as well as federally (except TAS). It may be because the Coalition had been in for 10 years and were getting very right wing and Morrison was so disliked, also we are in the most debt we have ever been which meant maybe they aren’t the best money managers after all. Dad’s been ostracised and the current opposition aren’t helping themselves as they have decided to campaign for the No Vote in the coming referendum on changing the Constitution to allow an Indigenous Voice to Parliament. Referendums very rarely get a YES vote unless both parties are in agreement. They are playing a racism card, somehow thinking going further to the right will get them back in.
Bear in mind these are my thoughts and opinions.
Regards to all.
The resting place of the ship has been found, our worst loss of life at sea.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-22/montevideo-maru-wwii-shipwreck-found/102255384
The ship at the centre of the worst maritime disaster in Australia's history has been discovered more than 4,000 metres beneath the sea, 81 years after it sank.
Japanese transport ship SS Montevideo Maru sank with about 979 Australian troops and civilians on July 1, 1942, off the coast of the Philippines.
It was torpedoed by an American submarine, which did not know it was carrying prisoners of war and civilians captured in Rabaul.
In total, about 1,060 prisoners were lost, including 850 service members and 210 civilians from 14 countries.
The wreckage will not be disturbed, and no human remains or artefacts will be removed.
"We lost nearly twice as many [Australians] as in the whole of the Vietnam War, so it's extraordinarily significant for families and descendants.
Regards to all
I think they did a movie about it, starring Glenn Ford. In the movie, the submarine Captain sunk it even though he new his wife was on board. Don't remember why he had to sink it.
@elaineg Hi Elaine
I don't know of a movie but there was a documentary done in 2009.
http://www.montevideomaru.com.au/about.php
About the Film
Producers: John Schindler & Bob Blasdall
Director: David Napier
D.O.P.: Tony O'Loughlan
Editor: Bob Blasdall
It is early in the morning on the 1st of July 1942 and the high speed POW “hell ship” MONTEVIDEO MARU is chased into the South China Sea by American submarine USS STURGEON. The submarine crew has no way of knowing that this ship is in fact a floating prison with over 1,000 Australian POW’s and civilian internees locked in the holds.
THE TRAGEDY OF THE MONTEVIDEO MARU recounts the harrowing story of the sacrifice and suffering endured by these men and boys during the Pacific War. There are accurate reenactments of the sinking and other shocking events. Witnesses recount the horrific events publicly for the first time. These include the only Japanese crew member alive today who survived the ordeal and a USS Sturgeon crew member who witnessed through the periscope the sinking of the MONTEVIDEO MARU.
This outstanding 2 hour documentary is presented and narrated by Australian actor John Jarratt and produced by award winning documentary Producers Bob Blasdall and John Schindler.
THE TRAGEDY OF THE MONTEVIDEO MARU also explores the broader story of torturous POW experiences and features first hand accounts from both Australian and British survivors of 2 other hell ship sinkings, the Rakuyo Maru and the Kachidoki Maru.
There is breathtaking original film of the rescue of survivors by USS PAMPANITO and other American submarines. Interviews with American submarine veterans provide first hand actual accounts of these amazing events in World War 2.
I haven't seen it and only just found this bit of information after your post.
Regards
Matildagirl
@lovendures Yes that's the one. In the movie per reviews , the captain was told to sink a carrier, but had to sick a another ship with pows. The one reviewer did mention the real sinking of a ship.
I started looking into Hellships after finding that information on the finding of the SS Montevideo Maru. Kind of wished I hadn’t. The treatment by the Japanese on the Allied POWs which include Americans from the Philippines was horrendous. There are some articles below but I quite understand if you don’t read them.
In all, some 22,000 Allied prisoners of the Japanese died in “hellship” disasters, 19,000 of them as a result of “friendly fire” incidents. In fact, more Allied prisoners of war were lost on the hellships than died on the Burma-Thailand Railway. In the largest of these disasters, 6,520 prisoners, mostly Indonesian labourers, were killed when the Jun’yō Maru was sunk on 18 September
https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/blog/70th-anniversary-sinking-rakuy-maru
American POWs on hellships.
https://archive.wvculture.org/history/wvmemory/vets/hellships.html
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/world-war-ii-hell-ships/
This one is graphic.
Shared history
Regards to all
Why I like having a Labor government.
The federal government will commit a record $11.3bn in next week’s budget to fund a 15% pay rise for aged care workers in line with the Fair Work Commission’s order for staff in the sector.
Ministers hope the historic wage increase for underpaid workers, to begin from July, will attract thousands more staff into aged care homes and push the government closer to its election promise of having nurses on duty 24/7 in all facilities.
Regards to all
This is a fluff piece I guess but what a beautiful looking snake
A change of pace from what’s happening in the world
regards to all
@matildagirl Yikes... that's what... 16+ feet long? Love that the python checked out the lights before leaving!
@matildagirl I love these lamb ads... and I adore lamb (both the fuzzy kind... and the roasted)! Thanks for sharing.
Some information for all of us who get back pain and it’s not more drugs.
https://amp.abc.net.au/article/102530382
Australian researchers are calling for an end to the use of opioid drugs for the treatment of acute back and neck pain after finding the pain-relieving medicines are no more effective than a placebo but have the potential to cause harm.
Each time he tried something new, he'd get some relief, but it never lasted. The pain always returned.
But that changed in 2019 when he completed a new 12-session program developed by Australian researchers.
In a clinical trial published in the Journal of the American Medical Association this month, people who underwent the program, called sensorimotor retraining, reported less pain and disability on average after treatment than those who didn't.
About a quarter of program participants — including Mr dos Santos Costa — fully recovered.
Regards to all