7th JULY 2011

Okay, so I guess that I'd just like to add my two cents into the News of the World debacle that has been investigated into since 2005. I really don't know that much about the event, but I feel that reading more about it and listening more to what other people have to say, will help me to understand it better.

On this day in 2011, in the United Kingdom, reports surfaced that the mobile phones of deceased soldiers and their families had been hacked by News of the World staff. It was also revealed that murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler had had her phone hacked as well. All of this forced News of the World to be closed and disbanded on the 10th of July. I feel sorry for the people who lost their jobs and who weren't involved. All because of other people's mistakes.

Most of this stuff has already been discussed, but what I really want to focus on is how that impacts the rest of the world. I guess you could say that I'm a bit of a worrier. Some people might say that I'm a daydreamer. I like to think of myself as "what if?" girl. I constantly look at situations, people, events and think, "well, what if this had happened instead of this? And then, what if they had done that instead?"

In regards to the News of the World issue, what I really wanted to know was what if they hadn't been caught out? How far would they have gone, hacking into certain people's phones?

I hate that now because of this scandal the good name of journalism has been sullied. Although the name of journalism was never really that good. I mean people always associated journalism with sticky-beaking and people putting their noses into other people's business. And now that image has been reaffirmed, the image that all journalists are good at is going too far for the story. So thanks for that News of the World.

And following all of this a whole number of other enquiries into the newspapers and journalistic professions are beginning to emerge. Celebrities and other pissed off actors are all jumping on the bandwagon so to speak, all having their own little stories or anecdotes about how journalists are the devil and they're all out to get the actors exposed. Hey, fellas, the journalists are just trying to of their job.

But then again, I guess we shouldn't get too caught up in what has happened and start looking forwards for the future of journalism. Now that Rupert Murdoch and his whole news empire are under examination, we really have to focus on how journalism is going to get better and learn from the past, I suppose.

I don't know really. It's just hard to get past the fact that they hacked the phones of deceased soldiers, people who defend their countries. 

Image available: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/phone-hacking/8648029/News-of-the-World-phone-hacking-scandal-July-19-as-it-happened.html 

6th JULY 2008

On this day in 2008, 48-year-old American Kent Couch flew a lawn chair attached to balloons across the state of Oregon. Using an air gun to pop the balloons in order to control how high up in the air he flew, Couch landed in the neighbouring state of Idaho, a 378.2 kilometre journey.

It was the third attempt that Couch had made to complete the journey, his first attempt in 2006 being cut short and forcing him to use his parachute to land safely, whilst his second attempt failed in reaching Idaho, landing in Union, Oregon instead.

Lift off for the successful attempt started at 6:44 am, with touch down occurring around 3:56pm, a total travel time of 9 hours 12 minutes.

I love that he travelled all that way using only balloons. I love that that was his goal, his dream, to fly with balloons, sitting in a chair. It reminds me in some ways of the movie UP and I wonder if that was how the screenwriters came up with idea for the movie.

People like Couch really show you what humanity is capable of. Just trying to live their dreams, people like Couch show us all how we could perhaps dream that little bit extra.

If you want to look at Couch's dream that little bit more, visit his awesome website.

Image available: http://www.nowpublic.com/strange/i-flew-my-lawn-chair-235-miles-across-oregon-and-idaho-0

5th JULY 1996

On this day in Scotland, in 1996, Dolly the sheep was born and proclaimed as the first cloned animal to have been born/created.

At the Roslin Institute near Edinburgh, Dolly was cloned by Ian Wilmut and Keith Campbell with an adult somatic cell taken from a six year old ewe's udder, through the process of nuclear transfer.

However, Dolly only lived for six years, dying from a progressive lung disease on the 14 February 2003.

Referred to as the world's most famous sheep, Dolly proved that a cell taken from a specific part of the body could recreate a whole individual.

Not baa-ad, for humans hey?



Image available: http://theemergencyfoodsupply.com/archives/cloned-animals-in-our-food-supply/dolly-cloned-sheep-time-magazine 

4th JULY 1776

Happy American Independence Day world!

Even if you, like my fine self, do not live in the grand and free United States, it does not mean that you cannot revel in the wondrousness that is their severing of ties with the kingdom of Great Britain.

Yes, indeed, you may revel until your hearts and minds are content, for on this day in 1776, when the Declaration of Independence, primarily written by Thomas Jefferson so I am told, is approved by the Continental Congress and signed by 56 delegates from the the Thirteen British colonies established on the Atlantic coast of North America.

It was actually on the 2nd of July 1776 that the legal separation of America from the British Isles occurred, with the Second Continental Congress approving a resolution of independence proposed in June of the same year by Virginian man, Richard Henry Lee. It was officially on this day that America was declared independent from Great Britain.

However, July 4th continues to be one of the most largely celebrated holidays across America, and indeed perhaps even the world (don't hold that one against me though, major generalisation). After being declared an unpaid holiday for federal employees in 1870, it remained as such until 1938 when it was changed to a paid holiday.

Now, as I am not from America, and do not indeed know much about their history save what the movies tell me and what you learn generally from reading and listening to what people say, I love how much this day means to the people of America.

I know that across the world, each country has their own day of celebration unique to that country. Australia Day is one of the greatest days for me, because it's the one day that being a bit of a began is acceptable. We're allowed to just run around with no shoes on and drink beer and wear board shorts and embrace that stereotypical image of what an "Australian"  is. It's the one day out of 365 days that we accept the stereotype.

But to me, American Independence Day just seems eight million times more intense and more embraced. You've got the massive parades, fireworks, the designated food for the day and each state probably has their own little tradition for that day. Sure Australia's got all that, but America! Man, you people just take it to the next level.

Is it all too much?

It's almost like you have to be proud of America to be an American. I mean, what about those Americans who are just happy being alive? What if they aren't super-duper excited that it's Independence Day? What happens to them then? Are they shunned? Forgotten? Ignored?

The horror.

Anyway, I don't know what's going on, but still.

Happy Independence Day America.


Image available: http://www.inlandvalleynews.com/2012/06/27/putting-our-differences-aside-celebrate-americas-independence-day/ 

3rd JULY 2008

I don't like to connect myself to things of politics and war. I don't understand them fully and I feel like if I try to involve myself without knowing everything, I'd just stand to get hurt and pissed off.

So sometimes I forget how much of themselves other people put in, emotionally. Especially Americans. I don't know why, maybe because of their historical roots as a nation, but they always seem to get involved so much, feelings wise.

I was looking at what happened on this day and nothing really stood out, except for this video, called "3rd of July" which was first screen in 2008 at the BET Urbanworld Film Festival and Provincetown International Film Festival. It follows a day in the life of two Iraq war veterans as they struggle to readjust to life in New York City. It was written and directed by a man named Ben Chace in 2007.

It could have been any other day in history, they could have chosen any other day really, but I'm glad that they chose the 3rd so that I can share it and talk about it with you.

I love it, this film. Although it's a little bit dodgy, although the actor playing the child is the worst fake crier I have ever seen, it's still a really good movie, because of what it talks about.

About how sometimes, we do forget the emotional part of war, and just focus on the technical side of war, the side where it's all tactics and marshalling.

It does a really good job of portraying that particular side of war.

I can only link you to it, because I can't download it, but I definitely, DEFINITELY, recommend that you go to the link and watch the clip. It's amazing. Really.

Please, go and watch "3rd of July"




Video available: http://vimeo.com/6519682
Image available: http://www.dylanratigan.com/2011/12/14/thousands-of-us-contractors-will-replace-troops-in-iraq/ 

2nd JULY 2005

See, why couldn't this have been my post for yesterday?

On this day, in 2005, in countries across the world, the LIVE8 concerts were held.

Coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the Live Aid concerts, organised by Bob Geldof in 1985, a string of music legends performed in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, USA, Canada, Japan, The Russian Federation and South Africa ahead of the G8 Summit held in Scotland that year. The idea of the concerts was to put pressure in the meeting of the political leaders and to highlight the aims of the UK's Make Poverty History campaign, as well as a global call for action against poverty.

The event was again organised by Bob Geldof, so it can get a little confusing as to which concert was which. And many people, mainly news sources, did refer to the event as Live Aid 2. However, there was one major difference. LIVE8 was to start what Geldof and other celebrities referred to as The Long Walk To Justice, to make sure that governments and those in high political powers could hear what the masses were saying about poverty.

The concerts did not raise money for the starving countries, rather highlighted and educated the G8 leaders to do more for the world's poor.

And it worked! Hazarh! (Yes, I put that in. I felt it was needed!)

The G8 finance ministers agreed to cancel the debt owned by 18 of the world's poorest countries. How nice of them.

It was one event that I wished I had been old enough to understand. And I would have loved to go to both the LIVE8 concerts and the Live Aid concerts. Just think how cool that would have been. To have been a part of something that had an effect on the world's poverty.

In places like the U.S.A, where the concert was held in Philadelphia, more than 1 million people attended the concert.

And while it is very possible that the people only attended these concerts because they were music concerts and a chance for them to see their favourite musicians, I think that maybe a little part of me would have felt like this, maybe to begin with. But who really cares? As long as the message gets spread!

Some of the performers included Madonna, Robbie Williams, Pink Floyd, Elton John, Coldplay, Black Eyed Peas, Destiny's Child, Alicia Keys, Stevie Wonder, Shakira, The Cure, Passi, Green Day, A-Ha, Otto, Faith Hill, Simple Plan, Jet, Neil Young, Good Charlotte, McFly, Lucky Dube, Pet Shop Boys and even Nelson Mandela. Although, who knows what he would have done.

It would have been so awesome to have gone to one of those concerts. I was definitely born in the wrong era.

Darn it!

Image available: http://charityconcerts.blogspot.com.au/2009/11/normal-0-21-false-false-false.html 

1st JULY 2007

100th POST! How insane is that? That in this short, short space of time, or so it seems to me, I have completed 100 posts! Crazy. But good crazy I hope.

I wanted there to be some really good event that happened today, something that would tie in really well with my 100th POST!! But I just couldn't find anything that was nearly as exciting as I would have hoped for. And believe it or not the most exciting thing was this:

That on this day in 2007, a smoking ban was introduced for public places, such as traditional British pubs, across Great Britain.

I don't know if the people would have liked this very much. I mean, how popular is smoking in a country like Great Britain? I mean, smoking and things associated with smoking, like the cultivation of tobacco, has been occurring since the early 1500's. We've been addicted to filling our lungs with noxious gases, making ourselves sick to the point of death, killing ourselves through our addiction, for that long, for that extensive length of time. Aren't we smart?

In Australia, a variation of smoking laws apply to the different states. In QLD, smoking is prohibited in all pubs, clubs, restaurants and workplaces, as well as commercial outdoor eating and drinking areas, patrolled beaches, children's playgrounds and other outdoor public places. You also can't smoke in cars with children under the age of 16. Because I'm pretty sure that's one gift you wouldn't want from your parents, "Thanks Mum, Dad. Just what I wanted: Cancer."

In the NT, it's pretty simple. Smoking is banned in all enclosed areas of restaurants, licensed clubs and pubs. But you can apparently still smoke at children's playgrounds and around schools. Woot.

I like that all these smoking bans have been brought in. That there are smoking bans so that us non-smoking people can breathe properly is great! I don't want to die by second hand smoking, thanks.

But, is there more that can be done? I surely think so. It is my dream that one day, smoking is gone for good. I know that it's really an empty dream. The amount of people who still smoke, despite all the government ads and the general knowledge that SMOKING KILLS YOU, doesn't really give me much hope as to smoking been stopped altogether. Instead, I guess what I would want, is that smoking be banned from places with children in every state. If the little kids are being exposed to smoking from a really young age, be it through smoking at schools or at home, then what chance do they have?!

Come on Mum and Dad. Can you just stop smoking, for your kids at least?

Or are you that addicted to dried leaves?

How was that for a 100th POST?



Image available: http://skepticdetective.wordpress.com/2012/05/10/hypnosis-and-acupuncture-to-quit-smoking/