Geoff's BlogSometimes serious, sometimes not. Geoff's Living Family History News Blog will keep you up to date with the ever ongoing flow of living history with snippets of news that don't always make the headlines. To add your name to my SquawkAbout mailing list - and to join our Living Family History community so that you are kept informed and 'in the loop' for any changes, please just fill out the form below. To subscribe for automatic updates, right click on the orange RSS button (see top left) and then paste the URL into your RSS reader. Aug 9, 2010, Should We Send Our Seniors to Jail?Are we treating our Seniors properly?.... or would they be better in jail? (The following article appeared in the Townsville Daily Bulletin - About Town with Mary Vernon) Suggestion is to put our seniors in jail and the criminals in nursing homes. This way the seniors would have access to showers, hobbies, free prescriptions, dental and medical treatment and they'd receive money instead of paying it out. They would have constant video monitoring, so they could be helped instantly if they fell, or needed assistance. Bedding would be washed twice a week, and all clothing would be ironed and returned to them. A guard would check on them every 20 minutes and bring their meals and snacks to their cell. They would have family visits in a suite built for that purpose. They would have access to a library, weight room, spiritual counselling, pool, and education. Simple clothing, shoes, slippers, PJs and legal aid would be free, on request. Each senior could have a PC, a TV, radio, and daily phone calls. And the criminals?... Well, they'd get cold food, be left alone and unsupervised, lights off at 8pm and showers once a week. They'd live in a tiny room for which they would pay $5000 a month with no hope of ever getting out. Jul 12, 2010, Opal Fossicking in Outback QueenslandOpal Fossicking where Australian Dinosaurs roamed near Winton in Outback Queensland Permalink -- click for full blog post "Opal Fossicking in Outback Queensland" Jul 12, 2010, Dinosaur Bones FoundDinosaur Bones of a Dinosaur that roamed Western Queensland 93 million years ago have been discovered near Winton Permalink -- click for full blog post "Dinosaur Bones Found" May 6, 2010, Living in the 1940sLiving in Australia in the 1940s Permalink -- click for full blog post "Living in the 1940s" May 4, 2010, DubLi Auction ... Unique Bid Auction SuccessDubLi Auction Success. A system that works at the Unique Bid Auction. Permalink -- click for full blog post "DubLi Auction ... Unique Bid Auction Success" Apr 24, 2010, Our ANZAC Soldiers ... Lest We Forget!As ANZAC day approaches we remember our ANZAC soldiers whose lives we celebrate each year on 25th April. Permalink -- click for full blog post "Our ANZAC Soldiers ... Lest We Forget!" Apr 6, 2010, The Family GhostHow the Family Ghost became part of one family's history with what some believe is a true ghost story Permalink -- click for full blog post "The Family Ghost " Mar 15, 2010, Recording Family HistoryRecording Family History should include your living family history for future generations Permalink -- click for full blog post "Recording Family History" Mar 9, 2010, Help WantedJodie, who lives in Australia, wants some help to find someone who would like to buy a pre 60s 'Frozen Food Packaging Kit'. Here is her message. "Hi, I was wondering if you could help me. I have just recently been through my grandmas cupboards and found a few things that I wanted to sell for her. Wow there were some treasures. Do you know where I could sell things other than ebay. I was wanting to find an appreciative audience to get a good price for Grandma. I have a boxed 'Frozen Food Packaging Kit' still with packaging boxes and instruction manuals etc. I am not sure what year it is from but it is at least the 60's I also had a first aid kit from the 40's but was told I wouldn't get much for that...so it went to the bin, much to my disgust. I would love your advice. Kind regards Jodie If you are interested in this item or know where she might be able to sell it, please let me know and I will pass your message on to Jodie. Geoff Mar 8, 2010, Record Floods in Western Queensland, 2010Massive damage from record floods in western Queensland in 2010 as some towns clean up others wait for the flood water to arrive Permalink -- click for full blog post "Record Floods in Western Queensland, 2010" Mar 2, 2010, Our pool to pond conversion revisitedWe revisit our pool to pond conversion to show you how it looks now Permalink -- click for full blog post "Our pool to pond conversion revisited" Mar 2, 2010, Pool Conversion - How to Replace a Pool with a Living Water FeaturePool Conversion - How to Replace a Pool with a Water Lily Pond Feb 2, 2010, Benhall, SuffolkBenhall, Suffolk ... No! Not Ben Hall the notorious Australian bushranger. I am talking about Benhall the quiet Suffolk village with thatched cottages and old world charm, where even the school still has a thatched roof. Visit the 'Benhall, Suffolk' webpage at http://www.asletts.com . You will find a brief village life insight from the mid 1920s to the mid '30s and you may go to the accompanying Benhall Gallery to see photos of The Lodge, Benhall, and the village Church, School and cottages of Benhall Green. Tell me what you think? Dec 30, 2009, Top cars of the 1950sTop cars and dream cars of the 1950s Permalink -- click for full blog post "Top cars of the 1950s" Dec 30, 2009, Life in the 1950sActivities and daily living in the 1950s Permalink -- click for full blog post "Life in the 1950s" Dec 9, 2009, Simple Living 1940s StyleSimple Living 1940's Style Permalink -- click for full blog post "Simple Living 1940s Style" Nov 8, 2009, North Queensland GlimpseWe're home again after spending 6 weeks in North Queensland, visiting our daughter Katelyn and her family, as well as my sister Marion and Jane's brother John in Townsville, and my brother George at Magnetic Island. We also went further north to Mission Beach where we spent a few days at a Hawaiian style bungalow in a very attractive beachside setting overlooking Dunk Island. We caught up with several of our relations, some of whom we hadn't seen for years. We even went up to Charters Towers, Jane's old home town, west of Townsville. The Towers was a booming gold mining town of well over 30,000 people at the end of the 19th century, but now numbers about 7,000. In it's hey-day it was known as "The World", and it boasted of having the only Stock Exchange outside a Capital City, as well as a Pub on every corner. It's an interesting town with lots of unusual buildings, mostly wood and corrugated iron. Oddly enough, Kate's house in Townsville was once a miner's cottage at the Towers. It, along with many others, was moved to Townsville (and other NQ towns) when the gold ran out at the Towers. However there is still gold to be found around Charters Towers and mines have been opened in the district in the last couple of decades. One noticeable feature of the Towers is the huge flying fox population that has taken over the once beautiful Lissner Park in the centre of the town. Flying Foxes are large fruit bats that are regarded as cute and precious creatures by some, and disease carrying vermin by others. Some believe that the Horse Flu, or Hendra Virus, that is often fatal to humans, should more properly be called Flying Fox Flu, as it is spread by Flying Foxes to horses in the first place. Now back in Brisbane, we are catching up on all the things, like repotting my waterlilies, that were neglected while we were away. It did not take the lorrikeets and king parrots long to realise that we were back, and they soon started turning up for a snack of sunflower seeds when they were feeling a bit peckish. It's nice to get back to normal after a few weeks away from home. Nov 2, 2009, Fundraising for School, Charity and ClubsFundraising for School, Charity, Clubs and a variety of other organisations just became a lot easier with the introduction of the DubLi Partner Program. Permalink -- click for full blog post "Fundraising for School, Charity and Clubs" Aug 2, 2009, What SwineAus News, at the weekend, reported that Pigs at a piggery at a place called Dunnedoo, in New South Wales, have caught Swine Flu from Humans. If only pigs could talk, I bet they would be giving more than a grunt of disapproval about careless humans passing on their infectious diseases. I wonder if the poor pigs will be given flu shots and have to wear face masks on their snouts. More likely they will be condemned to death for no fault of their own. Jul 28, 2009, Battle City Brisbane 2009Brisbane became Battle City when Breakdancers invaded the 2009 Queensland Music Festival. Music lovers were shocked and amazed, but there was No Haydn when the Breakdance crews Battled for Festival s Permalink -- click for full blog post "Battle City Brisbane 2009" Jul 27, 2009, Workplace Health & Safety Huh?I was sitting at my computer this morning when I heard Jane burst out laughing in the next room. She was listening to the wireless, where a chap in Brisbane was telling how he offered to take part in an experiment being run by an electricity supplier to help reduce the excessive use of electricity by household airconditioners. Seems the electricity supplier was offering incentives, as a trial, to people who agreed to allow the installation of a device in home airconditioners which would enable the supplier to monitor the aircons during times of peak usage and remotely prevent overload. The Brisbane chap agreed to take part, but when the workmen arrived to install the device they said they could not install it as his aircon was too high up the wall, about 10 feet, as they only had a short step ladder. He offered to let them use his taller stepladder, but they refused, saying that were not allowed to do that. When he asked why they had not brought a taller ladder they replied that Workplace Health and Safety would not permit them to use a taller ladder. Oh! dearie dearie me, have we reached the stage when tradesmen are not permitted to climb ladders over three feet? I would love to hear what you think, or if you have a better story about bureaucracy going bonkers. Jul 24, 2009, Your Words Create Your WorldMaria Andros, described as one of the world's leading social media experts, gave this quotation in an interview with Gideon Shalwick ... "Your Words Create Your World." That little quote caught my attention and it made me think of the words of the old Simon and Garfunkel song, that my kids used to listen to, "People talking without speaking ... People hearing without listening." Thirty years on the lyric would have to be, "People tweeting without speaking." and "People talking without listening." Seems like everyone is tweeting, but is anyone paying attention. Is it possible for someone with hundreds of followers to be able to follow what their followers are tweeting about? If not, are the followers aware that their tweets are being totally ignored? Could it be that the World Wide Web is suffering from verbal diarrhoea? There is such a deluge of verbosity on the net. Content is king, they say, but what if the content is rubbish, re-hashed and repeated over and over again. Why use one word when 47 will do, and 97 will do even better, seems to be the way of the Internet. Is it really acceptable to take some content and cut and paste it over and over again so that it is re-hashed 20 or 30 or 50 times and published on the Net under slightly different headings? Is this technique really the best way to catch the attention of search engines? Surely one article with unique content should attract more credit? The front page list of one publisher's latest publications might show Author A. credited with 6 articles on the general subject of 'Lose Belly Fat', followed by Author B with 4 articles on the same subject. Following that, you might find 4 articles by the same Author A on the subject of 'Get Your Ex Back', again followed by Author B with 6 articles on the same general subject. Even blind Freddy would see that Author A and Author B would likely be the same person, so how does the acceptance of such tactics reflect on the standards and reputation of the publisher of such articles. Remember, Maria Andros said, "Your words create your world." What sort of a world is that author and that publisher creating for themselves on the Internet? One can only congratulate Squidoo.com who recently set about cutting out poor quality and undesirable articles. Jul 6, 2009, How Old is GrandPa?How-Old-is-GrandPa? Consider the changes in just one lifetime. Permalink -- click for full blog post "How Old is GrandPa? " Jul 3, 2009, Can you Make Money BloggingCan you make money blogging - That's a question that a lot of people would like to have answered. Permalink -- click for full blog post "Can you Make Money Blogging " Jul 1, 2009, Musso the Magnificent GalahA tale about Musso the Magnificent, a Galah in Western Queemsland Permalink -- click for full blog post "Musso the Magnificent Galah" Jun 30, 2009, Outback Picnic RacesOutback Picnic Races are great fun for all the family. It is easy to meet new friends among the friendly and relaxed people at the Picnic Races Permalink -- click for full blog post "Outback Picnic Races " Jun 23, 2009, The Global Recession is Upon UsHow to Beat the Global Recession Permalink -- click for full blog post "The Global Recession is Upon Us" Jun 10, 2009, Did I Hear Right? Incorrect IntelligenceDid I hear right? Did I actually hear George W. Bush admit that the intelligence that led to the invasion of Iraq was incorrect? Permalink -- click for full blog post "Did I Hear Right? Incorrect Intelligence" Jun 10, 2009, Be My Valentine - OriginMid-February has long been an important date for the lovesick young Permalink -- click for full blog post "Be My Valentine - Origin" Jun 10, 2009, High Diddle Diddle Was There A FiddleSwine Flu Pandemic has fizzled out for the moment Permalink -- click for full blog post "High Diddle Diddle Was There A Fiddle"
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