Violence in any form

Putting this up with a slight sense of hesitation.
The problems of the Church and institutions has been in the news more often than not. Certainly over the past few months things have come spewing out as witnesses or victims have come forth to give evidence to the various commissions and bodies that have been set up to deal with these practices.
One thing is patently obvious: that the vast majority of perpetrators or predators are male. It is seemingly not confined to the church but also to those areas where adults have complete control over the children e.g. boarding schools ( many of these cases of abuse are hidden and not talked about) as well as celebrities etc etc.
Abuse is not merely sexual but physical, mental or any other form of bigotry that twists the minds of those who condone and encourage such behaviour.
Ghandi once famously remarked that poverty is violence in a pure unadulterated form.
It wasn't so long ago, perhaps less than thirty years that a child's evidence was ignored as juries were instructed to  favour the denials of the accused ; it was considered that adults were more likely to tell the truth than youngsters.
What is also clear is that the gender of victims is not confined purely to the males but to both sexes; it's distressing to realise that many are and will continue to be subject to violence in one form or another,
It is fortunate that the perpetrators are in the minority. Of all the priests and adults who exist,  those who actually commit these crimes are a small percentage. Many people do good work and are not known or recognised as such.

The stuff that dreams are made of

Narendra Modi (of India) dreams of bullet trains and new cities. Can he succeed? asks the Washington Post May 16th 2014 

 

Personally, don't think so..not without some form of  harness anyway!

Summer Memories in Oz

Summer's been a little warm this year. The delights of a summer in this part of the world include beach,pool and more of the same.
For the unwary or new arrivals there are a a couple of things to look out for. Maybe three, apart from funnel web spiders , sharks , salt water crocodiles (known affectionately as salties ) , box jelly fish and snakes, that is. In the face of such adversity, it's surprising that our population is increasing .

Beach

Hot sand, hot tarmac and prickly lawns

caused by

Tarmac

 those nasty little buggers called bindis which stick uncomfortably to your bare feet. They are almost impossible to get rid of. A bit like the current government (for the foreseeable future at least).

Bindi 

There's more underway

Not to worry .I am doing this:-

or this:-

or even this

 But not to worry..more IS on the way

Credit where credit is due

The Money Blog in the UK edition of the Guardian  highlighted how, today, we are moving more and more towards a cashless society.

In summary Patrick Collinson, the author, emphasised that with cash there is tighter control between the consumption and purchasing. , accentuating the pain of paying. This is not dissimilar  to breaking into a $50 note: the next thing you know it's gone and all that is is  a few bits of heavy change and if lucky maybe a gold coin or two.  

There's a buffer between buying and the pain associated by means of the credit card or whatever plastic you use. It's a "buy now, pay later"syndrome which delays the crunch and "ouch"factor of the bill. 

The trouble with cash is ithat once in your pocket, it tends to disappear, vanish.. This I'll willingly admit ismy downfall. I rarely have cash on me for that very reason but find myself in all sorts of strife when boarding a bus, many of which are pre-pay, or buying a newspaper although with the way things are going newspapers will be up there with the best of our daily needs in terms of expense.

Cash is also a far more telling sign of a person's wealth. I can recall when first starting out barely having two pennies to rub together but once a month I would treat myself to a meal in a restaurant , one of which cost a bit more that I had anticipated. I left behind something like 20c as a tip, in change. As I walked out of the door the waiter called out from behind me "You've left your bus money behind!"

Probably the best use of credit cards is as a cash flow adjustment or when purchasing larger items and amounts where the card offers some protection in terms of returns, guarantees etc etc.

Whatever it is , cards versus cash will become less and less of a problem as we all move towards credit , bit coins (never understood those) or maybe even bartering.