|
Post by whatagain on May 8, 2019 19:42:28 GMT
Yes. Among those 338 about 90 french. Most were repatriated to france instead of staying and creating an army for later use.
|
|
|
Post by questa on May 9, 2019 0:29:50 GMT
Churchill was never too smart when he did a body count. As far as he was concerned soldiers were cannon fodder. The Australian troops pulled out of Europe to fight their own war in S.E. Asia and Pacific. Churchill was furious. The fall of Singapore and the horrors that followed has been blamed on his orders and ineptitude.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on May 9, 2019 5:37:02 GMT
So true, Questa, about the great man. So many heroic figures in history earned their places there with cold-hearted use/abuse of human resources and unabashed self promotion. Churchill is a sterling example of the type.
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on May 10, 2019 18:59:26 GMT
Alice Springs is in the middle of Oz. I always thought it was way up North.
|
|
|
Post by mickthecactus on May 10, 2019 19:04:28 GMT
So true, Questa, about the great man. So many heroic figures in history earned their places there with cold-hearted use/abuse of human resources and unabashed self promotion. Churchill is a sterling example of the type. The situation required enormous decisions. Which of us could do it? Who else could do it? It’s easy to be critical 75 years on.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on May 10, 2019 19:13:47 GMT
Alice Springs is in the middle of Oz. I always thought it was way up North. And Uluru is not nearly as close to Alice Springs as one would hope. I flew there from Adelaide and the trip to Uluru was at least 4 hours in each direction.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on May 10, 2019 21:22:43 GMT
I believe any point-to-point of only four hours in Australia is officially known as a "hop, skip, and a jump".
|
|
|
Post by questa on May 11, 2019 0:33:46 GMT
Adelaide direct to Sydney is 2 hours flight.... plus 2 hours stuffing around at the departure point. Even with no baggage and electronic check-in the day before departure, they still want you penned up in the departure lounge for an hour.
|
|
|
Post by Kimby on May 11, 2019 2:22:35 GMT
Uluru is not nearly as close to Alice Springs as one would hope. I flew there from Adelaide and the trip to Uluru was at least 4 hours in each direction. And it was a delightful trip from Alice to Uluru in the campervan we rented in Alice for a week. After turning in our Queensland campervan and flew to Alice. It would have been nuts to drive from Cairns to Uluru.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on May 15, 2019 6:05:05 GMT
I learned the term the Tocqueville Paradox today, derived from Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America. In the 1830's he already pointed out that the better things get, the more people complain. The first example that he used was marriage after noting the emergence of marriage for love as opposed to arranged marriages. People who married for love were much more likely to be unhappy and to get a divorce than people who accepted an arranged marriage. That seems pretty obvious in itself since there are issues of docility and temperament involved.
However, he extended his ideas to life in general -- the more freedom people have, the more they complain about the lack of freedom, etc.
In the modern age, this creates the impression that things are getting worse when they are actually getting better. Reports of racism, sexism, xenophobia or homophobia are on the rise simply because people are now daring to speak out when in the past they kept their mouths shut. This has the snowball effect, thanks to the media, of infiltrating public opinion and making people more and more irate and unhappy.
Apparently, there is no remedy.
|
|
|
Post by bjd on May 15, 2019 6:31:46 GMT
That makes sense. When people are concerned about just living from day to day in difficult situations, they don't have time to worry about anything else. This would also explain why people in wealthy countries are further down the "happiness scale" that people in, say, Latin American countries.
|
|
|
Post by questa on May 15, 2019 11:07:02 GMT
In my village in Lombok, the local government was building bricks-and-mortar houses to replace the bamboo and thatch. The reasoning was that they did not want to look 'primitive' as more Westerners were settling on the island. Although it was technically a poor area the villagers were content with their life there. Gradually as some families moved into the project houses, and people not of the village moved into them, it was interesting to see how the young people bought motor bikes, designer clothes. computers etc while the families in the older houses didn't seem to bother about them.
The women spent more time chatting as they would sit outside the simple places on a wooden seat and seemed to always be laughing. The fancy homes had verandas, but the front brick walls blocked sight of passer-byes.
Having just read Kerouac's post, I can agree that have-nots seem to be more cheerful and haves seem to want more.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on May 15, 2019 12:27:11 GMT
Well, without ever learning the term "Tocqueville Paradox," everybody knows what spoiled brat is, and that is a similar manifestation of the situation. Not to mention the ultra famous who have their weird little demands about special things in the hotel room -- and then complain anyway.
|
|
|
Post by lagatta on May 15, 2019 13:18:41 GMT
Well, there are some things such as healthcare and education that can radically improve people's lives. It is true that we are wallowing in 'stuff', even poor people in the global North have too much stuff, but it is crappy stuff that breaks, and this is becoming the case in some global South countries as well.
K2s comment brings to mind the ridiculous reports about Paris 'no-go zones'. Cities in early Modern Europe were far more dangerous than they are now, whether in terms of violent crime or fire hazards.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on May 21, 2019 22:04:32 GMT
Actually, I learned this yesterday but am being reminded of it right now as it's midnight again. Venice rings the church bell from the campanile at St. Mark's square at midnight every night. Not just a little bit, either -- it goes on for a couple of minutes. www.casesf.com/VeniceBells.htm
|
|
|
Post by lagatta on May 21, 2019 23:51:49 GMT
Alas those files don't work for me, though I have heard some of those bells.
|
|
|
Post by whatagain on Jun 8, 2019 10:39:09 GMT
Skin cancer therapy made huge progress thanks to Australians. Being of European origin with red hair they get It easily. So with high numbers research becomes available and lots of progress has been made recently. The things you learn when you have 2 doctors at your table 🙄😂
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Jun 14, 2019 17:39:34 GMT
Wine was removed from children's school menus in France in 1956. It was decided that it was not appropriate for children under the age of 14.
(Just for the record, the drinking age is now 18 in France, but parents or any accompanying adults are allowed to serve alcohol to any children accompanying them.)
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Jun 19, 2019 4:55:49 GMT
On average, French people consult their smartphone 221 times a day. That's about 219 times more than me.
|
|
|
Post by bjd on Jun 19, 2019 5:06:23 GMT
Join the club. I don't usually take it with me when I go out either.
|
|
|
Post by onlyMark on Jun 19, 2019 8:44:50 GMT
I have one but my main phone is an old Nokia with buttons. I take that out with me just in case and check the smartphone if and when I come back. Otherwise it stays on the table and I only look at it when it makes a noise.
I think the average may be true enough, but for all of us there must be those checking it a thousand times a day - just like my 19 year old daughters. However, on the rare occasions I do ring them, usually when it is something important, they never answer. I asked them why and they both say they leave it on vibrate only and sometimes don't feel it go off.
I am convinced they have an addiction to the bloody thing - evidenced by often in Spain we don't have internet (we have this year) and we now know all the free wifi spots - one being a hotel/restaurant we sometimes pass by. The girls whip their phones out a kilometre before it waiting for the connection, then hang it out of the car window as we pass (I'm instructed to go slowly) and hold it at arm's reach behind them as it fades into the distance.
When in the Carrefour supermarket you can't get a word out of them when we're shopping as they get the phone out as we enter the car park, stare at it all the way round, pressing the keyboard like their life depended on it, thumbs a blur of activity, then with a sigh, put it away as we exit onto the road again. The anger and bad mood of a teenager when the connection drops out, doesn't connect, or is too slow, is a sight to behold.
I tell them their shallowness knows no depths.
|
|
|
Post by onlyMark on Jun 19, 2019 9:33:25 GMT
"In France - a country among several European ones now experiencing outbreaks of measles - one in three disagreed that vaccines were safe, according to the survey. That was the highest percentage for any country worldwide." www.bbc.com/news/health-48512923
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Jun 19, 2019 9:47:55 GMT
Yes, there was a whole psychosis about that. Apparently the United States had a measles epidemic for the same reason.
France has now made 11 immunizations obligatory. If parents do not present the certificate, they cannot enroll their children in school.
There is currently an outbreak of chicken pox. People have become complacent after years of no disease of this sort.
|
|
|
Post by bjd on Jun 19, 2019 12:23:51 GMT
Mark, if your daughters have smartphones, they don't need wifi to use an internet connection. There is an option called "tethering and mobile hotspot" (under Settings). You turn it on and the phone acts as a wifi connection. It uses the battery up pretty fast. You can also use it as a wifi connection for a computer.
Or maybe you shouldn't tell them after all.
That's for Android -- I don't know how it works on IPhones.
|
|
|
Post by onlyMark on Jun 19, 2019 13:30:38 GMT
bjd, thanks but far as I'm aware, this costs money in the form of data. This means they will need to pay for it, which as they have no money, so don't. Nor do they have a contract. I bought their SIM cards for a one off 3(?) euros, put 20 euros worth of money in each, probably two years or more ago, and told them if they want more time/data they can pay for it themselves. Neither have spent a penny doing so. They don't have iPhones, unless someone buys them one. Any money they do have is used solely for make up and clothes. And sometimes chocolate/sweets.
We will not pay for a contract for them as they will abuse it and I would have hoped they would be motivated to earn money, or at least use some of the money they do earn, to sort it out themselves. Some hope. Over time we have been gradually moving away from any support, financial or otherwise, we have always given to all three of our kids so that they can become independent and motivate themselves to sort things out (job, housing, transport, government bureaucracy and so on) without our doing it for them or telling them the steps they have to take etc etc.
We will always pay for everything when they are with us and will pay for flights and so on for them to meet up with us. Normal day to day life though, as none want to stay living with us, is more or less now up to them. And they do it badly no matter any advice we do give them - they think we are nagging them and do a Marlene Dietrich (I vant to be left alone) thing. Ok, says I, two are nineteen and one is twenty one. It's up to you but I always leave the door open if they want help or don't know how to achieve something.
Long answer, sorry, but a fuller picture prompted by a small thing.
|
|
|
Post by kerouac2 on Jun 19, 2019 13:47:33 GMT
A classic situation for so many people. You'll all laugh about it in 15 years.
|
|
|
Post by onlyMark on Jun 19, 2019 13:49:16 GMT
I hope.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Jun 19, 2019 15:14:47 GMT
You are doing them a great favor, Mark! One day they will realize they have turned into resourceful and independent people because you nudged them to learn how. re: anti-vaxxers -- New York, Washington, and Maine have abolished religious exemptions for the measles vaccine, thank goodness. Mark, if your daughters have smartphones, they don't need wifi to use an internet connection. There is an option called "tethering and mobile hotspot" (under Settings). You turn it on and the phone acts as a wifi connection. It uses the battery up pretty fast. You can also use it as a wifi connection for a computer. Questions, Bjd! Since I returned home, I have not restored any services to my smartphone, only using it with my home wifi. I was curious about what it would cost to have a subscription service for the mobile phone, but don't really understand the choices. Several of the options offer wifi as well, but would it be like the fixed wifi I have with my regular phone line? Or would it be as you describe, with the phone taking the place of a router and the battery being sucked dry?
|
|
|
Post by onlyMark on Jun 19, 2019 15:34:05 GMT
"One day they will realize they have turned into resourceful and independent people because you nudged them to learn how."
I trying very hard to avoid the normal expression of, "You'll thank me one day!"
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Jun 19, 2019 18:07:24 GMT
You could try, "One day I'll say 'I told you so!' instead.
|
|