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| *About Bobbing Around subscribe/unsubscribe guidelines for contributions *From me to you *Responses to previous issues *Politics *Environment *Good news *Inspiring people *Compassionate action *Technology *Deeper issues *Psychology *Health *For writers *What my friends want you to know *Reviews *Fun I am responsible for anything I have written. However, where I reproduce contributions from other people, I do not necessarily endorse their opinions. I may or may not agree with them, but give them the courtesy of a forum. Bobbing Around is COPYRIGHTED. No part of it may be reproduced in any form, at any venue, without the express permission of the publisher (ME!) and the author if that is another person. You may forward the entire magazine to anyone else. Abuse and mistreatment occurs when absolute power is wielded over vulnerable people.
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From me to you
Q&AFor those of you with the misfortune of not living in Australia, Q&A is a very popular, high-rating current affairs TV program on ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation). Presenter Tony Jones assembles a panel of politicians, scientists, academics and other high-profile people. The audience is invited to pre-submit questions, and other questions come from a great many others. Naturally, only a small selection of questions get an airing. These are the ones that specially match news within the past few days, or one or more panel members. I don’t own a TV, and have never watched Q&A, but my wife Jolanda shoved the local paper under my nose. In it was an invitation for people in Healesville to join the audience for the live episode on Monday, 22nd August. I did as I was told, and applied. A packed bus took about 60 of us country hicks to join an audience of 200 in the ABC studio in the city. You can watch the show at the ABC website. I was most impressed with one of the panellists, Corinne Grant. This is what I wrote to her:
I haven’t had TV since 1975, and so am probably the only person in Australia who has never heard of you, but after last night, I am a fan. Thank you for being on this planet. Bob And OK, my question didn’t get asked, perhaps because it was more relevant to the previous week’s panel than to this one, but I reckon it was pretty good. Here it is:
In 2015-16, Australia’s major contributions have been the bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef, the death of huge areas of our northern mangrove forests, and death in the horseshoe of kelp forests that surround southern Australia. All of these are direct consequences of climate change. Our local contribution in the Healesville area where I live is the large scale clearfall logging in our native forests. Vicforests seem to be keen to strip as much forest as possible before the Great Forest National Park has a chance of being established. This is at a financial loss to the State of Victoria. Produce is sold so cheaply that private timber plantations are unable to compete and have had to be abandoned. These forests are among the best carbon stores in the world. Their destruction is causing erosion into Melbourne’s waterways, increasing bushfire risk for nearby townships for several years, is causing species extinctions, and is destroying beauty. Looking at the example of the Otways, we can see that a few hundred logging jobs could be replaced with tens of thousands of tourism jobs, and anyway plantations are more labour intensive, so timber workers could find work without retraining. So, my question is: Can you explain why both Liberal and Labor governments have been insisting on the continuation of such an idiotic activity?
Rhobin’s roundsI have become a fan of Rhobin Courtright. She agrees with me on many issues, which obviously makes her highly intelligent, well-informed and thoughtful. Once a month, she sends around a topic, and a number of bloggers write an essay about it. Please check out my latest, on the wounded healer. I’ll be grateful for a comment, and also encourage you to visit the other participants. We are very different from each other, although perhaps I am more different than most. |
Responses to previous issues
Elizabeth Tindle
My friend Elizabeth in Queensland has multifarious skills. As you can see, one of them is painting. This view of the Great Barrier Reef is her part of her contribution to “Painting for the Planet” with an exhibition in November each year. She and I both thought you’d like to see her painting.
Politics
There has been plenty of news about politics in the past month, but since it has all too much coverage, I haven’t bothered to list any here, except for an issue that upsets me greatly:
Guardian exposes crimes against humanity
Only read this if you have a strong stomach or no empathy. The Guardian has done a magnificent public service by exposing the detail of horrific abuse against asylum seekers in Nauru.
Children, pregnant women, people fleeing from terrible situations are being treated in a way that would put the perpetrators into jail for many years anywhere else.
The real criminals are the successive Australian governments who have used this as a deliberate policy of discouraging asylum seekers.
You might want to read my short story on the subject.
Environment
Why we must live simply
We must protect the last frontier
Summer of the near future
A question about greenhouse gases
The main way we’re killing nature
Record, as usual
Sea level
CO2 still rising
Why we must live simply
All that stuff is killing you.
Earth overshoot day is when a year’s worth of natural resources have been consumed. In a sustainable situation, that would be 31st December. Last year it was 13th August. In 2016, it is 8th August, 5 days sooner.
The diagram shows how many earths we would need if all of humanity consumed at the rate of a particular country. Overall, even given all the poverty in many places, that’s 1.6.
We only have one.
We must protect the last frontier
A powerful article in National Geographic exposes the next way big business, and countries like China, are planning to attack life on our planet. This is mining in the deep sea.
In a very real way, life down there is an essential part of the network of life that keeps us alive.
Please help Avaaz to stop this disaster in the making.
Photo from the National Geographic article. I couldn’t find the source.
Summer of the near future
People are dying in the Middle East, but not from weapons. It is from extremely high temperatures, that may well make the region uninhabitable.
Consider 46 degrees C (115 F).
This comes after a similar heatwave on the Indian subcontinent.
One of the predictions of climate change science is that much of the tropics and even subtropics will be too hot for habitation. It’s happening.
There is a fellow who got elected to the Australian Senate. He publicly says there is no evidence for global warming. I suggest he moves to a suitable part of the world.
A question about greenhouse gases
I answer questions on Quora on a variety of topics. Someone called Anonymous asked: “What are some examples of greenhouse gases?”
Here is my answer:
The entire atmosphere is greenhouse gases.
Water vapor is a significant heat retainer. Because there is lots of it up there, it is the major one.
The question shows that you need to read up on what the “greenhouse effect” is. The entry in Wikipedia is very good.
Radiant energy is both a wave and a particle. When it encounters a molecule of something, it either bounces off like a particle and keeps going in a new direction, or it is absorbed by the molecule. Some time later, the molecule radiates out the excess energy, but the wavelength is determined by its temperature. The warmer the temperature, the shorter the wavelength. So, short-wavelength (visible or ultraviolet light) from the Sun is re-radiated as longer wavelength (heat) radiation.
This happens to light that reaches the ground. It happens in your living room, and everywhere else. In the atmosphere, the bigger a molecule is, the more likely it is to get in the way of a photon (light “particle”). So, a small molecule like hydrogen has a small greenhouse effect, because most photons pass it by. An organochloride molecule like CFC is large, so it is very powerful as a greenhouse gas.
Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas of concern not because it is more powerful than many other gases, but because there is a rapidly increasing concentration of it.
Probably, the one of most concern is methane. A methane molecule is about 100 times more powerful than a carbon dioxide molecule, but over time it degrades to carbon dioxide. On a 100 year time span, its average contribution is therefore “only” 25 times that of CO2.
The worst thing we humans have done is to raise global temperatures through putting CO2 into the atmosphere so much that previously locked-up methane is being liberated in huge quantities. Four of the five past “extinction events” occurred because atmospheric methane levels became very high. In the worst one, 250 million years ago, 96% of all species died out, and it took 10 million years for complex life to re-evolve.
If we don’t make RADICAL changes, that’s where we are heading now.
Later, someone thought to correct me, writing that nitrogen and oxygen are not greenhouse gases. This shows confusion between the greenhouse effect, and INCREASES in the greenhouse effect. These molecules behave like every other molecule, but their proportions in the atmosphere are not increasing. Indeed, I expect oxygen to decrease because it latches on to carbon to make CO2.
The main way we’re killing nature
I’ve often said, climate change is not a problem, but the second worst symptom of the problem. The worst symptom is suicide through killing the rest of nature.
This report shows the relative importance of various factors that are unravelling the web of life. The worst two are overexploitation (think clearing rainforest, mining replacing nature, wildlife poaching), and agriculture replacing natural ecosystems.
Record, as usual
July, 2016 has been the hottest month, since records have been kept.
There is a fellow who has been elected to the Australian Senate, who can explain this. It is because international banking (presumably Jewish) is controlling NASA, the UN, and all the climate scientists in the world.
(Psychiatry has a term for this. It is called delusional disorder.)
Sea level
A big volcanic eruption in 1991 spewed huge quantities of sulphur dioxide high into the atmosphere. Satellite monitoring of sea levels started in 1993. This introduced an artefact into measurements of sea level rise.
A new report in Nature has used tidal gauge records to correct the apparent anomaly. The study’s findings are written up in understandable language by Bloomberg.
Sea level rise could increase exponentially, unless there are further major volcanic eruptions in the tropics.
CO2 still rising
Paris accord or no, we’re still spewing CO2 into the atmosphere:
Graph from NOAA Maui Loa Earth Systems Research Laboratory. Black line is seasonally adjusted, but even without it, the increase is obvious.
To put this in context, the increasing frequency and severity of extreme weather evens all over the place are the result of increases in greenhouse gases 30 years ago.
Good news
Refugee mothers cared for
Dear Bob,
Did you know that Médecins Sans Frontiéres treats patients in over 60 countries worldwide?
Our teams of doctors, nurses, midwives and logisticians provide independent and impartial medical assistance to populations affected by disease, epidemics, natural disasters and other medical emergencies.
In northern Jordan, Médecins Sans Frontiéres is running a mother and child hospital providing refugees with access to maternal, neonatal and paediatric care, as well as antenatal and postnatal consultations.
Watch this video to see the impact the work of Médecins Sans Frontiéres has had on the lives of Hadad and his new family.
Programs like this would not be possible without the support of our donors, caring people just like you.
Thank you again for your interest in helping people access their right to medical assistance.
Warm regards,
Paul McPhun
Executive Director
Médecins Sans Frontiéres Australia
People who inspire
Wonderful grandmothers
Should prison be hell?
The way to deal with coal
Schoolgirl battles drought
Don Cheadle
Down syndrome is not doom but a challenge
Deaf or blind in Nigeria
Inspirational stroke survivor
Wonderful grandmothers
Read this inspiring story about how 10,000 grandmothers reduced child abuse in their country.
Sexual and physical abuse of children is on the wane in Swaziland because of a “Shoulder to cry on” program supported by the government, and several NGOs.
Culture change is possible.
Should prison be hell?
Not in Norway. The governor of Bastoy Island prison says, Treat people like dirt, and they will be dirt. Treat them like human beings, and they will act like human beings.
People put away for serious crimes, known as troublemakers in standard prisons, became decent and cooperative once transferred to Bastoy Island.
Please read this perceptive, honest piece of journalism.
The way to deal with coal
Like much of the rest of the planet, parts of Britain are blighted with opencast mining sites. In one area, 25 years ago, people started planting trees. Millions are now there, in a recreation of the mixed-species, open forest that was there in preindustrial times.
The National Forest, a nonprofit organisation, is still working hard to complete the 200 square mile project. If you happen to be in Britain, go plant a tree. If you live elsewhere, be inspired and copy them.
Schoolgirl battles drought
South Africa has its worst drought on record. 16 year old Kiara Nirghin had won an award for developing a super-absorbent material you can put around plants to keep them alive. It’s made from waste: orange peel and avocado skins, which she hit on through scientific analysis.
Don Cheadle
Being Australian, and a non-movie-watcher, I’ve never heard of Don Cheadle, until I read this article in Ecowatch. Now, I am a firm admirer.
He made a movie, Hotel Rwanda, the true story of a Hutu hotel manager who saved Tutsi refugees from genocide, and others where he has examined the human element of disaster.
This article focuses on the Environmental Defense Fund, which I also support.
Down syndrome is not doom but a challenge
This young lady is giving tribute to a great man. You can read why she admires Lord Rix, who has died, aged 90.
My admiration, however, is just as much for her. Looking at her, I find the chromosomal abnormality visible, but she is more intelligent, effective and passionate than many people with “normal” brains.
Think of Ciara Lawrence next time you stigmatise anyone.
Here are the two of them, talking.
Deaf or blind in Nigeria
Reading about the inner beauty and courage of these people brought tears to my eyes.
Imagine going blind through an infection, in a country where disabled people are treated with contempt. What would you do? Varney Stewart set up a school, and is inspiring kids to strive hard.
And this woman sees her job as giving hope:
Inspirational stroke survivor
You’ve got to read this wonderful, short essay. He lost his language, but now writes more beautifully than most people in perfect physical health.
Compassionate action
How to help refugees in Australia
True Christians show what’s right
We should all be like this gay man
How to help refugees in Australia
Australia’s treatment of asylum seekers is a crime against humanity. Recently, Guardian Australia has released 2000 leaked items of evidence of terrible abuses in the concentration camp at Nauru.
You can help by supporting one of these organisations.
All we can do is the best we can do, and we should do that.
True Christians show what’s right
Breaking news:
Six ministers of religion and a nun from a broad spectrum of Christian denominations invaded Australian Prime Minster Malcolm Turnbull’s office with the demand that all the tortured people from Nauru and Manus Island be brought to Australia.
They have been arrested.
If you have a scrap of Love in your heart, get behind these wonderful, courageous people.
We should all be like this gay man
There is a hatemonger so-called Christian whose favourite target is homosexuality. The recent floods in Louisiana swept his house away.
Read an opinion piece from a man whose entire life has been blighted by bigots such as this one. Whatever his sexual preferences, he is clearly an enlightened spirit.
You can determine if something is evil by the criterion: does it harm anyone? Consenting sex between adults, regardless of sex, does no harm to anyone else. Blasting hate at anyone who does something you disapprove of does do harm, so it is evil.
Please read, and be inspired.
Technology
Don’t waste the odd sock
Sunlight kills germs
Rotting batteries are good for us
Zipper stuffed? Fix it
Don’t waste the odd sock
One of the principles of saving this planet is to use less. Stuff is killing us. No step is too small.
All of us end up with odd socks. My solution has been to pair one up with another odd sock, and who cares about how that looks, at least when I am at home.
Here are a few more ideas, some very ingenious.
Sunlight kills germs
A cheap to make, tiny device kills bacteria and viruses in water when exposed to sunlight. While it doesn’t remove chemical pollutants, or get rid of parasites, it promises to improve lives in poor countries where water-borne diseases are a terrible problem.
Diagram from the article in Nature Nanotechnology
Rotting batteries are good for us
Lithium-ion batteries contain lithium (duh!). This stuff can be toxic in the environment, besides it’s in limited supply.
A bunch of researchers at the University of South Florida are using a fungus to dissolve lithium and cobalt so they can be extracted and recycled.
Brilliant. As good as compost.
Zipper stuffed? Fix it
Watch a nice young man show you how to fix common zipper problems.
The videos are excellent instruction. Why replace when you can repair?
Deeper Issues
Do good anyway
Drought in the Middle East — refugees in Europe
Do good anyway
I love “Peace Paul.” Please read this inspiring little essay by him.
Here is the final paragraph:
-
Doing good is an expression of love. It is an act of generosity. It is not transactional. It does not seek a reward or payment, which is easy to forget in our world permeated by buying and selling. Doing good simply adds love and good into the world; nothing is taken away or lost. We are not diminished in any way through our kind and loving actions. However, the world around is improved a little with each act of generosity, of good, of love.
This is the theme of my coming novel Hit and Run, and my Doom Healer series.
Drought in the Middle East — refugees in Europe
This link has been stated many times, for example by Prince Charles. Now, there is scientifically respectable evidence. An article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has demonstrated correlations between insurance data and drought.
Many places on earth have ongoing tensions between different ethnic and cultural groups. They muddle along OK while life is possible. But when extended drought means that people’s very survival is threatened, the Calhoun effect kicks in. As I have explained before, humans react to extreme overpopulation in the same way as John Calhoun’s rats did. Inability to get food is the biggest marker of overpopulation, and triggers irrational hatred of the Other. Then there is the positive feedback loop of vengeance, and hitting out from fear, and you have genocidal civil war.
Events rarely have a single cause. If Bush had not attacked Iraq, things would be different. But even then, we would still have this part of the planet experience summer temperatures in excess of what human physiology can cope with, and drought lasting years. We would have a humanitarian disaster without ISIS, without Assad.
We can’t fix the problem unless we address the causes. This is a global culture of greed. Oh, we people in the so-far safe places must protect our economic growth, our comfort and wealth from the invading hordes! After all, they are not really human, because they worship the same God under a different name!
Psychology
Online help with depression
I’m Bi… and my boyfriend wants to marry
My man is abusive
I’m 16 and pregnant. Can my boyfriend get into trouble?
Online help with depression
I really like this approach to dealing with depression. It is an online program designed by Mark Tyrrell and co-workers. While I don’t personally need it, I am checking it out in detail to see what I can learn.
There is a free e-book, and the first session is free. I suspect the rest is value for money, but of course can’t tell from personal experience.
I’m Bi… and my boyfriend wants to marry
I am a man that was in the marriage for over 25 years. This marriage ended approximately 2 years ago. Although I never cheated on my wife while married I always had interest in being with another man. I never experienced sex with another. And after my wife and I separated and I moved out, I began to entertain relationships with men. I met a man and fell deeply in love with him and we have lived together for about a year and a half. Although I consider myself a bisexual, I am totally committed to this relationship, so I have not had sex with the woman in over two years; in addition I have only had sex with this man that I live with.
However, I do not feel comfortable coming out and letting everyone know that I am gay and/or bisexual, because I just simply believe it is no one’s business. The primary reason is because I have four children from my marriage, who are now all adults, and I am considered a strong pillar to others, and to people in my community. In addition, I was very truthful in the beginning, and very adamant about my partner knowing that I did not want to be out. He made a promise that he could live a life with me and only wanted me and didn’t care.
Based on this understanding, we decided that we would build a life together. He is the one that I can spend the rest of my life with, and I know and believe he feels the same. BUT. Here lately, he wants to get married. He wants to have this big wedding with all the bells and whistles, and now feels as if I am not willing to do this, then it is obvious that I don’t feel like I say I feel about him. I told him before when this initially came up, that right now, coming out of a 25 year marriage, I am not really ready to marry anyone. He feels as if, had he been a woman, I would have already wanted to marry: which is truly not the case. More importantly, right now I am not ready to make my sexuality known to the world. He feels as if he would never be able to change me, (which is correct today) and although I am everything that he wants, he should sever ties with me now, and possibly be alone or search for someone willing to commit to a marriage. I understand his position but not his way of thinking. I am not a liar so I don’t want to tell him I will marry him in the future because I know I won’t today. But I feel that as strong as our love is, who really know what the future holds.
I don’t know what to do. Can you Help??
I think the best thing you can do is to let him read your cry for help.He wants a lifelong commitment. You are committed to him for life. If I were in his place, I would be touched by your genuineness, honesty and decency.
He is ready to tell the world that he is gay. That’s courageous of him, because there is an awful lot of discrimination and stigma attached to this.
You have only acknowledged your sexual preference for the past couple of years. My guess is that he has known he was gay for much longer than that.
So, my suggestion is that you ask for time. It may take you a few years more, or ten years, or never to be willing to face the negative opinions of relatives, employers, colleagues, and casual acquaintances who may treat you badly. Also, thankfully, such attitudes are slowly changing. In a few years, you may feel safer.
You can have a very private marriage, only involving people who are sympathetic and supportive. This is halfway between his wishes and yours. Later, as you gain confidence and perhaps stigma reduces, you may be happy to go public, and the two of you can then celebrate that.
However, for now, since he does love you, ask him to respect your wishes.
Have a good life, the two of you,
Bob
My man is abusive
I’m a retired mother of three grown kids, and am raising a 15 year old granddaughter. I’ve divorced twice. Met my new boyfriend of 4 years on a dating website. He is 13 yrs. younger than I. He won’t let me talk, interrupts all the time, is very negative, always talks about the past. We are engaged, but I am having second thoughts. We always fight, and it’s always my fault. He will not go to counseling, it is not happening.
What should I do?
You know the answer. It is written in bold capitals behind your words.
Tell him to pack his bags and go. Tell him it’s not a question of fault, but of finding out that the two of you have too many differences to make the relationship work. You can be decent, caring, and at the same time strong in ending the relationship.
🙂
Bob
I’m 16 and pregnant. Can my boyfriend get into trouble?
3 days ago I found out I am pregnant. I haven’t told anybody but him and he is willing to support me and the child but I am worried because I have one year left in school and my father will be really disappointed because my mom had me when she was 13 and that’s one of the reasons I don’t want to have an abortion.
My worry is: Can my boyfriend get into trouble? He is 21 and I’ll be 17 next month. Do you think I should tell my dad?
I did a search for “legal age sexual consent” for your country, and got: “The age of legal consent for sexual activities is sixteen (16) years old. The age of consent for the marriage is eighteen (18) years old.”So, legally you are safe. He has not broken the law by having sex with you, because you were over 16. However, you cannot marry for another year, although probably there is a process for having that approved by a court, if the two of you want it.
I am very touched that your concern is more for him than for yourself. That’s lovely.
If your father got your mother pregnant before she was 13 years old, then he can’t very well object to you getting pregnant at nearly 17, although people often do react with emotion rather than reason.
You certainly need to tell him, especially if you plan to keep the child. It should be done in a respectful, loving way, asking his support.
However, I feel you should seriously consider an abortion. What your parents did or didn’t do as youngsters is not relevant to how you and your boyfriend should handle your current situation. The pregnancy is still very new. Since it’s in the first 3 months, a termination done by a doctor will be safe, and over in a day. Then you can continue your education, enjoy being young, and become an adult before taking on parenting responsibilities.
Some people have religious or ethical objections to an abortion. You need to make up your mind, given your beliefs and circumstances, but in my opinion it is a reasonable choice in the situation you described. The two of you might want to talk it over with a respected person, such as your family doctor, who is obliged to keep confidentiality.
Have a good life,
Bob
Health
The consequences of child abuse
Insect repellent
A cure for black lung
Kids on vegan diets
Wind turbine syndrome
Hot chilli
Protect bananas, kill people?
The consequences of child abuse
I have read so-called paedophiles excuse their behaviour by saying it’s a form of love. They need to read this moving report from a researcher. Kathryn Daley interviewed 26 young women getting rehab from drugs and found out why they use.
It’s a form of pain relief. Before therapy, the alternative was self-harm: cutting or even suicide.
And the need for pain relief is to be able to live with the memories of sexual and physical abuse.
Insect repellent
We use these off-the-shelf things without much thought. Mosquitoes or flies or something pester? Kill them, or at least encourage them to go somewhere else.
Here is a convenient summary of a set of reports from Made Safe on what’s in these chemical cocktails.
Made Safe also offers a PDF document on nature-based alternatives.
A cure for black lung
A new research report shows how to rescue coal workers from their hazardous occupation: it is quite easy and cost effective to retrain them for the solar industry!
Kids on vegan diets
An Italian politician’s bill to jail parents who feed their kids a vegan diet has made world news.
Read Maggie McCracken’s well-balanced article at Care2.com on the issue.
Wind turbine syndrome
The only negative effect of wind turbines is falling coal prices. This is why, even now after endless investigations, there is still misinformation flying around.
Read how a country doctor became an advocate for wind power.
Hot chilli
Terita Heath-Wlaz has examined the evidence, and has concluded it’s good for you.
A well-researched essay worth reading.
Protect bananas, kill people?
Fungi cause huge agricultural losses, so, the time-honoured western way, we use great quantities of fungicides. The result is new, resistant strains of fungi that kill millions of people each year.
Disturb any complex system, and it returns to equilibrium. Nature fighting back?
Perhaps we need to change agriculture…
Writing
Telling your story
Free writing resources at Open Colleges
Book blogger survey results
Telling your story
I have just edited a beautifully written, powerful story by a lady who had lost her husband in very traumatic circumstances. Why should you write a book if something bad happens to you?
It is nowadays very common for sufferers and survivors of all sorts of misfortune to write a book about it. Therefore, the opinions of an editor with a PhD in psychology and many years of psychotherapy practice are a worthwhile guide. (That’s me.)
You, or a loved one, may have been affected by war, sexual assault or other crime, stigma aimed at homosexuality or mental illness or race or religion, some aspect of your physical appearance, or, as in this lady’s case, by the death of a loved one.
Writing about your experiences is excellent self-therapy. If you do it honestly, facing and enduring the pain, it is a form of “exposure therapy,” which a huge amount of research shows to be curative.
You need not ever share your story with anyone else. The aim is self-healing. Or it may be appropriate for a small audience, such as family and friends. If the story is so unusual as to be an inspiration for others, or teaches them about an aspect of life, then it may be useful for many more people. An example is How far can you go? by John MacLean, whose back was broken when he was 22, and he learned to walk again 25 years later.
But your unique story is unique. It will involve all sorts of things that makes it different from mine, although we may have suffered similar events. What worked for you may not work for me, and I may have sailed unknowingly through challenges that stumped you. Also, personal interactions with people in your life will be fascinating for you and those who know you, but will probably be “so what” to strangers. The individual vagaries of one life are not necessarily of interest to anyone else, unless there is some particular reason that others find them personally relevant.
So, here is the problem. A second reason people write about their personal stories is to be of service to others who find themselves in a similar situation. Examples of excellent books of this kind I have reviewed, most recent first, are:
- A voice in the night by Erin Ireland, which is the personal account and advice of someone who escaped murderous domestic abuse.
- Dyslexia by Brenda Baird. She was diagnosed with this condition at 7 years of age, but now writes better than most people. She has been leading others out of the despair and stigma of illiteracy for many years.
- Let’s talk about it by Lea Rose is about death and dying, an essential book for changing culture about death, and a great help to those facing grief. I have recommended it to the lady whose book impelled me to write this essay.
- An artist’s creative life with bipolar disorder by Alfredo Zotti is from a person with bipolar, who cares for his wife with bipolar, and had dedicated his life to helping others with so-called mental disorders.
- Alchohemy: The Solution to Ending Your Alcohol Habit for Good-Privately, Discreetly, and Fully in Control by David Norman. Alcohol was wrecking David’s life. He developed a technique for getting rid of the very urge, not just to become a dry alcoholic.
- Sometimes hearts have to break by Petrea King. This collection of 25 stories, one of them being the author’s, is perhaps the most inspiring book I’ve read. It will change your life.
- The Rugmaker of Mazar-E-Sharif by Najaf Mazari and Robert Hillman is a book I recommend to people affected by hopelessness. It’s the inspiring story of an asylum seeker.
To be successful, such books need to be radically different from the first kind. Obviously, the personal story is still there, or there is no passion. But these books need to draw on a lot more than a sample of one. They only contain those unique personal details that allow the reader to make sense of the lessons offered.
A third reason to tell your story is in order to change some aspect of society. I am currently reading Malala, who needs no introduction. Her reason for writing is to enable all children to receive an education, and she does so very well, by bringing the reader into the culture of a remote Pakistani valley.
This takes courage. As we all know, Malala was shot in the head for her efforts. If in your account you name names, make allegations of wrongdoing, you could find yourself sued for defamation of character. Though a Guardian essay rather than a book, Paul Stevenson’s expose of atrocities on Manus Island and Nauru could earn him two years of jail.
So, if you need to tell your story, do so. But, before you start, decide on which of these three purposes motivate you. It is rarely possible to do justice to more than one.
Free writing resources at Open Colleges
No, you’ve got me wrong. Nobody has imprisoned any writing resources. This is not a call for justice, but an invitation to view.
Aileen Pablo from Open Colleges wrote:
Teaching creative writing means putting ideas first. It means resisting the urge to correct the writing and focusing instead on the development of the writer. And though it may seem counter-intuitive, doing so often requires questioning, ignoring, or even breaking the rules.
“We may be too literal when we think about what it means to be a good writer,” writes educator and speaker Jordan Shapiro for Forbes. “It is not all about letters and words.” Especially when it comes to teaching children, he says, we get caught up in structure, grammar, and syntax. But these things are what make writing polished and proper, not meaningful and engaging. And unless you want to turn kids off of writing for the rest of their lives, it’s best to focus on the latter, and to make it fun.
Here is one of their free documents.
Book blogger survey results
Just a quick note of thanks for taking the time to answer my questions on the survey. Thanks also for grabbing a copy of the survey results.
If you missed the offer — grab a free copy of the Book Blogger Survey results.
The book is now for sale (99 cents) to the general public — available on Amazon and other retailers and visible on Goodreads. Please take a few moments and share your thoughts on Amazon, Goodreads or your blog to help others find the book and learn about book bloggers.
Although the book is for sale, its main purpose is to share information about the world of book bloggers with as many people as possible. Don’t be shy about sharing the book with others — the more we educate, the better our world will be!
I feel passionately about helping authors understand the world of book bloggers. Not only are we a land of voracious and dedicated readers, but we know so much about book promotions — many of us having years of blogging under our virtual belt!
I am equally passionate about sharing what I can about the blogging world I love. If you haven’t already listed your blog on The Book Blogger List, please do so and join my database of almost 3000 bloggers. This site gets between 600 and 800 hits every day from authors learning about the blogging world.
What my friends want you to know
Bring Christmas joy to a child
Support adult survivors of childhood abuse
Help the Guardian help refugees
A quiz from Médecins Sans Frontiéres
Listen to the rainforest
Buddhist monks protecting forest need protection
A father’s love
Take the green pledge
Yarra Valley ECOSS’s annual Spring Fest 2016
Bainstorming
Defend Avaaz
Bring Christmas joy to a child
Samaritan’s Purse have a wonderful annual program.
You can provide what will probably be the first present, ever, a child receives.
Support adult survivors of childhood abuse
Blue Knot Foundation’s annual national awareness day, Blue Knot Day, is a day when we ask all Australians to unite in support of the 1 in 4 (5 million) Australian adult survivors of childhood trauma and abuse.
This year, we are embracing the winds of change with our theme: Together we lead the way to survivor recovery. So, for this year’s Blue Knot Day, on Monday 24th of October 2016, we are calling on you and your community to get involved and unite in support of survivor recovery. Here’s how:
Enter in our photo competition
A photo competition is being held this Blue Knot Day as a way to bring the community together through imagery.
First prize $1,000 cash, second prize $500, third prize $250.
Entry is free and the competition is open to everyone 16 or over.
All entries must feature a blue knot and follow the theme of together we lead the way to survivor recovery.
So, spread the word to your budding photographer friends today!
Become a Blue Knot Day Ambassador
Blue Knot Foundation is looking for people to become Ambassadors for Blue Knot Day around the country.
This year we propose that Ambassadors staff a stall at a local community market around the time of Blue Knot Day.
Blue Knot Foundation will provide Ambassadors with the relevant materials to help disseminate information into the community.
Email Cath at events@blueknot.org.au or phone 02 8920 3611 to express your interest in becoming a 2016 Blue Knot Day Ambassador.
Help the Guardian help refugees
Hello,
When Guardian Australia launched, just over three years ago, we decided to put the country’s immigration system at the heart of our coverage. As a new launch with a tiny staff, we asked ourselves: which stories matter most that aren’t being told? What needs to be exposed? The compulsory detention of people arriving in Australia by sea, and the broad political consensus around it, seemed like a good place to start.
This week, we revealed one of the most important stories in the history of detention in Australia: the Nauru files, containing over 2,000 leaked incident reports from Australia’s detention camp for asylum seekers on the remote Pacific island of Nauru.
This is why I want to ask you, our readers, to help us fund this journalism — through a one-off or a monthly contribution — so we can continue this important work of holding power to account. The Nauru files lifts the secrecy surrounding Australia’s hidden detention regime for asylum-seekers through vivid reporting and the words of the guards and officials on the island themselves. It is the single largest cache of documents to be leaked from within Australia’s asylum seeker detention regime and details assaults, sexual assaults and self-harm.
It has been a huge collaborative effort, with 16 reporters, editors, production staff and video and data journalists spending several months reviewing, redacting and reporting on 8,000 pages of documents. The series uses a variety of digital storytelling techniques including a database interactive, a powerful video story on the children of Nauru, detailed explainers about the lives of the young people in detention, and an image gallery featuring 12 of the most harrowing incident reports.
I want to make sure that the Guardian’s excellent journalists in Australia, under new editor Lenore Taylor, can go on telling these stories that matter. The global movement of displaced people, many of whom end up in detention without hope, is one of the most pressing issues of our times. This is why Guardian Australia has a dedicated immigration correspondent, Ben Doherty, and why the Guardian was the first newspaper in Europe to appoint a migration correspondent, the award-winning Patrick Kingsley, author of a new book on the refugee crisis, The New Odyssey.
Readers are turning to Guardian Australia in greater numbers than ever before: in just three years our monthly audience has grown to over 3 million. But Guardian Australia — like the rest of the media — is operating in an incredibly challenging commercial environment. Producing independent, investigative journalism is difficult and expensive. Supporting that work isn’t. You can do so through a one-off or a monthly contribution. If everyone who valued our coverage chipped in, our future would be more secure.
Thank you.
Katharine Viner
Editor-in-chief, Guardian News & Media
A quiz from Médecins Sans Frontiéres
Dear Bob,
Today, war is being fought in countries like Yemen, Syria and Afghanistan with a total disregard for the safety of civilians, including medical personnel and patients.
But even war has rules; take our short quiz to test your knowledge of international humanitarian law.
The United States attack on the Médecins Sans Frontiéres hospital in Kunduz in 2015 was the biggest loss of life for our organisation in an airstrike. Tens of thousands of people in Kunduz can no longer receive medical care now when they need it most, and our facilities in Yemen have come under attack repeatedly, killing and injuring civilians and medical workers.
These tragic events reflect a breakdown in the long established rules of war that govern how nations and non-state actors must conduct themselves in conflict settings. International laws have been disregarded and respect for humanitarian principles have been eroded.
“In Kunduz our patients burned in their beds. Médecins Sans Frontiéres doctors, nurses and other staff were killed as they worked. Our colleagues had to operate on each other. One of our doctors died on an improvised operating table — an office desk — while his colleagues tried to save his life.
Today we say: enough. Even war has rules.”
Dr Joanne Liu, International President, Médecins Sans Frontiéres.
Listen to the rainforest
Dear Friend,
If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
Yes — and the reverberations are felt for generations to come. But don’t take our word for it. Listen to “The Rainforest,” one of Conservation International’s boldest “Nature Is Speaking” films.
This month, while the world’s attention is focused on Brazil for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, our eyes are on Brazil for a different reason — the world’s greatest rainforest and one of our most vital life-support systems, the Amazon.
Sadly, it is under threat.
Deforestation is on the rise. In 2015, an area of forest almost twice the size of the Grand Canyon was lost in the Brazilian Amazon alone. That’s simply unacceptable.
As the voice of “The Rainforest,” actor Kevin Spacey helps drive home the importance and fragility of one of nature’s best-kept secrets — forests hold at least 30% of the solution to climate change. If we lose our forests, we lose our climate and we humans lose — period.
But we’ll let “The Rainforest” have the final word:
“Humans making air … that’ll be fun to watch.”
Buddhist monks protecting forest need protection
Dear friends,
Our most vulnerable forests have a new defender: Buddhist monks. And they need our help.
They’re going up against brutal illegal loggers, risking their lives to protect Cambodia’s vast and precious dry forest.
Using nonviolent and creative tactics, they actually disrupt the work of these criminals, even confiscating their chainsaws! But these tactics are safest and work best under a spotlight of attention. After one forest defender was murdered, they’re crying out for our help.
By equipping the monks with high tech iPhones and satellite internet, we can help them reach the world, and by flying them to a major biodiversity conference this fall, we can make them famous. This will help protect them, and thrust the cause of protecting our forests into the international spotlight.
If just a few of us chip in the price of a drink or meal out, we can answer the monk’s call for help, and fuel Avaaz’s campaigning — let’s fund the frontline of the battle to save our forests.
The story of Cambodia’s disappearing forests and the monks fighting to defend them is playing out worldwide. Trees are falling at a madcap rate, oceans are choking to death on plastics, and poachers are driving iconic animals like the African elephant to extinction.
Scientists say biodiversity across half of the world’s land is already close to collapsing.
But we can beat back the onslaught, by supporting the work of wildlife defenders and powering our own ferocious campaigning to push leaders into backing maximum conservation. If enough of us chip in we could:
Hire a multimedia team to work with the monks documenting deforestation and getting images out to global press.
Provide them with satellite phones and other advanced equipment to sound the alarm fast.
Assemble a crack campaign team focused on pushing countries to commit to bold action at the December UN biodiversity summit.
Make biodiversity famous by rallying online and in the streets, so our 44 million strong community can increase awareness of what a massive threat the collapse of biodiversity poses to our future.
The monks going up against powerful timber barons and illegal logging mafias are working with very little, but they’re winning key battles. The Cambodian Environment Minister just announced five new protected forests after their protests and actions!
Imagine what they could do if we had their backs, and what we could achieve by mobilizing worldwide to make sure more precious habitat gets strong legal protection.
A father’s love
Thank you, Bob.
You’re one of thousands of Australians calling on the government to do more to support people looking for a safe place to rebuild their lives.
People like Ahmad, whose world was shattered when one of his daughters, Sara*, was shot in the head. The bullet grazed her skull, leaving pieces of shrapnel in her scalp.
Thankfully, Sara survived.
But Ahmad and his family were forced to make the extraordinary choice to leave behind their home in Syria — and everything they knew — in the hope of a better life.
“We have one life and one death,” says Ahmad. “I’m willing to take the risk, if it will help my children have a better life.”
Watch and share Ahmad’s extraordinary story on Facebook now, to show you support people like Ahmad seeking a safe life.
Worldwide, more than 65 million people have been forced to flee their homes because of conflict, war and persecution. Ordinary people like you and me, doing extraordinary things in the hope of a better life for their family.
We can support these people as they rebuild their lives, around the world, and here at home. We can welcome more people to Australia, including the refugees currently in Manus and Nauru.
We too can do something extraordinary.
Thank you,
Jess Wheelock,
Rights in Crisis Campaign Lead,
Oxfam Australia
Take the green pledge
It is almost time for the Green Pledge again! 1 week, 3 actions, Lasting Change! From 5 – 11 September we are asking you to ask your friends and family to sponsor you to commit to 3 actions on climate change to kickstart lasting change in how we use our energy resources.
The Green Pledge is a great way to start conversations about climate change and is a great first step for those who are unsure where to begin making changes for the better.
Sign up NOW at thegreenpledge.net and make sure you check out, LIKE and SHARE the Facebook page with your friends.
Community supports a ban on gas, rapid transition to 100% renewables
We’ve recently released polling on Victorian attitudes to climate change and the need for transition.
First, we got a big splash in The Weekly Times, outlining the high level of support for a permanent ban on onshore gas drilling (details on the polling here). More than 55% of Victorians support a permanent statewide ban on onshore gas.
The timing of this was significant, with the imminent decision that is coming on the future of the current moratorium on onshore gas drilling.
There were also heartening results to questions around renewables, climate change and a transition away from coal. The poll demonstrated the high level of community support for an urgent transition to 100% renewables and support for a full and just transition away from coal.
The state government is currently considering how to re-build the Climate Change Act (it was gutted by the VIC Coalition while they were in power). Please join our call for deep emission reduction targets. There is a petition here.
Yarra Valley ECOSS’s annual Spring Fest 2016
10am-4pm Sunday 25th September.
711 Old Warburton Rd, Wesburn
This year we have a lot of new projects on site to show you, including our Frog Bog, Indigenous Reconciliation Conversation Fire Pit, Traditional Greenwood Furniture Carving Dome, The EarthBag Cubby, and more.
The Speakers Space will host a theme of Refugees with talks on Environmental Refugees, the psychological effects of Detention and visiting refugees in Detention.
There will be fantastic entertainment on the stage including LYSS year 12 performers, The Teskey Brothers, The Torchured Artists, Saraswati Trio, Ollie and Laurie, Esme, and more.
There will be an Earth Market with earth friendly local products and Astrology Readings, as well as Healthy food and drinks.
The Yarra Rangers Art Seed pods performers will be weaving several performances during the day.
There will be local environment groups on display with kids activities.
Cost is $5 per head and $10 family.
Bainstorming
My old mate, award-winning writer Darrell Bain, is writing again.
New Bainstorming Blog, July 29 to August 25, now live at www.darrellbain.com
Subjects This Issue: Thanks To Fans and Readers, My Back: Fixed Or Not?, Married Bliss, Senior Citizens, Internet Problems, Other Problems.
Defend Avaaz
Afghan intelligence just informed us that suicide bombers targeted an Avaaz event in Kabul.
Thank god we had changed the location last minute. But this comes on the heels of recent news that our middle east campaigner had been detained, and that Saudi Arabia had joined China in blocking our site.
We’ve been targeted, sued, and smeared, and our site is cyber-attacked virtually every single day… and that’s how we know we’re doing something right.
Our team regularly decides whether to face these fights or run from them. And every time we can be fearless, because you are, and Avaaz is 100% funded and powered by you.
Darknesses are rising, the going is getting tough, it’s time for us to get going. Click below to chip in and for the cost of drinks or a meal out, keep our movement strong and fearless, now more than ever:
This is Avaaz’s moment. We’re everything that the rising violent ethno-nationalists and corrupt mega-corporations are not. We’re global, hopeful, humanitarian, democratic. We are the change we wish to see, and the fight for that change is on more than ever — we need to rise to it.
Avaaz runs many fundraisers for many causes. But to sustain our campaigning on climate, forests, human and women’s rights, peace and wildlife conservation, democracy and much more, we rely 100% on small online donations from our amazing community to keep the whole thing going. We don’t accept any funding from governments, corporations, foundations or large donors.
This funding is absolutely essential — it maintains our website and technical infrastructure, our security, and supports the tiny Avaaz team. I’m incredibly grateful for those Avaazers that make this entire movement possible for the rest of us.
Reviews
Tinker Bee reviewed by Arianna Rich
Don’t: How using the right words will change your life, by Bob Selden
Art Therapy and the Creative Process: A Practical Approach
Rarity from the Hollow, by Robert Eggleton
The Doom Healer books reviewed by Theresa Hortley
Tinker Bee reviewed by Arianna Rich
After reviewing this little book, with the author’s permission I sent a copy through to my 7 year old granddaughter, so she could review it as well. Here is her response:
Tinker bee is a bee who wants to be a fairy. She wears a fairy dress and has a fairy wand which she loves more than her stinger. It is a great book and I love it and I think lots of kids will! I love it because it’s funny, she does something for all the bees, and she gets to do what she wants to do. It has a happy ending, which I love most about it.
Don’t: How using the right words will change your life, by Bob Selden
This is not a book, but a very well thought out, evidence based instruction program on positivity. As a person with a PhD in psychology, I know that the communication strategies it teaches work, but you don’t have to take my word for it. Bob Selden references his sources as meticulously as for any academic writing. Fortunately, though, this is the opposite of typical academic writing: easy to read and simple to follow.
Learning is through doing. Reading a book about tennis won’t teach you to play. Appropriately, this book is full of exercises. Follow the instructions, and watch your life improve.
Five stars for an excellent, enjoyable program.
Art Therapy and the Creative Process: A Practical Approach
Creative activities heal. They lift us out of suffering for awhile. They validate us when we feel damaged and worthless. And, over time, they can transform our perception of our world, so that we change from sufferers to survivors, and even joyful surmounters.
The objects created can be tools for improving the world around us. Writing, painting, poetry, music can all move other people to empathy and understanding, to compassion or even celebration rather than stigma and judgment. Now that I’ve said so, I am sure you can think of many examples of songs, paintings and works of literature that have changed public perception.
Alfredo Zotti, my long term friend, colleague and collaborator, invited me some years ago to write an essay for him on the healing power of writing. He was kind enough to include it in this book, so I am not an impartial reviewer, but a contributor. All the same, I have enough detachment that I can see it for a work of brilliance. It should be a guide for many people who feel faulty, judged, stigmatised. It can be a shining example for those who want a way out of a personal hell.
The book is published by Loving Healing Press http://www.lovinghealing.com/, so should be readily available. Check it out.
Rarity from the Hollow, by Robert Eggleton
Although it’s a continuous narrative, Rarity from the Hollow is in effect two books.
The first one is terrible and beautiful. The book would be worth reading even if you stopped at the end of this part. It gives an inside view of the effects of PTSD on family, of domestic abuse of the worst kind, but in a manner that’s funny, enjoyable and ennobling.
The second, much longer part reminds me of books like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Catch 22, and Spike Milligan’s Adolf Hitler: My Part in His Downfall. If you liked those books, you’ll love this one.
As it happens, I read all three of these without managing to crack a grin, while Rarity from the Hollow did give me some chuckles. I judge a book on how good it is for its target audience. I am not the target audience for this kind of humor, so I’ve got to give it five stars, despite my lack of reaction.
The Doom Healer books reviewed by Theresa Hortley
Dear Bob,
Thank you for allowing me to be a beta reader for your series. I’ve finished the first two volumes, and am devouring the third. Hurry up with the fourth!
You ask for critical feedback, so I’ll start with that. Look, I am a high school teacher of English, History and Geography, and let me tell you, most people are too dumb and poorly educated for your books. Your hero Bill Sutcliffe is a genius. I don’t know if you’d qualify for that label, but looking at bobswriting.com/bobrich.html and the About page of your blog, it’s clear that you are no dummy. You’re clearly writing these books for your own enjoyment above everything else, and that means the reader needs to be pretty bright too. Told you I am enjoying them! 🙂
I think you will find that some potential readers will be put off by the complexity that you and I enjoy. There are too many people, action taking place in too many places at once, there are even multiple names for some people. Mind you, I don’t see how events with global impacts can be done significantly simpler, but that’s your problem, not mine.
What I really, really like is your ethical stance. Without preaching, you advance a way of living that’s so much better than what we have! We could have a world with much less suffering and far more happiness if people everywhere followed Bill Sutcliffe, like you do. (I know you invented him, but I can do complexity too!)
You’ve stated that the way to save humanity, and other life on this planet, is to live a life in which we are all motivated to avoid doing harm, and to do good. I think it’s the other way. We should do that, whether it saves life or not. Because, the way things are heading on this planet, I don’t see that much point in survival anyway.
Mate, I hope your books become bestsellers, and change the world.
With metta,
Theresa.
Fun
RSVP
Thank you Karl Kofoed for forwarding this gem:
About Bobbing Around
If you received a copy of Bobbing Around and don’t want a repeat, it’s simple. Drop me a line and I’ll drop you from my list.
You may know someone who would enjoy reading my rave. Bobbing Around is being archived at http://mudsmith.net/bobbing.html, or you can forward a copy to your friend. However, you are NOT ALLOWED to pass on parts of the newsletter, without express permission of the article’s author and the Editor (hey, the second one is me.)
If you are not a subscriber but want to be, email me. Subject should be ‘subscribe Bobbing Around’ (it will be if you click the link in this paragraph). In the body, please state your name, email address (get it right!), your country and something about yourself. I also want to know how you found your way to my newsletter. I hope we can become friends. Alternatively, you can click to follow my blog, which gets you my other posts as well.
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Submission Guidelines
It is a FALSE RUMOUR that you need to buy one of my books before your submission is accepted. Not that I cry when someone does so.
Above all, contributions should be brief. I may shorten them if necessary.
Content should be non-discriminatory, polite and relevant. Announcements should be 100 to 200 words, shorter if possible. Book reviews, essays and stories should be at the very most 500 words, poems up to 30 lines.
Author bios should be about 50 words, and if possible include a web address.
Bobbing Around 
Thank you, Joan, for taking the trouble to read and even comment. I know you’re incredibly busy at the moment.
🙂
Bob
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Dear Dr. Bob,
Thanks for such wonderful articles about our world.
Never Give Up
Joan Y. Edwards
http://www.joanyedwards.com
Books
Flip Flap Floodle, the little duck who never gives up on his song
Joan’s Elder Care Guide: Empowering You and Your Elder to Survive
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