Hot under the collar ... in both senses

Hi. Well, yesterday's temperature here reached the too-hot 40 degrees Celsius. That's above human blood heat. It allowed me to feel guilty for keeping the air-con on for much of the day.

The stone walls of my 100-year old house are not as good insulators as you might imagine, because they were built from local limestone field rocks and without cavity (air-space): in other words, solid stone, which is great until the stone itself heats up to the outside temperature.

There's a sense other than the literal one for "hot under the collar". This morning - after overnight rain and a delicious cooling, 20 degree drop in temperature - my emails included the following excellent article by Zoe Routh. I have left her URL tag at the end, and you may enjoy the piece as much as I did.

Zoe Routh wrote ...

"I'm never short of an opinion. My colleague remarked that I was unusually forthright in board meetings, disagreeing with the chair openly on several occasions. I've never been one to balk or pander to others because of rank; I believe whole-heartedly that every individual has something to offer debate, regardless of experience, position, or job title.

Apparently this opinion is not shared by others, as I learned recently in a strategic review meeting.

I was told with different words but with clear meaning: "shut up buttercup and respect your elders."

I do not take kindly to being told to pipe down, I can assure you! The blood boiled in my face and I sat seething in my chair.

Now I've learned a thing or two about what not to do, and this helped me a lot as I fumed, steam lifting my shirt collar.

Here's what NOT to do:

1. Do not let your emotions speak for you. I was severely peeved at this point; had I let rip with what was screaming in my head, all the others would have heard were my feelings, red and raw. Plus they would be distracted by wiping the spittle from their eye.

The thing to do at this point is to feel the feelings fully, on my own, without vomiting these in a messy explosion. Once I'd let the storm dissipate, I could look more rationally at what the issue was, and how I'd like to present my side of the argument.

2. Resist the urge to want to win the war then and there. Having been told to get back in my box and then patronised with a deferential pat on the knee, I was ripe for a fight. However I am quite certain had I insisted on crossing swords, then I would have come off the worst - losing both my dignity and perhaps the esteem of my peers.

Taking the long view on the issue is far more effective than wanting to score points in a tit for tat battle of semantics. Knowing the ultimate outcome I wanted - to make effective long lasting change to an educational program - was far more important than arguing over the effectiveness of past programs. You can't change other people's view of the past; you are better off shaping a compelling vision of the future and inviting them to join you.

3.Don't dismiss other people's opinions because they've pi**ed you off. I may have been insulted and irritated, but this does not mean the others did not have a valid opinion. Taking a step back and asking, "Is there anything I can learn from this?"

As it turns out I had actually missed a key strategic point my colleague was making and that I agreed with. I was very glad not to have had pressed my argument more forcefully, only to realise later I had missed the point. Phew!

4. Mind your language. This is an obvious one - avoid swearing or insulting your peers. Here's a less obvious one - be careful how you express your point of view. I have a tendency to use colourful, vivid language to make a point. I think this is my Canadian background seeping through. However, other people may not appreciate being told they 'need a fire lit under their a**' when a simple phrase like, 'focused motivation' would be more appropriate. Ahem.

5. Don't forget - you're all on the same team and ultimately want the same outcome. I heard Chris Howard, personal development guru, describe this as 'chunking up' an argument until you get to the place where you realise you want the same thing. Then you can work down again around the issue where the differences come up, seeking common ground and a compromise. This can help take the sting out of disagreement and reassert respect.

Lastly, the basic common denominator is about respect. No matter if I was patronised, denigrated, or dismissed, I can still be a leader and respect my colleague, agreeing to disagree, and conceding our differences.

I can always take out my frustration in the gym. It's hard to be angry when you're lathered in a pool of sweat on the step machine.

With love and appreciation." (end of article by Zoe Routh)

Author's Bio
Leadership Coach, Speaker, and Author Zoe Routh works with women in business to enhance their personal effectiveness and leadership capacity for global effect. For free tips on how to become a more effective leader that will save you time, money, energy, and stress, go to http://www.innercompass.com.au

Ulysses his odyssey to Point Turton

You knew that. Ulysses and Odysseus are variant names for the same bloke from Homer's epic poem. Today, Sunday 13 December real time in South Australia, I am off to have lunch at the Tavern-on-Turton pub - a fairly new one - located at the very attractive township of Point Turton with a fine view northwards over Hardwicke Bay. So, a minor expedition or odyssey to get there, to join fifty or so members of the Ulysses motor cycle club who are having one of their club runs on this perfect-weather day.

And no, I'm not going on a motor bike! Have owned three over the years, but no longer. It just happens that my house guest this weekend is a club member but is skipping today's long run with the club, consenting to have lunch with me at the pub and to travel there in my boring old car, and tell me more about the elderly bus she has acquired. The bus came with a country shack she has bought near Ulverstone in Tasmania - and it, the bus, is currently holding up the carport. Sounds interesting. I'm even invited to go and stay. The shack is in a wildlife park. Does wildlife mean there are bikers? Or is that bikies? And which ones have the tattoos? I forget.

Trifling

Hi! I have spent today recovering from an early pre-Christmassy lunch which went for much of yesterday. Technically it was a dry affair - plenty of wet OJ and the like - but the sherry trifle worked its magic, or so goes the rumour.

The nosh-up merged seamlessly into a harmonious (who said raucous?) singalong to piano, tuba, trombone and cornet.

Poetry was done too. I had the temerity to essay Marriot Edgar's Albert and the Lion, made famous by Stanley Holloway. I took advantage of Elsie's absence - off to visit the grandkids - to perform my warped idea of the Lancashire accent. Thank goodness for the trifle.

An astute observer of Oz politics

My friend Bill B. in Tasmania - whither he retired from Adelaide - is a very sharp observer of politics in the magical Land of Oz, the country we often call Australia. His blog is a repository of wise reflection, at times no doubt controversial. Bill himself would applaud robust debate and diversity of view.

If you want to connect to his blog let me know: I'd need to get his permission since I do not provide contact details willy-nilly. However, what he wrote is worth the reading - and here it is: Bill gave it the heading

UNREPRESENTED ...

"Yesterday we were treated to the spectacle of Tony Abbott being elected as federal Liberal leader. Abbott represents the socially conservative extreme of his party. Conservative commentators like Miranda Devine are in ecstasy.

Abbott's election was, as they say of doubtful convictions, "unsafe". The result was 42-41, but they had denied a vote to Fran Bailey, a Turnbull supporter who was away ill. And on Saturday, two new Liberal members, likely Turnbull supporters, will be elected in the inner city byelections in Higgins and Bradfield.

Abbott's conservatism is also unsafe. A few years ago a young man turned up thinking he might be Abbott's son, from a pregnant and deserted girlfriend in Abbott's past. In Abbott's morality, not taking precautions and then deserting a mother and child is OK, but using a condom would be evil. In this case, Abbott was shown not to be the father, but how many real deserted offspring might there be?

Both sides of the parliamentary debating table are now manned by conspicuously religious men: Rudd, a conservative Anglican, on one side, and Abbott, a conservative Catholic, on the other. It's like something out of the 17th century.

We are concerned that all five parties in the federal parliament are socially conservative.

• For PM Rudd and Labor, everything is either "revolting" or "disgusting" and he never stops telling us so. Gays are inferior scum whose relationships don't deserve recognition.
  
  
• The Liberals have elected one of their their most socially conservative members as leader, replacing socially progressive Malcolm Turnbull.
  
  
• The Nationals were part of the conservative take-over of the Liberals.
  
  
• For Family First, social conservatism is the essence of their existence.
  
  
• Most shocking of all, the Greens have lurched to the conservative end of the social spectrum with their endorsement of Internet censorship campaigner Clive Hamilton in Higgins and prostitution recriminalisation campaigner Kathleen Maltzahn in Richmond. I recently received a letter from Senator Ludlam confirming that the Greens are in favour of Internet censorship, a massive and unheralded change of policy.

Socially progressive people are now completely unrepresented in the Australian parliament. Surely there must be others besides us who would like to have someone speaking for them."

Saints and Sinners, and Saintly Singers

Hi again. Well, here it's December the first. We seem to get to each day ' bout twenty hours ahead of the Pacific Coast of the Americas, so don't be alarmed.

I find myself reading, on-line and for editorial purposes, an academic tome of 130,000 words on the medieval saints and the Christianization of Scandinavia and East Europe a thousand years ago. Among other exciting things, it was those bloody vikings who helped lots of missionary types to later sainthood via the classic route of martyrdom.

I'm only one fifth of the way into it, and nobody told me the blooming book would have quotations and citations in - encountered so far - nine languages not counting the changes in some languages in the past millenium.

Shucks, I'll worry about it next week. THIS week is all about the three Christmassy concerts our wee singing group and associated brass band are performing in local towns. We don't sing along with the brass players and we try to discourage them from showing up. But what can you do? It's a case of various wife and husband duos. Sing, play; play sing; play play; sing sing. Argue? Not likely. I won't even go there.

Today's singing effort was fun and well received. Bonhomie prevailed. The song numbers included a hippopotamus (the crocodile isn't until Friday) plus Santa Claus and several infant kids identified by balloons, teddy bears, pacifiers (dummies) and oddly assorted night attire. Never mind that the average age of the performers was 70+ (yes, the kids). I dunno. Someone told me I take myself too seriously.

Tomorrow, ye gods, a similar program will be performed at inland M., whereas today's was at S. by the seaside, on the fair shore of the Gulf St Vincent. A clue: tomorrow's venue means "Sweetwater Wells" in the aboriginal Nurrunga language. The Friday gig is at our regular haunt, no less than W. ("The Big W"), population 450. So now you know. If you're driving from Sydney, hop in the car NOW. It's about a two and a half day drive.

What the ... ?! Weather, Fire, Flood

The weather is sure weird. Little more than a month ago I farewelled my winter log fires and welcomed our southern hemisphere spring season; that is, September (still cool to cold), October and November. Summer here is supposed to be December, January and February.

But "spring" November turned into a hottest-on-record. Top temp six days ago was an absurd 46 degrees Celsius, 114 degrees Fahrenheit. Hot northerlies brought a blast of desert heat from Australia's baked inland, with major fire risk and actual fires in crops and bushland. Mercifully, the fires thirty kilometres north of my place were contained. The temperature dropped dramatically overnight and welcome rains arrived.

Over on the country's east coast, northern and inland New South Wales, for a while there were one hundred and fifty fires going, a dozen of them out of control. The cool change - and much hard work by fire-fighters - saved the day. There has been no loss of human life, but livestock and wildlife deaths were substantial. Homes were lost.

Friends on the north coast of New South Wales have twice in recent months been flooded out. It's one of the ironies that fire and flood often occur as twin disasters. In the bad 1983 fires which I witnessed, the hillsides above Adelaide's Waterfall Gully were burnt out and, days later, the lack of vegetative barrier allowed rain run-off to cause severe local flooding which destroyed homes. Nature does things its own way, I guess.

I was touched and grateful that several folk contacted me by phone or email, to ask "Are you O.K.?" after they heard news reports of the fires and heat on the Yorke Peninsula. Oddly, they had this news before I knew anything about the problems. I live down near the southern end of this piece of terrain. Glad to say we had no fires, and even the extreme hot winds took a couple of extra hours to reach my place. The morning had been quite balmy and pleasant!

Bikers, Old Dog, Pandas and Editors

Oh, my! Two voices from the past on the same day. Julie S. rang to say she's headed to Edithburgh in three weeks' time for a Meet of the (bikers') Ulysses Club. That's just down the road and she might take a billet at my place - though she has alternatives - but in any case we will surely catch up. Like me she has had tricky issues with tenants and property maintenance in Tasmania over the past few years.

And Mike called, left a message; I rang back later for a yarn. As it turned out, when he made the call he was passing through Edithburgh going northwards, after enjoying cool relief from Adelaide's heatwave, just as I was driving to Warooka on Tuesday. Ships that pass in the night. Can't believe we missed meeting up. He reported: the dog Cougar is well but - like me - now elderly and slowed down; he (Mike not the dog) has been down from Queensland to sort out things for his recently widowed frail elder sister; he and his partner have bought a block of land in Toowoomba but for now are still on the road in their faithful motor-home. You know, all that sort of chit-chat.

Looks like I may be quite occupied with editing projects in coming months. A Belgian publisher and a Denmark-based company have taken me on their list of freelance editors, as a consequence of my accreditation this year by the Institute of Professional Editors.

The staff sub-editors of often well-known newspapers seldom bother to use services of independent professional editors. They think they can do it themselves, and come up with gems of headings such as these, quoted at the recent 4th IPEd National Editors Conference, held in Adelaide:

Cold Wave Linked to Low Temperatures
Panda Mating Fails: Vet Takes Over
Miners Refuse to Work after Death
Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges
Kids Make Nutritious Snack

... and lots more. I'll spare you.

I'll allow that some of that sort can be clever tongue-in-cheek mischief. Let's hope so!

The Ghan ... and the Berlin Wall

Hmm. An odd juxtaposition, but no logical connection.

Had lunch with Queensland cousins in Adelaide at the weekend - I made the 460 kilometre round trip to join them for the meal and an afternoon's company - and on Sunday they were off northwards to Darwin on the famous Ghan railway which crosses our continent down the middle (not side to side; that's the other one, the Indian-Pacific). Their car was loaded on board and in due course, after some holiday visiting in the Northern Territory, the cousins will drive via Mount Isa and inland Queensland to their home on the coast near Brisbane. Not bad. Hey, they are in my age bracket, with a collection between them of by-pass operations and hip replacements. So it goes.

Anyway, now it is Monday and we are at the twentieth anniversary of the Fall of the Wall - the Berlin Wall, that is. I've maybe told this piece of Will-his-story before. I was there. Nearly there.

End of 1960 I was in East and West Berlin (again; I'd been there also in the northern summer of that year). When the Wall was erected shortly thereafter I suppressed guilt feelings. Oops. Did I do something? If so, I think I made up for it 28 years later.

I was again in Germany (Baden-Wuertemberg) in late 1989 and the institution where I was staying gave over some of its available accommodation to refugees from the east sector. They were mostly coming out through Hungary. Then on 10th November came the moment. The trickle became a flood, and a bloodbath was avoided as border guards, with no direct orders to shoot, stood back and "people power" took over. Few ever reckoned that events would move so swiftly. Not just Germany. Poland six months earlier through a re-born union movement; the dissolution of the Soviet Union; the return of independence to the Baltic nations, to Ukraine, to Georgia and several other countries of the Caucasus, and central Asian states.

Homage to Dan Winter

http://www.breakthru-technologies.com

Hi, I pass on this info in respect for the remarkable Dan Winter, many of whose ideas underpin the subjects discussed and developed in the conference below.

In 1999 I spent an electrifying day with Dan Winter in a group of about a dozen, in Adelaide, at a time when he was under attack from dubious lawsuits brought by certain parties in America. A decade later he has survived and is recognized worldwide for his brilliant work.

Calgary November 21-23rd

Early booking discount 7th Nov, only $250

This autumn in Calgary, this incredible conference will bring together a scintillating group of cutting edge scientists and leaders to share, discuss and celebrate breakthroughs in science, green energy and the ‘fractal’ unified field theory.

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For a special discounted fee of US $250, (up to 7th November) you can be among the first on the planet to learn about next-level technologies for revolutionizing water treatment and agricultural water use, creating a high-level repair of our ecosystem, total ecological energy production and much, much more.

We encourage you to visit http://www.breakthru-technologies.com for a full description of scheduled speakers, topics, venue, accommodation, online booking and events.

OUR PURPOSE

• To bring together the world’s leading team of scientists who are on the cutting edge of fractal field technologies
• To develop a growing network of compassionate investors and commercial leaders with awareness of global needs
• To develop innovations in agriculture, technology, energy systems, sustainability, health, and education
• To provide a forum for brilliant ideas and new paradigm thinking
• To facilitate collaboration between visionaries, scientists and pioneers
• To promote robust science and hardcore testing, validation and analysis
• To develop regenerative projects that offer sustainable living systems
• To provide market support for key projects
• To facilitate investment in new expressions of essential energy that can improve lives

Chances are you as passionate about innovations in agriculture, new energy systems, carbon neutral sustainability, architecture and health as we are. The applied Fractal Field theory is an inspiring new order of pure scientific principles, which clearly explains magnetism, how gravity is produced, how seeds germinate, and how life is supported. When the electric field is fractal and phase conjugate all the LIFE FORCE energy is massively optimized. We now know the symmetry and frequency recipes to cause this to happen. This has never been achieved before-the potential for commercial applications are huge.

PHASE CONJUGATED DIELECTRICS have produced a measured approximately 50% increase in glucose uptake which translates into an approximately 50% increase in fermentation rate. Dan Winter has taken what is known of phase conjugation in dielectrics- and applied critical plank, phi and hydrogen frequencies - and developed them with piezoelectric fields . This has never been achieved before.

This is the physics behind reducing aging, massive increase in agricultural yields, splitting hydrogen from water efficiently, creating implosion rather than ‘explosion’ and other commercial applications. Many of these innovations will be presented for the first time after many years of research, providing us with much needed global solutions to our planetary problems such as green house gases, energy supply, and feeding the world.


Hydrogen Energy Revolution
New ground breaking research in establishing precise frequency tunings based on Plank, Golden Ratio and Hydrogen atom. These frequency recipes may be the most important and powerful that have ever been researched on this planet.

Magnetic Water Technology
Polluted water is passed through breakthrough magnetic treatment and immediate sedimentation occurs, effectively separating and removing pollutants and making water potable.

Eco Global Fuels
A unique method to split hydrogen and oxygen from water that is the most efficient - and cost effective - than any other method on this planet, and the most environmentally friendly way of production- only using the sun and the inherent energy of water. Relies on carbon dioxide emissions to convert hydrogen into fuel, which will assist all industries looking to reduce their carbon footprint and at the same time producing renewable carbon neutral transportation fuels A principle of the company includes the original researcher with Yul Brown, (inventor of 'Browns Gas') Ross Spiros from Australia. Read more

Phase Conjugate Dielectrics
Phase Conjugate Cascade (Dielectrics) is the key to bioactive fields and has proven to optimize germination, fermentation, metabolic rates, tissue repair, and sedimentation. We now know that in air just like in water, when the electric symmetry is fractal and phase conjugate all the LIFE-FORCE energy will be massively optimized.

Revitalizing the soil
Over-farmed, barren and soil low in nutrients is re-energized and its fertility dramatically increased with revolutionary microbial technology which in tests has consistently increased crop yields by 40%.

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Patented new technology for non-invasive pain relief, free of side effects that can be used continuously to target pain throughout the body. Based on magnetic cascade, which eliminates pain and speeds healing. Trial testing has been achieved in hospitals.

Transport Fuel Enhancer
Fuel Efficiency Treatment. Molecular cluster size decreases by using Magnetic Phase Conjugate technology and at the same time increasing atomization efficiency - and therefore much increased fuel efficiency. Fuel consumption can be reduced by as much as 30-50%, saving billions and saving the planet from harmful emissions.

Global Pollution Clearing
Pioneering holographic research and applications for Carbon Footprint and Stabilization systems, includes groundbreaking work on 'Grid System Technology'

Unified Fractal Field Physics
Research and testing experiences in Bioactive and Phase Conjugate Measurement.

Hypersonic Propulsion Transportation System
Works with the air not against it, separating the air before the vehicle enters it. It does that with no pollution of the atmosphere, and using renewable energy. All transport vehicles reach rapid speed, with low energy use.

Bio-Architecture
A revolution in urban design and community planning – which can be scientifically proven by measurement. Understanding the geometrical patterns, fractality and mathematical proportions that create life in order to build and design with, has been largely forgotten in the world. We how have dead and sick buildings, that block our potentials.

Reinventing the Fashion Industry
The way to 'embed' completely into your environment and your "energy body". Includes material, genetic diversity, biological capacitors, trace mineral recipes, shape, patterns, colors and of course 'Fractalilty'.

Ormus - High Spin State Superconducting Matter
Ormus, ORME and m-state all are generic terms, which apply to any normally metallic elements in a spectroscopically "invisible" non-metallic form. These terms apply regardless of which method was used to obtain them or the relative effectiveness of the element.

Art and Science
Geometry as a Therapeutic Tool
We find ourselves in the midst of an immensely important transformative period. We are collectively involved in the transition of the old world dying and a new world being born. One of the biggest problems facing us is that we are living out of sync with nature and have done so for quite some time. As a result we have lost our connection to lifeÕs vital energies and the rhythms and cycles of the cosmos. We have become disjointed from our soul connection to the Earth and the world we live in.

Bloom the Desert
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Early booking discount only $250 for conference

All details

http://www.breakthru-technologies.com

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Turnip Lanterns

Well, after writing a post with the heading "Nearly Halloween" I guess I need to make a mention of the day itself.

Here at home on Australian Central Summer Time we have already reached All Saints Day (or All Hallows Day) - November 1st - let's say for the moment that it is still October 31st, that is, the eve of all saints, or Hallow E'en. The abbreviation e'en for even(ing) was still current in Scotland in many districts during my 1940s boyhood. You'll see it in lyrics of the old songs.

Girls and boys of all ages, in groups, would go around to friends' and neighbours' homes - even, if bold, to strangers' houses - more or less in disguise. It was called "guising". They were expected to perform some song or poem or performance and be rewarded by small gifts - say, sweets or biscuits or coins.

This seems rather distinct from the "trick or treat" travesty of the related tradition as it continues in the United States. However, the latter (a form of blackmail by stand-over tactics) at least captures a dark side of the ancient belief: mischief-making spirits may require appeasing on the night before the influence of All Saints sends them packing, for the time being.

My strongest memory is the smell of burnt turnip (swede). We would not dream of going guising without a home-made turnip lantern, hollowed out, carry-string attached, lit candle inside and the walls cut through in patterns (such as stars and crescent moon) or perhaps a scary face. Very effective. Very smelly. Unforgettable.