Qohel - the blog

31/05/2024

A career opportunity you may not have considered...

EDS, an HP Company 'Cat Herders'

28/05/2024

If you are interested in the often dire health and financial results of supplementary, complementary, and alternative medicine (SCAM), these are worth a read:

The fake diagnoses of so-called alternative medicine – PART 4 Published Friday 03 May 2024 | By Edzard ...  the previous 3 parts of this series (see here, here and here), we have discussed 9 fake diagnoses of so-called alternative medicine (SCAM): adrenal ... Posted in alternative medicine, alte...

25/05/2024

25/05/2024

Nice

25/05/2024

"From 1999-2000 to 2017-2018, obesity prevalence among males increased from 27.5% to 43% and among females from 33.4% to 41.9%; [obesity] prevalence during 2017-2018 was highest among those aged 40-59 years [44.8%]," the researchers noted.

There was a significant increase in rates cancer and stroke amongst people under 65 over the same twenty year period from 1999. Conspiracy theories won't help you to be healthier. Eating less and doing more very well may.

The rate at which Americans under the age of 65 suffered a stroke rose by about 15% between 2011 and 2022, new government data shows.

24/05/2024

Worth memorising, and a constant comfort. Com = together, fort = strength. Comfort does not mean lazy ease, but being being strengthened in our union with Christ for whatever life may bring.

From the Dream of Gerontius (which means old man), by Cardinal Newman:

Sanctus fortis, Sanctus Deus,
De profundis oro te,
Miserere, Judex meus,
Parce mihi, Domine.

Firmly I believe and truly, God is three, and God is One;
And I next acknowledge duly Manhood taken by the Son.
And I trust and hope most fully in that Manhood crucified;
And each thought and deed unruly do to death, as He has died.
Simply to His grace and wholly, light and life and strength belong,
And I love, supremely, solely, Him the holy, Him the strong.

Sanctus fortis, Sanctus Deus,
De profundis oro te,
Miserere, Judex meus,
Parce mihi, Domine.

And I hold in veneration, for the love of Him alone,
Holy Church, as His creation, and her teachings, as His own.
And I take with joy whatever now besets me, pain or fear,
And with strong will I gladly sever all the ties which bind me here.
Adoration ay be given, with and through the angelic host,
To the God of earth and heaven, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Sanctus fortis, Sanctus Deus,
De profundis oro te,
Miserere, Judex meus,
Mortis in discrimine.

18/05/2024

I just received this from my sister Amanda. If you live in or near Wellington, pop in and have a look. Below are just two from a wide variety of works in many different styles and colours.

My solo exhibition is at:
Vincent’s Community Art Studio
148 Willis Street, Te Aro
opening at 5.30pm on the 21st of May 2024 (next week)
As a full-time PhD student, painting is my refuge
and gives me pleasure that helps alleviate the angst of the
PhD journey.
I like to paint with vibrant colours that draw the viewer in.
So much of our life, country, and world are tainted with
shadowy darkness and distortion. So having an image on
your wall – if it makes you stop, think, and smile, even for a
minute, then I know my work has achieved its modest
goal.
My work has an abstract dimension to it, that encourages
the viewer to see the elementary landscape and surrounds
as profoundly beautiful and alluring.
Kind regards,
Amanda

13/05/2024

No surprises here, but what a lot of destruction and misery in the meantime:

11/05/2024

Today's run for Darkness to Daylight.

https://www.darknesstodaylight.org/fundraisers/peterwales/darkness-to-daylight-2024

10/05/2024

There have been some horrific news stories recently about family violence, including the story of a 17 year old girl stabbing her 10 year old sister to death. Almost all of us know someone who has been damaged by violence inflicted by a family member.

Better family support, better education, more help for victims, and faster responses to domestic violence calls can all make a difference. More funding will help. But domestic and family violence does not seem to be as high a priority for government as many of us believe it should be.

Daylight to Darkness is an Australian group that recognises that any family member, regardless of age or gender, can be a perpetrator or a victim of family violence. They work with families, communities and workplaces to heal and encourage, and most of all, to prevent violence from occurring.

In an average year 110 people in Australia die as a result of family violence.

This year's Darkness to Daylight event is a 110 km run, commencing May 29th, running through the night into the light of a new day. I cannot participate on the day - I have an exam on the morning of May 30th. I will participate "virtually" though still with actual running. Despite being 65, I know I can run 3x5kms per week, which will get me to 75kms by May 30th. I will do my best to get to the full 110kms!

Please click on the link to sponsor me – no matter how much or how little! Every dollar counts. You will make me very happy, and more importantly, will be making the world a safer and better place 🙂

I'm participating in Darkness to Daylight. In Australia on average 110 people die from Domestic and Family Violence (DFV) every year. I’m participating in Darkness to Daylight (D2D) - a 110km run - where each kilometre represents one of those lives lost. It’s a long distance, it’s physically a...

10/05/2024

It "shocked the country?" Good. But what real action will be taken to stop this kind of crime from happening again, and again, and again...

The 14-year-old girl was abused by ten minors on up to three occasions between April 2 and April 6 over the Easter holidays in Kortrijk, West Flanders, prosecutors say.

10/05/2024

Persistence matters. This is a nice story:

Two Catholic high school students in New Orleans used trigonometry to prove a mathematical puzzle that was thought unsolvable for 2,000 years.

06/05/2024

Not all fibre is helpful when it comes to bowel health:

Inulin, a type of fiber found in certain plant-based foods and fiber supplements, causes inflammation in the gut and exacerbates inflammatory bowel disease in a preclinical model, according to a new study by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. The surprising findings could pave the way for therape...

05/05/2024

The world's most expensive bridge to nowhere. Nine years to build, $11 billion dollars ($16.6 Australian), in the middle of nowhere, connected to nothing. Leave California now. But sadly - it is a beautiful state :(

The California High Speed Rail Authority shared an update on the Fresno River Viaduct in Madera County last week, proudly saying it was 'first completed high-speed rail structures'.

04/05/2024

I'd like that list, too, please...

04/05/2024

Too long for antivaxxers who rely on single paragraph articles from Dolly magazine for their information, but if you have a brain, you may find this of interest...

No matter how implausible it is or how weak the evidence for it is, the myth that COVID vaccines cause "turbo cancer" just won't die. Quite the contrary, alas.

04/05/2024

Yep.

"Ponder how destructive solar power is: It only takes 13% solar to push a small grid to the edge
A little bit of solar power causes mayhem on a perfectly good grid.

The Renewable Crash Test Dummy Country is aiming to be using 82% renewable electricity by 2030, but instead of making sure this works on a small scale at any one of our remote microgrid locations, where electricity is expensive to start with, we thought we’d do the experiment on the whole nation instead.

So it is “sobering” to see how this fails at Alice Springs. If there was a place on Earth that is well suited to wind and solar power, it surely is Alice Springs which is 1,200 kilometers from the Northern Territory’s main electricity grid. Surrounded by a million square kilometers of largely uninhabited arid land, if we can’t plaster enough solar panels and windmills here to support a town of 25,000 people with no heavy industry to speak of, where can we?

Yet the bare truth is that solar energy provides just 13% of Alice Springs annual electricity, and fossil fuel based generation, they admit quietly near the bottom of an FAQ page, is, shhh, 87%. Only one in four houses has solar power, yet the grid is already overloaded when it peaks, and unstable when a cloud comes over and the whole towns solar power goes down. (As it did in 2019 leaving many homes blacked out, as the engineers predicted would happen)."

The Renewable Crash Test Dummy Country is aiming to be using 82% renewable electricity by 2030, but instead of making sure this works on a small scale at any one of our remote microgrid locations, where electricity is expensive to start with, we thought we’d do the experiment on the whole nation i...

04/05/2024

I was always sceptical about electric and hybrid vehicles. I still think EVs are a do-gooding, all hat no cattle, non-solution to a non-problem. But I was converted to hybrids when Kathy and I visited the US. Every car we hired was a hybrid. They were easy to drive, and very economical. I would certainly consider buying one.

iSeeCars calculated the cost to operate vehicles with different fuel types, finding that EVs are significantly more expensive than others.

03/05/2024

This will take an hour of your life to watch.
Watch it anyway..
It comes with every trigger warning imaginable.

Watch it anyway.

Never-before-heard eyewitness accounts from released hostages, survivors, and first responders. In Screams Before Silence, a 60-minute, presenter-led documentary film, Sheryl Sandberg, former COO of Meta and founder of LeanIn.org, interviews multiple eyewitnesses, released hostages, first responders...

27/04/2024

I'm on my way! My first run for Darkness to Daylight. Please copy and share the link below :
https://www.darknesstodaylight.org/fundraisers/peterwales/darkness-to-daylight-2024

26/04/2024

Over the next few weeks I will participating in the Darkness to Daylight event in Brisbane. This raises money for programmes to end family violence. I like this group because they recognise that any family member, regardless of age or gender, can be a perpetrator or a victim of family violence. They work with families, communities and workplaces to heal and encourage, and most of all, to prevent violence from occurring.

110 people lost their lives to family violence in Australia last year. This year's event is a 110 km run, commencing May 29th, running through the night into the light of a new day. I cannot participate on the day - I have an exam on the morning of May 30th. I will participate "virtually" though still with actual running. I know I can run 3x5kms per week, which will get me to 75kms by May 30th. I will do my best to get to the full 110kms!

Please click on the link to sponsor me! Even a couple of dollars will help, and will make me very happy :)

I'm participating in Darkness to Daylight. In Australia on average 110 people die from Domestic and Family Violence (DFV) every year. I’m participating in Darkness to Daylight (D2D) - a 110km run - where each kilometre represents one of those lives lost. It’s a long distance, it’s physically a...

24/04/2024

“Everybody wants to save the earth; no one wants to help mom do the dishes.”

P.J. O’Rourke.

14/04/2024

“I think I can understand the feeling that a housewife’s work is like that of Sisyphus (who was condemned eternally to roll a stone up a hill, only to have it roll down and have to start all over again). But in reality it is the most important work in the world.

What do ships, railways, miners, cars, government etc. exist for except that people may be fed, warmed, and safe in their own homes? As Dr. Johnson said, ‘To be happy at home is the end of all human endeavour’. First, to prepare for being happy in our real home hereafter, and second in the meantime to be happy in our homes here.

We wage war in order to have peace, we work in order to have leisure, we produce food in order to eat it. The job of the home-maker is the one for which all others exist…"

C.S. Lewis

31/03/2024

An interesting perspective:

It is widely accepted that the Ukrainian crisis erupted into a military conflict on February 24, 2022, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Contrary to conventional wisdom, the seeds of the hostilities were planted about thirty years earlier by Pres...

31/03/2024

This is amusing and interesting. And perhaps a bit concerning.

The Arnold Schwarzenegger nuns sing a new tuneFor more vids follow BrianMonarch on Insta :)Voiced by For parody use only

30/03/2024

A few pics from our hike at Purling Brook Falls today. Gold Coast hinterland.

28/03/2024

I completed a major and some post-graduate studies in philosophy, and I still think this is hilarious 🙂