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|Image via fertilityroad.com|
Last night I attended the online Big Ideas Forum Webinar through the Northern Beaches Council called Beyond COVID. It was initially an interview with Dr Norman Swan, a health journalist and physician, then went on to a panel discussion which included Lucinda Brogden AM, Chair of the National Mental Health Commission, Dr Sean Turnell, Associate Professor of Economics at Macquarie University and Greg Jones, former school principal and executive member of Community Co-op Northern Beaches. It is available to watch here.
Before I delve into it, I just want to comment on the Acknowledgement of Country that takes place at the start of these gatherings and how disappointed I always am at the irreverence and insincerity. I know it's an awkward forced protocol that many simply read off a piece of paper without actually thinking about the meaning of what they're saying, but it has become so tokenistic that it feels like an insult to even bother. I refuse to accept that in the whole of the northern beaches, the council can not find one Traditional Owner or First Nations person or group to do a genuine and heartfelt Welcome to Country - particularly NOW, with everything that is going on around the world. My guess is that there has been absolutely no attempt to connect or collaborate. If indeed there has been no progress, then the Acknowledgement itself needs to be better. It's not just something you rattle off, it's something you feel and make people feel and understand so that we can all start off on the right foot. This needs to change. It's confronting, but it needs to happen. We need to acknowledge that we are on stolen and unceded land, we need to address sovereignty, the lack of treaty and pay our respects genuinely to elders past, present and emerging. This is a significant step forward that requires honesty and truth, many are not yet ready to face.
The interview with Dr Swan, as always was informative and evidence based. If you haven't already, get acquainted with The ABC podcast he does called Coronacast. They are short 10 minute episodes released daily, covering the basic updates of what is happening around the country and around the world.
Dr Swan explained many aspects of the Australian experience with COVID 19 and commented on why we did so well as a country. The main thing we got right was that we closed borders, particularly to China early, back in February 2020 - the first case being discovered on the 25th January. The pandemic was then managed collaboratively by government, particularly the states, business/workplaces and the community. It became a unified movement, largely communicated through social and digital media which forced people to act and the federal government to respond on an evidence based approach. This was to act strongly and intervene as early as possible. The World Health Organisation (WHO) urged immediate lockdown action, as it is impossible to make these decisions retrospectively and undo harm. Australia's early response and heeding of this advice was able to maintain COVID related deaths to just over 100, which while extremely regrettable and tragic, are comparatively good. Locking down early, closing borders and taking advantage of being islands, insisting on physical distancing and later extensive testing to identify clusters saw Australia and New Zealand become world leaders in flattening the curve and keeping numbers down. It gave us time to prepare health services and hospitals for possible case increase and slowed the spread of the virus. In comparison, the US and UK waited much longer and are bearing the tragic consequences now.
The discussion then turned to the recent increase in numbers in Victoria. Dr Swan stated that referring to COVID cases in terms of 'waves' isn't very accurate and applies more to illnesses like Influenza as there are things in place like vaccinations and herd immunity. With COVID it is more accurate to refer to spikes in cases, whereby transmission rates tend to double daily with no cure, no vaccine and still very little predictability about how the disease will impact people, taking into consideration things like co-morbidities, age, and social/economic factors. While Victoria is experiencing high numbers, Dr Swan mentioned the case in Balmain in Sydney which indicates the disease is still present in NSW and it is not yet time to relax.
He talked at length about the difference between NSW and Victoria in terms of the way health services are structured. In NSW we have Area Health Services which include the local hospitals, but also health service provision on the ground in each geographical location. This structure allows bigger areas to be covered in order for the population of that area to receive health services aside from the local hospitals. This infrastructure is not present in Victoria which seems to only have stand alone hospitals and GP/Specialist services. This impacts testing, treatment and service provision.
Locally, Dr Swan discussed the cases around Manly and Dee Why early on in the pandemic and how immediate lockdown and extensive testing was able to contain the clusters, area health and hospitals were able to oversee treatment, isolation and recovery, and this prevented community transmission. This did not work as well in Bondi where community transmission was allowed to travel a little further out.
It is evident that social distancing has a huge impact on community transmission. Dr Swan talked about the demographic of people who contract COVID and while globally, for example in places like Italy, there was a lot of publicity around the elderly, it is a much younger demographic that can contract the disease, show few symptoms and then transmit through large gatherings and socialisation. In Italy, for example, there was the tragic circumstances around cut off ages for access to ventilators being around the age of 40 mark, when the hospitals were bombarded with extreme cases. Big social networks, which young people are more likely to have, pose the biggest threat, particularly in gatherings that take place indoors, with lots of people and over an extended period of time.
In regards to a vaccine, Dr Swan thinks this is a long way away and while there is promising research coming out of Oxford University, there are many barriers to a vaccine for a respiratory illness due to the nature of the membranes and organs involved and how they function. Usually treatment relies on activating an immune system response and then needs to be administered annually. In some cases like with SARS, vaccines were found to create a hyper immune response which can cause autoimmune disease. The good thing is that any vaccine progress coming out of the UK will likely be publicly funded and therefore widely available and shared. The opposite is happening in the US where research and funding will likely be privately conducted and therefore not shared. Finding a vaccine is condensing 10 years of research into 1. It's obviously urgent.
Discussion turned to the effectiveness of wearing masks. Dr Swan is of the opinion that masks are a good idea when there are high rates of community transmission, as is happening in Victoria. Wearing a mask is not about protecting yourself from getting infected, although that's a bonus. It's about preventing transmission of the disease to others if you are carrying it and have no symptoms or if you are indeed ill. Masks are particularly useful indoors, for example whilst shopping and on public transport. The main factors to consider are things like the quality of the mask and availability. Both issues are easily addressed, but the culture of wearing masks is a bit harder to change.
The health implications during this pandemic are complex, particularly in relation to how each individual is likely to recover from infection and all the factors that contribute to their well-being before and after having COVID. Another matter to consider is how people have responded to healthcare generally during lockdown to minimise risk. Telehealth in Australia has been particularly effective as people have been able to consult with GPs remotely and continue any ongoing or chronic health issue management. An area of concern was the decrease in cancer screening numbers whereby people have avoided going to routine screening while in lockdown. There is some unease around people delaying testing for early detection and risking delayed diagnosis.
The impact of the pandemic has not only been on public health but also the economy. Dr Swan mentioned that data from the 1918 influenza pandemic demonstrated that places where lockdown happened earlier were able to recover economically much quicker. It focuses on the idea that in the long run prevention is better than cure and the impact on the economy will happen either way but will have more long term consequences and will be harder to recover from if we allow people to get sick, overwhelm our health services and create more trauma.
At this point the panel joined the discussion. I was disappointed but not surprised that it consisted of four white men, including Dr Swan and the facilitator and one white woman. Until we allow diverse voices in these discussions we continue to assume that the majority of people are white and middle class. This is simply not the case and while divergent groups are often referred to as 'minorities', they are not in fact less than in number and importance but instead are marginalised as such. This is prevalent in the local area.
The panel discussion was mainly an exchange of ideas about community support, focusing on mental health and connection. There were some examples of the local community exchanging material necessities like donations of food, volunteering of time and provision of support to those impacted by lockdown. It's nice to live in a community where everyone is doing great and can help those doing a little bit less than great and then taking comfort in the ease with which we got through hardship working together. However there was no mention of people who may fall through the cracks and the reasons why, which can erase the experience of many people.
At one point there was mention of the suffering experienced by self-funded retirees. How they have paid taxes all their lives and never needed government assistance and now suddenly their investments might be worth less and they may be embarrassed or ashamed to ask for assistance. It is important to express empathy and to consider anyone who may be impacted by this pandemic in a substantial way. We just need to truthfully define what substantial means. Not having enough money to pay rent or feed your children is very different to a decrease in wealth that does not impact your day to day survival.
Mental health was discussed extensively, particularly community connection and loneliness, but the discussion stopped short of addressing issues like individualism, capitalism, cultural diversity and wealth inequality. There is still a long way to go in facing some of these issues in this demographic.
Some talk centered on things like working from home, how this has been a necessity and many have adapted well, but for so many businesses and organisations, there needs to be a face-to-face market place and people are social animals that need human interaction. All this is true, however it shouldn't take a pandemic to provide people with flexibility and work/life balance. There was brief mention of people who benefit from the ability to work from home occasionally, but it wasn't discussed adequately. Parents/guardians of young children for example can benefit greatly from flexibility in the workplace. Current employment structures and culture can increase the exclusion of women from the workforce and public life when they have very young children and this inflexibility can also prevent men from spending quality time with their children. Many people take care of aged parents, family members with disabilities or themselves experience mental health issues that are alleviated with working from home options. It's important to maintain a functioning economy but not at the expense of a healthy and balanced society. There was no acknowledgement of front line workers who never had the option to stay home; doctors, nurses, teachers, community workers, supermarket staff, delivery drivers. Essential workers were not mentioned at all. There was also no recognition that for many, online options are still unavailable and inaccessible due to cost, access to devices and reception issues. Connectivity was a big local issue. Just ask anyone who worked from home or home schooled.
It was a valuable webinar, and I appreciate the limitations of time that don't allow every single aspect to be covered, but the panel discussion fell short. It was out of touch and outdated, particularly in the face of the global sociopolitical movements that have emerged rapidly in response to and simultaneously with the pandemic. The ideas seemed to come from very traditionalist and conservative perspectives that are no longer relevant or are only true for some people. We now have the information and technology to question the systems and structures that are only serving a small number of people and it isn't justified for those people to declare that everything is working, when it clearly isn't for many. It was a missed opportunity to address broader issues and failed to acknowledge that to come out of this pandemic relatively well is to have access to immense privilege.


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Delivered in reused containers includes $2 deposit which will be refunded during delivery when container returned.
An excellent go-to cleaner for all around the house*Since our Multi-Purpose Cleaner is non-toxic, you don’t have to worry about rinsing after use. Plus, it is effective for removing food stains on fabric and odors too!**Suitable for use on hard surfaces such as floor, table, chair, stove top, cabinet, bins, sink counters, glass and home appliances etc.
Green Kulture Multipurpose 5L
Green Kulture Proprietary Water-Based Fruits-Derived Extract, Coconut Oil Derivatives, Alkyl C10-C16, Citric Acid, Essential Lemongrass, De-ionized Water

domain: chemistry


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Genetically modified crops have quickly gone from farmer’s best friend to profit killer. European countries have imposed strict limits on imports, and in the United States opponents are demanding better labeling. Yet tracking genetically modified foods through the distribution chain is difficult and expensive. To make it easier, Motorola’s Clinical Micro Sensors unit and GeneScan Europe of Freiburg, Germany, have developed a portable gene detector. The prototype combines Motorola’s eSensor DNA detection technology with GeneScan’s collection of DNA probes. Users place a prepared sample in a matchbook-sized biochip cartridge that detects specific genes. The cartridge is then plugged into a toaster-sized reader controlled by a laptop computer. Motorola expects to ship the detector by year’s end, and hopes to shrink the unit to a handheld device within three years.
Here’s how a Twitter engineer says it will break in the coming weeks
One insider says the company’s current staffing isn’t able to sustain the platform.
Technology that lets us “speak” to our dead relatives has arrived. Are we ready?
Digital clones of the people we love could forever change how we grieve.
How to befriend a crow
I watched a bunch of crows on TikTok and now I'm trying to connect with some local birds.
Starlink signals can be reverse-engineered to work like GPS—whether SpaceX likes it or not
Elon said no thanks to using his mega-constellation for navigation. Researchers went ahead anyway.
Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

domain: news


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( No Title )
Little comic about how to make zucchini bread in these trying times. Dedicated to CB Cebulski, Mike Hardin, Ming Doyle, and anyone else who sunk my zucchini bread deep within their bodies.
THIS, the best
Now I want to try and make zucchini bread.
I’m also wondering why my spell-checker doesn’t recognise ‘zucchini’…
Love love love this.
Also: Reading this just made me realise that Olive and Maps are totally Becky and Ming.
Too much fun. Zucchini bread comics ala Ms. Cloonan. -A

domain: food


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Garena Free Fire regularly brings events with amazing rewards. Recently, the developers have announced a new event that will launch a new map in the Clash Squad. At the time of Diwali, players experienced so many events, rewards, and in-game items. A new event calendar has been released by Garena that has the login rewards, including gun skins, bundles, and more.
Free Fire New Map Coming Soon
The latest reports suggest that Garena is going to bring a new map with the launch event. The map launch event starts on 12 November and will end on 16 November.
Garena announced the event on the social media platform and posted
“Survivors! We have exciting news for you! 🤩 Get ready to experience new thrills and a lot of action as a new map is coming soon to Clash Squad! 🔥 Tag your friends to tell them about the amazing news!”
To get the exclusive cosmetic, users will have to complete the challenges. The challenge will start from 10 November till 13 November.
The event has a room card as a login reward. From 11 November, there will be a login reward to 16 November.
- 11 November Login Rewards
- 12 November Login Rewards
- 13 November Login Rewards
- 14 November Login Rewards
- 15 November Login Rewards
The players will get a set of rewards to sign in every day. However, the details of the rewards are not yet revealed.
Note: The developers have not revealed many details on New Map Launch Event Calendar. Once the details are out, we will share it with you.

domain: game


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Um. Wow. I feel so busy that my to-do lists are going out of date every 30 seconds. I also have that awful nagging feeling that I am forgetting at least 3,948 things.
I’ve got some fun stuff coming up this weekend, but for tonight, one of my favorite kinds of recipes. Healthy soup, prepped quickly and finished in the Crock Pot, lasting long enough for quick lunches in the week but not so long that I get sick of it. Tasty and good for you. Warm and comforting with no greasy, heavy aftertaste. Filling, of course, but so full of good stuff, it’s almost sick.
Shrimp, Kale, and White Bean Soup
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 slices thick-cut bacon (not maple-flavored!)
- 8 oz shrimp (I used cooked, but whatever you’ve got is fine)
- 1 (big) bag kale, washed and roughly chopped
- 1 C dried barley
- 1 1/2 C dried navy beans
- 6 C low-sodium chicken broth
- 3-4 C additional water (gotta have extra water for the dried beans and barley to soak up)
Notice one ingredient I didn’t list…a very bad cat.
Dice the bacon and quickly sauté it in a large pan over medium heat. Drain all except 1-2 T of the fat, and add the diced onion and garlic. Cook for a few minutes until the veggies soften and smell freakin’ delicious.
Add the shrimp and toss for just a few seconds.
Meanwhile, in the Crock Pot combine the kale, barley, and navy beans.
Add the shrimp mixture over the top.
And pour over the broth and water.
Mix it up, set the Crock Pot to low for 6-8 hours, and go about your day. You may want to check in once or twice to make sure that there is enough water–all those dried beans and barley are going to soak up lots and lots of water. More than you’ll believe possible.
When it’s ready, you’ll see this:
I’m actually sad that there isn’t any more of this soup. I don’t really like raw kale all that much, in salads, or really in any form other than chips.
But when it comes to soup, man, kale is hearty enough to maintain some integrity and chew without falling apart like your wimpy baby spinach might.
Yet–it’s still tender.
And don’t even get me started on how obsessed I am with barley in soup. It has the best chew of any soup grain, plus it gets silky and tasty while maintaining its rough-and-tumble barley ‘tude.
Whatever the heck that means.
I should probably get to bed–tomorrow is my last day of my third clinical, and I made four types of nut butters (white chocolate and milk chocolate peanut butter and almond butters) to be delivered to all the people who really made this clinical an amazing learning experience. I’ll try to snap a photo tomorrow before I pack ’em up, because the half-pint jars look super cute with a label tied around ’em.
Maybe tomorrow I’ll actually be able to wake up when my alarm goes off, instead of sleeping another 50 minutes and having to run like the dickens to get to work on time!
Oh, and I miss a certain someone:


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The Carillon Club
The Carillon Club exists to allow Oglethorpe to distinguish and offer special acknowledgment to those individuals – alumni, parents and friends – who support the University through consecutive annual philanthropy. Ongoing philanthropy by consecutive donors strengthens the University’s ability to create and sustain academic programs, launch outreach initiatives that improve the community and provide educational opportunities for deserving students.
The goal of the Carillon Club is to encourage consecutive years of philanthropy regardless of the monetary amount. Donors qualify for membership in the Carillon Club upon their third consecutive year of making a gift to the University and membership is maintained as long as the donor makes at least one gift each fiscal year (July 1 – June 30).

domain: finance


Today Secretary of State John Kerry left the door open to a possible military alliance between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran to help curb the violence and end the pogroms in Iraq. This would be problematic, of course, for a number of different reasons -- not least because our own State Department lists Iran as one of four State Sponsors of Terrorism.
“I wouldn’t rule out anything that would be constructive to providing real stability,” Secretary Kerry said in an interview with Yahoo News. “[We] are deeply committed to the integrity of Iraq as a country.” Hours later, however, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest publicly rebuked Kerry’s pronouncements, asserting that any kind of military coordination with Iran was completely off the table.
The U.S. won't take coordinated military action with Iran as part of a broader effort to stem escalating violence in Iraq, the White House said on Monday.
"Any conversation with the Iranian regime will not include military coordination," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters traveling with President Barack Obama on Air Force One. "We're not interested in any effort to coordinate military activity with Iran."
The Pentagon also said Monday it had no intention of coordinating a military response to the crisis in Iraq with Iran or its military forces, a position that appeared to vary from earlier comments by Secretary of State John Kerry.
This wasn’t the first time the Secretary of State went off script during a major international crisis, and it almost certainly won't be the last.


Finally!! After years of writing, applying, pandemics, attempts to record it....it's HERE!
I am so proud of this album. I had the pleasure of recording it with renowned producer Russell Broom at OCL studios. He was generous and kind and…Read more
Check out Camp Hooha on socials for more camp info! I am excited to be playing some tunes for the campers again this year!
Sonia and the guys will be playing this awesome little community event for the second year in a row. Stay tuned!!
Join Sonia in the Beltline as she adds a little oomph to your Father's Day. :)


With a plethora of news coming from Intel early this week, it went almost unnoticed that Asus has begun to sell an inexpensive version of its ROG Ally portable game console. Unlike the original one, this unit carries AMD's Ryzen Z1 non-extreme accelerated processing unit that offers tangibly lower performance, which makes the gaming systems considerably less capable. The original Asus ROG Ally portable game console for $699 is based on the AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme system-on-chip featuring eight Zen 4 general-purpose cores and a Radeon GPU featuring 12 RDNA 3 compute units (768 stream processors). By contrast, the cheaper Asus ROG Ally is powered by the vanilla AMD Ryzen Z1 that has six Zen 4 cores and a Radeon GPU with four RDNA 3...
The Asus ROG Ally game console comes with a tiny M.2-2230 SSD featuring a 512 GB capacity, which can be a bit tight for modern games. But enthusiasts from...16 by Anton Shilov on 6/29/2023
Asus this week started global sales of its ROG Ally portable game console. The Asus take on Valve's Steam Deck and other portables offers numerous advantages, including higher performance...21 by Anton Shilov on 6/14/2023
Asus on Thursday officially introduced the ROG Ally, its first handheld gaming PC. With numerous handheld gaming systems around, most notably Steam Deck, Asus needed something special to be...35 by Anton Shilov on 5/12/2023
AMD has announced the Ryzen Z1 series of high-performance processors for handheld PC gaming consoles. The latest Ryzen Z1 chips wield Zen 4 cores and RDNA 3 graphics, a...20 by Zhiye Liu on 4/26/2023
Asus has begun teasing its own portable game console, the ROG Ally, which the company is positioning as a high-end offering for the handheld PC gaming market. With its...18 by Anton Shilov on 4/5/2023


Aston Villa are defying all logical explanation at present – and exploding some of football’s most popular received wisdom on the way.
A fallen giant on its knees? Second in the league, our best start in 16 years and a surprise victory at Liverpool suggests the patient is slowly awakening from the coma.
Poor summer signings and a collection of defensive misfits with tattered reputations doomed to relegation? Well, an unbeaten start after four matches, three clean sheets and a steely determination to prove the doubters wrong says not.
Philippe Senderos, the worst addition of the lot, a byword for brainless defending? Not now, he’s not. For me, he’s been the pick of the new boys – and with each game that passes he’s allaying all my fears.
I never judge people on reputations alone, that’s lazy.
But having seen Senderos play live numerous times, as a weak link in a porous Fulham defence (and sometimes second choice behind Brede Hangeland and Aaron Hughes), and borne witness to some of his trademark blunders I felt he was the last thing our leaky back line needed.
I was wrong. He’s been nothing short of sensational. His commitment to ugly yet effective defending has been the foundation on which our new-found resilience has been built.
As Greavsie would say – it’s a funny old game
Yes, it’s only four games, and he may well be caught out at times, but his partnership with Ron Vlaar is beginning to remind me of that between Richard Dunne and James Collins – not aesthetic, but a pair bonded by their love of defending.
After his World Cup exploits, Vlaar was expected to hold the Villa defence together and I, like others, feared his absence against Liverpool.
But Senderos took the mantle brilliantly and has shown himself to be a supreme organiser. Nathan Baker took his cue from the Swiss to produce one of his best performances in a Villa shirt.
Maybe Senderos should have scored – but his movement at attacking set plays was excellent, and if he can repeat that he’ll get other chances.
This is a completely different Senderos to the one I saw at Fulham, and the one written off in the latter stages of his Arsenal career.
For that, Paul Lambert deserves a lot of credit. Clearly, he’s had an energising effect on the 29-year-old.
But Senderos should be given the plaudits for the clear self-belief he retains in spite of a difficult few years for club and country, as he tries to restore his reputation.
Just think about this. The back four that kept Mario Balotelli and co at bay was Alan Hutton, Philippe Senderos, Nathan Baker and Aly Cissokho – all players who, at times, have been ridiculed for their unerring ability to make costly mistakes.
Along with Ron Vlaar, they now make up the Premier League’s tightest defence.
As Greavsie would say – it’s a funny old game.
MORE: Club Metro


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Park and ride lots
Travel > Travel
assistance > Park
and ride > Manitowoc
To reach the Branch park and ride, motorists should take I-43
exit 154, head east on WIS 310, and turn right on Wagon Wheel Road. The park and ride
is located to the right.
Lighted asphalt lot with parking for 93 vehicles.
Back to Manitowoc County park and ride lots
Other park and ride lots in Manitowoc County:
I-43 and County CR
I-43 and US 151
I-43 and US 10/WIS 42
I-43 and WIS 310
I-43 and WIS 147

domain: travel


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"Every New Girl Gets Fucked and Swallows"09 December 2003115 mins
This movie has got it all, 2 on 1's, squirting, ATM, lots of anal and a whole lot of cum eating! There are seven gorgeous Canadian babes in sex awesome hardcore scenes. Wait till you see the delicious cover girl, Tia Maria, getting fucked by two guys and then swallowing back two loads at the same time. These are goody goody sluts!
A mysterious and immortal Tibetan kung fu master, who has spent the last 60 years traveling around the world protecting the ancient Scroll of the Ultimate, mentors a selfish street kid in the ancient intricacies of kung fu.
Vampires and werewolves have waged a nocturnal war against each other for centuries. But all bets are off when a female vampire warrior named Selene, who's famous for her strength and werewolf-hunting prowess, becomes smitten with a peace-loving male werewolf, Michael, who wants to end the war.
Oldboy is the revenge drama from Director Park Chan-wook. Based on a manga by Nobuaki Minegishi, it depicts the suffering path of a man who must deal with the never ending torment of having unknowingly made someone his enemy.
Straight from the creators of the groundbreaking Matrix trilogy, this collection of short animated films from the world's leading anime directors fuses computer graphics and Japanese anime to provide the background of the Matrix universe and the conflict between man and machines.
Have you watched Goody Goody Cum Drops yet? What did you think about it?

domain: entertainment