Sandakan POW Camp & Australian Soldiers

Pacific Paratrooper

Billy Young decided to enlist at age 15. Billy Young decided to enlist at age 15.

It remains the single-worst atrocity against Australians at war. Yet many Australians have probably never heard of Sandakan. So few men returned from the Japanese prisoner of war camp on the island of Borneo after World War II it has become a neglected chapter in Australia’s wartime history.

In fact 2,000 Australians spent time as POWs at Sandakan. And of the nearly 1,800 still captive there at the end of the war, only six men survived.

All of which makes Sydney man Billy Young rare indeed. He spent three years as a POW under the Japanese.

He is the only surviving rank and file Australian soldier who spent time at Sandakan.  And he is the only POW still alive who was imprisoned at Outram Road Jail in Singapore.

Now aged 90, he has written a book about his inspiring story. “Billy: My…

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Rimski spomenici u Triru, Njemačka – Roman monuments in Trier, Germany

Roman monuments in Trier, Germany – Vivaldi translation of title

Myrela

Fasada Crvene kuće na Tržnici u Triru nosi natpis: “Roman Treveris stetit annis mille trecentis – Perstet, et aeterna pace fruatur, amen”. (Trir je postojao hiljadu trista godina prije Rima – neka traje i uživa u vječitom miru, amin). Uprkos izvjesnom pretjerivanju, u tome ima istine. Naime, pronađena su svjedočanstva o postojanju naselja u toj oblasti još u trećem milenijumu p.n.e. Trir je, dakle, najstariji grad u Njemačkoj. Legionari Julija Cezara, koji su 50. godine p.n.e. došli da pokore Kelte, osnovali su 16. godine p.n.e., za vladavine Oktavijana Avgusta, rimsku koloniju Augusta Treverorum. To mjesto bilo je gotovo beznačajno do kraja trećeg vijeka, kada je Maksimijan (koji je vladao Zapadnim carstvom dok je Dioklecijan vladao Istočnim) tu smjestio svoj dvor, u kom su kasnije boravili i njegovi nasljednici Konstancije Hlor i Konstantin. Otprilike, u to vrijeme Treveris (kako se grad tada zvao) postaje središte hrišćanstva što su ga krajem…

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The king of every country

Bio-Blogger

Who do you think the real king of every country?? I know most of us who respect him must be knowing who he is. My Little honor to the king I admire 🙏

The king of every country
Lives in every tradition
Who wears his own crown
The nature's best Friend

Wakes up before the dawn
Works until the sun set
Investing sweat as asset
Harvesting to result best

The month of June
Is the season of rain
In the region of mine
Seeds have been sown

Between the hills
Under the dark soil
Deep inside the dirt
Earth beneath the Prison Awaits doors of heaven

Desire of seeing light Sprouting of struggles Bathing in the sunlight Showering of rain falls
The legitimate baby plant Slanting on a green mat Glowing like a sunflower

Blooming with the silence Growing with the patience
In the nature's presence
The king of land…

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China nuclear plant: US assessing reported leak at facility in Taishan, Guangdong – CNNPolitics (Me: Orchestration of “news” to support G-7 China policy and to keep French company in good graces)

The US government has spent the past week assessing a report of a leak at a Chinese nuclear power plant, after a French company that part owns and helps operate it warned of an “imminent radiological threat,” according to US officials and documents reviewed by CNN.

The warning included an accusation that the Chinese safety authority was raising the acceptable limits for radiation detection outside the Taishan Nuclear Power Plant in Guangdong province in order to avoid having to shut it down, according to a letter from the French company to the US Department of Energy obtained by CNN.

Despite the alarming notification from Framatome, the French company, the Biden administration believes the facility is not yet at a “crisis level,” one of the sources said.

Source: China nuclear plant: US assessing reported leak at facility in Taishan, Guangdong – CNNPolitics

Earth Journalism Network offers grants for journalists to report on fisheries in the Caribbean

Petchary's Blog

I recently attended a webinarorganized by the Earth Journalism Network (EJN) on a topic that I needed to understand more deeply, because it truly is critical for the future health of our Caribbean Sea, and the much-touted “Blue Economy” in the Caribbean. The discussion coincided with World Oceans Day (June 7). Like many thorny environmental issues, it is complex – but cannot be ignored, as it threatens lives, livelihoods, and our ecosystems.

This is the question of Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing(described with the acronym “IUU”) that is rampant in the region and across the globe and also impacts our region. What causes it – and why is it getting so bad that it has to be addressed through the World Trade Organization (WTO)? Well, at the heart of the issue is the government subsidies that allow huge fishing fleets to travel half way round the globe to…

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Cada instante es la vida

Santiago Galicia Rojon Serrallonga

SANTIAGO GALICIA ROJON SERRALLONGA

Derechos reservados conforme a la ley/ Copyright

No sé, a veces, si asisto al espectáculo de mi renacimiento cotidiano, al despertar un día y otro, al mirar las nubes de formas caprichosas que flotan en la profundidad de un cielo maravilloso y pleno que ofrece y promete tanto, al sentir las innumerables gotas de lluvia que me empapan y deslizan en mi piel, al descalzarme y correr en el pasto, entre árboles y helechos, o al hundir los pies en el agua del riachuelo y recibir las caricias del aire que me abraza, y percibir, así, el palpitar de la vida que fluye incesante en sus múltiples expresiones. Desconozco, en ocasiones, si presencio, de frente y puntual, la cercanía de mi funeral, al caer la tarde, al oscurecer y asomar las estrellas silenciosas y plateadas, cuando todos duermen, excepto las lechuzas, los grillos, los cometas, los…

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Cars

dunelight

“Drop a gear and disappear.”
~Anonymous

It may be difficult for others to understand the American love affair with cars. We’re a big country with a lot of highways. A good century ago our Captains of Industry got together to certify that we would never have public transportation on the same scale as Europe and further ensure that we would indulge in their products and get about our vast nation in cars.

I enjoy cars. If you’ve got a ticket for me and I’ve got the ear plugs I’ll go to the races. I also appreciate a good car show.

I wonder if future generations will have the desire as well as the means to sustain and indulge in this love affair.

They say you can tell a lot about a person by the car they drive.

I would qualify that statement by amending it a bit; you can tell…

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Bacteria serves tasty solution to plastic crisis | The University of Edinburgh

Researchers have discovered that the common bacteria E. coli can be deployed as a sustainable way to convert post-consumer plastic into vanillin, a new study reveals.

Vanillin

Vanillin is the primary component of extracted vanilla beans and is responsible for the characteristic taste and smell of vanilla.

The transformation could boost the circular economy, which aims to eliminate waste, keep products and materials in use and have positive impacts for synthetic biology, experts say.

Source: Bacteria serves tasty solution to plastic crisis | The University of Edinburgh

Bagan – gigantische Tempelstadt

Vivaldi English translation of introduction: Bagan – gigantic temple city
PUBLISHED ON 2. Juni 2019
A must every trip to Burma is, along with Yangon, the former capital, and Mandalay, the economic focus, Bagan, the old royal city on a large loop of Ayeyarwady. Who was in Myanmar but not in Bagan was not in the country. King Anawrathta, crowned in 1044, made her the residence of his empire. Under his rule and the subsequent kings, it rose to become the largest Buddhist metropolis in the world. The rulers literally surpassed themselves in the construction of magnificent and mighty temples. On the Bagan plain, about 40km² in size, over 2000 large and small buildings of that time can still be admired. This area is on a par with Angkor in Cambodia and Borobodur in Indonesia or the other pilgrimage sites in the world.

Senioren um die Welt

Ein Muss jeder Reise nach Burma ist neben Yangon, der früheren Hauptstadt, und Mandalay, dem wirtschaftlichen Schwerpunkt, Bagan, die alte Königsstadt an einer großen Schleife des Ayeyarwady. Wer in Myanmar war, aber nicht in Bagan, war nicht im Land. König Anawrathta, gekrönt 1044, machte sie zur Residenz seines Reiches. Unter seiner Herrschaft und der nachfolgender Könige stieg sie zur größten buddhistischen Metropole der Welt auf. Die Herrscher überboten sich förmlich in der Errichtung herrlicher und mächtiger Tempel. Auf der Ebene von Bagan, etwa 40km² groß, sind noch heute über 2000 große und kleine Bauten dieser Zeit zu bestaunen. Dieses Gebiet ist Angkor in Kambodscha und Borobodur in Indonesien oder den anderen Pilgerstätten der Welt durchaus ebenbürtig.

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