As you may know I dance tango for pleasure, a great pleasure! Sure I’m still learning after 3.5 years but I think tango is one of the life passions that is all about learning and the journey rather than the destination. To that end I’m slowly, very slowly becoming enamoured by this most wonderful of dances. If you have no idea of what I’m talking about I suggest you go and watch Sally Potter’s The Tango Lesson and you may get some small idea of what I’m talking about… But that is not what this post is about.

On twitter I’ve made the acquaintance… (yes that’s right, a small friendship that is possible to be generated on twitter), with a quite spectacular musician in Sean A McGee and his ElectroTango (read nuevo style) music.

I must admit that when it comes to dancing Tango I tend to be a bit of a traditionalist (it’s what’s familiar), only occasionally dancing the more modern styles of tango that have become popular with Gotan Project and Carlos Libedinsky. But when it comes to listening pleasure I adore the electronic blends that are this style of tango music and I much prefer to listen to it over the traditional (Piazzolla and a few other excepted) music.

To give you a bit of a taste here is a player of some of Sean’s music. Click away and imagine being in one of those wonderful milongas in Buenos Aires, like the image above, when I was there last year, and the rich tapestry that is that city, that is the very heart of Tango.

The album Nebulosa is out in September so if you like his music go and buy it… go on, you know you’ll love it

From a personal interest in energy and a desire to share what he knows with society in general and other members of the University of The Third Age (U3A), Ken Harrison has set about looking at the viability of solar generation and has come up with some surprising and disturbing facts relating to the viability of using grid connected domestic solar panels to augment and replace power generated by the coal fired power stations in New South Wales.

Ken’s interest in managing power developed while he was responsible for strategising the energy usage of the Australian National University immediately after the first energy crisis in the 1970′s. Because of his hard work,  ideas and understanding of the use of power around the university he was able to reduce the ANU’s energy costs and consumption by elimination its usage of fuel oil in favour of electricity and by computer controlling that usage in the most cost effective and efficient manner. This hands-on understanding of energy usage in actual situations is the foundation of his interest in wanting to understand how the new system will work and how efficient it will be.

To my surprise, despite what we are told, the introduction of such systems does not have any guaranteed effect on reducing carbon dioxide production and could very easily make the electricity grid unworkable if the scheme is extended to the levels envisaged by some of its proponents. The scheme will also increase the cost of power in direct proportion to the extent of its adoption. They are only a waste of money that could be used in better ways. Ken suggests that spending the same amounts of money on stand alone, off the grid domestic power generation would have the positive financial and carbon benefits that are desired

If you would like to read his papers or wish to contact Ken send an email to chat@yourstorypodcast.com and I’ll pass it along to him for a reply.

In summation of his paper Ken recommends the following:

SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS.

There is no way that any of the renewable energy systems can replace our coal fired steam turbine generators.

There are only two options that can do this, namely gas fired steam turbine generators or nuclear powered steam turbine generators. The latter is the complete answer to carbon dioxide emissions as well as any other nasty emissions at the point of generation; however, there is some CO2 release through the mining and processing phases. Its only drawback is the very serious one of waste management.

Geosequestration seems unlikely to be a solution for NSW even if it is ultimately shown to be viable. IGCC is the only developing technology that may be useful to NSW.

NSW has to do something about future generation very shortly – it is possibly already beyond the critical time for planning to be complete.

Since I have no expectation that any government will do the right thing I set out for your consideration what I would do if I were a dictator.

1. Introduce a scheme to eliminate or, at least, severely reduce our wastage of electricity. This would give a breathing space of several years with reduction of emissions to levels lower than any mentioned so far at Kyoto or Copenhagen.
2. Withdraw the present subsidy scheme on domestic photovoltaic generation and replace it with one that offers a generous subsidy for anyone prepared to go off the grid entirely i.e. a “stand alone” system.
3. Continue with research and the introduction of renewable energy generation wherever it has some engineering viability.
4. Build our first nuclear reactor as a matter of some urgency.
5. Plan the longer-term close down of coal-fired plant replacing it with nuclear where alternative systems couldn’t do the job.
6. Fund infrastructure schemes that can make good use of the skills of those who would become redundant with the demise of the coal industry.
7. Modify the ETS to give it real power to achieve emission reduction.
8. Scrap our existing financial system and replace it with something based on more rational considerations than the fear and greed, of an extreme minority, that characterises our present system.
9. Introduce methods toward achieving zero population growth by 2015.

K.W.Harrison
March, 2010

What do you think?  Write a comment below and share your thoughts on what Ken has mentioned.

To automatically receive this podcast freely to you, click on one of the links to the left or search in iTunes for “Your Story.”

Join the Your Story Facebook group.

Subscribe freely in iTunes by Clicking here.

If you use another Podcast software Get the feed here.

Support Your Story by commenting on this episode with one of the social network sites below or writing a review on iTunes

Music is from

The Airmen of Note
“Blues for Mundy” (mp3)
from “Today”
(Altissimo!)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at Rhapsody
Buy at Amazon MP3
More On This Album

I remember when the first Gulf War started in 1990 I thought “OhOh here it is, Armageddon, nuclear war, WW3, what ever” and I started to wonder if it was possible to run somewhere and go 100% self sufficient. What would we take with us?   I composed a long list of what I thought was important and contemplated that for a while.   Fortunately it never came to pass and we all went merrily on our way.

But this talk has just made me realise that I was completely fooling myself.  There is no way I would have been 100% self sufficient.  I was taking society with me and eventually if we were the only community(for argument sake) we would have consumed and exhausted what resources we had taken with us.

Matt mentions that today no one knows how to make anything.  Bold statement I thought.  I know many people who know how to make things, I include myself amongst them, then I got thinking…

Take a piece of timber furniture.  Sure I know how to build a stool but do I know how to cut the tree or mill the timber?  What about the tools that I would use to cut, mill and dress the timber?  What about the chisels and hammer for cutting the joints and that is assuming that I don’t use any fixings or glue.

Try and think of one thing in our society that we can make 100% ourselves, without the input of someone else.  Anything that you do think of will be using the technologies of the stone age.  Spear, bowl, stone axe, that sort of thing.  Grow something and make a stone age meal sure but no more – fascinating!

I’ve heard it said that civilisation started with the advent of agriculture but this talk has made me realise that agriculture came about due to the exchange of ideas and that it was the trade of those ideas that was the start of civilisation.

Just today I heard of a new lost tribe living in the Highlands of Papua New Guinea.  Hunter gathers from the stone age.  I’m not sure if they have traded from outside of their society but the limitation of exchange of their ideas has definitely maintained their existence in the stone age.  This is exactly what we would be like today without the huge interdependency that we have around us and our society.

Causes me to appreciate the web of influence that we all share.  Thanks

In June 2009 I had the good fortune to travel to Buenos Aires to experience all that you can in such a short time and to partake of some of the Tango Scene from the city where Argentine Tango originated.

While I was there I spent some time with Tango teachers and performers Fabrizio Forti and Celi Arias in their home El Sol that is a tango studio and tourist accommodation for travellers to this city of 13 million people.  I’ve already produced several episodes of my time in Buenos Aires while I was there but lately Fab and Celi were here in Brisbane and I thought that this was a good time to talk to them about the life they have in Buenos Aires, travelling and teaching and some things about the wonderful dance that is tango and how it is different to most of the other dance forms.

They were here in Australia conducting workshops and classes followed by a trip to Wellington for the new Zealand Tango Festival.  I hope to get a copy of their performance for the Kiwis to show you very soon but in the mean time here is a video from last years festival.

Website is elsoldesantelmo.com
Email is elsolst@gmail.com

To automatically receive this podcast freely to you, click on one of the links to the left or search in iTunes for “Your Story.”

Join the Your Story Facebook group.

Subscribe freely in iTunes by Clicking here.
If you use another Podcast software Get the feed here.

Support Your Story by commenting on this episode with one of the social network sites below or writing a review on iTunes

Music is from

Chocolate
“Libertango” (mp3)
from “Chocolate 3″
(WorldAnd)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Stream from Rhapsody
Buy at Amazon MP3
More On This Album

Gitano Experience & Friends
“Tango No2″ (mp3)
from “Gitano Flamenco”
(TOOST Music)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at eMusic
Stream from Rhapsody
More On This Album

Beau Bledsoe
“Histoire du Tango” (mp3)
from “¡Olé! ¡Che!”
(Tzigane Music)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at Rhapsody
Stream from Rhapsody
Buy at eMusic
More On This Album

Andrew and Trash Video

When I started Your Story on 2007 I modelled myself on Australian Story and Andrew Denton’s Enough Rope but before too long I started hearing about Richard Fidler’s Conversation Hour on Brisbane’s 612ABC radio. To my surprise I discovered that Richard and I are doing basically the same thing, conversations with people about their lives.

I have only listened to a few of his shows but I know that we happen to have had some of the same people on our shows.  Frankly with the resources of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation including a producer to help it’s not surprising that he has harvested all the interesting people who live in our city.  To that end, as I poke around to find some of the interesting people with my limited resources we are going to cover the same territory.  Today is one of those situations.

As I write this I am listening to Richard interview Andrew Leavold from one of the most enjoyable episodes that I’ve had the pleasure to produce.  You may remember Andrew as the passionate, hyperactive cult film video store owner, Trash Video here in West End where I live.

If you want to listen to my podcast with Andrew this is the episode and if you want to listen to Richard’s interview with him it is here on the ABC site.

I was chatting to you from by the river.

I thought it was time to get you up to speed on what I’ve been up to with Your Story and the new podcast Create Your Life Story.  This is 18 minutes of me filling you in on developments over the last couple of months so you know that I haven’t abandoned Your Story and what I’m hoping to achieve in the next few months.

Create Your Life Story

To automatically receive this podcast freely to you, click on one of the links to the left or search in iTunes for “Your Story” or subscribe freely in iTunes by Clicking here. If you use another Podcast software Get the feed here.

Support Your Story by giving it a Digg or Stumble from the links underneath and writing a review on iTunes

The latest APF National Conference is underway and a few weeks back NSPC had a huge week end of celebrations for their 50th.

Podcast Episode with Claude Gillard

Last night I was looking at a lot of images on the Facebook fan page for the APF and was reminded of the podcast episode I did with Claude Gillard two years ago. Claude was one of the early pioneers in parachuting in the late 50′s and president of the APF for 30 odd years.

If your interested in some stories of the early days of Australian parachuting when skydiving was a truly dangerous activity please go to the post and listen to what Claude has to say.

I’ve always had a huge respect for the early pioneers in all fields and as skydiving was once one of my great passions in life I have read a great deal of those early days. Today many people entering the sport or doing recreational tandems jumps don’t realise the grand adventure that was parachuting in the late 50′s and 60′s.

I encourage you to go and listen to one of the great story tellers of Australian Skydiving talk of those days.

Remember you can comment below.

I’ve been very quiet these many months here on Your Story.  I’ve been busy putting a few things in place, starting a new podcast and site.  I have been a little bit head down getting everything done so to speak.

I mentioned that I recently spent some time with my uncle, Bill Kath where I recorded our conversations and published them on his own site to share his Life Story with our family and anyone who may come along from the greater community.

This inspired me to start a new podcast to help explain how the average person can now record, edit and publish an audio Life Story, then share that story with family and the world if they choose.

I have always said that Your Story is a personal passion and I would love, one day to travel a lot more and record stories from around the world.  For three years now I have been learning and developing the skills needed to converse and produce audio while slowly going backwards financially.  With Create Your Life Story I hope to create a podcast to allow me to develop an income that will give me the ability to continue to produce Your Story while helping others to gain some of the amazing benefits that I have seen from sharing personal Life Stories.

The premise of Create Your Life Story is simple.  There are people who want to capture the Life Story of someone they know or there are people who wish to record their own personal Life Story.  These stories are interesting initially for family but also for the greater community, if only they can be recorded and made available, before they are lost, as has happened for all of human history.

I now have the knowledge from producing Your Story and several other versions of audio Life Stories to share with anyone who is interested in learning how easy and available it is for them to do the same.

It’s very early days but I have already produced a considerable amount of content to share that will give a lot of people a good start.  I have even produced a free e-Book to help you get started.

Please come over to Create Your Life Story and if you know of anyone who may be interested in learning to record and share a life story, either their own or someone else’s, please share this information.

Why do we have to live our life the way people and society says? Why can’t we make our own rules and if we’re happy with the results of our decisions isn’t that all that matters?

Ian Pettet has decided to live an unorthodox lifestyle. Not only is he studying Electrical Engineering at Queensland University of Technology in his 50′s but he has also chosen to live on a side street to the City Gardens that adjoin the Uni sleeping on his motorbike and living with his dog out of the trailer attached to the rear of the bike. Not what is normally thought of as student accommodation. This is the life style that Ian has chosen for the freedom that he gets from not requiring a high income and responsibilities that most of us feel that we can’t do without.

Most people would find this lifestyle challenging but Ian embraces it and with happiness and joy leaving me wondering if maybe there are some lessons here about what makes some of us truly happy.

To automatically receive this podcast freely to you, click on one of the links to the left or search in iTunes for “Your Story.”

Join the Your Story Facebook group.

Subscribe freely in iTunes by Clicking here.
If you use another Podcast software Get the feed here.

Support Your Story by commenting on this episode with one of the social network sites below or writing a review on iTunes

Music is from

Music is Bye Bye Blackbird From Music Ninja

Here is an interview with Perkins about writing the book and the revelations in it:

Then when I was in Germany in 2008 I was introduced to Naomi Klein‘s book The Shock Doctrine where I learnt of the systematic  manipulation of disasters, created or natural, for the benefit of the same elite.

This learning lead me onto the rage I feel from understanding the incompetence and corruption that is the CIA revealed in Tim Weiner‘s book Legacy of Ashes.

If you have not read or heard of all these books, I encourage you to consider the information, as it will round out your knowledge and understanding. Tonight I came across this 2 hour documentary that will both educate and demoralise you as you realise (if you aren’t already aware) that the whole system is rotten right to the core. This sums up many, though not all of the points outlined in the books but it is a good addition to them.

Trouble is with this knowledge it’s not possible to unlearn it and once learnt it’s a scary thing to have.

If what you know from your childhood and career is violence it would seem natural to work in a similar violent environment. That though doesn’t automatically mean that you’re destined to be violent yourself, maybe you just understand violence.

Earl Morris came from a childhood surrounded with violence, then a career in the US military.

An obvious career path would be to slip into the traditional forms of civilian work including protection and security work that is available through private military, police agencies and security services.

Earl came from the military into this traditional career path also but what he brought with him from his life has evolved into something quite different to direct security work. In talking to Earl I discovered that  he has taken the inverse spin on his life experiences to apply them to education and understanding. To work with people to mitigate the possibility of any violence through removing the threat. This involves the different aspects of human behaviour that he has studied and has evolved into courses for companies and particularly youth groups.

Now an Australian citizen and loving life in Australia with his wife and children he is using his understanding of a violent world to help others with protection against it but also to empower them so that the violence never develops in the first place. Earl has taken what he has learnt to create methods that make the world a better place.

His website is lifeforceoneinternational.com
email is earl@lifeforceoneinternational.com

To automatically receive this podcast freely to you, click on one of the links to the left or search in iTunes for “Your Story.”

Join the Your Story Facebook group.

Subscribe freely in iTunes by Clicking here.
If you use another Podcast software Get the feed here.

Support Your Story by commenting on this episode with one of the social network sites below or writing a review on iTunes

Music is from

Omni
“Bang the Drum” (mp3)
from “Batterie Instrumentals”
(NatAural High LLC)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Stream from Rhapsody
Buy at Amazon MP3
Buy at appliedSB (Groupietunes)
Buy at eMusic
More On This Album

I invited Kate Foy to come and share with us the world of a professional theatre actor and all that it means. What was the theatre industry like in the early 1970′s when the Queensland Theatre Company was just getting underway, what do you need and how hard is it to succeed in this art but also what is it like to have nearly 40 years experience in the different areas as a professional theatre actor and academic.

Kate is one of those people that I meet through my interactions on twitter and other new media social platforms. Like a few, Kate has become one of my twitter friends and we’ve had many 140 character conversations with each other. What a surprise it was for me, that afterwards while doing some research in preparation for some audio recordings for the Oral History Project at Queensland Theatre Company, I discovered she has a deep involvement both as the Chair of the QTC Board but also with the theatre community in general.

Kate mentions her latest passion to gather theatre professionals together in a way that hasn’t been possible in the past by establishing Greenroom. Unlike with the past physical publications, now using a web site she hopes to form a portal for people to gather and create a community around shared interests in theatre.

Her website is KateFoy.com and  ActorsGreenRoom.net.

To automatically receive this podcast freely to you, click on one of the links to the left or search in iTunes for “Your Story.”

Join the Your Story Facebook group.

Subscribe freely in iTunes by Clicking here.
If you use another Podcast software Get the feed here.

Support Your Story by commenting on this episode with one of the social network sites below or writing a review on iTunes

Music is from

Nick Hollywood
“Deep Henderson” (mp3)
from “White Mink : Black Cotton (Electro Swing vs Speakeasy Jazz)”
(Freshly Squeezed Music)

Buy at Napster
Buy at Amazon MP3
More On This Album

This has finally led me to have to change the plugin and that had a couple of issues in bringing the files across but I’m pleased to say that as of this morning when I look at all the files on iTunes it seems that everything is now as it’s supposed to be.

Cheers

The good thing about using the BlueBerry PowerPress plugin is that I can now put additional content up on the site with it’s own player and it won’t go out on the feed to iTunes. This has been something that I’ve been wanting to do for some time and I’ve resorted to doing alternative things that were not as neat as I wanted. This now means that the recent Episode 47 about Cliff which had the incorrect audio being sent to iTunes is now resolved.

If you heard the unintential additional content on iTunes for Episode 47 simply do this to get the correct audio of the show.

• Delete – YS Ep 47 : Cliff. Food Allergies and Cancer Treatment from a Life in Science.
• Un-subscribe
• Re-subscribe
• Right/control Click on the header – Your Story : How We Play the Game of Life and select Update Podcast

That will refresh the podcast feed instantly and the now missing Ep 47 should start downloading the correct file that was originally intended to be the episode.

Sorry about these issues but I’m learning as I’m doing and it sometimes takes a while to get the knowledge to sort out these problems.

Thanks to my daughter mentioning that the feed in her iTunes was not the correct file I was made aware of these issues and fix the problem. If you notice anything that is incorrect or needs improving please let me know as it sometimes takes a while for me to notice issues. Thanks in advance.

In a pub recently it was mentioned that I should sit and talk with Gemma-Rose as she has a passion for photography and has managed to make a career of what many would love to do for a living.

Gemma

Not only do we learn of the early days of learning photography in high school but the advantage of coming into it with a little more maturity has paid off along with working as a photojournalist and doing some of the more unpleasant aspects of the job.

Now Gemma is off to Melbourne to work with St Kilda Gatehouse to enable street sex workers and substance dependent people to find a new way to express themselves and to tell their stories. Gemma has a more oblique way of looking at the world and recently undertook and explains her ongoing project, Show Us Ya Tits to show the differences of women and their worlds.

Her website is gemmarose.com.au
email is info@gemmarose.com.au

To automatically receive this podcast freely to you, click on one of the links to the left or search in iTunes for “Your Story.”

Join the Your Story Facebook group.

Subscribe freely in iTunes by Clicking here.
If you use another Podcast software Get the feed here.

Support Your Story by commenting on this episode with one of the social network sites below or writing a review on iTunes

Music

iodaPROMONET

Vodovoz
“Mantra” (mp3)
from “Mantra”
(Night Drive Music)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at Napster
Buy at Amazon MP3
More On This Album

As Perkins reveals in Hitman and his follow up book The Secret History of the American Empire: Economic Hit Men. Jackals and the Truth about Global Corruption this is not necessarily all about good companies being forced to corruption and bribery simply in order to level the playing field. “Everyone is doing it, so we have to also bribe” is I’m sure being said in board rooms around the world.

These large corporations and the governments that they control, willfully and purposefully manipulate third world countries for their specific gains, using corruption and bribery of officials, as a tool of Empire, with full knowledge of what they are doing. They create the corrupt situations that other “good” companies  are forced to accept in order to compete. If the “good” companies were simply to stop, and it seems in some cases this has worked, the large corporations have shown that they would simply go in anyway and continue to pillage in order to feed the empire.

The corruption is at the top of the tree and the rot simply migrates all the way down.

It’s only been a couple of years that I’ve been making Chai and when I mentioned to Tiffany that I make it she seemed a little surprised but I explained how easy it is to make and how there is no one recipe for it, rather it’s an artform that is as unique as the individual, their mood at the time, the weather and the spices and tea on hand. However there are a few ingredients that are basic to all recipes.

My method is simple and easy, and I throw it together, let it brew over and hour or so to enjoy over the next couple of days. Tiffany asked for my recipe and as I wrote the email to her I thought that others may be interested in just how easy this is so here is my recipe.

Just remember there is no correct method and all and every component of this recipe can be changed to suit you but this is a good basic recipe to get you started.

All measurements are loose and dependent on how much falls into my hand on the day or my mood. It will never be wrong, although occasionally a batch will be better.

• 1 litre of water
• 6 cloves
• 5 cm of cinnamon or half teaspoon of powder
• 6 peppercorns
• 8 green cardamon pods (cracked open with the back of a knife or spoon)
• 2 cm of fresh ginger (sliced finely)
• 2 desert spoons of sugar(or to taste)
• 2 desert spoons of good black tea (I like Dilmah)

Heat all spices and let simmer for 15 to 30 minutes.
Add sugar and return to simmer to dissolve it.
Turn off heat and tea add immediately.
Allow to steep for 5 minutes(too long and it’ll go bitter).
Strain off all spices and tea, then refrigerate liquid for use as required.

I heat 2/3 cup of tea to 1/3 cup of milk in a small pan as needed.(add more milk for a chai latte).

I use Demerara sugar as I like the earthy flavour but also for a change I use Palm sugar occasionally. Not easy to get but very interesting, rich flavour. My favourite place to buy the spices in Brisbane is All India Foods, 31 Balaclava St Woolloongabba. Their range is huge, in bulk if you want and you won’t beat the pricing anywhere. Fresher and better than the supermarket.

Pretty simple really and don’t sweet the small stuff as far as ingredients go as like I said you can add different spices depending on what you want, bay leaves, chilli, nutmeg, mace whatever. It’s all up to you. Nutmeg is nice as is its cousin mace but a little scary so be careful with it as it has a lot of the psychotropic chemical in it, that is also present in nutmeg. I no longer use it as it makes me anxious and hyperactive which no longer suits me but if you want that “charged” feeling give it a go.

That’s it… Enjoy

What would you do if you had suspicions of your partner having an affair? Could you confront them and have a discussion? Even then how would you know that what you were being told is the truth? What if you were told that nothing was happening but despite that reassurances you still had it eating away inside of you saying something wasn’t right? Would it be good to find out for certain one way or other, or are you just being insecure?

Tiffany Bond has discovered that not only is there still a demand for infidelity investigation but business is booming as the times may change but people don’t and there is a constant stream of husbands and wives contacting her, seeking information and advice to settle their concerns and suspicion of their partner having an affair.

Tiffany’s talent revealed itself when she used her training with her own relationship, leading her friends to suggest that she could help others, as she was helped, by finding the truth and slaying her own demons.  Starting her private investigation business the Detection Group she has added to previous experiences to tell many more stories written about in her first book Confessions of a Female Private Investigator.

The book is really a series of short stories of her adventures as a debt collector, police officer and private investigator and the experiences that she and her clients find themselves in with suspicion, discovery and resolution of some of the more disappointing aspects of peoples relationships. It’s actually a bit of a page turner in it’s simple short format story telling style forcing me to drag myself away to get this episode published rather than while away the day indulging in the voyeurism of peoples behaviours.

This is not all about the grime and the sordid underbelly of society but much like Episode 40 Grace. Prostitution – More than you Think, in that, in this story we find someone who is driven to help others to take responsibility, heal and move on by finding out the information that has been eating away at them with suspicion. It’s more than just catching people out, it’s about helping people who’s relationships have devolved and aiding them to move their relationships forward.

Tiffany’s Contacts are:

Phone:

• 1300 780 833
• +61(0)458 600 638

Website:

• DetectionGroup.com.au
• TiffanyBond.com.au

Email:

• enquiry@DetectionGroup.com.au

Social:

• Twitter
• Facebook
• Linked In

To automatically receive this podcast freely to you, click on one of the links to the left or search in iTunes for “Your Story.”

Join the Your Story Facebook group.

Subscribe freely in iTunes by Clicking here.
If you use another Podcast software Get the feed here.

Support Your Story by commenting on this episode with one of the social network sites below or writing  on iTunes

Music is from iodaPROMONET

Urban Legend
“The World Keeps Spinning (feat. Chana)” (mp3)
from “Tropical Techniques”
(Blind Lemon Music)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at Napster
More On This Album

Eastern Sun
“Northern Vision” (mp3)
from “In Emptiness”
(Ball of Waxx)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at eMusic
Stream from Rhapsody
Buy at Amazon MP3
More On This Album

Brisbane by Night from Geoff A Charters on Vimeo.

I recently heard the when Oprah was a television news reader she modeled herself on Barbara Walters only to one day loose the persona while news reading, became her true self and the rest is history. This is the first thing that I noticed when I started watching this video but there are a lot more good ideas in this little gem that I found over at Please Feed The Animals. Enjoy

In many countries as the corporations slowly get hold of the governments to do their bidding and we end up with political duopolies where both parties are a subtle shade variation of their political agendas I think old Tommy may have a timely reminder for us.

Here in Australia after having a Liberal Government making moves into introducing an Internet Filter we now have a Labor Government doing similar despite making moves of moving away from such a ludicrous idea prior to their election.

To my disappointment the Rudd Government has turned out to be just another cat.

Wait for the coalitions

In my discussion with Ant & Natalie, they mentioned that they would be happy to assist anyone with additional information by being first contacting me. If you would like to contact them, in the first instance send me an email to chat@YourStoryPodcast.com and I’ll happily pass on your contact to them so they can contact you in return.

To help you understand a little better Christopher’s condition, these are the PET scans mentioned that had been done at the time of our discussion.

To automatically receive this podcast freely to you, click on one of the links to the left or search in iTunes for “Your Story.”

Join the Your Story Facebook group.

Subscribe freely in iTunes by Clicking here.

If you use another Podcast software Get the feed here.

Support Your Story by commenting on this episode with one of the social network sites below or writing a review on iTunes

Music is from iodaPROMONET
Night Style
“Imagine” (mp3)
from “Pour L’Instant Fantastique 2″
(Stranamente Music)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at eMusic
Buy at Napster
Stream from Rhapsody
Buy at Amazon MP3
More On This Album

Cliff Hawkins story is of someone who in helping his own family with food allergies discovers that he has found a mechanism to help the greater community with some of the most damaging and deadly autoimmune diseases and cancers. Only then to be financially destroyed by the greed of a large corporation when he attempted to move his discoveries to the rest of society.

My local, wonderful sour dough bakery, Sol Bread recently started using an additive within some of their range that allow people with gluten intolerance to eat their bread. I immediately wondered how is this possible and what has been created that allows the bread to function during the baking process to still be as good as normal but doesn’t have the negative effects on people with these issues.

As many of us know wheat, dairy, soy and peanut/legume allergies cripple millions of people around the world with ill health effects from irritation to full blown life threatening Anaphylactic Shock and long term health issues.

I tracked down Cliff Hawkins of Biohawk to share with us exactly what he has developed, but I had no idea how deep this rabbit hole was to go.

Cliff explains that most food allergies come from the part of the protein within the food that is designed by nature to protect it from damage so that the plant can continue to utilise it for it’s needs. This protection mechanism unfortunately for some people is the cause of food intolerance.

As with 30% of the Australian population Cliff’s family, with it’s Irish heritage has a gene that reacts to these proteins in harmful ways, creating many dangerous health issues for his children and grand children. He set out 40 years ago to find a food and the relevant enzymes that would achieve the amazing task of neutralising these proteins. Using sound scientific processes gained as a medical research scientist he searched food sources dipping into knowledge known for centuries to discover within the ginger plant, specific enzymes that had the ability to cut out these dangerous proteins rending them harmless and making available all of the protein for digestion. Cliff explained to me that, within the individuals genome there are genes that when turned on, causing an immune response to these specific proteins.

Simply through the use of a natural, whole food in this unique way, Cliff has developed a product that makes the protein easily digested, with better nutritional value, tastier and without any health issues. I have no idea how Cliff has managed to pull this off but he has not synthesised anything or stripped out just the reactive components insofar as creating a substance that could be defined as a medicine but uses the whole ginger food. He has some limited, simple processing which I have no idea of but the essence of his work is that his product is nothing but ginger, so falls into the safety of the Pharmacopoeia as an accepted, approved additive to any food or medicine.

NB. According to the University of Maryland website, ginger has been used as a medicine in Asian, Indian and Arabic herbal traditions since ancient times. In China, ginger has been used to aid digestion and treat stomach upsets, diarrhoea and nausea for more than 2000 years. Ginger is also used by natural health practitioners to treat arthritis, colic, headaches, fever, swelling, heart conditions, the common cold and nausea associated with motion sickness, morning sickness and chemotherapy.

He claims that the more serious health conditions of auto immune diseases have a basis in food allergies caused by creating a hyperimmune system that attacks various parts of the body including diseases such as Rheumatoid Arthritis, Autism, Schizophrenia, ADHD, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and many others. These Autoimmune Diseases are due to the immune system sending proteins to make the B cells that make antibodies to attack the the dangerous pathogens disproportional to the threat, meaning the immune system is overreacting. These excess proteins then go on to react with the body, creating the auto immune disease. Cliffs product has the same effect on these proteins by cutting the excess proteins out, reducing them to normal levels, then allowing the body to return to normal.

That same strategy used by plants to protect their energy stores from being broken down are also used by viruses, bacterium and cancers to protect against the immune response of our bodies. These serious pathogens and cancers have a high proportion of these dangerous proteins on their surface which Cliff’s product has the effect of trimming off allowing the body to react and destroy the cells. The Ginger product simply removes their protection, so our immune system can do it’s job and destroy them and the danger.

Though there is ample evidence to show the benefits of Cliffs ginger products they are sold as Aid to Digestion only and the benefits will be dependant on individual circumstances and the conditions being treated.

To understand better how this works from Biohawk here is an explanitary PDF.

Although this is hard science it also has an element of a craft, with a passion in caring for the greater community and realising that nature, in it’s whole has many of the answers for what we need.

Not only are these human health but also animal husbandry issues and like us, many farmed animals are grain fed and have many of these same health problems.  Cliff has discovered that the same health effects can be gained with animal health particularly with race horses, cattle and poultry. With animal health there are direct financial benefits to the owner of the stock justifying the use of the Animal Health range.

Having received his initial training at the prestigious John Curtin School of Medical Research, Cliff  is the former Professor of Chemistry, Dean of Science and Pro-Vice-Chancellor at University of Queensland  (Biological Sciences). This is his Linedkin Profile.

Cliff’s products are available online and through agents and pharmacies. His main products are DigestEasy sold as a solution and Relief both sold as an aid to digestion and Bake Aid.

His website is biohawk.com.au
email is info@biohawk.com.au

To help you understand a little better Christopher’s condition, these are the PET scans mentioned that had been done at the time of our discussion.

Additional Content

I recorded much more detail with Cliff than I was unable to include in this episode. If you would like to go deeper into this story listen here to Cliff with the full recording.

In this episode we also chat with Ant and Natalie about how they dealt with discovering that their 16 year old son Christopher had Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and how they used a treatment including Cliff’s product to return him to health. If you like to, listen to the Full Story of Christopher.

In my discussion with Ant & Natalie, they mentioned that they would be happy to assist anyone with additional information by being first contacting me. If you would like to contact them, in the first instance send me an email to chat@YourStoryPodcast.com and I’ll happily pass on your contact  to them so they can contact you in return.

Twelve Common Medicinal Herbs

Mayo Clinic – Ginger

Ginger – Overview

University of Maryland – Ginger

To automatically receive this podcast freely to you, click on one of the links to the left or search in iTunes for “Your Story.”

Join the Your Story Facebook group.

Subscribe freely in iTunes by Clicking here.

If you use another Podcast software Get the feed here.

Support Your Story by commenting on this episode with one of the social network sites below or writing a review on iTunes

Music is from iodaPROMONET
Night Style
“Imagine” (mp3)
from “Pour L’Instant Fantastique 2″
(Stranamente Music)

Buy at iTunes Music Store
Buy at eMusic
Buy at Napster
Stream from Rhapsody
Buy at Amazon MP3
More On This Album

Alex Theory
“Oasis” (mp3)
from “Saturn Returns”
(White Swan Records)

Buy at Rhapsody
Buy at Napster
Stream from Rhapsody
Buy at Amazon MP3
More On This Album

Just to see what it’s like I’ve added a photo also.

As some of you may know I’ve recently been working for a short time on the latest in the The Chronicles of Narnia at the Warner Roadshow Studios on the Gold Coast. This next, Episode Three, is The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and as it was for the previous two episodes this one is being Executive Produced by Doug Gresham.

As I mention in the introduction, I meet Doug very briefly while I was working on the film but didn’t have a chance to engage with him while working there. However my supervisor mentioned a few of the things that Doug had mentioned to him and I immediately thought, this sounds like an interesting fellow who wouldn’t mind a chat if he has the time.

Doug is the step son of C.S.Lewis and is now responsible for the continuation and is the head of the C.S. Lewis Company. From that wellhead these films have sprung. After a lifetime of wanting to have them produced he is now, for want of a better title the Executive Producer but as he says, he’s the one to blame. We chat about some aspects of the challenges and the joys of film-making and if you listen to Doug you can hear his passion for film-making and particularly the production of these The Chronicle of Narnia.

Quite a bit is published about Doug and his heritage with C.S. Lewis, including his autobiography Lenten Lands of his childhood with his mother Joy Davidman and Lewis which was made into the television film in ’85 Shadowlands and remade as a feature film in ’93. Doug also mentions writing a biography of Lewis Jacks Life: The Life Story of C.S. Lewis published in 2005.

Doug however is not just all about C.S. Lewis and the The Chronicles Narnia, he is also a committed Non-Denominational Christian with strong opinions on his practical views of Christianity that led him to live by his faith, running and caring for people from around the world in Ireland as a psychotherapist, but also to living an independent lifestyle as a Dairy Farmer in Tasmania and an ABC Radio announcer in Perth.

Now living in Malta, Doug has a world view and strong opinions on where our Western Society has gone wrong, even suggesting what, in his view, what we need to do to fix these issues.

Strong, forthright and thought through opinion is what I discovered in meeting Doug Gresham and a personality that is not easily forgotten.

To automatically receive this podcast freely to you, click on one of the links to the left or search in iTunes for “Your Story.”

Join the Your Story Facebook group.

Subscribe freely in iTunes by Clicking here.
If you use another Podcast software Get the feed here.

Support Your Story by giving it a Digg or Stumble or writing a review on iTunes

Sorry about the miss spelling of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader as I spelt it Trader :/

Music is from iodaPROMONET

The Homemade Jamz Blues Band
“Penny Waiting On Change” (mp3)
from “Pay Me No Mind”
(Northern Blues)

Buy at Rhapsody
Stream from Rhapsody
Buy at Napster
More On This Album

Mmmmm well.

As we know Argentina has a long history within the beef industry being one of the largest exporters in the world. The main reason for such an extensive industry is due to the Pampas, a huge treeless area of South America, much of which is in Argentina cover in rich grasslands perfect for grazing and fattening beef cattle.

I learnt most of what I know about the Argentine beef industry from the show episode that I did with Mike where he explained the difference in the methodologies of raising cattle between Argentina and the US. He wrote an interesting article on how the industry is changing in Argentina and the compromises that he is being forced to make. Suffice to say, what I learnt and tasted of the beef in Argentina is that it is different to what I’m familiar with, particularly in flavour.

I’m not a substantial meat eater, I’m not vegetarian but I eat a primarily vegetarian diet and add meat protein from time to time. My favourite these days is kangaroo for the health and environmental reasons but I do eat beef occasionally. Going to Buenos Aires I ate beef more than I had in many long years which was a bit of a shock on my system but as they say “when in Rome…”

I observed some interesting differences with the way beef is used in the Argentine culture. The retail of it is everywhere. It’s possible to walk into a small corner store and out the back someone is breaking down a side of beef placing chunks of it in the refrigerated display cabinets. At the markets huge quantities of it are just hanging in different stages of butchering as you walk past, next to the cheese and vegetables. It’s everywhere, raw and real, rather than in plastic wrapped Styrofoam trays, just like the old days.

When I say chunks that’s what I mean. It’s as if they don’t seem to have the elegant butchering style that I’m familiar with. It’s more like a cow has been forced through a course tree chipper and the chunks that come out are what you get. Random pieces of meat, fat and bone all to be thrown on the Asodo and cooked over the smoking coals adding more flavour.

I found the taste quite strong for my palate which could be for the dietary reasons I mentioned above but also as Mike mentioned the cattle in Argentina are grass feed, older and free ranged(exercised) so the meat is stronger both in flavour and in texture. I enjoyed the beef that I had while there but I must admit that after four weeks I was getting a bit over it and searching out alternatives. It was good to return home to a lower meat consumption but a great opportunity to embrace the culinary culture of Argentina.

Yes the Argentines love their beef, they have a lot of it, it’s a distintive style and it’s prime quality. I hope that they don’t go the way of the feed lots and maintain this resource in the style that is theirs alone. As for me, by time I return hopefully in two years I’ll be over the quantity I’ve recently been through and I’ll be ready to tuck in again.