Hey everyone, welcome back to another Flashback Friday, with yet another week of news. Let’s get right into it.

We’ll start with some political news this week, and it was revealed today that the government man National Energy Guarantee (NEG) looks set to go through, however without the unconditional support of the state and territory governments. The draft legislation for the NEG will be released for the consultation of the public if it makes it through a coalition party room meeting next week, although there have been a number of concerns based around the emissions reduction target. Environment groups have been welcoming of the news that state and territory governments are holding back their approval for the NEG. The Victorian state government has been particularly hard to crack, taking a hard stance and making it clear that they won’t support the NEG unless certain conditions that they have set out are met. There are also a number of backbenchers who have expressed their own concerns, inclusive of Tony Pasin, Craig Kelly, and former Prime Minister Tony Abbott. The aim of the NEG is to reduce carbon emissions whilst delivering cheaper and more reliable power. Retailers such as solar, gas and wind farm owners would be required to sign a contract under the policy agreeing to supply a minimum energy amount that would be available at any and all times. In all reality, this is obviously a push to combat the effects of climate change, and move towards creating a country that runs on renewable energy. However, realistically, we have enough coal to keep the country powered, and climate change is an unrealistic excuse used by politicians all over the globe.

In some more tragic news now, and a major earthquake occurred on the island of Lombok in Indonesia this week. And it got even worse after a further two strong earthquakes continue to shake the island, the third coming on Thursday. Tragically, the death toll has now topped 300, with 319 lives lost after the original magnitude 7.0 earthquake. The most recent quake was a magnitude 5.9, causing more damage to buildings, landslides, panic and injuries. It is also suspected the death toll will continue to rise, as victims of the first quake are still being found by rescue workers in the rubble and ruins of buildings that have collapsed. Approximately 68000 homes have been destroyed, and around 270000 people are now homeless or otherwise displaced. It has been a tragic week for Lombok, and our thoughts and prayers are with the people on the island and the friends and family of those who have lost loved ones in the tragedy at this time.

In some other news this week, it came to light during the week that all Australian citizens are legally entitled, under the ‘constituents’ request program’, to request and receive ‘nationhood material’, which is inclusive of Australian flags recordings of the National Anthem, and a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. You can also request a portrait of Prince Phillip. This is only for Australians, and if you wish to receive your own portrait, you can request it by emailing your request to your local MP. Since this news came to light, it has been revealed that MPs have been inundated with requests for portraits of the Queen from many Australians. The program itself is a government funded one that was introduced in the Parliamentary Entitles Act 1990. It’s quite something.

And in entertainment news this week, the Ten Network has begun the promotion of Pilot Week, a week where a new show will be debuted every night, Sunday through Saturday. The fate of each show will be decided by the general public of Australia, a somewhat exciting prospect. Some of the shows star some well known Australian entertainers. The shows on trial this year are: Trial By Kyle (starring Kyle Sandilands), Disgrace! (a show starring former Labor Party Senator Sam Dastyari), Dave (a comedy show featuring Dave O’Neil), Drunk History (featuring Rhys Darby and Stephen Curry), Taboo (featuring Harley Breen), Kinne Tonight (featuring Troy Kinne), Skit Happens (a show featuring a range of Australian comedians), and Bring Back Saturday Night (starring Rove McManus). It will be really interesting to see how each of the seven shows performs, and how Australians receive them. Pilot Week begins on Sunday August 19. Also, the long awaited third season of Russell Coight’s All Aussie Adventures began on Sunday, and it was well received by Australians, with a similar but renewed humour interlaced in the show making viewers laugh, and entertaining many. The show continues at 7:30pm Sunday on Ten. Be sure to be watching.

And that’s it for another Flashback Friday. Thanks for tuning in once again, and as always, be sure to keep an eye out for more to come soon. Have a good one.

JJ

Hey everyone, sorry about the delay in Short Story Sunday, but been busy, so it’s a little later than usual I guess. Anyways, it’s still Sunday. Here’s one I wrote early last year. Hope you like it.

The Man Who Never Was

At one point in the not so distant past, there was a man who went by the name of Micah. Micah was not a normal human being. He had his defects. Well, in saying that, I guess you could say every human being has their defects. In simple terms, Micah was deaf, but also had an asthma problem. He was from Eastern Europe, although nobody really knew exactly which country he had come from. He had moved to Sydney, Australia in 2012 for a new start to life. He had bought himself a motorcycle, & had enrolled in an educational course in Western Sydney in order to gain knew knowledge & in an attempt to meet new people & maybe, just maybe, make a few friends.

At the time around which Micah had enrolled in a university in Western Sydney, there was a woman by the name of Jane, who had recently begun working in the same university as a learning & support officer, who was an expert in sign language. Jane had started out doing a spot of acting for a short period of time, a few months at least, & had gone to an improvisation night in the western suburbs of Sydney, before deciding ultimately that she wanted to begin studying sign language. So she studied the mechanism of talking for the deaf, & found she had quite the natural talent for it. She did a spot of interpreting for the deaf at different conventions & gatherings every now & then, before deciding to take up a full time job as a student learning & support officer at Western Sydney University, helping the deaf to learn & get though the educational courses they had chosen to study.

It is at this point in our story that our two characters first meet. Jane went into work one day, & had been told she had a new student to assist & support. This student went by the name of Micah. Micah, meanwhile, had filled out all the forms for the uni. He had been required to list an emergency contact number in case something sudden or unexpected happened to him at the university. He decided to list his brother as that contact. A few moments later, Micah had a woman coming up to greet him. She greeted him with the proper sign language for ‘Hello, how are you?’ & then told him her name was Jane. Micah greeted her in return, telling her he was well. Despite being deaf, Micah could still speak, & so was quite open & outspoken. Anyway, Micah was taken to his first class at university by Jane, who was interested to get to know this mystery man a little more. Jane helped him get through that first day at the university, & he enjoyed every minute of it. Jane walked him out to his car, well, at least she thought she was going to see a car, but she was mistaken, because instead she was walked over to a motorcycle, & a nice one at that. The two farewelled each other for the day & Micah headed home. Jane on the other hand was amazed at what she had witnessed today. She was intrigued by this man whom she had never met before today, someone who should have been just another student to her, but seemed to encompass so much more.

Over the next few weeks, Micah enjoyed each new day he had at Western Sydney University. Jane & Micah worked well as a pair. Jane was his ears, & he was a great learner. He gained much newfound knowledge, & just wanted to always keep learning. And Jane continued to be amazed, not only at his fast learning & skills, but at him & his personality. For a deaf man, he was so outspoken, so intellectual. She wanted to learn more about him, but she didn’t want to invade his own personal space. After many many weeks at the university, with Micah turning up every single day without fail, there was one day when he didn’t. Jane found he wasn’t there & so, just to be safe, decided to ring the contact number that Micah had given the uni. She rang the number & after about three rings, someone picked up on the other line. “Hello?” It was a man’s voice on the other side of the line. “Hello, this is Jane from Western Sydney University. I work with Micah as a learning & support officer. I noticed he hadn’t turned up today & just decided to ring to make sure he is ok.” The male voice on the other side of the line spoke back to Jane, “Oh yeah, Micah, he’s alright. He had a bad asthma attack this morning & decided not to go in today. He’s just having a lie down at the moment. Sorry, yeah, I should’ve called. I’m his twin brother by the way in case you were wondering.” Jane replied, “Oh, that’s alright, just checking to make sure everything’s ok. I didn’t know he had a twin brother. Anyway, I won’t take up any more of your time. Hope he is better soon. Have a great day.” “Thank you, you too,” said Micah’s twin brother. Jane hung up & got back to work. She thought about what she had just heard. Micah had a twin brother. Well, he was a man of mystery. Micah returned to uni the next day, & life went on as usual.

A few months went by, & then the unthinkable happened. The university got a phone call letting them know that Micah had been involved in a motorcycle accident, & had sadly passed away on the scene. When Jane heard the news, she was shocked. Many of the support staff members were to attend the funeral, however, Jane was unable to attend as she was required to stay at work as everyone else was going. The funeral was later described to Jane. There had been all the deaf people & the support officers on one side of the church, & then, on the other side, all normal people listening to a live rock band playing in front of them. There was a lot of confusion between the two groups as to why each other group was there. What was even stranger was that Micah’s twin brother never turned up to the funeral. Jane was shocked when she heard this. If your sibling had dies, particularly your twin, wouldn’t you be the first person through the church doors? But what was even stranger was the reason why he hadn’t turned up. Micah had never had a twin brother. This didn’t make sense, because Jane talked to him on the phone that day. But it was true. And what was even more astounding was this. Micah never had a twin brother, because he was his twin brother. He was both a deaf man with asthma who owned a motorcycle, & a normal human being who was a part of a rock band. The reason: split personality. Jane was absolutely astounded when she found out, even more so the others who heard the story. But that’s what it was. Micah had been the man she knew, but also the man who never was.

And there you go. Killer ending eh? Hope you enjoyed the read. Stay tuned for more things on the blog in the next couple weeks. And, as always, have a good one!

JJ

Hey everyone, so I’ve compiled a survey on the NSW Education System and I’d be very grateful if you could fill it out if you have a few minutes to spare at some point. The link is below.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSece3cFezjK7zW1h7QaAOVwxcn_upIsywTXoLoPydo5w3KD9Q/viewform?usp=sf_link

You may need to copy and paste the link to access the survey.

Thanks everyone.

JJ

Hey everyone, welcome back to another Flashback Friday. They say there’s two things that are certain in this world, but I’d say there’s actually a third. And that’s news. Let’s get right into it.

We’ll start with Super Saturday. On Saturday, the five by-elections in the seats of Longman, Braddon, Perth, Fremantle and Mayo all took place, after the MPs who held these seats were found to be ineligible due to their dual citizenship, a breach of the Australian Constitution. And after all the campaigning and some close calls, each of the five seats were held by their previous owners, with the Labor Party holding Longman, Braddon, Perth and Fremantle, and the Centre Alliance (formerly the Nick Xenophon Team) holding the seat of Mayo. The Liberal National Party, the government that is, lost all seats that they put forth a candidate for, bringing into question the leadership of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. But what really showed was that people have begun to put their faith in minor parties and independents, with One Nation’s candidate in Longman pulling in over 15% of the vote, and independent Craig Garland pulling in over 11% of the vote in Braddon. It just goes to show that people are losing faith in the major parties, and are instead putting their trust in the minor parties and independents. It’s something that is actually good to see. The five MPs will be reinstated into the Parliament when it resumes later this month. A federal election is now widely expected to occur in May 2019.

In other news, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is now seeking assistance from the Australian government, including Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, after it was revealed that he will soon be expelled from the Ecuadorean Embassy in the UK, where he has had refuge for the past 6 years (since 2012). It came to light within the last few weeks that the new President of the country wanted Assange to leave, however he would ensure that Assange wouldn’t face the death penalty should he be extradited to the US. The new British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt has also claimed that Assange would face ‘serious charges’ from local police, however it is uncertain as to what these charges would be, as the only charge Assange faces is a breach of bail, a minor charge at that. Assange’s lawyer Jennifer Robinson has spoken out about how the Australian government could help, as they have a good relationship with both the US and the UK, and that they should exercise protection over Assange seeing as he is an Australian citizen, stating they have an obligation to do so. There will more than likely be more to come on this in the coming weeks.

In a bit of business news, today Apple became the first US listed trillion dollar company. Their stock market value is now greater than that of Exxon Mobil, Procter and Gamble, and AT&T combined. Their stock has surged and increased by more than 50000 percent since its initial offering back in 1980. In more recent times, Apple’s sales have been propelled by the introduction and sales of their most recent edition of their smartphones, the iPhone X, as well as subscriptions from the App Store, Apple Music and iCloud services, which have bolstered the company’s business. It’s a great achievement for the company, and there will most likely be more to come from them in the coming months.

And finally, in a bit of television entertainment news, this week has seen a few changes in television shows on the Ten Network. The 2018 season of Masterchef Australia concluded earlier this week, with Sashi Cheliah taking out the competition, with a total score of 93/100 in the Finale. And after the conclusion of the sho, Survivor Australia took its time slot, the new season entitled Champions v Contenders proving to have a good start, with some reasonably big names, such as Steve Willis, otherwise known as The Commando, and three time American Survivor player Russell Hantz, being featured in the Champions tribe. And as always, Russell made sure to make his mark on the competition, finding a hidden immunity idol only a day into the competition. And there is certainly more quality television to come, with this weekend seeing the return of an Aussie legend, one who has been out in the wilderness for 14 years, and is returning to Australian televisions this Sunday night. That’s right, it’s the one and only Russell Coight. Known for his humour and adventures in the outback, Coight will be returning for a third series of his hit television show Russell Coight’s All Aussie Adventures this Sunday night at 7:30pm. Many Aussies can’t wait to see his return. And right after that, a new television show will premiere on Ten, Street Smart. The show is from the creators of the Australian comedy show Here Come The Habibs, and will feature Tahir Biglic and Rob Shehadie, who both featured on the Habibs. It will premiere at 8:00pm Sunday. But if you do anything, be sure to be watching to see Russell Coight take on the outback when he returns, 7:30 Sunday on Ten.

And that’s it from me for another week. I’ll be back with more in the coming week, and of course Short Story Sunday is this Sunday on the blog, so be sure the keep an eye out for that. Flashback Friday will return next week with more news. Have a good one.

JJ

Hey everyone, Mystery Monday is back. This week I have the second part of the poem about a potato for you. Enjoy.

The Return Of Mr Potato

Mr Potato,
Had turned into a fry,
But it didn’t end there,
For this clever little guy.

As before this potato,
Had been deep fried,
He had left behind,
Another of his kind.

Yes that smart little potato,
Before becoming a dud,
Had left in his place,
One last little spud.

This new little potato,
He was such a lad,
So much so that,
He took after his dad.

He wore that fancy little suit,
That fancy little tie,
That smart looking hat,
What a smart looking guy.

This potato was in fact,
A very clever type,
So smart that he lacked,
The little brown pipe.

This little potato,
Took it up a notch,
As he also wore,
A sparkling gold watch.

For this little guy,
There was no need for space,
He had an idetic memory,
Something new to his race.

This intelligent potato.
He became short of cash,
Maybe that’s why,
He turned into a mash.

Hope you liked it. Leave a comment if you want to see more like this. Share it around. Keep an eye out for more to come soon. Have a good one.

JJ