Book Review; Atlas of Cursed Places.

Atlas of Cursed Places

A travel guide to dangerous and frightful destinations

Author:                          Oliver Le Carrer

Publisher:                      Black Dog & Leventhal

Type:                              Hard Cover

Pages:                             142

Genre:                            non-fiction (mostly, see below)

Published:                      2015

ISBN:                              9781631910005

 The book itself is really nice looking, its hardcover and is well made.  It has many beautiful maps, but no drawings or sketches of the buildings described sadly. 

 The introduction is a little off putting and i started to worry what i am in for with this one. It kind of implied that the biblical genesis is actual history. And insinuates that  billion people (that's almost everyone on earth) is judo-christian. It also strangely tries to separate the paranormal and supernatural from religion, which is really weird, whats more supernatural than magic and the Gods?

 But please do plow through this, the book isn't really trying to indoctrinate the innocent reader into any one religion, as later on it gives other Gods almost as much historical reality. It seems the meaning can sometimes be muddied by flowery prose.

 The book does use the antiquated BC/AD which doesn't add to its credibility, but is a common enough mistake to not effect the score too much. 

 The book looks at some interesting places like, islands, castles, villages, forests, tombs, cemeteries, marshlands, and delves into some haunted locations and the homes of some cryptids. Each entry has a few pages of information and at least one map of where the subject is located.

 Some of the most interesting places for me were, the Pine Barrens, Amityville, The Suicide Forrest, The Bermuda Triangle, and Eilean Mor Lighthouse. 

 As an example the book looks at Nuremburg and tells how a former SS Nazi barracks has become home to the High Commission for Refugees there.

 But on page 92 i read something incredibly distressing. The location is Nauru, and the last paragraph notes that it- 

"leased part of its modest surface area to Australia as a reception center for illegal immigrants." 

 I was shocked, i read those words again and again as tears came to my eyes. 

 Because i know that the reception refuges face on Nauru is not a nice one. Any person that arrives in Australia by boat is captured, and relocated to one of Australians off shore prison camps like Nauru. These poor men, women and children are not processed, our far right wing government (and center right opposition) have refused to ever allow any of them to resettle in Australia. These prison camps are designed as a punishment for trying to seek asylum in Australian, and as a deterrent from other refuges from attempting to do the same.

 Remember that these are not illegal immigrants, these are refugees seeking asylum in Australia, fleeing war, famine and terrorism.

 In these prison camps on Nauru and Manus islands, refuges face isolation, torture, lack of medical care, hopelessness, rape, assault, murder, and child abuse. As a result of the horrors they have fled and those inflicted upon them by indefinite incarceration without crime, charge or trial some of these poor people have self harmed and even committed suicide in order to free themselves from the unending horror.

 Please don't take my word for it, follow the links. Another disturbing aspect of this is that the ministers responsible for this horror are often promoted, and given even more power.

 While contacting the Coalition and Labor governments might help the only real solution is to vote Green in Australia as they are the only  party (of reasonable size) that have an even remotely humane refugee policy. 

A history of Nauru

Nauru human rights abuse 

Dutton promoted despite failure

Women on Nauru

Australian Human Rights Commission

The Greens Refugee Plan

 Okay, so in light of this horrific lack of research on the author, fact checker, and editors part it may surprise you to know that i do actually recommend this book. It is a nice looking book and is an interesting read. But the Nauru part is a great example of the need to check your sources, and to get your information from more than one source. It would be a good way to teach children the importance of this ability and it seems the ability to discern fact from lie (alternate fact) is more and more necessary as we know that the fascism of the Right gains power through ignorance.

 Please seek help if you need to talk about the horrors that refugees are facing at the hands of the Australian government.

Who owns the Rainbow?

Is Ken Ham supporting Pride?

 Ken Ham a bigot of questionable sincerity and sanity, has, with the help of government funds made a model of the mythical ark,  The world flood and ark myth originated as far as we know in the Sumerian mythology recorded in the Epic of Gilgamesh. 

 Ken Ham has lit up his model of the ark with rainbow colored lights, but not in support of the LGBT community, he is using the rainbow to try and promote hate and  discord.

 He has claimed that Christians need to take back the rainbow from the LGBT community because he claims that the christian god owns it!

 Firstly this man is wrong, in that Christians are free to use the rainbow, the LGBT community do not own it any more than any one god does. We do receive royalty's every time someone uses a rainbow or sees one in the sky.

 Secondly the rainbow flag created by Gilbert Baker in 1978 is a symbol uniting all people, of all races and religions in peace and the acceptance of the natural diversity of humanity. The colors of the Rainbow flag represent Sex, Life, Healing, Sunlight, Nature, Magic, Art, Serenity and Spirit, all things Ken Ham is against apparently.

  Lets just have a quick look at some actual facts that disprove Ken Hams outrageous claim that his lone god created and owns the rainbow.

 In Aboriginal mythology the rainbows are giant divine serpents with various names and attributes, there are two of great note here; Ungud is said to be androgynous or transgender while another Rainbow Serpent Angamunggi is transgender. 

 In Armenian mythology the rainbow is the belt worn by Tir a sun god of knowledge.

 In Aztec mythology Xochipilli is associated with rainbows and is the god of homosexuality.

 In Greek mythology Iris is the personification of the rainbow and works as liasion between gods and men.

 In Hindu mythology the rainbow is the actual lightning arrow shooting bow of the god Indra. 

 In Japanese mythology rainbows are used for ancestor spirits to travel the realms.

 In Maori mythology the Moon goddess Hina created the rainbow to allow her mortal husband to return to the mortal world.

 In Navajo mythology rainbows are seen as paths that allow holy spits to travel between the mortal and divine realms.

 In Norse mythology the rainbow bridge connects our mortal world with the realm of the gods.

 In Sumerian mythology the gay Gilgamesh from which the ark story originated, the rainbow sanctioned war and was associated with life and immortality.

 There are of course many other instances of the rainbow used in non-christian mythology. His misrepresentation of the facts show Ken Ham has very little knowledge of religion and probably shouldn't be consulted on spiritual issues.

 

 Obviously Ken Ham is just attacking the LGBT community is a publicity stunt to re-engage with his bigoted homophobic base and to try and bring attention to his failing ark model. 
 The Model has previously been criticised for its dodging of taxes, low attendance, highly questionable claims and discriminatory hiring polices.

Love Court Love

Margret Court Vs love

 Margret Court is a former Australian tennis player and a "christian" minister. She had a distinguished career as a tennis player, she was awarded an Order of British Empire and an Order of Australia which she still has despite her actions since retirement.  She has had show court one at the sports and entertainment complex in Melbourne park renamed to Margret Court Arena in her honor, this has remained the name despite her attacks on Innocent Australians.

 Unfortunately she has a horrible track record when it comes to her morality and decency.  Through her after- tennis life she has fought against the Australian constitution, and LGBT rights. She has supported the Australian (anti-) Family Association which can only reasonably be describes as a hate group. She even attacked Qantas after the CEO came out in support of human rights.

 Some of the ridiculous comments she has made are that 'Tennis is full of lesbians that take children to partys', she claims that transgender children were the work of the devil, She falsely equated sexual education to Nazis and communism, She has railed against an anti bullying program that helps LGBT children make it through their school years alive, She claims LGBT people are unable to love and only exhibit a lust for flesh, She has also claimed that Australia is a theocracy, Her views are obviously homophobic, racist and inaccurate. It is also important to note that she amazingly still claims to not be homophobic, despite her devotion to denying the rights (and even existence) of LGBT Australians including children.

 She has claimed that any effort by people with knowledge of LGBT issues to merely correct her misconceptions or to rename the arena after a non-racist and non-homophobic person are ironically bullying.

 Despite promising the LGBT community that Australia would have no place for homophobia or hate speech, Malcolm Turnbull supported her views, and keeping the Melbourne park named after her. 

 ...or its at Margret Court Arena of course.

 

 A lot of the media handled Courts deplorable views a bit dangerously.Very few news stories pointed out that her views were not supported by facts, and were inaccurate to say the least. Any attempt to correct the record on the dangerously inaccurate things she was saying was often reported by right wingers as preventing her free speech, despite her very public platform. I also don't think i seen any calls for all christians or women or tennis players to own her actions and to publicly denounce her disgusting views.
 Attacks on LGBT children are horrible as it is, and her evil comments show how important programs like Safe Schools anti-bullying programs really are. But now that the government has kowtowed to the vocal minority that doesn't want LGBT kids to survive through their school years, such homophobic comments become even more dangerous. 
 I really do feel that public figures have a responsibility to fact check what they say before they go public, especially when kids lives are at risk.

 If homophobia is effecting you as a victim of it or even as a perpetrator please get help. 

 It looks like the petition to re-name the arena is still active. 

Sign the petition

 

Preventing Youth Suicide or not

Preventing youth Suicide or not:

 The safe schools program is a program set up to end school bullying and help prevent youth suicide. Homophobic bigots do not like the program as it helps LGBTQ kids survive into adulthood. It was revealed that NSW (New South Wales) would not be refunding the program. To which failed Prime Minister and admitted homophobe Tony Abbot proclaimed the scrapping was a good decision. This comes after the right had repeatedly made false claims about the program and disliked its factually accurate material which triggered the sensitive bigotry of right wingers. This program seems to be being "replaced" in NSW by one that does not address the higher rates of suicide or self harm in young LGBT people due to homophobia.

 In SA (south Australia) the life saving program will be replaced by the Shine SA program. It seems the "replacement" programs implementation is a farce, its opt-in, and if the vitriol we have seen leveled at Safe Schools showed us anything its that such a program should be mandatory in all schools. This plan would see the community's that are the most homophobic exempt from the anti bullying program?!? 

 The program will also require teachers to gain parental consent before stepping in and preventing bullying or offering help to vulnerable LGBTQ students. This in itself could be disastrous! The outing of young LGBT students to their parents could lead to abuse at home in addition to the abuse they are suffering at schools, t could also lead to higher rates of youth homelessness. 

 We can only hope these governments get voted out before too many lives are lost, so we can at least make a decent attempt to make our schools safe and help LGBTQ kids survive their school years.

Anti-bullying program 

Abbot a homophobe 

Implementation all wrong

SHine SA 

 You may not be able to find help at school or at home but there is help out there;

Glitter Vs Evil

 Glitter Vs Evil

  I did address this in my review of the awesome book Colouring The Rainbow so check that out. Andrew Bolt is a (legally confirmed) racist and homophobe (by his own words).  

 Andrew Bolt recently had a major hussy-fit after he (by his own admission) violently "assaulted" someone for merely playing a prank on him. The prank being that glitter was thrown in his direction. Andrew Bolt's defenders are saying that Bolt should escape charges because Bolt's homophobia runs so deep that the mere physical contact with glitter enrages him into uncontrolled hysterical violent attacks.
 I should note that as of this writing charges of assault have yet to be applied to him, and i believe he is trying to play the victim in this encounter, it seems apparent that the mainstream media are quite willing to side with him.
  It would appear Andrew Bolt has a long history of seemingly attacking minority's while being a very sensitive snowflake himself.  He is loving playing the victim he claims that his fascist views have drawn the attention of an anti-facscist group , who he blames for the glitter prank.

 Please for your own safety do not try and enlighten Andrew Bolt by sprinkling glitter about him or his person. In fact its best not to glitter anyone against their wishes, no matter how disgusting they are or how many years they have devoted to attacking innocent minority groups. Obviously throwing glitter at a fascist is wrong, but Bolts assault on the pranksters and his melodrama since was completely over the top.

If homophobes are getting you down, or you are having homophobic thoughts please seek help.

Being gay is not a choice or a health crisis

Being gay is not a choice or a health crisis

But the right wing media is out of hand 

 The daily telegraph is well known for its very right wing biased "journalism" and its horrible treatment of the LGBT community. It has repeatedly allowed publication of attacks on marriage equality and even safe schools, which is an anti bullying program designed to help prevent youth suicide.  
 As you can see from the main picture the title says fat chance of being healthy with the sub heading young Australians only have themselves to blame. 
 The Daily Telegraph would have its readers believe that psychological distress and being same sex attracted is a choice.

 ITS NOT!

And that being same sex attracted is a health crisis.

ITS NOT!

The health crisis is homophobia! Homophobia that might be lessened by programs such as the safe school program and granting same sex attracted couples the right to marry. And at least doing a basic level of fact checking on articles before they are published.

16.8%

 Whats also interesting is that homophobes usually try to lower the percentage of LGBT people, ), believing that somehow lessens the right to equality), but this "info-graphic" has the rate of same sex attracted rate at 16.8% among high school students, which is slightly higher then the average conservative estimate. So next time you are assaulted with some fake low statistic you can refer the bigot to this crappy article, as i am sure they will respect the Daily Telegraph.

 You can bet Turnbull will continue to not do a thing despite his assurance that homophobia would not be tolerated in Australia. I also feel really disappointed in Turnbull's support of homophobia in Australia, some even from within his own party. While he isn't as bad as Hanson straight washing the Orlando tragedy for political gain, it appears that his promises to fight homophobia in Australia was just hollow grandstanding, which is really sad and disrespectful. I would love for him to prove me wrong good first steps would be to make marriage equality a reality and make safe schools mandatory Australia wide.

Please join many decent Australians in lodging a complaint. 

Marriage Equality should not remian in closet

Marriage Equality 

 The Coalition through Peter Dutton singled out one gay executive Alan Joyce after 20 executives from high profile company's came out in favor of supporting the Australian constitution and ending marriage discrimination against LGBT people. Dutton and other right wingers, went on a rant railing against free speech and against business doing community enrichment programs. Qantas the company specifically targeted by Dutton does such things as;

Assisting Australians in natural disasters

Transporting medical supplies and patients

Supporting the arts

Indigenous reconciliation

Sponsoring sporting events and organisations 

Charitable donations 

Taking steps to prevent modern slavery

 Now admittedly Dutton and other right wingers were targeting the company's support for equal rights but we must assume they want business to stop all social responsibility or else we would be calling them homophobic bigots, and we wouldn't want to do that.

 Duttons claim that company's are being bullied into supporting equal rights are bizarre. In related news a bigot attacked this very same CEO who Dutton had targeted for the exact same "reasons" Dutton had proclaimed. This homophobic attack however was a physical assault, The bigot was deemed to have mental issues and was given a slap on the wrist fine with no record of conviction. Perhaps mandatory treatment for his violent homophobia might have been in order but we can only hope he gets the professional help he needs. This shows too how important programs like Safe Schools are, so people don't grow up with such irrational hate in their hearts. This man was a member of a Christian church, and a former candidate for the nationals. It has been reported that he is at least a member of two "christian" organisations, which have hopefully since been investigated for any terrorism or hate crimes planning. I also didn't hear many in the right call on all Christians (or whites, or men) to condemn this attack...

Dutton attacks free speech

Business that support Australian values 

Homophobic hate crime fueled by right wing 

Book review: Medieval Monsters

Medieval Monsters

Author:                          Damien Kempf & Maria L. Gilbert

Publisher:                      The British Library

Type:                              Hard Cover

Pages:                             93

Genre:                            non-fiction (art)

Published:                      2015

ISBN:                              9780712357906


 The book itself looks nice, it has a bright colorful dust cover and once that is ripped off it has a blue hard cover with golden title on the spine.  

 The book begins as most of this sort do with a definition of what a monster is. Some of the monsters looked at include, the Siren, Unicorn and werewolves. 

 The use of "God" as singular is jarring especially when the book doesn't limit itself to solely monotheistic sources. I am left to assume that when they say "God" they mean one of the christian variety's, but when discussing non christian monsters this may not be an accurate assumption. The book also uses the outdated BC/AD timescale instead of the secular BCE and CE.
 While the focus on Christianity indeed gets boring the book does devote some pages to the famous gay Greek  ruler Alexander the Great. Specifically how he was conceived by a magician transformed into a dragon posing as a God. It also briefly mentions some monsters he encountered on his journeys before the subject again turns biblical.

I feel like the different people discussed should have a heading at the top of the page instead of just launching into it. 

 I am sorry to say that this book is rather disappointing, it hardly delves into any details about monsters, and seems to get distracted with biblical stories, iv read quite a few different versions of the christian bibles as i am sure most readers have, i would have preferred the book address the road less traveled or the monsters less well known.

 The art however is incredible and lavishes every page, some pages are devoted only to showing off this medieval art. While it does have a illustration credits section in the back, i would have preferred to learn more about the actual monsters depicted in the art. 

 I would only recommend this as a book for children, to help inspire imagination and an bolster an interest in history. Or perhaps to someone very interested in medieval art.