I still think 1: the road sign warning of kangaroos ahead, and 2: the silver fern of New Zealand are the best true and only flags of Australia and New Zealand as real places with real people who have real homes in the Antipodes. neither flag is a flag that beseeches its youth to go to the other side of the world and die for someone else, or demands its people follow the orders of others, but rather to believe in yourself, do well, get strong, be secure, and love your own families, and love where and who you are, and have a great future in the real world.

Today's English word: Antipodes.antipodes anˈtɪpədiːz noun 1. Australia and New Zealand (used by inhabitants of the northern hemisphere). "there were plants from the Antipodes, including eucalyptuses and acacias" 2. the direct opposite of something.

After the slicing of Korea into two by the USSR and the USA, the unhappiness of this divided one people continues. The problem of Korea is a problem between 2 Korean brothers and 2 Korean cities, Seoul and Pyongyang, and it is only these 2 brothers, these two cities, who can resolve the issue, and if left to their own devices, they would solve it, although it wouldn't be pretty, it would be resolved fairly quickly. It won't be resolved by provocations by the foreign USA..and certainly not with the assistance of Japan who are the most despised people by both the Korean brothers for very good reason. Actually, the Japanese involvement in the US effort to destabilise the North may well be the one thing, the one sprite, that unites North and South against Japan...and the USA. Too much harm was done by Japan to both North and South Korea for there ever to be a reconciliation with Japan that doesn't involve a lot of bloodshed. Best for Japan to stay out of it. The 'Grief Response' is an incredibly powerful and vicious thing...and for good reason.

The girls, going out, potentially to go on dates with Tasmanians. How spooky is that?

It does seem as though the only 2 sane major powers these days are Russia and China...and the only resilient nation seems to be Syria.

You can't go around bombing other people in other countries for their own good and not expecting that the good will be repaid in kind. Life's not like that. Peace is better ... and cheaper.

i dont know what a functional or dysfunctional family is or is not, but my family is one of very different drives, visions, beliefs, ambitions and views and values and cultures and races and motivations, and there is sufficient respect for each other , and a sense of abiding dignity, even though we can all be bizarrely driven, in each other's terms, from time to time...but As we go along... we are less driven, and just drive ourselves...and we can drive ourselves home...because somehow We know where and what home is.