Had a wonderful time in New Zealand this last fortnight. We only visited the South Island.

One thing I noticed was that in well over 1,500 kms of car travel, I did not come across one speed camera or speed trap. Even in cities like Christchurch there was no speed camera revenue raising presence. 

Makes you wonder about our State of Victoria!

This fascinating and scholarly book by Yair Davidy was published in Israel in 1996. Davidy spent decades on his investigations, helped also by material gathered and donated by other researchers.

The book is all about the Hebrew ancestry of the Celtic races. The ten tribes of the northern Israel kingdom were exiled by the Assyrians in 721 BC and finally found their way to Western Europe.

I borrowed this book through the Campaspe library system from the State Library of Victoria.

Yair Davidy was born in Australia but now lives in Jerusalem.

The British-Israel concept is not a new one, but this well-researched book by this Jewish man confirms this contention very strongly. Davidy, in other books, goes well beyond the British identity to include many in Western Europe as well. The study of the lost ten tribes has occupied scholars of many backgrounds for many hundreds of years.

In another book by Davidy, and writings by others as well, the tribe of Zebulon is shown after the Assyrian captivity to have eventually settled in Holland, the land of my birth.

I see myself as an Israelite of the tribe of Zebulon. As an Israelite I am part of the chosen people and therefore a descendant of Jacob (or his new name Israel) and through him back to Abraham. Others again see Holland as part of the tribe of Dan together with the Danish and other neighbouring peoples. I tend to favour that (Caucasian) Hollanders are from the tribe of Zebulon. Some again say that Zebulon and Issacher are closely related, if not mixed together. This might be so.

Although Jesus Christ is from the tribe of Judah, as a part of the tribes of Israel, I am His kinsman, while He is my redeemer.

Rabbi Abraham Feld of the Macabee Institute (for emergency rescue, educational and social aid) based in Jerusalem wrote an excellent letter of commendation included at the beginning of Davidy's book.

If you don't understand a word of the above, do not panic. If you do understand some of it, don't jump to incorrect conclusions. Do the hard yards.

Start reading the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) from Genesis onwards. Look at the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities. Look also at the dispersion after the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Historian Josephus has written much about that. After all he as a Judean general was part of Jerusalem's defense. There is a good book entitled Thrones of Blood (based on Josephus' writings) which is the story of the last seven years prior to the fall of Jerusalem accomplished by Roman general Titus.

Think about it!

The following has been copied and pasted from the columbia.edu website. I considered it interesting enough to place it in my space.

This is certainly food for thought!

The origin of science
...as Whitehead pointed out, it is no coincidence that science sprang,
not from Ionian metaphysics, not from the Brahmin-Buddhist-Taoist East,
not from the Egyptian-Mayan astrological South, but from the heart of
the Christian West, that although Galileo fell out with the Church, he
would hardly have taken so much trouble studying Jupiter and dropping
objects from towers if the reality and value and order of things had not
first been conferred by belief in the Incarnation. (Walker Percy, Lost
in the Cosmos)

To the popular mind, science is completely inimical to religion: science
embraces facts and evidence while religion professes blind faith. Like
many simplistic popular notions, this view is mistaken. Modern science
is not only compatible with Christianity, it in fact finds its origins
in Christianity. This is not to say that the Bible is a science textbook
that contains raw scientific truths, as some evangelical Christians
would have us believe. The Christian faith contains deeper truths--
truths with philosophical consequences that make conceivable the mind's
exploration of nature: man's place in God's creation, who God is and how
he freely created a cosmos.
In large part, the modern mind thinks little of these notions in much
the same way that the last thing on a fish's mind is the water it
breathes. It is difficult for those raised in a scientific world to
appreciate the plight of the ancient mind trapped within an eternal and
arbitrary world. It is difficult for those raised in a post-Christian
world to appreciate the radical novelty and liberation Christian ideas
presented to the ancient mind.
(The Origin of Science
<http://www.columbia.edu/cu/augustine/a/science_origin.html>)
14 <posts?page=14#14> posted on *08/07/2006 11:19:23 AM PDT* by A. Pole
</%7Eapole/> (Saint Augustine: "The truth speaks from the bottom of the heart without the noise of words")
[ Post Reply <reply?c=14> | Private Reply <private?c=14> | To 8 <#8> |
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I received this story by email from a friend today. Only the title is mine.

CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS ?

What a world? (country NSW, Australia)...
On Thursday, 24 January 2002, Derek Guille broadcast this story on his afternoon program on ABC radio.
In March, 1999, a man living in Kandos (near Mudgee in NSW received a bill for his as yet unused gas line stating that he owed $0.00. He ignored it and threw it away. In April he received another bill and threw that one away too
The following month the gas company sent him a very nasty note
stating they were going to cancel his gas line if he didn't send them $0.00 by return mail. He called them, talked to them, and they said it was a computer error and they would take care of it.
The following month he decided that it was about time that he tried
out the troublesome gas line figuring that if there was usage on the
account it would put an end to this ridiculous predicament. However, when he went to use the gas, it had been cut off.
He called the gas company who apologised for the computer error once again and said that they would take care of it. The next day he got a bill for $0 00 stating that payment was now overdue. Assuming that having spoken to them the previous day the latest bill was yet
another mistake, so he ignored it, trusting that the company would be as good as their word and sort the problem out.
The next month he got a bill for $0.00. This bill also stated that he
had 10 days to pay his account or the company would have to take
steps to recover the debt. Finally, giving in, he thought he would beat the company at their own game and mailed them a cheque [check] for $0.00.
The computer duly processed his account and returned a statement to the effect that he now owed the gas company nothing at all.
A week later, the manager of the Mudgee branch of the Westpac Banking Corporation called our hapless friend and asked him what he was doing writing cheque for $0.00. After a lengthy explanation the bank manager replied that the $0.00 cheque had caused their cheque processing software to fail. The bank could therefore not process ANY cheques they had received from ANY of their customers that day because the cheque  for $0.00 had caused the computer to crash.
The following month the man received a letter from the gas company claiming that his cheque has bounced and that he now owed them $0.00 and unless he sent a cheque by return mail they would take immediate steps to recover the debt.
At this point, the man decided to file a debt harassment claim
against the gas company. It took him nearly 2 hours to convince the clerks at the local courthouse that he was not joking. They subsequently assisted him in the drafting of statements which were considered substantive evidence of the aggravation and difficulties he had been forced to endure during this debacle.
The matter was heard in the Magistrate's Court in Mudgee and the
outcome was this:
The gas company was ordered to:
[1] Immediately rectify their computerised accounts system or show cause, within 10 days, why the matter should not be referred to a higher court for consideration under Company Law.
[2] Pay the bank dishonour fees incurred by the man.
[3] Pay the bank dishonour fees incurred by all the Westpac clients
whose cheques had been bounced on the day our friend's had been.
[4] Pay the claimant's court costs; and
[5] Pay the claimant a total of $1500 per month for the 5 month
period March to July inclusive as compensation for the aggravation they had caused their client to suffer.
And all this over $0.00.
This story can also be viewed on the ABC website.
Who employed these idiots??

  The following information comes from Rushcomhouse.spaces.live.com

Quote

Drought assistance - some web sites

Here are some sites that provide help with contact information and details where assistance can be sought for drought relief.

• Drought Information for Victoria
• Location of rural counselling groups in Victoria
• Centrelink drought assistance
• Australian Government Drought Assistance
• Drought statement from National Climate Centre (as of 30-Sep-2006)
• Victorian Country Hour (ABC Radio)
• Surviving the Drought - Around the country (ABC Radio)
• Financial Assistance and counselling (Victorian Dept of Human Services)
• Personal Support & Counselling
• General, Family & Financial Counselling
  • Lifeline on 131 114
  • Parentline on 132 289
  • Kids Helpline on 1800 551 800

Technorati tags: Victorian drought, Victoria, drought, assistance, contacts

I have just returned home from another productive computer session at the Rushworth Community House. Webmaster Superior, Bernie Halpin of webDotWiz fame, patiently and systematically guided me through all the necessary steps.

It is amazing that a small town like Rushworth has some of the best brains available to guide novice webmasters like me. All I pay is $5 toward the use of the RCH computers. This is inexpensive continuing adult education at its best.

This morning I began to update all the non Internet Explorer browser pages on my website. This needs to be done from time to time to enable those who use search engines other than IE to access my website. There is still some more work to be done.

Achieving progress keeps our minds focussed. I try to attend the RCH on a weekly basis. I always wonder why lots more people would not use this wonderful educational facility. You do not stop learning at age 66!

Andre 

A couple of weeks ago, Allison Stanley, our local librarian, managed to
track down a rare book and borrow it for me from the Victorian State
Library. As the State Library is not a lending library, it nevertheless
allowed me to access this rare book at our Rushworth library. To me this
is a vote of confidence by the State Library in the Shire of Campaspe
library system. There are only three copies of this particular
theological text in all of Australia.

I am most grateful for Allison's expertise and also for the efficient
and always friendly back-up co-operation of Pat Johnson and Kathleen
Clarke.

Ladies, please take a bow!

(The above is a letter published in the 14 Sep 06 Waranga News)

I will be adding a new story for Jane on my website.