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Category: Community Interests

This Category Is For Local Communities, Statewide, Nationwide, International And Online Community For Those Who Like To Feel Part Of A Community And To Encourage All Of Us To Think Outside The Square Where We Reside Personally And Expand Our Vision.

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There's never been a better time to be a Con Artist.

Frank Abagnale, the subject of the movie “Catch Me If You Can,” is a former teenage Con Artist turned respected security consultant. He says “We give away way too much information and then we wonder why people steal our identities.”

Modern technology makes it easier than ever for criminals to create successful scams while hiding their identity from law enforcement. You could be targeted by a fraudster half a world away, sitting in their pajamas, drinking coffee in the kitchen while on their laptop.

The global cost of cybercrime is almost $600 billion a year, according to a 2018 report from McAfee. And that staggering figure does not include the billions lost to scams and rip-offs that are not internet-related.

So, how do the fraudsters do it? How do they manipulate us into giving them huge amounts of money and our most sensitive personal information?

“They’re very good at convincing you that they are who they say they are and convincing you to do things that you probably normally wouldn’t do,” said Frank Abagnale, a former con artist turned respected security consultant.…

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ABC Everyday / By Zoe Kean

Longer, warmer days are causing plants all over Australia to spring into new growth. But with this welcome growth comes every gardener's nemesis — weeds.

Amanda Sigler, 38, grew their "first ever garden" last summer and has been gaining new skills to keep weeds at bay.

Here are their tips, along with advice from a horticulturalist. 

Prevention is key and cardboard can help

The strongest advice Amanda has for new gardeners is to stop the problem before it starts through weed-wise planning.

"Lay a good foundation," they say.

When Amanda moved into a rental in Moonah, a Hobart suburb, they were faced with an expanse of lawn. After getting the go-ahead from their landlord, they decided to replace the lawn with veggie beds.

They dug up their lawn then lay flattened cardboard over the dirt to stop the grass regrowing. They topped it all off with fresh, premium, weed-free soil.

This strategy gave their new veggies the best chance of growing without competition.

Louise Sales, horticulturalist at the Botanical Institute, a garden run by the Museum of Old and New Art's (MONA) 24 Carrot Garden Program, endorses this method. 

"If you've got lots of weeds [laying cardboard down] is a really good way of suppressing them," she says.…

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By Janet Vargas - Owner Of This Website

DID YOU KNOW THAT 75% OF FOOD WORLDWIDE IS LIMITED TO 12 PLANT CROPS (and 5 animal foods) AND THAT WESTERN COUNTRIES......... MORE INTERESTING FACTS IN THIS POST, PLUS WHICH FRUITS AND VEGGIES THE AFORE MENTIONED ARE AND SOME INSIGHTS ON THE IMPORTANCE OF ENCOURAGING BIODIVERSITY HERE IN AUSTRALIA. ON A LIGHTER NOTE, I WILL ALSO MENTION SOME IMPROVEMENTS WE'VE HAD IN OUR FOOD CULTURE IN RECENT DECADES AND RECENT TIMES, TO WHAT WE HAD YEARS AGO. I HOPE YOU READ THIS POST.

According to TheFutureMarket.Com  we only grow a small percentage of Plant Food Crops in Western Countries that does not allow for much Food Diversity in our Diet or our Health. As mentioned, they state that 75% of the World’s Food comes from 12 Plants (and 5 Animals).

In this order, the highest turnover of Plant Foods produced are 1. Sugar, 2. Corn, 3. Rice, 4. Wheat, 5. Potatoes,  6. Soya Beans, 7. Cassava, 8.Tomatoes, 9. Bananas, 10. Onions, 11. Apples and 12. Grapes. We eat only 150 out of 30,000 edible plant species (worldwide). For example, the USA has lost 90% of it’s Fruit and Veg varieties since 1900.…

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By Heather McKern From Diggers Garden Club Magazine Late Spring Edition 2020. Heather encourages us to increase our intake of dietary plant foods.

The old saying "variety is the spice of life" may be truer than ever. Studies into health are showing that eating at least 30 different plant foods a week  is critical to gut health and considered key to a healthy diet.

Eating a  broad variety of different plants not only increases the amount of fibre, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants we consume. That supports our immune system and lowers our risk of diseases like certain cancers, heart disease, diabetes and mental health issues.

There are six different categories of plant foods that are counted towards our weekly total, and excluding any specific Dietary restrictions we want to include a variety from each group. They are fruit, nuts, seeds, wholegrains and legumes.

To get the most benefit. We want our plants to be as close to their original state as possible. And to be mindful of what we or others do to prepare them before they are eaten. There is little benefit if you are having a large variety of greens in salads everyday but smothering those greens in oil.…

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King Of The Kids, Jack The Donkey Is Guarding Baby Goats

ABC Rural / By Jennifer Nichols

A donkey has become king of the kids after watching the birth of twin goats on a Queensland farm.

Donkeys can be territorial and some farmers capitalise on their protective nature to help keep predators such as wild dogs at bay.

At Greens Creek near Gympie, a "soon-to-be donkey dad" called Jack has been getting some early parenting practice.

Jack The Donkey Likes To Protect Little Kid Goats

Owner Courtney Bowers said it started when Jack stood in when one of her goats was giving birth to twins.

"He's watching these kid goats and he's gone nose-to-nose with them while mum's still cleaning them up," Ms Bowers said.

"He decided to take on that nanny role."

The next day the donkey carefully watched his feet as he followed the kids around the farm.

Aware that donkeys could also prove a threat to livestock they took a disliking to, Ms Bowers said the initial interactions with the other farm animals were closely monitored.

Initially, he chased two mother goats away from their babies but Ms Bowers safely reunited the kids with their mothers.…

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ABC By Lucy Robinson Sep 2021

Strangers have banded together to attend a three-year-old's birthday party in a regional Queensland city after all her friends had to cancel. Her mother says she was amazed by the community's response.

Tiarna Davis's heart was ready to break when she realised she might have to tell her three-year-old that no-one was coming to her birthday party.

But the kindness of a group of strangers ensured Arabella didn't have to celebrate alone.

"Over Friday, Saturday and Sunday, everyone that I had actually invited to the party had slowly begun pulling out," Ms Davis said.

"Come Sunday morning everyone that was invited had actually pulled out.

"I was just ready to burst into tears."

The Toowoomba mum put out a call on a Facebook group asking people to consider attending the party with their children.

Arabellas Birthday Party- Tiarna Tried Her Best

The response amazed her.

"My phone just would not stop going off," she said.

"Anyone that said they would come I was sending my address to — my backyard was pretty much full.

"There were so many kids here.

"She was just running around playing with them, bouncing between children.…

Published on Leave a comment on Unhealthy Oils And Spreads: Don’t Be Duped – Learn The Real Facts And Pass Them On!

By Janet Vargas - Natural Health Researcher

CANOLA and 'VEGETABLE OILS' and MARGARINE GO THROUGH A TOXIC CHEMICAL PROCESS and are Not the 'Healthy Products' the Manufacturers claim they are. Please Read!

Please read the other Post I am writing parallel to this one HERE about REAL FOODS. You will want to "Side with Nature" when you read the following. I am committed to Caring about the "Health & Happiness" of Australians and think you have the right to know these things. If you are an advocate for Low-Fat Diets and Polyunsaturated Oils, hopefully you will think again after reading about the benefits of NUTRITIOUS OILS that offer much more than Cheap Veggie Oil and Canola Manufacturers claim to give you.

The claims are found to be false and misleading. They promise to “save you from cholesterol” and overweight……… the Oils high in Monounsaturates like Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Macadamia Oil and Avocado Oil are the ones that help to keep our LDL Cholesterol Level Low, not the Polyunsaturates. And people put on weight with them anyway but no-one thinks about that. Modern Day Charlatans are many in the Food Industry - highly skilled in crafting lies to get your confidence - they have no conscience, so we really do need to be careful.…

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ABC Rural /  By Keely Johnson

No-one was around to pick the hundreds of thousands of strawberries on Anthony Sarks's pick-your-own farm, but instead of wasting the fruit he decided to make 25,000 jars of jam.

Peak Harvest Time Is In August And September

Normally, the operation at Blackmans Point on the Mid North Coast would be filled with tourists picking strawberries by the bucket, but the statewide lockdown meant not even locals could pay a visit.

"The Sydney lockdown started the eve of the school holidays in July, which knocked us," he said.

"Then the regional lockdown started on the eve of our big strawberry flush, which is in August/September.

"That's normally when we get a big bunch of tourists and visitors to pick the strawberries."

'Let's take a punt'

But this year that didn't happen and the 140,000 strawberry plants on Mr Sarks's farm were left bulging with fruit that could not be picked.

"If we didn't do something it'd be down in the back paddock," he said.

"As a farmer who puts a lot of time and effort into growing it, it'd break your heart to have to dump it.

"I know there are other strawberry growers that have had to do that because of lockdown."…

Published on Leave a comment on Spring Has Sprung: It’s Time To Build Your Organic Veggie Garden And Reap The Rewards

By Becky Searles, Family Garden Life

If you want to turn a house into a home then a garden is going to be your best move. And if you want to really improve the value of your home, it’s a productive garden where you can harvest nutrient-dense food that’s going to make the biggest impact.

When you think about a family’s basic needs, food and shelter at at the top of the list, and if your food garden is operating well, it can provide a family with food for most of the year.

Even better, if your family adopts organic gardening principles, you’ll have home-grown organic food that will leave money in your back pocket.

Some advantages to growing your own organic food include:

  • Saving serious money
  • Your family will enjoy freshly harvested food
  • Reducing your family’s carbon footprint
  • Your food will be packed full of nutrients
  • Your harvest will be free of the baddies like synthetic fertilisers, pesticides and chemicals
  • You’ll be helping the environment on so many levels
  • Mindfulness, connecting with nature and family at the same time

Planting the right foods at the right time will yield you delicious results all year round.…

Published on Leave a comment on Returning To REAL FOODS From Our Creator And Nature – They’re Good For Us!

By Janet Vargas - Independent Natural Health Researcher 30+ Years

YES, THEY PROMOTE OUR HEALTH RATHER THAN DEMOTE IT. FOOD MANUFACTURERS HAVE THOUGHT OF ONE CLEVER DEMISE AFTER THE OTHER, PROMOTING SYNTHETIC AND PSUEDO FOODS WE ARE NOT MEANT TO INGEST - INFLUENCING GOVERNMENT HEALTH DEPARTMENTS AND ALL, MAKING THEIR ARGUMENTS SOUND LEGIT, MAKING THE PUBLIC SICK. AND BIG PHARMA WITH THEIR MEDICAL AGENTS HAVE BEEN ONLY TOO HAPPY TO RAKE IN THE PROFITS. BUT AN AWAKENING IS STIRRING THE HEARTS OF PEOPLE WHO ARE DISCOVERING THE BENEFITS OF REAL FOODS: YES OLD THINGS BECOME NEW. THIS IS INSTIGATED BY PROFESSIONAL NATURAL HEALTH ADVOCATES AND MANY HEALTH SCIENTISTS ALIKE WHO ARE NOW SIDING WITH NATURE, PROMOTING IT'S MERITS AND IT'S WAYS.

I Will Show You Some Real Health Promoting Foods That Are So Beneficial For Our Health That Have Been Drastically Altered Or Replaced (they now clash with our natural body chemistry) In Western Countries Like Australia, And A Few Really Beneficial Foods that are Very Nutritious for our Families!

Through the years in Australia – and Western Countries – we have been buying foods that are so different to food staples our Great Grandparents had and our Great Greats.…