hatcheckgirl

No, not to me. It's still the implement of his death, and not to be venerated whatever the form it was.

Ahhh, it's always someone's fault. We have smoke that chokes us because of the forest management being undertaken now before the summer hits. How can you ever really manage a forest anyway? (Trump comments = pray and think neutral thoughts)

"The state's most destructive fire in at least a century has burned down more than 6,700 buildings, almost all of them homes." https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-11/california-fires-death-toll-rises/10485758 The usual from Trump: President Donald Trump issued an emergency declaration providing federal funding to help firefighters battling the fires. But he also took to Twitter to criticise forest management in the state as "poor", threatening to revoke federal funding for California forest management unless action was taken to prevent future fires.

Oh dear, this has been waiting to happen. It is only a matter of time when....

I think humans always make it worse. I remembered the ones fleeing the fires outside of Athens, who were metres from the safety of the beaches but couldn't reach it because the roads were blocked off and made dead-ends by the council because tourists were using these as thoroughfares to the beach. So, in an emergency, you are stuck.

So sorry to hear it personally affecting you, Musky. So sad to hear of loss of life in such circumstances. So many of these sorts of fires lately- more ferocious with little time to escape. It’s true only our hope keeps us going.

We’ll never know exactly why. They were called to the scene because of the car on fire. They hadn’t anticipated a terrorist. They weren’t aware that he had already slashed 3 people before they arrived. One of the cops had only just graduated 3 months ago. And yes, they are trained to shoot to kill when confronted like that, but they are not trigger happy. Perhaps they were still trying to process what’s happening and had thought to try and diffuse the situation first. It’s a fine line for first responders.

Good on you, Greg. It takes courage to continue the work straight after such a horrific incident. I'm sure you had a fuller measure of HS than normal, and may those you spoke to gain some comfort, and look for the answers. It shakes us all out of our comfort zones, and hopefully their apathy too.

Just reading about this horrible situation. It's being described as Armageddon, and it's easy to see why. These natural disasters are hitting thick and fast. Can't even contemplate the sadness and turmoil they've been through. Hoping and praying for our brothers and sisters there.

Let us know how you go today, Greg. It seems the area is still cordoned off as a crime scene. The police are treating it as a terrorist attack, and it seems the brother of the attacker was arrested late last year in relation to committing acts in preparation for a terrorist attack. But the police are powerless to stop these sort of things, and the public knows it. Faint out of fear for sure. https://www.sbs.com.au/news/bourke-st-attacker-identity-confirmed-as-police-reveal-explosion-plan

http://www.asor.org/anetoday/2018/11/The-Cross-History-Art-and-Controversy This article discusses the cross in art. It notes that the cross was generally not depicted in the artwork of the early Christians. Funny that.... From the article: What many do not know, however, is that surviving evidence demonstrates the image of an actual image of the cross did not appear with any regularity in Christian iconography before the mid-fourth century. Depictions of Jesus’s crucifixion took even longer to emerge and cannot be clearly identified before the early fifth century and not in any numbers before the sixth. The lack of earlier examples is difficult to explain, particularly given the fact that early Christian documents do not shy away from discussing, defending, and describing the mode of Jesus’s death. While reasons for the apparent absence of cross and crucifix are unclear (it may be that the image was either too graphically gruesome or too sacred), many scholars connect its first appearance with a vision of the cross ascribed to the Emperor Constantine just prior to his battle with his rival Maxentius in 312.

I was looking to see if you'd posted this. Was very worried for you Greg. All our brothers and sisters alright? My daughter texted me to say she's ok. She's had to do that a number of times since really awful things like this have been happening so often now. It's been treated as a terrorist attack. The attacker too is dead now. https://www.sbs.com.au/news/police-treating-deadly-bourke-street-stabbing-as-terrorist-attack

Not me 😁

A magnitude-5.4 earthquake has hit the Lake Muir area of Western Australia, about 330 kilometres from Perth, with residents across the state's south-west feeling its effects. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-11-09/earthquake-hits-lake-muir-western-australia/10480694 Just want to say, that’s extraordinary. We don’t normally get too many earthquakes, and not at 5.4. And the second one in 2 months.

Yes, I have to echo tekmantwo in this. When my son was in the Children’s Hospital with a “mystery disease”, we were so grateful for the brother visiting us. This was many years ago now, but this thread reminded me of the invaluable comfort their visiting brings.