The Queenslander House

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Welcome to our blog, Genzano it story
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This post has been taken is from my Hub Pages articles, to see more click on the link below. 

Australian houses in Brisbane
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A large Queen-slander, note the pretty design, all the open space on the verandas and also all the open space under the house, which could be used in very hot summer days to catch the breeze and stay in the shade.
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Some fret works that can be found in and outside those old houses, if we think about it, these decorations are nice to have in your house, at least I like them.

The Queenslander House

Dear readers, this post is the continuation of our last post, Australia wooden houses. So, in this post we will continue to talk about wooden houses, but the house we are going to talk about is the queen of all wooden house. So, the name that has been given to this house, it is because it has been built in Queensland, but it could have the same name, if it was built somewhere else because of its size and other things, hence it is the queen of all other wooden houses.

So, let me explain, the Queenslander house is a large timber house; some of them are pretty too, and they serve the inhabitant very well, as they have been built to take the advantage of the hot climate, in Brisbane and north Queensland regions, which are humid and hot. Now since I have been working in these houses to maintain them, let me describe them to you a bit more in details. As anyone can guess there are a few different types of these houses, but here to make it easier we are talking about the large real Queenslander and the workers cottage, which is a small and cheaper version of the real Queenslander.

As we have already said above in this post, when the first settlers arrived here, there were plenty of trees around to make timber, a lot of this timber is called hardwood, which as the name suggests is hard and very strong, some of this timber are even stronger and longer lasting than the European oak or other strong European woods. So, the houses were strong and secure, the only natural real enemy of these houses were the white ants (termites), which are able to eat through the wood and destroy the houses. The termites are native to Australia and if one goes up north in Australia one could see strange ground made mounts of earth springing up from the ground, these is how the white ants live, they eat wood from the inside and they make these mounts of earth.

So as you can see this was another reason why the houses were built on stumps. The stumps were made of whole sections of trees that are very resistant to rot; of course the white ants could still be able to eat those stumps, but they were treated with some paints and at the top they all had a capping of metal that would make a barrier to the white ants if they came from the inside the stump and also a barrier to the other ants or crawling insect from the outside.

We have to say that some of these timber houses have been made also pretty, because timber can be cut to different shapes easily, so, they were somehow pretty compared to the house made of masonry, which would be very expensive to decorate them with masonry, so, the houses are usually square boxes with a roof at the top.

Decorative fretwork was easy to make with timber, so, a lot of these houses had some decorations in them, in one way or the other. Now I can go on, and on telling you how these houses were made, but that would be hard to do, so, I am going to search the Internet for photos that could show you what I mean, about fretwork and other timber names, anyhow there are a lot of names given to these pieces of timber that would be hard for me to name, and for the readers to understand what is meant by that name. So, I am going to leave it to your imagination, once you see some photos of the houses and the fretwork in them.

I believe I have said enough in this post, so, see you in our next post, these wooden houses need some care.

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Genzano it story
The Queenslander house
IS GOING TO BE CONTINUED;
Next time with, these wooden house need some care

Australia wooden houses

WELCOME TO FRANK MENCHISE BLOG OF GENZANO DI LUCANIA, YOU ARE INVITED TO BROWSE AS LONG AS YOU LIKE.
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Welcome to our blog, Genzano it story
and this post, Australia wooden houses
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Australia wooden houses
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This type of houses shown here, were very popular in Brisbane, when I came in the sixties. They are average houses that workers could afford to buy, they usually have three bedrooms, a lounge room a kitchen a bathroom and some of them even a dining-room, when the kitchen was not large enough to dine in. Some people call them the worker cottage, because they were built manly for the workers, since they were cheap enough for them to buy.

Australia wooden houses

Dear readers, we have written a few posts about refugees in the world, which affects the Italy as well, since I am a Italian we have posted them in this blog of, Genzano it story, but today we would like to go back to my life story, starting from where we left off last time, so, this post is the continuation of the post, welcomed at my Brisbane address, this post is the continuation of that post, and we are going to talk about the Australian wooden houses.

Let us talk about, the convenient and pretty, wooden houses in Brisbane and Australia. When we came to Australia in the early sixties. We should say that we had a surprise, when we found that the houses here were made of timber, which were very different from the houses we had left in Europe, all build of solid masonry.

For us Italian migrants, that had lived all our lives in solid masonry buildings, even if some of them were rustic solid buildings, when we arrived in Australia at the beginning, it seemed a strange thing that in Brisbane lots of houses were made of wood, and most of them were set on wooden stumps, but then we started thinking, after all they were still good to live in anyhow, so, we got used to live in them rather quickly.

So, we had to forget about how we used to live in our motherland and also my native town of Genzano di Lucania, since now we were living now in Australia the Australian way, after all as the saying goes, when you are in Rome do what the Romans do, and we did just that; but then, what were the reasons and why these houses were made of wood, or to use another word for wood how the locals called it here, they were made of timber.

So, as you can see, this question arises, why these houses were made of timber and not masonry? And then try to see if they were better or worse that the houses made of bricks or masonry. If we use logic reasoning there is no difference whether houses are made of timber or masonry, as long as they are able to give the people that live in them that filling of safety and privacy that we aspect from them, when we live in our own home, they have fulfilled their role.

Having said that now let us see or guess the reasons why these houses were made of timber, and why they were set on wooden stumps.

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Wooden houses on stumps

The wooden houses on stumps of Brisbane and Australia

As we have already said above, in Brisbane a lot of houses are/were made of timber, but not only are they made of timber, they are set on wooden stumps. So, let us see the reasons why they were made this way.

From what explanations, we have heard from the locals, and also by using our own imagination and intelligence, one can come to the conclusion that there were several reasons why houses here were made of timber. The first reason is that when the first settlers started to build Brisbane, there were plenty of trees that could be cut down and make very good timber to build those houses; and then the people that came to live in Brisbane and Australia had a very good knowledge of how to use timber, since they came by boats and in the boats of those days, because they were mostly made of timber, there were always carpenters and carpenter tools on board, in case the boat needed some repairs, so, to use timber and build timber houses was the easiest way for them, since they had the knowledge the tools and plenty of timber in the woods surrounding Brisbane ,an also other parts of Australia that needed houses.

At the beginning the houses were just simple shelters, but as the time went by they became better and better, because the builders also became aware of what would work better in this climate, you see, here around Brisbane and northward, when the wet season comes the ground becomes too wet for the houses to stand on the ground, in hot summer days everything becomes too hot and there were lots of vermin on the ground, so, they found a way how to build houses that would avoid most of these problems; that is why in those times the houses on stumps became a necessity, of course slowly they became even better and even pretty, that is how the Queenslander house was born, which is a large timber house with verandas around them, that keeps the weather and the hot sun off the main walls of the house. One can see these pretty Queensland houses if you look around even today.

I believe that I have said enough in this post, so, see you in our next post, the Queenslander houses.

See you soon.

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Genzano it story
Australia wooden houses
IS GOING TO BE CONTINUED;
Next time with, the Queenslander houses

Refugees and their problems

WELCOME TO FRANK MENCHISE BLOG OF GENZANO DI LUCANIA, YOU ARE INVITED TO BROWSE AS LONG AS YOU LIKE.
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Welcome to our blog, Genzano it story
and this post, refugees and their problems
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Refugees and their problems
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After the earthquake in central Italy, many inhabitant became refugees in their own country. The government promised help as if everything was going to be fixed immediately, but even today after 7 months these earthquake refugees, still live in substandard accommodations. So, their is still this problem going on.

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Italy has also find a way how to help these boat refugees, that find the way to Italy illegally, and they come in by thousands. So, they are a real concern. These boat refugees are a real problem, because there is no work for them, and very likely they are unemployable for lack of skills, or because of the language barrier.    

Refugees and their problems

Why so many refugees

Dear readers, as we have written in our previous article, Homeless and refugees,  today we should ask ourselves, why there are so many refugees in the world? Because they seem to come from anywhere and they go everywhere, some of them are real refugees, as we have explained in our article, since they are running away from natural disasters, or some disasters caused by wars that mankind wages, for one reason or another, or just because they like to fight wars, for some useless ideology that they have, which today the rest of the world condemns, as being useless and harmful.

Anyhow, these wars that they are fighting seem endless, as they have been going on for years, and they are causing a lot of people to leave their countries and become refugees. Then there are the people that are not happy with what they have, in their own native land. So, they become refugees, not because they are real refugees that have been displace from a natural disaster or war, but because they believe that if they go to another country, they could live a better life.

Anyhow, we could say here that everybody has the right to look for a better life. But at the same time, because we don’t know how they live their lives, we should assume that their lives are bad, otherwise they would not move from where they are. But, we could also ask here, are their lives that bad that they cannot stay in their native country? Because their forebears have lived in those countries for thousands of years. When I think about that this way, I have my doubts about the reasons they are moving. So, I would like to find out more, before I could say if they are doing the right thing. You see. By doing what they are doing, a few of them might find something better, but you don’t want to do that at the expense of other people. I am saying this, because it seems to me that this is what is happening in the world today. So, let us talk about this worldwide problem.

We need to talk about this worldwide refugees problem, because they are already causing many problems wherever they go. You see, when people are displaced in large number, there are bound to be problems, because the countries they go to live in cannot cope with them, but not only that, they also carry with them the same attitude and their own problems that they had, in their countries of origin, so, most of the problems they are running away from will continue to stay with them; these problems could cause lots of trouble where they try to settle. But there is more to say here, to show you what I mean, because while I am writing this article, in Southern Italy two refugees have died in a fire, that has burned down their makeshift refugee camp.

The Italian authorities are investigating, and it looks like that some organized crime has been committed. They say that some corporals are involved, these corporals are people that illegally control the work of these refugees, since, they take these refugees to work in the farms around the camp for a fee. Something did not work their way, so they burned down the camp and two young people are now dead. I hope you see what we mean, when we say that the refugees carry with them their own problems.

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What could be done we may ask?

No one knows what is the best way to handle this refugees problem, the Italian authorities try hard to do their best. For a start, they go to help those refugees that their boats are in danger of sinking, or have already sung and try to rescue the refugees from the Mediterranean Sea. I that follow the Italian news on SBS, I know that there are too many days, when over a thousand refugees land in Italy, and that is just too many of them for the Italian authorities to handle properly, but they do their best. You see, Italy is not a big country and have already got their own problems with the earthquake refugees, that have been displaced as their houses have been destroyed from the earthquake, so, all these extra refugees put a strain on the authorities and the Italian economy.

Looking at all these problems that these foreign refugees cause, to the country they go to live in, we should start thinking if there is another way to solve this worldwide problem, but so far, nobody has come up with a good suggestion that could solve the refuges problem. Some people say that on humanitarian grounds, we should help these refugees, because they are human beings like us, so, I believe that we should help them. But when these same people that have been saved from drowning, they turn around and do nasty things to the native people in the country they are living, we should start to wonder if we are doing the right thing when we have saved them from drowning.

Because of all these nasty things that happen every now and then, and because there are also some terrorist elements in these said refugees. As we all know the many terrorist attacks that have happened in the last few years. Some leaders in the western world say that we should ban those people that are trouble makers. So, instead or running out to help them and bring them in your own country, we should try to stop them, at our own boundary. Like what President trump wants to do, he wants to erect a wall at the boundary between Mexico and USA. And, ban some people that come from countries that condones terrorist, to come to America.

Here I should say that perhaps President Donald Trump has got it right, just because he wants to stop the refugees, or at least slow down the refugees coming in thousands, when nobody has invited them to come. Of course, on humanitarian grounds we should think that they are people in need, so they should be helped, but this does not mean that they should be helped, before we help our own people in need of help. This is the question that we should ask ourselves. And then try to find an answer to that, so, we should investigate, if there are ways that would bring a better outcome.

Looking for anything that could help

The world today should look at this refugees problem more closely, so, not only they should try to help the refugees on humanitarian grounds, but they should make a greater effort to see if there are things that could be done in the countries of origin of the refugees, so that there will be less refugees in the world. In other words, we should investigate all the reasons why people become refugees, and then, do anything possible to fix the problems, which makes these people become refugees. I suppose that in the past we have already tried this in various parts of the world, but we have had a limited success.

In my own personal views, I believe that the world should not give up, looking for the reasons why these people become refugees, in the first place. Because there could be something that could be done, we should be looking at the reasons why these people become refugees, then try to fix those things that make people leave their own native land.

We need to fix these problems at the source, because tomorrow they might spread even more, and then, it will be harder to fix them. You see, today the refugees are already causing many problems in the western world, which could easily grow to unforeseen problems, which we intend to point out, in our next article, since this article would become too long, if we talk about it now.

See you soon, in our next article, cyber rip off. 

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Genzano it story
Refugees and their problems
IS GOING TO BE CONTINUED;
Next time with, cyber programs rip off
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Homeless and refugees

WELCOME TO FRANK MENCHISE BLOG OF GENZANO DI LUCANIA, YOU ARE INVITED TO BROWSE AS LONG AS YOU LIKE.
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Welcome to our blog, Genzano it story
and this post, homeless and refugees
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Homeless and refugees
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In Italy there are already refugees from the earthquakes, that started the 24 of August 2016. This first earthquake has been followed by other earthquake, some of which have destroyed more houses, and made more refugees, that the Italian government is trying to accommodate the best way they can. But it is not easy, because of the reoccurring earthquake, and the cold weather and snow. So, there are already lots of Italian refugees that need looking after.
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As we can see Italy has his own refugees to attend to, but this is made worse, because there are several thousands of refugees from overseas, that come to Italy as illegal emigrant uninvited. This is putting a strain on the Italian economy and everything else. So, these overseas refugees are a real problem, which the world needs to solve, before they cause real damage to the economies and the people that receives these refugees. 

Today refugees are a world problem

Dear readers, homeless refugees today are a worldwide problem.  In this post, we are going to talk about these worldwide problems, as we did in our last article called, Where are, we heading now, where we have talked about, some problems that the world is facing today, like to very hot weather that has increased the fire hazard in Australia and some houses have been burned down; the cold and abundant snowfalls in central Italy that has caused an avalanche that destroyed this Hotel Rigopiano and 29 people perished; the excessive rainfalls in northern California that has put in danger Oroville Dam. We believe that these problems have been caused from global warming, and therefore, humanity is somehow responsible about it, since global warming is caused from burning fossil fuel.

But that is not the only problem that humanity is facing today, because there are other major problems in the world, another major problem is the illegal emigrant that come in by thousands, by claiming refugee’s status, and this is what we are going to talk about in this article, since in a way it is like the global warming, as it affects the entire world, in different ways.

As we know already, the world today is facing many natural challenges, so, it is going to be hard for us to solve this other challenge of the illegal emigrants, which I believe is being caused again by humanity itself. Anyhow, they come in as refugees that run away from their native lands, for different reasons, in the new countries that they arrive these refugees have no home to go; so, they become the homeless refugees. So, in this article, let us talk about the homeless refugees, because this is also a major problem that the world is facing today. We could easily say again here, where are we heading now? Because we don’t know where this refugees problem will take us.

But first let me talk about what is happening right now, because this involves also the refugees, for the last couple of weeks, the entire world has been following, what the new President Donald Trump was going to do in America, and he has done several things since then, some of which are about the illegal refugees. But this is not the only thing that we want to talk in this article, even though there are several things that run parallel with what Trump has done and his policies about refugees.

As I was saying, because we were following President Trump, we were not looking or thinking about the illegal emigrant in Europe, and as you know, we have already written about them in some of our previous articles, wherever they could be fitted in and blend with what we were saying then. Anyhow, here we would like to talk about some social refugees’ issues, because there are many issues that they cause, so let us see what they could be and why, and who are the refugees. 

Types of refugees

First let us say this, that there are several types of refugees in the world. But I believe that the status of refugee should only be applied to those people that through no fault of their own are left homeless: this could be due because of an earthquake, like the people in central Italy, or any other natural disaster; also people that run away from wars, since they would be killed if they remain there; people that are persecuted because they belong to certain groups that are generally persecuted and killed if they remain where they are. I believe that the free world should help these people, as explained above because their life is in danger.

Now, the refugees from a natural disaster, being native of the land where the disaster has occurred, they have all the right to be refugees and do not need to be classified. But the rest of the refugees that come from outside need to be classified according to their refugee status, and then helped accordingly. This of course should be subject to the fact, that these said refugees do not pose any danger to the country, and the people that live in that country that they go to and is helping them. If they pose any danger to the country they go to, that country has the right to evict them and send them back to where they came from.

Now, we can talk about those refugees, that may not be real refugees, because they are not in danger of dying or being killed, if they remain where they are. But they leave their home land and go to leave in other countries, just because they believe that they can have a better life wherever they go. Here one should ask oneself, is the life of these people in danger, or is it so bad, that they should go somewhere else to live? Or, is it their attitude the reason why they cannot live in their native country, because they don’t want to make the right effort to live there.

These are the reasons that the countries that receives these refugees should ask, before they could be classed as refugees. Because there could be a good chance that they could stay in their country of origin, if they realize that everywhere you go, you should work and earn your own living, without demanding support from other people that might not be able to support you, and therefore, upsetting the entire community around them. 

But this is what most of them do, they don’t care when they move to another country, they believe that this new country should look after them, even knowing that they have never contributed a single cent to that country, they are very selfish. Sometimes they might be looking for work, when there is no work even for the native people of that country. So, they are a real problem because they are coming in by thousands, and therefore the country that accepts them, is having all sorts of trouble to control them and feed them.

Now, what we have said above is not the worse aspect of these refugees’ problem, because there are also the terrorist elements that come in as refugees, and then kill innocent people in the country they go to. So, we wonder where are we heading with these unwanted refugees? Therefore, we would like to know, where these refuges come from.

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Where refugees come from

As we were saying above, there are many refuges in the world, coming from different countries and background. Most of these refugees are just normal people that have become refugees, they never intended to become refugees, but they did, because they were pushed from unforeseen natural events or wars to become refugees. Now we could say that these are the real refugees, because they never wanted to be refugees, but they are now.

There are also some would be refugees that we could say, they are not real refugees, because there has not been any sudden event that has pushed them out of their homes, and they had to live then in the streets. But what is happening here is that these people standard of living is generally poor, so, they are not happy with the way they are living their lives in their native countries, so, they want to emigrate to another country because their countries are poor.

So, they willingly become refugees, hoping that they could emigrate to another country under the status of refugee, since if they are refugees usually they are being helped from the government of the country they go to.

Now that we have explained our views about the refugees, let us look at the countries that go to help the refugees. Because the countries that receive these refugees, should be careful, because there can be all sorts of refugees around, and some of them could be people with a violent reputation, which very likely one day could become terrorists. People that could become terrorist don’t need to be terrorist when they leave their native land, but, they could become terrorist, because the country they go to cannot give them what they imagined they could have. So, because their expectations are not met, some of them would become thieves and terrorist. Well at least this is how I see these refugees’ problems.

I believe that this article is becoming too long, and there is still a lot more that we could say, especially why there are so many refugees today, when in the past most people did not become refugees, even when things in their country went to wrong ways. So, we will try to imagine what is happening in our next article, why these refugees’ problems are happening now.

See you soon.
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Genzano it story
Homeless and refugees
IS GOING TO BE CONTINUED;
Next time with, why all these refugees
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Where are we heading now

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Where are we heading now
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The Sun is our friend, because it sends its energy to earth for every living thing to live and enjoy their lives. But sometimes it is just too hot for us, like it is happening just now in this article, we have written here under.

Because of the extreme hot weather, that in some places has reached 47 degrees, there are lots of fire burning, so far, because people were aware of the danger, there is no loss of life, however, some properties and a small town have burned down.

They say there is some damage in the structure of the Dam spillway, and other problems with the overflow, the Dam could collapse. So an evacuation downstream has been ordered, for about 200,000 people.

Where are, we heading?

Today, when we look at what is happening around us, we see that there are so many problems in the world, that we cannot help asking ourselves whether we are going to be able to cope with them. This may sound alarming to some of you, and wish that I did not say anything about them, because they sound bad news and bad news bring anxiety and discomfort. But to be on the safer side, I believe that it is better to know what is happening around us, than to ignore it, because, then we can do whatever is possible to do to minimize any danger, which these problems may bring with them. You see, most times if we ignore them, then we might be sorry later, if one day we suffer the consequence. So, it would be wiser to know, where we are heading, and what we can do to save ourselves the troubles that might be coming our way.    

So, you may ask, what has prompt me to start this alarming article now. I am going to tell you that I was already thinking about some of these issues, because they are all issues that we are exposed every day of our lives. Anyhow, today while I was watching the news, they started to tell us about this fire warning in NSW Australia. What is worrying me most is the fact, that the fire authorities already admit that tomorrow the fire danger will be catastrophic, which is the highest warning, that can be issued. They are warning the people of these regions to leave, while they can, like tonight or early in the morning, because they cannot guaranty their safety. The hot temperature of tomorrow that will be over 40 degrees in these zones of NSW will make it very hard for the fire fighter to control the fires, so they are warning the people about these dangers, at the same time their warnings seem endless, since they pop back again and again to issue these warnings, which means that they want the people to understand this danger, that they would be facing tomorrow.

So, tomorrow would be the most dangerous day on record for NSW for fires, because of the extreme heat and the state of the drying vegetation that can burn easily, we can only hope and pray God that there is no loss of life, in these dangerous circumstances. So, we hope that those people affected make the right choice.  I should say here that I would be terrified if I had to choose what to do, if I was living in these regions of NSW that are going to be affected so badly, by the heat and fires. Anyhow, I don’t live in those regions of NSW, because I live in Brisbane, but even here it is going to be a scorcher, as the weather forecast says that it is going to be 39 degrees, and that is hot enough for anybody. So, people are worried and on edge, my wife is complaining to me already, because she hates hot weather. 

What is worrying me also, it is the fact that these extreme heat waves that are lasting a long time these days, may be due to global warming, which most authorities agree that we are causing them, because we are using too much fossil fuel. Just to show you how the Weather Bureau has reported this heat wave that is coming in the other day, let me quote and paste the following: 

 (Pity the poor souls who live in Bourke, Birdsville and Moomba.
These rural towns are all about to endure four days above 40 degrees. Birdsville and Moomba will suffer through three days above 45.
This summer's most extensive, and brutal, heatwave is building over central and eastern Australia.
Inland parts of Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia and northern Victoria are set to swelter through at least four days of extreme heat, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
Meteorologist Andrea Pearce said "pools" of hot air had been hovering over the centre of Australia, leading to the build-up of heat.)
end of quote.

Anyhow, here above we have talked about the extreme heat temperature, which is affecting part of Australia right now, and the fire dangers that they are causing. But I believe that this is not all, because today the weather seems to be different from what it is supposed to be like, so, after we finish reporting about the heat wave and the fire, we are going to talk about the excessive cold weather, the rain floods and other things, because we believe that they come from the same cause, which is causing changes in the weather temperature.

 Extreme heat and freezing temperature

Dear readers, at the beginning of this article, we have talked about the extreme hot weather temperature that has increased the fire danger, and now there are several fires burning in NSW Australia, but there is more to say about these extreme weather changes. So, here under we are going to talk about the opposite, we are going to talk about the cold weather.

You see, it seems to me that everywhere we go we find this problem about the extreme weather temperature these days, it may be the extreme heat, it may be the extreme cold, it may be the excessive rainfall and flooding, it may be the snowing for days and the extreme cold, these things are affecting most of us in many ways. Sometimes unfortunately this may involve also loss of life. Here I am sorry to say that, one of these sorry events has happened last month in central Italy, when this avalanche destroyed this Hotel Rigopiano, and killed 29 people, we have written about this in our hub, The Italian homeless, where we were also talking about the homeless that were affected from the extreme cold weather temperatures, and the earthquake.  

Anyhow, since we are talking about the extreme weather here, I would like to point out that, also in Italy they have classed these huge amounts of snow and cold weather as very extreme and rare. They were so extreme that the authorities have not been able to cope properly with it, even though over there they are ready to handle the snow and cold weather, but this time it was just too much of it. And it was made worse because of the earthquakes, that have devastated this region. 

Of course, over there is also the earthquake victims that need looking after, and many other things that the earthquake has destroyed, this includes also roads that cannot be used in a normal way, especially if you cannot see the surface properly under the snow, as there could be large cracks in the road surface, or rocks that have fallen and block the road, so, those people that are living over there are in all sorts of troubles, and the weather is making it worse. These unfortunate people that have lost their houses in the earthquake, now they are living in makeshift accommodations, so, they must be feeling very bad, since they are like emigrant in their own native land. The authorities are doing what they can, but it looks like that it will take a long time before things are back to normal for them. So, every day of their lives, they must be thinking and asking themselves, where are we heading now. Some of them may even ask themselves, why all these things are happening? Whose fault, is it? And if anything could be done? Some people may have some strange views, that might be worth mentioning here before we finish.

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Dangerous situation in USA.

In this article, we have talked about the heat wave in Australia, the cold weather in central Italy, now we are going to talk about the excessive rainfall in Northern California that are endangering Oroville Dam. Hereunder I am pasting some of the report, as reported in the Google News, and I quote;      

(Oroville Dam Could Fail, Experts Fear; 200,000 Ordered to Evacuate 2:20

Mandatory evacuations remained in effect Monday afternoon for nearly 190,000 people in Northern California after a spillway serving the country's tallest dam developed a hole that threatened to release uncontrolled floodwaters, officials said.

The emergency spillway off the Oroville Dam was the second to fail in a matter of days, after the dam's primary spillway developed a 200-foot-long, 30-foot-deep hole last week.

Officials and contractors were working feverishly to get as much water out of Lake Oroville as possible by Thursday, when another round of storms is expected to sweep across the area.)

End of quote.

We hope and pray that they can save the dam, and there is no loss of life.

Anyhow, I cannot help thinking that the situation in Northern California, is very much alike the situation that we had in Brisbane Australia a few years ago, which I have written in this hub about it, Playing the game, who is to blame, where after what happened, as usual people will try blaming somebody that happened to be in charge. It is hard for everybody involved, when we try to blame somebody, because that somebody could not have known, what Mother Nature had in store for us. So, let us stop there, and instead of looking at who is to blame, let us look at some of the reasons, why these extreme weather events happen.

Some people believe that what has happened, in the three events that we have written above, the hot weather, the cold weather and the excessive rain, they are all caused from global warning, which we are very likely causing it, because we are using too much fossil fuel. Well if that is the only cause, we need to do something about it as soon as possible. 

But not everybody is convinced that this is the only cause. Because some religious people like to think that this is the beginning of the end of time, as written in the Bible Revelation, and many other religious theories. Some other people that are partly religious like my wife, they reckon that God is tired to see so much violence, like the terrorist blowing things up and killing people, and the Islamic State slathering innocent people, and these unwanted emigrations that is like invading another country without going to war.

So, God being tired of what people are doing, sets things rolling in a way that will destroy some of us, if not all on us. So, are we heading for self-destruction?

I believe that I have said enough in this article, so see you in our next article, where we are going to talk about the refugees and unwanted emigration.

See you soon.

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Genzano it story
Where are we heading now
IS GOING TO BE CONTINUED;
Next time with, refugees and unwanted emigration
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Cold weather and homeless

WELCOME TO FRANK MENCHISE BLOG OF GENZANO DI LUCANIA, YOU ARE INVITED TO BROWSE AS LONG AS YOU LIKE.
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Welcome to our blog, Genzano it story
and this post, Cold weather and homeless
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Cold weather and the homeless

The people that live in these houses destroyed from the earthquake in Italy, now they have become homeless. So, while it is winter over there, they are having a very hard time. Here in this post, we want to talk about the problems they are having, because they don't have a home to live in, as well other people that have the same problems in the world.
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Cold weather and the homeless

Dear readers, this post, is going to be a long post, because we want to talk about a few thing that we are publishing. While this post is talking about mostly about what is happening in Italy, it should concern just about everybody, since the same problems seem to exist everywhere in the world, so, let us talk about it.

Talking about the weather

Cold weather and the homeless is something that don’t go well together. So, those that don’t have their own warm homes to live in, they hate the cold winter time, but this year in Italy seems that is going to be a very cold winter, so let us just think a bit about the homeless and their problems. I am talking about Italy and winter now, because of the following event: 

Today on Facebook, I have found so many photos from my Italian friends that show all that snow that has fallen over there, and how cold it is over there these days. They are having a very cold winter this year, while some of them don’t seem to mind it, because they have nice warm homes, so, they seem to enjoy the spectacle that the snow has brought with it, there are people that are adversely affected, so, they wish that is wasn’t so cold.

Anyhow, I had to tell my Facebook friends that while it was so cold over there, here in Brisbane is very hot indeed, today while I am writing this article, it is 34 degrees centigrade in the shade and it might even go up a bit more. So, it looks like that the weather this year the 2017 is going to be extreme, since what is happening is extreme, having said that, we are left wondering which one of these two weather extremes are worse for us.

Therefore, while I turn the fan on to keep cool, I start thinking what effects does this weather brings to us, and the difference that exist in the world, anyhow I end up thinking that after all the hot weather here in Australia, it is not as bad as the cold weather over there, because I hate the cold. And then, how bad it is for those people that don’t have a warm home to go to, and therefore, I start thinking about those poor people that have lost their house from the earthquake in Italy a few months ago, you see, it is only natural that they come up in my mind, because almost every time that I watch the Italian news, they talk about the little progress they have made rebuilding since the earthquake. Well they have had some good progress, but there is so much to do, so, by comparison the progress they have achieved is not that much.

We could say that the people that have suffered from the Italian earthquake are unlucky, not only they have lost their house from the earthquake, but this year is going to be very cold, which makes everything a lot worse. Therefore, I am feeling sorry for those people that are suffering so much, through no fault of their own. So, I wish I could do something for them, but I know I cannot. Anyhow, let us try to describe what we have seen on the news, about the situation over there today.

The homeless situation

Let us talk about the earthquake victims and the progress of rebuilding their homes. At the beginning the government had promised so much help, that one was led to believe that in a few months everything would have been normal. But it is not happening that way at all, because in a few days it will be five months that the initial earthquake struck, and as we have said in the news the progress is not very much. We know that the people affected have been given some temporary accommodation, right from the start and there is some improvement that goes on day to day the best way they can. But there are no mentions of real rebuilding being started, we guess it is a big job and it will take time to rebuild those damaged buildings.

Anyhow, when we hear the news, where the people start saying that they feel abandoned, we start believing that something could be wrong, so, we ask ourselves what could be the reasons. Well, we soon realize that in Italy there are more problems than the politicians can solve, especially now that they are not happy with the present government, so they want an election to be held soon, which might even happen if they work it out how to do it. So, this could be one of the reasons why there has not been enough progress rebuilding, at least this is what comes to our minds. 

But that is not all, because there are also the overseas refugees that make the accommodation problem worse, since they also would like to have some decent accommodations. Here I would like to point out, that since in Italy there are all these problems with the native people already, we wish that these refugees would not come, because there is no way to accommodate them in a decent way, but there is nobody able to tell them that, in a way that they understand the situation. So, they keep arriving in Italy uninvited, and worse still they pretend to be looked after from the Italian government, when they have not contributed anything to it.

We hope that somehow, the Italian government will be able to cope with these homeless problems. But above all we hope that they can solve the accommodations for those Italian that have lost their house from the earthquake first.

In my view, it the overseas refugees are left behind, they might learn something that they refuse to admit. In a way by running away from their own country to Italy, because they are not Italians and they have not contributed anything to the Italian government, one could say that they have not got the rights to ask the Italian government to do anything for them, therefore, they are sort of beggars, begging the Italian government for help and beggars don’t have the right to choose. So, they get what they get and they should be happy about receiving what their benefactor could afford, or they should go back to where they have come from.

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Earthquake and cold weather continues

This article is becoming more like a diary of what is happening in Italy now, than a plain article to tell you the story. Today is the 19^th of January 2017. You see, yesterday I published this hub here, where I was lamenting the way the earthquake homeless people in Italy are being treated, and after doing that I hoped for the best for their sake, since it seemed to me that the authorities could have done better, so, I thought that I had said everything that there was to say, but suddenly, today there is more to say about them.

Because suddenly this morning on the Italian news, those unlucky people are getting more of the same, one can only feel sorry for them. Because they are in a terrible situation as it is already. There were lots of earthquakes during the night, some of the stronger ones have reached magnitude 5, and on top of that it is cold and snowing with no end in sight. Most places are isolated, even though the authorities are doing what they can to reach them. In most cases, the authorities don’t know what is really happening, because there is no power, the phone lines don’t work anymore and there is no water supply because of the cold, that is what they know. So, what they don’t know could even be worse.

Therefore, we can only hope that this cold weather stops soon, and the authorities would be able then to catch up with what is strictly necessary. After that they can go back to what is necessary to do, so that those people affected from the earthquake could return to live a normal life. I hope that this is not just a wishful thinking on my part and everything will improve soon. 

The situation in Italy worsens

Let me point out that it was only yesterday, when I edited this article and added a few things, hoping that the weather and everything else would go back to normal soon, but instead of getting better, it has become worse, in fact, it is one of those situations that are very rare to happen during our lives. In fact, it is so bad that I believe that if some people over there start thinking that this could be the beginning of the end of the world, I would not blame them. Because the tragedy that has just happened is beyond compression, an entire Hotel has been destroyed from an avalanche of snow, which seems an impossible thing to happen, but then it has happened, so, let us continue to tell you what we know in this article.

The Hotel Rigopiano was a four stars Hotel, set about 1200 meter high, on the mountains called Gran Sasso in Abruzzo, which are the highest mountain in central Italy, the highest pick reaches 2912 metres, today this Hotel has been destroyed from this avalanche, and most of the people that were there are thought to have perished, now we know that there are only two survivors, and about three bodies have been found dead, it is still early to say more about the rest of the people that were there. They say that there were about thirty people at the Hotel when this happened. Some expert say that the Hotel was built in a safe position, so, what has happened is really something beyond comprehension. But then what is there to comprehend when extreme natural events occur.

You see, it seems to me that there are a few extreme natural events that are taking place all at the same time. So much snow that it is not possible to move anywhere, the extreme cold, the earthquake that might have damaged the Hotel and trigged the avalanche and perhaps also a land slide. All these things put together have contributed to the destruction of the Hotel Rigopiano. Anyhow, now that all this has happened, first let the people that have arrived over there help any survivors, if they can find any survivors. Then, what has happened and why can be worked out later, perhaps in a few months, when the snow has melted away.            

Another tragedy has happened

This is shocking, I cannot believe this, looking at what is happening in Italy today, it could make you cry, anyone with common sense and a heart would feel sorry for them, those poor people of central Italy are in a bad state and suffering. They deserve better, as they have done nothing wrong to deserve these disasters one after the other. First an earthquake that destroyed many buildings and killed near three hundred people. Since then there have been hundreds or perhaps thousands of other earthquakes, some of which have damaged and destroyed more buildings. While the people are sleeping in tents and other makeshift accommodation, it is very cold, because this year is a very cold winter, since plenty of snow has fallen and it continues to snow, with no end in sight. It is a disaster everywhere you go, if you think about it may make you cry.

But as you know this is not all, because last week an avalanche destroyed Hotel Rigopiano, where up to today they have found only nine people alive, twenty-five dead and four missing presumed dead, so, twenty-nine people may have perished. The authorities with their rescue teams are doing what they can. The place is so dangerous that they are digging by hand, they continue to hope to find some more people alive, until they find the last body, but as the time goes by it becomes more unlikely that anyone could still be alive, under all that snow that has become compacted and ice, but the rescue teams will continue until all people that were there are accounted for. They are going to dig them up whether they are alive or dead. But that is not all, today a rescue helicopter has crashed on the mountain, killing another six people.

The news of the disaster of Hotel Rigopiano and the helicopter crash, have made us forget for a few days the plight of the homeless, but they are still there, so there is a lot more to do, perhaps it is going to take years, before everything comes back to normal. Therefore, the Italian authorities are very busy these days, as they should solve this homeless problem first. Here I would like to point out that there is not much said about the farmers over there, and their animals that as we speak may be starving or dying from the cold.

I believe that disasters as intense as this are very rare, so we should feel sorry for those people involved. I am going to stop writing now this sorry events, because they even make me feel very sad.   

See you soon, in another article, where are we heading now.  

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Genzano it story
Cold weather and homrless
IS GOING TO BE CONTINUED;
Next time with, where are we heading now
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Assets and pension cuts

WELCOME TO FRANK MENCHISE BLOG OF GENZANO DI LUCANIA, YOU ARE INVITED TO BROWSE AS LONG AS YOU LIKE.
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Welcome to our blog, Genzano it story
and this post, Assets and pension cuts
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Assets and pension cuts

After the new assets test that has started the 1st of January 2017, there are a lot of pensioners that are lamenting the way that this government has treated them, because that are going to lose some pension. So, they think the money they are losing.
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Assets and pension cuts  

Dear readers, as we have said in our last article, Australian pensioners alarmed, here we are continuing to talk about the pensions cut and the effect it has on some pensioners. Depending on what sort of pensioner you are, these changes affects you in some different ways. So, there are some pensioners that their pension does not change at all, some pensioners that will be losing part of their pension, and some will lose it altogether. So, if the pensioners are upset about this change, they are right to be upset.

Anyhow, now let us discuss that example that we have started in our last article, about Mr.  and Mrs Day, who own two houses, they live in one house and rent the other one. Then, we will talk about other cases, if we can and what some pensioner think about doing, because for every action there is a reaction, so, also the pension changes may bring some other changes.

Mr. and Mrs. Day, case about pensions.

First how much they received before, then how much they receive now, and then compare this with other pensioner, whether they are being discriminated, meaning that they are losing more pension that the others. Anyhow, we are only setting this case, in a way the it is easy to understand, so all figures are well rounded figure, and therefore they have not been worked out mathematically.

So, Mr. and Mrs Day have about $580,000 worth of assets beside their own residence;

Before the 1^st January change they received about $450.00 per fortnight each;

After the 1^st January change they will receive about $350.00 per fortnight each;

So, they will be losing about $100.00 per fortnight each, this is very upsetting because they have problems with renting the house. When the house is not rented, it is hard to live on $350.00 per fortnight. One should keep in mind that a single pensioner that has no assets, receives $873.90 per fortnight, and even they sometimes complain about living a modest decent life. So, let us talk about owning and renting a house, whether it is worth to keep things as they are, or they need to change a few things, to live their life at the level of everybody else. So, how renting a house affects the pensioners. 

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Owning and renting a house

People believe that owning and renting a house is the way to go; if you talk to any real-estate agent they will tell you that, but one should ask oneself, is it so all the time, or are there times when it does not work out in your favour, or the way you want, therefore, owning another house is not the best thing to have, which is the case of Mr. and Mrs. Day.

As we have said in our last article, today the Days’ and any house owner find it hard to rent their houses, because there are too many vacancies here in Brisbane. So, Mr and Mrs Day have rented their house for $400.00 per week, and they hope that the tenants will pay the rent on time, and will not damage the house while they are living there. They have worked out that as things are, after paying all the bills, they could average in a year over $200.00 a week net rent. They must estimate a conservative figure, because there are too many vacancies, and there have been times when their house has been vacant for months.

After going over all this stuff, one start to think that there is something wrong with the way things are set up. So, one would ask. Did the Day’s couple make a mistake when they invested in this property? As they were thinking that by having a property for rent, they could be better off when they retied and would have some extra money to enjoy in their old age; because as you can see, it did not work that way at all. In facts, they are worse off, because if they had only the house they are living in, they would have received a lot more pension, than what they are earning from their investment. They could have more good time for themselves, instead of trying to run their property for rent. One could almost feel sorry for them knowing what they are going through now.

One needs to ask, what sort of government is this, can they work out properly what they are doing? They tell the people to save their money for their old age, so that they can live a better life in their old age. But when the people reach their old age, they turn around and take that money away from you, by changing the laws. But that is not all, because they don’t take the money away from their own pensions, if anything they increase it, because their pensions is not assets tested.

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What some people could do?

When those things that you have worked hard for, they don’t earn what you expected them to earn, and for that reason, you are ending up In a financial disaster, since you are losing money. You may start thinking many things including about what you want to do, and what you could do with what you have.

In the case of Mr. and Mrs. Day they are losing so much that they may have to think about a different set up, so that they can receive a lot more pension and live an easier life.

As we have said in our previous article, Mr. and Mrs. Day are not on the best terms and they may divorce soon. So now that the pension has gone down more, this thinking of divorce comes back to their minds. Because if they are divorced, they will receive a single pension each. But that is not all, they will own a house each, so they have no more assets, so they will receive the full pension. Now let us see what difference it will make.

Today they receive about $350.00 per fortnight each.

If they are divorced they will receive, $873.90 each per fortnight.

Which is a lot more than what they receive today, the only question left here is will they do it?

Anybody that is losing that much money will certainly do it, to make sure, let us look at those figures again, but this time let us see, how much money they are losing in a year, if we work both pensions together:

Now, they would receive about $700.00 per fortnight, in a year they are receiving $18,200.00.

If they divorce, they will receive 873.90 each per fortnight, which will be $22,721.4 each.

Or 45,442.8 per year. So, they are losing $27,242.8 government pension in a year.

Our own views on this is this.

If people start divorcing, or doing something that entitles them to a full single pension in the future, you cannot blame them, because they have been pushed from the government to do it.

Now, before we finish talking about owning properties that affect the pensioners, let me say my point of view here-under.

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Pensioners owing properties

The pensioners that own a rental property today are in a lot of trouble, because everything seems to have turned against them. First of all, the government cuts the pensions, then they cannot rent their properties unless they rent cheap, and also, they cannot sell their properties easily, because there are too many properties up for sale.

Some of you my readers think that I am exaggerating, because everybody things that the properties are always going up. But I tell you what, the boom on the property market for me is already ended, but people are not aware of it yet. When I drive around the street of Brisbane, there are too many signs of places for rent and for sale, when a few years ago, there were none. So, everybody that owns some real-estate should brace themselves now, for the rough ride ahead, this will also affect the pensioners.

Anyhow, we want to conclude this article now, by saying that the pensioners are having a hard time no matter where they turn they find problems.

Therefore, in the future, they better plan to own just a house, and then collect the full pension from the government.

I believe that I have said enough in this article. So, see you in our next article when I have something else to say. Perhaps about the Italian homeless.

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Pensioners alarmed
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Next time with, the Italian homeless