Monthly Archives: Jan 2025

Give me a home among the gum trees…

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Today 26th January is Australia Day, here in Australia. For many, it is a day of celebration, for others it is a day of commiseration and sadness. Australia Day for me is about celebrating what makes this country great with it’s cultural diversity with everyone who calls Australia home, from all the countries around the world.

Out of all the countries in the world where I could have been born in, I was the lucky one to have been born here, as I truly love calling Australia my home. Others were born elsewhere and came to Australia to live a better life, became Australian citizens and live in their adopted country.

For our traditional land owners, I see and feel you too and how many of you see this day as one of the worst days of your history. As someone who’s family came to Australia as migrants, as someone who was born here in this country, I am not going to continue apologising for something I had no part to play in back in 1770 when Australia was first discovered.

What I would love to see is the day be about celebrating what this country is about. This land we call home. This place that accepts cultural diversity, traditional customs and culture from around the world. We need to come together in reconciliation, in real understanding and in respect. As the song I am Australian by the Seekers says, “We are one but we are many, and from all the lands on earth we come, we′ll share a dream, and sing with one voice, I am, you are, we are Australian”.

Happy Australia Day to you all and how you choose to celebrate, or not celebrate the day 🇦🇺🪃🦘🐨🏏🍺⛱️

Until next time

Kaye

What the…

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Okay, can someone, anyone, please make this make sense to me because I am seriously struggling here to completely understand what is going on.

I actually do understand it but I need someone to make this make sense.

What in the frig is all the hullabaloo with TikTok in the US seriously about?

Yeah, TikTok is an app that was developed in China and found popularity during 2020 in a time when during a world wide pandemic, while people were staying home during lockdowns and needing something to do, people discovered the app and it became a popular app with people creating content or people watching content.

As I see it, the developers of TikTok have been more than transparent in admitting who has access to the app’s data in regards to how data is handled and who has access to that information. There are no secrets, yet it is quickly accused of being “the Chinese spying app”, especially during the pandemic that spread across the world in 2020. China doesn’t even use the app, they have a completely different version of the app.

The other thing is that apps like TikTok, news is quickly shared and the US government want to put a muzzle on the news, they want to control the news and what is said. They want to block the freedom of speech and the freedom of information. That is manipulation of information as they want control. If Trump gets into office as the President Elect, he’s the one behind the “Chinese app” TikTok being banned as he’s always wanted to ban the app because he and his team wants to control what the people are saying to the rest of the world. He has never been a fan of TikTok.

This is the part where I am left to scratch my head in confusion because as far as I can see, while the US government is hell bent on doing everything they can in trying to get TikTok banned, how about looking at the apps that are developed in the US and used without any apparent concern about anyone’s data being stolen and used inappropriately by the US government? Again, it’s about controlling the news and what gets said to the people.

There’s an app called Clapper, (a similar app to TikTok but without many of features of TikTok and you need to be 17+ to use it), which  is promoted as a US developed app but if you actually look up who the developers of that app, you will see that the apps developers are the same as TikTok’s, ByteDance.

So if TikTok is banned, what happens to Clapper? Okay, Clapper in their information about the app claim that all their data isn’t shared to other parties and all content is stored on US based servers and cloud services, so Clapper may be safe as a TikTok alternative, if TikTok does get banned in the US but as a TikTok alternative, it needs a lot of work with adding and improving features before it can completely replace TikTok.

There is another app, which has only been around for 6 months, approximately called Favorited by US developer Like Labs Inc. It’s another app similar to TikTok, but the big difference is, you can’t post video content but it’s perfect for anyone who does battles, chats and on this particular app, you can actually play a lot of games on the app. You need to be 17+ to have an account. There’s already a lot of people from TikTok using the app, just like Clapper, the big difference between TikTok and Favorited is that unlike TikTok, when you gift someone in a live or during battles on Favorited, the content creator gets the bigger share of money and Favorited takes the smaller amount. This is why Favorited is becoming the much preferred app for people doing battles, they get more money than you do from TikTok.

There are other apps that I am more wary of in data being stolen, used inappropriately, or shared to 3rd parties without my consent and they are US based and developed app that people install on their devices without a second thought… heard of the apps Facebook? Instagram? X (formerly Twitter)? Snapchat? Just to name a few by any chance? They are apps I use too, but I don’t trust them to keep my data or my personal information stored on those apps safe, so I limit the personal information I share on those apps.

I just think that the driving force behind the US isn’t about caring about users’ data being stolen or what information is being collected or shared, I think it’s a smoke screen. I think it’s about TikTok taking more money for the use of the app, their servers, paying developers for the app, and money that isn’t going to US developers. It’s a US money grab because the US, they know how much profit TikTok makes, and they want a huge piece of the profit pie. I think that many US content creators will be there protesting against TikTok’s impending ban in the US, especially those who solely rely on the income they receive from TikTok because they made TikTok be their job. It’s also about control of what news is shared. It’s about manipulation of news of what happens in the US in the world news.

I joined TikTok in the last half of 2022, and in that time, I have made some wonderful friends in the US. Many I have as friends on other apps because if the US does ban TikTok, I don’t want to lose contact with these people.

I see the US government being trying to be bullies in the whole issue but they are sounding like spoit brats in the situation because they want to monopolise all the social media app platforms for themselves for profit, they also want to control what the people say and the news they hear from the outside world. I know that TikTok won’t sell the app as the US demands, so they are definitely giving the US the bird and say a big eff you and to force the US government to carry out their threat and ban the app but to this Australian, it’s making me hate the Meta apps even more and I’m hating those Meta apps now because of data breaches, them not keeping my data or my personal information safe, the control of news shared already as it’s filtered, now made even worse by fact check being removed, yet they want me to trust their apps, just because they are US based? Make that make sense, anyone?

I only hope that the US government have a change of heart and not ban TikTok because it’s not going to make me use those certain Meta apps more when I barely use them now as I really dislike them and X, with a passion. We have a right to news being unbiased and accurate in its representation, not just a whole pile of fake news which is what everyone will be getting when TikTok is banned.

So can someone, anyone make all of this make sense?

Until next time

Kaye

Lost for words…

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As I sit and watch the news on TV, scroll my social media, I see images of LA, California burning in their most devastating wildfires in history. No one in the Pacific Palisades, Altadena or Eaton areas is safe.

The drought conditions that LA is currently experiencing and the weather conditions with the hot Santa Ana winds coming from the desert and the cold winds coming from the ocean were hurricane strength, creating the perfect storm.

Homes, businesses, churches, schools, stores, office buildings, and restaurants are all being lost in these fires. It doesn’t matter who you are, a regular everyday person or a celebrity, no one is immune from being affected by these fires.

At least 10 people have lost their lives so far, thousands of people had to evacuate their homes or go to evacuation centres for safety, rather than go home. Many hectares have been burned by the fires as the fires continue to burn out of control.

Water is a problem as there is a shortage in the fire hydrants because of drought conditions, all the firefighters can do is save what they can save.

Water bomber aircraft is being used, countries around the world, including Australia are sending volunteers to help fight the wildfires in LA.

All I can do is hope and pray for the safety of everyone in the path of those fires, those who have been affected by the fires, those who are fighting the fires, those who are feeding the firefighters, those who had to evacuate, the pets who were left behind and the wildlife.

Living in Australia, we know how devastating our bushfires can be and so my heart breaks for the people in LA in what is a tough and unknown time for many in uncertain and unpredictable circumstances.

One thing I know is this, as the people of LA help each other to get through this time together, look for the helpers as they will be the ones who will do all they can to help rebuild LA when the fires have been extinguished finally and it’s time to rebuild.

Pray for LA

Until next time

Kaye