Friday, March 31, 2017

Today's ABC Open photos

Walking meditation
By Maria Grist ·  · From Pic of the Week
This walking meditation was a part of a series of retreat sessions at Dorje Ling Retreat Centre, Lorinna. The walking tracks wind down through tall forests to the shores of Lake Cethana.                                   Published 20 Feb 2017.  Lorinna TAS 7306




Red bandits
By Kiri Handreck ·  · From Pic of the Week
So rapt to find these beautiful red browed finches in my front yard on our farm in Byaduk, Vic                                     Published 27 Feb 2017.  Byaduk VIC 3301



Cradle Mountain mist
By Vicki Smith ·  · From Pic of the Week
I was heading to Dove Lake for the sunrise but I had to stop and admire the morning mist settled in the valleys.   Published 03 Mar 2017.  Cradle Mountain TAS 7306




Strike the pose
By apicturesworth ·  · From Pic of the Week
Published 10 Mar 2017.  Daylesford VIC 3460









Campbells Forest Post Office (1876-1974)
By snaphappy82 ·  · From Pic of the Week
I've taken shots here before, but wanted to go back when the sky was looking nicer. Relics of the Campbells Forest Post Office (1876-1974)  Published 03 Mar 2017.  Campbells Forest VIC 3556




Mistletoe bird - fantastic little birds
By catblack10 ·  · From Pic of the Week
Published 28 Aug 2015.  Sunshine Coast QLD

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Today's ABC Open photos

Natural beauty
By Kylie Jackson ·  · From Pic of the Week
Waking to such a natural experience is just what we needed. There laugh just makes you smile. All this on the front of our doorstep, it's just the simple things that can make a difference.  Published 27 Feb 2017.  Moama NSW 2731



The stunning Melbourne Exhibition Buildings
By janeizzyphoto ·  · From Pic of the Week

Published 19 May 2016.  Melbourne VIC 3000












Rainbow lorikeet
By bec.cameron ·  · From Pic of the Week

Published 10 Jan 2017.  Penrith NSW 2750










Loading up lambs this morning with Bindy
By vince.kirk ·  · From Pic of the Week
Loading up lambs this morning with Bindy, west of Forbes, central west NSW.               Published 01 Mar 2017.  Warroo NSW 2871





Wannon reflections
By Kiri Handreck ·  · From Pic of the Week

I drove out to see the Wannon falls with the plan of practising smooth water effect . 2 problems - I forgot the battery for my Canon and 2 no water over the waterfalls...luckily I had my point and shoot and I was able to get photos of the reflections.  Published 01 Mar 2017.  Wannon VIC 3301




Landscaped gardens

By trace2674 ·  · From Pic of the Week

Hunter Valley Gardens, Broke Road, Pokolbin, New South Wales.

Published 01 Mar 2017.  Pokolbin NSW 2320

Monday, March 27, 2017

Today's ABC Open photos

Exploring Brunswick

By CurrumbinAli ·  · From Pic of the Week

My favourite place over the borrder - high tide on Sunday morning in the Brunswick river is perfect for snorkeling. Brook among the mangrove trees in this shot.            Published 28 Feb 2017.  Brunswick Heads NSW 2483




Homegrown blackberries

By Leanne Cairnduff ·  · From Pic of the Week

Waiting for our thornless blackberries to ripen and hoping we get to them before the birds do.               Published 23 Jan 2017.  Woolamai VIC 3995



A Bit of Exploring

By jesbarbz ·  · From Pic of the Week

Was a great morning for a bit of exploring. Overcast, cool breeze, not getting bogged. What more could one ask for?  Published 27 Feb 2017.  King Leopold Ranges WA 6728


Cows do not like koalas

By jukurrpafarm ·  · From Pic of the Week

Yes Red, cows do not like koalas. As seen here, our cows and our neighbours cows wanted this little guy gone. We came to the rescue thanks to our neighbor (pictured) calling for help.    Published 23 Feb 2017.  Melbourne VIC 3004


                         Beach Boab   By paigesimmonsphotography ·  · From Pic of the Week                                 Boabs looking mighty fine just before the storms, Published 09 Jan 2017.  Broome WA 6725




Python pool with waterfall flowing 💚

By destinedfeather ·  · From My Back Roads

Published 20 Feb 2017.  Millstream WA 6716

TB misdiagnosed in Sydney





When a 23-year-old university student was feeling very unwell with a persistent cough and shortness of breath, he went to his local GP in Chippendale.

Three months went by and still no better, he went back to his GP for the third time.  His doctor ordered an x-ray which revealed he had a 6 cm hole in his lung.

The doctor, thinking he may have lung cancer sent him to the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (RPA) and on 21 October 2016, tests confirmed he had tuberculosis.

Meanwhile, during that three month period of misdiagnosis, the student infected ten people.

Tuberculosis is a slow-growing bacteria and the longer a patient goes without treatment, the more infectious they are.

He spent three weeks in isolation at RPA and another eight weeks in isolation at home.  He is still on 16.5 antibiotics a day and has to present to the hospital every weekday morning to receive his drugs which he will take for nine months.

The other ten people affected are also receiving treatment and will be monitored for two years.

"I just felt like I had a really bad flu that wouldn't go away" the patient said.  "I was otherwise still myself and even went surfing three times a week."

He thinks he picked up the disease while backpacking in Morocco, Vietnam, Cambodia, Bali and Thailand.  Doctors told him he was one of the only non-refugee cases they had seen of TB in a long time.

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Monster of Depravity

Fabian Meharry
By Jane Lee, The Age, Victoria


A judge has described a BMX rider who sexually abused more than 20 young girls as a "monster of sexual depravity", whose crimes demonstrated the dangers of social media.
Fabian Meharry, 28, befriended 22 girls on social media websites before asking them to send him sexual photos of themselves.
He blackmailed the girls, aged between 11 to 17 years, into performing degrading and painful sexual acts on themselves online, secretly recording videos of them which he used to continue blackmailing them.
County Court Judge Liz Gaynor sentenced Meharry on Wednesday to 12 years' prison with a non-parole period of 10 years for more than 60 child sexual abuse crimes including producing child pornography, sexual penetration of a child under 16 and grooming children using a carriage service. 
"Yours was prolonged, classically predatory, depraved, cruel and remorseless behaviour, which demonstrated with appalling clarity the dangers inherent in social media [that have required] the formulation of punitive legislation designed to protect, as far as it can, the young and vulnerable from persons such as yourself," Judge Gaynor said.
"It would not be unfair to classify you as a monster of depravity."
When his victims refused to perform sexual acts according to his instructions via webcam or Skype, he would threaten to publish the photos online or to send them directly to their families.
He also threatened to take his own life, filming himself holding a knife to his own throat.
Conversations where demands were made sometimes went from 30 minutes to three hours, and different victims were offended against for a day, weeks or months, with one abused for four years.
He also met some of his victims in person, when his crimes escalated into direct sexual abuse and in one case resulted in a miscarriage. One girl was blackmailed into performing acts of bestiality and incest. 
Meharry – who is well-known in the Echuca BMX scene – told his victims about his internet business, which sold grinding wax for bikes and skateboards as a way to attract them to him, the court heard.
"It was as if you saw the internet as providing you with a vast array of vulnerable teenagers whom you could prey upon, exploit and terrorise, as the whim took you," Judge Gaynor said.
She said the sexual acts forced on the victims were often their first sexual experience.
They feared the world, had suffered difficulties in their families, felt guilty and blamed themselves. 
Judge Gaynor said Meharry deliberately targeted young girls because they were able to be exploited to do what he wanted.
Older, more experienced women would be less likely to submit to his demands or believe his comments that he could not be caught and that they themselves had would be in trouble if they reported him to police. 
His victims were from all over Australia. He knew how old most of them were. One was in court for the sentence and another appeared via video link. 
The judge rejected Meharry's insistence he was now disgusted and shocked by his own crimes, saying he had had "ample opportunity" to stop before police ended his "nine-year reign of trauma".
He continued his crimes even after a police raid on his home in 2015, and another judge in 2008 warning him against sex with under-age girls, when he was sentenced for a sexual relationship with a younger child.
Judge Gaynor said his difficult family background and psychiatric reports did not explain his crimes.

She said he had "poor" prospects for rehabilitation.

Today's ABC Open photos

The cutest chapel in the world?
By shazz67 ·  · From Pic of the Week

The cutest chapel in the world is picturesque any time of the year, but when those leave turn red and yellow in Autumn, it's magical.   Published 27 Feb 2017.  Gostwyck NSW 2358



Sunday afternoon, exploring around Dajarra
By outback.living ·  · From Pic of the Week
Published 27 Feb 2017.  Dajarra QLD 4825




DO NOT SLIP!!!
Top of Purlingbrook Falls, a couple of rather 'adventurous' guys sitting right on the edge of the falls, and that's a long way down.      Published 27 Feb 2017     Springbrook QLD 4213



A male Redbacked fairy wren
By mavover ·  · From Pic of the Week
A male Redbacked fairy wren who was more interested in the three females hanging around than he was in me!                  Published 22 Feb 2017.  Toowong QLD 4066



Curious Roos.
By gkennedy_landscape ·  · From Pic of the Week
Published 28 Feb 2017.  Canberra ACT 2601



Ladies Baths Falls
By ablackpix ·  · From Pic of the Week
Beautiful spot in the Mount Buffalo National Park
Published 28 Feb 2017.  Mount Buffalo VIC