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December 2014 Chit Chat

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party animal - not!
blubelle
amaretti
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pattygirl
it's me
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Way2Old4Dis
Silje
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Post by PigPen Mon 01 Dec 2014, 17:23

Happy December 1st  December  2014 Chit Chat Images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTvMTS4-8_knmA8O1FmGGlFPU-aeHGwLlGuDoiPy41c_fizdWS8yw


Last edited by LornaDoone on Tue 02 Dec 2014, 03:29; edited 2 times in total (Reason for editing : edit title and added "Chit"; added year to differentiate from other Decembers)

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Post by Nicky80 Mon 01 Dec 2014, 18:26

Oh great I just posted in the November Chit Chat. Already December. Much better then November. All the Christmas lights in the street. The Christmas Sweets. The mulled wine and the  FXCKING cold makes you drink too much mulled wine Laughing

OK so i saved up some Money. Because I was thinking to buy me a new mp3 Player / I pod for Christmas. I'm my own Santa hehe.....my old one was last time updated 2006 then a technical error appeard and since then the Music is from 2006 ...good that I have a Radio too hehe

But I'm Kind of unsecure now...haven't used a mp3 Player for ages...and I'm not sure what is better mp3 or I pod. I have a MAC and a Windows PC..... I like something easy...as I'm not smart in technical things

any suggestions?
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Post by PigPen Mon 01 Dec 2014, 19:07

Since we have officially entered the season to be jolly, anyone interested in sharing their favorite holiday traditions or memories??

One of my favs... I'm a December baby, born at 2:45 AM.  Every year for my birthday, my Mom would sneak into my room at 2:45AM and gently sing "Happy Birthday"

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Post by Nicky80 Mon 01 Dec 2014, 19:23

mmmhhh maybe this is a culture thing but if one of my family members would sneak in at 2:45 AM in my room I don't care what they sing I kick they.... Beaten
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Post by Nicky80 Mon 01 Dec 2014, 19:26

Sorry...I forgot to say...Nice Memory PigPen... Thumbs up!

I don't think I have a holiday traditions  except of eating hehe...OMG I'm an outsider.... Sad  I will find one for next year Very Happy
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Post by Joanna Tue 02 Dec 2014, 17:52


"Merry Xmas Everybody" is a 1973 song by the English rock band Slade. Written by lead vocalist and guitarist Noddy Holder and bassist Jim Lea, and produced by Chas Chandler, it was the band's sixth number-one single in the UK.
It earned the UK Christmas Number One slot in December 1973, beating another Christmas-themed song, Wizzard's "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday", which reached fourth place.
By mid-January it was still at number one;
it stayed in the UK Singles Chart well into February 1974.


From 1973 and heard every Christmas
here in UK !

Joanna
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Post by Joanna Tue 02 Dec 2014, 18:00

Nicky80 wrote:

But I'm Kind of unsecure now...haven't used a mp3 Player for ages...and I'm not sure what is better mp3 or I pod. I have a MAC and a Windows PC..... I like something easy...as I'm not smart in technical things

any suggestions?


My gut instinct would be go for an iPod but I haven't got either.
I would Google reviews or check them out on Amazon customer reviews.

Enjoy whatever you buy...I'm glad that you're buying yourself a
Santa Pressie.
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Post by Silje Tue 02 Dec 2014, 23:46

Good old Slade. Used to listen to them when I grew up. The 70's, it  seems so long ago. Smile
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Post by Way2Old4Dis Fri 05 Dec 2014, 22:55

Fellow COHers:

For anyone who hasn't heard about this latest tragedy and travesty, a brief explanation.

Tamir Rice was a 12-year-old boy who made a childishly normal mistake of taking a toy gun to a community center and playground in Cleveland, Ohio. Police were called, the caller explained to them that it was probably a child and probably a toy, but that it might be a good idea to check it out just in case. When police arrived, an officer jumped out of the car before it had even stopped moving, and shot the boy dead.

I won't even get into the white cop/black male child aspect of it.

Tamir Rice was just buried. But his mother has to return to work next week to keep her family afloat. I cannot imagine.

Here is a link for donations to this child's family. Anything, no matter how small, helps. The site went up today, and the modest goal has nearly been met. That is a blessing. By comparison, the fund for Darren Wilson, the cop who shot and killed an unarmed 18-year-old in a suburb of St. Louis MO, got up to more than half a million dollars before he was even out of a job.

Anyway, in case you're interested...

http://www.youcaring.com/memorial-fundraiser/help-the-family-of-tamir-rice/273407#.VIHWwCwUEpQ.twitter

Thanks.

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Post by melbert Fri 05 Dec 2014, 23:09

Bless you Way2!
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Post by Nicky80 Sat 06 Dec 2014, 08:01

Thanks for sharing way2old4dis. Lot of people donated already that is amazing I hope it will be more. 62 days to go it says.

I heard about this case too. It was in our news too. What makes me wonder...why this case gets not so much media attention like the 18 year old black boy in St. Louis. I mean he was 12. Shouldn't he get more Attention as a child. I don't see People demonstrating that much like they did in St Louis. Not sure but this is the way they show it here in the German News.
Will there be a Jury called again? I'm sure this Police man gets free too.

There was this other case in NY were a police officer choked a black man until he died. And there is a video of it where the black man said "I can't breath" and in the news they said the "choke -hold" is not even allowed for police officers and he got free anyway - thanks to the Jury.

At the Moment it looks like to me that Police killing black People all the time in America and get free through a jury.....American Image doesn't look good for now.

Now you got a black president and it does not help anyway. He has only 2 years to run. Why not "giive a shit" what the majority of the Americans think and stand behind the black crowed and do something?

I don't understand your issue with black and white People anyway. Is it because of your slavery history? Why the big distrust on both sides?
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Post by Donnamarie Sat 06 Dec 2014, 13:11

Nicky, this is a big issue here in the states right now. These cases you brought up have happened just recently. There have been a number of protests in the larger cities around the country. People are really upset. The President has come out and spoken about it and he is planning to make some changes that will hopefully improve the way officers police in communities. Though not as bad as it used to be racism unfortunately still exists in our country and our justice system reflects this. More blacks than whites get killed in confrontations with police and more blacks that whites disproportionately end up in prisons. We are an imperfect country where racism has been a stain on our history. But we continue to right our wrongs but it is a hell of a slow process sometimes. Even with out first black President.
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Post by Way2Old4Dis Sat 06 Dec 2014, 15:22

These types of events are not new by any stretch of the imagination. But people have reached their limits, and taking it out of the black community and making it a larger societal issue has helped bring attention.

This is not something the President can address or fix on his own. This is local and state politics. And people who commit racial crimes while in positions of power always claim to be doing so for the greater good, and out of "duty," and without regard to race. It just so happens that the victims are Black, so they will tell you. The murder in Ferguson would have continued to be reported as a riotous reaction to a cop doing his job in a bad neighborhood, but the cops made the mistake of harassing reporters, too, and that's when the story changed and questions started being asked about the police themselves.

And the racist cops and politicians are supported by people who will get on forums or comments sections of news sites, and have no qualms about calling Black people "animals" and "subhumans" and the like. When things like this happen, the discussion turns to topics like Black-on-Black crime, which has nothing to do with any of these murderous incidents, or the 'state' of the Black community, which paints us all with a deeply dehumanizing brush. But when a White male -- and the mass gun killings are invariably carried out by White males -- murders multiple strangers, the discussion is about larger, depersonalized issues like gun control and mental health care. So the racism is ingrained, even in people who think they are reacting with care and compassion.

Personally, I'm tired of the rhetoric and even the demonstrations. I've signed enough petitions. The people in power will pretend to pay attention, but nothing has changed. Forces have to come together to hit these people where they live. The prosecutors are hiding behind the grand juries, knowing full well that grand jury decisions aren't binding. These cops could be charged anyway, solely at the discretion of the prosecuting attorney. But they won't do it. Which means they need to go. They need to be recalled from office, and new prosecutors elected, ones who will serve the entire public and not their prejudices. And the mayors need their feet held to the fire, for appointing police chiefs who allow racist attitudes and plantation mentalities on the police forces, which can only lead to murder-by-cop.

...Okay, I have to stop. It gets me too worked up. I'm done ranting.

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Post by LizzyNY Sat 06 Dec 2014, 15:53

Way2Old - That wasn't a rant, it was a statement of fact. This is an issue that is so pervasive in our society it's hard to see an end to it. The system needs to change. That's supposed to happen at the ballot box, but the American people are so disillusioned with the government that many of them don't even vote anymore. How are things supposed to change if we don't do our part to change them?

The other side of the problem is that the more we shine a light on the problems with the police, the more problems we create. They feel they put their lives on the line to keep the peace but are unappreciated and disrespected - they get angry and feel even more distanced from the people they're supposed to protect. The less empathy they feel, the more likely incidents like these are to happen. There are good cops out there - I know some of them - but they're working in a system that doesn't make their jobs any easier either. I don't know the answer. I only know that change has to come soon.
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Post by Way2Old4Dis Sat 06 Dec 2014, 16:29

I have a lot of respect for what cops do. I come from a family in which several men from two generations got out of the military and went straight to police academies.

But I also know that an awful lot of cops equate 'Black neighborhood' with 'crime-ridden ghetto,' and like to give the impression that they have to dodge bullets in order to keep the peace in places like Ferguson. So they act like overseers on a plantation, keeping the Blacks in line so as not to disrupt the boss' peace and way of life.

In one of my former lives, I oversaw medical and mental health for several groups of adolescents. Many of them were addicts, had committed small to moderate crimes, and/or had been thrown out of educational institutions because of behavior. They were Black and White kids. The difference between them was that the White kids were in residential treatment centers or behavior/psych units or group homes, while the Black kids were in juvenile detention centers or even adult jails. They had all done the same things, but the way they were looked at and the options available to them were worlds apart. And until we stop treating Black kids any differently from the way we would have any other kid treated, nothing will change.

The prosecutor in the Ferguson case allowed the killer cop to testify for four hours before the grand jury. Forget that he allowed the supposed defendant to tell his side of the story without challenge and to ingratiate himself to the juror panel. The cop said of his victim, Michael Brown, that "it was like the Incredible Hulk and I was a five-year-old kid," and that Michael Brown "grunted" before lunging at him. He painted a picture of an animal that he had to put down. And that's what the public perception of young black men has become.

BTW, Darren Wilson, the cop who killed Michael Brown, is himself 6'4" tall, so it's not as if Michael Brown was towering over him. And remember, Wilson was the only one with a gun. And a car. And back-up a radio call away. But I digress.

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Post by Donnamarie Sat 06 Dec 2014, 17:11

When you see the subtle and not so subtle racism perpetrated by even a number of members of Congress and their constituents towards the President it just highlights how far we still have to go to eradicate racism in the US.

Way2Old and Lizzy as you have said above this issue is so complicated and there are so many layers of problems that contribute to perpetuating racism and the disadvantages still associated with being black. A good education for everyone in this country opens up so many more opportunities to better chances for a better life. Helping to lift many people out of poverty. Poverty in many neighborhoods leads to crime. The stereotyping of blacks is a big problem and it doesn't matter who you are, Businessman, student, journalist, even a future President, if you're black you're seen by many police officers and even an average person as a potential threat. There is no one answer to this problem. It will take decades to eradicate the mindsets of people and where fairness in our justice system doesn't recognize color.
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Post by Joanna Sat 06 Dec 2014, 18:10

I've just watched the trailer of Selma.
It is SO powerful.
Selma is out on Christmas Day in US and
6 Feruary in UK

Selma, review: 'righteous, visceral'
David Oyelowo is electrifying as Martin Luther King in Ava DuVernay's furious, gutsy and all too timely account of black America's struggle for Civil Rights, says Tim Robey







Enthralling: David Oyelowo stars as Martin Luther King Jnr, in Selma Photo: Paramount Pictures
By Tim Robey3:54PM GMT 05 Dec 2014
Director: Ava DuVernay. Stars: David Oyelowo, Carmen Ejogo, Tom Wilkinson, Tim Roth, Oprah Winfrey, Giovanni Ribisi, Alessandro Nivola, Common, Dylan Baker, Lorraine Toussaint, Cuba Gooding, Jr, Keith Stanfield, Wendell Pierce, Martin Sheen. TBC cert, 123 min.

Selma is a small town in lower west Alabama, where the eyes of America turned nervously in the spring of 1965, sensing a revolution. It was hardly a hotbed of racial unrest. It wasn’t Harlem. It was the strategic site of a battle, a historic march for voting rights, and a bitter but long-awaited victory for Martin Luther King in his ongoing fight for democratic parity.

“Selma’s the place,” we hear early on in Ava DuVernay’s scorching, full-bodied, flat-out great film of this complex and contested flashpoint. It’s the place where progress might be made, by non-violently inciting white-on-black aggression and getting people across the country to switch on their TVs.
Today, audiences who think back to the rousing “This, now!” speeches in Spielberg’s Lincoln may recognise a comparable blend in this script of impassioned rhetoric and political manoeuvring.

Meanwhile, anyone who’s followed the events in Ferguson, Missouri since Michael Brown’s shooting will mentally extend the continuum of King’s struggle, and Selma’s relevance to it, right up to our present moment.
The film pinpoints Selma’s place in this overarching historical context without feeling browbeaten by it into merely erecting a memorial. It’s full of quicksilver decision-making, sinew and guts.
Lincoln had Lincoln. Selma has Martin Luther King, and a vision of him you’d be hard pressed to find less than enthralling.
David Oyelowo has never given a better performance. He seems to penetrate into King’s soul and camps out there for two hours. He’s tremendous, of course, when electrifying his congregation at the podium, but a sense of fatigue is even more paramount: like Sisyphus inching his rock up the mountain, Oyelowo’s King seems constantly braced for setbacks, haunted by the daily inevitability of his mission’s failure.

Related Articles
The story of Martin Luther King Jr 04 Dec 2014
David Oyelowo enters Oscars race with Selma 20 Nov 2014
Spooks actor speaks out about the 'glass ceiling' in British acting 12 Feb 2013
What he’s up against isn’t just the hard-dying legacy of racism in the South, but an administration fobbing him off with “not now”. The issue at hand is the black vote – legally guaranteed by the Constitution, but practically stymied by all the literacy tests and intentionally obstructive registration rules local government had managed to pile up in its path. In the early Sixties, more than half of Selma’s citizens were black, but only 1% were registered to vote.
Oprah Winfrey’s Annie Lee Cooper is turned away at the film’s start for failing to name Alabama County’s 67 judges. And because registration was a requirement to serve on juries, black people had no say in their own trials, and brutality against them went unavenged by the justice system time and again.
King explains all this in the Oval Office to Lyndon B. Johnson (Tom Wilkinson), but it’s no good: the latter is busily embroiled in Vietnam, and extends a welcoming arm across King’s back which tells us exactly how he plans to patronise and humour him.
Wilkinson’s jowly avuncularity can jar in some American films, but this is the best use of him in years. By the end, after the flare-ups in Selma have made it impossible to table the voting issue any longer, we get the irony of LBJ’s March 1965 address, whose final three words come straight from King’s phrasebook:
“We Shall Overcome”.

When King comforts the grieving grandfather of slain protestor Jimmie Lee Jackson, whom police chased into a café behind Selma’s church, and shot, unarmed, at point-blank range, it’s a scene that’s desperately moving for all it’s holding in, and holding back. You see King as an almost intimidating inspiration – a leader commanding so much respect that grief has to compose itself. But you also see him as a man, especially in close quarters with his wife Coretta (a forceful Carmen Ejogo), who elicits a subtle confession of his extra-marital affairs.
Ava DuVernay, previously responsible for the little-seen features I Will Follow (2011) and the Oyelowo-starring Middle of Nowhere (2012), makes a thrilling surge into the front ranks of American filmmakers here. She’s likely to be the first black woman ever nominated for the Best Director Oscar.
Working again with consistently inspired cinematographer Bradford Young (Ain’t Them Bodies Saints) and editor Spencer Averick, she reconstructs Selma’s whole tug of war – bludgeonings outside the courthouse, the two marches across Edmund Pettus Bridge, and the terrifying rampages of mounted police, glimpsed through a fog of tear gas – with a righteous visceral authority. Young’s camera inscribes people’s fury, pain and bewilderment: when Winfrey is knocked to the ground, it goes down with her. DuVernay's film goes down with the lot of them, drags itself back up, and never lets that summit out of sight.
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Post by it's me Mon 08 Dec 2014, 14:38

?



https://mobile.twitter.com/epolitzerphoto/status/541894500566577154/photo/1
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Post by Donnamarie Mon 08 Dec 2014, 14:52

It's me, I heard about this fire this am. Some building under construction in LA went up in flames. ,not much info available yet. It's supposedly causing a lot of traffic problems
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Post by it's me Mon 08 Dec 2014, 15:52

thanks for the infoes
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Post by Donnamarie Tue 09 Dec 2014, 13:57

A couple of things British ...

Great to have Prince William and Princess Kate in New York. They went to a basketball game last night (Brooklyn Nets vs Cleveland Cavaliers) and met Jay Z and Beyoncé there. And the Prince met with Obama here in DC yesterday to discuss endangered wildlife issues. Heard it was the first time the couple had ever been to New York. They are also attending a fundraiser in NY for St. Andrews College.

And was so nice to see Sting as one of the Kennedy Center honorees this past weekend. I've always been a Sting fan tho I like more of his earlier music than his current stuff. But a very talented and smart man. And he rocks a beard. He was wearing one for the event and he looked good! He composed the music for a current Broadway show, The Last Ship, and he actually is taking on a part in the show. The show has had lackluster ticket sales so Sting decided to include himself in the cast to try to bolster sales.
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Post by pattygirl Tue 09 Dec 2014, 16:12

With all the recent chitchat about racism in America, I think it should be brought to the forefront that the vast majority of Americans are essentially colorblind.  Most of us live very well in proximity to the vast Different ethnicities that surround us.

Here's a great story that comes from a time of great racial bias. Enjoy!

A Grandson of slaves, a boy was born in a poor neighborhood of New Orleans known as the "Back of Town.


[size=13]

[size=16]His father abandoned the family when the child was an infant, His mother became a prostitute and the boy and his sister had to live with their grandmother. Early in life he proved to be gifted for music and with three other kids he sang in the streets of New Orleans . His first gains were the coins that were thrown to them.
 
A Jewish family, Karnofsky, who had immigrated from Lithuania to the USA had pity for the 7-year-old boy and brought him into their home. Initially given 'work' in the house, to feed this hungry child. There he remained and slept in this Jewish families home where, for the first time in his life he was treated with kindness and tenderness.
 
When he went to bed, Mrs. Karnovsky sang him a Russian Lullaby that he would sing with her.
 
Later, he learned to sing and play several Russian and Jewish songs. Over time, this boy became the adopted son of this family. The Karnofskys gave him money to buy his first trumpet; as well the custom in the Jewish families. They sincerely admired his musical talent. Later, when he became professional musician and composer, he used these Jewish melodies in compositions, such as St. James Infirmary and Go Down Moses.
 
The little black boy grew up and wrote a book about this Jewish family who had adopted him in 1907. In memory of this family and until the end of his life, he wore a star of David and said that in this family he had learned "how to live real life and determination.”
 
This little boy was called Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong.
 
Louis Armstrong proudly spoke fluent Yiddish.



[/size][/size]
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Post by Donnamarie Tue 09 Dec 2014, 18:29

pattygirl thanks for sharing this story. I did not know this about Louis Armstrong. Pretty inspirational.

As an American I do appreciate that for the most part we are colorblind but there are still segments of our cities across America where the issue of racism is still very much alive. As a country we have to keep chipping away at all the inequities still playing out in these cities.

I do see that the up and coming generation and my children's generation (in their 20s) are definitely far more oblivious to color than past generations. So we can be optimistic about our future.
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Post by Joanna Wed 10 Dec 2014, 18:55

I've just watched a documentary about Audrey Hepburn. She suffered greatly as a child, during the Nazi occupation of Holland, from malnutrition.
Some information here.....

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audrey_Hepburn#Childhood_and_adolescence_during_World_War_II



Audrey Hepburn was born Audrey Kathleen Ruston on 4 May 1929 at number 48 Rue Keyenveld in Ixelles, a municipality in Brussels, Belgium.[9] Her father, Joseph Victor Anthony Ruston (1889–1980), was a British subject born in Úžice, Bohemia,[10][11] to Anna Ruston (née Wels), of Austrian descent,[12] and Victor John George Ruston, of British and Austrian descent.[13] A one-time honorary British consul in the Dutch East Indies, Ruston had earlier been married to Cornelia Bisschop, a Dutch heiress.[10][14] Although born Ruston, he later double-barrelled the surname to the more "aristocratic" Hepburn-Ruston, mistakenly[13] believing himself descended from James Hepburn, third husband of Mary, Queen of Scots.[14]

Her mother, Baroness Ella van Heemstra (1900–1984), was a Dutch aristocrat and the daughter of Baron Aarnoud van Heemstra, who was mayor of Arnhem from 1910 to 1920 and served as Governor of Dutch Suriname from 1921 to 1928. Ella's mother was Elbrig Willemine Henriette, Baroness van Asbeck (1873–1939), who was a granddaughter of jurist Dirk van Hogendorp.[15] At age nineteen, Ella had married Jonkheer (Esquire) Hendrik Gustaaf Adolf Quarles van Ufford, but they divorced in 1925. Hepburn had two half-brothers from this marriage who were both born in the Dutch East Indies: Jonkheer Arnoud Robert Alexander Quarles van Ufford (1920–1979) and Jonkheer Ian Edgar Bruce Quarles van Ufford (1924–2010).[14][16] Ella, Baroness van Heemstra, was named Dame of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem by Queen Elizabeth II on 7 September 1971.[17][18]

Ruston and van Heemstra married in the Dutch-Colonial Batavia, Dutch East Indies in September 1926. They moved back to Europe, to Ixelles in Belgium, where Hepburn was born in 1929. In January 1932 the family moved on to Linkebeek, a nearby Brussels municipality.[19] Although born in Belgium, Hepburn held British citizenship through her father.[9]

Because of her mother's family in the Netherlands and her father's British background and job with a British company,[20] the family often travelled among the three countries. With her multinational background, she went on to speak five languages; she picked up French, Spanish and Italian in addition to her native English and Dutch. Hepburn participated in ballet by the age of 5.

Childhood and adolescence during World War II

Hepburn's parents were members of the British Union of Fascists in the mid-1930s,[21] with her father becoming a true Nazi sympathiser.[22] The marriage began to fail from 1935, and after her mother discovered him in bed with the nanny of her children,[23] Hepburn's father left the family abruptly. Joseph settled in London following the divorce.[10] In the 1960s, Hepburn would finally locate him again in Dublin through the Red Cross. Although he remained emotionally detached, his daughter remained in contact and supported him financially until his death.[24]

In 1937, Ella and Audrey moved to Kent, South East England, where Hepburn was educated at a tiny independent school in Elham, run by two sisters known as "The Mesdamoiselles Smith"; the school was attended by about 14 children.[25][26] In September 1939, Britain declared war on Germany, and Hepburn's mother relocated with her daughter back to Arnhem, in the belief that (as during World War I) the Netherlands would remain neutral and be spared a German attack. Whilst there, Hepburn attended the Arnhem Conservatory from 1939 to 1945 where, in addition to the standard school curriculum, she trained in ballet with Winja Marova. After the Germans invaded the Netherlands in 1940, Hepburn adopted the pseudonym Edda van Heemstra, because an "English sounding" name was considered dangerous during the German occupation. In 1942, Hepburn's uncle, Otto van Limburg Stirum (husband of her mother's older sister, Miesje), was executed in retaliation for an act of sabotage by the resistance movement, while Hepburn's half brother Ian was deported to Berlin to work in a German labour camp. Hepburn's other half-brother Alex went into hiding to avoid the same fate.[27]

After this, Ella, Miesje, and Hepburn moved in with Baron Aarnoud van Heemstra in nearby Velp. During her wartime struggles, Hepburn suffered from malnutrition, developed acute anæmia, respiratory problems, and edema.[28] Hepburn, in a retrospective interview, commented, "I have memories. More than once I was at the station seeing trainloads of Jews being transported, seeing all these faces over the top of the wagon. I remember, very sharply, one little boy standing with his parents on the platform, very pale, very blond, wearing a coat that was much too big for him, and he stepped on to the train. I was a child observing a child."[29]

By 1944, Hepburn had become a proficient ballet dancer. She had secretly danced for groups of people to collect money for the Dutch resistance. "The best audience I ever had made not a single sound at the end of my performances", she remarked.[30] She also occasionally acted as a courier for the resistance, delivering messages and packages. After the Allied landing on D-Day, living conditions grew worse and Arnhem was subsequently devastated in the fighting during Operation Market Garden.
During the Dutch famine that followed in the winter of 1944, the Germans had blocked the resupply routes of the Dutch already-limited food and fuel supplies as retaliation for railway strikes that were held to hinder German occupation.
People starved and froze to death in the streets; Hepburn and many others resorted to making flour out of tulip bulbs to bake cakes and biscuits.[22][31] One way young Audrey passed the time was by drawing; some of her childhood artwork can be seen today.[32] When the country was liberated, United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration trucks followed.[33] Hepburn said in an interview that she fell ill from putting too much sugar in her porridge and eating an entire can of condensed milk.[34] Hepburn's war-time experiences sparked her devotion to UNICEF, an international humanitarian organisation, in her later career.[22][31]
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Post by Joanna Wed 10 Dec 2014, 19:25

Britain has been hit by a Weather Bomb today....
Mainly in the Northern areas of the Country.
Some dramatic pictures are here.....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/weather/11285345/In-pictures-Weather-bomb-hits-British-Isles.html?frame=3134439
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Post by Nicky80 Wed 10 Dec 2014, 19:30

Picture 5...this guy is crazy to go surving when you have weather like this Shocked

Jo, you better stay home and warm
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Post by LizzyNY Wed 10 Dec 2014, 21:42

Joanna - Hope you're warm and dry where you are. It's cold and rainy here in the city, but nothing like your weather. Be safe!
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Post by Joanna Wed 10 Dec 2014, 22:46

Thanks Nicky & Lizzy.....I'm safe and sound here
where I am.....very windy but nothing like in the
Northern areas.
Surfers are crazy... Period !
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Post by Joanna Thu 11 Dec 2014, 14:32

Golden Globes Nominations......
Nothing for George.

Best Actor Nomination for Benedict !!
Coolio

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/dec/11/golden-globes-nominations-2015-the-full-list
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Post by PigPen Thu 11 Dec 2014, 15:22

Going away for a few days... sooooooooooo

Dec 17th...Happy Birthday  Donnamarie

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Post by Donnamarie Thu 11 Dec 2014, 16:12

PigPen, thanks! You remembered. I know yours is just before Christmas so I'll wait a bit before I officially send birthday wishes.

Have a good trip!
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Post by LornaDoone Thu 11 Dec 2014, 22:45

Joanna wrote:Britain has been hit by a Weather Bomb today....
Mainly in the Northern areas of the Country.
Some dramatic pictures are here.....

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/weather/11285345/In-pictures-Weather-bomb-hits-British-Isles.html?frame=3134439

Gotta love the surfer dudes!  They'll go out in anything!

Los Angeles is poised for some serious weather starting tonight.  Already have some manditory and voluntary evacuation orders in place for tonight.

If it's not earthquakes, it's drought, then fires, then rain and mudslides!

LA is never boring - I'll give it that!
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Post by Nicky80 Fri 12 Dec 2014, 06:00

Oh Boy.....Hope you are save at home and no evacuatopn happened
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Post by Joanna Fri 12 Dec 2014, 13:28

This is funny.....when Kate was in NY I think !

http://news.sky.com/story/1390661/video-kate-rolls-eyes-at-keep-wrapping-order
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Post by LizzyNY Fri 12 Dec 2014, 15:16

Lorna - Saw that you're going to be hit with even more rain. Hope you're safe and dry and no mudslides headed your way. Give Flowers
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Post by LornaDoone Fri 12 Dec 2014, 22:41

I have to tell you some scary moments from about 2:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. this morning.  The wind was SO bad I really thought we were going to have a tornado.

I looked outside the sky was really dark, like when a tornado forms. I actually packed a bag (yes at 2:00 a.m. I'm packing a bag and putting my emergency kits/food by the door) hoping that I wouldn't have to try to out run a tornado.

Then at about 3:30 a.m. the rain started.  I'm talking hard, hard rain.  I went to the door to take a video and I got soaked.  I have a porch outside with a roof and the rain was being pushed by the wind SIDEWAYS that when I opened the door I immediately got soaked!

Stayed up watching the 4 am news cause I was too scared to go back to sleep.

Came in to work this morning and co-worker, after co-worker was saying the same thing.  Awakened at 2 with the wind, then the rain etc.

There was a dramatic rescue this morning.  A news crew was in an area where they had fires and there was concern about mudslides.  Wouldn't you know it - one serious one happened while they were there and they filmed an elderly couple being rescued by the fire department.

The mud literally filled up their house and several more houses in their neighborhood!

http://ktla.com/2014/12/12/elderly-couple-rescued-after-becoming-trapped-in-their-home-following-camarillo-springs-mudslide/
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Post by LizzyNY Sat 13 Dec 2014, 00:38

Lorna - Are you ok? It sounds like you had a terrifying night. Has the weather calmed down? Is your house safe? I can't believe you got up and went to work like nothing happened. Stay safe and be careful!
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Post by Donnamarie Sat 13 Dec 2014, 00:58

Lorne, hope the worst is over. Hope you and your house are ok. And, hope you get some decent sleep tonite.
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Post by Way2Old4Dis Sat 13 Dec 2014, 01:13

Glad everything is okay. Everybody I know in LA told pretty much the same story: being awakened suddenly at 2am by wind that sounded like a freight train, and then the pounding rain -- and the fear of what might happen.

Stay safe and dry.

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Post by amaretti Sat 13 Dec 2014, 03:13

Lorna I hope you have a good night .

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Post by LornaDoone Sat 13 Dec 2014, 04:00

Well my roof is still intact and no trees fell on me so I'm okay.  Thanks for the concern - it was scary while it was happening!

And yes, freight train sounding wind is about right!

The weather calmed down today, we had mostly cloudy skies but it was sunny in between.

The storm is going to roar across the US so Colorado and then the Midwest are supposed to be hit this weekend.  Eventually, it's supposed to make its way to the East Coast.

Everyone stay safe!


Well just saw that the weather service confirmed there was a small tornado this afternoon in South Los Angeles!

Video here!

http://ktla.com/2014/12/12/tornado-strikes-south-l-a-neighborhood-rips-roof-off-building-residents/


Last edited by LornaDoone on Sat 13 Dec 2014, 04:42; edited 1 time in total (Reason for editing : add weather link)
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Post by Nicky80 Sat 13 Dec 2014, 12:17

Good that nobody was injured....Did LA have a Tornado before?
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Post by blubelle Sat 13 Dec 2014, 16:18

Glad you are safe and nothing harmed your house.    It is very scary.  I remember hurricane Sandy.  Some people here (NY) were without power for two weeks.  NY was shut down for a day.  There are still folks who haven't recovered.  Weather...blah!!
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Post by Way2Old4Dis Sat 13 Dec 2014, 18:06

So, as I dash out to do as much yard work as I can during halftime of North Carolina/Kentucky, let me just say that I am officially in for Elizabeth Warren 2016.

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Post by party animal - not! Sat 13 Dec 2014, 18:18

Great choice, Way2, but didn't she rule herself out four days ago?

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Post by Way2Old4Dis Sat 13 Dec 2014, 18:48

She has the next few months to change her mind.

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Post by Donnamarie Sat 13 Dec 2014, 20:03

I don't think she will run against Hilary. Think she should wait. She is still pretty far left for most of the country although she certainly voices the concerns of a lot of hardworking people who are making the minimum wage and want a decent job. She is very appealing but mostly to a more populist segment of the country.
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Post by LornaDoone Sat 13 Dec 2014, 21:26

Just read the story on Audrey Hepburn.

Interesting that her childhood experiences affected her throughout her life.  And her devotion to UNICEF is quite understandable - not just as an organization in itself, but because of what they did to relieve famine in her childhood.

Some might have taken such hardship and made it a negative throughout their lives.   She chose instead to use it as a reminder of what she went through and when she was able to support UNICEF o that they could continue to help other children.

I've admired her grace and beauty for a long time but I now like her even more!
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Post by Way2Old4Dis Sun 14 Dec 2014, 03:46

Donnamarie wrote:I don't think she will run against Hilary.  Think she should wait.  She is still pretty far left for most of the country although she certainly voices the concerns of a lot of hardworking people who are making the minimum wage and want a decent job.  She is very appealing but mostly to  a more populist segment of the country.


People advised Barack Obama not to run against Hillary Clinton.

The events in this country are making people look for a different way to do things. Maybe that will extend to the elections. What we're doing certainly isn't working.

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Post by Joanna Mon 15 Dec 2014, 15:35

I hope we have no friends in Sydney where there
is a dangerous incident happening.
I'll post the latest news......


Sydney Siege: Gunman Switches Lights Out
Sky News 2 hrs ago

A gunman who claims to have four bombs is holding up to 20 people hostage in complete darkness at a cafe in Sydney's financial district.

Chilling footage has emerged of a female hostage apparently trying to communicate with police by miming her throat being cut - while news channels have chosen not to broadcast a video of another hostage relaying the assailant's demands.

Witnesses described seeing the hostages looking "exhausted" and "absolutely petrified".

But as night fell and the siege entered its 15th hour, the gunman, who has been named as Sheikh Man Haron Monis, turned off the lights, making it difficult to see what is going on inside the cafe.

Man came face to face with gunman (Sky News)
Watch hostages fleeing from gunman (Sky News)
What we know so far (Sky News)

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