I worked in Chicago for a while and we used to always fly over Greenland - I used to make sure I was awake for that part - it's just utterly stunning. Like some kind of alien planet.
It's exactly like it's another planet. Although in reality it's just a country that hasn't been ruined by humans. Seeing that view really made me appreciate what an extraordinary planet we live on.
An Oakland County circuit judge who sent three children to a juvenile detention facility for refusing to speak to their father compared the kids to cult leader Charles Manson. Oakland Circuit Judge Lisa Gorcyca declared the children of Maya Tsimhoni in contempt of court last month and ordered them held atOakland County Children's Village until they attempt to have a relationship with their father or they turn 18. The three - ages 9, 10, and 15 - have been incarcerated for more than two weeks. Court clerks for Gorcyca said Wednesday the judge would have no comment because the case was ongoing. The children were taken into custody during a June 24 hearing. "I do apologize if I didn't understand the rules," said one boy, 15, "but I do not apologize for not talking to (the father) because I have a reason for that and that's because he's violent and I saw him hit my mom and I'm not going to talk to him." The father has not been charged with a crime. Gorcyca called the boy a "defiant, contemptuous young man" and asked him if there was anything he'd like to say about being sent to Children's Village. "I didn't do anything wrong," the boy said. "No, you did," Gorcyca said. "I ordered you to talk to your father. You chose not to talk to your father. You defied a direct court order. It's direct contempt so I'm finding you guilty of civil contempt." The boy responded: "But he was the one that (did) something wrong. I thought there (were) rules .. for not hitting someone." "You're supposed to have a high IQ, which I'm doubting right now because of the way you act," Gorcyca said. "You're very defiant. You have no manners ... There is no reason why you do not have a relationship with your father. Your father has never been charged with anything. Your father's never been convicted of anything. Your father doesn't have a personal protection order against him. Your father is well-liked and loved by the community, his co-workers, his family (and) his colleagues. You, young man, have got it wrong. I think your father is a great man who has gone through hoops for you to have a relationship with you." Gorcyca said she appreciated that Tsimhoni told her son about the importance of having a relationship with his father. "It probably was way too late," the judge said. But to the boy, the judge said: "You need to do a research program on Charlie Manson and the cult that he has ... You have bought yourself living in Children's Village, going to the bathroom in public, and maybe summer school." Gorcyca forbid the mother or anyone from her side of the family from visiting the boy. A review hearing was scheduled for Sept. 8. "You are so mentally messed up right now and it's not because of your father," Gorcyca said. "And one day you are going to realize what's going on in this case and you're going to apologize to your dad ... Dad, if you ever think that he has changed and he's no longer like Charlie Manson's cult, then you let us know and we can (review the case)." Gorcyca refused to allow Tsimhoni to say goodbye to her son or to convince him to speak with his father. Tsimhoni's two other children had a hearing later in the day, during which the 10-year-old boy did speak briefly to his father. "Judge, I'm sorry for my behavior, and dad, I'm sorry for my behavior," he said. "Dad, the judge wanted me to talk to you so here is something about myself ? I enjoy soccer and I hope to be on the soccer team." A girl, 9, was asked if she would also like to apologize to her father, but she had no audible response. "I know you're kind of religious," Gorcyca told the girl. "God gave you a brain. He expects you to use it. You are not your big, defiant brother who's living in jail. Do you want to live in jail?" The girl said she would try to work with her father during visits, and Gorcyca told the children to go to lunch with their father. "Let's see, you're going to be a teenager," Gorcyca told the girl. "You want to have your birthdays in Children's Village? Do you like going to the bathroom in front of people? Is your bed soft and comfortable at home? I'll tell you this, if you two don't have a nice lunch with your dad and make this up to your dad, you're going to come back here (after lunch) and I'm going to have the deputies take you to Children's Village." The father suggested eating in a cafeteria at the courthouse, and the boy was asked what his thoughts were. "I'll go with my brother (to Children's Village) then," he said. Gorcyca said the boy would not be allowed to contact his brother at Children's Village. The girl was asked whether she would eat lunch with her dad and she said no. "I've never seen anything like this," Gorcyca said. "One day you can watch this video and realize that you two have been brainwashed. Your dad is a good man ... This is not normal behavior. No adult in this courtroom, except one, thinks this is normal. Every single adult in this courtroom thinks you have been brainwashed." The children have been required to undergo psychiatric therapy while at Children's Village and were to "be kept away from each other as much as possible," according to a hand-written order from the court. The judge classified the contentious divorce proceedings during a visitation hearing the day before the children were taken into custody as "tied for my worst parental alienation case." Five days after the contempt ruling, Tsimhoni's attorney, Andrew Bossary, withdrew from the case, citing delinquent fees of $16,220. Bloomfield Hills attorney Lisa Stern has since filed a Writ of Habeas Corpus on Tsimhoni's behalf. The motion seeks to bring the children back before Gorcyca but it isn't scheduled to be heard until July 15. The documents ask that the three children be brought back before the judge in order to lift the contempt ruling or show why "they are being deprived of their liberty." Attorneys for both parents could not be reached for comment. http://www.dailytribune.com/general...ens-village-for-refusing-to-speak-with-father Um what the ****?
The judge used very harsh and frightening words in speaking to these children. He may fear they are being brainwashed, but I would have thought that required careful handling by an experienced professional and not by someone as uncaring as he is. He comes over like something from Dukes of Hazzard. And what about the father....if he cared, he wouldn't want this to happen surely.
Sat in the quiet carriage on the train. Quite amused that the woman in front is happy to talk really loudly to the three friends sitting with her but for some reason feels the need to whisper when she phones her mum.
Reminds me of the time I went back to NZ via Los Angeles. We took off from Heathrow and passed over Greenland, chasing the Sun. Utterly astonishing landscapes. I made a point of looking out for civilisation's marks and the first true thing that could seen, when still way up in the Tundra, way North of the tree line was a lone railway track. I watched that track from North of Nowhere to the first halt, firsf settlement, town, and city. It was a lesson in frontier geography right out of the aeroplane window.
I'd like to go to Greenland. I wonder if it's expensive? I imagine the landscape to be similar to Iceland. I travelled to Iceland when I was 17/18. It's an amazing country. I loved it there.
Try any Hákarl while you were in Iceland? I've been told its the most foul, disgusting 'delicacy' on the planet..so naturally Ive always wanted to try it.
Saw that in a show recently where the actor didn't get passed one taste....said to taste of ammonia and smell like cleaning product. Holding your nose is recommended the first time you try it. Apparently the shark is poisonous when fresh, so needs to be rotted down.....would suggest this was developed by desperate indigenous people....why would you touch it? Though apparently you drink it with a local spirit to dull your senses. Who am I to judge though....I can't eat prawns or crab.
A b A bit like sur-stromming (spelling error I know - I don't have a Swedish keyboard) in Sweden. Basically "fermented" (aka rotten) herring which you eat with milk and copious amounts of spirit. It's absolutely vile but I managed (just) to keep it down (a bet from my co workers) though you don't want to know the reaction from my inside a few hours later!! I think it was developed by the locals as a purge to get rid of any intestinal parasites personally, though the swedes look on it as a great delicacy!!
Yah, you gotta be pretty desperate to say "im gonna go eat that shark thats been hanging outside Björns house for 5 months". I'm also gonna guess that the spirit flows first and freely before they try their dish. It sounds so terrible i feel i'm gonna have to go out of my way to try it at some point.
Sounds like you missed out on a truly 'unforgettable' experience. I've always been tempted to visit a place like Iceland. Is it as insular and unspoilt as they say in documentaries and such?
I don't even like normal fish so I can't imagine I would have been able to stomach it!! I'd say go for it. The landscape is amazing. It's the land of fire and ice. I climbed volcanoes and glaciers, saw active geysers, walked behind waterfalls and through lava coils. I even saw the Northern Lights! Some of Game of Thrones (The Jon Snow stuff) is filmed there! There are only 300,000ish people living there, vast majority I should imagine live in Reykjavik so there really isn't much in the way of human spoiled landscape outside of the City.
Sounds like my kind of place, as long as its not filled with obese, sweat-stained yanks shuffling through the undergrowth talking loudly on their phones its already a winner in my book. It might be a few years but i'll take a trip there at some point.
I don't remember seeing/hearing any Americans, but then I was on a bit of a Jolly with my College friends so don't really remember any other people. I do rememeber everything being quite expensive over there though. Maybe it was just because I was a skint teenager.
