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NTA

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="taniwharugby" data-cid="556996" data-time="1454823202">
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isnt Antarctica the driest continent...
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Snow counts as precipitation, doesn't it? I hear they get a fair bit of that.

taniwharugby

Antarctica is a desert...great thread dviversion huh

NTA

Its a good one. And now I'm going to google "driest continent on earth" - though maybe we only brag about it instead of actually having that in our quiver.
 
I'll just admit I'm wrong for mentioning the word "parent" without all the facts. That'll make everyone happy. Except for that poor fucking kid and his family.

NTA

Here we go: driest INHABITED continent. Sorted, if somewhat qualified.

taniwharugby

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="NTA" data-cid="557000" data-time="1454823889">
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Here we go: driest INHABITED continent. Sorted, if somewhat qualified.
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haha, knew you'd grab on that...
 
But there you go, you learn shit from the Fern! ;)

Baron Silas Greenback

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="NTA" data-cid="556999" data-time="1454823836">
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Its a good one. And now I'm going to google "driest continent on earth" - though maybe we only brag about it instead of actually having that in our quiver.
 
I'll just admit I'm wrong for mentioning the word "parent" without all the facts. That'll make everyone happy. Except for that poor fucking kid and his family.
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</blockquote>
 
 
Well if you had just done that at the beginning instead of your usual trick of verbosely dancing around on a pinhead .. would have saved your keyboard a workout.

NTA

Then what the fuck would YOU do for entertainment?

Donsteppa

To avoid this thread becoming home for only the rough stories about refugees...
 
<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/capital-life/75975323/refugee-family-makes-the-most-of-their-chances-in-lower-hutt'>http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/capital-life/75975323/refugee-family-makes-the-most-of-their-chances-in-lower-hutt</a>
 
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote">
 
Refugee family makes the most of their chances in Lower Hutt
 
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SIMON EDWARDS
Last updated 08:52, January 18 2016
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<div><img src="http://www.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/9/8/e/o/r/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.620x349.198exn.png/1453326372372.jpg" title="" alt="1453326372372.jpg"><div>Simon Edwards</div>
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Thanusiya Vijayarajan outside the family's new home in Pomare. With a Sir Robert Jones Daughters of Refugees scholarship to help her study medicine in Otago, the 19-year-old says she can see a bright future in her new homeland.
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The Vijayarajan family knew virtually nothing about New Zealand before they were chosen to come here under our refugee quota.
The father, Vijay, knew only that we produced dairy products because the Anchor brand has a foothold in their home nation, Sri Lanka.
But three years after arriving the eldest daughter, Thanusiya - who turns 20 this year - has been accepted into the highly competitive Otago University School of Medicine health science course.
Those who have helped the Vijayarajans since they arrived in 2013 says the drive, work ethic and propensity to "seize whatever opportunities come her way" shown by Thanusiya is mirrored by Vijay, his wife Dharsini, their son Java, 17, and their youngest daughter Hisho, 10.
Thanusiya said they fled civil war in Sri Lanka in 2006. "We had to flee to survive."
 
As refugees for seven years in Malaysia, and then in a camp in Indonesia, their life in tents was tough. There was no work.
Thanusiya agrees they all found it cold when they first arrived in New Zealand, "and still", but she won't countenance a bad word said about their new home.
"This is the best country in the world," she told us.
Despite having very little English to start with, Thanusiya made the very most of ESOL classes at Hutt Valley High School and also excelled in science subjects. 
 
She recently learned she had been granted a prestigious Sir Robert Jones Daughters of Refugees scholarship that will support her right throughout her medicine studies at Otago, "as long as I keep my grades up.
 
"My ambition is to be a doctor but the main focus is to help the community because I know the pain...I have been suffering for seven years as a refugee."
If she graduates, that doesn't mean working as a doctor overseas. "We have many to help here."
 
Hutt Valley High careers advisor Penny Clark, who has worked with the family in a personal capacity and via the schools refugee family unit (teacher aides, English classes, an after-school homework programme, etc), said she was in awe of the family's work ethic. Java gave up his beloved cricket to work two jobs after school; Vijay, a joiner by trade, is a valued employee at Thermal Frame in Alicetown.
After "living on a shoestring" for a long time, Clark said, the family has just bought once of the new houses in Pomare's Riverside Gardens subdivision.
</blockquote>

jegga

There was a refugee from Afghanistan that made the warriors age grade side a few years back. 
As for the people in your post imagine their dilemma. Living in fear of roving gangs, bombings , shootings the feeling of never being safe and always on edge, living in a war zone probably seems quite tame compared to Lower Hutt

NTA

I shared a post about a guy who was a doctor here after fleeing Iraq in the nineties.
 
Some fucking redneck who I'm friends with by other associations posts up "Well that's ONE!"
 
Fuck's sake.

taniwharugby

I was being mentored at my last job by someone that fled Croatia during the war there and NZ was one of 2 places allowing them in at that time; they were unable to take money out of the country, so was just the family and a suitcase, neither spoke English when they arrived, yet now, both are very successful and well respected in their fields, their kids are excelling both academically and sporting.

mariner4life

some fucking dirtbags called in hoax bomb threats to a bunch of schools across North Queensland yesterday.
 
It took approximately .5 of a second for the first "This is what you get when you allow undesirables in to the country" posts to start on Facebook (not people i know, but you see them if you look at the "trending" screens). The anti-immigration and "attack on our way of life" retards were out in force.

NTA

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="mariner4life" data-cid="558295" data-time="1455247903">
<div>
some fucking dirtbags called in hoax bomb threats to a bunch of schools across North Queensland yesterday.
 
It took approximately .5 of a second for the first "This is what you get when you allow undesirables in to the country" posts to start on Facebook (not people i know, but you see them if you look at the "trending" screens). The anti-immigration and "attack on our way of life" retards were out in force. 
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Yeah. Nothing like living in a land where education is free to those who want it. For example, google showed me this:
 
<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/hacking/evacuation-squad-claims-responsibility-for-series-of-hoax-bomb-threats-to-schools/news-story/cffae7923190a1db4f5ad58e33c965c1'>http://www.news.com.au/technology/online/hacking/evacuation-squad-claims-responsibility-for-series-of-hoax-bomb-threats-to-schools/news-story/cffae7923190a1db4f5ad58e33c965c1</a>
 
 
 
 
<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote">A RUSSIAN hacker group claims it is responsible for a series of hoax bomb threats to dozens of schools around the world.
 
Evacuation Squad, a pro-Putin cyber group, says it made the phone calls that caused major disruption at schools in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria over the past few days as well as the UK, Hawaii, Paris, Japan, the US and Guam over the past few weeks.
 
It is understood some of the phone calls featured an electronic voice message, however it is not clear if all schools received an electronic message.
 
The hackers have now warned they intend to carry out more bomb threats over the coming days.
 
Spokesman Viktor Olyavich said the group carried out the threats in Australia because they were â€œfunnyâ€ and highlighted that Europe would be next.
 
â€œYes, we are responsible for Mondayâ€™s threats,â€ Olyavich, told <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://mashable.com/2016/02/01/school-bomb-threats/#Bbc7rGUTRiqo'>Mashable Australia</a>. â€œWe do these threats because they are funny to us.
 
â€œWe are preparing to do schools across Europe as we speak. We donâ€™t worry about the consequences, because our main threat-makers are based in Russia and Iran.
 
â€œWe are doing so many at once due to a stolen VOIP account that has a trove of calling credit.â€
 
According to reports, Evacuation Squad posted a note to the Pastebin website offering to call in bomb threats at schools, businesses and sport grounds in exchange for $5 to $20 Bitcoin payments.
 
Despite requesting a form of payment, Olyavich said their current campaign was being done for free.
 
â€œWe are not charging for Bitcoin just yet,â€ he told Mashable. â€œOur threats are free of charge until March 2016.â€
 
Since claiming responsibility for the hoax calls via social media, the groupâ€™s Twitter handles @Ev4cuati0nSquad and @SwatTheW0rld have been suspended.
 
But before they were taken offline, the group used the hashtags #SWATTED and #SwatTheWorld in reference to a type of hoax known as â€œswattingâ€ in the US, where emergency services are deliberately duped into deploying armed units or bomb squads, The Independent reported.
 
According to the UK paper, the â€œEvacuators 2K16â€ account, which has since been suspended, also announced its support for Bashar al-Assadâ€™s Syrian regime and claimed it was controlled by â€œsix individuals based internationallyâ€.
 
Another tweet read: â€œWant to get out of school for a day? Want to divert the police away from a crime youâ€™re going to commit? Email us.â€
 
A statement from NSW Police said the recent threats were â€œclearly a pattern of hoax calls designed to cause disruption and attract media attentionâ€.
 
â€œThere is no evidence these are anything other than hoaxes designed to cause unnecessary disruption and inconvenience,â€ the statement said. â€œThe threats appear to come from overseas with no credible evidence they could be carried out here.â€
 
Since Friday, there have been four rounds of multiple phone threats made against scores of primary and secondary schools in NSW, Victoria and Queensland.
 
Nick Oâ€™Brien, the associate professor of counter-terrorism at Charles Sturt University, <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/school-life/whats-behind-the-wave-of-hoax-school-bomb-threats/news-story/3b5dde7a64a66910b38f7fa2cefb4ac5'>told news.com.au</a> the aim of their game was disruption and spreading fear.
 
â€œIf you took a major sporting event, if someone calls with a bomb threat, authorities have to make a decision if they evacuate the event or let it go on,â€ Professor Oâ€™Brien said.
 
The obvious danger was if they did nothing â€” and there was a bomb â€” lives could be lost.
 
â€œThe fact is though terrorists very rarely forewarn of any attacks. The IRA [used to], but they did that purely for disruptive reasons.â€
 
These days such a tactic is rarely used.
</blockquote>

mariner4life

what a bunch of fluffybunnies.

jegga

The Afghani I mentioned played for the roosters in the nines <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_Slaimankhel'>https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omar_Slaimankhel</a>

TeWaio

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="taniwharugby" data-cid="558292" data-time="1455246890">
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I was being mentored at my last job by someone that fled Croatia during the war there and NZ was one of 2 places allowing them in at that time; they were unable to take money out of the country, so was just the family and a suitcase, neither spoke English when they arrived, yet now, both are very successful and well respected in their fields, their kids are excelling both academically and sporting.
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The other place that let ppl in was Canada. One of my best friends came from there as a baby with her parents and basically nothing else, settled in Toronto. Her Dad is a gun businessman and set himself up in Canada, smashed it, and 30 years later is worth about $100m, runs an international company that employs thousands.

jegga

Whens the nest election in Germany? Surely Merkel is toast?
 
BERLIN - Most of the suspects identified in connection with a series of robberies and <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.cbsnews.com/news/germany-rattled-by-new-years-eve-sex-assaults-by-arab-men/'>sexual assaults in Cologne during New Year's celebrations</a> are refugees, prosecutors said Monday.
The crimes, described as unprecedented by authorities, sparked uproar in Germany and a heated debate about the country's ability to integrate almost 1.1 million people who sought asylum there last year.
The incident has led to both a political and a personal backlash against the mostly Middle Eastern and North African asylum seekers that flooded the country last year.
Numerous <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.cbsnews.com/news/germany-migrants-attacked-refugees-sexual-assaults-cologne/'>migrants reported being attacked</a> themselves randomly in the wake of the Cologne assaults, and Chancellor Angela Merkel's soaring popularity <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-01-15/merkel-s-popularity-drops-to-four-year-low-after-cologne-attacks'>took a major nosedive</a> afterwards. The Cologne sexual assaults even <a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-inflammatory-german-migrant-rape-story-made-up/'>almost led to an international incident with Russia</a>.
 
<div style="color:rgb(32,32,34);font-family:Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size:17px;">
<a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/german-welcome-for-refugees-growing-thin'><img height="140" src="http://cbsnews2.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2016/02/04/e4405afd-b45e-494f-93d9-cda0549e06f3/thumbnail/220x140/0605e98cd652472e2ba30f0da5a6a72d/en0203dagatamigrants488505640x360.jpg" width="220" alt="en0203dagatamigrants488505640x360.jpg"></a><div><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/german-welcome-for-refugees-growing-thin'>Play VIDEO</a></div><a data-ipb='nomediaparse' href='http://www.cbsnews.com/videos/german-welcome-for-refugees-growing-thin'>

	German welcome for refugees growing thin
</a></div>

Cologne prosecutor Ulrich Bremer said 73 suspects have been identified so far - most of them from North Africa. A total of 1,075 criminal complaints have been filed, including 467 alleging crimes of a sexual nature ranging from insults to rape.
"The overwhelming majority of persons fall into the general category of refugees," Bremer told The Associated Press, saying recent reports describing only three of the suspects as refugees were "total nonsense."
Initially, authorities in Cologne were accused of downplaying the fact that the attackers included many asylum-seekers because of the political sensitivity of the issue.
The suspects included 30 Moroccan nationals, 27 Algerians, four Iraqis, three Germans, three Syrians, three Tunisians, and one each from Libya, Iran and Montenegro, Bremer said.
"They have various legal statuses, including illegal entry, asylum-seekers and asylum applicants," he said of the foreign suspects. "That covers the overwhelming majority of suspects."
Twelve of the 73 suspects are linked to sexual crimes, though only one of those - a Moroccan asylum-seeker who entered Germany in November - is in custody, he said.

NTA

Wonder what it will do to the political landscape in terms of letting the far right into greater prominence?

booboo

<blockquote class="ipsBlockquote" data-author="NTA" data-cid="556997" data-time="1454823321">
Snow counts as precipitation, doesn't it? I hear they get a fair bit of that.</blockquote>
 
Apparently not. Just the tiny bit of snow they do get freezes and stays that way for thousands of years.

Tim

Meanwhile in Russia ... <a class="bbc_url" href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3461709/Schoolboy-16-live-Russian-porn-star-hotel-month-winning-online-competition-admits-mother-isn-t-happy-it.html">The schoolboy, 16, who will LIVE with a Russian porn star in a hotel for a month after winning a bizarre online competition</a>

The Silver Fern

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