“Our World” Moving from Blogspot to WordPress

On April the 2nd 2005, Marcus Ampe, after having commented on several MSN Groups created his own chat group on MSN which would grow into the website “Christadelphian world” on Multiply. Like so many Microsoft users at that time, he too, had his Space on MSN. When Microsoft discontinued the MSN Groups, Mr. Ampe followed their suggestion to switch to Multiply, presenting its Multiply Groups and Multiply Spaces. Several groups did not do this, quit or switched to other systems such as Yuku, of Ezboard, Inc.‘s internet forums (Yuku Message Boards), or the content management system (CMS) WordPress. Both were also considered by us, but unfortunately not chosen at that time. But a few years later Multiply stopped with providing room for bloggers. This made that all the material had to be exported when one wanted to keep the material.

The hierarchy of labels in a fully qualified domain name

For that reason, Marcus Ampe wanted to save his writings and placed them temporarily on the other American online content management system (CMS) Blogspot, enabling multi-user blogs with time-stamped entries. Though that, what seemed just for a “waiting time” to find a new place, came to run its own life on Blogger. From that time onwards online journals or Blogs could also be accessed from a user-owned custom domain, an identification string that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority or control within the Internet, (such as http://www.example.com) by using DNS facilities to direct a domain to Google’s servers.

Christadelphian World

The Blogspot “Christadelphian World” received some further new messages and having received a new birth in 2014, having its name changed in “Our World“ it grew out, becoming an ‘adult’ presenting more than 4 000 messages in 2020. Google, that year, made several changes in its sites as well as in Blogger. From then onwards connections with the older blogs on Blogspot did not seem to work so well. The system became very slow to load down. In earlier computer days that would not have been such an abnormality, nor problem, but in present times the consumer does not like some time-consuming websites and leave them alone.

The World Wide Web had become a place where lots of lots home pages, functioning as a table of contents or index, with links to other sections of the site, called for the attention of the reader. Many companies also wanted to play host to present websites to the worldwide public. The public became also more interested in blogs that operate mainly as news filters, collecting various online sources and adding short comments and Internet links. “Our World” its intention was also to do that and to show the public the connection of this world with the Highest Divine Source of this all.

Other blogs concentrate on presenting original material and wanted to go deeper into certain topics. Marcus Ampe for that reason brought his MSN Space over to a Multiply Space, and when Multiply stopped its service, transferred it to WordPress, with as title Marcus Ampe’s Space to present his own personal views and offer a look in his personal diary.

In addition, many blogs provided a forum to allow visitors to leave comments and interact with the publisher. Such interaction became the most important target and this provide a new ground for several platforms bringing social media as a new driver of the convergent media sector, into their core business.

The growth of the blogosphere has been nothing short of remarkable. By October 2005 there were 19.6 million blogs, a number that has been doubling roughly every five months, according to Technorati, Inc., a Web site and organisation dedicated to mapping and searching the blogosphere.  You can imagine how by this growth of approximately 70,000 new blogs being created each day — or, more vividly, nearly one every second, how difficult it has become to find the most interesting or complete one. Due to the abundance of material on the internet and the fact that people often cannot see the wood for the trees anymore, Marcus Ampe created in 2014 (03/26) “From Guestwriters” on WordPress as a platform where a selection of interesting websites could be presented. He also wanted to offer a platform for writers themselves to present their own website articles and to introduce people to more in-depth articles. But until now he does not seem to succeed getting enough writers willing to offer their services to talk about such subjects as history, nature, a.o..

From blogging is (in a way) expected that it might also be a conversational activity seeking to create a community or reflect an existing community. With “From Guestwriters” Marcus Ampe hoped to do so, but also with “Our World“, he wanted to open a view on the world, tough from a Christian viewpoint. He is still convinced such a viewpoint should have a place in our world, though he does not expect a lot of followers or interested people, because he is fully aware that there is not such an interest in Jehovah God.

As a Christian Marcus Ampe is convinced that it is part of the tasks given by God and by His son Jesus Christ, to go out into the world to preach the coming Kingdom of God. In many of his websites Mr. Ampe wants to bring some positive notes and want to show people that when things don’t work well, or are not working at all, although there’s plenty of sun, and when it’s starting to get annoying, there are ways to get out of that black or dark mood and to find sunshine in heaven. “From Guestwriters” want to contribute in such a way, and now you also may find “Some view on the world” bringing such a positive view on the world.

Please come to find this renewed website by Marcus Ampe:

Some view on the world (WordPress site by Marcus Ampe)

Where you shall be able to find some news updates, thoughts and reflections by different people (inclusive reblogs) and articles about man, history, faith, religions (in particular Christian religion), God, His world and His Word, the Bible and quotations from it.

Blog of Some view on the world

+

Find also to read:

1. Do you have a writer or presenter in you?
2. Change of the Microsoft Network Spaces
3. Messages leading to an earthly utopia
4. From MSN Groups and MSN Spaces via Multiply to Blogspot now transferring to WordPress
5. Invitation to renew connection
6. Going to the end of our 5th year of presenting interesting views from different authors
7. A Classic Editor versus Block Editor
8. Notification and news feed for Facebook users

++

Additional

1. Necessary to be known all over the earth
2. Need to inspire others
3. How To Get Started In Sharing Your Faith As a Christian
4. To find ways of Godly understanding
5. From house to house #2: Continuing to bring the good news right to the world
6. The untiring response of some Christadelphians
7. Taking as many opportunities as possible to proclaim the Good News
8. Reason to preach #5 Trained to do it God’s way
9. Beautiful feet of those who announce the good news
10. Witnesses of Christ and of his gospel
11. Preaching to an unbelieving world
12. A magazine with Each month a true story

+++

Related

1. What is an Internet Forum? Everything you need to know
2. Yahoo Answers is shutting down. Why are companies ditching discussion features?
3. Social media outage highlights how vital Facebook has become worldwide
4. ❣️The Message Boards Turn 21 Today! ❣️
5. Types of Content Management System
6. Facebook, Google Attribution, Chatbots
7. Your Singaporean Twitter History – Get to Know Your Country’s Social Media Trends
8. What’s Google Up To?
9. WordPress Training
10. Thinking Through: WordPress Border Controls
11. Launching & Managing your websites with CMS
12. W04 Reflection: Site Builder & Hosting
13. Best VPN for WeChat – Bypass Censorship & Chat Anonymously!
14. 5 Tips for Blog Post Ideas
15. Things That Make Me Wish I Wasn’t A Blogger
16. Joseph Pulitzer’s Retirement Speech & The Traits of Journalism
17. Reader Is Dead, But What About Writers?
18. When Bloggers Get Angry
19. Filter only coffee
20. Bloggers Who Write About Food!🍔
21. Translation and Social Media Language- A New Chapter
22. No Internet
23. Are we being controlled by unseen entities?
24. The Empathy Library
25. The bittersweet taste of traditional publishing

We live in hope

September 2, 2021, On the death of the Greek composer, a member of the wartime resistance, his concert music, including seven symphonies, four operas, ballets (including Antigone, 1959), and more than 1,000 songs, will remain deeply engraved in our hearts and echo throughout the world as a sign of the resistance that is always necessary to continue living in freedom of expression.

A la muerte del compositor griego, miembro de la resistencia en tiempos de guerra, su música de concierto, que incluye siete sinfonías, cuatro óperas, ballets (entre ellos Antígona, de 1959) y más de 1.000 canciones, quedará profundamente grabada en nuestros corazones y resonará en todo el mundo como signo de la resistencia siempre necesaria para seguir viviendo en libertad de expresión.

+++

Related

1. New book showcases work of persecuted Greek musician
2. Mikis Theodorakis
3. Sun and Time • album cover • Ηλιος και Χρόνος
4. Who was Theodorakis’ ‘laughing boy’?
5. O compositor e activista político grego Mikis Theodorakis morre aos 96 anos
6. El gran músico griego Mikis Theodorakis muere a los 96 años
7. Muere Mikis Theodorakis, autor de “Zorba el griego”
8. Sep 2, 2021; Composer Mikis Theodorakis dies
9. Muere Mikis Theodorakis, el compositor de “Zorba el griego” a quien Grecia tenía en su propio Olimpo
10. Remembering a Great Greek Composer: Mikis Theodorakis
11. Vicky Leandros pays tribute to Mikis Theodorakis, who died today aged 96
12. Mikis Theodorakis, Composer of ‘Zorba the Greek’ and ‘Serpico,’ Dies at 96
13. Antifascisten, forfatteren, musikeren og komponisten Mikis Theodorakis er død
14. Eurostars from Greece, Luxembourg, Portugal and Serbia farewell Mikis Theodorakis
15. Let’s Dance!
16. Autumn 2021 playlists : A selection of Mikis Theodorakis’ principal film scores…
17. Note on Mikis Theodorakis death
18. Mikis Theodorakis and Greece
19. Mikis Theodorakis : The Day The Fish Came Out [1967] [reblog]
20. ΜΙΚΗΣ ΘΕΟΔΩΡΑΚΗΣ : ΤΑ ΕΞΗ ΕΛΥΑΡ / ΝΕΝΑ ΒΕΝΕΤΣΑΝΟΥ [2000]
21. Μίκης Θεοδωράκης / Mikis Theodorakis : Τα Εξη Ελυάρ / Νένα Βενετσάνου – The 6 Éluard / Nena Venetsanou [2000] [reblog]
22. Final Goodbye/Τελευταιο Αντιο
23. Ο δικός μου Μίκης
24. Monteverdi : Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in patria. Prologue [reblog]

CrippleCreak

A few days after hearing of the death of Theodorakis.

I lived in Evia, Greece, for a short time, in a small basic house on top of another building. It was on the edge of a town made rich by the lignite factory on its outskirts.

While my little house was on the outskirts the other way, it was convenient for long walks and a semi rural outlook.

The view from my house

I arrived in Greece a few years after the end of the junta, about which I knew next to nothing. I was extraordinarily lucky to discover that the second floor of ‘my’ building was used by a woman who taught after school mathematics. In those days, and perhaps still, Greek children who attended school between 8.30 and 2.30 (I think) also attended frontisterio – private schools like the one I taught at and my new friend owned.

View original post 387 more words

Why Oldies Are Goldies

Music is something that always vibrates and keeps coming back in all sorts of forms. Regularly artists find again inspiration in older songs , give it some contemporary touch and soon those who hear the renewed cover go looking for the original music which can receive a new life again.

Anita's Perspectives on Life.

Are you a fan of old music…then this blog is for you.

The connection people have with old music is far from grey and old. Even teenagers and young adults do like old music. People have always had a close connection with music because its ability to evoke our emotions and feelings.

The stronger your feelings are while listening to a song, the stronger a connection you make with the music. Music represents who you were when you first made a connection with it.

This holds especially true when you are adolescents and very young. From the age of 13 to 26, people are going through the most physical and psychological changes. This is a transition time for them and they face their first heartbreaks and other emotional turning points, which turns them towards making a strong connection with music.

Music plays an important role in our lives. Sometimes we…

View original post 604 more words

Anti-Semitism in the United States

Although in many ways the U.S. Jewish population is flourishing, concerns about anti-Semitism have risen among American Jews. In the recent Pew Research Center’s survey of U.S. Jews, conducted from Nov. 19, 2019, to June 3, 2020, three-quarters say there is more anti-Semitism in the United States than there was five years ago, and just over half (53%) say that “as a Jewish person in the United States” they feel less safe than they did five years ago.

Probably this has a lot to with the way Donald Trump created a poisoned atmosphere.

Politically, U.S. Jews on the whole tilt strongly liberal and tend to support the Democratic Party, but the last few years in that party were many extreme right people who wanted a white Christian nation. When the new survey was fielded, from late fall 2019 through late spring 2020, 71% a lot of Jews said  they were still Democrats or leaned Democratic. Among Jews of no religion, roughly three-quarters were Democrats or leaned that way. But those who saw how their president went in against God’s Commandments could not support that party that had betrayed all democratic values.
Orthodox Jews have been trending in the opposite direction, becoming as solidly Republican as non-Orthodox Jews are solidly Democratic. In the run-up to the 2020 presidential election, 75% of Orthodox Jews said they were Republicans or leaned Republican, compared with 57% in 2013. And 86% of Orthodox Jews rated then-President Donald Trump’s handling of policy toward Israel as “excellent” or “good,” while a majority of all U.S. Jews described it as “only fair” or “poor.”

Jews who wear distinctively religious attire, such as a kippa or head covering, are particularly likely to say they feel less safe. But the impact on behaviour seems to be limited: Even among those who feel less safe, just one-in-ten – or 5% of all U.S. Jews – report that they have stayed away from a Jewish event or observance as a result.

+

Preceding

Seeds from the world creating division and separation from God

The Rise of Anti-Seminism

Growing anti-Semitism possible sign of certain times

Quiz questions, views, left- and right-wing anti-Semitism

Historian Deborah Lipstadt Assesses the New Anti-Semitism

Trump’s rhetoric is infusing a culture of Anti-Semitism

Month of freedom and liberty with Independence Day or Deceived day

Judaism and Jewishness in 2020 America

++

Additional reading

1. In Every Generation: The Return of Anti-Semitism – Pesah Day 1, 5779
2. The fight against anti-Semitism is also a fight for a democratic, value-based Europe
3. 2019 was #4 a Year of much deceit in Belgium and the rest of Europe
4. ….a powerful way to put the universe on notice….
5. A Secret of our Enemy :Inter-Ethnic Fault Lines Among the Jews (Full Article)
6. A vibrant and inclusive movement within the American Jewish community

Somali women in the Somali society

It is not bad to read a view from someone living in Mogadishu, Somalia, about Somali women and widespread myths about women in Somalia.

 

+++

Extra reading material about Somalia

1. 25-top-facts about Eastern-African-countries
2. Somalia military kills 50 al-Shabaab terrorists in separate operations
3. U.S. Military Conducts a Drone Strike Against Shabab Fighters in Somalia
4. US carries out first airstrike in Somalia since Biden took office
5. Somalia and Ireland discuss security support and partnership
6. Somalia postpones long-delayed election
7. COVID19 – Daily updates from #Africa and for Africa
8. Jubbaland announces its first four senators to Somali Parliament
9. Book Review and Blog Tour: The Last Nomad, by Shugri Said Salh
10. DN!: Ilhan Omar on Eviction Moratorium and her book ‘This is What America Looks Like’
11. The Last Nomad by Shugri Said Salh
12. Kids Read: Somalia
13. UK-Kenya Defence Cooperation Agreement raises eyebrows in Somalia
14. Kidnappings in Kenya, Al-Shabab & What Needs To Be Done
15. Bomb blast kills 4 footballers in Somalia
16. 4 footballers dies in Somalia bomb explosions
17. 08/02/21 Antiwar: Biden Administration Escalates Airstrikes in Somalia
18. Joe Biden Keeps Bombing Somalia
19. Focus on Refugees: Ifrah Ahmed- Somali Refugee Turned Infuencial Social Activist
20. Is Ethiopia hurtling towards all-out ethnic conflict?”

Political And Developmental Thoughts

• 

Somali women, wearing clothing with the Somali flag on it, dance and sing at a handover ceremony of a new well donated by the African Union Mission in Somalia to a local community in the country’s capital, Mogadishu, on June 5. AMISOM Photo / Tobin Jones

Throughout history, women around the globe faced discrimination against men and were inferior and had no basic rights. Women were subjected to men as they were their properties. After many years of discrimination and hatred towards women, men and women started to stand up for women’s rights. During the 19th century, many women’s rights movements emerged in Europe and America.

After these movements, Feminism came into existence and was spreading quickly around the globe, especially in the West. During the 20th and 21st centuries, there were several serious waves. The first wave’s main objective was for women to gain suffrage and political equality.

The…

View original post 710 more words

Let South America come to you #2 For those with a good taste

When you can not go to South America, why do you not bring South America into your home?

For those with a good taste

From waterfalls to wines

South America is the continent that is home to a vast array of rich cultures, history, traditions, food, and once-in-a-lifetime places to visit.

Angel Falls, Venezuela | © David Kjelkerud / Flickr

When you would love to go exploring South America it would not be bad to prepare yourself and to get already some taste of it before you take the long voyage. A place you have to visit is the waterfall in the Guiana Highlands in Bolívar state, southeastern Venezuela, on the Churún River. Before you would like to fly over Angel Falls, the highest waterfall in the world, coming in at over 3000 feet it would not be bad to feel a bit like an angel tasting all sorts of well-tasting goods from that continent, which will bring you to the seventh heaven.

You also do not have to go straight away, deep in the Amazonian rainforest to find a melting pot of indigenous traditions and a perfect place to see centuries of Peruvian history and culture coming together.

Before you would go to the Belén Market, the largest traditional market in the Peruvian Amazon, and a place where visitors can taste and see the food, textiles, and wares of the region, on the web there is a place where you already can have a peep-show of some handicrafts from the South American continent

Mendoza, Argentina

Wines

As state and local governments order people to stay home to limit the spread of the virus, toilet paper and canned goods are not the only items people are snapping up. Wine sales at wine shops are soaring and large, highly-distributed wine brands are struggling to keep wines on the shelf.

Meanwhile, small wineries that depend on restaurants and on-site sales are trying to figure out how to survive. The question on the mind of everyone in the wine business is what will things look like on the other side when they get the virus under control.

Having poached the Malbec grape from Europe and turned it into a roaring superstar, Argentina is rightly celebrated for its wine producers.

The Mendoza region, in the western central part of the country in the Cuyo region, dominates Argentina’s wine scene. It enjoys prestige for the wine produced on its vineyards. It also can be refreshing to see genuine contenders from elsewhere, such as the Bodegas Callia from the San Juan province.

In the Mendoza region, you may find one of the original Bordeaux grape varieties from the Bordeaux region of France, namely Malbec. Because grown on a higher altitude then in France the wines tend to have a higher level of acid, which makes them ideal to go with the Argentinian meat.

The Cabernet Sauvignon which was introduced in Argentina in the 19th century by the French agricultural engineer Michel Amié Pouget. He further introduced Pinot Noir, Merlot, and Malbec vines to Argentina and founded the first vine nursery and agricultural school in his new country.

Located in the Tulum Valley, Bodegas Callia aims to produce the best Shiraz in Argentina.

Since we cannot go to South America, we will have to bring the heat and sun here. And what better way to do so than with a few good bottles of wine? Certainly when those wines earn it to keep on the palate.

The dry, hot climate of Argentina is really great for growing Cabernet Sauvignon. The grapes ripen very easily, so these Cabs are almost always filled with tons of blackberries, cherry, pepper and vanilla with a little bit of mint. If you like rich, full-bodied wines with dark fruit flavours, then you might want to try a Cabernet Sauvignon from Navarro Correas Private Collection which since a few moths you now easily can get over here in Europe by an excellent deliverer.

When you are looking for a nice rich tempting wine with a big, nutty, creamy nose or bitter cherry awash with orange peel and gravely splendour, you might find it at Pequeña SudAmerica.

As the second largest country in South America and the eighth largest in the world by land mass, Argentina could even offer much more in case the country would have been more organised and receiving more support from those in charge.

Beers

Stylistically Argentina is perhaps the most European of Latin American countries, especially when it comes to cuisine. You can find the traditional wineries (the world’s fifth biggest wine producer) and you also may find the principal beer types which were based on central European styles of lager and wheat beer. It is impossible to taste every beer produced in South America, Pequeña Sudamerica offers a very good selection of 6 or 7 selected beers in a trial pack.

The historical influences in South America which have created a cuisine that offers a variety of delicacies has also brought some very, very tempting sweets around the corner. For diabetics is it not always so easy, because a lot of sweets and drinks are very sweet.
But nimble fingers and kitchen princesses can already prepare a lot for those who want a taste of that delicious South America.

Craftworks

It might not always be easy to bring Argentinian wines over to Europe, but for traditional artisans, it is even more difficult to get their goods over to Europe. Those craftsmen in particular have serious difficulties to virtuously market their products.

Carla Scalia

With corona-restrictions the Argentinian Carla Scalia, now living in Belgium, could only go twice to her home country to bring some beautiful handicrafts from her family and friends with her. Therefore those craft works are very limited. And because they are not made in a factory they are all individual pieces of art, which makes them special. This makes that when you might see some sculptures or drawing on the website, next time you come onto the website they already might be gone.

Mate Alados by Noelia Álvarez

All the South American accessories Pequeã SudAmerica is offering are hand made by local artists, and by selecting it properly at the artist’s workshop this is how they ensure to always offer you the best quality. As such they present mate cups of the best quality in an exclusive and unique design, hand painted and varnished for complete protection.

You also shall be able to find a selection of original accessories for your kitchen and table.

From the southern United States to northern South America the Lignum vitae, with its evergreen leaves can be found. As a source of a very hard and heavy wood that is brownish green in colour, the wood being relatively waterproof because of its high fat content, makes it ideal for making kitchen utilities. It is used to make pulleys, shafts, axles, and bowling balls, and Pequeña SudAmerica is offering the tropical wood in magnificent small objects, like food and toothpicks.

Argentinian artist Noelia Álvarez, who has performed incredible exhibitions in San Rafael, Mendoza and Buenos Aires in Argentina and Catalonia, Spain, is not only responsible for a great variety of mate cups with a unique design. Although her work focuses on paintings with incredible designs and details, Noelia has taken her passion to the limit and from painting large murals and paintings in acrylic on canvas, she designed very beautiful and exclusive wooden mate cups.

For sure, the founders of the webshop Pequeã Sudamerica took great risks to start their business to bring Sud American articles to the European continent, whilst there was and still is a Coronacrisis, limiting them going back and forth to Argentina to contact local traders, to support them and offer them a fair price for their goods. At the moment Carla Scalia her parent’s wines are not yet available, but perhaps this would be made possible in the future (when some good shipping arrangements could be organised).

Pequeña Sudamérica, or “Little South America”, has the goal to make South Americans in Europe taste home again, and get Europeans to experience their great specialities.
In addition to the best known mate tea brands, you shall be able to find a wide variety of drinks, delicacies and accessories.

We would say:

Enjoy some chocolate and dulce de leche products at your afternoon tea.

And enjoy South America at your home in our wet regions, so that the sun (at least) may shine in your house.

*

Please find the shop:  https://pequena-sudamerica.eu/en/

+

Preceding

Let South America come to you #1 Reasons to stay away from South America

+++

Related

1. Mining Camp Memories — Foreword, Prologue, Chapter #1, and first part of Chapter #2
2. Wonderful Place!
3. Aerial view of Churun Meru in Canaima National Park, Venezuela
4. Angel Falls, Venezuela by Gabriel Riva
5. Angel Falls, Venezuela by Austin Shaffer
6. Angel Falls, Venezuela – by Aegis Wanderlust
7. 10 Best Places to Visit in Argentina – Travel Video
8. Haurez
9. Lomas de Lachay
10. Buenos Aires Electronic Music Travel Guide by Forma
11. For The Love of Wine: A brief history of South American Wine.
12. Here’s what was #inmyglass
13. Argentinian Malbec
14. Following Malbec’s fingerprints to identify terroir
15. “I Will Gladly Pay You Tuesday”
16. Dalwhinnie Shiraz 2006 Wine Review
17. Que Syrah Syrah…
18. Baked Chorizo Gnocchi With Fat bastard Shiraz
19. Salad Shirazi – Cucumber and tomato salad with dried mint dressing

Paper Flowers~How To

In Belgium there is a long tradition at the coastline to “sell” paper flowers for shells.
Exchanging shells for paper flowers is a beautiful tradition that should not be lost. In schools today, the tradition of making paper flowers is not given much attention, so it is not bad to look at examples from other countries.

Unlike other countries the paper flowers are not for the Día de los Muertos, but for celebrating life. So no Mexican version of Halloween but an explosion of colour and life-affirming joy.

 

Find also to read:

Day of the Dead~ Did You Know?

+++

Related

1. History and Future
   Mexican Folk Art
   Day of the Dead (1957)

   All Saints’ And Souls’

2. Blues of all Shades

   Custom Día de los Muertos leather jacket

Mws R Writings

How to Make Paper Flowers for Day of the Dead

Day of the Dead is coming up on Sunday and Monday. We set up our alter last weekend and are beginning to decorate it with candles, incense, and pictures of loved ones who have passed. Today I will place a little jar of salt on the alter to represent the earth and to cleanse the spirit. The final piece will be the colorful addition of large paper flowers.

In Mexico, enormous fresh marigolds in red, orange, and yellow are used to decorate the graves and alters but paper flowers are also popular and are often strung together to make elaborate garlands which are draped overhead and along the edges of the gravestones.

I amnot, not, not a crafter so believe me when I tell you they are very simple to make. All you need is one package of colorful…

View original post 312 more words

97-Year-Old Holocaust Survivor scoring high on TikTok

Tik Tok a youngster gadget

We know already of Hadassah Tirosh who has amassed over 2 million followers on TikTok, where she proudly and openly shares about her Jewishness. She is not only Jewish, but also a Mexican Israeli trans content creator. whose early content, which begins in December of 2019 was posted under her previous name, David, who she remembers fondly and has taken the time to thank for helping her become the person she is today — she’s seen proudly wearing different colourful kippahs, her Star of David necklace and being generally proud and open about her Jewishness.

In 2021 Tik Tok is the seventh most used in the world, with the majority of its users being millennial and Gen Z. But it might be a very high surprise to find a 97-year old lady being a “hipster”.
Lily Ebert isn’t your typical 97-year-old. In June, after only joining the platform earlier this year, Ebert reached 1 million followers on Tik Tok and has now amassed over 1.2 million in total.
How?
Ebert is a Holocaust survivor and, together with her great-grandson Dov Forman who runs her account, is teaching the internet about her remarkable life and experiences as a survivor of Auschwitz and how she made a life for herself after liberation.

Lily Ebert from the camps

Lily Ebert, born in Bonyhád, Hungary on 29th December 1923

Originally from Hungary, Lily Ebert, the eldest of six children in a happy and loving family. When the Nazis invaded Hungary in March 1944, her family got to face the worst nightmare one can wish for.

Shortly after Germany invaded Hungary, Lily, her mother and her siblings were sent to the ghetto, and soon after were put on a train, crammed into dark and almost airless cattle wagons, to Auschwitz-Birkenau.

Lily at the age of about 4 or 5 had received from her mother a small gold pendant. Even then it wasn’t very expensive or unique but young Lily was very pleased with her present and now in the camp she did not want it to be taken by the Nazis. The small pendant had gone hiding, safe inside the heel of her mother’s shoe. Lily and her mother wore the same size of shoe and as they arrived at the camp her mother asked Lily to swap shoes with her.

Although this happened over 70 years ago Lily can still remember her arrival at the camp. After the long and terrible journey, ‘everyone was half-dead’. They were ordered to climb out of the train and stand together five in a row. There was a man with a stick in his hand. It was Dr Mengele, the notorious Nazi doctor who became known as the Angel of Death for his brutal experiments on inmates, though at the time Lily didn’t know who he was. With one movement of his hand Dr Mengele sealed the fate of the people before him. He sent people right or left — to life or to death. When they had arrived, Lily and her two sisters Renee and Piri were sent in one direction, while her mother Nina, brother Bela and sister Berta were sent to the left, the way to the gas chambers and crematorium. Lily never saw them again.

Lily had put on her mother’s shoes and was ordered to take a shower, whereafter her hair was cut, and their remaining belongings were stolen. It was her only remaining possession and a reminder of her happy childhood. It was a link to her murdered mother and a symbol of defiance. The Nazis would not be allowed to steal it! The Nazis left them with only their shoes, not having any idea of what was hidden in the heel of Lily’s shoe, the tiny pendant Lily’s last link with her mother. When the shoes wore out, she placed the pendant in her daily ration of bread. After about four months in Auschwitz, the sisters were transferred to an ammunition factory near Leipzig. The pendant went with them.

March to liberation after a human and a viral war

When the Front started closing in on the area, they were forced to leave Leipzig and sent on a two-day march. After seeing and suffering unimaginable horrors, on the second day of the march, April 13, 1945, they were finally liberated by Allied forces.

Lily tried to rebuild her life. She wore the pendant every day in memory of her murdered family. Eventually, she married and had children. In 1953 she was reunited with Imre, one of her brothers, who had been imprisoned in a Nazi labour camp. In 1967 she came to London with her husband and three children.

Having become a proud grandmother she came to face another life-threatening struggle: COVID-19. In January, she struggled with a brutal bout of the virus, but true to her nature, she fought through. For her it was her second chance to be alive.  It was then that her great-grandson Dov Forman decided to share a photo of his great-grandmother to Twitter celebrating her miraculous recovery.

Dov Forman

My 97-Year-old Great Grandma, Lily Ebert BEM – Auschwitz Survivor, has just recovered from Covid- 19. Today she went on her first walk in a month after making a miraculous recovery. A fighter and survivor

The response was extraordinary; the photo has since been retweeted over 17,000 times and has received more than a quarter of a million likes, with people from all over the world responding to send their well-wishes and express their admiration for Lily’s strength and bravery.

Finding viral fame

On the back of this unexpected reaction, Dov set up a TikTok account for Lily. At first, their videos mainly consisted of Dov introducing his great-grandmother and encouraging people to follow the account in order to have her story reach as many people as possible. But once they started building up a following, people quickly began expressing an interest in the details of Lily’s extraordinary life.

Soon enough, the account became dedicated to answering followers’ questions about the Holocaust and Lily’s experiences of it, with questions ranging from asking what they ate in the camp, to what happened to babies that were born there, and what the sleeping conditions were like.

She also remembered some Hungarian poems and recites them on the application.

No human anymore, but just a number

Though it is not always easy to answer all the questions she gets, she finds it a necessary act:

“Of course it is hard but if I could survive it, I can talk about it. And for the future, to ensure that something similar [to the Holocaust] cannot happen again, I have to talk about it.”

Lily’s most viewed video, now with over 20 million views, shows her answering the question,

“How did it feel to get your number in Auschwitz?”

Revealing a faded tattoo on her left arm, Lily confidently tells her followers:

“My number is A-10572. That is what I was, they did not call us by our name. We were no longer humans. We were only a number and we were treated like numbers.”

The video now has over 29,000 comments from people expressing their solidarity with Lily and gratitude for her honesty and strength.

Downsides of Tik Tok and Twitter, also platforms of hate talk

However, despite the overwhelmingly positive reactions and encouraging words of support, like all social media platforms, TikTok comes with its downsides, too. For Jewish creators on TikTok, the fun comes with a hefty dose of antisemitism.

It seems as if the kids on TikTok are churning out a new trend nearly every week. The never-ending scroll of the “For You Page” sends users on a twisting path of all sorts of niches and topics. The app truly has something for every interest, from sea shanty challenges to tortilla wrap hacks to — antisemitic caricatures?

In May, around the time when violence was escalating between Israel and Palestine, Ebert’s account received a slew of hateful antisemitic comments. In one particular instance, under a video of Lily simply wishing her followers “a lovely, peaceful weekend”, and by a repeated similar wish in Hungarian, her native language, she added “Shabbat Shalom,” despite the mundanity and kindness of this video, it quickly became the subject of a swarm of hateful comments. it went even so far that she was called to be responsible for the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Another said, “Happy Holocaust,” while another said,

“Ask her if she thinks the treatment of Palestinians reminds her [of] the treatment she got in the camp.”

Another response was

“Peace be upon Hitlar [sic]”

to one which asked if she believed the treatment of Palestinians reminded her of her treatment in the camps. All of this for a grandmother’s simple greeting. Sadly, this experience of antisemitic hate isn’t exactly unique.

Although these comments were clearly abhorrent, unjustified and unacceptable, like everything else Lily and Dov handled them with the utmost dignity. Posting to Twitter, Dov wrote:

“Over the past few days my great Grandmother (Auschwitz survivor) and I have continued to receive messages of hate on Tiktok and Twitter… We will not allow this to stop us from educating about the horrors of the past, and what hatred can lead to. Hate only breeds hate.”

Hero Magnus, a university student and TikToker, explains how her Judaism-related content would often get slammed by offensive comments.

“The really vicious comments are usually from actual Nazis, and I just block and delete. When I was making a ton of Jewish content, I would get a couple of those on practically every video,”

she explains.

“I often also got casually mean stuff from Christians or culturally Christian atheists who wanted to tell me that Judaism is backwards, cultish or stupid.”

Additionally, Jews of Colour on TikTok experience vitriol both from outside the Jewish community and within.

Shekhiynah Larks, a Black Jewish TikTok creator, describes that, in fact, most of the antisemitism she experiences on the app comes from white Jews and Black non-Jews, not Neo-Nazis.

“When I do receive antisemitic comments, it’s more coded with anti-Blackness at the same time,”

Larks says.

“It’s more people posting ‘free Palestine’ on my page and asking me how I can be Black and a Jew, I’m being brainwashed by white Jews, and that I don’t care about Black people.”

She also notes that many white Jews comment on her videos asking her invasive questions that probe into her Jewish identity and conversion, showing they don’t really view her as Jewish enough.

Aviva Davis writes:

There are many white and white-passing Jews using their platforms to share information and educational resources about systemic racism and anti-Semitism and how one’s identities intersect and influence the way one is treated in society. This is great! Better yet, share resources created by Jews of Color (hint hint, nudge nudge).

Aviva Majerczyk remarks

While the invalidation of Jews of Color is rampant throughout the Jewish community in real life as well, on TikTok, these racist commenters may feel more empowered to voice their backwards views behind anonymous accounts.

Still going strong

Lily Ebert keeps going strong. She still wears the tiny gold pendant and shares its remarkable story with all those who have time to listen.

As part of their mission to teach people about the Holocaust and its devastating effects, Lily and Dov have now co-authored a book together called “Lily’s Promise: How I Survived Auschwitz and Found the Strength to Live.” to come out coming September.

Paul Noël his writings and thoughts

Paul Noël or Paul Paddington when he was at school and as a teenager he promised his English teacher that he would one day write a book.

After studying he landed up in the IT, not exactly a place where books are written. Many years later he spent a lot of time travelling around South America with his partner and during the eight and half months there they sat on long-distance coaches quite a number of times. As part of this round the world trip once they left South America they spent Christmas and New Year in New Zealand and the time and the experience there are what kicked off the ideas for writing stories for children.

So, after completing a one year away travelling experience it was back to work for him. In his spare time he tried to get all the publishers in the Writers and Artists Yearbook interested in his work but rejection was one hundred percent. He basically gave up or was too busy and did not notice the huge growth of the wonderful Kindle Direct Platform allowing everyone to easily publish their ideas.

Then in February of 2018 he was made redundant after having worked at the same company for him to polish his stories and get them published on Amazon.

Next to writing stories he also publishes a blog. In his opinion the planet is in a very bad state and we have only got ourselves, the human primate, to blame. He writes

To get out of this mess we would need a species level mindset change and that would take some inspired leaders. Unfortunately, taking a look around, there are not many of those. {The wooden elephants have moved, London}

Perhaps the only way that we will see elephants in the future unless we stop senselessly killing them and encroaching on their land. Something that would involve curbing and stabilising human population growth. Taking things a step further we must hope that living trees weren’t chopped down to make the elephants.{Wooden Elephants, The Mall, London}

He also looks at places around his neighbourhood. He also notices how trees got damaged. He finds trees amazing, and

a crucial part of the life support systems that sustain all other life including the human primate. It’s a shame that we are such dumb monkeys and cut down and burn so many of them. {Battered tree, Hyde Park, London}

And he remarks:

Hyde Park of course is very managed and in normal woodland and forests the ground would not be manicured as it is here. The fallen trees would be a source of food for so many other forms of life.

Trees are amazing, a crucial part of the life support systems that sustain all other life including the human primate. It’s a shame that we are such dumb monkeys and cut down and burn so many of them. {Fallen giants lying at the feet of living giants, Hyde Park, London}

> Books By Paul Noël

A magazine with Each month a true story

Reading is part of cultivating and educating yourself. We would love to have more people who would not mind presenting some stories on this site. Though we do not get much reaction of people willing to write or to publish some poetry, short stories or novels on this site. Also for articles on psychology, history, environment and ecological matters we still look forward for willing writers to share their ideas with others all over the world.

Part of our mission is to support and empower storytellers and publishers of all sizes. We also want people to think about several matters and not just to agree with everything they come to read. We are convinced one has to be able to have different opinions living together in peace and being part of building up a balanced surrounding. For that reason, we also mention additional readings as well as further related articles when we publish some article. The further related articles often are not in accordance of our way of thinking, but we dare to present their articles to our public so that people can make up their mind themselves. We hate one-sided information. We are convinced that different opinions do not undermine society, but enrich it. Regularly we get some complaints from some blogger that we dared to mention their blogs. They do not see that we are willing to give free advertisement for them. But because we are unitarians and not Trinitarians they probably feel offended or often do not want to be associated with us. As if a mentioning of an article would mean that there would be an association with us. (!?!)

When requested to take the reference away we shall always prepared do that, even when it would have meant to take away a full article presenting a new publication. (A few months ago we introduced a new book, but the trinitarian writer of the book was not pleased with it. That was not the first time we were told we were not given the right to discuss a book or article. Some people who complained we discussed their article we wrote that if they have an article open on the web, should know that everybody shall be able to read it but also should have the possibility to react on it.) Though remarkable, lots of trinitarian writers write a lot of ‘rubbish’ about unitarians or give a lot of disinformation about Biblical matters, but do not allow anybody to react on the article on their own site. As such they only leave it to make reactions about the article on other sites (like here).

Today we once again shall present some site which could be interesting for some of our readers. Please do know that we are not paid for representing some other websites or blogs.

*

For more than a decade, The Atavist Magazine has been a pioneer in digital storytelling, publishing one blockbuster story every month. The Atavist Magazine, one of Automattic’s flagship longform publications, in April 2021, the magazine moved to WordPress.com, joining the Newspack community of publishers.

Supported by Newspack, a publishing and revenue-generating solution for small- to medium-sized newsrooms built on WordPress, Atavist joins a network of 100 news publishers and counting, including Reveal, Sahan Journal, Hong Kong Free Press, The Oaklandside, Transitions Online, and other local and regional news outlets worldwide.

According Cheri Lucas Rowlands from WordPress each story on The Atavist Magazine showcases a unique, sophisticated, immersive design.

Perhaps you would also be interested to have a look at that nine-time National Magazine Award nominee and one-time winner — and the recipient of many other accolades — Atavist.

Feeling that young or starting writers need to have enough opportunities to reach a readers platform we only can hope that the atavist Magazine shall be able to give them a space on the web for offering thoughtful, deeply reported stories, and as an outlet eager to publish up-and-coming writers at a time when journalism opportunities are narrowing.

Please find the Atavist Magazine, and enjoy reading the many stories.

**