I have been looking around the forum over the past few days. This thread seems like a good place to take the plunge and timidly post my first post. It seems natural, before joining the discussions around this forum, to first greet everyone. So, G’day everyone.

My moniker, Tethys, is taken from Greek mythology. She was a daughter of Ouranos (Uranus), the Sky, and Gaea, the Earth. She was sister and wife to Oceanus, the Ocean. She was, like Thalassa, a sea spirit, mother to the waters of the world. Tethys is also a moon of the Planet Saturn. I chose the name because the mythology associated with Tethys most closely corresponds with my spiritual identity, the idea of being a child of the Earth and the Sky. Also, because I love the oceans and waterways of our world, and because I was born under the water sign. And also because, being the name of a moon, it connects to my love and interest of everything to do with outer space.

I was born in Casablanca, Morocco, in 1953, to French parents. I spent my early childhood partly in Casablanca and partly in Paris, France. Then in 1964 my family came over to Australia, and I’ve been living here ever since. These experiences have shaped my views of the world quite a lot.

So where do I stand politically? That, you shall come to see as issues come up. But I tend to prefer to take part in discussions around culture, science and other general topics. Discussing politics is important, but the more general topics offer an opportunity to transcend political differences.

I would like to share something private about myself with all of you, because it may impact my posting here. I am “legally blind”, that is, I still have a tiny bit of vision but not enough to read the screen. I use a screen reader program, JAWS, to read the content of web pages, posts, emails and documents. In forums such as this, people widely use emoticons and other images in their posts. JAWS cannot detect these graphics if they have no text label (Most of the smileys here are labelled but somehow this label does not appear to transfer when inserted in a post). So please be aware that I will not be able to detect emoticons and other images in most cases. Also, I cannot participate easily in live mode chats or real time posting. So hold your horses if I don’t react to your posts quick enough, please! If people are not aware of these things, it can cause misunderstandings - so that’s why I’d rather be opened about it.

Thank you, Marc, for your help with my registration.

Okay, see you in the forum, everyone.

Tethys

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-- Harry S. Truman