Europe and such

Das waren noch Zeiten ...


Some things never change.












Walking the fields, scouting on trails in the woods, water dispersed on small falls, having a beer with friends and relatives after the hike.
Some things remain constant, namely the little joys in life. There is no "apres moi le deluge" mood at all. People still seem to embrace the future and wish for common betterment, not only that personal gain thing which dominates western civilization. Embedded in tradition and focused towards new horizons - I still have hope for Europe!
I so much would wish that the "new world" and the "old world" could learn from each other. Perhaps then America (US) would transform it's present state of puberty and become a more mature entity- and Europe would shed it's sclerotic notions of old and learn to be a flexible, inovative and smiling contender again.
For now we just have to wait and see!

old turf

I am away for the time being, strolling down paths of my past.
See you when I get back :)
The picture here is taken in Colmar (France), a small township that lies low between the Rhine river and the hills of the Vogues.
The "Isenheimer Altar" painted by Lukas Cranach can be found here, a remarkable work of art.

more Pirates

No, the dude with the wooden "sword" doesn't win ... she got the real thing. All we had to do later is clean up the mess.
The annual gathering of the Penopscop Bay Pirates thereafter went on smooth and rather jolly, nor more blood shed. Of course I will not tell you the exact location, only pirates are invited on this little island that has no connection to any grid, hence the solar panels and what have you not.
















The welcoming committee was fierce, dedicated and charming. Up to a hundred people and free thinkers = Pirates flocked in. The band which played was grand, some hired Yankees from New York. I joined in for two or three songs, one of them "All along the watchtower" - of course. Had packed my violin into that small vessel before I went there, in foresight. After tons of spiced rum, weed and what have you not, the next morning looked sobering for many. I instead shared a good bottle of Cotes du Rhone and went to sleep under the protecting arms of a tree and awoke to the laughter of seagulls on a gray dawn. The tide was out and some of them "pirates" whined to go home to their day time jobs - but couldn't, low tide. Nature is above technology!
I took the little boat I had come with, avoided the rocks and the mud, paddled out to deeper waters, hooked up my electric outboard, and was gone ....
An overall awesome weekend. Long live the pirates!

Ahah or Ahlah, like playing the lottery

The dude is probably long dead due to kidney failure. Nevertheless, the US senate doubled the bounty on his head, now being $50 MILLION!
I wonder if the State Department or any other US agency has DNA samples of Bin Laden, you know those tissue samples who can prove if you were the rapist or murderer. If not, it might well be worth to construct his capture and killing. What will it take to create a fake scenario that will convince the world ... one, two , even ten million?
It's easy. Even if you invest 20 million dollars in staging a fake display of his death and then win, you'll be left with a profit of a staggering 30 million. That's what I would call a good investment, ingeniously done , or perhaps just a lucky move of sorts.
But believe me, Osama is dead. A suffocated dragon, drenched in his own blood. Simply dead, basta, finito! The more interesting question is: Why does the US right now double the reward for his capture in the political climate we presently live in? Why now? If 25 million didn't do it for a camel herdsman in the past, are 50 millions gonna do the trick or any difference subsequently from now on? Why is it so that the US is playing lottery with Osama? Don't they know that this kind of ticketed gamble has almost a zero chance of return, a poor mans taxation at best?
I guess the empire is getting desperate. They don't know either way in or out anymore.
So - where is it people, of that what is left, that what they once used to call the true spirit of America?
Freedom reigns only to the ones who are honest and true by heart, nothing else will suffice.
America take heart, literally ... otherwise you'll be left treading down paths of Mordor, stranded without the help of hobbits or Gandalf.

Parades and Pirates

Not knowing what to expect, I watched the celebration of US Independence Day (4th of July).
Some of the island youth decided that enough is enough and the only way to regain independence is to become active.
After all, counterinsurgency might actually save Democracy, or that freedom we are always bragging about in this country.
Let's savagely regain our liberties, stolen from us by the cronies in power = become a pirate!