Fear = haha!

World shares fall on credit fears
World share prices continue to slide in a second day of big losses, amid fears of a global credit crunch... (BBC)August 10 2007
______________________
OK, so what is this? Unlimited growth, unlimited borrowing is not logical or feasible - just a phantom, a warped philosophy and estranged mindset.
Adams was wrong - dead wrong ... as was Darwin. Species do not survive because they are just posing to be the fittest, species thrive when they take care of the balance in their immediate environment.

So on what kind of spaceship is the US cruising? Will they now run out of fuel?
As far as I understand, every US citizen is burdened with a debt of about $20,000 due to the enormous squandering of the government abroad and within ...
Bridges fall and miners die because there is no money to invest into the future, only money for quick fixes. Yes, and instead of investing feasibly, the US government spends 1.3 billion Dollars a month to uphold a lost war. Pathetic!
Imagine how this money could have been used in other ways ... that taxpayers money!
Anyhow, the latest crunch on Wall Street, and all the other financial institutions world wide, only reflect the tip of the iceberg - yet to melt ...

what is that?

Would you like to live in this house?

what is this?

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!

Vinalhaven snail race

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

done

After some weeks, this project comes to a conclusion. There will be new tasks to follow, that is for sure. May it be in construction of buildings or building of different matter. All we have to do is create and keep on shaping this world. Doomed are those who procrastinate.


"Works of art are indeed always products of having been in danger, of having gone to the very end in an experience, to where man can go no further."
(from Letters R.M. Rilke)

youth-hangover

Coming home at 4:30 in the morning, sleeping three hours, then getting up and facing a new mission seems to be a frequent occurrence for young people these days.
In the old times, when I grew up, we simply got a spanking from our parents trying to put us back in line. Those days are gone. Not that the spanking had any revolutionary effect, but it slowed us down, at least momentarily.
The present generation of parenthood, whilst upbringing their kids, subscribe and rely mostly on that "dog-treat-training" method: "Honey, if you don't bark and you'll promise to be a good kid, I'll buy you a new CD player" ... or what have you not. I believe that method is doomed as much as the old fashion ways were. Actually it is worse. It creates spoiled brats waiting for life opportunities to be served on a silver platter.
So what is there to do?
I have a friend who lives in Vienna, Austria. He sends my daughter weekly parcels of junk from China via the internet. Should I be grateful? No, I should spank him the old fashion way! His only achievement for now is to put my daughter in a state of delusion, believing that material happiness is delivered by mail, for free of course. What a moron.
In the "very old" days they used to recite: "No matter is without spirit, and no spirit is without matter." That should be the doctrine taught to these youngsters - instead we flood them with fake artifacts made and assembled in a far-eastern manufacturing slave compound ... just in order to keep their temper tantrums down. Sick. The "West" is spoiled rotten ...
And all it takes to turn this around would be to teach our kids fundamental values again. Values of grace and awe, not shock and awe - and perhaps some modesty.

what is tradition?

The "Harbor Gawker" is tradition, that's what it is. Fine deep fried food, not good for your arteries - still tasty though. We make a point to arrive by boat. This time it was Caleb's vessel. A lot of scooping out water on the way. But I have to give this man credit, he build this boat by himself, with his bare hands. And actually it looks pretty.





So anyhow, what is tradition? Well the "Harbor Gawker" is. Every Tuesday we meet there (am I repeating myself?). The journey today was longwinded and a bit sketchy (considering circumstances). But the MikMak woman and his Aussie friend paddled along gracefully in tandem while we were using the electric trolling motor. But that is "neither here nor there" as Mister Dweller would say ...
In the larger pic you will recognize the art teacher of this island, a very fine woman indeed. After all, she helped me to get a teaching job withot a blinking of her eye.
So yes, we made it back safely but we lost a bottle of wine down by the wharf. What a bummer! Maybe that's good.
Not all good things derive from alcohol.
Learn that one ...

take your shoes off

Wild and weary, the nudes still capture audiences, you bet...
No, there is no poem or other trivia today.
Politics can kiss my ass for the next 24 hours.
So there.

fish talk

I honestly have no clue anymore what goes on in world politics, perhaps I never new.
All I know presently, is that Bush is on yet an other "separation mission". Even Merkel, the impeccable chancellor of East German decent was not able to unite the greedy G8 folks. Oh Kay ... so they consented to give a few billions to fight aids in Africa while thousands die in Darfour, worse than it was during the black-plague in the Middle Ages. Big deal, who cares. Let them die like black flies - it's only Africa you know, the one continent of constant retardation. At least that is how some people think. Aid for Aids ... the cure of it all?
Back to Bush.
Visiting Kosovo, the Vatican and Albania and so on, did further his mission of "separation". The man is truly insane. Instead of trying to unify, he propagates further divisions.
In the last few days Turkey (who so badly would love to be a member of the EU) bombed the northern Kurdish part of Iraq. Hardly any notice in the news of that. Bush, where were you with your statements of condemnation? Ohhps, perhaps we don't fight the same war, hahh, and instead postpone global warming to a G8 summit in 2009. Priorities are corpulently dragged to edges of no return ... or so it seems. What a shame.
Still months to endure the present Bush Kingdom, but it will end.
And then what?
Democrats?
Give me a break - Hilariously and Ah Banana are made from the same corrupt stock that brought us where we are in the first place.
The answer?
Fuck globally - work locally!

Ok, I am ready to grill my locally caught cod fish now.

it wasn't bad, just nippy

Avalon

Dusk is the portal...
dawn the delight.

Greetings from Merlin

War Zones

First there was a war on drugs, then that crime fight thing - later a war against poverty, followed by a war against terrorism, then a war for a Democratic Middle East - now a war against Global Warming, after the Kyoto Protocol expires (heard that today). Have I left out any "war-declarations"?
All these "wars" have something in common - they have no strategic value, there are no soldiers capable of fighting these wars, nor is there an intelligent directive to go about these issues (or enemies) in a military fashion.
So in essence, all these wars are lost battles before they even started.
Who are these stupid man an woman (besides the puppet Bush) who support and are willing to declare wars with no virtue of hope or at least success and victory?
I guess humans only learn through pain and depredation. Intelligence today is totally overrated, unless you have to fill out an insurance claim or fill in your tax forms.

So what's wrong about aiming ...

... ah, later. Will finish this post after work

From Pimp to Redneck - a vehicle makes a man

Last time I was driving home, the transmission of my car gave up, an Oldsdmobile Cutlass Supreme. Was a nice rig, leather seats, whisper quiet, super good stereo ... and so forth. A true pimp car.
Only problem - 256,000 miles on the engine. So it was not worth the money and effort to fix her.
Now I purchased the unthinkable, a Ford XL (extra large) pick up truck ... for a song! Some carpenter wanted to get rid of it quick. Sometimes you can get the best deals on an island because nobody feels inclined to drag their stuff to the mainland on a ferry if not absolutely necessary.
The body is made of galvanized steel and therefore there is hardly any rust. The bumpers are still made of metal and don't conform to the crush-zone-plastic-shit that is ordinarily found on every car nowadays.
So there you go. All I now need is a gun-rack and put some gear in there, then my reincarnation as a redneck is complete.
... from all things there is -I bought a FORD. Unthinkable, but yet true!
By the way, I actually got a new gaget that is "whisper-quiet". In the background of this picture you will see the bay which belongs to the Old Harbor. Today I tested an electric boat-motor there, successfully - zero noise, zero emissions and 55 pounds of thrust to keep you moving at about 8 knots or so. What a delight.
Life is good!

Sex, drugs and war

It would have been time to post a nude picture here by now,
one with those fine curves included that bow
but this blog is unwilling to grove that way
and I will have to move and sway
to the borders I do not to see
into that direction right now
precluded
steer
your gracious paths
to shores of disengagement
and all that troubles me shall vain,
laugh, be joyful - then come to rest,
as you always wanted - at last.






___________________________

Traps

My friend Jeff puts out traps for carnivores - they are called lobsters here. You'll see his traps stacked in the background of this picture. It was a foggy morn indeed! The fisherman makes about $6 a pound theses days (don't slap me if I get the numbers wrong). On a good day (those days haven't started yet), a Lobsterman can haul in worth $2,000, that's fair money, no? It will pay for the diesel and a few other things. The smart fellows save the excess income for the next winter months when work again is bound to be scarce. The less fortunate waste their money immediately, on ex-wife's, new microwave ovens, flat TV screen monitors and other clutter.
Blessed be the fog that surrounds them all. Fortunes to the one who makes it drift apart.

stones

they might be rigid to the eye and touch
but stones don't care about borders and such
only humans invented division.

to clarify my position
only you and I can change stagnation
and move beyond borders and nations
the stones tell tales of old
we need to keep moving
and be bold.

All right then, one party picture for you

We had a good time. Fresh pastry, Champaign, friends, music, conversation, saltwater-sea-breeze. What more can you ask for ...
Some crazy girls had a biting contest, the trophy went to the Mic--Mac woman of Native Indian decent. He, my friend Caleb, got bitten hard.Her teeth grabbing the flesh of his arm, leaving blue marks 'til one week later.
Other than that, nothing over-excitingly happened.

British On Crack Equals History Blockage

Opened up BBC news as a routine thing today. And there you have it. The Brits don't get it. Not during the Ottoman empire; and ever since there after, the Anglos failed miserably.(Actually for the record we should go back to Ghandi and India - never mind).
So anyhow, I opened their webpage today and found this:

"Mullah Dadullah's death is a huge setback for the Taleban.
It will not be easy for the leadership to find a replacement.
According to Taleban sources, Mullah Dadullah led from the front without caring for his personal safety.
His death may make it harder for Taleban fighters to keep up morale at a time when the odds are heavily stacked against them..."

How come you can remain that dull and stupid.
There are no odds to win against the Taleban. It's their home territory for goodness sake. No setback for these guys. Time is the key - and they keep moving on their land as they wish. One leader killed means nothing. Just like carpenter ants, the muslim extremists will replenish themselves. No worries. No British crack heads will prevent that, nor any US intervention. In the mean time Afghanistan has made itself again noticeable to be the major contributor of heroin and poppy seeds on the world market. Most of that shit is shipped to the US. Go figure.

Es ist soweit

Just very briefly. I got my boat. She is pretty and her name is "Florina". Time for you to come out to the island and have a good time for a few days.

wait ...

18 - 21 - 50

(picture) final results from my protege, shown yesterday at the senior project presentations

With 18 you can get a license to kill (join the army) - but you can't purchase a beer to soothe your nerves.
With 21 you finally can have a beer, but you are growing tired of killing.
With 50 you lost the taste for beer and you're too old to join the army (though they recruited 45's for the manslaughter in Iraq as of late. An unconventional move, saturated with an aura of desperation).
Those are some given parameters of US stepping stones in civic life. But this is not what we are celebrating today. My daughter, son, and myself don't gel to this concept.
My daughter is about to launch into studies of healing humans, becoming a nurse. My son , after a three year apprenticeship with a fine stone mason, ventures towards sustainable agriculture, healing the earth. Me, I try to leave the cynic behind and enjoy life the way it seems to evolve in the present (before all the ice-caps have melted). My goal is to make a difference locally and disregard global schemes of capitalistic and political games aimed towards enslaving the general populous.
So we are celebrating 21 and 50 today. The May birthdays. In September will be the 18 year benchmark celebration.
The year 2007 is a pivotal point within the narrow borders of the life within my family. My birthday hopes and wishes to the broader world, is that change can also happen on a grand scale, namely to take care of this precious jewel we call Earth.
Let the party begin - pictures will follow later.

tradition

It is actually possible to have a "tradition" in Vinalhaven. Each Tuesday we (the people of interest) gather at the Harbor Gawker and enjoy deep fried foods and or salads of sorts. Afterwards (this time only) we took a stroll down to the nature preserve on the peninsula that sticks out beside the harbor, full moon in view and all.
Of course the most exuberant people remained to be the Aussi guy and his Native Indian lover, adorable people indeed.
I like their dogs too.

walked the paths

I walked the paths of life -
left lovers and mourned
thereafter, but I
have boots,
soles worn
and kept
walking.
So it is.

lacrimosa and labor

Yes, I do not speak on this blog very often anymore. You see, there is no friends or siblings to entertain or update, people who might live far away. There is no urgency. As for my "virtual friends" - I'm just damn lazy and tired at the end of the day. So feel no ill intent if I do not frequent your online mutterings. They do interest me, but my energy only goes that far ...

Here are the trivia tidbits of the week:
I was building a staircase while the "Rastaman" co-worker attended a fire of left over scrap wood and such, construction debris.Life on the island goes well. There is no parameters who seek change. But the burden is on me. I need a sailboat soon. A sailboat because it floats without diesel. The ocean is endless and covers about 70% of our earth. Islands are just focal points of stationary but also temporary matter.
Oh, by the way, the "Rastaman" just bought 600 fruit trees, mostly apple. He intends to plant them. Why not. The successful future of mankind is embedded in decentralization, may it be agriculture or other things ...
Believe me!
Lacrimosa from Mozart sort of sums up the mood I have these days. My spiritual companion and teacher died a week ago, a jolly Scottish person with lots of insight, suddenly, without warning. May his journey to the spiritual world be less agitating than the circumstances and journeys we presently face in our earthly surroundings!