Every year again - preparing of firewood

Some of my blogger friends suggested to go on with some more chapters about my travels in far away lands. Well, I'll do this, but not right now.

Life being as it is, each winter I have to buy and prepare firewood. And this job keeps me busy outside, not much time left for computering or blogging.

Here is the description how I proceed. Enters Mr. Bornet who supplies the tree trunks in lengths of 2 meters,(about 7 feet or 3 yards - and here the 100 Dollar question: is there any chance the US-Americans decide to switch over to meters and liters, to square meters and cubic meters like nearly everyone else on our planet Earth? Even the English did so, though reluctantly, I admit.

We need about 16 m3 (cubic meter) of firewood per year and sorry, I am unable to compute this into cubic feet. This batch is for the Winter 2010/11, so as to enable the logs to dry peacefully.

To see the video, don't click on the photo, click on the writing under the pic.



Have a look, please. May I present you Mr. Bornet. If ever someone comes here to settle permanently, this is the guy to approach for firewood. Admire how he handles his grapnel. He is really a wizard with this contraption and could draw you a tooth with this in no time. He told me it took him 6 weeks to handle those eight levers correctly. Having done the job, see how he manages to drive backwards. The video ends when he disappears behind the house. But that is only half of the distance. He has to circle round our cherry tree, go down the lane and reach the street by passing the gate, leaving only about 15 to 20 cm (half a foot) on each side.

Three cheers to Mr. Bornet, king of precision backwards driving.


Chapter too

To see the video, don't click on the photo, click on the writing under it!!



Now I have to get busy with my chain saw to cut those trunks into lengths of 50 cm (about 1 1/2 feet). Tiresome job, nevertheless, because some of the trunks are really heavy and I have to move them out of the sawing area first and then to my log splitting machine. The sawing area behind me must be free so that I can jump backwards at a seconds' notice when the log heap suddenly decides to collapse or to crumble, whatever you prefer, anyway, kind of garden avalanche. Bad for health.

Well, right now, all this is just beginning. One of the next posts will show my wonderful log splitter and the self-made-high-rise-log-wall. Great things to come. Stay tuned everybody and try to remain interested in non political slightly boring subjects.

Homage to English language - smile a bit

Some years ago, I went to Northern Wales for a hiking holiday. In one of those boutiques where they sell stuff for tourists, I found this advertisement of old.

Let me tell you I love it. Such funny phonetic English. Whenever some guests come here for a visit and knowing more than the basics, I cannot resist to show this text.

Success and appreciation is by no means guaranteed. Some don't find this readable at all, others don't care and don't see why they should bother reading this when a Martini, Whiskey or Muscat is waiting.

I just hope some of you like and appreciate Roger Giles' message to humanity.

For easier reading, try the second photo.









In fact, I found it in a little town near Carnarvon Castle. For those who are not familiar with British history, it's there that the English created the Prince of Wales. A very clever publicity stunt invented 700 years ago to convince the Welsh to stop fighting and become part of England.

Letter to the editor - refused by Newsweek

Normally, I am not very keen on writing letters to the weekly I read. But in this case, something rankled.

Many economists, I think, can be compared to psychologists or meteorologists. Very learned coves indeed and thus always ready and available for an exhaustive explanation. But when the events prove them wrong - that happens not infrequently - , don't wait for an excuse, you are wasting your time.

Thus I wrote a letter to the editor of Newsweek but they did not publish it. So I thought nothing should be wasted in these hard times. My letter might be worthwhile reading inside this wonderful blog.

All this is about Robert J. Samuelson's article "It's really a global crisis".

So, if someone needs to smile a bit, here is Georgyporgy's idea of how to save the economy pronto.

Quote
It might be a great help if one of these economics pundits would admit the fact that they are clueless, more or less. This recession will subside until people finally operate a change of mind and start spending again. Not before.

All those government induced spending programs won't change this situation. You could built new roads, you could even level the Mojave dcsert and cover it with a slab of concrete three feet thick: that would certainly boost the cement industry but not the manufacturer of toothpaste or the shipyards. Etc, etc, etc.

However, let yourself be inspired by Roosevelt's inauguration speech, back in 1933. He asked for special powers to tackle the problem at hand. "I shall ask the Congress for the one remaining instrument to meet the crisis—broad Executive power to wage a war against the emergency, as great as the power that would be given to me if we were in fact invaded by a foreign foe".

Having achieved this, the incumbent president could vote to have the National Guard be equipped with axes or heavy clubs. Nationwide. Then these so armed recession fighters would enter every home and start destroying the following items in each household: 1 TV set - 1 car - 1 washing machine - 1 cell phone plus about 100 items of more or less value laying around.

Before leaving they should paste a written recommendation saying those goods have to be replaced by items manufactured inside the country. No need to boost those Asiatic economies, right?

These harsh measures would get the country humming in no time and once again the rest of the world would rush to imitate.

Here in France, however, we would start by going on strike, sure.

Unquote

Your comments, please. As to me, I am busy these days with the chain saw and the log splitting machine. Hard work.

End of youth - adulthood

During my apprenticeship in Aachen with at an import-export company I became friend with Bernie. We met at school and decided to go to India, after certification. Our choice fell on India because you can go there by road and thus we had long meetings to work out the details of our trip.

Then came my military service at the Air Force (18 months) and after discharge and back in Aachen, first thing I did was to call on Bernie. His mother answered the phone: "Well, yes, I remember, this trip to India", she told me. "One has to grow up, hasn't one." What could I replay to that? "Give my greetings to Bernie" I said and hung up.

So I was once more on my own. This time to hitchhike to India. And in Istanbul I met an Englishman, Oxford-Johnny, and we decided to go east together.

Somewhere in Western Iran, a truck driver dropped us in a little town or village. So we squatted by the roadside, waiting for the next transport. The dirt road passed through a valley, its right side scattered with little houses, made of mud and stones. Behind many of these houses lay huge boulders that must have come tumbling down from the mountain. Simply by looking at those houses I smelled the danger. The rocks could move again, others might come down and they would not give any warning.


Photo of an Iranian village. But beware, it is NOT the place I a am talking of though this is the landscape I came through. I pasted it here only for its beauty.


Why did these people live there? They could not go elsewhere, I suppose. On the left side of the road, the ground was flat and there was a very long wall, about 1 1/2 meter (5 feet) high. Behind the wall I saw a big stately house.

Suddenly, a door in the wall opened and out came a guy carrying two platters with food and drink. "My master gives you his best wishes. Eat and be restored", he said, put the platters before us on the ground and left.

Wow! We did as he asked and left the cleaned platters at the door. Should we have gone in to say thank you? I don't know. That was neither the first nor the last time people - complete strangers - were friendly to me. But never like that.

About two months later I finally arrived in India. Oxford-Johnny had left me in Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. "I think from here on, we better carry on separately", he told me. I liked his company and don't know why he said that. Years later it occurred to me that he might have realized I knew where he was hiding his travel money. But that's just a guess.

One day I came to Amritsar, the Golden City, in Northern India. Looking around there I made the acquaintance of a Sikh who invited me into his house to stay with his people, for some time. This I did, ate their food, slept with them on the roof of their house with the other members of the family.


Photo of people in Amritsar. Found it on the Internet. Nothing to do with the people I met there.

When I left, ready to say good bye to those I have met in the house, the Sikh, the old Gentleman, said to me: "you never asked our name, never". I just don't remember what I answered to this. But it still rankles. I was tried and found wanting. Was I a self-centered young brat or was it only my timidity? I don't know.

Words of our last Emperor

In 1898, William II (Wilhelm II) visited officially the Holy Land. At that time the area was called Palestine and it was under Turkish rule. Have a look at him.





On his way he came to Damascus where he delivered a speech and said something that went far beyond the usual politeness of a visitor from a foreign land. "If I were not born as a Christian, I would have been a Muslim"

That is more than a hundred years ago and I am wondering what made him say that. Were those Muslims he saw and talked to the same kind of people we hear of these days? I just can't imagine that. They must have been very different.

Time has changed. Now, a hundred years later, who would like to repeat those words?


This video about the stoning of a girl of 17 has been sent to me by a French blogger-friend.



There are people who hurt her and there are others who are busy making a movie with their cellphones. Until someone "finalizes" with a block of concrete, similar to those I am using when building a wall (about 20 kg each).

No need to imagine how is hell in the afterlife. It's nearby, just a few airplane hours from here, equipped with battery powered cell phones.

The murdered girl's name was Doa Khalil Aswad, 17 ans. She was subject to to public murder because she fell in love with a young man of another religion. One more life wasted by or for Sharia.




During the murder procedure, her thighs become visible and you see her slip. Then someone covers that part of her body to protect her dignity. Can you imagine. That's what I call perverse.

There is a petition so as to stop this Sharia business in Kurdistan/Iraq.

Important statement received as comment by an Afghan blogger living in Pakistan:

Hi Georg, I'm with you against madness practiced in the name of any law, whenever, wherever it is practiced. But facts should remain facts. Du'a Khalil Aswad was not stoned under Sharia Law. She wasn't even a Muslim. She was a Yazidi, and she was stoned by the people of her own religion for having a Muslim boyfriend. It was a case of honor killing.

Islam, that like any other religion preaches of love and peace , its image has been enough tarnished by a bunch of savages who think they are being Muslims.

I request you, to kindly set the facts straight about the video in your blog.

I had a look at Wikipedia under Yazidi and they even mentioned this stoning. So I made a mistake. The poor girl was not Muslim and Sharia - this time - is not to be incriminated.

Gaza - Israel - all that

Some days ago a friend sent me an email asking me to sign a petition for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Well, I told him that I will certainly not sign this petition.

The Gaza strip is a kind of concentration camp. When Israel was founded in 1948, the Palestinians living there were driven out and put into storage in Gaza. The place is the most densely populated area in the world. Crammed with refugees for now 60 years precisely. People who are obliged to live there on a subhuman level, survival alone is assured and even that not always, war or no war. No work, no future, no getting out. No hope.

Can't help thinking that what is happening now in Gaza bears strong similarities with the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943. There is however one big difference: in 1943 the inmates were Jews and they were facing death by the German SS and in Gaza the supervision is carried out by the Israelian army. (For more details, see Sunday Herald - 1.13.09 "Gaza ghetto is destroyed and the world stays silent" or Reuters - 1.10.09 "Shadow of Warsaw ghetto over Gaza".

Sure, no government in any state could or would tolerate that its people are being targeted by rockets. However, these rockets have caused much fright and about 15 deaths. In Gaza killing is carried out on a wholesale basis, should now be well over thousand. And I can't help thinking that it would be better - if I were there - to die right on the spot than being treated in a hospital where there is more or less nothing.

For those who are interested, here is a video made by reporters from the British newspaper "The Guardian".

In order to win this "war", the Israeli air force is lavishing white phosphorus (WP) on the inhabitants. Imagine YOU come in contact with this chemical. It burns on your skin unless deprived of atmopheric oxygen and the particles continue to burn right down to the bone until the chemical is used up. For more details, see "globalsecurity.org" - White Phophorus and "haaretz.com" - 1.12.09 "White Phosphorus shells".




It should be said that the state of Israel has always cherished special treatment for the people conquered in 1967. Land confiscation, housing demolitions, driving people into abject poverty and hopelessness. Want more details? See UN report And in order to keep the stolen land and avoid any hostile reaction from the victims, they build a wall. In that they surpassed even the Communists whose Berlin Wall was at least erected on their side.

In a nutshell, they should be stopped. What is being done to the Palestinians is wreaking havoc worldwide. Hypocrisy and denial reigns. All this is not even in the interest of the Israelis themselves. Nobody with at least a little common sens can imagine to prepare a secure and carefree future for the coming generations when showing such total disregard for all neighbors and everybody else.

Customary well wishing

Here in Western Europe, we have this burdensome habit of sending greeting cards to each other. I have this English friend who humbles me each year by being the first to send his card with wishes for merry Christmas and a happy new year.

His card arrives in early December and gives me the signal to get busy.

On the other hand, the French post their cards till mid-January. Sure, it's a bit late for the "merry Christmas" stuff but you can always purchase cards who cater exclusively for the next year.

All this is a kind of chase where the first-comer humbles the late-comer. Because you have to answer those cards and make believe the other one that both cards crisscrossed somehow. Meaning something like "I am not the uncivil one who waited or was about to forget. I am just a tiny bit late. The postal service was probably on strike."

I hate this custom but don't dare to go silent. Because you can't receive all those well wishings without answering accordingly. I must admit: I don't have the guts to do so.

There is a positive side to all this. You can gloat and boast about all those cards received. We are stacking them on the chimney are are proud to have so many. Meaning without saying so: "I got more than you".

Here, look what we harvested this year:











It might be fun to send those stereotyped wishes in July with a remark saying "to be activated in December/January" or something like "covers a 12-year-span - best before 2020. Then you can live in peace till that date or even better: die before.
RIP

Christmas

To all my blogger friends - worldwide - happy and merry Christmas. And to those of other faiths, creeds or ideologies: some peaceful days at home.
Christmas: let silence enter.




And to all of us - regardless of everything - the good news is this: the sun is coming back, the days get longer, Summer is just behind the horizon.



That's the kind of activity I am looking forward to, within the next five months.



Best wishes to all of you, for the days and months that lie ahead of us.

Harsh winter when it's automn still

Living in a tiny village - center of France thus center of world - has multiple advantages. But our electricity grid is certainly not one of those items to be proud of.

For last Sunday we had a meteorological red alert: stay at home good people. It started to snow in the early morning hours and continued right into the next night. That might be nothing worthwhile mentioning for those living in Norway or in Canada but here?




And what about global warming? Where are you, please?

In the evening we had three or four short power cuts and the fifth settled it for good. Light the Christmas candles, let's go to bed early, best thing to do.....

Next morning, Monday, everything was so peaceful. No car running, no street lighting, tepid water coming out of the boiler, house decidedly cold but peaceful, too.

So we stayed at home, admiring the white out. I did not dare to start the wood fire because it is equipped with little fans for more efficiency. They are not supposed to stay idle; ball bearing don't like to be heated up.

Here, have a look at the living room, fire ablaze. That is "normal procedure", electricity being supplied.





No more. Fortunately I bought eight years ago a little stand-by stove for an emergency like that, running without electricity. And the dear little thing made of sheet steel or so did the job. See here:




Suddenly, the place looks impoverished, a place for displaced people who make go with what is available. And so it was.

25 hours later - on a road cleaning job - I heard the church bells chime again: hosiannah, the juice was back. An hour later the phone went dead for another 20 hours. But who cares. And yesterday, the washing machine got a bout of Alzheimer's. The darling is quite willing to turn around but refuses to pump and seems to know only one program these days, anyway.

That's a slice of life at the beginning of the 21st century. Everything is available, but on a temporary basis only.

On the downward slope - let's get slim

If you are only moderately interested in economics, just listen to the ABBA singing "Money, money". They know all about it.

.........

The economy - everywhere - is heading south, bye bye boom days. Most of us are mere onlookers while the future unfolds, but not everybody is idle.

Opposition or governing parties - right, left or center, green guys or oil hawkers - realize their hour has come. Now is the time to tell us what to do to get the economy humming again. "Don't worry, good people, we'll manage".

What I have not yet heard is that: you might easily loose your job, could be we'll have to fight inflation, quite possible taxes have to be raised. On the contrary, I am listening to a tune I know too well: "we'll do the washing without your getting wet".

Some days ago a worthy politician (no name given, no country specified) told me this:

"Every citizen should get a bonus of 500 € (about 600 $) to be spent immediately with the only condition to add 200 of his own.

Imagine I get the 500 what would I do with this: I would buy a new computer so as to be able to run "Microsoft Flight Simulator X" thus making happy Hewlett-Packard and Bill Gates. And afterwards? Nothing. Same script as before, just read again the first two lines here above. Useless, costly straw fire.

Others are clamoring - a big chorus, worldwide - for a substantial tax break. That's more or less the same as the 500-€-stunt. Most of us don't pay a fortune in taxes anyway thus the break will look like a pittance. And the big income people will like it, certainly, but it will just make a splash in their wallet.

And all that money where does it come from?

a) from the state coffers - but I hear they are empty

b) borrowed somewhere - but the money has to be paid back and
before there are the interests.

c) the good old money printing machine - say hallo to inflation

So I think we have to solve the recession the hard way: cut useless prestige spending, raise the taxes where possible.

Because if we don't want to go under, become a kind of backwater, this has to be done: upgrade our schools and universities, research and development in real science, credit to people who wish to create new businesses. Stop our addiction to oil coming from non palatable countries.

These are the challenges and there the money must go. Our money.

Meanwhile, if someone of my dear and esteemed readers wishes to save souls from hell by doing something for or against the beast exposed, the economic collapse 2008-2009, the number 666, the anti-christ revealed, just listen to this one: