no comments needed
Just below the first slope there are three Restaurants..
Not much snow in the distant hills...
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Atop the Petzen
no comments needed
Just below the first slope there are three Restaurants..
Not much snow in the distant hills...
Some more of the same...
Dancing in the Dark.....
around 10 PM some of Herwig's friends came
to celebrate New Years with us.
Dinner at Herwig's and Ingrid's Home
David really liked this Jacket...
a present from Christin...
Dinner at the home of Herwig and Ingrid
Herwig is a true connoiseur of good wines....
There is always the Photographer who's missing...
Overwhelming Public Demand
In response to overwhelming Public Demand (Lianne)
I am herewith posting more pix taken
during Steven's and his family's visit.
In this respect they still live in the Stone Age.
Real candles on a real tree.
I suppose lighting candles on a Christmas Tree
is somewhat of an unusual activity
A bit of a scrawny tree...
Friday, January 27, 2012
THE CANDIDATES FOR THE REPUBLICAN PARTY....
...are truly a sad lot. Last night they had one of their debates in Jacksonville, Florida:
It seems to me that of the four contestants, only two, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are true contenders.
During this debate, Gingrich suggested that were he elected to the Presidency of the USA, he would build a permanent Moon base as part of a stable commercial industry of Space Exploration which would lead to a space activity boom. similar to the aviation boom in the 1930s. Furthermore he would develop Mars-research.
Of course, he said several other things, but this one made an impression on me:
I do not think that a country, struggling to get back on its economic feet, having lost its triple a rating, and recovering from some exceedingly expensive wars, and generally finding itself in dire financial straights, needs to spend hundreds of billions, maybe trillions of Dollars to build a Moon station and to explore Mars.
I, were I a voter in the USA, would not touch with a ten foot pole any candidate who proposes such a cockamamie idea at this time.
Both, Newt and Mitt, obviously played to the expatriate Cubans living in Florida in great numbers.
When asked by the Moderator, Wolf Blitzer, if he could see America getting involved in some military way in Cuba, Newt answered that "if there were a legitimate uprising we would of course be on the side of the people."
Mitt also suggested that he would "give no presents to Castro", and that he would punish any American company doing business in Cuba...
There had apparently been some discussion as to the final destination of Mr. Castro in the event of his death.
Romney allowed that he would be grateful that Castro was called back to his Maker, and Gingrich countered that he thought Castro would more likely end up in the other place.
Imagine something like this: Two men, both of whom would like to become the President of the United States, have nothing better to discuss than heaven or hell for Fidel Castro.
The only clever reply to the question of " What would you say if Raul Castro were to telephone you," came from Ron Paul: "I would ask him what he is calling about."
Then the candidates were given an opportunity to praise their wives, each of whom would, of course, make a wonderful First Lady of the USA.
What a stupid question to put to these four men. Did Blitzer really think that one or more of them would say something like: "Well, my wife would make a terrible First Lady. She is Dumb and Ugly...."
Immigration was a topic of discussion during which some heated exchanges took place, when Gingrich accused Romney of being "anti-immigration"...
Talk about pandering to the large Cuban-American population living in Florida
This 19th Debate makes me happy that I did not hear the preceding 18. I truly fear for the future of our neighbor to the South if either of these men should become their President.
The most accurate and sage comment in respect of this discussion actually came from Fidel Castro:
"The Republican contest for the Presidency of the United States of America is the "biggest contest in Stupidity and Ignorance I have ever heard."
Everybody who knows me is aware that I am no lover of Castro (Fidel and/or Raul) or the type of dictatorial government they run. Everybody who knows me also knows that, philosophically, I am somewhere in the middle between the Democrats and the Republicans. Both parties have given the USA some very good Presidents.
But having heard the level of discussions from those members of the GOP, makes me fervently hope that Barack Obama will be elected to a second term.
Too bad that "Bertstravels" has no say in this affair.
It seems to me that of the four contestants, only two, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are true contenders.
During this debate, Gingrich suggested that were he elected to the Presidency of the USA, he would build a permanent Moon base as part of a stable commercial industry of Space Exploration which would lead to a space activity boom. similar to the aviation boom in the 1930s. Furthermore he would develop Mars-research.
Of course, he said several other things, but this one made an impression on me:
I do not think that a country, struggling to get back on its economic feet, having lost its triple a rating, and recovering from some exceedingly expensive wars, and generally finding itself in dire financial straights, needs to spend hundreds of billions, maybe trillions of Dollars to build a Moon station and to explore Mars.
I, were I a voter in the USA, would not touch with a ten foot pole any candidate who proposes such a cockamamie idea at this time.
Both, Newt and Mitt, obviously played to the expatriate Cubans living in Florida in great numbers.
When asked by the Moderator, Wolf Blitzer, if he could see America getting involved in some military way in Cuba, Newt answered that "if there were a legitimate uprising we would of course be on the side of the people."
Mitt also suggested that he would "give no presents to Castro", and that he would punish any American company doing business in Cuba...
There had apparently been some discussion as to the final destination of Mr. Castro in the event of his death.
Romney allowed that he would be grateful that Castro was called back to his Maker, and Gingrich countered that he thought Castro would more likely end up in the other place.
Imagine something like this: Two men, both of whom would like to become the President of the United States, have nothing better to discuss than heaven or hell for Fidel Castro.
The only clever reply to the question of " What would you say if Raul Castro were to telephone you," came from Ron Paul: "I would ask him what he is calling about."
Then the candidates were given an opportunity to praise their wives, each of whom would, of course, make a wonderful First Lady of the USA.
What a stupid question to put to these four men. Did Blitzer really think that one or more of them would say something like: "Well, my wife would make a terrible First Lady. She is Dumb and Ugly...."
Immigration was a topic of discussion during which some heated exchanges took place, when Gingrich accused Romney of being "anti-immigration"...
Talk about pandering to the large Cuban-American population living in Florida
This 19th Debate makes me happy that I did not hear the preceding 18. I truly fear for the future of our neighbor to the South if either of these men should become their President.
The most accurate and sage comment in respect of this discussion actually came from Fidel Castro:
"The Republican contest for the Presidency of the United States of America is the "biggest contest in Stupidity and Ignorance I have ever heard."
Everybody who knows me is aware that I am no lover of Castro (Fidel and/or Raul) or the type of dictatorial government they run. Everybody who knows me also knows that, philosophically, I am somewhere in the middle between the Democrats and the Republicans. Both parties have given the USA some very good Presidents.
But having heard the level of discussions from those members of the GOP, makes me fervently hope that Barack Obama will be elected to a second term.
Too bad that "Bertstravels" has no say in this affair.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Skiing at its finest and Politics at its worst.
I wish I had been in Schladming/Rohrmoos yesterday. Fifty thousand skiing fans were there to watch the "Night Slalom," part of the World Cup Races. I watched it on Television and kept telling myself that the poor suckers who paid a fortune to be there, see no "repeats", no "close-ups", no "Slow-motion" and certainly no "ultra slow-motion"... they are probably cold, and have no glass of Austrian White Wine to twirl between their fingers.
I had all the advantages. So why did I wish to be there ? Because there is a certain something to actually "being there", to feeling the excitement emanating from 50,000 fans, to hearing them roar their approval when one of their own came down like a Kamakazi fighter, down the steep part, hurtling himself between narrow set gates at incredible speeds.... to hearing the collective moan when one of their own "straddled" a gate or missed one altogether, or totally wiped out and "bit the snow"... and, believe me: this was a race that had everything.
If you are an Austrian, you had much to cheer about: Of the first 15 racers 5 carried the Red/White/Red into
1st, 3rd, 8th, 9th, and 13th place....
Italians were in 2nd, and 14th, there was a Croatian and many other Nationalities. 4th a Japanese in 5th, Ted Ligety of America placed 6th,... there were French, Swedish, Japanese, Canadians and many more countries.
It was, in other words, Good News for Austria.
Not so good News is coming Austria's way in other areas. The rating Agencies took away Austria's Triple A rating and gave it an AA+ with a negative outlook .
The politicians cannot agree on any measures to bring their financial house in order.
Bi Partisan Politics rules the "top heavy" Parliament.
Top heavy ?
Austria has 183 MPs, which means that they have one Member of Parliament for every 45,300 citizens, while Germany, for instance has one member for every 132.300 citizens.
At Germany's rate Austria could probably do with 63 MPs.Let us be generous and give them 83 MPs.
Thereby they would save the costs of 100 MPs.
Consider now the Salaries of 100 MPs, their Assistants, research and other service personnel, Secretaries, their office space, office equipment and so on and so forth.
Apply the same reduction ratios in all the Civil Service positions, their Commissions, Agencies and all the other duplicating Organisations and, (prove me wrong if you can) you would probably reach a "balanced budget" without increasing any taxes.
Instead of this, the Government commissions a study, finding some 24 areas in which to raise additional taxes.
What, of course, they should do is chase down the cheats on Income Tax, Sales Tax , the Tax evaders who ship their money to Liechtenstein and other tax havens. Such a move is not likely to happen, since the government officials themselves are heavily involved in such nefarious activities.
The only call for action one hears from most of the Government members is: "Tax the Rich"....
All this really proves is the abysmal poverty in ideas.
Bertstravels.
I had all the advantages. So why did I wish to be there ? Because there is a certain something to actually "being there", to feeling the excitement emanating from 50,000 fans, to hearing them roar their approval when one of their own came down like a Kamakazi fighter, down the steep part, hurtling himself between narrow set gates at incredible speeds.... to hearing the collective moan when one of their own "straddled" a gate or missed one altogether, or totally wiped out and "bit the snow"... and, believe me: this was a race that had everything.
If you are an Austrian, you had much to cheer about: Of the first 15 racers 5 carried the Red/White/Red into
1st, 3rd, 8th, 9th, and 13th place....
Italians were in 2nd, and 14th, there was a Croatian and many other Nationalities. 4th a Japanese in 5th, Ted Ligety of America placed 6th,... there were French, Swedish, Japanese, Canadians and many more countries.
It was, in other words, Good News for Austria.
Not so good News is coming Austria's way in other areas. The rating Agencies took away Austria's Triple A rating and gave it an AA+ with a negative outlook .
The politicians cannot agree on any measures to bring their financial house in order.
Bi Partisan Politics rules the "top heavy" Parliament.
Top heavy ?
Austria has 183 MPs, which means that they have one Member of Parliament for every 45,300 citizens, while Germany, for instance has one member for every 132.300 citizens.
At Germany's rate Austria could probably do with 63 MPs.Let us be generous and give them 83 MPs.
Thereby they would save the costs of 100 MPs.
Consider now the Salaries of 100 MPs, their Assistants, research and other service personnel, Secretaries, their office space, office equipment and so on and so forth.
Apply the same reduction ratios in all the Civil Service positions, their Commissions, Agencies and all the other duplicating Organisations and, (prove me wrong if you can) you would probably reach a "balanced budget" without increasing any taxes.
Instead of this, the Government commissions a study, finding some 24 areas in which to raise additional taxes.
What, of course, they should do is chase down the cheats on Income Tax, Sales Tax , the Tax evaders who ship their money to Liechtenstein and other tax havens. Such a move is not likely to happen, since the government officials themselves are heavily involved in such nefarious activities.
The only call for action one hears from most of the Government members is: "Tax the Rich"....
All this really proves is the abysmal poverty in ideas.
Bertstravels.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
VOLLEYBALL IN BLEIBURG
The new Volleyball Arena in Bleiburg features the teams
from Bleiburg and Minsk (Belorus.)
in an exciting match.
Unfortunately the Bleiburg team (gold shirts)
lost in three sets: 24;22;23;
A hard fought game watched by a full house
of enthusiastic fans.
During the winter months,
when there is no soccer to watch
I could actually become a Volleyball Fan.
Friday, January 20, 2012
MISMANAGEMENT ON BOTH SIDES OF THE OCEAN...
A few days ago I read about the "Employment Insurance Financial ....somethingorother )..." I don't remember the exact name and the article has disappeared from my CBC News page...
Let me just summarize and if I don't get it right, I hope somebody will correct me:
The Government established this Department in 2008 with the mandates 1.) to determine the amount of EI payable by employees and employers so that the EI fund should always be at a break even position, 2.) To wisely invest overages if any and 3.) to administer a fund of 2 Billion dollars which the government would place at this Department's disposal.
A CEO was hired who in turn hired a few other people into well paid positions. Offices were rented and furniture purchased... The Group was ready to roll; One small problem: They had nothing to do... Even their CEO admitted that the workload did not amount to the original intent. These are the reasons why:
1.) The Government froze the EI contributions for 2009 and legislated only minor increases for 2010 and 2011. The effect of course was, that the first mandate of this Department became unnecessary.
2.) Due to this Government largess, the EI fund now sports a deficit of about 8.8 billion Dollars, so there is no "Surplus to invest and manage"
3.) The Government never did provide the promised 2 billion dollars, so this third mandate to manage this amount also became impossible to fulfill.
The up-shot is simply this: This newly created Department has spent about 3.5 million Dollars over the last three years and had literally absolutely nothing to do.
Yet for 2012 wage increases have been budgeted as well as a move to larger offices. The move to larger offices has been justified by the "possibility" that financial experts may have to be hired in the future. The 2012 budget includes Can$ 200,000 for hiring a "Human Resources" expert... They have 2 employees!!!.. for this number of employees you need an HR person??? the budget also includes Can$300,000 to hire a Public Relations firm to assist in explaining to the Public the work to be performed. Since they have done Nothing over the past three years this should be an impossible, or very easy task.
And I always thought that the Harper Government governed Canada wisely and prudently and did not waste taxpayers money....
If I am all wrong about this, if the CBC has erred and/or I misread the CBC's news report, would somebody please explain the reality to me?
I fervently hope that all the above is wrong... it sounds a bit like an April Fool's Report.. doesn't it?
When I read in the Austrian Newspapers about all the shenanigans carried on by Austrian politicians, I always smile smugly... since this could not happen in my country, Canada... Well for this Canadian story and for the Canadian Government's refusal to admit this failure and to disband this group of leeches I need to wipe the smug grin off my face.
I am a Canadian Pensioner...
I need more money...
Could the Canadian Government please hire me?
I have become an expert in doing absolutely nothing.
So I would probably do a good job in this department, and I'd be satisfied with Can$ 500,000 per year.
Bertstravels.
Let me just summarize and if I don't get it right, I hope somebody will correct me:
The Government established this Department in 2008 with the mandates 1.) to determine the amount of EI payable by employees and employers so that the EI fund should always be at a break even position, 2.) To wisely invest overages if any and 3.) to administer a fund of 2 Billion dollars which the government would place at this Department's disposal.
A CEO was hired who in turn hired a few other people into well paid positions. Offices were rented and furniture purchased... The Group was ready to roll; One small problem: They had nothing to do... Even their CEO admitted that the workload did not amount to the original intent. These are the reasons why:
1.) The Government froze the EI contributions for 2009 and legislated only minor increases for 2010 and 2011. The effect of course was, that the first mandate of this Department became unnecessary.
2.) Due to this Government largess, the EI fund now sports a deficit of about 8.8 billion Dollars, so there is no "Surplus to invest and manage"
3.) The Government never did provide the promised 2 billion dollars, so this third mandate to manage this amount also became impossible to fulfill.
The up-shot is simply this: This newly created Department has spent about 3.5 million Dollars over the last three years and had literally absolutely nothing to do.
Yet for 2012 wage increases have been budgeted as well as a move to larger offices. The move to larger offices has been justified by the "possibility" that financial experts may have to be hired in the future. The 2012 budget includes Can$ 200,000 for hiring a "Human Resources" expert... They have 2 employees!!!.. for this number of employees you need an HR person??? the budget also includes Can$300,000 to hire a Public Relations firm to assist in explaining to the Public the work to be performed. Since they have done Nothing over the past three years this should be an impossible, or very easy task.
And I always thought that the Harper Government governed Canada wisely and prudently and did not waste taxpayers money....
If I am all wrong about this, if the CBC has erred and/or I misread the CBC's news report, would somebody please explain the reality to me?
I fervently hope that all the above is wrong... it sounds a bit like an April Fool's Report.. doesn't it?
When I read in the Austrian Newspapers about all the shenanigans carried on by Austrian politicians, I always smile smugly... since this could not happen in my country, Canada... Well for this Canadian story and for the Canadian Government's refusal to admit this failure and to disband this group of leeches I need to wipe the smug grin off my face.
I am a Canadian Pensioner...
I need more money...
Could the Canadian Government please hire me?
I have become an expert in doing absolutely nothing.
So I would probably do a good job in this department, and I'd be satisfied with Can$ 500,000 per year.
Bertstravels.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
This is W I N T E R ?????
Yesterday was the 11th of January 2012 ! Normally we should be in the middle of winter, with the temperatures ranging around -10 Celsius and 3 feet of snow in the valleys and 6 feet or more on the mountain.
well, I am told that's what it's like in the Tirol and Vorarlberg and parts of the rest of the country. Here in southern Carinthia we have 0 feet of snow and the temperature is so mild, we had lunch on our balcony in shirtsleeves. Bleiburg, where I live, has the nickname of "The snow hole of Carinthia"... this year it certainly does not deserve this name. More like : "the Florida of Austria."
Finalized my bookings for London (8th to 14th March) and to Toronto (2nd May to 2nd June)
I am looking forward to both these trips. For the London trip I have enough points for both of us to fly free...? free ??? did I say Free??? Yes the flight is Free but the Taxes amount to more than the flight.. and they are not "Free"... They must be paid...
I had better not get started ranting and raving about Taxes... They are ridiculous in Austria.
Take a person earning about 5,000.00 Euros per month. A good salary, but not financial Paradise either...
Right off the top, the Government takes about 50%.... That leaves you with 2,500 Euros. Most of which you will spend on the necessities of live. Those carry a Sales Tax of 20%... So it can be said that you are actually spending 70% of your earnings in Taxes... This means, if my mathematics are correct, that you work for the Government including your Health Insurance Premium until the middle of August of every year. Is this not absolutely insane? But remember, I said that I would not get started talking about Taxes.... so let's not.
Hey... give the Prime Minister a nice raise....
Bertstravels.
well, I am told that's what it's like in the Tirol and Vorarlberg and parts of the rest of the country. Here in southern Carinthia we have 0 feet of snow and the temperature is so mild, we had lunch on our balcony in shirtsleeves. Bleiburg, where I live, has the nickname of "The snow hole of Carinthia"... this year it certainly does not deserve this name. More like : "the Florida of Austria."
Finalized my bookings for London (8th to 14th March) and to Toronto (2nd May to 2nd June)
I am looking forward to both these trips. For the London trip I have enough points for both of us to fly free...? free ??? did I say Free??? Yes the flight is Free but the Taxes amount to more than the flight.. and they are not "Free"... They must be paid...
I had better not get started ranting and raving about Taxes... They are ridiculous in Austria.
Take a person earning about 5,000.00 Euros per month. A good salary, but not financial Paradise either...
Right off the top, the Government takes about 50%.... That leaves you with 2,500 Euros. Most of which you will spend on the necessities of live. Those carry a Sales Tax of 20%... So it can be said that you are actually spending 70% of your earnings in Taxes... This means, if my mathematics are correct, that you work for the Government including your Health Insurance Premium until the middle of August of every year. Is this not absolutely insane? But remember, I said that I would not get started talking about Taxes.... so let's not.
Hey... give the Prime Minister a nice raise....
Bertstravels.
Monday, January 2, 2012
01/01/2012 - 0.01 AM
David and Christa at the New Year's Celebrations
Herwig and Ingrid
"The New Year's Kiss"
Steven and some of Herwig's Friends
toasting the New Year.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
NEW YEAR'S at HERWIG'S AND INGRID'S
For those who know them,
I don't need to name them...
and those who don't know them...
they don't care what their names are.
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