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Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Sigi, one of the Best




The wonderful world of
Sigi Kulterer.

An artist even I like.
His colours are strong, partially aggressive,
warning of a damaged world.


Even though he could not be called a "realist",
you can read the message in his work. 


sometimes there is something threatening.
A warning:
Smarten up, or else!



I see a blood red sky, the remains of a burnt forest,
and ice covering what used to be a meadow.

Tuesday, November 29, 2016

De mortuis nil nisi bonum

To follow the above suggestion is not always easy.

On November 25, 2016 Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz died in Santiago de Cuba, at the ripe age of 90.
Fidel Castro, as he was known to the world, ruled his country with an iron communist fist for 47 years from 1959 to 2006.
He and his rag-tag group of revolutionaries, after a long struggle, defeated Cuba's dictator,
Fulgenico Batista in 1959.
Here was Fidel's chance to change the fortune of his country for the better.
Unfortunately, for his people, he blew it, setting up another, this time a communist dictatorship.

His supporters, including current Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, will tell you what a great man he was, bringing health services and education to his country.
What they will not tell you is that, in order to achieve this the country and his people paid a heavy price.
In his earliest days as the head of Cuba he called himself a Marxist and a Leninist and set himself squarely against his close neighbor, the United States of America.
Within Cuba he established a repressive system of Government, depriving its citizens of basic human rights, incarcerating tens of thousands and executing thousands.
This is his real legacy: over 7000 dissenters killed, 9 billion dollars worth of property confiscated, and causing over 1.5 million Cubans fleeing to Florida, and sending his troops far afield to assist fomenting revolutions.

So what is it with Mr Trudeau, when he calls Fidel Castro a great leader and friend of the Cuban people? He brought the misery of Communism to a country which deserved to be freed from a brutal and corrupt dictator Batista, but then should have been led to the prosperity of a democracy.
President Obama showed his diplomacy when he said:  ... history will judge him.

Bertstravels
always a bit hasty
makes his judgement today.

Monday, November 28, 2016

The Immaculate Conception



In Catholic Austria, and I am certain also in many other countries, this happening is celebrated on the 8th day of December.
What exactly is it, the believers are celebrating ?
A surprising number of people will tell you that it is the day when the Holy Ghost impregnated the Virgin Mary, causing this “Immaculate Conception”, resulting in the birth of Jesus Christ.
Even the mathematically handicapped should be able to count almost on their fingers that this would have given Mary a pregnancy period of 17 days.
So, this one is out. It cannot be it and, of course, it is not the cause of this celebration.

This day is celebrated because, allegedly, Mary's parents, Joachim and Anna, were told that they could expect the birth of a baby. (There is no reference made to Joachim and/or Anna in the Bible so somebody must have dreamed up these names.)
Since, 9 month later, on the 8th September, Mary was borne without Original Sin, her mother, so it is claimed by some, also must have been borne without this infliction.... and her mother... and her mother... until back to Eve ?
Throughout the Middle Ages, the arguments raged back and forth about this issue:
Was Mary, conceived in the normal physical way by her parents and was she freed from O.S. by God's intervention even prior to her birth, or was it this or was it that... or was it an altogether other thing ?
In any event, it was not until 1854 that Pope Pius IX issued the Papal Proclamation (Bull) declaring the Immaculate Conception of Mary a fact revealed by God and therefore beyond doubt or question.
It became Dogma.

It is really wonderful, how the Catholic Church can decide upon something 1854 years after the fact, something about which there is no mention in their “book of books” and claim that all of it has been revealed by God himself and therefore must be the absolute truth.


Very convenient, isn't it?

Bertstravels
just shakes his head.

Friday, November 25, 2016

English is not difficult !


Off of.....

It does not exactly drive me crazy, but it causes a slight annoyance when people, who should know better, misuse the English language.
You may read it in Newspaper columns, in Books, and in Magazines. The living shall remain nameless, since I want to spare them this degrading embarrassment.

This is what you may read: “With his right hand he brushed the snow flakes off of her hair.”
or this: “She took the book off of the table.”
If they ever bothered to look up the word “off” in a dictionary, or just go to Google and ask: define:off, they would be able to read : “away from the place in question.”
In other words: “off” already means: away from, so there is no need, in fact it is inaccurate, to add the word “of”.
It would suffice if “he brushed the snow flakes off her hair.” or if she “took the book off the table.

When famous writers, like the late Thomas Wolf, as well as current Journalists, use the words “off of” it does not “drive me off of my mind,” but it gently annoys me.

There is another common, all too common, mistake made in the respective use of the words:
“waiting on” and “waiting for”. Particularly in conversational English, but also in the written form, people will say and write:  "Where were you? We've been waiting on you for hours.”
Of course they have not done such a thing! They have “been waiting for you.
The difference is quite simple to remember:
A waiter stands at the entrance of the restaurant, waiting for his guests.
Once they have arrived, taken their seats, then the waiter can start “waiting on his guests.”

Yeah, I know, why worry about little things like that?
Because it's the English Language which gets maltreated in a way it does not deserve.

That's what annoys me.

Bertstravels

Thursday, November 24, 2016

Nobody Home


I knocked and I knocked.
There was no answer.
Maybe there is nobody at home.

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

Sailing Regatta



Spent a month in Toronto last summer 
and was lucky to catch a sailing regatta
in Lake Ontario, between Toronto's shore line and Center Island. 
It was one of those perfect days: 
Not a cloud in the sky
and great wind conditions.


and now, with Winter approaching in giant steps
I thought it was a good time to remember
the great days.





Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Misericordia et misera

Hallo! Hallo! Did you read that? Did you hear it on the News?

A new wrinkle out of the magic bag of the Catholic Church.
The holy year of “Compassion” has come to an end and the Pope himself closed the “Holy Gate” of
St. Peter's Cathedral.
Before he did that, however, he issued an “Apostolic Letter”, titled: Misericordia et miseria” with which he extended the right to forgive the sin of abortion from Bishops to regular Priests.

Think about that for a moment!
A woman, for whatever reason, decides not to carry a child in her womb to full fruition, birth.
This, under the rules of the Catholic church, in itself is a grave sin, forgivable only by her confession to a Bishop.
Should she be unable to make this connection, she will, so preaches the Church, be condemned to Hell. ( where- or whatever this is. )
Hell must be pretty crowded with suffering women, since only very few, who committed this sin of abortion, would have, or could have sought forgiveness from a Bishop or from certain specially appointed “confessional priests”.

What about the “ever forgiving, compassionate” God, through whose compassion every sin, however serious, can be forgiven.?
Well, dear God, you are just out of luck.
Even though in the “Misericordia et misera” Pope Franciscus states:
God, who is capable of looking into the heart of each person, sees the deepest desire hidden there.”
and later: “God's love must take primacy over all else”

Where does this leave us now?
The Church teaches: A person who has committed a mortal sin, and abortion surely is one of those, then dies without having confessed this sin, will be condemned to spending an eternity in Hell.
Then the Pope tells us that “God's Love must take Primacy over all else.”

So what is he ( God ) to do ? His Church talks about the punishment as an eternity in Hell, but his number 1 representative allows for His love to “take Primacy over all else”.

None of this, of course, should puzzle us. The Catholic church is involved in so many contradictions, so many irrational statements that it absolutely boggles the mind, and we cannot expect that they, in this very controversial issue, should be able to come up with a cohesive, sensible statement.

When you read this Apostolic Letter you may also come to the conclusion that Franciscus is trying hard to make a little sense of it all. He is, however, confronted with 2000 years of utter gobbledygook and finds it difficult, if not impossible to make his rational way through the jungle of nonsense.

Bertstravels
could lend him a machete.


Sunday, November 20, 2016

A Teasel and a Bee


A Teasel standing alone at the edge of the meadow.


Alone no more! 
A Bee came to visit...


... to draw the last drops of nectar


out of the trumpets



Friday, November 18, 2016

More useless apologies!

Over 300 victims of sexual transgressions, no, crimes, assembled in the Austrian Parliament to speak of their ordeals suffered in Catholic and State-run institutions.
The reasons why particularly in Catholic youth homes such sexual abuse was rampant is really hardly debatable.
If men and women, to whom normal sexual activity is prohibited, are placed in charge of young, vulnerable, defenseless people, such crimes are almost programmed and must happen.
Pope Benedict XVI, issued a directive that such criminal activities, when discovered, are not to be reported to the civilian authorities    ( Police ) but are to be dealt with within the administration of the Church.
Fortunately the current Pope, Franciscus, seems to have reversed these instructions.

The Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schönborn was present at this gathering and said: “I stand here as the representative of an Institution with which you connect the worst memories.”
What Priests and Nuns have perpetrated is almost impossible for him to imagine, and, “instead of dismissing them from their positions of power over the innocent and powerless, we simply transferred them.” ( to other similar institutions where they continued their nefarious criminal activities. ) Bracketed are my additional comments.

The Cardinal after listening to to the stories of many of the assembled victims offered his apologies and those of his Church.

Apologies are cheap.

They are also totally useless, when nothing has changed fundamentally in this organization and sexually frustrated individuals, men and women, are given free reign to satisfy their pedophillic bent.

One of the world's richest institutions, the Catholic Church, should have to pay considerable sums to all victims of this abuse.



Bertstravels
suggests: 10 Millions each.

Monday, November 14, 2016

The Island of Lamu



Backyard in Lamu


Three young ladies on a shopping spree


A shy lass

Saturday, November 12, 2016

Late Butterfly

The nights have been cold. Nearing the freezing point on some days.
In front of my ground floor studio there is a pot of fall flowers (NN)
They are in bright sunlight from morn to eve.
They still are in full bloom and, lo and behold, yesterday I found a butterfly resting atop. How it survived this long is a puzzle to me.



Friday, November 11, 2016

The King is dead! Long live the King !


I listen to the newscasts on radio and tv, I read the newspapers and, yes, I even read the entries on facebook. What do i read and hear ? Nothing but bellyaching, whining and complaining about the outcome of the US election. There are those who now protest vigorously and shout slogans directed against the President-elect of their country. Do they understand even the most fundamental aspects of Democracy? Under this system the population at large elect a person to a position of leadership. Whether this is for mayor of Joetown (population 350) or for the Presidency of the entire country (population 330 million). Once he/she is elected it's game closed. The belated screams of protest are not only useless but also highly unproductive. Yes, you have the right to demonstrate your dissatisfaction in an orderly, non-destructive way, but it really gets you nowhere for at least another four years.
So, stop bellyaching, stop your whining, get involved in something constructive and get on with your life.
The USA will survive Donald Trump.
It has survived much worse. It has survived the practice of slavery, it has survived a devastating War of Independence, as well as an even more destructive Civil War. It has survived the Great Depression, Pearl Harbour could not defeat it, and goodness knows what else this Country of the United States of America has had to deal with and has, in fact, not only survived but has come out ever stronger.
I get a kick out of those Americans who swore that "If Trump gets elected I will leave the country and move to Canada."
Does Canada really need or want this bunch of whiners ?
And, if they dislike the current or the next Prime Minister of Canada, where will they move to then ? To Mexico?
It is said that the man grows with the job.
Let's hope that Donald Trump will experience such growth.


Bertstravels
is no Trump fan either.


Wednesday, November 9, 2016

The Vulture and the Sun


A Vulture atop a dead tree
looks at the distant sun.


The sun has moved a little closer

and the angle of the Vulture's head seems to have changed.


and finally, the sun is below the bird and check out where he is looking.


It was in the mid 80s that I spent a month on Safari in Zimbabwe.

At about 5 PM on a misty afternoon
the above is what I saw.

Monday, November 7, 2016

in Kenya



This "Super  Butchery" unfortunately was closed on Sunday 

or we might have bought a juicy steak.


It is only an evil rumor that we spent the night in this hotel.

We travelled elegantly in tents.

Saturday, November 5, 2016

The River DRAU

Just a little outside of Bleiburg, the river Drau wends its way through the Autumn countryside.
'twas worth a shot or two.



Friday, November 4, 2016

Zell Pfarre



A little afternoon excursion brought me to a place called
Zell Pfarre.
It is on the Austrian side of the Slovenian border, 
but nobody speaks German there.
(at least, nobody I met )
So if you are looking for a bathroom
you had better speak Slovenian.




This brook is your way-guide all the way.






an old saw mill, out of commission for a hundred years or more.


One wonders how these two trees,
standing there like sentinels,
can get enough nourishments out of the rock face


James Carter


The James Carter Trio

James Carter ( Soprano, Alto and Tenor Sax )
Gerard Gibbs ( Hammond Organ )
Alex White ( drums )



If you want to make a list of the worlds 
"Five Greatest Saxophonists"
James Carter 
would have to be on it, and maybe he would be # 1.
His technique is not surpassed. 
Neither is his lyric inventiveness
Nor his rhythmic driving pulse.


On the Alto ( above )
and on the Soprano Saxophone ( below )
he speaks to you like no-one I have ever heard.




Alex White:
Unassuming, quiet, rhythmically driving, sometimes almost threatening,
precise to the utmost and imaginative,
He is the consummate drummer.



A throbbing sonorous sound
barking
edgy
aggressive
then
lyrical,
smooth
from the highest
to the lowest register
A Tenor Sax like no other! 


Gerard Gibbs
makes his Hammond Organ sound like a whole Orchestra.
Close your eyes and you would swear there is before you:
a Trombone, a Contra bass, a Violin, a Piccolo Flute
and almost any other instrument you have ever heard.


Who brought this World Group to Bleiburg ?
"Arthur Ottowitz"
the cultural Guru of this town.
For his successful efforts over the years
to attract the finest the music world has to offer,
and particularly for bringing us James Carter
He deserves a Gold Medal.


Bertstravels 
had a wonderful time

Thursday, November 3, 2016

Volleyball


"Aich Dob" is a tiny community on the edge of Bleiburg.
Maybe a dozen homes house a proud population.
Why Bleiburg's Volleyball team bears this village's name is not known to me.
This team, sponsored by the local Slovenian Bank, and several other generous sponsors
 is now in second place in the Austrian Volleyball League, making a strong challenge for First.
Here is the team ( in yellow ) defeating the team of Ried by a score of 3 sets to 1.







Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Who is the worst Scoundrel?


On the 31st October 1517 Martin Luther is said to have issued his “95 Theses” questioning the morality or immorality of the practice by the Roman Catholic Church of selling “Indulgences.”
Having committed a “venial sin” ( as opposed to a deadly one ) Christians, so the R.C.Church teaches to this day, will have to spend time in Purgatory, where flames, pain and suffering await them.
If, so the calculating Popes of this time announced, letters of Indulgence would be purchased by Christians, their time, or the time of their loved-ones in whose name the Indulgence was purchased, in Purgatory would be shortened, if not totally eliminated.

This practice, instituted by the Popes and executed by hundreds of “Indulgence Preachers” is surely no different from the Mafia, who assures the merchants of their town, that their stores would be protected from vandalism, fire bombs and total destruction, if they rendered regular “Protection Payments.”
Replace “Protection” with “Indulgence” and you have an undeniable simile.
History demonstrates over and over again that many of the Popes acted no differently than Sicilian Mafia Dons.

So far, so good: Luther recognized an evil and spoke against it, thereby founding the Reform movement, referred to as “Lutheran Church”, “Protestantism” and by several other names.

Who was Martin Luther really?

At first, Luther was eager to convert members of the Jewish faith to Christianity and he spoke in the kindliest but condescending of terms about them.
Once he became aware that conversion of members of the Jewish faith to Christianity was very difficult, if not impossible, he, in his frustration, became a virulent Antisemite, publishing a number of treaties and essays against Jews. The worst of them was entitled: “On the Jews and their Lies”
in which he listed 7 points regarding the manner in which Jews should be treated:

  1. Burn down their schools and synagogues; this is to be done in honor of our Lord and of Christendom, so that God might see that we are Christians.
  2. Raze to the ground and destroy their houses and transfer them to “Community Settlements”
  3. Confiscate all Jewish literature, which was blasphemous and in which idolatry, lies, and cursing is taught.
  4. Prohibit Rabbis to teach on pain of loss of life and limb.
  5. Deny Jews “Safe-Conduct” on the streets, for they have no business in the countryside.
  6. Appropriate their wealth
  7. Assign Jews to manual labor as a form of penance.

Luther, at his most hate filled writings spoke of the Jews as “a base and whoring people who are full of the devil's feces, in which they wallow like swine” and the synagogue is an “incorrigible whore and an evil slut.”
This, believe it or not, are the utterings of a self professed “Christian minister” and learned Theologian.

There are, of course, a number of apologists who will claim that Luther's virulent Antisemitism is not based on race, but rather on “theological differences.”
Is it really possible that there exists a person who believes that it makes any difference whatever, why the above 7 points are justified in one way more than in another?

400 years later, Hitler, Himmler and their gang of murdering hoodlums must have read this Essay and set into practice almost exactly all of the 7 points. Under H & H these places, referred to in point 2 above as “Community Settlements” were simply called “Concentration Camps” and to the millions who perished there it made little difference whether they were put to death for “racial”or “theological” reasons.

While I am not known as a defender of Roman Catholicism, ( in fact I consider Religion in all its manifestations as one of the worst evils against which mankind has to struggle), it seems to me that the practices of the Papacy and its henchmen, of selling indulgences, against which Luther protested so vociferously and which resulted eventually in the formation of Protestantism is, in the moral sense, like nothing when compared to the preaching of this fanatic as expressed in his writings.
It is, in fact, a simple "Con Job" compared to the urgings to deprive a people of its existence. 
The papal promise of a shortened stay in Purgatory was simply a blatant lie, in which probably not even the Pope himself believed. It was a primitive attack on the gullibility of the Catholic masses to cheat them out of part of their mostly hard earned savings. One may come to the conclusion that the idea of Purgatory was the first step in the black mail of simple minded believers.

It is fair to state that Antisemitism found such fruitful soil in largely Protestant Germany, when one considers that all the German population needed to do was to point to the writings of the admired founder of their religious splinter group.
This easily explains the “Kristalnacht,” the book-burning, the illegal expropriation of Jewish property, the willful, brutal attacks on Jews in the streets of many German cities and finally their extermination in the gas ovens of innumerable concentration camps.

Please, dear Lord, if you exist and if you care, save me from Catholics and Protestants alike.
A Pest on both their houses.



Bertstravels.