Pope Benedict XVI suffers from "Foot in Mouth Disease"

During the "General Audience" given by the Pope a few days ago, he is quoted as having said that:

"Technical advances and great discoveries do not make mankind freer or more humane".

Does he really believe this? ..or did this thought just slip out of his mouth before having made a stop at his brain?
There is not space enough on my Blog to list all the medical discoveries alone, which have freed mankind from disease and pain..
Did the first pain free surgical intervention, performed in 1846 not free man from untold pain and suffering?
Did the discovery of "blood transfusion" not also free mankind from untimely deaths?
Did the discoveries made by Louis Pasteur not prolong healthy lives?
Did Dr. Banting's discovery that  Insulin was a treatment against diabetes  not save untold lives ?
What about Roentgen's recognition that Xrays had a medical use?

I could go on and on and on, listing all the great discoveries which have made mankind freer.
Freer from untold suffering, freer from crippling diseases, yes, freer from untimely death.
The above is obviously a most inadequate listing of the Great Discoveries in Medicine.
And is it not true that a man or woman, free from pain and disease is more readily capable to care for his/her fellow humans, because the worry about their own survival has been removed from them?
Thereby it could be said that it enabled them to become "more humane"

I am certain that I could list an equal number of "Technical Advances" which have contributed in equal measure  to longer and better lives, and thereby  having made mankind "freer and more humane."

In the Pope's defence I can only assume that he looked at the many areas of our world where warfare and killing are daily occurrences. He probably looked at the Middle East, at Africa where one could despair about the lack of humane relationships between peoples and people.

An influential man, such as the Pontiff, should, however, express himself more carefully and not issue such generalisations which cannot survive even a cursory examination.

Oh well, he is only infallible in matters of Faith.

In other areas he is obviously not much smarter than you or I....

Bertstravels

Hazel in Austria ???

This morning at breakfast, I opened the daily Newspaper and I cannot believe my eyes:
There, prominently dispayed: A picture of Hazel McCallion...
In one of the largest circulation Newspapers in Austria appears good  old "Stormy Hazel",  the eternal Mayor of Mississauga. There is a short description of her career, indicating that she has functioned as Mississauga's mayor for ever and a day. That her age of 92 probably makes her the Oldest Mayor of a major Municipality world wide...  It describes her method of running the 6th largest City of Canada  (700,000 inhabitants)..
A democratically elected, time and again  elected, dictatorial Mayor. A "Dictator" governing this City "My Way, or the High Way." It speaks of her staff, who with great pride serve her. It mentions the fact that this City has Zero Debt and even during the hight of the recent Financial Crises, ran a balanced budget.
It also mentions the low Taxes, compared to other similar sized Cities.

It will be a sad day, when Hazel finally hangs up her political gavel.
Is there anybody in the wings, ready to take over, when she leaves the mayor's chair ?

I'm sure I'm not the only one asking this question.

Bertstravels

FOR LACK OF SOMETHING CURRENT

Have not been out to do some Photography....
But  I do not like to leave the Blog unattended for too long.
So I dug into my archives and unearthed some images taken many years ago.
Pictures taken in the pre-digital times, on Kodak slides, which I scanned onto my computer.
It was a lot of work then, but now I am glad that I did it.
Bertstravels

"Disandat" Look at them in LARGE FORMAT

A cottage on Ferry Lake, near Huntsville, Ont.
I was intrigued by several things:
the lamp throwing its shadow,
the parallel lines of the clapboard construction,
the obvious many layers of paint put on without
scraping off the previous layer
and last, but not least, the flake of peeling paint
exposing the pristine wood below.

A vegetable field in the "Holland Marsh"
just a little North of Toronto.
I loved the straight parallel lines of planted lettuce
leading the eye almost to infinity.
I say 'almost' since I deliberately included the barn
and the horizon at the very top.

Jackson's Point, at the south shore of Lake Simcoe.
A lawn right on the shore line.
A stiff breeze blowing spray, enclosing
each blade of grass in a frozen cocoon.

I don't remember for certain, but I believe
this is on the shore of the Mondsee in Austria.
The story tells of a year, a long long time ago, during which
the lake's water level rose so high that it covered the rock
and therefore also flooded the nearby town.
The citizens planted the cross and...
lo and behold...
there was never another such devastating flood.
If they plant another such cross, there will never again
be such bell-bottom pants as I was wearing then.

It's a dog's race !!!

The two long haired Afghans
have no chance against two 'Windhounds'
 in the game "Chase the Rabit"

All three wind Hounds hve caught up with the rabit,
while our Afghans are still huffing and puffing
in the back field.

YOU MUST SEE THOSE PICTURES
IN THE LARGE FORMAT:

Hey ! I caught the rabit! No, I did...
he's mine...

 

What Dogs !!!!

A friend of ours has two dogs.
I think they're called 'Afghans'
They don't bark !
They moan and groan, and whimper
and cry, just like a child

They simply break me up with laughter
when they start making their peculiar sounds.

 

 

Some more of the Old Town

This tower marks one end of the town square.
The opposite end is down by the river.
When I was a kid, nobody thought of
"Traffic Patterns", "One Way Streets"  "Restricted Parking Zones"
There were three cars parked on the "Stadtplatz"...
One belonged to the doctor, one to a veterinarian,
and the third one to the owner of the Hotel Post.
Now you may cruise up and down and up and down
until you find a parking space.
Other than that, not much has changed.

This plaque attests to the fact, that in 1960
the town celebrated its 700th year of existance.

A side street in the old part of Braunau.
There is a story to be told about almost every one of these houses.
In one of them, a man named Johan Phillip Palm,
a Nürnberg Publisher,
was incarcerated by Napoleon's forces and subsequently executed
by firing squad, because he refused to reveal the name
of the author of a pamphlet which he published:
"Germany at its lowest degradation"
While in one of the houses above, a victim of a brutal dictator
was held until murdered,
in the building below, another viscious dictator was borne.
This one, more than Napoleon, plunged Germany and Austria
into the deepest level of its degredation.

 

Braunau am Inn (1)

The little allee from which I accessed our house,
Stadtplatz 22.
My family occupied an apartment
on the 3rd floor from 1937 to 1976.
After 40 years at this address, when my sister and her husband
decided to build a nice single family home on the
outskirts of town, my mother is reported to have said:
"what ?... and move again?"

"Hans Steininger".
A city councilor, rushing downstairs in an emergency,
stepped on his beard, fell and broke his neck

A view from the river woods.

A view from just outside the original City limits.

Braunau am Inn

Upper Main Square with "Fischbrunnen" (fish fountain)
in the foreground and Old City Tower in back ground.

City Hall

 

Lower Main Square

Good News about my New Laptop

Well, hurray, my new laptop seems to be working. Firing from all barrels...
Now, if I can get the printer working in the wireless mode, I'll be happy.
On the location of the "Z" and the "Y" I simply will have to get used to it..
Mind you, I've been told just a moment ago, that if I want to change the whole thing to the English version, I will have to install everything from scratch...
Oh well... I'll survive this too...
Bertstravels