funny, funny

I have a wonderful friend in Toronto, who, every now and then, sends me these little funnies. 

A little boy got lost in the Y and ended up in the "Women's Locker" room.
When he was spotted, the room burst into shrieks, with ladies grabbing towels and running for cover.
The little boy watched in amazement  and then asked: 
"What's the matter, haven't you ever seen a little boy before ?"

                                   ******************

Slowly turning the pages of the old family Bible, the young boy found a pressed leaf. "Look what I found, Mom, must be Adam's underwear."

                                   ******************

Smile !
Bertstravels

The Farmer and his chicks.

While he normally deals with Oxen, Cows and Calves, 

he handles these chicks with great care.

Roosters and Hens all over the place.

Talk about "quiet"

Went for a little ride into the Countryside.

On the way to the  border town of Eisenkappel, I saw a building, waaaay way up, seemingly just precariously perched atop a vertical rock face. Had to double back, since there was no way to get up there from this side. Finally reached the top. There isn't much to see:

A few houses, the largest being the house of the priest, a church and a very interesting "Karner", a bone storage facility. Since there is so little space up there, the grave yard around the church is small and old bones are stored in this Karner.

34 degrees incline, spiral road to reach the Village of Rechberg.

The enlarged church and the Karner in the background.

In very bad taste (personal opinion) the little tower of the Karner

was white washed and then red lines applied, faking the original 

building blocks.  Why not leave it as it was ? 

Just restore it where needed ?

( Notice the large opening at the bottom )

 ...and here, behind the wooden grate

the bones of some of the early inhabitants of  Rechberg.

(Difficult task to sort out this tumble of bones 

at "Resurrection Time")

Castle Bernstein

Yes, I know, I have posted these two pictures and more 

from a visit to Bernstein Castle some time ago.

In fact, several years ago.

Roaming around my picture library,

containing literally thousands of images, I came accross these two.

I like them because of their composition, 

and their gentle colours.

So, if repetition bores you, tough on you !

On second thought, I added this third image

 because of its somewhat mysterious  composition.

There is a doorway with the number "3" 

( certainly a number of superstition )

there are steps leading seemingly to no-place.

The walls, made partially of bricks, partially of rough stones of varying sizes, suggest that it was erected hurriedly,.....

.....the enemy approaching !

Bertstravels 

seems to have a lively imagination

Bernstein Castle during "Walpurgis Night "

changing colour with each stroke of lightening.

When Thunder roars in seemingly never ending waves,

the walls of the castle pale, losing all colour with fright.

and finally the fortress dissolves into its

electronic building blocks

and ultimately disappears from sight.

The Ghosts of Walpurgis Night were victorious

over bricks and mortar.

and Bertstravels 

had fun with his computer.

Nay-Sayers be damned

Fold your hands in your lap and nobody can critisize your deeds.

The President of the United States of America, Barack Obama, made an effort to normalize relations with Cuba. To this end he undertook a State Visit to this country and was welcomed by the President, Raul Castro, brother of Fidel Castro, the founder of this Communist Dictatorship.

Obama did this, as he stated, “to bury the last remnants of the Cold War between Cuba and the USA.”

He thereby made a most generous gesture, since a political peace would inevitably bring in its wake an economic peace and economic advantages to both sides, but particularly to Cuba.

Tourism from the USA to Cuba has already demonstrated a considerable upswing and commerce is expected to increase even more once trade restrictions imposed by the USA are being lifted.

Now, of course come the 'nay-sayers'.

Oh, well, they exclaim in print as well as in the electronic media, Obama did this in the dying months of his Presidency, only so he would be remembered in the pages of history. It was just an effort to build a favourable legacy.

With this jealous reasoning, Obama would have been forced to remain inactive throughout his second term, since anything he might have done would be labeled as “Legacy Building”.

In fact, if he wanted to avoid this label altogether, he could not do anything throughout all eight years of his Presidency, since all achievements would have carried this opposition inspired label.

Abraham Lincoln abolished lawful slavery only to establish a favourable Legacy.

Leopold Figl, Austria's Foreign Minister, negotiated the Austrian State Treaty only to establish a favourable Legacy.

And finally, Jesus Christ preached the Sermon on the Mount only to obtain a favourable Legacy.

Will these Opposition inspired “Nay Sayers” ever stop their inane babble and think ? Just Once ?

Most great people speak and do what they believe in and not what would make history books speak well of them. That their good deeds, as well as the evil ones are recorded on the pages of history books is a side effect.

Bertstravels

is getting a little sick of “nay sayers”

The Waterfall in Miniature

On the way up the "Kömmel"

to an OLD OLD farm

A story, true but hard to believe.

Apples vs the FBI

I am the most ardent defender of all democratic rights.

I am in favour of the right to a citizen's privacy, a right to free speech, a free press, and all the other rights which go along with the ideal of Democracy.

I believe also that these rights bring with them certain responsibilities.

Assume that from the window of my bed room I observe the commission of a heinous crime, say, a multiple murder, and I am the only witness to this deed. It is my information only which can assist the police in solving this crime.

Do I then have the right to refuse to supply this information to the investigators ? Do I have the right to insist that this might be an infringement of my own right to privacy? Or do I have a moral obligation, a responsibility to assist the investigating services ?

I most certainly feel the weight of an obligation to act in common with my society's protectors.

I shall be obliged to give them as good a description of the criminal or criminals as I am capable of giving.

Now to the Case:

Two terrorists attacked the Inland Regional Centre in San Bernardino, California, and in the process they killed 14 persons and injured 22 more.

Regional police forces apprehended the killers, who in turn were killed in a shoot-out.

During further investigations, the Federal Buro of Investigations, (FBI) came into possession of an I-Phone, in which they suspected to find electronic data helpful in solving this and/ preventing other, similar crimes.

The FBI could, however, not crack the security codes of this I-Phone.

They turned to Apple, the manufacturer of this phone, for help in cracking these codes.

Apple, however, refused to assist the FBI by claiming that it was their policy to never undermine the security of their products.

What have we here ?

First we have a Federal Police attempting to prevent further killings of innocent citizens, on hand of information possibly stored in this telephone.

Secondly we have a privately owned company, Apple, who is prepared to tolerate more terrorist attacks and to tolerate further killings of innocent citizens, simply to protect the inviolability of its product.

This is more than I, a sworn defender of all Democratic Rights, can accept.

There must be legislation which makes the refusal of assisting the Police in their efforts to solve an already perpetrated crime and/or the forestalling of future criminal activities, itself a crime.

Bertstravels