no taxation without representation

Copenhagen:  The imposition of the largest tax grab on the western economies by unelected, unaccountable and undemocratic forces:

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By Václav Klaus

Many thanks for the invitation and for the courage to organize such an important gathering in the moment when political correctness tells you not to do it.

We are meeting one month before the Climate Change Copenhagen Summit and several weeks before the U.S. Senate hearing regarding the cap-and-trade scheme. For these reasons, today’s meeting can’t be an academic conference, even though the topic still needs academic discussion. There is no consensus — neither in science, nor in economic analysis or politics.

I have already been at a UN Summit in Copenhagen before. It was in 1995 at the so-called Social Summit. At that time, the Summit was attended by then U.S. Vice President Al Gore who — so it seems — will be there again this year. I did also attend, as Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, but I don’t plan to go there now. I don’t see any chance to influence the results or to be listened to.

blog updates – photography

Canon S5 IS

Added new scenery pages.  Junior does not claim to be anything other than a hack, but with time and better equipment…..

Most photographs taken with a Canon S5IS.

Feel free to snag as you see fit.

Wish list: Nikon D90, or Canon Rebel T1i.

look out behound you – it’s the fierce creatures!

The littlest fierce creature has until recently been somewhat sparse in his verbal observations of the world – it’s not that he isn’t chatty, it’s more probably that for his entire life he has had to put up with two adults and an older brother finishing his sentences for him – with the result that he hasn’t been quite as garrulous as the elder fierce creature.   Which makes his collection of english language distortions fun.  More than a few of which put smiles on our faces:

“lotted“  – meaning plenty or lots;

“behound” –  meaning not in front; and

“I not your friend!” – meaning, you blew it dad.

around the world – part 38.1 (syldavia)

June 08 2009:

Ruined Castle near Budva

Syldavia,  a land of barren hills hard by the adriatic – stark and beautiful and sometimes known as Montenegro (although I suspect that Herge might have had Albania in mind) is the scene of my latest wanderings.  I arrived here on Monday the 8th and will depart three days later having barely scraped the surface of this harsh country. In Herge’s imagination, Montenegro, Albania, in fact anywhere in the Balkans was fantastically ‘other’ in a here there be dragons sort of way. I don’t blame him. It is a country that demands your attention – blistering hot in the summer, rocky, stubble covered hills and breath taking beaches and seascapes. The women are all six feet tall, gorgeous and serious. The men, short, fat and attached to the end of a cigarette. Go figure.

Word to the wise: Montenegro Airlines is where old airliners go to die. I flew in from Vienna on a Fokker 100 – about 1000 years old yet piloted by young lads desparate to impress the stunning stewardesses (“shining like a newly minted penny” to quote the corgi). Mind you it is a bit of toss up whether one might want a new and well maintained aircraft adorned with ancient battleaxes schlepping gruel onto your tray (see Air Canada), or the crap shoot of an ancient aircraft populated with amazons –  providing that frisson of interest as one simultaneously contemplates the idea of breaking apart at 25000 feet yet accompanied by some of the best looking women one will ever meet whilst flying. 

To add even more excitement;  the pilots got in on the act as apparently, even a jet liner held together with duct tape can be made to simulate a fighter jet – our hard spine compressing landing was embellished with a couple of good hard tarmac bounces thrown in for good measure, no doubt leaving a few rivets on the runway.  So there I was in in Podgorica (bet you never thought I would wind up there!) happily confronted with the decison to immediately board the motor coach or settle in for a few pints while waiting for the attendees from later flights.  Points to those who guess how many beer I had.

german as she is spoke (sumpf)

One of the curious things about language is not only the common roots of many words, but the divergence in meaning that similar words have taken over time as they progress through related languages.  Take German for instance - sumpf means swamp or marsh, while in English sump means, a hollow or pit into which liquid drains, such as a cesspool, cesspit or sink.

When exactly was the point of departure?  Clearly both words imply a common meaning at some time in the past, and yet over some time have diverged to mean quite different things, and yet not far enough apart to obscure the original meaning.

signs of spring

dog bites man…..

…….and in other news, at the Berlin Zoo, a polar bear unilaterally and with malice aforethought viciously attacked a human minding her own business….oh wait – she jumped in to the bear pen.  Stupid is as stupid does….

evolution 101

vodpod widgets

more about “untitled“, posted with vodpod

 

Anyone who has worked with wordpress.com, will have quickly realised that their uncompromising stance on security results in severe limitations on what kinds of widgets can be hosted on their site (self hosted wordpress sites are open to more opportunities) – however vodpod seems to have found a way to not only accomodate wordpress.com policies but allow the hosting of several flash and javascript enabled widgets which would otherwise be blocked. Experimenting – am trying to get the widget to display only in the sidebar – so far vodpod spawns a popout which I am not entirely happy with. This feature may stick around for a while or if I become annoyed with it, could dissapear altogether.

around the world – part 35.5 (putten netherlands)

10 March 2009:

And so:  the Audi Nav system earns two strikes against it. (1) It calculated a time of approximately 6hours 20 minutes from Greding Germany to Putten Netherlands (approx 650km) when clearly it only took 5 hours 5 minutes including a 15 minute bio break.  (2)  According to Audi, Putten is ‘not on a digital map service’ which accounts for the declarative statement – ‘you have arrived at your destination’ when surrounded by fields rather than the welcoming embrace of a hotel bar.  “Trousers down, tackle out, Yah-boo sucks to you fritsie” (anyone ?  -first comment citing the source will earn a beer at Kingston Brew Pub) to  audi for producing a sub par nav system.  Still all is forgiven for delivering a very pleasant driving experience……

housekeeping

Changed the ‘Travel’ page to read ‘Flight Reviews’ as this reflects the actual content a bit more accurately.

struggling through the recession one tattoo at a time

I suppose it was only a matter of time….

Ms. Gardner, 50, said in a telephone interview that she had told the officers that she was fine and had shaved her head for an advertising campaign by Air New Zealand, which had hired her to display a temporary tattoo. She turned around and showed them the message, written in henna on the back of her head: “Need A Change? Head Down to New Zealand. www.airnewzealand.com.”

Ms. Gardner was among 30 of what the airline calls “cranial billboards.” For shaving their noggins and displaying the ad copy for two weeks in November, they received either a round-trip ticket to New Zealand.

flu sucks

the flu has ripped right through our working group, laying low about 25% of the attendees – not to mention more in the other working groups. 

more stuff when I feel better.

winter

two fierce creatures duke it out...

It’s -13c, the yard is full of snow and herself has just about had it up to here with the fierce creatures, so its out to the back yard for the two of them.   Kid 2.0 might be smaller, but he keeps his older brother in line.

what would you do if…

… you came back from a long day surveying the Alaskan wilderness (!?) and found urus polaris maritimus sniffing around your car?  Well you might do a little bit of this, and then upon success you might decide that a career change – say surveying somewhere a little warmer –  might be in order.

One very lucky guy.

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