Month: July 2017

My Diary, Last July Day 2017

The other day I wrote in my diary ‘we are in a bit of a rot.’ I thought that does not sound right, not at all. So I looked it up on WordWeb,  and I changed it now to ‘rut’. which is according to WordWeb: “A settled and monotonous routine that is hard to escape.” This now sounds about right to me. WordWeb often helps me out when I am in doubt!

It is true, the ‘monotonous routine’ is often hard to escape. Today for instance was the last Monday in the month. So we had our monthly residents’ get-together today. After spending the morning sorting out things I was not looking forward to have to get ready for our monthly get-together. Luckily, I made the effort to join my friends for afternoon coffee/tea and a lot of goodies. And it was not monotonous at all. We had some very lively conversations. Within ninety minutes we covered about a few dozen different subjects. But still, it was interesting how all of us chose something different to talk about. And everyone treated everyone with love and respect. We were four currant women residents plus two previous  women residents of our complex of ten dwellings. All these women are close to me in age. It is quite apparent that all of us have similar health problems due to our advanced age.

Last Friday Irene drove Barbara, Marion and me to Erika’s place. ( She lives a bit further away, a bit too far to walk there and back.) We were five women for our games afternoon at Erika’s. We talked about it that it had been a long time since we have had any rain. Everyone said we would need  some rain for our gardens. We wished very much for some rain.

I went to the Lakelands Park on Saturday and noticed a lot of dry patches of grass there on the soccer fields. Then yesterday, on Sunday. we had a very hot winter day. The temperature climbed to 26C, really one of the hottest July days ever for our area. But today we are back to 15C and to our delight, we got some beautiful downpours for our gardens. Everyone I saw today was very happy about the rain.

As I said, on Saturday I went for a walk to Lakelands Park. Some soccer teams had used the Park for a bit of soccer earlier on. But by 12 o’clock the park was totally deserted again. I remembered how in the past I often took some pictures while walking in the park. Well, probably nothing much had changed since I last took some pictures there. However I decided I would take a few pictures anyway. That way I had an excuse to interrupt my walking, giving me a bit of a rest. (I do feel better when I can take frequent rests!) I took pictures of some soccer fields and of some flowers in the neighbourhood.

DSCN3075
Part of this soccer field still looks beautiful green, other parts suffer from lack of rain and look pretty dry.
DSCN3076
This one is another soccer field.

 

 

Ministry for Energiewende, Agriculture, and Environment in Schleswig Holstein, Germany

https://energytransition.org/2013/12/robert-habeck-germanys-first-and-only-minister-for-the-energiewende/

Robert Habeck: Germany’s First and Only Minister for the Energiewende

by Paul Hockenos
20 Dec 2013

Germany’s northernmost region Schleswig Holstein was the first to establish an Energiewende ministry, which is now lead by the Green Robert Habeck. Paul Hockenos explains how the State became a pioneer of renewables – and the challenges that come with being the forerunner.

Robert Habeck

In Germany the plans are that “the last German nuclear reactor goes offline in 2022″.
And here I copy a bit more about plans for the inclusion of windpower and what had already been achieved in 2013:

” . . . . Schleswig-Holstein’s onshore wind power may be its big selling point today, but Habeck is not alone in envisaging the region as invaluable to the nation-wide Energiewende in other ways as well.

For one, the NordLink cabling to Norway will provide a vital option for storing electricity. Currently, the means of large-scale electricity storage is limited – a marked drawback for intermittent wind and solar power. One of the technologies ready-to-go is pumped-storage hydroelectric, which stores energy in the form of water, which is pumped from a low reservoir to one of higher elevation. When demand requires, the water is released through turbines to produce electric power.

Norway’s high-altitude fjords are so ideal for the purpose that some observers see Norway as “Europe’s battery“ of the future. Denmark and the Netherlands are already connected to Norwegian grid. Norway could store many thousands of megawatts of electricity for Germany. What’s needed is 600 kilometers of high-voltage power line along the floor of the Baltic Sea, which will take years to engineer.

And then there’s the enormous potential of offshore wind power, so far one of the Energiewende’s underachievers. Between Germany’s two seas, Schleswig-Holstein should be in the cat bird’s seat. Yet, so dismal have the results of offshore has been – and so spectacular the success of onshore and solar PV – many critics argue that offshore is an unnecessary and expensive lark.

Habeck disagrees. “It’s right now to scale back the goals set for offshore,” says Habeck, referring to the plans of Germany’s incoming administration. ”We may not need it to get Germany to 50% clean electricity. But to get to 100% we will definitely need it. And that’s our goal.“

This post by Paul Hockenos was first published in the European Energy Review. Paul Hockenos is a Berlin-based journalist and author of the Going Renewable blog.”

Just look at this section which shows what can be done as far as alternative energy is concerned:

“Norway’s high-altitude fjords are so ideal for the purpose that some observers see Norway as “Europe’s battery“ of the future. Denmark and the Netherlands are already connected to Norwegian grid. Norway could store many thousands of megawatts of electricity for Germany. What’s needed is 600 kilometers of high-voltage power line along the floor of the Baltic Sea, which will take years to engineer.”

Bill Clinton’s War Against Yugoslavia

This is very interesting to think about it how ’empires’ are being developed. This is fairly recent history. Is our great standard of living possible because of the building of empires? Who profits and whose lives are being destroyed? Have people always behaved like this, and can we learn from history, and which people are willing or able to learn from history for the betterment of mankind?

The Most Revolutionary Act

The US War on Yugoslavia

Michael Parenti (1999)

This talk, one of my favorites, is 1999 talk about about US empire. It offers quite a stark depiction of a US foreign policy consisting primarily of continual wars of aggression against democratic governments that thwart Wall Street Interests in exploiting their natural resources and labor force.

Parenti begins with a brief overview of colonization, starting with Western Europe’s colonization of the Slavic peoples and England’s colonization of Ireland. He goes on to to describe how India and Africa both enjoyed advanced and wealthy (far more wealthy than Europe) civilizations until they were invaded by European armies and their economies destroyed.

He proceeds with a detailed inventory of America’s continual invasions, bombing campaigns and covert wars around the world. The last half of the presentation focuses on the deliberate break-up of Yugoslavia by the US security state, demolishing the myth perpetuated by…

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The most beautiful Song ever written

The Most Beautiful Song Ever Written (Australian Aboriginal)
Mike Deakin
Mike Deakin
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Published on Nov 19, 2010
This song is called Wiyathul and it’s by a blind aboriginal man called Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu. This song has been hailed by critics and millions over the world as being the greatest and most spine tingling song ever written because of it’s Transcendental and wild beauty. WARNING THIS SONG HAS FULLY GROWN MEN IN TEARS!

My Diary, still July 2017

Last night Peter and I started listening to what Noam Chomsky had to say on one of his July 2017 YouTube videos. The theme was THE EMERGING WORLD ORDER. Here I published this video just as we started listening to it last night:

https://auntyuta.com/2017/07/28/noam-chomsky-july-2017-the-emerging-world-order/

We knew it would be running for one hour, and we were rather tired already. It was nearly past our bedtime. But I agreed, we should start watching it. Peter meant we could always stop it half way through and finish listening to it the next day.

Well, what Chomsky had to say sounded only all too scarily true to me. At some point I said I wish to stop it now, otherwise I might not be able to go to sleep. Peter thought he would not have any trouble going to sleep. True enough within a short time we were both fast asleep. We had really been very tired. It had been a long day again.

There are many, many more videos on YouTube about what Chomsky has to say about the state of the world. It is very interesting to listen to someone who has this amazing grasp of reality, a reality that most politicians do not seem to grasp at all. Could someone like Chomsky be a politician? Maybe not. Somehow it is remarkable that he can deliver his voice on the internet. Anybody who is able to access the internet really has a chance to listen to him. And voices very similar to Chomsky’s can also be accessed on the internet. I wonder whether in the long run these voices are going to change anything for the better as far as the actions of our politicians and other powerful people are concerned?
 

Albert (Elea) Namatjira

 

Published on Jul 27, 2017

Albert Namatjira Artist Biography

Albert (Elea) Namatjira’s 115th Birthday

Today is the 115th birthday of renowned Aboriginal Australian artist Albert (Elea) Namatjira. Born in 1902 near Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia, he joined the Arrernte community at the age of 13 where he developed his love for the rough and wild Australian landscape.

Born: 28 July 1902, Hermannsburg, Australia
Died: 8 August 1959, Alice Springs, Australia
Artworks: Central Australian Landscape, Mt Hermannsburg,

July 2017 Diary, continued from yesterday

Well, it was only yesterday that I mentioned that I feel as though we were in a bit of a rut at the moment and that I would like us to do a bit of travelling as soon as possible. Did I mention Germany? I think I did. So today we talked about it a bit more. It seems Peter is thinking of only going for a short holiday, maybe a two weeks holiday. So it really does make more sense, to stay within Australia for our little holiday. We already booked for a holiday weekend in August for Sussex Inlet. It looks that we could go for a two week holiday in September. Peter says he would like to go a bit up North where it is already a bit warmer in September. I agree, that it would be great to have a bit warmer weather. Peter mentioned going by car. I objected. I said straight away that I would prefer to fly up north. Now I leave it up to Peter to find  out where we could stay further up north. I think Peter is thinking of Port Douglas. Many years ago we stayed there for a few days in July. Port Douglas is so far up north that it was there pleasantly warm even in July. We could go swimming in the ocean. The weather had been just perfect for a beach  holiday. In September it probably would still be there great for a holiday. I wonder what a holiday package is going to cost there now.