USA

EMMA MAERSK

This monstership, a miracle of modern technology operates strictly as a transpacific containercarrier.At207 ft width and 1300 ft long it is too large to navigate Suez or Panama canals.

A crew of 13 ( similar size aircraftcarriers may have a crew of 5,000).

11 cranes can operate simulaneously. Cost to build about $150 Million.Speed 31 knots, can make to trip in 4 days.Commandbridge is the hight of a 10 story building. Cargo capacity 123,000 tons.

Operated by the Maersk Line Emma Maersk has been operating between China and Califirnia USA since Sept.06.

The returntrip to China is usually made with empty containers...

Europe

....one of my trick questions at parties....:now that east and west Germany are once more combined ...what is the second largest country in Europe...realising of course that Russia, or the new name The Russian Federation is by far the largest country in Europe as well as the World.
Usually, the answer to my trick question is..Germany. Or England..France...Spain..
All wrong actually.
The second largest European Country is the Ukraine, former component of the Soviet Union.

the ugly American 10

Little Boy and Fat Man
Little Boy was the first nuclear weapon used in warfare. It exploded approximately 1,800 feet over Hiroshima, Japan, on the morning of August 6, 1945, with a force equal to 13,000 tons of TNT. Immediate deaths were between 70,000 to 130,000.

Little Boy was dropped from a B-29 bomber piloted by U.S. Army Air Force Col. Paul W. Tibbets. Tibbets had named the plane Enola Gay after his mother the night before the atomic attack.

Fat Man was the second nuclear weapon used in warfare. Dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, on August 9, 1945, Fat Man devastated more than two square miles of the city and caused approximately 45,000 immediate deaths.

Major Charles W. Sweeney piloted the B-29, #77 that dropped Fat Man. After the nuclear mission, #77 was christened Bockscar after its regular Command Pilot, Fred Bock.

While Little Boy was a uranium gun-type device, Fat Man was a more complicated and powerful plutonium implosion weapon that exploded with a force equal to 20 kilotons of TNT.

world

I've been somewhat intrigued by this strange place called Easter Island. A dutch ship one day found this little spot in the middle of the Pacific, on Easter Sunday and so they called it Easter Island.

politics...USA

time for change

hopefully...we will get there soon...

The new king and his team must concentrate on this hemisphere...north America and south/central America and bring this outrageously expensive middle east adventure to an end.

The financial mess caused by the stupidity and greed of the ruling class must be dealt with. The infrastructure has to be repaired and in the gulf region extensive changes should be made to avoid or at lest reduce the impact of another disaster.

An added concern is the re-emergence of a new and powerful Russia..not that the numbers matter much but we must remember that this nation has an incredible number of nuclear warheads at its disposal. (8000 or so as compared to our 2500).

politics...Canada

...new government..same party in power...a few more seats..the opposition party badly hammered. The ruling PC party now has 144 seats in the house ( of commons) as we call it, the opposition Liberal party is down to 77 seats, the strange phenomenon the Quebec bloc party got 50 seats and the NDP gained a few all at the liberal expense.

A clear majority would have called for 155 seats I believe, it did not happen and so, Mr. Harper will have to work with what he's got or risk another election in the near future.

Another problem the PCs are struggling with is the seats in the Senate. Because it is not an elected body the new PCs ( remember these are not the Torie's of old) had in mind to do away with the Senate....but to do that they need a clear majority. Now they may even be forced to appoint a few members to keep the liberals in check who at this point are able to slow down any new legislation.

And so, I've been musing....who was the last Tory? It is astounding to realise that this PC party is in reality a new party, grown out of the western reform party ( Manning) and has relatively little to do with the Progressive Conservatives from the days of Diefenbaker or Mulroney.

So, who is or was the last Tory?

Mulroney? Joe Clark? The Quebec Guy who turned Liberal to run the Province of Quebec? The Magnamans Daughter Stonachs old boyfriend with his dog?

Actually...I believe the last Tory in power was Kim Campbell, and in the election that followed her appointment she even lost her own seat...hard to believe that after two successive majority governments the party was reduced to two seats...

Or does it really matter. In any case after having been a supporter of the liberal party most of my life I've decided to vote PC the last two elections..

state of the world...

Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is the country's largest city. It is the second most populous city and the ninth most populous urban area in the European Union. Located in northeastern Germany, it is the center of the Berlin-Brandenburg metropolitan area, comprising 5 million people from over 190 nations. First documented in the thirteenth century, Berlin was successively the capital of the Kingdom of Prussia (1701-1918), the German Empire (1871-1918), the Weimar Republic (1919-1933) and the Third Reich (1933-1945). After World War II, the city was divided; East Berlin became the capital of East Germany while West Berlin became a Western enclave, surrounded by the Berlin Wall from 1961-1989. Following German reunification in 1990, the city regained its status as the capital of all Germany. Berlin is a major center in European culture, politics, media, and science. Its economy is primarily based on the service sector, encompassing a diverse range of creative industries, media corporations, environmental services, congress and convention venues; it also serves as a continental hub for air and rail transport. Berlin is the third most-visited tourist destination in the EU. Other industries include traffic engineering, optoelectronics, information technology, vehicle manufacturing, health care, biomedical engineering, and biotechnology. The metropolis is home to world-renowned universities, research institutes, sporting events, orchestras, museums and personalities. Berlin's urban landscape and historical legacy has made it a popular setting for international film productions. The city is recognized for its festivals, diverse architecture, nightlife, contemporary arts and a high quality of living. Berlin has evolved into a global focal point for young individuals and artists attracted by a liberal lifestyle and modern zeitgeist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin

America...

...time for change...changes...a change...

state of the world...

Fall...winter 2008 fashion,frankly this picture tells me just how screwed up this world is at the moment. This must be just about the goofiest getup I've seen in a while..

America...

...the big bail out failed, nobody knows or can even remotely guess where this will take us.
The USA, still the most powerful nation on earth is in deep trouble, caused by the ignorance of the ruling class, the billionaires supporting this group often referred to as the internationals...bla..bla...
What happens next is any ones guess. The British Empire is gone, Das German Reich is long history,the French have never been the same since the last of the Napoleonic wars, the Russian bear is about to flex it's muscles, fed up wit the sniping by uncle SAM, and despite it's considerable problems it looks like China is rapidly emerging as the new world power..not sure exactly where to fit Japan into this.

politics...Canada

An election has been called and sometime next month Canada will have a new Government.
I suspect that the Progressive Conservatives will have a slight majority or at the very least be back with a minority government.
For many years I've supported the Liberal Party, but I think it would be premature to have them back to run this country.
Canada is a very difficult country to govern ( what country isn't?).
The west feels detached from the rest of the land. Oil rich Alberta is in a boom state and has the attitude "let the eastern bastards freeze in the dark".
Saskatchewan and Manitoba don't appear to matter much. Liberal Ontario with the loss of manufacturing jobs claims to be a have not province no longer willing to support the other regions. Quebec with the separatist party making up the opposition as well as being elected federally is a joke. The eastern Provinces are still in have not mode, and, finally, Newfoundland with the offshore oil development would like to keep it all, never mind the many years of substantial support by Canada..
At this time I believe our best hope is a slight majority government of the PC Party. My choice, Steven Harper.

About the clover

....Diana keeps finding 4 leaf and sometime 5 leafclovers in the backyard...I've never found one in my lifetime.....

politics...USA

With the financial meltdown, (Fanny May & Freddy Mac)...Banks in troubles and failures, the departure of large brokerage firms etc., the USA has reached a point which at least in some ways reminds me of the great depression.
A quick fix appears almost impossible a few weeks prior to the election and unless the two parties get together to seriously bail out the country with workable solutions, the next few years spell serious trouble.
It was only the involvement in WWII that got the the states out of the depression and into a whole new world scene .
This will be a turning point in history and it is almost impossible to guess what the next few months will bring us.
It is truly unfortunate that we ended up with an individual in the White house who is clueless, has no sense of history, does not have the brains or talent to deal with either the American or World problems. A president who started this quagmire scene in the middle east, lost touch with the Americas and Europe and totally lost touch with the domestic scene. His go shopping attitude in the face of the 9/11 disaster has dragged us down to where we are today.
Yes...I have some solutions:-

World Scene; Georgia

....it's been much in the news lately and it could well be the spark to a new world crisis, no kidding..We are talking about Georgia..former component of the Soviet Union, of late under the influence of the USA..

It must be noted here that the USA should be extremely careful as to how to approach this scene, the movers and shakers of the Russian Federation have found their backbone thanks to the oil billions and the improved standard of living of their people.

At this time they appear to be firmly in control of the country.
While they admit that their controlled satellite states are gone from their direct influence to days Russians are having another look at the Soviet union components which have split off to become separate republics or countries if you will.
(Satellite states would be Poland, East Germany, Tchekoslovakia, Hungary,Yugoslavia and a host of others Romania-Albania, including the three Baltic states).

The two former components of the Soviet Union the Russians want to get back under their control would be The Ukraine and Georgia.

We must remember that the last foreign minister of the Soviets was a fellow named Edvard Shevardnadze born and educated in Georgia. The most Super soviet ever, Josef Stalin was a Georgian...in fact he refused to speak his native language and because his son never learned to speak Russian, Stalin refused to communicate with him.
It will be interesting how this flash point scene develops in the next few weeks but the point is that the Russians
have taken a stand and are in no way willing to bend to efforts of American Imperialism.

Two provinces of the Geogian Republic attempted to separate...

August 8/08 after Georgian troops tried to reclaim the breakaway province and launched an offensive involving heavy bombing of Tskhinvali,( wik link) Russian troops entered South Ossetia. Russian Troops also entered into Abkhazia. On August 10th, 2008 Russia entered Georgian territorial waters. Russia also entered into Georgian cities, and captured the main east west highway, effectively cutting the country in two. Both sides agreed to a cease-fire on August 12th, 2008, but on August 13th, 2008 Russia "violated " that cease-fire and sent troops and paramilitaries into the Georgian city of Gori.

art

Recently I created another blog to show off my somewhat limited talents as a painter...no, not walls or houses but art..picturs, scenes, birds, girlybums,portraits, you name it.

Whenever I get a little carried away thinking that I have some ability to express myself in art, I quickly view a couple of pictures by Panini..Italian painter, architect and stage manager.Just looking at this mans incredible productions rapidly brings me back to reality.

In any case, my art blog is:

http://fredsart.blogspot.com/

and you may want to have a look at it.

In the year 9, the Germans,....then...

And now, something totally different:

the 2000 year anniversary

of what many years later would become the country of Germany...we would refer to the date today as the

year 0009

...that is 9 years after the birth of Christ. Die Schlacht im Teuteburger Wald.

It was in the area, near the former east German border and close to Wolfsburg, the city famous for being the birthplace of the Volkswagen that history was made.

Varus, commander of 3 legions of roman soldiers (a total of about 20,000 men),somehow or other encountered incredible resistance and in fact lost his legions. I learned in school as a kid that Hermann der Cerusker managed to assemble enough men trained in bows and arrows to totally defeat the Romans.

This took place at a time when Rom and it's Cesar's were masters of Europe and the middle east. They had enslaved most of central Europe( Gallia,Britain,Central Europe).. as well as Egypt, Syria, Babylon and were about to move east as well..

Hermann stopped all that...;( actually, his name was Arminius, no idea where Hermann came from...).

after the loss of the roman troupes Rom was no longer interested in these regions, they called it the land of the barbarians.This area was never part of ancient Rom and it only became component of the so called Holy Roman Empire of German Nations hundreds of years later..which oddly enough did not include Rom.

AMERICA

...this picture is made up of 21,ooo soldiers..

American Presidents, world rulers, Kings...
Woodrow Wilson should probably be considered as one of the most intelligent of the American "Rulers".

AMERICA

Some useless comments on this idiotic gun law....is it not time that we get rid of this right to bear arms thing? How can we want to be an example to the rest of the world, export democracy, preach to the people of the world what's right and wrong and at the same time insist on an old amendment to the constitution called the right to bear arms...surely we can't be that stupid.

we...humanity keep on butchering one another, it's amazing that there are 6.7 billion of us on this earth. The picture depicts a decisive battle of the 1800's French and Germanic troupes...this one was won by the Prussians,soon after famous Bismarck managed to piece together what became DasDeutsche Reich...with the Kaiser at the top...

AMERICA

...happy 4th. of July America...and may the next year or two solve some of your many troubles.

...about the stupid picture....found it somewhere and just had to copy it...

it's kind of silly really

...but there you are....

AMERICA

Astonishing how time flies, another 2 weeks gone by since my last visit here..so much to do, and say, so little time.

Looks like Mrs.Clinton is done, the new up front Democratic Party winner is firmly in place and I hope he will soon be the new President of the United States. It will be a matter of " The King is gone...long live the new King". I never really realised just how much power the US President really has once in place. If Woodrow Wilson would have acted even slightly somewhat optional than he did, we would have a totally different World today. The fact of the matter is because of his lack of understanding the world today is not at all what it might have been.

If not for the slave trade, horrible as it was...none of the black/ colored/ somewhat racially mixed Americans obviously would be alive today.

It is good to reflect on these matters occasionally we might even learn a thing or two and avoid horrible costly mistakes in the future.

Vietnam....a complete screw up. There was no need for us to be there. What a joke, "to stop Communism". The Vietnamese simply did not want to be ruled by the Japanese, the French or the Americans, or for that matter by the Chinese.

Iraq, what a horrible mess we've created there and by the looks of it there's no way out. Was it bad information ( can't call it intelligence ) or how did we end up in this quagmire?

*7*

It's been a busy month and a lousy cold dragged me down as well. There's much in my head about worldconcerns, it comes and goes...question is who cares?