Bothered And Very Bewildered.

So far the dialogue in Copenhagen has produced enough hot air to set the world on fire ! My only claim to being green is the nausea I experience when reading the latest dictates from this bun fight .

As usual Europe is seen as the rich continent , responsible for every evil.

Why ? Clean air acts have been in force here for many a year . Water pollution is monitored and transport conforms to clean emissions . The public are taxed each pay day and now on all air travel . The vast majority of manufacturing takes place where ?

India and China .Reasons being life is cheap , labour likewise ,controls few and far between and corruption rife .ie ) make as may rules as you will but in theses countries a bribe will always get the official to look away . To talk of China and India as being developing countries is madness . Both keep a peasant underclass .One via caste system. The other through communism . Each has nuclear war heads galore and tests such frequently . Poverty ? No --an unfair distribution of wealth but through no fault of Europe . I read that Africa staged a protest . Well there's a surprise .They still have no decent roads and infrastructure. Who is to blame there ? Rubbish is strewn in many parts as indeed it is in India etc . Yet not a word .

Go to India and see the rusting transport carrying too many . Poverty is not the cause .It's indifference by the wealthy leaders who themselves have no need to use such.

Europe is judged as being wealthy since it has social welfare paid for by taxes . Fair distribútion . There in lies the difference and until Africa , China , India,Vietnam, Cambodia to name but a few , clean their act up in every sense of the word ,no amount of talk and money will save the climate .

Now it seems that if all is implemented over 55000 Germans will lose their jobs .

Which means what ? Fewer goods for the Chinese market but not a jot of difference to the climate .

My Snowdomes .

In just a couple of years my collection , has , like Topsy , grown and grown .Why you may wonder do I get such a buzz from these small things .
Not only do they serve to bring back pleasant memories of places visited ,they also show how much others think about me when ,on their travels ( business and pleasure )they take time out to find one and bring back as a surprise present .No precious gems. could ever make me happier - Plus it's Christmas all year round !
I may add a musical track .Not sure yet .

Thought For Today And President Obama.

War: a massacre of people who don't know each other for the profit of people who know each other but don't massacre each other.

Paul Valery .

So President Obama who , whilst campaigning , pledged peace and withdrawal of troops from overseas ,now believes war is necessary and conveniently presents the Hitler scenario as a parallel case for Afghanistan . SPARE US .
Hitler marched into Poland and ,didn't stop there . (By the way in 1939 the USA were not in the least bit interested in this. Only years later with Pearl Harbour. did they actually join in.) China still occupies Tibet but Mr Obama is keen to do more business with this regime . How soon his principles have changed .
Afghanistan has not invaded any country . Quite the contrary they have had the British , the Russians invade them , big time , then a civil war . I'm no lover of their life style but believe they should be left to develop their own society . Chaos and corruption rule after years of war . I don't see the advocates of further fighting taking up arms .The swaggering Mr Kasai doesn't exactly dirty his hands , save via deals with his brother . The above quote from Paul Valery sums it up. President Obama ,may be eloquent ,but this war talk is becoming oh so akin to that of his predecessor. Just who exactly is governing America ?
The Generals and Goldman Sachs or him .
You see they were not elected ! He was . Time to recall those pledges .

Panasonic

There are some who know me well enough to know that I am a Panasonic fan plus. Just see that brand name and I want to buy. Panasonic never comes cheap but in my experience has always guaranteed fabulous quality .. My Dimension 4 cooker , video , DVD and amazing Fridge -Freezer. All are wonderful . So why am I not so in love with this name right now ?Answer :-

The Panasonic Lumix TZ7

This is the second time I have purchased such a camera, The Lumix 5 had to go back as it was faulty .Purchased from a specialised camera shop I had a hard job getting a refund .Then last weekend I bought the latest version . After so many rave reviews I felt sure all would be fine. This time at a shop where most items are discounted and the returns policy excellent . Once more my Lumix is a lemon . Why ?

The settings are many and varied so I was advised to begin with 'intelligent auto focus ' There's a laugh - little intelligence . It simply can't deal with indoor ,artificial light . One is either jaundiced or cancerous . Nothing is sharp . Not desirable. The video mode is good and the microphone excellent . This is all . However, sad to say ,Panasonic insist you have Quick time format [not wonderful on a windows PC ] It is proving impossible to upload a video from Picasa to YouTube and to my blog . I can view but can't upload from windows. One of the main YouTube reviewers of Panasonic suggested I put examples of the shots on Flickr . Not wishing to open yet another system I've gone half way and made a collage on Picasa. It shows you really poor images . Thumbs down , money back go elswhere. Still I do have my fridge freezer .

Note) The previous post as indeed most others carry photos taken with a very old 65 € digital camera. It may lack the video sound quality but in stills is better.

Christmas In Berlin

Although Christmas has never been my favourite festival I can report there is improvement ! Last year in Scotland was fun and this year seems set to be fine . Friday night found me at The Scotch and Sofa with a very cosmopolitan group .Then today after buying a new camera it was down to one of nicest Christmas Markets in Berlin. Held at the Gendarmenmarkt ,it really is beautiful . The choice of food was fantastic. Excellent entertainment too . Inspite of extremely cold weather these ballet dancers never even shivered . The flamenco was stunning . Perched on a table top it was impossible to avoid heads , heads and more heads . I've also found just what I want in place of a Christmas tree , but more of that later . Do note that the pictures are with my old camera . Next week will find me trying the new one .[fingers crossed ]