wilbau

Youth Orchestras Bad Ischl

transitenator@gmail.com (transitenator) — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:02:00 +0000

Unexpected pleasure during a walk:

The Essex Youth Orchestra (New Jersey USA)

gives a concert in the Kurpark Bad Ischl in Upper Austria.

Lots of visitors with lots of umbrellas ... it's been raining here now for two weeks.

Taking a walk with my dog while my wife does a visit to a doctor I came by this youth orchestra that gave a concert in the Kurpark in Bad Ischl today. They came from Innsbruck today and will go on to Vienna to give some more concerts.

Yes, they were charming.

The following short video just gives you some glimpses of these moments today.

-o-o-o-

Floodwaters in Upper Austria

transitenator@gmail.com (transitenator) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:22:00 +0000

June 2009 in Austria will not be remembered because of it's summer heat. No. It rained in torrents, temperatures sometimes dropped beneath 10 degrees Celsius ...

So here's a short video about my personal experience of the floodings from this time.

If you don't want to see it, you can still catch some quick impressions through the photos below.

-o-o-o-

The guilty ones? The clouds!

Normally small creeks fill up their creek beds (or river beds).

Looks like some light brown boiling soup. Better not taste it.

This waterfall IS LOUD, taking a shower here would be a bad idea now.

The river Traun

On June 24th still rising ... overflow.

Usually the river is a couple of meters away and the way is dry.

Good that I got these boots (being thankful).

A fire place, hm hm, seems that it's not time to grill something ... here.

Maybe an opportunity for 'Kneipp-Fanatics' to take a 'natural' foot-bath here :)

How was the June 2009 in your area?

Old Oriental Carpet Meditation

transitenator@gmail.com (transitenator) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 16:35:00 +0000

A Persian Carpet Mystery Tour

Citizens in Austria are supposed to bring some kinds of garbage to so called "Altstoff-Sammel-Inseln". Translated this means something like "OldStuff-Collection-Islands".

Some people go there to bring something, nevertheless there are times to pick up something from there (ohhh my!). And this action happened to this old and very dirty carpet. So ... it took some brushing to start a basic inspection.

Well, looks kind of promising, no major oil spots or spots with some other suspect substances. However lots and lots of dust, white dust, grey dust ...

So I challenge (not really) a photo editor, which helps my imagination to what this thing could look like or might have looked like once.

Yes, ... promising. It might pay to wash this thing.

After we took the look, we take the sniff now, is there something smelly or other bad odours?

No.

So we lay down, the test is satisfying so far.

There are possibilities. We will wash it.

Cats Pets LOLCAT Generation

transitenator@gmail.com (transitenator) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 21:27:00 +0000

Ladies and GentleMen!

The new LolCat Generation has arrived and waits to please you ...

... and to open your eyes to behold their beauty ...

... and to close your eyes to their food habits ... argh :( ... :) but ...

... nevertheless THEY found the way to YOU.

So ... here we go:

-o-o-o-

Putting down the MayPole

transitenator@gmail.com (transitenator) — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:17:00 +0000

The day before the Feast of Corpus Christi (here called: 'Fronleichnam') the Maypole has been put down. While the putting up of the maypole was kind of a celebration, an 'all-together-effort', the putting down of the MayPole is/was rather not spectacular.

A truck and a few strong men ...

Nevertheless, I recorded this 'putting down' and here is the video:

-o-o-o-

Besides, there was another purpose in sharing the video. This time I uploaded a film in .mov (quick time), as I have a camera that records in this format. Usually I upload mpg or mpeg.

So ... see a difference? Hm.

Ok, thanks for coming by! See ya ;)

Prehistoric BurialGrounds Hallstatt Graves

transitenator@gmail.com (transitenator) — Sun, 31 May 2009 20:29:00 +0000

So ... hopefully you are not afraid of skulls. If you are, sorry, I don't want to scare you. Matter of fact is that there is an interesting world here, 'around the corner', where I like to go to, think of previous times, enjoy nature and the sights, breathe some fresh air ... and forget (among other stuff) about Internet, Twittering, Search Engine Optimisation (hehe) etc.

Skull from the accessible exhibition grave above of Hallstatt.

When I look from Bad Goisern (at HallstätterSee), which is pretty close to Hallstatt to the south-east direction I see this view.

Hallstatt and the burial grounds are behind the mountain on the right side.

This view is from Herndl-Rundumblick towards the Dachstein Mountains.

Now we will change positions for a couple of times to give an overall view of the area here.

This is a graveyard in Obertraun. We are looking towards the EchernTal (Echern-Valley).

On the right side of the following photo, in the background, you see a tower, the RudolphsTurm.

You can click on the photos to enlarge them.

The RudolphsTurm is just a tiny spot here. This tower is close to the burial grounds.

Here we have the Dachstein 'in our back' and look across the Hallstätter Lake towards Hallstatt and the center of the World Heritage Area.

The RudolphsTurm now in the center. (Still tiny).

We take a closer look, zoom in ...

Hallstatt seen from across the Hallstätter Lake. Left above the burial grounds.

And here we are ...

Left side: RudolphsTurm and burial grounds.

Now we move to Hallstatt and - gloria victoria - there's a train going up to the burial grounds and the saltmine.

With the speed of light (well not really) we move up there, avoiding crashes ... :)

Some things happen to our ears, ... so we open our mouths ...

We take a look back, hmmmm

And are rewarded with views like this. Like the graveyard I mentioned above (the one from Obertraun) people in all times buried their loved ones in lovely places.

Looking down from RudolphsTurm / burial grounds towards Obertraun.

So we search for the burial grounds, and find a sign ... a path ...

Yes, it's true, I had to play around with colours. Positions of bodies in graves.

This path leads for the next 300 metres across an enormous prehistoric graveyard. Around 1500 graves have been uncovered until now. The period of the burials extends from the 8th to the 4th century BC. At this period, when the Roman Empire was only slowly beginning to emerge, Hallstatt was already a wealthy community with extensive trade relations as a result of its 'industrial' production of salt. Many of the skeletons found, show signs of the hard physical work of mining. The Hallstatt burial ground is a miners' cemetery.

That's what the sign actually looks like. :)

The bodies were usually laid in a west to east direction with their heads to the west and the line of vision towards the east. It is probable that this was for religious or cult ideas current in the times. The dead were laid stretched out on their backs with their arms at the side. In addition to the west - east burials, some of the dead were buried in deviating compass directions such as south - north or north - south.

Other burial variations include different positions of the extremities to those of the usual supine position. The arms and legs are at varioius angles and sometimes the bodily postures are unusual. The burial offerings are placed directly on the bodies, frequently in the area of the head or the hips.

Hallstatt Burial Grounds

The Master Miner Johann Georg Ramsauer (1795 - 1874) was the first to begin systematic archaeological digs at the prehistoric burial ground in Hallstatt located near the eastern exit of the salt mine.

He opened a total of 980 graves in the years between 1848 and 1863. An enormoous volume of documentation exists on his excavations including detailed records of the digs themselves plus descripions of the graves uncovered with the inclusion of many watercolours illustrating the graves and the archaeological finds.

The earliest Iron Age period in Europe that flourished between about 800 and 400 BC has been given the name 'Hallstatt Culture' after these finds.

Other important archaeologist who followed in the footsteps of Ramsauer include Isidor Engl, Josef Szombathy and Friedrich Morton and since the end of the 20th century the Natural History Museum of Vienna.

Getting buried. Bye, bye!

This major collection of finds from Hallstatt that gave a name to an epoch was moved to the Natural History Museum in Vienna at the end of the 19th century. Smaller collections are housed in the Museum Francisco-Carolinum in Linz (Upper Austria) and the local museum in Hallstatt.

The number of excavated graves reached 1500 in 2007, but it is conjectured that there are some 5000 burials in the grounds. The entire population is represented in the burials, from newborn babies to the very old. Roughly half of the dead were buried in a standard inhumation and half were first cremated and the remains were then buried.

Reconstruction of an original placement.

The inhumation grave exhibited is shown as it was for the placing of a body wrapped in a cloth shroud and with wooden and earthenware vessels in perfect condition.

Cremation Grave

The cremation grave has an eartheware through base on which the ashes and bone fragments were scattered.

The grave above shows the condition after the archaeological dig with all organic material rotten away and the earthenware vessel crushed.

For Treasure Hunters: GOLD, 'Celtic Gold' !

So, I hope you liked this. I'll continue to write on similar issues and you can find more posts on this subject on this blog. Please leave a comment if you have particular interests or want to know more on certain (alike) subjects. Have a nice day!

Saint Barbara

transitenator@gmail.com (transitenator) — Sun, 31 May 2009 17:05:00 +0000

Crawling around in the Hallstatt area we find a shrine of a certain Barbara.

Barbara might have looked a bit different.

The location of the shrine is close to the prehistoric saltmines. So to speak of a time be4 todays datamines. ;) Nevertheless we still need salt and it is won here until today.

A look in direction to the saltmines.

Well our (search) dog (Moogle) is in no way heavenly minded. What he is searching for is usually on the ground or something underneath so he has to digg for it.

There MUST be something underneath. Or would he do that just 4 nothing?

Besides searching for maybe imaginary objects, Moogle won't miss a chance to behave somehow ridiculous. Nevertheless as usual, he get's us completely sidetracked. So .....

... and the tongue hanging out. No selfcontrol. Omg.

... we found this shrine. And the connection of this shrine to the salt mines is that this person or saint: 'Barbara' is/was the patron of the (salt) miners.

So what's the background story? Hm, or is it the front story?

Saint Barbara is the patron saint of miners. The legend says that her father locked her in a tower for three years because she converted to Christianity and that she was baptised there against his will.

Because of this her father cut her head off with his own hands and immediately afterwords he was struck down by lightening and killed.

Saint Barbara lived to be 29 years old. This is commemorated in the traditional miners' uniform with its 29 buttons, three of which must always be kept open.

And according to another source:

At heathen times Mr. Dioskorus wanted his daughter to marry an elegant man. He held her like a precious gemstone. When he was traveling, he put her in a tower with two windows.

One day when he returned, he found yet a third window in the tower. It was in the wall of the tower room with a marble cross as a sign.

Barbara confessed that she had installed the cross and the windows to always have a sign of salvation and the mystery of the Holy Trinity to remember.

The father wanted to kill her on the spot but she escaped and her cause came before the judges. She was tortured a lot. God healed her wounds. She appeared for a second time in front of the judge's chair, where the father got so wild that she got tortured again and killed by his own hands.

So .... that's what can happen, you walk harmlessly around in nature, your dog diggs a hole and then ... what comes up?

Things that can make your hair stand up.

The official day for Catholics to remember Barbara is December 4th.

Spring Saturday Bad Goisern

transitenator@gmail.com (transitenator) — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 19:14:00 +0000

As the temperatures are rising here my 'blogging fingers' start to itch, as well as my feet that want to go outside and enjoy the explosion of life after a long cold winter.

Bad Goisern at the HallstaetterSee, surrounded by mountains.

Yes, this is the part of the world I'm living in and I'll show you just a few views and will share some short impressions from a beautiful Saturday in the spring of 2009.

You can click on the photos to enlarge them.

Some 5000+ people are living here. Hm, I could be wrong, maybe a bit more. On the above pic we are looking to the SouthWest. In winter times there's the Orion in this direction (on the sky above).

So where's the webcam?

Looking to the West there is a webcam installed close to the 'Goiserer Huette' (Goiserer Lodge).

The Goiserer Lodge (Zoomed).

From here you could take a look into 'my' world with a WEBCAM right now.

Night view of Bad Goisern from the webcam.

Please consider that we've got CentralEuropeanTime here, summertime, to be exact, so ...

Looking to the SouthEast direction (I love clouds :) there are some bigger mountains on the horizon: the DachStein.

The 'KrippenStein', a part of the DachStein.

This area is known to be populated for a couple of thousand years. The Celts were here, the Romans ... Why? Because of the SALT, which is still won till today.

Yes, this was the proper place for a short rest.

That's why the bigger area around here is called "SalzKammerGut" which I would freely :) translate as "SaltChamberTreasure" or maybe even "SaltChamberBonus" (Hehe, U can quote me on that one).

I'm not what you could consider as a 'Local Yocal'. Decades of enjoying urban life are behind me. However, as you know, there's a time for everything.

A time to indulge in this soft fresh green, after a winter period of black and white.

And a time to watch the marriage feasts of blossoming trees with bees etc.

Nevertheless, after tripping off into foolish things I leave my place of rest and have to crawl around. Water is always a kind of attraction.

An attraction that can get dangerous for people, houses etc. so it has to be a bit controlled in civilized areas.

I always have to check the river- or creek beds for stones (and gems and gold of course). I washed some gold in Canada, a couple of years ago. (No, no, I am not rich, believe me :). The Romans were very eager to find gold and what could be found, they took already 2000 years ago... away, as they usually did in the parts of the world they conquered.

So, to say it very clear:

The Romans conquered Others to get Others gold and not to give gold to Others.

Moogle, my search dog, leads me to something which looks like a secret gate to Mordor. Would it be justified to speak of 'Mordor Culture' in this case?

The practical aspect might be that this thing is used for water regulation. I suppose it looks very civilized. However, walking peacefully in nature and finding such a thing is usually kind of a shock. Of course this depends from the sensual software equipment of the spectator. From one moment to another you don't feel like walkin in a creek, but in some kind of gutter.

For a proper shock treatment I uploaded a short (very humble) 3 minutes video of this very Saturday Spring day. Church bells, birds twittering (well they weren't online (yet :)).

I hope u'll enjoy it. Your comments are welcome.

-o-o-o-

KRAMPUS TIME

transitenator@gmail.com (transitenator) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 18:03:00 +0000

December 5th is a special day in Austria. Usually of more importance in the rural areas: The Krampus Day.

For quite some time a lot of people have been working on their devil masks. Now in these days it's time to show up with these. Yes, things like these happen in Central Europe ;)

Good masks are carved out of wood.

No limits to anyones phantasy. However the devils do not wear any signs that could be connected with offensive sexual content.

The Evolution of Devils ;)
(when everything evolved why not them?).

The facial expressions could pretty good reflect the standard typical mood of some social network members. (Not you, of course).

As a devil has to make much noise, here's some equipment to produce it. Krampusse wear chains too. However this doesn't have something to do with SM-treatement. (SM=Sado-Maso).

Some 'devils' seem to 'have' great appetite. Watch out that you don't become a dinner for them.

Yes, pictures of an exhibition. I will try to get some 'live' ones on Sunday (very difficult and dangerous), if it works I will post them here, so come back.

Furs of foxes. The use of Fox Furs let's me think of a lot of Chinese Fairy Tales in which Foxes do play an important part. People can turn into foxes. These foxes can be dead people or something like Zombies. Usually they don't bring nice presents.

This guy got brains, so watch out for what he's got to say.

On December 6h is the 'Nikolaus Day'. He can show up at decent peoples houses, asks the kids if they've done good and behaved well and if they did they get some sweets. Before the sweets got invented he would give to them apples (no computers) and nuts.

Krampus traditions are mostly practised in the mountain regions of Austria (well some hills might work on it too). Therefore some Krampusses look like mountain spirits.

No, it's not KISS, though they seem to work on it.

As I said ... pictures of an exhibition.

So pray for me, that I'll survive this evening ;)

Oh, this one seems to like you too!

If you need a devil avatar you can help your self at:
DEVIL AVATARS

Only 99 $ per Avatar which you can donate
to a any charity organisation. ;) of your choice
hm, however you can make it yourself cheaper.

AIDS HIV Africa BloggersUnite

transitenator@gmail.com (transitenator) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:08:00 +0000

Can you 'see' Aids in Africa?

Following the call of AIDS.gov and BlogCatalogs BloggersUnite Action to post about HIV/AIDS I'll share some direct impressions (& photos) from Malawi Africa. I can do this as some of my children are and have been working there in rural areas for two years and have been interacting with the people right on the ground among the rural masses.
To summize this post:

AIDS is not just a disease that kills people,
it's a danger for a society in itself.

Tags (or whatever) for this post can be for example:
"Health, Africa, Society, Aids, HIV, Development."

First, some words about this action.
December 1st, is World Aids Day. ( #WAD08 ). Worldwide, an estimated 33 million people are living with HIV. In the United States an estimated one million Americans are living with HIV. AIDS.gov is partnering with the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and Blog Catalog for Bloggers Unite on World AIDS Day 2008. This event encourages bloggers from around the world to dedicate their blog posts on December 1, 2008 (World AIDS Day) to issues related to HIV/AIDS.

Malawi is a beautiful country with beautiful people
like other African countries.

View from mount Mulanje (all photos by my children).

The Tuchila River

White people are interesting.

An European tourist who visited the country, the national parks etc. said: "We've been now around for 28 days in Africa, but I've seen no one with AIDS."

Some tourists that come to Africa even think that AIDS is just a fairytale, because they haven't seen anyone with AIDS.

Yes, when looking outside the Adventure-Africa-Safari-Busses you can not see that children are infected.
From a letter of my daughter: "The people that got infected with AIDS haven't got that written on their foreheads. If you shake someones hand, take a child into your arms, you don't know if that person or that child got AIDS.

And also when you get to know people from the country, they don't greet you with:
"Hey I am Chisomo and I have AIDS."

When you live among the people, and when you check it, how many people in the villages are dying, THEN you realize that AIDS is no fairy tale.

The carpenters are constantly busy with the construction of coffins for adults and children. There are many 'Coffin workshops'. Mostly you see a dilapidated sign on a simple house where someone is busy to saw a tree with an old saw.

The immune system of people that got infected with AIDS is so bad, that they die of more or less serious illnesses like, for example, pneumonia.
Newspapers report like this:
"The (famous) singer of this or that African Music Band has died because of pneumonia". They won't mention AIDs, 'AIDS' is still a tabu-word.

So ... a lot of people are dying, mostly under 40 years of age. Many of those people are parents. They leave children behind. Children without AIDS, children with AIDS.
This leads to a society where there are lots of children and adults are few. Therefore some speak of Malawi as a 'state of children' because half of the population is under 15 years old. Imagine that!

Many rural areas remain inertia, because the parents no longer had the opportunities to share their knowledge. The orphans usually find shelter at some 'other relatives'. Those 'other relatives' are grandparents or older siblings', people who cannot pay school fees.

AIDS is thus not simply a problem in Malawi (or Africa), which leads to many sick and suffering people, it is a problem which is changing the whole structure of society and especially to the detriment of children.
However, there are already many programs that try to tackle this problem (eg development programs, education programs, AIDS support groups, etc.). There are helpers.

So what does it mean for a country to have lots of people that suffer from AIDS?

It means:
* People don't get old. They just die away.
* A lack of older people.
* Less help in families.
* Less grandparents can help in caring for children.
* Less teachers.
* Less workers.
* Less thinkers.
* Less experience.
* and you can continue this list ...

---

Refugees Austria Political Asylum

transitenator@gmail.com (transitenator) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 12:49:00 +0000

Content Overview: * Refugees in Austria, * Austrian Organizations that help refugees, * Never forget (persecution of Jews in Austria).

This post is joining (a part of) BlogCatalogs BloggersUnite actio n to raise awareness for refugees.

"Bloggers Unite is an attempt to harness the power of the blogosphere to make the world a better place."

"The core cause of Bloggers Unite and Refugees United is information. Information leads to empowerment."

To be a refugee has a lot to do with having ('owing') a well founded fear of persecution for many reasons.

The official definition:

... a well founded fear ...

Since 1945 around 2 million refugess have come to Austria. Most of them moved onwards to other countries, 700.000 chose to stay in Austria.

Because of its geographical location, for some time, Austria WAS one of the most important countries in Europe to receive those that fled worsening conditions in their countries.

Culminations in the movement of refugees were also caused by conflicts in neighbor states of Austria like Hungary (1956), Czechoslovakia (1968) and Yugoslavia (1994).

For example: 1994 there were around 60.000 refugees from former Yugoslavia in Austria. Just for orientation: Austria got 1961 7.09 million inhabitants and 2007 8.32 million inhabitants.

Refugees from Hungary, 1956

Well I don't want to give you a too 'rosy' (optimistic) picture of the situation for refugees in Austria. It's one thing to want poltical asylum and it's another one to get it.

The refugee camp 'FlüchtlingsLager TraisKirchen', first place for refugees to Austria.

Some numbers can show this (Source: UNHCR)

Political Asylum in Austria

Year Applications Got political asylum

-----------------------------------

2007 11.879 4936

2006 13.349 4063

2005 22.461 4650

2004 24.676 5208

2003 32.359 2084

2002 39.354 1073

2001 30.127 1152

2000 18.284 1002

----------------------------------

Such tables are and have been subjects of intensive debate of the political parties. Generally it can be said that attitudes are kind of moving 'to the right'. Thus meaning that the whole political landscape has become more 'reserved' in giving political asylum to each and every refugee that manages to 'land' in Austria. This mostly out of the necessity to win elections because ... as it seems ... Austrians and especially people in Vienna have become pretty critical of 'AusLänder' ('Land' = country, 'AusLand' = from outside of the country).

Recently also the percentage of refugees coming from Iraq and Afghanistan has risen.

I will not go into any more details here. Further information can be easily found at the UNHCR and other places.

Now I hint to some Austrian Organizations that do help refugees and that are very concerned about HUMAN RIGHTS FOR EVERYBODY EVERYWHERE.

Besides governmental institutions the Austrian Caritas is caring for accomodations, lodging, supervision and mentoring. It's important for this organizaton, which is closely related to the Catholic Church, to not leave refugees alone but that refugees are able to live humanely.

Refugee Service: FlüchtlingsDienst der Diakonie

Since 1991 the 'AsylKoordination Österreich' (asylum-coordination Austria) fights for the rights of refugees, for a society without discrimination and prejudices.

The pressure group SOS Mitmensch fighting and working for the enforcement of Human Rights with the goal of equal opportunities and equal status for all people ... so also and in special: refugees.

Anti-fashistic No-Racism.Net is watching the rightist scene in Austria.

Verein MenschenRechte

Chances (projects) for refugees at the employment or man- (woman-) power market. (Only for 'approved', 'acknowledged' ... refugees.

And if you want to put yourself into the shoes of a refugee you might like to play this online game: LastExitFlucht

-o-o-o-

Appendix

There was also a time when people fled away from Austria or when it would have been better for them if they had done it. Exactly 70 years ago on November the 10th in 1938 the Jewish Temple in Vienna looked like this:

Jewish Temple of Vienna (burnt by the mob) after the night of the 'NovemberPogrom' 1938

In the night from November the 9th to November the 10th 1938 Austrian Citizens attacked fellow Citizens (Jews) for the reason of racism, hate ... and propaganda. People got mobilized and a lot of damage, A LOT OF DAMAGE was done. Yes ..., sorry doesn't fix it.

The sign also says: "Don't shop at Jewish stores ..."

Soooo .....

Formerly a Nazi Propagand Poster of Adolf Hitler

... be awake, watch the 'signs of the times' and maybe distrust leaders that seem to be very ... charismatic ...

-o-o-o-

Maybe think to help and care about & for ... refugees.

Butterfly Award Effect Symbol

transitenator@gmail.com (transitenator) — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:29:00 +0000

Yesterday I received a 'butterfly award' of Hicham (Cairo-Egypt) and will pass this award onwards to 10 bloggers.

Though I live in a beautiful mountain area, butterflies are rare here (now). And of all the thousands of photos I made this year I just got a handfull of butterfly pics.
Here is one: Can you find the butterfly? You can click on the photos to enlarge them.

The butterfly is exactly in the middle of the photo.

"It has been said ..." hm, I always liked to mock about the chaos theory, however a lot depends on the perspectives ... Nevertheless in taking daily walks and looking to the ground, the floor seems to be a perfect chaos of dying leaves. Or maybe I have misunderstood something :)

As I said above, the reason for this post was the message from Hicham, a fellow blogger and friend from Cairo-Egypt, that I'd gotten the 'butterfly award' which afterwards (of course :) led to some reasoning about the activity of blogging itself as well as to some other inspiring, uplifting and encouraging aspects.
The Blogger as a butterfly, you saw it in the first photo above: the butterfly wasn't easy to discover. The resting butterfly (just a blog in itself) can sometimes hardly be seen, one has to search for it and has to know what he/she is searching for.
Much more easily we can see the butterflies when they flatter around from flower to flower (leaving comments and thus also meaning referring to itself, but also giving feedback and seeds to the visited flowers (also blogs). So this is the picture of the blogger as a butterfly and blogs as being flowers.

Before I announce the winners just a few words to the

Award’s Rules

* Put the logo on your blog;

* Add a link to the person
who awarded it to you.;

* Link 10 other bloggers
to whom you give this award to.

The winners are (alphabetically):

Gil

Another thing that immediately presses into my mind (this seems to come from educational brainwashing :) in connection to butterflies is the so called butterfly effect.
The butterfly effect which is spiritually at home in the chaos-theory sais something like: "If a butterfly claps its wings in one part of the earth, then something else happens in another part of the earth. Or so.
The butterfly is a symbol of: change transformation resurrection the soul ... more to butterfly-symbolism.

You'll find some links here that have more elaborated words than mine. So what the butterfly effect could describe is that doings and happenings in one part of the world can have an effect or cause an event in another part of the world.

Change one thing, change everything!

Some of the pics above I cut out the Oasis video: "Stop Crying Your Heart Out". Well, hehe, we bloggers and twitters will still do that ... :)
Nevertheless here is this inspiring video:

-o-o-o-

At another blog I put a playlist about Butterfly effect videos plus a short touching story about a caterpillar. Hope you enjoyed this post. Please bookmark, stumble digg mix etc. it and again:
Congratulations to the winners. Are burdens our blessings? Comments are very welcome!

This Blog is Mobile

transitenator@gmail.com (transitenator) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 14:34:00 +0000

This Blog is mobile now.

Soccer Malawi Congo Photos

transitenator@gmail.com (transitenator) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 09:23:00 +0000

Today I received these pics from my daughter Petra. She works in Malawi and discribes herself as "being Malawis biggest fan". Well hm, my family actually isn't much into soccer, football or any sports stuff besides hiking, walking etc. However I believe her.

You can catch a bit of the exciting atmosphere here before the game started. On this blog I already posted once about a soccer game. That was the game Egypt-Malawi (World Cup).

Petra writes: "It was just super, Malawi won 2:1 and now, if Malawi keeps going like this, Malawi has good chances in the world cup". (Russell Mwafulirwa scored twice).

"The game started rather slowly. Then Congo scored a goal, well the ball was just rolling ... then there were a couple of fouls ...eeeeehhhhh... ".

After Malawi scored a goal in the first halftime. The crowd wasn't to stop and the general mood was unstoppable.

After the second goal ... complete enthusiasm.

This victory of Malawi is another surprise, because Congo is pretty good in soccer.

Happy Malawian Fans.

After the game, peace and order have to be restored again.

If you are interested in more News on Malawi
you might like to check out this blog:
Stories on Malawi
or visit Clements Blog

I share the latest news on twitter and update photos frequently at my twitpic account.

blog-action-day roots poverty brainjustice

transitenator@gmail.com (transitenator) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 18:05:00 +0000

BlogActionDay 2008
BrainJustice dimming poverty? Get twice the world for half a price?
A glimpse at some roots of poverty.

This BlogActionDay will make a difference. Why?

That's exactly where 'the brain' comes in. With this question: "Why". Who is responsible for our brains? Who feels responsible?

Morning, 2008 October 15th. Writing for BlogActionDay. Not online yet.

In the thinking about our thinking, in directing 'microscopes' & 'telescopes' into the clouds of WolkenKuckucksHeim (CloudCockooLand) one quickly comes down from the elaborated heavens to a kind of devastated earth.

Photo made by one of my daughters who's working in Africa.

Spiritually said: "Heaven and Earth are not in harmony". The thinking expresses itself in one way, the practical doings in another. The left hand doesn't know (or doesn't want to know) what the right hand does. (One might argue the left brain side via the right brain side :). All in all, if you are experienced in the receipts of the Holy Books, you see a not at all 'new' phenomenon.

WATER, precious water.

Multiplication shouldn't equal robbery or theft, multiplication should be growth. Growth is gained by having everyone participate in the fruits of multiplication, which combines the efforts of work AND sharing.
The disappointment in the years after the Millenium, the outbreak of new-old irrationality, just show the truths of the ancient philosophy or 'psychology' of the heart. The concept and model of the heart which is usually seen upon as being 'religious, irrational and unscientific.

BoneHunters welcome.

Looking at the terms of the 'heart model' we find words like 'greed', 'selfishness' etc. which have been kind of extinguished out of modern days 'brain models'. And a modern heart theory isn't there either. Omg. a heart, what should that be? Modern scientific theories (with some of them quite often claiming this unbelievabe thing: 'objectivity') have left a lot of people alone. Left to a not-understanding of themselves, of others of the situations they are in. Left to be cattle for the media slaughterbanks.

When misconcepions lead, the relations of things get foggy and make one forget, that doing one thing at one place effects someone or something else at another place, even far away.

As Norbert Elias pointed out, the chains of interactions have grown longer, over the centuries. And they still grow longer, effecting all the little things of our daily lifes. Like a monster or an angel or what ever, maybe a spirit that reaches out with it's sticky fingers from a desk somewhere, maybe in some great city (or for some close to the Himalaya) towards the 'ends of the earth to get everything under it's control with the main purpose to become the greatest god-alike top notch monster or angel or whatever.

An ugly picture?

Where are the pictures of the Saints? Are there Saints? Who were the unselfish people helping others sacrificing their own lifes? Why aren't there any pictures of 'Saints' in our living rooms? Or were all Saints just religious fanatics responsible for all wars on earth and each and every cruelty filled up with blind and dumb stupidity?

'Climate change' has been upsetting peoples minds in pro and contra. There is one thing for sure, a material parallel to the dimming of the mind, it is the so called 'global dimming'. 'Global dimming' is not to be equalized with the 'global climate change' phenmenon.
9/11 (Nine-eleven) brought some things to the light: The new Millenium wouldn't bring a new 'golden peaceful age'. No. Just the same old violent ways that we know from all the past wars. Nothing new. We just continue. But 9/11 also made the discovery of a phenomenon possible which is called 'dimming'.

Dimming ...

To put the clue in one sentence: The output at one part of the earth, has a direct effect on another part or parts on our earth. There is a video on Global Dimming (60 minutes) on this subject through which you can gain some further information. It can explain for example, why there's so much poverty in certain parts of Africa.. The point is: Everybody is effecting everybody.

Everybody is effecting everybody.

Each and everyones production- as well as consumption 'habits' or 'conditions' spread an influence over all the earth, to other people.
What the mentioned video above doesn't say (and that's what I'm here for):
Each and everyones suffering of neglect is also a part, is caused by our own spirituality. Because each and everyone is more or less responsible for each and everyone on earth. This fact cannot be sensed by everybody. A lot of outstanding personalities of the public life can feel this, know this, and stand up for the poor and neglected.

Flowers at a junkyard (Europe).

What is this feeling or this perception alike?
It is the feeling of being responsible for others, being responsible for the condition of the world. There is this term 'WeltSchmerz' meaning something like WorldAche, it is a heart ache a pain of the soul caused by the knowledge of people suffering, being in pain. This feeling doesn't 'taste' very good, it demands action, to care for others. It's not necessarily a matter of guilt but of empathy, of being conscious of the interconnection of all living beings (goes for animals too).

Palyda and Tisha

One day, one will pay.
Sorry to say. There's nothing for free. Everything's got its price and all objects that aren't 'things' have their price too.
You can make something out of nothing if you work on it. It's easier to make nothing out of something, to destroy ...
Of course you know all this.

Sacrifice ... Someone has to pay, someone paid the bills, someone will pay or he/she doesn't know that he/she will have to pay ... one day. It's honest to say, that there's nothing for free. Pulling someone over the table will make one pay ... one day.

Looking for buyers ...

Any services, lifestyles, enterprises, religious or similar groups that have these 'free' offers will make you pay the harder. And they themselves will have to pay too.
There's no getting away.
Why? Because 'they' give a credit, that one didn't earn yet. Thats how one gets obligated. Actually all one gets, is a promise, a big shining beautiful looking promise that is hypnotizing and attracting.

-o-o-o-

This topic might be continued. Your comments are welcome. You can mail me at transitenator(at)gmail.com and/or we can connect at twitter: transitenator (follow me, I'll follow you).
Photos are made by my children and me.

Refugees Human Rights StumbleUpon

transitenator@gmail.com (transitenator) — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 15:45:00 +0000

Yesterday I received a short note from Aloke Kumar on StumbleUpon. He had posted a short biography of the Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh with the dedication:
"This tribute is for Wilbau from Austria who believes in Spirituality ...".
I had one of these 'electrifying moments' with some feelings of guilt of not having done enough to promote Human Rights in the last few months.
These months weren't always sunny, people get suspicious and sometimes one can get the feeling of running against walls etc. However, this tribute of course does make me very happy and encourages me a lot. Thank you Aloke!

Before I will pass on the 'glory' or better said: 'credit' to my fellow Bloggers (and Stumblers) and to BlogCatalog I share some words about Aloke.

Aloke, 50-something, is from Calcutta, India. He sais in his profile: "We live in a fantasy world ... sometimes ... when not ...like having a bad dream", well you can read for yourself in his profile at the above link or check into the story of Aloke Kumar's life.

On StumbleUpon, Aloke has over 1k subscribers and favored 43k items. If you want to stumble and see great pages then subscribe to him.
You can see his post on Thich Nanh Hanh below.

Now, already for a couple of years the Bloggers Unite action of BlogCatalog gives Bloggers, Vloggers and PhotoBloggers an opportunity to use their blog to make the world a better place.
"Use your space
to make the world
a better place".
Yes that sounds like something that people like John Lennon, Yoko Ono or Michel Jackson would like to hear, because they also sang about it and promoted peace (and better living qualities) years ago.

The last Action on BlogCatalog in May 2008 was for the promotion of Human Rights. Now in October 2008 if you search for the term 'human rights' at BC's new improved search you can find nearly 20.000 items ON BlogCatalog!
A lot of stumbler are also 'specialised' in stumbling pages that concern Human Rights.
And here you find my stumbled pages on Human Rights.

Now I come back to Aloke's post and I put it here, as the posts on SU have the tendency to 'disappear' in the SU blogs archives.

"Peace is every step".

"Come home to yourself".

"What if every step you took deepened your connection with all of life and imprinted peace, joy, and serenity on the earth?".

With these three last sentences (precepts) of Thich Nhat Hanh I finish this post. If you wish, you can get here some information on his 2009 US Tour.
And please feel free to comment on this post, stumble, digg, mixx ... :)

Join in!

Nhat Hanh US Tour 2009 Thich

transitenator@gmail.com (transitenator) — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 18:20:00 +0000

Alea iacta est. The die is cast. Is it? Come on, put on a cone hat :) and join in!

You can click on the photos to enlarge them.

"Eatur quo deorum ostenta et inimicorum iniquitas vocat. Iacta alea est." (Yes, I had Latin in school, 6 years). That's the complete quote from Divus Iulius, meaning something like: "The way leads to where the signs of the gods and ... call (us).

In not 'only' looking to the signs of the gods but also to our fellow men & women, I take a look at the message (today) of Kimberly to the members of 'What is FaceBook?' Blog.

I quote her:
"This rant is not about the millions of irresponsible environmental decisions we make as a nation and a globe, which I could embellish upon for hours.

We seem to have lost connection with the raw qualities in life which are most beneficial. ones that make each day worth waking to.

* Responsibility * Loyalty * Peace * Honesty * Willingness * Motivation * Sincerity * Giving * Innocence.

Encourage social change."

Well quite a few things could be added to this list like for example 'mutual respect' etc.

Social change ... somehow it seems to be in 'our' blood to do this in violent ways ... for whatever reasons.
Thich Nhat Hanh, born 1926 in Vietnam is a buddhist monk, writer ... Zen Master. From the photos you see here, you can sense that he already had some influences into the history of the 20th century.

At PLUM VILLAGE Thich Nhat Hanh leads a year-round program of meditation practice for residents and for visitors who come for at least one week. The Summer Opening is usually from July 15 to August 15.

You might like to check some of his PRECEPTS.

Click on poster to enlarge it.

Thich (this is a buddhist monk title) Nhat Hanh will make a Tour in the US in 2009. You can check here for updated information on this tour here: US TOUR 2009

Finally, I put together a playlist of some youtube videos on Thich Nhat Hanh.
So to get some impressions of him speaking, here he is:

-o-o-o-

You'll find plenty of other videos if you do a search. If you are a blogger and have 'peaceful tendencies' :) you are also welcome to join our quiet group on BlogCatalog : Closer to God, Closer to each other.

Thanks for coming by, thanks for reading thus far, maybe leave a comment and/or subscribe to the RSS feed here, we can also connect on twitter for mutual informations ...

Vienna Calling

transitenator@gmail.com (transitenator) — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 22:35:00 +0000

Yesterday I had to make an one day trip to Vienna, to get some things done. Well come and join me for a second on that trip. Left in the morning from our home in Upper Austria. A wet and rainy day.

Got a bunch of lakes here, mountains too and some tunnels.

Exciting lights in the tunnels ...

And after a while we head towards Vienna on the highway (called 'WestAutoBahn' thus meaning: 'WestCarTrain' :) hehe.

In the above picture you see some watching engines, so that big brother knows what we do, if we drive too quick etc. etc. ('They' can sense us! EEEEhhhhhh).

Hm, for a Saturday, there's pretty much traffic. I suppose that a lot of people try to trade their bank deposits for some hardware of any kind, to at least have something in hand in these uncertain times ...

We're getting closer to Vienna, in the above picture we're close to another highway called 'SüdOstTangente' which is famous for car accidents and happenings of all kinds.

And now we already passed by the 'Vienna borders' (there was no control, hihi). Some years ago 'they' had put up a big sign at the Vienna entrance :) which said: "Wien ist anders." (= Vienna is different) which always made us crack up. Different? Different from what?

As a faithful reader of this blog you have read thus far and deserve now to hear two secrets:
The first is, that I grew up in this city in the 50ies, and 60ies of the 20th century. Yes, I'm ancient :) , though my hair is fair and not grey or white. The second secret is about the above photo.
Not so many people know that this place was the private train / tram station of his majesty the KAISER (over a hundred years ago).

And now Tatarataaa: Schönbrunn (BeautyfullWell) the former residence of the KAISER. However also Democrats (or maybe better said: Republicans) like to wine and dine in there. Hoho.

I hope you understand, I didn't stop to take these pictures. My son was the driver and I just took some photos along the way. However these shots are not unimportant. You see here some sights, that not many tourists have seen, but are very common to Viennese people.

Above, a glimpse of Meidling, the 12th district.

Above a glimpse of Wieden, the 4th district, here the major street there, the Wiedner Hauptstraße.

Everything just normal. Somebody or something alway hangs out.

All the exiting views and sounds that nobody wants to miss otherwise he or she wouldn't know where he or she would be.

Now in the photo below, the street called 'Gürtel' = 'Guertel' which means belt. One could write books about this belt, I won't be this one.

The oh so familiar looks with a certain atmosphere.

In the pic below: the WienZeile (just a small piece of it).

Below a glimpse of the ancient 'StadtBahn' (CityTrain) (Upper part of the picture, the train in the half down under is a normal 'StraßenBahn' = StreetTrain.

Below a familiar glimpse of the 13. district: 'Hitzing'.

And we are turning our backs on Vienna, again heading into the 'province', to the country side, where the fields are waiting to be harvested (if not already done).

Passing by the Stift Melk. They got so many books. Unbelievable, so I won't tell.

Again, at the WestAutoBahn, that you already know. And ... we got winds here :) ...

And, ahhhh, coming home in our area with mountains and lakes, trees and and...

... heading again through the tunnels.

Did you enjoy this short trip with me? Maybe leave a comment. Have a good day.

Magic Flower Power Avatars

transitenator@gmail.com (transitenator) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:29:00 +0000

As you know: Avatars are a vivid element of cyberculture and ... it's fall 2008, harvest time, ... and I present to you these avatars, all flowers from my tiny garden in Austria. Photos of flowers that grew this past year 2008. The snow is already on the mountains around us, the flowers themselves are 'history' now but can 'live' further in the web :) .

So here's my 'flower power meadow' and underneath you can pick some flowers .

Please leave a comment about which avatar you did like best. Thank you!

The avatars have a size of 150 * 150 pixels, filesize is between 6 - 12 kilobyte (kb). The average size is approx. 8-9 kb. These pictures are 'free', for your personal usage.
Hope you like them and find an apt one for your life on the web.

For downloading an avatar to your computer just rightclick an avatar and 'save as' to a folder of your choice.

There are more ('natural') flower-avatars (fa001-fa041) in this post: Blumen Avatare Edelweiss

fa042

fa043 The PinkPurple Bee

fa044 Orange Rose

fa045 ScentRose

fa046 SunFlower

fa047 Turkish Poppy

fa048 HollyHock Mallow

fa049 Luck Clover, ShamRock

fa050 MariGold, Calendula Officinalis

fa051 Rose

fa052 EdelWeiss, strange colours

fa053 Magic Poppy

fa054 Luck Clover

fa055 Rose

fa056 BlueBottle, CornFlower

fa057 Rocking Edelweiss

fa058 HollyHock

fa059 Rose

fa060 MariGold

fa061 SunFlower

fa062 Digital Mallow

fa063 NoName Flower

fa064 Rose

fa065 MariGold

fa066 Poppy

fa067 Poppy

fa068 HollyHock

fa069 Poppy

fa070 Rose

fa071 Poppy

fa072 HollyHock

fa073 SunFlower

fa074 Rose

fa078 PurpleBee

fa079 Rose of Orleans

If you like these photos / avatars PLEASE leave a short comment and 'vote' for the one(s) you like best. Thank you!

Goiserer River Traun Fishing

transitenator@gmail.com (transitenator) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 20:59:00 +0000

The other day I found a video on youtube on flyfishing in the Goiserer Traun. A nicely made Video, especially for lovers of nature and ... fishes. As I live in the area and yesterday was a sunny day, my wife and I decided to take some photos for you. You find the video on fishing at the bottom of this post.

Above you see only a simple bridge crossing some river. Well the bridge is the main one in Bad Goisern which is located in the 'SalzKammerGut', part of the Hallstatt World Heritage area in Upper Austria.
Since a couple of thousand years (3-4000), this river was used by men to transport salt from the saltmines (10 miles south) to far away European regions.
Effigies of crucifixion (so called 'Marterln') you find all over Austria, especially in exposed places like here, on top in the middle of the bridge. In the above photo we look towards the northwest.
The thing on the side of the dam is a 'fish pass' (German: FischTreppe), that helps the fishes to 'climb' the difference in height of two different water levels.

We are still looking in the northwest direction, the direction where the river flows to. On the first mountain ahead there is a webcam installed from which you can check the whole area. It's a pretty good webcam, that you can turn around, zoom in and out. Here is the linkto my post with instructions and the final link to the machine (if you want to take a LIFE-LOOK from there): Goiserer WebCam

Please heed the times. Here we got MiddleEuropean summer- or wintertime. At night you see only the nights, but might get some impressions nevertheless.

Ok, let's turn around, 180 degrees, and we look into the direction from where the water comes.

The river Traun comes from the Hallstaetter lake (German: Hallstätter See)

Right along the waters it's very enjoyable to take some walks.

You find 'hidden' paths, places to make a fire or to step into clean fresh water ...

You find places to dream and to listen to the talks of the river. Quite often when I'm at a river I remember these words from the Easy Rider Movie/Song: "The river flows, flows to the sea, wherever the river flows, that's where I want to be." Hm. Actually I'm happy being here, just the melody of the song and of course this movie Easy Rider can make one sentimental. The Sixties, bygone days ...
I love the sparkling of the light in the water.
And it's quiet here, no noise, maybe some humming or so from afar of, though we are actually pretty close to civilisation.
You can click on the photos to make them bigger (maybe you see some bugs - no, just kidding).

If you would wish, you could take pretty long walks here and do a lot more, however we turn around now and walk back to our car which is parked at the bridge.
Our dog enjoyed a bath, and did some swimming (I threw some sticks into the water) and now we've got a wet dog in our car.

Thank you for joining us on this short walk. If you want to continue you can do this here where I tell a bit more about Ancient Navy Inland Navigation.

And here is the YouTube Video on FlyFishing in the Goiserer Traun by YouTubeUser ProGuides:

-o-o-o-

HallStatt World Heritage Austria

transitenator@gmail.com (transitenator) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 16:37:00 +0000

I live pretty close to Hallstatt, just a few miles away, and a couple of months ago I took some photos that I share now, to give you some impressions of the area here. Plenty of books have been written about this place, but I will not go into any details this time. I'll only say, that this place has been populated now for about 4000 years. The Celts were here, the Romans ... Nations passed through, Barbarians invaded for one thing: Salt

Let's start our virtual walk in Obertraun, which is just across the Hallstaetter Lake (Hallstätter See) at a favorite place of mine: an old graveyard, from which you have a beautiful view of the Hallstatt area.

Now on the following picture, the village right before us belongs to Obertraun. Across the lake there is a mountain on the left called 'Hirlatz'. Hirlatz is full of caves and they all aren't completely investigated yet.
The valley in the middle of the picture is the 'EchernTal', the Echern-valley. It's another favorite place of mine, it deserves a post for itself, which will come some time soon. In this place there were found ruins of Roman houses and a graveyard from the time of the emigration of nations.

Now we changed our position and take a look from another view. Across the lake is Hallstatt.

Now we get a bit closer:

And on the following photo you see (from the distance) the area of the saltmines, an area also of archaeological excavations.
However salt is being won up to this very day.

Yes, looks pretty romantic right? Well there isn't much sun here in winter times. What we don't see here, are the mountains ('DachStein, KrippenStein) in our back and on our left side.

In the following photo we take a look to the right side, far right at Hallstatt. This is the direction to where the salt was shipped. To the Traun - River from where the salt would be transported into a variety of European regions.

Some more Info at:

Hallstatt Dachstein Salzkammergut World Heritage

Ancient Navy Inland Navigation

transitenator@gmail.com (transitenator) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:35:00 +0000

Ok, we continue now our 'walk' from the Traun bridge of Bad Goisern to a bridge in Steeg which belongs to Bad Goisern too. To get there quicker we use a car.

And here we are, maybe just one or two miles away from the former bridge, now at the place where the Hallstaetter lake flows into the Traun.

So, let's have a look around. On the right side you see the 'Steeg' bridge and left thereoff there is the so called 'Clausn am Steg' a logging dam to regulate flood waters. What's special about it?
It's over 500 years old.
In the year 1511 a logging dam was built on this place which was destroyed by flood waters. Then again in the year 1573 a new logging dam was built by the logmaster? (dam-master?) (excuse me I don't know the English term and didn't find it either) ... ehem by the 'WührMeister' Thomas Seeauer. The building served to regulate the waters of the river Traun, because at this time till up to the year 1877 the ships with the salt, that came from Hallstatt, went further to the North. Why only till 1877? Well then the railway line was built and the transport on the river was stopped.

We look around ... plenty of ducks ... clean water nevertheless ...

Mostly nature all around, not many houses at the shore, nice for walking. The black dog you might know if you read this post on the Muensterlaender :)

We had two weeks of rain and now is the second of the sunny days at the end of September 2008
Now in the above picture we look towards Hallstatt and the Dachstein. However you can't see Hallstatt nore the Dachstein because they are behind the mountain on the right. From this direction the salt ships were coming to enter the Traun river.

Now in the photo below we look into the other direction, we've got the Hallstaetter lake in our back and are heading towards a northern direction. In this direction the salt was shipped.

What the mountains around us look like, vegetation and stuff.

Yes, we got electrictiy here :) Thanks for asking :)

Sometimes you see human artefacts in the water, good for something, maybe dry feet or so?

Or maybe the river got some kind of teeth? Well through out the centuries lots of people died in their works to get salt, to transport salt ... Let's take a minute for a short prayer for them ...

Well we step out of the deep waters of rememberance and discover again, that it's a beautiful day, and we ... are still alive and our dog is engaged in barking against the ducks which ... don't care about the dog. However they might underestimate him, cause he's a good swimmer, but of course, he can't fly.
In the background of the above picture you see some dark pieces of wood which you now, in the following photo, can identify as a traditional boat of the area here, a so called 'Zille'.

Thanks for joining me so far on this short trip into the past. If you like to continue this walk have a look at the area of the Hallstatt World Heritage place to get some impressions there.
See ya!

WorldWar Bomb Explosion Vienna

transitenator@gmail.com (transitenator) — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 17:40:00 +0000

Sept. 20th, 2008 --- Yesterday, Friday evening, another bomb exploded close to Vienna (on Vienna territory). Sad to say, these kind of souvenirs of WWII. are still popping up. Glad to say, that no one was hurt.
In the late evening hours, earthquake-like vibrations were registered by the Austrian Geodynamical Registration Center (Zentralanstalt für Meteorologie und Geodynamik = ZAMG).
The shake was also perceived by many citicens who informed the police.

On Saturday morning the aircraft bomb crater (46 feet wide, 20 feet deep) was found at a market garden (botanical nursery).

Probably 63 years ago, an aircraft bomb (550- 1100 pounds) had drilled itself into the earth.
Reason for the detonation now was (also probably) an acid detonator (fuze) that ignited the explosive body.

Above a 'new' bomb from 2. WorldWar times. Depending on the country of origin there are/were different types like for example: 'SAP 1000 lp' or 'GP 500 lb'. From 1944-1945 there were 53 aircraft bomb attacks on Vienna, dropping 100.000-120.000 bombs, leaving approx. 10.000 dead, destroying around 7000 buildings.

Since 1946 in Austria around 21.000 bombs (duds = UXO s = unexploded ordnance devices) were found. The general rule of thumb is that the sixth part of dropped bombs didn't explode.
Around 14.000 explosive war relicts are still supposed to lurk underneath (all of Austria). So, these were some numbers for Austria. And here a big THANK YOU to the people who help us to get rid of these things.

Now just a short comparison Vienna-Berlin. In Berlin alone, around 500.000 aircraft bombs were dropped, with estimated 5 % UXOs which would be ... 25.000 bombs. Experts suppose at least 3000 bombs to still lurk in Berlins underground.

I collected a short playlist on youtube in commemoration of these horrible days of WorldWar 2 and you'll also find the 'old' song 'Masters of War' performed by Bob Dylan in June 2008 in Vienna.

-o-o-o-

If anybody needs such a thing: Here's a piece of BOMB-ART. It's not an 'art-piece' :) to gloryfy war, it was just a way to draw some attention to this post from my friends in the various networks.

Turning things upside down, inside out.

Blumen Avatare Edelweiss

transitenator@gmail.com (transitenator) — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 20:40:00 +0000

Bitte hinterlassen Sie/Du ein Kommentar welche Blume bzw. welcher Avatar Ihnen hier am besten gefällt.
Dankeschön!
Die Avatare haben eine Größe von 150 mal 150 Pixel und sind jeweils ca. zwischen 6 und 12 kilobyte (kb) groß (klein). Die Durchschnittsgröße liegt so bei 8 bis 9 kb. Die Blumen sind aus meinem Garten (auch das Edelweiss), die Fotos sind von mir. Für den privaten Gebrauch können Sie diese Fotos / Avatare gerne frei verwenden.

Im nächsten Post: 'Flower Avatars' (ist der erste September Beitrag 2008) kommen noch weitere zum Teil bearbeitete Fotos (Avatare) hinzu.
Sie speichern die Bilder auf Ihrem Computer ab indem Sie ein Bild mit der rechten Maustaste anklicken und auf 'Photo speichern unter' dann das Photo in einen Ordner Ihrer Festplatte sichern.

fa001 Lilie

fa002 Lilie

fa003 Mohnblume (türkischer Mohn) Poppy

fa004 Sonnenblume SunFlower

fa005

fa006

fa007 Kleeblatt ShamRock Clover Leaf

fa008 Rose

fa009 Rose farblich aufgepeppt

fa010 Rose zart natur

fa011 psychedelic

fa012

fa013

fa014 RingelBlume MariGold Calendula Officinalis

fa015 PfingstRose Peony

fa016 Mohnblume

fa017

fa018

fa019

fa020

fa021

fa022

fa023

fa024

fa025

fa026

fa027

fa028 KornBlume CornFlower BlueBottle

fa029 Blossoming Four leaved clover

fa030 blühender 'GlücksKlee'

fa031 Edelweiss

fa032 Edelweiss (Farben verändert)

fa033 Das Edelweiß

fa034

fa035

fa036

fa037

fa038

fa039 Der Avatar für Fleissige :)

fa040

fa041

If you like these photos / avatars PLEASE leave a short comment and 'vote' for the one(s) you like best. Thank you!

Geigen Gwand Goiserer GamsBart

transitenator@gmail.com (transitenator) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:32:00 +0000

Englisches Blog mit deutscher FussZeile.
Today I was visiting an exhibition ('Geigen Gwand Goiserer') in our village here which is more and more turning into a cultural centre with a lot of visitors coming from all over. I'll just share some pics I took recently so you can catch a glimpse of what life is and was in Austria. I'll not get into any details but you can trust that I'll post some stuff like this in future with a lot of additional short informations as there's truly a lot to tell.

The above photo I took close to where I live.
In the background you see the 'Ramsauer Gebirge'.

Just a few 100 meters upward you get quite a view.
If you like you can sneak a peek through a webcam:
WebCam Bad Goisern

Model of a typical traditional house of this area.

And LIVE ...

Hm, from what I know, no witch is supposed to live here :)
but who knows

Spending the last Sunday at a nearby fleamarket, these wheels were sold.

There is and was a lot of wood-working in this area here.

And now, Ladies and Gentlemen ..., the hats.

The things that you see in the background and which are put on hats are the so called "GamsBart" which means beard of a "Gemse", an animal for which I didn't find an English word to translate to. Another time I'll tell more about that.

GamsBart and wilbau (I'm not on this photo) in action.

GamsBart from the black & white times.

As you see ... for valid action a GamsBart is not required. GamsBart is more necessary for spirituality, ceremonial proceedings, ... part of ancient costumes, a signal that old traditions are not disappearing and ... an element of folk culture. If you want to know a bit more on lively folk culture in Austria you might like to have a look at my post on putting up a maypole with photos and YouTube videos. And there's more to come here on this blog.

Some traditional costumes ...

Yes, living folk culture is when living people wear this kind of clothes and they do. Usually on Sunday when visiting (or attending) the church or at festivities which happen throughout the year in this area which is called "SalzKammerGut", a part of Upper Austria, situated geographically pretty much in the middle of Austria. The next major airports are in 1. SalzBurg 2. Munic 3. Vienna.
This is a brand of shoe that get's worshipped in this area. It's called the "Goiserer" and made this village, this community here world-famous. Well the hype around this shoe is already a while ago, so you might have not heard about this kind of shoe. It is THE shoe that made it possible to climb the highest mountains on this planet ... tralala ... our EARTH.
And of course there are a lot of specialists here to make all kinds of wood-mountains, then and now. The last storm Orkan Emma was an unwanted specialist. Another famous constructive specialist (on wood transportation by water and some other amazing stuff) was Victor Schauberger about whom I will soon might do some posting. His grandson is living a few miles north from here and I got to know him some years ago.

And what would be YOUR caption for this mountain of shoes?

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German: Die oberösterreichische Landesaustellung "Geigen, Gwand & Goiserer" ist in Bad Goisern, OberÖsterreich im Schloss NeuWildenStein vom 29. April 2008 bis 2. November 2008 geöffnet.