Sri Lanka, the Pearl of the Indian Ocean

Here are some views of lovely Sri Lanka. They say more than words.












But a few words anyway. Sri Lanka has now finished its war. There are many things to be done for "nation building" and it will take a certain time. Many are working hard at it. And inspite of all this work, we find time to relax a bit in this beautiful island country. Its beauty of nature and its beauty of warm, nice and friendly people. And it does not matter to which ethnic group they belong. They are simply charming.

Memoirs: Chapter ??

Now, you should see here a new chapter of my memoirs. Well, you will not.

It just so happened that on the last chapter I received a very nasty, unpleasant comment. Though I believe in free speech, though I am really cool about what people think and though I don't care when I am getting insulted, I will never accept that my personal entourage (family and friends) are exposed to improper behaviour.

I have created a new blog, dedicated to my life story.


It is a private blog with restricted access. It can be read by invitation only. I limit the access to an "inner circle": You, my friends from my favorite blogs.

Today, some of you will find an invitation email, inviting you to read the blog. I found the addresses on your blogs. If you dont't receive my invitation, this means that I did not find your address. Please email me at "p.voegtli@bluewin.ch" and you will receive the invitation with the link.

There are two ways of visiting the restricted blog:

a) you have a Google account and you can register for the blog.
b) you visit as a guest and no need to open a Google account. The invitation link is always valid for 30 days. Every time when I post a new chapter, I will announce it in "Hear, Hear" of this blog and send you the link.

I am looking forward to see you on "Worldman, My Life". This being said, there is now a new chapter on.

Celebration

About 2 years ago, I celebrated my 100th post. Today, this is my 400th post. I have been going on with my blogging, with pleasure, fun and a great joy. Blogging has been (among other things, of course) my major means of switching off from daily life, to relax and recharge my mental batteries.

I have been encouraged by you all who have been following me, visited me and left comments. You have become close friends and I appreciate your being with me.

Myspace Comments

I would like to thank you from my heart for this never ending faithfulness. It gives me a lot of courage to go on.

Go on, I will. Because, though this is my 4th year of blogging, I am still a small boy compared to a true giant in the blogosphere. When I celebrated my 100th post, Dr. John celebrated his 800th post. He was then miles ahead of me. Today, I am sure, he is 10'000 miles ahead of me.

And a message for "Baron's Life". I have well noted your question about why I don't reply to comments. It is (and was) my firm intention to do so. It is just a matter of having time. Which I hope I will have once I really retire. If they let me. In October.

Railroad, Space Shuttles and Horses Asses

I got this from a friend. I simply love it. And there is nothing to add. Except the photo at the end.

***

The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That's an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used? Because that's the way they built them in England, and English expatriates built the US railroads.

Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the pre-railroad tramways, and that's the gauge they used.

Why did 'they' use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they used for building wagons, which used that wheel spacing.

Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break on some of the old, long distance roads in England, because that's the spacing of the wheel ruts.

So who built those old rutted roads? Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (and England) for their legions. The roads have been used ever since.

And the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match for fear of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome, they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore, the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. Bureaucracies live forever.

So the next time you are handed a specification/procedure/process and wonder 'What horse's ass came up with it?', you may be exactly right. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses. (Two horse's asses.)

Now, the twist to the story: When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRB's. The SRB's are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah. The engineers who designed the SRB's would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but the SRB's had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site.

The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRB's had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses' behinds.

So, a major Space Shuttle design feature of what is arguably the world's most advanced transportation system was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse's ass. And you thought being a horse's ass wasn't important? Ancient horse's asses control almost everything... and CURRENT Horses Asses are controlling everything else.

Heavy mobile phone bills

I am a born communicator. That is what people say. I talk face to face, I write emails, I publish on the blog and, above all, I make a lot of blabla by phone. Mainly with my mobile phone. In Switzerland it costs me almost nothing. And within Europe not very much. But other than that, it costs (or did cost) me fortunes. As you know, I am calling my wife daily. Only around 5 minutes. But at 4 dollars per minute. And then, there is also my mother who worries about me, so I have to tranquilize her. I also want to know how my son is doing and finally, there are some issues, from time to time, I have to take care of with my agency's HQ.

I am a "VIP" customer of my provider "Swisscom". I get new phones from them very cheap and call rates almost at zero, when I am in Switzerland. I get invited by them to be in the VIP lounge when Roger Federer plays tennis. The problem is that I don't care about tennis. Or they invite me for priviledged performances of an opera. The problem is that I am never in Switzerland when these things happen.

But when I am not in Switzerland, no more cheap rates. Whether I am making calls or receiving calls, it costs the 4 dollars per minute. So, I agreed with my wife that I will call only once or twice a week. I did this during one month. It was not satisfactory and soon I called daily. And my mobile phone bill was around 1'300 dollars per month. Crazy.

When I came to Zalingei in West Darfur/Sudan in December 2004, we did not even have a telephone landline. But we had mobile network. Seeing my soaring bill, I had to find a solution. Somebody told me that I should use "Skype". I installed it but our network was so weak that it was almost impossible to use "SkypeOut". Which was actually cheap. But our communication was most of the time limited to: "Hello, can you hear me?" with my wife's answer: "Is this you, I cannot hear you".

As the mobile network was also not very reliable and in Nyala, after my transfer, too the search for a acceptable solution continued. And I found it. I bought a


Thuraya Satelite Phone. It is barely bigger than a normal mobile phone, works anywhere (even in the middle of the desert) and the rate is around 1 dollar per minute. So, my communication costs reduced to around 400 to 500 dollars per month. Much better but still a lot.

Since, networks have improved everywhere. You communicate with LAN, WIFI, EDGE, GPRS and 3G. All the providers offer this and companies, agencies and hotels are having good WIFI networks. Things are getting easier. And then, of course, VoIP has been booming also. "Truphone", "VoipCheap", "Skype", "Globe7" and many others offer rates where you can call the whole world for a few cents only. I tested all of them and it is really great. I bought with one a credit of 50 dollars, I have spoken for hours and hours in two month and I have, today, still a balance of 38 dollars.

The only problem is that you need to be on your computer all the time to talk. This limits your "moving" flexibility. You don't have that problem when you have an "iPhone". Then it is also possible to make VoIP with it. The thing is that I did not like the "iPhone" when I had it (I wrote about it). I sold it and bought a


Nokia 5800. No need to tell that I love because I wrote about it too. Since weeks I was searching for an application for my phone enabling me to make VoIP. I found nothing. Well, I found but when I downloaded them and wanted to install I always got: "The application is not compatible with this phone". I am getting old because it never came to my mind to make a specific search for my phone. Stupid, after all we have Google. Yesterday I made such search.

And found something: Fring. On top of the blog you see the widget. I downloaded the application, I installed it, I tried it (calling my son, my wife, my mother and my brother) for 45 minutes at a total cost of 38 cents. Besides that "Fring" connects me (at my wish and whim) to twitter, facebook, gmail and many other applications. When the widget is white, I am offline and when it is green, I am online. And then you can click on it, and find me. Now, I can VoIP without a computer, anytime, anywhere. And, most probably soon, Swisscom will not consider me as a VIP customer anymore.

But my reputation as a born communicater will be safe.

Sri Lankan Beauty

Words are useless. Except to tell you that soon I will show you the beauty of Sri Lanka, the Pearl of the Indian Ocean. And its marvellous, friendly and charming people.

Dignity and respect

Now, some of you will think, after having read this post, that I am an old and sourpussyish man. Which of course I am not. Also, I always claim that I am "young" and have a "modern mind". Which many, and in particular my daughter, will testify. I do much of "free" thinking and am not really good at "conventional" behaviour. But I believe in dignity and respect.


The picture of this young lady in a mini short is not to "scream" againt such outfits. On the contrary. It looks cute. But it would not make me run after such ladies. For the simple reason that I am to old to run after them and they would run much quicker than me anyway. And in our countries, such dressing and outfit is common, in summer, also. In our countries!

A few days ago, Qatar Airways flew me to the Arabian Peninsula. Where we have uptight contries like Saudi Arabia. But also other places that accomodate to Westerners like Doha, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. In the transit area of Dubai Airport there is even an "Irish Pub". Where I drank beer waiting for my connecting flight. On several occasions. At Doha Airport Duty free shop I saw the widest selection of whiskies I ever came across. In restaurants you can order decent wines with your meals. And I think that this is great. But I would never profit from this "facilities" to get drunk or to overdo it. Nor would I drink alcohol if I would have (and I had) lunch or dinner with people who are citizens of these places. Out of respect.

Before boarding the flight in Geneva, my eyes opened wide. Among the passengers was a lady (and not a young one like on the photo) who was dressed in an ultrashort mini pant, like in the photo. Her blouse was though longer. Both were of pink color. Obviously not a proper attire to go to places in the Arabian Peninsula. It seems to me that I was not the only one with that opinion, seeing how people stared at her. Was she conscious about it?

We boared the plane (my all time favorite Airbus A330) and had a wonderful flight. Which, of course, is normal. Qatar Airways is a lovely airline and the service is excellent even in economy class. Six hours later we landed in Doha. Some passengers went to the transit section for onward flights and others went to immigration. Our lady in mini pants could not choose which way she wanted to go. She was approached by female airport officials who took her to a room. After a short while, she came out again. With a beautiful piece of cloth matching her pink colors wrapped (in style) around her waist. Her legs were covered. The airport ladies where smiling. The lady went to the transit section. And probably waited for several hours (as it is common in that region) for her connecting flight. In a way of dress that did not offend people.

She escaped problems. Because she was treated with dignity and respect. And, perhaps, she has learned a lesson. That in some countries certain attires and fashions are not appropriate. And will, in future, also behave with dignity and respect.

Jazz on the 5th, Nr. 14

Right now, in Montreux, the Jazz Festival is going on. And for the 5th year in a row, I am not able to attend. Montreux, for two weeks is the world capital of jazz and many other kinds of music.

I have been a "festivalier" since 1986, the year we moved to Montreux. And I have T-shirts practically from every year. Even the last 5 years. Because my daughter goes and buys them for me.

What lovely souvenirs I have. During the two weeks, there will not only be concerts in the Auditorium Stravinsky and in the Miles Davis Hall. But there will be also hundred of free concerts on the quais along the lake. Concerts of great and unknown performers. I always look in the program leaflet for the big bands. Because I love big bands. And there are no big bands anymore, or just a few, like Maynard Ferguson. But the US colleges and high schools are maintaining the tradition of big bands. And they have real good ones.

A few years ago, there was a big band playing at the "Kiosque de musique". A beautiful two hours performance. To be followed by a Salsa band. Which is also music I love. So, I was going to have a nice afternoon of great music. The big band was really good and their concert lasted more than two hours because we wanted "encore's" and we got plenty. Finally, it ended and the musicians started to pack their instruments. But a few did not. They stayed on stage, changed their T-Shirts. On them was written "Orquesta de Jazz y Salsa Alto Maiz". They started to play. One of the best Salsa bands I ever have heard. They drove us to exctasy and completely nuts. They were also supposed to play 2 hours, they played 3. We simply did not let them go. A few days later, they gave a dinner concert at "Le Petit Palais" of the Montreux Palace Hotel and my wife, the kids and I attended. It was recorded life and I have the record.

The very special thing about this is that the big band musicians turning into Salsa players are from the "State University Iowa"!! What a surprise. There is only one "real" Salsa man. From Panama. You see him on the video. The man at the piano is Bob Washut, professor of music, leader of the State University Iowa Big band and master of the Orquesta de Jazz y Salsa Alto Maiz.

I found this video of "Alot Maiz" on YouTube, it was taken at a wedding reception by an amateur and I am sure you will, like me, love it.