Thoughts of the day every day in 2014

[Anthea]

21 February

Why is it that everyone in the world is interested in the very short-lived protests in the Ukraine - and so many people are rushing around trying to sort out the problems - when the conflict in Syria has been going on for so many years and nobody seems to care

Opposition leader Vitali Klitschko has signed a peace deal - but is he just a self-appointed figurehead or does he have any real influence ?

Then look at the Syrian conflict - no rush by world leaders to stop it - 18 months between the Geneva 1 and Geneva 2 conferences

At this rate by the time they hold the Geneva 3 conference Syria will be entirely devoid of life - and I do mean all life - cities and towns bombed to the ground and totally uninhabitable - farms with all their livestock and crops destroyed - most of the Syrian people - Kurd and non-Kurd alike moved to other countries

[Anthea]

22 February

Such a fantastic photo that I had to share it - Great White Shark follows Kayak - South Africa

[Piling]

Te shark seems to think : Breakfast Time !

[Anthea]

23 February

Recent poll I have just found:

Which coalition options should the 8th KRG be based upon?

KDP + Gorran (27%, 131 Votes)
All-Party Coalition (broad-based) (26%, 126 Votes)
PUK + Opposition Parties (22%, 109 Votes)
KDP + PUK (15%, 72 Votes)
Don't Know (7%, 33 Votes)
KDP + Islamists (3%, 20 Votes)

[Anthea]

Ghost city: Thick fog blankets the UAE





For more photos:

http://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/lightb ... 68532.html

[Anthea]

These Winter Olympics have been absolutely FANTASTIC

[Anthea]

[Piling]

So true

[Anthea]

24 February

US Government seeks funding for space travel



The picture below is old but extremely well constructed



An oldie below but always fun

[Anthea]

25 February

I am fed up with all the bad news so thought I would find something lovable and cheerful

[Anthea]

26 February

I have not mentioned the UK floods recently - nor has there been much interest in the media - that will change when food prices rise

Much of our farmland is still flooded

Granted the water is not as deep as it was at it's worse - but fields near me still have shallow pools of water on top - the ground in many parts of England is still saturated - farmers cannot even begin to prepare their fields for planting

All farmers are worried about the late planting of crops - that is if they are actually able to plant anything at all this year - some farmers think this year will be a complete write-off - many do not think that it will be possible for them plant anything at all

Much of the ground is still the same consistency as "Semolina" and there is absolutely no way they could get a tractor onto the fields - the ground just does not dry out - and it still keeps raining almost every day

[Anthea]

Some brilliant student at Peking University has taken the liberty to protect Beida's many statues from today's bad-even-by-Beijing-standards smog, and has lovingly provided them with masks. These images have been making the rounds on weibo, as well as the smog-season classic of a mask-clad Mao.

[Anthea]

27 February

I am going for a walk in the lovely Spring SUNSHINE

And then to yet another boring meeting

After which I will go and sit in the park and enjoy those lovely warm sunny weather

Wonder where all that awful wind and rain went

[Piling]

Thanks for the gracious gift

[Anthea]

Thanks for the gracious gift

Unfortunately I laughed too soon - we are taking our gift back - tomorrow we are expecting strong wind - heavy rain - more floods