If you STOP being BETTER, then you STOP being GOOD...

Christmas is for Love and Sharing and PEACE...

Where Santa Lives...?

Western society is essentially a consumer society… Consumerism has degenerated out values and confused our outlook… The profit motive has perverted our norms and all celebrations have fallen victim to consumer degeneration… So if our values have changed then definitely  Santa has also changed his home from the North Pole to somewhere in China… where all the toys and colourful belles and bright lights are manufactured… 

There is a special Christmas level of the International Trade Market in Yiwu, around 300 kilometres (187 miles) south of Shanghai, where more than 60% of the world’s Christmas decorations are made. A significant proportion of these decorations are sold at this enormous wholesale market.  So we may safely insist that Santa has emigrated from the North Pole to Yiwu, in China… and so Christmas is made in Yiwu.

The tree lighting up your lounge; the decorations hanging from the ceiling; the novelty stocking filler you that you recently bought for your child… most probable came from where the new home of Santa is… from Yiwu, China…

Yiwu Christmas Market covers an area of four million sq m, with 62,000 booths inside. It has 40 000 visitors every day and 5000 of these visitors are there to facilitate Santa’s work and help with his load… 5000 of the buyers are there from foreign countries…

Yiwu is where Santa lives... and soon Santa will have almost all the toys and decorations from China... I am not sure what the Chinese call Santa... and I am not sure if there is a Chinese word fro Christmas...
Just a question: Will Santa also change his ID and become Chinese too...? 
May be... in our consumer society whatever makes a buck or two... is possible...

Check the beauty of the Ice-cakes... that they found in Scotland...

Beautiful and spectacular... The ice-cakes float and they are formed because of the foamy nature of the water... and then expanded... Sort of a crystallization process in the lab...

Check more closely...Fascinating, isn't it...?

Almost identical... Nature indeed is a wonderful space where magic still persists...

   The "pancakes" were found several miles downstream from Balmoral Castle, the British Queen's summer residence.

The magic of nature continues...
The water has frozen into a transparent ice on the surface of the lake... and visitors seem to walk over the lake... over water...

Nature's magic

Check how magical it is...walking over water... 

It's the magic of Christmas... in nature... 

Not at the Chinese Market...

... when humans attempt to compete with nature... they invent funny and bubbly substitutes... 

Walking over water in a bubble is fun... 

And technology is overwhelming the old ways...Iowa replaces drivers license with app...                                                         Digital license will display rotatable 3-D photo

It is indeed neat and environmentally friendly... 
Here technology is placed for the benefit of people and Nature too...

***

Yesterday a former student passed by where I live on his way to his Christmas holiday...
We met for three hours... it was lovely and the student was wonderful... as usual... I call him genius... though he does not have that pretensions...
This year he will graduate from high school... but already he has completed two full credits - four half courses - from university...
It was great to catch up with him... 
He was the one who set up this blog for me...
After we parted, I realized how much the past is behind me... the last year has metamorphosed me into a new person... I am not the teacher confined within for walls ... I have found new voice and new vision...
So it goes... 
He brought an icon which was hanging in my classroom... It is lovely and reminds me of my friend who passed away few months ago... he had given the icon to me... he said; "look at it and remember me"...
I had left it behind... but my student-friend brought it with him and now it is in my room... with all the memories of my friend...
This will be the first Christmas without him...

****************************************

PEACE ON EARTH

Still celebrating Advent day by day...
My neighbour has all the house lit... My neighbour's house is in joy... and all dressed up and ready to party...
I put up outside lights too... not as extravagant as my neighbour's... but enough to be noticed...
Our house is in joy too...
I have been lazy, but soon I will put up our Christmas tree too...
The Prince of PEACE is coming to town...

Wake up with a carol in your heart and get involved... Make peace on earth reality

**********************************************

It is Christmas... initiate new routines... and celebrate PEACE and HARMONY...
Be active and usher in PEACE...

GOOD news... GOOD and GREEN places...and an Anniversary...

GOOD NEWS...

1) First female bishop announced as Rev Libby Lane by Church of England... So the church patriarchal hierarchy is slowly but surely giving up... and accepting females as their equal... and competent to interpret and teach the GOSPEL for PEACE...

Reverend Libby Lane has been announced as the first female bishop for the Church of England, just a month after a historic change to canon law.

Reverend Libby Lane poses for pictures during a photo call following the announcement naming her first woman bishop by The Church of England...

I am sure after the Church of England both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches will also shed away the male supremacy... Maybe one day we will even have a female Pope in Rome and a female Patriarch in Moscow and Kiev...

I am optimistic... I am indeed happy for the new precedence of a female bishop in the Church of England...

Congratulations... and Way to go... and Peace on Earth...

2) The American government has announced that its attempt to isolate Cuba and punish the Cuban people did not succeed... So now they will change their policy towards Cuba...

Having a dialogue is more civilized and will lead to better understanding and cooperation... Yelling at each other never works... blockading each other demonstrates our failure to convince each other... and bombing means we have lost our reasoning...

Church bells are ringing in Havana... and the borders with the United States will soon be open again...

Human logic triumphs again...

Church of Angel Custodio in Havana...

Church bells rang out Wednesday afternoon in Havana, marking a major moment in history… Cuba and the United States are easing diplomatic after decades of ice-cold tension.

Tearful celebrations erupted in the streets of the island nation after President Raul Castro announced the news in a televised address there…

Cathedral in Havana...

The Pope had a Major role in the GOOD news...

Pope Francis - the Catholic Church's first Latin American pontiff -celebrated his birthday Wednesday with a major geopolitical wish granted: The end of a half-century of frozen relations between the United States and Cuba.

Francis, who was elected last year and turned 78 on Wednesday, acted as the chief advocate for renewing diplomatic ties between Washington and Havana, officials said.

The Pope made a personal plea to President Barack Obama and Cuban leaders in a letter this summer, writing that the two nations should try to reset their relations after decades of friction.

Russian cathedral in Havana...

 ***

GOOD and GREEN Places... 

I left my heart in San Francisco...Have a rail ride... in friendly and happy and GREEN San Francisco... I always love the train rail ride... in the city... and now it is GREEN and TECH SAVVY...

Vancouver and one of its many gardens...

Have a bike ride in Vancouver... it's green and you CAN BREATH...
The ocean and the hills and the GREEN spaces... a beautiful and friendly city... I love the snow... and the rain... and the sun too...

Curitiba's botanical garden in Brazil 
You will be amazed to find a GREEN city in Brazil...
I am sure we will find GREEN cities in China too...

Historic center of Curitiba, Brazil

A friendly city... a green city... and wonderful culture...

Windmills of Copenhagen...floating over water...
The future over the sea... Floating and providing energy...

Copenhagen for a bike ride...
Bike is much better than the car...
The car imprisons you in a box... and emits fumes...
The bike makes you breath the freshness of the city... and the community... and there are no walls to confine you in a claustrophobic box...

***

And an anniversary...The Simpsons...  

First aired on December 17, 1989...                        

It is a Funny and indeed a cultural phenomenon and 25 years old...

The longest running scripted show in television history, "The Simpsons" have been celebrating their quarter century anniversary ...

... and the world can stick together too...
Ban the wars... and promote PEACE and live in HARMONY...

****************************************

PEACE ON EARTH

Still celebrating Advent day by day...
My neighbour has all the house lit... My neighbour's house is in joy... and all dressed up and ready to party...
I put up outside lights too... not as extravagant as my neighbour's... but enough to be noticed...
Our house is in joy too...
I have been lazy, but soon I will put up our Christmas tree too...
The Prince of PEACE is coming to town...

Wake up with a carol in your heart and get involved... Make peace on earth reality

**********************************************

It is Christmas... initiate new routines... and celebrate PEACE and HARMONY...
Be active and usher in PEACE...
***
It's all good news... 
Tomorrow I will see one of my former students... He will stop over for few hours on his way to Hawaii...
I am very happy to see him again...

In PEACE we FLOURISH...

GOOD NEWS...
Ukrainians in Kiev and throughout the Ukraine are preparing to celebrate Christmas and New Year...
People -students, teachers, friends- asked me; "which Christmas you celebrate...? Do you celebrate December 24...?
I answered; "All of them..."
I celebrate the 24th... and added, "that will be a good practice to celebrate on the 6th with the Armenians... and of course, that will be a second practice to celebrate with my Russian and Ukrainian friends on the 7th..."
Their is no dogmatism in my celebrations... The more the merrier... May be if we practice to usher in PEACE few times over  we will be able to BAN ALL WARS and  celebrate PEACE in earnest... Maybe, we will stop to be GREEDY and share our blessings with each other...
So I will celebrate again... on the 24th...on the 6th...on the 7th... too... I will celebrate ALL... and I will hope...
Hope allows breathing space... Hope makes us dream for a better tomorrow... a world without wars... a world in harmony with itself... A GLOBAL VILLAGE OF PEACE...

Ukrainians are setting up their Christmas trees...

GOOD News...                                                                  Fighting in eastern Ukraine between government troops and Russian-backed separatist forces has ground almost to halt.  That is indeed GOOD news to ALL…                                                                GOOD News...

Amazing Talents and Human Ingenuity...
Check below and be inspired and get involved and make a difference...
Human ingenuity without borders...

Milan is getting ready... Architects and engineers can do wonders... I wish ALL engineers will celebrate the human dimension in their work...

Italy's fashion capital will focus on the future of food for Expo 2015, when an estimated 20 million visitors will hit Milan.

With spectacular pavilions like this, architecture will dominate Milan's Expo.

Mons, Belgium is getting ready too... 

Mons will be the cultural capital of Europe... in 2015...

"The Passengers," an installation by artist Arne Quinze, is one of more than 1,000 cultural events in Mons in 2015. As the European Capital of Culture 2015, the Belgian city is expecting 2 million visitors.

Van Gogh's "The Diggers" will be part of Mons' new exhibit.

Maybe the Islamist-Jihadists are becoming the HELL in the Middle East... But Abu Dhabi is not following their barbaric lead... and is Abu Dhabi is transforming itself into the cultural capital of the Middle East…and becoming the cultural center of the Middle east…

Zayed national museum... will open in 2016

The Sheik Zayed National Museum is one of the centerpieces of the new Saadiyat Island Cultural District. It is conceived as a monument and a memorial.

How the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi will look at the Saadiyat Island Cultural District

the Louvre will open in Abu Dhabi next year. 

It is the first Louvre outside Paris...

Los Angeles... 
Long the dream capital of the world...

Hotels, shops and restaurants are reinvigorating downtown LA.

The Broad's honeycomb-like museum will open in downtown LA in 2015…

Luxor, Egypt
Arab "spring" can be achieved without outside INPUT...
Let the Arabs in PEACE and let them flourish in Peace... The West and Big Brothers should set their house in order... first...

A massive statue of Pharaoh Amenhotep III was toppled in an earthquake some 3,000 years ago.

But now, it has risen again…

The 50-ton, 13-meter (42-foot) statue was unveiled on Sunday at the ancient city of Luxor, Egypt, restored to its former grandeur due to the hard work of Egyptian and German archaeologists.

German archaeologist Hourig Sourouzian, unveiled two other massive statues of Pharaoh Amenhotep III in March.

Sourouzian heads the temple of Amenhotep III conservation project.

The latest statue to be restored depicts Amenhotep III standing tall.

A newly restored statue of Pharaoh Amenhotep III was unveiled on Sunday in Luxor, Egypt. The statue is the second  standing statue of the pharaoh to be restored and unveiled this year.

The sitting statue of the pharaoh includes a much smaller figure of Amenhotep's wife, Tiye.

Let the world celebrate Christmas in Peace...

****************************************

PEACE ON EARTH

Still celebrating Advent day by day...
My neighbour has all the house lit... My neighbour's house is in joy... and all dressed up and ready to party...
I put up outside lights too... not as extravagant as my neighbour's... but enough to be noticed...
Our house is in joy too...
I have been lazy, but soon I will put up our Christmas tree too...
The Prince of PEACE is coming to town...

Wake up with a carol in your heart and get involved... Make peace on earth reality

**********************************************

It is Christmas... initiate new routines... and celebrate PEACE and HARMONY...
Be active and usher in PEACE...
***

Today it rained... and I walked in the rain... knowing full well that each rain drop caries the promise of the rainbow in its womb...