Photo taken from the Berkeley Hills early in the morning, looking East at the rising sun with the fog from the ocean covering the land, and Mount Diablo in the upper right...
The view from the Berkeley hills looking West over the city of Berkeley, the San Francisco Bay, the Golden Gate Bridge, and the city of San Francisco upper left.
Same view as photo above, taken at night. In the foreground is the Campanile Bell tower which sits smack on the grounds at the University of California at Berkeley.
This is not the Golden Gate Bridge, it is the Bay Bridge, which links SF to the East Bay cities of Oakland & Berkeley. That's downtown SF lit up like a city on fire.
This is the Five Dalasi note of The Gambia. There is a picture of a Gambian child on the front. This note is worth about 20 USA cents. Now compare this five note to the British five note:
This is the Five Pound note of England. There is a picture of the queen on the front, wearing a crown of precious metals and stones. This note is worth about 10 USA dollars. This note is worth about 5000% more than the one from Gambia. It's worth fifty times as much. On its money, England honors the queen who is obscenely wealthy. On its money, Gambia honors the child who is obscenely poor. And that about sums up the world economy today.
Here with my new bride Julia in Gambia...she kinda purty dont ya think???
Gambian English is unique. Here is part of an email my Gambian friend sent me...
Here with my new bride Julia in Gambia...she kinda purty dont ya think???Gambian English is unique. Here is part of an email my Gambian friend sent me...
"I hope we shall meet again in a good atmospheric condition. I wish all the best to your friends and family in the US. Thanks for visiting me and my family, and the time we rendered."
I like that. Atmospheric condition. Time we rendered.
The flight from London to SF was fascinating because we had crystal clear views over Iceland and Greenland. The stewardess said that after flying the London SF route for over ten years she notices a big change in the amount of ice in the arctic. We could look down at the mountains and icebergs and ocean clearly. Much of the ice is now floating in the ocean. Iceland is turning into Noiceland.
US customs gave me a bit of a hassle because i used two passports while traveling and i spent 3 months in Muslim countries. "American Taliban" and all that poppycock. But they finally let me through. Whew!
Being back it's like i never left. Compared to London, Oakland and Berkeley are sleepy little towns. Nice summer weather today, even though an Alaskan rain front typical of wintertime moved over California a few days ago, in JULY. VERY unusual.
That's it for this blog. Look out for my controversial new book about religion, the bible, and Jesus, coming out soon..
