Monday, March 4
Mar. 5th, 2024 12:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gottawonderToday I am grateful for:
Seeing how cold it was going to be tonight, and getting the goats into the garage before I left for town.
I decided to write an email to the president of the craft center about my concerns over the crowded beginner's class, and did my best to be clear and objective.
Living in Canada. I got fuel today on my way to town at our local village gas station. The owner came to Canada from the middle east decades ago, but he still has close family in Palestine. I felt awful that I needed to get going if I was going to make it to town today, and I ended our conversation, not harshly, but I had to stop talking.
He was talking about the war in Palestine, and you know, I can't do anything about it. It's been going on for centuries. CENTURIES. I feel a lot of empathy for him, and his family that is still there, but there's nothing I can do for them. I hope they can find peace there, or help his family.
I went to pottery, and it was just me there tonight. In a way, that's also just fine.
I got a fair bit done. I worked on putting together the parts to make a tea pot, this time hopefully I got the spout in the right place (too low last time, it means you can't hold much tea, waste of making a large pot). I trimmed a few things, had to make a handle and attach that to the tea pot as well.
I finished up in okay time to get to the grocery store. I got a fairly big haul of groceries this time, as we've been a bit out of step with our normal schedule for buying food. Nice to see the fridge full again.
The gravel roads have not been cleared off yet, and it was tricky getting to town, and I did get stuck coming home. I managed to dig my way out so I didn't have to get my husband to come help.
He had made me some food, and helped me put away groceries when I got home. We chatted for a while before he had to go to bed.
Kazakhstan is the ninth largest country, with a population of 20 million, making it one of the lowest density countries.
It is land locked, though borders on the Caspian Sea.
Like all of the other Stans, was occupied by Alexander the Great, Turkic tribes, then the Mongols, then Russia, then became independent after the fall of the U.S.S.R.
"Kazakhstan dominates Central Asia economically and politically, accounting for 60 percent of the region's GDP, primarily through its oil and gas industry; it also has vast mineral resources.[15] Kazakhstan has the highest Human Development Index ranking in the region. It is de jure a democratic, unitary, constitutional republic;[16] however, it is de facto an authoritarian regime[17][18] with no free elections.[19] Nevertheless, there have been incremental efforts at democratization and political reform since the 2019 resignation of President Nursultan Nazarbayev."
Kazakhstan has part of the Tian Shan mountains, the Altay Mountain range, as well as an enormous plain, The Kazakh Steppe, that occupies about a third of the country.
As mentioned, most of the country's economy comes from gas/oil/mining. Only about five percent of the economy comes from agriculture, and nothing else is mentioned as being that important.
There is a bit of tourism, but there are easier places to visit. The poor human rights, crappy airlines that were blacklisted internationally for a while due to lack of compliance with industry standards, the problems with travel in a fairly undeveloped country, and the sheer expensiveness compared to other countries makes it less attractive as a tourist destination.
Kazakhstan is mainly Muslim.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakhstan
Of note: The Baikonur Cosmodrome, this was built when Kazakhstan was part of Russia. It is the Russian space station, where Sputnik was launched, and all Russian manned flights are still launched from here. It is basically still leased to Russia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baikonur_Cosmodrome
There was also an absolute crapton of nuclear testing done in this region of Kazakhstan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semipalatinsk_Test_Site
https://youtu.be/BElOyEjTujk?si=w5Zeh5V14mWAdI4C
Seeing how cold it was going to be tonight, and getting the goats into the garage before I left for town.
I decided to write an email to the president of the craft center about my concerns over the crowded beginner's class, and did my best to be clear and objective.
Living in Canada. I got fuel today on my way to town at our local village gas station. The owner came to Canada from the middle east decades ago, but he still has close family in Palestine. I felt awful that I needed to get going if I was going to make it to town today, and I ended our conversation, not harshly, but I had to stop talking.
He was talking about the war in Palestine, and you know, I can't do anything about it. It's been going on for centuries. CENTURIES. I feel a lot of empathy for him, and his family that is still there, but there's nothing I can do for them. I hope they can find peace there, or help his family.
I went to pottery, and it was just me there tonight. In a way, that's also just fine.
I got a fair bit done. I worked on putting together the parts to make a tea pot, this time hopefully I got the spout in the right place (too low last time, it means you can't hold much tea, waste of making a large pot). I trimmed a few things, had to make a handle and attach that to the tea pot as well.
I finished up in okay time to get to the grocery store. I got a fairly big haul of groceries this time, as we've been a bit out of step with our normal schedule for buying food. Nice to see the fridge full again.
The gravel roads have not been cleared off yet, and it was tricky getting to town, and I did get stuck coming home. I managed to dig my way out so I didn't have to get my husband to come help.
He had made me some food, and helped me put away groceries when I got home. We chatted for a while before he had to go to bed.
Kazakhstan is the ninth largest country, with a population of 20 million, making it one of the lowest density countries.
It is land locked, though borders on the Caspian Sea.
Like all of the other Stans, was occupied by Alexander the Great, Turkic tribes, then the Mongols, then Russia, then became independent after the fall of the U.S.S.R.
"Kazakhstan dominates Central Asia economically and politically, accounting for 60 percent of the region's GDP, primarily through its oil and gas industry; it also has vast mineral resources.[15] Kazakhstan has the highest Human Development Index ranking in the region. It is de jure a democratic, unitary, constitutional republic;[16] however, it is de facto an authoritarian regime[17][18] with no free elections.[19] Nevertheless, there have been incremental efforts at democratization and political reform since the 2019 resignation of President Nursultan Nazarbayev."
Kazakhstan has part of the Tian Shan mountains, the Altay Mountain range, as well as an enormous plain, The Kazakh Steppe, that occupies about a third of the country.
As mentioned, most of the country's economy comes from gas/oil/mining. Only about five percent of the economy comes from agriculture, and nothing else is mentioned as being that important.
There is a bit of tourism, but there are easier places to visit. The poor human rights, crappy airlines that were blacklisted internationally for a while due to lack of compliance with industry standards, the problems with travel in a fairly undeveloped country, and the sheer expensiveness compared to other countries makes it less attractive as a tourist destination.
Kazakhstan is mainly Muslim.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazakhstan
Of note: The Baikonur Cosmodrome, this was built when Kazakhstan was part of Russia. It is the Russian space station, where Sputnik was launched, and all Russian manned flights are still launched from here. It is basically still leased to Russia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baikonur_Cosmodrome
There was also an absolute crapton of nuclear testing done in this region of Kazakhstan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semipalatinsk_Test_Site
https://youtu.be/BElOyEjTujk?si=w5Zeh5V14mWAdI4C
no subject
Date: 2024-03-05 07:49 pm (UTC)I'm sorry about the difficult interaction with the guy about Palestine. I feel so confused about the situation. I don't really understand the politics of the creation of Israel or why a "home" for the Palestinians wasn't clearly established at the same time. I have Jewish friends who are adamant that the war is necessary, but I still can't help but feel that these civilians are being punished for something they didn't do. It just seems terribly tragic.
no subject
Date: 2024-03-05 10:30 pm (UTC)You could see that it's been worrying him sick, given that he has family there that he says he can't even talk to them on the phone to see if they're okay right now. I guess no one is allowed to make outside calls in case it's to the media? No idea.
It leaves you feeling awful for him, with no way to help. If I could wave a magic wand and end the war, I would. If I could wave the magic wand and bring his family to Canada, I would.
As it is, it also sucks that I needed to go somewhere, and couldn't just talk with him for an hour.
no subject
Date: 2024-03-07 08:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-03-07 08:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-03-08 07:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-03-08 07:53 am (UTC)I don't know HOW you begin to help them make their OWN countries safe places for people to live.
no subject
Date: 2024-03-08 08:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2024-03-08 10:39 pm (UTC)I don't want to take sides.