Sometimes All You Really Need Is Someone To Sit Under The Tree Tops With You.

Sometimes all you really need is someone to sit under the tree tops with you.

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And maybe one more pink drink to make the end of the summer a little more bearable.

Perfection is sometimes also the death of the crass anarchy of creativity.

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The journey from the roots to today also reflects the technical possibilities and the evolution of viewing habits of ever new groups of viewers, ultimately a great development but also a loss.

But that is always in the eye of the spectator.

Animation cels from The Simpsons, back when they were still nice and ugly, and part of the Tracy Ullman Show. Circa 1987.

When the rescue team and local police found the camp, it had been abandoned for days. There was no fire and even the gas cooker was cold.

The crime scene photo of the camp showed that all the hikers' belongings were still there and untouched, ruling out the possibility of robbery and murder.

The state troopers and their rescue team colleagues searched the area for clues and found two gruesome scenarios that they never talked about or forgot.

The case was never solved, two of the state troopers died shortly afterwards under mysterious circumstances, the entire rescue team disappeared during the second search, with only one being found in a completely distraught state not far from the camp.

It is unfortunate that the case ultimately remained without further consequences and has not been discussed further to this day....

The investigation files were under lock and key until a month ago, when two young journalists discovered them by chance.

The file, which has never been solved, bears the title of a puzzle, but no further information would be helpful at this time.... nothing more.

Now, after all this time, we report on what really happened and how it might have happened.

The present day: two young journalists get out of an old jeep in a car park outside a mental hospital, both looking towards the main building of the large complex.

........

A solo set up on the Continental Divide Trail.

Colorado

1977

What a great, rich lady! She was lucky enough to receive a little state support.

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We would absolutely be grinning from ear to ear if the state were to give us so much money.

The British royal family is seen as an integral part of established class society and its continued existence is supported by an annual state subsidy. It is believed that without this financial support, the royal family would not be able to maintain their lifestyle.

What a load of bullshit.... they even have a voice in the house of lords when it comes to taxing the royal family. Full insight into the potential legislation beforehand.... fuck is that cool, or course with veto right.

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What the British pay for their monarchy.

Profits from leasing land

The more complicated calculation looks somewhat different. This is because King Charles III has other income than just the direct state grants. He has income from the Duchy of Lancaster. These are profits from the leasing of land and other property. The Duchy yields around £20 million a year. The royal family also owns the Duchy of Cornwall, which also generates profits of a similar amount that are distributed to Prince William. A special feature for the King: he does not have to pay any taxes, i.e. neither income tax nor capital gains tax or even inheritance tax. Since 1993, however, the Queen has paid taxes on a voluntary basis.

The ‘Republic’ organisation, which campaigns for an end to the monarchy and for an elected head of state, presents a completely different account. In 2017, the pressure group presented a report in which the authors came to the conclusion that the royal family costs taxpayers £345 million (393 million euros) per year. The calculation also includes the costs of securing the royals and the properties. It also includes the costs of buildings that are owned by the state but used by the royal family, for example.

Monarchs.

Estimated assets of two billion euros

In recent weeks, there has been widespread reporting on the King's wealth. The Guardian newspaper has worked with a team of reporters and wealth specialists to calculate how much Charles III owns. According to the report, the king has 1.8 billion pounds (2.05 billion euros). He owns a fleet of 23 cars, numerous works of art, very valuable jewellery, horses and shares in companies. The family owns Balmoral Castle in Scotland as well as the seat in Sandringham and the Duchy of Lancaster. There are no official figures. The palace did not comment on the estimates, but called the figures ‘a creative mix of speculation, assumptions and inaccuracy’.

In the debate about the king's finances and the costs of the monarchy, one thing stands out above all else: There is a lack of transparency

In the 2024 financial year, which ended on 31 March of that year, the British royal family received state remuneration of around £86.3 million. This means that state remuneration remained constant compared to the previous year.

All the king's wealth

Charles III inherits a considerable fortune from his mother - tax-free. The royal family owns entire duchies, lucrative roads and dilapidated palaces.

The operating costs for the British monarchy are primarily met by the Crown Estate, the management company for the royal estates. These are the properties that belong to the monarchy as an institution and not to the monarch personally - and which make a tidy profit.

These include, for example, estates and properties such as the entire high-priced Regent Street in the heart of London, but also offshore wind farms off the coast, collections of paintings and shopping centres. The total value of the Estate's assets is estimated at more than 15 billion pounds, the equivalent of more than 17 billion euros.

More money for a dilapidated palace

Normally, 15 per cent of Crown Estate profits go to the monarch, which is usually the equivalent of around 50 million euros a year. This is used to finance staff, travel and palace maintenance - as well as facilities that the monarch supports. This 15 per cent rate was increased to 25 per cent in 2017 - which currently amounts to almost 100 million euros. A hefty, temporary supplement to renovate Buckingham Palace.

If the British government's report on the state of the palace is to be believed, the palace is now a shambles: in some of the 775 rooms, buckets are reportedly already being used to catch the drips from the ceiling. For 60 years, too little has been done in terms of maintenance, and now the craftsmen have to get to work, for ten years and around 430 million euros - financed by the Crown Estate. The electrics are outdated, the heating urgently needs to be replaced, as does the pipework, otherwise there is a serious risk of fire and water, says the government.

King Charles III owns a total of 92 properties - and they are extremely valuable

How much is too much?

According to Forbes, King Charles III's property portfolio now consists of 7 palaces, 10 castles, 12 houses, 56 holiday homes and 14 ancient ruins - which also have a high value. However, as the media rightly emphasise, he does not own the properties directly. They belong to the Crown Estate, the Duchy of Lancaster and the Duchy of Cornwall and are administered by the Crown. However, four estates are owned by two trusts that the Regent established when he was still Prince. Two of these estates are in Rome, the others in the United Kingdom.

One might be forgiven for questioning the collective intelligence of a people who would choose to engage in such an activity.

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Today marks the second anniversary of the death of Queen Elizabeth II -September 8th 2024.

Two years ago (on September 8th 2022), The late Queen died around 3pm at Balmoral Castle in Scotland.

You are incredibly missed. Thank you for everything Ma'am!

Has he answered a question, no, has he published his healthcare plans announced since 2016, no, ......, does he know anything about Project 2025, if he could have read that in the meantime to say, that's really not what I stand for, no, but going out and throwing around some percentage figures to say he's won, that always works, he'll know that straight away,

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By the way, from now on, hearing fifth-hand accounts counts as a full background investigation of facts plus what you saw on TV as true!

I always knew Dracula existed, I saw it on TV, and I speak horse Ed

.... all true..... Or didn't all the migrants from Europe eat the bison of the indigenous people who lived in America?

By the way, everything that is published on any social platform is true, ...., and what is written is also true.

We are already looking forward to the time when our civilisation has gone down the drain and another civilisation digs up 'Lord of the Rings'.

As I said, everything is true, education and facts, key figures and all the other nonsense from science are no longer needed when the citizens are stupid and uneducated or simply so greedy for power that they ignore all the facts or don't want to understand them.

Rumours are enough!

And then, in my youth, I encountered Monty Python and the realisation hit me like a rockfall on an unsuspecting mountaineer... my brain hurts.

And for that I am deeply grateful to this day... if you take yourself too seriously, you will never be taken seriously... we are all individuals, I am not!

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Check out..... and your life will be ....!

en.wikipedia.org

Monty Python - Wikipedia

Yep- it's pretty simple.