Why Travbuddy?

When planning a trip some place nice, we want to share the experience with somebody. Sometimes we don't, I agree. But most of the time we travel to find something new, to feel different emotions, to get away - the list is long.

First, we decide where to go and why go there. After the destination is chosen we want to at least have some plans figured out. Like, how much money can we spend, who will take care of our dog, who we want to meet, what we want to see, etc. If the budget is unlimited it makes planning easier but it does not promise you exciting unpredictable journey.

Let's take my case as an example: I like to travel light and cheap, and inconveniences don't bother me that much. Usually those inconveniences make the best stories and memories. I started using travbuddy.com. It's a free website, where you create your profile and communicate to other travelers. You can make friends with people from different countries, who will be willing to show you around, give you advice and even let you sleep on their couch (if you are lucky, and depending on a culture). At the same time, if you don't have an opportunity to travel, you may be the one showing around your area. Rediscovering your own town and getting to know people from other states or countries is so exciting and educational. It costs you as much time as you decide to spend. It is a priceless experience and I am being literal, it has no price.

Zionists and Palestine

This is one of my first legit papers written in the US. I did not revise it for you, but hey, I am cool enough to share my work with you guys ;) Hopefully it helps your papers or at least feeds your minds with more information on this subject.
It took me a while to pick a topic. My friend Said who is originally from Palestine was telling me about his family and it made me think about Israel and its citizens. I started with one book planning to read a bunch of articles on the topic but ended up reading three more books and few articles about Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Moreover, I got to learn the history of the country and its’ relations with the rest of the world.
During the revision my group mate advised me to present more material so that the reader can see the whole picture. She also recommended me to cover the history of the conflict, which I did. Few days later my professor looked through my paper and reminded me that history shouldn’t be the main focus of the research. The salient point of the case was to explore. The paper wasn’t hard because of the work we as students had to do before we began writing the research paper. The double-entry log and the proposal made it easier to concentrate on material we’ve already prepared. While writing the paper I didn’t come to a conclusion and I thought I’d leave the end without the answer. By the time I was typing conclusion I finally realized I did have my opinion on this particular issue. I answered the question I asked and developed my own opinion.


Exploratory Essay
Who has the legal right to the current nation of Israel?
In this world of progress and never ending exploration people communicate with each other all the time. The national barrier becomes less and less vivid, especially if we deal with neighboring countries. Being a foreigner I feel very welcomed in the United States of America. The most important word in its name is “united”. The variety of nationalities is enormous and it’s a great example of people’s ability to cooperate and accept different points of view other than deny them. I am Ukrainian, Moldavian and Greek myself. It is already three cultures in one. Since I feel very comfortable with people of different nationalities and religion views my new friends in the USA have it all. The knowledge of cultures unites my friends together. Every time we have a big party most of my friends are there: Korean, American, Russian, Mexican, European and Ukrainian. I have noticed lately that when I invite my friends there are only two friends who have no desire to meet. These friends of mine came from one country, their parents are more than neighbors – they are enemies.
Palestinians and Israelis have been fighting over the nation of Israel for millennia. They have not been able to come to one consensus for decades. This complicated and yet unsolved question bothers a lot of people and countries. Its’ roots go deep to the biblical times and the fruits of it are a continuous battle between two neighbors – Israel and Palestine. One of my best friends is Palestinian but I have good friends who are Jews. There is always so much tension between these two nations.
During centuries both nations have been fighting for the same land. Today every side claims to want peace, but they do the opposite and the conflict only becomes bigger. Israelis conquered Palestinians in 1948 and media says the conquers left the defeated right to stay and live in their houses, receive education and get jobs; now Palestinians want the land back and Israeli soldiers have to use weapons to calm the nation down. The land keeps bleeding.
Palestinians at the same time explain that there is no independence in their lives. In 1882 Britain began to allow migration of Jews to Palestine. As a result of the persecution of Jews in Russia and Romania a year earlier, the first large-scale immigration of Jewish settlers to Palestine takes place. What really happened?
It is also a question of religion, a question of people who live on the Holy land, and countries that are interested in this never ending battle. On one hand the Jewish land was given to Israelis by God and after it had been taken away for a while they conquered the Palestinians in 1946 and 1948; on the other hand Palestinians lived on this land during the centuries before Britain let the Jews all around the world gather in Palestine. With so many years of violence and passion behind this issue it is hard to find an answer. Who has the legal right to live in the Holy land and why is it called Palestine in the first place?
My friend who is American gave me the first source, which is 1948 by Benny Morris, an Israeli writer who is pro-Israeli but he admits the land was Palestinian before Jews came back to the land. It also tells about Zionists, that is a group of pro-Israeli Jews, who decided to gather the whole nation together. Benny Morris in the book 1948 states the fact: “The first wave of Zionist immigrants – the First ‘Aliya (literally, ascent) – brought to Palestine’s shores between 1882 and 1903 some thirty thousand Jewish settlers.” Most of the Jews lived in Jerusalem. It is fascinating that in 1881, before the Jews started coming back to the land of Palestine there were 450,000 Arabs – about 90 percent Muslim, the rest Christian – and twenty-five thousand Jews in the country. Even later when Jews started coming back to the country they were still less than twenty percent of the whole population of Palestine.
Benny Morris is sure that the ultimate goal was to take over the land and to restore to the Jews the political independence they have been deprived of for thousands of years. The Jews, the author says, would declare that they were the masters of their ancient homeland. People and whole nations have been changing their land borders, expanded and became smaller again. If all the countries have used history facts to gain their lands back it would be a never ending world war. At the same time the Jews didn’t have their own land and they needed to strengthen their nation since they have lost millions of people during World War II.
[T]he integrity of the Ottoman imperial domain was not the only obstacle to Jewish statehood. There were also the native inhabitants, the Arabs… But once there, the settlers could not avoid noticing the majority native population. It was from them, as two of the first settlers put it, that “we shall… take away the country… through stratagems, without drawing upon us their hostility before we become the strong and populous ones. [B. Morris, page 3]
By “stratagems”, of course, they meant purchase; buying land occasionally required “stratagems” since the Ottoman authorities were generally ill disposed toward Jewish land acquisition. Most of the world’s Jews were non-Zionists, and most, simply, were poor, especially in the Zionist movement’s Eastern Europe heartland. The rich concentrated in Central and Western Europe.
While reading the book I kept in my mind that the author of the book was a pro-Israeli Jew. Nationalism began to touch the minds of the better educated Jews who were raised in Europe and the USA. Rich Palestinian families knew that big changes would come and wanted to prevent losing their lands. Palestinians didn’t want to share their native land; they are still very tied to their country with strong bonds.
In 1907 Yitzhak Epstein, a Zionist educator, had published an article, The Hidden Question, in which he acknowledged the emergence of a national conflict between Zionism and the Arabs. Apparently most of the Jews understood that they couldn’t just inhabit the land that legally didn’t belong to them anymore. Unfortunately for Zionists, Palestinians didn’t want to divide the country into pieces.
A lot of Jews did not come back to “Israel” because by religion they are not supposed to come to the Holy land until the “Prince” comes from heaven to the earth. (“Prince” means Jesus)
The second rebellion, lasting until late spring – summer 1939, was far bloodier than the first. The Arab rural bands renewed their attacks and were active in the towns as well… “Dozens of houses were demolished, crops were destroyed, rebels and their accomplices were hanged, and thousands were jailed.” [Benny Morris, page 20]
The Arabs made a very big mistake by being too aggressive. They untied Zionists’ hands, which now were able to ask for more help and protection from British and Americans. And they got it. Jews who have already come to Palestine needed protection. Plan D was strict. They had weapons that Palestinians were not able to use. Zionists used media, forces, and knowledge to conquer the land of Palestine. The question is - how did they win?
The war created the Palestinian refugee problem. Looking back, Israel’s Foreign Minister Moshe Shertok said:
“There are those who say that we uprooted Arabs from their places. But even they will not deny that the source of the problem was the war: had there been no war, the Arabs would not have expelled them. Had the Arabs from the start accepted the decision of 29 November [1947], a completely different Jewish state would have arisen.” [Benny Morris, page 141]
I can assume that if Palestine agreed to give Israelis the land they were asking for there would be no war and Israelis wouldn’t “clean” the land of Palestinians. Shertok, of course, was right: the refugee problem was created by the war – which the Arabs had launched. They were defending their land, which is understandable. During centuries the Arab people were conquered and did not own their country. Ottoman defeated and destroyed Arab’s self-image. Palestine was conquered by France and also became a colony of Britain …
It only shows that Arabs suffered a lot and explains their negative attitude to the Israelis, who were trying to inhabit the land. Even later when Jews started coming back to the country there were still less than twenty percent of the whole population of Palestine. It makes me wonder what the reason was of them starting to come back, all of a sudden. Did they feel patriotic and already were planning to come to “their” land or was it because they were discriminated by other countries?
I decided to study this group deeper and another book “From Beirut to Jerusalem” that was well written by Thomas L. Friedman answered few of my questions. It talks about gathering of Israel in Palestine. It informs the reader how European and American Jews organized Zionism and decided that Jews should have their own land and country. This book gives explanation why Israeli people deserve to have their own country again in this particular area. I purchased the book on modern type of a book store, Kindle. Friedman is expressing very aggressively about Israelis and suggests that Palestinians should undertake virtually all the initiatives, but he doesn’t blame Israelis for being smarter. In the book Friedman shares his thoughts:
“Either the Palestinians will stop paying taxes, stop talking about joining the Jerusalem city council, stop building Jewish settlements, and stop riding the Egged buses, as their heads tell them they should do, said Sari, or their national strategy will be made to fit their assimilation.” [Friedman, page 9]
Even though there was a prediction that Palestine would want to join Jerusalem it didn’t happen. No matter how tough it was for Palestinians, there was no way they could give up the land without a fight. I do disagree with Friedman who is pro-Zionist. He actually made me question the real intentions of Zionists.
A.B. Yehoshua, published a letter to the editor of The New York Times calling on American Jews to “speak up” about Israeli policies in the West bank, because “the status quo will further corrupt Israeli society and inevitably lead to another major war.” The influence of media is very strong and powerful. A.B. Yehoshua uses the power and asks educated European and American Jews for help and support. After his article Israeli Jews start writing more and more books proving Zionists’ philosophy.
The more I learned about Zionist movement the less I was sure in the legitimacy of their plan and actions. Even though the books I’ve read show them as a smart group of people who put a lot on the plate in order to save the nation of Israel, I still had doubts and decided to see what was really going on in Palestine during that same period of time. I started searching the web to find new information that would give me some answers. After reading a bunch of blogs and archives from newspapers I finally found a great work that was interesting to read. It was the article "The Expulsion of the Palestinians 1947-1948” written by Robin Miller that was published by New York Times. It questions the numbers of Jews that were in Palestine during that period of time given by Israel leaders. Robin Miller in "The Expulsion of the Palestinians 1947-1948”, says, "Before 1948, Jews owned only 1.5 million of the 26 million dunams of land in Palestine. After the eviction of the Palestinians, Israel controlled 20 million dunams, an increase from 6% to 77% of the total. They simply stole the entire country”. Now it felt like Israelis were evil and Palestinians were unprotected civilians who didn’t even have an army. To find the evidence of those facts I kept looking for answers.
The fourth source is the book “The Hope Fulfilled: The Rise of Modern Israel” by Leslie Stein that shows the trials the “pioneers” had to overcome.” It appears that many Christians are being encouraged to support Israeli land claims over those of the Palestinians, based on this unsubstantiated figure of 92% of the land having been purchased by the Jews. However, the Jewish National Fund’s own figures indicate that they claim to have purchased only 7.33% of the land by 1948. How many Jews and Palestinians were in the country before and after the war? She literally says this:
“[W]hen Jews migrated to Palestine in reasonable numbers to restore their presence there not simply as worshipers but also as economically productive agents. The settlements themselves and those that followed, both within the First and then the Second Aliyah, were normally sited moderately close to existing Jewish commercial centers, such as Jaffa, Haifa, Safed and Tiberius…the Arabs placed a much higher premium on land in the Judeah Hills, particularly terraced, drained land in the mountain valleys, than on land in lower-lying areas.”
[Leslie Stein, page 48]
Jews occupied worse land than Palestinians. The first Aliyah (pro-Israeli Jews) settlers had to face the ignorance of local conditions, disease and the near absence of medical treatment, a lack of appropriate agricultural know-how and the opposition to their previous way of life.
Even though the Jews paid taxes the Palestinians made roads not in a proper way for Jewish cities and towns: “to this day there are no roads, not only between village to village but also between the cities of one region to another” Leib Bienstock 1882. Jews were very organized and they developed their agriculture their small state even with bad climatic conditions.
“As each band of pioneers took possession of their land, they organized their activities within a cooperative framework in which, for the time being, the land remained undivided and work activities were centrally coordinated.”
[Leib Bienstock, page 98]
Tired of Jewish authors I decided to switch to somebody who would be neutral. The fifth book I was working on is “Zionism: The real enemy of the Jews” written by Alan Hart. This writer gives us absolutely different and very interesting point of view. He is basically saying that neither Jews nor Palestinians are wrong. He blames Zionists in creating an evil plan by tricking all the countries, making Europe and the USA feel guilty for the World War II and manipulating them with media. The last book I was working on explores another side of the issue. “Zionism: The real enemy of the Jews” written by Alan Hart states that it has been forgotten by Jews and the rest of the world, that Zionism was founded on a cold blooded policy of colonialism, ethnic cleansing and terrorism.
Alan Hart is trying to prove that the Zionists had their plan to gain the land back and the way they reached their goal wasn’t legit.
While exploring and looking for the answers to this complicated question I found it interesting that most of world population has heard of Palestinian and Israeli issue but not all of them know about Zionists’ influence. In fact, Zionism is the reason of this problem. They remind me of Fascists: the rise of nationalism after wars and being unable to rule their own country. Zionism is definitely not as cruel as Fascism but there definitely some similarities. If we look at the tactics both nations use we’ll find a lot in common.
Wealthy and educated Jews who were raised by first world countries decide they need to have their own state and independence. They gather together and form a nationalistic group Zionism that begins to grow very fast and finds millions of supporters. Just as fascists this group also uses media, especially press, to support their views. According to Plan D Israelis were “cleaning” the country from Palestinians; fascists “cleaned” Germany from Jews. Zionists referred to the World War II where they lost millions of people and demanded their own land from Britain. German Fascists arose after the World War I where they were defeated and have lost many people. Before the World War II the nation of Germany was experiencing really hard times while well educated Jews were wealthy and was the elite of the whole country. We know what happened afterwards.
The situation with Israelis and Palestinians was very close to the previous one but pro-Israelis knew that their target was easier to reach since Palestinians were not well educated. Zionists started to act years and years before the war in 1948.
I think the legal right to the nation of Israel today has Jews but on my opinion Zionists learned on their “murderers’” example and did pretty much the same. They were so fed up with being prosecuted by other nations, killed because of being smarter and more successful that they decided they deserved to have their own country. While doing the research I found out how little I knew about this particular problem. Before I started to explore the issue I saw the Jews as the real hosts of Israel. Little by little I have changed my mind. Today even though Israelis have won the war in 1948 and have always been strong I find Zionists’ tactics cruel and inhumane. The question I wanted to find an answer to has been answered – Israelis do own the land legally. Now my other questions are: Did Zionists follow Fascists’ philosophy? Have other countries been manipulated by Zionists? Should the UN divide the country in two pieces and bring peace? These will be the topics of my new exploratory paper.
WORKS CITED
Morris, Benny. 1948. Michigan: Yale University Press. 2008. Print.
Friedman Thomas L. “From Beirut to Jerusalem”. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 1990. Print.
“New York Times”, Miller Robin “The Expulsion of the Palestinians 1947-1948”. New York. October 1979, page 3.
Stein Leslie. “The Hope Fulfilled: The Rise of Modern Israel”. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. 2003. Print.
Alan Hart. “Zionist: The real enemy of the Jews”. Atlanda: Focus Publishing.2005. Print.

Bilingual

Today one of my colleagues represented her work about the necessity of the USA to become bilingual. Even though I am learning Spanish and really am enjoying the beauty of the language, it feels unfair to make it officially a second language of the country. It is already pretty competitive for immigrants from other countries; making Spanish second language will not help their situation. I could accuse the colleague of being bias because she is from Chile, but the truth is there are millions of people who support her idea. So maybe, I am being scared of big changes. Sometimes I feel like defending US Americans. Being the example of democracy is extremely challenging. People all over the world run from their countries and once they are in they demand changes. Hey! It is what it is. I am one of those people. It is great that government here has to sometimes listen to the needs of people. I respect that. It may not be perfect, but the government of the US cares about its citizens more than any other country. So should they listen to "minority" that demands to accept Spanish as a second language? It is debatable and definitely needs more research.

To pay or not to pay

There are only two kinds of people: those who made it to the US and those who still wish they did. Ok, ok just kidding. What I am trying to say is that there are those who want to move to the USA hoping for a better quality of life; people tend to desire more control of their own future that they would have a chance to build in the "land of democracy".

Most of you, who are reading it, have heard of the green card lottery which gives 50 thousand people every year to win their "golden ticket" to the USA. Some of you have even participated in the lottery once or twice.

I remember working for a great man in a very fun company where there were mostly guys selling valves and tools for bathrooms. I worked in the office, back in Kiev, Ukraine. My boss who had American dream fever asked me to help him fill out the application for the lottery. Unfortunately, I was not aware at that time that the application fee was $0 , simply free of charge. Yes, there are a million different websites saying they will help you get better chances to win if you pay $50 or more. In reality the chances are the same - it is simply based on luck. I would just want to warn you not to make my mistake and go to the first source. Here is the Government website where you can participate in the lottery: https://www.dvlottery.state.gov/
BEST of Luck!!!

Working under the table

Yeah, a topic everyone is avoiding. Well, first, I think legalizing marijuana would still bring less revenue in tax verses letting people from foreign countries work. Seriously, any person (hopefully) can manage to live without pot, but there is no one on this planet who can survive without basic things like food and home and at least a bus pass. As Americans who also came to this land a few centuries ago and dislocated Natives it is hypocritical to forbid others to have their chance to build a home in a democratic country full of empty lands. I'm not saying let's allow everybody to come but those who have already made it here and who obey the law should have a chance to earn their piece of bread. A person can not just sit around not working, not eating and not enjoying the benefits of "democracy".

Well, I know those of you who are on this page get my point, if not I would like to hear your thoughts on the subject.

Going back to the topic of WHERE to find a part-time job for cash. First of all, don't try to find something in a small town, you have to be in a huge city. At the same time you know you'll get minimum wage and maximum work. I've heard through friends that most of the time it's Indians, Asians and Hispanic who can help to get a "part-time job". They usually look for people of their culture and don't trust somebody from the street. So it's all about connections. In my case, I'm not Asian or Hispanic or Indian and I live in a pretty small student town. So the jobs I worked at were mostly on-campus: catering, posing for drawing classes, cleaning, etc. There are jobs like ebay, translations online and helping friends with yard sales, baby sitting your friend's kids, and definitely jobs where you can get tips - all those can help you stay on a flow. It is hard, sometimes hungry but there is only one thing I want to leave with you. Do not break the law, because if one day you get a chance to get a green card or a citizenship those jobs can ruin your dream. Choose carefully and let's all hope the law will be less strict so that one day we can all work and pay for our meals.

"SAN DIEGO, California- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger took a stand against anti-illegal immigrant groups saying, "There are jobs that lots of people who live here legally won't do. Unless you protesters will take these jobs just shut up." The governor's remarks were made after a sweep of the San Diego Zoo found there were some illegal immigrants working there." Vague but True newspaper (Oct 26, 2011)

There are other sources where people discuss the subject and I found them pretty interesting
http://ask.metafilter.com/59912/How-do-under-the-table-jobs-work

Ways to move to the USA

Interesting topic and most of people from third world countries often wonder how to get to the blessed land and, what's more important, how to stay. There are so many different ways but the most important to analyze how devoted you are and how much you want it. I've never imagined myself going to an American high school and become an American, but I did dream of a nice family of my own, good conditions of life... natural, right? Who hasn't? Well, I'm a dreamer and if some people think dreamers are lazy that is not completely true, not all of us are. We, dreamers, spend time focusing on things we want to get and accomplish. It takes not only a thought but an action.

But how will you act before you decide what is it exactly that you want? So, anyway we'll come back to this topic some other time. So if you have already decided, let's see what can be done.
Write on a piece of paper:
-your age;
-your occupation;
-who would you move with;
-who could you move to;
-relatives and friends in the area you are moving;
-research, research, research
-how much money would you need for the first few months (rent, food, transportation)
- how much money do you have?

There is a long list of questions and worries. And most likely a lot of times you will think you won't make it. Let's be honest, if you had the money you needed to move to the US you wouldn't really be desperate to move in the first place. So think why you want to move again. If you have a good job and all the family in your own country and you have strong relationships with the family members, maybe you shouldn't move... Trust me, it's not easy here. No one will wait for you at JFK airport with a ton of money. SO think one more time!

You still here?
Ok, so if you have somebody to help you out then go to school (student visa). Americanize your field of study, this way you can be a Pro in your major and get a job after graduation (work visa). If you are a doctor or an engineer, well, people need you guys everywhere, so you will probably get a job without schooling again. You could apply for a job from your hometown and this way you could get a work visa through the employer.

If you are not an engineer and can't stand looking at blood etc., if you also don't have a sponsor who could help you pay for school and you don't have such money either then there is also programs like AU-Pair and Work&Travel. In first case you would probably be a female who is not afraid to change pampers and take care of somebody else s kids. In the second one these programs usually offer seasonal jobs like working at lagoons, 7 peaks or cleaning fish in Alaska.

Definitely, let's not forget about dating websites where American guys have to pay for the membership. And I know there are cases where both sided really like each other, but since in this case it depends on emotions it's hard to plan this one. It is also mostly for women so I'd wish those good luck (we may discuss this topic some other time). So yes, if you don't have money, try to come on a work visa and earn some here. While working you could look at the universities you could afford. There are schools (colleges and universities) where one semester costs from 2K-5K for non-residents and international students. If you are smart then do the research before you come to the US and keep looking for the updates about schools you are interested in. Check if they have scholarships and if the tuition is the same. To get a scholarship most of the time you should be good at sports or science, it's hard to get scholarship if you are in humanities unless you've won a bunch of national or international competitions. It also depends on a school you are interested in. So now you are working, let's say, somewhere in Texas making sure that nobody falls of a roller coaster and you are thinking what school to go to. Here are a few schools that are pretty good and not too expensive:
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/11/09/cheapest-colleges-13-standup-schools-that-cost-less-than-5-000/

Found your school? Great, now what you do you apply and if you have already a diploma from your country I know you were smarter than I was and you translated your grades and let a layer put a stamp on it. This way it saves you time and money. By transferring your grades you will have less classes to take which means less money to pay. While you are still in the USA and let's imagine you got accepted to the school you will have to face to choices: go home and change your visa there (there is a possibility you could be denied) or stay in the US and start studying. Your status as a student would be fine but your visa would not allow you to go on trips to Canada or Mexico, or any other country except your own. So there will come time when you'd have to go back home to change that visa and hope you get a nice lady/gentleman at the Embassy who would approve you. Otherwise your education is unfinished and your money is wasted.
So you have made a decision... good.. let's move on. Next step would be work. As an international student you can not work first semester, but you will be able to work on-campus for 20h/week, and when you take a semester off (once a year) you can work on-campus for 40h/week. Later if you are in a right school they will allow you to work off-campus 40h/week if a job is related to your major. But when you attend classes during those semesters the only thing you can do is work 20h/week. I will warn you, most of the time you'd get minimum wage so good luck living on that.

What can be done? Remember, you came as an employee and was working hard during summer? Well, that's the time you should have opened an account. Checking account first then credit card. When you have a job your chances to get a card are higher. So most likely they'd offer you a card with a high interest. But what you do, you say you want to build your credit. You leave security deposit of $300 that you don't use and on top of that a bank lands you money. When you have a job you should make sure you don't use this card, or you use it once or twice just to show the bank you are using it but never going into minus.

And now let's go back to the hard days, when school is tough and plus on top of it you work at dinning on campus. Yes, I know, it sucks, but you can do it!
This is the time when you use that credit card. Still, try not to go in dept. You never know what's waiting for you tomorrow... Well, I have a gazillian stories for you and a bucket of advice. Keep checking on me, write your questions and I will answer any of them ;)

Green Card lottery

It's my third time applying for a green card... that mysterious card that only lucky people get and most of humans have never seen but most of us have heard about its existence. I wonder if it's green at all. Let's google this stuff... Ok, so it is sort of green'ish



 
This time I'm having troubles with my picture again.
Every year is the the same problem - I can never get the picture right and even when my camera claims it is 600x600 pxl, the programme does not accept it. What is going on, people? I mean why take away my dream? As intelligent people say "sad face".
Hopefully I get this picture right by the end of the night. Wish me luck!