By January the 17th, this blog will continue on http://internationsmusings.typepad.com/
Since this blog has no administrator anymore its hard to handle.
The co bloggers: Vassilio, Myrthe, Derya, Seda and Bea will get direct access to the new blog.
I hope to succeed in transferring all the posts of this blog to the Typepad account.
It will take me some time to create a nice outfit for the new Internations Musing blog.
In the meanwhile, this blog will be still the blog to post and comment on.
Thanks
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
I Will Find My Darling in the New Year at the Bottom of a Rose Branch
Nurduran, a good friend, who posted here several poets, wrote a short story for the New Year:
I Will Find My Darling in the New Year at the Bottom of a Rose Branch
“I let every opportunity slip away, even death.”
This was one of the immortal theatre heroes Cyrano De Bergerac’s closing remarks before he died... He couldn’t accept the fact that such a poet, a musketeer, a music lover, a man who knew physics, a man who was kind as himself and also a hero would die with a beat to the head with wood, as no one else including myself could. (Except for the writer Edmond Rostand).
As the question of whether Cyrano made the remark stated above to the musketeer or if it was the other way around flows through my head eager to find a bed to surface; first of all I intend to wish that nobody shares Cyrano’s fate in 2008. And that they welcome 2009 with a year end that is full of unused opportunities.
Contrary to those who say that welcoming the New Year is nothing but hanging a new calendar on the wall and having to buy a new diary, I think that being in every celebration that witnesses various aspects of our lives is an opportunity. The current formulas of physics may not suffice to decide whether time cares if it is given a name or not but what harm is there in evaluating what has developed in the name of the human race, what has deteriorated, what has made people happy, what has humiliated them in the past year we gave a number a year ago? What can we loose by naming the coming year, New Year in order to conduce toward a new beginning, actually wishing to witness better times for ourselves, our country and our planet?
As long as we aren’t beside ourselves with consuming, aren’t the new year celebrations just another opportunity to express Love, confess love, thank everyone in our lives for being there, wishing them the best, honoring time that witnesses our every moment and most importantly for the whole world to have fun and enliven the universe with hope and best wishes all at the same time? Since we cannot all cry at once... Since we cannot all cry, and stand by watching the absurdity of those who set out to be kings of the world...
One should target the uniting, the peacemaking, the love contaminating and developmental side of everything and celebrate everything worth celebrating with latitude... Because, just as you can’t separate a melody from another, you can’t keep a person away from another. As one finds their darling at the bottom of a rose branch with a folk song from the city of Kütahya which they have never heard before; one other may embrace a totally different person and sing the “Salonika folk song” looking STRAIGHT into their eyes.
2008 will be composed of days that latitude is crowned and makes a pine needle blossom; days in which the fact that blood is thicker than water is comprehended once and for all; days in which we can stand against those who pass for wise men, side by side without the notion of “superior-inferior” clouding our judgment, brighter, wiser, and more sightful days in which we won’t let good deeds turn bad; It will be blessed.
Surely it will be blessed, did I write that many poems I attached to blue beaded brooms and made into fortunes to be drawn in vain?
“May getting rid of the past sorrows
beating them off
come easy as playing a game,
Let no evil eye affect
your love
your lover
in the new year(s)”
With the wish that the lives that are tangent to each other fully touch, and the ones that don’t, do.
And that those who are far away come back into our lives, and to feel the closeness of those who are near.
Yours,
Nurduran Duman
Tuesday, January 01, 2008
a new life for Turkey
A new life awaits Turks in new year
Starting a new year is always a joyful occasion, but Turkey has more to celebrate this year than just greeting 2008, as changes made to 170 laws are likely to pass next week, challenging some Turkish citizens to change their old ways of doing certain things.
A comprehensive ban on smoking will be one of the first bills taken up in Parliament after New Year’s. If the bill to be taken up this Wednesday passes, smoking in bars, restaurants and coffeehouses will be banned.
A host of new laws -- combined in a single bill -- will take effect in early January, perhaps as early as next week, and is bound to transform daily life in the country. The bill includes amendments to the basic penal legislation as part of the European Union harmonization process. The changes introduced are more than likely to directly influence the way we live our daily lives.
The new year will bring significant changes to Turks’ lives as the 170 amendments to be made to several penal provisions regulate a wide variety of daily life activities, from smoking habits to the way we treat our pets and other animals. The changes vary from fines introduced to employers who do not enforce official lunch hours in their offices to heavy penalties for hooliganism at football games. Individuals who fire bullets into the air will be deprived of their right to firearm ownership; owners of dangerous dog breeds will have to guarantee that they will not breed their animals and those who trade in animals without a license will have to pay heavy fines.
Although most of these new laws may seem to simply be a description of how a decent person with common sense would act normally, a majority of these are in fact a major challenge for many Turkish citizens. Very soon, most of us will seriously have to change our habits, as the harmonization bill has already passed the parliamentary Justice Committee. This 651-article bill will be introduced to Parliament next week.
continue reading
Starting a new year is always a joyful occasion, but Turkey has more to celebrate this year than just greeting 2008, as changes made to 170 laws are likely to pass next week, challenging some Turkish citizens to change their old ways of doing certain things.
A comprehensive ban on smoking will be one of the first bills taken up in Parliament after New Year’s. If the bill to be taken up this Wednesday passes, smoking in bars, restaurants and coffeehouses will be banned.
A host of new laws -- combined in a single bill -- will take effect in early January, perhaps as early as next week, and is bound to transform daily life in the country. The bill includes amendments to the basic penal legislation as part of the European Union harmonization process. The changes introduced are more than likely to directly influence the way we live our daily lives.
The new year will bring significant changes to Turks’ lives as the 170 amendments to be made to several penal provisions regulate a wide variety of daily life activities, from smoking habits to the way we treat our pets and other animals. The changes vary from fines introduced to employers who do not enforce official lunch hours in their offices to heavy penalties for hooliganism at football games. Individuals who fire bullets into the air will be deprived of their right to firearm ownership; owners of dangerous dog breeds will have to guarantee that they will not breed their animals and those who trade in animals without a license will have to pay heavy fines.
Although most of these new laws may seem to simply be a description of how a decent person with common sense would act normally, a majority of these are in fact a major challenge for many Turkish citizens. Very soon, most of us will seriously have to change our habits, as the harmonization bill has already passed the parliamentary Justice Committee. This 651-article bill will be introduced to Parliament next week.
continue reading
Monday, December 31, 2007
New Years Resolutions...
...yes, I make them each year over and over again. It's fun.
For me this year:
1) less time behind Internet, more clearly: less blogging and other social media tools, but more time writing articles and working at my book. The latter must be finished by the end of the summer 2008.
2) shall I stop smoking? I have to!
3) moving to another country? Big chance! On the top of the list: Dubai, Italy, Greece, Canada and France. Only for the first I need a work permit, the rest not. So, we will see.
Wish you all a pleasant evening and for tomorrow: wake up healthy..))
For me this year:
1) less time behind Internet, more clearly: less blogging and other social media tools, but more time writing articles and working at my book. The latter must be finished by the end of the summer 2008.
2) shall I stop smoking? I have to!
3) moving to another country? Big chance! On the top of the list: Dubai, Italy, Greece, Canada and France. Only for the first I need a work permit, the rest not. So, we will see.
Wish you all a pleasant evening and for tomorrow: wake up healthy..))
Sunday, December 30, 2007
When the Turkish flag becomes a cross!
An interesting article by Orhan Kemal CENGIZ
Flags are everywhere. On balconies, in shop windows, on taxis, some of them in huge sizes hanging from huge flagpoles and seen from everywhere. What is this symbolism all about? It is not a celebration, it is not a gesture of joy; there are some elements in it involving protest against terror, we can understand that. However, terror and the armed uprising have been routine parts of our lives for quite some time. This “flag love” is a very new phenomenon though. It was not like that before. The Turkish flag has become a symbol like the cross; every Turkish person should have and put it on a visible place in which they reside or where they work. It is the Turkish cross that will be put forward against evil forces! But who are they? Against whom did we take out our crosses? Is this country under invasion? Is this a protest against the “invaders?” Who are they? It is like in protest against an occupation people are showing their patriotism and their determination to resist!
Then our camera captures another scene in a completely different environment. A coffee house in the bus terminal in Samsun. Ogun Samast, the murderer of Hrant Dink, is in the tiny police station in the bus terminal, he is about to be transferred somewhere else. There is hectic activity in the police station. Gendarmerie and police officers are in a queue, they are in competition, and they want to get a good pose with Samast, who holds a Turkish flag in his outstretched hand! Later on we learnt that the flag he was holding was in his pocket when he fired in the neck of Dink from behind and it was given to him by one of the conspirators. Anyway, police and gendarmerie officers are satisfied because they were able to take a photo with Samast, the killer of the “Armenian.”
Continue reading here.
Flags are everywhere. On balconies, in shop windows, on taxis, some of them in huge sizes hanging from huge flagpoles and seen from everywhere. What is this symbolism all about? It is not a celebration, it is not a gesture of joy; there are some elements in it involving protest against terror, we can understand that. However, terror and the armed uprising have been routine parts of our lives for quite some time. This “flag love” is a very new phenomenon though. It was not like that before. The Turkish flag has become a symbol like the cross; every Turkish person should have and put it on a visible place in which they reside or where they work. It is the Turkish cross that will be put forward against evil forces! But who are they? Against whom did we take out our crosses? Is this country under invasion? Is this a protest against the “invaders?” Who are they? It is like in protest against an occupation people are showing their patriotism and their determination to resist!
Then our camera captures another scene in a completely different environment. A coffee house in the bus terminal in Samsun. Ogun Samast, the murderer of Hrant Dink, is in the tiny police station in the bus terminal, he is about to be transferred somewhere else. There is hectic activity in the police station. Gendarmerie and police officers are in a queue, they are in competition, and they want to get a good pose with Samast, who holds a Turkish flag in his outstretched hand! Later on we learnt that the flag he was holding was in his pocket when he fired in the neck of Dink from behind and it was given to him by one of the conspirators. Anyway, police and gendarmerie officers are satisfied because they were able to take a photo with Samast, the killer of the “Armenian.”
Continue reading here.
clever....
A restaurant in the German state of Lower Saxony has come up with a novel way around a recently introduced ban on smoking in bars and restaurants.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Day Opening - December 29
Red Light district Amsterdam, famous for its churches and: see below..))
The person who made this picture had to run for his life since the prostitutes and their pimps don't like to be photographed...
95% of the 'clients' are foreigners.
Friday, December 28, 2007
Differences in Christmas and New Year's Eve
The Ten Differences Of Christmas (Between the North and the South of this Earth)
I was in in New York, some years ago, walking up a snowbound Fifth Avenue and watching the holiday season in the USA in full bloom - the neck-twistingly tall tree in Rockefeller Center adorned with enough lights to replace the stars; the Toys R Us in Times Square so huge that it contains a three-story tall Ferris wheel inside; presents at Bloomingdale's and Saks that can fit in your pocket and still cost more than the price of all four cars that I have owned in my life - combined. It was all truly a grand sight.
Now I am in Turkey where the holiday season is a good deal more humble. I thought that you might enjoy this little summary of how the holidays are different here and other parts of the world, for example Turkey - The ten differences of Christmas and New year's Eve here and there.
These are:
1. The Heat
If Santa is smart, then the moment he finishes up his gift deliveries in the north he pauses for a change of wardrobe (perhaps some nice red shorts and a matching tank top and a wooden coat), because here in our part of the world it is high winter and Christmas can be brutal cold. As a transplant from the north (even the Netherlands, which is still not Antarctica this time of year) it is one weird experience to bring home a Christmas tree in weather that seems more like July than December, I am talking about Rio now. Its all about perception..
2. Baby Jesus is Way Bigger Than Santa
In the north, there are so many images of Santa, and actual Santas about, that as parents we start telling our kids that his elves disguise themselves as Santa because there are just too many shopping malls for him to be in at one time. But for example in Turkey, Santa's face is visible here and there and I have even spotted a live one or two, but Christmas in Chritmas is really about New Year' Eve. Nativity scenes have sprouted everywhere, in nearly every home you enter, on street corners and store windows.
3. Angels That Glow in the Dark
Some ancient readers may recall a Christmas article that I wrote years ago, about the surreptitious arrival of a nativity scene into my home. This led to a family battle over my suggestion that we should at least paint Baby Jesus so that he glowed in the dark (I lost). Turns out that when I was in Italy, last year, they sell lots of small angel figures that actually DO glow in the dark. We have one watching iridescently over a non-glowing Baby Jesus in the manger.
4. New Years Eve Over Christmas?
The big event here in Istanbul is Old Year's Eve (are you getting confused already), not Christmas day. Extended families (which, with cousins, ants and uncles can almost be large enough for statehood here) gather together at midnight on the 31th for a large, traditional dinner. Mainly in hotels. How boring! Hotels are there to sleep, or otherwise: a scenery for pimps and hookers. I don't tell you more...
5. Fireworks A Midnight
One of the spectacular things here about New Year is that at exactly midnight Istanbul area explodes into a popping blare of home-launched fireworks. Thousands of families simultaneously set off every imaginable kind of pyrotechnic -giant 4th of July style explosions of sparks, roman candles, and miniature sticks of dynamite known affectionately here as "Mata Suegras", Spanish for 'Kill Your Mother In-Law', please don't take this to seriously, it are only lost feelings...
As the sparkles and flashes light up the midnight sky, it is truly clear that something special is happening and that all the people of Istanbul are marking it together.
6. The Thirtheenth Paycheck
It is a matter of Dutch labor law that, just before Christmas, formal employees receive a thirteenth monthly paycheck called an "Aginaldo" in Spanish. Families depend on this to buy whatever gifts they will for their families and whatever food they will put on their Christmas Eve or New Year's eve table. Unfortunately, fewer and fewer Dutch expiats actually have this kind of formal employment.
7. The Christmas Basket
The other traditional Christmas offering, from employers to their employees (this one not required by law but expected by custom) is the Christmas basket. This is composed of a straw basket filled with bags of flour, rice and sugar, a bottle of cooking oil, one chicken and a bottle of cheap alcoholic cider. We give one every year to Kubalya, the man who cuts our lawn, but since he doesn't drink we substitute Coke.
8. Real Sheep In Christmas Pagents
One of the things that my wife and I do here, as volunteers, is help run an 80-child orphanage. We've been involved there since 2003. Every year the children of the orphanage put on a Christmas pageant and tell the story of Jesus and Mary looking for room at the inn. The first year we did this we thought it would be cool to use a live baby lamb in the manger. Everything went very well until midway through, when one of the little boys lifted up the lamb's tail and little black pellets started to fire out. The little girl who would become our adopted daughter a few weeks later screamed with glee, "It is making poop!" and the Christmas pageant ended in toddler pandemonium even before Joseph and Mary got turned down for a room.
9. Buring Lama Fetuses
Last Friday, December 21st, was the solstice, the longest day of the year in the south and longest night in the north. And we were in Dubai. But at Christmas time, when material wealth and poverty splits these two worlds so clearly in two, that the two halves of the earth should also have their most exaggerated differences with respect to the sun. On these occasions our friend Mert, an indigenous medicine man (Sjaman) hosts elaborate rituals, which mark them in the traditional Sjaman manner. With not my favorite smell.
10. A Five Dollar Bill is a Fortune
It is a truism. What there seems like pocket change is here a treasure, but at no time it this clearer than at the holidays. The humble toys that in the north would be mere stocking stuffers or an afterthought, here would be a toy so grand that many children could not imagine it. The five-dollar bill that many in the north will spend on parking or for a Starbucks coffee drink, for many here would be a fortune. The streets of some parts of Istanbul are lined with indigenous families from small villages that come to the city at Christmas and Bayram in hopes of some small handout from people whose hearts might soften, if just a bit, this time of year. Five dollars is what many workers here earn for a hard day of labor. Some of the families on the street could easily feed themselves with it for days. I don't profess to be a Christian but, nevertheless, it does seem to me odd that the birth of a man who was poor all his life and who preached affinity for the poor, would have his birthday celebrated with a frenzy of material exchange and acquisition, while so many in the world have nothing. A thank you to everyone who is remembering the less fortunate as well in your holiday plans.
Happy Holidays to All!
I was in in New York, some years ago, walking up a snowbound Fifth Avenue and watching the holiday season in the USA in full bloom - the neck-twistingly tall tree in Rockefeller Center adorned with enough lights to replace the stars; the Toys R Us in Times Square so huge that it contains a three-story tall Ferris wheel inside; presents at Bloomingdale's and Saks that can fit in your pocket and still cost more than the price of all four cars that I have owned in my life - combined. It was all truly a grand sight.
Now I am in Turkey where the holiday season is a good deal more humble. I thought that you might enjoy this little summary of how the holidays are different here and other parts of the world, for example Turkey - The ten differences of Christmas and New year's Eve here and there.
These are:
1. The Heat
If Santa is smart, then the moment he finishes up his gift deliveries in the north he pauses for a change of wardrobe (perhaps some nice red shorts and a matching tank top and a wooden coat), because here in our part of the world it is high winter and Christmas can be brutal cold. As a transplant from the north (even the Netherlands, which is still not Antarctica this time of year) it is one weird experience to bring home a Christmas tree in weather that seems more like July than December, I am talking about Rio now. Its all about perception..
2. Baby Jesus is Way Bigger Than Santa
In the north, there are so many images of Santa, and actual Santas about, that as parents we start telling our kids that his elves disguise themselves as Santa because there are just too many shopping malls for him to be in at one time. But for example in Turkey, Santa's face is visible here and there and I have even spotted a live one or two, but Christmas in Chritmas is really about New Year' Eve. Nativity scenes have sprouted everywhere, in nearly every home you enter, on street corners and store windows.
3. Angels That Glow in the Dark
Some ancient readers may recall a Christmas article that I wrote years ago, about the surreptitious arrival of a nativity scene into my home. This led to a family battle over my suggestion that we should at least paint Baby Jesus so that he glowed in the dark (I lost). Turns out that when I was in Italy, last year, they sell lots of small angel figures that actually DO glow in the dark. We have one watching iridescently over a non-glowing Baby Jesus in the manger.
4. New Years Eve Over Christmas?
The big event here in Istanbul is Old Year's Eve (are you getting confused already), not Christmas day. Extended families (which, with cousins, ants and uncles can almost be large enough for statehood here) gather together at midnight on the 31th for a large, traditional dinner. Mainly in hotels. How boring! Hotels are there to sleep, or otherwise: a scenery for pimps and hookers. I don't tell you more...
5. Fireworks A Midnight
One of the spectacular things here about New Year is that at exactly midnight Istanbul area explodes into a popping blare of home-launched fireworks. Thousands of families simultaneously set off every imaginable kind of pyrotechnic -giant 4th of July style explosions of sparks, roman candles, and miniature sticks of dynamite known affectionately here as "Mata Suegras", Spanish for 'Kill Your Mother In-Law', please don't take this to seriously, it are only lost feelings...
As the sparkles and flashes light up the midnight sky, it is truly clear that something special is happening and that all the people of Istanbul are marking it together.
6. The Thirtheenth Paycheck
It is a matter of Dutch labor law that, just before Christmas, formal employees receive a thirteenth monthly paycheck called an "Aginaldo" in Spanish. Families depend on this to buy whatever gifts they will for their families and whatever food they will put on their Christmas Eve or New Year's eve table. Unfortunately, fewer and fewer Dutch expiats actually have this kind of formal employment.
7. The Christmas Basket
The other traditional Christmas offering, from employers to their employees (this one not required by law but expected by custom) is the Christmas basket. This is composed of a straw basket filled with bags of flour, rice and sugar, a bottle of cooking oil, one chicken and a bottle of cheap alcoholic cider. We give one every year to Kubalya, the man who cuts our lawn, but since he doesn't drink we substitute Coke.
8. Real Sheep In Christmas Pagents
One of the things that my wife and I do here, as volunteers, is help run an 80-child orphanage. We've been involved there since 2003. Every year the children of the orphanage put on a Christmas pageant and tell the story of Jesus and Mary looking for room at the inn. The first year we did this we thought it would be cool to use a live baby lamb in the manger. Everything went very well until midway through, when one of the little boys lifted up the lamb's tail and little black pellets started to fire out. The little girl who would become our adopted daughter a few weeks later screamed with glee, "It is making poop!" and the Christmas pageant ended in toddler pandemonium even before Joseph and Mary got turned down for a room.
9. Buring Lama Fetuses
Last Friday, December 21st, was the solstice, the longest day of the year in the south and longest night in the north. And we were in Dubai. But at Christmas time, when material wealth and poverty splits these two worlds so clearly in two, that the two halves of the earth should also have their most exaggerated differences with respect to the sun. On these occasions our friend Mert, an indigenous medicine man (Sjaman) hosts elaborate rituals, which mark them in the traditional Sjaman manner. With not my favorite smell.
10. A Five Dollar Bill is a Fortune
It is a truism. What there seems like pocket change is here a treasure, but at no time it this clearer than at the holidays. The humble toys that in the north would be mere stocking stuffers or an afterthought, here would be a toy so grand that many children could not imagine it. The five-dollar bill that many in the north will spend on parking or for a Starbucks coffee drink, for many here would be a fortune. The streets of some parts of Istanbul are lined with indigenous families from small villages that come to the city at Christmas and Bayram in hopes of some small handout from people whose hearts might soften, if just a bit, this time of year. Five dollars is what many workers here earn for a hard day of labor. Some of the families on the street could easily feed themselves with it for days. I don't profess to be a Christian but, nevertheless, it does seem to me odd that the birth of a man who was poor all his life and who preached affinity for the poor, would have his birthday celebrated with a frenzy of material exchange and acquisition, while so many in the world have nothing. A thank you to everyone who is remembering the less fortunate as well in your holiday plans.
Happy Holidays to All!
Thursday, December 27, 2007
Hybrid regimes
Some Turkish people think that the world turns around Turkey. That it is in the spotlight each and every day. I have to disappoint them: you can find small articles about Turkey and the PKK so now and then in European newspapers. That's all.
But it would be wise as the Turkish government spent some more money for the education of their kids. Like what the Europeans are doing by the agreement of Lisbon in 2000. Prfmairly focussed on education (each EU citizen has to learn English and a second European language by choice).
Amsterdam made an example: with its world famous International institute for Social History, its world famous Art schools and two well noted Universities, among 48 colleges, on a population of 750.000 people, it shows that the Dutch takes education serious. There are people from 172 nations living in Amsterdam!
In other parts of the Netherlands the University of Utrecht ranks world wide no. 40. (like all the Dutch Universities they are in the top 200 world wide).
The think tanks like Clingendael, the educational food industry, TNO for scientific work, shows why the Netherlands is country no. 1 for investments, even for Turkey with a total FDI of 3 billion: the Netherlands ranks one.
But back to Turkey as the centre of the world: I am sorry, but no news about Turkey and especially Turkey-EU relations. Not the European elite signed the Treaty of Lisbon, it was and are their voters who pursued them to do so.
And the USA?
As the USA produce daily thousands newspapers, for sure you will find some news about Turkey somewhere. Or protesting a Turkish consul a news outlet. Or another group of Turks are insulted.
The tragic story of Turkey continues to be one of corrupt regimes using religious extremists and external support to keep the secular democratic forces at bay; and when these forces do assert themselves, to tie them down in legal constraints that are designed to ensure their failure.
It is the story of a society that has been going round in circles for the last 80 years.
Not Ataturk dream I guess.
And that is all the result of being a hybrid regime.
But it would be wise as the Turkish government spent some more money for the education of their kids. Like what the Europeans are doing by the agreement of Lisbon in 2000. Prfmairly focussed on education (each EU citizen has to learn English and a second European language by choice).
Amsterdam made an example: with its world famous International institute for Social History, its world famous Art schools and two well noted Universities, among 48 colleges, on a population of 750.000 people, it shows that the Dutch takes education serious. There are people from 172 nations living in Amsterdam!
In other parts of the Netherlands the University of Utrecht ranks world wide no. 40. (like all the Dutch Universities they are in the top 200 world wide).
The think tanks like Clingendael, the educational food industry, TNO for scientific work, shows why the Netherlands is country no. 1 for investments, even for Turkey with a total FDI of 3 billion: the Netherlands ranks one.
But back to Turkey as the centre of the world: I am sorry, but no news about Turkey and especially Turkey-EU relations. Not the European elite signed the Treaty of Lisbon, it was and are their voters who pursued them to do so.
And the USA?
As the USA produce daily thousands newspapers, for sure you will find some news about Turkey somewhere. Or protesting a Turkish consul a news outlet. Or another group of Turks are insulted.
The tragic story of Turkey continues to be one of corrupt regimes using religious extremists and external support to keep the secular democratic forces at bay; and when these forces do assert themselves, to tie them down in legal constraints that are designed to ensure their failure.
It is the story of a society that has been going round in circles for the last 80 years.
Not Ataturk dream I guess.
And that is all the result of being a hybrid regime.
Breaking News/Benazir Butto has been assasinated
Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto has been murdered in a gun and bomb attack after a rally in the city of Rawalpindi. Police said a suicide bomber fired shots at Bhutto as she was leaving the rally venue in a park before blowing himself up. for more:
Shock blogs
There is a new trend on the web, which concerns me: shock blogs. With one goal: How to create a web blog which provides maximum shock value such as "psychological warfare" or inciting hate. In the last weeks there was such a warfare going on between Kurdish and Turkish nationalists in Germany. Or can we say: between PKK supporters and Gray Wolves members. Mainly on YouTube, but new radical blogs are made every day.
The Turkish press are willing to show one side of this dangerous game: the PKK are terrorists and no word about the Gray Wolves which are pur sang fascists.
Maybe of greater concern are the huge flock of 'followers' of the weblogs that engage in the slandering, insulting and otherwise non-constructive postings. As long the 'shock' and the 'reaction' is there the blogger is satisfied. Maybe we can say: the Net is Dead. Even Social media sites such as facebook, turns out to be a place where like minded idiotry are assembled in special groups.
Some blogs are created for the ego of the blogger. Not for social interaction anymore. You can bring news by telling 50% of the truth. But as an old Jewish expression says: part of the truth is one big lye. Most of these blogs are the the same old linkdumping, insulting or negative posting blogs which wants to shock. The Top-Ten is here. But personal, I can mention some (mainly political ones) here. Later!
The Turkish press are willing to show one side of this dangerous game: the PKK are terrorists and no word about the Gray Wolves which are pur sang fascists.
Maybe of greater concern are the huge flock of 'followers' of the weblogs that engage in the slandering, insulting and otherwise non-constructive postings. As long the 'shock' and the 'reaction' is there the blogger is satisfied. Maybe we can say: the Net is Dead. Even Social media sites such as facebook, turns out to be a place where like minded idiotry are assembled in special groups.
Some blogs are created for the ego of the blogger. Not for social interaction anymore. You can bring news by telling 50% of the truth. But as an old Jewish expression says: part of the truth is one big lye. Most of these blogs are the the same old linkdumping, insulting or negative posting blogs which wants to shock. The Top-Ten is here. But personal, I can mention some (mainly political ones) here. Later!
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
A familiar feeling?
A peculiar yet familiar feeling came upon me today when I walked downstairs to retrieve my (snail) mail ... I actually got very excited about it!
I was feeling the same exhilariting high I used to get when I would sign on-line and have e-mail. I must admit though, I felt somewhat ashamed that I had almost lost touch with the off-line world out there.
E-mail can never beat the heartfelt thoughts and well wishes that go into a handwritten note from a dear friend. I can't remember ever receiving a letter from someone special where I could possibly misinterpret EXACTLY what was hand written!
I've had plenty of opportunity to go back and forth with various e-pals because I didn't quite understand the inflection in their typewritten notes to me or misconstrued the meaning behind their/my grins, "!" and "just kidding" remarks. Many times I have continued on in jest only to find out later that they were never kidding, or I found out that my remarks were "believed" and someone missed the "just kidding" from me!
I hope we all never get so net-involved that we lose touch with our ability to make someone's day by writing a few special words on paper and dropping it into the mail. In spite of postage increases, mail is still cheap!
Can you imagine a life without ever receiving a greeting card in the mail?
I actually e-mailed a few "dads" I knew on Father's Day and wished them a special day. In hindsight, I can only imagine the joy they might have felt had I taken the time to select that special card among thousands and mailed a card to them.
There are cyber-flower services out there on the world wide web! Personally, I'd hate to imagine the day I no longer receive REAL flowers ... one's that I can actually enjoy the aroma ... one's that I must lovingly water to preserve the thought another day. Can you?
I think I'll spend some time tonight writing something special to those forgotten few who have not yet experienced the wonderful and sometimes impersonal cyber-world out there.
How about you?
I was feeling the same exhilariting high I used to get when I would sign on-line and have e-mail. I must admit though, I felt somewhat ashamed that I had almost lost touch with the off-line world out there.
E-mail can never beat the heartfelt thoughts and well wishes that go into a handwritten note from a dear friend. I can't remember ever receiving a letter from someone special where I could possibly misinterpret EXACTLY what was hand written!
I've had plenty of opportunity to go back and forth with various e-pals because I didn't quite understand the inflection in their typewritten notes to me or misconstrued the meaning behind their/my grins, "!" and "just kidding" remarks. Many times I have continued on in jest only to find out later that they were never kidding, or I found out that my remarks were "believed" and someone missed the "just kidding" from me!
I hope we all never get so net-involved that we lose touch with our ability to make someone's day by writing a few special words on paper and dropping it into the mail. In spite of postage increases, mail is still cheap!
Can you imagine a life without ever receiving a greeting card in the mail?
I actually e-mailed a few "dads" I knew on Father's Day and wished them a special day. In hindsight, I can only imagine the joy they might have felt had I taken the time to select that special card among thousands and mailed a card to them.
There are cyber-flower services out there on the world wide web! Personally, I'd hate to imagine the day I no longer receive REAL flowers ... one's that I can actually enjoy the aroma ... one's that I must lovingly water to preserve the thought another day. Can you?
I think I'll spend some time tonight writing something special to those forgotten few who have not yet experienced the wonderful and sometimes impersonal cyber-world out there.
How about you?
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Days in Dubai
It was a nice trip to Dubai. And a country with a history. Maybe the buildings are new, the UAE has a rich history and full of traditions.
Yes, It is nowadays full with new build buildings. But it is a country of wealth, respect and almost no crime!
The skyline of Dubai is amazing. And they are still building, with the speed of a Dutch extend its road: fast.
There are so many shopping malls: you can even do ice skating there. The temperature in the summer is 45 Celsius, but in winter 25, and at night around 15.
The dress code in the UAE is much the same as it would be in your home country. But a healthy respect for the local customs should be maintained, as I recommend. You will see plenty of people wearing shorts, T-shirts, skirts, etc… Clothing doesn't have to cover arms and legs, but should be somewhat modest as a sign of respect for the local sensibilities.
You see the only 7 star hotel in world: the Jubla.
Yes, It is nowadays full with new build buildings. But it is a country of wealth, respect and almost no crime!
The skyline of Dubai is amazing. And they are still building, with the speed of a Dutch extend its road: fast.
The first full day we met with Derya. An organized and sweet person. Since I forgot to take my medicines with me, she arranged a quick and effectual trip to the Iranian Hospital. Which scared me first, but those people know what they are doing. Thank you Derya.
We went to another 6 star hotel for a tea. And later that evening we had diner in 'the Ottoman' where her brother is the GM. Champagne and white wine.
There are so many shopping malls: you can even do ice skating there. The temperature in the summer is 45 Celsius, but in winter 25, and at night around 15.
The dress code in the UAE is much the same as it would be in your home country. But a healthy respect for the local customs should be maintained, as I recommend. You will see plenty of people wearing shorts, T-shirts, skirts, etc… Clothing doesn't have to cover arms and legs, but should be somewhat modest as a sign of respect for the local sensibilities.
You see the only 7 star hotel in world: the Jubla.
Personally, the women are extremely beautiful. And 'covered'. But on a traditional way. Like men are covered too...
The West can learn a lesson about this way of life, which is not perfect, but I rather see a person who takes care about themselve than someone who is obysieswith a dogmatic religion.
Thanks Derya for the nice time!
The West can learn a lesson about this way of life, which is not perfect, but I rather see a person who takes care about themselve than someone who is obysieswith a dogmatic religion.
Thanks Derya for the nice time!
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