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Iata ca in Kosovo lucrurile nu merg chiar spre bine, dimpotriva as spune eu merg tot spre rau dar extrema cealalta fata de perioada dinaintea “razboiului”. Daca intai (zice-se) sarbii ii asupreau pe albanezi, ei bine acuma s-a intors roata, poate ca e in regula totul si balanta are nevoie sa se re-echilibreze, insa metodele nu sunt tocmai ortodoxe … pardon, mai bine sa nu bagam religia la mijloc … “umane” ar fi mai potrivit.

…Nu mai putin de 40 dintre cele 160 de case din Bresje au fost vandute din 2004 incoace, iar satenii spun ca alte 20 sunt acum de vanzare. Unii spun ca aproape toate casele sarbe din sat sunt disponibile, in asteptarea cumparatorilor, cel mai probabil albanezi…

…Sarbii au inceput sa vanda in masa imediat dupa revoltele din 17 martie 2004, cand multimile albaneze au atacat scoala primara, dispensarul, posta si multe alte cladiri.
De atunci, sarbii si-au pierdut orice sentiment de siguranta. Ei spun ca incidentele si hartuirile au scazut doar pentru ca albanezii stiu ca sarbii vor pleca in curand…

… „Credeti-ma, ma gandesc cu toata seriozitatea daca are rost sa inlocuiesc tiglele de pe acoperisul casei mele,” spune Milic. „Vecinii albanezi mai vechi imi spun, ‘Mirko, ce mai astepti? E mai bine sa iei ceva, cat de putin, decat deloc!’ Daca ar avea loc un nou 17 martie?” …

Articolul e scris de Igor Milic pentru Balkan Investigative Reporting Network si traducerea lui o gasiti aici. Am incercat sa caut versiunea in engleza pe site-ul mai sus-numitei organizatii dar nu am gasit nimic din pacate.

Vorbeam acum cateva articole despre blog-uri ca surse de informatii tot mai de incredere si de urmarit, ei iata o surpriza pentru mine: Ticu Lacatusu, un alpinist roman plecat intr-o expeditie in Himalaya pentru a urca pe un varf neurcat de om inca tine un blog de la fata locului. Fiind la inceputul expeditiei post-urile sunt dese, dar probabil odata cu intrarea in munte acestea se vor mai rari, eu totusi sper sa scrie cat mai des in blog pentru ca e o experienta ce merita impartasita tuturor, mai ales noua muritorilor de rand care visam de regula la o poteca de munte marcata. Pentru a intra pe blog-ul acestuia folositi acest link: Jurnal de Himalaya (povestit de Ticu Lacatusu).

…M-am intilnit si cu germanii: simpatici. Goetz asta pare foarte tare, nascut alpinist, e in forma de zici ca acum s-a intors din expeditie. Iesim la cina impreuna. Miine dimineata trimitem porterii cu bagajele nemtilor si alea comune. Noi zburam Pokhara - Jomsom pe 27 dimineata. Daca nu vine bagajul, ies la cumparaturi; trebuie sa iau multe, cu bani putini. Cred ca doar “bargain”-ul mi-ar lua citeva zile…

…Scriu de pe o tastatura cu caractere nepaleze. Ma ajuta un oarecare reflex. Am primit bagajul, ok, cea mai buna veste pe ziua de azi. Au gasit helicpterul cazut in Ghunsa (East Nepal). 25 morti, adica toti. Russian helicopter, russian pilots…

Acum vreo 3 ani am citit cateva articole si descrieri de trasee insotite de poze pe MyBike.ro despre zona satului Lindenfeld din judetul Caras-Severin, un sat parasit, locuit odata de o comunitate germana. Nu stiu exact ce m-a atras atunci, probabil misterul ruinelor, probabil zona frumoasa (rezultata din poze) sau mai mult ca sigur accesul pe bicicleta, insa zona mi-a ramas intiparita in memorie ca si "de vazut". Iata ca, la 3 ani distanta gasesc un articol descriptiv asupra aceluiasi sat intr-un ziar romanesc (Evenimentul Zilei):

… Nimic nu ne-a facut sa ne gandim ca satul ar fi aproape, doar la un moment dat, ca din neant, ni s-au ivit in fata niste ruine. "Am ajuns", ne-am spus, incercand sa ne adunam sufletul si sa intram in sat. Nu au latrat caini, nu am vazut animale, doar ruine, de parca am fi fost la un capat de lume, parasit in timp si in spatiu. Din loc in loc, resturi de ziduri ce formau pe vremuri case, ferestre, sunt acum prabusite, martori muti ai unei epoci care s-a sfarsit si a alteia, care poate incepe. Pe marginea fostelor strazi, stau incarcati pomi cu mere si pere, de care nimeni nu s-a mai atins. Un izvor cu apa limpede ne astampara setea si ne uitam cu mirare la tufele ce au crescut in case, la petele colorate de tencuiala si incercam sa ghicim cum forfotea satul, acum o jumatate de secol…

Cateva poze de acum 3 ani din Lindenfeld gasiti aici: http://www.mybike.ro/modules.php?name=coppermine…

O alta poza din Lindenfeld mai puteti vedea si aici: http://photoart.montanbanat.de/details.php?image_id=104

Tot de acum 3 ani puteti vedea niste poze facute intr-un alt sat parasit, Nadas (jud. Timisoara): http://www.mybike.ro/modules.php?name=coppermine…

One of our mottos are “non breaking news”, but my fingers can’t stay put when a coup is taking place in Thailand and a very good friend of mine lives in Bangkok for several years. She spokes about it in her blog:

Opened the TV. All channels BLANK, some add saying ‘we will resume trasmision later’…then we got a phone call from Ake’s best buddy saying that tanks have surrounded the parliment (that’s half of the army that supports the plot). Bad news for us! We live 10 min away from the parliment!…

Everybody knows what Urban Legends are, right? Of course, they are … Legends, you know, except that  sometimes they have some truth in them. Like The Unsolvable Math Problem.

This legend is used as the setup of the plot in the 1997 movie Good Will Hunting. As well, one of the early scenes in the 1999 film Rushmore shows the main character daydreaming about solving the impossible question and winning approbation from all.

I think that everyone has dreamed about solving their company’s biggest financial problem and receiving a big check just in time to buy that new gadget. Or about finding the ingredient of that particular glue Stradivarius used on his violins and blow away all the world’s most famous violonists. I guess this urban legend about solving "unsolvable" math problems would come from time to time visiting maths or computer science students or professors etc.

Short version:

Student mistakes examples of unsolvable math problems for homework assignment and solves them. 

But it seems that this legend comes from a true fact:

One day, in 1939, George Bernard Dantzig, a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Berkeley, arrived late for a graduate-level statistics class and found two problems written on the board. Not knowing they were examples of "unsolvable" statistics problems, he mistook them for part of a homework assignment, jotted them down, and solved them. 

And the rest is … you know, Legend! The professor helped him publish the demonstrations and later he received recognition for his work. It’s interesting to see how, afterwards, the story passed into a Legend. A Lutheran Reverend had heard the story and asked the permision to include it into a book about thinking positively:

The moral of his sermon was this: If I had known that the problem were not homework but were in fact two famous unsolved problems in statistics, I probably would not have thought positively, would have become discouraged, and would never have solved them.

Read full article here, on the Urban Legends Reference Page.

Let’s say you want to plan a visit to a country, a city or a region. The first place you’ll go, for getting information about your target, will be websites like LonelyPlanet.com or InYourPocket.com that has touristic information to help you making the big plan for your vacation. But, after reading these web-guides you’ll definitely need an alternative source about your destination to help you with more targeted and, why not, more accurate information took by tourists themselves. One of the best sources will be the blogs. Why? Because the vacation stories written by bloggers will be more sincere, more focused and with good examples of places to visit (in many cases completed by good pictures) than any guide wrote by someone involved in the tourism business.

Now, let’s pretend that you want to visit Brussels. An interesting blog article you’ll find on Memories of Yore blog that’s about a visit of two Englishmen (actually a Romanian and an Italian that live in London for some years) in Brussels during a week-end. Also there’s an photo article on the same blog with the pictures form the same trip.

If you were to describe Brussels (and maybe Belgium?!) in couple of keywords, they would be:
1. Waffles - geez, so many waffles, everywhere, at every street corner, everyone selling them to armies of wafflo-maniacs
2. Chocolate - Belgium is the choco-land, no doubt about that. Every street has at least one chocolate shop, each of them boasting of drawing their roots from the early years of 1500 or something similar. And the chocolate is very good and cheap. Yeah yeah, i ate some, kill me now!
3. Cobble-stone - phew, this is nice, but if you have a car, or high heels, it’s a nightmare. And I remember when driving through Belgium some years back, they have cobble stone motorways too. Well, not many, but still. Phew, get a grip Belgium!
4. Beer & chips - yeap, it’s not just Britain and Germany. I expected Stela Artois to rule though, but I found they had a more popular local option called Jupiler which I haven’t seen before in the UK or anywhere else.

If you know the Romanian language you can read other opinion about the same city written from other point of view (Est-European point of view) on the HotNews website.

Orasul Bruxelles e, prin definitie, unul al contrastelor. Cosmopolit cu desavarsire, oscileaza intre lego-landul creat de belgieni si maghernitele in care isi duc traiul sutele de mii de imigranti africani. Intre Bruxellesul european si cel african nu e o distanta mai mare de doi kilometri, insa diferenta e spectaculoasa.

But, if you want to visit Vietnam instead, please take a visit to the Same Same but Different blog that has almost a documentary about a trip in Vietnam:
- Vietnam Trivia
- Countdown to Vietnam
- Vietnam - Bac Ha - Hmong Tribe Market
- Food in Vietnam
- The Hills of Sapa - Northern Vietnam
- Hill People - Cat Cat Village

De cativa ani componenta online a presei s-a dezvoltat tot mai tare ajungandu-se in momentul de fata la o adevarata explozie. Aceasta se datoreza nu numai accesului tot mai usor la un calculator legat la internet, ci, in special as spune eu, datorita cresterii conexiunilor la internet de mare viteza largind sfera de accesibilitate spre medii de comunicare mai complexe (audio, video). In timp ce pentru componenta video anii urmatori vor fi definitorii, componenta scrisa (clasica) incepe sa se aseze tot mai bine peste ceea ce inseamna astazi internetul. Ieri citeam un articol interesant in Evenimentul Zilei pe tema schimbarii de directie adoptate de ziare pentru a oferi mai mult in versiunea online decat in versiunea tiparita ajungandu-se in unele cazuri ca versiunea online sa fie cea care furnizeaza material pentru cea scrisa, si nu invers cum era pana acuma.

Ca si completare iata un interviu cu unul dintre responsabilii aparitiei HotNews.ro (fosta RevistaPresei.ro) primul ziar serios exlusiv online din Romania inceput defapt ca si o revista a presei, dupa cum spunea si numele initial.

- Avantajul internetului este, ca la televiziune, ca poti avea imediat masurarea gradului de interes al unui articol sau al unei sectiuni pe care ai creat-o; nu e ca in presa scrisa, unde trebuie sa astepti luni ca sa-ti vina feedback-ul de pe piata. Noi am pornit toata treaba ca pe o joaca…

- Numai ca intre noi si presa tiparita e o mare deosebire: daca ai 10.000 de euro, poti sa tii in viata pe internet o publicatie de foarte buna calitate timp de un an; cu aceeasi suma, in presa offline, nu cred ca o tii o luna. Deci pe internet nu trebuie sa faci nu stiu ce compromisuri ca sa te mentii in viata…

Cititi aici intreg interviul realizat de Dilema Veche.

Regizorul Luc Besson (cunoscut pentru succesele "Al 5-lea element", "Nikita", "Léon" de xemplu) a declarat ca se va consacra excelusiv productiei de filme si activitatilor civice.

… « Ca y est, c’est fini », a annoncé lundi Luc Besson, qui a confirmé qu’il arrêtait la réalisation de films. « Je me suis imposé cette limite pour rester droit vis-à-vis de mes convictions », expliquait-il en mai dernier à Cannes au «Film français». Il a déclaré être « fier » de son œuvre cinématographique, qui comprend notamment des succès au box office comme le « Cinquième élément », « Jeanne d’Arc », « Léon », « Nikita », ou encore le « Grand bleu ». « Ce sont mes dix petits bébés. Je les aime tous. Je suis content d’avoir fait cette boucle », a-t-il déclaré.
… 
Clap de fin pour Luc Besson (Le Figaro) [fr]

Pe de alta parte, exportul cinematografic francez a crescut din nou. Se pare ca televiziunile americane adora productiile fratuzesti, in special desenele animate. 

…

Pour la deuxième année consécutive, les ventes de programmes français ont enregistré une hausse globale de son activité, de 4 % en 2005 (après + 3,7 % en 2004). La croissance est notamment tirée par les exportations, qui ont progressé de 2,7 % en 2005, atteignant 150,8 millions d’euros contre 146,8 millions d’euros un an plus tôt.

… 

"Pour la première fois", soulignent TVFI et le CNC, le premier client des programmes français à l’international sont les Etats-Unis. Les chaînes américaines sont notamment friandes des séries d’animation produites en France. Parmi les produits qui font fureur Outre-Atlantique figurent les dessins animés "Totally Spies", "Martin Mystères" ou encore "Team galaxy", tous produits par Vincent Chalvon Demersay, patron de la filiale animation de Marathon.

… 

Les télés américaines raffolent des dessins animés français (Le Monde) [fr]

I read an interesting essay about mobile phones/cellphones in Europe vs America. It touches a lot of points of view, such as vocabulary, fashion, culture, brands, local legislation etc. A very good read.

In the US, a cellphone is a tool. In Europe, a mobile phone is a lifestyle.
…

I guess I ought to give a few details. Let me start with a disclaimer: It’s very dangerous to talk about "Europeans" as if they’re some sort of unified cultural group. Europe is a continent of many nationalities, and each one has a different culture and history.
…

If you’re still having trouble picturing the difference in attitudes, look at it this way – many people in Europe feel about their mobiles the way that Californians feel about their cars.
…

Some time ago I read a great post about hungarian language that I would like to recommend.

Hungarian, as you may or may not be aware, has all these cases. No, not suitcases, linguistic cases. In practice, to someone like me who has never previously tried to learn such a language, this means that there are a bunch of suffixes to learn which can be appended to nouns or adjectives.
…
Now, if you are in a particular country, say, you may use this suffix to express that. Angliában, for example, means "in England". You can do this over and over: Romaniában, Spanyolorszagban (in Spain), Amerikában, etc etc. It works for every single country in the world bar one. Hungary. For some unaccountable reason you cannot be "in" Hungary, but you can only be "on" it. So you have to say Magyarorszagon.
…

Full article here (by the same Andy H).