Remember Time Management?

It's that useful concept which, when properly applied to real life situations, prevents one from tidying up one's room at 3.21 a.m. when in need to be appropriately composed throughout the following day. [Bummer!]

It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.

quoting Douglas Adams, here.

Why This? Why Today? -- No One Knows :)

Happy Traveller/ Gets Wishes Coming True

[Intro:] Looking back on the last couple of posts and more specifically their titles, I couldn't help realising the happi-fying hues all over this place; and as well good things come [at least] tripled, here's the final bit of the happy posts.

So what's this one all about?
Well, remember my rants about the last train trip I made, and the disappointment stemming from it? This time, it's all been remedied: the heat's been on throughout the trip, I was in the very inspiring company of a certain friend, and - this is really good! - the views were there and I had a camera ready and loaded!


What more could I possibly ask for? The morale, you say? - Though I did try to think that over, I can't really come up with anything better than "ranting is good" [??]. Any [other] shots?

Happy 40th Birthday, Mr. Torvalds!

Linus Benedict Torvalds [born December 28, 1969 in Helsinki, Finland] is a Finnish software engineer best known for having initiated the development of the Linux kernel. He later became the chief architect of the Linux kernel, and now acts as the project's coordinator.

Initially Torvalds wanted to call the kernel he developed Freax (a combination of "free", "freak", and the letter X to indicate that it is a Unix-like system), but his friend Ari Lemmke, who administered the FTP server where the kernel was first hosted for downloading, named Torvalds' directory linux. [...]
About 2% of the Linux kernel as of 2006 was written by Torvalds himself. Since Linux has had thousands of contributors, such a percentage represents a significant personal contribution to the overall amount of code. Torvalds remains the ultimate authority on what new code is incorporated into the standard Linux kernel. [...]
Torvalds owns the "Linux" trademark, and monitors use of it chiefly through the Linux Mark Institute.

Text from the Wiki entry and image fished from here.
If you're curious to know what Mr. Torvalds has to share with the world these days, this is his blog.

Happy Holidays, All!

Some Days are All About the Aerial View

Patriae, Quo Vadis? [- quo usque tandem]

The plan was to make some time and write this nice and thoughtful and elaborate note on whatever it is that happened or did not happen in Romania, 20 years ago.
But plans are there to fail us. Reasons are irrelevant.
So here are some links, meant as mementos:
the BBC's On This Day's 1989's mention of the re-opening of the Brandenburg Gate and the meanings carried within;
the disputed Wikipedia article on the Romanian 1989 Revolution and the fall of Ceausescu, on this very day, 20 years ago;
the Diplomat - Bucharest's article regarding the 1989 Romanian Revolution, titled 'Justice fails for one thousand dead';
and the History Channel's tiny feature for those with a bit less patience, at this very link.

Make your pick. Yet whatever you'll be deciding to look at, simply recall December 1989 in Romania.

Dear Mr. Neagu Djuvara, Thank You

The first and most easily discernible thank you is for the storytelling: being a storytelling aficionado since I know myself, I need to be grateful and express my appreciation on this level: Mr. Neagu Djuvara is an amazing storyteller, and I thank him for it. I've seen his words but, most importantly, I've heard them: I've heard their intonation, their fluency, their subtle notes - they are storytelling in form and content, a harmony of meanings.

The second layer in this thank you note is for who he is and all the implicit along the explicit that comes along his presence.

And the third is a very particular one - which makes it even more special: this is to thank you for voicing out loud on the Romanian National Television that which I only have the chance to tell to my friends, the opinion that the necessary condition for Romania's real change of attitude rests with the establishment of an independent tribunal invested to judge communist and post-communist crimes. The opinion that as long as impunity will continue to be the rule rather than the exception, only sadness and hurt can come about. Of course, Mr. Neagu Djuvara had phrased it differently - but I am his most grateful fan still.

One of this year's funerals: in Portugal [countryside]

Back in September, I've attended the only Portuguese funeral thus far.
It was a very unfortunate day - we even got stuck on the highway for hours on the way back.


But I did try to search for that silver lining...

... thus giving these shots to the world - or taking them from it, depending on your perspective..



Here's the entire Flickr set.

The Train Trip

As I was awaiting my ride on the frozen platform yesterday morning, I had already started to dream of the upcoming Sea/s of White - and to regret not having a camera along. That, along with the hopes of a nice afternoon's rest made me expect one very picturesque journey.

The facts have however been different. [Aren't they always?..]
My dreamy joy was getting squashed minute by minute as the journey was growing implacably cold.
The first 4,5h have only been bearable thanks to the others: the train was so crowded that we were all warming up on our own and each others' bodily heat. But then the darkness came along. The sun was gone by 5.00 p.m. With 2 more hours to go, we were getting fewer and fewer - and what's worse, without any relevant source around.
1,5 hours left... 1h... 50min... [please, please, don't let there be any delay!] 40min...
Frozen breath, almost hitting the ground upon its creation. And then again. [And again.]
The air seemed thick as a pool of ice and just as sharp.

It doesn't take much to forget all dreaminess in this inconsiderate environment: when the rail company's personnel tell you that the freezing air is hot; when a 7h winter journey turns into a series of complaints. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to come to terms with this. [Why] Should I?

Genocide charge for Khmer Rouge leader Khieu Samphan: 18 December

A UN-backed tribunal in Cambodia has charged Khieu Samphan, formerly the head of state for the Khmer Rouge, with genocide.
The move came after genocide charges were filed against two other Khmer Rouge leaders, Ieng Sary and Nuon Chea.
All the genocide charges relate to the men's treatment of Cambodia's Vietnamese and Muslim minorities.
All three men had already been charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Those charged are already in pre-trial detention although the trial is not expected to begin before 2011.

Denial
Up to two million people are thought to have died under the Khmer Rouge's rule.
Khieu Samphan, 78, has never denied these deaths, but both he and his lawyers insist that, as head of state, he was never directly responsible.
One member of his defence team is the infamous French lawyer Jacques Verges, whose previous clients have included Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie and Venezuelan hijacker Carlos the Jackal.
Mr Verges, 83, has known Khieu Samphan since they were both involved in left-wing student activities in France in the 1950s.
He says he has lived a life of poverty after the Khmer Rouge regime was toppled.
A court official confirmed that the allegations were related to the treatment of two minority groups: Cham Muslims and ethnic Vietnamese people.
Researchers believe that the Khmer Rouge killed hundreds of thousands of Chams because of their religious beliefs.
The accusation of genocide carries enormous symbolic weight, says the BBC's Guy De Launey in Cambodia's capital, Phnom Penh.
Final arguments were heard last month in the trial of Khmer Rouge prison chief Kaing Guek Eav, known as Comrade Duch, who has admitted being responsible for overseeing the deaths of 15,000 people.
Judges at the tribunal are expected to make a ruling on his verdict early next year.

[from the BBC news here.]

And today's Remembrance

Simo Häyhä:

nicknamed "White Death" by the Soviet army, was a Finnish soldier. Using a standard iron-sighted, bolt action rifle in the Winter War, he has the highest recorded number of confirmed kills in any major war.

Here: the Sniper Central list.

Down with the Sickness

No, not the Disturbed tune.
Nor the Richard Cheese and the Lounge against the Machine remake.
I'm the one who's been ill, unable to leave the house or manage any of my plans for that matter. Frustrating. Seriously.
Instead, I did the only thing I was able to do: watching films. So here are some overviews - in chronological order [where chronological refers to the order in which I've seen them, fyi]:

1. Be Kind Rewind [2008]:

In his previous two fiction films, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Science of Sleep, Michel Gondry indulged his taste for whimsy and invention by setting his films inside the imaginarium that is the human mind; Be Kind Rewind, on the other hand, is set in the idealistic world of the cinema, on strips of magnetic tape, where a person can be made to disappear with just a little bit of creative on-camera editing and day turns to night with just the flip of a switch.
As with the other two films, Be Kind Rewind is also set, sometimes, in the real world, in the urban blight of Passaic, NJ; Gondry finds his pathos in the tragic disconnect between life and invention.

Keep reading this very well written appraisal on the Cinepinion blog.

2. Dirty Pretty Things [2002]:

Tagline: Some things are too dangerous to keep secret.
Plot: An illegal Nigerian immigrant discovers the unpalatable side of London life.

[from the IMDb film's page above]
This was a film recommended by our e-course coordinator on the week themed 'Smuggling and trafficking in human beings' - to give you an idea of how it reached me. I did however get most impressed with Sophie Okonedo's performance - whose contrasting part in Hotel Rwanda I had only seen weeks before.

3. Transsiberian [2008]:

Tagline: Arrive on time.
Plot: A Trans-Siberian train journey from China to Moscow becomes a thrilling chase of deception and murder when an American couple encounters a mysterious pair of fellow travelers.

[from the IMDb film's page above]
Titling this review ''Transsiberian' a thrill ride' is certainly most appropriate for defining the film's pace in simple words. That adrenaline surely did get pumped up!

4. Million Dollar Baby [2004]: this one doesn't really require any further introduction, does it?! Yes, it's only now that I've seen it.

aaand.. 5. The Secret Life of Words [2005]:

Plot: A hearing impaired factory worker gives up her first holiday in years and instead travels out to an oil rig, where she cares for a man suffering from severe burns.

[from the IMDb film's page above]
There's been a tight competition between this film and the one preceding it as to which one is more of a drama, and -though possibly with a margin of error- this one could be the winner. But then, I wasn't really in the mood to see 2 dramas in only one day - bummer!

And this sums it up for the day.

1421: The Year China Discovered the World

How much fantasy can one bid on a historic re-interpretation of scattered facts and still get away with it? This seems to be the balance that Mr. Menzies is trying to strike in this book - might that be for fun, for curiosity, or for the sake of playing mind games and trying to re-write history at the same time.
The fact that the book's controversial is an understatement: its potential is so great that it might actually be able to redefine the notion of 'controversy'. So if you can play along with that, then it won't frustrate you to read it. But if it's hard facts proven by science alone, this might come as a bit of an off-tracker.
Take CSI, House M.D. or Dexter and apply the sort of investigation scenarios done in those scripts to history -- almost 600 years ago. This does sound a bit tricky in itself, doesn't it? And it gets even trickier as the entirety of the evidence it brings to supporting the ideas [plural] behind the writing is circumstantial, at best.

So what's the big mystery behind it? It's a re-conceptualisation of the Discoveries and who had really undertaken them: Mr. Menzies basically says it in the title of his book: he considers that it was the Chinese rather than the Europeans who had first discovered and mapped the world as we know it - and with highly accurate results, for that matter. He then goes on to say that the Europeans managed to get hold of these Chinese maps at the same time that the Chinese decided to plunge into a [new?] age of isolationism.
This would sound as an agreeable theory at first -never mind that you've never heard of it on the telly or otherwise- if it hadn't been for the manner in which it's unraveled: the way to deal with facts is by starting off with the assumption that they will prove the theory/ies, followed by the assumption that they do in fact prove it/them and concluding with the confirmation that it's all been proven. [For more on punctual criticisms look here.]

[Finally, the translation of the Romanian copy I've read doesn't help much either: many times I had to re-translate the book back into English in order to understand the message behind the words. Possibly this has been one of the greatest difficulties in my appreciation of it.]

Bottom line: if you can find humour in new theories, this is the holidays book for you! If you are however easily bored with facts which might not come as straightforward and are rather seeking the ultimate truth, then this book should prove as rather challenging instead.

[Image credits go here.]
P.S. This is the book's website: 1421.tv

Good morning, Bucharest [exclamation point - which silly blogspot doesn't allow me to use..]

I've bought a new moka coffee pot yesterday - and that's a good reason to enjoy coffee. That and the layers over layers over layers of snow outside: it's snowing thickly and smoothly, then it slows down a bit, then it's almost furious .. but independently of how the snow hits the ground [or anything else in its way, for that matter], it'll stay there.
Winter has truly come.

Random Return Notes

1. As the big metal bird was doing its last landing manoeuvres, all lights stayed off indoors; and I could notice the real tiny flesh-and-blood bird out the window - lost in a world of big metal birds unlike itself. How does this happen? It's the first time I see lost birds on the airport.

2. The following day it snowed: it was the winter's first snow -I was told- and I appreciated the gift. I did not however appreciate the -12/-15 degrees difference between my point of departure and that of destination.

3. Perhaps an unnecessary assessment, but it happened: on this return's occasion I've come to realise that this blog's readers are not who I thought them to be. What's more, I don't know [nor can I infer] who they are, at all [with a couple of exceptions]. So, here's to spice things up: should you be reading my rantings and reviews, feel free to leave a comment on what is it that you'd like to reader further. I happen to think it's a fair deal for all. Should no comments be left, I'll continue this randomness as previously :)

Have a good Sunday, All!

My upcoming flight

It's tomorrow: landing at BBU at night.
Should any of you be in the mood to pick me up [*should such a mood -in fact- exist, hehe] tell me. The sooner the better.
Any such initiatives would be appreciated... but I'll try not to hate you if you don't say anything either.

The Second Box Weighed 10,135kg

The first had been slightly heavier, with 12,820kg, but also larger.
Hope this time they'll make it to the destination/s without any incidents, i.e. missing items; last time, the tiny box I had sent M. was missing its raison d'etre: the necklace [and I couldn't do much more than register a complaint. The necklace was never found, nor did we receive any explanation for the 2nd layer of duct tape, of a different size and colour than the one I had used].

On a side note, I'm noticing I've been hoarding slightly less this time, but still quite a bit. And the missing 20+ kilos really don't make a visual difference on that.
One day, I'll start listing the most random of hoarded items - it'll be a delight!

Fundraising Thoughts

Before I forget -which is always a danger- here's the short note which had been set in motion, once again, by the fund raising I've spotted the other day. The Cause? One of the many Firemen's Association in or around Lisbon.
So here's the thought behind it: Fire fighting is an unpaid -yup, you read right!- voluntary position here in Portugal. Consequently they need to raise funds. As any other cause would.

Why am I even mentioning it? Because I find it rather disturbing. Allow me to explain myself: this is happening in one of the countries which suffers really significant damages caused by fires every single summer. And by 'this' I refer to voluntary fire fighting as the rule rather than the exception.
Oddly enough, I always thought fire fighting to be one of the basic services which would require state support; possibly the 112 unique European emergency number has something to do with it.. Such as the fact that fires are emergencies?!

Bad Neighbourly Karma?

About one year ago, it seemed that any new place to which I might relocate would have fully functional construction sites nearby; it's what happened in RO, NL, and then PT.
Until last year. All of a sudden, constructions were either done or temporarily closed and it all felt relieving!
But this time around, it's a different issue altogether: earlier this year, some very unfriendly downstairs neighbours who were throwing a party in the middle of the night started pushing us around and swearing/ yelling at us when we went to ask them to turn it down a tad.. [And the rest of this story is better buried untold, as it brings back more-than-unpleasant memories].

Today, first thing in the morning, upstairs neighbours [tourists, mind you] start throwing stuff around the house. Sounds incredible? J. goes upstairs to ask them to calm down a bit and it all ends with the freakin' b*tch screaming at us along the lines of "Call the Police, if you will, but I couldn't care less!".
..
Now, in this new world we're living 'love thy neighbour' is obviously not applicable; but why should that turn to 'One must do all within one's reach to piss off the neighbour'?
What's the story, Neighbours? Is it Karma?

P.S. It's not only in Romania that walls are too thin, by the way. :)

20 Years On..

Romania's opposition Social Democrat party says Sunday's presidential election was rigged and plans to contest the result.
Official results showed incumbent President Traian Basescu with a winning margin of less than 1%.
Earlier, exit polls had predicted victory for his Social Democrat rival, former Foreign Minister Mircea Geoana.
Both candidates had claimed victory on Sunday night in what correspondents describe as a bitter contest.

Keep reading on the BBC, here.

P.S. Whilst the Portuguese national channel mentioned the RO presidential elections news yesterday [as briefly as possible..], there was no continuation to that today; the Bolivian elections, Brazilian football & Christmas preparations in Russia won their attention instead.

Yesterday's presents: psychological & tangible

Most unexpectedly, St. Nicholas Day brought along presents starting yesterday night [just on time!]: a couple of very nice parents [not mine] came with very large shiny boxes, and a certain phone call was possibly one of the nicest this month - just because it happened.
Guess I like certain kinds of surprises: Happy St. Nicholas Day!

When 2-in-1 hit the wrong spots

This is one [unnamed] mobile phone company who have taken their 2-in-1 campaign barking up the wrong holidays tree; the Choco-Snowman looks like crap. Literally.


... and the Santa Reindeer looks like it's been spending the remaining 364 days of the year hanging around Chernobyl, starting the 80's.

That's one seriously sick creature over there!

It's the Media

As opposite to many of my Romanian friends [manifesting on blogs, e-groups of various sorts, and Web 2.0's social networking in general], the current presidential elections going on in the home country have passed me by almost entirely: it's for the first time since I am rightfully entitled to my voting rights that I did not use that, nor am I planning to.
Now, other than the fact that my limited knowledge of the present home country presidential debates doesn't add up to make enough of an informed decision on the matter [yes, I do take this into account] - one very significant contribution has been that of the media. Here it is, I'm writing it down:
The Portuguese media couldn't care less about what is or what is not going on in Romania. Including the elections and everything else having preceded them over the last months or even the entire year.
Do you think the politically-involved Portuguese had any idea about the governmental crisis a while back? - Nope, no idea at all.
Do you think there's been any coverage of however you want to refer to what's been going on in Moldova earlier this year? - Answer's the same: nay.

The above are all facts, or more precisely lack of them. Consequently, my point: How is one European citizen supposed to give the European brotherhood spirit [in a very political sense] any credit when the media of one European country has absolutely no coverage over events in another European country? Enlighten me.

My Name was Judas

This has most likely been the year's book in terms of alternative explanations - and that's the one phrase to describe it. Certainly, the year's book is a bit of an unfortunate reference as it has, in fact, been published a while back - but I've only read it now.

[This] elegant, calm novel is written in the voice of Idas of Sidon, who long ago changed his name, for convenience, from Judas of Keraiyot. An old man now, beloved of family and friends, he recollects a youthful adventure with his childhood friend, Jesus of Galilee. In Stead's version, there was no kiss, no silver, only growing scepticism. Judas does not hang himself or live in an agony of guilt, but becomes a respected citizen in Egypt. Having rid his "consciousness of gods, ghosts and demons" without difficulty, he instead chooses to study the horizon and the heavens with reason alone in an effort to understand the nature of the world. In this bold conceit, a profoundly untroubled empiricist Judas accepts that the world will perceive him incorrectly with a graceful shrug.
Stead writes a cool, reasonable prose; a flat, amiable tone matches precisely the almost uncanny lack of guilt of the man we see as most guilt-ridden. Not biblical, but quiet, sane, occasionally to the point of dullness, it only draws attention to itself when it steps into the modern idiom. It's very odd when Judas worries that "the wheels were falling off our collective enterprise" or the young Jesus yells, during a fight with his friend, "All those who have ruled over Israel, and those who have profited from Israel's shame, shall die - arsehole. Die!" And when Judas tells us that, as a child, Jesus was "intellectually superior, but socially on the back foot", it's a disappointment that Judas's singular escape from the clutches of unreason has not given him fresher phrases to think.
They were tutored together, Judas and Jesus, child of a wealthy merchant and son of a carpenter. Jesus was a star pupil, clever and charismatic, but with a troublingly manic, adoring mother whom he found embarrassing. Judas watches his friend, impressive but not lovable, become increasingly fervent in his religion, while Judas's lukewarm belief in a "vague, flexible, inclusive Heavenly Father" grows ever cooler. Jesus becomes one of the many itinerant preachers wandering that part of the world. They go their own ways until Judas's adored wife dies in childbirth, and in grief he takes up Jesus's invitation to join him on the road.

Should you find this enticing, keep reading The Guardian's review of the book here.
[Book cover from here.]

IDPwD: 3 December

Globally, almost one in ten people is a person living with a disability and recent studies indicate that persons with disabilities constitute up to 20 per cent of the population living in poverty in developing countries. Many persons with disabilities continue to face barriers to their participation in their communities and are often forced to live on the margins of society. They often face stigma and discrimination and are routinely denied basic rights such as food, education, employment, access to health and reproductive health services. Many persons with disabilities are also forced into institutions, a direct breach of the rights to freedom of movement and to live in their communities. [...]

How the Day may be observed
[...]
Take Action: A major focus of the Day is practical action to further implement international norms and standards concerning persons with disabilities and to further their participation in social life and development on the basis of equality. The media have especially important contributions to make in support of the observance of the Day - and throughout the year - regarding appropriate presentation of progress and obstacles implementing disability-sensitive policies, programmes and projects and to promote public awareness of the contributions by persons with disabilities to the development of their communities.

From: UNenable - here

Now that December's here

The one way plane ticket's been booked.
It's time to put life in boxes, once again. In all meanings you might think of.
It started today.

The Drag in Cultural Differences, or how I loathe feeling ill

No one enjoys feeling ill, even less so when it*'s founded on reality. Yet different cultures have different perceptions and different manners of dealing with illness and its manifestations - hence the "cultural differences" reference in my title above.
Now, having already experienced this for a number of times until now, last week's sudden [and unwelcome] changes in my body's overall state of health had the undesired effect of placing me in front of pharmacists, asking for their precious trade's benefits.

Of course the first time was easy: I explained the matter, she gave me the [hopefully] solution, in a nice package. But painful hours passed, turning into days, and no improvement. So then it's calling for help from other places: Hello, home country calls!

Hours later, having jotted everything down, having looked up the active ingredients [ahem!], and making sure I have several options that the pharmacist might choose from, I was once again on my way to health salvation. Sur-fuckin-prise! "We don't have any product with any of these active ingredients here in Portugal, except for this cream." -- "But I need a product which may be taken orally!..." squeaked I, panicking. -- "Sorry, you will need to see a doctor in that case." came the reply, calmly.
Not a doctor! Not in Portugal! The panic. The anguish. [Breathe in. Breathe out. Breathe in. Breathe out.]
An other pharmacist should be able to do a better job, thought I. And luckily, she has.
Thank you, Dimicina!

*it, as in the sensation of feeling ill

1 Day - 2 Countries: Facts

[16th century:]

Philip's successors make no attempt to protect Portuguese sensibilities, attempting to rule from Madrid while raising heavy taxes to pay for Spain's wars. The final straw was the attempt by Philip iv (Filipe iii of Portugal) to conscript Portuguese troops to quell a rising in Catalonia. On December 1, 1640, a small group of conspirators stormed the palace in Lisbon and deposed the governor of Portugal. By popular acclaim and despite personal reluctance, the Duke of Braganca, the senior member of the family which had long been the most powerful in the country, took the throne as João iv.

[Text Source: the Rough Guide to Portugal's History mini-chapter; image source: here]

[20th century:]

Great Union Day (Romanian: Ziua Marii Uniri, also called Unification Day) occurring on December 1, is the national holiday of Romania. It commemorates the assembly of the delegates of ethnic Romanians held in Alba Iulia, which declared the Union of Transylvania with Romania.
This holiday was set after the 1989 Romanian Revolution and it marks the unification of Transylvania, but also of the provinces of Bessarabia and Bukovina with the Romanian Kingdom, in 1918.

[Text Source: the Wiki entry on the topic; image source: here]