Archives for category: yes but

three wishes

So time has come to get down to the serious business…

Better late than never!

panem et circensis 1

And yet:
“Less than four days before it hosts the opening game of the World Cup, São Paulo became the scene of protests, street fires and teargas on Monday as striking subway workers brought chaos to the city.
The strike – which disrupted half the metro stations and worsened traffic in South America’s most populous city – was the latest headache for organisers as national teams from the United States, Spain and Argentina flew in for the start of the tournament on Thursday.”

panem et circenses 2

“Brazil’s government already faces the threat of street protests by Brazilians opposed to the high cost of hosting the tournament. Massive demonstrations broke out last year during a warm-up for the World Cup and have continued on a smaller scale, sometimes with violence.”

Might it be that ordinary people are not that dumb as some of us think them to be?
In fact this lesson has been taught to us time and again so I only hope this instance we’ll figure it out less painfully that the French did in 1789.

Football is deeply ingrained in Brazilian culture to the extent that much of world sees the nation through the lens of the Brazilian National Football Team. Since football was brought to this South American – See more at: http://sites.duke.edu/wcwp/research-projects/politics-and-sport-in-latin-america/brazil/#s
Football is deeply ingrained in Brazilian culture to the extent that much of world sees the nation through the lens of the Brazilian National Football Team. Since football was brought to this South American – See more at: http://sites.duke.edu/wcwp/research-projects/politics-and-sport-in-latin-america/brazil/#sthash.1rNrsCQ9.dpu

chemical free

Since when is anything around us ‘chemical free’?
Water is itself a chemical substance while vinegar is nothing but a solution of acetic acid dissolved in water so washing produce in vinegary water is bathing them in chemical substances.

‘No artificial chemical substances’ ?!?
OK, water is probably ‘natural’, even though some tiny amounts of it were indeed produced by us.
You don’t believe me?…But you know that we all burn things, right? And if we don’t burn it ourselves we have others burning it for us. A considerable part of the electricity we use is produced by burning things. Locomotion is mostly ‘produced’ by burning things. Oh, you weren’t aware that by burning a gallon of gas you produce 1.52 gallons of water. Well, now you know. For natural gas the ratio is even higher – more hydrogen – so it’s 2.2 pounds of water for one pound of natural gas. Don’t worry too much about the coal burning power plants, they don’t produce too much ‘artificial water’ because coal contains almost no hydrogen so… sorry, only CO2 in this case.
And how much water do we produce? I don’t know, if you’re interested you may use these figures: 90 million barrels a day of oil/day/world in 2011 (approx 32 billion barrels/year)  and 3 427 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas in 2012 (some 5000 billion pounds per year). And since all of this water first goes up in the air and then rains down on us there is more than a slight chance that a few molecules of it end up in your sink.

And this goes both for the tap water and for the one already in the vinegar.

As for the acetic acid it doesn’t really matter if it came from vine – usually the case for balsamic vinegar – or from ‘industrial’ Ethyl alcohol, the kind brewed and distilled from starch (potatoes, corn, etc) and used to make vodka among other things. It’s the same chemical substance. Oh, by the way, alcohol, caffeine and THC are also chemical substances.

And for those of you who are really interested in where it makes any sense to wash anything using vinegar, yes, it seems that it can be useful in some instances. Check out here for more information.

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Am primit fotografia asta pe mail, ca parte a unui PPS despre bulevardele din Bucuresti.
Mi-a adus aminte de bancul ala despre sapatorii de la metrou:

La sfarsitul unei conventii a constructorilor de tunele pentru metrou se aduna baietii la o bere.
Dupa bere o dau pe whiskey si apoi incep sa se laude.

Englezul: cand am sapat tunelul ala nou catre …am gasit un cablu telefonic din 1892. Va dati seama de cand aveam noi telefonie la Londra?
Francezul: cand am facut extinderea de la statia din … am gasit un cablu de telegraf din 1870!
Neamtul: Noi tocmai am gasit o bucata de cablu optic care avea deja 4o ani.

Romanul, care asteptase linistit sa-i vina randul dar care nu prea avea saracul ce sa spuna, are la un moment dat o sclipire de geniu:
Bai, noi am sapat nu stiu cate tunele prin Bucuresti, atat pentru metrou cat si ca sa aiba Ceausescu pe unde sa fuga, da’ n-am gasit nici un fel de cablu. Nici de telefon, nici de telegraf si nici macar vre-unul de date. Noi am avut wireless din-totdeauna.

Tot asa cum am avut ambulante auto in razboiul de independenta.

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A couple of days ago I stumbled upon a link from Upworthy about an al Jazeera interview with a legislator who is pushing an antiabortion bill. Since the story was nicely packaged I followed the link.

Rachel Maddow/MSNBC resuming what happened in the interview before the question that started all this:

“He tells al Jazeera that what he really wants is for there to be no legal abortion at all in Ohio except to save a woman’s life.”

And now we get to see an excerpt from that interview:
“- Reporter: What do you think makes a woman want to have an abortion?
– State Rep. Jim Buchy: Well, there’s probably a lot of… I’m not a woman, so I… I’m thinking, if I’m a woman, why would I want to get a… Some of it has to do with economics. A lot of it has to do with economics. I don’t know, it’s a question I’ve never even thought about.”

As an ethnic Romanian who lived for 20 years in a country were women were sometimes left to die at the orders of the secret police if they had tried to induce abortions on themselves and doctors were regularly sent to prison if they dared perform one outside the extremely narrow limits of the (communist) law I shared the link on my FB wall.

I received this very pertinent and absolutely logical comment:

“Somebody proposes we have a law that prohibits individuals killing other individuals… unless in self-defense. Someone asks somebody – Why would someone want to kill somebody? I never thought about why someone would want to kill somebody… he just forgot to add that that has little to do with the proposed ordinance … which seeks to protect life! Now why would one want to protect life… the answer is self evident!”

And this was my answer:

“(Dear friend) from the point of view that ‘life has to be preserved, no matter what’ you are, of course, right. All that is left for us to do is to settle among ourselves the exact moment when an embryo becomes life.
I’m afraid though that all this is about something different. Not more important than (individual) human life, just different.
About how others get to determine what happens to/with US based on THEIR convictions.

‘I don’t really care about what makes a woman wish to have an abortion, I just say she shouldn’t have any opportunity to do such a thing’.”

“Tu ce planuri ai vara asta? Venim cu tine :)”

Am gasit mesajul asta in mail. Ma uit sa vad de la cine si hopa surpriza:

“eMAG.ro <oferte@newsletter.emag.ro> Unsubscribe”

N-am ce face, deschid mesajul si ma trezesc cu astia 4 in casa:

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Pe bune ma? Nu ca tipii n-ar fi simpatici, dar parca nici chiar asa…

In orice caz solutia e simpla.

Daca nu v-ati prins inca uitati-va la paragraful urmator:

“eMAG.ro <oferte@newsletter.emag.ro> Unsubscribe

Eh?!? Se poate spune ca si-au facut-o cu mana lor, nu?
(A, nu ca au pus ‘butonul’ de unsubscribe ci pentru ca trimit reclame din astea extrem de agresive!)

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A friend of mine shared this on FB. Thanks Sheeja!

It was then that I realized that I do sometimes worry.

Only I don’t worry for tomorrow. I worry for me.
Worrying ‘for tomorrow’, per se, is indeed ludicrous but wondering what I’ll be doing tomorrow seems only natural for a sensible person.

After all it’s me who is going to live that day so how about living it to my liking, not somebody else’s?
Provided that I don’t hurt anybody in the process, of course.

Crin Antonescu a anuntat ca renunta chiar si la pozitia de presedinte demisionar al PNL si ca nu mai intentioneaza sa candideze la presedentia Romaniei iar Antena 3 discuta situatia sub titlul de mai sus. (1 Iunie 2014, Duminica)

Cu 38 de ani in urma, tot pe vremea asta, terminam clasa a 8-a.
Profesorul nostru de istorie, domnul Bucataru – n-aveai cum sa-i spui tovarasu’, era mult prea domn – incepuse deja cu cateva saptamani in urma sa ne pregateasca pentru cele ce urmau sa ni se intample. Ne-a invatat multe in perioada aia, de la cum sa copiem sau cum sa invitam o fata la film (iar pe fete cum sa accepte sau sa refuze politicos o astfel de invitatie) pana la niste adevarate subtilitati de filozofie a vietii. Astazi voi face apel la doua dintre acestea din urma.

‘La liceu veti invata tot felul de chestii…Economie politica, socialism stiintific, democratie populara… toate astea sunt destul de incurcate si as prefera sa plecati de la mine cu niste lucruri cat de cat clare.
Democratia, de exemplu, nu are de-a face de loc cu numerele. Lumea crede ca daca ‘este democratie’ atunci ‘majoritatea hotaraste iar minoritatea asculta’. Cei care sustin asa ceva n-au inteles nimic. Democratia se refera la faptul ca inainte de a se trece la vot fiecare isi spune parerea iar ceilalti asculta. Cu atentie! Iar din momentul in care nu se mai discuta despre idei, cu respect, ci despre persoane, si eventual cu dusmanie, ideea de democratie s-a dus demult pe apa sambetei. Aia nu mai este democratie ci dictatura majoritatii’. (Pentru cei carora nu le vine a crede ca aceasta discutie, publica pana la urma, a avut loc pe vremea comunismului le atrag respectuos atentia ca atunci era cea mai fasta perioada postbelica a Romaniei. Ceausescu nu innebunise inca iar la chioscul din colt se mai gasea Kent)

‘Veti trece prin tot felul de examene, pentru care va veti pregati dupa cum veti putea voi mai bine. Sa stiti totusi ca in afara de pregatirea ‘clasica’, de invatatul propriu zis, conteaza foarte mult si atitudinea pe care o aveti la examene. Si sa nu uitati o chestie. De cele mai multe ori raspunsurile pot fi deduse pornind chiar de la modul in care sunt formulate intrebarile!’

Revenind la titlul postarii si aplicand invataturile domnului Profesor Bucataru raspunsul devine deja simplu:

Brucan s-a inselat amarnic, Antonescu si-a facut-o pana la urma cu mana lui iar cei care au de fapt de pierdut suntem chiar noi.

Pentru cei care nu tin minte, ‘oracolul din Damaroaia’ a prezis ca romanii vor avea nevoie de 20 de ani pentru a invata ce este aceea democratie. Avand in vedere ca in campania pentru europarlamentare s-a discutat despre orice numai despre idei nu este clar ca profetia asta nu s-a indeplinit inca.
“Nu vom lasa Romania pe mana baronilor rosii!…” Nici nu mai conteaza ce a mai spus Antonescu dupa aceste cuvinte. Pot sa ii inteleg starea de spirit, ba chiar sunt de acord cu el ca sunt prea multi baroni rosii in Romania. De fapt sunt prea multi baroni de orice fel… sa revenim. Cand te pregatesti sa candidezi pentru o functie eligibila nu iti poti permite sa imparti de la inceput electoratul in doua si sa acuzi implicit una dintre parti ca ii sustine pe ‘baronii rosii’. Nu are nici o importanta ca de aproape un an esti tinta unui foc incrucisat, atat din stanga cat si din propria reduta de dreapta. Pur si simplu nu ai voie sa spui asa ceva, cu atat mai mult cu cat pana atunci dadeai impresia ca duci lupta pe planul ideilor si ca nu ai nici o intentie sa te cobori in mocirla in care are loc ‘lupta politica’ de la noi.

“Lupta politica.”
Abia acum am pus degetul pe rana. Atat conform invataturilor Profesorului Bucataru cat si tuturor tratatelor de politologie (atentie, nu de marketing politic) care subliniaza caracterul participativ al procesului democratic, ‘politica’, cea adevarata,  are de a face mai degraba cu cooperarea decat cu lupta. Da, exista intrecere dar o intrecere de tip sportiv, o intrecere din acelea unde este important sa participi si unde toti au cate ceva de castigat.

Poate ca citind aceste randuri ma veti considera un naiv. Nu sunt in masura sa va contrazic.
Dar ce frumos ar fi ca ‘intrecerea politica’ sa se intoarca la menirea ei fireasca.  Aceea de a produce solutii benefice pentru cat mai multi dintre membrii societatii.
Din pacate in zilele noastre prea multi considera ca ‘politica’ este doar un cadru institutional in care se desfasoara ‘lupta pentru putere’ care macina societatile contemporane precum un cancer. De aceea alegatorii nu prea ies la vot iar prea multi dintre cetateni nici macar nu vor sa aibe de a face cu asa ceva.
Iar pana cand aceasta perceptie a societatii nu se va schimba scena politica va continua sa fie ocupata de cei pentru care puterea politica este un scop si nu o unealta.

What might have Spain in common with Syria except for the first and last letters of their names?

Quite a lot and there are many more countries that belong to the same group: Portugal, Turkey, Ukraine, Thailand, South Korea, almost the entire Latin America and the list is far from being complete.

They all traversed a period of dictatorship during which a sizable portion of the population had left the poverty zone, entered the middle class and started to demand ‘political rights’. In some of those countries the political establishment of that day understood that it was in their own (personal) best interest to give up some of their political power and personal clout – and by doing so vastly increased the chances of long term stability in their respective countries – while in other instances the rulers clung jealously to power unwilling to cede even an iota of it.

And this is exactly why Chile, Portugal, Spain and South Korea are in a completely different situation than Syria while in Thailand, Turkey and Ukraine things are in full process of being sorted out, one way or another.

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This 27,000-year-old dog skull unearthed in the Czech Republic has a mammoth bone fragment in its mouth, one of many discoveries that suggest Paleolithic people may have used dogs to hunt mammoths. 

Really? So we found a dead dog’s skull with a piece of mammoth bone between its teeth and we jump to the conclusion that men ‘may have used dogs to hunt mammoths’?

In fact the only certain thing that can be inferred for sure from this is that dogs, then as now, used to chew on bones.
And if we go on assuming things that might have happened what can stop us from asking ‘were mammoths bones toxic for ancient dogs, so poisonous in fact as to provoke instant death’?

Have you stopped laughing yet?

‘Cause this is no laughing matter. This is exactly how science works. Some people jump to conclusions, sometimes farfetched, and then try for decades to muster enough proof for their conclusions to be accepted by the ‘scientific community’ while others – earnestly, jokingly or sometimes even disrespectfully – try to prove them wrong.

The truth is that it doesn’t matter who’s right and who’s wrong, both sides are doing the excellent job of keeping alight the flame of knowledge.
Had one side, no matter which, given up its efforts, science as we know it – a dynamic process that churns out continuously vast quantities of new information only to be proven false or at least incomplete at a later time – would grind to a halt.
If the ‘enthusiasts’  would get the upper hand in no time they would drive ‘science’ so far away from the hard reality that what they would eventually propose as a ‘corpus of knowledge’ would be absolutely useless.
If the naysayers would be as ‘aggressive’ as I was in the beginning, get things out of context, just as I did, and then criticize the ‘findings’ grounded on a seemingly logical failure then the whole process would stop altogether. In these conditions further improvement in our understanding of the world would become practically impossible.

So let’s keep going as we are already used to, only a little less emphatically.
After all nobody is exactly right in the long time, right?

For those of you who want to learn more about how ancient people might have been using dogs to hunt mammoth, you have here a link to the article that inspired this post. It appeared in the Science magazine.