Drifting around the Balkan corner of Youtube, from my Slovak clips to Roma to Serbian folk music I notice the deep and hearfelt patriotism expressed by many commenters. But then I came upon this (in response to some lovely Serbian accordion music):
Serbia is just too precious to me! SERBIA FOREVER! CCCC! Serbia is an outstanding country&the Serbs are phenomenal people out of the ordinary! Your music is eternal&rules! May others understand Your history, get it straight&support You a lot more than today! May Your country be fast-tracked to prosperity&Your glorious past acknowledged all over the world! You deserve it so much! Živela Srbija!!! VOLIM TE SRBIJO! Wish I could be heading there immediately! POZDRAV! from a Norwegian.
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Random thoughts on Slovakia
Last summer I spent a couple of days in Slovakia. The only people I talked to about the country were the Dutch couple that ran the campsite I stayed in. they had decised to move there and settle down and send their children to school there. We talked about the Roma and about how there is serious prejudice against them. They mentioned a hotel where the owner employed a Roma girl and everyone refused to work with her. I heard on the BBC World Service the other morning that the Slovaks had build a great fence (I can’t remember where) in order to keep the Roma out. On youtube just now I was revisiting the short clips I made there and clicked onto someone’s film, from their car, of Roma people selling fruit by the roadside. Some cheery Slovak commented:
Miretz919 (7 months ago) Show Hide
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Why you filmed gypsies?:( Slovakia is nice country too and gypsies are shame of our country and shame of all Europe.
But they mostly dont want live as a cultural peoples, all their houses are broke cause they are problematic..
Berry Selling Gypsies
Funny BBC News article mentioning Steve Jobs
I’ve just read this on the BBC Technology News site (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8458880.stm)
“Leading technology figures may have an image problem in the UK, according to a survey.
In a poll of 1000 British people, 20% had never heard of Apple chief executive Steve Jobs and a further 10% thought he worked for a trade union. (They also say Steve who? One in 20 surveyed thought Steve Jobs was a footballer.)
Fifteen percent believed that web creator Sir Tim Berners-Lee was either head of MI5 or an Arctic explorer.
Microsoft boss Bill Gates was the most well-known but 5% of the group thought he was a comedian or a famous thief. ”
I suppose they were kind of right.
Avatar: a microreview
Avatar seems to be publicised as much for its innovative 3D CGI as for its storyline. That seems about right. Although there are some pointers to ‘issues’ like ‘fighting terror with terror’, exploitation and ecology, its the punch ups, sonic reverberations and grizzly end of the baddie that provide the real enjoyment of this film. The 3D effects are impressive, especially of the holographic computer displays that are used. Characters are stock baddies and powerless goodies-with-consciences that eventually win out. The film does seem to echo previous movies including Chris Marker’s 1962 La Jettee where a test subject is sent into the past and future by scientists through being put to sleep in a laboratory, the Matrix and of course Star Wars.
Smoking is safe!
Thanks to my dear friend (and technology guru) Geoff, I have discovered a source of Camel cigarettes (my favourites) which are not only much cheaper than those I usually buy but are entirely health-risk-free. Look!
Not a health warning in sight. These cigs don’t harm your baby, damage your sperm, give you throat cancer or lung cancer or have any association with heart disease or arterial problems. And they also cost about one pound a pack. (They are from Dubai where they are obviously enlightened.)
I’d like to know though, how risky those cigarettes I used to smoke really are – I mean were. Stats often talk about the ‘increased risk of being a smoker’ but they never say how they define a smoker. I think the WHO defines a smoker as anyone who has smoked 100 cigarettes (or was it 10?) But I wonder about the relative risk of smoking 8-10 a week as I do compared to 8 – 10 every day. Maybe health promotion bodies don’t want to get into this kind of detail as it might distract from the message that smoking is BAD.
My feet in blocks of concrete
Now its the moment for investing in some decent motorcycle boots and motocross/enduro boots seem to offer the best protection. Yesterday I bought some Alpinestars Tech 3 boots:
Shopping is a strange experience. In this case I had to endure the gratuitous comments of shopkeepers along the lines of ‘well, you don’t strike me as a supermoto rider. No, really. How long have you been riding then?’ My answers are usually bumbling and mumbling. Yesterday after a good ride upto Peterboro (apart from getting completely lost around the roundabouts there giving rise to some not too bad u-turns) I investigated the off road specialist shop above the Suzuki dealer Stamford Superbikes. At last a shop that actually stocked Aplinestars boots. But they only stocked the top of the range nearly £400 lumps of highly protective concrete – ‘they drop a ton weight on them to test them’ the young assistant told me – and the ‘entry level’ boot for £169 which is what I walked or rather hobbled out with as a kind of gentle introduction to wearing boots that don’t bend at the ankle. Unfortunately once on the bike in the carpark outside the shop I realised that I coudln’t do useful things like change gear in these boots so slipped back into my old carpetslippers I rode there in and strapped the huge Alpinestars to the back, resolvng to find an hour to spare to learn the new technique I’ll need to actually go anywhere in these boots – or adjust the machine or buy some snazzy and overpriced new part from Touratech specially made for riding in these ridiculous boots.