Unguided Blog

What happens when you combine oriental shrewdness with modern business practices? I can not help but think about it when I read the post EGYPT: What’s beyond traffic?! at Babylon & Beyond in Los Angeles Times. This is the paragraph to blame:

The new law has been met with several suspicions: First, many people allege the heavy fines aim at extracting more resources for the indebted treasury while others believe that the imposition of new safety measures aim at benefiting government-supported businessmen who would allegedly be involved in the importation of anti-reflection stop triangles, first-aid kits and fire extinguishers, which are now required in all cars. Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif had reportedly denied such accusations saying that the government just sought to tighten safety measures and eliminate traffic jams.

Ignoring Prime Minister Nazif’s comment, I have nothing to say about government-supported businesses will benefit most, because it is a certainty. I have doubts, though, if they will succeed pulling up the sorely needed resources to beef up the treasury. As the writer has pointed out:

On the contrary, the new law is believed to have opened a new door for more corruption as it gives cops a better chance to ask for higher bribes and turn a blind eye to violations in return.

If they are not careful, the new law is indeed likely to increase bribes while not being registered in inflation statistics for they are completely off the record, and leave the treasury empty like it usually has been before. Fortunately, there is an easy solution to every difficult problem as Occam had proved with its razor long time ago. Our elders have said: “There is no need to rediscover America, it has already been discovered.” For the Egyptian officials, this typically translates to: Follow our beautiful government (you, dear readers, follow me).

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I came across this at Apache. Too bad the blog was suspended.

Warning: Consult your doctor before using medication.

I have always been against nuclear energy and construction of reactors in Turkey, but my objection is based on cultural grounds rather than scientific reasons. We seem to be somewhat relaxed and can not be bothered with procedures, specifications, rules, policies, so and so forth. This attitude is a sort of survival skill in a troubled part of the world and help us overcome a lot of problems. However, combine this with nuclear energy, frankly speaking, the first thing I would do is run away, fast, very fast. I simply can not imagine Turks running and operating a nuclear site.

On the other hand, I have always assumed Finnish (had a few first-hand acquaintances) to be cool-minded but warm-blooded people. Compared to French who can be temperamental but still logical (maybe because of Descartes and Lagrange), I thought the Finnish-French combination would produce good results. If there were any people who could build a nuclear reactor, if that was the only choice, this would be the ideal partnership.

I can not tell how disappointed I am after reading the safety procedures are in disarray at Finland’s Olkiluoto 3 nuclear construction site at Greenpeace blog. The contractor, French company Areva, is not only 2-3 years behind schedule, 70% over the budget and experiencing 1,500 construction defects along with a damaging fire, but also failing to implement vital safety procedures in the construction of its prototype European Pressurized Water Reactor (EPR) in Olkiluoto, Finland. What is worse, the Finnish nuclear safety authority STUK, and the country’s electricity generator TVO have all been aware of these problems and yet the necessary vital safeguards have not been implemented.

If this does not prove what a dangerous proposition nuclear energy is, what does?

Quoting Lala in her comment:

However, that is interesting and now, thinking I’m pretty sure I’ve never heard this song, I will have to go and have a listen (so I’ll be able to spot a Communist )

There is an easier way of course: anyone with an appetite for steak is a good candidate.

I have found a reasonably good version of The Internationale in Youtube (in Hungarian with English sub-titles) and posting it for all fans of McCarthy. I also would like to thank to the anonymous person running the proxy server in Colombia (as you know Youtube is blocked by our beautiful government).

I made a typo in the previous post (actually it was the spell checker, not me, but I did push the “change all” button), Internationale ends with “e”.

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I lived in Romania as an expat for nearly three years. Although I can eat virtually anything (especially if I’m hungry), we used to go to a Turkish restaurant where we can find fish, I mean the ones we like, otherwise local fish (from lakes and rivers, occasionally from Black Sea) were plenty. After a visit or two, the Romanian staff quickly learned our favorites and all we had to was to choose the fish of the day.

One day, or rather night, we learned that the truck bringing the fish had a problem at the Customs. Not very much surprised as ordering anything and everything from the truckers in order avoid the unnecessary customs formalities (futile barriers against free trade, how pathetic) was a long standing Turkish tradition, we simply cursed our luck for that day’s truck was not coming from Greece, the other fish supplying country. The Greek, being law abiding visitors would have brought the fish (You did not believe that, did you? Good!).

Well, this unfortunate incident unfortunately disrupted our usual routine with the staff. While my friend ordered chicken, I took a pause to decide and I heard the waitress say:

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