Unguided Blog

There are few authors who can tackle the issue of coincidence or luck if you will, more striking than Paul Auster. In almost all of his novels the element of chance is ever present. But is it not the same in real life, too? You are born in one place and find all the good things, change the place of your birth to a few hundred kilometers to any direction and you are in deep shit.

Greenpeace had an amazing photo story about e-waste, titled Scraplife: E-waste in Pakistan, written and photographed by Robert Knoth. In June 2008 Greenpeace tracked a shipment of e-waste from Europe to its final resting place - Pakistan. This is the story of what happens to that e-waste and the people it affects. You might want to see and read what happens to those who are less fortunate than you are and take action to tell Philips to take back and recycle. You could have been born there.

I had to give a hiatus to blogging due to a sickness of a relative of mine. Well, she is still sick but better at least. Same, however, can not be said for our beautiful government; they are simply getting worse. This lovely government with sweet ministers who are not even worth standing next to them in the same room, has finally added their most democratic endeavor to their score card: all access to blogger.com and blogspot.com domains has been blocked as of last Friday.

Of course, despite a few geniuses who claim this is a liberal government and will continue to say so, I have never shared their view. I am usually good at analyzing people, 25 plus years of management experience in weird and wonderful places gives one an edge, I believe.

I have always watched my language here. Yet, I can not find a more appropriate word for these people:

Assholes!

Come on, block this blog, too.

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 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?

They were the real travelers, the free spirits nature had kindly offered us. They crossed deserts, flew over mountains which few humans dared climb, passed through valleys, over forests sunlight could not penetrate.

They were expert sailors, could find their way without the aid of a compass or electronic equipment.

They knew how to ride the wind. The strong and the experienced positioned themselves at the tough spots so that the weak and the young could have an easy ride.

They fought with adverse winds, they challenged the unforgiving heat of the sun. Flying at an altitude only eagles could, they slowly approached their final destination, all the way from African deserts to Lake Aksehir, Turkey. They began their descent, the part they liked most: the show off. Like a woman aware of her beauty, they, too knew we would watch them with eyes of appreciation; queens of the migratory birds, the flamingos. The young were happy, they made it. And for that reason, it took a while to understand something was wrong, terribly wrong. The adults were silent, only the wind. Panicked, they looked at the adults flying next to them. But they did not find the usual “you’re doing fine” look. Adults were too busy staring down, staring at a place the young ones’ eyes could not see, yet.

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