They are all different.

From a blog I recently read due to its environmental outset, I re-post a part that I've found holds time and time and time again. I just say: human. We're all human. (And the bunch of stuff that comes with it.)

"Trying to determine the impact on the indigenous people reminded me of when I lived in Germany, and people would ask “What are Germans like?” That’s sort of like asking “What’s an American like?” Well, are we talking about someone living in Texas, New York, or Minnesota? Is the person rich or poor? Are they religious? What is their political affiliation? It turns out that Germans, Australians, South Africans – and every nation in the world – has people that shouldn’t be stereotyped. So I would say “Germans are like everyone else. They are all different.”"

I tell that story because that’s the impression I developed after trying to determine the impact of oil sands development on First Nations groups. Some hate it. Some love it. Many work for the companies we visited. Development has brought wealth to some. On the other hand, some don’t like the infringement on their historical lands, and they don’t like the environmental implications. Certain tribes would favor development, and certain tribes wouldn’t. And within those tribes will be individuals who feel differently about it. Some of that will come down to whether there is a sufficient financial benefit relative to the downside. It is not that different from other energy projects. There are always people on both sides of the issue. And if you are being impacted negatively but not compensated financially, you are going to be against.

My point is that it isn’t a black and white issue.

From: Energy Trends Insider

Wind farms and Birds - EU study and Slovenia's Volovja reber

  Whoo-ey!
EU document available here.

Newest EC document provides a thorough overview on Wind farms and birds.

Via Tomaz J. from email message to a news-list.

EU document available here.

Have you hugged an "introvert" today?

Watch out, they might hiss.

But, leave them a bit, make them feel comfortable, and they'll be in a state of bliss.

Read more here, on a post titled How to interact with the introverted.

Obviously, the need creates a design. What if your clothing could keep your personal space?

"Spike Away vest" keeps people out of your personal space. A designer's spiky vest makes your personal space an unwelcome zone for other people.: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57614531-1/spike-away-vest-keeps-people-out-of-your-personal-space/

Confessions - Whatever Happens in Vegas ...

This is an image from an art exhibition and a very interesting project that I recently got via Facebook (via Nina A.).

Check out the project here: Confessions.

Nevednost

Zadevo je najbolje razložil John Steinbeck, ki je dejal, da se socializem v Ameriki ni uveljavil, ker reveži ne pojmujejo sebe kot izkorišcani proletariat, marvec kot milijonarje v zacasnih težavah.

Vir: http://www.siol.net/priloge/kolumne/miha_mazzini/2013/11/slozni_v_nevednosti.aspx
[Miha Mazzini v prilogi Siol.neta, 08.11.2013]

In pa:
Preživitvena strategija gledanja proc je dosegla velik konsenz in postala del mentalitete, zato je treba logiko, matematiko in pismenost znati le v šoli in jih v vsakdanjem življenju cim prej pozabiti.

Volovja reber - Pokrajina, ki bi lahko postala narodni park

"Elektrarna Senožeška brda, če bo zgrajena, kot je načrtovana, bo v petnajstih letih dobila okoli 150 milijonov evrov subvencij, kar pomeni, da bo morala vsaka družina v Sloveniji prispevati 200 evrov.
Pogovarjamo se o res velikih številkah, nekdo pa bo obogatel, ker so subvencije nerazumno visoke."

In pred tem:
"Velik del tega zneska pa prispevamo davkoplacevalci. Ocenjujemo, da so spodbude previsoke in bi lahko z denarjem, ki gre za subvencioniranje vetrnih elektrarn, naredili v tem trenutku več koristi za zmanjševanje CO2, če bi ga vlagali drugam. Na primer v energetsko sanacijo stavb, izolacije, zamenjavo oken. Ko bo to narejeno, pridejo na vrsto tudi vetrnice. Ta trenutek pa ta denar ni gospodarno porabljen."

Vir: Petrovec (2013). Pokrajina, ki bi lahko postala narodni park. Tomaz Jancar o boju za Volovjo reber in njenih lepotah. Nedeljski Dnevnik, 23. 10. 2013, Str. 10.

'Ne vem, zakaj Hrvatje znajo prodajati nacionalne parke, Slovenci pa ne.' 

 Kaj vse ponuja Volovja reber
"Ce pridete na Volovjo reber ali Gure, kot se ji reče po domače, vam seže pogled na kvarnerske otoke vse do Paga. Ljubitelji ptic bodo videli tam pestrost živalskih vrst, ki je med največjimi v državi. Na Volovji rebri živijo vse velike zveri, ki jih imamo v Sloveniji, in to najbolj zdrave populacije. Risi volkovi, medvedi. Velika je tudi raznolikost rastlinskih vrst."

NEW! Organic and fairtrade Tibetan Salt, straight from the Himalayas!

NEW! Organic and fairtrade Tibetan Salt, straight from the Himalayas!

It was piled and carried by organic life forms, so it's partly organic.
The salt-miners were paid the fair value for the local circumstances, so .50 € per day.
Comes from Tibet. Really. Has a stamp and all. So it must be true.
Did make its way across the globe, to your local store, so It didn't actually come straight from Himalayas, but it was more like a curvy-road.
And to be honest, the environmental impact of the transport far outweighs any fair-, eco- and "organic" components of its production.
May contain actual grains of salt (Sodium Chloride).And traces of other elements and impurities.

Get it at your local organic shop ThrivaViva now and buy some yummy bioekoorganicfairtrade chocolate as well! For only 10 € per 100 g.

We let you pay, because you care.

 

 

 

Just a rant, nothing to worry about. Pointing to sense-less-ness often seen in the shops (yes, even organic ones). And complaining about the costs. Both the costs in the market (too high compared to everything else (which is, in turn actually too low, compared to the environmental impact it has)), as well as the environmental externalities. Oh, and also pointing to silly stuff people - due to past lawsuits - need to put on packaging. You buy a pack of nuts and it may contain nuts, that's nuts.

Cuspidate, Word of the day

cus·pi·date

adjective \ˈkəs-pə-ˌdāt\   (Medical Dictionary)

:  having a cusp :  terminating in a point <a cuspidate leaf> <cuspidate molars>
Latin cuspidatus, past participle of cuspidare to make pointed, from cuspid-, cuspis point

First Known Use: 1692

From: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cuspidate

Social media and teens

Below, excerpts from the article, titled Teenagers and social networking – it might actually be good for them. Got it via: #Bloom.

 

Let's go back to that girl who texts 250 times a day. The truth is, she was an extreme case I cherry-picked to startle you – because when I interviewed her, she was in a group of friends with a much wider range of experiences. Two others said they text only 10 times a day. One was a Facebook refusenik /.../

 

Amanda Lenhart of the Pew Research Centre, a US thinktank, found that the most avid texters are also the kids most likely to spend time with friends in person. One form of socialising doesn't replace the other. It augments it.

 

But surely all this short-form writing is eroding literacy? Certainly, teachers worry. Pew Centre surveys /.../

Stanford University scholar Andrea Lunsford gathered data on the rates of errors in "freshman composition" papers going back to 1917, she found that they were virtually identical to today. 

 

This type of interaction online with strangers can make kids more community-minded. Joseph Kahne, a professor of education at Mills College in California, studied 400 teenagers over three years. Kahne found that teens who participated in fan or hobby sites were more likely than other kids to do real-world volunteering. Interestingly, this wasn't true of being on Facebook.

 

Just last week, California passed a law allowing minors to demand that internet firms erase their digital past and the EU has contemplated similar legislation.

 

Distraction is also a serious issue. When kids flip from chat to music to homework, they are indeed likely to have trouble doing each task well. And studies show that pupils don't check the veracity of information online – "smart searching" is a skill schools need to teach urgently.

It's also true, Lenhart points out, that too much social networking and game playing can cut into schoolwork and sleep. This is precisely why parents still need to set firm boundaries around it, as with any other distraction.

 

Nice:

So what's the best way to cope? The same boring old advice that applies to everything in parenting. "Moderation," Lenhart says. Rebecca Eynon argues that it's key to model good behaviour. Parents who stare non-stop at their phones and don't read books are likely to breed kids who will do the same. As ever, we ought to scrutinise our own behaviour.

 

 

Above excerpts from the article, titled Teenagers and social networking – it might actually be good for them.

Challenging ideas, challenging people

Even though the source newsarticle of the below quote doesn't have much to do with challenging oneself, it does provide an illustration. Of something I was reading about via Stephen Colbert, or rather, a scientific article, researching the mechanism behind the term he coined - truthiness (Google Scholar search). Another author, who gives some account of it, though briefly, is Carl Honoré in his recent book: The Slow fix, where he introduces it as confirmation bias.

From critiques of president Harding and how he wrote speeches:

"/.../ Such [people] do not want ideas — that is, new ideas, ideas that are unfamiliar, ideas that challenge their attention. What they want is simply a gaudy series of platitudes, of sonorous nonsense driven home with gestures."

By H. L. Mencken nearly a century ago about one of the most infamous orations of all time: the inaugural address of President Warren G. Harding. Source: here.

What's Your Story?

The following I re-post in full, as it almost totally reflects my own thoughts. Stories fuel the world. Source below; read the rest, it's kinda cool.

 

What's your story?

Most people who build presentations forget that they are actually (or should be) telling a story. I like to think of business presentations as just story's for grown ups. Even though we are all very mature professional people (myself excluded) we do still love a good story. It's why we spend Billions on movies and cinema tickets every year. We love to be engaged with a story, and have done so since the stone age. This is something that in my opinion will never change for human beings. But the way in which we tell our stories will get more and more advanced.........Prezi, 3D movies, Holographics, and so on. This is extremely exciting, BUT no matter how advanced things get there will always need to be a good written story behind everything.

  Remember 'Content is and always will be king'.

 From: Prepping for Prezi Day - Part 2
 

wait but why | 7 Ways To Be Insufferable On Facebook

Have you ever read those posts on Facebook that made no sense ("Off to feed the hamster") or induced some jealousy ("Off to Philippines with my sweetheart!")?

Here's a blog post about it, with some nice diagrams.
Exhibit A:

The thing that Daniel and most others haven't internalized is the fact that if they have 800 Facebook friends, only about 10 or 15 love them. For an especially lovable person, maybe it’s as high as 30. Between 1 and 4%. That means that between 96 and 99% of your Facebook friends DO NOT LOVE YOU.

 
  7 Ways To Be Insufferable on Facebook:
1) The Brag,
2) The Cryptic Cliffhanger,
3) The Literal Status Update,
4) The Inexplicably-Public Private Message,

5) The Out-Of-Nowhere Oscar Acceptance Speech,

6) The Incredibly Obvious Opinion,

7) The Step Toward Enlightenment.

While it does go on for quite some time, the post actually has some sense in it. I like the parts that hit me personally like an arrow and I just may be more respective of what I post on FB. (Though posting Dalai Lama quotes I might never do without.)
 
The best message I found in the whole excerpt was the following one:

Secondly—you know what inspires people? You achieving something incredible and letting it be an example and inspiration to others. 

For your words alone to be inspirational, you need to be a gifted speaker or writer who really has something original to say—and we both know that’s not you. So for you to consider yourself an inspirational character by simply posting trite quotes is, well, flagrantly narcissistic. You’re assuming that you, just by being you, are inspirational.

 

All found here - link.

 

Are you a Lucy, a GYPSY or something else?

A curious page attracted my attention today: link here.

 

Why Generation Y Yuppies Are Unhappy

Say hi to Lucy.

 

Lucy is part of Generation Y, the generation born between the late 1970s and the mid 1990s. She's also part of a yuppie culture that makes up a large portion of Gen Y. 

 

Only issue is this one thing:

Lucy's kind of unhappy.

To get to the bottom of why, we need to define what makes someone happy or unhappy in the first place. It comes down to a simple formula:

Happiness= Reality - Expectations

 It's pretty straightforward—when the reality of someone's life is better than they had expected, they're happy. When reality turns out to be worse than the expectations, they're unhappy.

To provide some context, let's start by bringing Lucy's parents into the discussion: /.../

 

Read more, here.

 

So that's why Lucy is unhappy, or at the least, feeling a bit frustrated and inadequate.  In fact, she's probably started off her career perfectly well, but to her, it feels very disappointing.


Here's my advice for Lucy:

1) Stay wildly ambitious.  The current world is bubbling with opportunity for an ambitious person to find flowery, fulfilling success.  The specific direction may be unclear, but it'll work itself out—just dive in somewhere.

2) Stop thinking that you're special.  The fact is, right now, you're not special.  You're another completely inexperienced young person who doesn't have all that much to offer yet.  You can become special by working really hard for a long time. 

3) Ignore everyone else. Other people's grass seeming greener is no new concept, but in today's image crafting world, other people's grass looks like a glorious meadow. The truth is that everyone else is just as indecisive, self-doubting, and frustrated as you are, and if you just do your thing, you'll never have any reason to envy others.

Read the whole thing with nice unicorn graphs and flowers and siht, here.

--- UPDATE:
Here's another, rather more succint graphic to point out the matter (though from a different angle): http://maxcdn.zenpencils.com/comics/2012-11-13-chrisg.jpg
(See pic on the right. > Bigger version on the link above.)

Thicke's "Blurred Lines" and Miley Cirus and rape and whatnot

I've seen Thicke's original explicit video so long ago that I can hardly remember ... being put off by it and thinking - jeez, this is demeaning to women. And yet, as Thicke looks nice and shakes his booty in the rhythm of the song (which is, admittedly, quite catchy), they seem to forget all about it. Well, not me. And I'm a guy.

'Thicke's song, "Blurred Lines," doesn't endorse rape, as some have alleged, it does present the most tediously reductive view of sex and women with the idea of "a good girl" just needing to be liberated by alcohol and a penis to become "an animal". It's an idea that was satirised six years ago in Superbad by teenagers and yet remains as credible in pop songs today as it does in porn. It's one of life's ironies that pop music is supposedly a progressive and young person's art form, yet the messages it sends are generally as retrograde as the gruntings of an embarrassing middle-aged uncle at Christmas dinner." —Hadley Freeman, The Guardian'

From: Critics Roundup: What Everyone Said About Miley Cyrus’s VMA Performance | Vulture.com

"But you're an animal, baby, it's in your nature Just let me liberate ya!", "And that's why I'm gon' take a good girl .... I know you want it", "You the hottest bitch in this place", "But you're a good girl
The way you grab me
Must wanna get nasty
Go ahead, get at me"

Well, fine. But I follow some of the online life and news and I for one (and apparently, not for one, as it seems to resound in the comments of 'critics' linked to above) think it does create a problem - talking of one sex as Things. .. Sigh. You'll see, they'll be plenty more talk of Rape Culture in the future. Part of the future, precipitated by "meh, it's pop" attitude of today. Unfortunately. Well, we'll see. Maybe I'm just growing old and conservative (I let this be an option).

That being said, it's always good to see some humour reverberating through the digital tides and thus, a link to the Robin Thicke Blurred Lines Parody - #HungryGirl. You should check out some other titles in the flood of "Thicke Blurred Lines parody videos", like "Tan Lines".
  Resorting to humour is as always, a human response. (I believe, a much more productive one than resorting to violence, for example. Lenon agrees.) But will it be enough to save your little [baby] sister (2012, 2013), your teenage daughter, your wife on vacation? Some "reporters" just ride on the media waves ... and masses read/watch and otherwise consume it (example - "twerking" and Miley Cirus ... 'scientifically' explained).

On one hand, it is also true that nowadays, with media, the news spreads around waaaay faster. So, I guess these things happened in the past, maybe even at the same rate as they do today, only when in the past they were frowned upon or locally "contained", nowadays, they spread like virus over the net. Time will tell. Or not.

America is not the greatest country in the world (Jeff Daniels, in Newsroom)

I ... quite adore this speech.
However, it's just one little flap, flapping away in the eddies of otherwise consumer-prone, -happy, -obsessed and otherwise saturated media. In the world and in US&A.

Want additional comment? Fine, check out Times magazine covers (and their titles, the themes they promote) just here. It's fascinating to see what a) the world is "struggling" with and what Americans are have to struggle with. Curious. I wonder, who writes the media agenda. (Whoops.)

 

Will McAvoy’s Epic America Speech (a.k.a. Jeff Daniels in HBO's "Newsroom")

What a-to-do ... to-day Mind Workshop

What a to do to die today,

at a minute or two to two,

a thing distinctly hard to say,

but harder still to do.

-- Warmup speech exercise at Mind Workshop,
by Matt Baram at Berlin Impro Festival

Anti-gay is anti-traditional

I don't know. I seriously don't know how to respond to such ideologies and their manifestations. In a time when its supposed to be more and more accepted. Putin, you suck.

Please, how do you define 'nontraditional'? As in .. not existing ... before or simultaneously with 'tradition'? So, you're saying gay didn't always co-exist with "traditional"? Oh, boy. I seriously hope some of the best athletes of the world will cancel their participation in "The Games" like, 1 day before the event. Or hold hands and kiss. Being incarcerated just AFTER you've won a medal. Mmmm, that'd raise the media and world's attention.

"People of nontraditional sexual orientations can take part in the competitions and all other events at the Games unhindered, without any fear for their safety whatsoever."

From: http://en.ria.ru/russia/20130812/182723811/Russia-Confirms-Anti-Gay-Law-Will-Be-Enforced-at-Olympics.html

Headaches of the Midnight Fox and Eileen Sheehan

Kr kul.

Sample piece from Song of the Midnight Fox

Ego

When she doesn't want to make love
he says, What's wrong?
As if something must be.

She says, There's nothing wrong.

He says, But there must be something wrong,
the master, needing reasons

She feels she should
have a note from her mother...

Dear Sir
Would you please excuse my daughter from sex
the time of the month is not right
she's worried about he telephone bill
an earthquake rocked Tokyo tonight
she's afraid of waking the baby
Halley's Comet won't pass again for sixty seven years
she's afraid of making a baby
and the Dow Jones index showed
an unfavourable low at close of business
and you probably did it last night
two nights ago at the most...

He nudges her with his elbow;
Go on, you can tell me whats wrong
Was it something I did? Something I said?

But there's nothing wrong. I keep telling you!

Deflated, he heaves towards the wall,
taking his questions and most of the blankets.

Freezing on the edge of the world
she knows that nothing is wrong,
for tonight she has learnt three things:

about ego,
the tug of the moon,
why women invented the headache.

See here about the author, Eileen Sheehan.

Crappy blockbusters and Bechdel Test

An interesting read.
If nought for else, for the reference to the Bechdel Test Movie List. (See also below.)

The MPAA estimates roughly 600 movies will be released in 2013. At last week’s screening, while I sat eating GMO popcorn and sipping high-fructose lemonade, watching a $100 million, cliché-riddled exercise that glorified guns and explosive violence, I thought to myself: We are doomed.  Source.

Bechdel Test [link]

1. It has to have at least two [named] women in it

2. Who talk to each other

3. About something besides a man

Nice. And horrifying in a way. But nothing we didna already kno', right?
Also gives a nice list for movie suggestions, when a person would actually like to see something other than gunfire.

Lagom - just right

Lagom (pronounced [ˈlɑ̀ːɡɔm]) is a Swedish word with no direct English equivalent, meaning "just the right amount".

(From Wiki, here.)

Got it from the talk of Robert Costanza at TEDxUVM (2010), one of the authors of the now famous Nature article titled The value of the world's ecosystem services and natural capital (link). Which raised a whole haloo around the globe due to its implications and propositions.

I think the new economy could be named Lagom economy. Look here (source 1, Wiki):

"The Lexin Swedish-English dictionary defines lagom as "enough, sufficient, adequate, just right". Lagom is also widely translated as "in moderation", "in balance", "perfect-simple", "optimal" and "suitable" (in matter of amounts)."

Wouldn't that be something? An economy in balance, where everyone has just enough? [Yeah, you might have to work extra for that boat, cause I don't think it's considered just enough for your livin'.]

O laikih, "lifestyle-u" ptic in ekonomskem smislu vetrnih elektrarn

Gasper, tole se strinjam: "da se tovrstne investicije delajo cim bolj javno, da se kar se da najvec vé kdo pije in kdo placa."

  Volovja reber: ko pravis 'Do zdaj me se nihce ni preprical, da bo par vetrnic na Volovji Rebri oz. drugje na primorskem blazno vplivalo na naravno okolje. Tisti argumenti o pticih, ki bojo morali zaradi par vetrnic totalno spremenit svoj lifestyle, se mi zdijo bolj buce kot pa kej drugega.'
Ja, sej. Zdijo.

Dve stvari sta pomembni, v mojem pogledu, pri vsej sagi z Volovjo rebrijo:
  a) dejanski vpliv na krajino, na lokalno bioto in na poembne in zascitene vrste ptic (ki tam lovijo, letijo in v blizini vzgajajo potomce, beri zgoraj)
  b) BOLJ KOT TO, pa je pomembno, da se je s tem primerom zaustavila blaznost postavljanja vsepovprek. Ker se je Elektroprimoska toliko casa dajala s tem primerom, so se morda drugi investitorji (in obcine) ustrasli. Kar je dobro, v smislu, da bi lahko do sedaj imeli precej "degradiranega" okolja iz znj novih vetrnic, ki bi stale naokoli.
  Torej, ne da sem proti "napredku", ampak fino je, da se je vgradil pomislek v cel proces.
In vzpostavil legalni oz. sodni precedens, na katerega se lahko sklicujejo bodoci '-varstveniki'.

Kar se tice argumentov: ... vedno je tezko, biologu govorit 'navadnim' ljudem. In to velja verjetno za vsako stroko: pogovori med strokovanjaki in laiki so ... se lahko zakljucijo v floskulah. Ker jaz ti takoj recem, lej, nisem kemik in to je res stvar kemikov. In se bos strinjal, ker npr. ves, da nisem kemik in ker je kemija specificna znanstvena disciplina.
  No, z biologijo je, ceprav je prav tako znanstvena disciplina, drugace: vsi smo zivi (ja, ja, tud vsi smo iz "kemije"). Ampak, ker je biologija (in podaljsek oz. sestricna ekologija) veda o zivem in interakcijah z nezivim okoljem, ima vsak neko mnenje. Vsakemu se zdi, da nekaj vé. In je res.
  Moj oci vé nekaj o cebelah. Samo ni pa cebelar. Pa tudi ni entomolog, ki bi se specializiral preko let samo na cebelah. Torej, kot jaz vem nekaj o kemiji, ne morem govorit o L-kiralnih aminokislinah na nivoju (in s kompetenco), ki jo ima diplomirani kemik, se vec, kak doktor, ki je na tej temi delal doktorat.
Govorit, da bodo ptice...

(kere, tocno? Katere vrste so tam, katere so zascitene oz. katere so bolj naravovarstveno pomembne kot druge, recimo po definicijah evropske unije? So prisotne v razlicnih stevilkah preko let, preko enega leta? Katere ptice prezimujejo, katere so 'stalnice', katere samo preletijo podrocje? Kaj pa druge zivalske (in rastlinske!) vrste?)

... spremenile "lifestyle" in svojo smer leta, v smislu 'kva, sej so se mogle ze prej prilagajat', ... to je laicno posplosevanje.

Recimo en aspekt, o katerem nismo govorili zgoraj (vsi mi), je obodna hitrost elipse (glej spodaj). Ptice roparice, ki so K-strategi (kratek odgovor na Yahoo.Answers ali daljsa razlaga na Wikipediji), in ki imajo torej manjse stevilo potomcev (prim. 6 z nekaj tisoc od rib ali zuzelk) in zavzemajo vecji teritorij, so na vrhu prehranjevalne verige... Njih nihce ne napada. Torej, tudi ne pricakujejo nevarnosti od zgoraj (OK, drzi za najvecje ptice roparice kot so morda orli ali jastrebi, ki so prisotni na Volovji rebri in o katerih je tukaj govora). Njih lazje zadene rotor vetrnice. In tudi v literaturi je moc zaslediti prevladujoce prepricanje, da so kadavri vecjih ptic lazje najdeni s strani raziskovalcev (in traja dlje casa, preden jih kak mrhovinar odvlece ali preprosto, poje).

Pozornost velja nameniti tudi tehnicnim specifikacijah in ucinkovitosti.
  Vecina vetrnic ima podane minimalne, optimalne in ne-vec-delujoce vetrne hitrost, ki se gibljejo ponavadi med 3 in 4 m/s (cut-in speed), okoli 13.5 (optimum) in do 20-25 m/s (cut-out speed). To je podatek za 2 MW vetrnico podjetja Vestas za majhne in srednje vertne pogoje (V90-2.0 MW GridStreamer™) (1) s premerom d=90m.
  Hecno, vetrni potencijal po Sloveniji ni bas ne vem kaj. Pac nismo Danska, NISMO na obali Severnega morja ali na njegovi sredi in tako pac je. Imamo veter v sunkih, ki je tretji problem.
Ce primerjamo zgornje hitrosti s pregledom potencialno ustreznih območij za izkoriščanje vetrne energije (povezava, 2), pridemo do tega, da se na najboljsih lokacijah veter giblje med minimalno hitrostjo, potrebno za obratovanje vrtnic in med optimumom, torej se gibljemo v sub-optimalnih pogojih delovanja.
  To pomeni tudi, da energetski izkoristki na vetrnico (2 MW, 1.8 MW, kolikor koli ze kW) ne bodo taksni, kot jih promovira a) brosura, b) investitor, c) ime vertnice.

Tretji problem je dobava in ne-kostantnost dobave elektricne energije s stalisca distributerjev elektrike in s stalisca drzave oz. obcin. Z to se pojavi problem peak-hours, ur, ko je veliko povprasevanja po elektriki (zjutraj, zgodaj zvecer) in loceno ali povezano s tem (priznam, si se nisem cisto na jasnem, kako to deluje), problem odkupnih cen.
Zaradi perspektivnosti (razvoj tehnologije, izčrpanje fosilnih virov) države, tudi Slovenija, podpirajo izgradnjo VE. Pri nas velja sistem zagotovljenih odkupnih cen. Na strani "Center za podpore Borzen" najdete podatke o sedanjih odkupnih cenah. Za VE je zagotovljena odkupna cena 95 €/MWh, kar je precej več kot trenutna tržna cena, ki je okoli 50 €/MWh. Dejansko je tržna vrednost vetrne energije še nižja, saj navedena cena velja za neprekinjeno dobavo, česar pa VE ne morejo zagotoviti. Vir (2).

(1) http://www.vestas.com/en/wind-power-plants/procurement/turbine-overview/v90-1.8/2.0-mw-gridstreamer™.aspx#/vestas-univers
Za brosure, tukajle: http://www.vestas.com/en/media/brochures.aspx
(2): Gospod M.T. iz IJS-ja mi je predlagal dokument in povezavo na Wikipedijo, tukajle.
Prav tako mi je napisal tele vrstice:
"Na vprašanje VE na Volovji rebri da ali ne je moj odgovor bil tedaj in je sedaj: če pričakujemo okoljsko škodo (minus) in ker VE itak niso gospodarne, potem ni razloga, da bi jih silili "v vsako vas" oz. na vsak hrib.
Je pa smiselno sodelovati pri tem gibanju, za vzorec. To zaradi tega, ker Slovenija ni posebno ugodna s stališča vetrne energije; naj gredo naprej drugi."

Toliko na kratko o argumentih. Kaj vec pa drugic oz. v kaki literaturi.

Eking out

Wau, every now and then, some new words and their combinations enter my vision.
Today, it is eke out, as in:

Installing an incredible 8.4 GW in the fourth quarter in anticipation of the expiration of the PTC, the US installed 13,124 MW, eking out China, which at 12,960 MW had its lowest level of installations since 2008. [link to GWEC]

eke out

vb (tr, adverb)

1. to make (a supply) last, esp by frugal use they eked out what little food was left

2. to support (existence) with difficulty and effort

3. to add to (something insufficient), esp with effort to eke out an income with evening work

 

Totally copied from Free Online dictionary (here).

Set a time of play on a youtube video

Hey, yall.

It used to work with putting #at=160 at the end of a video, for example. But Youtube changed something - and to be honest, made it much, much simpler.

Now, if you want to set a time in a given youtube video, you simply have to check what lapsed time it shows, then add this to the URL link:

&t=XXmYYs

[Which probably means: and time = XX min, YY sec.]

So, if you want to show a specific part of an ultimate frisbee game, for example, like this next nice example of rotation in a stack and give-and-gos, you know what to do.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdHvZcoTjvo&feature=relmfu&t=16m49s

[This will thus take you to the video, starting at 16:49.
If you don't want to muck around with all this thinking and writing, you could use the good ole ctrl+l, ctrl+c, ctrl+t, then go to this page and ctrl+v your URL, plus state the time.]


Another potentially useful "line of code" to enter after a link is:

&wadsworth=1

, also known as the Wadsworth constant, after a Reddit user 'Wadsworth', who posted a comment that usually first 1/3 of any given Youtube video is crap and thus, worth skipping. :) Honestly, see here.

[PS - It seems the Wadsworth overrules the set-time line, so if you put both, the W. constant will apply.]

Addendum: "I'm incredibly excited..." that the Wadsworth applies also in the case of this, otherwise quite inspiring video about Sugru entering the world of professional fencing. Watch the video of Leon Paul's sword grips ... with the constant applied. (Original site here.)
 Got the link to the Leon Paul's affiliation through another article,titled 'Jane ni Dhulchaointigh: Where Sugru Comes From', here.

častna straŽa le pred BoŽičem

Pod tole se pa skoraj podpisem.

"Jezen sem, ker se sprašujemo, kaj dobrega se je po osamosvojitvi zgodilo, le v smislu življenjskega blagra, ki ga povezujemo le z ekonomsko-političnimi dosežki, ne pa s tem, kar je nemara pomembneje; urejeni medsebojni odnosi, polni naklonjenosti in pristne solidarnosti, z veliko razumevanja, potrpežljivosti in ne nazadnje brezpogojne ljubezni do drugačnih. Žalostno je, da se o tem govori samo priložnostno, npr. med božičnimi prazniki, namesto, da bi se o tem govorilo ves čas in bi se za božič naredil le pregled ekonomskega napredka za preteklo leto."

- Andrej J. Jug
Vir: http://www.pozitivke.net/article.php/Predsedniska-Palaca-Zavest-Slovenija

Kaj ima castna straza za opraviti s tem, pa preberite v 'clanku'.

World in debt Eric Idle

Source: http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/400x/30786049.jpg
More versions exist.

Sovereign

Wondered where 'sovereign' comes from.

Well, the online dictionary gives this under the entry:

[from Old French soverain, from Vulgar Latin superānus (unattested), from Latin super above; also influenced by reign]

Under the first meaning of the noun, this is given:
sovereign [ˈsɒvrɪn]
n
1. (Government, Politics & Diplomacy) a person exercising supreme authority, esp a monarch

So, basically, sovereign means the supreme ass, right? (cf. superānus) :)

Political leverage, Cold war spying, the Rothschilds & Rockefellers ... and whatnot

Funny, when you think of leverage. When you think of political leverage, the world becomes a Game of Thrones.

 

So I am thinking, were the documents leaked by Snowden for some higher purpose? With quantities of money involved ... I could see the logic in that. People pulling the strings around the globe, but based in Europe, say, could have, on purpose, made certain documents available to Snowden .. so that that would give them leverage later on.

 

Germany is pushing for the formation of a US-EU trade agreement which would encourage economic growth. However, Seibert stressed that "mutual trust is necessary in order to come to an agreement."

 

(See here.)

 

 

Ok, backpedal. So, documents were leaked and it appears USA was spying on certain countries and unions. Meh.

Edward Snowden, a former CIA employee and ex-staff member of a private contractor working for the NSA, disclosed secret documents revealing US surveillance programs and British secret Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) sharing its intelligence with NSA, as part of the Tempora data collection project.

(Source)

 

I am just saying that if you saw this cartoon named The American Dream, you've got this image of tentacles with a red herald stuck in your brain that's hard to erase. (Sigh. And I do guess that was the point of this anti-anti-propaganda.)

But, at the end of the day, isn't everyone spying on everybody all the time, anyway?

In the wake of European outrage, US Secretary of State spoke out in defense of the US, maintaining that the mass surveillance of allies was "not unusual." (Source)

Funny enough, the previous article I read, titled Ecuador 'helped Snowden by mistake,' asylum in doubt (link), I didn't even need to read the whole thing to get there was a call or some pressure made (the accounts of Ecquadorian president and RT differ, somewhat, see below):
Ecquadorian president:
"So he knows about the call made to me by Joe Biden? And he says he called to pressure me. I would never accept such a call," Correa told AFP. He added that he had sent a message to Assange via the Ecuadorian foreign minister, Ricardo Patino, to refrain from interfering in Ecuadorian affairs. "

And RT: "Ecuador, by all accounts, was the nation most likely to accept Snowden despite pressure from the US. Correa spoke to US Vice President Joe Biden by telephone Friday, though, and has since backpedaled from the assumption that Snowden would be welcomed with in his country open arms. In a weekend address to the nation, Correa said the conversation was "cordial."

Biden's call was the highest level conversation between the US and Ecuador since the Ecuadorian ambassador publicized the initial asylum request.  "They did discuss Mr. Snowden, but we are not going to provide details on their discussion," NSA spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan told The New York Times Friday."

 

Funny, eh?

Especially, since after the call, this statement is made:

"It was a mistake on our part," he said. "Mr. Snowden's situation is very complicated, but in this moment he is in Russian territory and these are decisions for the Russians authorities."

 

I think Correa's and Snowden's Facebook status would read: 'It's complicated' at the moment.

 

At the end, I like Game of Thrones. It's a series of nice books. With some nice quotes. Like the one about the Climb and chaos. Or about playing The Game (below).

 

- "Always keep your foes confused. If they are never certain who you are or what you want, they cannot know what you are like to do next. Sometimes the best way to baffle them is to make moves that have no purpose, or even seem to work against you. Remember that, Sansa, when you come to play the game."
 - "What...what game?"
 - "The only game. The game of thrones."

(Exchange between Littlefinger and Sansa.)

 

 

See also/based upon: New Snowden leak: US bugged dozens of foreign embassies (link)
and Ecuador 'helped Snowden by mistake,' asylum in doubt (link).

 

Different kinds of smart in Scottish School

“Some people believe that increasing assessment increases standards, but we’ve moved away from that,” said Barry Smedley, the school’s deputy head. “It used to be that only students who did well on exams were thought of as the smart ones. But we’ve learned that there are different kinds of smart, different kinds of intelligence.”

"/.../ we decided it would be better to spend less time jumping through hoops, making the syllabus more flexible and more interdisciplinary.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/24/world/europe/scottish-schools-focus-on-more-than-just-tests.html?pagewanted=all

The changes mean a slightly longer school week, and more time for music, drama, sports and community service: precisely the areas that have been squeezed in England by the need to prepare students for so many exams.

Using the Scottish expression for “outside,” Mr. Moulsdale said, “A lot of the learning here happens outwith the classroom.” Students are encouraged to write, but also to make things, give oral presentations and staging performances. “We’re trying to develop higher-order thinking skills, not just to regurgitate facts,” Mr. Moulsdale said.

With her students “constantly actively thinking,” Ms. Macleod said she found teaching the curriculum “more enjoyable.”

Take that, people who constantly compare our own country with that of the "Western" world.

PS - Have you read Carl Honore's In Praise of Slow? It's nice.

IMF riot and fascism in USA

Nothing really new, really. For those who seek such 'news' out. (I say news, because a large portion of it seems to be carefully constructed propaganda of the either side.)

Still, worth reading and considering, sharing. Why? Well, I keep pointing out the Niemoller's poem, since I believe at some point it might be too late to react.

Aaand, as always, cum granum salis. Not everything is as bad as it may seem at first glance. Some of it is probably exaggerated. Some of it, probably not. Lots of link from the mentioned newsitem are from PrisonPlanet or InfoWars, sites associated and (partially) run by Alex Jones. If you know him, you know he uses scare-the-people-into-action rhetoric and is a huge conspiracy theorist. [But if he's right on 10% of what he says, golly-gee, 'we' are in trouble.]

Curious. Very curious. The "IMF riot"? Does seem logical in a way to me. Perverse, immoral, unethical, ..., but logical. [link also below]
HOWEVER, potatoes, prunes and apples, as well as cabbage are being tossed in the same pot here. For the in-expert reader, the ideas of the article might sparkle one-line of thought, though I would say several lines coincide here. For example, banishing the coal factories and so-called "war on coal" goes anti-big capital of the oil and gas (and coal) companies, which are sometimes referred to as the same line of people and money as the bankers. At the same time, it might be more environmentally prudent, i.e., more visionary to ban big emitters and polluters.

 

However, having said that, I believe lots of laws and passages in legislation serve to create police super state, with nobody left to opose it. Obama, O, bummer. I mean, not all is good and happy in the land of the plenty.

Compare with the passage below and the "war on whistleblowers" like Asange, Snowden, the other guy, ... And the internet rights, which have come to symbolise (not yet fully and not yet acknowledged by far) the right to speech.
"The Obama administration's passage of NDAA legislation that authorizes kidnapping and indefinite detention without trial of American citizens on U.S. soil serves to create the framework for mass arrests of protesters and journalists in a time of declared national emergency."

 

"The Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies are actively engaged in spying on social media as well as news websites to look for reports or comments that "reflect adversely on the U.S. government and the DHS." "

 

From: Why The Banking Elite Want Riots in America http://banoosh.com/blog/2013/06/26/why-the-banking-elite-want-riots-in-america/

 

PS - Ever heard of drones? Well, their unmanned aerial vehicles, right? What harm can they .. doooeeeaaah. You arm them, then legitimize their use (they're already being used outside US soil) in homeland.

"Under the NDAA, the whole of the United States has been declared a "battlefield," meaning that drones may soon be used to execute American citizens on U.S. soil."

 

 

Additionally, headlines and themes like this are being juxtaposed:

California man faces 13 years in jail for scribbling anti-bank messages in chalk [link]

  

40-year-old man who is being prosecuted for scrawling anti-megabank messages on sidewalks in water-soluble chalk last year now faces a 13-year jail sentence. A judge has barred his attorney from mentioning freedom of speech during trial.

We're all here to play. Even the girls.

From a nice article, titled Pass the disc, hold the sexism:

Over the years I’ve noticed a trend: when I join a new group of primarily male players, I will be largely excluded from the game until I make no fewer than three spectacular plays. After that happens, everyone gets all impressed and people begin passing to me. But I have to prove myself first. /.../

After each game, think about how many women there are on the team and how often you passed to them versus the other players. If you didn’t pass to a woman at all, then why? Were they open? Were they doing a good job of clearing out of the cutting lane? Could they break their defender? If the answer yes to these questions then consider adjusting your behavior. If the answer is no to some of these questions, offer them some constructive feedback, and pass to them anyway. After all, we’re all here to play. Even the girls.

Link: https://disruptingdinnerparties.wordpress.com/2013/06/13/pass-the-disc-hold-the-sexism/

O koristnosti in Zakaj zbirati podatke o hroščih?

Vsake toliko me kdo vprasa: "Zakaj je ta vrsta koristna?"

In to je za biologa najbolj tecno vprasanje. (In mislim, da bi moralo biti 'tecno' za vsakega razumnega cloveka.)

Zakaj?

Kako pa lahko odgovorim na vprasanje, ki bi mi ga zastavil Nezemljan: "Zakaj pa potrebujemo Cloveka? Zakaj je ta vrsta koristna?"

Douglas Adams je pred leti pisal o ogorcenju, ki so ga prebivalci Zemlje izrazili nad rumeno vogonsko floto in njenim komandantom. In logiko, ki jo je Adams briljantno vzporedil z rumenimi bagerji in hiso Arturja Denta. Nekaj takega kot 'Saj so bili plani za hiperprostorsko obvoznico na ogled v vasi lokalni pisarni oddelka za planiranje na Alpha Centauri ze zadnjih 50 vasih Zemeljskih let. /.../ Kako to mislite, se niste bili na Alpha Centauri? O, moj bog, clovestvo, saj je vendar samo stiri svetlobna leta stran! Mislim, res mi je zal, ampak ce se ne morete zmigat tolko, da bi se pozanimali o vasih lokalnih zadevah, je to vas problem. /.../"

 

Spodaj, kot pove ze naslov nekaj izvleckov iz sestavka, Zakaj zbirati podatke o hroščih?, clanek Dragice Jaksetic (Delo.si, 22.5.2013).

"V neki vasi so nam s ponosom pokazali svoj pravi pravcati travnik. Nepokošenega, takega z marjeticami, zlaticami, grabljiščem, nokotami, solzicami, maki.. za naše oko nekoliko preveč živopisnega."

"Poslušali smo tudi, kako Škoti iščejo in tekmujejo za najvišje drevo, najdebelejše, najstarejše. Ker so divje rastoča drevesa tako redka. Kako v parku simbolično »zakupijo« drevo in za njegovo nego prispevajo denar."

"Kozlički, bukovi ali hrastovi, ali pa katerakoli druga vrsta drobnega, nepomembnega, nekoristnega mrčesa, ki jim je preprečeval Razvoj, so bili praviloma glavni razlog za smeh in posmeh nekaterih izmed tistih, ki so v pomembnih vlogah rešiteljev kake nerazvite občine poudarjali, da se naravovarstveniki lahko zgolj nerazvoju teh občin zahvalijo, da po njihovih gozdovih še vedno nekoristno tavajo živali, ki jim človek še komajda reče žival."

Always cheers me up - a Chromodoris nudibranch

When I find the link to the pic, I will post it here, until now:
it's a sea creature. Probably toxic. (See below.)

But it's got a BIIIIG SMILE (they way I see it:)

 

Aand indeed, it is toxic. :) What else could it be, with such bright colours and big "smile"? (It's probably softly humming to itself: "Can't touch this, naaa-na-na-na.")
Photographer: David Doubilet, who, not by chance, has many other famous and thrilling, exotic under-da-sea photos (like this one).
The species above or rather, genus, is Chromodoris, and it's a nudibranch.

Also of note, as a spinoff:
Through countless media interviews, books, testimony before Congress, and on public, private, and academic stages worldwide, she [Sylvia Earle] strives to help us understand the consequences of everything we put into and everything we take out of the ocean—noting that every breath of air we take and every drop of water we drink depends upon its health. (Link here.) Funny enough, at the bottom, you'll find her interview with Stephen Colbert, in the Colbert Report.

What the *blip* is SUGRU? The future needs fixing.

SUGRU is awesome. So is their success story.

 

"We'd sent Harry Wallop at the Daily Telegraph Technology blog a pack to try out. He gave it a 10/10 review. Wired and Boing Boing saw it and linked to our new site.
Things started to go crazy. New links came thick and fast. Our first 1000 sold out in 6 hours.

We put another 2000 packs up for pre-order. We said that it'd take us months to ship the orders. They sold out in 10 hours.
Everything was different now. How could we make more?!"

 

Read more about it here: Sugru/story.
 

 

But what is SUGRU? The word comes from an Irish word for 'play', as the instigator herself says.

 

In less obscure, but still not technical terms, its this freakin' awesome material that adheres, sticks to almost any surface/material and has bendy/sticky/hard ... properties {depends on the way you treat it at home}. In their words, it's a 'self-setting rubber'. For yet more technical words, see the technical details at the bottom of the about page. They also have neat datasheets in pdf and things.

 

I first got to know it through a video and immediately fell in love with it. Check the video here [youtube] or browse through different ones on on their SUGRU official site.

The rest of the site and their approach to life, products and fixing them is equally charming and playful.

Exibit B:
"Food safety
Once cured, sugru is inert, but people can be allergic to anything, so we have to tell you to be careful. sugru isn't certified as food safe yet, but we're working on it. For now, please resist the urge to eat it."

 

Enjoy.

 

Oh, btw, their slogan / motto is: Sugru. [Because] The future needs fixing.

Volovja reber - epilog - konec desetletne bitke za naravo?

Iz strani Dela in clanov Koalicije za Volovjo reber prihajata dve vesti.

Dve dobri novici za Naravo
Kot vse obcine, so tudi v obcini Pivka najprej poskusili s trdimi razvojnimi zgodbami.
/Dragica Jaksetic, sre, 08.05.2013

Zveseljem zapišem, da sta se Naravi vceraj in danes zgodili dve lepi stvari. Obcina Pivka ima jutri obcinski praznik in župan Robert Smrdelj je vceraj napovedal, da bo obcina Pivka letos ustanovila svoj krajinski park, park pivških presihajocih jezer.
  Druga dobra novica za Naravo je, da je Agencija republike Slovenije za okolje (Arso) zavrnila okoljevarstveno soglasje za postavitev 27 vetrnic na Volovji rebri. S svojim parkom bodo segli do meje obcine Cerknica, skoraj do obrežja Cerkniškega jezera in del Snežniškega parka bo tako sklenjen. Kaj pa na njegovem vzhodnem koncu, tam, kjer so si tako zelo prizadevali pridobiti 1700 evrov na leto na vetrnico za 20 let? Od tam bo zdaj, ko je Arso izdal odlocbo, slišati, kako so »nam Ljubljancani« onemogocili Razvoj!

Ja, res, Ilirski Bistrici manjka samo še ta renta, da bi se razvili, pa tisto eno ali dve delovni mesti za kosce trave med vetrnicami! Ce ne bi zminirali Regijskega parka Snežnik, bi pod Snežnikom morda že desetletje deloval javni zavod z visoko izobraženim kadrom, tistim, ki se je po hudih bitkah za in zoper vetrnice na Volovji rebri umaknil v mir na univerze na Reki, v Kopru in Ljubljani. Javni zavod Regijski Park Snežnik bi lahko danes zaposloval tudi turisticne vodnike, organizatorje turizma pod Snežnikom in vzpostavil zdaj, ob vstopu Hrvaške v Evropsko unijo, že trdne povezave s sosednjim hrvaškim naravnim parkom Ucka ali kvarnerskimi hotelirji.

  Zgled ni dalec, za bistriško politiko ocitno predalec. Javni zavod Park Škocjanske jame vsako leto pobere vstopnino od približno 100.000 obiskovalcev, za 22 zaposlenih in še za kaj pa jim bo letos država primaknila še pol milijona evrov.

http://www.delo.si/mnenja/blog/dve-dobri-novici-za-naravo.html

T. Jancar, na mailing listo Koalicije za Volovjo reber
Okej, ce še niste podpisali peticije proti lovu ogroženih ptic, vas bo mogoce spodbudila tale novica:

Odvetnik Petrovic me je ravnokar obvestil, da je ARSO z odlocbo zavrnila soglasje za Vetrno elektrarno Volovja reber. :-) Odlocba je vrhunska.
Na 40 straneh podrobno razclenjuje argumente ene in druge strani, lepo urejeno po vrstah in na koncu zakljuci: soglasja za VE Volovja reber ni mogoce izdati ker:

• za beloglavega jastreba, planinskega orla, gozdnega jereba in širokouhega netopirja EP ni predložila podatkov o stanju vrste na obmocju, ki bi sploh omogocali izvedbo presoje
• za beloglavega jastreba in sršenarja pri oceni vplivov ni upoštevala vseh razpoložljivih podatkov
• bi poseg imel na risa unicujoc vpliv in predlagani omilitveni ukrepi niso ustrezni
• za planinskega orla EP ni uspela dokazati, da poseg ne bi prizadel vec kot 1% populacije EP se sicer na tole lahko pritoži, vendar po moje kakšnega vecjega smisla to zanj ne bi imelo.

Vojna je po moje zdaj dobljena, ceprav kakšne manjše zakljucne bitke niso izkljucene. Jutri sledi sporocilo za javnost (sedaj dostopno tukajle).
LSI Tomaž
PS: Zadevo lahko proslavite tako, da podpišete peticijo proti lovu ogroženih ptic ;-) www.tretjiclen.si/slo/ptici.

O Mii in Klari, vzgoji, izobraževanju in pijancih za volanom

Živ,
(ha! ironija)

ne vem, če si kaj slišala zgodbo o dveh dekletih, ki ju je pretekli ponedeljek nekdo povozil do smrti?

Bili sta Klara in Mia in poznal sem ju obe. Super punci. Vsaj bili sta, do tega ponedeljka. (Novica na 24.ur.com tukaj.)

Nisem vedel - ali pa sem pozabil (kar mi na nek način povzroča nelagodje in grenkobo v ustih) - da sta imeli take želje in načrte za svojo prihodnost. Morda pa sem ju nazadnje v živo videl še preden sta stopili na ti, sedaj končani, življenski poti. Verjetno je bilo kje v gozdu, na kaki kontrolni točki. Verjetno smo se smejali.

Kot pišejo po besedah člana uprave taborniškega društva Rod Bičkova skala v Novicah:

Mia in Klara. Foto: Tadeja Rome

Zato ob tem ni nič čudnega, da sta se odločili, da bosta tudi po študiju vedno pomagali ljudem: Klara je študirala medicino, Mia pa defektologijo.

Pred tem je pisalo:

Tako Mia kot Klara sta bili tako v ožjem vodstvu taborniškega rodu, saj sta bili vodnici voda tabornikov v starosti od 12 do 16 let. »Mia je bila tukaj od otroških let oziroma 10 let, Klara pa malo manj, tako da sta obe šli skozi fazo, da sta bili članici v vodu, potem pa sta napredovali,« njuno pot pri tabornikih opiše član društva in ob tem s solzami v očeh dodaja: »Mi smo vsi tako narejeni, da radi drugim pomagamo. Onidve sta bili pa sploh v tem še toliko bolj. Sta dajali celega človeka v to, da sta poskušali vzgojiti dobre državljane.«

Da je ironija večja, na fotografiji iz spletnih Slovenskih Novic je malce nespretno fotograf ujel sveče ob fotografiji umrlih, starejšo gospo in rob plakata, na katerem pise "Tako kot mora biti." (Clanek.)

Hecno (seveda ni).

  Žalostno, da te (nas?) morajo taki dogodki spomniti, da imamo samo eno življenje in da se lahko relativno hitro, v trenutku, konča. Da se ga splača živet. In da smo ga mi, ki ostajamo na tej strani večnih lovišč, dolžni preživeti hvaležno in živeti na polno. Dolžni smo takim fajn - mrtvim - osebam, kot sta bili Klara in Mia.

V spomin in opomin je Sonja Merljak, na spletni strani mnenj Dela v sredo in četrtek napisala spodnje vrstice.

Vem, da si bila zlata maturantka, tako te opisujejo v medijih. Ampak to je bilo morda še najmanj. Predvsem si bila verjetno najbolj čist človek – prepričana sem, da je bila takšna tudi tvoja prijateljica Klara –, kar sem jih poznala. Punca, ki je človeku dajala upanje v človeštvo in medosebne odnose. -- Sonja Merljak, Mia in jaz

In nato tudi malce bolj tematsko razširjeno sporočilo, ki bi moralo odzvanjati precej več časa kot samo eno- ali dvotedenski medijski pomp ob in po taki nesreči.

Zakaj starši ne znamo, nočemo, ne moremo ustaviti petletnika, ki jezika in tepe sovrstnike; desetletnika, ki se noče umakniti z vrha tobogana; štirinajstletnika, ki meče petarde?
 Zakaj učitelji ne znajo, nočejo, ne morejo ustaviti mulcev, ki divjajo po šoli? Koliko smo za to spet odgovorni starši, ki otrok ne učimo, da ima učitelj odgovornost in avtoriteto, da ga usmerja, ampak hitimo v šolo, vsakič ko otrok pritoži, da se mu je zgodila krivica (recimo, ker ga je učitelj, ki je zanj odgovoren v šoli naravi, rekel, da naj odvrže pločevinko s pivom)? Po možnosti z odvetnikom!

  Iz: Ne vem, kdo je Dean Stanko, in me niti ne zanima, http://www.delo.si/mnenja/blog/ne-vem-kdo-je-dean-stanko-in-me-niti-ne-zanima.html (objavljeno 9.5.2013, dostopno 11.5.2013).

Sporočilo, ki bi po mojem mnenju, da ponovim, moralo odzvanjati več kot samo trenuten medijski pomp ob in po nesreči. Pa verjetno ne bo. Ali pa ... Ali pa boš ti, dragi bralec, draga bralka, storil/a kaj s tem v zvezi?

  Se sam/a spomnil/a na dogodek. Pazil/a na otroke, jih vzgajala. (Ups, kje je meja med vsiljivostjo in 'dobro mero'? Kje je, na nek način diskriminacija med vtikanjem punc ali gospa, (bodočih) mater v vzgojo otrok drugih in med taistim vtikanjem fantov, mladeničev, gospodov (sicer morda bodočih očetov, a vendar lahko tudi pedofilov)? A ta razlika med spoloma, ki smo jo "privzgojili" v družbo v zadnjih 30-ih ali nekaj takega letih, je del druge zgodbe.)

Kje so časi, ko "smo" skupaj vzgajali mladino?

Lea Sauperl 7 let

  Kje je zdrava sol in pamet, tako v državnih organih, kot na ulici, v šolah, v glavah slehernikov? Ni vse tako črno, saj še obstaja, samo malce potlačena je, ta zdrava pamet. Lahko bi se jo trudili spraviti ven, vsi mi. Jaz zase vem, da se trudim za tak cilj in da poskušam tudi v drugih (sedaj upam, manj vsiljivo kot v času 'pubertete') vzbuditi podobno.

Srečno.

In pazite na prehodu za pešce. Če ste peš ali za volanom ali balanco ali na waveboardu.

Srčno upam, da preživite.

Ker nisem "fan" editiranja, naj povem tole: drugi odstavek te objave se je prvotno bral drugače, a sem ga spremenil, na prigovor in trezno besedo prijatelja. Namen je bil vzbuditi občutek šoka, verjetno, v tistih, ki niso osebno povezani s to tragedijo. Tako sem kolegu napisal: Ker je bila to poanta. Ta šokantnost. Samo ... imaš prav, seveda. Ni primerno.
... Ne vem. Morda sem preveč brezčuten, nisem bil tam na pogrebu. Morda sem preveč artističen na kvatre. Ali pa resnično ne premorem toliko empatije na trenutke.

Ne vem. Ampak sem oz. bom naredil kompromis. Bom prestavil in bom zbrisal, dokler se ne spomnim boljšega načina, kako to povedat. Ta šok. Ki pa bi verjetno marsikoga odvrnil od branja dalje ... tako da - še enkrat hvala. 

Originalno je pisalo: Bili sta Klara in Mia in poznal sem ju obe. Super punci. Super mrtvi.

"Add endum": Tudi jaz si želim, da bi bili punci živi, ker sta bili mega kul. In če sem iskren, enostavno ne dojamem, da jih ni več.
... 
  Ampak napisal bom še dve misli. Prva od Svetlane Makarovič:
"Kaj mi boste rože nosil, ko bom mrtva?! Zdej mi jih dejte, da jih bom lahko vohala in videla, ko sem še živa!" (Po besednem izročilu moje mame.)

In pa:

"Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. For even the very wise cannot see all ends."

—Gandalf (Book One: Chapter II) (J.R.R. Tolkien)

Kok je kul, ko je tvoj blog del studije

Na nek nacin malo manj kul je, da je izpostavljen kot primer prehajanja iz Slovenscine v Anglescino oz. odtujevanja od maternega jezika (nek drugi primer, ki ga nisem shranil, ga pa Stric Google najde.

Naslednji izsek je kopiran iz Šabec, 2011 (str.: 41), publikacije slovenskega društva za angleške študije, vir tudi spodaj, in kopira skoraj celotni moj post v svojem delu. Hecno. (Za lazjo navigacijo po dokumentu svetujem uporabo CTRL+F in "aljobaljo".)

The language found on blogs, tweets (as a sort of "microblogs" or "facebooks SMS's''), forums, and other forms of CMC, on the other hand, is usually a mixture of Slovene and English with deviations in spelling, punctuation, combinations of figures and letters, acronyms, word plays and other features typical of netspeak (Šabec 2009). There are also Slovene bloggers who write exclusively in English, which is in most cases a variety of Global English as defined at the beginning of this article. The following example illustrates nicely the described situation.

􀁴􀀁F.R.I.E.N.D.S. in "zobke umit pa spat" no more
Kdo jih ne pozna. Okej, bom polinkal. Ampak – počasi gledam vse sezone, starting with numero 1. Yep, well, I've done that one. Zdej sem v drugi, ko Ross in Rachel…umgh!
A ste bli vi tudi slučajno stari cca. 10 let

 

Vir: Šabec, N. (2011). Slovene-English Language Contact and Language Change. Slovensko društvo za angleške študije, Slovene Association for the Study of English. Department of English, Faculty of Arts, University of Ljubljana. http://www.sdas.edus.si/Elope/PDF/ElopeVol8-1Sabec.pdf, Dostopno 10.5.2013.

Ex-girlfriend shooting dummy from Zombie Inc

Hello? Haallo?

I will just re-post a comment from Twitter, by @SaraLang
"I just...I can't even...Do we really have to explain why an ex-girlfriend shooting target is problematic? http://www.policymic.com/articles/40049/nra-sells-an-ex-girlfriend-target-that-bleeds-when-you-shoot-it …"

If you ask me, this is totally the same general theme as the poem from War-time Martin Niemöller (wiki): "First they came for the Socialists..."
As also the famous song of Bob Dylan*, in my eyes/ears, it speaks about not acting ... when bad things are happening to your neighbours, friends, people you know or do not know ... but if the roles were reversed ... wouldn't you want compassion and action from thy neighbour?

"Company sells female mannequin shooting target called "The Ex." 1/3 of US women murdered are killed by their partners"

"A life-size "ex-girlfriend" shooting target that bleeds when shot /.../ Opponents of domestic violence have launched a campaign against Zombie Industries, which featured a number of its bleeding target dummies at the recent National Rifle Association conference."
Source: http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/201305072115-0022738


*How many times must a man turn his head ... and pretend, that he just doesn't see? (Blowin' in the Wind, Bob Dylan)

I thought of not posting a photo with this thread, but heck, I want you too see it.

"Monotonous tranformations" seems unfair

I really appreciate the sense of humour use in some of the study material. Varian is a great example, no kidding.

What we are calling a"monotonic transformation" is, strictly speaking, called a "positive monotonic transformation", in order to distinguish
it from a "negative montonic transformation", which is one that reverses the order of numbers.
Monotonic transformations are sometimes called "monotonous tranformations", which seems unfair, since they can actually be quite interesting.

From Varian, H. R., & Repcheck, J. (2006). Intermediate microeconomics: a modern approach, p: 56. Utility.

The Red Wedding

Hecno - Martin se je očitno zgledoval po Tolkienu. Tud v tem, kako "bratovščina" razpade in vsi umrejo oz. ne.



(Funny, dat. Martin has apparently taken it a bit after Tolkien. Also with the notion of "Fellowship" falling apart and everybody dead or presumed missing or not.)

Poor Lady Stoneheart. If only you knew... Alas, also in this case, ignorance IS bliss.


Red Wedding is something that happens in the books and as yet, hasn't been screened in the TV series released. So I did not provide a link here, since it's quite spoiler-full.

Also, her name was Jeyne freakin' Westerling.

I laughed till I cried series.

I laughed till I cried.
Enjoy.

25 Photos You Need To Really Look At To Understand
http://www.buzzfeed.com/awesomer/photos-you-really-need-to-look-at-to-understand via @buzzfeed

If you want more humour to pee your pants, I suggest the Re: Re: Re: ... Re: Lamp, or some other things out there.

How to break up with him in under ten minutes

I find this quite funny. And sadly, true. The lightsaber part. Use the force.

The first rule od a succesful breakup is stick to the plan no matter what. He will try to disturb your flow of thoughts, he might even cry or fall on the floor and start kicking, shaking, foaming and shit. Do not let that disturb you. Focus and get on with it.
 /.../
If in trouble and you run out of words use the “it’s not you it’s me” phrase. It always works without exceptions. You will boost his ego a little while dismantling it. It’s a mind fuck so use it. It’s a fucking light saber so use it. Be the Jedi.

 From: How to break up with him in under ten minutes