Wu Wei

Current options, to reassure or confuse?

Trying to make sense of where to live next, based on what work I might get:

Two weeks per month in Kosovo (unless the Minister sacks me like the previous 2) could be supplemented by two weeks per month in Moldova till February. I hadn't absorbed the fact that 50 days was two weeks for five months. Difficult if we want to move house as well. Shan't know until September.

Then there are 5 projects in Kosovo and 3 companies have asked me to bid for different projects. Since they all run at the same time and probably all start in November, it could be a disaster and I end up with none, if I pick the wrong project or the wrong firm and they lose. Let's not think about it.

Then suddenly a full time job in Kosovo, as usual just made for me. I shall apply but I never get jobs.

Then eventually a job in Vienna might materialise, but would I want it?

Portable music

Sloph was one of the first to get an iPod last year. Bee got a Creative Zen 60Gb for her birthday in Feb which crashed after a week, so we took it back and swapped it for a 20Mb which has been fine. I didn't think mp3s were that new this year, but this is Greece, so she was way ahead of her friends and she started a craze.

I was beginning to feel a bit old hat so I started ripping my CDs onto my computer ready for buying some kit myself. I didn't really pay attention to the options and was just more interested in speed (of ripping). Obviously my ears aren't so acute as some, and when I listen with my Plantronics earphones, the jazz sounded fine.

Finally about a month ago, I decided it was time to get a player to take with me to Kosovo for boring journeys and evenings when I didn't want to open my computer. Guess what: the Zen 20GB has disappeared from Athens (too old), and so had the 20GB iPod. It seems in Greece you can only buy 5GB players or less. I decided I would wait a bit longer (thinking I would upstage Sloph and Bee and get something really new).

Now I decided it would be good to try again, but didn't allow time to get something delivered for Sloph to bring over. But what to buy?

There still isn't a new iPod-beater. I dont want one of those Personal Video Players, since I hardly ever watch DVDs. I don't even really want another box of electronics in my bag: PDA, mp3 player and phone (2 phones if I am in Kosovo). Can you hear your phone when you have your mp3 player earphones on? I don't want my photos on my pda or mp3 player either really except as a backup. And I don't want email so I don't see the appeal of a blackberry. In theory I can already bluetooth my email on the Clie through my Sony phone, but in practice I prefer to ignore my email when I am not on my laptop. Nothing is that urgent really that people can't either phone me on the mobile or send a text.

Do I want the mp3 player in the phone or the pda? In the phone would mean one set of earphones. My Sony Clie PDA is now 2 years old and going strong, though a bit battered. Although it plays mp3, it doesn't have a good battery life. Of course with a smart phone I wouldn't need the pda in theory but I now have my CD and book collection on it to prevent me buying the same book or CD 3 times, especially in desperation for something to read in airport lounges. And then there's my totally compulsive solitaire games collection. And those smartphones with styluses are really gross to look at.

And what to download anyway to add to my collection, unless I was suddenly going to buy lots of cds? Googling for reviews of download website, I came across the cataloguing problem for classical music (the bulk of my collection). I thought it was just me who had been stupid when I ripped the CDs but it seems that everybody has the same problem. Classical music isn't designed to be ripped into tunes like pop music, and there aren't enough places in the database to store all the bits on information on composer as well as artist, movement as well as track etc. Plus when you assemble a playlist, this does not consist of whole works but a random set of "tunes". As one commenter said:

I am new to iPod and having an incredibly hard time keeping certain pieces in order. When it's Lieder I don't mind my music list mixing the order up. But when it's the Johannes Passion it turns out that Jesus ends on the cross before the choir gets to point him out to Pilate.

Some good explanations about how to get over it (for iPods at least):

Classical Music on the iPod and iTunes or iPod Settings For Classical Music for settings and file format for ripping

Corral your classical music for cataloguing but see the comments for complaints about this advice. And another one Cleaning iTunes .

Getting the Most out of Classical Music with iTunes and the iPod

So it looks like I shall have to spend some more time re-ripping my CDs (not so many as I would like) and manually entering stuff in the database.

And does anyone know if there is a better download service than iTunes for classical music yet?

Only in Greece!!

Arsonists set blaze
PM says new trees will be planted as damage assessment begins

Kathimerini Greece
ATHENS

As the effort began yesterday to clean up and record the damage done by a massive fire that swept through parts of eastern Attica on Thursday, burning thousands of trees and dozens of homes, the government said that the blaze had been the work of arsonists.

The fire began near the port of Rafina on Thursday morning and spread to other areas east of Athens. Nearly 1,000 firefighters and soldiers managed to extinguish the dying embers of the fire early yesterday morning, but not before it had blazed through up to 750 hectares of land, some 350 hectares of which was forested, burned down at least 60 homes and damaged another 40. Some 45 cars and an unknown number of animals were also caught in the flames.

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis met with his close aides yesterday morning to assess the situation and announced afterward that the task of recording the damage would begin straight away. Military aircraft began taking aerial photographs of the afflicted area. The government said the images would be made public next week so people could make sure for themselves that nobody would build on the burnt land in the future.

Karamanlis said that the entire area would be reforested, therefore making it illegal for anyone to build there. "Every citizen... will be able to check that the state carries out its promises and that wherever there was forest, trees will grow again," he said.

Meanwhile, Public Order Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis backed claims from local officials and residents that arsonists were to blame for the fire. "There are strong indications that it was a case of arson," he said "The fires started on many fronts at the same time, and spread in a pattern that could not simply be due to the direction of the wind." The fire brigade agreed with the minister's assessment.

An Athens prosecutor, Epaminondas Vrakatselis, launched an investigation into the cause of the fire. Local municipalities, meanwhile, began offering afflicted residents emergency payments of up to 600 euros. Those who had their main residence damaged in the fire will be given temporary prefabricated homes by the government, which promised to compensate those affected by the blaze.

http://info.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/news/content.asp?aid=934469
© 2005 Kathimerini

But like many other times before, the Government does not keep its promises and illegal constructions will appear, as the arsonists' backers will build quickly on the cleared land.

Haradinaj on the wall

Here's an example of the scale of the Haradinaj wall poster:

"Borrowed" from Kustrum Xhakli's blog and Flickr.

Changing behaviours

Two extreme examples of the ways people's behaviour is changing on London's transport system, as reflected here:

The traditionally safe notion of not talking to strangers, and the Londoners' habit of remaining silent and avoiding eye contact on the tube (to avoid provocation among other reasons) now play against us. It is now an unhappy truism that anyone darker than the average Celt is likely to be viewed with a degree of suspicion, especially if wearing a rucksack or heavy clothing. I suggest we start saying good morning to each other; comment on the weather. An impending suicide bomber would be edgy and nervous, and not in the least bit talkative. Then's the time to get suspicious.

and

I can't avoid carrying a big rucksack with my mobile office in when I travel. As I'm an Asian male that's been getting suspicious looks, I've taken to carrying a bottle of wine as if I'm taking it home for dinner. It's ironic, I don't even like wine, but it's a clear visual symbol that says I'm not a fanatic Islamic bomber.

Both suggestions require modification of normal behaviour but have the advantage of convergence to the middle rather than to a one-sided view of what is British.

On the other hand would "an attack" of overtly conversational people on the Tube be more or less frightening to the average commuter with his head in a newspaper?

More Kosovo blogging

Still searching for some serious blogs from Kosovo.

So far have found KosovaReport which seems to have serious discussions and news from the Albanian point of view with a few badly informed interjections from Serbs.

Also two websites with "Kosovo Chronicles".

The first one I found was Kosovo Kronichles by an American major in KFOR.

The second by some people moving round Eastern Europe working for NGOs, with photos from 2003: Kosovo Khroncles.

But I also found an interesting Serb site for a book dating from 1992, with the title Kosovo Chronicles. Seems to imply that this name has some special meaning (though obviously different to different people).

Op results

Just found that my blog comes up if you Google gall bladder op. So I thought I had better blog something final.

I had no problems at all after the op and didn't need painkillers at all, though I am a wimp about pain. A week taking it easy at home was fine and the doctor took my stitches out yesterday and pushed me on my way. Can recommend the Greek doctor and the hospital. Also I seem to have lost some weight and my blood pressure has dropped.

Now allowed to eat more or less normally but mustn't swim in deep water, though I can splash around on the beach. I can bend and stretch without any ill effect and am driving again (having checked that I can do an emergency stop without pain).

Scars from the four incisions are not pretty. Luckily some are concealed from me at least by the spare tyre. :) Only other remains of the op is the nice yellow bruise on my arm from where the drip was.

Given the other stories on the internet, I feel I've done not badly for someone of 57. And now I can go on holiday.

Will anyone be able to save Uspaskikh?

After the many twists and turns of the impeachment of (now ex-)President Paksas, Lithuanians have an exciting follow-up with the (now-ex) Minister of Economy Uspaskikh whose Russian name means "saved". Uspaskikh recently formed the populist Labour Party which was surprisingly successful and enabled him to form a coalition with the previous party of government the Social Democrats and demand the key post of Minister of Economy.

Forced to resign after he was found to have set up firms specially to collect EU Structural Funds his own Ministry was in charge of dispensing. When all his own firms' applications were submitted, he changed the deadline for applications, ensuring there was no competition for the funds. While this was being argued about he was also found to be negotiating with the Russians for special privileges for other firms of his.

Originally a Russian welder working on gas pipelines, he made his fortune in Lithuania suddenly through importing gas from Gasprom and selling it on to Lithuanian gas companies. As if the conflicts of interest above were not enough, speculation started about his entitlement to his college degrees. Although he claimed an economics doctorate from Kaunas University, there is no record of him completing his thesis. The plot then thickened when it seemed that journalists' enquiries indicated that he had never graduated from the prestigious Plekhanov Institute in Russia either.

Although by that time he had already been forced to resign, this last accusation seems to have really got under his skin, and he dashed back to Russia to find his diploma certificate. This week he returned in triumph to show his diploma on TV. However, this display during commercial advertising time was less than convincing, and LRT, the State TV channel refused to transmit his "propaganda".

This is what journalists report about the broadcast and the diploma's authenticity:

Viktoras Uspaskikh, the boss of the Lithuanian Labour Party, on Thursday showed on television his diploma of higher education which he received in Russia. The politician rejected sternly the suspicions that this document is counterfeited.

The onetime economy minister affirmed that the suspicions regarding his allegedly counterfeited diploma was ”a mere political trap of the people who are fiercely struggling for power".

Uspaskih made this televised statement during a broadcast of the commercial channel TV3. Other commercial stations should broadcast this statement on the same day. The TV address of the politician was aired during a commercial slot.

"In the past few months, there have been attempts of all kinds to discredit me, my family, friends and partners. I say today openly that all the dirt poured on me with gusto is nothing more than the outcome of the efforts by the interest groups fiercely fighting for power and influence”, he said.

According to the newscast of TV3, witnesses say that the diploma which Uspaskikh showed today looked different from what the politician demonstrated to them a month ago. That document, they said, was different in size and colour.

The head of the Labour Party also deflected any speculation that he never finished the Plekhanov Economics Academy in Russia and lied to Lithuanian people. This is a political game amounting to an unseen scale, which is beginning to halt dramatically the progress of the country and damage what has remained of its image overseas, he said.

But the politician now softened his tone concerning his previous allegations against the Lithuanian embassy in Russia. This week Uspaskikh accused the diplomatic office of concealing two letters that it reportedly received from the Russian academy.

In his official biography, the Russian-born Labour leader indicates that he graduated from the Plekhanov Economics Academy in 2003. The officials of this school earlier told Lithuanian reporters that they could not find the name of Uspaskikh in their records.

"Uspaskikh in not on the list of the students who graduated from the Plekhanov Economics Academy in 1993", N. K. Demik, vice-rector of this school, told the daily Lietuvos Rytas on May 31.

Some time later, when the resigned minister of economy went to Russia to spend holiday, the Lithuanian embassy in Moscow received a reply from the rector of the academy.

Contrary to previous statements, this paper reads that Uspaskikh joined the Russian school in 1988 and finished the studies in 1993. The rector indicated that the consulate should soon receive an official document certifying the graduation of Uspaskikh.

But Lithuanian diplomats voiced doubts if the undated and non-registered letter is an official document. The official reply of the academy has not been delivered to the consulate by this time, either.

The Lithuanian Center for Quality Assessment in Higher Education is still waiting for the official reply of the Plekhanov Academy.

To be admitted to the Kaunas University of Technology, Uspaskikh presented a copy of his Russian diploma. The school gave him the degree of master in economics.

Lietuvos Rytas ( the main newspaper) wrote that the broadcast of the televised statement, recorded on Wednesday, will cost around 100,000 litas (29,000 euros). Who will pay this amount of money is not clear.

The Labour Party also proposed the state-controlled LRT to broadcast this statement, but the company rejected the offer, despite a generous pay.

from Elta newsagency 28 July 2005

So not even Uspaskikh can produce the same diploma twice running! And what was the subject of his thesis at Kaunas University: an investigation into the misuse of EU structural funds?

Many important MPs were not fooled, even going so far as to suggest that it had taken a long time recently in Russia for Uspaskikh to "arrange" his diploma.

One might say that a country gets the politicians it deserves. And Lithuanians are certainly ashamed of what their "leaders" get up to.

Nevertheless, Lithuania has managed to carry out a convincing and transparent impeachment process and Parliament has dismissed one of the Government's leading Ministers for lining his own pocket at the country's expense. This shows that democracy and transparency have taken hold well there. And warnings that Russians are still trying to influence politics in Lithuania need to be taken seriously even though the lengths they go to are often ridiculous and easily spotted by journalistic investigations.

Winds, goblins, fires and tornados

Winds
Signs in Athens already that July is passing into August: the meltemi is blowing, creating huge spirals of dust, drying out everyone's gardens, smashing everything it can reach through open windows but reducing the temperatures in the afternoon and evening. The Meltemi wind was known by the old Greeks as the Etesian northern winds, and results from a high pressure system laying over the Balkan/Hungary area and a relatively low pressure system over Turkey.

Although this katabatic wind can bring about harsh sailing conditions it also provides cooling, low humidity and good visibility. Furthermore, it can be characterized as one of the few Mediterranean winds that do not necessarily die out at the end of the day and can easily last more than three to six days. more

The most famous katabatic wind in Europe is the Mistral, which blows down the Rhône valley in southern France and out into the Mediterranean. It can become a very strong wind reaching speeds of 80 miles an hour as it funnels down over the Rhône delta and is generally at its strongest in winter and early spring, unlike the meltemi which blows in July and August.

When the Mistral blows, it sets most people on edge or gives them migraine, maybe due to lack of sleep, caused by the howling noise it makes gusting up to 120 km/h onto a provençal tiled roof. The dry cold air blows hard and evenly, leaving the sky clear and tinged in an unbelievably luminous blue colour unique to Provence, the air is brisk and the sunshine is harsh and blinding. In the summertime, a day of Mistral is enough to make the soup-warm Mediterranean drop to the serving temperature of vichyssoise more .

More colloquial is the Provençal name of 'le vent du fada', or "the idiot wind", so-called because the Mistral is believed to be more than capable of driving even the sanest weather scientist to gibbering insanity ...more. I'm sure. Given my own manic tendencies I was interested to see how the meltemi affected me, but it seems I'm immune. A little howling is a small price to pay to sleep with the shutters open and a steadily lowering temperature.

Goblins
The meltemi also howls at night making it difficult to sleep. It reminds me of winter nights in our Brecon home where suddenly outside the front door I heard goblins howling intermittently. I went all round the house looking for the source of the noise, which eventually I convinced myself was coming from the vibrations of a strip of metal draughtstripping newly installed round the door lock. I was never really convinced by this piece of detective work, prefering the goblin theory which the sound seemed to match rather than the unromantic science. But when we moved the door to another location in the house and the goblins moved too, I had to give it more credit.

I always like to imagine this is the sound that Pushkin means in his poem Demons, where returning from on a winter evening his sleigh is caught in a blizzard and the driver feels they are being led astray by demons howling in the wind.

Fires
At the same time, helicopters are to be seen overhead towing huge bags of sand or water to put out forest fires which inevitably start at this time of year. The Greek evening news was full of news of houses just outside Athens destroyed by fire.

Tornados
Actually we had put on BBC World News to hear about the tornado in Birmingham reported by the BBC which seemed to have ripped through the areas we used to live in. But this did not appear on the news, only the Greek forest fires.

Yet another case lately where it seems that the UK is not the safest place to live. But neither are the outskirts of Athens, or for that matter the outskirts of Vilnius where one summer there were forest fires for several days creating a smoggy atmosphere over the whole city.

When Murmansk airport feels like home

Of course Murmansk airport doesn’t feel like home at first, only after several trips. The trips have all got confused in my mind, rather like A Child’s Christmas in Wales where Dylan Thomas can’t remember whether it snowed for 12 days and 12 nights when he was six or 6 days and nights when he was twelve. By the time you are 12 you know that 12 days’ snow makes a better story. Some of these recollections have grown in the telling. But probably not the amount of snow. Altogether I made about 10 trips at all times of the year between May 1991 and May 1993.

Most travel books give you a lot of background to the places the author travels to, to set the picture before the story. In my case, the background came later. There were no guide books and it seemed there were no facilities. In any case I was not there as a tourist or explorer. Attempts to explore or ask too many questions produced confusion rather than answers. So I developed the sang froid to just see what happened to me and not be a curious westerner.

So for you too (the reader), the background information comes later, with a time lag, just as it did for me.

Moscow
For practically all the trips I travelled via Moscow, which despite the problems of the airport, always managed to provide a safe haven in a hotel. In 1992 there was rampant inflation, suitcases were regularly opened and stuff stolen, businessmen ripped off, robbed and shot, though men selling one lipstick on the stairs of Detsky Mir were a novelty. I remember my shock and surprise at this sudden splurge of capitalism in Moscow where the streets near the Lubyanka (prison) were suddenly filled with files of people and their customers blocking the pavement, selling one cigarette packet, one bra or one equally bizarre object. This must really have been what Lenin meant by primitive capitalism. And how to accumulate capital based on the profit made on one bra?

Stories abounded of customs declarations of large amounts of cash followed by a tip off to a waiting taxi driver who tricked the driver out of the car half way into town and drove off. At first the Hungarian/Russian translator met me but then I worked out that some hotels sent cars to pick up customers and I had no problems. I was always glad to get back “safely” to Moscow from Murmansk, though nothing untoward ever happened to me in Kirovsk.

I settled into the Hotel Aerostar, which was smart enough for me but not enough for the mafia and prostitutes. It seems several expats lived there, as I saw the same faces in the restaurant in the evening, each of us sitting at our table for one with a book. The restaurant had a pianist who played classical music, so for me that made it a 5star place.