What a decade!

 

The noughties are almost gone for ever. But what a decade it's been. It began on 1st January 2000 which was supposed to be the day of the Millennium Bug which in turn was believed to cause the end of the world, a nuclear catastrophe or, at the very least, a malfunction of electronic devices.
As we now know, there was no Armageddon and apart from some cases of computers showing the wrong date or machines ceasing to work correctly, nothing else happened.
A big scare that turned out nothing more than this.

Over the next ten years we have seen a huge progress in computers, mobile phones, digital cameras, TV equipment and so on. I remember my first mobile I bought in the early 2000s and I must say by today's standards it would only make you smile. It was called Alcatel One Tough Easy DB :)
No one in 2000 could predict all the things that would happen in the course of the next ten years. And quite a lot has happened in the first decade of the 21st century:

• Wikipedia, Google, Yahoo, Amazon, eBay, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube dominated the internet
• mobile phones, MP3 players and digital cameras became commonplace
• Windows Me (2000), XP (2001), Vista (2007) and 7 (2009) were released
• terrorist attacks in New York (2001), Washington (2001), Bali (2002)Madrid (2004), London (2005) and a countless number of other places
• heatwave swept across Europe (2003)
• earthquakes (2008), (2009), hurricanes (2005), cyclones (2008) and tsunamis (2004)
• mad cow disease (2003), SARS (2003), avian flu (2007) and swine flu (2009)
• climate change
• Olympic Games in Sydney (2000), Athens (2004) and Beijing (2008)
• enlargement of the EU (2004), (2007)
• introduction of the euro banknotes and coins (2002) and eurozone enlargement to Slovenia(2007), Cyprus and Malta (2008) and Slovakia (2009)
• appointment of the first president of the EU (2009)
• wars in Afghanistan (2001) and in Iraq (2003) began
• pope JP2 died (2005)
• credit crunch (2007) and recession (2009)
• and many, many more

The world truly is a different place compared to what it was just ten years ago.

For me too the noughties have been a busy period; in the last ten years I have:

• attended High School and finished it
• passed my Matura
• moved away from home
• gone to university
• had two relationships
• lived in Toruń, Gloucestershire and Glasgow
• stopped believing in God
• got my first flat
• voted in elections for the first time
• bought my first laptop, digital camera, mobile phone, MP3 player
• opened a bank account
• started smoking
• flown for the first time
• started learning English
• hitchhiked
• come of age
• been sued
• got my first job
• started losing hair (unverified and hope not true!)
• visited many beautiful places
• met lots of people and made some friends
• got ten years older

 

More here: A portrait of the decade by the BBC

New blog

About time too!

After many, many hours spent on moving the content of my old blog and setting up this one, I can finally say that I’ve managed to break free from spaces live and am not going back there.

You can admire the fruits of my doings:

• the nice and neat new address (zarazek.eu) which can now be used without typing www.
• the lovely banner featuring fragments of my photos which, I hope, is recognisable for its Scottish flavour,
• the arduously copied and pasted comments from the old blog (there was no way of moving them with the notes)
• and the video clips which somehow appeared as pieces of code at first and which I had to redo manually

I had to move the old blog first to wordpress and then to blogspot. There was no way of exporting in directly onto blogspot and it really got on my nerves before I figured out how to do all this.

zarazek.spaces.live com, in its almost two year long life had 8537 hits (I was probably responsible for a half of them but still :P) It was visited by people from:

Europe

 

South America

 

 

North America

 

South East Asia

 

Yeh, yeh, I know it doesn’t look impressive but because of the specifications of the dreaded Spaces Live, not every visit was recorded on the map. This was among the many reasons why I didn’t want to stay there any longer.

Polish hunk and money

 

Nice Polish ‘model’:

 

And what some wikijacker (I thought I’d invented this word but apparently it already existed) thinks of the Polish złoty:

Zarazek goes .eu

and wants break free from Spaces Live

Whilst doing my usual aimless browsing on the internet, I stumbled across an advert which said  you could get a .eu domain for a year without paying a penny. I thought it was a brilliant offer and, without thinking much, I decided to go for it. So, from then on you can access my blog by typing a much shorter and easier to remember address www.zarazek.eu.

The www. part is important as my poor skills didn’t allow me resolve the problem of having to have two parts of the address. If someone knows how I can change it to work even if only zarazek.eu is typed, please let me know.

Isn’t it strange that when I was registering and chose the UK as my address the website said I had to be in the EU and it wouldn’t let me continue with the registration? I had to change the address to Poland.

I’ve spent the whole evening trying to figure out how to move my blog onto a different service and it seems like Microsoft do their best not to let this happen.

Gwałt

 

Kolejny gwałt na dziwce zwanej językiem polskim.

Kiedy powiemy: “dość”?

 

 

 

What is wrong with Esther?

I've just come back from the cinema, saw 'Orphan'. The film was quite good and this is the best line:

-Don't let me die, mummy!

-I'm not your fucking mummy!

Now I know what was wrong with her - she was completely fucked up :)

Edinburgh

 

***Day One***

 

On Saturday morning, I woke up before the alarm sounded which was rather unusual for me. I’d spent the night at my friends’ in their West End flat and hadn’t got much sleep, but anyway, I was up and about early in the morning. I went to the bus stop and waited just a few minutes for the bus to arrive. Having sat down, I thought it wise to let Monika (whom I was going to visit) know that I was coming as planned. After some time, I arrived in the city centre from where I was going to take the coach to Edinburgh but first I wanted to buy some food and something to read. The number of magazines about politics available here is truly depressing. You can browse dozens of titles such as OK!, Hello, Heat, and others for hours but to find something decent like Newsweek or Polityka verges on impossible. After some time, I eventually found one – Times, which was thinner than sanitary towels advertised on tv and cost about £4. I ended up buying The Independent. One cannot complain about the number of different newspapers.

The coach was full. So full that there were still people queuing as the driver drove off. I headed for to the ticket window and got an open return for £8.90, at the same time I was told another coach would be arriving shortly. And it did. I lounged comfortably in the seat, phoned Monika once more to tell her about my departure and began reading the paper. The journey passed quickly (a bit more than one hour). As we reached the city boundaries, I began noticing the architecture. Mind you, I’d been to Edinburgh three times before, but there was either no time for such trifles. The first thing that strikes you is the colour of buildings. While in Glasgow yellowish sandstone prevails, there it looks as if black was in fashion. Not to mention that small castles are the default choice of accommodation for many locals.

I got off the coach, and to my shock realised that no one was waiting for me! It soon turned out that poor Monika was tidying her flat for me! She even washed the windows! Since I knew it would be another 30 minutes before she came to the city centre, I decided to take a walk around and take some photos.The place was busy with tourists and locals, but charming nevertheless. After Monika arrived, we quickly headed for one of the bus stops because we didn’t want to waste any time. A daily ticket cost £3 (cheaper than £3.50 in Glasgow) and it could be bought from a machine! We did some shopping at Lidl and went to her flat. After lovely dinner, we went to a nearby park with a pond in the middle but, obviously, we didn’t want to stay there too long as the plan was to go to the seaside. Another short bus trip and we were there. Me, being a Kashubian, couldn’t miss this opportunity and rolled up my trousers to paddle in the cold water. Funny enough, it was the first time I’d ever been to the seaside in Scotland. There were some seashells, jellyfish and dead crabs, of which I took photos. Monika was staying on the beach, wearing a jacket with a hood and standing at a safe distance from the water.

After we left the beach and sat on a low wall that separated it from the promenade, her friend (whom I’d met two years earlier) came and the three of us went to a pub. I couldn’t have had more than one and a half beers but felt quite drunk anyway. We then went to an amusement arcade to play billiard (or at least that’s what I think it was). I’d not played it since I was kid and the girls were quite good so I lost the first two rounds, but then I won some and the final score was 3-2 for them. We stayed there until we were told the place was closing. Since it was quite late and there wasn’t anything else to do, we decided to walk to the bus stop and part there. On the way home, we bought a pizza and ate some of it in the park.

 

 

 

***Day Two***

 

Sunday was supposed to be the second and the last day of my visit in Edinburgh soon after we’d left the flat, I noticed that I didn’t have my camera with me. So, all the pictures that I have from that day were taken with Monika’s camera. This explains their poor quality :)

Since Edinburgh is such a small place, it wasn’t difficult to get away from civilisation. We went to see the ruins of St Anthony’s Chapel which date back to the 15th century but which is

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

probably even older. The chapel itself (or what remains of it) stands near Arthur’s Seat  (which in turn is an extinct volcano) on which Monika couldn’t be bothered to go. We rested near the ruins for several minutes and went downhill. We soon found ourselves near the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the Scottish Parliament and Dynamic Earth – all three being very close to each other. The latter, I will have to visit during my next visit and the parliament was closed so we couldn’t get in. Having taken quite a few pictures in the area, we walked (if I remember correctly) to the city centre. We quickly did the castle, walked down and joined the multitude of people who were watching (and listening to) a jazz festival. I’m not keen on jazz to say the least, but the whole thing looked very nice. The festival was taking place in a park, right at the bottom of the hill in the crowded centre of town. To be honest, I can’t remember much else. I recall having a burger and a milkshake at McDonald’s and going to use the loo in Burger King. We probably went home and spent the evening there.

 

 

 

***Day Three***

 

Day three was also eventful. Monika had to go to a jobcentre and took some time there, so I decided to go for a walk to the nearby Ocean Terminal. I like the seaside so I enjoyed that place. The botanic gardens which I was looking for a bit later were nowhere to be found and, since it started raining, I went back to meet her in front of the office. It was Monday, so the parliament was open to the public and we made our way there. I’m not going to write here anything about its architecture ‘cause I’m no specialist but what I can say is that it looks nice :) The entrance resembled that of an airport, with metal detecting gates (they probably have some name) and scanners through which your rucksack and other things had to go. Once inside, the most interesting place to visit is the Debating Chamber which is famous for its occasional appearances on the telly :)

Towards the end of my visit, we went to the city centre again and bought a deep-fried Mars bar… and then two more. They are good, really tasty and much sweeter and softer than normal ones.

We spent our final moments together sitting on the grass in another park and talking. Overall, it felt great to be able to get away from Glasgow for a few days and enjoy Monika’s company. Edinburgh is a nice place, surrounded by water, full of parks, with many places to visit and a language that is more comprehensible than in here :) I’m already looking forward to going there again or showing Monika that Glasgow isn’t bad either.

WHAT THE FUCK?

 

What bollocks is that?!

How can some stupid inspection be ‘VERY IMPORTANT’?

And why the fuck don’t they care that SOME people might be at work between 9am and 3:30pm?!

Update

 

I’ve not written anything in a long time and I guess it’s time I stopped neglecting my blog. Not much has changed apart from the fact that, for the first time since 2006, I’m working full time! The ‘current economic climate’ makes everything uncertain and I don’t even know how long I will stay there. And what do I do? I work for a company that prints these little stickers everyone has on their computer that show what processor and operating system there are. The job’s dead easy. I sit on my four letters most of the day and only sometimes have to get up to get labels off the shelves. We then ship them to customers all over the world (but mostly to European companies as there are 2 more similar places – one in China and one in the usa). Getting to work takes more than 1 hour by bus (2 and sometimes 3 buses actually) but I’m not complaining. There are quite a few Polish people working there and I even met a girl with whom I’d worked more than a year ago.

Thanks to P.’s generosity, I’ve finally got a fridge, a bed and a cooker! Looks as if like life’s returning to normality. I still hate living on the ground floor in Govan and am hoping to rent a private flat when my friend comes back.

It was Honia’s birthday on Friday. She threatened to end our friendship if I didn’t come so, even though I’m not keen on get-togethers (especially with people I don’t know), I arrived at her flat after work (I wasn’t even fashionably late, simply rude late :) I’d no idea I would have such a great time.

My resolution to quit smoking has misfired and I’m afraid I’m back to square one. Well, maybe another time.

Having written this much, I now realise how boring my life is. Nothing else worth mentioning has happened since the last time I posted a note in here. Hopefully, the rest of the summer will prove more eventful.

Fancy names for normal jobs

 

 

1. Beverage Dissemination Officer – Barman

2. Colour Distribution Technician – Painter & Decorator

3. Customer Experience Enhancement Consultant – Shop Assistant

4. Domestic Technician – Housewife

5. Education Centre Nourishment Consultant – Dinner Lady

6. Highway Environmental Hygienist – Road Sweeper

7. Field Nourishment Consultant – Waitress

8. Five a Day Collection Operative – Fruit Picker

9. Front Line Customer Support Facilitator – Call Centre Worker

10. Gastronomical Hygiene Technician – Dish Washer

11. Mass Production Engineer – Factory Worker

12. Media Distribution Officer – Paper Boy

13. Mobile Sustenance Facilitator – Burger Van Worker

14. Mortar Logistics Engineer – Labourer

15. Petroleum Transfer Engineer – Petrol Station Assistant

16. Recycling Operative – Bin Man

17. Sanitation Consultant – Toilet Cleaner

18. Coin Facilitation Engineer – Toll Booth Collector

19. Transparency Enhancement Facilitator – Window Cleaner

20. Vehicle Restoration Engineer – Panel Beater

21. Nocturnal Attitude Adjustment Technician - Nightclub Doorman

Four gadgets I dream about

- a bed

- a cooker

- a fridge

- a bike

My plants

 

These are my two plants. I bought the basil some months ago but it’s been at my friends’ all the time. They haven’t looked after it so I had to pinch some leaves off.

The tomato plant is doing even worse :) I bought it two days ago from Lidl. Unfortunately, the stem snapped in my rucksack on the way home. Do you think it’ll survive?

Heatwave!

 

Picture this: temperatures in their twenties, not a cloud in the sky, beautiful sun, kids pouring water from a hosepipe on each other, guys walking without their t-shirts on, women looking as if they’ve just come back from a beach. Where am I? In the Mediterranean? Dreaming? No, this what the last two days in Glasgow have looked like! It’s been absolutely gorgeous. I love this city when it’s hot. Unfortunately, throughout most of the year it leaves me feel miserable.If only this weather would last for longer.

I haven’t written in a long time and there’s been a few things that have happened. The Subway festival being one of them. The idea behind is that artists get invited to perform on the underground (mostly in the carriages), so you can sit down and enjoy live music. I didn’t spend much time there but I could see people were enjoying it. Here’s a short clip showing what you could expect to see:

 

 

In the evening, as I was going back home, something very random happened. Such bizarre and funny things are one of the reasons why this city is bearable:

 

 

 

Today, I went to see a friend for coffee in the centre and then we went to see the sh[out] exhibition in the Modern Art Gallery. Pity they didn’t allow to take photos. I then went to take pictures of the new bridge that was opened some time ago in town. You can see them here:

 

View Full Album

 

 

 

Well, that’s all for now. In my next note I will write about my crazy gas and electricity supplier.

 

PS How do you like my recent discovery. Isn’t she better than Susan Boyle?:

 

 

 

Miniature Glasgow

If Glasgow were a village of 100 people

 

 

 

 

 

Eurovision 2009 - Moscow

 

 

The highlight of the year has now finished. The show, this year held in Moscow, yet another dose of campy performance, good, bad and worse songs and of course, although to a lesser than usual extent, neighbour voting.

Since the semi finals were broadcast on BBC3 which I had nowhere to watch, I spent two evenings sitting in the university library watching them on Maltese TV over the internet. Unlike in pervious years, I hadn’t heard the songs before they were actually performed live on stage.

This year’s Eurovision saw a few changes. The voting has changed and it’s now based on the televote and jury, so it’s meant to be fairer and I think it worked. Also, Terry Wogan is no longer the commentator which was very sad news when resigned after last year’s Eurovision. Graham Norton, however, turned out to be the perfect replacement. I hadn’t laughed this much in a long time, he was absolutely brilliant.

Now the songs. I didn’t feel particularly sorry that some songs hadn’t made it to the final and was mostly pleased with the outcome of the semis. In the final itself, I thought there were a few songs which were pleasant to listen to. I’m talking here about Portugal whose song was sweet and cheerful and of course sung in Portuguese, the singer seemed like a lovely girl. Other songs sung in national languages that I liked were France, Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Estonia.

It was France that got my vote as I didn’t want any country from eastern Europe to win since that would cause much disappointment and anger among ‘western’ countries. The winner (Norway) performed a nice and catchy song and although it was in English, I still liked it and was pleased that they had won.

Going back to Estonia, I must say that this song is growing on me more and more every time I listen to it. Although I didn’t want them to win due to the fact that they are considered an eastern nation, I wished them well and, as far as I can remember, they fared rather well. Plus, Estonian is the most beautiful language there is and if Estonia was located somewhere in the south of Europe, I would definitely consider moving there.

UFO!

I don’t, personally, know what to think about aliens visiting our planet but there are many people who are convinced of their presence and who claim to have seen or even been abducted by extraterrestrial life forms. The British Government, under the Act of Freedom of Information, has published lists of apparent sightings year by year. I downloaded two reports, from 2008 and 1997. I found some of the descriptions rather funny:

 

Area	Brief Description of sighting
Derbyshire	Something ‘very strange’.
Gloucestershire	A UFO. (Of course, what else could it be?)
West Midlands	The witness saw a fast moving green object, whilst driving on the M6 Motorway. (A green Porche?)
Gloucestershire	A sighting of something. (Next time I see ‘something’, should I report it to the Police?)
Shropshire	A UFO was seen.
West Yorkshire	There were five orange objects and then one orange ‘blob’ came into view.
Hampshire	A UFO.
Vale of Glamorgan	Eleven objects in the sky. (Birds maybe?)
Kent	A UFO .
Surrey	Something interesting. (No one doubts it :)
Devon	UFO activity. (If you say so.)
North Yorkshire	A cork shaped object that glowed like an angel (what?!), flew up and over some trees.
Gloucestershire	A UFO. It was moving to the west.
Cornwall	A mysterious sight in the night sky.
London	Lights in the sky. (Yes, they are called stars, though difficult to spot in big cities.)
Somerset	A strange sighting.
Glamorgan	Three UFOs or something.
West Yorkshire	There was a sighting of lights in the sky. (My god, how unusual.)
Lancashire	An object, the shape of a chewing gum pack, black in colour and had three circles of lights underneath it, emitting a dull orange light.
Buckinghamshire	Something definitely odd. (We believe you.)
Clwyd	An unusual sighting.
West Yorkshire	Two objects.
Staffordshire	A UFO was flying through the sky.
Somerset	An object moving across the sky. (Now, that’s something unheard of.)
Cheshire	It was an unusual sighting of an object.
Avon and Somerset	A big alien craft landed on top of the witness’s house. The craft then flew off over Bristol.
Cumbria	A UFO was seen and there was an alien in the witness’s house.
Bedfordshire	A UFO was observed for 57 minutes. It seemed to be monitoring Luton Airport air traffic.
Gwent	A single object.
West Yorkshire	Lights were seen. (Nie mogę :D )
Staffordshire	Something strange in the sky.
Country Antrim	The ships/UFOs were over the witness’s house, various times this year. He also saw the grays. (What about seeing his psychiatrist?)
Dorset	One hundred possible UFOs in the sky. (Now, that’s something)
Dorset	A pretty unusual sighting
Cornwall	An object was seen. The witness said the object was seen over Christmas.
West Yorkshire	One object. Got larger as it came close. (Isn’t this what usually happens when things move closer?)
West Midlands	Saucer shaped object, like a dull grey cloud. It was moving slowly, but faster than a cloud.
Essex	A solid white line.
	A man/alien walked in and laid on the witnesses quilt, then whooshed through the window.
Hampshire	Lights were seen over the Isle of Wight. (Did they not have electricity before?)
Lincolnshire	A bright light. It wasn't moving.
Worcestershire	A UFO. Similar to a conventional aircraft. Travelling Northwards at huge speed. (So it definitely wasn’t a fast plane?)
Greater Manchester	A very bright star. The star came towards the witness, lit up the whole area and then went back in the direction it had come from.
Monmouthshire	One object, that was bigger than a car. It was white and very bright. It came down the road. (Not a lorry?)
Kent	An object, much bigger than a star. Looked like a large apple. It exploded and sparkled like a firework and then fizzled out. (Geez, an apple bigger than a star?!)
Devon	A star shaped object. It was very high. It moved in an 'inhuman way' on a curved path. Slowed down and then disappeared into outer space.
North Yorkshire	Six objects that looked like 'Fancy rats'. Were green and white in colour. They made circular patterns in the sky.

Poland – a more serious approach

The 3rd of May is a public holiday in Poland commemorating signing the first ever constitution in Europe and the second in the world.

In my last note I had a bit of a laugh so this time it’s going to be more serious. All the information was taken from Encyclopaedia Britannica.

 

Poland officially Republic of Poland Country, central Europe. Area: 120,728 sq mi (312,685 sq km). Population (2002 est.): 38,644,000. Capital: Warsaw. Most of the people are Polish; there are minorities of Ukrainians, Germans, and Belarusians. Language: Polish (official). Religions: Roman Catholicism, Orthodoxy. Currency: zloty. Poland consists almost entirely of lowlands in the northern and central regions. The southern border is largely formed by the Sudeten and Carpathian Mountains. The Vistula and Oder, the principal river systems, both drain into the Baltic Sea. Industries include mining, manufacturing, and public utilities. Poland is a republic with two legislative houses; its chief of state is the president, and its head of government is the prime minister. Established as a kingdom in 922 under Mieszko I, Poland was united with Lithuania in 1386 under the Jagiellon dynasty (1386–1572) to become the dominant power in east-central Europe and enjoyed a prosperous golden age. In 1466 it wrested western and eastern Prussia from the Teutonic Order, and its lands eventually stretched to the Black Sea. Wars with Sweden (see First and Second Northern War) and Russia in the later 17th century led to the loss of considerable territory. In 1697 the electors of Saxony became kings of Poland, virtually ending Polish independence. In the late 18th century Poland was divided between Prussia, Russia, and Austria (see partitions of Poland) and ceased to exist. After 1815 the former Polish lands came under Russian domination, and from 1863 Poland was a Russian province, subjected to intensive Russification. After World War I an independent Poland was established by the Allies. The invasion of Poland in 1939 by the U.S.S.R. and Germany precipitated World War II, during which the Nazis sought to purge its culture and its large Jewish population. Reoccupied by Soviet forces in 1945, Poland was controlled by a Soviet-dominated government from 1947. In the 1980s the Solidarity labour movement, led by Lech Wałesa, achieved major political reforms, and free elections were held in 1989. An economic austerity program instituted in 1990 sped the transition to a market economy. Poland became a member of NATO in 1999 and followed a program of democratic reform into the 21st century. © 2005 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Chopin, Frédéric (François) orig. Fryderyk Franciszek Szopen born March 1, 1810, Żelazowa Wola, near Warsaw, Duchy of Warsaw died Oct. 17, 1849, Paris, France Polish-French composer. Born to middle-class French parents in Poland, he published his first composition at age seven and began performing in aristocratic salons at eight. He moved to Paris in 1831, and his first Paris concert the next year thrust him into the realm of celebrity. Renowned as a piano teacher, he spent his time in the highest society. He contracted tuberculosis apparently in the 1830s. In 1837 he began a 10-year liaison with the writer George Sand; she left him in 1847, and a rapid decline led to his death two years later. Chopin stands not only as Poland's greatest composer but perhaps as the most significant composer in the history of the piano; he exhaustively exploited the instrument's capacities for charm, excitement, variety, and timbral beauty. His innovations in fingering, his use of the pedals, and his general treatment of the keyboard were hightly (sic!) influential. Apart from two piano concertos (both 1830) and four other works for piano and orchestra, virtually all his compositions are for solo piano; they include some 60 mazurkas, 27 études, 26 preludes, 21 nocturnes, some 20 waltzes, 16 polonaises, 4 ballades, 4 scherzos, and 3 sonatas. © 2005 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Curie, Marie orig. Maria Sklodowska born Nov. 7, 1867, Warsaw, Pol., Russian Empire died July 4, 1934, near Sallanches, France Polish-born French physical chemist. She studied at the Sorbonne (from 1891). Seeking the presence of radioacti vity, recently discovered by Henri Becquerel in uranium, in other matter, she found it in thorium. In 1895 she married fellow physicist Pierre Curie (1859–1906). Together they discovered the elements polonium and radium, and they distinguished alpha, beta, and gamma radiation. For their work on radioactivity (a term she coined), the Curies shared the 1903 Nobel Prize for Physics with Becquerel. After Pierre's death, Marie was appointed to his professorship and became the first woman to teach at the Sorbonne. In 1911 she won a Nobel Prize for Chemistry for discovering polonium and isolating pure radium, becoming the first person to win two Nobel Prizes. She died of leukemia caused by her long exposure to radioactivity. In 1995 she became the first woman whose own achievements earned her the honour of having her ashes enshrined in the Pantheon in Paris. © 2005 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Wałȩsa, Lech born Sept. 29, 1943, Popowo, near Włocławek, Pol. Polish labour leader and president of Poland (1990–95). An electrician, he worked in the Lenin Shipyard at Gdańsk, Pol. (1967–76), but he was fired for his antigovernment activities. In 1980 he joined workers in a strike and soon became leader of the Solidarity trade union. The union was banned in 1981, and he was detained into 1982. In 1983 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace; fearing involuntary exile, he remained in Poland while his wife, Danuta, traveled to Norway to accept the prize on his behalf. He continued to direct the outlawed union until it received legal recognition in 1988. Solidarity won an overwhelming victory in free elections in June 1989, and after Wałȩsa refused to form a coalition government with the communists, the Parliament was forced to accept a Solidarity-led government, though Wałȩsa himself refused to serve as premier. In 1990 he won Poland's first direct presidential election by a landslide, and he helped guide Poland into a free-market economy. His confrontational style eroded his popularity, and he was narrowly defeated in his bid for reelection in 1995. © 2005 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Solidarity Polish Solidarność Polish trade union. A workers' strike in 1980 at the Lenin Shipyards in Gdańsk inspired other labour strikes in Poland and compelled the government to agree to the workers' demands for independent unions. Solidarity was founded to unite the regional trade unions, and Lech Wałesa was elected chairman. The movement won economic reforms and free elections before pressure from the Soviet Union forced the Polish government to suppress the union in 1981. The focus of worldwide attention, it continued as an underground organization until 1989, when the government recognized its legality. In the free elections of 1989, Solidarity candidates won most of the contested seats in the assembly and formed a coalition government. In the 1990s the union's role diminished as new political parties emerged in a free Poland. © 2005 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Copernicus, Nicolaus Polish Mikołaj Kopernik born Feb. 19, 1473, Toruń, Pol. died May 24, 1543, Frauenburg, East Prussia Polish astronomer. He was educated at Kraków, Bologna, and Padua, where he mastered all the knowledge of the day in mathematics, astronomy, medicine, and theology. Elected a canon of the cathedral of Frauenburg in 1497, he took advantage of his financial security to begin his astronomical observations. His publication in 1543 of Six Books Concerning the Revolutions of the Heavenly Orbs marked a landmark of Western thought (see Copernican system). Copernicus had first conceived of his revolutionary model decades earlier but delayed publication because, while it explained the motion of the planets (and resolved their order), it raised new problems that had to be explained, required verification of old observations, and had to be presented in a way that would not provoke the religious authorities. The book did not see print until he was on his deathbed. By attributing to Earth a daily rotation around its own axis and a yearly revolution around a stationary Sun, he developed an idea that had far-reaching implications for the rise of modern science. He asserted, in contrast to Platonic instrumentalism, that astronomy must describe the real, physical system of the world. Only with Johannes Kepler was Copernicus's model fully transformed into a new philosophy about the fundamental structure of the universe. © 2005 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Mickiewicz, Adam (Bernard) born Dec. 24, 1798, Zaosye, near Nowogródek, Belorussia, Russian Empire died Nov. 25, 1855, Constantinople, Tur. Polish poet. A lifelong apostle of Polish national freedom and one of Poland's greatest poets, Mickiewicz was deported to Russia for his revolutionary activities in 1823. His Poetry, 2 vol. (1822–23), was the first major Polish Romantic work; it contained two parts of Forefathers' Eve, a cycle combining fol klore and mystic patriotism. Mickiewicz left Russia in 1829 and eventually settled in Paris. There he wrote The Books of Our Pilgrimage (1832), a prose interpretation of the history of the Poles; and his masterpiece, the poetic epic Pan Tadeusz (1834), which describes the life of the Polish gentry in the early 19th century. © 2005 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

John Paul II orig. Karol Wojtyła born May 18, 1920, Wadowice, Pol. died April 2, 2005, Vatican City Pope (1978–2005), the bishop of Rome and head of the Roman Catholic church, the first non-Italian pope in 455 years and the first ever from a Slavic country. He studied for the priesthood at an underground seminary in Kraków during World War II and was ordained in 1946. He earned a doctorate in philosophy in Rome (1948) and returned home to serve in a parish, earning a second doctorate (also 1948), in sacred theology, from the Jagiellonian University. He became archbishop of Kraków in 1964 and cardinal in 1967. Elected pope after the 33-day pontificate of John Paul I (b. 1912 d. 1978), he became known for his energy, charisma, and intellect as well as for his conservative theological views and fervent anticommunism. In 1981 John Paul was shot in St. Peter's Square by a Turkish gunman, but he recovered, resumed his work, and forgave his would-be assassin. His trips abroad attracted some of the largest crowds ever assembled. His nonviolent activism spurred movements that contributed to the peaceful dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. He championed economic and political justice in developing nations. In naming 44 cardinals from five continents (February 2001), John Paul reached out to cultures around the world. He also canonized more saints, from more parts of the world, than had any other pope. His ecumenical efforts included meetings with Jewish, Muslim, and Eastern Orthodox religious leaders. Although afflicted with Parkinson disease since the early 1990s, John Paul remained active and made a historic trip to Jerusalem in March 2000, during which he sought to improve relations between the Roman Catholic church and Jews. © 2005 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Gdańsk German Danzig City (pop., 2000 est.: 456,574), capital of Pomorskie province, northern Poland. Located at the mouth of the Vistula River on the Baltic Sea, it was first mentioned in the late 10th century as a Polish town. The capital of the dukes of Pomerania in the 13th century, it was taken by the knights of the Teutonic Order in 1308. In 1466 Casimir IV regained the territory for Poland, and Gdańsk expanded greatly. From 1793 it was controlled mainly by Prussia; following World War I, it was a free city governed by Poland. In 1938 Adolf Hitler demanded that Gdańsk be given back to Germany; Poland's refusal was the excuse for his attack on Poland in 1939, which precipitated World War II. The city, greatly damaged during the war, was returned to Poland in 1945. It is now fully restored, with renewed port facilities. The independent labour union Solidarity was founded there in 1980. © 2005 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Warsaw Polish Warszawa City (pop., 2001 est.: 1,610,471), capital of Poland, on the Vistula River. Founded с 1300, it flourished as a trade centre, came under Polish control in 1526, and became the capital in 1596. During the late 18th century it expanded rapidly, but it was destroyed in 1794 by the Russians. In 1807 it was made the capital of the Duchy of Warsaw by Napoleon. Taken by the Russians in 1813, it was the centre of Polish insurrections in 1830–31 and 1860. It was occupied by the Germans in World War I and again in World War II, when its large Jewish population revolted in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising (1943). The Warsaw Uprising in 1944 was unsuccessful, and the Germans virtually destroyed the city. Modern Warsaw, rebuilt after the war, now houses government bodies, including the Sejm (parliament); it is also an industrial and educational centre. Among its historic buildings are a 14th-century Gothic cathedral and a medieval castle. © 2005 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

 

Wiwat 3. maj!

Poland – as it wants to be seen in Europe

 

Some time ago I downloaded a pdf file from the EU’s official website europa.eu. In it, every country is represented by its contour and symbols it is, or wants to be, associated with. Bulgaria, for example, is represented, amongst others, by a hunky Roman (I guess) soldier, Byzantine churches, wildlife and beaches. Spain has references to the country’s old and modern architecture, art and science, food and the great explorations and so on.

It’s easy to imagine what France, Italy or the UK had as their symbols but what about Poland? What did Poland have to offer and wanted to show off to the rest of the EU?

Well, this:

 

Let’s do a little analysis:

• starting from the top left corner, we have a ferry, probably full of Polish workers coming back from Sweden and Norway.
• Gdańsk shipyards, which the EU wants to close down due to their unprofitability and illegal subsidising by the State
• Lech Wałęsa, Noble prize winner carrying a banner of the Solidarity movement and saying ‘Hi’
• under the Solidarity banner, a yellow, probably radioactive fish
• Nicolaus Copernicus -  nothing wrong with him, although some Germans might claim him to be one of them
• Carp – a kind of fish traditionally eaten on Christmas Eve. This tradition began as early as the communist times so it’s not really a true tradition
• Warsaw’s Palace of Culture and Science which was a present from out ‘brothers’ from the Soviet Union at the same time being one of the ugliest and the most conspicuous buildings in Poland
• Frederick Chopin – a true European, Poland and France are still fighting over whether he was more French or more Polish
• to his left, we have, probably, some general. I don’t know that that is (UPDATE: it’s Piłsudski, right?)
• further up, another disputed guy. Considered Poland’s greatest poet, lived in Belarus which was then Lithuania (or maybe it was the other way round) and who started his greatest work with ‘Oh, Lithuania, my fatherland’
• above him, a European bison (wisent) with an enormous tool (but who knows, maybe they are usually this hung)
• the woman next to the sign of radioactivity and a bottle with some green liquid is Maria Skłodowska, Marie Curie, Marie Curie-Skłodowska, Maria Skłodowska-Curie. Now some explanation: she was originally called Maria Skłodowska, born in Wa rsaw in the Russian Empire, when she married a Frenchman  she became known as Marie Curie or Marie Curie-Skłodowska to the French, and as Maria Skłodowska-Curie to the Polish (and as long as you’re not a traitor that’s how you should call her)
• the coal under her shows how much easier it was for the Poles to discover radioactivity than to make any use of it. Almost 100% of the country’s energy comes from this ‘incredibly’ hi-tech method of acquiring energy. Let’s not forget how polluting burning coal is. I see no reason to be proud of this
• to the left of the coal mine potatoes are growing. Lovely, looks like Poland is the only country in the world to grow this exotic vegetable
• the same applies to the sugar beet
• the lady in the picture is the actual Queen of Poland. Her name is the Black Madonna (who said Poles were racist?)
• next, we have, what I believe, is the oldest shopping centre in the world, about to be destroyed by a giant pope.
• a cute Polish peasant girl who has probably escaped from a museum is standing next to the papas gigantus
• a salt mine located somewhere in the mountains in the south. It might be the oldest active salt mine in Europe but the place they put it on the map makes me doubt
• and finally, the biggest picture of all, a peasant driving a tractor and whistling to himself

 

Now, take a look at these happy and smiling people representing each country who say ‘hi’ in their respective languages:

 

 

And now the representative of Germany:

     :)

 

 

 

You can find the whole pdf file here.

New flat

 

I’m finally in my new flat and to be perfectly honest I’m not enjoying it too much. I’ve never lived on my own and am not used to this.

Since the flat isn’t furbished yet (and gods know when I will be able to afford basic furniture), I’m about to sleep on the floor which I’m not really looking forward to. Hopefully it will be uncomfortable enough for me to wake up (very) early in the morning as I’m working tomorrow.

It’s taken me the whole day to move all my stuff and there’s still some things (like the axolotl and the goldfish) left at my old place.

I don’t like this area, the people are weird, they speak an incomprehensible language and all they seem to do is drinking and taking drugs. Let’s hope not everyone fits this description and that at least my new neighbours turn out decent people.

So, even though I still lack basic amenities such as a fridge or even a cooker, all my friends are more than welcome to come with a visit if they want to see me, Glasgow or Scotland.

Weakest Link

 

Q: The newspapers La Stampa and La Repubblica are published in which European country?
A: Mexico

 

Yes, she won.

iWii

(pronounced exactly like ‘I wee’)

 

People are crazy about new shitty gadgets whose names begin with ‘i’. I think it all began with Apple and their iMacs but I’m not entirely sure. Then other iThings followed. Amongst those I remember, there are iPod, iPhone, iBook, iTunes, iRiver, iVillage, iPlayer and iShit. The last one of course being made up by me, but who knows what the iFuture brings.

It reminds me of the e-things obsession of the 90s, only this one I hope won’t go on for this long.

I’m a happy iOwner of no iThing and let it stay this iWay.

Dog?!

 

They’ve just showed a ‘report’ on BBC news about Obama’s bloody dog. What is wrong with this world? This surely can’t be news material, can it?

I don’t think I will ever be understand this ongoing ‘obamomania’. Fuck!

It seems as if there hasn’t been a single day this year when another piece of ‘news’ about Obama wouldn’t reach me.

And here it goes again… ‘President Obama said bla bla bla…’

 

HELP!!!!

 

 

 

Glasgow

Pacific Quay – my first panoramic photos

 

I went yesterday down to the Pacific Quay and took lots of photos which I then stitched to make some stunning (in my opinion) panoramic pictures.

Here’s a link to the gallery :

 

View Full Album

Embarrassment at the till

 

Scottish countryside

 

(Click to see it full size)

Some clips from Comic Relief 2009

 

Mamma Mia!

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Dragons’ Den

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Glasgow

Atheist Bus

 

 

I have finally managed to spot and take a picture of an atheist bus in Glasgow! It really made my day.

Here’s the beauty:

 

 

 

 

 

I have also uploaded more than 300 pictures about atheism and religions:

 

View Full Album

What I see outside the window

 

It’s nice and relatively warm outside, at last! Sitting by the open window, drinking tea and listening to music is my idea of how you can pass the time between classes.

I didn’t mark the day I stopped smoking (no, I didn’t quit, I was forced to stop by external factors) and now I wish I had. I reckon it’s been about 5 days but can’t be sure. The first two or three days were a nightmare but now things are much better. I could easily give it up altogether but don’t think the right time has come yet.

Anyway, when I finally decide that quitting smoking is what I ought to do, I will know that going cold turkey is the best way – no patches, no silly substitutes from Boots, no nothing; just a few days of suffering and you’re free! And believe me when I say it, you really feel like killing yourself and everyone around.

 

And here’s finally something related to the title:

(Sorry for the shit quality)

 

Bread

 

Ta da, I’ve baked my first loaf of bread today. An absolute success :)