No more Disco lights

Moving has its advantages. Beside lovely neighbours (who left on vacation these days and now their internet line is blocked due to too much traffic and who knows when they come back to fix it:), I was lucky and got a personal assistant as regards fixing things in the flat. I only got his mobile number, so I decided to call him "Mojster Miha", which is Slovene translation for "Bob the builder". And later on I only found out that his real name is Mohammed.

After having guests over who fixed some lightning problems and helped me moving some heavy stuff to the celar of 3x3 m, which I call student room, because in Slovenia this nice celar without windows could be transformed into a student room for 2 students plus at least 2 full-time running servers.

And finally, after 4 months, "Bob the builder" came by and fixed the lightning and the leaking basin drainage. Hurray:) Hopefully he will fix other things soon.

Therefore, no more Party Disco Lights guys:) However, the memories remain. Remember
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSfYWWM0KNc?

Have a look at his crazy video as well:)
http://www.boreme.com/boreme/funny-2005/disco-elevator-p1.php
Worth trying, maybe at Andre`s place as he lives in a building with the elevator?!:)

Joost surprise

Today I received this nice e-mail from Joost support:) Now I can finally invite 3 friends to join (however most of them already joined while waiting on the waiting list). So, if you have fast internet line or neighbours you love and you would like to try Joost Beta, let me know:)

_______________________________________________

Hello,

We hope you are enjoying your Joost experience.

Good news! We've posted 3 invitations in "your Joost" so you can invite your friends to watch your favorite program with you. To invite your friends, start up Joost, click on "my Joost" and fill in your friends' details in the "invite friends" widget box. Enjoy the ride!

If you've got any questions, feel free to check out our forum www.joost.com/support and send us your feedback on what you like andthings we could improve.

About Joost:

As you may know, we're working on a project that we think will revolutionize the way you're watching TV - bringing you the best of TV and the best of the Internet.

So, we hope you will enjoy our beta tester program and help us put the finishing touches to Joost. This is still a private, invitation-only beta and the software is being rigorously tested. We would greatly value your opinions, and we hope you'll participate actively by giving us your feedback.

Enjoy, and see you on Joost!

The Joost team

Bread dumplings

Did you ever think what to do with the rest of the bread that has been lying on your table for a couple of days? Do you just throw it away? Or do you eat all the bread that you buy? In some countries (e.g. Croatia) bread is untaxed, so it would be a sin to throw away even the crumbs.

I am lucky and I am not thrown into this kind of dilemma very often as bread is something I avoid and it is rarely seen in my apartment, apart from when the guests bring it. It happened so these days as we were eating fresh bread every day which resulted in leftovers of masses of bread from previous days which nobody ate. This is how I started making bread crumbs when I remembered that I could do bread dumplings as well, one of my favourite dishes I stuff myself with when back home:)

Here is the recipe for 21 bread dumplings:

• approximately 1 and a half kilo of two to three days old white bread,
• 4 to 5 eggs,
• 7 dcl milk,
• garlic and parsley.

Cannibals may wish to add pieces of bacon; I added fresh basilic. Veggies may wish to use soya milk instead of cow milk and egg replacements (e.g. oil) instead of eggs, although I used eggs as the guests left them behind.

Cut the bread into small pieces (approximately 0.5 x 0.5 cm) and put it into big bowl. Add milk. Mix with a large spoon. Cut the garlic and herbs into small pieces and mix them with bread. Leave 10 minutes to soak. Squeeze the bread, so that it is not too much soaked.

Make dumplings using your hands; if needed help yourself with a spoon. Put dumplings on plate lightly pre-covered with bread crumbs. Take care that the dumplings do not touch one another. Put into freezer or cook immediately for approximately 10 minutes. Once frozen, dumplings can be put into one bag/dish and be left in the freezer for later use.

Bread dumplings are good company to goulash and sauces. Mmm, I cannot wait to make myself a good seitan goulash and stuff myself with a couple of bread dumplings:)

Bon apetit!:)

Neighbours

We just have to love them, no? I love my neighbours. None of this could be possible without them. Thank you!

P.S.: Those who know the situation know what I am talking about. Do you love your neighbours?

22 April - Earth Day

22 April - Earth Day

In Slovenia a group of people every year on 22 or around 22 April organises an activity "Each one should get his bag of garbage" (see post below). The aim of the activity is to take a garbage bag and your friends and to go for a walk around the area - it can be city, forest, meadow - and to fill your bag with garbage.

It would be nice to organise something like this in Brussels as well or even all around Europe. I know, I know, we do not all throw the garbage out of car windows and on the sidewalks and in the parks when we pass by, but that does not mean we should just ignore the fact that our living environment is turning into rubbish dump.

For more info on Earth Day click here.

22 april - Dan Zemlje

Dragi Sončki!

Bliža se dan zemlje in z njim naša akcija Vsak po svojo vrečo smeti. Akcija je enostavna, vzameš vrečo za smeti, prijatelja ali kar celo družbo in se odpraviš na pohajkovanje po mestu, zelenem travniku, gozdu ali obrežju rek... vmes naberete vsak svojo vrečo smeti in jo odložite na zato predvideno mesto.

Da bo akcija bolj odmevna, dostopnejša in širše zasnovana, smo se na Pozitivkah skupaj z stranjo Svet je lep in še nekaterimi nevladnimi organizacijami odočili, da bomo skupaj v večjih mestih nabrali 10.000 vreč smeti in tako očistiti nekaj nadvse potrebnih kotičkov.

Pomagate nam lahko tako, da se nam pridružite v soboto 21.4 ob 11h dopoldan v 10 večjih slovenskih mestih (seznam najdete tu), saj le s skupnimi močmi lahko izvedemo tako obširno akcijo.

S sabo lahko prinesete risalni list ali šeleshamer, pa debelejši flomaster, saj bomo (seveda tisti ki boste želeli) med akcijo mimoidočim delili tudi letake in vrečke za smeti, ki so nam jih donirali sponzorji. Drugače pa nam lahko pomagate tudi tako, da to pošto posredujete svojim prijateljem in znancem ali ga objavite na spletnih straneh, kjer se zadržujete. V akciji vsako leto sodeluje več pridnih rok, zato verjamemo, da bodo mesta, sprehajalne poti in narava, ena, dva, tri spet čista.
Se veselimo, da se vidimo v soboto ;)

Ps. Če veste za kakšno lokacijo, ki bi jo bilo lepo očistiti, nam to lahko sporočite po emailu info@danzemlje.si in potrudili se bomo, da bo spet čista. Vse ostale informacije o akciji pa lahko dobite na www.danzemlje.si.

Objem

Uredništvo Pozitivk

"Democracy"

Do you ever feel run over? Do you ever feel second class citizen? Do you ever feel left behind? Do you ever feel like there is a conspiracy behind it all?

Don`t worry, I am not selling you anything. I just hate people behaving like they are superior beings, the so called "higher" class, "the cream of the cream" and would do just anything to push other people down, even more when they see that these people have less chances than they do.

If you are not an Esperanto speaking person and even if you are, then I guess there is little chance of you having heard of DEMEXP before (in EN, EO, FR, DE). The name is short for DEMocracy EXPeriment ("DEMokratia EKSperimento" in Esperanto).

It is a project aiming at making voting in any situation really "democratic".

"The democratic experience is a large scale project of direct democracy. It aims at providing the tools to facilitate the expression of all citizens, to transform this expression into decisions, and to apply this decision.
In the democratic experience, each participant can submit a vote subject, propose answers, and vote. All winning answers to the votes are gathered into a database that represents the common position of the group. This common position can be used to drive decisions.
Thus, the democratic experience is a complete and open tool for direct democracy. It can apply to small groups of people (associations, companies) but also to larger groups (countries, the planet!). "
(Taken from www.demexp.org)

If Demexp would have been accepted, many world`s people that call themselves "important", would not be where they are now.

Just think about it.

Language quiz No. 1

No. of participants: 15

From 10 countries: Belorussia, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Indonesia, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Turkey, Ukraine

Languages played: 32

In the following order: Spanish, English, Portuguese, Greek, French, German, Chinese, Polish, Italian, Icelandic, Croatian, Dutch, Turkish, Bulgarian, Swedish, Slovenian, Lithuanian, Indonesian, Bosnian, Japanese, Slovak, Malaysian, Serbian, Albanian, Estonian, Vietnamese, Romanian, Norwegian, Macedonian, Latvian, Hungarian, Esperanto

The participants have been divided into 3 groups. Each song has been played for 1 minute, then the groups had to write down the language in which the song has been played. Languages 1 to 5 have been marked with 1 point, languages 6 to 10 with 2 points, languages 11 to 15 with 3 points and so on.

Group 1, consisted of Polish, Portuguese, German and Indonesian participants, scored 62 points with guessing 19 languages with best guessing languages from the first group.

Group 2, consisted of Bulgarian, Polish, Portuguese and Turkish participants, scored 70 points with guessing 20 languages with best guessing languages from third, fifth and sixth group.

Group 3, mostly affected by people leaving and new people arriving consisted of Serbian, French, German, Ukrainian, Turkish and Belorussian participants, scored 50 points with guessing 16 languages with best guessing languages from fourth group.

All group guessed the following languages: Spanish, English, Portuguese, Greek, French, Italian, Turkish, Indonesian, Estonian and Romanian.

Songs as on CD:
1. Spanish - Mocedades: Eres tu
2. English - Baccara: Yes sir, I can boogie
3. Portuguese - Dulce Pontes: Senhora do Almortao
4. Greek - Giwrgos Giannias: S`agapw
5. French - Sinsemilia: Tout le bonheur du monde
6. German - Schnappi vs. Gigi D`Agostino - Das kleine krokodil
7. Chinese - Unknown author: After a thousand years
8. Polish - Dzem: Sen o victorii
9. Italian - Marco Masini: T`innamorerai
10. Icelandic - Hljómar: Sveitapiltsins Draumur
11. Croatian - Crvena jabuka: Stižu me sječanja
12. Dutch - Abel: Onderweg
13. Turkish - Tarkan: Sikidim
14. Bulgarian - Unknown author: Vljubeni
15. Swedish - Abba
16. Slovenian - Majda Sepe: Med iskrenimi ljudmi
17. Lithuanian - Keistuoliai: Raudona Merga
18. Bosnian - Bijelo dugme: Lipe cvatu
19. Slovak - Elán: Tanecuice z Lucnice
20. Serbian - Ceca: Beograd
21. Albanian - Ritmi i Rruges: Kush ka faj

Enjoy listening and until next language quiz!

:>

Good things about forwarded e-mails

I received a forwarded e-mail from a friend not knowing that all the details of the person who sent him the same e-mail were included (or maybe deliberately) and I found the following lines in it that I would like to share with you.

"Če te kdo vpraša za nasvet
kako ujeti sanje,
odgovor je le en...
verjeti moraš vanje. "

My translation into English:

"If someone asks you for advice
how the dreams to catch,
the answer is only one...
to believe in them is what you must."

Airport security

Case No. 1
Thanks to "our friends" from the other side of the Atlantic ocean I cannot even take a bottle of ordinary water with me to the airport anymore. As soon as I reach the security check point, the security personnel goes crazy about me having half a litre of water with me. However they try to be human and suggest me to drink it there, in from of them, and then they will throw the empty bottle away.
Fact No. 1: Of course, I am a hamster and I keep the water in the two water tanks just next to the thyroid and then I drink it when I need to. I wonder how come my biology teacher somehow skipped this fact?!
Fact No. 2: I am a billionaire and it will not be a problem for me to pay 2€ for a half a litre bottle of water they are selling at the airport just 5 meters after the security check point.
Resolution: Of course I will pay 2€ for half a litre bottle of water. I did pay (although not being aware of) 4€ for a half a litre bottle of Fanta the other day in Portoroz. Uff, I know, I know. I hope I win the lottery soon; keep fingers crossed;)

Case No. 2
Security check point. I take off the jacket and the belt. I do not wear anything suspicious, even the shoes and the bra have been already pre-checked several times before for "not ringing" at the security check point. I do not have any liquids or food with me this time. I take the laptop from the bag and I even open it for the security personnel on their request. I should "not ring" stepping through "the door". But, I do, I do ring. I ring loudly. Surprise, surprise. I am surprised. I know I do not wear anything suspicious and I tell them that maybe it is the bra or the piercings. Or just my elevated negative energy level towards the security check point, I think to myself. I am requested to stretch my arms and my legs in order to be searched and I follow the order. I am told that I have been selected randomly to be searched. Never in my life I have been searched so thoroughly. The woman touched every single piece of my body. I remain in shock. They found nothing. However I still believe that there was a man behind all this, hiding himself behind the mirror glass pussing the button for so called "random searches" and enjoying the show.

Marolles, Marolles

Today I crossed an interesting blog about Marolles, the part of Brussels I like the most. The blog is in French, but the old photos are marvelous! You just have to love Marolles:)

Have a look at
http://sofei-vandenaemet.skynetblogs.be/category/1026755/1/marolles

"Coincidences"

Sometimes I want to burst into laughter when people get going about how they were standing at a bus stop willing a bus to come and then an utterly amazing thing happens - the bus comes. And how they were just thinking about their neighbour`s cat when it walked into the garden!

Do you believe in "coincidences"?

JOOST!

At the moment I cannot invite anybody yet, but as soon as I will be able, of course, I will invite "the gang", you know it:) Patience my dear, patience is world`s most appreciated virtue!

Received from Joost Support on 17/04/2007

"Hello,

Thank you for trying out Joost and for your feedback.

Even though we are daily allowing new users on the platform, at thismoment we don't hand out tokens. We will be handing out tokens again inthe future, so stay tuned!

Best regards,

Joost™ Support"

Hospitality Club guests

I had 5 guests from the HC (Hospitality Club) over in the past week.

Steve, an Aussie (Australian) living and working in Edinburgh at the moment, came by. I picked him up at the North train station. It was first time I went there; it was at night, but I was not scared. I asked the two policemen where the Eurolines busses stop and I found Steve easily after beforehand agreeing that I will wear a red scarf (although it was too hot for a scarf) and he was having a red backpack as well. We did not buy the ticket for the metro, nobody checks anyway. I told him what I tell to all my guests "If they ask you for the ticket, just speak your mother language". With Steve it would be difficult as English is his mother tongue, but I am sure that with a heavy Aussie accent he could have got away with it. Anyway, nobody checked the tickets:) Steve comes from an average Australian family (without the dog), finished medical care studies (If I recall correctly), did some social work in Nepal and is now working with children at risk in Edinburgh. And in the meanwhile tries to seize as much as possible from travelling cheaper in Europe. That is how he ended up in Brussels, with cheap Eurolines ticket from London.

Anna, a Polish girl, who finished her studies in Islamic painting, working in London in the security field, found my place by herself. 5.15 a.m. the doorbell rang. I knew she would arrive earlier, but I did not think so early. What else could I do, then to get up and open the door. There she was, full of energy, plans and readyness to seize the day and to visit as many museums as possible, of some I have not even heard. She brought me excellent English black tea and great tips on what kind of questions should I ask to the HC guests.

When Steve and Anna left, Milos, Bojan and Muris came. They are all studying in Wien, Austria, but are coming from different towns. Milos, an international relations student comes from Belgrade, Serbia. Bojan, medicine student comes from Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Muris, IT student, comes from Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was fun having them around for 2 days. They cooked, cleaned, did some men`s housework and managed to get me partying with them on Monday until early morning hours. I still ask myself how I managed to go to work on Tuesday:) They could not understand how I can be a veggie and left a nice invitation to "čevapčiči" in my Guest book. It is always a pleasure to have people from the once common country visiting.

Blog fee?!

I have read this morning that the European Commission issued a proposal to prohibit citizens to blog.

The proposal includes a directive saying that only registered authorities will be allowed to post their postings in the form of a blog, however prior to blogging they will have to register and consequently contribute a registration fee of 1000 Euro plus a special "blog fee" of 5 Euro per posting.

Once the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament accept the proposal, the latter will enter into force on 1 April 2008!