Thursday, April 30, 2009

I love coffee 我爱咖啡

I love coffee. 我爱咖啡. I usually drink 3 cups a day. Sometimes less, sometimes even more. Depends on my mood. But I really need my daily dose of coffee. I usually have one in the morning, one after lunch and usually the last one around 6pm, sometimes even after 7. It's rarely that I can't sleep because of too much coffee, but if I drink 4 or 5 cups in one day, then it can get problematic. While I traveled to many places around the world, Ialso tried many kinds of coffee. I can't really say what's my favourite kind of coffee outside Slovenia, because I can adapt to almost all kinds. There's one thing I do expect from a cup of coffee: It has to be with milk. I don't like pure black coffee, the kind people usually drink in the USA (that reminded me of Dale Cooper from Twin Peaks, he adored black coffee as you can see on the 9th photo below).
Anyway, at home, in Slovenia, we drink coffee (see 5th photo) in the same way as people in the Balkans do, especially in Bosnia and Serbia. You boil water in a small specially designed pot to make Turkish coffee. We call it džezva (pronounced like 'jez-vah', as seen on the 6th photo). It's not a Slovenian word, we borrowed it from Bosnian, which comes from the Turkish term cezve (pronounced 'jez-veh'). Cezve is also the English term for this small device so unique to the Balkans region and in Turkey. But keep in mind, Slovenians find it offensive if someone says we're also part of the Balkans. We consider ourselves Central European, but due to the long history with the Balkans and with Central Europe, we are a kind of crossroads between Central and Southern Europe. That's why we have so many different influences on our culture. That's fairly obvious in our coffee culture. When you go to a coffee house in Slovenia (called kavarna, coffee is called kava), you'll mostly get Italian style coffee (cappuccino being the most popular) or you'll get Vienna style coffee, which comes with milk or cream (See photos 7 and 8). Well, I like all of them. But cappuccino or caffe latte can have a strong effect on the digestion, so I usually wouldn't drink them in the morning.
Anyway, back to Asia. When I traveled to Asia for the first time (Singapore being my destination), it was obvious that they have their own kind of coffee. It's thinner and less strong than ours. Malays, who are Muslims, drink at home something similar to our coffee (this is due to the Muslim influence that reaches from Southern Europe to Indonesia). Outside of Singapore's homes, people usually go out to places like Starbucks. Singapore, being a world hub, has many international coffe chains and Starbucks is the most prominent. But I never really liked it. I tried it few times but couldn't get hooked on it. It's a big cup, it doesn't have the taste that would impress me. It's therefore very expensive for what you get. So, while in Singapore, I mostly went to small places where they had kaya toast (kaya is a popular spread, based on eggs) and coffee (as in this picture). It was a very good combination for a morning breakfast. The coffee tasted really good and it was cheap, too.
After my time in Singapore, I traveled to Malaysia several times. It's Singapore's neighbouring country with many similar cultural peculiarities, most of which can be found in the drink and food culture. Malaysia has a Muslim majority, but while residing there, I was more influenced by the Chinese, which is the biggest minority and makes one third of the whole population. I stayed in Penang few months, which is the only Malaysian city that has more Chinese than Malays. It's far up north, near Thailand. Like Singapore, it's also located on an island. It's a fairly modern city, but it also has that charm of the old colonial past. I drank many types of coffee there in all kinds of coffee shops, varying from the local Chinese kopi tiams (kopi tiam is a traditional Chinese breakfast and coffee shop), to McDonald's and to various Italian style coffee shops (as seen on the 2nd photo below). Recently I've been in the Southern part of Malaysia as well, in Johor, which shares it's southern border with Singapore. I drank a lot of Old Town white coffee there (see 3rd photo below). It's a Malaysian coffee chain spread all over the country (originating in the town Ipoh). You basically always get the same atmosphere and the same taste. I really love that coffee (you can see it on the picture below). Another coffee house I frequently went to, was Dagan. Their coffee is also very tasty, I recommend to anyone. It's also a Malaysian coffee chain.
During my short stay in Hong Kong, I didn't have the time to try many kinds of coffee. Mostly I bought one at McDonald's (see 4th photo below) and it wasn't bad at all (and affordable). I drank one at Delifrance, it was good, something similar like the Delifrance in Singapore (it's a food chain, so what to expect), but it was very expensive. Hong Kong in general is expensive and I've been a bit disappointed with the food and drinks there. For me Malaysia is a food paradise. And the coffee is not bad either.
So, to round up my musings on coffee: I like most kinds of coffee and usually wherever I go, I find some coffee that I like. But nevertheless, the best coffee for me is at home, in Slovenia. And it can be the homemade Turkish style coffee or the latte in coffee shops. I like all kinds of coffee served in my native country. If you wanna try our coffee, you're welcome to visit Slovenia. It's a safe, clean and modern country with open-minded people. Yea, I love coffee. And to travel. And my homeland.





Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Laura Ling and Euna Lee, we are with you!

The two American journalists abducted by North Korean brutal regime, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, are in their captivity since 17th March. People in their communities gathered to support them (source). I ask myself when will the media wake up and report more on this case? I've been closely following this situation and I really hope these two brave women will survive their ordeal in one of the most brutal regimes in the world - North Korea. I just hope for people to wake up, show more support. I feel for the families of these two women. Forget about human rights in North Korea! Forget about freedoms! Forget about humane treatment. Unless they are going to use these women to blackmail America with something, they won't treat them with any dignity. Let's hope they get released soon! I hope quiet diplomacy is working. It must be. It must.

Students and community gather in support of Euna and Laura.

Please, release Laura and Euna immediately!

[Photos: Source]

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

If you google 'find Chuck Norris'

I came across this thing online. Here's how it goes. Write in Google 'find Chuck Norris' and then hit 'I'm feeling lucky'. Then you'll get this (see picture on the left or try it yourself). I don't know how someone made this, but it's really funny. Made my evening.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Breitling silver dial men's wristwatch collection

This is another collection of Breitling watches I put together. This time it's only 16 of my favourite silver dial Breitling watches. I skipped Navitimer, because I only like the one with the black dial. On the other hand, I had to skip some models which I like, but they don't come in silver dials (such as Blackbird and Emergency). I usually prefer Breitlings with black dials, but some look very good in silver, such as the Airwolf (02), Avernger Seawolf (03), the Chrono Colt (05) and Chrono Superocean (06) look especially delicate with the blue subdials. The Chronomat (14, 15, 16) looks good in all colors, while the Skyracer (12) also looks surprisingly good in silver. But check for yourself, click on photo to enlarge it. All photos from Breitling.com, check their website for all the detailed information you need about your favourite Breitling watch.

































List of watches:

01 Aerospace
02 Airwolf
03 Avenger Seawolf
04 Chrono Cockpit
05 Chrono Colt
06 Chrono Superocean
07 Super Avenger
08 Colt Automatic
09 Colt GMT
10 Colt Quartz
11 Colt Superocean
12 Skyracer
13 Superocean Steelfish
14 Chronomat (no numerals)
15 Chronomat (Arab numerals)
16 Chronomat (Roman numerals)

Related post: Breitling black dial men's wristwatch collection

Faith Fighter: People complain, God doesn't

This morning I followed a link on my friend's tweet and it brought me to this article. It's about the game 'Faith Fighter', where you can chose between God, Jesus, Buddha, Ganesha, Budai and Muhammad to fight against each other. Of coursereligious people started complaining, this time all of them were united and demanding the game has to be banned, it's disrespectful and similar bla bla we keep hearing everytime someone tells a Jesus joke or a Muhammad cartoon...
So I went to check out the game myself and it's fun. They even give you the choice to chose Muhammad censored (see picture below). That's a good joke, it made me think which Muslim would chose the censored one? Would he chose the uncesnored one? Or would he chose none? It's funny to imagine. Same goes for Christians. Big question: Should I chose God or Jesus? For me it's a fun game, you should try it out and just not take it seriously. And I hope it won't get banned, because if you're so offended by a game like this, then first of all - question your own faith. Are you really that petty? Can't you rise above these kind of earthly nonsense?
I think the core issue of things like these is that a joke has a lot of truth in it. The more you can laugh about religion, the more you realize it is a big hoax. I tolerate religious people who keep their religion or beliefs personal. But I hate those phonies who don't practise what they preach. They're usually the loudest when it comes to complaints, that's why I'm happy if this game is another thing that will make them upset. (and if you liked that game, here's another funny blog for you: The Jesus Gang, enjoy).

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Swine flu, new jackpot for the pharmaceutical industry?

How can we know that the new reports on 'Swine flu' aren't just a media scare driven by the pharmaceutical industry to make money? What happened to bird flu? Where was the pandemic? Come on! 80 people died because of swine flu... and maybe soon it will be 100, 200... even if there's 1000 or more people dead all over the world due to 'Swine flu'. Should the rest of the 6+ billion people seriously be afraid? I won't jump on this train, I'll keep my cool. Besides, some of the people who got it, survived. It's not like AIDS. We should put more money fighting HIV (which really kills millions of people!) rather than create a mass fear over this 'Swine flu', that is more media driven rather than a real threat. If tomorrow something like another 9/11 or another Tsunami happens, would people still be afraid of 'Swine flu'. Would we be still talking about it?

Jesus Christ and Hitler on Twitter!

Have you seen some people on Twitter who claim to be 'Jesus Christ' or 'God'? Well, sure, there will always be some crazy people who would do stuff like that... but more scary are the followers. Can you imagine a guy who calls himself 'God' has now over 16.000 followers? Who are these people? I'm sure at least one of them thinks that 'Good tweets from heaven'. That's crazy. 'Jesus Christ' has only 4900 followers.
Then there's so many Hitlers. You just write Hitler under 'find people' and you get all kinds of crazy Hitlers. Should Twitter do something about that? It's open for debate. What will happen to Twitter next? Unfortunately all these things get regulated and restricted sooner or later, because money starts playing a huge role. They start advertizing, adding new gadgets - and then it gets boring. It loses the simplicity and charme it had in the beginning. Twitter, where are you going?

Friday, April 24, 2009

Bloggers fight for Laura Ling and Euna Lee!

Today I read that the two US journalists captured by North Korea, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, are about to be tried in Pyongyang probably for alleged espionage. We can expect this trial to be higly unfair. It is another way for the North Korean rotten dictatorship flexing it's muscles towards the rest of the world and especially towards America. I just wonder, how can we instantly have a big media outrage if something like that happens in Iran, but when it comes to this case in North Korea, the media is almost quiet. These two women deserve the same attention like any other illegally captured journalist around the world. I wish that the mainstream media would pay more attention to this case! And the politicians should follow. It is a shame!

I think America made a big mistake when they invaded Afganistan with no exit strategy and Iraq with a fabricated reason and a fabricated outcome! So, all we keep hearing in recent years is Taliban, Saddam, Iran, Pakistan, Afganistan... All the media is focused on these 3 states plus Israel. As if that's the biggest threat to the world! How about North Korea? USA and NATO are so involved in these useless, never ending and money consuming wars that they reclessly neglect North Korea and it's poor brainwashed people. People who would really deserve to be liberated from a dictator who's constantly mocking the USA and the rest of the world by doing whatever he wants! He can blackmail and threaten! Where is the outrage! The clown Ahmadinejad utters some nonsense and the media grabs it, makes it big! Come on!!! Iran would never attack Israel or USA or Europe! Why? Because all three of them could obliterate it in few days! For what would they risk attacking or invading another country? They're surrounded by US forces. Media just can't have enough of Iran, USA and Israel. It's like a big circus! I'm just sick of these games played by Israel and Iran and partly USA, it's like verbal ping pong. And where is the logic! If Iran had the nuclear bomb or other nuclear weapons, why would they want to attack Israel? First of all, Jerusalem is a muslim holy city. Only thing they could do is destroy Tel Aviv! And then? They know the USA and Israel would retaliate few times harder. I'm not convinced by the rightwing media trying to portray the Iranian regime as nuts. If there's a nuts regime, it's the North Korean! They have 1.2 million active soldier's (plus 7.7 million reservists) and the whole population is only 22.6 million. 5.3% percent of the population are soldiers, most of them brainwashed, higly motivated to destroy their 'devil' the USA. Like the fanatic jihadists, they would die for their 'divine' leaders Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-il. Compare that to the 300 million Americans and their regular army of 550,000 soldiers! With all the reservists and the Army National Guard they barely put together 1.1 million soldiers. The only difference is that the US army has a superior training and wapons, but are the US soldiers as fanatic to kill and fight for democracy as the jihadists are willing to fight for their supposed God or the North Koreans are willing to fight for their rotten and evil communist state? Probably not. In a free Western society, where you can pursue your own path of life, career, political engagement, where you can open your own business, experss your opinion, it just makes you have an open mind. I guess that's why we invest more in technology rather than in brutal merciless soldiers. But North Korea does so! And we should do something to change it! So many times the media says Kim Jong-il will die and then we will have something better. What!? We won't get a democrat in power! In best case, we will have a copy of the Chinese regime, which will even more strengthen the commies and we can forget democracy and the unification of both Koreas for a long time.

That's why I urge America and other free nations to focus on North Korea and do something to remove that fat* clown in Pyongyang, who's mocking the whole world, while his people starve and have no rights or freedoms like we have! And do everything to free Euna Lee and Laura Ling, 2 brave journalists, who deserve to be free and report about these evil communist states! They put their lives on the line for us. We should do everything in our power to get them released!

Some photos from the internet:












1 Laura and Lisa, her famous sister, she was host of 'The View'.
2 Laura Ling in 2009.
3 Euna Lee, unfortunately the only photo of her.

4 South Korean protesters remind us of Laura and Euna.
5 Why are they mocking our freedom?
6 Do the faces of evil look like this?

* apparently he's not fat anymore, due to recent illness.

Related post: Tribute to Laura Ling and Euna Lee

King of pop moonwalking: Amazing!

A Twitter friend made me laugh today as she was saying how she attempted to moonwalk at work. It must have been hillarious. So I searched on You-Tube to see how the King moonwalks. And here's the clip that took my breath away. Where is the Michael Jackson that fascinated us in the eighties and early nineties? We had so many great artists with so much originality... after 1995 the music quality gradually declined and what we have now is mostly rubbish. I haven't bought an album (other than U2's) for a decade. It's sad. And it doesn't look as if there's any hope on the horizon, unless a one-hit-wonder is something you fancy. That's why let's moonwalk back in the golden era of Michael Jackson and enjoy his unique dance moves. We won't have another MJ in our lifetime.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Breitling Aerospace and Airwolf comparison, part II

Here's a different kind of comparison of these two incredible timepieces. I've always been impressed by the names of Breitling watches (like Navitimer, Windrider, Starliner, Cockpit, Co-pilot, Skyland, Skyracer, Aeromarine, Aerospace, Seawolf, Airwolf, Superocean). The names are the result of Breitling's close ties with the aviation and it's therefore one of the most popular watch brands among pilots. The names mostly imply some connection with air, sky, airplanes, sea and ships. So let's compare the two of my favorite Breitling watches from the Professional series - the Airwolf and the Aerospace - in the aspect of what does their name tell us about them.

Airwolf - definitely a wolf


*Meaning: air + wolf

1 : air - The Earth's atmosphere is a layer of gases surrounding
the planet Earth that is retained by the Earth's gravity.
2: wolf - Any of various large predatory mammals of the genus Canis.


The name 'Airwolf' can come from the popular US series in the eighties from 1984-1987 (See photo left above). The focus of the series was an advanced military helicopter with the codename 'Airwolf' (more about that here). Since the watch's display and bidirectional bezel resemble a flight instrument, this could be a plausible explanation. On the other hand, the name is fairly new - it was introduced in 2007 as the follow-up model of the popular predecessor Breitling B1. But in the Aeromarine series, we have the model with the name Seawolf (since 2003). So, same as we have the Aeromarine and the Aerospace, we have the Seawolf and the Airwolf. Breitling loves to have these kind 'semantic couples'. In this case the name Airwolf would be a parallel to the Seawolf, whose name comes from an actual fish. I think the name suits the design of the Airwolf. It's big, almost bulky, looks more like an instrument than a wrist watch. It's clearly not an understatement: With a watch like this you catch attention. It is an eye-catcher.

Aerospace - definitely above the sky


*Meaning: aer- + space

1 : space comprising the earth's atmosphere and the space beyond
2 : a branch of physical science that deals with aerospace
3 : the industry involved in the manufacture of aerospace vehicles


The name 'Aerospace' has a much more common meaning. When I hear this name, I associate it with athmosphere, with space and with astronauts. It's a very light watch, it's dial is simple, which makes it much easier to read the time. No distractions, no second hand, the bezel is simple and undirectional. This is a Breitling's way of understatement. Also the titanium-case makes it's appearance special. It's well-known for being dense, strong and corrosion resistant - the kind of attributes that serve well in the aerospace if in fact an astronaut would wear this kind of watch out there. That would make it a kind of 'space watch'. Maybe that's what the Breitling designers imagined back in 1985 when the watch was produced and sold for the first time.

Two brilliant timepieces

It's clear that these two watches are one of the best quartz watches out there. Both have a unique design combining a top analog and digital timepiece. It's clearly up to your individual taste to find your favorite among these two. Some like big and bulky, some like smaller and lighter. I hope you'll find my information useful when informing yourself about these watches. But keep in mind, a million words cannot describe the feeling when you try the wacth on, when you see all these things in real. So your next step should be testing it yourself. And then make a decision. I wish you good luck.

[*Meaning taken from Merriam-Webster dictionary Version 2.5]

Related post: Breitling Aerospace and Airwolf comparison, part I

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Alexis Sy Go, Miss Manila 2009

A lovely Philippine girl

Recently there was news about a different kind of beauty pageant in the Philippines called 'Miss Philippines Earth'. The girl has to be beautiful and environmentally friendly (check their website for more photos and info). On most photos in these newspapers you see a pretty girl named Alexis Sy Go. She's Miss Manila, 20 years old and wants to become a dentist. Ain't she cute?

Click on last photo, it's big sized!



Get a brain, morans!

In these times of the right-wing's new found interest to protest spending (like Bush didn't spend like a lunatic... where were you then?), I decided to find some misspelled protest banners of these 'patriots', so that we can have a good laugh at their basic ignorance towards their native language.
I found them on various websites (here, here, here and here). These are only in English and it's not surprising - they're mostly made by white religious right-wing Americans or some anti-Israeli protesters, mostly Arab-Americans and also some others, whose native language is not English, but they could have hired someone to spell-check their banners. Good they didn't, cause it gave me plenty of material for my post.

So, here's my top 20 of misspelled protest banners:

No. 20: 'Your smarter'

No. 19: 'Providense'

No. 18: '5 years to many'

No. 17: 'Revolation' (Revolution)
No. 16: 'Telepromter'

No. 15: 'Sombody'

No. 14: 'Jews are Terroist'
No. 13: bil Clinton (supposed to be a pun?)

No. 12: 'Soliders'

No. 11: 'Enamis of Muslime world'

No. 10: 'No amnety'

No. 9: 'Sactity of marriage'

No. 8: 'Free speach'

No. 7: 'Arrest the Jhon's (men)'

No. 6: 'Respect are country'

No. 5: 'Churh', 'All marriges' (double strike!)

No. 4: 'Buhs is a big terrior'

No. 3: 'McKein tank for you sopport'

No. 2: 'America's offical language'

No. 1: 'Get a brain, morans!'

All I can say: Get a brain, morans! Haha...