Nudurile...

...ne plac un pic mai bizare, scriam acum cîtva timp. Nu ne dezminţim!

The blog goes on

(THE TIMES, February 15, 2006)

Sir, The main problem with the blogosphere (letters, Feb 9 and 11) — apart from its penchant for nauseating neologisms, such as “blogosphere” — is that, rather like academia, it is an incestuous community consisting mainly of people reading each other’s work, with success judged on how many links you can get to your site from people who are just as boring as you.

The “source” for the average blog post is another blog post, and finding the original source by clicking from one blog to the next is rather like that blonde joke where someone hands you a piece of paper with “turn over” written on both sides. Eventually you end up either at a real news story by the vilified and obsolete “MSM”, or back where you started.

The thing about incest is that while it lets the species continue to survive, its contribution to the quality of the gene pool is less than nothing.

SAMUEL BLANNING
Southampton

Toilet Mishaps in Bulgaria

După cum am văzut încă de la începutul cercetărilor şi în Bulgaria vecină se pune acut problema curăţeniei. Nu mă pot opri să nu postez aici cîteva din gîndurile unui turist canadian, postate pe site-ul Lonely Planet (la http://www.lonelyplanet.com/bluelist/index.cfm?fa=main.viewList&list_id=1567 )

• Mind your head in Rila Monastery

Getting up in the middle of the night to use the jacks, I managed to brain myself as I left my room despite making a mental note of the low ceiling before going to bed. I managed to limit my blasphemies to cursing anyone under 5 feet.

• Beware of falling tile in Subway

When the first Subway sandwich shop opened in Sofia, word spread quickly through the expatriate community. Soon after it opened, a friend went downstairs to use the toilet. As she got up, a piece of tile fell off the wall and landed on her head.

• Porn in Rousse Region rest stop

At first glance, it seemed like a typical Bulgarian café-grandparents, parents and children drinking coffee and watching TV. On closer inspection, I realised that they weren’t watching a Hollywood movie; they were all watching porn together.

• Careful where you step in Veliko Turnovo train station

Travelling with family, we managed to avoid nasty toilets until the VT train station. All was well until I saw my dad kneeling in front of my aunt cleaning something off of her sandal. She took it well though and had a story to tell her friends in CA

• Hole in the floor of the train

Travelling to Bourgas, I was surprised to see a Turkish toilet on the train. I was even more surprised to see the track rushing beneath me. My female friends claimed the first time they didn’t pee on themselves on the train as a religious experience.