MY BLOG HAS MOVED!

I'm now using a new (and better) blog site provider:
http://hedonistix.blogs.com/

Bookmark that site and I look forward to seeing you all over there.

--H

OTHERS: Iraqi Team in the Olympics

OK, the beginning of another (good) new week.

We have been enjoying the Olympic games for the last couple of days, mostly swimming and gymnastics (the Mrs. is Romanian, so I think it's pretty much understandable). One other thing that really makes me pumped up about the Olympics is - no, NOT the crybabies of the US Basketball team, which got spanked by Puerto Rico yesterday - but the Iraqi team; their football (soccer) team in particular.

I can't describe the warm feeling of watching their contingent paraded and being cheered by everybody in the stadium. Politics aside, you can't help but rooting for these guys.

http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,10385028^662,00.html
THE Royal Australian Air Force has flown the Iraqi Olympic team out of Baghdad at the start of its journey to Athens.A RAAF C-130 Hercules flew the 48-member team from Baghdad International Airport yesterday under tight securityTHE Royal Australian Air Force has flown the Iraqi Olympic team out of Baghdad at the start of its journey to Athens.A RAAF C-130 Hercules flew the 48-member team from Baghdad International Airport yesterday under tight security .......

And their football team surprisingly beat Portugal 4-2 and Costa Rica by 2-0 and now entering the quarter final. From here, who knows how far they can go? [for those who don't follow football/soccer, Portugal is one of the world power-house. Granted they might not have sent their full first squad, it is still an achievement beating the Portuguese team]
http://www.athens2004.com/en/FootballOlympicTournament

The above "achievements" are sweet after what the country has been through, even before this event, they had to go through this kind of challenges from some barbarians:
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,10134006%255E1702,00.html
ASSASSINS tried to kill the head of Iraq's Olympic committee in an ambush of his convoy in the middle of Baghdad, the head of the committee said today.Ahmed al-Hijeya was heading to a television interview yesterday when his two-car convoy was ambushed on Baghdad's Haifa Street, the scene of regular violence and occasional street battles between insurgents and US and Iraqi forces, he said overnight.
...... "I am surprised at this attack because the Olympic Committee has nothing to do with politics. This committee belongs to all Iraqis, regardless of their political, religious or ethnic origins," Mr al-Hijeya said.

I hope only the best for the Iraqis and their Olympic team!


--H

OTHERS: 2004 Olympic Games, Athens, Greece

From The Opening Ceremony of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece

http://www.athens2004.com/en/

With a magical Opening Ceremony, Athens welcomed the best athletes from around the globe for the Olympic Games, which returned home. Connecting symbolically the Ancient Olympia Stadium with the Athens Olympic Stadium, the beginning of the Opening Ceremony bridged 3,000 years of Olympic Games history ........

OTHERS: 2004 Olympic Games - The Other Sides

Summer Olympic games 2004 in Athens, Greece is starting today August 13, 2004.
Thought I need to put this article on this event here on the blog.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0813/p18s01-hfcs.html
'The healing of the nations'

Since their inauguration in 1896, the modern Olympic Games have mirrored the times in which they have been held. World wars canceled the Games in 1916, 1940, and 1944. Boycotts substantially reduced the number of competitors in Montreal in 1976, Moscow in 1980, and Los Angeles in 1984. And security for athletes, spectators, officials, and the media has been a key issue for the organizers since the Games in Berlin in 1936.

This year in Athens there is more than the usual concern about possible disruption from outside. There are fears that political activists - including terrorists - might seize the opportunity to try to interfere with an event that is the antithesis of what would seem to be their agenda ........

...... The 2004 Summer Games promise to be as valuable as any other in uniting people of all ages and nations in a commitment to give of their best, not only in competition, but toward the healing of nations.

OTHERS: Blogging - Another New Online Trend?

Today is Friday the 13th of August 2004 and coincidentally this is my 13th post on this blog.
Before going any further, I got to start by stating that I'm a newcomer in blogosphere (I set this up in November 2003 but never did anything until last week).

I think blogs have reached the point to where some are actually comparing them with "medias" or "journalism". This is a take from my fellow blogger friend (fling93): http://fling93.com/blog/archives/blogging/2004/blogging_vs_journalism.html

This below article even took it further:
http://ojr.org/ojr/technology/1092267863.php
Transparency Begets Trust in the Ever-Expanding Blogosphere

The openness of Weblogs could help explain why many readers find them more credible than traditional media. Can mainstream journalists learn from their cutting-edge cousins?

At the Aspen Institute's Conference on Journalism and Society in mid-July, a question was put to executives of major news organizations: Whom do you trust in online media today? Most answered with a list of the usual suspects: the Web sites of The New York Times, NPR, the Los Angeles Times.
Jeff Jarvis, a blogger and president of Advance Internet, gave a different answer: "I have learned to trust the voice and judgment of my fellow citizens.".....


This one is highlighting the rising popularity of blogs and relating it to the recent Democratic Party convention, in which some bloggers were invited (not to be outdone, of course the Republican Party is reportedly also giving passes to bloggers):
http://www.lavanguardia.es/public/series/20040810/51159314079.html
Channel that emotion

For those chosen, the excitement of the experience has spilled over into their weblogs. The privilege of experiencing the convention first hand overwhelmed some to such an extent that they were unable to sit coolly back and write about anything above or beyond the logistics, the number of people there, and the circumstances they were working in.

From the journalistic point of view, most of the content in the convention's many weblogs is irrelevant. There are impressions, comments and gossip, but not much in the way of news. But was that what was expected? Does the success of blogging lie in its ability to provide news? ........


I'm not saying that we should trust blogs more or less than mainstream medias. One really still needs to tread carefully in blogosphere what type of information they want to get out of reading blogs as there are really various reasons for people to be blogging in the first place. Although in a way, unpaid blog-ing actually is quite a good "incentive" for bloggers to be "objective" {gee, "unpaid", "incentive" and "objective" in one sentence?} as there is no pressure for bloggers to write certain this and that agenda of interests.

Some like to write, some have opinions on everything, some want to socialize and some prefer to share; some even are blogging for business:
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/aug2004/tc2004089_3601_tc024.htm
Blogging for Business

With readers flocking to their Web postings, execs are finding blogs useful for plugging not just their products but their points of view Jonathan Schwartz, president and chief operating officer of server maker Sun Microsystems (SUNW ), first suspected that his blog was a success when his salespeople began reporting that customers were reading his posts and sealing deals faster .....

I have mentioned a bit on why I decided to start blog-ing here: http://hedonistix.blogspot.com/2004/08/personal-blog-ing.html ; I'm not sure how credible I am as a blog-er or how much I can maintain my "objectivity" on more serious issues (i.e.: politics, etc.) but as far as I'm concerned, it's more about "this is what I think about these" instead of "here is what I think things should be".

I am also not expecting heavy traffic and interactions on my blog, instead I hope it will also serve as some kind of archiving space for topics or articles that I find interesting and may need to re-read sometime in the future {I'm still waiting for Google/Blogger Support team to get me the Google search capacity within my blog}. Additionally, it will also serve as a journal for me to share with others; be it about my opinion on issues or about what I am thinking as I write my posts, which I think will be quite fun to read - if I'm still interested - in the next 20-30 years of my life.

--H

OTHERS: Why Am I NOT Surprised?

Thought this is an interesting article to share.
Don't think I can make any comments on this one.


http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3064790
After Babel, a new common tongue
Aug 5th 2004 RIGA From The Economist print edition

It turns out to be English

IN THE 17th century, educated people across central Europe could still communicate with each other in Latin. By the mid-19th century, the handiest language for a traveller through Mitteleuropa was the German spoken by the Habsburg monarchs who reigned over Hungarians, Czechs and many others. A little more than 100 years later, the dominant tongue was Russian.

.... What has happened to the other main languages? A majority of central Europeans have eschewed Russian as firmly as they have rejected the communist ideology which was once articulated in that tongue. Russian remains the second-most-studied foreign language in the Baltic countries, where there are large minorities of native Russian speakers and a thriving Russophone culture with them ......

German has languished partly because Germany has been shy about promoting its language and culture in a region ravaged by Hitler's war. No such shyness has affected France. Its cultural diplomacy in the region has been vigorous and generous. Handsome French cultural centres ornament the capitals of the region: the newest of them will open in Riga, the Latvian capital, in October. But admiration for France's culture does not translate into widespread use of its language. Only in Romania—whose own vernacular is of Latin origin—does it exceed English in popularity.

The choice of English has been made easier by the demands of foreign investors. The first to move east were the most international European companies, which tended to use English as their international working language regardless of their base. The biggest foreign direct investor within central Europe for most of the past decade, Siemens AG of Germany, an engineering and telecoms firm, made English its main “corporate language” in 1998. “German companies are very pragmatic,” confirms Bernhard Welschke, head of European policy at the Federation of German Industry. They value a single language for business, he says, even if it is not their own.

..... One big question now is whether the generalised use of English as a first or second language will accelerate the political integration of the EU. The spread of English will lower the language barrier which has, arguably, obstructed pan-European political debate. It will open the way to the formation of pan-European public opinion, and to politicians with pan-European appeal. But there have been empires, like the Soviet one, which had common languages and still fell apart. A language can help a good political system work better, but it cannot rescue a bad one.