SCARY AND MESSED UP MOVIES - 01

For my weekly presentation I'd like to tell you about one of my hobbies. And that is - watching scary movies. From the classic monsters series like Dracula and Frankenstein of the silver screen era, to the bloody nineties slashers with their merciless faceless killers I just enjoy them all. Apart from horrors I like to watch, what I call "crappy" films, although a lot of them are horrors :) Films that are BAD, just painfull to watch, movies that make you think-"What the heck were they thinking while making this"? I especially enjoy those that were suppose to be good but ended up like some of the worst pictures of all time. What about them? Why do I torture myself with those? Well What i love in them is the obvious cheese factor. The "Riffability" - that's a term which is used to describe movies potential to make jokes of it. Basicly it means that this movie is so bad that you can just sit and riff at it all the time. You must have heard someone do it - whenever you say something regarding the movie you're watching right now - that's "Riffing on a movie". It started a huge trend but i will talk about it later.


Ok i think we start this bloodfest with an introduction of a SLASHER genre. This is one of my favorite horror subgenres. I think that many of you will be suprised on how precise are the "rules" of a typical slasher. In one sentence a slasher movie tells a story of a killer preying on a group of teenagers.

But first of all you have to remember that:
THE KILLERS are the real main heroes in slashers. There are certain rules which make a great slasher killer. First of all - his identity is unknown, be it due to him wearing a mask or just tricky camera work doesn't matter - he's shrouded in mystery.

Second they're killers with a cause - they always have an important backstory of the events that happened "before" the film. Those are often commemorated in the movie and give the killer their trademark motives like the choice of weapons or a place they choose to haunt. And the third final rule when making a Slasher villan... They have to be badass, unstoppable killing machines that would always come back to haunt you no matter what you do. You can drown them, shoot them, set them on fire, stab them, blow them to pieces - they WILL have their comeback one way or another.
As for the victims their are usually teenagers that do "bad" things. And by this I mean pre-marital sex, alcohol or drugs. Among them there's always one girl called - The Final Girl- she's different from her colleges, she dosen't drink neither smoke and... she's a virgin. And miraculously that's enough to win a golden ticket from god to be in a final fight with the movie's bad guy. She always wins but the win is Pyrrhic. She's scarred for life and sometimes...the killer comes back in a sequel. Or like Jason Vorhees from "Friday The 13TH" series in 12 sequels :)

THE FINAL GIRLS GALLERY - CAN YOU RECOGNIZE ALLTHE MOVIES? :)

And of course one final thing that define a slasher is violence. Brutal, graphic violence is what separates those movies from thrillers. Movie directors often compete in inventing more and more gruesome ways for teens to die and boast on how many barrels of artificial blood they used on the set. But those death scenes are the main course when it comes to slashers, that's what defines them and what makes you remember a certain movie. I could go on and on about it but i think I talked about most of things. So ok this concludes my slasher review. I will end with a clip of "TOP 13 FRIDAY THE 13 MOMENTS" njoy.

Remember those are scenes from slasher series, if anyone dislikes when artificial blood sprays all over the place - DO NOT WATCH IT :)

Extra points

Go to http://uwb2ms.blogspot.com/
and comment two presentations.

Punctuality part3

The true virtue
As I see it punctuality can be seen either in terms of a social norm, a social agreement or simply as the ability to know and keep “the right timing”. As a social requirement, the punctuality of a person is a character trait, that defines his trustworthiness, discipline and respect for others. (But such a view of punctuality must not by all means be applied to students.) From an other point of view, a punctual occurrence is an action taken exactly when the time is right. Not before and not after. This way of perceiving it on the other hand, can stem out of deeper understanding of self and the surrounding. A few people in the world posses the exclusive ability to do something that is necessary exactly when the time is right.
In the latter sense, punctuality can truly be, as the saying puts it, a virtue. Off course I am not undermining the social value of respecting an agreement. If you promised to come on a designated time, than it would be highly disrespectful to do the opposite. It would simply be given word turned into a lie.
But from the students’ point of view – there is no need to treat time schedules so seriously. Life is much too short for that. And not understanding what truly is important in life, is the worst kind of “being late” there is.
What do you think of punctuality?
Maybe you have some funny stories from your own experience? :)

Punctuality part2

Economic reasoning

While many would consider punctuality to be a social rather than an economical problem, economists have tried in vain to apply economics principles to this phenomena. The Game Theory has provided a model of punctuality, based on the assumption that waiting is costly and unpleasant.
Here’s the logic: you don’t know when I’ll show up, and waiting is costly. If you’re early you’ll have to wait. If you’re late you won’t. So you come late. And I do the same thing.
Ergo, we’re both late.
It is therefore economic to be late. Off course many economists have found a discrepancy in this reasoning - as there is technically no equilibrium.
A following explanation is presented: if I assume you’ll show up at noon, I should show up at 12:10. But I know that you’re rational and will make the same calculation and will show up at 12:10 also. So I repeat the calculation and decide to show up at 12:20. And you do the same thing, and so on. These iterations continue… and we never show up.
Punctuality is therefore by nature an economic paradox.

Cultural difference – a nation, which is late
There seem to be different cultural attitudes towards punctuality. Some cultures put a premium on punctuality while others claim to value it when they do not or do not regard it as highly. Sweden, Finland, and the United States generally belong to the former, while to the latter category belong - among others - Spain, most of Latin America, and the Philippines.
Social psychologists have ascribed these differences to deep cultural facts, religion, and "national personalities." One theory, for example, has it that the changing of the seasons in more northern latitudes induces a greater respect for time - plant a little late or early and frost will wipe out your crop.

Some nations perceive there lack of punctuality as too costly. In Ecuador, for example, according to some estimates, habitual lateness costs 4.3 percent of GDP. Thus a national campaign is aiming to change the bad habit.
Other countries seem to benefit from being punctual nationwide. As proof, let me just mention that in numerous surveys of foreign business professionals, they have consistently rated the German habit of paying invoices on time as the quality they like most about doing business in the country.

Punctuality part1

PUNCTUALITY


They say that punctuality is a virtue. But as I wake up at 7 am and struggle to get to school on time, fighting with the immense lack of sleep and then pushing myself unwillingly through the angry crowd in the subway… I tend to think otherwise.
So what is this “punctuality” that keeps me from starting the day 15 (more) minutes later? My short but rich experience tells me that a man cannot win with time. Therefore, punctuality must be an attempt to at least somehow control it.
As the internet encyclopedia Wikipedia puts it, punctuality is the characteristic of being able to complete a required task or fulfill an obligation before or at a previously-designated time. But a mere dictionary formula cannot fully describe the meaning of one of humanity’s greatest motors. Being late.


Punctuality – a student’s view

Among the many requirements put before a student by the “university environment”, punctuality seems to be simultaneously one of the most importunate and most obvious of them all. Though punctuality is hardly ever enforced, the act of being late notoriously performed (committed) by students, drives many lecturers furious.
As a student I have learned that being on time is actually relative. According to the student’s code, there are precisely five things that you should NOT be late for:
· a date
· an exam
· an appointment with a Polish doctor
· your own wedding
· your own funeral
Similarly, there seem to be five things that you SHOULD be late for as well, as it is thought to be either stylish or simply time-saving and economical. Those occasions include:
· a party
· a class or a lecture at 8 am
· a family reunion
· your best friends wedding
· your own funeral
Many lecturers see it as incomprehensible, that students will most probably come in late for just about anything they can think of – a class, an exam. Anything. My guess is that this can be easily explained, if we only think of punctuality as something that involves a certain level of seriousness. Which makes the phrase “a punctual student” an obvious contradiction.

Just few quotations by famous people

“Punctuality is a virtue, if you don't mind being lonely"- Evelyn Waugh

“ I've been on a calendar, but never on time.” - Marylin Monroe

“Better three hours too soon than a minute too late.” - William Shakespeare

“He was always late on principle, his principle being that punctuality is the thief of time.” - Oscar Wilde

“Men count up the faults of those who keep them waiting.” - French Proverb

“Punctuality is the soul of business.” - Thomas C. Haliburton

“Punctuality is the art of guessing how late the other fellow is going to be” - Alex Taborrek

ROBOTS Part III

We watched on the television and read in the books that it is just a matter of several years to machines executing hateful work for us. Then it was turned out that kitchen robot is only a mixing device :(

Nowadays we can meet robots on every step. In the computer industry, robots solder tiny wires to microchips. Industrial robots insert integrated circuits onto printed circuit boards which are used in all kinds of electronics, from radios to microwaves. Robots are also at work making and packaging foods, textiles and medicines. Robots do jobs, we can not or do not want to do and even play with our kids. Who knows, maybe robot can go for shopping instead of us in the nearest future.

However, the road to intelligent behaviors remains a long one. The model for intelligence, the brain, must first be better understood before similar principles can be applied to humanoid robots.

The end :)


Questions to discuss:

• How soon will robots become part of our every day lives?
• Will robots replace people in the work?
• Will robots become really intelligent in the future?
• Will robots be able to threaten people some day?

ROBOTS Part II - How do robots help people.

Robots can be very helpful in the man life. They don't get tired and cope with executing quick and precise movements better than the man can. Industrial robots are designed exactly to such tasks.

Industrial robots are generally heavy rigid devices limited to manufacturing. They operate in precisely structured environments and perform single highly repetitive tasks under preprogrammed control. A robot the size of a person can easily carry a load over fifty kilograms and move it very quickly. Furthermore these robots can do that job 24 hours a day for years without failures.

Industrial robot ride :)


World’s fastest robot:

But there are more place for robots. It is dangerous for humans to be in space, deeply under water or inside a volcano. Other jobs are physically inaccessible, such as exploring another planet or cleaning long pipe. Places like these good fit for robots.


Locating robots to operate in space presents some challenges for engineers. The temperatures can swing wildly depending on whether the robot is in the sun light or shade and there is no gravity. Gravity is actually more of an opportunity than a challenge. Imagine big robot with twenty independent joints. On earth it would be impossible for this robot to support its own weight. This kind of robot named 'Canadarm' flown on every space shuttle flight for the last twenty years. Robot arm has three degrees of freedom shoulder and is used as a work platform for the astronauts for shooting out satellites into space, pushing a faulty antenna into place or directing a satellite into proper orbit. Another example of space robot is 'Sojourner'. For the first time Sojourner was deployed onto red planet Mars by sonde spatiale Pathfinder in 1997. The Sojourner is a six-wheeled rover of a rocker bogie design. During its first mission, it sent 550 photographs to Earth and analyzed the chemical properties of rocks. A true robot success.

Best job for robot is dangerous one.

Robots can work in dangerously polluted environments, such as chemical spills and radioactive hot zones in nuclear power plants. There are robots specially designed to explore areas where extreme radiation would kill a human.

The another example is 'Mini-Andros' - robot used by bomb squads to locate and dispose of bombs. Mini-Andros looks like a small tank with movable arms , which can be extended for climbing stairs. Robot is equipped in bomb-proof boxes and detachable accessories enable to break windows, see in the dark, blasting bombs. Mini-Andros ranks as teleoperated robot, so it is controlled from a distance by a human operator.

Andros robot presentation:


Robots ready to take over the home.

As prices fall and robots become smarter and cheaper. Today they taking simple jobs, such as cleaning an washing in over a million houses and become the part of the world entertainment. Kids meets it as intelligent robot that can walk, talk, dance, pick up objects and even shake hands like a human. It will go asleep and snore if not given commands. Similar robots become the best selling toys.

Sony Rolly music robot:


Nao robot:

Questions to discuss:

• What are the largest achievements in the field of the robotics in your opinion?

• Can the robot toy be danger?
  

• Please put some pictures or films of funny robot toys.

ROBOTS Part I - How science fiction has become science fact with robots.

A robot can be defined as a programmable, self-controlled device consisting of electronic, electrical, or mechanical units. More generally, it is a machine designed to execute one or more tasks repeatedly, with speed and precision. Unlike humans, they never get tired, they can endure physical conditions that are uncomfortable or even dangerous. The term comes from a Czech word, robota, meaning slave, servant, or forced labor and first appeared in a 1920 play by Czech writer Karel Capek: Rossum's Universal Robots.

Robots are sometimes grouped according to the time when they were first used. First-generation robots date from the 1970s and consist of stationary, nonprogrammable, electromechanical devices. Second-generation robots were developed in the 1980s and can contain sensors and programmable controllers. Third-generation robots were developed between 1990 and the present. These machines can be stationary or mobile, with sophisticated programming, speech recognition and synthesis, and other advanced features. Fourth-generation robots are in the research and development phase, they include features such as artificial intelligence and nanoscale size. Some advanced robots are called androids because they are designed to look and act like a human. Androids have been mainly an element of science fiction, today it is becoming a reality.

Dynamically balancing bipedal robot:

Robot with human face:

Baseball batting robot:

One of the earliest robots was sketched by Leonardo Da Vinci in 1495. The robot, witch appears in hiss sketches could (if built successfully) move its arms, twist its head and sit up. But the world's first successfully built mechanical automat was the flute player, invented by the French engineer Jacques de Vaucanson in 1738. He also constructed a mechanical duck. The duck moved, quacked, flapped it's wings and even ate and digested food!

In 1939 Westinghouse electric corporation builds a mechanical man 'elektro'. The robot relied on a combination of motors, telephone and record players to perform preprogrammed routines initiated by voice commands. As part of these routines, elektro could raise and lower his arm, turn his head, count on his fingers and smoke a cigarette.

But real robots wouldn’t become possible until the 1960s, with the invention of transistors. In 1953 American inventor Harvey Chapman built first remote controlled robot 'garco'.

The most advanced humanoid robot 'ASIMO' was created by Honda Motor Company and it is still developed. The robot resembles a small astronaut wearing a backpack (where is battery placed), and can walk and run on two feet with speed up to six km/h. Latest ASIMO generation robot has 156 cm and weighs 54 kg. ASIMO was created to be able to function in the real human living environment and serve people. In order to interact better with humans, ASIMO has many interesting features in its design. ASIMO has ability to recognize moving objects using information captured by the camera, detect distances and directions which makes possible to following a person. ASIMO can also interpret postures, gestures and react to voice commands. ASIMO using advanced movements. It can move not only in the front and in the back, but also in the sides, go up and down using stairs, analyze terrain and avoid hitting humans or other moving objects. Very interesting is ability to identify faces and addressing by name after registering new person.

ASIMO commercial:

ASIMO walk and run abilities:

Questions to discuss:

• What is the most interesting or advanced robot you have ever seen? Please put some pictures or films.
• Why do robots have human appearance?

FOOTBALL – part 3 My favourite football club

My favourite club is FC Barcelona. It was founded in 1899 by the group of Swiss, English and Spanish man. Barcelona is one of the most titled world teams in football. The most important titles they have are being 19 time Champions of Spain, 3 time getting Euro Cup and 3 time winning Champions League plus a lot more. But I won't write about trophys becouse it's not why I love this club. The reasons are totaly different. The most important is the way they play football becouse they do it very spectaculary and it looks beautiful for eye which makes watching games even more interesting. The second thing is that Barcelona don't have any adverts on t-shirts on the contrary they only have the logo of UNICEF's and each year donates quite large amounts of money on this fundation.



Now something about the palace where you can see the "Proud of Catalonia". The stadium of Barcelona's is Camp Nou. On it's bleachers can sit 98 722 peoples, so it's the bigest stadium in Europa and one of the bigest in the world. By UEFA it deserves five stars becouse it's arena fulfills the highest standards.



When writing about Barcelona it's not possible to no write about one of the most emotional games for Spain and probably for rest of the world which is the game between Barcelona and Real Madrit. The games was hailed as El Clásico It's something more then normal football match, it's a holiday for a fan of one of the clubs and football fan as well. With this games comes grate emotions and unbelievable atmosphere which you can feel even in
front of a TV.




At the end couple of words about right now the best player of Barcelona. Leo Messi is 22 years old. Before he finished 21 he was nomineted to Golden Ball and the Player of Year by FIFA. Thanks to his style he is compared to the football legend and his countryman Diego Maradona. Maradona even says that Messi is his successor.


If you are a football fans or any other team sports fans please write what's your favourite team and why this team in particularly ??

Some places to go and how to get there

If you don’t mind wasting money, for small distance you can travel by taxi. It’s much cheaper than in Poland and drivers are not as dishonest as they are considered to be. The funny thing is that in many places you can see more taxis than casual cars. Although Tunisia is rather reach in African perspective, many families just can’t afford to buy a car. They travel using ‘louages’, kind of small buses similar to our Polish ones. There are few kinds of them signed with different colors of stripes, depending of the distance they ride on.

Souse
We were staying in a small village near Souse, which is the third big city in this country. Therefore that was our first destination. It is also the most popular area visited by Polish tourists, so I will write a bit about it and possible trips from this place. City is very crowded and noisy (using horns is common) and can by tiring. Especially walking through little streets of old medina and trying to neglect pushy traders can cause a headache. When you need to rest, you should go to local ribat. Ribats were kind of fortified monasteries inhabited and defended by fanatic monks. Built of sandstone, as most old buildings in this area, fortress looks quite ascetic and inaccessible, but rooms inside are pleasantly shadowed and quiet. You can climb up to the tower, which lets you admire all surrounding.

Even more you can see from a massive tower of a castle in the northern part of the medina. The tower is still in use and it serves as a lighthouse. During our vacation the castle and its museum were renovated, but its workers were happy to show us everything (our guide did perfect job) for few dinars. We were offered to see more than it’s normally available also in Souse’s catacombs. They are well hidden so not many tourists get there, especially that many citizens don’t know about their existence. The catacombs have about 5 km, but only a section is prepared for visitors. If you let local guide earn some extra, he will use his secret keys and show you all :-)

Kairouan
Another interesting city where you can get by louage (or by bus, but it will take an extra hour) is Kairuan. For Tunisians is something like our Częstochowa. If they are not reach enough to go to Mekka (which is one of the duties every Muslim must do in his life), they can replace it by 3 peregrinations to Kairuan. It was the first city founded by Arabs in Tunisia. If you start visiting it from Basins of Aghlabites (first Arabian dynasty in this area) you can buy a carnet for all tourist attractions with map which will guide you all over the city. The Basins are the rests of old aqueducts and huge reservoirs which used to supply the city with water.

The biggest attraction in the town is surely Great Mosque. Unless you are Muslim, you will not be allowed to get everywhere, but you can see praying worshipers from beautiful yard decorated with columns from conquered Carthago. Worth of seeing are also other sanctuaries (little mosques and mausoleums), museum of carpets situated in old governor’s house and amazing well powered with camel in the center of medina.

Mahdija
From Souse you can easily get to Mahdija travelling by ‘metro du Sahel’. Actually, this ‘metro’ is a small and very cheap railway. Try to imagine our ‘wukadka’ in times of PRL, but a bit older, more dirty and devastated. If you are very sensitive person, it might be not the best form of communication. All the way long we were the only foreigners :-)

Mahdija is a village located on the scenic penisula with great Turkish fortress from XVIth century screened off from the centre with huge walls. Their ruins are partly covered by sea and Arabs use them as comfortable place for fishing :-)

South
Our journey wouldn’t be complete without excursion to desert. This time we decided to participate in 2-days trip organized by travel agency because of long distance, high prices of renting a car in Tunisia and permissions requested from foreigners. Description of our excursion would need one more part of the presentation. To not make it longer, I will just say that during this fantastic tour we were traveling by bus, jeep, rig and camels. Some of my pictures should be the best recommendation :-)

Definitely 2 weeks in Tunisia is not enough to visit everything, especially if you want to spend also some time resting (we were traveling with little children). Accordingly we are planning to go there in few years again to see northern part of the country with Tunis, Carthago and Bizerte :-)

FOOTBALL – part 2 The Best Players of all time

Hi this part will be more seriouse. I want to introduce three best players of all time which had the privilege to play on the biggest football fields of the world. Of course there was a lot of good players but this three are by me the best.


On the 3rd place is Zinedine Zidane. He was playing in football representation of France with which he got the titles of World Champions and Europe Champions (1998, 2000). He had grate overview of field. He saw literally every thing that happened on the field. Plus unexceptional technique which "Zizou" had and we have one of the world best players. Unfortunately last game in his career wasn't worthy the title one of world best players becouse in World Cup finals in Germany he with his head hit Italian player Marco Materazzi geting red card becouse of that.










2nd place belong's to Pele the legendary Brazilian player. While he was 17 he played his first game in representation of Brazil and thanks to his play in 1985 Brazil got the title of World Cup Champions. He was very good at dribbling and scoring goals was quite easy thanks to that in 91 games of Brazilian representation he scored 77 goals.





The 1st place goes unconditionally to the irreplaceable and one of a kind Diego Armando Maradona. He was remarkable player. His amazing game with England in quater finals of World Cup in 1986 was something marvellous. First he scored not so nice goal (becouse by hand) but later he scored beautiful goal passing around 6 rivals which let Argentina advance to finals and winning World Cup.



If you are interested in Football or any other sport I encourage you to make your own Best players list with short justification why and if not then to watching movies and puting this players in order which you thing is best.

The Tunisians

Mr President

Since we arrived to the airport in Monastir, his thoughtful smile was accompanying us during whole journey. He was everywhere. It was time of approaching election. All the billboards were showing the only proper choice: Ben Ali. Of course, he won. As always since 1987 :-)

He became a president after coup d'état, after inter alia 4 years political practice as ambassador of Poland.

Although Tunisian Republic is a democratic country only on paper, many citizens truly support their president. They live in strange tourism-friendly mix of socialism and capitalism, rather poor but relatively safe.

Women and vogue

Surprise, surprise! No yashmaghs, no even mandatory higabs. Previous (and the first) president, Habib Bourguiba married to French and educated in Europe, laicised the country and forbade many of traditional Muslim habits. Girls can freely go everywhere without man’s company. Here you can see an official spot about Tunisian women:

Please compare this spot to any article or video about women's right in Poland and to the picture on the left :-)

We have seen women having bath in the sea few times - they were always completely dressed and accompanied by their men.

In big towns girls wear trendy clothes and are very stylish. They can’t show their shoulders nor knees, so they wear fit jeans under short skirts or tunics and if they have dresses with straps, they have tight t-shirts beneath. They differ from often not very young Europeans showing their bodies without care of aesthetic. It doesn’t mean that you can’t meet traditional outfit in Tunisia. Older women, especially in smaller cities on the south wear kind of long dresses which cover almost whole silhouette. These dresses are usually made of one color shiny fabric and higabs are matching or they are made of the same cloth. We saw few very old ladies trying to hide their faces somehow (sometimes they kept cloth with their teeth!) as yashmags are officially forbidden.

Berbers

They are indigenous nomadic or semi-nomadic people of Tunisia (and other countries of Northern Africa), which is hard to believe – they look so European! They survived numerous conquests of this part of continent and absorbed elements of successive cultures and religions, but they preserved their individuality. On the contrary to Arabs, Berbers’ tribes in Tunisia are matriarchal. They live in inaccessible deserted places. Their traditional houses (not many are left, but some still function) are hollowed out in sandstone and decorated with symbols which should deter evil forces. Hagib Bourgiba offered them modern new houses, as he couldn’t stand that some Tunisians still live in the caves;-) It raised Berbers’ aggression, but after many years of consequent politics most of the old houses play role of the allotment gardens.

These are just my short notes about some chosen threads, so feel free to ask if there’s anything that may be interesting for you. Perhaps you have comparison with other Muslim countries and you could share your insights. I’m waiting impatiently for your comments :-)

FOOTBALL – part 1 Funny Football

Football is this kind of sport that I love to watch and play. Football bring's in me great positive emotions and a lot of happiness. Playing let me forget about every day problems or worries, every thing becomes less important and the only things that are left are ball and two goals. That's why I want to do a presentation about football.

At the begining the first part was suppose to be about the history of football but who would like to read about it. That's why I decided that this part will be about the funny moments in football. It's obvious that instead of reading a whole page about that 2000 years ago in chinese, japanese, greece and roman's culture there were games involving scoring a goal either by kicking or throwing a ball and that later on came associations like PZPN it's better to laugh a little while watching some youtube's movies.




But coming back to subject of Polish football we really have a funny football. Why? Polish football representation in eleminations to World Cup in RPA is on 5th position in group being better only then amature representation of San Marino which played 10 games has 0 points, 1 goal scored and 47 goals lost. There isn't even one Polish club that plays in Chempions League or European League which is another failure of our football. Our Orange Ekstraklasa is one of the weakest leagues in Europe. But we shouldn't be suprise becouse the only thing we hear all the time is corruptions and sold games but the only thing left is to cry or laugh.



Why do you think that polish football team has so many problems while in other sports polish team's have better achievements like men's and women's volleyball team's and men's handball team??

Tunisia: stereotype and prejudice

Tunisia is a very popular direction to go nowadays. It’s cheap, hot, safe and there is plenty offers available. However, when we were planning our holiday this year we didn’t consider this country seriously. Why? We wanted to see some interesting places, feel its atmosphere and have something more to remember than just lying on the beach. It definitely didn’t correspond with common image of Tunisia

When we asked our friend, who has been to Tunisia four times already, what he was doing there, he said he was spending time in his hotel using all its facilities. Another colleague said: ‘Tunisia? Oh, it’s like going to swimming pool for whole week.’ It turned out that beach and swimming pool are the biggest adventures of many people visiting this country. No, that wasn’t something that could encourage us to go there :-)

Actually, I couldn’t believe that there is nothing to see in country inhabited by Phoenicians, occupied by Romans and finally invaded by Arabs. I made some research on the internet and found few places which seemed to be worth of visiting. Our journey showed that in fact there is plenty of them, but most of people just don’t even try to check it.

What else may discourage travelers? Arabic countries are known for low standards of hygiene. As we are not very rich people, we decided to risk and choose 2 stars hotel. Therefore I was prepared to find lizards in the bathroom, ants on the floor and learned how to not let cockroaches get into my bad. Fortunately, we had no insects in our room. Nevertheless, there is some true in bad fame of Maghreb countries – beach is clean only if it belongs to hotel and streets are simply cluttered in many places. Though, Tunisia is getting cleaner and cleaner every year thanks to government’s efforts: there are educating campaigns and awards for clean cities or districts. This terrible statue on the left is an example of this kind of award. Now try to imagine it in antique part of town ;-)

There is one more reason that might scare tourist away. Europeans as well as Americans don’t trust Muslims. Arabs are associated with 11.09 and kidnapping. Perhaps that keeps some people closed in their hotels. In fact, level of crime in countries of Northern Africa is relatively low. The natives are terrified by police known for its efficiency and cruelty. If you have any problems, “police” is usually a magic word to calm down your native opponent. In Tunisia tourists (as clients) are always right.

Below more friendly face of Tunisian police:

If you have ever been to Tunisia, I’m looking forward to read about your impressions. Otherwise – do you have similar image of this country as I did before? What’s your idea of perfect holiday?

Extra points

Recommend a film/book/play/show you have seen/read recently. Give a link to it.
Even if you have seen something and you have not too good opinion of it, present it here please:)

By the way, there is a very interesting presentation on blog2:)

alleycat, messenger race -- part 3 (Critical Mass)

As you probably noticed I'm a bicycle freak.
Today I would like present to you a project (event) which is for all cyclists. It is possible that some of you already heard about it.

It is Critical Mass!

Critical Mass is a bicycling event typically held on the last Friday of every month in over 300 cities around the world.While the ride was originally founded in 1992 in San Francisco with the idea of drawing attention to how unfriendly the city was to cyclists, the leaderless structure of Critical Mass makes it impossible to assign it any one specific goal. In fact, the purpose of Critical Mass is not formalized beyond the direct action of meeting at a set location and time and traveling as a group through city or town streets on bikes.


Critical Mass rides vary greatly in many respects, including frequency and number of participants. For example, many small cities have monthly Critical Mass rides with fewer than twenty riders which offer safety in numbers to cyclists in those locales, while on the opposite extreme, in what have been the largest events using the name Critical Mass, cyclists in Budapest, Hungary hold only two rides each year on April 22 (Earth Day) and September 22 (International Car Free Day). The 'Budapest style' attracts tens of thousands of riders. The April 20, 2008 Budapest ride participation was estimated at 80,000 riders.


Critical Mass rides have generated considerable controversy and public opposition.Critics claim that Critical Mass is a deliberate attempt to obstruct traffic and disrupt normal city functions, asserting that individuals taking part refuse to obey traffic laws. Altercations with police and motorists have occurred. Although uncommon, protesters are sometimes present at Critical Mass events to oppose the group's methods.



In Warsaw, the first Mass was held probably 8 May 1998 and since then took place from time to time.
Until memorable June 2002, when the mass appeared more cyclists than usual. Police launched a poorly organized campaign catching cyclists. Through this event a Critical Mass began to speak in the media. Since that time the mass takes place regularly and always gathers a number of cyclists.



Video of Critical Mass in 2002:





Since July 2004 has been a new habit of organizing the Night Critical Mass that perfectly combine the advantages of the ordinary masses and riding a bicycle at night - now meet on the second Saturday of each month.

alleycat, messenger race -- part 2 (bikes)

In a previous post I wrote about alleycat, rules and history.
Now I would like to talk about bikes that are involved in racing.

There are so many types of bikes as there are participants. Every ride on what they like and what is comfortable to them. But most popular are fixed-gear bikes.

A fixed-gear bicycle (or fixed wheel bicycle) is a bicycle that has no freewheel, meaning it cannot coast — the pedals are always in motion when the bicycle is moving.



Fixed-gear bikes are especially popular among bicycle couriers. Why is this so?

Fixed-gear bike is considerably lighter than a multi-speed bike of comparable quality. This bike is as simple as possible. This is actually the frame and two wheels. Fixed-gear bike is less unreliable than normal bicycle. Low weight and reliability are the most important aspects of the bicycle for bicycle couriers.

It takes a bit of practice to become comfortable on a fixed gear. Most cyclists, trying it for the first time, will automatically try to coast once the bike gets up to a certain speed. The bike will not allow this, and it is disconcerting. It takes a couple of weeks of regular riding to unlearn the impulse to coast, and become at ease on a fixed gear.
It is worth going through this learning experience, however, because once you do so, you will discover a new joy in cycling. When you ride a fixed gear, you feel a closer communion with your bike and with the road. There is a purity and simplicity to the fixed-gear bicycle that can be quite seductive. Somehow, once you get past the unfamiliarity, it is just more fun than riding a bike with gears and a freewheel!

No brakes, No problem !

Some fixed-gear riders think brakes are not strictly necessary, and brakeless fixed riding has an almost cult status in some places, based on the perception by some riders of the experience of riding in a state of intense concentration or 'flow' where brakes are thought not to be needed.

In poland cycling without brakes is illegal. The bicycle must have one efficient brake.

Fixed-gear bikes subculture.

On Fixed-gear bikes do not ride only messengers. There are many enthusiasts who are not messengers. Some people were fascinated by pure form this type of bike or try to do tricks. People belonging to the subculture of fixed-gear have a unique style of dress, referring to the costumes bicycle couriers.






Movie showing the tricks of fixed-gear bike:



If anyone wants to try his luck on the fixed-gear bike, or fix your own bike, I am happy to help. :)