B92 blog - Blogs in English

Watching Baseball - Chris Farmer

Chris Farmer — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 02:00:24 GMT

When the umpire shouts "Play Ball!" at the beginning of the game, the players react by standing still. Nine guys waiting to bat. Nine guys standing ready in the field. A lot of standing.

The World Series of Baseball is underway between the 2008 champion Philadelphia Philies and the 26-series winning New York Yankees. And while I do not think I am the only one in Serbia to be watching the Series, the club seems to be rather small...

Supposably NATO - Chris Farmer

Chris Farmer — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:00:21 GMT

When people say "supposably" in a sentence, my teeth begin to grind. In the same way, every time I hear people - intelligent people, educated people, intellectual people - using the term "NATO Pact," my head starts to throb. Right there behind the eyes.

Just to be clear: it is called a "pact" because it is an agreement. It is called the Warsaw Pact because it was signed in Warsaw.

Denali - srdjan.pajic

srdjan.pajic — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:00:06 GMT

Guest on the blog today: my wife, Rebecca.

I hit the summit of Denali, aka Mt. McKinley (though all climbers and most of the rest of the world outside the borders of the USA call it Denali) on June 12th, 2007. It was warmer up there than I expected; one of the warmest summit days on record actually: 0 °F (-20 C). In fact, I'd experienced much colder already on lower parts of the mountains. This was my second attempt: in 2003, I had attempted to climb Denali and failed. Thoughts of how I could have made it, how I should have made it, how I would have to try again haunted me from the time I returned to Seattle in June 2003 until the time I made my next attempt in May 2007. It's a terrible thing to have an enormous mountain lurking over your shoulder, so when the chance came to make another attempt, I took it.

Bad Science - Ana WithAFamilyNameTooHardToPron

Ana WithAFamilyNameTooHardToPron — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:00:34 GMT

Dok sam jos citala Guardian jedna od omiljenih rubrika mi je bila "Bad Science" sa prigodnom ilustracijom Frankensteina umesto slike autora - Ben Goldacrea. On jednom nedeljno daje prikaz objavljenih naucnih studija koje nemaju veze s mozgom. (digresija: secam se jedne gde je izvesni naucnik pokusao da dokaze da visak hormona suprotnog pola u toku embrionalnog razvoja dovodi do nastanka gej ovaca). Da se razumemo, sam Guardian u svojoj uredjivackoj politici vrlo obilato koristi tzv. stil slobodne interpretacije autora (orig. opinionated style) umesto cinjenicnog (orig. factual style) koji bismo od izvora informacija ocekivali.

Prvi put sam svoje misli na ovu temu forma

Wintering Up - Chris Farmer

Chris Farmer — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 17:00:32 GMT

Winter clothes. Summer clothes. Bags in, bags out. Sweaters, wool trousers, heavy suits, dark colors to absorb the watery winter sunlight. T-shirts, shorts, short sleeves. And do I really need this t-shirt that I could wear for the last time in the last century? Hm...

Individual Hunger - Chris Farmer

Chris Farmer — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:00:53 GMT

On Friday, I will not be eating.

According to many, this might be a good practice for me every day, but I will be hungry on Friday because I just added my name to the Hunger Strike Against Hunger action set for Friday, October 16, 2009.

Return the Parthenon Marbles - Milutin Milošević

Milutin Milošević — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:00:21 GMT

A tragic history of the Acropolis temple

Film by Kostas Gavras

Lyrics used come from Lord Byron's poem The Curse of Minerva

The Other - Chris Farmer

Chris Farmer — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 14:00:01 GMT

This is a time for considered reflection.

Given the events in Belgrade of the last couple of weeks - the seemingly random attacks, the last-minute suppression of the gay parade - it does not seem a time to speak out and be heard. We should all stop and consider what we have allowed to happen here. I had not planned on writing on this subject as it has been thoroughly talked about, but I happened to find this in my reading, which I thought might be relevant.