Archives for October, 2005

Ljubljana’s police demonstrate traffic safety by example.

About a year ago, I wrote about my intense fear of Slovenian roundabouts, which people assumed was a joke.
It turns out that my fears were not only fully justified, they were
dangerously underrated. The German Automobile Association (ADAC) conducted a test of European drivers in July and Slovenes finished dead last. Collectively, Slovenia scored a miserable 43%, considerably lower than neighbors Croatia (56%) and Austria (64%).

Now, just in time for Halloween, here are some of the test’s findings about Slovenia’s drivers:

* Slovenes got the worst overall results among all countries in the theoretical section.
* They scored below-average results for questions related to general
driving rules, as well as autmobile technology and equipment.
* They got the worst results for questions about children’s safety, seat belts, and passenger airbags.
* They gave many incorrect answers for questions concerning: securing an accident
scene, rules about passing, saving gas and "environmentally friendly"
driving, the alcohol limit, fog lights, and ABS.
* They scored considerably worse than other countries in setting up post-accident yield signs.

For more Halloween spookiness, see Spiegel’s story about the test (German only)

(Thanks for the nightmares, Novala!) 

From a Croatian fig spread sold in the United States.

Baldomir,
a Slovene currently living in Florida, kindly sent along this
interesting label for "Imported Orange Fig Spread," which is
manufactured by a company in Split, Croatia, and sold in the United
States. You may notice that a country is missing from the map. (Bosnia)
But you may also notice that another country is missing: one whose
borders are clearly visible, but which nevertheless remains an anonymous
white blob. (Slovenia, Republic of)

Also worth noting: Austria and Italy get the
same font-size as Croatia. (This is known in the entertainment industry
as "top billing.") But Slovenia gets nothing. Not even size-8 mini-font.

And to add insult to injury: Trieste gets a shout out.

Have a nice weekend! 

(Thanks Baldomir!) 

"Slovenian songs by Ljupka and Ivica."

The fact that "Ljupka" and "Ivica" are distinctly non-Slovenian-sounding names gives this one its special touch.

Bloggers storming the media castle. Full-size.

I
generally don’t like talking about blogs and blogging. But lately there
have been some interesting developments here. The first and most
obvious thing is that blogging is booming in Slovenia. The number of Slovenian
blogs (or "slobs," for short) has doubled since June.
We’ve gone from 125 to 249. If this number continues to double every six
months, there will be more than two million bloggers by 2012. And if Domen keeps up his pace, half of them will be his.

Some other developments:

1) Delo Blogs: The leading Slovenian newspaper, Delo, has started offering a free blogging service.
Interestingly, they’ve decided to fold it into their own domain at
delo.si. There seems to be a lot of potential for mischief this way,
no? For example, I could quickly set up a blog, pick the name of a
known Delo journalist, write something crazy,
then circulate it to everyone I know saying: "Look at what’s in
Delo!!!" Perhaps some people would figure it out, but I’m willing to
guess that many would not. (Keep in mind that there are only 250 blogs
in the entire country, so anyone who tells you that "blogging is
booming in Slovenia" is, quite frankly, an imbecile.) Either way, I tested it out and found it quite easy to use. A big up to Delo!

2) Rozina: Billing itself as the Gnezdo tihe revolucije
"the nest of the quiet revolution," this is the collective blogging
home of several local celebrities. I don’t know exactly what kind of
revolution they’re planning, but so far it seems to be like the Revolutions of 1848
– "the turning point in history that failed to turn." The majority of
the rozina blogs have been fallow since August/September, leaving the two most-active members, Marko CrnkoviÄ? (alias crni) and gang-leader Jonas, to pick up the slack.

3)
The New Generation: Some great stuff has been coming along and I quickly
want to mention some of them. * Firstly, Slepo Crevo (alias the real slim crni)
is a mirror opposite of this site: The adventures of a Slovene in the
United States, written in Slovene. It’s finger-lickin’ good, even if he
does insult sacred American cultural institutions like Taco Bell and
KFC. * Second on the list: La Poulette,
a Slovene working in Brussels who is quickly becoming a favorite of
mine. If you like your blogs a bit risque and aren’t afraid of catching
avian influenza, go check out the chicken. * Thirdly, the Slovenia Diary,
a blog by an English oboist at the Slovenian Philharmonic. I’m a
classical music nutcase, so I’m hoping there will be some
behind-the-scenes posts as well. * Also new: Illyrian Gazette,
which joins the sparse ranks of blogs dedicated to the Balkans, with
some occasional hot Slovenia action as well. * Ill-advised,
although not very new, also deserves some applause for providing long,
thoughtful book reviews. * And, finally, a very warm welcome to Rok
Kajzer (a Delo correspondent in Zagreb) for his ultra-cool ZagreBlog. Don’t miss it!

I may have forgotten
some. If you’ve found anything good lately, let me know!

A 2005 Honda Accord coupe and Carniola.org: Equal but different?

According to this,
The Glory of Carniola is worth $37,259 (that’s about 7.5 million SIT or
31,000 euros). That calculation was done using data from Technorati and inspired by research conducted by Tristan Louis.

If
anyone is willing to pay this amount, please get in touch with me ASAP.
I’ll accept any currency — even those that no longer exist.

For more calculations, visit: How much is my blog worth?

(Via the grossly undervalued Deleted by Tomorrow) 

Why are these kids so happy?

A recent holiday catalogue from the Slovenian firm SonÄ?ek has a great offer for the Austrian ski resort Bad Kleinkirchheim
in Carinthia. Kids under six go free — and judging by this picture,
they’ll probably have a fantastic time.

Perhaps even more than you
think, since these two kids are drinking from cups marked STROH — an Austrian rum that is often mixed with black tea to make the formidible Jagertee
(alcohol content 80%). The one on the left seems to be enjoying it,
although the one on the right looks like he’s had one too much.

(Many thanks Damir!)

"Michael Manske: Knockin’ em all down."

I attended an expat bowling tournament
in Ljubljana last night. I got back late and was absolutely out of
commission for most of today. My team got butchered,
finishing 21st out of 24.

I realized too late that our team captain, Carlos the Jackal,
was lying when he said he was a member of the Olympic bowling team of
Argentina. In truth, he was once the president of the Argentinian chapter of
the International Federation of Competitive Eating. It’s similar but still different. Apparently, he still holds the national record there for chinchulines consumption.

However, I did manage to achieve one dream of mine: To get on the cover of Slovenian gossip magazine Nova.
Alongside Slovenian singing legend Natalija Verboten, no less. (Bottom
left) It almost feels like my work in Slovenia is almost done.

Have a nice weekend! 

A still from the parodic short Tine Strela Goes to the Himalayas.

I’m late posting this. Really late. As in:
The-whole-country-has-already-seen-this, and everyone-has-linked-to-this-except-for-me-and-that-one-Raëlian-Cult-page.

I’m
ashamed to admit this, because I strongly support any and all creative
endeavors and think Slovenia could definitely use more. This one happens to be a well-made,
six-and-a-half minute short that parodies Slovenian marathon swimmer Martin Strel.
The jokes focus primarily on his heavy drinking (during Strel’s
two-month swim down the Mississippi he consumed a bottle of wine a day)
and also on the advertisements he did for a mattress company here.

The video is only available in Slovene, but there is a short English-language trailer. (2.27 MB)

And yes, that’s me doing the Hollywood preview-guy voice in the trailer. I’ve obviously missed my calling…

St. Cyril in New York, the center of the Slovenian community there.

A wonderful post is up at the new site Slavs of New York about the church of St. Cyril in the East Village, the city’s only Slovenian parish. Go check it out: Slovenes in the East Village.

Scotland supporters in Celje last week.

The following is
from an e-mail written to the Tourist Association of Celje concerning
the arrival of Scottish fans for a match against Slovenia. (Scotland
won 3-0.)

From: Dave Williamson

Sent: Wednesday, September 28, 2005 2:35 PM

To: tic@celje.si <mailto:tic@celje.si>

Subject: Scotland fans in Celje
 
Can you tell me the names of some of the places in Celje that sell
alcohol. Pubs/Clubs and shops. This may seem like a strange request but
it is important that these places buy extra supplies. In France 1998
during Scotlands visit to St Ettiene the town ran out of alcohol on
more than one occasion. I think Celje is smaller and all too often when
we travel to places they think that the purchase of an extra bottle of
vodka will suffice and that they know best… until they run out of
course. It may be easier if you pass this message on to them. It is
also preferable to some people that bottled beer is bought by customers
by the crate to save the hassle of queues developing. This is also a
great opportunity for bars to make large profits.
 
Can you supply a separate list of bars/clubs/shops that are open 24hrs.
Some fans may stay in a bar until the 0450hrs train leaves for
Ljubljana. Of course some may prefer to get a later train if the bar is
still open.
 
Oh and some of the bars will need to have extra staff. All too often we
have fans behind the bar serving drinks because the locals haven’t made
proper staffing provision for our arrival. This is the largest
travelling support in Europe. If you are in any doubt and need advice
about what to expect please phone St Ettienne.
 
Good luck.
Dave

 (Thanks BoÅ¡tjan!)