I really need some rest

Uff, with every day it's becoming more and more difficult to manage everything and also to have time to sleep. I am kinda exosted by now. Well, on the other side life is so exiting taht it is really worth of a certain effort. And I also keep trying to sell some of my pics:)

Political extremism in Austria

Austrian political stage with rise of a new form of authoritarian right-wing populism in the 1980d-1990s faces a phenomenon of more that one country in Europe. Under Haider's leadership, the FPÖ moved to the far right, reflecting Haider's nationalist, anti-immigration, and anti-EU views. Haider especially used populism to advance his interests. Thanks to Jörg Haider from 1986 (when Haider became the FPÖ's chairman) the party's share in elections rose from 5% in the 1986 elections to almost 27% in 1999.

There are several examples when Haider demonstrated that he had skills and luck. In 1986 after scandal with Kurt Waldheim, implicit anti-semitism appeared everywhere in the Austrian media. These events allowed Jörg Haider to emerge as the undisputed spokesman for the right-wing FPÖ grassroots. Despite the majority of the party elite supported this opponent Steger, Haiders won in a leadership poll with frighteningly neo-Nazi overtones.

The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the collapse of Yugoslavia in 1991 substantially increased the flows of migrants arriving in Austria. Then the collapse of the Iron Curtain exposed the huge contrast in economic expectations between Eastern and Western Europe. Working class, who was faced with rising job insecurity, did not like the prospect of huge waves of immigration. Haider used this fear and launched a series of viciously anti-immigrant campaigns, thus hi pleased the SPÖ’s core working class electorates.

It is impossible to define if he is far right extremist or populist, some call him ‘godfather of the extreme right’ while a leading journal Der Standard in December’95 labeled him ‘a completely normal Nazy boy’.

No single figure, certainly from the opposition, has dominated the post-war Austrian political scene to the same extend. After reading about “a political star” Jörg Haider in the reader I made a small research about his present post. At the moment he is Governor of Carinthia (a region on the south of Austria) and I think it would be interesting to meet this person one day at a student class to ask him some questions.

P.S. I might be sleeping now as I can here nightingale right now, although we have the last days of autumn.

My first success as a photographer

Today I was accepted as a contributing photographer of iStockPhoto.com! Wow, I am really excited and I want to take thousands of photos now! Ready, steady, go!!! P.S. But for now I have to do my political science home work...

Bismarck politics

I am back from a class of Evolution of international systems in Europe. It was really interesting today to find out how the diplomacy worked in the second half of 18th century. So I am going to read more info about it in Russian sources:)

Being connected

I can't really stop myself from calling friends. And I guess it is normal. But then we are talking via Inet for 3 hours for example, not often though - once per two weeks:) And I call home everyday, so again and again I keep saying that Inet brings us freedom, it brings us connections and communication as well.

And I miss home, but Chrismas is really soon!

Shirts' colors

When you travel abroad you start to understand your own country better as you notice those things which seems to be 'normal' in your country (so you don't pay attention to it). While my trip to Georgia, for example, I was surprised to find out that men kees each other while greeting or saying good buy. Here in Austria, I found a new trend in men's cloths. They like to wear bright colors and even ping, which in Belarus is associated with girls:) But maybe it is just of lack of colors in men's fashion production in Belarus, who knows:)

Draniki

Yesterday we were COOKING! Wow, of course draniki. So, many of our friends from other countries had a change to taste. But the biggest part of it we had for ourself and at the end we were sooooo full and happy that it's even difficult to describe. To sup it up: our draniki are the best and everyone liked it!

Happy time!

It is fun to be back to studing:) Not anly because of lectures and new "stuff" you learn, but also because of new friends, new languages ;), new parties (as many as never before) and well, yes, everything is new. I just feel as a fish in water. :) All those chats and talks about nothing and about everything. I guess here I will become a photographer:) and maybe psycologist, and Russian language teacher and just myself.

Google vs Borat

I've just read an article about Borat being presented on YouTube before being shown in cinema. It was rather successful way to promote it as parts of this story were shown on YouTube (owned by Google). I will not concentrate on the article itself, but what is more interesting is the conclusion:
- YouTube works for on-line PR for "non mature audience"
- Google should make money with it
- Thanks to YouTube people know about Borat even in countries where it will not be in cinema

For me it's not surprising, although thanks to YouTube I knew in advance what kind of jokes to expect from Borat (so I was prepared). And I went to cinema despite YouTube and just thanks to excitement of my mates:), to have my own opinion:)

One more interesting fact. The article I've read in Le Monde (in FR) is from the Globalist and its author is from BELARUS! It's Evgeny Morozov who is also writting TOL blog about Belarus.

Being dependent

Yesterday I talked to a friend of mine who bought a new laptop. She was totally happy and she said: "I am not alone anymore, now the whole world is with me when I am connected to Internet". To a certain extend laptop brings freedom, freedom to be mobile, to be informed and to be connected. Exactly! To be connected, so much connected that one becomes dependent on all these technical developpments. And when I write "one" I mean myself as well and maybe even first of all:) Hmm, to prove that I am not an Inet addict I have to go away from my laptop. But can I? :)

Politics again

All my life I was trying to escape any kind of politics and now I am facing it allmost all the time, especially after reading some theory of politics. When people act, react, speak out, look... Scary, really it is a bit scary. You never know what next day will bring you or what will happend in the world and all those events are the results of somebody's "political" actions. Do we live in a political world? Yes, we do, but try to avoid it as I do;)

Belarusian politics

I am always a bit confused when people ask me about my country. It's not because I don't like it, it just because everytime I have to analise what people are interested in and what should I tell them. With my attitude towards life I prefer to see the bright side, although I am not living in a perfect world, so I have to admit certain things which I don't like or even hate. Should I tell people about our mentality, should I tell them about Chernobyl, should I tell about our troubles? Or I sould just tell about Golden Age of Belarusian history in the 16th century? How can I explain in few sentences the whole drama of my nation? The only thing I am respocible and I have to do is to behave as I want anyone from my country to act.

Cool GPS tracking!

I remember my first time when I saw how GPS worked I was amazed! We drove and saw on the map our way:) Then this year I've faced more practical use of GPS navigation in Helsinki, where it is used by all taxi drivers (I have a photo somewhere, so I can put it on-line later). When I came to Vienna, the firs thing I saw was a car with... Guess what? ... GPS navigation! Of course!

And now I found a web-site which helps people to track their car. You can see their demo of GPS Fleet Tracking on-line. It great that more and more services are supported by Google maps, although their are not avaliable for the whole world in details. Anyway, back to this device. When you click the blue "View Demo" Button you can play with the demo (note the 10 second refresh), you can see how certain car moves and where it is. You can zoom in out if you like, you can change map layout (satellite or just normal map; actually, I prefer a gibrid one:).

It is interesting to play with such a tool, but it is also quite usefull. When? For example you can track a car of your child to be sure that he/she is safe and still in the city:) Or you can track where is your employee which is supposed to be working right now. I just believe that in any case a person which is track in a car should be aware of it:)

Post office

He he he, my first experience at Austrian post office. First, they don't sell one envelope, you have to buy a set of envelopes:) And then! You can't buy one card (maybe you have only one friend, poor you, but still), no again there are nice (I guess) sets of cards for Christmas you can buy. Well, one can like such system, I don't really.

Time management

Do you notice how fast time flies? I do. Sometimes you just can't believe that 3 years passed since a certain event. Or that you are on the half way to your aim, so you really have to work hard now. Or that you missed all deadlines. Or that people you knew are not on this earth anymore... Well, some people say that today is the first day of the rest of your life, but one can also think that life is just now and just today, as yesterday is was our past and tomorrow it will be our future, if it will be. Well, this issue is rather philosophical and I will better just concentrate on my time-management:) Have a nice time!

Weekend and film

I am back from a new movie "Thank you for smoking". I was fun one, again about bid industries, lobbing, publicity and all this stuff. I would compare this film with "Devil wears Prada", as the last one is about a girl who changed herself in order to prove that she can do what everyone thinks she can not. This film is about a guy who can do what others can not, but he has to take a decision in a difficult situations. There are some parallels in both these films, and I thinks it's worth watching it:)

P.S. By the way, as one my friend notes, none from the actors smoked in the film.

Cooking!

Onion, oranges, rice, meat... Well, we are cooking some interesting Latin American meal:) ... Let you know later how it tastes:)

Photos arrived

From Belarus

I got my photos printed! WOW, I am really excited now:) One of my pics is all the time provoking questions. People say: What is this? And one girl compared it with view of Paris in Google Earth. There you go!

Light box as a tool for photographers

Web-site SuppliesNet.com proposes a nice Photographers & Scrapbookers Light Box. It catched my attention as I can use it to take photos of small objects in details (then it gives a background light). Of course it's possible to look through slides as well as negatives. Even working with digital photos (meaning that I don't really have slides) I take pictures of objects as well, as one my friend told me I am good whith close-ups:) So in certain situations it is really useful.

Politics vs Democracy

Is democracy the true form of politics? I totally agree with Mr. Crick that democracy is a concept which is “vague and imprecise”. He also regards politics as a “clear and practical idea”, first of all that is why democracy, as “the most promiscuous word in the world of public affairs”, is not equal to politics. “Democracy is best understood as one element in free government, not as characteristic of the whole system”. If in a certain state only democracy alone prevails as a result there will be anarchy (“the opportunity of demagogues to become despots”). Thus democracy in a positive way can be only “one form of politics, not something to be hoped for at every stage of a country’s development or in every circumstance”. Democracy is good as long as we try to avoid of “popular rhetoric”.

Crick’s understanding of the nature of political rule

If we speak about politics first we have to define what it is. According to BERNARD CRICK “politics can be defined as the activity by which differing interests within given unit of rule are conciliated by giving them a share in power in proportion to their importance to the welfare and the survival of the whole community”.

He also rise the importance to realize that for all mechanism to function there must be a kind of “consensus juris” or “a common good”, while in role of this common good we see “the process of practical reconciliation of the interests of the various … aggregates … which compose a state”. Then politics it is “an activity which must be carried on”, “one simply becomes more and more aware that one is involved in it as part of the human condition”.

What is really important to stress, politics can only exist as “a stable and possible method of rule” where there is some “settled order” as well as “tolerance and diversity” and where “it has been preceded by sovereignty”.

Actually, I was rather shocked by the words “whether one is powerful enough to ignore diplomacy”, as in my understanding it means that in fact you do not need any rules being powerful, consequently you do not need politics. Nevertheless, “the only political agreement to use political means”.

I did it:)

So I found a good map! There you go! Remarks to map: As happens all too often, the term "Grand Duchy of Litva, Rus', and Samogithia" has been inaccurately abbreviated on the map as the "Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL)." Refer to Belarus: At a Crossroads in History, Jan Zaprudnik (1993) for further discussion of the topic, "Grand Duchy of Litva, Rus', and Samogithia" and its being mis-quoted (often intentionally).

Charity projects

We've discussed charity issues recently, in fact, we've discussed different possibilities when you really can help people and you really feel that they need this help. On the one hand it is great, on the other hand you always have to take decision which charity project to support (as in the most cases you can not support all of them when you are young and not really rich:). And then there is a dilemma. And you just have to find the solution (or you can do nothing, but it's the worst case in my opinion). Could you judge which country is in the worst situation, which nation is in need of your support and which children will profit the most. I can't and I will just rely on intuition:)

Life and Internet technologies

Have you ever noticed that you are doing lots of thing on-line. You read news, you send messages, you chat through IMs, you blog, you search, you pay, you watch TV and you listen to Radio... Isn't it at bit shocking? When I talk to my mom over Internet she is excited every time as for her it's something what is really like magic, I guess. Although for me it is the best way to manage many things. I don't install dictionaries on my computer as I have them on-line, the only thing I need is Internet access.

Well, it's seems to be easy, but (again BUT) it's not. For example in Belarus only about 25% of population have access to Internet. In fact, it means that they are living in quite different world, they watch only state TV and listen only to state propaganda. That's really saaaad... In some cases (I just hope that not in most of the cases) people just do not care about something what is not directly linked to them. How can we change it? Should we do it? I don't know...

Politics and EU politics

When you read books about politics and policies for few weeks and then you summarise it and answer questions, I bet you will understand better politics and policy making issues. But (there is always BUT). Who can garantee that all politics will play the same rules? Are there any rules of game?

The fact is: I understand news about politics better now, but I still wonder if it will really help me to help other people in any way...

Real battle: history maps and country name

Well, I've realised that sometimes I really have to finght for the "TRUTH". In fact maybe it's just my own truth, but still I have to prove it again and again.

Yesterday which preparing for my French class I was reading Le Monde and again they misspelled the name of my country. Why can't they just start writing Le Bélarus, pourquoi pas? It really annoys, you know. I think I will write a letter to them, as well to French embassy in Minsk and to other sites which are providing information about Belarus:) So again I have to finght for the correct spelling of our name.

And back to history lectures. I promised to my teacher to find a good map of the Commonwealth (Polish Kindom with Grand Duchy of Lithuania adn Rus' - GDL) before the three partitions in 1772, 1791 and 1993 between Russia, Prussia and Austria. So I work hard on it, as it is not an easy task especially to find it in black and white colores with English names on it:)

P.S. While looking for a map I found a map of The introduction of the potato to Europe, but it's next story:)

Designer Handbags

I am still in Vienna without any handbag. That's why I am on the DarbyScott web-site, she is a designer of fine handbags and purses. Designer Handbags are just cute!

So few words about her: In 1994, designer and entrepreneur Darby Scott launched her debut collection of eveningwear and cocktail dresses. With the new millennium came a new line. In the fall of 2000, Darby Scott introduced her acclaimed collection of handbags, combining rich skins and opulent fabrics with semi-precious stones, natural shell, horn, bone and wood. Her clothing collection encompasses a full range of day to dinner, cocktail and evening.

Prior to founding Darby Scott in 1994, Darby was vice president of women's merchandising and design for the North American division of Aquascutum of London. This position followed nearly a decade of design experience at venerable international fashion houses including Karl Lagerfeld and Perry Ellis.

P.S. After the film Devil wears Prada it seams that it is really fun to try to understand all this fashion industry:)

Selling pics?

As I wrote before I am testing a new service where I can sell my photos. I just got an email from this service and I just hope that it will work out. So, my dear friends, please keep your fingers crossed for me as you always do! World of photography is waiting for me:)

Languages and international environment

These days laguage issue is becoming more and more vital. I have/love to speak English all the time, but I do want to improve my French as well. And to start to speak German and Czech.

But, to speak French I really have to make an effort and to motivate my French-speaking friends to do so. For example, today I was writting a biography of a guy who draws caricatures for Naša Niva newspaper.

With German it's even worse, I can't speak, so the only thing I have to do it's to learn words by heart. And I can't push myself to do it...

The only language which is easy for me at the moment is Czech! I just love it:)

Photography corner:)

Well, you know, that I do like to take pictures, it is just my passion:) At the moment I know a lot of different web sites which are quite good if you want to put on-line your photos or even to sell some (I am testing few these days). Two days ago I found a web-side which is printing your photos and you don't have to go to their office, you just wait at home (BUT! you need a credit card to pay in advance, you need to install they software which will calculate the final price of you order). Hmm, I really have to wait as I placed my order on Saturday and it has not arrived yet:(

So, back to the Photography Corner. It a new web site for me which aims to help photographers. I've already registered, so I might be able to tell you more about it later. At the moment I can write that they provide such services as: photo galleries, photography articles, forum (with member introductions!), photography resources (tutorials for example) and even so called "contest corner challenge" where you can see very interesting photos.

I've tried to upload my photos as well. Well first try wasn't successful as my photos were to large (limit of the storage quota is about 10Mb only and per picture max 1Mb), so I was rather disappointed about this fact. Then I decided to upload small versions of my pics from the Net (from my Picasa albums), but my link was cut in the field where I was supposed to put it, I guess because it was too long... No words. Ok, I am patient when I want to be and I found another option, I deleted "http://" in the beginning of my link and then it fitted to the field provided. Wow, my picture is on the Photography corner now! I will keep exploring this site and I have some interesting info for you, I will let you know.

Take great pictures, guys!

Back to coffee aroma

Today at lunch we got a desert with a taste of coffee. It brought me back to my childhood when I was 5 years old. The first chewing gums I've seen in my life were with taste of coffee. I didn't drank coffee at that time, but I knew its taste. It is really amazing. Why coffee? Hmm... The funny thing is that my friends from other countries do not remember they first chewing gums, but I do:) It must have been an exciting taste for me if I do remember.

European legislation

Decision making policy in EU - this will be mainstream of my nightmares for the next few weeks:) Uff, it seems that I know much more about it now, but I really had to read lots of documents before I realised at least a little bit how it all works:) Consultation, co-operation, assent or co-decion procedure? Of course the last one:) Why? Look at this chart and you will understand everythin! ;)

Girls and boys!?!?

It's rather a difficult issue, isn't it? I have a brilliant example what happened with me tonight...

Imagine, party is over and people are saying good night. And one by one boys say "good night" to a guy who is sitting just on my right site and they ignore me:( Well, of course I can't get on with it. I speak out and we discuss it, we make jokes, they say "sorry" and it seems to be over, but I will see what will happend tommorrow. :)

Planning wedding?

He he he, those who will start reading this message from the title will ask me if I am going to marry:) Well, I'm going, one day:)

At the moment I am just observing different weddings. My counsin married in June this year and one my good friend is going to marry next summer (not mentioning those who married during last few years). Well I guess there will be number of few more:)

3 years ago when my friend was going to marry in USA I got a nice invitation and I thought that moment how cute it was. But In fact can you imagine how much of work it takes to write invitations to everyone? Well, it takes a bit of planning! My friend which I mentioned before is looking for her wedding dress since June, although her marriage will be in August next year! Is it a nightmare then or just wedding preparation? Uff!

I guess the most important is to marry and to be marry=happy the rest of life! So, maybe it's really a good idea to look for different wedding stuff now and not to be under stress just before wedding.:)

Have a nice day! And smile wider!

Book story

It's not the first time when I realise that everything you think about can come true. This is my recent example. I wanted to prove to our teacher of History that in the end of 18th century it wasn't the division of Poland, but of the Commonwealth of Both States (Polish Kindom and Grand Duchy of Lithuania).

So I was really trying to find some good maps and then I found out that there are two very good books about Belarusian history in English! Wow, I really wanted to find them, I went to Google Books section and typed: "Jan Zaprudnik", he is the author.

And... I found links to local libraries. Two books were availiable in some library: "Historical dictionary of Belarus" (published in 1998) and "BELARUS: At a Crossroads in History" (published in 1993). I went to our library and the codes of books were from our library! So I have both books now! And I can borrow it to my friends here who want to know more about our history!!!

On the ground

Do you usually pay attention what is just on the ground, just under your feet?

Quite often people run and forget that we live, not just exist. And if you go slower then you might notice many amazing things which life brings us. it's not just a nice picture on the way (by the way that white man was really funny), but it's something alse. Maybe then we can see some signs which are there just for us.

Let's keep trying to live:)

Can we keep our life private?

You know, I faced a new situation for me. I just reallised how much you can know about a person who is active on-line. Or even you don't have to be active, but you just participate in different events and then report from those events is on-line, so you are present there as well. Sometimes it's really fun, as you can find out about your new friends a lot even before they will tell you. BUT. If it concerns you, then you start to think what you want people to know about you and what you don't. Today I got a message from my friends that they discovered my blog although I have never told that I had one. So in a way it's great and fun, but on the other hand it a bit scary... :)

Film about Belarusian elections 2006

Yesterday we had so called "Russian speaking club" where American, Canadian and Austrian students speak Russian. I was as an "expert" there. It was really interesting:) After the meeting I presented this video to my friends, so they can understand better the situation in my country. (Video is in Russian)

What is Buzz?

Keeping in mind my previous I am still interested in Indernet mechanism of PR and Adverticement:) This time I met a new term for me, the "BUZZ". I googled it!

Emanuel Rosen: "I define buzz and explain why it's important. By "buzz" I refer to all the word of mouth about a brand. It's the aggregate of all person-to-person communication about a particular product, service, or company at any point in time. The following excerpt describes how I became interested in buzz and brings some statistics about the importance of word of mouth in different industries."

What is more interesting the same author tells that there are 10 industries which are "affected by Buzz":
1. Automotive
2. Consumer Electronics
3. High Tech
4. Entertainment
5. Fashion
6. Health Care
7. Publishing
8. Travel
9. Toy and Games
10. Consumer packaged goods

Well, it might be really true. I thing I made my first order through OTTO not because I was advertising it on our web-portal, but because my friend told me it could be cool:) There you go!

My first "lessons" of politics:)

From Halloween

This is quote from a reader I got for Political science:)

"Consider another human activity, almost as famous as politics - something which is again neither an implementation of principles nor a matter of pure expediency: sexuality. They are both activities in which the tacit understanding of presupposition often makes more formal proposition unnecessary; the sympathies that are a product of experience are better than the doctrines that are learnt from books. Sexuality, granted, is a more widespread activity than politics, but again the suspicion remains that the man who can live without either is either acting the beast or aping the god. Both have much the same character of necessity in essence and unpredictability in form. Both are activities which must be carried on if the community is to perpetuate itself at all, both serve this wider purpose, and yet both can become enjoyable ends in themselves for any one individual. Both activities can be repeated in an almost infinite variety of forms and different circumstances..."

Are you impressed? :) I am :D

"Give me Freedom" by "Krama"

Video clip to the song "Give me Freedom" by the band "Krama". Contains footage of police brutality in Minsk (Belarus) and also very nice views of Minsk from the air:). Nothing more to add...Just watch it!

Performers from Belarus

Traditional songs from Belarus and traditional costumes:)