Noam Chomsky

I've uploaded a collection of Noam Chomsky's books and essays on the rapidshare.com service. I find them very interesting and provocative, therefore I've decided to share them with you.

You can download them HERE.

ENJOY!

Hasta Siempre

Aprendimos a quererte
desde la histórica altura
donde el sol de tu bravura
le puso cerco a la muerte.

Estribillo:

Aquí se queda la clara,
la entrañable transparencia,
de tu querida presencia
Comandante Che Guevara.



Tu mano gloriosa y fuerte
sobre la historia dispara
cuando todo Santa Clara
se despierta para verte.

Estribillo

Vienes quemando la brisa
con soles de primavera
para plantar la bandera
con la luz de tu sonrisa.

Estribillo

Tu amor revolucionario
te conduce a nueva empresa
donde esperan la firmeza
de tu brazo libertario.

Estribillo

Seguiremos adelante
como junto a ti seguimos
y con Fidel te decimos:
!Hasta siempre, Comandante!

Estribillo

The MP3 version of the song, you can download HERE.

Jano mori

Old Macedonian traditional song. Pure perfection! It is one of my favorite songs.

Demonoid once again...

... has been shot down.

Sadly, but true. My favorite torrent tracker, Demonoid has been shot down once again. It happened this night. And once again it has been done by the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA). This is what I got on the main page:

The CRIA threatened the company renting the servers to us, and because of this it is not possible to keep the site online. Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for your understanding.

CRIA just won't give up. Aargh! I hate them. Therefore please,


because

Greetings to Mr.Bush

Listen to me, you little dirty old man.

Listen to me. you, the ROOT OF ALL EVIL!

And NO! I won't shut up!!!

Listen to this you f*cking TEXAS REDNECK!



No matter how hard you try, you can't censore us, the people!!!

Pressure

As a result of my intense social life, I begin to feel little bit exhausted, tired in some way. I'm starting to realise that I don't have enough time to devote for the people I love and I care about. Let aside the fact, that I don't have time, as I think (better say feel), I should have for myself.

It is a little bit strange and rather unknown situation with mixed feelings. Maybe it is normal for this period of life. Maybe it isn't. I don't know, I'm just in the process of experiencing this new situation. But, I think I should find some way, and find it very quickly, to go true all of this.

I don't know. Maybe it is just the way of nowadays modern living. So fast, so intense. Maybe it is just my wish to do all those things. Hah. I don't know.

But I feel, that some kind of pressure is building around me. I can feel it, feel it really good. And in order to stand up and fight it, first of all I must understand it.

Something like this:



Anyway, the next period will be very interesting for me. Full of important and though decisions.

Circus

Life is like a circus.

It depends on the side you have taken.

Either you are an audience, either you are a clown.

It can be funny if you are an auditor, but it is 100% sure that you will be sad if you are a clown.

Life is like a circus.

Please, choose your side wisely, cause it may be far to late to regret.

Life is like a circus.

And I hate circus, hate it very much...

I Just Called To Say...

...I Love You

No New Year's Day to celebrate
No chocolate covered candy hearts to give away
No first of spring
No song to sing
In fact here's just another ordinary day

No April rain
No flowers bloom
No wedding Saturday within the month of June
But what it is, is something true
Made up of these three words that I must say to you

I just called to say I love you
I just called to say how much I care
I just called to say I love you
And I mean it from the bottom of my heart

No summer's high
No warm July
No harvest moon to light one tender August night
No autumn breeze
No falling leaves
Not even time for birds to fly to southern skies

No Libra sun
No Halloween
No giving thanks to all the Christmas joy you bring
But what it is, though old so new
To fill your heart like no three words could ever do

I just called to say I love you
I just called to say how much I care, I do
I just called to say I love you
And I mean it from the bottom of my heart

I just called to say I love you
I just called to say how much I care, I do
I just called to say I love you
And I mean it from the bottom of my heart, of my heart,
of my heart

I just called to say I love you
I just called to say how much I care, I do
I just called to say I love you
And I mean it from the bottom of my heart, of my heart,
baby of my heart

(c) Stevie Wonder

But I just felt like this...

Blog ACTION day!

On October 15th, bloggers around the web will unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind - the environment. Every blogger will post about the environment in their own way and relating to their own topic. Our aim is to get everyone talking towards a better future.

Blog Action Day is about MASS participation. That means we need you! Here are 3 ways to participate:

• Post on your blog relating to the environment on Blog Action Day
• Donate your day’s earnings to an environmental charity
• Promote Blog Action Day around the web

It looks very interesting to me. I gave my contribution. What about YOU?

Turmoils in US

These days something strange is going on in the States. From one side the state has gone completely mad and from the other side the society fights back. It is interesting, that in one week three different cases have attracted my attention, but I think that I wasn't whose attention was focused. I hope so that this was across the US wide heard. Anyway, let me begin.

A court in the US has ordered a woman to pay a $222,000 for illegally file-sharing music. The jury ordered Jammie Thomas, 32, from Minnesota, to pay to offering to share 24 specific songs online - a cost of $9,250 per song. I mean WTF?!?! Poor music industry has finally won it's first court case against the almighty and very powerful pirate. Lucky them. And now finally they will eradicate this dangerous disease called piracy. READ MORE

The next one is more interesting. It comes form Vermont, one of the most liberal and progressive US state. It is the state that opposed slavery long before other states. It is the state that elected its first socialistic congressman Bernie Sanders. It was the first state to approve same-sex civil unions. Montpelier is the only state capital in the US to have no McDonald's restaurant. And now Vermont is a home to a growing movement agitating for outright secession from the United States. The modern independence movement campaigns that the United States has lost its moral authority. They argue that the "US empire" is unsustainable. I must admit that I was very pleasantly surprised to read, that finally someone has spoken out of the official Washington - CNN attitude. Especially that this "someone" is Vermont. The progressive voice of America. READ MORE

And the last one is about the Columbus Day. I mean about the growing unpopularity of the celebration of the Columbus Day. Especially this was the case in Denver, where actually protesters have disrupted the Columbus Day parade. It is interesting that Colorado was the first state, that in 1905 has officially started to celebrate this day. It seems to me, that someone is concerned about rewriting the history. READ MORE

Well, that's all folks. Public voice has once again spoken up. Is there anyone in Washington to listen a bit?

Bulgaria vol. 2

After fantastic week in Bulgaria this summer (29th July - 4th August, Active Summer Camp) , once again I had a wonderful time in Bulgaria. This time it was only 3 days, but it was really nice. Yes, you read correctly, 3 days. We should stayed there for 4 days, but unfortunately we got visa for only 3 days. Stupid bureaucracy!

OK, I won't bother you this time with the visa problems.I promise I will write only about the nice things.

This time the purpose of our journey to Bulgaria was the "International Meeting of Young Psychologists" organised by the The Association of Young Psychologists in Bulgaria. The meeting took place in the beautiful city of Blagoevgrad.

It is a nice small city, just a 3 hours drive from Skopje. Blagoevgrad has a many little narrow streets full of restaurants, coffee bars, pubs and little shops. It reminds me very much of some Greek or other Mediterranean cities. It is also amazing that the city is full of young people, due to the fact that Blagoevgrad is a university center. Anyway it was really nice walking down the streets among so many young people. When you ad to this the perfect weather conditions that we had there during our visit (it was real summer), it was love at first sight for me. Enough about the city, they say that one picture is worthy than a thousand words, therefore you should visit Blagoevgrad and see what I'm talking about.

Now little bit more about the social side of the meeting. Boy, that was something. It was really nice to meet such a nice people from so many countries. I enjoyed every single moment of our socialising. I especially enjoyed the time I've spent with the teams from Bulgaria, Croatia, Holland and Poland. I can remember that I conquered the hearts of the Bulgarian fellows with the sentence "One nation, two states", which refers to the similarity and the close relations, ties, mentality etc. between the Macedonian and Bulgarian people. It is funny, because from one side for this sentence I can get beaten up in Macedonia and from the other side I have been cheered up for the same thing in Bulgaria. Yes, it is really funny how do history & politics mixed together work out, here in the Balkans, especially in Macedonia, Bulgaria and Greece. At the end we have all laughed at each other understanding the joke and recognising the stupidity, the irony of Balkan's politics.

Here are some of the photos from our time spent together:

1. Me and the Polish girls: Karolina, Me, Monika


2. Everybody dancing the Macedonian, ooops sorry, Bulgarian traditional dance


3. Part of the Bulgarian team: Sto, Ani, fogot his name, Pepi

4. Macedonian girls studying in Bulgaria: Katica and forgot her name


5. Part of the Croatian team and a Macedonian girl: Alina, Andro, Kosta, Danela


6. Macedonian team: Slavco, Kalina, Daniela, Me


7. Me and Ceciel from Holland


8.Croatian beauty: Tena and Anica


9. Me and Ani from Bulgaria


10. Me and forgot his name and Eleonora


11. Sto and forgot his name and Alina and Ani dancing the sexy moves


12. Croatian mystic


13. Some Bulgarian girls dancing in the cage - awesome!!!


14. They were really nice: Anica and Tena


15. Finally: the last supper

Once again, I had a wonderful time with a wonderful people during those 3 days in Blagoevgrad. I visited some of the lectures, but I've visited more of the pubs and clubs. More fun, less worries. My life moto. I must admit that Bulgaria is becoming my favorite neighbouring country.

So, girls and boys, thank you for the wonderful time we have spent together. Ani, Aleksandar, Katica, Tena, Eleonora, Anica, Ceciel, Kosta, Milena, Pepi, Boris, Rose, Karolina, Monika, Andro, Alina, Sto, Martina, Sara - I love you all!!!

P.S. Sorry if I forgot someone.

Are you talking to me?

Little kitty with a Robert De Niro's kind of look (remember the famous scene from the movie Taxi Driver ).

It took a lot of hand-biting for me to take this picture, but it was worthy. This cat was amazing case.

New bike

I have bought myself a new bike. OK it's not that new, actually it is a second-hand bike, but it is new for me. It is also well preserved bike and I already like it very much. Love at first sight.

I don't know if you have noticed, but it has funny orange coloured wheels. Those wheels are the real trademark and they give true personality to the bike. And of course they are Made in China. I really hope that I won't get poisoned by that suspicious chinese product. We shall see. If I don't write in the next 24 hours please call 911.

So, Lens Armstrong watch your back. I'm coming after you!!!

Spin

RIP : Luciano Pavarotti

My favorite opera tenor Luciano Pavarotti died today. He was at the age of 71 when he died at his home at Modena (the city of his birth) after suffering a pancreatic cancer.

I'm really sad. Sad because he was responsible for introducing me in to the world of opera, in to the magic world of opera music. I can remember the first time when I have heard him, it was on the eve of the 1990 FIFA World Cup Final when he was singing alongside with Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras (later this trio of tenors was known as The Three Tenors) .

I can also remember that one of my first CD`s I have bought by myself, was some compilation of Luciano Pavarotti. Damn. I can clearly see that moment. After I was saving money for more than a three weeks, I got to the store. The picture was like this : there was a little confused boy standing in the front of the shop manager and asking for Pavarotti`s CD (I was that boy for sure). Than I got some confusing, rather strange, facial expression on manager`s face, meaning "Are you sure boy?" and I was just staring him with my big blue eyes and shaking up and down with my head. After few seconds of this nonverbal communication he has finally given me the CD. I was so proud and I was only 10 years old. So, I can say that I have literally grew up with his music.

I'm still pretty sad and shocked, therefore I don't know what else to write. I'm going to simply play his CD`s again.

I can just say one big THANK YOU! I've enjoyed your singing and I will continue enjoying it, you great man. You, always smiling big man.



Requiescat in pace, Pavarotti!

Deliverance

I've just finished watching this movie, Deliverance, and I can just say - WOW! This movie is an awesome piece of kinematic art. It is a nice psychological thriller/drama,and it is worthwhile spending the 2 hours in front of the PC monitor.

For more information about the movie you can check here and here.

Little cutie

Let me introduce you to my niece, Lia. She is almost 2 years old and she is so cute.

Home alone

What you get when you have left home alone, graduate political scientist and his almost graduate programmer brother? You get perfect combination for disaster.

To be more specific, this is what you get:

Cold War II

Sadly but it is true, Cold War II it is on it's way! And yes, it is coming furiously fast, without hesitation and with no mercy.

Another outstanding text by Noam Chomsky. It is worthy of your priceless time and you should read it. Once again Noam shows his excellent analytical skills combined with his sense for freedom of speech and as a result we have this extraordinary text which has uncovered the truth that lies behind the US Nazi attitude towards Iran.

Here are some excerpts :

It is instructive that Washington’s propaganda framework is reflexively accepted, apparently without notice, in US and other Western commentary and reporting, apart from the marginal fringe of what is called ‘the loony left.” What is considered “criticism” is skepticism as to whether all of Washington’s charges about Iranian aggression in Iraq are true. It might be an interesting research project to see how closely the propaganda of Russia, Nazi Germany, and other aggressors and occupiers matched the standards of today’s liberal press and commentators.

The comparisons are of course unfair. Unlike German and Russian occupiers, American forces are in Iraq by right, on the principle, too obvious even to enunciate, that the US owns the world. Therefore, as a matter of elementary logic, the US cannot invade and occupy another country. The US can only defend and liberate others. No other category exists. Predecessors, including the most monstrous, have commonly sworn by the same principle, but again there is an obvious difference: they were Wrong, and we are Right. QED.

Iran rejects US control of the Middle East, challenging fundamental policy doctrine, but it hardly poses a military threat. On the contrary, it has been the victim of outside powers for years: in recent memory, when the US and Britain overthrew its parliamentary government and installed a brutal tyrant in 1953, and when the US supported Saddam Hussein’s murderous invasion, slaughtering hundreds of thousands of Iranians, many with chemical weapons, without the “international community” lifting a finger – something that Iranians do not forget as easily as the perpetrators. And then under severe sanctions as a punishment for disobedience.

There is lot more to read. Whole text you can find here .

Enjoy!

Cradle of democracy. Yeah right!

No wonder that racism and xenophobia still exist across the Western world, when the so-called cradle of Western civilisation and democracy is one of the most xenophobic countries in the World and it is definitely the most xenophobic European country.

Yes, you guess right. I'm talking about Greece.

The last disturbing case occurred on 18-th of august in Thessaloniki, when 27-year-old Nigerian immigrant Tony Onouha died. Tony Onouha, a seller of pirate CDs, died on Saturday after falling from a first-floor cafeteria balcony in the Thessaloniki suburb of Kalamaria. Relatives said Onouha fell from the balcony in an attempt to flee plainclothes policemen. But police have denied any part in the death, saying no local officers had been assigned to patrol the area on that night.


And yes, yet again we should blindly believe the official police story. The sad reality is that this is not the first case of this kind (remember the recent case with the Albanian immigrants), and unfortunately I think that it won't be the last one.

When I mentioned above that Greece is the most xenophobic European country, I didn't make up this story. Just take a brief look at the researches and surveys from the EU Agency for fundamental rights (FRA) (former European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) ) and you will get the right picture. For more details you can visit their web site - http://fra.europa.eu/fra/index.php

So, it hasn't changed much from the days of ancient Athens, where foreigners didn't have almost any rights. Now, 2300 years after, in the 21-st century Greece shows the same symptoms.

My question is - Is this the example that non-western countries have to follow in their pursuit for the democracy? Or should the rest non-EU European countries follow this example for their accession into EU?!?

I don't think so!

Come as you are

I was listening again to this music masterpiece Nirvana, MTV Unplugged in New York and damn, it is so good!

Come, as you are. As you were.
As I want you to be. As a friend.
As a friend. As an old enemy. Take your time.
Hurry up. The choice is yours. Don't be late.
Take a rest. As a friend. As a old memory, memory, memory, memory.

Use and abuse of children

In a less then 24 hours I witnessed two situations that really shocked me. I didn't know what to do, I didn't know what to say. It was all about negligence, on purpose or not, I really don't care. At the end, the children are the one who suffer the most.

They say that children are the future of every society, so if it continues like this Macedonia won't have healthy future.

Situation No.1 : Last night, after having a nice long ride on my bike, I was resting with my friends in the city park. This is the place, where young people usually are gathering in the evening during the hot summer. It is always so crowd, but it is nice. It is full of positive energy. And as we were sitting on the park benches, a very young homeless gypsy boy has approached us. Than came the first shock. He was smoking. Somehow we managed to force him to drop the cigar. He was all shaking with his head. And then came the second more horrific shock. He pulled out a plastic bag out of his pocket and started to inhale something. We were 99% sure that he inhaled glue, which is common substitute for drugs among homeless and poor people. And do you know what was really sad? This gypsy boy was maximum 7 years old!

Situation No.2 : Today, it was about 1 o`clock afternoon and it was so hot. On my balcony, under the shadow it was 37 degrees. I was writing some e-mails, when I heard some music. I went to my balcony to see what is all about, and there was amazing scene going on in front of my building. There were 3 rows of red official chairs and they were placed under the shadow. There were some people sitting and between them was the Minister of Defence. So far there is nothing unusual about that. But, in front of these official people there were some 30 to 40 kids who were performing some show, and there were also some flags and patriotic songs. These children were at maximum age of 12. And they were having this performance for at least an hour and half under inhumane conditions. If it was 37 degrees under the shadow, you can imagine how many degrees it was under the sun at 1 o`clock. 42 or maybe 45 degrees? Who knows?!? My point is that they were under the sun for 2 hours, performing some pointless socialistic-like show and the Minister of Defence was cooling under the shadow. I mean, hello?!?! It is 45 degrees. I wonder, who was so "smart" to came up with such a nice idea. Does anyone of those officials care about the health of those dear and innocent children? I really don't know what to say.


Above, I have described two situations which happened in timeline less than 24 hours. Two cases of negligence, and of course the adults are the one to blame for. In the first case there was negligence from the parents and in the second case there was institutional negligence. However children were suffering in both situations. Where is the sense for humanity? Where is the sense of care for our children? They are our country's future. Aaaargh! I am so angry!

Global Economy

I've just finished reading an excellent book, "Global economy - how rich became rich and why poor are becoming poorer" (or the title in original "Global okonomi - hvordan de rike ble rikere og hvorfor de fattige blir fattigere" , don't be confused it is on Norwegian) by Erik S. Reinert.

In a very direct and profound way, this Norwegian economist, tries and succeeds to describe the process of globalisation and its horrific consequences. I was really shocked what I've read about the history of the globalisation, especially about the modern process of globalisation and the effects which it causes on many developing countries around the world. It is so sad to see how and what some of the rich countries are doing to the rest of the world, especially what are they doing to the poorest countries (mainly African and South American countries).

Ok, to cut this story short, I will try to summarize it in 2 or 3 sentences, and the rest of it you will have to read it:
-It is all about how in the past, rich countries became rich and how nowadays the don't let the poor countries to do the same thing in order to become more developed, more rich and more industrialized. How the institutions of Washington (IMF,World Bank,WTO) are treating the developing countries and how they keep them underdeveloped, in order these countries to be just exporters of resources, and importers of western final products. It is interesting to see what England,France,Norway were doing 150-200 years ago, and what they are now doing in a sense of forcing unbelievable economic policies to the developing countries.

If you have an opportunity, please read this book. It will change your attitude towards globalisation, free trade etc...

Just a beutifull flower

I was so speechless when I saw it for the first time...

Who you really hate?

It is the crucial question - Who you really hate? Is it the state (mainly foreign) policy or its citizens?

In order for better multicultural and intercultural understanding it is very important to make difference between official foreign state policy and between opinion of ordinary people. Yes, I can agree that we all hate US foreign policy, but it is not true that we all hate American people. Or maybe, in my case, I hate official Greek policy, but I can't say that i hate ordinary Greeks. We are all the same...

But, this is one big BUT, unfortunately I can say that I belong to a minority of citizens who share the same opinion about this issue. And I shall try to explain why it is like that.

Human mind works on the following principle: people see the world around them in pictures. Human mind tries to make these pictures as simple as they can be. This is due the mind's effort to make the perception of man's surrounding easier. This whole process results in more coherent picture of the world and in less conflicting situation inside human mind. And that is all about - avoiding conflicting situations inside ourselves. In this process of avoiding these kind of situations prejudices and unfair generalisations are born. Prejudice is nothing else than the product of the mental process described above. So, because ordinary people are often preoccupied with existential problems, because the don't want to be bother and because they want to maintain their inner peace, they adopt these simple pictures. And it is very important to say that these pictures aren't created just by the individuals by themselves. They are created, maintained and powered by the family, the society and especially nowadays the mass media. And these pictures (messages) are - all Americans are bad, all Greeks are bad etc.
All of this wouldn't be such a serious issue, if politicians (different political groups, nationalistic groups etc.) don't abuse this situation which is happening in the head of the ordinary people. They use it and abuse it in order to gain some political points, to gain more power, to gain more popular support for their plans. Plans which often are very insane, irrational and disastrous for human kind, don't forget the: Spanish Inquisition, slavery, Nazi Germany, Atomic bomb, Vietnam war, Iraq war, Bosnian war, racial segregation and many more. All of the examples mentioned above, had (at least in the beginning) great popular support. This popular support in some cases was from unseen proportion.

And that is really sad. What a irony! We (human kind) consider ourselves to be the most rational living beings on this planet. Yeah right!

My message is : Don't be bother to think with your own heads. Don't run away from the first obstacle you meet. Don't easily accept the black&white picture of life and world, which is served by the governments,mass media and society. Yes, I know that sometimes it can be really hard to do this, but anyway it is more easier than doing the body count at the end. Don't be afraid to speak up, your opinion sometimes can be very crucial.

So again - Who you really hate?

Check...1,2,3...Check!

This is my first post on my first English speaking blog...

In order for better multicultural understanding, I've decided to start this blog and therefore the "official" language will be the English language although you can use any language you already know. Even intergalactic languages are allowed such as Marsian, Romulan etc...

So let there be more love and more understanding between different nations, different races, different classes, different genders and finally between different species...

We all live one LIFE, on this one PLANET and let DIVERSITY be our life moto!