Dr. Filomena

1968: Black athletes make silent protest: Two black American athletes have made history at the Mexico Olympics by staging a silent protest against racial discrimination. (source, photo source) 

A few days ago, Slovenia’s Minister of Education and Sport Milan Zver apparently recommended , in an interview for the Associated Press, that Olympic athletes avoid talking about human rights while they are in Beijing. By today, his words have been quoted in over 300 sources online.

In the original article by the AP, “EU President Advises Against Protests“, we can read: the Economic relations between the 27-nation EU and China are moving closer all the time. Trade was doubled between 2000-05 and bilaterally reached $370 billion in 2006. Europe is China’s largest export market and China is Europe’s prime source of imports. Such clout could never be emulated by athletes, Zver said.

Zver stressed that China had already come a long way since Communist leader Mao Zedong was in power, and insisted it was steadily progressing toward democracy. To spoil its Olympic coming-out party could have an adverse effect, he argued.

“They need more time. Give them the time for that and do not use sports as an instrument.”

The Reporters Without Borders‘ take on the issue is this:

“The Slovenian sports minister is undermining the work of European institutions, human rights organisations and, in general, all those who defend basic freedoms,” … “We call on Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, whose government holds the EU presidency, and the other members of the European Council to disown Zver’s comments and to reaffirm everyone’s right, if they desire, to talk about the situation of basic freedoms in China during the Beijing games.”

I know some of my friends expected me to post on Kosovo right now. But hey as things are cooking over there, I’ve decided to use hot air for something useful.

Here we go, Maida. Better late than never and when we do it, we do it right. As promised, here comes the apple skuta cheese cake recipe. You can make it in a pie model (or a round cake model) but I prefer the rectangular as it maks it easier to cut into smaller pieces.

Mix 300 g flour, a pinch of salt and a teaspoon of baking powder.

Add 0.15 l of oil (if you happen to be out of butter, hmm..)

Add 150 g brown sugar…

..and an egg.

Mix until a sort of bumpy dough is formed. Spread two thirds of the dough on the bottom of an oiled cake model and push down with your fingers. Put the remaining third of the dough away.

Let’s get the apples ready. Peel and cut up 500 g of apples, I like to use Idared. Put them in a pot.

In a bowl, mix 5 tablespoons of sugar, two tablespoons of water and a tea spoon of cinnamon. Pour over the apples, put the lid on and let simmer for 6 minutes. In the meantime, prepare the skuta cheese filling.

Mix three eggs, 8 tablespoons of sugar and a bag of vanilla sugar with a mixer.

I added some seeds this time around. A mix of sesame, sunflower etc… Add 500 g of skuta cheese and mix gently.

After the apples have been ‘cooking’ for 6 minutes, drain the liquid and place them in the cake model. Spread the skuta cheese filling over them.

Sprinkle the third of the dough you’d set away on top of the skuta cheese filling. Put in the preheated oven and bake for about 1 hour at 180°C.

When the cake is done, let it sit for at least 10 minutes before cutting it into pieces. Serve with a kiss.

Dober tek!

We’ve been discussing the Kosovo issue for a while now and as we approach “D-day” I would like to ask for your input. Please polish your crystal balls and take the poll that is included in the sidebar.

Thanks!

Regardless of what Fetalij says and the expensive gifts Finance writes about, the fundamental things still apply…

Click here to see what I mean.

Here’s your chance to see from up close how Slovenian movies are made. Jonas is involved with Vinci’s latest production, Vampir z Gorjancev (Gorjanci Vampire; Gorjanci being a region in Slovenia). They are looking for 100 extras as students during a lecture at the Faculty of Arts (location).

 
(source) just as a broad reference for the dress code 😉

The movie takes place in the seventies so if you have some time to kill this Sunday around noon,  go check it out, but make sure you’re dressed appropriately for the period (think bell bottoms) 😀 You can either appear at the set ever so groovily or call Ivona at +386 41 555 592 to let her know you’re coming.

(Lisa, Jay?) I don’t suppose you’ll be required to speak Slovene. If anything, you might appear to be listening to the professor more attentively than the average student.

PS: Jonas instructs not to shave.

EDIT 15 FEB 08: Change of location. Show up at the Biotechnical Faculty (location)

Newton, a blue-eyed white Cornish Rex made himself right at home at dr Fil’s place… and computer.

His sidekick is a white angel lingerie model 😉

(Source)

Ljubljana, 12 February. As reported by RTV Slovenije and Delo among other media, an investigation into alleged criminal offences in connection with corruption and public tenders was revealed today as the police paid unannounced early morning visits to companies SCT, Vegrad and Primorje and allegedy temporarily detained 12 persons, including the Chairwoman of the Board of Vegrad Hilda Tovšak, Chairman of the Board of SCT Ivan Zidar and Chairman of the Board of Primorje Dušan Črnigoj. The investigation is said to have begun in 2007 and lasted several months before the wheels were set in motion today.

The public tenders won by the companies in question involve immense funds so any developments in connection with this investigation will be of pivotal interest to Slovenian media. Consequences could be both economic and political as light is shed on any part of the alleged network of corruption.

First sketch of the Evolutionary Tree (Source)

The Evolutionary Tree was probably considered as nebulous a concept by some of Charles Darwin’s (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) contemporaries…

Porous chondrite interplanetary dust particle (Source)

…as the Nebular Hypothesis was by the contemporaries of Immanuel Kant (22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804).

What a trip! In more ways than one. The Chair of our Masters’ programme organized another unforgettable study journey. This time around it was an excursion to Israel where, in addition to seeing the iron repertoire sites, we were to sit in on lectures by esteemed professors. The group consisted of professors from the Faculty of Social Sciences and postgraduate students in the World Studies programme.

Chapter 1 – Istanbul

Our flight to Tel Aviv had a four-hour layover in Istanbul and I found myself buying a tourist visa along with three sociology professors just minutes after landing in Turkey and sooner than you could say hoşça kalın, we were in a taxicab on our way downtown. (By the way, check out the meaning of Omar Naber’s family name at wikitravel’s phrasebook.

What an impressive city! One word? Huge. Granted, there is only so much one can do in a new town in a bit over an hour, but we did take a stroll around Hagia Sofia, the Blue Mosque and had real Turkish coffee with real Turkish sweets at the famous Taksim square. If you order the “chicken breast pie”, please know that it is not simply a dessert resembling a piece of meat. It is ground cooked chicken meat mixed with milk and loads of sugar, made into a gluey thing sprinkled with cinnamon.

We had to go see the Bosphorus bridge, of course. Quite a feeling to be standing there at the very edge of Europe, looking across to Asia. Moving around the city, we made a friend. Hasan the taxi driver who happens to be happily married to a Bulgarian and so understands some basic Slavic words and phrases. What came in really handy is the fact that his neighbour is Macedonian and was able to translate for us on the cell phone. More about Hasan later. The important thing the first time around was that he got us back to the airport on time.

We arrived to Tel Aviv in the wee hours of Monday and I settled down into my hotel room at 4 am.

More… much more to follow. Action!

Here are a few photos from the walk around Istanbul at night..

collecting garbage ~ haunted house?

mysterious or spooky?

no escaping shopping malls ~ relax with Kermit the Turk

desserts of all types (chicken breast pie to the right)

Sütis Coffee Shop at Taksim Square (highly recommended) and the final stop before our return to the airport: the Bosphorus Bridge connecting two continents.

Saw this on my way to the Mercator shopping centre and just had to post for the Japanese connection 😀