Dr. Filomena

gutta cavat lapidem, non vi, sed saepe cadendo

Winners of awards given for best innovations by the LJ section of the Slovene Chamber of Commerce.

EDIT: Supplementing the mobile entry

This was posted from the Awards for Innovations in Ljubljana Region for 2006

For the fifth year in a row, the Ljubljana Chamber of Commerce awarded the best innovators. The awards were combined with lectures of Slovenian and foreign experts as well as representatives of foreign Embassies in Slovenia on possible collaboration in promoting innovations and opportunities for penetration of the market of high technology.

One of the awarded innovators was somebody we do indeed know. The man to the far right of the photo received the prize for the mobile technology software application solution that allows real-time tracking via mobile phones. Such as checking out the location of a particular bus in Ljubljana, for example. Want to catch your bus in the morning? The Radio Kaos CEO developed the application thanks to which you’ll know whether you still have time to take a quick shower 😉

Brussels airport

EDIT 29/Oct/07: adding a ‘real’ photo to the mobile entry:

There IS mint in this country! And dr. ARF makes a great mojito! 🙂

EDIT 19 Oct 2007: Adding a photo of the resulting mojito:

To help with the GuessCard 😉 this is how I got here…

Pretty or What

So where am I? 😀

Anyone who’s known me for some time has heard me say those words. Not directed at any particular military force or at soldiers in general. Actually, a more accurate way of putting it would be “I Reject Violence”. Somehow, I’ve never been able to understand how anyone could want to make a career out of learing how to kill other people. Sure, you can say it’s for noble reasons such as defending one’s country. Fine. Chances are I’d pick up a weapon and defend my home and country as well if it were under attack. But if everyone refused to use force against another human, this would be pretty irrelevant. I finally came across a passage that summarizes my thoughts perfectly:

“There is only one circumstance that justifies the use of force: If someone is attacking you, you have a moral obligation to defend yourself. Applying that rule would lead to a surprising conclusion. If all countries upheld the ethic that the only just war – the only legally, morally acceptable use of force – was for defence, then there would be no war. We wouldn’t need military defence. People would use non-violent means of correcting injustices – with protest, with civilian resistance. Paradoxically, if you use armed force only to defend yourself, and if you believe this, what you end up with is a world in which you don’t need it.”

It is sad that I should read it in the context of the author’s obituary. Dr. Randall (“Randy”)Caroline Forsberg, the executive director of the Institute for Defense & Disarmament Studies, a Cambridge-based think tank and the Chair of Political Science at the City College of New York, passed away at age 64 a week ago. She launched a movement with a profound impact on international relations in the 1980s. As a graduate student at MIT in 1980, Randall Forsberg started the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign at a time when the Reagan administration was threatening nuclear war with the Soviet Union. Recognizing that the division among peace groups rendered them ineffectual, she called on them to unite behind a proposal for a U.S-Soviet agreement to halt the testing, production, and deployment of nuclear weapons. When they proved enthusiastic, she began circulating a “Call to Halt the Nuclear Arms Race.”

The Freeze campaign made remarkable progress. Holding its first national conference in March 1981, the Freeze began organizing all across the country. On June 12, 1982, when peace groups sponsored an antinuclear demonstration in New York City around the theme of “Freeze the Arms Race — Fund Human Needs,” it escalated into the biggest U.S. political demonstration thus far, with nearly a million participants. Reaganites did their best to discredit and destroy it, but on the other hand in 1984, the Freeze became part of the Democratic Party’s campaign platform.

On the defensive, the Reagan administration was forced to modify its policies and the President endorsed the “zero option,” a proposal to remove all intermediate-range nuclear missiles from Europe. Furthermore, in April 1982, shortly after the Freeze resolution was introduced in Congress, Reagan began declaring publicly that “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.” He added: “To those who protest against nuclear war, I can only say: ‘I’m with you!”
(Source)

Dialog International puts it, “the activities of Dr. Forsberg and people like her are ridiculed. We are closer now to a nuclear conflict – this time with Iran – than we have been for nearly two decades. We will miss Randall Forsberg’s quiet voice of reason. Her message lives on, and the planet cannot afford not to heed it.”

May she rest in peace.

Peace.

Global warming, my throat!

I am stuck at home with a cold due to a bad case of summer-nostalgia (i.e. not dressing warmly enough).

On the other hand, I do remember always having to wear heavy winter coats on All Saints’ Day when accompanying my Grandfather to Urh hill where annual commemorations were held for the hundreds of people tortured and executed by the collaborationist “Home Guard” during WWII, among them his classmate who’d been dragged to Urh straight from the classroom at the University.

Snowflakes were usually landing on fur coats while we were lighting candles and listening to the choir singing. Cannon fire added to the cold as far as I was concerned. Afterwards, we’d always take a walk on the frozen paths to see the trees still struggling to finally hide away the tell-tale bits of iron by swallowing them quietly into their trunks. Then, we’d visit the exhibition of extensive photographic material on the events taking place at Urh. Incidentally, since the ownership of the Church of St. Urh, the place of conception of the “white guard” armed forces and their military stronghold where the atrocities were being committed has been restored to the Roman Catholic Church, the exhibition has been hidden away in Ljubljana City Museum‘s basement.

Well I guess my line of thought stranded just a tiny bit 😉 I’ll blame Michael who posted some photos of snowed-in Rogla today. Hey, it’s a good thing that Slovenians cite Alpine skiing as our national sport. Do you suppose the mild winters promoting soccer instead of skiing may have changed the national character a bit? Humm..

So much for today’s rambling. Must get back to work. Albeit from home 😉

Speaking of work… Congratulations to Fetalij on his first full-time “regular employment” job! If you read Pengovsky’s explanation of how Slovenian employers (ok, and students) are abusing the incentive system, oh and actually his today’s post as well, you’ll realize that securing a regular job must have been no small feat! 🙂

SG / Stomach Guidance

WARNING: do not scroll down if you’ve eaten during the last 12 hours or are planning to satisfy your hunger in the next 12.

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Hey, you have been given a fair warning.

A couple of weeks ago, a friend came all the way from far far away Krško and as he happens to be a blogger (Buba, I have a bad cold myself right now 🙁 ), one keystroke led to another and the “drink” developed into a very enjoyable evening in the company of bright, imaginative, literate, fun-loving young bloggers. Among them, all three newly elected SiOL’s house bloggers. I bow to you, oh majesties. Whoops, the popular vote thing, right… I bow to you, oh blogger celebrities: Fetalij, Irena and Chef; as well as Pi.Roman, Kandela, Mojca, Deus.X.Mashina, Nina, Barbara and last but not least, the infamous Sex.

How could I not love this town? Ljubljana rules! On the way to the bar…

No shortage of drinks… even if the waiter was far more incompetent than good old Manuel. Basil should fix things by the next time.

How’s it hanging?

Wild Ride

High Five

In addition to the cool and very different if slightly spooky environment, a good reason to pay a visit to Pr’Skelet is the 2-4-1 policy 😉

Afterwards, we moved to the Cutty Sark just off the Three Bridges to say hi to another Ljubljana resident blogger, Pengovsky who DJd at the place that night.

Take your eyes off that striped sweater right now!!!

Gotta love those smiling faces!

More bloggers, including a *very* famous one 😉

Photo by Pi.Roman

We finished the night with a slight doubt being raised in our minds regarding Fetalij’s sexual preferences, but the doubt has since been successfully dispersed. BTW, way to go, Fetalij! Grandma’s proud of you… 😈

Here’s to many more gatherings such as this one. Thanks for the good time, y’all!