Problem With No Ending...

Vashingtonoo nenravitsa politka Mosvkee, ee Moskvyeh nenravitsa politika Vashingtona. Fsyegda boodyet tak.

Funny Moments In Tallinn #457

..continuing a theme started on my facebook page, I think it's better tucked away here since not all of my FB friends even know where/what Tallinn is..

Upon going into the local Comarket, a very salubrious and high end food emporium, grocer and provider of requisites here, I saw an oldish man checking out those (usually minging) salads you get in plastic tubs. You know the type (the man I mean) woolly hat, dirt-ingrained hands, and the kind of complexion that can only arise from many, many rivers of vodka having coursed through the system down the years.

Anyway, upon understandably deciding the salad (or whatever it was) wasn't for him, he actually put it down, but at the same time gave that kind of dismissive wave of the hand, tub of salad-wards, that men of that generation do when indicating that as per usual they couldn't give a fuck of the winged variety when they've just nearly mown a pedestrian down on a zebra crossing.. But I mean it's not a sentient being, it's a tub of salad!! I'm not sure I didn't hear a disdainful grunt at the same time!!  The salad said nothing...

Funny Moments In Tallinn # 243

..continuing a theme which I began on my facebook page..

The Reformierakond  party 2011 Calendar, detailed with cartoons for each month, with the theme of various old women in the country, wearing headscarves. Nothing out of the ordinary there you might say but one or two of the months really did stand out, in particular:

- Flatulent cows, with the old women collecting the bi-product in bags (August).
- Kids running naked, fucking in the bushes (May).
- Old women taking a mud bath (April).
- Slightly un-PC on subathing on the beach and picking up a chocolate complexion, and thus needing to eat lots of bananas (July of course).

Just trying to imagine one of the main UK parties having such motifs on their calendars, rather than the soft focus pics of party leaders meeting old people and children, or whatever other rubbish they have. But I can't.

...oh, I forgot the funniest entry, February depicts the snow almost melted!

Busy-ness ≠ Business - Seth's Blog

Great post from my big brother, and I have to say offering a certain degree of reassurance; that feeling of sanctimoniousness that seems to arise when one is busy (especially in feeling superior to those who are lazing around) is in fact misplaced, and has little or no bearing on productivity. This had occured to me before, but this gives it at least some degree of veritas..

If You Thought Khruschev's Shoe Banging Was Crude, Wait Till You Hear Lyndon Johnson's Sartorial Requirements...

If we can enjoy listening to conversations like this then the Soviets no doubt were doing so at the time, in which case I think they could be forgiven for thinking that they were winning the cold war..

On This Day 342 Years Ago..

...London diarist..

Wednesday 12th December, 1668

 I hear this day that there is fallen down a new house not quite finished in Lumbard-Street, and that there have been several so, they making use of bad mortar and bricks; but no hurt yet, as God hath ordered it. This day was brought home my pair of black coach-horses the first I ever was master of, a fine pair.

...it's snakes and ladders then!

Inflation Rate Is Above The Maastricht Criteria - Adopt The Euro Before Anyone Notices!

Just in time for joining the Euro zone, at arguably the worst time ever to have joined (I personally trust that things will be fine in the end, however) Estonia has an inflation rate somewhat in excess of that which was required by the Maastricht criteria for membership.

The current rate is 4.5% - joining the Euro in itself is an inflationary pressure, as people will be rounding up prices rather than charging 27 Euros and 49.5 Cents for things, and there has certainly been something of a rise in activity in the real estate market, though again this is probably trying to get in ahead of the Euro adoption. Compare this with the Maastricht criteria of 3 point something per cent.

This must grate in Lithuania in particular, rejected a few years ago, ostensibly for having a rate that was a couple of fractions of a per cent higher than it should have been or something miniscule (in fact there may have been more to the story - maybe being a part of the 'new' Europe that had backed the 'wrong' side during the 2003 Iraq invasion and needing bringing to heel).

Nevertheless we're in, or nearly in, the Euro, and in these days of turmoil I don't think a 4.5 per cent rate of inflation is anything to be reprimanded for; I am sure that many of the other countries missed some of the criteria in one way or another.

Furthermore, a little inflation can be a good thing (remember it was running at nearly 12 per cent in Estonia in 2008!), for instance as a sign of recovery.

There's a little discussion on this, more or less saying the same thing, on Edward Hugh's Facebook page which I won't post a link to, you can go and find it yourself if you're interested, but in any event here's a chart (which is from the Eurostat site) charting inflation in Estonia over recent years...

Thoughts For The Day No. 48 - With The Rabbi Anders Weiss

...psychologist, spiritual guru and arbiter of good taste..

Imagination rules the world.

Napoleon Bonaparte

Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions.

Albert Einstein

Imagination Imagination Imagination! Imagination Imagination Imagination Imagination Imagination Imagination Imagination Imagination Imagination Imagination Imagination Imagination Imagination Imaginatiooooooooooon! 

Song from 'South Park', season 11, episode 10.