Инициатива без жертви

Source: http://www.mtitc.government.bg

Миналата събота сутринта ми се наложи да пътувам до Севлиево, малко, но много красиво градче в северна България. Беше денят за национално почистване и тъй като не бях сигурна дали ще имам възможност да се включа в почистването, а и се оказа че ще пътувам сама, реших да спестя на природата отровните газове от автомобила си поне този ден и да се придвижа с автобус.

Купих си билет, качих се в автобуса и заех мястото си, което беше на десетина реда зад шофьора. (Тук ще спестя разказа си за пътниците, които ни чакаха на няколко импровизирани спирки извън автогарата и които очевидно имаха уговорка със шофьора откъде да ги вземе. Липсата на лоялност от страна на шофьора е проблем на фирмата превозвач, с който не искам да ви занимавам.)

Излязохме от София и потънах в книгата си. По едно време забелязах, че е започнало да вали. Инстинктивно погледнах към шофьора и видях, че той говори по мобилния си телефон. Не използваше нито handsfree, нито bluetooth, нито някое другo съвременно устройство, което да му позволява да говори докато шофира. Държеше телефона с ръка на ухото си и говореше. Това продължи около петнайсетина минути.

Започнах нервно да се оглеждам и да търся с поглед други възмутени пътници. Никой не беше обърнал внимание. След няколко минути на възмущение и търсене на подкрепа от страна на останалите пътници, успях да привлека вниманието на една жена на средна възраст, която седеше на седалката зад мен. Посочих й шофьора, който продължаваше да говори по мобилния си телефон и й казах, че смятам да отида и да го помоля да спре да го прави. За мое учудване, жената вдигна рамене, усмихна се безпомощно и каза, "Всички шофьори говорят, дори тези в градския транспорт. Не се занимавай," и продължи да си гледа през прозореца.

Реших да изчакам малко с надеждата шофьора да си приключи разговора. Но не! В следващия момент, видях как все още говорейки по телефона, той започна да изпреварва камион. Навън все още валеше. Това преля чашата на търпението ми, изчаках да извърши изпреварването и отидох при него.

Осъзнавах, че с това мога да го ядосам и да изложа на още по-голяма опасност останалите пътници, но слава богу, това не се случи. За щастие, се съгласи да затвори телефона и не ми се разсърди много. Продължихме спокойно пътуването си и пристигнахме живи и здрави.

Мисля си сега, обаче, ами ако не беше успял да изпревари камиона на този двулентов път с мокра настилка  и само с една свободна ръка за управление? А, щеше ли автобуса да пристигне до крайната си точка успешно, ако никой в автобуса не беше му показал, че говоренето по телефона по време на шофиране изобщо не се толерира от страна на пътниците? Със сигурност при лошо стечение на обстоятелствата, това можеше да се превърне в поредния почернен празник за българите.

Националният ден за почистване отмина. Данните посочват, че резултатите от тази инициатива са впечатляващи! България е по-чиста отвсякога! Но кога ще изчистим съзнанието си от апатията, страха и безхаберието си? И дали това не е най-важната стъпка към решаването на проблемите ни, много от които, за съжаление, завършват фатално за редица български граждани!

Bulgaria Honored Whitney Houston With A Beautiful Tribute

A wonderful performance of The Greatest Love of All

Some of the best female voices honored the legacy of the late singer last week in a popular Bulgarian bar.

I Will Always Love You, I Have Nothing, I Wanna Dance With Somebody, I'm Every Woman and When You Believe were among the songs performed in SOFIA LIVE CLUB,  which was jam-packed for the night.

The tribute was brilliantly organized by the Bulgarian pop group "TE" and their lead singer Preslava Peicheva who was also hosting.

The evening started with a beautiful performance of So Emotional by Peicheva and continued with other top Bulgarian female singers such as: Polly Genova, last year's entry in the Eurovision song contest, Mariana Popova, Eurovision 2006, Maria Ilieva, unarguably one of the best Bulgarian female singers, and many more.

The audience rapturously applauded all the performers and could not resist but danced and sung with them some of the best songs of our lifetime.



After the almost two-hour concert, all the singers gathered on stage for another wonderful performance of one of the most touching songs of Whitney, The Greatest Love of All.

Houston died suddenly in Los Angeles in February at the age of 48 of accidental drowning due to the effects of cocaine use and heart disease. She was often called "The Voice" in reference to her exceptional vocal talent. The Guiness World Records ranked her as the most-awarded female act of all-time.

Commercials, PLEASE, Stop Ruining My Day!

Commercials get more and more aggressive, no doubt!
I would roughly classify the most upsetting ones in three different groups:

1. The most provocative & the nastiest ones: I'm sitting on my sofa trying to relax after a hard day at work and I'm watching my favorite evening show. It's time for commercials.

The first one starts with a death poll of people who had a certain virus (I intentionally would not mention any names of deadly viruses since I do not want to transfer the bad feeling from the commercials). The ad tries to sell me a vaccine against that virus. It actually tries to convince me and all other viewers that one does not have any other choice but to vaccinate themselves, their relatives and all their closest ones in order to avoid the fatal virus. They replay this ad in every commercial break!

OK, we may buy it, but, please, do not put us on the verge of tears or make us think about death every forty minutes or so just because you want us to buy your product!

2. The less provocative but still nasty ones: Again, I'm sitting on my sofa trying to relax after a hard day at work and I'm watching my favorite evening show. It's time for commercials.

They show a social commercial about abandoned children who would not even have a piece of bread for dinner unless the viewers send them money through instant messages. While watching the commercial I remember a friend of mine who is a teacher on a minimum salary, trying to raise her three children with her husband who happened to be a teacher on a minimum salary as well. They hardly have enough cash to pay their bills. I've seen them several times unable to resist the appeal from the TV screens and sending messages to help these children in need, even though they were hardly able to supply food to their own children.

I wonder why they do not they show these commercials on 50-inch TV screens in the luxury hotels where rich people could see them and react. Why are those commercials torturing the ordinary people watching TVs at home but not, for instance, the politicians who are relaxing in posh SPA resorts at the same time?

3. The dull ones: I'm sitting on my sofa trying to relax after a hard day at work and I'm watching my favorite evening show. I spill a greasy sauce on my shirt. It's time for commercials. I wonder what they'll come up this time with?!

An unknown lady in a black evening dress takes a 5-litre detergent out of her bag during a ballet concert just to show what she washes her brother's stage clothes with. Her brother, on the other hand, smiles back at her while rehearsing on stage when he sees his favorite detergent!

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I'm sitting on my sofa trying to relax after a hard day at work and I'm watching my favorite evening show. It's time for commercials.... I cannot stand it anymore and I turn off the TV.... I'm finally relaxing!

Whitney, drugs, politics & business interests

You may wonder what is the common denominator of those words in the headline. I think it's pretty obvious but if you do not, keep reading.

Here is the story as I felt it:

I spent the whole evening on 18.02.2012, watching the "Going Home" Ceremony of Whitney Houston live on CNN. It was hard watching. More than three hours friends and relatives of Mrs Houston shared their memories about her with the whole world. It was touching. Everyone talked about her being a wonderful performer, a loving person and an unspeakable talent. However, the topic about her personal struggles with drug addiction was not omitted entirely.

After the ceremony I couldn't fall asleep. I was browsing through the Internet when I ran across a two-part documentary by a top Bulgarian journalist, Miroluba Benatova, about Bulgarian drug smugglers kept in Brazilian prisons. Some of the interviewees were Bulgarians who said they were convicted of smuggling because the police found raw cocaine in their suitcases at the airport. However, other Bulgarian prisoners said they were arrested because the police thought they led suspicious conversations on the phone, allegedly they were talking about smuggling drugs. All of the prisoners were sentenced to five to ten years in prison.

After watching all this I couldn't help but link those two broadcasts I watched that night. Then I remembered Oprah Winfrey's interview with Whitney in 2009 when Mrs Houston admitted she had problems with drugs. A problem the whole world already knew about. Houston explained she was smoking marijuana and she laced it with raw cocaine. She also confessed she has been doing that for years.

Here comes the paradox, followed by at least a dozen rhetorical questions. Why governments, NGOs, lobbyists, interest groups and pretty much everyone all over the world vigorously stated they were fighting against drugs when nobody has ever asked Whitney how she got her raw cocaine? Who sold it to her? Why did it happen that everybody knew that a vast majority of celebrities was addicted to illegal substances and still nobody has ever tried to prosecute and put in prison their dealers? Why did they put in jail drug mules in Brazil caught with a few kilos of cocaine in their bags but they did not also throw in jail Whitney's dealer whom she gave her fortune of tens of million dollars to?

The questions kept coming. Was there political reluctance to fight drugs or were there business interests involved? Last but not least, would people worldwide have been mourning on 18.02.2012 because of the death of Mrs Houston if her longtime dealers were convinced, prosecuted and put in jail just as the Bulgarian mules were in Brazil? Nobody would ever know the answer to the last question but it's definitely worth thinking about it!

Balkan humor: Boris Tadich's Monkey Face

The picture below is a screen shot of the profile of Boris Tadich, the President of Serbia of two mandates, in the Bulgarian version of Wikipedia as of 10.01.2012.:

The creature on the profile picture corresponds to Celbus albifrons, a type of New World primate.

And this is Boris Tadich in the English version of Wikipedia:

I hope somebody fixes it before our neighbors accidentally run across it and take it, by mistake, personally.