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I recently got an article from our very own Blegoo, who wanted to see his thoughts published and critiqued around here. It required serious formatting, but I thought it’s a free service I can provide to the second highest commenter (in terms of quantity) on this blog. My comments will be highlighted inline and concentrated at the end. 

The most important debating tournament in Romania took place at the “Mihai Viteazu” high-school and the reporter summarized a debate with a BIRT on whether the Romanian government should provide reparations to the Roma community for the Holocaust. This is worth a discussion.

Despite this being one of the reasons I started this blog, the more I try to engage in online debates, the angrier and more unsatisfied I get. Before I decide to completely and always avoid them, it may be worth looking into why they are this way.

Blegoo, previously profiled and published here, took some time off from shovelling to write an article for this blog, as a guest. I’m publishing it here as encouragement (longer version), with the spelling mistakes left uncorrected but listed at the end, and also detailing there the formatting work I (still) had to do.

I have been staying away from the news of the moment, but this recent tragedy hits extremely close to home, whichever way a member of the Toronto Romanian diaspora (including myself) chooses to define that notion.

I’ve two heavy things on my mind right now, and unlike WhatsApp frustrations, I don't think I'll be able to balance them with some happier, care-free thoughts. The second part of the title was inspired by a comment left by Blegoo about a year ago.

Suntem noi genetic in acelasi grup cu bulgarii si cu turcii? Andrada Daciana pare sa creada ca National Geographic sustine asta, si mai mult decat atat, ca gresesc si ca noi ar trebui sa le trimitem scrisori de ura si amenintare!

Am fost intrebat de unde vine titlul blogului si n-am raspuns, pentru ca raspunsul ar fi fost mult prea lung. Dar la un moment dat ceva, cumva trebuie sa ofer ca raspuns. Am decis sa-ncep c-un articol mai mult sau mai putin enciclopedic despre Nietzsche, Also Sprach Zarathustra si – intr-un viitor apropiat - Zamolxis.

Am prezentat intr-un articol precedent cele 38 de modalitati de a castiga o dezbatere. Ceea ce n-am spus foarte clar (poate pentru ca mi-am dorit sa-mi spuna cineva, poate pentru ca eu insumi nu stiam) este ca de fapt acestea sunt o sinteza a unui eseu al lui Schopenhauer.

My reservations notwithstanding, I suspect most of the people who voted for Iohannis do not really know who he is, apart from the fact that he is not Ponta. I'm trying to bring a bit more color and background to his wooden personality.

It's hard to determine when you are the source of events or when you are simply part of the current. If you're a blogger in a minor blogosphere, you might start accusing others of "stealing" from you. Me, I'm just glad that I'm being validated.

It’s been a while since we haven’t talked about poverty in Romania and solutions. A recent “debate” caused by an over-the-top article on not giving money to the poor gives us a chance to look at it again and also address our reticence with BDSM practices.

One of the things I've been doing with my life lately is moving to a more “mobile lifestyle” (or “nomadic”, as a friend has described it), which includes digitizing my paper archives and moving everything online. Obviously, this involves some sort of encryption before moving stuff to the cloud, but for now, let's have a look at my old passports, which somehow makes me talk about representative democracy and its inherent corruption.

Cum am mai spus, nu sunt foarte multumit de nivelul dezbaterilor din blogo.ro-oaie. De multe ori, dezbateri care incep bine se termina prost sau nu se termina deloc. Ce sfaturi ar putea fi oferite celor care vor sa castige cu orice pret?

I continue to struggle to express my frustrations with the status quo while also presenting the election results. Here I'll start with the facts, hoping that the rest will transpire effortlessly.

Quite a few people are (or were back in September, but it takes a while for local news to cross the Atlantic) appalled that Alexandru Arsinel, an aging and beloved Romanian actor, has supposedly bribed doctors (or used his fame) to jump the queue for a new kidney. But isn’t the outrage itself somewhat outrageous?

Intr-un articol precedent, am criticat ceea ce mie mi s-a parut a fi misoginie. Cel criticat, Buddha, a raspuns cu calm (1), disculpandu-se. Si totusi, decat sa polemizam pe marginea presupusei misoginii a lui Buddha, n-ar fi mai interesant sa dezbatem misoginia in general?

I don’t have time for this any more than you do. It’s summer, it’s sunny, and I hardly have the time for my daily swim. But some bigwigs are counting precisely on our not paying attention to pass some really bad regulations.

Sriracha is a 'sauce piquante', SRI is the Romanian Secret Service, fall is autumn, and in Romanian "picant" could also be derived from 'to fall' which is 'a pica.' We look at the consecutive declarations of Romania’s president, an allied journalist and finally, the candidacies of other president-hopefuls, from the head of the Romanian Secret Service, Melescanu and to the former Justice Minister, Macovei. But most of all, the title is a tip of the hat to Vlad Petreanu and his excellent expose, with a title that translates roughly as “The [secret] Services Autumn.”

I haven’t quite followed the morbidly insane “family coalition” initiative (w-coalitia), in all its pathology, but I recently discovered how some UniBuc prof has been using everything, including the Hamangia / Cernavoda sculptures for his fascist crusade against gays. And likely, from the same deep vein of christo-fascism, the nebulous coalition has managed (or is about) to pass a law to stick more Christianity into people’s faces under the guise of celebrating Brancoveanu Constantin, boier vechi si domn crestin (old boyar and Christian voivode).