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I’ve just read a piece of news that angered me a great deal as it smelled fake, but as I looked into it, I did not find the clear rebuttal I expected. It’s based on an obscure survey question that had not been reported in the media and now is fodder for fake news sites. The title is based on an 80s Italian song which roughly means “rogue nostalgia”, combined with the Romanian spelling of the word that stands for “rogue”, which, in the latter language stands for an insult, meaning “scoundrel, villain, miscreant”. 

After repeating what’s (still) irking me about #corruption and the way it’s tackled and perceived, I get to summarize the events of the past few days (since Executive Order / Ordinance 13) and provide you with my much unwanted and unneeded opinion.

I have, in the past, dedicated ample space and time to the Romanian elections. Lately, I’m starting to get a feeling of futility. It’s a widespread disease.

Based on my mistaken belief that there may be people reading this, I go ahead with my recommendations, after the intro and Asia. PISA is not just a set of tests, it comes with suggestions and recommendations.

The results of the latest PISA testing have come out. Will I manage to write about the educational styles in Canada (which is 4th, tied with Finland, after Singapore, Japan and Estonia) and Romania (48th out of 70)?

There was a time when women were dreaming of a “knight in shining armour” but a steady decline in the prestige of shiny things coupled with a long set of economic crises have put an end to those romantic times. Today women seem to want a man who’ll pay and they rely on the State for protection and Facebook and/or Twitter for DIY reputation management (aka PR). A recent article on dating and paying for it (ctch-tspr) reopened a long-forgotten subject, a subject I haven't attacked in a while (since between 12 and 12-B, to be exact), despite a desire and even a plan to do so.

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. 

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.

I am one of the remaining few who remembers life before the Internet. It was cloudy. And back in those times, good, watchable, fun commercials were few and far in-between.

Feeling that the previous article, on how I can help you with your misunderstandings or simply to better understand certain concepts you may be unfamiliar with, was incomplete, I added a few more clauses, mostly having to do with a money-back guarantee and also describing my first attempts at implementing the I'm from DACIA answer.

I recently read a longer article on Bloomberg about Romania and its lagging infrastructure - more specifically, roads and highways. Much to my surprise, all that I was reading on other blogs (or hearing from my relatives) was described and explained as facts. (blmbrg-cows) 

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.

Discussing the tragedy is inescapable. I had started doing this a few days ago, focusing mostly on Andrei Anghel, but didn’t have the time to say all that I wanted to say, which is why I’m continuing here.

While writing about Jihadi Jay Abdo, I had started writing about foreigners who study in Romania and half-way through I realized that this deserves a separate article. I had previously assumed (nature) that the Romanian prime-minister’s (Ponta) many scandals, some centered around his plagiarizing of his doctoral thesis will taint Romanian education and significantly decrease its appeal. Further investigation revealed that many are still interested, although it is hard to determine to what extent the scandals have caused the Romanian tuition fees to be the lowest in Europe, or that is due to other market forces. As usual, the links are listed at the end.

You may have heard that in Europe, on May 25, people vote for euroskeptics to represent them in Brussels and simultaneously destroy whatever's left of the European dream. You can help destroy Europe here in Toronto as well.

Extreme division in the public opinion is not new and is not common only to Romania. What is special about our situation is how ludicrous and paranoid their claims are. In this article commenced long ago, we look at how “tunnel vision” and “excessive focus” ruins politics, and implicitly, electorates who fail to censor the politicians who succumb to it.

Traim momente de cumpana. Eu de pilda aproape imi pierdusem domeniul si numai cu eforturi supraomenesti am reusit sa-l resuscitez :D. In acelasi timp, ctp declara ca el e fericit ca se vorbeste atata de Romania, chiar daca nu de bine..

Chiar nu ma asteptam sa reuseasca CCR sa se achite atat de bine de sarcina neutralitatii si in acelasi timp sa raspunda legal si balansat samavolniciei USLasilor. Nu intentionez sa ma prezint la votul de referendum si recomand cu caldura oricui iubeste libertatea sa faca la fel si sa-si vada de concediu. Ai muncit mult ca sa traiesti bine, ai dreptul la un bine-meritat R&R.

Mi-ar fi extrem de greu sa ma impac cu sirul evenimentelor care s-au produs in ultimele cateva saptamani si mai ales zile. Un mod de a impaca realitatea cu dorul de normalitate este refugiul in arta - Commedia dell'Arte, mai precis.

Perusing the Romanian press, everything is shocking and all sources of info seem to be tabloids. Perhaps time is ripe for an overview of all the crap that’s overflowing.