title, what title?

Happy Festivus Everyone! Let your grievances be heard, and seek your forgiveness in the people you hurt, disappointed, or let down. Not in someone(s)/something(s) in the skies, seas, trees, soil.

I love French language. Those who know me well know that one of my favorite past time activities is talking -or glossoling- in French. I have always thought the French have their own way of thinking, distinct and somewhat peculiar in the Western culture. And I find it very cool. As a matter of fact, my definition of cool is Alain Deloin in Le Samurai. Now I found another French definition of cool, Mr. Serge Gainsbourg. I would die happy, if I ever get to pronounce his name the French do. Starting from modest chansons, Mr. Gainsbourg grew to become the "Chanteur Provocateur" of French speaking world. His provocations ranged from recording the French National Anthem's reggae version. burning a 500 franc note live on TV to protest high taxes, recording the orgasm sounds of his lover and making a song out of it, recording a duet with his daughter and naming it "un zeste de citron" that rhymes with incest. He spend a considerable amount of his time drunk on TV, under...

Son 10 senede 1 galibiyetimiz var Sami Yen'de. O da Deli Ibrahim'in hayatinin golunu attigi sampiyon oldugumu 2003 senesi. Nasil bir top oynadigimiz belli degil, Galatasaray da formda gozukuyor. Cok zor mac olacak. Ama Denizli'nin ve prensi Delgado'nun kendilerini kanitlamalari gereken mac bu. Hakem kararlarinin konusulmadigi, gereksiz sertliklerin olmadigi bir mac olsun. Sifo'nun su harika golunu yeniden atalim:

... You simply dance Drum'n'Bass. If you are Afroamerican, you dance like a pro: and if you are white, you make a fool of yourself: White man can't dance.

... about the United States? Maybe I should re-consider: http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/news/view/20081214-177945/US-immigrant-beaten-in-attack-dies

Bir derbi maci cikisi otobus duraginda Juventus kaskolu ile duran Mühendis Oktay Akdemir'e Galatasaray tribününün Haznedar grubundan 25-30 kisi saldirir. Linc edilip Mühendis Oktay. Sene 91'dir. 17 sene gecmis... Besiktas'li taraftarlar gelecek haftaki Galatasaray derbisi oncesi Mühendis Oktay'in mezarini ziyaret etmisler. Gönlüm isterdi ki Galatasaray Taraftari da orada olsaydi. Ve yine gönlüm ister ki gelecek haftaki macta Galatasaray tribünleri farkli renklerde ayni aski yasadiklari bu delikanlinin anisina birseyler yaparlar. Rankler farkli, ama seven yine milyonlarca insan, sevilen yine bir forma, bu milyonlarin paylastigi bir ideal. Gecen ay sirf 16 plaka diye taslanan arabada kör olan kucuk kiz cocugunu dusunuyorum da. Futbolu seven, modern yasamda tutunacak bir hayale sarilan bizler, bu hayali baskalarinin yasamlarini alt üst edenlerin elinden kurtarmak ile yükümlüyüz.

Ey Demirören, Bu kücücük cocugun bile askini suistimal ettigini bile bile, Nasil uyuyorsun geceleri? ne zaman şampiyonuz diye bağırsak, kursağımızda kalıyor, söylesene bize hocam, takım niye oynamıyor?

aşkolsun sana çocuk(*) ve selam olsun gidenlerinin arkasından sessiz kalmış ülkeden, isyanlarını bütün dünyaya duyuran çocuklarını seven insanların ülkesine ... - greetings from the land, who stood silent after the departed ones, to the land of the people, who let the whole world hear their rebellion, and who loved their children. (*) http://sairlerparki.blogspot.com/2008/12/alexandros-grigoropoulos.html

Before I found real love, I would use the word "love" somewhat excessively. Skiing? I love it! Garcia Marquez? I love him. Artichokes? I love them! Not anymore. I am careful not to use this word out of context. However this delicacy Ricotta Salata, I discovered recently, makes me very close to using the L word. You don't know what to make of it: Is it cheese, or is it not? If it looks like feta, why doesn't it taste like feta? Is it hard, is it soft? Is it fresh, is it old? Then you cannot stop thinking of it. It is not love, but I will have to admit to my love and all the readers that I have an affair with Ricotta salata. What is it then? For those food enthusiasts like me, the production process is very important. I had written about the properties of milk and related products in my previous post . Shortly, milk has fat solube and water soluble proteins. Normal yogurts and cheeses contain mostly the fat solubles which make up %70 of the protein mass. Whey is what ...

It is somewhat implicitly assumed that gender equality is a pre-condition for a better society. Although I am behind this idea, I never thought about the "why" question behind this. I am sure this is the topics of many dissertations and books. What occurred to me as I listened to my best alternative rock playlist in my mp3 player, that the quality of the music -as far as I can judge- is highly correlated with the gender equality in a band. All of my favorite rock bands have at least a single woman member: Kim Gordon - Sonic Youth (Bass) Maureen "Moe" Tucker - The Velvet Underground (Drums) Kim Deal - Pixies (Bass) Bilinda Butcher - My Bloody Valentine (Guitars/Vocals) Debbie Googe - My Bloody Valentine (Bass) By the way, you know where gender inequality leads. Spice Girls.

Checkout this seriously cool post on Roger Alsing's blog . He explains how genetic algorithms can be used to draw Mona Lisa using simple poligons who are coded in soft-DNAs. Here is a quote from his webpage, which I loved: "Just because natural selection is so cool that you are able to read this.."

Bayram'lari kutlarken bana ve de bize ne anlattigini, neyi kutladigimi dusunmeye calisiyorum. Zira Bayram'larin amaci bu. Kendinden daha sanssiz olanlara yardimlasmayi, aileyi dostlari ziyaret etmeyi, bagislamayi hatirlatan bu bayraminizi kutlarim. Cocugunun bogazina bicak dayatacak kadar kör bir inanci kutlamanin, ya da kutlamamizin dogru olmayacagini dusunuyorum.

The people of the cradle of democracy are giving another great example of courage and humanity, by standing against the tyranny of the coercive force monopoly in modern society, which we call the "Police." No sir, you cannot get away with killing a young boy at will... When they kick out your front door How you gonna come? With your hands on your head Or on the trigger of your gun When the law break in How you gonna go? Shot down on the pavement Or waiting in death row You can crush us You can bruise us But you'll have to answer to Oh, Guns of Brixton (*) Athens district around the Politechnical University where the protests got started

Auth (c) 2005 The Philadelphia Inquirer. Reprinted by permission of Universal Press Syndicate. All rights reserved.

Blog'umda bir süredir toplumumuzun bence gercek meseleleri olmasi gerektigine inandigim olaylari yaziyorum. Bu olaylar toplum olmanin en basit nedeni olan gücsüzleri güclülere karsi koruma fonksiyonunun nasil bizde islemedigini gösterdigi icin kanimca cok önemli. Gücsüz derken her hangi bir güc iliskisinde zayif olan herkesi kastettigimi, ve herkesin cesitli yönleriyle gücsüz oldugunu da ayrica belirtmek isterim. Asagidaki baglantidaki haber ayni anda hem kadinlarimizi nasil koruyamadigimizi, hem de toplum olarak asayisi saglama görevini emanet ettiklerimiz karsisinda nasil boyun egmis oldugumuzu gösterdigi icin burada sizinle paylasmak istedim: http://www.ntvmsnbc.com/modules/habervideo/video.asp?CatID=3&cbVideo=8823&cbQuality=1 Polis kiyafeti giymis polis olmayan kisiler, Istanbulda bir eglence mekanina giriyorlar. Muzigi sustutruduktan sonra mekandan bir kadini saclarindan ceke ceke cikarip bir eve goturup tecavuz ediyorlar. Butun bu vahset guvenlik kameralarina kayit ed...

Battlestar Galactica televizyonda duymaya ve gormeye alisik olmadigim hayat ile ilgili konularin islendigi bir dizi. Dizinin ana karakterlerinden biri olan ve hayatta kalan son 43 bin insanin korunmasindan sorumlu olan Amiral Adama ogluna hayat ile ilgili su ogutu verdiginde cok etkilenmistim: "Nasil kaybettigimiz, kim oldugumuzla ilgili daha cok sey anlatir." Gercekten de kaybederken verdigimiz tepkiler, bizi digerlerinden ayiran onemli bir unsurdur. Dün maci kaybettik. Kaybederken bu soz geldi aklima, ve Besiktasli oldugum icin bir kez daha mutlu oldum ve Baba'ma tesekkur ettim. --- 1-0 geriye dustugumuzde de, beraberligi yakalayip yeniden geriye dustugumuzde de, 3 as oyuncumuz yedek beklerken icimde bu maci alacagimizin guveni vardi. Tek kale oynuyor, pas yapiyor, oyunu kontrol ediyorduk. Yedigimiz goller Fenerbahce'nin usta oldugu yan toplardan, bizim defansimizin usta oldugu genis alanda adam kacirmaktan geldi. Ama macin gidisati yedigimizden cok gol atacagimiz y...

(For those not familiar with Turkish football, there are 3 big teams in Turkish soccer. Besiktas, Galatasary, Fenerbahce, all from Istanbul. I am a Besiktas fan ever since I am aware of my existence) It was a windy, rainy London Saturday night. I was visiting my sister, before going to Liverpool to watch our Champions League game on Wednesday. I had to watch our derby game against Fenerbahce. We had a record of not losing to them in their own stadium for a long time. I had asked few other Besiktas fans about places to watch the game. Unlike Berlin, where you could literally walk into any betting shop to watch the Turkish league, the options are not that rich in London. Especially if you wanna stay close to the center. I was informed that a fancy kebab restaurant would be a good choice. I was disappointed to find the restaurant full, and small. I was literally shaking and sweating with anxiety. I rushed to a Internet shop, and began intense Google'ing. I found a reference to an ...

At least some of the components of the self sustaining chemical system we call life took a very similar journey like this meteor. Filmed from a police camera in Canada. Amazing footage. Unfortunately, Turkish viewers cannot view this incredible scientific footage, thanks to some idiots who managed to obtain law degrees.

Today is Teacher's Day in Turkey. I would like to use this opportunity to thank all my teachers, and professors for helping me shaping my world view, understanding, and personality. The teacher-student relation is one of the most delicious and important aspects of the human experience, in fact perhaps one of its defining charachteristics. Each year we would celebrate this day in school, and I would spend the festivities listening to Queen on my walkman - I was not conscious of the importance of the day yet- praising the memory of Freddie Mercury, who died on 1991 this day. He was not a teacher, but his voice takes me in a delightful journey in another defining dimension of human experience, music. Here is Queen, with Teo Torriate, the only song in Japanese I can sing: This weekend was out of this world. 3 days with my love, to be crowned with a 2-0 victory over Eskisehirspor, which brought tears in my eyes, just like this fellow " galera " in the stadium:

Bebekler yumusak seylerle oynamayi severler. Eger oynayacak yumusak oyuncak, ya da dokunacak sicak bir ten bulamazlarsa kendi gozlerini kendi elleriyle cikarirlar. Bu cumleyi bir kac kere okumanizi, ve kafanizda cis ve bok kokan bir yatagi cevreleyen demir parmakiklara tutunmus goz delikleri kapkara bebekler canlandirmanizi istiyorum... Cavusesku'nun "nufusumuzu arttirmaliyiz" politikasi -ki Basbakan'imizin soylemlerinden hic de farkli degil- ve Katolik Klise'sinin bugun de Afrikada milyonlari AIDS'den olduren dogum kontrolu yasaginin meyveleri, aileleri tarafindan bakilamayip devlet yetimhanelerine birakilan cocuklara yardim etmeye gelen Bati Avrupa'li gonullulerin karsilastiklari manzara aynen buydu cunku. Cavusesku'nun devrilmesinden sonra Bati Avrupa'li medya kuruluslarinin ortaya cikardigi bu manzara Romanya'nin Avrupa Birligi'ne giris macerasinin bir simgesi oldu senelerce. Eminim Romanya medyasi yillarca Avrupa Birligi'ne giris ...