Sworn Virgin

Pic by DAN BILEFSKY, published here.
I am amazed by few things. Photos, blogs linking to it but first of all by the brilliant tradition of sworn virgins - society lacking men allows women to step into their roles! I swear to never have sex again, so I can have a gun and sit next to men at the wedding. My social sexuality is so well established that I make other women shy!
I must admit I am impressed. It's much better than to be a nun...
Sorry, I do not want to be sarcastic, NOT AT ALL! It really is more practical, and follows the same commitment, doesn't?

I was searching Twitter for feminist users tonight to find a few links - simply because nowadays I think about gender roles in the UK, Hungary, Poland. (for those who do not know me, I do not consider myself a feminist, but...living in the UK is easier than in Hungary for a woman - that is where my thinking comes from).
Hungary is a bizarre place - women cook, raise kids, work, men - work; nonetheless it's women who control the family life...women who historically have been obsessively independent - first kind appointed a woman (St. Mary) to be eternal queen of the country; Hungarian queen had her own residential town, library, her signature on state correspondence! Men were out fighting wars, she was raising next generations. Today men are dependent, women lack independent men (sorry, very shallow, and harshly general conclusion!) Hungarian feminists are sophisticated and scary.
Poland? I have no idea anymore. I know that with my experience of domestic abuse in my homeland I would be stygmatised, my son too. For some reason even my family assumes I have gone back to my maiden name - 'as if nothing had happened'! - which almost angers me.
UK? High rate of 30 year old males committing suicide...makes me wonder: would I like to be born a man in this country? I am more than happy to be a woman, but if I were to reverse my own experience...no, I would not. Polish feminist are activists.
I cannot see clearly what is the male model in the UK - I have not lived here long enough - but I can see already that being polite to women does not pay off: they get offended if I want to help them carrying their heavy bags or let the older ones on the bus! UK feminists seem to move towards girl power, but I do not like the stereotype of the British girl, so...

Me - as happy as I am - still miss male male model - and I think I will continue searching and appreciating those who sometimes want to take over the lead - just for a while, just to feel more useful, more masculine.

See, again...I am confident I am strong enough to let the man make his choices, to compromise. And I do have the choice. It's sad to think some women in other regions of the world do not:/

Good to browse a bit to learn more - I assume those things do not happen - if I do not read about it, I think it doesn't exist, blondie...

(shit, no matter how I tried, it all came down quite feminist, not that I care:P)

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Carpe Diem...

Oh, how I do miss men!,...men who stand for their values; who are mentally strong - strong enough not to complain but to admit their true weaknesses, and men who know how to fight and what is worth fighting for in those very dangerous and lonely times. I know so few of them...and even fewer women who appreciate that. Eh...apologies, I am decadent tonight...(Carne Tremula, Almodovar)

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Spain winning, Spanish too

Tonight is the night of Spanish victory (what a coincidence!), but my evening is quite. I am celebrating watching my favorite Spanish film again. I wanted to be alone tonight, and it happened to be so. I started to write my Hungarian blog, so I can pull my new thoughts together, but I think I managed quite well. I like those times when soul comes first, few free moments squeezed in between the lines of work, motherhood, friendship:)
Last week I dreamed about love - physical, emotional, spiritual. I saw a man and a woman, I saw nature and the unnatural, I saw darkness and I saw the eternal, the endless whiteness.
Yes, JJv was right, I do have a secret. I can live on my own, and with keep it just for myself. Or I can share it and become more than one person.
As for now, me is more than enough.

I am happy though that Jv and my colleagues will celebrate their victory tonight. They have football int heir blood. They deserve it.

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Beth Rowley

Indiana Jones faster, louder than his website;)

We decided to see something light…and the only light film was Indiana Jones. Although I have moved away from that type of movies, I wanted to see the next film from the series – just to have my opinion about it. Well, well done yes. Perfect…for US market.

It’s a curse to be a graduate of American Studies, you end up watching all the Hollywood movies with one eye closed…sixties in the US, communist, actors speaking English with Russian accent with English accent (you know what I mean), famous faces, famous tricks, fast, loud, and…predictable And of course…there must be the superior power, UFO or God, or board of wise men…no, UFO is great for US and UK market, since the UK government released UFO files on-line. Just on time. And, as Jv fairly noticed – forces of nature  - the eternal enemy of puritans…well, water was ok, but the ants a bit too much (I like the idea, I just know a bit about those ants, happened to study them in primary school, and they do not attack – they simply marsh and eat whatever is trapped and cannot run, cannot imagine them running after a Russian soldier, because they are hungry…quite hilarious thought actually: he is Russian/Ukrainian, he is big and strong and BAD, let’s get him! Ha, food for whole month for well, few of us:))

But putting all this aside I am happy to see Harrison Ford again. I am happy to enjoy the film innocently, as if it were a cartoon for my son, with few additional tricks and visual effect. Happy to see it be quite similar to previous films, as well, I think it’s a good film for a weekend afternoon. And no, not a waste of money, because it still looks better on the big screen.

Quick note on the website – apart form wallpapers and buddy icons, you can download and share a widget – good PR thinking, but site could be faster...

 

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charming morning

My usually peaceful, charming morning in London was almost completely destroyed by stupidity and genuine anger of the girl from my favorite bar in Nothing Hill...
With perspective of a long day in London (my son is off to Plymouth for a few days to see his granny) I decided to kick-off the day with few coffees. Started with Starbucks - only place opened before 10AM! Shocking...
Managed to read a bit.
Moved on to walk around the Gothic church and stumbled upon a lovely, tiny park hidden behind it, where I could sit down in the sunshine and write my heart out in Hungarian, language which somehow due to its structure and sensuality helps me to deal with my emotions.
Satsfied went over to my favorite bar to post it and have another coffee - the very needed second kick..entered, ordered cappuccino, sat down next to the plug,  made myself comfortable and as I received my coffee I  got almost shouted at for using electricity.
Tell you what - I did  use my laptop there once already, so I was shocked but this girl seems to be the owner's kid, so who knows what's the problem...anyway I was more than upset to see here standing above me with a stiff face asking me to switch IT off at once'. I think the fact I needed to shot the laptop down before unplugging it made her even more angry, but for heaven's sake - how am I supposed to know she has her period, hates working on Sunday morning and the place has high electricity bills (only few reasons I could come up with to justify her behavior). Few months ago I would apologize, pay and leave. Today I could calmly explain what I am doing, that I will not pay for the coffee and that she just lost a customer, and leave without saying goodbye to show how unfair she was.
How much of the message did she get I have no idea, but she was lucky I DECIDED to have a nice morning:) She almost made me feel stupid though.

Learnings: always ASK if you can use a laptop. Always stay calm when talking to working people on Sunday morning. And always explain your point of view RATIONALLY to psychotic women:P You will have a chance to leave without Police being called  (based on the level of her anger I think she was at the verge of calling them!)
Oh well, I will have a nicer day then her - I decided;)

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Sometime, right? I feel like this since I started falling...:P

Cluetrain Manifesto - Old Testament of Blogging

'We are waking up and linking to each other. We are watching. But we are not waiting.'

- the most striking, since very, very true for our times, statement closes 95 Thesis of Cluetrain Manifesto. All of those are available (together with the whole book on-line for free - I love the idea!) on Manifesto site.
It's interesting to see how nothing has changed since the times it was written. We know Scoble's Naked Conversations, we see the lists of Social Media Marketing references. Still, those 95 points remain the same and ethics behind them seems to be grounded in basic blogging experience. I think every one of us, bloggers should have this book on the shelf.

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Spam, no comments

Chinese way...

My Dragon is on fire! I am very, very happy I had to work my a@@ off this week and forget, ignore it. Now, it takes over...I need to go to bed:/ Oh, poor me!

Model Village

..is a lovely place to take kids, but also to hang around...

Model Village

and to watch water football:) even if one tries to avoid football in general just for a few hours;P

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Quick one for Polish readers - web ethics and law again

Just found a few interesting posts on the TMT.Communities'08 conference in Warsaw. This one is about the legal issues connected to social networking, and the future of web law. Very, very interesting to see traditional, i.e. legally precise approach to such a modern community, very often fair and true. (for non speakers - check the translation mode on my sidebar). More here.

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Not serious...

Just to motivate myself to put 'just a little bit of work' aside and live MY life, and try to use mynew gadget - fisheye cam from lomography.com (I will post about it once I have pix developed) I had a quick peak at Dark Roasted Blend - a blog with brilliant photography, and always something light, thematically attractive...funny?Well, check the rest of the pix out...me, I am considering changing my plans for the Spanish weekend in July..slightly;)

Radio Bagdad, and why I listen to British Rock;)

and for Polish Londoners...

How to win...

How on earth are we supposed to win if even the head of the country fails. Check how he was cheering his boys up! (pic from Wyborcza)

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how I felt today...

Smth I wanted to post on Sunday

I apologize, my work takes us all my time, you probably all know the feeling, so I hope you will understand.

'I have discovered a cute little 'my kind of a place' in London now - just behind a corner for Jv so I can have my breakfast here whenever on a way home. Yes, I actually LOVE to have it on my own. I admire Jv for his ability to stay silent and still mark the space with his presence. But silence is not equal with solitude, which I very often seek. I always did.

I think the slowly weekend mornings should kick off gradually...if I need to rest properly, I need to boot slowly...Even now, I am sitting in this place opposite the mirror, seeing as the shadows from below my eyes gradually fade away as I sip my morning coffee. I cannot eat my croissant yet...

First time I saw this place, I was already happy. You can see them, like little spots hidden in between giants of consumer life - huge shops and offices. They stand still, and bring joy to those Londoners, who still remember the times of morning coffees and newspaper read in the local coffee shop. This one used to be an antique shop and looks really extravagant and slightly disturbing. No, I cannot call it eclectic - it's just bizarre, warm, friendly, and I bet most of the posh locals would hate it just seeing the worn out chairs and floor (old, wooden floor with paint coming off it! - where do you see that?). But, where do you get to see the smile of the serving girl, read morning newspaper or a philosophy book (just because it was left there) or listen to French chanson - quite surprisingly matching with the pictures of Chinese aristocracy on the walls!

Reminds me of Szimpla in Budapest so much! Every village, town, city has its 'Szimpla's. In Budapest it is a down to earth, slightly alternative coffeeshop-pub located int he heart of the Jewish quarter. I used to live in the same street, and spend all summer evenings, and weekend mornings (note: ehm, as a student morning started at 11AM!) there. There were other places too. There were the summer gardens set up each year in a different empty house not to disturb the neighbors(Hungarians are nuts about noise - your neighbors will call police at 10AM sharp if you have a house party, even though you have left them a note about it a week earlier in their postbox, police will arrive and ask you to lower the volume and smile saying 'well, we know, but we need to do that:)) And we are talking about really cultural level of 'noise'). There are the seasonal pubs opened usually by of the Boheme foreigners. I used to like to go to those, even if I disliked getting involved in the whole Boheme life - simply because of my origin I was a part of it anyway. All this was the SPACE of my writing, and I enjoyed the unconditional nature of it all very, very much...
Today, even though my life has run a few circles, I discover that I am still the same.:)
And even though I love UK, I miss Budapest, like I miss Mexico and few people from both of those places who left a mark on my personality...

Yes, it's another side of me. Not the gadget lover, not much of a blogger or photographer, just the quiet Sylwia. Oh well, la donna e mobile.'

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Amnesty news

I'm sure that like all of us at Amnesty, you will have been deeply concerned for the thousands of people affected by the recent earthquake in China. It has been heartening to see the Chinese authorities and the international community coming together to ease people's suffering.

Now, with the Olympics drawing closer, we must continue to call for the same level of compassion for all Chinese people. Take action today and help Amnesty keep China's human rights record in the spotlight.

With best wishes

Kate Allen, Director

Take Pride: End Prejudice
	As the Pride season hots up, Amnesty is concerned about the shocking growth in homophobia across Eastern Europe. Stand up for LGBT rights at a Pride event this summer. Pride dates | Volunteering | Homophobia in Eastern Europe

Rwanda: take action for François-Xavier Byuma
	Human rights defender François-Xavier Byuma was sentenced to 19 years' imprisonment in 2007. But the presiding judge was under investigation by Byuma's organisation for a rape, completely denying Byuma a fair trial. Appeal to the Rwandan authorities

Taking Arms: Petition power
		People across the globe have signed up to stop an arms shipment to Zimbabwe. 120,000 names will be presented to South African leaders in early June, calling for an immediate moratorium on ALL arms. Control Arms campaign

Refugee Week: 10 years of understanding
	Join Amnesty from 16-22 June for a nationwide celebration of the contribution of refugees to the UK. Find out more | Organise an event

Team Amnesty: Run for Iran's women
	Get your kit on for one of the biggest women-only races in the UK. The Adidas Women challenge takes place in September, in London, Liverpool and Birmingham. Register now

Chill to the max with free student membership
	Get FREE Amnesty student membership with every student ticket for this year's Big Chill Festival: the all-round festival experience of music, performance and film from 1-3 Aug. Find out more

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bret, the abusive..spam

Damn it! I get on the bus to Oxford (had a lovely time on London btw), all ambitious to do some work via wifi and just when I quickly want to check my gmail Bret, the Abusive is calling me stupid! Additionally with the same, repetitive slogan:
It's one of my weak points. I might be grumpy. I might be blond and spill some coffee on the keyboard (but 1. I drink liters of coffee, 2. I sit in front of pc 12hrs a day, 3. shit happens). But I am NOT stupid. (and my 'little' half-feminist half-goth half of the brain - the other one usually stays rational kicks off thinking:'btw I have three degrees, speak 4-5 languages, I am single mom and a business girl...and an artist...so f@@@ off!')

I'll keep this one to see how many I will get next week. How can I get rid of a continuous spam on gmail? Someone-help-someone...

F@@ brilliant! Web metrics...

Just found it via my Twitter feeds...Neoformix, written by Jeff Clark and the Statbot written by a 17 year old (!!!) Yuvi.

No comments. (apart from the post title)

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Buy comments vs. stay ethical

I would be so tempted..if I could only think it's fair:) Buying comments on-line seems to be quite easy...I don't really think is very ethical.The amount of visitors to my - quite fresh site - was lower yesterday, which spoiled my cool Google Analytics graph. Oh, well! It's not what the whole blogging is about, is it? I hardly have any comments here and still know that my friends and colleagues read it time to time.
I do not think I would like to pay anyone for 'upgrade' of my page rank, not even when they admit to be cheeky:Interesting to see how people perceived it last year. I wonder if the awareness of web ethics changes since last year summer. I suppose it increased...

A bit of shocking truth

'South Africa 'You know our African culture. They think women are to be beaten. You can discipline a woman by beating her. So from my husband's background, his parents, his family, they believe in beating your wife. I was stabbed with a bread knife by my husband...'

Check the whole film in here...

Guantanamo again

Thanks to the generosity of thousands of human rights supporters like you, we've launched our Guantánamo Cell Tour, bringing a life-sized replica of a Guantánamo prison cell to cities across America.
The cell gives ordinary Americans a chance to see and feel what it's like to be prisoner at Guantánamo - and send an unequivocal message that torture is wrong and detention without trials is un-American.
Could you make a gift today to help Amnesty take this powerful message to more cities and towns across America?
Our Guantánamo Cell Tour is designed to recruit more activists across the country to put additional pressure on Congress to close down Guantánamo prison once and for all. We want to take the cell to key Congressional districts, the political conventions, and other cities and towns nationwide.
The tour has already made stops in Miami and Philadelphia and now moves on to Portland, Maine. The first leg of our tour will culminate in a five-day stop (June 25-29) on the National Mall in Washington, DC prior to our lobbying meetings there and in-district ahead of the July 4^th holiday. Along the way, thousands of Americans will have a chance to experience what it's like to be inside a Guantánamo cell, as well as record a protest video from inside the cell, which we'll post onto YouTube.
Are you able to give $50, $100, or even $250 today to help take the Guantánamo cell to more cities? Your gift will be used to fund online ads and leaflets for activists to publicize the tour, provide fuel for additional stops in the Midwest and California, and conduct media outreach while the cell is on the road. You and I have never had a better chance to bring some much needed reality about Guantánamo prison to ordinary Americans. Please make a financial contribution to help Amnesty bring a powerful, pro-human rights message - and the cell - to even more cities this summer!

Thank you for continued commitment to ending the use of torture and defending human rights around the world.
Sincerely,
Larry Cox
Executive Director
Amnesty International USA

Plurk, plurk, plurk

All good, we have a clone of Twitter, called Plurk and looking much more interesting - both visually, as well as functionally. I like the idea, and got me by surprise really. It's like moving from Google RSS reader to Netvibes:)All you need to do is plurk (as a non-English native I find the word hilarious in sounding by the way)

and your plurk will be 'viewable to the whole world'..hm...
I wonder what the whole world's plurk to this Plurk will be...I guess we will see in a few days to come.

Twitter ettiquette and addiction

I was just wondering - is there any? Are we expected to start following all of our followers? Is it bad if I have the same amount of followers as those whom I follow?
Honestly? I do not care. I find Twitter fun! Also I think it's a great tool to communicate new ideas, and web tools with the world, and by following web gurus I hope to learn from them.
I think I slowly start getting addicted to it. I do put 140 characters in my head even if I have no phone around to send the message off...how bizarre!  I do check it quite often and read like a book.
I am happy to see growing amount of followers and happy to find more interesting faces on-line.
I am extremely honored when someone sends me a private message saying thank you for following them.
I am annoyed if I start being followed by a 'deal' and she/he 'knows' I will read the profile, which really is a waste of time.
And time is what Twitter is all about - we can quickly update the world on, i.e. the fact we forgot the promised sweets the moment we sat down at our desk, so that colleagues do not kill us without warning;)

Anyway, it's interesting to see how Twitter, in spite basic functionalities, manages to evolve into social network.

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@answerme vs. twitter, day of a blondie

Just read about @anserme but I think I am not using it right. Seems to be described as a useful tool, but for me it's a bit too much. Oh, well, Twitter does move towards a leading scape, so who knows...
I searched for 'blog' and came up with this:Third question had only 3 answers, so I guess it needs to kick-off more.
*
In the meantime the well established Flickr before I even managed to upload my new pix greeted me with a language lesson, which I have not noticed before (I do tent to focus only on what I NEED! and I AM blond)
Maybe it's a bit childish, but I do like those ideas. So... I know how to greet people in Korean, but how do I say 'nightnight'?:)

newcomers, Charlie and Antoine

Charlie joined our lovely household few weeks ago, but I had no time to mention him yet.

Voila! Lovely retro record player. I do not have a tv and I do not want to have it, as long as Dawid does not need social recognition at school - I want to enjoy the silence! I need the news though, so Charlie is my best friend in the morning and in the evening my drinking pal:) (do you remember the radio listening in the evenings? we used to do that with my parents, ah, I miss it).
Second newcomer is Antoine, my new digital camera - very basic one, but 12 MB, Kodak baby. I am just starting to play with it and the weather is crap, so I will upload just photos of the device here.


As you can see it is quite slim, it is extremely light and has its own battery (no need to carry million rechargeable ones! which is something I like Kodak for). It's fully functional as a digicam, with HD video included. Another, maybe minor, still crucial thing - comes in a box with all possible cables, European and UK chargers, and all USB cables one can imagine!
It's the type of camera you can just buy on a way to the airport (in the UK half prize at the moment!) and use it as you take it out of the box.
For me perfect for the back-up camera or one to take to work (I do not feel like carrying Nikon DX40 in a bad with secondary lenses etc all the time).
All I need is a proper tripod now, well I might bing mien from Hungary this summer anyway. The rest is sorted, I think:)

Join our demonstration

Dear friend,

The Amnesty UK community has blown away all expectations. Together, we've gathered well over 10,000 petition signatures for the Tiananmen Mothers and chipped in for hundreds of bouquets -simply amazing. Now it's time to take our message straight to the Chinese Authorities, and we need your help.

Please join us this Wednesday, 4th June to deliver our petition and place over 10,000 roses outside the Chinese embassy-each one representing another Amnesty supporter standing up for justice with the Tiananmen mothers. The international press will be on hand and the Chinese government will be watching closely, so we need a big crowd to show overwhelming public support. Can you join us this Wednesday evening in London?

WHAT: Demonstration for the Tiananmen Mothers and human rights in China
WHEN: Wednesday, June 4th. 6:00 - 7:00 PM.
WHERE: Chinese Embassy, 49-51 Portland Place, London W1B 1JL. Click here for map.
(Near the Regents Park & Great Portland St. Tubes on the Bakerloo, Circle, Metropolitan, and Hammersmith & City lines)
MAJOR SPEAKERS: Wei Jingsheng, Overseas Chinese Democracy Coalition; Xie Ze, Director, Friends of Tiananmen Mothers in the UK; and Shao Jiang, former student leader from Tiananmen Square 1989.

Please join us to add your voice to this crucial event. You're also encouraged to bring a rose, and make a flag, a headband or a t-shirt, instructions and templates are available for download here. And don't forget to forward the invitation to your friends and family who might also be interested in standing in solidarity with the Tiananmen Mothers.

Can't make it to London? Click here to see a list of local demos planned in other cities across the UK.

This Wednesday is the 19-year anniversary of the brutal crackdown in Tiananmen Square. We gather on this day to appeal for justice for the Tiananmen mothers and all the Chinese people whose human rights are in jeopardy. The Director of Friends of the Tiananmen Mothers UK, Xie Ze, describes it below:

"In 1989 hundreds of people, including my cousin Wang Nan, were killed because they stood up for justice and equality. Every day since, their families have sought justice. We are still waiting...

What we have lost can never be restored. But this gathering today shows that we are not alone."

This is a huge opportunity for people all over the world to show just how much support the Tiananmen Mothers really have. They have waited 19 years for justice - we want that wait to end. Please join us on Wednesday evening, in London or at a city near you.

Together, we can begin to transform this day from a tragic anniversary into a historic step forward for human rights in China, in Britain and around the world.

I hope to see you there.

Sincerely,

Kate Allen

P.S. If you haven't signed the petition or contributed for a bouquet, there's still time to be counted before Wednesday's big demonstration. But you have to act fast. You can still add your name here, or follow this link if you have already signed but wish to make a donation.

Acrobat.com

Yes, I am very impressed again...the more RSS feeds I read the more passionate I become about new web tools. Today everyone is writing about Adobe.com. And honestly I do think it's a great tool, and believe me - I had only about and hour of playing with it in between blogging anyway. So let me just refer to two reviews - one by Scoble and one on Read/Write Web - both very comprehensive, so they will tell you more than I can at this stage.
As usual - you must try it yourself to see if it suits your needs and expectations.

I am still digging inside of it...

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Surname again

Just to keep it more objective, here is my mothers surname:

History of our surnames

have you ever thought about your surname? Well, I did, a lot actually. Via internet I met someone who had send me a copy of a private study of my maiden name, Korsak. And tonight, simply by coincidence I have found this:

Available to order from the States (Amazon) for aprox. £20!!! Can you imagine? Just when I am working on my own on the history of our family trying to put all the bits and pieces together.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, once I've got this, there is nothing to stop me from writing an damn interesting study of our 'tribe' (we come from Asian turks, apparently). And from publishing it on-line, for free:) hehe...

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Web ethics in 2003

On the CyberJournalist I have found this interesting code of web ethics here...posted in 2003, but if you check the comments you will see that already then bloggers were trying to separate themselves from pure journalism and that the word TRANSPARENCY is being used. Brilliant discussion on whether  code of blog ethics is needed at all, whether it should be based on journalists experience or whether it should still re-written by fans of honest blogging...check it out! My readings for tonight;)

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