Sylwia Presley

Migrated to Wordpress...

2008-10-02T23:56:00.000+01:00

...so I can start a few things all over again. No worries, I do feel like starting all over again...quite a lot:)

You can find me here.

Cementum - interview with Richard

2008-10-02T12:45:00.004+01:00

You cannot imagine how enjoy doing those interviews! I not only learn more about people I work with, but more and more look up to them - their ideas are brilliant!

Here's one I did with Richard, author of Cementum, blog based around his project of writing a sci-fi novel. Here you go:

Syl: Your blog, Cementum, is describing the process and your expierences during writing of your book. What ispired you to start the blog? What is its aim?
Rich: Well, I’ve been blogging for a number of years now about various subjects. Prior to starting to blog about my novel I was blogging about technology, and as much as I enjoyed it I found I just didn’t have the time to do both, i.e. blog regularly and write a novel. So I decided to combine my two passions and blog about writing a novel, include some tips, try and join the aspiring novelist community online, get involved and have some fun with it, and it’s been great so far. Lots of feedback, always constructive, always interesting.
The aim was to just talk about my novel writing experience, add some tips in there on the experience I have had and possibly get some feedback. Since I decided I am going to try and get it published however, I’ve ‘upgraded’ the reason for doing it, to self promotion as well, so as well as joining the conversation and community around novel writing, I wouldn’t mind a bit of traffic these days as well.

Syl: What is your book about? When did you start thinking about writing it and what made you want to publish it too?
Rich: The book revolves around my own personal fatalistic beliefs and tries to explore how they work, why I believe in them and how I can explain them. It’s done through the medium of science fiction and, at its basis, tries to show how you can believe in Fate, without having to believe in a Sky Wizard (read God), I know it’s a contradiction, but that’s what I enjoy doing, challenging myself. Taking two opposing views, smashing them together and seeing what comes out the other end.
I hadn’t thought about publishing it until I got a few of my peers to read some of my first chapters, just to see if it made sense really. They came back with shining praise again and again so I thought, well why the hell not try to get it published. It’s a very personal book, very exploratory, raises some deep philosophical questions about the inner self and society as a whole, but it’s definitely readable, and after some revisions, I think could do pretty well.

Syl: What was the main challenge while writing the book? What is your favourite part of it?
Rich: Sometimes I sit down and have this stream of consciousness whilst writing, it’s called surrealist or automatic writing, where your brain just pumps out ideas and prose, without any real thought or structure. That’s the best part, just letting my imagination literally run free and turn ideas into words. It’s brilliant. The most challenging part is exploring my personal beliefs, my own belief system is complex and full of contradiction, arguing with myself about it and why I believe in it is very difficult. Putting the words on the paper isn’t a problem.

Syl: How does a book writing differ from blogging? What are the similarities?
Rich: Novel writing and blogging can be compared on one level I think; that you’re often putting yourself out there for others to read and praise or criticize, whether intentional or not. You’re bearing yourself to the world, so to speak.
A novel will always give a real insight to the author, and similarly a blog will always give you an insight to the writer. But similarly, you can get authors that ‘write by the numbers’ like Danielle Steel, that just pumps out romance novels to a certain structure, in the same sense, blogs can be purely informational blogs that don’t really show what the writer is all about. However, given that the author, or blog writer, has chosen to write about romance, or tech, or whatever, you can always get a little bit of info on them by the subject they chose.

Syl: If you were to choose, which one would you prefer?:)
Rich: VERY difficult question. What if I take, blogging a novel? Like each post is another chapter or paragraph or something like that, I’ve seen them around. I’ll go with that, it’s cheating a little I guess but I get to embrace both of my passions then!

Syl: Going back to your blog - you have a very stong presence on-line. Does this presence influence your life and/or vice versa?
Rich: My presence online has influenced my life for a number of years now, since I went to my first ‘geek meet’ about seven years ago now. I remember it well, a bunch of us hired out an internet café for 24 hours, and generally drank and geeked out for that period. Since then, my online life and real life have been a blur, just the other day I went to a stag do of a friend who I’ve known for 8 years, we first crossed paths in a gaming forum, now we’re good pals, crazy really.
Now everyone is jumping online with the explosion in social networking, which isn’t a bad thing, but I generally like to keep ahead of the curve. I like to get involved in all the latest technologies to get to know new and interesting people.

Syl: There is a lot of discussion recently about blogging dying out. Do you agree?
Rich: I don’t see blogging dying out, I see it getting diluted as more and more people get involved, and I see it getting rubbished as more and more companies / money grabbers try to take advantage of it. Blogging is here to stay, just how much people trust it and the people who blog, is the real question. 4 years ago if you saw a blogger, you’d instantly trust that was a person without an alternate agenda, now you have to take your time when hitting a new blog to see who the person is, what they’re trying to sell, what ideas they’re trying to get you to read etc.

Syl: What about more traditional genres - novels, traditional letter writing, printed books (as opposed to e-books), do you think we will gradually move away from those?
Rich: They’ll always be around, just in more limited forms. I occasionally like writing letters to people I’ve not spoken to in a long time. With the advent of E-Ink, e-readers are becoming a lot more popular and easy on the eyes, books will always be around though, unless the green lobby gets its way of course~!

Syl: You live in Oxford now - what is your favourite place in Oxford for writing?
Rich: definitely http://gdcafe.com/FrontPage/frontPage.htm G&D’s cafe on cowley road. It’s nicely lit, it’s got a good atmosphere, they do great bagels and brownies, it’s independently owned, it has free wifi and loads of power sockets and the icecream is awesome. I’d say I’ve written at least 50k words in there in the last 8 months. The staff are really nice as well!

Syl: You have seen our new project, Bar Mleczny, and already gave us few tips. Do you think one day you would like to sit down in our Milk Bar and meet few Polish readers of your book?:)
Rich: Yeah absolutely, I’d love to go to a milk bar, I adore milk always have, so writing with a big glass of fresh milk sounds like a great idea to me. The polish contingent wouldn’t be too bad either! Hehe.

Syl: Have you ever been to Poland? If so, what was your best and worst memory of it?
Rich: I haven’t, although I’ve planned on going a number of times! I’ve had a lot of polish friends whilst working in the states over summer months of old and I get along with the polish very well. I think it’s the hard working attitude, the love of drink and a good time, their impassioned nature and consummate humility that I see in a lot of the Polish people I meet that I enjoy about them. They’re very much like the Scottish, and being half Scottish myself I can see why we get along. I’ll get to Poland one day, when, I’m not sure, but some day!

Syl: Bar Mleczny is all about culture and food. What is your favourite dish? Do you cook yourself?
Rich: I try to cook every night, I love it, I find the process very cathartic and love having produced a tasty meal at the end of it. I really enjoy cooking a nice curry, Indian or Thai, my spice and sauce cupboard is always full of hot and tasty things!

Syl: When I say 'Polish food/drink' what is the first thing that comes to your mind?
Rich: Vodka and erm, Vodka! The polish guys and girls I’ve hung around with in the past have always enjoyed introducing me to very nice native vodka’s, which I’ve always encouraged. In terms of food, I’m not sure, I think I’ve had a polish dish cooked for me once or twice when working with the Pols, but I can’t remember what it was, it was a good few years ago now and I’m fairly sure I would have been drunk at the time of eating as well!

Syl: Just last question about your book (2 q's:): when can we expect the book in stores? Will you continue blogging to promote it then?
Rich: In stores?! Lets not get too ahead of ourselves here! But seeing as you asked, I’ll go with the ‘dream’ scenario, which is basically; Finished in the next few weeks, revisions up until Christmas, submissions in the new year, get a publisher by the end of the first quarter, sign contract, marketing, printing and release late 2009. Though like I said, that’s the ‘dream’ scenario, and is highly unlikely. And yeah, I plan on building Cementum as a platform for discussion and exploration on all the novels I write in the future, and as a place aspiring novelists can use as a resource for tips and advice. So you’ll see it around for a good while yet!

Colin Mercer on the Inter-Web - interview with Colin

2008-10-02T12:40:00.007+01:00

Here's the second of my blogger interviews. Check Colin's site before you read it:)

Sylwia: How did you start your adventure with blogging? When? Why?
Colin: A multi thread question, a lovely place to start, at the beginning. My first experience of blogging came from being called into my boss's office and being told that I had to start blogging and that was that. This was a corporate blog which I was the sole person contributing on for around 6-8 months. I probably shouldn't say much more about it, a quick Google search for "colinm blog" should make it pretty obvious though.

That’s the boring, accurate answer out the way, onto why I started blogging at colinmercer.co.uk. I honestly don't remember, I have had the domain for a little while, then the opportunity of hosting came up so I thought why not give it a go again. Being back involved in the industry after uni meant that I had some time on my hands to experiment and get involved so I did and Colin Mercer on the inter-web is the outcome.

Syl:Does your blog reflect your private life? Does your blog affect it?
Colin:Almost entirely, everything I blog about is private life related. I am a keen lifeblogger, which means that when something happens I like to blog about it instantly. Whether this is a picture of me in the pub with some mates, or whatever, I like to throw it straight up. Until very recently I have kept my blog based entirely on my personal/private life, now I have started to add in some more things about work and other topics.

The only affect the blog has had on my private life is positive, opening the door to meeting a wealth of new and wonderful people who previously I would not have had any contact with.

Syl:You post a lot about your company’s projects/events. Am I right you are a fan of full transparency when it comes to marketing?
Colin:This is something which has changed a fair amount in the recent weeks, until now I have stayed away from posting about what I do with work. Previously I would post about work situations, or happenings at work, or places I was going with work without a reference to who I work for. This I suspect will continue as I want to keep up some separation from my blog and my work.

Full transparency in marketing is something I am 100% behind, as you know, I spend a good whack of my time at work striving to achieve this. I feel that this does not affect my decision not to post about work on the blog as I am far from running a marketing blog.

Syl:You have several presences on-line. What is their role in relation to your blog? Which one is your favourite and why?
Colin:I do indeed have several presences, my latest challenge is to tick all the boxes on usernamecheck.org, and undoubtedly I will get bored very quickly. Their role I guess is to try and increase the awareness people have of my blog, the overall aim would be to get my opinions in front of as many people as I can. However, in practice, the blog merely acts as a tag to link all the presences together, and gives people I encounter on individual sites the opportunity to find out a bit more about me.

My favourite site is clearly Twitter, I find it very easy to update and keep up with the people I want to keep up to date with. I also love the Jaiku, but find this much harder to follow than Twitter is.

Syl:How about your friends, do they blog? Do they use Twitter?
Colin:I have a few friends who blog, this number is ever growing as I slowly but surely convince my existing friends to start blogging, and make friends with people who are already blogging. I would say a higher percentage of my existing friends use Twitter than blog, coincidentally, in the last few days I have had a number of people ask me to explain "this Twitter thing" to them, which is encouraging.

Syl:What does the blogging mean to you (in three key words)?
Colin:Meaningful, empowering, brain-splat

Syl:I want to publish part of this interview on bar mleczny (www.barmleczny.blogspot.com) if that’s OK, hence my next question:
Colin:What is your favourite dish? Do you cook?
Being an English male, Steak, Chips, Peas, Green Beans and English Mustard wins the day. Yes I love to cook, I wouldn't say I'm great but I like to experiment and find great satisfaction in accomplishing an edible meal.

Syl:What is you favourite foreign cuisine?
Colin:Curry, however I'm pretty sure that the curry I like isn't actually foreign cuisine, just our version of foreign cuisine. So I will also say Mexican, things like Fajitas, Tacos, etc.

Syl:If we were to have a Polish cuisine evening once based around cooking and eating and possibly drinking Polish shizzle, would you join us?
Colin:YES - you bring the vodka, I'll get the cucumber!

Thank you, Colin!

Why I like England...

2008-10-02T00:20:00.002+01:00

Google+Simon Says=Chromon, celebrating 10th Birthday

2008-10-01T23:22:00.005+01:00

I know, Google celebrated last weekend, but I have one bad characteristic - I do not like to post when it's expected, I prefer to do it when I feel like. I have quiet days, and active day. Guess which one it is today?:)

'Google' came into the system of basic metaphors of our language and dictionary now, and it's hard to believe that this baby is 'only' 10 years old. I use the calendar, gmail, google image search, orkut (well, not much so), Picassa, Google Earth, I try to use Google labs gradually. I count on Google Alerts. YouTube is on my daily list. Google Maps is where I always go if I look for geographic location of new places. Now I am moving on to Google Books (The Tale of Genji - first novel ever- is there too - what a bizarre feeling:)) and cannot express my graditude to blox.pl/Gazeta.pl for making a deal with Google so I can use gmail on my old gazeta.pl e-mail account!
And hey, I still blog on Blogger, hehe...

I think Google holiday logo's are pieces of art. Hey, Google team, how about exhibiting them?;)

(Dilbert Google Doodle - May 20, 2002)(Google celebrates Vincent van Gogh's Birthday - March 30, 2005)

Check them out here.

So, to celebrate, let's play:) Remember Simon says? What do you think of this version?

Source here.

Apologies to the Girl! (TweetStats)

2008-10-01T23:11:00.005+01:00

I would like to apologize (even though it's extremely late!) to the Girl for not responding to her @-tweet! I translated her interview in Hungarian once and posted it as a comment on her blog (very good interview btw) and now - thanks to results on TweetStats - I can see she messaged me on Twitter and I have ignored her. I do not ignore people normally, but it's difficult to follow all the tweets if we need to work sometime too:) So I am double-happy that I have found this tool tonight.
I also noticed I use Twitter more nowadays - see above. It's probably due to the fact that I use it for communication more now, than I used to. I used to use Twitter for tips and news on social media or info about my friends. I am more active now, simply because it saves me time. I also got into the habit of updating all my friends with the news earliy int he morning, before I start work or while my Outlook is opening (my dear Vista makes me wait for it aprox. 15 min, grrr...)
Yes, I do like TweetStats, even though I am a linguist - I hate numbers and I hate stats...usually;)

Privacy on-line or tweets on the bus

2008-10-01T22:32:00.004+01:00

The more I read about ethics and on-line privacy (the two often come together) I contemplate my own openness. See the example above - just to scan my own content I have tweetbeep and google alert set up for my name. This is what I have received today:) Funnily enough I am happy to see it up somewhere where I have not expected it, simply because I am a fan of postmodern and I like to see the game of sudden and unplanned together with my own experience in it. I remember that morning - after my first coffee, with a book in my hand, just left my son at the nursery which he loves...relived that he is in good hands and I can relax one more hour before I go to work.
I lost this moment among all my tweets, now it's back:) 'Tweets on the bus' is a cool site, as opposed to Twenis and the like (of which I am unsure when it comes to ethics, I guess it's quite subjective).
I wish someone could come up with a similiar blog collecting all tweets containing the word 'coffee'. Judging from my Twittercloud, I would be able to include more links;)

Two new blogs on media ethics

2008-09-30T23:19:00.003+01:00

Kicked off this month can potentially turn into great source of knowledge about media ethics. Starts with basics, like this article on codes of ethics.

'My opinion is that everyone has their own set of morals, and what may be an important moral to one person may not be to another. Judging by your own set of morals may be appropriate in some situations, but I think it would be hard for me to feel ethical using this theory within media.' - which seems to be general media ethics approach as opposed to the traditional, principal ethics. So, we know what we will find here - probably interesting arguments pro and against certain actions, journalist ethics and case studies. Hopefully!
I will keep an eye on both sources.

few interesting events

2008-09-30T23:08:00.005+01:00

BlogWorld took place 20-21st of September, so I strongly advice the website and the blog.

Future of Web Apps is planned for 8-10 of October in London. Souns like a niche event, but might be interesting for all bloggers.

Internet Hungary (14-15th of October) is a great idea for Hungarian speaking bloggers, like me, but it struck me that the website has no translation in English - at least I can't find it. Am I so blond?And do not forget that 15th of October is the Blog Action Day 2008, this year commited to the issue of poverty.

Drinking a bio cola while sitting on a grave in front of Oxford Cathedral?

2008-09-30T13:48:00.003+01:00

...not typical but my son is capable of anything really...:)

Economy Crisis in the US

2008-09-30T13:17:00.004+01:00

Lunch time, thinking time;) Just found Scoble's post and see how upset he is by today's decision of US Congress. I usually do not like to take part in discussions about US politics or economy, still this is a large issue and affects us all, right. Why are we all upset?
Because the decision made by an institution on the other side of the world will affect our lives? ( I really want to have my own house one day, but without my bank's support I can forget about it, etc).
Because the decision was wrong - at least according to specialists and common sense.
Because an average US citizen trust her/his government to make right choices and believes in democracy.

'This is shaking my belief system pretty thoroughly, because I actually do believe that a decentralized system is stronger than one with one guy or gal in the middle controlling everything. But for a decentralized system to work we have to 1. be smart and 2. believe in each other. Those two things are proving to me to be pretty trying right now.'

I know there is a lot of academic discussion about quality or actual power of citizen in the US democracy, but let's put it aside. Let's look at the situation of other democracies too - Poland, Hungary - countries I know - kicked it off so well, and I am not convinced they do it right. Polish reality/economy is not too promising, Hungarian one even more depressing than the typical Hungarian pessimism. I just wonder if there is a perfect, balanced democracy? UK seems a very well working one to me, and we still have leaders taking UK boys to fight wars (why do we need to fight wars at all nowadays? I thought we all learned the lessons from II WW?). It's all down to trust (yes, Scoble is right), common sense, peaceful approach and mutual respect. It's all about working for better common wealth in order to achieve happier private life, right?
Apologies for my idealism, but when we look at it realistically even citizen based systems still depend on part of the society - not always the most smart, knowledgeable and ready to make right choices par of the society.

It saddens me and scares me like hell. That is why I do not post about politics nor economy:)

Work ethics - ROWE

2008-09-30T09:22:00.004+01:00

Sorry, I cannot stop myself but share this with you:
' “In a Results-Only Work Environment, people can do whatever they want, whenever they want, as long as the work gets done.” This is not simply company-sanctioned flextime. A true ROWE has unlimited paid vacation time, no schedules, no mandatory meetings, and no judgments from co-workers and bosses about how employees spend their days. In other words, managers trust employees to get their work done and do not mandate — or even comment on — when, where, or how it happens. Because everyone is evaluated based on what they accomplish, as opposed to how much time they spend looking busy at their desks, it becomes clear very quickly who is actually getting work done and who isn’t.'
More about ROWE work model here. There is also an interview with Harvard Business blogger, Tammy Erickson, about ROWE.
Let me know what you think!

(Me, I spent 2 min reading the article and posting it, so I think I will get my work done;) (OK, I will take 2 min off my lunch because I AM actually BORING:P) )

'Ice-cream'

2008-09-29T22:42:00.002+01:00

Chauvinists Earning More?

2008-09-29T22:34:00.002+01:00

I have just learned about a research conducted by University of Florida. See the final findings
‘Men in the study who said they had more traditional views of gender roles made an average of about $8,500 more annually than those who had less traditional attitudes controlling for job complexity, number of hours worked and education level.
Delightful.
The situation for women was reversed. More traditional views on gender correlated with decreased earnings — about $1,500 a year less.’
Why am I not surprised? No, seriously, I am not being cynical here!

What I really would like to see though is a study, like this one, showing stats on male and female passion bloggers/web 2.0 bloggers against commercial bloggers. I would be interested in the results.

Is this ethical? Few words on female blogging…

2008-09-29T22:30:00.004+01:00

PR Girl is asking that question when referring to women bloggers who and earn money with their sites. I think it is a very complicated issue, and I understand the concerns of well established voices of the blogosphere, still – did we not join it because the internet gave us the eternal freedom of speech? I would rather like to look at the results of those blogging activities that were mentioned during the blogher.com event.
I am currently very much occupied with the reasons for all of us to blog and I understand we all have different ones. Still, in the light of current law in the UK, it is against the law for a company to conduct any marketing activities (=pay bloggers to express their opinions as well) affecting and CHANGING financial behaviour of the brand consumers. I think it’s a brilliant way of judging blogger ethics too.
As far as the writing itself is concerned, we cannot ask every single blogging person to forget about projects based around earning money. It’s just a different type of blogging with its own issues. Isn’t?

Pix: My Dream

2008-09-28T08:29:00.001+01:00

Blog Till You Drop! - interview with Lolly

2008-09-25T12:51:00.001+01:00

You will probably think I am crazy - I am interviewing people I know! Yes, but I have a reason to do so, even more than one:
1. I look up to them.
2. I want to know what they think.
3. I want to know if an interview can help me to know them better.
4. I want to share this with my other friends:) and readers:)

I am including in interviews questions I do not know the answer for in our private lives. I am genuinely interested in their reasons to blog, exist on-line and in their every-day life. I am interested, so I ask:)

For the first one, I have asked Lolly, author of two blogs - Blog Till You Drop and Cosmopolitan.
Here it is:

Sylwia:First of all, thank you for giving me the opportunity to ask you few questions, Lolly. Here they are:

Syl: You blog was celebrating second anniversary recently. Tell me, how did it all start? The blogging I mean?

Lolly: I started my career in medical marketing, and I was desperate to do something more exciting but kept hitting a brick wall. A friend of mine who worked for an Internet start-up suggested I start blogging… I was hooked within months and started experimenting with a variety of social media tools. I seem to live and breathe social media these days!
Syl: Did your approach to writing the blog change since the first few posts? How does it affect your private life?

Lolly: My writing has definitely changed over time - I used to blog a lot about traditional marketing and advertising but I seem to write about anything that’s Social Media related at the moment. When I read some of my old posts, I feel like an inexperienced schoolgirl!

I write whatever tickles my fancy and I do not have a set agenda. Some people have joked that I am glue 24/7 to my computer screen but I do have a life offline, so no blogging does not affect my private life at all.

Syl: Did you have on-line presence before starting a blog? You are active on Twitter, Facebook etc - how and when did those preceses join the blog one?

Lolly: I used to spend a lot time on MSN Messenger and Skype. I also had a MySpace account for a while (we’re talking late 2005) but I quickly got bored of it… Pink glittery GIFS aren’t my thing!

Blogging is the foundation of everything I do online – I have a social presence on a number of other sites (LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, FriendFeed, Twitter but to name a few) but they all relate and add value to my blog. Facebook used to be purely for my real-life friends but I have now added a couple of bloggers I get on really well with.

Syl: More about your private life, I guess:) As French blogger in London, what can you say about the local blogosphere? You attend the geek meet-ups, so what do you think about people you meet there?

Lolly: The local blogosphere is awesome as there is always a party / meet up going on! Everyone knows everyone! The French blogosphere in London is buoyant – you would be amazed to see how many French bloggers who work in the digital / social media industry live in London

Syl: What is the French blogosphere like? Where do the bloggers meet, georaphically I mean?

Lolly: That’s a tough question! I read a few French blogs but I am not part of the French blogosphere – I write in English after all. The Social Media scene in France is also very exciting – there are dozens of Meet Ups in Paris but also in my hometown, Lyon.

Syl: Do you miss France? Do you think about living in other parts of the world?

Lolly: I am not French, so I don’t really miss France. I would love to live in NYC – who knows; someone might read my blog and offer me a job ;) I also love Italy so that’s definitely another option!

Syl: I'm an expat myself and I am asked that question very often (well, maybe not so often in the UK, still) how do you decide upon a country you want to live in? Is it just job or persoanl hapiness driven choice?

Lolly: I originally studied modern languages and I used to travel quite a lot in my student years. I simply fell in love with the UK. As far as I am concerned, I must be in love with a language to move a country. Job and happiness are of course also very important

Syl: I see you like travelling and run a travelling blog aside from your main one. What is your best and worst memory from Poland?

Lolly: I loved Poland! Nice country, nice people, nice food! My worst memory is not being able to speak the language and the roads! I really thought I was going to die in Lodz at times!

Syl: If you could choose a country to live in, where would that be? Why?

Lolly: NYC career-wise (wait a minute, that’s a city!) or Italy as the lifestyle, language and people are simply amazing!

Syl: And a last very general one: what is the best and the worst aspect of living in a different country?

Lolly: The best aspect is that you learn a lot from other people culture-wise. The worst aspect is that however hard you try, people will always see you as a foreigner.
Syl: thank you!

(If you have any other questions, let me know, I'll ask;))

Part of this interview is also available here.

blogging ethics and 'One Nation Under Blog' - new book about bloging ethics

2008-09-24T15:56:00.001+01:00

ted i:I wanted to talk about it since few weeks, but somehow I felt I am not educated enough in the subject of blogging ethics. I read all the main books (Manifesto, Scoble, etc) and followed all the ethical and unethical issues comming up on-line to be able to express my own opinion. Today I was challenged myself, so I think it's good time to put is up.
I think it's a must.
As some of you well know I work in WOM Marketing and my position is very much connected to marketing ethics (engouh if you do a proper Google search) so I really need to separate my private life from the proffesional aspects of it. Nevertheless I blog since 2004 and was always interested in social media to certain extend, so it's dificult to find the balance between work and private interest. I actually think it's great to be able to work in a place where you can use your interest and enhance both your performance, as well as you own knowledge.
This blog however, as well as all other presences of mine on-line are devoted to my private interests and I want to keep it this way. As TechWag is putting it righttly, my blogging is about ambition and 'talks about the things that are important to him (me:)), without advertising, and without an obvious money motive'. Even though some of the topics might correlate with my work, I always make it clear that it's my private place.
So...
Today I was contacted by a very friendly blogger to take part in a project which - based on the first short (via Twitter) description sounded interesting. I like taking parts in different projects, especially when we talk about creativity, activism or social media. I cannot and I do not feel comfortable about taking part in projects involving any material reward and/or sponsored campaigns. I am glad that the approach taken today was personal, friendly and understanding and I am happy that I can use it as an excuse to make this statement.

So yes, feel free to contact me, but be prepared I might have to say 'no' to keep my presence the way I want it to be:)

Blogging ethics is a complicated issue. Each of us has different incetives for blogging and we have different standards too. The gurus of web tried to put together different codes of cunduct and we all learn and try to stay flexible with all the new technologies coming up. Our perception of privacy changes too. I personally think that the blogging ethics has, is and will always stay in the region of common understanding and respect, and will be based on personal agreement.
I also hope we will all stay open for new ideas, and choose the ones we actually find suitable for ourselves.

Talking of new ideas...

I am looking forward to see new publication on this topic, book titled 'One Nation Under Blog' described by Jason Falls here. I keep the track of political blogging in the US and I hope we will all come out of it with few learnings. I wonder what this book will suggest...

Update: just found this policy, good to see other bloggers -actually involved in piching - state their ways on-line. Very, very clear!

Blakle - social media baby

2008-09-24T13:12:00.000+01:00

When I discover - or like in this case - am told about sties like Blackle I feel like a social media baby...walking in nappies still. It's a cool idea, and I bet my fellow blogger D4M4G3 (Hungarian blogger who just posted about his trip to London with few cool pix) knew about it and has it in his collection of black shizzle. If not, I am honoured to impress him. (I doubt I do;))

Tweader, 'a tool for Twitter'

2008-09-24T10:57:00.000+01:00

It is an interesting tool indeed. It allows you to track back conversations (@...) on Twitter. See loiclemeur's conversation here for instance. It does not always pick it all up, but in principle it's great to actually pick only those tweets that are conversational.

This tool makes me think about the Twitter itself. We all started using it probably just to try it out, to see how it goes...and at the back of my head I had the thought of 'just another social media bit, surprise me!'. And it did indeed! I grew more and more interested in microblogging simply because my presence on Twitter started to turn into something serious. After few weeks I got to the stage where Twitter was:
1. Providing me with insights on what the leading web 2.0 personalities use, do, suggest - and where form can you learn it, if not from them?
2.Serving as secondary to my blogs tool to network/communicate with my old and new friends.
3.Giving me the flexibility to be present on-line while I am away from my PC (I must admit I am sceptical about mobile blogging, and I know I will have to face it soon, still:/)
4.Most of all meeting extremely interesting people!
As I am getting into more and more apps and tools based on Twitter I really think it's a great platform, simply because it matches our busy lifestyle!
Blogging will not die, obviously we all need it and always will, but microblogging is a great appendix, intro and wrap up of all we do on our blogs.

Twestival

2008-09-24T10:46:00.001+01:00

What a great idea! It's one of those events that makes me really, really sad that I cannot attend! Damn! It looks like few of my friends are going so at least I can be happy for them and have a chat afterwards, but it really annoys me that I am stuck at home that night. (I feel like a bad teenager who needs to do the homework instead...that annoyed). Anyway, do have a look at their website, and do try to sign up for it. It really looks like a cool place to be for all Twitter and social media fans. And to meet people like @ihatemorningsdotcom:

Ethics - interesting sites

2008-09-23T21:51:00.000+01:00

For those interested in issues of ethical trade there is an event happening in London soon.

Corruption is an ethical issue which is and always will be actual. I am glad that places like Transparency International educate the global audience on facts.

Ethics Resource Center seems to be more focussed on US business ethics, still you can find cool reports on UK issues as well.

If you are interested in actual events and international ethics go to this site.

But most of all I advice you to check the London based Institute of Business Ethics, where previous European Conference of Business Ethics was hosted. The site gives great insights into basics of implementation of ethical code and policy in a generic way - any business friendly. They link to great sources of Ethics studies, also mention upcoming events and most of all - train people interested in business ethics.
I am actually planning to attend this one, on the 30th of October. If anyone is planning it too, please let me know!

Do we like personal? Ad new Twitter and the like...

2008-09-23T21:30:00.001+01:00

I have recently learned that Felix, person sitting next to me in the office is writing a blog, and found interesting post on his site about personalisation for iPods, iPhones and laptops - GelaSkins. Enchanting designs and the fact that I actually like ALL of them (!!!) made me order one just for a trial.
The service is great (delivered from Canada within less than a week, although while processing the order I agreed to wait for 20 days), costs OK and the quality perfect. The main worry - the glue quality prooved to be perfect, you can take the skin off just as easily as you put it on. The touch pad of my IPod works just fine, so I am one happy customer.
The idea made me interested in the whole personalisation thing. Why do we like the new Twitter? Because we can make it more personal and desing based on our own easthetical needs. Why do we like blog engines like Wordpress or Blogger - because we can customise them easily. But is that always true? The more options the better? To what extend? New Facebook seems to go towards simpliffying rather than overcomplicating. Still I personally like a small dosis of my own taste (or lack of it;)) in everything around me.

Delete the deleted

2008-09-23T21:13:00.001+01:00

Do you sometimes feel like your day is completely unreal? Maybe it's the rain, maybe it's the tears...somehow I felt very out of space today....and then while cleaning my Outlook I saw this...

Bizarre, bizarre day...

2008-09-22T21:57:00.001+01:00

When my fellow blogger living in Budapest, Jez Wegierski, posted about attending Global Voices summit somehow I didn't think about checking the organisation behind that event (even though I AM interested in events). I have just came across this very informative and extremely active portal now, and I must say I am well impressed. GlobalVoices is a large portal containing several sub-projects. Apart from the translation sites, I found the Global Voices Advocacy the most interesting one. It not only contains quite adequate data and insights on free speech on-line, but actually suggests tool to fight for it in those countries where some sites are banned.

Have a look at their 403 checker - it's a free to download tool helping to track back what sites were banned on one's pc. Also, some of those are included in the Access Denied Map. This is the type of info you do not find easily, here publicly available. I like when people bravely talk about issues and face the word with facts! Well done!
So, considering some involvement myself, I have contacted them asking about the aim of the site, and got a response from person called Portnoy: 'The main goal of Lingua and GV is to balance the world's information flow biased by MSM and with the help of more than 200 volunteers we have build a citizen media community based on bloggers around the world.
We tackle the 3 obstacles(censorship, digital divide, and language) toward a true global village with Global Voices Advocacy, Rising Voices, and Lingua. You can read more info here'
That is exactly what social media should do, don't you think?

Car free day?

2008-09-22T17:04:00.000+01:00

Of course I went to work by car today- currently I have no alternatives! Personally I prefer to go to work by bus or train, simply because I can read in the meantime. I am not looking forward to the times when I have to drive myself:P and when I move to Oxford I really want to take the train and shuttle bus (20 min altogether) instead of suffering in the traffic. I can enjoy driving and freedom of it over the weekends, if I want to.

I am happy that there is a day when people are made to think about alternative ways of getting to work or moving around town in general. And I am happy it's a European initivative:)
Sometimes we are so trapped in day-to-day reality... What do you think, if you had a choice, would you go to work by bike or a bus?

12seconds.tv

2008-09-21T14:54:00.000+01:00

Here you go...I was told off for 1. lack of videos on my blogs 2. not showing myself 3. not using 12seconds...

welcome on 12seconds.tv

It seems to be a cool site, so hope to be back with more soon.

best photo recently...

2008-09-13T21:18:00.000+01:00

..and a good portrait as well - my son today, during the town fair - his first time during such an event...

why I like Johny Depp?

2008-09-13T08:45:00.000+01:00

..because he reads Beat Generation, like Jack Kerouac...

Let me remind you what his view on writing was (more here):
'1. Scribbled secret notebooks, and wild typewritten pages, for yr own joy

2. Submissive to everything, open, listening

3. Try never get drunk outside yr own house

4. Be in love with yr life

5. Something that you feel will find its own form

6. Be crazy dumbsaint of the mind

7. Blow as deep as you want to blow

8. Write what you want bottomless from bottom of the mind

9. The unspeakable visions of the individual

10. No time for poetry but exactly what is

11. Visionary tics shivering in the chest

12. In tranced fixation dreaming upon object before you

13. Remove literary, grammatical and syntactical inhibition

14. Like Proust be an old teahead of time

15. Telling the true story of the world in interior monolog

16. The jewel center of interest is the eye within the eye

17. Write in recollection and amazement for yourself

18. Work from pithy middle eye out, swimming in language sea

19. Accept loss forever

20. Believe in the holy contour of life

21. Struggle to sketch the flow that already exists intact in mind

22. Don't think of words when you stop but to see picture better

23. Keep track of every day the date emblazoned in yr morning

24. No fear or shame in the dignity of yr experience, language & knowledge

25. Write for the world to read and see yr exact pictures of it

26. Bookmovie is the movie in words, the visual American form

27. In praise of Character in the Bleak inhuman Loneliness

28. Composing wild, undisciplined, pure, coming in from under, crazier the better

29. You're a Genius all the time

30. Writer-Director of Earthly movies Sponsored & Angeled in Heaven '

The Boy in the Striped Pijamas, John Boyne

2008-09-13T00:05:00.000+01:00

...is a must read! I was waiting for it since a week (last Saturday, before watching the Duchess I saw the trailer of the film based on the novel by John Boyne). It's a next generation of 'Little Prince'!
It has been ages since I read a book in one go completely loosing the sense of reality - and I was about to go to bed early tonight, right...Bruno's story is.. o, damn it, I really do not know where to start, I even took a long hot bath to put this post together, and it's already falling apart - I will not tell you the story - media is shouting about it anyway, but it doesn't matter if you know or not - if you don't you will enjoy it just as much as a person who does, simply because it's WELL WRITTEN! Every single stop, every ending of a chapter, the rythm of the book, peoples gestures, silences and hidden tears (does anyone actually cry?), all the warnings and sence of obligation - to the country, family, but mainly to yourself! All the grown up questions and childish naivity! All the 200 pages of brilliant piece of literature!:)

Now we can see it on the screens.(with a great deal of Hungarian actors, btw)...
The story itself is (film trailer here) about boundaries, respect and friendship, but it also is a well written piece on Auschwitz and hitlerism (the every-day hitlerism)...about blindness and open hearts, about people trapped in the wrong times and places.
I think the ending is a perfect solution for a book writen for US/UK/Irish readers - I think it might be percieved diferently in Eastern Europe - but I think we all actually do need those endings.
I was 9 years old when I visited Auschwitz camp museum. My father lied that I was 11 (the minimum admission age for children) knowing me very well, and wisely. There is no age that can prepare you for the reality of that place. There is no book, or film that can actually show you what it meant to be a Jew living in there...I remember that th emost shocking issue for me was the fact mentioned in the induction film - that twins, children were speared from going straight to the gas chamber simply for the sake of medical experiments - 1. was it really any better? 2. if yes, if they survived, how does it feel to be alive simply because you were born as a twin? so randomly saved...that was the point where the 'big lie' lost on its 'logic' to me. At the age of 9.
(Bruno is 9, his friend too. Maybe that is why I felt so close to the actions and emotions of those characters.)
I also remember every block, every wall, I could draw the plan of the place. I went back two times, to see if I can learn more, but I think I have learned enough as a 9 year old girl: this is not meant to happen and cannot be allowed, but yes, we do tent to behave like animals...(one thing Hitler WAS right about).

At the age of 30 I experienced myself the low of the lowest behaviours in my own house and I know how easy it is to miss the point, to forget the ethics, to let others brake the rules of humanity - and how easy it is to resist, to protect yourself and to recover.

I see it all in this well written story!

I definitely will pass this book on to every single soul I know! And I will encourage everyone to go and see the film (John Boyne is writing about its London première on his blog).

(On a way from the film - The Dutchess - last weekend I heard a couple talking about something similiar. The guy was telling his friend a real story of a child - victim of Auschwitz, who was saved by a Polish servant girl who fed the boy every day with an apple. When the boy grew up and went back to - I think - US - he had a blind date arranged with...the very same woman! Proposed to her the same evening! - I really would like to believe it's truth)

Twitter ratio - restrictions?

2008-09-12T21:10:00.000+01:00

One of my new twitter contacts mentioned that there is a 'secret twitter ratio' causing certain restrictions - but I do not really know what it means? Is Twitter restricting the amount of friends or followers? I looked for the info on different blogs writing about Twitter ratio (ratio of our Twitter followers to our friends) but I cannot see this being mentioned:/
Actually the ratio and its connection to human behaviour idea does reflect mine. I agree that some of use Twitter to chat, some to network, some to do it all and to gather knowledge.
Here's my official Twitter ratio:
To quote Scoble, I belong to those who 'want to learn more' which perfectly matches my intentions:)

I would like to know thought if there are any rules connected to the Twitter ratio which might affect my account...

social media vs. traditional communication and more - thoughts on the bus

2008-09-10T20:28:00.000+01:00

On a way from work, listening to Damien Rice, I heard this ‘Read me your favourite line..’(from a book) and it hit me! Lolly posted about her favourite Twitter lines today as well….It’s been so long since I had E.A. Poe in my hands and I can still quote the Raven in Polish! My 'the line' is the ending
'And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted--nevermore!'
I think about my favourite painting form Beksinski - one of a kind, since it had NEVERMORE written of a balloon drifting away. I think about the painting of the Raven painted based ont he poem specially for me for my 18th Birthday – left behind in Budapest, and as it turns out now – simply given away I did like the thought of it, actually – I learned to let things go, things, not people. I treasure the people who honour me with their time…

Letting people go...
...we had a discussion about writing traditional letters in the office the other day and I must admit that seeing the average attitude (bills, official packages) I stayed quiet – I do write personal letters and some of my closest friend know me (and vice versa) from those. I left some of those behind, and I have a small collection now, but I still enjoy receiving one time to time. I actually need to put time aside to write a few more to new friends nowadays, and I am sure I will make them happy.

There is magic in paper travelling between the space and time – unlike e-mails, letters feel, smell, look personal. You wait for them, or they surprise you…you see the person you love (this way or another) caught in a moment – you follow the emotions together with the lines of their handwriting. The handwriting is their soul in front of you, in your hands!

I appreciate social media, I love the speed and globalisation of all communication tools, I like to make new, rather shallow relationships based on common respect and knowledge or information share. Those are capable of gestures too – one of my closest friends created a blog specially for me to update me on her thoughts after she stopped writing letters – lack of time, I guess. I am honoured and read it, comment on it, use it as our private venue, our common table and cups of coffee, in a way. Still, we do write letters, we store them, read them again and we do appreciate each of them. I will never move away from magic of a simple letter.

Just as I will never move away from reading books and memorising the best lines…

What is your favourite line form a book, by the way? What is it that makes us stop – go back-read it again- remember?

Amnesty newsletter

2008-09-10T16:13:00.001+01:00

Dear Sylwia,

When I took a job in 1976 with a small human rights group called Amnesty International, I had modest expectations. Up to then, I had been a '60s radical dedicated to ending the war in Vietnam and fighting injustice here at home.

But I reached a point where I needed to make some money while I looked for the next big thing. Amnesty International was looking for a press officer, and I signed up.

Early in my career at Amnesty, I had coffee with Pavel Litvinov, a Soviet dissident who had been arrested for demonstrating in Red Square and thrown into the Soviets' brutal gulag prison system for five years. He told me the only thing that kept him going during those lonely years in prison was knowing that Amnesty International was out there working to secure his freedom.

Join me. Become a member of Amnesty International today.
Join amnesty now!

Donate by September 30th, and your gift will be matched dollar-for-dollar!

For a young activist like me, it was a startling realization -- that our actions could have real power, that Amnesty could literally open a prison door and save a life halfway around the world.

Amnesty International continues to mobilize thousands of people who have never been tortured or imprisoned for their beliefs to act on behalf of those who have. But we can't do it without you -- become a member today.

The world has changed dramatically since the Cold War, but from Darfur to Burma, people are still being jailed, beaten, even killed for attempting to defend their human rights.

Will you commit to improving human rights worldwide by becoming a member of Amnesty International today? If you contribute by September 30th, your gift will be matched dollar for dollar by a generous Amnesty donor -- up to $130,000.

You'll be joining a movement of 2.2 million people worldwide that produces extraordinary results. Prisoners of conscience are freed. Death sentences are commuted. Torturers are brought to justice. Governments are persuaded to stop their human rights abuses.

We are not waiting for a new administration in Washington, D.C. to reverse U.S. human rights practices. We are the agents of change that will make it happen. And this month, your donation will go twice as far.

If there's one thing I've learned in my 30-year career, it's that no other organization is more recognized for its tireless and effective work to defend human rights worldwide.

Thank you for your continuing commitment to our work.

Sincerely,

Larry Cox
Executive Director
Amnesty International USA

Amnesty US newsletter

2008-09-09T23:35:00.001+01:00

Dear Supporter

Welcome to the Autumn 2008 issue of Action. The Beijing Olympics have been a spectacular sporting event but they've taken place against a backdrop of human rights violations. The Chinese authorities have prevented activists from expressing their views, holding many in detention when they have committed no crime and arresting journalists who have tried to report on human rights violations. Read more about the situation in China here

Regards,
Dugald McNaughtan
Activism, Amnesty International UK

Control arms

World is watching Help secure an Arms Trade Treaty. Two years ago 153 governments voted at the UN to develop an Arms Trade Treaty. Act now to ensure they honour this promise and deliver the treaty. Take action

Cluster bomb ban Good news Cluster bomb ban. On Friday 30 May, the UK signed a treaty banning cluster munitions, and in doing so, agreed to drop it's calls for exemptions and ban its two remaining cluster bomb systems. Read more

Loopholes closed in arms export controls Good news Loopholes closed in arms export controls. The UK government has announced several new measures to improve its own arms export controls. It will close loopholes on small arms brokering and trafficking as well as introduce controls on arms that could be used for torture. Read more

Amnesty on the web

ProtectTheHuman.com Amnesty's new socially based activism website ProtectTheHuman.com now features 'groups' functionality. Users can create groups based on Human Rights issues, hold discussions and post related content. Visit the site and provide us with feedback

Business and human rights

A young boy holds a banner which has 'clean up Bhopal now' written on it Good news Bhopal - Survivor organisations claim victory The Government of India announced that it will set up an Empowered Commission on Bhopal, and take legal action on the civil and criminal liabilities of Union Carbide and Dow Chemical. Read more

Stop violence against women

Parvin Ardalan, one of five women's rights activists arrested in connection with a peaceful demonstration on 12 June 2006 demanding equal rights for women in Iran. Image courtesy of www.kosoof.com Women's rights campaigners in Iran. Women in Iran face far-reaching discrimination under the law. They are denied equal rights in marriage, divorce, child custody and inheritance. Activists working to defend women's rights continue to face harassment by the Iranian authorities. Take action

Terrorism, security and human rights

Binyam Mohammed, Uk Resident detained at Guantánamo Bay © Private Health concerns for UK resident detained at Guantánamo Bay. Send an appeal to David Miliband to get UK resident Guantánamo detainee Binyam Mohamed moved out to a less harsh environment. Take action

LGBT rights

Turkish LGBT rights Turkish LGBT rights action. A local court in Istanbul ordered the closure of the Turkish lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender solidarity organization, Lambda Istanbul. Such a closure violates the right to freedom of association. Take action

Events

The secret policeman's ball 2008 The secret policeman's ball 2008. Tickets for this year's Secret Policeman's Ball are now on sale. You can buy them here or read more about the event here.

Ways of supporting Amnesty

Join us Join us Amnesty relies on the support of individuals for 94% of our income. Become a member with a one-off payment of £24 or spread the cost through direct debit; concessions available for students and the unwaged. Find out more

Polish moods

2008-09-09T21:03:00.000+01:00

Tonight I am resting...thinking of the free ticket I was offered for Sunday concert of Polish music on Wembley...and the fact I was running, celebrating Birthday and was needed somehere else...th more I think of it, waiting for Magda's post with pictures from event on Bar Mleczny (our initiative to open a milk bar in Oxford to promote Polish arts:)), the more I miss bits a pieces like those below...ech...I do miss Poland and Polish language sometimes:)
Raz dwa trzy - Trudno nie wierzyć w nic

Cesaria Evora & Dorota Miśkiewicz - Um Pincelada

Dorota Miśkiewicz - POZA CZASEM

Maria Peszek - Nie mam czasu na seks

justyna steczkowska- grawitacja

Tam, gdzie nie siega wzrok - Anna Maria Jopek

I hope I managed to finish with a less abstract song;) And I hope you enjoyed this short intro to the Polish music.

WATER! you can help too

2008-09-09T20:54:00.000+01:00

Check this site and think about it every single time you drink water - sometimes we take it all for granted...

Brand Sustainability - Conference

2008-09-08T23:10:00.000+01:00

I was asked by Don Carli, one of the organisers of the Green Media Show planned for the 1-2nd of October in Boston to check the site and share my opinion about the event, but I am in trouble - apart from the fact I understand the importance of green media, I am not really aware of its current situation!
The website sounds promising for any company:

'Attend The Green Media Show and Conference and avoid:

1.	Loss of a major bid with green requirements.
2.	Finding your brand damaged by people or the press calling your bluff on your stated sustainable practices.
3.	The damage to your image when asked for your Sustainability Statement and you don’t have one.
4.	The repercussions when a shareholder asks your CEO hard questions about the sustainability of your media choices and knowing he hasn’t a clue because you haven’t given him answers yet. Or her.
5.	Printing your Sustainability Report in a totally non-sustainable way and posting the pdf on a website powered by coal-burning generators. Way to go.'

And the materials available are impressive. I was hoping to see a link to a blog or a feed where I can follow the event itself since I am rather grounded at the moment - but then I realized there is still time! No rush!
If I could, I would love to attend! I have found a bit info about green media here, but I would be careful saying 'green considerations have become a major factor in our decision-making' - I am not really sure it is happening. Not yet. For some companies it might sound relevant, for some completely out of scope...see this discussion on BrandRepublic...

I would like to have more time to learn where businesses are with green media in the US and in the UK, so I guess a conference is a good call - raising any type of awareness if positive. Good luck with it!:)

Update: I was just informed that the conference will have a Twitter feed and potentially live blogging. Great!:)

InterNations - Women Expats Lives - meet-up

2008-09-08T22:25:00.001+01:00

On Saturday, before the run, I was invited to a small meet-up of members of InterNations Women Expat Lives group in one of London's private clubs where I met 7 extremely intelligent and interesting women. I really regret that I had to leave earlier to be able to wake up the next day and complete the run, nevertheless I really enjoyed sharing expat experiences, posting on-line from the club and simply having a chat with newly met women.

I did not however enjoy the situation on the bus on a way there, when I had to stop a robber from taking a wallet out of a girl's bag just in front of me, on a rather empty bus! I was soooo annoyed that this guy even dared to try to do it assuming I will not say a word (scared, trying to blend in, one of a crowd?), that I though I MYSELF will turn into a criminal and hit him! I managed to control myself not to cause myself trouble, still - it did make me very, very angry. I simply have seen enough of this in large cities like Warsaw, Budapest, Barcelona and I do not want to cope with it inhere...it is unacceptable...

Evening turned out to be perfectly pleasant though and I hope to see the ladies again quite soon;)

5K

2008-09-08T22:01:00.000+01:00

Despite the rainy morning I managed to get out of bed, have an early breakfast and walk over to Hyde Park (10min from the place where I stayed:)). I must say the atmosphere of the run was brilliant and made me feel very confident! I really enjoyed being a part of a huge event (1900 attendees in London, 2000 in Bristol and 2000 in Liverpool), event promoting charity in general! It's been ages that I have been to a huge event, and I have never ever been an active member of a run or any other sport event (apart from school event, of course) and I realized there is something magical and completely objective in the common interest and common activity...an ancient purity, even though this one was heavily branded!

It was very emotional and very uplifting, so I managed to completed 3km in 30 min, then finished in 40 min even though I did need to walk a bit! Amazing! I honestly did not think I can make it after poor training and 3 years of complete passivity, pregnancy and quite a stretched time of constant nervousness and loss of weight!
Well, it's done, and I am very happy I managed to collect half of my aimed amount - simply because I never thought I will be able to raise money AT ALL! So once again thank you for supporting me and keeping me going! It really means a lot to me and all other women who need support in hard times! It's such a simple thought but truly matters! Thanks!

Buzz marketing

2008-09-08T15:26:00.001+01:00

Word Of Mouth Marketing Techniques WOMM
by Kameran

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: consulting napa)

Anna from IKEA

2008-09-05T14:17:00.000+01:00

Have you seen this? I had sooooo much fun!!! Just go to IKEA US site, and find Anna - the customer assistant. And just ask! I have learned about her from David Meerman Scott's post, but as far as I can see, Anna has already a few fans on-line. You can find her best quotes here and here.
She is also inspiration for musicians?:

For me, well, fun. made me laugh. I guess it must be frustrating if you are looking for something. Personally I always get lost on IKEA sites , but hey, unlike Anna, I am blond;)

Chrome, enough

2008-09-05T13:09:00.001+01:00

OK, we have those topics that everyone is talking about (even about the inspiration behind its logo!), but it really tires me out now to hear about new browsers. I like to have good tools for work, so I do test them all, as I did with Chrome, but I am getting to the stage where only Firefox 3 is suitable for my needs (sorry, Flock - you have a good team, but still need to work on it a bit).
I need to get rig of all others from my laptop, I mean look at this list!

Five different web browsers it way too much!

Firefox 3 stays, decided!
There are few interesting things about the Chrome launch itself though...I liked the idea of the cartoon. I see there are browser themes available already, and Google privacy terms and conditions issue got me interested though.. hm... I wonder if Google will make it to the top three:) Thoughts?

What do you think of death penalty? Please, let me know!

2008-09-04T17:25:00.000+01:00

Dear Sylwia,

Troy Davis is scheduled to be executed by the state of Georgia on September 23, even though his serious claims of innocence have never been heard in court.

Take action right now to stop this execution!

Troy Davis was convicted of murder solely on the basis of witness testimony, and seven of the nine non-police witnesses have since recanted or changed their testimony, several citing police coercion. Others have signed affidavits implicating one of the remaining two witnesses as the actual killer. But due to an increasingly restrictive appeals process, none of this new evidence has ever been heard in court.

Take action and then forward this action to ten friends!

On July 16, 2007, the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles stayed Troy Davis’ execution, stating that it would “not allow an execution to proceed in this State unless and until its members are convinced that there is no doubt as to the guilt of the accused” (emphasis added). The failure of courts to hear the compelling evidence of innocence in this case means that massive doubts about Troy Davis’ guilt will remain unresolved.

Urge the Georgia Board of Pardons and Paroles to be true to its words and prevent this execution from proceeding!

In solidarity,

Sue Gunawardena-Vaughn
Director, Death Penalty Abolition Campaign
Amnesty International USA

What an idiot! Forgot my blog's Birthday!

2008-09-03T21:46:00.000+01:00

I just realised my blog kicked off a year ago, on the 1st of September!
How could I forget???
Oh yes, maybe by kicking off another blog, hehe... (this time together with Magda, my fellow blogger from Oxford, who loves Polish food and remaining of socialist subculture, in this case milk bars - we want one in Oxford and we want to dig out all the childhood memories - the good ones;))...
....oh well, women do not count the years, right?
Happy 1st Birthday to my UK blog:D

Present? A rainbow.......or two rainbows.....on the way from work.

Update: Well, I had to sleep on it - truth being I have written this on a different engine before, so how does it work now - I have not celebrated blog birthdays yet:/ I am not sure if I should celebrate this one...maybe I should leave it for January? Any advice, anyone?..I'll still think about it:P

Exactly, this whole blog birthday thing reflects how confused I am nowadays...uff..

2008-09-03T21:38:00.000+01:00

According to his blog Andy Sernovitz is on vacation now, but I just finished his book today (remember - had time only on the bus:P) and must admit that it is a great study for all companies unfamiliar with WOM Marketing. I somehow assumed I hardly know anything about it and happily concluded the opposite - I recognised all the main rules and tips given in this study. At the same time I was amazed how this book reflects the true nature (can one talk like that about business?:/) of WOM Marketing - transparency, reality and very down to earth Word of Mouth techniques - action>reaction type of thinking which might sound simple, but is the best solution here.
Word of Mouth Marketing is a) giving people a reason to talk about you and b) making it easier for the conversation to take place.' - this is his definition! (can be found on this site committed to the book with quite interesting content, do check it out!)

I would like to leave you with the words of his WOM Manifesto from the same source:
'1. Happy customers are your best advertising. Make people happy.
2. Marketing is easy: Earn the respect and recommendation of your customers. They will do your marketing for you, for free.
3. Ethics and good service come first.
4. UR the UE: You are the user experience (not what your ads say you are).
5. Negative word of mouth is an opportunity. Listen and learn.
6. People are already talking. Your only option is to join the conversation.
7. Be interesting or be invisible.
8. If it’s not worth talking about, it’s not worth doing.
9. Make the story of your company a good one.
10. It is more fun to work at a company that people want to talk about.
11. Use the power of word of mouth to make business treat people better.
12. Honest marketing makes more money.'

I think all WOM marketing consultants should treat it as a starting point. I strongly advice having it on our shelf!

(Actually I think the comments to his materials sound exactly like his preaching about WOM: 'Share This Article! I want you to pass this article on — it’s one of the best ways to generate word of mouth. You can post, copy, forward, or share this article with anyone you want, as much as you want. But you need to follow the rules: 1) Don’t change it, 2) Give author credit to Andy Sernovitz, 3) Mention that it comes from the book Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking, and 4) Link to http://www.wordofmouthbook.com. (c) 2006 Andy Sernovitz. This work is licensed
under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License.')

4 days to day 0

2008-09-02T22:13:00.000+01:00

..and I do not feel ready but I want to try it out. If I manage to complete the run without stopping, I actually am good. This will make me feel even better. If I manage to complete the run with stopping (more realistic, since I am really in a shit form and two moths is not enough for me!) I will feel good about the money I have already manage to collect for Amnesty.

You can still donate though;) Click, click...:)

Should I really publish it? Yes.

2008-09-02T21:45:00.000+01:00

Today one of my friends from uni sent the link to this add to my inbox - I must admit I had no courage to watch it during my lunch time, I had to stop, I had no nerves for it. I did now...

I could not stop crying...and I guess it's because I have a little boy, and I have a few people I love endlessly...

I think it's a shocking film, as some of the UK TV ads about drinking and driving, but I think we all need to watch them - to remind us about the real danger of our thoughtfulness.

So here you go...(film dedicated to all people who work saving victims of accidents)

Claudina Velásquez, or: when I was 19

2008-09-02T00:21:00.000+01:00

Image via Wikipedia This girl was murdered when she was 19.
Let's just stop here for a sec, OK? What did you do when you were 19? Think about it!
When I was 19 I moved to Budapest leaving my parents, friends and my beloved cat, Czuga (quite similar to Manda on my sidebar actually) and head of to study Hungarian language! (do not ask me why, it just happened).
When I was 19 I was young, ambitious and extremely naive, as well as positive about all the opportunities awaiting me in this huge city. I felt I have all the time of the world to enjoy myself, to establish new friendships. I was alone, but happy - crazy, independent, free...I felt in love. I was introduced to Hungarian culture and I became the insider:)
When i was 19 a whole new world of Hungarian language opened to me - we have a saying in Polish according to which every new acquired language is a new soul we are gaining - it's an old, very traditional Slavic thinking, still - there must be something to it. Hungarians originated from the very same area of Asia as my fathers ancestors (I learned about his family, Korsak, history later on) and I always felt more at home in Hungarian standards and mentality, than I did in Polish culture. I learned to compromise, and became half-a-Pole, half-a-Hungarian in temrs of my national mentality. As with this, I was experimenting with almost everything!
I felt so happy and so ful of potential! I was about to begin American Studies, Hungarian and German Major too - I was about to study languages and literature, business and philosophy - all my favourite topics! And I new I will be able to do so much with the knowledge waiting just behind the corner!
When I was 19 I felt in love with Budapest. Did you ever fel in love with a place? Did you love it trully, so blind that even the worst experience would be forgiven? At the end of the day it was us, people, not the city I could blame...
When I was 19 I used to walk all evening long throught the city at night - completely safe - crossing few bridges, visiting my favourite streets and touching my favourite stones in walls; discovering new ones...
I was all new and I was just beginning my own experience of life...I began the happiness never really demolished by anyone so far!

And this girl, who hapens to wear a T-shirt from Budapest, had a chance for the same experience. She was a student of law faculty in Guatemala. She was found dead on the 13th of August 2005. She was not as lucky as we are - born in the wrong country?
'Families seeking help from the authorities are often faced with indifference and discrimination, and a particularly worrying tendency to blame the victim's behaviour or background for their death. Claudina's father told Amnesty International "The investigator said they thought Claudina was a nobody because she was wearing sandals and a belly button ring."
Despite such obstacles, Claudina's family have been'
It is a fact that 'In 2005, 665 women were killed - 25% up on the previous year, 10 times the rate in the UK, and not one killer caught. With no fingerprint or DNA database, no crime or victim profiling and no forensic science, killers go free and witnesses do not talk.'

Claudina was a lovely young girl, full of potential and free to become whoever she wants to be, yet she was deprived her basic right - right to live.

That is the reason why I decided to run the challenge for Amnesty International and chose her story as my own. If you think I am running it for myself, you are wrong. I was misused but I am alive and I kept my faith in law, truth and independence - my own one.

I will do nything I can (and this really DOES NOT COST me a lot!) to help organisations fighting for similiar rights to be established and respected in other countries. Simply, because I am lucky and I can;)

You can help too - just donate the money you plan to spend for your evening pint to my cause instead.:) Thank you!

Claudina Velásquez, 19

2008-09-01T23:20:00.001+01:00

PIX: BBC News
See this girl? He name was Claudina Velásquez. I will tell you more about her tomorrow....

Happy Blog Day everyone!

2008-08-31T22:40:00.000+01:00

It's your day, so accept my best wishes! Happy Blog Day everyone!
I am happy to have the chance to mention my current the best 5, so here they are:)

1. Chris Brogan - social media guru, whose tips and advice are crucial for my work and my blogging.
2. Blog Till You Drop - Lolly is not only a friendly person, but also a very professional blogger - her insights are always valuable!
3. Cementum - It's amazing to see Rich not only working very hard on his book, but also blogging about the process - it must be so hard to be able to look at yourself and be so disciplined! I am impressed!
4. The Girl - I am very impressed by her work as a blogger and writer too. This one is a must!
5. PR Blogger - good study of current situation in PR, very helpful!

Now, this list reflect my UK, English speakign life. My Polish list was published here.
No Hungarian this time - I am not reading Hungarian blogs (apart from few friends, like Planet Damage) after discouragement of a few Nazi sites, brrr...

I wonder how those lists change in one year time:)
Happy BD again!

Gustav Information Center - site now live

2008-08-30T23:14:00.000+01:00

Some of you have probably seen my tweet 'Please retweet: Gustav Ning Site up and running: http://gustav08.ning.com/' and I hope you did so.
Here is the site itself - Andy Carvin's iniciative, so check it out and see how social media can help! Spread the word!

OPACO short movie

2008-08-30T22:53:00.000+01:00

I watched a film tonight - short one:)
Check it out yourself! I don't know what is happening to me nowadays - strange things...first of all I find all the stuff I have missed on-line during last few years and it makes me feel...strangely enough...but it makes me feel OLD. (for those who do not know me personally - I do not really are about my biological age, I am just concerned about time left to enjoy the art)...I also feel slow, I loose my breath when nervous (I hope no one noticed so far).. I even brake glasses and plates incidentally!
Whatever is happening, I feel uneasy about my current state of body and soul...this being completely irrational too.
But...OPACO is a short move made with Nikon D50 camera. Amazing story, really well thought trough idea and brilliant technique. I love it!

British Army Fitness

2008-08-30T22:27:00.000+01:00

...is something I need - a strict hand to keep me going. I am really giving up! I do not think I can make 5, but I will try - I think with this in mind I am even braver (=stupid). Interesting to see that British Army cares about citizens health. Good, good, I will join them as soon as I move to the City;)
In the meantime I am just running around the Church Square and neighbouring streets in Wantage. It's amazing how quiet this place is in the evenings! I am not even bothered to listen to the music, if I can enjoy the sound of the small town's dusk.

Group Hug.us

2008-08-29T22:17:00.000+01:00

I was given the link to Group Hug today and I simply cannot believe this project kicked of in 2003! Gabriel Jeffrey, brilliant photographer, founder of the site writes in the ABOUT section: 'Since launch, millions of people have visited, and hundreds of thousands have confessed. The press has been kind, The Vatican is officially not a fan, and numerous individuals have found inspiration in these pages, which have inspired countless clones and spinoffs, a play, a few art installations, and a book.'

Me, I am reading it and reading and apart from a few troubling post I actually find it a good idea - a place where one can stay completely honest and anonymous - each of us needs something like that time to time. I'll keep the link for worst times;)
Thanks for the tip, Seb!

New rules of marketing again

2008-08-29T22:06:00.001+01:00

Currently I am forced to commute to work by bus which gives me more time to read the books waiting on my shelf. Just as I have finished 'The New Rules of Marketing & PR' written by David Meerman Scott, and was wondering which work-related book should be next I got a Google alert containing link to this podcast. It's an interview given by another social media marketing specialist - Andy Sernovitz - whose book on WOM marketing I happen to have on my waiting list. (I am just about to start it now...). Andy's podcast explains very basics of WOM marketing and to me seems to be quite obvious, but I am happy to see that new type of marketing activities is promoted so wisely!
As for 'The New Rules of Marketing & PR' I am once again glad I decided to order a few books related to my current work - they give me insight into both business, as well as the social media. I think it's crucial to understand how the web and the markets are developing - not only for work, but for my own experience too. I find David's book fascinating and very inspiring - so inspiring that I decided to try out podcasting myself and got a proper microphone today. Silly idea, but I will read children books to my fellow Polish bloggers, since most of them have at least one child. And honestly - I do it every evening for my son anyway, so it's an easy way to start something potentiallt more serious:)
So read it - you can never tell how a book can change you!:)

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the best social media marketing practices

2008-08-29T20:54:00.000+01:00

Mitch Joel is asking a question about the best social media marketing practices and I must admit it took me a while to decide what is most important in my view...Consistency mentioned on Mitch Joel's blog is crucial, just as much as ethics of any engagement but I think we need to go back to the basics and ensure we know exactly what we are doing. An agency or any of the team members working on a project related to social media marketing must be well trained and experienced in social media themselves, they should study the audience they aim to traget and respect the rules of venues they plan to engage in their activities. Internet has its own rules and most of them can be understood only by people who actually ARE a part of the blogosphere. My personal experience is very small, but being my own blogging experience (together with presence in other places, like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc) prooved to be crucial in my work. My commitment to respect people I work with and great amount of research into the theory of socal media marketing helped me so much! We must never forget that social media IS real people with power to speak up and expect - there is no space for traditional marketing!
(Here you go - I tried to be brief:/)
I also agree with what Chris Brogan wrote: 'Learn how to listen. Simple, I know. But it’s a best practice. ' and I hope to see more bloggers responding to this challenge!

I would like to tag Lolly, Girl , Tom and Colin hoping to see what they think.

BTW - If you haven't read the original post I believe you will be happy to know that you can share your opinion too, as long as you tag the post 'social media marketing best practices', link to original post and tag few other blogs. So, go on!!!

Facebook again! Not happy:(

2008-08-27T14:05:00.000+01:00

OK, I am running out of time - end of lunch - so just a quick one: I have experienced another strange thing on Facebook - notifications like this:Why do I get them? Is is a new way of promoting Facebook apps/business/ads? I do not like anything I am not really interested in and getting it in my personal notifications does feel like violating of my privacy...

Ms Wu and Ms Wang - did China change after Olympics?

2008-08-27T13:50:00.000+01:00

OK, I have been reading news about all the achievements during the Olympics but I am still not convinced if the country will change at all...Yes, I am damn sceptical! Krease Chan is making a very valid point on Amnesty Blogs about reality of ordinary people vs. political statements. Would you like to be sentenced for a year of re-education through labor for disturbing public order? (I am sorry, I cannot help but think back to the times when as a student of ELTE university I would hold small parties in my rented flat in Budapest and have police knocking on my door - just simply asking me to turn the volume lower - since it's regular to have neighbours calling police istead of coming over themselves, hehe). This is not funny though. Both ladies are about 80 years old!!!
Amnesty Blogs has more interesting posts, so go and check it out!

The F- word on social media?

2008-08-27T13:33:00.000+01:00

When I started working in the UK I was a bit sceptic about the usage of the F-word, I somehow still am, to be honest. I need to be careful - my son picked it up once and it took me a while to convince him he is really saying FORK - he is too smart for it now, so I stopped. I do think seome of us misuse the bad language still - have you seen YouTubeSunshine project?
In this presentation by Marta Kagan however it does look perfect - I really enjoyed it! Hope you will like it too...

What The F**K is Social Media?

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: socialmediamarketing marketing)

Hunger in Texas - on-line support

2008-08-27T13:22:00.000+01:00

Let me quote the site:

'Did you know

Nearly one in five adults and one in four children in Texas are hungry.
41,000 children under the age of 18 in Travis County are confronted with food insecurity every day.
82% of Food Bank Partner Agency recipients are food insecure. 49% of recipients experience outright hunger. (Source: Hunger in America 2006: Central Texas Report, in association with America's Second Harvest)
61% of Austin Independent School District (AISD) students are eligible for free or reduced lunch.'

I did not. So I posted a comment. I hope it's not a scam - but only because I read about scams a lot nowadays;)

They seems to plan activities on Twitter too.

TUTEC - a new way of life? :)

2008-08-25T22:10:00.001+01:00

Just finishing going through my pictures from Hungary I remembered to check the website of my friend's son, Gergo, who decided to introduce a new way of life - life in a silk hammock! TUTEC is a hammock made of parachute silk in a range of lovely colors (end of the ad, hehe) and I simply love it!!!:) I just ordered another one to have here and enjoy it with my son! I think ideas like this one simply cannot not work! The website itself shines with happiness and rather free, relaxing lifestyle:)

(I'll add the pix tomorrow, my web connection is SHIIIIT!)

Update: pix added:P

State of panic...

2008-08-25T21:50:00.000+01:00

..is what I am in! I am not able to run 5 km without stopping! Why is it so difficult?! I spent my summer training as much as I can, but I do not think it's enough. OK, I did nothing for 3 years, still, I am not 60! I do not smoke! I hardly ever drink! I changed my diet and I eat properly! And, oh Lord! - I GAVE UP CHOCOLATE!
I am so annoyed with my own body!

Additionally, I have received my number and the actual route of the run. I feel shitty about myself but I hope I will be able to try it out at least the day before:/ (to see the point where I will stop and start walking?! ahhh!). I must admit that this whole idea of collecting money for charity really works - I might not do much, but my own daily sacrifice and the frustration I have to put up - if only I could measure it in £'s! - is enormous! My dear friends, like Javi, donate to keep me going because they know my personal experience of slight domestic violence and they understand my reasons.
They keep telling me it's not about running the run. Still, no matter how funny the idea of becoming the last person to arrive is - I will burn in shame if I do not deliver. Burn, like the Amnesty candle on my t-shirt:P

If you still want to support Amnesty, do donate though! I am going through all this humiliation just to help few people out! You can as well...

Facebook virus?! what is this shit?

2008-08-23T21:32:00.000+01:00

Oh, just opened my Facebook index and found this:

My ass might not be too bad...still...considering Arnaud is my friend's husband (we do not correspond) and I did not take any videos of my ass AT ALL, I think it's a shitty virus. Did anyone receive something similar? It's not the first time I struggle with this social network and I see traffic decreasing there. Maybe we should all move on? If so, where to? To Twitter and Friendfeed+it's developments? To mobile blogging? To Flickr and YouTube?

I might do...Facebook begins to annoy me with unnecessary issues.

UPDATE: Yep, all of his friends got it! Be aware!

Elizabeth: The Golden Age

2008-08-23T21:11:00.001+01:00

Source: Buzzsugar

'Elizabeth: The Golden Age' is first film I decided to buy to my DVD collection since ages. I have heard quite good opinions about this one, so for a few moneyz it really was a good move:) I do not know why but the older I get the more sensitive I become and I really need to take it easy with intense images! This one is really well done, and I think I would like it less if living in Hungary still. There must be a hidden feeling of charm of the local history behind the fact that I spent 2 hours last night staring into my laptop putting my evening coffee away...
Kate Blanchett always seems to be a symbol if innocent beauty - please do not ask me why - but it's not the only striking thing about this one - she basically showed the ful process of development of that key figure of British history, in few uncertain gestures, glimpses, in simplicity and clear mind...I like seing strong personalities - even if in fictive creations.

I shifted from buying music, so I WILL bore you with a few more classics, hehe...

2008-08-23T21:01:00.001+01:00

Image via Wikipedia

It's really good to see how developped the world of news is and that reporters are brave to be in hot spots of the world. I might be shocked by the events in South Ossetia, but I am happy to be able to see the events day-by-day and understand the conflict better. Check BBC site for great report here. Ah, wonders of the web!:)

Flock 2 in beta

2008-08-23T20:32:00.000+01:00

Those of you who follow me on Twitter might know that few days ago I gave up waiting on feedback to my e-mail to Flock guys and decided to use Firefox 3. Actually, I still think it's a great browser, BUT! The very same Flock person picked up my mentioned tweet and responded immediately - which something bloggers like:) and deserves appraisal. I was given a chance to try out the beta 2 version of Flock and must admit that it works better on my Vista now. I am still trying it out (I really like the blog posting options on Flock - mainly when my xx wifi provider is shit and the connection dies every few seconds and I need to post quickly on few servers), but I noticed two reasons against using it on an on-going basis.
1. Flock does not allow me to upload a pic to the posting window directly - for me it's pain in the neck, since I am a photographer and I like posting my own s....hizzle:)
2. I have just discovered Zemanta Firefox add-on which is simply very, very cool and I am still enojying using it for tagging!

I am impressed by the outreach of Flock guys, so I will keep using both for a while (Flock from home probably, due to my shitty connection) and keep an eye on Flock's improvements. It has potential, so let's see.

Two important readings

2008-08-23T20:30:00.001+01:00

I have not mentioned two important books I have read lately, I believe. Both were written by novelists born in Afghanistan, both books became quite famous. I usually tend to be quite careful about 'the bests', this time nonetheless I was forced to buy something on a way to Budapest, so here is what I think.

'Samir and Samira' is a novel written by Siba Shakib, a woman and I would love to know opinions of male readers about the story and values. For me personally it was pretty straitforward for see decision process happening int he head of a girl who was raised as a boy and came to the point when she had to choose. Did she really choos? Did she choose right? For me this is not the part that really matters - it's the reasons behind each step of her life; the moments of discoveries (you know very well when the personality slaps you and it's not really measurable in tears or silences, but in the heaviness of the discovery!); the unbearable reality of the book and brittiant language of a woman who knows what she is writing about. Just as mistique as women's world, and as cruel and tense as men's world can be...

'The Kite Runner' - if you haven't read it yet - is a book written by a man who also is fully aware of Afghan reality and his approach is quite realistic. Instead of mystique explanations he is using emotional set ups and triggers to make you cry! Seriously, I cried like a baby! (the Hungarian lady on the train must think that foreigners are bizarre..) And I do read the news, I see the pictures, I KNOW what is happening in Afghanistan. I did not understand though, and this book opened my eyes slightly thanks to brilliant structure, symbolism and craft of Khaled Hosseini's writing. It's more than worth reading, it's worth keeping on the shelf - just in case if my poetic soul carries me away from every day life. This book will bring me back on the surface of earth with a huge bang!

So, if you want to more about a place where you probably will not travel to for a while, try those out!

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what the f@@@ is going on!?!

2008-08-20T09:12:00.000+01:00

(Source article here)
I've been following the events in Georgia for a while, took part in discussions on InterNations (opinions of expatriates seem very broad and in depth to me, very valuable) and still, I cannot f@@@ing believe it is happening! Check the source article for more...I'd rather not start, it makes me sick even to think about it...

Amnesty news

2008-08-20T08:53:00.000+01:00

Dear Amnesty Supporter

This month we have an exciting event coming up at the Human Rights Action Centre with readings from the play 'Life on the Borderline'. We also urge you to take action in the case of Shamameh Ghorbani who has been sentenced to 100 lashes by the Iranian authorities

Activism Team
Amnesty International UK

Event

Life on the Borderline. Writer Hoshiar has spent 8 years as an asylum seeker. Set at a border crossing, this play incorporates both his own experiences, and some of the many stories told to him by other asylum seekers. Book this event

The event takes place at the Human Rights Action Centre on Tuesday 9 September. For more information please click on the flyer:

Actions

Iran: Fear of flogging Shamameh Ghorbani has been sentenced to 100 lashes, after being found guilty of adultery at a retrial. Her sentence could be carried out at any time. Take action

News

Suspension of stoning executions a welcome step if carried out. Amnesty International has welcomed the recent announcement by the spokesperson for Iran's Judiciary that execution by stoning has been suspended Read the report

You can always find out more on these and other issues on the Women's Action Network pages of our website.

Blondies more successful?

2008-08-17T23:22:00.000+01:00

Photographs: AFP/ AP

Just checked my new Twitter followers and discovered Hong Kong Wong blog post about the opening on Beijing Olympics, this one here..
Let me quote the source as well: 'The little girl who starred at the Olympic opening ceremony was miming and only put on stage because the real singer was not considered attractive enough, the show's musical director said."
Now, remember my post about me staying consciously blond? And you think I was joking?
Check what Hong Kong Wong mentions and the Guardian write about the looks related to the successfulness of women in China and the UK and think about it? Personally I have experienced more positive responses to my enquiries both at work as well as in private life - that in the UK and Hungary. I wonder how it works in other parts of the world.

I will not go into the details of how ethical the opening situation of Olympics was, it's quite obvious:/

Twitter again!

2008-08-17T23:08:00.000+01:00

Just decided to sit back in front of my pc - tried not to, just to enjoy last hours of my holidays but checking my mail I realised that while I was away in Budapest I have received an invite to Twitterfone - a Twitter tool based on voice recognition allowing you to update the Twitter account via voice call. Cool, easy to use and really working;) -in Budapest I actually enjoyed keeping in touch with my friends and readers via Twitter last week - NOT browsing, blogging, checking my mail:) which is why I am getting so exited about a tool that for some of you might be boring already, hehe.

Happy Second Anniversary to Lolly btw!:)

#080808

2008-08-08T14:35:00.001+01:00

I like the date, I like the day - last day of work before my holiday trip to Budapest:)
China is celebrating, Chinese Twitter users are celebrating too. Check this article, and their blog for more info.

I joined, so follow me on Twitter:)

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Amnesty (again) and Google...and blogging ethics!

2008-08-07T13:56:00.001+01:00

There is an interesting article on Amnesty's activities (mainly in Australia) before Beijing here. It also links to something that we all think about nowadays and touches upon privacy issues - Google Street Mapping. (see Stilgherrian's post). I would be very interested to hear what you think. On Twitter opinions are skeptical, still I personally have nothing against it - we do live in CCTV age and if I need to loose a bit of my own privacy but gain on my security - I would agree - I think I agreed long time ago, actually. The thought of having on-line view of my flat windows available doesn't scare me - mine faces one of the main squares of our little town, other one of the main paths. (I would be interested to know what EU and UK law states about privacy in Google's case though. Any lawyers around?)Browsing around all those Amnesty sites I have found an interesting guide to blogging (fresh, March 2008, great graphics btw) including few notes on ethics written by Dan Gillmor (interested in privacy issues, as far as I can see) , who finds basis for blogging ethics in journalism: 'There are pillars of good journalism: thoroughness, accuracy, fairness, transparency and independence.'I thing it's a valid point - according to Fromm, there are two types of ethics - modern ethics (due to the commercialism and tolerance based development of societies this set of rules is based on our subjective judgments, i.e. code of ethics must be agreed on by majority of us) or traditional ethics (set of rules given by superior 'powers' - however we define those - always objective). If we want to follow modern approach, we still need traditional (journalistic) point of view at least to start developing our own codes of blogging ethics.

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Beijing and Social Media

2008-08-06T17:23:00.001+01:00

OK, I have moaned about it and how skeptical I am but the more I read about the Olympics web coverage the friendlier the idea becomes. Today Lolly drooped me a link to Buzz Attitude article describing Lenovo team of bloggers and their WOM activities covering Olympics. Check out the Voices of the Olympic Games site - it really looks impressive, and I am surely going to keep my eyes open for more info there, mainly on their interactive guide. At the same time Read Write Web posted great article about other sponsors and their involvement here. McDonald's The Lost Ring made me stop for a sec - that's how far I get involved in gaming:) - since it doesn't look bad. More on-line, just do a good Google search:)

I can't wait to see the result of Chinese web surveys in few moths time, but I was told already today by someone experienced in Asian marketing that Chinese audience will escape the challenging really and start using web more (this might be a simple personal opinion though, wouldn't make a bet). Let's see...

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Beijing will get YouTube coverage

2008-08-05T09:37:00.001+01:00

The Guardian is just informing that Olympics will get a YouTube channel coverage. This makes me slightly confused - maybe I am just grumpy today and didn't have enough coffee, but...can we please give Chinese audience full access to YouTube service instead?

Update: here we go, US reacts differently this time? hm...

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Amnesty news today

2008-08-05T09:21:00.001+01:00

Check out what is happening in Texas today:/ :

José Medellín, a Mexican national, is scheduled to be executed on August 5th in Texas, despite not having been informed of his right to seek assistance from Mexican consular officials. Mexican nationals have often been sentenced to death in the US despite being denied this right, yet the US is obligated by Article 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR) to inform foreign nationals of their right to seek consular assistance. The US Supreme Court, the State of Texas and the US Government all agree that there is a binding legal obligation to comply with the decision of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordering “review and reconsideration” of the consular treaty violation in José Medellín’s case, and the US Congress is currently reviewing legislation that would implement the ICJ decision. Urge Texas officials to honor US treaty commitments by granting clemency for José Medellín.'

source and more here

No comments...

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London - the way I like it

2008-08-04T21:45:00.001+01:00

Is there:

I am glad I've discovered it all by myself. And I will continue visiting it - there...:)

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King Lear, Globe

2008-08-04T21:02:00.001+01:00

Once again I trembled out of...happiness, sorrow, joy, compassion and finally mourning the death of the author himself. If you watch 'King Lear' in the Globe in London you cannot not think about Shakespeare and his times. And as in those times there was stupid people in the audience (only that this time they forgot to switch their mobile off) and like in his times they deserved obvious shush from more cultured members of the crowd. Like in his times there was blood on stage, rain and sunshine...Like in his days there was a dove flying down to walk on the stage just when the old King was about to wake up to see Cornelia again.

Only for few seconds did I remember my times - when a plane flew over the roofs of the theater.

But most of the time - time which I cannot stop thinking off - my soul was stolen and drifted over to well crafted fable about an unhappy King and his three daughters.

'Men must endure
Their going hence, even as their coming hither;
Ripeness is all.'

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Being blond pays off...

2008-08-03T21:39:00.001+01:00

..even if men think you are stupid, hehe...I got to take an earlier bus, than the booked one. I got to have my bag carried in London (hellou? I never thought this would happen!) and I got served properly and quickly in a fast food...all this with a silly blond smile!
Worked!

I decided to keep the hair color and use this tactics more often from now on! Hell yes, why not!

(BTW - why? can someone tell me why??? maybe an educated feminist, please?;))

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My photos from Spain! Finally

2008-08-01T16:52:00.001+01:00

Here:

and here:

and here:

and here:

Uff...done. Budapest next!

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NY Times and Women Bloggers - BlogHer

2008-08-01T09:59:00.001+01:00

(source: NY Times)

B.L.Ochman's strong opinion about NY Times article on BlogHer Conference struck me in todays morning readings (I like to check it out time to time)...I wish I could see some stats of female blogging, because as a part of that community I do not really feel left out or less appreciated than my fellow male bloggers. Still, I do not do it for living, just for fun - I guess it might be and must be an issue if there is a conference on the topic. BTW I see nothing wrong in gathering and sharing ideas using any excuse - as long as it't not a bunch of women looking for excuse to complain and do nothing about it (sorry ladies, I am basing it on my experience of Eastern-European feminist gatherings...) - I cannot stand those.

Let's see...BlogHer site is OK, I see women addressing hte very same issues as all bloggers around the world - so why is that wrong?

Men have their cars and football, women can have their 'You are perfect' messages - what on earth is the difference?:)

Just relax and enjoy being who you are and if you are mistreated or misjudged - do something about it, damn right!

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Amnesty website in China

2008-08-01T08:58:00.001+01:00

Dear Sylwia,

In China, you're banned from looking at the Amnesty International web site - even if you're a journalist covering the Olympic Games!

Yesterday, we wrote to you asking you to join Amnesty in urging President Bush to publicly condemn China's human rights violations before the Summer Games begin on August 8^th.

Today, I'm asking you to make a donation to support Amnesty's work to fight these abuses and draw worldwide attention to China's broken promises.

Now, we've learned that a day after Amnesty International issued a comprehensive report on how the Chinese government was failing to live up to its promises on human rights, the Chinese government shut down access to our web site - even for foreign reporters in Beijing to cover the Olympics.

Internet censorship for the people of China is nothing new, but the Olympics were supposed to be different. When China bid for the Olympics in 2001, it declared that it would "give the media complete freedom to report when they come to China" if the International Olympic Committee (IOC) selected Beijing to host the Games.

With your financial support, Amnesty International will continue to call for an end to media censorship, work to free those wrongly detained for acts of peaceful self-expression, and speak on behalf of China's citizens who have been silenced against their will.

Failure to speak out now is to miss the unique opportunity to push for positive human rights change in China.

With your help, Amnesty will continue to pressure Chinese authorities to grant foreign and local journalists alike the freedom to report on the news as they see fit - and honor their commitments as Olympic host.

Update: and look what's happening...

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Amnesty News...

2008-07-30T19:42:00.001+01:00

Dear Sylwia ,

Torture. Long-term detentions without charge or trial. Censorship of the internet and media. Does this sound like a country that’s trying to improve its human rights record?

Ye Guozhu, a human rights defender in Beijing, was sentenced to four years' imprisonment for taking action against forced evictions related to the Olympics. Amnesty International fears he has been tortured while in detention. He was due to be released on Saturday, July 26 but will now remain imprisoned until October, after the end of the 2008 Olympic Games.

Chinese authorities have stepped up their repression of human rights defenders in order to “clean up” Beijing. With the Olympics only 10 days away, take action and urge China to create a positive human rights legacy.

In 2001 China made a promise to improve its human rights record if given the honor of hosting the Olympic Games. Instead, China has become increasingly repressive with crackdowns on dissent and the rounding up and arrest of human rights defenders. Citing "security", China has imprisoned individuals for doing nothing more than drawing international attention to ongoing human rights violations.

President Bush will attend the opening ceremonies of the Games on August 8. Before he leaves for Beijing, tell President Bush to make a public statement condemning the human rights violations perpetrated in preparation for the Olympics.

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Adidas Women Challenge in Amnesty News

2008-07-30T09:57:00.001+01:00

Actions

Yemen: Fatima Hussein al-Badi After an unfair trial which was exacerbated by interference from Parliament and the President of Yemen, Fatima Hussein al-Badi is at risk of execution. Take action

South Africa: Rural women living with HIV face discrimination. Treatment for HIV and AIDS requires regular visits to hospitals and clinics. Rural women living in poverty and unemployment often cannot afford the transportation. Take action

South Africa: Inadequate care and support for rural victims of sexual assault.The South African government is obliged by law to provide a means of preventing HIV infection after sexual assault. However, poverty and distance create barriers to the access of treatment. Take action

Events

Adidas Women's Challenge: 7 September 2008. The Adidas Women's Challenge is one of the UK's biggest women-only races. It takes place in London, Birmingham and Liverpool, and over 30,000 women enter. Join them as part of Team Amnnesty

You can always find out more on these and other issues on the Women's Action Network pages of our website.

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Life changing books

2008-07-29T12:45:00.001+01:00

I started reading Fromm's Man for Himself and I feel bizarre! The book is changing me...you know the feeling when you live chaos and suddenly everything starts to fall in its place? The puzzles start to show a shape and you sit back and relax? That's what Fromm did and still does to me....but there were others too. Last weekend was quite relaxed and even though I still had no time to write down my trip to Spain (due to the fact I have 500 pix to go through and no time at all!), I decided to write down a list of books that changed my life.

1. Bible - born in a Catholic family I was raised with it, had it always around, studied it...It gave me basics for my own values, later on sadly made me realize I cannot represent Catholic Church. Nonetheless I still live most of what I've learned from it, but very much incorporated it in modern reality:)
2. Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice - I remember the scene and the day when I realized the paradox of human life and longing for eternity. I was upset for a few weeks, that life was given to be taken away and art, music, architecture will survive when I will be gone. (or those who do not know me I AM and egocentric person). I kept the copy I received form a friend from Egypt as one of my little treasures:)
3. The Name of The Rose by Umberto Eco - thought me to smile and appreciate what I have and the education I was given; thought me to love books and libraries.
4. Brain Sex: The Real Difference Between Men and Women by Anne Moir and David Jessel - great study of female and male biology, brain structure, growing up and socialization as well as everyday behavior. I was a feminist when I read it - and stopped being one, hehe, it kinda put all sex differences in order and I learned to appreciate that men think and behave differently and it all works quite well;)
5. The Sane Society by Erich Fromm - well writer critique or a study of Western society, extremely improved my relationship with my family, opened my eyes to all the mechanisms below the surface, helps me to manage my relationship with my parents and later on with my son.
6. Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai by Yamamoto Tsunetomo helped me to find a balance between my Catholic background, post-modern nature and Zen philosophy - if that makes sense...
7. The Letters of Vincent van Gogh by Vincent Van Gogh, Ronald de Leeuw, and Arnold J. Pomerans - increased my sensitivity in photography and pushed me to achieve more - I always go back to this book, whenever I feel I am stuck.
8. Pan Tadeusz by Adam Mickiewicz - once finished studies I went back to this - cherished in my house, since my dad comes from Lithuania - book on Lithuanian Poles during Napoleon times. I realized I miss old times, and even though I am a fan of post-modern myself I do think back on my ancestors' traditions and long for those delicious meals, huntings and picking mushrooms and blueberries in the forests that are endless and beautiful or in Hungary for example: sipping a coffeee and enjoying a gorgeous cake in one of Budapest 'cukraszdas' - any of those traditions that are gone forever .... ech...
9. Polka and Tarot Paryski by Manuela Gretkowska - first one guided my through pregnancy, second one developed my laid back attitude! I love her writing!
10. 11 Minutes by Coelho - one of those simple stories that quite you trough hard times - really helped me out of my horrible marriage:)
11. Girl with One Track Mind by Abby Lee - this will sound bizarre, I know, but the way she wrote her diary down brought back the magic to my life lately - maybe simply because she was so honest and so feminine...
11. Mental Fight by Ben Okri - sooo right about the times we live in!!!!

Well, and there is Fromm and his view on ethics now...let's see how it shapes me.

In the meantime I do follow others. Rice, Coelho and Abby Lee blog, Ben Okri was in Oxford lately and the rest...well, I guess I need to go to the local library. There were others too, but I guess I have no more lunch brake left to list them:)

How about you? Did you read a book that affected you so much that it changed our actions?

Update: good to see that Big Bloggers, like Loic Le Meur write about this traditional medium as well:)

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Mamma Mia!

2008-07-27T22:52:00.001+01:00

Once again a little bit of entertainment - I think I have decided to see more ambitious movies on DVD at home;) nevertheless I did enjoy this one! Made me cry, made me laugh, almost made me clap - oh, well, I WAS in a good mood, hehe...but seriously - Mamma Mia! is worth watching simply because it's well done and extremely feminist...I would be interested to see, what male audience think of it...

BTW - something a lovely American lady (met on Tube to London) said about older generation educating younger Americans was very transparent in this one, so thank you for that info, Susan - it was a pleasure to meet you and your Other Half! Please stay in touch!

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Motivation

2008-07-27T22:36:00.001+01:00

It's great to go to Hyde Park for a short walk (waiting for the Tube to Oxford) and to see so many people running - purely for their own pleasure! It's so motivating!
I spent half of my day traveling. I met few friends, made my son happy with few presents, and talk to my parents - feel quite fulfilled - still, the best part of my day became the evening when I went for a run - and did 1.5 km!!! And it's just the third day of my proper training. (It's true - taking a day off to let my muscles recover proved to be more effective than running every day!). Shocking how you can stretch yourself if you see a good example and basically decide to do it!

I will enjoy it even more once I start running with music. I bet Orishas will give me a good kick;)

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Carla Bruni - Sziget Festival

2008-07-27T22:18:00.000+01:00

OK, since I have the tickets and places to sleep sorted and I know my friends will be around in Budapest to spend few moments with me I started checking program of the Sziget Festival.

By coincidence I managed to get hold of Carla Bruni's CD as well...well, honestly I am slightly confused - my first impression was 'boring, monotone, flat voice'...still, as I listen to it all over again - still cannot decide if it's so bad, or so good I cannot make a proper statement:/ - I think I might be changing my mind...

I think I will go to see R.E.M., Kispál és a Borz (oh, how I miss them!), Goran Bregovic and definetly Anima Sounds System (boys whom I remember from underground clubs), I am not sure I will go to see her...

Savage chickens - why I hate TV

2008-07-25T11:28:00.001+01:00

Exactly:

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Simon's Cat - new episode

2008-07-23T23:20:00.001+01:00

just give me a smile

2008-07-22T22:33:00.001+01:00

I always used to do that - count daily amount of smiles random people would share with me. There is something magical in that facial expression which originally happened to be a warning sign! How bizarre. As a little girl I would have this thought at the back of my head and wait for the first person - complete strangers or friends, family members - to smile at me unconditionally. There is a way to do it, actually - all you need is the intention, the atmosphere of suspense, light look into their eyes showing encouragement...and there it is - pure, uncontrolled smile. They pass you by and do not even realize why it happened.
I still consider a day successful if I get at least one of those smiles!

Tonight the run was a torture - second time is always worst than the first one. Tomorrow will be easier, I guess. But, my efforts were rewarded - a complete stranger smiled at me - pleasantly, not in a mocking way. It gave me a good kick of energy and calmed my poor heart down. I survived!

The day was successful.

:)

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I need audience, but I'm not killing for it;)

2008-07-22T21:29:00.001+01:00

Please do not make me do that! I appreciate blogging for fun, but do not make me read your stuff if it's boring or simply if I have no idea who you are...two much info=bad info...

from Doug Savage's site.

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Podcast on WOM Marketing

2008-07-22T21:19:00.001+01:00

Just decided to browse for some audio shizzle (no Colin, not STUFF, but SHIZZLE;)) found interview with Walter Carl, buzz marketing specialist, as a podcast - you can listen to it here, but only if you are interested in the definition and basics of WOM Marketing - very top line shizzle...

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First run

2008-07-21T22:36:00.001+01:00

...was awful! I do not want to write about it...I hate myself for being big, clumsy, and weak. Looser... you know, I bet you know what comes to my mind - what the f@@@ have I been doing for the last 2.5 years? Raising a kid, going though hell marriage and ..FEELING SORRY FOR MYSELF, FEELING MISERABLE instead of moving my ass. Looking for excuses not to do anything about my health! Ah, I was happy for a sec, now I am going mad from my own stupidity. 30 years old, and so dumb...

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WOM in Polish - terminology of World Of Mouth marketing

2008-07-20T22:49:00.001+01:00

I finally managed to find a good Polish blog on WOM Marketing, actually via this viral posted on YouTube...

Dawid Trzeciak just tought me the Polish expression for it: 'marketing szeptany' which is 'whispering marketing'...cute:) Apart from videos, worth checking is the link to Dave Balter's 'The Word of Mouth Manual Volume II' .

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Not long to go

2008-07-20T22:02:00.001+01:00

...and I am still not running! It freaks me out, but I am just trying to get out of bronchitis I managed to get last weekend, so I think I should be patient with myself. I am worried though - I did not swimming for two weeks, and skipped few home trainings last weeks too:@ Bad, bad girl. I still believe that I can make it, but I might decide to walk the 5k and shift to writing about chocolate even more often:P

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Compromise: Flock and Firefox 3

2008-07-20T21:57:00.001+01:00

I am forced to compromise. After long weekend away from my laptop I finally managed to grab my dongle and test a few browsers. I must admit my sentiment towards blogging with Flock stays the same, so I am leaving it purely for those and social networking purposes. I decided to use Firefox 3 for work and serious browsing, since this software seems to be most developed and reliable so far. Let me know if I made a good choice, or shall I look for more options still...tempted to get them both in Polish though.

Update: I have just been contacted by Evan from Flock, who asked me about my issues with their browser - appologies, but it is private communication via comment, so I deleted it, and responded to him via e-mail. It's good to know Flock guys are interested in our problems and willing to potentially sort them out. Thanks, Evan!

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Twinkle Brothers & Trebunie-Tutki

2008-07-06T22:08:00.001+01:00

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Emergency chocolate...

2008-07-05T22:37:00.001+01:00

lengis something that I have found in my local store today...together with other useful ideas. I got it and I will keep it until September. By then the collection will probably grow and I will have a nice box of chocolate to feed on after those few weeks of starvation:/

and stylish?

Good night, SWEET dreams!

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Sworn Virgin

2008-06-27T22:57:00.001+01:00

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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