BODIES-humanity or not?

Bodies the exibition, as organisators says, showcases meticulously dissected real human body specimens that are preserved through an innovative process and respectfully presented, giving visitors the opportunity to view the beauty and complexity of their own organs and systems.

It is true? Some says that bodies are from China where human rights are broken. It comes from public execution and dead convicted. Legend or not, i think that this kind of exibition is't ethical. It's some kind of violation. Humiliation of human bodies. Like exibition from concentration camp.



I don't have nothing against teaching from human bodies by students of anatomy. But looking for it only for fun? Disgusting!

And what is your opinion about this exhibition? Are you going to visit it? Or maybe you just visit?

Unknown models of PF 126

I'm going to write some about the "most exciting" polish car in PRL. Fiat 126p. Exactly about unknown prototypes of this small car. It is amazing how many creative idea has polish engineers from OBR (Osrodek Badawczo-Rozwojowy) in Bielsko-Biała.

Lets start with Fiat 126p "BOMBEL". This prototype were built in 1974. There weren't rear part of roof. Instead of were small box from laminate to carry a package. It's called "BOMBEL" becouse of rounded shape this box.



Fiat 126p COMBI was built in 1976. It has newer engine which could works in level. Thanks to this technology, it could carry more luggage. It has also third doors opened to upward. Max capacity was 500 dm3 and after assembled rear row of seat, was 1000dm3. Max speed of this model was 105 km/h.



FIAT 126p LONG: was build in 1975 and was longer than classic one by 100 mm. Thanks to this, especially on full of holes road of PRL, it was more comfortable. It has stronger engine and his top speed was 110 km/h.



FIAT 126p "RYJEK": It has longer front hood becouse it was first Fiat 126p with front drive. Engine has 650 cm3 cubic capacity and was cooled by air. It has also disc brake and McPerson column in front sunspension.



FIAT 126p CABRIO: Fiat 126p without roof. It Was newest one and has the best chance to move into mass production. The only barrier was intensify regulations about noise in cars in UE.



Which of this prototypes would you buy if any? Why?

"Moscow Eye"-strange or not?

Radar system near Chernobyl in Ukraine called "Moscow Eye" was probably the main Soviet part of anti-ballistic missile systems. Two gigantic aerials 185m, 86 m. height and over half kilometers long is visible even from deep space. The bigger one was a receiving aerial which have 3000 km monitoring area. Uunofficially called Zahoryzontnyj Radiolokatsyjnyj Kompleks, in short way "Moscow Eye".




Station "Chornobyl - 2" have started to build in 1970. Eyewitnesses recollect the unique crane which used for installation of antennas. The especial detail that was amazing for everybody - the lift on which the crane operator rose in the booth. Elements of an antenna lattice have been made on factory "Gomselmash" in Belorussia, from high-alloy steels and are covered by a thick layer of zinc, they even today, more than thirty years later, looks as new. It's strange.



Aerials emitted strange, notorius singals all over the World. It could be heard by amateur radio operators on shortwave radio bands between July 1976 and December 1989. In U.S.A, this signals called "Russian Woodpeker". It sounded like a sharp, repetitive tapping noise, at 10 Hz, giving rise to the "Woodpecker" name.

Nowadays aerials looks to be deserted but still have own security who keep away this strange monument of Soviet regime from unwanted eyes.

Some of conspiracy theory says that aerials still works. Do you believe it? What is your opinion about this strange aerials? Maybe you know things something like this?

Working in a corporation

Many of you think about: “how does working look like in Microsoft?” Maybe you are thinking that it is a simple job which is mainly based on reading emails and drinking cola. Below the film shows that employees in this big corporation have time for: themselves, are independence to choose, and they are satisfied with work. It sounds like marketing kitsch but please check yourself in the following film:



If you are not convinced I propose to watch another film. This time we may see how the company takes care of its employees. Everyone who has thought that the place where he works is friendly and favourable to develop himself should once again think over it after watching the next video. The next material shows an employee who tries to use every privilege which he obtains during one day. How dose he do that? Please watch it now:



At the end I want to show that work in big corporation may cause mental disturbances ;)







So what do you think about work in a corporation? I know that those films reveal in a funny way the reality and perhaps real work is totally different but maybe some information is true. What do you think?

Microsoft Education.

Microsoft corporation is a leader in the production of new technology.
Every year it surprises us by introducing something new. How do students or IT specialists acknowledge such innovations? How does Microsoft support people who want to learn their technology? Below I am writing some interesting educational programmes provided especially for students:


- MSDN Academic Alliance – A great student’s programme. Students have access to almost every Microsoft software (operation systems, integrated environments like Visual Studio, databases: SQL Server) in any language or version for free and they may use it also after graduation.



- Community – If you are a .net programmer you may enroll to .net community by portal codeguru.pl. Meetings where one person shows topics related to programmes in a net are organized every week in almost every University. For every meeting, people get points which are exchanged for a prize.
.net community exist in our Institute as well, PJWSTK.NET

- IT Academic Day – It is one day conference organized by students’ community and Microsoft about technology. It is a good occasion to meet with professional IT specialists and find out information about new products..

- E-learning – every technology like SQL Server, .NET, ASP has its own educational portal. For example: http://www.asp.net/ It’s really helpful because there are a lot of tutorial films, articles, practice and examples. You may learn this technology yourself “from zero level to expert level”.


- Training and Microsoft Certificates– It is very important for an IT specialist to attain some Certificates which prove his knowledge. Microsoft Certifications are the best recognized in global IT business. Also in our Institute we have a possibility to enroll to the training, pass the exam and get certificates.



- Imagine cup; is very a popular international technology competition. In 2008, 210,000 competitors representing over 100 countries competed in the nine Imagine Cup category: software design, embedded development, game development, robotic and algorithm, IT challenge, photography, short film, design. In 2010 Imagine Cup will be organized in Poland.

- BizSpark – Its innovative new program is designed to unite Startups and resources to support them into a single community. In practice it means that if you want to create your own IT business, Microsoft allows you to have access to their software for free for a period of up to 3 years. You may use this software for commercial goals without any restriction. After this time you have to pay only 100$. This program is also available in Poland! Isn’t it great?

- Conferences – Microsoft organizes international conferences “Microsoft Tech Submit” for IT specialists, analytics and administrators. After the conference, presentations are stored for free public use on the Internet. (Last conf: http://www.mts2008.pl/) In next weekend will be Code Camp conference:
http://ms-groups.pl/ccwawa09/Strony/Sesje.aspx
I will be there :)


- Books – Microsoft has its own publishing house “Microsoft Press”, whose book are also available in Polish language. They have really impressive collection of books.

- Practices – Every summer the best students have an occasion to get practical experience in the Centers of Microsoft in Europe and in the main headquarter in Redmond.

- Learning Snacks – This is a series of short films about Microsoft’s technology. The name “Learning Snacks” is because you can watch it between lunch and dinner ;)

- Worth mentioning are blogs, TV “Channel 9”, forums, special education program for the University, “Student to Business” program, non official page, and more and more! Even educational games like “Are you certificated:” http://www.microsoft.com/click/areyoucertifiable/

What do you think about it? Is it really helpful or is it good only for the very beginners? Why does only Microsoft promotes so much for us to learn? And what about Sun- now Oracle, IBM, Adobe…. They also have very powerful educational programmes ?

Windows 7 - Touch me

“Over the past few years, you've asked us to make some changes to Windows. We listened closely. Now it's time to share an early look at how we've used your feedback. Windows 7 is faster, more reliable, and makes it easier to do what you want. Both the everyday things and the killer is that really possible?" – cited from site
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/


For years Microsoft has been investing in many forms of natural interaction with PC's and devices. Through times engineers from Microsoft have been working to improve graphical user interface to make work faster and more comfortable. I remember a film which Microsoft published some years ago about technology in the future. In this film people use voice to communicate with computer and instead of keyboards they use touch screen. Every device is connected to the Internet even if it is a small gadget. People use them in a natural way contemporarily in videoconferences, booking tickets and writing notes (by pen in the special electronic paper).
It was like this:





Now Windows 7 recognizes the writing text and multi-touch support for touch screen. Speech recognition, something which was once considered science fiction, is enabling many Windows users to see, hear, and use their computers for the very first time.
Today we expect this technology to get widespread use and see it in public places like; devices in hotels, hospitals, retail establishments, restaurants and entertainment venues. Not only that it will look like an exclusive place (“wowww this place is so modern….”), but it’s really helpful! Touch is quickly becoming a common way of a direct interaction with software and device. Touch-enabled surfaces are very popular. They are in laptop touch pads, mobile phones, mp3 players, remote controls, GPS devices, and so on.

In Windows 7 Microsoft improves windows management to a better behaviour for touch. Like I have mentioned above that is multi touch. It means that you may use more than one finger to do something. You may also use touch gestures which we know from many applications for example: Opera web browser. In the basic set there are gestures like tap and drag, as well as scroll, back, forward, right-click, zoom in, zoom out, and rotate. Windows 7 is improving high dpi support which is necessary to a precision ‘click’ in small elements of user interface like small buttons or positions in the menu.
Please see this video about gestures:




And as a summary of this article please see this video.




How do you think, about these new varieties of communication: speaking to PC, touching or natural writing? What will be next? Maybe we should once again attentively read Lem’s books to know something more about our future?

Russian “Ecranoplanes”

An “ekranoplan” literally “screen plane” is a vehicle resembling an aircraft, but operating solely on the principle of ground effect. Ground effect vehicles (GEV) fly above any flat surface, with the height above ground dependent upon the size of the vehicle.
During cold war, ekranoplans were sighted for years on the Caspian Sea as huge, fast-moving objects. The name Caspian Sea Monster was given by U.S. intelligence operatives who had discovered the huge vehicle, which looked like an airplane with the outer halves of the wings removed.After the end of the Cold War, the “monster” was revealed to be one of several Russian military designs meant to fly only a few meters above water, saving energy and staying below enemy radar.
The KM, as the Caspian Sea Monster was known in the top secret Sovietmilitary development program, was over 100 m long (330 ft), weighed 540 tonnes fully loaded, and could travel over 400 km/h (250 mi/h), mere meters above the surface of the water.
The important design principle is that wing lift is reduced as operating altitude of the ekranoplan is increased (see ground effect). Thus it is dynamically stable in the vertical dimension. Once moving at speed, the ekranoplan was no longer in contact with the water, and could move over ice, snow, or level land with equal ease.
These craft were originally developed by the Soviet Union as very high-speed (several hundred km/hour) military transports, and were mostly based on the shores of the Caspian Sea and Black Sea. The largest could transport over 100 tonnes of cargo. The development of ekranoplans was supported by Dmitri Ustinov, Minister of Defence of USSR. About 120 ekranoplans (A-90 Orlyonok class) were initially planned to enter military service in the Soviet Navy. The figure was later reduced to less than thirty vehicles, planned to be deployed mainly for the Black and the Baltic Soviet navies. Marshal Ustinov died in 1985, and the new Minister of Defence Marshal Sokolov effectively ceased the funding for the program. The only three operational A-90 Orlyonok ekranoplans built (with renewed hull design) and one Lun-class ekranoplan remained at a naval base near Kaspiysk.



This is “Caspian Monster”.



They could fire missiles…



…and could go above the ground as well, coming on the shore from the sea without slowing down…





…as well as carrying some tanks…



…and act in cooperation with traditional fleet.




The all photos above were made during the Soviet Era, when the Soviet state had money and desire to experiment with this strange ekranoplanes. These days almost none of the left in working condition.



VIDEO



What do You think about those “Monsters”?
Do You think it could be a useful weapon?

The numbers of the pyramids.

The Great Pyramid of Giza

Everyone has heard about the Great Pyramid of Giza, also called the Khufu’s Pyramid, the Pyramid of Khufu or the Pyramid of Cheops. But only some of you may have heard about the mysterious dependencies between the structure of the building and, for instance, the astronomical unit.

First, a handful of facts concerning the Pyramid
It is the largest of three pyramids in the Giza Necropolis – located near Cairo in Egypt. The pyramid is 146m high and each side of its square base is 230m long. The pyramid is made of 2.5 million cubic meters of limestone in 2.3 million blocks. Each block is of a weight from 2.5 to 15 tons. The Great Pyramid is thought to have been erected around 2600 BC as a tomb for the Fourth Dynasty Egyptian king Khufu (Cheops in Greek).

The Great Pyramid of Giza had spoken.
In 1880, a Scottish astronomer – Piazzi Smyth – in his book Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid tells the world that Egyptians must have known the Pi number. Smyth had calculated that the perimeter of the base divided by a doubled height of the Great Pyramid equals 3.14159. Is that a coincidence or a proof of great knowledge of the constructors?
Smyth was convinced that it was not a coincidence. Furthermore, in 1867 in his book Life and Work at the Great Pyramid he states that the astronomical unit (the distance between the Earth and the Sun) is also enclosed in the construction of the pyramid. The height of the building measured by Smyth is 147,65m and the ratio between the width of the base and the height of the construction is 10:9. Now, the height multiplied by 109 is equal to the astronomical unit (with an error not bigger than 1%).

An English colonel – Weis – wanted to study the foundations of the pyramid. He did not find them, however he discovered some casing stones of white, polished limestone and measured the angle of slope – exactly 51°51’. Smyth calculated again and it turned out that at midday at march equinox the Sun’s rays strike at the same angle. As a result, once a year (at Egyptian New Year), at 12 pm, the shadow is not cast on the north slope of the Great Pyramid.
In 1900, M. Cotsword organized an expedition which cleaned the terrain around the north slope of the Great Pyramid. Stone plates of width 1,356m were found. Further calculations led them to the conclusion that it must have been a calendar, because every day the shadow of the pyramid was 1,356m shorter. The calendar measured the year time with a precision of 0.23219 day.
Some Egyptologists came to a conclusion that the pyramidal ell (653,66mm), used at the construction of pyramids, is 10 000 000 times shorter than the radius of the Earth measured to one of the Poles.
The perimeter of the base of the pyramid divided by the length of the pyramidal ell equals 365,23 – very close to the length of a year in days. In fact one year is equal to 365,242 days, but we may assume that the error is caused by inaccurate measurement. A 6mm longer perimeter would give the exact result.

Polish senior lecturer A. Wierciński claims that all pyramids on Earth were built using the same proportions, yet different metric units were used.

In XIX century, John Taylor claimed that the dimensions of the Great Pyramid were based on the English inch (2.54cm) and the volume of the sarcophagus was equal to 4 English quarts.

So, what do you think? Are the above-mentioned facts just coincidences or might there be something to it? If there was a chance would you like to explor pyramids?

If you wish to find out some more secrets on your own you may try. Here is the website with measurements

http://www.gizapyramid.com/measurements.htm

USB Accessories

USB Beverage Cooler
This is -literally- the coolest one of all: a USB mini fridge for your drinks. Plug this USB LED Beverage Cooler ($29.99) to your PC's USB port and chill a can on your own desk. The LED Beverage Cooler is retro styled and has a small blue LED inside. The LED helps your drink stay cool by tricking it to think the air inside the cooler is from the Arctic, because everyone knows that blue lights make you feel cold. So add a little style to your desk and keep your drink cold at the same time. Chill, dude.



USB Missile Launcher
The workplace has become a dangerous place. Sonic grenades, catapults, lightsabers, ninjas... you need protection, and not just any. Defend your office with this awesome USB Missile Launcher ($32.49) and fire those missiles right from your desk. The Missile Launcher moves Left, Right, Up and Down, has got pre-recorded sound effects and shoots more than 10 feet at an extremely fast rate.



USB Pole Dancer
It sounds like the ultimate male fantasy - a Pole Dancer on your desk everyday In fact, it should be included as part of the standard workplace agreement, but well, it's finally within your grasp – so to speak. The USB Pole Dancer ($67.99) is the pole dancer you can admit to when everyone's watching. Just plug her into your USB port and start typing. As you type, she performs. The lights flash, the music plays and your bikini-clad blonde performs her routine. And there's no need to go tucking dollars anywhere (we read somewhere, they do that): the faster you type, the faster this cheeky minx dances.


USB Desk Vacuum
Messy desk? Well, this tiny retro-designed USB Desk Vacuum ($13.49) can’t help with the big stuff, but it can definitely help keep your workstation crumb-free! Just plug it into a free USB port and vacuum up those crumbs... and yes, the mini-vacuum handle tilts back, just like the real one. Cool, as in "clean."


USB Microscope
This USB Digital Microscope ($74.95) allows you to capture some incredibly high quality images and video (up to 200X) and display them on your PC using a simple USB connection. View specimens collected around the house, backyard, your desk, or the fridge. Look at the micro-printing on a dollar bill or examine the traces on your motherboard. This microscope provides you an easy way to zoom in on a wide variety of objects to satisfy your curiosity of the world around you. Ever wondered what lint looks like or the mold growing on your week-old bagels? Now you can find out.




USB Airplane Fan
The aviators out there can now keep cool during their flight simulator sessions in front of the computer, using this USB Airplane Fan ($17.95). Cool man, cool!



Star Wars Lightsaber USB Lamp
Fans of the Star Wars saga can now light up their workspace using the weapon of a Jedi: the Star Wars Lightsaber USB Lamp ($26.24). The lightsabre is 13 inches tall, and yes, it can be removed from its dock to be used as your weapon of choice.



USB Plasma Ball
Just the word plasma makes you think of going boldly where no-one has gone before. However, the beauty of this awesome USB Plasma Ball ($10.95) is that you don't have to wrestle Klingons in the outer regions of the Thark Quadrant to play with it; just plug this neat gizmo into your USB port, and streams of red and blue plasma light will flicker out from the core of the hand-blown glass sphere throwing mesmerising light trails across its surface. Touch the sphere with your fingers, and blue light will shoot out towards your fingertips.



Darth Vader USB 4-port Hub
Its that part of the dark side which has always beckoned to you in your dreams. Just to make your life the living nightmare that it really is, you could get this Darth Vader USB 4-port Hub ($59.99)and either continue with the torment even in your waking hours or simply give in and admit that you belong to that part of the force.




USB Portable Chess
This unique USB Portable Roll Up Chess Game ($107.99)allows you to track your moves on the board. You can play against a friend or the computer and even use it as a portable game board. The included software allows you to record, save and replay your games. Simply tap the board with your chess piece to signify a move and the software will keep track.


What is your favorite USB accessory?
Maybe You have one of these in Your home or company?
Do you have any propositions for a new USB accessories?

VIDEO

Strangest wars ever

1.
The Pig War:triggered by the shooting of a pig

The Pig War was a confrontation in 1859 between American and British authorities over the boundary between the United States and British North America. The specific area in dispute was the San Juan Islands, which lie between Vancouver Island and the North American mainland. The Pig War, so called because it was triggered by the shooting of a pig, is also called the Pig Episode, the Pig and Potato War, the San Juan Boundary Dispute or the Northwestern Boundary Dispute. The pig was the only "casualty" of the war, making the conflict essentially bloodless.

2.
Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years' War: lasted over 335 years with no casualties

The Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years' War (1651–1986) was a war between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly (located off the southwest coast of the United Kingdom). It is said to have been extended by the lack of a peace treaty for 335 years without a single shot being fired, which would make it one of the world's longest wars and the war with the fewest casualties. Despite the uncertain validity of the declaration of war, peace was finally declared in 1986.

3.
Moldovan-Transdniestrian War: where both sides’ officers would drink together during the nights and fight during the days

After the Soviet Union collapsed, two-thirds of Moldova wanted closer ties with Romania and neighbours to the west. But the area of the country to the east of the Dniestr river wanted to stay close to Ukraine and Russia. War broke out, and the east split to form Transdniestria, which remains unrecognised by the world.

When Moldova and Transdniestria started fighting, it was a weird war. The local military called it the Drunken War, as officers of the combatants met every night to have a drink together. They went away in the morning and opened fire on each other. At night, they got together again to drink for those they had met with the previous night and who they had killed.

4.
The Football War: started with a football game


The Football War ,was a five-day war fought by El Salvador and Honduras in 1969. It was caused by political conflicts between Hondurans and Salvadorans, namely issues concerning immigration from El Salvador to Honduras. These existing tensions between the two countries coincided with the inflamed rioting during the second North American qualifying round for the 1970 FIFA World Cup; on 14 July 1969, the Salvadoran army launched an attack against Honduras. The Organization of American States negotiated a cease-fire which took effect on 20 July, with the Salvadoran troops withdrawn in early August. El Salvador ended up going to the 1970 FIFA World Cup1970 FIFA World Cup, where they failed to advance from the Group Stage.

What do You think about those conflicts?
Maybe You can chose the favourite one;)?

Wedding spirit

There was a lot of beer-related posting recently. In response I sad that I prefer variety of liquor's colors. So I'd like to write here about the liquors errhhh I mean alcohols that are related to weddings.
Firs of all the champagne required for toast. The champagne flute is obligatory here to underline that this wine is really sparkling ;-)
I've never heard about beer served on a wedding reception. Did you?
I've never seen any open-bar at polish wedding too. However I think I would find that very pleasant... What do you think about that? Or maybe you would like a alcohol-free type of wedding?
Of course in Poland vodka takes the major place on all weddings. I personally don't know how people can find any difference in taste of our polish vodka brands. For me all of those brands are terrible inventions of post-PRL age without any roots in our tradition and good taste. I'd love Poland to have an traditional well known tasty alcohol like anise-flavored spirits, whiskey, or brandy.
I received a gift on my wedding --- a bottle of 12-year old Metaxa from Greece. It's a very intence tasty and strong alcohol made mainly from grape. Grape grown on sun, than are picked, some of them are magically transformed into muscat wine added to the mixture, other are used sun-dryed, everything is distillated and transformed into liquor, mixed together with many ingredient that are keept in secret and left for years in oak barrels. Real passion is needed to make something like that. And the final taste is incredible. I really wish that poland had some special alcohol like that...maybe made from apples?! We had apple wine in the far past... It's such a petty that we lost our tradition in years of wars and occupation...
What do you think about it?

(all images from wikipedia commons released under creative commons license)

Carbon Footprint

Carbon Footprint is a measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of green house gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide.

Another day I read in The Focus magazine (December 2008) an article on an influence of eaten food on an the global warming. At first I was very skeptical and even laughed out the idea. Nevertheless I read the article and now I feel a bit brainwashed.

Here is a bit of what I have found in that article.
A annual carbon footprint of an average household is 8.1 tons which is almost twice of the CO2 emitted by car (19 000 km/year, 9l/100km) per year. Scientists started to measure how much of gases are emitted during a production of food. The calculations are very complex because every joule of energy must be analyzed on a the way from a field to a fork. In case of meat methane and nitrogen have to be also considered. Methane stays in the atmosphere from 9 to 15 years and holds warmth 21 times better than CO2. Even worse is nitrogen oxide released from fertilizers and stable manures. That gases make warmth accumulate in the atmosphere 296 times more than CO2 and remains more less 114 years.

So, what is measured?
For instance when you want to find out how much you influenced the environment having a chicken breast for dinner you need to consider:
1. Production of granulated feed
a. Cost of fertilizers, growing, harvest
b. Processing seeds into small granules
2. Heating huge buildings for quarter million birds
3. Gases produced and energy used by slaughterhouses, processing plants, factories that produce packages
4. Transport from/to slaughterhouses, factories, warehouses, stores, houses,
5. Storage of flesh in freezers
6. Cooking

The chicken is a rather simple example. If the process is longer and more complex it is harder to calculate the production of CO2.
Astrid Scholz created a carbon calculator. The program doesn’t show any specific calculations but we can find out for instance that a hard-boiled egg emits 333 grams of CO2, a bowl of cereals with milk 1224 grams (like an SUV on distance of 6km). But the worst problem is red meat. For each kilogram of chicken 2.3kg of seeds is needed, for kilogram of pork – 5.9kg and for beef even 13kg of seeds and twice more of hay. Not to mention methane and nitrogen.

400g of beef = 6400 g CO2 eq
4 big apples = 110 g CO2 eq
1kg of potatoes = 240 g CO2 eq
1l of milk = 1050 g CO2 eq
1kg of carrots = 45 g CO2 eq
1kg of onion = 80 g CO2 eq
300g of cheese = 2600 g CO2 eq
300g of tomatoes = 2800 g CO2 eq
6 eggs = 1650 g CO2 eq 1
50g of salmon = 300 g CO2 eq
25g of potato crisps = 55 g CO2 eq

CO2 eq - unit is obtained by converting all emitted greenhouse gases during a production a product into such amount of CO2 that would cause the same warming of the atmosphere.

Well… it brings thousands of questions on my mind.
Does it mean we have to stop eating meet and many tasty things and be confined to a selection of products determined by someone? How far can we believe in such articles and scientists? Or maybe it’s really the only way for us to help the environment? What do you think?

I haven't participate in many weddings. However I know some traditional stuff which I find really funny. I really enjoy "the carriage" game where people play roles of different parts enclosed in that old-style vehicle. As far as I know it's very common in our country just like throwing glasses for good luck. However I know another tradition that is not so common nowadays and only cultivated on west area of our country. It's called polterabend and shortly it's a small party for neighbors and friends who won't be invited to the wedding. However to fully obey the tradition everyone dress funny (men in pink dresses are desired just like women wearing devil's horns). The party takes place in garden of bride's parents and the . Everyone come with bags full of paper scups and old dishes to be broken. Then they make a extreme mess out of the backyard and next morning the engaged couple is supposed to clean up the place --- and feel that the merriage is a lot of hard work...



Well maybe it's not so pleasant tradition for the marrying couple but it's a lot of fun for the guests... For sure we can be glad that "tradition" of "right for the first night" past years ago...

Are there any special wedding traditions in the region you come from?
Do you know any foreign traditions you find funny or disgusting?

Wedding

Yes, I got married three days ago. And in the end I find it inspiring for writing this post ;-) I had a lot of work to arrange everything that was needed. I thought that bringing to life the vision of a small decent wedding is somewhere around making ten phone calls but nooo real life has to be way complicated than that... It's not that simple to arrange an table for tens of people. You have to go through every single dish from the menu and think about it. What wine would your's fiancée mother enjoy to that meal? Do you have anyone who's allergic to cumin? Are you away of the fact that the cumin is used in many other spices? What to wear? Classic white dress for bride or the crazy red one? What suite will that go with? Why not a white tuxedo which I was dreaming for from my childhood? What will the priest think about that cool red dress? What about photos taken open air? Who will make them? I'd like a ring made of white gold but they add nickel to make it be white...I'm allergic to nickel. Am I?!
Oh the wedding was so small but still so many questions...

I'd like to know what do you think about all that fancy weddings? Spending a lot for dress and restaurants?
How do you imagine your wedding? Or how was it? :-)
Do you feel ready to take that step?



Images taken from: Wikipedia (creative commons license) and redhotbrides.com photo by Jason Schmidt.

Beer collectibles

We have seen our colleague’s board games collection so there is at least one person familiar with collectibles on this blog.
I’d like to introduce you to beer collectibles, or as we could call it - breweriana collectibles. Among the first beer collectibles were bottle caps, or crowns and labels, but nowadays it also includes beer cans, bottles, glassware, openers, tin signs, beermats(a coaster), drop catchers, and any other kinds of advertisers like pens, neon signs etc

The history of beer labels is much younger than the beer itself. Until XIX century, the beer haven’t been poured into bottles. And then the need of marking bottles appeared. The oldest labels of Tyskie Browary Książęce date back to the 20s of our century. World largest beer labels collection contain more than a two hundred thousand items.
Beer glassware also refer to beer steins – a traditional beer mug, made of pewter, silver, wood, porcelain, earthenware, or stoneware; and with open tops or hinged lids

The need for bottle openers starts with the bottle cap. Bottle cap is an innovation of the 1890s
Drop catcher is a small piece of absorbent paper put on the bottom of a beer glass to avoid that liquid contaminates the table, it differ from beermat, which is a coaster used to rest glasses of beer upon

So, you are a collector who wants to trade or exchange your breweriana, there is a perfect place where you can do both, and even more – it’s a beer festival and exchange fair held each year in Zywiec. Homebrew contest also takes place during the festival. More than five thousand visitors and almost two thousand exhibitors showed up last year. There is also a chance to visit old Zywiec brewery and museum. By the way, there is also very nice place in Tychy, where the old building dating back to 1902 was converted into Tyskie museum of beer and brewing.
I’d like to ask you, do you collect anything, and maybe you participate in some community events?