Nikio

There are 4 main levels on which you can master navigation in your city.

1. BEGINNER: By foot
The easiest way to go around your city is by foot. It is also the easiest way to remember the space, buildings, sites and connections among it.

2. ADVANCED: By bus
You can get from A to B by foot, but how will you manage to get there with a bus or subway? Learning the complex net of different busses and combinations of it is the next step.

3. MASTER: By car
Now from A to B can be easy, simple and fast by foot, but it can be very far by car because the city has many one-way streets which are difficult to master. Once you learn how to navigate with a car, you master the city completely.

4. ULTIMATE PWN: By Wi-Fi
Frakk foot, bus or car - if you know where is free Wi-Fi connection, you can gather all that info right there.

An afternoon off... no telephone, no internet... just me, my camera and the sea. More...

Background story:
Today I was visiting Croatian riviera and on my way back I was stopped at the customs where I had to explain, that my photo gear is actually amateur. Of course that is a hard thing to do with EOS 1Ds and some top lenses. I argued that the total market price of those items is actually a silly number for someone whose hobby is (e.g.) riding a motor bike. You can't get a decent motor bike for a couple of thousand Euros. But if someone is serious about riding, then 8.000 EUR is a reasonable price to pay, and why shouldn't someone, who is serious about photography, pay a fraction of that sum for a photo equipment. My gear is of course much much less than 8.000 EUR.


Even though I wasn't actually interrogated (it was more like a firendly conversation), I was intrigued to find a formula that could help you calculate how much should you spend on your photo gear as an amateur who is aiming at taking good photos. So here it is!

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These past few weeks were really exciting. Beside graduating from college (not that I want to boast... but... woooohaaaa.. I'm a Jedi now ) I did a lot of other interesting stuff. There is a book design that goes to print on monday (an other one is on the way) and several educational projects as well. On top of that I did (and planned) a couple of photoshoots.

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This photo was made by accident but I decided to keep it. Can anybody tell what it is?


Besides that; I'm off for the next 10 days. I'm going to the Slovenian coast to participate in UMMI summer camp. Last year I was there as the official blogger, this year I am promoted to coach my own group of students. I think it will be a lot of fun!
So this is it for the daily photos. It was a great ride, but now there are new challenges for me (and less time). As for the blogging; we are back to normal (fewer but longer posts). Take care

And yes! I can has new avatar! Thanks Violeta!

Every summer weekend thousands of turists pass trough our city to Croatian destinations...

Gliders in the hangar of Postojna's Aeroclub.

It's been a while since my last post. I've been very busy!

Now that it is summer on the northern hemisphere, I'd like to share some knowledge on watermelons with you. It has been my favourite summer fruit (or better vegetable, depends on classification) since I can remember. In that time I developed some roules on how to find a really good one.



If you're buying just half or 1/4 of the whole fruit, you have no problem. Just make sure you are buying a piece from the largest watermelon possible. Flesh must be crimson-red with hard and crunchy texture. Note that small watermelons tend to be pink (especially spring "edditions") or have soft squeezy flesh on the polar sides of the fruit. Avoid that! If the watermelon has about 60% long crack on the inside, consider it a good sign!

But what if you are buying the whole one? Many people claim to have skills to distinguish a good watermelon from bad (good = juicy, sweet and crunchy). Two technicques can be noted: by first they put the watermelon against their ear and and press it really hard so that they "can hear how it cracks". Well, I have problem with that; first of all - watermelons are very much shaped like eggs, which are very hard to crack. Secondly; how does he/she know which crack-sound is good and which is bad and how does that relate to the level of suggar, watter or texture of the flesh? I tried this a couple of times and based on available information, I find this technique bogus.

Some other like to put the fruit to their ear and knock on the other side. While it may very well be true, that sound does travel differently trough different media, which vary in the level of water and suggar content (not to mention structure and texture), I believe it is hard to really hear that small differences, unless you are in studio environment with precise equipment. This technicque is often performed by resellers who usually don't eat the melons they sell and on that level it is just as bogus as the previous one.

So; here are my advices if you are buying a whole watermelon:
- pick as largest as you can buy - larger watermelons have more sugar, watter and better texture
- most watermelons come as a part of larger delivery. Watermelons of the same delivery are from the same field, (perhaps even from the same plant) and are very much the same. You can observe (and try) some that are already cut in half and then pick an other as a whole. It is very very likely, that it will be the same as the one observed.
- the best time to buy watermelons is from late june to mid-august
- if you can't afford the whole watermelon at a time (or if you don't plan to eat as much) it is in 95% of the times better to buy 1/4 of a big one than 1/2 of a small one.


Enjoy!
(image source)

"Vizita" is a traditional event in my town. Back in the days of Habsburg Monarchy young boys (of 18) had to serve about 7 years of army service (!!!) so they had to make a really big party before they went. That celebration was called "Vizita", even though the word vizita means the the physical examinaton at doctor's (the word might be related to english word "visit" or verb "visiting"). Military service was kept obligatory in all successive regimes [SHS or Italia (betwen WWI and WWII), and later on Yugoslavia (1945-1991) and even in independent Slovenia (1991 - present day)] so the tradition of vizita went on. But a couple of years ago, Slovenia discontinued obligatory service and the whole event came into question. Luckly enthusiasts from our local tourist bureau and others are keeping it alive just for the sake of tradition.

I remember my vizita from some years back. At that time we were still facing military service (unless you go to university, as I went) so there was a just a little bit more pressure for us. Today these boys don't have to go trough that. But the army, which is now professionalized takes the advantage of the event to promote their agenda and draft volunteers. Click for some pics below or visit the whole album.

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I wish you a very happy, healthy and creative year of 2008*! Have as much fun as you possibly can!


I am not really sure what exactly are we celebrating. I was doing a little bit of research and I found out that the dates for the New Years Eve vary from one era or culture to an other. I personally believe that it initially has to do with the pagan celebration of the southern solstice after which the day is getting longer (and the Sun wins over the dark forces of the night) on the northern hemisphere. This logic is no good for the modern people of the southern hemisphere who are now forced to celebrate New Years Eve and Christmas during their summer, when the sun is highest in the sky and now the dark forces of the night are getting stronger. Richard Dawkins often mentiones northern hemisphere chauvinism, and he must be right on that (see the quote below)
However, some callendars are having new year's eve around equinox in March, which sounds more fair for the both hemispheres, but I quess the symbolic meaning is less significant then. I was trying to find some data on Australian Aboriginal calendar, but failed. If anyone has some decent link on that, please post it within the comments.

Originally posted by Richard Dawkins:

In a science-fiction starship, the astronauts were homesick: "Just to think that it's springtime back on Earth!" You may not immediately see what's wrong with this, so ingrained is our unconscious northern hemisphere chauvinism in those of us who live there, and even some who don't. "Unconscious" is exactly right. That is where consciousness-raising comes in. I it is for a deeper reason than gimmicky fun that, in Australia and New Zealand, you can buy maps of the world with the south pole on top. What a splendid consciousness-raiser those maps would be, pinned to the walls of our northern hemisphere classrooms.. Day after day, the children would be reminded that 'north' is an arbitrary polarity which has no monopoly on 'up'. The map would intrigue them as well as raise their consciousness.

(Dawkins, Richard: The God delusion, Bantam Press, Great Britain, 2006, pages 114-115)

PS: It is 2008, AND WE STILL HAVE NO FLYING CARS!