Very serious video about Sweden

My favorite comedy show, an American teaching Swedish for beginners.

Sweden's golden boy, Ingemar Stenmark. Sing along!!

"Minu inimesed" (My people) is a song by the Estonian hip-hop artist Chalice that has come to unite the Estonian people in recent years like only a true national anthem can. The lyrics contrast sharply the self-interest mentality currently rampant in the Estonian society.

Although most of the songs sung are very patriotic, some are more fun, like "Kikilips" (Bow Tie), originally a rock and roll song, here sung by the boy's choirs.

Czech Tourism ad (30sec),
Prague (7min),
My Country's Modern History: Vaclav Havel and Over-throw of the Communist Regime 1989 (10min) and
Mountain biking on the trails around my house in eastern Czech Republic (4min) !

Prague (7min)

My Country's Modern History: Vaclav Havel and Over-throw of the Communist Regime (Velvet Revolution 1989) (10min)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY2Y7TTFDPw

Mountain biking on the trails around my house in eastern Czech Rep. (4min)

This video clip is pretty hilarious. But, I wonder who it was made for. If this is some sort of a comedy for Japanese people, I think that’s awesome. Anyways, enjoy this video. You can learn how to eat sushi at a sushi bar or Japanese restaurant. But, you might better ask your Japanese friends if it all true or not. ; )

Here is a cool link on Romania:

Quynh Anh is a Vietnamese girl but growing up in Belgium. She speaks little Vietnamese and thinks "more like a Belgian". This beautiful song is her way to express her curiousity about her origin

Dat Phan - Viet Comedian
Dat Phan (born January 25, 1975 in Saigon, South Vietnam), is a Vietnamese American stand-up comedian. In 2003, he entered NBC's stand-up comedy competition reality show, Last Comic Standing,and won te first prize

Vietnamese Martial Art
(Audio in Vietnamese)
Move to 2:45 to see that human can really walk on water (no tricks)

In this edition I would like to talk about the latest events in Ecuador and a final note will be on its implications to personal security.

These last couple of weeks have been pretty intense for Ecuador. On Saturday March 1rst, the Colombian air force dropped bombs on a “Revolutionary Armed Forced of Colombia” (FARC) camp which was in Ecuadorian soil at the border with Colombia. After the bombing, the Colombian Army sent land forces to make sure that the bombings had actually killed their target, and they did. The Colombian forces killed more than 20 people related to the Guerrilla including Raul Reyes who was a senior commander for FARC.

The President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa asked the intervention of the Organization of American States (OAS). An OAS committee arrived on Sunday 9th to Quito (Ecuador’s capital) to help clarify the events. They have gone to the place where the bombings took place, Angostura, which is very close to the border in order to get a sense of what happened. This visit is giving a legitimate proof that the bombings violated Ecuadorian territory and sovereignty.

President Correa has asked the OAS to conform an International force that controls the border. Let’s see what comes next.

One thing to take into consideration, especially to all of you who are planning to travel to Ecuador. It is NOT dangerous to travel to Ecuador right now; the events took place in a very specific place in the rain forest thousands of miles away from Quito. Even if you are considering in going to the rain forest, I believe that is fine as well.

If you want more information on the news try:
El Comercio (Ecuadorian newspaper – Spanish)
http://www2.elcomercio.com/noticiaEC.asp?id_noticia=176264&id_seccion=4

BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7284597.stm

http://www.praguemonitor.com/en/290/czech_politics/19743/

The legislative branch of the Czech government involves parliament and senate. There are two major and four other significant parties. This system repeatedly produces very weak governments and there is constant talk about changing it but without much chance of really pushing the reform through. An attempt to increase majority elements by tweaking the system parameters by the two major parties during their "opposition agreement" 1998–2002 was vehemently opposed by smaller parties and blocked by the Constitutional Court as going too much against the constitution-stated proportional principle; only a moderated form was adopted. This, however led to a stalemate in 2006 elections where both the left and the right each gained exactly 100 seats; as many commenters point out, the earlier system would have given the right 3-4 seats majority.

A government formed of a coalition of the the major right-winged party and two center parties finally succeeded in winning a vote of confidence on January 19th, 2007. However, its originally quite radical reform had to be significantly compromised in order for it to be passed by the equally numbered opposition.

Growing up in a communist state, I really didn't care that much about politics. (No! They didn't brainwash me. I was just not that into it). However, since I came to the states, I became more and more interested in the subject. (It's kind of hard to ignore politics with all the stuff the media play on TV everyday).

*First, Vietnam is a single-party state and the only party in control of the country since 1975 is the Communist Party. Many Vietnamese living abroad (especially in the US) want the country to change to a multi-party system. Some even go to the extreme of suggesting a domestic war to bring down the Communist Party.
What do I think about this? I believe what we need right now is stability. (Mind you, I'm just tired of wars!) Changing the system will be the job of the young generation of Vietnamese in the future; and any outside forces will just cause more harms than helps

*Second, Freedom of Speech - I hear it over and over again that there's no freedom of speech and the press is just a propaganda tool in Vietnam. This is becoming more and more inaccurate in the recent years. Many corrupted government officials are put in jails because of the press. Of course, lies, bribery, suppression, and corruptions are still there in the system. However, is that what politic is all about ? (For me, I have learned not to listen and trust politicians)

*Third, people are not free to worship their own religions in Vietnam. I consider this a myth from many Vietnamese living abroad. The Vietnamese government neither "endorses" or "rejects" any religions. Article 70 of the Vietnam Constitution also states:
"The citizen shall enjoy freedom of belief and of religion; he can follow any religion or follow none. All religions are equal before the law.
The places of worship of all faiths and religions are protected by the law.
No one can violate freedom of belief and of religion; nor can anyone misuse beliefs and religions to contravene the law and State policies."
You can read all the articles here: http://www.vietnamembassy-usa.org/learn_about_vietnam/politics/constitution/chapter_five/

*Lastly, because I was living "in" the system, I might be biased in my opinion. I don't deny that there are still many problems with the Vietnamese government. But I don't recall that there's such a thing called a perfect government in this world. Each system just has different problems and challenges; and in the end, it's the people that live in the system who decide on whether they should keep the system or let it go.

To make my post even more dull, you can watch this heated debate on Vietnam in one of Bill Maher's show:

Although Japan's economy is recovering, there are several elements in the world economy that remain unclear, which make the foundation for the Japanese economy unstable. First, the social security system of Japan should be reformed. Until now, each element of the system - pensions, medical care, and nursing care - has been reformed separately. Recently, however, the squeeze on benefits and the increased burden of payments have required repeated spur-of-the-moment adjustments.

We have two season in Ecuador: winter and summer. Winter is hot and rainy for the coast and the rain forest and is wet and cold for the highlands. Summer is cold and dry for the coast (for Ecuadoreans at the coast standards' which is around 70 degrees) and hot and dry for the highlands. Since I remember, Ecuador has had serious problems over the winter as there is flooding almost every year which hits coastal populations all the time. I remember my Geology Teacher "Theofilos" telling us how investing time in prevention would be much cheaper than acting when there are catastrophes that could have been prevented. The Government of Ecuador has had problems giving funds for towns to build the necessary infrastructure prevent rivers from overflowing. Moreover, flooding and volcano eruptions are hitting Ecuador hard; this weather has been particularly rough and in general I feel that it would take any government by surprise, I do hope that eventually Ecuador adopts prevention policies.

Even though the tension continues adults and children look for the opportunity to relax, some people make the most of the fact that some rivers have more water and they swim, play, and joke... believe me, Ecuador is a charismatic place.

If you are interested in looking at some videos please check:

Flooding in Ecuador
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/3681938.stm

Ecuadorians flee volcanic risk:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/3681938.stm