Bombs or Cholera. Pick one?

It is expectable that poor people in a country with seriously damaged infrastructure would suffer from various diseases. Thus, it came as a little surprise that a few weeks ago, cases of cholera started to appear around Baghdad. According to BBC, at least 2000 cases have been confirmed, and the number is growing fast. It is also far from final, as there have been around 30 thousand cases of acute water diarrhea, which may later be confirmed as cholera.

Cholera is a disease often linked to contaminated supplies of drinking water. "It causes severe diarrhoea and vomiting, and patients, particularly children and the elderly, are vulnerable to dangerous dehydration as a result. Treating the condition - or rather alleviating these severe effects, requires only simple measures. However, the clean water and rehydration salts required are often in short supply in areas where they are needed most."
Indeed, the article also reports that only one in five Iraqis have access to effectively sanitised water. That struck me as little weird, so I started to dig around a little. Obviously, most waterworks in the city are now entirely without chlorine. Curious. Isn't chlorine cheap and easy to produce?

However, chlorine has been dubbed Evil™, and it's import banned. Why? Iraqi insurgents have used it as a payload for bombs a few times. According to WHO, there are 100 kilotons of water sanitiser waiting on border with Jordan, and because of fear someone could use it to make bombs, it can not get into the country.
As is often the case, the worst damage does not come from the terrorist actions themselves, but from our overreaction to them. Chlorine chemical bombs are not particularly effective, compared to other possible payloads, and their usage is dying out. According to wiki: "Higher levels of exposure can cause fatal lung damage; but because the gas is heavier than air it will not dissipate until well after an explosion, and so it is generally considered ineffective as an improvised chemical weapon." Although chlorine, particularly potassium chlorate, can also be used as an ingredient to produce some explosives, it generally is not effective either, and can be easily replaced.

But the "side-effects" of these bombings are adverse. They have caused the country to lose its supply of drinking water, which could cost thousands of people their lives. It definitely shows how US Army cares about civilians of the area. Also, surprisingly, no one thought of banning salt. :-P All you need to produce chlorine is salt, water, and electricity. Then again, we should probably also ban water. And electricity.

Now here's a thought for terrorists. Next time, mix a little wheat in your bombs. Following this pattern, the security forces will identify it as a bomb ingredient and issue a countrywide ban. Of course, people will be dying of famine, but that's only necessary to keep them safe from evil insurgents. In your face, terrorists!

Celtic Fest Chicago

In a struggle to get things done before cold fall comes, last weekend was really stuffed with things to do. Traditional German Oktoberfest, some sort of Asian celebration, fabulous Within Temptation concert I wrote about earlier, and of course the Celtic Festival, held at the Grant Park below the fancy Chicago sky line. With free entrance, of course. :-)

A quick note about pronunciation: when I pronounced Celtic as [sel-tik], people would look at me as if I came from another planet. In Chicago, it's pronounced [kel-tik], although the dictionary recognises both ways. Also, Chicago is pronounced [shi-kah-goh], not [chi-kay-go].

The most remarkable advantage when comparing such festivals over here and back at home is, that some really awesome artists show up here, who would never even contemplate going to some fest in central Europe, minor by comparison. Although I sort of missed our beloved sedlácká gotika. :-)

Chicago Celtic Festival was not all about music. Although I didn't really care, I am sure that some people would find the Art Fair, sheepherding demonstration, men-in-kilts leg contest, or Gaelic football game rather appealing. For me, it was "just" a music festival. There were so many great musicians, and I don't even know some of their names, so I'll focus on the really worthwhile stuff. Like Guinness. :-D Oh yes, that's one of the finest beers in the world, and I found it very satisfying to take care of further undisclosed amount of this heavenly beverage over the weekend. I was worried after my last experience with this beer at the inn U hodného psa, which was negative, (hello, ZZ,) that I didn't like Guinness anymore, that either me or it had changed. But fortunately, that is not true. Guinness is as great and as enjoyable as ever. Definitely a highlight of the festival, muhaha. ]:->
I have missed a lot of good music on Saturday, namely famous Dolores O'Riordan, former lead singer of the Cranberries, plus the Irish music group Lunasa and Welsh musician Jon Langford. Reportedly, they were all fantastic. Sunday, however, was not a wee bit less interesting.
Damien Dempsey, an Irish rocker, was not exactly my cup of Celtic, but the Canadian family band Searson was quite a different story. They are three pretty ladies playing fiddles, bass guitar, and grand piano, and two guys at drums and acoustic guitar, playing fast-paced, energetic Celtic music. Very, very neat. At times they would also use a ten string lute, or step dance.

Colleen, their violin player, (on the picture above,) was playing her fiddles like a little goddess. Overall, I was very pleased with their performance. If you wish, you can listen to them for a bit on their myspace profile. However, the song choice over there is poor, and they seem to have matured a lot since then. My impression on Sunday was much better than what I hear over there.
The biggest discovery, though, was the evening's last band, Salsa Celtica. As the name suggests, those folks play traditional Latin-American rhythms with classic instruments like bongo, brass, and keyboards, (they had four people at percussions only!) imbued with rather nice Celtic melodies using fiddles, various whistles, and bagpipes. Unfortunately for my taste, they are significantly more Salsa, than they are Celtica, but it was really something fresh and interesting. I strongly recommend everyone to visit their myspace and listen to all the songs over there. Except maybe Grey Gallito, that one is a little weird. Unlike the Searsons, however, their myspace tracks sound fairly well and give you a good idea of what the band is up to. It is truly innovative.
As for the conclusion, I award Chicago Celtic Festival 2007 a neat sum of 70 goshu points, and do not hesitate to label it a világos. :-) Also, I got a rather nice green t-shirt from this one. Whee!

Within Temptation Világos

Although Within Temptation are often considered mainstream and pop-metal by metalheads, I have wanted to see this band for years, so when I saw their tickets on sale for $13 in House of Blues venue, 15 minutes walking distance from where I live, there was no hesitation. I got second thoughts when I was reading the Celtic Festival programme, and realised that I would miss Dolores O'Riordan, (ex-Cranberries lead singer,) because of this... but didn't change my mind.

People at ticketmaster.com deserve to spend several eons in a torture chamber, because the tickets cost me $26.52 in the end, which is more then double of the advertised price. Of course, one has to pay various taxes, facility charges, convenience charges, online order charges, picking-your-nose fees, as well as other undisclosed general charges. Still, it was an okay price for such a show, and they promised me $25 cashback on Nightwish tickets, so they are forgiven for now.

Wow. Robert and Jeroen really look like twins. And so do Ruud and Martijn.

Before I start with the "review" itself, let me fill you in on the rating system. For the good stuff, I will be giving away goshu points. If an event gets many goshu points, it basically means that it was a világos. (Pronounced velaagosh, hence goshu. :-P Syn.: ownage.) If I present something as a világos, that means it was a fantastic and extremely worthwhile event, and those who could have come, and did not, are therefore dubbed various degrees of noobs, and possibly even criminals.

An event needs at least 60 goshu points to be a minor világos, at 100 points it is a supreme világos. Very rarely it even gets above that. An example would be Therion Goes Classic in Miskolc, which with its 1.3x metal-orchestra multiplier and 1.1x front row multiplier, recieved 125 goshu points, and thus became an utter MegaVilágos, which makes it extremely difficult to surpass. Confusing, I know, but some people get it already as an inner joke, and it will grow on the rest of you, I'm sure. ;-)

They let us wait for almost three hours since the scheduled start, filled with quite pathetic gay^Wboy wannaberock bands. They were in fact so lousy, that the friend who was there with me blacked out, so that she wouldn't have to listen to them. (It was a bit scary, I had to steer her out of the crowd, but she was alright for the rest of the night, even jumped with me a little.) Good old Astral Doors, seriously.

Most important complaint comes first: the audience sucked. I've never seen such pathetic crowd on a concert in Europe before. Not only was there no mosh-pit, but it was clearly above those people to decide when to clap, wave, jump, punch the air, or scream. Consequently, most of them did nothing, and the rest did any of the above in random fashion, but never all the same. I particularly disliked the emo kids. (Oh my, they really do exist!) Those boys wear thick makeup and dark lipstick, nail polish, have hoodies on their heads, and talk like sissies. Hateable at the first glance. Oh, and the biggest idiots were guess who? Polish!!

Sharon den Adel is a remarkably enchanting woman with fabulous voice. When she came to the stage and started singing, I froze. It was simply fascinating. She was wearing a dark dress with a corset, with cleverly sewn sleeves that would bare her entire arms when she wanted. Not only could Sharon sing incredibly well, she also made a hell of a show. I especially liked her mimics, and the kind of dance she did with her hands. She must be double-jointed, because some of her moves were just otherworldly. And mmm, so sweet, that alone was worth several goshu points. :o)

Although a few times she didn't manage to reach into the uppermost octaves and her voice came out a little flat and out of tune, the overall performance was brilliant. As were her bandmates, who played tirelessly and sounded flawless. The impression was much heavier, than their studio albums. Unlike Kamelot, who did the same and screwed up big time, these guys managed to pack a lot of punch into their songs without sacrificing the melody, or quality. I have a nagging feeling to write a couple more superlatives, because they definitely deserve it, so let's pretend that I did. ;-)
As for the tracklist, it was okay. It was really fat, I think they played 18, or 19 songs. As this was The Heart of Everything tour, most of them were, naturally, from the latest album. It is quite cool, although a wee bit more rock on expense of metal. From my favourite Mother Earth, only three songs were played. The encore was three, as usual, and the final dot was one of their most awesome pieces, Ice Queen. At that moment, any reservations I could have had regarding the choice of tracks just disappeared in a puff of smoke. :-)

Overall, I subjectively award Within Temptation 83 goshu points, which makes for a major világos, approximately on par with Blind Guardian show in Trenčín, fall 2006. :-) Thanks for the amazing experience and I'll definitely see you later when I have the chance. To my European homies I definitely recommend to attend the show in Vienna, on 3rd of October. Get your tickets ASAP. It may not be the cheapest concert in your life, but it will be well worth it.

Finally, a taste of what it was. It's világos multiplier is like 0.05x, and the sound is crappy, but at least to have an idea. By the way, the show over here was even better. And heavier. And Sharon was doing much more cool stuff. Yah, whatever.

Mother Russia, father bomb...

After last month's resumption of regular patrols of strategic bombers, which were suspended after the 1991 Soviet Union breakup, Red Army* flexes its muscles yet again, this time by testing of Father Of All Bombs, an air delivered fuel-air bomb, yielding the equivalent of 44 tons of TNT. That makes it approximately four times as powerful as US Army's MOAB. (Massive Ordnance Air Blast, or Mother Of All Bombs.) It's not the bomb I want to talk about, though, it's the propaganda and attitude of Russian officials that caught me breathless.
"The tests have shown that the new air-delivered ordnance is comparable to a nuclear weapon in its efficiency and capability,"' says Col.-Gen. Alexander Rukshin, deputy chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces. Gotta love that guy. This statement is misleading at the very least, because most nuclear bombs have way more power than that. For example, Fat Man, one of the first atomic bombs ever used, that was dropped on Nagasaki, had a yield of cca. 21 kilotons of TNT. That gives the mighty FOAB credit to merely 0.2 % of Fat Man's destructive power, which, while comparable, is nowhere close.

See the Russian report video for yourself:


But Alex is just awesome, he doesn't stop there. Sharing his wisdom, (estimated to be at least 23, ;-)) with the world, he claims, that the bomb is "environmentally friendly". Excuse me? Okay, maybe it does not have nuclear fallout with long half-life, but calling a bomb worth of 44 tons of TNT, that leaves "lunar landscape" in its wake, "environmentally friendly" is just outright funny.

Tu-160, the bomber that dropped daddy of all bombs earlier this week.

However, funny turns to insanely idiotic. As bloomberg.com reports:
The new weapon disperses a cloud of explosive material that is set off by a charge and produces "an ultrasonic shockwave and an incredibly high temperature," Perviy Kanal said on its Web site. After the blast, "the soil looks like a lunar landscape," according to the report.

The new bomb carries fewer explosives than the U.S. device, while the temperature at the center of its blast is twice as high and the area of damage much greater, Perviy Kanal said.

"This has made it possible to reduce the accuracy requirements and made it cheaper, which is necessary in the current situation," Yuri Balyko, head of the Defense Ministry's 30th Central Research Institute, told the channel.

The new weapon will allow Russia "to ensure the nation's security and at the same time battle international terrorism in any situation and in any region," Rukshin said.

Oh my. I feel dumber just for having read this exhibition of pure wisdom. So we have a weapon that turns an enormous area to lunar landscape, which, in turn, allows us to reduce the accuracy requirements, and, therefore, we can use it to battle international terrorism in any situation and in any region! Holy zombie Jesus, Russian military brains are just precious! :-D Now, if I were a Chechnyan partisan, that would be all I needed to hear to capture a building in the middle of Moscow, and wait for the brave Red Army to level their capital city with one of these babies.

__
* I know it's not called Red Army anymore. But hey, it seems that not many things have changed apart from the name...

Dark Passion Play

Although it's not yet released, I couldn't resist getting the new Nightwish album and listening to it for a bit before their concert here on 27th of October. After Tarja left, many people were worried that Nightwish was done for. It was a loss for the band, no doubt, but a loss that was possible to recover from.

Anette Olzon, a rather charming lady, may not possess as unique vocal qualities as Tarja did, but judging from this album, she is doing alright. Although her voice lacks the power, which I sometimes a little bothering, it's something you can get used to. As soon as I've accepted the change, I began to appreciate her as a singer. After listening to several songs, her style sort of grew on me. :-) And, of course, it's the quality of Tuomas and his composing skills that let this band stay on prominent positions of my favourite list.

The album begins with a long (14 minutes!) and slow piece, The Poet and the Pendulum. I found it very likable even on the first go. It's got a very nice dark flavour, and it's good to see that there is no rush. They let the piece unfold as if it was a story. Thumbs up.

Next song is called Bye Bye Beautiful, and it's a fast piece not unlike I Wish I Had an Angel. It's got a nice theme, some male vocals, and certain parts of its melody are rather interesting.
Third one, Amaranth, is a typical radio hit. A fast-paced, short song that develops rather quickly, and has a very powerful chorus. (Silný refrén jak hovado. ;-)) It uses multiple layers of Anette's voice to make it sound stronger and achieve impressive harmony. It's already breaking the charts around Europe, and it's doing good. Although it's a likable song, I only wish it could be a little longer and unravel beyond the single theme. You can watch the official video right here:
Cadence of Her Last Breath. Quite nice. A little heavier, also short and fast-paced, yet rather simple and straightforward for Nightwish standards. I liked to hear Anette's and Marco's vocals together. The sound of frantic female breathing in the background of some passages is a welcome element.

Master Passion Greed is definitely Marco's song. The heaviest piece of entire album, with powerful drums, shouting vocals, and a few unexpected riffs. I can't wait to see this one live.

I won't go into details on all 13 tracks. It's too many, and I didn't listen to some of them enough to form an opinion. I'll mention For the Heart I Once Had, which sounds similar to Nemo, and some of the verses are light and playful. Islander is definitely the new Bard's song. Very nice.

Next to the last track is Seven Days to the Wolves. Slower, quite powerful, with engaging lyrics, and mmm, so good. Some very skilled composing is at play there. This might be my new favourite. :-) The album is concluded by another balad, Meadows of Heaven, which makes a nice dot after it all.

Overall, I am very happy with this album. Although it may not be the best one in their rich discography, it proves that Nightwish is definitely back and kicking. See you guys in 48 days! :-D

Observing the security

After several positive posts, the time has come to write a little rant. Even before entering the US, one thing was clear to me. They appreciate security. It doesn't necessarily have to work. As long as it makes them feel safer, a security theater is all they need. At some schools, it's mandatory to have transparent backpacks in order to prevent shooting scenarios. Others want to cut loss on lives by giving the students a fair fighting chance. Bulletproof textbooks are sure to give them an edge over a gunner!

In the meanwhile, plenty of watch lists are created, to keep everyone safe. Don't worry though, the overfunded homeland security department has done its best to protect us against major threats, such as sinister blinking devices, or deadly biological warfare. Oh, and of course, dropping your iPod into the toilet will also be professionally handled by a full-scale terror alert. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. I think they deserve our utmost respect for keeping the country safe, though, especially now that the majority of Americans are officially homegrown terrorists. Of course, a lot of security is in place not because it really works, but because it covers the asses of those responsible. As my favourite security guru, Bruce Schneier, so eloquently advises, refuse to be terrorized!

Here on Roosevelt University, the security is also tight. There are security guards everywhere, and I'm glad that we're allowed to go to the restroom without having to identify ourselves. Last weekend, for example, I had to show my temporary meal card four (!) times before I could have my lunch. First time when entering the building, second time when entering the cafeteria, then at the counter, and then the fourth time to some overzealous security-conscious guard inside.

The irony is, though, that the temporary meal card is a simple printed business card with no photo or security measures whatsoever. The cost to make a copy of such a card is under one dollar, and literally anyone can use it. On the card it says that it was valid only for the first weekend, yet it's been used for three weeks already. Some of my friends have thrown theirs away after those two days, and couldn't get their meals until they managed to get a replacement. The security people were treating them like scum for having thrown out a worthless piece of paper that was no longer valid!

Student ID is something we use everywhere except eating at the University Center. They completely rely on it for security and identification. However, to get my student ID, I did not have to prove my identity! I just walked in and said who I was, they took a picture and I was good to go. Those people should realise that the security chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and that if you take several eyes of thick steel and pin them together with a paper clip, it isn't going to work. It's pointless to check student ID at every corner, if one can get a student photo ID just based on their claim to be a student.

Security is not only a problem at the university. For example, at the jazz festival, a simple blue shirt with the sign SECURITY gave you the right to boss everyone around as you pleased. Tell them where and when to go, what and how could they photograph, where to sit, how long to stay at a given place... and they did so with great zeal and obvious pleasure. I have never seen less professional and significant, and at the same time more annoying security.

In the Michigan lake, the lifeguard people go to great lengths to protect you. They care about your wellbeing to such an extent, that they do not let you swim further, than twenty meters from the beach, where the water is slightly below chest-level for me. I expected that there would be some sort of a barrier in the water, and people observing the swimmers from a watchtower on the beach. That was obviously not enough, because there was also a chain of lifeguard boats facing the beach approximately every thirty meters, with people yelling at you to swim back when you entered neck-deep water. Oh my. I was having a really hard time restraining myself.

It was really hot on the beach, and so it came as little surprise that later on, one woman collapsed and fainted. She was quite dehydrated, and possibly in need of an IV, so we called 911 to send an ambulance. First on the scene was a police car. They added to the overall chaos by "taking care of the situation", but that was understandable. Maybe they were around with nothing else to do, so they took the call as well. However, before the ambulance arrived, two more patrol cars came by with their sirens ablaze, and a huge firetruck! Now, I understand that the woman was in need of water, but sending a whole firetruck to the beach still seemed like a bit of an overkill to me... no wonder that those departments are eternally low on funds, if they spend their resources like this. :-( I hear sirens several dozen times per day in my room. If every call is handled in such manner, I'm no longer surprised.

Laser spy microphone for $3

Whee, that looks interesting, MacGyver would be proud. It probably is not one of the most convenient and inconspicuous surveillance methods, but hey, not everyone is 007. :-) I just have hard time believing that the signal from the photo-cell can get strong enough without being amplified somehow.
(http://youtube.com/watch?v=YVas2_bt6xc)

Sears Tower Skydeck

Despite certain attempts at its crown, the Sears Tower is still the tallest completed habitable building in the world. Some say that it has been surpassed by the Petronas Towers, and the Taipei 101, however I consider it highly unfair that the antennae on top of the Sears tower are not considered part of its architectural height, while this is not true for the spires on top of the Petronas towers. Take a look at this height comparison and judge for yourself. :-)
With its 527.3 meters tip height, Sears Tower is definitely the most dominating jewel of the Chicago skyline, and towering next to the 311 South Wacker, it makes the view out of my window rather extraordinary. This building also has a feature that makes it very attractive to visit - the skydeck all the way up on 103rd floor. Personally, I found the view even more interesting than that from the top of Eiffel tower in Paris.
The suburbs just go on forever. I'm sure we could see at least 50 km in each directions, but the city just never ends. Also, the lake was quite gracious. If at any time you find yourself in Chicago, this place is definitely worth attention.(A note: none of the photos so far in this blog are shot by me. I do not have my camera yet, although I hope that will change soon. I try to preserve original location, and/or copyright of pictures I use here for illustration.)

Chicago Jazz Festival

What better welcome could the city of Chicago give me, than a huge, open air jazz festival with free entrance, starring top musicians of the genre? I mean, a presidential welcoming committee and plenty of purrrty strippers in those little devil costumes, as well as unlimited supply of Guinness would surely be nice, but a guy just can't have everything, right? :-P

The main stage was quite large, with nice set of speakers, and plenty of lights and flowers, set up under the impressive skyline of the city. Although the festival took three days, the schedule was really tight, and none of the performers got to play for longer than an hour, which was, in some cases, immense pity. The opening concert by Herbie Hancock must have also been fabulous, but it wasn't free, and I didn't feel like spending that much money.
Most of the musicians I haven't heard before, but they were all very good. Admittedly, some of the pieces were a little too... artistic for my taste, but other than that, I was satisfied. For those of you who ask whether it was a more supreme világos than Therion Goes Classical in Miskolc, the answer is no. But it was awesome nonetheless, you can't justly compare these events, they were completely different.

Most of the people present were of more ancient making, and the place was crowded, but I didn't mind. Being the lucky bastard as I am, I always had a fine place in the first row from the stage, which wasn't reserved for the sponsors, so the stage was close enough to reach. I found it difficult to understand why there were people translating sing lyrics to the sign language at the stage. No offense meant, but deaf people just can't enjoy a jazz concert. No more than blind people can enjoy a skydeck view, or people on a wheelchair hike through the mountains. Maybe cruel, but what's the point pretending otherwise?
Most performances were using a grand piano, an acoustic bass, drums, and various brass instruments. I always used to shun brass in favour of string instruments, but now I feel they are underrated. Even the most common trumpet is an amazing instrument when blown into by someone like Jeremy Pelt.
I will only mention my personal highlights of the festival. For Saturday, that would definitely be the performance of Ernestine Henderson and Frank Wess. Oh my, the lady can sing. Also, her songs are very colourful, with lyrics worth trying to understand, and very sophisticated melody. At her side, Frank Wess, a venerable jazz legend, and the best saxophonist I've ever heard. Those two were having such a great time on the stage, I felt my mood improve just by looking at their faces. :-)
The highlight of Sunday night were most definitely the Mingus Big Band. A bunch of very talented musicians playing ingenious compositions by Charles Mingus. Their conductor was making a hell of a show, as he turned up dressed in traditional African robes, and his performance was vaguely similar to the rituals of storm summoning. :-) You should definitely go and see those guys if you get the chance.
Also, it was the first time that I've heard the sousaphone live. It's a kind of tuba, a really huge brass instrument, which substitutes for string bass quite nicely. It has a deep, deep, sound that is rather pleasant, which was a bit of a surprise for me.
Another thing worth noting is, that some bands have been very strongly agitating against the Bush administration, which was always answered by the mass of people cheering. I think that republicans have had it in Illinois. A shining example of this is the Charlie Haden Liberation Music Orchestra, who are also definitely worth listening to.
At last, I would like to express disappointment at all the people I've asked to come along. In the end, only one guy went to enjoy the show with me. Most of them were just ignorant of this event, which I cannot quite understand. :-( It was even held right in their backyard! Well, a proverbial saying concerning pearls and animals of the suidae family comes to mind. Also, I wouldn't hesitate to refer to them as criminals and meganoobs. ;-)
Oh well, I have to say that am most grateful for this event, and I had a fantastic experience enjoying some very fine live music after quite some time.