In the absence of the concentration to finish a decent blog idea, I was browsing the stats of the site and that's always a bit surprising. For instance, when looking at how people found the site through a search engine..

eva mendes 537
fast cars 29
fast and furious 14
eva mendez 9

It's a bit strange that so many looking for Eva Mendes landed here, considering the name has only been mentioned twice, both times in passing. One would think this blog is pretty irrelevant to Eva Mendes, also considering both occurences (to which this will be a third :P ) are from 2005, so not exactly recent. Me thinks there's some sucky search engine out there that keeps sending hopefuls here, only to let them down. What's weird is that this search term has ranked as most popular on this site for months now. It's a shame my stats only go back a year, so I can't see what you were searching for before I ever mentioned Eva Mendes.

Other more relevant search terms were tell me something about your ielts (which I actually blogged about), kruidvat paracetamol (which seems terribly concrete), unethical funds (trying to get rich or doing research for a school paper?), cm97 stadium capacity (someone knowing exactly what they want), i love oslo (yeah, me too), cyclist smoothie (you found it), and utrecht red light district location map -amsterdam (I know where it is, perhaps I should have a suggestion box for people looking for stuff in the area).

You know how evolution works, right? Survival of the fittest? But it doesn't have to happen according to nature's criteria, you can shape the process yourself!

Okay, technically you don't _have to_ intervene, it will run fine just by itself. But if you want to shape the future of the planet, here's your chance! :cap:

Here's what you do.

1. Pick the species you care most about.
2. Acquire 5 organisms of the species.
3. Put them through your series of physical tests.
4. Try not to kill all 5, because if one of them survives, that's the strongest organism that will carry the torch.

For instance, if you think cats aren't sufficiently resistant to fire.. Okay, that experiment may take some tuning (and possibly quite a few more than 5 cats), so maybe start with something simpler.

For instance, how lame is it that most plants can't survive under water? Take a cactus, for example. Pour a cup of water over it, not just to feed it, but to give it a real challenge. If it survives that, next week you add a cup. And so on. Eventually some of your cactii will die, but the one that survives is the most resistant to water! Now you plant your cactus back in the desert and hope it will reproduce. Hey, some things you just can't force.

NOTE: Beware of the Plant- and Animal Cruelty people, they will accuse you of all kinds of nonsense. These hippies simply don't understand that nature is brutal and science can't but follow the rules.

I found an amusing website today: http://jestnamwstyd.com/.

You probably have an idea of what's happening in God Bless America (thank you for that superb pun, the Guardian). Christian radicalism is going strong, everything in Washington is done in the name of God and as an extension of Him. In a country founded (among other things) on religious freedom, atheists are downright persecuted. The recent election notwithstanding, Bush is still in office and certain groups have begun a countdown to 2008, which should be well into the Iran war (have you noticed how everyone is taking that as a foregone conclusion?).

Anyway, as one of the few backers of GBA's legendary "alliance", we sent troops to Iraq. A move out of pure self interest (as all political decisions always are), in order to improve the economy, elicit GBA investment in Poland and build a tighter trade relationship. However, it's not just on the foreign arena that we've aligned ourselves, we also have our share of religious nuts, most infamously in the presidential palace (which hasn't exactly done much for our public image in the civilized world), offering statements on "family values", and in support of homophobia and xenophobia. As such, this website, entitled "We're ashamed", is an expression of protest against the political leadership, in a similar countdown to 2010.

I don't usually get excited about these things, but I was browsing Planet Larry when I saw this tag that looked fun.

1. Grab the book, nearest to you, open page 18 and quote line four.
   Since I had to walk over to the bookshelf for this one anyway, I decided to pick "Donald Duck Pocket 125". :P
   Wat? Denkt hij echt dat de magiër van het moeras sterker is dan Zwarte Magica?
2. Reach out with your left arm as far as possible. What do you have in your left hand?
   My hand is on the glass of the window.
3. What did you see on TV last?
   Don't recall, might have been the news on BBC World.
4. Except the computer, what can you hear right now?
   Traffic outside the window.
5. When was the last time you were outside?
   Got home from school an hour ago.
6. What did you do right before answering these questions?
   Sent an email, had coffee.
7. What are you wearing right now?
   Cotton pants, sweatshirt, headphones, sandals (they double as slippers).
8. When was the last time you laughed?
   Christ, who keeps track of that? I laugh lots of times everyday, last one that comes to mind was today in class.
9. What is on the walls of the room you’re currently located in?
   A map of Europe, a map of Łódź, and a superb canvas I bought in the Brussels subway.
10. Did you see anything strange recently?
    Yes, and if you read my blog, you're up to date on the strangest things I encounter. ;)
11. What do you think about this survey?
    Random enough to be fun, I cut a bunch of stupid questions, though.
12. What was the last movie you saw?
    Don't remember, but I watched the NBA Allstar game last weekend.
13. What would you buy if suddenly you were a multi billionaire?
    A bunch of plane tickets to places far away that are too expensive to visit. Also the Sun Ultra 45 workstation, maxed out specs. :D
14. Tell me something I didn’t know about you!
    I'm short for this country, a mere 175cm.
15. Would you consider emigrating?
    Yes. In fact, I sometimes wonder if I can stand to live in the same country for the rest of my life, or if I'm bound to move around ever so often.
16. If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be?
    For the Miss America pageant, try next door.

The fun thing about having multiple nationalities or relations to several countries is that you can switch from one to the other at will. Of course, the country you live in is right there for you, but sometimes it feels like you're missing a certain culture, a certain way of talking, of being, of thinking.

And when that happens, you can hook right into it, it's right there for you. Read the papers, read some blogs, watch a movie, talk to some people, whatever. But in a sense, nothing quite captures what people are like better than what they do when they're just being themselves and not trying to express themselves in a special way.

And that place is bash. Bash is a collection of irc quotes, and while some of the content may be staged, what is truly funny about it is how true to life it is. It really reflects how people think, what kind of reactions and reflexes they have. Coming back to my lead-in, today I discovered a Polish bash. The quotes aren't as funny and I think there's probably a lot less of them, but all the same it really tells you a lot about the culture and way of being.