Omg, my two most favorite past times!

I love baths. And I love beer. Now I simply must go to Germany!

From NYTimes -- Beer Spas: Yeast of Eden

Here's a picture-less link in case you cannot open the one above.

That's just brilliant!

So Russia and the Republic of Georgia have on-going back and forth conflicts. It's like that annoying bickering couple that you want to avoid at all times. I am not familiar with the details of it but it ranges from Georgia breaking away from the Soviet Union to kicking Russian troops out to becoming best friends with khinkali eating President Bush. And Russia has retaliated in a variety of ways, including sabotaging gas pipes thus preventing gas from being delivered to Georgia to banning import of Georgia’s wine.

Georgia is fairly well known for its wine, at least in the former Soviet Union and now European circles. It’s not your vintage Italian variety but some of it is quite tasty. In Russia, Georgian wine is regarded highly and therefore it is often faked. Russia is now claiming that Georgian wine is too polluted for human consumption therefore it should not be sold to Russian consumers. Georgians are up in arms about it since parts of its income in generated from wine exports and exports to Russia make up a considerable chuck of the total wine revenue.

Now, as much as I know, Georgians are going about the typical way of negotiating with the Russians. The usual government minister talking to another minister. Or something like that.

But a small group of Georgians and expats living in Georgians staged the most brilliant supra (Georgian feast) in front of the Georgian Embassy. Below, I am copying an article from the Messenger, the daily English language newspaper in Tbilisi, and a link to TV report of the feast where you can catch of glance at slightly drunken people toasting to the greatness of wine. I’d give an arm and a leg to have been there!

Link to the video is here: http://www.rustavi2.com.ge/news_text.php?id_news=15408&pg=1&im=main&ct=3&wth=

And the article from the Messenger:

Supra on Chavchavadze: international Georgian wine enthusiasts try to show
Russia what it's missing out on
By Tiko Giorgadze
The Messenger

As the Russian embargo on Georgian wine stretches into its second month and the government scrambles to open up new markets for Georgia's second largest export, a small group gathered in front of the Russian Embassy in Tbilisi on Thursday afternoon to discuss the situation.

With the generous cooperation of the Krombacher restaurant on Chavchavadze Avenue (home of some of Vake's best khinkhale), a long table and approximately 15 chairs were transported to a spot on the wide sidewalk facing the embassy and the World Association of Wine Lovers (WAWL) - an informal organization made up primarily of foreign wine enthusiasts residing in Georgia - sat down despite the current cold spell that has made the city feel more like November than late-April to hold their version of a traditional Georgian open-air supra.

"We decided to hold this public supra - in which we are drinking some excellent Georgian wine - to show the world that we support Georgian winemakers, and that we are against the aggressive politics behind the ban," WAWL Vere chapter president John Mackedon, told Rustavi 2.

According to the organization's manifesto, WAWL was established in 2006 in Tbilisi. It is committed to protecting the right of all law-abiding individuals to purchase, possess and drink quality wine as well as preserving the diversity of global viticulture through appropriate PR and
cultural understanding.

"WAWL prides itself on its ability to communicate peacefully and to quench the fire of ignorance and misunderstanding with its two primary Vine Lover's Pillars (VLPs): wine and conversation," the organization's manifesto proclaims.

The association has over 12 members - a number which has more than tripled since the Russian Federation banned Georgian wine imports. If restrictive wine control legislation is proposed at the local, state or international level, WAWL members and supporters make use of their efficient grassroots email network to alert one another and discuss the best course of action.

"In this case we decided that the best thing we - as foreigners living in Georgia - could do, would be to drink some quality Georgian wine in plain view of the Russian diplomatic corps. This shows that it's not only Georgians, but members of the international community who feel that the ban is wrongheaded," explained a WAWL member who preferred to maintain
anonymity.

The mood at Thursday's supra was festive with a number of toasts being proposed in Georgian, English and Russian, as WAWL participants sampled a variety of wines, both homemade and factory bottled. WAWL members provided the wine themselves and the event was not sponsored by any company, although one large jug of white wine from the Borjomi region was donated by Georgian friends, Mackedon explained.

"Georgian-Russian relations will be only damaged if cultural relations are blocked. I don't know anything about Saakashvili's relations with Russia but I came here to support Georgian wine and I want to make it clear that this is not a protest against Russian culture. We are just reminding both sides that Georgia and Russia have known each other for a long time and there's no reason why they should not be able to sit down and drink wine together," association member Kieth Mellnick told Rustavi 2.

WAWL believes that the best way to solve this problem is through civilized negotiation - something which a well-placed table laden with some of Georgia's finest wines could contribute to significantly.

The association's manifesto makes it clear that WAWL is categorically against of any sort of falsification and strongly believes that wine counterfeiters and their activities should be eradicated, but through counseling and education rather than stonewall legislation.

WAWL Vake chapter co-chair Tim Blauvelt finds the ban to be beyond comprehension. "I cannot understand why Russians are depriving themselves of the chance to partake in this excellent wine that we are drinking here. We want show them what they are missing out on and to invite them to come get pleasure from the drink that they are banning," Blauvelt declared, raising his glass.

A rumor spread that the Russian Ambassador had been invited to the event and periodic movement was spotted between the slats of the vertical Venetian blinds covering the embassy windows although no representatives of the Russian diplomatic corps ventured out to join the group.

Katrina/Rita and sex work

Has anyone seen anything published by a somewhat neutral media source about the victims (male or female) of either hurricane turning to sex work (prostitution, stripping, escort services etc) in order to pay bills, provide for the family, basically survive? I have found a slew of article about sex work before the hurricanes but nothing after.

I know there has been increase of sex work activities after the tsunami in East Asia and was wondering if similar is happening in the U.S.

from NYTimes

April 27, 2006

Letter From Brazil

She Who Controls Her Body Can Upset Her Countrymen

By LARRY ROHTER

SÃO PAULO, Brazil — She goes by the name Bruna, the Little Surfer Girl, and gives new meaning to the phrase "kiss and tell." First in a blog that quickly became the country's most popular and now in a best-selling memoir, she has titillated Brazilians and become a national celebrity with her graphic, day-by-day accounts of life as a call girl here.

But it is not just her canny use of the Internet that has made Bruna, whose real name is Raquel Pacheco, a cultural phenomenon. By going public with her exploits, she has also upended convention and set off a vigorous debate about sexual values and practices, revealing a country that is not always as uninhibited as the world often assumes.

Interviewed at the office of her publisher here, Ms. Pacheco, 21, said the blog that became her vehicle to notoriety emerged almost by accident. But once it started, she was quick to spot its commercial potential and its ability to transform her from just another program girl, as high-class prostitutes are called in Brazil, into an entrepreneur of the erotic.

"In the beginning, I just wanted to vent my feelings, and I didn't even put up my photograph or phone number," she said. "I wanted to show what goes on in the head of a program girl, and I couldn't find anything on the Net like that. I thought that if I was curious about it, others would be too."

Ms. Pacheco parlayed that inquisitiveness into a best seller, "The Scorpion's Sweet Poison," that has made her a sort of sexual guru. A mixture of autobiography and how-to manual, her book has sold more than 100,000 copies since it was published late last year, and has just been translated into Spanish.

At book signings, Ms. Pacheco said, "80 percent of the public is women, which I didn't expect at all," because most of the readers of her blog appeared to be men, including customers who "wanted to see how I had rated their performance." As she sees it, the high level of female interest in her sexual experiences reflects a gap here between perceptions about sex and the reality.

"I think there's a lot of hypocrisy and a bit of fear involved," she said. "Brazilian women have this sexy image, of being at ease and uninhibited in bed. But anyone who lives here knows that's not true."

Carnival and the general sensuality that seems to permeate the atmosphere can give the impression that Brazil is unusually permissive and liberated, especially compared with other predominantly Roman Catholic nations. But experts say the real situation is far more complicated, which explains both Bruna's emergence and the strong reactions she has provoked.

"Brazil is a country of contradictions, as much in relation to sexuality as anything else," said Richard Parker, a Columbia University anthropologist who is the author of "Bodies, Pleasures and Passions: Sexual Culture in Contemporary Brazil," and has taught and worked here. "There is a certain spirit of transgression in daily life, but there is also a lot of moralism."

As a result, some Brazilians have applauded Bruna's frankness and say it is healthy to get certain taboos out in the open, like what both she and academic researchers say is a national penchant for anal sex. But others decry her celebrity as one more noxious manifestation of free-market economics and globalization.

"This is the fruit of a type of society in which people will do anything to get money, including selling their bodies to be able to buy cellular phones," said Maria Clara Lucchetti Bingemer, a newspaper columnist and professor of theology at Catholic University in Rio de Janeiro. "We've always had prostitution, but it was a hidden, prohibited thing. Now it's a professional option like anything else, and that's the truly shocking thing."

But Gabriela Silva Leite, a sociologist and former prostitute who now directs a prostitutes' advocacy group, argues that such concerns are exaggerated. "It's not a book like this that is going to stimulate prostitution, but the lack of education and opportunities for women," she said. "I don't think Bruna glamorizes things at all. On the contrary, you can regard the book as a kind of warning, because she talks of the unpleasant atmosphere and all the difficulties she faced."

Part of the controversy stems simply from Ms. Pacheco's forthright and unapologetic tone about her work. Traditionally, Brazilians feel sympathy for the poor woman selling her body to feed her children; she is seen as a victim of the country's glaring social and economic inequalities.

But Ms. Pacheco does not fit that mold. She comes from a middle-class family and turned to prostitution, she said, both as rebellion against her strict parents and because she wanted to be economically independent.

That a woman is now talking and behaving as Brazilian men often have may also offend some. Roberto da Matta, a leading anthropologist and social commentator, noted that even though role reversals were an important part of Carnival, other areas of Brazilian life, including sexual relationships, could be quite rigid and hierarchical.

Under the system of machismo that prevails in Brazil and other Latin American countries, "only a man has a right to command his own sex life, and that control is seen as a basic attribute of masculinity," he explained. "So when a young, attractive, intelligent woman appears and says she is a prostitute, you have a complete inversion of roles, leaving men fragile in a terrain where she is the boss, not them."

For all her willingness to break taboos, though, Ms. Pacheco's current life plan is conventional. She has a steady boyfriend and hopes to marry him, and is studying for the national college entrance exam, with a mind to majoring in psychology.

"Being Bruna was a role that left its mark on me, but I can't abandon her," Ms. Pacheco said. "There are people who still call me Bruna, and I don't mind, but I wouldn't want to be her for the rest of my life."

Nor is Ms. Pacheco immune to the influence of pudor, a concept important throughout Latin America that combines elements of modesty, decency, propriety and shame. In her book, rather than write out the words commonly used on the street to describe sexual acts and organs, she prints only their first letters, with dots indicating what everyone already knows.

"I think it's quite vulgar to say the whole word," she explained. "But I didn't want to be too formal, either."

California

I think I have a growing obsession with California. It’s completely unfounded and somewhat based on the mythical stories shown on the OC.

Well, partially my obsession also is based on meeting several Californians (Californers?) this past week. Based on my scientific observations of the (somewhat small) representative sample, my impressions of California are:

-California is full of really nice and friendly hippies who like hugging.
-California is full of musicians.
-No one in California seems to have a daily 9-5 behind the desk office job and no one seems to want one.
-There are a lot of burritos in California.
-There are also many road trips that take place throughout California.
-In general, California is a wonderland of ocean, beaches, and mountains.
-Despite sunny weather, men in California seem to wear a lot of wooly hats.

I suppose there was one disappointment represented in the sample size; that is, the proportion of bears to shaved chins was 0 to 3. Although, after producing photographic evidence, one representative used to have a beard. So there is some hope.

In case you're wondering

This is what I do all day (I should add that I am the one asking):

The next few questions will ask you about whether you performed oral sex on your paying partner during the past 90 days. By oral sex, I mean when you put your mouth on your paying partner’s penis (blow job). Do not forget to look at your calendar so you are able to know the 90-day time period. Please be honest in your answers.

Hmm

Mice update

So I know this is getting a little old but seven really is a lucky number.

I say this because mouse number 7 was successfully assasinated about a week ago.

This incident happened in my own bedroom. It was traumatic mainly due to the fact that at 4am, I discovered a mouse hanging out on top of a lamp about a foot away from my bed and (more importantly) my head. I had to grab a broom to shoo it away which resulted in the mouse climing up the curtains and taunting me while peeking over the curtain rod. Then, after some more prodding with the broom, it scurried down the curtains and dissapeared under my bed. Needless to say, this story ends with me setting up a trap which I then had to move to a different spot and the assasination occurring around 6am.

Oh yea, I also forgot to mention that I was completely hung over during the whole time. Mouse hunting is tough.

Spring in Brooklyn

(in no particular order, subject to edits, applicable to the rest of New York City)

-Sunshine & warm weather
-Leaves & blossoms on trees/grass/flowers
-Achoo, achoo, achoo, sniff… achoo!
-Bye-bye coats/itchy turtlenecks; Hello short shorts!
-Cool new (yet vintage) summer wardrobe to be displayed on Bedford Avenue
-Cool new (yet unkempt-looking) haircut to be displayed on the L train
-Body odor on any subway train
-Tourists
-Bouncy cleavage
-Low-rise jeans & wifebeaters/tanktops
-Beer belly/manboobs/hairy backs (no longer covered up by heavy coats and wooly sweaters, whew!)
-Midriff blubber
-Underwear & thongs
-Barstool and buttcracks (hairy and not)
-Pale legs
-Skinny black jeans
-Mandals & stilettos
-BBQ, backyards & cigarettes
-Mr. Softee/Macarena
-Bikes & dogs
-Frolicking in McCarren park
-General annoying behavior in McCarren park meant to draw gawking from passer-bys
-That Greenpoint smell

Have YOU ever lied to the authorities?

Since I am planning a trip to Russia, I have been practicing the past few days how to beat the system. I am not sure how far I'll get since I've lied to "authorities" since day one. Then again, being accompanied by a guard for further questioning in a tense atmosphere could be quite kinky!

From the Washington Times (courtesy of a friend):

Truth Verifier interrogates Russian travelers on lies

By Adrian Blomfield
LONDON DAILY TELEGRAPH

MOSCOW -- Millions of passengers traveling through Russia soon will have to take a lie detector test as part of new airport security measures that could eventually be applied throughout the country.

The technology, to be introduced at Moscow's Domodedovo airport as early as July, is intended to identify terrorists and drugs smugglers. But many passengers will be chilled by the set of four questions they will have to answer into a machine, including, "Have you ever lied to the authorities?"

The machine asks four questions: The first is for full identity; the second, unnerving in its Soviet-style abruptness, demands: "Have you ever lied to the authorities?" It then asks whether either weapons or narcotics are being carried.

To cut delays, passengers will take the tests after taking off their shoes and putting baggage through the X-ray machines. He doesn't get his shoes back until he satisfactorily answers the questions. Each test will take up to a minute. "If a person fails to pass the test, he is accompanied by a special guard to a cubicle where he is asked questions in a more intense atmosphere," says Vladimir Kornilov, IT director for the airport.

The fully automated instrument to be used, known as the "Truth Verifier," is hardly the polygraph familiar from old spy thrillers. Passengers will simply speak into a handset. Thanks to "layered-voice-analysis technology," the system, developed by an Israeli company, can even establish whether answers come from the memory or the imagination.

The technology already is being used by some insurance companies in Britain to screen telephone claims for fraud.

"We can understand that something like this could be uncomfortable for some passengers, but it is a necessary step," Mr. Kornilov says.

Initially, only passengers deemed suspicious by the Russian security service will take the test. But it will be expanded to cover selected international flights and eventually will encompass all passengers.

Passengers who fail will be subjected to more rigorous interrogation both by the verifier, whose accuracy increases to 98 percent with more extensive questioning, and by its human colleagues.

4 for 2

I was just looking at my beards posting and remembered this:

Recently I went to the student health center for my yearly check-up. As a soon-to-be a full-time unemployed person with an expiring health insurance, I figured I may as well take care of business, just in case. Besides, since I preach prevention like a maniac, I may as well live up to my own expectations of others.

So, as you can imagine, student health center is the ideal place to stock up on condoms. They are everywhere, in pretty bowls when you check in, on a gigantic box in the waiting area, in a brown lunch bag in the nurse’s office (when you’re a student, you don’t get to see a doctor unless the nurse cannot figure out what is wrong with you). Not that I am in some sort of a condom usage spree, unless you count the times I fill them with water to drop on top of my annoying Riverdance-in-clogs-I-love-practicing-bowling-at-1am upstairs neighbor. OK, that never happens either. But condoms are expensive, especially when you’re on grad student budget, so I figured since I poured thousands into my education, I may as well get something back.

I decided to get four – you never know, spring is in the air, people are feeling amorous, I’ve been going out and drinking more and more lately – and to my dismay, when I got home, two of them were expired! I am not sure if this is fate’s comment on my life or what. I suppose the expiration date on the other two is two years away so with the way things are going, I should be OK with just 2.

Lucky number seven

You know you live in Greenpoint when:

1) your landlord is always drunk;
2) your neighbor upstairs has Riverdance parties in clogs at 1am and on occasion decides to throw bowling balls onto his floor;
3) your apartment is infested with mice.

Actually that’s my apartment. I don’t blame you if you cancel your plans to visit.

Last week, after deciding that I didn’t want to deal with my drunken landlord anymore, I braved on my own and reset two of the four traps. Talk about self-sufficiency! (Soon I’ll start my own nuclear power-plant* in my apartment so that I can supply my apartment with my own source of energy!) The reason why I reset only two is because they seem to be really effective and so far, killed four mice. They are not that fancy, made out of plastic but they are easy to set up and they kill, kill, kill!

Around 2am, after lying in my bed and trying to block out bowling balls being dropped onto the floor upstairs, I heard a trap snap. Yes!

Of course, the following morning, when I peeked behind the stove, the trap was nowhere to be seen. Which meant that I had to get my drunked landlord to come and move the stove and fish out the dead mouse and its trap. That’s mouse #5. Around 5pm today, as I was catching some zzz’s on the couch (I got out of work early), one of the traps snapped. Again. That’s mouse #6. When my landlord came to remove it (Why do something when someone else can do it for you?), he said he saw another one scurry away. So now I am waiting for mouse #7.

If any PETA people out there are getting upset about my mice hunting, I welcome them all to come to my apartment to catch the mice in a humane manner. I’ll even feed you all organic rice and beans or whatever is that you eat.

*To all those who are reading blogs to spy on behalf of the G0V – this is a joke. It would be virtually impossible for me to set up a nuclear power-plant in my apartment. If I did, I would be a genius mainly because my apartment is the size of a shoebox. And, more importantly, I really do not know anything about nuclear physics. This statement has been verified by my lawyer, Bob Lahblah, JD, PhD, PC, Mac OS X.

Never mind, I love the new NYTimes

I've moaned and bitched about the NYTimes and some of it is still true - who prints a bedbug story on the front page of the weekend edition? You'd expect that from the Daily News or the NY Post.

But for once, they've posted a story about something that's relevent to me. Not that tax paying is THAT relevent to me; well, it is partially as I actually pay them. And this year I filled out the forms as soon as I could to get my gigantic (right...) return - it paid my rent for a month so I can't complain too much.

NOOoooooo....

Oh, what happened to the New York Times webpage? Apparently "they" changed it to have more space for blogs and other nonsense. I am so sad... They even changed their font. I am going to cry now.