Word Count: 1029 A few years ago, someone asked me if I had ever thought of pursuing a career in journalism. I replied, “No thanks, I actually respect myself.” As Stephen Colbert said way back in 2006, most journalists are just whores with a notepad. Here’s a case in point, brought to you by VICE, the stupidest “news” outlet on the planet (and it’s not … Continue reading How the Brave Moldovan Police Saved my Family from Evil Russia
Word Count: 523 The other day, I was surprised when the Unsleeping Eye alerted me to the fact that a popular survivalist had filmed not one but two episodes in Romania. The show is called Survivorman, featuring the legendary Les Stroud, and Season 7 Episodes 2-3 were billed as Les doing some survival in “Transylvania”. I say “Transylvania” because, unfortunately, Les was not in Transylvania. … Continue reading Survivorman Les Stroud in Romania
Word Count: 620 The other day, I took the following photograph of a carrot I bought at Chisinau’s wild and crazy central market: If I told you that I paid 3.5 MLD/kg for it, or less than $0.03/lb (0.16 euro/kg), you’d probably just shrug your shoulders and say, “Eh, that’s Moldova for you”. But I’m not posting this picture to talk about prices in Moldova. … Continue reading The Good, the Delicious, and the Ugly
Word Count: 2319 Well folks, it’s been an interesting week. A few simple comments about Odessa led to a lot of exploration and research, and so I thank everyone who contributed because it really gave me the impetus to learn a lot more about Romania during World War 2, a subject I had previously avoided because it was so ugly. I got some rather trenchant … Continue reading The Odessa Tales, Pt. 2
Word Count: 698 A couple of weeks ago, I had the chance to visit the lovely city of Odessa in Ukraine. A casual comment got one supporter all riled up, which led me to write a lengthy response. Since then, I pointed the Unsleeping Eye towards activities in that neck of the woods, and discovered even more evidence that the police in Odessa are corrupt … Continue reading Good Hitting Police
All Things Romania 