Two pictures from Towelday, taken by Erika…
Playing table tennis in Jablonca.
Main square of Košice.
(Click on the pictures for higher resolutions…)
Archive for May, 2008
Towelday
Wednesday, May 28th, 2008Don’t wake up…
Tuesday, May 27th, 2008
(From xkcd.com)
Japanese railway turns to feline ‘stationmaster’ for help
Monday, May 26th, 2008
In times of need, Japanese say they can even ask the cat for help. In this town in western Japan, people look to Tama, a nine-year-old cat working as master of an unmanned train station.
The tortoiseshell coloured creature, born and raised at Kishi Station on the provincial Kishigawa Line, wears a formal uniform cap of Wakayama Electric Railway and calmly watches passing passengers who greet her.
There are 10 train stations on the 14.3-kilometre (8.9-mile) line.
“Tama is the only stationmaster as we have to reduce personnel costs. You say you could ask for the cat’s help, but she is actually bringing luck to us,” Wakayama Electric spokeswoman Keiko Yamaki said.
The company feeds her in lieu of salary.
Tama was born from a stray cat brought to the station by a cleaner and kept by Toshiko Koyama, a local who runs a grocery store next door.
The station went unmanned in April 2006 as the line was losing money. But Tama stuck around.
She rose to national stardom in January 2007 as the railway company formally appointed her as “stationmaster”.
Her appointment had an immediately positive effect, boosting the number of passengers using the line in January by 17 percent from a year earlier.
For the year to March 2007, the number of passengers rose to 2.1 million, up 10 percent from the previous 12 months, according to Yamaki.
Happy with her successful job as stationmaster, the company promoted Tama to “super-stationmaster” in January this year, making her “the only female in a managerial position” in the company’s 36-strong workforce.
“She now holds the fifth highest position in the company,” Yamaki joked.
In reward for the promotion, Tama got a new “office”.
The stationmaster’s office, a renovated former ticket booth at the station, opened in April with the attendance of Kinokawa Mayor Shinji Nakamura and Wakayama Electric president Mitsunobu Kojima.
The office guarantees her some privacy.
“She declines to relieve herself when passengers are looking. We set the toilet where passengers can’t see,” Yamaki said.
Those who want to greet her must be careful so as not to miss her.
“She works nine to five and takes Sundays off,” Yamaki said.
Tama commutes with Koyama, the grocery store operator, from a shed next to the station. As Koyama tells her, “Ms Stationmaster, it’s time to work,” Tama comes along to the station, Yamaki said.
The stationmaster is set to appear in a French documentary film, being directed by Myriam Tonelotto, about wonder cats from around the world.
Slovakia
Sunday, May 25th, 2008It was good. It’s a bit still fresh (I just got home a couple of minutes ago), and I can’t really write about it – later I won’t be able to write either though. Expect pictures though.
Trip
Wednesday, May 21st, 2008Tomorrow we’re leaving to Slovakia for four days. We, as in the museum staff.
…but the occasional reader (is there any?) might already be used to the scarce updates…
Geohashing
Wednesday, May 21st, 2008
I wanna do this.
Protection
Wednesday, May 21st, 2008Since I’m getting more and more spams in comments, I decided to restrict commenting to registered users. However, anyone can register for free of corse, it’s just to filter out spambots. Use the Register link in the Meta secton to the right to register, and the Login to log in.
We apologise for the inconvenience.
Empty skies
Tuesday, May 20th, 2008I crave… for something. I don’t know. I just feel this emptiness inside, like a vacuum, and the urge to fill it with something. I just walk up and down, and can’t find my place, and don’t know what to do. I’ve lost something, or I’m lost, I can’t tell. I can’t put my finger on this all…
When will this be over at last?
555
Tuesday, May 20th, 2008
And celebration time – my minicity has reached rank 555. Thanks to Béla to catch that precious moment!
Remember, the links are:
- Increase population: http://thinkedem.myminicity.com
- Reduce unemployment: http://thinkedem.myminicity.com/ind
- Improve traffic: http://thinkedem.myminicity.com/tra
My dearest friend, if you don’t mind…
Sunday, May 18th, 2008This was one of my best weekends. I could talk about how Judit arrived on Friday, sooner than we planned, how we played Guitar Hero, enjoying every moment, how we talked until we got sleepy. I could tell how we watched L. A. Story and Nightmare Before Christmas together, I could talk about the omelette and the chili con carne, or the small walk to Slovakia, or how she fell asleep on the bus, and how the ticket inspector looked at my ticket, then looked at her, then back at my ticket, and then decided not to wake her up. I could talk about the movie we watched at her place, or how we had a very pleasant time talking and sipping some amaretto.
Instead, I’ll talk about her.
I met her back in 2003 – gosh, it was five years ago, yet it seems like we’ve known each other for ages. We lived on the same floor of a dorm for a year, and we developed a very deep friendship. I doubt I could tell what happened, only a couple of events – but there’s two thing I can tell about those days. One, she was always strong, kind and reliable, like an older sister would be. Two… well, there was many a time when I put my friends out, or got them blushing, but there was only one time I recall I was rendered speechless, and it was because of her. Let me explain that…
At the end of the school year (that is, after the spring semester) I had to move out of the dorm, and we didn’t know when we meet again… she left earlier, but before that, she invited me to her room, and there she played and sang Hallelujah. I can tell, I got a lot of presents before and after that, but that was the perfect present. Ever. I was so moved I couldn’t say anything, couldn’t do anything, but hug her.
There were many times since then when I felt happy, but if I compare any of those moments to that moment, I can clearly see, that was the happiest day of my life…
Judit, I love you so much I won’t let even that to ruin our friendship…
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Maybe there’s a god above
And all I ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you
And it’s not a cry you can hear at night,
It’s not somebody who’s seen the light
It’s cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah