Monthly Archive for September, 2005

SF, day 18

Well, I guess it’s time for another update on my non-smoking ways. I can say with some certainty that during these 18 days, about half of the nights were filled with dreams about smoking a cigarette. Interestingly though, I don’t think about smoking much during the day. Sure, sometimes I wish I could smoke a cigarette, just because I’m used to it. But I’m not in a constant battle with myself over the question of going back to smoking or not. I don’t like not smoking, but I like my demonstration of will-power, and for now, that’s enough for me to not resume the habit.

Just out of curiosity (and some sentimentality) I checked out the website of Gauloises manufacturer Altadis. I stumbled upon a PDF document they entitled “Cigarettes and Health”. Here are a few highlights:

Anyone who wants to stop smoking can do so. Millions of smokers quit every year, most of the time without any form of support or medical supervision.

That’s what I’ve been saying all the time. I mean, what’s the sense behind quitting if it costs you twice as much? They go on with this:

That’s why, paradoxically, too much emphasis on likening tobacco to drugs may discourage people from attempting to stop. Furthermore, such a comparison is excessive, when you consider that consumption of tobacco
never alters the behavior of smokers in a negative way.

Good point. Although some aggressive non-smokers sometimes like to hint at the opposite, smokers are generally good people. Like me.

Ah, and here’s my favourite paragraph:

Health authorities around the world have adopted legislation that significantly extends the prohibition of smoking in public places. While smoking should clearly be banned in public places, such as hospitals, schools or certain transportation facilities, areas should be reserved for smokers everywhere else, in particular in the workplace and common areas (bars, restaurants, etc.) in order to respect individual freedom of choice.

Right on.

R.I.P. Critter

Dear old critter, dignified head of my parent’s cat household, found his early demise yesterday. He’s been a good sport through all of the twelve years of his existence, and although I pretended to, I never actually minded him biting my toes when he was impatiently waiting to be fed.

Critter, you’ll be missed.

PS: I think it was a stroke of luck that I took this picture of him feigning death just two weeks ago.

Fountain mountain

Naschmarkt brunch

We went to buy delicacies and have brunch at the Naschmarkt:

coffee and liquorice
Now that I’ve sworn off the cancer-stick, on to my next infatuation: liquorice. The good thing about it: it’s not forbidden in public buildings. The bad thing: it’s remarkably unlike a cigarette.

ham and eggs
My brunch. Ham & eggs. Everyone else ordered exotic stuff like “Turkish breakfast” or “Wafer breakfast”. Not for me. I like my ham.

largest pumpkin
This is by far the largest pumpkin I’ve been face to face with. The text says:
I’m a risotto pumpkin.
I say:
What the fuck?

How to become an Austrian

Although many people here in Austria beg to differ, it’s actually quite a nice country to live in. Especially if you’re a fugitive, or emigrated to Austria in search of better living conditions.
The downside is, that our government is not only ruthlessly conservative, it’s also extremely, and I’d like to emphasize on that, extremely stupid. Apart from the fact that it’s destroyed itself in 2002, only to return again with some shifted balance, or that ministers tend to come and go as quickly as the tenants in my neighboring flat (considering that about a year ago two con-artists used to inhabit said flat, I don’t think my comparison is very far off the mark), it is filled with idiots who think that the greatest threat to our nation lies in the millions of immigrant children trying to cheat their way into becoming legal citizens of Austria. Thus they’ve devised a little scheme in order to sort out those who really are worthy to become citizens of this great nation and those who better keep their Turkish, Albanian, Nigerian or whatever citizenship. So, here’s their plan: If you’re an immigrant child, they want some kind of proof that you’re actually not too stupid to become Austrian (which is interesting, because if you’re born in Austria you can be as stupid as you like, and still keep your citizenship…hell, you can even found new parties and cheat yourself into the government).
Well, so government has devised this plan that any kid who’s failed a class, is not eligible to become an Austrian citizen. So even if you’ve mastered the German language (something which probably about 1/10th of BZÖ politicians have managed to do), but are not exactly a whizz-kid in maths and failed that class, well, then you’re out of luck.
So here’s my proposal: Why not let every member of government take that test they devised for kids who failed classes, and everyone who doesn’t have a perfect score will have to be let go?

Here’s a link
to an article describing the mess. In German. Which you should be able to read around here.




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