The Fortified Church of Cisnadioara
A short way out of Sibiu, off the road towards Paltinis, turning left towards Cisnadie there is the small village of Cisnadioara. Many signs greet the traveler warning of the existance of a 13th century fortified church. We visited this church today.
It's not just a church but actually the remains of a medieval fortification (including a church) which shelttered the inhabitants of Cisnadioara during its most troubling times. Walking into the church you can still feel the gravity and weight of the place's history, although little remains of the paintings that once adorned its walls or the objects that once served the needs of its populace.
Attached is a picture I've named "from the business end of a jousting lance" (widescreen desktop version just 2 clicks away). Yes, that is a reproduction of a 4m jousting lance. No, I did not bring a deadly weapon into a church, it was already there.
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| Christian Nasulea - 28.10.2008 | |
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And the Celebrations Lasted for Days
It all started last Saturday... with a short visit from friends and some cake. Sunday we had a big dinner, Monday we had a party and so on till Friday we had another party and yesterday and the day before yesterday we had more dinners. Although we usually have dinner every day these past 9 or 10 days felt like a continuous feast.
The primary reason was that it was my birthday. Yes, I am, by numbers, one year older (by mind and soul probably 2 years younger).
Lots of thanks to all those who phoned me, emailed me, sms-ed me, facebooked me, wished me well by any means or just remembered me in their passing thoughts on account of my birthday.
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| Christian Nasulea - 27.10.2008 | |
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Azerbaijan and Istanbul Travel Plans
As I've promised to keep people informed, know that I will be in Azerbaijan in Baku from next Friday (the 31st of October) until Sunday night. I will then spend Monday and Tuesday in Istanbul.
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| Christian Nasulea - 25.10.2008 | |
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The Fallacy of Compounding Returns
I often find myself discussing economic issues with my friends. Some discussions can get very technical especially with some highly technical, highly skilled friends. What I've posted below is a direct transcript of what Larry sent me regarding private pensions and compounding returns.
The case described has probably happened to millions of accounts in the US.
Mathematically, compounding returns generate huge returns over time. If an investment grows on average 10% annually for 30 years, you get a 1700% return over that time. This is the rationale behind private pensions. However, two facts make this highly perilous for individual investors.
Volatile returns and uneven investments
10% average return is only an average. In fact here are the actual returns for the US markets in the last 17 years:
1991 30.47%
1992 7.62%
1993 10.08%
1994 1.32%
1995 37.58%
1996 22.96%
1997 33.36%
1998 28.58%
1999 21.04%
2000 -9.10%
2001 -11.89%
2002 -22.10%
2003 28.69%
2004 10.88%
2005 4.91%
2006 15.79%
2007 5.49%
2008 -35%
And of course, to date, the US market is about -35% for the year, which wipes out a significant amount of return. However, an investment made in 1991 would still have turned out pretty well. But here is the first problem: people invest every year in their private pensions. Unless you get a huge inheritance and invest it all when you're young, you will never take full advantage of compounding returns. In fact, like most people, they make more money as their career progresses, so if you just happen to be unlucky enough to work in a 30-40 year window where all the high returns happen towards the beginning and all the poor returns happen when you are able to save the most, you can end up in negative territory easily
I still believe in free market principles as long as there is transparency. However, as you can see from this real life example, there is a pragmatic case for a minimal level of defined benefit pension insurance (i.e. public pension).
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| Christian Nasulea - 24.10.2008 | |
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Bike Fall
The inevitable finally happened. After countless downhill bike runs on-road and off-road, this morning I fell on my 3rd run, on the road between Tesila and Secaria.
The paved part of the road ended and I came into the curve too fast, I leaned down thinking I was on compacted earth but all my tires caught under them was dust. I broke my saddle and a part of a pedal, I ripped the blouse I was wearing in several places around my left shoulder and I messed up my knee pads.
Personally, all I have to show for it is a tiny bruise on my right palm. Thank you, SixSixOne, for designing good body armour and good helmets.
Included below is a video of the bike ride as it was shot from the action camera on my handle bar. You can see how easy it all was (sun shining, birds singing) and how quickly it all went sour.
The music is Nirvana's "Oh, the Guilt" and yes, the footage of the bike ride is played at double its normal speed for consistency with the soundtrack, to avoid boredom and, last but not least, for its "artistic impression".
By the way, the action camera survived perfectly intact and was back up to speed after nothing more than a bit of dusting. After all, I had a ton of dust in my mouth, some was bound to make its way onto the ATC3K as well.
I should also mention that after some quick infield fixes I was able to get the bike back in working order and do 3 more runs today, one of which on an extremely impressive off-road trail. I'm very happy with having all these things available just a few kilometers away from my house.
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| Christian Nasulea - 19.10.2008 | |
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No TV, Yes TV, No Cable. Where do I live?
I've been sort of living without television for a while now.
I don't have a TV set in Bucharest where I live, formally at least. I mean I live there formally. I'm not actually sure I can even say I live there formally. Officially I still live at home with my parents. At least that's what it says on my ID and on the new ID I'm going to get in a couple of days. Formally, as far as most people are concerned, I live in Bucharest. What does "formally" even mean? Practically I spend a couple of days in Bucharest every week, a full day somewhere near Bucharest and the rest at home in Comarnic. Well, not exactly... of the time spent in Comarnic I always travel a few days to other places and just find myself sleeping at home. So, I sleep 2-3 nights in Bucharest and 2-3 days in Comarnic. Philosophically, home is where the heart is. Does that mean I don't live anywhere?
But I digress. Where I am now I have a TV set but some idiots cut down a tree at 17:00:20 and with it all the cables bringing television to light and enchant our homes. So, there's no cable TV.
Thank God for multiple WAN redundant Internet connections!
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| Christian Nasulea - 18.10.2008 | |
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Yahoo! Pingbox
I've tested quite a few bits of Web 2.0 innovation lately. The one I'm most impressed with and that's generated the most talk is the Yahoo! Pingbox installed on the right side of this blog, under the Blogroll. That's right! You just need to scroll a bit down and look where it says "Christian Nasulea, Available" to see it.
Sure, I've seen plenty of other web chat applets and scripts before but this one connects directly to my Yahoo! Messenger account. This means I don't need to install any additional software or change my online habits in any way in order to be able to interact directly with my website's visitors.
If you'd like to help me test it further click on Nickname and write your name. Thanks to Mum, Gabi and Florin for helping me so far.
If you've got a website or blog of your own the Yahoo! Pingbox is definitely a component worth considering.
There are however a few possible counterpoints that will certainly come up in the debates to follow. One is the potential loss of comment traffic, as some people might be inclined to contact you directly instead of commenting on your blog posts. The other is the potential loss in labour productivity generated by a website owner being interrupted incessantly by visitors to the website.
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| Christian Nasulea - 18.10.2008 | |
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Skies Darkened with Cables
Today I walked a few kilometers through Bucharest looking for an address. On my way I passed a few interestingly scary sights like the one in the attached picture.
So, what do you think? Does Bucharest need to bury all its cables?
I think it does.
Incidentally, one of the first things I saw on the news when I got home was a report about a similar pole that collapsed under the weight of the cables hanging from it damaging 2 cars. You can see the ProTV News report here. Watch the end of the report to see what happens one month after one of these poles collapses.
Oh yeah, that guy, up on the pole, was actually installing more cables.
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| Christian Nasulea - 17.10.2008 | |
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Trees On Strike
Tomorrow thousands of trees around the country are going on strike.
The event organized by Rotaract (www.rotaract.ro) will involve trees in significant
areas of Bucharest and other major cities. Trees taking part in the event will be wearing an adhesive strap saying "Eu iti dau oxigenul!" (EN: I give you the oxygen!)
Read more on Maria's Blog or on the event website euitidauoxigenul.ro. Both websites are in Romanian.
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| Christian Nasulea - 17.10.2008 | |
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Ping Yes, Browse No
After reinstalling Vista 64 on a computer I found myself unable to open any websites with Internet Explorer.
I checked network settings, including DNS. Everything looked perfect. The Internet connection icon in the system tray told me everything was fine, too. In the meantime Windows Update downloaded and installed several hundred megs worth of updates.
Still no luck browsing with Internet Explorer, though.
I thought "fine, you useless piece of Microsoft browser, I'll install Firefox". Much to my surprise Firefox would return the same "Address not found" message IE did.
It turns out the TCP/IP stack was messed up. This usually happens when you uninstall software, especially adware or firewall programs. This time it happened on a fresh install.
To fix the issue in Vista press Windows+R to bring up the run dialog, type cmd and Enter to open a command prompt and then type in netsh winsock reset followed by Enter. You'll get confirmation and be told you need to reboot to complete the fix. Do so.
On XP download this file, run it and carefully follow instructions.
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| Christian Nasulea - 15.10.2008 | |
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