Roomba TV Spot

Saw the TV ad for Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner from iRobot today. I think this is a first. Hopefully the beginning of a new era...

Signature Problem?

Delaware DMV denied driver's license to a man who signs his name upside down. Good thing I don't live in Delaware; I have been signing my name fom right to left [mirror image] for the last 15 years.

Home Theater

This week's movies:

Italian Job... OK movie, good casting...
Bend It Like Beckham... Very nice to watch, very entertaining.

Carrying guns will curb crime

This sentence was used by a member of the Turkish parliment.

According to Musa Uzunkaya, a member of the TBMM Planning and Budget Commission, extending permits to own a gun to a permit to carry a gun will curb homicides resulting from heated discussion between two parties. Uzunkaya says that the incidences such the triple homicide resulting from a minor restroom discussion in Grand Bazaar could be prevented if the victims were to carry their own guns.

Here is the news snippet from Radikal.

Bezelye Playlist

Changing CDs and tapes for daily commute:

AC/DC - Stiff Upper Lip
Celtic Twilight 2
Jethro Tull - J-Tull Dot Com
Judas Priest - Demolition
Marillion - Fugazi
Pink Floyd - Division Bell

Turkish Flag

Speaking of 'crescent and star,' I keep seeing these Turkish flags on CNN and other media [TV or print]. Usually 50% of these flags turn out to be completely wrong. I don't understand why, in this day and age, they would get the image file from a respected source.

This page [dead link :] gives the correct dimensions.

Ayyildiz

New York Times journalist/author Stephen Kinzer, after spending 4-5 years in Turkey, wrote a book last year. it is titled 'Crescent and Star: Turkey between Two Worlds' (Crescent = Hilal [ay], Star = Yildiz in Turkish, representing the Turkish flag). The book is extremely helpful if you need to know about the country. Each chapter is another gem. The 'meze' sections between chapters are just great.

Turkish Engineers and Plant Workers

To start things, here is a picture that have been circulating in Turkish e-mail lists. I have received several copies of this pictures. I am not sure if these dudes are Turkish, and there are no indications that they are. However, it seems that everybody I know -including myself- believes that this is a "very Turkish" behavior.

One e-mail message said 'Nothing can stop Turkish engineers and plant workers!' Nothing indeed...

Starting now...

[Sometime in 2005, I decided to stop administrating my own blogs using Movable Type (ending a 2 year laboratory test) and transfered all 'turkolog' and 'Daily Backup' postings under 'Daily Backup' on blogspot. Keeping this one for historical reasons :]

I have been trying to start this blog for a long time. It took me a while to get a decent web hosting service, get MovableType installed. 'turkolog' was not first priority for the last few months; first priority was bebelog for obvious reasons.

There was actully a first version of this blog on blogger, but never took off.

Let's give this another shot. As the name suggests, this blog is all about Turkey, Turkish events, things, culture. I have a feeling it will initially be fairly negative, as things are not going well for Turks. I will actively try to keep this blog fun and unbiased. Cannot promise though...

Here we go...

Movies at Van Ness

Went to an advance screening of 'Intolerable Cruelty...'

Zeta-Jones is obviously a good choice for her role, but Clooney is just perfect. Very good movie, could word of mouth that this one higher?

Just stupid

One of the most stupid web sites on the net:

NETcevap.org