friday dance with news

Today's Zaman reports on road accidents. "At least forty-six people were killed and 130 injured on Turkey's roads over the weekend, continuing the worrying upward trend in car accidents over the past 10 years, with experts saying driver errors stemming from Turkey's lack of oversight in how driver's licenses are issued being the main cause of most fatal accidents."   
eh. but it says that in some schools, you just show your ID and someone else takes the test for you, so...i did it for nothing then? i feel cheated. (because in all honesty the exam was not very educative in itself. i remember some fuzzy stuff about the car engine but thats it).
if we look at the worldwide traffic related death statistics, Turkey's neighbors, China and Africa are doing much worse. so i wonder how do they get their licenses? or are the causes something else than driver related?

Forbes wrote an article on the Finnish school system. well there are several articles like this, lalala...  what was funny was the trust index chart. in Turkey, 23,5% of people express a high level of trust in others (compare to Finland's 85,5%). hehe. very descriptive indeed. what can you trust?
will the plummer come today cos he promised?
will my friend come to my party as she said she would?
does be bank process the cheque in 1 week as they should?
does the pharmacist know what he is talking about when he suggests you take XX for XX?
will your boyfriend come home at 5pm as he said he would?

the answer is always maybe. then there is a bunch of great things to balance this lack of trust and uncertainty.

Karoliina's blog linked to this ad that is luring tourists;

i fund the video average but anyway nice to watch. i paid attention to the fact that christian churches and other religions got a lot of attention, although they are minorities. a bit part of the past though, of course. but i think the aim could be to try prove to conservative europeans/americans that istanbul is not SO muslim. anyway the video just focused on old stuff, the fancy skyscrapers - and there are many - are also part of the skyline these days, so i think they should be featured as well, to show that istanbul is old AND new.

this Istanbul-video is also nice, very touristy but well done;


and another, made with time-lapse technique;


i have eaten eggplant kebab for lunch 3 days in a row now. hmm.

but hey its friday? i wonder what the weekend will bring??? laundry day for one, im sure...