Saturday, February 23, 2008

Janez D.


I generally don't like politics so I don't follow it and don't talk about it. The way I see it is talking rather than working, saying things not necessarily meaning them, getting money not necessarily deserving it… I know nobody is perfect and I know I am not doing justice here to people, who take this profession seriously, with dignity and pride, who care about the job they do, who know they are there elected by people to work for people... As I said, politics is not my topic, I'm making an exception here to pay tribute to Janez D., a politician I liked.
Drnovšek was our ex PM and our ex President, a man who chose to live a simple life in a cottage in Zaplana baking his own bread rather than in a luxurious presidential palace, the man who personaly brought trailers to the homeless gypsy family rejected by their angry co- villagers, the white man from the inauguration of the Indian President in Bolivia, the man launching his personal peace initiatives for Kosovo and Darfur, the man believing we can make the world a better place for us all, a charismatic man with good heart and common sense listening and speaking to people, the only President whose Christmas message I listened to. He died tonight. I wish him peace.

Friday, February 15, 2008

Touring Unesco's World Heritage sites


On an island hop, originally uploaded by alvanman.

I'm doing a tour of Unesco's World Heritage sites. I have just returned from the Puerto-Princesa Subterranean River National Park in the Philippines.

This park features a spectacular limestone karst landscape with an underground river. One of the river's distinguishing features is that it emerges directly into the sea, and its lower portion is subject to tidal influences. The area also represents a significant habitat for biodiversity conservation. The site contains a full 'mountain-to-sea' ecosystem and has some of the most important forests in Asia.

Heh, just kidding. I wish I could... But... I've just come across this lovely site - http://www.world-heritage-tour.org/(requires registration), where you can enjoy 360-degree imaging of 216 Unesco's World Heritage sites (25% of all 851 registered by UNESCO), 15 are on the World Monuments Fund Watch List and 67 are additions by WHTour.org. Altogether there are 1641 panographies (360-degree imaging). More sites are going to be added in the near future. It's cool, you have a 360 degree view, you can zoom in and out, access short descriptions of the sites and monuments... I navigated the sites by clicking the map... the Search option didn't seem to work unfortunately. Check it out and let me know where you've gone. Enjoy!