FEAST OR FAMINE

The Financial newspaper in Georgia reports that Egypt, despite the current unrest, is still the most popular tourist destination for Georgian tourists. Resorts, such as Hurgada and Sharm El-Sheikh, remain popular, but Taba near the Jordan border is being favourably promoted by tour operators. Taba is promoted as a stepping stone to Jordan’s archaeological city of Petra. Georgians are attracted to Egypt as a holiday destination due to low costs, history, the climate, the sea, dive sites, its culture, its religious buildings and sites, and its pyramids and monuments. Another popular destination includes Europe, particularly the cities Prague, Paris, and Madrid. Currently a favourite destination is its neighbour, Turkey. Tour operators are promoting shopping trips to Istanbul due to the giant Shopping Fest from March 18 to April 26, 2011. Shops will be open 24 hours a day, offering sales, prizes, and campaigns in conjunction with the cities’ cultural activities, concerts, a...

Just when Lady Gaga disclosed that her tattoos are mainly on the left side of her body to respect her father’s wishes to “keep at least one side relatively normal” Georgian tattoo artists announced the rise in locals “getting a tat.” Tattoos have been in existence for thousands of years. Egyptian mummies have been discovered bearing tattoos. In the 1960s when tattooing rose substantially across Europe and America, Georgia was in the Soviet period where tattoos were thought to be for people with no opportunity for success in life. Therefore there have only been a limited number of tattoo parlours in Georgia, until recently. International hygienic standards have reduced the threat of infection and hepatitis, thereby increasing the interest in the body art. However, there remains the potential for infection and disease. Now in Georgia, men and women can get tattoos – permanent and temporary – in beauty centres and salons, as well as the usual tattoo parlour. Tempora...

After the conflict in August 2008 with Russia, many countries came to Georgia's financial aid. The United States was the largest donor. The second largest donor country was Japan with $200 million. Georgia is a recipient of the Japan's Yen loan, grant aid, and assistance under the technical cooperation programs. Before the conflict, from 2004 to 2008, Japan's Official Development Assistance invested $120 million. After August 2008, at the Brussels Joint Needs Assessment, Japan earmarked $200 million for Georgia. The Japanese government also provided $1 million through the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for emergency disaster relief. According to the newspaper, Georgia Today, Georgia is planning to assist Japan after the earthquake and tsunami disaster on March 11. Urgent medical aid and a rescue team will be sent to Japan. The Georgian Red Cross has also opened an account for donations to Japan.

Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is a car theft nightmare. Canberra drivers are the most likely in the whole of Australia to have their car stolen, according to a nationwide report by Virgin Car Insurance. The rate of car thefts is more than eight per 1,000 cars registered. Drivers in the capital also pay more for petrol and registration than anywhere else in the country. The capital was also rated as the second most expensive city for parking fines at $79, almost twice the price of Darwin’s $40 ticket for a parking penalty. The report also says Sydney is the worst city to drive in, the most expensive city for parking fees, parking fines and tolls, while also having the fewest parking spaces. The report found the average cost of two hours parking in an inner city car park in Sydney was $43.30, compared to $20.00 in Melbourne and just $2.00 in Hobart. Finding an on-street parking spot is also a problem for Sydney drivers, with just 10,483 council parking spaces avail...

In the ten years from 1789 to 1799 in the village of Montsignac in Southern France, love blooms among the tender petals of roses and the thorns of the French Revolution. In The Rose Grower (2001) Jean-Baptiste raises his three daughters, Claire, Sophie, and Mathilde amid the isolation of the farming village while writing a treatise on the history of French food. There is a day of excitement when an American balloonist, Stephen Fletcher from Paris, falls from the sky into their fields, changing their lives and their world forever. Claire, the eldest is married to a man in exile as a traitor. She lives with their son. She loves the brash American balloonist but is morally tied to her husband, Hubert. The balloonist loves Claire but knows he cannot have her. Instead, he hopes that Hubert dies in the war. Sophie, the middle daughter and an aspiring rose grower, loves the balloonist too, but her love is unrequited. The local doctor, Joseph, loves Sophie, but she barely ...

In November 2010 I evaluated three institutions—all promoting effective governance, media, and civil society in their country. All had received American financial aid for a substantial period of time. One was a private secondary school funded since 2003, the second was a think-tank organization funded since 2001, and the last was a post-secondary independent institution funded since 1996. In the initial years of funding assistance, there were virtually no competitors. All three organizations were leaders in their field, with solid reputations and international respect. They still are. They produced top-class graduates who gained work easily. They still are. They brought international experts to the country as guest lecturers, whose advanced “free-thinking” knowledge was well sought after. They still are. The alumni of all three organizations appreciated the best training their country could produce in good governance and transparency. Many continued their studies in America and ...

The Bathing Huts ( Les Cabines de bain ) is a book of recovery, or at least the beginning of recovery. It is written in 1982 off the coast of Brittany in the seaside town of Roscoff. A young woman sends herself to Roscoff to recover from an illness, but instead, spends her time reflecting on failed relationships and wasted potentialities. Roscoff is a town of old people and it is here that Anne is haunted by the death of her friends and by the memories of her ex-husband. She reflects, “that’s what life must be about: getting used to people leaving you.” Anne decides to make a list of all the mistakes and weaknesses that have marked the stages in her life. After writing the list, she goes for a swim: “it is in the sea that she forgets those things that she doesn’t like about herself.” She awards herself a diploma for having loved “difficult” people and forgives herself for having made a few mistakes in her life. She is comforted in her hotel room and begins to recov...

FAIRSHARE INTERNATIONAL Who? What? Why? FairShare International is a diverse, global community of individuals, families and businesses who are taking a stand for a fair share for everyone, always. We are against the unjust distribution and misuse of the world's resources - money, water, energy and minerals. We are for a fair go for all people. Of the earth's water, energy and minerals used each day, 80% is consumed by 20% of the earth's wealthy population (about a billion of us), leaving almost nothing for the majority of people and compromising the existence of future generations. This consumption is neither fair nor sustainable. By joining the FairShare community, you can help to: • decrease the gap between rich and poor • better use the earth's resources • be more ethical in connections with others • conserve the natural environment and threatened species How does 5.10.5.10 work? The FairShare community uses the formula of 5.10.5.1...

Peter Grose’s (2009) An Awkward Truth relives the bombing of Darwin harbor on February 19, 1942, in the early weeks of the Pacific War. It remains the single deadliest event in Australian history—“no cyclone, bushfire, train or plane crash, or flood” killed as many people on Australian soil or in its waters. The same Japanese pilot who led the attack on U.S. forces in Pearl Harbour on 8 December 1941 also led the attack on Darwin harbour from the same aircraft carriers, supplied by the same air crews, with a larger contingent of air fighters. Captain Mitsuo Fuchida raided Pearl Harbour with 183 air fighters, and added another five aircraft to attack Darwin two months later. More bombs fell on Darwin than Pearl Harbour. More ships were sunk in Darwin than Pearl Harbour. Yet, fewer lives were lost. In Pearl Harbour, 2,402 people were killed. In Darwin, first reports indicated that 19 people died. However, Grose cites the Lowe Commission of 1943 which agreed to “about 250” lives...