Cav's Place

Picking up from where the previous report left off, I’ll start this one with Saturday, February 18, when children and parents were again called to Victory Square. Up to 500 people attended, children writing messages with chalk on the pavement, one of the messages also being created with flowerpots after being written with large letters. After that, during the evening’s protest, similar or perhaps slightly larger numbers participated, reports going to 600 or even 700. Candles were also placed on the large message left from the children’s protest, where flowerpots had been hours earlier.

The next Sunday protest was a subdued affair due to the constant rain, on top of the temperature only a little above freezing. Under those circumstances, though the main event was calling people to Victory Square from 7 PM and another even from 6 PM, a message that was shared stated that we should at least be there between 8 PM and 9:30 PM, so not staying that long and reducing the risk of some leaving by the time others arrive, for the peak to be more relevant when the turnout was obviously expected to be low. And it was when you compare it to the previous numbers, but about 2500 or, according to some, 3000 seemed good enough for me, considering the conditions. For the first time since the January 29 march, I also took some pictures.

The one more notable day from this point of view before the following Sunday was Tuesday, February 21, when the Parliament finally formally rejected OUG 13, which is what these protests started from, and approved OUG 14, though which the Government had repealed OUG 13 on February 5. A few hundred people, reasonable estimates going to about 400, were in Victory Square that evening, some to celebrate the decision in a way, but with most of the measures that initially triggered the protests being set to be passed through the Parliament as regular laws and the PSD+ALDE coalition having majority, it definitely doesn’t mean it’s over even when it comes only to these particular issues.
Otherwise, there have been people in the Square every day, a few even during the day, but the numbers were low each evening, so I’ll just go through the list of reports quickly, starting with Monday, February 20, when most sources mentioned only dozens of participants, with one TV station that supports these protests going as high as 150. For Wednesday I saw reports of around or maybe slightly over 100. Then the regular sources stopped covering the daily protests, so I resorted to an independent source that focuses a lot on protests in general, but their numbers seem inflated, so I’m just posting the fact that they mentioned about 200 Thursday and Saturday and maybe up to 300 Friday because they’re the only numbers I have.

Then came another Sunday protest, on February 26, the better conditions also allowing another plan to be set in motion, that being to create the European Union’s flag the same way the Romanian one had been created two weeks before. Unlike last time, since this was also an attempt to counter the accusations of nationalism coming from most known activists then, there were no other such accusations, but also very few messages from known groups or activists mentioning this plan either way, though there was a general note appreciating the fact that the European project is supported, especially considering recent events. There were some complaints from various individuals who are nationalists or have other issues with the European Union, however.
There was also an actual counter-protest that took place on the sidewalk across the Square from the Government, a few people holding large banners there and only leaving after the flag moment, which took place at 9 PM, though a fair number of those participating in the evening’s announced protest had slowly gathered in front of them to complain. Though those large banners attacked institutions that many protesters support, including the justice system in general, some media sources that support the protests, all parties including the new USR, and even supported leaving the European Union and therefore directly opposed the evening’s main idea, I’m not aware of the situation escalating past complaints and occasional shouts, but there was some tension there and gendarmes were monitoring the area carefully. There were cheers mixed with some loud cursing when that group finally left.
Some 5000 people are said to have been in the Square at the peak, so at 9 PM, and I may add the fact that a small group was gathering signatures for a referendum to remove the Mayor of Bucharest, Gabriela Firea, from office. Protesters started leaving rather quickly after the flag moment ended though, so numbers were likely down into the hundreds by 9:40 PM, when I started making my way away as well. Also took pictures again, looking for interesting signs and banners, as there were plenty and the lower turnout meant I could move around and spot them. And yes, most of the large banners from the counter-protest are there as well, though I refused to include a couple.

There were some people still protesting in Victory Square last evening and this evening as well, but just having that one site that may inflate the numbers to resort to for estimates, and they say 200 Monday and 250 today. I also see them mention that signatures for that referendum are still being gathered, though the number required makes the initiative unquestionably doomed and a complete waste of effort and resources.

But this post can’t end here, because a new issue appeared last Wednesday, when discussions about an emergency ordinance adopted last year by the previous government and which established penalties for illegal logging and related activities not covered by other existing laws headed firmly in the direction of at least drastically reducing the fines and increasing allowances, if not repealing it entirely. It must be noted that environmental NGOs were not invited to these discussions, so two days later, on February 24, a common statement firmly rejecting these proposals was released by four of them, including WWF Romania and Greenpeace Romania, plus the coalition whose main objective is identifying and protecting Natura 2000 sites in Romania. People have also been asked since then to send messages to the members of the committees which will discuss the fate of this ordinance, demanding the rejection of the proposals.
And, while a few people had signs mentioning the matter on Sunday as well, a first protest actually regarding this issue took place today at Izvor park, in front of the Parliament. In fact, those who had showed up to stage the counter-protest Sunday evening were the first ones there, at 9 AM, displaying those same banners for a little while, as one of them admittedly mentions the matter of deforestation, though it portrays the EU as the culprit. The main protest was later, yet sadly, with a start time listed as 5 PM and on a weekday, the turnout couldn’t be expected to be high and only about 20 people showed up by 6 PM, when gendarmes started carding those who were there and I left, along with a few others. So the pictures I took are limited to what I saw until that point, though somebody said others remained a while longer and I found what was a live video of what appears to be the actual end of the evening’s protest, ending shortly before 7 PM. A few who could only arrive a fair bit later, after 7:30 PM, posted annoyed messages and pictures showing that they found nobody else there.

Been meaning to add a personal post here since Wednesday evening, after this week’s run and the uptime getting over 70 days, but then left it for Thursday, then for yesterday, then pushed a bit more then in order to finish reading Enemy of Man that evening and be able to add the quick review for it as this week’s first post in order to delay this for one more day. But now I’m out of options, because on top of the usual idea of avoiding a Sunday update, I’ll be going to the protest tomorrow evening again of course, so no way I’ll be writing anything then.

Since I mentioned tomorrow’s protest, let’s take things in order and start with last Sunday’s, when I also went despite the rain and needing to walk there again, since the metro card had expired and dad hadn’t bought another yet. Left later than usual, around 7 PM, but there were posts to at least be there between 8 PM and 9:30 PM, so for less time but show we still have our eyes on them despite the conditions, and that’s what I aimed for, more or less, managing to get there at 8:10 PM. Was soaked, but more or less wandered around the crowd and actually, for the first time since the January 29 march, I took pictures. Yes, I took my camera out in the cold pouring rain, but it did its job, so I took those pictures, grabbed a hot tea after 9 PM from those offering it, and a bit after 9:30 PM I slowly made my way away, first going to the metro station to have a roof over my head while taking the batteries out of the camera, then walking for 15 minutes or so to the bus stop.
Of course, I could have walked back the same way I walked there, and I was already soaking wet, but I do still have a few trips on that bus card, so chose to go that route… Only to turn the corner and see the bus I needed just leave the station, leaving me to wonder whether I should wait for the next one or take the other one, which has the same route until two stops away from where I’d be getting off the right one. And, considering what happened last time, when I waited for 35 minutes and no other bus of that number came, I picked the latter option, got off where the route stops being common… And barely a minute later saw another bus of the right kind go past me, so waiting just a little longer would have meant not needing to walk two more stops on the way back.

Another problem was that I apparently did something to my right ankle that evening, though it is possible that it’s just a matter of the boots pressing against it in some wrong way, since it wasn’t exactly hurting while walking otherwise. But I had to go get myself bread Monday, so on went the boots again and then it was quite a struggle. The melting snow definitely didn’t help, but the real issue was that I first, after taking out the recyclables as well, walked to one hypermarket, saw that they didn’t seem to have the kind of bread I wanted even though it was advertised as being on special offer, then walked to another location, where I saw it wasn’t even listed, then walked back to the first one. And when going to that second location I also tried to take a shortcut and ended up in fact making myself walk up to a third more. So, in total, Google Maps said I walked some 9.5 kilometers on streets, plus the distance covered in the stores, and in the malls they’re in.
There was a point during the walk when the ankle seemed to be getting a bit better, but after leaving that second location it really wanted to remind me that I was pushing when I shouldn’t and it kept getting worse. Still, eventually managed to get myself to ask after I got back to the first location and was told that the kind of bread I wanted was actually there, but it sure didn’t look like it, nor does it taste or feel like it. Still, I got myself bread for ten days, some cabbage that should last me until perhaps the middle of next week, and then some yogurt as well which, added to what I already had, should last until at least March 10, all discounted and coming to a total of 9.99 RON when I had 10 and a bit, and didn’t particularly care to spend that loose change as well. The ankle really didn’t like the added weight on the way back though, feeling like something was going to give before I reached the building, but it didn’t and it’s been well enough since, though there are still some situations in which it hurts a bit.

Monday evening I also started that ebook I picked up for free at some point last year, finishing it yesterday. And Tuesday I installed Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic, which led to a scary moment when it kept trying to do things I really don’t know why it needs to do and Comodo kept asking me about it, leading to a conflict that caused my computer to freeze, the screen being black and nothing responding. With an uptime of over 69 days at that moment, so less than a day under ten full weeks, I had one more reason not to want to press the reset button, and also did remember a similar freeze caused by King of Dragon Pass, when I realized Comodo’s HIPS was the reason, so I knew each prompt should clear away, assuming “block” as the answer, after two minutes, and waited… And after some 15 minutes, the game apparently finally gave up, shut down, and the system recovered. After which I saw what the prompts had been about, granted it permissions for protected registry entries and accessing the memory of other applications, though I must again state it really shouldn’t need to go there, and then it worked.
Only actually started playing a bit, and by that I mean the first tutorial scenario despite obviously not needing to go through it at this point, after eating that night though, so I’ll say I started playing it on Wednesday. There is another issue, however, namely the fact that the graphics stutter badly and switching to software mode only fixes the scrolling text at the start of scenarios, once you start actually playing it’s the same. The game isn’t slower though, so it seems to be a matter of only displaying one frame out of quite a number, so it bothers but still allows playing well enough, being a TBS. Read that it may be caused by not having rebooted the computer in a long time, which is definitely my case, but I’m not going to reboot now to test it if I don’t absolutely have to for other reasons.

So let me move to Wednesday, when I ran another ten kilometers, also using my running shoes again, for the first time in quite a while. Was worried about my ankle, still not quite certain even as I was getting ready to leave, and it did bother me a little for a while, but while during the first lap I was thinking I may be risking too much by pushing it, towards the end of the second it tended to stop bothering me and didn’t get worse again later. So the time was 51:42, which is the third fastest on this distance and exactly three minutes faster than last week, in good part thanks to the pretty good conditions and mostly dry path. There was some wind and quite a number of people, but it sure was better than cold and muck and either melting or frozen snow. Sector times were 4:48, 5:25, 6:26, 4:59, 5:26, 6:16, 5:00, 5:24, 6:07 and 1:51, making for lap times of 16:39, 16:41 and 16:31.
Was rather weird before actually getting to run though, since I “managed” to forget my stopwatch and only realized it as I was about to cross the road to get to the park entrance and meant to pull my sleeves over my hands, at which point I noticed that nothing was holding my right one. So I went back for it, but then, since I hadn’t locked the door after coming in and therefore didn’t need to unlock it when going back out, I couldn’t remember whether I had locked it after leaving and was too worried to just keep going. So after just crossing the road here in front of the building, I crossed it back to check, noticing that I had locked it after all, and only then could finally make my way to the park again and actually start the run.

One last thing to say would be that I did somehow get the courage to finally contact that used books store I had found, which advertised purchasing books from people, including coming to their home to evaluate and then pick up, also listing e-mail as contact information and having released information stating that they had a very good 2016. Based on that, I had reason to hope they’ll agree to take these books that are still in these boxes in my room and pay a reasonable amount for those in good condition, but that didn’t get anywhere so far.
Since they also mention donations on that page, in my initial message I said I’d be very willing to donate all but a few of these books, but only to an institution which will then also make them available for free, so that’s only an option if they can intermediate such a donation and make it verifiable, yet it seems they just read that there was something about a donation there and wrote back a thrilled reply thanking me for the donation and saying to call them to pick up the books. When I told them to read my initial message again, and then also repeated my point and that it’d be wrong to donate to someone who’ll then try to sell the donation for profit, they were far less enthusiastic, offered a supposedly maximum price for the few books I particularly mean to sell out of this pile that’s barely half of the minimum I’d be willing to accept, and then didn’t reply again so far after I said that’s too little for those but I’m still waiting for an offer for the rest, or for them to send back a list of those they may be interested in out of the rest. But I sent that message Thursday evening and it’s a long list for them to go through, so I’ll give them until next week, then start looking for places to donate most of these to again if I won’t get an offer from them, or at least not a decent one.

Since this is sadly so rare among self-published books that it pretty much requires mentioning, I’ll start by saying that Enemy of Man is well edited. More notably, however, it’s also properly constructed, not only in terms of the action, which keeps escalating and eventually explodes in a manner which may, in itself, be almost overwhelming, but also because greater depth and complexity is revealed to the reader as the story progresses, the characters develop, the scope expands from the initial focused heroic tale, and bits of information about the huge and intriguing planet, multiple intelligent and semi-intelligent species and even the galaxy itself begin to be presented.
The problems start from the fact that the heroic tale relies too often on the hero’s luck and at times makes even less sense than that in order to allow survival, yet the bigger issue is that this greater complexity and scope is mainly only hinted at, too little actual information about the planet, the species and the events, past and present, being provided. As a result, when it should all come together, there’s little reason to care, and I for one felt that the great escalation, in itself somewhat similar to events which in other books were capable of moving me to tears, pretty much only got in the way, halting or at least being a frustrating complication in the way of the story of the characters that I actually had at least some reason to be interested in. Therefore, while I obviously recognize at a rational level that species and planets and the galaxy are infinitely more important than any characters, I have little interest in the bigger story I gather the rest of the series is about, because this first book failed to make me feel involved in it.

Rating: 3/5

I’ll start this post with something that happened today and is not related to the recent protests taking place here, because it marks a victory in a process started with the May 2015 March for Forests. I’m referring to the announcement that the FSC disassociated itself from the Schweighofer Group, the statement making it clear that the decision is a result of the Group’s violation of standards in their operations in Romania. So another demand of the activists who have maintained this campaign for close to two years now has been met and there is hope for further improvements, as the announcement also states that the FSC intends to “begin to build a permanent presence in Romania […], to identify long term solutions to the challenges of responsible forest management in the country“.

And now let me pick up from where the previous report left off and say that February 10 seems to have started with a flash mob that took place at Unirii metro station in the morning, a handful of people singing the anthem and handing out the list of demands agreed on by some. Then there was the regular protest in Victory Square in the evening, some 5000 or 6000 people attending at the peak, about 5000 attending Saturday evening as well. However, Saturday began with a “marathon of democracy”, reports stating that four people actually managed to run the distance of a complete marathon in the area surrounding the Government, some others joining them at various times and for various distances. In between, one man sat down in Victory Square at 8 PM Friday evening and only left at 8:30 AM Saturday morning, resisting all through the cold night.

The next major protest was once again scheduled for Sunday, February 12, the evening’s “main event” being preceded by a dancing flash mob, handing out fliers with that list of demands I mentioned above as well and a plan to set up boards or large sheets of paper with various questions for participants to write their brief answers to, though I can’t say I saw or heard anything about this last part actually happening, whether when I arrived that evening or in the reports I read later. One of those badly injured in the Colectiv club fire also announced that she’ll celebrate her birthday in the Square that evening.
One problem, on the other hand, was that the “main event” included creating the Romanian flag at 9 PM, participants being asked to hold colored sheets of paper above their heads and light them with their phones or flashlights. For most known activists, this was seen as another dangerous step toward promoting harmful nationalism and also a troubling reminder of the Communist days, so many spoke out firmly against it. It was made clear that it won’t stop them from participating in the protest otherwise, but they definitely won’t take part in that moment, and that was my attitude as well.
About the protest itself, while still stunning compared to anything seen here before this year, it was significantly less massive than the previous ones and, while still creative, it seemed a fair bit more subdued, or at least that was my impression while there. Estimates seem to settle around 50000 participants, though some went as high as 70000, and that peak was reached when the flag was formed. Since I got myself out of the crowd before 9 PM and returned later, to make it perfectly clear that I refused to have anything to do with that moment, I was able to easily see how many people were starting to clear away as soon as it was over, likely due to the cold. The rest tended to remain until the anthem was sung, at 10 PM, and then cleared away as well, not many being left by 10:30 PM, when I left as well. A report mentions only about 100 protesters still in the area at 11 PM.

As for this week, reports mention a peak of about 1000 people in Victory Square Monday and Tuesday evening, some estimates going as high as 1500 for Monday, then the number dropping to maybe some 700 Wednesday and some 500 or 600 Thursday. After “#REZIST” (resist) was spelled in the Square with flowerpots earlier today, estimates mention some 700 protesting during the evening. Those who still attend seem focused on demanding the Government’s resignation and, though I don’t really know this and some were still speaking out against the idea when others were finally realizing, last week, that we should just focus on the weekends because daily protests at this point only exhaust participants and will eventually end up aiding those we’re fighting against, I rather doubt known activists are among them anymore.
The protest in front of the National Audiovisual Council, which was initially scheduled for last week and then delayed, did take place Tuesday evening, but reports state that only a few people attended, which was not surprising. In addition, gendarmes weren’t as friendly with those few as they’ve been with the rest, and there are also reports of the attempted removal of one person who had continued to come to Victory Square in the morning all this time, as he was told that protection fences won’t be placed in the area so early and he can’t be there without them, though a report I’m reading right now mentions that fences weren’t placed in the Square this evening either. And this is on top of the fact that an investigation has been launched and all sorts of weird debates have started regarding those who brought children to the protests, or that those who used drones to take pictures have been identified and charged of operating them without a license or improperly. So, at least so far, no action is being taken against regular protesters, known activists or those who are part of the groups that tried to organize some aspects of these protests, but with numbers dropping, some additional methods meant to discourage people from continuing are beginning to be used.

But since I started this post with a victory in a campaign that’s not related to these recent protests, I guess I’ll be ending it with a defeat in another, and now I’m referring to the fact that the European Parliament approved CETA two days ago. Also, to refer strictly to the failure of the Romanian campaign against this deal, all but two Romanian MEPs voted in favor of it and only one, Laurentiu Rebega, voted against, the other being absent, so those who voted in favor included the few who had expressed concerns about the treaty and even one, Norica Nicolai, who had stated that she opposes it and will vote against. Still, this is not over yet, but there are only a few national or regional Parliaments that we may hope will eventually push back due to the highly troubling aspects that are part of the package, and the Romanian one is not among them.

Went for another run today, ten kilometers again, so three laps around the lake and that final sector to the park exit, and in the final third of the second lap I noticed 55 RON (€12.20, $12.87) on the ground. Now that’s a fair amount, over a third of what I got in a month for regular purchases recently, not the odd 0.10 or 0.05 RON coin picked up here and there, usually in stores, or the 1.5 RON found when I helped clean the Square after one of these big protests, so the first impulse was to leave it there. Left 10 RON once before after all. And there were a fair amount of people in the park, so doubt it’d have still been there if dropped more than seconds before. But after taking a step past that spot, I stopped, had a quick look around, if admittedly mostly ahead, didn’t see anybody seeming to look for something, went back, picked them up, took a few steps with them in hand, made eye contact with someone in front of a booth selling some stuff there, and when it didn’t seem like he was about to say anything either, I shoved them in a pocket with my keys and kept going.
Checked my pocket just one time after that, early in lap three, and without actually sticking a hand inside, but sure seemed like they were still there at the time. But after I finished my run, got out of the park, crossed the road and put my jacket back on, I meant to get the 5 RON bill out and look for a beggar or something, to give away at least that much since I felt pretty guilty for picking up such an amount, yet the only thing still to be found in my pocket were the keys. Where did I lose the money, no idea, but fair is fair, since they weren’t mine to begin with. Feel bad for whoever initially lost them though, since wherever they fell out of my pocket wouldn’t be where they’d be looking and asking in case they’d have realized they lost them. But I guess all that’s left is to hope that whoever eventually managed to keep them needed them more than either of us.
As for the run itself, it was the third slowest over this distance, a mere second faster than the very first one, but on top of the time lost when I found the money, I was also stopped for some seconds on the first lap by somebody who asked me how much I do a full lap in, seeming surprised and congratulating me when I said about 17 minutes now, and the conditions weren’t the most appropriate, with the recent snow partially melted and the path switching from dry cement to wet to hardened snow and to melting snow turning to muck and puddles, depending on area. Plus the traffic that I already mentioned. So I finished in 54:42, with sector times of 5:04, 5:46, 6:32, 5:12, 5:39, 6:51, 5:13, 5:45, 6:41 and 1:59, making for lap times of 17:22, 17:42 and 17:39… Which also made that 17-minute estimate I made when answering that question quite optimistic, albeit close enough for the first lap if you don’t count the time lost because of that.

Otherwise, I was dreading today because patches should have been released yesterday and it definitely didn’t look like it’ll be a month like the previous one, when there was nothing relevant and, most likely for the first time, I skipped it entirely, so today I’d have needed to reboot after installing patches and that would have ended nine full weeks of uptime for my computer, setting a record which would have been highly unlikely to be challenged again but also putting me at risk of things breaking or simply changing in unpleasant ways, as it has happened before. But it would appear that Patch Tuesday got delayed, so right now I’m at nine full weeks and still counting, so let’s see how long the delay will be. If they’ll somehow leave it for next week, I’ll even get to 70 days, ten full weeks. Doubt it’ll be that long though.

And of course I attended Sunday’s protest. Not some things announced for earlier, from 4 PM, but I was there just after 6 PM, got myself out of the crowd before 9 PM, so it’ll be clear I won’t be taking part in that crappy moment when the flag was formed with colored cards, returned once that was over and eventually left around 10:30 PM, after helping a little with the cleaning again. Also did drop off that box of biscuits at a place from where I picked up a cup of hot tea and an apple, and also picked up another apple from another place and another cup of hot tea from yet another, as there were at least five places where various things were offered. So despite taking quite a lot, the fact that there were still quite a few things left at the end and that I also donated something made me not feel bad about it that time.