No Blong Entry Tonight as I am Sick as a Dog..........

We did actually put the term "Dogs in Bulgaria" into Google to come up with this image, which may or may not be from Bulgaria. I imagine Dogs in Greece, Dogs in Romania and Dogs in Turkey look fairly similar to this one.

Bear us as we try to come up with a more meaningful blog entry tomorrow or some time within the next two weeks!

Quote of the Day: Andy Warhol

Greetings to our blog-readers in Italy, Spain and Australia.

We are a bit stunned that there is no Google Doodle for America's great pop artist Andy Warhol, who would have turned 85 today.

David Bowie wrote a song called "Andy Warhol" and later played him on film.

The Andy Warhol Museum is one of Pittsburgh, Pa.'s top tourist attractions.

The image above is an Andy Warhol doll that is made by the Unemployed Philosophers Guild, a novelty-item maker in America.

Here is one of his quotes:

"The always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself."

http://www.warhol.org

Our First Entry in Turkish.........

Izlanda, Macaristan ve Azerbaycan'daki dostalrimiz'a hos geldiniz demek istedim. Ayrica Turkiye'de Eskisehir, Malatya ve Trabzon'daki arkadaslarimiza merhabalar gonderiyoruz.

Simdi ben Inglizce yerine Turkce yazdigim icin, butun Inglizce konusanlar 'paranoid' olacaktir. Malisef, ben 'paranoid' sozun Tukcesini bilmiyorum. Bir dakika, Google'a soralim bari. Haa, 'paranoyak' paranoid'in Turkce'si.

Bizim aile'misin kedi'si biraz paranoyak oluyor. Komsular'in portakal-renki kedi'yi hic sevmiyor. Onlar Karagoz ve Hacivat gibi tartisiyorlar.

Turkiye'de su an saat 08:00 olduguna rahmen, hepinize gunaydim diliyorum.

Ok, here is the English translation (abridged version):

"Hello to our friends in Iceland, Hungary and Azerbaijan, three countries where Turkish is widely spoken (actually not so much in Iceland and Hungary). What is the word for paranoid in Turkish? Oh, I see it is 'paranoyak.' I think our family cat may suffer from 'paranoyak.'

Since it is now 8:00 a.m. in Turkey, I guess I better end by saying "Gunaydin," which is 'good morning' in Turkish."

Blogging Free-Style: Let's Talk About Jurror B29

Here is how this works. We go with trending items in the news, such as 'Juror B29' and 'Royal Baby' and then add them in with other things we threw in the pot, such as Egypt, and we make a short blog entry out of it. We'll signal the catch phrases by putting a single parenthesis around them. 

Here it goes:

"Well, I should be watching Charlie Rose, I gather he is going to talk with guests about political instability in 'Egypt,' but the remote is stuck on CNN, so we'll have to hear about 'George Zimmerman,' 'Jurror B29,' 'the royal baby' (yawn!) and how state legislators in Oklahoma are deliberating to decide if jaywalkers in Tulsa deserve 'the death penalty.'

I wonder how is the weather in 'Winston-Salem, NC,' but the remote will not let me visit the Weather Channel either. Perhaps, I can find out that info via 'Google.' I can also find out when 'Ramadan' ends, so I can send Ramadan greeting cards from Target to all my Muslim friends. Wait. Target doesn't carry Ramadan cards. In fact, no one seems to.

Oh, now CNN is talking about 'Anthony Weiner' (yawn), and apparently 'Pope Francis' is set to visit Holland (the Netherlands)."

Silly Image to Fill Space- Apathy

Hmmmmmmm..............

Yeah............

I thought about going back to our quotes from Sunday comic strips, especially since we love "Knight Life" by Keith Knight, which is awesome today as it always is, and, it is funnier than "Hagar the Horrible," but............

I'm just not in the mood.

By the way, Keith Knight is not related to my friend Chris Knight, who has a birthday today.

One is an African-American living in Los Angeles, the other is a white guy living in Reidsville, NC.

If you wanna know who is who or whom is who, well.............

Just Google it (or, maybe Bing it)........................

Image of the Day/Week- Children's Day in Turkey

Until this week, we were unaware that Google puts aside a special image just for Google Turkey users in honor of National Children's Day, which has been celebrated in Turkey on April 23rd since the founding of the Republic of Turkey by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in 1923.

Ironically, the national holiday is celebrated around a time when people of Armenian heritage around the world target Turkey politically for a highly controversial matter which occurred nearly 100 years ago which we refer to as "The Rashomon Nightmare," a term that neither my fellow Turkish-Americans or Armenian-Americans seem to care for, which means there may very well be logical reasoning for my viewpointhttp://www.ataa..orghttp://www.turkishfutbol.blogspot.com.

This year, Enes Karabulut, age 9, was declared 'Kucuck Baskbakan/Little Prime Minister" by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Karabulut headed a delegation of 18 young students from across Turkey who visited Ankara in honor of National Children's Day.

And, like most adult politicians and political leaders, Karabulut may have isolated many people in Turkey by boldly declaring that he wanted to see his favorite soccer team Fenerbahce, an Istanbul powerhouse. win the Turkish soccer championships.

On Sunday, Fenerbahce faces cross-town rivals Besiktash. On Saturday, GalataSaray, also an Istanbul powerhouse and a team I've rooted for since childhood, will face Trabzonspor in the semi-finals of the championship.

This is the very first year that Turkey has held a play-off system to determine the league champion. Interestingly enough, the four teams in the semi-finals are also the four most popular teams in Turkey. In something 'that could only happen in Turkey,' the GalataSaray-Trabzonspor game will be held in front of women and children spectators only.

I suppose the people who made the seemingly futile decision would say that in neighboring Iran women are not allowed to attend soccer games at all.

Incidentally, tonight we are coming to you live from a bowling alley in Bethesda, Maryland*.

*-This is not really where I am, but I enjoy these gags, which has been a tradition of this blog since its founding in 1984.

Quote of the Day/Week- Terry Bradshaw

As many cyber-experts have told us if you ask Google: "Where is the best place to get a bison burger in Denver?" you may well stump Mr. Know It All. But, if you ask: "Who is the mayor of Yozgat, Turkey"? (a medium-sized city in central Turkey), it will tell (well via Wikipedia) that the answer is Yusuf Baser.

Google will also tell you that the Pittsburgh Steelers have won six Super Bowls, with only two losses, and that quarterback Terry Bradshaw was responsible for four of those over a six year period. The last one coming against the then-Los Angeles Rams, which later won a Super Bowl many years later as the Saint Louis Rams, by a 31-19 score in 1979.

That same year The Pittsburgh Pirates won a World Series (the team has not won one since), which gave Pittsburgh the nickname of The City of Champions, a mantra which was reiterated when hockey superstar Mario Lemieux lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to back-to-back Stanley Cup titles in 1991 and 1992.

Bradshaw, now 63, can also been seen singing the Hank Williams Sr. standard "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" on Youtube (from many years ago) and he recently became the spokesperson for Nutrisystem.

Bradshaw is one of two famous athletes who graduated from Louisiana Tech; the other one is Karl Malone who played with the Utah Jazz in the NBA.

Here is Bradshaw's famous quote:

"I may be dumb, but I'm not stupid."

SIDEBAR: Though we consider ourselves to be slightly too uppity for gossip, we can't help but comment on the outrageous profanity-laced statements that Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen, 31, said of the wide receivers for her quarterback husband Tom Brady's New England Patriots. For those of you in Yozgat, Turkey, the Pats lost 21-17 to the New Giants in Sunday's Super Bowl game.

Apparently, this caught on camera escapade forced Brady to defend those very same wide receivers who will in all likelihood have to play with Brady next year. One thus has to assume that Brady wasn't "Thanks, honey" when he heard of this, unless he was speaking in jest or sarcasm.

Quote of the Day/Week- Charles Darwin

Today, Google used the image of Danish bishop and scientist Nicolas Steno (1638-1686) on his 374th birthday as their 'google doodle." Steno was instrumental for many things, including discovering human salivary ducts, and there is a Steno Museum in Arhus, Denmark, which is dedicated to displaying findings in the arenas of science and medicine. But, alas, for our purposes, Steno really didn't leave behind a meaningful quip.

The same can not be said for English naturalist Charles Darwin (1809-1882) whose findings on the Galapagos Islands off Ecuador are taught in classroom and disputed in places of worship around the globe; hence 'the Darwin fish' that is displayed here.

With that, here is our quote from Darwin, who made these comments long before the 'evolution of video games,' including Donkey Kong and Angry Birds:

"A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the whole of life."

SIDEBAR: We love this tweet from Onion Politics, a subdivision of the satirical faux news publication "The Onion:" "Fiercely independent New Hampshire voters pick guy everybody thought would win." For those of you in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, that person is Mitt Romney.

Things We Learned on Google Today- Olympiacos Has Won 38 Greek Soccer Titles

Today's soccer team of the week on this blog is Olympiacos (or Olympiakos), a Greek soccer powerhouse based in the port city of Piraeus, near Athens.

The image above is sort of a joke as Priest Christos, who is really a Greek Orthodox priest, is a fan for one of Olympiacos' main rivals, PAOK FC (Thessaloniki) and apparently the priest's devoution to soccer madness has caused him legal problems.

Ironically, the colors of PAOK FC are identical to those worn by the Turkish team Besiktas (Istanbul), and I suppose this is a good time to mention that I am a Turkish-American, though I prefer Galatasaray over Besiktas.

Of course, what this means to those of you born after 1974 when Turkey and Greece went to war over Cyprus, is that I will really have to spell all these long and difficult Greek names correctly!

Olympiacos is also in the UEFA Champions League, and they are in Group F, a group of death, featuring such traditional Euro powers as Arsenal (England), Dortmund (Germany) and Marseille (France). Their next game is against Arsenal on Dec. 11. The English premiere league power has several international greats, including Robin van Persie from the Netherlands and Andrei Arshavin from Russia.

But, the Greek team has its own impressive roster, with the likes of Ioannis Fetfatzidis (whew, hope I spelled his name right!) who has been called 'the Greek Messi' in reference to Argentinian soccer superstar Lionel Messi. The Greek Messi scored the lone goal in the team's 1-0 win over Marseilles on Nov. 23.

Domestically, things are looking better for the team with 38 Greek titles, as they bounced back from a 2-0 loss to astera Tripoli with a 6-0 drubbing of Doxa Dramas. We believe the team is slated to play rival Panaitokolis (Athens) over the weekend. The third major rival for Olympiacos is AEK Athens.

Hooliganism is a problem in Greek soccer, as is the case in England and Turkey as well, as figths between fans of rival clubs have become violent and even deadly in some instances.

The captain of the current squad is Vasilis Toosidis and the co-captain is Avroam Papadopoulos (whew, again!). But, the team has a highly diverse international roster inclusing Swedish soccer star Olef Mellberg and French player Francois Modesto.

In addition, Olympiacos features five Spanish nationals, two Algerian players and two Serbian futbolers.

The team is currently in third place in both the domestic league and the UEFA Champions League.

The two teams on top of the Greek Premiere League are as of right now first-place Panathinaikos and second-place AEK Athens.

SIDEBAR: Interestingly enough as we were putting this piece together, we heard through a Terry Gross interview with Jeffrey Rosen from "The New Republic" yesterday on NPR's "Fresh Air," that in 2007, Youtube was blocked in Turkey. I was always aware of what happened, but I didn't realize the infamous Youtube videos which hurled insults at Mustafa Kemal Ataturk were, at least in part, posted by Greek soccer militants.

This incident put Nicole Wong of Google, which owns Youtube, in a very awkward disposition. As it is, Youtube was banned in Turkey as a result of the videos. We are not sure if the ban is still in place or not.

Things We Learned on Google Today_ Very Smart Guys Are in Charge in Estonia

I can imagine that if one is a contestant on "Jeopardy" and the 'Final Jeopardy Question' turns out to be: "Who is the prime minister of Estonia?" that all three contestants would give Alex Trebek the evil eye.

But, relax thanks to Google (well, I'm sure Bing has the answer to) we learned that the answer is Andrus Ansip (pictured), the leader of the center-right Reform Party, who just turned 55 on October 1st.

Ansip took office on April 12th of this year. He is originally from Tartu, which is Estonia's second largest city (pictured here). In 1979, he recieved his degree in chemistry from the University of Tartu.

Ansip's political career began when he was elected mayor of Tartu in 1998.

As for the president of Estonia, his name is Toomas Hendrik Ilves, and he actually grew up in Leonia, NJ. That's right a Jersey boy is running the government of a former Soviet republic! Ilves graduated as class valedictorian in 1972, and we imagine he does not have time to fly back to his alma mater during homecoming week.

Talinn is the capital of Estonia, which is the northern-most of the three Baltic nations. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have also become European Union states. Estonia got its independence back from the former Soviet Union 20 years ago.

This is a continuing series, which has run on both blogs, about the 15 former Soviet Republics that have now become independent nations. The remaining three entries will be about Georgia, Azerbaijan and Armenia, which should be interesting (I am a Turkish-American).

SPORTS SIDEBAR: It was a great week for the University of North Carolina's women's volleyball team as the Tarheels won straight set victories at home over both Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia.

On Thursday, Emily McGee, the reigning ACC Player of the Week, scored 11 kills against the Hokies. On Friday, she joined teammates Tia Gaffen and Chaniel Nelson for ten kills each in a win over the Cavaliers.

Ece Taner, who is from Izmir, Turkey (my late father's country) and Aleksandra Georgieva from Sofia, Bulgaria, are the two international players for the Tarheels. The team has won nine of its last 10 games; the only loss came in a home match against Florida State, a team that is currently on top in the ACC.

This and That- Nerdy Pick-up Lines

First of all, my apolgies in advance to the late Fred Rogers, whom us Gen-Xers remember as Mr.Rogers while watching his children's show on PBS in the 1970s, but when it came to an image of a dorky guy I simply couldn't think of anyone else.

As I was reading the June 2011 issue of "Wired" in a public library today, I came across three things that got my immediate attention. I made a note of them, and after some mental deliberation, I decided to shared them with the 13 people who read this blog.

For starters, apparently this is an actual pickup line that an Internet nerd used for a hot girl (who perhaps could have been Hulk Hogan) on Twitter: "Is your name Google? 'Cause you have everything I'm searchign for." Wow! Pretty forward.

Also, according to "Wired," there is apparently a book floating around called "The Mystery Method: How to Get Beautiful Women Into Bed." The kicker is that the author is anynomous. Hmmm.....

Lastly, the parents of Luhe Vilagomez, 17, were probably not to happy with the young lad. In the same issue of "Wired," we read that he made the notorious 220-foot jump from the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco 'just for kicks' (apparently, the boy has denied he was attempting suicide as most folks who jump from the bridge are trying to do), and he was in the two percent who survived!

Quote of the Week- Herman Melville

The web site zazzle.com is actually offering "Moby Dick" ties, and we thought we'd dedicate some blog entries as part of our series to famous novelists today to famous writers known for writing 'doorstop books." Today's writer is Herman Melville (1819-1891), his famous book inspired the mega coffee chain Starabucks as there is a character called Starbuck, who is a shipmate of Captain Ahab's, in the novel.

At 822 pages, Melville's 1851 classic might make the perfect companion for anyone who has to go to a business conference in Topeka, Kansas, or if you have taken after "the Facebook Burglar" and robbed a home in Chevy Chase, Maryland, gotten caught, and now facing the prospect of going to the big house.

We do love this quote by the way, and it seems very timely:

"Better to sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian."

SIDEBAR: We want to give a shout out to our friends in Norway, which is perhaps my favorite country that I've never been to. According to mentalfloss.com, today is Norwegian Constitution Day. The site had a tribute to Norwegian black metal bands for the occasion. "Until the Light Takes Us," a documentary about these headbangers airs on The Sundance Channel on May 31 at 1:45 p.m., New York time.

SIDEBAR: Earlier tonight we asked Google why Donald Duck was a trending topic on Twitter today. We didn't get a response!

English Soccer Results.....

As the Bangles sang back this time of year in 1986, it is indeed another "Manic Monday." The song actually got to number two on the Billboard pop chart only to be blocked by Prince and his smash-hit "Kiss." Ironically, Prince wrote "Manic Monday." I saw the Bangles vinyl record with that song plus "Walk Like an Egyptian" at a used bookstore in Greensboro, NC, for like five dollars. I passed, but not before thinking about it.

So, we decided to have a post that would take less time and research than normal. Alas, like the late Russian author Leo Tolstoy (of "War and Peace" fame) brevity is not one of my strengths. Thus, we are simply going to post weekend results from the English Premiere League in the hopes that this will also boost blog hits from across the pond.

The big game of the week was Manchester United-Chelsea, a game which Man U won 2-1; the event was described 'as the Royal Wedding for men."

Here is the complete list of games played on Saturday and Sunday; for the record, I am a bit out of the loop when it comes to English soccer, which perhaps even has a following in Abbottabad, Pakistan (we just mentioned that, so we could use the city in our tags, personally I am getting Osama bin Laden is Dead fatigue), but I do listen to broadcasts of the BBC World Service virtually every night, so this seems fitting. In fact, I just learned earlier this year than Man U and Man City were two different teams!:

Manchester United 2 Chelsea 1

Stoke City 3 Arsenal 1

Aston Villa 1 Wigan Athletic 1

Sunderland 2 Bolton 1

Wolverhampton 2 west Bromwich 1

Tottenham 1 Blackpool 1

West Ham United 1 Blackburn 1

Newcastle 2 Birmingham 1

Everton 2 Manchester City 1

I should credit my friend Chris Knight for letting me know about the world of Leggo Soccer during the 2010 World Cup.

Since Chris is a big science-fiction fan, I thought he might like this quip from English comic actor Simon Pegg who was recently in "Paul," a road movie about two English science-fiction/comic book guys traveling to Nevada to see Area 51. Here, in an interview for "Rolling Stone," Pegg is talking about his hometown of Gloucestershire, England:

"It's an old port town where nothing much goes on," Pegg says. "The only other famous person from Gloucestershire is a serial killer."

Through some research via Google (check out that tribute to the late English children's author Roger Hargreaves they have up today), we found out that man was Fred West (1941-1995). With the help of his wife Rosemary, West killed approximately 12 girls. He committed suicide by hanging with a rope in his cell at age 53.

On a happier note, we learned there is an interesting band with an interesting name called The Pains of Being Pure at Heart; the New York indie rock group has a new single called "Anne with an E." So, if you know anyone named Anne as opposed to Ann, be sure to tell them about it!