Blogging in 3.5 Minutes (or less.........) Turkey's six largest cities

Hmmm..............trying to post a blog entry in 3.5 minutes, which is also the same length as the Elvis Costello anthem "Peace, Love and Understanding," is always a challenge.

First, let's say hello to our fans in Latvia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic, three countries which didn't exist when I was born in 1970!

Also, in order to arbitrarily increase hits today, we will mention Selma Blair, Anna Paquin and Miss Utah (alas with this compressed amount of time we don't have time to ask Google for her name!).

Here are the six largest cities in Turkey, my late father's country, which is in many times my country as well. We also like to take a moment to dedicate his entry to Duran Adam/The Standing Man (yes, we don't have to ask Bing what his name is as well) :

1. Istanbul (pictured) 13 million

2. Ankara (the capital) 4.5 million

3. Izmir 3.3 million

4. Bursa 1.9 million

5. Adana 1.57 million

6. Gaziantep 1.5 million


http://www.turkey.org

http://www.tourismturkey.org

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Wall Grafitti

We are continuing to add blog entries in honor of the Berlin Wall coming down twenty years ago this week.

I saw that the subject is a cover story in the current issue of "Reason" magazine, a libertarian publication (since I am a centrist Democrat, I subscribe to "The New Republic" instead).

And, when I lived closer to Washington, DC, a few years ago, I saw a great exhibit on the Berlin at the Newsuem.

The collapse of the Berlin Wall also made for an interesting recent entry from my friend Christopher Knight's blog "The Knight Shift" (theknightshift.blogspot.com)

Ironically, this photo was not taken in Berlin, but London, England. Apparently, former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, who is the subject of a very amusing anti-Thatcher anthem by Elvis Costello on his "Spike" album, was one of the few western leaders who expressed reservation about the unification of Germany in 1989.