(10 for 10; 2nd Entry): Our Most Popular Blog Entries: Silly Dog Photo to Fill Space

Greetings to our blog readers in Guatemala, Slovakia, and Saudi Arabia.........whoops, sorry about the hot dog image!

In our ten years of blogging, we have often been surprised and some times stunned by which entries prove to be more popular than others. When I posted an entry about hot dogs, as in two dogs dressed like hot dogs (center image), on August 18, 2009, from a small town library in North Carolina, I never could have imagined that it would yield more hits than any entry we posted before or since.

Because our blog is, for some reason, popular in Russia and Ukraine, I suppose it's not shocking that our blog entry with a quote from the legendary gymnast Svetlana Boginskaya, (top image) who competed for the Soviet Union on her native Belarus, became popular, but it's still surprising that it got over 5,000 hits.

Another popular entry with a quote from a celebrity was one from Feb. 9, 2009, featuring reality tv show Heidi Montag ("The Hills") who endorsed John McCain for president, and that apparently wasn't enough for the Republican Arizona senator to get enough votes to win over Barack Obama.

Our second most popular entry featured Mr. Potato Head (pict. bottom), which still seems popular almost five years after its posting as it inches towards the 20,000-hit mark.

Here are our most six most popular blog entries, with links to those entries (alas some photos from the entries have been removed from the net):

1. Silly Photo to Fill Space-Hot Dogs. Aug. 18,2009. 21,464 hits.

2. Bonus Silly Photo to Fill Space-Mr. Potato Head. Dec. 10, 2010. 19,985 hits
http://nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com/2010/12/bonus-silly-photo-to-fill-space-mr.html

3. PSA-Don't Drink and Drive. May 27, 2010. 13,240 hits.

4. Quote of the Day: Heidi Montag. Feb. 9, 2009. 7,928 hits.

5. Quote of the Day: Svetlana Boginskaya. April 19, 2012. 5,250 hits
http://nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com/2012/04/quote-of-dayweek-svetlana-boginskaya.html

6. Political Confusion Test (21 of 21)_ The Oak Ridge Boys vs. The Village People. Aug. 14, 2009. 5,142 hits

http://nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com/2009/08/political-confusion-test-21-of-21.html

For Republic's Day, a Quote from Nazim Hikmet

One of the many great ironies about Turkey, my late father Mehmet Gokbudak's country and a nation I've visited 15 times, is that the great poet Nazim Hikmet (1902-1963), who was a communist who died in exile in the Soviet Union, is now the official national poet of Turkey!

Today, Hikmet is buried in Moscow (image above).

The Republic of Turkey was established by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk on this day in 1923, which was 89 years ago.

Here is a quote from Hikmet, who is honored here in America with the Nazim Hikmet Poetry Festival which is usually held in April:

"Living is no laughing matter. You must live with great seriousness like a squirrel for example_ I mean without looking for something beyond and above living, I mean living must be your whole occupation."

http://www.nazimhikmet.org.tv

http://www.nazimhikmetfestival.org

Image to Fill Space- The Pocket Hercules

Since I have just recently started working out, for the first time in six years, and on the occasion of the up-coming 2012 London Olympics, I thought it would be ironic (as I will never achieve his kind of muscular build) to feature an image of Turkish weight-lifting legend Naim Suleymanoglu.

Suleymanoglu, now age 45, won Olympic gold in three successive summer games: 1988 Seoul Olympics, 1992 Barcelona Olympics and 1996 Atlanta Olympics. The weight-lifter whose name caused problems for American tv announcers is also perhaps the most high-profile athlete to defect from one country to another. Though there have been some athletes like the barefoot runner Zola Budd who was from South Africa, during apartheid, who moved to England to compete for the United Kingdom during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Suleymanoglu left Bulgaria in a much more defiant manner.

His defection from Bulgaria to Turkey, two countries that neighbor each other, came in Australia, of all places. Suleymanoglu left Bulgaria because ethnic Turks, such as himself, were persecuted by the then-communist regime in Sofia. But, now Bulgaria and Turkey actually get along quite well, the same cannot be said for Turkey and Syria. Suleymanoglu reportedly had a heart attack in 2009, at an incredibly young age, but we were unable to find detailed information on the web about his predicament.

We had wondered what happened to the Soviet weightlifter who was featured in the opening montage of the now-defunct "ABC's Wide World of Sports," and while we researching this piece, we thought we'd dig up that info.

We had assumed the weightlifter was Armenian, but Vasily Aleskseyev (1942-2011), who died last year at the age of 69, is listed as being Russian according to Wikipedia.

But, there is an Armenian weight-lifter Tigran Martiosian who won a world championship in 2010 in Antalya, Turkey, a country which Armenia has complicated relations with.

As for the other famous figure in the opening montage, the Slovenian (which was then a part of Yugoslavia) ski-jumper Vino Bogataj is alive and well; in fact, in recent years, he has been a ski instructor.

Olympic Cities Distance Quiz (3 of 6) Montreal to Moscow

Today, we continue our series of the distances between cities which have hosted the Olympics, with a question about far about Montreal, Canada, site of the 1976 games, are from Moscow, Russia, which hosted the event when the city was the capital of the since-deceased Soviet Union.

We are going with Misha the Bear, the mascot of the 1980 Olympics, here since we dined at a place called Mishka's Restaurant in Baku, Azerbaijan, back in 2008. Ironically, the place had great hamburgers and french fries, which one would associate with, well, capitalism.

During the 1976 Olympics, Nadia Comaneci of Romania scored three perfect 10s; American Bruce Jenner won gold in the decathlon and is now on the front of retro Wheaties cereal boxes (at least in the United States) and American boxer Sugar Ray Leonard beat out Cuban boxer Andres Aldama for gold.

But, Aldama was able to win the gold himself four years later due to the large Olympic boycott of the United States and 64 other countries. Nadia (we prefer to break the rules and use her first name) won gold on beam and bars during the 1980 Olympics as well.

So just how far apart are Moscow and Montreal?

Is the answer:

A) 4,225 miles

B) 4, 395 miles

C) 4,705 miles

D) 4,885 miles

UPDATE: The answer is B

Quote of the Day- Karl Marx

Since there were "Jeopardy" categories pertaining to both Karl Marx and John Lennon (a play on the term Marx and Lenin), we thought we'd quip the German philosopher Marx (1818-1883) who known for being the first to develop the political philosophies of socialism, at least in the modern era.

Marx is also one of the subjects made into a plush doll from the Unemployed Philosophers Guild.

Due to his controversial views, Marx lived much of his later life in exile, including stints in Paris and London, where he died. His most famous works are "The Communist Manifesto" (1848) and "Das Capital" (1867-1894).

Marx was born in Trier in southwestern Germany. His theories revolved around class struggle and conflicts between ownership and the working class.

There are historians who believe that the Soviet Union and red China which were established in theory according to Marxism were actually against Marx's thinking because he was opposed to totalitarianism.

Here is his quote:

"Capital is dead labor, which vampire-like, lives only by sucking labor, and lives the more, the more labor it sucks."

Olympic Cities Distance Quiz (2 of 6)- Los Angeles to Tokyo

As the world gets ready for the 2012 London Olympics, we take a look at the distances between cities which have previously hosted the games. One thing we learned while putting this together is that Detroit tried many times to get the games, but they were unable to land them.

Los Angeles has had considerably more luck as they have hosted the 1932 Olympics and the 1984 Olympics.

Tokyo, Japan, was supposed to get the 1940 put an invasion of China sent the games to Helsinki, Finland. But, they were able to secure the games in 1964, becoming the first Asian country to host the Olympics. In more recent years, South Korea and China have hosted them as well.

There is an amazing contrast in the amount of international athletes who competed in each of the games. In 1964, they were athletes from 93 countries in Tokyo. 20 years later, in spite of a boycott from the Soviet Union, eastern block countries (except Romania and the now nonexistent Yugoslavia) and Cuba, athletes from 140 countries came to southern California.

In Tokyo, judo and women's volleyball become Olympic sports. Among the highlights in Japan were Soviet gymnast Larisa Latyrynina, a Ukrainian who is now 77, won two golds, a silver and two bronze medals. While Ethiopian marathon runner Abebe Bikila (1932-1973) won a second consecutive gold medal. For the Americans, recently deceased boxer Joe Frazier (1944-2011) won gold as a heavyweight in boxing.

In L.A., synchronized swimming and rhythmic gymnastics debuted in the games where American gymnast Mary Lou Retton, now 44, won a gold in the all-around competition as well as a team silver and a silver on the vault. Carl Lewis won four gold medals in track. And, a barefoot runner from South Africa named Zola Budd, who competed for the United Kingdom, collided with American runner Mary Slaney*, who was wearing shoes, in a highly controversial and dubious 3,000 meter relay. Thus, many people have forgotten that Romanian runner Maricica Puica actually won the race.

So, what is the distance in miles between Los Angeles and Tokyo....

Is the answer:

A) 5,351 miles

B) 5,451 miles

C) 5,556 miles

D) 5,701 miles

PICTURED: A sumo wrestler and Sam the Eagle, who was the official mascot of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.

*-Mary Slaney is now known as Mary Decker


SIDEBAR: As for the answer to our tv quiz entry from yesterday, "M*A*S*H" ran for 251 episodes.


http://www.marylouretton.com

Quote of the Day- Josip Broz Tito

Today, we conclude our quotes from 16 people associated with the 16 countries in Euro Cup 2012 (eight on each blog, the other eight can be found on our sister blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time."

And, we finish things off with the founder of Yugoslavia Marsal Josip Broz Tito, known simply as Tito, who was Croatian by birth. Croatia faces Spain next week in the last game of the first round. Tito (1892-1980) was born in the village of Kumrover, a Croatian village in the north which borders Slovenia.

Many have compared Tito to Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (1881-1938). Both formed their respective countries in the ashes of changing geopolitics, and both were the proverbial strong man in their respective nations. The major difference was that Ataturk was a capitalist and Tito was a socialist. And, Turkey has had its borders in tact since the foundation of the Republic in 1923 whereas Yugoslavia, a coalition of six republics, is now seven separate countries.

Though he was despised by many ethnic Serbs and Croats in America and western Europe for his politics, Tito was respected by the West for giving Yugoslavia autonomy from the Soviet Union, more so than the other Iron Curtain countries in eastern Europe.

But, ironically, it was Yugoslavia which suffered the most from the Soviet Union's sudden collapse in 1990, and Serbia went to war with Croatia and Slovenia shortly thereafter. The war went on to grasp Bosnia-Herzegovina and turn its capital city of Sarajevo, the site of the 1984 Winter Olympics, into a war zone.

Tito visited both John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon during their respective presidencies in Washington, D.C.

Here is his now seemingly haunting quote:

"We have split an ocean of blood for the brotherhood and unity of our peoples and we shall not allow anyone to destroy it within."

Virtual Postcard from Colorado-The Boulder Theatre

Well, we are no longer in the great western state of Colorado, but we were there last week. This image is of The Boulder Theatre in downtown Boulder, Colo., the venue no longer shows films on a regular basis, but it does host traveling bands. On Thursday, the hip folk band Trampled by Turtles plays there, and on June 1st, the '80s band The BoDeans, one of the best bands out of Wisconsin, comes to the 80302 zip code.

While we were visiting Boulder, we learned that Dushanbe, Tajikistan, the capital of a remote former Soviet republic- of all places, was one of Boulder's main sister cities. For the residents of Boulder, Dushanbe's mayor Maksud Ikramov commissioned local Tajiki artists to build a teahouse which was disassembled and shipped to Boulder.

Boulder, which is home to the Colorado University Buffaloes, also has an excellent bookstore called The Boulder Book Store, where one can find both the liberal magazine "The Nation" and the conservative journal "The National Review," which is fitting that Colorado is a swing state in this year's election. Like most college towns, except Lynchburg, Va., and Provo, Utah, Boulder is a fairly liberal place and that is evident by its many marijuana dispensaries. Local news sources said several such businesses were closing due to their close proximity to schools (1,000 feet is apparently where authorities draw the line).

Colorado is also home to Colorado Springs, an evangelical Mecca (is that an oxy moron, or what) which home to Focus on the Family and several other right-wing groups.

The Boulder Book Store is hosting author Geraldine Brooks for a book signing of "Caleb's Crossing" on May 19th.

Boulder is also sister cities with Lhasa, Tibet, Yateras, Cuba, and Kisumu, Kenya.

Our special 'virtual postcard' greetings go out to blog readers from Chile, Lebanon and New Zealand, who visited our blog today!

http://www.bouldermmdispensary.comhttp://www.boulderteahouse.comhttp://www.bouldertown.com

Happy Holidays from Kermit the Frog

One of our favorite 'right wing media' moments this years was when Fox News host Eric Boiling actually proclaimed that the new children's musical/fantasy film "Muppets" was 'communist' liberal propaganda because it showed an oil tycoon in a negative light. His co-host Andrea Tantaras added that: "I just wish liberals would leave the kids alone."

So, we thought it would be nifty to wish everyone a Happy Holidays/Happy Hannukah/Merry Christmas from Kermit the Kommunist* Frog.

Aside from any Bolshevik leanings, Kermit is also known for being the only Muppet to appear on both "Sesame Street" and "The Muppet Show**." We learned while researching this that Kermit actually no longer appears on "Sesame Street" as of 2001, though he made an appearance in September 2009 to celebrate the show's 40th anniversary.

As everyone in the world, including Uzbekistan probably knows, Kermit was the central character in "The Muppet Show," which aired in the 1970s; his romantic interest was Miss Piggy.

Kermit, who is known as 'kurbagacik'/little frog in Turkey, was voiced by his creator Jim Henson up until Henson's untimely death in 1990.

I suppose since there are lots of bears in Russia, Fozzie the Bear would probably be the most subversive member of the Muppet family, if we were right-wing kooks that is. Interestingly enough, the Soviet Union formally ceased to exist on Dec. 25th, 1991, exactly 20 years ago.

*-kommunist is the Turkish word for communist; it seems to go better with Kermit

**- Alas, we spelled "The Muppet Show" incorrectly on our tags.

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.

Quote of the Day- Mikhail Gorbachev

Today, we start our month-long quotes from famous Russians with a quip from Mikhail Gorbachev, 80, who is considered a central figure in the ending of the Cold War.

Here is the quote, which seems to be a bit ironic:

"If people don't like Marxism, they should blame the British Museum."

Things We Learned on Google Today- Kaunas is the Second Largest City in Lithuania

NOTE: We sort of messed up as this entry was intended for our other blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time" and an entry on the Swedish soccer team IFK Goetborg was meant for here. We jumped up and down a chimp at the San Diego Zoo upon discovering this, but we are all settled down now. This series is a look at the 15 former republics of the Soviet Union. So far, with this entry, we have covered all but four of these countries, the last one was Latvia.

Kaunas is the second largest city in Lithuania behind Vilnius, the capital. The city is also the leading center of Lithuania's economic, academic and cultural life according to Wikipedia, which is, of course, always right.

Kaunas has two rivers: the Nemunas and the Neris.

In 1701, Kaunas was occupied by the Swedish Army (Editorial note: I didn't know Scandanavians were imperialists) and the Black Death plague cane to town in 1657 and stayed around until 1708. We presume this was the darkest period in the city's history.

The Top Ten Countries Which Have Viewed Us

Since Russia is one of the top ten countries that have viewed our blog (Yes, we were surprised as well) and I still love dated Cold War humor, I figured that we would use Misha or Misha the Bear with this entry. (In the whoops department, we did spell the bear's name Mishka in some earlier entries!)

For those of who grew up on "American Idol" and "The Gilmore Girls," Misha was the mascot of the 1980 Moscow Olympics, which were boycotted by the United States and many European countries, for the Soviet Union's invasion of Afghanistan.

Here are the top ten countries in order of hits; it should be pointed out that Brazil, which also has over 1,000 hits was in our top ten until India past them a few days ago:

1. USA 77,595

2. UK 12,828

3. Canada 10,604

4. Germany 5,633

5. Australia 4,947

6. Italy 1,536

7. Turkey 1,470

8. Russia 1,197

9. Netherlands 1,097

10. India 1,023

SIDEBAR: We read this short piece in "Wired" magazine which really surprised us. Apparently, back in 1972, Jerry Lewis, made a film called "The Day the Clown Cried." There is a valid reason why few of you have heard of this film and why probably none of you have ever seen it. The film is about a clown is inadvertently recruited to gather Jewish children up in Nazi Germany. According to the IMDB, Lewis has the only copy of the film in a vault and he refuses to have the unreleased/uncompleted film seen by anyone.