Bugun Ertugrul Osman(oglu)'nun yaninda idik; babalar gunu icin. Hediye aldik, cicek aldik. Elini opmek istedik, ama o kadar hasta ki... Doktor kimseye el opturtmesin, mikrop kapmasin demis. Zeynep hanim (esi) "zaten kimseye opturmezdi tam ustune geldi" dedi. Yaninda bes dakika kadar vakit gecirebildik. Birseyler sorabilmek, konusabilmek isterdik, kismet. O kadar uzuldum ki. Birkac resim cekebildk, Zeynep hanim ile konustuk biraz. Istanbul'a donmeye calisiyor, orada vefat etsin, son gunlerini evinde huzur icinde gecirebilsin diye; boyle demiyor tabii ki. O kadar dik merdivenlerden inip cikmak gerekiyor ki cati katindaki evlerine, son birkac aydir hic disari cikmamis Ertugrul bey. Bu vesile ile Ittihat ve Terakki ve onun neferinden turemis butun okuzlere; Turkiye'nin son 80 yilini bu hale getirmis butun fasist Ismet pasa ve takimina; hala ne oldugunu anlayamayacak kadar Fenerbahce Galatasaray modunda olan butun okuzlere; Ergenekon'u "Tayyip'in oyunu", Cumhuriyet mitinglerini "halkin isyani" zanneden davarlara; Cumhuriyeti devrim zanneden ve imparatorlugun son doneminde ulkede Magna Carta, bir parlamento bir de senato oldugunu hatirlamayan ve yapilan mesrutiyetleri tamamen unutan butun dangalaklara bir kere daha; agiz tadi ile; dolu dolu; doyasiya kufur ettim. Cok icim buruk bugun cok. Anlatmadi, yazdirmadi, islettirmedi olup bitenleri, "gercekten" olup bitenleri, mezarina goturecek. Birinci agizdan dinleyemeyecegiz, ben ona yaniyorum. Daha cok "Ah Su Cilgin Turkler" yazilir, daha cok "Kurtlar Vadisi" cekilir, satin alan oldugu surece, daha cooook mal uretilir.

"He who controls the past, controls the future. He who controls today, controls the past." - George Orwell

Tepenizde paralansin, e mi...

Okuyun, ogrenin, birazcik olsun hic olmazsa. Nereden baslasaniz kardir.

Fred Bernstein, New York Times
Muge Mengu, Turk of America
Murat Bardakci, Hurriyet
Mehmet Demirci, Zaman
Asli Aydintasbas, Sabah

 

 While we're at it, I want to share an insight that I have in regards to iPhone and Palm Pre. They are both a hardware, running a proprietary OS developed by a company - in their case all of them by just one - and their OS is way too integrated to the hardware. I believe this is both the strongest and the weakest point of  both of these devices and ultimately will lead to their demise. However "amazing" the iPhone seems to be, it is just groundbreakingly different and being a classic Apple product, it works seamlessly on its own platform.

Palm Pre is sort of a dead on arrival product in my view - it's more of the same thing. It looks cool, and I am sure it will perform well too. But this is a different world now. We want more and we will get more. A good OS on a wider supported hardware will out-perform and out-do both iPhone and Pre in the medium to long term. It's OK for Apple to lose market share or whatnot, but Palm, come on guys, wake up and smell the roses.

Next year will be Android's. If Microsoft cannot get its act together and create something that is actually designed for the average Joe Android will kick some serious butt. Building an OS for the phone hardware is the way to go, and since all phone hardwares differ tremendously, MS's closed circuit development mentality is doomed to fail unless they come up with an immense product support developer group that will keep hardware manufacturers' problems at bay. Using the mobile device with a stylus is so 20th century. Android, on the other hand, is trying to achieve just that. Build an OS with robust kernel, let it be open, don't expect to make any money out of it and let the world rock. Since they have millions of dollars to spend on public service, they will hire a gazillion developers to support the OS and keep the customers (ahem, users) happy.

So, pick up an Android phone and start developing. Don't expect to sell your product though, but I am sure uncle Google will subsidize your expenses and compensate for your losses.

Microsoft, please, please get out of that isolated Seattle haven and enter the world of lame users, who need flashy, cool looking, finger poking, 21st century gadgets. That scroll bar looks hideous, the buttons are disgusting and frankly, I cannot type anything on that on-screen keyboard. Bring back the magic, or you are history dude.

Apple, the evil empire. Well, keep on doing what you are doing. You have your obedient, happy customers to buy whatever you produce. As long as they look cool, the price is of no concern for them - apparently. You can strike exclusive deals all you want. Someday that empire will come crumbling down, because, well, it's an empire. You are as good as your emperor.

Goody

Ara Guler is an amazing, amazing photographer. Along with Isa Celik, he is the second reason why I love photography so much. He had the magic; when he took a picture he told the story with one simple, quick, a flash of a second composition. How he did it, even he does not know. His Istanbul, is my Istanbul, or was. His people were my people... One simple click, and a story unfolds, layer within layer.

Click here to do a quick search for his photographs on Google.
 

And here is another "one simple click" photograph. This is probably one of the best photographs ever taken. The story it tells is so deep, so fundamental, there probably could have been no other way to tell it.

http://araguler.com.tr/

Today, I wondered "why is fried food so unhealthy?" and a quick research revealed these facts... (Yesterday I was wondering why we humans could not fly, at least without the aid of technology; and a quick research revealed nothing, but I'll get back to it someday... promise...) 

Meanwhile...

Heating vegetable oil above 300 degrees Fahrenheit damages the oil causing toxin formation. Heating the oil increases the rate of chemical reactions (oxidation) especially if it is in the presence of air (oxygen) and light. Many toxic products of oxidation occur, including trans fatty acid and other unnatural breakdown products (dimers and polymers etc). Our cells accumulate these toxic product and age more rapidly.

The nutritional value of browned food is poor. Proteins turn into acrolein a known carcinogen.

Frying food is an unhealthy practice and should be avoided.

For those who cannot help themselves and insist on frying, the following suggestions are made:

Saturated fats are the most stable to heat.
Monounsaturated fats are the second most stable.
Polyunsaturated fats are unstable to heat. Canola oil, corn oil and other liquid vegetable oils form the most toxins when heated. This is because they are damaged the quickest with heat and air. Never fry with Canola oil.

Saturated fats that are low in the essential fatty acids are safer for frying. They are however also to be avoided because they raise your cholesterol.

Mixing water with the oil when cooking helps prevents overheating of the oil.

Safer (not safe but less toxic) oils for frying are (in order of safety):
- Butter
- Tropical fats
- Peanut oil
- Sesame oil
- Olive oil

By the way, Virgin Olive Oil is the only Supermarket oil that has not been heated to 392+ during processing!