I am happy to report that this humble blog has surpassed 100,000 visits! That means that 100,000 different people have visited the blog since December 17, 2006, translating to over 6,000 unique visitors a month.
Once in a while we hear about Armenians and their involvement in shady endeavors, no doubt obvious propaganda by the Turkish government. Surely we are incapable of fraud, crime, and dishonesty in general! Other times, we realize it's all too true.
[Software] Piracy was most prevalent in Armenia, Bangladesh and Azerbaijan, where more than 90 percent of PCs had unlicensed software.
Software piracy not only hurts software developers, it also harms local resellers, reduces government tax revenues and increases the risk of computer security problems and crime...
Weighed against the fact that it's free? I think this is one time we are agreed with our evil neighbors to the East.
Keep this little tidbit in mind the next time you're in Armenia: when the police or the parking people or whoever decide that you've parked in the wrong place, they take your license plate to the police station. That means you have to go to the station, pay your fine, and then get your plate back.
The internet comic Subnormality references the Armenian Genocide in its latest edition. Not only does it refer to the genocide as "cruelly forgotten" but goes on to quote the famous line by Adolf Hitler in a typically humorous manner.
Check out some of the past comics: they're a hoot!
This one is for the business and IT people amongst you!
Meet Ronald Hovsepian. Ronald is the current CEO of network software corporation Novell and has held management and executive positions in IBM for 17 years before that.
As you can tell from the image, he made $5,400,000 in 2007, placing him among the top earners in his field. That's more than $20,000 a day for every working day in a year. How's that for inspiration?
Here's a video, provided by A1+, of cars and trucks using a public park as a street because city services was incompetent enough to provide a proper detour: for me, this video highlights everything that is wrong with Armenia.
First off, we have the city or whoever is in charge of maintaining roads. Not only are they apparently poorly run, but they are unwilling or stupid enough to direct cars and trucks to drive through and damage a public park, while at the same time endangering civilians.
Second you have the drivers themselves, who care only that they get from point A to point B, without at all considering the damage that they are doing to a park. Since they are probably evading taxes anyway, their hearts don't hurt when they destroy the work of others before them, because it is not theirs.
And lastly you have the people in the park themselves or those who use it often, sitting idly by and doing nothing to prevent the traffic from raping everything in its path. Granted, that would be more of an activist role and that's too much to expect. Right, those people only come out during elections, when they have personal bones to pick with certain politicians, and not when material harm is being done here and now. Irreverent cowards.
What you have is a system where the average person does not care about their own country. Who cares if they drive through a park? Who cares if we destroy something that our fathers built? It's not mine, it doesn't cost me anything, and I have zero regard for it!
What can an international candy company possibly do to upset Azerbaijan? This one is sweet in more ways than one:
The CD-ROM [attached to a breakfast ceral as a gift] featured information about countries around the world but the data on Azerbaijan caused outrage there.
It said that Azerbaijan had started a war against neighbouring Armenia and that the hotly disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh belonged to Armenia.
Nestle has now issued a formal apology but some Azeris are still not happy. They accuse Nestle of playing Armenia's hand, and are demanding more than just an apology to chew on.
It looks like my choice of snack on those long days prank-calling the Azeri embassy is firmly and deliciously decided.
A free t-shirt to anyone who can produce an original CD from Azerbaijan for publication on TheArmeniaBlog.com and elsewhere!
I just love Kim. Who doesn't? One moment she's getting her brains tucked out in a video intentionally released everywhere for popularity and in another she's declaring her love for Armenia and its culture, despite knowing nothing about anything, and announcing a visit to Armenia. Joy!
That night at dinner my sisters, brother and I decided it is mandatory that we go to Armenia. None of us have ever been, neither had my dad and neither have my grandparents!
I am also going to be honest, I don't speak Armenian (I know, a lot of you have asked). And I don't know all of the historical details -- so if you have some stories to share with me, I would love that!
What does the Armenian genocide mean to you? Let me know!
OMG, I'm so excited! I always get this excited when telling whores what the genocide means to me!!
First and foremost, it's been nearly a month since the last blog entry. Yes, it's annoying and yes, I hate it, too, but there's only so much free time to go around. However, expect at least an entry a day from this point on - and that's a promise!
Yours truly was unable to attend either of the marches on the 24th, but loyal reader and friend Vardui was kind enough to snap away excellent pictures from the march in the Little Armenia section of Los Angeles. The rest of the pictures can be found here.
Thousands participated.
A different kind of patriotism with a healthy dose of self-expression.
