Czech Christmas, Part V: Must eat exotic fruit

by Iva Skoch on

Blogging about Czech Christmas this week made me realize how much of the so-called Christmas tradition is related to our experiences–or traumas–from communism.

To give you an example…Czechs love to eat exotic fruit around Christmas time – pineapples, oranges, kiwis, plus more things that I can’t identify by name and that certainly don’t grow in this latitude. This clearly comes from communism: exports from non-communist countries were not allowed. Only around Christmas time, the stores would get special shipments of bananas, oranges and nuts, and it was a big treat! (Come to think of it, I wonder where those special shipments came from back then…Santa Castro?)

There were a couple of problems with the concept. First of all, the lines went out the door when the word got out: “They have bananas!” There was also a strict limit on how much one family could buy. I think it was about two pounds per family. Of course, the Czech are sly people so they would have multiple family members dispersed throughout the line to “fool the system,” and buy more stuff.

To this day, Czech still eat exotic fruit on Christmas, although now the stores are chock-full with bananas, oranges and kiwis any time of the year. Old habits die hard.

Czech Christmas, Part IV: Seeing the golden pig

by Iva Skoch on

Just when you thought Czech Christmas was weird enough, I have another peculiar Christmas tradition for you.

For the whole day on Christmas Eve, Czech people are supposed to avoid eating anything in order to see the vision of the “golden pig” on the wall. I don’t really know why anyone sane would fast for that reason, but people do it all the time. I have done it in the past and I am here to tell you: there ain’t no golden pig. Not if you don’t take psychedelics at the same time, at least.

I know you are probably thinking this is altogether a tragic tradition. People fast all day and then–hurray–they get to eat …carp!

Is automated personal transport the future?

by Abha Malpani on

No, it’s not a gigantic toaster on wheels nor an alien’s toy car, it’s Britain’s answer to rail-free, time-table free, emission-free personal transport.

Planned for launch sometime after the opening of Heathrow’s terminal 5, these pod-shaped capsules will transport people from the car park to the new terminal, and on demand, will be available within 12 seconds!

The battery run capsules take four people at a time and are pre-programmed. You will be able to pick them up at designated spots where they will be waiting, or you can call for one. You then select your destination on the touch screen and the capsule will mark out the best possible route to take you there. (GPS taken to a new dimension?) They will have their own paths, so congestion and traffic lights will not be an issue.

The main selling point of these Personal Transport Systems (PRT) as they are called, will be their convenience: you will no longer have to wait in queues, nor share transport with strangers, and your transit time from car to airport will be reduced to 4 minutes. The capsules are as green as they can get: they use less than half the amount of fuel used by public or private transport making them at least 50% more energy efficient, and have zero local emissions.

Once tried and tested, the plan is to expand their use as valuable complements to mass transit systems in big cities. I wonder how much a trip in these would cost?

Automated parking systems, and now this, Heathrow seems to be on a roll for setting new standards.

No man is an island, but some build them

by Aaron Hotfelder on

Citing concerns regarding overcrowding and rising sea levels, the Dutch Parliament recently announced it is seeking to build a tulip-shaped island in the North Sea, just off the country’s coast. (Check out Brett’s post on that subject here). Artificial islands have already been constructed in places throughout the world, with probably the most famous being the Palm Islands in Dubai. This all seems to beg the question, just how do you build an island?

Samantha Henig, Slate’s resident Explainer, has posted an informative video answering just that question. Apparently, dumping large amounts of sand and gravel into the ocean is a good place to start.

Of course, there’s always the method that Richie Sowa employed in constructing his Spiral Island off the Mexican coast– round up 250,000 plastic bottles and simply float. Come to think of it, anyone wanting to build their own island might be better sticking with the sand and gravel method– Spiral Island was destroyed by a hurricane in 2005.

Tourism with the “real girlfriend experience”

by Abha Malpani on

I’ve talked about nudist tourism and debauchery tourism, now here’s another spin on hedonistic tourist packages. It seems that the market for “sex” when traveling is rapidly being replaced by the emerging market for “girlfriends” on the road.

Premiering tonight at 10pm (GMT) is the documentary “My Boyfriend The Sex Tourist” that explores the life of western men for whom “wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am” is not enough, resulting in the growth of “commercialized love” packages where they can have women at their beck-and-call, 24-hours a day. The film’s director Monica Garnsey, traveled to Venezuela and Thailand and spoke to women trapped in these professions; the 2-part documentary is through their eyes.

When I was in Thailand, I saw the sorry state of Thai women making a living from prostitution. I heard that it is not uncommon that they submit to more that just sex, under the illusion of being rescued by a foreigner who will fall in love and want to get married. I saw the promo of this film and it seems like a much “happier”(?) one than I imagined. I think it is very depressing.