Millions for beating / Not a penny for students - Reason? This is Serbia.

The Serbian government decided to pay the amount of a million dollars ($ 1,000,000) for a "student" (basketball player more likely), in exchange for his freedom. Namely, Miladin Kovačević is charged severely for injuring US colleague, Bryan Steinhauer. The newpaper that reported this, Borba, was charged for revealing "Governmental secrets" - the news was investigated and proven correct.

Meanwhile, students in Serbia are outraged, because there was a change in the law for students of higher education
Here's the pdf announcement for the Medical Faculty of the University of Belgrade:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/12733383/Uslovi-Za-Upis-2009-2010-medicinski-fakulter-u-beogradu-izmena-statuta
http://www.med.bg.ac.rs/?init=news&nid=2963&sid=5


Until now, students in Serbia were allowed to continue being on "budget" status, meaning they could study free of charge, even if they had repeated an academic year. Things changed and after this announcement, whether it is the first time you repeated the academic year or whether it's your second or third, it doesn't matter - the minute you repeat the year, you are automatically sent to , without the possibility to go back to on budget free studying.

Such acts as the one above and the event with Miladin Kovačević, really raise eyebrows, not only among students, but the whole working community of Serbia is opposed to this.
The next step the Government of Serbia is about to take, is to block ALL students and keep the ones that are regarded as the "best" - *ahem* no comment. Here's a news article about it:
http://www.24sata.rs/vesti.php?id=45826

Apparently, giving out millions for unknown (and classified as "top secret"!) purposes is more important than funding students (not basketball players), willing to learn and work.

And this is Serbia - a country where politicians promise and spend everything on unnecessary trips, on expensive cars and 101 suits; where politicians act like children in the Serbian Parliament, instead of teaming up together to resolve an issue; where politicians beat each other up; where politicians accuse fellow politicians for syphilis (or whatever it was), and the latter go and spend government budget on (many) unnecessary blood check-ups, just to prove them wrong; finally, this is a country that pays 1 million dollars and marks the situation as highly classified to free a guy that has beaten up one of his colleagues.

The reward for hard study

It's an examination period and I'm determined to pass the exams I have left, Biochemistry comes first. As all students, I don't have much to comment about my exams ;) I'm trying my best, with all the stuff going around my head, the birds flying and pretty girls walking by my apartment. It is not easy, I can tell you that! Bottom line is that I have to pass the year to go on with my life... and that actually means several sacrifices have to be made. As you can see, I haven't updated my blog lately, due to this - let's just call it "re-organizing priorities".
Sitting my rear all day long isn't something I always wanted to do, but there are really times when that is necessary, an exam period is a perfect moment to start practising! People that do extra study get a bonus reward for their hard work (besides passing grades): Hemorrhoids!
On the other hand, what I really don't like is that I've begun to forget my flawless English, with all the Serbian studying I start making critical spelling errors and pronunciation mistakes.

Concerning the "computer geek" world around me, ubuntucy.org has kicked off finally, and pretty well dare I say, the Ubuntu Cypriot Team has began its first steps to becoming a successful local team. It's still a bit foggy around the organization, but as theo said we could use some anarchy in our lives every once and a while.

Happenings of Mid-March 2008

It's been a while, lots of stuff to talk about. First and foremost, I'm beginning to get up again and stand on my own two feet, although my father's death will always be a painful memory. I've decided to prioritise my to-do list for this year, and guess what - it's more study time for me! That doesn't mean I won't post here, but it means that I will do it after I get to know with my books a little bit better. :) I don't need anyone watching over my shoulder to do this, I am aware that the buck stops with me, but biochemistry (one of the subjects left for me to pass) is a quite large subject with enormous books, it requires time, and it's not something you can test on a computer, run it and say "Ah, it works this way".
Secondly, I believe some of you must've heard about the fall of Serbia's Government. Although I am apathetic to the political scenery in Cyprus and Serbia, I must say it was a bomb waiting to explode, this way the two democratic parties get to bash each other about the fact that no-one was able to .
Thirdly, I signed up this puppy in blogrush, they say it's good for publicity, plus they have this nifty addon for blogs, that give you some interesting articles of what's going on in (their) blogosphere.
Bubbling thus, I have just made a bash script that checks whether you have duplicates of a screen -S something instance. I will personally use it along with "screen -S irc irssi". It helps in situations like when you want a connection waiting for you in the background, while you log in. I believe it can be used with gnome sessions. You can alter it in your own personal style, get it from here. Usage: bash screen-irc-check
Last but not least, I opened up my own personal reseller website named HellNetworks (not done yet, I'm working on it), providing people internet services such as IRC shells, logo design, web hosting, webspace, some programming skills, something for those extra funds for my medical studies.

Lots'a new stuff..

..but I'm still the same! :) It's important to help around in projects you use and like.
In Ubuntu a lot has happened these days, especially after the Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon 7.10 release; among others:
- Ubuntu OpenWeek
- #ubuntu+1 users have moved on to the next devel release, Hardy Heron
- #ubuntu was practically flooded with users asking for help these days, most of them were related to graphics cards, probably because they wanted to try out the fancy 3D experience provided out-of-the-box for most of them.
- The release after hardy is said to be Grumpy Groundhog, although I personally would prefer to move on to the next letter ("I"), and use my suggestion: Itchy Iguana - I still believe it's catchy!

I'm VERY satisfied with that the developers have accomplished, but I didn't like this:

cat /etc/debian_version

This command returns: lenny/sid
Debian leftovers! Oh well, it's really a minor "bug", a way if you will to show their direct connection I guess (yes, I'm just guessing).

In my circle of life, there's nothing that is worth publishing, pretty much dull. I'm stuck with 3 exams, which I will probably finish by the end of January, if not all, then I'll try my best for at least 2. The next not-so-important thing is that the central heating of my appartment (in the heart of Belgrade, Slavija) is not functioning correctly. All the buildings in Belgrade have a centralised heating system, all connected to each other if I'm not wrong - well it seems like the appartments on the 8th floor here don't have as much "heat" as expected. I really hope this will get fixed by November, because the temperature has begun to go lower.
My neighbour mentioned to go get an electric heater, but what would be the point of paying a central heating all year long and not actually enjoying one?

Away for some days

You might have noticed that lately I don't make posts as frequently as before. I am and will still be away for several days. It's my examination period, I have to focus a lot more on passing my exams than filling out a blog with no apparent reason.

If you like any of my projects, ellinikoures.com (gallery & forum) or erroneous.name (cwean antimalware package - cwean.exe) you're more than welcome to donate a little something for the web hosting - It goes directly to both websites' funding and not in my pocket :)

Studies: The journey begins... again!

August is a critical month for me, I have to choose between fun and studying. I chose studying :) I might delay some days on displaying news, but this blog will always be here to bring something exciting! Bear with me, you don't have anything to lose if you subscribe at my feeds.

Have a lovely Friday night!

Studies: Passed 1, 3 to go!

I know, I know, I haven't posted for some days. I apologise for that, I considered in taking a day off and some days for studying (better said "quarantined"). 3 "examination months" left, 3 exams to go. Epidemiology was a breeze, thanks to the lovely two girls that helped me study! 7/10 isn't a bad grade, considering the fact that I was revising for 4 days and secondly, I faced the professor first from the group. It's all about rhetoric to present your answer effectively and in several few minutes.
Quite the opposite of "το λακονίζειν εστί φιλοσοφείν" (to lakonizin esti filosofin; keeping it short/simple is a way of wisdom), which I've learned in Cypriot schools - keep it short and concise, spare us the beautiful adjectives.
There is so much to learn... and I intend to learn it!

Studies: E pur si muove!

I've been reading all day long these last two days and I intend to do that for today and tomorrow. Because the day after tomorrow is my epidemiology examination (oral part). Thank God there are still some reasonable professors who wish their students to have some more time in their hands in order to achieve a pass (or a higher grade, who knows?). I've read the book once and I believe I'm ready, a friend of mine will help me with the oral part, because let's face it, I'm a student whose knowledge was in Greek for 18 consecutive years, translated in Serbian for the last 3, and I'm still in the adopt-to-speak period. In my family we were speaking poorly in Serbian, mostly when arguing (oh yeah... this language is made for swearing!).
I do make some big errors and people may understand something else other than what I want to say, but hey, I'm here to learn :)

Wish me luck, I'll need it.

P.S. The Rolling Stones are coming to Serbia, 14th of July is their mega-super-duper-terramundo concert. I won't be participating, but we'll just have to wait to see what the audience will say. I heard that in Budva the gig was terrific and spectacular.

Studies: Physiology Practical Examination - Judgement day

Well life isn't always sweet, sometimes we have to make sacrifices. I dedicated some minutes to write this post before going to a critical exam. I believe I'm well prepared, the assistants there will probably help moi get around. It's not hard if you put your mind into it; and I'm determined to pass no matter what! No retreat & no defeat.

Take care wonderful readers, see you after the exam :)

P.S.: I found a new google thing to blog about: Google Trends - This will help a lot of guys decide on the topic they will blog about.

Away: Study time!

Today and tomorrow I won't post anything. I have some serious exams to take care of. I suggest you do the same: Grab a book while I'm gone, it makes things far more interesting! :)
I have a practical examination in Physiology and an oral exam in Epidemiology. Wish me luck!!

The new beginning

For those who don't know me from blog.erroneous.name, I'm a medical student studying at the Medical Faculty of Belgrade University. I'm currently on an examination period for the second year from June to July. I have to pass Physiology (no, it's not psychology), Biochemistry, Epidemiology (only 56 questions wooohooo!) and last but not least Microbiology with Immunology.

My exams have already began, I did a bad start, I turned back a question of physiology which was about calculating a daily energetic change (metabolism is my worst subject). I sincerely didn't know what to say! Moreover, I just couldn't face my assistant and await his "decision" due to my unpreparedness. It's best to leave and return fully prepared, than give a bad first impression (No, normally I don't support this, but I believe it's time I do!).

My knowledge for some html/php/python/perl seems to pay off though, and I owe most of it to the Ubuntu Linux community, an introducement to the free world. I prepared this nice website in just 2-3 days. I was considering changing studies to computers... but I'm more into helping real people if you know what I mean :) Yes, I'm a geek that loves his PC, but I'm also the kind of guy that is simply too social to be behind a screen all day long programming. I prefer to keep this "gift" as a hobby, I will need it some day.