No surprises.  Japan is#1 and Australia doesn’t make the top 20.

http://www.joshuazimmerman.com/blog/?p=3674

Amazing BBC footage of whales battling.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8318000/8318182.stm

A useful roundup of the best online genre magazines.

http://www.jasonsanford.com/jason/2009/10/online-genre-magazines.html

I ate pizza in a country that doesn’t exist.

After Ukraine I visited Moldova.  There’s not a lot to see inside the main part of Moldova, but there is Transnistria.

Transnistria is a self-proclaimed independent republic.   There was a civil war in Moldova in 1992 and more than 500 people were killed.

Transnistria has its own borders and immigration checks, its own government, army and currency, but it’s not recognised as an independent state by other countries.  Many of the people in Transnistria want to become part of Russia.

I stayed in the main part of Moldova, but went to Transnistria for a day trip.  I’d heard stories of foreign travellers having to pay bribes ($20 – $50 US) to get into Transnistria, but fortunately I didn’t have to pay anything.  There was a long wait at the checkpoint and I was the last in line from our bus.  The bus driver didn’t want to wait any longer and took me to the front of the line and demanded they process my immigration form quickly.

Transnistria is a Communist dictatorship and has lots of murals and slogans.

The Presidential Palace

Horse traffic lights.

There were lots of young men in black clothes with shaven heads wandering around.  Communist youth group members.

Some of the people in Moldova were a lot friendlier than the people in Transnistria.

Have fun,

Aidan.

A look at how statistics can sometimes be misleading.

http://anilmenon.com/blog/2009/10/simpsons-paradox-in-the-slush-pile.html