This article is aimed at four groups of people. 1) University lecturers (especially in engineering) or other trainers of engineers, 2) those who run businesses that create appliances and other machines (including cars) and 3) anyone who cares about not turning the world into one big landfill and 4) anyone who is sick of things that break down and cannot be repaired.
It may also be of interest to engineers, politicians, and ordinary consumers who are curious about why things are changing.
“Governments talk about sustainability, yet they completely ignore durability!
“You cannot be GREEN if you are building machines for a landfill.
“True environmentalism isn’t about a recycling BIN, it’s about a servicable machine.
“We shouldn’t be selling NEW just to prop up a false economy.” Continue reading →
No self-respecting journalist wants to become an organ for hatred. It would make sense that everyone would support laws that actually helped fight prejudice, right?
Well, laws tend to have unintended consequences. The laws that Democrats put to stop tax avoidance by billionaires have forced people who aren’t even millionaires to renounce their American citizenships. If you can’t afford compliance, you might even struggle to afford the renunciation fee (but the stress of finding a knowledgeable accountant might make it worth it.) Continue reading →
The Gaudemaus (our dyslexic reporter told us “Gaumant”) book fair is in the main square (Cluj’s piata unirii) again. This is an annual event. 22-26 April, 2026.
Most books, naturally, are in Romanian, but there are a variety of books in different languages as well.
There are stands from the ethnic minorities of Cluj, including the Albanian stand that has a nice dictionary. These have literature written by members of the minority groups, many in Romanian but occasionally in another language.
And there is a second hand book stand with a wide variety of books in English (and Romanian, and other languages).
And, if you want to learn Romanian, there are plenty of children’s books. Also, some beautiful history books and box sets that would make excellent gifts.
We even got some books for university students learning Romanian while. It helped us learn all the different plurals. (And there are a lot of them.)
Opening and closing times – about 10 am to 8 pm
The stalls, or tents, closed strictly at eight pm, the bouncers were in full force. Hey, people who run these stands have a life too (and there are other evening events this weekend, like Fridays “crossul de noapte” where children and adults (and families) were running cross country races by the Casino in the “Central Park” (yeah, that park that is in the North Western border of the city. I guess it is central if you think of it in relation to Vivo and the airport.)
Not just books
Every stand there seems to be a publisher. But, a few of the stands seem to focus on something other than books. The first year we were here, we noticed a game stand with nice games. The second year we were here, we saw someone selling second hand records. This year, there is a kind of lame toy shop who also has a few comic books, and a jewelry stand.
There is also a jewelry fair in the museum square, however, none of those stands are selling books.
Anyway, the games are pretty fun, there is a wide variety of books, on everything from meditation to biographies and fiction you’ve heard of and new fiction.
Some of the authors are there too, and we had books signed there by three very nice Romanian authors. (I think I saw two of them today too. Maybe I’ll say hi and get another book.)
Recommended if you like books (or board games, or gem stones). But, there are plenty of other things to do in Cluj if you don’t.
So, we had a draft article. It was based on wikipedia and attempting to watch videos on Youtube. When writing it, we realised that we didn’t really know a lot about Goga the poet and Goga the prime minister.
First, why do we care who Goga was? Well, his statue was taken down in Iasi. This led to a protest in a Cluj newspaper. There is also a library in Cluj named after him, and there is a threat to change that name. “Ugh! You mean I have to change my maps because of some woke cancel culture?”
Now, the statue was for Goga the poet. But here, we will concentrate on Goga the politician. The focus will not be why the statue was put up, but why some people wanted it to be taken down. (Perhaps we will have another article about the poet in the future.)
A foreign visit to Romania shows local food that isn’t traditional. Burgers, kebabs, laiden with fatty and sugary sauces.
Eventually, we fall upon mici (miches? Miki?), but they come with a side of fries and another sugary sauce.
We see the usual sites. The Arc of triumph, the massive government building in Bucharest, memorials to the revolution… and a trip to the train station.
And what do we see at the train station? Starbucks. Sure, coffee has been in this part of this world for generations, but the portions were smaller, less frequent, and even those who drank frequently didn’t add as much sugar. We see in old language courses, that teach us taste, that normal coffee drinkers drink it black, or with very little added flavor, as Coffee is described as “bitter.”
What about Romanian cuisine before?
A video of Moldova from just three years earlier look much healthier. Much less reliance on sauce for flavor, coffee without sugar, bread instead of fries, and even a salad.
But that’s Moldova right? Different country? Well, let’s look at the old food tour to Romania, just three years ago. again, much healthier choices than this year’s Romania trips. Traditional food instead of kebabs and burgers, Salad instead of chips. Once has a feeling that his wine drinking habit is not normal, but some kind of quirk like eating too much mayonaise with a fork.
But at least he gets vitamins with all that pure fruit juice (called “fresh” in Romania even if it isn’t fresh) and all those vegatables, something I haven’t seen in recent videos.
Real meat instead of refabricated meat, real vegetables instead of fried potatoes, real traditional food instead of fast food. Even if wine isn’t necessarily healthier than sugar-coffee, we have a feeling that he is only drinking one glass a day to enjoy his holiday. A small vice if kept in moderation.
Why is this relevant? A recent report from TV1 claimed that seventy percent of Romanians were obese. In Cluj, I find this hard to believe. I can remember six years ago, seeing Romanians as even thinner than the French, rivaling the Japanese in small waste lines.
Sure, there are plastic surgery places in Cluj, but I attributed it more to the traditional diet. Mici was only for special occasions. Sarmale and even salads were eaten in moderation. Two months of orthodox “fasting” from animal products, and home cooked meals with a balanced diet led to a healthy population.
But now, coca cola is called “suc” or “juice.” Fasting has been replaced with fast food. Lines for bread have shrunk but waist lines have grown. And the changes in diet show up in foreign videos.
However, we have another question. Do the seventy percent of Romanians who are allegedly obese actually live in Romania? Or do they live in countries like Belgium? I mean, those pomme frites, those sugar waffels, those sauces and desserts can tempt anyone to gain weight.
One is reminded of the time Homer Simpson wants to gain weight (so that he can claim disability for being too obese to work) and the quack doctor recommends pizza. Oh pizza. Yes, we have seen a lot of that in Cluj, many pizza and burger places have opened up in the past six years (and a few Shaorma places too.) If you want to gain fat, it’s much easier to do it today.
And another question, why don’t tourists ever seem to try a langos? If you’re going to have fast food, at least try something local.
If you’re on holiday, you might want to taste the Cheesy palanets, langos, papanas, or even one of those covrigs… But we all know if you want to get fat quickly, then it’s mostly the fries, soda, kfc, and pizza that does it. (And the inactivity.)
Whatever it is, maybe it was here, in Cluj-Napoca, that fluffy (Gabriel Iglesias) “ate himself into a plural.” His face is all over Iulius Mall, announcing his arrival. I’m sure the crowd will be massive, and watching him will be a real treat.
Just writing this makes me feel fatter. I’ll try to burn off a few calories and go on a walk.
The open air museum on the outskirts of Cluj, also known as the ethnographic park (or the outdoor museum of old mills, churches and houses), is again holding its “iarmaroc la sat.” What is “iarmaroc la sat?” (In the first draft, we misspelled it as “Lamaroc la sat.”) It means something like “annual village fair.” “Sat” is village, “la” is at, and iamaroc is a weird word that no one ever uses. I guess you could say it means something like “annual,” or “regular” fair or market. What is it, fair or market? Depends on the context. The Romanian dictionary defines as iarmaroc as a regular “târg.” “Târgul de cărți” is a book fair. Think of the annual Christmas market.
Where to go? Look on your satnav (or map, if you’re going oldschool) for “Romulus Voia.”
When? 15, 16, and 17th of May. On the fifteenth, doors open at 2 pm, and on the weekend, at ten am. It closes at nine pm on each day (but it might be a good idea to get there earlier, as people often pack up before it closes.)
Why? This is Cluj, an ancient city which has been taken over by rural migrants. As they say in rural Scotland, “Every day is a party.”
What is going on there? Among other things, a ceramics or pottery competition on the theme “Cucuteni.” The Cucuteni were the prehistoric culture of Eastern Romania, in places like Iasi. They had a lot of nice pottery, and there is a lot of speculation as to what happened to them.
Entire villages just seemed to disappear. Did they cremate their dead? And burn their houses? Or were they beamed up to another planet, or perhaps they were the people of Enoch who were taken in the rapture of times of old?
Maybe one day they all just decided to get up and walk to Western Europe, like Badea Cârțean or Constantin Brâncuși? But then, why don’t we find traces of their journey, or evidence of their final arrival?
Don’t want to make pottery? Or don’t want to enter it into a contest? Don’t worry, there will also be other workshops, and activities for children. There will be up to ninety stands from all around the country, so you might find something to do. (And if it’s not your thing, then maybe you could just stay home and watch “Nea Marin, Miliardar.”
A US based scientist compared “chicken” from three major fast food retailers, and found that the chicken from KFC looked the least like real meat. It seems that KFC has the worst meat, if you like real meat. It doesn’t look like meat, it looks like meat glue.
So, if you want to see what meat looks like under the microscope, don’t look at KFC “meat,” choose a brand that is a little less processed.
Does that mean that KFC chicken is suitable for vegetarians? I’m afraid not. It is still technically reconstituted “meat” but it is so far processed that it looks like something else.
Anyway, the channel has a lot of fun science experiments that can be recreated in Cluj. Well, you can’t see the bacteria in Disney water or the Atlantic Ocean in Cluj, but you can test the local swimming pools and compare them with the river Somes.
And you can test KFC here. Okay, so the better chicken brands are here, but you can compare it to local restaurants, which probably have better chicken.
One of the more comments asked to “Test to see if McDonalds is actually making meat from humans.” Another asked “Can you test the ‘chicken’ in Campbells soup? Especially since the VP claimed it was 3D printed, right before they fired him.” We have McDonalds, but we don’t see a lot of Campbells soup in Cluj. Let me know if you test the local canned soup, what your results are.
When it comes to pricing, no supermarket (in Cluj) is perfect. At Auchan, we’ve seen old labels with old prices left up.
I remember working at a DIY shop in Britain, where my boss told me the importance of pricing things correctly. We could get fined five thousand pounds if the items were in the wrong place. Well, someone forgot to tell that to the managers of places like Kaufland, where we often have to check the bar code against the price tag. (At least there are bar codes.)
So, at places like Profi and Auchan I found out of date labels, and at places like Lidl and Kaufland I found items in the wrong place (so, mislabeled because of location.) In any case, I have a habit of double checking prices on those little boxes on the wall, so that I don’t have to say, ‘hey, that’s more than I expected’ at the checkout.
Why not just complain when we get overcharged? We could tell you the story about the customer who complained about a mispriced item at a local Lidl and was tackled by a security guard for it. Sometimes, you don’t feel like wrestling with a guard.
(I don’t think that guard still works here: most guards just do their job and don’t tackle you for complaining about high prices.)
In any case, all the major supermarkets seem to have had a price label problem at some time. (Okay, so I personally have not had an issue with Carrefour in Romania, maybe in another country. Or Penny, but how many Penny’s are there? Drive three miles every time I go shopping? No thanks.)
But Mega Image has to have the worst case of price mislabelling. You see, they have introduced weighing stations with stickers, like most of the supermarkets (last I checked, Lidl and Penny still let you weigh at the checkout. So do some Carrefours, but I don’t remember if they all do.)
Great, you say! This is the one time you don’t get surprised at the till. But that is the problem.
The sticker said 4.99 a kilo. The receipt said 9.99 a kilo. They both have the same weight. So, guess what, we ended up paying twice the price. And yes, we did use a store loyalty card and still had to pay the higher price.
The sticker lied! That is the first time I have seen that at any supermarket, and I’ve shopped in at least twelve different countries.
How much did we pay exactly? A little over twice what the sticker said. Why don’t I give an exact number? Because then I would tell you how many oranges I bought, and that’s a personal matter. I lived in Belgium, but never in Finland. So I believe in financial privacy. Mega Image is also from Belgium (it is an offshoot of the Belgian supermarket, Delhaize.) How many oranges I bought is none of your business, unless you’re willing to give me a refund.
What is your business is that the stickers they put on fruit are not to be trusted, at least not at Mega Image. I hope they fix that issue soon.
One advert on the bus once said that Cluj is a “sleepless city.” Fortunately, we do sometimes get sleep. I suppose they meant there are sometimes things to do after dark, and even in the holidays.
There are a few holidays when everything is closed, like Orthodox Easter. Cinema Victoria will close on Good Friday for about a week, many kiosks and small shops will also close. That doesn’t mean there will be no traffic, people will come from all over Europe to visit their families in Cluj, and they will travel all over Cluj to attend services or just hang out with friends and family on the other side of the city.
(That said, buses operate, so you don’t have to drive. As they should say in New Jersey, “Drive safely, or don’t drive at all.”)
It does mean that a lot of things, from museums and cinemas to even restaurants and shops, will be closed for a long weekend, as people finally take a few days off.
But one place that is open most days is the Botanical Gardens of Cluj (Gradina botanica UBB). It is owned by the largest university, UBB, but it seems to mostly operate independently.
It is open from 9am to 7pm most days. Not all of it, the greenhouses close at least an hour earlier, and as Easter includes more public holidays, expect the museum inside it to be closed.
One sign of spring is the flowers that are planted. Many have not bloomed yet, but we do see tulips (okay, those from Eastern Romania or Holland or Belgium, you might not see the same big tulip parade here, but there are very nice tulips in Cluj.)
The biggest sign, however, is that the drinking water fountains are working. They are closed during the winter, perhaps to stop them from freezing over.
On Wednesday and Thursday, Charlton Heston’s “Greatest Story Ever Told” will be screened in two parts at Cinema Victoria. That is a very brave thing for cinema Victoria to do, screen a film over two days, but it is also quite nice, reminding us of the old days when films (and novels, among other things) were released in parts, as serials.
Not everywhere will be closed for the entire holiday. Many places will be closed on Easter Day, or closed part days. But expect official buildings, banks, and most institutions to be closed or partially operating. If there is anything you need for the easter weekend, get it on Wednesday the 8th of April (or whatever Wednesday comes before Orthodox Easter that year.) Sure, places might be open Thursday as well, but they are likely to be crowded then.
Some nice spring words in Romanian (and other languages) (dynamic list)
RomanianFrenchGermanHungarianEstonianWelsh
R teatrul
F le théâtre
G
H
E
W
R opera
F l’opera
G
H
E
W
R cinematograful
F le cinéma
G
H
E
W
R circul
F le cirque
G
H
E
W
R fântâna, izvorul
F la fountaine
G
H
E
W
R belvederea
F le bélvèdere
G
H
E
W
R meterezul, valul
F les remparts
G
H
E
W
R monumentul
F le monument
G
H
E
W
R grădina botanică
F le jardin botanique
G
H
E
W
R ghețarul
F le glacier
G
H
E
W
R restaurantul
F le restaurant
G
H
E
W
R plaja
F la plage
G
H
E
W
R centrul orașului
F le centre ville
G
H
E
W
R
F
G
H
E
W
R
F
G
H
E
W
How do you say happy Easter in Romanian? Technically, it is “Paște fericit” but we don’t hear that much. It is more like the Lutheran tradition in German communities:
Hristos a înviat. (Christ has risen. Christ est ressuscité.)
Adevărat a înviat. (He has risen, indeed. Il est vraiment ressuscité.)
Today is April 1st. I would expect to see more fake news than usual. However, I see the same, or even less.
We had a couple of prank ideas that we thought might be funny, but unfortunately the world is so weird, they would either be believed permanently or just meld into the blend of fake news.
Some of the AI generated videos pretend to be from Professor Jiang, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and others who “might say” the things the AI makes them say. There are entire AI generated channels that commentors seem to react to as if they were the real people. Continue reading →
