Uber in Bucharest

I saw it all over the news yesterday: Uber launched its service in Bucharest. People are debating now if this is a good choice or not, so here is what information I found so far from a client's perspective.

Good points:

- Uber drivers are required to have a clean judiciary history and clean traffic violations history; cars should be newer than 10 years and insured; 

- from the application you can see the driver's photo, his rating and the registration number of the car;

- once you set your start point and the end point you get an estimated fee for the trip you plan to do;

- the payment is done automatically from your card and you don't ever tip the driver;
- you can rate the drivers, but the driver can rate you too, so behave :)

Questionable points:

- I would have liked Uber to ask also for the maintenance records of the car; you may have a newer car, but if you never check your brakes... This may be an issue in Romania where I still see many cars on the street which do not look well maintained; I think regular taxi drivers are required by law to check their car every 6 months, so even if they skip some tests the basic systems of the car should be in reasonable state;

- you have to put all your card details in the application (including CVV2 code) and they store in their database; this leaves you exposed in case their database is ever hacked; somebody mentioned that card companies say it is forbidden for a trader to store the CVV2 code of your card;

- I'm not sure what happens if you are stuck in traffic, do they have a waiting fee like regular taxis?

- can you change the route from the one computed by the application? for example if you know a less congested one;

- I understand Uber takes a cut from the fee (5%-20%); do they pay taxes in Romania for their profits? do the drivers pay taxes for the money they make? If the drivers have to file by themselves a form to the tax authorities to declare this income I'm sure nobody will ever pay taxes on the money they get;
- the minimum fee is 6 RON and if you cancel an order before getting into the car you will still pay the minimum fee;
 - for now the reported fees are slightly bigger then the ones of regular taxis, but the price may decrease as more drivers join the system; and supposedly you get a better service;

Two more issues you have to pay attention to: if there are big events like soccer games or rock concerts the fees will probably increase because Uber has an algoritm which automatically increases the fee if the demand is high in a particular area like in this case. Make sure you put the correct destination address; if you put another city by mistake you may end up with a $900 bill like in this case.

Overall I think the idea of the Uber service is good, but let's see how the execution looks like. I don't like that the number of taxi licenses are limited by the local authorities, this interferes with the free market for no good reason. But some regulation is needed in this area in order to make people feel safe when they take a ride in the city.

Update: I found out that they also have a waiting fee, similar to the one that taxis have;

Bring Them Down

"Pune-i la pamant" (Bring Them Down) is a song by La Familia (The Family - a Romanian hip-hop band) which was released in 2005, the same year when the DNA (National Anti-corruption Directorate) was created by Monica Macovei and Daniel Morar was named the chief of this agency. They immediately started investigating important corruption cases (not small fishes like the former anti-corruption agency used to do). I remember listening to this song in my car, together with the news of corruption investigations by DNA. I was wondering at that time if they would manage to finalize those cases and get some big fishes in jail. Ten years after it turns out they just did that big time: 13 former ministers (including one former prime-minister), countless members of the parliament, mayors (from all political parties), judges, prosecutors, police and army officers, university professors, physicians, media moguls, soccer referees and business men that got rich from deals with the government, all of them convicted for corruption and serving time in jail. Probably they didn't totally destroy the "mafia" system that took over Romania after the fall of communism, but DNA (one of the most trusted institutions in Romania today) scared them badly for sure. And they will continue to do so for the next years as they now target also confiscating the wealth that cannot be proven to come from licit activities. So, let's listen this song again, from a new perspective :)

UPDATE: two articles appeared in the international press today covering the activity of National Anti-corruption Directorate (DNA) from Romania. Here is the one on BBC and here the one on The Economist. I'm not sure if they read this post before, I don't see any reference to hip-hop there :)

What If Schrödinger's Cat Meows?

While playing with my cat last night it hit me this question: what would happen if the cat in Schrödinger's thought experiment was meowing? You would know if the cat is dead or alive because the meowing would stop. Or maybe you will be in the same superposition with the cat inside the box and you will both hear the meowing and not hear it. Well, technically hearing the meowing is observing that system, so the assumptions of the experiment are not met. But the real question is how well can you isolate such a complex system (you know that cats are complex animals, they can love and hate you :)) from the environment in order to do such an experiment like the one Schrödinger proposed? I googled this and I found a similar question on a physics forum here. It turns out that if a system interacts with its environment (and we are talking not only about meowing, think about gravity influences as the weight of a cat is significant by quantum mechanics standards) then the quantum superposition collapses to only one of the possible options (the term used in physics is quantum decoherence) and you don't have that limbo of a cat that is both dead and alive anymore.
This is the nice part of thought experiments: you don't need to hurt anybody, you just need to think really hard a and you will eventually find your answer :)

P.S. I have to remember to write on how I found out that communism is bullshit via a thought experiment years ago. Remember how many lives were destroyed for this idea, only to learn it the hard way that communism is crap. And some still believe in it...

Global Warming and the One Percent Doctrine

You know how the weather goes: sometimes is sunny, sometimes it rains and sometimes you have extreme weather like heat waves or snow storms. What puzzles me is that even educated people (who understand what statistics means) keep saying that global warming is a hoax and they give as examples a cold snap or a rainy week in Bucharest. Well, a few days ago NASA published their annual report about global temperatures which states that 2014 was the warmest year on record.
In the book I read recently "That Used to Be U.S." (see my earlier post) the author talks about the 1% doctrine elaborated by Dick Cheney, the former vice-president of the United States. This was in the context of preventing terrorist activities in the aftermath of 9/11 and is sounds like this: "Even if there's just a 1 percent chance of the unimaginable coming due, act as if it is a certainty. It's not about 'our analysis,' as Cheney said. It's about 'our response.' … Justified or not, fact-based or not, 'our response' is what matters. As to 'evidence,' the bar was set so low that the word itself almost didn't apply."
It is debatable if this is a reasonable way to act when arresting or killing people, but the analogy that Thomas Friedman makes is that we should apply this doctrine when dealing with global warming and climate change: if there is even a 1% probability that climate change will drastically affect our life and society then we should act as if this is a certainty. This is what all naysayers on this subject should understand. This will make much easier our collective action.

That Used to Be U.S.

"That Used to Be U.S." (or us, as the authors mean it both ways) is a sobering chronicle of the state of the union. But the issues they describe in this book equally apply to any country in fact. In order to be successful nowadays a country needs to have a good education system, to keep the talented people around, to have a functional political system and leaders which are interested in the common good and not in special interests. And the leaders of a country have thorny issues to tackle these days: from budget deficits (which in fact means borrowing money today which will be paid back by our children) to energy issues and environmental issues like pollution and global warming. The book is well documented and has a first part where the authors diagnose the current American society and a second part where they give their opinions and some ideas about how to fix these issues.
So if you care about what happens in the world around you, go ahead and read this book on the American use case.

The Imitation Game

I first heard about Alan Turing in my second year of college when I studied the Turing machine, a computational model invented by him. We also studied 4 other computational models developed independently by other people (for example λ-calculus), but it turns out all of them are equivalent. Turing machines are widely used for different proofs because this model has the most intuitive definition. It's amazing when you realize that every computer that we use nowadays it's in fact a Turing machine (well, apart from quantum computers which are a different beast, but are still quite far from doing significant work). Besides the theoretical work that he did in computer science, Turing contributed a great deal to the war effort in the Second World War by building a machine which broke the Enigma code used by Germans to encript their communication. This helped the allies to find many of their secrets from movement of troops or the routes attacked by U-boats. "The Imitation Game" tells the story of Turing and his team of cryptographers. I didn't see the movie yet, but I saw it has good reviews and I recognized in the trailer some actors I like: Sherlock and the new prosecutor from The Good Wife. Not to mention Keira :)

Why me?

De ce eu? (Why me?) is a movie based on a real story from 14 years ago. A young prosecutor dares to investigate a judge and a member of the Parliament and he is pushed to suicide by the pressure of his boss and peers. That was the state of the judicial system in Romania at that time. But in the last 10 years it changed a lot: hundreds of members of the "system" (a former prime minister, members of the parliament, judges and other prosecutors, police officers, army officers) were prosecuted and convicted for corruption. The impunity of the ruling class is over and this is just the beginning. I hope that in the next years the level of corruption will continue to decrease in Romania to the benefit of all people. That's what I voted for in 2004, 2009 and 2014: not economic or social policies were my main concern, but the rule of law and the fight against corruption.
The movie will be in cinemas in a few months, but you can see the trailer below:

Christmas Symphony

Zdob and Zdub, a Moldovian rock band, did it again. They composed a Christmas Symphony and presented it recently in a series of shows. Below is a clip of this rock and classical music melange, I quite like how it sounds:



Merry Christmas to all of you!

Timisoara

It all started here on this day 25 year ago. In less than a week the communist regime in Romania would collapse. Watch this video of the shootings in front of the cathedral from Timisoara to understand what a dictatorship looks like. Rulers ordering the army to shoot their own people:




And a song of Phoenix, a famous Romanian rock band originating in Timisoara. Their members fled the communist Romania and wrote this song when they returned to their home city after many years:

Mein Herz Brennt

I've been very light on blogging in the last few months due to the electoral campaign for presidential elections in Romania which sucked all my spare time. But it was worth, as we've seen the biggest surprise I've ever seen in an election. To come back from a million deficit of votes and be a million votes ahead (out of a total of around twelve million votes) in the second round is some achievement. And since Romanians elected as their president a member of the German minority let's listen a song in German today, from Rammstein: Mein Herz Brennt.



P.S. No English translation for you, start learning some German :)

Un raspuns lui Turambar

Mirel Palada a scris azi o postare pe blogul lui despre generatia lui si echipa lui Ponta. Cum comentariul meu a fost blocat, ii raspund public aici.

Mirele, imi pare rau, dar nu suntem la fel. Da, ne uitam la aceleasi filme, ascultam aceeasi muzica, calatorim in aceleasi locuri (am fost si eu 3 ani in State), dar totusi nu suntem la fel.
Am discutat cu tine mult timp pe Facebook desi stiam ca ai pareri politice diferite de ale mele. Am comentat articole din The Economist sau chestiuni legate de sistemul de invatamant. Dar in momentul in care ai intrat in echipa lui Ponta si eu am pus un comentariu critic (nu injurios) la un post de-al tau m-ai banat de pe pagina ta de Facebook, nici macar nu imi mai apare la cautare pe Facebook.
Apoi a venit campania PSD-ul de la aceste alegeri, care este de un jeg total (cum bine s-a exprimat Vlad Petreanu aici) si la care presupun ca ai contribuit activ cu idei. Acuzatii de trafic de copii scoase din burta, faza cu ortodoxia si coruperea preotilor (bani dati din buget bisericii, transfer de active imobiliare) pentru a-l sustine pe Ponta sunt doar doua exemple, dar mai sunt multe altele. Imi vorbesti de echipa Ponta, dar din echipa asta face parte si Firea (am vazut-o in poze cum ii dadea ultimele indicatii inainte de a intra in direct la B1). Iar Firea a fost pionul care a vehiculat cele mai abjecte acuzatii la adresa lui Iohannis. Nici nu mai e cazul de scuze aici, se impunea direct o demisie de onoare, stii tu oare ce e aia?

Indiferent cine va castiga duminica, sa te uiti la rezultatul pe urban si acolo vei vedea o imagine mai clara a Romaniei de azi. Nu a celor dusi la vot cu japca, nu a celor cateva sute de primari racolati prin acea ordonanta de urgenta de neimaginat intr-o tara normala.

All About That Bass

You'll hear again about this Kate Davis, she is very talented:

Mineriada din iunie 1990

Cand am intrat la Facultatea de Matematica, in toamna lui 1995, inca mai erau studenti la master care prinsesera pe pielea lor mineriada in iunie 1990. Unul dintre ei mi-a povestit intr-o zi cum a vazut scara mare din facultate plina de sange, cum laboratoarele de informatica de la parter care tocmai fusesera dotate cu PC-uri donate de afara au fost devastate, caci trebuiau distruse masinile cu care "tipareau taranistii dolari" si tot asa. Anii au trecut, justitia din Romania nu a facut nimic, asa ca unele dintre victime au facut plangere la CEDO impotriva statului roman, iar ieri a fost data sentinta finala, potrivit careia:  "toate dovezile din acest caz indica existenta elementelor constitutile ale unei crime impotriva umanitatii, comise de oficiali ai statului roman, inclusiv membri ai Guvernului si militari cu grade importante". Mai multe detalii aici.

Asa ca statul roman va fi obligat sa finalizeze acele dosare care zac in vreun sertar prin cine stie ce parchet. Avand in vedere ca printr-o lege initiata de Monica Macovei crimele sunt impresciptibile in Romania, pana la urma tot se va gasi un procuror care sa faca lumina in aceste dosare. Iliescu nu va putea dormi linistit nicicand, oricand il vor putea ridica cum se intampla acum cu tortionarii din lagarele de pe vremea lui Dej. 

Bazele sportive si rechinii imobiliari

Acum ca toata lumea si mai ales politicienii se dau bine pe langa Simona Halep, haideti sa ne uitam ce s-a intamplat de fapt cu bazele sportive din Bucuresti in ultimii 25 de ani. Nu de alta, dar prevad ca in urmatoarele luni o gramada de copii vor dori sa se apuce de tenis inspirati de eroina lor de la televizor, iar parintii lor vor alerga prin tot Bucurestiul ca sa gaseasca terenuri unde sa poata juca.
Am citit mai multe articole pe aceasta tema in ultimul timp si m-am gandit sa le adun aici spre popularizare:

• Fantomele Sportului - istoria bazei Chefalul (sau Keoke) unde acum e un ansamblu imobiliar neterminat si multe alte detalii despre hatisul legislativ si administrativ care a facut ca multe baze sportive sa dispara; 
• Afacerea Baza Sportiva Cutezatorii (actuala Pescariu) - afacere inca in desfasurare sub obladuirea Ministerului Educatiei (de la Androneasca in 2003 la epigonii ei de azi);
• Afacerea Baza Sportiva Vointa (in spatele statiei de metrou Aurel Vlaicu) - baza i-a fost data in 1999 lui Ilie Nastase pentru a face acolo o academie de tenis, ceea ce nu s-a intamplat nici pana in ziua de azi, 15 ani mai tarziu; ca sa avem o perspectiva temporala sa ne gandim ca prin '98-'99 Simona se apucase probabil sa joace tenis;
• Afacerea Baza Sportiva Spartac - despre cum s-a cerut retrocedarea a cateva sute de hectare in sectorul 3 si s-au retrocedat tot felul de terenuri, de la baza sportiva Spartac pana la o bucata din parcul IOR; acum pe locul fostei baze sportive se construieste un mall;

Maine ne vom uita toti la Simona si ii vom tine pumnii, dar nu uitati ca pentru a ramane cu ceva mai mult decat uitatul la televizor noi si copiii nostri avem nevoie de parcuri si de terenuri de sport. Iar politicienilor si vedetelor care maine se vor intrece in declaratii despre acest sport, dar care nu au facut nimic concret pentru asta pana acum, sa le fie rusine!

Mult succes, Simona!

Byron Unplugged

It's been twenty years since Nirvana's famous Unplugged in New York concert and this style is still making proselytes. I discovered today a DVD recorded by Byron (a Romanian band) a few years ago. I listened to a few songs from this LP and they sound very nice, but I picked this one where they sing together with Paula Seling: "Rad cand imi vine sa plang" (which means I laugh when I feel like crying). Enjoy!

A vota sau a nu vota?

Iar se apropie alegerile si spre deosebire de alte dati am vazut in ultimul timp mai multe apeluri de boicotare a votului. Argumentul adus este ca toti sunt la fel si ca partidele existente nu ne reprezinta. Insa acest argument este fals dupa parerea mea. Chiar daca nu vorbim despre masurile economice propuse de diferite partide, eu am un criteriu foarte simplu dupa care clasific partidele in momentul de fata: atitudinea lor fata de membrii de partid cercetati sau condamnati penal. DNA a anchetat foarte multi politicieni din toate partidele in ultimii ani. Sunt unele partide care in aceasta situatie au organizat mitinguri de sustinere (cazuri recente sunt presedintele consiliului judetean la Ages, primarii din Navodari sau Constanta, toti de la PSD) sau chiar au promovat in functii guvernamentale oameni trimisi in judecata (cum a fost Fenechiu de la PNL). Ori acest lucru este inacceptabil din punctul meu de vedere. Un minim standard de etica in politica ar fi demisia dintr-o functie publica in care ai fost ales sau numit in momentul in care esti cercetat pentru fapte penale. Cum putem avea incredere in cineva sa ne administreze banii publici in momentul in care este suspectat de furt sau coruptie?

In concluzie voi merge la vot si voi vota unul din partide care respecta aceste minime standarde etice. Si ii incurajez si pe cunoscutii mei sa mearga la vot, caci e important ce rezultatele sa fie determinate cat mai mult de optiunile unor oameni independenti decat de a celor dependenti de ajutorul autoritatilor si care sunt incolonati la vot de primari sau alti functionari.

P.S. 1. Asta nu inseamna ca nu sunt de acord cu propunerile celor de la Uniti Salvam: legea partidelor si cele electorale trebuie schimbate pentru a permite mai usor intrarea unor actori noi pe scena politica. Dar aceste schimbari trebuie facute de parlament si solutia este sa punem presiune pe parlamentari sa faca aceste schimbari, nu sa nu mai venim la vot.

2. Tot astazi au loc alegeri in Ucraina, iar in unele zone oamenii nu vor putea vota din cauza amenintarilor separatistilor pro-rusi. Noi macar putem de aproape 25 de ani sa votam liber si fara alte amenintari.

3. Priviti acest clip de mai jos. E vorba despre niste puscariasi care vrajesc oamenii cu vorbele lor. Acolo e doar o metafora, dar asta se intampla chiar in realitate la noi din pacate...

Prima problema de matematica

Am vazut recent o serie de articole despre Olimpiada Internationala de Matematica si interviuri cu fost castigatori, asa ca am zis sa incep si eu seria de postari despre matematica la care ma gandesc de ceva vreme.

Povestea asta este de cand eram in clasa a doua. Intr-o seara a venit mama la mine cu manualul de matematica de la scoala si mi-a zis: rezolva problema asta. Era o problema de genul Ion si Gheorghe au impreuna 100 de mere. Ion are cu 20 de mere mai multe decat Gheorghe. Cate mere are fiecare dintre ei? Am stat eu un timp si m-am gandit, apoi am dat raspunsul corect, insa nu am fost in stare sa explic cum am ajuns la el (sper ca nu am facut prin incercari totusi :)). Chestia e ca eu nu aveam problema asta la tema, caci nu ajunsesem inca la lectia respectiva, dar mama auzise la niste colegi de serviciu ca li s-a dat copiilor aceasta tema si nu prea au reusit sa o rezolve si a vrut sa ma testeze.

Peste multi ani am citit intr-o carte despre olimpiadele de matematica cum ca aceasta este prima problema de matematica din scoala. In sensul ca chiar daca stii materia predata pana atunci (adica adunarea si scaderea), nu e un simplu exercitiu in care aplici ce ti s-a predat, ci trebuie sa gandesti o solutie la ceva nou. Desigur ca daca ti se explica cum se face poti sa rezolvi pe urma o suta de probleme asemanatoare, dar daca vreti sa vedeti daca copilul vostru are inclinatie spre matematica, dati-i problema asta sa o rezolve singur dupa ce a invatat adunarea si scaderea. De aici porneste toata aventura in lumea fascinanta a matematicii.

1Q84

Magic realism style was invented as far as I know by the Latin-American writers (like Marques or Llosa), but Murakami si very good at it too. In 1Q84 the world described has a strange feeling even from the first pages with that surrealistic descent of Aomame from a suspended highway to escape a traffic jam. By the beginning of the second volume (where I am currently) the space-time has serious flaws and the two parallel stories of Tengo and Aomame are on a collision course. Can we get as far as in "Time Out of Joint" or it will be something else? I'll see when I finish the book.
As in many other of his books, Murakami makes many references to various musical pieces, from classical music to jazz and rock. Some of them are recurring like Janacek's Sinfonietta, but others appear like gems hidden deep down in the ground, like the one page description and analysis of the Atlanta Blues by Loius Armstrong and the All Stars (in this description the clarinetist Barney Bigard is the actual star). So I searched this song on YouTube and it really sounds nice. And if you have the curiosity to read the comments from the video posted below you will see that many people landed on that page after reading about the song in 1Q84. Enjoy :)

Cover Power: Don't Believe a Word

One more cover power session, this time it's one of the most celebrated Romanian hard-rock bands, Iris, which covered in 1996 a song from Thin Lizzy. The Romanian version is quite well known and for a long time I didn't even know it was a cover of another song. Below are the two versions: Sa nu crezi nimic from Iris and Don't Belieave a Word from Thin Lizzy. Enjoy!

Greenback Boogie

I started watching recently Suits TV series. It's a nice one, but what I noticed from the first episodes was the title song. So here it is, Greenback Boogie: