Assorted Euromusings

We all know about Eurovision. It is the longest running annual international televised music competition in the whole wide world. It is a celebration of music, of cultures, of emotions and technology. And it is the perfect proof that Skype is not reliable.

 

But what I really love about it (besides the music) is the voting. Every year some countries surprise everyone with their unusual choices. To combat giving votes to neighboring countries, all countries have a jury of local music 'experts', whose votes are tallied up and account for 50% of the final result of the country's votes. The other 50% comes from a public SMS vote. Sometimes the decision of the jury and the thoughts of the public work well together. Sometimes they go and stand on different sides of a giant chasm. One example would be last year's votes from the UK - the public's FAVOURITE song did not get even a single point from UK because the local jury absolutely hated it.

 

Among this year's surprises was San Marino who decided to give 12 points to Latvia. This can be explained as San Marino's public was disqualified and only jury votes mattered, and for some reason Latvia was a big favourite of many juries, but not of publics'.

 

To those that don't know, each country that takes part in the competition (40 in total this year) gives points to the national top 10 selection on a scale of 12, 10, 8-1 to countries that qualified to the Grand Final (27 in total this year). Eurovision does not only span Europe, but parts of Asia (including Georgia, Israel etc.) and this year had a guest star Australia.

 

So, without further ado, assorted musings concerning the votes of this year's Eurovision Grand Final:

• Sweden, the winner, received 12 points 12 times in the final. 14 times in the semifinal. Out of possible 39 (21 in semifinal).
• Germany and Austria (the host country) were the only ones to not get even a single point. They didn't even give any to each other. Austria was just out of reach of a single point in several countries.
• 7 countries qualified directly to the grand final. 4 of them  - Austria, Germany, France and UK occupied the very last positions of the scoreboard.
• As an oddity, Lithuania gave no points to Russia, with kind regards of the country's jury.
• The public's top song in France was the jury's 15th (Italy). The jury's top song was the public's 12th (Latvia).
• The public's second favourite song was the jury's 20th and hence only got 3 points from France. The public's 4th, 5th and 8th top picks did not get any points as the jury ranked them 24th, 25th and 26th (out of 26).
• The public of the UK loved Lithuania's song this year, which I honestly liked as well. Their jury, however, dropped it down to getting 4 points from the UK. It could be worse, it could be Poland.
• UK public's second favourite song (from Poland) received 2 points from UK as the jury ranked it 17th best.
• Latvia's jury loved Austria, ranked it the 3rd best song in the grand final. The public disagreed and ranked it 21st, narrowly leaving it without a point. Austria did not get a single point from anywhere else, either.
• The Netherlands' public's 5th best (Armenia) and 7th best (Poland) were also snubbed by their jury - 26th and 25th places respectively.
• Germany's jury violently disagreed with their public - the jury's unanimous fave Latvia was only 12th most popular with the public. The public's fave Italy was ranked 18th by their jury. The jury's 3rd, Norway, was the public's 15th. The jury's 8th, Austria, was the public's 17th, again narrowly escaping a single point. Germany's public's 6th favourite, Albania, dropped down to a low 15th place in the country's rankings as the jury ranked it absolute last.
• Hungary's public's favourite received a whopping 2 points from Hungary as the local jury ranked Italy 20th best. The jury loved Latvia, helping it get 5 points despite being only the public's 10th top pick.
• Israel's jury threw the public's 3rd, 8th and 9th most favourite songs out of the country's top 10, giving them 24th, 21st and 22nd rank respectively.
• The people of Ireland loved Lithuania most, but the jury dropped it down to 4th place. It only got worse after that as the public's 2nd, Poland, was the jury's 22nd. The public's 7th top pick, Romania, and 9th top pick, Estonia, were thrown out of the national top 10 as the local jury stuck them as 24th and 23rd respectively.
• A similar thing happened in Belgium - the public's 6th and 8th most favourite songs were ranked 20th and 23rd by the jury, throwing both Poland and Israel well out of the national top 10.

No other great disagreements between jury and public votes caught my eye as most disagreements are relatively small. Yet I do find it really curious when the jury and the public rank the same song over 20 spots apart on a scale of 1 to 26.

 All data has been taken from eurovision.tv - Eurovisions official website.

 

The Space Race. Excerpt.

"So the Usurper gave you these lands for the treasure?"

"Well, he would've taken it anyway, but he appreciated my.... bravado. I stole from his enemies, so he couldn't just kill an ally. Other land owners would surely kill me soon enough."

They were sitting at a cave's mouth. A small bench had been carved out of the rock wall. It was pleasantly cool and a slight breeze led from the deep caverns out. The sun was coming up.

"Why would they?"

"I attacked someone powerful. Someone they didn't dare attack. If I were to do it again, they would look weak, their positions would be threatened."

"So if you are so dangerous to all of them..."

"Why didn't they? Because I got there first. I sent a few raiding parties against them. None returned."

"You sent your people to their deaths?"
Flake looked at Maria, an eyebrow raised.

"Yes. So the others would lose interest in me. Now I appear weak. Coming after me would bring them no benefit, so I can live in peace."

"So you have a plan?"
Maria simpered. She sat back, closed her eyes, and exhaled. She seemed relaxed, which was odd considering the topic.

"I always have a plan."

"It is weird. Boys are always warned about bad girls. That they can cause plenty of harm by wrapping a man around their little finger. Then again, anyone with half a brain can handle a bad girl. It is a good girl we should really worry about."

Maria chuckled. "You think I'm a good girl?"

"Better than most. You are too smart not to be."

Maria locked eyes with Flake.
"If I didn't know any better I'd say you're coming on to me."

"Not at all. Just remarking on why your plans keep working."

Maria smiled.
"They work because I make them work."

"So why am I here?"

"A few hundred years ago everyone thought that our little Cersus was a lonely planet with a tiny moon and a single sun constantly shining overhead. Then everything changed when we received radio signals from somewhere far beyond. Somewhere beyond our wildest imaginations, somewhere far beyond the twin suns. An outside contact caused an explosion of research. Everyone wanted to know more so scientific centres were popping up like mushrooms, getting more funding than a Nah after finding a rock cavity."

"I remember the stories from history classes. I was only half-asleep."

"I am sure you do. I mean to make a parallel. Now imagine there was another discovery that brought all researchers together, and imagine you could control where they would come to."

"You could control the flow of money. And trade. You could become the new Usurper."

"Good. So there is no confusion."

"There is. You cannot possible control the signal. It comes from somewhere we cannot see, and you only know it is coming once it has already arrived. And it still doesn't explain what you called me here for."

"It does. The signal comes through periodically. Almost completely in phase with the cycle of our days. It happened because our suns are always in opposite directions from us. We can't find the signal any more because over time the signal kept occurring later and later in the day, until it was impossible for anyone to withstand the heat of the suns."

"So? Are you saying you found a way to stay alive outside the cliffs?"

"No. I'm saying you did. Or well, keep equipment alive."

Maria reached into her bag and pulled out a dagger. It was completely black, charred, with a small bit of char scratched off to reveal a metal blade. Flake immediately recognized it. It was his.

"How did you find it? I lost it almost half a world away."

"I found it by accident. It was being sold as a cheap clump, but the shape seemed familiar. When I saw your symbol on it, I had to buy it. Still got a bargain.
"Your dagger doesn't melt in the sun. Either of them. That is rare for a metal. So rare that noobody would make a dagger out of it. The only time its quality were of use is when you've lost it or you are dead. It would only be made into a dagger if one had the ability to get more of it. Lots more. And one was using the dagger as a proof of concept for people of wealth. You never got to it."

"It is true I met some resistance on my path."

"But the dagger arrived here. And now so did you. I understand you have found a way to produce this new metal. I'd like to use it to build research equipment to catch those signals."

"For personal benefit."
Maria breathed deeply, contemplating her reply.

"It will benefit the world, it is a research revolution. I can keep it out of the hands of those who would use it for war."

"I am here because of you. I trust you. But I cannot make something out of nothing. I could bring nothing with me."

"I understand you need magnetic ore. There is plenty mined in this cave. Any tools you need will be supplied. Just write down what you need and you'll get it. I'll have some servants sent over to help you."

"No. I work alone, in private. But I'll also need coal. Lots of it. When I get set up I should have the first produce in about four cycles."

"As you wish. So I'm guessing you fuse the ore and coal together in some way to make it more heat resistant. Why the long delay?"

"A single mistake in the process will make the fuse unstable, the metal brittle. It will look fine, but shatter under pressure, or heat. Wouldn't work for anything technical."

"Fine. I can get you supplies and privacy, but sooner or later people will notice us working together. They will talk. Other land owners will listen."

Flake laughed. "No matter how much time I have, it seems it is never enough."

"One does not need to live forever to know that."