Archive for March 2011
Yarnbombing – equivalent of graffiti without vandalism
From Yury Dolgoruky kitted out as Santa Claus to Mikhail Sholokhov donning a colourful woolly hat, Moscow’s monuments are getting an impromptu makeover. A growing trend among pranksters has seen many of the city’s statues decorated with so-called “yarnbombing” (pryazhemetanie) or knitted graffiti. And it seems to be a mixture of official initiative and individual exuberance which has prompted the colourful displays.
But opinion is divided over whether this is just harmless fun, or alarming disrespect.
One of the first monuments to get a makeover was Yury Dolgoruky’s statue opposite the mayor’s offices on Tverskaya. On the orders of Yury Luzhkov, City Hall boss at the time, the city’s founder was dressed up in the red robes of Santa Claus for the festive season from 2006-2008. But while that has since stopped, the idea has caught on and statues across the city have been kitted out in woolly hats or colourful scarves by jokers wishing to brighten up the city.
The designers of the works involved tend to be in favour of these temporary new looks, Noviye Izvestiye reported.
When brightly-striped knitwear or sculpted birds appear on the Gogolevsky Bulvar monument to Mikhail Sholokhov, author of “Quiet Flows the Don”, the creator sees it as a success.
“The author of the monument, Alexander Rukavishnikov, considers it an indication that the monument has successfully been integrated into the urban environment,” said Sergei Polovinkin of the city’s department of culture. But Polovinkin himself warned that such gestures might spark annoyance on other occasions, pointing out that nobody would consider doing this in a cemetery and suggesting that monuments in the city should enjoy the same respect…
Some people think cemeteries are suitable for everything from picnics to sex, Sergei. Although I wouldn’t recommend sex on a statue in front of city hall, a picnic might not be so bad. And bring a scarf for the statue.
AT&T is buying T-Mobile for $39 billion
AT&T has announced a definitive agreement to buy Deutsche Telekom’s American T-Mobile subsidiary in a cash and stock deal worth about $39 billion, and giving the German carrier an 8 percent stake in AT&T…
T-Mobile and AT&T share similar GSM and UMTS/HSPA networks, and both are working to build new next generation networks using HSPA+ and LTE. However, obtaining the rights to radio spectrum and building out these networks is both expensive and complex.
AT&T’s chief executive Randall Stephenson said the deal “provides a fast, efficient and certain solution to the impending exhaustion of wireless spectrum in some markets, which limits both companies’ ability to meet the ongoing explosive demand for mobile broadband…”
T-Mobile adds 33.7 million subscribers to AT&T’s network of of about 95.5 million, creating a total of about 130 million users, and becoming the largest American carrier. The deal will also expand Apple’s iPhone to three of what were the top four US carriers, as Apple has already brought it to Verizon earlier this year.
RTFA for the details. Fascinating – and expanded choices for anyone who owns or intends to own a GSM mobile device. In our market in northern New Mexico, we had held off on buying any iPhones or 3G iPads because of the requirement of dealing with AT&T. Their service is mediocre here at best. T-Mobile has been our personal choice for cellular service for years.
OK – aside from the new availability of hardware and increased network access across the country, what will this mean for consumers? In the opinion of many, we’re more likely to be screwed by higher prices, narrower opportunities for software and app developers.
One of the best analysts in the world on the dynamic mobile market is Om Malik. Here’s a link to his analysis as the story broke. Not especially optimistic.
Where is Boris Spassky?
“I’m eating my damn breakfast. Leave me alone!”
(Actually, I’d be delighted to get that response)
OK, so this isn’t a current story at all. Or is it? I pose this question as a followup to reports from September 2010, which indicated that Spassky had suffered a stroke in Moscow. The last I read, he was receiving physical therapy in France. Details were sketchy at best, and it wasn’t clear where information was coming from.
So.. maybe someone who knows something will run across this and give me an update?
It never hurts to ask. I hope he is well.
A decade on – buyers still don’t understand hybrid cars
In this year’s State of the Union address, President Obama proclaimed that there would be one million electric vehicles on the road in the United States by 2015. Toyota recently celebrated the building of the company’s three millionth hybrid worldwide. More and more automakers are turning to the battery pack and electric motors to improve fuel economy or remove petrol from the equation altogether, but do Americans know what any of this means? Not really, at least according to a recent study.
MediaPost reports that marketing firm Synovate recently polled 1,898 would-be car buyers to gauge their knowledge of hybrids and electric cars, and the results are not encouraging. Only two-thirds are aware that hybrids use both petrol and battery power for propulsion, and a large portion didn’t know hybrids even had batteries onboard. And while regular readers might know that some hybrids can run for short distances on electricity alone, only a third of those polled were aware of that little tidbit.
The results of this poll are likely disheartening to advertisers who have tried tirelessly over the years to explain how hybrids work. And with plug-ins and electric cars starting to hit the market, the education of the car-buying public has just begun. Case in point? Less than half of the nearly 2,000 car-buyers polled knew that plug-in hybrids can run on electric power alone. So… just what is that plug for, then?
Ignorance really ain’t bliss, you know.
Oil Sheik democracy in action – Pic of the Day
Why leave the Pearl Monument around to remind folks of Bahrain democracy protestors…
Daylife/Getty Images used by permission
Police officer caught using social security number of a 7-yr-old
No one was curious about someone born in 2004 wanting to buy one of these?
A Milwaukee police officer has been charged with stealing a 7-year-old Racine boy’s Social Security number to make purchases including a high-end Mercedes-Benz, according to a criminal complaint.
Lymon L. Taylor, 33, is charged with felony identity theft in Waukesha County. If convicted, he faces up to six years in prison…
According to the criminal complaint, Milwaukee detectives were investigating identity theft by another man, Lee Ellis, who led them to Taylor…
Ellis told detectives he and Taylor discussed how to improve their credit ratings and found a company in California that promised to fix credit for $2,500 a person, according to the complaint.
The two men plus a third, who has not been charged, received what looked like Social Security numbers, the complaint says. They were told to use their own name and the new numbers as their Social Security number. They also were told to use an address other than their own because addresses are associated with a person’s credit rating, which in their cases were bad, according to the criminal complaint…
Taylor, who previously had purchased six vehicles with his true Social Security number, used the fraudulently obtained number to buy a 2007 Mercedes-Benz S550 from Ernie Von Schledorn in Menomonee Falls in June, according to the complaint, which cites special agent Michael Clemens of the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General…
The Social Security number Taylor used actually belongs to a boy in Racine.
Detective Charles Shepard…contacted the boy’s father, who said he wanted whoever was using the number to be prosecuted…
Shepard interviewed employees at the car dealership and A-B Credit Union, which authorized the loan, asking how someone could buy an expensive car with no credit history.
A fresh Social Security number would bring a high credit score, according to the credit union. That credit score coupled with a good job would be good enough to buy such a car, they said.
The music goes round and round and it comes out here. Someday, somewhere, there will be a police department that checks up on the boys in blue on the street. That coppers often think they are above the law – doesn’t help, either.
This morning, the sunrise behind us, first walk of the day
This morning’s first walk, the sun was just starting to rise behind us. As we walked west, the light caught the edges of small clouds above the Caja del Rio mesa across the valley.
What I usually call a “Walt Disney” photo – 
– but, still pretty nice.
Support for Gay Marriage reaches a milestone
Democrats introduce bill to repeal DOMA. Republicans stick with homophobia
More than half of Americans say it should be legal for gays and lesbians to marry, a first in nearly a decade of polls by ABC News and The Washington Post.
This milestone result caps a dramatic, long-term shift in public attitudes. From a low of 32 percent in a 2004 survey of registered voters, support for gay marriage has grown to 53 percent today. Forty-four percent are opposed, down 18 points from that 2004 survey.
The issue remains divisive; as many adults “strongly” oppose gay marriage as strongly support it, and opposition rises to more than 2-1 among Republicans and conservatives and 3-1 among evangelical white Protestants, a core conservative group. But opposition to gay marriage has weakened in these groups from its levels a few years ago, and support has grown sharply among others – notably, among Catholics, political moderates, people in their 30s and 40s and men.
The results reflect a changing albeit still polarized climate. Gay marriage has been legalized in five states and the District of Columbia, by court ruling or legislative action, since 2003, while many other states prohibit it. The Obama administration late last month said it would no longer defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 law banning federal recognition of gay marriages…
Adults 50 and older remain more skeptical, but even that’s seen change. Most notably, 33 percent of seniors now say gay marriage should be legal, up from 18 percent five years ago…
Support is up by a striking 23 points among white Catholics, often a swing group and one that’s been ready, in many cases, to disregard church positions on political or social issues. But they have company: Fifty-seven percent of non-evangelical white Protestants now also support gay marriage, up 16 points from its level five years ago. Evangelicals, as noted, remain very broadly opposed. But even in their ranks, support for gay marriage is up by a double-digit margin.
Overdue.
That single word suffices – as it did for civil rights, for electoral enfranchisement for women, for Blacks. Equal opportunity for all citizens of the United States is promised by our Constitution and the Bill of Rights. It requires the truly bigoted to work at rationales for opposition.
Yes, they can make it seem like a well-reasoned historic choice – when they hammer down on differences used to condemn any minority to one or another inequity. The fact remains that religious or cultural excuses for limiting the opportunities of any portion of our society who enjoy the full rights of citizenship – is an historic crime. And should be treated as such.
World’s largest tidal turbine project will be in Sound of Islay
ScottishPower Renewables’ £40 million tidal array will harness the power of the Sound of Islay and generate enough electricity for more than 5,000 homes, more than double the number of homes on Islay.
The 10 megawatt facility will further develop emerging tidal energy technology, and provide economic and community benefits to Islay and Jura.
The Scottish Government said it will cement Scotland’s position as a global leader in marine energy.
Cabinet Secretary…John Swinney…’With around a quarter of Europe’s potential tidal energy resource and a tenth of the wave capacity, Scotland’s seas have unrivalled potential to generate green energy, create new, low carbon jobs, and bring billions of pounds of investment to Scotland.
”This development – the largest tidal array in the world – does just that and will be a milestone in the global development of tidal energy…”
”I am pleased that ScottishPower Renewables will work with the Islay Energy Trust to maximise social and economic opportunities, for instance using local marine contractors during installation or creating new local jobs in the onshore construction phase.
”And the wider Scottish supply chain is set to benefit, with Scottish businesses set to benefit from four million pounds worth of contracts in making the turbines to be used in the development, including manufacture of a test prototype at BiFab in Arnish.
There are any number of satisfactory locations along the United States coastline for similar installations. The problems to overcome aren’t technical but political.
The NIMBY cult is particularly strong in America. “Not-in-my-backyard” is accepted as holy writ by most state and local politicians. The Eleventh Commandment is “Thou shalt not string powerlines over our sainted coastline nor above valuable land dedicated to overpriced subdivisions.
Nutball legislation in the works from the Tea Party
South Dakota: any adult 21 or older would have to buy a firearm “for their ordinary self-defence”.
Montana: House Bill 278 would authorise arming citizens’ militias against invaders.
New Hampshire: a volunteer “permanent state defence force” would assist with disaster relief and “defend the state against invasion”.
Missouri: State Senator Jane Cunningham has proposed allowing employment of children under 14 and ending restrictions on work hours.
Arizona: a proposed law would let the state actually nullify federal laws that legislators believe are invalid.
Georgia: a Republican recently introduced a bill mandating that victims of rape, stalking, harassment, and family violence be reclassified as “accusers”.
Nebraska: a “justifiable homicide” bill would allow homicide if committed by a person while resisting an attempt to harm an unborn foetus.
Runaway, runaway! The attack rabbits are here.
