"[...] Few countries have as many monuments and works of art as Italy. But scores of buildings, paintings and sculptures throughout the country are deteriorating. Experts blame a lack of state funding. A nonprofit foundation is trying to shock Italians into taking responsibility for their unique art heritage."
A Provocative Campaign to Save Italy's Artworks, Sylvia Poggioli, National Public Radio, 26 ottobre 2005
"[...] Les clivages y sont tranchés et les points de vue difficilement compatibles. En échange de la reconduction du président Gbagbo dans ses fonctions pour une année au maximum la communauté internationale a demandé en contrepartie la nomination avant la fin du mois d'un nouveau premier ministre "qui exercera pleinement son autorité sur son cabinet" , précise la résolution du Conseil de sécurité adoptée le 21 octobre."
Les responsables politiques cherchent à prévenir une nouvelle flambée de violence en Côte d'Ivoire, Jean-Pierre Tuquoi, Le Monde, 30 ottobre 2005
"Seif Shariff Hamad, candidat historique du CUF qui se présente pour la troisième fois à la présidentielle et avait été emprisonné au temps du parti unique, a promis qu'en cas de défaite, son parti organiserait des manifestations pacifiques, "comme en Ukraine" , estimant que la victoire de son parti est acquise, malgré l'absence de sondage. Il a également affirmé que les fraudes électorales favorisent l'influence de l'islamisme radical dans l'archipel. "Cette menace est réelle (...) essentiellement parmi les pauvres. Les jeunes peuvent aussi être facilement influencés"
Zanzibar : la présidentielle pourrait provoquer des débordements, Jean-Philippe Ré, Le Monde, 30 ottobre 2005
In sostanza: è finita l'ora legale. Ce lo dice la Комсомольская правда. E' la verità, indubbiamente.
Ce lo dice graficamente con una vecchia sveglia, che in russo si dice "budilnik" e a me fa ridere. Tra vent'anni nessuno avrà più esperienza di quegli oggetti (da bambino ne smontai completamente e rimontai uno) e li vedremo soltanto nei manifesti d'antiquariato.
Не забудьте перевести стрелки, Комсомольская правда, 30 ottobre 2005
[...] "So cautious is Mr. Libby, a lawyer trained at Columbia University, that he counseled other staff members not to take notes or speak to reporters, two former aides said Friday".
[...] "In the White House constellation of advisers, Mr. Libby, 55, was not just any aide. Known by the nickname Scooter, he had the exalted position of being a full member of President Bush's inner circle. In fact, he exercised more influence than senior vice-presidential aides in previous administrations, holding three pivotal jobs at once: assistant to the president, chief of staff to the vice president and Mr. Cheney's national security adviser.
"Scooter is Dick Cheney's Dick Cheney," said Cesar V. Conda, Mr. Cheney's former top economic policy aide."[...]
An Influential Bush Insider Who Is Used to Challenges, ERIC SCHMITT, The New York Times, 29 ottobre 2005.
"An internal memo sent to Wal-Mart's board of directors proposes numerous ways to hold down spending on health care and other benefits while seeking to minimize damage to the retailer's reputation. Among the recommendations are hiring more part-time workers and discouraging unhealthy people from working at Wal-Mart.
In the memorandum, M. Susan Chambers, Wal-Mart's executive vice president for benefits, also recommends reducing 401(k) contributions and wooing younger, and presumably healthier, workers by offering education benefits. The memo voices concern that workers with seven years' seniority earn more than workers with one year's seniority, but are no more productive.
To discourage unhealthy job applicants, Ms. Chambers suggests that Wal-Mart arrange for "all jobs to include some physical activity (e.g., all cashiers do some cart-gathering).[...]"
Wal-Mart Memo Suggests Ways to Cut Employee Benefit Costs, STEVEN GREENHOUSE e MICHAEL BARBARO, The New York Times, 26 ottobre 2005.
"Das neue Großraumflugzeug Airbus A 380 wird zu Flughafentests am Samstag, 29. Oktober, erstmals in Frankfurt landen. Fraport rechnet mit bis zu 20 000 Menschen, die das Super-Flugzeug live erleben möchten".
A 380 landet zur Weltpremiere, Frankfurter Rundschau, 25 ottobre 2005
Ho anche trovato questo sito contro la guerra. Poi mettiamo anche in archivio il sito di Мемориал, per quando troverò il tempo.
"El Comando Central de las tropas estadounidenses destacadas en Iraq confirmó otras cuatro muertes entre sus filas en acciones de la resistencia, lo cual eleva a 10 el número de soldados yankis que perdieron la vida en las últimas 48 horas".
"Estas bajas mortales se suman a las de otros seis militares este miércoles, lo cual hace que, en 31 meses de agresión, 1 992 uniformados estadounidenses hayan fallecido en Iraq, según cifra dada por el Pentágono, calificada de conservadora."
Confirman muerte de otros 10 soldados yankis en Iraq, Gramma Internacional, 22 ottobre 2005.
"'I'm duty bound to ask you if you want to open a store card with a preposterously uncompetitive interest rate,' announced the young male checkout assistant, who apart from his forthright views appeared for all the world a standard issue 19-year-old in unremarkable skater-boy dress.
For my part, I felt duty bound to decline. 'Good,' he said. 'I never push them, sometimes I don't even mention them, because they just encourage people to get into debt. Personally,' he pauses to look up at the Sugarbabes gyrating on a large video screen, 'I'd ban store cards.'"
Just Say 'No', The Observer Magazine, 23 ottobre 2005.
"Avec un total de total de 118 4X4 dégonflés en une nuit, Paris détient à nouveau le record de France. L'occasion pour nous de créer le trophée Christophe Pinoncely, qui récompensera les records de dégonflement".
Holbox, una delle mie isole preferite (in realtà è una penisola), sta aspettando Wilma.
Most recipients hit delete, delete, delete, delete without ever opening the messages that urge them to claim the untold riches of a long-lost deceased second cousin, and the messages that offer millions of dollars to help smuggle loot stolen by a corrupt Nigerian official into a U.S. account.
But the few who actually reply make this a tempting and lucrative business for the boys of Festac, a neighborhood of Lagos at the center of the cyber-scam universe. The targets are called maghas — scammer slang from a Yoruba word meaning fool, and refers to gullible white people. [...] "
Una comunità di Internet-scammers in Nigeria.
I Will Eat Your Dollars, di Robyn Dixon, The Los Angeles Times, 21 ottobre 2005
Con questa frase, 200 anni fa, Nelson diede l'avvio alla battaglia di Trafalgar.
Questa animazione spiega tutto:
The Battle of Trafalgar, The Guardian, 21 ottobre 2005.
"Use of derogatory stereotypes is prohibited, such as the traditional image of a witch, which is offensive to members of the Wiccan religion."
"[...] Building administrators should not tolerate such inappropriate stereotyping (images such as witches on flying brooms, stirring cauldrons, casting spells, or with long noses and pointed hats) and instead address them as you would hurtful stereotypes of any other minority."
Warts and All, Harper's Magazine, marzo 2005.
"МИД Литвы вчера вручил посольству России ноту в связи с ущербом, причиненным падением 15 сентября на территории республики российского истребителя Су-27.
Согласно сообщению на официальном интернет-сайте литовского внешнеполитического ведомства, "на основе данных, представленных генеральной прокуратурой Литвы, размер нанесенного ущерба составил 67 062,88 лита (€19 422,75)". Главком ВВС России Владимир Михайлов заверил вчера Ъ, что компенсация будет выплачена".
Су-27 упал на €19 422,75, Коммерсантъ, 20 ottobre 2005.
Danish soldiers in Iraq and Kosovo were being issued soothing pillows that chirp like birds.
An overaffectionate English baboon licked all of the hair off her son's head.
A Chinese man was killed and eaten by the six black bears he was raising for their bile.
In Florida one Walgreens employee stabbed another during an argument over who would be first to microwave her soup.
More details emerged in the case of the New Zealand financier arrested in Australia for bestiality with rabbits. Police said that when they arrested the man he had scratches on his hands and face; the man's lawyer said he molested the rabbits under the influence of methamphetamine.
A Wisconsin man was arrested for putting an electric dog collar on his eight-year-old stepdaughter and zapping her for not eating fast enough.
a study by scientists at the University of Saskatchewan found that injecting rats with THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, stimulated the growth of new brain cells.
Weekly Review, Harper's Magazine, 18 ottobre 2005
Instead, Europe's aviation giant rubbished his claims, and now he faces ruin, a morass of legal problems, and - soon - an Austrian prison." [...]
Airbus whistleblower faces prison, 15 ottobre 2005, The Telegraph
[...]"Chechnya is the main hotbed of tensions, but these conflicts erupting in other republics also have local roots," says Irina Zvigelskaya, deputy director of the independent Center for Strategic and Political Studies in Moscow. "There are underground groups around the region, and it's a big question to what extent they maintain links with one another."
[...]"Some experts say Thursday's events show the Kremlin's strategy of imposing tough, loyal local leaders - being implemented in the region by Putin's personal emissary Dmitri Kozak - has clearly failed to bring results."
Chechen rebel attack fuels growing unrest, Fred Weir, The Christian Science Monitor, 5 ottobre 2005
Tra questi: "An agent killed his informant after years of inappropriate sexual relationship with her. Agent covered up the murder."
An agent was calling sex hot lines with Bureau phones while on duty.
"I stand and look around and there's almost too much to take in. We can see for miles, with the peak of Mount Elbrus, Europe's highest mountain, poking up in the far distance. From our ridge we look down in every direction to vast snowy bowls falling away into wooded valleys. There's not a single sound, and not a single ski track."
The Red Army welcomes you, Tom Robbins, The Oserver, 9 ottobre 2005
The New York Times - Reader Profile by MRI.
Il Public Editor del NYT chiede a chi fa il giornale cosa pensa dei suoi lettori.
"I think of The Times reader as curious, as someone who regards life as a continuing education," Mr. Keller wrote. "Each reader has a few subjects about which he or she may be passionate, even expert, and a more wide-ranging appetite that can be seduced, surprised, engaged on almost any subject if we present it well."
Turning the Tables: What the Times News Staff Thinks of You, BYRON CALAME, The New York Times, 9 ottobre 2005.
Premio, i millione di dollari, messi in palio dalla Darpa.
Nel mentre, in Italia si danno contributi agli studenti per comprarsi un pc.
"Indeed, a number of scientists and politicians say the event could help transform the way scientific and technological goals are reached in the future".
Robotic Vehicles Contend for the Battlefield, John Markoff, The New York Times, 8 ottobre 2005.
"[...] On peut gloser sur ce qui apparaît dans cette liste mais ce qui retient mon attention, c'est plutôt ce qui n'apparaît pas : les livres d'histoire et les biographies. Il y a sept ou huit ans, ils constituaient la moitié de la liste. Aujourd'hui, totalement évacués au profit de préoccupations journalistiques. Comme si l'histoire immédiate se devait de chasser l'Histoire pour s'imposer.
Difficile de ne pas y voir un signe des temps".
Histoire immédiate versus Histoire, Pierre Assoulinne, 30 settembre 2005.
Ora, mi han detto, a Lonavala ci si va con la Mumbai-Pune Expressway, la prima sei corsie indiana.
La congregazione più numerosa in India è quella dei gesuiti (più di 3000). Poi i salesiani (2500?). Il prete si è detto favorevole ai Pacs.
A Lonavala ho dormito in uno degli alberghi più squallidi che abbia mai visto. Francamente c'era anche di meglio.
Comunque questo è il sito ufficiale della città. Juan José Imbroda Ortíz, Presidente de la Ciudad Autónoma de Melilla, dà il benvenuto. Forse è il benvenuto sul sito che ha scatenato l'ondata migratoria. Boh.
"La frontera de Melilla con Marruecos contará con una tercera valla en su perímetro fronterizo que se sumará a las dos que ya existen, según han informado hoy fuentes de la Delegación del Gobierno".
La frontera de Melilla contará con una tercera valla, La Voz de Calicia, 4 ottobre 2005.
"Karen Hughes visited Saudi Arabia and expressed hope that women in that country would someday be able to "fully participate in society." A woman in the audience countered, "We're all pretty happy."
Weekly Reiview, Harper's Magazine, 4 ottobre 2005.
Chances that college students select as “most desirable” the same face chosen by the chickens : 49 in 50
Harper's Index, settembre 2005.
Mettiamo in fila i fatti:
1) A Putin scade il secondo mandato nel 2008. La sua popolarità è attorno al 70%. La costituzione russa impedisce un terzo mandato.
Конституция РФ запрещает Путину, публичный рейтинг которого приближается к 70 процентам, претендовать на третий срок.
2) Da tempo ci si chiede se Putin ha intenzione di fare cambiare la costituzione in merito. Recentemente, ha escluso "modifiche sostanziali".
"[...]президент Владимир Путин сказал, что он против «резких изменений» конституции, которые позволили бы ему остаться на третий срок".
3) Ponendo che sia vero, che farà Putin, andrà in pensione? Quale altro lavoro è degno del giovane futuro ex-presidente della Federazione Russa? Uno solo, in effetti: capo di Gasprom, che dopo la demise di Kodorkovski e l'acquisto di Sibneft è il nuovo vero potere in Russia: " Газпром для России – основа основ".
"К моменту, когда Путин оставит свой пост в Кремле, «Сибнефть» уже станет частью Газпрома, а «Роснефть», коллега Газпрома в сфере нефтеразработок, скорее всего уже поглотит остатки активов ЮКОСа. Оба эти события положат конец «нефтяным войнам» в России и только Путин будет в состоянии поддерживать мир".
ВОЗГЛАВИТ ЛИ ПУТИН ГАЗПРОМ?, MidEast.RU, 28 Сентября 2005.
"Абхазия торжественно отмечает сегодня 12-ю годовщину независимости. Праздник, строго говоря, сомнительный: крошечная «страна души» живет в постоянном страхе перед возможной военной агрессией Грузии и в неведении, как решат ее судьбу сильные мира сего".
Грузия — Абхазия: Happy end не просматривается, Андрей Николаев, Россия в глобальной политике, 30 settembre 2005.
"The new law, one of the toughest in the nation, goes beyond just prohibiting drivers from using hand-held cellphones while behind the wheel. Those pulled over for speeding or other moving violations can be fined $100 for any behavior that distracts them from driving - glancing at a newspaper, typing on a BlackBerry, applying lipstick while looking in the rearview mirror or turning to yell at the kids in the back seat."
Note to Drivers: Lose the Phone (And Lipstick), DAMIEN CAVE, The New York Times, 1 ottobre 2005
