Oh Ommm
Always interesting to look at an issue from as many sides as possible. Especially in this ‘modern’ world of propaganda-style mass media. So, 2 different cartoons on the situation in Ukraine from 2 very different perspectives:
WESTERN UKRAINE
CRIMEA REGION
*Can’t find the name of the artists who drew these. Let me know if you find them and I’ll add the credits.
Japanese dancer Kenichi Ebina does an amazing ‘dance-ish’ routine on the TV show America’s Got Talent. Maybe this was 2013? Never seen the show but this routine is remarkable. Great to watch on a day you’re thinking “Human beings are so fucking stupid and useless and they’re destroying the environment and …”
Video from the Rain Forest Alliance on what you should and should NOT do to save the rain forest. (Thanks for the link, Heidi!)
Not sure how effective it is, (Or how much they spent on the thing!), but gotta love the creativity. Well, I do, anyways.
How about some Canadians do one for the tar sands?
)
A live-feed interview with Edward Snowden and the American Civil Liberties Union at SXSW (the South by Southwest Music and Media Conference) in Austin Texas, March 2014.
Using technology for the enlightenment of the world. As opposed to the way the NSA uses it.
(Audio is not great quality because of how many proxies they had to use to stream the video.)
And a bit of practical advice to go with it: Encryption Works: How to Protect Your Privacy in the Age of NSA Surveillance
“Low vitamin D levels are a symptom of poor health – not the cause, according to a systematic review of previously published scientific studies. The new finding casts further doubt on the role of vitamin D supplements in disease prevention, even as millions of Canadians pop pills of the sunshine drug each day.”
Supplementation is rarely as simple as many would have you believe.
By Adriana Barton in The Globe and Mail, Dec. 08 2013: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health/report-questions-effectiveness-of-vitamin-d-supplements/article15804477/
‘Many lung cancer tumors prove harmless, says study’
“Nearly 1 in 5 lung tumors detected on CT scans are probably so slow-growing that they would never cause problems. The analysis suggests the world’s No. 1 cause of cancer deaths isn’t as lethal as doctors once thought.
In the study, these were not false-positives — suspicious results that turn out upon further testing not to be cancer. These were indeed cancerous tumors, but ones that caused no symptoms and were unlikely ever to become deadly, the researchers said.”
Kind of a good-news/ bad-news piece. One in five negative. Four in five still positive.
Article by Lindsey Tanner, The Associated Press December 10, 2013 http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Study+says+many+lung+cancer+tumors+prove+harmless+disease+didnt/9268763/story.html
The strategic value of the Ukraine will dictate what happens there. What’s so valuable? Take a look at the map below of Russia’s pipelines flowing through the Ukraine to western Europe. Do you think Putin will let the West gain control of those?
The link between organized crime and the Russian and Ukranian governments further complicates things. See here: RUSSIAN MOB REAL POWER BEHIND UKRAINE PRESIDENT?
And note that the crime lord mentioned in that blog post, Semyon Mogilevich, one of FBI’s most wanted people, lives in … Moscow, where even billionaire oligarchs have learned nothing happens without Putin’s approval.
The Ukraine could get very messy before a solution is found.
I was originally asked to do this photo shoot for the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue but had scheduling conflicts so handed it over to Kate Upton. Damn. Was really looking forward to zero gravity.
DINING DOG – Has been done before but this dog has a particularly expressive face. And a nice follow-up to the previous post.
The book McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld painted a chilling picture of the influence of organized crime on global politics and policies.
And the simultaneous fall of the Iron Curtain and deregulation of international currency markets played a significant role in enabling the Russian crime lords in particular to go global in a big way.
Are they pulling the strings in the Ukraine? Read more here:
“Semyon Mogilevich, one of FBI’s most wanted people, identified as real power behind billionaire owner of Ukrainian-based RUE” http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/dec/01/wikileaks-cables-russian-mafia-gas
A piece on Semyon Mogilevich here: http://www.ibtimes.com/worlds-most-powerful-mobster-you-probably-never-heard-980488