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Archive for the 'Society' Tag
51 post(s) are associated with this Tag
Australia: Supersize my ambulance
Australia’s obesity crisis has forced health officials to revamp their fleet of ambulances to cope with a sharp rise in overweight patients.
Studies estimate that 67% of Australian men and over half of all women aged over 25 are overweight or obese.
Super-sized vehicles have been introduced and new air ambulances will be remodeled to carry heavier people weighing up to 220kg…
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Video: Pancho and Lefty - Townes Van Zandt
Another great Vistory from “Stonewall Studios”. There are currently more than 130 videos on their site so have a look around - great work…
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Civil Rights: Guantánamo Bay cell reconstruction
This Monday Amnesty International started a tour to cities and regional towns in Australia with a full scale reconstruction of the cell in which Australian David Hicks and other detainees are being held at Guantánamo Bay. The cell is a reconstruction of the solitary confinement cells in Guantánamo Bay and measures 1.8 meters wide, 2.4 meters in length and 2.4 meters high. There is an Quicktime virtual reality panorama and additional images online (links below) that provide you with an understanding of the space where David Hicks and others are now being detained since 5 years…
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Society: Israel’s general strike and the soccer championship
You might have seen in the news that this morning about 400,000 Israeli workers stopped working and started a general strike in the public sector. Within this strike all public service except Post offices, banks, telephones, the health sector and the defense sector are basically closed until further notice (sorry almost forgot, the stock exchange will stay open as well which surprisingly seems to be considered as an essential service in that country - hmmm…). Anyway the strike was launched after thousands of municipal workers have not been paid for months and as one of the results of the strike there will be no public transport including international flights to and from the country. All flights are grounded - no wait - all but one…
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Iraq: New survey paints a devastating portrait of life
A new survey by ABC News, the BBC and the leading German TV news show has been published today. The survey that after 2004 and 2005 has now been conducted a third time demonstrates a strong deterioration of people’s hope and lives in Iraq. Millions more just want to leave and most - in difference to the previous surveys - now believe it is right to fight the Americans. More than 2000 participants across Iraq have been interviewed for this…
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Travel for the Super-Rich: First images of the A380-800 VIP (Flying Palace) interior
Business plane traffic is on the updraft as recently shown again with private plane “traffic” after the Superbowl this year. With 10,000 private jets flying in the U.S. alone typically these airplanes carry between 6 - 20 people. But a few billionaire travelers are looking for something with “a bit more space”. Recently, a new trend has emerged at the very top of the market: the conversion for private ownership of much larger and much more expensive jets - some that are normally associated with commercial airliners. These “private” planes now even include twin-aisle wide-bodies such as the 747, 767 and 777 and the soon to be available 787 and the biggest of them all the new Airbus A380-800. A U.S.-based design company is nearing completion of an interior design for a prospective customer for the VIP version of the Airbus A380 “Flying Palace” and has released the first images to the public…
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Internet: The Great Firewall of China
A non-profit group of web designers, film directors and journalists who want to make the Internet censorship system more transparent has put up a web site called the “Great Firewall of China”. On the site you can test if a particular website address is blocked in China and see how the site looks from the perspective of a Chinese user. It works by routing the requested url from…
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AIDS: Costly Red Campaign (2)
Find below a link to the CNN video report on the issues with the so called RED campaign “reported yesterday” by the leading advertising industry magazine “Advertising Age”. We are looking forward and expecting that soon someone will also shed light on what actually happens with the USD 18 Mln. that made it to the “Global Fund” - expect some hot stories here. To get a first glimpse on that read a report at the “Boston Globe” (there are a few others there one also pointing to the fraud investigations within that organization). This nevertheless is just the tip of the iceberg as we hear from insiders…
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AIDS: Costly Red Campaign Reaps Meager $18 Million
There is an interesting article in “Advertising Age” - one of the leading publications of the industry - about the RED campaign by Bono and a group of companies. We suggest to also read the comments on the article. There are a few interesting ones beside the normal “wood” and “heroic praises”. “…The disproportionate ratio between the marketing outlay and the money raised is drawing concern among nonprofit watchdogs, cause-marketing experts and even executives in the ad business. It threatens to spur a backlash, not just against the Red campaign — which ambitiously set out to change the cause-marketing model by allowing partners to profit from charity — but also for the brands involved…”
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Books: American Torture
American Torture - the new book of award winning journalist and documentary filmmaker Michael Otterman - reveals how torture became standard practice in today’s War on Terror. The book traces the history of American torture from Nazi Germany to Guantanamo Bay. Rod Barton, former Director of Intelligence, weapons inspector and Advisor to the CIA (Iraq) describes it as an immensely disturbing story made all the more chilling by his disclosures that today these interrogation techniques are officially sanctioned under the guise of national security and that sets of rules have been developed to govern its practice. He also says that this book should be compulsory reading for everyone with concerns over human rights…
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