YouThought?

Putin Saves Trees

2007-04-12T15:23:00.000+02:00

Environmentalists have found an efficient way to save trees from the local authorities in Stavropol, southern Russia: They hang pictures of president Putin on the trees.

The loggers have left the Putin trees untouched when falling trees for a new housing area.

An American in Baghdad

2007-04-09T13:58:00.000+02:00

'When in Rome, do as the Romans do' is said to be St. Ambrose's (c.340-397) advice to St. Augustine:

Si fueris Romae, Romano vivito more; si fueris alibi, vivito sicut ibi - 'When you are in Rome live in the Roman style; when you are elsewhere live as they live elsewhere'.

When St. Augustine arrived in Milan, he observed that the Church did not fast on Saturday as did the Church at Rome. He consulted St. Ambrose, bishop of Milan, who replied: "When I am at Rome, I fast on a Saturday; when I am at Milan, I do not. Follow the custom of the Church where you are." The comment was changed to "When they are at Rome, they do there as they see done" by Robert Burton in his Anatomy of Melancholy. Eventually it became "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." (Source: Trivia-Library.com)

The phrase is known also in the US: One can find it the "Random House Dictionary of Popular Proverbs and Sayings" by Gregory Y. Titelman (Random House, New York, 1996).

In Iraq the Americans have found it best to follow their own code of conduct, different from the traditional values of the western world.

We do not know if the American soldiers have instructions not to stop their vehicles under any circumstances, and whether such instructions would be communicated to the Iraqi people. We only know the impression and message that is sent by their behavior.

Impressions can also be deceiving: judging by the continuous use of the horn, the vehicle might be on an emergency assignment, when choosing of lanes has to be more free. - But still: would an emergency vehicle keep ramming other vehicles?

Van Drivers do Stand Out

2007-04-09T13:13:00.000+02:00

On the exit and ring roads of Helsinki traffic is more aggressive and fast paced than elsewhere in Finland.

In the Helsinki traffic there is one group of vehicles that especially stands out; vans. If there is a vehicle 2 meters behind you at 100 km/h, it is a van. If a vehicle passes you from the right using an entry lane, it is a van. If a vehicle catches you up in a row, and won't slow down until it is 2 meters behind you, it is a van. If your asking for space with your brake lights is replied with flashing head lights, it is a van. If an empty space is filled by a vehicle with notable speeding and a sudden braking, it is a van.

If it is not a van, it is a delivery truck or a garbage truck:

1: Speed limit 80 km/h; speed 90 km/h; traffic warning for exceptionally icy roads.

2: Speeding to pass: Garbage truck # 85 of the SOL company.

At 100 khm/h a vehicle travels 27.8 meters per second; it takes 0.072 seconds to travel the 2 meter distance between you and the van.

In normal traffic the mean reaction time is 1 second. It takes another 1 second to achieve action. At 100 km/h the vehicle moves 55.6 meters in those 2 seconds. 53.6 meters more than the 2 meters the van drivers allow for themselves.

The van and truck drivers have not watched this video.

Communism and Christianity: like sisters in sin

2007-04-09T07:15:00.000+02:00

Communism is ideologically very close to Christianity: you cannot expect all to be similarly productive, competitive and strong; yet everyone should have the right and opportunity to get food, shelter and warmth; their fair share of the national production.

Both communism and Christianity aim for non-exploiting division of labor and the proceeds of labor.

Communism: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need."
Christianity: "It is a more blessed thing to give, rather than to receive." (Acts 20:35)

Also realization of both communism and Christianity are very similar: Stalin's communism meant death for 20 million people; Mao's communism for 65 million. Bush's Christianity at the moment means torture and death for the people of Iraq.

Auto censorship

2007-04-08T18:58:00.000+02:00

This posting exceptionally is known not to be true. But it might be just as well...

Years after the Finnish Winter War against the Soviet Union in WW II, Väinö Linna wrote a different book of the war, 'Tuntematon sotilas' (The Unknown Soldier), that was published in 1955: no longer heroic patriotic stories, but a realistic view that aggravated many.

In the book a Soviet machine gun fires at a Finnish ambulance and sets it afire. When the screaming men are pulled out of the burning van, the gun kills them all.

In 1955 a film was made of the book, and later on the film was shown on national TV on every independence day. The story goes that after one such show a Soviet diplomat would have protested against the film bluntly stating that "The Soviet soldiers never shot at ambulances", after which the film would have been re-cut not to show the ambush.

In reality the director of the film had censored the part himself already in advance: in the film the ambulance is not shot by a ground based Soviet machine gun, but by a Soviet airplane: From air the ambulance would have looked like any ordinary van on a forest road.

This all happened in the times of Finlandization (Finlandisierung): With a large military power as a neighbor, truth has little value.

Torture in Iraq

2007-04-08T16:47:00.000+02:00

President George W. Bush claims to be bringing democracy and western values to Iraq.

A former US Army interrogator in Iraq, Tony Lagouranis, testified on Sky News that Americans used torture to acquire information in Iraq. They did not torture only such people who they supposed to be guilty of hostilities, but anybody, in the belief that all Iraqis had information about the hostilities.

As a result, in Iraq anyone could be tortured by the Americans.

Word Magic

2007-04-08T10:12:00.000+02:00

You can call a Golden Retriever dog a Golden Retriever, to distinguish it from other kinds of dogs.
You can call a Persian cat a Persian, and you can call a Friesian horse a Friesian.

But you cannot call a negro a negro, to describe his genetic characteristics.

Any word will catch negative connotations, if negative emotions are assigned to the concept itself. Banning words communicates the emotions of the banners, not necessarily of the potential users of the words.

Guilt of the Abu Ghraib Guards

2007-04-08T08:09:00.000+02:00

The guards of Abu Ghraib (Baghdad Correctional Facility) during the Iraqi war have been criticized and consequently punished for their abusive behavior.

Punishing the guards is debatable, as such behavior was certainly known to develop, unless not especially prohibited. Thus the ones actually responsible to the abusive developments are those who should have controlled the guards: the prison officers and the US Government.

In 1971 Stanford University conducted a psychological experiment to understand roles and behavior in prison. In the experiment voluntary students were randomly appointed to act as guards or prisoners:

"The simulation became so real, and the guards became so abusive, that the experiment had to be shut down after only 6 days rather than the two weeks planned."

The Stanford Prison Experiment was funded by government grant from the U.S. Office of Naval Research.

For details of the experiment see Stanford Prison Experiment
For details of Abu Ghraib see Wikipedia

Presidential Administration slipping out of control

2007-04-08T06:38:00.000+02:00

Supreme power has a tendency to get out of hand, if not democratically controlled.

In the 1980s Reagan Administration sold weapons to Iran to fund Nicaraguan Contras, the right-wing guerrilla organization.

Selling the weapons to Iran was illegal, as Iran was considered an enemy of the US.
Funding the Contras was illegal, as the Congress had decided against it.
After the sales were revealed in 1986, President Ronald Reagan denied them on national television.
Reagan Administration destroyed large volumes of related documents.

For details see Wikipedia

Fear of Racism

2007-04-08T06:20:00.000+02:00

A witness in Finland may tell that the offender had dark eyes and dark hair. But they may not tell that the offender had dark skin.

Thus the police will be seeking for dark eyed, dark haired, fair skinned people, none of whom will be the offender.

This is not considered to be withholding crucial evidence. It is considered politically correct conduct. Anything else would be racism.

Managerial Bonus in Any Case

2007-04-06T19:08:00.000+02:00

Finnish listed companies paid special bonuses to their sacked managers.

Even companies that were strongly on the red, and gave notice to hundreds of employees, paid very large bonuses to their managers who were responsible for the dire results.

Perlos, a Finnish product design and manufacturing partner for the telecommunications and electronics industries, sacked more than 1 000 workers in Finland. Also the managing director was sacked. He received a 160 000 € bonus and a 160 000 € golden handshake along with his 413 000 € annual salary.

Withering Away in All Time Wealth

2007-04-06T18:42:00.000+02:00

In Finnish care centers and hospitals old people are left in bed or in chairs to suffer from dehydration and hunger in their diapers.

There are not enough staff to help the people to eat enough and to drink enough, or to assist them to the toilet. For activities and socializing there is no time.

Finland does not have the money to take care of the old people. The same people who built up the current wealth; wealth never before seen in Finland.

CreationWiki

2007-04-06T17:05:00.000+02:00

The CreationWiki - or Encyclopedia of Creation Science - is the creationist counterpart to Wikipedia.

CreationWiki states for example that dinosaurs coexisted with mankind on Earth and lived recently. The creationists draw their evidence from the Bible:

In Genesis 1 it states that all animals were created on the sixth day of creation along with humans.
Dinosaurs were still alive at the time of the global flood, as fossil record is filled with dinosaurs that were buried during the flood.
A breeding pair of every kind of animal came to Noah's ark.

CreationWiki describes the Earth to be created 4 000 - 6 000 years ago.

Killing Tutsis

2007-04-06T16:39:00.000+02:00

In 1994 militant fundamentalist Hutus killed 800 000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus with machetes in Rwanda in a few months.

The international community and UN were aware of the process, and reacted by withdrawing 2 000 peace enforcers from the country.

The massacre was preceded by centuries of disagreement.

To Move a Soviet Statue

2007-04-06T16:16:00.000+02:00

The Russian vice Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov is urging Russians to boycott Estonia.

Estonians are planning to move a statue erected by the Soviet Union after World War II, away from the center of Tallinn, the Estonian capital, to a cemetery.

Same kind of a statue was moved in Russia from under a tramway route with no problems.

To the Russians the statue is said to symbolize victory over fascism; to Estonians it symbolizes Soviet occupation.

Drivers with Selfmade Regulations

2007-04-06T14:41:00.000+02:00

Every Easter Finns drive from cities to the country. In endless rows, mile after mile. Finns are people who love the countryside.

There are regulations and rules for the traffic to guarantee safety on the roads, and all car driving Finns have agreed to obey to those rules when getting their driver's licenses.

On Moundy Thursday several people lost their licenses after driving over 150 km/h on one lane winding country roads with 100 km/h speed limitation. Amidst the heaviest traffic.

Life Boats to Save You?

2007-04-06T14:11:00.000+02:00

In 2004 the Finnish Cargo Ship 'Global Freighter' was driven willfully on shore after it had hit a rock and started leaking.

When the ship tilted, a life boat was lowered to evacuate some of the crew, but the life boat got stuck on a strengthening bulge on the ship side.

According to Maritime regulations it must be possible to lower life boats even when the ship is 20 degrees tilted. Global Freighter was tilted 14 degrees.

Color Blind and Equality

2007-04-06T14:01:00.000+02:00

In the Finnish graduating test a political map was used, that was colored red and green.

The authorities refused to accept the accusation, that the red-green color blind were put in a position where they did dot have similar opportunity to take the test than the non color blind: "In real life they will be in worse position in any case".

The Satanic Bar Code

2007-04-06T13:52:00.000+02:00

In Russia, in the village of Bogolyubovo (God loving) some one hundred people are refusing to change their old passports to new ones, as there are bar codes on the new ones.

They believe the passports to be sinful: The bar codes are supposed to carry three sixes hidden in them - the Number of the Beast.