Collectors Will Love This ‘FCK PTN!’ Stamp

The official statement by the Ukranian Postal Service does not include an image, but Banksy’s Instagram account does. So I copied that image here:

Source: Banksy on Instagram – see https://www.instagram.com/p/CpLO9g0sklw/?hl=en

In their own words:

The graffiti on the wall of a damaged building in urban-type settlement Borodyanka, which depicts the duel of two judokas, was chosen by Ukrposhta as a sketch for the postal issue “FCK PTN!”. A little boy who knocks out a grown man is an allegorical image – this is the struggle of Ukraine against the russian federation.

Ukrposhta

Propaganda? Of course – but necessary, I’m afraid. Note how all references to the enemy are written without capital letters ;-)

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WTF Accor Group ?

I received a promotional email from the Accor Group, telling me that I could get a substantial rebate on a stay in some of their hotels. We like visiting cities all around Europe, so I checked out the list of hotels in the promotion. There are hotels in the Netherlands, in Germany, but not in France – too bad.

And then… what? I can get a rebate in Russian hotels ????

Does the Accor Group not know that Russia is at war, with their invasion of Ukraine?

Does the Accor Group not know that Europe has imposed economic sanctions on Russia?

Does the Accor Group think that there are many Europeans wanting to go to Russia at this moment?

Isn’t there a single Accor executive who might have said: “Wait a moment – it may not be a good idea to include Russan hotels in this promo” before launching this campaign?

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The State Of The World On A Single TV Evening

This could be seen last Friday on our TV screen: the movie “Snowden“, the movie “Charlie Wilson’s War” and an episode of the Norwegian TV series “Occupied“. Just as if the current war in Ukraine isn’t enough to illustrate the propaganda, manipulation, corruption and other nastiness in the world today!

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Good Advice, Not Just For US Citizens!

“Read the books they don’t want you to — that’s where the good stuff is,” continued Burton. “Read banned books!”

Mashable: https://mashable.com/video/trevor-noah-levar-burton-ban-books

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Critical Reality!

I’m catching up on a lot of reading, and this opinion piece on the Politico website grabbed my attention: “70 Years Ago Black Activists Accused the U.S. of Genocide. They Should Have Been Taken Seriously“

The petitioners were taking the minimalist language of the U.N. convention on genocide, about things like conditions of life, and giving it shape and form with real-world examples. The petition outline the harsh living conditions to which Black Americans were subject: lives diminished in terms of housing, medical care, education, segregation, job opportunities, sharecropping, incarceration, housing, poverty and voter suppression. As a result, the petition states, 30,000 extra Black people were dying each year, and Black Americans were living eight years less than white people. Officials from all three branches of the U.S. government, the petition alleges, were guilty of inciting, conspiring to commit or being complicit in such genocidal acts, with examples ranging from police violence to racist laws promulgated by members of Congress.

Alex Hinton in https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2021/12/26/black-activists-charge-genocide-united-states-systemic-racism-526045

Not much has changed in the USA since then, unfortunately…

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“Because My Freedoms Are Always Trump Cards”

Of course there are citizens of the USA who know this is comedy, but it seems there are not enough of them – not even in the Supreme Court.

I mean: this is comedy, no ?

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Frankie Has Something To Say About Your Future

Details on UN News

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What About Your Future?

An international group of scientists, led by Prof. Wim Thiery, has created a website with a simple purpose: “Here you can find out how many more climate extremes you will face across your lifetime relative to a world without climate change.“

Click the image to see what it means for you!

The good news is that the future will not bring substantially more crop failures – but that’s assuming that European and Central Asian farmers will continue to be able to pay the technology and means (water!) to keep up their production. But look at the other numbers! Belgium and Germany had dramatic floods last summer; do we want that to happen again (and more)? Not to mention the last three weather phenomena: those are frightening numbers, no?

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Solar Power: Is There An Alternative?

Check out this entertaining but educational video:

As far as I know, there is no real alternative in the short term: it’s too soon to tell whether nuclear fusion reactors will be able to generate a substantial part of the world energy needs in the first half of this century…

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Isn’t It Reassuring That Hackers Are ‘Just’ Good Capitalists?

I was pretty surprised when I read this – in fact, I had to read it a couple of times to make sure I read it right!

Following the intense scrutiny generated by the Colonial Pipeline hack, DarkSide appeared to be reconsidering this model. On Monday, a statement purportedly from the DarkSide hackers announced the group’s intention to closely scrutinize its partners’ planned attacks in the future to “avoid social consequences.” “Our goal is to make money,” the statement said, “and not creating problems for society.”

Source: “What you need to know about the Colonial Pipeline hack” (Politico)

As Frank Zappa said a long time ago: “We’re only in it for the Money“…

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Thanks For The Clarification, Daniel Hodges

BoingBoing rightly mentions the testimony of Washington DC police officer Daniel Hodges. Clearly, this officer was well prepared:

The term “domestic terrorism” means activities that “involve acts dangerous a human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any state and B, appear to be intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population or to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion, or to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping, and occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.

https://boingboing.net/2021/07/27/capitol-police-officer-explains-to-congress-why-the-pro-trump-rioters-are-terrorists.html

Simple. To the point. Now all that’s needed is the correct application of this term to all (!) involved – inciting others to commit such acts cannot be condoned either, can it?…

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Aaah, Freedom!

I can’t remember where I found this image. But I simply had to share it – even after almost two years of a world-wide pandemic it is still relevant.

Well said, Kathony Jerauld !

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Inconvenient Truths About FB

You won’t find my life or posts or pictures on Facebook. I have my blog, of course. But also, over the years, my distrust in the company grew. There have been enough “scandals” to confirm my opinion. For those who want to know more, there’s a book titled “An Ugly Truth” written by reporters Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang. This summary from the MIT Technology Review’s review of that book says:

This is what Frenkel and Kang call Facebook’s “ugly truth.” Its “irreconcilable dichotomy” of wanting to connect people to advance society but also enrich its bottom line. Chapter after chapter makes abundantly clear that it isn’t possible to satisfy both—and Facebook has time again chosen the latter at the expense of the former.

Review: Why Facebook can never fix itself

As Dave Winer writes: “It’s even worse than it appears“…

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Shame On You, Hungary! And Also: Shame On You, UEFA !

Photo: Hase, dpa (Archivbild)

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Hilarious!

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