Tag: USA

International parking tickets in Washington D.C. and New York

Freakonomics has an interesting article on pending parking tickets for a number of embassies in Washington D.C. and New York.

In 2003, the state department issued dire warnings to embassies in New York and D.C. threatening to withhold foreign assistance if parking tickets were not paid.  So far though, it seems no foreign assistance has been withheld.

Here’s D.C.’s top offenders:

Russia – $27,200
Yemen – $24,600
Cameroon – $19,520
France – $19,520
Mauritania – $8,070

The Holy See, it’s worth noting, has only one outstanding ticket for $25.

In New York, the list of top offenders is a different set:

Egypt – $1,929,142
Kuwait – $1,266,901
Nigeria – $1,019,998
Indonesia – $692,200
Brazil – $608,733

So what do these countries have in common?  Oil wealth? Moxie? In 2006, Forbes Magazine hypothesized that it was the level of a country’s corruption (according to the Corruption Perception Index) that predicted the level of parking ticket delinquency, along with a country’s level of anti-American sentiment.

Texas drought and wildfires

Big Picture, as always, shares some stunning pictures of a natural disaster.  This time Texas drought and wildfires are in focus.  When looking at these images, I can’t stop thinking of people who, instead of running, trying to save their lives, stopped for a moment, set their cameras, framed the image and pressed the shutter button.  I haven’t been in anything even remotely as dangerous as these situations, but even that was enough for me to know that I am not built for journalistic photography.  And I can’t even start to imagine what all those people who’s homes and businesses were in the path of fires feel like.

 

Ten years ago : 9/11

Today is a 10 year anniversary of 9/11.  Even though I haven’t been directly affected by the terrorist act 10 years ago, there were still indirect consequences for me and pretty much every other human being on this planet.  “War on terror”, military actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, economy defaulting, beefed up security checks in each and every airport, more fear in people and more power in governments – the list can go on.

 

Coming to America

I came across this video via Kottke.org .  A group of young men from Sudan travel to the United States.  The video shows just a few of the many cultural and technologies differences between these two countries.  Truly fascinating!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT0kzF4A-WQ]

 

US Navy embracing social networks

While reading this article, I was really amazed by how much US Navy embraced social networks.

Over 90 documents relating to Navy social media use were made available online that give a window onto recommended military security practices for popular services and how naval culture squares with the anarchic world of Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. More importantly, it also reveals how the Navy keeps tabs on sailors via social media.
In one case, the Navy shared a poster of sexual assault prevention tips on their official Facebook page at the request of the Defense Department’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response office. The poster was a repurposed graphic that the Navy copied from Slutwalk Austin’s Facebook page.
The idea was to intentionally spur a debate among Navy personnel on sexual assault and to bring discussion of the topic into a semi-public forum. According to the Navy’s own report, “many thought [the poster] was funny, ‘dumb,’ or a joke, others were outraged, a few recognized the tone and intent” and Navy social media personnel managed the resulting comments thread. They moderated the discussion, noted how sailors treat discussion of sexual assault online and attempted to keep a respectful tone. In one case, the thread even uncovered what appeared to have been the sexual assault of a former sailor.

I wish more companies and organizations did the same.