OTHER NEWS

MCMANSIONS TURNS 75 YEAR OLD PRESERVATIONIST INTO GRAFFITI ARTIST

DOMINION POST, NZ - Anger at an invasion of "Beijing-like" flash
mansions has driven an elderly Plimmerton historian to tag a
neighbouring house. The 75-year-old has escaped police charges but is
vowing to continue his crusade to preserve the ambience of the historic
seaside resort. Roger Beauchamp - president of the Porirua Historic
Association and Porirua Historic Places Trust representative - said
extreme frustration drove him to tagging, a vice usually the domain of
errant teenagers. He spray-painted "shit" on neighbor Pat Quin's house
in Moana Rd. . .

"I was conceived in this house in 1930 and every time I look out my
windows I have to look at it. It causes me extreme aggravation - I will
have to look at it forever. "The invasion of rich people knocking houses
down, building new ones and changing our ambience is causing a lot of
concern. If someone does not stand up and be counted it will be gone,"
he said. . .

Asked if he would be exercising his spray can again in the future, he
replied: "I have suggested that if anyone crosses swords with me I will
have three spray vials and paint their backsides with red, white and
blue.". . .

http://www.stuff.co.nz/3940383a10.html

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GREAT MOMENTS IN MUSEUM DIORAMAS

KIRCHER SOCIETY - At the turn of the last century, the 6,300-mile trip
from Moscow to Beijing along the Trans-Siberian Railway took 14 days to
complete. Visitors to the 1900 Paris Exhibition were given the unique
opportunity to condense the journey into roughly one hour, thanks to the
scrolling panorama of Pawel Yakovlevich Pyasetsky. . .

WIKIPEDIA - The installation included three 70-foot-long luxury railway
cars, complete with saloons, dining rooms, and bedrooms. The audience
would sit in the railway cars, and view the panorama through the
windows. Additional spectators could watch from rows of seats placed
alongside the cars. The moving panorama was a stage-like area with
multiple layers of moving objects and scrolling paintings. The nearest
objects were sand, rocks, and boulders attached to a horizontal belt
that moved at a speed of 1000 feet per minute. Next was a low screen
painted with shrubs and brush, which moved at 400 feet per minute.
Behind that, another screen with paintings of more distant scenery moved
at 130 feet per minute. The final screen showed mountains, forests, and
cities; it was 25 feet tall and 350 feet long, and moved just 16 feet
per minute. The net result of these four layers was to produce a
simulated perspective of great depth, via motion parallax.

http://www.kirchersociety.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/01/siberianpanorama.jpg


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ANOTHER GNOME KIDNAPPED

RACHEL_GANONG, BRUNSWICK TIMES RECORD, ME - A Brunswick man and his
mother are calling for their gnome to come home after the four-foot,
100-pound carving went missing on Jan. 7. . . "We're looking for a
traveling gnome," Brunswick Police Cmdr. Richard Desjardins said. . . So
far, they have no leads . . . Heskanen suspects a couple of young
mischief makers swiped the elf-like sculpture, citing a limited elf
market for professional thieves and the fact that the gnome's cumbersome
size would require at least two people for easy handling. . . "I don't
think you'd fly to China with this; you'd have get it its own ticket,"
Heskanen said.

http://www.timesrecord.com/website/main.nsf/news.nsf/0/
6DD111ADF9E756288525726E0057C269?Opendocument

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STUPID EFFICIENCY EXPERT TRICKS

BBC - Black tape has been put on civil servants' desks to show them
where to put their pens. The pilot exercise at National Insurance
offices in Longbenton, North Tyneside, is part of a UK-drive to
encourage staff to tidy their desks. The Public and Commercial Services
union claimed the scheme was costing L7.4m nationally and branded it
"demeaning" and "demoralizing.". . .

The exercise is part of the Lean program, brought in by consultants
Unipart, which has already seen public sector workers told to clear
their desks of personal items. The customs spokesman said: "Part of the
Lean processing is to clear the workplace and only keep essential items
to hand. This is in line with the workstation ergonomics training that
all our staff receive and complies with the display screen equipment
regulations. The markers on desks are used to demonstrate that it is
much better to work in a tidy work environment where everything has its
place.

But a PCS spokesman said: "The tape idea illustrates the madness of the
Lean project. "The scheme is demoralizing and demeaning. Staff know how
to order their desks themselves. "We had a situation in some offices in
Scotland where staff were asked 'Is that banana on your desk active or
inactive?,' meaning were they going to eat it? "If not, it had to be
cleared away."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/6230629.stm

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BECKHAM MAY JOIN CRUISE CULT

ADAM NICHOLS, NY DAILY NEWS - Scientology's chief cheerleader Tom Cruise
helped tempt David Beckham to L.A., fueling speculation the soccer ace
and his wife may become the church's next celebrity converts. Beckham
said yesterday a late-night phone chat with the "Mission: Impossible"
star helped seal his decision to move stateside.
The soccer great and his wife, Victoria (Posh Spice) Beckham, are close
buddies with Cruise and his spouse, Katie Holmes. . . Though the couple
has not publicly mentioned the controversial religion, Posh reportedly
has accepted church literature from her new friends. And she is lined up
to play an alien bride in "The Thetan," a Cruise-backed movie about an
immortal spiritual being Scientologists believe is present in all
humans.

http://nydailynews.com/front/story/488357p-411202c.html

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