Living in USA is Bad for Your Health Too

I posted about increase of the health risks in Russia recently, but the situation in rest of the world isn't much better and USA is an example. The richest country of the world actually is the least place I would like to live. The cause is that if you'll look deeper - it is the same as Russia (and I think in future Russia will be very much alike US), but corruption is legalised (through the lobby institution) and religion de-facto took the upper hand in the temporal power. 

Legalised corruption is worse than a regular because it is harder to fight it. If the mighty one do not like the law he pays for the authorities to close their eyes, but when corruption is legalised it is more efficient to pay for changing of the law. Such law changes were paid by oil and gas companies (and Bush administration got some nice revenue) and it is possible for them to avoid laws for air and water protection... And here the story of the "Gasland" documentary starts (cool thematic map on that site by the way).

Have you ever seen the water on fire? Of course you remember about the explosion and the oil spill on the BP's platform and burning oil on the surface of the sea. But what about the tap water? Scary?

I suggest you watch the "Gasland" documentary and not jus because it is about environmental issues, but because the film itself is great! Especially I loved the moments with cool maps and space imagery. There are plenty of them and they help to understand the scale of the disaster

For now here is the trailer:

Responsibility in Spatial Planning

Currently I have a part-time job in a small "institute" for spatial planing (I highly doubt that I will keep working for them any longer) as an ecologist. It has several challenges such as unappreciated and low paid labour; low overall qualification in GIS (despite a great deal of work related to GIS); top management do not give a fuck about quality of project, workers, etc. and only cares about deadlines; master plan creation != scientific approach; most of the are relatively cheep nowadays because all the big territories have their master plans.

Actually, the last point is a problem only in minds of top management and other workers - I have a different opinion. These small projects (for the smallest municipalities) are a great advantage to demonstrate an ultimate modern scientific, sustainable and open-minded approach to spatial planing and to develop skills of the young workers (more than 90% of employees are younger than 30). But the general approach for to this relatively cheap contracts is to do somewhat and somehow, they think that small municipalities (opposite to the entire regions) are not cool, that everything is the same there, they are not worthy efforts... And here the responsibility starts.

A lot of people are not aware about sustainable development. And I believe that most of people in spatial planing industry in Russia do not know what these words mean. The key words to understand sustainable development are "responsibility" (to nature and people) and "quality of life": we are responsible for everything that happening around. We are  responsible for quality of our lives, quality of lives of people around, quality of lives of people we are working for (consumers of goods and services, provided by our labour)... And here responsibility starts.

A role of spatial planing in sustainability must be recognised - that's where sustainable decisions should be implemented in the first place, because master plans are an official document and a basis for development of the region or municipality.

Pride is the most serious of the 7 deadly sins and the source for others. I'm an atheist but I can't reject the wisdom. Isn't pride the root of the opinion that small municipalities are not worthy efforts in spatial planning? Or the maybe it is stupidity?

Ok. Which of the following proud statements is more probable?

1. We were able to create a solid, comprehensive land use plan for the entire region.
2. We were able to create a solid, comprehensive land use plan for the local municipality.

Of course it is #2! Larger area guarantees only greater amount of work and a greater butthurt - not the greater achievements. Only spatial planing for the local municipalities (which seems significant on the global scale) is able to make a difference. Just think about it: creation of the spatial planing documentation is very expensive for small municipalities, so it will be too difficult (because it is expensive) for them to make changes in this documentation. Documentation on spatial planing is very important, because will determine development of this communities for the next couple of decades so if there is no good strategy proposed, then municipalities will suffer. On the other hand no good strategy will be proposed in the situation when the job is treated as unworthy. That means that shitty documentation will guarantee shitty life for small municipalities for the next 20 years.

It is another illustration of the principle that in the world driven by money reach will multiply their wealth and poor will grow poorer.

Conclusions

1. Do not treat your clients as unworthy just because they do not have enough money to feed your greed, or the project is much smaller than your egotism. 
2. If you are unable to find a challenge in lesser project, it means you are not skilled or qualified enough for the job. 
3. Be responsible, especially if well-being of thousands of people depends on you.

About GDP flaws

Here you can find some short and clear insights about GDP flaws in prosperity measuring and about The Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) implementation instead.

• GDP TREATS CRIME, DIVORCE AND NATURAL DISASTERS AS ECONOMIC GAIN
• GDP IGNORES THE NON-MARKET ECONOMY OF HOUSEHOLD AND COMMUNITY
• GDP TREATS THE DEPLETION OF NATURAL CAPITAL AS INCOME
• GDP INCREASES WITH POLLUTING ACTIVITIES AND THEN AGAIN WITH CLEAN-UPS
• GDP TAKES NO ACCOUNT OF INCOME DISTRIBUTION
• GDP IGNORES THE DRAWBACKS OF LIVING ON FOREIGN ASSETS

Despiceble ESRI's competition

There a lot of contemptible actions around environmental issues. Infamous permission for  pollution of the Baikal lake sighed by Putin is an example. But what is your opinion on this "International Conservation Mapping Competition" organised by ESRI and the Society for Conservation GIS? They offer some money really miserable amount of money for NGO in several nominations:

$5,000 — Grand Prize
$1,000 — Best Cartography
$1,000 — Best Web Map
$1,000 — Best Use of Science
$1,000 — Best Societal Impact
$1,000 — Best Innovative Map

The main condition is: "Entries must be created using Esri GIS as a primary tool". Go ahead and ask for a prising list: there is no way you will pay less than $1,000 for the cheapest license.

Prizes of this competition do not worth a try until you already purchased a license for ESRI's software. And if some NGO purchased software from ESRI, than this NGO doesn't worth support of community, because there are plenty of free and open-source GIS software, which is even better than ESRI's, ESTI's, Intergraph's, etc. The money that NGO would spend for proprietary GIS software would find better implementation in hands of professionals who will get the job done with free and open-source GIS software! It is even cost-effective to pay for job, not for the software!

There is a trust. A trust of volunteers or sympathizer in particular NGO. Would someone donate money to NGO who spend it ineffectively? I don't even need to search for example. I  was used to donate to the Russian department of WWF. But one day I received a call from WWF and had a conversation with a young man on a subject of WWF's activity and (the main point of the conversation) the possibility of donating more... I was disappointed. The money I gave them were used to pay for the phone bills to talk to me about the money instead of  being used for nature protection. Since that conversation I do not donate WWF - they've lost my trust. It is clear that a professional (who contribute to NGO's activity) would use an open-source GIS software, not proprietary, so NGOs which finds it acceptable to pay for proprietary GIS software do not have professionals, which means they don't worth trust.

So the point of so called ESRI's competition (or grants for NGOs for ESRI's licenses) is a sales promotion and nothing else. But the sale promotion, which might be acceptable in general, is discussing when NGOs are involved. Shame on ESRI, shame on Society for Conservation GIS! If they would want to help NGOs - prizes would be at least 10 times higher and money would be granted despite software used.

Shearing is caring!

There was a scientific session at my university today. I've presented a report about waste management in St. Petersburg and Leningrad region. It was somewhat a "party" for the local scientists, so I was in doubt whether should I put the names of my Finnish colleagues as coauthors or not. It wasn't that level which would be valuable for them, besides this report was made of my part of our main article. Never the less the decision was made and I've put two more names on the front page. I've shared authorship of this report.

In the end of the session ex-dean of the faculty came to me and gave a special thanks. "Why? The report and following discussion were good, but there were better" - I thought at the moment. But he thanked me not for the report, but for the foreign coauthors! They brought an international status for our local party! So this publication (and others from the session) will be more valuable. The publication of report became more valuable just because the session became more valuable because of my report presence at the session! It is very interesting thought ;-) But the shearing was in the first place.

There was another shearing story at the session. Google is shearing imagery even if it doesn't want it))) One of the politicians(!) of the St. Petersburg reported about an expedition to the Altai. He mentioned that they have used an images from Google to create a 1:50 000 map... O_o ... Ok, even if he was not aware that for this scale Landsat was just good enough, wasn't this a violation of the Google's terms and conditions of usage? "Honestly, I do not know" replied politician to me...

Let's make it clear: I'm not against robbing Google, I'm against the ignorance.

Let's save the St. Petersburg!

Let's show to the "servants of the people" that they have to give some respect to the laws and human rights!

Rally's place:

Просмотреть увеличенную карту

Repost: Модернизация обещаний. Как «Единая Россия» исполняет свою собственную программу.

Originally posted by ervix at Модернизация обещаний. Как «Единая Россия» исполняет свою собственную программу.

Многочисленные оплачиваемые и добровольные сторонники политической партии «Единая Россия», а наипаче ее, простите, высокопоставленные члены любят вальяжно огрызаться на представителей оппозиции, мол, занимаются оппозиционеры сплошным популизмом, аппаратного и управленческого опыта не имеют, зато огульно критикуют. А мы, единороссы, типа с потом и кровью ударно занимаемся модернизацией страны, не покладая рук внедряем инновации, поднимаем страну с колен, в общем, ведем Россию-матушку в общее светлое будущее.

Для того, чтоб с фактами на руках показать патологическую лживость всех агитационных и программно-идеологических документов партии «Единая Россия», рассмотреть, кто на самом деле является популистом (пока не будем тыкать в наглую медвежью харю) и узнать, а что из обещанного жителям России реализовано партией власти, предлагаю вдумчиво изучить Предвыборную программу Политической партии «Единая Россия», утвержденную 20 сентября 2003 года на III съезде всероссийской политической партии «Единство и Отечество» - «Единая Россия».

Как оказалось, найти программу «Единой России» не так просто. Как будто кто-то специально ее прячет подальше, как только выборы состоятся. Однако, будучи уверенным, что судить надо по результатам деятельности, программу косолапых за 2003 год удалось-таки отыскать на сайте www.archive.org. Выбор именно 2003 года не случаен – именно тогда, в результате общенациональных парламентских выборов, «официальная» партия власти получила серьезнейшее преимущество в парламенте, которое с тех пор не только не уменьшала, но всячески наращивала. С другой стороны, 7 лет являются хорошим сроком понять, исполнены ли предвыборные обещания или нет. Обманула ли «Единая Россия» ожидания избирателей полностью или только частично. К сожалению, подавляющее большинство своих обещаний партия власти не выполнила. Впрочем, не будем забегать вперед и вернемся в 2003 год.

А началось все очень оптимистично:

( Стабильность развития и выбор большинства )

( Как Единая Россия отказалось от какой бы то ни было идеологии )

( Как Россия обгоняла Евросоюз )

( Как единороссы коррупцию побеждали )

( Эффективная международная политика )

( Единороссы как гаранты свободы слова )

( Сказ про то, как Россия вместо нефти станки продавала )

( Мудрое регулирование тарифов на электричество )

( Как единороссы построили нам полный ГЛОНАСС )

( Хит сезона - доступное жилье )

( Медвежья законность )

( Очевидные успехи в сфере удвоения ВВП )

Граждане России, вы согласны оставаться еще несколько лет недалеким электоратом, или готовы спросить у партии власти за исполнения ее обещаний многолетней давности?

Может хватит голосовать за обманщиков?

Прошу поддержать. Пусть как можно больше людей узнают, как единороссы выполняют свои обещания.

Even children are against Russian president!

Brains of the Russian leaders are so damn fucked that even child is able to notice that. President wants to destroy Utrish (the unique area at the shore of the Black Sea) for his amusement... bastard! 

Will he be able to listen to the children of the region?



I don't think he is able to hear anything but the call of his own greed and greed of mister Putin.

Call out for solidarity!

Call for Solidarity actions with the accused COP15 activists
On the 18th of August there will be a solidarity demonstration in Copenhagen to mark the trial of the first two people accused of 'organizing' the protests around the COP 15. We
urge everyone to spend the day or the following days on demonstrations and statements of support and solidarity – demonstration and manifestations outside Danish embassies,
press work and articles - all are welcome and appreciated.
During the climate summit in Copenhagen, around 2000 people were arrested preventively and held in custody while they were trying to get their voices heard. These people along with thousands of other activists from around the world were trying to set a different and
more just political agenda in the climate debate.
Approximately 20 people were detained for up to a month, out of which four people are faced with trials this autumn.* These people are accused of charges including planning violence against police, systematic vandalism and serious disturbance of public peace and
order. Some of these charges are drawn from the Danish terror package and the penalties are strenghtened by the new Danish anti-protester laws introduced just prior to the COP 15. The charges they face are unfounded, but can still potentially result in years in prison. During COP15 thousands of people from around the world gathered in Copenhagen to challenge the farcical political negotiations at the Bella Center and demand just solutions to the climate crises. We demonstrated for solutions that are not only favouring the rich western world. We protested for real solutions which are challenging the capitalist system, because this system has a constant focus on growth and profit that is obviously not able to solve the climate problems.
This dawning climate justice movement was met with antipathy and arrogance of power from the Danish government, which was reflected in the form of a massive police repression. During 2009 the Danish government and the Danish police carried out an intense scare campaign in the media to demonize protesters and activists. Police were given extra power and economic resources for the COP 15. This led to thousands of preventive arrests, month-long surveillance of telephone and raids of private homes and accommodations, and
grotesque and unnecessary detentions.
The police actions were completely out of proportion and a clear violation of our democratic rights. Their actions attempted criminalization of our right to organize ourselves politically. It was made clear that any movement that dares to challenge existing power
structures and demand political changes are not welcome in Denmark today. Instead of listening to the massive criticism of the negotiations, the Danish government revealed a hypocritical lack of interest in solving the climate problems. And now the Danish state is trying to make four individuals responsible for a whole movement's collective decision-making and collective protests.
In our view - the right to protest and everyone's right to be heard, is an essential element in a democracy - even if you are speaking against the existing capitalist system. We therefore call on everyone to show solidarity with the accused and make the criticism of the ongoing
processes visible.
We would like to receive information and documentation of any actions you take to collect on our website.
The coming trials is not just about the fact that innocent people might be convicted, but about everybody's fundamental right to demonstrate, protest, take action and organize politically. It is important that we do not sign away these rights, but continue the fight.

In Solidarity – The Climate Collective
www.cop15repression.info or www.climatecollective.org
email: cop15repression@climatecollective.org
* The four accused are: Natasha Verco, Noah Weiss, Stine Gry Jonassen and Tannie
Nyboe. Natasha and Noah's trials are on the 24th, 25th and 31th of August, and Stine and
Tannie's trials are on the 6th, 27th and 28th of October. The prosecution case against the
Danish state about the preventive arrests are on the 23th and 30th of August and the 1st of
September.

Civil war presentment

There is a news story - interview with a leader of antifascists which made a mess with the building of Himki administration.  For better understanding of causes of this mess you should read digest of events for Himkinsky forest rescuing (you may read only red colored text) - the conflict between common people and the capitalistic Power (government, local administration, criminals and even church).

Not the interview with the Antifa leader is interesting by itself but the following video-interview with the correspondent of the paper. In the end of the video he said that he has a civil war presentment... 

I have that presentment too... And what about you?

Idea 2017

Recently I thought on a subject "how to create a better life in Russia". I was riding on my bicycle at that moment. Riding at the beautiful Lahti town in Southeastern part of Finland - one of the Northern Europe counties as Sweden, Norway and Danemark for example. And for a long time Finland was a part of Sweden. This 4 countries are well known for its high quality level of life and economic development as for environmental preservation and strong social support system. On the picture below we'll compare the most important social and economic aspects of development for Russia (red), Norway (green) and Finland (blue).

Finland, Norway and Russia comparison (click to enlarge) - Nuff said / facepalm
(source: Legatum Prosperity Index)

Actually we can see from this picture, that Russian government do not give a fuck about the population - only about the money (no, it is not about wellbeing of common people - it's about wellbeing of corporations and bureaucrats).

So I thought what if we can place some smart people from Norway for example ('couse they know how to use natural resources in the wright way) in charge in Russia to let them develop the country in the way it should be?! Sounds crazy, isn't it?

But I'm even not original! This idea is like 12 hundreds years old! And the most unbelievable is that it was realized with Nordic guy named Rurik! And even the name "Russia" is after Nordic people.

So let MedvePut (yes Medvedev and Putin are one being with Gazprom as holy spirit) to have a rest. And we'll invite some people who knows how to create a better world.


It is hard to take public control over government, so let's not get hurry but state the deadline to change Russia for good. To my mind 2017 is a reasonable deadline. Which month? October is a wright month for such things, isn't it?

Where are oligarchs?

marker.ru (site that I mentioned in the previous post) provide us with incredible opportunity to watch over trails of yachts of Russian oligarchs. Here you can find a name, owner, cost, image, location and speed of yachts that belongs to robbers of the ex-great country.

Comments are so friendly:

"Does these coordinates precise enough for rocket launchers?"

P.S. Spatial source for the service is here (it is interesting to see too - you can find information about lot of ships).

P.P.S. I assume that marker.ru specialized in economical corruption-revealing news. This is uncommon and strange... but cool!

Africa exploitation

I like maps and GIS. But I want to show you something that is neither one nor another, but quite similar. It is very nice flash animation for information about export from Africa to developed countries - exploitation in other words. You can play with it here and I will just provide a couple of screen-shots.

Here you can chose country of your interest and click to see stats

Example of the stats

The Yes Men Fix The World

"If we let the free-market cult  keep running the world, there wouldn't be a world left to fix."  ["The Yes Men Fix The World"]

 I strongly recommend you to see "TheYesMenFixTheWorld" p2p edition movie. It's a very funny documentary film: you will laugh a lot watching it even if revealed subjects are not funny at all. 

"THE YES MEN FIX THE WORLD is a screwball true story about two gonzo political activists who, posing as top executives of giant corporations, lie their way into big business conferences and pull off the world's most outrageous pranks. This peer-to-peer special edition of the film is unique: it is preceded by an EXCLUSIVE VIDEO of the Yes Men impersonating the United States Chamber of Commerce. Because the Yes Men are being sued for this stunt, p2p is the only way that this film will get seen. Please spread the word!"

You can find official site of the project here.

Special thanks (from me of course) to thepiratebay.org which puts info about this film on its home page!