Whiskas, sea horse and Serzh.

Another funny picture... A pet shop window in Yerevan (the sign actually says Zoological Shop):

by alefalef

Levonator and Serzhadevil.

Ditord had a post a few days ago lamenting the deteriorating conditions on the Armenian blogosphere. He had two hilarious pictures as examples of it:

Here is the Levonator


And here is the Serzhadevil


The more I look at them, the funnier they get even though Ditord labeled them as 'unethical and beyond limits of morality' or something like that. But in a bout of creativity, he himself came up with those funny names for the pictures.

So far I consider these the best output from the election campaign that will alter the culture of the election campaigns. We need more funny caricatures of the political leaders. It's still divided by partisan lines but I hope there are non-partisan funny and talented people out there, too.

Bush stimulus package.

The CNN reports that the Bush administration will be sending out $600 'rebate checks' to the Americans who pay payroll taxes like SS as part of the stimulus package to ward off the risk of recession in our slowing economy.

As is the case with politicians, there was a lot of haggling over it with the Democrats caving in to the Republicans again for reasons that are unknown to me. And despite the large budget deficit that is one of the causes of the current situation, there are going to be further tax cuts. To finance the deficit increase, the government will have to borrow from the market thus increasing demand for money and increase the interest rates. And guess what is the Federal Reserve trying to do. Yes, lower the interest rates as their way of fixing the economy through monetary policy.

Now, if I get down from the macro economics to my own micro level, I have start thinking about what to do with this $600. Do I spend it like the administration wants me to do, or do I behave a little more irresponsibly (irresponsible for the government but responsible for me) and invest it in a risk free tool like a government bond (basically, lending that money to the government so that it could give it to me, plus tax free interest). Or maybe get a little more risk friendly and put it in the stock market - after all, it's free money and I wouldn't mind if its value went down in the short run.

So many choices.

Blog post gone wrong.

A few days ago I posted a photo story about an LTP rally in Yerevan. A few readers commented about the author's biased coverage of LTP and the owner of the pictures required that either the pictures are removed or I disallow any criticism of his work. At first I decided to retain the pictures and censor the comments. But I think that was the wrong decision (the freedom of speech is more dear to me than a post with fancy pictures) so now I have removed the pictures and any reference to the copyrighted material.

Show of force.

[Website...]has posted a few photographs from Levon Ter-Petrossian's rally yesterday. The LTP campaign had a meeting at the Liberty Square and then marched to the Republic Square.

Normally, this would not be a big deal if there was no warning from the Yerevan Municipality about prohibiting any demonstrations or marches by the opposition. By marching LTP wanted to show that the campaign will not be intimidated by such warnings. Surprisingly, the police did not interfere with their brutal suppression as they usually do in such cases.

[photo of a policeman at the rally, removed at the author's request]

The LTP supporters exiting the Liberty Square. A policeman (bottom right corner) is keeping a close eye.

[photo of a KGB operative at the rally, removed at the author's request]

It was not only the police who kept a close eye. A KGB operative (bottom right) films the participants.

Update: According to the LTP campaign, the Yerevan Municipality was notified and the rally was sanctioned under the Armenian law.

Infantile society.

It's amazing how childish garbage, that is the majority of the output from Hollywood, is so popular. No sane adult would spend his or her money to see such films. This week, it turns out, the movie Cloverfield in which a giant insect or something destroys New York. The biggest thing in the movie appears to be the head of the Statue of Liberty lying on the street.

It made 41 million dollars on its opening weekend.

The quote of the day.

“I myself twice won elections in two rounds and know that [in such cases] promises to the people are complemented by obligations to political forces,” added Kocharian. “It is desirable that the next president do not be bound by such obligations.”

This is what RK has said in a televised speech about two round presidential elections according to the Radio Liberty.

WOW! Try to comprehend the arrogance; the guy has not won a single election and now he is talking about the pain of getting elected by two rounds. Of course, he was talking about Serj Sarkisian winning on the first round. It is clear that the regime is preparing grounds for massive fraud.

Azadakrum

I just found a site called Azadakrum (Liberation in Western Armenian) that is dedicated to the cause of freeing Jirayr Sefilian and Vardan Malkhasian. Sefilian and Malkhasian are perhaps the most famous political prisoners currently in jail in Armenia. The other political prisoner I can think of is Arman Babajanian, the founder of Jamanak Yerevan newspaper.

Sefilian and Malkhasian are heroes of the Armenian nation and were instrumental in the liberation of the town of Shushi in Artsakh. A year or so ago they were detained by the Kocharian administration after they expressed their doubts about the commitment of the administration to the independence of Armenia. They were accused of plotting an armed coup d'etat and have been in prison since and their appeals have been ignored by the courts.

Hopefully, after Levon Ter Petrosian becomes the president in February, he will allow the court of appeals to accept their request for review of their case.

Entering the 21-st century.

The Library of Congress has a Flickr account. There, they post scans of historically important photographs from their archives. It's a very important site for anyone who is interested in the US history because one picture is worth a thousand words.

We've been acquiring photos since the mid-1800s when photography was the hot new technology. Because images represent life and the world so vividly, people have long enjoyed exploring our visual collections. Looking at pictures opens new windows to understanding both the past and the present. Favorite photos are often incorporated in books, TV shows, homework assignments, scholarly articles, family histories, and much more.

The Prints & Photographs Division takes care of 14 million of the Library's pictures and features more than 1 million through online catalogs. Offering historical photo collections through Flickr is a welcome opportunity to share some of our most popular images more widely.

:)

A week or so ago SS brought his pre-election site online. In there, he has a photo album with some hilarious pictures that have become the butt of numerous jokes on LiveJournal.

Now, the unofficial supporter site for LTP has posted a funny slide show with these pictures. The captions are in Armenian.

A man walks into a convenience store...

A robber walked into a Village Pantry convenience store in Kokomo, Indiana, this morning and robbed it. While the store clerk was stuffing the loot in a bag, the man put his pistol under his waistband. In the moment of excitement he must have forgotten that loaded and cocked pistols can be easily triggered. That's what happened: His pistol fired accidentally with the bullet passing through his right testicle and left knee cap.

One moment this guy was expecting to become a little bit richer and the next moment he was missing a testicle.