PEACE GROUP GIVES HUMMER ‘GREEN’ BURIAL
RUST TO DUST
BY JIM LYNCH | The Detroit News, 2010

1.   Detroit – To the conservationminded, General Motors’ nowdefunct Hummer line has always been a target. Where some merely saw boxy vehicles, critics viewed the hulking trucks – known for their original incarnation as military transports as well as their low gas mileage – as symbolic of misplaced values among consumers and elected leaders. In May 2010, General Motors built the last of its Hummer vehicles, an H3 model.

2.   A few weeks later, in an east Detroit neighborhood, the peace organization CODEPINK buried a rusted-out Hummer in celebration. “We’ve always thought this was a vehicle that never should have been made for civilian use,” group cofounder Medea Benjamin said. “It was a gas-guzzler.” In a poem titled “Ode to the Hummer,” CODEPINK organizer Rae Abileah described the vehicle as a “gas-guzzling war machine” turned “family cruiser.” During Monday’s ceremony, the people involved in the ceremony wore shirts with slogans such as “Hybrids not Hummers” and banners bearing the message “Human Need not War Need.”

3.    Members of CODEPINK see the Hummer as the type of consumer product that drives the need for oil and therefore contributes to wars across the globe. The vehicle was buried in the ground and will serve as a planter – with a tree growing from the sunroof.

4.   The Hummer ceremony took place in the Heidelberg Project neighborhood. The Heidelberg Project, a neighborhood that mixes residential homes and vacant plots of land that display art, is a perfect match for the Hummer display, Project founder Tyree Guyton said. “We are changing the world here,” he said. “And we see the importance of connecting with other people out there who are working for change in their own way.”

5.   Across the street from the burial site, resident Denise Hightower looked on with a smile. “I like it,” she said.

Life At The Extreme
CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews last night's TV

1   There are three basic units of measurement in tellyland. People who watch TV cannot be expected to know about metres, so height is gauged in double-decker buses ─ the Eiffel Tower, for instance, is 74 Routemasters tall. All countries have to be compared to Wales. There's no point in saying that 16 million people live in Holland, unless you also point out that the Netherlands is less than twice the size of Wales, with a population five times bigger. Volume is calculated in Olympic swimming pools. If 10 million cubic metres of rubbish is sent to landfill every day, a TV reporter must always explain that it's enough to fill 4,000 Olympic pools, though doing so would actually be a serious criminal offence.

2   We now have a fourth yardstick for TV. All speed is measured in Bolts ─ the pace of 100m world champion Usain Bolt at full throttle. And so Davina McCall informed us, in Life At The Extreme (ITV), that the Namib beetle could belt along at speeds, 'for their size, almost ten times faster than Usain Bolt'. The lanky Jamaican superman can hit 25mph flat out. But this didn't mean the beetles were zipping along at 250mph, like Speedy Gonzales after three cups of black coffee. The key phrase was 'for their size'. Namib beetles are no bigger than undernourished wasps, and they scuttle across the sands at human walking pace. Usain would have no trouble keeping up. This was about as informative as Davina got.

3   She was having a lovely time in southern Africa, squealing with excitement when she saw a giraffe and cooing over an orphaned aardvark. But she hadn't bothered to do too much homework before setting off. When she held a gecko, all she could tell us was 'his little feet are so sweet'. Thank you, Davina Attenborough. On a nighttime expedition through the dunes, hunting with ultraviolet torches for venomous scorpions, she seemed less than keen. 'I have never been a huge fan of scorpions,' she admitted. 'There's something quite eerie about them, the tail and the fact that they could kill me.' She ought to have brought a chair along, so she could stand on it and scream. It got worse when she tried camping out at night, building a wall of thorn branches round her tent to keep the lions at bay. 'Look,' she wailed, dropping her machete, 'I've broken a nail.'

4   The idea of the series is that Davina will roam the world, living in its most inhospitable places, to learn how people and animals adapt to its extremes.        , she looks as though she'd struggle to cope at an allinclusive Mediterranean resort if the canapés ran out. To discover if it was true that cheetahs were the fastest animals on earth, for example, she visited a wildlife sanctuary and challenged a tame one called Kiki to a race. First, though, she wanted reassurance that the big cat wouldn't see her as prey and maul her. 'Dunno,' said the keeper. 'No one's ever been stupid enough to run in the cheetah camp.'

adapted from dailymail.co.uk, 2016
 

Store Keeps Shoppers in the Dark

1   Venturing into a clothes shop beloved by teenagers can often be like entering a different world for adults, and the experience is all the more bewildering for those dragged into Hollister, a US fashion chain. The stores are so dimly lit that parents have complained of tripping over tables, bumping into fellow shoppers, and being unable to see any of the clothes.

2   Linda Watson, 51, a mother from Sutton Coldfield, was unable to find her teenage daughter in one of Hollister’s stores: “I went to look somewhere else and I just couldn’t find her when I turned around because it’s so dark. I had to come out and phone her,” she said. Even younger shoppers are unconvinced. Mrs Peach’s 19-year-old daughter, Charlotte, a student, said: “You can’t see the prices and you keep bumping into people or tables.” Jess Hanna, a 20-year-old from Coventry, added: “It makes it so confusing: we went to buy something and then when we got to the till it was a completely different price to what we thought.” Nick Bull, 30, from Birmingham, summed up his experience of the store: “I can’t see the sizes, I can’t see the prices, I can’t see the till: I can’t see the point.”

3   A spokesman for the company declined to comment but one worker said: “It creates an atmosphere that allows you to come in and hang out while finding some cool clothes. It gives a type of casino feel, where people can get lost in a club-like environment, people relax, and hopefully   29  .”

4   And it works. Despite the economic depression, Hollister is a retailing success story. It opened its first British store in 2008 and now has 22, with more to come. Good-looking young people are approached in the street to become sales assistants – although they are described as “models” – and shirtless men are employed to welcome customers through the doors. Shoppers are made to queue outside in an effort to make the brand appear more desirable.

The Daily Telegraph, 2011

Remembrance Sunday

REMEMBRANCE Sunday is celebrated on the second Sunday in November. As always, the nation will be pinning red poppies close to their hearts and holding a two-minute silence at 11am on Sunday.

But why do we do this every year?
(1) The very first Remembrance Sunday was held on 11 November 1919, one year after the end of World War I, at the request of Britain’s king at the time, King George V. He asked the nation to stop what they were doing and stand in silence for two minutes at 11am to remember those who died in the war. Today, Remembrance Sunday is used as a day of respect for all the men and women who have died serving their country; for those who helped fight for the freedom we enjoy today. For almost 100 years, the nationwide silence has been held year after year in religious buildings, shopping centres, on high streets and in many, many homes across Commonwealth countries.

Why the poppy?
(2) You may notice a lot of people wearing red paper poppies on their clothes. The poppy represents this very special day, which honours those who died fighting in the First World War. The poppy is a sign of remembrance and hope, worn by millions at this time of year. At the beginning of the war, fighting broke out across much of Western Europe, where great landscapes were torn apart by fighting, allowing nothing to regrow. The one flower that could regrow, however, was the red Flanders poppy. These red flowers managed to grow in their thousands across the battlefields, a beautiful but resilient flower. Inspired by the sight of red poppies flourishing across the battlefields in Ypres, Belgium, military doctor and artillery commander John McCrae wrote the now famous poem ‘In Flanders Fields’, adding to the strength and meaning of the poppy. The   19   remains just as strong today. On every Remembrance Sunday there is a march through London, where people pay their respects by laying poppy wreaths at the Cenotaph, a monument in Whitehall.

And why a two-minute silence?
(3) Silence is considered a sign of respect in most cultures. Not speaking gives us time to think, clear our minds and, in the case of Remembrance Sunday, remember.   20  , at the 11th hour on the second Sunday of the 11th month, the nation falls into a two-minute silence to respect, honour and think about those who fought for us.

www.firstnews.co.uk