----- Original Message -----
From: "marika" <marika5000@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
Newsgroups: alt.revolution,alt.usenet.legends.lester-mosley
Sent: Sunday, April 13, 2008 10:31 AM
Subject: raiders of the kingdom of the crystal skull
> ruslana talks about climate change
>
>
>
> http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89436819
> (great pictures, so click on this link for more)
>
> A Ukrainian Pop Star's Would-Be Revolution
> by Dan Charles
>
> All Things Considered, April 7, 2008 · In Ukraine, an unlikely voice is
> speaking - and singing - about the need for clean, green, energy.
>
> Ruslana is Ukraine's biggest pop star. Her live shows are spectacles
with
> fire, smoke, dancers and costumes. In the middle of it all, there's
> Ruslana, tossing her hair, stamping her feet and usually not wearing
very
> much - a small bundle of unbridled enerrgy
>
> Wild Energy
>
> That's her public image, and that's why she decided to call her new
album
> and live show "Wild Energy." But Yuriy Melnyk, her international
publicity
> manager, says it gradually came to have a bigger meaning. Wild Energy,
he
> says, means "the energy of the sun, the energy of the wind, the energy
of
> water."
>
> "Renewable energy," Ruslana adds. "Energy independence."
>
> The Ukrainian singer says she wants to get people thinking about the
> environmental cost of fossil fuels, and the dangers of global climate
> change. But translating that into the language of pop music isn't easy.
>
> "It's very im****tant to show this issue very visually," she says. It has
> to be presented very well, so that teenagers don't just hear it, but
that
> they really understand it."
>
> Energy Dependent
>
> Ruslana, who rarely uses her last name, Lyzhychko, doesn't sing about
> carbon footprints and gas prices; she sings about the wild energy of
love.
>
> It triumphs over a synthetic world, dependent on synthetic energy. In
the
> video version, that world is represented by a pale, metallic-looking
woman
> who gets her strength from a giant machine. She's transformed, though,
> into a kind of Wild Energy woman, reminiscent of Xena the warrior
> princess.
>
> Ruslana's interest in energy was kindled, in part, by Ukraine's current
> energy situation. It is among the most energy-intensive countries in the
> world, which means that it consumes large amounts of energy per dollar
of
> economic activity.
>
> Energy consumption typically rises in tandem with income; rich countries
> like the United States consume more energy, per person, than poor ones.
> But Ukraine consumes almost as much energy - per person - as Italy, even
> though the average Italian is four times richer.
>
> Most of Ukraine's energy, especially natural gas, comes from Russia. And
> every so often, Russia threatens to cut Ukraine off.
>
> In fact, that's a big reason why Ruslana became interested in this
issue.
> There's more to her than steamy videos. She's a Ukrainian nationalist
who
> joined protesters on the streets of Kiev in 2004, in what became known
as
> the Orange Revolution. She even took a seat, briefly, in the Ukrainian
> parliament.
>
> So she's trying to reduce Ukraine's dependence on natural gas im****ted
> from Russia.
>
> "Ukrainians should know that they are not as dependent on the natural
gas
> as they think they are," she says.
>
> Not Interested
>
> But it's really not easy to get young Ukrainians interested in clean,
> green, home-grown energy.
>
> "Young people - they don't care about this, I think," says Roman Lebed,
a
> 21-year-old journalist in Kiev.
>
> "They think about their everyday problems," adds his friend, 19-year-old
> Inna Zheliezna. "Everybody knows about this problem, but only a few are
> really concerned about it and want to do something about it."
>
> Even Iryna Stavchuk, who works specifically on climate change for one of
> Ukraine's environmental groups, says she can't really get her generation
> interested.
>
> "They don't want to listen," she says. "One thing could be it's not
> interesting. Another thing could be they don't want to be bothered with
> anything."
>
> They're too busy hanging on as their country continues its wild ride
from
> a Soviet socialist republic into capitalism.
>
> They've seen dramatic changes, and underneath a layer of Slavic
> melancholy, there's a touch of amazement.
>
>
> Catching Up
>
> "This life is more competitive," says Irina Kosovar, an economist with a
> consulting company. "But you have a lot of op****tunities. Really, a lot
of
> op****tunities."
>
> In the capital city of Kiev, wealth seems almost within reach now. It's
> seen on television and billboards, and on streets clogged with ****ny new
> cars. A few are tasting it; the rest are scrambling to catch up or just
> stay on their feet.
>
> In fact, if there's one thing that's the focus of life in the new,
> capitalist Ukraine today, it's money.
>
> Ruslana is trying to persuade young Ukrainians that coal and gas are
just
> as vital as cash.
>
> "Energy is like currency, like money," she says. "This is how I see it
in
> my project. It's the most valuable currency. And until we realize it,
> we're going to waste it."
>
> Yet even Ruslana, for all her energy and celebrity, sounds, at times, a
> little unsure that her cause will catch on.
>
> To be honest, she says, she's a little bit afraid of starting a public
> relations campaign about climate change or Ukraine's appetite for fossil
> fuels. She says she needs more allies and sponsors.
>
> She doesn't want to be a lonely
> voice.http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7335351.stm
>
>
> By Steve Rosenberg
> BBC News, Nuremberg
>
>
> Germany likes to call itself the "Land of Ideas" - and over the
centuries
> it has certainly had plenty of them. It was Germans who invented the
> aspirin, the air****p, the printing press and the diesel engine.
>
> But Germany has surely never produced anything quite as weird as the
> automated restaurant.
>
> I say "restaurant" - but it actually looks more like a rollercoaster,
with
> long metal tracks criss-crossing the dining area.
>
> The tracks run all the way from the kitchen, high up in the roof, down
to
> the tables, twisting and turning as they go. And down the tracks - in
> little pots with wheels fixed to the bottom - speeds food.
>
> Supersonic sausages, high-pace pancakes and wine bottles whizzing down
to
> the customers' tables with the help of good old gravity. One pot is
> spiralling down so fast, it looks like an Olympic bobsleigh (but it's
only
> Bratwurst).
>
>
>
> What's more, at the 's Baggers restaurant in Nuremberg, you don't need
> waiters to order food. Customers use touch-screen TVs to browse the menu
> and choose their meal.
>
> You can even use the computers to send e-mails and text messages while
you
> wait for the food to be cooked. But all this may not appeal to those who
> like traditional waiter service.
>
> Meals on wheels
>
> Up in the kitchen, it is man, not machine, that makes the food. They
> haven't found a way of automating the chef, just yet.
>
> Everything is prepared from fresh. When it is ready, the meal is put in
a
> pot and given a sticker and a colour to match the customer's seat.
>
> Then it is put on the rails and despatched downhill to the correct
table.
> Manna from heaven, German-style.
>
> The restaurant is the brainchild of local businessman Michael Mack.
>
> "I wanted to come up with a complete new restaurant system," Michael
tells
> me, "one that would be more efficient and more comfortable".
>
> Replacing waiters with helter-skelters and computers is fun for the
> customers. It also makes financial sense for the restaurant.
>
>
>
> "You can save labour costs," explains restaurant spokesperson Kyra
> Mueller-Siecheneder.
>
> "You don't need the waiters to run to the customers, take the orders,
run
> to the kitchen and back to the guests."
>
> The restaurant has not completely done away with the human touch. There
> are still some staff on hand to explain to rather bemused customers how
to
> use the technology.
>
> But what do the punters here think? Do Germans really have the appetite
> for automated mealtimes?
>
> "It's another art for eating. I like it!" one man raves.
>
> "It's more for young people than old people," a woman tells me. "My
mother
> was here yesterday and she needs my son's help to order."
>
> Watching all this food raining down on the restaurant makes me ravenous.
I
> decide that it is my turn to test the system. I order steak and salad on
> the computer and wait for it to appear. A few minutes later, a pot
glides
> down to my table with my "fast food" - and it is delicious.
>
> As I finish the meal and prepare to leave, one final thought crosses my
> mind. An automated meal doesn't only save the restaurant money, but the
> customer, too.
>
> After all, in a restaurant without waiters, there is no need to leave a
> tip....
>
>
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