- Scottish rail crossing could join likes of Taj Mahal and Great Wall of China
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For years, it has been used as a metaphor for a never-ending job.
Now the Forth Rail Bridge could soon be recognised for more prestigious reasons than simply the continual need to keep re-painting it.
The bridge, described by some Scots as the eighth wonder of the world, has been invited to prepare a formal bid for World Heritage Status, which would place it alongside such landmarks as the Taj Mahal and the Great Wall of China.
Iconic: The Forth Bridge, which spans the Firth of Forth in Scotland, has been invited to apply to Unesco to become a World Heritage site
Never-ending... at least until last Christmas: The paint job was started in 1883 when the bridge was built and continually needed re-coating due to the elements. It was finally finished in December (above) thanks to some super-strong paint
The crossing was included on a shortlist submitted to Unesco - the body which awards the honour - earlier this year.
An independent expert group has now recommended that the Forth Rail Bridge bid should go forward.
The bridge, which spans the Firth of Forth, became famous because the task of painting the structure was an endless one.
It was finally completed last December thanks to a new super-tough paint and it shouldn’t need doing again for 25 years.
Work in progress: The rail crossing in 1889. Construction took eight years to complete at a cost of 3.2million, around 235million today
Perpetual painting: Workmen carrying out the endless, and painstaking, task of re-coating the bridge in 1931
Officials have been invited to prepare a formal nomination, which could go forward in 2014, with Unesco then expected to make a final decision on heritage status in June 2015.
Heritage Minister John Penrose described the crossing, which was completed in 1890 and carries about 200 trains a day, as a 'strong contender'.
If successful, it would be the sixth World Heritage Site in Scotland.
Scottish Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop said: 'The Forth Bridge is a Scottish icon that is recognised the world over.
'We are extremely excited that we have the opportunity to make the case for the bridge being inscribed as Scotland’s sixth World Heritage Site.
'To have the bridge inscribed as a Unesco World Heritage Site would be a tremendous accolade for the bridge itself, for the local communities and for Scotland.
'This nomination has the potential to be a celebration of our country’s incredible engineering ingenuity and pedigree, and I wish the team working on it all the best.'
Prestigious company: The Forth Bridge could join the likes of the Taj Mahal (above) in India in gaining World Heritage Status
Rich history: The Great Wall of China (pictured) is also a World Heritage site, highlighting just how highly regarded the Forth Bridge in cultural circles
The nomination will be overseen by the Forth Bridges Forum, which includes representatives from Historic Scotland, the Scottish Government agency charged with safeguarding the country’s historic environment, and bridge owners Network Rail, among others.
David Simpson, route managing director for Network Rail Scotland, described the crossing as 'one of the most recognisable bridges anywhere in the world'.
He added: 'The bridge has become a source of pride and a symbol of Scotland’s resilience and ingenuity but, we must never lose sight of the fact that it is first and foremost a working structure which still carries over 200 trains a day.
'Extremely excited': Scottish Culture Minister Fiona Hyslop said the Forth Bridge is a Scottish icon that is recognised the world over
'This nomination should be regarded as a further tribute to the thousands of men who have contributed to building, maintaining and restoring the structure over the last 130 years.'
The Forth Rail Bridge is 2.5 kilometres (1.55 miles) long and was built with about 54,000 tonnes of steel and an estimated 6.5 million rivets.
Work started on it in 1882 and the project, which took eight years to complete, cost 3.2 million - equivalent to 235 million today.
Scottish Secretary Michael Moore hailed the structure as 'an iconic symbol of Scotland which is instantly recognised the world over'.
He also described the bridge as a 'huge feat of Scottish engineering skill' and said: 'It was nominated for Unesco World Heritage Status by the UK Government last year and the fact it has topped the list and can now take its bid forward is good news for Scotland.'
Gorham’s Cave Complex in Gibraltar - four sea caves lying at the base of the 426-metre high Rock of Gibraltar - has also been invited to prepare a nomination for World Heritage Status.
This could go forward in 2015, with a decision from Unesco then expected the following year.
Mr Penrose said: 'The UK’s heritage is unique, diverse and world-class.
'Nomination to Unesco for World Heritage Status is incredibly rewarding, but the process is pretty tough and success is by no means guaranteed.
'Both the Forth Bridge and Gorham’s Cave are strong contenders, so I wish them all the best.'
The current World Heritage Sites in Scotland are the Antonine Wall, St Kilda, New Lanark, the Heart of Neolithic Orkney and Edinburgh Old and New towns.
FROM A ROMAN WALL TO A COTTON MILL VILLAGE, THE OTHER WORLD HERITAGE SITES IN SCOTLAND
Antonine Wall
Built during the years following 142 AD on the orders of the Emperor Antoninus Pius, the wall was once the Roman Empire's most northen frontier in Britain.
The structure survived for a generation before being abandoned in the 160s in favour of a return to Hadrian's Wall.
It stretched for nearly 60km from Bo’ness on the River Forth to Old Kilpatrick on the River Clyde.
St Kilda
The archipelago, which is the remotest part of the British Isles, lies 66Km west of Benbecula in Scotland's Outer Hebrides.
People had lived there since prehistoric times, but the last islanders asked to be evacuated in 1930 because life on the remote archipelago had become too difficult, mainly as a result of tourism and World War I.
Edinburgh Old and New towns
These were made a World Heritage site in 1995 in recognition of their unique character.
The New town is considered a masterpiece is city planning.
New Lanark
The 18th century restored cotton mill village on the banks of the River Clyde in Southern Scotland was inscribed by UNESCO in 2001.
It was created as a cotton-spinning village and was transformed under the management of Robert Owen, who improved conditions and facilities for the workers.
The Heart of Neolithic Orkney
The group of Neolithic monuments on Orkney consists of a large chambered tomb (Maes Howe), two ceremonial stone circles (the Stones of Stenness and the Ring of Brodgar) and a settlement (Skara Brae), together with a number of unexcavated burial, ceremonial and settlement sites.
The group constitutes a major prehistoric cultural landscape which gives a graphic depiction of life in this remote archipelago in the far north of Scotland some 5,000 years ago.
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk
California Highway Patrol picks Ford Explorer - USA Today
The California Highway Patrol, one of the more visible law enforcement agencies in the country and one that was featured on the old CHiPs TV show, plans to buy the Police Interceptor version of the Ford Explorer as its mainstay patrol vehicle, the Los Angeles Times reports.
All police agencies have been scrambling to find an adequate replacement for the Ford Crown Victoria, the mainstay of most fleets that went out of production last year. The leading replacements are the police versions of the Ford Taurus, Chevrolet Caprice and the Dodge Charger.
Ford has been offering a SUV as an alternative to the sedans, which usually means a big, capable vehicle for patrolling in snowy or remote areas, not as a mainstay highway cruiser. But the Times quotes CHP Assistant Chief Erik Knudsen as saying that the "utility is probably going to be our primary vehicle."
We're surprised. SUVs have a higher center of gravity that could be a detriment in high-speed pursuits or tight cornering. But Knudsen says the Explorer can carry more payload than the sedans and still maneuvers well.
It's not a sure-bet yet. The Explorer still has to past a bunch of tests. But if it comes through, they could start showing up in the highways of the Golden State by October as 4,000 Crown Vics are gradually replaced.
Source: content.usatoday.com
Johannesburg gallery to remove painting from its website that depicts South African president’s genitals - New York Daily News
JOHANNESBURG -- The spokesman for a Johannesburg gallery says it has agreed to remove from its website a painting that depicts the South African president's genitals.
The announcement came as 2,000 protesters for the African National Congress marched to the gallery Tuesday to demonstrate against the painting.
Gallery spokesman Neil Dundas says he told an ANC delegation that the painting will be taken down from the website after Tuesday. The concession comes after vandals defaced the painting last week, leading the Goodman Gallery to remove it from the show.
President Jacob Zuma is asking the High Court to issue an order that the display of the now-defaced painting violated his constitutional right to dignity.
"The Spear" by Brett Murray went on display at the Goodman, one of the country's leading galleries, early this month.
Source: www.nydailynews.com
Painting over history in Tahrir Square - Aljazeera.com
Toronto, Canada - In Cairo's Tahrir Square, ground zero of the democratic uprising which overthrew the brutal 42-year dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak, the history of the 2011 revolution is literally drawn on the walls. Down Mohamed Mahmoud Street, along the sides of the American University of Cairo (AUC) compound and all around the Square there are stunning and oft-emotional testaments to the historic events which led to the fall of the Mubarak regime and which galvanised the attention of the world.
Pharaohnic imagery, written messages of inspiration, artistic depictions of soldiers, politicians, protestors and the ordinary Egyptians from all walks of life who came into the streets to finally lift the heavy weight of dictatorship from their nation - all these are painted on the walls around Tahrir in recognition of the transcendent events which took place there only so recently. In addition, what are painted are tributes to those young and old who gave their lives to the cause of bringing freedom to Egypt. Depictions of the martyrs of Tahrir Square with angel wings and words of commemoration adorn the walls, and it is these historic images, among others, that the Egyptian military came this week to wipe away.
'They want us to forget'
On an early Monday morning a work crew commissioned by the Egyptian government began covering the revolutionary murals in Tahrir with white paint, in what seemed to many to be a calculated and deliberate effort to erase the living history of the 2011 revolution. They succeeded in covering over the paintings on the front wall of the American University of Cairo compound facing Qasr Al-Ainy Street, as well as the corner directly facing the square which had previously displayed the iconic image of Hosni Mubarak as half-politician half-general, painted by the legendary Egyptian street artist Omar Fahmy.
As they continued their work and began to paint over the long stretch of artwork on Mohamed Mahmoud Street, a group of passing students, shocked by what they were witnessing, prevented them from continuing. Ahmed Kamel, 19, was among those who stopped the painters.
"We did not use any violence to make them stop, we just told them that they can not do this and we will not let them keep painting."
Uncensored street art
The painters were ordinary contractors hired by the government to do a job, not politically motivated in their work but simply among those of the millions of Cairenes trying to eke out an existence in the sprawling North African megacity. They left quietly and without incident, leaving behind them some whitewashed revolutionary artwork and a growing crowd of youths who had come to survey what had been lost and to stand guard over the walls of paintings which remained.
Since the first days of the revolution Egyptians have found their democratic voice through impromptu street art in Cairo and beyond. Denunciations of the corrupt military dictatorship as well as illustrations of their own aspirations for freedom and self-determination have taken graphic form on city walls from Cairo to Alexandria to Suez. This week's effort by the SCAF to destroy the most prominent and visceral of these displays was not the first attempt to wipe out revolutionary street art. In other urban centres across Egypt, graffiti murals have been defaced and destroyed and their creators imprisoned. Mohammed Fahmy, who goes by the name Ganzeer, is among those who have been detained by the military for his work.
"I chose graffiti over other types of artistic expression because there was a need for alternative media... Uncensored street art is the only way we can tell our story."
Far from the stereotypical portrayal of graffiti as vandalism; in a closed and repressive society such as Mubarak's Egypt it often constituted the only uncorrupted means of personal and communal expression. The revolution was widely seen by Egyptians, especially the youth, as a time of upheaval and inspiration in which an entirely new world suddenly seemed attainable, and the graffiti produced in its wake reflected the transcendence of this vision. Existentialist depictions of masked protesters dancing with ballerinas amid tear gas being fired in the square, Pharoahnic montages depicting the role played by women during the uprising and graphic exhortations towards all strata of society to bring social justice to Egypt; all these were painted and remain on the walls around Tahrir as testament to the herculean energy which was brought forth by the Egyptian people during their revolution.
For Karim Usef, 25, the paintings adorning Tahrir Square and throughout Cairo are not only political but deeply personal. Karim, a soft spoken young man who holds a degree in social work but has been unable to find steady work for the past two years was actively involved in the protests against the Mubarak regime from their early days. Walking through Tahrir and the surrounding streets of downtown Cairo, he points to many spray-painted tributes commemorating his friend Ramy Sharkawi, a 28-year old graphic designer who had joined the protests and was shot to death by armed men hired by the regime to attack pro-democracy protesters.
"When he was alive I would see him every day in the Square, but after he died I would see him in my mind everywhere."
Remembering martyrs
He had been shot in the side and chest and died there in Tahrir. After his death his close friends and those who had come to know him in the protest movement held a birthday party for him in the Square. Karim and others spray painted his smiling image in stencil along many of the walls of surrounding buildings, including those of the AUC which the government had this week attempted to paint over.
"We celebrated his birthday right there in the Square, we wanted him to be remembered for what he did for us."
Ramy's death would not be the last which Karim witnessed - days later while standing in the centre of the Square, he watched another young fellow protester die in front of his eyes, struck in the head by a bullet fired by a government sniper from the adjacent Mogamma government building.
"He was standing only a few metres away from me when he was shot, I watched him die as people tried to help him... I will never forget this as long as I live."
For Karim, the graffiti painted on the AUC walls and elsewhere in memory of Ramy and the others who died serves as a reminder and testament to the cost that was paid to overthrow Egypt's dictatorship, as well as a tribute to his friends whose young lives were violently cut short by the military regime. To this day he cannot bring himself to walk through the centre of the Square, the memories of what took place there being too much for him to bear.
'We will never forget'
After halting the work of the government painters, the crowd of youths surveyed the destruction of their revolutionary artwork. Two entire walls had been covered in white and a third partially as well, but luckily they had arrived in time to preserve the majority of the paintings. As crowds of fellow student activists as well as onlookers and journalists came to view the scene, several young men earnestly began the work of painting the walls once again. Asked whether he thought the government would again try to destroy their work, Ahmed Kamel said, "They will come but it doesn't matter. If we have to we will paint again and again."
As the crowds grew so too came officials from the SCAF, screaming at the activists and at gathered reporters to disperse from the scene and to cease repainting the walls. Across the street, police operatives took photos of all those on the corner.
"They are angry because it makes them look bad, they want us to forget what happened." Kamel said.
As the scene grew more tense and as the government officials grew more hysterical and threatening in their anger, some activists tried to form a cordon while one young man continued to paint - a depiction of an Egyptian general as a grim reaper atop a pile of skulls. With chaos seemingly building around him he continued to work, focused on his painting alone as though he was the only one in the Square.
As minutes turned into hours and day into night, and as the SCAF left, frustrated in their attempts to paint clean the walls, the crowd brought him more supplies and he continued to paint back over the whitewash the government had made of the revolutionary graffiti. By the end of the night there were more paintings back on the walls, including one of Khaled Said; the first martyr whose death had sparked the revolution. Like him and all those who died for the cause afterwards, their sacrifice has not been forgotten by their fellow Egyptians despite the best effort of the SCAF to whitewash his death both from memory and from the walls of Egyptian city streets.
On every blank canvas is painted and repainted from memory a tribute to him and the others who paid the ultimate price, as well as to the incredible events which changed the country forever and made freedom at last seem attainable in Egypt. No attempt at whitewashing by the government seems able to wipe away the collective memory of the Egyptian people, a memory which continues to manifest itself time and again in artistry on the streets where the battles of the revolution were fought and won.
"We will never forget these things," said Karim.
Murtaza Hussain is a Toronto-based writer and analyst focused on issues related to Middle Eastern politics and the "Global War on Terror".
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.
Source: www.aljazeera.com
California 9/11 fund raided for deficits - Asbury Park Press
The total amount dedicated to scholarships was 1.5 percent of the $5.5 million raised through the sale of the plates through 2005.
The original legislation said the remainder of the money would go to law enforcement, fire protection, and public health agencies to be used exclusively for purposes directly related to fighting terrorism.
But in 2008, former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, borrowed $2 million to close a budget gap. Last year, Brown, a Democrat, borrowed another $1 million.
Neither loan has been repaid nor are their deadlines to ensure they will be. Elizabeth Ashford, a spokeswoman for Brown, said the loans have done no harm.
Were trying to simultaneously balance the budget and fund important programs, she said. If there was an indication that borrowing this money was going to negatively impact this program, we wouldnt borrow the money.
The rest of the money has gone to a wide array of budgets and programs.
The Legislature sent $3.7 million to the California Department of Food and Agriculture, according to the Department of Finance, to establish an online food monitoring database and implement a variety of worker safety programs, including hiring industrial hygienists to tend to worker health.
But it is difficult to say precisely where the money has gone. Late Friday, the agriculture department delivered documents it said were in response to a California Public Records Act request the AP filed eight weeks earlier.
The response contained itemized budget reports going back six years and listing payments for all types of government functions, ranging from salaries and benefits, to printing costs and communication equipment. Among the details: $18,163 for furniture in 2006 and $11,492 for auto inspection in 2009.
The response also included a legislative report on the threats the agriculture department is targeting with an online database the license plate program helps fund . A similar report from 2006, when the license plate money was first authorized, lists bioterrorism as a potential danger. But the 2011 report focuses on food safety and livestock concerns, including foot-and-mouth disease and meat and poultry monitoring.
Source: www.app.com
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