Hrag Vartanian

Ahhh…the power of Tweets: "Police in Guatemala have arrested a Twitter user and confiscated his computer for 'inciting financial panic' after he urged people to remove funds from a state-owned bank." (via the Guardian)

With all the discussion about ethics and architecture, AMNP goes there with a hot button issue that no one has really brought up:

"So my question is this: what about work in Israel? Now, I know questioning the Israeli State is unpopular for whatever reason in the US – but I think it’s a legitimate question. Take Richard Meier’s proposed luxury condominium project in Tel Aviv. Is it cool that he’s designing a project that has an average unit price of 1.3 million euro [plus VAT], in a country involved in the destruction of another sovereign state over what comes down to religion and land? I’m fairly certain that the majority of Palestinians affected by the actions of Israel’s rethinking of the landscape are civilians."

I personally think that it's not fair to compare a democracy like Israel (though a flawed one certainly) with autocratic states like Dubai & China but it's an interesting question. Though, working in the occupied territories would be an awful thing in my book.

Gotta love the street knitters…and dogs love 'em too.

“It’s the oldest known piece of figurative sculpture in the world,” said Jill Cook, a curator of Paleolithic and Mesolithic material at the British Museum in London. Then again it's probably almost impossible to track down the oldest piece of abstract sculpture.

"For example, the Iranian authorities blamed a pornography ring there on 'the U.S., Canada and Israel.' And television, too, broadcasts 'Hollywood movies, fashion and relations between young men and women, which are symbols of moral corruption in the eyes of the ruling power and its traditional religious supporters.'"