How to deal with an infamous legacy

There’s an interesting BBC News article today that presents an intriguing contrast between how the hometowns of Adolf Hitler in Austria and Josef Stalin in Georgia choose to face their respective legacies.

The town of Gori in Georgia largely looks at Stalin as “local boy made good” and plans to re-install a large statue of the former Soviet leader in its Stalin Museum. The statue formerly stood in the town center until 2010, when the Western-leaning Georgian government ordered it removed. Now a new government seeks to deepen its ties to Russia, and has chosen to again embrace its Stalinist past.

In contrast, the town of Braunau am Inn in Austria has no public commemoration of Hitler. The house where he lived is privately owned but leased by the Austrian government to ensure that neo-Nazi groups cannot create a Hitler shrine at the site. Some local groups would like to turn the building into a center that would examine the Nazi era dispassionately. Others would prefer to see the building used as something innocuous, such as an adult education center or apartments.

Should towns acknowledge both the good and bad that come from their midst? Or are negative things better hidden and never acknowledged? It’s an interesting question, but I come down on the side of the Austrian man quoted at the end of the BBC story: ”You get criticised whatever you do,” he said, “but it is usually better to talk.”

BBC News – Home towns struggle with legacy of Stalin and Hitler.

 

Where WW1 meets the Internet

Somewhere in Portland, there’s a very old building, and that very old building has a very, very old basement. An incredible basement, a video-game-level basement, a set-decorator’s dream basement.

via The Basement | cabel.me.

 

Helpful advice for Twitter spammers

If you’re going to send spam tweets from one of my friends’ accounts that say “Hey this user is posting horrible rumors about you” — you should choose a friend I believe would actually warn me instead of just enjoying them.

 

Dear English

Kory Stamper is a lexicographer at Merriam-Webster. She’s written a fabulous love letter to the English language that deserves your attention:

Dear English.

 

Today’s pretty: Kumi Yamashita

I’m fascinated by talented people who create beautiful art in unorthodox ways. A while back, I posted a link to an artist who creates amazing architectural art simply by folding and creasing paper.

Now I’ve stumbled across another fascinating artistic concept. Kumi Yamashita creates portraits with just three everyday objects: a wood panel, small nails driven into it, and a single piece of sewing thread wound around them. And this is the result:

“Constellation – Mana”, artwork by Kumi Yamashita.

If you click through to the artist’s site, you can see a closeup image that gives you an idea of the intricacy of the work. It’s truly astonishing.

Constellation – Mana « Kumi Yamashita.

 

Star trails from space

NASA calls Don Petit the Expedition 31 Flight Engineer; most of us civilians would call him an astronaut. He’s hanging out up there at the International Space Station, and he’s passing the time by taking some stunning photographs of star trails. Here’s a sample:

Photo by Don Pettit, posted to Flickr by NASA. Used under a Creative Commons license (some rights reserved).

via ISS Star Trails – a set on Flickr.

 

What’s behind the mystery door?

Watch your step!

I was out and about in Tipton this evening when I came across this unusual sight: A house with a second-story door to … nowhere. Here’s hoping they keep it locked on the inside!