12/4/2005: Obelisk condom

Presented without further comment, other the basic facts: the Obelisk of Buenos Aires is hereby covered with a giant condom to commemorate World AIDS Day, December 1, 2005.

Somehow I can't see the current administration allowing that on the Washington Monument. :cop:

Why not? We could use all of the protection we can get...

Protection, yes. But who from whom is the question. :eyebrow:

Now gentlemen, I know you can't POSSIBLY be implying that there are dicks in DC.

No......not THAT.

/sarcasm off

Friends of mine just returned from a whitewater kayaking trip to Uganda where one of their observations was in regards to the negative influence of the neo-conservative US administration on the Ugandian people.

Prior to the Republicans gaining office, there was a very strong safe-sex campaign, promoting the use of condoms (which were freely available in a economically poor country). Part of this promotion consisted of large billboards with 'condom-sense' types of advertising.

In the last 6 years, however, health related funding from the US has been only given with the stipulation that abstinence be the only promoted anti-AIDS programs. Those 'condom-sense' billboards have been replastered with abstinence related messages. It's economic blackmail pushing conservative values onto a foreign country at the expense of the health (and lives) of it's citizens. And guess what - new HIV infection rates have reversed their downward trend.

Of course I have a bias against policies like these, and I'm no fan of the Bush administration, but the above is presented with true facts.

Here's a link to a page from Human Rights Watch that has much more information:

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/03/30/uganda10380.htm

lawman wrote:

but the above is presented with true facts.

As opposed to all those false facts that keep turning up.

My understanding is that Bush, despite his many flaws - too numerous to mention here, has dramatically increased the funding that is available to fight AIDS in Africa. I also don't care for the strings he has attached to that money, but you have to give him credit for what he has done in the fight against AIDS. He could have just turned his back like everyone else.

So you're saying that more money spent in such a way that it won't work is better than a little money that would work?

dar512 wrote:

As opposed to all those false facts that keep turning up.

(DOH!) oops, I goofed! Good catch Dar. Although, false facts could also be referencing propoganda and spin doctoring.

just for fun I googled "false facts" and found this book:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3878441&dept=3920&path=0%3A3920%3A18762%3A18807%3A18828%3A21518

excerpt:
George Washington was not the first president of the United States.
Leap year does not occur every four years.
Thomas Edison did not invent the light bulb.
Sound does not travel at the speed of sound.

those I do find particularily dubious - wonder what their answers are.

lawman wrote:

George Washington was not the first president of the United States.

Oh, I know this one. John Hanson was the first President of the United States (under the Articles of Confederation.) Washington was 1st President of the United Stated (under the Constitution.) There were 7 Presidents between Hanson and Washington (all under the Articles.)

It's a little complicated.

lawman wrote:

Sound does not travel at the speed of sound.

those I do find particularily dubious - wonder what their answers are.

I'm guessing this one is based on the fact that the speed of sound is relative to the density of the medium it travels through.

lawman wrote:

just for fun I googled "false facts" and found this book:

http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=3878441&dept=3920&path=0%3A3920%3A18762%3A18807%3A18828%3A21518

excerpt:
George Washington was not the first president of the United States.
Leap year does not occur every four years.
Thomas Edison did not invent the light bulb.
Sound does not travel at the speed of sound.

those I do find particularily dubious - wonder what their answers are.

Cool. I love this kind of stuff. And one of the local libraries just got it in.

Leap Year is every four years
EXCEPT for those divisible by 100
EXCEPT for those divisible by 400.

So 1980 is, but 1900 isn't, but 2000 is.

I'll take the last one, then. TE did not invent the lightbulb. He improved it to the point where it became useful.

Yeah, well, Edison is vastly overrated anyway. He had a good PR department. I'll give him that. Nikola Tesla. Now that's a guy that rocked. Our entire system of electricity is based on that guy's work.

I agree.

That's shocking. :speechls:

Tesla, or the agreement?

xoxoxoBruce wrote:

Somehow I can't see the current administration allowing that on the Washington Monument. :cop:

The Washington Monument had already had a monument condom. OK, really it was a scaffolding during renovation, but it pretty much resembled a monument condom

I can't seem to think of anything except for a visual of a monumental amount of spooge that is going to take quite some time to dry up before disposal.

capnhowdy wrote:

Tesla, or the agreement?

Electricity. :lol:

12 01 1993 in Paris on "La Concorde" square :

I don't think this one is "ribbed for her pleasure".

Troubleshooter wrote:

I'm guessing this one is based on the fact that the speed of sound is relative to the density of the medium it travels through.

I probably could pick a better way to introduce m'self, but this is a topic I got mildly interested in one day during an aircraft systems.
the speed of sound does not depend on density or temperature, except as how these things affect the stiffness of the medium. So warm rubber( quite dense) transmits sound slower that glass (less dense). Stiffness determines the speed of sound in any medium.

welcome to the Cellar, hideouse.
Nice piece of info there.

hideouse wrote:

Stiffness determines the speed of sound in any medium.

So the humming will transmit faster if it's harder...hmmm....
Uh....thanks hideouse.....that calls for some experimenting.
Oh, and I second the welcome. :)

hideouse wrote:

I probably could pick a better way to introduce m'self, but this is a topic I got mildly interested in one day during an aircraft systems.
the speed of sound does not depend on density or temperature, except as how these things affect the stiffness of the medium. So warm rubber( quite dense) transmits sound slower that glass (less dense). Stiffness determines the speed of sound in any medium.

I guess since you've shown me yours I'll show you mine... :)

I was a sonar technician on the USS City of Corpus Cristi for two years, so my study of acoustics is a bit more thorough.

If what you say is true, why is the speed of sound in water five times that of the speed of sound in air? Neither are very stiff. What you say is true on the surface, but when you dive a bit deeper it becomes more clear.

Check out this page here for information.

If what you say is true, why is the speed of sound in water five times that of the speed of sound in air? Neither are very stiff.

Jump out of an airplane over the water and you'll see the difference in stiffness. :lol:

I thought the key word here was density. Surely water is more dense than air. But whadda I know. I'm just an old Marine.

xoxoxoBruce wrote:

Somehow I can't see the current administration allowing that on the Washington Monument. :cop:

I'd bet if a protest condom outfitted with a message were to be snuck on to the Washington Monument it would take a good half a day to be removed and get lots of air time on the nightly news. What's security like around the monument?

mitheral wrote:

What's security like around the monument?

Very, very tight.

Just scaling the monument and hauling up anything big enough to drape it would be an impossible task without heavy equipment. :headshake

with a condom this size, you better have some "heavy equipment". :mg: