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Randomly Spotted

• Scott Adams Blog: Swine Flu Greeting 04/29/2009

  I will open the bidding by suggesting the forearm bump. I already use this method jokingly with my friend who has germ issues. It's like crossing swords except you cross your sleeved forearm. The cooties don't have time to penetrate two layers of sleeves. Or so he thinks. This new swine flu greeting still needs something extra, such as both people saying, "Huzaaa!" when their forearms touch.

• The XX Factor : Pop Power

  Putin's Least Favorite Pop Song

• From Russia with blood: beauty and beasts in St. Petersburg.

  "We don't forget," Anya said and—perhaps in remembrance of the 900-day Nazi siege of the city that killed more than half the population—added, "And we don't forgive."

• Europe's Twin Messages: Spend! Stop Spending! - TIME

  ..[T]he need for urgent action during the financial crisis has caused some schizophrenic behavior. Last fall, the Commission encouraged E.U. member states into agreeing stimulus programs worth around $250 billion, arguing that the crisis demanded radical action. But last week, the very same body said six E.U. countries — France, Greece, Spain, Ireland, Latvia and Malta — had breached the 3% limit and may now be punished.

• Recession keeps eastern Europeans from coming to Britain

  Official statistics are set to show the number of people coming to work in Britain from Poland, Hungary and six other countries has fallen to 10,000 a month. Experts are suggesting that the figures will show around 30,000 eastern Europeans have come to work in the UK in the final three months of last year. This compares with 35,000 between July and September and a high of 57,000 in the third quarter months of 2007.

• As It Falters, Eastern Europe Raises Risks

  “There’s a domino effect,” said Kenneth S. Rogoff, a professor at Harvard and former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund. “International credit markets are linked, and so a snowballing credit crisis in Eastern Europe and the Baltic countries could cause New York municipal bonds to fall.”

• Iran: the friendliest people in the world

  I'd never have guessed that my first time inside a synagogue would be in Tehran, but Iran is full of surprises. It has a fundamentalist leadership that many in the West believe to be as nutty as a box of pistachios. But it also has a population of 65 million, most born after the 1979 Islamic Revolution (which culminated in the return from exile of Ayatollah Khomeini 30 years ago this month), and far removed from the dour and menacing stereotype often portrayed on the 10 o'clock news. The ordinary Iranian people are by far the friendliest and most welcoming I've met in more than 20 years of travelling.

• Russia launches passport offensive

  Russia has given passports to nearly 2.9 million former Soviet citizens since 2000, according to the Federal Migration Service. It does not break down the numbers between those who returned to Russia and those who still live abroad.

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