Goodbye, Pedestrian Bridge

Here's the time-lapse video.

Here's the bridge at a more active event:

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Madison, Wisconsin, September 2010. These photos are from President Obama's first visit to campus. Here are images from the second visit.

ADDED: Commenter usoniaboy notes I made a big mistake here. The bridge I photographed has not been demolished. That's the price of not being on campus any longer.

Victory Day

Former Soviet republics reject symbols that celebrate the seventieth anniversary of Victory Day.

ADDED: Enjoy some humor.

Professional Trolls

In Russia:

The young people doing this work are barely capable of formulating what's important about these stories. Even a political scientist can't be an expert about the entire world, but here people are expected to write about everything. And how you write doesn't matter; you can praise or scold. You just have put those keywords in.

 ADDED: More here.

"If I wanted, in two days I could have Russian troops not only in Kiev, but also in Riga, Vilnius, Tallinn, Warsaw and Bucharest[.]"

Said Putin.

"Sanctions invite Putin agression."

Says Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaitė.

"[W]e are closest neighbors, so we know our neighbor very well."

"Cancer patients relieved that they can get insurance coverage because of the new health care law may be disappointed to learn that some the nation's best cancer hospitals are off-limits."

"'What we learned was that people are willing to make trade-offs in order to have access to affordable health care,' the company said. 'Our provider networks reflect this.'"

Diplomatic Maneuvers

Russia imposes trade sanctions on Lithuania, and White House announces Vice President Biden will visit Lithuania and Poland next week.

Maneuvers

"Russian army holds exercises on Polish and Lithuanian borders."

How much snow must fall before school districts cancel classes?

A regional map.

Chicago is an exceptional pocket. Maybe it's because the city is accustomed to lake-effect snow. Or maybe it's the school district. Or maybe Chicagoans are "flinty."

UPDATE: Updated links and edits added.

"It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation."

Putin pens an editorial in Pravda The New York Times.

UPDATE: The annotated version.

Rattling

"Russian political scientist: If NATO attacks Syria, Russia should occupy Baltic States."

Will the subject arise when President Obama meets today with the presidents of the three Baltic republics?

Inauguration Day question: When is it cool to refer to the First Lady as "regal?"

When you're British.

"You sense this extraordinary ability, I think, Michelle Obama has to be both regal and normal at the same time. And that's such a skill."

"It's complicated."

Presidential politics and diplomacy are the topics of opinion pieces in Lithuania, too.

Political Advertising

Eeew.

Awareness

It's time for my annual reminder. September is National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. I'm not asking you to donate money to a charity. I'm not asking you to wear a teal bracelet or a teal t-shirt that reads, "It's all about the ovae." I'm not asking you to buy a ribbon of any kind or to lobby legislators to light up the State Capitol with teal lights.

I'm asking you to learn the subtle symptoms so that you can help yourself or a loved one. Know the warning signs before you or a woman you love reaches Stage IIIC or Stage IV.

Think about the accomplished women—besides my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana—who have died from this disease.

And because I like to play with my readers, I give you this, to prove that "National" Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month is now official.