He actually came in 3rd place in a popularity contest

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE4BR17620081229?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&sp=true

We had the same thing in Portugal, and surprisingly most people voted for the fascist dictator Salazar.

I seriously doubt most people in Portugal would see Salazar as someone to be chosen as the best Portuguese of all times, so I question the veracity of these results.

Still it’s funny to say that Russians like Stalin

I liked to read the reaction of one of the judges

We now have to think very seriously, why the nation chooses to put Josef Vissarionovich Stalin in third place,“ prominent actor and film director Nikita Mikhalkov, one of the contest’s judges, said after the results of the vote flashed on a screen.

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The source is Apple.com, so it might not be a scientific study after all, but it does talk about the LHC, which is always a good thing.

http://www.apple.com/science/profiles/briancox/

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2 recent articles ont eh Kyiv Post talk about opinion polls of the Ukrainians.

In one of them most people favor EU accession, while in the other they are against joining NATO.

If I were an Ukrainian, that’s exactly how I’d vote too.

Nearly 45 percent of Ukrainians say European Union membership essential

44.7% of Ukrainians polled by the Oleksandr Razumkov Centre for Economic and Political Studies find it necessary for Ukraine to enter the European Union.

Ukrainian News has learned this form the outcome of the research.

When asked if Ukraine needs to accede the EU, 35.2% of the respondents replied that they see no necessity in Ukraine’s entering the EU and 20% were hard to answer.

Apart from this, in course of the study the respondents were asked about their opinion on the main reason hampering Ukraine’s integration in the EU.

So, 70.4% answered that the low level of economic development and insufficient rate of reforms hinder European integration; 64% said it was the high level of corruption in Ukraine; 38.5% said it was the country’s democracy level not meeting the European one; 13% said it was the difference of the cultural development in Ukraine from the general European one and the language barrier; 7.4% think this was geopolitical (historical, cultural) association with Russia.

10$ of the respondents delivered no reply, while 3.6% named something else.

The center interviewed 2,017 Ukrainian citizens aged over 18 in all regions of Ukraine from December 17 through December 24.

Statistical error does not exceed 2.3%.

As Ukrainian News earlier reported, according to a poll conducted by the Oleksandr Razumkov Centre for Economic and Political Studies in October, 47.2% of Ukrainians found it necessary for Ukraine to enter the European Union.

Less than 18 percent of Ukrainians would vote for joining NATO

Kyiv, December 26 (Interfax-Ukraine) - Most Ukrainians support their country’s joining the European Union and oppose NATO membership, according to a survey conducted by the Razumkov Center on December 17-24, 2008.

A total of 2,017 respondents aged over 18 from all Ukrainian regions, Kyiv and Crimea participated in the poll. The poll’s margin of error does not exceed 2.3%.

The poll shows that 44.7% of the respondents believe Ukraine should enter the European Union, 35.2% said it should not, and 20% were undecided.

An estimated 70.4% of respondents believe Ukraine’s accession to the EU is being hindered by its low level of economic development and slow reform rates, 64% believe it is being hindered by a high corruption level, 38.5% believe it is hindered by the low level of democracy in the country and 13% believe it is hindered by cultural differences and language barriers.

If a referendum on Ukraine’s joining to NATO were held next Sunday, 55.5% of the respondents would vote against the country’s accession to the alliance, 17.8% would vote for it, 17.2% were undecided, and 9.6% said they would not vote at all.

The current relations between Ukraine and Russia were characterized as unstable by 57.7% of the respondents. An estimated 35.2% of the respondents characterized these relations as bad, 4.1% were undecided, and 3.1% called them good. An estimated 30.6% of the Ukrainians believe Ukraine-Russia relations will not change in the near future, 27% said they will improve, 26.7% were undecided, and 15.7% said they would deteriorate.

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The New York Times has an article about the worst and best Ads of 2008

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/29/business/media/29adcol.html

In an election year, there are at least 2 Obama campaign ads

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A Firefox extension that allowed users to browse through Amazon.com and instead of One-Cllick-buy option would give them the “Download for free” option

It got pulled down by Amazon

http://pirates-of-the-amazon.com/

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