Recently in Miscellaneous Category

A group of former Pripyat residents in Kyiv have banded together and created an international action titled "The Saved Planet." The purpose of this action is to appeal to everyone around the world to make our planet a better, happier place.

All they ask is on April 26 from 1700 to 1710 GMT* (Greenwich Mean Time) say a prayer to save our planet and mankind. If you are not religious, spend these 10 minutes having good, bright thoughts.

I find it amazing that these people, direct victims of the Chernobyl disaster, can take such a day of sorrow (the anniversary of the Chernobyl accident) and turn part of it into a day of hope. No, they are not ignoring the legacy of the Chernobyl disaster. How could they possibly do that? Instead of letting the horrible memory of that incident rule the day, these victims have chosen to use part of the anniversary for a more positive outlook. These people are truly amazing!

I'm not a religious person, but I cannot help but feel touched by this appeal. Think about what many of these people have been through in the last 22 years.  If they can maintain a positive outlook for part of April 26, then the rest of us can certainly do the same. So mark your calendars and join in this international action on April 26.

I have posted the complete text of "The Saved Planet" appeal, written by my friend Lyubov Sirota, in the Articles section.


* In the US, the time would be from:

• 1:00 - 1:10 PM Eastern Daylight Time
• 10:00 - 10:10 AM Pacific Daylight Time

Apparently Hasbro did not take my recent suggestion into consideration. Voting has ended for the two wildcard cities, and their site says the 22 winning locations will be revealed in August.

Will I even care by then if Kyiv made it into the game? Will anyone care? Oh well, maybe our interest will peak again in August.

Voting ended yesterday for the cities that will become part of the Monopoly World Edition board game. If you want to know the final results, you'll have to wait. The official Monopoly website says that the final results for the top 20 locations, along with the 2 wildcard cities (voting is now through March 9), will be posted "later this year."

Thanks Hasbro - you generated a lot of excitement with the vote, and now nothing, not even a timeframe. I can understand if they want to delay announcing the winners until after the wildcard voting concludes (or even a week or two later), but to say an announcement will come "later this year?" Come on, why can't you provide a timeframe for the announcement?

I'm not a marketing expert, but they created quite a buzz with the online voting, and I would imagine interest in this product will die off if they wait too long to announce the winners. If I was in charge of this promotion, I would wait to announce the final results until after the wildcard voting is done. During the following week, I would announce the two wildcard winners. For the next four weeks, I would announce the other winners, one day at a time Monday through Friday, in reverse order (from 20 to 1). This approach would extend interest and maintain suspense for an additional five weeks. Hasbro, are you reading this?

Hasbro has done something nasty that has forced this to be my last World Monopoly update. There are 6 days left in the voting, and Hasbro has removed the leaderboard from their website. They claim this will add to the mystery of which cities will make it onto the game board. That's true, but not knowing where things stand over the next week is definitely going to add to my stress levels!

Okay, here's my last plea ... Please, please, please go to the World Monopoly site every day and place your votes for Kyiv! Apparently we are not doing a very good job with our voting because Kyiv has fallen all the way down to #19. Remember, only the top 20 cities make it to the game board. This is really sad because Kyiv had been as high as #10. Come on - it would be really neat to get an underdog like Kyiv onto the game board. If you're reading this, you are already on the internet, so click on the above link and place your votes.

Kyiv is now at #14

There’s not as much good news this week. Kyiv started the week at #12 and has since slipped to #14. What makes it really bad is there are seven cities immediately behind Kyiv, including Toronto, currently at #21.

There are 12 days and 3 hours to go, so let’s make sure we place a vote for Kyiv everyday.

Also of note, voting will begin on February 29 to select two wildcard cities out of a list of 20. Lvyv, Ukraine seems sure to make the cut - currently situated at #4 on the wildcard list.

Kyiv is still sitting at #12

The good news is that Kyiv remains firmly entrenched in the top 20. The bad news is that several days ago, Kyiv made it up to #10 and has since fallen two spots.  Passing Kyiv were Jerusalem, Israel and Istanbul, Turkey.

Come on everyone - make sure you place a vote for Kyiv everyday! It only takes a minute. 19 days and 8 hours remain in the voting.

It's been interesting to watch the "Monopoly Here & Now: World Edition" leaderboard each day. Last Sunday, when I first posted about the voting, Kyiv was ranked #26. I just voted again (I've only missed one day so far), and ...

Kyiv is currently situated at #12

That's right, Kyiv has made a huge move up the charts and is currently between Beijing, China at #11 and Tokyo, Japan at #13. Yes, it's true, Kyiv is slightly ahead of Tokyo.  Only 26 days and 5 hours to go in the voting. Remember to place your votes every day, and let's make sure Kyiv stays in the top 20!

Hasbro recently announced the creation of the world’s first global Monopoly game. This new version, titled “Monopoly Here & Now: The World Edition,” will be available for purchase in over 100 countries and manufactured in 37 languages.

We all have an opportunity to help decide which cities will be included on the game board. On the Monopoly website, they have pre-selected 68 cities to choose from, and you can nominate any other as a Wildcard city. You can vote for up to 10 cities at a time, and can vote once per day. Voting continues through the end of February, and the 20 cities receiving the highest number of worldwide votes will be included in the game. Voting for two wildcard cities will occur from March 1 - 9. The selected cities will appear on the board from highest rent property to lowest based on the number of votes each city receives.

I am really excited that Kyiv, Ukraine is one of the 68 pre-selected cities. My understanding is that it took much lobbying of Hasbro Europe to get Kyiv included. I think it would be extremely neat to have Kyiv represented in this game. So join me in casting your daily votes for Kyiv, and any of your other favorite cities across the globe.

As of this posting, Kyiv is currently ranked #26.

Visit Monopoly Worldwide Voting now. (Note: you need to create and verify an account to have your votes included)

August 31 is the 3rd annual Blog Day. The idea behind this concept is to expose your readers to 5 other blogs that you find interesting. I have not spent a lot of time looking at other blogs, but I do have some favorites. Here is my list:

Notes from Україна is by a Duke University student who spent this summer conducting research on the effects of the Chernobyl disaster.

Pripyat Blog is the English-language blog from the administrators of the Pripyat.com site. Postings on the site are sporadic, but the few posts are typically interesting. Posts are more common on their Russian-language blog Блог Чернобыль.

My year of getting published is by a freelance writer from New Zealand who is chronicling her quest to get published.

Carl Montgomery - Random Adventures is by a man from Australia who has documented many of his trips to some obscure and "ill-advised" places.

At Home in the Wasteland has stories of travels through the former Communist Bloc countries in Eastern Europe.

I hope you enjoy these sites as much as I do.

I am very excited to announce that I have been named Feature Writer for Eastern European/Russian Affairs at Suite101.com.

I'll bet you're wondering what that means and what it has to do with the content on this blog. Well, it means that I am in-charge of the Eastern European/Russian Affairs section of the Suite101 site. I will personally be writing at least one article and one blog entry per week for that section. Besides that, I will also be monitoring the discussion area and occasionally starting a poll (hint: look for one in the next several weeks regarding the upcoming parliamentary elections in Ukraine).