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 - Mr Banks to you.
Banksy is the man all Intellectual Property lawyers, city councils and The Wharton School of business hates and while there is no evidence that he is in anyway interested in anything to do with outdoor pursuits, he does rather like rats.
He has a website at www.banksy.co.uk where you can buy things for no money, where you can’t contact him, where he rejects the concept of copyright of his own work and where he has a stated manifesto which outlines the freedom campaign via graffiti of subsequently serially convicted bank thief Mr George Davis. This uncommon mix makes Mr Banks an unusual unit but what really identifies him is that he’s a Limey an extraordinary imagination. Enjoy some of his work below and while he may well be a clueless gumby in the outdoors, we reckon he’d still be a good man to have on any trip …. THE Year of the Rat is especially propitious for Wang Qishan.
He is the Mayor of Beijing, which hosts the Olympic Games in August and he was born under the sign of the rat.
The British royal family is also set to celebrate. Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles and Prince Harry are all rats and so were Plato, Shakespeare, Mozart, George Washington and TS Eliot were all Rats.
Charm, adaptability, wealth, opportunism, sociability, perfectionism and a reluctance to confide in others are cited as attributes of those born in Rat years. Hong Kong feng shui master Yeung Tin-ming advises that as flowing water is the favoured element in a rat year, companies involved in communications and transport will do especially well.
In Taiwan, it promises to be an especially prosperous year for the Ho-la and Jiashing restaurants that face each other across the main street of Lucao, a town of 18,000 in the Taiwanese countryside.
For the specialty of each restaurant is rat. They display hairless rats in their windows to lure customers. The owners stress that their rodents feed on fresh fodder, not on city refuse.
Jiashing's dozen rat dishes include its version of spicy gong bao chicken, while Ho-la's 10 rat plates include black-pepper-dipped fried rat.
An opportunist with an eye for a bargain, Rats tend to collect and hoard but are unwilling to pay too much for anything.
They are devoted to their families, particularly their children.
Quick-witted and passionate, they are capable of deep emotions despite their cool exteriors. Their energy and ambition may lead them to attempt more tasks than they are able to complete successfully. Rats are blessed with one of the best intellects going.
The sign of the Rat is the first one in the cycle giving Rat people exude great leadership qualities and are good at taking the lead. They don't mind a lot of responsibility and they demonstrate a strong presence that other people respect. For those with the Rat nature, status and monetary satisfaction are not the the greatest motivations. The affect of the sign of the Rat is energetic and demonstrates enough endurance to fight most any sickness. Yet, all Rats tend to be tense, full of nervous energy, and prone to stress. Yoga and meditation would benefit Rats by calming their aggressive natures and helping them manage stress.
The Chinese say others should always listen to the advice of the Rat. Because of their intellect and observatory powers, Rat people possess prudence and perception. They can anticipate problems and are always able to see the big picture.
The Rat makes a better boss than an employee. Rats work better in flexible situations where they can be freely creative. Cunning and thrifty, Rats have a knack with money and are apt to save for rainy days. When capable, the Rat is a great money saver and in strapped times they know how to make something out of nothing or how to make things advantageous for themselves. Generally friendly and sociable, the Rat is one of the extroverts of the 12 Animal signs. They have a special gift for easing the minds of others and it is not surprising that Rats have a lot of friends.
To the people they love, Rats can be amazingly charitable, popular and supportive. Although Rats like to be in the driver's seat, they do need partners who can keep up with their active lifestyles.
Rat people are romantic and are always happier to have someone to share with. Bobby Corrigan, head of the Bronx rat-inspection program, on the hunt.
As the country's leading rodent expert and the city's newest full-time employee, Corrigan walks the streets of The Bronx around Grand Concourse and 167th Street and points out all the signs of rats.
He pulls out his flashlight and investigates small burrows in front yards, gnawed trash bags and teeth marks in garbage pails.
"There are definitely rats here," he says, pointing out low shrubbery and lines of parked cars, all cover for the rodents.  - Justin Lee's Hilux in the Northern Territory in Australia.
Then, as if on cue, a big one scurries across the street, running from a construction site toward an unsuspecting homeowner's front yard, its tail disappearing in a hole under a low bush. "See, I told you," Corrigan says.
The rodentologist, who has worked with the city as a consultant for three years, has lent his 25 years of expertise to the Health Department to help devise a new, $1.5 million rat-inspection pilot program in The Bronx.
The 18-month program, started on Jan. 1 and unveiled Thursday, arms up to six inspectors with touch-screen computers, allowing them to record results electronically. The inspectors, trained by Corrigan at the city's "Rodent Academy" go to Bronx sites, painstakingly inspecting properties and marking various signs of rat activity on a scale of one to three.
Owners of properties with activity receive a letter explaining what needs to be done to avoid violations. The inspectors return for follow-ups two weeks later, and if the problems aren't solved, landlords get tickets.
"Right now, we don't have any concrete data," he said. "One of the goals is to collect that data so we can see where problem areas are."
The information will be turned into maps, which will first be shown to local community boards, then put online, hopefully by the spring.
"Rats are a barometer for human activity," he said. |
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