Life and Death in Austria [MEGATHREAD]

[Syt]

http://www.thelocal.at/20150504/magazine-printed-with-hiv-blood-ink

Magazine printed with HIV+ blood ink

An Austrian magazine has used ink infused with the blood of three HIV+ people to print a special edition of their current issue.

Vangardist magazine, usually only available online, release their third print issue, called the Heroes-issue, next week.

A special edition of 3,000 copies have been printed with ink containing blood donated by three HIV positive men; a further 15,000 copies have been printed using normal ink.

Julian Wiehl, CEO and Vangardist's editor, told Gay Star News they were aiming to send a message to the world – a message especially relevant while Austria is in the media focus.

Read the full story at GayStarNews.

[Valmy]

What is the message exactly?

[Syt]

I'm not going to click "GayStarNews" at work.

[Admiral Yi]

What is the message exactly?

That in spite of all the mainstreaming, there still remain gays who are theatrical, over-dramatic kooks.

[Syt]

I guess I'm surprised that the "use blood as printer's ink" hasn't been used by a metal band first.

Edit: It seems Watain printed posters where they added some of their blood to the ink (but didn't make the ink with blood as main ingredient).

[Duque de Bragança]

Bah, Manowar signed a contract with their blood, much better than using a printer. 

[Syt]

What is the message exactly?

From GayStarNews:

This year's Eurovision Song Contest and the Life Ball, one of the biggest HIV and AIDS charity events in the world, are both held in Viennna with only three days between events. 

'If I pick up this magazine and hold it in my hand, I confront myself – and I confront my fears and prejudices,' Wiehl described the ides behind the issue.

Each of the special editions, available from 4 May in Austria, Switzerland and Germany, comes wrapped in plastic and carries the note 'break the seal and help break the stigma'.

'If there is an infection, we should try and cure it, not stigmatize it,' Wiehl said.

'Some of the biggest symptoms of HIV are listed as isolation and depression.'

He continued: 'As long as something like this is seen as provoking it means that the topic of HIV is not done being talked about.'

Touching the issue does not hold any risk of infection, but Wiehl said some comments online accused Vangardist of 'trying to murder people'.

The idea was developed by Swiss advertising agency Saatchi + Saatchi, who considered Vangardist to be the ideal carrier.

'With this unique project, we want to create a response in a heartbeat by transforming the media into the very root of the stigma itself - by printing every word, line, picture and page of the magazine with blood from HIV+ people,' Jason Romeyko, the agency's executive creative director, said.

'By holding the issue, readers immediately break the taboo.'

The publication of the special edition is part of a new campaign called #HIVHeroes, aiming to break the stigma and allow people to show their support for HIV positive people.

[Valmy]

I see I was not aware that stigma still existed. I have certainly known a few HIV+ people. That sounds like 80s and 90s stuff.

I guess that idiocy on the internet shows that it is still around...I mean presuming idiocy on the internet proves anything.

[Valmy]

Bah, Manowar signed a contract with their blood, much better than using a printer. 

They didn't sign a contract, they promised the fury of Odin on anybody who failed to give them royalties.

[Syt]

http://www.thelocal.at/20150511/naked-teacher-causes-row-in-linz

Nude photos teacher causes a row in Linz

A secondary school teacher from Linz, Upper Austria, who was sacked for posing nude photos of himself on the Internet has won an unfair dismissal case and is now working in a different school.

The man, who now teaches in a New Middle School and is an amateur bodybuilder, had posted images of his muscular physique in a number of Internet forums. In some of the photos he is completely naked.

The images were brought to the attention of the head of the regional school board, Fritz Enzenhofer, who promptly fired the teacher.  The teacher took his case before the employment court and won. The school board was then obliged to rehire him.

The teacher, who took a break from his job to travel to the US but then returned to Austria after his relationship broke down, said he had only posted the photos when he thought he wasn't going to be teaching again.

Enzenhofer is unhappy with the decision and told the Kronen Zeitung newspaper that if it was up to him, the teacher would be "long gone". He added that the court had accused him of damaging the teacher's reputation.

[Syt]

Currently there's a parliamentary inquiry into WTF happened at the Hypo Alpe Adria to tank it, who caused what, and maybe find out where some of the money was drained to.

Exec. summary of the case, courtesy of Wikipedia:

The Hypo Group Alpe Adria (HGAA) is an Austrian banking group with numerous cross-border activities in the Alps-Adriatic region. The group is active in Austria, Germany, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Hungary and Ukraine.[1]

In May 2007 the BayernLB bought 50% plus one share (controlling stake) of HGAA for 1.63 billion Euros.[2]

On 14 December 2009, BayernLB, Kärntner Landesholding and Grazer Wechselseitige Versicherung sold their stakes in the bank to the Austrian government for 1 Euro each.[3] The bank was nationalised by the Austrian government to avert a bank collapse.[4] It is expected that between 13 and 19 billion Euros of outstanding loans will never be paid back; to avoid bankruptcy, the Austrian taxpayers will have to cover this loss.  [5]

The headquarters, which accounts for around 500 employees, is located in Klagenfurt, Austria and is responsible for controlling the subsidiary banks in Austria, Italy and South-Eastern Europe as well as those markets from which the bank is currently withdrawing (wind-down markets).[6]

As of February 2014, the HGAA situation was unsolved,[7] causing Chancellor Werner Faymann to warn that its failure would be comparable to the 1931 Creditanstalt event.[8]

In March 2014, the Austrian government decided to split HGAA into a Balkans banking unit, an Italian business and a bad bank, Heta Asset Resolution. The Balkans unit is to be sold in 2015 to Advent International (80%) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (20%). It was intended to wind down Heta Asset Resolution over a period of years.[9]

On 1 March, 2015 the Financial Market Authority of Austria imposed a moratorium on debt and interest payments by Heta Asset Resolution on unguaranteed debt, after an audit found that it had a capital shortfall of up to 7.6 billion euros.

Anyways, the inquiry is going over many of the bank's files. However, a lot (if not most) of the text has been redacted with black felt pen, leaving them nearly unusable:









An investigator in a previous bank scandal pointed out that in his case some of the people tasked with the redactions developed health issues because of the solvents used in the pens, and that the files didn't have nearly as many redactions at the time. The FPÖ now asked the finance minister to ascertain the health and well being of the people tasked with marking the files.

[Syt]

http://www.thelocal.at/20150525/man-dead-after-shooting-on-vienna-tram

Man dead after fatal shooting on Vienna tram

One man was killed and another seriously injured in a shooting on a tram car in Vienna on Sunday evening.

A third person was also injured, but less seriously, according to a police report.  The 19-year-old woman, who was thought to be an innocent bystander, had been entering the tram when she was hit in the leg by a stray bullet.

The shooting occurred after an argument among four men on the tram, which was at the Johnstrasse stop of the 49 tram line.

As two of the men were leaving the tram, one of the other men fired several shots at them.  The first victim, a 28-year-old man, was hit by several bullets in the upper body.  He died in hospital during the night despite several hours of emergency surgery.

The second victim, the 25-year-old brother to the dead man, was also hit in the upper body by several bullets, and was reported to be in a serious condition in hospital, where he remains in intensive care.

The attacker and his accomplice were last seen running away from the incident in the direction of the city centre



Police found several 9 mm cartridges, but a weapon was not recovered at the scene of the crime.  Forensic investigation has begun, and police are examining footage from surveillance cameras from the tram.

Update: Latest details released by the police suggest the shooting was pre-meditated, and motivated by a long-term feud between two Albanian families.  The alleged perpetrator is believed to have traveled to Vienna especially to carry out the revenge killing.  The meeting on the tram was no accident, according to police sources.

[Tonitrus]

Robert De Niro?  No!

[Duque de Bragança]

Less original than the use of Viennese trams by the Carlos the Jackal for the OPEC hostage taking. 

[Syt]

http://www.thelocal.at/20150528/hoarder-found-with-hundreds-of-pigeons-in-home

Hoarder found with hundreds of pigeons

A man in Schwechat, near Vienna, was found hoarding between 150 and 200 pigeons in his house, in appalling conditions.

His windows were so dirty hardly any light came through, leaving the house in constant darkness, the Vienna Tierschutzverein animal welfare group said.

His furniture, and the walls and floors of the house were covered with pigeon faeces, feathers and dirt.

A Tierschutzverein team had to carry out three rescue operations, wearing face masks and protective suits to protect them from germs and dirt. They saved 73 pigeons but around 30 birds, along with 66 eggs, did not survive.

"The stench was unbearable and there was the risk of being poisoned by breathing in the excrement," a press release from the Tierschutzverein said.

Tierschutzverein experts believe that the birds had been kept for several years in these appalling conditions.

All the pigeons were examined by veterinarians. "Some of them were severely malnourished, had parasites and eye damage. In addition, they were severely dehydrated and had probably had no water for days," they said in a statement.

The Tierschutzverein is now looking for a pigeon fancier who can keep the birds in proper conditions.

The appalling case only came to light after the occupant of the house fell over and called an ambulance. Paramedics and police were then shocked to discover the birds and the horrific living conditions.