- Well lookee here, an airline admitting to conspiring to fix cargo rates. Who would ever have guessed that an airline would have anything to do with charging people exorbitant rates to carry things on their flights? The offender in this case is Northwest Airlines, which will plead guilty and pay a $38 million fine for its conspiring. The Justice Department announced the deal Friday after filing a felony charge claiming that Northwest Airlines Cargo earned more than $80 million from air cargo services between the United States and Japan after the company conspired to fix those rates in violation of federal antitrust laws. The alleged violations took place between July 2004 and February 2006. Of course, Northwest has since merged with Delta Air Lines. Nothing like conspiring to fix prices and then merging with another company and hoping that your misdeeds will be conveniently hidden in the process. Now that the truth has come out, Northwest has agreed to pay the fine and cooperate with an ongoing investigation into an industry-wide conspiracy to fix rates. What I love is that, in admitting to the wrongdoing but its subsidiary, Delta was quick to do what all guilty parties do when agreeing to a settlement or plea - deny that their admission or settlement means that anything wrong was done. "The agreement doesn’t assert any misconduct by any current or former officer or member" of the company's board of directors, Delta's statement said. The statement also said that the company has also fired the person "it believed had primary responsibility for the conduct in question." Northwest becomes the 16th carrier - joining a group that includes British Airways, Korean Air Lines, Qantas Airways and Cathay Pacific Airways -- to have either pleaded guilty or agreed to plead guilty in the Justice Department's investigation, paying out $1.6 billion in criminal fines. And lest you think this is just a white-collar financial crime with no jail time involved, know that four executives from Qantas, British Airways and SAS Cargo Group have also been sentenced to serve prison time, and charges are pending against a fifth executive. All I can say is that it’s about time someone involved with the ridiculous airline baggage and cargo fees ends up in jail…….
- NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Someone please step in and stop Sylvester Stallone from making yet another horrific, Rambo-related mistake. He’s already kept the franchise along for far too long and presided over the debacle that was 2008’s Rambo, the fourth installment of the action franchise in which John Rambo travels to Thailand, joins a group of mercenaries to venture into war-torn Burma, and rescues a group of Christian aid workers who were kidnapped by the ruthless local infantry unit. If that ridiculous plot with a way, way over-the-hill star wasn’t bad enough, now Stallone says that he might consider being part of a Rambo prequel. “I certainly think this is worth pondering because it’s intriguing to find the whys and wherefores of how people have come to become what they are,” he said while answering reader questions at Ain’t It Cool News to promote The Expendables, his latest project. “The traumas, the loss, and the tragedy of being in Vietnam would certainly be a great challenge for a young actor, and it would be ironic that Rambo directs younger Rambo after having played it for 20 plus years.” The only positive news, which you can probably guess from that quote, is Stallone wouldn’t be the one playing Rambo. Of course, hearing that a Rambo prequel might be made, that didn’t automatically assure me that the 64-year-old Stallone wouldn’t try to slam on loads of makeup, roid up at the gym and try to fill the role. However, he apparently would only be part of the project in a directorial or producing role, or perhaps in a small guest spot, but not in the lead role. However, the role Stallone might play in the project is irrelevant because it’s a movie franchise that needs to die a nice, quiet death and never be heard from again. The first two movies in the series were absolutely legendary in the action genre and the third one was decent, but the fourth incarnation was a train wreck and a fifth one, prequel or sequel, is something that should never, ever happen………
- There are places in the world where soccer (a.k.a. football) matters a little too much. Okay, that’s a lie. There are places where soccer matters far, far too much. These places tend to be countries in South America, Europe or Asia - pretty much anywhere other than the United States where the game is played. When teams from those nations fail miserably on the world’s grandest stage for the sport, needless to say it doesn’t play well back home. In some countries (England, France, Italy), that means inquiries by politicians into the team’s shortcomings, nonstop rip jobs by the media and cries for blood from fans. However, the players from those countries should really reconsider their words if they ever decide to complain about the supposedly harsh treatment they received for falling short in the 2010 World Cup because if nothing else, at least they don’t play for North Korea and dictator Kim Jong-Il. The fate of the North Korean team after failing to win a match, being outscored 12-1 in the so-called “Group of Death” and exiting South Korea in shame following a record-setting 7-0 drubbing at the hands of Portugal in their final game is far worse than any other team received upon returning home. Among other things, team members have been subjected to a six-hour excoriation for "betraying" the communist nation's ideological struggle and there are fears for the safety of coach Kim Jung-hun who was accused of betraying the son and heir of the regime's "dear leader," Kim Jong-il. In early July, the players were summoned to an auditorium at the working people's culture palace in Pyongyang, forced onstage and subjected to a six-hour onslaught of criticism for their poor performance in South Africa. The only players who escaped this fate were Jung Tae-se and An Yong-hak, both of whom flew directly to Japan, their country of birth and where they play club soccer. The scene at the palace was attended by by 400 athletes and sports students, and the country's sports minister. Ri Dong-kyu, a sports commentator for the North's state-run Korean Central TV, led the angry mob, singling out deficiencies of each and every player in a systematic attempt to tear them down. If that weren’t enough, in an eerie and disturbingly Stalinist style, the players were then "invited" to unleash verbal attacks on their coach, who was reportedly accused of betraying the leader's son, Kim Jong-un, who is expected to take over from his ailing father once K.J. Il mercifully kicks the bucket. Media outlets in the region cited a source who said that Kim Jung-hun had been sent to work on a building site and there were fears for his safety. All of this is every bit as disturbing as it sounds and ludicrous to the nth degree….until you realize who is presiding over it. Sure, accusing players and coaches of betraying the national ideology simply because they suck at soccer is absurd, as sheer want-to isn’t enough to overcome the fact that you are probably the 32nd best team in a 32-team tournament and are assigned to the event’s toughest group. This is why North Korea is one of the only countries in the world where kids shouldn’t grow up dreaming of playing for their national team because glory and greatness don’t await them if they achieve their goal; only pain, ridicule and possible execution in event of failure……..
- Are you ready for a tablet computer running the world’s worst operating system? Even if you’re not, no worries because Microsoft still doesn’t have its take on the tablet ready yet, even if Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said Thursday that the tech titan is feverishly working with its partners to unveil a line of tablet computers running Windows 7 to compete with Apple's iPad. Ballmer first sat down with financial analysts on Thursday and then laid out the company's strategy to catch up to Apple and Google in the tablet market. He grudgingly acknowledged Apple’s success with the iPad, saying Steve Jobs and Co. are doing an "interesting" job with the iPad and have "sold certainly more than I'd like them to sell." That success is driving Microsoft’s own quest for tablets and has given the project "job one urgency" at the company. Never mind that there is no need for crap-tacular tablet PCs running the world’s most bug-ridden, ineffective and terrible operating system. Microsoft is giving you these tablets whether you want them or not, world. "No one is sleeping at the switch here," Ballmer said. "We have got to make things happen with Windows 7 on slates. We're in the process of doing that as we speak. As focused as we are on this, our partners are also focused on this to deliver systems and chips to make this happen." If only someone were asleep at the wheel, we might not be on the verge of having tablets whose OS regularly crashes and freezes, regularly contracts viruses and fails to offer the best in computing technology. In spite of his sense of urgency for the tablet project, Ballmer refused to give an exact timeline, saying only that the tablets will be ready "as soon as they're ready" and "it ain't a long time from now." He couched those comments by saying that Microsoft needs to take its time to get its products just right to compete in the über-competitive tablet market. Mmm hmm, so why didn’t you do that with every installment of Windows you’ve ever put out? All of them could have benefited from an extra year or five of development. Assisting Microsoft’s tablet offerings will be a tablet-specific processor called "Oak Trail" from chipmaker Intel, set for release next year, that will help manufacturers make better tablets that run Windows 7. Tech dorks also know the famous story of Ballmer pulling the plug on a problem-plagued Microsoft tablet project that had been in the works for almost a decade before the iPad existed. No surprise there, as Microsoft always manages of f*ck up any real chances for success or competence in some way. Ballmer closed his talk with a flourish, vowing that once Microsoft’s tablets hit the market, "We're gonna sell like crazy!" When a critic in the crowd chided him for not having a real strategy for the project (awkard!), Ballmer disagreed, saying Microsoft's tablets will run Windows 7, they'll run Intel processors, they'll be available in a wide array of shapes and sizes across many manufacturers, and they'll likely be cheaper than the iPad. His words don’t seem to have convinced many people, but at least Steve-O seems to have convinced himself……….
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