- One-stop shopping is a must these days. Life is so hectic and so busy for so many people that you cannot possibly expect them to make a stop to buy something if they can only find one item they need at said stop. For example, let’s say there was a place where you could get a good haircut, which you needed……but you also needed to get a permit to carry a concealed weapon.
How do you resolve that problem if you only have time to make one stop? In Okolona, Miss., you don’t have to choose because you can simply walk into Okolona Barber Shop, sit in Bruce Gooden's barber chair and by the time you walk out the door, you’ll have your mane trimmed and your weapons permit as well. Gooden, an avid supporter of gun rights, says it's his way of educating people about gun rights and tending to the needs of a loyal clientele that's come to expect more than haircuts and small talk. "What matters is my freedom," Gooden explained. "We was born free and I just want to stay free." For a red-blooded patriot like Gooden, the tipping point for his gun-rights crusade were the tragic events of 9/11. Shortly after that disastrous date, he began selling t-shirts and hats with a gun logo at his shop. "We are the safest barber shop in town, cause everybody here has a conceal carry permit," Gooden stated. He holds classes to earn a concealed weapons permit every two weeks and in recent years he has taken to giving away automatic weapons as part of a bizarre contest giveaway operation at the barbershop. Most patrons would be happy winning free haircuts for a year, but winning an AK-47 (which Gooden has given away) might be nice as well because you could then demand a free haircut anywhere you want and threaten to put a few dozen rounds in anyone dumb enough to refuse. The classes to receive a concealed weapons permit have become very popular at the Okolona Barber Shop, with an average of 25 attendees per session. The class lasts one day and 40 percent of participants are women, showing that the ladies can be just as good an NRA member as any man…………
- For far too long, one specific group has been neglected and mistreated in the online world. The Internet has simply never been friendly toward……..porn sites. Despite making up an incomprehensibly high percentage of websites and infiltrating every culture, language and creed, the powers that be in the digital world have long refused the operators of porn sites the one thing they most desired: their own top-level domain, which is the technical name for the .com part of any URL. Government entities have theirs (.gov), places of learning have theirs (.edu), charitable organizations have theirs (.org), but not porn sites. That lack of a proper top-level domain for porn sites has not been due to a lack of effort on the part of ICM Registry, a nonprofit organization that has been pushing to establish .xxx for adult-oriented websites. After a long and diligent campaign, ICM Registry has achieved its goal and the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers made it official Friday by approving the .xxx domain for adult web sites after years of rejecting the idea. The long and laborious process began in earnest back in June, when ICANN's board of directors approved the change. The proposal was then sent to the next committee for approval and that approval came down earlier this year. A spokesman for ICANN, which holds jurisdiction over top-level domains, confirmed the decision as well as the fact that ICM Registry will distribute the new domain designation to porn sites. Even before the approval, ICANN had a start-up plan in place for the proposed domain's entry. "In order to provide an orderly process for members of the registrant community and to use our resources effectively during this intervening period, ICM has decided to undertake the phase of the Industry Reservation Period," the group's site said. ICM Registry’s case for the .xxx domain is that it would be beneficial to the public, because it indicates a clear signal that the domain contains pornography. Either that or people could simply assume that because it’s a website, there is an excellent chance that porn is involved somehow, but one or the other works…………
- What is NASCAR about (other than an excuse to get drunk and watch people drive around in circles) if not pimping out every square inch of advertise-able space to beverage, car, technology, food and financial companies looking to appeal to the masses - at least the masses not smart enough to realize that auto racing isn't a real sport? If extracting as much advertising revenue as possible out of your faux-sport and its fading popularity is your goal, then it would make good sense for advertisers and would-be advertisers to know which drivers are going to give them the most bang for their promotional buck. A recent study conducted by Joyce Julius & Associates shows that Jeff Gordon is the best investment for advertisers, as the man known as the Rainbow Warrior has generated more television time for his sponsors than any other NASCAR driver through three races this season. Gordon has scored one hour, 50 minutes and 16 seconds of TV exposure for his sponsors, tallying an estimated $7.6 million of in-broadcast exposure value for new sponsor Drive To End Hunger. Carl Edwards finished second in the rankings, the ever-combustible Tony Stewart is third and Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne ranked sixth. Joyce Julius has compiled this particular data from NASCAR telecasts for the last 27 seasons and while its findings this time around are good news for sponsors in business with Gordon, Edwards, Stewart and Bayne, the firm says overall in-broadcast exposure for sponsors are down about 25 percent from last year. Combined with NASCAR’s declining popularity, that should suggest to most advertisers than their money would be better spent elsewhere, perhaps in conjunction with something that is actually a sport…………
- What a difference seven years in exiles make. Seven years after being forced out of his own nation, former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide returned home to a jubilant welcome Friday, greeted by allies and journalists outside his private plane before being rushed into an airport VIP lounge as crowds of supporters gathered in the streets outside the terminal. He blew a kiss to the crowd on the runway and delivered a soaring speech in which he thanked his supporters. The show of support was not entirely surprising even though Aristide was twice elected president and twice deposed. He remains a popular but also polarizing figure throughout the island nation. A former priest who has remained a staunch advocate of the poor, Aristide also has no shortage of critics who claim that he presided over a corrupt government, plotted violent attacks on enemies and was as abusive of his power as the leaders he denounced. Those and other reasons are why he was ousted a second time in a violent 2004 rebellion that swept the country. The U.S. and a slew of other nations are worried about his return to Haiti given the island’s tenuous state as it struggles to recover from a political crisis, a cholera epidemic and the devastation of the January 2010 earthquake. Aside from the jubilant scene at the airport, the rest of the country seemed relatively nonplussed by Aristide’s return. He claimed during a refueling stopover early Friday in Dakar, Senegal, that he wants to work in education and not to seize a prominent role in government. "The great day has arrived! The day to say goodbye before returning home," he said in Zulu, a language he learned in South Africa. "We are delighted to return home after seven years. In Haiti also they are very happy. ... Their dream will be fulfilled. Together, we will continue to share this endless love." Endless love? We all must have missed that endless love when Aristide was ousted in a coup before being restored to power in a U.S. military intervention in 1994. Ten years later he was forced from power again, although he claimed he was kidnapped. Since then, he has been a recluse focused on research and academia, earning a doctorate awarded by the University of South Africa for a comparative study on Zulu and Haitian Creole. The timing of his return may seem odd, but Aristide's aides say he feared that if he waited, the winner of Sunday's presidential election might block his return. Both candidates former first lady Mirlande Manigat and popular singer Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly have opposed Aristide in the past and Manigat’s husband, Leslie Manigat, has called Aristide a communist. Perhaps conveniently, both candidate have recently expressed their support for his right to return as a Haitian citizen under the constitution. Sunday’s vote will be the second attempt at electing a new president, as the initial Nov. 28 vote was so plagued by fraud, disorganization, instances of violence and voter intimidation that 12 of the 19 candidates, including the front-runners, called for it to be tossed out. Ironically, Aristide’s return comes just weeks after the return of Jean “Baby Doc” Duvalier, whose dictatorship Aristide helped bring to an end in a coup that eventually vaulted him to power…………
- Any long-suffering Third Rock From the Sun fans out there will surely be thrilled to know that Joseph-Gordon Levitt has wrapped up negotiations with Warner Bros. for a role in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises. Levitt’s name has been in the rumor mill for the film for some time now, even before he appeared in Inception, also directed by Nolan. Talk of his being added to the cast died down as 2010 came to an end, but a new rumor emerged in February that negotiations had resumed. No definitive word has been given on what role Levitt will fill, but speculation has ranged from The Riddler to a cameo or two as the Joker to more recently Alberto Falcone or a member of the League of Shadows such as Deadshot. Recalling the late Heath Ledger’s brilliant turn as the Joker in The Dark Knight, here’s hoping a C-lister like Levitt doesn’t try to reprise that role. Nolan and Co. have been extremely busy casting the film, adding Tom Hardy in the role of Bane Anne Hathaway as Catwoman. Another current rumor claims that British actress Juno Temple is being sought after by the studio to play a "street smart Gotham Girl." Temple is an indie actress whose screen credits include Greenberg, Atonement, Year One and other relatively minor films. The description for her potential role could fit nicely with Selina Kyle/Catwoman depending on how that character is framed. Warner Bros. has thus far remained completely buttoned up on the possibility of either Levitt or Temple being added to the cast, but the studio has issued formal press releases to announce previous additions, so one will likely be forthcoming if either one of these rumors proves to be true…………
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