- Two characteristics of Disney World remain constant: the cost of admission is too damn high and those who work inside are governed by an incredibly restrictive list of personal appearance requirements. The price of a ticket isn't going down any time soon (or ever), but Mickey Mouse and Co. are finally relaxing the restrictions on things like facial hair and wardrobe rules. Previously, Disney parks and resort employees had been prohibited from growing beards and goatees. As of Friday, they (both men and women, theoretically) may do so, so long as their facial hair styling of choice is a quarter-inch or shorter. Additionally, Disney has seized on an all-time cheap corporate ploy by instituting a "casual Friday" dress policy for Disney staff members that don't deal with guests.
"Disney Look guidelines are periodically reviewed in relation to industry standards, as well as the unique environment of our theme parks and resorts," Disney spokeswoman Betsy Sanchez said.
"While we are careful to maintain our heritage and the integrity of our brand, a recent review of our guidelines led to a decision that an update was appropriate at this time.” Relaxing its once-total ban on facial hair has been a gradual process at the Happiest Place on Earth. The process began in 2000, when the company allowed all of the cops, firefighters and porn stars on its payroll to proudly rock their moustaches. Face it, those are the only three groups still sporting a ‘stache at this point. For the ladies, Disney decreed in 2010 that women were no longer required to wear pantyhose with skirts. Now, beards and goatees are no longer verboten. Unfortunately, visible tattoos and body piercings are still forbidden, as is unnatural hair coloring. "The Disney Look is a classic look that is clean, natural, polished and professional, and avoids 'cutting edge' trends or extreme styles," the company explains on its website. Hopefully, some day Disney will loosen up and decide to go punk……….
- Lance Armstrong wins again. The seven-time Tour de France winner is out of competitive cycling, but he won a far more important battle Friday when federal prosecutors dropped their investigation of him based on allegations of criminal misconduct and participating in a doping program. United States Attorney Andre Birotte Jr. said in a press release that his office "is closing an investigation into allegations of federal criminal conduct by members and associates of a professional bicycle racing team owned in part by Lance Armstrong." The two-year investigation examined whether or not Armstrong and his teammates ran and participated in a doping program. As with all doping allegations against him during his career, Armstrong steadfastly denied the charges. Had he been indicted, it would have impugned his legacy as the world's greatest cyclist and sullied his cancer charity work. "This is great news," Armstrong attorney Mark Fabiani proclaimed in a statement. "Lance is pleased that the United States Attorney made the right decision, and he is more determined than ever to devote his time and energy to Livestrong and to the causes that have defined his career." The probe was centered in Los Angeles, where prosecutors presented evidence to a grand jury and offered up testimony from Armstrong's former teammates and associates. A separate investigation of Rock Racing, a cycling team owned by fashion entrepreneur Michael Ball, led to the investigation. While Birotte did not offer a specific reason for dropping the case, maybe the government is growing weary of challenging prominent athletes for doping-related crimes after less-than-successful cases against baseball icons Bar-roid Bonds and Roid-ger Clemens. Bonds was found guilty of obstruction of justice and sentenced in December to 30 days' home detention, but prosecutors were unable to convince a jury he lied about using steroids. Federal prosecutors’ first attempt to try Clemens on lying about steroid use ended in a mistrial last summer when prosecutors showed jurors inadmissible evidence. Clemens' second trial is slated for April 17, at which point prosecutors hope to be able to do their job competently. Or maybe there just wasn’t enough evidence that a doping program was established for Armstrong's team while, at least part of the time, they received government sponsorship from the U.S. Postal Service. Former teammates and teammates’ family members expressed disappointment at Birotte’s decision. "Our legal system failed us," said Betsy Andreu, who with her husband and former Armstrong teammate, Frank, accused Armstrong of doping. "This is what happens when you have a lot of money and you can buy attorneys who have people in high places in the Department of Justice." In the end, federal agents requesting urine samples of U.S. Postal riders from France's anti-doping agency and also meeting with officials from Belgium, Spain and Italy were not enough and Armstrong will once again ride away from his opponents for a W……….
- The international hackers group known as Anonymous has to be extremely pleased with itself right about now. Proving you can hack into the database of a major bank or corporation or shut down a website is great, but managing to de-pants intelligence agencies from multiple world powers is definitely kicking it up a notch. That’s exactly what Anonymous did by listening in on a conference call last month between the FBI, Scotland Yard and other foreign police agencies about their joint investigation of the group and its allies. Aside from getting inside information and laughing their asses off listening to the conversations, Anonymous members also embarrassed all involved agencies by posting a 16-minute recording of the audio from the meeting online Friday. Anonymous also boasted on Twitter about outsmarting The Man: “The FBI might be curious how we’re able to continuously read their internal comms for some time now.” The FBI insisted Anonymous had not in fact hacked into it or any other bureau facilities, but had simply obtained an email giving the time, telephone number and access code for the call. The email was sent out on Jan. 13 to more than three dozen people at the bureau, Scotland Yard and agencies in France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden. A clueless and unidentified foreign police official forwarded the notification to a private account and it was then intercepted by Anonymous. “It’s not really that sophisticated,” an unidentified FBI official. “We’re always looking at ways to make our communications more secure, and obviously we’ll be taking a look at what happened here.” Ah, pooh-poohing someone else’s success by painting it as simple and not all that impressive to downplay your own ineptitude, well played. An official FBI statement was more stern: “The information was intended for law enforcement officers only and was illegally obtained. A criminal investigation is under way to identify and hold accountable those responsible.” Lots of success with that one. Anyone hoping the FBI will be able to figure out who was responsible for stealing the email and locate them is grasping for the smallest of straws. While an international effort has more resources, it also has more holes and vulnerabilities, as this incident illustrates. Neither the FBI nor any of its international intelligence friends are going to be putting Anonymous out of business any time soon……….
- Since anyone over the age of 21 (just to protect ourselves legally instead of saying 15) with any self-respect and dignity needs to be really drunk to force themselves to watch a “Harry Potter” movie - no apologies on that, wizard dorks - it is fitting that Harry Potter himself, actor Daniel Radcliffe, admitted he was drunk while filming some scenes for the "Harry Potter" movies. The drunken scenes occurred during a period in his life where he was drinking "nightly," Radcliffe said in a recent interview. “I have a very addictive personality. It was a problem. People with problems like that are very adept at hiding it. It was bad. I don't want to go into details, but I drank a lot and it was daily - I mean nightly," Radcliffe said. Daily, nightly, whatever. Pretending to be a teenage wizard at a magical school where the primary form of entertainment was riding on broomsticks playing some hybrid of soccer and polo in midair can't be great for morale. If Pat Sajak admitted to drinking in between tapings of “Wheel of Fortune,” maybe Radcliffe’s admission is merely the next step in a growing trend of entertainers admitting they need to get hammered to do their jobs. Radcliffe insisted he never drank on the set - he simply showed up with a blood-alcohol content well above the legal limit. "I can honestly say I never drank at work on 'Harry Potter.' I went into work still drunk, but I never drank at work. I can point to many scenes where I'm just gone. Dead behind the eyes," he said. Left unsaid was the point in time when his on-set drinking began, but hopefully it came not long after an 11-year-old Radcliffe was cast to play boy wizard Harry Potter in the movies based on J.K. Rowling's best-selling novels. There’s nothing like a child star coming off the rails before he even becomes a teenager.……….
- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! Russia is still a hotbed of anti-establishment sentiment and activity and with dueling rallies for and against past/current/future president/dictator Vladimir Putin raging Saturday, Russians are clearly as angry as ever. With a typically bitter Russian winter day greeting them, tens of thousands of opposition members braved the cold and gathered in downtown Moscow to protest against the man who was president, was technically forced the leave office due to term limits even though he never left power and is expected to become the country’s official leader once more in March’s presidential election. Protestors rallied against Putin's 12-year rule and despite a much smaller pro-Putin rally elsewhere in the city, they were not to be deterred. With opposition protests happening around the country, an estimated 120,000 people joined Saturday’s anti-opposition gathering, according to organizers. The aim of the protest, according to those putting the shindig together, was to maintain pressure on Putin one month before a March 4 presidential election he has already rigged is expected to win. Defying the cold and marching within sight of the famed red-brick Kremlin walls while chanting "Russia without Putin!" and "Give us back the elections!" was a truly inspiring sight. Russia hasn’t been without Putin since he was elected president/dictator in 2000, served eight years and then swapped positions with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, only to remain in power behind the scenes and use Medevev as his puppet. That arrangement has so infuriated many Russians that they chose to fight a midday temperature of minus 17 C (1 F) to give a collective middle finger to the establishment. Putin's plan to rule at least six more years received a resounding thumbs down from the masses and opposition leaders reveled in the wave of dissent. "Not one vote for Putin!" bellowed Vladimir Ryzhkov, an opposition leader. The day’s events sought to piggyback on two mass protests on Dec. 10 and 24, when tens of thousands turned out for the biggest opposition uprisings s since Putin was first elected president in 2000. Some protestors even held banners mocking the cold weather’s effects versus the prospect of six more years of Putin in power. "Down with the cold, down with Putin," one banner read. Others proclaimed: "They froze our democracy" and "We are frozen in solidarity." The official government tale of the tape placed more than 138,000 people at a pro-Putin rally a few miles away, but media on the scene estimated the crowd to be much smaller. At the establishment rally, sycophants for The Man held signs spewing predictable pro-Putin propaganda. Putin has accused the United States of encouraging opposition protests, so he should get plenty of mileage out of Saturday’s events…………
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