- Congressmen and women need more options to waste their time and discuss shady under-the-table deals to waste taxpayer dollars, right? Sitting in the office playing trash-can basketball or going on taxpayer-funded “research trips” to posh resorts isn't enough, so it’s about time someone stumbled upon the idea of sprucing up the National Mall and its surrounding park. Thankfully, the non-profit Trust for the National Mall has taken up the cause. The trust has asked for proposals that would improve how people use the park and the suggestions have been flowing in. An ice skating rink on the National Mall, an expanded outdoor amphitheater next to the Washington Monument or a grassy knoll to……umm, never mind. The point is that ideas have been flying in from designers and Caroline Cunningham, head of the trust, believes the upgrades will in no way, shape or form will commercialize the capital's front yard. That’s a job for senators looking to whore out their position and power for financial gain. Cunningham said that in a recent survey, "people spoke out and said, 'Please, more bathrooms. Please, more food.' So those are part of the designs that were actually considered." After careful consideration, 12 proposals made the cut and they focus on three areas in particular: the reflecting pool in front of the Capitol; the old Sylvan Theater at the Washington Monument; and the duck pond near the Vietnam memorial. If implemented, they s would add a variety of new pathways, bridges, fountains, allées, promenades, pavilions and buildings while making the park more accessible to visitors from all directions and opening up new views of the Capitol and the Washington Monument. One proposed design would re-engineer the pool in front of the Capitol so that live recordings of the proceedings in Congress would be used to create ripples across its surface. Insert your chosen joke here for that one. Another proposal would put a theater partially underground, with a grass lawn on the roof. "I love the idea of keeping green space," Cunningham said. "It doesn't destroy the vista, which I think is a really beautiful solution." No matter which changes are made, there’s no denying the park has come a long way since the 1700s and 1800s, when populated by train tracks, livestock and a stagnant canal. All of the potential changes are on display at the Smithsonian Castle, the Museum of American History and online and the public is invited to weigh in on their favorites………..
- Finally, Britney Spears has stopped fighting her destiny. Instead of pretending she’s a legit, talented recording artist who has real vocal and songwriting abilities, Spears is poised to take on a role she’s been headed for her entire career: reality karaoke judge. According to reports, she is on the verge of signing a deal to be a judge on the second season of “X-Factor Karaoke.” Rumors of the deal first surfaced last month, with a reported $10 million offer on the table. Of course, Spears had to keep up appearance so it didn’t seem like she was completely desperate and so negotiations dragged on for several weeks. Last weekend, the talks finally heated up and she us now expected to join the series with a possible $15 million salary. Being paid to sit in a chair, look pretty and offer pointless opinions is the gig Spears is perfectly equipped for. With Spears in the fold, reality karaoke show godfather/ruiner of the music business as we knew it Simon Cowell will look to fill the other vacant slots on the show’s judging panel. The vacancies came about a few months ago when Cowell and his immense ego cleaned house, axing host Steve Jones and judges Nicole Scherzinger and Paula Abdul. With just he and L.A. Reid remaining, Cowell began the search for new non-talented musical minds. Janet Jackson was reportedly in the running, but she wanted no part of it. LeAnn Rimes also said no, as did Stacy Keibler and Darren Criss when approached about the show’s hosting role…………
- Smartphones seem fairly well entrenched with consumers, so why not move on to the smartwatch? A Canadian entrepreneur has made that technological leap forward, winning $2 million worth of orders through an Internet-based funding venture that offers cash-strapped startups a way to both test their ideas and raise funds. Eric Migicovsky started out with a goal of raising $10,000 over a five-week period through Kickstarter (www.kickstarter.com) for his smartwatch, which works alongside a user's smartphone. Kickstarter is a website set up to encourage small-scale funding for innovative projects and it clearly worked well for Migicovsky, whose project brought in $2.1 million in just three days. The watches have a starting price of $115, so the early sales amount to almost 17,000 watches. Migicovsky has been working on smartwatches for three years and he smartly moved his company, Pebble Technology, from the perpetually frozen tundra of BlackBerry manufacturer Research In Motion Inc's hometown of Waterloo, Ontario, to Google's hometown of Mountain View, Calif. as soon has he began experiencing real success. Still, he had difficulty raising interest among Silicon Valley investors and decided to enlist Kickstarter’s help. "We tried to raise money, it was impossible. No one really wants to fund hardware projects right now, except for the people that want to buy them," he said. Pebble watching work with both iPhones and smartphones that use Google’s Android operating system. They can display distance and speed for runners and cyclists, control a smartphone's music, and show emails, messages and reminders and Migicovsky plans on adding further applications before the watches begin shipping in September. Like any other entrepreneur who works with the Kickstarter model, Migicovsky has to set a deadline for reaching his funding goal. If time runs out, no money changes hands, which Kickstarter believes protects both parties as buyers don't pay until developers have adequate funds to develop their project. If sales continue to grow, Migicovsky hopes to expand the current team of six Pebble engineers in the quest to develop features for the watches. To be successful, he’ll have to outdo Sony, which is releasing its own smartwatch later this month. "We'll let people vote with their wallet," Migicovsky said…………
- Who’s up for a nice military coup? The fun is ramping up in Guinea-Bissau, where soldiers have detained the country's interim president and the former prime minister, bringing an abrupt end to an unfinished presidential election in West Africa's second military power grab in a month. A military spokesman confirmed the detentions of ex-premier and presidential election front-runner Carlos Gomes Junior and interim President Raimundo Pereira after assaults by armed soldiers on their homes on Thursday evening. "They are well," Lieutenant-Colonel Daha Bana na Walna claimed after a meeting at army headquarters in the capital Bissau between military officers and representatives of political parties. The former Portuguese colony has become something of a coup factory in recent years and that doesn’t seem likely to change any time soon. The coup brought swift condemnations from various governments and organizations around the world, including the U.N. Security Council, European Union, African Union and the United States. Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo Portas called for the release of the detainees by the shadowy self-styled "Military Command." The coup was an apparent attempt to prevent an election win by Gomes Junior, the candidate of the ruling PAIGC party. He was the top finisher n a first round vote last month, qualifying for an April 29 run-off. However, he’s extremely unpopular with the military because he supported an initiative to reform and downsize the army, renowned for its history of bloody revolts and meddling in Guinea-Bissau politics since independence from Portugal in 1974. Pereira, a former parliament speaker who is also a member of the PAIGC, was targeted because of what he called "unease" among the country's military leaders over the ongoing electoral process. West Africa is a hotbed of uprisings the past few weeks, with a coup in Mali last month triggering the occupation of the north of the country by Tuareg and Islamist rebels. Unfortunately, the cowardly coup leads have since backed down and turned power back to a civilian interim president. In Guinea-Bissau, the self-styled "Military Command" seems intent on standing its ground and the group issued a statement read on the Portuguese RDP Africa radio claiming that it acted to head off what it alleged was a secret pact between Gomes Junior and Angola to "annihilate Guinea-Bissau's armed forces” but insisting the Military Command "did not have ambitions of power." Whatever you say, fellas…….
- The New York Knicks are not a good basketball team. They are mired in a slow-speed race for the last playoff spot in the NBA’s Eastern Conference and two of their best players, forward Amare Stoudemire and guard Jeremy Lin, are likely out for the rest of the season with injuries. If they make the playoffs, they’re headed for a first-round matchup with Chicago or Miami, the two best teams in the East and possibly the entire NBA. In spite of all of that and their barely-above-.500 record, backup forward Jared Jeffries believes the Knicks are not only a threat, but a strong contender to win that possible opening-round matchup with the East-leading Bulls. Asked who he preferred to play if his team qualifies for the postseason, Jeffries foolishly picked Chicago. "I still think the Bulls," Jeffries said. "Whenever you can have an MVP candidate or former MVP player be out on the team, I think that's what you've got to go for. I mean, they're still playing very well without him, but I'm not sure over a seven-game series they can keep that high level of playing without Derrick Rose." He was alluding to groin and ankle injuries that have slowed Rose, the league’s reigning MVP. Still, the Bulls have the league’s best record and are 9-4 since March 12 in games without Rose. They are 16-7 sans Rose this season, which the Knicks have been stationary as the eighth seed for several weeks. Still, Jeffries is "very confident" the Knicks can upset the Bulls or Heat in the first round. "I think that we've shown that if we come out with the focus that we've had over the last two weeks, we can play with anybody," he said. "We've done a great job defensively of locking in and following a game plan. And then when it comes down to offense, when you put a guy like Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire out there, that's the last of your worries of scoring the ball. If you can get stops, those guys will find a way to score." In Jeffries’ defense, no athlete can credibly say they don’t believe in their own team or expect to win and in private, Jeffries would probably admit that winning a series against either the Bulls or the Heat will be next to impossible. With gunners like Baron Davis, J.R. Smith and Anthony, there is always a chance the Knicks could catch fire and win a game or two, but defeating Miami or Chicago in a seven-game series will have to remain something that happens only in Jeffries’ vivid imagination………..
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