- The No. 1 rule of leading is a coup to topple your
government is to succeed at all costs. Those who lead coups and fail are either
killed in the attempt or arrested, imprisoned and eventually killed by those
they attempted to overthrow. No coup leader ever swings and missed on their
power grab and calmly returns to the normal life they led prior to their
ill-fated endeavor. Just watch the fate of the soldier who led a failed coup attempt
last week in Guinea-Bissau and these harsh lessons will become clear. Pansau
Ntchama was arrested Saturday outside the capital, Bissau, and the government
confirmed that he worked with the country's ex-army chief of staff, Lt. Gen.
Zamora Induta. Together, the two men led the Oct. 21 coup attempt. For Ntchama,
who was a commando and Induta's bodyguard before the ex-army chief fled
Guinea-Bissau in the wake of the last coup in April, blame over the coup won't
be shared with his co-conspirator because the government believes Induta is now
in Portugal. Government spokesman Dahaba Na Walna added that Ntchama had sought
exile in Portugal after allegedly carrying out the 2009 assassination of
Guinea-Bissau's former president, but was unsuccessful. Instead, he tried a
proxy coup on behalf of his former boss and failed miserably. "It was an
attempt from the outside," Walna said. According to the government, Ntchama
traveled a meandering route last week from Portual to Gambia to Angola, where
he picked up weapons and crossed over into Guinea-Bissau to carry out the
attack. He and his supporters attacked a military base near the airport in
Bissau on Oct. 21, and six soldiers were killed in the clash. At least four of
them were assailants from the Djola ethnic group who working with Ntchama. The
target of the coup was the military junta that itself seized power in April, so
clearly those leading the nation now know what it takes to stage or fend off a
hostile takeover. As always, coup successfully or don’t coup at all………
- Amazingly enough, Microsoft’s supposed savior of an
operating system has landed with a dull thud among consumers. The reigning
maker of the world’s worst computer operating system since……well, however long
it has been churning out the giant pile of monkey turds it calls Windows, is
clearly counting on the visually reworked Windows 8 to help it regain the
market share that is rapidly slipping through its fingers. The results of a
nationwide survey in the United States suggest that isn't going to happen. A
phone poll of
nearly 1,200 adults in the U.S. found 52 percent hadn't even heard of Windows 8
leading up to Friday's release of the redesigned OS. Somehow, billing Windows 8
as a "re-imagining" of the company’s operating system hasn’t caused
everyone to forget what a ridiculous joke Windows is, was and always will be.
Of the 48 percent of respondents who had actually heard of Windows 8, 61
percent had little or no interest in buying a new laptop or desktop computer
running the system. Worse still, just one-third of those same respondents
believed the new system will be an improvement over previous versions. That is
akin to saying that a new Pauly Shore movie is going to be worse than “Bio-Dome,”
and that might be too kind of a comparison. Microsoft typically releases a new
version of Windows every two or three years and the new version inevitably has
some of the terrible qualities of the previous one while finding new ways to
suck as well. This time is different because Windows 8 is radically different
than its predecessors while sucking just as much as they do. Just because Bill
Gates’ brainchild is aimed at the growing number of people embracing the
convenience of smartphones and tablets doesn’t mean it will succeed. In the
same poll, 70 percent of those surveyed had no interest in buying Microsoft’s
new surface tablet, which runs Windows 8. Even with a looming $1 billion
marketing campaign that will include an onslaught of television commercials to
promote Windows 8 to a wider audience, hope is not exactly abundant for the
project’s success. Yes, the system can be controlled by touching a device's
display screen and presents users with an array of dynamic applications instead
of the old start menu and desktop tiles, but in the end…..IT’S STILL WINDOWS
AND IT’S STILL MADE BY MICROSOFT. Case closed………
- Attention, aspiring music stars and music video
directors of Wisconsin: Your ship has finally come in. Despite all evidence to
the contrary, Madison Mayor Paul
Soglin believes making a music video to promote a city is a good idea. Either
he hasn’t seen the train wreck of a music video Cleveland put together when a
bunch of local weathermen, radio DJs, politicians and former Real World-ers tried to sing “Please
Stay LeBron” to the tune of “We Are the World” and keep LeBron James from
bolting to Miami or Soglin posses an irrational confidence in the fried cheese
curd-eating people of his city. In brutal economic times, the mayor wants to
spend $50,000 to produce a music video promoting arts and culture in Madison.
For some reason, he believes the video could go viral and generate big business
for the city. His inspiration came from a YouTube video that went viral in
Grand Rapids, Mich., when city leaders and residents lip-dubbed a 9-minute
video singing "American Pie." No one wants to go to Grand Rapids even
after watching the video, but it did receive some minor attention. "I took
a look at (the video) and said, 'There's a couple things wrong with it, and we
could do better,'" Soglin said. Maybe the next Romain Gavras really is
waiting to churn out an epic five-minute video about a city best known for
pounding brats and beer, but someone needs to check the mayor because his
expectations are already out of control. "When there's a potential for
getting 5 million hits on YouTube, what it says about our city when it comes to
marketing, I can't think of a better way of spending our money," Soglin
said. He will have to convince city and civic leaders about his vision because
some of them have sounded concerns that the video would take money away from
projects with more tangible and immediate rewards. "It's priorities. It's
what comes first, and for us, the funding for the Overture Center comes
first," said Susan Schmitz, of Downtown Madison Inc. Maybe Soglin’s
ulterior motive for the video is to one-up former Mayor Dave Cieslewicz's cameo
in the Madison-based Web series "Chad Vader" a few years back. To
attain his impossible (and moronic) dream, Soglin must win over a few more
members of the Madison Common Council because right now, there aren't enough
who support the mayor's proposal to make the video happen. Looks like it’s time
to find the nearest community college student with a video camera and access to
Final Cut Express……….
- Maybe the looming threat of a hurricane along the East
Coast is enough to scare off would-be moviegoers, or maybe an uninspiring slate
of new films and a stale group of returnees is what kept people from the local
multiplex this time around. Either way, the earnings totals were unimpressive
and the most-hyped film of the weekend could manage only a third-place finish. “Argo”
jumped up to the top spot in its third weekend, making a so-so $12.4 million
for a cumulative domestic total of $60.8 million. Another resurgent film was
second as “Hotel Transylvania” rose two spots in its fifth weekend, bringing in
$9.5 million to up its overall tally to $130.4 million and counting. Tom Hanks’
heavily publicized new project “Cloud Atlas” was either too convoluted or
lacked enough sex and explosions to draw in big crowds because it limped to
third place with $9.4 million in its debut. “Paranormal Activity” was solid in
its second weekend, undoubtedly boosted by Halloween, and added $8.7 million in
the frame for a two-week total of $42.7 million. Newcomer “Silent Hill:
Revelation (3D)” nudged its way into fifth with $8.1 million, elbowing past “Taken
2.” Liam Neeson’s ass-kicking “Taken” sequel made $8 million and has banked
$117.4 million in one month of work. “Here Comes the Boom” secured seventh
place with $5.5 for a three-week bank roll of $30.6 million, followed by “Sinister”
in the eighth spot on the strength of its $5.1 million take. With $39.5 million
in three weeks, the project is at least meeting expectations. “Alex Cross” is
not and finishing ninth with $5 million and having made a meager $19.4 million
in two weeks is not what Summit Entertainment had in mind. “Fun Size” claimed
the tenth spot in its first weekend by earning $4 million, while “Pitch Perfect”
(No. 11), “Frankenweenie” (No. 12)
and “Looper” (No. 14) slid out from last weekend’s top 10 and newcomer “Chasing
Mavericks” fell three spots short of this week’s list……..
- The clock is ticking, their sport is nowhere to be found
either on the ice or in the headlines of sports media outlets and so the NHL
and NHL Players’ Association have to be feverishly working toward a new
collective bargaining agreement to salvage what remains of their 2012-13
season, right? Umm…no. After the
NHL's self-imposed Thursday deadline for its latest offer to the players to be
accepted came and went, any remaining hope for a full 82-game season died. All
games through the end of November were canceled and the cancellations were
accompanied by news that negotiations have stalled and no new talks are planned
at present. Don Fehr, NHLPA executive director, said in a statement Friday that
the news of the cancellations "comes as no surprise." Not only has
the first month of the season been axed, but the league may soon cancel its
marquee regular-season even, the Winter Classic. The annual outdoor game may be
canceled as early as next week, according to sources. Players are either
competing abroad or taking part in charity games and neither Fehr nor
commissioner Gary Bettman are displaying any sense of urgency to restart
negotiations. The league weakly offered a written statement Friday saying that
the league accepts "that there is joint responsibility in collective
bargaining" and "deeply regrets having to take this action." Its
estimate for the total loss in hockey-related revenue for the season through
Nov. 30 would be $720 million, NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said. Fehr
blasted the league Friday night and didn’t sound like a man willing to make
concessions to reach an accord. “Somebody has to be willing to talk about
things seriously," Fehr said. 'We've got billions of dollars from the
players last time, we've had nothing but record revenues ever since, let's try
and get another billion or two.' That's hard. That's really hard to do."
Yes, but it isn't nearly as difficult as it will be for the league to win fans
back in late 2013 (if and) when it returns from missing an entire season………
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