- Pakistani politics have enjoyed a compelling week…as long
as you don’t actually live in Pakistan and rely on that government to
effectively run your country. The nation found itself plunged into a fresh
political crisis this week after its judiciary ordered the arrest of the prime
minister over corruption allegations amid
ongoing public protests. Sure, the country’s Supreme Court ordering the detention
of Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and others accused of involvement in kickbacks over the
construction of power stations seems like a negative on the surface, but take a
step back and reconsider. Who doesn’t love a quality surprise development in an
ongoing investigation that threatens to unravel the entire government?
Furthermore, this scandal has already led to incredible entertainment in the
form of tens of thousands of protesters occupying streets in the capital,
Islamabad, to demand the resignation of the entire government. Fueled by their
rage, the protestors have vowed to remain on the streets in support of a populist
cleric, who some allege is backed by the military. That rage should only be
bolstered by the court’s decision, which is expected to underline the demands
of of Muhammad Tahirul Qadri, who is seeking a crackdown on
corruption and other reforms. Qadri’s supporters led marches Monday and
Tuesday, promising to join local demonstrators to create their very own version
of Cairo's Tahrir Square in their quest to oust the government. The scandal is
also hellaciously entertaining because its central figure has a catchy
nickname: Raja Rental, given to Ashraf by local media because of his alleged involvement in corruption over
the introduction of so-called “rental
power plants.” These independently-owned plants that sold energy to the
state in a bid to close a growing demand-supply gap were introduced when Ashraf
was the water and power minister. Twelve months later, a court ruled the
arrangement illegal because of a lack of transparency. Ashraf becomes the second
prime minister installed by the regime of President Asif Ali Zardari to face a
court order. Ironically, the first was Yousuf Gillani, who was removed by the
Supreme Court last year for his failure to investigate corruption allegations
against Zardari. Enjoy this show, Pakistan……..
- British acid house rockers The KLF, who were
also known as The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu and The Timelords, may not be well-known to
American music fans, but they have a unique place in music history for one
reason: When they split up in 1992, they famously deleted all of their albums,
meaning no further copies would ever be made available. Band members Bill
Drummond and Jimmy Cauty led the charge to burn those bridges, which makes it
decidedly curious that a number of the band’s albums appeared on retail sites
and music streaming services late Wednesday night. Despite being deleted over
20 years ago, copies of “The White Room,” “Chill Out,” “The White Room (Original
Motion Picture Soundtrack),” “The Lost Sounds Of Mu Vols 1 And 2” and “Space”
all mysteriously appeared on iTunes, Amazon
and Spotify overnight. Fans can both stream tracks and purchase the music,
either in album form or as individual songs, and no one is quite sure who is
responsible for the albums’ sudden revival from the musical abyss. A fan site
spotted the six albums soon after they went up and a series of increasingly
excited tweets drew attention to the subject. Ironically, the KLF’s
sample-heavy, hip-hop-influenced style isn't that far off from much of the
music that exists on mainstream station 21 years after their dissolution and
perhaps a new generation can embrace their songs. Either that or maybe the
members have realized they’ll never attain anything resembling their former
fame now that they are individuals and have been forgotten, leaving them no
choice but to launch a cash grab, er, reunion tour………..
- The four-month NHL lockout appears to have done some good
for at least one player. Phoenix
Coyotes forward Raffi Torres waited out the lockout just like his peers, but he
did so knowing that whenever the work stoppage ended, he would be benched for
the first eight games of the season for a carried-over suspension stemming from
his hit to the head of Chicago Blackhawks winger Marian Hossa during the teams'
first-round playoff series. Torres, an 11-year veteran with six teams, was
originally suspended for 25 games after the hit, but the penalty was reduced to
21 by the NHL after an appeal by the players' association. After the Coyotes
played 13 playoff games without Torres, eventually losing in the Western
Conference finals to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings, the
remaining eight games of the ban were left in limbo by the lockout. Now that
the league is about to start a truncated season, Torres will miss the Coyotes’
first eight games, after which he plans to return to the ice as a changed man. "I
can't afford to go through something like that again," Torres said.
"There are some things that I'm going to have to change if I want to keep
playing in this league at a competitive level, so I look forward to it. I know
I can bring more to the game than just physical play." Hearing a player
known for his physicality claim that he will tone his brutality down is
dubious, but Torres went on to explain that the sport has changed significantly
in recent years and he must adapt with it. "Obviously I've got to realize
that, and the utmost importance these days is the safety of the other players.
I don't want to go through something like that again," he added. Of
course, losing more than $170,000 in salary because of the ban probably helped
him see the light, but if the end result is fewer needlessly violent hits to
opponents’ heads in the course of play, then the motive takes a back seat to
the end result…….
- Shameless publicity stunts take all shapes and forms.
Sometimes, they involve a self-absorbed person humiliating or embarrassing
themselves in the name of bringing attention to their business or cause…and
sometimes they involve a business owner trying to turn some moronic,
quasi-political “crusade” into a flashpoint of controversy. I Love
Drilling Juice & Smoothie Bar owner George Burnett, whose Vernal, Utah
business sits squarely in the heart of a conservative chunk of America, clearly
had a two-point epiphany at some point in the recent past: First, his smoothie
bar wasn’t doing as much business as he would like and secondly, inserting
politics into any situation is a guaranteed method of starting a ruckus. Burnett’s
brainstorming led him to a brilliant idea to get people talking about his
little smoothie bar in Nowheresville, Utah: charge customers with liberal political
leanings $1 more for the already-overpriced beverage of their choice and
pretend that the surcharge is a way to make a point about fiscal
responsibility. “We have a fiscal problem in this country. We’ve got to deal
with it or we don’t have a country, so to kind of help make that point, just a
little bit, I charge liberals just a little bit more. Really what I’m focused
on is the fiscal differences between big government/small government and
liberal ways, as far as entitlements and spending,” Burnett said. He claims the
extra money will go to support the conservative Washington-based think tank,
The Heritage Foundation, and maybe the pro-oil and gas activist is telling the
truth. What is also true is that his drinks, , with colorful names like Drakes
Well, Oil Creek and Old American, are all overpriced at $3.95 for members of
the bar’s “Crew Team,” $4.95 for conservatives and $5.95 for liberals. The
pricing structure has generated both positive and negative reaction on the
business’ Facebook page, but any reaction at all is what Burnett is after……..
- Making its own phone wasn’t a wise choice, so Facebook is
going for a more realistic option: providing free calling via WiFi between Facebook iOS users. Speculation that a
promotional event on Wednesday was to announce a Facebook phone proved untrue
and instead, the über-popular social networking site announced a new Graph
Search functionality, including an update to Facebook Messenger for the iPhone
that added the aforementioned free calling via WiFi between Facebook iOS users. Users can already make
free WiFi calls via other clients, such as Skype and Truphone, but Facebook is
used so heavily by so many people who prefer likes and status updates via their
smartphone to real-world interaction that calls directly through the site
should have significant appeal. The updated Facebook Messenger for iOS app adds
a new Free Call button when users touch the "i" icon in the upper
right of a conversation in Messenger. A few technology sites claim to have used
the call service and report that the quality is solid and comparable to other
similar clients. In the past, companies such as HTC have attempted to push the
idea of a Facebook phone and Facebook itself has apps for every major platform.
Because so many phone makers are already packing the market and countless
others have crashed and burned in their attempts to compete with the Droid or
iPhone, Facebook and its already mercurial financial state seemed to have
little legitimate motivation to create its own phone. Free calling might be
better because everyone loves free………
No comments:
Post a Comment