- Why so serious, Twitter users, why so serious? There was
absolutely no need to fly into a fit of digital rage on Saturday just because
you happened to find out about shirts listed on Amazon with a slogan
that appeared to promote rape and violence against women. The shirt read
"Keep Calm and Rape On" and was available on Amazon's UK website, so any rage should have been contained
on the other side of the Atlantic, right? Maybe it would have been if not for
that pesky social networking world and the fact that an American company, Solid
Gold Bomb, prints the shirts. Faced with the outrage from around the digital
world, the company removed the listing along with one for a second offensive
shirt with the slogan "Keep Calm and Hit Her." After taking the shirts off Amazon, Solid
Gold Bomb (sort of) apologized by claiming the slogans were computer-generated
and the company did not deliberately create them. Founder Michael Fowler said
in a message on the company's website that he was "extremely sorry"
for the issue. "We simply do not
produce poor humor or offensive products," Fowler wrote. "As a father, husband, brother and son, I would never
promote such product in our company and
it was clear to see this when
looking across the millions of T-shirts that we offer or can produce on demand. Had these items ever sold,
we would have immediately pulled
the series and are doing so on our own and Amazon channels worldwide." The
apology did little to placate outraged Twitter users who decried the shirts as
insulting to women and offensive to those who have been or will be victims of
domestic violence. None of the shirts were ever printed or sold, as companies
such as Solid Gold Bomb offer slogans and designs for their apparel and print
times on demand when a customer orders one. Fowler added that the slogans were
a bad play on the British wartime slogan "Keep Calm and Carry On,"
which was intended to encourage Britons to keep up their spirits. Maybe these
new mantras could do the same if only they were given a chance……….
- When Oklahoma City Thunder forward Serge Ibaka delivered a
below-the-belt hit Sunday to
Clippers forward Blake Griffin’s groin, not only did he get the attention of
Griffin, his Clippers teammates and the referees, but also of the biggest name
on the roster of Staples Center’s other primary tenant. Lakers star Kobe
Bryant, whose team plays the Thunder Tuesday night, saw Ibaka’s swinging hit to
Griffin’s manhood and Bryant made it clear how he would have responded. "I
probably would have smacked [Ibaka] in the mouth," Bryant said. "I
would have dealt with the pain after." The NBA has not stated whether
Ibaka, who received a flagrant foul 1 for his actions, will be suspended for
the incident. Hearing Bryant talk, had Ibaka blasted him in the junk, both
parties probably would have been suspended after he finished kicking Ibaka’s
ass. With Ibaka not ejected from the game and available to play against the
Lakers, Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni said it did not make a difference whether he
was on the court or not. "It doesn't matter," D’Antoni said.
"They're deep. It won't change what we do, more or less. Obviously it
would help us because he's a good player. But we won't change anything
up." Perhaps illustrating the difference between himself and Bryant in
terms of personality and approach, Lakers center Dwight Howard cracked a joke
when asked how he would prepare to face Ibaka. "I mean, you got to wear a
cup," Howard said. Cup or no cup, Howard and the Lakers need a win
desperately as they sit 2.5 games out of the final playoff spot in the Western
Conference and just reached .500 with a win over Atlanta on Sunday. Beating
Oklahoma City at home, where the Thunder are 26-4 this season, will also be a
steep challenge, as the Lakers have lost their last five games in Oklahoma City,
including three in last season's playoffs………
- Maybe for her next project, Taylor Swift can crank out a
comedy album. She certainly has the sense of humor for it, as evidenced by the
fact that she recently lashed out in an interview at Tina Fey and Amy Poehler for their bit about her during the Golden
Globes. The duo targeted Swift’s much-maligned dating life and their barbs seem
to have found their mark based on the country-pop starlet’s agitated response. “You
know, Katie Couric is one of my favorite people,” Swift said. “Because she said
to me she had heard a quote that she loved, that said, ‘There’s a special place
in hell for women who don’t help other women.’” Swift may not have enjoyed the
jokes, but the audience laughed heartily at them. She fired back by insisting
she isn’t a serial dater and that “since 2010 I have dated exactly two people.”
According to Swift, most of the drama stems from online photo galleries and
slide shows of “a dozen guys that I either hugged on a red carpet or met for lunch
or wrote a song with. . . it’s just kind of ridiculous.” She won't discuss
specifics of her various breakups and is adamant that there is nothing wrong
with using her failed relationship as fodder for her music. “For a female to
write about her feelings, and then be portrayed as some clingy, insane,
desperate girlfriend in need of making you marry her and have kids with her, I
think that’s taking something that potentially should be celebrated,” Swift
said. “A woman writing about her feelings in a confessional way - that’s taking
it and turning it and twisting it into something that is frankly a little
sexist.” Ex-boyfriends Conor Kennedy and One Direction man-bander Harry Styles
may disagree, but dating Swift clearly means your chances of ending up in a bad
country-pop ballad are high. Just don’t dare use that same material for your
opening monologue at a truly forgettable, self-congratulatory Hollywood awards
show because in Taylor Swift’s world, that is over the line…….
- What an inspiring time this is for Kenyan politics. Having
a politician
who has been charged by the International Criminal Court with crimes against
humanity as the leader in a presidential election would be an uplifting
development for any nation. That alleged criminal is Uhuru Kenyatta, who was
leading by a wide margin in the Kenya election on Tuesday, with nearly half the
votes counted in the race to determine the country’s next leader. Kenyatta
comes from one of the richest, most powerful families in Africa and stands
accused of using that wealth to bankroll death squads that killed women and
children during the chaos of Kenya’s election five years ago. Either Kenyans
have short memories or they’re terrified of Kenyatta, because at last county he
was leading 54 percent to 42 percent over the second-place candidate, Raila
Odinga, Kenya’s prime minister. To win the election outright and avoid a
runoff, Kenyan election law says that the winning candidate must secure more
than 50 percent of “all the votes cast.” Odinga’s supporters hope to face that
runoff vote by convincing the election commission to consider the more than
300,000 rejected ballots as part of the total. Ahmed Hassan, the head of
Kenya’s election commission, called the number of ballots rejected for stray
marks and other irregularities “quite worrying,” but such issues should be
expected given the complexity of these elections, with voters having six
ballots in their hands, for national and local races. In anticipation of anger
over the results, Kenya’s police chief banned all demonstrations on the grounds
that Kenya had “no history” of peaceful protests. Many shops in the capital
city of Nairobi remained shuttered and riot police were out in force on the
streets as the election took place. Election day violence was high, with
multiple deaths reported and many voters waiting 10 hours on their feet under a
burning sun to cast their ballot. It is the first presidential election since
2007, when widespread evidence of vote rigging sparked massive ethnic-based
clashes that killed 1,000 people and brought Kenya’s economy to its knees.
Organized debates for candidates were held for the first time and some presidential
contenders attempted to focus the election on specific issues. Of course, those
candidates received virtually no votes. Instead, most voters seem to have cast
their ballot based on ethnicity and Kenyatta’s ethnic group, the Kikuyu, is the
country’s largest. That means he’s likely to bring his alleged war
criminal ways to Kenya’s highest office………
- When technology fulfills its most important purpose, it is
a beautiful thing and the world functions better because of it. Italian
supercar maker Lamborghini understands this principle well and that’s why the company
introduced a new $4 million model - the Veneno - at the Geneva Motor Show Tuesday.
The maker of exclusive and exorbitantly expensive sports tried to keep a lid on
the project for as long as possible, but images leaked Monday and knowing the
propensity of rich people to fight over exclusive items to own and lord them
over their rich friends, there has already an all-out brawl for the right to own
one of the three – THREE – Venenos to be sold. That brawl has sorted itself out
and all three of the cars were spoken for even before they were built.
Lamborghini has not disclosed the names of the buyers, but it seems safe to say
that these individuals will be adding the Veneno to luxury car collections
already large enough to fill their 5,000-square-foot garages. The 750-horsepower
Veneno is similar to the Lamborghini Aventador, a 691- horsepower car that sells
for about $400,000. Both cars sport a 6.5-liter V12 engine, a seven-speed
transmission and full-time all-wheel-drive. Aside from the extra horsepower,
what makes the Veneno 10 times more expensive? Most of its absurdly high cost
stems from its carbon-fiber construction, as the entire chassis and outer skin
are made from carbon fiber reinforced plastics. While $4 million for a car you
may drive a half-dozen times a year when you’re at your vacation home and not
out on the yacht, there really is no price to be put on rolling up to the
exclusive party at your fellow billionaire friend’s home in a car that no one
else there owns……..
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