- Norway tends to be a laid-back place. So laid back, in
fact, that its prime minister was able to go undercover as a taxi driver in an
attempt to find out what the voters were really thinking. Jens Stoltenberg
donned a pair of dark glasses and drove around Oslo one day in June, only
admitting his identity when passengers realized who he was. Hidden cameras in
his cab recorded passengers’ reactions, including one rider who remarked:
"From this angle, he really looks like the prime minister."
Stoltenberg posted the footage this week on his Facebook and Twitter pages. "If
there is one place where people say what they really mean about most things, it
is in a taxi. Right from the gut," Stoltenberg said of the experiment. “I
loved talking to people and we kept driving for several hours. In fact I
was quite sad when it was over.” Many passengers were shocked to learn who were
driving the cab, although one passenger who recognized him was less than
impressed. "Have you quit as prime minister?" the passenger asked.
Once passengers recognized him, the discussion usually turned to politics and
the issues facing the country ahead of the Sept. 9 general election. Stoltenberg's
ruling leftist coalition appears likely to lose, so he may be able to spend
more time driving a cab in the future. One elderly passenger chastised him to
lower "the salaries of
bosses," complaining that "they should not make millions like
that." Others chatted about education and environmental issues. The entire
stunt was rigged in a sense, as some passengers were handpicked for a ride and
five of the 14 passengers filmed were paid about $85. A few commented on how
bad Stoltenberg’s driving was. The prime minister worked with the Try
Advertising Agency, who noted one distinct difference in Norwegian politics
compared to other nations. “There is no political advertising on TV in Norway,”
he said. “So we had to come up with something that captured the imagination.
The response has been very positive.” Positively mixed, anyhow……..
- Police in a small town in Oregon are in need of a new
chief and oddly enough, their search has drawn sharp criticism from the masses.
Hillsboro is a place that needs a chief doughnut eater, er, law enforcement
official to make sure its rules are enforced properly. To find the right man, the department released a recruiting video
where officers act in a series of sketches to illustrate what they're looking
for in their new leader. They spent $9,000 to hire a local production company
and shoot the video over the course of three days last month. Some taxpayers
have objected to the department spending $9,000 of their money for the video
rather than post an ad on Monster.com or post fliers at all local doughnut
shops, but these citizens simply don’t understand that replacing former Police
Chief Carey Sullivan is not a problem to be solved through conventional
methods. The video may or may not may a damn bit of difference in the search
for a new chief, but it has already garnered more than 15,000 views and was
picked up by national gossip website Gawker.com. Citizens have spoken out about
the money spent on the video, but the police department explained that the funds
came out of a budget specifically reserved for recruiting. Officials added that
had they hired a recruitment agency instead, it would've cost thousands of
dollars more. There is also the good news that even though people are upset
about the video, at least they aren’t upset because there is any sort of racist
or sexist joke in it, nor does anyone appear on camera in blackface or pander
to any ugly ethnic stereotypes. In life, it’s all about appreciating the small
steps……..
- A (not-so) hostile takeover may be in the works in the
golf world. According to multiple reports, the PGA Tour is in preliminary discussions to take over the European Tour
due to the latter's financial struggles. Keith Waters, Chief Operating Officer
of The European Tour, and Tim Finchem, the PGA Tour Commissioner, both denied
the reports even though European Tour player Paul Casey -- who is
also a member of the PGA Tour – has spoken about the financial issues facing
the European Tour. Finchem responded by saying that reports of the PGA Tour
making an offer for the European Tour "are inaccurate." "These
conversations among the Tours within the Federation will continue as we explore
additional collaborative efforts for the presentation of our game," Finchem
said. "To the extent any of those efforts prove feasible, additional
information will be provided at that time." Waters admitted his tour is
struggling, but insisted a takeover is not in the plans. “The notion that the
U.S. PGA Tour is somehow bidding to buy The European Tour is incorrect,” Waters
said. Casey wondered recently why the European Tour’s search for a new chairman
has taken more than three months and mused that the tour is adrift in the
meantime. Observers have wondered if the PGA Tour would even be interested in
such a move, although it has expressed interest in growing the game globally
and the Asian market is one likely target. There isn’t an immense need to buy
another tour, as just seven players among the top 50 in the world are not full
members of the PGA Tour. European Tour players such as Rory McIlroy, Lee
Westwood, Ian Poulter, Justin Rose, Graeme McDowell and Sergio Garcia
play the PGA Tour full-time and the tour already has fully sanctioned events in
Malaysia and China. It has taken over the Canadian Tour and even has a reach
into South America, complete with rights deals with CBS, NBC and Golf Channel
through 2021. Still, buying a foreign tour off the discount rack might
not be a bad purchase……..
- The last run of Walter White is drawing them in already.
“Breaking Bad” returned on AMC for the start of its final season Sunday night
and draw the largest audience in the show’s history by nearly 100 percent. A
whopping 5.9 million viewers tuned in to see the first show in the
final season of the show about a meth dealer who also happens to be a high
school chemistry teacher. There will be only eight shows in the final season,
further amping up the interest in each one of them. The previous record for a
single episode was 3 million, shortly before the show took a break in August
2012. AMC has scored big with the show and even British fans have gotten hooked
on it by watching on Netflix, which makes each episode available immediately after it finishes in
the US. “Breaking Bad” began in 2008 and Bryan Cranston has come to thrive in
the role of White, who begins producing and selling crystal meth after being
diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer. Various members of the cast and
production team have promised that the show will wrap in a fashion fans will
truly appreciate. "You guys are gonna sh*t your pants,” White’s righthand
man on the show, actor Aaron Paul, said of the finale. For those not willing or
able to give up their Walter White fix just yet, series creator Vince Gilligan has recently given an
update on a proposed spin-off show focusing on Saul Goodman, the dodgy lawyer
played by Bob Odenkirk. "It's not a done deal yet, but it's definitely
something we're full speed ahead on trying to get going," Gilligan said in
July……….
- The OLED TV battle is heating up. Samsung has entered the fray to
compete against LG Electronics and is offering one of the long-awaited organic
light-emitting diode TVs. That’s the good news for consumers. The bad news is
that Samsung's new 55-inch curved display costs $9,000 for anyone wishing to
order it on Samsung.com. Both companies are s based in South Korea, but the
plan for Samsung’s version was to hit the U.S. market at $15,000. That’s the
same price point as LG launched its OLED display at last month, but Samsung said
it improved its manufacturing process enough to yield displays more efficiently
and decided to drop the price. Undercutting the competition by $6,000 isn’t a
bad strategy and that could lead to LG altering its price point as well. Of
course, no one who isn’t independently wealthy or looking to blow their
remaining cash before the IRS catches up with them is going to be able to drop
that much money on a television without their spouse filing for divorce. For
$9,000, a person had better be getting a hell of a TV and then some and
Samsung’s set does come equipped with a unique MultiView feature that lets two
people watch different programming simultaneously on the display while wearing
3-D glasses. "Some of us at Samsung call it 'the marriage saver' because
my wife and I can be sitting on the couch watching two different programs on
the same OLED TV," says David Das, vice president of home entertainment
for Samsung Electronics America. In this setup, each viewer wears personal ear
bud headphones built into the 3-D glasses (two pairs come with the set) that
deliver individual audio streams to their ears. The TV’s display is just 1/2
in. thick and "It actually mimics that of an arena or amphitheater,"
Das added. OLEDs debuted five years ago and have become popular enough that
20,000 are expected to ship this year, a number experts believe could rise as
high as 400,000 in 2014 and 2 million in 2015………
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