- What happens when Big Brother doesn’t pay his bills? In
Pittsburgh, the result is the same as it would be for Average Joe Citizen when
he claims the check is in the mail or that he never received the bill in the
first place. See, the city failed to pay a $195,000 maintenance fee to the
contractor that operates most of its surveillance cameras and as a result, that
contractor pulled the plug. “Having cameras in bad areas helps to catch the bad
guy once the crime has been committed,” Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto said.
“But, at the same time, they give a peace and security to the people.” They may
provide a feeling of peace and security for some people, but once criminals and
scofflaws know the cameras are merely glorified street decorations, the
security factors is gone. “It’s a big concern,” Peduto added. “Anytime we spend
a lot of money and buy equipment that’s supposed to be used for the public,
especially for public safety. It’s not being turned on or used, it raises a lot
of questions.” The city council is expected to approve the funds necessary to
turn the cameras back on, but that only addresses part of the problem. There is
still the question of how the bill went unpaid in the first place and more
specifically, who can be blamed for this mess. “I don’t have an answer for that
right now,” Peduto said. “There’s a couple different opinions that are out
there. Until there’s some really concrete facts out there, I don’t want to jump
into it and assume.” It is a true politician’s answer and one that couldn’t have
been read from the embattled politician’s handbook any better. Odds are that
someone will take the fall for this and be fired or reassigned, but the problem
itself will be no less likely to happen the next time around because you cannot
fire or reassign bureaucratic incompetence…….
- Has MeAngelo Hall finally come to his senses? Heck no. The
egomaniacal Washington Redskins
cornerback - real name DeAngelo Hall – is on the other side of a
pointless Twitter exchange with Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman.
Both men thumped their chests, whipped it out and tried to prove who was better
with 140-character bursts in a technological pissing match that ensued after
Hall saw Sherman's exchange with running back LeGarrette Blount earlier in the
day about who is the best cornerback in the NFL. Hall, who is on the downside
of his prime but still seems to believe he’s on the level of the game’s elite, told
Sherman, as Blount did, that he'd like to see the Seattle CB go against
"guys like Calvin [Johnson], A.J. Green, Dez Bryant all game." When
Sherman and his newly minted Super Bowl ring responded that he has 20
interceptions in three seasons, Hall shot back that when he was in his prime,
teams didn’t throw at him the way they throw at Sherman – suggesting they
aren't afraid of the dreadlocked Stanford graduate. He piled on by suggesting
that Sherman’s teammates account for much of his success. He said his Twitter
shots at Sherman were a "little of, 'Come on, man, you're playing on a
team with two of the best safeties in the game.'" Clearly, Sherman is
getting the public and media attention he so craves with his latest Twitter
battle – he dueled with then-Tampa Bay Buccaneers corner Darrelle Revis last
season – and Hall gets to keep living in the delusional world where he and his
perpetually torched coverage skills are the best around. Sherman has also
scrapped with San Francisco 49ers receiver Michael Crabtree and others, but
aside from thriving on the drama, he clearly has the skills and success to back
up his words. Hall, on the other hand, has never won a Super Bowl and while he
has made the Pro Bowl four times, he has always been known as a selfish
egomaniac and no one has ever accused him of being the NFL’s best corner……….
- Selfies: They’re hazardous to both you and your friends’
sanity. Not only do endless close-range photos of oneself taken with a
smartphone camera and plastered across the Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and
SnapChat feeds of friends make those friends want to snatch that iPhone from
your hands and bludgeon you with it, but they could also wreck your sanity as
well. According
to a new study from the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive
Surgery, the phenomenon of taking selfies is actually causing a rise in the
rate of plastic surgery on the facial region. A poll of 2,700 of the
organization's members found that one in three plastic surgeons specializing in
the face reported an uptick in requests for plastic surgery. Although its
reasons for tying that rise to the selfie craze are shaky, the organization
linked their profit surge to more patients being aware of and unhappy with how
they look when they post pictures on social media. In 2013, surgeons in the
study saw a 10 percent rise in rhinoplasty (nose jobs) from the year before.
Mix in a six percent increase in eyelid procedures and a trend begins to
emerge. "Social platforms like Instagram, Snapchat and the iPhone app
Selfie.im, which are solely image based, force patients to hold a microscope up
to their own image and often look at it with a more self-critical eye than ever
before," said AAFPRS President Edward Farrior. "These images are
often the first impression young people put out there to prospective friends,
romantic interests and employers and our patients want to put their best face
forward." Because most people who take and post selfies skew
younger, that has lowered the average age at which people are getting plastic
surgery. According to the study, nearly 60 percent of plastic surgeons said they
saw a rise in cosmetic surgery in patients under the age of 30 in 2013. For
women 35 and under, that tends to focus on younger looking skin, while a
significant amount of men under 35 wanted nose jobs, liposuction on the neck
and chin implants. Facelifts and nose jobs topped the list for women in
general, while nose jobs were also the biggest seller for men. "Whether
driven by a desire to stay competitive in the workforce, remain attractive to
their mate or simply to look as good as they feel, advances in non-invasive
anti-aging technologies are making it possible to delay the hands of time while
retaining a natural outcome," Farrior said. Score one for superficiality,
eh doc………
- Putting people in danger and watching the drama unfold is
a big ratings draw for TV network, assuming they do it right. CBS tried and
failed with “Hostages,” a drama featuring Dylan McDermott and Toni Collette
that fell well short of expectations last year. Now, NBC will take its shot
with “Crisis,” which premieres Sunday night. The high-octane, character-driven suspense
drama pitting a rookie FBI agent against emotionally charged odds while trying
to solve an odd abduction is the Peacock’s new hope for higher ratings. The
plot involves a busload of kidnapped high school students whose powerful
parents want their children back, along with answers for what happened to them.
The show opens with a sweaty, frazzled man trying to disarm security satellites
as an FBI agent played by "666 Park Avenue" star Rachael Taylor
attempts to stop him and national security hangs in the balance. There is also a
half-baked political scandal of sorts involving the president and series creator
Rand Ravich ("Life") has left plenty of other openings in the
storyline to get creative as he goes. He is clearly hoping that audiences
connect with the rich, snotty kids from a prestigious private school, including
the president's son, who are taken hostage. When their field trip goes awry,
one student manages to escape with help from Secret Service agent Marcus Finley
(Lance Gross), who is having a very bad first day on the job. The family ties
are everywhere, including agent Susie Dunn (Taylor) working as the FBI's point
person, even though her niece, Amber (Halston Fitch), is one of the hostages.
Amber’s mother Meg, played by Gillian Anderson, is estranged from her sister
and yet is now counting on Susie to save her daughter. As the kidnappers put
pressure on their targets, the students begin to fracture and characters
develop. All in all, it sounds like the perfect recipe for a strong debut
followed by plummeting ratings as fans get to know the show…….
- Riot Watch! Riot Watch! Every nation has to start small when
it comes to uprisings and dissidence and for the northern African nation of
Algeria, that beginning is as humble as it could possible be. In a landmark
decision, Algerian
authorities for the first time have allowed about 100 people from a new
opposition movement to protest against the decision by the country’s ailing
president to run for a fourth term in April. While applying for permission to
protest almost defeats the entire purpose of a protest to begin with, the
Algerian people clearly are in the early stages of their journey to becoming
full-fledged, anti-establishment rage-aholics who storm city halls with Molotov
cocktails and leave a stream of burning dumpsters and overturned cars in their
wake. The first official gathering for the Barakat! ("Enough")
movement's protest Saturday was light, possibly owing to subpar temperatures
and a light rain, but it was also noteworthy because it was the first time a
protest took place without the police quashing it in its infancy using violent
and possibly deadly tactics. Hopefully, better protests and riots are ahead.
Plenty of time remains before the April 17 elections and an uprising or ten
will be needed because the six candidates who have been approved for the race
are expected to have little chance of unseating President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
He is expected to win with the backing of the powerful machinery of the state,
which could be a problem given that he suffered a stroke last year and appears
to have trouble now speaking and moving. That could lead to a puppet president
who is merely the face of a corrupt regime using him as its face while it goes
about its dirty business behind the scenes………..
No comments:
Post a Comment