- Ruh-roh. There is drama in the world’s most romantic
nation because not everyone is feeling the love. Specifically, Air France
pilots are pissed and their anger is making waves. The airline canceled at least half its flights around the world on Monday as
pilots began a weeklong strike, underscoring the difficulties some of Europe’s
major carriers face in keeping up with low-cost competitors. Air France-KLM is
the national carrier for France and the Netherlands, but its mighty power can
ensure no more than 48 percent of flights Monday, 40 percent on Tuesday and
perhaps less later in the week because the unions that comprise the bulk of its
work face have walked out in protest against its savings program. Air
France-KLM and fellow Euro air heavyweights Lufthansa, Alitalia, SAS are trying
to make major cost cuts to stay competitive, but they are running up against
the wall of strong laws protecting workers' rights. The current wave of
contention came last week after Air France announced a plan to save 1 billion
euros ($1.3 billion) over the next several years, with the centerpiece of the
plan transferring much of its European operations to low-cost subsidiary
Transavia. Air France pilots' unions balked at the notion and accused the
airline of moving jobs to countries with lower taxes and cheaper labor and
saving money by basing planes for France-Portugal flights in Portugal, instead
of France. "This is about a project of out-sourcing," said Jean-Louis
Barber, the president of the main Air France pilots' union, SNPL. "That's
why pilots are angry." It’s reassuring to know that no matter where in the
world labor strife exists, the same unimaginative claims are at its epicenter. Air
France-KLM continues to pursue its dreams of a fleet of 100 jets by 2017
carrying more than 20 million passengers a year, more than double the current
load. For now, those plans are on strike, along with the airline’s pilots and
those of Romania's national airline, who also staged a walkout on Monday……….
- There is more to life than being really, really good
looking….and starring in absurdist fashion comedies. Just don’t tell Will
Ferrell that because he is set to reprise his role as devious fashion mogul
Jacobim Mugatu in the long-awaited sequel to Ben Stiller’s 2001 comedy “Zoolander.” The original movie
starred Stiller and Owen Wilson as dim-witted male models whose primary skill
set was in their limited repertoire of eerily similar facial expressions and
despite developing something of a cult following over the years, it never
really lived up to expectations at the box office. Similar to Ferrell’s cult
favorite project “Anchorman,” the magic of “Zoolander” kept its loyal
supporters pushing for a sequel and Justin Theroux, who wrote the screenplay
for “Iron Man 2” and co-wrote “Tropic Thunder,” has been working on
a script with Stiller for several years. Ironically enough, Theroux may not
direct the movie and could leave his director’s chair to Stiller because he has
better things to do, namely work on his tepidly received TV show “The Leftovers.”
But Ferrell will still be around and he confirmed as much over the weekend. "We are
actually supposed to do a read-through of a sequel script soon, and Mugatu is a
part of it Ferrell said. The good news for whoever directs “Zoolander” is that
a 13-year gap between original and sequel in no way can ramp up expectations
for a sequel to wholly unrealistic levels and create an insanely high standard
that the sequel could never, ever meet. It’s not as if “Anchorman 2” was an
abysmally unfunny disaster that barely resembled the original and left fans
asking if there was a way to forget it ever happened………..
- World, we finally have it. And by it, we mean our first
3-D printed electric car that in no way will help any of us not directly
associated with making or promoting it. But benefits to humanity or not, history
was made at Chicago’s McCormick Place, where that first 3-D printed electric
car—named Strati, Italian for “layers” went from wacky concept care with carbon
fiber plastic composition to wacky concept care with carbon fiber plastic
composition that took its first test drive. “Less than 50 parts are in this
car,” said Local Motors spokesman Jay Rogers. Rogers’ company is part of the
team that developed the engineering process to manufacture the car and print it
with a massive 3-D printer set up at McCormick Place by Cincinnati Incorporated
in a shameless promotional ploy. Oak Ridge National Laboratory also
collaborated on the concept and this group of visionaries is bold enough to
believe that they could actually bring custom printed cars to the marketplace
by 2015. “You could think of it like Ikea, mashed up with Build-A-Bear, mashed
up with Formula One,” Rogers added. Yes, because when taking a vehicle out on
the road and putting oneself in a position where one could die if their vehicle
of choice isn't safe, the name one wants to hear attached to said vehicle is
Build-A-Bear. Amazingly, the Strati concept originated just six months ago and
it eventually made its way to the showroom floor of the International
Manufacturing Technology Show. There, visitors got a first-hand look at the
body of the car being printed layer by layer over a 44-hour period.
Non-printable (unsure how that is acceptable) parts, like the engine, lights
and glass windshield were added along the way and now Strati is ready to go –
relatively speaking. It can go a mere 40 mph and has a meager range of 120
miles on one charge. Its expected retail price for the bare-hones model that no
one actually buys because you actually need sh*t like arm rests, steering
wheels and seats is $18,000, but the likelier price points is closer to $30,000……….
- Miami
Hurricanes backup quarterback Kevin Olsen is playing for the ‘Canes in the
wrong era. His act would have played perfectly 30 years ago, when the Canes
were hanging with 2 Live Crew and rolling onto the tarmac at away games wearing
battle fatigues. Back then, felonious was the Miami way and braggadocio was
their M.O. That would have been the time for Olsen to wear Miami green and
orange, at a time when a player could be charged early Monday morning with
driving under the influence and having a fake or stolen driver's license and be
celebrated, not scorned. As it is, he has been suspended from team activities
simply because the school learned that Miami-Dade County jail records showed
their fourth-string signal caller being booked at 4:11 a.m. Monday and released
on $6,000 bail. According to police, who don’t seem to understand that cops in
towns with big college football programs are supposed to look the other way
when one of the boys on the team steps over the legal line, Olsen failed field
sobriety tests and had five different driver's licenses on him. That’s right,
five different licenses. A college kid having a fake ID to get served at an off-campus
bar is one thing, but five different licenses is downright shady. The plot only
thickens because Olsen is the younger brother of Carolina Panthers tight
end Greg Olsen and he’s been in trouble with the law before. In May 2013, he
was charged in his hometown of Wayne, New Jersey, with leaving the scene of an
accident and failing to report an accident. He’s been suspended twice during his
brief Miami career, both for the mysterious violation of team rules. It’s not
the path one would have expected from one of the highest-rated prospects in the
2013 class, but Olsen’s biggest problem is simply living in the wrong era……..
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